"Anong gagawin kooo???" Chanhee purposely stretches the last syllable of his question, and then ends it with a pout. He is currently lying down on his bed upside down, with the balls of his feet against the headboard, just beside Changmin's head.

"Edi dalhin mo si Juyeon," replies Changmin, not looking up from his phone.

They've been having this very same exchange for the past 30 minutes, yet none of the two seems to notice. Changmin is too busy with whatever is on his phone (clue: Twitter AUs with Younghoon's texts on the side), and Chanhee is really just SO SO worried. Pinapadala kasi ng nanay niya sa bahay nila ang "boyfriend" nya raw. As if namang meron sya nun... Or wala nga ba?

Mag-ano nga ba kasi sila ni Juyeon? Surely, all those landian don't equate to nothing? Hay, bakit ba kasi hindi pa nilalagyan ni Juyeon ng label ang relasyon nila and why is Chanhee shying away from asking?

Chanhee frustratedly kicks the air before laying on his stomach and burying his head on the pig plushie that Haknyeon gave all of them in middle school. (Na tumama sa headboard ang paa nya kasisipa is a minor detail.)


"Sasama ba kayo mamaya?"

Changmin, who is smiling at his phone, answers before thinking. "Edi isama mo si Juyeon."

Chanhee throws the pig plushie at him, slightly annoyed. "Nakikinig ka ba? Nevermind. Bakit nga ba ikaw tinatanong ko, eh wala ka pa nga ring boyfriend."

"Ah ganun ba?" Changmin asks in a tone that translates to 'Is that a dare?' and puts the phone against his ear. "Hello, BABE?"

Chanhee can't hear exactly what Younghoon is saying but he hears a muffled voice from the other line. "Wala naman.. Kinukumusta ko lang ang BOYFRIEND ko. Sige na bye, love you."

Changmin his head to the side and raises his brow at his friend. "Sorry, ano nga ulit yon?"

"What the ?" Chanhee gets up to throw Changmin on the bed, and then proceeds to wrestle him. "HINDI MO SINABI SAMIN WALANGHIYA KA?!"

"Hindi naman kayo nagtanong eh--ARAY CHANHEE ANG BIGAT MO SORRY NA"

The phone ringing is what saved Changmin.

"SI HAKNYEON!!" Chanhee excitedly screams before diving onto the bed and picking his phone up. Haknyeon wants to facetime with him.

"HAK!!! HELLO!! ALAM MO BANG MAGBOYFRIEND NA SILA YOUNGHOON AT CHANGMIN!?"

"Uhh... hindi ba last month pa?"

Changmin butts in. "Right."

"You knew?! Wow hello Sunwoo, my FRIEND!"

"Shut up, Chanhee. Sa kanya ko nga nalaman eh."

Chanhee only rolls his eyes muttering, "Whatever. Bakit pala ang dungis niyong dalawa? Lalo na yang jowa mo?"

Haknyeon giggles. "Naglalaro sila ni Kkul. WELL, you know what they say about your pets liking your person..."

Changmin finishes Haknyeon's statement with, "They're the right one!"

While Chanhee tells him, "Pigs AREN'T pets, Haknyeon."

"Bitter ka lang kasi ayaw ng pet mo kay Juyeon!"

"Hak... wala akong pet..."

"MAY GOLDFISH KA KAYA!" Changmin and Haknyeon say in unison. Chanhee just facepalms.

"Anyways, tulungan nyo na lang ako my fellow gay friends. And by friends, I only mean Haknyeon."

"CHANHEE NAMAN!" Changmin whines.

Chanhee ignores him and proceeds to explain the situation to Haknyeon.

After listening, Haknyeon advises, "Edi dalhin mo si Juyeon."

"GRABE I HAVE USELESS FRIENDS." Chanhee blurts out.

"Sige na, Kkul's barking.. Bye bye!"

"PIGS DON'T EVEN--" Call ended. "Hayy. Why did I even bother?"

Not even a minute after, Haknyeon's calling again. "Oo nga pala, Happy Birthday Chanhee!!"

Chanhee hears another greeting in the background (from Sunwoo, of course.) "Sige na, Bye bye love you! Mwah!"

The "mini-gathering" (DAW) that his mom has organized is approaching and hindi pa rin naso-solve ang problema niya. All thanks to his unhelpful friends. Sino pa bang makakatulong sa kanya? Ah, right! Si Kev- nevermind.

ㅡ

The evening came, and the guests for Chanhee's birthday celebration arrived. By guests, it means his whole clan. Yes, his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins - everyone. His family has a habit of turning every birthday celebration into a reunion, which really stresses Chanhee out sometimes. Other than his relatives, Younghoon, Changmin, and Juyeon are also in the event. Most of his friends greeted him via social media and gave him his gifts in advance, because they all went home to their respective hometowns which were far from Chanhee's. Luckily, Younghoon is spending his break at his boyfriend's, and Juyeon lives quite near.

"Chanhee, anak," his grandmother from his father side calls. "Pakilala mo naman sa'min mga kaibigan mo."

"E'to po si Changmin, Younghoon at Juyeon. Classmates ko po sila," Chanhee introduces his friends while pointing to them respectively.

"Asa'n dito yung boyfriend mo na sinasabi ng mama mo? Siya ba," his grandfather says, pointing to Younghoon.

"Ay, hindi po," Younghoon politely denies. "Boyfriend po ako ni Changmin."

"Ah, edi siya yung boyfriend mo," Chanhee's aunt declares while pointing to Juyeon.

Before Chanhee could deny, his loud aunt (who didn't bother confirming the information) was already spreading the word around.

'Grabe, nakakahiya naman kay Juyeon,' Chanhee thinks, not noticing how Juyeon was actually smiling widely while his "boyfriend"'s family was asking him several questions about their said relationship.

ㅡ

The event came to an end, with Chanhee being weirdly quiet the whole night. Everyone left, except for his immediate family and his friends, who planned to stay for the night.

While Changmin and Younghoon go to Chanhee's room, Chanhee goes to their backyard (awow yamanin) with Juyeon following behind.

"Parang ang tahimik mo yata kanina," Juyeon comments. "Anong nangyari?"

"Sorry kanina ha," Chanhee replies, looking at the ground. "Pinagkalat agad ni tita na boyfriend kita. 'Di ko man lang nasabi na..."

"...hindi?"

That was the word Chanhee wanted to say, but at the same time, he didn't. Totoo namang hindi sila ni Juyeon, pero bakit siya nasaktan nung si Juyeon na mismo nagsabi.

Chanhee just nods, still looking at the ground.

Juyeon sighs and says, "Bakit, ayaw mo ba na maging boyfriend ako?"

Chanhee didn't know how to respond. He wanted to say, 'Syempre, gusto kitang maging boyfriend. Hindi mo ba alam na mahal na mahal kita?', but for some reason words fail to come out of his mouth.

"Uh.." If Juyeon could see how red the smaller boy's cheeks were, he chose not to comment and Chanhee was beyond grateful. "G-Gusto."

Confident gay Chanhee?!

He's meditating.

He's died... especially as he saw Juyeon taken aback before a huge grin spread across his face. Chanhee thinks, "Beautiful." And then he thinks he loves it. Juyeon's smile. He loves it and he'll be sure to be the cause of it.

Before Chanhee knew it, Juyeon pulled him into a tight hug, whispering, "Sobrang saya ko." And indeed, Chanhee could hear the happiness in the other's voice.

"Then kiss me, you coward."