Lee Seungyeol liked to work out, and his body was a testimony to that. And if there was anything better than Sungyeol in a wet-suit, it was the man completely shirtless. Somehow, the black wetsuit slimmed his broad shoulders and swollen chest. It definitely hid the definition of his arm muscles, which were carefully bulked up but not to the point of being a bodybuilder. Even his abdominals showed their cultivated strength without looking like they’d been etched into the stomach, like some men Sunggyu had met. If there was a way to be muscular in a classy way, Lee Sungyeol had achieved just that. 

However, Sunggyu could not focus on that glamorous body for the thing that separated the two of them. 

“Come on,” Sungyeol beckoned towards him with outstretched arms. “Get in the water.”

“I’m working on it,” Sunggyu snapped back. He then dipped his toe in the water and immediately retracted it. “, that’s cold!”

As if on cue, a trio of kids walked past them, with their guardian tutting at the coward by the pool’s edge. Sunggyu slapped a hand over his mouth and apologized profusely at the adult. And Sungyeol found this all to be hilarious. Sunggyu kicked some water over at the other. “Be quiet!” he hissed through gritted teeth.

“You need to keep your potty mouth in check,” Sungyeol in a sing-song tone as he wiped the water from his face. A small splash wasn’t going to dampen his mood. Sungyeol just seemed to be happy to have Sunggyu there with him.

And Sunggyu didn’t quite know how to feel about that, how to feel about any of this. Heck Sunggyu didn’t even know how he agreed to this. He hated the water. He swore that he’d die by water one day, an icy, torturous death.

“Hey.”

Sunggyu looked up from the water and over at the other. Sungyeol must’ve dunked his body into the water because now his muscles were glistening and his hair was slicked back, revealing his non-existent eyebrows and a small smirk, like the ing Mona Lisa. A masterpiece.

“Don’t think about it. Just jump in,” Sungyeol suggested as he strode through the water over to the pool’s edge. “Plug up your nose like this,” he then pinched his nose, making the rest sound muffled and nasal. “And jump, you coward.”

This artwork of a man wanted Sunggyu to embrace cold death, and Sunggyu hated how willing he was to risk his life and limb to see Lee Sungyeol shirtless.

And he jumped in.

While pinching his nose like the petulant child that he was.

“I like this. Swimming is fun.”

It was five minutes later. Sunggyu finally overcame the shock of jumping into the water and was now carefully making little splashes all around him. As it turned out, this wet stuff could be fun. It was especially fun to splash the other.

“You're just standing. You haven’t even tried to actually swim yet,” Sungyeol reminded him. “You also haven’t gone under the water since you’ve jumped in.”

“Do I have to? Can’t you swim with your head above water?” Sunggyu argued. “What’s that called? Doggy style?” He mimicked the in the air.

Sungyeol snorted. “Doggy paddle.”

“Whatever,” Sunggyu dismissed him. “Even I can do that. I don’t know what else you can teach me.”

“How to get over your fear of water,” Sungyeol declared. “That’s what I want to teach you.”

Sunggyu looked at the other skeptically out of the corner of his eye. “And you can do that?”

Sungyeol nodded confidently and then put a hand over his heart and bare . “I can do it. Trust me, hyung.”

Although Sunggyu could feel the fear building up, with those words he could swallow it back down. “Okay.”

Like all Korean men, Kim Sunggyu had been through boot camp. He always considered it one of the more harrowing experiences in his life, but that was before Sungyeol’s special swimming lessons. They began easily enough. He had Sunggyu float for a while, and when Sunggyu finally felt relaxed and calm, appreciating the gentle hands guiding him, those same hands plunged him under the water. Sungyeol didn’t even give him enough time to plug his nose, the bastard.

After that, Sungyeol had Sunggyu dunk his head in the water and blow bubbles. Sungyeol said it was to get him used to holding his breath under water, but something about the smug grin on his face made Sunggyu think that the other was getting some twisted pleasure out of this. 

When Sunggyu felt like it couldn’t get anymore demeaning, the kickboard drills started. Using a kickboard wasn’t demeaning in itself, but Sungyeol yelling at him like a drill sergeant was. And so was Sunggyu following his commands like a private. Wasn’t he the older one? Where was the respect, from Sungyeol and for himself?

After too many laps with the kickboard, Sungyeol announced that the lesson was over. He had somewhere that he needed to be. And Sunggyu’s could safely assume where that was, by whose side he needed to be. So he crawled out of the pool and laid himself unto lounge chair nearby, huffing and puffing.

“Are you really this out of breath?” Sungyeol loomed over him and asked.

Although still out of breath, Sunggyu propped himself onto his elbows. “You really aren’t?” he challenged. Sungyeol smirked and shook his head. Right, one isn’t naturally that jacked. Sunggyu closed his eyes and laid back down, hands folded over his not-jacked stomach. “Just let me…” his voice drifted off as he tried to get his breath back. “Go.”

But instead of going, Sungyeol sat down in the chair besides the other, facing him. Or at least that’s what Sunggyu could gather from the sounds and the shadows. He was too afraid to open his eyes and see that he was just imaging all of this.

But after a moment, Sungyeol spoke up. “Do you know what my goal is for you?”

Sunggyu finally opened his eyes and rolled his head over to face him. “To not drown?” he joked.

“Well, yeah,” Sungyeol remarked with a laugh. “But also to get you to jump off of that.” He then pointed over to a monster of Sunggyu’s nightmares, the high dive platform.

“Ffffrick no,” Sunggyu was just barely able to rein in his curse as a group of kids ran by them. And even though it wasn’t a full curse, the kids still screeched to a halt and gasped.

“Ahjussi swore!” one of them exclaimed and pointed at Sunggyu.

Although he could barely speak for laughing, Sungyeol patted Sunggyu’s leg while he told the kids, “Don’t worry. This ahjussi has a license that allows him to swear.” 

“Oh,” all of the children replied with wide eyes and then went on with their running.

The children were gone, but Sungyeol’s hand was still on his leg. “Why?” Sunggyu muttered under his breath. The other had caught it and quickly removed his hand.

“Hm?” he sounded innocent, but his smirk was not. ing Mona Lisa.

“Uh, um,” Sunggyu scrambled. “I mean, why do you want me to go up there?”

Sungyeol brought his arms across his chest. “Rumor is that you’re a coward.”

“Who said that?” Sunggyu startled upright and blurted out. But with just one second of thought, he knew exactly who it was: “Someone needs to duct tape Nam Woohyun’s mouth shut.”

“Oh! I’m surprised that you didn’t curse,” Sungyeol teased but at the same time seemed impressed that Sunggyu could control his filthy mouth for once. “I agree, and I’ve tried! Trust me! But Nam Woohyun, tsk, he’s a slippery snake,” his voice drifted off at the end, recalling that time regretfully, but then he shrugged it off and patted Sunggyu’s leg again. “Anyway! I want you to be confident enough in swimming that you can jump straight into water and, well, not die.”

Honestly, Sunggyu wanted that for himself as well, but...He gulped as his eyes slowly climbed up the high dive. His skin prickled with fear. “I’m...afraid of heights,” he admitted meekly.

“Eh, I’m not surprised, but it doesn’t change my mind. I don’t care,” Sungyeol replied in a sing- song tone and then stuck out his tongue. That did nothing to make Sunggyu’s goosebumps go away. No, now they were joined with deep frown and downcast eyes. He was afraid of a lot of things, the water, heights, and especially Lee Sungyeol who was trying to give him a comforting smile. “I’m not going to make you do it today. You’re not near enough ready for it. How long can you hold yourself underwater anyway?”

“Three whole seconds,” Sunggyu spoke with genuine pride. “It’s a personal best.”

Anyone who has heard Kim Sunggyu talk knows that his lung capacity is big enough to withstand more than three seconds. But his courage was itty bitty. It all made Sungyeol smile. “I know! I got you there,” the younger boasted. He then pointed towards the platform. “And I will get you up there.”

Sunggyu recoiled. “I doubt it.”

“Doubt all you want! Go ahead! I don’t care! I’ve been doubted my whole life!” Sungyeol exclaimed.

Sunggyu scoffed. “How can you say that so confidently? Are you stupid?” He pursed his lips shut as soon as those last words flew out of his mouth. Out of everything that he’d said that day, this had to be the worst, totally worse than swearing in front of innocent ears. But he’d just got caught up in the mood and wanted to joke around. He didn’t mean it. To him, Lee Sungyeol wasn’t stupid at all. Should he say that? Can he say that? What...

Sungyeol’s quick response cleared away his worries, “Eung, I’m stupid enough not to listen to their doubts and smart enough to know that it doesn’t matter.”

“Does that even make sense?” Sunggyu joked, now knowing that he could. Lee Sungyeol took it well.
Even this he took in stride and a shrug. “I don’t know, does it?”

Sunggyu couldn’t give him an answer. He only laughed and smiled, widely. His face was starting to feel sore because he hadn’t smiled that big in a long time. Could you pull a muscle in your face? But how could he not smile like that when he was with...

Sunggyu froze, and the smile fell, practically thudding against the floor. The sudden change in the older startled Sungyeol, and he nearly leapt up when the other did. “I need to go,” Sunggyu announced with a robotic voice and then scurried off.

“He must really have to take a piss,” Sungyeol concluded while he watched Sunggyu run into the locker rooms, nearly slipping on his way in. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the mother with her children again, giving him yet another dirty look. “Sorry!”

“This is bad,” Sunggyu muttered underneath his breath as he punched in his number into his apartment keypad. His heart was still racing from everything, from the swimming lessons, from Sungyeol’s hot bod, from running straight from his car up the stairs as if someone was chasing him. Why did he run? He felt like he needed to get somewhere safe, somewhere secure, somewhere he could lock everyone out and just be alone until this passes. He was anxious. He was too close to messing up, so close to saying something that he shouldn’t. If he had just sat there for one more second next to Sungyeol, he would have…

“Fricking !” 

Apparently Sunggyu couldn’t lock everyone out, not when Woohyun had his passcode and the same anxiety. Although he did look rather calm, wearing his worn out track suit, laying on Sunggyu’s couch and eating his chips. 

“Hello to you too,” Woohyun grumbled to his friend that had collapsed onto the floor out of shock.

“What are you doing here?” Sunggyu asked with a groan as he pulled himself together and up from the floor. Woohyun didn’t answer, but he turned away from Sunggyu, hanging off the couch and stuffing another handful of chips into his mouth. That was an answer enough for Sunggyu. Nam Woohyun had just met with and was currently avoiding Kim Myungsoo, again. “Woohyun-ah, you can’t keep running away from him forever.”

Woohyun turned back to him. “Yes, I can. I’m much faster than him. I’m Namsain Bolt,” he joked and flashed a smile. But that smile fell the more Sunggyu glared at him. Sunggyu’s glare could always penetrate through Woohyun’s several layers of bull . Woohyun pouted and begged, “Hyung, just let me stay here a bit, hm? I can’t risk running into him. The more I see him, the more I fall…”

“Fine, ing fine,” Sunggyu cut him off. He wasn’t in the mood to have Woohyun sob on his couch again. The poor furniture was already filthy with Woohyun’s tears. Seriously, being friends with this guy seemed like a job to Sunggyu, a job that he wasn’t qualified for. He was a ing music teacher, not a therapist. “Stay here as long as you need to, but if it’s too long, then I’m charging rent,” Sunggyu offered with the necessary stipulations. Woohyun had taken advantage of open invitations one too many times. Case in point, breaking into Sunggyu’s apartment. But honestly, it was hard to refrain from giving the pathetic bugger everything that he’d wanted. Woohyun was an expert at looking pitiful, like right now. He slowly nodded, looking down at his bag of chips, sighing his life away. And Sunggyu sighed along with him. “You need to get over him.”

“I’m trying,” Woohyun mumbled. With one last sigh, he looked up at the other again and changed the subject, “I was surprised that you weren’t here when I came. I knocked on the door for ages and then let myself in.”

Sunggyu scoffed. “Be honest. You didn’t knock.”

Woohyun wasn’t gonna deny that. “Where were you?”

“I was at the gym,” Sunggyu answered flippantly and began putting his things away.

Woohyun burst out into a roaring laughter. “That’s a good one!” he wheezed through his laughs. “Seriously, where were you?”

“The gym.”

The laughter stopped. Sunggyu hazard a glance back at his friend who was now glaring at him. Unlike Woohyun, Sunggyu’s bull laid behind an iron wall. It’d take more than that weak glare to break through it. “Okay,” so Woohyun gave up and picked up his phone. He lost interest. Sunggyu smiled at this small triumph and headed into the kitchen. After all of that working out, he needed food. And after all of the stress and anxiety, he needed a drink or two.

He’d opened up the can and took a swig before he closed the fridge door. And then he almost spat it all out, when he saw Woohyun’s stern face lurking behind the door. 

“Swimming lessons?!” Woohyun exclaimed and shoved the phone into Sunggyu’s face so that he could read the text conversation with none other than Lee Sungyeol. Sunggyu immediately spun back around and kept drinking. His nerves were getting out of hand, and shaking his hands too. 

Woohyun continued attacking his iron wall. “You’re getting swimming lessons from Sungyeol?!”

Sunngyu closed his eyes. Why did he feel like a husband who just got caught with a mistress in his arms? “What about it?” he tried to keep his voice steady. 

“You need to get over him,” Woohyun mimicked Sunggyu’s tone from minutes ago. And Sunggyu didn’t appreciate it one bit. He just glared back at him and continued drinking. But Woohyun didn’t relent. He held Sunggyu’s gaze, with his hands on his hips. 

The wall fell and Sunggyu gave in. He put down his drink. “Just...let me try, okay?” it was his turn to beg. “Let me try, and let me get rejected. That’s the only way I’ll get over it.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt, hyung,” Woohyun’s voice became soft. He put a hand on Sunggyu’s shoulder. “You’re torturing yourself by doing this. They love each other. It won’t happen. So run away like me.” Woohyun then slapped the shoulder when he was hit by a brilliant idea. “Better yet, run away with me! You’ve always wanted to go to Russia, hyung! Let’s leave all of this behind and start fresh there. Let’s fall in love with big, blond Russian men who’ll love us back.”

“I don’t like blonds, and you’re delusional,” Sunggyu retorted and slipped from Woohyun’s hold. “You know, your method isn’t perfect either. Running away. It’s putting stress on your little friend group.”

“I know,” Woohyun admitted under his breath. And Sunggyu believed it. Woohyun knew that he was running the risk of losing not only Myungsoo but Sungyeol too whenever he ran away. Sunggyu knew how much Woohyun really valued his friendship with Sungyeol. Letting Myungsoo go was one thing, but could he hold onto Sungyeol at the same time? Woohyun doubted it, judging by his tenuous smile and his reply, “But I’ll always have you, hyung.”

“You will,” Sunggyu affirmed with a heavy heart. They’d always have each other. It was more pathetic than comforting, especially with them right now eating and drinking their feelings.

Right now, staring at Woohyun, it didn’t feel pitiful. Sunggyu felt like he was staring at a ing mirror.

“Yah, Nam Woohyun,” Sunggyu called to him. Woohyun glanced up at him from the now empty chip bag, hopeful for some comfort. “Stop eating all of my food. Buy your own ing chips for once, will you?”

Woohyun never did buy his own food, but he had been spending all of his nights this week at Sunggyu’s place. He didn’t want to risk running into Myungsoo again. There’s no telling what he’d do the next time they met. Sure, he already confessed to Myungsoo, but there were still worse things that he could do, like try to sniff him again. What did Myungsoo eat to smell so nice, to look so pretty, and to be so kind? Ambrosia? Dew drops? Sungyeol’s love?

Nothing that Woohyun had been eating, that was for sure. He was becoming a bad person. It must’ve been the food at Sunggyu’s place. He was starting to become a cranky like Sunggyu was. 

His patience was short with his students today. Could it be his personality changing? Or could it be nerves? He was performing tonight, at an open mic night for some semi-famous cafe in Hongdae. Famous enough to draw in a decent crowd but not enough to pack the place. It was perfect for Woohyun, who preferred an intimate crowd over a large one. In a smaller crowd, he could better see the enchantment on people’s faces. 

His voice tended to have that effect on people (or so he liked to think). In fact, it enchanted someone right now.

“Woot! Woohyun-ah! Bravo!” a colleague cheered as he walked in on Woohyun practicing in the empty choir room

“Thank you,” Woohyun accepted with a proud grin. He set aside his guitar and crossed his arms over his chest, growing stern. “But since when were you my age, Lee Sungjong? Where’s the ‘hyung’? Hm?”

“Woohyun-hyung,” Sungjong began as if he’d been using polite speech the entire time. “What time should I come tonight?”

“7 pm. You know where the cafe is, right?”

“I do,” Sungjong replied. “It’s close to my house.”

“Then you have no excuse not to come,” Woohyun spoke curtly. He picked up the guitar again and began strumming. His finger slipped and hit the wrong note, but he tried to keep cool. “I need a friendly face in the crowd.”

“Don’t be nervous, hyung!” Sungjong cheered the other on, clapping him on the shoulder. “You’ll do great.”
The notes skidded to a halt. “Who said I was nervous?” Woohyun asked, with a frown. “Just show up, okay? If you don’t, you’re dead to me.”

“I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried!”

Woohyun was worried, and he had a good reason to be.

Why was he there? How was he there? Woohyun never told Kim Myungsoo about the open mic night, purposefully. Hell, he specifically told Sungyeol about the performance and told him NOT to come and take his (truly) lovely boyfriend out on a nice date instead. But there the world’s handsomest accountant was, standing right next to the world’s crankiest teacher. He was the most useless friend too. When Woohyun finally managed to catch Sunggyu’s gaze and silently asked ‘what the ,’ Sunggyu just shrugged and then left to get a drink. And then Kim Myungsoo entered his line of sight and waved enthusiastically at Woohyun while mouthing ‘good luck.’

Woohyun had no such thing. If he did, Myungsoo would not be here, and Woohyun wouldn’t be more nervous than he was when he first performed there. He nearly dropped his guitar when he was settling into his seat on the stool. “...sorry,” he muttered after he realized the mic in front of him picked up the swear. A few laughs broke out in the crowd, including Sunggyu’s...and Myungsoo’s.

Woohyun then shut his eyes tight, took in a deep breath, and opened them again, staring right at Lee Sungjong. The only bastard in this damned cafe that did as Woohyun said. A true friend.

Woohyun cleared his throat and began the performance: “This is a song I wrote after I...I wrote it. I mean, I wrote it when I...I wrote the melody and then put words to it. And the words! The words are about...” he stopped rambling and dropped his eyes to the floor. “ it, I wrote this song because I enjoy smelling people.” He raised his gaze, once the laughter broke out again, staring straight at one person in particular. “And you all do too. Don’t deny it.”

When the deep night comes

I stay up all night, thinking of you

Is it you who I long for

Or those times?

Now it’s just become a part of my day

Because I need time to forget

Because it’s hard to empty my heart

I keep telling myself you’ll come back

I can’t let go of that hope

Is it just me who is waiting alone?

I’m going back again, drunk with your scent

I’m looking back at the scent of you

Maybe you’re there

Maybe you’ll come back

So I can lean on you and rest

Is it too late to go back?

I’ve been cast aside by you

I believed you’d come back

If I stand here and wait

Whenever I smelled your scent

After his original song was finished to a round of applause, Woohyun sang a few more songs to lighten the mood that his original song had dampened. When he was done, there was nothing but smiles in the crowd. Even Sunggyu was in a good enough mood to give him a congratulatory hug (albeit limped and one-armed) without Woohyun asking for it. Woohyun didn’t ask for a hug from Myungsoo either, but he did, a good full hug with a squeeze and...did Myungsoo sniff him again?

No, that was Woohyun’s delusions running away with him. Myungsoo was just breathing like humans typically do. Just breathing.

Woohyun let go of a sigh and the hug. He addressed his friends, “I told you guys that you didn’t have to come.”

“You didn’t tell me about this at all,” Myungsoo grumbled, interrupting whatever curse-laden nonsense Sunggyu was about to say. “I had to hear about it from Sungyeol.”

Woohyun grew stiff. “Well, I knew you’d hear from him,” it was just barely a lie. Myungsoo shouldn’t have been here at all. If he’d heard everything from Sungyeol, then he’d be on a date with his boyfriend and not HERE.

“But why…” the three of them said in unison, followed by the most awkward silence Woohyun’s ever experienced in his life. Each of them was waiting for the other to start again, but no one did.

“WOOHYUN-HYUNG!” Sungjong broke that silence and saved them all. Sungjong said all of the necessary things and then immediately left. He was a busy man, apparently. 

A few other people came up to Woohyun afterwards, some that he recognized from his previous performances and some were his former students. Yes, this was what Woohyun’s now fragile ego needed: praise and admiration...love. Fan love was love too, and Woohyun was going to gobble it all up like the gluttonous man that he was.

“It seems like you have a lot of fans,” Myungsoo remarked after the fans left. Something about his tone felt odd.

“Well, yeah,” Woohyun was afraid to say anything more.

Silence again, for one second, two, three, four...“The song you wrote was really good. I liked it,” Myungsoo spoke up, now friendlier.

Woohyun perked up. “You did?”

“What inspired…”

“It was decent. I have some suggestions for you,” Sunggyu cut the other off, both with his words and physically. Sunggyu stepped in between them.

Woohyun eyed him curiously. “Like what?”

“Like why are all the songs you write so ing sad? What are you? Some recent divorcee? Who broke your heart?” it was meant to be a joke, but only Sunggyu found it funny. After noticing the frown on the others’ faces, Sunggyu dismissed the comment, “But we can talk more about that later. Let’s go celebrate your successful performance first.”

“Good idea. Let’s go, hyung,” Woohyun spoke as quickly as his feet tried to move out the door. Tried, but failed. Sunggyu had grabbed him by his collar and stopped him.

“Myungsoo-ssi, Woohyun wants to know if you could come with us? Isn’t that right, buddy? Right?” Sunggyu asked, while he turned his friend around and forced Woohyun to nod his head.

“I do have something later,”  it should’ve been expected that was Myungsoo’s reply. But Woohyun’s heart still sank until…”But I can join you for awhile. Where are we going?”

“Chicken?” Sunggyu suggested hopefully.

And Woohyun dashed his hopes down into the dirt. “Not chicken. Let’s go to my mom’s. It’s nearby.”

“Okay,” Myungsoo chirped. “Let me go get my coat. I’ll be back in a bit.”

When he was gone, Sunggyu nudged Woohyun roughly. “Yah, coward, are you really running away to your mom right now?”

“Shut up.”

Although Woohyun felt safer at his mother’s restaurant, he was still too afraid to speak, not knowing what lovesick he might spew out of his mouth. He just kept stuffing more and more food into his mouth until he turned from a mandu into a large steamed bun. 

Luckily, Sunggyu loved to talk anyone’s ear off, and he seemed to especially like talking to Myungsoo who would nod along enthusiastically (and not challenge him on everything like Woohyun did). And in those few minutes that Sunggyu wasn’t talking, it was Woohyun’s own mother who filled the dead air. She cooed over her son’s handsome friends. She remembered Myungsoo even though they’ve only met a few times before. “How could I forget such a handsome face?” That was the problem. Woohyun couldn’t forget it either, especially when it refused to leave his side. 

And so when Sunggyu left for the bathroom, Woohyun brought it up. “I thought I told you to stop being nice to me.”

Myungsoo didn’t look up from his food. “You did.”

“Then what are you doing here? Why did you come tonight?”

“Because I don’t want to!” Myungsoo raised his gaze and his voice. He then put down his spoon, clanking against the table, and crossed his arms.  “I don’t want to be mean to you. I want to do things like this because...I can not not do them. I can’t be mean to you.” He began mumbling again, “I can’t and I won’t.” A pause for far too long, before he quietly added, “I want to be there for you.”

Woohyun pursed his lips, processing all of this, before he reminded himself: “Because you pity me.”

“No! Because I care about you,” Myungsoo argued. “You’re my friend.”

“We haven’t even known each other for that long, you know?”

“Yeah, but does it matter?” Myungsoo’s voice was loud again. “Sometimes you just click with a person.” Woohyun didn’t reply quickly enough for him, so he prodded, “Right?”

He prodded and broke through Woohyun’s shabbily built defenses. Here came the lovesick pouring out, “That’s true. That’s why…” Woohyun managed to plug his mouth back up before he said ‘that’s why I fell for you in the first place.’ How could Woohyun not fall for him again and again? Myungsoo was handsome and kind and a very understanding and patient person. Even now, he was waiting for Woohyun to finish. Woohyun’s plug popped out again, “I…”

“Woohyun-ah!” Sunggyu plugged the er back up, shouting from the kitchen. “Yah! Nam Woohyun! Come here! Your mom wants you!”

“Coming!” Woohyun called out and jumped from the table. He sprinted into the kitchen and looked around. “Mommy, what is it?”

Sunggyu popped out from the corner. “It’s not your mommy. It’s me!”

Woohyun gasped. “You’re my mommy?”

“No, you little punk,” Sunggyu cursed as he wrapped an arm around Woohyun’s shoulders and brought him in close. He whispered into Woohyun’s ear, “I just saved you from an awkward situation.” Sunggyu then let him go and lightly punched him in the arm in a reprimand. “From the look on your face, you looked like you were milliseconds away from confessing.” 

Woohyun gasped again, seriously this time. “. Did I?”

Sunggyu grabbed the other’s chin. “You need to control this thing,” he warned, moving the other’s head around in circles forcefully.  “It gives yourself away too easily.” Sunggyu let him go and put his own hands into his pockets. “He’ll know how you feel one day if you keep it up.”

“Yeah...one day,” Woohyun’s voice drifted off as did his gaze from the other.

Sunggyu pat him roughly on the back. “Let’s go back to the table,” he suggested. As the two slowly shuffled back, Sunggyu added. “I can see why you always try to run away now,” 

“Yeah, it’s hurts to be with him,” Woohyun mumbled.

Sunggyu’s hand fell onto his back once again, but gently this time. “Hang in there, buddy. It’ll pass. You’ll find someone better,” even Kim Sunggyu knew when it was time to stop teasing and abusing Woohyun. The bastard was battered enough as it was. And now the bastard was stopped in his tracks by Sunggyu’s sudden, “Hm?”

“What?”

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes on their table, on the one lone guy at their table. “That kid keeps looking over here.”

“He is?” Woohyun thought he casually glanced over at their table, but there was nothing casual about it at all, not when he exaggeratingly rolled his head around and stared at Myungsoo’s frowning face for a moment too long. Then Myungsoo also did the ‘I’m not really looking’ thing and continued eating. It led Woohyun to conclude, “Probably just curious.”

“Maybe,” Sunggyu barely gave in because then he asked Myungsoo, “What is it?”

Myungsoo was startled. “Huh? What’s what?”

“You tell me. You look like there’s something you want to say to me,” Sunggyu combatted.

“Oh...I was just wondering if everything was okay. How’s your mom?” Myungsoo deflected the attention from himself and placed it on Woohyun.

But Sunggyu blocked it and answered, “She’s fine. Problem solved.” He then dragged himself and Woohyun back to the table and sat down

“That’s good,” Myungsoo blubbered. “How are the swimming lessons going?” he asked the oldest. He then told Woohyun, “Sungyeol is teaching him how to swim, did you know that?”

“I did,” Woohyun admitted and then turned towards Sunggyu, who was in the middle of drinking (and blushing). “It’s incredible. How can you be halfway to 60 and still can’t hold your breath for longer than 3 seconds underwater?” When Sunggyu raised an eyebrow in question, Woohyun revealed, “Sungyeol told me.”

“He didn’t tell me. Daeyeol told me when I tried to find Sungyeol the other day,” Myungsoo suddenly blurted out. He seemed upset, and no one knew what to do about it. Everything just got silent and incredibly awkward. Myungsoo grumbled again, “No one has been telling me anything.”

“Myungsoo-ssi, you should join us next time,” Sunggyu offered, hoping that it was the right thing to say.  

“Uh, okay?” and maybe it was because Myungsoo dropped it and continued eating.

Sunggyu then looked over to Woohyun and announced loudly, “Just Myungsoo, not you.” Woohyun was confused until Sunggyu leaned in and whispered into his ear, “For your own benefit. Last thing you need is to see him wet and half .”

Woohyun smiled through gritted teeth and hissed back, “Hyung, will you kindly off?”

“What are you two whispering about?”

“Nothing,” the two teachers spoke in unison.

This time Myungsoo didn’t drop it. He was fed up with being left out, “It’s never nothing.”

“Do you want to know?” Sunggyu asked, to which Myungsoo immediately nodded. So Sunggyu leaned over the table and began whispering to Myungsoo now, who collapsed backwards into a fit of giggles. 

“What’s going on? What are you telling him?” Woohyun demanded, when Sunggyu sat back down.

“Nothing!” the other two said in unison.

Woohyun huffed and was about to object, but then Lee Sungyeol burst into the restaurant, panting and looking around furiously. The guy must’ve run from wherever he was to here, and the three of them at the table froze, feeling like prey awaiting for their predator to pounce onto them.

And then he did. Lee Sungyeol pounced on them. Well, he mostly attacked Woohyun. “You said that I didn’t have to come! I have the proof right here! See!” he exclaimed as he shoved his phone with their text conversation into Woohyun’s face.  “See! See! I listened! I was a good friend! He’s the bad friend!” Sungyeol defended himself and shoved a finger into his boyfriend’s face, who just pushed it away and back towards Sungyeol. So Sungyeol spun towards Myungsoo and sat down next to him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going?” Sungyeol fell against Myungsoo and whined, “Ah, now I look like an !”

“Well, that wouldn’t be a lie,” Woohyun teased, but someone didn’t like it. “Ah, owie!”

Sunggyu began addressing Sungyeol, acting like he just hadn’t punched Woohyun hard in the thigh a second earlier,“Let me teach you the language of Nam Woohyun. When he says ‘you don’t have to come,’ just go.”

“Why can’t he just say that in the first place?” Sungyeol continued to whine.

“It’s a complicated language. The grammar and syntax are all over the place,” Sunggyu stated and waved his hands around. “It took me years to become fluent.”

“You’re so funny,” Woohyun spoke through a grimace.

Sunggyu looked proud. “I like to think so.”

“I think he’s funny,” Myungsoo happily interjected through his giggles.

That hurt. “Myungsoo, you’re not helping,” Woohyun mumbled, pouting, which seemed to only make Myungsoo laugh even more. It looked like he was having fun teasing Woohyun. In fact, Myungsoo appeared to be the happiest that he’s been all night. And Woohyun wanted nothing more than to make him happy, so he let himself be teased. And Sunggyu wanted nothing more than to keep Sungyeol happy, and so he teased Woohyun to death, bringing a smile to the red-head’s face.

Those two were ing fools.

Eventually, after an hour of using Nam Woohyun as their punching bag, the teasing died down (thank god!), and the seating switched. But not in the way that anyone predicted.

Sunggyu and Myungsoo were now sitting next to each other, having their own private conversations about finances and all of that mundane . Although the two got along surprisingly well, there was still an edge between them. Woohyun knew Sunggyu well enough to know that the bastard was sizing Myungsoo up. Every so often, he’d look Myungsoo up and down with narrowed eyes and then smile innocently as if everything was okay. But it wasn’t okay. Myungsoo seemed suspicious of the other too.

But Woohyun didn’t pay them that much attention. He was busy chatting with Sungyeol about the performance and Sungyeol’s hectic day at work. Soon their conversation drifted into dangerous waters. “I honestly can’t believe that you got Sunggyu to swim,” Woohyun remarked while clicking his tongue. 

“Why?” Sungyeol asked before taking a drink.

“He’s a coward,” Woohyun spoke with his cheeks full of food. At that Sungyeol laughed and smiled in acknowledgment. All you needed was 5 minutes with Sunggyu to learn that the man had many, many fears. It truly was a wonder how Sunggyu act with such arrogance but then immediately cower at a ‘spooky’ shadow. Woohyun swallowed his mouthful and then continued, “He’s got a very strong sense of self-preservation, and he’s not just afraid of water, but he’s deathly afraid of water. The only thing that he hates more than water is heights.”

Sungyeol choked on his drink “Heights? Really?” he sputtered while wiping his chin. Woohyun nodded. “Then why is he doing this?” Sungyeol’s voice and gaze drifted away.

“You must make him want to be brave.”

Sungyeol snapped his attention back to Woohyun. “Me?” he repeated.“Why me?”

Oh . Why did he just say that? Woohyun couldn’t help himself from confessing to Myungsoo, and now was he going to confess Sunggyu’s feelings for Sungyeol?

No, no. Woohyun could restrain himself for once. “I...can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Sungyeol inched closer, pressuring the other.

Woohyun grew smaller, both in size and in voice, “Because...I can’t.”

“Sungyeol-ah.”

“Huh, what?”

It was Myungsoo. He was standing up and pointing to his watch. “We got to go or else we’ll be late,” he announced.

“Right!” Sungyeol exclaimed and leapt up to join him. He turned to the two remaining at the table. “We’re going to try to actually catch a movie tonight. Wish us luck!” 

Luck? For what? It was a late night movie. Myungyeol were going to be in a dark theater, watching a movie, late at night. A couple in the dark, late at night. Woohyun glared at him. Oh, did Sungyeol meant what he thought he meant? If that was the case, no way was Woohyun going to wish them to ‘get lucky.’ 

Sungyeol caught the glare and laughed. “Don’t come with us this time, Woohyun!” he teased.

Woohyun groaned. “I don’t crash all of your dates!” He got up from the table and shouted at the couple leaving out the door. “You...you invite me!”

“Sit back down. You’re embarrassing me,” Sunggyu grumbled while forcibly pushing the other down. “This is your mother’s place. Don’t embarrass her either.”

“Oh, right,” Woohyun mumbled as he plopped back down.

Now it was just the two of them alone again, all alone, staring at each other’s pitiful faces. Desolate. Sighing out their pathetic souls.

Woohyun couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you want to do?” he asked, but he already knew what Sunggyu’s answer would be.

“Do you want to drink?”

“Yes!”

Those two were ing fools, and they didn’t even realize how foolish their asses truly were until later that night.

Woohyun and Sunggyu are already a mess. What will happen when they add booze to the mix? Will sparks fly between them or will Sunggyu's spit be the only thing flying?

And...what is this? Neither of them go home at the end of the night?! Then what the hell happened??????

Find out in the next episode!