They all piled into Niel’s car and headed to the bowling alley. The atmosphere was still awkward amongst Changjo and Niel at least. Changjo had a bit of guilt for teasing Niel so bad. The brunette was just plain embarrassed at his reaction.

“So, L’joe, how did you really know Changjo was at the door?” Ricky asked. He really wanted to know and the silence was beginning to bother him.

L’joe coughed awkwardly when the attention was put on him. He wasn’t sure which he hated more, being ignored or being put on the spot. Was there no happy medium?

“Well, don’t think I’m a stalker or anything.” He started knowing full well that his memory habits are a bit…odd. “Changjo really does walk hard, but he also uses a citrus shampoo plus the cologne he sprays when he doesn’t want to smell too bad after dancing makes a um…unique scent.” The blond explained, hoping Changjo wouldn’t kill him tomorrow.

“Ah, see that makes more sense.” Ricky exclaimed while Niel chuckles. “Are you saying I stink?” Changjo asked with mock hurt.

“Yes, especially that week Rihyo switched out your cologne with her perfume. Musk and flowers is not a good mix.” Everyone laughed, Changjo the most.

“She paid big time for that.”

“Nice. I bet Niel smells just like Minsoo. Every time we talk it’s always Minsoo this, Minsoo that.” L’joe’s face dropped but only for a moment and Changjo gave an almost bitter laugh.

“I do not! Stop trying to embarrass me Changhyun.” The drive continued on the same, playful jabs here and there, and a lot of laughing.

Once at the bowling alley, most of the awkward atmosphere had faded. Everyone paid for entry and got their shoes before heading to their designated lane. They were getting situated in the sitting area, Niel leading L’joe to a seat. He turned to pick up the blondes shoes only to see them in Changjo’s hands as the younger went to sit on the other side of L’joe. Niel subconsciously clenched his fist when L’joe smiled after Changjo tapped his head with the tip of the bowling shoe before handing it to him.

“Are we going to play teams?” Ricky questioned after he finished putting his shoes on.

“Sure, why not.” Niel replied momentarily distracted from the other two.

“Teams sound fun.” Changjo spoke up after handing L’joe his other shoe.

“Yeah, I’ll be with Changjo.” L’joe quickly said before Niel could assign partners. “Yah, that might not be a good idea, I’m not that good at bowling.” He said with the intention of giving Niel a chance to try and take L’joe to his side, but was met with only silence.

“That’s fine, we can together.” The older assured with a laugh. Changjo laughed and thumped him on the forehead

“Pabo!”

“Okay it’s set. Too bad you guys aren’t good we could have made a bet.” Ricky chimed in, hoping one of them was competitive.

“We still can.” Changjo countered completely up for the idea.

Success.

“Changjo, what are you saying? Don’t,”

“So what’s the bet?” Changjo continued ignoring the blondes protest.

Ricky smiled, knowing they had this in the bag. “Loser buys food and winner gets to pick all the songs at the karaoke bar.” He wagered with confidence.

“Deal.” L’joe pinched the crap out of Changjo’s side in aggravation.

“Yes, let’s win okay Hyung!” Ricky exclaimed excitedly to Niel, who smiled awkwardly. “Sure, let’s win us some food!” The brunette said with a genuine laugh that made L’joe smile.

Their car ride had been so awkward and he’d been so quiet, the blond was afraid the whole night was going to be tense. Luckily with the way things were looking, the night could be fun. He still wasn’t too keen on the idea of bowling, after all a good portion of bowling depended on eyesight. Then again most things he’s learned to do usually require sight. So what’s one more thing?

Ricky and Niel were the first up to bowl. From their cheers it seems they did pretty well from L’joe’s perspective. He even heard Changjo laugh in amusement, though his leg tapping was annoying.

“Why are you tapping?” L’joe asked placing his hand gingerly on the younger’s thigh, stopping the incessant shaking. “Nervous? Since we’re about to get our butts handed to us.” He contained with obvious mocking in his voice as he smirked.

“I’m not nervous. It’s a bad habit thank you very much, but if you’re scared we can always ask for bumpers.” Changjo shot back, laughing when he heard a growl from the other.

Before he could stop, L’joe shoved his shoulder hard enough to send him to the floor. “Bite me.” The dancer continued to laugh as he got to his feet, walked over to L’joe and placed his hands on both of the blonde’s knees and leaned in close stopping short of their noses touching. He let out a small laugh when L’joe tensed a little.

“Just tell me where.” The youngest teased with a playful smile.

“Yah!” L’joe turned crimson from embarrassment.

He raised his hand to swat the other. “Hey, wait.” Was all Changjo could get out as Niel yanked his hands away from L’joe causing him to miss the pending swing at his arm.

“It’s your turn to bowl. We’ve been trying to get your attention.” The brunette explained with a small smile.

“Ah my bad, I was a bit busy getting pushed on my .” He replied innocently with a laugh, as he picked up a ball.

“If you didn’t so much he wouldn’t hit you.” Niel replied laughing as well.

“True but where’s the fun in that.”

“Yah! You brat just bowl.” L'joe shot back glaring in Changjo’s general direction.

Silence washed over them as they watched Changjo step up to the lane and take aim. He took a few seconds getting himself lined up, drew his arm back and let the ball rip down the lane.

The ball managed to knock down all but one pin, leaving the other two stunned and L’joe curious.

“Lucky shot.” Ricky said a bit awed and peeved at the same time. Changjo on the other hand gave an innocent smile while rubbing the back of his neck. Before anymore gawking could be done, he stepped up to the lane again completely missing the last pin. Hopefully for Niel and Ricky that’d be the end of his luck.

L’joe was up next. Changjo could tell he was nervous so he tried to ease it in his own special way.

“Yah, midget don’t just sit there time to bowl.”

By pissing him off.

“I am not that short, you brat.” He half screamed, standing abruptly, as he tried to hide his smile. He knew what Changjo was doing and was grateful.

He let himself be led to the lane and waited as the younger returned with a ball. After the weighted object was placed in his hands he let himself be guided further to what he assumed was the lane line. The blond felt arms encase him as he was inched to the dead center of the lane. This made him blush. Yes Changjo does this all the time when he’s teaching him a new dance but this was different. They were in public and he was feeling more self-conscious than usual.

“So, take more than one step forward and your scrawny will go flying down that lane.” He teased laughing when L’joe elbowed him and took a small step back.

“I’m kidding….mostly.”

Not too far behind them Niel and Ricky watched the whole scene. It was entertaining to Ricky anyway. Niel on the other hand was still on the fence about it, and wasn’t sure why.

“They look cute together don’t they?” The younger inquired. Before he could stop himself the taller let out a light groan that he hoped went unnoticed.

“They don’t like each other like that. That’s how they always are, just really close.” He explained, and paused at the bitter undertone of his voice.

“Looks like someone’s jealous.”

“I am not.” Niel argued with a bit more whine than intended. “I’m dating Minsoo you pabo.” He added with a roll of his eyes.

“Who’s the pabo, Pabo! I meant jealous of their closeness.” Ricky chided matter-of-factly, as he contained the tongue he desperately wanted to stick out at his friend.

“Am I that obvious?” He asked with a sigh. “Yes, but then again I’ve known you since we were five. You’re jealous because Changjo is closer to L’joe than you are, but whose fault is that.”

Changjo’s.

That’s what Niel would have said but the name died on his lips when the younger shot him a look.

“Don’t even lie to yourself. Changjo even gave you a clear chance to be partners with him but you were too busy sulking and didn’t grab the opportunity to be partners.” He continued ignoring the indignant look from the older.

“I was not sulking.” He defended with a pout.

“I’d be just fine if he didn’t invite Changjo. They spend every other day together, one apart wouldn’t kill them.” His childish tone had the other laughing.

“Niel, seriously.” He paused to chuckle before adding, “You see him every day. You’re being a hypocrite.” He would have continued but the sound of pins being knocked down drew their attention.

“No way”

“Wow”

“How did I do?” The blond asked as he backed slowly away from the lane.

“You got a strike. I guess it’s our lucky day.” Changjo supplied patting him on the shoulder.

They continued to bowl, while laughing at each other’s misses and ripping on one another every chance they got. Niel and Ricky were managing a decent lead. Changjo and L’joe were keeping up as best they could. The youngest of the bunch seemed to get worse with every turn. With that being said there was still plenty of fun to be had. It took L’joe almost slipping on the lane for them to take a break.

“I told you one step and you’d be a human bowling ball.” Changjo chided as he helped the blond to his seat. “Ha, Ha, very funny.” He’d glare if he could pin point the redhead’s face. Ignoring the sarcasm he sat L’joe down in a nearby chair and reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“Huh…oh sure. Let me get my wallet.” Without waiting for a response L’joe reached into his pocket and opened his bill fold. All of the money was folded differently. The Ten dollar bills were folded vertically, the Fives horizontally, and the Ones were just straight. “Grab a Five out of there. I’d like Sprite.”

Changjo hummed in response and took the wallet, held it for a moment and handed it back.

“Don’t worry about the change.” The older reassured even though there was no need. Since he said as much often enough.

It wasn’t long before the dancer set off to the snack bar to get drinks for Ricky, L’joe, and himself. Niel declined the offer being hungry more than anything but didn’t want to be the odd one out. He waited as Ricky walked down to L’joe to talk.

Now why couldn’t he do that? He felt as if there was a barrier keeping him away when in actuality he was simply being a chicken. What if he was still mad? Maybe he only came out with them tonight to keep him from nagging? What…His thought would have continued to run rampant if not for the tray of nachos placed in front of him.

“Here.”

He slowly accepted the tray a bit confused. Niel looked to Changjo as he sat down and only received a smile.

“Thanks, how did you know I was hungry?” He questioned.

“Lucky guess, and I maybe saw you eying the nacho stand earlier.”

The older laughed and took a chip into his mouth savoring the cheese as he munched happily. It was probably the best chip he’s ever tasted. Then again hunger had a way with my mind.

“I’ll pay you back before we leave.” The brunette offered between bites.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my treat” he replied returning the older’s smile.

“You know he’s going to notice you didn’t take any money from his wallet.” Niel pointed out casually know he’s tried and still tries to but L'joe always notices.

“Yeah I know. He gets mad when I won’t take his money and then hides it somewhere in my stuff so I won’t notice till I get home.” He admitted chuckling at how many times he’s actually managed to find a good place to hide it. Blind or not it pretty fun seeing where he manages to hide things.

The later let out a small laugh before replying, “At least he still hands you his wallet he will just hand me the money since I’d done it so much.”

“Oh no, I’m just as bad he just thinks I’ve learned my lesson after what happened last time.” Changjo stated unable to hold back his smile as he thought about that the blonde did. Niel raised an eyebrow prompting him to continue. “There was this one time when we were dancing and he accidently stepped on my food after misjudging where I was. I fell to my and his foot on my foot made my shoe rip.” He paused to hold back a laugh. “He apologized, and fussed till I agreed to let him get me a new pair of shoes even though I’d told him the shoes were old and word out. I even shoved the stinky shoe in his face.”

That admittance had Niel laughing in disbelief. “You didn’t?”

“Yeah I did. I shouldn’t have but I did. He reached out to push my shoulder but instead pushed the side of my head and back onto the floor. I thought it was funny but he felt even worse to I didn’t argue when he handed me the money for my shoes. Before we left thought I slipped the money back into his pocket. I figured the next time we met he’d fuss but he didn’t, that alone had me worried. When I went to the restroom and came back he was gone and my shoes had forty dollars’ worth of quarters in them.” He said ending his crazy tale.

Niel sat there for a few minutes laughing silently. He never would have guessed L'joe could be that childish. Listen to Changjo talk about him made him fell like there was probably a lot he still had to learn about the other. It hurt his pride that Changjo was closer to the blonde than he was, and he knew he needed to fix that.

When he finally stopped laughing Ricky started laughing loudly drawing the attention of both he and Changjo. He didn’t know what his friend had said but it had L'joe as red as a cherry.

“You, should just go talk to him.” He said breaking Niel trance like stare. “Instead of staring at him like a lost puppy.” He finished sticking to his true blunt nature.

Feeling like he was being taunted, he rose to his feet and waked over to the other two to join his conversation.

After their break they began to play again. Ricky and Niel would have won if Ricky didn’t boast about the songs they were going to make the other to sing. L'joe was dead set against the songs and really didn’t want to lose now that he knew. Changjo seeing how bad the blonde didn’t want to lose decided to show his real talent and got a strike in the last five brackets without fail.

L'joe figured it was luck while the other two called foul play. In the end they accepted that they lost and got dragged to the karaoke shop. Lucky for them L'joe was in a giving mood and no one had to sing anything embarrassing unless they chose it themselves.

“So what did you say to L'joe to make him turn so red?” The redhead asked as he and Ricky watched Niel and L'joe sing a song. Well Ricky was watching he was wondering who picked that song.

“Ni mameul heundeu-reonwah ni mameul heundeu-reonwah ni mameul heundeu-reonwah”

“I shouldn’t say. Niel got on me earlier about saying things without thinking.” He responded softly Niel wouldn’t hear hm.

“Well I’m not easily offended and I really want to know what you said. It’s not easy to make him that embarrassed.” Changjo insisted truly curious as he tried to distract himself for the two in front of him.

“I said you and L'joe look cute together. But watching them right now its obvious L'joe likes Niel.” He said so casually it’s no wonder Niel said something.

Changjo nearly died at the irony of it all.

Once he finally stopped snickering he managed to reply. “SO you’ve noticed that too? You didn’t say that to L'joe did you?” He asked knowing the last thing the older need was someone else realizing he had a crush on the brunette.

“No. I’d rather not die.” Ricky said with a wide grin.

“Smart move.” The latter agreed.

“Okay, gonna sing next?”

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SO I been swamped with working I'm doing my best to up date. Sorry it's taken so long. Working and writing don't mix all that well. 

On the bright side I updated!!! 

Hope you like it.