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"Yeji and I used to go shopping together," he narrated, still swinging the bag, "I'd pick clothes for her, and she would do the same for me." He sighed, a little sad at the memories. Then, he brightened up, "I should probably ask her next time."
Yeonjun bounced on his feet towards the store in a better mood now.
Soobin didn't say a word at Yeonjun's choices. V-neck shirts, a denim button-down, some sleeveless shirts, and various types of ripped jeans, he considered them all.
"Oh no, that's where I draw the line," he exclaims at the sight of an animal print shirt Yeonjun was holding out.
Yeonjun laughed. "Come on, Soobin-ssi, you gotta try it on!"
"I thought I was supposed to be wearing what you normally wear?"
"Yesss," Yeonjun smiled mischievously. "I own a couple like this."
Soobin blinked. "No."
Yeonjun pushed the shirt into his hand. "Yes," he insisted before heading towards a rack of sunglasses and grabbing a few before preceding the beanie hats and grabbing those.
"Let's do this," he said with an excited grin.
Soobin was led to the fitting room and shoved Yeonjun into an empty stall. "Try the animal print shirt with the black jeans and this beanie," Yeonjun said before shutting the door.
Soobin had to give himself a moment a take in the fact that he was in a cramped fitting room with a handful of clothes he hadn't worn since he was in high school and college... the days before he had to trade his simple designer t-shirts, cardigans, and jeans for button-downs, suit jackets, and formal slacks.
How did he end up at this state? Oh well, because of the overly optimistic real estate owner on the other side.
A loud knock interrupted his thoughts, "Are you alive, Soobin-ssi?"
Soobin shook his head free of thoughts and replied, "Give me a minute Yeonjun-ssi, you are so impatient!"
He heard a scoff for a reply and couldn't help but chuckle by himself. Quickly, he got dressed in the clothing the other had asked for and looked at himself in the mirror.
He looked utterly ridiculous. The animal print was vile, and the beanie made him look like a middle school punk. The ripped jeans were excellent, though. Soobin was always immensely proud of his legs. Deeming himself, he opened the door.
Yeonjun was leaning against the opposite wall, scrolling on his phone. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and paused. Soobin felt self-conscious as those deep brown eyes roamed his body from head to foot, silent and observant.
If soobin didn't know any better, he would think that look of appreciation Yeonjun threw at his legs was flattering. "Wow, you look so good, Soobin-ssi!"
Soobin blushed.
"I would totally wear that!"
Soobin's eye twitched. "I'm not getting this."
"Yes, you are!"
"I am not paying for it."
"Good thing you are not paying for it then!" Yeonjun had a stupid grin on his face, which irritated Soobin. "Now, try on the others!"
Without a choice, he tried all the others Yeonjun had picked.
In the end, he had to admit that Yeonjun's choices weren't too bad. He liked the denim shirt more than he thought and insisted on getting it, not caring if it was full-price and not on sale. To his dismay, Yeonjun did buy him the animal print shirt.
Leaving the store with new purchases, he absentmindedly followed Yeonjun to another part of the mall, the latter saying he wanted to get one more thing.
By the time Soobin realized where he was, he found himself in a dimly-lit store surrounded by t-shirts on the walls, loud rock music blasting from the speakers, and shelves upon spray hair due and jewelry shelves.
"What's your favorite band?"
Soobin turned towards Yeonjun, who was examining the walls of t-shirts. Yeonjun grinned at him.
"Or are you one of those who don't listen to music?"
Soobin felt instantly defensive. "If you must know, I like..." he cleared his throat, "I like SHINee," he proclaimed.
Yeonjun's eyes lit up. "Really? Me too! Yeji is not a huge fan of them; she said their songs aren't her type."
"Yeah, Ryujin too," answered Soobin.
Since high school, he had always been a fan and was quite bummed when they decided to go their separate ways. Nonetheless, he occasionally listened to them and even sang them in the shower.
"I like the, a lot too, but my favorite of all time is Super Junior," Yeonjun continued as he proceeded to walk down the aisle of shirts.
Following behind them, Soobin found that interesting yet not surprising. Yeonjun seemed to be the type to enjoy soulful ballads and powerful dance hits. Then again, Yeonjun was optimistic and young. He reminded Soobin of his high-school days when he had less to worry about.
"Here."
A midnight blue t-shirt was placed in his hands, the name "SHINee" printed on it in large white letters.
Yeonjun was grinning. "Everyone needs at least one band shirt in their life."
Amused, Soobin asked, "And how many do you have?"
"Uhmm, maybe twelve? Fifteen? Or twenty?"
The younger man looked quite proud of his collection as he picked up a red shirt with SHINee's logo from another shelf. On the back of the shirt, the name "JONGHYUN" was printed.
Soobin could only look at the name with sad eyes.
"This one is for me," Yeonjun held it against his body happily. "I'll pay for these now."
Before Soobin could protest, Yeonjun has grabbed his shirt and headed to the counter for a minute; Soobin was taken aback by the other's generosity.
Well, it turned out Yeonjun offered to buy his shirt so he could get his own for half off. Sneaky kid.
But then, it made Soobin laugh. How many times has he laughed that day? He isn't sure. But Yeonjun was amusing, indeed.
And Soobin had to admit he had fun on what otherwise would have been a dull day. Yeonjun was a breath of fresh air from his usual crowd of stiff and boring business partners.
And if he was honest, under different circumstances, he could see himself and Yeonjun being incredible friends.
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that was a lot of details but let's just say this is a literal depiction of me and my best friend's outing like 2 days back 🤣 *she ended up getting a cheetah print crop top coz i said so*
