*This chapter may be uncomfortable to read if you are triggered by bullying feel free to skip*

Saturday Evening, Winter Break

The boys apartment.

The late arrival of Sungjae to the party was to say the least, uncomfortable, though most of the reason for this was because Namjoo had unfortunately been the one to answer the door.

"Oh. Yook Sungjae. What are you doing here?" Namjoo asked, looking him up and down suspiciously.

Sungjae, who was still wearing his work uniform, wavered slightly under Namjoo's dominating aura.

"I…I brought chicken." He stuttered.

He held up the box of chicken he was holding and tried to avoid looking directly at Namjoo.

Namjoo raised her eyebrow as she slowly took the box, then turned her head over her shoulder towards the living room.

"Yah! Did somebody order chicken?" She yelled.

"No I-" Sungjae began.

Fortunately however, Chorong appeared behind Namjoo looking apologetic.

"Oh my gosh Sungjae-ya I'm sorry! Come on in." Chorong said hurriedly.

She shooed Namjoo away then held the door open wider for Sungjae, who seemed relieved to see her.

"Noona…" He smiled.

All of a sudden there was a loud cheer from the TV area as someone finally managed kill Hayoung's solo Ganondorf.

"HaHAA! er!!!" Bomi cawed.

She pointed her finger at Hayoung triumphantly while Hayoung tried to shield herself from the barrage of whoops and taunts from the other players.

"Waait I missed it who killed her?!" Namjoo demanded, forgetting all about Sungjae and Chorong in the excitement of the Hayoung's historic defeat.

Surprisingly it turned out it was Peniel who made the kill shot.

"Wow amazing bro!" Marveled Eunkwang with almost literal heart eyes.

Peniel shook his head with an embarrassed grin, insisting that it was a team effort and that he'd just gotten lucky, but despite his protest he was quickly dogpiled and hailed as the smash champion of the night.

"Aw come on guys it's not a big deal really…" He laughed.

"Not a big deal??" Bomi exclaimed. "Hello you just took down the almighty Oh Hayoung! Yah yah yah somebody get this guy a drink!"

"No really it's fine I don't need-" Peniel began, but Eunji was already shoving a glass into his hands.

Peniel held the glass reluctantly, but with everyone expecting him to take a celebratory shot he didn't really have much of an option.

"Ahah umm…well. Here goes."

With an awkward laugh and a slight grimace, Peniel raised the glass. But before he could down the shot it was suddenly plucked from his hands by Sungjae.

"S-Sungjae?" Said Peniel in surprise.

The cheering stopped and everyone watched in confusion as Sungjae gulped down the contents of the shot glass. When he was finished he wiped his mouth then handed the empty glass back to Eunji.

Eunji looked from Sungjae to the empty glass and frowned.

"Sungjae-ya why in the world did you…?"

"Peunie hyung…doesn't…drink." Sungjae rasped.

An awkward silence hung in the air with the Smash Bros music still playing in the background.

"Sungjae I uh thanks but you didn't have to." Peniel ventured. "It was just one shot I would've been fine."

Sungjae went slightly red in the face. He looked for a second like he was about to say something but instead all that came out was a small hiccup.

"Maybe we should play something else…" Eunkwang suggested, in an attempt to break the strange atmosphere. "Anyone for UNO?"

He held up a tattered pack of UNO cards which looked about as old as the 90s with an enticing flourish.

There was a scattered murmuring of agreement and the others quickly proceeded to clear a space on the floor for the game while Sungjae stood awkwardly to the side, unsure as to whether he was being allowed to join. Chorong upon seeing this took pity and offered to help him fix a plate of food in the kitchen, but Sungjae refused and instead excused himself to the bathroom.

He was gone for quite some time, but eventually he reemerged from the bathroom about halfway through the second UNO game and attempted to squeeze himself into the circle between Changsub and Peniel.

"Wanna play?" Peniel asked Sungjae. "You can take over my cards."

"I don't know how…" Sungjae confessed.

"Wait seriously dude? How can you not know how to play UNO?"

"Because he's obviously never had any friends to play with before." Namjoo interjected from the other side of the circle. "Isn't that right Yook Sungjae?" She added.

"Peniel's my friend." Sungjae mumbled.

Namjoo pursed her lips as she drew a card from the stack in the middle.

"Aw that’s cute. Good to see you've finally grown a pair since high school hmm?" She replied with a somewhat condescending tone as she laid down her card.

"What's she talking about? Did you guys go to school together?" Peniel asked Sungjae.

When Sungjae didn't immediately respond, Namjoo laughed.

"Yah Yook Sungjae. You're not still scared of me are you?"

Sungjae's body seemed to shrink as he avoided eye contact.

"Heol…" Namjoo scoffed in disbelief.

Several looks of bewilderment were shared amongst the group of friends gathered on the floor, but Namjoo apparently didn't seem to think anything was wrong with the way Sungjae was reacting to her words.

"What? Aren't you going to take your turn oppa?" Namjoo said to Minhyuk who was seated next to her.

"Oh…oh right." Minhyuk said, fumbling with his hand of cards.

The games continued with a lingering feeling of uncomfortable tension in the room, which Eunkwang to his credit, spent a considerable amount of energy trying to dispel with his sometimes cringey mood lifting tactics. This drew lots of whining and complaints from Bomi, Changsub and the other girls, but overall the effect was successful. Or at least it appeared that way on the surface until Namjoo started getting drunk.

"You know Sungjae-ya. I had sooooo much fun in high school didn't you?" Namjoo slurred as she twirled her hair lazily around her finger in a haughty manner.

Sungjae didn't answer but instead he grabbed the nearest drink he could find (which happened to be a half empty bottle of soju) and gulped down a concerning amount all in one go. He set down the bottle, breathing heavily while Namjoo acted as if she was impressed.

"Wowww." She whistled. "Ignoring me now are you? Haha just like old times. But no worries, I've gotten nicer since then so you don't have to be afraid of me anymore. In fact, if you somehow manage to become a famous actor then I might even think about letting you be my friend."

Namjoo held out her hand and suddenly Sungjae looked like he wanted to puke. Stumbling to his feet he ran to the bathroom and managed to make it just in time before his stomach began to eject all of its contents.

"Sungjae-ya!" Chorong quickly rushed after Sungjae leaving Namjoo staring at her hand with an odd expression on her face.

"Or not." Namjoo finally said with a shrug.

"Okay now you've done it." Bomi groaned.

Changsub too got to his feet and followed Chorong to the bathroom where she was kneeling next to Sungjae to rub his back while he threw up into the toilet.

"Is he okay?" Asked Changsub.

Chorong sighed.

"Can you just…go get some paper towels or something." She whispered, waving Changsub out of the bathroom.

"Yeah sure."

As Changsub disappeared from the doorway, he was replaced by Peniel who peered inside with a look of concern.

"Hey Sungjae if you want to go home now I can give you a ride." Offered Peniel.

Sungjae lifted his head slightly, not looking Peniel in the eye.

"I can walk home." He replied stubbornly, struggling to his feet so he could rinse his mouth at the sink.

"Oh no you can't do that you're in no condition…" Chorong protested.

Peniel nodded in agreement.

"It's fine man I was really just about to leave anyways." He added.

It was hard to tell if the water in Sungjae's eyes was from washing his face in the sink or from something else, but he blinked it away and tried his best to regain his composure.

"O-okay." He gave in.

Changsub returned just then with a roll of paper towels and handed Sungjae a few sheets to wipe his face.

"Thanks." Sungjae muttered almost inaudibly.

"Sungjae-ya…" Chorong began. "I'm sorry I didn't know you were hurt by Namjoo before. She only told us you went to the same high school but if I had known…"

Sungjae shook his head.

"It's…it's okay noona. She wasn't the worst of them back then..."

"No it's not okay! You can't let people step on you like that. I'll make her apologize properly. I promise. I owe that to you since I invited you here in the first place and ruined your day without meaning to…but maybe we can do something smaller another time. Just with the people you feel good about. Does that sound alright?" Asked Chorong.

Her face clearly showed she was feeling guilty about how things had gone, but nonetheless Sungjae gave her a tiny smile and allowed her to help him finish cleaning himself up.

Once Sungjae was deemed presentable, Chorong left to pack some leftover pizza and snacks for the road while Peniel did his round of "goodbyes" and "it was good meet you's" to whoever was still sober enough to be awake.

Changsub stood with Sungjae near the door as he waited for Peniel to finish. The younger seemed a bit anxious and eager to leave, though thankfully Namjoo was not paying enough attention to notice them. She was too busy trying to take drunk selfies with Minhyuk.

In all honestly, Changsub thought, it wasn't very surprising that Namjoo used to be one of Sungjae's high school bullies. However it was still unsettling to think she had been in the friend group all this time without everyone knowing the truth.

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A/N

Noooo Sungjae.....

Guys party scenes are hard to write when there's too many people and not everyone can get lines. 

How the heck does SM manage their line distribution...nvm...lol...

Please forgive me this version of Namjoo does not reflect what I think about her in real life. Plot devices...sigh...

Photograph by Sungjae and Namjoo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBEJ18AV8gE 

I miss their interactions T__T