JiYong offered to clean up after the lunch, and SeungRi agreed to that. He left the kitchen while JiYong started to clean up. When he was wiping off the table with a wet rag, SeungRi came back into the kitchen. Softly he put his arms around JiYong from behind. JiYong froze to his spot and quickly moved out of the younger’s arms.

“What are you doing?” JiYong quickly asked in disbelief. SeungRi shrugged.

“I just wanted to give you a hug?” SeungRi pouted and looked innocent. JiYong threw the wet rag in his face and turned around. SeungRi quickly removed the wet thing from his shoulder that it had placed itself at after hitting his face.

“Don’t hug me like that. It’s creepy.” JiYong said before disappearing from the kitchen. SeungRi sighed annoyed. This was going to be so much more difficult than he had expected. But what did he expect? That JiYong would fall into his arms with the first cute smile he sent him? Then he would be in love with him by now, after the years that they had known each other. He threw the wet thing to the sink and sat down on JiYong’s chair. Somehow he needed to find a way to JiYong’s heart… Maybe he should call one of his latest girlfriends? That would be so funny, but also weird if he needed to tell her that he tried to hit on him… Okay another plan. What he knew from JiYong’s choice of girls, he liked them to be cute and beautiful. Well, he couldn’t have the attractive feature as a girl, but he was a rather handsome guy to say so himself. And he was cute!! All V.I.P’s thought so, and JiYong needed to think that too. But how could he get him to be crazy in love with him? He smirked a little and got up from the chair. First checking the living room, before going to his room. He softly knocked on the door.

“Enter.” JiYong answered from the other side. SeungRi slowly opened the door and peeked in. JiYong was lying on his stomach on the bed with a book in his hand and a fist under his chin to read.

“What do you want?” JiYong asked, not really caring, and didn’t even look at him. SeungRi sighed deeply and entered, closing the door behind him. He approached the bed and sat down on the edge, rather close to JiYong, but sitting closest to his legs. Gaho looked interested at him, hoping for a little pat, but it didn’t get that.

“Hey, I didn’t want to scare you before. Why are you so afraid of me suddenly? Am I only worth hugging when there’s a camera nearby?” SeungRi slowly asked, sounding very hurt. JiYong sighed loudly.

“I’m not afraid of you. You just got too close. And with the camera thing, it’s just fan service. You know that.” JiYong just answered, still with a not really caring voice. SeungRi softly put a hand on JiYong’s back, close to the shoulder blade. JiYong flinched and pulled away.

“Clearly you’re not afraid of me. That’s why you pull away every time I’m touching you and walking away before we get in a radius of one meter.” SeungRi said, still sounding hurt and he let out a deep breath. JiYong looked at him from his new place on the bed, actually about a meter from him.

“I just don’t want to get you too close after all this have happened.” JiYong just answered. SeungRi looked at him with sad eyes.

“But it was like this before. When we haven’t had the war. You are constantly avoiding me when we aren’t near other people and camera’s.” SeungRi said while looking straight into his eyes with pain. JiYong sighed deeply while sitting up.

“Are you going to cry again? Because I don’t want to see that. I’m not avoiding you, I’m just keeping distance. Did you imagine that I would hug you all day long and play small games with you when you wanted to, when you moved in with me?” JiYong asked and looked at him with a frown. SeungRi shook his head.

“No, I didn’t expect that. But I didn’t expect that you would keep such a big distance to me. And when we are out as a band, you are somehow always making fun.” SeungRi muttered, looking down into the bed. JiYong rolled his eyes, almost aware that he was crying. Annoying Maknae…

“Right… So what do you want? A hug in the morning when you wake me up and a hug when you leave for bed?” JiYong asked sarcastically. SeungRi breathed out hard. He slowly shook his head. It was lucky that he had his head bend down, so he couldn’t see the small smile that spread on his lips. This was getting really funny.

“No… But I want you not to run away every time I’m near you.” SeungRi mumbled. If he got him to do that, it would be so much easier to get closer to him. It would be pretty hard if he couldn’t be near him, to make him fall for him. JiYong sighed heavily.

“Fine…” He surrendered with an annoyed expression. SeungRi threw a victory in his head.

“But then keep a little distance!” JiYong quickly said to make sure that he wasn’t going to hold his hand every second of the day. SeungRi nodded with a bright and cute smile to him, before he threw himself at him, hugging him tightly. JiYong was struggling a little to get him off, but once again surrendered and let him hug him.

“Thanks Hyung.” SeungRi softly said almost directly to his ear, because he was so close. He lifted his head, causing their faces to only be inches apart. JiYong had big wide eyes by the sudden closeness.

“Get. Off. Me.” JiYong whispered, letting him hear every single spelling of the words through clenched teeth. SeungRi quickly got off him, laughing a little in his head. JiYong sat up and brushed his clothes to be decent again.

“That was indeed a very little distance. Then let’s say a great big distance.” JiYong said, not annoyed, more shocked than anything else. SeungRi laughed a little, this time for real.

“Sorry Hyung.” SeungRi said with a cute smile. JiYong just nodded, looking like his own self again.

“It’s okay. Leave. I want to finish the book.” JiYong answered him with a careless voice. SeungRi quickly got up.

“I will see you later then.” He softly said and JiYong nodded. SeungRi bowed before he left the room. JiYong fell down on his back on the bed. Gaho had left the bed when the two of them had started struggling around, and instead taken a seat on the floor. JiYong sighed deeply and covered his face with his hands. SeungRi’s head was still right in front of him when he closed his eyes. What was it going to take to get his face away again? He opened his eyes again and removed his hands. Right after he got up and went for a shower – absolutely no success.

***

YoungBae was slowly pushed outside again with his mother behind him. How in the world was he going to talk to a girl, that he was introduced to be his future wife, for less than 10 minutes ago? What does a person say to a girl after such news? Even though he had refused, and would still refuse no matter what, he wasn’t sure of what he should talk to her about. Then his mother stopped pushing him and walked to her husband. YoungBae looked at them, seeing her shake her head and his father sending him a quick glance, before saying something to his mother. He rolled his eyes, and knew that she had told his father about his “fantastic” refuse of getting engaged. The girl started looking interested at him again. She was sitting a little away from the rest of the guests, on a bench with her legs tilted to the one side in a womanly manor. He sent her a small and nervous smile, earning back a sweet smile from her. Well, now he guessed he had his “shot” of talking to her. They both had each other’s attention, and it seemed best this way. Couldn’t he just quickly turn all of this into a scene of a music video? That would make this so much easier. Oh what he didn’t want to give for being at home with DaeSung and SeungHyun right now. SeungRi and JiYong were welcome too, even if they tore the place apart!

“Safe me…” YoungBae softly mumbled to himself, without moving his lips too much. The girl was still looking at him after all. He slowly moved towards her, feeling more and more nervous with every step he took getting closer. *Safe me, safe me, safe me* He kept thinking. Begging for someone to talk to him, getting him out of the upcoming embarrassing situation.

“Hi.” The girl said with a soft and sweet voice, when he was close enough. He sent her a small smile, trying not to show his feelings of being uncomfortable.

“Hello.” He answered her, a little more polite than she had been. She was still smiling sweetly at him. Did she even know about their parents awful plans? Probably not… If his mother could force him to do the marriage, she would probably force him to propose too. In her dreams…! What was her name again? Oh … He had forgotten! Triple up on embarrassment.

“Come sit down.” The girl suggested and patted on the bench beside her. He shot the bench a doubting look, like it would break if he sat down on it. The bench would likely still be in good shape when he sat on it, but his mind would leave a crack. He got closer and sat down, a little more away from her than she had suggested, but he couldn’t sit next to her already.

“I watched one of your videos the other day. A friend of mine showed it to me.” The girl said, obviously trying to impress him or something like that. Not really working. He was still trying desperately to remember her name. It was something with Ri at the end. He only remembered it because he could memorize it combining to SeungRi. And the family name was Choi. But what was the first?

“Okay.” He just answered, what did she expect him to say?  - “Wow!! You did? Did you think it was good?” – Not likely. She didn’t seem offended by his blank answer, but kept smiling sweetly.

“You’re a good dancer.” She commented him. He hadn’t actually been looking at her at all since he sat down on the bench. More or less just on his hands. It was just by now he realized that. So he chose to look at her, not in her eyes, but more like on her cheek beneath the eyes. It would look like he looked her in the eyes, and he wouldn’t have the awkward feeling of doing so. Win-win for both of them, right?

“Thanks.” He just answered. Not sure if she purposely asked him questions that he couldn’t answer with more than one word, or she didn’t think about it, making him sound like an idiot for not answering with more words. She nodded a little, still smiling brightly like there was nothing wrong, even though she thought he was a little weird. YoungBae removed his eyes from her again, feeling like he was starring at her. Compared to her gaze on him, he had only been looking briefly.

“You have just done a solo album right?” She asked him. He would do everything to get away from here right now. Instead he managed to send her a smile and nod like a robot.

“Yes.” He answered, still unsure if she was doing this on purpose. She was still looking at him, like her eyes was resting on him and it gave him goose bumps feeling her gaze all over him. Fans looking at him without a shirt on, he didn’t care about, but her gaze was so intense, and there were no loud music to distract, or actually any other sound than the wind softly whispering in the leaves in the bushes behind them. His fingers were moving uncontrollably between his legs in nervousness.

“I haven’t heard most of the songs. Are they good?” She softly asked him, noticing that he was nervous by the way he answered and acted. Actually it was rather cute.

“Yeah, I guess.” He answered her slowly. Right now he wasn’t really sure of what to say. He couldn’t just say, “Yes of course they are, I made them”. Because that would make him sound like a really ego centered person, and he couldn’t be the judge on what she would think of his songs.

“So you aren’t sure if they are good, or you just don’t want to sound selfish?” She asked, still with her eyes on him. He shrugged and looked at her for a brief moment.

“The last part… Yeah.” YoungBae muttered with a little weird tone in his voice, not in a bad way, but because she could either see that it was what he felt, or just guessed very well. She sent him a warm smile.

“I thought people like you, celebrities, were really selfish all the time. Like… Nothing was better than their own stuff and something like that.” She said, looking away for the first time in a while. But only for a short time, while she checked that people weren’t watching them too much.

“Hmm… I’m not sure about that. Most people I know likes other’s material too.” He answered with a shrug. Noticing that he had spoken more than a few words, actually he had managed to do a sentence. She nodded understanding.

“I may have had the wrong impression then.” She said with a smile. He shook his head.

“No, some are rather selfish.” He answered her, looking at her shortly and back to his hands, that were now getting calmer as he started to relax a little.

 “Okay… Hey, I thought your real name was TaeYang, but is that actually YoungBae then?” She suddenly asked almost sounding enthusiastic. He smiled a little by her sudden “surprise”. Wow she was quick…

“Yeah. TaeYang is my stage name.” He answered her, slightly getting a wider smile, holding back a little laugh.

“Oh! That’s why I didn’t recognize it when my parents talked about the invitation from your parents.” She said, more to herself than to him. YoungBae laughed in his head.

“Then what do you listen to?” He asked after getting his head clear. She shrugged a little.

“Different stuff. I like English music most. Stuff from USA and so.” She answered him, getting her answer as a nod from him.

“What do you do daily?” He suddenly asked her, just figured that they had almost only talked about him. She thought a little about it, like she couldn’t decide.

“I’m a secretary fulltime, and a flouriest part time.”  She answered him. He looked surprised at her. Actually he had thought she was in college or studying something.

“At what firm are you secretary at?” He asked a little while after. She took in a deep breath, removing her gaze from him and looked out into the air, before she slowly breathed out, still smiling.

“I work at my father’s firm. It’s nothing special really, but it gives me a lot of options. For instance I can just go to the flower shop and work when I want, if there isn’t anything important I need to do.” She answered him, locking her eyes in his again. He almost immediately looked away.

“That sounds nice.” He answered her, not really sure what to answer her. They both looked up when they heard a voice call for him.

“Dong YoungBae!” A friendly voice called out, and a younger male, older than himself, but not old as most people here, came towards them. YoungBae lit up, his savior had just arrived. He got up and quickly excused himself to her, she just nodded and smiled sweetly back to him. He hurried to his brother that had his arms spread open to great him in a hug.

“Hyung!” YoungBae exclaimed gladly, giving him a manly hug and patting him on the shoulder when they parted.

“Thanks.” He softly muttered as they walked away. His brother laughed.

“I could see you needed a little help over there huh?” HyunBae . YoungBae shot him an agreeing glance.

“What’s Hyung’s for, if not saving their dongsaengs? Though it looked pretty funny from afar!” HyunBae laughed and YoungBae hit his shoulder with a slow fist.

“Next time, safe me faster… I think I succeeded in asking her two questions and answer hers like an idiot.” YoungBae sighed. His brother was still laughing. He softly patted his little brothers back.

“Have mom talked to you about her completely insane idea?” YoungBae asked with a sigh. HyunBae shook his head, sitting down on a chair that had been put there in purpose for the birthday party. YoungBae sat next to him.

“She has gone insane…” He softly muttered before telling his older brother what had happened.

***

DaeSung breathed in and out slowly and heavily. SeungHyun was still awake and watched some TV with the cute guy on top of him. Somehow he had fallen asleep while lying there, and had now been away for about two hours. SeungHyun didn’t mind it, even though he had had the thought of being boring enough to sleep from. When he had figured out that he was asleep he had turned the volume on the TV down, not to wake him up again. Not that he was going to complain, but he was actually rather heavy, considering that he was only muscles and asleep. Two things that just didn’t make it better. And now after about two hours, he hadn’t gotten any lighter. A few times SeungHyun had been about to fall asleep himself, but he refused to. If someone came and saw them, or that DaeSung woke up. He wasn’t really sure why he didn’t allow himself to sleep, in case that DaeSung would wake up, but that was one of his reasons why not to.

“Are… Are you dead?” DaeSung whispered softly into SeungHyun’s chest, it was so low that SeungHyun wasn’t really sure that he was awake. It scared him a bit what he had just said. A few deep breaths after, SeungHyun could feel him shiver. He looked confused at the brown hair, which was the only thing he could see close to him. Softly he caressed his back, getting him to relax a little.

“What’s happening…?” DaeSung whispered again, his voice sounding confused and afraid. SeungHyun chose to wake him up, he couldn’t stand listen to him having a bad dream like this. So he shook him a bit gently, when it didn’t work he shook him a little more.

“Wake up.” SeungHyun said and shook him again. DaeSung got up a bit from his chest with a start.

“SeungHyun…” He whispered out loud to himself, looking out into the air. SeungHyun softly pulled him down to him, but DaeSung flinched and pulled away.

“No! You are not real!” DaeSung exclaimed with a scared voice. SeungHyun looked at him with a confused expression.

“Dae… Calm down. I am real. I’m right here.” SeungHyun softly soothed him. DaeSung shook his head in disbelief. Was his ghost going to hunt his dreams too? He shivered again, feeling cold even though there was plenty of warmth in the room. SeungHyun placed his hands gently on DaeSung’s face, caressed him with both thumbs below his eyes. DaeSung locked his frightened eyes with SeungHyun’s that was soft and loving. He slowly started to calm down, realizing that this was the real person, and not a ghost. SeungHyun got him back down to lie on him, gently caressing his back while trying to calm him down. He could feel DaeSung’s heart beat frantically towards his stomach.

“When did I fall asleep?” DaeSung suddenly asked after a little while in silence, trying to get his mind right again.

“A couple of hours ago.” SeungHyun answered with a warm tone in his voice. He kissed the top of his hair, and gave him a little squeeze with his arms around him like a hug. DaeSung smiled a little with the hug.

“Sorry.” He muttered, now getting SeungHyun to smile.

“Don’t be. You must have needed some sleep. And it was cozy, even though you were sleeping.” He answered him, still with a little smile on his face. DaeSung smiled a little, listening to the calm beat of SeungHyun’s heart, as his ear was close to it. He closed his eyes, not wanting to sleep, but it was nice listening to the beat and slow breathes from him. Proving that he was still alive, and not a ghost. SeungHyun softly caressed his back again and smiled when he heard the well known deep breathe from DaeSung again. He wasn’t sure if there was something wrong with him, or he was just very comfortable. He hope for the last one, and convinced himself about that. At some point he fell asleep himself, he really didn’t want to, but the body obviously convinced his brain to do so.

None of them woke up when the front door opened and closed again.