gentle breeze - ateez seongjoong

♡ 13

dang, he really wanted to kiss him.

–

seonghwa was as lively as ever. he finished showering in 5 minutes(did he wash off all the soap though), and was bouncing back to their room to dress up without waiting for hongjoong like he usually did. that resulted in a clueless hongjoong shouting for seonghwa in the public bathroom for five minutes, walking around looking at every empty cubicle for any traces of him. only then did he realise how dumb he looked when a kind student told him that seonghwa had already left 10 minutes ago. damn, how long did hongjoong take in the shower?

he gathered his things hurriedly and rushed back to their dorm, walking in to hear seonghwa's singing. he was sitting on his chair with his back faced to the entrance and didn't seem to realise someone had stepped in.

it seems like he was singing 'dive' by jooyoung. seonghwa's melodious voice floated in the air around the small space, filling hongjoong up. he could feel his heartfelt emotions as he sang each lyric. even without the melody, he could hit each and every note perfectly and effortlessly. hongjoong stood rooted to the place, completely swoon by seonghwa's singing. (does this paragraph make sense hhh)

as he sang the last of the song, he had turned around opening his eyes. he sprung up from his chair with full force, knocking it down. "w-w-w-what are y-you doing here?!" he stuttered from shock, placing his hands behind the table for support. hongjoong was startled from the sudden action and jumped back in shock.

"u-um i just finished showering... and entered... and you were singing..." he slowly explained, telling half the truth. he did NOT just finish showering.

seonghwa's expression was a mixture of shock and embarrassment as he gulped, staring straight at hongjoong, thinking of a way to reply to his statement. obviously, he would be in the dorm. this was his dorm too, after all. why should he need to have a reason to be at his own dorm?

furthermore, it was kinda seonghwa's fault too, for not expecting hongjoong to be back anytime. he was even sitting with his back faced to the door, damn it. he should've known better than to do something risky like that.

"s-seonghwa? are you angry? did you not want me to hear that? sorry... but it's okay, i won't tell anyone. never. i promise," hongjoong shuffled closer to seonghwa, and reached his hand forward to pat his head. "sorry for not knocking when i came in. you must have been startled,"

i do not deserve hongjoong!!!!!!!!

–

a while after a huge amount of apologies and lolling around, the two youths were on their way to the movies. they picked a place that was nearby hongjoong's residence. it wasn't only because they could travel home smoothly, but that particular district was a huge place. it had everything a teenager ever wanted in their lives. karaoke shops, arcades, shopping malls equipped with theatres, affordable eateries and an abundance of fast food places. not to mention, there was a street well-known for its night market. in the day, little shops would sell cute stationeries, aesthetic clothing and other things, while in the night, those shops close for the day, and the night market comes to life.

in a nutshell, hongjoong's district was a tourist attraction. and that's not even the whole of the district.

it was 11 am when the boys had reached the shopping mall. it was already buzzing with people, mostly teens. they made their way up to the top floor where the cinema was located. it occupied the whole floor and had many more choices of movies and snacks, thus this particular cinema was frequented by many, young or old.

seonghwa wanted to watch a horror movie, which was fine by hongjoong. he had heard of it, and it was quite the hot topic among yunho, mingi and yeosang. the poster didn't look too scary(not that he was scared), so he agreed casually. he didn't know what else to watch anyway since he wasn't much of a movie fan. if you added up all the times he watched a movie or actually paid attention, it was only once or twice a year. that was how bad he was at movies. or even dramas. heck, he'd rather watch youtube or study.

on the other hand, it was seonghwa's first time at the movies. he had always downloaded movies on his laptop or watched them at home as a kid, so he didn't have a single clue how cinemas worked. he went to the snacks counter to order for tickets, and in a flurry, ordered the priciest menu on the menu, which was an XXL size popcorn along with two large sodas, two medium hot dogs and a plate of nachos with cheese dipping. at that time, hongjoong had gone to the washroom and asked seonghwa to purchase the 11.30 pm tickets to save time. boy, you should've seen his face when he spotted seonghwa.

after the whole fiasco, they finally entered the showing room with their hands full. luckily, seonghwa chose seats that were nearer to the back, so they easily found them. hongjoong heaved a sigh of relief after setting the drink and nacho cheese box on his lap.

"you're finishing all of this if i can't, hwa," hongjoong whispered, leaning over so that seonghwa could hear. however, all seonghwa heard was the beating of his own heartbeat as hongjoong leaned against his arm as he whispered into his ear. both of his actions sent shivers down his spine as if his spine hadn't shivered enough already from the cold room.

he nodded nervously, playing with the hot dog wrapping. after hongjoong had returned to his normal sitting position, he heaved a sigh of relief, and tried focusing his mind somewhere else. as if it were all planned out, the movie started rolling, and he had his eyes glued on the screen.

the movie plot was a typical one, where some tragic and supernatural incident would occur in an old house, and some broke family would move in due to the cheap price. and of course, shit happens.

the early stage of the movie was peaceful... until that one woman dressed in the white dress appeared in the backyard. the youngest kid had seen it, but of course, his parents, who were stressed out because of their bankruptcy had paid no attention when he voiced out to them.

seonghwa kinda felt the kid in a way. his parents would always dismiss him when he went to speak to them after they had returned home from work late at night. hongjoong had kinda thought of seonghwa when he watched that scene, too. he let his mind drift away to how he wouldn't let seonghwa feel like that ever again whenever he was with him.

as his thoughts led to another and another, his mind was far away from the movie even though he had his eyes peeled on the screen. he got the shock of his life as the female ghost popped up on the screen, with bleeding eyes and all.

hongjoong immediately grabbed seonghwa's arm with such a strong grip that gave seonghwa the shock of his life. he let out a small shout, and another when hongjoong shifted his hands down to his palm, interlocking their fingers. by now, seonghwa had already turned his head to look at hongjoong with shock, and also, disbelief. hongjoong wad actually scared of these kinds of things? a-and most importantly... he's holding my hand? seonghwa froze. he didn't know what to do. should he comfort him? should he just let him be?

while he was in the midst of panic, there was another jumpscare which really caught him off-guard, scaring the hell out of him once again. he let out yet another shout and clutched onto hongjoong's hand which was atop his own, and buried his face in his shoulder. this tiome, hongjoong wasn't really shocked by the jumpscare, so he didn't really have much of an reaction to it. he was just, surprised at seonghwa. he didn't know that seonghwa was actually scared of these kinds of things.

you see now, the tables have turned.

"hwa, it's okay now. the ghost said bye," hongjoong leaned down and whispered, while rubbing his head with his free hand.

"j-joong," all of a sudden, seonghwa sat up, tightening the grip on hongjoong's hands, and adding his other hand to the stack.

"i'm okay, not scared," he whispered, keeping his eyes on their hands, silently thanking that it was dark, so hongjoong wouldn't be able to see his red cheeks.

"hmm? you're not scared?"

"yes. not scared. hwa is not scared of this!"

hongjoong giggled, and continued to rub his head. "it's okay to be scared, hwa. i won't laugh,"

"okay, joong. but i'm really not scared,"

"fine, fine. you're not scared,"

the two giggled, and leaned against each other. they've probably missed out half the movie, but that's okay. they were together in each other's warmth, at the back of the cold cinema.