a/n: this song fits this chapter hehe have fun reading <3

sunoo woke up to the rhythmic breaths of ni-ki beside him, the muffled sounds mixed with tiny snores. 

his long arms were around sunoo's body, his perfect lips somehow forming a small smile as he slept.

hardly daring to breathe, sunoo watched ni-ki's eyelashes flutter as he opened his eyes.

noticing the older staring, he chuckled.

"am i that handsome?" he teased, yawning.

sunoo smirked. "since when did i say that?" he made his eyes big and innocent.

ni-ki snorted and rolled over, to hover above him.

and then they were looking into each other's eyes again, sunoo falling deeper into the tempting spiral of longing for kisses and physical contact from his dongsaeng.

"r-riki nishimura. what do you think you're doing?" sunoo tried scolding him, but his voice failed him, wavering on his first name.

ni-ki pinned his wrists to the bed, his eyes gleaming, not moving even when sunoo tried to struggle out of his hold. 

it's not that i'm weaker, i'm just weary in the mornings... sunoo tried convincing himself, not wanting to admit that his boyfriend, although younger, was more powerful between the two of them.

to be honest, it felt both limiting yet really good to be less dominant. 

for example, ni-ki would tell him to relax while planting soft and hard kisses all over his neck, sending pleasurable shivers through him, but he would also tell him to not make any noise until he told him to, which annoyed him to the brink. 

"what?" ni-ki hissed, snapping sunoo back to the present. "am i not allowed to shower my boyfriend with love?"

sunoo leaned back onto the pillow at the sound of ni-ki's loving tone, edged with a small amount of longing and power. 

"ni-ki..." he warned.

"just one kiss?" the younger begged, puckering his lips teasingly. sunoo sighed at him, exasperated, but gave in. 

as always.

"fine."

ni-ki smiled gratefully and wasted no time leaning down and kissing him.  

sunoo enjoyed how ni-ki wasn't giving his all, yet still lazily sweeping his tongue over his lips.

when ni-ki drew away, sunoo wriggled out of his grasp, breathless. "we have a live to get to, remember?"

♥

"hi, we're sunoo and ni-ki from enhypen!" sunoo chirped excitedly, and ni-ki smiled, looking flustered for some reason. beside them, jake and heeseung waved.

"we're ramyeonz!" heeseung stated proudly, before starting to giggle after jake gave the camera a thumbs up.

"ni-ki and i wanted to cook ramyeon ourselves but some people insisted that they join us..." teasingly, sunoo rolled his eyes at heeseung.

jake protested, "woah! ni-ki was the one who offered!" he chuckled, glancing at the maknae who shrugged at sunoo apologetically and grinned.

they were sitting according to age, so ni-ki was at the left, heeseung at the right, with sunoo and jake between them. a pot sat in front of them, along with a few packets of ramyeon, plus banana milk for all of them, since both heeseung and ni-ki wanted it.

"wanna start, jake?" heeseung nudged the aussie boy, excitement glowing in his gentle doe eyes. so, they started, ramyeonz cooking the noodles while sunoo and ni-ki read through the comments. 

"what does jake mean to heeseung, and vice versa?" ni-ki called suddenly, and sunoo glanced up, also curious. 

"well, engenes always say we look quite similar... so i kind of think of him as my brother?" jake laughed, his puppy eyes gleaming sweetly.

"jake is someone who i would stay up until midnight to eat with," heeseung decided, smirking.

"what about sunoo and riki?" ni-ki murmured after a stretch of silence, reading off of the comments.

oh, ni-ki, why would you do this to us?

alarmed, he glanced at ni-ki, warning him not to say anything funny. fortunately, his own worry was found reflected in the younger's eyes.

we can't let anyone know we're dating, yet.

so ni-ki blurted, "he's an annoying hyung, but i trust him a lot. he knows me so much better than i do."

after that statement, he shot sunoo a sly gaze. sunoo got the message. diss each other so their fans wouldn't suspect anything, and act normal.

engenes thought they were a constantly bickering pair of best friends. which they were, but their fans were not aware of the small and slow pecks they gave each other before they slept, arms wrapped around each other.

they weren't aware of the way ni-ki whispered reassurances into sunoo's ear every single night as they worried and worried about whether they would be found out.

so he opened his mouth to speak, but only praises came out. "i think he's charming and someone i can count on. he's a really mature boy, and i'm really very glad he's my f-friend."

he stumbled over the last word, nearly saying 'boyfriend'. 

panic swept over him. would engenes notice that? they seemed to notice every single thing that went on between him and ni-ki that was filmed or live.

an awkward silence followed, until ni-ki grinned. "thanks, hyung,"

sunoo felt his cheeks heat up and he murmured, "always."

how is ni-ki so calm? i've got to put my trust in him, i guess...

"the ramyeon is ready!" heeseung cut into the awkwardness with his announcement, passing sunoo and ni-ki a bowl for them to share.

for the rest of the live, they ate and talked. heeseung and jake chatted nonstop, for they always had something to say to each other. 

but halfway through, while they were having their own conversation, sunoo felt ni-ki's hand snake down towards his hand. at the sudden touch, he jumped and choked on his drink, covering his mouth.

"s-sorry! i choked!" sunoo spluttered when heeseung stared at him in surprise. 

ni-ki squeezed sunoo's hand under the table, sending tingles up his arm. warmth spread across his cheeks when his dongsaeng caressed each of his fingers, an innocent blank look in his eyes.

he didn't let go until the live ended.

♥

"sunoo?"

sunoo looked over his shoulder, to see ni-ki enter the bathroom at the company building. they had finished their live and a vocal lesson for the maknae line of enhypen, in which sunoo had worn himself out and was now very tired.

sunoo ignored him and continued scrutinising his reflection in the huge mirror above the sinks.

"ugh, sunoo," ni-ki scowled, walking closer, making sunoo back away from him until he felt his back press against the wall. he always felt so tiny when ni-ki trapped him in his arms, placing one on each side of sunoo's head.

"stop looking at yourself. you have absolutely no flaws, both inside and outside," ni-ki whispered, ending with a smirk.

sunoo flushed, shrinking backwards under the younger's intense gaze.

"anyways, sunoo hyung, it was so dangerous just now. if our fans find out we're... dating... it would ruin our group's reputation."

uncertainty filled ni-ki's hushed voice, making sunoo tear up.

he loved being an idol, he really did, but there were times when he wished, with every fiber of his being, that they could have an alternate life.

no stress about people disapproving of their relationship, and more time for each other.

he let out a shaky sigh, not even trying to hold back the tears that dripped down his cheeks.

"sunoo, hyung, don't cry, please," ni-ki pleaded, his own eyes glossing over as if he would cry as well. but he didn't, and instead kissed away the tears lingering on sunoo's cheeks.

"they can't know, kim sunoo," he whispered, his voice cracking.

"i know, but i still love you," sunoo sobbed, pressing his face to his dongsaeng's chest.

"i can't not love you, and i know what we need to do, and i expect that you know as well," he continued, knowing his breaths were unstable and that ni-ki was also trying his best to hold back on tears.

"we need to stay away from each other when we're filming, or on v-lives. we'll only interact should it be completely necessary," ni-ki murmured, while planting soft kisses on sunoo's forehead.

sunoo closed his eyes, inhaling ni-ki's soothing fragrance. the fact that he wouldn't be able to secretly hold hands under the table, or have ni-ki's arm around his shoulder when they filmed, hurt him so much.

"no matter what, hyung, i'll always be here for you, alright?" came ni-ki's voice, deep and calming, in his ear.

"okay."

sunoo drew away, wiping the last of his tears from his eyes, wishing it didn't have to be that way, that they could interact freely.

it was better to be safe rather than sorry, though.

and he could tell ni-ki felt the same way, from the sad and pained look they exchanged as they stared into each other's eyes.

a/n: 

:c

a possible theory of why we aren't getting sunki selcas/ vlives ?? HAHA /j

but when we get one i will literally breakdown, i miss them so much <33

anyways remember to comment about how this chapter was and vote if you liked this chapter!!

love you all <3