Four months later found the three friends walking to a bar; a mutual friend was having a party and they were all invited. From afar, the trio looked like they were discussing something serious with Seunghyun frowning and retaliating.

“You guys are ganging up on me.”

“No, we’re not. Spiderman is the most boring superhero ever.” Zen restated.

“You. Batman.” Seunghyun pointed a finger at Zen. “He can’t even fly.”

“But he’s got awesome bikes and mobiles.” Jiyong interjected.

Zen high-fived him. “Thank you.”

"But Gotham City isn't real." Jiyong added mischievously.

"Hey! Come on!"

Seunghyun turned to Jiyong. “And you. Iron Man. He doesn’t even have a super power. How can he be a superhero? And he's a narcissist.”

Jiyong stopped in his tracks and stood in front of Seunghyun. He pulled a hand up and caressed the side of Seunghyun’s face. “He has every right to be. Because he’s handsome. He’s rich. And he’s a techie boy.” He let the last word trailed off into hot breaths against Seunghyun’s lips. Before Seunghyun could react, Jiyong smirked and spun on his heels and continued walking.

Seunghyun stood with his mouth agape and his roommate cackled with laughter on his side. “Did you just compare me with Tony Stark?”

“Why are you mad? It’s a compliment.” Jiyong pulled him by the arm.

“And I’m not rich, my-”

“Your parents are. Yeah, we know.” Zen and Jiyong cut him off in unison before the latter continued.

“And let’s face it; Spiderman, Batman and Iron Man. Clearly, Iron Man is the coolest; like for one, he doesn’t hide. Everyone knows who Iron Man is. While Spiderman and Batman are wrapped up in super tight suits and living double lives.”

“Oh, yeah? Well Tony Stark is a player.” Seunghyun knew Jiyong wouldn’t like that fact. He knew he’s right when he’s met with a glare and a forefinger pointed in his face.

“But he’s settled down with Pepper. While Peter...well, is he still pining over MJ? He is, isn’t he?” Jiyong clicked his tongue and shook his head in mock sympathy. “Bruce Wayne over there got his tongue tied.”

“I can’t win with that card, man. Batman’s got a pretty long list.”

Jiyong laughed. “Embrace it, fellas. Iron Man is the greatest of them all.” Jiyong threw his hands ceremoniously in the air.

Seunghyun wrapped an arm around Jiyong’s shoulders and pulled him close. “This isn’t over yet, Pepper Potts.”

Jiyong smiled and maybe blushed a little at the reference as they walked into the bar.

An hour into the party, the place was rad. Apparently, it was a birthday party but no cake, no balloons; just greasy food and beer. The three friends, Jiyong squashed in between, and a bunch of others sat around a high table, chatting animatedly over the same superhero topic they were discussing earlier. Jiyong had a satisfied smile across his face as Iron Man had a couple more fanboys at the table. They were in a middle of a debate when someone approached Seunghyun and all eyes turned to him. Jiyong didn’t like how comfortably close that man seemed to have perched himself next to Seunghyun.

“Hey, Seunghyun.” The man greeted.

“Jin!”

Jiyong froze. That name was hauntingly familiar. And from the way Zen heaved a heavy sigh, he knew he was right.

“Hi.” Jin smiled.

“Haven’t seen you around in..” Seunghyun trailed off.

“Yeah, I took the last semester off. Personal reasons.”

“Oh, umm..” Seunghyun cleared his throat and turned to his side. “You remember my roommate, Zen.” He gestured to the said man.

“Yeah, of course.” Zen offered a tight smile as they exchanged a hand shake.

“And this is my friend, Jiyong.” Seunghyun leaned back a little to give some space for Jin to lean over and shook Jiyong’s hand.

Friend. Jiyong felt sick.

“You guys go ahead and catch up, I’m just gonna go to the bathroom real quick.” Jiyong excused himself and Zen disapproved with a glare. But Jiyong slipped off of his stool and left anyway.

He did go to the bathroom. But after he was done, he didn’t return to the table. He perched onto a high stool at the bar, ordered himself a drink and watched over at the table from afar.

“Who am I kidding?” Jiyong scoffed, sipping on his drink.

A girl, all giggly and chirpy, approached the bar and blurted her order to the bartender. She turned to her side and noticed Jiyong and yelped. “Ji! I didn’t know you’re here!” The girl pulled herself up onto the stool next to Jiyong.

“Hey, Leyla.” Jiyong knew her from a few classes they took together.

“Are you here alone?”

“Nope, with a bunch of friends over there.” He raised his can of beer towards the direction of their table from earlier. “Are you?” Jiyong knew it’s impossible for one of the hottest girls in campus to come to a party alone, but he asked anyway following the social convention to be polite and to start a conversation.

“Of course not.” She smirked. “I’m here with Tayte.”

“Tayte?! I thought I saw Levi earlier?” 

“Yeah, we broke up. That’s why I came with Tayte; to make him jealous.” She wiggled her eyebrows like it was something funny. 

Jiyong was this close to hyperventilating.

“And Tayte didn’t mind?”

“Well, he doesn’t know that I’m using him to get back at Levi. He’s just a rebound. He doesn’t need to know anything.”

“Huh.” Jiyong felt his heartbeat quickened and his palms became sweaty. "Wow."

Leyla slid off her stool and flashed Jiyong a smile. “Enjoy the rest of the night, Ji. I know I will.” She winked and walked away with her drinks.

Rebound. Jiyong felt the nausea creeping back up, but a hand on his back startled him.

“Are you okay?” It was Zen.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jiyong finished up his beer in one go.

“You sure?” Zen took the seat where Leyla sat earlier.

“Yeah.” Jiyong slammed the empty can onto the counter top. He huffed a little and hung his head in between his propped arms. He looked up after a few moments and glanced over at the table. Seunghyun was still actively chatting with the people at the table including Jin. A cynical huff of laugh slipped off his lips. “Look at Tony Stark being Tony Stark.”

“Jiyong, you’re drunk.”

“I’m not! A little tipsy, yes. But I’m not drunk.” He swatted Zen’s hand that was trying to keep him from toppling off the stool. “I have a question, though." He paused, eyes still locked on Seunghyun and his friends. "Is that Jin, Jin?”

“Jiyong, it’s not what you think. They broke up almost a year and a half ago.”

Jiyong nodded and stretched his arms over his head. He exhaled heavily as he slumped back down. “Yeah, I’m gonna go.”

“Okay, let me go get Seunghyun.”

“Don’t. I wanna see how long it would take for him to notice that I’m gone.” Jiyong raised himself from the stool and patted Zen on his shoulder.

“Jiy- I’ll come with you.”

“No, no, no. It’s okay. You can stay. I’ll take a cab.”

Seunghyun found Zen at the bar half an hour later.

“Hey, where’s Jiyong? I’ve been looking for him all over the place.”

Zen glared at his roommate. “Well if you came to look for him here an hour ago, you would’ve found him.”

Seunghyun frowned. “What’s going on?” He fished for his phone from his pocket and dialed Jiyong's number.

“What do you think is going on? Jin was here and you seemed so eager to catch up with him and you didn’t even notice Jiyong was gone until now?”

“.” The first dial went to voice mail, so he tried again.

“Seunghyun, you’re doing it again.”

“Doing what again?” Seunghyun gritted his teeth. His hands were shaking and he didn’t need his roommate to lecture him right now.

“Just like what you did to Jin. You friendzoned Jiyong in front of everyone at the table. You introduced him to Jin, your ex-boyfriend, as your friend. He’s clearly heads over heels for you, can’t you see it?”

“He is?”

Zen shook his head and heaved a frustrated sigh. “You know, with a pretty face like yours, you really need to grease up your brain.”

“I just.. Ughhh! I don’t think there’s a need to put a label on this sort of things.”

“That’s how you feel. Is that how he feels, though?” Zen asked. He felt kinda annoyed with his roommate right now.

Seunghyun didn’t retaliate and tried calling Jiyong for the third time. He paced back and forth with a hand on his waist while waiting for Jiyong to pick up.

“Jiyong! Where are you?” Finally.

Zen looked up, listening to the one-sided conversation.

“Wait there. Don’t go anywhere. Jiyong, please.” Seunghyun grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the bar. He didn't care if Zen was following after him or not, he just needed to get to Jiyong.

I need to fix this.