Chapter Text
There were very few places where San could touch Wooyoung without first thinking about who might be watching.
Their dorms were among them.
It was one of the reasons Wooyoung liked visiting the dorm San shared with Seonghwa and Mingi. There were no cameras waiting for them there, no staff members unexpectedly walking into dressing rooms and no fans studying every interaction afterward. The members knew about their relationship, and after nearly two years, nobody reacted anymore when San curled around Wooyoung on the couch or Wooyoung wandered into the kitchen wearing one of San’s shirts.
That evening, Seonghwa had disappeared into his room while Mingi was out, leaving San and Wooyoung stretched across the couch together. Wooyoung had started with his head in San’s lap, but sometime during the last twenty minutes he had shifted until his legs were draped over San’s thighs instead.
San rested one hand casually against Wooyoung’s leg.
His fingers were close to the matching tattoo above Wooyoung’s knee.
Wooyoung noticed him looking at it.
“What?”
San traced one finger near the tattoo. “Nothing.”
“You’re staring at my leg.”
“I’ve seen your legs before.”
Wooyoung snorted. “Lucky you.”
San squeezed his knee.
Wooyoung immediately kicked at him, but San caught his leg before he could escape and laughed when Wooyoung tried unsuccessfully to pull away.
“Let go.”
“No.”
“Choi San.”
“Jung Wooyoung.”
Wooyoung narrowed his eyes.
San smiled.
It was ridiculous how easily that smile could still get to him.
They had known each other for years. They had spent so much of their adult lives together that Wooyoung sometimes struggled to remember what his life had felt like before San became such a permanent part of it. Somewhere along the way, friendship had turned into something else, although neither of them had been able to pinpoint exactly when it happened.
Their relationship had been private from the beginning.
Wooyoung understood why.
ATEEZ belonged to the public in ways that ordinary people never had to consider. Fans noticed everything. A glance could become a hundred slowed-down videos online. A touch could inspire thousands of comments. Their friendship had already been analyzed for years, and neither San nor Wooyoung wanted something precious between them turned into something everyone else believed they were entitled to dissect.
So they kept it for themselves.
Their members knew. Their families knew. A few people they trusted knew.
Wooyoung had never needed more than that.
San finally released his leg, only for Wooyoung to deliberately place it back across San’s lap.
San stared at him.
“You just fought me to get away.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet you love me.”
San didn’t hesitate.
“Very much.”
The teasing answer Wooyoung had been preparing disappeared.
San did that sometimes. He said things so simply and sincerely that Wooyoung forgot how to make a joke out of them.
Wooyoung’s expression softened. “I love you too.”
San leaned over and kissed him.
It was brief and familiar, the kind of kiss that didn’t need to become anything more. When San pulled away, Wooyoung remained close enough that their shoulders touched.
For several minutes, they sat quietly.
Then Wooyoung suddenly sat upright.
“I’ve been thinking.”
San groaned.
Wooyoung slapped his shoulder. “Why do you always act terrified when I say that?”
“Experience.”
“Shut up.”
San laughed. “Okay. What have you been thinking about?”
Wooyoung shifted so he was facing him properly.
“We should have our own YouTube channel.”
San blinked.
“Our own what?”
“YouTube channel.”
“I heard you.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Because I’m trying to understand why you’ve suddenly decided we need one.”
“Because it would be fun.”
That answer apparently wasn’t enough for San because he continued staring at him.
Wooyoung became more animated as he explained. “Think about it. We could do whatever we wanted. Well, not whatever we wanted because obviously the company would still have opinions, but we could make something that’s ours. We could go places, try things, eat, travel, do challenges. We could just talk if we wanted.”
“We already talk constantly.”
“Exactly. People like listening to us.”
“That says concerning things about people.”
Wooyoung shoved him.
San laughed again.
“You know it’s a good idea.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was not.”
“You make a face when you’re doubting me.”
“I make a face because you regularly give me reasons to doubt you.”
Wooyoung gasped dramatically.
From somewhere down the hallway, Seonghwa called, “Whatever you’re doing, don’t break anything.”
“We’re not doing anything!” Wooyoung shouted.
“That’s usually when I become concerned!”
San covered his mouth to keep from laughing too loudly.
Wooyoung glared toward the hallway before returning his attention to him.
“Anyway, I think we should do it.”
San could tell Wooyoung wasn’t merely throwing out another random idea now. There was excitement in his expression, the particular brightness San had learned to recognize whenever Wooyoung found something he genuinely wanted.
San smiled.
“Okay.”
Wooyoung paused. “Okay?”
“Let’s do it.”
The grin that immediately spread across Wooyoung’s face made San laugh.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Wooyoung practically launched himself at him.
San barely had time to brace himself before an arm wrapped around his shoulders.
“You’re going to regret agreeing this quickly.”
“I already do.”
“Too late.”
San wrapped his arms around Wooyoung anyway.
“You realize Hongjoong-hyung is probably going to ask what exactly we plan to do on this channel.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“That’s not a plan.”
“It’s the beginning of a plan.”
“That’s barely a sentence.”
Wooyoung pulled back and glared at him.
San smiled.
Then Wooyoung’s expression shifted as another idea apparently occurred to him.
“We could ask the members what they think we should do.”
San nodded. “That’s probably smarter.”
“We could talk about ideas during the first video too.”
“That would actually make sense.”
Wooyoung stared at him suspiciously. “Did you just say one of my ideas makes sense?”
“Don’t get used to it.”
Wooyoung reached for a cushion.
San immediately caught his wrist.
Their wrestling lasted less than a minute before Seonghwa appeared in the doorway.
He looked at them.
Then at the cushion on the floor.
Then back at them.
“I specifically said not to break anything.”
“We didn’t,” Wooyoung said.
“Yet,” San added.
Wooyoung elbowed him.
Seonghwa sighed and walked away.
San waited until he disappeared before whispering, “We’re definitely getting kicked out.”
“This is your dorm.”
“That won’t stop him.”
Wooyoung laughed.
San watched him for a moment longer.
He liked seeing Wooyoung this excited.
The channel wasn’t real yet. They hadn’t talked to everyone who needed to approve it. They didn’t know exactly what it would look like or how often they’d film.
But Wooyoung had already begun listing possibilities on his phone.
San leaned closer to see.
“Cooking?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to make me cook?”
“Obviously.”
“Why?”
“Content.”
San shook his head.
Wooyoung continued typing.
“Traveling. Eating. Maybe some challenges. We could invite people.”
“You’ve thought about this more than you’re admitting.”
“Maybe.”
San rested his chin against Wooyoung’s shoulder.
Wooyoung smiled but continued typing.
Neither of them noticed that San’s hand had settled against Wooyoung’s thigh again, just beneath the tattoo above his knee.
To Wooyoung, the touch was so familiar that he barely registered it.
That tattoo had never been something he needed to think about.
It was simply there.
A small permanent reminder of someone who had become permanent in his life long before they ever called each other boyfriends.
Wooyoung glanced down at San’s hand and then toward San.
“Do you know what I like most about this?”
“What?”
“It’ll be ours.”
San’s expression softened.
Wooyoung didn’t mean their relationship.
He meant the channel.
Something they could create together. Something different from their schedules as eight members while still being connected to everything they loved about ATEEZ.
San understood anyway.
“Then let’s make it ours.”
Wooyoung smiled.
⸻
The idea didn’t disappear overnight.
If anything, Wooyoung became more determined.
By the time he returned to the dorm he shared with Hongjoong and Jongho, he had already added several more ideas to the list on his phone.
Hongjoong was sitting at the table with his laptop when Wooyoung entered.
“You’re late.”
“I’m an adult.”
“That wasn’t an accusation.”
“It sounded like one.”
Hongjoong glanced up.
Wooyoung was smiling at his phone.
That immediately made Hongjoong suspicious.
“What did San do?”
Wooyoung looked offended. “Why does everyone assume everything has something to do with San?”
Jongho’s voice came from the couch.
“Because it usually does.”
Wooyoung turned.
Jongho didn’t even look away from his phone.
“You’re both annoying.”
Hongjoong closed his laptop halfway. “So what happened?”
Wooyoung dropped into the chair across from him.
“I had an idea.”
Hongjoong’s expression became wary.
Wooyoung pointed at him. “San did the exact same thing.”
“That doesn’t reassure me.”
“I think San and I should start a YouTube channel together.”
That got Jongho’s attention.
He looked over.
Hongjoong studied Wooyoung for several seconds.
“A channel just for you and San?”
“Yes.”
“What would you do?”
Wooyoung grinned.
“That’s what we’re figuring out.”
Jongho snorted.
Hongjoong looked unsurprised.
“We have ideas,” Wooyoung insisted. “We’re going to talk about it properly. I think it could be really fun.”
Hongjoong’s expression softened slightly.
Wooyoung was practically glowing.
“Then talk to the company about it.”
Wooyoung blinked. “That’s it?”
“What were you expecting?”
“A lecture.”
“I can give you one if you’d prefer.”
“No, thank you.”
Jongho finally put his phone down. “Are the rest of us going to be forced to appear?”
“Yes.”
“I regret supporting this.”
“You didn’t support anything.”
“Good. Then we’re clear.”
Wooyoung laughed.
Later, when Wooyoung disappeared toward his room, Hongjoong looked at Jongho.
“He’s really excited.”
Jongho nodded.
Neither of them knew yet what the channel would become.
They certainly couldn’t have known that something conceived with so much excitement would eventually become tangled with one of the most painful periods of Wooyoung and San’s relationship.
For now, it was simply Wooyoung’s idea.
Something he wanted to create with his best friend.
With the man he loved.
And when Wooyoung climbed into bed that night, his phone was still open to the list of things he and San could someday do together.
There were already more than twenty ideas.
Getting another tattoo wasn’t one of them.
Not yet.