I sighed and hastily brushed the stray hair out of my face. My hands smelled like an odd combination of cleaning supplies and alcohol. Jungshin's voice was ringing over the crowd of people pestering him for their drinks. I shook my head and finished cleaning the table, shoving the rag back into my apron pocket. That must have been the second time I had to clean up some drunk bastard's vomit. Lovely.

"Sam! You done?" Jungshin handed another impatient drunk his drink and waved me over.

"Yeah."

"Great. Give Eli a hand?"

I nodded and snuck into the back room where my other co-worker was busy gathering up new reserves for the bar. He barely acknowledged my entrance, so I went to stand in front of him and await orders. Eventually, Eli got to his feet and handed me a bunch of bottles.

"Put these away and help Jungshin out. It sounds like a zoo out there."

"It is." I struggled to carry all the bottles in my arms and organize them under the bar. Jungshin met my gaze when I glanced up and gave me a half-hearted, exhasperated smile. Time to relieve him for a little while.

"Jungshin - go help Eli. I'll cover this crazy for you." I winked at him and turned to a man looking like he was about to beat someone with a crowbar if he didn't get his drink.

In case you were wondering, the customers were pretty much the same every night; pushy, impatient, and nauseous. I couldn't even count on my fingers how much puke we had to clean up on a nightly basis. You'd think some of them would be considerate enough to throw up in the bathroom - they choose the floor or the furniture instead. Sounds like fun, right?

A flash of blonde in the corner of my vision caught my eye. Someone very familar was approaching the bar. He had a girl tightly attached to his arm, and she was very obviously drunk out of her mind. He seemed sober enough, though. As he got closer, I could feel my eyes widen and recognisation settled in. Well, I'm screwed. It was Dongwoo. I could only hope he was here alone.

Eli picked the perfect moment to make an appearance from his personal Batcave in the back, and I definitely took advantage of it. I quickly shoved Eli to the denser part of customers swarming the bar and mumbled an apology ducking being the counter, praying he didn't see me.

And of course, the rest of my shift was spent avoided Dongwoo and his date. Eventually, she started to look bad, so he tookher home and I was free. Jungshin practically shooed me out of the place early, so I found myself shuffling into the dorm room at a quarter to twelve, going over several excuses in my mind.

Sunggyu, and Dongwoo were still up. The nodded "hi" and went back to their hushed conversations. The doors to both Woohyun and Hoya's rooms were closed. Ah.

Sunggyu stretched and yawned. He waved goodnight to Dongwoo and I and shuffled off to his room. His walk resembled much of how my grandfather got around the house when he had still been alive. Hope I'm not the only one who's made that comparison...

It was just Dongwoo and I alone in the kitchen. Neither of us said anything - all that we could hear was the approaching storm and the sound of the other three sleeping in their rooms. I shifted uncomfortably. Why was he staring at me like that? I didn't forget to change before I walked in the door, and I was pretty sure he hadn't seen me back at the club. I gulped; he raised an eyebrow.

"You were out late."

"Yeah, I was visiting a friend."

"At midnight?" So far, he wasn't buying it. Crap. Think fast, think fast.

"She dragged me with her to go clubbing, but I left before things got really crazy."

Somehow, this seemed to convince him, and he nodded. I could barely catch the suspicious glint in his eye. He was on to something, I just knew it. Either way, he let it drop. Dongwoo rinsed his glass out in the sink and yawned. He noticed me watching him and nudged my shoulder, smiling a little.

"You should go to sleep, too. Storms coming - might as well get in as many hours as you can now." And with that, he joined Sunggyu in exiting the kitchen for his room. Well, that was awkward, to say the least. I couldn't help but wonder how long I would actually be able to keep this up. It was proving extremely difficult to keep anything hidden from these boys.

The first faint traces of thunder rolled past and echoed through the apartment. Great. I wouldn't be getting any sleep. Oh well, I could still get the couch set up just in case. Turns out I was only able to get two blankets on the sofa before the loud boom of thunder caused me to drop the rest I was holding in my hand. Oh, here we go.

"Water. Water is calming, right?" I tried to calm myself down, but the pelting rain wasn't really helping anything. My feet took the rest of me into the kitchen. With a blank mind, I grabbed a glass and filled it up with tap water. I barely even took one sip.

BOOM.

I squeaked. My hand jerked, splashing water all over my shirt and pants. The glass slipped from my grip and went crashing to the floor, cutting my foot and fanning out in sharp shards all over the kitchen floor. Perfect.

"I heard something break. Everyone okay?" Woohyun just had perfect timing, didn't he? He emerged from his room dressed only in a wife-beater and sweats. Apart from his hair being slightly ruffled, he showed no other signs of sleep. He must have been awake the whole time.

"I just got startled a dropped a glass. It's fine."

"Storm get you, too?" He smiled; I nodded. His smile immediatly transformed into a frown - he noticed my foot. I barely made out his mumbled "don't move" and he disappeared around the corner. A few seconds later, he reappeared with a broom and a box of bandages in tow. I obeyed his orders and stayed still, watching him sweep up the glass and grab a bandage wrap, bending down to examine my foot. Would it be to mean to pretend to kick him in the face? Yeah, maybe a little.

"There. Be more careful next time, yeah?" He discarded the wrap back into the box and stepped back to observe his handiwork - only to notice my shirt and pants were soaking wet. A sigh escaped his lips. I shrugged. I was just an absolute mess.

"Follow me." He put the first-aid box back in the closet and led me back to his bedroom. I flinched several times along with the persistant weather. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice.

"Here," I caught the shirt and shorts he flung at me deftly, still a little confused as to why he was lending me clothes. "Wear these. Yours have to be washed, right?"

I nodded. Boy, was he observant.

I scurried into the bathroom and changed into Woohyun's borrowed clothes. As soon as I slipped into his borrowed t-shirt, I was bombarded with his scent. It was nice - not too strong, but still very prominant. As strange as it sounds, it kind of reminded me of the ocean.

I had decided the most polite thing to do would be to say thanks before heading over to my couch, so I ducked into Woohyun's room one last time. He smiled at me and climbed into bed. I opened my mouth to speak but was immediately cut off.

KABOOM!

Another squeak escaped my lips and I flinched, curling in on myself while I was standing in the middle of his room. Woohyun raised an eyebrow at me and smirked.

"Scared of thunder?"

"Yeah..."

"It's just a loud noise. Think of it like fireworks - completely harmless."

"It's not so much the thunder as it is the combination of bright lightning and loud booming noises that are frightening."

"How do you usually cope with it?" He seemed genuinely curious. Strange.

"Well I usually had, uh, someone to hide into." I tried not tot let the blood rush to my cheeks. Woohyun's mouth formed the shape of an "o" and he nodded. Another crack of thunder, another flinch. He sighed and patted the spot next to him on the bed.

"I'll happily be your second best, then."

"Second best?"

"Since your 'someone' isn't here."

I smiled and nodded, but still hesitated before climbing onto his bed next to him. It was strange; I had met Woohyun a few days ago, but it felt like I'd known him for months.

Somehow, we got onto the topic of past relationships. I didn't like talking about old boyfriends or new interests, so I kept everything as vague as I could. Woohyun still didn't know about Jisu. He knew of a particularly troubling ex-boyfriend, but I was careful not to give him any names.

"I, for one, am not proud of any past relationships. Thanks to them, rumours have kind of spread." He brushed some nonexistent dust off his knee, avoiding my gaze.

"Rumours?"

"I seem to have taken on the title of 'Campus Player.' It's not something I'm proud of, believe me. But thanks to some dumb choices as a freshman when it came to girls..." He took on an almost condescending tone, almost like he was beating himself up over something.

"If it's not too much for me to say..."

"Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows, but still didn't look at me.

"It's my guess, and this is just me assuming, that Gyu and the Narcoleptic Dinosaur out there got used to the sock on the doorknob?"

Woohyun flinched. Looks like I had struck home on that one.

"It wasn't really 'got used to.' The more accurate description would be 'became very close friends with.' Dongwoo says Gyu even made that sock his best friend one night. He claims to have the confession filmed on tape somewhere, but I have yet to see it." He tried to make a joke out of it, but I could still tell he was unhappy with himself.

The lights were out, thanks to the storm that was still roaring on the other side of the windows. A semi-uncomfortable silence settled between us. I decided it was probably my job to try and lighten the mood - something I was absolute crap at.

"I trust you, I guess. Rumours are just rumours, right? It's up to people to believe them." See? Utter crap at making things happier.

"Do you believe them?"

"Well, I..." Honestly, I wasn't that sure. I didn't really know Woohyun that well, even though we had just spent the last hour or so talking about ourselves. It was still too early for me to make a decision.

"Think about it," Suddenly, he was on his knees, his arms caging me against the headboard of his bed. I gulped. His eyes held an unreadable expression and he smirked. "You're a girl, I'm a supposed player. We're all alone - the door's closed, the roommates are out cold, and it's just you and me on my bed..." His eyes raked over my body once before locking gazes with me again. "and you're in my clothes." 

This side of Woohyun was almost startling. He had leaned in so close, his lips were practically brushing against mine. I could feel his breath he was so close, but I still couldn't understand what that blasted look in his eyes meant.

"Who's to say I won't try anything?"

"You're trying something right now, aren't you?"

"And you're not enjoying it?"

"If not, I can almost guarantee I'll enjoy it when my fist connects with your face." I evened my gaze and glared at him. It was so hard to come back to my senses with him so close. He laughed and immediately increased the space between us, returning to his original position next to me.

"Threatening."

"When I have to be."

"Thank you though, for sort of trusting me."

I smiled. A little unpredictable, sure, but he wasn't all that bad.

"I think we hardly know each other well enough for me to sort-of trust you, Mr. Woohyun sir."

He laughed and held up his hands jokingly. "My mistake, madam. Perhaps one day we shall?"

"Perhaps."

The rest of that night was a blur. I only remember talking until the early hours of the morning, when we both crashed. A couple hours later and sunlight was steadily streaming in through the window. I squinted, yawned, and stretched out, kind of careful not to hit Woohyun in the face. Although, for startling me like he did, he might deserve a light punch. Either way, I rolled out of bed and, with some effort, stood up.

From atop the bed, Woohyun groaned and rolled over. It didn't take long for him to be more alert than I was. He smirked when he saw me standing in the middle of the room, trying to focus on getting one foot in front of the other so I could go get changed. Woohyun climbed out of his bed and grasped my shoulders so he could lead me over to the closet, where my clothes from last night were hanging up.

"Thanks..."

"No problem."

An awkward air hung over the both of us, and I didn't like it. He was probably thinking about last night. Frankly, so was I. I wanted to know what drove him to suddenly make a move like that. One minute he's talking about a sock on the doorknob and the next he's got me pinned.

"Did you mean what you said last night, about trusting me?" He seemed like he wanted the answer, or else he wouldn't be able to have a normal day. I glanced at him with raised eyebrows and nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, I said it, didn't I?"

He smirked. Uh-oh. I dropped the clothes I was holding as my back hit the closet wall. His left hand was pressed against the surface by my head, and his right was bent so that he could lean in easily. Once again, I found myself frozen as he got closer. he was about in the same proximity as he had been in last night - our lips close enough to brush.

"But are you really sure you meant it?" He looked at me behind half-lidded eyes. Once again, there was something else there I couldn't really place.

I didn't reply. He never lost his smirk. We stayed like that until his left hand lowered, brushing against my side. I tried to surpress the shiver, but even the tiniest touch caused a huge sensation. What the heck?

I coughed and pushed him off of me. Change in the bathroom it was - there was no way I was going to go near him while attempting to. Still, there was something almost off about Woohyun. Even if I didn't know him very well, this didn't seem like normal Nam Woohyun behaviour.

What was up with him?

--------------------------

Oh look, I'm alive (barely). I'm sorry for the lack of update - here's a longish one to make up for it? I've been taking a bit of a mental health break, which I'm still kind of on, so sorry if updates are extremely sporrradic and unpredictable. I felt like I had something else to say, but I can't remember it so, yeah. Bed time (excuse any and all typos, please).