‘I’m not saying you’re an idiot-’ Hyesung shifted in his seat to look at the traffic light in front. As if that was going to help it magically turn to green. Just to be specific, it stayed red. Like all the other thing today, everything was basically put on hold.

Eric joined him into hypnotizing the traffic light, which in no way was helpful. There was nothing in the world he could do to make that light turn green sooner. Despite it being Eric's fault that Hyesung was feeling cross, he bravely interrupted him.

‘Now there’s no possible way you can end that sentence without saying I'm an idiot’

‘That's the intention’ Hyesung said, not dignifying Eric with a more elaborate answer.

Being late, having to postpone their plans, it was all an annoyance- one which the lead singer had done his best to avoid for years now. They weren’t in their teens anymore, they had learned to plan their time. At least, some of them had. The more Hyesung dwelled on the thought, the more he looked ready to blow.

But not in the good sense, Eric thought before an inappropriate image of blowing entered his mind and, being the immature child he was, it made him chuckle. That wasn’t the best choice of action when trying your best to look apologetic.

Hyesung looked at him in bewilderment.

‘Yah! You dare to laugh at me, Eric-ah? You actually dare to? In this situation?’

Eric rubbed at his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His neck was so stiff.

What kind of a situation was this, anyway? A pretty absurd one, if anyone cared for his opinion. Being late from time to time wasn’t so bad. They were their own bosses now, right? But Hyesung, as usually, had the tendency to blow things out of proportion. Eric couldn’t suppress another chuckle. What was with him and blowing today?

‘No Hyesungie, it’s not like that. I’m just- you know-’ Eric didn't sound as if he was even trying anymore as there really wasn’t a proper way to explain dirty thoughts of your best friend in inappropriate ual situations. Although Eric was feeling exceptionally brave today, he wasn't feeling suicidal. It was his fault they were in this mess, after all.

Eric hadn’t meant to sleep in, he hadn’t meant to forget contacting his manager and he definitely hadn’t meant to dislocate his ankle all on the day he had finally managed to convince Hyesung that going to the studio in one car was not only economical but a blessing to the entire planet.

What’s the worst that could happen? Trust me this once, Pilkyo.

That’s what he had said and that’s why Hyesung was starting to develop trust issues. Eric could distinctly remember that he managed to screw up every single time he had uttered those exact words. Not that he deliberately wanted to make the other’s life difficult, or his own for the matter, but sometimes things just happened.

Too bad his shortcomings were mostly discovered by Hyesung in the worst ways possible.

Why his group mate insisted on going by his own car dawned upon Eric the moment he was rudely awakened at six thirty by the repeating sound of Bo Beep Bo Peep Bo Beep Bo going round and round his apartment. That, for once, was a good reason to change the melody for his morning alarm. Second, he was left with exactly 5 minutes before their arranged time of departure. Judging by the fact that he woke up on the couch, he must have fallen asleep there yesterday while playing video games - not the best thing to do when you’re expecting a busy schedule next day. And when Eric looked at the still ringing phone in his hand, while trying to massage the stiffness out of his neck, he realized he had fallen asleep before contacting his manager about their ride.

Honestly, who could blame him for panicking and stumbling on his own feet and straining his ankle when he heard the door bell ringing, knowing that it was his impending doom standing there.

And now Hyesung was not only mad at him for sleeping in but also for being forced to drive, and drive to the hospital instead of the studio.

‘We're going to be SO late and you’ve also managed to get yourself injured. Are you an idiot or what?’ Hyesung muttered the same sentence in a slightly different sauce for the upteenth time.

Eric pouted before letting out a deep breath.

‘Ay, Syungie, stop nagging, it’s not so bad. My ankle’s only slightly strained and it honestly doesn’t even hurt that much. We should have just gotten some bandages and gone straight to the studio’

‘Right’

That felt strangely anti-climatic...  something swelled up in Eric’s chest, as if his pride had just been challenged. Did Hyesung really believe he couldn’t handle a bit of pain? Sure, they had a dance practice among all the other things planned for today but heck, he’d had worse.   

The leader decided that the best course of action was to stare. Stare long and hard and judgingly. That was going to provoke Hyesung which was exactly what Eric was aiming for. Let him ramble, let him start a fight. In his mind Eric had decided that it was better for both of them if they fought it out now than to leave Hyesung feeling sour and bitter about it later. Eric could take some insults, he was more than ready.  

‘You’re so weak’ Hyesung caved in as the light turned green. He pressed down on the accelerator and sped out of the worst part of the traffic jam they had been bottled up for the past half an hour. ‘And whiny. Always so whiny and immature and weak’ he added, to spice it up.

‘Yah! Don’t say that!’ Eric followed the other’s lead immediately, expecting Hyesung to respond but Hyesung kept silent after that. Eric crossed his hands and sulked. Why was it so hard to provoke him today? So unfair to say such things straight to one’s face and then just ignore them. Eric felt hurt. Shouldn’t his friends be worried about his wellbeing more rather than complain about them being late?

‘I don’t know anyone who would just fall and get hurt like that. Are you made out of glass?’

Eric felt his mood get worse. Despite Hyesung venting it out, this didn’t feel like a victory. Usually he was pretty good at taking insults but only if he got some kind of kick out of it. This was a one-sided nag fest. Hyesung didn’t sound like he was joking, he sounded mean. Eric probably should have let him be, for sure he knew that the right thing to do was to take it easy and wait it out. Sooner or later Pilkyo would stop and apologize. He was just stressed out, he must have been, but Eric’s came before his reasoning.

‘Says the one who didn’t even enlist in the army’

He hoped the other didn’t hear it the moment he said it. It was a low blow.

Hyesung’s face grew stiffer, his lips protruding in a half-pout and his eyebrows rising higher.

Now he had made Hyesung mad, madder than before, as the singer was practically hypnotizing the street. At least he was concentrating on driving which was good and all but now Eric was feeling worse than before. After a little debate with himself, he decided to apologize.

They were driving in silence when Eric opened his mouth to speak. Hyesung was faster.

‘I would have gone if they let me’ he sounded surprisingly sincere, ‘too bad I have a pathetic body and a stupid face’

Eric closed his mouth. Huh, ok, not exactly what he had expected to hear. Then he opened his mouth again, willing himself to say something, didn't know what, forgot his mouth was open and gawked at the road. Hyesung awarded him with a nasty side glance as if asking what he was looking at.

‘You know it’s not true. Your body’s fine. Sometimes I think you say those things just because you’re fishing for compliments’

‘I what?’

The car swayed dangerously, making Eric grab onto something to not topple over. Wrong choice of words. Very wrong.

‘Yah! But you really can’t drive at all!’

Eric hadn't meant to yell but he was feeling dizzy. He had been feeling dizzy the entire morning and having been nagged at while being stuck in a traffic jam didn’t help. With Hyesung’s bad driving he had nauseousness to add to his list of bad things happening this morning.

The singer let out a frustrated groan before turning to Eric. ‘So... I’m not only a lesser man because I didn’t go to the army but I’m also some kind of attention who can’t drive?’

Was that a hypothetical question? Because Eric found it hard to answer. He knew that at situations like these the car should be pulled over and they should calm down. Deep breaths, inhale - exhale, maybe a visit to a psychotherapist. Or couples counselling because though they were not even close to being a couple they obviously needed help badly. A reasonable person would probably do all the above, reflect on his life in the process, remember his age and position- but the guy beside him was hardly reasonable and surprisingly spontaneous at all the wrong times.

‘Uh, the street, Pilkyo’ Eric commented, pointing at the windshield, more like motioning to it with his entire face, especially the eyebrows.  

‘I know there’s a street, Mun’ Hyesung gritted through closed teeth but returned his attention to driving nonetheless.

This was good and most probably the best time to let the issue rest. If only one of them were reasonable.

‘Just so you know, I wouldn’t mind to have your body’. Eric wasn’t reasonable.

‘Whe?’ an unidentifiable sound came from the singer as he turned to Eric once again.

‘Yah! Pilkyo! Road! Eyes on the road!’

That didn’t work.

‘Come on! Fine, alright. What I meant was I wouldn’t mind a body like yours. Not your body! Your body’s just fine but I don’t want it!’

One of Hyesung’s eyes started twitching violently.

‘And so is your face, as a matter of fact! I would love to have your face! Maybe not the neck but the face is fine’

That came out wrong. Surprisingly, Hyesung didn’t seem too bothered by them discussing his body- a topic rarely mentioned- the main reason of stress seemed to generate from Eric discussing if he did or didn’t want his body. While Hyesung had returned to actually looking at the street, now he was using both of his hands to emphasize on the words he spoke.

‘What you're saying right now is just stupid,' The car partly entered the opposite side before Hyesung felt the need to steer it back, 'No need to pity me. You just make me feel like an idiot. Can’t you be honest for once? Do you think I even care what you think? And you have no ideas how I feel about it’

‘Feel about what?’ Eric played dumb. Was he talking about the army, driving or the looks? What was the subject of their conversation anymore? One thing sure, he was getting more and more irritated with the other. Hyesung seemed embarrassed by his own words. One of his hands shot up to smooth the side hair peeking out from under the hat he was wearing while the other gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Eric hated these awkward conversations, they made him feel self-conscious. And who did actually care if Hyesung hadn’t gone to the army? Despite having brought up the subject, Eric, for one, had been relieved. And as for the body- he hadn’t lied at all. He would die for a body like that and to top it off with that cutely shaped face- such born opportunity for aeygo and dressing up. If he were Hyesung he would dress up, dance to girly songs and act cute nonstop.

Not that he wasn't doing it anyway. 

'As if you didn’t know!’ Hyesung was still upset despite Eric not knowing what about, ‘I’m just so fed up with all of you making fun of me’

Was he referring to ShinBang now? When had that come up?

‘With the guests it’s always Junjin’s so funny and handsome and Dongwan’s so mature and Andy’s adorable and Minwoo’s the y perfect material for son in law and Eric’s such a manly ideal macho man and all that and yah, then there’s Hyesung who’s kind of pretty, kind of girly, kind of can sing, kind of is shy. How can a man want to be called all that? You’re everyone’s ideal type, Eric, yet you dare to tell me that you want a body like mine?’

‘Yeah!’ Eric yelled back, really getting into the argument, ‘you're the one to talk about feelings when actually you're the most ignorant out of us all. Maybe I want to be girly. Maybe I want to be called pretty!’

Hyesung turned to him in shock.

What was so shocking about it? Eric huffed. He was sure they passed somewhere they weren’t supposed to because at the back of his mind he knew that that building wasn’t on the way to the hospital and that the sign they just drove by had a very important meaning to it that shouldn’t be easily ignored -

‘Woah, you’re a complete ’ Hyesung’s conclusion derived his attention from the more important things in life like safety on the road and not driving full speed into a one-way street.

‘Sure I am, mommy bird’

Hyesung puffed out his cheeks which were starting to tint faintly red before finally resorting to the only opinion left to him - violence. Eric felt victorious. He knew that the moment Hyesung ran out of things to say he would start hitting him.

Hyesung just kept swatting away, his face getting redder by the second and his hair falling out of place. Oh, the precious hair, Eric gloated, already deciding on the next insult he was going to bring to the table when something other caught his eye and the survival instincts finally kicked in. His eyes widened and he jumped out of his seat to grab the steering wheel from Hyesung who wasn’t paying attention to the road at all. A car was coming at them full speed, its breaks screeching and tires smoking. If they didn’t manage to avoid it and crashed-

Eric glanced at Hyesung during those few seconds which had seemed to slow down to anticipation-before-being-called-out-at-the-blackboard-by-the-teacher speed, surprised how clear the other’s face appeared in front of him. He could carelessly study every little thing about it. The a bit too tired look in his eyes and those wrinkles which appeared when his face was scrunched too much and the happy shape oh his eyes even when being angry or shocked and those shamefully small lips more suited on a woman and the full cheeks which were less full than at one point when he had really looked like a chipmunk with his face all round and enclosed by the black puffy hair and – had the time stopped?

Somehow, in any way, Eric just wanted to take the tiredness he hadn’t noticed before out of those eyes. Was it his doing that it was there? He didn’t mean to. He never meant to but somehow- somehow they always ended up like this. If only there was a way for him to understand him better-

The steering wheel turned in his hands and they passed the other car by the skin of their teeth. Afterwards all Eric knew was that the earth turned and something hard collided with his skull. Then, nothing. Their car spun out of control, tumbling around three times before landing on its roof with the screeching sound of asphalt touching metal.

tbc

So, that was the first part. oO ... Feel like saying something? Don't hesitate, fire away. It would be nice if you did.

And, as I said before, this kinda IS a romantic comedy, not a drama so...