“Welcome to my humble abode!” Seunghyun dramatically declared as he opened the door for Daesung. He was happy to see him, or he was trying to be completely happy to see him, ignoring the ominous disconcerting feeling incessantly gnawing at his insides. He had decided to change tactics. He had been overthinking everything, so his plan was to stop thinking altogether. Life was short and one rarely got their wish answered like this, so he was going to enjoy it whether he liked it or not. He already regretted spending a whole date with his mind stuck in the back of a dark room, not daring to peek outside to see the sun shining, scared that if he let the tiniest ray of hope back in, that it would turn out to be the tiny pebble that started a landslide. He had the rest of his life to brood, but only this short moment to create happy memories with Daesung.

He wanted them both to look back at this period with fondness, and maybe even, when enough time had passed, laugh about it like they laughed about that time when his trunks came off in the swimming pool of the hotel in Hong Kong or when Daesung puked on him after a particularly crazy night, some of it finding its way down his pants. At the time, it seemed impossible that they would ever get over it, they couldn't even look each other straight in the eyes for a week afterwards, but now they could bring it up as a joke without worrying about the consequences. Making memories with Daesung was definitely worth getting caught in a landslide. Besides, if he didn't have Daesung, it didn't matter whether he was floating on a cloud or stuck under a ton of rocks weighing down on him, his heart would be just as heavy either way.

Tonight was going to be a fun, relaxing night. He had downloaded a couple of over the top comedies that would give them plenty to laugh about, and filled the fridge with beer to take the edge off. He even had a bottle of soju stashed away for emergencies. And he was not going to hold back. He refused to walk on eggshells around Daesung all of the sudden, he was not going to let it get awkward between them. It was his mission tonight to capture and destroy all evidence of awkwardness, leaving no hostage alive. This was war.

“I have been here before, you know.” Daesung giggled, jiggling a bag full of food in front of his nose. The smell alone was enough to mesmerize him. He was so hungry, for everything that had just come through his door.

“Oh please, sticking your head through a crack in the door for all of two seconds does not count! Now that you mention it, you should come over and hang out more often. We never just hang out anymore. Have you seen the game center I put up in the living room?” he had cast out the bait, now it was only a matter of time until Daesung would swallow it and then he could start reeling him in.

“NO WAY!!” Daesung yelled from the living room, his voice full of excitement and wonder. Ah, that foolish boy had walked straight into his trap, he was his now.

“Cheers!” they said in unison as they clinked their ice cold beer cans together, both eager to start the feast that was laid out on the table before them.

And they ate, and they drank, and they laughed, and they ate, and then they laughed some more. The night was turning out even better than he had dared hope for. It was just like the old days. Almost like the old days. It never seized to amaze him how good it felt to be around Daesung. He made everything make sense, or better yet, he made it so that it didn't matter if nothing made sense. As long as they were together, the rest would just sort itself out somehow.

As his brain slowly changed from autopilot to alcoholpilot, he grew bolder. Daesung's eyes were glued to the TV screen so they detected nothing when he started slowly edging from the middle of the sofa towards the side where Daesung was sitting. The closer he got, the more intense the drumbeat in his chest became. It sounded like the drum solo that was usually played to create anticipation before a big reveal on TV. Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da. It drowned out all other sounds in the background and demanded he take action.

He was right beside him now, so close that their outer thighs almost touched. His palm itched, he wanted to put his hand around him. Hardly breathing, he waited for the next funny scene, using all his willpower to focus on the movie, but all he could hear was his own heartbeat. Come on, come on, do something funny already! He tried to use psychic powers to influence the movie, to force it to be funnier. Finally, Daesung cracked up, letting out that most beautiful of sounds, tickling his tummy all the way down to his toes.

He had no idea what was going on in the movie, but he was not going to let this moment slide through his fingers like a slippery mermaid you told your friends you once caught, but they never believed you since there was no evidence. Letting out a couple of loud fake chuckles, he raised both his hands, pretend stretching while stealthily conquering Daesung's shoulder with his left hand.

“What are you doing?” Daesung started, shaking his shoulder. Seunghyun froze with his breath caught in his throat. Fighting a body-wide panic, he surprised himself with his own swift and clever reaction.

“Giving you a massage, why?” he answered nonchalantly, starting to massage the already conquered shoulder immediately, smoothly adding his other hand into the mix, giving Daesung a proper massage. Daesung shrugged his shoulders to indicate he was uncomfortable, trying to get him to stop without actually having to say so.

“Oh come on, I've massaged you tons of times before.” Seunghyun objected, stubbornly continuing the unwanted massage.

“Yeah, but this is like a date-type-thing. It makes it awkward and full of subtext. I don't want any misunderstandings...” Daesung said in a near whisper, barely audible over the noise from the movie.

“Oh relax! Sometimes a massage is just that, a massage.” he explained, knowing full well that this was not one of those times. Daesung seemed to have taken him at his word though, his shoulders relaxing.

His shoulders were no ordinary shoulders, the muscles honed to near perfection. Touching them sent continuous electric bursts up his arms, Daesung's quiet moans of pleasure getting him all hot and bothered. He swallowed, careful to manage his breathing so Daesung wouldn't catch wind of how extremely more-than-friendly this massage really was to him. He was getting restless in his own skin, wrestling with his intoxicated self, trying to prevent him from doing something he would regret later. But then he realized, he would regret not doing anything way more.

And with that thought, he bent his head down and carefully placed a soft kiss on Daesung's neck. It was as if he had electrocuted him. Daesung's neck jerked away in the opposite direction of his lips as he jumped up, turning around with incredulous surprise tattooed on his face. “Seriously?!” he exclaimed appalled.

“Oh, I've done it a million times.” Seunghyun said cockily, smirking at him. He was too cute when he was caught off guard, his eyebrows doing this little bewildered dance, making his forehead their stage.

“Yeah, and a million times I've tried to avoid it!!” he scolded him, recovering from the shock. Seunghyun wasn't sure if he was imagining things, but he thought he saw a hint of a hidden smile trying to break the surface.

“Then try to avoid this..” Seunghyun giggled as he sprang up and went full on kiss-monster, attacking him with the clear goal of planting a sweet little innocent kiss on every inch of visible skin. Daesung squealed and giggled as they rolled around on the floor after he tackled him, Seunghyun getting in a brief kiss here and there, on his forehead, the back of his hand, the rim of his ear. They horsed around for a good long while, laughing their asses off, battling to the end. Daesung had been working out a lot, so Seunghyun had expected it to be an easy win for him, but the battle was pretty equal throughout. He fought hard enough to prevent Seunghyun from getting in a kiss or two, but not so hard that it would end the battle. Was he going easy on him? Why? Curiosity tickled his gut, all kinds of wishful thoughts filling his mind.

In the end, Daesung managed to pin him down to the floor, securing every one of his limbs with his own, not realizing that would put him in a very up, close and personal situation. Seunghyun just stared back at Daesung, panting to catch his breath. He wasn't smiling anymore, he couldn't help but look straight into Daesung's alluring eyes. He felt so exposed, yet he refused to hide anymore. He was so in love with him, it hurt. He wanted him so badly that he was scared to find out just how far he was willing to go to get him. 'Kiss me', he told him with his eyes. 'Please, please, kiss me.' he silently begged.

Daesung cleared his throat awkwardly and got off him. “Eh, what do you say, should we christen that game center of yours?” he scratched his head, trying to divert the focus to something other than himself.

“Sure.” Seunghyun sighed. It wasn't like he had expected him to actually kiss him. He knew it was hopeless. He had been foolish enough to hope, but he knew. At least they were still able to have fun together, that really was reassuring. Best friends. That was enough. That had to be enough.

“You're going down!” Daesung yelled, sniggering teasingly as he pressed play. That babo. Little did he know that Seunghyun was more than happy to go down, to go anywhere really, as long as he was by his side.