“You dropped this.”

I looked across the elevator at Hoseok to see him holding out… nothing.

“What?”

“This,” he approached me, threading his fingers between mine.

“Wooooooow. You are the worst.”

“You’re the one that wants to make Jooheon jealous.”

“Actually, jealousy was your suggestion,” I corrected him, “I just whined about how you ruined his only real attempt at making a move.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Hoseok rolled his eyes, pulling me from the elevator and down the hall.

“Why are we holding hands?”

“To make it look more natural.”

“To make what look more natural?”

“Shut up,” we were approaching the dorm’s door, “you’ll give it away.”

Before I could say anything else, he pushed open the door.

“Hey guys,” Hoseok said nonchalantly as he pulled me through the living room. “We’re going to hang out in my room for a while.”

Somebody mumbled their assent. Most of the boys were focused on the screen of the television. Kihyun offered me a sarcastic smile. Jooheon looked up at me with a smile at first. It quickly dropped when he spotted Hoseok’s hand tightly gripping mine.

“Do you think they’re together n- yah! What was that for?!”

I looked over my shoulder to see Minhyuk rubbing the back of his head. He and Jooheon were in a glaring match when Hoseok tugged me into his bedroom and shut the door.

“I’m beginning to have doubts about this plan.”

“I’m not,” Hoseok dropped my hand and reclined on his bunk, “Jooheon seemed to take an interest in the skinship.”

“Yeah,” I flopped onto the bed opposite him, “but if he thinks we’re an item he’s probably even less likely to do anything.”

“Or he’ll profess his love by challenging me to a duel.”

I didn’t reply. I just rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. Laying back on Minhyuk’s bunk I started scrolling through SNS.

A little time had passed when the mattress under me sank slightly. Hoseok snuggled up to my side.

“What do you want?”

“I’m bored. Pay attention to me.”

I pushed him until he fell to the floor with a loud thump.

“Yah! Be careful!”

“It’s your own fault for barricading us in here.”

“What,” Hoseok pulled himself onto the edge of the bed, “barricade?”

“You made it sound like we were… busy.”

“Busy with what?”

I wanted to wipe the smug smile right off his face. Instead I chose to bury myself in my phone again.

“Like we shouldn’t be disturbed.”

“We shouldn’t.”

“How do you figure?”

“If anyone comes in they might interrupt.”

“Interrupt wha…” I looked up to see that Hoseok had peeled off his sweatshirt and t-shirt, leaving only his tank top on. He held up both of his hands, making tiger claws with them. He grinned and flexed his fingers.

“On the count of three… One…”

“Hoseok no!” I sat up quickly.

“Two…”

“Stop it!” I started towards the door.

“Three!”

I squealed and tried to run out the door. Hoseok was closer to it though, and managed to slam a hand against it to hold it shut. The other dove and looped around my waist.

The downside to being friends with people for so long is that they know your most heavily guarded secrets. They know everything about you, including that even the slightest touch on your spine will send you into convulsions and trigger you into being able to be tickled literally anywhere on your body.

Before I knew it, I was on the floor between Hoseok’s knees. He had one hand under me, running his fingers across my back. His other hand was on my side, squeezing slightly and making me lose my breath from laughter.

“Hoseok!”

“Yes?”

“Oh my god Hoseok I am going to kill you if you don’t let me…”

He cut me off with a fresh attack on my ribs.

“If I don’t let you do what monbebe?”

“Stoooppp… I’m going to pass out if you don’t stop!”

He grinned even wider and renewed his attack.

“Am I really that good at this jagi?”

I was too surprised by his word choice respond for a second. Then I realised what he was doing.

“Oh my god stop it! Stop! Stop Hoseok!”

He pouted, knowing that I had caught onto his joke, and stopped. I was still pinned to the floor under him though. He settled his weight onto my legs.

“Do you mind?”

“No.”

Why am I friends with this jerk?

“Move,” I pushed myself up to a sitting position. “You’re too heavy.”

“Wow. Rude,” he hauled himself off of me, standing up and offering me a hand. I stood up and straightened out my clothes.

“You ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“One…”

I ran out of the room as fast as I could.

“Hoseok! Don’t you ing dare! Jooheon-aaaahhh!”

“Come back monbebe!”

I scrambled into the living room and headed straight for Jooheon. Being concerned only with my escape, I didn’t take the time to check anyone’s reaction to my entrance.

I hurriedly tucked myself onto Jooheon’s lap, tugging the edges of his zip-up sweatshirt around me. Thank god he wears such baggy clothes. I peeked up at Hoseok, who was now standing in the entrance to the hallway. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he looked a little ticked off.

“Monbebe…”

“No. I’m not coming out.”

“What are you doing?” I looked up at Jooheon and pouted. His face was slightly pink.

“Wonho-oppa was being mean.”

“Oh,” Jooheon swallowed, “what… how was he being mean?”

“I wasn’t. I was going to give her what she wanted, eventually.”

“Oh my god,” I groaned and pulled the hood of Jooheon’s sweatshirt over my head.

“Okay,” I heard Shownu’s voice cut into the conversation, “you guys are not allowed to be in the room alone with the door shut any more.”

I popped my head out.

“Appaaaa! We…”

“If you think that will stop me,” Hoseok leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, “you are so wrong.”

“Oh my god, you are so gross.” The look of disgust on Hyungwon’s face was priceless. It was nearly enough to make me keep quiet, but then I remembered my mission.

“Oh my god, you guys, Hoseok and I are not… We don’t… That’s not how it is.”

“I don’t care,” Shownu stood up, heading into the kitchen, “no more closed doors when you’re here.”

I could feel the heat emanating off of Jooheon. I stood up and started towards the kitchen as well.

“Hoseok isn’t even the person I like!”

“I’m not judging here, I’m just laying out rules.”

“Ap-”

I was picked up by hands around my waist.

“Don’t lie to dad. You like me best.”

“I hate you best,” I mumbled as I tried to squirm out of Hoseok’s grip.

“Careful monbebe,” he lowered me enough so that my feet were on the ground again, “you shouldn’t move around so much in that skirt.”

I tried the dead weight approach in response.

“I ing hate you.”

“I know.”

Shownu just shook his head as Hoseok pulled me back to the living room. He pulled me onto his lap as he sat to watch TV with the others. Jooheon quickly made an excuse and headed to his bedroom.

Kihyun and I exchanged a series of looks. Being on similar wavelengths, we agreed that Hoseok was being a little over the top. Kihyun seemed of the opinion that I should go after Jooheon, though I couldn’t see how I could pull that off while being casual. He kept rolling his eyes and gesturing towards the hallway as subtly as