Even though I had convinced Himchan that I hadn't been cheating he suddenly started having doubts again. I'm not sure how it happened. From one day to the other there was a notable change in his attitude and when I asked him about it, he told me the truth (because we had agreed to never lie to each other ever again). At first I was angry at him for still thinking I would cheat on him. Then I decided that I would introduce him to Junhong.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I had told Himchan to come to my school around noon so all three of us could have lunch together.

"Relax," I said, shooting him a smile. "It's going to be fine." I wasn't sure why he was so nervous, but for some reason he was. It was as if he was concerned about what the kid would think of him, which was absolutely ridiculous, but I realized that that could be the case. Himchan was the type of person who often worried about other people's opinions. "He's a really nice boy." He didn't say anything, he just followed me to the classroom where I had told Junhong to meet me. The boy lit up the moment the door opened and his expression turned from smiling to confused to recognition the moment he saw Himchan behind me. "I brought a friend to eat with us today," I explained, gesturing towards the other male. "I hope you don't mind."

"It's okay," Junhong mumbled, looking sheepishly down at his hands. He was usually shy. It had taken a while for me to get him to open up to me. "If he's hyung's friend it's okay." I smiled as I entered the room and I placed the plastic bags filled with food on the teacher's desk where the younger was sitting and ruffled up his hair on the way before pulling two chairs up so we could sit.

"Himchan, this is Junhong." I gestured from one person to the other. "Junhong, this is Himchan."

"Nice to meet you, Junhong-ah," the older said as he waved his hand in greeting.

"You too." The boy responded with a bow of his head and a careful smile. "Y-you're the pretty hyung from that picture, aren't you?" he asked after a few moments, hesitantly as if he wasn't sure if that was okay to ask. My face fell.

Himchan cocked a brow at me. "What picture?"

"The one Yonggukkie-hyung has on his desk."

"You have a picture of me on your desk? Let me see it." I thought about declining, but there was something in his eyes, a determined look, that told me he wouldn't take no for an answer. I reached down to pull my bag into my lap and searched through it for a while before finding the picture frame that I kept in there. I handed it to Himchan, both anticipating and fearing what he would have to say about it. His eyes widened when he realized which picture it was and he stared at it for a while.

Surprisingly, though, he just handed it back to me without saying anything other than a small hum and then he engaged in conversation with the younger boy, who tried to answer the other's questions to the best of his ability. I wasn't sure if I should be happy about Himchan's lack of reaction or worried.

Himchan had taken me up on my offer to take him home after we had had lunch together, but he was uncharacteristically quiet for the entire drive. Fortunately I knew him well enough to know why he was so quiet. "You're upset," I said after a while.

He sighed. "I'm not upset."

"You're upset," I repeated, unconvinced. "Why are you upset? Does it have something to do with Junhong? I thought you two hit it off." He didn't answer, he just stared out the window with a pout. I sighed. "Chan-ah..."

"Why do you still have that picture?"

The hostility of his tone made me wince. Then it hit me. "You're upset because of the picture?"

"Yes, I'm upset because of the picture." He exhaled harshly. "I cannot believe that you kept that even after I specifically told you to get rid of it. How many people have seen that picture, Bang Yongguk? How many people have seen me looking so hideous?" I mumbled a hesitant apology, but he just threw his hands in the air with a sound of exasperation before crossing his arms. I felt bad about it now. I didn't think he would react so strongly. For a long time we were both quiet. I didn't know what to say. Then Himchan sighed again. "I demand that we take a new one," he said.

"Fine." We had made it to his parents' house at the same moment and I parked the car by the side of the road. I reached into the backseat and pulled out the Polaroid camera. I wasn't sure why or when I had left it there, but now I was happy that I had. I aimed it at him. "Do a pose or whatever." He looked hesitant at first, eyebrows creasing. Then he snatched the camera from my hand and leaned towards me, holding the device out with his arm outstretched.

"Come closer," he halfway demanded, but I complied and scooted over a bit, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. At first he tensed up when I touched him. I chose to ignore that and smiled up at the camera and I felt him shift around in his seat to pose better. He pressed the shutter button and moments later the picture was ejected. We stayed in the same position - Himchan pressed against my side with my arm slung around him - as we waited for the picture to develop. "Much better," he commented once the image appeared on the blank paper. "I actually look pretty in this one."

"You always look pretty, though," I said without even missing a beat. It wasn't until he turned his head to look at me that I realized exactly how close we were. His lips nearly brushed against my cheek. He recoiled and when I moved my arm, he scrambled backwards towards the door in his side of the vehicle to get away from me. The air was suddenly awkward. He wasn't looking at me. I cleared my throat. "Himchan, I-"

"I'll talk to you later," he quickly mumbled and fled the car before I could give him any type of response.

*****

A/N: himchan met junhong and it went well. this is a good thing, right?
banghim took a new picture. and they got a bit touchy with each other.
and that's about it for this chapter. a little bit of progress, but not a lot.
I don't know what to say.

there will be more of this on friday, bye~