[CONTENTID1]Chapter 17[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] Soundtrack: "The Water" - Hurts

[/CONTENTID2] [CONTENTID3]

"There was a time I'd dip my feet

And it would roll off my skin

Now every time I get close to the edge

I'm scared of falling in"

Nam Soon woke up with a familiar scent filling up his nose and an unusual warmth surrounding him. He opened his eyes trying to figure out where he was, but this was the last place he'd ever expected to be - he was lying against Heung Soo's chest as his body was bending over his, only a few inches away. He had no idea how they got in this position - he didn't even remember when they fell asleep.

Heung Soo was still deep asleep and completely unaware of their position. He was sleeping so peacefully that Nam Soon just couldn't wake him up. He looked up at his calm face and it looked so warm ... so handsome.

This perfect man in whose arms he was sleeping - who was so close to him, this beautiful man sleeping beside him was the man that Nam Soon loved. He could try to deny it as much as he liked, but that was the truth - it was the undeniable truth that he loved Park Heung Soo.

He held his breath and slowly approached him. His face just a few inches away from Heung Soo's, who was still sleeping soundly. Nam Soon admired that face so close to him; his messy hair falling over his closed eyes, his smooth skin, and especially those pouty lips of his - those pinky and juicy lips that he wanted so badly to kiss. His heart was begging for it - for just a gentle and innocent kiss. To be able to feel how it would be like to kiss him just this once.

But instead, he leaned over Heung Soo's warm chest again, taking advantage of the proximity that they involuntarily got themselves in, and closed his eyes once more. If Heung Soo was still asleep, Nam Soon wouldn't be the first to move away.

Just this time he would close his eyes and stay like that - just this once, as if nothing else mattered.

"I wish that I was stronger

I'd separate the waves

Not just let the water

Take me away"

Heung Soo woke up with a heavy aching in his back because of the position in which he fell asleep. He moved his hands to the nape of his neck, but then he realized something was pressing against his chest.

It didn't take long to notice that it was Nam Soon, sleeping soundly over him. Before he could even notice that his heart skipped a beat for half a second, he hit the back of the boy's head with his right hand, making him wake up in surprise.

"Yah!" Nam Soon voiced out, touching the back of his head, near the place where he had been hit, and turned around to face Heung Soo.

"What are you doing?" Heung Soon muttered before Nam Soon had the time to complain.

"Don't know, why did you have to hit me?" Nam Soon hissed and tried to hide the way his cheeks flushed. But he didn't need to, since Heung Soo's attention was now on his cell phone that rested over the central table.

"Oh ," Heung Soo exclaimed, typing a number into his phone, not bothering to leave the room this time. Nam Soon watched silently as he tried to call three more times, but apparently there was no answer.

"Is everything okay?" Nam Soon asked on the fifth time he attempted to call.

"I had to pick her up at eight-thirty to go to the movies, but it's past eleven," Heung Soo stated, trying to call one last time before leaning against the sofa. "She called several times but I didn't hear," he said, tossing his cell phone to his side of the couch.

"Oh..." Nam Soon just mumbled, trying to look away from him. Should he be happy about it? He didn't know what to think. However, Heung Soo probably didn't mean to fall asleep like that.

"Oh? She will kill me," Heung Soo said letting a loud sigh escape his lips. "Are you okay with a dead friend?" He asked sarcastically.

"So are you going to meet her?" Nam Soon asked. He was not that interested to be honest, but he really didn't want him to go now.

"No, I'll see her tomorrow," Heung Soo said, putting his feet over the coffee table. "Nothing good can come out of talking to her now anyway,'" he whispered, but didn't look too happy about it. "Since I'm already here let's finish the season? But don't come sleeping on me again," he warned, but Nam Soon could clearly see a playful expression on his face.

"Oh, shut up," Nam Soon rolled his eyes rewinding the episode back to the beginning.

"Why? I bet you got by my hot body," Heung Soo teased, slowly lowering his hands down his chest, with a grin on his face.

Nam Soon's eyed followed the path of Heung Soo's hands coming down his chest, but as soon as he noticed what he was doing, he felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment and looked back at his notebook, starting the episode and hoping that Heung Soo hadn't noticed him looking.

"Oh my God, shut up," Nam Soon exclaimed, laying his back against the couch again. Heung Soo didn't seem to notice Nam Soon's face blushing. He just gave a warm laugh and turned his attention back to the series, as if nothing had happened.

Still, Nam Soon felt like dying. How long could he handle situations like that? He couldn't help but to start to wonder.

"It always feels like torture

to be this close"

"Are you going home?" Nam Soon asked as soon as they finished the last episode of the season, but Heung Soo raised his eyebrows in his direction.

"Are you sending me away?" He grumbled, and Nam Soon just shrugged as if it were not important - as if he wasn't hoping that Heung Soo could stay. "Since it's late I'll stay here," Heung Soo said checking the time on his cell phone.

"There's only a double bed, I'm not sleeping on the sofa," Nam Soon said, mentally cursing himself because of his racing heart right now. It was not like Heung Soo was his date. He should have been able to control himself better.

"So what?" Heung Soo said without understanding why Nam Soon would think that was an issue. "Just because we are older you think that's a problem?" He asked but didn't wait for Nam Soon's reply and stood up, heading for the bedroom.

"Lend me something to wear to sleep and a towel, I need a shower," Heung Soo asked as he undid his belt and ed his white t-shirt.

Nam Soon watched him for a few seconds before noticing that he couldn't be more obvious and turned around to face his closet. He began searching for any shirt and pants that he thought could fit in Heung Soo - even though he knew they would be too tight like the last time he lent him some clothes.

When he turned around, the bathroom door was already closed and he could hear the sound of the water falling against the tile.

What was he supposed to do? Just put the clothes on the door handle or enter it and put them inside the bathroom? Well, the second one wasn't really an option. Then, in the end, he just put them over his bed and headed for the bathroom door.

"There are clean towels under the sink," Nam Soon shouted. After all, if Heung Soo got out of there , things would definitely be bad for Nam Soon.

Heung Soo didn't answer, but Nam Soon believed he heard him, and went back to the bed, lying down on it and picking up his phone to have something to look at when Heung Soo came out of the bathroom.

But when the bathroom door opened and Heung Soo stepped out of it, it was impossible not to look.

Heung Soo's hair was all wet and he had a towel wrapped around his waist, leaving his bare and shapely chest exposed. He didn't have any hair on his abdomen, though he did notice the thin line of hair that was exposed between the towel hanging dangerously low on his waist and his belly button.

Heung Soo didn't even care that he was just wearing a towel. That was not a problem since Nam Soon was just a friend, and Nam Soon knew that Heung Soo thought so - he knew he would never look at a guy that way.

He stared at Nam Soon impatiently and didn't even notice that the other boy was looking at him. Or at least Nam Soon hoped he didn't.

"Where are the clothes?"

Nam Soon looked back at his face and then at the side of the bed before handing him the pile of clothes. Heung Soo's hand brushed against Nam Soon's, causing him to try his best to look elsewhere. But he just couldn't take his eyes of Heung Soo's chest, which was now a little wet from the water dripping from his hair. He watched as a drop of water trickled down his belly, landing into the thin line of hair that was visible above the towel hanging around Heung Soo's body. Looking at the other, somewhere in his mind, he started to picture how Heung Soo would look without the towel. And this time he didn't stop to think that Heung Soo was a man - that knowledge didn't bother him now. Seeing a man's body like that, he wondered how long he'd been drawn to it? When he thought back in time, Nam Soon never looked to anyone else this way, and now he was mostly sure about it than ever. The girls with whom he had stayed, he never felt like that about them. They were beautiful, but was Nam Soon really attracted to them back then? He didn't know. But even if he was, it was nothing compared to what he was feeling right now,

The shirt Nam Soon had given him was really tight in Heung Soo's strong arms, but he did not seem to care as he probably imagined it would be like that. He bent down a little and picked up the pants that Nam Soon had handed him and shook them before putting them on. Nam Soon felt his face burning and he got up as fast as he could, taking his sleeping clothes and locking himself in the bathroom before Heung Soo could even think about taking off that towel and exposing his crotch.

He the water in a cold temperature without even bothering about the fact that it was still cold outside. He just needed a long and cold shower so that he could calm down himself and control the shameful state that had presented itself between his legs.

...

"Now that we are older should we read books instead of comics?" Heung Soo commented as they lay on Nam Soon's bed. The younger boy just laughed, trying his best to ignore the scent of the soap coming from Heung Soo's body. He was also trying to ignore the fact that it was just the two of them together in one bed at night, and remind himself that Heung Soo was just his friend and that he would never feel the same way about him.

"I still have some old mangas," Nam Soon said and Heung Soo smiled at him.

"Really? You too?" He asked and Nam Soon stood up, trying to take advantage of this opportunity to think of anything else.

"Oh, you really kept them too," Heung Soo mumbled more to himself than Nam Soon as he looked at the box full of mangas and some photographs. "Yah why are there pictures of me hiding here?" He joked and Nam Soon laughed lightly.

"I need to buy a photo album," he tried to explain himself but Heung Soo was too lost looking through the mangas and photographs.

"Oh look at your face here," Heung Soo laughed at a picture that was probably taken in a photo booth, in which Nam Soon had his arms around Heung Soo's shoulders, making a face at him.

"Yes I've always been handsome," Nam Soon said faking some seriousness that Heung Soo didn't buy.

"Shut up bastard," Heung Soo laughed, locking him in a headlock that Nam Soon quickly dodged, his cheeks burning like hell because of the feeling of having his face literally smashed against Heung Soo's chest - as if it were nothing at all.

While Heung Soo got himself distracted reading an old manga that already had yellow pages, Nam Soon bit his lips thoughtfully, looking at him. Looking at his smooth skin, his soft lips and bright eyes. Admiring him like it were the first and the last time.

He turned around, covering himself with his own blanket. He had gotten a separate one for Heung Soo since he couldn't possibly risk sleeping with the same as him.

"Sleepy already?" Heung Soo asked, putting the manga aside. Nam Soon didn't answer and closed his eyes. "Don't you dare hug me during your sleep," Heung Soo said, laying his head on his pillow and turning off the lights.

"As if," Nam Soon mumbled without turning around. As if he could. If Nam Soon could do that, he would never let go.

"It's a long way down

When you're alone

And there's no air or sound

Down below the surface"

Nam Soon was serving a bowl of rice when Heung Soo joined him in the kitchen the next morning, his hair all messy in an oddly pleasant way. He'd probably just woken up, but Nam Soon was surprised at how he could already look so good. But he looked away as soon as he realized what he was doing, and sat down in front of the table. He had been doing that - staring at Heung Soo like he were invisible - too frequently yesterday and today. He had to stop that before Heung Soo noticed something - before he ruined everything.

"What are you going to do today?" Nam Soon asked as Heung Soo sat down beside him, pouring himself some rice.

"I have to talk to Jin Ah today. Try to make up for the mess I did yesterday," he said, eating some of the rice he had just served himself with.

Nam Soon didn't answer - in fact he didn't speak at all during their lunch because he didn't feel like it. It was hard and it was getting even harder to see Heung Soo talking about her, knowing he was with her. Slowly and painfully, that knowledge was killing him from the inside.

But he also knew that he had to accept it, learn to live with it and stop thinking about Heung Soo that way.

But how could he, if every time he looked at Heung Soo his heart would stop beating as if he were still a thirteen-year-old boy in love? How could he, when everything Heung Soo did, every time he touched him, would take his breath away?

How could he, when every aspect of the other only made him fall even deeper for him?

"There's something in the water

I do not feel safe"

He picked up his cell phone shortly after Heung Soo had left his apartment. There were a few messages from Yoon Jae and Joon Hee from yesterday, but nothing special except for some words from Yoon Jae, mocking him about Heung Soo.

Yet he had no one else to talk about that other than them

"He left," Nam Soon wrote. He didn't care if Yoon Jae would mock him. He was indeed needing something to laugh about anyway, even if it was to laugh about himself.

"What? He slept with you? O-M-G tell me everything," Yoon Jae replied almost instantly. Nam Soon felt like laughing for a few seconds, but soon it wasn't that funny anymore, since he realized that this wasn't even close to the truth - which was that they did nothing but literally sleep. Not that he was willing to admit to them about his feelings. He accepted them but still wasn't ready to speak in words about it

"Shut up, we're just friends, what are you thinking," he decided to write back. He knew he was lying - not technically, but it was still a lie. He knew he didn't see Heung Soo as just a friend and thinking back about it, he knew that they were already aware of that too.

"Joon Hee-yah asked if you two are going out today," Yoon Jae wrote him.

"I don't think so, he went out to see his girlfriend," Nam Soon answered, not really that excited to talk about this. He wanted to talk to them to forget about him, yet he couldn't blame them if he was the one who started talking about Heung Soo in the first place.

"Well, then you're going to come with us," Yoon Jae wrote him. Nam Soon didn't know what they had in mind. However, for once, he didn't care. It would probably do him better than staying at home and feeling sorry for himself.

For this reason, Nam Soon decided to go - since he had nothing else to lose.

"Innocent, they swim

I tell them 'no'

They just dive right in

But do they know?"

When Nam Soon accepted to go out with them, he had no idea. But thinking about it again, he should have expected it. He should have imagined that they would invite him out to a place like this.

After all, accepting it or not, Nam Soon didn't fit into the "normal" kind of people. Nam Soon could only hope that Heung Soo would never find out about it.

"Cause I don't want to be stranded again

On my own

When the tide comes in

And pulls me below the surface"