“Hyung, I need you to help me.”

Sunggyu looks up, startled and the pitcher of steamed milk he’s holding shakes slightly, effectively ruining the latté art he had been working on before he was interrupted. The cat he had been making now has uneven ears and he sighs, dropping the pitcher back on the counter. Better luck next time, he figures.

“You’re lucky I was just practicing my skills,” Sunggyu says, taking the cup in his hands and putting it to his lips. The espresso is just bitter enough to counter the taste of milk and he nods to himself, satisfied with his coffee-making skills. No customer from Three Five Seven, the indie coffee shop he’s working at, has ever complained about his coffee and he sure as hell intends to keep it that way.

“Yeah, yeah.” Woohyun ignores the glare his best friend throws at him and instead smiles cheekily until Sunggyu rolls his eyes, breaking their eye-contact. “As I was saying, you have to help me.”

“How did you even enter? We’re closed.” Sunggyu changes the topic, gesturing to the obvious — red and blinking — “closed” sign hanging on the door. Best friend or not, Woohyun is trespassing and Sunggyu hopes that his manager isn’t going to come in this morning. Jung Taekwoon is usually patient, but not when Nam Woohyun is involved. Definitely not. “You haven’t forgotten that Taekwoon doesn’t want to see you here, right?”

“Nope.” Woohyun laughs, not making any move to leave, “But I don’t care. What did he say last time? That I was a disturbance or something like that?”

“A nuisance,” Sunggyu corrects, but Woohyun waves that away, a wide grin on his lips.

“Same thing, same thing,” Woohyun retorts, eyes sparkling with mirth. “He’s just too grumpy. Should probably stop drinking all that coffee or get laid.” Ignoring Sunggyu’s pointed look, he adds under his breath, “Probably even both. Anyway, just lock the back door next time, Gyu hyung. You never know who it could be, you know?”

Sunggyu rubs the edge of his nose and grunts, gesturing for the other to take a seat. “Just spill whatever you have to say and leave. I have to open in ten.”

“Gyu hyung—” Woohyun whines, making puppy eyes at him and slightly pouting once he realizes Sunggyu doesn’t seem to be affected by his actions. His aegyo doesn’t seem as effective as it once was which frustrates him. After all, he’s Nam Woohyun, the King of cute — or so says his blog bio. “You’re heartless, hyung. Aren’t you happy to start your day with me around?”

“No,” Sunggyu says, deadpan, as he grabs a wiping cloth from under the sink and takes a look at his friend who’s sitting with his arms crossed across his chest, sulking. “So, spill whatever you have to say and go. Only six minutes left, Woohyun-ah.”

“Right. Well…” Woohyun starts, his voice suddenly getting so low that Sunggyu has to strain his ears to catch the next words coming out of his mouth. Sunggyu figures that whatever Woohyun is going to say, it’s probably not going to please him. They both know it if Woohyun’s behavior is any indication. “You remember my blog, yeah?” At Sunggyu’s raised eyebrow, Woohyun quickly continues, “Of course, you do. Erm… I need to be promoted a bit. Bbang Bbang hasn’t been doing great recently,” Woohyun trails off, his face unusually grave.

Woohyun had opened a small bakery in Hongdae six months prior, and the sales still aren’t taking off as much as he had hoped, despite him being a rather well-known blogger. He has gotten even more popular recently, hosting free tasting events and offering exclusive online discounts, but the money he makes is nowhere near enough to cover the loans he has to pay back and the whole situation is starting to take its toll on him and his business.

“Oh.” Sunggyu reaches out to pat Woohyun’s shoulder, flashing him what he hopes is an encouraging smile. “What do you want me to do? Hang some posters here? I’m sure Taekwoon wouldn’t mi—” Sunggyu starts as he steps into the backroom in order to grab the safebox, quickly taking his place behind the counter again. Sungyeol had been the one closing last night so he might as well recount the money. His co-worker has a habit to never do it, or when he does, to never do it right.

“Thanks but no thanks,” Woohyun replies, interrupting Sunggyu and shaking his head. Sunggyu looks up, his eyebrows furrowed at his friend’s blunt refusal. “What then? Do you want me to make a video to recommend Bbang Bbang or something?”

Woohyun hums, nodding slightly. “Yup, that’s exactly what I want. Your Youtube channel is popular, hyung! Some exposure on there could do us some good, I mean, even I-think-I’m-badass-because-I-listen-to-rock-music people like you must eat sweet treats once in a while, no?”

“Very funny,” Sunggyu says, straight-faced. “Why aren’t you asking your boyfriend? Let Myungsoo work his magic and transform your baked goods into some culinary art. He could use his fancy tags for his pictures, too. Tumblr digs that hipster .”

Woohyun chuckles, nodding to himself. Myungsoo promoting him on his Tumblr isn’t a bad idea at all. “Why not? With that face of his, he could sell anything. I’ll talk to him about it once I get back home tonight. Still,” he adds, “you have a broader audience, hyung! Please do it! The more, the merrier!”

It might be true, Sunggyu thinks, but he doubts his subscribers are exactly Woohyun’s target or that whatever project his friend has in mind is going to be helpful. Not when the closest thing related to food he’s done in a video is munching on potato chips while doing a live chat out of boredom at two in the morning. It would be obvious to everyone watching that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t even know how to boil an egg for God’s sake.

“I don’t know, Hyun-ah,” Sunggyu says, unable to outright reject his best friend. “Wouldn’t it be weird for me to just do that out of the blue?” People are watching his videos for his music and Sunggyu doesn’t want to betray their trust by talking about something else, as silly as it sounds.

“I haven’t thought about it,” Woohyun admits, sheepishly. “Maybe just... You could just film about some Youtube channels and blogs that you would like to recommend? Or do a tag or meme or whatever these things are called?”

“Let me think about it, I guess,” Sunggyu finally answers after a few seconds, rubbing the back of his neck. This could work, he has to admit, and he doesn’t want to let Woohyun down. “I will see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Gyu hyung! You’re the best!”

Sunggyu rolls his eyes, but the fond look he throws at Woohyun and the slight smile on his lips betray him. “Of course, I am. Now leave, you’re supposed to take over Yongjoo’s shift at eight.”

“Wha— Oh, .”

-

“I’m done with this ,” Sunggyu says out loud, disbelief at what he’s watching written all over his face. He stops the video mid-way, not able to take it anymore, and angrily presses the back arrow of his browser again and again in despair. “You better be grateful for what I’m doing for you, Nam Woohyun,” he groans, closing his eyes as the images of a guy trying to explain how to kiss by making out with his pillow refuse to leave his mind. Some people just post the weirdest on Youtube, apparently.

He had thought about Woohyun’s plan all day, even mentally addressing list after list of pros and cons to make a decision. It had been useless, though, as he had realized upon leaving work that he couldn’t say no to his best friend even if he wanted to.

Endless texts of gratitude from Woohyun — ranging from “I LOVE YOU HYUNG!!!! <3 <3 <3” to pictures of himself doing dozens of different heart poses — make the whole ordeal worth it, though, in Sunggyu’s opinion, and the amount of blackmail material he’s acquired against his best friend is the only thing keeping from aborting this mission.

Even so, it would be too late to change his mind, anyway. He has promised, and Kim Sunggyu is a man of his word. He can do this, and will do it. For Woohyun, and more importantly, for all the sweat, tears and money his friend has poured into Bbang Bbang.

With that thought in mind, Sunggyu takes a look at all the videos Youtube is recommending to him again. Hopefully, he’s going to find a channel or two he can talk about in his next video soon.

More like he’ll die trying, he thinks, frowning at the titles of videos the website is suggesting him. He skips over a fifty-second clip of what looks like two babies cuddling with a cat,  and hurriedly scrolls down only for his eyes to catch the mosaic of a make-up tutorial.

He looks at the list again, a sigh escaping his lips as he clicks on “Dance cover: O by Omarion by hoya91”. He doesn’t know anything about dance and the dude is shirtless for God’s sake, but it will have to do. It looks like the best thing he will be able to find, anyway.

It’s actually decent, Sunggyu admits two minutes into the video. More than decent, even. The guy moves with both fluidity and sharpness, all his moves blending into a smooth choreo completely in sync with the R’&B’ song he’s dancing to. Sunggyu doesn’t know anything about dance, but he knows that he wouldn’t mind watching more clips of that Hoya91 dude.

“He’s pretty good,” Dongwoo says from behind him and Sunggyu jumps, removing his earphones and pointedly looking at his roommate, who’s grinning widely at him. “What are you doing, hyung?” Dongwoo asks, leaning down and resting his chin on Sunggyu’s shoulder. “I didn’t know you liked dancing.”

“I don’t,” Sunggyu refutes. It’s true, he doesn’t. Well, he didn’t until two minutes ago. “I just…”

“You just…?” Dongwoo repeats, taking a closer look at the screen before chuckling out loud, clapping his hands together. “Oh, I see, hyung.”

“What the are you—”

“So, shirtless dudes on Youtube, eh? Didn’t think you were the type to dig that kind of stuff, hyung.”

“It’s for Woohyun,” Sunggyu explains, “But the video is good. Thought I would educate myself about music and how it can be used for other stuff than singing, you know. I’m just being professional. He just happens to not wear a shirt, no big deal. Dude is not that impressive, anyway, I mean who the likes abs, they’re overra—”

“You’re rambling, hyung. It’s okay, I won’t spill your secret.” Dongwoo grins, patting Sunggyu’s shoulder and walking to his room. “Don’t stay up too late watching him, Gyu hyung~”

“It’s for science, I swear! He’s ugly!” Sunggyu yells at Dongwoo’s retreating back. Dongwoo only laughs as he enters his room and closes the door behind him without looking back.

Sunggyu grabs a pillow from the couch, burying his face in it. He hates his life.

-

“So, yeah, be sure to check that blog out,” Sunggyu says, making a V-sign at the camera standing on his desk. He rarely films in his own bedroom, usually preferring to film his covers outside or in the comfort of Three Five Seven after closing hours, but he had figured that filming a tag would look more natural if it was done at home. Of course, it wasn’t as if he had randomly decided to do that tag, but he could try to make it look like it.

“Woohyun posts interesting recipes and hopefully, edible ones,” he jokes, his grin stretching out even more when he imagines Woohyun’s reaction upon watching the video. “I haven’t tried but hey, they look good.”

“Anyway, he also gives good discounts to people who subscribe to his newsletter. If you’re living in Seoul or passing by Hongdae, it’s definitely worth it, trust me! Especially if you’re kinda broke like me...” he trails off, hoping that he sounds natural and not like he’s overdoing it. “Be sure to check his blog out, yeah? Or visit Bbang Bbang, you can find me hanging around there a lot so you can always come to see me if sweet stuff isn't your thing. Doesn’t that sound like a good plan?”

He winks before breaking into an embarrassed laugh and fanning his face. Sunggyu then grabs his water bottle, placed next to him on his bed, and opens it quickly to take a sip of it. “So, for my third and last recommendation,” he continues, fixing the bottle cap back in its place, “another one of my favorite blogs or youtube channels would have to be Hoya91.”

Saying it out loud feels weird, even though he isn’t lying. The first video he had watched had captivated him, and Sunggyu had spent the whole night watching the rest of the videos posted on the channel. Replaying them a few times even, until a look through the living room window and the scenery of the sun rising had made him wonder what he was doing with himself. “He dances, raps and sings,” Sunggyu says to his close to eleven thousand subscribers with a smile on his lips, “so he’s quite a complete artist. I really enjoy his cover of Ariana Grande’s Problem, so be sure to watch that vid.”

His subscribers aren’t going be too surprised by that choice, as he had himself covered a few American pop songs, twisting the melody to make them sound more rockish. One of his covers — a slow version of Britney Spears’Toxic with only his guitar to accompany him — had hit 2 million views not too long ago, making it one of his most viewed videos on the sharing website.

Sunggyu pauses, his tongue peeking out to his dry lips. He doesn’t really know what to add anymore. Hoya91’s videos are more than good and his channel is the first one Sunggyu has subscribed to, but it would be awkward to talk more about a guy he hadn’t ever heard of two days ago.

Sunggyu doesn’t even know him, after all, and he isn’t planning on getting to, either. He’s aware he could get in touch with the other man if he truly wanted to, as messaging him would be easy, but Sunggyu doesn’t plan on it. His interest towards Howon is strictly artistic and one-sided and that’s fine by him. He might be turning into a fanboy but he’s certainly not going to expose himself more he has to, and certainly not to Hoya91.

He grabs his cellphone from his lap, unlocking it to look at the time before throwing a smile at the camera again. Time to wrap this up, he thinks, impatient to be done with this recording and forget it has ever happened. “Let’s continue with the next question.”

-

“Oh, Gyu hyung! You’re early!”

Sunggyu looks at Sungjong, raising an eyebrow as he notices that his pink haired co-worker isn’t working as he’s supposed to but chatting with a guy on the side. He should probably scold him, Sunggyu knows, but as he takes a look at café and notices there’s no customer to attend to, he decides to let it go and shrugs. Sungjong isn’t a slacker, just a college freshman who hides his good heart behind snarky comebacks and would probably roll his eyes if Sunggyu ever tried to nag at him anyway. It’s not worth it.

He hums and grabs his own mug from under the counter, then starts to make coffee for himself. Their boss doesn’t mind them not paying from their own drinks, and Sunggyu never passes up on free stuff. Being a full-time barista isn’t exactly giving him a paycheck to gloat about, and even combined with the money he gets from his videos, he barely makes enough to pay for rent and utilities.

“It’s not like I never come early, Sungjong-ah. Why are you acting like you’re surprised?” Sunggyu says, taking a few steps towards his co-worker. He takes a sip of his iced americano and sighs in relief. Sunggyu hates the humidity and heat of Seoul summers, but cold beverages make them a bit more bearable.

There are around fifteen minutes left before his shift is supposed to start, but he has a habit to come in early and check on the staff, even giving an extra hand if needed. It’s not big deal for him, especially since he’s the appointed temporary manager shortly before Taekwoon left for business.  “Don’t worry, Jongie, I won’t tell Taekwoon I caught you flirting on the job the next time he calls.” Their boss has been in Daejeon for two weeks now, busy supervising the opening of a new café.

Instead of being embarrassed, Sungjong just scoffs and rolls his eyes. “You’re just jealous, hyung. You probably haven’t gotten laid in a long time, have you? Nobody would look at you twice with the ridiculous band shirts you wear.”

Sunggyu chuckles out loud at that, playfully ruffling the maknae’s hair. Sungjong pushes him away and Sunggyu’s hold on his Captain America mug wavers, making him curse under his breath. “That’s rich for someone who looks like a fairy, Sungjong-ah,” he replies teasingly once he’s certain his mug won’t shatter to the ground. “Me being single has nothing to do with my amazing fashion sense,” Sunggyu ignores Sungjong’s snort, continuing with a straight face, “I’m married to music, you know that.”

“You’re so lame, Gyu hyung,” Sungjong simply answers, glancing at Sunggyu pointedly before turning back to his friend, whom Sunggyu had completely forgotten about. “Isn’t Sunggyu hyung a loser, Hoya hyung?”

Sunggyu freezes in place, gaping at the younger who is now smirking at him, proud of himself. What the is going on here? How come Sungjong is all chummy with ing Hoya91? Sunggyu is close to running to the backroom and pretend nothing has happened, but his feet refuse to cooperate.

Sunggyu then takes a look at Hoya, who hasn’t replied to Sungjong yet. The guy just shrugs, hands buried in his pants pockets and throws a small smile in Sunggyu’s direction.

Sungjong looks between the two of them and Sunggyu can see the gears turning in his head. “Anyway, this is Howon hyung,” he says, smiling innocently in Sunggyu’s direction. Sunggyu isn’t buying it but doesn’t say anything, not trusting his voice. “Everyone calls him Hoya, though.”

Hoya waves slightly at Sunggyu, the tip of his ears as red as Sunggyu’s hair. Sunggyu nods back quickly before looking away, his teeth chewing on his lower lip. This is so awkward; he wants to run away and never come back. If he’s lucky enough, maybe the Starbucks two streets over will hire him. In the worst case, his dreams of moving to Los Angeles might become a reality faster than anything he has ever imagined.

Sungjong isn’t done with him, his eyes glinting with mischief as he waves his hand in his direction. “Hoya hyung, this is Sunggyu hyung: Youtuber extraordinaire and your biggest fanboy.” He pauses before whispering dramatically, a hand over his chest, “Apparently, he even watches your videos on repeat at night...”

Sunggyu chokes on his saliva, glaring at his co-worker. “Yah, Lee Sungjong!” Sunggyu looks straight into Sungjong’s eyes, dragging his thumb across his neck in what he hopes is a menacing gesture. He swears he’s going to kill that little later... Well, both him and his traitor of a roommate, who probably thought it was funny to spill such non-sense to his co-workers. It might be the right to erase their numbers from Dongwoo’s phone, too.

He’s about to reach out for Sungjong when a booming laugh stops him. Hoya is grinning at the both of them, arms crossed over his chest. As Sunggyu turns to face him, he rubs the back of his neck somewhat embarrassed and notices the way Hoya’s shirt sticks to his chest just right. He gulps, shaking his head. God, maybe he really needs to get laid after all. “Hoya-ssi, it’s not what you think at all. I mean, you’re cool and all that but yeah, I mean, I like you— Er, no, that’s not what I wanted to s—”

Hoya only laughs louder, sharp canines peeking out from beneath his lips and Sunggyu’s breath hitches in his throat. “Thank you for liking me,” Hoya teases, winking at him and Sunggyu blinks, tongue-tied. Is he flirting with him or is it his imagination? Sunggyu doesn’t know, and finds out he doesn’t mind either.

Hoya’s smile falters a little at Sunggyu’s lack of reaction but Sungjong flashes him a thumbs up from behind his manager’s back and Hoya nods to himself, his eyes meeting Sunggyu’s steadily. “Sadly, it’s a bit too fast for us to start dating, hyung.” He ignores the half-confused half-dazed look in Sunggyu’s eyes and just grins wider, “but let’s be friends?”

-

“Hey hyung,” Hoya greets, stopping at Sunggyu’s table and sitting down next to him. “Fancy seeing you here,” he jokes, lightly bumping their shoulders together, his shoulder rubbing with the soft cotton of Sunggyu’s.

“Shouldn’t have texted you,” Sunggyu mutters under his breath, head still buried in his composing notebook. It’s a good day for inspiration, and he has a feeling that he’s going to finish the song he had been working on for weeks now. He hopes so, at least, but he realizes that Hoya’s presence might turn out to be more distracting than helpful in the end.

Sunggyu wants him here, though. The two of them have started hanging out together after that day in the café and despite his initial reticence to have Hoya in his life, to have him be more than a Youtuber he’s following, Sunggyu is now unable to imagine a life without Hoya in it. From their constant bickering to the deep conversations they sometimes have when they go out to drink, Hoya has found his place in Sunggyu’s heart.

“You should feel flattered I have time to hang out with you, hyung.” Hoya grins, reaching over the table to grab Sunggyu’s drink and putting the straw between his lips. He soon grimaces, dropping the cup back on the table.

Sunggyu rolls his eyes, now completely unfazed by Hoya’s bursts of confidence. “You can always leave if you don’t want to be there. I can always ask Woohyun to come. His days off are on Thursday, too.”

“No,” Hoya interrupts quite forcefully, making Sunggyu grin. If there’s a thing that Sunggyu has learnt about Hoya, it’s that he needs to be the best at everything he does. Getting most of Sunggyu’s attention has somehow been included in that list, he had figured out one night after he had introduced Hoya to Woohyun. It had been impossible to miss the expression of dissatisfaction on Hoya’s face every time Woohyun had managed to steal Sunggyu’s attention from him. “I will stay with you, hyung.”

“Good,” Sunggyu admits, finally dropping his blue ball pen on the table and looking up at his friend, “because there’s a vanilla latté probably coming up your way soon. I asked Sungyeol to bring one over when you arrived, and you know I wouldn’t drink that stuff even under torture, right?”

“What kind of barista are you, hyung? You should love coffee in all of its forms,” Hoya says, leaning back in his seat and removing his snapback and running a hand through his hair.

“The kind of barista who doesn’t want his customers to overdose on sugar,” Sunggyu replies, leaning closer to Hoya to push back the strands of hair that are covering his eyes. “I can’t believe you drink that stuff on a daily basis.” Just the thought of it makes him shudder in his seat and he can’t help but grimace.

“Drinking all the bitterness of the world in a cup isn’t much better, hyung,” Hoya counters, not wanting to back down. If vanilla lattés are too sweet, then americanos are just way too bitter in his opinion. “Look at you, only twenty-eight and already in such deplorable health.” Hoya pokes Sunggyu’s squishy stomach again and again to prove his point, only stopping when Sunggyu throws an arm over his belly and slightly slides away.

Sunggyu snorts and he shrugs, not bothered by his lack of abdominal muscles at all. His lack of abs don’t make him less of a man. “Well,” he starts, “don’t worry too much about my health, Hoya-yah. My stamina is still really good, if you catch my drift.”

“Never doubted that, Gyu hyung,” Hoya tries, but his slightly red ears betray him. “After all, you’re watching my videos at night, aren’t you?”

“Not that again,” Sunggyu groans, “I haven’t wanked while watching your vids, okay. Not even once.”

“Really?” Hoya asks, raising an eyebrow. “I’m disappointed. That dance routine Hyojin noona came up with is ing hot, don’t you think so? I would totally to myself if I was into that stuff.”

Sunggyu shakes his head, trying to chase away all the mental images suddenly flashing in his mind. He certainly doesn’t need to think about Hoya like that. Not more than he’s already doing, at least.

“Anyway, what are you doing?” Hoya asks. “Still working on that song?”

Sunggyu simply hums, his fingers absently playing with his pen. He had started working on a new song the day he had met Hoya. Surprisingly, the melody had come to him after a few hours of strumming his guitar but the lyrics are a different story and he’s struggling with the verses. “Yeah. There’s something missing about the lyrics,” Sunggyu sighs, frustrated over his lack of progress, “but I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Can I see?” Hoya asks and Sunggyu nods, sliding his notebook in front of Hoya before grabbing his drink and fidgeting with the straw. Other than Woohyun, who just peeks at whatever Sunggyu is working on without asking, Sunggyu has never shared his incomplete songs with anyone else. They are the purest forms of his soul, are everything he is but rarely shows, and letting his friend in requires a lot of trust — in both himself and Hoya.

“You could try adding a rap part here,” Hoya suggests after looking at the lyrics and music sheet for a few minutes, his index finger pointing at a section just before the last chorus.

Sunggyu stays silent, rubbing his face in thought. “That could work,” he agrees, nodding. “Maybe you should write one for me, then. Aren’t you an amazing rapper or something? I think someone in your comments even said you were the Jay-Z of Korea,” he jokes, nudging Hoya with his shoulder.

Hoya laughs out loud at that, not caring that half of the coffee shop is now looking at him. “That just sounds like bull, hyung.”

“It’s not! I swear I saw it! Wait, just let me find—” Sunggyu starts, taking out his phone from the pocket of his jeans. Reading the comments left on Hoya’s videos is highly entertaining, Sunggyu had found out during a night of complete boredom. He doesn’t know what is the funniest though — the comments from twelve year olds drooling over “oppa’s yummy absi>” or comments of extremely ridiculous praises left by Hoya’s small crew of fanboys.

Hoya grabs his arms, stopping Sunggyu from unlocking his phone and cutting Sunggyu short, a small grin playing on his lips. “Don’t. I trust you, Gyuyoncé.”

Sunggyu rolls his eyes at his friend. “You’re lame,” he says instead, “but you’re lucky I like you, Ho-Z.”

Hoya snorts. “Who’s lame now, hyung?”

Sunggyu gasps, widening his eyes exaggeratedly and putting a hand over his heart. “Are you talking to me, mister my-nickname-is-a-ing-flower?”

“Better than having a Youtube channel called kyudick, hyung,” Hoya retorts, putting both of his hands behind his neck and looking proud of himself.

“It’s not kyudick, dip,” Sunggyu grunts, the frown on his face betraying his annoyance, “It’s kyuzizi. Kyuzizi.”

Hoya simply shrugs, still grinning. “And zizi means in french, hyung, so you’re kyudick.” Hoya ignores Sunggyu’s scowl and the glare thrown in his direction. It’s not his fault Sunggyu picked the wrong romanization of his nickname. Sunggyu can only blame himself.  “Le zizi de Sunggyu,” he tries to pronounce, but his incomprehensible french accent makes him crack up instead and he wipes his eyes, not surprised to find a few tears there.

“ you, Hoya,” Sunggyu snaps, but there’s no bite behind his words and the obvious hint of a small smile on his lips. Hoya immediately relaxes as he knows that no harm has been done.

Hoya’s grin only gets wider, and Sunggyu thinks it looks almost feral. “With pleasure, zizi hyung.”

Sunggyu groans, burying his face in his hands to stop himself from chopping Hoya’s neck.

Someone better kill him now (or drag Lee Howon away from him before he commits murder).

-

“Ready?” Sunggyu asks softly as he finishes setting up the camera. It’s Sunggyu’s first time in the dance studio Hoya usually practices in and he finds the atmosphere of the room — all wooden floor and dimmed lights — relaxing. When Hoya had suggested for them to film there, Sunggyu had been a bit dubious but he can see the charm of it now. It’s a small studio, barely bigger in size than his shoebox living room, but there’s a homey feeling about it that Sunggyu finds comforting.

“Yep,” Hoya answers, patting down the spot next to him on the bench and gesturing at Sunggyu to sit down. “What about you, hyung? Daydream is your baby, after all.”

“I guess I’m ready,” Sunggyu whispers, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his white shirt, too big for his frame. He smiles weakly at Hoya and rubs the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the tension that’s running through him.

Making videos for his own songs is always nerve-wracking, as is the moment it finally goes online for all the world to watch. Baring himself in front of a camera has never gotten easier in the three years of his Youtube career, and today isn’t an exception. “I’m a bit nervous they'll  hate the song,” he ends up confessing, thinking of his subscribers and anticipating their reaction. Some of them have been with him from the start, and he would hate to disappoint them.

Youtube is important to Sunggyu — more than he’s ready to admit. When his dreams of being a singer had been shot down more times that he could bother to count and the rejection letters sent to his place had become more and more difficult to read, he hadn’t known what to do with himself, for himself. His parents had begged him to go back to university, to become the lawyer they had always wanted him to be, but he hadn’t been able to. Hadn’t really wanted to, either.

The only thing he had wanted had been to sing; when Taekwoon had proposed that he turn his part-time shift in a full-time one and had allowed him to hold mini-concerts on Saturday nights at Three Five Seven, Sunggyu hadn’t hesitated. It had been during one of those nights that his Youtube career had started — a few regulars he was close with had recorded his performances and uploaded them online. Upon noticing the numbers of views they had gotten in the span of a few days, they had advised him to sign up on the website and post his own videos. Sunggyu had caved in after a few days and had gotten help from Myungsoo, Woohyun’s boyfriend and a photography major. Myungsoo had filmed his first videos, even editing them for him, and Sunggyu hasn’t looked back since then.

“They won’t,” Hoya reassures him, wrapping an arm around Sunggyu’s shoulders and squeezing softly, “My amazing rap is going to blow them away. Kyuzizi featuring Hoya91, yo!”

Sunggyu sends him a pointed glance before looking down at his feet, staying silent. It’s also the first time he’s having someone else featuring in, and he’s curious about the reception Hoya will get. Hoya’s own channel is steadily getting more popular, though, and most of Sunggyu’s subscribers had left positive comments about him on his tag video so he figures there’s probably nothing to worry about. Hoya has that charming effect on people — no matter what they think of him, he will make them warm up to him and leave them wanting more of him.

Sunggyu takes a deep breath, patting down the bench next to him to find the stereo remote. They need to start filming soon if they want to be done before midnight. He’s on opening duty tomorrow and needs all the beauty sleep he can get. “Let’s do this,” he mutters under his breath, ready to turn the stereo on.

“Hyung, wait,” Hoya begs, grabbing Sunggyu’s forearm and effectively stopping him. Sunggyu stills, turning his head to look at his friend with an eyebrow raised. “I—” he starts, lowering his hand so it hovers over Sunggyu’s, “Thank you for trusting me with your song, hyung. It means a lot to me.”

Sunggyu furrows his eyebrows, surprised by how serious Hoya sounds. Warmth spreads in his chest at an alarming rate, and he shoots a smile at his friend. “You de—”

Hoya cuts him short, “Hyung, let me finish— Please—” he gulps, and Sunggyu wonders what’s happening. Hoya is never this awkward, not with him at least. “When someone let me know that you talked about me in your video, I was really grateful. I couldn’t believe it, really.”

He clasps Sunggyu’s hand between his, continuing, “It felt amazing that someone would believe in me, that you thought I was good enough. Then, I met you and I realized that you meant it, that you weren’t interested in my body,” he pauses and then chuckles, his voice suddenly teasing, “or not just that, at least.”

“Yah, that’s—” Sunggyu tries to say but Hoya puts a finger on his lips, stopping him.

Their eyes meet and Hoya grins, not removing his finger from Sunggyu’s lips. “What I want to say, hyung, is that—” he stops himself, searching for the right words. He suddenly raises their intertwined hands at their eyes’ level and laces their fingers together. “This hand I’m holding,” he whispers, “I want to hold it romantically. Would it be okay, hyung? Would you let me?”

His voice cracks on the last word, but neither of them laughs as they would usually do in that situation. They stare at each other in silence as Sunggyu’s heart skips a beat. He blinks once or twice, but Hoya is still there, looking at him with something akin to adoration in his eyes. It blows Sunggyu away.

“Hyung, I’m s—” Hoya says softly, the finger he has on Sunggyu’s lips dropping down.

Sunggyu grabs his shirt with his free hand at the same time, pulling him forward so their lips can meet.

Hoya shivers and Sunggyu grins against his lips, closing his eyes as his hand cups Hoya’s cheek. They stay like that for what seems a few minutes, sharing open-mouthed kisses that leaves the both of them breathless.

“Does that mean yes?” Hoya asks after a few minutes, pulling Sunggyu closer. His breath hovers over Sunggyu’s mouth, and he resists the urge to dive for them again. Not until he gets the answer he wants to hear.

Sunggyu tilts his head to side, humming in thought before he breaks into a small smile. “My head is filled with thoughts of you,” he starts singing, his voice coming off a bit breathless, “My heart is filled with longing for you.”

Hoya raises an eyebrow at Sunggyu, disbelief written all over his face. “Are you quoting your own lyrics at me?”

Sunggyu shrugs, but they both know he’s quite proud of himself. “What if I am? What are you going to do?”

“Nothing,” Hoya replies back, “I just think we can skip filming for tonight. After all,” he adds, “right now, I want to run to you. I want to press my lips to yours.”

A laugh escapes Sunggyu’s lips. “Who’s the one using my lyrics now?” He looks pointedly at Hoya. “So, kissing, eh? Do you think I’m easy?”

“Yes.” Hoya nods, diving for Sunggyu’s lips before the other can say anything else. “Yes on both accounts,” he repeats, laughing when Sunggyu throws a weak punch on his shoulder.

“I hate you,” Sunggyu grumbles.

“You love me,” Hoya corrects and Sunggyu doesn’t deny it, which makes Hoya grin. “Hey, hyung,” he calls and Sunggyu hums, burying his face in Hoya’s neck. “What do you think of gyuyazizi?”

Sunggyu snorts, leaning back to look at Hoya in the eye. “What for? A shared Youtube account?”

“Nope,” Hoya says, pecking Sunggyu on the corner of his mouth before flashing him a wide grin that makes Sunggyu’s breath hitch. “I was thinking You.”

“Yah, Lee Howon!”