“It may have taken three hours,” Jisoo said, spreading his arms out along the back of the couch, “but you picked a good one, baby.”

Jeonghan laughed and turned away from the TV, looking over his shoulders to stare up at his boyfriend. “Yeah, I really did.”

Giggling, Jisoo squatted down to be at eye level with him. “It fits really well with the place.” He smiled, but then paused for a second before pouting. “But, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss living with you.”

“Aww, Jisoo-ah,” Jeonghan murmured, softly his cheek. “I know. I miss you, too.”

“Then come back and stay with me,” Jisoo begged, taking his hand and shaking it cutely.

“You know I can’t. You live way too far from the school. And you can’t live here…”

“...cause it’s way too far from my school,” Jisoo sighed. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve gone over this.”

Jeonghan smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. “Stop looking like that. Come on,” he smirked, giving Jisoo a knowing look. “Help me break in the new sofa.”

Jisoo tilted his head up to smile back at him. “Mmm? What, that should make me feel better?” he teased.

“It should,” Jeonghan chuckled, pulling Jisoo up by the collar.

Laughing, Jisoo stood up and crawled over the back of the couch, letting himself get dragged by Jeonghan, who was already lying down, until he was on his hands and knees hovering just above him. His palms sinking into the cushion, his face got closer to his boyfriend’s. “You look really good from here,” he gushed.

Rolling his eyes, Jeonghan beamed and yanked him closer, “You don’t always have to be such a gentleman.”

Smiling into his lips, Jisoo fell into Jeonghan’s kiss as he tried to keep the rest of his body steady. But it was no use. Jeonghan’s lips made his arms give out and he laid right on top of him. Jeonghan’s arms wrapped around Jisoo’s back as the two of them “broke in the new couch.”

As they giggled and rolled around in each other’s embrace, Seungcheol stepped out of the bedroom, but didn’t notice since he was watching his phone. “Hey, guys, where’s a good place to go for…,” he said as he glanced up. Upon seeing them, he threw his hands up to cover his eyes. “OH, GUYS! COME ON! DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO DO THAT HERE?!”

It took them a second, but they eventually unlocked to chuckle and look over at the distraught Seungcheol. “Sorry, Seungcheol,” Jisoo giggled, trying to unhook his leg from Jeonghan.

But Jeonghan grabbed him and refused to let go. “Yes, we’re very, very sorry!” he exclaimed before pulling Jisoo back into his lips.

With a weak smile, Seungcheol rolled his eyes and went back to scrolling through his phone. “I was gonna ask you guys where’s a good place to go for dinner on a date, but never mind.” He spun back around and was headed for his bed when there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Seungcheol announced, shoving his phone into his pocket and heading towards it.

“Thank you!” Jeonghan cried out.

Seungcheol unlocked the door and turned the knob. Immediately, his face lit up. “Jihoon!” he exclaimed, not expecting this cutie to stop by.

Jihoon flashed a huge grin and blushed ever so slightly. “Hey! Sorry, I know we’re supposed to meet up tonight, but I…” Jihoon’s voice trailed off as his eyes redirected their attention from Seungcheol to the couple behind him. “Uhhh…”

Seungcheol did a double take real quick to see Jeonghan and Jisoo still making out. Staring at Jihoon’s shocked expression, he whispered, “Save me.”

But he just scoffed and chuckled a bit. “Is that Jeonghan?”

From the couch, Jeonghan waved his hand in the air and lifted his chin up to view Jihoon upside down. “Hi, Jihoon!”

“Uhh,” Jihoon hesitated, awkwardly smiling back. “Hi.”

Jeonghan giggled and pointed up at his boyfriend’s smiling face. “This is Jisoo, by the way.”

“Hi, nice to meet you!” Jisoo greeted, giving the most genuine smile anyone’s ever seen. “Sorry, usually I would shake your hand or introduce myself properly, but—”

“—but he’s a little busy right now!” Jeonghan laughed, obviously high off his boyfriend’s tongue. He quickly reattached himself to Jisoo and they went back about their business.

Slightly uncomfortable, Jihoon managed to chuckle at how happy they both seemed. And for a split second, he thought of how great it would be to be like them with Seungcheol. But he almost immediately shook that thought to glance back at Seungcheol. Damn, he looked good. “They’re cute,” Jihoon commented.

“Save me,” Seungcheol said one more time, lowering his chin and intensely staring at Jihoon.

He smiled and pointed back at his apartment. “Actually, I can’t. I was about to tell you that…”

A huge grin made its way onto Seungcheol’s face. He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “You forgot your key again, didn’t you?”

Jihoon looked down at the floor and anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. Watching him, Seungcheol was fondly reminded of the first time they met just a few days ago. He was a lot less flustered than he had been then, but still just as cute. And Seungcheol felt the same rush of emotions, if not harder now. “Yeaaahhhhh,” Jihoon confessed, refusing to look at Seungcheol’s smug face.

“Are you sure? Or is this just an excuse for me to invite you in again?” Seungcheol teased, getting in his face.

Jihoon scoffed and stepped back. Seungcheol was so close it was making him way more nervous than he already was. It took so much courage out of him just to knock on that door. Now he was losing all ability to pull himself together. “We’re going out tonight,” he pointed out, turning away so Seungcheol wouldn’t see him blush. “Why would I need an excuse to see you?”

“Maybe that wouldn’t have been enough for you.” Seungcheol enjoyed watching Jihoon’s reaction way too much, his cheeks were hurting from being stretched out too long.

Jihoon sighed and tried to contain himself. “Are you gonna invite me in or not?” he finally asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy in front of him, the boy he so longed to punch but at the same time kiss. It was a horrible experience for Jihoon, seeing that if it were anyone else they would’ve already received a beating.

Finally, Seungcheol gave in. “Come on,” he smiled, nodding his head towards the apartment.

“Thanks,” Jihoon said, raising his eyebrows as he walked in.

Seungcheol lead the way. “We can just go to the room. Let these guys use our BRAND NEW COUCH,” he said louder to get their attention.

“Breaking it in!” Jeonghan hollered, giving a thumbs up.

Jihoon chuckled and followed him into the place’s only bedroom. As Seungcheol softly closed the door, Jihoon scanned his surroundings and took in everything that made Seungcheol “Seungcheol.” Decently large, the room had two twin beds on either side, and just based on what he knew about him already, Jihoon smiled to himself after quickly realizing which one was his date’s. Picking the one to his right that had a Taeyang poster hanging above it and a basketball on the floor right next to it, Jihoon cautiously sat down beside the three pillows on top of the blue and white comforter and grinned at Seungcheol. “Nice room.” But all he was thinking was, “Dear lord, I’m in his room.”

Seungcheol grinned, making his way over to sit beside him. “Yeah, it’s not too bad. It’s big enough so sharing with Jeonghan doesn’t make it too cramp.” Sinking into the mattress, he pulled his legs up so he could crawl back and rest his back against the wall.

“You and Jeonghan must be pretty close,” Jihoon smiled, repositioning himself against the wall as well so he could more easily glance back and forth from the pretty boy beside him and the window that would provide a distraction when he needed to stop blushing.

Taking a second, Seungcheol made sure not to look at Jihoon. “Uhh, yeah, we are.”

Jihoon tilted his head a bit, looking at Seungcheol’s slightly uneasy expression. “You don’t sound too confident about that.”

“No, no,” Seungcheol sighed, shaking his head. “We ARE close. Me, him, and Jisoo have actually been friends since middle school. But yeah, the dynamic of the group kind of shifted once Jisoo and Jeonghan started going out.”

“Oh,” Jihoon nodded. “How long have they been together?”

“Just a few months,” Seungcheol replied, twiddling his fingers. “But there’s always been something between them apparently. So yeah, as close as we all were before, it’s just a bit different now. I mean, we’re still really good friends, it’s just…”

“Different,” Jihoon finished for him.

Forcing a half smile, Seungcheol nodded. “Yeah.”

Jihoon could tell that Seungcheol was distraught over this issue and probably thought about it whenever Jisoo and Jeonghan acted like they were now. Jihoon got the feeling that Seungcheol didn’t mind the two being a couple. He just missed his old friends. “They seem really happy together,” Jihoon commented, not entirely sure what to say next.

But that was fine, since Seungcheol didn’t want to elaborate anyway. His concerns over Jeonghan didn’t need to cloud his mind when he was with Jihoon. He finally turned to face and smile at him. “They are.”

“So,” Jihoon started, “I’ve met Jeonghan, Seungkwan, and now Jisoo. Any other friends I should keep an eye out for?”

Seungcheol laughed and lightly patted his shoulder. “Just a few. But I’ll let you get overwhelmed by them when you actually meet. No need to scare you off right now.”

Jihoon chuckled and took a moment to just stare into Seungcheol’s big, beautiful eyes. They seemed to sparkle with his reflection and shimmer from the sunlight.

Since Jihoon’s eyes curved up and shut in the most adorable way when he smiled, Seungcheol paid more attention to the boy’s lips. It was a horrible habit of his to pay the most attention to a person’s lips because it could just send the wrong message. But in this case, it would send a message he wouldn’t mind Jihoon receiving. “What about your friends?” Seungcheol finally asked. “You and Soonyoung and Mingyu all close?”

Nodding, Jihoon turned away and answered, “I’d definitely say so.”

“How long have you all known each other?” Seungcheol watched the side of Jihoon’s face as he talked, pleased with the nice view he had: Jihoon’s profile with the afternoon sunshine as a backdrop.

“Well, I’ve known Soonyoung longer,” Jihoon explained. “We’ve been with each other since forever, like you and Seungkwan. Mingyu, we both didn’t meet him until we rented this place two years ago and he answered the ad.”

“It’s nice to have people around, isn’t it?” Seungcheol softly commented.

“Yeah, they’re great. Outside of my friends though, I don’t really talk to many people,” Jihoon admitted. But upon saying it, he felt himself tense up. Why did he just say that? Why would he want Seungcheol to know he’s pretty shut off from the rest of the world?

But Seungcheol just chuckled. “I can tell.”

Jihoon blushed and looked away. “I know it’s not the best quality, but I just...don’t socialize too much, I guess.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Seungcheol suggested, listening intently.

Jihoon sighed, slightly relieved that Seungcheol wasn’t immediately turned off. “Yeah, I mean I have my group of friends and they’re all great, there’s like...seven of us. And I can deal with them and that, but I just don’t...know how to mingle or get to know people too easily.” He sighed again, trying to collect his thoughts. “Sometimes it’s annoying. It’s stopped me from doing a lot and meeting a lot of people, but at the same time I don’t really mind. But then, that’s not really a good thing. I don’t think any of this makes sense, but I kind of like being more reclusive. I get really frustrated easily and I just feel so drained of my energy sometimes that I just don’t feel the need to get to know people.” He took a moment and just stared down at his hands as he confessed these things about himself to Seungcheol. Then, as if registering everything he had just claimed, his eyes grew wide as he turned to Seungcheol, waved his hands in front of him, and frantically exclaimed, “EXCEPT FOR YOU!”

Seungcheol burst into laughter, clutching his stomach and tilting over. He fell so far along the wall that his head landed right on Jihoon’s shoulder, which made Jihoon panic even more. But Seungcheol just kept laughing. As he was listening, he wasn’t thinking that Jihoon could’ve been referring to him. All he was thinking was how great it was that Jihoon was opening up to him and how attractive he found his more-closed-off personality. And this terrified reflex of his just made him far too adorable.  “JIHOON-AH!” Seungcheol finally managed to yell through his tears. But Jihoon was too focused on Seungcheol’s hair brushing against his neck to even pick up on this guy’s cute scream. Wiping under his eye, Seungcheol sat back up and chuckled a bit. “Jihoon-ah,” he repeated. He turned over and raised his eyebrows at him before saying, “I think your personality’s great.”

Jihoon coughed and tried to stay calm, but his brain was just flooded with Seungcheol he could hardly breathe. Something about him made Jihoon so comfortable to the point he could just talk like that. But at the same time, he had this insane level of nervousness that made him want to jump out a window. And for some reason, those two feelings combined created the most warm and consuming emotion ever. Jihoon had never been in love before, so he had no idea what to call this beginning stage. In his head, he decided to just go with “like.” He really liked Seungcheol.

And Seungcheol liked him right back. Beaming at the boy, Seungcheol continued, “I see nothing wrong with being the way you are, and I definitely don’t think you need to worry about it.” He smiled into his chest before saying, “It makes the people you do open up to feel really special.”

Now Jihoon was in a frenzy. His heart was beating in his ears and he couldn’t feel his hands. They were tingling so intensely, they went numb. But on the outside, he just stared at Seungcheol’s smiling expression. The expression he put there. He made Seungcheol feel special. And all he could think was, “He needs to always feel special.” Then he chuckled and quietly said, “Good.”

Seungcheol gazed over at Jihoon and felt this huge desire to kiss him again. But he couldn’t. There was nowhere to run this time. He couldn’t just plant one on his cheek then go running from his own room.

But just then, as the two of them were both melting into puddles of “like,” there was a faint knock on the door. Both of their heads flicked that way as Jeonghan peeked inside. “Oh,” he uttered before opening the door wider and smiling at both of them. “Sorry about that guys,” he meekly said. He had done a complete 180 from the overly affectionate, PDA offender back to the angelic, bashful guy Seungcheol preferred seeing. “I kind of, uh…”

Rolling his eyes, Seungcheol laughed, “It’s okay, Jeonghan.”

Jihoon smiled as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He unlocked the screen and saw a text from Soonyoung that read, “Hey, I just got home. You need to get inside?”

Jeonghan blushed and looked down at the ground. “You guys can come hang out out here now if you want.”

Seungcheol opened his mouth to decline, but Jihoon interjected, “Actually, I think I’m gonna head home.”

Slightly disappointed, Seungcheol looked over at him. “Really?”

Jihoon nodded. “Yeah, Soonyoung just got back.” But seeing Seungcheol’s face made him a little guilty for leaving. “I’ll see you in a few hours though.” And immediately after hearing that, Seungcheol’s face lit back up. “Unless you forgot about our date already,” Jihoon teased as he stood up in front of him.

In the last few minutes, Seungcheol had forgotten, to his own surprise. It had felt like they were on their date right then. But now he was even more excited since nothing was over. The date hadn’t even started yet. Seungcheol scooched forward as if to get up. “I didn’t forget,” he lied. “Here, I’ll walk you out.”

“No, it’s okay,” Jihoon said, “I can find my way back.”

“No, but I want to,” Seungcheol insisted.

Jihoon blushed as he felt the anticipation build up in his chest. “No, you stay there,” he said, nearly choking on his nervousness.

Seungcheol stopped getting up and just sat in front of him, confused. “Hmm?”

Then, out of nowhere, Jihoon leaned down and pecked Seungcheol right on the cheek. It wasn’t as long or as firm as Seungcheol’s kisses, but touching his skin with his lips made Jihoon nearly fall to his knees. But he had to act fast if he didn’t want Seungcheol to see him die.

In that instance, Seungcheol’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. But as fast as he had gone for it, Jihoon retracted and Seungcheol hardly had a second to register everything. His insides were exploding. His face heated up and his heart was pounding like a drum. Every part of his body was tingling and he couldn’t feel his legs. But before he could even think of how amazing that all felt, Jihoon was running out of the room.

Seungcheol immediately shook himself and started to chase after him. “YAH!” he screamed, “YOU CAN’T JUST—!”

But Jihoon screamed back, “GRAB HIM, JEONGHAN!”

And before he could make it out of the bedroom, Seungcheol was stopped by Jeonghan barricading the door. “You stay put, buddy,” he laughed as Seungcheol desperately tried to get through.

“JIHOON!” he yelled.

Dashing through the living room, Jihoon laughed and waved to Jisoo. “See ya, Jisoo!”

“Bye!” Jisoo hollered back, but by then Jihoon was already out the door, shutting it behind him.

“JEONGHAN, LET ME GO!” Seungcheol yelled, feeling the soft kiss Jihoon left sink into his cheek.

But Jeonghan just kept laughing. “You’ll see him tonight,” he said. “This is too cute, just let him go and you’ll see him again tonight.”

Seungcheol sighed and fell to the floor, not in defeat but in exhaustion. His body felt limp and the only thing that was working was his heart. It was going crazy. Then, Seungcheol broke out into the biggest smile. Every encounter with Jihoon ended with a kiss, and each time they grew more intense. His face was lit with joy as he laid on his back and laughed into his hands. “Oh my god,” he muttered through his laughs.

Standing over him, Jeonghan chuckled. He crossed his arms and playfully kicked his foot. “Dork,” he smiled before leaving the door frame.

In the hallway, Jihoon screeched to a halt and rapidly pounded on his front door. “OPEN UP OPEN UP OPEN UP!” he hollered.

“WHAT THE HELL—!” Soonyoung exclaimed as the door swung open.

Before Soonyoung could say anything else, Jihoon shoved his way through and screamed, “LOCK THE DOOR LOCK THE DOOR!”

Soonyoung did as he was told and turned back, completely confused as he stared at Jihoon. “WHAT IS GOING ON?!” But Jihoon just stood there for a second, totally dazed. “Dude, are you alright?” Soonyoung asked, cautiously coming over to his friend.

As Jihoon’s insides were erupting, he looked to Soonyoung and flatly said, “Hold me.”

“What?” Soonyoung scoffed, smiling uneasily.

“JUST SHUT UP AND HOLD ME!” Jihoon demanded.

Immediately, Soonyoung jumped forward and embraced Jihoon. Since he was taller, it was no difficult task to wrap Jihoon’s entire body in his arms.

On contact, Jihoon sank to the floor. “WOAH!” Soonyoung exclaimed as he fell too. “JIHOON, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

But Jihoon wasn’t okay. He was hysterical. He began laughing like crazy into Soonyoung’s chest, trying to catch his breath every so often. His smile was so big he couldn’t feel his face. And that was okay. There wasn’t a kiss lingering there this time. No, this time, it was on Seungcheol’s face. He just kissed Seungcheol. And that made him want to scream. So he started laughing even louder.

Trying to hug his friend’s shaking body, Soonyoung was still so confused. “JIHOON!” he screamed, concerned for the lunatic in his arms. “ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“AH HAHAHAHA!” Jihoon cried.

“JIHOON!”

Finally, Jihoon managed to spit out, “I KISSED HIM!”

And as he went back to laughing and crying like a madman, his friend just kept holding him. Smiling, Soonyoung scoffed and looked off into the distance. “Wah, Jihoonie…”

“DON’T LAUGH AT ME!” Jihoon screamed, punching Soonyoung in the stomach.

Even with the surge of pain from the impact, Soonyoung laughed and hugged his friend tighter. He was used to Jihoon’s violence, but definitely not to this. This was a new Jihoon that Soonyoung had never seen before, a giddy, love infected Jihoon. And it just made him so happy. Chuckling, he teased, “You are such a loser.”

Unable to contain his smile, Jihoon sighed into his chest and screamed, “SHUT UP!”