The buzzer drones, and Kangjun stumbles to the speaker box.

“Hello?”

“Pizza delivery for Kangjun?”

“Okay, I’ll be right down.”

He turns to Rome, who’s lying on the couch, eyes-closed, with a forearm to his brow.

“Pizza’s here.”

“Finally.”

“Can you go pick it up at the lobby?”

Rome lets out a displeased groan. “Do I have to?”

“Please?”

Instead of getting up, Rome swiftly flips his body so his face is buried into the sofa. He’s not suspecting Kangjun to immediately throw himself on top of the lazy boy. And all at once, the air is squeezed out of Rome’s chest with a forced exhale.

“Please pick up the pizza? The money’s on the counter.”

Kangjun buries his face into the crook of Rome’s shoulder, and for the moment enjoys the scent of body wash and musk. It’s almost tempting for Kangjun to lie there and ignore the delivery guy in the lobby.

“Okay, get off of me.” Rome manages.

Kangjun gets off as smoothly as he can without further injuring him further. Rome trudges to the counter to get the bills and coins before walking out the door with the most displeased look he’s had yet today.

“He’s finally gone.” Kangjun mutters to himself.

…

“Here you go.” Rome says, handing the delivery guy the payment.

After swiftly ruffling through the cash, he pulls out two bright red cardboard boxes. With that, he thanks Rome for doing business with him, and is then off to make the deliveries he has for the evening. The ride up the elevator is less displeasing as heading down to the lobby – the smell of two medium pizzas (one three cheese, spinach, chicken; the other Hawaiian) brings Rome to full alertness. His legs ache slightly from walking around the pier all day. Nonetheless, he’s focused on being able to sit down and enjoy dinner.

As he walks down the hall to Kangjun’s suite, he turns the knob though it doesn’t move.

“Kangjun, unlock it.”

“What?”

“Open the door.”

“Hold on a second.”

“What’s this guy doing?” Rome mutters to himself.

A few seconds later and Kangjun opens the door a crack to let his face peep through, using his body to stop Rome from pushing door through any further.

“Hi, there.”

“Pizza delivery for Kangjun.” Rome says with a tired smirk.

“I don’t remember ordering any pizza.” Kangjun’s eyes glow, mischievously.

As tired as he is, Rome decides to play along with Kangjun's little game.

“Are you sure? I have here an… extra large, with extra sausage.” Rome ends his statement with his eyebrow raised craftily.

“Hmm, I’m starting to recall that I might have ordered pizza. Do you take credit?”

“Sorry, only cash.”

“Then how am I going to pay for all this meat?” Kangjun asks, with a goofy seductive lip bite.

Rome leans further forward so that their faces barely an inch apart. Words are in the moment of forming, something to end this on-the-spot role play with a corny bang. Though nothing comes to mind and he ends up laughing in Kangjun’s face, who ends up rolling his eyes at the other boy’s lack of creativity. In the end, Rome pecks Kangjun’s forehead with a kiss.

“Is that enough? Now can you let me in?”

Kangjun steps aside and pulls the door wide open so Rome can enter. As both boys walk to the sofa, Rome notices something awfully different about the living room. To one end of the sofa are blankets, as well as pillows from Kangjun’s bedroom. On the coffee table are paper plates, wine glasses, and a pitcher filled with what appears to be sangria.

To top it off, Kangjun’s laptop is hooked to the television, presumably paused at whatever movie Kangjun had picked out for the evening.

It’s safe to say that Rome was shocked at this point – slack-jawed and eyes wide.

“I wanted to say thank you for taking us out today to the beach and the pier.” Kangjun says, scratching his cheek in humility

“Is that sangria?”

“Yeah – I picked up a cheap bottle of wine while you were in the washroom at the pier. The fruits are from whatever I had in the kitchen”

“And the movie?"

Between the two of them it’s usually Rome who picks the movies – he’s the one who keeps track of movie reviews, and big-name directors, and box office hits. For Rome, if it’s a movie he hasn’t heard about, he figures it’s probably not that good of a film to begin with.

“You have to wait and see.”

“You know I hate surprises when it comes to films.”

“Well this is my apartment.” Kangjun says, strutting to the sofa.

This kid, Rome thinks to himself.

He walks around, placing the pizza boxes on the spot that Kangjun frees up on the coffee table after moving the plates and the glasses. They open the delivery and help themselves to a slice, each. Once they're settled, Kangjun gets up quickly to tap the space bar on his laptop. The movie begins and he returns to his spot, pulling a blanket over their bottom halves of their bodies before picking up his plate.

A title card for Universal Pictures pops up, before the TV goes dark. A sultry orchestral tune introduces the movie, along with the title card for the movie.

“Inglourious Basterds.” Rome reads, chuckling to himself.

“You said you wanted me to watch it.” Kangjun says. “Besides if I picked something myself, you wouldn’t have liked it.”

“Fair point.”

…

[10 minutes in…]

“This script is too intense.” Kangjun says.

“That’s Tarantino.”

“Ta-ran-ti-no.” Kangjun enunciates.

“Quentin Tarantino, he’s directed…” 

Ad Rome begins reciting from his vast knowledge of Hollywood cinema. Much to his surprise, Kangjun picks up the slice from Rome’s plate and shoves it his mouth, thus silencing the older boy's lecture.

“I want to enjoy this, hyung.”

Rome smiles before chewing.

[20 minutes in…]

“Oh my gosh, they kill the family?!”

Kangjun winces at the sound of the gunfire, as killing the soldiers shoot family hiding beneath the floorboards. A girl manages to flee the scene.

[25 minutes in…]

“Brad Pitt is very handsome.” Kangjun comments.

“You think he’s handsome? Even with the mustache?”

“Especially with the mustache.”

[35 minutes in…]

The character known as 'The Bear Jew' clubs one of the Nazi soldiers to death with a baseball bat. At this point, Kangjun’s already finished his food, and is clinging for dear life to Rome’s arm. Rome laughs, reminding himself it’s all just a movie magic.

[An hour in…]

“But they’re so cute together.” Kangjun moans.

The girl who fleed from the Nazi squad at the beginning of the movie is now being chased relentlessly but another who’s madly in love with her.

[An hour and thirty…]

Another gun fight ensues. Kangjun’s cowering in the crook of Rome’s shoulder.

“Careful,” Rome mutters, stilling his hand and the glass of sangria he’s holding.

“Sorry.”

A second later, Kangjun snatches the glass from Rome and takes a sip himself.

[An hour and forty…]

“This girl is so pretty.” Kangjun comments.

Rome hands Kangjun the glass, before he stretches on to the length of the sofa, head laying on Kangjun’s lap.

“You better not fall asleep on me.”

“I won’t.”

[Two hours…]

“THEY KILL THE GIRL?!” Kangjun exclaims.

[Two hours, twenty minutes…]

It’s the of the movie. The theatre in the film erupts with explosions and gun fire. By then, Kangjun has become desensitized to it, neither wincing nor cowering at the violence. Instead, Rome looks up from where he’s lying – Kangjun’s eyes are glued to the television screen.

“This movie.” Kangjun mutters as the theatre explodes in one final blast.

[Two hours, thirty minutes.]

The credits are rolling. By then, three quarters of the pizza have been consumed, along with all of the sangria. Kangjun lightly taps Rome’s head, and the older boy sits up straight.

“So what did you think of it?” Rome asks, hesitantly.

“Violent.” Kangjun states. “But also… really funny.”

Rome’s face lights up. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He then turns around to look at the kitchen clock. “It’s almost ten.”

The two stare each other down, and it’s instantly becomes a mind-reading game based on brow movements and cheeky smiles. Rome doesn’t want to leave. Kangjun doesn’t want him to go, either.

“How about dessert?” Kangjun suggests.

Rome smiles enthusiastically. “I'll clean up.”