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San sat down in seat E9, the exact middle of the movie theater—his favorite seat in the entire room. It was a strategic move, calculated through trial and error of where the perfect middle of this specific room lies. He never booked different auditoriums, it had to be the third door to the left. Whatever movie was playing, he didn't care. He always chose the same room. He would perform various tests, coming nearly every week to try a new seat until finally, he found it.
The seat with the perfect view to comfort ratio.
By the fourth visit, the young boy at the concessions had learned his name and order by heart. He'd start bagging the large popcorn with extra butter and have it waiting right next to his cherry slushie as soon as he saw San's large frame enter the front doors.
This Friday, San had entered the cinema with a wide grin on his face. He had found the seat on his last experiment and couldn't wait to get settled in for the next best two and a half hours of his week.
When he arrived at the ticketing and concession counter, Jongho had his order waiting, movie ticket in hand. "Hyung, seems like it will be an empty showing this time. Have fun." He tilted his head to the side as he observed San's red long sleeve and white pants. It was unusual for San to wear anything other than his comfort shirt and sweatpants—a light gray matching set that was soft to the touch. But today was not an ordinary day.
It was Valentine's day. San's favorite day of the year. And this time, he would get to watch a movie in his favorite seat in his favorite theater. It couldn't get any better than this, San mused, lips forming a pout the longer Jongho held onto the ticket.
Jongho relented, handing over the piece of paper. San beamed and picked up his treats. "Thank you again, Jongho." He dragged out the last vowel and continued down the hall, tossing a, "See you later!" to the poor man still working.
Now settled in, he finally looked down to the ticket. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days was printed, a western movie that he had seen dozens of times before.
A small squeal erupted from him, his form doing a slight shimmy in his seat. He shoveled a handful of popcorn in his mouth to contain it. Just as he brought his straw to his mouth, the lights dimmed, the screen stretched to its full view, and the commercials began.
San always got to the movie 20 minutes before the designated screening time so that he could see the previews, arguably one of the best parts of coming to the movies. At least… San believed so.
Thirty minutes later, the previews finally ended, and the lights lowered all the way, the room flooding with a darkness that sent a shiver down San's spine, a tingle that always stayed with him afterwards.
But just as the screen erupted with color, the door to the room swung open and two figures walked in. They chatted as they came in, giggles erupting from the smaller of the two. San clinched his hands in a ball, a tiny huff escaping him as the opening scene started. He tried his best to focus straight ahead, head tilted back and feet propped up by the chairs recliner.
The two men are closer now, starting to walk onto San's row. They stopped right beside him and the short one sat right next to San.
Right. Next. To. Him.
What the fuck. San's eyebrows furrowed. Who chose to sit next to a stranger in a totally empty movie theater? These guys apparently.
Although, now that San thought about it, he did have the best seat in the entire room, so maybe he should be more understanding. Maybe they wanted to be in the middle too. So San decided to focus on the illustrious Andie Anderson and ignore the woodsy scent wafting off of the man beside him.
The movie continued.
"Psttt. Yunho-ya." The man beside him had attempted to whisper but fell incredibly short. The taller man down from him looked at him, cheeks puffed out from all of the popcorn in his mouth.
"What, Young-ah." Yunho, apparently, had not even bothered to whisper. His full mouth shot out a couple pieces of kernels as he talked at full volume.
San's eye twitched. Tensing, he turned his head to look straight at the two rudest people he had the dis-fortunate to meet.
He wouldn't let them ruin his favorite day of the entire year.
"Excuse me." His voice came out flat and harsh.
Two loud gasps caught his attention. The men looked to San frightened, as if they had never even seen him there.
"Oh my god, were you sitting here the whole time?" The one sitting beside him asked. The other just looked at him, mouth still full and puppy eyes full on display with the lights illuminating from the screen.
San humped, "Yes." His expression remained blank, except for his lips that turned downward.
"Dude, we had no idea! That's crazy," the man rambled on, voice carrying in the room, completely drowning out the sounds from the speakers behind them, which was absurd. Really, how could one man's voice be louder than a movie speaker.
San cut him off, "Yes, well, I would appreciate it if you would both be quieter. I am trying to watch the movie." He turned abruptly back to the screen, refusing to look back at the two, eyes locked dead on the way Andie decorated Ben's apartment with pink and plushies.
The two mens stares went unanswered as San ignored them altogether now.
The movie ended with a tension sharp enough to cut Princess Sophia straight from Ben.
As the credits began rolling, San lowered his seat as the lights flickered back on.
He hadn't even been able to really pay attention to the rest of the movie. They were lucky San knew every word, every action to this rom-com. Although, he had missed humming along with Andie when she sang "You're so Vein"… which was really fitting San thought to himself as he eyed the two men.
As he picked up his trash and little bag that he always carried with him, he noticed out of the corner of his eye how the bigger of the two elbowed the other. They bickered lowly as San stood up. Just as he began walking down the aisle, the one who had been sitting beside him shot up. "Wait!"
San stopped, slowly spinning around to face him—although he was a lot closer than he thought he would be. He had to glance down a couple of inches to look him in the eyes. The mans brown eyes pleaded up at him. "We're sorry about the talking. We were distracting when we came in and didn't even notice you, which I'm not even sure how that happened considering you're wearing red, which is like my favorite color, and the fact that you're like super buff, which is totally my type, and like not to even mention that I sat right beside you totally unaware." The rambling continued as San tuned him out, locked onto the fact the man right in front of him just said that he, San, was totally his type.
San's eyes widened and a blush covered his cheeks, a red hue matching his shirt. He didn't tune back in until he noticed the way the one in front of him sported matching red cheeks, although his hand was covering his plush lips.
Exhaling through his nose, San allowed a small smile to escape. "I'm sorry about being harsh earlier. I kind of take movies super seriously." He rubbed the nape of his neck.
"No, don't even worry about it. It's totally our fault." He gestured behind himself, and as he leaned to glance over his shoulder, his face dropped when he noticed that his friend had dashed out of the room.
The man awkwardly laughed. "Oh. He must of had to use the bathroom… yeah," he trailed off.
"I'm San."
San watched the man snap back into attention as he spoke. His eyes widened as he stared at San. "I'm Wooyoung…Would you—"
Before he could finish, the door opened once again. This time, it was Jongho. "Hey! Get out here, lovebirds. You can't just keep staring into each others eyes like lunatics while I wait out here to sweep!"
His words broke the two away, both rushing down the stairs and out of the auditorium. They met again by the exit door. Wooyoung was looking down at his phone when San walked up to him. Wooyoung huffed, "Yunho left without me, said something about his boyfriend needing him at home." He waved his phone around as he talked.
Rolling his eyes, San gently coaxed his hand down. An endearing a smile pulled at his lips. "Wooyoung-ssi…" San stopped short. Taking in a deep breath, he asked, "Would you like to go to the cafe down the street with me?"
He had never asked someone else out on a date in his entire life, content with either waiting for someone else to make the move or be single—his romantic heart fluttered though at the chance to finally work up the nerve to ask someone out for once.
Wooyoung smiled wide, his lips pulling over his teeth. "Yes, San-ssi. I would love to buy you a coffee since I did ruin your movie."
San ducked his head. Shaking his head, he swung his arms back and forth. "You didn't ruin anything."
"Come on, I know you were annoyed back there," Wooyoung teased him.
San's dimples popped out. Wooyoungs eyes widened slightly at the sight.
"Okay, I admit, I was very annoyed… but now- I just want to get to know you, regardless that you kind of ruined my favorite movie." His shy voice could barely be heard over the buzzers of the arcade next to the doors and the shrieks of children running around the front.
"Oh my god, that was your favorite movie? Well now I definitely owe you coffee, and probably dinner too." A satisfied look crossed Wooyoung's face as he grabbed San's hand, holding on as he grabbed the others phone.
He put in front of San's stupefied face to unlock it, and began typing away. "There." A text pinged from the others phone. He turned it over and showed San.
Hi pretty <3 read on the screen. A blush deepened across San's cheeks, flooding down his throat and past his shirts collar.
"Now, which direction is that cafe in, pretty boy?"
San couldn't respond, just pointed to the right. Wooyoung smirked, linked his arm through San's and lead him out of the movie theater.
Maybe the movie hadn't been ruined for nothing. If it meant San got to keep feeling the warmth of Wooyoung pressed through his shirt, then maybe San was okay with a little chatter through a movie, especially when he knew every word by heart anyways.
This was the best Valentine's day gift ever.