On his way back home, Seunghyun gathered his thoughts, trying to comb through the bundle of nonsense to find some way of digging himself out of this pile of in which he had gotten himself stuck. It was starting to smell something awful and he couldn't stand it a moment longer. This was his last shot and he didn't particularly fancy spending the rest of his life flipping burgers at Burger King.

After a lot of effort straightening out his brain, he was forced to realize there wasn't really anything useful in there, feeling a bit empty without the clutter. The only thing he could do was to show Youngbae that he was serious, somehow, and hope he would take pity on him. It was a long shot, but it was the only shot he had.

He got into bed and set the alarm to 5 AM, making his brain promise him that it would not just make him hit snooze and abandon his very last chance, leaving it dying at the side of the road like road kill as they drove away further into the dreamworld.

The moment he closed his eyes, the phone rang.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Seungri's voice sang in a deep, booming tone before he broke into giggles.

“Nah, not this time.” he murmured.

“What? Dude, it's Friday night! When have you ever missed a Friday night?!” Seungri sounded genuinely surprised.

“I know, but it can't be helped.” he shrugged, his stomach churning uncomfortably at the thought of tomorrow.

“But hey, look at the bright side, you'll have the cute boys all to yourself.” he added in the brightest voice he could muster, hoping Seungri would let it go. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to resist the temptation of just forgetting about everything and dancing his worries away, both vertically and horizontally.

“Whatever dude.. later.” Seungri sounded irritated as he abruptly ended the call.

Seunghyun put the phone on the nightstand, taking a deep breath. He stared at the ceiling, although it felt more like he was staring into a great, big, dark void that was ready to swallow him whole.

The sound of the alarm pierced through his skull like a knife as thin as a string of hair, but sharper than the deadliest samurai sword. Nothing was worth this. He hit snooze a little too violently, accidentally throwing the phone across the room. It landed on the middle of the floor. He knew he should be worried whether it was still working, but right now he didn't care. He his other side and fell back to sleep. Feeling the enchanting arms of sleep envelope him in warm oblivion felt too good, there was no resisting them.

He didn't get much time to wander aimlessly in the fog of fatigue, for only a couple of minutes later another alarm started drilling itself into his head. He was more than ready to hit snooze again, he would murder the phone if necessary, but this time the phone was out of reach, stranded on the middle of the floor. It took all the strength he had, but he got himself up to turn off that retched noise that was forcing itself into his every cell, driving him crazy.

“Ah, silence at last.” he sighed as he turned the alarm off. He knew it was a good thing he had set a second alarm for safety, it would just take a few more minutes until he could really appreciate it, that beep from hell was still circling the inside of his skull, giving him a dull headache. He wasn't good at this 'waking up in the morning' thing. He wasn't the ambitious type, he didn't like trying too hard, or trying at all. He had never worked hard at anything in his whole life and he never stressed too much over anything either. It was probably some sort of coping mechanism. Working hard created expectations. Trying meant opening oneself up for failure. What if you gave it all you had, and it still wasn't good enough? No, it was much better not to try at all, then when you failed, you knew it was because you didn't try hard enough and could convince yourself that had you tried harder, you could have gotten everything you wanted. That way, you were indestructible, with infinite potential. That way, you couldn't let yourself down. Nor the people around you.

5:57 AM

Hah! He had made it before 6 AM, he thought proudly. He was one step closer to saving his future. Youngbae was nowhere to be seen, perhaps not surprisingly since it was a Saturday morning, but Seunghyun was almost disappointed that he wasn't the legendarily committed guy he had imagined him to be. He had actually expected him to be here already, he realized that now. What kind of school legend slept in on Saturdays?

The studio was open so he just went in, taking a seat on the floor, leaning up against the only wall that didn't have mirrors. As the seconds ticked by, it became harder and harder to keep his eyes open. Maybe he would just close them for a tiny little while, just for the briefest of moments.

“OUCH!” he yelled, grabbing his lower leg, his shin hurt something awful. He looked up, seeing the cutest pissed off person ever, his insides fluttering. He tried to ignore it, forcefully keeping the smile away from his lips. It was slightly scary how mad Youngbae was, but it just suited him so well. Having that intense look on his face, shooting fireballs out of his eyes, it accented his beauty. It was so forceful and stunning, that it pierced right through Seunghyun's outer layer, going right for his core.

“Okay, that's it. I seriously need to start locking this place up. What? So you were partying and this is as far as you got or...? What the hell are you doing here? This is not, and I repeat NOT, your personal sobering up sanctuary.” Youngbae said in a low, pointed voice, holding his composure but it wouldn't have surprised Seunghyun if smoke would have started coming out of his nose.

“I'm not drunk! I wasn't partying! I promise!!” he protested, standing up so that he towered over him, getting some leverage. Youngbae took a step back, but didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated. He crossed his hands and looked at him with peered eyes, like he was scanning him with some kind of a lie detector beam, gathering evidence to help his case, clearly not believing a word he was saying.

“No, honest, I just look this bad because I'm not a morning person, if I wake up before noon I kind of just feel like I'm dying, and look like it too!” he explained a bit too enthusiastically.

“You can send me for a blood test if you don't believe me!” he added, holding out his arm in earnest. A shy smile visited Youngbae's lips and Seunghyun could have sworn he heard a low snort. What a cutie. He sent him the puppiest of puppy eyes to try and tip the scales in his favor.

“Okay, fine. Let's see what you've got.” Youngbae smirked, his eyes disappearing into the most adorable eyesmile he had ever seen.