Moonwatcher; Soonhoon

03

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SOONYOUNG LIKES LISTENING to Jihoon talk. His voice is nice, calm, kind of like cinnamon and soft pillows, and it's especially wonderful when he lets go of his usual sobriety and allows himself to open up a little more; Jihoon is funny and smart and interesting, and Soonyoung could listen to him ramble for hours. Unfortunately, he doesn't get talkative all too often, so it's usually Soonyoung who has to coax him out into the conversation.

Like now - they're talking about seeing a movie sometime this weekend, and Soonyoung keeps making a point to ask Jihoon for his opinion. Horror or comedy? Or would he like a romance? Something new, or one of the oldies but goodies their nearby theatre likes to throw on? 

(Soonyoung already knows all the answers - Jihoon likes action films, and would probably fall asleep in his seat if you tried to get him to watch anything made before the 1980s. Neither one of them says it, though.)

"Why does it matter what I like?" he asks, at one point. "I'm fine with whatever you guys want, really."

"Well, your opinion means just as much as anyone else's here," Soonyoung insists, and he doesn't mention the fact that he's only doing this for the sake of hearing Jihoon talk. That's not the sort of thing he can just say, after all.

Jihoon rolls his eyes, but visibly blushes at the sentiment. Apathetic, unbothered Jihoon, who can't really get away with pretending to be apathetic and unbothered, blushes. He's too cute, and Soonyoung's chest feels like it might burst.

"Let's just figure it out later," Minghao says, uninterested. "I don't think this is something worth spending an entire lunch discussing."

So they leave it, moving onto a different topic. Jihoon goes back to being quiet and observant, eating his lunch, and Soonyoung's gaze doesn't stray far from where he sits. He knows he's being obvious, and he knows he was dumb for not expecting the interrogation he got from Mingyu the other day. He also happens to know, however, that Jihoon is entirely oblivious to any acts of fondness on his own part - and that's enough to keep him from worrying. His friends wouldn't expose him like that, anyway.

"Christ, give your eyes a break, Soon. You've been staring for the last ten minutes."

On second thought, they definitely would. His friends are all snakes.

Soonyoung shoots a glare in Jeonghan's direction, simmering under the heat that crawls over his skin, and he almost chokes when Jihoon looks up from his plate and asks, "Staring at what?"

"Er, nothing," he says, maybe a little too quickly. Jeonghan isn't willing to let it go.

"Yeah, nothing."

"Did you guys know," Soonyoung starts, changing the subject, "that neutron stars can spin up to six-hundred times per second?"

"You're so smooth, Soonyoung."

He carries right on, pretending he can't hear, "It's crazy, right? So much out there, doing all sorts of things. Kind of overwhelming."

Jeonghan rolls his eyes, stabbing his food while Seungcheol - bless him - strikes up a different conversation, but Soonyoung doesn't quite catch the beginning of it. His eyes shift to find Jihoon already looking at him, mirthful, with a small sort of smile, and Soonyoung's heart rate picks up for the hundredth time that day. When he speaks, his voice is just quiet enough for only Soonyoung to hear.

"Well, I thought it was interesting."

And Soonyoung, with frustration and adoration clawing their way up his throat in competition, smiles wide; he presses a palm to Jihoon's knee, squeezes it gently, and tells himself to act like this is nothing.