Hongbin watched Sanghyuk as he laughed at something Wonsik had said.

“Why are they still so close?” Hongbin wondered aloud, “they broke up months ago?”

“Oh, don’t be so jealous,” Hakyeon laughed, “they’re friends. They were friends before dating, so why shouldn’t they be friends after it?”

“And why are you even jealous?” Jaehwan pressed, “You aren’t dating Sanghyuk. You haven’t even tried to make a move on him.”

“I know,” Hongbin sulked.

It had been three years since Hongbin had met Sanghyuk. In that time, he’d ended up employed by the same talent agency that Sanghyuk worked for. He’s also becomes pretty good friends with Sanghyuk and everyone he was friends with; Jung Taekwoon, a singer, Lee Jaehwan, a singer and actor, Cha Hakyeon, an actor, and Kim Wonsik, a model and song writer as well as Sanghyuk’s long time boyfriend.

According to what Hakyeon had told him, Sanghyuk and Wonsik had known each other since they were teenagers. They had met at an audition and become fast friends, something one needed in this industry. Sanghyuk was the one who’d ended up at their current agency, Jellyfish, first, helping Wonsik get in the next time the company held an audition. After that, it had taken a few years before they started dating.

And now they had been broken up for about three months.

Hongbin didn’t know why they had broken up, but both parties insisted that it was a mutual breakup. Watching the pair talking and laughing at the bar, it sure looked like they’d been telling the truth. Heck, it honestly didn’t look like they were broken up at all. Hongbin was half convinced that their story of a break up was a lie, made to keep the management off their backs or something.

“Why don’t you just ask Sanghyuk out?” Taekwoon suddenly said.

“What?” Hongbin said, trying for a moment to pretend that he had no idea what the other was talking about before giving up, “that obvious, huh?”

“Only to just about everyone,” Hakyeon shrugged, “the whole soul mates thing is kind of a giveaway. There aren’t many people who can fight the pull of a soul mate.”

“And you aren’t one of them,” Jaehwan nodded.

“Which begs the question,” Taekwoon frowned slightly, “why haven’t you asked him out yet?”

Hongbin remained silent, unable to come up with an answer.

--

“You alright?” Sanghyuk asked, taking a seat across from Hongbin.

“Wha-yeah,” Hongbin nodded, “I’m good.”

“Really?” Sanghyuk asked, raising an eyebrow, “then why do you seem so out of it lately? I’ve lost count of how any times I’ve had to repeat myself. The others have been noticing the same problem.”

“Really?” Hongbin winced, realizing that the other was very right, “sorry. I just……I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Sanghyuk pressed, “Because I’m here if you need to talk.”

“Aren’t you busy with work?” Hongbin questioned, “in case you’ve forgotten, you have a very full schedule right now.”

“I always have time to help a friend,” Sanghyuk grinned, “you know that.”

“I know,” Hongbin nodded, trying to mask his sadness with a smile. It hurt so much to hear Sanghyuk refer to him as a friend when he wanted to be so much more.

“Hongbin,” Sanghyuk frowned, easily picking up on the other’s real feelings, “please……just….what you want to talk, please talk to me. I’m worried about you.”

“When I’m ready,” Hongbin promised, “you’ll be the first person I come to.”

“Wanna go out for drinks after work?” Sanghyuk asked, “We haven’t hung out just the two of us in a long time.”

“That sounds nice,” Hongbin said, a bit unsure if going out with Sanghyuk and no one else was such a smart idea.

It wasn’t often that they hung out alone. Not because Sanghyuk didn’t want to or anything, but because Hongbin was afraid that he’d let something slip and Sanghyuk would find out how he felt. But now…..would it be so bad? Neither of them was dating anybody. And they were soul mates.

Telling Sanghyuk how he felt, doing as Taekwoon and Jaehwan and Hakyeon had suggested a month ago, wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

--

“Clearly,” Sanghyuk sighed as he glanced over at Hongbin, the photographer giggling drunkenly as he sat in the passenger seat of Sanghyuk’s car, “something really has been bothering you. You know better than to drink like that.”

“Wasn’t paying attention,” Hongbin shrugged, words slurring just enough to be noticeable, “too busy thinking.”

“No kidding,” Sanghyuk rolled his eyes, “wanna clue me in on what you were thinking about?”

“You,” Hongbin replied, looking at Sanghyuk like it was the most obvious thing in the word.

“What about me?” Sanghyuk pressed, silently wishing that they weren’t having this conversation while he was driving.

“If I should tell you how I feel about you,” Hongbin sighed, looking as the roof wishfully, “I really want to, but I don’t think you feel the same.”

“How you feel about me, huh?” Sanghyuk whispered.

He had a pretty good idea what Hongbin meant by that. Honestly he was kind of surprised he hadn’t picked up on Hongbin’s feelings before. He’d always thought that he was great at reading people and figuring out how they felt, so how had he missed the fact that Hongbin loved him. And just how long had Hongbin felt like this? A few months? A few years?

Sanghyuk felt beyond horrible for not noticing how Hongbin felt.

“I’m sorry,” Sanghyuk said, “for not noticing how you felt.”

Hongbin didn’t reply since he’d passed out.

--

“Ugh,” Hongbin moaned, clutching his head as he stumbled into Sanghyuk’s kitchen.

“That’s what you get for drinking so much,” Sanghyuk smirked slightly, handing the photographer a glass of water and an aspirin.

“Thanks,” Hongbin smiled slightly as he took the offered items, “and thanks for letting me sleep here. You didn’t have to give me your bed.”

“You’ve ed about my couch so much I figured you wouldn’t wanna sleep on it,” Sanghyuk shrugged.

“I haven’t ed that much,” Hongbin huffed, tailing after Sanghyuk as the model made his way to the living room.

“No, you really have,” Sanghyuk laughed, “now, wanna talk about last night?”

“Oh god,” Hongbin groaned, “What did I say?”

“We’ll get to that,” Sanghyuk assured him, “first, let’s talk about why you drank so much.”

“I was thinking too much,” Hongbin shrugged, trying to pretend that it wasn’t a big deal, “didn’t pay attention to how much I was drinking.”

“Should have figured you wouldn’t admit it,” Sanghyuk sighed, “but I figured I’d give you a chance.”

“Sanghyuk,” Hongbin frowned slightly, silently pleading the other not to say what he knew he was going to say.

“You talked about your feelings for me,” Sanghyuk pressed on, ignoring Hongbin’s pleading expression, “didn’t take much to figure out what kind of feelings you were talking about.”

“I’m sorry,” Hongbin said after a very long silence, “I just…..if you…..if you don’t want anything to do with me now, I understand.”

“Why wouldn’t I want anything to do with you?” Sanghyuk questioned, confused as to what he had done to make Hongbin think something like that.

“Because you don’t feel the same way,” Hongbin replied, “and you won’t feel comfortable around me know that you know.”

“You’re a moron,” Sanghyuk sighed, throwing his hands up in frustration, “a total, utter moron. How? Just….how? How did you come up with such a stupid thought?”

Hongbin couldn’t come up with an answer, looking at Sanghyuk helplessly.

“God damn it,” Sanghyuk sighed, hanging his head, “my soul mate is a dumb . I’m in love with a total dumb .”

“Wait,” Hongbin said when Sanghyuk’s words started to sink in, “you……you love……me. You…….really?”

“Yeah,” Sanghyuk nodded, “I do.”

Hongbin couldn’t help it, he started crying. Sanghyuk laughed for a moment, knowing that they were tears of joy, before moving to hug his sobbing soul mate.

“Thank you,” Hongbin sobbed, “for loving me back. Thank you so much.”

“That’s not something to thank me for,” Sanghyuk laughed, “moron.”

“Your moron,” Hongbin grinned, enjoying being in Sanghyuk’s arms the way he’d wanted for years.

“My moron,” Sanghyuk nodded in agreement, resting his chin on the top of Hongbin’s head.

A/N:. Over all, I really liked how this one turned out. But I feel like the ending is lacking……something. I can’t figure out what though ‘cuz I read it over and everything seems to be perfectly alright with nothing missing our out of place and it’s a little annoying ‘cuz it’s keeping me from being 100% happy with this. *sigh* I hate when this happens.