When Hongbin pushed open the doors to the crowded café Hakyeon spotted him first. He handed the waiting customer her slice of cake with a warm smile before glancing at Wonsik, bent over retrieving more cream from the refrigerator under the order counter and still unaware of who’d just walked in. Hakyeon watched Hongbin run a seemingly-casual hand through his hair to make sure it was in place before approaching the counter and Hakyeon sidled up to Wonsik.

“Satan approaching,” he muttered out of the side of his mouth before turning his back smoothly to go get more espresso cups out of the dishwasher.

Wonsik straightened, confused, and came face to face with Hongbin’s devastating dimples.

“Oh,” he breathed intelligently.

“Hi,” Hongbin leant his crossed arms on the counter, bouncing a little on his toes. “Thought I’d drop in and get Taekwoon hyung something before going home. He’s stressed out over some paper he has to write.”

“The usual?” Wonsik asked, drinking Hongbin in, already absentmindedly reaching for a takeout cup.

“Do one of your Christmas specials with mint or something, as long as it’s got a lot of milk in it. You know what happened last night? One of my basketball juniors got drunk and passed out outside my apartment and Taekwoon hyung had to drag him into the house and lay him out on the sofa, totally smashed. It didn’t strike me as funny when he told me this morning but halfway during study group the image of Taekwoon hyung being grumpy as and dragging in this gigantic unconscious freshman by one leg into the house hit me and my god, I couldn’t stop laughing. Oh, that’s who the shoes belong to, by the way. The ones in the photo I sent you.”

An eavesdropping Hakyeon snorted from somewhere behind Wonsik and Hongbin perked up. “Hakyeon hyung, hey.”

Hakyeon turned around, smile at the ready and coffee in his hands. “Hello, Binnie.”

“Hey, listen,” Hongbin said, turning his attention back to Wonsik who was trying very hard to make sure he was making Taekwoon’s drink right with Hongbin leaning in towards him over the counter like that. “Want to come over later? We can order in.”

“Uh,” Wonsik shook his head regretfully. “I’ve got homework, Bin. That needs to be done by tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, come on. Come over and I’ll help you with it.”

“Didn’t you say you also had that other thing you needed to do, Wonsik?” Hakyeon interrupted smooth as a hot knife through butter, magically appearing by Wonsik’s side.

“What thing?” Wonsik turned to Hakyeon, blank.

“That thing. You know. That write-up on satanic forces and how to repel their advances.”

Hongbin looked at Wonsik, eyes wide. “What class is that for? Sounds cool.”

“I… don’t know,” Wonsik floundered, desperately trying to interpret Hakyeon’s Meaningful Look.

Hongbin looked from Hakyeon to Wonsik and after a moment waved his hand impatiently between them. “Whatever it is, bring it and we’ll do it together. Maybe I’ll make Taekwoon hyung cook, hmm? Pasta?”

“Promise me we won’t end up on your PS4,” Wonsik pleaded instead, setting Taekwoon’s festive coffee in front of Hongbin.

“I promise,” Hongbin smiled triumphantly, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet to pay for the coffee and conveniently making the shirt underneath his jacket stretch across his defined chest. Hakyeon could feel Wonsik’s sigh from three metres away.

“Hey, nevermind,” Wonsik waved away Hongbin’s wallet. “It’s on me.”

“Really?” Hongbin’s smile could have blocked out the sun. “You’re too good to me. See you later.”

Wonsik was in the middle of watching Hongbin walk out of the café when Hakyeon slapped him upside the head.

*

Taekwoon rather felt like he was intruding on something he wasn’t supposed to be seeing.

Wonsik had come over an hour ago like Hongbin had said he would, and Taekwoon had made dinner for all of them, feeling gratified Hongbin told him Wonsik had been craving his pasta. Then they had retreated to Hongbin and Taekwoon’s desk in the living room, where now Taekwoon wasn’t sure if homework or Advanced Flirting was taking place.

Wonsik had brought over doughnuts for dessert and there had been a lot of Hongbin wiping off sugar from the side of Wonsik’s mouth, and Hongbin dusting the sugar off his fingers on Wonsik’s jeans-clad thigh, and also quite a lot of leaning in unnecessarily close and Wonsik making great googly eyes at Hongbin while Hongbin was presumably giving suggestions for Wonsik’s homework.

Taekwoon frowned down at his laptop from where he was half-lying on the sofa, knowing that outright staring at the two of them wasn’t helping his paper write itself but the spectacle of Lee ‘I don’t do relationships but I’m a great ing tease’ Hongbin torturing Kim ‘I’ve been in love with Hongbin for years and the whole world knows it’ Wonsik was too interesting. It was like watching a master at work.

Taekwoon knew Hongbin got around – Hongbin never dated any one person for very long and he seemed perfectly happy like that, and no one ever really got stuck on Hongbin the way Wonsik had. Hongbin had mentioned once they’d been at high school together, though, so Taekwoon supposed that was where Wonsik’s unholy crush had started. He didn’t know how on earth Wonsik endured the knowledge that Hongbin was steadily making his way through the entire student population – and part of the professors’, too, if the rumours were to be believed – but somehow he was surviving. And more in love than ever, going by the way the lovelight was shining out of his eyes. Taekwoon pursed his lips in sympathy. Personally he would have snapped a long time ago and done something drastic like shave his entire head or something from the stress.

This went on for the next twenty minutes, Taekwoon unabashedly watching them like they were primetime television even though this was hardly the first time he’d seen this episode. Once or twice he felt the urge to give Hongbin a standing ovation, the way Hongbin was flustering Wonsik till the tips of his ears were flaming.

The doorbell rang in the middle of all of this, and Taekwoon hurriedly tore his eyes away from the two of them before they could catch him staring. Hongbin and Wonsik turned around to look expectantly at the door as Taekwoon went to answer it, and of all people Taekwoon might have guessed was waiting outside Sanghyuk sheepishly holding a giant fruit basket wasn’t one of them.

“Sanghyuk?” Hongbin asked, note of confusion in his voice. Taekwoon didn’t see the look of tense apprehension that passed over Wonsik’s face, wondering if this was one of Hongbin’s hook-ups because he was too busy staring in shock at Sanghyuk’s fruit basket.

“The supermarket didn’t have anything smaller than this,” Sanghyuk said by way of greeting, his cheeks flaming with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I had to, it was making me crazy. I couldn’t just not do anything to make up for intruding on you last night. This morning. You know.”

“Sanghyuk, come in,” Hongbin got up and went to the door, elbowing a still-speechless Taekwoon out of the way. “Bring your enormous fruit apology with you.”

“Thank you, sunbae,” Sanghyuk muttered, heaving the basket into the apartment and giving it to Hongbin who pretended to wilt slightly under the weight.

“Sanghyuk, this is Wonsik. Wonsik, this is Sanghyuk, my basketball junior. Also Taekwoon’s new best friend.”

Taekwoon cut Hongbin a glare as he went past into the kitchen to deposit the basket, standing awkwardly in front of a just-as awkward Sanghyuk.

“Wonsik, he’s the one I was telling you about. The one with the nice shoes,” Hongbin called from the kitchen, staring at all the available spaces until he gave up and just put the basket with difficulty on the floor in a corner.

“Nice shoes?” Sanghyuk asked, confused, as everybody automatically turned to look at his feet.

“Yeah. You were wearing nice shoes when I saw you on the couch, unconscious. Wonsik likes shoes a lot,” Hongbin explained, leaning against the couch and watching Wonsik give Sanghyuk an immensely awkward wave. If Taekwoon knew Hongbin at all, Hongbin was enjoying the out of this ridiculous situation.

“So, Sanghyuk,” Hongbin smiled. “Should we set up a sofa bed for you every Saturday night after 613’s parties? Maybe get you a duvet of your own?”

Sanghyuk laughed, having quickly gotten over most of his embarrassment. “If Taekwoon hyung would be okay with it, sure,” he turned to Taekwoon, concerned. “I got your name right, didn’t I? Just now Hongbin sunbae mentioned it. And can I call you ‘hyung’?”

“Why not?” Taekwoon answered drily. “I already feel like we’ve known each other for years.”

“Anyway, I hope you like the fruits,” Sanghyuk said. “They should last you for quite a while.”

“Take some home with you later,” Taekwoon immediately told Wonsik, who grinned, nodding. “Tell Hakyeon to make fruit pies or something once you guys fix your oven.”

“Yeah, it can be a welcome gift for our new roommate,” Wonsik said, and Hongbin turned to him in surprise.

“New roommate? You didn’t say anything about a new roommate.”

“You know we’ve been looking for someone for the third room since Hyunsik graduated. I haven’t seen him yet but Hakyeon met with the guy already, says he should do perfectly. His name’s Jaehwan, he’s a year older.”

Hongbin went over to Wonsik to interrogate him further and Sanghyuk stepped towards the door, eyeing Taekwoon with a little of his earlier sheepishness returning.

“I guess I better go. I live in the same block, actually. Third floor. I room with my friend, Sungjae.”

“Sungjae? As in Yook?” Taekwoon asked. “There’s a Sungjae that just joined the music society.”

“Oh really? You’re in that too? So cool. I always wanted to do something with music but it just never happened,” Sanghyuk lit up, forgetting all about Sungjae. “What do you do? Sing? Or play an instrument? Or compose?”

“Uh, I sing, and I play the piano. And I, um, I compose a little, too.” Taekwoon said, feeling his cheeks start to warm self-consciously as they always did when he started to talk about his music.

Sanghyuk latched on to his arm, eyes worshipful. “Hyung, can you teach me how to play the piano?”

“You want to learn?” Taekwoon asked, feeling oddly flattered. “I’m not a very good teacher, honestly, I’m not sure-”

“Hyung, please. Even the basics would be fine. I tried teaching myself but I need someone who is actually good at it to guide me.”

“Uh,” Taekwoon said, sure his cheeks were fully red by now. “Well, sure, if you want. We could use the Society’s piano room.”

“Thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyou,” Sanghyuk beamed. “I’ll give you my number, hyung, you can message me when you’ll be free to arrange our lessons,” he said, putting special delighted emphasis on the last word. “This is so great. Who’d have thought me getting drunk and passing out like an idiot in front of a stranger’s apartment would have led to this?”

“Yeah, who’d have thought?” Taekwoon repeated deadpan as he fished out his phone, making Sanghyuk laugh. Sanghyuk recited his phone number for Taekwoon to save, and Taekwoon watched Sanghyuk practically skip off after down the corridor to the stairs. He closed the door, shaking his head. The kid was cute.

He had to reopen the door two seconds later for Wonsik to exit, suddenly subdued like a wilting flower. Wonsik smiled a goodbye at Taekwoon that didn’t reach his eyes and Taekwoon turned back into the apartment to find Hongbin contemplating the sofa with a thoughtful look.

“What did you say to him?” Taekwoon asked, going for the direct route. “Few minutes ago you guys were fine.”

“What do you mean, what did I say?” Hongbin asked, indignant. “He had to go.”

“Looking like a deflated balloon?”

Hongbin shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Taekwoon shook his head again. “One day, Bin. You’re going to regret the way you treat him.”

Taekwoon didn’t wait for the cutting look he knew was coming his way and went into the kitchen, realising something with a cry. “You see what you did? Wonsik left without taking any fruits. How the hell are we going to finish all of this?”

*

How about this Friday, 6pm? Taekwoon hyung here.

hi hyung! i’m so sorry but i can’t actually, i’ve got a game on starting at 5. hongbin sunbae didn’t tell you? you’re not going to watch him?

Oh, right. He told me. I forgot. Yeah, I’m going. Let me know another time you’ll be free? I’ll need to book the piano room.

ok i’ll get back to you on that asap. yay see you at the game!

*

Hakyeon, Taekwoon and Wonsik slot themselves into a crowded row in the bleachers, the elder two wondering more than once why they were indulging their respective younger friends; Hongbin on Taekwoon’s part, because he really didn’t care about sports unless it was football and the basketball team was going to lose anyway, and Wonsik on Hakyeon’s part because Lee Hongbin was the absolute devil as far as Hakyeon was concerned and the less time Wonsik spent mooning over Hongbin either in proximity to Hongbin or not, the better. Hakyeon supposed they made a pretty hilarious picture, the two of them sitting stoically sharing a bucket of popcorn while all around them people were cheering and waving school flags and whatnot. Wonsik was actually wearing one of Hongbin’s jerseys over his shirt, a thing Hakyeon had pleaded with him not to do, but lo and behold. Taekwoon had raised an eyebrow at the sight of Wonsik in the jersey, and Hakyeon had answered with a raised eyebrow of his own.

“I just hope this other team destroys them fast. I’m still not done with that stupid paper,” Taekwoon grumbled, watching Hongbin’s hair bounce beautifully as he ran up the court. It was ridiculous how good Hongbin looked sweaty and redfaced.

“Winter midterms aren’t for ages, I don’t know what you’re stressing out about,” Hakyeon replied dismissively, mouth full of popcorn.  

“Do you remember last semester? When I nearly died because I left everything to the last minute?”

Hakyeon narrowed his eyes, as if he needed effort to remember The Great Taekwoon Meltdown of Summer 2015. “Oh. Yup. That wasn’t pretty.”

“Understatement.” Taekwoon scanned the court. The team was already down more than twenty points, and it was hardly fifteen minutes in. He didn’t know how Hongbin stood the humiliation.

The referee called a substitution, and Taekwoon blinked. “Oh, look, that’s the kid that crashed on my couch and gave us that ing big fruit basket. He’s being subbed in.”

Wonsik stopped watching Hongbin’s every single move long enough to look back at the two of them and shout, “Hey! That’s Sanghyuk!”

“That is Sanghyuk,” Taekwoon nodded. “He wants me to give him piano lessons.”

“You? Give someone lessons?” Hakyeon scoffed. “Don’t make him cry, please. He looks sweet.”

Taekwoon frowned. “What part of him looks sweet?”

“Look at how he’s running. He’s so excited.”

“He won’t be excited by the time the game’s over,” Taekwoon said darkly.

He was right. By the end of the game the home team was down forty points – not even their worst loss this season – and Sanghyuk was positively drooping. He’d tried his best, from what Taekwoon could see, but there was no helping a team this bad. Hongbin came over to them once the game was properly over and people were streaming out of the gymnasium, still breathing hard and probably wrecking Wonsik’s sanity in the process. There was a girl sitting nearby who was watching Hongbin with an expectant look that Taekwoon rather thought branded her as the girlfriend of the moment, and he didn’t want to stick around to see Wonsik’s face when Hongbin went over to her. He stuck the bucket of popcorn in Hakyeon’s lap and climbed down the bleachers to where Sanghyuk was conveniently sitting dejectedly in the first row with the person Taekwoon recognised from music society as Sungjae.

“Cheer up,” Taekwoon said by way of greeting, nodding at Sungjae. “After you lose a few more times it won’t matter anymore. Look at Hongbin, he’s the star of your crappy team and he’s not phased at all.”

Sanghyuk looked up, face completely serious, and Taekwoon could see that his levity had been completely misplaced. “Hey – hey, I’m sorry. I thought you knew how bad the team was.”

“Are you telling me they lose all the time?” Sanghyuk asked, disbelief creeping into his voice.

“Pretty much,” Taekwoon said, apologetic.

“Great,” Sanghyuk said, getting to his feet and swinging his towel over one shoulder. “After I cool down I’m gonna go quit.”

“Seriously?” Sungjae said, reaching out to punch Sanghyuk in the arm. Sanghyuk gave him a crying face before jumping down onto the court. “Oh, hyung, are you going to wait for Hongbin sunbae?”

Taekwoon nodded uncertainly, sneaking a look up to where Hongbin was now sitting with the girl and Wonsik again looked like a deflated balloon. “If he doesn’t have other plans for tonight.”

“We can walk back to the dorm together?” Sanghyuk asked, face hopeful.

“Oh, uh, sure,” Taekwoon answered, caught by surprise. “Hongbin will be glad to have someone to join his post-match ritual of insulting all the other players’ skills. Or lack of.”

“Okay,” Sanghyuk smiled, and Taekwoon was struck with how it changed his face. “See you back here.”

Yeah, the kid was cute.

*