It feels odd, sitting across a table from Ji Hyo in a pretty cafe with dainty coffee cups and slices of cake between them. He's spent so long firmly placing  Ji Hyo in the "platonic life buddy" category that the romantic atmosphere is getting on his nerves.

...Not that he's interested in Ji Hyo that way.

But to anyone looking at the pair of them from outside, them sitting together at the most popular date spot that side of the city couldn't be seen as anything other than a date. He can already see the headlines on the gossip magazines and god, all the phone calls...

"--Oppa? Seriously, oppa, are you even listening to me?"

Jong Kook blinks. Ji Hyo stares at him impatiently, her sharp gaze losing most of its effect through the ridiculous disguise she's wearing. Jong Kook still can't quite see past the enormous fake mustache pasted on her upper lip. It has cake crumbs nestled in the fake hair.

"Sorry, Ji Hyo, what were you saying?"

"I can't believe you," she mutters. Her eyes crinkle like she's smiling. It's hard to tell through the thick-lensed glasses she's wearing, the style almost identical to Jae Suk-hyung's back in 2004. "I said, do you have eyes on the target?"

Jong Kook grumbles under his breath, fixing his own disguise -- a cheap balding cap wig (swiped from Kwang Soo at his house party a few months ago) and Groucho Marx glasses Ji Hyo had shoved onto him just before entering the cafe. The mustache makes his face itch and the fake nose chafes and smells like cheap plastic.

"Ji Hyo, don't you think these disguises are kind of... not good at disguising?" he says, trying to peer around the packed cafe discreetly.

"It's what our target least expects, oppa," Ji Hyo replies, scooping up half an entire slice of cake with a deft swipe of her fork. "We can't be disguised like we're celebrities. It'd be too obvious!"

"So we disguise ourselves like village idiots instead?" Jong Kook shoots back incredulously. "I still don't understand why you thought I needed to come help you stalk your brother on his date."

"Sung Moon needs my guidance," Ji Hyo says loftily, haphazardly sticking her fork overfilled with cake past her mustache. Jong Kook stares. Her mustache picks up most of the food that doesn't make it into as she chews. "Besides, if I need to rough someone up, if you know what I mean--"

"I really don't."

"--then I need my most dependable oppa to back me up. You should be happy that I called you out here! I'm even treating you to all this food!"

Jong Kook sighs. "Ji Hyo, your brother is a university student. Do you really think he needs coddling, still? And all you've been doing is treating yourself."

He gestures at their table; true to form, most of the food has already been eaten -- none of it by Jong Kook.

"It's not my fault you don't eat this kind of stuff," Ji Hyo retorts, polishing off another fruit tart. "And I'm not coddling Sung Moon. Think of it more like... sisterly meddling. I have to make sure his taste in women will bring honor to the family."

"You're only making that up to make your stalking sound reasonable."

"Am not!"

"You literally took that line from a movie!"

"You're just trying to defame me, oppa," Ji Hyo sniffs. She pushes away the last plate before her eyes dart to the side, towards the corner where her brother is getting out of his seat. "Oh! They're leaving!"

"Great," Jong Kook says. "Now we can both go home and live our own lives like normal people."

"No, oppa, their date isn't finished, yet! We have to stick around until the end!"

"You're kidding--"

"Come on!"

They skitter out of the booth after paying the bill and Ji Hyo wastes no time shoving Jong Kook into the passenger seat of her car.

"Where is he going, where is he..." she mutters under her breath, starting the engine and fixing a death stare at her brother, who's helping his pretty date into the car. She tracks them as their car starts to move off. "Ah, moving east, I see. They're going to the amusement park!"

"Ji Hyo, I think you're getting really carried away," Jong Kook interjects loudly, pulling off the ridiculous disguise she'd foisted on him. "This is inching into 'creepy' territory."

"Don't be ridiculous, oppa." Ji Hyo patiently steers through the streets' ever-present traffic. "We can have fun while keeping an eye out on Sung Moon, too. Didn't you enjoy yourself at the cafe? The food was delicious!"

Jong Kook stifles a sigh, wondering if he should text Haha an SOS. Maybe his dongsaeng can talk some sense into Ji Hyo's wild Big Sister urges.

Twenty minutes later, he's busy tapping out a desperate conversation with Kwang Soo (Haha wouldn't respond) about how Ji Hyo had lost her mind and was dragging him all over the city to stalk her little brother and his date.

I DON'T SAY THIS LIGHTLY, he tapped out carefully, BUT PLEASE. RESCUE ME.

"We're here!" Ji Hyo announced, parking neatly and turning off the engine. "Let's get going, oppa, there's no telling where Sung Moon and his date have gone off to! I suspect they're waiting in line over there--"

She points to the drop ride towering over the park. People are little pinpricks at the top and their screams are piercing as the carriage rushes towards the ground.

"--which means we have to get in line as soon as possible."

"Oh my god," Jong Kook groans under his breath.

They're already buying tickets into the park and carefully pushing through the Saturday crowd when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. It's a text from Kwang Soo.

DON'T BE DRAMATIC, HYUNG, the text reads, MAYBE NOONA JUST WANTS TO HAVE A FUN DAY AND NEEDS AN EXCUSE TO BRING SOMEONE WITH HER.

Jong Kook's teeth grind together as he's shuffled into the line for the worst ride in the park. Ji Hyo is standing in front of him, bouncing on the balls of her feet, claiming that she's checking to see if Sung Moon is ahead of them in line. Jong Kook sincerely doubts it.

Kwang Soo picks up on the first ring. "Yes, hyung?"

"She's trying to kill me," Jong Kook hisses into the receiver. "Do something, Kwang Soo, or I'll show up at your house and end you."

"Hyung, what--"

"Who are you calling? Do I hear Kwang Soo's voice?"

Ji Hyo is suddenly standing very close and peering at his phone screen where the picture of Kwang Soo's face photoshopped onto a giraffe is prominently displayed.

"Hey, Kwang Soo!" she greets.

"Oh, noona!" Kwang Soo's tinny voice calls back. Ji Hyo waves her hands at Jong Kook and he grudgingly puts the call on speaker. "It sounds like you're having fun! I heard you're trying to kill Jong Kook-hyung?"

"He's exaggerating!" Ji Hyo laughs happily. "Do you remember that drop ride I tricked you into going on a while back when we were filming an episode of Running Man? It was fun, wasn't it?"

"Oh my god," Kwang Soo mumbles. "You really are trying to kill him."

"Don't be stupid, it's fun!"

"I'm so sorry, hyung," Kwang Soo says gravely. "I'll let everyone else know why you're gone on Monday. It was a pleasure to have you as my hyung."

"Kwang Soo, I swear--" Jong Kook growls.

"Have fun!" Kwang Soo chirps. "I'll see the both of you on Monday!"

"See you on Monday!" Ji Hyo repeats dutifully. The call ends as she faces Jong Kook with a big smile. "Kwang Soo is sweet, isn't he, oppa? And look, it's almost our turn!"

"Sweet. Sure," Jong Kook grumbles, but he lets Ji Hyo tow him over to the cubbies where she tucks his phone into her purse and stuffs both it and their hats into a cubby.

They're buckled into their seats when he chances a glance at Ji Hyo.

God, she looks so damn happy.

"You're such a weird girl," he blurts out. "Running Man uses these kinds of rides as a punishment, and here you are going on it for fun."

"That's because it is fun," Ji Hyo grins widely. "You like it too, don't you?"

"I'm not terrified of it," he corrects as the carriage jolts and starts its journey upwards. He grimaces as he feels his heart abruptly lurch into a nervous beat. "I don't know if I'd call it fun, though."

"You can hold my hand if you're scared," Ji Hyo jokes, but she reaches for him anyway.

"I'm not scared," he argues, even as his fingers wrap around hers.

Both of their hands are a little clammy -- he winces when the carriage shudders to a stop; the park and half the city sprawl at below them. It's... breathtaking, in a way. Ji Hyo laughs out loud, delighted.

It's still early enough in the morning for a light mist to hang around the Han River. The sun reflecting off the city's skyscrapers turn them into twinkling diamonds; the sea sparkles in the distance, a blue-gray so deep that it almost hurts Jong Kook's eyes to look at it.

"It's beautiful," he says, honestly, above the light whoosh of the breeze this high up.

"I told you you'd like it," Ji Hyo says next to him.

Jong Kook looks at her and the first thought that comes to mind is that she's more beautiful here than on the ground, with her long hair tangled by the wind and her eyes sparkling with adrenaline and glee, her smile unbridled and blinding.

Then the carriage gives a tell-tale shudder.

Jong Kook blinks.

"Oh, shi--"

And Ji Hyo's screaming next to him and maybe he's screaming, too; he's lifted out of the seat a bit by gravity and his stomach is doing acrobatics when they suddenly slow to a near stop, the carriage moving slowly down the last ten feet to the ground. Adrenaline is pumping wildly through his veins, and Jong Kook peers around the shoulder restraints to Ji Hyo.

"That was..."

"Fun? Hair-raising?" she says, swinging her legs as the carriage slows to a stop. Their restraints are lifted and they move to retrieve their belongings from the cubbies. "A life-changing experience?"

"Awesome," Jong Kook decides. "That was awesome."

"Oppa!" Ji Hyo beams and snags him in a headlock (and maybe he bends down to make it easier). "Welcome to the club! You have to try out some of the other ones, seriously -- you haven't felt a thrill until you ride the Double Twister!"