Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Seo Hoyun looks at the articles and feels annoyed. They are ridiculous but there's no saying that there won't be any impact. The other members have surely seen them already. He should tell them the truth.

Or at least something better than this nonsense that they'll otherwise believe.

"Joo Woosung isn't my sponsor," he tells the others once they've gathered. Somehow they don't even look surprised. He thought they'd tell him to do something about it but no.

"You don’t have to explain," Kang Ichae tells him and puts a hand on his shoulder as if to offer him strength. "We know."

They do? He still has the feeling they're misunderstanding.

"Everybody can see that two of you are close and he doesn’t have any other friends so of course people are going to misunderstand."

"We’re not that close," he tries to argue again but the members have grown so much that they're almost independent from him, they don't need him to tell them what they should say or do or think, except this time they do. And now is this one time that they're refusing to listen.

He gives up on it for now and ignores the situation because the CEO hasn't said that he should do anything and the pushover is silent too.

The later is strange because the CEO may be happy about noise marketing but Seo Hoyun is sure Joo Woosung is pulling his hair out in apartment. He decides to give Joo Woosung a call because he can’t understand why that pushover hasn’t already done anything to solve the situation.

"You don't have to worry about it. It's fine," Joo Woosung too ensures him and for a moment Seo Hoyun feels like the world has gone insane.

"How is it fine?" He asks "Isn't it damaging your reputation if you get dragged into a sponsorship scandal?"

"I always thought it would but now that it has really happened, the number of my followers has only increased and they've even invented a ship name so my company isn't planning on doing anything about it," the voice on the phone tells him and Seo Hoyun ends the call.

Yep, he was right, the world has gone insane.

***

Seo Hoyun ended the call. How disrespectful. Joo Woosung would’ve liked to keep talking. Seo Hoyun has a nice voice to listen to and somehow gives him a feeling of normality. Seo Hoyun treats him like any other person, in his eyes he's reduced to nothing but a pushover and although he should get annoyed at being called this, Joo Woosung doesn't. Somehow he isn’t bothered at all and instead reads through the articles that are popping up like mushrooms in the forest after the rain.

He has to admit that most of them sound way too convincing, referencing to actions they've really done and to their words that could be misinterpreted. Even he almost starts to believe that he's sponsoring Seo Hoyun after reading them.

Somehow it doesn't sound bad at all.

He types in the ship name that got invented and watches through the related media. There are some nice edits, stories and somehow even drawings. Their fans are definitely fast.

And although Joo Woosung finds himself enjoying the situation, he gets that Seo Hoyun isn't pleased about it at all.

He always expects the worst from humans so he only believes that this will only bring him trouble. And there's no denying that it won't happen but it'll be nothing compared to the good sides it brings along as far as the statistics tell Joo Woosung right now and he wonders why Seo Hoyun hasn't realised it yet.

If Seo Hoyun plays his cards right, he'll gain a strong fanbase out of it so even when he'll go independent one day, he'll have no trouble.

Well, whatever, Joo Woosung forces himself to close the tabs about the articles. There’s nothing to be done if his blackmailer only knows how to use violence to get what he wants. Joo Woosung can still recall the threats he made on their first meeting. Seo Hoyun was so scary.

He hopes the man won't overreact when he gets asked about the scandal on his next public appearance and will know to play along because if he doesn’t, his old lies will fall apart too and although Joo Woosung shouldn't really bother, he also thinks it'll affect him if the truth comes out.

So as strange as it is, he wants Seo Hoyun to keep lying that they're friends and close. It's not like it's a lie these days anymore even though Joo Woosung knows that Seo Hoyun would never admit it off camera.

It's a pity. Joo Woosung has come to enjoy his personality and company.

***

"Have you and Joo Woosung shared intimate moments?"

Seo Hoyun does his best to calculate the best possible outcome and by those, decide what to say. In the end, he decides to go with the most neutral one.

"We’re just close friends so definitely not as intimate as you might be thinking."

He makes sure to smile to appear more convincing.

"Have you two known each for a long time? There has been speculation that you contacted him just to gain fame."

Seo Hoyun holds himself back and tries to keep his real emotions from leaking through. So that's how they want to play it. Since they consider him the weaker side, they are targeting him, trying to find a cracking in their story to eat into and give people something to speculate about.

"Yes," he lies like a master although if he considers his one-sided knowledge of Joo Woosung from the past too, then it isn’t a lie. "We met after I had to take a break from my idol activities so we couldn’t exactly post about it. I wasn’t active as an idol at the time and invasion of privacy is scary for an idol, but even worse if you’re simple person who needs to rest and heal."

“But how did a simple person like you contact someone like Joo Woosung who is a well-known celebrity? He isn’t known to go out a lot.”

Is he talking to a tabloid? Seo Hoyun wants to scoff. They're quick to think up the new questions, putting him in another tight spot.

"I can call Joo Woosung so you can ask him about it if you want," he offer generously because it won't be his problem I'd Joo Woosung doesn't pick up. He can say Joo Woosung is busy and he can telltale pushover to write about it later in the social media.

"It would be fantastic if you did that," the host of the show says and despite the worried looks of others, he chooses Joo Woosung's number.

To his surprise, Joo Woosung picks up.

"It's me,” he introduces himself and hopes that Joo Woosung will play along. This could become such a problem if something goes wrong. They’re live right now. “I'm on a TV show and they're asking how we met. Can you tell them about it?”

“I know where you are, I’m watching the show right now.”

“Really?” Seo Hoyun asks and looks at the camera.

“Of course, you are on it, why shouldn’t I watch it?”

Seo Hoyun smiles. Surely Joo Woosung is looking for a way to get back at him, he’s doing this just to make everyone misunderstand.

“We met in the convenience store and I happened to recognise you,” the pushover lies and it sounds unbelievable but Seo Hoyun can’t tell him to stop because they’re live and it would be strange if he did. “I happened to see a post about your group when it had just debuted and although the first song wasn’t the best there is, I was curious to see how you’ll grow so I kept paying attention. I wanted to see if you’d get better at dancing.”

That was a low blow. Seo Hoyun feels himself get a little hot and he’s sure his face is red. Joo Woosung managed to embarrass him.

“You must’ve been happy to learn that they’re coming back together,” the show’s host interrupts and Seo Hoyun wishes he could see Joo Woosung’s face. He’s sure the guy is acting to get his voice sound so cheerful and happy.

“Of course, but this made it possible for me to finally start posting about Seo Hoyun too so I had multiple reasons why to cheer.”

“Everybody already knows what happened after that. No need to tell everything all over again,” Seo Hoyun tries to put a stop to the call, they’ve already said enough, no one should have any doubts anymore.

“But they don’t know how you tried to cook at my place only to fail miserably,” Joo Woosung argues but now he’s just spitting lies so Seo Hoyun ends the call.

“That never happened,” he says with a smile and tries to act as if he just didn’t want anyone to know about it.

On the inside, he’s mad at the pushover. How dare he damage his reputation by saying that he’s bad at cooking?

Seo Hoyun is glad that if not anything else, he got rid of the annoying questions. But he should go and see Joo Woosung after this. This show has only made everything else worse. Now the people think they actually visit each other a lot.

***

Joo Woosung laughs to himself when Seo Hoyun ends the call and looks at the TV screen just to see his reaction. The man is embarrassed and although it’s true that the cooking was a lie, there’s no denying that he’s just that bad at dancing that if Joo Woosung had actually seen a recording of him during their break, he would've paid attention just to see what would become of him.

Joo Woosung discovers that he has started to wish that the wrong history they’re making up sounds so good that he wishes it were true. He wasn’t lying when he told during one interview that he had been feeling lonely for quite some time.

Maybe that’s why he can’t keep a relationship? Because he’s looking for company and a friend not a partner? He has no idea.

He isn’t close to the other members of his group or anyone else and although there’s lot of praise for him on the social media, it means nothing to him because those are just strangers, they don’t know the real him and their words don’t make him feel like he has actually achieved anything.

How terrible. To think he’d come to like that he has a blackmailer. But what to do, he’s a lonely person and Seo Hoyun happens to treat him like a normal person.

And just like predicted Seo Hoyun shows up behind his door even before the night falls and he’s mad.

“Why did you do that?” he demands quite loudly and shows him his phone’s screen “The articles are going crazy over your words.”

“Would you have liked it more if I had told the truth?” Joo Woosung asks and Seo Hoyun frowns. It’s obvious that the idea doesn’t please him.

“You should still be careful with your words. Any more and you’ll start a dating rumour.”

“I wouldn’t mind if it’s with you.”

“Don’t joke around, I’m surprised you don’t have any actual dating rumours. Maybe I should start one to get back at you.” Seo Hoyun tells him and Joo Woosung doesn’t say that he wasn’t joking because Seo Hoyun is already in a bad mood and any more would be just useless risking. He decides to divert Seo Hoyun’s attention from it and give him something else to worry about.

“Did you know that we have a ship name?” he asks and searches it in his phone only for Seo Hoyun to grab it just like he predicted.

Seo Hoyun may think that he’s really unpredictable and maybe he is but not for Joo Woosung when it comes to things like this.

“How do they even do this?” Seo Hoyun asks and Joo Woosung says nothing, trying his best to keep from smiling. Seo Hoyun is like a small child, getting confused over things like this.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t that bad,” he tells Seo Hoyun who grumbles something about this not being in his plans. And it might be true but Joo Woosung thinks that Seo Hoyun will find a way to get back on track.

“Don’t you dare do anything that’ll fuel them!” Seo Hoyun warns him before leaving but he’s a bit forgetful because if Joo Woosung were him, he’d be more careful with just going in and out of his home. Especially after this show but this isn’t his place to say anything.

Just like Seo Hoyun told him, he isn’t doing anything to give them any ideas, it’s Seo Hoyun himself.

***

Kang Namu stares at the window through her camera and takes a picture. She doesn’t think about the quality at the moment and makes sure to get as many as possible.

She was lucky to notice Seo Hoyun go inside because the idol was trying to remain unnoticed but a veteran paparazzi like her can’t be fooled with just a mask and a cap and she took a position, smelling something that’ll sell.

And she was right, for starters Joo Woosung was careless to leave his curtains open and then they were careless enough to get close enough to the window to create a perfect opportunity for her to take pictures.

She wasn’t a stranger to the recent rumours but she took them with a grain of salt because it’s a tactic of boosting one’s reputation and she doesn’t care that much about what people do but now she’s invested.

Those two weren’t pretending and she’s sure she can play this out like a dating rumour. Tabloids will pay for it greatly. Joo Woosung is a hot topic and Seo Hoyun is a rising star too, this will surely gather attention.

She saves the pictures and makes sure to get pictures of Seo Hoyun leaving and he looks mad about something. Maybe it’s because he had to go. ¤ doesn’t think too much about it and hurries home so she’d get her payment as soon as possible.

She can’t let anyone else be faster than her and iron must be struck while it’s still hot so that’s what she’s planning to do.

***

Damn.

The sponsoring rumours have turned into dating rumors. Seo Hoyun knows it’s his own fault for being careless when he knew that people are constantly paying attention to what Joo Woosung is doing but he didn’t think he’d get pictured like this.

Now it may just be easier to go with the flow because it seems that the more he keeps denying it, the more they’ll be convinced that he’s just trying to cover it up.

Joo Woosung is acting strange and no one else has a problem with it, not even the CEO who usually is the epitome of refusals himself. Who knew he could be so open-minded if it promises profit?

Seo Hoyun sighs and closes the tabloid articles. The fans are going crazy in the comment and he’s afraid to look how many stories have been added with the shipname.

It seems there’s no stopping it anymore and if it’s this bad, he might as well play along. Joo Woosung said he wouldn’t mind getting into such a scandal with him so Seo Hoyun plans to make sure he’ll regret it. If it has come to this, he’ll go over the top with it until Joo Woosung begs him to stop.

How dare his pushover drag him into this? All of this started when he lied during the live. Seo Hoyun won’t forgive him for this unless he makes it up somehow but Seo Hoyun can’t imagine how Joo Woosung could do it. Joo Woosung may be a celebrity but how could he help him with his goals more than he already does?

No, this is something he has to do on his own. Joo Woosung is just a bother at this point and although Seo Hoyun would like, he can’t get rid of him, maybe it would’ve been better to threaten someone else?

Seo Hoyun sighs once again. Why does all of this has to be so difficult? He curses paparazzi who don’t know when to keep what they know to themselves. Couldn’t they have contacted him or Joo Woosung first before taking the pictures to the public?

***

Joo Woosung reads through the articles and looks at the pictures. Seo Hoyun must be furious but when he was contacted and offered to pay the paparazzi off so the pictures wouldn’t get released, he saw no need for it. They didn’t look like anything that could do him harm as the fandom was already spinning its own tales about how they met and how they’re close.

He thought that giving them something to work on would actually bring their attention away from other things and help Seo Hoyun as his blackmailer’s company is still as bad as before and if people pay more attention to him, they’ll notice it too.

Joo Woosung doesn’t want to risk getting sued by the company himself but if the public demands for a change, they just might do something.

Either way, he’s happy to see that the so called dating scandal is working wonders with the ship the fans have created. There are even more stories than before and now even if Seo Hoyun would like to, he can’t just leave him because they’ve been tied together by this scandal.

Joo Woosung is sure the fandom will remember and though Seo Hoyun may not agree with him but he has found a friend who will do everything to help him.

So he writes Seo Hoyun a message.

“If it’s already like this, why don’t we date for real? Or at least act like we are. You can always keep denying. I’ll be the talkative one.”

He isn’t sure if Seo Hoyun will agree but at worst, he’ll just curse him out and that’s all. So he has nothing to lose. And if he succeeds… well, he can’t quite imagine it happening but he’s sure it’ll be something to read about because if he’s going to do it for real, he’ll make sure to do it with a heart.

Chapter Text

Joo Woosung hums, drumming his fingers against the table. Despite the small amount of customers, his appearance attracts attention and he smiles to the cameras.

Today he isn't bothered by the people taking interest in him no, he’s actually enjoying this. They're making this so much better.

Finally a figure comes in a hurry and sits down in front of him, hiding his face behind a cap and a mask.

Joo Woosung smiles.

"Drop the act, everybody knows it's you," he says and removes the cap, revealing dark hair and small hint of sleeplessness.

"Didn’t you sleep well again?" Joo Woosung asks as Seo Hoyun removes his mask.

"Have I ever?" Seo Hoyun asks with an angry smile and orders himself a drink from the amazed but professional waitress.

"I saw you sleeping like a baby that one time you spent at my place."

"It was an exception that proves the rule."

"Will it happen again?" Joo Woosung asks and leans heavier against the table, getting closer to Seo Hoyun this way.

The other idol still isn't used to his role as his lover but he's good at getting frustrated and angry and then somehow managing to make it work so Joo Woosung leaves it be. This is just who Seo Hoyun is.

But he doesn’t want Seo Hoyun to be sleep deprived.

"Why can't you sleep?" Joo Woosung asks him and his eyes stay glued to Seo Hoyun's face. Anyone else would get embarrassed from having his eyes on them for so long but Seo Hoyun doesn't even react.

"I get nightmares," he says like it's something trivial, something that isn't even worth mentioning.

"About what?"

"I'll tell you some other time. Are you going to eat that sandwich?"

Joo Woosung looks at the table only to realise his order arrived and he didn't notice because he was looking at Seo Hoyun. He's really a fool.

"You can take it if you need it," he promises and Seo Hoyun takes it. Joo Woosung is sure that in his head, the man considers this a payment for the trouble.

If only he knew that unlike him, Joo Woosung doesn't really have to act to have this look of infatuation on his face. He'd be so confused.

The thought of it happening makes Joo Woosung smile. He isn’t planning on letting Seo Hoyun know. Not anytime soon at least.

He's quite happy with the current situation.

"Let’s go," he says once Seo Hoyun has finished eating. "It's getting a little too crowded here."

"That's your fault. Who told you to be so handsome," Seo Hoyun complains as they go and Joo Woosung can't figure out if he's complimenting him or not.

Well, Seo Hoyun is known to be tight-lipped with compliments so even something like this is considered a lot.

"How long do you think will be enough to convince them?" Seo Hoyun asks as he lays down on Joo Woosung's couch. "Three hours? Two?"

"Three," Joo Woosung quickly tells to avoid Seo Hoyun leaving sooner.

Seo Hoyun sighs.

"If it wasn't a time that the company purposely left for this, I wouldn't stay for so long," he complains and picks up a book.

"What?" He asks when Joo Woosung looks at him with questions in his eyes. "Can't I put a phone away and read for once?"

"Didn’t think you would."

"Books tell less lies than the internet. It takes more effort to fake and edit these so I trust them more. And the phone tires me."

"What's your favourite book then?" Joo Woosung asks because he's definitely going to read it if Seo Hoyun tells him.

"Don't have one. I just read what I find, it doesn’t matter which genre."

"Even the erotic ones?" Joo Woosung asks, hoping to tease Seo Hoyun but the blackmailer is a tough one. He smiles back with a sly smile.

"Even the erotic ones. They aren’t usually worse than the fan vidoes you can find on internet."

Joo Woosung is forced to admit that it's true. For the next hour or so, Seo Hoyun reads the book he snatched from him and Joo Woosung just enjoys the fact that it isn't silent.

When Seo Hoyun finishes, he rubs his eyes.

"Did you get tired?"

"Would you not? My eyes hurt."

"Eye drops?"

Seo Hoyun nods and to Joo Woosung's disappointment, puts them on by himself. He was hoping to help.

"Why won't you stay here tonight? You’re tired. " He asks when Seo Hoyun looks like he’s getting ready to leave.

"Not today," the idol refuses. "I have to go back to my brother. Some other time."

And just like that he’s gone once again and the silence fills the rooms. Joo Woosung feels like a small child in a big house and it isn't too wrong. These rooms are too big and the ceilings way too high.

He didn't think he'd miss someone's presence like this and here he is. The cat isn't enough to chase away the sadness.

How did he deal with the loneliness before? Was he just not aware of it? He has no idea but he definitely doesn’t like it when Seo Hoyun leaves.

***

Joo Woosung's offer was tempting. Seo Hoyun thinks he could’ve slept well there but he can't. Not today. Today he has to be home as it’s an anniversary and he doesn’t want to leave Seo Hojin alone. The boy is strong but he’d be disappointed if he didn’t show up.

It's already dark when he finally crashes on the floor, tired from all the moving. Why couldn’t Joo Woosung call him straight to his house? He's sure paparazzi are always chilling there just to get a shot. But no, Joo Woosung just had to call him out and make sure everyone saw then in a cafe.

Still, the food was good. And he had just reached the climax of the book when he had to leave it. It makes him frown when he thinks about it.

He would’ve liked to finish it. Why didn't he ask Joo Woosung to lend it to him? What a fool he was.

"What do I have planned for tomorrow?" He asks Seo Hojin who somehow happens to know his schedule better than he does. His only excuse is that he's tired.

"A filming for a crime TV show. And then training and planning and-"

"Stop, I got it," Seo Hoyun stops Seo Hojin from talking "I'll despair if you remind me any more."

"The first one is with Joo Woosung, there's nothing to despair about."

"You know it's fake," Seo Hoyun sighs but Seo Hojin just shrugs.

"Don't know, look pretty real through the pictures. Was the sandwich good?"

"Yes," Seo Hoyun mumbles and sighs.

He writes to Joo Woosung, hoping that the pushover will see his message. He wants to know how that book ends.

***

Seo Hoyun is still awake. Joo Woosung isn't too happy to get his message because of this. He should be sleeping.

"Will you go to sleep if I say I'll bring it?"

"Maybe," Seo Hoyun tests his patience and Joo Woosung has to hold himself back from calling the man right at the very same moment to get him to go to sleep.

Does Seo Hoyun even know how much it worries him just to see him exhausted? Clearly not, otherwise he wouldn’t do this. Or knowing him, maybe he would if it makes sure his band does better than before.

He puts his members and the band’s success above himself and Joo Woosung is just a little annoyed with it. He isn’t the only one worrying about him but Seo Hoyun just doesn't learn.

"You better do, otherwise I'll give it away before tomorrow." He threatens and puts his phone away not to provoke Seo Hoyun into answering him by staying active.

***

Did Joo Woosung bring the book? Seo Hoyun stares at him for an answer but Joo Woosung doesn't react and he gets a little annoyed. Is this because he wasn't sleeping yesterday? He had no choice! If he hadn't written, Joo Woosung definitely wouldn't have brought the book.

"Why did you betray me?" He asks Joo Woosung in the role but puts his own feelings into it. He wants to know why Joo Woosung didn't give him the book.

"For your own sake." Joo Woosung answers and puts a hand on his face. He's ad-libbing but Seo Hoyun doesn't get taken aback. Why should he, he knows just how good Joo Woosung is at lying and this is no different from that. If anything, this is closer to the truth than anything else.

He slaps Joo Woosung's hand away and smiles almost insanely, grabbing Joo Woosung by collar so that the idol has to look at him and doesn’t have any chance to ignore him.

"Is it really good for me if you make me feel like shit? I didn’t take you in so you'd cause me to feel bad."

"But you took me in. And I care. So I ignored your order because it was right."

"Shithead," Seo Hoyun curses and lets Joo Woosung fall. The scene is over and he’s glad no one stopped them. They diverted from the original a lot and by some cruel twist of fate, the scriptwriter is here today.

But that person doesn't look bothered. If anything Seo Hoyun thinks they were inspired. He sighs. Somehow a crime story is getting a small romance line into it.

The fans and paparazzi are going to have a field day.

***

"Here," Joo Woosung finally gives in and gives Seo Hoyun the book he wanted so much. The idol grumbles but takes the book and focuses on it, somehow managing to forget that this helped him deliver a memorable scene. This will be talked about.

The look in his eyes makes Joo Woosung shiver when he thinks about it. That madness. If Seo Hoyun would actually use it to look at him... Joo Woosung stops his thoughts before they get too wild. There's no way that'll ever happen.

If it did, the next day the company will express their sadness about the scandals not being lies at all. Who would want to read about truth from a tabloid? Tabloids were made to deliver guesses and cause embarrassment so if they fail to do that, they won't serve their purpose.

Joo Woosung smiles to a camera and puts his hand on Seo Hoyun's shoulder, hinting at it so Seo Hoyun wouldn't overreact. Strangely the man doesn’t even react to it. Has he gotten used to the touches?

Joo Woosung didn't think it'd happen. It hasn't been so long since they made the agreement to pretend.

But he doesn’t mind and gets closer.

"Let me lean on you for a while," he asks and uses Seo Hoyun's hand as a pillow while they wait for the next scene to be prepared. Seo Hoyun let's him stay.

***

Seo Hojin scrolls through the articles and reads them out loud.

“Nation’s couple share a sweet moment behind the scenes. The genre of the TV series is changing and the birds are signing. Seo Hoyun and Joo Woosung show their devotion to each other.”

“Stop it!” Seo Hoyun shouts, hiding his face in his hands. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I never thought you’d get named a nation’s couple with anyone,” Seo Hojin says and then shows him the picture which started most of the articles released today. “What’s the actual story behind this? Was it planned?”

“No,” Seo Hoyun sighs. “There was a leak. Someone took the picture on the set without our knowledge. I was reading that book I started yesterday and Joo Woosung was just tired, you know how it is. People read far too deep for some things.”

“Don’t know,” Seo Hojin argues and shows him the pictures. “Tell me do these leave any room for misunderstanding?”

Seo Hoyun takes the tablet and looks. He hasn’t really paid attention to how they appear on pictures because the pushover promised to inform if something he wouldn’t want there, shows up and the other group members have been making posts on their account but now that he looks, it’s really not an overreaction to call them a couple.

Why does Joo Woosung have that look on his face when he looks at him? Why does he himself look like he’s having fun? He doesn’t remember smiling and the pictures tell him that he has been doing it. Why? This is something the CEO ordered. Why has he been enjoying it?

“I don’t really think people have to read into those pictures,” Seo Hojin mentions. “It’s so obvious that you’d have to look for proof that it isn’t like this.”

“When did it get like this?” Seo Hoyun wonders and gives the tablet back to Seo Hojin. He sighs, there will be even more paparazzi from now on.

“I’m going to see Joo Woosung,” he says because he wants to ask the man why has he been putting so much effort in. He told himself that he’ll be the one going over the top and that he’ll make Joo Woosung regret causing this situation but as far as he can see, he hasn’t succeeded in either. Joo Woosung has been doing more and there are no sings that he’s regretting this scandal anywhere.

“Be careful of the pictures,” Seo Hojin warns him but Seo Hoyun laughs.

“If it’s something related to him, there’s no avoiding them,” he says and calls for a taxi.

***

“It’s quite late. Did you get so bored at home that you thought meeting paparazzi would be nice?” Joo Woosung asks as he lets him in but Seo Hoyun scoffs.

“I thought I’d come give you your book back. So you wouldn’t use it as blackmail against me.”

“Of course. Because you’re the only one who can do that,” Joo Woosung nods and smiles to himself. Seo Hoyun is still the same.

“Are you going back right away?” Joo Woosung asks, trying to sound natural as he grabs the cat to give himself something to do. Unlike with Seo Hoyun, the cat doesn’t come to him by itself.

“No, thought I’d stay here today.”

“Why so suddenly?” Joo Woosung asks because usually Seo Hoyun would leave, mostly because it would avoid the press speculations.

“Don’t you like it?”

“I do but-”

“I thought we could talk a little. Just like we did in that cafe but with less people looking. How does that sound?” Seo Hoyun asks before Joo Woosung can finish his sentence and it take a moment before Joo Woosung can figure out what he wants to say as a response.

“It would be good,” he says, feeling his throat dry. He wasn’t ready for this. He has a feeling something will happen and there’s tension in the air because of this. How doesn’t Seo Hoyun notice it?

Or maybe he does because Joo Woosung notices his eyes on him and can’t help but tease

“Like what you see?” he asks and poses “You’re the only one who sees this side of me.”

“No, I’m wondering,” Seo Hoyun answers and this unpredicted reaction throws Joo Woosung off the rails a little. For the first time in a while he can no longer predict what Seo Hoyun will say or do next.

“About what?” he asks, feeling nervousness rise in him. The uncertainty is nerve-wracking, he feels as if he’s losing control.

“About you. There’s no one to see here and you’re still acting the same as you do before cameras. Why?”

“Can’t I be nice?”

“This is beyond nice,” Seo Hoyun shakes his head and “People don’t act like this with their friends and I’m not even that. I’m your blackmailer, it would be a lot more logical if you tried to get rid of me any give chance and instead you’re helping me and acting like this. It’s not logical.”

“There’s nothing logical about life,” Joo Woosung tries to put a stop to the topic because he fears that Seo Hoyun will reach the truth in his his thinking if he goes any further.

“Unless the truth is that you aren’t acting,” Seo Hoyun still ends up saying what Joo Woosung feared the most and for a moment they just stare at each other. Seo Hoyun is, waiting for his reaction and Joo Woosung wonders whether to tell the truth and make himself feel better or to ensure that Seo Hoyun wouldn’t find out.

But he’s tired of hiding.

“What about it if I’m not?” he asks with a smile and then gets ready for his world to collapse. Seo Hoyun is like a storm, he won’t just leave it be like this.

***

Joo Woosung isn’t acting. Seo Hoyun got this feeling when he looked at the pictures but it feels different to hear it from the idol directly.

Why isn’t Joo Woosung acting? He should hate him, so why doesn’t he?

He has no idea how to react to this. He wasn’t ready for something like this to happen. What should he do? He’s confused.

“Don’t think too much about it,” Joo Woosung advises him and starts making up the bed for him. “Overthinking kills emotions.”

And Joo Woosung may tell him this but this doesn’t mean that Seo Hoyun can act on his words. It’s part of him.

He can’t really help it, he has to think of the worst possible option first. Strangely none come to mind right now. Anything that could’ve happened has already realised and didn’t go as he predicted.

A scandal like this didn’t ruin anyone’s career and Joo Woosung is behaving normal too. Or at least Seo Hoyun doesn’t mind him acting sweet. If anything he’d call it nice. It gives him a feeling he can come to Joo Woosung when he needs help and although he likes doing everything by himself because that’s the only way to get it done for sure, this isn’t bad at all.

Maybe he’ll really tell Joo Woosung why he has nightmares one day. But today he just wants to sleep well and then go and film another part of that crime series. Surely their acting will have a new feel to it from now on.