Sungjong woke up the next morning feeling sick to his stomach, but not nearly as bad as he should have felt after drinking as much as he had. When he groaned he noticed the arm around him move until a hand was rubbing his stomach pleasantly. Myungsoo's sleep rough voice said, "You're lucky I hold my liquor better than you." Sungjong sighed at the way Myungsoo's hand eased his upset stomach and hmm’ed his agreement.

Apart from the knowledge that when he had to get up his stomach would probably ache more, Sungjong felt good where he was. He was relaxed and warm and there was a lot of Myungsoo's skin keeping him in a state of contentment. It wasn't until Myungsoo said, "I think we can check out any time before 3 o'clock, so you can sleep a little more." That Sungjong brought back last night and felt his entire body flushing. But he felt no shame. Why Myungsoo said nothing, he couldn't figure out. Sungjong felt nothing from Myungsoo but a lighter, answering, stomach ache and sleep that still threatened to drag him under. Nothing else weighed on him that Sungjong could tell. "Well." Sungjong told himself, "You had your one night." He didn't feel sad about it yet, but he wasn't sure how long that would last? Would he be okay until he had to see Myungsoo leave to visit Sooyeon? Would he be okay until Myungsoo decided to finally ask Sooyeon to marry him like he'd been planning? It was far off now, but eventually it would come. Would he be okay until then?

Thinking too hard made him feel nauseated and Myungsoo shushed him soothingly, "I can get you ice chips if you feel sick." But after a moment he settled down again. Myungsoo wasn't upset with him and Sungjong would be able to handle whatever came next. He would.

Myungsoo continued to be okay, though. Sungjong had expected him to freak out and yell or become all guilty and melancholy or whatever straight boys did when they cheated on their notgirlfriends with their soulmate. Maybe Sungjong was getting a little y about it. He tried not to be. For the most part he was fine too. They checked out of the motel and headed back home. The ride home was much more pleasant than the ride there even though the situations were practically the same. Both after they'd gotten drunk and touchy, the only difference being Myungsoo wasn't mad at him for it, they weren't starved of skin contact and they were coming home from a beautiful beach. Though he'd subtract ten points for the "everything-is-okay-o-meter" on account of being diagnosed with type two Lund's, which Sungjong was still waiting for the fall out for. It didn't come, though.

Being back at home meant Myungsoo went right back to the shop and Sungjong went back to helping Sunggyu out with his projects while he was on break. He couldn't really tell if there was more or less tension between him and Myungsoo but it didn't matter because he didn't feel bad. But being home also meant Myungsoo went back to Sooyeon and whether Myungsoo was guilty about seeing her after being with Sungjong, he couldn't tell and he tried to tell himself he didn't actually care.

"Sunggyu-hyung?" Sungjong asked, lazily doodling on a paper Sunggyu had given him to look over and ignoring the weight in his chest. Sunggyu looked up at him, almost flinching, probably expecting Sungjong to throw a paper airplane at him when he glanced up, but Sungjong couldn't find the light mood in himself yet. "Do you have um, any friends who are looking for someone?"

Sunggyu's eyebrows furrowed, "Maybe? Why, do you know someone who is looking too?"

"Yes." Sungjong said slowly before putting on a big fake smile and pointing at himself, "Me!" He hoped he sounded cheerful and excited about the prospect, but Sunggyu just looked surprised. "What?"

"I thought you were waiting to imprint?" He explained, shaking his head.

Sungjong almost laughed, "Hyung I might die before I meet an imprint who will love me." He should probably have felt bad about lying, but part of him didn't want to let his cousin know about his failed imprint. He felt ashamed, which he knew was stupid, but he couldn't change that.

Laughing a little, Sunggyu nodded, "Well, yeah, but I almost thought you and Myungsoo were dating for a while until you told me he was trying to get with that Sooyeon girl." Sungjong hoped he didn't become too noticeably stiff, but Sunggyu was glancing at a paper and marking something on it. He wouldn't be able to notice how Sungjong's face betrayed him.  "But hey, she could just be your cover up." He looked at Sungjong again and playfully narrowed his eyes, "What are you trying to hide?"

"Nothing." Sungjong said plainly, "I'm just getting tired. I don't care if it's a blind date I just want to do something."

"Woah!" Sunggyu lifted his hands in surrender, "TMI, we don't need to talk about it."

Laughing, Sungjong did crumple a paper and throw it at Sunggyu, "That's not what I meant!"

Sunggyu did have a few people in mind, he told Sungjong. He would have to get in touch with them and ask if they were up to it. It was a delicate process, he'd said. No one could be good enough for his little cousin. Sungjong had felt happily warm at that, feeling a rush of affection for Sunggyu. He took that warm feeling home with him, trying to keep it, knowing that all he needed was a little bit of the optimism that he was usually good at. Maybe he would go visit Dongwoo; he could always use a little bit of Dongwoo's sunny smile and laughter. Sungjong knew his mood carried over to Myungsoo when he went home and it seemed to right them like they'd been swayed and needed a little push to keep afloat. Myungsoo laughed with him as they ate dinner and when Sungjong pushed at him with his feet to scoot over on the couch he grabbed Sungjong's foot and popped his toes. They were fine.

Sungjong got a text from Sunggyu right before bed; he and Myungsoo were already tucked up, lightly dozing, Myungsoo curled around him warmly from behind, a hand splayed almost protectively over Sungjong's bare stomach. It almost seemed like a favorite spot to Myungsoo. When Sungjong's phone went off, he reached out to retrieve it for Sungjong.

"Who is it?" He asked lazily, already beginning to succumb to sleep. Sungjong felt the same, but glanced at the text, trying not to feel overwhelmed or anxious or godforbid as sick as he wanted to be at the text. Sunggyu had found a guy for him and texted him the name of the guy, the time of the date, and the place they would meet. "Sunggyu." He answered truthfully. Myungsoo just hummed against the back of his neck.

What Sungjong figured out is that as hard as it was to build up the courage to meet the guy, it was even harder to find out just how boring he found the poor guy. It was probably not his date's fault. The guy seemed cute and he could keep up good conversation. Sungjong thought that if he weren't so completely blinded by Myungsoo, this guy could have been good for him. They met for coffee, as completely cliché as that was, and made small talk that turned out to be possibly-enjoyable-talk except for how Sungjong was beginning to become annoyed to the point of despise at the flirty looks the guy kept sending him and the fact that obviously, from the beginning, they had very different senses of humor. When they ended their date, the guy must have expected Sungjong to be more enthusiastic. He might have thought they'd gotten somewhere, but the only thing they'd accomplished was annoying Sungjong that he'd wasted a two hours and spent cab fare to get to the dumb cafe where he'd gotten coffee that hadn't even tasted good.

Myungsoo was home when Sungjong got back, though, and he'd started making dinner. When Sungjong walked in and set his bag down, Myungsoo turned to face him, holding an arm open for Sungjong to walk into. When Sungjong saw that his hands had been scrubbed of black grease but a smudge across his cheekbone remained, he smothered his amusement in Myungsoo's shoulder, feeling fond and comfortable and at home. Myungsoo's thumb rubbed at the back of Sungjong’s neck, putting pressure at the base of his skull that eased the headache he'd gotten being away from Myungsoo and entire day and meeting a guy who'd failed to meet his expectations. It was like Myungsoo knew exactly what to do.

When they'd stood there, Myungsoo stirring at a pot every other minute, Sungjong said, "You should talk to Woohyun about letting you leave with stuff on your face. Or y'know, look in a mirror before you leave."

"Brat." Myungsoo squeezed at the back of his neck.

Ahh i wanted to give you more for waiting, but the things! I must save them for later! ALSO that anon on tumblr who sent me the message, idk what tumblr is up to, not letting me reply, but i thought about you when i finished this up! thank you for the reminder to get to work!