Seunghyun woke up in a pool of cold sweat, his heart doing a mile a minute. He reached for the alarm clock, rubbing his eyes to clear the fog that was blurring the lines between the dream world and the real one. Or in this case the nightmare world.

4:47 AM

He sighed, letting himself fall back onto the damp bed. This was the third night in a row. Once was random, twice could be a coincidence. But three times, did that mean the nightmares were here to stay? He couldn't remember so much as a glimpse, only the anxiousness had followed him back into reality, haunting him. He was afraid to delve too deep into his brain's record to try and determine its cause, terrified of what he would find. It was getting harder and harder to hold on to the ghost of what he once hoped would be. His vision of the future was fading before his eyes and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The eighth date was already upon them and he was fresh out of ideas, but what was worse, his fighting spirit had come down with the flu, taking a sick leave just when he needed it the most. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was the energy out of him. Exhaustion put everything in a dramatically hopeless spotlight, shining its dark light only at the flaws, making them look bigger than they actually were. Yeah, he needed to get more sleep and let the light of day screw his head back on, the right way this time.

A few hours of tossing and turning and it was time to get up. Seunghyun couldn't have felt less refreshed. Reluctantly, he got up and opened the curtains to let the day in. And it was a beautiful day at that, the sun shining bright high up in the sky, clueless of his troubles. It sent a couple of rays his way, rogue particles of positivity hitching a ride down with them, raising his spirits without even asking for permission first. They had a point though, for pessimism would get him nowhere. Being negative would change nothing except his attitude, and that would have but one effect, self-sabotage.

If he didn't even try, how was he ever going to succeed? It was better to regret something you did do, rather than regret not doing anything at all. Living was trying, failing, and then getting right back up to try again. And that was exactly what he was going to do. He picked his heart up from the floor, dusting the pessimism off it before putting it in its rightful place, where it started beating excitedly in anticipation for tonight.

The dates were almost up, so he needed to make one last try or else he would regret it for the rest of his days. He had pondered long and hard over what to do on this date, over what setting would be best in order to create the right atmosphere. Thinking about what was most likely to get the emotional juices flowing, he had considered going to the movies to see the biggest tear jerker they could find, but the downside was that there was not much room to maneuver in the movie theater, surrounded by people and their nosy little eyes.

Then the perfect idea had struck him out of the blue, like a lightning from a clear summer sky. Karaoke. Daesung loved singing, it was his one true love in life and he had the habit of putting his heart on the line with every word his angelic voice cried out. It was the only time he ever really opened his heart, which made it the perfect activity to try and sway it to join Seunghyun's side. If he could only convince his heart, then it would persuade the rest, right?

There was a karaoke feature in his game center, and it was of course the most convenient and comfortable to chill at his place. It was secluded and safe, but therein lay the problem. It was too safe, friend zone safe. If he was going to attempt to pry Daesung's shell open, he had to step out of his comfort zone. So he had made a reservation at one of the fancy karaoke places, that had nice VIP rooms for celebrities.

With crab tongs and a big bib, he left the house. He was going to crack that shell open, no matter what it took.

“We're professional singers, and when we finally get a night off.. you want to sing some more?” Daesung laughed at him cheerfully, shaking his head in disbelief. But he could see he didn't hate the idea. He sighed with relief as they entered their private karaoke suite.

Before they could take it all in and get their bearings, a waiter burst in with Seunghyun's savior on a tray. Alcohol! He wanted to get Daesung so wasted that he would hardly be able to remember his name, to a state where his head was no longer in control, so that if he was holding back, afraid to deal with his feelings, it would finally be revealed. Seunghyun lamented not having turned to that wonderful liquid truth serum a lot sooner, for Daesung lived in restraints he himself had made and the only way to know his true feelings was to help him loosen those restraints.

“Drinking game! Drinking game!” Seunghyun started drumming on the table as soon as they were alone, using his fingers as drum sticks.

“Mhh, what kind?” Daesung frowned, not at all convinced. Even his frowns were full of unintentional aegyo, creating bubbles within Seunghyun's gut, like his stomach was filled with frizzy soda.

“We choose a word, and whenever one of us sings that word, the other has to take a shot. Come on, it'll be fun!” Seunghyun coated his voice with the sweetest sugar, making it so that Daesung couldn't refuse.

“So which word then?” Daesung crossed his hands, reluctantly giving up. It was the cutest surrender of all.

“Baby!” Seunghyun exclaimed with enthusiasm, having decided it beforehand after careful consideration and a google session, stumbling upon the lyrics of Justin Bieber's song 'Baby', its chorus guaranteed to get Daesung wasted in one go.

“Agh, that's way too common! We'll forget our names before the first song will even be over!” Daesung fiercely objected.

“That's the point.” Seunghyun whispered under his breath so Daesung couldn't hear, disappointed.

“Okay, then you choose.” he offered a little less confidently.

“Mmm.. pine cone!” Daesung concluded with a big grin on his face, pleased with his choice.

“Yeah, right! There has to be at least a remote possibility that the word could come up in a randomly selected song, else this'll be the most boring drinking game ever to have been played in the long, otherwise colorful history of drinking games.” Seunghyun refused to give up on his plan, Daesung was going to get drunk whether he liked to or not.

“Fine. Forever. I choose forever.” he gave in, flashing a 'you win'-smile.

While Daesung perused the song catalog, Seunghyun stealthily googled lyrics with the word 'forever' in them. Before he could browse through the results, music started playing and Daesung got up, his body covertly reacting to the beat. Clearly feeling a bit silly standing there in front of him, since it was just the two of them, he started singing in a small, shaky voice. It was a bit odd though, they had been singing in front of each other ever since they were clueless little trainees, so it wasn't really a big deal. And Daesung knew full well that Seunghyun was no singer, especially not compared to him, so there was no reason whatsoever to feel embarrassed. Daesung even knew that not only did he think he was an incredible singer with an amazing voice, but he was his favorite singer, in Big Bang and in the world. He had let it slip at one of their celebratory dinners after having a bottle too much of red wine, whispering it discreetly into Daesung's ear for it was obviously a secret to which the others couldn't be privy.

Ah, perhaps that was the root of the problem, Daesung's knowledge. This was the first time he was singing in front of him like this after discovering his feelings. Seunghyun couldn't figure out if Daesung being so nervous was a good sign or a bad one. If it was because he was extremely uncomfortable standing in the spotlight of Seunghyun's admiring eyes, it was definitely bad. But if it was because he was anxious to keep the image he had of him intact, wanting to impress him because he was secretly in love with him, only too scared to admit it to himself, well, that was very, very good. Excellent even. He tried not to get ahead of himself, but he had already decided what the answer would be. The thought pulled at the invisible strings attached to his insides, making them squirm in delight.

Twice Daesung sang the word 'forever' and twice Seunghyun took a shot of soju. Piece of cake, it wasn't even enough to get a decent buzz going, let alone do any real damage. Now it was his turn. He couldn't help but feel self-conscious having to follow Daesung's flawless performance with his 'cat claws on chalkboard'-interpretation of the song google had selected for him. He silently apologized to Chris Brown beforehand, for he was about to mutilate his song, murder in the second degree.

“What's all this?” Daesung wrinkled his nose and pointed at a long line of shot glasses, fully loaded and ready to go.

“Oh, you'll see.” Seunghyun snorted as he pressed play, doing a couple of freestyle dance steps before the lyrics started, successfully luring light, tickling laughter out of Daesung's smiling lips.