KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Taekwoon?”

No answer.

“I’m coming in.”

Wonshik presses down on the handle, slowly opening the door to the lion’s den. He finds said lion, sprawled out on the floor. No blankets over him, just the boy, lying down on his back, legs placed one above the other ~ his bulky arms crossed behind his heart shaped head. His eyes are closed, and judging by the headphones dangling from his side, he seems to be listening to music – loud enough for him not to realise the presence of the boy standing above him.

Wonshik lowers himself gently over Taekwoon. He stops himself a heads width away from Taek’s face, holding his breath and taking in the sights. Lying down like this, Taekwoon looked ethereal. His milky white skin was shaded by Wonshik’s shadow, yet it glowed like pearls held up against a bright afternoon sun. His hair parted into two at his crown, and both sides gently framed his face, falling leisurely down either side of it. His peach lips looked plump as ever, juicy and begging to be bitten. Wonshik’s breath threatens to escape and as he jerks himself over the other boy, whilst trying his hardest to regain his wavering control, he meets Taekwoon’s piercing stare.

Surprise catches him and he exhales a lungful of air into Taek’s face. Taek immediately closes his eyes to avoid any spit that might be coming his way, when he felt the threat had passed, he opens them again – staring at Wonshik's moving lips, soundless but active nonetheless.

“Taekwoon…”

He manages to read his name forming on Wonshik’s lips.

“I don’t know what’s going, but...”

The rest of the words are lost to him. It seems like Wonshik is trying to apologize. Yet does he even know what he’s apologizing for? Taekwoon closes his eyes and his lips, grabs his phone then pauses the music ~ his fingers reluctantly removing the headphones from both of his ears. He begins to rise from the floor and Wonshik backs up to accommodate the waking lion.

“What?”

“Did you not hear me at all?”

“The music was playing~”

“Still, I was this close.”

 Taekwoon doesn’t answer. Drawing his woollen knit over his wrists, he shakes his shoulders loose and crosses his palms within his lap. Wonshik sighs, reaching for the forest green bottles by his side. He raises them by his cheek and makes a V with them, all the while smiling at Taekwoon.

“How about a glass? Or two?”

“No.”

“What? No, you don’t want to drink, or no, you don’t want to drink with me?”

“Neither.”

“What is it then?”

“I want something warm.”

Wonshik smiled, proud of himself for predicting this situation and for putting together a plan B. He gets up and makes his way towards Taekwoon’s door. Bending down, he retrieves a tray with two light brown paper cups on it.

“One for you” He places one cup in front of Taekwoon. “And one for me.”

“Cream or milk?”

“Cream.”

Taekwoon raises the cup of steaming liquid to his lips, sniffs it, blows some steam from its lip and takes a sip. The warmth seeps into his being, the bitter flavour quenched by the sweetened cream. There was a strength coming from the drink that he didn’t except. A certain acrid taste that seemed to differ from its usual tang.

“Did you have to poison my drink too?”

Wonshik laughed aloud. “I didn’t poison it, I just vamped it up a little.” He takes the unpleasant spirit infused brew from Taek’s hand and replaces it with his. “Here, have this one. Unpoisoned ~ just how you like it.”

Wonshik smirks and hands the drink over. Taek collects it from him with caution, taking a deeper inhale before sipping a minute amount to taste its contents.

“It is safe.” Taekwoon utters, matter of factly.

“Haha, I know. I made it.” Wonshik winks at Taekwoon.

Seemingly unphased, Taek keeps sipping his coffee. “What do you want?”

“To get closer to you…”

The statement unnerves Taek, who stops drinking for a moment and makes eye contact with his outspoken companion.

“…Look…” Wonshik switches from his kneeling position into a crossed legged one, their bodies kept apart by the tray of green bottles and a paper cup, obstructing them from touching each other. “…We’re going to be working together from now on, so isn’t it better to become closer? I don’t know why we are awkward when we are alone, but we have to sort it out. We will be spending a lot of time by ourselves. I think we -”

“You don’t know why we are awkward when we are alone?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah, I don’t.”

Taekwoon places his paper cup on the tray between them and slowly moves the co