After Sunggyu and Woohyun managed to make it to Sunggyu’s car unseen, they discussed where they should go eat dinner, while Sunggyu drove.

“So where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know.” Woohyun shrugged. “Anywhere is good.”

“What?” Sunggyu blinked. “But you were the one who wanted to get something to eat.”

“Ah right…” Woohyun nodded.

“And I thought you didn’t have any money.”

“Uh well that’s…”

Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun for a moment. “Maybe we should just call it a night? Besides it’s not like I can go to a restaurant with the whole scandal thing still being fresh…I’m sorry.” Sunggyu sighed. “I knew it was going to be like this—that we would get mauled by reporters. I mean in all honesty, it was worse than usual, but—.”

“It wasn’t that bad, though.” Woohyun cut him off.

“N-Not that bad?” Sunggyu scoffed. “Are you joking? It was—!”

“It was kind of fun.” Woohyun grinned.

“Really?” Sunggyu asked, not believing the other for a moment. “In what way exactly? Because I don’t consider running away from crazy people as an enjoyable pastime.”

Woohyun chuckled. “Well look on the bright side, we got some exercise out of it.”

“…So?” Sunggyu pouted. “What’s so great about exercise?”

“Its fun.” Woohyun stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Fun?” Sunggyu asked. “You actually like to do exercise?”

“Sure!”

“Wow…” Sunggyu shook his head. “There’re all types in this world.”

“Why’s that so shocking?” Woohyun asked, amused by the conversation.

“Name some types of exercise that are fun.” Sunggyu replied, skeptically.

“Ok…well there’s soccer, and sports in general, then there’s running, jogging, weight lifting, dancing, yoga, kick boxing—”

“You really think all those things are…fun?”

“At first I didn’t, but in high school, I tried out for the school play. I wanted the role as the main character, who was an athlete, so I tried a bunch of different sports to get in shape for the role, and to get into the mindset of an athlete.”

“Oh…” Sunggyu nodded. “So you got the role?”

“No…” Woohyun folded his arms, and pouted. “They gave it to some girl…”

“…A girl?”

“Apparently she was more buff than me.” Woohyun sighed.

“Ah…” Sunggyu nodded, forcing himself not to laugh.

“But hyung…she didn’t even have a six pack!” Woohyun complained, completely serious. “I worked for months on my abs!” He jabbed his finger to his stomach to make a point. “They were perfect!”

“Whatever you say…”

“But anyways…after seeing the results of doing all those sports, I figured I should just continue with them, and eventually I got to the point where I enjoyed doing exercise.” Woohyun explained. “That feeling of my heart beating out of my chest, all sweaty and out of breath…ah it feels really good.” He sighed happily, and then turned to Sunggyu. “You know what I mean hyung?”

“…Not really.” Sunggyu shrugged, uncomfortable with the way Woohyun chose to word it.

“It’s like…when you’re body is aching, and you want to stop, but at the same time, it feels so good, that you just can’t—.”

“L-Look food!” Sunggyu hastily turned into the parking lot of some dead end burger joint, desperately wanting Woohyun to stop talking.

Woohyun paused and glanced at the fast food place with its white plastered structure and brightly lit neon sign. “You want to eat here hyung?”

“Uh sure…” Sunggyu turned off the engine.

“Ok…” Woohyun nodded slowly as he undid his seat belt. “How about you stay here and I’ll go in and order the food?” He suggested.

“Ah really?” Sunggyu smiled appreciatively. “That’d be great.”

Woohyun was practically beaming as an idea popped into his head. “But hyung, I know this place we can sit while we eat.”

“Ok?” Sunggyu tilted his head in intrigue.

++

Woohyun directed Sunggyu to what looked like the parking lot to some kind of playing field. After parking the car and getting out, Woohyun grabbed the paper bag with their food and gestured for Sunggyu to follow him.

“Where are we?” Sunggyu asked, as he walked beside Woohyun. He couldn’t see that well, with the only light being a single street lamp planted in the side walk, and the stars scattered across the jet black night sky.

“C’mon.” Woohyun grinned, as he guided Sunggyu across a lengthy stretch of green moist sod. After passing by a metal playground structure they stopped at a little grassy hill, nestled in between clumps of trees. “This is it…” Woohyun announced, stopping at the top of the hill. Sunggyu looked around. It was a humble patch of grass, wedged in between an array of assorted colorful flowers, and some pine trees sat a little farther on.

“Its not much but—.”

“This hill’s just like you.”

Woohyun pouted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s short and kind of adorable.” Sunggyu grinned.

Woohyun was not expecting such a comment, and almost tripped on his own feet.

“L-Lets eat…”

Sunggyu nodded and was about to sit, when Woohyun grabbed his arm.

“Wait a second hyung!”

“What?” Sunggyu watched Woohyun peel off his jacket and lay it down on the damp grass.

“Ok, now you can sit~” Woohyun smiled proudly, gesturing for Sunggyu to sit on his jacket.

Sunggyu shoved Woohyun lightly. “Ya! I told you I’m not a girl!” He grumbled, but Woohyun merely laughed. Sunggyu sighed and started taking off his own jacket.

“Hyung?” Woohyun blinked. “What’re you doing?” Sunggyu placed his jacket down beside Woohyun’s, and then looked up contentedly at Woohyun.

“There. Now we can sit.” Sunggyu announced, and took his seat upon Woohyun’s jacket. Woohyun sat down on Sunggyu’s jacket, and gazed blissfully at Sunggyu, as the older male dug around in the brown paper bag for his food. “So why this place?” Sunggyu piped up, as he handed Woohyun a burger wrapped in paper.

“Huh?” Woohyun blinked.

“Why’d you want to come here and eat?” Sunggyu popped a French fry in his mouth.

“Oh…” Woohyun nodded, taking a bite of his burger. “Well when I first moved here…into the city, I used to wander around a lot. I guess I was just looking for a place to be alone, and then I found this park. It was night when I first walked by here, and there was no one around…it was kind of perfect.”

Sunggyu eyed him for a moment, mulling over what Woohyun had said.

“I mean it’s not like it isn’t fun living with Dongwoo and Sungyeol. They’re great…they really are.” Woohyun explained, and then looked down. “It’s just…whenever I failed an audition or something, they always tried to cheer me up, but sometimes I just wanted to be upset about it…damn that probably sounds pretty selfish, but—.”

“No…I get what you mean.” Sunggyu replied.

Woohyun smiled slightly, before continuing. “They’re both doing so well and I’m really happy for them, but I…I want to do well too.” Woohyun sighed. “I always used to feel really guilty since they always had all this good news to share at dinner, and then I’m there, crying about my stupid failures…that’s why I wanted to find a place I could go and be all sad and stuff by myself, so then I could go home with a smile.” Woohyun finished, feeling embarrassed that he had poured his guts out to Sunggyu so suddenly. He glanced at Sunggyu nervously. “A-And the view’s not so bad either.” He attempted to lighten the mood, gesturing up at the star filled sky.

Sunggyu looked up as well, noticing that Woohyun was right. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen the stars so clear and brightly, since moving to the city.

“There aren’t any lights here, so you can see the stars better.” Woohyun commented.

“Yeah…” Sunggyu gazed at the inky colored sky before turning to Woohyun. “Thanks for showing me this place.”

“Ah its not…” Woohyun looked down shyly. “I just thought that maybe you could use a place like this. Just somewhere you could be alone, and have a little bit of peace…you know away from the paparazzi and everything.”

Sunggyu stared at him for a second, before smiling and hesitantly placing a hand on Woohyun’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

Woohyun smiled awkwardly in return, and then cleared his throat and reached for a fry.

“S-So anyways…”

“So does this mean I can come here whenever I want?”

“Of course!” Woohyun exclaimed.

“Ah but I don’t think that’ll work…” Sunggyu said, causing Woohyun to frown.

“Why not?”

“Because I’d feel lonely being here all by myself.” Sunggyu replied. “I need you to be here too.”

Woohyun blushed. “Really?! I-I mean yeah…I’ll come if you call me, but—.”

“Great then its settled.” Sunggyu announced, with a grin. “This’ll be our secret place. If one of us has a problem or something going on in their life we’ll call the other and then we’ll meet up here.”

++

Woohyun couldn’t stop smiling at Sunggyu as they drove to Woohyun’s house.

“Why are you smiling?” Sunggyu asked, confused.

“Because…” Woohyun beamed. “This was kind of the best day ever.”

Sunggyu blinked, still clueless. “Why?” Woohyun chuckled, but didn’t say anything, causing Sunggyu to pout. “Why is it the best day ever? What happened?” He pressed on, getting annoyed that he wasn’t getting an answer.

“Ah my place is close by.” Woohyun changed the subject, pointing out the window, at his neighborhood.

“Ya…tell me why—.”

“You can just drop me off here.” Woohyun stated, with a grin. “I can walk from here.” But Sunggyu ignored him and maneuvered the car up the drive way, and then parked it there. “Thanks for dropping me off hyung.” Woohyun said, still sitting there smiling at Sunggyu.

“No problem.” Sunggyu nodded, wondering why Woohyun kept looking at him like that. “Uh…” Sunggyu noticed Woohyun wasn’t leaving. “Well…I guess I’ll see you later.”

“O-Oh right!” Woohyun realized Sunggyu was waiting for him to leave. “I’ll pay you back for the movie snacks, and the burgers—.”

“It’s ok.” Sunggyu smiled, and patted Woohyun on the head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Ah really?” Woohyun breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s a load off!”

Sunggyu frowned. “What’s wrong with you? You’re supposed to insist that you’ll pay!”

“Why?” Woohyun asked. “You already said not to worry about it.”

“T-That’s just something people say…” Sunggyu sighed. “Don’t you have any consideration for other people? You’re so—.”

“Ah look at the time! It sure is getting late.” Woohyun cut him off with an amused grin. “See you later hyung!”

“Ya! Woohyun!” Sunggyu continued. “Nam Woohyun!”

Woohyun hopped out of the car, and waved cutely at Sunggyu before shutting the door. He was making his way to the front door, when Sunggyu rolled his window down and started yelling at Woohyun from inside the car.

“Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you Woohyun!” Sunggyu nagged. “Come back here right now!” Woohyun laughed and walked up to the window.

“Hyung you’re being too loud.” He said. “It’s late and people are sleeping.”

“Oops.” Sunggyu quickly put a hand over his mouth.

“I’ll pay you back ok?” Woohyun told him.

“I don’t want your money.”

“What?” Woohyun tilted his head. “But you just said—.”

“You were supposed to insist on paying, and then I was going to insist that it’s fine. That’s how it goes!”

“But what’s the point of that? That’s such a waste of time, when we could just—.”

“Its called consideration for other people!” Sunggyu exclaimed.

“You’re so confusing hyung…” Woohyun sighed.

“Or maybe you’re just too simple.” Sunggyu retorted.

Woohyun pouted, and attempted to come up with a good comeback. “O-Or maybe you’re just…uh…” Sunggyu couldn’t help but grin as he watched Woohyun struggle to come up with something.

“I think I just proved my point.” Sunggyu said, wearing a content smirk.

Woohyun folded his arms. “You’re mean hyung.”

“Better than being stupid.” Sunggyu shrugged.

“Oh yeah?” Woohyun cracked his knuckles. “You want to come out here and say that to my face?”

Sunggyu chuckled and shook his head. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I was just kidding.”

“Oh?” Woohyun fake gasped. “Is Kim Sunggyu a chicken?” He started clucking and walking around in a circle flapping his arms about like a chicken.

“Stop it.” Sunggyu laughed. “Cut it out.”

“Gyu hyung’s a big fat chicken!” Woohyun jeered.

“Ok that’s it!” Sunggyu opened the door, sending Woohyun fleeing across the front lawn. “Come back here you stupid chicken!”

“I’m not the chicken!” Woohyun laughed as he dodged Sunggyu’s grab attempt. “Hyung is!” Woohyun joked, just as Sunggyu tackled him onto the ground and pulled him into a head lock.

“If you’re not a chicken then why are you running away? You should come at me and face me like a man.” Sunggyu voice was low and out of breath, as he whispered in Woohyun’s ear.

“O-Ok…” Woohyun mumbled, the feeling of Sunggyu’s warm body pressed against his back made his heart beat like crazy.

“Ok?” Sunggyu blinked, not expecting such an easy win. “Seriously? That’s it?”

“Mmhm…” Was the only sound Woohyun managed to emit, glad that Sunggyu couldn’t see his face. Sunggyu got off Woohyun’s back and stared at him concerned, as Woohyun stood up, dusting off the dirt on his jeans.

“Are you ok?” Sunggyu leaned closer so that he could get a better look at Woohyun’s face in the dark.

“O-Of course…” Woohyun shot him an awkward thumbs up. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I thought I might of hurt you or something…” Sunggyu said.

“Nope.” Woohyun patted his own arm. “I’m ok.”

“Good.” Sunggyu smiled in relief, when his phone beeped. He took it out and glanced at it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Its just my manager making sure I’m going to sleep soon.” Sunggyu replied. “The press announcement about the scandal—it’s tomorrow morning.”

“What?” Woohyun gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have—.”

“Its ok. Today…spending time with you, it actually helped me a lot.” Sunggyu admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “So thanks.”

“…Y-Your welcome?” Woohyun blinked, clueless at how to respond.

Sunggyu chuckled and headed back to the car. “Ah wait!” Woohyun called out, causing Sunggyu to turn around. “Um…about tomorrow…good luck! And fighting!” He pumped his fist in the air.

Sunggyu grinned and nodded, before getting into his car and driving off.