Hello all—sorry this is up so late this week! I honestly wasn't sure I'd even get anything written this week, to be honest. I had a very rough week at work (a very stressful project that got dumped in my lap at the last minute that resulted in really late hours every day) so my brain was fried going into this weekend. But I managed to pull something together at the last minute, so here we go!

In case you're not aware, I don't have this story pre-written. I write as I go every week, and usually I've got at least a rough draft ready by the weekend, but I had zero time for anything this week. In all honesty, this upcoming week is going to be really tough on me as well, so there's a very real possibility that I might not update at all next weekend. I'm going to see G Dragon in concert on Sunday, so that cuts one of my days of writing out! I doubt I'll have the time during the week to get the next chapter written in time, so I wanted to mention now that there might not be an update next week. I'll try my best, but just throwing it out there that it might not happen.

Actually what I'm posting this week isn't even what I was supposed to write. But that part is way more involved and much longer, and I just didn't have the mental capacity for it this week. It worked out though.

Yunhyeong is back this chapter! To those of you who I told in comments last week that this chapter would be mostly Double B—sorry, but that will be the next update. There's a bit of them, but not as much as there was supposed to be. Next chapter! :)
 

“Are you actually going to try doing the work, or are you just going to sit there staring at the paper? Because I have a history project I could be working on instead of sitting here watching you avoid your math homework.”

Junhoe sighed and looked up from his workbook, settling his eyes on Yunhyeong. “Sorry, hyung. I'm just kind of distracted.”

“Wow, really? I had no idea.” Yunhyeong replied, rolling his eyes for extra effect. “Would it help you to talk about whatever's distracting you?”

Junhoe shook his head right away, because there was no way he was telling anyone about Jinhwan. “No, it's personal.”

“Well if you're not going to talk about it, then we need to focus on math. Your mom doesn't pay me to sit around watching you daydream.” Yunhyeong frowned when Junhoe didn't seem moved by his complaints. Junhoe wasn't ever like this, quiet and almost kind of mopey. If Junhoe was bothered about something, usually he'd be rambling so quickly that Yunhyeong would miss half of the conversation. This was odd behaviour for him. “Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?”

Junhoe was about to say no again, but then it hit him suddenly that maybe he could talk to Yunhyeong about it. He just didn't need to tell him who he was talking about. Yunhyeong didn't tend to pry for more information than Junhoe ever gave, so he could probably get away with only giving him half the story.

“Okay hyung, here's a hypothetical situation for you: say there's this person you're friends with, and you like them as a friend. But then one day you realize that you think they're really hot, and then they tell you that they think you're really hot too, but they don't want a relationship. Instead they just want to, uh, you know--”

“Friends with benefits?” Yunhyeong helpfully offered, grinning when Junhoe blushed and nodded.

“Yeah that. And like, you say yes, because you wanna do that stuff anyway, but you've never, uh, done a lot of that stuff before. I'm not saying you've never done anything but this friend has done way more things than you have!”

Yunhyeong nodded and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at Junhoe's overly defensive ramblings. He wanted to taunt him so bad, but somehow he managed to keep his comments to himself. For now, at least.

“So, what do you do?” Junhoe asked finally, a pleading look on his face.

Yunhyeong stared at him in confusion for a moment before answering. “I'm sorry, I'm not entirely sure what the question is. So you have this friend who's more experienced than you, and what, exactly? What's the problem? Isn't that good? They can teach you about things, right?”

Junhoe shook his head. “No, that's not the problem! Could you do that with them and not date them? What happens if you get feelings for them?”

Yunhyeong usually didn't pry into Junhoe's life (mostly because Junhoe tended to give him all the details all the time) but he was sorely tempted to pry now. Who was Junhoe's mysterious friend? Why the mystery? He'd have to save the questions though.

“Are you asking if I'd do it to begin with?” He asked, and Junhoe nodded.

“Yeah! Like do you think you could do it and not ruin your friendship with that person? What if you get feelings for them, and you decide later that you wanna, I don't know, date them or something. But they don't want to. Don't you think that would ruin your friendship?”

The look on Junhoe's face was almost challenging, Yunhyeong thought, though he wasn't sure what Junhoe was challenging him about: daring him to disagree, or daring him to ask who the friend was? “Well, I guess it depends on who the person is, to tell you the truth.”

“That's not important.” Junhoe interrupted, shaking his head.

“It is! You said it's a friend, right? So if this person is friends with other friends of mine, then it would be a different situation than say if the person was someone who none of my friends know. Because screwing it up with the first person would make the whole group awkward, so I'm not sure I'd do it. But the second person would only affect me, and if we have no shared friends, then there's no one that would be affected, so I'd probably think about it.”

Junhoe frowned at the answer. He wasn't even really sure what his problem was, to be honest. What he'd done with Jinhwan was amazing and he badly wanted to do it again. But he hadn't seen Jinhwan yet since they'd done it. What would it be like when they finally did see each other face to face? Would he be able to look him in the eye without thinking about it? Maybe he was overthinking things, though. They'd had dinner afterwards and he'd been perfectly fine. There was no guarantee that he'd see Jinhwan and immediately think about his mouth...

“Junhoe? Is your friend part of your group of friends, or is it someone separate?” Junhoe didn't really have that many friends to begin with, so Yunhyeong was curious about who it might be. Obviously not Hanbin, if he was still dating that guy. Maybe that new kid who was hanging out with them now, Donghyuk? He was gay, wasn't he?

“I'm not telling you anything! How do you even know I'm not the friend? Huh? Maybe I'm just trying to see what the other person would be thinking.” Junhoe didn't realize what he'd said until after he'd said it, and he felt like an idiot. Why was he getting so defensive? This was always his problem, turning what should be a small issue into a big one just to try saving a bit of face.

“Sure, you are,” Yunhyeong replied, “because I totally believe that you would proposition someone else with this arrangement. Totally your style.”

“I could!” Junhoe angrily retorted, glaring at Yunhyeong.

“Right, and what would you say to them? Hey, I know we're friends, but I think you're hot, you think I'm hot, you wanna do, uh, you know, the thing, with each other?” Yunhyeong mimicked, and it was worth it just to see Junhoe's face turn crimson.

“Shut up! I'd be cooler than that!” Junhoe shot back, embarrassed and wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut to begin with.

“You would not! You can't even say  without blushing!”

“I can so!” Junhoe replied.

“Then say it right now.” Yunhyeong demanded.

“!” Junhoe said, but it didn't really count because he was already blushing.

Yunhyeong shook his head in disgust. “You're not just going to go up to a guy and yell  at him! I mean say it like you're going to ask about it!”

Junhoe was already mortified at how far off track their conversation had gone, but there was truly no turning back now. He couldn't let Yunhyeong win this conversation. “Fine, if you want proof so bad, here we go!” Junhoe sat forward in his chair and locked eyes with Yunhyeong. “Will you have  with me?”

knock knock knock

Junhoe jolted back in his chair at the sound coming from his bedroom door, panicked eyes flitting between Yunhyeong and the door. Oh God, how loud had they been? What if it was his mom? His dad?

The door slowly crept open until Yejin ducked her head into the room. Junhoe was still panicked though, because if she'd heard it, clearly...

“I thought you were supposed to be studying?” She asked, eyes flitting between the two of them.

Junhoe was too nervous to answer, listening intently for the sound of other footsteps in the hall, wondering when his mother would come to strangle him.

Yunhyeong bowed his head apologetically. “Sorry, noona, for disturbing you--”

“I thought you were here to tutor my brother in math, not ed.” Yejin focused on Yunhyeong, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Well, to be fair, we were studying math,” Yunhyeong said, biting his lip to keep from laughing, “we were talking about what happens when two become one.”

Yejin ducked back out of the room, squealing in laughter in the hallway, and Yunhyeong sighed in relief. That could have gone really bad had she not laughed about it. Junhoe was a little calmer now as well, because if she'd been sent by their parents she'd have said so right away. Maybe they hadn't heard?

“Okay, that was well done,” Yejin said as she popped back into the doorway, “so I can't even be mad. But you guys really do need to get back to math, because if mom had heard that, you'd both be in serious .”

Yunhyeong bowed in thanks and Junhoe met his sister's devious gaze. “Thank you noona!”

Yejin smiled back at him. “When you're done, Junhoe-ya, come and see me. We clearly need to have a talk.” She nodded to Yunhyeong and exited the room, pulling the door shut behind her once more.

Both boys heaved a sigh of relief at escaping the situation unscathed. “Okay, now can we please get back to math?” Yunhyeong requested, because one close call was all he was willing to risk.

Junhoe nodded, though he was nervous about Yejin now. Just how much had she heard? What was she aware of? What could he possibly tell her? He was screwed.

“So how's training going with Junhoe?” Hanbin asked, sitting down in the bleachers next to Jinhwan.

“Has he not given you the exciting details?” Jinhwan asked back, legitimately curious about what Junhoe had or had not told Hanbin.

“He's been surprisingly quiet,” Hanbin explained, “he said it's going well, but he doesn't really tell me what you're doing. Just that you're practicing.”

“Well, that's it, really,” Jinhwan answered, “what more were you expecting?”

Hanbin grinned back at him. “I wasn't expecting anything, to be honest. I'm sure by now you've noticed how much he likes to hear himself talk, so it's just kind of weird that he doesn't really say much about it, you know?”

“Ah, yeah, I see. I guess my instruction leaves him speechless?” Jinhwan joked.

“Is it true he doesn't get offended when you correct him?” Hanbin asked, because he still had trouble believing that for truth.

Jinhwan grinned and looked pleased with himself. “Why do you sound like that's so hard to believe?”

Hanbin snorted at the question. “Because complaining is in his DNA! He talks back to anyone who tries to correct him. His coaches get it bad, and I've watched him train with Seungri hyung enough times to know that he probably gets it worse than anyone.”

Jinhwan laughed at the comparison. “They've trained together for years, though, haven't they? I guess it's like family. You treat your family worse than you treat strangers sometimes, right?”

“I wouldn't know, hyung, I treat my family perfectly all the time.” Hanbin replied back, purposefully being contrary.

“Well, aren't you a ing saint?” Jinhwan remarked, and they both laughed at it.

“No, I get what you're saying, it's especially true of Junhoe. I mean, I know he loves his mom more than anyone in the world, but he really pushes his luck with her sometimes. Never talks back to my mom, though.”

“Oh really?” Jinhwan was curious to hear about Junhoe's family interactions. Junhoe had been nothing but exceptionally polite and charming to his mother and sister.

“His mom always asks me if she can switch us,” Hanbin said, grinning when Jinhwan laughed, “then he gets offended and huffs until she tells him she's only joking!”

Jinhwan thought it was adorable. “Yeah, I can be a real brat to my mom too, sometimes. It's done wonders for our relationship, me living with Bobby's family half the year!”

“So Bobby's mom is the real saint, then!” Hanbin replied, and Jinhwan nodded.

“You know it's funny, thinking about it. Bobby's mom sometimes jokes with him that when the semester's over, she's sending him back to Jeju and I'll be staying in Seoul instead.” It was a little weird to him that their mothers had similar jokes. Maybe it was just a mom thing.

“Am I the only one who's sweet to his mom all the time?” Hanbin asked.

“I'm sure you do your fair share of underhanded things to your parents!” Jinhwan replied. “You can't be that innocent.”

Hanbin frowned, trying his best to look offended. “I do no such thing. You can ask my mom, she'll tell you I'm perfect.”

“I'll ask her when you're not around! I'm sure there's some dirt she's willing to disclose.” Their discussion was interrupted by an argument on the court—they were together watching Bobby's basketball team playing against a top-tier opponent. In their current league standings, Hanbin's school was ranked first, Bobby's third, and their opponents tonight was the team ranked second.

With the end of the season coming up soon, Hanbin was here just as much to watch Bobby as he was to watch the competition.

“Ugh, that guy again?” Hanbin grumbled, watching the scene.

“Which one?” Jinhwan asked, eyes on the players. Seunghoon was arguing with some silver haired guy on the opposing team. Jinhwan didn't like the look of him already.

“Lee Taeyong,” Hanbin explained, “their number 4. That's the that injured me last season.”

“What? Are you serious?” Jinhwan asked, tearing his eyes away from the floor to look at Hanbin. “What the did he do to you?”

“It was an accident, of course,” Hanbin began, amused at how angry Jinhwan had gotten right off the bat, “just a collision on the court that I came out of on the worse end. Actually that's the reason why I wasn't in the game when we played Bobby's team last year.”

Jinhwan grinned at that addition. “Well then I guess you should thank him, because if you knew who Bobby was that day, you probably wouldn't have gone out with him, would you?” Jinhwan watched as realization dawned on Hanbin's face.

“You make a good point, hyung. Anyway, this guy likes to play dirty but then he cries the loudest when anyone touches him.” Hanbin watched the scene play out below, and it was going exactly as described—Taeyong putting up a compelling argument to the referee regarding a foul by Jooheon.

They watched as Bobby stepped in to calmly push Jooheon away, diffusing the argument expertly. Hanbin watched Bobby deal with the situation, pleased to see him so calm and collected. It was kind of hot, actually. Bobby was a good leader for his team.

The referee deemed that while the foul stood, it wasn't a serious offence, and despite clutching his knee on the floor minutes earlier, Taeyong lined up now to take his free throws. Hanbin grinned when he missed one of them, and he cheered extra loud when Jooheon recovered the ball and sunk it in the net for two points.

“Serves him right,” Hanbin said, sitting back down, “I can't stand watching guys whine over fouls during the game.”

“You get fouled a lot.” Jinhwan mentioned. He'd seen it the first time back when Hanbin and Bobby had played one another, but Jinhwan had also gone to watch Hanbin's match the week previous with Bobby and he'd seen it again. Unlike Taeyong, though, Hanbin never rolled around on the court or whined to the referee about an injury.

“Yeah, I have a knack for drawing them,” Hanbin admitted with a grin, “one of those skills you don't realize you have until suddenly you look back at a game and see how many of those points came from your own free throws.”

“Ah look at you, so talented, even at getting other people to up!” Jinhwan said teasingly.

“I'm not just a pretty face, hyung!” Hanbin replied.

“Hey, speaking of pretty faces, how come you didn't bring Junhoe with you? I know you're not staying long after the game, but where's he at?” Jinhwan hoped the question was casual enough as not to draw attention. After hearing that Hanbin was coming, Jinhwan had hoped he'd bring Junhoe with him. They hadn't seen each other since their training date, as Jinhwan had taken to calling it in his head.

He wanted to see Junhoe again, mostly just to make sure things were still cool between them. A few times this week he'd randomly thought about the , and every time he was still surprised at himself for managing to pull it off. He wanted to do it again, badly. It's not that he thought he was some master er or anything, but there was something really cool about knowing that you'd given a guy the best thing he'd ever had in his life (not that it was really anything to brag about, since it had been Junhoe's first , but still, the amount of guys Jinhwan had heard complaints from about their first s from their girlfriends had been terrible enough, teeth and no friction, half an hour of boredom resulting in having to finish themselves off by hand).

He mostly wanted to know if Junhoe was desperate enough to ask him for it again. Wondered if it was weird that he was feeling kind of desperate? He hadn't even gotten anything out of it himself, except by his own hand later that night getting home after dropping Junhoe off. He'd still been hard, and it hadn't taken him long to finish himself off, not when he pictured Junhoe during the moment.

“He had a tutoring appointment with Yunhyeong hyung,” Hanbin explained, “still floundering in math.”

“Ah, that's too bad!”

Hanbin didn't respond right away, instead looking at Jinhwan out of the corner of his eye. Why was Jinhwan so concerned about Junhoe being here? Should he press? Were things happening that Hanbin wasn't aware of? Was that why Junhoe was being so tight-lipped about practice sessions with Jinhwan?

Jinhwan happened to look at Hanbin, noticing the curious expression on his face. “What, Hanbin? You look like you want to say something.”

Hanbin smiled at him and shrugged. “I just find it interesting, that's all.”

Jinhwan sighed before deciding to play along. “What is interesting?”

“Your interest in Junhoe. I mean don't get me wrong—I'm happy that you guys are friends now, because that whole brief period as enemies was honestly one of the most stressful periods of my life.” Jinhwan laughed and Hanbin shook his head. “I'm serious! You have no idea how much I suffered. You got to see Junhoe when he's being a moody brat, but you saw the nice side of that behaviour. I got the worst of it.”

Jinhwan leaned into Hanbin, patting his knee. “Aw baby, it's okay, those dark days are over.”

Hanbin laughed and shoved his hand away. “I mean who honestly would have expected how close you two have gotten,” Hanbin carried on, subtly trying to prod for information, “it's been what, about three weeks now, and you guys are spending so much time together training, and you're actually bothered that he didn't come to the game tonight.”

“I'm not bothered.” Jinhwan replied, wondering if Hanbin was trying to dig.

“I mean, if I didn't know you guys I'd think you were secretly dating or something,” Hanbin said casually, watching Jinhwan out of the corner of his eye again, trying to see what his reaction was to the comment.

Oh, Hanbin was digging and Jinhwan couldn't believe he was having to deflect already. “Since you do know us, what do your senses tell you?” Jinhwan turned to him and asked with a grin. Jinhwan was a master at keeping secrets.

Hanbin watched as Bobby shot a three pointer on the court before turning to look at Jinhwan. “I think you'd make a good couple.” Originally Hanbin hadn't been planning on getting directly involved in the matchmaking, but the month deadline he and Bobby had set was fast approaching, and at this rate Hanbin was going to lose.

Jinhwan snorted at the comment, laughing lightly and patting Hanbin's knee. “Are you kidding? I'd probably so much he'd lose his mind. It would be good for about a week, and then we'd start ripping each other's hair out.” Jinhwan didn't really think that at all, but he couldn't afford to have Hanbin sniff out his real opinion. It didn't matter whether he and Junhoe would actually make a good couple or not. The fact of the matter was that Jinhwan really didn't want another boyfriend, not right now. Romance had a way of ruining people's plans sometimes.

“Hyung, a week is fine, Junhoe needs the experience!” Hanbin replied, pushing now that they were on the topic.

Jinhwan laughed at Hanbin's answer. “The experience of dating, or the experience?” Jinhwan asked, winking at his own comment.

Hanbin grinned and nodded. “Both, really. I mean, not like I have a wealth of experience yet or anything, but I can talk about it without getting all flustered. Good luck if you can even get Junhoe to talk about his without going beet red.”

Jinhwan had to stifle a laugh because God, did he ever know that now! But he couldn't let Hanbin know. Couldn't give them both away. “Oh man, does he? I mean, it hasn't really come up yet,” okay that was a lie in more ways than one, “but he seems like the type who'd get embarrassed. It's kind of a cute.”

Hanbin grinned at Jinhwan's comment. “It is.”

“Speaking of cute, though, oh look at Bobby, sending you hearts!” Jinhwan switched the topic to Hanbin's own relationship, watching as Bobby looked up into the stands at them, smile as wide as it could go to celebrate his team's victory.

Hanbin smiled and sent him a few finger hearts back before Bobby turned his attention back to his team. “He's so endearing.”

“You honestly have no idea how weird it still is for me,” Jinhwan replied, “Bobby's never done cute before with any of his exes. I mean, to be honest with you I think he actually broke up with one of them for something like that? Drawing too much attention to the relationship when they were out in public. And now there he is, sending you finger hearts after the game.”

Hanbin looked at Jinhwan in curiosity. “Did he really?”

“Yeah, he did. Then again, he was getting a lot of hell from the guys about being gay, so I don't think he was really comfortable with the whole idea himself just yet. Seems pretty comfortable now, though, with you.” Jinhwan watched as the smile on Hanbin's face grew into something ridiculous. It reminded him a lot of the way he'd catch himself smiling sometimes when he'd been with Eric.

Hanbin's eyes were glued to Bobby as he made the rounds to his teammates, congratulating them on a hard won game. Hanbin liked seeing him like this, in charge and being a good example for his squad. Hanbin really valued leadership, thought it was an attractive quality. “That makes sense, actually. I've been wondering about that, since it's not the first time you've mentioned it. Why is he so different with me? That makes a lot of sense, if he was getting grief about it."

“True, but I also think a big part of it is just you. You're a different guy than his exes, different personality type. You meet much higher standards.” Jinhwan said teasingly, and Hanbin grinned.

“Ah stop it, hyung! At this rate you're gonna have me thinking I'm too good for him!” Hanbin teased back, and when Jinhwan leaned in close to him and whispered “You are!” it set them both laughing. Seconds later and Hanbin's eyes were drawn to Bobby, who was making his way up the stairs towards them. Hanbin's heart pounded as he watched him come closer, and he wondered if Bobby would always make him feel this excited? He hoped so.

“Alright, let's hear it, how amazing was I?” Bobby asked, stopping right in front of Hanbin, reaching out and taking his hands.

Hanbin stared up at him and winked. “You played really great this game, hyung! If only you'd played this way two weeks ago, maybe you would have beaten my team.”

Bobby shook his head and smiled at the comment, squeezing Hanbin's fingers hard enough to make him squirm. “Don't get mouthy, we're tied on points, now!”

“Only until Saturday!” Hanbin replied, “we'll get our lead back, I'll make sure of it.”

“Speaking of the weekend,” Bobby started, “are you busy on Sunday?”

“Don't really have any plans, other than some schoolwork. Why?” Hanbin asked, intrigued when he noticed that Bobby actually seemed a little nervous about what he was going to ask.

“My grandma is coming to visit, and you can say no if you're busy, it's okay, but mom asked me to ask you if you could come over for lunch.” She'd actually asked for a bit more than just lunch, but Bobby was feeling like maybe what his mother had requested would be a bit too much? They'd barely been dating for a month, after all!

“That's not all she wanted! Go on, Bobby, ask him for the other thing!” Jinhwan teased. He knew exactly what Bobby's mother had requested, and he was curious to see how Hanbin would react.

“What other thing?” Hanbin asked, already feeling happy about getting a lunch invitation. He knew Bobby was very close to his grandmother, and he was looking forward to meeting her.

Bobby looked like he was ready to murder Jinhwan, though. “Uh, like I said, you don't have to come, like if you're busy, that's okay, it's kind of short notice--”

“Stop stalling!” Jinhwan interrupted, amused that Bobby was so afraid to ask.

Bobby glared at Jinhwan, annoyed at how casual he was about the whole thing. One squeeze of his fingers from Hanbin had Bobby refocusing his attention, and he smiled at Hanbin before finally asking. “She wanted to know if you wanted to go to church with us? Since my grandma's coming, it would be nice, she thought. Because my grandma, well, she never met any of my exes. Actually the whole gay thing was a little hard for her.”

Hanbin couldn't answer at first, he was shocked at the request. Even more shocked at the explanation, and a little sad that this had obviously come between Bobby and his grandmother, at least to some degree. But if his mom was inviting him, that probably meant that Bobby's grandmother wanted to fully support him now? And maybe they wanted him to go to church with them to make a good first impression?

Each second that Hanbin didn't answer had Bobby's stomach twisting into an even bigger knot. This was too much. It was too heavy of a request, honestly! Truth is that Bobby didn't even know what religion Hanbin followed—or if he was even religious at all! He'd never mentioned church, never wore any religious symbols. What if he refused? This was the first chance Bobby was going to get at showing his grandmother how amazing his boyfriend was, but only if Hanbin agreed.

Hanbin nodded and fixed Bobby with a bright smile. “Of course I'll go!”

Bobby felt like collapsing down to his knees, he was so grateful. “Really? You don't mind?”

Hanbin squeezed his hands again. “Not at all! I'm happy to do it.”

Beside them Jinhwan laughed. “I can't believe you got a church request already, Hanbin! No pressure or anything, right?” He couldn't help but tease, winking at Bobby.

“Shut up, Jinan! It's for my grandmother!”

Jinhwan shook his head. “Watch, she'll be inviting your parents for dinner next!”

Hanbin laughed at Jinhwan's teasing. It was a little much, now that he thought about it. But it was a good thing, wasn't it? If Bobby's mom didn't like him, she wouldn't have even brought it up, would she? This meant that she approved of their relationship, that she wanted them to be together.

Bobby wanted to punch Jinhwan for being annoying, but instead he watched Hanbin's face, trying to gauge if he really was happy about the situation. Bobby thought that he had to be, because Hanbin was beaming at him. You couldn't fake that kind of happiness.

“You sure it's cool?” Bobby asked one last time, and Hanbin nodded.

“Yeah, but it's been years since I've been to church, so you'll have to give me a crash course so I don't screw it up.”

Bobby grinned and pulled Hanbin up to his feet. “Deal.” He wrapped his arms around Hanbin's back and kissed him, and he really didn't care who was there to watch. His teammates were going to have to learn who Hanbin was eventually, and Bobby wasn't really willing to wait until the season was over anymore.