Chapter 5: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

 

Rolling round in Taekwoon’s bed out of pure boredom, Hakyeon whined in irritation. After the whole “Hyuk’s Accidental Groping” incident, the two had basically been grounded from one another. As long as Hyuk wasn’t at work, Taekwoon was basically keeping the two apart, Hongbin rabidly agreeing to the ridiculous actions. Honestly, Taekwoon was basically just keeping him locked up in general. He felt like he hadn’t spoken to anyone but the grumpy man in three years, though it was most likely only three days. Hakyeon was losing his mind.

 

Hearing a laugh from the living room, Hakyeon’s resolve to be a good boy and follow Taekwoon’s stupid rules crumbled away. Pouting, he rolled off of the bed stormed out of the bedroom. With a heavy sigh, he flopped down across the laps of his friends, all sitting on the couch, head landing in Wonshik’s lap.

 

“I’m bored~ Someone play with me~” Whining, Hakyeon looked up at the man his hair. Wonshik smiled down at him and chuckled, the sound vibrating against the side of Hakyeon’s ear.

 

“Taekwoon has really been locking you up like a Disney princess, hasn’t he?” Wonshik rubbed Hakyeon’s cheek, causing his pout to only increase.

 

“I am~ Make him stop~” As he complained loudly, Hakyeon felt hands rubbing his legs and glanced down to see Hyuk playing with his shins. The two shared a quick look before Jaehwan screeched between Wonshik and Hyuk and shoved Hakyeon to the floor.

 

“What the , Jae?!” Hyuk shouted as Wonshik scrambled off the couch to help Hakyeon up. His tail bone ached from the impact with the floor and he turned to look at Jaehwan as he slowly sat up.

 

“Dude, why?” Groaning, he cuddled into Wonshik’s arms, shooting a betrayed look at his friend. “Why must you reject me like this?”

 

“I was totally happy with your booty on my man doodle but then I remembered that I had a sandwich in my pocket and now it’s been squished…” Blushing, Jaehwan stood up and pulled the smushed object out of his jeans. “Damn it. I can’t believe I forgot to eat that…”

 

“How long has that even been in your pants?” Hyuk was giving Jaehwan and his fairly gray colored sandwich a genuine look of disgust.

 

“I don’t know… Three days?” Shrugging, Jaehwan began to the bag and the unmistakable though subtle scent of mold permeated the room.

 

“What the… Dude that’s nasty.” Coughing, Wonshik covered his own mouth and Hakyeon’s with the sleeves of his sweater so they wouldn’t have to breathe in the spores. Hakyeon leaned against the other man’s chest, relieved that the pleasant scent of his cologne and hand sanitizer blocked out the smell of the far too expired sandwich.

 

“Jaehwan, go throw it away…” Hyuk gagged, taking a few steps away from their friend who held the nasty excuse for food as though he hadn’t noticed a single thing wrong with it.

 

“No. It’s still good!” Stomping his foot in protest, Jaehwan finished pulling the sandwich out, the contents between the bread being entirely unidentifiable to Hakyeon at this point. A thought struck him and he pulled away from Wonshik, grinning

 

“I’ll buy you those headphones you wanted if you eat that whole thing right now…” Crossing his arms, he nodded at the food in Jaehwan’s hands, the pain in his tailbone long forgotten by the excitement of getting his friend to do something incredibly stupid.

 

“I was going to eat it anyway…” After a long pause, Jaehwan shrugged and nodded in agreement. “So it’s a deal.” He took a large bite and chewed, showing no reaction to how rancid it had to taste. Hakyeon couldn’t help but wonder if the other man lacked both the sense of smell and taste. He couldn’t help but gag and it wasn’t even in his mouth.

 

“Wonshikkie please get my phone from Taekwoon’s bedroom so that I may order his prize.” He wanted to escape what was happening but he couldn’t seem to look away. Kind of like when you witness a plane crash or you’re at the circus with your family and two elephants decide to make a baby elephant instead of preform. What was happening was that kind of unstoppable horror.

 

“Anything you want, pretty boy.” Wonshik patted his on the way out of the room, showing clear symptoms of someone about to vomit.

 

“You’re going to give him food poisoning.” Hyuk chuckled, the most amused one of the bunch. His eyes sparkled alluringly as he watched Jaehwan take yet another large bite, chewing on a particularly dry piece of whatever the sandwich was made of.

 

“But I’ll also be giving him new headphones so he wins.” Hakyeon laughed and shook his head, moving to stand beside Hyuk so they could view Jaehwan’s spiral into death together. “Besides. He was going to eat it anyway.”

 

“Fair… How’s it taste?” Hyuk nodded at the sandwich, raising his eyebrows in a way that told Hakyeon he wasn’t sure how anyone could actually stomach that.

 

“It takes great. Thanks.” Grinning, Jaehwan gave them a confident thumbs up. “Nothing wrong with-Uh oh…” His eyes widened and the sandwich fell from his hands.

 

“What? What is it?” Concerned, Hakyeon began to look him over, wondering if something had happened that they weren’t aware of. There wasn’t glass in that sandwich or something, was there? Knowing Jaehwan’s track record with cooking, it wouldn’t be a total shock.

 

“Bathroom.” Bolting to the toilet, the door slammed behind their friend, his face gaining a slight green tint before he disappeared from view.

 

“Oh no. Which end?” Following after him, Hakyeon leaned against the wall, trying to hear to make sure he didn’t need to call for help. A splashing noise echoed from the bathroom.

 

“I think it’s both.” Hyuk shook his head, still pretty amused by the whole ordeal, clearly not at all worried about Jaehwan’s health. Another wet splash was followed by the noise of something splattering on tile.

 

“I think you’re right…” Groaning, Hakyeon covered his face with his hands. If he wasn’t allowed to hang out with everyone already before he was doomed now. “Hongbin and Taekwoon are going to kill me for this..”

 

“Not if I can help it.” Hyuk’s hand pressed against the wall by Hakyeon’s head and the other man leaned in close, their lips less than an inch apart. His breathe smelled like a weird combination of mint and cinnamon. Hakyeon liked it.

 

“Hyuk…” Confused as to why they were suddenly so close, it was like the world around them went silent. He couldn’t even hear Jaehwan exploding from both ends through the wall anymore. His heart was racing and his skin felt weird and tingly.

 

“Excuse me?” Before Hakyeon could figure out what was happening, Hongbin’s voice caused them to jump apart as the front door slapped shut.

 

“Don’t touch him!” The usually quiet Taekwoon bellowed and threw a punch, knocking Hyuk to the side a few steps with how hard it collided with his jaw.

 

“We weren’t doing anything!” Hakyeon shouted back, alarmed at the sudden violence. He rushed back to Hyuk, looking the red mark over. “You might need ice or it’ll bruise…”

 

“Damn it. Your phone is apparently great at hiding. It took forever to find it.” Sighing in exasperation, Wonshik came out of Taekwoon’s room with the phone in his hand, oblivious to the drama he missed. “Did I miss him eating it?”

 

“SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE! I THINK I’M DYING!” Jaehwan shrieked from the bathroom and Hyuk had to stifle a giggle at the outburst.

 

“Get over it. You were the one who decided to eat it.” He taunted playfully, shaking his head. “If it lasts more than a few hours we’ll call someone.”

 

“Yeah. You missed it.” Hakyeon looked Hyuk’s jaw over again and sighed. “You missed a lot of stuff, bug guy.”

 

“Why are they so mad?” Looking over the fuming Taekwoon and Hongbin, Wonshik rolled his eyes, assuming it was something stupid. Hakyeon wasn’t so sure it was.

 

“Hyuk and I were left alone unsupervised.” Shrugging as though he didn’t think anything worth being angry over had happened, Hakyeon reached out for his phone to start to order Jaehwan’s prize.

 

“They’re being stupid.” Hyuk laughed, putting an arm over Hakyeon’s shoulders. “It’s not even like we’re attracted to each other.” For some reason, his words sent a pang of sadness through Hakyeon.

 

“We’re not? I mean…” Clearing his throat, Hakyeon crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. “Of course we’re not.”

 

“OH GOD IT’S EVERYWHERE! WHY DID YOU LET ME DO THAT!?” Another loud outburst came from the bathroom, making Hakyeon feel sick at the visual accompanying it.

 

“Do what? What’s everywhere?” Terror crossed Taekwoon’s face as he realized what Jaehwan had shouted. “What is he doing to my bathroom?”

 

“You… Don’t want to know…” Hakyeon admitted, blushing slightly as he avoided admitting that he had caused all the trauma to both the bathroom and his friend’s bowels.

 

“WE’RE GOING TO NEED A LOT OF TOWELS IN HERE!” Another screech echoed in the bathroom, making Hakyeon feel a little guilty and worried about his friend’s health.

“We might need to remodel the bathroom.” Hyuk chuckled, his arm still over Hakyeon’s shoulder, making Hongbin only angrier. Taekwoon seemed to realize their affections were still continuing and chose to ignore their friend dying in the bathroom to take action.

 

“Both of you go to your rooms.” Growling, he took an ominous step toward them, Hongbin seeing it as his signal to advance on them as well.

 

“Nah.We’ll both go to my room.” Smiling innocently, Hyuk’s hand trailed down Hakyeon’s arm to grip his wrist, sending a shiver through his whole body. “I pay rent here too. I’m not your child.”

 

“Oooo. Slumber party?” Pretending like he wasn’t on the verge of some kind of panic attack, Hakyeon decided to push whatever he had been feeling aside and spend time with his friend.

 

“I’m coming too.” Hongbin barked, trying to pull Hyuk’s hand off of Hakyeon’s wrist.

 

“Nah. You’re in trouble for being so mean to Hakyeon and Jaehwan lately.” Swatting his hand away, Hyuk pulled Hakyeon closer to his side. “You sleep with Taekwoon.”

 

“.…. I’ll sleep on the floor.” Taekwoon mumbled, giving up much easier than Hakyeon had figured he would have. It almost made him nervous, sure the man was plotting some form of revenge on them.

 

“I don’t want to sleep with you either!” Hongbin yelled, storming over to the couch in absolute rage.

 

“Ridiculous~ You’ll love it~ Goodnight~” Hakyeon blew them all a kiss and patted the bathroom door. “Take care in there, Jae.”

 

“I CAN’T FEEL MY LEGS!” Came his shrill reply from Jaehwan in the bathroom.

 

“You’re doing great. Have fun in there.” Hyuk chuckled quietly before tugging Hakyeon into his bedroom without any further warning.

 

“Think he’s going to die?” Hakyeon questioned, trying to convince himself that nothing was going to get weird between them again.

 

“Yes.” Hyuk laughed and leaned against the bedroom door. Hakyeon wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating or not but he thought for sure that the other man was slowly looking him over with a smirk on his face.

”Think we’re going to die?” Questioning shyly, he adverted his eyes from Hyuk, biting his lip nervously. The racing in his heart was back.

 

“Also yes. I’m locking the door.” The distinct click of a lock made him flinch slightly and Hakyeon sank down to sit on the edge of the bed, flustered.

 

“Good plan.” Taking a deep breath, he looked at Hyuk and smiled brightly, his heart skipping a beat as he realized they were again only inches apart. As the sound of Jaehwan vomiting in the sink and Taekwoon and Wonshik arguing in the living room filled the apartment, their lips met. What in the world was even happening anymore?! Did he care? He should care, right? Hongbin was a giant but nobody deserved to be cheated on. And both Hyuk and himself were better people than this. Thinking quickly, he turned to pick up the nearest object to him.

 

“What’s this?” He questioned, putting it between their faces when Hyuk finally pulled away so they could catch their breath.

 

“... Um… Hakyeon, honey… That’s your phone…” Laughing, Hyuk sat beside him on the bed and shook his head. “You cute weirdo.”

 

“Oh. Haha. Right. My bad.” Blushing, he sat his phone back on the bed and looked around. “Ooo. Lets watch an anime together!” Sighing in relief when Hyuk the TV, Hakyeon vowed to not let that happen ever again. At least not while Hyuk was still dating someone.