“Oh, here you are, Myungsoo!” Myungsoo gave a smile that he half-heartedly felt. Checking himself one last time in the mirror, Hoya bid his parting.

“Take him with you!” Sungjong exclaimed with such impatient and kind of nervous and rush feels mixing together, right before Hoya walked out. “Go to practice, both of you! Seize the day! Er-- carpe diem! Or whatsoever it is, just go. I can take care of myself just fine.” Sungjong nodded in earnest and smiled brightly though the older guys were hard to convince.

“Sungjong, we have talked about this, weren’t we?”

“Yeah, but I still think I’ll be fine just by myself,” he muttered, a bit sulkily.

“Let we take care of you. At least for today. One day, please.” Sungjong never thought Hoya would plead. He was taken aback and gave in.

“Yeah, okay, sure, cool. Suit yourself.” And plus Sungjong didn’t like the way Hoya’s eyes darting all over his face. It was like the command voice wasn’t enough, and he was using his eyes too.

“Besides, I could use some rest, too.” A corner of Myungsoo’s mouth quirked up in a half-grin. “Lazy bum,” Sungjong said quietly but the words reached Myungsoo perfectly. “No, thanks to you,” he shrugged.

“You’re welcome, I guess.”

Both of them didn’t even realize when Hoya left, and then there was silence. And there was tension. At least it was for Myungsoo’s feeling. The tension was so thick it made Myungsoo felt sick. He wanted to break the silence. Honestly, it wasn’t an awkward silence, it was rather comfortable at some point. It was just Myungsoo found it was annoying because he wanted to talk to Sungjong, so bad.

On the other hand, Sungjong already made himself comfortable in his bed. He closed his eyes but Myungsoo knew he weren’t asleep yet. So, the visual walked ever so slowly into his bandmate’s room through his widely opened door and sit backwards on his chair. “Is that necessary?”

Only then Sungjong opened his eyes and looked to his left, looking at Myungsoo. “-watching me sleeping?”

“It isn’t in the to-do list but I guess I can do extra work.”

“You guys have a list on me?” Sungjong said in disbelieve. “Not really a list, per se, we just need to make you eat, take your meds and sleep. I just thought it’s romantic to see you sleep.” Myungsoo smiled sweetly, eyes smile and dimples showing and all.

But Sungjong just scoffed by that. “What’s so romantic about it? You are a creep and you are creepy. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this but you are creepy and you creep the hell out of me.”

“I know.” Again with the perfect smile. Myungsoo had no shame at all, and he really wanted to talk to Sungjong but he seemed to run out of topic. Hell, he didn’t even have a topic to talk about at the first place. That, just made him out of luck, too. Perfect.

That just gave the maknae the space to speak his mind. After a sigh, he spoke, “I just feel.. odd, and wondered if you felt that way too”. He met Myungsoo’s gaze and Myungsoo noticed an edge of vulnerability that he hadn’t before.

Like Sungjong trusted him enough to expose a weakness.

“I feel like time is moving too fast or too slow or something. Like I’m detached from reality, in a weird way. Do you feel that at all? There’s like this sheet of glass between me and…” he trailed off, but Myungsoo still understand.

Sadly enough, Myungsoo knew the feeling too well. For the last few days, there seemed to be a screen between him and what was going on around him.

Something that made him downright uncomfortable, and while the fact that he wasn’t the only one feeling strange softened the discomfort, he didn’t want to admit it out loud.

This was good. Better than good. Myungsoo was no relationship expertise but he figured it had to be something, right?

Progress, whatever it was, they were progressing towards.

Maybe Sungjong had forgave him, because that was what Sungjong was- kind, nice, beautiful, forgiving Sungjong. They never talked about that night. Myungsoo figured it must be a whole new level of awkwardness. And because Myungsoo was scared and a complete . Myungsoo felt sick with himself. His stomach was a mess of knots, not annoying but like he wouldn’t be ignored.

He kicked his bruised emotions into a state of comatose. He had no reason to build expectations, he told himself.

Without knowing, Myungsoo found himself staring into two pools of deep brown that looked right back without any hint of reserve or even caution. Just pure emotion. Myungsoo’s eyes slid down from Sungjong’s gaze to his lips and then down his throat and lower. Oddly enough, he didn’t just want to look and admire, he wanted to touch. He wanted to please and be pleased back. And not just a physical level, but almost intimately.

In the purest sense of the word, “So that’s ual attraction,” Myungsoo thought, somewhat dazedly.

This wasn’t quite a game anymore. It wasn’t a competition either, but it also didn’t feel like any sort of real relationship. It was sort of… no, it was a game- but not the type that people considered fun.