hongjoong and seonghwa were your typical best friends. grew up together, went through crises together, forming an unbreakable bond; as if someone enchanted their friendship with the minecraft book 'unbreakable III'. no matter what emotional rollercoasters their friendship went through, they still stayed strong and apologised to each other when they had to; confessed their wrongs to each other when they had to and generally threw their pride behind to maintain the friendship. almost all their friends and acquaintances envied their friendship.
"seonghwa hyung, can you tell me how you have such a good friendship with hongjoong hyung? i really need advice on me and yunho's friendship. it's like we break apart so many times but get back together. i don't get it. we can't maintain a stable friendship for fuck's sake." mingi asked for help as he desperately shook seonghwa's arms.
"you just have to throw your pride away. apologise when you did something wrong. be consistent with the affection and control your boundaries. if you went too far, apologise immediately and perhaps give the other some time to accept your apology. talk and listen to each other consistently too. it's as simple as that." seonghwa calmly stated as he watched dance covers on youtube.
"i don't think it's as simple as it sounds...both me and yunho have such huge prides it's honestly disturbing."
"talk it out. tell him what i said. it'll be a lot better, i promise. communication is key." seonghwa advised.
"thanks, hwa!" mingi thanked as he dropped the formalities, outraging seonghwa.
"you forgot the hyung you fucktard!" seonghwa yelled as mingi slammed seonghwa's door shut, showing no signs of regret or shame.
"that kid..." seonghwa sighed as he looked back down, focusing on the dance cover he was observing.
seonghwa and hongjoong not only helped mingi build a stable friendship with yunho, he also helped a lot of other friends who were having a friendship crisis. that was how powerful their friendship was.
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"hey joong," seonghwa called out as hongjoong immediately turned his head, shifting his attention to seonghwa, "i was wondering if we could go have dinner outside later? i don't want to cook."
"sure! whatever you want." hongjoong smiled as he turned his attention back to his laptop, where he was mindlessly creating random beats, trying to come up with a new song.
"let's go at 7, okay? dress up, jjoong." seonghwa said softly before he got up from the couch, walking to his room.
"okay!" hongjoong yelled as a response.
seonghwa was in his room, shuffling through his millions of choices of clothings. he was either going to wear something really hot or really cute. like a full black outfit or a pastel outfit. he decided to go with the full black, as he was feeling sexy that day.
he took his favourite leather jacket, one of his black tank tops and some black skinny jeans. he took a gucci belt to make the look seem richer.
the tank top captured his abs clearly, and the skinny jeans traced his leg muscles ethereally. he then took a pair of black socks, took a pair of dr. martens boots and walked out of his room.
"wow, hwa..you look so hot?" hongjoong tried to compliment, but it came out as a question instead.
"did you mean that?"
"yeah, i was just kinda shocked by your attire." hongjoong explained.
"it's alright, i get that i'm hot." seonghwa said as he cocked an eyebrow, smirking. deep inside, he was screaming. he didn't know why he got so excited from a compliment.
"jesus, i'll never compliment you ever again." hongjoong rolled his eyes and turn his back against seonghwa.
"c'mon, don't be such a baby. let's go." seonghwa ruffled hongjoong's hair. hongjoong felt a slight blush creep up his soft cheeks at the action. they linked arms and walked out of their dorm.
————
"have i ever told you that you're outfit is cute?" seonghwa said as he scanned hongjoong's pastel outfit; an oversized lavender sweater tucked into a pair of light blue jeans with white sneakers, paired with a light beige beret.
"t-thanks..." hongjoong stuttered at the sudden compliment. his heart started beating quickly, confusing hongjoong.
"we're here!" seonghwa smiled as he opened the door, revealing a stunning interior of a restaurant.
"woah...so cool..." hongjoong looked around, his eyes widening at the view. seonghwa just stared at hongjoong's big, doe irises wandering around, in awe.
"let's go have a seat." hongjoong smiled as he shook seonghwa, which brought seonghwa out of his trance.
"okay." seonghwa sheepishly mumbled as he followed hongjoong to the nearest table.
————
"the food is so..mmh!" hongjoong jumped up and down on his seat, feeling excited from the excellent taste of the meal served in front of him.
"glad you like it. it's really expensive!" seonghwa chuckled.
"your laugh is cute." hongjoong mumbled.
"what?" seonghwa was taken aback. his cheeks flushed red as he avoided eye contact.
"did i really say that out loud..?"
"yeah." seonghwa awkwardly answered. realisation struck hongjoong as he hid his face in his sweater paws, his entire face painted a shade of scarlet.
"i-it's okay, hongjoong." seonghwa tried to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"why did i say that out loud..." hongjoong slammed his head on the table, which caused the entire restaurant to turn their attention to hongjoong, including seonghwa.
"you're embarrassing yourself, joong.." seonghwa narrowed his eyes in embarrassment as he tapped hongjoong's shoulder.
hongjoong was overwhelmed by the embarrassment. he got up with messy bangs, letting his head collapse on the wall beside him.
"hongjoong-ah...it's okay...." seonghwa tried to comfort hongjoong.
"no it's not." hongjoong spat. seonghwa was supposed to find him annoying, but instead he thought hongjoong's little tantrum was cute.
"c'mon, no one's gonna remember."
"i don't know...." hongjoong sighed as he sat straight, staring at his plate, eyes filled with misery.
"please, it's not that big of a deal. eat up. the food will turn cold soon."
"stop acting like my mom." hongjoong tried to sound angry, but accidentally let out a giggle.
"you can never be angry at me. c'mon, eat up." seonghwa smiled as he took his fork as started twirling strips of spaghetti on it.
————
"there are bonus fortune cookies for us both. let's open it together?" seonghwa giggled as he asked, excitement painted all over his face.
"y-yeah, sure." hongjoong stuttered at the giggle.
seonghwa and hongjoong then proceeded to unpack the golden cookies. they both broke it at the same time and...
"cheesy but true. your soulmate is right in front of you. you have a crush on each other. fucktards." both boys read out loud at the same time.
"what." hongjoong narrowed his eyes as he skimmed though the paper slip again, making sure he was seeing things right.
"did this fortune cookie just cuss at me?" seonghwa's eyebrows furrowed, as both boys tried to avoid the actual topic of the paper.
"l-let's go home..?" hongjoong awkwardly asked.
"sure." seonghwa replied as they paid the bills and went.
————
"about the paper...." seonghwa trailed off as his ears painted red.
"let's not talk about that." hongjoong shyly replied as he shifted his gaze away from seonghwa, avoiding all eye contact.
"no, let's talk about that. communication is important. we can't let this one paper slip make us awkward. i don't want to lose you.."
"fine..." hongjoong sighed.
"why are you so reluctant to talk about it anyways?" seonghwa asked, which made hongjoong jump.
"uh......"
"tell me, it's alright." seonghwa softly rubbed hongjoong's arm, trying to comfort him, as he secretly anticipated a certain answer.
"let's talk about this tomorrow...i'm tired.." hongjoong lied as he tried to avoid the topic.
"okay then." seonghwa sighed as he didn't want to push hongjoong any further. they switched off the lights and called it a day.
————
hongjoong woke up before seonghwa. he broke out in sweat thinking of how he would tell seonghwa his actual feelings.
"should i just walk up to him and say hey sexy i love you? or should i just kiss him- nono.." hongjoong whispered in frustration as he grabbed his hair, rolling left and right on his bed.
seonghwa heard the mattress slowly dying so he went to hongjoong and saw him rolling around.
"you okay...?" seonghwa asked in confusion.
"no! i like you and i don't know how to say it!" hongjoong impulsively screamed as he almost ripped his hair off.
"you what..?" seonghwa asked. hongjoong's eyes widened as he stopped whatever he was doing.
"uh.." hongjoong said as he felt his whole body flush red.
"it's okay..." seonghwa said as he approached hongjoong, just to be pushed away.
"no! it's too embarrassing. how can we be normal friends now that you know i like you?" hongjoong cried as he hid his face in his palms.
"who says we have to stay friends?" seonghwa raised an eyebrow. hongjoong panicked, thinking seonghwa was going to abandon him.
"sorry.." hongjoong turned away.
"no, don't be." seonghwa said as he held hongjoong's chin, and turned hongjoong's head at his direction.
"what are you doing..?" hongjoong mumbled as he noticed the distance between his and seonghwa's faces. they were so close to the point where they could feel each other's breaths softly touching their skins.
"say no more bitch." seonghwa said cheekily as he pulled hongjoong in, their lips meeting.
hongjoong was stunned, not at all expecting this. he wasn't complaining though, so he kissed back.
and that's how they became boyfriends, all because of two fortune cookies.