Himchan stared over at Daehyun, who had sat down across from him with a plate full of biscuits. He wasn’t sure where everyone else was, but they were gone, which was the most important thing. After all, this was probably going to be one of the weirdest conversations he’d ever had in his life, and he preferred not to have any witnesses. Not to mention that if Yongguk or Youngjae were around it’d all be useless anyway. Admittedly, he wasn’t sure if he was hoping for this or not.

“First question: how long would we have to keep this up?” Himchan finally asked, realising that Daehyun wasn’t going to start speaking himself. “Because I refuse to be all over you for the rest of my career.”

Daehyun snorted. “Yeah, same to you, hyung. But I was thinking six months.”

Himchan’s eyes widened. “Six months?!” That seemed like an awfully long time, especially considering that it might not even work.

“Well, yeah. Yongguk hyung is too blind and awkward to do anything soon, and Youngjae too stubborn,” Daehyun pointed out. “Plus, it’d be suspicious if we did it for a shorter time, because then they’d know we’re up to something.”

Himchan was pretty sure they’d know that anyway, but Daehyun unfortunately made some sense. Still…

“Does it have to be six months? I mean-”

“We could make it year,” Daehyun replied casually, though Himchan could hear a threat in there somewhere.

“Okay, fine, six months,” Himchan agreed swiftly, not missing the smug look on Daehyun’s face as the other tossed a biscuit in his mouth. “But what if it doesn’t work?”

“It will,” Daehyun said confidently.

“Yes, but-”

“Trust me.”

That was precisely what Himchan didn’t want to do, but he supposed it was too late for that now. He gave up on trying to convince Daehyun otherwise (besides, he didn’t want to get talked into doing this for a year after all) and turned to the next issue: what exactly were they going to do?

“We’ll act towards them as we always do and up the flirting towards each other,” the younger explained with a full mouth. “Hugging, choosing each other on variety shows, complimenting each other, maybe some kisses on the cheek or holding hands. Things like that.”

“Kisses? Really?” Himchan asked with raised eyebrows.

“Youngjae gets away with kissing Junhong, doesn’t he?” Daehyun answered shortly.

Himchan’s lips twitched, but he tried not to laugh. He didn’t have to worry about Yongguk doing anything like that, since he was never one to initiate physical contact, but he did get jealous sometimes when the leader felt the need to compliment someone that wasn’t him. Or got close to someone else. Or didn’t pay enough attention to him. He got jealous easily, let’s just put it that way, and he kind of admired Daehyun for not snapping yet. Then again, looking at their current situation…

“Fine, as long as the kisses stay innocent,” Himchan agreed. To his surprise, Daehyun shook his head.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures sometimes, hyung,” he declared dramatically. “Maybe at one point a full kiss will be the only thing that works.”

He gazed at Himchan seriously, who, in return, looked back blankly. Instead of going against him again, he decided to just never let it get that far. Besides, surely Daehyun understood the implications of doing something like that. Hopefully. Right?

“I think we should also set a limit to touching,” Himchan said quickly. “You know,” he continued awkwardly when Daehyun only looked confused, “what places are off limits, things like that.”

Daehyun started laughing. “What, are you scared I’ll start groping your crotch?” he teased, only laughing louder when Himchan turned red at those words. “Don’t worry, that’s definitely off limits.” He smirked. “Unless you ever want to get rid of some ual frustration, because you seem to have plenty of that.”

Himchan took one of the biscuits and threw it at Daehyun’s face, smiling triumphantly when it hit its target. “I’m serious.”

“So am I. I’m not saying it will ever happen, but we’re both attractive men and I wouldn’t mind it,” Daehyun shrugged. It wasn’t until he saw Himchan’s look of horror that he rolled his eyes. “I’m kidding, hyung,” he said in exasperation. “The only I want to touch is Youngjae’s. Though I guess we could do some on-top-of-the-clothes stuff if things get too bad.”

Himchan rubbed his eyes, not even wanting to know anymore if Daehyun was joking or not, and mentally cursing him repeatedly for putting images in his head he really didn’t want to be there.

“Anyway,” he eventually said, “do we only do this around Yongguk and Youngjae or around other people too?”

This time it was Daehyun who looked at Himchan like he had lost his mind. “Why, exactly, would we do anything when they’re not there to see it?”

“Because otherwise it’d be too obvious that it’s for them. Besides, people could tell them about it, and don’t you think that would only make them more jealous?” Himchan reasoned, hating himself for having put so much thought into it. It was true, though: if Yongguk and Youngjae thought it was only for their benefit, they might just be amused. If, however, they thought there really was something more going on, this was more likely to work. Not that he had any faith in the plan, but he figured that if he was going to take part, he might as well do it right.

“I mean, we want it to be realistic, right?” he added when Daehyun didn’t answer.

Daehyun nodded slowly and pensively, then grinned proudly. “You’re finally getting it!” He popped the last biscuit in his mouth (where had the rest even gone?) and leaned back in his chair. “Anything else we need to discuss?”

Himchan thought for a moment, but apart from his obvious reservations, he couldn’t think of anything. Besides, Daehyun had made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to listen to his objections anyway.

“No, I think we’re done for now,” he smiled, right as the door to the dorm opened.

Daehyun smirked and leaned forward a bit. “Great, then we can start now,” he said in a low voice.

Before Himchan could ask him what he meant by that, he felt Daehyun’s foot slide up his legs and between his thighs. Eyes wide, he scooted his chair backwards quickly, but it was too late: Junhong stood in the door opening to the kitchen and was eyeing the two of them weirdly.

“Everything okay?” came the deep voice of Yongguk, who gently pushed past the younger boy and quirked an eyebrow at the two men at the table.

Himchan cleared his throat awkwardly and nodded. When he glanced at Daehyun he received a wink, which for some reason got him even more flustered. More than a one-second warning would’ve been nice, really. Damn his dongsaeng.

Junhong sighed and strolled over to the fridge. “Hyungs are being weird,” he mumbled. Himchan noticed how he kept looking at the table suspiciously, like he was trying to make sure nothing inappropriate was going on.

“Well, I think it’s time for my shower,” Daehyun suddenly announced, breaking the awkward silence that had taken over the room. He rose from his chair and walked around the table, running his fingers over Himchan’s neck when he passed by him, giving him a small grin as he did so.

Junhong left soon after, obviously still uncomfortable, which meant Himchan and Yongguk were now alone. Himchan opened his mouth to begin explaining that it wasn’t what it looked like, but Yongguk beat him to it.

“I was thinking we could go to that Japanese place tonight,” he started, making Himchan’s heart flutter. “Junhong mentioned it earlier and I think we all deserve a chance to treat ourselves. Is it okay with you?”

Oh. All of them. Of course. Himchan wasn’t sure if he was relieved (that would have been a terrible way to ask someone on a date) or annoyed (no questions about Daehyun? had he even noticed?), but he nodded anyway. “Sure, yeah. And Daehyun won’t mind either.” After all, he never said no to food.

Yongguk smiled and nodded. “I’ll go text Youngjae and Jongup, see if they’re up for it too.”

His eyes lingered on Himchan for a bit before he left the kitchen as well. As soon as he did, Himchan put his head down on the table and groaned softly. He honestly didn’t think he could handle another six months of this.

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Daehyun didn’t think he could take six months of this. True, it had been his idea, but only because he had tried pretty much everything else to get Youngjae’s attention, and nothing had worked. Meanwhile, he had also noticed how low Himchan looked in the dorm when Yongguk wasn’t around, and after looking closer he had realised it wasn’t limited to the dorm, although the older was certainly a lot better at hiding it everywhere else.

And so, as some last resort, he had decided to turn to him. Maybe at the end of this at least one of them would have what they wanted. He might not even have done it if it hadn’t been for Youngjae’s behaviour lately. The ‘best friend’ thing wasn’t even the biggest problem, because as Himchan had said: Youngjae was a troll. It was annoying, sure, but it was his constant fawning over their maknae that drove him insane. Even more annoying was the fact that, unfortunately, Junhong was really cute, so it was impossible to be angry with him over it.

In any case, he had made this deal now, and after how he had done his best to convince Himchan to participate there was no way he could back out. And he was probably hoping for too much, because it was only the first day, but part of him had hoped Youngjae would intervene immediately. Wishful thinking, of course.

Not that it was a complete punishment. He did like Himchan enough and had always found him good-looking, even though he preferred Youngjae himself. So being close to him for a while wasn’t too terrible, at least.

At the moment they were in a Japanese restaurant, apparently by Junhong’s suggestion, and he was squished between Youngjae and Himchan. Yongguk was next to Himchan, Junhong next to Youngjae, and Jongup next to the maknae. Youngjae had spent most of the evening poking Junhong’s face, which was really the reason of Daehyun’s worsening mood.

He had tried to flirt with Himchan by putting his hand on the other’s leg, whispering in his ear a few times and laughing at all his jokes, but all he had accomplished was Yongguk staring at them, Junhong looking more and more suspicious and Jongup looking at them intensely for a while like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Youngjae, however, had barely acknowledged it.

Something suddenly appeared in front of his face, making him blink repeatedly. He frowned in confusion when he realised Himchan was holding a piece of sushi in front of him with his chopsticks. He was about to ask him what he was doing, but understood when he saw Himchan’s eyes flickering over to Youngjae before returning to him. Ah, so Himchan was finally going to actively participate? That made things more interesting…

Smirking, Daehyun leaned in and slowly took the piece into his mouth, his eyes not leaving Himchan’s until he had swallowed all of it. The other’s eyes were twinkling with mirth and he couldn’t help but smile at him.

That is, until a strangled noise from beside him made him break eye contact. He looked to his left, but couldn’t figure out who it had been. He did, however, see three pairs of eyes looking at him in either disbelief or complete confusion (and he was sure Youngjae looked slightly annoyed), and a glance to his right showed a very stoic Yongguk who only seemed to have eyes for Himchan. As usual.

He contemplated explaining himself, but simply grinned and shrugged instead. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all.

A/N: And so their plan has been set in motion! Let's see if it will work. :P I thought it might be more interesting to switch between their POVs, so that's what I'll do. Plus, it's more fun to write. XD This somehow came out shorter than I intended it to be, but I hope it's still alright.

Thank you to all the subscribers, by the way! I was really surprised, but very happy. :)