Younghyun scowls as soon as he sees the familiar figure. He ignores the pump of his heart at hearing the laugh that he knows he will always find endearing. And then the time he was dreading came — the man turned around when his friend pointed to him. And he sees those smiling, sparkling eyes again. And he falls all over again.

Sungjin grins, "Kang."

Younghyun blinked. Jae nudges him when he gets back from his locker and frowns when he doesn't answer. Jae looks towards Sungjin.

"Brian? You okay?" Jae asks.

"Who’s that? Your new man?" Sungjin teases.

Younghyun closes his hands into a fist. Sungjin steps closer after chuckling with his friend.

"What? Is he better? Than me?" Sungjin questions further.

Jaebeom sees pain cross Younghyun's eyes and he puts a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Hyung, I thought you’re over it?"

Sungjin ignores him and raises a brow at Younghyun, "What? Are you satisfied? Or are you going to go back to me?"

Younghyun keeps quiet.

"Like what you always — "

"Hyung, let’s go," Jaebeom cuts him off.

Sungjin shrugs him off but Jaebeom grabs his shoulder again.

"Shut up, Park," Younghyun hisses.

"Bri?" Jae confusedly called.

"I’m always the quiet one, Kang. You know that — "

Younghyun turns around and leaves. Sungjin chuckles, Younghyun's heart breaks. Jaebeom hits Sungjin on his head.

"You’re a bastard. I don’t know why you’re still my friend," he says.

Sungjin erases his smirk and frowns, sighing.

"Get over it, hyung. A little more and I’ll really leave you," Jaebeom warns. "Although I know that you don’t do that to others, you’re hurting someone."

"As if I’m not hurt — "

"Why don’t you just talk to him, seriously? Instead of trash talking him, it’s obvious you hate it too," Jaebeom inquired as they walked out of their campus.

"No. I prefer it this way instead of…," Sungjin trails.

"Instead of what? Instead of hurting him? Hyung, really, are you a psychology student? This is bull. If this carries on until our third year, I’ll really leave you. I’m not gonna support you in that," Jaebeom rants.

"I know," Sungjin mumbles before chuckling. "As if I’ll stay here until third year."

"So what, you’re the one who’ll leave me? Why are you turning the tables?" Jaebeom nudges him with his body.

"Jaebeom, we’ve been like this for two months already. You already said it, I don’t like what I’m doing. But I don’t want to be in his life anymore. I want him to forget me as the man who hurt him. As the man he’ll compare other people to, to know if he’ll continue their relationship or not," Sungjin explains.

"I don’t understand a word you said. Usually, people want to leave with a good impression. But why are you like that?" Jaebeom questions.

"He’s so… — he's too good for me. If he wants to get into a relationship, I want his laughs to weigh more than his tears. Even if his impression of me is bad, at least he’ll know when to back out of a relationship because of me," Sungjin replies.

Jaebeom laughed out loud, mockingly, "Hyung, you don’t see Brian’s eyes when you meet, don’t you?"

"Hm?" Sungjin hums as he looks up at him.

"He’s hurt. He’s mad but behind those emotions, there’s still a hint of happiness. Maybe because he saw you again. But whatever that is, hyung — "

"Don’t screw with me, Jaebeom — "

"Don’t screw with Brian! I’m a photographer in the making, hyung. It’s my mission to show emotions using pictures. If I would capture a photo of Brian, you’ll believe me," Jaebeom retorts strongly. "I can read emotions, hyung. That’s why I know you don’t like what you’re doing, too."

Sungjin looked down at the ground as they walked towards their dormitories. He bites down on his lip.

"Hyung," Jaebeom calls softly, nudging him on his arm using his elbow. "You love him, right? You feel something, right?"

Sungjin nods, almost unnoticeable, as he kicks a random stone on the ground. Jaebeom puts an arm around his shoulder and pulls the shorter one to his side.

"Hyung, it’s Dowoon’s birthday this weekend," he says. "He’ll throw a party in his house."

"So?" Sungjin questions.

"That was Jae hyung who was with Brian earlier," Jaebeom recalls. "Jae hyung knows everyone, I’m positive he’ll be able to get Brian to go."

"So?" Sungjin sighs.

"Talk to him. Jackson’s my boyfriend, he’s friends with them. I know that you know that we will do everything to get you two to talk. Jackson can drag Dowoon in this, I bet he’ll even give you guys a room to talk," he says.

Sungjin remains quiet as he ponders about it.

"Jinyoung’s both our friend and theirs. His boyfriend, Mark hyung, is Jae hyung’s friend. Wonpil is Jinyoung’s best friend, Wonpil is Jae hyung’s boyfriend. Chan is like your child, Brian is Chan’s brother — "

Sungjin pushes him off then as he stops walking. He furrows his brows in surprise, "Chan is Kang’s brother?! Why do they have different last names?"

"Stepbrother," answers Jaebeom.

Sungjin facepalms and slowly crumbles down, eventually sitting down on the curb. He sighs, eyes watery, ", Chan’s his brother."

"Why? What’s up?" Jaebeom sits beside him.

", Chan looks up to me," a tear escapes his eye and it honestly surprises Jaebeom. "Ah, ."

"They’re super close, hyung, I think Chan knows about you two. Well, not really everything but — " Jaebeom shrugs.

Sungjin exhales shakily and mumbles apologies to Chan. Jaebeom would think he was on his way to being crazy. And then —

"Jaebeom hyung, Jin hyung!" Dowoon calls and Sungjin flinches.

Jaebeom wraps an arm around Sungjin's shoulders and smiled up at the boy, "Yo, Dowoon."

"Jin hyung? What’s the matter? Hyung? Hyung, are you crying?"

Sungjin feels hands on his wrists and tries to pull at them, asking them to show them his face. Sungjin bows his head down.

"Hyung? Hyung, what’s the matter?" Chan asks worriedly.

Sungjin had successfully stopped himself from fully crying but he wanted to hide his face from the boy, ashamed.

"Hyung," Chan tries again, tugging at his wrists.

Sungjin already regrets it before he even moved, pulling his wrists from the boy's hands and pushing him back. He stumbled and ended up sitting on the ground. Dowoon instantly comes to his aid.

Sungjin glares at them before clicking his tongue and standing up with a scowl, "Stay away from me."

Chan's mouth hangs open, confused and surprised. Jaebeom gave them an apologetic look as he followed Sungjin. They walked away with two pairs of eyes on their backs.

"Hyung, looks like I won’t be able to stay with you until the end of the year," Jaebeom says. "I think I can last until next week only."

They arrived at their dorms after another five minutes of silence. Sungjin slams the door loudly and throws his backpack to the ground as he kicks his shoes off. He throws himself onto his bed and sniffs before turning to lie on his front and muffle his already soft cries onto his pillow.

Jaebeom stares at him for a few seconds before sighing and scratching his head. He curses in his head and closes his eyes. Why did his best friend have to live this kind of life? He could have just told his feelings to the guy, but no. He had to have a "friends with benefits" relationship. They're not even friends — they're strangers with benefits.

Jaebeom already knew Younghyun had something going on for Sungjin even before they hooked up. Maybe Younghyun was expecting it to be a one-night stand only but he doesn't look like that kind of guy. Jaebeom thinks he thought Sungjin reciprocated. Sungjin does, actually. He reciprocates. The spark happened with him when he had approached Younghyun the first time.

After about four months of fooling around, Sungjin realized he's scared of those feelings. He's scared about what they can do to Younghyun and decides to just ignore the other one day. Younghyun approached him once and he pretended to be irritated by him. Younghyun thought he was just stressed because that was midterms season. So he let Sungjin about.

He had waited for him to come back and talk to him but Sungjin never did. The next thing Younghyun knows, he was in a hate relationship with the guy. Next thing he knows, he hates the guy passionately, with all of the fiber in his body. But he knows to himself that his presence alone still does things to him. He still liked him even after that.

On Jae's side, he followed Younghyun around the campus like a lost puppy. He knew better than to bother the younger when he's pissed at the tip of his hair. He would approach him and ask him about it when they arrived at their dorm. So as soon as Younghyun lies down on his bed, Jae knows he's thrown his guard out the window the moment he hits the mattress, he questions him.

"What was that? Who was that?" he questioned.

Younghyun sighed and closed his eyes, "He’s my buddy. The one that I always tell you about."

Jae's eyes widened and Younghyun anticipated that. So he just nods.

", him?! A whole ing meal — why did you let him go — isn’t Sungjin your crush, too? Oh my god, you like you buddy? OH!" Jae rambled.

"He’s not my buddy!" Younghyun states. "Not anymore, at least. And for your information, he was already my crush before we happened."

"So when he asked you if I was your new man and if who was better — "

"Yes."

"Oh, my god, Bri!" Jae laughs out loud and then stops after about three cackles. "Wait, he said you always go back to him — does that mean you have other — "

"No! It was just him! I don’t know why he goes around saying that. He was the only one I had that kind of relationship with," Younghyun instantly answers and sighs again.

"Wonpil will die of laughter when I tell this to him — ow, you er!"

Younghyun slapped his arm hard. "Why would you tell this to your boyfriend, you idiot? You’ll spread it around."

"Spread it around? You’re also Pil’s friend, Bri. Plus, he’s good with secrets.”

"I know, but," Younghyun takes a deep breath.

"It’s just a joke, you punk," Jae smiles. "So what are you going to do? Does Chan know? Doesn’t he look up to Sungjin?"

"How did you know his name — sources, of course. Anyway, I don’t know. Chan knows what happened between us. He never mentions Park to me, Park never mentioned CHan, so," Younghyun shrugs.

"Anyway, it’s Dowoon’s birthday this week," says Jae.

"I don’t want to go, I’ll just greet him and give him his gift."

"I’m not asking if you want to go. I know you’ll refuse so I already decided for you," Jae smiles annoyingly and Younghyun actually hits the back of his head. "Relax, you don’t have to fix yourself, you already got looks."

"Already got looks? I’m the king of the campus."

"Really? I heard Sungjin’s a formidable opponent but I don’t know," Jae grins when Younghyun scowls. "And what about Jackson? Jinyoung, Chan, Mark, Wonpil, what the hell. Can you compete with WOnpil?"

"Whatever you say, you have nothing against Park so shut up."

"I was flexing my boyfriend and you’ll give me Sungjin? It’s supposed to be your boyfriend too — oh, that’s right," Jae receives a real punch on his gut.

Younghyun never felt apologetic.

---

"Jae, you piece of ," Younghyun snapped for probably the sixth time that night since they entered Dowoon's house or mansion.

"Yeah, I know, I’ll find Sungjin, wait," Jae stands.

Younghyun pulls him back down with a roll of his eyes. "I don’t need another piece of ."

Wonpil laughs a bit, "Sungjin hyung’s a good buy, though?"

"Jae, your boyfriend, please," Younghyun takes a deep breath.

Jae grins and pulls his boyfriend next to him.

"Why don’t you even speak against him? You just gotta say the right words to shut him up, man," Jackson says.

"As if you know something," Jaebeom rolls his eyes.

"Why are you even here, you’re not even a friend of Brian hyung. You’re an ally of the other side, right?" Jinyoung butts in as he leans against Mark's side.

"Yah," Jackson points accusingly at Jinyoung.

"It’s okay, he’s Jackson’s boyfriend anyway so he’s my friend too," Younghyun says.

"Bri, he’s literally Sungjin’s best friend," Mark points out.

"Jackson’s my best friend. What do I care for his boyfriend’s best friend? My circle covers until your boyfriends only, no more best friends of someone’s boyfriend," Younghyun explains.

"I can give something away, if I may," Jaebeom raises his hand. Younghyun entertains him. "Call it backstabbing but he knows I’ll leave him if he continues, anyway. I already told him that. I just want to let you know, Sungjin hyung’s not that strong."

The group turns quiet over the muffled sounds of the loud music. Dowoon had given them a private room.

"I think he’s too overpowered in your mind. You wanna know the truth? He never goes against me."

That sentence earned surprised reactions from everyone and Jaebeom nodded, smiling.

"Sungjin hyung’s weak. He’s so weak these days. Honestly, he was strong the last four months — " Jaebeom pauses and smiles wider when Younghyun's lips parted. "After that, nothing. His actions are just defense mechanisms to let everyone think he's strong so no one can hurt him."

Something hits the back of Jaebeom's head and Jaebeom winces before looking back. Sungjin stares him down.

"I will crash your bike, you punk," Sungjin warns. "I’m drinking. I’m gonna sleep here so just go home if you want to."

"Eh? Hyung, are you out of mind? You’ve always been drinking lately!"

"Why do you care? You’ll leave me eventually anyway — Dowoon, one bottle, please!" Sungjin clicks his tongue and leaves when he calls Dowoon.

"Hyung! Yah, Sungjin hyung!" Jaebeom jumps up.

Sungjin looks back at him, "Don’t try to follow me, Jaebeom, I have keys to your bike."

Jaebeom ignores that and snatches the bottle of vodka from his hand. He s it into one of the roaming waiters around and stares his best friend down.

"Hyung, I said talk to him — "

"You already did, what more do I need to say??" Jaebeom keeps quiet. "You’re already telling them everything — "

"Really? Everything? You heard what I said. And you’re saying I’m already telling everything?" Jaebeom raises a brow, Sungjin steps back.

"I don’t care, Jaebeom. It’s Dowoon’s birthday, I don't want to do this right now — "

"So when? Dowoon doesn’t like parties, hyung, you know that. Didn’t you know he made this party oper for you? So you can put on your mask and appear strong in front of everyone. He did this just for you and Brian to talk. He knows Brian goes to the balcony when he’s getting suffocated. And you go to the balcony when you want to be alone. And you're alone on the balcony so you don’t have to put your mask on. Dowoon wants you to take off your mask and talk to Brian — "

Younghyun stands up and takes Sungjin by his wrist and leads him into a random room. Jaebeom frowns and looks back at the rest of the group who were as confused as him. Then Jae grinned lopsidedly.

---

"Kang, let me go!"

Younghyun obeys as soon as they enter a room. A bedroom. Younghyun locks the door and stares him down. Sungjin hisses as he massages his wrist. Younghyun had a tight grip on him and he knows that. He knows the man has hidden strength. Of course, he knows.

Younghyun steps towards him like a predator and Sungjin thinks he has turned the tables on him.

"The last time we saw each other, you asked if Jaehyung hyung hyung was my new man. You asked if he was good and if he was better than you — "

Sungjin feels his ears burn. , he needs the alcohol for drunken courage. They're alone, he can't put the mask on like usual. And because of earlier, Younghyun probably knows he's one of his weaknesses. One of his greatest weaknesses.

"You asked if I was satisfied. You asked if I would go back to you just like how I always do," Younghyun pauses again when Sungjin's popliteal hits the bed, making him sit on the edge and look up at him.

"Do you still want me to answer all of those? Because I have answers. I just wasn’t able to tell the last time because it was bad timing, you punk," Younghyun adds.

Sungjin gulps when Younghyun places a foot right next to his thigh. He bends down, leaning closer to his face. His breaths hit Sungjin's lips softly and the older gulped again.

"First of all, Jaehyung hyung is not my new man. He’s my best friend and he’s taken. Wonpil is his boyfriend," Younghyun watches Sungjin's eyes widen as he starts to catch his breath.

"Second, I will never know if he’s good or not because I don’t want to know ever, whether he’s taken or not," Younghyun continues.

"Third, I’m not satisfied," he says as leans closer, his lips already brushing against the other's lips.

He put a hand on the back of Sungjin's head and held him still when he tried to lean back. Sungjin's breath hitched as he gulped again.

"And lastly, why do I need to go back to you when I never even left?"

Sungjin's eyes couldn't have widened more.

"I never had another man. Even when we ended." Younghyun stares deeply into his eyes and Sungjin doubts himself if he has the most beautiful eyes.

"You’re the only one who I gave permission to touch me, Sungjin hyung."

Sungjin grips the bed sheets tightly as soon as his name rolls off Younghyun's lips. God, he missed that. They had ever called each other by their first names, only when they were in bed and doing it. But the day after that, they call each other by their last names.

"You’re the only one who touched and will touch me — "

Sungjin pushes his head up and captures the other's lips into a heated kiss. Younghyun pulls back and Sungjin crawls to the center of the bed, his hand gripping Younghyun's shirt and pulling him along. He claims his waist as soon as he straddles him.

~~

"Hyung, ."

Each small and vulnerable whimper on his ear coming from Younghyun encouraged Sungjin to go in faster and deeper every time, to the point that it drove him crazy. He'd had enough and laid Younghyun down on the bed and went in faster and deeper than Younghyun thought he'd ever had before.

~~

Younghyun wakes up the next morning in an unfamiliar room. He was under the blankets, . He moved a bit and winced at the pain that struck his lower body.

"Ah, you piece of , Younghyun," he groans silently to himself.

He lies down on the bed and stares up the ceiling, sighing.

"Why…," he wonders to himself. "Ah, that’s right. It’s because you love him."

He forces himself to sit up and put on his clothes that were neatly folded by the bedside table, his phone on top of it. Now that he's noticed it, they were brand new and he didn't see his clothes last night anywhere in the room. The room was unfamiliar to him and he didn't find a single clue to figure out the identity of the owner. Nevertheless, he dressed up.

He chuckled bitterly to himself, "As usual. Park always leaves after the night. What else did I expect?"

He leaves the room after fixing the bed and goes to the kitchen to drink a little water before going on his way. Maybe he'll call Jae to pick him up from… wherever this house is located. He takes a pitcher from the fridge and a glass from the rack.

He fills it almost to the brim and returns the pitcher before drinking. He thought he heard a door open but it sounded so faded so he considers it his imagination. He continued his business.

"Oh? You’re up early."

He literally jumps at the voice and accidentally lets the glass go. The glass shatters on the floor and he steps back from it. He whips his head in the direction of the voice and gasps.

Sungjin chuckled before picking up the glass shards and cleaning the floor, making sure he wasn't injured or whatever.

"What are you going here — I thought you left?" Younghyun questions when Sungjin made him sit on a chair by the kitchen table.

Sungjin chuckled again as he cooked breakfast for them. He had refused to let him leave without food in his stomach and Younghyun has always been a er for food, so it didn't take much to convince him to stay. All he had to mention was food and he stays, it's a unanimous decision within him.

"Why would I leave when this is my house?"

"Your house? Punk, don’t you live in the dorms?" Younghyun says.

"Jaebeom didn’t want me to go back to the dorm. I have nowhere to go so I went here," Sungjin shrugged.

"How — we were at Dowoon’s house, right — Park, did you kidnap me?"

Sungjin laughs and Younghyun feels his heart soar, "No, you idiot. Dowoon’s my neighbor."

"Huh? Wait — wait a minute. Weren’t we in a room in Dowoon’s house? And why don’t you just live here instead of renting in the university dorms?" Younghyun questions.

"And live here alone? I don’t want to. Don’t you see how big this is? And I don’t want Jaebeom to live here, he’s not gonna pay for rent, how are we gonna take care of the electricity and water supply? And it’s dirty, it’s dusty everywhere. I don’t want to clean, I’m lazy," Sungjin reasons out.

Younghyun raises a brow, "And you brought me here?"

"I don’t know, you were like drunk last night, you don’t understand a thing that I was saying. I told you I don’t want to do it there, so I said we should go back to the dorms. But, you know, Jaebeom didn’t want me to go back there. Probably because he’ll bring Jackson there too. My house is just next door, so I brought you here instead," Sungjin explains as he expertly moves about the kitchen.

"I thought it’s dirty?" Younghyun asks.

"My mom sends a maid here every week to clean. It just happens that they cleaned yesterday," Sungjin answers. "My parents are overseas, that’s why they’re not here."

Younghyun nods and stares at the plate of eggs, bacon, and hotdogs that were placed on the table, followed by fried rice.

"You cooked a lot, there’s only two of us," Younghyun points out.

Sungjin grins at him and he questions if his heart was still with him, "Jaebeom called earlier. Jackson said you eat a lot. I eat a lot too so that’s just enough."

"Jaebeom? From the stories I’ve heard from Jackson, he’s not a morning person," Younghyun raises a brow.

"I don’t know. He woke me up. Jacks also said you sleep like a log, so I was surprised when I saw you awake already."

"Punk, I didn’t know where I was."

"But you went to the kitchen first thing?"

Younghyun shrugs, "I was just only going to drink some water. I’ll rinse it anyway then I’ll call Jaehyung hyung."

Sungjin smiles and sits down beside him. He runs a hand through his hair before they start eating in silence. As per Sungjin's calculation, the food prepared was just enough for them. Sungjin turned his head away from him and burped a bit. Then he throws an arm on the backrest of his chair.

"I’m still sleepy," Younghyun mutters as he looks around.

"Go to sleep again. But later, you just ate."

"I’ll just sleep back home — "

"What? Just stay here!"

Younghyun froze at the whine that left the older's lips. He had never heard that. Sungjin grins and Younghyun thought he looked like a child.

"Are you turning the tables? Are you the one that’s going to leave when the morning comes?" Sungjin looks softly at him, his grin softening into a sad smile.

Younghyun was surprised that he can thoroughly read him today. He remained quiet. And amidst the silence, Sungjin's phone rang. He grabbed it from the side of the table and answered the call, putting it on speaker as he sighed.

"Jaebeom."

"Yah, hyung. Where are you?" Jaebeom questions.

"Back in my house, why? Did something happen?" Younghyun sees the panic in his expression.

"No, nothing. Is Brian still there?"

Sungjin exhales in relief, "Yeah, why? Problem?"

"What are you going to do now? You idiot, he came back to you, tell me what you’re gonna do now. I’ll pack your things, I’m serious — "

"Jaebeom hyung, is this Sungjin hyung’s? I think I saw Brian hyung wearing this once," Jackson says in the background.

Sungjin melts to his chair as he sighed, "Jaebeom, calm down."

Jaebeom's next rant made Younghyun's eyes widen and Sungjin stare at the table, frozen in panic and fear.

"Then tell me. I told you, you’re my best friend but I won’t tolerate your behavior towards Brian. That's not you, hyung, you know that. You love him, why are you screwing around with him? You punk, you should’ve just confessed to him from the start if you don’t want to hurt him.

"Removing yourself from his life won’t do anything because the moment Brian decides to stop and talk to you seriously about your relationship, I’m telling you, one of you will fight for a relationship. Whatever kind of relationship that may be, Sungjin hyung. I told you I can read emotions, Brian has feelings for you. Brian is weak for you too, Jackson told me that. Jaehyung hyung also told me he’s a masochist so probably, when you talk, he’ll want that relationship.

"Hyung, what about you? You love Brian, right? No matter how much you hold onto your mask, that’ll break the moment Brian says he quits — "

"Jaebeom — "

"No, listen to me. What about Chan? You’re just going to leave him like that? He looks up to you and you’ll leave him just like that? You didn’t even give an explanation when you told him to stay away from you. He called Jackson earlier, he’s worried because his brother didn’t come home, he didn’t manage to find him at Dowoon’s party. How are you going to explain to him? You’re going to hurt even his brother — "

Sungjin presses on the video call button and Jaebeom answers in an instant to resume his sermon. But Sungjin holds up his phone and gets both him and Younghyun in the frame. Jaebeom stops in surprise.

"I’m with Younghyun from the start, he heard everything, you bastard.”

Jaebeom breaks out into a grin, "At least he knows everything now."

"Rearrange my things back to the way they were, Jaebeom, I’m telling you," Sungjin orders.

"Still depends, hyung. You haven’t told me what you’re going to do."

"I’ll stop!" Sungjin ends the call and tosses his phone onto the table before standing up and collecting the dishes to wash them.

"Are you going to ask Jae to pick you up or should I just drop you?" Sungjin asks as he does the dishes.

He tears up when he receives no reply, but he hears the chair move, indicating that Younghyun had stood up. He tossed his head back and blinked repeatedly to prevent his tears from falling before resuming washing the dishes. He thinks about his actions then until he finishes the dishes. Then he walks to the living room as he takes his phone from the table to message Jaebeom and update him.

"Hyung, your television doesn’t want to open," he hears a small whine, followed by the sound of—

Younghyun was shaking and hitting the remote for it to somehow work. He points it to the tv and presses the on/off button every now and then.

"Sungjin hyung!" Younghyun calls and Sungjin blinks at the name. "Maybe it’s not plugged in."

He stands up from the sofa and goes to the tv to peek behind it and trace the line with his eyes. He plugs it into a socket then tries opening it again with the remote. He cheers when it opens.

"Yeaaa."

"You’re not going to go home yet?" Sungjin asked with a frown as he walked over to him.

"Hm?" Younghyun hums as he flicks through the channels. "Eh, I’ll stay for a while. Wonpil’s probably in our dorm. He’s always there, I’m getting irritated by it. I know they’re boyfriends but, you know, they didn’t need to rub it in my face that I’m single."

He grins a bit when he locates SpongeBob. Sungjin cautiously sat beside him and placed his arm on the backrest. Younghyun scoots closer and leans against him, tucking his head on his shoulder as he watches the cartoon with a small smile on him.

"You know what — "

"Yah, I’m watching, why did you — "

"That is my television — "

"But I opened it — "

"Still my television, I still pay for that."

Younghyun huffs and crosses his arms, unconsciously pouting.

"You get to watch again if you answer me."

"Out with it already! I want to watch!"

"I love you."

"Is that a question, you idiot?"

Sungjin blinks.

"Was that a question?" Younghyun repeats.

"I — What — " Sungjin his lips as he stutters.

Younghyun laughs at him genuinely, "I love you too. There. Now give me the remote! Open the tv, Sungjin hyuuuung!"

Younghyun drapes himself on top of him as he unenthusiastically reaches for the remote from his hand. He gets tired after a few seconds and just lies down on top of Sungjin, not moving. For a few seconds. His body suddenly shakes a bit.

"Younghyun?" Sungjin softly calls, taking the younger's face and sitting up when he saw tears on his cheeks. "Younghyun? Why? Does something hurt?"

"Hyung, tomorrow…," Younghyun trails, hands gently grabbing at his shirt. "Are you going to leave again tomorrow?"

Sungjin blinks and then smiles softly, "Hyun, look at me. Look at me, come on."

The younger slowly looks up to meet his eyes. Teary eyes stared back at Sungjin and he chuckled before grinning.

"No. I’m not leaving anymore, I’m staying. Until when? For a lifetime, if they let us. I’m not leaving again," Sungjin reassures. "I already told you, right? I love you, Hyun. I know apologizing won’t cut it, but I still want to say sorry for screwing — "

"Jaebeom already said a lot earlier, don’t repeat all that, I understand already," Younghyun sniffs and shooed him away before shuffling to sit properly.

Sungjin smiled when the younger leaned back at him and snatched the remote from his hand. He opens the tv again while Sungjin wraps an arm around him and pulls him to his side.

Younghyun relaxes completely against him, "Your hug is warm, why weren’t they like that when you hug me before?"

Sungjin chuckles, "I didn’t want you to realize how I felt before."

Everything clicks to Younghyun. Sungjin acts cold to him after a night together. But now that he's let his feelings known, he's letting him in. He's letting himself open to Younghyun and letting him feel how he feels. He's let his guard down around him. He lets himself be vulnerable with him and Younghyun grins widely at that, relaxing even more against his man.

Sungjin squeezed his waist gently, "Does your back hurt?"

"Hm," Younghyun hums affirmatively. "You’re an animal."

Sungjin laughs, embarrassed, "I thought that maybe that was the last. I planned to talk to you today, tell you everything."

Younghyun hums again, thoughtfully. "Why didn’t you mark me, anyway? Don’t you always…," Younghyun trails as he looks up at him, his hand caressing his neck that was void of hickeys.

Sungjin shrugged before putting his feet up on his coffee table and relaxed, "You told me not to. I bit and you told me no."

Younghyun raised a brow, "I told you that before too but you still mark me?"

Sungjin sighed softly, "Because I thought that was the last. I decided to give you everything you want, obey whatever you say. You said you don’t want to, so I didn’t mark you."

Younghyun blinked.

Sungjin tosses his head back to let it rest against the backrest of the couch and closes his eyes, "Hyun, that night last night was different from every other night that we were together. I hope you get what I’m saying."

"Hyung, what are we?" Younghyun mumbles.

Sungjin looked down at him and squeezed his waist a bit again, "What do you want?"

"You," Younghyun answers and looks away. "I want… us."

Sungjin hums, Younghyun's sight blurs.

"Okay," Sungjin says. "Younghyun, let me court you."

---

"Im Jaebeom!"

"Sorry! I don’t know where everything goes! You really expect me to know where everywhere goes? You’re an idiot if you do!"

"I’m the idiot? I look like I’m being thrown out! Organize everything!"

"Ei! Then you get mad when it’s wrong!"

"Is it my fault? You messed it up!"

"These two are so noisy," Jackson mumbles.

"Even if we don’t live here, we’ll throw the both of you out if you yell again. You’re just in front of each other and you’re yelling," Younghyun warns.

Sungjin and Jaebeom glared at each other like children.