Junhong stared at his phone, the flier blazed across his screen. He had one week to prepare himself to meet Youngjae. To prepare what he was going to say, for what he was going to see, how he was going to look...

He shook his head, clearing his mind. Okay, maybe he was getting a little out of hand with it. But that was fine. Soon he would get what he wanted and it would all be over and Jongup could stop rolling his eyes. Probably.

“Junhong!” Taehyung's voice cut through his thoughts. The older boy had poked his head through his doorway, tilted to the side comically, and was grinning. “You're coming to the party!”

“...Is that a question?”

“Nope! I've already told Jongup and he's going.”

Junhong's brow furrowed. “How'd you get him to agree to it?”

“It's a dance party,” Taehyun answered smugly, “with greasy food.”

Junhong pursed his lips. Damn. Jongup's two major weaknesses.

“So unless you want to sit in the house all alone while everyone else is out drinking and dancing and having a great time...”

Junhong debated it for a moment, before he realised that sitting around alone was only fun if he had his best friend to sit around alone with him. “Okay, okay, I'll come. When is it?”

“In a week! I'll tell Jackson you're going!”

“That's a really vague...” Junhong began to say before the other boy vanished from his sight. He sighed and looked down at his phone. Well, one day he'd have a party and another day he'd have a photography event. A very social week seemed to be on it's way. He'd need months of hermit-ing to get over it.

The week trickled by. During one of their free days, Jongup and Junhong found themselves in the empty dance room, foam mats covering the floor.

“Hold onto your hat, because I'm about to blow your mind,” Jongup boasted, bouncing on his toes.

Junhong chuckled and made a show of grabbing the edges of his snapback, holding it in place.

Jongup took a few deep breaths, bouncing more forcefully, before throwing his body backwards. His spine curved and he threw a hand out, palm pressing against the floor. His knees pushed up, feet ready to catch himself...

He landed heavily on his shins, kneeing himself in the chest. He let out a gasp of pain followed by a groan as he uncrumpled himself.

“Woah! Are you okay?” Junhong scrambled over to his friend.

“Yep!” The breathy reply came, “Fine. Just bruised.”

“That was a hard land. Maybe we should take a break.”

“I did not nearly break a rib for nothing.” Jongup gave him a sharp look and rolled himself over until he was sitting up. “Your turn.”

The younger pulled his hat off and threw it at him, making explosion motions at the sides of his head before taking his place on the mat. He shifted his weight from each foot, knees bending a little. “All right, here goes. Prepare to be amazed.”

“It's pronounced 'amused'.”

Junhong ignored him to bounce a few times before throwing himself back. As he turned in the air he felt the way his legs trailed, one hanging further back and throwing him off balance. He hit the floor flat-bodied, face down.

“Well. It was a step up from last time, but you need to use your hand if you want to get your feet under.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He grumbled, “there's just no time to get my arm out.” He pushed himself up and brushed his hair from his eyes.

“You need to start with your arm ready to go out. Try again.” Jongup insisted, rubbing the bruise on his chest.

Junhong scrunched his nose but complied. He bounced a few times before flipping backwards. He just about managed to get his hand out to touch the floor, but his palm slid from beneath him and he landed hard on his face once more.

“Maybe you do have too much height...”

“Shut up. If that was an issue you'd have got the perfect flip by now.”

“Nope. Not enough leg.”

Junhong grumbled incomprehensibly, unable to produce another point to make.

“Come on, lets go get burgers. You owe me still.” Jongup walked over and helped him stand up.

“Nuh-uh. You don't get it until after we've gone to the photography event.”

“What? Why? Let's just get it now.”

“Nope.” Junhong grinned smugly as they got their shoes on. “Otherwise you'll just eat and run. I have to make sure you'll stick by me.”

Jongup's brows furrowed in offence. “I wouldn't ditch you. I made a promise, and I'm more likely to do nice things for you once I've eaten good food. Come on, buy me my hamburger and I'll definitely stay by your side the whole time.”

Junhong narrowed his eyes.

“Pinky swear I will.” The older dancer offered his little finger.

Junhong eyed him for a moment before hooking their fingers together. “Okay, fine. I'll but you food now. If you dine-and-dash on me I'll hunt you down.”

“It hadn't even crossed my mind, honestly.”

They found themselves comfortable seats in the far corner of the fast-food restaurant, a tray each filled with fries, condiments, a burger and drink. They munched away happily, though Junhong slightly less so at the amount of food Jongup had attempted to order (“Get me the double chicken box too, and some onion rings!” “Dude, no, I don't have that kind of cash!”).

“I can't believe you agreed to the party so easily,” Junhong managed to say around a mouthful of burger.

“It's dance. And food. And alcohol. Also you need to go out more, you're getting too stuck in your own mind. You need to be out of your mind for a while.”

“You're out of your mind.”

“Exactly, and that's why I'm okay.”

“That's... Okay, sure. But now I have to go too. What day is it? Taehyung didn't tell me.”

“Tomorrow,” Jongup said, shoving some fries into his mouth.

Junhong dropped his burger. “Tomorrow? But the photography thing is tomorrow!”

“It's fine, we'll do both,” the older reassured him.

“How? The event doesn't end until ten but the party starts at eight!”

“The event starts at seven, though. That's loads of time. If we really need to stick around ages we can show at nine. No one will mind.”

Junhong sank down until his chin was on the table. “But I... Never mind. I guess I'll have to show up late to the party and cut the event short...”

“Hey, it's fine. You'll enjoy it.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Jongup kicked him under the table. “You're moping now but you'll be glad you went out. You can only stare at art for a short while until it gets boring.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He straightened up and picked up his burger, biting into it once more.

Junhong stared in the mirror, holding up two shirts. He held one in front of himself, then pulled it away and replaced it with the other one. He did this a number of times until there was a knock on his door and Jongup walked in.

“Hey, you ready yet?” The older asked.

“Not just yet. Which one?” Junhong turned to him with the shirts in hand.

Jongup blinked. “For what? A job interview?”

The younger sighed heavily, lowering the shirts. “No! For tonight. You have to look nice at art events, right?”

“Um, we're going to the party straight after. You can't really wear nice stuff like that out and then go drinking.”

“But...”

Jongup rolled his eyes and walked across Junhong's room, picking up a baggy basketball top and a pair of shorts from the floor and throwing them at his friends. “Here you go. An outfit.”

Junhong's nose scrunched. “These colours don't go at all.”

Jongup slow-blinked, unimpressed.

The younger relented and dropped the pair of shorts, grabbing a darker pair that suited his idea of the look better. “It's your fault if we get in trouble for looking like rabble.”

“It's a student photography display, not a fine art with tiny cups of tea event. We'll be fine.” He threw him a cap he'd found hanging on a draw handle.

Junhong caught the cap and hung it on his door handle, taking a different one from his wardrobe door. “Fine.”

“Now hurry up, unless you want to be late for this thing.”

It took him mere moments to wriggle from his clothes into the new outfit and straighten himself down.

“She is beauty, she is grace-”

“She's going to punch you in the face,” Junhong cut across, pulling his shoes on. “Right! Let's go!”