Saturday night and Gain was treating the girls to a girl's night out. They'd decided on club hopping and Heechul figured they'd be gone into the morning hours. Simon had work at his tattoo parlor and Leeteuk was staying in to work on music.

Heechul would be pretty much alone. First thing he did one he was, was push the furniture out of the way. He brought all the pillows he could find and piled them around with some blankets. He was planning on catching up with all the scary movies he'd been putting off because the girls never wanted to watch them. Heechul popped some popcorn, filling a big bowl and grabbed a beer.

Leeteuk was composing with headphones attached to his keyboard, so Heechul felt like he was pretty much alone. He would have been , but he wasn't that alone. He stuck with a pair of red shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Putting a zombie movie in to play, Heechul cuddled himself up in his blanket fort and settled in for a long movie night.

Letting himself sink into the movies, Heechul was actually jumping when the scares came. The beer was helping the whole experience as he loosened up, forgetting where and who he was as he whispered to the movie, cheering on the hero.

"Don't go in there," Heechul told the hero. "No, no.. Ugh." He rolled his eyes and finished his beer as the hero started taking an axe to the recent zombie attack.

Heechul let the movie play as he got up and went to the fridge for another beer. When he closed the fridge door, Leeteuk was standing right there and he yelled in alarm before laughing. Leeteuk laughed with him.

"Did I scare you?" He asked.

"Yeah," Chul said, popping the cap off his beer bottle. "Finished working?"

"I need a break," Leeteuk said, moving to look in the fridge and taking out a water bottle.

"I've got blankets and movies if you want in."

Leeteuk had really been wanting to have a talk with Heechul, apologize for how he'd acted. But Heechul didn't seem to want to give him the time for it. Heechul even acted like nothing had happened between them. At least with movies, Leeteuk could make up for how he'd acted by spending time with Heechul.

"Yeah, sounds okay."

Heechul nodded and went back to the front room. "Bring snacks if you want something other than popcorn," he said over his shoulder.

Watching Heechul walk away, Leeteuk could tell this wouldn't be a talking opportunity night either. He looked through the cupboards for a bag of animal crackers and some chips, bringing a couple of bowls with him. Heechul had made a spot for him and Leeteuk settled down on the pillows, setting out his bowls of treats.

Heechul hadn't really wanted any company, but he was a nice enough host to offer. He was still holding a grudge over Leeteuk for assuming that he'd be anything like Hyuna, especially when Leeteuk had still been with Taeyeon. Heechul's inner fire over it was slowly starting to burn down to embers though.

The silence between them was becoming palpably awkward. Heechul could tell that Leeteuk wanted to talk to him. In turn, Heechul didn't feel comfortable talking to his movie while Leeteuk was there. The two of them had never watched anything alone, especially not while both of them were single.

Even though he was itching to make conversation, Leeteuk just sat in the awkward silence. He didn't think he should interrupt Heechul's movie, nor did he really want to get yelled at. Leeteuk even tried to eat silently, so he didn't bother Heechul.

When the credits started rolling on their silence Heechul turned to Leeteuk, offering a smile. "Want to watch another one?"

Leeteuk nodded slowly, searching Heechul's face. "Yeah. Have anything with monsters or ghosts?"

Heechul laughed. "You're asking the master of horror if he has any monsters or ghosts?"

Chuckling, Leeteuk nodded. "I haven't seen a good ghost movie in a while."

Heechul hadn't been kidding when he called himself the master of horror. Leeteuk's first real Halloween celebration had been with Heechul and the other Sharehouse members. They'd transformed the front yard into a graveyard and led neighborhood children through a haunted house, created in the backyard. Leeteuk wouldn't have been surprised if Heechul was already planning this year's Halloween.

The other man was looking through his movie collection when Leeteuk realized he'd been staring at him while he relived memories. He cleared his throat and ate a handful of popcorn.

Finding the perfect ghost movie, Heechul set it in the player and came back to his side of the blanket pile. After pressing play, he leaned over for a handful of Leeteuk's chips.

The silence crept back between them. It was less intense this time as the two of them could focus on the movie from the beginning. They exchanged glances during some of the scarier scenes, unconsciously scooting closer. Their upbringing had been that of superstitions and natural fear of the unknown. Ghost movies scared both of them more than any other kind of movie.

The ghost in the movie showed up in the background in one scene. Then the ghost was suddenly right over the living person's shoulder and Heechul couldn't help but grab for Leeteuk, in turn causing him to jump. They laughed softly at their reactions, but both of them kept a little closer after that, the action getting more intense in the movie.

Heechul pulled his blanket up over his head, peeking out of a little hole. Leeteuk leaned more against him, turning his head to hide it behind Heechul's shoulder when the movie got too much for him.

In the end of the movie, when the ghost was picking who to bring into the afterlife with her, Heechul and Leeteuk had given up on individual blankets and were cuddled under the same one, holding each other.

Leeteuk jumped at the final scare that Heechul had been expecting and he laughed at the older man. Heechul patted Leeteuk's head gently as the credits rolled. Leeteuk slowly dared a glance at the movie and sighed in relief that it was over.

"Did you like it?" Heechul asked.

"Yeah," Leeteuk said as he sat up, looking at Heechul. "Really scary."

Heechul grinned at him. "You're going to have nightmares now aren't you?"

Leeteuk laughed and shoved Heechul over. "You'll be the one crawling into my bed when the bumps in the night freak you out."

Heechul was laughing as he'd been shoved over, lying on his back. But Leeteuk's comment brought back the fire in his guts that still burned. He sat back up, happy mood gone as he fixed a glare at Leeteuk.

"I won't crawl into your bed," he said in an angry whisper.

"Heechul," Leeteuk said. "I'm sorry. That was too far. Look, I've been meaning to apologize over all of that, but you won't ever let me talk to you."

Heechul shook his head at him. "How can you just assume that I'd act like Hyuna? I have morals, unlike her. I wouldn't touch someone who's taken."

Leeteuk sighed. This wasn't how he'd wanted this conversation to go. None of his conversations had gone as planned lately. "I wasn't thinking okay?"

"Clearly. What I wonder now is, do you ever?"

"That's not nice. Heechul, these are just jokes okay?"

"They don't feel like jokes. And why are they always about me being in bed with you?" Heechul scoffed at him, looking away.

Leeteuk blushed and sighed heavily. "Maybe I should move out of here too." He mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" Heechul said, reaching to hold Leeteuk's hand. "Just because we fight a little doesn't mean you have to leave. I like your company, I just feel like you think less of me. Less of me than I want you to." Heechul swallowed and let go of his hand.

Leeteuk had been looking at Heechul's pale hand in his own, tanned one. The long slender fingers that made him a little less masculine. The softness of his skin.

"I don't think less of you Heechul. In fact, I like you more because you had the balls to stop me when I was doing something you knew I'd regret later. Even I knew I'd regret it. But where I should have been thanking you, I took some anger out on you instead."

Heechul closed his eyes before looking to Leeteuk's. "I feel really badly too. I feel like I should have done more to help you and Taeyeon's relationship along. I feel like I should have made the Sharehouse a better place."

Leeteuk shook his head. "Don't think those things. Taeyeon and me weren't really going to happen anyway. She wanted me to give up everything I wanted to do. She wanted me to give up, everything, for her. I don't think a good marriage is about giving up things, I think it's about finding someone who makes you better at what you love doing and reciprocating that together."

Heechul smiled. "I guess I just have some lingering self doubt."

Leeteuk gave him a questioning look.

"Before the Sharehouse, I had this person in my life. He was a lot like Taeyeon. Didn't want me being anyone but his, doing anything but what he wanted. It got really bad, to the point where he'd hit me." Heechul swallowed, wondering why he was telling Leeteuk all this. "He put me in the hospital before I found the strength to end things. My family and friends had to help me keep him away, because after I had told him it was over, I just wanted to keep running back to him. So, I have these lingering feelings like I'm not good enough and that I should be doing more."

Leeteuk had reached to hold Heechul's hand again as he listened. Letting the story sink in, he watched Heechul's face intently.

"I'm also afraid to get close to anyone. Simon's been my friend forever and Gain, I feel completely safe with her. But everyone else, I keep at arm's length." Heechul started feeling self conscious as he spoke. He ended with a forced laugh. "That's more than you needed to know I guess."

Leeteuk smiled and squeezed his hand gently. "I don't mind listening. I feel like Taeyeon could have gotten abusive with me if I would have stayed longer. She was already trying to cut me off from everyone I knew. Who knows, she could have been planning the next stages of verbal abuse to make me her slave." Leeteuk chuckled, hoping Heechul wouldn't feel like he was trying to make light of his story.

"I guess it was wrong of me to try and keep you in that kind of relationship then?" Heechul took his hand back from Leeteuk's hold and pulled a leg up against his chest, resting his chin on his knee.

"Hey, it's not like that. You thought I was happy." Leeteuk tried, getting closer to Heechul again. "We just didn't talk enough was all. We assumed about each other, instead of asking."

Heechul nodded, looking down at his foot. His mood and his voice, still low. "I promise to ask how you're feeling before trying to do anything for you in the future."

Leeteuk smiled and wrapped his arm around Heechul's shoulders, leaning his head against him. "I promise too. I also promise I'll stop doing whatever if you tell me it makes you uncomfortable."

Heechul chuckled and let his leg down so he could wrap his arms around Leeteuk, resting his cheek against his shoulder. "Thank you. I really like your company."

Smiling, Leeteuk nodded. "I like yours too. But I'm pretty sure you're only saying that because you like my body."

Heechul shoved away from him and they both laughed as the younger man got up to put in a new movie.