Hyukjae received the news for his sister's upcoming wedding to his best friend on the same day he beat his highest score on Tetris. They sat across from him on a velvet purple loveseat, a hand-me-down from the old lady upstairs who liked to bring him peanut brittle, even though he was allergic. It was easily his best piece of furniture. Joined at the shoulder, his sister and her fiancé (his former best friend) had their hands clasped together so tight that their knuckles had gone white. They stared at him with measured eyes, weighing his upcoming reaction to news he already knew. And while it was true that they were smiling, smiles that looked genuine enough for public viewing, he wasn't sure if they'd pass closer inspection.

Hyukjae always perceived himself as a relatively patient and even tempered individual, so he could never understand why people treated him as though he would attack if not approached from an angle.  He wasn't a wild animal or some crazed lunatic who ate his toenails or thought aliens were already among us and demanded that people call him Jesus every third Sunday. He was an upstanding citizen who paid his taxes and abided by laws and did other similar citizenry things. He had a job. It was at a pizzeria (the only one in town) that let him have as much pizza as he wanted, and if he wasn't lactose intolerant, he would. It wasn't his dream job, but that was alright because if he worked at a Ramen shop he'd probably just get fat.  He had a future too. He was a grad student, currently working on the thesis to end all theses. He was still relatively young, if you didn't count his birthdays, and in the prime of his life. He rarely engaged in heated debates anymore and the last person he put in the hospital was purely by accident, because these types of things happened and there was very little that anyone could do about it.

"We're getting married," his sister informed him, as if he didn't already gather that much from the numerous Instagram posts of engagement rings with "We're Getting Married" spelled out in wacky, bedazzled party fonts. Granted, the posts were less than a few hours old and they at least had the courtesy of telling Hyukjae face to face, but honestly...

It's not like it came as a surprise.

"Yeah, I know," he said, because what else should he have said?

"I believe the phrase you're looking for is congratulations, ," Kyuhyun corrected.

"Fine, congratulations ," Hyukjae repeated, because what else should he have done?

Their smiles cracked and a collective sigh was heard. Kyuhyun gave him a look that said 'I know you're being an and I'll allow it for now but if it continues, there will be consequences.'

Hyukjae pretended not to see that look.

"Look, are we going to have a problem here or—" Kyuhyun began before being interrupted. 

"No, I'm sorry. Bad joke. Congratulations," Hyukjae amended with the most sincere, forced smile he could muster before the situation escalated any further. Hyukjae could be an , but he was a smartass if anything and he knew when to cut his losses. It wasn't like he hated his sister or that he hated his (former) best friend for going to the dark side and abandoning him for her. He just didn't like feeling like he was left behind, which was exactly how he felt. Everyone was getting married and doing adult stuff and he was still figuring out a working title for his thesis—he didn't like to rush things but he felt closer and closer to cementing something every month that passed.

So....he had that going for him.  

His sister's shoulders visibly relaxed and he couldn't help but feel like an outright for giving them such a hard time. The two had been dating for close to two years now. Hyukjae liked to hold grudges, would have majored in them in college if he could, but even he had to admit defeat. This was definitely a beat them or join them type scenario, and he wasn't too keen on making enemies of people who knew he had an innate fear of clay animation or that he wet his bed until he was ten.

"So, now that that's squared away, Mom and Dad, mostly Mom, wanted me to ask you if you were bringing anyone to the engagement party they're throwing this Saturday?" his sister asked.

Hyukjae blinked, and then blinked again. "What? No one told me about any engagement party."

"She just did, you idiot," Kyuhyun bit back and Hyukjae had to admit, it was warranted. "Try and keep up, will you? And don't act like you already have plans. We know you don't."

His sister rolled her eyes. "I knew you wouldn't want to be bothered with this stuff, so I went ahead and told her you'd be going solo.  It's just family and close friends so no need to dress up too much, just wear clean clothes and try not to be late. It starts at 6pm."

Hyukjae felt an overwhelming urge to scream, possibly while running through the streets, . He didn't like going to his parents' house, especially as second fiddle to his sister (his overachieving-at-life sister). He'd be damned if he was going to face the barrage of engagement party themed questions, alone. "Who are you dating? Are you dating anyone now? How about now? Still single, are we? When are you going to settle down and give us grandchildren, Hyukjae? What happened to that nice girl you dated in high school? Are you still gay? You know, I have a nephew who is gay..." Alright, so the last one wasn't a question but it was still something he didn't want to face. There was no way he was going to his sister's engagement party alone.

"I'm dating someone. I wasn't ready to bring them by to meet the parents yet, but I guess now is as good a time as any." Hyukjae didn't remember blacking out, but when he came to, the words were already out of his mouth.

Kyuhyun looked at him with a healthy dose of skepticism.

"Hyukjae, that's wonderful," his sister said with a clap and a bright, trusting smile on her face.  She pulled out her phone. "Why is there never any reception here? It's like your apartment is the black hole of reception." 

Hyukjae felt a little bad about lying but reminded himself that this lie was for the betterment of mankind, or more importantly, himkind.

"What's his name?" Kyuhyun asked, lip curled in mockery, and of course only he would think of such a sneaky, twisted, underhanded question. The man was pure evil.

"Donghae," Hyukjae responded. The rolling blackouts were a real problem that night, but it couldn't be helped.

Donghae was real, but he wasn't Hyukjae's boyfriend. He wasn't even a boy that was a friend. They hardly knew each other, really. Donghae was his long time crush and coworker at the pizzeria, the same coworker who called him Eunhyuk, all because Hyukjae couldn't find his own name badge the day that Donghae started working there. Instead, Hyukjae used the badge of a recently fired employee because he didn't want to be written up again. Not that he minded. Donghae could call him for Brains and he'd still answer to it. Hyukjae was that invested.

"What a lovely name!" she cooed. "It sounds handsome. I'm going to call Mom and let her know the good news. Be right back."

Hyukjae and Kyuhyun both watched her as she stepped out onto the balcony and slid the glass door shut behind her, oblivious to the change in atmosphere, the drop in temperature and all-around harbingers of doom. Once the coast was clear, Kyuhyun wasted little time.

"Donghae, the guy you've had a crush on since crushes were invented, that Donghae?" Kyuhyun asked, falling back into best friend mode but Hyukjae allowed it, even if it was clear to Hyukjae that the man thought he was up to something and never mind that he was.

"Yes, that Donghae, and don't you have something better to do than quiz me on which Donghae I'm bringing to the engagement dinner? I'm sure there's a sister out there somewhere that you haven't stolen yet." Kyuhyun needed to mind his own business. So Donghae wasn't his boyfriend and still didn't know Hyukjae's real name, so what? 

Kyuhyun used his special squinting power to peer deeply into Hyukjae's soul. "You're lying," he said. "You've been pining for this guy for almost a year now. I'll be a monkey's uncle if you're actually dating him without so much of a word or a previous mention of it. It's just not possible."

Hyukjae conceded, but only to a point. "Alright, so we're not so much dating as—"

"As he has no idea that you actually have dream babies with him? What have you gotten yourself into? It's not too late. I know how you are, you stubborn goat, but just go solo. Give it a day and then say that Donghae can't make it due to a family emergency. When people ask about him be vague, and then at the next social gathering say that you broke up with him. People break up all of the time. No one will be the wiser. It's the only way to handle this, really."

Hyukjae was impressed and a little scared by the detail of Kyuhyun's proposal, but he warily declined.

"I'm going to that engagement party with Donghae because we're actually together, as a couple and well past that petty dating thing. I haven't told you about it because you've been busy fondling my sister." He really needed to see a doctor at this point because there was definitely a problem with his brain's mouth.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and was none too shy about it. "Please stop lying and please stop acting as though you hate me. There is no reason why you and your sister can't share the love. I'm a loveable guy."

Hyukjae might have agreed if it weren't for two things: Kyuhyun said this while rubbing his chest in some sort of greasy, physical representation of this so-called love; secondly, the statement itself was just creepy and gross.

"I'm not lying," Hyukjae lied. "It was your own fault, you know. Had you been around more and with my sister less, Donghae would still be just a musing, a happy little thought left only to the limits of my imagination.  With you out of the picture, I've been a much happier and productive member of society. It turns out there is an entire world outside that of video games, and Donghae is part of it."

"I don't know why you're not backing down, no, actually I do know why, because you're a stubborn . I just hope all of this doesn't come back around to bite you there," Kyuhyun warned, just before Hyukjae's sister stepped back into the room and handed him her phone.

"Here, Mom wants to talk to you. She wants to hear all about him."

Hyukjae gathered up his courage, ready to lie his off, but not before he cursed his brain and all the decisions it let him make in life. "Hi, Mom..."

____________________

If he focused too much on reality, the task at hand was utterly, ridiculously, impossible. He needed to keep it simple, baby steps, so to speak. In theory, all Hyukjae had to do was ask Donghae out, explain the situation to him and get off scot-free. It wasn't like this was a grand scheme of epic proportions. This wasn't a bank heist or some corporate extraction. This was just an engagement dinner with close family and friends. He should be able to pull this off without a hitch.

Donghae's shift was over in a few minutes, not that Hyukjae was keeping tabs, but he was. It was Friday, the engagement dinner was tomorrow and Hyukjae's window of opportunity would be closing soon. He had less than 24hrs to pull this off. He didn't think it was too much to assume that an amiable, good looking guy like Donghae would be plan free on a Saturday night. Hyukjae liked to think that life wasn't like television and everyone didn't go out every weekend to have fun or whatever. Maybe Donghae liked to stay at home and curl up with a book, knit or watch movies or—Hyukjae was so screwed. There was no way he was getting out of this situation without a phenomenal blow up in his less than phenomenal face.

Donghae had a phenomenal face though, Hyukjae noted as he stared at its perfection through the pizzeria's glass windows from across the street. Donghae had a phenomenal smile too, greeting customers like the perfect employee he was. Even the way he dropped a pepperoni pizza on the floor was perfect and he did this twice, each time better than the other. Hyukjae might have been bia