"You're already perfect, Soonyoung."

Those were the words that ended up leaving Jihoon's mouth before he could stop them. Those were words that often stayed in his thoughts; things he wished to keep to himself. But watching him now, Jihoon knew that those words needed to be said to him. He'd just wished he had thought the situation through before he'd spoken.

Soonyoung, who had stopped dancing, stood in one place without a word, frozen by Jihoon's as it ran on repeat like a record in his mind. He wanted to say something in response, something Jihoon wouldn't expect as well, but instead, one word left his mouth.

"Jihoonie."

"Hoshi," the boy said softly; something more of a greeting he returned as he assumed that was why his name was uttered from the blonde's lips.

A familiar grin made way to Soonyoung's face which earned a brief smile from Jihoon. But by the time Soonyoung noticed it, it was gone and the smaller boy hoped that it had gone completely unnoticed by the other unaware that it had already been seen.

Because little did Jihoon know that any little thing Jihoon did never once went unnoticed by Soonyoung.

His grin had now faded into a small smile as he spoke softly, "What brought you here today, Hoonie? We have the day off."

Jihoon looked away as he mumbled, "I could ask you the same thing. I came here to practice the dance and the song together."

This seemed to surprise the other. For as long as he has k known Jihoon, he knew the boy had never done this before. He never practiced both the song and the dance together alone in the practice room.

At that exact moment, Soonyoung recalled Jihoon's early nights where he ended up exhausted in the morning, seeming to confuse the rest of the members, but as it was Jihoon, they never really questioned it.

"This isn't your first time doing this, is it, Jihoonie?" Soonyoung found himself asking, taking a small step forward toward the smaller, fairly quiet boy and reached his hand out as he brushed a strand of hair from his eye.

Glaring at him, Jihoon gently hit his hand away.

"What do you think you're doing, Hoshi?" Jihoon demanded to know as Soonyoung took a step back into his previous spot and smiled.

"I have a proposal for you," Soonyoung suddenly said with a mischievous glint in the boy's eyes that seemed to spark Jihoon's curiosity; whether he liked it or not.

So he looked Soonyoung in the eye for the first time in a long time.

"Let's hear it then, Mr Arrogant," Jihoon said, surprising the both of them as a smirk made way to his features. Though, Soonyoung still couldn't tell what he was feeling as his eyes never shifted from their blank, emotionless wall.

"If you can do the full dance and the song together without making one mistake, you can have the entire practice room to yourself for the rest of the day without any interruptions; I'd personally make sure of it."

Jihoon nodded, liking the challenge already.

"What were to happen if I did make a mistake?" Jihoon asked, wanting to hear the punishment Soonyoung had in store.

"I get to take you out for the day as a 'Let's relax' gift."

Jihoon's smirk grew at this point and the two of them ended up shaking hands. Secretly, neither of them wanting to release.

But instead, they chorused, "It's a deal," and let go of each other's hands.

Jihoon was confident he would win. And Soonyoung was confident that Jihoon would win as well.

* * *

"Jihoonie ~ Don't look so upset!" Soonyoung exclaimed as the two of them walked along the shore of the beach, barefoot and shoes in hand.

In the end, Jihoon had made the smallest of small mistakes that would usually go unnoticed by others, but of course, Soonyoung being the choreographer with his amazing observation skills, noticed immediately and had called Jihoon out on it triumphantly.

Soonyoung proceeded to tell Jihoon to get changed and met him outside the dorm.

When Jihoon had gotten there, he'd found Soonyoung leaning against the wall in a pair of ripped jean shorts that ended by his knee, a half white, half black sweater Jihoon recalled him wearing during one of their dance practices and a pair of worn out black vans. He stood so calmly and relaxed with his hands in his pockets and his head was covered in a beanie that suited him.

Jihoon had settled on a ripped jean, plain black sweater and his pure black all stars. He felt both under dressed and unsure considering he had no idea where they were going at the time.

Soonyoung wasn't over dressed, but Jihoon found himself thinking that Soonyoung was dressed quite well.

When Soonyoung had looked up at him, Jihoon froze, but only for a brief moment.

So now they walked along the beach which was unusually empty. He suppressed shivers and found himself regretting the decision of leaving his beanie and jacket in the room.

"Why the beach, Hoshi?" Jihoon asked, filling the silence as he glanced down at the shoes in his hand before averting his gaze to the water.

"It's peaceful and calming," Soonyoung explained n reply. However, the reply wasn't what Jihoon had been expecting.

"Hoshi."

Soonyoung looked at the smaller boy and suddenly laughed very softly.

"You looked like you needed some time to think so I thought 'why not the beach?' It usually helps me to think," the older boy explained, accidentally making eye contact with the younger and he grinned, his eyes practically closed.

Not knowing how to respond, Jihoon silently stared at Soonyoung.

So many thoughts consumed him in that moment. And how did the older boy know that Jihoon had wanted to think; get his thoughts in order.

That was, after all, why he often practiced alone: to think, get his thoughts together.

There had been so much things on his mind lately that he'd nearly broken down thrice before going to bed, but he managed to control it. Nobody ever really noticed how he would be so out of it and how he needed to think and he was quite okay with that. But here comes this blonde boy with the 10:10 smile who rarely spoke to him and he somehow just knew. He knew when nobody else did.

This alone made Jihoon worry.

He was worried that maybe he wasn't hiding his emotions correctly or enough and maybe he was showing it without knowing. That was something he definitely didn't want.

He didn't need to be dampening everyone else's moods with his own feelings.

As they walked along the shore with their feet now touching the water as the waves rolled in, Jihoon thought about things similar to that. His thoughts then proceeded to branch off into other things which inevitably found its way to things about Soonyoung. This alone caused the smaller boy to become flustered.

Unaware of this, Soonyoung glanced at him, head tilted as he asked Jihoon, "Do you want to get an ice-cream?"

When Jihoon looked at Soonyoung, the latter grinned and gestured to the ice-cream cart nearby.

Shrugging, he replied softly, "Sure."

"Great," came Soonyoung's response before he gently grabbed Jihoon's sleeve and guided him, like a mother would a child, to the ice-cream cart.

"What would you like today?" a familiar voice asked, but they didn't think much of it as Soonyoung placed an order without bothering to ask Jihoon and not letting go of Jihoon's sleeve which made the other nervous for some unknown reason, he assumed as he looked at the boy who, after all this time, still remembered his favourite flavour ice-cream.

And he looked toward the ice-cream guy with the familiar voice after hearing Soonyoung gasp and what he saw shocked him too.

"DK?" they both exclaimed, eyes meeting at this before they both looked at the guy in front of them who's eyes were wide with evident shock and disbelief.

It was obvious he didn't want anyone, especially his fellow members, to see him there.

He tried to play it off coolly as he handed the two their ice-creams, attempting (and failing) a smirk as he looked at them and asked, "On a date are we?"

When Jihoon's eyes narrowed on him, he was quick to raise his hands and repeatedly say that he was just joking which Jihoon didn't believe and he would have attempted t hurt the other if Soonyoung weren't holding him back by his sleeve. Yes, he still hadn't let go.

Soonyoung looked at him.

"Seokmin," Jihoon said monotonously, making said guy freeze. It was always bad when Jihoon decided to use your real name in moments like this.

Soonyoung had now looked to Jihoon, wishing the younger would say his real name like he did with DK, but in different circumstances of course.

"Please don't tell any of the others!" DK exclaimed softly and Soonyoung swore he looked desperate enough that he would go on his knees; something he nearly did as Jihoon continued to look at him emotionlessly and eerily.

"One condition," Soonyoung said.

"Anything."

"Tell us why you're working here."

And then, DK was flustered and blushing and spluttering incoherent sentences and Jihoon was giving his all to stay still and not strangle him. Soonyoung calmed him down and encouraged him to continue.

DK sighed, knowing they wouldn't give up as both boys were persistent.

"I'm raising money to take my girlfriend out."