“I GOT IN!” Key yelled, racing into the store. He was panting from running all the way from his place. He’d been anxiously waiting for the letter that would tell him whether or not he would be accepted in the advanced program for nearly two weeks now. With this being the last week before the fall semester commenced, he was sure it would come – and it did.

            “You did?” Onew asked, looking up from the mess of post cards he was cleaning on the floor.

            “YES! LOOK!LOOK!” Key squealed. He used the new found freedom in his hand to wave around the big envelope that he held.

            Onew had to grab his arm before he was able to take the papers from him. His big smile split his face in two as he read halfway through. Soon there were two boys cheering loudly in the sparkly pink store. The post card stand was knocked over again from the combination of Onew bumping into it and the gust of wind from the opening of the door.

            JongHyun stood by the entrance looking confused by all the excitement. Nonetheless, after that horrible phone call he had just had he was glad of the lively atmosphere that the two provided.

            “What’s going on?” he asked, picking up a straying postcard.

            “Key got in!” Onew exclaimed, holding out the manila envelope to him.

            JongHyun didn’t need to read to know what it was since he’d gotten the same envelope when he’d been accepted all that time ago.

            “Congrats Key!” he praised.

            For a second he was sure that the younger boy had beamed at his words, but then his hand settled down on his hip. He had a cocky grin on his face while saying, “I could have done it without you.”

            “Yeah, I’m sure you could have,” JongHyun replied sarcastically. “Cripple.” He gave a light shove to Key as he stepped by him.

            “Hey! I’m not a cripple anymore!” Key shouted. He made a point of pushing JongHyun back with the hand he’d broken. It was a bad move on his part considering his wrist was still sensitive to certain movements. He ended up wincing obviously and clutching his hand to his chest.

            Concerned, JongHyun took his hand to see if it was okay. “Don’t hurt yourself,” he reprimanded. His fingers lingered around Key’s for a moment. He squeezed them lightly, the touch barely lasting a second to him. To Key, though, it was like the whole world stopped moving for a second and everything slowed down. When he felt their hands separate it was like a massive hit to the heart - the tsunami invading his country.

            He had to turn away to hide the stupid look on his face. He was sure JongHyun hadn’t caught him, but he saw Onew giving him a knowing look.

            Great…

            “Enough fooling around,” Key said. “Get back to work!” He stalked off down an aisle, not even knowing what he was going to do down there. He was saved from having to think that far when JongHyun spoke up.

            “We shouldn’t be working! We should be celebrating!” he yelled.

            “I agree!” Onew chimed in.

            “But you keep closing the shop early, hyung! How are you supposed to sell anything?” Key asked.

            “I’ll keep the store open longer next week. All that matter right now is celebrating your acceptance! Let’s go do karaoke!”

            The three boys ushered themselves out the door, not even caring that the sun was blazing hot. It lit their path as it slowly descended amongst them to make the prettiest sunset of all time. Or maybe it only looked so pretty because they were all happier than they’d been in a while. For all they knew it was a normal sunset…

            They caused a ruckus with the strolling passerby’s on the way to the karaoke bar down the street. They didn’t care if they were being noisy, though – it was time for partying!

            Neon lights flashed before them, lighting up the darkening area around them.

            JongHyun felt his chest swell with pride for Key as he watched him get a room with Onew for the three of them.

            “Come on, we got room eight,” Key urged, bouncing up to the older boy. He looked childlike doing that, but JongHyun found it strangely charming.

            “Try not to get too discouraged, hyung, because Onew hyung and I are pretty damn good singers if I do say so myself,” Key teased.

            When it came to singing, JongHyun knew he had nothing to worry about. He didn’t like bragging, though, so he kept his mouth shut and pretend like his coworkers would own him at karaoke.

            The room was small just like most other karaoke bars. A bottle of soju and three small shot glasses were already set up by the book with the list of songs.

            Key claimed a spot by the edge and Onew waited for JongHyun to sit down before seating himself.

            “What should we sing first?” Onew asked.

            “No singing yet! Drinking first!” JongHyun hollered. He took charge of uncorking the bottle and filling up the tiny glasses. When each glass was filled the proper amount he passed them out. “To Key! And his acceptance to university!” he toasted.

            “To me!” Key chimed.

            All three raised their glasses and then down the shot. Onew was good at retaining his alcohol so his face remained normal, but the younger two couldn’t help scrunching up their features as the alcohol burned down their throats.

            Onew had to suppress a chuckle at their throats.

            “Let’s pick a song,” he said, grabbing the book. His fingers flipped through a couple pages, stopping at the one song that he knew Key would like. When he showed the song to his friend a smirk found its way to his lips. In a second the numbers were punched into the machine and the familiar tinkling noises of the song filled the sound proof room.

            “You’re not serious!” JongHyun laughed, keeling over.

            “We are!” Key chipped.

            SNSD’s Gee flew around the room and Key started off with the English parts. Soon Onew and Key were full out belting the song while doing some dance moves to heighten the greatness of their performance.

            In all the excitement of their act, JongHyun had found the chance to slip in a couple more drinks. He thought he was doing it subtly, but taking a look at the bottle he saw it nearly half empty. Oops…

            “JongHyun~ah! You sing a song!” Onew ordered. He passed the book to his employee.

            “Okay,” JongHyun agreed. The characters swam in front of his eyes for a couple seconds. He was grateful when things cleared. The pages flipped beneath his fingertips until he found a satisfying song. He told the numbers to Onew who punched them into the machine.

            Getting up on slightly wobbling legs and taking the microphone Key had used JongHyun steadied just in time for the instrumental to Wheesung’s popular tune ‘Girls’ started up. He knew this song by heart nearly. Even though his words slurred he still managed to get through most of the song with ease. Halfway through, JongHyun even advanced to Key and slid his finger down his cheek before turning back to stare at the fast approaching words on the screen.

            After that, with each word JongHyun sang and rapped, Key found his heart beating faster and faster. He would have never thought that such an amazing voice could have come from him. Well, he should have expected it, with JongHyun being so amazing and all.

            It’s just the soju talking, Key tried to convince himself.

            He could blame it on the alcohol all night, though, and it still wouldn’t add up to the truth. Especially since he’d only had one shot and wasn’t planning on taking anymore.

            When the music ended the two cheered loudly for JongHyun.

            “I didn’t know you could sing!” Onew exclaimed, clapping him on the back.

            “It’s not something I usually tell people,” JongHyun replied, collapsing into his chair. He would have toppled right off it if it hadn’t been for Key catching him.

            Tingles sprung up both of Key’s arms as he straightened up the drunkard.

            “He’s drunk,” he laughed tightly. Nervousness managed to slip into his tone as he said this since he was unsure whether this night would be a good or bad one.