Archive of Our Own

Heeseung was the type of person to judge every new person he meets, way too soon. And not in a positive way.

He tends to stray away from meeting new people. Because in his mind, why would he befriend them? He already has a good group of friends; there’s no need for anyone else. Plus, in the past he’s experienced the same old story, he meets someone new, they’re good friends for a while—then for some odd reason, they act like a total asshole toward him.

He didn’t understand why all of those friendships ended up like that. Was it him? Was it them? Who knows...but now he knows not to trust and let people in so easily.

One day after Heeseung's class, his friend Jake came up to him and asked if he wanted to get hot pot for lunch. He happily agreed, he was always down to hang out with the other. That was until Jake broke the news, he invited a ‘friend’ of his to tag along with them. Heeseung immediately declined the invitation, he didn’t like how Jake never mentioned this earlier, only now that they were waiting for this said ‘friend’.

“Come onn Heeseung,” Jake pleaded, “He’s a good friend of mine, I really want to introduce you to him.”

He let out a heavy sigh, “You said that last time you tried introducing me to one of your friends. Remember that guy, Woojin? Wonji? That guy ended up hating me for no reason.” 

Jake cringed; he does remember that. “I know, but I’m not even friends with him anymore. This guy though, I’ve been friends with for years,” he assured. 

Heeseung rolled his eyes. He wasn’t buying his friend’s story but reluctantly agreed after the other kept begging him nonstop. They were currently outside a random classroom, waiting for this guy.

Jake told him his friend’s name was ‘Sunoo’ and that they’ve known each other since his junior year in high school. “He should be coming soon, please say hi to him.” Jake urged.

Heeseung huffed, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” 

They waited for around ten minutes. Until they heard a voice call out from behind them. They turned around and Jake immediately waved. “Sunoo-ah, over here!” he exclaimed.

Heeseung peeked out from behind his friend and saw a man approaching them. He had auburn colored hair, wore a dark grey t-shirt, with a pair of light blue denim jeans, along with white tennis shoes, he was carrying a couple of books, plus a shoulder bag.

The man quickly approached them, and instantly greeted Jake. Heeseung stared at them. Well, more at the man, observing his face. He noticed the other had foxlike eyes, small moles scattered across his face, and plump lips.

“Sunoo this is my friend, Heeseung,” Jake introduced, “And Heeseung, this is Sunoo.” 

Sunoo stared at the other, “Hey Heeseung,” he greeted, waving politely. 

Heeseung looked the man up and down but didn’t respond back, he was unamused. That’s until he felt a painful nudge in the ribs, he turned to the direction it came from and saw Jake, shooting him a glare.

“Hey.” he coldly replied. He didn’t initiate any conversation, which left a very awkward moment of silence.

“Ahem,” Jake coughed, eyeing Heeseung. “Anyways, ready to hangout for lunch guys? I’ll drive us.”

Sunoo scoffed, “Duh. I’m starving.” 

Jake rolled his eyes, “No need for the attitude. Also, you're paying.” He began walking away, leaving a bewildered Sunoo behind.

“You’re older than me, shouldn’t you be treating me?”  Sunoo retorted, following the other.

Heeseung stayed put, watching the two bicker while walking. Before dragging himself along behind them. 

He wasn’t looking forward to having lunch.

While waiting for their dishes at the Hot Pot restaurant, Heeseung didn't talk much because Sunoo was there. He was too annoyed at the other's presence to talk comfortably about anything with Jake. Who was the one to carry most of the conversation. Throughout it, he tried dragging Heeseung into it, but in return the other only gave quick short answers. So, it was just him and Sunoo chatting. 

Eventually, a waiter brought out their dishes. The two stopped to organize the dishes and the hot pot. Before beginning to dig in. For a while it was dead silent, only the sound of the pot grilling was heard.

Until Jake spoke, “Hey Heeseung, did you get the new version of League of Legends?” he asked, while dipping raw meat into the boiling pot. “I heard Jay already has it.”

The other finished chewing his food before responding, “I didn’t yet, how did he even get his hands on it already? It was just released.” 

Jake shrugged, “Dude has connections, I guess. I asked him for a copy, but he only bought one.” They talked more about the release. Jake ended up spoiling some new perks that were added, along with new maps. Heeseung was so into their conversation, that he forgot about Sunoo sitting right across from them. He glanced over and was taken aback due to the way the man was stuffing his face with rice. 

Jake noticed him staring at something. He turned toward that area and burst out laughing, “Geez Sunoo, were you starving the whole day?”

Sunoo rolled his eyes, "I had a three-hour lecture today, plus an exam. Of course I'm hungry.” he murmured while chewing. “Did you guys finish already?”

They nodded, while Jake rubbed his stomach dramatically. Sunoo scoffed, before continuing to stuff his face. He looked around the table, scouting for anymore food—until his eyes landed on a plate filled with leftover meat. Heeseung’s plate.

He stared at it before hesitantly asking, “Are you going to finish that?”

Heeseung’s stared at Sunoo, surprised at the sudden question. “Uh, no.” 

“Can I have it?” The other asked with his hand out.

Heeseung slowly nodded, “Sure…” he murmured, before sliding the plate towards him. Sunoo immediately snatched it, using his chopsticks to grab five rolls of meat and stuffing them inside his mouth.

Jake snorted, “Yeah, I’ll just pay.” Him and Heeseung continued chatting about LoL, discussing their high score—

“Jake, what are you doing after this?” Sunoo interrupted, while preparing to devour his fourth plate.

“Most likely heading to Jay’s apartment,” The other answered, pulling his phone out. “I really want to play the new version he got.” 

He turned to Heeseung, “Wanna come? I’m pretty sure Jay will want you too anyway.” 

Heeseung eagerly nodded, wanting to see how the new version was. He originally planned on buying it the day it dropped, but it sold out in minutes.

“Is it alright if I come?” Sunoo asked, “I don’t know if this ‘Jay’ dude will let me.”

“This guy knows Jay?” Heeseung thought. The two didn’t seem like the type to hangout, let alone be in the same vicinity.

“You guys literally met before,” Jake responded, “Also doesn’t your best friend like him? Jungyun? Jungoon..?”

“It’s Jungwon.” Sunoo corrected.

Jake shrugged, “Same thing." He checked his phone and read the time; it was now four fifty. A heavy sigh left his mouth, “We should get going, I promised Jay I’d be there by five thirty,”

He waved over a waiter, ready to pay for their meal and start the twenty-minute drive to Jay’s apartment.

The drive was okay. Jake complained a lot while behind the wheel, about traffic and pedestrians crossing the road without looking both ways. But they finally arrived at the apartment. It was an average sized and the outside had a clean aesthetic. There was a neat small garden in the front yard, along with minimal decoration's on the steps, some small simple plants.

While they exited the car, Sunoo was having doubts about tagging along. Since an incident happened between him and Jay not too long ago...

They made their way to the front door, before Heeseung knocked on it. Around twenty seconds passed before the door swung open. There in front, stood a ridiculously tall man.

Sunoo was surprised at how tall he was, practically towering over him. He stared at the other's face; the man reminded him of a duck for some reason. Probably because of his thick lips.

The tall man suddenly spoke, “Oh, hey hyungs.” Jake and Heeseung greeted him, before being let inside. The man was about to shut the door before his eyes landed on Sunoo, “Who’s this?” he questioned rudely. He wasn’t told about someone new coming over. 

Sunoo noticed his rude tone and was about to say something, but Jake beat him to it. “This is Sunoo, he’s a friend of mine Ni-ki,” Jake reassured him, “I invited him over since he wanted to tag along.” 

“So not true but whatever.” he thought, annoyed.

The tall man, Ni-ki, eyed him up and down before moving to the side, making space for him to enter. “Take your shoes off.” He jeered, before leaving the other at the front door. 

To Sunoo, it felt more like an order rather than a request, but he didn’t want to start an argument. He stepped inside, swiftly taking his shoes off and setting them to the side by a shoe rack. He looked around the room and saw two other guys, Jay and a familiar face from his English 101 class. If he remembers correctly, his name was Sunghoon.

Sunoo felt very out of place, everyone was greeting each other while he awkwardly stood by the door. He had no clue who any of these guys were, except Jay and Jake. He watched them all enter another room, leaving him and Jake by the front door.

“Sunoo, come,” Jake urged, “Don’t stand there like a weirdo.” 

He really didn’t want to but sucked it up and followed Jake. While doing so, he looked around the apartment and noticed how clean it was, along with how there were lots of paintings decorating the walls. It was devoid of many fun colors, which sucked. The colors were mostly black, white’s, grey, and dark brown but it really good throughout the room, it smelt like an oud woodsy scent. Which he did like.

The guys were busy conversing in the living room, chatting about their day of classes. Until Sunoo and Jake entered, prompting them to stop and stare at them.

“Oh, yea guys,” Jake said, grabbing Sunoo’s shoulders and nudging him forward, “This is Sunoo, you remember him right Jay?” 

Sunoo looked at Jay and noticed his facial expression sour at the mention of him.

Jay let out a heavy sigh, “Yeah I remember him.” 

Sunoo didn’t like Jay at all, if anything he hated him.

He had no clue who this guy was, until his best friend, Jungwon. Who has the fattest crush on this, Sunoo doesn’t understand how, but he didn’t want to judge his friend. At first, he had no problem with Jay, everything was alright...until Jungwon told him about how the other kept toying with his feelings. One event that Sunoo remembers, was how Jay invited his friend out on a date, at some restaurant. Jungwon arrived at the restaurant on time but couldn’t find Jay anywhere, so he waited…and waited. 

For two hours, two hours he waited for that man. Just for him to never show up or respond to the hundreds of texts Jungwon left. 

Sunoo remembers that night vividly. Jungwon barging their front door, with tears streaming down his face and collapsing into his arms, barely able to explain what happened. He spent the rest of the night comforting him as best as he could. After that incident he automatically disliked Jay, anyone who hurt and toyed with his friend like that, was dead to him. 

Sunoo remembers laying it out to the other one day after seeing him outside a convenience store. He said some…not so nice remarks, basically calling Jay an asshole and warned him to stop messing with Jungwon. The other responded back with some pretty nasty comments directed at him and at his friend before leaving. It’s been a couple weeks since that incident, but it was still fresh enough to make the sight of each other unbearable.

Sunoo crossed his arms, “Hi.” he scowled. 

Jay was tempted to just throw the man out. Until Jake spoke, “Anyways…” he murmured before dragging Sunoo to sit on the floor with him, “Jay, show us the new version of LoL!” He tried his best to dismiss the unspoken tension between them, he had no clue on why they were acting like that toward each other. He’ll ask Sunoo about it later.

Thankfully, it seemed to have worked, because Jay stood up from the couch and headed toward a storage closet by the tv. Sunoo sat close to Jake on the floor while the others sat on the couch, he felt stared at but tried to ignore it. He didn't like Jay or his little friends; Jake was the only exception.

“Why don’t we try out this version while playing in teams?” Jay suggested while taking the disc out of its case, before placing it into the tv’s console,“We can do 2v2’s.” He grabbed four consoles from a small basket under the tv and brought them back to the couch.

“Who wants to play first?” he asked. He was Instantly met with a bunch of ‘me's’ by everyone, except Sunoo. 

Jake was about to volunteer, before he turned to Sunoo. He noticed how quiet the other was, it was very clear that Sunoo wasn’t having any fun. Jake began feeling bad that he dragged him along, assuming the other would click instantly with the rest of his friends. That's until an idea popped up in his head, a mischievous grin crept onto his face. He turned to Jay, “Let Sunoo play for the first round.”

He knows he’ll be chewed out by the other after this, but he wanted him to experience the joy in gaming with the rest.

Sunoo whipped his head toward Jake, “What?! No, no—its alright.”

The others grew quiet and stared at Jake, they looked at him like he just suggested the weirdest thing ever. Until the room erupted into laughter.

This left Sunoo confused…what was so funny?

Ni-ki scoffed, “Him? Does he even know how to play LoL?” 

Sunoo was appalled, “Excuse me, for your information I do know how to play.” he argued, before turning to the rest on the couch. Glaring at them. “I’m not an idiot, unlike some people.”

“Oh yeah? I bet you can’t even last five minutes in a round.” Sunghoon provoked. He was adding fuel to a dangerous fire.

That comment made Sunoo’s eyebrows raise in disbelief, while his blood boiled. Y’know what? He took back what he said earlier, now he will play. “Fine, I’ll show you.” He snapped. He stood up from his spot and walked over to Jay, snatching a console from the other's hand. He heard a “Yo, what the fuck?” leave Jay’s mouth as he made his way back on the floor, next to Jake.

Sunoo sat back down, turning to the rest on the couch, “So who’s playing against me? Hurry up and decide.”

The others weren't laughing anymore. With such a challenge proposed to them, they were going to go all out. Jay turned to his left, “Ni-ki, you be my partner.” He said while handing the other a console. If this was going to be a 2v2, they needed one more person.

“I want to sit out for this round,” Jake clarified, bringing his hands up. 

“Same.” Sunghoon added. He was curious, can this Sunoo guy really beat Jay and Ni-ki?

That left only Heeseung. Jay shoved a controller in his hands, “Heeseung, you team up with him.” 

He shook his head, “No thanks, I'd rather watch.” 

“You’re the only one left, so you’re his partner.” Jay restated, shooing him away with hand.

“Ugh, fine.” Heeseung mumbled, rolling his eyes. He got off the couch and sat right next to Sunoo.

Once seated, Sunoo scooted closer to him and whispered in his ear, “Try not to ruin this win, please.” 

Heeseung scoffed, “Whatever.” 

“Let’s start,” Jay announced, “Don’t go crying when you don’t win.”

Sunoo turned to him, “Just start it, no need to announce what you’ll be doing after we win.” The room erupted into loud noises created by Jake and Sunghoon after that snarky remark. This pissed Jay off even more, making him smash the start button, ready to win and prove Sunoo wrong.

Throughout the round, everyone was screaming. Jay was yelling at Ni-ki to hurry up and cover for him, Jake and Sunghoon were casting their votes out loud on which team would win. While Heeseung and Sunoo stayed mostly quiet since they didn't feel like interacting.

After an intense fifteen minutes, the screen suddenly flashed, “Victory” in bright gold letters with Sunoo and Heeseung’s characters standing, alive. While the others were lying on the floor, dead.

Sunoo stood up, shouting.  “Aha!” 

Everyone was stunned, even Jake. He didn’t expect Sunoo to pull that off, but after the initial shock wore off, he stood up and high-fived him. Heeseung didn’t really care if they won or not, it’s not like they won a prize or anything. He stared at Jake and Sunoo who were practically geeking out over this win. He couldn’t lie though; he wasn’t expecting them to win, he assumed Sunoo was one of those people who are all talk, no bite.

He had no time to react before suddenly being pulled up into a group hug with the two, by Sunoo. “We did so well! I didn’t expect you to be so good,” Sunoo beamed, turning to Heeseung. 

“U-Uh, thanks?" The other doesn’t understand why he became flustered at the sudden compliment.

Sunoo noticed how quiet the room had gotten, a grin slowly appeared on his face. He grabbed Heeseung’s hand and raised it along with his. “What was it that you said, Jay?” he mocked, “Don’t go crying if you don’t win?” 

Heeseung couldn’t help but crack a small smile at that remark, he found it ridiculous at how this guy was so focused on rubbing it in Jay’s face. Sunoo gestured for a high five and he surprisingly did it.

Jay scoffed, “Whatever.” 

“Must be beginner's luck.” Ni-ki insisted, making Sunghoon nod along.

Sunoo couldn’t help but laugh even harder, they were really trying to downplay their win. “Right. Whatever makes you sore losers feel better.” he concluded.

Ni-ki scoffed, “Let’s play another round then, with new teams. If you still win, we’ll consider it as a proper win and not luck.” 

Everyone immediately agreed to that idea, begging for another round. Sunoo surprisingly agreed, he was starting to have a little bit of fun. He agreed, but only if he partnered with Heeseung again. To which everyone immediately shouted no.

"Come on! He's a great player and rest of you guys probably suck!" Sunoo argued.

Heeseung quietly stared at him. “He’s pretty funny.” he thought.

After that day, Heeseung didn’t expect to ever hangout with Sunoo again. Sure, playing LoL with him was fun, but that didn’t mean they were friends. He thought that until Jake called him. Inviting him to hang out again but—Sunoo was tagging along. 

“Man, can’t it just be us?” Heeseung complained.

“Dude. Come on, Sunoo is fun to have around. You seemed to enjoy playing LoL with him at Jay’s apartment,” Jake said.

The other rolled his eyes, “Sure whatever. But that was because the others were also there.” 

Jake scoffed, “He’s coming, end of discussion.” 

Heeseung huffed in annoyance, “Okay fine, whatever.” he grumbled. “Where are we hanging out?”

“It’s a surprise, you’ll find out tomorrow.” Jake added, “Meet me at that corner store near campus.”

“You know I hate surprises Jake, just tell–”

“Cya!”

Heeseung was about to retort something until the call abruptly ended. He scoffed in disbelief, sometimes he couldn’t help but hate Jake for pulling such cheap tricks on him. 

God, he was not ready for tomorrow.

Heeseung was currently heading toward the corner store. He was still annoyed that Sunoo would be there, but he told himself that Jake will be there, so it won't be that bad.

"At least I hope so." He thought.

He was almost there, just another left turn and the corner store will be right there. He grabbed his phone from his pocket to glance at the time, before picking up the pace. He was running a bit behind on time, Jake told him to meet up at four and it was currently four fifteen. Once turning the corner, he saw Jake standing there in front of the store—oh, and with Sunoo. The two were chatting, blissfully unaware of Heeseung in the distance, watching them. He quickly made his way over to them and once close enough, Jake finally noticed him.

“Hey Heeseung,” Jake exclaimed, waving. “I thought I said to meet up at four…not four nineteen.”  

“Sorry, sorry. I lost track of time.” he replied, fixing his sweater. Being on time was something he struggled with, but it's fine—

“Hey Heeseung.” Sunoo suddenly greeted, smiling.

He turned to Sunoo, staring at the other before finally replying, “Hey.” 

It was quiet for a moment. Until Jake announced, “Follow me everyone, I have a surprise for the both of you.”

Sunoo whined, “Jakee, can’t you just tell us already?”

Jake shook his head, “Ah, ah, ah, nope.” He began walking, gesturing to them to follow him. Sunoo and Heeseung let out heavy sighs but followed along.

They then began their fifteen-minute journey. Throughout it, Sunoo and Jake talked about random things, not any that Heeseung cared about. But he still listened in on their conversation.

A couple minutes after walking, Jake abruptly stopped. Before turning to them, “Ta-da!” he exclaimed, pointing at a building, “An arcade!"

Heeseung and Sunoo looked up at it, noticing the name, 'Crazee Arcade'. Sunoo gasped, “Was this hangout inspired by what I said last time?” he asked while eyeing the other. He loved arcades, the countless fun games and claw machines? His favorite.

“Wait, you said something about an arcade?” Jake asked, perplexed.

Sunoo groaned, facepalming himself.  “Ugh, never mind.”

Heeseung was surprised at the spot Jake chose, not that he was complaining or anything. But he realized that they’ve never actually hung out at one before. 

Jake smiled, “The arcade looked cool on its website, so I decided why not try this for our next hang out,”  

“Does this place have one of those ping pong tables?” Heeseung suddenly asked.

The other shrugged, “Not sure, but most likely.” 

“What are we waiting for? Let’s just go inside.” Sunoo complained, “I want to check it out already,”

Jake sighed, “Alright, alright.” 

Upon entering, they immediately noticed how packed it was, there were tons of people—children, teenagers, and adults. The atmosphere was lively, the establishment had fun-colored lights, lots of arcade games, claw machines, and there was even a small food court toward the back. They were amazed by the amount of things to do. 

“Ooo, let’s go to the claw machines first!” Sunoo exclaimed, his eyes sparkled at the cute plushies he saw in the machines from a distance.

“Don't we need those wrist bands though?” Heeseung questioned, pointing at a group of people who walked past them. They all had bright neon orange wrist bands on.

“Seems like it, let’s go grab some before we get kicked out or something.” Jake joked.

After securing their wrist bands, they decided on their order for the evening, first games, food court, then trying out the claw machines. Sunoo was opposed to it at first, since he really wanted to try out the claw machines. But Jake pointed out that the plush could be dirtied while they ate, so he eventually agreed.

Their first stop was at a Dance Dance Revolution game, which Sunoo immediately hopped on and gestured for one of them to join him. Heeseung planned on sitting out for this game, until he was shoved toward it.

“Come on Heeseung, give it a try.” Jake urged.

“What? I’m fine. DDR isn’t really my thing.” he declined.

The other huffed, “Just go do it with Sunoo.”

“No.”

They bickered back and forth before Heeseung finally gave in, just to shut the other up. Jake shot him a thumbs up while he made his way toward the opposite side of the machine. He grumbled something under his breath while positioning his feet on the panels. 

“Just warning you, I’m really good at this.” Sunoo bragged, turning to Heeseung and flashing a cheeky grin.

The other scoffed, “Yeah okay. We'll see about that.” 

Sunoo let Heeseung pick the song, he was confident enough not to worry. Heeseung picked one he knew really well, ready to prove this guy wrong. But once they started, he soon realized that it’s been a long time since he’s played DDR. 

After five minutes, the machine calculated their scores. Heeseung heard the humiliating, “You lose!” leave its speakers, while on Sunoo's side, it flashed a 'Victory' screen. On his right, he heard the other’s loud cheers and grew annoyed. Sunoo was too preoccupied with his win to take a glance at the guy who was fuming on his left. He happily hopped off the panel, eager to try other machines. “Let’s try that one!” he exclaimed, pointing at a gun aiming game.

Heeseung lingered on the panel before hopping off. His eyes met Jake’s, who was giving him a smug grin, “I thought you knew that song well?”

“Shut up.” he retorted.

“Jake what are you doing?” Sunoo laughed. Jake and Heeseung were currently playing against each other in a round of basketball, the more basketballs one gets in their hoop, the higher the score. 

“This is a new technique, to turn the game around,” he replied. Jake stood far away from the machine, trying to long shoot his shots. While Heeseung stood next to him on his right, but at a moderate distance between him and the machine.

Heeseung scoffed, “There’s only fifteen seconds left, you can’t turn the game around when you have thirty points and I have seventy.”

Sunoo cackled at his comment, “He’s right Jake, don’t get your hopes up.” 

Jake paid no attention to them, too focused on the game. 

Soon enough, the blaring buzzer interrupted them and announced their points. Jake began complaining upon hearing them, he barely scraped by with forty while Heeseung managed to get up to ninety.  “You know, this game is rigged.” Jake murmured.

Heeseung snorted, “Rightt.”

Throughout the evening, they visited around ten different machines, ranging from digital video games, kiddy games, and to collecting coins out of that one complicated coin pusher game. It was pretty boring, but they decided to just finish it really quick, then hop onto another one. While in the middle of attempting to push coins, Sunoo felt and heard his stomach growl. “Guys, are you hungry?” he asked.

Jake and Heesueng stopped their pushing and looked at each other before responding with yes. Running around this huge place, from machine to machine, made them work up an appetite.

They finished up their last round with this coin machine, before wandering around to figure out where the food court’s entrance was. They eventually found it and settled on a booth toward the back. Heeseung and Jake sat next to each other while Sunoo sat across from them.

“Anything specific you guys had in mind to eat?” Jake asked.

“What do they have?” Heeseung questioned. He was fine with anything, as long as it was edible. 

Jake looked around the table, expecting to see some menus laying around, but there weren’t any. “I can go check at the counter if you guys want.”

“Please,” Sunoo begged, “My feet are killing me.”

Jake laughed, “Alright, I’ll be back. Check your phones, I’ll send you both photos of the menu.”

Heeseung was about to ask if he could join him because he really didn’t want to stay with Sunoo—the guy might try and talk to him. As he stood up and turned to Jake, he already saw the other walking away. He scoffed in disbelief, "You got to be kidding me.” he thought.

He slowly sat back down, annoyed at Jake for just leaving like that. He glanced toward Sunoo who was on his phone, quietly scrolling, as long as the man stayed like that, Heeseung wouldn’t mind this. He pulled his phone and keys out from his packet, setting them down on the table, before grabbing the phone and unlocking it. Beginning to scroll on Instagram. 

An awkward silence filled the air, but he was just glad the man didn’t try speaking–

“Is that a buzz light year keychain?”

Heeseung sighed, “God damnit.” he thought. He looked up from his phone and met the other's eyes. Sunoo was pointing at his keys that were right next to him, which did have a buzz light year keychain dangling from them, along with a small teddy bear plush. “Yeah.” he replied.

Sunoo smiled, “You like Toy Story too? Which movie is your favorite?” he questioned excitedly, “Mine’s the second one.”

“Same.” Heeseung tried giving short quick answers to let the other know he wasn’t interested in talking.

“My favorite character is Jessie, her back story was so sad. I still get aggravated at Woody whenever I rewatch it, he was so annoying for–”

“Trying to downplay Jessie’s feelings about toy owners who abandoned their toys? Yea, it was a pretty dick move.” Heeseung interrupted.

Sunoo was caught off guard, surprised at Heeseung wording his thoughts perfectly. Minus that last part. “Exactly!” 

“Yeah, but his character’s development was good toward the end.” 

Sunoo nodded, “Another favorite character of mine are the aliens, they’re so cute,” he exclaimed.

Heeseung rasied an eyebrow, “Really? They don’t really add anything to the story.”

Sunoo shot him a confused look, “So? They’re still cute.” he restated.

The other scoffed, “Whatever.”

“Is this guy judging me?” Sunoo thought. “Fine, then what’s your favorite character?” he asked.

“Buzz lightyear.” Heeseung said, confidently. He had a couple, but Buzz was definitely the first. He liked the characteristic's that he displayed throughout every movie, especially in the second one.

Sunoo laughed, “Him? Out of all the characters?”

Heeseung was taken aback from the other's comment. "Yea. He’s arguably one of the best character’s.”

“Mhhhmm, right.”

Heeseung squinted, “You don’t believe me? I could name plenty of reasons why.”  he scowled.

Sunoo scoffed, “Fine, be my guest.”

They bickered back and fourth, arguing about who really was the best character out of the franchise.

"It's definitely Jessie, hell I would even pick Woody over Buzz." Sunoo argued.

Heeseung snorted, "Please. Those two are nowhere near Buzz's level. You're just being biased."

"So are you!" The other snapped.

They couldn’t settle on an answer since it was just the two of them bickering and being biased, so they eventually dropped it. That's until Sunoo brought up the topic of 'funniest moments' in each movie. Heeseung recalled a good chunk of them before Sunoo interrupted. It was funny, they went from arguing to laughing in the span of five minutes. Heeseung didn’t expect their conversation to shift so drastically, but he liked 'nerding' out on Toy Stories, so he didn’t mind all that much.

Sunoo listened to him ramble about the scene where Woody and Buzz terrorize Sid, until he interrupted. “So, can I feel your keychain?”

Heeseung shot him a confused look, “Uh, sure?—"

The sound of a tray slamming down next to them made the two jump in their seats. They turned to that direction and saw Jake standing there with a furious expression on his face, while holding his phone up in his hand. “I texted you guys each, like ten times. What were you guys doing instead of responding to me?” he huffed in annoyance.

Heeseung and Sunoo glanced at each other before grabbing their phones that were faced down on the table. Instantly mortified when they did in fact see ten plus messages from Jake. 

“Sorry Jake,” Sunoo apologized, “My phone was on silent…” Jake glared at him before turning to Heeseung, who was staring down at his phone. And realized his phone was also on silent.

“Mine too…” he murmured.

Jake let out a heavy sigh, “Whatever, it's fine. I got you both pizza, just to be safe.” he said, handing them their plates. Sunoo grabbed his plate and looked down at the plain cheese slice. He didn’t mind it of course, since he didn't respond to the texts—but he felt like teasing his friend.

“Jake, why didn’t you get a pepperoni slice for me?” he complained.

Jake turned his head toward him so quick, he could feel the whiplash, “You–”

Sunoo burst out laughing, while Heeseung chuckled. Seeing the other get mad like that, was hilarious. Jake quickly sat down and scooted next to Heeseung, they were ready to devour these huge slices of pizzas before leaving. It was silent throughout their munching; the three were too hungry to talk. Those arcade games were seriously no joke.

They soon finished, Heeseung and Jake cleaned up the table while Sunoo went to throw their trash out and return the tray. After they dusted the table off, the two met up with Sunoo by the exit of the food court. The last thing on their list was to try out the claw machines. Sunoo urged them to hurry up, since he’s been waiting all evening for this. They followed the other who was in the process of searching for a machine. Heeseung and Jake weren’t really into plushy claw machines, so they didn’t mind with whatever he picked.

A couple more minutes of searching, Sunoo suddenly stopped in front of one. “Ooo this one guys!” he exclaimed, pointing at a machine.The two looked inside it and saw a variety of stuffed animals, ranging from land to sea animals, in a bunch of sizes.

Sunoo dug into his pocket for the tokens he purchased earlier. He scanned the options inside the machine and settled for a fox plushy laying smack in the middle of the huge pile. The machine required four tokens, he inserted the proper amount, until a ding sound came from the machine, making him jump in excitement. He also noticed that there was a thirty second timer before the claw would come down automatically.

His hand quickly grabbed the knob, steadily moving it toward the fox. He could hear Jake and Heeseung chit-chatting behind him, but he paid no mind. He positioned the claw right over the plush, before checking to see if it had a good chance at grabbing it. Once done, he immediately pressed the button for the claw to drop. The buzzer went off and the claw steadily descended. He anxiously watched the claw hover over and landing on top of the fox’s body, it looked like it could possibly grab it. 

He had high hopes. Suddenly, the claw began to lift and brought the plushy along with it. He jumped out of happiness, so excited to tell Jake and—

Until the fox slipped from the claw, plopping back down on top of the other plushies. He stared at the machine, before groaning. “It’s okay, I can just try again.” he thought. And he did, he inserted four more tokens and waited for the machine to beep. Once it did, his hands found their way back to the knob, steadily positioning it again. This time, he brought it a bit forward so it could catch onto its head instead of its body.

Sunoo felt confident this time, immediately pressing the button. He watched the claw descent again, but this time it didn’t grab onto the plush, it completely missed it. He almost cursed at the machine. “Third time is a charm, right?” he hoped.

Wrong. He tried playing two more times and didn’t succeed. He was about to rip his hair out–

“Did you get anything Sunoo?” Jake asked, stepping next to him.

The other groaned, “Ugh no. I already tried four times and didn’t get anything…could you try it for me, please?” he begged Jake.

Jake sighed, “I can try…but you’re not guaranteed a prize if I do.” Sunoo thanked him and shoved the remaining tokens in his hands. He tried wice and was met with the same results the other had. 

Sunoo’s mood dampened ridiculously fast. All he wanted was one plushie, was that so much to ask for?

Jake noticed him with his head down, he felt horrible that he wasn’t any help. He tried comforting the other, saying that “he still had one more try left with the remaining tokens.” But it didn’t make Sunoo feel any better.

He thought for a moment, until his eye caught Heeseung, who was busy on his phone. “Heeseung could you try and win that fox plushy?” he asked, pointing to the machine.

Heeseung raised his head from his phone and stared at him, “Uh…”

“Please!” Sunoo begged, “I only want that one!” 

Heeseung could see how desperate Sunoo was, his hands clasped together and everything. The man looked ridiculous. He sighed, “Alright, alright.”

Sunoo thanked him while Jake gave the last four tokens to him. He stepped toward the machine, inserted them and waited for the beep. Once the thirty second count down started, he positioned the claw right above the plushs head but slightly toward the back. He went to the side of the machine and checked it and without thinking twice he pressed the button, watching the claw slowly descend and grasp the fox's head.

Sunoo and Jake watched anxiously, praying that it would hold. It lingered on top of the head, before finally lifting it, and they practically screamed. The claw caught onto the fox and an additional plush, both eventually reached the drop box and were released. Sunoo scrambled towards it, kneeling down and pulling out the plushies. He quickly stood up and held them up, examining them and then hugging them.

Sunoo was ecstatic at winning two. He turned toward Heeseung and hugged him, “Thank you, thank you!”

"Y-You’re welcome.” Heeseung stuttered, surprised at the sudden hug.

Jake walked over to Sunoo while eyeing the plushies, “What animal is the other one?”

Sunoo examined it closely, confused on what it was. Until he saw the chubby cheeks, and the sunflower seed it was holding. “It’s a hamster! It’s adorable!” It was adorable but he didn’t want it nor need it, he already had too many plushies in his room. He debated on giving it to Jake, but he wasn’t the biggest plush fan, so he turned toward Heeseung.

“Here, you can keep this one. Y’know since you helped me win it.” Sunoo said, smiling.

“No, it’s fine, you can keep it.” Heeseung replied.

“I don’t need it or want it. Take it!” Sunoo snapped. The two bickered back and forth before Heeseung huffed, snatching the hamster plush from him. The other thank him again before showing the fox plush to Jake. Heeseung examined the plushy, it was really soft and cute, he couldn’t deny that. But he had no literal use for it in his apartment.

Suddenly an announcement rang throughout the building, “Current arcade goers, please remember that we will be closing in fifteen minutes. Thank you.”

“Guess that’s our cue to leave.” Jake joked.

They made their way outside into the breezy night. It was only eight thirty, but it was late considering they had class the next day.

“You guys heading home?” Heeseung questioned.

Jake nodded, “Oh yeah. Gotta sleep early tonight,” he answered before turning toward Sunoo. “You?”

Sunoo sighed, “Ugh, me too. I have a three-hour lecture tomorrow…” 

Jake laughed, “Today was really fun though, we need to plan our next hang out. Maybe I’ll let Sunoo pick.”

The other smirked, “I have a lot of places in mind, we'll go somewhere even better.”

It was silent for a moment before Heeseung spoke, “I should get going.” 

Sunoo and Jake wished him goodnight, before they began walking. They went one way while Heeseung went the opposite, beginning his walk home.

While walking he could feel the fresh airy breeze against his face. September was a nice month, the sun doesn't set too early yet, and it has the last remaining days of summer.

He was lost in thought, mind replaying all the things that happened today. Their pizza munching, playing ddr, basketball, there were too many to count, he looked down at the hamster plush in his hand, staring at it before a small smile crept onto his face. He didn’t admit it back there in front of Jake and Sunoo, but he actually had a lot of fun today. 

That’s when his mind landed on Sunoo for some odd reason. He couldn’t lie, he enjoyed talking with the other this evening, minus the arguing they did. Heeseung laughed out loud, remembering how Sunoo was so passionate about the small aliens, out of all characters.

He enjoyed this evening a lot—but was still wary about Sunoo.

People like him can act like this now, all friendly and shit. But can do a whole one eighty and dislike you after everything.

—

It’s been almost two weeks since the last time they all hung out together. Heeseung has seen Jake in between classes on campus, and has visited him at his apartment, along with Jay, Sunghoon, and Ni-ki. But he hadn’t seen Sunoo, which he was completely fine with. Until out of the blue, he started randomly seeing him everywhere on campus. At first, it started off small, he remembers heading to his statistics class and saw the other by a vending machine, chatting with a group of guys and girls. He would just catch quick glances of him though, nothing crazy. 

But eventually it started becoming frequent, too frequent. He found it weird that his brain kept spotting him randomly. Every time it did though, he would bolt the other way. He wasn’t keen on talking with Sunoo alone, without Jake. These sightings kept happening almost every day, to the point he couldn’t even enjoy relaxing around campus, afraid Sunoo would randomly show up and talk to him.

Today though, everything was alright, Heeseung hadn’t seen Sunoo at all. And that was impressive because he's been on campus all day.

He was currently relaxing in a deserted lounging area on campus, waiting for his English class that started in thirty minutes. He sat on a small sofa while his bag was on the floor right next to it. He yawned, feeling sleepy since he was up late last night catching up on a five-page research paper for English, which was due in two days. 

He decided to nap for the remaining time he had. Since no one was around, he wouldn’t be embarrassed to. He pulled his hood up ready to get some shut eye and catch up on some much-needed sleep–

“Heeseung?” a voice called out.

He froze when he heard that voice, he knew who that was. But pretended to not hear them. “Please, please leave.” he thought, praying.

“Heeseungg?” the voice repeated itself.

He let out a heavy sigh, he knew they weren’t going to leave no matter how much he tried to ignore them. He began slowly removing his hood, and once fully off, he looked up and saw the person he didn't want to see right now, Sunoo.

“Hey.” he said, dryly. 

“Hi, what are you doing here?” Sunoo asked, smiling.

“I was about to nap.” Heeseung murmured.

The other was a little confused, “Oh. You don’t have class right now?”

“I have it in ten minutes.” He lied. For some reason; he was nervous that Sunoo would ask him to go somewhere if he had said thirty instead.

“Ahh, what class?” Sunoo questioned.

“English 202.”

He noticed the other sit right across from him on another sofa, while placing his bag down on the floor. It was silent for a moment before Sunoo asked, “What time do you finish class?”

“Uh around five.” Heeseung answered.

Sunoo’s eyes lit up, “Would you want to grab something after? I’ll still be on campus, but I won’t have class.” 

He panicked, “Oh–uh…” Oh god. His mind worked hard trying to come up with an excuse, think mind, think. “I can’t…I have to…” he kept pausing. Until he finally came up with something, “I have to visit my parents right after.”

Sunoo was a little bummed at the decline, but after hearing Heeseung's reasoning, that was definitely more important than grabbing food. “Oh, that’s alright. Maybe next time?” he asked. 

“Uh, yeah sure.” The other said while sitting up, “I should get going, I don't want to be late.” He grabbed his bag from the floor while beginning to stand up.

Sunoo nodded, “Right, I’ll see you soon then. Good luck in your class.” 

Heeseung finished grabbing his things and adjusted his hoodie, “Yea, see ya.” He said quickly, before turning and walking away. He felt a little bad for lying but he really didn’t want to do anything with Sunoo right after a two-hour class. He would rather go home and sleep.

Sunoo watched the other walk away before turning a corner. He sighed, there wasn’t much he could do, so he decided to stay seated on the sofa and just scroll on his phone for a while before meeting up with Jungwon.

That time was a close one. He continued avoiding Sunoo like the plague whenever he was on campus. 

Heseung was currently sitting in the library, finishing up his English assignment. This was the latest he’s ever stayed at the library, it was almost five thirty. He quietly groaned, wanting to just go home and eat, but he had to finish this paper. 

Around twenty more minutes of frantic typing, he finally finished and hit the submit button on Canvas. Once done, he quickly began packing his things, eager to leave and head home. Plus, he was starving. He barely ate anything today, other than a measly piece of bread.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way down to the first floor of the library. Noticing not many students were left compared to earlier. Once exiting, he made the tiring walk through the halls. He began dissociating, the hunger and sleepiness was starting to get to him. Around five minutes later, he miraculously exited the building.

He looked around and realized that the sun was already setting. The sunset was gorgeous, the bright orangey hue slowly fading into a light yellow on the horizon, he also saw some tree's leaves that were beginning to grow orange. Fall was one of his favorite seasons for this reason alone, along with the chilly weather—

“Heeseung!” a voice shouted.

He was exhausted but stiffened when he heard that. He quickly turned around and saw Sunoo emerging from the entrance, waving at him and clutching his bag.

Crap. He didn’t expect to run into Sunoo right now when he was distracted. He stared at the other who was quickly approaching him.

“I didn’t expect to see you here so late!” Sunoo exclaimed.

He sighed, “Yea, I was working on homework in the library.” 

“Oh, did you finish it?”

Heeseung lazily nodded, “Uh, yeah I did–” He was interrupted by the sound of loud rumbling sound. Both of them were surprised at the noise, before Heeseung realized that sound came from him. “Was that my stomach?” He thought, embarrassed.

Sunoo stared at him in shock before lowering his head. Heeseung was about to speak before he suddenly heard loud laughter coming from the other. Making him feel even more embarrassed. “Wow, someone’s hungry.” Sunoo stated, “When was the last time you ate?” He tried his best to compose himself since he could see how embarrassed Heeseung was.

The other couldn’t find the words to speak, still mortified at that sound. It was silent for a minute before he finally spoke, “Around two…” he answered quietly, “I was actually just going to head home—so I’ll see you around.” He tried to end the conversation as swiftly as possible; he began turning around but abruptly stopped.

“Wait, do I have any groceries at home? Shit, I don't think I do” he thought, worried.

Sunoo stared at the other, confused at why he suddenly stopped. Heeseung thought for a moment, contemplating on whether or not to just go home and order takeout, or head to the market right now.

“I still have to get groceries for tomorrow though…” 

Sunoo titled his head, “You alright?—"

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Heeseung interrupted. He was still stuck on what to do, and having Sunoo here wasn't helping.

The other stared at him dumbfounded, “...So, are you busy right now? I was going to ask if you wanted to—”

“Yeah, sorry. I need to head to the market and buy some stuff.” Heeseung rudely interrupted, again. He was not going to hang out with Sunoo. Heseung turned around and began walking, he was only a few steps in before he felt a hand grab his arm.

“W-Wait, I can come with you!” Sunoo offered. 

Heeseung turned to him with an eyebrow raised, “You don’t have to. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I really don’t mind.” Sunoo reassured him. He didn’t understand why Heeseung was so adamant on trying to get rid of him. Did he do something?

The other grumbled, “I said, you don’t have to–”

“Really, Heeseung. I don’t mind, plus I have to pass the market to get home anyway.” 

The other groaned, “Fine.” He didn’t feel like arguing with Sunoo, he was exhausted enough.

Sunoo smiled, “Well let’s get going!” he beamed. He began walking, leaving an annoyed Heeseung behind. 

“Great.” He mumbled under his breath, before beginning to follow the other.

They walked in silence, Heeseung was too annoyed and exhausted to actually try and talk to Sunoo, but the other didn’t seem to mind. While walking, they passed a variety of different buildings—bookstores, family-owned businesses, and other miscellaneous stores. Sunoo was looking at each store they passed, admiring them until one caught his eye. 

It was a small building, called “Mystic Cafe.” He stopped in his tracks once he was able to see through their large windows. His eyes marveled at the interior of the building, while looking inside, he noticed how packed it was. The walls were painted a medium brown, adorned with fairy lights. He also saw a huge area that had shelves filled with books. And finally, noticing the furniture. They had booths, single sofas, and in the area where the books were, they had bean bags in a variety of colors. 

“Wow isn’t this cafe gorgeous?” he gushed, turning toward Heeseung. But the other wasn't even paying attention, too preoccupied with his phone, not even bothering to look up.

“Mhm.” Heeseung hummed.

Sunoo rolled his eyes, he turned his head back toward the window, lost in admiring the aesthetic. That’s until his eye caught sight of a poster taped to the window, it was a sign that read “Now Hiring” in bold letters. He looked below that, and there was an email and phone number attached. He thought for a moment, he really needed a job to pay for tuition, and this cafe wasn’t too far from his apartment and campus, it sounded like a win to him.

“It’s worth a shot applying.” he thought. He took his phone out of his bag and quickly snapped a photo of the sign. Once done, he tucked his phone away and turned toward the other. “Y’know, being so occupied on your phone isn’t healthy for you.”

Heeseung looked up, his eyes landing on Sunoo, “I was waiting for you.” he retorted.

The other rolled his eyes, “Whatever, let’s just go.”

Heeseung tucked his phone away and they continued their walk to the market. By the time they reached it, which had only taken ten minutes, Sunoo noticed that it was already dark. “Ugh this is the only downside of October.”  he thought.

Once entering the market, Heeseung immediately wandered off, not bothering to wait for Sunoo. Who was distracted, he went to grab a basket so Heeseung could place the groceries inside, but the minute Sunoo turned back, he vanished. “Heeseung?” he asked aloud, looking around the area but couldn't find him. 

He spent the next ten minutes trying to locate him and eventually did. Heeseung was in the produce aisle, busy picking out a variety of peppers. Sunoo tiredly walked up to him, a little annoyed at the other for not waiting for him. “Here, I got you this basket.” he announced.

He held his hand out to give it to Heeseung, who looked down at it before turning back to the peppers. “I’m fine, I don’t need it.”

Sunoo had to resist the urge to scream at him. “Just take it. I got it for you so you’re not carrying a million things in your hands.” 

Heeseung sighed, he didn't want to waste his breath arguing, so he grabbed the basket and dropped the wrapped peppers inside. Sunoo was expecting a thank you, because he went out of his way to get that for him. It's the only proper thing to do, right?

But to his disbelief, the other wandered off toward the cucumber without a word. "Ungrateful much.” He thought, irritated.

They stayed at the cucumbers for a couple more minutes before Heeseung wandered off to the meat section, with Sunoo slowly following behind him. His eyes examined the different types of meats, carefully picking out which ones he felt like eating tonight. He ended up grabbing two packs of ground beef and another of chicken breasts. He wrapped them in plastic bags before plopping those in the basket. After, he made sure to check over everything, there were three clear bags containing peppers, cucumber, and broccoli, along with the four packs he just placed. 

It looked like he had everything, so he began walking over to self-check out— with Sunoo following behind. He tried to start a conversation with Heeseung but he could tell the other looked out of it, so he kept his mouth shut. 

It was pretty busy inside the market, but they were able to find a self-checkout spot open and start scanning their items. Heeseung placed the basket down in the bagging area and began scanning the packs of meat. Sunoo helped by giving him the rest of the groceries toward the bottom of the basket, still not receiving a thank you.

“Does this guy have any manners?” he thought.

Once they finished, Heeseung checked the price, which was seventy-five dollars. He adjusted his bag, before opening a front pocket to grab his wallet. His hand dug around for a while, but he couldn’t feel it.  “That’s odd.” He thought. His hand searched again, but he still couldn’t feel the wallet. He grabbed his bag and placed it on the ground, kneeling down on the floor. He opened the pocket as far as it could go and checked one last time.

Sunoo looked down at him confused, but he didn’t say anything.

Heeseung’s hand searching grew frantic, he always left his wallet in the front pocket, so why couldn’t he feel it? “Where the hell is it? I had it this morning, I remember placing it in my bag.” He wondered. His heart sank when he didn’t find it, even after dumping the rest of the belongings out.

He thought for a moment, trying his hardest to recall where it could possibly be. Until he finally remembered. This morning, he was getting ready to leave, while he had his wallet in his hand. But he needed to use the bathroom, so he placed it on the coffee table in the living room before using it. He must’ve forgotten it before rushing out.

“Great, just fucking great. Now I have to put everything back—”

“Heeseung, you alright?” 

He snapped out of his thoughts, turning to Sunoo. He ignored the other, beginning to put his things back inside the pocket before zipping it shut. He stood up and began placing the groceries back inside the basket. He let out a heavy sigh, “I forgot my wallet at home, so I’m going to put everything back.”

Sunoo’s eyes widened, he wasn’t expecting that to leave the other's mouth. He watched Heeseung place the groceries inside the basket, his gaze landing on the other’s face, noticing how disappointed and sad he looked. Which made Sunoo upset.

He continued staring before letting out a heavy sigh. “Heeseung, wait.” The other stopped, turning to him, confused. Sunoo looked like he was contemplating something for a moment, before speaking. “I’ll pay for them.”

Heeseung’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at his offer. He quickly dismissed that idea. “No—it’s fine, really. I’ll just order takeout once I get home.” He continued putting the items back in the basket before a hand stopped him

“Don’t argue with me. Just let me pay for it.” Sunoo insisted. Before Heeseung could respond, Sunoo was already making his way to the card reader while beginning to pull his wallet out.

“Sunoo, really. You don’t have to—"

“I want to, now shush.” The other snapped. He took out his credit card and swiped it through the card reader, then punched in his pin. Sunoo waited for a moment before the reader made a ding sound. After, he tucked his card away and waited for the receipt to print. Once that little paper was printed, he grabbed it and handed it to Heeseung. “Here, tuck this inside the bag.” Sunoo said, smiling.

Heeseung stared back at him in disbelief. His mouth went dry, struggling to find the right words to say.

While leaving the building, Heeseung stayed silent. He doesn’t know why, but he was embarrassed at the fact Sunoo paid for him. Once outside he abruptly turned toward the other, making him jump at the sudden movement. Sunoo stared at him blankly, confused.

“I…– thank you. But you didn’t have to do that.” Heeseung said quitely, still feeling very flustered.

Sunoo was silent for a moment before giggling, leaving the other confused. “I already told you, I wanted to. Plus, I wasn’t going to let you put everything back and starve."  And he really meant it. He couldn't just stand around and let Heeseung do that, plus it was only seventy-five dollars, at least it was going to someone that needed it.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time; it was already six twenty. Sunoo sighed, he needed to head home and help Jungwon with dinner. He turned toward Heeseung who was oddly quiet, staring at the grocery bag.

“I have to get going,” Sunoo announced. He noticed the other's weird expression, “You alright?”

Heeseung looked up at him, “Y-Yeah.” he stuttered.

Sunoo smiled, “Enjoy your dinner.” He shot the other a playful wink. He turned around and began walking. Heeseung stared at him, his gaze never left Sunoo until he turned a corner. 

After a moment, he looked back down at the groceries before groaning. “I need to head home and eat.” He thought. The pain in his stomach was growing unbearable.

He began his walk back home, but his mind was still stuck on what just happened. He soon realized just how much of an…asshole he was toward Sunoo. Despite him paying for the groceries. “I mean, it’s not like I forced him to pay.” he muttered under his breath. 

But the guilt inside him didn't subside at all, if anything, it grew. Heeseung thought about how to properly thank Sunoo, he technically did back there, but it was more out of embarrassment rather than a genuine one.

He looked down at the bag, before scoffing. “Ugh, this is so stupid.” 

After fifteen minutes of walking, Heeseung finally reached his apartment. He took his keys out of his sweater’s pocket and swiftly unlocked the door. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him, he took his shoes off and placed them by the shoe rack, along with his school bag right next to it. He made his way over to the kitchen, by the counter. He carefully placed the groceries down on it, before rolling up his sleeves, preparing to wash his hands–

Before the sound of a phone ringing blared throughout the room. He jumped, startled at the loud noise before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller ID on the screen, which read Jay. “What does he want?” he murmured, pressing accept and bringing it to his ear.

“Hey Heeseung, you busy right now?” Jay asked. Heeseung could hear the faint noise of people yelling in the background, he figured Jay must be at a party.

“Yeah, I’m about to eat dinner right now.” he replied, “Why?”

The other groaned, “Ahh dang. Nah, I just wanted to invite you to this house party I’m at. But if you’re busy, don’t worry.” 

“Sorry, next time?” Heeseung offered, he definitely would’ve gone if he wasn’t starving. 

“Yea. Enjoy your dinner, cya.” Jay said.

Heeseung said goodbye before hanging up. He placed the phone down on the counter, before heading to the sink to start washing his hands. He planned on cooking a variety of dishes tonight, he deserved it after such a long and tiring day.

It took him a long grueling hour before he finally finished. He brought the finished dishes and a pair of chopsticks to his coffee table in front of the tv, since he planned on watching a movie while eating. He went back to grab a can of Pepsi from the fridge, before heading to the sofa. Heeseung was about to sit down before he spotted something in the corner of the sofa. The hamster plush Sunoo gave him.

He completely forgot about it. He remembers that night returning home, throwing it on the couch without much thought. Heeseung continued staring at it before walking up to it and carefully picking it up. He examined it for a moment, before bringing it with him to sit down.

He ended up placing it right next to him. It was almost comical the way he was treating it. The hamster plush rested against the soft cushion while he grabbed the remote off the table and opened up Netflix, ready to find an action movie. While in the middle of searching up a movie, he paused, glancing back at the plush.

“This stupid hamster just reminds me that I need to apologize properly to him.” he thought, irritated.

Throughout the next two weeks he actually tried finding Sunoo on campus but couldn’t find him anywhere. Which was weird, how come a couple weeks ago he had no problem running into him, but now? It was like a ghost town.

"Whatever, I'm sure I'll find him soon anyway."

—

It was currently Friday, a week before Halloween. Heeseung was home since he had no classes on Friday’s. So, he ended up waking up around noon. He was about to get out of bed and wash up, before he heard a ring tone from his right. He turned toward his nightstand and saw his phone ringing. He quickly grabbed it and checked the caller ID. Annoyed at first, but when he saw it read Jake, he relaxed. He answered it and brought it to his ear, “Hello?”

“Sup Heeseung, how are you?” Jake exclaimed.

“I’m doing fine. I just woke up not too long ago, you?” he asked, standing up from the bed and making his way over to the bathroom. They chatted while he began setting up his things to get ready to shower. Jake went on and on about his day so far, apparently, he had a three-hour physics lab today so he was stuck on campus right now. Heeseung teased him, bragging about his day off and was met with some...rude remarks by the other.

“Oh yeah—Heeseung. Do you want to go to a Halloween house party next Friday? Jay invited me, I don’t know if he told you about it yet.”

Heeseung was surprised at the sudden invite, “He didn’t…but I’d be down to go.” He replied. “I still can’t believe next week is Halloween. October flew by.”

Jake agreed, “Yea, pretty crazy.” It was silent for a moment, before he added, “Also, are you going to dress up? I wasn’t planning to, but Sunoo kept nagging me about it. If you are, we could go as a duo.”

Heeseung was surprised at the sudden mention of Sunoo. “He’s going?” He wondered.

But he returned to Jake’s question. He wasn’t one to really dress up for Halloween, not since he was a child at least. Heeseung thought for a moment before speaking, “I guess. I don’t mind, let’s just try to pick something simple though.”

The other didn’t argue with that. They chatted for a couple more minutes before Jake had to leave and return to his lab, since he was only given a fifteen-minute break. Heeseung understood, telling him goodbye and good luck, before hanging up.

He went over to his closet to fetch a comfy outfit, while doing so he thought about what they could dress up as. He wasn’t going to spend a lot of money, ne planned on trying to keep it cheap and minimal. Plus, no one really dresses up for Halloween once you’re an adult.

Once he grabbed a change of clothes, he made his way back to the bathroom and began getting ready to shower. Until he remembered he forgot to ask Jake about Sunoo, if he was really coming or not. He sighed in annoyance; he decided that if the other did show up, he’ll apologize then.

Halloween was finally here. 

It was currently midnight and Heeseung was in the process of styling his silver hair. He planned on styling it down so there'd be enough room for his costume’s accessory, which was a hat. He walked over to his mirror and checked himself out. He was wearing a black zip up hoodie, with a navy-blue t-shirt underneath, with dark blue jeans, along with some silver jewelry, his stud earrings and some rings. And finally, his red hat that had the letter M on it.

Yep, him and Jake were dressing up as Mario and Luigi. Basic, he knows that, but the hats were super cheap at Party City. Plus, they waited until Wednesday to buy them, so it was really the only thing left to dress up as, that was a duo. He planned on meeting up with Jake at his apartment, and then they’ll walk to the party together. He checked himself one more time, making sure he looked kempt. Once done, he grabbed his keys and wallet from the nightstand and headed downstairs.

He made his way to the front door and slipped his shoes on, a pair of black converses. He made sure to shut off all the lights before opening the door, quickly shutting it and locking it once outside. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened up his contacts, typing a message to Jake. Letting him know that he was on his way. 

After hitting send, he began the late-night walk. The other's apartment was around fifteen minutes away, which wasn't too bad, and it wasn’t freezing outside, so that was nice. 

Heseung finally saw Jake’s apartment come into view, making him quicken his pace a bit. Once at the front door, he rang the doorbell and waited. A couple seconds passed before the door swung open, revealing Jake, who was wearing a similar outfit like him, just with a green hat on. “Wow, we look great.” He laughed, while gesturing at their hats, “Come in.”

Heeseung thanked him before stepping inside, “So are we going now?” he asked.

Jake was about to answer before remembering something, “Actually, we have to wait. Sunoo isn’t here yet, and he’ll kill me if we leave without him.” 

“So, Sunoo was going.” Heeseung thought. “Oh. Alright.” he said. The two made their way over to the couch while Jake grabbed the remote from the coffee table. He suggested that they watch something in the meantime while they wait for Sunoo, which Heeseung agreed to.

They settled on Halloween, the first movie. They were around fifteen minutes in, hyper focused on it. They were at the part where Michael’s older sister was having a nightmare about—

The sound of the doorbell ringing roared throughout the apartment. They physically jumped, startled by the loud noise. Until Jake abruptly stood up and went over to the door, reaching for the doorknob, twisting and opening it.

“Woah. You alright Jake? You look like you saw a ghost.” Sunoo commented, the other's facial expression was weird.

Jake whined, "I was watching a horror movie, and you scared the crap out of me." 

"Oops." Sunoo said, giggling.

Heeseung tried peeking out into the hallway through the entrance of the living room, but he couldn't see due to the angle of where the couch was. He could hear the two chatting for a moment before the door closed. Soon, he heard the sound of their footsteps approaching. His eyes were back on the tv, watching Laurie begin her walk home.

That was until Jake entered the room and announced, “Heeseung, ready to go? Sunoo’s here now.”

Heeseung turned toward Jake and he nearly yelped, he saw Jake, but right next to him was an…angel? It was Sunoo, who dressed up as an angel, but he went all out compared to them.

He wore a white long sleeve ruffled top, with dark black jeans, some gold jewelry decorating his wrists and ears, accompanied with a pair of white wings right behind him. Heeseung also noticed the other’s face, shimmering?  Sunoo went out of his way to put on some makeup, glittery silver eyeshadow, small silver gems below his eyes, and finally, some prominent rosy blush on his cheeks. 

Sunoo smiled at how the other was staring at him. “He must be impressed,” he thought. “Like it? It took me a while to get ready, so sorry about that.” he sheepishly apologized. Sunoo gave them a twirl, showing them the full outfit.

He suddenly turned to Jake, then Heeseung, then back at Jake. “Are you guys supposed to be Mario and Luigi?” he asked, only noticing due to their hats.

Jake grinned, “Yep. Cool costumes, right?”

“A hat isn’t a costume.” Sunoo murmured, “I thought you guys would buy the actual outfits or at least wear green and red shirts.”

“Not everyone is going to go all out, like you.” Jake retorted.

“Please, you do know people at this party are going to dress up, in actual costumes, you know it’s halloween right?” Sunoo argued, rolling his eyes. 

“Ahh, whatever. Let’s just go.” Jake mumbled. He turned toward Heeseung, who was quiet for some reason. “Ready?”

Heeseung slowly nodded, "Yep." He stood up and walked over to them. While Sunoo still argued about what qualified as a costume.

“The walk is around twenty minutes, not too bad.” Jake informed them. They made their way to the front door, before he opened it, letting them step outside first. He shut the lights off before closing the door and locking it.

They soon started the treacherous journey to this house party.

While walking they noticed lots of Halloween decorations littering the streets. As they kept passing houses, they were surprised at some unique looking decorations displayed outside. Throughout their walk, Jake and Sunoo talked about some k-drama, while Heeseung stayed quiet. He was in the process of thinking about how to approach Sunoo and apologize for his behavior two weeks ago. 

He looked at Sunoo, who was walking ahead of him with Jake. His eyes lingered on his back, staring at the glittery white wings. Heeseung was trying to build up the courage to speak, he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. 

They knew they were close to the party when they saw the street suddenly filled with people in various types of costumes. Jake and Heeseung were taken aback at how many people actually dressed up…and put effort into their costumes.

“See? I told you.” Sunoo stated, shooting a glare at Jake. 

Jake just rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Let’s just find the entrance.” 

They wandered around the street, before finally spotting the house, which was big. They made their way over to the entrance. Once they got closer, they could see the lawn littered in empty beer cans and red plastic cups, a bunch of people were also out front, playing beer pong on some sticky fold out table. And they saw ...someone puking their guts out in a nearby bush.

They pretended to not see that, and made their way inside the house, pushing past some people in the process. After finally making it inside, they were hit with hot air that reeked of alcohol. Jake and Heeseung didn’t seem to mind it, but Sunoo’s face told a different story. He’s been to two house parties in the past but ended up leaving those early. Plus, he doesn’t remember those houses drenched in the smell of heavy alcohol.

“Jay and the rest of them should be somewhere in the living room, that’s what he texted me earlier!” Jake shouted, due to the blaring music. It felt like the room was shaking because of it.

Sunoo huffed at the mention of Jay. He knew the other would be here since he was the one to invite Jake, but that doesn’t mean he wanted to see him. Before he could protest, Jake grabbed his hand, along with Heeseung’s, dragging them along to find the others. After a couple minutes of pushing through crowds of people, and almost losing each other, they finally saw a corner in the huge living room come into view.

As they got closer, Sunoo saw Jay, Ni-ki, and Sunghoon, and the three of them weren’t wearing costumes. “Not surprising.” He thought.

“Yo guys!” Jake shouted, waving to them. The three turned toward them, before gesturing them to come over. Once the three were right in front of them, Sunoo noticed the others staring at him before laughing.

“Someone went all out.” Sunghoon commented.

Ni-ki snorted, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

Sunoo began feeling irritated, “Are you two making fun of me? If you are, those were some lame remarks.” he stated, crossing his arms.

“Jake, why'd you invite him?” Jay rudely asked. Sunoo turned toward him, giving him a glare.

“Why not? It’s Halloween after all. Plus, doesn’t his costume look cool?” Jake said, pointing to Sunoo’s outfit. The three of them checked his outfit once more before shrugging, they really didn’t care.

“His costume looks better than whatever the hell you and Heeseung have on.” Ni-ki ridiculed while taking a sip from his beer cup.

“Oh, come on, cut us some slack. Heeseung help me out here.” Jake begged while nudging the other's arm.

“It was the only thing we could find at the last minute.” Heeseung said, adjusting his hat. “At least we are dressed up, you guys do know it’s Halloween, right?” He stole that sentence from Sunoo’s argument earlier. He didn’t even realize it until it left his mouth, hoping that Sunoo didn’t catch that, he glanced toward him, but the other was busy arguing with Ni-ki.

“Whatever man, let’s just have fun.” Jay said, “You guys should get some of the punch they have in the kitchen, it’s pretty good.”

It has been around twenty minutes since they arrived, and Sunoo was bored out of his mind. Don’t get him wrong, he’s happy that Jake invited him, but he wished he had brought Jungwon. But the other was currently at a sleepover at a friend’s house. “I wish I could turn back time,” he thought.

They were still in that little corner, but the guys were just chatting amongst themselves. Wasn’t the point of going to a house party to dance and drink? Not just drink and chat in a corner? But Sunoo didn’t say anything, they’d probably tell him to go fuck off or something.

While looking around the room, he suddenly felt watched. He turned to his right and saw Ni-ki staring at him, Sunoo was confused before growing irritated, was he staring at him to just diss his costume or what?

“Yes?” he rudely questioned.

“What? I’m just admiring your costume, that’s all.” Ni-ki said casually.

Sunoo didn’t buy that excuse for a second, scoffing, “Yeah. Sure.”  Ni-ki kept trying to talk to him but he wasn’t having it. His head started to hurt from the blaring music, the humidity, and starvation. Before getting ready tonight, he did eat. But that was at around eight o’clock, so he was ready to devour something right about now.

He decided to try and find the kitchen, maybe there are some snacks there or something. Sunoo tried waving to Jake and Heeseung’s, to grab their attention, but they didn’t see him. They were too busy talking with Jay and Sunghoon. Sunoo huffed in frustration, “Fine, I’ll just go alone.” he murmured under his breath.

“What?” Ni-ki asked.

Sunoo forgot he was standing next to him. “Nothing.” he grumbled.

The other shurgged, “You want to go dance–”

“No thanks.” Sunoo interrupted, he didn't give the other time to finish speaking before he began walking away. 

Ni-ki was dumbfounded, “Geez, fine.” he spat.

Sunoo tried navigating himself through the crowd, but it was difficult. He barely escaped a big crowd of people dancing, but he persisted. While wandering around aimlessly, he spotted a couple of friends from one of his classes. They gestured to him to join them in their little circle, which he did, out of kindness. He just hoped that they wouldn’t make him stay there all night.

Throughout the night, the guys danced for a while but quickly grew bored of it. They decided to refill their drinks and afterwards, they found a couch close to a corner in the living room and sat down. It was a tight fit, but they made it work.

While they chatted, Jake noticed Jay aggressively chugging down his fifth drink, “Jay, are you trying to wake up tomorrow with a hangover?” 

The others turned to Jay and noticed he was indeed chugging it. They were surprised, they knew he liked to drink a lot. Every weekend he practically lived at house parties, but tonight he was straight up acting like an alcoholic with the way he continuously refilled his cup and chugged them. Once Jay finished, he cleared his throat, “Just a long week, what’s it to you?” he said defensively, leaving the others confused.

“You alright dude? Something happened?” Heeseung asked. He’s never seen Jay like this, so he was a little concerned.

Jay was quiet for a moment before sighing, “I asked this guy out on a date and he declined my offer.” The others expectantly waited for him to continue, but he didn’t.

“Really? That’s all? Come on Jay…don’t stress out about stuff like that.” Jake said, trying to comfort him.

“I was expecting a more detailed reasoning…” Sunghoon murmured.

Jay stared at him before scoffing, “I was practically insulted by this guy. You want to know what he called me? An ‘s-tier level douchebag’.

The others were quiet before Ni-ki spoke, “Sheesh, what did you do?”

“Nothing!” 

The others exchanged glances, ones that screamed, “Yeah, right”.  But they could see Jay wasn’t in the best mood to joke with, so they decided to just comfort him instead. They didn’t want to shit on him, especially at a party.

“Dude probably has bad taste, don’t beat yourself up over it.” Sunghoon said, rubbing Jay’s shoulder. The others nodded along, agreeing.

“Is he hot?” Ni-ki suddenly asked. 

The others turned to him, along with Jay who shot him a glare. Heeseung nudged his arm, hard, “Ni-ki, shut up.” The other winced in pain, but he eventually did. The rest of them told Jay to cheer up, they still have the whole night ahead of them. Who knows, he might have the chance to hook up with some guy at this party.

Heeseung was about to take another sip from his cup, until he noticed it was empty. He planned on refilling it since that was only the second cup of the night. Heeseung decided to limit himself to three drinks tonight. He didn’t want to wake up tomorrow with a monster headache. He abruptly stood up and turned toward the rest. “I’m going to refill my drink. I’ll be right back guys.” he announced.

“Alright, don’t get lost,” Jake joked, waving. The others did the same.

Heseung gave them a thumbs up before walking away. While navigating around, he noticed the room packed to the brim. He struggled sliding through the crowd; the number of sweaty bodies that bumped into him was unreal. He aimlessly wandered around the house, trying his best to remember where the kitchen was.

But after some time, he miraculously spotted the familiar fold out table, littered with beer cans, and a big bowl of punch. He slowly approached it, standing right in front of the massive bowl with a ladle inside it, he grabbed it, and began refilling his cup. Once done, he took a big sip, surprised that the drink was still cold.

He decided to linger in the kitchen for a while, grabbing his phone from his pocket and began to check his social media. He was in the middle of scrolling through Instagram reels, chuckling at a few, until he suddenly felt a hand grab at his shoulder. He jumped, immediately turning around to see who was grabbing him. 

He was met with Sunoo. Heeseung completely forgot about him, if he was being honest. That’s when he realized, Sunoo wasn’t sitting with them on the couch.

He noticed the other looked mad and annoyed, compared to his usual happy bubbly self. He also didn’t say anything, while his hand still lingered on Heeseung’s shoulder, leaving him puzzled.

Sunoo didn’t speak for a minute, before he finally opened his mouth, “Heeseung? Do you mind if you come with me to get food?” he asked. He was starving so bad at this point. Those friends of his kept him there for like an hour before they left. Which is how he ended up here, but he didn’t expect to run into the other.

“Uh…” Heeseung really didn’t want to leave. But he remembered his promise from weeks ago, on how he would properly apologize to Sunoo. And not much apologizing would be heard here.

Sunoo noticed him not answering, worried that he’d say no, “Please!” he begged. 

Heeseung noticed his pitiful expression and sighed, “Alright, fine.” 

Sunoo blinked, surprised that the other agreed so easily, “Really? You’ll come with me?”

The other sighed, “Yep.” He was going to miss out on the party, but he was an asshole last time. So, he needed to make up for it.

Sunoo beamed, “Thank you so much—let’s get going, I’m starving.” 

“We should tell the–” 

Before Heeseung could finish, Sunoo grabbed a hold of his hand, and began dragging him toward the exit, “I’ll just text Jake, I really can’t wait anymore.” he admitted.

Heeseung stumbled right behind Sunoo—everything was moving so fast. They were pushing past people who were entering the building, while they struggled to leave. One minute they were inside, the next, they were outside in the chilly night air. He noticed Sunoo still holding his hand, growing flustered, “D-Did you have a place in mind?” he stuttered.

Sunoo finallly released his hand to adjust the glitterly wings. They stood in silence for a minute before he spoke, “I don’t really have any place in mind…I guess whatever we find first.” 

Heeseung nodded, “Alright, that’s fine.”

Sunoo fanned himself with his hand, “Geez, it was so hot back there.” he complained.

“...Yeah, it was pretty humid there. The breeze out here feels nice though.” Heeseung commented. 

Sunoo finished adjusting himself before he turned toward the other, “Let’s go!” He went right in front of Heeseung and grabbed his hand, again. Dragging him down the street. Heeseung swallowed hard, surprised at the skin-to-skin contact. While stumbling behind Sunoo, he couldn’t help but notice how soft the other’s hand was. He found it weird that was the first thing he thought of, but it felt really nice.

But the feeling didn’t last long because Sunoo let go. Now they were walking side by side. “Y’know, I’m surprised you agreed to come with me.” Sunoo said, turning his head to the other, “Again, thank you.”

Heeseung looked at him, “It’s no problem.” 

The two walked side by side in silence, Sunoo was too hungry to start a conversation, and Heeseung? Well, he was trying to come up with an apology in his head that didn’t sound stupid. “How do I go about this…do I just straight up say sorry? Or do I have to actually recall what happened, then apologize–”

“Hey Heeseung, I know we haven't talked in a while, but how have you been?” Sunoo suddenly asked. Throughout the last two weeks he's been busy with classes and club meetings, so he hardly had any time to hang out with Jake and Heeseung. The only person he stuck with was Jungwon, since they studied together in the library and at their apartment. 

 “Uh, I’ve been doing fine. Dealing with my classes and stuff.” Heeseung answered, “You?”

“Stressed. But I’m happy it’s almost November, I can’t believe we’re already halfway through the fall semester.” Sunoo replied.

The other nodded, “Yep.”

While they walked, Sunoo talked a lot. But it became more of a rant, about his classes, personal issues, and next semester. Heeseung stared at him from time to time, to let the other know that he was paying attention. But during those quick stares, he couldn’t help but look at Sunoo’s costume repeatedly. Jake was right, his costume was really nice. He liked the gold accessories makeup. 

The makeup was Heeseung's favorite part; he loved the blush–

“And can you believe I was almost late to my three-hour lecture last week? I woke up so late that I didn’t even have time to shower.” Sunoo complained.

Heeseung was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts. “Why not just shower the night before?” he asked, confused.

The other shook his head, “Morning showers are way better.” 

“What? No, they’re not. If you shower the night before, you wake up already clean and get extra sleep.” Heeseung explained, “What’s not to love about that?”

“I sweat a lot in my sleep, so a night shower won’t do me any good.” Sunoo retorted.

Heeseung scoffed, “Sounds like a you problem.” He suddenly felt a smack on his arm, turning toward Sunoo.

“Oh, Shush. So many people sweat in their sleep.” The other argued.

“Ow. That hurt you know.” Heeseung spat. He looked the other in the eyes, expecting some sort of apology. 

“Good.” Sunoo retorted. He couldn’t help but smile at Heeseung’s reaction. The other was confused one minute, then furious the next.

The two continued walking, bickering at first about the whole shower thing, but eventually talked about other things. The streets were deserted except for them, making it feel like they were the only people alive at this late hour. Sunoo doesn't know how long they’ve been walking for, but he still saw no sight of a fast-food restaurant. “Ugh, is there anything here?” he whined, “How come we haven’t found a single food spot?”

“It’s like two in the morning; I’d be surprised if we did find anything.” Heeseung replied. He felt bad that Sunoo was starving, but their chances of finding something at this time, open, was slim to none.

But they continued walking. When they turned a street corner, they saw more houses littered with Halloween decorations. Sunoo looked around, admiring theones that had the lights on, he loved Halloween for this very reason. He felt like a little kid again–

“Hey, look.”

Sunoo turned toward Heeseung, who was pointing at something in front of them. He averted his gaze in that direction and almost screamed out of happiness. There in front of them, a couple feet away, was a twenty four hour convenience store.  “Oh my god.” he whispered.  “Let’s go, come on!” He shouted, grabbing the other's hand, dragging him. Sunoo could hear Heeseung exclaim a, 'Stop running so fast!'

After sprinting the whole way, they finally arrived at the store's entrance. Sunoo was smiling from ear to ear, happy to have finally found a store. He pushed open the doors while still holding Heeseung's hand, pulling him inside. They were greeted with bright fluorescent lights, and the smell of freshly mopped floors. But that didn’t matter right now, all Sunoo needed was a meal. They looked around the store and noticed a worker restocking shelves. The two greeted them, before they began wandering through the isles.

“Geez, you run fast.” Heeseung mumbled. fixing his hatr

“I only run this fast for food.” Sunoo joked, “Now let’s find something to eat, are you hungry?” 

Now that Heeseung thought about it, he was a little. He doesn’t remember the last time he ate, plus, the drinks he had didn’t do much for his stomach. “Yeah, what were you planning on getting? I was thinking about grabbing ramen.”

The other nodded eagerly, “Ooo, me too! I’m also getting some sweets, want some?”

Heeseung shook his head, “Nah, I’m not really a big sweets person.”

Sunoo shrugged, “Alright, suit yourself. I’m going to go check.” The two split ways, wandering around the different isles. Trying to locate what they wanted. 

Heeseung spent a good minute trying to find the ramen aisle but eventually did. He walked up and down the aisle, scanning through the variety of options they had. His eyes landed on two specific flavors, ‘spicy kimchi’ and ‘hot chicken’, he stood there for a good five minutes, debating between the two. But he ultimately decided on the spicy kimchi, he grabbed only one since he wasn’t sure what the other wanted—

“Grab one for me too!”

Heseung jumped, startled at hearing a voice right next to him. He turned to his right and saw Sunoo standing there, holding a variety of desserts in his arms. “You scared me.” he muttered.

“Oops, sorry.” the other sheepishly apologized, “Also, what are you going to drink? I can go and grab it.”

“Uh, just a Pepsi.” Heeseung answered.

“Alright!” Sunoo exclaimed, before wandering off again.

After they gathered everything, they sat at a fold out table they found toward the back of the store. They had their drinks, ramen bowls, and desserts spread out, but they had to let their noodles cook. So, in the meantime, they decided to chat. They talked about their classes briefly, before the topic of November came up. Discussing any plans they had for the new month. 

That’s when Heeseung was reminded about the apology he was supposed to give to Sunoo. Right, Now would be the perfect time since it was just the two of them, but he was nervous for some odd reason...but he needed to get it out and done with. Before he could properly think of one, he spoke. "Sunoo?”

The other turned to him, fixing his hair. “Hm?” 

“Uh…” Heeseung was trying to find the right words without blurting it all out, but the way Sunoo was staring at him, made him all the more nervous. “U-Uh…you remember that time at the market?” he quietly asked.

Sunoo was confused, thinking for a moment, before finally remembering. “Oh yeah. When you forgot your wallet?” he asked bluntly.

Heeseung cringed, “Yeah…about that. Um, I just wanted to…uh.” God, why was he so awkward. He just needed to say sorry, how hard could that be? “I’m…sorry for how I acted towards you that day—and ever since I met you. I was…such an asshole to you, but you still paid for my groceries and hung out with me.”

Sunoo was surprised at this sudden apology, raising an eyebrow. But he remained quiet, wanting to hear the other out.

“You don’t have to forgive me right now or at all…but I just needed to tell you that. It’s been bothering me ever since that day.” Once Heeseung finished, it felt like a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders. He was glad to have finally admitted all that, but now he was nervous about Sunoo’s reaction and response. He stared at his face, but couldn’t read the other’s expression.

It was silent for a moment before Sunoo spoke, “Heeseung, it’s okay. I forgive you.”

The other's breath hitched, “R-Really?”

Sunoo nodded, “I’ll agree though, you were an asshole. But after hanging out that one time at the Arcade, I really grew to like you, especially after our Toy Story conversation.” he admitted.

Heeseung felt his heart skip a beat at that sudden confession, “A-Again, I’m so sorry for the way I acted.” 

The other shook his head, “Don’t worry, that’s all in the past. As long as you’re not an asshole in the future, I don’t have a problem. I really want to be friends with you.”

Heeseung nodded, “I-I wont…I promise.” 

Sunoo smiled, “Now enough talk, let’s eat!”

Once they began eating, it was completely silent, besides the sound of their chopsticks hitting the bowls. The two were really hungry, so there was no room to talk, when they could be shoving food in their mouths instead. 

Heeseung finished rather quickly since he didn’t get anything else compared to the other. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket to check the time, which read two fifty in the morning. He sighed, before placing the phone on the table. He was going to be sleeping so late tonight.

Suddenly, he glanced at Sunoo’s face for some reason. His eyes lingered on the other's face, taking another glance at his glittery eyeshadow. “That eyeshadow really brings out his hazel eyes, along with those silver gems below them.” He thought, admiring. He lowered his gaze a bit and noticed Sunoo's rosy cheeks and lips. Heeseung noticed the other's lips were glossy, not catching that earlier. He stared at how Sunoo's rosy cheeks expanded when he shoved food inside his mouth, and the way his lips looked…he never realized how plump they were.

They looked especially plump, when sucking—

“Is there something on my face?” Sunoo announced.

Heeseung was startled, quickly averting his gaze, “O-Oh, no no.” He stuttered, pathetically. He hoped Sunoo wouldn’t question him. To his relief, the other only shrugged and went back to eating.

But his mind was starting to race with thoughts. "What the hell? Why was I staring at him like that?” He quickly tried dismissed those confusing thoughts. Heeseung assumed it was just because he was sleepy...nothing weird. He waited for Sunoo to finish, which the other soon did. They cleaned up the table and threw away their trash, before making their way over to the counter to pay for what they ate. They wished the worker a goodnight before exiting the store.

Once outside, Heeseung suddenly felt his phone ding. He grabbed it from his pocket and saw a text message notification. He unlocked his phone and checked those messages, noticing he received three messages, all from Jake. Crap, he forgot to text him earlier.

Jake >:)

Heeseungg 3:01 a.m.

Where are you?? 3:01 a.m.

Helloooo, Heeseung where the heck are you?? 3:05 a.m.

Those messages were sent around ten minutes ago, he sighed before beginning to type out a response.

Heeseung

I’m out with Sunoo, we went to grab some food. 3:16 a.m.

He would apologize to Jake once they got back to the party. “Who’s texting you?” Sunoo asked suddenly, curious at seeing Heeseung look so intently at his phone.

Heeseung turned toward him, “Just Jake, he was asking where we were.” He stared down at his phone and waited for Jake’s response but it never came. Weird.

“Oh Heeseung, could I have your number? Y’know so we can stay in touch.” the other asked.

“Oh, sure.” He replied. Sunoo pulled out his phone and handed it to him, Heeseung swiftly typed it in and saved it as a new contact, before giving it back to him.

“Thanks!” Sunoo exclaimed.

“Of course, no problem. We should start heading back though, before Jake tries to find us.” Heeseung murmured. Sunoo laughed at his comment but agreed, he didn’t want Jake to get all worked up.

They managed to find their way back to the house, but they decided to wait outside for Jake. They didn’t want to push and shove through a group of sweaty people again. After a couple minutes of waiting, they suddenly saw the other emerging from the front door. Sunoo waved over to him, “Jake! Over here!” he shouted. 

Jake spotted them and quickly made his way over. “Where the heck were you guys?” he asked, relieved that they were alright.

“We went to get some food, you didn’t see my text?” Heeseung asked, confused.

Jake sighed, “No, I was busy helping—”

“Jake!” a voice suddenly called out. The three turned around and saw Sunghoon emerging from the front door, holding Jay up by his shoulders, along with Ni-ki on his opposite side. “Help us, please!” Sunghoon exclaimed. Jake rushed over immediately.

Sunoo and Heeseung exchanged confused glances, before staring back at them. Jake took Sunghoon’s position while they descended down the cobbled stone steps. “Geez, how much did he have to drink?” Heeseung asked. He’s seen Jay drunk plenty of times, but this time the other could barely stand upright. 

“Almost seven cups, I had to physically stop him.” Sunghoon muttered, “Now he’s whining and groaning about that guy from earlier.”

Sunoo looked at Jay and had to stop himself from laughing out loud, it was hilarious seeing him like this rather than being a prick.

“I’m gonna drive us home, along with Ni-ki. Can’t believe he had the audacity to drink when he was our designated driver.” Sunghoon grumbled.

Heeseung scoffed, "Sheesh."

Jake and Ni-ki dragged Jay toward his car that was parked a couple feet away from the house. Sunghoon was in the front, leading them, while Heeseung and Sunoo slowly followed behind them. Once they finally made it to the car, Sunghoon unlocked it, and opened the back passenger side door. He gestured to Ni-ki and Jake, to shove Jay inside before he starts complaining about how he has to sit in the back.

They wasted no time, quickly shoving him inside before he could protest. Ni-ki also hopped in the back, just to make sure Jay would be alright during the ride.

Sunghoon closed the door once they were situated and turned toward the three outside. “You guys need a ride?” 

The three looked at each other before Jake spoke, “Nah, you should get Jay home before he starts acting up. We can walk.” 

Sunghoon shrugged, “Alright, goodnight, guys.” he said, jiggling the car keys in his hand.

“Ahem.” Sunoo coughed, I’m right here.”

Sunghoon glanced toward him, “Night to you too, I guess.”

Sunoo stared at the other in disbelief, he watched Sunghoon head to the opposite side of the car, open the car door and hop inside, before shutting it. The sound of the car engine turning on roared through the air, before it was put into drive, and sped off.

It was silent before Jake spoke, “Anyway, so where the heck were you guys? Do you know how frantic I was looking for you two!” he exclaimed, turning toward them. They apologized to him, Sunoo explained how he was hungry and asked Heeseung if he would accompany him.

“Well as long as you guys are fine, that’s all that matters.” Jake sighed, “Next time, just text me as soon as you leave.” They eagerly nodded, promising to him that they would.

Sunoo yawned, “Are we leaving now? I’m so sleepy…” 

Jake laughed at the other's sleepy state, “Yeah, not much else to do at this party.” he said, before turning to Heeseung. “You coming with us?”

Heeseung nodded, “Yea, I’m ready to go to bed.” he admitted, rubbing his eyes.

Jake pulled his phone out from his pocket, to check the time, and saw it read three forty-three. “Yikes. Yeah, let’s get going.” he murmured while ushering the two to begin walking.

The sound of a blaring leaf blower is what disrupted Heeseung’s slumber. He tossed and turned in bed, trying his best to get back to sleep. It was Saturday for fuck sakes; he shouldn’t be awake so early.

Five minutes passed and the noise continued, he mumbled something under his breath, before finally sitting up. He lazily looked around his room, noticing it was strangely bright inside, but didn’t think much of it. Suddenly, a notification sound came from his left by the nightstand, he turned toward it and saw his phone light up.

He slowly reached out to grab it and check what it was. His eyes scanned the screen, before practically bulging out of their sockets. He saw the time; it read one in the afternoon. That got rid of his grogginess really quick, he couldn’t believe he was out for 10 hours. He was scrolling through the different notifications, until one caught his attention.

xxx-xxx-xxxxx

Hi Heeseung! Did you make it home alright?  12:47 p.m.

He was confused on who this was until recalling last night. Right, he gave Sunoo his number. That text was sent around thirty minutes ago. He opened up messages before beginning to type out a response.

Heeseung

Hey Sunoo. Yea, I made it home without any issues. 1:17 p.m

Heeseung made sure to change the other's contact name, so he wouldn't question who this was. After he did that, he was about to shut off his phone before another message appeared.

Sunooo

That’s good, I was so exhausted last night that I didn't even take my costume off D; 1:17 p.m.

[Image attachement] 1:18 p.m.

Heeseung scrolled down slightly, before his eyes landed on the image Sunoo sent. It was a selfie of him from a high angle, while still wearing his angel costume, including the makeup—minus the gems.

Heeseung

Wow it still looks perfectly intact lol 1:19 p.m

His eyes landed on the photo again, but this time, he clicked on it. His fingers zoomed in on Sunoo’s face, noticing how his eyes were slightly droopy, funny looking. His gaze slowly traveled down to the other's lips, and his mind flashed images from last night. How Sunoo’s lips were glossy and slurping on those noodles. The way his lips twitched ever so slightly while— 

Heeseung paused, raising an eyebrow at his...thoughts. He quickly exited out of his messages and set his phone down on the bed. “Maybe it’s time to go eat something.” 

—

After Halloween night, Heeseung and Sunoo grew closer. It surprised Heeseung at how quick their friendship grew but he wasn't complaining. He actually enjoyed spending time with the other—he would never admit that out loud though. The two would often hang out on campus after their classes, and on the weekend with Jake, whenever he was available. They also recently started texting more.

He thought everything was great, he had a new friend, and it wasn’t like any of those horrible past friendships.

“Ugh, midterms are going to kill me.” Sunoo whined.

Heeseung laughed, “No joke.” They were currently at a cafe, studying together. They didn’t have any classes together, but studying with someone is always better than studying alone, according to Sunoo.

“How many exams do you have next week?” the other asked while flipping through the pages in his notebook.

“Around three in person, one’s online.” Heeseung responded, grabbing a pen from his pencil pouch.

Sunoo let out a heavy sigh, “I can’t wait for next week to be over with.”

Heeseung nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, but at least we have Thanksgiving break to look forward to.”

“I guess…” the other murmured.

The two were studying while waiting for their meals they ordered. Sunoo ordered toast with avocado on top, along with egg, tomato, onions, and cream cheese, and a small iced americano. While Heeseung ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, along with the same drink the other ordered.

They talked for a bit more before going back to studying. They really couldn’t afford to fail the midterms when finals would be here in around a month. Heeseung was reviewing material for his statistics class, z scores, t, scores…his head was beginning to hurt. That's when he suddenly glanced toward Sunoo. He saw the other's nose deep into a book while flipping back and forth through the pages, he couldn’t help but smile a bit at Sunoo's funny expression.

While staring, he noticed how…nice Sunoo looked today. He wore a black zip up, with a beige color top under, and a pair of dark denim baggy jeans, his eyes glanced up toward Sunoo's neck, noticing a unique looking necklace with a key hanging from it. “Wow, he looks…pretty–” 

“An order of two small iced americanos?” a voice suddenly spoke.

Heseung was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts, he turned to his right and saw a woman holding a tray with their drinks on them. She placed the tray down on their table and handed them their drinks. Well actually— she handed Sunoo his drink, completely disregarding Heeseung.

“Oh, Thank you."  Sunoo thanked, smiling. 

“Of course, your food should be done soon. I’ll bring it out once it’s ready.” The woman happily said. Heeseung noticed how she was only acknowledging Sunoo and talking to him. He found that weird, but he tried not to think about it. 

“Are you studying?” she suddenly asked Sunoo.

The other was surprised at the sudden question, “Oh—yeah. Midterm season is upon us.” he laughed while gesturing to Heeseung and him.

The woman looked over toward Heeseung, and he could see her flash an uninterested look at him, but quickly averted her gaze back to Sunoo. “Well, I wish you the best of luck. Also, I love your necklace.” she gawked.

“Oh, thank you!” Sunoo exclaimed, touching the key pendant, “I got it as a gift from my mother.” 

The woman smiled, “It suits someone just as gorgeous as it.”

Sunoo was taken aback at the sudden compliment, “O-Oh, stop it” he joked, shyly waving his hand.

Heeseung watched everything happen right in front of him, and he doesn’t understand why, but he felt irritated at the sight of it. He doesn't know if it was because of that woman’s glare from earlier, or her corny compliments. 

“Isn’t she just supposed to serve our food? Why is she even still here?” he thought, irritated at the woman's countless compliments toward the other. The two chatted for another minute before she finally walked away. Heeseung watched her leave and head behind the front counter, before disappearing into some room.

“She was nice right?” Sunoo asked, picking up his textbook.

Heeseung shrugged, “I guess.”

Around five minutes later, their meals were brought out by the same woman, but she couldn’t stick around and talk to Sunoo this time, since she was called by someone. Heeseung was secretly glad, he didn’t want to hear her talk all cheesy like that to Sunoo again. He was about to dip his sandwich into the tomato soup before he paused. “Why do I care?” he thought.

He was lost in thought when Sunoo suddenly interrupted. “Mmm, this avocado toast is really good!” he exclaimed, “How’s your sandwich and soup?”

“Oh— I haven’t tried it yet.” Heeseung replied. He dipped the sandwich in the small bowl of soup, before bringing it close to his mouth, taking a big bite out of it. He chewed for a minute before his expression dramatically changed. 

Sunoo noticed his expression, “I’ll assume it’s good,” he laughed.

They eventually finished eating and continued studying for another hour. It was around seven thirty when they decided to call it a day, since the cafe closed at eight. They packed up their things and threw away their trash, before finally exiting the establishment. 

“We should do more study sessions together,” Sunoo exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, feeling a little cold.

Heeseung looked at him, "Yeah, we should. We should also invite Jake.” he suggested.

“Oh please. The last time I studied with Jake, it almost made me want to die” Sunoo joked, “You will study nonstop with him, no food, no break, nothing.”

“Geez…maybe it should just be us then.” Heeseung muttered. They continue walking toward campus, since that was their little 'check point', they created, before they both split off into different directions. Heeseung looked around the street, it was already dark out, but the streetlights were on so it was faintly lit. It was also chilly, but not crazy cold.

“By the way, thank you for paying.” Sunoo said, “I promise I’ll pay the next time we hang out.” Heeseung ended up paying for both of their meals because he still felt bad that the other paid for his groceries that time. He thought this was a good way to repay him and make everything even. He waved his hand dismissively, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s a thank you for those groceries.”

The two walked in silence. But not like how it used to be, awkward and weird. This time it was a comforting silence. They walked for about ten more minutes before their campus came into view. Heeseung stopped, ready to turn to Sunoo and say goodbye–

That’s until he felt two arms wrap around his body, his head snapped toward the hands. And saw Sunoo, hugging him. “It was so fun hanging out today, thank you again!” Sunoo beamed.

Heeseung froze, he wasn’t expecting the sudden hug. His arms lingered in the air, unsure what to do with them, “O-Oh yeah, it was really f-fun.” The hug didn’t last long before the other pulled back. That’s when he tried to compose himself, bringing his arms back down to his sides. 

“Good night. Get home safely, okay?” Sunoo spoke, “I’ll text you once I’m home.”

Heeseung slowly nodded, “R-Right…goodnight.” he stuttered. He watched Sunoo turn around and walk away. He stared for a moment before quickly turning around and beginning the walk home. "What the hell just happened?” He thought.

Heeseung was only five minutes away from his apartment. He was staring at some trees in the distance before his mind went back to Sunoo, specifically that hug. He remembers how Sunoo’s arm engulfed him in a tight hug, the way he was all happy and giggly–

He grew flustered by the way he was recalling everything. “It was just a hug…nothing crazy.” He thought. Trying his best to forget what happened, but it was easier said than done.

—

Heeseung was currently home, lying in bed while lost in thought. He was struggling to pinpoint his feelings for Sunoo. He felt confused, of course he liked the other as a friend— but the way his mind constantly lingered on Sunoo, the hang outs, the constant messages, and especially that hug— 

“Am I developing a crush on him?” He thought, surprised. It was a reasonable thought, but quickly dismissed that silly idea. “No, no…I like him as a friend. And only as a friend.”

He tried reasoning with himself, he’s just never had a friend like Sunoo before. This was his first time with someone like that, that’s why everything feels like this. Yeah. He told himself that, but it didn’t reassure him at all.

“Why is stuff like this so complicated.” 

It had been almost a week since then, and Heeseung was in the middle of getting ready to head out. Today was November fifteen, Jake’s birthday. He invited all of his friends over to his place for a fun night, since his birthday fell on a Saturday. It was perfect, because none of them had to worry about class the next day.

Heeseung was almost ready, he just needed to put clothes in the dry machine. He quickly headed downstairs to the laundry room and opened the washing machine, transferring the wet clothes to the dryer. He shut the clear door, before setting a timer for thirty minutes, and pressing start. He shut the lights off before jogging toward the living room.

He was running a bit late, so he had to hurry up and leave right now. Heeseung grabbed his phone and keys from the coffee table and raced to the front door, making sure to shut off all the lights before leaving. Once making sure the door was locked, he began speed walking to Jake’s apartment. Well, more like running.

“Hey Heeseung—woah.” Jake exclaimed. He saw Heeseung standing outside his front door, panting heavily like he just ran a marathon.

“H-Hey…” the other weakly replied.

“Come inside dude.” Jake said, pulling Heeseung inside and shutting the door.

“S-Sorry…I practically ran all the way over here.” Heeseung panted.

“Geez…Follow me, I’ll get you something to drink.” The other gestured to Heeseung to follow him toward the living room. As they entered, they were immediately greeted by the rest of the guys.

“Heeseungg, sup?” Ni-ki greeted, waving.

“Hey Ni-ki,” Heeseung responded, trying to smile. He saw Ni-ki, and Sunghoon sitting on the couch, drinking some soda while chatting. And Jay was sitting on the floor, eating chips from a big clear bowl.

Jay looked at the other “You alright?” he asked. He noticed Heeseung breathing heavily.

“He ran all the way over here,” Jake exclaimed, from the kitchen. He was in the process of trying to find some cold water bottles.

“Late as usual.” Sunghoon commented, chuckling.

Heeseung rolled his eyes, “I’m only like ten minutes late.” 

“You’re actually fifteen minutes late, but I’ll let it slide since I’m in a good mood.” Jake corrected, while approaching him with a water bottle, “Here.”

Heeseung thanked him before grabbing it. He opened it and chugged the majority of it—the cold water hitting his throat felt amazing. Once finished, he made his way over next to Ni-ki and Sunghoon on the couch and sat down.

He looked around the room for Sunoo, before realizing he didn’t see him. Which was odd, he thought Jake would invite him since they’re really good friends. “Jake, is Sunoo coming?” he suddenly asked. Everyone turned toward him like he just asked something ridiculous, besides Jake. 

“I did. He must be running late…I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Jake reassured him.

“Sunoo, LoL winner?” Ni-ki interrupted, “Why invite him?”

Jake glared at him, “He’s my friend Ni-ki.” Heeseung was a little bummed that Sunoo wasn’t here already, but he believed Jake. Sunoo wasn’t the type to just ditch without telling them.

They were all currently huddled up on the floor in a circle, besides Jake. Who was busy grabbing some board games from his room. Around three minutes later, he returned, holding a huge stack of them. He placed them down on the floor before sitting between Ni-ki and Heeseung. “I got like ten games, we can check each and see what you guys want to play.” he said, beginning to organize them.

Ni-ki looked at the stack and grabbed the one on top, “Ooo, Candy Land looks fun,” he exclaimed.

“What about monopoly? It’s a pretty easy game.” Jay asked, pointing to the box underneath Candy Land.

Sunghoon shook his head, “Nah, I agree with Ni-ki. Plus I’ve never played Candy Land before.”

Jake laughed, “Don’t worry guys, we have all night to—”

The sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted them, making everyone jump. They all looked at each other before Jake abruptly stood up. “Must be Sunoo, I’ll be right back.” he said, before exiting the living room.

“Finally.” Heeseung thought. They all turned their attention back to the boardgames, debating on what to pick. It went quiet for a while, until they suddenly heard inaudible sentences being exchanged outside in the hallway. They were expecting to see Jake and Sunoo walk in already, but they didn’t.

“Bro, what’s taking so long?” Ni-ki huffed, rolling his eyes.

“Maybe that isn’t Sunoo?” Sunghoon supposed. Another minute passed before they finally heard footsteps approaching the living room.

“Geez, finally.” Jay murmured.

The three turned toward the noise, and saw Jake and Sunoo entering, “Sorry about that guys.” Jake apologized, “Sunoo’s here, and he brought along a friend.” 

The others were confused at his sentence, before noticing a figure standing behind the two. They tried peeking but couldn’t see who this ‘friend’ was. That’s until Sunoo nudged the figure forward, “Sorry we’re late.” He announced, “I had to pick my friend up from the library.” 

They all finally saw the figure, and it was a man, smiling. He was around the same height as Sunoo. He had black hair, cat-like eyes, and pronounced dimples. To the rest of them, the two looked like twins—to an extent. But none of them knew who this guy was. Except Jay. Of course, he knows who he is, this was the same man he toyed with and was called an ‘S-tier level douchebag’. 

“This is Jungwon, I hope you guys are nice to him.” Sunoo warned, while glaring at Jay, Sunghoon, and Ni-ki. He didn’t forget how they treated him at first and still do. “Oh, and Jake, I brought this for you,” he added. He suddenly pulled out a small red gift bag with a white ribbon tied on it, from his handbag and handed it to him, “Happy birthday.”

Jake was surprised at the sudden gift, before a big smile appeared on his face, “Thank you Sunoo!” He beamed, hugging the other. It felt more like being squeezed to death, but Sunoo hugged him back.

Jungwon looked around at the others, before awkwardly waving to them, “Hi.” 

Jake laughed, “No need to be shy, Jungwon. They’ll be nice.” he promised. Heeseung looked this ‘Jungwon’ guy up and down. He had never seen him before on campus, so he was really confused on how Jake knew him.

The rest greeted him, besides Jay who just stared at him. Jungwon didn’t miss the way the other rolled his eyes at him. “What are you guys doing?” Sunoo asked suddenly, while looking at the floor, seeing all the spread out boardgames.

“Oh, we were picking out a game to play. I have like ten options, you and Jungwon should look through them.” Jake answered.

“Ooo, alright!” Sunoo exclaimed.

They spent longer than they should have picking out a game, due to Ni-ki and Sunoo arguing whether they should play Candy Land or Scrabble. Which led Jake to cast a voting session. Everyone voted and the scores were, four for Candy Land while three for Scrabble. The four votes came from, Jay, Ni-ki, Sunghoon, and Jake. While the three were from Heeseung, Sunoo, and Jungwon.

The four cheered while the three sat in silence. “Pfft whatever.” Sunoo muttered under his breath.

Jake opened the box and began setting up the board on the ground, with the assistance from Ni-ki and Sunghoon. While they were setting up the game, Heeseung couldn’t help but stare at Sunoo and Jungwon, who were sitting across from him. He noticed them chatting amongst themselves, but he couldn't hear due to Ni-ki and Sunghoon bickering in his ear. He couldn’t help but feel a little jealous…at the way they talked so happily.

“Alright guys! The game only allows four players at a time so, three will have to sit out for the first round.” Jake announced.

It was quiet for a moment, before Jungwon spoke, raising his hand. “I don’t mind sitting out for the first round.” 

Sunoo turned toward him, “Aww, come on Jungwon!” he whined dramatically.

“I’ll play the next round, don’t worry hyung!” Jungwon reassured the other, smiling.

Heeseung felt annoyed at their conversation, he looked down at the board, trying to distract himself. “Well, who else isn’t going to play?” Jake asked, staring at the rest of them.

Jungwon, Heeseung, and Jay decided to sacrifice their turns for the first round, while the rest played. Throughout the round, Heeseung couldn’t help but continuously glance toward Sunoo and Jungwon. He tried, he really tried focusing on the game, but the scene across from him left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

He noticed Jungwon whisper something into Sunoo’s ear before the other grabbed his character and moved it across the board. Making Ni-ki shout something out in frustration, but Heeseung was too focused on them to hear what he said. He didn’t like the way Jungwon grabbed Sunoo’s arm while laughing along with him—their close proximity was really starting to annoy him. He knows their friends, but are friends always that touchy?

He’s not like that with Jake, or any of the others.

A whole two hours went by; they played three rounds of Candy Land and eventually transitioned into Scrabble due to Sunoo begging them nonstop. The rest of them honestly hated that game, except Sunoo and Jungwon, who were the most enthusiastic about it. “You guys are just too dumb for Scrabble.” Sunoo mumbled. Making everyone immediately shout at him.

After their board game session, everyone was starving. Jake offered to order takeout, since all he had were chips, until Ni-ki began babbling, insisted on paying for it. “It’s your birthday hyung, I’ll pay.” Ni-ki said with a grin.

“There’s no catch to this?” Jake asked, while eyeing the other suspiciously.

Ni-ki laughed, “Just do the same for my birthday.” 

Jake ended up letting Ni-ki order Japanese takeout, which arrived in under twenty minutes. Ni-ki and Heeseung helped set up the food on the coffee table, while the rest grabbed plates, utensils, and cups. Heeseung was still organizing the table, opening the packs of food, until his eye caught sight of Sunoo and Jungwon in the kitchen. They were standing by the opened fridge, just grabbing drinks while giggling, but to him it was like watching a couple being all lovey dovey.

It made him sick—

“Hyung?”

Heeseung turned his head toward Ni-ki, who was staring at him. “Can you pass me the box of dumplings?” 

“O-Oh, sorry. Here.” he apologized, handing the other the box. He tried to forget what he saw by the fridge. Once everything was organized and everyone was seated, they began to indulge in the delicious smelling food. The table was assorted with teriyaki chicken, rolls of sushi, multiple bowls of miso soup, vegetable spring rolls, and yakisoba buns.

“Wow, this food is really good. Where’d you order this from, Ni-ki?” Sunghoon asked, grabbing more spring rolls.

“I ordered it from ‘Sarku Japan’, it’s close to Campus.” 

“Their spring rolls are really good.” Jay murmured, before shoving one inside his mouth.

Sunoo finished eating his miso soup, before looking around the table, searching for the plate of sushi. But he couldn’t find it. He looked toward the other end of the table and eventually spotted them, but it was too far away to grab himself. “Could someone pass me the plate of sushi?” 

Heeseung’s ear perked up at the other's request. He was sitting right across from the plate, so he reached his hand out, ready to grab it—

Unti a hand suddenly snatched it, his eyes averted toward the hand, and it belonged to Jungwon.

“Here hyung.” Jungwon said, passing the plate to Sunoo.

“Thank you Jungwon!” the other happily exclaimed, using his chopsticks to grab a couple rolls. Heeseung watched in disbelief before feeling furious He picked up his chopsticks and literally stabbed a roll of sushi on his plate, before bringing it up into his mouth.

“What should we do after eating guys?” Jake asked while pouring himself a glass of soda. Everyone thought for a moment, they could go back to playing board games, but the other games didn’t really interest any of them.

“How about we watch a movie?” Sunoo suggested. Making everyone look at him before agreeing, a movie wasn’t a bad idea.

“You guys pick though; I don’t watch too many movies.” Jake stated.

Ni-ki suddenly raised his hand, “I call picking!"

After everything was thrown away and the table was cleaned up, they all sat on the couch. Well, more like only four of them did, three would have to sit on the floor. Sunoo and Jungwon were the unlucky ones that had to sit on the floor, since the other was busy showing Jungwon where the bathroom was, while everyone else was already sitting. “Come on, you all picked seats while we were in the bathroom?” Sunoo complained. He and Jungwon were standing right in front of the couch.

“You snooze; you lose.” Ni-ki snorted, doing an 'L' symbol with his hand.

“Just sit on the floor, it’s not that bad.” Jay muttered.

Sunoo turned at him, “Easy to say for someone who’s sitting on the couch already.” he retorted, “Why don’t you sit on the floor if it’s not so bad?” Jay ignored him, making him scoff. “That’s what I thought—”

“I’ll sit with you guys on the floor,” Jake offered, “To make it fair.” Sunoo reluctantly agreed, just so they can start the movie. He sat on the floor with Jungwon on his right, and Jake on his left. He was happy that Jake at least provided blankets and pillows for them.

“What movie did you pick Ni-ki?” Jake asked.

“The Grudge, have you guys seen it before?” Ni-ki questioned. Everyone shook their heads, they’ve never even heard of it. Ni-ki went on a two-minute rant about the plot, but it somehow transitioned into ‘Japan has the best horror movies out there–’

“Just play it.” Sunoo interrupted, annoyed at the other's rant. Ni-ki glanced over at him and grumbled something...not nice under his breath, before clicking play.

Once the movie started, everyone was quiet, the only sound audible was the eerie backtrack coming from the tv screen. The first five minutes, it was just an explanation of this supposed “Evil Spirit”, that was a woman, and about how her husband murdered her, their son, and their family cat, before hanging himself.

“Ugh, what a prick.” Sunoo whispered under his breath.

Jungwon nodded, leaning in close to the other's ear, “Right? He could've just left her—”

“The two in the front, could you guys shut up?” Sunghoon suddenly announced. The two froze before turning around, staring up at the four who were glaring at them. “Geez, alright.” Sunoo muttered, before turning back to the tv.

The screen flashed with flashbacks to that fateful night, where the husband found his wife’s diary and the countless entries about her fantasizing over an American foreigner that worked at her corporate job. She was madly in love and obsessed with this man, so much so, that she would send confession letters to him every day, in his shoe locker.

Everyone was focused on the tv, the storyline was pretty interesting. Including Heeseung—until a sudden movement in front of him caught his attention. He looked down and saw Sunoo and Jungwon, but this time they were sitting closer than earlier. He also noticed Jungwon’s hand wrapped around Sunoo’s arm, practically squeezing it. The last straw was when he saw him whispering something into Sunoo's ear, smiling and quitely giggling.

Everything from earlier came back to his head, the giggling by the fridge, grabbing the sushi plate, now this? It was all becoming too much for him. Heeseung groaned in annoyance, sitting all the way back against the soft cushion. He crossed his arms while continuing to stare at them, he didn't understand why this was bothering him so much.

Around the forty-minute mark, Jungwon suddenly turned to Sunoo, tapping his arm. He scooted closer to the other, before whispering, “Sunoo, shouldn’t we get going?” 

Sunoo looked at him, before grabbing his phone from his pocket. He turned it on, and saw the time, it read nine thirty. “Oh crap, yea we should.” he responded quietly. Tomorrow was Saturday, no classes, but they still had to wake up early. Sunoo turned toward Jake, who was staring at the tv intently. He hesitated for a moment, before tapping his arm.

Jake turned toward him, letting out a quiet, “Hm?”  Sunoo brought his mouth close to the other's ear and whispered something. Jake listened. At first, he was surprised by whatever Sunoo told him but quickly reassured the other.

“Are you sure Jake?” Sunoo asked, worriedly.

Jake nodded, “Yeah, don’t worry about it. I understand.” He sat up and turned back to the others, “Ni-ki, pause the movie for a second.”

Everyone was confused, but Ni-ki grabbed the remote and pressed pause.

“What?” Sunghoon asked.

The three abruptly stood up, before Jake spoke. “I wanted us to say goodbye to Sunoo and Jungwon, they’re leaving.”

Everyone was quiet before Sunghoon scoffed, “You guys are leaving already? The party just started.” 

Sunoo tried to explain their situation, “We have to wake up early—”

“Is this party too boring?” Ni-ki suddenly ridiculed.

Sunoo began feeling irritated. He didn’t bother answering them anymore, instead turning to Jake, “Sorry again, Jake. Really, it was fun tonight.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it and thank you for the gift.” He said while smiling.

It was silent before Jay snorted, “I call bullshit, they just probably found the party boring.”

Jungwon and Sunoo turned toward him, sending glares. “You know some people actually have a life, and they have jobs. I don’t know if you do,” Sunoo snarled, “It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn't. " He didn’t bother saying goodbye to anyone, too annoyed with their rude comments. He grabbed Jungwon’s hand and began walking toward the hallway with the other stumbling behind him.

“T-Thanks again Sunoo!” Jake exclaimed. He was caught off guard by how Sunoo was acting. Sunoo didn’t look back but he gave Jake a thumbs up before disappearing. Everyone could hear shuffling noises from outside in the hall, and eventually the sound of a door opening, before closing.

“Party poopers.” Ni-ki muttered.

“Seriously. Jake, don't invite them next time.” Jay said, cracking his knuckles

“Guys, stop.” Jake pleaded before sighing, “Let’s just go back to watching the movie.” He sat back down on the floor, while Ni-ki grabbed the remote and pressed play.

Everyone went back to staring at the tv, listening to the detective explain the women’s murder to the protagonist. Even Heeseung was sucked back into it, he was bummed that Sunoo left, but glad at the same time. He doesn’t know if he could’ve handled seeing Sunoo and Jungwon acting like that in front of him any longer.

That’s when a thought popped up in his head. “Job? Sunoo has a job?”  They’ve been friends for a while, and Sunoo never told him about that. Now he was confused, no longer interested in the movie anymore. His mind was preoccupied trying to figure out what ‘job’ Sunoo could possibly have. “Wait, does that mean he and Jungwon work at the same place?” 

The movie ended after an hour and forty minutes. They actually enjoyed it a lot, it was pretty scary, the woman’s evil spirit was terrifying. “What now?” Ni-ki asked.

“We could play another board game...?” Heeseung suggested.

“Nah…the rest of the games look boring.” Sunghoon replied.

It was quiet for a moment; everyone was trying to figure out something fun they could do. Jay stared at them before speaking, “Jake. You should open the gift I got you.”

Jake looked at him confused, “What?”

“Just bring it here and open it.” the other responded. Jake was still confused but stood up and went to retrieve the gift Jay brought. He went over to the kitchen and grabbed a navy-blue gift box with a yellow ribbon on the front, before heading back to his spot.

“We’re opening presents now?” Ni-ki asked, confused.

“My present could solve our boredom.” Jay said confidently. Jake stared at the box before slowly removing the lid. There was white gifting paper covering something large inside. He removed the paper and gasped—he saw a pink wine bottle, and right next to it was a small card. He picked up the card and read it.  ‘Happy Birthday, enjoy your drink ;)’ From Jay.

Jay snorted, “See? I think my gift is the best one.” Ni-ki, Sunghoon, and Heeseung hovered over Jake and gasped upon seeing the expensive looking wine bottle.

“Woah, how much did this cost?” Ni-ki asked, admiring the bottle.

“Not much.” Jay responded.

“T-Thank you Jay!” Jake exclaimed, still examining the bottle.

The other smiled, before standing up. “I’ll get us some glasses.”

They decided to spend the rest of the night chatting and drinking. That was always an exciting activity for them. “This wine is super sweet, it’s really good.” Heeseung murmured.

Jay nodded, “Yep, I thought it’d be a good gift for Jake, he needs to drink more.”

“I do drink!” the other exclaimed, embarrsed. Everyone laughed at his response, Jake did drink. But not as much as they did. It was quiet for a moment before Jake muttered “I wish Sunoo and Jungwon were here...” 

Heeseung’s ears perked up at the mention of Sunoo. “Them? Dude, they literally ruined your party.” Sunghoon exclaimed.

“No—they didn’t.” Jake said defensively. 

“You seriously believe they have jobs?” Ni-ki asked, “I doubt it.”

When Ni-ki said that—Heeseung thought for a moment. Did Sunoo really have a job? Or did he just say that to leave...No, he knew Sunoo. He wasn’t the type to do that. “S-Sunoo wouldn’t do something like that, he probably does have a job,” Heeseung stuttered.

Everyone turned toward him, giving weird stares, except Jake. “Come on Heeseung, don’t tell me you believe that crap.” Jay snarked.

“...Of course I do, I know Sunoo well.” the other responded.

Ni-ki raised an eyebrow, “You know him well? What, you like him or something?” he snickered, staring at him.

Heeseung blushed at the sudden question, immediately denying it. “N-No! I’m j-just saying—”

The room suddenly erupted into laughter, leaving him confused. “I’m just kidding hyung, I know you have better taste than that.” Ni-ki stated before taking another sip from his glass.

Heeseung stared at the others who were still laughing, like what Ni-ki said was the most hilarious thing ever. He awkwardly smiled, “Y-Yeah…pfft.” The others eventually moved on and talked about something else, but he was still stuck on what Ni-ki said.

“Do you like him or something?”

Why did that question scare him so much?

Around an hour later, Jake eventually put the wine bottle away in a cupboard, he didn’t want them to drink all of it in one night. He returned to the living room and almost laughed at what he saw, Jay and Sunghoon were laying on the floor fast asleep, while Ni-ki and Heeseung were on the couch. Heeseung was the only one awake, along with him. “Not sleepy Heeseung?” Jake quietly asked, while sitting down on the floor.

“U-Uh…no not really.” He answered.

Jake stretched his limbs before lying down. “This was a fun night…” he mumbled quietly. Heeseung couldn't respond, his mind was racing all over the place. He mindlessly stared at his hands, nothing he did could get that comment out of his head.. He sighed before slowly grabbing his phone from his hoodie’s pocket, and turning it on, checking the time and it read two in the morning.

Heeseung stared at it for a moment, before turning it off and putting it away. He looked around the room at the others for a moment, before he noticed Jake fell asleep. “God, I can’t sleep.” He thought. He was unsure of what to do, stay and not sleep? Or should he go home. Maybe some solitude can help him right now? "Yeah—I need to go home."

He carefully stood up from the couch, trying his best not to wake Ni-ki up. He quietly tip-toed past the rest, before reaching the hallway. Quietly entering it, while heading toward the front door. “I feel bad for leaving out of the blue but…I just need to go home." 

He quickly grabbed his shoes and slipped them on, before checking his pockets to see if he had everything. Once done, he slowly reached for the doorknob, and twisted it carefully. The sound of the wood creaking made him cringe but he continued. He opened it far enough for him to squeeze through, and once outside, he quietly shut it behind him.

He stood there, shivering a bit at the cold, before looking up at the sky. The bright moon was illuminating the street, along with a singular street light. He sighed before beginning to walk, he just needed to get home, right now.

After the slow cold grueling twenty-minute walk, he pulled out his keys from his pocket and struggled to find the right one due to his clumsiness. “Stupid alcohol,” he thought. He only drank three glasses but that wine was surprisingly strong, for having such a sweet taste. He eventually found the right key and inserted it into the lock, before twisting it and opening the door, quickly making his way inside.

He shut the door behind him while kicking his shoes off and pushing them aside. He then made his way over to the stairs and stumbled up them. Once he finally reached his bedroom, he pushed the door open and stepped inside before shutting it close. He walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it. Heeseung felt half awake, half asleep, but his mind was still racing from earlier’s comment.

“Do I like Sunoo?...” he quietly asked out loud. It was silent for a moment before he laughed dryly, “No, no…that’s stupid.” 

“But is it really?” He wondered, doubting himself. “Why else would I get so f-flustered and embarrassed at the mere mention of it. H-Hell, even the thought of it...” he quietly stuttered. His mind replayed every moment he could recall with Sunoo. Their first time meeting, at the arcade, Halloween night, their study session, and now, tonight. 

The way he felt irritated at the sight of him and Jungwon, all giggly and touchy. Just him recalling everything made him sick to his stomach. “Is this jealousy?” he thought for a good minute.

“Do I like Sunoo…?” he asked himself again. Heeseung’s thoughts horrified him because everything was pointing toward yes. He shook his head aggressively, “N-No…I-I just need some sleep.”

He began unzipping his sweater, his whole body felt hot and overwhelmed. He shoved the sweater off before throwing it on the floor. He stood up and dragged himself toward his closet before opening it. He searched for a change of comfier clothes, because these jeans were starting to annoy him.

He grabbed a pair of grey sweatpants and a plain black shirt. He shut the closet before beginning to strip his clothes off. He lazily threw them toward the laundry basket, before slipping on the sweatpants and t-shirt. Once finished, he walked back to his bed and laid down. His head hit the soft pillow, making him whine in pleasure. He missed his bed after sitting on a couch most of the evening, (Sorry Jake).

That’s when he noticed his phone lying next to the hamster plush Sunoo gave him on the bed. He quickly grabbed his phone before the plush. Heeseung stared at the plush, smiling to himself, until he was reminded about Sunoo. He put the plush next to his hip, before turning his phone on and checking the time, which was two twenty-five.

He groaned before unlocking it, once opened, he decided to check his apps out of boredom. He rotated through the same four apps but nothing interesting or funny popped up. Until his eyes landed on the messages app. No one texted him or anything, he just felt like checking. He clicked on the icon and scrolled through his contact list and clicked each one, checking their past messages.

Heeseung smiled at a couple messages from Jake’s, they were talking about some funny video they received from Ni-ki. He exited Jake's contact, ready to click the next one until he noticed who it was.

Sunoo’s. His finger hovered over his contact, before hesitantly clicking on it. He began re-reading their last conversation, which was about Sunoo explaining an incident that happened three days ago, about how he almost missed a three hour class because he thought it was Friday, instead of Thursday. He laughed while re-reading their messages, practically smiling from ear to ear. He continued scrolling up until it hit the first message Sunoo ever sent him, the photo of him in his Halloween costume.

Heeseung stared at it for a moment. His eyes wandered over the photo, looking everywhere they could reach. He was lost in admiring it, loving the way Sunoo’s eyes looked with that glittery eyeshadow, making his hazel eyes pop. He smiled to himself. That’s when his gaze shifted lower, landing on the other’s lips now. He stared at them for a while, noticing they had a slight pout to them, accentuating the plumpness of them. 

“G-Geez…were they always that plump? I mean, he’s always had nice lips but…” he commented quietly. Heeseung continued staring at them for an uncomfortably long time…before his mind started conjuring weird thoughts. “Shit…I remember how these lips sucked on those noodles…” 

He shut his eyes, picturing that night while they ate their ramen. The way Sunoo’s rosy cheeks grew the slightest bit when he shoved food inside them, and the way his lips puckered while slurping the noodles.

“I wonder how they’d look on my dick.” he quietly whispered out loud. His right hand went down toward his groin area and began palming it. Causing him to release a shaky moan. Heeseung slowly opened his eyes and looked at the photo again, gaze lingering on Sunoo’s eyes. His imagination started running wild.

Sunoo looking up at him while he was on his knees, his eye makeup shimmering and those rosy cheeks...

“H-Heeseung…I’ve never done this before.” Sunoo whispered, “I-I don’t know if I’ll be good.”

“Don’t worry Sunoo, just try.” 

Sunoo brought his trembling hands up toward his jeans, unzipping them before slowly pulling it down—

“Fuck.” Heeseung cursed under his breath. He grabbed the waist of his sweats and briefs and pulled them down, just enough for his cock to be free. He hissed when his hand came in contact with it, it felt sensitive all over. 

Sunoo was face to face with Heeseung’s cock, gasping at the size of it. Before he suddenly felt a hand rest on top of his head, feeling the fingers stroke his auburn hair softly.

“Open up.”

Sunoo hesitated for a moment, before slowly opening his mouth. Heeseung immediately shoved his cock inside his mouth, making the other gag.  “Mmmm—!”

Heseung's hand started delivering slow strokes to his length. His fingers swirled the pre-cum spilling from the head, using it as a lube to make the strokes smoother.

Sunoo struggled taking it all in one go, his hands frantically tapping Heeseung’s thighs, signaling that he couldn’t breathe. Only for Heeseung to grab the younger’s hair and force him down more. 

The tightness of his throat hugging his dick just right. 

Heeseung threw his head back against the pillow, moaning at the lewd thoughts his mind was creating.

Obscene noises filled the room, with moans and curses from him. Sunoo’s throat convulsed around his length. Heeseung looked down and saw the most beautiful sight. Sunoo with tears streaming down those rosy cheeks, along with snot dripping from his nose.

“S-Sunoo…f-fuck.” he stuttered, his strokes grew faster, he could feel something in his stomach start to tighten. His orgasm was approaching, quickening his pace.

“Shit Sunoo…you take it so well.” he praised, while his hand stroked the soft hair—

That did it for him. Heeseung’s orgasm crashed over him, making milky cum splatter all over his shirt, coating his hand, and it somehow managed to get on the hamster plush. He continued stroking, only stopping when overstimulation was becoming a problem.

Heeseung dropped his hand onto the bed. His chest heaved while breathing heavily. He laid there for a minute, staring up at the ceiling in a daze. He then turned his head toward the nightstand and saw a box of tissues. He reached out to grab a couple, to clean up his…mess. Lazily cleaning his t-shirt and hand, before throwing the tissues on the ground.

“I’ll clean it up tomorrow…” He thought. The last thing he remembers doing, was lifting his briefs and sweatpants back up before his head hit the pillow and drifted off to sleep. 

Heeseung slowly sat up, his head pounding with a monster headache. He had no recollection of last night…other than being at Jake’s house for his birthday, and drinking a couple glasses of wine. “I regret drinking that wine.” He thought

He looked around the bright room before his gaze landed on the floor and noticed tissues scattered across it. “Huh…?” he said, confused. He didn't think much of it, he probably dropped those yesterday. He grabbed his phone from his right and unlocked it but was caught off guard when the first thing he saw was a photo of Sunoo in his Halloween costume.

"What the fuck?" he, muttered." He looked down at the bed and noticed the hamster plush next to him—but with some liquid residue on it? Suddenly, he looked down at his clothes and noticed a white dried-up stain on the hem of his shirt. He was confused...until he started putting two and two together. The tissues, the mysterious white stain, the photo of Sunoo, the plush stained with that…

“Oh god. D-Did I…?” He couldn’t even finish his sentence, too embarrassed and mortified by the horrifying realization. He quickly stood up from the bed and made his way over to the bathroom.

—

It’s been around a week since that night. Heeseung felt embarrassed—no, mortified. “Who masturbates to the thought of their friend?” He thought. 

Clearly he did. 

He tried reasoning with himself—It was late, had alcohol in his system, and the realization that he liked Sunoo, it was all a bad combination. He tried to move past that.

Heeseung was currently in his room, sitting by his desk. He was in the middle of finishing up statistics homework, but every time he looked in the direction of his bed and saw the hamster plush, he was reminded of that. It got so bad that he had to move places, just to finish the stupid homework. He ended up in the living room, sitting on the couch with his notebook, calculator, and pencil pouch.

He had class later but that was at around four, it was only one. So, he had plenty of time to catch up on some work. He shouldn’t be late to his class, right?

Wrong. Here he was, rushing out of his apartment once again. He was speed walking to campus. Heeseung couldn’t be late this time, finals were quickly approaching, he needed all the review he could get out of today’s lecture. While occupied with completing his homework, he wasn’t able to eat a meal before leaving, so he was running on a breakfast sandwich he ate at noon.

“God, if that homework wasn’t so challenging I could've gotten something to eat.” he thought. While walking he noticed a sign in the distance. He couldn’t make out what it said but as he grew closer, it came into view.

It read, “Mystic Cafe”. Once right in front of it, he stopped. Heeseung turned toward the establishment and looked inside through their large windows. He saw how packed it was with customers, noticing the majority of their booths taken, along with their single tables. “I could really go for some coffee…but will I have enough time?” he wondered.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time; it read three thirty-seven. It would be cutting it close, but he wouldn’t survive an hour and a half class without some type of fuel. Heeseung sighed heavily before heading toward the entrance. Upon entering, he was met with the intense smell of coffee and pastries. His nose involuntarily scrunched up, but he continued further. His mood dampened when he saw the long line stretching from the register. But he couldn’t do much about it, so he made his way over behind the last person in line.

“I just hope this line goes by fast.” he thought, annoyed.

It was only a five minute wait, but it felt like an eternity. The person in front of him was placing their order, so his turn would be next. Heeseung's eyes scanned the menu, but everything looked confusing. He decided to settle on ordering an iced americano. A couple seconds went by, before the person in front moved to the side. He quickly stepped forward and began pulling his wallet out from his bag.

“Welcome to Mystic cafe, what could I get for you?” a voice happily asked.

Heeseung paused his search.“That voice…it sounds oddly familiar.” He looked up and froze, there in front of him was Sunoo. “S-Sunoo?” he stuttered.

The other gasped, not expecting to see Heeseung here.“Oh, Hey Heeseung!” he exclaimed happily.

Heeseung's mouth went dry, “Y-You work here?”

Sunoo nodded, “Yep, I got the job last month, sweet right?”

The other nervously nodded. “So, what would you like?” Sunoo asked, ready to type his order in.

Heeseung stared at Sunoo before looking away, “J-Just an iced americano.” Seeing the other right now, just reminded him of what he did that fateful night.

Sunoo nodded before punching something into the register, and soon he handed a small piece of paper to the other. “I’ll call your order number when it’s ready.” he informed.

Heeseung was about to thank him before noticing, that he didn’t pay for the drink, “You didn’t ask for my card…I have it right here—”

“Don’t worry, it’s on me.” Sunoo interrupted him.

“A-Are you sure–” 

He didn’t get to finish before Sunoo turned around and left the register. He sighed, before exiting the line and moving to the side.

While waiting, Heeseung looked behind the counter at the other, who was in the process of fixing up a machine before beginning to work on his drink. His gaze lingered on Sunoo and noticed him wearing a uniform. A white collared top, with black jeans, and a brown apron on top. When the other suddenly turned around to grab some type of instrument, his breath hitched. He saw a clear view of Sunoo's figure from behind and could feel his face heat up. He immediately looked away.

After two minutes, Sunoo finally finished. “Order twenty-two, Iced americano, for Heeseung.”

Heeseung turned around and saw the other holding his drink while smiling. “T-Thank you.” he stuttered.

“Of course! Enjoy, I’ll call you later.” Sunoo said, giving him a playful wink. Heeseung gave him a shaky thumbs up before turning away and heading to the exit. He pushed the door open, stepping outside.

He grabbed his phone from the pocket and almost cursed, the time was now three forty five. “I hope this class goes by fast.” he murmured under his breath.

“Did you understand anything professor Kim said?” 

Heeseung scoffed, “No, I’m so lost man.” He and Sunghoon were currently leaving campus, both were exhausted and confused after their lecture. 

“We should get together this week at the library; we got to ace the final.” Sunghoon suggested, fixing his hair.

The other whined, “Ugh, don’t remind me about that. I got an eighty-nine in the midterms.” 

“Really? I got a ninety.” Sunghoon replied.

Heeseung sighed, “We could meet up this Thursday if you want.” he suggested.

Sunghoon thought for a moment, before nodding, “That’s fine with me.”

Heeseung was about to ask what time they should meet up, before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the screen, seeing a new message from Sunoo.

Quickly unlocking his phone and checking it,

Sunooo 

Hey Heeseung! Are you finished with your class? 5:32 p.m.

He read it before typing out a response,

Heeseung

Yeah I am, why? 5:32 p.m

Sunooo

Would you want to call? Y’know, whenever you’re home 5:33 p.m.

Heeseung doesn’t like how happy he got when he read that message, literally smiling from ear to ear. Sunghoon glanced toward him, after noticing the other was awfully quiet. He noticed Heeseung’s happy expression. “What’s got you so happy?” he suddenly asked.

The other was startled, he completely forgot Sunghoon was standing right next to him. “U-Uh, I just got my grade back for my English paper.” he lied.

Sunghoon eyed him suspiciously, before responding, “Oh, congrats.”

Heeseung let out a dry laugh, “Thanks…” He quickly typed out a response before pressing send.

Heeseung

Sure, I’ll call you once I’m home. 5:34 p.m

Sunoo

Okay >:D 5:34 p.m.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket, before turning toward Sunghoon, “You heading home?” 

Sunghoon sighed, “Yep, Jay wants me to clean our bathroom since he’ll be out tonight.” 

Heeseung snorted, “What’s his reasoning?”

The other rolled his eyes, “Told me he was meeting up with someone for a date, don’t know who though.”

“Geez, I hope he finds someone soon.” Heeseung commented, “Good luck with your cleaning by the way.”

Sunghoon groaned at his comment but thanked him. They eventually waved goodbye before parting their separate ways. Heeseung quickly made his way home, eager to call Sunoo.

Once arriving at his apartment, he took his shoes off and placed them neatly by the shoe rack, before wandering into the living room. He made his way over to the couch and sat down, taking his phone out and unlocking it, before opening Sunoo’s contact. He was about to press the call button but stopped. He was suddenly overcome with nervousness, he didn’t understand why. They called plenty of times in the past, but this felt different somehow. “God, come on Heeseung. All you have to do is—” 

He was startled when the sound of a ring tone rang throughout the room, making him jump. He looked down at the phone and realized it was Sunoo calling. He pressed accept and brought it up to his ear, “H-Hello?”

“Hey, enjoy your iced americano?” Sunoo teased.

“Y-Yeah, I-I did.” the other stuttered, nervously

Sunoo laughed before responding, “I’m glad you did.”

It was silent for a moment before Heeseung spoke, “So…why did you want to call?”

Sunoo let out a weird sound, “Oh right. I was going to ask, would you like to hang out this Saturday night?”

That was the last thing Heeseung was expecting to hear, but he wasn’t complaining. He loved hanging out with Sunoo, he couldn’t decline such an invite. “Sure, is Jake coming?”As soon as he asked that, it went silent for a moment.

The other sighed. “Well…I asked Jake, but he told me he couldn't. He’ll be busy studying for his physics final.”

Heeseung let out a quiet, “Oh.”

“So, it would just be us, is that fine?” Sunoo asked. Heeseung's mind short circuited at the sentence he heard. His mind replayed what the other said.

“It would just be us.” 

Just the thought of being alone with Sunoo had him–

“Heeseung?”

He quickly shook his head, “S-Sorry…yeah that’s fine with me.” he stuttered.

“Perfect! I was thinking about getting dinner and afterwards heading back to my place to watch some movies! Like a little sleepover.” Sunoo eagerly said, “Jungwon and I got a projector installed in our basement, we could test it out.”

The other rolled his eyes at the mention of Jungwon, “Wow, sounds like fun.”

“Mhm, I’ll text you the details about dinner,” Sunoo reassured, “I have to get going, I have to pick up Jungwon, but I’ll text you.” 

Heeseung mumbled, “Oh okay.”

“Bye!”

Heeseung said goodbye before hanging up. “So Jungwon and Sunoo are roommates, huh.” he thought. He swallowed down his annoyance that began to bubble up. Instead, he made his way upstairs toward his room. He decided to sleep early for tomorrow, since he needed to buy some things before Saturday came. But while lying in bed, he struggled to sleep.

He was anxious but excited to hang out with Sunoo.

It was Friday noon, Heeseung decided to go to the mall to buy a couple things he needed. By “things” he meant a whole new outfit for tomorrow, he thought everything in his closet was too ‘plain looking’.

He was currently checking out a third store, in the search for a new top to go with the pair of dark blue jeans he bought at the last store. While searching, he had no luck, everything was either really expensive or ugly. “Time to head to another store I guess...” he mumbled.

While walking around, there were an overwhelming number of stores but nothing interesting caught his eye. Until he noticed a store called, “Echo Urban Wear.” The name sounded interesting, so he walked up to it and peeked through their windows. Noticing the mannequins wearing some questionable pieces, but he could tell the aesthetic of the store was one of street clothing.

His eyes scanned the three mannequins displayed but didn’t like anything on them. He was about to walk away and search for another store until he spotted something on a clothing rack. It was a black tshirt but it had a cool looking graphic on it, to him it looked like a row of belts on it. But he wasn’t sure since it was pretty far from the window. He decided to just enter the store and check it out himself.

Once he entered, he was immediately greeted by an employee, he greeted them back before making his way to the clothing rack he saw through the window. He found it, and the top. He decided to scan the whole rack, in case any other cool tops were hiding. But was disappointed when he didn’t find any other nice pieces. 

He grabbed the black one and examined it, before heading to a mirror and bringing it against his chest, trying to envision how the top would look on. "Hmm…I think this top could work.” Heeseung thought. He stared at himself in the morning for another moment before heading back to the rack and grabbing a medium.

He checked the price tag and his eyes almost bulged out; the price was fifty dollars. “What the fuck?” he said out loud. He went to check the shirt’s tag to see what materials it was made of, because why the heck would it be fifty? Once he checked it and saw that it was made one hundred percent out of cotton, it all made sense. “That’s why.” 

Heeseung debated on whether or not to buy it, this thing was way too expensive for a single shirt. But every other store he checked, he couldn’t find a single top that he liked. He checked the mirror once more. “Fine, I’ll just get it. At least it’ll be put to use tomorrow.” he murmured, making his way over to the register to pay. Afterwards, he planned on checking a jewelry store to grab some new earrings.

After paying, he was now searching for a jewelry store. He was looking around, before his phone suddenly rang. He pulled it out from his bag and checked the caller id, which read Ni-ki. “What does this guy want?” he wondered. He pressed accept before bringing it to his ear, “Hello?”

“Hey Heeseung hyung!”

He laughed, “Sup Ni-ki.”

Ni-ki coughed before speaking, “I have a question."

Heeseung was confused, couldn’t he just text him instead of calling? He continued walking around, “Yea?”

“Are you home? I wanted to ask if you were down to hang out with me and Jake.” Ni-ki explained, “I managed to convince him to go out instead of studying.”

Heeseung chuckled before responding, “Sorry, I’m busy right now. I’m currently buying some stuff at the mall.”

“Oh? What are you buying?” the other asked, curious.

“Just some new clothes and earrings, I’m going out tomorrow night.” Heeseung responded.

It was quiet for a moment before Ni-ki snorted, “Are you going out on a date or something?”

The otherstopped in his tracks, did he hear that right? “W-What? N-No!” he denied.

“Then why are you out buying new clothes and other things? Don’t people usually do that when they have a date? Y’know, to impress said date?” Ni-ki questioned.

“I-I just want to buy new things, is that a crime now!? A-Also, I’m just hanging out with a friend..” Heeseung rambled, flustered.

Ni-ki scoffed, “Sure hyung, whatever. So are you available to hang out or not?”

“N-No. I’m still busy.” Heeseung could feel his heart beating like crazy.

“Oh, alright. Well, have fun tomorrow–”

Heseung didn’t get to hear Ni-ki finish before abruptly ending the call. He stood there for a moment, trying to calm himself down. “D-Date? No, N-Ni-ki is just trying to tease me.” He thought. But his body wasn’t calming down, he could feel himself start to get hot and sweaty.

He tried getting rid of those thoughts, instead, continuing his way to find a jewelry store. “That’s ridiculous…I just want to look good tomorrow. That doesn’t mean anything, it has nothing to do with Sunoo.” 

He arrived back home around four thirty. He was upstairs in his room, unboxing everything he bought today out on the bed. He bought four things: a pair of dark jeans, a black graphic tee, silver hoops, and a new cologne.

He stood up while grabbing the clothes and made his way over to the mirror by his closet, deciding to try everything on to see if it fit well. He took off his clothes and quickly replaced them with the new ones. He also grabbed a small bag that contained a jewelry box, carrying his new hoop earrings. He took out the silver studs from his lobes before replacing them with the hoops.

After everything was on, he turned around and checked himself out in the mirror. He was surprised at how he looked, especially with the new hoops on. He actually liked the outfit, feeling proud of himself. The happy moment didn’t last long though because he was reminded about Ni-ki’s comment from earlier.

“Are you going out on a date or something?”

He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. “It’s not a date.” Heeseung said out loud, “I just want to look my best...” But he didn’t like the way his tone sounded uncertain. He huffed, before beginning to take everything off, “Ni-ki is just trying to annoy me.”

— 

Heeseung was currently triple checking himself in the mirror. He’s been standing in front of his mirror for at least thirty minutes, obsessing over every little thing that wasn’t ‘perfect’ in his eyes. Sunoo told him that they were heading to a buffet for dinner, which was fine with him. And afterwards, they’ll head back to the other's apartment for a sleepover. He couldn’t help but feel a little anxious at the thought of heading to Sunoo’s apartment, it’d be his first time ever visiting.

He was in the process of fixing his hair before he heard a notification sound coming from his phone that was on the bed. He quickly grabbed it and checked it, noticing two messages from Sunoo.

Sunooo

Hey Heeseungg 5:58 p.m.

Could you please text me when you’re outside? 5:58 p.m.

He read them before typing out a response.

Heeseung

Hey Sunoo:) 5:58 p.m

Yeah, of course. 5:59 p.m

He shut his phone off before dropping it back on the bed. Going back toward the mirror and checking himself for the final time. “Good enough.” He thought.

Heeseung went over to his nightstand and grabbed his keys before grabbing his phone from the bed. After, he went toward the closet and grabbed a small duffel bag, containing a change of clothes for later. Once he had everything, he exited his bedroom while shutting the door behind him. He quickly made his way downstairs to the front door. Once there, he slipped on his shoes, a pair of black converses and grabbed his dark grey coat. He looked at his apartment one final time before shutting off the lights and unlocking the door. 

Stepping outside, he was met with the cold chilly air, making him shiver. He quickly shut the door, locking it and went over to the street. He took his keys out and pressed a button on them, unlocking his car.

Heeseung had a car, but never used it much. Since campus was within walking distance, it only came in handy when he couldn’t walk such far distances for specific places. It’ll take around fifteen minutes to get to Sunoo’s apartment, plus the drive to the actual buffet is around thirty.

He opened the driver’s side door and sat inside, before shutting it. He inserted the key into the key hole and turned i, causing the car to turn on while making a loud noise before settling down. He had to wait at least five minutes for the heater to heat up the car before driving. Heeseung locked the car before taking his phone out and opening Instagram, scrolling through some reels.

After five minutes passed, he put his seatbelt on while placing his phone in the cup holder, before shifting the gear from park into drive. Doing a quick three point turn before, speeding off.

The drive to Sunoo’s apartment was surprisingly quick. Heeseung was parked outside, grabbing his phone from the cup holder to text Sunoo.

Heeseung

I’m here sunooo 6:16 p.m

A minute passed before he got a response.

Sunooo

Okay! I’m coming:D 6:17 p.m.

He smiled at the phone before placing it on his lap. He looked outside and stared at Sunoo’s apartment. It was a bit smaller compared to his, but he found the decorations outside cute. There were plants that continued down each step of the cobbled staircase, along with a cute looking rug in front of the door but he couldn’t make out the design.

While staring, the door suddenly opened, revealing Sunoo. Who was wearing slightly baggy medium washed jeans, a olive green zip up over a white top, and a black coat over it. He also noticed the other carrying a messenger bag, littered in keychains. Sunoo shut the door behind him while double checking if it was locked. Afterwards, he turned and began walking to Heeseung’s car.

Heeseung could see the other running a bit, most likely due to the cold. Once Suoo was close enough, he waved.

Sunoo smiled while waving back and opening the car door. "Hey Heeseung!” he beamed.

“Hey.” Heeseung said.

The other carefully sat down before shutting the door behind him, “Geez, it’s freezing outside...” 

Heeseung laughed upon seeing Sunoo rub his hands together. “The heaters on, so you’ll warm up soon.”

Sunoo nodded, before his eyes began observing his surroundings. He noticed the interior was squeaky clean and it smelled like strawberries. “Nice car,” he said, still looking around.

“Thanks, I try my best to keep it clean.” Heeseung explained, smiling.

“Of course, it also smells really good here.” the other stated.

Heeseung laughed, “Thanks, I bought some of those tiny car fresheners.” He grabbed his phone from the cup holder before asking, “Do you have the address for the buffet?”

Sunoo nodded, “Yep. I can type it in if you want,”

“Please.” Heeseung said, unlocking his phone before handing it to him. Sunoo grabbed it, typing in the address, before clicking navigate. A voice from the phone suddenly spoke.

‘You will arrive in approximately thirty three minutes.’

Both of them groaned, it’ll be a long drive. “Lets just hope there isn’t too much traffic.” Heeseung murmured while shifting the gear from park into drive.

It was like he jinxed them; they were only fifteen minutes in the drive when they got stuck in traffic on the highway. “Geez…why is the road so crowded on a Saturday?” Sunoo asked, staring out the window.

Heeseung sighed, “No clue…maybe construction or something?” They sat in silence for a while before he noticed that no music was playing. He turned toward Sunoo, “Do you want to play any music? I have Bluetooth, you could connect your phone.”

Sunoo turned toward him, “Really? Are you sure?"

He nodded, “Yep,” Heeseung had an older car, but he bought a bluetooth car adapter, “Check your bluetooth, my car should be an option under there.”

Sunoo grabbed his phone and unlocked it, before heading to settings, then bluetooth. He stared at it for a moment, before an option appeared, ‘Honda Accord’, “Oh, I think I found it,” he said, clicking it. They waited for a moment, before they heard the loud noise of some ad playing, making them jump before Sunoo lowered his phone’s volume. They laughed, before Heeseung stared back at the road and noticed that traffic was starting to move along. “Finally.” He muttered.

“At least now we have some music to listen to!” Sunoo beamed.

Soon, they reached the buffet, after around forty minutes. Heeseung parked somewhat far away since all of the parking spots by the front were taken. He turned off the car and both of them exited. Once Heeseung was outside, he looked toward the building and was surprised at how massive it was, “Oh wow, this buffet is huge.” 

Sunoo giggled, "Technically this is a hotel, but you can eat at the buffet without having to stay at it.”

The other let out a quiet, “Oh.” They made their way toward the entrance and were shocked upon entering. They noticed the building packed with people. They wandered around, trying to find this ‘buffet’ in the midst of the hotel. 

And they eventually found it, but were annoyed with the long line that stretched outside the buffet entrance. “Let’s get in line quickly before it grows any longer.” Sunoo groaned.

Heeseung nodded, “Agreed.” They waited in line for about fifteen minutes before finally reaching the front. They paid for their service before being seated by a worker. They were seated at a booth toward the back, but it was fine, as long as they got a table, they were happy. The two placed their things down, including their coats, before Sunoo spoke, “Let’s go check out what they have! We need to bring back at least five plates.”

“How much do you plan on eating?” Heeseung joked.

“A lot.” the other snapped, “Now let’s go!” 

Heeseung was about to respond before Sunoo suddenly grabbed his hand, dragging him toward the food stations. “S-Slow down!” he yelped.

Sunoo ended up dragging him toward the dessertss station first. He marveled at the number of pastries displayed, “Oh my god, we need a whole plate filled with just sweets!” he grabbed a plate for them to put their desserts on. Starting to place a variety of cookies, cupcakes, and brownies before handing it to Heeseung. Who grabbed the plate before scanning the options. He wasn’t a big sweets person, but he decided to just grab a couple of chocolate chip cookies.

“Ooo there’s also ice cream! Could you put some mint chocolate chip on the plate if there’s any?” Sunoo asked, “I’m going to go grab another plate.”

Heeseung nodded, “Sure.”

Sunoo wandered off, while he scooted over to the ice cream section and searched for mint chocolate chip. And he surprisingly found it, placing three big scoops on the plate. After he finished, he looked around at the other food stations they had, noticing there were Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Latin American options.

Sunoo eventually made his way back over, “I grabbed two more plates, here.” he said while handing Heeseung one.

He grabbed it, “Thanks.”

“Let’s go check out the other options!

After twenty minutes of checking out every single food station, they arrived back at their table with four plates, spread throughout the table, each containing different things.

Their first plate was Sunoo’s. It contained rice, orange chicken, sushi, some onions, and two tacos that he stole from Heeseung. Their second was their dessert plate, which had a variety of cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, and brownies. Their third, contained a variety of fruits and vegetables, and finally Heeseung’s plate contained rice, grilled pork, cucumber slices, and three tacos. 

Originally five, but someone just had to steal them. “Wow this all looks so good,” Heeseung commented.

Sunoo nodded, “Right? We need to eat as much as we can to make up for what we paid for.”

The other laughed, “You’re right.”

They began to eat in silence, just enjoying the yummy, delicious food hitting their tastebuds. While eating his orange chicken, Sunoo glanced at Heeseung for a moment. “Something looks different about him…” he thought, trying to figure out what it was. He continued staring at him, until noticing something. “Are those new earrings?”

Heeseung looked up at him, confused about what he was talking about, “Huh?”

The other pointed at him, “Those hoops, are they new?”

Heeseung stared at Sunoo before nodding, “O-Oh…yeah they are.” he said shyly.

Sunoo smiled, “They look nice! They suit you a lot, I like them more than your usual studs.”

The other blushed at the sudden compliment, ‘Th-Thank you…”  Sunoo smiled at him before continuing to eat, shoving rice into his mouth. Heeseung stared at him for a moment before looking down at his plate. He still felt flustered from the other’s complimenIt—it was such a simple one, but it really made him happy.

“Heeseung, you should try the ice cream mixed with the chocolate chip cookies, it’s amazing.” Sunoo said,gesturing to the plate.

Heeseung stared at him, then the plate. “Eh…I’m not the biggest sweets person,” he muttered.

“Come onn, please." the other begged.

Heeseung was adamant, but the way Sunoo kept begging nonstop, finally made him agree. “Alright, alright. Only one scoop though.”

Sunoo nodded, grabbing his spoon and scooping up a big portion of the sugary mixture. Heeseung noticed that he was using his spoon to scoop up the mixture, making him flustered. “Y-You can use my spoon–”

“Here!” Sunoo said while handing it to him. Henervously stared at the spoon before grabbing it and examining it. 

“I-It's just a spoon, nothing crazy…” he thought. Heeseung slowly brought it to his mouth, before putting it in. He hesitantly chewed, tastebuds instantly met with the delicious food. It tasted amazing but after a couple chews, the overwhelming taste of sugar hit. He finished chewing and swallowing before coughing, “I need some water…” 

Sunoo rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, it’s not that sweet.”

“It feels like I just ate a spoon of raw sugar.” Heeseung retorted.

They stayed at the buffet for an hour and twenty minutes. The two cleared all four plates before chugging lots of water afterward. Their stomachs felt like they were about to blow from how much food they ate. “That was amazing,” Sunoo hummed, patting his stomach.

Heeseung whined, “I feel like if I drink anymore water, I’ll throw up.”

The other laughed at his comment, “Me too."

Heeseung grabbed his phone from the table and checked the time, eight twenty-two. “Should we start heading back?” he asked.

Sunoo grabbed his phone from his bag, checking the time before responding, “Yeah I think we should.” he grabbed his coat and began putting it on.

“Alright, let’s quickly clean this table up.” the other announced. They threw away and left over food and put their plates in a dirty plate stacked by the trash. Afterwards, heading back to their table and grabbing their belongings before exiting the buffet section, and eventually the hotel.

Once outside, they were instantly hit with the freezing air, making them shiver. They quickly ran to the car, laughing on the way over. Heeseung unlocked the car, and they immediately entered. Sunoo whined, “Turn the heater on! It’s freezing…” 

Heeseung inserted the key and turned it, making the car start. His hand grabbed a knob under the radio and twisted it, blasting the heater. “Okay, it’s on. We’re gonna have to wait for the car to heat up before we drive."

Sunoo nodded while rubbing his hands together. It was quiet for a moment before a thought came into Heeseung’s mind, “What movie are we gonna watch?”

The other turned to him, “Hmm…I’m honestly down to watch anything. Do you have any favorite genres?”

He thought for a moment, he had plenty but tried narrowing it down to two, “I like horror and action movies.” he replied, “You?”

Sunoo stiffened at the mention of horror, “Well…I like action and romance. But I’m not the biggest fan of horror movies.”

Heeseung smirked, “Don’t tell me you're a scaredy cat. We need to at least watch one.”

Sunoo gasped dramatically, “Excuse me, I can very much handle a horror movie. I’m just not a big fan of being jump scared.”

The otherscoffed, “So we’re watching one then?”

Sunoo hesitantly nodded, “Fine, we can.”

“I’m picking though.” Heeseung added.

The other rolled his eyes, “Fine, but we have to watch a movie I pick, first.”

Heeseung shrugged, “Alright, fine by me. Just letting you know, I’m picking the scariest movie I know.”

Sunoo whined, smacking his arm, “Oh stop it hyung!” 

Heeseung paused at the sudden honorific use. “W-What?”

Sunoo stared at him confused, before realizing what he just said, “Y-You don’t mind me calling you that, right?”

The other quickly shook his head, “N-No, it just caught me off guard.”

“S-Sorry, again.” Sunoo murmured.

“I-It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Heeseung reassured him. An awkward silence filled the car after that, before Sunoo spoke. “Is the car warm enough to start driving?”

“Oh—shit, yeah.” Heeseung shifted the gear from park to reverse, carefully reversing out of the parking spot before putting it into drive. Now they had to drive a whole thirty minutes back home.

“Home sweet home!” Sunoo exclaimed while they pulled up in front of his apartment. The drive was rather quick, only twenty minutes rather than thirty. There was no traffic, but that’s because it was late.

Heeseung parked the car before turning it off. “Ready?” he asked. Sunoo nodded while unbuckling his seatbelt, then unlocking the door. They exited the car, Sunoo made his way to the front door, while Heeseung stayed behind to make sure the car was locked and grab the duffel bag from the backseat. After, he sped walked to the door, standing next to the other.

“Jesus, it’s freezing. I’ll turn the heater on once we’re inside.” Sunoo promised, shivering. He grabbed his keys from his bag and inserted them into the keyhole, twisting it and unlocking the door. He quickly ushered Heeseung inside, so he could get warm. The other quickly entered before Sunoo shut the door and locked it. “Oh, don’t forget to take your shoes off.” he said, “You can just leave them by the big pile around there.”

Heeseung looked around, eventually spotting a massive pile of shoes. He took his shoes off and placed them neatly by it, Sunoo did the same. He looked around the apartment, trying to soak in his surroundings, since this was his first time ever being in it. He noticed colorful decorations on the wall, along with some cute animal paintings. He also noticed that the whole apartment smelled like clean laundry. “Wow” he thought. He could hear the sound of faint shuffling from behind him.

“We can head down to the basement, just let me quickly change,” Sunoo said.

“Oh alright—also where’s your bathroom?” Heeseung asked, “I brought a change of clothes.” holding up the duffel bag.

“Oh! It’s over there." Sunoo gestured Heeseung to a room right next to the front door. The other thanked him before walking over and opening the door, stepping inside and locking it. He opened the black duffel bag and pulled out the clothes he brought, black sweatpants and a white long sleeve top. He quickly changed into them and shoved the other clothes into his bag before closing it.

Heeseung turned toward the mirror and checked himself, making sure he looked kempt. Once done, he exited the bathroom and saw Sunoo by a closet grabbing things from it. He stared at him for a second, the other had on grey sweats with a dark blue long sleeve. “Need help?” he asked.

Sunoo turned to him, nodding, “Yes please, could you carry these blankets?” Heeseung walked over and grabbed them from the other’s arms. Sunoo turned back toward the closet and grabbed a bunch of pillows, before shutting it. “Follow me!” They made their way over to a door, before Sunoo pushed it open. Revealing a long staircase leading into darkness.

Sunoo flicked on the light switch by the door before continuing his way downstairs, with Heeseung following behind him. As they reached the bottom, he beamed, “See! Isn’t the projector cool?” 

Heeseung turned toward the wall and noticed it, surprised at how big it was, “Oh wow, it’s huge.” 

Sunoo went over to the couch and set down the blankets while grabbing a remote off the coffee table. “I just have to make sure it’s connected, Jungwon told me he was having troubles with it earlier.” Heeseung grew annoyed at the mention of Jungwon while he set the blankets down on the couch before sitting. 

Then a thought hit him. “Is Jungwon here?”  Sunoo was in the process of fiddling with the projector’s control box before Heeseung suddenly asked, “Is Jungwon here?”

The other stopped for a moment and looked at him, before going back to fiddling, “Oh no, he went out. He won’t be back till tomorrow afternoon.”

Heeseung couldn’t help but smile at the fact they’ll actually be alone together. “Oh, alright.” Sunoo walked over to the projector on the wall and started pulling it down, fixing any creases in it. Heeseung watched him do so, innocently. Until his gaze traveled down the other’s figure, noticing the way the long sleeve top accentuated his surprisingly tiny waist, along with the sweatpants highlighting his…butt. His eyes lingered on that part longer than they should’ve. God, he felt like such a pervert. 

Suddenly a loud sound echoed throughout the room, making Sunoo beam, “It works!” Heeseung immediately looked away. Sunoo made his way over to the other on the couch, sitting down and turning to him, “Alright, I’m picking the first movie we watch.”

“O-Okay, and what is it gonna be?” Heeseung stuttered.

Sunoo thought for a moment, until he finally thought of one, “Speed!”

Heeseung was confused but curious, "What's that?”

“It’s an action movie, it’s really good.” the other beamed.

Heeseung shrugged, “What’s it about?”

Sunoo giggled, while grabbing the blankets and pillows, “I can’t tell you, I’ll just end up spoiling it.” 

The other scoffed, “Fine.”

They arranged the pillows behind their backs and covered themselves with the large fuzzy white blanket. They sat upright since their stomachs felt too full to lay on their back just yet. Sunoo also ended up pulling out the couch, converting it into a makeshift bed, which Heeseung found really cool.

Sunoo grabbed the remote and clicked on Netflix, searching for ‘Speed’. Once he found it, he clicked on it and pressed play. 

‘Speed’ was about an officer from the LAPD who attempts to stop an ex-cop, (now a serial bomber) who targeted an office building and a bus. The movie follows a transit bus that the bomber rigged with explosives. When driving, if the speed drops below fifty miles per hour, it’ll automatically explode, killing everyone inside. The bomber is some ‘crazy guy’ who was desperate to take revenge on the police force, he believed that they owed him money, according to Sunoo.

“Wow sounds intense,” Heeseung commented, after the other semi-explained the plot.

“Trust me, it is.” the othersaid, “Now let’s watch.”

The movie was around an hour and thirty minutes long. It started off interesting, talking about an elevator rigged with explosives, along with ten office workers trapped inside. But the LAPD were able to successfully get everyone off safely, before anything went wrong. They currently were at the part where the twenty passengers on the bus find out it’s been rigged, along with them having no possible escape routes.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done in that situation.” Sunoo commented.

Heeseung turned to him, “I mean, you can’t really do much. You’ll be killed if you even try escaping.” They both turned their attention back to the screen, anticipating what would happen next.

Soon, the sound of the end credits rolling in on the screen made them sigh in relief. "That movie was actually really good and intense.” Heeseung commented, fixing the blanket.

Sunoo smirked, “See? I told you,” Heeseung stretched his body, it felt sore after sitting in the same position for almost two hours straight. He turned to his left and saw the other suddenly stand up. “I have to use the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” he said before quickly running toward the stairs, and heading up them.

“Alright,” Heeseung exclaimed before resting against the couch cushion. He took this time to properly look around the basement. He noticed it was decorated just like how it was upstairs, but it was filled with a lot more paintings. And he noticed a small window above the couch, with the shortest curtains he’s ever seen.  Heeseung laughed upon seeing that.

Five minutes later, he heard the sound of the basement door opening before shutting, accompanied with a pair of footsteps descending. “I’m back!” Sunoo announced, walking toward the couch. He sat right next to Heeseung before asking, “So did you pick a movie?”

The other nodded, grinning, “I have the perfect movie.” 

Sunoo whined, “Don’t play something super scary!”

Heeseung grabbed the remote, while adjusting his position, “Don’t be such a scaredy cat.”

“I’m not a scaredy cat.” the other retorted.

Heeseung laughed, “Right, and I’m rich.” That’s until he felt a smack on his left arm, making him jump, “Ow!”

Sunoo turned away, crossing his arms.

Heeseung’s movie choice was “Shutter”, a Thai horror movie. He remembers the first time watching it—Sunghoon was the one who suggested it to him and he almost pissed himself.

It was about a woman named Jane and her boyfriend Tun. They were driving one late night and got into an accident, with Jane accidentally running over a woman. Tun manages to convince her that they should just leave and avoid any legal consequences. Which she agrees to, out of fear. But throughout the days after the incident, her boyfriend starts experiencing paranormal activity in his home, along with seeing a ghostly woman figure.

It turns out, the woman they ran over knew Tun. Her name was Natre and she dated him throughout college and threatened to kill herself when he abruptly ended things. She haunted Tun, out of anger for what he did to her when she was alive.

“It’s really not that bad.” Heeseung lied.

Sunoo looked at him before looking at the screen, “Are you sure? The description is pretty unsettling.” Heeseung nodded, he pulled the blanket over himself before pressing play. They were now laying down on the couch in the dark basement, he ended up turning off the lights to give it a ‘spookier’ vibe. To which Sunoo complained about, but he endured it.

They were at the part where Tun starts experiencing weird neck pains and seeing the ghostly figure of Natre. Sunoo gripped the blanket hard, making his knuckles turn white. He was expecting a jump scare any minute. It never came—but he still gripped the blanket, ready for whenever it did—

That’s until a loud noise echoed throughout the room and the horrifying face of Natre flashed on the screen, making Sunoo scream. Heeseung turned to him, startled, until laughing hard. While laughing, he suddenly felt a hand grab his arm–

“Stop laughing!” Sunoo exclaimed, staring at him. “Her face—was hideous!” Heeseung didn’t even get the chance to respond before Sunoo looked back at the screen, leaving the other confused and flustered as hell.

“Oh my god, he’s holding my–”

Heeseung could feel the other’s hand gripping his arm, making him feel dizzy. He looked down at his arm but realized it was covered by the blanket.That didn’t help at all. The other was unaware that Heeseung was practically having a crisis right next to him. Sunoo was sucked back into the movie when it started explaining what happened between Tun and Natre.

Heeseung tried calming himself down, but when he thought about it, alone with Sunoo, laying down next to him, lights off, and a movie playing—

He shook his head, “No, no—oh my god. W-We’re just watching a movie!” he thought, anxiously. He could feel rustling beside him. Sunoo shifted his position, shifting closer to the other out of fear, because what was being shown on the screen really started scaring him.

Heeseung stiffened, too nervous to even move an inch. He glanced over at Sunoo and gasped, he saw the other's frightened expression, eyes still fixated on the screen, along with his tousled hair from continuously pulling the blanket over his head. Heeseung then caught sight of Sunoo’s lips, pressed together in a thin line.

His eyes lowered just a bit, catching a glimpse of the other’s collarbone peeking out from his top. “He’s so close…—”

That’s when memories came flashing back from the night of Jake’s party. Oh god. He discreetly repositioned his body, far enough for there to be a big gap between them. But throughout the movie, Sunoo kept scooting closer, trying to find some comfort from the horrific things being shown. At this point his side was pressed right against Heeseung. Who could feel Sunoo’s legs right next to his, his knee bumping into him a couple times.

Heeseung wasn't focused on the movie anymore, he was staring at the blanket, trying to calm himself down. He turned to his left out of curiosity and still saw Sunoo, less frightened now, but it made his heart skip a beat. That’s when his mind started conjuring wild thoughts—

He shook his head, "This is just a normal hang out, not s-some…r-rated f-fantasy…” 

Another shriek was pulled from Sunoo, making him snap out of his thoughts. “Geez! This movie is creepy as fuck!” Sunoo exclaimed, terrified. Heeseung forced himself to laugh, still trying to fix his situation.

They were around fifty minutes into the movie. Sunoo was still really close to him, but he let go of the other's arm. That made Heeseung feel a bit better and started paying attention to the movie again. It was like that for a while before another jump scare flashed across the screen, making Sunoo squeak and press himself closer to Heeseung.

He froze. His mouth went dry at the feeling of Sunoo pressed right against him. His left arm was squished between them, making him feel the warmth radiating from the other’s body. He tried to speak, tried to tell Sunoo to back up a bit but nothing came out.

...Until he started feeling something down there. “Oh no.” he thought, panicking. That all too familiar feeling, he was getting hard—

“Heeseung?”

He whipped his head toward the left, “Y-Yes?” he stuttered nervously.

“You alright?” Sunoo asked, he noticed the other shaking a bit.

“Yep!” Heeseung quickly responded, a little too quickly, “Wh-Why wouldn’t I be?” 

The other eyed him suspiciously, “You sure?”

He nodded, trying his best to smile. Sunoo muttered “alright”, before turning back to the screen. 

Heeseung sighed in relief, glad that the other didn’t question him further. He discreetly brought his right hand under the blanket, palm landing on his erection, lightly pressing down on it, making him hiss in pain. “I just have to wait for the movie to be over, then I’ll excuse myself to the bathroom." he thought, praying it would be over soon.

An agonizing forty minutes passed and the movie finally finished. “Oh my god, that movie was so freaky!” Sunoo whined, “No more horror movies for tonight.”

Heeseung quickly nodded, “F-Fine…” His erection was painfully throbbing; he was basically edged for the remainder of the movie.

Sunoo finally sat up, stretching his back, “We should watch a romcom, or a drama,” he suggested.

“U-Uh actually, I need to use the bathroom,” the other stuttered, sitting up.

Sunoo turned to him, “Oh okay, you remember where it is right?”

He quickly nodded.

“Alright, I’ll wait for you. Afterwards we can pick another movie!” the other cheered.

“O-Okay,” Heeseung replied quietly, while removing the blanket off him. He quickly stood up from the couch and sped walked toward the stairs, quickly climbing them. Once at the top, he opened the door, stepping outside into the bright hallway before shutting it behind him. “God, this boner is killing me,” he whispered out loud.

He made his way toward the bathroom and quickly entered it. He made sure to lock it before getting down to business, he didn’t want Sunoo to barge in for whatever reason. He pulled his sweatpants and briefs down, just enough for his erection to spring free. He looked at it, mortified. It was a dark shade of red, and pre-cum was already leaking from the tip.

His hand slowly reached out to touch it, and he hissed, it was extremely sensitive. “I can rub a quick one.” he thought. His hand started delivering slow strokes to it, going all the way down toward the base before going back up to tease the head.

“F-Fuck—”

He just wanted to get rid of this boner, he wasn’t thinking of anything in particular. Until Sunoo popped up in his head. His frightened expression and the way his plump lips were in a straight line.

“Ha—”

He could still feel Sunoo’s hand grabbing his arm, squeezing it. “Mmm—” Heeseung whined, his strokes quickening.

And the way Sunoo's body was pressed right against him, making him feel the warmth radiating off him—

Suddenly, his orgasm crashed over him, cum splattering right on the sink and coating his hand. He milked himself, before finally dropping his hand. His breathing was heavy and he felt hot all over. He slowly turned to the mirror, and stared at his reflection, seeing his flushed face, with dilated pupils, and his mouth slightly agape, embarrassment overcame him—making him look away.

He stayed hunched over the sink for a couple of minutes, calming himself down. “Crap, I need to clean this up.”

He grabbed an excessive amount of toilet paper and cleaned the sink, along with his hand before throwing it away in the small garbage can by the door. He quickly washed his hands, if he stayed any longer Sunoo would grow suspicious. Heeseung exited the bathroom after being in there for around ten minutes. He made his way back toward the basement, he opened the door before shutting it.“I hope Sunoo doesn’t bombard me with questions.” he wondered, praying. He quickly descended down the staircase.

“S-Sunoo, I’m back,” he announced. He was expecting to hear the other respond back, but he was met with silence instead. Heeseung reached the bottom and saw the otherlaying down on the couch with his back to him. “Sunoo?” he asked again, slowly approaching him.

Silence.

He was really confused before he climbed on the couch and looked over Sunoo. That's when he saw the other fast asleep while gripping his phone that was replaying a video. “Oh…” he murmured. Heeseung stared at Sunoo’s face, before smiling. “He looks really cute like this,” he thought.

He carefully turned off the other's phone before making his way over next to Sunoo, laying down while getting under the blanket. His eyes stared at the other’s back before looking up at the ceiling.  “Goodnight Sunoo.” he whispered.

Heeseung wasn’t sleepy at all, not after…masturbating in the bathroom. But he forced himself to try and get some sleep. He tossed and turned for a while, before he eventually dozed off.

“Mmm…” Sunoo mumbled, shifting in his sleep and rubbing his face against the soft couch. He was in that half-awake, half asleep state. He tried to go back to sleep, but the faint sunlight peeking through the window casted a bright light in the room.

He lazily stretched his limbs before his hand came in contact with something hard, leaving him confused. He slowly opened his eyes, but was instantly met with the bright light. He rubbed them, trying his best to get rid of the grogginess. Sunoo blinked a couple more times before seeing a faint outline of something. He squinted before rubbing them again, and he jumped—

There in front of him was Heeseung’s face, still fast asleep. He gasped, not expecting to see the other so close to his face. The bright sun reflected off his face, noticing his tousled hair, tan skin shining, and his lips slightly parted. Sunoo grew flustered, “Wow…” he quietly whispered.

He continued staring before blushing. "Was Heeseung always this good looking?” he thought. That's when the other shifted slightly, making Sunoo immediately turn away. He could hear more rustling on his right, “Mmm…” Heeseung whined.

“M-Morning...” Sunoo squeaked.

“Morning…” the other yawned. They laid in silence before Heeseung suddenly sat up, rubbing his hair. Sunoo glanced at him, the other stretching his arms before rubbing his eyes. 

“D-Did you sleep alright?” Sunoo asked, still feeling flustered.

"...Yeah…I’m honestly still pretty sleepy.” the other admitted, before laying back down.

Sunoo noticed Heeseung lay down closer to him, making him blush harder. “W-We can sleep longer if you want…” The other turned toward him, making his breath hitch—

Heeseung smirked, “I would, but I don’t even know what time it is.”That smirk did something to Sunoo’s stomach, making him feel hot all over.

—

Sunoo can’t get the image of Heeseung out of his head. The way the other looked laying right next to him. His tousled hair, beautiful face mere inches from him, along with his tan skin shining from the sun. “Him being so close like that, we could've practically kissed!” he thought, nervously. Just thinking about it had him blushing like crazy–

He shook his head, “N-No! My head needs to stop!” he squeaked. Sunoo was currently lying in bed while clutching his fox plush, trying to calm himself down. He’s never seen or thought of Heeseung like that throughout their friendship, so why now?

He sighed, “I-I just need to stop thinking about it. Yeah.” That’s until he remembered they planned another hangout; they were going to study at Heeseung’s apartment.

“Maybe I should cancel?—No, we already had this planned since last week.” He suddenly looked down at the fox plush in his hands, staring at it for a moment. Before he was reminded of Heeseung. He huffed in annoyance, “Ugh!”

It was mid afternoon, the day of their hangout. Sunoo was in front of Heeseung’s apartment, shivering a bit from the cold and very nervous. He let out a shaky breath, “Okay…just calm down, Sunoo.” he whispered to himself, “Just try to put that event behind you.” He stepped toward the front door, and his shaky hand rang the doorbell, waitinb. A couple seconds passed before the door opened, revealing Heeseung. “H-Hi Heeseung.” he stuttered, pathetically.

“Hey Sunoo, come in.” the other said while moving to the side.

Sunoo thanked him before stepping inside. He looked around the apartment and was surprised at the interior, it was a dark and cozy aesthetic, which screamed Heeseung. “Nice apartment,” he complimented.

Heeseung shut the front door before turning to him, “Oh, thanks.”

Sunoo looked down at the shoe rack by the door, “Should I take my shoes off?”

“If you don’t mind.”

He shook his head, “I don't." He slipped his shoes off before placing them neatly on the rack.

“Come, we can head to the living room and start studying. I have some snacks too.” Heeseung informed, smiling.

Sunoo smiled at the mention of snacks, “Alright!”

They were currently on the floor, sitting across from each other at the coffee table in the living room, studying for their separate classes. Sunoo was studying for his English class, while Heeseung was studying for statistics. 

Sunoo planned on studying during this hangout, because finals were literally only three days away, but he couldn’t. Not with the way Heeseung looked sitting right across from him. The other had his silver hair styled back with specs resting on top of it, while wearing a black long sleeve and grey sweatpants. He never knew the other wore glasses, but it made him look more attractive—

“Sunoo?”

He was startled, jumping a bit. “H-Huh?”

“Could you pass the chips?” Heeseung repeated, pointing at the clear bowl.

Sunoo let out a forced laugh, “O-Oh, yeah,” he said, passing them to him.

“Thanks.” the other said, smiling. Sunoo’s heart skipped a beat at his smile, that beautiful smile. Heeseung grabbed a couple chips, shoving them in his mouth before looking back at his notebook.

Sunoo continued staring at him before looking back at his textbook. “Geez, I need to stop staring at him like a weirdo.” He thought.

It's been two days since that study session with Heeseung and Sunoo was in his room pacing back and forth frantically. Ever since that and their movie night, he’s been confused on what his feelings are toward the other. He liked Heeseung as a friend, or at least that’s what he thought—before his mind started conjuring these weird fantasies about him.

He was lost in thought before the sound of his door opening made him jump. “Sunoo hyung—woah.” Jungwon said, surprised at his frantic look. “What are you doing?”

The other turned toward the door, sighing in relief, “Geez Jungwon, you scared me.”

“Oops, sorry…” the other sheepishly apologized. Sunoo ignored him, continuing to walk around his room.

Jungwon eyed him suspiciously, “Is something wrong?”

Sunoo turned to him, silent for a moment before speaking. “Yeah…” he admitted quietly. He really needed someone else's input on this situation, and Jungwon was all he had. He gestured for the other to sit on the bed with him, which Jungwon quickly did. 

“What’s wrong hyung?” Jungwon asked, worried.

He was silent for a moment before sighing, “W-What would you do if you started developing feelings for a friend?” The other's eyes widened, not expecting Sunoo’s troubles to be about that. He continued, “I-I just don’t know how to sort out my feelings, it’s frustrating.”

Jungwon was silent for a moment, before he hesitantly asked, “Is this about that Heeseung guy?” Those words slapped Sunoo in the face. The other noticed his quietness and figured that was a yes. “It’s not that hard to figure out, you two hang out a lot.” he calmly stated.

The other huffed, “Okay, yes, it’s about him. Ever since our last hangouts…I’ve seen him in a different way. I-I don’t know how to explain it.”

Jungwon raised an eyebrow, “What happened during those last two hang outs?”

Sunoo explained everything, their movie night, and how he saw Heeseung’s handsome face mere inches from his. And at his apartment, the way he felt when he saw how he looked while studying—

“Oh wow,” Jungwon interrupted his rambling, surprised. Sunoo blushed; he was embarrassed at admitting that out loud. But at the same time, it felt great to finally admit it.

He noticed Jungwon was quiet, stroking his chin, before asking  “Does he like you back?”

Sunoo slowly shook his head, “Uh…I don’t think he does.”

Jungwon scoffed, “Oh come on hyung. You two hang out like you’re inseparable, and you’re telling me he doesn’t like you a little bit?”

Sunoo blushed, “I-I don’t think he does! I haven’t seen any signs at least…” he exclaimed quietly.

The other sighed, “Next time you guys hang out, check if he’s nervous or fidgety around you. That’s a big giveaway.”

“A-And how are you so sure about that?”

Jungwon rolled his eyes, “You were the one to tell me that when I first started seeing Jay.”

Sunoo huffed at the mention of Jay, that prick. “Alright, alright! I will…"

—

It’s been a whole week since finals have finished. Heeseung was glad, studying for them was a pain in the ass, but that’s done and in the past. He was currently in bed watching an action movie but it turned into ‘scrolling on my phone’ time half way through the film.

He was scrolling through some accounts on Instagram while laughing. He enjoyed the end of the semester, because it meant being able to just bed rot and forget responsibilities. That’s until his phone started ringing. He checked the Caller ID and it read Jake. “What does he want?” he murmured, before accepting it. “Hello?”

“Hey Heeseung, how are you?” Jake asked.

“Hey Jake, I’m alright, nothing new. How about you?”

The other laughed, “Ahh nothing much and I’m doing good,”

It went quiet for a moment. Heeseung cleared his throat, “Soo, can I ask why you’re calling?”

He heard some shuffling noises from the phone before Jake spoke, “I’m calling you because I wanted to invite you to a house party, this Friday. Y’know, blow off some steam.”

Heeseung thought about it, before agreeing “Oh, sure.”

“Sweet! Jay invited me and he told me to tell you and the rest of the guys,” the other beamed.

“I’m not surprised.” Heeseung joked.

The other laughed at his comment before speaking, “Yeah, but I’m gonna call the rest of the guys, ask them if they’re down.

Heeseung was silent before asking, “Are you going to invite Sunoo?”

Jake coughed, “Duh, I’m pretty sure he wants to party.”

The other let out a quiet, ‘oh’.

“Well I’ll get going, but I’ll text you later.” Jake sighed.

“Alright, bye Jake.” Heeseung said.

“Cya!”

Heeseung ended the call before going back to Instagram and continuing to scroll. “I love bed rotting.” he murmured.

“Jungwon! Could you please pass me the broom!” Sunoo shouted.

“Alright! Hold on,” The other yelled back. Sunoo was in the laundry room, busy cleaning up the filthy floor covered in lint. He soon heard footsteps approaching him.

Jungwon walked in holding a broom and pan, “Here.”

Sunoo thanked him before grabbing it, “Don’t forget to take out the trash.” 

Jungwon rolled his eyes, “How could I when you reminded me like six times.” He murmured before leaving.

The other scoffed but started sweeping up the crazy amounts of lint.

Jungwon made his way toward their kitchen’s garbage can, ready to grab the overflowing trash bag—until he heard a weird buzzing sound. He looked around the room trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. That's when ne noticed a phone on the couch, he quickly went over to it, realizing it was Sunoo’s. “He won’t mind if I just check,” Jungwon thought. He grabbed it and checked the caller ID, it was a call from Jake. He raised an eyebrow before accepting it, “Hello?”

It was quiet on the other end before a voice spoke, “Jungwon? Why are you answering Sunoo’s phone call?”

Jungwon scoffed, “His phone was ringing and I felt nosey. So,, what’s up?” He answered honestly.

Jake laughed, “Oh nothing, I was just calling him to see if he wanted to go to a house party this Friday night, you can come too if you're free,”

The other was surprised, “Oh really? Of course we’ll go.” 

“Sweet!”

Jungwon snickered, “And just between you and me, Jake. Sunoo needs it, he’s dead from this semester.” he whispered into the phone.

He could hear Jake snort from the phone, “Alright, tell him, I’ll see you guys on Friday,” the other exclaimed. They said their goodbyes before Jungwon hung up. He headed back to the laundry room to break the news to Sunoo. He was about to enter the room before the other abruptly stopped him, “I just mopped.”

“Oh sorry hyung.” Jungwon said,“But! I have something to tell you.”

Sunoo looked at him confused, “What is it?”

“Jake called and invited us to a house party this Friday!” the other happily exclaimed.

Sunoo raised an eyebrow, “A house party? I don’t know…the last time I went with him to one, I was bored out of my mind,” he muttered.

Jungwon scoffed, “Too late, I already told him we’ll go,”

The other's eyes widened, “Did he call you about this?”

Jungwon smirked, “He called you, but I still accepted it.”

Sunoo thought about the idea of going, before he realized what Jungwon just said. “He called me? Did you answer my call? Jungwon cackled before running out of the room. Sunoo gasped, “Jungwon!” he exclaimed, chasing after him.

“Hyung, you look fine, don’t obsess too much over this.” Jungwon murmured.

“Are you sure?” Sunoo asked, worried. He had on a white graphic tee, with a black and white striped quarter sleeve underneath, black jeans, and a bunch of necklaces adorning his neck. 

“For the one hundredth time, yes.” Jungwon declared, annoyed. The other looked at himself in the mirror, still unsure.

“Heeseung will like whatever you wear anyway,” Jungwon exclaimed in a smug tone.

Sunoo turned toward him, blushing at the mention of Heeseung.“D-Don't say that!”

“But really, you look fine. You actually look like you're ready to party, compared to me.” the other said. Jungwon was wearing blue denim jeans, with a white tank top on and a grey hoodie in his hands. He planned on wearing it as soon as they left. Jungwon took his phone out from his pocket and checked the time, eleven forty five. “Shouldn’t we get going? It’s almost midnight,”

Sunoo nodded, “Yeah, I just need to add earrings.”

Jungwon shrugged, “Alright, I’ll be waiting in the living room,” he said, exiting the room.

The other quickly grabbed small silver hoops and put them on. The last thing he needed was some lip gloss, he carefully applied the lightest amount. Before stuffing his necessities, lipgloss, keys, and phone in his jeans before scrambling to the living room.

“I ordered an uber, it should arrive in five minutes,” Jungwon announced, holding his phone up to Sunoo, to which the other nodded. He was feeling happy that Jungwon was able to join him this time but also felt anxious.

If Heeseung really was going…he’ll be seeing him after almost two weeks since their hangout.

Heeseung ended up riding with Jake, Sunghoon, Ni-ki, and Jay, their designated driver. They all gave him a mini lecture while on the way, warning him to not drink like last time. “Okay, okay, “Jay huffed, “It was only one time, and it wasn’t that bad.”

Jake scoffed, "Oh please, you were so drunk you couldn’t even stand up.” he argued.

Ni-ki snorted, “It was hilarious.”

Jay yelled, “Shut up!”

The drive was around twenty minutes, but they eventually arrived and headed inside the huge house that was blaring with music. They managed to past a big crowd by the entrance, and were now in the kitchen, filling up their red beer cups to the brim, except Jay. He somehow found a water bottle in the fridge.“This is always the best part of the year, semester’s over and we have winter break,” Jake exclaimed, before taking a sip from his cup.

“We should do something for the winter break. Anyone have any ideas?” Sunghoon shouted. The music was incredibly loud making this conversation hard to hear—unless you stood right next to the person you were talking to.

“I have none!” Heeseung exclaimed, before bringing his cup to his mouth and taking a big gulp. Everyone agreed with him. They would talk about it right now, but the music was a big problem, no planning would get done in here.

Heeseung looked around the house, mindlessly observing the different people he saw, noticing some familiar faces from his classes, along with random faces he’s never seen before. Also seeing some questionable individuals but he looked away. That’s when Sunoo popped up in his head, he heard from Jake that the other agreed to come, along with Jungwon. He rolled his eyes. “When’s Sunoo coming…” he wondered, impatiently.

Sunghoon made a weird noise, “Geez, this thing is strong as shit,” he said with a sour expression.

Jake shrugged, “At least it’s cold.” 

Jay huffed, “Could you guys not talk about alcohol in front of me when I’m stuck drinking—”

“Jake hyung!” a voice suddenly called out. Everyone turned toward the voice, and saw Sunoo approaching them, with a stumbling Jungwon behind him. “Hi guys!” he exclaimed happily.

“Oh, hey Sunoo! Jungwon! You guys made it, “Jake shouted, before taking another sip of punch.

“It took a while, sorry about that.” Jungwon apologized.

“It’s fine. Well, we’re all here now.” Sunghoon replied.

Heeseung stared at Sunoo quietly, star struck from how pretty he looked. Ni-ki suddenly turned to them, “Care for some punch?” he asked.

Sunoo smiled, “Sure, grab two drinks for us please,” he requested, gesturing to himself and Jungwon. Ni-ki gave them a thumbs up before heading to the punch bowl.

“You drink?” someone suddenly asked. Sunoo and Jungwon turned toward the source of the voice and saw Jay.

“Of course I do, I’m not going to be boring at a party,” Jungwon retorted, “unlike someone.” He gestured to the water bottle in the other’s hand before giggling.

Jay scoffed, “Oh please, I’m the furthest thing from boring.”

Sunoo was right next to Jungwon, watching their conversation go down. They looked so friendly with each other? He would even say, they looked close. He was about to speak, before Jay suddenly grabbed Jungwon’s wrist, dragging him out of the kitchen. Sunoo stood there in complete confusion. "What the hell just happened?” he thought, puzzled.

He was about to grab his phone from his pocket, and text Jungwon until he felt someone pressed right up against him from behind. He quickly turned around and saw Ni-ki holding out a second cup, “Here you go.”

Sunoo didn’t like how close he was, but still thanked him, “Thanks.” 

Ni-ki didn’t move, he just stood there looking him up and down, before speaking, “You look good tonight.” Sunoo was confused, not being able to tell if the other was making fun of his outfit or if it was a genuine compliment.

Ni-ki must’ve noticed this because he rolled his eyes, “It was a compliment.”

“Oh…thank you.” Sunoo exclaimed, surprised. It was silent before he looked the taller man up and down, “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

“Why, thank you.” Ni-ki replied with a cocky grin. Sunoo took a big sip from his cup, before coughing, this punch was really strong compared to Halloween night’s party. He was about to walk toward Heeseung and Sunghoon, who were chatting in front of the fridge before a hand stopped him. “Hey, do you wanna dance?” the other asked suddenly.

Sunoo stared at him, hesitating, “Uhh, I-I don’t know…I think I’m just going to stay here.” He really wanted to talk to Heeseung.

Ni-ki groaned, “Come onn, this is a party. Have some fun.”

Sunoo thought for a moment, before looking in the direction of Heeseung. “You know what, Ni-ki’s right. It’s a party, I should go have fun.” Ni-ki waited for an answer, before Sunoo suddenly brought the beer cup to his lips and chugged the rest of the drink. The sour aftertaste lingered in his mouth, but he tried to forget about it. “Fine, let’s go.” he coughed.

Ni-ki’s eyes lit up, “Ayy, that’s the spirit.” he exclaimed, before grabbing the other’s hand, dragging him toward the living room.

Sunoo stumbled behind him, “H-Hold on!” he yelped.

“What’d you get on the final? I got a ninety-eight." Sunghoon said, taking another sip of his drink.

“I got a ninety-six, better than my midterm grade,” Heeseung replied, shrugging. He turned toward the entrance of the kitchen, expecting to see Sunoo there with Jungwon. But to his surprise, no one was there.“Where’d he go?” he wondered. He looked around the kitchen but couldn’t locate him—

“You alright?” Sunghoon asked suddenly.

He turned his attention back to the other, “O-Oh yeah,” he stuttered. The two stood there, finishing up their drinks. Heeseung was quiet before suddenly asking, “Where is everyone? None of them are here.”

Sunghoon raised his eyebrow and looked around the kitchen. He noticed the other was right, none of his friends were there anymore besides them. He shrugged, “They probably went to go dance or something,”

“Dance? Who was Sunoo dancing with?” Heeseung wondered, frantically.

Ni-ki and Sunoo danced for a while, before sitting down on some empty couch toward a corner in the living room. The room got too crowded to continue dancing without being pushed into someone. Sunoo actually had a good time dancing with the other, to his surprise. He thought Ni-ki was just an insufferable person to hang out with, but so far, that wasn’t true.

“Want some?” 

He snapped out of his thoughts, turning to his left, and saw Ni-ki holding out his cup, offering it to him. “Sure,” he answered grabbing it. “Can I drink the rest of it?”

Ni-ki nodded, “Yep,”

Sunoo didn’t think twice before chugging it, coughing a bit after.

“So, why’d you decide to come tonight?” the other asked, curious.

He sighed, “I just needed something to help ease my mind, this semester really fucked me up.”

Ni-ki snorted, “Did you at least pass all your classes?”

“Duh!” Sunoo exclaimed, placing the empty cup on the floor. While they continued chatting, Sunoo started feeling hot. He can’t tell if it was the alcohol or the amount of people in here, but—most likely both. He began fanning himself while Ni-ki talked rambled about his classes. “I wonder where Jungwon is…” he thought, after being reminded of Jay snatching him away.

That’s until he suddenly felt Ni-ki shift closer to him. Now, there was no small gap between them, the other wrapped his arm around Sunoo’s shoulders. “You alright?” Ni-ki asked, looking at him.

“Y-Yeah, i-it’s just really hot in here,” Sunoo whined, the close proximity between them caused him to sweat more.

Ni-ki smirked, “Hot? It’s probably just you, because I mean—you’re hot.” he said, confidently.

Sunoo’s eyes widened at his comment, “H-Huh?! W-What are you talking about?”

The other laughed, before bringing his lips to Sunoo’s ear, “Just messing with you,” he whispered.

Sunoo blushed at the hot breath against his ear, “S-Stop that!” he squeaked, weakly pushing Ni-ki’s shoulder. Having the other so close to him, practically on him, had his head feeling woozy.

It was quiet for a moment before Ni-ki whispered, “Y’know you’re really cute when you’re being teased.” 

The other's breath hitched, “Y-You’re embarrassing me…stop!” he whispered. His hand came up to cover his face. The loud atmosphere and alcohol really had Sunoo feeling all hot and bothered, and Ni-ki wasn’t helping.

“Oh, there you guys are,” a voice suddenly exclaimed. Sunghoon and Heeseung turned toward it and saw Jake, standing there with his cup.

“Oh hey, where were you?” Heeseung asked, curious.

Jake gestured to the living room, “Bathroom, I surprisingly found it somehow.” Heeseung and Sunghoon let out quiet, “Oh's.” Jake looked around the room, “Where is everyone?”

Sunghoon shrugged, “I think they’re all in the living room…”

It was silent before the other spoke, “Why don’t we go check on them? Maybe they’re embarrassing themselves out there.” he suggested. The two laughed at his comment and agreed.

“That sounds like something Ni-ki would do,” Heeseung said, before finishing his drink. The three exited the kitchen and joined the overcrowded, music blaring living room, they looked around, but didn’t see any of their friends, just random people.

Jake sighed, “I think I saw Jungwon and Jay earlier…by the bathroom. You guys want to check?”

Sunghoon nodded but Heeseung was still looking around, for Sunoo. “Uh, you guys do that—while I find Sunoo and Ni-ki,” he said.  The two shrugged before leaving Heeseung standing there, alone. He started wandering around, trying to find Sunoo because he really wanted to talk to him. They haven’t had the chance to speak at all tonight.

He pushed past a lot of sweaty bodies that kept bumping into him, making him gag. “Geez where did he go? I know this house is huge but—”

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he caught sight of a couch. A couch that contained Ni-ki and Sunoo sitting on it. Heeseung was about to approach them before he suddenly paused. There he saw them, it looked like they were just chatting. Until he noticed them sitting way too close to each othe, along with Ni-ki’s hand on Sunoo’s thigh and him whispering something into the other’s ear.

He thought the alcohol was messing with his eyes, so he rubbed them before looking back. But, the two were still there and they were getting too touchy. He swallowed hard, the way Sunoo looked all happy and giggly with Ni-ki, started to enrage him. “Why is Sunoo sitting with Ni-ki? And being all touchy like a fucking couple?” he thought, irritated.

He saw Sunoo’s hand grab at Ni-ki’s wrist. Heeseung was expecting the other to push him off but to his horror, he saw him guiding the hand further up. “What the fuck—”

“Heeseung, find them yet?”

He jumped, startled at hearing Jake’s voice right next to his ear, “W-What?”

“Did you find them? We ended up finding Jungwon and Jay, they were busy chatting.” Sunghoon explained.

Heeseung huffed in annoyance, “They’re over there.” pointing to the corner of the room. Sunghoon and Jake looked to where he was pointing but were confused.

“Dude, no they're not,” Sunghoon responded.

Heeseung scoffed, “Yes. They are.” 

Sunghoon snorted, “Yeah, the alcohol is getting to you.”

He turned toward that direction, “What the fuck are you talking about—”

That's when he saw it, there was the couch, now empty. “I-I just saw them there…” he stuttered, pointing at it.

Jake sighed, “Maybe you saw someone else?”

Heeseung stood there, feeling like an idiot. “Did I?—No, that was definitely them.” he thought He abruptly turned and began walking away, not bothering to tell Jake and Sunghoon where he was going.

“Heeseung!” Sunghoon called out, expecting the other to stop, but he didn't. They watched him disappear into a crowd of people. Weird.

Heeseung didn't know where he was going, he just needed to get away from them. “Might as well refill my drink,” he thought. He wandered around for a couple minutes, until he found the familiar fold out table in the kicthen, carrying beer cans and the bowl of punch. He was about to approach it before noticing a familiar figure standing in front of it.

Sunoo. He stared at the other for a moment before storming up to him, grabbing his shoulder roughly, forcing him to turn around. Sunoo squeaked at the rough action, before he saw Heeseung.

“O-Oh hey heeseung!” he exclaimed, before taking another sip of his drink. He looked at the other’s face, and blushed. “He looks so handsome right now…” He  failed to see the irritation on the other’s face.

Heeseung scoffed, “What are you doing here.”

“Refilling my drink” the other slurred, holding up his cup.

Heeseung squinted, “Be careful with how much you drink. This stuff is pretty strong.”

Sunoo laughed while dismissively waving his hand, “I’ll be finee, hyung.” They stood there in silence, until Sunoo looked the other up and down before asking, “Where were you? I-I haven’t seen you all night,”

Heeseung tsked, “I was in the kitchen talking with Sunghoon,” He was about to ask him the same question, but he already knew the answer to that. But he still did. “What about you.”

“I just hung out with Ni-ki for a bit,” Sunoo explained, “He’s a pretty cool guy.”

Heeseung rolled his eyes. “Pfft, yeah right.” he thought. Heeseung knew Ni-ki was a cool guy and a great friend. He was just overcome by jealousy due to what he saw them doing—He wished it was him that did it instead.

“Wanna talk for a little?” Sunoo asked, before taking another sip from his cup.

Heeseung was still annoyed at him, but he couldn’t refuse. “Alright.”

“N-Not here though…it reeks of alcohol,” Sunoo murmured.

“We can look around for a spot.” Heeseung suggested. The other nodded eagerly.

They wandered around the house, but every room was filled with an insane amount of people. Along with no spots to sit down and just chat. Sunoo suggested they sit on the couch he and Ni-ki sat on earlier, but when they got there, it was already taken by a couple making out on it. “Yuck…” he thought.

That’s until he felt Heeseung poke his arm, making him turn to the other. “We could go upstairs,” he suggested, while pointing toward the staircase.

Sunoo was about to agree, before he noticed a sign plastered on the wall by the stair's, reading 'Upstairs is off limits’. “I-It’s off limits though...” he stuttered.

Heeseung scoffed, “Come on, don’t be a scaredy cat. Plus, you think the owner is actually paying attention to the stairs?”

Sunoo gasped, “I’m not a scaredy cat!”

The other laughed, “Then let’s go.” he said, holding his hand out. Sunoo was hesitant but his mind replayed Heeesueng’s comment.

‘Scaredy cat’

So, he grabbed his hand.

They approached the bottom of the stairs. Heeseung looked around, before turning to Sunoo, “Ready?” The other nodded. He felt anxious but at the same time excited. Then, Heeseung swiftly led the way upstairs, praying that no one called them out on it. Once they reached the top, they quickly ran into the hallway, to be shielded from being seen.

It was dark but they couldn’t turn on the light, it’ll arouse suspicion. The two noticed five doors in the hallway, before Heeseung dragged Sunoo to one. He opened it and was met with a bathroom, prompting him to shut it. He looked back at the multiple doors and noticed one at the very end of the hallway.

They quickly approached it, before Heeseung turning the knob and opening it, he ushered Sunoo inside. Before following behind him and shutting the door, quickly locking it. As soon as they were inside, they couldn’t help but laugh. “I-I can’t believe we just did that!” Sunoo exclaimed, surprised.

Heeseung snorted, “Right?” They looked around the spacious room. It had a full-size bed right next to the window, a closet on their right and another door on their left. Sunoo stumbled toward the bed, sitting on the edge of it. The otherslowly followed and sat right next to him.

“This bed is so -ssoft…” Sunoo murmured, his hands roamed up and down the white sheets. Heeseung laughed at the other being fascinated by the sheets. He stared at Sunoo for a moment, noticing his face was a light shade of red. “Cute.” he thought.

The other suddenly brought the drink up to his mouth and chugged the rest of it, before stuttering, “Th-This drink i-is really good.” 

Heeseung raised an eyebrow, concerned for the other. “I think you should give the drinks a break–”

“Shush.” Sunoo snapped, placing the empty cup on the floor.

“Alright, Alright,” Heeseung said, throwing his hands up. It went quiet for a moment before a loud notification sound rang throughout the room. Heeseung felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, so he quickly took it out to check what it was.

Sunoo noticed him take his phone out. Being the nosey person, he was—he scooted closer to check too. Heeseung stiffened at the sudden shift but tried to ignore it, going back to checking the notification. “Ugh, just another canvas notification.” he thought, annoyed. He clicked on the app, checking to see what was updated. While he did this though, he couldn’t help but feel intently watched.

He turned slightly to his right and saw Sunoo staring at him. The sight he saw made him blush like crazy—Sunoo staring at him, his plump lips were parted slightly, eyes glossy, and his auburn hair was tousled a bit. “Y-You alright?” he stuttered.

Sunoo didn’t respond and continued staring at him. “Uh, Sunoo–”

Without warning he felt the other grab his hand, leaving him confused, until his hand came into contact with clothing? He looked down and saw his hand resting on top of Sunoo’s thigh. His eyes widened, panicking “S-Sunoo!?”

Heeseung saw the other come closer, leaning on his right shoulder. “H-Hyung…d-do you like me?” Sunoo whispered quietly.

The other’s mouth went dry, “W-What?”

It was silent for a moment before Sunoo repeated himself, “D-Do you like me?”

Heeseung could feel his heart beating in his ears, loud and erratic. He doesn’t understand why Sunoo is asking him this right now—so suddenly. “O-Of course I do, I-I like you as a friend…” he answered, careful with his words.

Sunoo lazily shook his head, “N-No…not as a f-friend, r-romantically.”

Heeseung tried to dismiss him, shaking his head, “Th-That doesn’t m-matter, we’re really good friends—”

“Tell me hyung.” His eyes met Sunoo’s, trying to come up with some type of excuse, but nothing came out of his mouth. It was quiet before he let out a shaky breath. “I-I do.” 

Sunoo’s eyes widened, surprised at his confession. The room went dead silent. Heeseung was worried that he might’ve said something wrong, due to the silence from the other. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

He was interrupted by a sudden pressure applied to his lap. Eyes widening at what he saw—there in front of him was Sunoo, who climbed on top of his lap. The other shifted a bit, making himself comfortable. “S-Sunoo?!” he choked out. The sudden pressure and wriggle of the other’s hips, on top of his groin area, made him let out a low groan.“Oh my god, what’s he doing?!” he thought, frantic. He suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his shoulders, bringing him closer.

Sunoo stared at the other’s beautiful face. “H-Heeseung…k-kiss me, please.” he whispered, titling his head a bit. Hearing Sunoo’s sultry tone switched something inside Heeseung. He hesitated for a moment, before bringing his hand up to caress Sunoo’s hair, admiring the soft texture before leaning in, connecting their lips. And god—Sunoo’s lips were incredible and so plump against his.

He brought his other hand to rest on Sunoo’s hip, lightly squeezing it, making the other gasp. Heeseung used this opportunity to slide his tongue inside Sunoo’s mouth, making the other whine into the kiss, overwhelmed by the weird sensation. His tongue eagerly explored the warm mouth, along with lightly biting on the wet tongue. 

Their kiss lasted for a minute before Heeseung pulled away, taking in the other’s state. Sunoo was breathing heavily, face red, mouth hung open, and eyes glossy. Heeseung suddenly came to his senses, remembering that the otherwas drunk, “Sunoo w-we can’t, y-you’re drunk.” he stuttered.

The other’s expression saddened, “n-no hyung, p-please!” he pleaded, “I-I want to continue with y-you…” 

Fuck. It didn't help that Sunoo looked so pitiful and cute while saying that. Heeseung felt the other bring his mouth close to his ear, breathing hot air into it before whispering, “Please hyung…” 

After hearing that, Heeseung couldn’t hold back anymore. He suddenly latched his mouth onto the other's neck, placing harsh kisses on it.

“Mpph—“Sunoo whimpered, “H-Heeseung—"

He kissed Sunoo's neck like a starved man, he could hear the sweet noises coming from the other, enjoying the melodic sounds. Sunoo’s hand gripped his forearm weakly, trying to find leverage.

He continued peppering kisses to the soft flesh while sucking on certain spots, that made the other whimper. Heeseung continued this for a minute, before pulling off with a loud pop. He pulled back, staring at Sunoo’s neck that was covered in light purple marks. The scene was faintly lit by the moon spilling in through the sheer curtains on the window. His hands roamed up and down the other’s figure, “S-Sunoo…” he whispered, feeling the other wriggle his hips.

Sunoo looked at him, pressing his forehead against Heeseung’s, “Hyung…I-I want it, p-please…” Those words went straight to Heeseung’s groin. He suddenly changed their position, pushing Sunoo on the bed, making him squeak in confusion. He stood up and made his way onto the bed, hovering over Sunoo. Who was sprawled out on the bed, he leaned down slowly, and smashed their lips together once more. The other kissed back, a little sloppy due to the alcohol in his system, but Heeseung didn’t mind.

Sunoo felt the other’s tongue against his, messing with it, making him whine. He also felt a pair of hands roam over his clothed abdomen. He didn't pay much attention to it, until feeling something cold on his stomach, making him gasp into the kiss.

Heeseung managed to get his hands under the two layers of shirts, now rubbing and softly pinching the supple flesh. He was going crazy; this all felt like a dream to him—not expecting the night to turn into this. The room was dark, only the moonlight peeked in through the window, the blaring music was still playing, but now muffled, and the sounds of them kissing—

Fuck, he was getting turned on. More wet noises filled the room before Heeseung pulled back. Sunoo whined at the loss of the other's lips—until he felt his top being pulled up higher, bunched up right under his chest. He shivered at the cold air hitting him. “H-Heeseung?” he stuttered, while looking up at the other in confusion. Heeseung was staring at his stomach, before meeting his eyes.

“F-Fuck, Sunoo you look so good right now.” He whispered, admiring the sight of his navel exposed.

Sunoo blushed at the comment before gasping loudly. Heeseung brought his mouth down to his stomach, peppering it with kisses and licks, before giving rough pinches and squeezes to the soft flesh. His hands weakly clutched at the bed sheets, overwhelmed by the groping done to his stomach. Heeseung groaned, his face was pressed against the other’s stomach, “So soft…” he murmured under his breath.

“Hee–…w-want more.” Sunoo whimpered. He couldn’t register what was coming out of his mouth, the alcohol was really screwing with him. He felt hot all over, especially down there, between his legs.

Hearing him beg like that, all whiny and confused, went straight to Heeseung’s cock. His hands found their way to Sunoo’s jeans, fumbling with the button and zipper. The other laid there pliant, making the removal of his jeans easier. Heeseung slowly pulled them off and saw his naked legs and thighs…and he loved it. Sunoo’s legs involuntarily closed, becoming hyper aware of how exposed he was, but Heeseung stopped him, roughly tugging them back open. 

His visibility was reduced since it was just the moon lighting the room, but he froze when he noticed something down there. Heeseung stared at Sunoo’s groin area and noticed no bulge. He cautiously brought his hand toward it, lightly grazing it, making Sunoo moan.

He was taken aback, wondering, “Does he…?” His shaky hands found the waistband of the other’s underwear, which were a pair of briefs, and slowly pulled them off and the sight made his mouth go dry.

There under the briefs, was a cunt.

Sunoo tried shielding himself with his hands but was stopped. He squirmed at the feeling of the other's rough hands, gripping painfully at his. Heeseung leaned back down, his mouth hovered over Sunoo’s ear. “You’ve been hiding this pretty little cunt from me, this whole time?” He accused, “How could you Sunoo-ah?”

The other gasped, “N-No—” He was interrupted by Heeseung's fingers suddenly dipping between his folds, gathering the wetness that pooled.

“Has anyone else seen this?” Heeseung asked, “Like Ni-ki? H-Huh?” 

Sunoo weakly shook his head, “N-No..hyung–”

Heeseung growled, “Gonna fuck you—fuck this cunt.” he promised in a low voice. It made Sunoo shiver; the provocative promise went straight to his pussy.

Heeseung was starting to lose it. Months, months he’s been dreaming about this. His fingers continued sliding between the folds before bringing them up to his face, noticing that they were completely soaked. He brought them to his nose, smelling it before opening his mouth and licking the digits clean. Sunoo tasted sweet and tangy.

His wet hand gripped Sunoo’s jaw, turning his face toward him before deeply kissing him. The other kissed back, feeling the elder’s tongue exploring his mouth and sucking on his tongue. He could taste his own arousal, making him moan into the kiss. He felt like he was on cloud nine, the elder’s thick hand between his thighs, the heated kiss, and knowing they're about to—

Heeseung suddenly broke the kiss, making his way down between Sunoo’s thighs. His face was mere inches away from his core, and it looked beautiful. Sunoo's folds dripped with his arousal, and he noticed a little nub peeking out from its hood. Wasting no time, he stuck his tongue out and delivered harsh licks to the the folds, while his nose was pressed right against his clit. Sunoo made a noise that sounded like a scream mixed with a moan, encouraging him to lick harder.

Sunoo’s hands weakly gripped the sheets, trying to ground himself. Until he felt the other’s hand suddenly grab his and intertwined them. The gesture was so sweet compared to what they were doing. Heeseung suddenly brought his index finger up to his folds, coating them in his arousal before slowly tracing his hole.

He heard Sunoo whine and babble something. He continued circling before beginning to push inside. Sunoo’s thighs immediately jerked, trapping Heeseung’s face between them. He moaned, feeling the stretch on his hole. “Mmm–”

Heeseung’s finger continued until it was fully in, right up to his knuckle. “S-Shit, so tight…” he groaned. The warm walls trapped his finger, making him feel dizzy.  He let his finger rest for a minute before beginning to pump it in and out–

“Haa–h-hyung!” Heeseung scoffed, only a finger in and Sunoo was already moaning like a whore? Cute. He continued for a minute, before beginning to line up his middle finger, nudging at the hole.

Sunoo didn’t register the second finger beginning to enter, he was dazed from chugging so many drinks earlier. He howled when he felt both digits nice and snug inside him, they sat for a moment before beginning to scissor him. Heeseung's fingers explored parts he didn’t know were possible—his toes curled at a certain jab they did, letting out a breathy moan. He broke their intertwining hands apart. to grab at the bed sheets.

Heeseung noticed this, continuing to abuse the same spot over and over. He wasn’t letting Sunoo relax for a second—too eager to stop. Suddenly, he felt the other clench around his digits, e didn't want him to cum just yet, so he abruptly pulled them out and stood up. The other whined at the sudden loss, his hole fluttered around nothing, aching to be filled.

Until he felt something pressing against his lips, his gaze averted upwards and saw Heeseung’s fingers right in front of his mouth, trying to enter. “Open up for me, Sunny.” he instructed.

Sunoo blushed at the sudden nickname but obeyed, opening his mouth. He felt the two digits enter and linger on his tongue, “Suck.” And he did, his tongue lazily lapped at the knobby fingers, eagerly tasting himself. Heeseung groaned, the way Sunoo’s cheeks caved in, while staring deep into his eyes, it was all so hot. Once he deemed them as clean, he pulled them out and praised Sunoo, “Good job, pretty.”

The other blushed at the sudden praise, making him involuntarily press his thighs together. Suddenly, Sunoo’s hand weakly grabbed at the hem of Heeseung’s top, “F-Fuck me, heeseungie, p-please…” he begged.

The other’s brain malfunctioned at that cute nickname before laughing, “Desperate for me? Aching to feel my cock inside you?”

The other frantically nodded, “Mhmm—! Y-Yes hyung!”

“F-Fuck Sunoo.” Heeseung muttered under his breath, hands reached for his belt, beginning to frantically undo it. He quickly unzipped his jeans, keeping them on, but made enough room to bring his cock out. Once out, he began giving it slow strokes, using his pre-cum as lube.

Sunoo weakly sat up on his elbows, trying to see what Heeseung was doing, until his eyes widened at what was in front of him. The other was there, stroking his dick that was huge.

Heeseung climbed on the bed, kneeling right in front of Sunoo’s legs, and grabbing his thighs, pulling him closer. Sunoo squealed at the sudden force—he stared at the other with nervousness. But at the same time, he was eager to feel Heeseung inside him.

The other parted his thighs, before guiding his tip between Sunoo’s folds, the head of his cock grazed the other’s clit, making him mewl. He slapped his tip against the other’s hole a couple times before lining himself up with it. Sunoo whimpered, “W-Wait, h-hyung…I don’t think it’ll f-fit.” he stuttered, scared. Heeseung’s dick looked like a monster, how was that supposed to fit inside him?

The other’s head perked up, meeting his eyes, “Don’t worry Sunny, I’ll make it fit.” he calmly said, lifting his hand to softly caress Sunoo’s face before bringing it back down, now resting on his small waist. 

He took a big deep breath before beginning to slowly push in, immediately cursing under his breath. Sunoo cried out, the stretch was painful. His hand came up to grab at the elder’s clothed chest. Heeseung stopped for a moment, before continuing. He continued slowly, until his clothed pelvis was flush against Sunoo. He let out a low moan at the tight heat engulfing him…it was better than he could’ve imagined.

Sunoo fell back on the bed, silent cries escaping him—It hurt a lot. Heeseung noticed this, and leaned down, face mere inches away from Sunoo’s, and began praising him. “You feel so, s-so good around me Sunoo.” he whispered, "Don't cry.” His hand went up to the other’s face, softly wiping away his tears from his red cheeks.

“I-I love you heeseung—” Sunoo sobbed overwhelmed with the fullness he felt in his abdomen. 

Heeseung smiled, “I-I love you too Sunoo.” They shared a soft gaze with each other, until Heeseung slowly pulled out, leaving only the tip inside, before snapping his hips forward. 

“Ahh–!” 

Heeseung originally wanted to go slow, for the sake of Sunoo, but his unleashed desires that have been building up for months, began to pour out. “F-Fuck–” His pace was quick, drunk off the tight velvety walls surrounding his cock, his grip intensified on the younger’s waist, making Sunoo cry out in pain. He could hear the other babble something but couldn't understand it. He looked down and saw Sunoo’s gorgeous face skewed up in pleasure, with his glossy lips parted.

The sound of skin slapping against each other, erotic moans, and the muffled blaring music, made this experience heavenly. He stared at Sunoo’s face before he was reminded of what he and Ni-ki were doing earlier. Jealousy started bubbling up inside him, again. “Shit, you’re moaning like such a slut—you do this with any other guys? Like Ni-ki?” he seethed.

Sunoo moaned, “Mmm Hee-Heeseung! N-No—”

“No? That’s what it looked like to me earlier on that couch, I saw you guiding his hand up your thigh—” he growled, too angry to continue the sentence.

Sunoo frantically shook his head, “W-We didn’t—”

Heeseung slowed down a bit, changing the angle of his hips, before snapping them roughly. Sunoo squealed at the new angle, his cock was hitting that pleasurable spongy area inside him, making him see white, “R-Right there!” 

Heeseung scoffed, “N-Ni-ki can’t do this to you, like I can.” He continued his brutal pounding, punching cute little “Ah, Ah’s” out of the other. He wanted to cum so bad, but doing that so early would be no fun. “You’re sucking me in soso good, that hungry for this cock?” he snickered, while his hand snaked up to Sunoo’s chest, pinching his clothed nipple.

Sunoo deliriously nodded, the pleasure felt so good, making him feel paralyzed. Heeseung grinned at the lack of reaction the other had, looking so cute and helpless. He came down, trapping Sunoo in a bear hug. He felt the other’s arm immediately latch onto his shoulders. His body weight pinned Sunoo down, making the other take whatever he gave him.

“I want you to feel how deep I am inside you,” he whispered into the other’s ear, “Can you feel me Sunoo-ah?” His hand came down between them, hovering over the other’s stomach before pressing down on it.

Sunoo clung tighter, “yesyes—h-hyung!” Heeseung realized something about himself tonight, he loves it when the Sunoo calls him that. 

Being next to the other’s face, he could hear every whimper and moan clear in his ear, egging him on. His hand snaked down further, between the younger’s thighs, finding his clit and beginning to rub tight circles on it. Sunoo’s body jolted, “Mmph—t-too much!” he cried out. The stimulation done to both his clit and hole had him feeling something in his stomach, something tightening. 

Heeseung paid no mind to his plea, he continued rubbing, his goal was to make Sunoo come on his dick. The younger cried, “Haa–”

He could feel Sunoo’s wall tighten, practically choking his length. “C-Come, come for me Sunoo.” he whispered. That did it for Sunoo. He squealed, his pussy clenched down on the length stuffed inside him, accompanied with a gush of clear liquid squirting out of him. Heeseung hissed at how much tighter he got, soon realizing the other was squirting all over him. 

"S-Shit..." he groaned.

Sunoo’s orgasm violently washed over him, making him release a shaky cry, but his expression suddenly changed when he felt overstimulation creeping up, “Hee—h-hurts!” he wailed.

Heeseung shushed him, “I-I know, h-hold on—almost there.” His thrust grew erratic, he was so close. A couple more sloppy thrusts and his hips stilled, coming deep inside Sunoo. The other’s walls milked him eagerly, draining everything out of him. Heeseung stayed like that for a minute before collapsing on top of the other. The two laid together in silence for a moment, catching their breath. 

After, he began to pull out slowly. He watched Sunoo’s hole gaping around nothing, and soon, he saw his seed begin to drip out. Heeseung smirked, finding it really hot. He hovered over the other, “Sunoo?” he asked worriedly.

Sunoo’s eyes were droopy, looking half asleep. “H-Heeseung…” he murmured quietly.

“A-Are you okay?” he asked while his hand caressed the other's tear-stained cheek. Sunoo weakly nodded, rubbing his face against his hand. “I-I’m sorry if I went overboard—”

“N-No…I-I liked it, hyung.” Sunoo interrupted, honestly.

Heeseung smiled softly, “I love you, Sunoo.”

Sunoo giggled quietly, “I-I love you too Heeseung…” They stared into each other’s eyes before connecting their lips. This kiss was soft and tender compared to earlier, they just wanted to stay lost in this moment forever—

Until the sound of a phone ringing interrupted their moment, making them jump. Heeseung stumbled back in surprise. Once he found his footing, he immediately tried to find the source of the noise. He frantically looked around the room before his eyes landed on his phone—that was on the floor.

“Must’ve fell when we were doing…that.” he thought, blushing. He bent down and picked it up, looking at the screen, an incoming call from Jake. Crap, he forgot about the guys. He pressed accept and brought it up to his ear, “Hello–”

“Heeseung!? Where are you?” Jake yelled.

He didn’t expect to be suddenly screamed at. “Uh…I’m in the…bathroom.” he murmured. He knew that was a shit excuse. It was so bad that he could hea Sunoo quietly giggle behind him.

“Why’d you wander off like that! Also, have you seen Sunoo?” Jake asked, “I can’t find him anywhere!”

“Uh…I’m not sure. But call me back when you find him.”

Jake let out a confused sound, “What—”

Heeseung abruptly ended the call and tucked the phone into his pocket, before turning back to Sunoo, who was staring up at him.

“We should head downstairs…” the younger murmured quietly, fiddling with his top.

Heeseung smiled, “Yeah, you’re right…” he exclaimed, before sitting back down on the bed. Until he suddenly pushed Sunoo on his back, making the other gasp. He climbed on top of him, before bringing his mouth down to Sunoo's ear, “Let’s just stay here for five more minutes…” 

Sunoo laughed, “F-Fine, only five.”

Heeseung chuckled before softly kissing him again and embracing him, making the younger squirm.

Meeting new people isn’t always a negative experience, Heeseung knows that now.