Archive of Our Own ^beta

Yeonjun gives the long-flight of stairs upon him a defeated sigh. He sags to the wall to catch his breath for a second while the younger keeps on climbing up the steps with ease, both of his hands full of groceries bags. The bags are slipping slowly off from his hand, partly because he’s getting clammy, so he spreads his finger for a beat and adjusts his grip.

A lot of thought trains run through his mind with every step he makes and one of them is; he really shouldn’t have agreed to help his teammate who is also his former high school friend, Taehyun haul his groceries up to his eighth floor apartment.

It is a mistake to think that his leg muscles can afford that much exercise after a long time of ignoring the daily notifications from his fitness app and slacking off with his routine but then again, they are already late for their team meeting at the local cafe near the campus.

Many hands make light work or whatever the saying goes. Taehyun already gave him an early warning that their dorm elevator had broken down two days ago and that his roommate and him had been building up their leg muscles since then. Yeonjun being the elder, he didn’t want to look weak in front of Taehyun and honestly, it's just his luck the first time the younger is inviting him to his place is also the day the elevator is broken.

The elevator had its series of broken down moments at the shittiest times since Taehyun had moved into the apartment four months ago. Taehyun, the freshman, is clearly pissed off and has complained several times to the owner of the building but them with their asian dad, 'if it can be repaired, it can still work,' mentality, Taehyun is at a loss of words.

At least the owner was kind enough to give him a bag of tangerines and towels when he settled in.

Once they finally reach the front door, Taehyun unlocks it and insists that he come inside and take a quick rest in their living room as he is going to take a while to pack his laptop and his bag.

“I’ll be quick. Hyung, sit on the couch and make yourself at home.” He gestures around awkwardly before disappearing into his room.

Yeonjun nods and enters the kitchen. The size is probably not so different from his apartment but maybe it is because too little things are cluttered on the countertops making it seem like the space feels larger. He thought his kitchen was neat but apparently, Taehyun and his roommate (probably) lives off of Pinterest. He feels like stepping into a picturesque post as he places the groceries on the island. The kitchen has cottage vibes albeit the small apartment is located in the city.

He is in the middle of checking out the vines that were framing the wall over the white marbled sink when he hears a door click and hurried footsteps.

“Taehyun-ah, tell me you did not forget to buy my wasabi chips.”

He pivots on his heels and sees the bundled up brunet, shocked to see him as he is. Yeonjun pulls his hand from the plant and shifts closer to the island. Making a note in head that the guy in front of him must be Taehyun’s roommate but also subtly processing the image of him in his head because somehow the brunet looks so familiar. The male tilts his head to his left and offers him a polite smile.

“Hi, are you Taehyun’s friend?”

Yeonjun nods and gives him a smile as well, walking closer to the guy. “Yeah, I’m Yeonjun. Choi Yeonjun. I’m just waiting for Taehyun to pack his stuff. I’m not lurking around your aesthetically pleasing Pinterest kitchen and stealing anything, I swear.”

The male slides his fuzzy hood off his head, his bed hair poofs and he laughs with his eyes scrunched up. Offering his hand (paws, sweater paws), he says, “Nice to meet you, Yeonjun-ssi. I’m Beomgyu, also a Choi. I’m Taehyun’s roommate.”

Bear . Baby bear.

Yeonjun glances at the paw and takes it. Biting down an embarrassing meek sound of endearment from escaping from his lips and screaming internally, he shakes Beomgyu’s hand for only a while, quickly places his hand on his back or he swears to dear god, he will melt. The sweater was soft. He feels insane.

“Are you guys heading out?”

He nods. “We are gonna meet up with our teammates for an assignment. They said to meet up at the local cafe but I haven’t been there since my freshman year and the coffee that time was-” He looks up to Beomgyu and winces, “horrible.”

 Beomgyu laughs again and swats his hand about. 

“That’s old news. The cafe now serves the best coffee in town and the best brownies! Taehyun and I had our brownies addiction for a week last month. Our friend, Huening Kai works there now. He gives us ‘best friend’ discounts sometimes and he makes the best chai latte.”

“I’m kinda an americano guy but I’ll take your word, Beomgyu-ssi.”

Beomgyu pauses from rummaging through the groceries and frowns at him. “Please, just call me Beomgyu. It sounds weird and you’re older than us, right?”

Oh . He nods. “Well if you say that, then you’re gonna do the same.”

Beomgyu fakes a gasp. “I get to call you Yeonjun?” He teases.

“ Hyung . Yeonjun-hyung.” He rolls his eyes fondly as the younger laughs at his response again.

Beomgyu finds the bag of chips he’s been looking for and rips it open effortlessly. He nibbles on one and winces. Remembering that Yeonjun is still right there, an idea pops in his head followed by his playful smirk. He leans over the island to offer the elder some.

“Beomgyu, I know what you’re up to.” Yeonjun warns but still he reaches for a few and munches on them.

“And yet you’re reaching in. It’s not that bad, right?”

His nose scrunches as the wasabi finally sets in this mouth and feels it flaring up his nostrils, inciting a loud laugh coming from the brunet as he also is torturing himself with the snack. Beomgyu pinches his nose, his eyes are watery when he meets the elder’s gaze. He mouthed ‘you’re out of your mind’ at him and Beomgyu doesn’t deny it.

He coughs into his fist, blinking to clear his blurry vision. 

“So uh, Beomgyu, this might sound crazy but have we met somewhere before? You look kinda familiar and I’m starting to lose it trying to figure it out. Well, surely not from Taehyun since he never bothered to post anything on his insta story.”

Beomgyu gets flustered and covers up his face with his paws and before he could answer, Taehyun emerges from the kitchen entrance to resolve his deja vu.

“You’ve probably seen him on TikTok, hyung. Beomgyu hyung is a streamer and he went viral a few days ago when he posted his bunny costume video.” Taehyun says and pointed at the grey bunny head on top of a suitcase in the hallway.

Yeonjun stares at it with his eyes widened, recalling the video he saw just last night before he went to bed. He remembers that he cheered loudly for the streamer in the video for winning the round even though he was having a hard time controlling the mouse and keyboard and fumbling about cutely with the round paws of the costume. Yeonjun didn’t even know what game it was or what it was all about but he enjoyed the short video and so did the 817k likes.

He turns to him. “You’re that streamer?! That’s sick, Beomgyu. I have to say that I don’t play any games but I liked the video.”

He groans into his palms. “You don’t mean that. The costume was embarrassing and so was the video. Stupid FYP algorithm.” He mumbles, shaking his head behind his hands.

“He didn’t mean for the video to get viral but who wouldn’t want to watch a bunny streamer struggling to kill his opponent in a FPS game? It was a good video right, Yeonjun-hyung?”

He nods vigorously.

“Also, your followers have doubled from it. It won’t be long until you reach 50k subs. Be proud because I am.” Taehyun pats on his shoulder and gestures to Yeonjun to move out.

Beomgyu groans and plants his face on the table. Murmurs about his subbers making him go out and buy the stupid bunny costume and Taehyun being a part of it. Taehyun sighs fondly and ruffles Beomgyu’s hair. “Beomgyu hyung, stop grumbling about it and be sure to put away the groceries before I get back. Yeonjun hyung and I are going to Kai’s cafe.”

“-dinner?” He is still muffled by the fuzzy hoodie when he asks. Yeonjun is impressed that Taehyun can figure out what the brunet was trying to say.

“I’ll be back at 8, hopefully. I’ll ask Kai to pack you some donuts and I’ll get us jjajangmyeon from that shop we went to last week.” He notes, already making his way to the front door. Yeonjun follows after him.

“Don’t forget tteokbokki. Thank god you’ve already bought some cheese.” Beomgyu yells from the kitchen.

“We’re leaving. Nice meeting you, Beomgyu-ah.”

“You too!” He peeks from the kitchen and waves them goodbye. 

Cute .

1

Later that evening, after almost two hours of planning and discussing the project with his teammates, Taehyun taps on shoulder and shows him his screen. “Beomgyu hyung just texted me that he is heading here.”

“Okay?" Yeonjun blinks at him. "He needs something from you or?”

Taehyun shakes his head. “He said he’s bored and wants some coffee. He’s off stream today. He is probably going to finish some editing work here and bother Kai at the counter.”

Yeonjun chuckles. “You’re talking like he-”

“Seriously, hyung. He does that all the time. Luckily the manager loves Hyuka so much, she doesn’t have the heart to stop them.”

A notification comes into his phone and Taehyun gasps after reading the text. He immediately reaches for his coat, excuses himself to their teammates but leans in to tell Yeonjun to look out for Beomgyu and make sure that the brunet will not be causing any trouble while he is away. He didn’t tell him why he was leaving in such a hurry but Yeonjun can tell from the faint blush tinting his cheeks and his huge grin, it’s probably his lover. 

Beomgyu comes into the cafe like a bomb. Silently as he creeps up from behind him and surprises the hell out of him by snatching the ice americano on the table -the one Taehyun had ordered for him before he ran out like a giggly teenager. He nonchalantly takes a seat beside him while he is all dressed up like a bomb himself.

The Beomgyu he met just a while ago at his house was soft and fluffy but the Beomgyu that is sitting beside him and now greeting his teammates warmly is practically a jab to his chest, stealing all his oxygen away before they reach the exchanging point in his lungs. He is wearing a light pink jacket over his flowy white blouse and a silk choker beautifully wrapped below his Adam's apple. Yeonjun watches it bops when the younger gulps down the americano in his hand. His golden rimmed glasses is the one that made his stomach flip with butterflies camping all over and his cheeks flush. He has to look away before Beomgyu realises that he is staring and drooling all over him.

“Hi, hyung. We meet again.”

“Hey. I- uh.” Yeonjun curses at himself for stumbling for his words like a child. “You’re not going to cause chaos with your friend behind the counter today, right?”

Beomgyu stares at him, with his brow arched. Yeonjun has to look away again.

“Did Taehyun tell you that Hyuka and I were a total menace to this place? I swear, that boy talks like he is so innocent when he is the one who catalysed each of our every commotion. We’re not that loud and his manager hasn’t kicked us out yet, so you get my point.”

Yeonjun props his hand on the table and meets his gaze. “I doubt that people will care if you’re all dressed up pretty like that. I’d say they should be appreciating the view.” 

Honestly he doesn’t even know where his confidence suddenly comes from but with Beomgyu sitting by his side like this he feels like something had to be done. He realises a little bit too late that this is not what had to be done. He probably should not be flirting with his best friend’s roommate whom he had just met a few hours ago.

Beomgyu glances at the other teammates who are as dumbfounded as he is by the elder’s words. The girl behind her laptop is biting down her smile so hard while the other two guys look at them, intrigued written on their faces. 

Yeonjun sees the panic in his eyes and tries to cover it with a dumb laugh and the tension dissipated slightly. He tells Beomgyu that he is welcomed to stay and tune in for their discussion but the younger gives it a hard pass and excuses himself to move to another table. Yeonjun watches as Beomgyu pulls out his laptop and starts doing his work on it. Every once in a while a tall waiter who he guesses is the Huening Kai, Taehyun and Beomgyu has been talking about comes to Beomgyu’s table and chatted with him. A few laughs burst from them, drawing unwanted attention around the cafe but most of the people seemed indifferent. 

Yeonjun should really leave his dorm more often.

Taehyun comes back not long after with a different coat than what he was wearing before. (It is too big for him). He is also wearing a huge smile that makes his eyes curve into crescents, and apparently Beomgyu and the waiter knows what he was up to. He gives Beomgyu a threatening wave before he takes his former seat and they continue to immerse themselves with the halfway done project once again. 

After they leave the cafe, Yeonjun pulls the sleepy Taehyun aside to ask him about something. There are too few customers by then as it is nearing midnight so he offers to walk the younger back to his apartment. Beomgyu had long left the cafe with Kai when the latter’s shift ended earlier that night and they went to the jjajangmyeon place together. Yeonjun praised the gods above when the brunet was finally out of his sight because he, for the love of god, couldn't stop glancing at him. He swears that his stomach was doing somersaults everytime Beomgyu pushed the rim of his glasses up his nose bridge. He felt (love)sick.

“It’s about Beomgyu hyung isn’t it.”

Yeonjun shushes him and glances around. Taehyun frowns at him and throws a light punch on his chest.

“You had been burning holes into his face the whole night, hyung. As if you haven’t been that obvious since this morning.”

Yeonjun pouts and also frowns. “What do you mean by that?”

“Hyung, you looked like you were about to get on one knee and propose to him.” He deadpans.

“I DID NOT! Yah, Kang Taehyun!” He sputters and the younger is clearly enjoying him in that state.

“Deny all you want, Yeonjun-ssi. It doesn’t change the fact that you have a crush on my roommate.” 

He pursed his lips into a thin line and sighs, seeing that there is no point in arguing with Taehyun and both of them are already beat from brainstorming all night. 

“Alright, fine. I do have a tiny crush on him.”

Taehyun puffs out his chest and gives him the stupidest smirk that clearly says, ‘I've told you so.’

“But more than that, I’m not planning to ask him out anytime soon. I do like Beomgyu and- stop looking at me like that- I am serious when I say that I am not going to date your roommate, Taehyun. Yet.” He pauses and looks at him. “The point is, Beomgyu is a really cool guy. I kind of want to be friends with him.”

Taehyun arches his brow. “Kind of?”

“I do want to be friends with him and then, you know. If it works, it works. You know how I roll.”

“I’ve already forgotten. When was the last time you dated, hyung? Sophomore in high school? I remembered the guy was the son of our local bakery and you asked me to go and visit the shop almost everyday. You don’t even like bread that much.” Taehyun cringes as he reminisces.

“Yes and he was a sweetheart. He appreciates my bread puns even though he sometimes hates them. Stop cringing like you didn’t have a crush on him too, you brat and where did you run off to this evening, huh? You have a boyfriend and you don’t even bother to tell me.”

Taehyun pinches his cheeks in endearment, baby noises come out of his lips and he takes the chance to change the topic to the first thing Yeonjun was going to ask him. Yeonjun gives him a side eye but it goes unnoticed as the alley they are walking in is quite dark. Surely enough, he is going to dig out every piece of information about his secret boyfriend someday.

“Hyung, come on, my apartment is only four blocks away now.”

Yeonjun looks up ahead and halts. “Beomgyu, which site or app does he use to stream?” 

Taehyun waits and when Yeonjun doesn’t continue, he stops on his track too and turns to him.

“That’s it? Are you planning to be a creepy subber or something?” Taehyun blurts out, which earns a few smacks on the back of his head for it.

2

Yeonjun has successfully become a part of Taehyun’s small circle (Taehyun, Beomgyu, Kai and himself) in less than two months. He already invites himself into Taehyun and Beomgyu’s apartment more than a couple of times. Mostly he just hangs out with Taehyun and Kai- He already adopted Hyuka, he is Yeonjun’s baby now- since the streamer is always cooped up in his room and rarely leaves his room unless it’s for class, meal times or bathroom breaks. 

Recalling Taehyun’s earlier notice regarding forming a friendship with Beomgyu going to be arduous, he still pursues it and more. He sometimes comes over to their house and cooks dinner for the four of them and on Fridays they would have their movie nights and he admits that it is a lot of fun. He had never cooked for any of his other friends but he is more than willing to cook for them. They love his cooking and on some days it came out bad but neither of them cared, the way they dig in and savour it shows that they truly appreciate his cooking. 

During his early years in the university, all he ever does all day is go to class, rush for lunch and go back to his dorm for dinner and sleep. Contrary to popular belief, he is indeed good at making friends but he is bad at keeping up with them. Some he felt less connected and some were just contacted for weekend parties and social events that he attends when he’s feeling it and when he needs to run from his roommates. He was stuck in a rinse and repeat situation and he honestly hates it. Meeting Taehyun again on campus really is a blessing which leads him to meet Kai and Beomgyu. It's like a breath of fresh air just knocked itself into his lungs, allowing blood to circulate throughout his body and taking awareness in his every action.

Having a small close-knit group of friends is something he had never experienced and caring for each one of them while also being cared for feels amazing. Sleepovers are also becoming more and more frequent, to the point that he’d more than once found himself bundled up in a blanket on Taehyun and Beomgyu’s couch rather than in his own bed.  

Which is why when Beomgyu runs out of his room that evening when he enters the apartment after a long day of classes, he feels his heartstrings tugged firmly even though he isn’t mainly the reason why the younger ran for. 

Despite telling Taehyun that he wants to be friends with Beomgyu -they did and Taehyun regrets it because they’re both devil incarnations- he doesn’t back down with his flirting game. Even though their start was not that great because he backed down like a coward after picking the wrong timing, Yeonjun thinks that things between them are going steadily. Like sometimes, when he playfully flirt-teases with the younger, Beomgyu would do it back to him, rarely and shyly. Which easily turns him into a flustered mess and earned a disgusted glare from Taehyun and a giggly Kai. 

He still believes that he is not that close to Beomgyu though. The other two boys get to freely enter his room where his streaming and gaming setup are propped up at the corner of his room (he peeked secretly once and don’t forget that he religiously watches Beomgyu’s streams) but he, until now still hasn’t stepped into the room. Not even the tip of his nose.  

Not that Yeonjun is upset about it or anything since he gets to see it on stream regularly and it is not a big deal. He respects Beomgyu’s personal space. Really, but he sometimes yearns to.

“Hey, pretty. What's up?”

“Hyung, is the elevator working?”

Yeonjun nods, wondering the sudden question that comes out of the brunet.

“Did you see a parcel of mine outside the door? It’s medium sized, I think.” Beomgyu tries to visualise the size and shape of the box to him which is effortlessly cute and hilarious.

He bites back a laugh, eyes fleeting to the brown box lying behind the couch in the living room that catches his eye. He stops the younger and twirls him around by the waist. A very brisk realisation hit him for 0.001s that Beomgyu has a tiny waist and silently he makes a note of that.

“Is that it? I didn’t see that when I left the house this morning.”

Beomgyu gasps and quickly hops towards it. He looks suspiciously happy and bouncy when he hauls up the box and pulls Yeonjun into the kitchen to unbox it with him. Taehyun, who is in the kitchen, gives them a short glance before going back to scrolling through his twitter, uninterested with whatever shenanigans they're up to today.

Yeonjun settles the groceries by the sink before joining back to watch Beomgyu with a cat paw cutter in his hand reveals the content of the parcel.

“What is that?”

Beomgyu chuckles as he rips the plastic packaging open and pulls out the garment into full display. Surely enough, that garment catches Taehyun’s attention in just a blink and when he meets the brunet's eyes, they both bark out a loud laugh like total lunatics.

“Hyung, is that it ? I thought it was one of your fan parcels when I brought it inside.” Like a magnet, Taehyun beckons over to his side and begins to examine the said garment.

Beomgyu and Taehyun begin to fuss over it while Yeonjun is still trying to process the whole thing. Taehyun notices his silence and laughs at him.

“Hyung, I thought you’re Beomgyu hyung’s number one fan?” 

Taehyun points out and it only earns it a frown from the elder because what does that have to with it?

“It’s for his 100k subscribers celebration stream tonight.” He says as a matter of fact.

He turns with his jaws dropped to the overjoyed brunet who is putting the garment over his chest.

“In a maid outfit?!”

Beomgyu pursed his lips. “Well I asked my viewers what they want me to do when I reach 100k and the vote resulted with me wearing a maid outfit. It was on my twitter.” He looks at him before shyly looking away. “It’s just for tonight. I promise I won’t violate you guys' eyes and wear this outfit around the house. Pinky promise!”

Taehyun snaps a shaky selfie of them and sends it to their group chat where Kai can see it. Dozens of sounds of notification come through each of their phones just a few seconds later.

“Taehyun-ah, at least send him a better picture of me. You have to take my picture for instagram before I stream tonight.”

Yeonjun sighs and snatches the outfit from him. He checks it out for a while before returning it with an obvious blush tinting his cheeks and ears. The outfit isn’t that slutty. Yes, he’s being blunt but he is telling the truth. Beomgyu is fashionable and isn’t afraid to try new things, everyone he knows will agree with that statement. The outfit is thankfully long sleeved, the big bow is adorned by lace and bells and Yeonjun loves how the black frills with white laces flow across the shoulder. The cuffs are cute too, there are laces sewn to face each other with a thin black ribbon in between and it is fixed before the gentle ripply bell cuffs. The corset in the middle is fairly sized and with the help of the white ribbons strewn across, it made the middle part pop out.

“I know you’ll look cute but tell me you’re going to wear shorts underneath it right?”

Beomgyu doesn’t answer him, his eyes go to the ceiling instead of meeting him. Yeonjun has to tug his forearm and leans to his face to make the brunet look directly at him.

“I don’t know. Should I?”

Yeonjun smacks Beomgyu’s left cheek lightly, an ‘owie’ slips out of his lips.

“Yes?? Beoms, there are predators out there just waiting for you to slip up.”

He brushes Yeonjun’s hand off his arm. “ Predators . Come on, it’ll be fine. They won’t be able to see my lower half anyways. I’m just going to sit and play some games. I don’t think the dress is that short.”

Yeonjun shakes his index finger at his face. “No no no no. You still have to wear it. Do it for Taehyun-”

“Leave me out of this.”

“Do it for Hyuka-”

“Hyuka too.”

He glares at Taehyun on the island. “Fine. Do it for me. Do it for my sanity!”

Beomgyu pouts. “But I don’t have shorts for it. Mine are all too baggy.”

Yeonjun takes that as a cue to run to the closet room across the hallway and look for his shorts. He is positive that he had left a few of his articles in this house, mainly hoodies and t-shirts -secretly hoping that Beomgyu will wear them. He rummages through the shelf and finds it tucked beneath his ripped jeans. He jogs back to the kitchen and chucks it at the brunet.

“But-”

“Wear mine instead. I insist.”

“This is stupid.”

“It isn’t. You know that I like you-” He drags. “-r. Your thighs, right?” He licks his bottom lip and laughs awkwardly. That slip up is not supposed to be anywhere near his mouth. “Your beautiful smooth thighs that I want them to sandwich me are ours to look at and stare at, not for the public's eyes.”

Taehyun glances up from his phone and glares at him like he just insulted all of his ancestors. He doesn’t miss the way Beomgyu’s cheeks are tinted with faint pinks and the corner of his lips are curling.

“You are disgusting, hyung. I can’t believe you. Foreshadowing your kinks right at my face. I'm leaving.” He shakes his head and jumps off the island with ease. Picking up his coat from the stool, he bids them both goodbyes but is stopped immediately.

Taehyun is acting suspicious. He called Yeonjun earlier in the evening to come over and cook for them but now he’s suddenly announcing that he’s leaving. Not that the blond doesn’t put on his perfume everytime he leaves the house but he is wearing the perfume and his lips are glossy. Kang Taehyun had always hated it when Yeonjun tried to put his lip gloss on the younger.

“Kang-ssi, where are you going? I’m going to make us rabokki for dinner.”

“Obviously I’m going out for a date with my boyfriend. Don’t wait up, losers.” Taehyung spins, gives them the loser beam over his forehead and quickly leaves the house.

It takes Yeonjun a while to realise that he is left alone with the boy that he (still) likes for the first time he’s been in this close-knit friends group. Beomgyu smacks his lips before suddenly he scurries back to his room, leaving the shorts behind. Yeonjun trails after him and he never thought that today would be the day he gets to enter the gamer’s room, uninvited but allowed.

Eyes darting around the room, he finally spots the space he’s been dying to check out but too embarrassed to ask the streamer since day one. He approaches it but Beomgyu beats him to it as he plops down on his gaming chair and twirls it to face the dual monitor. The soft blue purple light that glows from beneath his table resembles the twilight skies that he loves to stare and sink his mind into. The back of the monitor setup is facing and attached to the side of the unmade bed. Tall enough to not let the person sleeping on it to accidentally knock it down yet low enough to let the person be able to watch movies while snuggled comfortably in the bed. He supposes that the main attractions are the stream deck, the fancy microphones and the lights but the tall bookcase besides all of that, captivated him a lot more. He never knew Beomgyu reads.

His eyes skims through the shelves along with his fingertips grazing the book spines. There are classical books, fictions, albums and keep cases of games which he sorts them according to their height and colours. It is very eye-pleasing and neat. He knows for a fact that the streamer is a mild perfectionist. Maybe that is one of the reasons he enjoys watching Beomgyu’s streams. His aesthetic, his choice of background music to play while he plays the game and his low yet husky voice. The way they pull Yeonjun in, deeper yet comforts him and wants to be closer to see for himself that he isn’t falling into an abyss and not running through an unending tunnel. 

“Beoms, the shorts.”

The younger flaunts his hand over his shoulder and tries to accept it without averting his eyes off the screens and whines when Yeonjun actually places it and feels the weight in his grasp.

“I told you I don’t want to.”

“You’re either wearing this or I’ll go out and buy those ridiculously long socks at the convenience store next block you’ve always made fun of.” He threatens.

Beomgyu throws the shorts across the room, pulls up his legs to his chest and buries his face on them. 

“I’m not doing it so get out of my room.” He murmurs.

“Why not?”

“W-well, Taehyun agreed to take my picture in the outfit and you saw how he looked when he left. I just know that he's not going to be back until midnight. Soobin hyung doesn't come to town that often.” He says as a matter of fact.

"Who? You know Taehyun's boyfriend??"

Beomgyu shoots up his head and turns to him, his eyes relaxed. "Oh, you must be- I know how Taehyun rarely talks about this love life, it all so happened to be that I am Soobin's best friend. If it isn't for that, I'm sure that I’d also be in your shoes."

"I still can't believe that I haven't heard or met my best friend since high school's boyfriend." He sighs, leaning on the bookcase frame. “That aside, if you’re serious about taking that picture, I’m right here though? You know I’m the best between us at taking photos and selcas.”

Beomgyu groans into his hands. “Photogenic, I’m not going to dress up in front of you! I’m not some pervert. I’d rather throw myself in front of a car than letting you take pictures of me in that outfit.”

“Pervert?” He scoffs. “Hello, Ben Choi? Have you already forgotten that I watch your streams and sometimes clip them for you? Also, I can’t see the reason you have to be ashamed of me, I’ve already seen you in just box-”

Beomgyu cuts him off by screaming, jumps off his chair and shoves the elder out of his room easily since he is caught off guard. He slams the door on his face but before Yeonjun can bash his knuckles on it and start his murderous countdown, the brunet yells, “Shut up, I’m going to change now. Just wait outside and find a background for my photo or something and get ready with your camera.”

Yeonjun smiles and yells an OK to the brunet behind the door. It takes him about three minutes to find a spot with ample lighting and about six minutes for Beomgyu to walk out of his room in the costume sheepishly. Yeonjun has to set up a mantra in his head to not stare at his friend like a pervert. Beomgyu was right when he told him that the dress wouldn’t be that short but he is not up to taking any risks.

The impromptu photoshoot went smoothly. Beomgyu is an excellent model and Yeonjun makes sure to tell him that which earns a cute smile and a low thank you. He is also two minutes late from his live stream so again they rush into Beomgyu’s room and set up everything that needs to be, the youtube silver play button is ready on his side.

Once the live stream starts and the waiting screen is on, floods of chats fill the side of his screen, sending their greetings to each other and mostly to the streamer and sharing their excitement for tonight’s special content.

Yeonjun would love to stay and watch -it is his dream to be able to do that- but he looks at Beomgyu who has his eyes shut, stretching his upper body and his mouth, his legs tapping on the floor, makes him realise that even though he has done this a dozen of times, he is still won’t be able to shake of the feeling of nervousness. Yeonjun is about to leave the room but before he exits, Beomgyu calls for him.

“This isn’t stupid, right?” He whispers but enough for Yeonjun to catch them.

He can feel the weight that Beomgyu has been keeping silent just from those words. His eyes are round, staring into his eyes as they wait for him to give him some sort of confirmation that he’s not making a fool out of himself. That he is not digging himself a deeper grave.

He stares back, making them tell the boy that insecurity doesn’t belong in those orbs and lifts the corner of his lips. “No, Bear. You’re doing amazing.”

Beomgyu finally heaves out his breath and nods.

“Hey, uh- don’t worry too much, hyung. I already have my modders up to look out for weird and horny viewers. Let’s have fun with the stream tonight, yeah?”

Yeonjun meets his soft gaze and holds them for a while. He nods.

“Congratulations on your 100k subscribers, Beomgyu-ah.”

3

Beomgyu is mindlessly scrolling through his twitter feed on his bed, opening and closing videos, sometimes pressing the heart button when the cat video made him giggle when he suddenly went blank. He tosses the phone aside and rolls over to the desk, peeking at the screen to see if the dreadful loading line has crawled to the end of the page or not.

He cheers when the video he had been editing since the evening has been uploaded, scrolling down the screen a little bit, a smile cracks across his face when the view counts are slowly but surely going up as the time ticks. Giving it a satisfied nod, he climbs off the bed and Beomgyu thinks that he deserves a midnight snack after working so hard today. 

The hallway is silent. Beomgyu peeks on Taehyun’s door and sees no light coming from the gap beneath, which means he’s asleep. Good for him, he does have an early class tomorrow and they promised Kai to watch his band perform later that night. Kai had excitedly told them that his band is finally going to play the piece he has been working on since the time he joined them. That was a few months ago. Who is Taehyun and Beomgyu to let the huge puppy down? The fact that they both know how hard Kai worked and talked about the piece is enough to make them know that tomorrow night’s show is going to be worth it. 

Beomgyu makes his way to the living room to grab his wallet but is shocked by the male sitting at the end of the couch, spine bent towards his laptop and his fingers gliding over the keyboard without a break. 

He didn’t know Yeonjun was staying over for the night. Not that the elder hasn’t done it before, it’s just that Beomgyu kind of feels a little bit awkward around him. Maybe or maybe not because of the maid outfit but also because the elder shows that he actually cares about him. The way he looks at him, picks him up after class to get lunch together and the way he talks about Beomgyu to his friends like streaming games in his crappy room is the most wonderful thing to put all of his time and effort on. No one does it like Yeonjun and it gives him a particularly warm feeling in his chest that he quickly boxes it and throws it right away behind the ‘No Entry’ door in his mind. He knows what it is and he is not going to entertain it.

Shuffling his feet against the floor, he goes to pick up his wallet on the coffee table which finally startled Yeonjun, tearing his eyes from the screen. Yeonjun gives him a small smile, pushes up his glasses and goes straight back to his laptop. 

He must be really busy. Beomgyu contemplates a while to ask him about something but decides that it’s better not to disturb the elder’s concentration and makes a beeline for the convenience store at the next building. 

He cards his fingers through his hair, letting the cold night air blow them in place. He makes a quick stop to the ramen aisle and not forgetting to grab some banana milk. There is no line in the store and the middle aged cashier lady already knew him as a student from the university nearby gives her a curt nod. The cashier sneaks in a pack of gummies and they both share a smile. She always gives him two when he comes here with Taehyun, so Beomgyu gives her a gratitude bow and leaves the store only after the lady told him not to sleep too late and waves him to leave.

He skips his way back to his apartment and it doesn’t surprise him that Yeonjun hasn’t moved an inch since his departure.

“Why do you look so stressed out? I thought that's supposed to be my job.” He plops down next to him and places the plastic bag on the table.

Yeonjun jumps in his seat again, mumbling a soft curse under his breath and shoves Beomgyu playfully. Beomgyu laughs at the easily startled elder who is rubbing his eyes behind the glasses and setting his laptop off his lap.

“Don’t do that, Beoms. When did you come back?”

He shrugs. “Just now. I’m craving ramen. Want to eat with me?” Beomgyu offers, tilting his head to his side.

It makes Yeonjun smile with his already droopy eyes, he nods and they move to cook their ramen in the kitchen. Unconsciously they both fall into a gentle rhythm together, Beomgyu handing over the scissors for Yeonjun to open the seasonings. While the brunet fills up the pot with water, Yeonjun breaks the ramen into halves and tosses them in right after Beomgyu empties out all of the seasonings into the pot. They both stand in front of the stove side by side, Yeonjun stirring. 

Beomgyu notices that the steam from the pot is starting to fog up Yeonjun’s glasses and laughs at the struggling elder.

“You can’t see anything now, silly.”

He reaches for the bridge and carefully slides it out of Yeonjun’s face. He knows that the elder is now distracted by him, the chopsticks stirring the ramen has halted and Beomgyu wipes the lens on his shirt and puts the glasses on himself.

“Does it look good on me?” Beomgyu puts on the goofiest smile he can make.

Yeonjun stares softly at the brunet for almost ten whole seconds, before his face turns into a scowl and shoves away the younger with his shoulder, hands back to stirring their midnight snack.

“You look like an idiot.”

“I knew you’d say that.” He glances at the noodles, trying to calm down the maddening throb of his heart from Yeonjun’s stare. “I think it’s done, I’ll bring the bowls and chopsticks.”

They eat the ramen in silence, both of them gobbles down the food until there’s nothing left in the pot. Beomgyu straights up his back and stretches back to the seat, patting his full tummy. Yeonjun reaches for the banana milk and downs it all in one go, hissing a little bit from the spiciness of the ramen. His lips red and glistening under the soft kitchen light.

Beomgyu doesn’t realise he was staring until those pair of plump red lips parts and speaks to him.

“Thank you,” Yeonjun rubs his nape sheepishly. “For the ramen and the drink. I needed a break.”

“When did you start working in the living room? I didn’t know you were coming over today. I was editing my videos in my room all night but you seriously look like shit, hyung. No offence.”

Yeonjun rubs his face and sighs heavily in his palm. He parts his fingers so his right eye can see Beomgyu when he answers, “Since five p.m? I think?”

Beomgyu’s forehead creases. He remembers leaving his room around twelve-thirty and that means he’s been working on his assignment for more than seven hours.

“Non-stop? Hyung, don’t you think you’re pushing yourself too hard?”

“I tend to lose track of time a lot. It's been a habit since middle school and also since I’m an only child. No siblings to look after, no pets either. My mom got us a maid, so everything in the house is pretty much taken care of. I don’t get any distractions which is a good and unfortunately a bad thing.” Yeonjun says, swiping his finger on his nose.

Beomgyu stares for a while. “My attention span is short like a puppy. My brother has told me more than once that I’m always a bother when he wants to study. He particularly hates me more during exam weeks and I’d always get lonely. I clearly just wanted his attention.” He states, leaving a confused Yeonjun.

“What I mean is, I can be your comma if you want. You can do your work in my room if you want, at my beanbag or on my bed. That way, I can remind you to take a short break and I’ll also have company.”

Yeonjun arches a brow at the brunet. “A comma ?”

Beomgyu nods. “A soft pause. I-is it stupid?”

“NO. It's a good idea, Beomgyu-ah,” Yeonjun releases the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I like being around you- I mean, it's a nice thought. Thank you.”

The brunet giggles. “You’re not going to thank me long until you finally realise that I am a really annoying person when you work.”

4

Ever since that night, Yeonjun and Beomgyu have been inseparable. They would hang out every single time they could -coffee shops, Kai’s live bands performances, Beomgyu's room and even at their local supermarket- and with Yeonjun spending a lot of nights and days at Taehyun and Beomgyu’s which they have all concluded that the elder has practically moved in with them.

Taehyun liked it better this way. He never liked Yeonjun's roommates, saying they were rude assholes. Bad influences for his best friend and too wild. Yeonjun doesn’t defend them though. His toothbrush has already claimed a spot in the bathroom, extra pillows are piled in each of the guys’ rooms and his lego sets are everywhere around the house and spreaded on Beomgyu’s carpet. 

Speaking of legos, on one fine evening, Yeonjun came home and burst into the living room excitedly. Showing off the huge box of lego sets which he bought at the mall -with great bargain- that covers half of his size to Beomgyu. The younger was more impressed with the fact that Yeonjun had been carrying that gigantic box with a magical princess castle on each side through the mall with that face. 

"Don't be a meanie. I want to open it. Let's open it, Beomie!"

Beomgyu stopped him from plopping down at the centre of the living room.

"Hyung, not here. Taehyun stepped on a lego piece last week and he swore that he'll kill you the next time."

That instantly got him right back on his feet. "Alright, not in the living room."

So they went into Beomgyu's room and Yeonjun happily spreaded the legos all over his carpet, explaining to him about the strategies of building lego sets and how much time did he take to complete his recent build. A few of those said lego sets are now perched on Beomgyu’s shelf. He got his own part of the shelf which he is thankful for and super proud of every time they’d show up in Beomgyu’s livestreams. Beomgyu just sat on the bed and listened to him, his eyes were fond.

Before the older could forget, he handed him a rather medium-sized box that he kept in his bag. Beomgyu hesitated at first but when he saw the front of the packaging, he took it excitedly from his grasp. The streamer could not believe his eyes and did take a few quick glances at him to make sure he was serious at giving him the box. It was also a lego set but smaller and it was the flower lego set that had been released recently. Beomgyu had seen some posts and videos about the lego set while he was scrolling through his feed and he had planned to give them to Yeonjun one day. 

The lego set made Beomgyu blush and his heart soared. Never had he received flowers from anyone in his life and Yeonjun made it a hundred times cuter with the flowers being legos -his second favourite thing in the world. 

Yeonjun saw the tips of Beomgyu’s ears turning red and he had to bite his bottom lip to hold himself from smiling like an idiot too.

“Want me to help you build the bouquet?”

“YES.” He quickly answered, his head turned too fast to face the elder that he swore he had a little whiplash. Didn’t care if the elder could see the growing heart in his eyes.

Beomgyu decided to display the lego bouquet beside his monitor after he bought a nice vase for it online where he could look at it easily. He claimed that it made his set up more livelier with the eternally blooming flower bouquet. Taehyun claimed that Beomgyu was whipped for the flower giver. He’s not quite wrong.

Yeonjun would sometimes fall asleep in Beomgyu’s bed after watching late night dramas or movies with him. Sometimes they wake up tangled with each other and other times, they wake up with Beomgyu buried in his chest and Yeonjun breathing in his fluffy hair. They don’t make it weird though as they each found comfort in each other.

But Soobin comes by one morning and is freaking out by the scene. His distress can be heard all over the house, alarming his own boyfriend and waking up the two guys in the bed. 

That’s how Yeonjun first met Soobin. 

He definitely gains a side glare from Soobin when they all gather around in the kitchen for breakfast, his arms folded across his chest. Taehyun is at the stove, grilling some bacon and sausages while Yeonjun helps to make some egg rolls. Clearly, Soobin isn't pleased by the sight of his best friend buried in a stranger's embrace.

"Stop throwing daggers at him, Soobinie hyung." He hears Beomgyu hisses at the tall guy. They are standing near the sink, waiting for the other batch of hash browns to cook in the oven.

Soobin tsks at the brunet and shoves hash browns in his cheeks.

"How can I not be surprised? I didn't contact you for only a week because of my class schedule and you're already sleeping with someone."

"That's not someone . That's Yeonjun hyung."

Both of his brows lift as his eyes widen. "Bitch, you're not denying?"

Beomgyu slaps the guy's chest. "He is Taehyun's best friend! And mine and Hyuka's. You’ve been stuck by my side since daycare, you ought to know better."

The tall male puffs his cheeks before he sighs and relaxes. 

Yeonjun pivots on his heels to place the perfectly rolled eggs on a plate and they both watch him in amusement as he cuts them equally sized each. He lifts his head to Beomgyu but is greeted by Soobin’s unwavering glare on him instead.

"Hi, I'm Yeonjun, Choi Yeonjun." 

He offers his hand and the tall guy takes it after a while -after Beomgyu elbows him in the guts. 

Yeonjun understands why the male was acting like that and he isn't mad at him. It seems that Soobin is the protective best friend type but that just makes Yeonjun want to get to know the guy better. He is Taehyun’s mysterious boyfriend and apparently Beomgyu’s number one best friend and Yeonjun did. Even though Soobin seemed like a tough person to crack, the male opens up to him easily after they all sit down at the dining table for breakfast. He gets to find out all sorts of things about him like how he is currently studying in a pastry school in the town almost two hours away from here, how he is 185cm and constantly banging his head at entrances and how Soobin met Taehyun.

"Wait, you're older than us right?"

Yeonjun nods. Soobin turns his head towards Taehyun, tilts it to his left and asks, "Is he the Yeonjun hyung who drove you to our first date?"

"I did?"

Taehyun looks up from his eggs and nonchalantly nods. "You did." 

He scoffs. "How come I am not aware of it? Is this when you told me you're going to-" He gasps dramatically. "You tricked me."

"No. You offered the ride, hyung."

"I knew something was on." No, he didn’t. He squints his eyes anyways. "And I had the chance to uncover the truth."

He turns to Beomgyu beside him and nudges him. “Bear, do you know about this?”

Taehyun chuckles at that, followed by the others. 

“Beomgyu hyung was the one who set us up. Sort of. He suggested that I commute to the town two hours away from here to fetch the cake his friend made for him when I told him I didn’t know how to spend my day off. Honestly, hyung just wanted me to do his work for him.” He rolls his eyes at the brunet which earns a lazy shrug from him.

"You asked for a breath of fresh air, and I gave you one. Although you also got your breath taken away by Soobin's dim- ouch!" He groans, holding onto his shin that is kicked swiftly by Taehyun.

"What was that for?! We all know you're head over heels for your giant boyfriend!" He cries out and slams his hand on the table, making the plates, chopsticks and Yeonjun's tower of rolled eggs tumble and shake with the sudden impact. Soobin tries to calm them from flipping the table and getting at each other's throats.

“Instead, I am the one doing the work for him.” Yeonjun suddenly deadpans, like everybody else in the room hadn't already figured it out.

Taehyun drops his chopsticks and claps for the elder. 

“Well, now we all know. Let's all cheer for Yeonjun hyung for making our relationship a thing."

They all cheer to spite him while Soobin cheers in small. Yeonjun rolls his eyes fondly at the blond and threatens to throw the hash browns at his face. When he thinks about it, he doesn't mind at all since now he can see for himself that they make a cute couple and their height difference is simply adorable. 

"Oh, Beomgyu hyung, we're going to a party tonight. Hyuka invited us and told us to invite you and Yeonjun hyung too."

"But I have to stream tonight." 

"Stream early then. I'm sure they'll all still tune in." Taehyun glances at him after saying that, a shit-eating grin playing on his lips.

Beomgyu still shakes his head. "Can't. I planned to get my assignment done by today and god knows how long I procrastinated."

Soobin holds onto his boyfriend's arm. "Then we'll fetch you after you're done?"

"No need. I'll just take the bus but I'll be going home with you guys."

(1)

Beomgyu types in the last word of the essay and presses in the period with a heavy sigh of relief. He spends another five minutes scanning through the whole essay for any sorts of error before handing it in. Double checking that he has hit the submit button, he sits back on his chair and glances at the clock on his left. 

9:57.

They’re probably already partying away. Soobin is most likely on his third drink for the night. Beomgyu decides to get up and take a quick shower as he feels a bit grimy. He doesn’t forget to put on his perfume after he pulls a silk white shirt over his head and slipping into a green bomber jacket. Styling his hair into the way he wants, he takes a last look at the mirror and nods. He thinks about putting on glitters under his eyes but it’d probably be an overkill because of the faint dark circles. Nobody wants to see a vampire pretending to be a fairy.

As he walks to the nearest bus stop, he sends a quick text to Taehyun, who he assumes is the sober driver for the night that he is on his way. The younger’s response is late and it puts a frown all over his face.

Tyun

You’re gonna be blown away

Bamgyu

A little context would be a great help

??Are you drunk

Tyun

I’m not but Binnie keeps shoving his disgusting drinks to my face

My bf is so cute

He’s full of giggles tonight!!

A D O R A B L E

Bamgyu

TMI

You’re a gigantic simp

Also, not answering my question

Tyun

I was talking about Yeonjun hyung

He’s dressed like a total hottie tn

🔥🔥🔥

Beomgyu lifts a brow. It’s rare to see Taehyun praise someone like that -except for his boyfriend. Maybe something interesting will happen tonight. 

Tyun

Soobinie also approves but too many admirers

Istg ppl!!

Attracted to him like a magnets

Come here quick b4 someone slips him away

He tilts his head to the window and looks up ahead. It’s going to take approximately another eight minutes to arrive at the neighbourhood. He texts Taehyun to wait for him and Beomgyu receives a shaky and blurry selfie of him and his drunken boyfriend with a caption OK with a heart in return. He shakes his head, sighs before saving it into his gallery. Beomgyu has tons of the couple's photos kept in his gallery. A few that he took himself and the rest are from their snapchats. 

He met Taehyun last year, during the students moving in day at their current apartment front door. Both of them with hands full of boxes and bags, bowing at each other awkwardly. Beomgyu was just a small streamer back then. He did start the streaming deed during the last days of his senior year when Soobin and his brother gave him an encouraging push to start before he puts it on air any longer. He had too few viewers but the little crowd made him happy and they were very supportive. It is not a surprise to receive hate comments and weird requests during his streams. Some did hurt him but he had Soobin, his brother and more good people standing up for him, telling him to ignore them and believe in what he is doing more than believing words of thorn.

So when the freshman blinks twice and simply says okay when Beomgyu tells him that he does streams for fun and that he’ll be loud for it, he couldn’t believe his luck. Taehyun, who gives him a cold look and stares at him with his round big eyes when they’re choosing their rooms. He did think it’s because the younger hasn’t experienced how loud he can be but seriously, he was even more surprised when he caught Taehyun watching a replay of his old stream on his iPad while making them breakfast.  

He was one hundred percent sure that Taehyun would judge him and be grossed out when he heard the word ‘streamer’. The community does step out of line a few times already and he was not going to defend them now or then. Moral of the story taken, Beomgyu hit it off with Taehyun and grew to love the shy and sassy blond. 

The thing with Soobin though, it was purely unintentional. He swears. It never occurred to him that his roommate would come home later than intended, face red as tomato as he buried himself into Beomgyu’s chest when he asked him to run his little errand for him. It was already hellish interrogating the guy to spill out what happened during his trip, so imagine how hard it was to make Taehyun admit his crush on his best friend. The younger whined and stomped around the house when Beomgyu said he wanted to help them get together, saying it was hopeless. 

Like hell he’s gonna let the opportunity to get his best friends together pass just like that.

Thank god, Soobin had the balls to ask out the younger on their third date. He seriously could not handle them pining over each other like idiots in love everyday any much longer. Although the pining didn't stop even after they got together, it was much better than, “OMG Gyu have you seen the way Tyun flips his hair? Who does he think he is??” and “Beomgyu hyung, we promised not to eat Soobin hyung’s cupcakes until the weekend! He made them special. SPECIAL.” Now they can tell cheesy things to each other’s faces and not make Beomgyu gag and go insane.

He half expects to be able to find the pair when he enters the venue but his thoughts are driven away when suddenly Soobin dumps his weight on his back and wraps his thick arms around his neck. He rests his chin on the brunet’s crown but Beomgyu isn’t that short so the taller’s head is tilted slightly to the ceiling.

“You’re here!”

He turns to his giggly best friend and takes the red cup in his grasp. He takes a few sniffs, shrugs and chugs it down without hesitation. Someone clearly spiked the drinks. The drink burns his throat and makes his head buzzy a bit but he did plan to get a bit wasted tonight. Soobin cheers at him for that, patting on his chest while hopping like a big rabbit he is.

He looks around, no sign of Yeonjun hyung.

“Where’s Tyun?” The loud music makes him have to yell into Soobin’s ear. 

“He’s in the kitchen. He’s helping our baby Jungwon find where the expensive wines are stashed.” 

Beomgyu pouts at that but then again, why should he care? He doesn’t even know any of the people of the frat house who threw the party and he wouldn’t even be here if it wasn't for Kai’s invitation. But he makes sure to smile and nod at the half-sober people he passes by on his way to the kitchen. He knows Soobin is tailing after him because he can hear the clinks his necklaces make when he walks.

His footsteps halt just before the kitchen’s entrance, not because of the random couch laid across the door, blocking it but because he hears someone from the stairs, calling out for Choi Yeonjun. He turns towards it, hoping to finally meet the talk of the party and regrets it.

Soobin finally catches up with him as he squeezes through the crowd and gapes at what he is looking at. Yeonjun is pressed on the wall by the guy who is slowly parting away from him and his lips as the elder turns towards the owner of the voice who called out for him at the top of the stairs, his fingers curled around the guy's belt loop. His eyes drop to the floor as he hears the elder’s airy laugh.

A rush of emotion surges through his head, his ears ring. It’s an alarm. Beomgyu shuts his eyes, pushes the confused Soobin who is calling for him and runs out of the house. 

Once he is sure to be out of the chaos and stupid TikTok songs range, he stops and pants. Realising that he still has Soobin’s cup in his hand, he sighs and throws it mindlessly on the sidewalk. He fishes out his phone from his jeans which is screaming with Soobin’s calls and waits until the rings end. He sniffles and looks up for the local bus schedule.

He feels like an absolute idiot but he is not going to dwell on whatever the fuck just happened at the sidewalk in the middle of nowhere. 

Beomgyu sits at the bus stop and waits for the bus to arrive. 

5

Hungover is a bitch and Yeonjun knows that much when he opens his eyes. The sun isn’t glaring on his face, the curtains in the living room are closed and he notes that Beomgyu is awake. The younger always makes sure to shut the curtains near the couch he’s crashing for him every morning, it’s his routine that Yeonjun very much appreciates. 

He tries to sit up and his hand immediately goes up to his neck, the throbbing is almost unbearable. His head feels so fuzzy and he can’t recall how many drinks that had gone down his throat last night. The people that he made eye contact with seem to be having a pact together to keep passing drinks to him until he shuts down or throws up. Which is what he feels right now. His gut is lurching up and his back is bent over.

Without any haste, he jumps off the couch and runs to the bathroom, missing the young brunet standing in the kitchen. Looking at him with concerned eyes, Beomgyu heaves a sigh and follows after him. Yeonjun is bent over the toilet bowl, vomiting everything that feels unsettling in his stomach. He only knocks his head on the shower glass partition when he feels a little bit better and Beomgyu watches him, leaning at the door frame.

“Hey,” rasps Yeonjun, shifting on the floor, “-what time is it?”

“It’s 11.” Beomgyu enters, grabs the empty glass on the sink and fills it with water. He crouches in front of him and hands it between them carefully.

He takes it without question, mumbling a low gratitude before gulping it down in one go. The brunet takes the glass once he’s done with it and leaves after telling him to get in the kitchen and eat the breakfast he made.

Yeonjun also misses the way Beomgyu refuses to meet him in the eyes.

He swears that something feels off between them this morning but he brushes the thoughts away, thinking that he might be mistaken and that the hungover is putting in overreacting nonsense inside his head. He shakes his head and hoists up on his feet and drags them towards the kitchen where a steaming hot bowl of stew is already placed. He knows just by the smell that Beomgyu is the one that made it. Although it doesn’t taste amazing, it’s decent enough to cure three people’s hangovers and give them something to eat after waking up from a throbbing head. 

Beomgyu tilts his head, gesturing to him to take a seat as he is leaning on the sink. He is all dressed up which is questionable since today is the first day of the weekend. Yeonjun decides to not question it now and diverts his attention to the stew. He sips on the stew slowly and it makes him shut his eyes. It has just the right amount of warmth (and salt) that it feels like a warm embrace enveloping.

"Whoa, Beomie. This tastes amazing. You're getting better at this. Really, I'm not kidding. This is-'' He claps his hands. "-amazing. You're amazing, bear."

"You're talking too much."

He chuckles. "Well I'm also liking this too much. I like you too much." 

He shuts his lips tight as soon as he realises the slip. Cursing under his breath for his delirious talking, he looks up to the younger who somehow seemed unfazed but still, a tiny pout formed on his lips, sipping carefully on his espresso.

The silence drags between them. Only once in a while is it broken by Yeonjun’s little sips.

He decides to break it but he is cut first by the brunet.

“Don’t move the books and files on my bed while I’m gone. You’re allowed to use my PC while I’m gone but do not go through my albums, please? And Taehyun is going to wake up soon so tell him I made hungover stew. Soobin is going to need it too.”

He frowns. “Where are you going?”

Beomgyu’s phone rings from the coffee machine. He answers it quickly to the person on the other side and ends the call, reaching out for his bag at the island that Yeonjun didn’t notice has been sitting there the entire time. He knows what is inside that bag. It’s the bag Beomgyu uses whenever they plan to leave the house for more than a day. His travel toiletries are ready inside along with his spare underwear.

“I’m going to the AnimeCon. Hyuka is already waiting for me at the lobby. I hope he didn’t party too hard last night.” He mumbles at the last part.

Yeonjun nods as the younger makes his way out of the kitchen, anxiously searching for his misplaced Darth Vader socks in the living room, mumbling about how Kai is going to whine for making wait. Yeonjun swiftly walks up behind him and finds them in just a blink.

“Who’s driving?” Yeonjun asks before the socks reach Beomgyu’s hands.

“Heesung.” Beomgyu snatches the socks, muttering a barely audible gratitude.

He arches a brow at him. “Who is Heesung?”

“My gaming buddy for almost half of the year? Heeddeung? The AR58 nerd that fell off his chair on my stream when he heard that I got all of the constellations for my Raiden Shogun?” Beomgyu tries. 

Now that he mentions that, Yeonjun does remember the guy. The incident was really embarrassing but it left a huge impression on the viewers that night and Heesung continues to stream the day after that like nothing happened. He gave off a, ‘So what if his pride was hurt a tiny bit? It’s not like he’s lost it completely’ and Yeonjun respects him for it. Beomgyu’s viewers like him even more and he is sure that his own views increased because of that. He has collaborated with Beomgyu’s streams a few times now but who is Yeonjun to kid anyone.

When Beomgyu is on his screen or in front of him, his eyes can’t seem to be able to look anywhere or anybody else. Like the portrait mode in phone cameras. Everything else seems blurred out and only Beomgyu comes in 4K in his vision. Sometimes even other people’s voices are blocked out and his mind goes into a spiral about how deep and gentle Beomgyu’s voice is and how he wants to hear it everyday. Which is a dumb thing to do because then Beomgyu would beat him up for not listening.

Still, his heart aches thinking about Beomgyu accompanied with another person who is not him as the sting he ignored when he notices that Beomgyu tries to hide the fact that he is upset with him.

“Will there be Genshin Impact booths? Did the company invite you?”

Beomgyu smiles and nods, his eyes still refusing to meet the elder’s.

“Let me go with you. I know about Kaedehara Kazuha and your 50/50 Qiqi curse. And-”

“NO.” Beomgyu insists, his brows frowning. “Trust me, you’re gonna be bored out of your mind and you’re going to fuss about just like Taehyun did which I regret ever bringing him with. I won’t have time to attend to you since I have my own panel to work with so you’ll have to entertain yourself surrounded by otakus and smelly gamers. Also, we’re going to talk about our games the whole trip. Do you really think you can handle that?”

“Beoms, if you haven’t noticed, I’d listen to you talk about anything for hours.”

He hates that it’s the truth. Nobody else would sit and listen to Beomgyu’s ramble about how to roll the perfect artefact piece in the gacha game and absolutely no one would listen to him talking about how the type of sound of his keyboard affects all of his plays. It has always been a careless and spontaneous thought hovering around his mind that he would entertain when he’s bored and alone. It hurts that Yeonjun is the first person to actually listen and for him to spill out his lingering thoughts without worrying about him hating Beomgyu for it.

Beomgyu finally tilts his head up and meets his eyes but his orbs are quivering and confusion is worn all over the brunet’s face. He parts his lips to say something but nothing seems to come out, so he presses them into a thin line, curls up his fingers into a fist and knocks them on Yeonjun’s chest. 

It hurts as Beomgyu wants it to be.

He hisses in pain and is slightly thrown back with the sudden punch, holding his hand over the throbbing ache. Then it is his turn to be confused.

“Wha-”

Beomgyu already has his back on him. “You’re not coming and, go take a shower. You smell like vodka, popping candy and puke all rolled in one. Even Choi Odi’s pen smells a lot better than you.”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “Geez, all right. I know I’m disgusting. Get there and home safely, please.”

It is almost two weeks after that morning when Yeonjun meets Beomgyu again. Not that he was in any way deliberately avoiding the brunet - well Beomgyu still dodges his calls on purpose- it was the long awaited dreadful exam week. He was gravely sleep deprived, running solely on his declining willpower and americano. He had too little time to unwind and he spent them running to the convenience store to buy a strawberry cream sandwich just to eat it in a hurry. He even had to pull three all nighters and he can’t even remember when was the last time he took a shower. Not that he even had the time to remorse over the fact that he smells like a corpse since every student in the exam hall either looks half-dead or jittering all over with coffee in their hand, books and notes in the other.

When the last paper is over, he hears the collective sigh of relief humming through the hall. Some faint sobs were heard too but he decided that it was best to ignore them, else he might break down too. Students hurriedly leave the exam hall, some calling their significant others and a group of boys and girls are shouting over who is going to get the best seat in the PC bang near the campus. A student in the corner has wrapped their whole body in a blanket cocoon, detaching themselves from the world and nobody seems to be paying any attention to them. Yeonjun silently left a chocolate bar on their table.

He contemplates whether to sleep for two days straight or take a long ass shower first when he gets home. He can feel his hands shaking as he ignites his car engine so he rests his back on the seat and shuts his eyes. Fishing out his phone from his pocket, he realises that it has been a long time since he had stared at the small screen and the device feels weird in his grasp. 

He taps on the screen and a row of notifications pops up. The phone was set in silent mode for the exam week so any kinds of messages will go unnoticed but two specific notifications on the top of them makes Yeonjun immediately sit up straight. 

5 missed calls from Taehyunie, 8 missed calls from Ningning

He looks at the time, 2 minutes ago , and a frown starts to outline between his eyebrows. He slides up the lock screen and taps on Taehyun’s contact. As he waits for the call to connect, his mind tries to recall back to the day when Taehyun met him briefly in the library just to tell him that he’d be leaving town for three days. He told him that he’s going to meet Soobin’s parents and wished them both luck. Him, obviously for the exam and Taehyun for not screwing things up when meeting his boyfriend’s parents. So, he is utterly confused as to why both Taehyun and Kai are calling him more than once.

He holds his breath when the line is connected. 

“Tyun?” His voice surprises him as it sounds super scratchy. 

“Thank god, you finally answered. Hyung, you're done with your exams today right? You're going home right?”

"Yes. I’m glad that shit is finally over. Why? Is everything okay over there?”

Yeonjun can’t help but to worry if Ansan isn’t treating his best friend well but that apparently wasn’t the case.

"Hyung, I know you must be tired as hell but please please please rush home and check up on Beomgyu hyung."

Beomgyu.

His grip on the steering wheel tightens. "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"He's been doing this 10 hour stream since yesterday, Soobin monitored his stream for a while just now and he looked so pale. I’ve told him not to do it for so many times since he has mild blood pressure problems and he- well, nobody’s home to stop him. Kai is out of town too. His sister, Hiyyih, fell off a staircase and broke her leg."

Shit . "Well, have you tried calling him?” He huffs and steps on the accelerator. “I'm on my way."

"We did, it didn't get through.” He hears a few muffles on the line, still keeping his phone on his ear when he makes the turn out of the college’s parking lot.

“Soobin said he looks like he's about to pass out."

"I'll be right over. Tell Soobin to contact his modders or something and you, don’t stop reaching for his phone. I’ll be there in about 4 minutes. God, Beomgyu." He sighs and ends the call after Taehyun tells him to be safe and quick.

Once he reaches the front door and unlocks it, he promptly rushes towards the streamer’s room and knocks on his door. Loud enough not to be rude to the viewers and startle them off but just enough for the streamer to notice them over his headphones. He presses his ear on the door and knocks again. The clicking noises inside the room stops. He considers opening his Twitch app and checking on the situation inside but then some rustling sounds are heard, movements are made, so he waits.

Yeonjun’s heart dropped when he finally saw the pale figure slowly opening his door. He pulls the brunet out of his room and his hands fly up to cup his cheeks and take a clear look at his face. His cheeks are cold.

“Hyung.” Beomgyu’s voice cracks as he tries to press his lips into a smile.

A trickle of crimson rolls down from his nose.

“Beomie,” He whispers, panicking but still his thumb tries to wipe the blood flow. “You have a nosebleed.”

His eyes fall down, bringing his hand to his nose and is shocked when red colored his fingers. Yeonjun pulls him into the kitchen and grabs the tissue roll on the counter to wipe and stop the male’s bleeding. He helps the younger to wash his face at the sink and that is when he realises that his cold sweats are trying to tell him about the rising temperature from Beomgyu’s neck.

“Cub, you’re burning.” He whispers as he brings Beomgyu to sit at the stool. 

His fingers pinching on the part just above his nostrils, tissues ready in his other hand to stop the bleeding and Beomgyu hasn’t said a peep since he was dragged into the kitchen. Yeonjun notices that his eyes are droopy and lips are still ghostly pale. He needs to take him to the hospital.

“I need you to breathe through your mouth and don’t tilt your head back, okay? I’m going to end your stream now and take your sweaters and socks and we’ll go to the hospital- no buts.” He says when the younger pulls on his sleeve.

Yeonjun ruffles his head and tells him to stay put. Beomgyu weakly nods.

He leaves the kitchen, entering Beomgyu’s room and noting that the streaming camera is still on and that he’ll have to make it quick. His eyes roam all over the screen, shuffling about trying to find out how to end the current stream when he sees a small notification pop up on the corner of the monitor. It’s Beomgyu’s editor and they’re asking if he wants to end the stream. He quickly clicks on the chat and types in ‘yes’. The editor sends their affirmation and the tab where Twitch was opened goes black and the screen loads. He doesn’t forget to thank the editor and goes to grab Beomgyu’s socks on the bed and his fuzzy sweater on the bean bag. 

Yeonjun definitely overlooked the fact that his sudden appearance on Beomgyu’s stream caused quite an uproar on the internet.

“Let’s go, Bear.”

He had to lift up Beomgyu from the stool, he doesn’t trust the younger to walk by himself and he can feel Beomgyu’s skin coiling against him as he helps him get into his car. Thankfully the trip to the hospital is somewhat brisk, the nose bleeding has stopped and once they get there, Beomgyu has to be admitted into the ER which he isn’t allowed to go in and accompany the younger. He did send the brunet a small smile and promised him that he’ll be waiting in the lobby. 

He dials up Taehyun’s number once he found a bench to sit on, but the voice that answered is Soobin. He sounds very concerned when he asks him without missing a beat, “How’s Gyu?” 

“He’s in the ER right now. He was burning like crazy, I think he also has a fever. His nosebleed stopped when we were in the car though. I think they’re going to put him in the ICU in an hour or so.”

He hears Soobin sigh. “I’m sorry for making you do this when you’ve just finished your exam, Yeonjun-ssi. He’s-”

“I’ve told you to call me hyung like the others, Soobin and I will update you on Beomgyu hourly. I’m like, very free right now so don’t worry too much, hm? I’m fine and we’ll beat him up together once he’s better, okay?” He suggests and that earns a good laugh from the other male.

“Alright, Yeonjun hyung. Kai says he’s on his way too so look out for him and you should get some rest too, hyung.”

He sniffles and shifts Beomgyu’s Ryan plushie, Ddubi, in his lap. “Yeah, I will.”

They bid goodbyes and end the call. He knocks his head to the wall behind him and shuts his eyes. Trying to drown out the sound of the place. Hospitals always make him feel jittery and he always thought that the feeling would disappear once he’s older, apparently it doesn’t. He can’t stand the sombre atmosphere, voices of nurses calling out patients names and the smell of drugs wafting in the air. Visits to hospitals always leave him feeling weak and puts the taste of iron in his mouth. 

It somehow feels a bit different today. Maybe it’s because of the plushie looking up innocently at him in lap, maybe it’s because of Soobin and Taehyun’s trust in him to take care of the brunet and maybe it’s purely because of his sleep deprivation. He glances at the ER door, still no news about Beomgyu.

Half an hour later, he stands up and goes to the nearest washroom to wash his face. Only when he looked in the mirror did he notice that he looked like -how to put this nicely- shit. With his oily hair, face looking like he hasn’t showered in a week and dark circles puffing under his eyes, it’s a wonder and a miracle from heavens nobody looks at him and starts chanting their mantras and straight up spraying febreeze or holy water at his face. He pulls up his hood before walking out and what great timing it was when he arrives at the ER lobby and a nurse calls out for Choi Beomgyu’s guardian.

He grabs Ddubi at the bench and walks up to the nurse and the doctor beside her. The nurse asks him if he’s Choi Beomgyu’s guardian and Yeonjun notices that she eyed him subtly. Probably thinking that he should be in there with Beomgyu too.

“I’m his friend. Is he okay?”

The doctor nods and Yeonjun heaves a sigh of relief. 

“Well, we’ve moved Choi Beomgyu into the ICU and he’s receiving his second IV drip right now. He’ll be needing two more since you said he had a nosebleed? Did he consume any kind of alcoholic beverage within the 24-hours?”

“I-uh,” He licks his bottom lip and fiddles with his hem. “I haven’t been by his side since I have exams and nobody was with him in the last 24-hours. I was just lucky to get to him when our other friend told me that Beomgyu looked like he’s about to pass out.”

The doctor nods again, looking down at the board in her arm and trying so hard not to let out an exasperated sigh. 

“Well, we can tell you that he is dehydrated and the nosebleed was caused by the low humidity of his surroundings. He told us that he hasn’t consumed that much water nor food for today. I suggest you should put him in a routine to drink more water in the future or at least try advising him to do so. Wait for his discharge before you feed him any type of food. You can come and see him inside but we only allow one visitor at a time.”

Yeonjun nods, thanking both the doctor and the nurse. When he stands aside to give Soobin and Taehyun an update on Beomgyu, Kai arrives, looking worn out as he is but still he greets Yeonjun with a huge smile.   

“How’s hyung?”

“How’s Hiyyih?” Yeonjun asks instead.

“Fine. It was a fracture and they already casted her leg. She’ll be staying with mom until she heals. How’s Beomgyu hyung?” He repeats.

“He’s fine now. He’s in the ICU but the doctor said they-”

“Only allow one visitor at a time, got it.” He cuts him off, tilting his chin towards the glass doors. “You can go in if you want, hyung. I’ll stay here in the lobby.”

He winces at the thought of leaving the younger to rest in the chaotic lobby and pulls out his car keys. “Kai-ah, you look exhausted. You should get some rest instead. Here, go sleep in my car.”

“But, hyung-”

“You’ve just got back from another hospital right? Please, you look like you can fall asleep on the wall right now and Beomie is going to take a while. Plus, there are gummy worms in the car. Go eat it.”

Kai pouts and begrudgingly nods. Not wanting to argue more with the elder since he admits that both of them are equally tired. Kai takes his car keys, pets Ddubi for a bit and promises to buy them dinner after Beomgyu’s discharge.

Kai offered to drive and took them to McDonald’s drive thru. Kai also bought a porridge for sick Beomgyu and two Mcflurries for himself along with a BigMac. Beomgyu still looks weak and he doesn't say or talk much when he’s discharged but he cuddles with his Ryan plushie tightly and sticks by his side, staring blankly out the window. So, he’s fine.

Well, he’s still not off the nagging hook though. Yeonjun learns that Kai can fuss around and also multitask at the same time when he rambles about at Beomgyu while still helping the elder with his fuzzy jacket, taking out the medicine and making notes at the fridge about when to consume them for all the people in the house to see and read. Yeonjun just came out of the showers, drops his wet towel at the couch and leans against the door frame leading to the kitchen and watches as the two male bicker.

"What did we tell you? Not to do the 10-hour stream because of your health and what did you do? You did the 10-hour stream anyways. We told you to wait until your health has improved but no, you told me you can make your own decision since you're older than me. I knew that advice was just going into one ear and out of the other. Even worse, you did it when there's no one home to monitor your-"

"I'm not a baby. I don't need monitoring." Beomgyu pouts, flicking the soggy fries on his plate.

"-meals and rests. Which is why you're now drunk from four IV drips and I'm not. Tell me at least you had a decent meal today?"

Beomgyu presses his lips into a thin line.

"Is that a trick question?"

Kai gasps (dramatically but mostly concerned) and goes to shake Beomgyu's shoulders. “You haven't eaten anything since yesterday? HYUNG. You can't go on like this, I've been keeping up with your shit for years but this is where I must draw the line. You pulled this shit when we were in highschool but now you’re twenty two, surely a quick three minute ramen won't be that hard for you.”

"No, I had my reasons."

He arches a brow. "Enlighten me then."

"Well, I have a feeling that I'm going to die today."

Kai shakes his head and flails around his hand in the air. “And? That gave you the reason to starve yourself??”

"I don't know, I think I'm doing a good job in helping my upcoming death process." 

Yeonjun had to come in to stop Kai from throwing himself on Beomgyu.

“Yeonjun hyung, did you hear what he said?! Lemme at him. I want to beat his grown up ass.” Kai growls and tries to claw at Beomgyu from over Yeonjun’s shoulders. The brunet just sits on the stool, nibbling onion rings with his front teeth, unbothered. Yeonjun drags the youngest into the hallway while the latter struggles in his hold.

Yeonjun cups the younger by his chubby cheeks and knocks their forehead together with a little force. The action manages to stop Kai from thrashing around but he still grumbles under his breath. 

“I heard but please calm down. We both know he only says that because he feels bad. Beomie doesn’t mean what he said. I can’t look after two babies tonight so calm down, okay? Go get your ice cream and turn on Netflix on my laptop.”

Kai huffs but attends to his words, grabbing his ice cream on the island after jutting out his tongue at the brunet and stomping to the living room. Yeonjun shakes his head, knowing that the males aren’t actually mad at each other and Kai proves him right.

“You better eat the porridge that I bought for you or you’ll be sorry, Choi Beomgyu-ssi.”

“Bear,” Yeonjun calls when Beomgyu does nothing but stare blankly at the steam that dances out of the said porridge for almost a minute.

He moves to the seat beside him and pushes the food towards him. Beomgyu shakes his head weakly and points at his mouth. His lips are chapped and his eyes are glassy.

“What’s wrong?” Yeonjun whispers.

It takes a while for Beomgyu to spill out his words. “I can’t taste it. My taste buds are gone.”

Yeonjun waits for him to continue but he doesn’t. So, he sets the porridge aside, puts the lid back on and swiftly brings his vanilla sundae to between them. He offers the fries that he picked up from Beomgyu’s plate and dipped into his sundae to the brunet. Beomgyu eyes him weirdly but doesn’t refuse the cold vanilla dipped fries. Beomgyu chews silently with every fries that he feeds him and Yeonjun can see that his body finally relaxes when Beomgyu unclenched his fists from Ddubi’s body.

“Good?” Yeonjun asks, pulling the tissues from the brown bag and wiping the spills on the table. He wipes the corner of Beomgyu’s lips with the same tissue, not like the younger can argue.

Beomgyu hums in response.

“Wanna try the porridge now? I promise if you fall asleep eating, I'll still carry you to your room, bear.” The parted lips seems an answer enough from him. 

Knees touching occasionally, Yeonjun falls into the peaceful rhythm of feeding spoonful after spoonful of porridge, correlating with the noises that come from his laptop in the living room, until the bowl is empty and Beomgyu is full and sleepy. He gets up to slide the empty boxes into the trash can, chucks the spoons and plates into the sink which he’ll deal with later and gently persuades Beomgyu to wake up from sleeping on the cold hard surface of the island.

Beomgyu makes a grabby hand at him and pouts, misinterpreted or not, Yeonjun decides, “Fuck it,” and wraps Beomgyu’s thighs around his waist and lets the younger drop his whole weight on him as he balances them both. Thankfully Beomgyu is pretty light, else Yeonjun might have embarrassed himself into oblivion. 

With the younger’s hot breath puffing beside his ear and his slender arms guided to wrap around his neck loosely, he tries to calm himself down and make it a quick trip into Beomgyu’s room. With Kai absorbed with the show on his laptop, he strides into the hallway and enters Beomgyu’s room. The brunet mindlessly searches for his duvet in the dark and crawls into it right after he drops him on the bed. 

He settles in easily and Yeonjun watches as his breath gradually slows down, cheek buried into the pillow with Ddubi tucked tightly under his arm. He moves to the side of the bed and brushes his bangs away from his pretty face. Even being sick and tired got nothing on Beomgyu’s beauty. He passes the time by running his fingers through his locks, gently shaking out the frizzes and waits until Beomgyu finally falls asleep.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he quietly unlocks his phone to set an alarm at five a.m. That should be enough to check up on Beomgyu’s temperature and get him to take his pills. His eyes feel heavy, a yawn he tried to stifle finally escapes, he grabs his pillow beside Beomgyu’s and takes one last look at him before he shuts the door behind him.

“Beomgyu hyung.”

He hears the voice but it feels too far away. He then feels the slight dip of a person sitting on the edge of his bed, a hand- he assumes the person’s- ghosts over his hair and lands on his forehead for a few seconds. The male sighs and decides to wake him by tapping on his shoulder. Beomgyu doesn’t even have to guess to know that the person sitting next to him is Taehyun. He is the only one that wakes people up in that way. It is a bit annoying and it hurts a bit but he is in fact better than his boyfriend, Soobin, that heartless devil. Soobin likes to wake him up by tugging on his big toe harshly, he makes sure it hurts and it honestly feels like the demon from beneath his bed is gnawing on his toe. It’s disgusting but that’s not the worst thing he does. The worst way of Soobin waking him up is by turning on all the lights in the room and snapping the curtains open, allowing direct sunlight to blind him. Not like the tall dimpled care, when he begged him to stop waking him up like that, Soobin just shrugged and said, “It works.”

“Beomgyu hyung, wake up.”

He stirs a bit and tries to open his heavy eyes, Ddubi rolls towards the blond and he catches it. Beomgyu crawls over to the male and gestures to him to pet his hair as he rests his head on his lap. He is very clingy when he’s still drowsy.

“When did you arrive, Taehyun-ah? Is Soobin back at his home?” His voice croaks.

“Just an hour ago. I am fine, thank you for asking by the way. You’re such a good roommate, Beomgyu hyung.” His sarcastic tone could be noticed miles away.

Beomgyu giggles and hums against the fabric of Taehyun’s hoodie. 

“You’re such a baby. I already know you’re going to be well. You are travelling with your boyfriend and meeting his parents after all."

Taehyun frowns and his hand stops petting Beomgyu’s hair. 

“Then why aren’t you doing the same thing, huh? I swear, hyung, I left you for only five days and you got admitted into the hospital, dehydration and fatigue.” He recites, like hammering the last nail to the coffin. The coffin being Beomgyu’s.

“It’s not like the first t-”

“It is exactly because it isn’t the first time that I’m mad at you like this. You have to know that your body needs the same attention as you give to your work, Beomgyu hyung. Soobinie got so scared and worried about you, he called Yeonjun hyung so many times yesterday just to check up on you and between us, you know that Soobin hasn’t warmed up to him that much yet.” He whispers and glances at the door.

Beomgyu hums because he knows that it’s true. Even though his memory of yesterday is still a bit hazy, he remembers that Yeonjun kept on answering phone calls and basically has it stuck right next to him as he nurses Beomgyu. Soobin has always been that way; caring and kind but with Beomgyu he covers them up with his childish teases and mean words which he knows since eight not to take them to heart because he knows him so well to know that Soobin doesn’t mean it. He puts on a tough demeanour in front of everyone but inside he’s just a soft and sweet person and he loves Beomgyu, his dear best friend. 

“Where’s Soobin?” He croaks.

“He’s already knocked out. He drove all night to get here at dawn at least and he checked up on you the first thing after we arrived.”

Beomgyu huffs.

“I know, I already told him that he worries too much. I also told him to trust Yeonjun and Kai to look after you but he only calmed down until he saw those guys piled up on the couch with an alarm to wake you up to take your meds. Honestly, Choi Beomgyu, you are so loved. I am a little bit jealous but I know they’d do the same thing for me and we’ll do the same thing for each other.”

Beomgyu cuddles closer and Taehyun accepts it. “I’m sorry for making you worry, Hyunnie. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

“This is not what I had in mind.”

Soobin shoots him a brow, his hand doesn’t stop from pouring all the contents of the soda into the big punch bowl.

“Then what did you have in that empty and narrow mind of yours, Choi Beomgyu?”

He gestures to the various types of food dined at the long table Soobin had dragged from his dining room, filling up from one edge to the other with a huge penguin cake in the middle of it, the iPad sitting at one of the chairs blaring loud and familiar K-pop bobs and the obvious blue and golden balloon arch at the entrance of the rooftop garden -by the grace of Soobin's landlord- with a banner ‘Happy Huening Day’ dabbed in the middle of it. It’s so fancy and colourful that Beomgyu has to blink a few times and pinch his thigh from getting dizzy with the overwhelming party vibes.

Soobin passes him the empty bottle and Beomgyu slips it into the trash bag in his hand. The tall dimpled looks around and shrugs.

“It’s Kai’s birthday and don’t tell me that when you told me that we’re going to celebrate his birthday last month, you meant it like a small party with juice boxes and party poppers in that small dingy apartment of yours?” Soobin asks.

Beomgyu rolls his eyes and crosses his arms on his chest, very offended by the tall dimpled’s claim. “First of all, my apartment is anything but dingy and your boyfriend literally lives there. Second, yes I thought it would be nice to have a small and simple party with just the five of us. Play some board games, pizza dinner and get drunk. Not a rooftop party and not like I'm complaining, Kai deserves to be with everyone he loves today."

Soobin pouts and steps back to take in all the decorations and set ups.

"I don't know what you mean by simple but this is simple to me. All I had to do was bring up the table and bake his cake. Yeonjun did all the decor and ordered the delicacies. You bought the drinks. And this is a party just for the five of us, which is why we're waiting for my boyfriend to fetch Huening Kai from his other birthday party his band threw for him." Soobin lays it out like it is so simple and obvious. Like Beomgyu is the stupidest person alive for failing to see it.

And it takes all left of Beomgyu's patience and resilience to not beat the shit out of the guy.

He groans into his fluffy jacket, the wind isn't harsh else the balloon arch might have greeted the aerial creatures on its way to meet the creator above, but it's August and the cold is already seeping into his bones. The evil and tiny voice in the back of his mind starts to whisper that maybe he should crack a window in Soobin's room and cover it up so that the guy wouldn't be able to fall asleep tonight because of the unknown autumn draft. 

"You're insufferable, you know that right?"

Soobin, the twenty two years old, sticks out his tongue at him just like the little child his mental age is while rolling his eyes in annoyance. "I hate you too. You're not special."

"God," Beomgyu sighs dramatically. "I deserve an award, a compensation for sticking up with your weird ass since kindergarten."

That earns a hard slap on his shoulder. The sound of the hit and his yelp was loud enough to wake up a few close neighbours downstairs. Luckily his shoulders aren't dislocated and none of the residents come storming up to scold them for being too loud at 10 p.m. but that’s unlikely to happen since Soobin’s landlord has already notified the residents of the building that a bunch of university students are throwing a party tonight. His landlord is very chill like that and he especially appreciates Soobin when Soobin keeps bribing- I mean, gifting him with free desserts and cakes from his school. 

The only bad thing about notifying the people of the building is that the kids keep coming up to check out the balloon arch and they keep on trying to touch it. Clearly the sign Beomgyu had put up on the glass sliding door meant nothing to those rascals. The brunet had to stay guard near the arch and shoo away the kids all evening and that wasn’t very fun, especially seeing their crestfallen faces and notably when they threw their shoes and iPads at his face. Not fun at all. He complained about it to Taehyun who only shrugged, basically saying not my problem but reassured him that he can handle their chaotic group of friends, surely a bunch of kids is nothing. 

Speaking of a group of friends, Yeonjun finally arrives at the venue with black plastic bags full of fire hazardous stuff.

“Where did you get all of these fireworks?” Beomgyu prys, his curious hands ventures into the bags and gets slapped by Yeonjun when he tries to fish out the big ones onto the dining table. 

Yeonjun quickly stores them behind the flower pots where Soobin can’t see and signals him to wait. He frowns at him.

“At least wait until the kids are here. You’re going to get me fired as Huening’s birthday party planner. If Soobin doesn’t kill me after he finds out about the fireworks, then Taehyun will.”

Beomgyu purses his lips and stares into Yeonjun’s eyes pitifully, he knows the look on his face right now is one of the older’s weaknesses. Yeonjun quickly realises what he’s trying to do and covers his eyes with his hand, shaking his head and looking away, he says firmly, “No no no, that won’t work on me today. Not today you little devil.”

“Devil? Hyung, how could you. I thought I’m your baby bear. Yeon- hyung-”

Yeonjun tries to run away but Beomgyu already has his hand glued on the hem of his shirt. So, Yeonjun initiates the first attack by trying to pry off his grip, shoving and hitting his hand without any mercy. Beomgyu fights back by yelling at the top of his lungs and pulls the older closer and wraps his arms around his waist. Yeonjun is a little bit taken aback by the sudden embrace but it still doesn’t stop him from trying to throw the brunet to the ground; it works, his strength didn’t fail him, resulting in both of them now wrestling on the ground like a bunch of kids at a playground.

Soobin finally sees the commotion and yells at them to stop, struggling to break them from going at each other’s throats. They stop a few beats later but not because Soobin finally knocks some sense into their dumb head but because of Soobin panically telling them that Taehyun and Kai are literally coming up the stairs right now. Means, they are going to be here in a few seconds. 

Beomgyu pushes Yeonjun off him, releases his grip on the other’s hair, realises belatedly that their faces were just a breath away from each other and that the older smells so good he can literally get drunk by it alone if they were to stay in that position for a little longer. Yeonjun too gets up from the floor and pulls Soobin to light up the candles on the cake, which they made just in the nick of time. Beomgyu, who is stationed at the entrance, does his job as the confetti popper well, popping the tube off simultaneously as Taehyun pulls the eye mask off Kai. 

“Happy birthday, Kai-ah!” They all exclaim in unison.

They feel their heart swell with pride and joy just by the bright look on Kai’s face when he excitedly points out each of the colourful decor. Soobin pulls Kai and they all gather around the table to sing him happy birthday. A little bit off tune but it’s harmonious, correlating with their giggles so it counts. Kai’s eyes sparkle at the cute penguin cake and coos at it. Taehyun urges him to make a wish before the candle melts onto the cake, and they all watch him close his eyes with both of his hands clutched on his chest for a few seconds before he opens his eyes and blows out all of the candles. Yeonjun pulls him into a hug and others ruffle his hair in turn. After that they cut the cake and eat the food on the table in peace, sort of. Kai points at Beomgyu and Yeonjun’s dishevelled look and asks them what happened.

Beomgyu scrunches up his nose in return, patting down his hair while the older laughs at the question awkwardly and shoves a spoonful of cake into his mouth. Soobin takes the cue to indulge the birthday boy.

“It’s their usual daily fights, Kai. Just that today, they decided to take the floor as their stage, or should I say ring. I swear to god, would the both of you drop dead if you stop going after each other or flirt with each other? Are you guys foes or homos? Geez, pick a struggle.”

Kai laughs at Soobin’s ramble and they both duck their heads in shame. Taehyun stares out into the city around, completely unbothered. Well, not for long because Beomgyu is always ready to retort back at his best friend.

“If you want to get beaten up as well, you could’ve just said so Soobinie hyung.”

Soobin scoffs and arches a brow, challenging him. “Tell that again to my hot buff boyfriend.”

Yeonjun boos him while cackling. “What’s this? Using your big scary dog privilege?”

Apparently that is hilarious to Soobin, who laughs wholeheartedly and throws himself at his oblivious boyfriend beside him. Taehyun looks at them like a deer caught in headlights but carefully holds onto Soobin from falling off his seat.

“Nah, Taehyun is no big scary dog, Yeonjun hyung. He’s definitely one of those orange cats, ready to pounce and could pack hell of a punch.” Kai corrects, looking proud with his answer as Beomgyu also backs him up and Soobin laughs even harder in Taehyun’s lap.

Their chatter and laughter dissolves into the night. They play a few rounds of drinking games, which Taehyun and Beomgyu wins in a landslide as always and Soobin clutching on his hair and his card brooding over his loss. Yeonjun finally reveals his stockpile of fireworks to the group and he lets Beomgyu light up the one he wanted to get his hands on earlier. Taehyun is too drunk to care where the eldest gets his hands on a variety of fireworks, even the ones he’s never seen in his entire life. Soobin joins them by taking videos of Yeonjun, Kai and Beomgyu lighting up the sparks and he makes sure that they are standing at a safe distance. 

They only realise that it was already past midnight until Kai falls asleep at the table. Each of them scatters around to clean up the mess and bring down the leftover foods into Soobin’s apartment. Beomgyu watches as Taehyun lifts Kai up with ease and wraps his arm around his shoulder to carry him downstairs -they are all staying and sleeping over at Soobin tonight- he bid him good night before retiring at the staircase, leaving him alone to sweep the scattered confetti and a few litters.

Soobin had drunkenly promised to help him clean the rooftop together but Beomgyu decides not to wait for the older and gives himself a head start. Five minutes into sweeping the entrance, he concludes that Soobin isn’t coming in any second being the sleepy drunk that he is, he’s probably already passed out in his bed. 

Beomgyu can feel his stomach and his head buzzing as he moves to the table. It’s a good buzz, so he hums to the random song that’s already playing inside his head. Using the broom as his partner, he twirls the broom around, dancing around it and sometimes screaming the lyrics into the top of the handle. He sure knows how to entertain himself while doing a mundane job. 

His bubble is popped by a sudden snicker coming from behind him. He turns around to find Yeonjun staring at him with his hand on his thinly pressed lips, clearly trying to hold back his laughter. Beomgyu’s cheeks flushes easily, he promptly blames the alcohol in his system and not at how easily the older can affect him. Beomgyu rolls his eyes and turns back to resume with his sweeping.

He hears Yeonjun’s footsteps shuffling closer towards him, he doesn’t bother to spare a glance but readies himself for the teasing that’ll surely be thrown at him. Except it doesn’t, Yeonjun’s padded jacket comes resting gently around his frame instead and it leaves him shocked and baffled by the sudden gesture of kindness. Beomgyu turns to him.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Beoms? Aren’t you cold?” Yeonjun sputters at the look that Beomgyu is giving him right now. 

He doesn’t even know what kind of face he is making because his whole body just freezes, his mind goes blank and alarm starts to blare as Yeonjun closes their proximity to properly tuck his jacket on the younger. He already said how Yeonjun smells good and he’s surprised by the fact that he still does after their eventful party. He acknowledges the alarm blaring inside his head -danger danger danger - and tries to step back because if he stands this close to Yeonjun any longer he will get drunk and delirious, most probably pass out after that.

But Yeonjun doesn’t let him. Doesn’t let his grip on his jacket off. Doesn’t move an inch when Beomgyu tries to make a gap between them by pushing the tip of the broom handle on his torso because god, at this point their breaths are basically clashing with each other. Instead, Yeonjun moves closer, pulls him by the jacket, closer until he feels Yeonjun’s lips faintly brushing over his lips.

Yeonjun’s eyes search for something from him and although they quiver a bit, Beomgyu knows what he’s looking for. He honestly doesn’t know how and what to respond but Beomgyu feels Yeonjun’s hot breath on his lips and he knows he wants his lips on his, badly. 

So, he blinks, and Yeonjun’s lips finally land on his. He lets his grip on the broom loose and it falls to the floor beside their shoes. They are as soft as he thought they would be and when he feels Yeonjun’s tongue glides over his bottom lip and gently nips on it, he almost loses his mind. He reaches out to hold onto something and settles on tugging on Yeonjun’s hem. He hears their lips click, he parts his lips for him and feels Yeonjun sliding his hand up from the front of his jacket to his nape and pulls him even closer, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

It gets too much for Beomgyu. His mind starts to spin and he feels hot. He doesn’t even realise that he was crying until he feels the hot tears rolling down on his flushed cheeks. It takes Yeonjun a while to realise that the younger is crying. He is definitely startled by it and quickly pulls back, now both of his hands are cradling Beomgyu’s face, wiping on his tear-stained cheeks. 

“Beomie, sweetheart, why are you crying?” He asks, his voice full of concern.

Beomgyu shakes his head and bit his bottom lip, trying to stop the tears that aren’t listening to him. He tries to push Yeonjun’s hold away but Yeonjun keeps still, still touches his face gently like a porcelain. Porcelain with inside full of cracks. One simple nudge and the whole thing will crumble down, leaving nothing but shards and ashes.

“You should stop doing that.” He mumbles but enough for Yeonjun to hear.

His hands stills. “Doing what?”

“Kissing other people then telling me that you like me and kissing me.”

“What do you mean?”

Beomgyu takes the chance to brush his hands away from his face. Yeonjun doesn’t know what to do with his hands anymore, he resorts to stuffing them into the pocket of his jeans. 

“I saw you at the party.”

“Which-”

He sniffs. “The one Kai invited all of us.”

“Oh.” Realisation hits him. “Beomie, I didn’t see you.”

“Well, you were with a company. At the stairs.” He fiddles with the zipper part of Yeonjun’s jacket. “I wouldn’t dare to interfere and I was there for only like four minutes or so. I was planning to get the beer candy Jake posted on his insta story.”

Yeonjun can feel his mouth went slack. “Beomgyu, it’s not what it looks like.”

“It looked like you were having fun to me.” Beomgyu lifts his head and the corner of his lips curls up. Although it looked forced. “You don’t need to explain or anything. It’s not like you owe me one. I get it, like you’re an adult.” He gestures vaguely to outline Yeonjun. “You can make out or sleep with whoever you want-”

“I don’t.” He cuts. “We- It wasn’t like anything like that. It doesn’t mean anything.” Yeonjun sputters.

Beomgyu winces. “That guy’s going to be upset if he heard that. He even went out of his way to let you wear his shirt. Soobin said someone barfed on the couch, and you."

Yeonjun shuffles in his spot. “Beomie, is that why you’ve been dodging my calls for weeks?”

He shrugs. He wants to reply with a maybe. He wants to be vague and unbothered but he knows his true feelings and it’s time to allow them to come up to the surface. So, Beomgyu lifts his head, with his glassy eyes, he looks into Yeonjun’s eyes and says, “Yes. I don’t know what kisses mean to you and what our kiss just now means to you but I’m- you shouldn’t just kiss anyone and say it’s nothing.” You’re going to break them. Break me.

“Kisses are special to me,” He curls his fists on his sides. “-and if you kissed me and you’re going to say it means nothing like the o-” He feels his voice stuck in his chest and when he tries to breathe, he has to choke back a sob he didn’t know he has been holding back.

The silence stretches between them.

“I think I’m going to turn in. The food and all that beer is making me so sleepy.” Beomgyu is ready to pivot on his heels when Yeonjun stops him.

“Beomgyu, I don’t make out with just anyone.”

He tilts his head. “That's.. good to hear?”

“I mean-” Yeonjun sighs into his hands. “I fucked up. I really did. God, months of trying to woo you just thrown out to the sidewalk because I was stupid, drunk and frustrated.”

He arches a brow. “ Woo me?”

“YES. Well I’ve been trying to court you as many times as I tried to hold my feelings back from spilling out flat right in front of you because you’re just so lovely. The amazing Choi Beomgyu who can balance his class works and his weekly streams. I even got Taehyun to help me set up a Twitch account because I really want to see you in your element. Until one day I realised that as much as I want to watch you play games and crack jokes on my small screen I also want to see you in front of me, everyday. I was also frustrated with the fact that you’ll only ever see me as one of your viewers among thousands of them and nothing more.” Yeonjun confesses.

“So you kissed him because you were frustrated with me?” 

Yeonjun looks down at their shoes. “I thought about moving on from my stupid attempts of making you see me as a potential lover. I thought I had to find a distraction, someone to help me forget about you and-” He sighs running his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Beomgyu.”

Beomgyu takes in the pause to breathe and think, he pulls out one of the hand warmers in his pocket and slides them into Yeonjun’s palm. He notices that the older is shivering slightly and he accepts the hand warmer with gratitude.

“Did you know, ever since you unintentionally appeared in my stream that day, you’ve been trending online? You’ve managed to get more than half of my viewers to fall for you in just less than a minute. They have been asking me for more than a few times actually to get you in my stream again. Even for just two seconds. Hyung, I'm sure there are tons of people lining up for you in real life too. If you can make my viewers simp for you, I bet you can make them all line up with just a snap.”

He reaches out to curl his pinky with Beomgyu’s. “Well too bad for them, I'm too busy lining up at yours.”

Yeonjun groans. “That was cheesy and sounds a lot more egosistic than I had in mind but I said what I said and I am a hopeless romantic anyway. Choi Beomgyu, you really have to know that I am head over heels for you. I am truly and madly infatuated by you.”

He can feel his heart skipping a beat, even the simple and small touch of Yeonjun’s pinky around him feels like burning. “But, I’m just.. me.”

“Exactly, I like you because you are you . The bad side -whiny and clingy when you’re sick and always ready to pick a fight with me and the good side -loud and annoying when you’re happy. The streamer who is also the boy who drools on my chest when he falls asleep during our movie nights. The boy who buys and cooks ramen for me when I do my assignments late into the night. The boy who talks about his games and work so passionately that I’d listen to him talk all day. The boy who I very much would like to kiss again if he gives me his permission to.”

Beomgyu’s lips crack into a huge smile, it makes Yeonjun feel relieved as it is a good sign after he bared and laid his heart out to him.

“Hyung, you can be really annoying sometimes and don’t tell me that I’m loud when you’re just the same as I am. You really confused me when I saw you making out with the other guy and I really want to hate you for making me sad,”

Yeonjun waits and Beomgyu pulls him closer.

“But I like you too, hyung.”

That alone makes his heart flutter, demanding to be released from being encaged behind the rigid organ and the thumping is so loud he can hear them in his ear that’s slowly turning into a shade of red. He brings up his hand and his fingertips coil against Beomgyu’s jaw. He lets him and he leans into his touch.

“I’m still mad about the party.” Beomgyu whispers when Yeonjun lets his fingers play with the baby hairs on the back of his nape.

“I’ll make it up to you, Bear. I’m sorry, I promise to make it up to you. I’ll kiss you everyday- ten times a day. I’ll kiss you and hug you until you’re sick of me.”

Beomgyu giggles, knocking their foreheads together.