Woohyun adjusted his collar, not completely sure about his wardrobe choice. He was going for a chic casual, but was worried he might have overdone the chic a bit. Nah, one could never have too much chic. It was only, he was trying to look a little more approachable, less like a superstar. But who was he kidding, he was born a superstar, no amount of clothes could change that. He was being silly. Sungkyu just did something to him, made him behave in weird, irrational ways to the point that he hardly recognized himself. He wasn't really sure if that was a good or a bad thing, maybe time would tell.

He took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell. He put up a flashy smile before the door even opened.

“I brought some wine!” he waved the bottle, creating a distraction to delay him having to face the two of them.

“Thanks, we're setting up in the kitchen.” Sungkyu smiled. There was something weird about him. He didn't have a new haircut. His clothes were not new and in the same style as always. Yet something felt different. Maybe it was the fact that he was being nice to him for once. Whatever it was, it looked good on him. In the short while they had been apart, he had completely forgotten how mundanely gorgeous he was. He was so normal, yet so special at the same time, in a way that you couldn't see it coming, and then it was too late, you were completely under his spell. He had missed him, something awful. He kind of felt like he had been lost and now he was finally home. It was a scary feeling, because he knew it wasn't his to have, he was just borrowing it for tonight. Yet he wished he could keep it for eternity.

“Okay, I'll get us some glasses then.” he handed Sungkyu the bottle, and threw his jacket on a nearby chair. He was determined not to make this awkward. He felt at home, so he was going to act like he was home. The truth was he wasn't sure he had ever really felt at home anywhere before.

“Eh...wait...” Sungkyu grabbed his wrist hesitantly, stopping him from entering the kitchen.

“Yeah?” he said softly, turning towards him, trying to hide the fact that he was having what could only be described as a full-blown heart attack. His skin tingled where he was touching him, making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

“I.. just...” Sungkyu mumbled at the floor, biting his lower lip, slightly pouting. There he went with the lips again. Always with the pouting. Both irresistible and frustratingly annoying at the same time, the warring emotions driving him crazy, making him believe that kissing him was the only way to get rid of them, to bring peace to his heart. He held back, of course. Now was not the time to rock the boat. He didn't want to scare him away, now that he had barely gotten him back into his life. He was also in a weird mood today, more vulnerable than usual. He didn't trust his own feelings, they felt like somebody else's. He wasn't this guy. Or was this the new him and he didn't even know it yet? It was all so new and confusing. The time apart had done something to him. He wasn't sure if it was a permanent change or if it was just like getting the flu, spending a few days delirious and out of it, and then going back to your old self. Whatever it was, he was going to take it minute by minute.

“Is Eunji going to hit me or something?” he asked when he saw Sungkyu struggling with finding the words.

“No, no...or....maybe... yeah, probably.” Sungkyu chuckled, revealing those deadly cute teeth of his.

“...but that's not... I mean...” he sighed. Then his posture hardened and he looked him straight in the eyes. “I just wanted to thank you for not telling Eunji... that it was me....my fault she missed it... thanks for not ratting me out...” he forced a half smile.

“I would never...” he assured him as he felt everything inside him melt into a big ocean of warm goo.

“I still think it was for the best...” Sungkyu added stubbornly. “You guys are not ready, it would have been a disaster.” he concluded, avoiding eye-contact, releasing his wrist and heading to the kitchen.

“Eunji-ya, look what the cat dragged in! I think this little mouse has something he wants to say.” Sungkyu beckoned him to come into the kitchen, not so subtly telling them to kiss and make up. Well, they could probably do without the kiss, although he was curious how Sungkyu would react if he kissed her.

“Heh...got room for one more for dinner?” he grinned awkwardly, having no idea what to say or how to approach her.

“I just bought enough for two.” she said sternly, not even looking up, only setting the table for two persons.

“Oh...” he said dejected, but it was all an act. He had dealt with his fair share of grumpy actresses, he could see she was ready to forgive him, she just needed a little push. “Okay, I get it. I'll get out of your hair... you two have a nice dinner...” he hung his head and turned around. Shoulders slouching, he slowly headed to the door. One. Two. He gave it about seven seconds. Three. F..

“Don't be silly! Two HUNDRED! I bought enough for two hundred people, so you're not leaving here until this mountain of food has been conquered.” she giggled and added another paper plate to the table.

“Wow... this is....cozy.” he chuckled as he nearly elbowed Eunji as he reached for some dim sum. He would have preferred elbowing Sungkyu, but he was keeping a safe distance.

“Cramped is probably the word you were looking for.” she laughed brightly. “What do you guys say about moving this party to the living room.” she suggested, since the kitchen was starting to feel like an overly stuffed broom closet, with the three of them squished into the tiny breakfast-nook.

“So it's a party now?” he snorted. He didn't really mind the closeness, but he had no logical reasons to offer as a rebuttal, so they all stood up and started moving the food over to the tiny coffee table. A mountain had not been a misnomer.

“Okay, it might not be as fancy as the parties you are used to, but...” Sungkyu chimed in, he was pretending to be offended, but something told him it might not be as far from the truth as he wished.

“No, it's way better, obviously. No fancy party has ever served an eatable volcano science project made out of sweet and sour pork, kung pao chicken and dumplings, with jjajangmyun-lava spewing its saucy tentacles in all directions.” he sent Eunji a wink.

“I guess moving it might've been a mistake.” Eunji giggled heartily as the volcano imploded on itself. They all started laughing.

“Aaa.” Woohyun tried to feed Eunji a dumpling as atonement for all he had done, but before he could get it to her, Sungkyu came out of nowhere like a piranha, mouth open wide. The poor dumpling never had a fighting chance. There was a moment of silent disbelief between the three of them, before they burst out laughing again. Sungkyu had such an infectious laugh, it echoed inside Woohyun's head as he tried to mentally record it for later use.

“Let's try this then.” Eunji took a piece of the pork and theatrically started to feed it to Woohyun, but piranha-Sungkyu was prepared, leaping over the table when they least expected, snatching his prey right from their clutches at the last moment. He had come straight at him, almost like he was going to kiss him, but instead going for the piece of pork at the end of Eunji's chop sticks which had just about reached Woohyun's mouth, his lips stopping only inches from his. Eunji let out a tiny yelp of surprise, before collapsing with laughter. It took Woohyun a bit longer to recover, feebly laughing to cover up how shaken he really was.

Now this was war. Woohyun never backed down from a challenge. He was going to feed Eunji a peace offering even if it was the last thing he did. He clearly underestimated piranha-Sungkyu as an opponent and before long they were all tangled in a bundle on the floor, tickling and pinching each other, chop sticks and food strewn all over the place. He had always thought that food fights were just something that happened on TV, he never thought there were people crazy enough, free enough to actually do it. It was messy, but amazing. Although what they didn't show on TV was the grueling clean up afterwards, which Sungkyu cleverly boycotted by faking a stomach ache after all the food he had intercepted.

And thus began the most enjoyable evening he had ever experienced, although he would never admit that to anyone, not even himself. It was as if the three of them were all old friends. He felt like he was a part of something, something really precious. They weren't even doing anything magnificent, they were just hanging around, having a glass of wine, or two, or three. He never thought it could feel so wonderful to be normal. He used to have nightmares where he was caught in a scandal that ruined his career, condemning him to roam the Earth as a mere normal person. It used to scare the daylights out of him, but he was beginning to think there were worse things.

With the gracious help of the spirit of the wine, the atmosphere remained light and playful. They talked and laughed, and laughed and talked. He could see a glimpse of the Sungkyu he had met on their date way back when. It felt like a lifetime ago. Even though he was enjoying himself immensely, a part of him still had its foot on the breaks despite the light having turned green. Somehow, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Usually, if something seemed too good to be true, it was because it was. That was his experience. People couldn't be trusted. Everyone was playing the game, and if you didn't want to lose, you needed to become the biggest player of all. And so he did. He was good at it, a natural. Everyone wanted something. He found that the bigger he got, the phonier his friends became. Except for Dongwoo, but that was different, since he was his meal ticket, they were on the same team. However, Eunji and Sungkyu weren't like that. They had very little but didn't seem to mind all that much. Blood leeches he could handle, but genuinely decent people... he felt like a fish out of water.

“I'm beat.” Eunji yawned.

“Yeah, I'd better get going.” he said, having no desire whatsoever to leave.

“There's a blanket in my room with your name on it.” she smiled as she sent him a short wink.

“Really?” he smiled back.

“Eunji...no...” Sungkyu shook his head, trying to discourage her, but too drunk to succeed.

“Yeah, just go look.” she smirked.

A bit wobbly from sitting on the floor for too long, and perhaps influenced by the copious amounts of alcohol he had drunk, he walked over to her room. He had thought it was just an expression, but it turned out there was an actual blanket with his name on it in her room. And not just his name, his handsome face and half his torso as well.

“Ha ha are you serious?!” he shouted in disbelief. He recognized the photoshoot, but he had no idea such things existed or that people actually bought them. He was going to have a conversation with his agency. There was definitely a market for these kinds of fan merchandise, so instead of some hacks benefitting from it illegally, he was going to get in on the action.

“It's not mine.” Eunji appeared in the doorway giggling. “It is something though, huh?” she beamed. “Like, if you took your shirt off right now, is that really what it would look like?” she took his shirt off with her eyes, ogling his imaginary chest.

“Eunji!!” Sungkyu appeared behind her, not so softly punching her arm, trying to knock some sense into her.

“So eh, if it's not yours...whose is it?” Woohyun asked with curiosity, not believing her for a second, trying to get her to incriminate herself.

“You'll never believe this!” she started enthusiastically like she was about to give him the scoop of the century. But before she could divulge all the gory details, Sungkyu had grabbed her from behind, covering with his hand.

“Hehh, just a crazy friend of hers. Come on Eunji, let's not be bad friends huh, let's respect that person's privacy, right?” Sungkyu pleaded, being uncharacteristically sensitive. Did he have some special feelings towards that friend of hers? Woohyun furrowed his brow, not too happy at the prospect of getting a rival.

“Yeah, my crazy friend. Crazy, crazy, CRAZY...” she repeated dramatically with a funny smirk stuck to her lips.

“Yeah, alright, we get it.” Sungkyu said slightly irritated. “Weren't you so tired you were dying, like two minutes ago? Let's go to bed, key?” he nodded and made her nod by putting his hand on her head. “Alright! Good night guys.” he said, his eyes meeting Woohyun's, lingering slightly, waking up all the butterflies that had only just settled down.

“Hehemm... good night.” Woohyun cleared his throat, sending him an awkward wave for reasons unknown, wishing he would stay or better yet, take him with him.

When he had crawled under the covers, under the Woohyun-blanket in fact, since the owner would probably go out of his or her mind knowing he had actually slept with it, recounting the events of the evening in his head, he had a rare attack of conscience. He had to be drunker than he thought.

“Eunji... I'm sorry.” he whispered.

“I know.” she just said.