Dressed in a snazzy blue suit with a neon pink tie to make the whole outfit pop, Jiyong exited the building feeling like he was on top of the world. The suit had been a tiny bit on the pricey side, so much so that he had offered to pay for it himself, especially since he had decided to buy two pairs of jeans, three ties, two T-shirts and an extra dress shirt as well. But Seunghyun wouldn't have it, pushing him back as he handed the clerk his credit card. He wasn't sure what had brought on this out of character excessive generosity, but he kind of liked it. It wasn't about the money, he had no problem paying for it himself, it wasn't like he was a starving artist, that couldn't be further from the truth. But he had felt a happy jolt watching Seunghyun chivalrously offering up his card. It made him look so manly, full of this take charge attitude. It suited him. 

“Thank you.” he beamed at Seunghyun, looking quickly away as he felt his face turn into the surface of the sun. He was trying to contain his overeager expectations, warning himself not to read into something that wasn't even there. It was like trying to ride an iceberg down a field of lava. At first it looked as if he had the upper hand, he had the confidence of a thousand men. But as the iceberg melted out from under him, the fragile nature of the situation began to dawn on him, the roaring stream of lava threatening to eat him alive. 

“Only the best for my little hardworking buzzing bee, using the buzzes to make us millions.” he chuckled, ruffling his hair lovingly. Jiyong swallowed. He tried not to let the awkwardness seep out but he was failing, sending Seunghyun an awkward grin, laughing feebly. It was as if somebody had been playing with the settings of his senses, cranking them up, making him super susceptible to every mini-expression, over-interpreting everything. He needed to snap out of it, or else this evening was going to be a disaster. He promised himself he wouldn't do anything stupid. 

Their next stop was a place he knew all too well, Seunghyun's favorite restaurant. The staff greeted them as they were escorted to a private room. They were no strangers to this room, they had been here with the guys on several occasions. Pretty much every time there was something to celebrate, they came here. Never once had they come here just the two of them. Was there something to celebrate? And if so, why didn't he invite the guys to come along? Was it something that only concerned the two of them? His heart did an unexpected double take, momentarily knocking the wind out of him, making him cough. 

“You okay?” Seunghyun smiled with a hint of concern lurking behind his kind eyes. He patted his back a couple of times and then poured him a glass of water. Jiyong drank the whole thing in one go. 

“Are you sure you're okay? You seem a bit... not okay.” Seunghyun laughed, refilling his glass.

“I'm fine.” he waved his hand as if it was nothing. He needed to escape this weird vibe that kept winding itself around him and tripping him, right in front of Seunghyun's nose. 

“Let's order, I'm starving!” he added, grabbing the menu and using it to create a wall between them. He needed a moment to calm himself down and get his together. 

“Actually, I pre-ordered so we could eat right away since you were already complaining of hunger when we left.” Seunghyun's finger single-'finger'ly brought down the menu-wall he had built between them, Seunghyun's big, beautiful eyes X-raying his thoughts. Jiyong panicked, fumbling to put up a shield so he wouldn't be found out. Thankfully, that was the moment the food arrived. And kept arriving.

“Ehrm.. so when is the army joining us, you say?” Jiyong snorted as he checked if the table legs were sturdy enough to support the seemingly endless amount of food.

“Cheers!” Seunghyun raised his glass, chuckling, interrupting Jiyong, who had immediately attacked the food mountain without a second thought. He stopped only for a fraction of a second, clinking glasses without taking his eyes off the food, getting back to eating as fast he could.

“Wow, you must be hungry. Did you not eat for a week or something?” Seunghyun commented with interest. The truth was that Jiyong was already full, but if he stopped eating, he would have to look into Seunghyun's eyes and for some reason, his eyes were exceptionally enchanting tonight, planting all kind of thoughts into his mind. 

“Ehm.” Seunghyun scratched his head. “So yeah, I kind of expected this to take longer, since I wasn't aware that I was taking a crocodile to dinner, wolfing the food down in one gigantic bite.” he sniggered, his deep voice reaching places deep down inside Jiyong he didn't know existed. Even his dorky grin was charming tonight. Jiyong started wondering if he had accidentally drugged himself or, worse yet, if a crazy sasaeng fan had poisoned him, with some love potion-like drug, making him feel this way. 

That actually made sense, in a twisted way. He got a pang of fear, hoping it wasn't lethal and praying it wouldn't leave him completely out of control. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to face Seunghyun again if he tried something under the influence of this supposed potion. Nothing could be more embarrassing. He would rather fall flat on his face on stage in front of a sold out stadium, repeatedly. 

“The next part kind of... doesn't start for like.. another hour...” Seunghyun put up an awkward, slightly crooked smile, biting his lip as he was clearly trying to figure out how to fix this unexpected gap in their schedule. Jiyong tried to force his brain to think faster, to come up with something, preferably where they wouldn't have to look at each other. Now that he didn't have the food as an excuse, there was nothing separating them except the air between them, and thankfully the table, but tables could be turned over. He shook his head, mentally kicking his drugged out brain for coming up with these kinds of suggestions instead of focusing on fixing their problem. 

“Arcade!” Jiyong all but screamed. “We can go to an arcade. We haven't been in like forever.” he said triumphantly, breathing easier. Not waiting for an answer, he sprang up with intent. 

“Oh, hang on.” Seunghyun ran around the table, stopping dangerously close to him. Jiyong tried to swallow, but his mouth was so dry that there was nothing to swallow. His heart was doing a mile a minute, trying to set some kind of a record for most beats in the least amount of time. As Seunghyun leaned in even closer, Jiyong's senses were filled with a familiar smell. Seunghyun's smell. Instinctively, he breathed in. He smelled so good. He wanted to smell him forever. 

“You've got a little something...” Seunghyun murmured as he wiped something off his cheek with a napkin. 

“Oh!” Jiyong grabbed his cheek horrified.

“Don't worry, I got it.” Seunghyun chuckled, sending him an encouraging wink. A wink that set loose over a million butterflies in Jiyong's stomach, that was already overextended from his earlier record-breaking overeating session. 

The fresh air outside was a life saver. Jiyong inhaled as much of the air as he could, trying to replace Seunghyun's enticing scent that was stuck to him like glue. He slowly calmed down. He had just been psyching himself out. There was nothing to be nervous about. It was just him and Seunghyun. They had been friends forever and had hung out just the two of them countless of times, and not once had anything happened or even crossed his mind. He had no reason to panic. He just needed to get a grip. Whatever that mystery drug was that was coursing through his system, the fresh air was counteracting its effects, and for that he was thankful. Once he was back to normal, they could go back to enjoying their rare evening off.