(Daehyun's Perspective)

Everything felt heavy when Daehyun woke up. Eyes didn't want to open, body didn't want to move, brain didn't want to function... He rolled over onto his back and took a long, steady breath before pulling the down comforter over his head and burying himself back into the mattress in the hopes that he'd be able to go back to sleep.

This didn't happen, because at that moment, he recalled that he didn't own a down comforter. Or a mattress, for that matter! Only a ridiculously large throw blanket Zelo had given him as a housewarming present along with a small collection of blankets that Sunhwa had packed in his things that he originally used to bundle up in his car but now used as a makeshift blanket pallet.

When he came to that realization, Daehyun's eyes shot open as he jolted up. His head throbbed while he rubbed the grogginess from his eyes, then he took in his surroundings. A simply decorated bedroom, it seemed. The wallpaper was the same as the one in his apartment, so he guessed that he was still in the apartment complex, at least. That made him feel a little bit better, but Daehyun was still confused as to how he'd gotten here.

The thoughts he had were foggy at best... The last thing he recalled was being at Zelo's New Year's party last night. 'Did I drink?' Daehyun wondered, rubbing at his temples. 'That would explain why I feel so hazy... What happened to make me set aside my avoidance of alcohol?'

He hesitantly crawled out from under the warm blanket so he could see about leaving, but he noticed that the clothes he was wearing didn't belong to him. Daehyun's first instinct was to panic because he was in an unfamiliar place in unfamiliar clothes, and based on stories he's read, that translated to one thing in his brain.

He'd had a one night stand. Given that he was in men's clothes, it had been a one night stand with another man.

Not that there was anything wrong with that! Daehyun just didn't consider himself the type of guy to get wildly drunk and have a romp, female or male. That and the thought of such... intimate relations caused his chest to clench painfully and had his breath catching in his throat.

'Please, let me remember something about what transpired last night... Anything will do, just give me something!' Daehyun begged himself, putting his focus into searching the room for his clothes so the anxiety gripping at his soul would be distracted. They were nowhere to be found, but a tiny flash of Sunhwa standing by the door at the party flickered through his mind.

'That must've been why I drank... Because I'd seen her there! Please don't tell me I did something stupid to provoke her while I was drunk...' Daehyun's panic spiked tenfold, causing his fingers to rise up to his cheeks and get a few passes before he had the sense to stop himself and fiddle with the hem of the sleep shirt he was wearing instead.

What had she even been doing there, though? Zelo certainly wouldn't have invited her or anybody associated with her...

'No, that's not important right now,' Daehyun decided as calmed his breathing. 'Focus on finding my things, then I can leave and try to pretend none of this ever happened.'

When he turned to leave the room, figuring that his things were somewhere else in the apartment, he noticed a piece of paper that had been taped to the door. After noticing it was addressed to him, he pulled it off the door to read it.

Daehyun,

Good morning, hope you slept well! I made you some toast for when you woke up. The plate is on the counter, so help yourself to as much as you want! Eat at least one, though, taking in some carbs will get your body back on track. I was going to make you some ginger tea, but I was all out of ingredients, so I went to pick up things for that. For now, just fix you a glass of water and keep hydrated.

Before I left, I put your clothes in the dryer. You spilled both water and tea all over yourself before I got you to go to sleep, so I had you change into some of my clothes so I could wash yours. I figured that would be preferable to sleeping in your stained outfit or . Your wallet, phone, and keys are on the counter by the toast.

You can stay in my apartment if you want to wait for your clothes to get done. If you'd prefer, though, I can bring your clothes up to your place if you decide you want to leave after the toast and water. But toast and water are a must, some sustenance will help you feel better!

Oh, and if you do decide to leave before we get the chance to chat again, here's my number! It'll be way easier to just text your requests to me rather than walk up and down the stairs every time you want to hear me play something. -Yoo Youngjae, AKA Piano Man :)

The letter gave Daehyun some answers, like where he was and why he wasn't in his clothes. He was in apartment 104 and his clothes were being washed. It didn't answer what had happened last night, though, and how he'd ended up staying the night with the pianist.

Briefly, Daehyun recalled the memory of a man standing next to him at the party. The gaze from under his dark brown bangs was soft as he flashed a dimpled smile. When he turned away his face and began to sing, Daehyun's breath caught in his throat.

That's right, he sang karaoke with some guy who was blessed with the sweetest of singing voices! Daehyun hoped he hadn't made a fool of himself with his own singing, but it got him somewhere if it led to him being here.

There wasn't any indication in the note that there'd been any kind of intimate relations, though, so whether or not this had been a one night stand was beyond him. Daehyun was very submissive in nature due to his many years of having his emotions and desires walked all over, having never been the one to initiate even in his previous relationship. When things were initiated by her, he tried his best to flee from the situation because of how badly the anxiety would hit both during and afterwards.

So if there had been any sort of physical relation between him and Youngjae, Daehyun didn't make that first move, and nor did he remember it mentally or physically...

He shelved that thought before he potentially unlocked more bad memories and slipped out of the bedroom to get some toast like he'd been instructed. After pouring himself a cup of water, he nibbled at the corner of some toast while he programmed Youngjae's number into his phone, deciding being friends with the pianist would be nice.

When he'd his phone screen to do that, he saw the missed call notification from Hyosung. So once he'd successfully programmed Youngjae in, he called his boss back.

Hyosung answered before the first ring could sound out completely. “Buddy, how's it going?” she greeted. “Everything good?” Daehyun hadn't expected her to answer so quickly, so he'd torn out a chunk of bread to munch for what turned out to be a nonexistent wait. “Sounds like you're busy.”

He gulped heavily, hurting his throat since he hadn't chewed the bite entirely. “No, I'm not,” he coughed out. Drowning the scratchiness away with a sip of water, he asked, “Something you need, noona?”

“I was going to ask if you could pick up your shift today instead of tomorrow,” she started hesitantly, “but you don't sound so good. You okay, buddy?”

Daehyun cleared his throat and insisted weakly, “I'm fine, noona.”

At that moment, while he was taking another sip of water to soothe his throat, the door to the apartment opened and the man that Daehyun recalled in his memory to be Youngjae stepped in with a few grocery bags hooked around his arms. Youngjae opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself when he saw the phone by Daehyun's ear. He instead began to fumble around in the kitchen, putting things from the bags away.

“You sure? I know you're a quiet guy, but you're speaking a bit softer than you normally do,” Hyosung pointed out. “Which is really saying something because even on a normal occasion it can be hard to hear you if the restaurant gets too loud...”

“Yes, I'm sure,” Daehyun mumbled out. He really could do without the way his head was pounding and wasn't looking forward to working with this headache, but he'd rather put up with it than tell his boss no. “Four to ten today instead of tomorrow?”

“You probably shouldn't go to work with that hangover you're sporting,” Youngjae commented.

“Wait, did I just hear something about a hangover, buddy?” Hyosung questioned with a tone like she couldn't believe the words that had left . He sighed, but didn't say anything because he didn't quite know how to explain himself. “Daehyun? Buddy?”

“So uh... I... I did have some alcohol last night...”

“How much?”

Despite the fact he'd said he drank, and felt like he drank, he didn't actually have any recollection of the actual drinking. He turned to look at Youngjae, who was fiddling with the knobs on the stove. When Youngjae glanced back, Daehyun darted his eyes away to avoid their gazes meeting. He covered the phone speaker so Hyosung wouldn't hear him and asked in a whisper, “Do you know how much I had?”

Youngjae shrugged. “You were drunk by the time I got there,” he answered simply. “Zelo would know the answer to that better than I would.”

“Enough to get drunk, noona,” Daehyun offered to Hyosung, leaning against the counter and observing the pianist as he fiddled with the dials some more. Once Youngjae finished with that, he grabbed a pot from the cabinet above and filled it with water at the sink.

“Someone had themselves a fun New Year's Eve, huh? I didn't think you had it in you,” she chuckled.

“Probably would've been more fun if I could remember it,” he muttered under his breath, watching as Youngjae pulled out various cooking instruments from the different cabinets and drawers. Piled on the counter was a cutting board, measuring cups, a potato peeler, and a knife.

“You drank so much that you don't remember anything? You're definitely not filling in this evening, buddy!” Hyosung's exclamation was shrill, and Daehyun had to hold the phone away from his ear so the high pitch wouldn't make his head throbbing worse.

“I remember a little bit...” Daehyun watched as Youngjae grabbed the potato peeler and began peeling something that couldn't be seen since Youngjae's body blocked it. “I understand, though, noona.”

“Good, get you some rest. I'll find someone else to fill in for Wonjun today. Kick that hangover's , buddy!” Hyosung cheered, and with a click, she was gone as Youngjae began to slice whatever was on the cutting board.

Daehyun placed his phone down on the counter with a sigh and grabbed himself another piece of toast. “Coworker asking you to fill in for them?” Youngjae wondered, dropping what he'd been chopping into the pot of water on the stove and turning to face Daehyun. He leaned against the counter next to it, and Daehyun avoided his eyes as best he could.

“That... was my boss.”

“You speak that informally to your boss?” he questioned incredulously.

“She uh, wasn't always my boss.” Daehyun grabbed what was left of his water and finished it off before doing the same for his second piece of toast. “She got promoted a few months ago, but she really doesn't like the idea of being referred to formally. Especially by people she's worked alongside for years...”

Daehyun couldn't interpret the gaze he was being given, so instead of standing awkwardly and trying to avoid Youngjae's eyes, he turned his back to him. He reached out for the last piece of toast on the plate before drawing back. 'I've already taken advantage of Youngjae's hospitality enough as it is...'

“I made those for you, so eat up!”

While Daehyun was still reluctant, he didn't want to deny the tone of Youngjae's voice. He grabbed the last piece of toast and breathed out a quiet, “Okay...” He didn't immediately bite into it, though, electing to just lean back against the counter like he had been before.

Youngjae had gone back to fiddling with whatever was in the pot, wafting the steam from it towards his face. “Hmm, a bit longer...” he sighed to himself before leaning back against the counter. “So, what do you remember?” he questioned as he crossed his arms.

“I...” Daehyun stared at the toast in his hands and put his brain into overdrive in getting more details about the previous night other than his ex standing by the door and being blown away by Youngjae's voice. That latter one would be embarrassing to admit out loud to the man in question...

'Unless I did last night, and that's what led to me being here?' Daehyun decided to get clarification on his earlier theory and brushed off the question as best he could. “Not too much. Um, did we...” With toast in one hand, he used his other to make vague hand motions.

Youngjae raised a brow amusedly, grin slightly twitching the corner of his lips. “Did we... what?” he wondered.

“You know...” Now the hand with the toast was also being used to make hand gestures.

“I really don't,” he responded with a confused shake of his head, “All I'm getting from this is either an interpretive dance or directing traffic.”

“D-did we... Did we uh, sleep together?” Daehyun squeaked out, hiding the lower side of his face behind his toast.

“Nope. It's a personal policy of mine to not sleep with anybody who's ingested alcohol, no matter how attractive they are.” Youngjae punctuated his sentence with a wink and a little smile, just enough to show the presence of dimples.

“O-oh.” Daehyun slowly brought the bread down and nibbled at it, ignoring the way his heart skipped a beat to instead feel shame at having brought something like that up. 'What was I thinking? You don't just ask something like that! Men generally aren't okay with even the thought of sleeping with another man...'

Other than Zelo and Umma Choi, everyone Daehyun had ever known was repulsed by that sort of thing. That'd made it difficult for him when he realized he classified more as panual. He'd brought up his not so straight thoughts to his parents once, and that had gone over horribly. They blamed that mindset on Zelo and added it to their extensive list on why the Choi family was a bad influence.

Then Sunhwa came along, and they loved her. 'Probably because she mirrored their personalities so well...' Thinking about it like that, it was no wonder they took her side whenever Daehyun mustered up the rare courage to tell them she made him feel terrible about himself all the time.

Daehyun's train of thought was promptly interrupted by gentle chuckling, and he glanced up just enough to see the smile on Youngjae's lips tug up a bit further. There was sincerity in his laugh, but Daehyun couldn't help but feel like he was being judged for something. He pouted from behind his toast, “What are you laughing at?”

“Oh, it's nothing!” Youngjae let out another tiny chuckle and waved things off with a little gesture of his hand.

'He must've been laughing at me then.' The thought was incredibly disheartening and had Daehyun shrinking into himself. “Okay... I-I'm sorry...” He muttered against his bread.

“Why are you sorry? You've got nothing to apologize for.”

“It's just-” The thought of speaking and messing things up even more than he already had Daehyun's breath catching in his throat. But he was being looked at expectantly so he couldn't exactly just not say anything. And he did want to apologize for possibly offending the other with his earlier question... “I'm sorry for thinking we'd-” Daehyun paused to clear his throat. “You know... because that's um... that's not exactly... normal?”

Youngjae shrugged. “It's normal for me.”

“What?”

“I'm gay. So very gay,” Youngjae declared with a confident glint in his eyes. “There's nobody who can change that about me either!”

“O-oh...” Daehyun finished off the last piece of toast and awkwardly crossed his arms over himself. Youngjae had such a confident air about him while talking, and Daehyun was equal parts envious and intimidated.

“Why? Is there a problem with that?” Near indiscernibly, Youngjae squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest. Almost as if he were trying to make himself bigger...

“Wh- Oh, no!” Daehyun exclaimed before slapping his hands over his mouth at how loud he'd gotten. He dropped his hands to clasp them gently in front of his chest and quieted his tone. “Not at all, I'm- I'm sorry if I said or did something that made you think that I thought there was...” Anxiously, he began to twiddle his fingers around. “I don't think there's a problem with it... Y-you're just... so confident about it? I'm-” 'Not straight either? No, I shouldn't bring myself up...' “I'm sorry...”

Surprisingly, Youngjae's response was soft, muted, gentle. “It's fine. I didn't mean my question to come off so harshly, so I'm sorry it did.” His smile was apologetic as he rubbed at the back of his neck, and Daehyun was confused. He didn't have the opportunity to give it more contemplation, though, because Youngjae was ladling out what he'd brewed in the pot into a cup he'd grabbed. “Want some tea? It'll relax you.”

“I should get going soon, I've... I've already imposed on you enough.” Daehyun felt weird having been taken care of this much, and he was already going to have a time of it trying to figure out how to repay Youngjae back for being so kind...

“I'm offering, so you're not being a bother,” Youngjae said, already ladling out a second cup.

As much as Daehyun's brain was telling him to decline the offer again, he also didn't want to deny the warm smile he was given as the cup was extended his way. So he gratefully accepted and ended up sitting on the couch with Youngjae, idly chatting and sipping at their tea.

--

Later that evening, Daehyun was up knocking on Zelo's door with a thermos of the tea Youngjae had made earlier in his other hand. He'd recalled a bit more memory from last night that told him Zelo had been the one to introduce him and Youngjae. So Daehyun thought asking Zelo for help in figuring out how he could repay Youngjae's kindness would be a good idea.

That and apparently Zelo also had a lot to drink last night according to Youngjae. It's the friendly thing to do to check on your friend when they're hungover!

When Zelo answered the door, he personified distress. His black hair was sticking up all over the place, his eyes were tired, and the bags under his eyes had their own personal baggage and carry ons. “Zelo, are you okay?” Daehyun asked quietly.

He furrowed his brows and let out a low groan. “Not really,” Zelo grumbled, running his fingers through his unkempt hair.

“Should... I come back later?”

“No, please stay, hyung.” Zelo motioned for Daehyun to come inside. “Maybe your presence can keep me sane.” After stepping in, Daehyun offered the thermos of tea towards his friend, and Zelo's eyes lit up a bit. “Ooh, did Jae hyung make tea? Bless that man...” Happily, he took a few sips before sighing out in satisfaction. “That hit the spot. Thanks, Daehyun. Now, back to work...”

“You're... welcome?” Daehyun watched as Zelo began to pitter around the apartment, fixing things meticulously. Things had been rearranged for the party, so he must be in the process of putting everything back where it belonged. “Do you... remember anything from last night? Because I'm blanking on most of it.”

A fire was ignited in Zelo with that question because his response was full of fierce passion. “I wish I ing didn't, hyung!” He flailed his arms up as if he was done with everything. He went to speak again, but then closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes. “What do you remember?”

“I saw Sunhwa by the door, and I think that's why I started drinking? You introduced me to Youngjae, and me and him ended up singing together. Somehow, I ended up at his apartment.”

“I helped Jae hyung take you down to his place last night, so that's how you got there,” he clarified. Then he massaged his temples. “When you told me you'd seen Sunhwa here, we both started drinking pretty ing heavily. Then we ended up singing together, which was a damn good time! Probably the only good thing about the whole ing night.”

Sensing he was about to go off on something or someone, Daehyun took a seat on the couch so he could listen more comfortably. Setting the thermos of tea on the coffee table, which Zelo immediately grabbed and chugged more from, Daehyun asked softly, “What happened?”

Zelo's glare was filled with such heat that it was at cremation levels. “You wouldn't ing believe it, hyung. I woke up this morning thinking I dreamed the whole damn party. I only know I didn't dream it because my bathroom had a ing mural on the wall done in my ing eyeshadow, and there's a ing hole in the wall over there!” Zelo waved his hand towards the bookcase against the wall.

“A... hole?”

“Yeah!” he shouted angrily, arms gesturing exuberantly before tangling his fingers in his hair. “I kicked off my heels at some point last night, and one of them got lodged in the ing wall! I woke up to find my shoe still stuck there. Like, Jongup was up before me! Why didn't he take care of this damn mess? Oh, that's right- Because he went out with Hyunsik and his girlfriend while I was still conked the out!”

The only thing Daehyun recalled about the name Hyunsik was that Jongup and Zelo had mentioned a man by that name was who lived in 204 previously.

“So I called him when I realized he wasn't here, and he had the audacity to tell me to calm down and apologize for what I'd done?” Zelo seethed. With the way he was pacing, Daehyun was half expecting him to wear a hole in the floor and fall through it. “Firstly, I need to preface this with the fact that I didn't mention you at all, so please keep that in mind, hyung.”

“Why would you have mentioned me?”

“Because,” he started pointedly, and Daehyun winced at the tone in his friend's voice. “Hyunsik's of a girlfriend is Han ing Sunhwa!”

The words hit like a freight train. Hyunsik must've been the one she'd been cheating on Daehyun with and had eventually kicked him to the curb for. So he now lived where the man Sunhwa had cheated on him with lived beforehand, and this man was also apparently a friend of Zelo's and Jongup's? “That's why she was at the party...” Daehyun gulped. 'Certainly things can't get worse from this...'

“Hyung, it gets worse if you can ing believe that! She and him have been together for four years!” Zelo seethed.

'Four years? That can't be right, that would mean- Oh.'

Daehyun hid his face in his hands as it dawned on him. She'd been cheating on him since before the two of them had moved in together. Sunhwa graduated high school and found another man, yet still strung Daehyun along to the point where he felt like he was nothing without her. Dangling her love as a prize to be obtained for complete obedience, and he'd fallen for it. Hook, line, and sinker.

There had been so much he let her do and get away with because he had been told that was her love for him and that's just how things were. Knowing now that the entire time she had him at her beck and call, she was seeing another man...

'What did I do wrong to deserve this?'

Tiredly, he rubbed his hands down his face and swallowed back a sob. Zelo slowly slid onto the couch and went to rub Daehyun's back in a comforting manner, but Daehyun flinched at the touch. “What... What did you do?” Daehyun asked weakly, voice strained.

Zelo sighed. “I threatened to strangle her like a chicken if she dared to show her face to me again, and I called her all sorts of derogatory names to the point where Hyunsik ing slapped me and left the party, saying he didn't want to hear from me again unless it was to apologize.”

“You didn't explain to him why you were so angry?” Daehyun folded his hands in his lap and looked worriedly at his friend. 'Great, my incompetence ended up in Zelo losing one, possibly two of his friends!'

“It's not my business to say,” he responded simply. “You asked me not to air your business out to others, so I'm not going to unless you give me the word otherwise. Do you want me to tell Hyunsik? I'm personally not worried about him. Unlike you, he has spine and doesn't take from anybody.”

The words stung, but Daehyun was well aware of how much of a pushover he was.

He gave the idea of speaking up some thought. On the one hand, he didn't want anybody else to be treated the same Sunhwa had treated him. In that sense, telling Hyunsik seemed the best course of action. On the other hand, Daehyun figured there had to have been something wrong with him that led Sunhwa to treat him poorly and also seek companionship in someone else.

Daehyun gulped. “Are they... happy together?”

“How would I ing know that, hyung?” Zelo grumbled. After an uncomfortable silence, he let out an exasperated breath. “He always seemed to be when talking about her. Back before he moved out and before I knew who the elusive girlfriend was.”

'The first step to moving past that part of my life is to not care what she gets up to,' Daehyun determined. “Then... don't say anything.” If Hyunsik and Sunhwa were happy together, it wasn't his place to get in their way. 'Just because she was bad to me doesn't mean she'll be bad to him.'

Zelo hummed to himself in thought for a few moments, bouncing his knees and drumming his fingers along them. “How about this,” he started, adjusting to face Daehyun. “If she does anything to wrong him, then I'll spill it. Unless that happens, I zip it. That work? Hyunsik is still my friend, even if he ing slapped me, and I want the best for my friends.”

Daehyun nodded, voice only coming out in a whisper, “...That's fair.”

“Speaking of Hyunsik, I should probably think of something to tell him to get him to speak to me again, but that's something I can worry about later,” Zelo rambled, heaving himself up off the couch and stretching his arms. “My ty day aside, how's your day been so far? Other than your time up here with me, of course. It's obvious that it hasn't been the most pleasant of evenings.”

That was the understatement of the century. Finding out what had been going on behind his back for longer than he initially thought was a real stab to Daehyun's fragile heart. The previous part of his day hadn't been too bad, though, and recalling that warm smile of Youngjae's while they'd chatted over tea lightened Daehyun's heart up a little bit.

“Decent,” he responded after some contemplation. “Youngjae's... really nice. He treated me kindly despite me fumbling all over myself.” Daehyun twiddled with his fingers in his lap as he watched Zelo chug more of the tea down. “It confused me, but... I-I want to pay him back for his kindness somehow. Do you have any ideas?”

“Pay him back?” Zelo raised a brow in confusion. “He wasn't nice to you to get something in return, Daehyun. If I had to guess, he treated you kindly because he wants to be your friend,” he responded with a bit of a smile. “It's not a bad idea, being friends with Jae hyung. He's one of the good ones!”

“I'm not saying I don't want to be his friend because I'd like to be, it's just...” Daehyun grumbled to himself and shook his head. “I'd feel bad if I didn't show him that I appreciated it, you know?”

“You're not gonna let this go, are you?” Zelo mumbled, more to himself than to Daehyun. With a wave of his hand, he wondered, “Well, you want to repay him in kind, right? So why not do for him what he did for you? What did he do for you?”

“He uh... took care of me while I was hungover. Which I can't do for him because he told me he doesn't drink alcohol,” Daehyun said. “Which isn't a bad thing because I don't normally drink alcohol either?”

“Be more specific on what he did.”

“Well, he made me toast and tea...”

“Toast and tea?” Zelo repeated in question. After Daehyun nodded in confirmation, Zelo suggested, “Then do that. Make him some toast and tea.”

Daehyun nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “That's... probably not a good idea. The last time I tried to make toast, the toaster, uh... scared me? It- It was loud and... it just popped out with no warning, and that made me scream,” Daehyun sheepishly admitted. He decided to leave out the part where his startled yelp had woken Sunhwa up and he'd been yelled at for being too noisy.

“Did a tea kettle scare you, too?” Zelo teased with a chuckle.

“No...” Daehyun denied with a little pout. “It's just... Youngjae told me tea is part of his daily routine, and I don't want to mess up his routine. That and I, uh... I don't exactly know how to make it myself...”

“Don't know what to tell you then, hyung,” Zelo sighed as he plopped back down onto the couch. “But like, I don't think you should worry about it? I can assure you that Jae hyung isn't expecting anything in return.”

--

A/N:

This just in: Awkward man gets flirted with by the local gay and it goes right over his head, more to come as details arise.