The water kept pouring, mimicking the sound of the rain hitting cemented roads. He turned the knob and the last drops of warm water fell on his forehead, trickling down his cheek, to the side of his neck and eventually finding its way down to the hip.

He grabbed a white, scrubby-looking towel and began to rub his body thoroughly, starting from his hair down. Stepping out of the shower, he snatched a pair of shorts, an underwear and a rather plain green shirt. The bathroom mirror witnessed how he removed the towel and put on the clothes. As soon as he was fully clothed, the lad turned to face the mirror, unceremoniously drying the wet brownish hair. He did not bother to comb it. In fact, he liked how briskly rubbing his soaked hair with a towel always added a messy yet manly accent to his look. Sunggyu carefully opened the bathroom door and walked to his bed only to find another boy sleeping on it.

“Yah, hyung,”  The Namstar called playfully, his eyes on the screen of his mobile phone. Wait, didn’t Woohyun’s phone had a  green casing? “So you did get my message last night! Why didn’t you reply me?”

Sunggyu dropped the towel onto the shiny tiled floor instantly, jumping at Woohyun in what looked like an attempt to snatch his dear phone from his mischievous roommate. He just needed to get it back before the other young man try something funny on his personal gadget. Sunggyu screamed, hurling threats and warnings to the younger lad.

“No,”  the younger boy chuckled as he effortlessly ducked his hyung’s desperate attacks. Stretching his arm playfully, he held the phone high up in the air to keep it out of the older guy’s reach. “Not until you explain what occupied you so much last night you had no time to text me back.”

Frustrated, the leader hyung looked around, his eyes eventually finding a green-cased phone laying around on his dongsaeng’s bed. Promptly, he slid on the bed, his right hand stealthily grab the other. Sunggyu looked back at the other lad. He expected the other boy to take him more seriously now that he got an equivalent good to offer a barter with his personal precious phone. Much to his dismay, his victorious stare was met with the same playful, greasy grin still plastered on the other youth’s face. The small-eyed guy stood. As if a policeman holding a newly-caught criminal in custody, he overtly made a gesture to give Woohyun a better view of what he just got.

Still, it was not enough to make Nam Woohyun’s childish smile go away.

 “Nam Woohyun, give it back to me,” Sunggyu could not help but finally made a direct proclamation. Like a king offering a peace treaty to a sultan of a neighbouring state, he extended an empty hand. “And no phone shall get harmed.”

“How are you,” the younger boy obviously could not contain his laughter any longer. “Going to do any harm to it, hyung?”

Annoyed, the hamster-faced young man started unlocking it. Evidently Woohyun had never set any security password whatsoever on his, much to his relief. The younger guy’s phone shone bright the second it was unlocked. His thumb swiftly glided over the touchscreen from one corner to another, lightly pressing a tiny, rectangular image of a mailbox. Triumphantly, he showed the current page, ready to click on the inbox option. Seeing his roommate still not deterred and instead happily continuing to help himself to the messages pissed Sunggyu to no end.

“Nam Woohyu—”

“Oh, be my guest.”

“Oi seriously.”

“Just go ahead,” Woohyun giggled, utterly undeterred. “Seriously.”

“Woohyun, I just want my phone back.”

“Then, nope.”

That was it. Sunggyu finally hit, almost violently, the inbox of the phone in his grip. He swiftly began to scroll down the list of messages, looking closely for something he could make fun of in order to get his phone back. He continued looking hard, only to find that the only messages in the Namstar’s phone was from him. “What on earth. Yah Nam Woohyun! That’s not fair. You deleted your messages!”

“Eh not true. I just love to keep yours.”

“What is this? Oh my God, weren’t these messages that I sent ages ago?”

Sunggyu continued frantically searching for a message in phone that was not from himself. He even checked the sent items. Not much differently, it practically a compilation of messages that Woohyun had sent to him, him and him alone. The leader hyung put the mobile phone away, climbing into his bed in resignation.

At this, the called guy could not help but burst out cackling in triumph, clearly amused beyond what he had previously expected. He approached his hyung who, by then, was rather emotionally devastated and is laying on his bed with his back against Woohyun. He hopped carefully into Sunggyu’s bed and soon started shaking him flippantly. “ Yah, hyung, don’t be mad!”

Sunggyu showed no sign of intending to reply. Woohyun chuckled but stop his skittish shaking. Cautiously, he put the older guy’s phone in front of Sunggyu’s face. Sunggyu remained motionless. He irritatedly shrugged off  his dongsaeng’s jocose pleading and shoulder-tapping. Woohyun stopped chuckling but still sporting his cheeky smirk. Then he lay close to the leader’s back, slowly wrapping his well-sculpted arms just a bit over firm collarbones and taking in the warmth of the other man’s body.

“Yah I was only joking,” he started talking softly. He was sure Sunggyu would not mind himself loosely back-hugging him and whispering warm words to his ears. His certainty was confirmed as he felt the slightly chubby youth trembled a little. He chuckled, inwardly this time for, although he was really entertained by Sunggyu’s obvious inability to resist him, he did not want to destroy the perfect mood. He just could not help but continue. “Hyung, I was only worried that you were with someone else last night. I kept waiting for you here, you know.”

“Babo,” Bingo. He started talking again. It was never that hard for the greasy man to get his hyung talking even after bullying the hell out of him. There was still a hint of grave bitterness in the leader’s voice though. “I was only fetching Myungsoo from the airport with manager hyung, ok? He just returned from Japan this morning, remember? His flight was a midnight flight.”

“Oh, that’s right. I think I saw Myungsoo’s messages too. Sorry, I guess I was just too worried because it was really late and you were not even in the dorm,” Woohyun said affectionately, pulling Sunggyu into a tighter hug. “But still you could have answered me right? I was waiting until very late and I was barely able to keep my eyes open.”

Sunggyu fell quiet. The leader made a mental note to reply texts from Woohyun no matter what next time. Yes, no matter what. Uncomfortable with the awkward silence, the younger lad proceeded.

“But, hyung, you really weren’t with anyone else other than Myungsoo and manager hyung right? If you met another guy, you’re going to die.” Woohyun jokingly threatened.

He hesitated but then answered firmly although still not facing his mischievous roommate. “Babo. Why would I see someone else and risk being murdered when I have you?”

The Namstar giggled. He playfully rubbed his face against the back of the small-eyed guy’s neck.

Sunggyu dreaded the fact that he felt so powerless against this one particular dongsaeng of his. But then he would also be lying if he said that the urchin being clingy to him like that make him feel uncomfortable.

 “Oh, another thing, hyung,” Woohyun took a pause. A dangerously suggestive pause. “Why were you taking so long in the shower, by the way? That’s so unlike you. You didn’t think of me while doing something else there, right?”