Youngbae was fairly certain that it had never taken him this long to get dressed before...ever. He sighed at his reflection for what must have been the hundredth time since he had gotten home an hour previously.

Seunghyun said that he would be there at 6:15pm, and knowing the older man as he did, Youngbae knew that Seunghyun would be at least three minutes late. This meant that Youngbae had about 10 minutes or so to finish getting ready. This was probably not going to happen. Youngbae sighs again and pulls the black hat he was wearing down over his eyes.

“I am so pathetic.” He moans into the brim before squeezing his eyes shut and squaring his shoulders. He pulls his hat off of his face and holds it at his side while he appraises his look, a white t-shirt and blue jeans, before heading toward the closet; there was no way he was going to go out looking like this. It was at that precise moment that the doorbell rang and he was forced to stop in his tracks.

It rings again and he’s forced to admit that it is possible that Seunghyun was early. He walks toward the buzzer and unlocks the door from there, shouting ‘hello’ as he races back into his room, hoping that he can get back there and change before Seunghyun says anything.

“Do you like pizza?” Youngbae hears Seunghyun ask, causing him to stop in his tracks again. He stares at the interior of his room for a second before turning around and heading toward Seunghyun’s voice.

“What?” He asks as he gets closer to the door. He sees Seunghyun standing there, looking sharp in all-black, and immediately wished he had been able to disappear and change.

“Seungri suggested I eat at this pizza place downtown, but I’ve never been.” Seunghyun says, a smile playing at the corner of his lips as he looks at Youngbae. “So I wanted to know if you wanted pizza for dinner.”

“Ahh,” Youngbae says, momentarily lost for words. He honestly couldn’t picture Seunghyun eating in a pizza place looking the way that he did. “Yeah, I love pizza.” He says, his face almost immediately flushing as he realizes that he will be eating with Seunghyun alone. Why is that such a big deal? You’ve done so multiple times. That may be, but there was something about tonight that felt very distinctly...different.

“Great. Let’s go then.” Seunghyun says, turning toward the door with a nod. Youngbae makes a slightly strangled noise as he realizes that he hasn’t changed into anything more suitable since his last look in the mirror. “What?” Seunghyun asks, turning to look at him.

“Ahh, I’m not dressed...” Youngbae stutters out, cursing himself immediately for having lost the ability to speak properly - oh shut up, he looks hot and you’re there wearing jeans and a t-shirt. His face goes a shade darker than previously and he keeps his face averted from Seunghyun’s in the hopes that the older man won’t notice.

“You look dressed to me.” Seunghyun says, his voice slightly confused as he turns back around to look at Youngbae. “I’m not sure how you could improve...” He continues and Youngbae looks up, not certain if he should take that as a compliment or an insult. Seunghyun was smiling lightly, and if Youngbae didn’t know any better he would say that he had definitely caught the older man checking him out.

“Alright...let’s go.” Youngbae says, taking a deep breath and deciding to believe that Seunghyun had given him a compliment. He also decides to bury the part of him that is so desperate to know why that makes him so happy. He hears Seunghyun chuckle softly behind him as he slips on a white pair of shoes and that makes him smile as well. God, why am I so giddy? He asks himself as he lets them both out of his apartment and locks the door behind them.

“Don’t forget about your hat.” Seunghyun says softly before Youngbae can shut the door all the way. He blinks in confusion at the statement before realizing that he had dropped his hat next to him on the floor while he was putting on his shoes.

He dashes back inside quickly and grabs it, shutting the door just as quickly and turning to face Seunghyun. “Alright, ready!” he says cheerfully, suddenly possessed by an excitement that he doesn’t truly feel. Seunghyun smiles and reaches forward, grabbing the hat out of his loose grip and placing it firmly onto his head.

“Now we’re ready.” Seunghyun says, his hand lingering on the edge of the hat for a moment before he turns and presses the call button for the elevator.

Youngbae is momentarily stunned by the gesture and very suddenly he realizes that he’s probably not going to make it through the night. He’s already flustered and he doesn’t remember ever thinking that Seunghyun was more than just suavely handsome. Now, now his mind was telling him that the older man was smooth and y; that the way that Seunghyun spoke was rich and deep and like honey or smooth melted chocolate. It was ridiculous, because he never thought like that, and it was even worse because he was thinking it about Seunghyun, his boss, his friend.

Seunghyun touches Youngbae’s back lightly to propel him into and out of the elevator, and Youngbae’s traitorous body has the indecency to shiver both times. He could have avoided the contact, he knows this, if only he hadn’t been so lost in his own swirling thoughts of confusion. He makes it into Seunghyun’s car without needing the door opened for him, and he decides, right then and there, that he’s going to drink that night. Youngbae was going to drink until he was stopped because he feels giddy like someone on their first date, and he just wants to be comfortable around Seunghyun; like he used to be.

Admittedly, getting drunk was probably not the answer, as who knew what could happen or how out of control he could be. Youngbae didn’t care right then though, because if he was drunk, even just a little, maybe then he could look Seunghyun in the eye again. Maybe if he were just a little bit drunk he would be able to talk without stuttering and actually hear the words that the older man was saying instead of just hearing the deep and soothing sound of his voice.
***

Seunghyun had never seen Youngbae this drunk before. Actually, to be perfectly honest, he could count on one hand the number of times he had seen Youngbae drink anything at all.Youngbae didn’t start drinking until they got to the club; their dinner at the pizza place had been sufficiently awkward for everyone apparently, which Seunghyun assumed was the reason why Youngbae was drinking vodka drinks like they were water. In retrospect, going out to dinner like that was an awful idea, but they ate, and though the conversation was stilted and repetitive, it had given Seunghyun some insight into what could be bothering Youngbae.

Though he wasn’t normally one to talk about his own attractiveness, the wide-eyed stares and the traveling gaze that had become Youngbae’s recent forte were enough to make Seunghyun feel like he needed to count it as a possibility; and if the flushed face and stuttering speech that had littered their unfortunate dinner that night were anything to go by, then Seunghyun would have to say that Youngbae seemed to find him attractive. The stuttering and the staring were a new phenomenon, however, which just made this whole thing rather more confusing than Seunghyun could ever have imagined. Had Youngbae just suddenly realized that he was attractive? Had the younger man always thought so but had just suddenly started to think about it recently? His lip twitches up in amusement at that but he forces the thoughts from his head as he refocuses on his drunk friend.

Youngbae was out on the dance floor, as per usual, but his movements were more erratic and he was happily dancing with anyone who came close enough to him. This was a first and was part of the reason that Seunghyun was watching so intently, the other part was that he found Youngbae incredibly attractive when he danced. Do you now? No, no the other part of why he was watching was because Youngbae was drunk and he wanted to make sure that he would be okay. Of course. Seunghyun hated it when his mind patronized him, and it had been doing it a lot lately, especially when Youngbae was concerned.

Seunghyun’s mouth turns down in a slight frown as he watches someone try to dominate Youngbae’s attention. His mouth goes dry and his face falls into a look of disgust as the person moves in front of Youngbae and places their hands on his waist. Rather suddenly, Seunghyun is standing far closer to the dance floor than he remembers being just seconds ago, but the overwhelming urge to rip what he now recognizes as a young man off of Youngbae is powerful and is pushing him to move closer. He clenches his hands into fists and tries to will himself to sit back down before Youngbae notices him, but just then his younger friend turns his head away and their eyes meet.

Seunghyun’s freezes completely before trying to will the anger out of his features. It takes Youngbae a moment to focus his eyes but once he does, a bright smile crosses his face and he breaks out of the hold the other man has on him and walks a little unsteadily toward Seunghyun.

“You gonna dance?” Youngbae asks, his eyes crinkling up into a smile as if the thought of Seunghyun dancing was the funniest thing in the world to him.

Seunghyun grabs Youngbae by the shoulder to steady him and shakes his head. “I don’t dance.” He responds, his voice deeper than normal and he watches as Youngbae’s eyes move between focused and unfocused for a couple of moments.

“Oh, yeah.” Youngbae says, his mouth falling into a frown before he looks back up at Seunghyun, tilting his head to the side. “I can teach you.” He says, pushing himself closer and causing Seunghyun to take a step back in surprise. “But not out here.” He mutters, and the music is too loud for Seunghyun to really catch what Youngbae had said, but Youngbae is pushing him backward so Seunghyun clues back into what is going on and turns to walk back to the table. “No, no, no.” Youngbae says once they reach the table, and Seunghyun has to bite back the laugh that wants to escape at the pouty expression on the younger man’s face.

“What? I thought you wanted to sit down.” Seunghyun says, his laughter seeping into his voice as he sits down and tries to pull Youngbae into the seat across from him.

“You can’t dance sitting down.” Youngbae says, and he looks so confused that Seunghyun can’t help but to make a small cooing noise in the back of his throat.

“No, you can’t, but I don’t dance so it’s okay.” He says, though he instantly regrets it as Youngbae seems to take offence to that and is visibly upset. “What’s the matter, Bae?” Seunghyun asks, pulling him closer.

“I’m going to teach you how to dance but I can’t do that if you’re sitting.” Youngbae says, his head hanging as he stands in front of Seunghyun. Seunghyun gives Youngbae credit for coherency while being completely drunk, but he shakes his head anyway.

“I can’t dance, and I don’t think that you are in the right state to help me learn anyway.” Seunghyun realizes just a second too late, again,  that he’s said the completely wrong thing as now Youngbae looks to be both on the verge of crying as well as ready to prove him wrong.

“Take me home.” Youngbae says, but then shakes his head. “I’m leaving.”

Seunghyun is completely confused by this sudden turn of events, and so he lets go when Youngbae pulls his hand away and starts walking unsteadily toward the exit. Once he realizes his mistake he hurries to catch up and manages to direct Youngbae into his car, which was harder than he had imagined it would be as absolutely everything that Youngbae saw made him forget what he was trying to accomplish.

Once settled into the car, Seunghyun checks that Youngbae is wearing his seatbelt for probably the eighth time before turning the car on and leaving the parking lot. “Where are we going?” Youngbae asks, reaching over to play with the stereo and fiddle with the air conditioning and heating.

“I’m taking you home.” Seunghyun says, slapping Youngbae’s hands off of the controls. Youngbae makes a light growling noise at that and instead moves around in his seat for a couple of moments causing Seunghyun to glance at him multiple times in alarm. “Bae, you gotta sit down properly.” Seunghyun says, suddenly glad that he his friend wasn’t a big drinker.

“It’s uncomfortable.” Youngbae whines, pulling at the seat belt before reaching down to take off his shoes.

“No, Bae, leave your shoes on, we’re almost there, I promise.” Seunghyun says, starting to panic. He wasn’t sure what Youngbae was planning to do, but he didn’t want to have to try to gather all of his discarded items while also trying to get him up to his apartment.

“I don’t like sitting.” Youngbae says, leaving his shoes on but untied.

It was a split-second decision that had Seunghyun pulling into his own apartment building’s parking garage. As he was parking the car he imagined that he would probably regret the decision later, but he needed to get Youngbae out of the car soon before he decided that opening the door would be fun. He wouldn’t do that. You just don’t want to leave him. Seunghyun scowls slightly at his thoughts as he propels himself out of the car so that he can meet Youngbae on the other side.

“This isn’t my place.” Youngbae says, taking the hand that Seunghyun offered him as he got out of the car.

“No, it’s mine.” Seunghyun mutters, his mind racing for thoughts on what he should do once he gets Youngbae upstairs.

“But you said that you were taking me home.” Youngbae says, pausing in his steps in the middle of the parking garage and causing Seunghyun to falter when he can’t get Youngbae to budge.

“Yes,” Seunghyun says pausing briefly to think up any kind of excuse. “But then I remembered that you wanted to show me how to dance and my living room is much bigger than yours.” He says. Youngbae nods lightly and Seunghyun is now able to make the younger man follow him to the elevator.

“But Seunghyun,” Youngbae says suddenly as the elevator doors close and their on their way to the fifth floor. “I don’t need a lot of space to help you dance.” And suddenly Youngbae is too close and Seunghyun has to keep his eyes looking up at the changing numbers over the door, thanking anyone he can think of that he lived on such a low floor when the door opened and he was able to break away from Youngbae’s closeness.

“No, maybe not, but I also wanted some water.” He mutters, knowing that the excuse was lame but hoping that Youngbae would just let it be. Seunghyun fumbles with the lock on his door as Youngbae again enters his personal space, this time from behind.

“I’m thirsty.” Youngbae whispers, wrapping his arms around Seunghyun from behind and resting his head against the taller man’s back. Seunghyun almost drops his keys but catches them and manages to steady his hand just enough to fit the key in.