Taekwoon jerked out of sleep at the sound of loud, incessant knocking.

"Taekwoonie!" he heard the screech and his stomach cramped at the sharp noise. "Open it, please! It's me, Hakyeon! I have great news!"

Taekwoon stared at the ceiling for a moment, and then sat up, climbing off the bed carefully not to jostle Jaehwan who was still sleeping like a log, if he was frowning a little.

He shuffled out into the hallway in his old slippers full of holes, the soles trying to fall off but stubbornly staying, kept in place by only the small amount of rapid glue Taekwoon had tried to fix them with.

When he opened the door, Hakyeon barrelled in like a bowling ball, stopping in the middle of the dark living room to pull the blinds apart. Taekwoon squinted at the sunlight infiltrating through the grimy windowpanes, nervously picking at the inside of his right wrist with his left thumb and index finger, twisting and pulling the skin to calm himself.

Hakyeon turned to beam at Taekwoon, his face glowing with an immense happiness.

"You're not going to believe it!" Hakyeon exclaimed and Taekwoon knit his brows. "Oh, God, I wish I could hug you right now!"

He took half a step forward, but his smile faltered when he saw Taekwoon back away instinctively.

"Please, refrain from that," Taekwoon muttered.

"Ah, yes," Hakyeon nodded, shaking his head a little and regaining his happiness. "Okay, so. Wonshik, our Wonshik, Kim Wonshik, Kim Wonshik with the stupid silver-dyed hair—”

"I get it," Taekwoon said. "Wonshik."

"Yes, Wonshik!" Hakyeon loudly clapped his hands and the sound felt like nails scratching the surface of Taekwoon's brain. "Wonshik is getting married!"

Hakyeon pressed his hands on his mouth, eyes glistening as if he was about to cry. Taekwoon didn't want to see him cry, so he said, "I've known he'd get married. He and Eunhye... they've been engaged for a long time. Seven or… eight months."

Hakyeon furrowed his brow and lowered his hands. “It’s been more than two years, Taekwoon…”

Taekwoon ignored that and walked into the kitchen instead, filling the kettle with water. He sensed Hakyeon following him, and a few moments later, a chair by the table creaked as he sat down.

“They’re getting married in two weeks!” Hakyeon announced, laughing joyfully. “Wonshik wanted me to deliver the invitation to you, because he didn’t have the time and of course I said yes, because I haven’t seen you in ages and—”

“Hakyeon, can you please be quieter?” Taekwoon asked, placing the kettle on the stove. “You’re going to wake him.”

“Yeah, sure, sorry, I was just— wait. Him?” Hakyeon gasped and pushed the chair back loudly enough that Taekwoon was fairly certain it woke Jaehwan. In the next second, Hakyeon's face broke into his personal space, and Taekwoon stepped back, pinching the inner side of his wrist. “You have somebody over?” Hakyeon whispered. “Oh, my God, has he spent the night here?!”

Taekwoon blinked and averted his eyes, pulling at his own skin, giving Hakyeon a short nod.

Hakyeon let out a shrill squeal, forcing Taekwoon to press his palms on his ears momentarily before he saw Hakyeon mouthing the word ‘sorry’.

“Can I see him?” he asked excitedly. “Please, please, please, let me see him!”

“Alright,” Taekwoon sighed. “You’ve probably woken him up by now, anyway. But, uhm. Please, don't scare him."

Hakyeon looked at him with a tinge of hurt in his eyes. "I'm not scary," he said.

"Right," Taekwoon shot back sarcastically, and his heel to walk back into the bedroom.

Jaehwan was still sleeping, lying on his side in the bed, covered in the blankets so only his head was out of them. He was turning his back to Taekwoon, so Taekwoon went there as quietly as possible, crouching down by the bed and reaching out to caress Jaehwan's soft light brown hair.

"Jaehwan-ah," he said. "Wake up, I'd like to introduce you to someone."

Jaehwan whined quietly, but then he turned to Taekwoon, looking sleepier than ever. Taekwoon smiled at him lovingly, pulling away the blankets and reaching under his back with an arm and under the backs of his knees with another, standing up so he could carry Jaehwan into the kitchen. Jaehwan felt light in his hold like half of him was still in dreamland, and Taekwoon let him rest his head on his chest, feeling the butterflies squirm around in his stomach as he stepped into the kitchen.

Hakyeon had started preparing their coffee in the meantime and now he was standing by the counter, spooning instant coffee into three mugs, stopping abruptly when he heard Taekwoon pull out a chair and settling Jaehwan down on it.

Hakyeon spun around with a grin on his face, eyes searching for Jaehwan, and when he found him, his grin disappeared immediately.

"Taekwoon..." he said tentatively.

"Jaehwan, this is Hakyeon," Taekwoon said, placing a hand on Jaehwan's shoulder, "my friend. And Hakyeon, this is Jaehwan."

Hakyeon seemed to have been reluctant to take his eyes off Jaehwan, but then he glanced up at Taekwoon, his bronze skin going weirdly pale.

"Is something wrong?" Taekwoon asked, his hold strengthening on Jaehwan's shoulder, his fingers tightening on hard bones.

"Taekwoon," Hakyeon repeated, and his eyes were shining in a strange way.

"I'm sorry, he's a bit timid around people he doesn't know," Taekwoon explained, and, smiling at Jaehwan, went to the counter to pour a generous amount of sugar into one of the mugs of coffee. He then turned back to the table, sitting down and putting the sweet coffee in front of Jaehwan who smiled at him gratefully. "He likes sweet stuff," he said, mostly to himself, but Hakyeon stared at Jaehwan again, seemingly rooted to the spot. "About the wedding..."

Hakyeon pulled out a chair and plopped down on it, blinking up at Taekwoon

"The wedding, yes," he said in a high-pitched voice. "Wonshik... he wanted to give you the invitation, but... he's busy, so he had me deliver it." Taekwoon wasn’t sure, but it felt like Hakyeon had mentioned that before. He didn’t say anything.

Hakyeon took out a lavender coloured card, handing it over to Taekwoon who took and opened it.

"Taekwoon," Hakyeon said again, and Taekwoon looked up from the invitation. "Jaehwan— he's—"

"We still need to talk about whether he wants to come," Taekwoon replied to Hakyeon's unuttered question. Jaehwan shyly lowered his head.

"I see," Hakyeon squeaked. "I, uh, I'll get going then. I promised Wonshik I'd take his tux from the store."

"Do you, maybe, want to come... come over on Saturday?" Taekwoon asked, nervousness making him tremble, and he took the skin of his wrist between his fingers to pick at it. "You and... and the others? Maybe if you got to know Jaehwan better, he... wouldn't feel uncomfortable going to the wedding."

He heard Jaehwan let out a small laugh and took his hand into his lap, holding it tenderly.

"I will talk to the others... about this," Hakyeon said, and stood up. "I'll be going then. Taekwoon-ah," his face looked sad, but Taekwoon didn't want to know why. "Please, take care."

Taekwoon raised his eyebrows, and Hakyeon turned around, leaving the two of them behind without any further comments.