“YAH!” I cried as Jinyoung flicked water in my face. I was washing the dishes while he dried them off. I let go of the plate I was washing, and reached towards his face with soapy hands. “You asking for it?”

   He leaned away, walking backwards as I went forward menacingly. He stopped when he hit his head against the cupboard, and I burst out laughing. “That was your fault!” he cried.

   “I’ll take care of the dishes, you want to shower first?” I asked as I turned back to the dishes.

   “This is so embarrassing,” he muttered, drying off the stack of plates before him. “Showering at a girl’s house.”

   “Well I’m not letting you come anywhere near me if you stink!”

   “So I smell bad now? Wow, you little!” He shoved my shoulder with his, pushing me away until he was in front of the sink. “No pun intended, you really are little,” he snickered as he started to wash the dishes.

   “Hey, I’ll do that, you’re the guest…”

    “Which is why I should be the one doing it! Instead of showering, can I just wash my hands?” Jinyoung joked.

   “What did you just say?!” came a voice from the kitchen doorway. Jinyoung and I turned around to see my mom holding a towel. “That’s filthy! Is that what you men do nowadays?”

   “Mom! He was kidding,” I laughed.

   “You are showering right now! Leave the dishes, I’ll do them.” She shoved the towel into Jinyoung’s arms and he bowed embarrassedly.

   “Thank you very much ma’am,” he said politely, as I took the towel to hold it for him.

   “Aw you, JUST CALL ME MOM!” she thundered, slapping him on the back.

   I burst out laughing at how uncomfortable and shocked Jinyoung seemed.

   My mom continued happily, “The towel’s new, make yourself comfy here!” She proceeded to finish off washing the dishes.

   “Let’s go, go,” I smiled, pushing him slightly to exit the kitchen.

   “I really don’t think I should shower here,” he started, but never got to finish.

   “JUST GO SHOWER!” my mom yelled, waving her hand and flicking water everywhere.

   “YES MAAM – UH, MISS. I MEAN – MOM,” stuttered Jinyoung before dashing out of the kitchen.

   “Sorry, but you – are the most – awkward – person – ever,” I said between giggles, leading him down the hallway.

   “I don’t know how I’m supposed to act with your mom!” he said defensively.

   Shaking my head, I opened the door to my bedroom and led him in. “It’s a bit small, but bear with me!”

   Walking in, he examined the contents. “Wow, a girl’s room…is really different,” he said, looking at the table with all my moisturizers, accessories and painted lavender walls. “Why do you have a double bed?”

   I looked over at my own bed with all my pillows and a couple of toys on it. “I like my space, okay?” I said, clutching one of the stuffed animals to myself.

   “You still sleep with your animals?” he snickered.

   “They PROTECT me at night!” I exclaimed to his amusement.

   He picked up one of the toys and held it out, hiding his face behind it. “Is baby _________ that afraid of the dark?” he mocked in a high voice.

   “YAH!” I laughed. “Go shower!” I whipped the towel at him, which he caught easily. “Bathroom’s across the hall.”

   As Jinyoung showered, I tied my hair up in a bun so that it wouldn’t get wet when I showered later, then opened my laptop and surfed mindlessly, lying on my stomach on the bed. Before I knew it, the door to my bedroom opened again, and Jinyoung’s voice rang out, “I’m done ~”

   “Kay, I’ll go next ~” I said in a sing song voice, still focused on my laptop. I flipped around and immediately froze.

   Jinyoung was standing in the corner of my room, bending over with his back to me, towel-drying his wet hair.

   And he was topless. His tee shirt lay on the floor beside him, but I barely noticed it. Just like that one time, back in his room, I found myself captivated by his body. His lean, lean muscles…the way his waist curved…

   I quickly looked away, blushing furiously as he straightened up. He turned just his head in my direction, “Could I use your laptop while you shower? I’ll message my friends…”

   His hair was a complete mess, but he just looked even cuter. Oh God, I thought. Get out of here, now!

   I grabbed my towel and rushed out of the door at lightning speed with a rushed yeah-sure-do-whatever-you-want-be-right-back.

   I slammed the door of the washroom, leaning against it. Wasn’t he embarrassed at all? Or maybe he was just used to living around his guy friends at his apartment? Was he not aware that I was the opposite at all?

   I swallowed, calming down, before stepping into the shower and letting the warm water wash away all my thoughts.

---

   Jinyoung was sitting on your chair when you came out of the bathroom, steam trailing behind you.

   “Annyeong,” he said, trying not to stare at your tank top and cute, red pajama pants.

   You grinned, stole the laptop from his lap and twirled away to lie stomach-down on your bed again.

   “I guess we’re never baking again,” you said. When you got no reply, you looked over at him, confused. “You can sit on the bed – we are friends, aren’t we?”

   If only we could be something more, the thought popped into Jinyoung’s head, but he swatted it away.

   He was hesitant, but within moments he got up and plopped down on his stomach beside you, taking care to leave some space between the two of you.

   Jinyoung regretted it immediately – you smelled so good. Even though you had used the same body wash, you had this extra delicate scent that belonged only to you. It drove him even crazier when you absentmindedly tugged on your hair tie, letting your hair down and sending another wave of your scent around him.

   He took out his phone, pretending to be playing around with it, while secretly peeking over at you. Your bare shoulders and neck looked so smooth – he wondered how your skin would feel against his hand…against his lips…

   Stop it, Jinyoung!

   He let out a sigh, trying to wash his thoughts away before they took a turn for the worse. He didn’t want to even think about what would happen if he got an accidental . Why was I born a male?

   He jumped a little when the door shot open, slamming against the wall.

   “OHOHO! Am I interrupting something here?” Your mom laughed goodheartedly. “I brought the sleeping bag!” She strutted over and dropped the light blue ‘sleeping bag’ on the floor. “I’m sorry it’s really just a huge blanket,” she said apologetically at Jinyoung, “But you didn’t think I’d let you sleep in the same bed as my baby, didja?!”

   “N-no, definitely not!” Jinyoung cried. He wouldn’t be able to sleep if he was beside you. “Thank you very much,” he said sincerely.

   “I didn’t think it was possible to be too much of a gentleman,” your mom pretended to whisper to you, “But looks like you found one!”

   You giggled before shooing her away, “Okay, okay mom!”

   She waddled out of the room laughing and shouting good nights while Jinyoung arranged the  blanket so that he could lay on it while also using it to cover his body.

   It was approaching 12am, and you had school tomorrow. “Should we go to bed?”

   The two of you blushed, both realizing at the same time how that sentence could be interpreted differently.

   “I meant sleep,”

   “You mean sleep, right?”

   The two of you said at the same time and then nodded at the same time before breaking into laughter.

   “Yeah sure, don’t look, okay?” Jinyoung said before pulling the blankets over his head.

   You obediently looked away, but asked confusedly, “What’re you doing?”

   There was only a grunt in reply before you heard the sound of something being thrown onto the floor.

   Looking over, you saw Jinyoung’s belt beside his blanket on the floor. As you watched, your eyes widened as his jeans flew out from under the blanket also. Jinyoung’s head popped up, his hair a complete mess from moving around under the covers.

   “WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?” you cried, shocked.

   “W-what?!” He said. He was so used to being in an all guys’ dorm that he momentarily forgot that girls slept with their pants on. Realizing, he laughed and defensively said, “I’m sorry! I can’t sleep in jeans, okay? I swear I have something under!”

   “Your boxers barely count as something!” you looked away, “I’m traumatized for life!”

   “I’ll keep the blankets on, I promise, okay?” He said. He could barely keep a straight face at how adorable and innocent you were.

   Slowly, you turned your head back, giving him a fake scowl.

   Jinyoung stuck out his tongue, saying, “Mehrong,” making you giggle instead.

   Suddenly, the familiar bleep of a text message came from your phone. “Could you hand me my phone?” you asked Jinyoung, turning back to the computer.

   He reached up onto the bedside table above him (carefully making sure that the blanket covered at least his bottom half) and picked up your phone. He was going to hand it over to you before seeing the lit up screen which read: Text message from: Myungsoo

   Sneaky curiosity overcame him as he clicked ‘Open’ and read the text message aloud.

   Myungsoo: Let’s go out to eat tomorrow after school.

   Jinyoung’s eyes widened. Why did Myungsoo text you so late at night? Did you two always do this? Feeling a strange uncomfortable feeling in his chest, he rapidly fired back a text before you turned back to him.

   The text that he sent back from your phone said:

   Where did you want to go?

   At that moment, you turned, suspicious after hearing buttons being clicked. “What’re you doing with my phone? Are you texting?”

   “Ah, sorry, my phone’s out of battery so I used yours to text my friend earlier,” Jinyoung smoothly lied, “Just replying to him now.”

   “Oh, okay,” you shrugged.

   So easily deceived, Jinyoung thought, before Myungsoo sent a text message back.

   Myungsoo: I was thinking we could go to the mall?

   Jinyoung scoffed in his head. The mall? The two of you had just gone today. He wondered if you would go – probably. A devious idea slipped itself into Jinyoung’s head, however, and he began his evil plan with one single text.

   Sounds great, we’ll be there.

   Myungsoo: We?

   Ah, I didn’t tell you? I’m with Jinyoung right now.

   Myungsoo: WHAT? IT’S 12AM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM?

   He’s sleeping over. We’ll see you tomorrow at 5. Good night!

  Jinyoung chuckled devilishly at how raged Myungsoo must’ve been at the moment. Curious, you leaned over the edge of your bed and with a swift motion, snatched your phone away from him.

   “What’s so funny?” You smiled, looking through the most recent text messages. “HEY! W-WHAT!” You were speechless as you read through the last messages that “you” had apparently send Myungsoo.

   “YOU WERE TEXTING MYUNGSOO?” you yelled, a little too loud for the time of night. Half of you was amused while the other half wanted to strangle Jinyoung.

   “What did you think you were doing?!” You laughed while scolding him, reaching down and hitting his blanket repeatedly. He chuckled along with you, glad that you weren’t angry at his actions.

   He grabbed your wrist and you lost your balance on the bed, sliding off and falling over on top of his blanket.

   You landed on top of his body, lying across his stomach. Surprised, you looked at him before bursting into giggles again.

   Jinyoung, on the other hand, widened his eyes at how close you were – he could so easily reach out and tuck your hair behind your ear.

   “I’m going to tell him what happened!”you said, moving back up onto the bed.

   “Nah, don’t! Can’t I tag along tomorrow?” Jinyoung pouted. In reality, he just didn’t like the thought of you and Myungsoo alone together.

   You weakened at his aegyo and jokingly said, “Aw, do you have no other friends?”

   “No, you’re my only one!”

   “Then I guess you can, since you’re so pitiful,” you laughed. “Let’s go to sleep,” you said, closing your laptop and cuddling under your own blanket.

   Jinyoung readjusted his ‘sleeping bag’ and exchanged good nights with you. You flipped the lights off and tried to sleep.

   The two of you both seemed very relaxed, but on the inside, things were quite different.

   It was the first time that you two had spent a night alone together with one single person of the opposite , and even though you guys were arguably good friends, you were both strangely aware of the other.

   The two of you tossed and turned for a couple of minutes before you spoke up in the darkness, surprising Jinyoung.

   “Jinyoungie,” you whispered carefully, “Are you awake?”

   He couldn’t help smiling into the darkness at your nickname for him. “Who falls asleep that fast?” he replied.

   “Let’s talk, I’m not tired yet.”

   “Sure, about what?”

   “Hmm…what do you work as?” You asked the first question that popped into your mind.

   “Promise not to laugh?” he said cautiously.

   “Why, is it funny?”

   “No, it’s embarrassing. I’m a host.”

   “A host?”

   “Kind of like a waiter, except I hang out with clients.”

   “Wow, you must be quite the charmer!”

   “Do I charm you?” Jinyoung questioned curiously.

   There was a beat of silence before you steadily replied, “Of course not – takes a lot to charm me.”

   “Have you ever had a job?” He asked you this time.

   The two of you continued on like this for at least another half hour, chatting as it got later into the night. Eventually, the pauses between your responses became longer, and soon afterwards, you stopped replying at all.

   “_______?” Jinyoung said softly when you stopped talking.

   He sat up, looking for your figure in the dark. You were turned towards him, your arms under your head and looking completely at peace.

   A warm something melted through Jinyoung’s entire body, and he settled back into his sleeping bag.

   That night, the two of you slept quite peacefully.