Walking into the house, Ken let out an exasperated sigh. He slowly pulled his shoes off, then took a moment to take off his jacket and hang it up. Ken looked around the house, noticing that the couch wasn’t occupied with its normal inhabitant, and the house seemed otherwise fairly empty.

Another small breath left him as he walked through the living room. He could see that HongBin and Hyuk’s door was slightly ajar, but there was barely any light coming out of it making him assume they were asleep. Leo’s door was shut tightly, and HakYeon’s door was in much the same state. Normally HakYeon would still be up, sitting in the living room with Ravi watching a movie or just talking about something or another. The only time HakYeon ever went to bed so early was when Ravi made some excuse to leave and then end up being gone all night to some place or another.

Looking away from the hallway, Ken made his way to the kitchen. He tugged open one of the cabinets, finding exactly what he wanted almost instantly. Out he pulled was a long green bottle of immense size that one of his colleagues had brought back from the Cheongdam-dong district a week or so before. He stared at the bottle for a moment, studying the see through green glass before slowly closing the cabinet, the bottle still in hand.

Going over to the counter, he set the glass bottle down before leaning against it slightly. Reaching up into the cabinet above his head, Ken grabbed a glass. He set it down beside the green bottle and reached up for the lid of the alcohol. Silently, he cursed everything, watching as he pulled the lid off and set it aside. Almost as an after thought, he went to the fridge and grabbed some ice for his drink, tossing it carelessly into the cup.

Once his glass was full, he grabbed it and the bottle, carrying them both over to the living room. Sitting on the couch, he took his first sip of the drink, the sting of the alcohol leaving a sorrowfully satisfying feeling in the back of his throat. He leaned back into the couch, lost in the thoughts of everything that was happening, and everything that he was doing wrong. He let the glass rest on his thigh slightly, supporting it mostly with his hand as he stared at the blank wall across the living room from him that wasn’t going to give him any solice.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leo dragged himself up the stairs, his legs aching from the long day of TaekWonDo instructing. It was his first day back since the New Year, and although he was glad that he didn’t have to simply sit around the house anymore, his body still felt as though he needed an ice bath.

He found himself nearing the brown wooden door to the apartment that he had come to dread over the past couple months. All too soon it was sitting right in front of him, and he almost wanted to stop his hand from reaching into his pocket for the key that unlocked all the unwanted emotions and that lay inside.

The door opened, letting out a waft of the familiar smell that he recognized as home. If home were a suffocating cage that held unwanted feelings and emotions that strangled his very existence, that is.

Almost as soon as the door had closed behind him the clinking of a cup sounded as it fell to the floor, followed by a hushed curse beneath someone’s breath. Leo looked over to find that the figure sitting on the couch was not Ravi, but instead the figure that he had been least wanting and most dreading to see.

“Goddamned…. goddamned… cup….” JaeHwan cursed as he bent down to retrieve the glass that had fallen from his lap. It took a few tries, be he finally managed to take ahold of it and pick it up from the small puddle of soju and ice that now occupied the floor.

Despite all the reason in his head telling him not to, Leo let out a sigh and moved over to the laundry room where he retrieved a small towelette to sop up the mess Ken had made. Making his way back out to the living room, he reluctantly moved over to the couch and began picking up the ice on the floor.

“You promised that you weren’t going to drink like this anymore.” He said, his light voice barely registering to JaeHwan’s ears as the older took the glass from him.

Waving his hand and whining in attempt to get the glass back, JaeHwan didn’t even notice as Leo dropped the ice back in the cup before giving it back. Taking the glass more forcefully than he ever would have normally, JaeHwan set it down on the table. He started to fill the glass back up, his unstable drunk hands making the liquor spill out onto the table. JaeHwan heard Leo let out a sigh as he started cleaning up the next mess that he made.

Whining once again, JaeHwan fell back into the couch with his glass in his hand as Leo went to work cleaning up the alcohol. “Leeoooo….” He whined in an annoyingly high pitched voice, a small grunt following afterwards. “Stop cleaning up after me….!” His words were slurred together in the way only drinking over half a bottle of strong soju could do to him.

“You’re not going to ruin the carpet and table just because you want to drink again.” Leo wasn’t speaking any louder than he normally did, just barely glancing at the drunken man on the couch. “You shouldn’t be drinking anyways…. You made a promise, remember…?”

“You know why I’m drinking tonight?” Ken asked loudly, his words still slurring together before he took another drink.

“Of course not.” Leo sighed, looking at the younger man and instantly hating the sight.

“Because, TaeKwonniee~” laughing bitterly, Ken took another swig of the drink. “Tonight, I went on one of the most wonderful, beautiful, just fantastic dates in my life, with one of the most beautiful, interesting, just perfect woman in the world.” His words were mushing together, but Leo was still able to decypher it. “Her birthday is in three days, so we went out! But the entire time I was sitting there with this absolutely gorgeous woman, I had this huge cloud hanging over me about how I have to tell her the truth!” Ken leaned forward, slamming the glass down on the table in front of him. It spilled some of the contents down onto the table, and once again Leo threw the hand towel over the mess.

That’s what this is about…? Leo couldn’t help the feelings that were starting to boil inside of him. His eyes turned towards Ken, watching as the younger man started to pull on his hair slightly.

Ken looked up at Leo, noticing him cleaning up the table again. Even though he never would have if he was sober, Ken reached out and knocked Leo’s arm away. “You’re not even listening to me…!” Ken snapped, his eyes blaring and red as he looked up at the elder.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Leo stated quietly, going back to cleaning off the table even though there was a slight sting where Ken had hit him.

“How am I being ridiculous!?” Ken’s voice was raising, his drunken voice making Leo glance over to the slightly ajar door that belonged to HongBin and Hyuk. “I’m such a bad person! I have no right to keep this from her, and yet here I am! Lying to the woman I care for! Hell, maybe even I love her! Maybe I want to get married to her!” Ken threw his arms around in a way that only his drunken state could manage.

Leo looked at him, shaking his head slightly. “JaeHwan, I think you’ve had enough to drink.” He could feel his heart cracking at the words Ken was throwing around, but he knew that the younger was drunk. He didn’t want to be rude to him, but he didn’t want to listen to the younger’s drunken musings anymore.

“You don’t have to worry anymore, TaeKwoonie~! I’m going to tell her! You don’t have to keep this a secret anymore, TaeKwoon! Isn’t that what you want to hear?!” Ken’s voice was showing his anger and frustration, but also just how drunk he was.

“JaeHwan, I-”

“You don’t have to keep this a secret to yourself anymore, TaeKwoon! Don’t worry anymore! I’ve been worried about you giving in and telling everyone, but don’t worry anymore!” Ken flailed his arms again, his body collapsing back into the couch.

“JaeHwan!” Leo’s voice was louder than it had been before. “Don’t you see what I’m doing?! Do you not see why I haven’t said anything? I’m protecting you, JaeHwan. You should recognize who it is that cares for you sometimes.” Turning, Leo tossed the hand towel down onto the table. He shook his head as he stormed away from the living room. His mind was swimming in his own emotions, anger and pain whirling around inside of him.

Yanking open the front door he had just come in through, storming out without a word, slamming the door behind him.