Work Text:
"Hey! Get out of the way!" Complained, the boy who he just learned was Ni-ki recently.
Ni-ki shoved past him moving past. Ni-ki didn't even look back to notice what he did. The shove caused him to get the two drinks he was holding all over him. They were milkshakes. All over his clothes.
He had just made him and Hanbin a milkshake. It was a reward for them after all the dance practice they had done today.
And now that drink was all over him and the floor. He needed to clean up but first he needed to get to Hanbin .
He walked over to this friend.
"Sunoo," Hanbin looked down, "there is milkshake all over your clothes."
"Yeah there is milkshake on my clothes," he complained. Rolling his eyes, Hanbin was stating the obvious.
"Why?"
"It's that Ni-ki! He just pushed past me without even thinking!" He huffed.
"No need to get so angry," Hanbin scolded him.
"I will get angry, Habin. He literally shouted at me to get out of the way while shoving past me," he was fuming now.
"Let's clean you up, I am sure he has his reasons," explained Hanbin, his explanation calmed him down.
Hanbin was right. Ni-ki might have been having a bad day and accidentally took it out on him. He took a breathe to calm down. No point getting angry, Ni-ki was younger than him after all.
He changed his clothes and remade the milkshake for the two of them. He wasn't going to let Ni-ki ruin his day.
It was only a week until Ni-ki annoyed him again. This time it was during practice. He was just practicing the moves.
Ni-ki was going around helping everyone out. And when he eventually arrived at him. Ni-ki looked at him up and down. And then huffed and straight up ignored him. What on earth, he had been struggling with the dance too.
He then watched Ni-ki walk over and help someone else. Sunghoon was looking at him confused.
"Why didn't he help you?" Sunghoon asked.
"I think he hates me," he laughed nervously.
"Ni-ki? Hates you? I don't think so."
"He helped everyone but me," he complained to Sunghoon.
"Maybe he just thinks you don't need help? Maybe you have already perfected it," he watched as Sunghoon attempted the next move in the dance.
"He saw me doing the wrong move, Hyung. And helped Heeseung and K who are better than me at dancing," he disagreed with Sunghoon.
He didn't know how to feel about Ni-ki. Did he hold some sort of grudge against him. What had he done wrong? Maybe he had upset Ni-ki in some sort of way.
Ni-ki continued to act like this towards him. Ignoring him. Scowling him. Staring at him.
The next notable time Ni-ki behaved in this way was after he had gotten first place in the popularity contest. He had just moved into the first place bed and was having a look around the room.
"I will take first place from you," Ni-ki then stood up and walked away. Ni-ki had stated this in front of everyone.
K laughed, "What's up with him?"
Sunghoon laughed, "it's just how Ni-ki acts towards Sunoo."
Heeseung looked confused, "He acts like that to Sunoo? I have never seen Ni-ki behave like that."
"He does that to Sunoo," teased Sunghoon.
"Haha, very funny Hyung," Sunoo sighed sitting down in his bed.
The rest of the contestants laughed it off but they were not the ones that had to live with Ni-ki's behaviour. There was no point getting mad it was a waste of time and effort. He did get frustrated of it though.
---
This behaviour continued even when he became part of Enhypen.
And it was only getting worse. He was getting messages now. Little pieces of paper tucked between his clothes. He never saw Ni-ki place them, he did try and catch him in the act. It never worked out. Ni-ki was always more sneaky.
These messages had things written on them.
"I will be the best."
"Stop distracting me," this message was strange.
"You are so..." Something was crossed out and the word "annoying" replaced it.
He had hundreds of these little messages. He kept them all. He didn't know what else to do with them. He kept them in a small box under his bed. They were endearing after a while, the words lost their meaning. He found it rather cute in actuality.
His most recent one was written in Japanese and looked far longer it was a letter, he of course couldn't understand what it meant. This one he needed a translator, so it was good that he knew people who are Japanese.
&Teams dorm wasn't that far away. So he just headed over.
He walked over with his little box, to Taki, who was sitting with the rest of &team. They were discussing their most recent performance.
"Taki can I request you to do something?" he bounced over to Taki.
"Yeah what is it?" The rest of &team were looking over curiously at what was happening.
He opened the box and took out the letter.
EJ interrupted what he was doing, "What's in there?"
"Ni-ki's messages to me," he smiled.
They all made a 'oooo' noise and opened the box taking a look at the messages written inside.
"Wow, Sunoo there are so many," EJ was surprised.
EJ turned over one of the messages to see what was written, "Sunoo?"
"Yes?"
"Are these all... Like this?" Nicholas worried.
K was having a look at them as well. Giving some of the messages a read.
"When did he do this?" K was being serious now.
"After I got the first place bed."
"That was so long ago when we were in i-land," laughed EJ
"This is bad," K spoke finishing reading some of the messages.
He decided to explain the situation he didn't want &team misinterpret it, "you are taking this far too seriously. Ni-ki never is mean in these messages. He never insults me. And well he does even..."
"So Ni-ki has been giving you these messages since i-land?" Asked K off topic.
"Yes I guess," he thought, he was embrassed thinking about it now.
"So what were you asking for?" Taki was suddenly reminded of why Sunoo was here.
He hands Taki the letter that Ni-ki had written.
"Ni-ki wrote something in Japanese and I hardly know any Japanese."
The rest of &team huddled together as a group that debuted in Japan they all knew Japanese. He watched them as all 9 of them read the letter. He watched as the white left their faces.
They looked up when they finished reading the letter.
"What does it say? Does it say the usual things?" He was so curious now.
Taki handed him back the letter.
"I think you need to speak to Ni-ki," Taki told him.
"You kept all of them?" K asked.
"Yes they have the dates on the back of them on the day he gave them to me," it was embarrassing when K said it like that!
"Yeah you need to talk to Ni-ki," K smiled.
---
He didn't speak to Ni-ki. He tried to pretend like things were normal.
Ni-ki had stopped his weird behaviour years ago. The messages were the only things that were left from that time. He loved all the new messages they were not even mean anymore.
They were compliments. It went from telling him to leave to complimenting him. K and Nicholas didn't even see those messages. They only saw the old ones.
It made his day every time he found one. Hidden away. He always searched for them. It was an addiction.
Recently he hasn't got any. He has been looking for them everywhere. But no nothing.
He has been feeling off ever since. He misses the messages. He misses Ni-ki.
The members were starting to notice. He hasn't been able to sleep properly since then. The it was a comfort for 6 years straight and now it was gone. He wanted the feeling again.
He didn't even know what was written in the letter. He just had to check Google translate. It wasn't the most accurate but at this point he had to know what was written in the letter.
To Sunoo,
I think I have fallen for you. And I have fallen so badly. I can't stop looking at you. You are such a distraction in practice.
You are so beautiful. So pretty. So handsome. I love your face and your lips. Everything about you is so beautiful.
I keep looking at your lips wanting to kiss them. Kiss your worries away.
Your are a sunshine. You bright up every room you are in. You mean everything to me.
I am sorry about the things I did when I was younger. I wasn't sure about my feelings, I didn't know that I was in love. And my first response was to panic and try and push my feelings away. And you were the one who got the consequences of that.
I have finally accepted my feelings and that you won't reciprocate them to me. Hopefully I will finally get over you.
For now however I will look at you at a distance.
I love you Sunoo. In a romantic way.
From,
Riki Nishimura.
He needed to find him. Translation apps have gotten better over the years. And if he is judging &teams reaction to the letter this was accurate enough.
Where was Ni-ki? The one time he needed him he couldn't find him.
He searched everywhere. He wasn't in his room. He wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. He looked all around the rest of the dorms not there.
Wait he was having a weverse stream with the fans. Jungwon was there with him.
He went down the stairs. Into the room they did the streams and fan calls. He spotted the table that they were sat on and walked over quickly.
"Hey look Sunoo is here!" Jungwon smiled.
Ni-ki looked over at him and was looking at his face.
"I can see that Jungwon," Ni-ki stated.
"The fans can't see him. We need to tell the Engenes."
He decided he wouldn't go on camera.
"Hello," he watched as the chat went wild because he had appeared.
"Can I steal Ni-ki from the Engenes? Only for 5 minutes."
Jungwon looked a bit surprised by the question.
"Right now Hyung?" Jungwon asked.
He smiled trying not to seem desperate, "yes?"
"Okay," Jungwon was looking at the staff. It didn't matter to him. He needed Ni-ki more. He would deal with the trouble he may get in later.
He reached out his hand to Ni-ki and it appeared on camera. Ni-ki quickly grabbed it, but in a cool way. Slapping it and pulling himself up.
"Let's go Hyung," Ni-ki grinned.
He quickly pulled him away and walked out the room quickly. He found the first available room. And opened the door and closed it behind him.
It was a cleaning closet. Their were cleaning equipment everywhere. It was very cramped.
"Sunoo... What? Why are we in here?"
He got his box out which he was carrying with him this entire time. He opened it and Ni-ki could see all the pieces of paper inside.
Ni-ki still looked confused. He opened one of the pieces of paper and read it out loud.
"Leave the compition."
Ni-ki's face went white.
"Hyung," Ni-ki mumbled, "I didn't mean too..."
He opened up the letter and showed Ni-ki his own letter.
"I am sorry, it was just a jumble of my feelings. I hope we can still be friends."
"You are such an idiot Ni-ki."
"I love you too," he smiled.
"You do?"
"Yes little duckling," he laughed.
"In a romantic way?"
"In a romantic way."
Ni-ki looked totally stunned. Maybe he didn't fully realise what was happening.
He decided to be honest, "will you be my boyfriend Ni-ki?"
Ni-ki made a whining confused noise. It was very cute.
"... Yes?"
He smiled, "okay. That's what I wanted to talk about."
"I am sorry Hyung about the past," Ni-ki was getting upset again trying to get through a apology.
"Ni-ki I am over it. You were cute. I found it endearing if anything. I kept all your notes because I love them, I can't live with out them," he pulled Ni-ki into a hug.
They stood there for a while.
Ni-ki whispered into his ear, "I love you."
He smiled, "I love you too, babe"
Ni-ki's face went all red.
"Okay you need to go back to the live," he sighed.
Ni-ki groaned, "one more minute."
They stood there for a while longer. He then held Ni-ki's hand and they both begrudgingly went back to the live room.
They walked towards Jungwon who was sitting there.
"They are back Engenes," Jungwon beamed. Jungwon was glad that he wouldn't have to continue to entertain the Engenes by himself.
He let go off Ni-ki's hand and Ni-ki was smiling. And Ni-ki sat down in his seat. He was so happy and Ni-ki was so happy.
"Why are we smiling?" Jungwon was even more confused.
"We will tell you later Jungwon but for now it will stay between us," he looked at Ni-ki.