Eric Nam is 24 years, 11 months, 30 days and 22 hours old when he finds himself sitting in the dingy backseat of a second-hand car. He could make out two figures, one driving and on in the passenger seat. In his drunken state he could still feel the awkwardness thick in the air.

Eric internally cursed.

The last thing he remembered was being in his impromptu birthday party, he and his friends in a private booth, jumping to Crayon Pop. There had been alcohol; correction- plenty of alcohol and bad decisions.

He remembered Ailee accompanying him to the door, his body feeling like a hundred times heavier.

“Amber!” She shouted. “You take Eric home, okay? Here, here.” And she gave him their drunken mess of a birthday boy.

“Ailee, you know I didn’t bring my car.”

“No- you have to do it. I’m too drunk for this . Take Henry. Henry! You have a car right?”

And that is how, (at least Eric thinks) he got here.

“Dude, where are we?”

The driver suddenly stepped on the breaks, sending the three of them almost faceplanted on the dashboard. “Eric you scared us!” Henry exclaimed as he looked from the driver’s seat. Eric answered him with a giggle , his eyes clouded over to the window. “Oh look Han River!” he exclaimed.

Net thing they knew, Eric has already opened the door, sprinting towards the grassy area shouting ‘AAAAAAAAA’ and disturbing whatever living thing is still awake at that hour.

“Eric- no- come back here!”

“Henry catch him!”

After a little bit of struggle and a whole lot of running, the two of them managed to hold Eric down and sit on the grass.  A hysterical drunk Eric was, he loops his arms around them both and pulled them closer.

“Guuuuuuys. You know I love you, right? I love you soooo much guys.” He slurred as he hugged them tighter. Amber gave Henry a look that said ‘He is beyond slammed.’ Henry returned it with a mouthed ‘I know.”

For a glimmer of a moment, the two of them almost laughed, before they both realized the fact that they haven’t been speaking with each other for the last week or so. The friendly air was replaced with an awkward one, before Eric decides to speak in his drunken slur again.

“I was so thankful when I came to California, and I was the new gawky asian kid and you came to my life. Like, both of you man. You two changed it, like, so much. And thanks because you two dragged me here to Korea, and I met like super great people. Like, Ailee and Key and Kris and Sehun, and even Jackson even though he is goddamn weird but I still love all of you, and I was so happy when you two got together because that’s how much I love you guys, you know?”

Amber interjects, muttering. “Everyone knows, so it seems.”

Eric laughed, his head bobbing up and down. “I didn’t get it immediately though. Key knew it the morning after, telling us ‘I’m so sure of it they slept together.’ Th e others figured it out as time went by. I didn’t get to confirm it until I saw your underwear in Henry’s apartment.”

He continued to cackled in delight, Amber’s embarrassment creeping up as she covered her face and muttered an “Oh, god.”

 “That’s what she said! Ohhhh, HIGH FIVE!” Eric raised his right hand offered to both of them, but they just stared at him incredulously. “No? Too soon? Okay.

“Anyway.” He continued. “Like the tension has always been there, but you two are so dense and all I want is for the two of you to be happy, and I know you two make each other happy. But then you started not talking and Henry started sulking and I was so, so sad because you two were sad, and I don’t want that. Not talking to with each other makes both of you sad.”

With Eric in between them, Amber looked at Henry straight in the eye. Henry replied by looking at everywhere but her.

“Don’t get me wrong, like I get it Henry. I get why it’s hard for you to stay friends. It’s just-“

“Why?”

Startled, Eric looked at Amber. She still has her gaze at Henry. “Eric gets it. I don’t”

Henry sighed before finally looking at her. It was almost painful, the way her fringe spreads across her forehead, almost covering her eye. But nevertheless he looks and answers. “Amber, I know you know why.”

“No I want to hear it from you.”

“Amber...”

“SHUT UP YOU TWO!” Eric suddenly shouts, pulling both of them in a sort of headlock slash hug.

“No talking first. Listen to me. You-“ he points at Amber. “That friends with benefits thing- Stupidest. Idea. Ever. Never works, you should’ve known. Don’t you watch movies? God. And you-“ he looks at Henry. “Stop with your teenage emo . You’re an adult for god’s sake. And seriously, after all this time you’re still not going to confess? She didn’t go to a date with crazy hot James ing Lee because of you! Even Kris admits he would go gay for that dude. Like, if that’s not love I don’t know what is.”

“Sh- She didn’t go?”

“Yes, idiot. She did not. Because in spite of your talk about not being able to compete with that, she’ s always going to pick you. Doesn’t matter if he is a musical prodigy and you’re ‘just’ a music professor slash low-key composer, or that he owns a billion dollar company and your idea of an investment is a second-hand Sedan. However great of a man he is, he’s nothing compared to you. Because she’s always going to pick you. Always.”

Henry suppressed a small smile that has started to appear on his lips. “Was that what it is?” he asked.

“What do you think?” she mutters, as the two of them finally looked at each other. Henry could feel his heart in his throat, the beating deafening his ears.

“I-“

“No!” Eric places a finger on Henry’s lips to shush him before he could continue.

“I’m going to throw up.”

There was a split second, a moment, a glimmer of the stories eternalized in fairytales. Never mind that Eric was already running towards the waters and spilling his guts, or that the air is heavy with smog. To Henry and Amber, it was the perfect moment, just the two of them, sitting on the damp grass, looking at each other like there was no one but them in this cosmic expanse of a universe. All the bad timings, the unsaid feelings, the waiting and falling and breaking; they all amount to this moment in time, when he leans in and she threads her fingers through his hair, their noses barely touching, breaths uneven but nevertheless synced. The two of them, never as content as they have felt their entire lives.

“Amber, I think-“

“Me too.”

And truly, that was all they needed.

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