Woohyun came out of the bathroom, feeling fresh and clean after taking a nice long hot shower that morning. He walked into the living room, and saw Dongwoo and some other guy Woohyun had never met before sitting beside him. They seemed to be involved in an intimate conversation, so Woohyun passed them by, and sat down at the kitchen table across from Sungyeol.

“Who’s that?” Woohyun asked the choding.

Sungyeol shrugged. “He’s also a rapper at Dongwoo hyung’s company. Apparently they’re collaborating on a track for Dongwoo’s new album.”

“Oh…” Woohyun nodded, and glanced back at the two huddled together on the couch, speaking in hushed tones. Woohyun gave Sungyeol a knowing look. “Dongwoo’s totally into him.”

“I know right?” Sungyeol grinned.

While the three were in high school, Dongwoo had come out of the closet to Sungyeol and Woohyun, who were nothing but accepting, as friends should be. They couldn’t really understand it, but it didn’t really make much difference to them. Dongwoo was still Dongwoo.

“He’s so obvious…” Woohyun chuckled. “That idiot.”

“Speaking of idiots…” Sungyeol took a sip of his coffee. “You know that new drama I’m working on?” Woohyun nodded. “Well there’s this one guy…he’s my costar. He’s really weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yeah…ok so he’s really super good looking.”

Woohyun wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Sungyeol to roll his eyes.

“Not like that stupid! Everyone thinks that. If you see him you’ll understand. Anyways, at first I didn’t even notice him. It was like he wasn’t even there…”

Woohyun ate his yogurt, with an uninterested expression, subtly attempting to tune Sungyeol and his boring story out.

“But then suddenly he’s everywhere all up in everyone’s business. He’s a total creeper. He keeps touching people’s hair, and being all touchy with everyone! Men and Women!”

“Uh huh…”

“And then the other day, he back hugged me like a koala!” Sungyeol exclaimed with wide eyes. “Isn’t that weird? I mean I barely know the guy! Why is he being so—?”

“Yeah yeah…you have a creepy koala costar.” Woohyun nodded, clearly not caring about Sungyeol’s issue with his costar. “Can we talk about my problems now?”

Sungyeol frowned. “You’re such a bad friend.”

“So this is what happened!” Woohyun went into a pointlessly long and overdramatic explanation of all the wrong Sunggyu had done to him at the studio filming. “But can you believe it? After saving his damn life all I get is a stupid Starbucks gift card!”

Sungyeol eyed the gift card like a predator would its prey. Woohyun sighed and handed Sungyeol the card. “Here you can have it.”

“Really?!” Sungyeol’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah whatever…”

Sungyeol jumped out of his seat and headed for the door.

“Hey where’re you going?” Woohyun shouted after him. “I didn’t even finish complaining about Kim Sunggyu!”

“Got to go put this gift card to good use!” Sungyeol grinned. “Thanks hyung~”

“Oh now you call me hyung!” Woohyun whined. “Only when I give you things!” Sungyeol just laughed and walked out the door. Woohyun pouted and leaned his head on the table.

“I can’t believe I have to spend the whole day with that jerk…”

++

Sunggyu and Woohyun’s first filming as a pair was to take place at a café, where they were to talk as if they first met, and get to know each other better. While they waited for the staff to get everything prepared, Woohyun eyed Sunggyu with disgust.

“What?” Sunggyu asked, noticing Woohyun’s eyes on him.

“Do you really have to dress like that all the time?” Woohyun gestured to Sunggyu’s full black ensemble, complete with leather and spikes.

“What’s wrong with the way I dress?” Sunggyu frowned.

“You look stupid.” Woohyun commented even though that couldn’t be farther from Woohyun’s actual opinion. As a fan boy, he always thought Sunggyu’s clothes were cool and suited him well, but now that he hated him, he obviously couldn’t tell him that.

Sunggyu scoffed. “And you would be the expert on that…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you look stupid all the time.” Sunggyu smirked and pointed at Woohyun’s face. “Like right now.”

Woohyun shoved Sunggyu’s hand away and leaned closer. “Well you’re wearing way too much mascara on your stupid tiny eyes.”

“At least I don’t wear lipstick!” Sunggyu retorted.

Woohyun gasped and covered his mouth. “T-This is the natural color of my lips!”

“Yeah sure…”

“Ok, we’re ready for you two now!” The staff announced.

“Coming~” Woohyun smiled and skipped towards them, cheerful as could be. Sunggyu rolled his eyes and followed behind him far less enthused.

++

“Because you two are supposed to be strangers, we want you two to act as if this is your first date.” The director told Woohyun and Sunggyu.

“What?” Woohyun blinked. “I’m sorry I don’t think I heard you right…you said we would have to act like what?”

“These days, namja couples are popular among the female audience.” The director said. “And we’re planning to play that up as much as we can.”

“Uh…do we really have to?” Sunggyu asked, uncomfortably.

“Haven’t you guys gone online and read the forums?” Woohyun’s manager, Man Suk grinned. “You two are one of the most talked about pairings.”

“Although a lot of that is just Sunggyu’s female fans who are happy that he isn’t paired with a woman.” Sunggyu’s manager Sang Hyun added.

“Did they say anything about me?” Woohyun asked Man Suk.

“Oh…uh yeah of course” Man Suk nodded and avoided eye contact. Woohyun frowned, seeing right through his manager’s lie.

After Woohyun and Sunggyu were seated in the café, the director told them, “Ok, just act natural. Like your usual selves.”

Sunggyu gave the director an Are-you-ing-kidding-me look. How did the director expect him to “just act natural” in this situation?

First of all, he was being told to act like this was a first date, second of all, he was supposed to act like he was on a first date with a man, and thirdly said man hated his guts for no apparent reason.

“Sunggyu, don’t be so intense.” The director instructed. “Just relax.”

Sunggyu was getting more and more frustrated. How the hell was he supposed to relax in this situation?! He gripped onto the coffee mug in front of him so tight, that his knuckles became white. The stress was not worth it, Sunggyu thought to himself. “Image isn’t everything…some people in this business have horrible reputations, but still manage to be successful. Maybe I can be like those people…” He wondered, when Woohyun cleared his throat.

“Hyung, are you ok?” He asked. Sunggyu looked up at him, surprised at the concerned expression on Woohyun’s face.

But then he reminded himself, Woohyun was acting. Sunggyu merely nodded that he was fine, and avoided looking at Woohyun, still tense about the whole situation.

“Are you nervous hyung?”

“Uh…yeah kind of.” Sunggyu replied staring down at his drink.

Woohyun chuckled. “Why is hyung nervous? I’m the one who should be nervous!”

Sunggyu looked up confused. “Why?”

“Because! You’re Kim Sunggyu!” Woohyun exclaimed, and then lowered his gaze slightly. “I’m just some random guy that no one knows.”

Even though they were filming, and Woohyun was acting, something about Woohyun’s expression, made Sunggyu want to comfort him.

“B-but you’re Pickles Jr.!” Sunggyu blurted out, and then immediately regretted in, when he noticed Woohyun twitch.

“Ah…yeah.” Woohyun let out a forced laugh. “There’s that…”

“Wait no!” Sunggyu put his hands up in defense. “I-I didn’t mean to—!”

“Anyways…” Woohyun interrupted, his voice now had a slight impatience to it. “Have you ever taken care of kids before?”

“No…” Sunggyu nodded.

“Oh…well neither have I.” Woohyun said. “I was the youngest in my family.”

“Me too.”

“Wah we have so much in common!” Woohyun cheered. “Isn’t that great hyung?!”

“…I guess…”

“Cut!” The director sighed. “Ok, Woohyun you were great, but Sunggyu…” Sunggyu looked up. “If you could be a bit less…withdrawn.”

“He’s doing fine!” Sang Hyun yelled at the director. “He’s nervous because it’s his first date!”

Sunggyu sighed and massaged his forehead. This was embarrassing and annoying and his manager was just making it worse.

“Ok how about we take five?” The director suggested.

++

Woohyun watched Sang Hyun get into a heated discussion with the director about Sunggyu’s performance.

He shook his head and sat down at a nearby table, when his stomach started growling. He frowned and rubbed his empty belly. He hadn’t eaten anything except a small cup of yogurt for breakfast and it was already past lunch time. But this was normal for him anyways. Since he didn’t want to gain weight he had put himself on a strict diet. A diet which he had temporarily forgot about the day before when he had eaten bread.

“It was all that Kim Sunggyu’s fault.” Woohyun thought to himself. “It’s his fault that I ruined my diet…it’s his fault that this is taking so long…” Woohyun was immersed in his hatred, when he felt a sudden cold surface touch his cheek. He backed away immediately almost falling off his seat. He looked up to see Sunggyu standing there with a can of soda.

“I didn’t think you would get such a shock…” Sunggyu held up the can of soda, which had shocked Woohyun off his seat. Woohyun could see the slight grin on Sunggyu’s face. He snorted and sat back up, crossing his arms and secretly hoping Sunggyu would take the hint and leave him alone. He of course had no such luck, when Sunggyu sat down beside him.

“What do you want?” Woohyun grumbled, pouting with his arms still folded.

“Here…” Sunggyu handed him the soda.

“Why are you giving me that?” Woohyun eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t want it.”

“I just thought you might be thirsty…” Sunggyu explained, and then smiled slightly when he heard Woohyun’s stomach grumble. “Maybe I should have gotten you food instead?”

Woohyun blushed slightly and looked away. “W-whatever! I’m not hungry.” His stomach grumbled rather loudly once again.

“You sure about that?”

“Leave me alone!” Woohyun hissed. “Don’t you remember? I hate you.”

“Look…about what I said just now…when I mentioned Pickles Jr.,” Sunggyu began, ignoring Woohyun’s warning words, “I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. I just—.”

“What’s the big deal?” Woohyun interrupted. “As if you would care whether you made me feel bad or not…I know that show is cheesy and stupid! I know my acting ! I know there was literally nothing good about it! But that doesn’t mean you have to say all of that behind my back! Because you know what? Not all of us have amazing singing voices, and awesomely successful careers! Some people have to struggle and suffer with ty roles that they never wanted just to be able to pay for their rent! Sometimes hard work just doesn’t cut it!” Woohyun spat. Sunggyu just stared at him. “Sometimes…you can try your absolute hardest for the thing you want and still get nothing…” Woohyun looked down at his lap, clenching his fists. “Absolutely nothing…”

“…You—”

“Whatever. Just forget it.” Woohyun stood up to leave, when Sunggyu grabbed onto his wrist.

“W-Wait!” Sunggyu stopped him.

“Let me go!” Woohyun whined.

“What are you talking about?” Sunggyu stood up as well, genuine concern evident in his features.

“Stop playing dumb!” Woohyun retorted. “I overheard you talking about me in your dressing room! I know that you think Kimchi and the Brain is stupid!”

Sunggyu started to laugh, and Woohyun scowled at him. “You’re such a jerk! Now you’re laughing at me?!”

“No…” Sunggyu’s smiled, shyly. “It’s just…you’re really stupid…” Woohyun frowned and slipped his wrist out of Sunggyu’s grip.

“I’m outta here.” He grunted and walked away.

“Wait!” Sunggyu grabbed onto his arm. “I-I didn’t mean it like that…I-I just meant that it’s cute.”

Woohyun turned to look at him. “W-what?”

“Sunggyu!” Sang Hyun came up to them, and Sunggyu let go of Woohyun’s arm. “We’re going to skip the café scene and start shooting outside!”

“What? Really?” Sunggyu asked and looked out the window. “But its raining outside…”

“Yeah…that’s why we’re giving you this umbrella.” The director announced as if he was doing them a huge favor, while a staff member handed them a pink umbrella. Sunggyu took the umbrella, and opened it up, inspecting it, while Woohyun was still standing there with a confused expression.

Did Kim Sunggyu just say he was cute?

“H-hey…” Woohyun tried to say, and Sunggyu looked at him.

“Are you going to be ok in that?” The older male asked, noticing Woohyun was only wearing a long sleeved button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. “Won’t you be cold?”

“H-Huh?” Woohyun looked down at his own self. “Uh yeah…I’ll be fine. B-But what did you mean—?”

“Let’s get this filmed already so we can all go home!” The director complained, as he pulled on a rain poncho. “Its cold!”

Sunggyu turned to Woohyun and smiled slightly. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

-----------------------------------------------

Filming the first episode was originally one chapter, but I split it into two, because I'm lazy  --__--

Thanks for your comments and for subscribing~