After comforting Sanghyuk, Hongbin bid him a good night. Sanghyuk went up to his own room after Hongbin swore he would take care of Taekwoon if he woke up in the middle of the night. With Sanghyuk up in his room, Hongbin got comfortable on the couch as he fell asleep. It felt like Hongbin had only been asleep for a minute or two before Wonshik was shaking him awake. “Hongbin! Hongbin get up! Taekwoon is awake.” Once he heard that Hongbin bolted upright on the couch, looking over to the one across from him to see that Taekwoon was in fact awake. It looked like he was on his way to the kitchen, but the way he was stumbling around told Hongbin he was still very much drunk. “Taekwoon?” Hongbin said cautiously as he got up from the couch. Taekwoon spun around, a drunken smile gracing his face when he saw Hongbin. “Heeeyyy Binnie!” Taekwoon said as he wildly waved one of his arms in greeting. He giggled a bit before leaning against the doorway he was standing in front of. “Whatcha doin’ in my house?” “I brought you home, but it’s so late I didn’t feel like traveling.” Taekwoon nodded his head, well it was more like he was flopping his head forwards and backwards. “Okie dokie.” Taekwoon turned back around before stumbling the rest of the way into the kitchen. Hongbin quickly followed after him. Taekwoon held the counter top as he made his way to one of the cabinets in the kitchen. Once he opened it Hongbin saw that the cabinet held all of the cups they owned. Taekwoon looked up and tried to reach for a cup that was on the top shelf. His fingertips just grazed the cup he was reaching for. “Always keeping my cups up there, the damn giant.” Taekwoon grumbled as he just managed to grab the cup he wanted. However, he ended up losing his balance in the process. Hongbin managed to grab him before he hit the floor. Taekwoon looked up at Hongbin, the smile back on his face. “Hi Binnie. Has anyone ever told you you’re pretty? Wait! Binnie. Pretty. That rhymes!” Taekwoon got up and managed to get himself a cup of water without hurting himself. After that Hongbin managed to herd Taekwoon back to his couch. Just as he was about to go back to his own couch Hongbin felt a tug on his arm. “Can you stay? Pleeeease?” At the pout Taekwoon had on his face, and the nod of approval Wonshik gave, Hongbin agreed. Hongbin just managed to squeeze himself onto the couch with Taekwoon. It was a tight fit, and Hongbin had to wrap his arms around Taekwoon to fit just right. Taekwoon snuggled into Hongbin’s chest before falling asleep, a “Pretty Binnie” falling from his lips just before he finally lost consciousness once again. Hongbin sighed before covering them with a blanket and closing his own eyes.

    Once the morning came Taekwoon noticed two things as he woke up. The first thing he noticed was that he had a splitting headache. His brain was practically screaming at him for thinking it was a good idea to drink an entire bottle of wine by himself. The second thing he noticed was that his pillow was moving up and down steadily. Once that thought hit him the rest of his thoughts came screeching to a halt. “Pillows don’t move.” He thought to himself. Taekwoon forced his eyes open to see what he was sleeping on. His eyes widened when he saw he was sleeping on someone’s chest. They widened further when he saw whose chest he was sleeping on. “Hongbin?” Taekwoon took a few deep breaths as he tried not to panic. “Okay Taek, let’s take some inventory. Let’s see. Well for one I’m alive. So that’s good. My clothes are still on, so we didn’t do anything. I’m home, so we haven’t been kidnapped. So what happened last night?” Taekwoon’s thoughts were interrupted by Hongbin beginning to wake up. Taekwoon slammed his eyes shut, hoping that Hongbin would think he’s still asleep.

Hongbin took a deep breath before looking down at Taekwoon. “I know you’re awake Taekwoon.” Taekwoon opened his eyes then. “How did you know?” Hongbin chuckled. “I didn’t. I just wanted to see if you were actually asleep.” Taekwoon gave Hongbin a soft slap on the chest before getting up from the couch. “So do you remember any of last night or were you completely out?” Taekwoon thought back to the night before. “I remember being at the graveyard, and I remember you bringing me home. But after that is a bit of a blurr.” Hongbin smirked at Taekwoon. “So the name ‘Pretty Binnie’ doesn’t ring a bell?” Taekwoon looked confused. “Pretty Binnie?” Taekwoon tried to remember and when he did he let out a mortified groan as he sunk to the ground. “I actually called you that?” Hongbin let out a roar of laughter. Taekwoon clutched at his head from the pain the noise brought to him. “Can we pretend I didn’t say that?” “What? That you asked if anyone has ever told me I was pretty? Or that you were so amazed when you realised pretty and Binnie kind of rhymed?” Taekwoon let out another groan before standing up. “Can you forget all of it? I just want to pretend none of it happened. Okay?” Hongbin let out one last chuckle. “Alright. I’ll pretend it never happened. Now I should get going, I need to go home and get ready for work. Tell Sanghyuk I said bye.” With that Hongbin left the house.

Hongbin was called into Taekwoon’s office in the middle of the work day. Hongbin made sure to knock on the door before walking in. “You wanted to see me?” Taekwoon was leaning back in his chair with a small pack of ice resting on his forehead. Once Hongbin walked in he gestured for him to close the door. Once Hongbin did Taekwoon sat up in his chair slowly, making sure that the ice was still in place. “I, um, just wanted to thank you for yesterday. I don’t remember everything, but I know for a fact you brought me home last night. So thank you.” Hongbin smiled widely at him. “No problem. I’m here anytime you need me.” Taekwoon nodded a bit at his answer. “Well then can you do me a favor tonight?” “What is it?” Taekwoon let out a sigh. “Sanghyuk wants me to invite you over for dinner tonight. Something about a ‘proper thank you for putting up with my drunk .’ I told him you might not want to come over but he said he won’t let me in the house if I don’t convince you.” Hongbin chuckled. “So you need your Pretty Binnie to comeover to make Sanghyuk happy?” Taekwoon looked like he was about to throw the ice pack in his hand at Hongbin’s head. “Hey, remember I’m your boss. A little respect during work hours?” Hongbin stopped laughing immediately. “Alright. I’ll come over. Besides I have some things I need to talk to you about outside of work hours.” Taekwoon looked confused. “Why can’t you tell me here?” “I don’t think you want to talk about it here. Just trust me when I say it’s better if I tell you outside of work hours.” Taekwoon pouted a bit before telling Hongbin the time he should come over. Hongbin left the office with a nod.

“You’re gonna tell him tonight?” Wonshik said as he sat on Hongbin’s bed as he got ready for dinner. “No better time than the present right? I think he’s been carrying around this guilt about your death for long enough.” Wonshik looked to the ground. “Yeah I guess you’re right.” He said softly. Hongbin looked back at Wonshik. “Is something wrong?” Wonshik shook his head. “It’s nothing.” “It can’t be nothing if you look so sad. What’s up?” Hongbin kneeled so him and Wonshik were eye to eye. “It’s just. I’m a little nervous.” “About?” “Everything! What if he gets mad at me for staying around for so long? Or what if he doesn’t want me to cross over once he knows I’m still here? And what exactly is waiting for me on the other side of that light? What if I’m not welcomed on the other side?” Wonshik started to tremble a bit as he continued to ask questions. Hongbin rested his hands on Wonshik’s biceps. “I don’t know all of the answers to your questions, but what I do know is this. Taekwoon loves you, and no matter how he feels about you crossing over he is going to let you go. And do you know why?” Wonshik shook his head. “Because he’s your big brother. No matter what he feels he will always do what he thinks is best for you. And he knows that crossing over is something that you need to do to finally be at rest. I’ve seen spirits that have stayed on earth too long, and let me tell you it isn’t pretty. So what you need to do is just make sure that you are ready to cross over. Okay?” Wonshik smiled. “Thanks Hongbin.” “No problem. Now let’s get to dinner.”

Dinner with Taekwoon and Sanghyuk was one of the most fun nights Hongbin had ever enjoyed. Taekwoon and Sanghyuk’s constant bickering had him bursting at the seams with laughter. Taekwoon’s cooking was delicious. As the night was winding down Sanghyuk turned in early for the night, claiming that he was put on an early shift the next morning at the café. After bidding Sanghyuk a good night Taekwoon and Hongbin cleaned up the table. At first Taekwoon refused his help, but Hongbin convinced him that it was the least he could do after such a wonderful dinner. After the kitchen was cleaned up Taekwoon looked at the oven. “Oh I almost forgot dessert!” From the oven Taekwoon pulled out a large chocolate cake. “Woah. That looks really good.” Hongbin noticed there were candles on the cake. “What’s with the candles?” Taekwoon looked sad all of a sudden. “I remember yelling at you about my brother last night. So as you can guess he . . . died. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death but-” Taekwoon was already blinking back tears. “Today is my birthday. I was supposed to make a cake with him yesterday so we could eat it today. But we never got to. I kept putting it off because I used to hate cake.” A few tears escaped. “He was so excited to start making it and I kept telling him that we would do it later. I was about to cave and make the damn cake, but I was pretending to be angry with how many times he was asking me to make it. That was when he started wheezing. And then came the blood. And the next thing I knew we were being told he was dead.” Taekwoon took a few shaky breaths. “And I could have stopped it. I could have asked more about how sick he was. I could had looked more into the medicines he was taking. I could have made the ing cake so at least his last memory of me wasn’t me telling him that he was annoying and that we could do it later. Why didn’t I just make the cake?!” A few sobs made their way past Taekwoon’s lips. “He passed away thinking that his brother was mad at him. If there is an afterlife he probably hates me now.” Hongbin wrapped his arm around Taekwoon’s shoulders. Wonshik was standing at the doorway. “That’s not true. I knew he was just pretending. I knew he wasn’t really mad at me. I still love him. Hongbin tell him that!” Hongbin took a deep breath. “Taekwoon, none of that is true. Wonshik still loves you. So much.” At those words Taekwoon pushed Hongbin away. “And how the hell would you know that?”

“Because he’s right here.”