The morning was a little bit rough for Yongguk and his younger brother wasn’t particularly quiet in moving about as he got ready for school just before seven in the morning.  “Ugh…  Junhong!  Could ya keep it down?” he grumbled, rolling over on the… couch as he pulled the blanket over his head.  Well, he’d woken up in stranger places, feeling worse than he was now, so he could deal with couch.

                “Nope,” Junhong responded with ease, proceeding to rummage about, apparently making as much noise as possible in the process.

                “Brat,” Yongguk mumbled, cringing when he pulled the blanket down and was hit in the face by the overhead lighting.  Was it always that bright?

                “You’re the one that came home drunk last night,” the younger male reminded him simply, leaving it at that.

                “That was Himchan’s fault!” Yongguk retorted, finally forcing himself to sit up, groaning when it was the wrong thing to do.  Head spinning for a moment, he blinked rapidly as he looked at the kitchen doorway which his taller sibling promptly poked his head out of, fresh-faced and smirking.

                “So I take it Channie was responsible for you ending up in front of Miss Luna’s door last night too?” he teased, grin completely unrepentant.

                “Eh?” Yongguk frowned, scratching the side of his head in confusion.  He remembered something about the hallway and a young woman but he’d rather thought it was a dream since everything was sort of fuzzy.

                “Yeah.  The cute, short crush a couple doors down,” he reminded the recovering male, eyes crinkling in amusement before he ducked back into the kitchen.

                Yongguk gasped as understanding hit and he flung himself awkwardly off the couch, stumbling into the kitchen to latch onto Junhong, staring up at him through narrowed eyes.  “I what…?” he asked, trying to connect the blurry dots from the night before.

                “She brought you to our apartment last night, hyung,” Junhong shrugged, patting his brother’s shoulder almost sympathetically.  “Apparently you’d stopped at her door instead of ours.”

                “Gyah!  Stupid Himchan!” Yongguk grumbled with a scowl that would have been more frightening if he wasn’t still nursing a mild hangover and flushing in embarrassment.  Junhong just blinked at him in confusion, waiting for him to go on and explain what he meant by the outburst.  “Ergh.  My job finished up yesterday so I met up with Channie for a drink, but…  I told him about her.”

                “Miss Luna?” Junhong chirped in response, head tilting to the side as he gently pushed his brother away so he could finish getting his breakfast ready before he had to leave.

                “Is that her name?” Yongguk asked, drifting to the side to lean against the counter, seeking some sort of steady support surface.  When his brother nodded, he grinned giddily and laughed, “It’s a pretty name.”  Junhong smacked himself in the forehead with his palm, earning a weak glare from Yongguk, which he ignored.  “Anyway!” the elder snorted, rolling his eyes.  “You know how Channie can get when it comes to playing the set-up game.”

                “Yep,” Junhong nodded with a knowing expression, carefully not looking at his brother.  After the one time he’d mentioned his crush on Hyosung, one of the teacher assistant’s at his school, he’d learned it was a bad idea to bring such things up around Himchan.

                “I’ll bet you anything he dropped me off there,” Yongguk grumbled, frowning darkly.  When Junhong just looked at him with a questionable expression, he made a face back at him.  “What?  You know that’s not like me.  And now she probably thinks I’m a drunken idiot!  Argh!” he groaned, throwing his hands up and slouching where he was against the counter.

                Junhong shrugged and took a breath.  “I don’t know, hyung.  She seemed rather entertained by the whole thing,” he chuckled, remembering their exchange the evening prior.  “And it looked like she spent at least a little bit of time with you last night.  There were two cups in the hallway in front of her door,” he grinned as he held up two fingers, patting Yongguk on the shoulder before he grabbed the fried egg sandwich off the counter and took a bite, waving at the shorter male.  “Gotta go!” he commented around the mouthful of food.

                “Be careful!” Yongguk grumbled, shaking himself as he watched his younger brother snag his backpack from beside the door and head out.  Tiredly, he rubbed his hand over his face and grumbled under his breath.  Stupid Himchan indeed.  Of course he’d wanted to meet his neighbor more formally but completely drunk and unable to remember the rest of the evening hadn’t been a part of that plan…  At least he knew her name now.  Even if he did look like a total idiot.  “Luna,” he smiled, scratching the side of his face shyly.

                He’d only run into the young woman a handful of times over the past couple months, usually in the afternoon or on the weekends, but she always seemed happy.  And yes, he was quite smitten with her…  He and his brother had only been there for a short while but it was cheaper than their last place and closer to Junhong’s school.  Better yet, there were more temporary jobs in the area too, which Yongguk relied on to help pay the bills.  Unfortunately, his latest contract had ended yesterday, resulting in the drunken evening prompted by Himchan.  Stupid meddlesome… best friend.

                Bleh.  He couldn’t even stay mad at him since he’d paid for most of the evening, and he really did have the best intentions.  Most of the time anyway.  Truth be told, he probably wouldn’t have met her if Himchan hadn’t stepped in last night.  While it wasn’t ideal, he at least had an excuse to go and speak to her now.  Even if it was just to apologize for being a drunken idiot at her door.

                “I wonder if she’s home?” he mused to himself, lips pursed in thought before he pushed himself away from the counter and shuffled to the front door so that he could stick his head out.  For a long moment, he stared at the door two rooms down and debated moving, finally managing to convince himself to wander into the hall and pause in front of the barrier.  He picked his hand up to knock and then froze.  !  What was he doing?  It was early, he was still wearing the clothes from last night, and he desperately needed a shower.  Yeah… no.

                Retreating as fast as he could, Yongguk returned to his apartment and closed the door behind him, feeling stupid and annoyed at the same time.  “You’re an idiot,” he reminded himself, locking it before he pushed off and shuffled to take a shower, hoping it would help him feel like less of a fool in the meantime.

                Fortunately, it helped.  As did calling Himchan and yelling at him about what had happened, but all his friend did was laugh at him and demand details, acting more like a giddy fangirl instead of the slightly younger male that he was.  Still annoyed, Yongguk could only give him the meager secondhand details that Junhong had given him before he’d left for the day, but it had them both smiling by the end of it.  Yongguk could hear it in Himchan’s voice and there was no denying he was happy about the encounter, in the end anyway.

                “So?  Are you going to go talk to her again?” Himchan pressed, voice higher than usual in his excitement.

                “Eh…”

                “Bang…” Himchan chided and Yongguk could practically see the younger man pointing his finger at him disapprovingly.  “Don’t you dare try to wriggle out of it.”

                “I’m not!” Yongguk grumbled in return, leaning his head against the back of the couch.

                “So when then?” Himchan asked persistently, still excited.

                Yongguk muttered under his breath but finally sighed, “When she’s home?”

                “Yes!” the other male cheered.  “And what are you going to talk about?” he prodded, settling into gossip, girlie mode.

                “Ugh!  I don’t know!” Yongguk snapped, leaning forward.  How he and Himchan became and stayed best friends was still somewhat of a mystery to him some days, considering they were complete and total opposites, but he was never boring to be around.  “I think apologizing might be a good start,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair quickly.

                Himchan laughed delightedly and agreed, “That’s probably a good idea.  You were really drunk last night,” he teased, completely happy with himself.

                “Himchan!”

                “Oh quit your complaining.  You’ll thank me later,” he reminded the older male, apparently somewhat distracted.  His voice became somewhat distant and Yongguk heard him talking to someone else, “Hey babe.  Ne.  Gukkie’s gonna talk to that cute little thing that lives a couple doors down from him.”

                Yongguk groaned quietly and cringed at the way that sounded.  “I’m just going to apologize,” he tried to remind the other male.

                “I know, right?” Himchan laughed, either ignoring Yongguk’s response or he just hadn’t heard it.  Sometimes it was hard to tell.  “Uppie says good luck, either way,” he grinned with his attention reverting back to Yongguk.

                “I’ll probably need it,” Yongguk responded with a sigh, choosing not to retort to either of them.  It was impossible to win against both since Jongup would side with whatever Himchan chose and there was just no hope or point in even trying to argue.

                “Seriously!  Good luck and just be your confident, charming self,” Himchan explained.  “And for the love of God, please don’t try to do the tough guy approach.  You’ve got the expression but she’ll see right through you, Gukkie,” he snorted, having seen both sides of his friend on multiple occasions.

                “Thanks, Channie.  That’s so helpful,” he drawled with a roll of his eyes.

                “I know,” Himchan laughed, taking it at face value though he knew it wasn’t.  “Go get her, tiger,” he growled playfully, further embarrassing Yongguk.

                “Channie!”

                “Bye!” Himchan giggled gleefully, ending the call before Yongguk could get any more worked up over the conversation.

                “Oh my god…” he groaned, gripping his phone in irritation.  He really was a pain in the sometimes.

                But, at least he did have a plan of action if nothing else.  Now he just needed to see when she got back.  What did she even do anyway?  He really had never seen her in the morning which meant she left considerably earlier than him or he just always missed her.  Both were possible.  Hmm…

                For the rest of the day, Yongguk kept poking his head out into the hallway to see if he could catch her coming home.  Damn if he didn’t feel like a creeper, but just sitting and waiting wasn’t working, and he didn’t want to miss her after all.  He fixed lunch distractedly and was actually surprised when Junhong got home from school, having lost track of the time.  His attention was mildly sidetracked when he was roped into helping his younger brother with his homework and then in getting dinner ready.  Before he knew it, the time was already getting close to six in the evening and he figured there was no way she wasn’t home by now.

                Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and looked at Junhong with a serious expression.  “Wish me luck!”

                Junhong just grinned at him and laughed.  “Good luck, hyung!  You can do it!”

                The encouragement was only slightly helpful and Yongguk nodded before he opted to move and found himself staring nervously at Luna’s door again.  He was at least showered and fed this time around, so he felt slightly better about it…  Jeans and a t-shirt were good enough, right?  Taking another deep breath, he quickly knocked before he could talk himself out of it and then spent the next ten seconds standing on pins and needles with his heart in his stomach as he waited for a response.

                He practically froze in place when he heard someone approach the door though and about stopped breathing as it was cautiously pulled open.  “Uh… hi,” he waved awkwardly, a nervous smile pulling at his mouth when he noticed Luna looking at him curiously through the small opening.

                With her eyes narrowed slightly, he watched her open the door enough that he could see the rest of her.  She had apparently just gotten home and was still wearing her rather dirty clothes, the knees of her brown pants covered with dust and her light colored t-shirt only slightly less marred.  Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she had a couple smudges on her cheeks, which he had to resist the unexpected urge to wipe off, but she was wearing a tentative if unsure smile.  “Hi,” she offered in return, one hand resting on the door frame and the other ready to close the door if she needed to.  When the awkward silence lengthened between them, she tilted her head to the side and asked, “Can I help you?”

                “Oh!” Yongguk gasped and cringed.  “No.  I… uh.  I just wanted to come by and apologize,” he explained, damn near close to babbling and feeling like a fool for it.  “For last night,” he added unnecessarily.

                Luna laughed lightly and seemed to relax a hair.  “Ah.  It’s alright.  I’m glad I could help,” she nodded.

                “Sorry,” he breathed, shifting in place.  “I’m Yongguk by the way,” he offered, extending his hand in greeting, unsure if she’d take it.

                “I remember,” she smiled in amusement, though she did accept his gesture, becoming more entertained when he ducked his head in embarrassment.  “And I’m Luna.  It’s nice to meet you.  Officially,” she added in a gentle teasing manner.

                “Yeah…” Yongguk groaned with a grimacing smile.  “I’m really sorry again.  That is not normal for me,” he bowed apologetically, feeling more and more like an idiot.  Why was he so bad at things like this…?

                “I was wondering,” she chuckled, threading a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

                “Eh…  Listen,” he inhaled, heart beating rapidly against his chest.  “I’d like to make it up to you, if possible.  I don’t know what I could do but I’m sort of between jobs right now and I’ve got some time and…” he trailed off, mentally face palming himself.  Like that was the sort of thing a woman wanted to hear.  He was about to simply give up himself when he realized she had a pensive expression on her face and that alone was what kept him standing mutely in front of her door.

                Her brow furrowed cutely as she nibbled her bottom lip in thought and she exhaled once before she added, “I don’t normally accept favors from strange men I’ve just met, but… a couple hands at the stables I work at have fallen ill quite suddenly and we’re a bit short handed at the moment.  How are you around horses?” she asked seriously, expression intent as she watched him.

                “Uh… decent?” he responded, having no clue what she was going on about but if it got him in her good graces, then he was willing to try.

                “Okay,” she nodded.  “If you want to make it up to me for crashing my night somewhat unexpectedly.  And drinking my tea,” she added dryly, eyes twinkling in amusement when he flushed further at the addition.  “You can meet me at the Heavenly Stables tomorrow morning at six am sharp.  Here,” she stated, disappearing briefly to come back with a card featuring the name, location, and contact information of the stables.

                “Six in the morning?” Yongguk asked dumbly, staring at the card.

                “Yep,” Luna smiled, threading the strand of hair behind her ear again.

                “Sure!  I’ll be there,” Yongguk grinned, gummy smile gracing his face as he looked at her over the card.

                “We’ll see,” Luna smiled, though it was clear she was skeptical.  “Have a good night, Yongguk.  It was nice to officially meet you,” she waved gently, one hand poised on the door as she was ready to close it.

                “You too, Luna,” Yongguk bowed quickly, not quite ready to move yet, but when she closed the door with a wry smile, he practically flailed excitedly in place until he remembered there was a peep hole there.  Calming himself, he cast a wincing glance at the barrier and hurried back to his room.  It wasn’t much, but it was a start!  “Junhong!” he called excitedly when he ran back inside.  “It worked!”

(a/n: Oh I'm having far too much fun with this.  lol  I realize I'm probably a bit heavy handed with Himchan but it's making me laugh.  ;)  I can only hope you're enjoying it as well and thanks for reading!)