One shoe lace, a knot. Other shoe lace, a knot. Then the coat, a row of buttons. The gloves, five fingers each. Finally, the scarf. Dongwan took it off the hook with as much care as handling a poisonous snake. It was the last item of clothing left to finish his outfit. Then out of the door, into the car and off to have adventures.

Depending on his success with Minwoo they could either end up in a lap of luxury or... prison. He preferred the first yet believed to deserve the latter. The screeching sound of their old hairdryer in the bathroom brought him back to the reality. That old thing sounded in a desperate need of a replacement, breathing the last remains of its long lived life. He wouldn't mind buying a new one just like he wouldn't mind buying a lot of other things if he managed to strike a deal with the devil for fame and fortune... but the luck was not on his side and nobody wanted his worthless soul.

'Sure we can meet’ Minwoo agreed as soon as Dongwan had made his call. The quick response felt like a hammer to his head. ‘Oh-’ he smiled uneasy, his eyes darting from Junjin to Hyesung. This thing, this was not common. It usually didn't happen like this. Offers like the one Minwoo made yesterday were just for fun, they weren't supposed to mean anything. They were just a part of a well-spent evening, not to be remembered the morning after. Yet Minwoo- if he had met him at another time and in another place... His happy eye-smile vividly loomed in front of his eyes. What would Hyesung say if he hung up now? He would probably yell a lot. There wouldn’t be any money -and of course he couldn’t do that.

He would have never met Minwoo in another place and at another time. They were species apart. Minwoo was a king, a modern-day royalty, while Dongwan was nothing more than the dust beneath his feet, a monkey to entertain the general public.

‘How about tonight?’ he asked hoping that Minwoo would have no time. If there was one thing Dongwan knew about CEOs it was their distinctive lack of time. They always seemed to be busy, every single one of them had to show off, had to appear important. A brand watch here, expensive hotels there, sport cars, clubs, sudden phone calls and excuses. That was the life of a company owner.

‘Sure. Do you want me to pick you up?’

If there was a time to panic this was it. A freak out was as bad as a break down and he was weavering on the edge of both. Minwoo had agreed. Agreed to meet the dust beneath his soles.

A hand settling on his shoulder tore Dongwan out of his haze. There he was, still at the door, now with an extra worried Junjin standing beside him wearing his usual ‘You ok?’ face which made him equally pitiable and likable. Junjin took the scarf out of his hands, observing it with utmost care.

‘There seems nothing wrong with it’

There was nothing wrong with it.

Dongwan smiled, shaking his head slowly in response. How could he explain what a crush was to a person who hadn't even held hands romantically?

Having finished inspecting the scarf and finding no faults with it, Junjin took it upon himself to put it around Dongwan’s neck wrapping it twice. 

‘There. All ready for your big date’

Date. Right. His heart felt like heavy lead.

‘Hyesung’s going in his own car?’ he asked despite knowing the answer. Of course he was going in his own car. They were going to meet up, act as if they arrived from two different places like normal people do, friends who just met up. They couldn’t be careful enough. They were going to meet Minwoo, hopefully Eric as well. They would drink and talk and appear all friendly, throw the bite, then hook, line, and sinker. Their usual shtick. After gathering information they would start planning in depth. All the usual. Nothing was different. Maybe only the stakes were higher, maybe Minwoo was hotter.

‘You don’t look ok’ Junjin said as he hesitated before giving him a weak hug.

I don’t feel ok, Dongwan thought.

‘I'm fine’ he said and smiled his million dollar smile - the only million related thing he owned. ‘No worries’ he patted the younger's shoulder before turning around.

‘Leaving!’ he jelled out to Hyesung who couldn’t have heard it over that awful noise in the bathroom and went out the door, down all the steps leading to ground zero and finally to his car. He sat inside, taking in the silence surrounding him, staring at the windshield blankly. They had done this many times before. What was different about this one?

What they did was no good. But he already knew that. Knew and hated it. Hated the things they were doing, this life they were living. But there was no other way. They had tried other and it didn't like them very much. They were stuck. Taking chances were for the lucky ones, Hyesung had told him, for us there’s only you and me. We have to fight for everything. So fighting was what they did.

Dongwan hit the steering wheel, suddenly feeling extremely pissed. He switched on the radio jacking up the volume.

But why him? Was there even a reason for his existence? For all this crap? Had he done something wrong?

He grunted and hit the wheel again. There was no satisfaction in abusing an inanimate object but he hit it again anyway, then cursed. Another hit, another curse and the next thing he knew he was trashing the car, hitting everything in his way, screaming. The loud music drowned his voice out, the sudden outburst of anger running short fast.

Tousled hair and his arms hurt but at least he hadn't broken down and cried. He couldn't give into weakness. He would never betray his friends, not even for thousand Minwoos. Feelings, and Hyesung had warned him about them before, were a dangerous business. And Minwoo had actually made him feel something, forced a response out of him. An unexpected, scary response.  

‘On my way’ he texted as he started the car, backing out of the car park and entering the traffic. He to a one-way street just as Minwoo texted him back with an ‘already here’ and it all seemed awfully symbolic. It wasn’t too long of a ride and he knew the address well, it being the first club Eric Mun had opened. It was VIP only, with an exclusive membership and all that. You could either buy yourself an invitation by being filthy rich or by being very famous. The third option was to know someone who was either filthy rich or very famous and even then you could be easily refused entrance. This was definitely no place for him.

Dongwan parked his car somewhere in the back, too ashamed of the way his old lady looked in comparison to the expensive vehicles in the front. He stepped out and stood there for a moment, first just taking it all in. Much to his disappointment the building didn’t look very impressive but he'd read in some glossy gossip magazines that it was the interior that mattered. The club was famous for catering to each and every of their visitor’s whims. There really was nothing money couldn’t buy.

Especially me Dongwan thought. No wonder Minwoo had asked him out here.

I'm not ready he sighed, realizing that it was impossible to be ready for this. He simply had to go and do it.

As he walked to the entrance it seemed eerily quiet. Unsure of the next step in his non-existent plan he experimentally pulled at one of the door to see if it was open. If it hadn’t been open before it was open now and a tall guy with an impressive built stepped out looking him up and down. Prepared to be chased off Dongwan backed away but instead the security guard nodded, telling him to follow. Pushing aside his feeling of uneasiness he did as told, soon taken in by the luxury that surrounded him.

The colors were subtle yet bright, the interior clad in gold and black, the lamps emitting a soft, sensual light. The furniture - it seemed like someone had taken it out of an old European castle, not even reproductions but straight-out originals. Dongwan had only seen things like these on TV so he was convinced that everything here was sacred and worth more than his entire existence. 

Marvelous was the word he was looking for when he came eye to eye with Minwoo. 

'You like it?’ the man said, plunging him into a completely different whirlwind of emotions with that sinful smile. He wanted to say something, at least a simple greeting but when realizing that his mouth was half open from all the amazement, opted for a slight nod.

‘I don’t see your friend though. He’s not coming?’ there was a hopeful tone to Minwoo's voice and he looked around in search for the friend Dongwan had insisted on bringing with him, which reminded Dongwan that Hyesung was supposed to be here. He shook his head energetically, not sure if that was supposed to indicate agreement or refusal but not wanting to give Minwoo any ideas. They would not have the entire evening all to themselves.

'He’s coming' he clarified, feeling disappointment that this was the first thing out of his mouth. Not even a hey but a dumb he's coming 'he texted me that he was almost ready- possibly it will take him another hour to actually get ready but- I’m sure he’ll be here by seven?’ He finished his little stutter with a smile, surprised how easily the lies rolled off his tongue.

'Too bad’ Minwoo winked at him but stopping the flirting once he noticed Dongwan’s smile falter, ‘no, I mean,’ he bit his lower lip as if just having made a huge mistake, ‘I want to meet your friend and- and I hope Eric makes it as well and- yeah, I’m just glad to see you and-’

And Dongwan grinned. It was a pleasant surprise to see the other flustered. From Minwoo's attitude and the shameless flirting yesterday he'd pictured the man being a wolf ready to devour his prey. But now instead of caking on his charms Minwoo was acting kind and pleasant, and nothing like a wolf at all. More like a pup. He did seem confident but the little stumble over his words was cute.

‘I’m glad to see you too’

There wasn't much more to say as they stood there in silence, Dongwan noting how tense it was and that they were almost the same height when face to face. A pleasant change for him as craning his neck around Hyesung and Junjin had become tiresome. Apart from that he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do and why he felt like he had at least two hands too many. 

‘Let’s go’ Minwoo grabbed his arm, causing shivers to crawl across Dongwan’s skin and lead him through the halls into a large scenic room, lounge chairs and an exquisite loveseat staring back at them. The transparent crystal table in the middle was packed with snacks, the largest music system he had ever seen in one of the corners. There were plasma screens on the walls switching pictures to fit the mood of the evening. The autumn leaves projected on them now colored the whole room red, nostalgia of the passing summer like a fresh print on their minds.

The thought of just the two of them together in this place made Dongwan nervous and maybe a little bit giddy. He had done this before, this was not the first time he met up with people, this was no different from any of his other encounters.

‘Eric said he’ll be around eight’ Minwoo offered Dongwan a seat, the bashful look from before not having left his face completely ‘anything to drink?’

Dongwan glanced around for a clock, discovering that it was not a priority interior design item, and was lost for an answer. He vaguely remembered the DJ on the radio saying something about it being six which meant that they had at least an hour to themselves and that only if Hyesung was super fast and got here by seven. If Hyesung was to be as unfashionably late as always they had at least two hours to themselves. If he started drinking now he would be completely plastered by eight. If he didn’t get drunk soon Minwoo would drive him insane. His scent, his entire presence was taking over his senses like a poison. Passion and desire seeped from the man in its purest form and Dongwan had little to no experience in dealing with somebody like him.

While his date was looking through the items on the drink menu having a hard time choosing what he wanted to order for the evening, Dongwan’s gaze fell upon his shoes ungracefully discarded in the corner.

‘You are shorter than I am’ he stated before realizing how blunt that sounded. He had noticed Minwoo’s insoles and now felt cheated, falling back on his old habit of freely speaking his mind. Hyesung always scolded him for being too frank, telling him to take caution yet here he was, having known Minwoo for less than a day and already spilling his guts. 

‘I mean-' this was not his finest moment of chivalry 'I’m sorry’. Even as he apologized he could feel his regrets growing. Hyesung would murder him if he upset Minwoo. They needed to be on good terms with him, needed to get closer to Eric.

He knew he wouldn't be able to do this. 

Minwoo looked back at Dongwan in surprise, the menu from his hands slipping off onto the floor. With his mouth left half open in a now long-forgotten side remark and his eyes open unusually wide his appearance was that of a puppy caught in stealing snacks.

Dongwan let out a chuckle. Even if he'd screwed this entire thing up... Minwoo was still too damn adorable.

To his great surprise, instead sending him off to a secret dungeon for torture, the short man chuckled, giving Dongwan a wide reassuring smile in return. And with just that the heavy load of worry vanished, making him laugh out loud.

The tension between them broke.

‘You’re funny’ Minwoo said not without hesitation. Dongwan doubted that anything he had said since their meeting had been funny but he promised himself that he would do better. He wanted to do better. ‘I guess you deserve a drink for that’ Minwoo decided and picked the fallen menu up, pushing a small button on the table- Dongwan presumed it was to call the waitress. When the menu was pressed into his hands Dongwan let his eyes scan over it quickly, the names of the drinks as alien to him as he had expected. He'd never been to a fancy place so he would have to order something random. Which was what he did once the waitress arrived.

With a soft edged sound in the background and the dimmed lights around Dongwan soon eased into a comfortable conversation with Minwoo, forgetting about the initial uneasiness. The topics that they picked had no depth or significance which felt nice. Only when their drinks arrived and Dongwan took a sip out of his did he realize how screwed he was. His drink wasn't just strong it was overpowering. He would be absolutely -faced by the time Hyesung arrived.

'Just get here as soon as possible’ he sent a quick text to the other and took another large gulp from the glass.

tbc

A/N: I never thought I could write a chapter of Woodong. Times have changed, man... Speaking of times, the timeflow is crap here. 

Anyway, thanks for reading and, if you leave a review telling me what you think just like you did before, there's not much more I could ask from you. I'll even promise to bring party hats for the next chapter...