Chapter 04

Green Apple

After an entire section of drinks and more details then Heung Soo might have asked for about Nam Soon’s and his friends personal life, he finally agreed to go to the karaoke just next to Hyun Woo’s apartment - only after putting on his cap and mask, and making sure they could book a private room. And yes, the amount of drinks they already had did help him accept to go to another place other than his apartment.

Hyung Woo and Won Geun were already singing even before they reached the karaoke room - or at least doing something that remotely reminded someone singing something. In Heung Soo’s perspective, it was more like screams and tuneless grunts. But well, they were probably too drunk to do anything better than that.

Nam Soon surprisingly hadn't lost his composure - which basically meant that he wasn't being extra flirty, although this probably had more to do with the fact that there was no one that he could flirt with, other than the fact that he was somewhere near a sober state. He had revealed too much about his life for a sober person, Heung Soo was sure of that.

“CALL ME A THIIIIEF” Won Geun had just turned the music on, and was being too loud. “THERE'S BEEN A ROBBERYYY”

Extremely loud. It almost made him cringe.

“Oh, so embarrassing,” Nam Soon shook his head, judging them. It almost seemed like he wasn't drunk at all, hadn't him just dropped his entire bottle of beer over his shirt. Too much for someone who had just judged his friends.

“Oh wow,” Heung Soo rolled his eyes, quickly standing from his seat to avoid the beer bath that Nam Soon just caused.

“YAAAH, Nam Soon!! The whole bottle, really??” Nam Hyuk exclaimed, grabbing the empty bottle off the floor as if it were a precious being he had just lost - this was drunk Nam Hyuk, extremely worried about his - and others alcohol.

“, I'm smelling now,” Nam Soon quickly took off his jacket and opened the buttons of his shirt. A shirt that was completely ruined if he had any right complain.

He wiped his hands on his pants and looked up, just in time for his eyes to meet Heung Soo’s - who he was most certain had been staring at him this whole time. Or was it his imagination, since he was heading for the karaoke machine as if nothing had happened?

Nam Soon smirked, deciding to leave his shirt open - not that he had many problems with it, which he clearly hadn't. But yes, this might as well be an extra incentive.

“Another day has passed, as if nothing happened. I try comforting myself by saying it’s alright,” and Heung Soo had started singing. As if they needed any more reasons to praise him.”But I’m not alright.”

“No, wait, he’s the best soccer player, he can sing...” Nam Hyuk started pointing out the obvious.

“And he’s handsome.” Hyung Woo completed the sentence, getting himself another drink as he sat beside Nam Soon, not minding the fact that his just touched a wet spot where Nam Soon had dropped his beer - he was probably too drunk for that. “Too bad he's straight.”

Nam Soon looked up, his eyes facing Heung Soo, singing considerably well. A mischievous smirk showed up on his lips, as he kept drinking the new bottle of beer he had just opened.

And suddenly his phone started to vibrate inside his pockets. Nam Soon picked it up. Maybe it was just one of the guys he gave his phone to? Considering the time, it was very likely.

Yoon Kyung Sang.

Hey,wanna hang out? And that emoticon with a smirk.

Nam Soon was glad he had a profile picture, or else he would never have remembered that he was the guy from the day before. He stared at his picture, thinking about it.

“He's hot,” Hyung Woo was not even a bit discreet, staring straight at his cellphone with no shame. “Let me see,” he took the device out of his hands, but Nam Soon quickly took it back.

“Excuse me,” he held the phone far away from his hands.

“Wow, call him over,” Hyun Woo tried looking over to the screen one more time to sneak a peek of his photo. “Holly , he is hot.”

“Yeah,” Nam Soon put his phone down, making a that's so obvious face. “I do like to think that I have a good taste.”

“Yes, when you're not drunk,” he shrugged. Nam Soon push him by his shoulder, but showed a large smile on his face. “Ok, if you don't want to call him over for you, do it for me.”

Nam Soon shoved him again, grabbing his phone with both hands.

“Shut up,” he started typing, seeming convinced, “I'll invite him.”

Took him about thirty minutes to arrive. By that time Heung Soo had already stopped singing and Won Geun had taken over the karaoke for the past fifteen minutes, singing some songs from his favorite kpop group.

Or at least he thought that the sounds he was making were supposed to be him singing.

Kyung Sang was wearing a gray long-sleeved jacket and a black scarf. Definitely handsome.

“So...” He mumbled, noticing that the room was probably more crowded than he’d expected. But then his eyes settled on Nam Soon’s open shirt, followed by a mischievous smile on his lips. “What happened?”

Nam Soon bit his lower lip.

“Feeling hot,” he shrugged.

Won Geun suddenly hit a very high pitch note. Horrible. Nam Soon rolled his eyes and sat back over the couch.

“So, these are my friends,” he noticed their attentions were on the new person who joined the room. Hyun Woo almost dropped his glass, but he was quicker than Nam Soon. “They are quite drunk.”

“Hah. As if you weren’t.” Heung Soo was sitting in the corner, probably drinking his third bottle of beer ever since they arrived.

Nam Soon ran his hands through his hair with a clear smile on his lips. “I feel great though,” and he put his arms around the new guy’s shoulders, although his attention was directed to Heung Soo.

“Are you... ?” Kyung Sang seemed curious, checking Heung Soo up and down.

“Yes it's him, but don't get your hopes up, he's straight,” Hyun Woo was currently running through the music list. Nam Soon hoped he took a long time to decide before he started singing again.

“Well, luckily, I'm not.” Nam Soon pulled him closer, getting his lips after sending a meaningful glance at Heung Soo, who just rolled his eyes, shifting his attention to Hyung Woo - who had just started to sing an horrible version of My My My, by Troye Sivan.

Heung Soo had already lost count of how many bottles of beer he had drunk. Actually the fact that everything started to get a bit too blurry was a sign that he should stop drinking for now. Obviously everyone else were already too wasted, since no one else other than Heung Soo seemed to notice that Nam Soon and the new guy were too much into the making out for a shared space. Or perhaps his other friends were already to used to it to care.

He placed his empty bottle over the table - and Nam Hyuk grabbed it almost immediately to check if it was indeed empty - let's not waste a drop, he said.

Nam Soon had been whispering something that Heung Soo couldn’t hear - and frankly, he was glad that he couldn’t. And then there were the laughs - with a naughty and mischievous tone. Heung Soo rolled his eyes, staring at them.

And they were back into the kisses. And touching, and odd movements that he really didn't want to see.

That was when he actually heard Nam Soon starting to moan. It was suppressed, not extremely loud, but even so...

That was too much.

“Time to go,” Heung Soo suddenly stood up, startling Nam Hyuk who was almost sleeping by his side, and Won Geun that was searching for a song to sing for the past thirty minutes or so.

Hyung Woo had been texting on his phone for the last twenty minutes, and both Nam Soon and the new guy obviously didn't even hear him.

“Common,” he bruscally threw Nam Soon’s jacket - that had been forgotten at the couch ever since Nam Soon’s beer shower - in their faces, forcing Kyung Sang to finally pull away, as if they had been literally glued to each other during the past hour.

Nam Soon ran his hands through his hair, staring at Heung Soo with that smile still on his face. Maybe Heung Soo should have used water instead?

“Wow Heung Soo, if you wanted to join you could have just asked,” he blinked “There's always room for one more.”.

He definitely should have used the water bottle. Or even beer.

“Yes, I’ll remember that,” he checked his pockets for his wallet and cellphone, and turned to him again, “I’m leaving. Are you staying or...?”

Nam Soon nooded, standing up as if Kyung Sang was never there.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Actually I was thinking about...” Kyung Sang touched his shoulder, be he - perhaps unintentionally - dodged, checking his wristwatch.

“I have classes tomorrow, so...” he shrugged, “We can finish it another day.”

The first thing Nam Soon did when they arrived was to throw his shirt in the laundry basket.

“My God, I just couldn't stand that anymore. The smell of old beer is just...”

“I'm surprised you still had it on, actually.” Heung Soo interrupted, slightly shaking his head in disapproval, “The way things were going I figured you and that guy would end up without pants anytime soon.”

Nam Soon put his hands in his pockets, a smirk appearing on his face, “Yah... Did I get a jealous vibe here? Did you like my kiss that much?”

“Hah,” Heung Soo sat down at the table, unable to hold back the laughter, probably because of the high amount of alcohol he drank, “You wish.”.

Nam Soon opened the button of his pants, that mischievous smile getting wider on his face.

“Well, last chance...” he teased, heading to the bathroom, “I'm taking a shower, if you want to join, that's your chance.”

“Oh wow, off,” Heung Soo threw a dishcloth at him between his laughs, but it missed him by far.

Heung Soo was in front of the table typing something on his phone when Nam Soon came out of the bathroom, wearing only the same jeans he had went out with.

“Who are you texting to?” he asked, approaching him and dropping the towel over the chair.

“Eun,” Heung Soo answered, still typing, without taking his eyes from his phone.

“You do know It’s past three in the morning right?” Nam Soon sat down beside him, and Heung Soo looked up, suddenly stopping to type.

“,” he looked down and back up again, “She’ll know I'm drunk.”

“What did you send her?” Nam asked, grabbing the phone out of his hands and starting to type in something after reading the few messages that Heung Soo had already sent her.

“What are you doing?” Heung Soo leaned forward, bending over as he tried to look at the screen, “you’re not sending her any jokes, are you?”

Nam Soon rolled his eyes, finishing typing and showed it to Heung Soo.

“I'm sorry, didn't see the time.. It's just that I can't sleep, because I’ve keep thinking about you... “

“That doesn't sounds like me,”

“Exactly.” Nam Soon smiled, “Trust me.” He blinked, handing back his phone. Heung Soo reached it out, and a drop of water fell over his hands. He looked up: Nam Soon’s hair was all wet, and a few drops of water kept dripping, running down his skin. He was shirtless, and the path from his neck to the top of his chest were completely wet.

He just left his phone over the table, and Nam Soon felt his eyes on him. He looked up.

“Nam Soon...” Heung Soo whispered, staring at somewhere near his collarbone. “You have some bruises,” he said, touching a spot on his neck. Nam Soon shuddered, and his hands reached over Heung Soo’s, that quickly pulled them away.

Nam Soon picked up Heung Soo's cell phone again, turning on the camera.

“Are you kidding me?” He placed the phone down and rushed to the bathroom. “That ing guy. Is he fifteen years old !? Who does this?? ”

But Heung Soo wasn't paying attention to his complains, and headed toward the balcony. Nam Soon stared at him through the door and smiled.

“Thought you didn't smoke anymore,” he commented, approaching behind him and noticing that he had just lit a cigarette, bending on the balcony gates and staring at the city outside.

They had a pretty large and nice balcony with a very good view of a beautiful region of Seoul.

“I don't,” he stared back at Nam Soon with a smile on his lips. “It’s only when I'm drunk.”

Nam Soon raised his eyebrows, and smirked. “I can see that,” he ran his hands through his hair, and took the cigarette between Heung Soo’s fingers, taking a drag before handing it back in. “That's bad for your health,” he said.

“Guess I should stop drinking then, ” he took a puff on it, still staring into Nam Soon’s eyes.

Suddenly, Nam Soon began to miss that green apple taste. He bit his lips, getting his cigarette again for another drag.

“You probably should.”