Woohyun breathed in the fresh evening air. It had never tasted this good. He felt strangely relaxed. He only now realized how tense he had been lately, as muscles he didn't even know existed were released from their straightjackets, rejoicing in their newfound freedom. He felt lighter, like at the end of a grueling movie shoot, where he had back to back shoots for days or even weeks, but then suddenly it was over, his job was done.

Then it hit him. Maybe now that the chase was finally over, the excitement would go away as well. Maybe it was just his ego driving him nuts, not able to stop until he got a yes, until he could revert his record back to a perfect score, making him think he was in love, when really he was just offended. Maybe his interest was going to fade into nothing, like it had never been there in the first place. This whole thing had been very out of character for him, so much so that it had started to scare him a little bit. But feeling the calm swallow him whole, he breathed lighter. Now everything would go back to normal and he could resume control of his life.

His phone beeped, vibrating in his pocket. He had gotten a message.

'Tomorrow night, 11 PM, pick me up at work.' it said.

His heart fluttered, probably just out of habit. An actual date, huh. His stomach churned. Maybe he needed to close the deal before everything would go back to normal, officially add him to his long list of conquests. Yeah, that was probably it. He read the message again and giggled. Not because the message was particularly sweet, it was actually pretty dry, Sungkyu hadn't even bothered to include an emoticon. But because earlier he had tried to give him his number, but Sungkyu said he already had it. He had been too preoccupied to realize what that meant at the time, but apparently Hoya had held up his end of the bargain and given him the number, and not only that, but he had saved it. Another giggle escaped its imprisonment, happily flying away.

It was pretty late for a date though, 11 PM. What could they even do that late, except for the obvious. Perhaps the obvious was just that, obvious. Tomorrow night was the night. His heart started beating faster at the idea. Worried he was getting ahead of himself, he decided to do a little research, to be sure they were on the same page. Not that he didn't have the confidence that he could get Sungkyu to skip a few pages to catch up to him, in case they weren't. Still, it was nice to know the lay of the land.

'Isn't that around the time when everything's closing? ;)' he sent back with a smirk.

He bit the inside of his cheek, waiting for a reply. What was taking so long? Was he one of those cyber-handicapped people, texting like a senior citizen, taking hours to put one little sentence together?

“Answer, damn it!” he shook his phone, like that would help get a reply sooner. He had almost given up hope, when that wonderful beep sounded the arrival of the much awaited answer.

'I know a place.' it stated.

He knew a place? That sounded awfully flirty, at least the way the Sungkyu in his mind said it. He was almost certain that he was talking about his place. But what about Eunji? It was her home too. Was she going to be out? It was so late though. What if she was home when he came over? Would it be awkward if Sungkyu found out they knew each other? Was he going to believe it if he said it was a coincidence? Or did he already know and they were hoping for a ? He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He had never slept with a girl before, and didn't particularly want to. Although if it had to be someone, Eunji was a pretty decent choice.

As they pulled up in front of the coffee shop, he tried to swallow the invisible knot in his throat, succeeding only to have his gut twisted into an even bigger one. Why was his body reacting like this? His job was done, he had gotten a date, his record was once again shiny and perfect. There was absolutely no reason to be nervous, none at all. And he had come prepared, he smirked as he made sure the was still in his pocket. This was going to be a legendary night, he could feel it.

Without warning Dongwoo jumped out of the car, running around to open the door to the passenger seat. Had he gone mad? There was a burst of giggles outside the door before Hoya's head appeared. He greeted him with a nod and energetically put on his seatbelt.

“Dongwoo-ya?” Woohyun asked perplexed as Dongwoo got back into the car all bubbly and giddy.

“We've been trying to schedule a date for ages, but we're just too busy to make it work since you and me are basically attached at the hip...” Dongwoo explained excitedly, bouncing up and down in his seat. “But then I thought, why not just have a date in the car while you guys are on your date, I mean lots of couples go for a drive as a date-activity, why not us too!” he grinned proudly. “Pretty smart, huh!” he added, as if the silent boasting hadn't said it all.

“...couples...?” Hoya repeated in a low, giggly voice, his face blushing as he looked away, pretending to look out the window.

“Aigoo..” Woohyun sighed, shaking his head over those two idiots. Wasn't it going to be a bit weird to have those two waiting in the car outside Sungkyu's apartment while he and Sungkyu got it on? Maybe he should just dismiss Dongwoo for the night after giving them a ride to Sungkyu's place, not that Dongwoo ever listened to him when it came to taking time off.

“What about Sungkyu?” he asked Hoya to change the subject. He wasn't over the moon to be stuck in between those lovebirds, getting a front row seat to observe their mating rituals.

“Oh, he's coming.” Hoya answered without much interest, using the opportunity to not so secretly give Dongwoo secret looks. Was this his future? Having to be stuck as the third wheel on the world's most annoying date? His stomach was bothering him. He tried to recall what he had eaten, but couldn't come up with a single thing. He hadn't had much appetite lately, he was probably overdoing it at work.

The click sound of the car door opening reverberated through Woohyun's chest, his heart going on the fritz, losing its rhythm, frantically beating all over the place to try and find it again. Maybe he was coming down with something, he didn't feel all that great. As Sungkyu nonchalantly got into the car, Woohyun could feel every last drop of his blood rush to his cheeks. He felt feverish. He was definitely coming down with something. Maybe he should cancel tonight, it was not too late right? He suddenly got the urge to get out of the car, to run, to be anywhere but here, for here was causing him too much discomfort. Yet his body wouldn't budge.

“Hey..” Sungkyu greeted them with uncharacteristic awkwardness, dividing his attention between Dongwoo and Hoya in the front seat, not even once glancing in Woohyun's direction. He was acting a bit weird, less feisty than normally.

“So where are we heading, gentlemen?” Dongwoo asked in a theatrical chauffeur voice.

“There's this little samgyeopsal place I know, it's open till late... Woohyun-sshi, is samgyeopsal alright?” Sungkyu turned to him and asked him so politely, that he seemed to have misplaced every single word in his vocabulary and only incoherent mumbling came out. So they weren't going to his apartment after all. He was so shocked by the change in Sungkyu's demeanor that he was too distracted to get disappointed over this new development. Was he pulling some practical joke on him? Why was he being so coy? Was it for Dongwoo and Hoya's benefit? This felt weird. Really weird.

During the car ride Woohyun was all too aware of Sungkyu's hand that rested on the seat in between them. He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, trying to ignore it, but there it was, calling to him. 'Take me. Take me!' he could hear it begging. He wanted to take his hand, he really did. But still he held back. He wasn't sure why, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Usually buttering up boys on a date was the easiest thing he did, but he could never predict how Sungkyu was going to react, so he thought it better to take it slow.