Every now and then, Jaejin often went out with Seunghyun for a drink. Sometimes they would bring Minhwan along, but a drunk Minhwan could be a pain in the so they tried to go when he was already asleep or had things to do. It started when Seunghyun found it hard to deal with his workload. University was really different from high school, and even when Seunghyun had a survival instinct of a wild animal, there were also times when the younger guy couldn’t deal with the pressure.

In general, Seunghyun only called him ‘Hyung’ just because he was a senior at school. Age-wise, they were only about half a year different and Seunghyun hardly treated Jaejin the way he would normally treat people who were older than him. Jaejin didn’t mind; and of course there were times where he wished Seunghyun would really see him as a ‘Hyung’ but he was happy being Seunghyun’s close friend so he eventually stopped thinking about it.

That night wasn’t any different. Seunghyun was stuck with his field-project. His data collection process wasn’t going as smooth as he wanted it to be. Minhwan, on the other hand, was out with his mum because she was in town; so Jaejin thought it was a good idea to drag the younger guy out to the bar. They wouldn’t have to deal with a painfully drunk Minhwan, and Jaejin could drink the night away. Jaejin himself had a lot in his mind right now.

“Omo~, isn’t that Jonghun-hyung walking in?” said Seunghyun, tilting his head towards the direction of the front door. “He’s not alone.”

“What?!”

Jaejin turned his head around, searching for his neighbour. He wasn’t expecting Jonghun’s name to be brought up that night, let alone for the person himself to be there physically. Since the last time he went to Jonghun’s place, Jaejin hadn’t met the other guy even once. He even started to close his window’s blinds again because he didn’t want Jonghun to catch him looking. Yeah, it felt rather like a stalker to secretly stare at Jonghun’s apartment from behind closed curtains. He just couldn’t help it. He needed time to figure out his feelings towards his neighbour.

“JAEJIN!!! Is that you?! How are you, man?! It has been ages!” Hongki’s high-pitched husky voice suddenly rang into Jaejin’s ears. “I love the hair~! Jonghun, look at his hair. It’s blond!”

“I know. I’ve seen it,” Jonghun answered lightly.

Gulping, Jaejin tried to avoid eye contact but eventually his eyes met Jonghun’s. The older guy looked the same (of course, it had only been about a week since they last met). He smiled at his neighbour, not wanting his sudden nervousness to be obvious; exhaling in relief when Jonghun smiled back. He would usually feel glad that he had his hyper-self as a mask whenever he was around people. But not this time. Jonghun knew him. Not that well, but Jaejin had let Jonghun knew his quiet side.

…which meant he should act quiet because that how he usually the way he was around Jonghun. Why didn’t he think of that before? He could just tell Seunghyun that he wasn’t feeling well if the younger guy asked him why he didn’t say much.

Okay, he clearly was overthinking everything.

“And who do we have here, Jaejin?” Hongki broke the silence, diverting his eyes to the obviously just smiling friendlily Seunghyun.

“I’m Seunghyun~,” Seunghyun introduced himself before Jaejin had any chance to do so.

“Oh…” Hongki made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth, taking a quick glance at Jonghun then to Seunghyun before dragging his gaze to Jaejin. “So, this is Seunghyun~,” Hongki smirked. That was one hell of a freaky smirk, Jaejin thought.

“Jaejin-hyung told you about me? Must be all the good things,” Seunghyun’s smile got wider, wrapping his arm around Jaejin’s shoulder.

“I can’t recall talking about you to him,” Jaejin tilted his head in wonder. He had only met Hongki once, and it was the night he got hit by Jonghun’s car. Well, maybe Jonghun mentioned it to Hongki after the music store trip.

Jaejin didn’t fail to notice how Hongki’s face turned weirdly amused. Like extremely amused. Hongki even nudged Jonghun’s arm with his shoulder. If Jaejin had to be honest, he didn’t like the sudden uneasy feeling that the situation was giving him. It felt almost as if there was something that Hongki found really interesting and Jaejin hated the fact that he had not even the slightest clue what it could be.

Unwrapping Seunghyun’s arm from his shoulder, Jaejin cleared his throat. “S-should we move to one of the booths? Since we are all here, maybe we should just hang out?” Jaejin spoke up.

Of course Hongki agreed to it before anyone said anything. The singer hopped forward to Jaejin and linked their arms together, taking Jaejin’s drink from the bar before dragging Jaejin along with him. “It’s gonna be a fun night. Right, Jaejin~?” Hongki grinned again.

Jaejin really wondered what went through Hongki’s head right now. Maybe Jonghun was right. Now that he had met the singer again, Hongki kind of looked like someone that could do a lot of harm. He definitely didn’t like that grin.

---

Jonghun had been in a bad mood lately. Every single thing that didn’t go according to plan would make him snap like some teenage girl on PMS. Even Hongki tried to avoid Jonghun as much as he could. Hongki would only dare to meet Jonghun at work. His mood swing was a clear declaration of ‘if you dared come to my place to pig around at my kitchen and freaking sleep on my bed, you wouldn’t see the morning sun’ to Hongki. Maybe not exactly like that, but that was the impression that Hongki got.

Getting angry wasn’t really Jonghun’s kind of thing. He was pretty timid despite the fact that he had those big muscles and was probably capable of sending someone to the hospital with his punches. He kept things only to himself (with Hongki as the exception of course). But when he was really, really angry or annoyed, it’d show because he tended to get moody.

“Is everyone here? I’m Choi Jonghun, replacing your teacher for the day. Just practice anything you like,” said Jonghun as he sat down on the empty chair of the classroom.

It was supposed to be a free afternoon for Jonghun, but one of the company’s guitar teachers called in sick and he was the only one available. Jonghun himself wasn’t involved in the company’s academy, solely working at the production house. But he couldn’t say ‘no’ when he was called.

The CEO just happened to take a liking towards him ever since he enrolled in the academy back when he was just a boy. He was offered to debut of course, but Jonghun was more interested in making music than singing in front of many people. He would die of embarrassment too if people realised that the good-looking kid that could play guitar really well actually found it hard to sing.

Singing just wasn’t his thing, which was why he applied for the music arranger assistant position when he was in college; as a part time job though. The time was flexible and he got a lot of advice from his colleagues when his uni’s assignment was giving him headache. He just never knew that he would get a promotion only three months after he graduated. But yeah, so occasionally when they needed help, Jonghun just couldn’t say no.

“Oh God, I’m late. I’m sorry!!!!” someone rushed in clumsily, making an unwanted uproar.

Jonghun was brought back from his deep thought, almost snapped at the latecomer because oh God his mood was just so bad.

Well, almost.

“Seunghyun…?!” he blinked.

“Jonghun-hyung?!”

It was almost as if things hadn’t annoyed him enough, his source of annoyance was actually there before his own eyes. Yes. Seunghyun was pretty much the reason why he was all moody.

“…you’re a student here--..”

“You’re a teacher here?! I thought you’re a producer or something. Aish~, Jaejin-hyung has been lying to me,” Seunghyun asked, literally cutting Jonghun’s sentence.

“I am a producer. I’m just replacing some sick old man for the day,” Jonghun rolled his eyes.

Jonghun found everything about Seunghyun as annoying. At first, it was just when Jaejin mentioned his name way too often. Then, it was the one time that Seunghyun tagged along to the music store (and Minhwan as well, but that kid didn’t count. Totally harmless). Lastly… that time when he went out with Hongki and accidentally bumped into Jaejin and Seunghyun.

Just why on earth the two of there were drinking there at the bar? Wasn’t Minhwan their friend too? Why wasn’t that guy there then? Were they on a date? And why Seunghyun had to be so clingy?

Jonghun of course tried to ignore it the first time Seunghyun wrapped his arm around Jaejin’s shoulder, but as the night went on, the guy started to get drunk and was literally all over the blond. He knew that the two of them were close, but it still bothered him to no end. And Jonghun still remembered how Seunghyun just leisurely kissed Jaejin. On the freaking lips! Worse, Jaejin didn’t punch him!!

Fair enough, Seunghyun was totally wasted. Jaejin wasn’t though. Why did Jaejin punch Jonghun but not Seunghyun then? Jonghun believed that the fact that he wasn’t drunk when he kissed Jaejin should have been a major plus point. Of course, Jonghun had told himself that the part where Seunghyun actually tried to kiss Hongki and him wasn’t important because Hongki unconsciously turned his head away when it happened that Seunghyun only ended up kissing Hongki’s cheek; while Jonghun was strong enough to push the kid away before any damage could be done. What important was the fact that Jaejin wasn’t even trying to avoid it!

Ugh, even remembering the scenes from that night had made his head feel dizzy.

“Seunghyun-ah!” he called the guy out from where he sat.

Seunghyun looked up, his hand stopped strumming the guitar he was holding. How could someone play the guitar so awkwardly like that? Jonghun couldn’t believe that this kid was actually at that class. It wasn’t exactly a beginner class. Though he had to admit that Seunghyun could really play well despite of his awkward fingers’ movement.

“Go and practice these. I’ll drop by next week to test you,” Jonghun stood up, throwing some music sheets to the top of Seunghyun’s guitar case.

The younger guy stared at the sheets that were passed to him. “All of these? In a week?”

“Yes.”

“But…”

“But what?” Jonghun raised an eyebrow, watching Seunghyun that had put his guitar away and was currently staring at the sheets.

“…these are classical pieces…” Seunghyun mumbled.

“Oh… you know classical songs?”

“I play classical piano,” Seunghyun answered honestly.

“Good. There shouldn’t be any problem then,” Jonghun smiled, turning back to walk away.

“But Hyung! This is a pop guitar lesson. I don’t even have a classical guitar!”

Jonghun heard him. But he would rather pretend that he didn’t. So yeah, Jonghun turned to another student and acted like he didn’t hear Seunghyun.

---

Waving his hand at his two juniors, Jaejin leaned against his doorframe. He watched them walking away and disappearing to the elevator in silence, turning inside to his apartment right after. Seunghyun needed a place to practice his guitar homework; his neighbour was already complaining about how noisy he had been for the past few days. So being a good roommate, Minhwan called Jaejin asking if he’d let Seunghyun practice at his place for the day.

Jaejin didn’t mind. He could just put his ear-buds on and listened to some music while doing his work. Minhwan could just do anything he wanted there and Seunghyun could use his room to practice. And that was pretty much how the three of them spent their evening. Jaejin and Minhwan settled down in the living room while Seunghyun literally locked himself up inside Jaejin’s room. Just the usual stuff.

The thing that made Jaejin feel rather confused was what Minhwan had told him during one of their small conversations. Apparently Jaejin’s neighbour, aka Jonghun, was the reason why Seunghyun suddenly had a lot of guitar homework. Seunghyun didn’t tell Minhwan any detail other than the fact that Jonghun was replacing Seunghyun’s teacher for the day and the next thing that Minhwan knew, the taller guy was already talking about how hard his homework was and he was stressed out about it.

But Minhwan, being Minhwan he was, told Jaejin to just let Seunghyun practice and not to ask any question about it. Jaejin understood the request almost right away, knowing Seunghyun almost as long as Minhwan had known the taller guy. It was always better to let Seunghyun be when he didn’t ask for help for things that he had to deal with. Seunghyun might not seem like it, but Jaejin knew that guy had some pride-complex going on and would rather die than giving up. He would ask for help only when he absolutely had to.

That aside, after those two left, there he was – standing before his big veranda sliding door, staring at the apartment across the building. His curtains were open, because Minhwan loved staring out the window no matter where he was and he wouldn’t care if it was Jaejin’s place and not his. It was already like a second home anyway.

It wasn’t hard to find Jonghun in that apartment. He was half sitting, half laying down on his leather couch; seemingly busy writing something down on the notepad that was placed against his bended knees. Jaejin contemplated whether he should ask Jonghun personally about the homework. He was no Choi Minhwan. He got curious about details sometimes, and he knew this would bug him until he found out just why on earth this homework managed to make Seunghyun all stressed out.

Then his phone rang, surprising Jaejin a little. He turned to his coffee table, grabbing his ringing phone from it only to be surprised to see the name that was flashing on the screen. Reluctantly, Jaejin pressed the answer button.

“Yes?” he said.

“Why were you staring at me blankly like that?”

Sighing, Jaejin went back to where he stood up before. He gave Jonghun an awkward smile as he waved at the older guy from behind the glass sliding door, definitely wasn’t expecting Jonghun to notice him. Getting busted like this was definitely embarrassing. He should have closed the curtains first before staring.

“Nothing. I was… just thinking about stuff,” he answered.

“Does whatever you were thinking about involve me in it? It kind of looks like it was from the way you were staring,” Jonghun asked flatly, putting his notepad aside while straightening his body up on his couch.

“Well… kind of. How did you even know I was staring?” Jaejin asked, suddenly finding the phone call suspicious.

“I always know when you’re staring. It’s kind of obvious,” Jonghun chuckled.

“No. It wouldn’t be obvious if you weren’t paying attention,” Jaejin frowned, was pretty sure that he hardly caught the other guy noticing his stare, especially when he was stalking with closed blinds. “Unless you were staring as well. Were you watching me?!”

Jaejin didn't like the way Jonghun burst out into laughter. It wasn’t loud like his own laughter, but it was intimidating because heck, the older guy sounded so amused.

“Ever since I hit you with my car I kind of always stare at your apartment,” Jonghun confessed. “It was adorable how you and Minhwan fought over the last piece of sunflower seed, by the way.”

“…are you a stalker?” Jaejin frowned again, though he realised he wasn’t one to play innocent about it either. And excuse him, but the sunflower seeds were delicious.

“Maybe~,” Jonghun stood up, walking to his own window. “This is kind of funny, isn’t it? Talking on the phone while staring at each other."

Jaejin just laughed at the comment.

“So, Jaejin…”

“Hm?”

“Wanna go watch movie this weekend?” asked Jonghun.

“I should be free, so sure.” Jaejin had nothing going on, especially since he was actually doing pretty well with his summer project preparation. He could really take a break and watch some movie.

“Great. And no Minhwan or Seunghyun, please.”

“Why?” Jaejin frowned. “The more the merrier, right? Might as well ask Hongki-hyung to join us.”

“No Hongki either. Just us.”

“…but why?”

“Because it’s a date,” Jonghun answered.

His eyes widened as he watched Jonghun walking out from his apartment, settling himself on his veranda. Jonghun was staring straight at him, elbows then rested on the veranda’s fence, clearly waiting for a reply. The other guy didn’t look like he was kidding, Jaejin could tell that much even from afar. Jonghun’s face might still look like a deadpan, but he noticed that it looked far from joking around. “…unless you don’t date guys,” the other guy added.

Jaejin didn’t know how to answer to that.

------

I hope I didn't take too long to update. My hands are rather full lately :(

Enjoy~ :Dv