The horrible part is that...

“You guys should get together if you’re going to fight like a married couple all the time.”

Cue the nearly spitting out soju at somebody’s face.

“That is not a good joke,” Sung Yeol scowled.

“Why not?”

Sung Yeol nodded in agreement to Ji Min’s words, “Exactly, why– wait, what?!”

“Wait, what?!” is right, Myung Soo raised an eyebrow. Though Sung Yeol and Ji Min were friends, so to speak, they bickered over the most trivial matters that wouldn’t bother anyone else. In simpler words, they were on completely different sides of the spectrum.

The only girl sitting with the boys shrugged, “It’s not like I dislike you or anything. We argue about the most stupid things, but we get along pretty well, and I find you easy on the eyes, if that helps.”

Sung Yeol relaxed his stance, “Well, that’s true. I thought you liked that guy in our 3:00 class? The one with the cute smile?”

She clicked her tongue in response, “He has a girlfriend, so I was pretty much shut down before I could even ask. That , but whatever. There are other people out there.”

Myung Soo’s mood was falling by the second. This was supposed to be a peaceful dinner, in the midst of a slightly rowdy crowd, eating delicious grilled meat with his good friends, and yet it was turning into a love feat in the matter of words being exchanged. He knew Sung Yeol, it was something he prided himself in. The other male never mentioned anything about a girl he found particularly attractive, or interesting. There was no talk of him likingJi Min at all, so the mere speak of them dating was like the percentage of lightning striking you if you were ducking on an empty field–

“Sure. Let’s date.”

Now was the time for himself to nearly spit his drink at Sung Yeol’s face for being absolutely ridiculous. I mean, what in the world was the older boy thinking by asking her out? Sure, he hasn’t been dating the past year, considering his preposterous workload (seriously, who gave out that much work?), there was no point, but to jump at the first person offering him the opportunity? He didn’t seriously like her that way, did he?

“You shouldn’t ask her out if you don’t like her,” Myung Soo bit out to the boy sitting beside him.

Sung Yeol carded through his hair with long fingers, “Well, like Ji Min said, we don’t really dislike each other, we just get into petty arguments about the pettiest matters, and she doesn’t like anybody at the moment, which happens to be the same situation I’m in.”

“Isn’t that leading her on?”

“Um–”

“How am I leading her on? I’m not promising her anything.”

“Are you serious?”

“Dating doesn’t mean that I’m going to marry her in the next month. This is obviously going to be casual. We’re just trying it out. If we like each other, we can stay together, if we don’t, we’ll just go back to being friends. Simple. Why are you getting so worked up anyway?”

Simple? For some reason, Myung Soo couldn’t see that word working for them. Friendship was one thing, but the two of them dating seemed like one of those tasteless dramas where all the couple did was fight, have some random cute make up, and cycle around that for the whole time.

“I’m not getting worked up. I’m just making sure you stop and think of what you’re doing. You’re always jumping into things without thinking after all, and Ji Min-ssi doesn’t need your stupidity when you’re being an .”

“An ?! You’re one to talk–!”

“You know!” Ji Min interjected loudly, “I think we can both speak for ourselves. Thank you for your worry, Myung Soo–”

He really wanted to direct his glare her way. He wasn’t talking in worry for her, he was worried for – wait. Why was he getting worked up for?

“But I think I can handle him and his PMS mood swings. Anyway, sure, I’ll go out with you, you idiot.”

Well ... Why did he have to notice this right now of all things?

“The lady has spoken. Congrats on becoming a couple you two,” though his words didn’t sound like it, Woo Hyun’s slow clapping and raised eyebrows betrayed his confusion as to what exactly just happened.

He wasn’t far off matching the rest of the members in their reactions, except Myung Soo was sure that they all had expected it at some point. After the confusion wore off, the teasing settled in as they made crude statements and eyebrow wiggles with the intent of flustering the duo, which was starting to become a bit easier as they wrestled down more shots.

Myung Soo stuffed a particularly tough piece of beef into his mouth with a scowl, downing another shot of soju to swallow it down.

He was going to need another bottle.

... you can’t prepare yourself for surprises.

Chapter 09: (static) shock.

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A/N: When I first typed this chapter after a whole day out and about (and on my phone), I wrote it as “Myung Soo stuffed a particularly tough piece of meat into his mouth...” I think it’s safe to say I was tired, but man did I miss the connotation of that statement.