Sanghyuk glared at his drink, ignoring Hongbin and Shownu’s sympathetic eyes that were locked onto him like some kind of homing missile.

“Look,” Hongbin sighed, “it’s not that bad.”

“You’re joking, right?” Sanghyuk huffed, “I’m crushing on a guy who wants to pork my ex-boyfriend. How the hell is that not horrible and awful?”

“It’s not horrible an awful because a crush isn’t love,” Shownu tried to smile, “a crush is easy to get over compared to getting over love.”

“True,” Sanghyuk sighed, taking a sip from his drink, “but it still pretty hard. It still hurts. I mean…..”

“You mean?” Shownu prompted.

“Even if Hakyeon moved on,” Sanghyuk sighed, “even if he took my words to heart and gave up on Wonsik…..he still wouldn’t go for me. He’d go for someone who’s like Wonsik.”

“Ah,” Hongbin nodded.

“This ,” Sanghyuk sighed, “this real bad.”

“I know,” Hongbin just patted his friend’s shoulder and hoped that just knowing he had someone to talk to would help make him feel better.

“Why am I so unlucky with romance?” Sanghyuk asked even though he knew his friends wouldn’t have an answer for him, “it seems like any guy I like either doesn’t like me back, so they do and we date but it ends badly.”

“They aren’t the right one for you,” Shownu shrugged, “when they are the one, they’ll like you back. They’ll be able to love you as you deserve.”

“Why are you so wise?” Sanghyuk sighed, letting his head rest on the bar as he smiled sadly at Shownu, “it’s not fair that you’re so smart while I’m so stupid.”

“You aren’t stupid,” Hongbin assured him, “just sad.”

“Damn straight,” Sanghyuk laughed, but the sound lacked the joy it normally held.

“Let’s order another round,” Hongbin finally said, “we came here to get drunk, not bemoan your love life.”

“Right,” Sanghyuk smiled, “I can sulk about this another day. Right now I’m gonna get drunk and have fun.” Shownu and Hongbin shared a quick look, silently agreeing to make sure their friend didn’t have too much to drink or do anything stupid in the name of ‘fun.’

A few weeks prior to Sanghyuk telling Hakyeon about Wonsik being his ex, Sanghyuk had come to a rather…..troubling realization. He liked Hakyeon. He liked Hakyeon a lot. And after telling Hongbin all this, the doctor had convinced Sanghyuk that he should ask Hakyeon out, let his feelings be known. But right as Sanghyuk had gotten up the courage to do exactly that, he’d realized the way Hakyeon looked at Wonsik wasn’t how you looked at a friend.

It stung. It stung a lot. It was also so very funny if Sanghyuk was being honest. Wonsik liked Sanghyuk who liked Hakyeon who liked Wonsik. How comical was that? Sure, it was dark comedy, but it was still comedy. When Sanghyuk wasn’t trying to ignore the pain rushing through his chest, he was laughing from the pure hilarity of it all.

And what, exactly, had happened to cause Hongbin and Shownu to drag Sanghyuk off base to the nearest bar?

How on earth had the situation gotten so bad that Sanghyuk needed a night of drinking away his problems?

Well, Hakyeon had clearly ignored what Sanghyuk had told him the night of Taekwoon and Wonsik’s date because he’d asked Wonsik out to dinner. At the same time Sanghyuk was allowing himself a night to drown his sorrows in booze, Wonsik was out having a nice meal with Hakyeon at some restaurant perfect for a first date.

Sometimes life really .

A/N: to everyone thinking ‘poor Hyukkie’, I would like to remind you that he got his man in the end. There’s no need to be all sad for him.