It was almost evening, the sun had began to set, and Gook, Dae Gu and Tae Il were sitting around the dining table in the kitchen, wasting time, since none of them had anything else to do. Dae Gu was sipping on his precious banana milk as usual, insisting on that he definitely had not smiled at the extremely silly joke Gook just had told.

They were all happy about how much Dae Gu had opened up recently. It was no longer rare to see him smile, and Gook, especially, loved seeing the maknae in a good mood.

Gook almost bent over the table as he passionately tried to prove his point to Dae Gu that there had definitely been a smile creeping on the corner of his lips, and that he had found the joke funny, but instead he earned himself his glasses to fall off his face and down on the table. Tae Il laughed and reached out from beside him to ruffle his hair as Gook putted them on again, giving Dae Gu a playful glare.

In that moment, the front door smashed open and Soo Sun stormed into their dorm, a bright smile on her lips and each of her hands carrying a bag with groceries. Dae Gu, who sat on the opposite of Gook at the table, turned around in surprise. Gook stood up, his mouth formed into an O letter, looking slightly shocked.

”Hey everyone!” Soo Sun exclaimed, sounding just as happy and giddy as she looked. She walked over to the table and putted down her bags with a thud in front of the boys.

”Yah, Soo Sun! What's this?” Gook asked, peeking into the stuffed bags.

Soo Sun straightened her back, looking both proud and satisfied as her eyes wandered back and forth between the boys at the table.

”Don't you think that successfully solving a case deserves some celebration?”.

There was a case with a kidnapping that they had been working on for weeks now, and after many days of frustration and no success they were all very relieved to finally had solved and put an end to the whole thing.

Soo Sun reached out and began to unpack the groceries from the bags. There was cookies, crackers, ramen packages, lots of banana milk—both Gook and Tae Il noticed Soo Sun and Dae Gu smiling shyly to each other when she unpacked them—their favourite soda and lots of other delicious things.

When everything was unpacked and on the table, Soo Sun went and sat down next to Dae Gu, on the opposite of Tae Il. Telling by the look on her face, she waited for her friends to dig in on all the food, but instead their gazes explored all the groceries with wide eyes, all of them looking mesmerized.

”Omo, Soo Sun, you're really amazing!” Gook almost whispered.

Soo Sun smiled at him and shrugged, until Dae Gu suddenly burst out talking next to her.

”Yah Soybean Powder, did you buy all of this with your own money?” he both looked and sounded almost a little upset. A slight frown appeared on Soo Sun's face as she looked back at him.

”Yeah...” she avoided his eyes and turned to look down on the table ”let's eat now”.

Dae Gu sighed, shaking his head and Gook immediately turned towards her, ”You should've asked us, we don't want you to spend all your money and get broke”.

Soo Sun smiled slightly and sighed, ”Thank you guys for caring so much about me, but I wanted to surprise you with this, so let's enjoy it now!”

She reached out, grabbed a banana milk and putted in the straw before she gave it to Dae Gu. Gook and Tae Il looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

Lately, Gook had let go of his more-than-friends feelings about Soo Sun and it was really bringing him relief. He didn't feel jealous anymore whenever Soo Sun was with Dae Gu, instead it brought him joy to see her so happy.

They all began to eat and bursted out into conversation, just like they always did. Usually they didn't express it that much to each other, but they were all very grateful to have such good friends.

”We should've invited Squad Chief too” Soo Sun said sadly after a while as she stuffed a cookie into , ”Now I feel bad”.

”He'll probably decide to have some dinner celebration or something with us tomorrow, don't worry” Tae Il comforted.

Soo Sun realized that he was right. Whenever a case was solved, Squad Chief insisted on celebrating. It was usually very fun, but it was in those times they all missed Seo Pan Seok the most, which made the whole celebration a little more sad than intended. Although, they had decided to send Pan Seok ssi a greeting whenever a case was successfully solved and they celebrated, and that managed to bring them all some happiness in the misery.

”We should go visit Seo Pan Seok ssi again soon, it's been long since last time” Soo Sun said, looking up at her friends.

They all nodded in agreement. There hadn't been much time for them to visit since they were always busy with their job, and they guessed that the same went for Seo Pan Seok too.

”Yeah, I wonder how he's doing” Gook said, chewing on some ramen. ”I hope he's caught some bad guys lately”. Gook laughed to himself, earning a smile from Tae Il.

”I bet he's the best at his station” Soo Sun said.

”Of course he is! He's the legendary Seo Pan Seok!” Dae Gu burst out, and they all started laughing at his perfect imitation, himself included.

They sat for a long time eating all the food that Soo Sun had bought. Even though all of them felt kind of full already, they didn't bother to stop eating. It was nice to sit together and chat, and the food was too good to be rejected.

”Ugh, I'm gonna go and wash my hands” Gook said suddenly, his nose wrinkling in slight disgust as he looked at his hands that were all sticky with ramen and also soda that he had spilled earlier.

His friends gave signs of acknowledgement, and Gook stood up from his chair and began to walk to the bathroom. Suddenly he felt himself stepping on something, and with surprise it made him slip and fall forward towards the floor. He was quick to prevent the fall with his hands from turning out badly, but his face knocked into the pillar-like thing that was between the kitchen and the bathroom.

Soo Sun, Tae Il and Dae Gu heard the thud, and they stood up in shock. Tae Il immediately ran and kneeled down next to his hurt friend who was writhing in pain on the floor with his hands over his mouth. Soo Sun and Dae Gu looked just as worried, and they hurried to sit down next to them.

”Gook! Are you alright!?” Tae Il asked in mixed panic and worry, ”Where does it hurt?”

Gook let out a whining sound but didn't let his hands fall from his lips. ”Ma maouwth” was all that was heard when he tried to speak through his palms. They all perfectly understood even though they barely heard what he said.

”Come on, let me see” Tae Il said, trying to pull away Gook's stubborn hands from covering his mouth.

Gook finally let go and he let out another pained whining sound.

”Omo!” Soo Sun exclaimed when she saw the blood that escaped his mouth. ”Tae Il-ah! Is it serious?” she asked in worry, grabbing onto the ex-doctor who was helping Gook to sit up.

”It's gonna be fine” he tried to assure them all. He gently grabbed Gook's chin and carefully tilted his head upwards to look for damages.

Gook tried to break away from his hand, ”Ouch, that hurts!” he exclaimed, causing blood to drip down on his clothes when he spoke.

Tae Il let go of Gook's face and sighed as he stood up. ”Come with me to the bathroom, you can't sit here and bleed down the kitchen”.

He reached out a hand and helped Gook up from the floor. When he stood up, he spotted a smashed soda can on the floor and frowned.

”Yah! Who threw that thing there?” Gook yelled and pointed at it, ”It made me trip!”

”It was you” Dae Gu stated, ”When you were gonna hit the trash can, remember?”.

Gook's cheeks turned slightly pink, and he glared at the maknae in embarrassment. It was perfectly true, because earlier he had insisted that he could hit the trash can from where he sat, and he hadn't bothered to go and pick it up after he had missed.

”Sheesh” he let out and quickly turned around, following Tae Il into the bathroom.

Tae Il ordered him to sit down on the toilet lid, and Gook obeyed without saying anything. He was still embarrassed about Dae Gu's truthful statement and his own clumsiness.

He glanced at Tae Il as the ex-doctor was picking out small pads and other medical items from the bathroom cabinet. When he apparently had got everything he needed, he looked around the bathroom in confusion as if he was searching for something.

”What's wrong?” Gook asked, and immediately regretted speaking after some more blood dripped from his mouth.

”I need somewhere to sit down” Tae Il said, more to himself than in answer to Gook's question. But then he gave up and sighed, ”Whatever”.

Gook blinked.

”Alright, first, come here and spit” Tae Il gestured towards the sink. ”It's gonna be hard for me if your mouth is a ocean of blood”.

Gook frowned. ”Ew, that sounds disgusting” he muttered and stood up, glancing at Tae Il, only to see him smiling his mysterious smile. ”Yah stop smiling, this isn't funny!”

”Stop talking, just spit already” Tae Il said, and Gook did as he was told. He cringed in disgust as he felt the salty red liquid drip into the sink. Wiping his mouth carefully so it wouldn't hurt with the back of his hand, he straightened up again and turned to Tae Il.

”Now what?”

His gaze followed Tae Il as the ex-doctor went and sat down on the toilet lid, just as he himself had done before. He was confused for a moment about where he would sit, but the answer to that question came almost immediately when Tae Il patted his thighs.

”Come and sit down” he said, and Gook gulped, his eyes widening in surprise.

”Wae!?"

Tae Il rolled his eyes before looking back at the startled man who was standing in front of him. ”Gook, don't be silly, just come and sit down on my lap”.

Gook scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, but then he felt some more blood dripping over his chin, and also a twitch of pain from his tongue, which obviously was the source of his annoying blood flow. He carefully glanced at Tae Il again, who still was waiting for him with a done-with-your- expression on his face.

He gave up his refusal and embarrassedly walked to stand in front of Tae Il by the toilet. He avoided the other man's eyes as Tae Il gently grabbed Gook's arm and guided him to sit down on his lap.

It was awkward and Gook felt clumsy as he sat down on Tae Il's firm legs that were covered in black denim. The position was rather inappropriate, Gook thought to himself when Tae Il made him shift closer. He was sitting with his legs on each side of Tae Il and the toilet, and his torso was facing Tae Il's. Gook had to grab the other man's waist to not fall off, because he did not want to shift any closer. His crotch was already dangerously close to Tae Il's as it was.

Afterwards he regretted thinking like that, Tae Il was his friend, and this whole situation was nothing more than a good friend helping another good friend out.

He avoided meeting Tae Il's eyes when he grabbed Gook's jaw, just as he had done before, and tilted his head upwards to look for damage. It hurt slightly, but he didn't say anything. Instead he let Tae Il continue with his doctor observation for 10 more seconds.

”You have a small wound on your chin” Tae Il said when he let go of Gook's face. ”I'm gonna fix it for you, but I can't do anything about the wound on your tongue. You'll just have to gargle with cold water until the bleeding calms down”

Gook nodded.

”You don't think you've damaged any teeth, do you?” Tae Il asked as he reached towards the sink next to them and grabbed the pads and a bottle with wound cleansing.

Gook shook his head.

”Good” Tae Il said. He opened the bottle and began to drip some of the liquid onto the little pad, and Gook clenched his eyes shut as he anticipated the stinging pain. He hissed when Tae Il carefully patted the wet pad to his open wound, and the ex-doctor caressed his arm in comfort.

”I'm sorry, Gook, it's almost done”

He was done after a couple of seconds, and he put away the pad and instead reached out for a package with bandaids that he had placed on the sink along with the other items. Gook spotted that the bandaids had motives with Disney princesses, and it made him scoff.

Tae Il noticed his reaction, and he smiled kindly at the other man as he opened the little package. He took out a bandaid, and as he reached to place it on Gook's chin, he gently placed his palm against the back of the man's head so it would be steady and the bandaid could be applied successfully.

Gook watched Tae Il carefully as he was trying to find the right angle to place the bandaid. He was overwhelmed for a moment over how pretty Tae Il really was, and his eyes subconsciously wandered over the man's smooth skin, over his long dark eyelashes that fluttered against his cheek and his little pink tongue that he bit down onto with his lips in concentration.

It wasn't that Gook hadn't thought about it before, that would've been impossible since they've been very close friends for a long time, but he hadn't thought about it thoroughly like this. He'd always known that Tae Il is attractive, especially because he can't even walk a few meters down the street without someone beginning to flirt with him. Gook came to the strained conclusion that he was very lucky to have Tae Il as a friend.

”There, done” Tae Il said as he gently pressed on the bandaid so it would stuck. ”You got Cinderella”.

Gook smiled slightly until Tae Il dropped his hands from his chin and let them land on Gook's thighs. The ex-doctor looked into his eyes for a while, and Gook was confused. He didn't know if he was supposed to stand up or if he should stay where he was.

Suddenly—taking Gook off guard—Tae Il reached up with his hand towards Gook's lips, and he gently and softly caressed his thumb over the bottom lip.

Gook gulped and accidentally tightened his grip on Tae Il's shirt around his waist. Catching himself in the act, he immediately let go as he felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. The other man just gave him a kind smile.

Then Tae Il's gaze flickered back to the lips of the man who sat on his lap.

”Looks like you're gonna get a swollen lip” he said, placing his palm over Gook's jaw. ”I hope this will make it better”.

Slowly but surely, with help from his hand on his jaw, Tae Il tilted Gook closer and closer to his face. Gook was stuck, and he couldn't think nor do anything. All he knew was the fresh, warm breath that belonged to Tae Il against his mouth, and the next second his friend's lips were pressed against his in a soft pecking kiss.

Tae Il's lips were soft, and Gook couldn't help but let out a little gasp when the other man added some pressure to the closed mouth kiss. It was gentle, sweet, and Gook felt all warm and fuzzy.

As he let go of Gook's jaw, Tae Il slightly caressed it while leaning out from the kiss. He stopped when they were just a few centimeters apart, and he looked into Gook's surprised eyes while smiling slightly.

Gook was still all paralyzed, barely knowing how to think, and Tae Il had to gently grab his hips until he understood that he was supposed to get up. He struggled to not fall while standing up from Tae Il's lap, and as they both were up a few seconds later, he awkwardly avoided the other man's eyes.

Tae Il walked to the sink, grabbing a glass from the bathroom cabinet and filling it with cold water. He reached it out towards the startled Gook, who took it with shaky hands.

”Gargle and spit so you'll get rid of the blood” Tae Il said, smiling as he gently ruffled Gook's hair and then left the bathroom. 

Gook looked after the tall boy as he left, blinking in confusion. He shook his head slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards into a little giddy smile, before he took some of the water into his mouth, gargled, and spat it out in the sink. When he had straightened up, he looked at his own reflection in the mirror over the sink, took a shaky breath and let his fingers ghost over his lips that just had been kissed by Tae Il's pretty ones.

What was the point of him getting all nervous and working himself up?

Truth be told, Gook had often thought about how a romantic relationship would fit him and Tae Il. He had never been repulsed by the thought, only slightly nervous, but he had come to realize that maybe it wasn't something that had to be overthinked. It was just there naturally. No forced and thoroughly thought out dates, there was just the two of them and the relationship that they'd always had together, from the very first moment they met. It was very domestic, and Gook was happy with the simplicity of it.

Everything would work out fine.