It dropped with a characteristic tinkling.

Himchan rose from his bed, having woken himself up from his own reverie. He breathed in deeply, wondering if the events earlier that day really had transpired. He looked around his room, checking whether there was an ounce of reality left with him, or whether he was just really dreaming everything. His eyes wandered around his own room, it did seem like he wasn’t dreaming. He was awake, and he was upright on his bed. Until of course, his eyes landed on the neglected keys on the floor – a set of keys, staring back at him.

Himchan blinked once, twice.

The keys were still on the floor, the dirty Tigger keychan seemed like it was judging him with its button eyes. Himchan finally broke from his gaze and tried to reach the key from where it fell, but it was a bit far. And like the lazy he was, he leans back on his bed and reaches the keys with his foot.

It felt like a dream.

---

“So what do you think?” the taller man smiles with his toothy grin.

“It’s not that big, but it’s quite cozy, yeah?” he says again, as if a proud home builder.

Yongguk lifts both his arms from his side and proceeds to walk in circles, wiggling his brows at his friend who appeared a bit dumbfounded. Himchan scanned the room with his eyes. It was a small unit, not a home, but could probably fit around four grown men comfortably.

“The rooms pretty nice, see?” Yongguk pokes his head inside the door of an empty room, before he leans back once more, also scanning the room with his eyes.

“There’s only one bath but I don’t think that’d be much of a problem,” he gestures to the side with his head.

“Then, there’s that cool little kitchen, it’s not like I really cook, so it’s got nothing for me really – but you, you like cooking, right? You could easily fit a few stuff there to get you started,” he nods his head in thought.

Himchan was unsure why he was unsure. The fact that he was not jumping the gun surprised him. What was he thinking -  or even funnier, what the hell was he thinking for?

Under one roof, with Yongguk.

‘What else could be better?’ Himchan thought to himself. He looked at the man who was still roaming around the unit, mouthing words that already lost sound and fallen muted unto Himchan’s ears. He was already too occupied with the thought of living with him, that he could no longer process what he was thinking.

“It will really make me happy,”

Himchan snaps from his reverie. He finds himself staring at the other man on the other side of the room.

“Well, if you… if you settle down with me, that will really make me happy.”

Settle down.

With you.

In Himchan’s little mind theater, nothing else really mattered anymore.

---

Himchan thought over Yongguk’s statements. It didn’t seem like such a bad move, no, not at all. The whole place has been paid for and will be furnished soon. ’You pick out the couch or the bed, even’, Yongguk told him in a half snorting, half giggling statement. There was no rent, but it only meant that he was getting closer to the idol trainee status that he had been trying to avoid. What was his problem with the setup anyway? He didn’t know. But most times, he made little sense – even in his own head, even in his conversations with himself.

Maybe it would be too close for comfort?

Too close.

It may burn.

Himchan jolts in his own thoughts. That seemed too real for him. What was so bad with being too close? Living inside the same home, he and Yongguk could spend so much time together and discover so many things about each other. But wait, that just might be it – discoveries.

What if he discovers something… something that even Himchan himself isn’t proud of?

Himchan has been accustomed to the guise of perfection – once Yongguk gets closer, what then? What will he discover?

And with each discovery, what will change?

Or will anything change at all?

Defeated, he slumps back on the bed, raising the keys above his head. Three keys, one for the building gates, one for the unit, and one for the bedroom – a single bedroom. Himchan’s brows shot up to his forehead, he surprised himself at how quick that idea just popped on his head.

A single bedroom.

For sharing.

With Yongguk.

The man shoots back up from where he had slumped himself into, mouth slightly agape, and his eyes wider – maybe at the realization, maybe at the enlightenment, or maybe, just maybe, at the anticipation.

He heard himself gulp. Hard.

Hard.

There was a creeping warmth in three distinct places. On his face, on his ears… and…

DING DONG.

---

“Hey!” a little surprised, a half step back.

There he was, the very source of his agony, looking back at him – in his shabby pants and his lose sweat shirt, plastered with a half surprised, half smiling face, sheepishly grinning and shifting on his feet.

“H-hey,” was all Himchan could muster.

“So, um, not wanting to come across like a creeper but,”

“But?”

“You weren’t answering my calls,”

“Oh…?”

“Yeah! And then…”

The man scuffles from where he stood, trying to reach into his small backpack that was loosely dangling behind him, to no success. He half bows in embarrassment as he tries to bring the stubborn piece in front of him.

Himchan looked at the adorable sight before him. It was both adorable and awkward at the same time. Himchan made a mental note that Yongguk had this tiny thing inside him that made him make a run for it when Himchan refused to answer his calls. A few more shuffling and shifting, Himchan his eyebrows in wonder as to why Yongguk was giving him a really sheepish grin.

 “Uh…” the low baritone rolls off the taller man’s throat.

“Yeah…?”

“Uh, I don’t suppose I can come in, no?” he giggles a bit.

“Aw --”

And Yongguk laugh rings through the house.

Himchan shifts in his heels and ushers the other man inside, constantly bowing as he apologizes for his lack of manners. Yongguk continues laughing with his nasally laugh that rings from his throat, as he expertly removes his shoes from his feet.

Himchan noted how Yongguk had become so comfortable inside his house, far different from how he was more than a year ago when they first hung out with one another. These days, Yongguk could remove his shoes and expertly line them on Himchan’s doorstep without even looking and walk to his couch as if he grew up in the same place. Himchan notes how relaxed the other man seemed around the house, as he slumped in his seat. The taller man continued rummaging through his backpack as Himchan prepared tea.

Several thoughts ran through his head as he scouted the man through his peripheral vision. It was as if Yongguk really belonged where he was right now. The sight of their shoes together, and the way he slumped comfortably on the couch, without a care in the world.

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.

Maybe, just maybe, this was the best idea.

Himchan sighs.

What could he possibly lose? The stakes are all to his advantage. If he would seriously think about it, the place was really convenient – it’s at the center of everything. The university would be a station away, and the agency would be just minutes away. There’s a convenient store right across the street and even a grocery down the corner. The nearest mall is another station away opposite of his university. What more could he ask for? He doesn’t even need to pay rent anymore.

And of course—

He glances to his side, almost as if it was the most embarrassing this in the world.

Yongguk looked like he was meant to be in that couch. In his couch.

Maybe, just maybe, they really did belong.

“Hey, tell you what,” he starts,

“We can take the couch with us,” he continues with a beaming smile of his face.

But as Yongguk’s face lights up with an evident smile on his face, Himchan finds that Yongguk had a triumphant grin – not because of what he just said. Actually, it appeared that the other man had already zoned out, too intent at what he was doing.

Yongguk pumped his fist up on the air with a gallant vibe of success, and as Himchan’s eyes traced up to the man’s arm, to where his fists were – a horrified expression easily swept through his face.

“I found your phone Himchan! You left it behind earlier,” he said as he waved the device.

But in Himchan’s mind, all he could think about were all the compromising photos he had saved in that phone – along with a thousand videos, voice recordings and pictures of Yongguk that he had snapped.

.

- - -

Very, very long A/N: It’s been a while. I’m finally back and I hope some of you are still reading. I know we’ve all been through a lot these past few months, our boys most of all. I’m not even sure if it’s tasteful or even decent to upload more chapters of this fic, but hey, I ought to finish what I started. Let’s all hang in there.

Anyway, I had a lot of things sorted out in my life. About a couple of months ago, I decided I needed a fresh perspective, so I packed my bags and left to travel. Needless to say, rediscovering the world will really change the way you see and perceive things. I went to South Korea last November, it was different from what I imagined, the experience was quite an eye opener. I just got back from Malaysia recently, and I regret not meeting up with some BABYs from the area that I’ve grown to know. Now, I’m off again, but first, these chapters. Let’s all support one another. If there’s anything I’ve learned these past few months – it’s that everything shall pass. It’s all a challenge and with enough faith and strength, you will overcome whatever is thrown your way. So let’s keep our faiths.