He bows at the club owner as he puts the last of the tray he just wiped. The bartender, a handsome man who insists that people call him Micky offers one of his specialties but Sunggyu politely rejects it, deciding that he should stay sober if he wants to write at least five pages of his report tonight (or morning, it’s long pass midnight he’s sure).

‘Oh you are going home? Bye-bye Doctor,’

Sunggyu chuckles as he closes his locker and rights his brown jumper. ‘I’m going to be a nurse, G.O-sshi,’

‘Same difference. Don’t talk to strangers on your way home,’

He rolls his eyes at the usual joke they always use on him. On nights when he works here, at least three if not all of them will make jokes about this. He always acts as if it annoys him, telling them he is more mature than many of the club’s employee even if he is the youngest there. He gives a last smile to the cook who is cleaning the steel table and waves his last goodbye (and hears that joke again) before he steps out of the club to the same dirty alleyway. ‘At least there’s no random bastards today… or an attacked idol,’ he chuckles as he takes his usual turn and starts walking.

Three weeks ago, he was definitely surprised by Woohyun’s revelation of their first meeting (well, everyone who was sort of kidnapped, locked in the door that really didn’t have a knob inside with the kidnapper trying to take his pants off –celebrity or not- would be shocked beyond words. He had threatened to throw the camera he had to the “precious part” if Woohyun was thinking that all fans –though he stressed that he wasn’t a fan- were easy . Woohyun had laughed, literally rolling on the floor even until his right leg smashed against the couch and he started to wail in pain. Despite his uncertainty, he had kneeled beside the man to check on the said leg and when he noticed the white bandage on the ankle, he had rolled the sweatpants up to find the whole area of the calf being bandage tightly. That was when Woohyun started talking about their first meeting.) 

‘Well, at least I know Frog prince doesn’t exist. Being a superstar idol sure is tiring, huh, Can-sshi.’ He bends down and picks an empty can some irresponsible freak must have dumped here just because it’s an alley.

‘Being a waiter who talk to empty can he randomly picks up is probably more tiring in my opinion,’

Sunggyu jumps at the sudden voice, accidentally crumpling the can he is about to throw. ‘Woohyun! I thought you are in Indonesia.’

The said man comes closer under the small light Sunggyu makes the club owner put on last week after the incident (he omits the idol part of course), then slings an arm over Sunggyu’s shoulders. ‘We went to Prague, darling, which is way on the other side of the world. Now, how about a kiss for this heartbreaking reunion?’

He presses his knuckles on the puckering lips and walks away after throwing the can, Woohyun not having a problem at all sticking to him. ‘You are really so not the image Sungyeol has been feeding me.’

‘Aw, you even research about me now? Let’s kiss and celebrate.’

Sunggyu elbows the other as they come to the end of the alley where many people are starting to come to view. Usually at this hour, there won’t be much people around but today being Friday night (Saturday morning to be exact) people seem to be reluctant to go home. He stops a couple of steps from the end of the two buildings and Woohyun frowns. ‘Why are we stopping? You need to pee?’

‘No,’ he deadpans, ‘There’s a crowd out there, you sure you should just walk out?’

‘Don’t worry, I got my disguise on.’ Woohyun smiles and takes off his cap. Putting it on Sunggyu’s head, he suddenly produces a zombie mask and puts it on, adding a wiggling peace sign beside the deformed face.

‘Thank you for being here, Howon-sshi.’ Sunggyu says the moment he climbs in after shoving Woohyun into the black van. He can still hear people giggling behind him while he closes the door. ‘Or I will die from this pure embarrassment.’

Howon laughs as he signals to the right, carefully easing the car in the traffic as Woohyun complaints about having trouble finding his seat (his head is close to the floor while his is up in the air). ‘Now you know agreeing to be his friend is a tough job.’

‘Yeah, but I don’t even know when we exchange numbers and mailing address when suddenly, I’m already receiving selca upon selca, and not forgetting those random messages.’

‘But you love it,’ Woohyun says, finally out of his zombie mask and somehow manages to sit properly beside him. ‘I know you are lonely without my messages.’ Sunggyu punches the man’s shoulder before he pulls the seatbelt on while Woohyun struggles with his until he turns around and helps the guy. ‘You deserve a kiss, darling.’

‘I am surprised that you guys only know each other for less than a month,’ Howon says while Sunggyu is pushing Woohyun away from the kiss. ‘I would say you guys have known each other at least half of your life.’

‘Because we are soul mates,’ Woohyun says and suddenly snaps his fingers. ‘Hey, that will be a nice line for a song.’

And that’s the end of Woohyun’s playful self. He pulls out his i-Pad and quickly opens a folder Sunggyu knows contain hundreds of lyrics. Woohyun often shows him his work whenever they meet and he thought the guy was bragging at first  –he does brag, never fail to do so- but more than that, he asks for Sunggyu’s opinion. He never really says anything aside from “I guess so” but Woohyun never stops from showing it to him, like now.

‘What do you think?’

‘It’s fine, I guess,’

Woohyun smiles and turns back to screen, continuing his typing. Sunggyu smiles as he looks out the window, filling his vision with the night view.

They get along fast and in Sunggyu’s record, this is the fastest friendship he has ever gotten himself in. Sungyeol and him took about a few weeks of sharing the same study table at the library (because the table is the most secluded of all) and even then, the table sharing happened after they were both done sizing each other up. With Woohyun, such thing as friend has never occurred to him at all. The man is a famous superstar, idolize by people all over the globe. The coincidental meeting -both of them- does not warrant enough impression to click so well and yet here he is, sharing a car with that said superstar.

(That night after Woohyun was done wailing over his calf, he thought Woohyun was just going to reward him for the help he gave and be done with it. Woohyun said he had been looking all over the place for Sunggyu –he even sent someone to scout the mart area- because his manager’s phone, the one Woohyun called using Sunggyu’s phone met the disaster of falling into the toilet bowl and flushed away. Sunggyu had politely said it was fine and it was what everybody in his position would do –the basic standard answer- when all of the sudden, Woohyun hugged him, freezing him once again.

‘Give me your phone,’ said Woohyun and Sunggyu, without thinking much, handed the thing. He watched Woohyun easily decode his phone –and remembered later that the man knew of his pass code- when the door behind them was pounded, a voice calling to check if Woohyun’s inside. Upon hearing Woohyun, the door was opened with a nagging Sungjong telling Woohyun to always bring the key given around. The boy though stopped when he saw Sunggyu, a grin splitting on his face. And the next thing Sunggyu knew, Sungjong was groping him all over; a mystery he has yet to solve up until today.

He thanked the God when Dongwoo arrived later with a love-struck Sungyeol staring only to the man beside him, Myungsoo, together with another person –who he later knew as Howon- who came over and easily peeled Sungjong away from his body.)

‘Should we buy something before heading home?’

He blinks away from the memory and gasps. ‘Oh, I have to go home –mine- today, sorry,’ he turns to Woohyun who is looking as if he had been betrayed. Sunggyu can’t help but laugh which only makes Woohyun pouts. ‘Sorry. I have reports to write.’

‘But I’m free until tomorrow.’

‘Only until the afternoon. You have photo shoot with Sungjong.’

Woohyun groans. ‘Why is Myungsoo exempted?’

‘He’s not exempted, stupid. He has drama filming.’ Howon sighs as he slows down when the light turns orange.

‘Oh…well, we can’t help it then. Howon, I’m sleeping at Sunggyu’s apartment.’

‘What?!’

‘Sure.’

‘Yah!’

*

‘This is very dangerous. What if someone sees you here?’ he unlocks the door and holds it open as Woohyun takes off his sunglasses and pushes his hoodie off his head (Sunggyu insists on him disguising normally).

‘No way, there’s no one around your apartment at all. Has it always been this quiet and human-less? It’s far from the subway too.’

‘That’s why it’s cheap. The house’s pretty good even if it is slightly far away.’ Closing the door, he holds onto Woohyun’s elbow as he takes off his sneakers as his other hands holds on to the fully filled eco-friendly bag.

‘It is. I love it here.’

‘I didn’t say you can keep coming. And you are going home first thing in the morning.’ He presses a punch on Woohyun’s torso and precedes the man into the house and straight to the kitchen.

‘Why are you so cruel…’

He ignores the whine, busying himself with unloading the fresh food on the small bar he has. ‘I’m still surprise we can get this many fresh ingredients in the middle of the night.’

‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way. So what are you going to cook?’

‘I can’t cook.’ Sunggyu looks up from the bag of squids and the two starts staring at each other.

Half an hour later, they are both sitting on the small carpet facing the television with a pot of instant noodle sitting in front of them.

‘You need a table too besides learning how to cook,’

‘Too much hassle and if it bothers you, why don’t you learn how to cook?’ He slaps a pair of chopsticks into Woohyun’s hand and opens the lid. ‘I think we put too much squids, there are more of them than the noodle.’

‘I can cook. I just want you to cook.’

Sunggyu sighs.

They talk about many things during the late night snack. Sunggyu complaining that the squids are unevenly cut and Woohyun reminds him that Sunggyu is the one who does all the cutting, all the while having one string of noodle hanging out is lips. Then they laugh about the show on the television, a rerun of a variety show where Myungsoo is in and Sunggyu tells Woohyun that Sungyeol has probably copy the whole show and keep playing it on his laptop. A while later, Sunggyu talks about how Sungyeol signs him up in a marathon for the “Go Green” campaign organized by the department of law and how two days ago Sungyeol magically threw a cupcake on a girl’s head while she was passing by and how Sungyeol insisted that it was unintentional.

‘This Sungyeol is that Sungyeol who was searching for you like a mother hen who lost her chick the other day at the concert, right?’ Woohyun leans on the sofa, resting his elbow on the fluffy cushion with his body turned wholly to Sunggyu’s side.

‘Yes, that Sungyeol,’ he mimics the stress and groans when his attempt to make a perfect swirling while peeling the apple ends the moment he accidentally raises the knife higher. He continues the peeling, glancing up once at Woohyun who looks quite contemplative right now. ‘Why? Are you ready to let me tell him I know you? Because I always want to and hiding this makes me feel bad.’

‘No, it's because you keep talking about him...I got jealous,'

A string of chuckles bubbles out of him. 'He's my friend, the one I see every single day.'

'I know that. He likes Myungsoo, no?’

‘Nope, he adores him, which is why I hope-’

‘Can’t,’ Woohyun cuts, and Sunggyu drops his hands on his lap. Woohyun quickly smiles and looks up the ceiling. ‘It’s too risky. The only one who knows about our relationship is Howon and that’s because he is my manager and I can’t hide much from him. It’s not like I don’t trust Sungyeol, I do, but after that night, I have to be more cautious. You told me to be cautious too and that’s what I’m doing.’

‘But Sungyeol is my friend, best friend.’

‘Did you realize that I just refer to us as in having a relationship?’ Woohyun says instead and begins to laugh.

Sunggyu on the other hand scoffs and continues peeling the apple, knowing well that that’s the end of the discussion over the matter. Numerous times before, he had been questioning this matter and numerous times too, Woohyun will reject the idea of letting anyone at all knows about them being friend with each other. He understands about the secrecy but at the same time, Sungyeol is his best friend, and also the main link to their reunion after that fateful night, besides the fact that his adoration to a certain Kim Myungsoo is turning into an unstoppable worship. But whenever Woohyun starts talking about something else, Sunggyu knows that it’s the end of the discussion.

‘Hey, why are you not dating anyone?’

The suddenness of the question throws him off, halting his peeling abruptly in favor of eyeing the man before him who is currently staring at him under half lidded eyes. ‘You are sleepy.’ He glances over to the wrist watch on Woohyun’s left wrist. ‘It’s half pass three am, no wonder.’

‘Not really, I’m still fine. Come on, tell me about your ideal type.’

Hastily, he cuts a piece of the apple and forces it into Woohyun’s mouth. ‘I’m not telling you.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I need to write my report,’ And he stands, gathering the empty pot and other utensils, leaving only the fruits with Woohyun before heading to the kitchen.

‘That’s not the best answer. And I’m going to be bored. Come back here, we’ll talk about sea creatures or the tangerine farm I went to in Jeju a day before I went to Prague.’

‘Later. Entertain yourself, I’m busy.’

‘How can you treat a superstar like this?’

‘Then go to sleep.’

‘I’m not sleepy.’

There’s a loud whine from the living room but Sunggyu continues dumping the dirty dishes into the sink and goes to his room in search of his laptop. It must have look like he is running away, which in fact, he is, but he’ll worry about that later. He has his own reason and Woohyun doesn’t need to know. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

When he finally comes out again (probably fifteen minutes later) with his laptop and some papers, Woohyun is already curling on the floor with the apple he only half peels in his hand, sleeping. To say that he is surprise, he kinds of expect this when there was no complain for the past fifteen minutes.

This is not the first time Woohyun sleeps in the middle of their hang out session. He remembers a week ago, Woohyun messaged him while he was on lunch break. They talked about random things, mostly Sunggyu telling him about his upcoming classes. Woohyun replied fast, he always does, so when one of the messages didn’t come until after half an hour later when Sunggyu was already in the lecture hall, an abundant of stupid pictures kept coming. ‘I thought you are sulking. I’m about to send a dozen of red roses’ was what Woohyun said when he phoned right after Sunggyu replied the message three hours after the lecture was done.

He crawls over Woohyun, holding himself up with a palm as the other hand is busily as well as carefully gathering the apples and tangerines back into the plate. Looking down, he waves a hand over Woohyun’s face before slipping his fingers on the apple in Woohyun’s clutch. Carefully, he peels the thumb away first to get a better grip of the fruit, then he pulls a little too harshly, which instantly proof to be a mistake when Woohyun turns around and somehow kicks the only hand supporting him. Needless to say, he falls down right on Woohyun’s stomach, exerting a loud ‘OOF’ from the man below him while he hits his forehead on the floor.

‘Sunggyu…You are heavy,’

‘Thanks for the enlightenment,’ he rubs his forehead, whining too as he pushes himself up. ‘Sorry, but technically, it’s your fault too.’

He feels the body under him shaking before he hears tired chuckles on his way up. Sunggyu pauses, hovering over Woohyun who is giving a sheepish smile while rubbing on his eyes. ‘Darling, I was peacefully sleeping when you decide to jump me. I know I’m y and all, everybody thinks so too, but- OOF,’

This time he makes sure to put extra push so the weight of his fall doubles. Woohyun groans but otherwise still chuckles while hugging Sunggyu by the waist. ‘Aww, you mad?’

‘This is what they call “superstar” sickness, isn’t it?’

‘No, this is called “jump Woohyun” sickness that you’ve caught.’

He hugs Woohyun and squeezes the man as hard as he can while giving a few soft punches to his sides. Docile however is not part of Woohyun too as he hugs tighter and gives some punches –soft, probably softer than his in Sunggyu’s opinion –too. They end up tickling each other, which Sunggyu quickly surrender, face buries deep in the sturdy shoulder under him. He gasps for Woohyun to stop couple of times but is ignored until Woohyun himself loses his energy.

‘We spill the fruits,’ he says in between gasps for air, too tired to move away from laying on top of Woohyun.

‘Don’t worry, fruits won’t dirty your carpet, darling.’

‘I’m curious, looks like you always manage to find ways to call me darling. It’s erted coming from you.’ His body rocks along Woohyun’s laugh and Sunggyu pushes himself away, not liking the extra movement. However, not an inch separates them since the hands on his back suddenly grip him back down. He raises his brows and Woohyun just grin.

‘Because you are a darling, that’s why I have to call you that.’

‘That’s greasy,’ he pushes away again but Woohyun’s hold keeps him trapped. ‘What now? I thought you said I’m heavy.’

Woohyun smiles and closes his eyes. ‘Let’s stay like this for a while.’

A while becomes hours and the next time he opens his eyes, he has his fists clutching on Woohyun’s loose sleeveless tee and face leaning on the man’s chest, right where the heart is drumming to the peaceful rhythm of the owner’s sleep. Sunggyu loosens his grip and makes a quick analysis of the situation; they are sleeping on the floor facing each other (more like, he is facing the chest), his head is on the floor (which explains the warning strain his neck is giving from the moment he wakes), Woohyun is sleeping on his own arm (and snoring too through the small opening his lips slightly make) and Woohyun’s other arm is cozily hugging him by his midriff, tight if he must add.

The last part of the analysis wakes him up the most. He moves away not so gently and makes sure there’s a gap between them as Woohyun just turns and lays on his back, continuing his sleep without a care. Sunggyu on the other hand covers his face for a moment before he scrambles to his feet and heads for the bathroom.

When he comes out later, Woohyun is already awake and is talking on his phone while blindly scratching his head. Sunggyu walks to the kitchen instead and takes out two mugs and two instant coffee-mixes as he presses the electric kettle on and waits.

‘Morning,’ Woohyun greets with a big yawn while putting on his jacket. Sunggyu frowns and fortunately, Woohyun doesn’t keep him curious for too long. ‘Howon is waiting down there.’

‘I thought you are free until afternoon? It’s only… What time is it?’

‘Nine freaking am. He said schedule change, that devil. Are you making coffee?’

Sunggyu nods. ‘For you too,’

‘Aww, darling,’

‘Stop that.’

Woohyun just chuckles and pulls his hoodie on. ‘Too bad I don’t have time for that. I’ll text you.’

He stays silent, back resting against the kitchen counter, eyes staring at the space where Woohyun was before he dashes away. This time, separating feels a little different. The moment his electric kettle signals that it’s done, Sunggyu lets a sigh out. ‘Of course it’s different. This is my house. And we had a sleepover, the first ever.’ He chuckles to himself and switches the kettle off before pouring the hot water in a mug.

But no, it’s not just that. Something’s amiss here and he doesn’t know what.

*

‘Here.’

There’s a hint of suspicion from the way Sungyeol’s forehead creases and his cautious questioning of ‘There’s no stupid things like cockroach in here, right?’ while he twists the eight inches small box in his hand. Not yet done with his teasing, Sunggyu just shrugs and peels his tangerine in silence. Then a repressed scream comes.

‘Hyung, hyung how do you know I want this?’ the other boy holds the sunglasses with the tips of his index fingers and thumbs, admiring the elegant blackness at an arm’s length. ‘This is so… Myungsoo wears this just last week when they were heading to Taiwan and-and, Sunggyu-hyung~’

He gets an armful of Sungyeol for the next five minutes or so, and will probably be longer if he doesn’t threaten to destroy the gift if he doesn’t remove himself from squishing him. It doesn’t take a second threat this time (unlike other days where he has to throw at least a dozen on the boy) because Siwan passes by and Sungyeol is excited enough to brag at his fellow course mate.

Watching Siwan admiring the sunglasses with Sungyeol, Sunggyu almost misses the incoming text message. Long stretch of smile grazes his lips when he sees the sender.

‘Bet my gift is the talk of the town now’ Sunggyu shakes his head and sends a reply. ‘Get real, it’s just a shade.’

‘One that I stole from Myungsoo. That’s big darling. You can auction it and buy a car with the money.’

He chuckles and just then Sungyeol is forbidding Siwan from trying the shades on. ‘And I kind of think Yeol has the feeling that his absolute idol touch it. He’s making sure no one touches it but him. But, isn’t Myungsoo-sshi looking for his missing shades?’

‘He got plenty more, he’ll get over it. So… you are not mad anymore right?’

Sunggyu frowns, rereading the text twice before he replies. ‘When was I mad?’

‘During the sleepover… I just want to keep us to us only, okay?’

‘Hyung, I love you lots,’ Sungyeol suddenly say right in his ear, hugging him from the back with a very tight grip. He quickly puts his phone screen down on his lap and pats the arms around his neck.

‘You are choking me, get away.’ Sungyeol just squeal before going back to his seat and carefully covers the shades with the tissues before closing the small box. ‘Where’s Siwan?’

‘Don’t know don’t care,’

He shakes his head as the boy opens the box again and admires the pair of sunglasses again, mind obviously only on the item in that box, making Sunggyu sighs at the cuteness of it all. Maybe next time he should ask Woohyun to take something of Myungsoo’s again, though it sounds a bit erted. The thought reminds him of the unanswered text. Looking at the phone from under the table, he reads the last message once more and again, his thought strays in wonder. ‘What does that even mean? And how do you want me to answer this?’

‘Hyung, something wrong?’ Sunggyu shakes his head immediately, maybe a little too forceful because Sungyeol closes the box and puts his focus solely on him. ‘You look distracted these days, I don’t like it. If something’s bothering you, you can, no, should tell me. I’m your one and only guardian angel here.’

Sunggyu chuckles. ‘You? Angel? Wow…’

‘You .’

His phone rings and instead of replying Sungyeol verbally, he mouth the same words back at the younger boy as he greets the caller with an overly enthusiastic ‘hello’.

‘Well, you sound excited. I thought you are seething with anger,’

He quickly excuses himself, not missing the suspicious eyes narrowing on him. He smiles apologetically and leaves their table to the stand under a tree a few feet away. ‘Woohyun, is something wrong? You