Himchan's mother hugged Youngjae tightly as soon as she set her eyes on him when she opened the front door to let the guests in. She almost jumped on him.

“Youngjae,” she cooed, “You haven’t been here in ages! How are you my dear?”

“I’m fine,” he mumbled into her tiny shoulder, feeling guilty as he had missed her too.

The two people who were standing behind him awkwardly were almost forgotten during their reunion. Jihoon and Yukwon met her for the first time and it was obvious to them where Himchan got his cheerful personality from.

The woman was rather tiny with a small frame, long and shiny black hair and a young face. She noticed the two additional people a moment later, releasing Youngjae from her surprisingly strong bear hug with a quiet ‘oh’.

Youngjae almost laughed at the perplexed faces of his friends when they also were caught in one of her infamous embraces.

“Come in boys,” she demanded, dragging them into the house with a gentle force, getting no protest from the young men.

While Jihoon followed her with a polite smile, Yukwon watched around in awe, causing Youngjae to almost laughing for the second time in only a few minutes. Yukwon’s reaction when he first had been in his house was almost the same, he wasn’t used to spacious places like that.

Youngjae smiled, following Himchan’s mother, who muttered incoherent things. He had missed her a lot. Himchan’s mother was like a second mother to him and his friend had often complained about her treating Youngjae and Junhong better than her own son.

She led them into the large living room, where most of them were already seated in the comfortable sofas, sipping on non-alcoholic drinks.

“Make yourself home, boys! If you need anything don’t hesitate to call me!” she said and left the room.

Youngjae placed the bag that contained the gift for Junhong on a little table where a few other bags were already waiting for the birthday boy.

“Is Junhong not here yet?” Youngjae asked, dropping down on a sofa next to Jihoon, which coincidently happened to be the one the furthest away from a certain guy from Busan.

“Nope,” Jiho stated, taking another sip of his coke.

“Where is Himchan?” Youngjae asked while Yukwon took place on the armrest right next to him.

“Getting ready,” Daehyun said, “Since almost an hour.”

Youngjae chuckled, that sounded just like Himchan.

“SO we’re only waiting for Junhong and Jongup then,” Youngjae stated mostly to himself. They sat there, listening to music and talking to each other.

Since they were so many, Himchan had offered to move their gathering to his house as Junhong’s own home would have been too small.

Youngjae got up to get himself a drink, “Do you two want something too?” he asked the two who had arrived with him, both of them nodded.

He carefully placed three glasses of coke on the table, plumping back into the soft cushions right after.

Before he leaned back though, he took a sip of his coke, hoping the cold and sweet liquid would have a refreshing effect on him. After all his work for university he was feeling rather tired.

He blew his bangs out of his eyes, causing a few strands to stand up. Yukwon laughed and brushed his fingers through Youngjae’s hair gently, bringing everything back into its original place. When he was done, he gave Youngjae’s shoulder a light squeeze and left his hand on his friend’s shoulder comfortably.

“Thanks,” Youngjae said with a smile. Yukwon had always been a person who liked to share skinship, so he wasn’t surprised by the action, far from it. He was comfortable around Yukwon, he was gentle and always smelled nice.

Even though Yukwon was almost a year older than him, he had a rather boyish charm with his cute smile that made all of them give into him easily. Youngjae lifted his arm in order to give his hair another treatment.

It had taken him almost twenty minutes to style his hair. First he had wanted to style them up, but it had proven to be difficult with the length of his hair, so he had washed his hair again and decided to keep his style quite natural.

He was content with the outcome, which looked a little bit like a neat version of his bed hair. His black locks were a little bit wavy which made his hair look more voluminous.

The doorbell rang and only a few seconds later, Himchan’s mother came rushed to the door, opening it.

“Junhongie! Happy birthday!”

Her cheerful voice could be heard all the way to the living room, making Youngjae smile again.

When Junhong entered the room, all of them stood up, congratulating him. Youngjae hugged him tightly. With all the time they had spent without each other, it felt like he had missed a whole year with his friend.

Behind him was Daehyun, waiting for his turn to congratulate the birthday boy. When Youngjae pulled away, Daehyun took a step forward until his chest almost touched Youngjae’s back.

Youngjae could feel the heat behind him and started to panic slightly. In front of him, Junhong’s face radiated nothing but amusement.

He turned around to flee from the situation, his hand brushing Daehyun’s when he walked past him. He felt his heartbeat speed up once again and sighed in frustration as he grabbed his drink to keep his nervous hands busy.

“I’ll go and have a look for Himchan,” Youngjae announced when he found himself awkwardly standing around. He ignored Daehyun’s smirk, leaving the room to escape from the danger of embarrassing himself.

No way he would show Daehyun how much he had gotten under his skin with only a simple touch like this. He had moved on and would show the Busan boy that he didn’t care, even if it wasn’t completely true yet.

Himchan’s mother was a goddess when it came to cooking. She didn’t only bake the most impressive birthday cake for Junhong that the boy had ever seen, she also had prepared a big buffet that provided them with delicious snacks for the whole night.

To Youngjae’s surprise, she cooked food that was suitable for growing men their age, and for once didn’t go overboard with her obsession for healthy food.

Youngjae could recall all the times his best friend had complained about the so called ‘bird food’ he had to eat and the countless occasions where Youngjae had shared his food with Himchan.

But now, the long table packed with bowls and plates full of food couldn’t look any better. There was meat, a lot of meat. Grilled beef, pork belly and chicken, making Youngjae’s mouth water. The side dishes were just as good as there were not only traditional Korean dishes but also a collection of things from all around the world: chinese dumplings, French baguette and three different colorful salads.

Youngjae sat on the backrest of the sofa while he balanced the plate full of food in his left hand. The day had been quite calm so far and he actually enjoyed their hangout more than he had expected.

Yukwon was standing in front of him, chewing on his meat happily. Occasionally, he spoke with his mouth full but Youngjae didn’t mind because he also did. Both of them were surprisingly graceful while doing so, though.

Youngjae watched Himchan and his boyfriend who were sitting on an armchair, a drink in the hand of each of them. He watched them with growing jealousy when Himchan started laughing at something that Yongguk had said, hitting his boyfriend’s chest with his free hand.

He spaced out so much, being lost in thoughts that he forgot that he was eating and choked on his food. Coughing violently, he tried to get rid of the meat that was blocking his air pipe.

Yukwon placed his place in the backrest and rubbed Youngjae’s back, helping his breath to get steady again.

“Thank you,” Youngjae said once he had called down.

“What were you even dreaming about?” Yukwon asked with a smirk.

“I was just watching Himchan and Yongguk,” Youngjae admitted.

“Are you jealous?”

“Maybe a little bit,” Youngjae said after a short pause, “I mean, I don’t really have much time and just want to focus on my studies anyway but sometimes I think it would be nice to have someone to lean on.”

Yukwon nodded and smiled. It was that mysterious kitten like smile that everybody liked, Youngjae included. He lifted his arm, brushing his thumb over Youngjae’s cheek, cleaning off a bit of sauce that was smeared in the young man’s face.

With no care, he put his finger in his mouth, the sauce of with a smile. Youngjae’s cheeks started burning and a light pink colour spread on his face when he mumbled a quiet ‘thank you’.

“Tell me Youngjae,” Yukwon started, the tone of his voice making Youngjae slightly uneasy, “Why is he glaring daggers at me?”

Youngjae looked around in confusion until his eyes landed on Daehyun, who stared straight back with a displeased look on his face. His gaze fell and he immediately looked down at his lap.

“He’s been watching you the whole evening,” Yukwon stated carefully, “Why do you dislike him so much? I don’t understand.

“He’s a , that’s all,” Youngjae said.

“What has he done?” Yukwon tried to dig deeper.

“I don’t really want to talk about it, I’m sorry,” Youngjae mumbled.

Youngjae hadn’t planned to drink so much but once his glass was empty, Junhong refilled it without hesitation. But he wasn’t the only one who would be reaching his limits soon.

Since two hours the house was filled with more or less good singing voices. Apart from the fact that some of them couldn’t sing to save their lives, everybody enjoyed the cheerful atmosphere. The ones who had impressed him the most were Taeil and Daehyun.

After the first round when everybody had a turn on the microphone, all of them had demanded for Daehyun and Taeil to sing a duet together. Youngjae was jealous and thought that his voice would sound much better together with Daehyun’s.

As the time went by, the mood became more silly and Youngjae noticed how the words that were sung and spoken became more slurred as the amount of alcohol in their systems increased.

The more Youngjae drank, the less he cared. He didn’t flinch inwardly anymore whenever Daehyun would initiate physical contact with him nor did he care if anyone would notice that his gaze landed on the Busan beauty in a less subtle way than he had originally intended. He doubted that anyone would think something of it in their current condition.

They were all sitting upon another, cramped on three sofas in front of the large TV screen. Youngjae was squished between Yukwon and Daehyun, with Minhyuk on Yukwon’s other side.

At some point, Daehyun had sneaked his arm around Youngjae’s shoulder, but Youngjae couldn’t recall when it happened or if he had at least tried to fight him off.

It didn’t really matter anymore though, because Youngjae sincerely had stopped caring after his third Jackie-coke.

He just carelessly leaned in, enjoying the warmth that he had missed so much. Much more than he thought.

Daehyun had as many drinks as he did and the evening was nowhere near over yet and Youngjae couldn’t help but ask himself if the older would remember how clingy he had been once he would wake up the next morning.

Youngjae truly didn’t know what he wished for, he knew the other still had a girlfriend, he had mentioned her a couple of times, not that Youngjae remembered a single word Daehyun had said about her, his brain had automatically shut down whenever Jaehyo had asked about her.

It would be the best if Daehyun didn’t remember, he thought. This would save him from the awkward conversation where Daehyun would explain that he had been drunk and didn’t know what he was doing. If Daehyun forgot, Youngjae could simply cherish the memories.

Maybe it would be the best if they both would forget and go on like this had never happened. That would be perfect. Unconsciously, he snuggled up on Daehyun, not noticing the latter’s loving smile when he emptied the glass in his hand.

“Let’s play some games,” Jiho suggested.

“What kind of game?” Junhong asked.

“What about poker? With a punishment for the losers,” Jiho said, smirking when he saw a few horrified faces amongst his friends.

“I have a poker set,” Himchan announced, standing up to get it, “I’ll be the dealer!”

Youngjae scoffed. He knew that Himchan was a bad poker player and just avoided the punishment that he would have to face for sure. But as long as Youngjae won, it didn’t matter to him. He didn’t know about the abilities of the most of them but he had faith in his own skills.

Sweat gathered on Yukwon’s temples, his brows furrowed in concentration. It would be either him or Jongup. He was surprised that he had made it through the first two rounds, but now he was on the edge. The so called punishments were rather humiliating or at least incredibly embarrassing and he didn’t want to face it anytime soon.

But when Jongup went all in, he had to follow and pray that he had the better cards.

He didn’t.

Jiho laughed the loudest and dread rushed through Yukwon’s body at the creepy sound of his laughter.

Jiho, Minhyuk, Himchan and Jihoon stuck their heads together in order to discuss his punishment. The time was going by slow, almost unnaturally slow, making it feel like forever.

“Your punishment is,” Jiho started, catching the attention as his fingers played a dramatic drumbeat on the table, “You have to strip.”

Yukwon let out a cry, hiding his face between his arms.

“Come on, Minhyuk said that you’re an awesome dancer. I expect a good show.” Himchan said, giving Jiho a high five as they snickered like school boys on crack.

Yukwon stared at his best friend, making sure to glare at him as much as possible.

“Come on, hyung. It can’t be that bad,” Jongup said, his words taunting Yukwon even more.

“Minhyukie just wants to see him ,” Jihoon joked with a laugh, causing Minhyuk to choke on his drink.

“Show your y abs, hyung,” Youngjae cheered, patting Yukwon’s belly in a motivating manner.

“Does he even have abs?” Daehyun asked, his lips stretched into a sly grin.

“Of course! I’ve seen them before,” Youngjae answered.

“Care to explain how you managed to sneak a look at them?” Himchan asked in amusement.

Youngjae’s cheeks started burning, only realizing how wrongly his words came across. Junhong burst out with laughter, hitting the table with his palm repeatedly. In search for help, he looked at Yukwon who just stood there equally helpless.

“I.. Ehm,” Youngjae started, but got interrupted by Jiho.

“One song! You can keep your underwear on, I don’t wanna see your ,” he stated, causing the others to laugh again.

But there was one who didn’t laugh. One of them only chewed on his bottom lip, trying to calm the jealousy that bubbled in the pit of his stomach.

Daehyun looked rather bored during the little show that Yukwon put on, dancing rhythmically to Seungri’s ‘Let’s talk about love’.

What they had planned to be an embarrassing moment for the loser turned out into a rather good show that everybody watched with admiration, clapping and cheering for the dancer to keep him moving.

Daehyun had to admit that it was nice to watch. Yukwon was an admirable dancer and Youngjae had been right about the dancer’s body too. He felt sick at the thoughts of how Youngjae could have possibly seen it before.

With a pain inside his chest, he observed Youngjae only, who was cheering and shouting. The pretty boy was Daehyun’s, he didn’t want him to be stolen, not even from a good looking and amazing dancing person with y abs like Yukwon.

Daehyun was also good looking and he also had abs. Not as nice ones as Yukwon and truth to be told he couldn’t move his body gracefully to save his life but it didn’t matter.

He had captured Youngjae’s heart in only a few days and he would win it a second time. He was determined to do so, even though he didn’t know how yet. The only thing that could work to his advantage so far was that Youngjae obviously wasn’t over him yet, or otherwise he wouldn’t avoid him like that.

Daehyun wanted to give him enough time to get used being around him again and then finally apologize, something that he owed his beautiful prince so badly. Had he waited for too long? Had Youngjae moved on with someone else right in front of his eyes?

Daehyun couldn’t accept that, he knew he had to make a move as soon as possible. He couldn’t bear the thought of Youngjae having another man, kissing another man.

Just as he had expected, Youngjae had won the tournament and enjoyed watching the last punishment. Jiho and Minhyuk had given him a hard time, but in the end he had the biggest patience and could fool both of them. He thought that he deserved an award for his glorious poker face.

His punishment for Jiho was the probably spiciest meal his friend had in his life. Jiho was chewing on a piece of meat that was wrapped up in kimchi and covered with wasabi. The poor boy still had three pieces left and he wasn’t allowed to pull a face or drink.

Jihoon pat his shoulder to encourage him, but Jiho was concentrated to not spit the food out. His face looked like he was in pain and he was sweating a lot.

Youngjae felt the tiniest bit sorry, that would give his friend a good stomach ache the next day but regarding to all the things Jiho had made the others do, he deserved it.

Once the food had successfully reached Jiho’s stomach, Youngjae got up to use the bathroom. He regretted getting up so quick though, as he felt light headed. With wobbly legs he made his way to relieve his bladder.

He washed his hands, splashing some water into his face. When he opened the bathroom door again, his gaze fell on Daehyun who was leaning on the opposite wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Daehyun lifted himself up, taking slow steps towards Youngjae, who didn’t think much of it as the older probably wanted to use the bathroom too.

But when Youngjae found himself being pinned against the doorframe, his eyes widened in shock.

“W-What,” Youngjae stuttered but Daehyun put the tip of his index finger on his lips to silence him. The soft touch tickled.
Daehyun leaned closer to Youngjae’s ear, whispering “Victory kiss.”

Daehyun closed the distance between, pressing his lips gently on Youngjae’s. Youngjae’s eyes closed immediately, his body just reacting to the older without asking for his permission.
As if his body was programmed to work with Daehyun’s, his lips started moving, the soft brushes against the older’s lips making his stomach swirl with excitement.

The kiss lasted only for a short while and stopped abruptly once he felt Daehyun’s tongue sliding past his lips, trying to get access. Youngjae instantly came back to his senses, pushing Daehyun away, his back crashing against the opposite doorframe.

“Stop ing with me,” Youngjae shouted, making Daehyun flinch. Before he could say something else, Junhong, Himchan and Yongguk came rushed towards them, obviously alarmed by his loud voice.

“First you treated me like , then you stole all my friends and now that? What the is wrong with you?” Youngjae panted. This had been building up for weeks and finally he could let it all out.

“Just stop ing with me, I’m not your ing toy! Don’t forget that you have a girlfriend.”

And then, Youngjae just ran, out of the door into the cold darkness, ignoring the shocked faces of his friends, the look of rejection in Daehyun’s face and the shouts of his name.

He just had to get out of there, he’d had enough.