The two all-but stumbled into the private, VIP booth that had been readied for them at the bar upon arrival.  They had shared a bottle of champagne on the car ride over and were already pretty drunk before arriving to their destination.  There was more champagne and a couple glasses ready at their table and they wasted no time in opening up the bottle.  Dongwook lovingly poured his dongsaeng a glass with a tender smile.  “Thank you hyung, you’re so sweet.”  The younger scooted closer to the other and bumped against his shoulder, a mock-bashful smile playing around his lips.  The older grabbed his chin and said “Anything for you,” as he wrinkled his nose. 

This playful flirtation was actually nothing new between the two of them.  They often joked with each other this way.  They had even engaged in this type of interaction on televised programs, so it was well known their friendship was extremely comfortable and cute.  They began to drink the champagne with the younger still leaning against his hyung’s arm, neither even noticing the closeness.  “I think tonight’s tab is going to be a bit high,” the older joked as he poured them a second glass. 

“I don’t know why if we got started early.”

“We always end up drinking more that way, have you noticed?”

The younger shrugged as he sipped and thought about it.  “I guess.  We also have fun.”

“When don’t we have fun?”

Seunghyun turned to look at Dongwook, who was staring intently at him, and when their eyes met they both suddenly became extremely aware of their arms pressed against each other and the closeness of their faces.  The younger raised an eyebrow but didn’t move back.  The older scoffed playfully, “You and the eyebrow raise.”  He pinched his cheek and, just as he expected, the younger immediately smiled and his high-cheekbones were tinted pink.  Every time, the older thought to himself. 

“You and your obsession with pinching my cheeks.”

“You’re just so cute.  What would you I rather do?”

“Maybe not pinch them.”

“Oh?” 

The younger’s eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion when, suddenly, the older leaned in and gave him a slow peck on the cheek.  He didn’t move back afterward though, instead whispering in his ear, “Is that what you prefer?"  Seunghyun didn’t know how to react, mainly because too many things were going on at once.  The music of the bar was blaring, his head was dizzy from the liquor, he was trying to understand the warmth that had just spread through him, and he was attempting to think of a suitable response.  It was impossible for him to focus on any one thing and, so, impossible to answer Dongwook’s question.  Noticing the lack of response but still registering that the younger had not moved away, the older unhooked his hand from his champagne glass in favor of wrapping his slender fingers around the younger’s neck, inevitably pulling him closer.  Without thinking, he gave him another kiss on the cheek, this time closer to the spot where the jaw meets the ear, and let his lips linger there for a few seconds longer than necessary. 

Once again, the younger did not pull away.  He did tense a bit though because the kiss and the soft lips lingering on top of his skin had caused a shiver to run all through him and, in turn, he tightly grabbed on to his hyung’s forearm without even realizing it.  Everything had quickly turned from being drunkenly carefree to every move and breath being highly charged.  After a minute of them sitting in silence the older, almost exasperatedly, whispered “Seunghyun?” 

“Ne,” the younger breathed out.  Still, neither moved.  It wasn’t until something caught the older’s eye and he registered that, despite their private booth, they were still in a public place and something like this could easily be misconstrued that he pulled back a bit and slid his hand off the younger’s neck only to let it rest on his shoulder.  His eyes traveled down to the hand gripping his forearm and a small smile formed on his plump lips.  He brought his eyes back up to meet the younger’s intense gaze, his smile still intact.  “Seunghyun-ah,” he repeated. 

“Hyung I-” he didn’t know what to say or why he suddenly felt angry.  His gaze began to reflect that anger with every bit of intensity as usual and he pushed himself away from the older.  “Seunghyun,” the other said with confusion, worry spreading across his face, as the younger pointedly continued to look away from him.  “I shouldn’t have.  I….” He pushed himself off the seat and walked out of the booth to the back lot in order to head to the car.

Upon seeing him, the driver came over and asked, “Are you leaving, sir?  Shall I pull the car out?”  Dongwook shook his head and said, “I’ll be in the car.  I just need some privacy, some quiet for a bit.”  The driver nodded and, handing the singer the car keys, headed back into the lounge where he had been waiting.  He slammed the door shut and slumped into the corner of the seat, head in his hands as he felt tears springing up in the corners of his eyes.  What the hell is going on?  He honestly didn’t understand the situation. 

His head was spinning badly along with a dull pounding due to so much alcohol and now there was an odd tension between him and his dongsaeng.  All because, somehow, a joke had gone too far.  Though they had engaged in jokes and skinship, kisses on the cheek included, plenty in the past something was different and he couldn’t figure out why.  Nothing actually happened but it was the intimacy of it all that made it seem like anything but a joke.  He was barely trying to make sense of everything when the door opened and he saw a tall figure standing at it.  “Seunghyun-ah,” he breathed out hopefully.  The younger slid onto the seat, as far as possible from the older, and shut the door.  “What…” He couldn’t even articulate the question mainly because he didn’t know what he wanted to ask.

“I don’t know,” the older said as he bit his lip and looked down.  “It was a joke.  Like always.”  The younger looked over at him and said in a near-inaudible whisper, “A joke.”  The older nodded once and began to nervously drum his fingers on his knee.  “Stop,” said Seunghyun as he placed a hand over his fingers.  Dongwook looked at the hand on top of his own and then to the person it belonged to, his face a giant question mark.  “Why are you so worried?”  Immediately, Dongwook was taken back to the moment in the dressing room when he had uttered those exact words to his dongsaeng, in the exact same tone.  And, in the same way he had, Seunghyun placed a hand under his chin and whispered, “It’s okay.”  So, he definitely remembers it clearly. 

The younger slid himself closer until their knees and shoulders were pressed against each other, his hand still under his chin.  “It’s okay,” he whispered again this time causing the older to blush.  What is he doing?  “So it was an accident.  It was joke.  It’s all okay.”  What is he saying?  What is he talking about?  Why is he moving closer?  Why am I not backing away?

And then he felt soft lips plant a sweet kiss on his cheek, right at the corner of his mouth, this time initiated by the younger of the two.

A/N: Back-to-back updates!  I am hoping I'll be able to have the next update out relatively soon but I can't promise anything.  I hope you enjoyed these two chapters.  Oh alcohol, making people have the guts to do things and also causing abnormal reactions.  Because their situation wasn't difficult enough for them to deal with already.  See you next update!  (^o^)丿