One day, when the weather was finally showing that it was truly spring, Seunghoon invited the whole crew for a game of Billiard to the Death. No one really died playing that game. They did not lose a friend every time they went to play. They were not that kind of group of friends. It was really whichever group lost a round would take a couple of shots; whichever lost the most rounds would pay for all the alcohol. It was fun to see when it was not you who were facing the impending bankruptcy.

In the most recent games of Billiard to the Death, Minho brought Kyungok with him. She normally stayed seated in a corner, guarding their drinks, and watched her man try to destroy everyone else at billiard and miserably fail. At times, she would go over to Minho and ask him to teach her how to play billiard, and every time she miserably failed, too. Seungyoon and Seunghoon would joke that that was the only thing, besides art, that those two had in common. Most of the time, Kyungok just faded into the background, which was why Seungyoon did not consider Minho bringing her correlating with Taehyun taking much more shots than usual every time he lost.

That night though, Kyungok did not come through the door next to Minho. Jinwoo was the first one to ask about her absence. “Where is Kyungok, Minho?” He leaned forward into the billiard table as he asked.

Minho shook his head, “We broke up.” Everyone in their group stayed quiet. They were all expecting to hear that she was probably sick.

Jinwoo blinked a few times, “Really?” His tone was both surprised and relieved.

Minho seemed to not have noticed, “Yeah.” He shrugged, “I guessed it was not going to work out.”

“Shame,” Jinwoo really had no shame. He was vocal to everyone but Minho about his dislike for Kyungok. He had a hand over his mouth to hide his smirk. Seunghoon elbowed softly to let him know that he was obvious.

Minho took off his jacket and set it on the table where he saw the other’s things. “I’m not that sad about it. I think she was very clingy.”

Taehyun scoffed. “No ,” He muttered bitterly. Seungyoon was the only one who heard as he was standing next to the younger man. He smiled because he could not help but agree.

In a way, Seungyoon already knew time was running out on Minho and Kyungok. He knew Minho was back to using Taehyun’s dorm as his personal art room. Every time Seungyoon visited the dorm, new sketches filled the walls. They were less of Taehyun and more of other things: abstract art, sceneries, imitations, et cetera. Seungyoon did not know much of art. Anyways, never in the walls was there a sketch of Kyungok. Seungyoon even asked Taehyun where Minho keep those sketches, if he even had them. Taehyun just said that the few ones (Taehyun emphasized few) Minho had were not put on display and kept away in a sketch pad. That was strange, because Minho was always the one to put anything he liked on display.

There was a sketch pad on the art bed one day when Seungyoon was visiting. While Taehyun was doing some things on his own, Seungyoon swiftly walked towards the art pad. He did not want to shamelessly open it and see what was inside. Minho never shared the art he already did not have out. He always said it was not worthy to be shown, but Seungyoon was always curious about what the older man could possibly be hiding. There was a paper sticking out of the pad, and Seungyoon was sure he could subtly pull it. Last time he tried to pry into Minho’s stuff. Taehyun almost attacked him like a lioness did its prey. He said that anything Minho kept hidden was to be hidden, and if Taehyun was going to respect that privacy, so should everyone else. This time, since Taehyun had his earphones on, Seungyoon had a chance. He took a side of the paper and pulled it slowly.

Seungyoon’s eyes were wide and he quickly put the sketch back in the pad. It was a sketch of Kyungok, made of what looked to be charcoal. It was deformed and messy and nothing like the soft, delicate, sweet sketches Minho made of Taehyun. Seungyoon had first thought that Minho was simply trying out a new style, but when he learned that Kyungok and Minho had broken up, Seungyoon realised that maybe it was something else entirely though he was not sure what exactly.

Seungyoon wondered what that could mean for Minho and Taehyun. Suddenly that fear that Taehyun could be taken away from him came back. Seungyoon and Taehyun were friends and nothing more. Why was it hard to believe that Minho and Taehyun were also friends and nothing more? They behaved a similar way that Jinwoo and Seunghoon did and as far as Seungyoon was aware, they were also friends and nothing more. Seungyoon should not worry about anything. He really should not.

Unfortunately, it was hard to do that when Taehyun showed up dead drunk at the dead of night knocking on Seungyoon’s door. Seungyoon was in the process of writing a ginormous essay for one of his classes when he heard the knock. Seungyoon stood up grumpily and headed to the door, ready to yell to whoever was on the other side to kindly off. His hard eyes softened when he saw it was Taehyun as the door though.

“Taehyun,” Seungyoon said softly to not disturb the neighbours. “How did you even get here? What?”

Taehyun had one hand resting on the door frame and the other around the collar of his shirt. His eyes were hidden under his messy long hair. “Hyung,” He muttered before throwing himself on top of Seungyoon.

“Woah,” Seungyoon took steps back and wrapped his arms around Taehyun to steady him.

“Hyung,” Taehyun muttered again and placed his hands on Seungyoon’s shoulders without trying to push himself out of Seungyoon’s grip.

“What?” Seungyoon asked, knowing that there was no way Taehyun would answer. “You’re drunk. Come on, I’ll lay you down on my bed. You need to rest,” Seungyoon maneuvered around Taehyun to close the front door.

Taehyun shook his head, “No!” He pushed Seungyoon against the front door.

“What the?” Seungyoon wondered where this man mustered all that strength when he could barely stay on his two feet. Seungyoon could not ask that question, because as soon as he opened his mouth, Taehyun dove in to kiss him. It took Seungyoon completely by surprise. Under different circumstances, Seungyoon would have easily melted into the kiss, but Taehyun was drunk as . There was no way Seungyoon was going to take advantage of Taehyun like that, so he pushed him off. “What are you doing?” He asked his younger friend.

“Ah, hyung!” Taehyun complained. He grabbed Seungyoon’s hands and pulled them away from him before diving for another kiss. Seungyoon tried his best to not let it get to him, because even though he was not drunk on alcohol, Taehyun’s kisses sure made him drunk.

Every time the kiss broke. Seungyoon would tell Taehyun to stop, but Taehyun never listened and Seungyoon was too unwilling to do anything about it. It was toxic, and it was suffocating Seungyoon. It got to the point where his clouded mind rationalised that as long as it did not go farther than that, it would not matter. So he ended up kissing and embracing back.

Taehyun was still too drunk to barely stand, so they somehow made their way to couch, and they laid there, Seungyoon under Taehyun. Seungyoon kissed back every sloppy kiss Taehyun offered him. He tried his best to remember that that was as far as it could go. It surely took him awhile to notice Ta