“Are you here yet?” a whining voice questioned from the other end of a cell phone.

The young man on the other side sighed as he reluctantly replied, “Yes Kibum, I’m almost there. Why are being you so impatient right now?” As he waited for a reply, he heard the other man distantly yelling something that he couldn’t quite make out, most likely directed at one the four others he shared the home with.

Just as he was approaching the the front door to the home in question, Kibum came back on the line, “Well just hurry up,” he barked before quickly hanging up. Woohyun rolled his eyes as knocked on the door, even though there was no need considering he was well aware of the passcode, but for the privacy of the others that were possibly inside as well, he decided against it.

But in less that a whopping ten seconds the door was violently flung open and a half flustered, half aggravated Kim Kibum made his appearance, clad in pair of silk pajama pants and an oversized, ratty looking sweatshirt, that probably did not even belong to him but he would call it designer all the same.

“You’re late,” he hissed before grabbing the other but the forearm and jerking him into the house. “Sorry, sorry, you know how things can be at work, honey,” Woohyun mocked with grease practically dripping down his mouth. Kibum just huffed and rolled his eyes and started dragging the older man behind him towards his room. As they passed through the living, Woohyun curtly waved at Taemin, who was making his residence on the couch. The other just smiled in return as Woohyun was being whisked away to the diva’s bedroom.

Upon entering, Kibum slammed the door shut behind them with a little more force than what would have been needed to get his point across. With that, he his heel to face Woohyun and let out an exasperated groan.“I thought you were never coming! I swear if you ever bail on me again like you did last time, I will block your number, and you know I will.” Woohyun just laughed from his seat on Key’s bed and played at a loose thread on the comforter. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what you always say, but you just can’t stay away,” Woohyun grinned and braced himself as Kibum strutted over to him and brought his foot up to the other’s chest, kicking him down on his back, as he grumbled and crossed his arms.

The only reaction he got from the other man was another fit of laughter as he wailed in between breaths, “You’re so not intimidating at all, I don’t get how people can even begin to think that, oh my God!” By this point, Woohyun had curled in on himself, clutching his stomach in laughter, as Kibum chucked a pillow at his head.  He always got a kick out of poking fun of his best friend’s image because he never quite understood how the public could get his personality so completelywrong.

Kibum huffed again and took a seat on the bed next to the laughing man as he sat up and wiped the moisture around his eyes. “Alright, alright, sorry,” he chuckled one last time, “So what do you want to do? Unless you already have an itinerary ready.” The other scoffed and slapped the other on the forearm but then suddenly got up and went over to the vanity on the other side of the room. “I’m going to do your hair,” he said, casually ruffling through a bag of beauty supplies.

Woohyun stared at the back of his head, eyes, obviously unimpressed with the other’s suggestion. “Really? Why can’t we just watch a movie or something,” he whined, kicking his feet up against the side of the bed.

“We can do that later,” Key turn on his heel and chucks a hairbrush at the other man’s chest, “But right now. It’s makeovers.” He walks back over to Woohyun and drops a handful of hair ties and bobby pins, along with a few little cute hair clips with bows and Hello Kitty on them that had been given to him by fans.  Kibum crawled to the middle of the bed and sat up on his knees behind his friend. Woohyun smirked, “Please don’t make me look too awful,” and with one hard tug to his strands, the process began.

The blonde man above Woohyun began teasing large chunks of the dark hair until it was standing almost straight up. “Yah,”  the man whose follicles were currently being assaulted, barked, “That’s never going to come out! Fix it,” he protested while trying to grab the comb from the other. Key just laughed and hit the other on the head with the plastic tool.

“Okay, okay, calm down grumpy pants,” he teased as he started untangling the clumps on top of Woohyun’s head. After he had brushed it all out, he set to work again. This time he decided to make small braids on the sides of his head and tie them off with colorful, mismatched ponytail holders. He topped it off with a hair clip with a little pink bow on it that pinned back his bangs to the side.

“Aw, you look so cute,” Kibum said only slightly mockingly as he threw his arms around the other’s shoulders and hugged him tight. Woohyun pinched the younger man’s arm and tilted his head to look at him, “Alright, but now I get to paint your nails,” he smirked, almost menacingly.

“Oh, so that’s how you’re going to be, huh?” Key grinned smugly as  he got up and made his way back over to the vanity. “Are you doubting me?” Woohyun spit back, now with a full out grin on his face. “Not even a little,” the younger retorted, opening a drawer and pulling out a little cosmetic bag.

Suddenly, Woohyun toppled over on the bed in another fit of laughter. “I can’t believe you still actually have nail polish!” he sat up and smiled at the other who was currently glaring at Woohyun for his sudden outburst. “Hey, shut up, you bought most of them for me anyway,” he said as he dropped the bag in the lap of the dark haired man.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” Woohyun laughed as he dug through the contents of the bag, “It’s cute,” he smiled as the other sat down on the bed next to him. Kibum held out his hand in front of the other, “Well, get started,” he commanded but Woohyun just slapped it out of the way and continued going through the bag. He finally found a light pink color that he was satisfied and swung his legs on the bed so he was sitting cross-legged and suggested that his friend do the same.

“I haven’t done this in a while so don’t get mad if it doesn’t meet your standards,” he said as he grabbed Key’s hand and rested it on his own knee. But as fate would have it, as soon as he opened it and set course for the other’s fingernails, a huge glob of paint dripped off the end of the brush and covered the back of Kibum’s middle finger. The victim of the horrendous crime slowly looked up and glared at his friend, “Really?” he warned. Woohyun just shook his head and laughed, “We’ll clean it up later. Sorry I’m not some nail painting prodigy,” and Key let out an exaggerated sigh and leaned back, resting his free hand behind him.

From there, the polishing of the nails seemed to go pretty smoothly other than a few slips over the cuticles, but if anything, it was at least charming. Key held up his hands and began blowing over the wet paint, “Not bad, Nam,” he commented, expecting his work.

“You know, I was planning on doing your makeup, but I figured you go through enough of that on a daily basis, so I’ll spare you this time,” Key grinned, and patted his cheek lightly, being careful not to mess up his nails.

“Oh, wow, thank you for being so considerate mister almighty,” Woohyun laughed and pushed his friend down on his back.

“So, how about that movie?” he insisted, but suddenly Key shot up from spot on the bed, “No!” he exclaimed, “I have a much better idea,” he said quite deviously.

“Oh God, what now” Woohyun sighed, resting his head on one hand, watching the other as he reached for his phone off the nightstand. Woohyun instantly knew what his friend was hinting at and couldn’t help but smile and laugh under his breath.

“You do realize the last time we did this Sunggyu was out until four in the morning looking for Sungjong because he really believe he was out drinking at some club,” the older man snickered. This kind of stuff always ended up happening when the two friends were together, it was just inevitable. They either induced wild goose chases after people that weren’t actually missing or traumatized them with false rumors, and to them it only got more amusing each round.

“Oh my gosh, that was the best one,” Key exclaimed while fiddling around with his phone, scrolling through all his contacts. “So who should it be this time?”

Ever since the start of their friendship prank calls had always been a favorite pastime of theirs. Even during the hectic backstage scene just before performances, if the duo found even a minute of free time together they always ended up in an empty hallway dialling away, trying their best to ruin the images of various idols, one after the other. It had almost become a borderline addiction because with every call, they always got a rush of adrenaline and rebellion that they lacked in their perfect idol lives, and they loved it.

Plus they just liked making people sweat.

“Oh man, how good would it be if we got Sungyeol. He thinks he so sly, but I can think of hundreds of ways to get him back,” Woohyun chuckled as he scooted up the bed so he was sitting next to Key, back resting on the wall where it meets the bed.  

Key rolled his eyes, “Woo, don’t be like that. He already thinks I hate him, you don’t need to make him anymore self conscious.” Despite his diva image, it always genuinely upset him when any of Woohyun’s bandmates found him intimidating.

The older let out a groan as he slid down the wall so he was fully laying down. “It’s not like he would even know it was us, but fine, if that’s how you want to be,” Woohyun replied, “Then who else do you suggest?”

“What about Minho? I don’t think we’ve ever got him before,” Key suggested with a quirk of the eyebrow.

“Oh please, I doubt there’s anything that can phase him,” the other man groaned again, throwing his hands up in the air, and then bringing them back down to violently rub at his eyes.

“Nam, just trust me on this one, I know what makes him tick,” the blond man smirked. He playfully flicked Woohyun in the nose, which got him a bite to the finger in return. Key mockingly made a kissy face down at his friend, and then quickly returned his attention back to his phone.

“This is about to be so good, he’s about to be on a radio show, too. This is just so perfect,” Key chuckled, scrolling through his endless contact list in search for this group mate’s number, even though he’s had it memorized for years. “He’s going to be so freaked out.”

Woohyun lifted his head up off of the pillow beneath it and made it comfortable in Key’s lap instead, while Key began absentmindedly playing with the dark strands.

Finally, he found the number and dialed it, first making sure that it would show up as an unlisted number, then he held the phone out in front of both of them and turned it on speaker.

“Don’t say anything, just leave this one to me, okay?” the blond whispered, tugging at one of the braids that still adorned his friend’s head. Woohyun just scrunched up his face, but Key knew that was a sign of agreement. They tended to know each other too well.

After three rings, the unexpecting victim answered.

“Hello?”

Key had to cover his mouth to keep his laughter in while Woohyun just looked up at him, questioningly, unsure of what to expect from his friend.

“Hello? Who’s this?” the tired sounding voice spoke up again.

Finally Key was able to regain his composure, and after a pause for dramatic effect, he took he voice up an octave and let out a hoarse whisper, “Seven days.”

Woohyun just stared up at his friend in shock, unsure if he had heard him correctly. How could this possibly be considered “getting him good”? This was possibly the most overused prank call spiel in the history of all prank call spiels. Well, at least he hadn’t asked if his refrigerator was running.

But just when Woohyun thought the whole thing was ruined, Minho’s sleepy voice came back on the phone, but with more of an edge this time.

“What? What did you say? Who is this?”

Key was struggling once again to contain his laughter, but as soon as he got his giggles to subside, he repeated himself in the same gruff voice, “Seven days.”

“Thi-this isn’t funny, I’m going to…I’m going to call the police.”

But this time it was all too much for the diva and he quickly hung up and threw the phone down on the bed, letting out a roar of laughter.

Even though Woohyun did seem to find the humor in the situation the way his friend did, he couldn’t help but smile seeing the genuine bliss on the other’s face.

After about a minute, Key’s laughter mellowed down to light huffing, and it finally gave Woohyun a chance to ask, “Was he actually freaked out by that, or…?”

Key threaded his hands back into his friend’s hair and answered, “Oh my god, you have no idea. Minho is terrified of that movie. The first time we saw it, he refused to answer his phone for two weeks.”

That caused Woohyun to actually chuckle. He always liked getting learning things about the personal lives of his best friend and his bandmates, because so often the reality of their lives got blurred by the image they created by the public. It was little things like that, that Woohyun lived for, craved. Anything to remind him that he, and everyone else in the industry, were actually real people.

-

After about another hour of calling various, unexpecting, idols and friends, the pair ended up laying side by side on Key’s single bed, red in the face from laughter, and trying to hold said laughter in.

“I’ve really missed this,” the older boy signed, reaching over to ruffle the other’s hair.

Key half heartedly attempted to swat his hand away, but being too mellowed out to care. “Hey, don’t go getting all sappy on me. Save it for your fans.”

Woohyun turned back over on his back, staring up at the ceiling and laughed, “You really think I’m that bad?”

“You mean with your fans? Yeah kind of, but I guess that’s okay, it’s your thing,” Key teased, making a heart with his hands right in front of his friend’s face, which was quickly pushed away.

‘“Shut up, you know that’s not how I really am,” Woohyun retorted.

All of a sudden, the blond man sat up and straddled the other’s hips, making himself comfortable on Woohyun’s chest. “You’re right, the real Nam Woohyun is much worse.”

It’s at that point that war had officially been waged.

Woohyun reached over and grabbed the pillow next to him and flung it at the younger boy’s face, knocking him backwards, and wiggling free from the other’s bottom.

Key clutched the projectile in his hands, glaring at his friend, while the dark haired man only smirked in response. It was on.

Suddenly, Key lurched at the other, knocking him back down and repeatedly pushing the pillow down into his friend’s face. But with one swift movement, Woohyun knocked the other boy off of him and down onto the floor.

It took a minute for the younger man to stand up again, but as soon as he got up, rubbing his back, Woohyun grabbed the pillow from his hands, throwing it straight at Key’s chest.

Key groaned, but before he knew it, the older boy had got up off the bed and had grabbed Key by the waist and spun him around before they boy fell onto the bell.

There they laid next to each other once again, out of breathe from their close combat encounter. Just for good measure, Woohyun took the other pillow that was on the bed and dropped it on Key’s face, and there it stayed because he was just too worn out to care. But to add insult to injury, Woohyun lifted his own head and placed on top of the pillow on his friend’s face, squashing his nose. Key just groaned. He had been defeated.

-

About another two hours had passed, filled with welcoming home a slightly terrified Minho, kicking Taemin out of the living room, and yelling at Jonghyun to take Key’s dog outside to do it’s business, and the two friends had finally settled down to watch that movie which had long been promised.

Even though neither of them had paid an ounce of attention to it.

Key made himself comfortable on the single part of the couch that jutted outward, while Woohyun was laying along the length of the couch, with his head back in it’s spot in his friend’s lap. Between them, they had about six blankets and nine pillows strewn all about the sofa.

The lights were off and the duo was trying their best to stay awake, neither of them wanting to fall asleep before the other. The Notebookwas playing in the background but it was all but white noise to the two friends.

Suddenly, a sleepy Woohyun spoke up softly, “You know I love you, right?”

“Hmm,” the blond headed man hummed in response, not fully aware of what was just said.

“I’m serious, you’re my best friend,” Woohyun replied, even quieter this time, “You don’t know how much you mean to me.”

“There you go again,” Key mumbled, playing with the soft hairs on the back of his friend’s neck, “You big sap.”

“I’m serious..” Woohyun buried his head further into the blond’s lap, “I’d go crazy if I didn’t get to see you…”

After Woohyun’s breathing had evened out and Key was sure he had drifted off to the soft touch on his neck, he leaned down and just barely pecked the sleeping man on the cheek.

“I love you too, loser.”

And the world was real, if just for a few hours.