Seungri looked from the paper to the window for the fourth time. He could think of a million ways he would rather spend his day instead of sitting in his room slaving over a paper. The page in front of him was bare, the only words on them being his name in the top right corner, a heart beside it.

            “Seungri…” A voice warned. It was groggy and filled with sleep as it wafted from the corner of his room.

            “What?” he spun around in his chair and asked, feigning ignorance. Youngbae turned his back towards his junior, settling on Seungri’s bed and trying to return to sleep. His message had been delivered with one word and that message was Get to work.

            As much as Seungri was growing to appreciate being in a steady relationship, being policed to do his homework was not equally as enjoyable and he pouted.

            “I really feel no motivation to finish this.”

            “A kiss.” Youngbae said under his breath, not bothering to turn around.

            “A kiss?”

            “A kiss,” Youngbae confirmed before Seungri heard him zip up his hoodie, yet another message: Now leave me alone.

            A kiss. To be honest, kisses were rare to come by with Youngbae. He was either in class at college or working. When they were together he was mostly napping. Being the raging adolescent that he was, Seungri would jump at the idea of more physical contact, and often did more than that to get it. Their relationship had become the quintessential Pavlov’s dog experiment. If he was bad, Youngbae didn’t touch him. If he was good he could get a hug, exemplary and he even got a kiss.

            He wrote for a good twenty minutes before running low on fuel. His mind began settling for no kiss at all, laziness overcoming his lust. “Youngbae! This is dumb. I don’t even want to kiss you now and why don’t you want to kiss me anyway? It’s not like I’m not your boyfriend. You’re older too. You’re supposed to seduce me. I shouldn’t have to write some paper to impress you enough to actually want to be lucid while we’re together. You’re so sleepy and annoying. I really can’t-“

            “Stand me?” It was a frequent sentence that came out of Seungri’s mouth and Youngbae could easily finish it for him. He had been roused out of his sleep and walked over to Seungri, reaching down and wrapping his arms around him as he stood behind Seungri’s chair.

            “You should just kiss me. And then I promise I’ll finish.” Seungri stared at the paper. It was an empty promise but who cares. He smirked mischievously as he thought about Youngbae giving in, reaching under his shirt and laying light kisses on his neck, the feeling of Youngbae’s warm hands on his skin something he longed for and missed.

            None of that happened as the senior stood up and grabbed his hat from Seungri’s dresser.

            “Yeah right,” his monotone voice said lowly.

            Seungri could hear the shattering sound of his lurid dreams being broken. “Where are you going?” he pouted.

            “I have class.”

            “Now? That’s weird.”

            “Yes…Now. Besides, it’s not like I won’t be back before you finish. At this rate it’ll take you a year.” Youngbae smirked as he walked out the door, taking glee in the sound of Seungri crumpling his paper as he growled in frustration.

**********

            Seungri sat on the subway watching the tunnels run past him. It was a pretty hefty trip to Youngbae’s school and the kimbap he had made for the two of them was slowly becoming kimbap for one as he snuck piece after piece in his mouth, his teenager’s appetite getting the best of him. Finishing his paper had been easy enough once he shut the shutters. Especially with Youngbae gone, his sleepy murmurs as he napped tended to be a distraction, spurring Seungri to stop working and watch him sleep, which was creepy now that Seungri thought of it. He sat there staring before his stop showed up, getting up and shoving his space through the crowd that stood, a tired businessman immediately sitting in his old spot as he exited the train. Making his way up to street level, he bumped shoulders with a familiar face.

            “Oppa!” Minji smiled widely, her eyes always sparkling a bit when she did.

            “Minji! ...What are you doing here?”

            “I’m on my way to the home,” Minji answered. She was an orphan who stayed at an orphanage not too far from Youngbae and Seungri’s street. “I was…Uhm…” Minji searched a local public service poster for an answer, “Seeing Youngbae. I need help on a few subjects in school.”

            It almost sounded like a lie but that would be impossible. She had no other reason to be outside of her oppa’s university…unless she was lying about the reason to see Youngbae. Seungri shook off his thoughts. It was hard not to think of ulterior motives. He had spent last winter sifting through all kinds of unsaid feelings and little secrets before finding Youngbae and becoming his. It was all water under the bridge of course and Minji had no part in it at all but he was still always suspicious. Minji and Youngbae were really close, a little too close for Seungri’s comfort. He’d have to just get over it. But not today, he thought, gruffly telling Minji to be safe and patting her on the shoulder. She looked like she wanted to say something else but Seungri didn’t mind her at all, briskly sprinting up the stairs and walking towards Youngbae’s campus.

***************************

            Jiyong sat on the bench in front of the school. He drew a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, his eyebrows knitting upward, his thumb flicking at the lighter, hand fighting the wind. Seunghyun was late…again and Youngbae wasn’t picking up his phone. The solitude his life had recently become was starting to generally just piss him off.

            “Oi!” Seunghyun said from a far, walking down the street, his black hair shining in the sunshine. Jiyong found himself putting his hand up in the air, a still reluctant wave.

            “You’re late,” he said as Seunghyun approached him. He took a deep drag of his cigarette before putting it out.

            “No, I’m not.”

            “Yes. Yes, you are.” Jiyong spat, stepping on his cigarette and placing his hands in his oversized hoodie as he stood up.

            “Why are you wearing a hat? It’s hot out.” Seunghyun pulled his scull cap off to reveal half of his head shaved, the other half an unruly, short, shag of brown hair.

            “Jiyong…” Seunghyun pressed his lips together, a small smile forming on his face as he held his tongue.

            “It’s the style, right now.” Jiyong defended his hair, snatching back his skullcap and stuffing it in his pocket.

            “I’m sure.” Seunghyun knew it wasn’t a lie. If Jiyong wore it, it became fashionable the next day. That didn’t mean he couldn’t laugh at it himself. It looked ridiculous.

            “You should be on time! That’s really what we should be talking about,” Jiyong said self consciously running a hand through his hair before shoving his hands in his jeans’ pockets.

            “I will try harder next time,” Seunghyun said, a sarcastic tone in his voice that Jiyong didn’t exactly pick up on.

            “You could just enroll. That would be easier. We would actually spend time together.”

            “I don’t want to.” Seunghyun said looking to the ground.

            “You can’t work as a delivery boy all your life,” Jiyong walked ahead of Seunghyun, his strides small and even.

            “I’m not a delivery boy. I’m an assistant.” Seunghyun pouted as he spoke, his hand gently tugging on his leather jacket’s sleeve nervously.

            “You’re a food caddy.”

            “I’m an assistant. I assist.”

            “Even in that job, you’ll need a degree to go farther,” Jiyong chastised his elder.

            “Jiyong. Leave me alone.” Seunghyun said. He’d lucked up into an apprenticeship at a printing press and small magazine company out of high school. He liked his job. He liked his boss, Teddy, who seemed too apathetic to complain much as long as the magazine printed on time. He liked not wearing business clothes to work and being able to leave early when his demanding boyfriend called for him to walk him to school, walk him home from school, pick up Japanese food, or take him to some obscure social event he didn’t want to go to, which usually led to pretending to be just friends or pretending to like sports. He liked his small place in the basement of an even smaller Chinese restaurant that his said job provided for.  All in all, his life could stay the same forever and he’d be content with that because well, he liked it. It was an easy existence and left him enough time to sit and wonder why seahorses are associated with the sun or write poetry about people with half of their heads shaved.

            “You should look forward. Care about your future,” Jiyong said turning around to face Seunghyun and stepping backwards slowly.

            “You should watch where you’re going,” Seunghyun said, a familiar youth ahead of them, distracted by organizing some kind of lunch in a meal container fashioned into a cartoon panda.

            “Huh?” Jiyong replied before bumping into Seungri, kimbap flying everywhere.

            “Aish! WATCH WHERE YOU”RE GOING!” Seungri yelled before looking up. His voice was thin as if on the verge of tears.

            “Yah, watch who you’re talking to! You’re so disrespectful,” Jiyong said looking down at the younger boy whose face was not visible as the boy examined the container, scourging the last of his lunch, which was only a small percentage, the rest of it spread out over the ground.

            “It’s all ruined,” Seungri whined.

            “Seungri,” Seunghyun spoke as he stepped forward, holding his hand out, offering to help him up. Seungri looked up to see his sunbaes in front of him, his face expressing genuine shock. “S-S-Seunghyun hyung,” he stuttered, grabbing Seunghyun’s hand and getting to his feet.

            “Don’t you have something to do like homework or studying?” Jiyong asked sternly after looking to Seunghyun’s face, observing how amused and happy his boyfriend was at seeing someone else.

            “I did my homework,” Seungri snapped at Jiyong before turning his attention back to his beloved hyung, “I’m actually going to see Youngbae.”

            “He doesn’t have class today,” Jiyong said casually.

            “Minji just saw him,” Seungri said, frowning as he looked to Jiyong.

            “Oh…Did she?” Jiyong said mischievously, side glancing towards Seunghyun, “Sounds like you have some competition, Lee Seungri.”

            “Stop it,” Seunghyun grumbled. “He’s probably just studying. Check the library,” he said, comforting his dongsaeng and ruffling his hair with his hand.

            “Well, we’re going home so-“ Jiyong sighed, upset his companion wouldn’t play along with his cat and mouse games.

            “Oh. Yeah, alright,” Seungri said, “I’ll see you guys.”

            The couple nodded goodbyes and walked forward before Jiyong stopped, “Don’t you have Youngbae’s schedule?”

            “No. Why would I have that?” Seungri said frowning.

            “I don’t know. It’s weird that you don’t. I gave Seunghyun mine right away. That’s just what people do. I mean, Minji probably has Youngbae’s schedule. He gives it to her every year.” Jiyong said before looking away, planting seeds of doubt in Seungri’s mind intentionally.

            “Come on!” Seunghyun exclaimed, causing Jiyong to have a small start before turning around and following his boyfriend who led him off campus quickly before he could start more trouble.

            “Why do you do that to him all the time?” Seunghyun asked, disgusted.

            “Why do you do what you do all the time?” Jiyong retorted.

            “What are you talking about?”

            “Oh Seungri. Let me help you up. Let me talk to you. Let me call you and help you with your homework,” Jiyong hopped forward with every exclamation, an action meant to emphasize the false cuteness in all their interactions but instead it just confused Seunghyun.

            “Why am I hopping while I do it?” Seunghyun’s face said, confusion plastered in his knitted eyebrows and wide-open eyes.

            “I-I don’t know,“ Jiyong stammered before beginning to laugh. Of course that would be his boyfriend’s main observation. Before being angry with his jealous boyfriend or arguing back, only Seunghyun would want to address the hopping first. He walked up to Seunghyun, hugging him on the empty street.

            “Stop causing trouble, Kwon Jiyong.” Seunghyun said smiling. He couldn’t stay annoyed with Jiyong for long, he kissed the smaller man’s forehead as he felt slim arms wrap around him.

            “Arasseo. I will.” Jiyong said softly, resolving to be better. Seunghyun was one of a kind. He wouldn’t find anyone like him again. He should act like it more often. He laid his head against his chest, knowing there was nowhere he’d rather be.