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It was nearing four whole minutes of Intak silently watching Keeho pick which photos of himself he was going to post later today on his phone when Intak decided to speak up. 

“How did you get Taeyang hyung to let you post him on Instagram?” 

Keeho looked up from his phone. Blinked. “I asked him,” he said, like Intak had asked him a very stupid question. “Duh.”

“Yeah, but—” Intak wasn’t satisfied with the answer. “How did you ask?” 

“I said, can I post this pic of you,” Keeho said bluntly. 

Intak would’ve believed him if he didn’t know that Taeyang was the most camera-averse person he’s ever met. “And he said yes? Just like that?” Intak asked skeptically. 

“Well yeah, after I asked him two or three or maybe twelve times,” Keeho said, and Intak almost rolled his eyes in realization. “You know how he’s camera-shy,” Keeho protested. “He doesn’t have a problem with me soft launching him anymore, just posting his face.” 

“Can you blame him?” Intak mumbled. “With you and your two million followers…” 

“Two point two million,” Keeho corrected with a grin, taking a sip of his mimosa. “And don’t talk like you don’t have a couple hundred thousand yourself.” 

“It’s different,” Intak insisted. His Instagram account was just for fun, an online diary for photo dumps and the occasional dance cover. Keeho’s, on the other hand… “You have fans who make edits of you that go viral on TikTok. You’re an online celebrity. Brands email you every single day begging you to promote their stuff. People literally recognize you on the street.” 

Keeho’s attention was directed back onto his photos. “And whenever I post anything with you in it, people always ask who the guy on the right is. You know how many people even just on campus that I overhear talking about how handsome Intak oppa is? Stealing my thunder, hello?” 

Intak cringed a little. “If you want that to be you, please, be my guest,” he said. A little bit of attention was kind of nice, especially when the audience section of his dance showcases were always packed with rapt onlookers. But he’d never imagined that he’d become popular on social media, to the point where people actively recognized him by his username on campus. Admittedly, he was nowhere near Keeho levels of recognizable, but he could swear that at his last showcase, there were a few people who’d shouted get it sexy, get it sexy! at him a few days after a video of him and Keeho with that audio had gone viral. 

“I’m no handsome campus oppa,” Keeho said idly, setting his phone down. He’d probably just posted his brunch photos, his notifications likely already blowing up. “I’m a sexy, taken man.” 

“And I’m not?” Intak demanded. 

Keeho raised a brow at him. “You would be, if you did anything about your thing with Jiung.” 

The mention of Jiung’s name made something warm cross over Intak’s face. The topic of Jiung was what Intak had been trying to subtly bring up this whole time, but it still felt a little embarrassing that Keeho mentioned it so directly. “We’re already dating,” Intak said. 

“Does dating just mean walking to class and eating lunch together?” Keeho said with a snicker. 

“Do you not do those things with Taeyang hyung?” Intak demanded. Not that he didn’t know the answer—Keeho and Taeyang were one of the most annoyingly clingy couples he knew. The two of them getting together two years ago was probably the worst thing that happened to their friend group, and Intak was only half kidding.

“Of course I do,” Keeho said easily, then gave him a pointed look. “But I’m also not scared of touching him.” 

Intak started so badly that he almost knocked over his mimosa glass. “Don’t say it like that!” he hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was listening in on them. 

“I’m not the one fantasizing about holding my boyfriend’s hand,” Keeho said, raising his hands in mock surrender. “He’s your boyfriend. Just ask. I’m sure he’d be delighted to hold your hand.”

“You don’t get it,” Intak bemoaned. 

Keeho huffed out a laugh. “Trust me, I know all about Jiung’s thing with touch. You have nothing to worry about.” 

And therein was Intak’s little problem. Intak rested his chin on his palm, letting out a deep sigh. 

“Oh,” Keeho said pleasantly, holding up his phone to show Intak his Instagram page. “Two point three million.” 

“You’re crazy,” Intak announced. 

Contrary to what Keeho believed, Intak and Jiung were perfectly fine, thank you very much. They held hands. They kissed. They even made out. They were going at a perfectly normal pace for two long-time friends who’d only started dating a month ago, not that Intak would voluntarily tell Keeho that, except Keeho already knew, somehow. 

It was just that Intak knew Jiung wasn’t too fond of physical touch, and he was determined to be a respectful partner. He’d asked Jiung about it, of course, when they’d first started dating, but Jiung had just laughed when Intak brought it up, eyes crinkling attractively as he brushed a thumb over Intak’s cheekbone. Intak had practically melted at the touch, eyes fluttering shut as Jiung leaned in to kiss him, and the conversation was all but forgotten after that.  

But now, it was like Intak was hyper-aware of it: the way Jiung would duck out of insistent hugs from Keeho with a long-suffering smile, or like how Taeyang rarely pretended to kiss Jiung even though he pretended to kiss everyone. And maybe there wouldn’t be a problem if Intak could keep himself in check, except he couldn’t. 

It was like something in him was magnetically drawn to Jiung, an uncontrollable, excitable energy coming over him whenever he saw Jiung waiting for him outside of his class so they could walk to lunch together, whenever Intak visited Jiung at work in the cafe, whenever Intak heard a knock on his dorm room door and knew it was Jiung on the other side. 

He wanted to hug Jiung all the time, bury his face into the crook of his neck and smell his cologne. He wanted to lean on Jiung’s shoulder, link his arm with his own as they walked together. He wanted to kiss him hello when they accidentally ran into each other campus—and there were so many times he almost did these things if not for a gentle look reminding him that they agreed to keep affection to a minimum in public for the sake of privacy, Jiung’s warm eyes giving Intak a bit of a strange feeling in his stomach if he stared into them a little too long. 

Those moments always felt a little like Intak was stumbling over his own feet, jerked back into the reality that his boyfriend just didn’t really like physical affection all that much. Intak was fine with that, though—and was quickly realizing that he was fine with pretty much anything if Jiung was involved in it somehow. But regardless, it was just instincts, and Intak was sure he’d grow out of it over time. Intak sometimes joked about how he was a bit slow to almost anything that wasn’t dance (a joke that Jiung never seemed to appreciate, Intak discovered, with how Jiung’s brows would furrow when he’d tell Intak to stop talking down on himself like that), and this was just one of those things that he just needed a little bit of time to adjust to. 

No biggie! Intak was already thinking about bigger and better things. Like, for example—

Jiung had managed to successfully kick Taeyang out of the apartment for the night by telling him (read: by basically shoving him out the door) to sleep over at Keeho’s place, which he was already doing for most nights anyway. He’d promised Intak a home-cooked dinner and a movie, and Intak was already thinking about how he could maybe get away with scooting close enough to Jiung on the couch so that they were basically cuddling. As in, maybe brushing shoulders once, or even twice. And maybe a kiss? Jiung seemed to be fond of kissing, at least, always somehow managing to do it in a way that could make Intak blush. Him! Hwang Intak, blush! 

“What are you thinking about?” 

“Nothing,” Intak said quickly, tearing his thoughts away from the way Jiung’s breath would fan hotly across Intak’s neck. He cleared his throat as his voice came out a bit raspy. “Nothing.” 

Taeyang squinted at him. “Hmm,” he said, tapping his pen against his notebook. “You had a weird look on your face.” 

“Why do you care,” Intak shot back at him, unsure why he was being so defensive with Taeyang of all people. He should’ve never looked up from his book—though to be fair, he’d basically been reading the same page for the past twenty minutes, the buzz of conversation from other customers in the cafe distracting him. 

“I don’t,” Taeyang said simply. He heaved a sigh, looking back down at his notebook. “I hate Mondays. Want to do my econ homework for me?” 

“Hell no,” Intak said, giving a side-eye at Taeyang’s notebook and some complicated set of equations he had pulled up on his laptop. “You dug your own grave with your major.” 

“Someone’s gotta be the breadwinner in the family,” Taeyang said with a dramatic stretch. Then his face screwed up in thought. “Actually, I could honestly drop out, though. I could live happily as Keeho’s trophy husband. I can cook. I can clean. Actually, I can’t cook, and I don’t necessarily like cleaning, but—” 

“It’s not a good sign if Taeyang’s talking about dropping out again,” Jiung said, wiping his hands on his apron as he approached their table. “And you’re really gonna trust Keeho with your life like that?” 

Taeyang gave Jiung a little wiggle of his fingers in greeting. “Well, considering how he already kind of pays for everything whenever we go out…” 

“Flexing the bank he’s getting from his modeling gigs,” Intak said, nodding. 

“More like being a sugar daddy,” Jiung said with a raised eyebrow. 

Taeyang shrugged. “As long as I’m getting my regular fix of beef tartare, I don’t care what you call it.” 

“You could at least get him to get you something more expensive,” Jiung said with a grin. “Make his wallet hurt a little.” 

Taeyang stared at him blankly. “I want beef tartare.” 

Intak could respect Taeyang’s dedication to the dish. 

Jiung turned his attention to Intak when Taeyang picked up his pen to continue working on his assignment (probably having lost interest in the conversation already). “You’re not finishing this?” Jiung asked, nudging the half-eaten plate of a cake slice by Intak’s book. 

Intak blinked up at Jiung. “Was it from a cake you made, hyung?” he asked. At Jiung’s shake of his head, Intak pouted a little. “No wonder. It didn’t taste as good.” 

Jiung let out a bit of an embarrassed laugh. It was so cute. “You know I don’t make cakes very often here.” 

“You should,” Intak insisted. “More often, I mean. You’re good at everything.”

Without even looking up from his notebook, Taeyang mimed throwing up. 

Jiung laughed again. “Okay, well, I’m only on a five minute break right now, so I should get back. Just wanted to say hi, and thanks for coming to see me.” 

He was probably mostly talking to Taeyang with that last part, considering how even though Taeyang and Jiung were roommates, Intak was at this cafe almost every shift Jiung worked here. 

Taeyang gave Jiung another waggle of his fingers in farewell, and Intak had the sudden urge to grab onto Jiung’s hand so he wouldn’t leave. 

“Don’t leave,” Intak said as much to Jiung, hearing the sulk in his own voice as Jiung paused. “I don’t want to read this anymore. I can’t.” 

Jiung brushed a hand against the nape of Intak’s neck, which almost made Intak shiver. “You only have a couple chapters left, right?” he asked. “If you finish them now, you won’t have to read them tonight. More time to spend with me, then, yeah?” 

Across the small round table, Taeyang pretended to throw up again. 

“With the way you act, one would have a very difficult time believing you’re in a long-term committed relationship,” Intak deadpanned. 

“I’m just cool like that,” Taeyang retorted. “And also, almost forgot to mention—no funny business on the living room couch tonight. I eat on that thing.” 

Jiung regarded Taeyang skeptically for a moment. “Yeah,” he muttered, “like Keeho—” 

“I don’t want to know,” Intak said quickly, sensing the conversation was taking a swift turn into irrelevancy. 

“Just saying, bold words coming from Taeyang.” 

“That was alleged,” Taeyang said. 

“What do you mean alleged, I saw you two slobbering all over each other with my own eyes—” 

Taking a leap of faith, Intak reached out to take Jiung’s hand. Jiung looked down at their joined hands with mild surprise, but made no move to pull away from him. “So I’ll see you tonight, right, hyung?” Intak asked. 

Jiung gave his hand a little squeeze before letting go, making a pleasant feeling fizzle in Intak’s stomach. “Of course. Finish your book, Tak-ah.” 

Suddenly, getting through his reading didn’t seem so hard anymore. 

The living room was dim, the only light coming from the bright flashes of color from the TV as Intak lounged on the couch. 

“Come here,” Jiung said encouragingly, probably after he noticed Intak stealing far too many glances at him in a mere span of five minutes. 

Intak didn’t need to be told twice to slide closer to Jiung, lowering his head onto Jiung’s shoulder as a nostalgic Marvel movie made explosion noises in front of them. “I like this,” he said.

“Yeah?” Jiung said, fondness coloring his voice. 

“I feel like I don’t get to see you so much anymore.” 

“We see each other almost every day, Intak.”

Intak huffed out a breath. “You know what I mean. You’re always either at work or classes or locked up in your studio.” 

Jiung tapped Intak’s nose, making Intak scrunch his face a little. “Like you’re any better, mister lives in a practice room. I have to drag you out of there some nights.” 

Touché. “Still, can’t wait for your showcase,” Intak murmured. “I get to see you sing and I get you back.” 

Jiung sighed. “Yeah, but there’s still so much left to prepare for.” 

Intak knew that the showcase was something Jiung had been particularly worried about for a while now. It would be Jiung’s first performance where he didn’t have Taeyang’s guitar-playing or Keeho’s accompanying vocals by his side performing alongside him. (Taeyang had a midterm that evening and Keeho had an unmissable gig during the showcase, and their mutual unavailability had made Jiung’s eyes comically widen when they’d first apologetically told him about it.)

Intak would be there, though. Like he always would be. “You got this, hyung,” he said softly. 

“Can’t wait to show you,” Jiung said with a smile. “Too bad Keeho will miss it, though. I haven’t seen him in ages.” 

“Should’ve come to brunch with us yesterday,” Intak said with a one-shouldered shrug. 

“I saw his post,” Jiung said, waving it off. “It looked very cute.” 

Intak sat up a little indignantly. “Cute?” he demanded. “It was very cool. We’re cool.” 

“But everything about you is cute to me, baby,” Jiung said with a laugh, using the pet name that he only ever pulled out when he wanted to make fun of Intak a little. 

Still, Intak could feel his face warming up. “That’s crazy,” he mumbled, his fingers fidgeting to unlock his phone on instinct. He clicked into Instagram, pulling up Keeho’s profile. 

“See?” Jiung said as Intak swiped through Keeho’s recent post. Keeho had included a blurry candid of Intak giggling over a mimosa glass toward the end of his carousel post. 

“I look stupid,” Intak complained. 

Out of curiosity, he checked the comments, and quickly spotted a few comments asking who the guy in the third to last slide was. 

Some replies: 

keeho’s boyfriend?? 

no this is @intakitaki he’s keeho’s influencer friend they post together pretty often

shitttt why’s he kinda fine tho? 

whoever he is PLEASE be single pls plspls pls pls 

wait he literally goes to my uni HELLO

No one understands how much I want this man. 

guys it’s not his bf kyo’s been soft launching that one mystery guy for weeks now… why would the friend he’s been posting on his acc since forever be the bf 💀

“I don’t understand Instagram,” Jiung said. 

“Of course you don’t, old man,” Intak teased, then yelped as Jiung pinched his side. 

“It’s just, so many people who don’t even go to our school are invested in Keeho’s life,” Jiung said. “They don’t even know him.” 

Intak shrugged again. “He likes the attention. And also he’s hot or whatever, so it kinda makes sense that people are into him.” 

Jiung was quiet for a moment, so Intak turned to look at him, jolting a little when Jiung was already looking back at him. “You think Keeho’s hot?” Jiung asked. 

Intak gaped at him, wondering if he’d just walked directly into a trap. “Like. Like, just, objectively,” he sputtered. It was Keeho they were talking about: campus it boy but also a huge loser whom they’ve known for years. “Not—like, not that I think—wait.” 

Jiung laughed, low and attractive. “I’m messing with you,” he said, his voice like honey. Intak felt a little dizzy. “But what about you? Do you like it, the attention?” 

“Um.” Intak was becoming majorly distracted by Jiung’s presence, the way his black hair was falling messily over his forehead, the line of his pale neck, the warmth from his proximity to Intak. “I like it—from you.” 

“From me?” Jiung asked, teasing. “What about from your fans?” 

“They’re barely fans,” Intak protested, though he felt a little ridiculously giddy that Jiung was so focused on him at the moment. “They’re probably Keeho’s fans who found me through him. I mostly just care about what my friends think. And you.”

Jiung cupped Intak’s jaw, and something in Intak’s brain shuttered off. “You’re so sweet,” he said with a slight smile. “Did you know that?” 

Intak’s mouth felt dry, and found the next words just tumbling out, instinctive. “Can—can I kiss you, hyung?” 

For an instant, Intak worried that it was too forward, too sudden, but Jiung dispelled any of Intak’s doubts with a nod, a certain look glinting in his eye that he sometimes got when he was with Intak. 

At Jiung’s approval, Intak surged up to kiss him, a little clumsy at first before managing to ground himself, and making Jiung huff a laugh into the kiss at Intak’s eagerness. Intak flushed a little in sheer mortification as he broke the kiss and made to pull away, but Jiung’s hands settled on his waist to keep him in place. 

“Intak-ah,” Jiung said softly, pulling Intak a little closer. 

“Hmm?” Intak was too aware of the lack of distance between them. 

Jiung seemed to think for a moment. “Ah, nothing.” 

Intak stared at Jiung for an incredulous moment before giving him a two-finger push on the shoulder. “What? You can’t just say that.” 

Jiung snickered, dropping his hands and leaning away. “Yes I can.” 

“Tell me,” Intak whined, dragging his words out. “Hyung, tell me.

“My secret,” Jiung insisted with a smile. “For now.” 

Intak slumped in defeat. “Fine.” 

Jiung reached out to gently caress Intak’s cheek, and Intak could feel the attitude evaporating from his own countenance by the second. “Don’t worry about it,” Jiung said.  

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Intak said, closing his eyes briefly as he leaned into the touch. Jiung’s hand was warm. “I trust you.” 

When Jiung didn’t respond to him, Intak opened his eyes again. There was another look in Jiung’s eye, unreadable, but nothing that jumped out to Intak as particularly negative or troubled, so Intak just held his gaze, feeling his lips curl up into a little smile. 

“What—” Intak didn’t get to finish as Jiung leaned in to connect their lips again, short but sweet. 

“You really are something, Hwang Intak,” Jiung announced when he pulled back, a pleased look on his face. 

Intak wasn’t particularly fond of strangers coming up to him to ask for his number or his Snapchat, finding the whole interaction rather awkward. It made sense to at least share a conversation before exchanging their socials, at least to Intak, although he supposed that walking around campus with Keeho most of the time did mean that they’d draw at least some form of attention together. Regardless, he usually gave out his Instagram username instead, which was public and more well-known anyway. 

The one time it’d happened when he was with Jiung, though, Jiung had gotten such a pinched expression on his face that Keeho mocked him about it for days.  

“She’s just a freshman,” Intak said to Jiung, embarrassed, once the girl had walked away from them. He felt a little bad for the girl, but he just genuinely didn’t know who she was. 

“Exactly, why was she trying to talk to you, then?” Jiung said with a haughty sniff. 

“Maybe she was dared to by her friends,” Intak offered. 

“Or maybe she thought Intak’s MBTI was C.U.T.E. S.E.X.Y.,” Keeho chimed in. 

“I don’t think you know what MBTI is,” Jiung said bluntly. 

“You’re soooo jealous it makes you look stupid,” Keeho jeered, then let out a shriek when Jiung threw his balled-up napkin at Keeho’s head. 

Jiung bent down to pick up the napkin because Jiung didn’t litter. “Do people ask you this kind of thing often?” he asked Intak. “Randomly, on campus like this?” 

“Not really,” Intak said at the same time Keeho said, “All the time.” 

Jiung’s eyes narrowed. “Yoon Keeho,” he said warningly. 

“This is such favoritism,” Keeho protested instantly. “Why are you saying my name all menacingly and not Intak’s? I’m calling Taeyang for backup right now.”

“But would Taeyang hyung take your side, is the question,” Intak mused out loud. 

“He wouldn’t,” Jiung said with a snort. 

Keeho huffed. “Ganging up on me like this is frankly disgusting. I’ll see you bitches tomorrow.” 

Intak waved at him as Keeho spun dramatically on his heels with his phone to his ear, presumably calling Taeyang. All dramatic, too, considering it was basically already time for him to leave anyway. 

“So it doesn’t?” Jiung said, looking over at Intak, seeming to continue their previous conversation thread. “It doesn’t happen often?” 

Intak looked down at his shoes for a moment. “I don’t know. Sometimes. People sometimes recognize me from Keeho’s posts or videos, I think, and wanna chat for a sec. It’s weird—but also sometimes they’re just nice? I don’t know.” 

“Does it bother you?” Jiung asked, his voice gentle. Playing up the jealousy for a bit of amusement with Keeho was one thing, but this was Jiung being genuinely concerned for Intak’s comfort, and it was close to making Intak fold over how considerate Jiung always was. 

Intak thought about it for a moment, though. “It’s fine,” he decided. “I can handle it.” 

Jiung had then nodded, assured, and walked with Intak to his next class as their lunch break came to a close. 

At the moment, though, Intak was not feeling very assured. 

The showcase where Jiung was performing tonight was in a smaller venue that was supposedly meant to have more of an intimate atmosphere, but it was surprisingly packed with more people than Intak expected, the room swelling with conversation as the performances hadn’t started yet. It wasn’t that Intak didn’t thrive in crowded settings—he did, most of the time—but a stranger had already tried to hit on him after seeming to vaguely recognize him (at least he thought they tried to hit on him, according to the signs Keeho told him were ‘blatant attempts at flirting’) with an accompanying waft of alcohol that made Intak wrinkle his nose in distaste. 

Who showed up to a school showcase drunk?  

Since then, Intak had moved from his original spot, but not until someone else also came up to him to ask if he was the one who recently had a dance cover of “Crazy Form” go viral on TikTok. 

“Maybe! I did cover that song recently,” Intak said, pleased, and a little mollified from his earlier, less pleasant interaction with that drunk stranger.

“Big fan,” the guy told him. “Keep it up! You’re a great dancer.” 

Intak ducked his head bashfully, though his grin was hard to hide. “Thanks, man.” 

The guy disappeared into the crowd, and Intak’s attention was then directed to his phone that was buzzing with a few text notifications. 

There’s a problem, one text read from Jongseob, and there was another text from Shota that was a nearly unintelligible string of emojis that Intak couldn’t decipher at the moment. 

Jongseob and Shota were both meant to come to the showcase today with Intak, since Keeho and Taeyang wouldn’t be able to make it. They usually made it to these kinds of events anyway despite being in high school, seeing how Shota practically lived in Keeho’s apartment with how often he was around, and how Jongseob had originally been a close friend of Taeyang and now was an inseparable unit with Shota. 

What do you mean? Intak replied to Jongseob, and then sent a (confused) thumbs up emoji to Shota. 

We are lost, came the reply from Jongseob.

Intak blinked at his phone. You got lost on the commute you make to this campus basically every single week? he texted back. Jongseob and Shota were also something like geniuses, practically, having been taking college courses at their university since almost the same time Intak started attending it. 

Long story. Will tell you all later. Might miss the beginning of showcase. Please tell Jiung hyung we are so so sorry!!

Intak pursed his lips. The universe really wasn’t lining up in their favor today, it seemed. 

Be safe, he texted, just in case. Jongseob he could trust, but Shota thrown into the mix meant that almost anything could’ve happened. (Shota had once texted the group chat that his bus money had been taken from him, prompting a good dozen of panicked, concerned double-texts from Keeho, Jiung, and Intak asking if Shota had been mugged and if he was alright, only for Shota to follow up and say that the man who “took” his money was the one who ran the taiyaki stand in front of his high school, instantly relieving everyone. Then Jongseob pointed out that Shota should be nowhere near the taiyaki stand at this time of day, and Shota casually replied saying that it was the taiyaki vendor who had actually mugged him, causing another uproar of concern and panic from everyone in the group chat.)

So. Anyway. 

Intak felt oddly naked alone in the crowd, and then tried to quickly shake the feeling off. This feeling was probably worse for Jiung, who was performing alone for the first time. Intak opened his messages with Jiung almost on instinct, where the last message was the heart emojis that Intak had sent in response to Jiung thanking him for wishing him luck. 

The lights then dimmed, and Intak slipped his phone back into his pocket as the showcase began.

Jiung wouldn’t perform until a few groups went first, so Intak just found himself grooving to the music, appreciating the different vocal tones to different genres and the live bands the performers brought along with them. He recognized a few as Jiung’s friends, but also saw plenty of performers he didn’t know—which was not unlikely, considering how Intak was more geared towards the dance side of performance arts rather than the singing and songwriting side—but found himself enjoying it regardless. 

Then, as the current performers were wrapping up their stage, Intak saw Jiung enter from the side, and felt his heart leap a little. He immediately felt silly—he’d known Jiung for so many years, and to think that he still gave Intak a little thrill when he saw him… but Intak also couldn’t help but think that it was at least a little deserved, with how much Intak liked him. 

Jiung was wearing a beige coat with a white shirt and slacks, looking handsome and neat with his dark hair styled to fall naturally into bangs. He grasped the mic as soon as he reached the center of the stage, scanning the crowd. “How’s everyone doing?” he said lightly, eliciting enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. 

Intak knew that while Jiung wasn’t popular in the same way Keeho or even Intak himself was, he was still well-known among students, particularly in the numerous academic departments and clubs he was involved in. Jiung was a well-loved sunbae, someone who always had something encouraging and constructive to say when it came to anything people approached him with. Intak wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of the crowd at the showcase now had encountered Jiung before in some shape or form. 

So as expected, Jiung was handling the audience like a professional. “Let’s get the energy up in here, shall we?” he said, smiling into the mic. “How about that? I was thinking, why not have a little bit of a throwback? Dabble in a little pop?” 

As the audience, Intak included, cheered, the live band led into a drum beat intro of a familiar pop song from the 2010s. 

Jiung was mesmerizing on stage, walking around as he sang the first verse in a lower register than he usually did, then gesturing to hype the crowd up as the song amped up to the chorus. Intak found himself sucked into Jiung’s presence on the stage, the atmosphere feeling more like a concert rather than a school showcase, taking a few pictures of Jiung to remember the moment. 

Jiung’s magnetic energy continued, even as the vibe of his next song changed into something more mellow, a stripped down version of “I am you, you are me.” Intak had heard Jiung hum this song pretty often at random moments in the past few weeks, and realized it must’ve been because he’d been preparing it for the showcase all along. 

“Suddenly you’re seriously so pretty,” Jiung sang, looking into the audience, and then suddenly locking eyes with Intak with a little twinkle in his eye. “Bring your lips here, now!” 

Intak burst into a quiet giggle in surprise at the sudden subtle flirting, a grin taking over his lips. He hadn’t even known that Jiung had noticed where he was standing. 

When the song came to a close, there was loud applause, and someone even shouted out, “This kind of cover suits you so well, Jiung-ssi!” 

Jiung let out a laugh. “Thank you! Thank you, I hope you’ve enjoyed these two wildly different covers so far,” he said, making a few people chuckle. “I’ve actually been trying to branch out and experiment more, which is why I’ve prepared a song I wrote a while ago for my last song for today. Enjoy!” 

As the beginning few notes started playing, Intak was thrown back to the memories of a few summers back when Jiung first played the bare bones of this song in a cramped studio for Intak to hear. They hadn’t even been close to dating yet back then, but the idea of closeness had always been there despite their differences, despite the “awkward distance” their friends always teased them about. 

From that day on, bit by bit, day by day, Intak saw how Jiung’s passions and talents manifested in so many pockets of his life, and found himself wanting to know more, see more, feel more, and ended up falling headfirst into the magnificent experience that was to love Jiung. 

Intak took another picture, the deep blue stage lights hitting Jiung in a particularly mesmerizing way as he sang.

The applause at the end was thunderous, and Intak felt a burst of happiness at Jiung’s unabashedly smiling face looking into the crowd. 

Jiung was so loved. Intak loved Jiung. Everything was alright. 

Intak was rotting in his room, trying and failing to not sulk. He was sprawled on his bed on his phone, aimlessly trying to decide between a picture of his new keychain collection or a picture of a funny poster he saw pinned on a streetlamp to put in his latest photo dump. 

Even as he heard the keypad to his single dorm room beep and his door click open, he was barely fazed, though in retrospect, he probably should’ve been a little more alarmed that there was an intruder entering his dorm. 

He sat up blearily as Jongseob came into view, with Shota closely behind him. “You guys need to stop coming in here without knocking,” he said. 

“Then change your passcode so it’s not literally just Jiung hyung’s birthday,” Jongseob said with a shrug. 

“Delivery service,” Shota said, placing a small, round rock in Intak’s hands. 

Intak blinked down at the rock. “Okay,” he said. 

Jongseob was looking around the room. “I thought Jiung hyung was going to come over later today. Shouldn’t you clean up a little?” 

Intak heaved a sigh. “No, he canceled today. He got invited to an impromptu dinner with his faculty advisor, and then he has a project meeting with his lab group afterwards, or something like that,” he said mournfully, back to fidgeting on his phone, pinching out on his camera roll to see more of his pictures. He could probably afford to add a couple more photos to his post draft, though he kept getting distracted by looking through the photos he’d taken of Jiung at the showcase a few days ago. 

And yeah, the room was… well, it was okay by Intak standards and aneurysm-worthy by Jiung standards, but messiness was subjective! It was mostly just clothes strewn all over the room and a few food containers that Intak kept forgetting to wash. It really wasn’t that bad. He would’ve tried to tidy up a little more if Jiung was actually coming over, but now that he’d apologetically canceled dinner plans with Intak, the idea of cleaning didn’t seem as appealing anymore. Intak would get to cleaning his room soon, though. Soon, he promised. 

Intak flopped backwards onto the bed, his phone bouncing out of his hand. He’d thought that once the stresses of Jiung’s showcase had passed, he’d get to see Jiung more. But now, it seemed like Jiung was still getting busier and busier. 

“So… if you’re free,” Jongseob said slowly, the way he spoke whenever he was trying to be devious, “does that mean you can take us out for dinner?” 

Intak thought for a moment. “Sure, why not,” he said easily. How could he say no to Shota and Jongseob? Besides, he’d just gotten his paycheck from his part time job at the convenience store, and it was probably a good idea to go outside and hang out with friends anyway, rather than wallow in acute misery. Not that Intak was miserable—he just really missed his boyfriend. “How long are you guys on campus for?” 

“Until free dinner,” Shota said, with wide, sparkly eyes that didn’t match his evil, exploitative intentions. 

“And,” Jongseob followed up immediately, “there’s a nice diner a few blocks down here that closes in thirty minutes that we could totally get to if we leave now.” 

Thirty minutes?! “But I’m not ready yet!” Intak protested. 

“We’re dragging you out,” Shota proclaimed. “Put some pants on. We’re going now.” 

“I’m already wearing pants, Shota, what—” 

With fumbling hands, Intak blindly grabbed his phone and wallet, and stumbled out of his dorm room in a rush to follow Shota and Jongseob. 

It wasn’t until Intak had dropped off Shota and Jongseob at the bus station after dinner and dessert and was walking back into his dorm building that he properly checked his phone again. He had an abnormal number of new notifications, but decided to go through them in order of relevance. 

So first, the numerous texts from: 

Keeho

LMFAOOOOO 

bold ass move but i respect it 

is that why you were asking me about soft launching at brunch the other day 

nah this was a full on hard launch though

your comments section going crazyyy rn ouuu intak oppa~ 

intak oppa~ who is this handsome new oppa~ 

ok taeyang is telling me to stop giggling at my phone because it’s distracting him from working?? i guess he hates all whimsy and joy in life 

i told him about what you posted and damn. he really dgaf 💀💀💀💀💀 

he just doesn’t get the influencer grind ‼️

Intak stared at the texts, trying to make sense of whatever the hell Keeho was trying to say.

A notification banner popped up on his screen from Instagram, where most of his notifications were actually coming from. With the context of Keeho’s texts, he was starting to realize that he must’ve accidentally posted something in a comedically unreal buttdial-esque manner, whether that was when he was blindly grabbing for his phone in his rush to catch Jongseob and Shota or at some point when he’d slipped his phone into his back pocket. 

Intak braced himself, dreading what he was about to see when he opened Instagram, though he already kind of expected that he must’ve accidentally posted the photo dump that he’d been working on earlier that day. And at first glance, everything seemed innocuous enough, with his main notifications being the typical array of likes and comments he got when he posted something new. But upon a closer look, Intak noticed that he’d also gotten a surge of new followers as well as more comments than he usually did on casual posts. 

He skimmed through the comments, dread creeping up his spine. 

omg who’s the guy in the last slide?? 

is this intak’s bf hard launch?? i can’t decide if i’m more obsessed with this or keeho soft launching 🙈

wait the guy in the last slide is so fine intakk where do you find guys like this

INTAK OMG are you… you know… 💅

wait the guy in the last slide is literally jiung sunbae from my uni lol 

intak you never post people like this who is this fine ass man?? you two would look so good together 

last slide!! did u go a concert intak? was it fun 🤗

whoever that guy is in the last slide… intak is stronger than me cuz i would’ve jumped up on that stage to kiss him 

Almost in disbelief, Intak swiped to the last photo on his carousel post to see what everyone was talking about. And sure enough, to Intak’s horror, there was a picture of Jiung that he’d taken from the showcase as the last photo. It was a nice picture, of Jiung washed in blue-purple stage lights, zoomed in on him enough to capture the intimate atmosphere of him performing on stage, but Intak couldn’t appreciate the photo to its fullest in his current situation. 

He could understand why it drew attention—Intak usually never posted things like this, almost always posting pictures of random aesthetics or selfies instead. But scrolling through the comments and seeing how many of them were specifically talking about Jiung made Intak break into a sweat, something churning in his stomach. He immediately went to take that specific photo down from his carousel, feeling his finger tremor once as he updated the post. 

He immediately dialed Keeho, who surprisingly picked up within four rings. “Hyung…” he began, unsure how to even begin unpacking all of this. 

“What the hell did you say to Jiung to let you post him on Instagram like that?” Keeho asked, amusement clearly dripping from every word he said. “I stalked your account and you just hit 900k followers, by the way. Thank god, because I thought you’d be stuck at 800k forever.” 

Intak had never considered himself famous or anything like that, but he had clearly had the devoted attention of enough people that posting a photo of a person he’d never posted before on his account wasn’t something he could brush off so easily. “I… didn’t? Say anything to him, that is,” he said, wincing at how hesitant his voice sounded. 

“Hmm?” Keeho asked. 

Intak fucked up. Oh, he fucked up. “I fucked up,” he said, his next words tumbling out of his mouth like he was in a confessional. “I included that pic of Jiung hyung on accident. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even notice that I posted it at all until just now.” 

“What?” Keeho laughed, clearly surprised. “How do you accidentally post something like that?”  

“I—” Intak face-palmed, feeling incredibly stupid. “I had Instagram open to make my post and didn’t get to finish it because I got dragged out to dinner with Jongseob and Shota in a rush. I must’ve accidentally hit post on it, or something.” 

“And then somehow your phone also magically included a sexy picture of your boyfriend before it hit post, huh?” 

“It was not on purpose!” Intak insisted, not wanting to misrepresent himself. He needed Keeho to know that. Why would he purposefully—he couldn’t even think about how Jiung might feel about all this, with how much of a private person he was. Jiung didn’t even like to hold hands with him when they walked together on campus; he would hate this. Intak couldn’t think about it. He couldn’t, it made him feel ill. 

As if being able to sense Intak’s distress, Keeho dropped the teasing. “Oh, come on…” 

“Why are people so invested in this?” Intak demanded. “I would’ve never thought this was something that was so interesting to other people. It’s so ambiguous too! How are people coming to these conclusions that it’s some sort of launch?!” Not that they were wrong conclusions, Intak knew. He was really dating Jiung after all. But still.  

“Are you kidding?” Keeho said. “People thrive over shit like this. You’re a hot guy who’s also an interesting internet personality, Jiung’s clearly not some famous artist whose concert you went to or whatever, and people on social media are bored, man. You should see how people are eating up my pics of Taeyang.” Keeho paused, as if something occurred to him. “Oh. And I guess there’s also a possibility that people are reading extra into this whole thing with your picture because I’ve been doing the whole soft launch thing, and people know we’re friends, so. Yeah. That might be a thing too.” 

Intak put his head in his hands, feeling a headache coming on. Who knew having minor internet fame could be so harrowing? “You think Jiung hyung will be mad at me?” he asked meekly. 

Keeho snorted in laughter. “Maybe.” At Intak’s stricken silence, he seemed to reconsider his words, as if remembering he was supposed to make Intak feel better. “I meant. You’ll be fine. It’s Jiung. I’ve seen him get mad over the stupidest things and it’s always been fine. He’s so fond of you, Intak.” 

But Keeho’s words did little to comfort Intak, and he found himself biting his nails, until he suddenly remembered that that was a habit Jiung always chided him for. 

An overwhelming urge to talk to Jiung overtook him, so Intak quickly wrapped up his call with Keeho, immediately ringing Jiung afterward. 

Intak deflated as the call went to voicemail, reminded that Jiung was probably doing actually important things at the moment, likely at his lab at this point in the evening. He opened his messages with Jiung instead. 

Intak  

hyung ㅠㅠ 

i might’ve messed up ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Intak felt antsy, pacing around in his dorm room. He just had no idea how Jiung would react to this, considering how they’d never talked about making their relationship public, or what even public meant to them. Jiung didn’t even seem to fully grasp how much of a public figure both Intak and Keeho were, being as chronically offline as he was, which made Intak feel even worse that he had accidentally subjected Jiung to the scrutiny of his followers, no matter how subtly. 

He even started picking up clothes off his floor to put into his laundry hamper to try to distract himself, until even that became too mentally exhausting that he sat down on his bed and opened Instagram on his phone again. 

He clicked on Keeho’s story, apparently posted several hours ago, which turned out to be a selfie of Keeho and Taeyang cuddling in a bed. Taeyang’s face was obscured by the hood of his gray hoodie, his head turned toward Keeho’s neck in a way that if Intak wasn’t friends with them, he’d have no idea who Keeho was snuggled up with. Both of them looked so casual and comfortable in the photo that Intak found himself in awe of how good Keeho had become in taking an artful soft launch selfie. 

It was amusing in and of itself that Keeho was trying to soft launch Taeyang at all, considering how anyone who knew Keeho in person knew that Keeho was attached to Taeyang almost like a limpet at all times. He was obsessed with Taeyang, constantly doting on him or touching him in a way that was almost sickening to watch, and it would be a problem if Taeyang wasn’t obsessed with Keeho right back, but he was, so it didn’t matter. They were practically accepted as a known secret on campus, and Intak figured Keeho just lived for the drama, finding delight in the attention that soft launching a boyfriend gave him on the internet. 

But thinking about Keeho’s relationship sharply reminded Intak of his current dilemma at hand about Jiung, and Intak found himself sobering up from the momentary distraction that Keeho and Taeyang had given him. 

Jiung would probably be so mad. 

There was a reason why their friend group had always made fun of Jiung and Intak as a duo even before they started dating, just because of how incompatible they seemed to be. There were too many instances of Jiung getting annoyed with Intak over minor things that didn’t initially occur to Intak as inconveniences, like accidentally stepping on Jiung’s seatbelt in the car when he was grooving to music behind him in the car, or chewing too loudly, or having an extremely disorganized room when there were impromptu group hangouts in his dorm, so their friends had been curious how they’d fair as a couple. 

They’d somehow been able to strike a balance, though, with Intak putting in the effort to avoid doing things that truly irked Jiung, and Jiung resolving to find more flexibility in how he approached things in life. There were bigger things intertwining them than some petty inconveniences. 

(The first time Intak had shown a draft of some lyrics he’d written to Jiung, lips chapped from biting them in anxiety and stumbling over his words trying to explain that he was writing just for fun, that it was probably silly anyway. Jiung had been quiet as he read the page, as if locked in thought. 

Then, he lifted his head to meet Intak’s gaze. “This is really good, Tak-ah,” he said softly, almost as if in awe. “This is really, really good. You have a way with words. Seriously, your diction here? It’s actually kind of brilliant.”

“I’m not—” Intak was embarrassed, but also couldn’t help but preen a little at the compliment. It was high praise, coming from someone as talented as Jiung. He’d been so nervous about showing his writing to Jiung, but it just made sense to him that Jiung was the first person he showed. “It’s just for fun.” 

Jiung’s gaze had been warm, making something ache inside Intak. “Thank you for showing me, Intak,” Jiung had said, handing the notebook back to Intak. “You should keep writing; I’d love to read more. Really. We should write something together someday.

Intak tightly clutched his notebook, full of lyrics, as he nodded enthusiastically.) 

But it also wasn’t like their relationship was perfect: there was the whole thing with touch, for one, which Intak still didn’t know how to fully approach, and more importantly, how much Jiung seemed to value privacy. 

Intak felt like he’d just ruined something, and the thought of disappointing Jiung weighed on him deeply. He couldn’t bear the thought of Jiung’s frowning gaze on him, agonizing over the fact that he’d been careless enough to let something slip on social media when he knew he had a decently-sized follower base that would latch onto certain things like piranhas. 

Just then, Intak’s phone buzzed with an incoming call. The screen lit up with one of Intak’s favorite candid photos of Jiung that he’d once taken when Jiung wasn’t looking. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jiung said once Intak picked up, concern tinging his voice. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay,” Intak clarified quickly. “Sorry. Are you busy?” 

“No, my lab ended early,” Jiung assured him. “What’s up?” 

“I…” Intak took a deep breath. “I accidentally posted a picture of you on Instagram.” 

There was a moment of silence. Then, “Okay?” Jiung said.  

Intak got a feeling that Jiung was waiting for some sort of punchline, and that he didn’t understand the exact weight of what Intak had just said. “And now people think we’re… dating?” he said with a wince. 

Jiung let out a confused laugh. “I mean… we are. But it’s also just a picture, right? Why would anyone think we’re dating from that?” 

Intak swallowed. “It’s just that it… kind of looks like a hard launch,” he said, realizing how stupid everything sounded when he was saying it all out loud. “A lot of people in my comments are talking about it. And Keeho’s been doing a relationship thing on his account with Taeyang hyung, so people might be finding connections there that don’t actually exist.” 

“That sounds silly,” Jiung said, though he didn’t sound upset at all, seeming rather blasé about the whole thing. 

“I’m sorry,” Intak said anyway, because he was sorry. He still felt really, really bad. “It was an accident. I took it down already but—if people come up to you to ask you about it, or something… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

“Hey, don’t worry about it, okay?” Jiung said, as if being able to sense that Intak was actually upset about this. “It doesn’t seem like a big deal, sweetheart. Where are you now? Can I come see you?” 

“I’m in my dorm,” Intak said reluctantly.

“I’ll be there in fifteen, okay?” Jiung’s voice was soothing, comforting. 

“Okay,” Intak said quietly. 

True to his word, Jiung arrived soon: Intak had no idea how long Jiung actually took, but knowing Jiung, he’d probably arrived in fifteen minutes on the dot, if not sooner. 

“Sorry,” Intak said once he let Jiung in. It seemed like he always had something to apologize for. “I know it’s messy.” 

“It could be worse,” Jiung said with a teasing smile, which put Intak more at ease. “How’ve you been today? I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to dinner tonight.” 

“It’s okay, Shota and Jongseob dragged me out,” Intak said, flopping onto his bed. 

“For dinner?” Jiung asked, picking up a hoodie on Intak’s bed and nearly folding it to sit next to Intak. “What were they doing on campus so late?” 

“They said they were tracking down the taiyaki man, but I couldn’t tell if they were kidding or not.” 

Jiung’s eyebrows raised. “The taiyaki man?” he asked in disbelief. “The same guy who mugged Shota?” 

“They got all cagey when I started asking more questions,” Intak said with a shrug. 

Jiung sighed. “Those two are always up to something,” he said, and Intak couldn’t help but agree. 

There was a moment of lulled silence between them, and Intak couldn’t help himself. “I’m sorry, hyung,” he said as he sat up. “I don’t even know how it happened.”

“It’s okay,” Jiung was quick to assure. “Really, Intak, I don’t mind.” 

It wasn’t okay. Jiung was just saying that to make Intak feel better, which was worse because his own boyfriend shouldn’t have to coddle him for doing something stupid. 

“Okay,” Intak said, deciding to let it go for now. Jiung usually had no problems with communicating to him if there was something he didn’t like going on, so he was just going to have to trust Jiung on this. “Are you busy for the rest of tonight?” 

“A bit,” Jiung said apologetically, and Intak could feel himself shrink a little at the thought of Jiung not staying. “I don’t have to go back right away, though. I came here for a reason.” 

“What’s the reason?” Intak asked, even though it was obvious, just because he wanted to hear it. He liked hearing Jiung tell him nice things. 

“I wanted to see you, silly,” Jiung said, grinning. “I didn’t get to have any Intak time today.” 

“You’re so cringe,” Intak teased, though he loved it. He ducked as Jiung aimed to flick him on the forehead in retaliation. 

“You asked! And spending time with me is cringe now?” Jiung huffed, mockingly offended. 

It wasn’t in Intak’s blood to keep up the banter for too long, no matter how jokingly it was. Maybe another time, because going back and forth with Jiung was always fun, but right now, he wanted… “No, it’s not,” Intak relented. “I always want to be with you.”

The teasing atmosphere quickly shifted into something softer, and Jiung reached out to brush a bang away from Intak’s eyes. “Intak-ah,” he said fondly. “I love being with you too.”

Intak closed his eyes, content. If any of their friends were here to witness the moment, they would’ve made so much fun of them for being so sappy, but Intak secretly liked it, Jiung doting on him like he was something special. He liked Jiung. He liked everything. 

Maybe taking down the picture of Jiung so quickly in his panic hadn’t been the smartest idea, considering how faceless people on the internet took that as fuel for further speculations, but Intak couldn’t imagine what it would’ve been like otherwise if he hadn’t. (Keeho had sent him a random TikTok of someone gushing over Intak’s new post trying to analyze it, which Intak would’ve found hilarious if it wasn’t about Jiung.)

It was probably due to his paranoia that Intak felt more eyes on him than usual on campus in the following week, but Keeho, as his ever-trustworthy source on any kind of gossip from both on and off campus, practically confirmed to him that indeed there was some talk going around about Intak potentially dating someone. 

Damn their relatively small campus. There were plenty of people Intak didn’t know on campus, but word still somehow got around fairly quickly.

“Of course it’s news,” Keeho said, shaking his salad in an obnoxiously energetic way. “One of our campus’s sexiest bachelors may no longer be on the market.” 

“That’s ridiculous, I’ve never been on the market,” Intak pointed out, then made a face at the idea that he could be perceived as a sexy bachelor. No thank you. Sexy, maybe, though. Sexy was kind of nice. 

“But nobody knows that.” 

“It’s not like me and Jiung hyung are a secret!” Intak exclaimed, and then paused. Or maybe they were. He actually wasn’t sure. “I don’t see people gossiping so much about you, and you’re objectively more popular than me. How does that even make sense?” 

Keeho waved him off. “I’ve been having a thing going on. Everyone knows I’ve got a man. It’s basically old news.” 

“Why are you still doing it, then?” 

“Because I love attention,” Keeho said immediately. “And also because everyone needs to see how cutie sexy my boyfriend is.”  

“You’re obsessed,” Intak noted with mild repulsion, though he actually thought it was kind of sweet. “How are you still obsessed with him even after dating him for two years?”

“You hard launched your boyfriend to hundreds of thousands of followers by accident,” Keeho jabbed back as he pointed at Intak with some romaine lettuce speared on his fork. “Sorry. Too soon?” 

Intak heaved a sigh, poking at his turkey pesto sandwich. “No, deserved. I’m just surprised Jiung hyung wasn’t mad.” 

“Me too,” Keeho said, then barked out a laugh when Intak gave him a side eye. “I’m joking, I knew he wasn’t going to hold it against you. You guys are like, what’s that thing people say? Private, but not secret?” 

Intak squinted at him. “What?” 

“You know. He’s so,” Keeho waved a vague hand in the air. “He acts so boyfriend around you.” 

“Because he’s my boyfriend,” Intak said, confused. 

“No, like. You should’ve seen his face when that girl came up to you that one time to ask you out. I genuinely thought he was going to crash out; he was so jealous. Not in a toxic way, but—well, he was basically trying to explode that girl with his mind, so maybe actually?” 

“That’s—“ Intak was a little embarrassed now, and maybe a bit relieved that Jiung was rarely around when people usually tried to approach him. But he also kind of understood Jiung’s reaction, considering that he didn’t even know how he would react if he witnessed Jiung get asked out in front of him. “I mean, I get it. But it’s not like I would’ve accepted her offer, or anything.” 

“That’s not the point,” Keeho insisted. “Whenever your guys’ lunch schedules line up he waits for you to get out of class and also insists on walking you to your next one even though his next class is on the opposite side of campus. It’s actually gross.”  

“Only because his next class starts half an hour after mine does—and don’t you and Taeyang hyung do the exact same thing?” Intak pointed out.

Keeho made a so what gesture. “Doesn’t mean I wanna see other people do it in front of me.” 

“You’re so hypocritical.” 

“The point is,” Keeho continued, “that’s just scratching the surface off the top of my head. He’s never made it a secret that he gives you special treatment. Or like, that you’re someone special to him. Just because you’re not an Instagram couple or because he doesn’t want to make out with you in public doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you.” 

Intak frowned. Whoa. “I was never doubting that—“ 

“Yes, you were,” Keeho said pointedly. “Or at least something like that. I know you were because even Jiung noticed.” 

This wasn’t where Intak had thought the conversation was going. “What does that mean?” he asked severely, his sandwich suddenly wholly unappealing now. 

Keeho paused, seeming to consider his words carefully, a rare moment of Keeho being entirely serious. “I think it’s something you should talk to Jiung about,” he said.

“Did he say something?” Intak asked nervously. 

Keeho shook his head. “Talk to him.”

It was Taeyang who opened the door when Intak knocked, a slice of bread hanging off his mouth.  

“Oh, it’s you,” Taeyang said dryly. He was in a set of expensive-looking pajamas, which made Intak think they were either stolen or gifted from Keeho, because Taeyang would never spend money on clothes that he could be spending on his guitar collection. 

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Intak protested. 

“Kidding,” Taeyang said, reaching out to ruffle Intak’s hair with the hand that wasn’t holding bread, like he was a dog. Intak was used to it, the main perpetrators usually being Taeyang and Keeho, and sometimes even Shota. “Jiung’s not home yet.” 

“What makes you think I’m not here to visit you?” Intak said. Technically he was here to talk to Jiung, but he did also genuinely want to see Taeyang. There was something comfortable about being with Taeyang, their senses of humor and personalities unexpectedly slotting well together. 

Taeyang rolled his eyes, but also visibly softened, stepping aside to let Intak in. “You’re so clingy.” 

“You’re clingier,” Intak shot back. 

Taeyang just gave him a thumbs down, which somehow felt more targeted and offensive than any verbal retort he could’ve given. “Well, you came at a perfect time. Help me finish eating my fried chicken.” 

Intak blinked. “What?” 

“Chicken. Eat.” 

Apparently Taeyang ate like a bird and could only stomach ridiculously small portions of food at a time, because there was an astonishing amount of food left for someone who had allegedly ‘finished eating’ and was now snacking on plain bread instead. 

“Why would you order out on your own if you won’t eat much anyway?” 

Taeyang crossed his arms. “Keeho usually finishes it for me.” 

Intak looked around, like Keeho was about to jump out of the shadows at any minute. “What, is he here?” 

“No, dumbass,” Taeyang said exasperatedly. “That’s why it’s great that you’re here. I was going to make somaek too. You like somaek.”  

“I do,” Intak said confusedly. 

“Great, it’s chicken and somaek time, then.” 

So somehow, in the following hour, Intak was roped into drinking with Taeyang, finding himself flushed and laughing hysterically over something Taeyang had said, though he couldn’t quite remember what exactly it was. He’d been lying across Taeyang’s lap at one point, but he’d pushed himself upright to steady himself since then. 

“I don’t remember you being this lightweight,” Taeyang said, a little flushed himself. 

“I’m not,” Intak said, straightening, a little offended that Taeyang, the most lightweight of them all, was saying such a thing. Intak just got more prone to giggle when he drank, that was all. “I just haven’t drank in a while.” 

He had avoided going to the last few outings that the dance faculty organized because there was a guy who consistently showed up to faculty events and was adamant on ‘getting to know Intak better,’ and upon explaining his interactions with the guy to Keeho, Keeho had said that he very likely didn’t want to be just friends with Intak. (“Come on, what kind of guy who just wants to be homies never messages you during the day but keeps trying to invite you places past midnight instead? Surely you picked up on the vibes, Intak.”) 

(Intak hadn’t picked up on the vibes, but now he knew.)

Continuing to run into the guy after Intak politely rejected him felt like a form of awkward torture for both himself and the guy that Intak didn’t want to navigate, so these days he always made up some sort of excuse not to go with them on nights out drinking, instead meeting up with other friends to do anything else but drink to avoid running into him.   

And yeah, so maybe Intak was now a little buzzed on Taeyang’s homemade somaek. Whatever. He liked getting tipsy within the safety of his friends’ company rather than at a party or bar anyway. 

Then, the apartment door clicked open—Intak hadn’t even heard the keypad beeping—and in stepped Intak’s favorite person, the person Intak missed the most, who looked so handsome even in the dim lighting of the doorway. 

“Ungie hyung!” Intak said delightedly, standing up and momentarily regretting it as the world swayed slightly under his feet. He wasn’t drunk yet, but he was starting to feel the alcohol, maybe. He could swear that Taeyang was starting to put a disproportionate amount of soju into his latest glasses compared to how much beer he was supposed to pour with it. 

“Intak, hey,” Jiung said in pleasant surprise as he set his messenger bag down, his gaze flitting over to Taeyang, who raised his glass to Jiung in greeting. “Is there any occasion for drinking?” 

Taeyang shrugged. “I ordered fried chicken and didn’t want to drink alone?” 

“I missed you,” Intak said with a pout, wanting Jiung’s attention on him. He could deal with Taeyang teasing him for trying to act cute around Jiung later; he just knew he’d really, really wanted to talk to Jiung today, and he was finally here, in front of Intak, so real and here.  

“I missed you too,” Jiung said warmly, walking over to sit down on the couch, with Intak quickly following suit. 

Pleased with how close they were sitting, Intak hooked his chin on Jiung’s shoulder, trying to take a subtle breath in of Jiung’s cologne. “You smell good,” he said. “I wanted to see you today.” 

“You smell like you’ve been drinking a little,” Jiung said with a laugh, nudging Intak with a shift of his shoulder. “And you’re seeing me now.”

“Yeah, but.” Intak tried to remember why he’d wanted to see Jiung so badly. It was important, he knew, but he couldn’t be bothered to recall when Jiung was so close to him. 

Jiung was so handsome. “I like you,” Intak mumbled, tilting his head to lay his cheek flat on Jiung’s shoulder. “I like you a lot. So much.” 

Maybe if Intak wasn’t as tipsy as he was, he’d be able to parse through the thoughtful expression that crossed Jiung’s face, but under the warmth of alcoholic flush, he let it slip by. 

“I like you a lot too,” Jiung said softly, his hand coming up to card through Intak’s hair once. “You’re a little drunk, huh?” 

“Not really,” Intak said. He knew his limits, and he really wasn’t as much of a lightweight that Taeyang probably thought him to be. Still, he lifted his head to tell Taeyang that he was probably done for the night, unless Jiung wanted to drink with them, though he knew Jiung was more of a wine person on nights in so probably not, only to find that Taeyang had disappeared from the living room. “Where…?” 

“I think Shota called him just now,” Jiung said absent-mindedly. “Sounded pretty important, but not sure.” 

“Mmm.” Intak turned his attention back to Jiung, searching his dark eyes. 

Jiung was seriously so beautiful. 

“Can you—can I? Can I kiss you?” Intak blurted out. 

Jiung smiled. “Maybe when you’re a little more sober,” he said. 

“But I’m not drunk,” Intak said, pouting. 

“When you’re sober, baby,” Jiung said kindly, caressing Intak’s face once. “You want to sleep over tonight?” 

Intak had never slept over at Jiung and Taeyang’s place after drinking before. He’d slept over normally a good handful of times—usually because he and Jiung would fall asleep on the couch watching a movie—and Jiung had once offered to share his bed, which had been rather nice. But Intak was a little uncertain about the thought of sharing a bed with Jiung when he wasn’t quite certain about his motor autonomy: he was a massive cuddler especially when he drank, as he’d found out after sharing a bed with Keeho a few times, and what if he trapped Jiung into a hug in his sleep? What if Jiung had to uncomfortably sleep through the rest of the night because Intak was embracing him like a clingy octopus? 

Intak supposed that Jiung could (and would, if he really wanted) always push him off or away if that happened. But at the same time—Intak wasn’t sure if it was because of the alcohol—the thought of Jiung doing that to him was a little upsetting at the moment, and so… 

“I can sleep on the couch,” Intak said quickly, his thoughts coming a little more clearly now at the sudden thought of potentially disturbing Jiung. Wow, that was kind of a quick turnaround. So maybe he had been a little drunk before. 

Jiung blinked. “I have a bed.” 

“But. I’m drunk,” Intak tried to reason. 

“I thought you were just a little tipsy,” Jiung said, tilting his head. 

“Okay, yeah,” Intak said in defeat. “But what if I throw up? I shouldn’t be in your bed.” 

“You feel like you’re going to throw up?” Jiung asked, frowning. “What the hell did Taeyang mix for you?” 

“No!” Intak protested, seeing his poorly constructed agenda unravel right before his eyes. But he was a good boyfriend, and he could do this for Jiung. “I’m fine, I swear. I just. I’m good on the couch. Big comfy couch. I’m already sleepy so it’ll be a hassle to move to the bed, anyway. I don’t even have clothes here.” 

“I’m pretty sure either Keeho or Taeyang’s clothes here would fit you,” Jiung said, ever reasonable. He studied Intak for a moment. “And my clothes could fit you too. Might be a little tight,” he said with a bit of amused appraisal, “but a little tightness never killed anyone.” 

Intak couldn’t keep up, didn’t have the brain capacity to process any of that. “I… I’m okay,” he said. “Seriously. I want to sleep here.” 

“You sure?” Jiung asked. 

Intak nodded, and so Jiung left to find him some extra blankets, also returning with a glass of water and a pair of sweats. 

“They’re Taeyang’s,” Jiung explained, as he set the water down on the coffee table. “You’re not sleeping in jeans.” 

It was the classic tenderness of Jiung that always made something in Intak’s chest flutter a little. He liked Jiung so much. 

“Can you help me change, hyung?” Intak asked sweetly, maybe just to be a little shit, full well knowing that Jiung would never. (If he’d asked Taeyang the same question, though, Taeyang would really do it, because he was a bit of a freak like that.) 

Jiung tossed the pair of sweats to Intak, any hazy tenderness shattering as it hit him square in the chest. “You’re on your own, you brat.” 

Intak hugged the sweats to his chest, grinning widely. “Good night, hyung.”

Jiung nodded, reciprocating the smile. He really was really, really handsome. “Good night, Intak-ah. Make sure to drink the water before you sleep.” 

Well, success!

Intak had never considered that his friendship—or his relationship—with Jiung would be considered unusual to anyone, but it seemed like it was, with even some of his casual friends that he shared practice rooms with coming up to tell him that they hadn’t known he was so close with Jiung sunbae.

“Oh?” Intak would find himself saying with an awkward laugh. “I guess I am. Known him for a while, and stuff, haha.” 

It was even stranger when he and Jiung were out together, like the time Jiung’s classmate came up to them to briefly catch up, and his gaze lingered on Intak in a way that seemed a little too intrigued. 

Intak felt a little too transparent—did gossip really travel so far, so fast over something so innocuous? Did Intak really have the influence to generate such intrigue at their university? Almost unconsciously, Intak found himself inching away to create a bit of distance between himself and Jiung. 

Jiung seemed to pick up on the awkwardness as well, quickly wrapping up the conversation once he noticed his friend’s particular attention on Intak. 

Intak hated the thought that he was the catalyst to all this happening. He never liked to stew in negativity, but there was just a tugging sense of guilt that didn’t let him shake this incident off so easily like he otherwise would for anything else.  

He must’ve seemed a bit subdued at the thought on the way home, because Jiung spoke up as he punched in the apartment keypad code. 

“You feeling okay, Intak?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Intak said, kicking off his shoes, then bending down to properly arrange them when Jiung gave him a look. “I’m good. Why?” 

“Just checking in,” Jiung said, folding his coat over his arm. 

They had long since reached a point where silence was comfortable between the two of them, so Intak didn’t think much of it as he shrugged off his jacket and shuffled from the doorway to collapse onto the couch. 

Jiung seemed to check something on his phone for a moment, before sitting down next to him. “Alright, our food should arrive in a bit,” he said. 

“Thank you for ordering,” Intak mumbled, trying to mentally calculate how many shifts at the convenience store he needed to pick up to take Jiung somewhere really nice in the city. 

“Of course,” Jiung said. He seemed to consider Intak again. “You sure you’re alright?” he asked. 

Once again, Intak felt a little too transparent. “I guess I still feel bad about the whole thing,” he admitted honestly. “The post, and everything. Kind of feels like my fault.” 

“But you do know it’s alright, right?” Jiung implored. “And that I meant it when I said I was okay with it?” 

Intak just felt bad. It wasn’t that he was constantly thinking about it, but when there were constant reminders about it in every corner of his life… “I know,” he said. 

Jiung was silent for a moment before he spoke again. “You know, it’s okay to want things.” 

Intak almost flinched at the abruptness of Jiung’s words. “What?”

“You’re allowed to want things,” Jiung repeated, his gaze on Intak steady. “And you know that you can tell me anything, right?”

“I… I know I can,” Intak said, a little unsettled, and suddenly reminded that he’d never ended up properly talking with Jiung after Keeho had told him to. “You can tell me anything too.” 

“Yeah,” Jiung said easily. “I like to think I do.” 

“Why…” Intak began, but his thoughts were escaping his head by the moment. “What…” 

“I’ve just been a little worried,” Jiung said softly. “Keeho said you might be taking some things a little too close to the heart, and I was wondering if there was anything I could do for you.” 

Intak’s mouth felt a little dry. Anything Jiung could do for him. When Jiung was already doing so much for him. When all Jiung needed to do was be himself and Intak would be happy. “What are you talking about?” he asked. 

Jiung seemed to hesitate, like he was embarrassed. “I don’t know, I just thought—” He was looking at Intak so sincerely. “I know you. And if there’s anything bothering you, I’d hope that you’d be willing to share the burden with me.” 

Intak bit his lip. The only thing that he was carrying around with him was that weird, totalizing, residual guilt around Jiung, with his accidental hard launch and the phenomena of social buzz that accompanied it, and more importantly, his stupid inability to show affection in a way that wasn’t intrusive to Jiung. 

But how could he explain that to Jiung without burdening him further? 

“Maybe it’s just me,” Jiung started, like he was trying to prod Intak into speaking, “but I feel like you hold yourself back from touching me.”

“Because you don’t like it,” Intak said quickly, not wanting Jiung to misunderstand. 

Jiung seemed to consider that. “I’ve come around to it, though,” he said. “You like it, right? Skinship?” 

Intak pursed his lips, then nodded.

“I figured,” Jiung said decidedly, “and that’s alright.” It wasn’t. Wait, but Jiung just said it was. “Would you like it if I touched you more?” Jiung asked. 

Intak felt himself go scarlet at the words. “What are you talking about, hyung.” 

“Like—” Now Jiung seemed flustered too, which was just horrible all around. “You know what I mean.” 

“Fine, yeah,” Intak said, crossing his arms a little defensively. “If you want.” 

“Okay,” Jiung said, a little stilted, but he recovered quickly. “In any case,” he said, “I’m just saying you don’t have to hold back for my sake.”

What Jiung was saying felt like a weird thought, something Intak hadn’t really considered before. “Really?” Intak asked cautiously. 

Something on Jiung’s face shifted, as if in understanding. “Intak,” he said softly. “Is this what’s been bothering you?” 

“It hasn’t been bothering me,” Intak said emphatically. “I just—” wanted to be a good boyfriend. To show you I could be someone you could effortlessly love. I want it to be easy for you, the way it’s easy for me. “I’ve just been thinking about it.” 

Because despite certain perceptions, Intak was more mature and self-aware than most people gave him credit for. Maybe he was a little slower to pick up on certain signs or to fix some of his more mindless habits, but he knew that, the same way he knew when it was time to be serious or to joke around, the same way he’d known how to comfort Shota when he was having a rough day. He knew. Intak was a good observer when he needed to be, and Jiung was one of his favorite subjects to observe, because Jiung truly only ever deserved the best. 

Intak liked to think he had several sides to him. Like the way that most people didn’t know that he’d been quietly writing fragments of poetry and unfinished song lyrics in a worn notebook for years now, didn’t know that writing was something special to him, the same way dance was, just less public. 

But Jiung knew. He knew so much about Intak that no one else knew, and yet—

Intak was at an impasse. 

“I’ve been thinking too, and… I care about you, Intak,” Jiung said carefully, quietly. He sounded like he was trying to speak carefully, like he’d given a lot of thought to his words. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m afraid that I might accidentally hurt you anyway, because I’m the way I am, or some other silly reason—”

That was ridiculous, and Intak almost interrupted until he saw the expression on Jiung’s face. He shut his mouth, letting Jiung continue. 

“I think you like me a lot,” Jiung said, reaching out to tenderly brush his thumb over Intak’s cheekbone, an affectionate gesture that never failed to make Intak feel a little dizzy. “And I worry if that’s ever been a reason why you might not ask me for anything you want or need from me.” 

“Never,” Intak breathed out. 

“But you like this,” Jiung said, now cupping Intak’s face, the contact purposeful. His tone was serious, but his gaze wasn’t severe, just genuine and open. “I don’t think I even really realized, until—I, I just didn’t realize. But it’s a thing for you. Touch.” 

“It’s okay,” Intak said again, grasping Jiung’s hands that had been holding his face as they lowered. He didn’t know what to say. He’d never really had any grief about Jiung’s thing with physical affection, but hearing Jiung say it so explicitly made him feel like something was toppling over in his chest, stripped bare.

“You can ask for it, sweetheart,” Jiung said gently. “And I’ll give it to you. Anything, okay? I think there is little that you could ask for that I wouldn’t at least consider.” 

Intak’s throat felt dry. “You’re just such a private person, and I thought…” He trailed off, almost subconsciously leaning closer to Jiung. 

Jiung wrapped his arms around Intak, a warm sense of safety enveloping him. It was an odd feeling, and Intak realized how rare it actually was for Jiung to be the one hugging him instead of the other way around. “I might be a more private person than you,” Jiung said, “but I really mean it when I don’t mind your touch. I also meant it when I said I didn’t mind your post—it’s such a subtle picture, and I’m just surprised that my Intak is so popular online that people cared so much about the details.” 

Intak’s chest felt lighter at Jiung’s words. “You sound so old,” he said, wanting to break the serious atmosphere. “How are you the same age as Keeho hyung? You’re not online enough.” 

Jiung managed to successfully flick him on the forehead because Intak didn’t duck in time. Probably because he was in Jiung’s arms. “You brat,” he said, though he sounded endeared more than anything. “Are we okay?” he asked.

Intak nodded, his arms around Jiung’s waist tightening, letting himself indulge in the embrace. “We’re okay.” 

The thing was, nothing much really changed after his talk with Jiung. Not that Intak expected it to, but at least he now felt less guilty whenever the topic of the hard launch came up—not that it came up that often. It was tamer now, anyway, like a casual question about Jiung sunbae after Intak grinded out six hours of dance practice and was swapping the room with the next person who reserved it, or catching a knowing look in a classmate’s eye when Intak made a beeline straight toward Jiung who was waiting for him after their class ended. 

Intak had found out about the surprising efficiency and effectiveness of his university’s rumor mill, but also found that he didn’t really care much, now that he knew that Jiung didn’t care either. Jiung also seemed to have taken it in a stride, as he already had before, making no moves to step away from Intak even when their proximity drew some looks, and answering any stray questions about his love life in a polite, evasive manner (according to what Taeyang told Intak, anyway). 

So nothing really changed, except… 

Intak stared at Jiung’s hand. 

“You’re leaving me hanging?” Jiung asked, his lips tugging downwards. Was he pouting? 

Intak snapped out of his trance. “N-no,” he said, hurriedly taking Jiung’s hand. He felt ridiculously pleased as he threaded their fingers together, trying to suppress the goofy smile that was trying to take over his face. 

Jiung glanced over at him as they started their walk to the bus stop, seeming to notice Intak trying and failing not to smile. He didn’t say anything, though, just smiling too as he squeezed Intak’s hand once. 

They were passing by a bench when they heard a girl saying, “Did you hear?” to her friend in a hushed, gossipy voice. “Apparently these two high schoolers exposed a money laundering front run by some local vendor here. Remember that guy with the taiyaki stand who briefly sold on campus before he moved locations to the high school a couple blocks away?” 

Jiung and Intak looked at each other. 

“Seems like the university rumor mill is on a different topic now,” Intak commented off-handedly, though he was glad of it. He’d had enough of his fifteen minutes of fame. “Can you believe that we have a rumor mill at all? Unbelievable.” 

Jiung looked like he was in disbelief. “Intak, I think they’re talking about Shota and Jongseob.” 

Intak’s eyes almost bugged out. “What?”  

“...and that’s how we tracked down the man who was running a money laundering front for a massive cartel in the city,” Shota said, far too casually. 

Keeho’s mouth was agape. 

“Stupid as hell to have your money laundering front be a taiyaki stand,” Taeyang said plainly. “Where’s even the profit in that business?” 

“You’d be surprised,” Jongseob said solemnly. “High schoolers get really hungry in school.” 

“That is so far from the point here,” Keeho said, aghast. “What if you guys got hurt while investigating, or whatever you were doing?” 

“Then the taiyaki man shouldn’t have targeted Shota in the first place,” Jongseob said a little fiercely. 

“Though I don’t know why he’d pick Shota of all people to rob, even if he was really strapped for cash,” Taeyang said. “Shota doesn’t exactly look like someone who carries a lot of money on him. No offense, Shota.” 

Shota just shrugged. 

Intak shook his head, finding the whole situation surreal. It was a crazy situation, but if it had to happen to anyone, of course it’d be Jongseob and Shota. 

“Anyway,” Shota said. “The police are done investigating, and the case is closed, which is why it’s on the news now. Done and over.” 

“Well, from everything you’ve told us, I’m glad you guys are alright,” Jiung said. He was sitting on the couch next to Intak, close enough that their legs were touching. “There’s never a normal day with you guys, huh?” 

Shota saluted at him. 

“Okay, now Mario Kart time?” Jongseob asked. 

“...Sure,” Keeho said, standing up to grab the TV remote. “Y’all are crazy.”  

Intak quickly reached one million followers on Instagram, finding out one day through a DM from Instagram user yoonstephen.

Keeho

ouuu you’re catching up with a certain ig influencer 

known as. sexy dynamite 😝

that’s me btw 

Hey don’t leave me on read 

Intak had remained consistent with his posts—his photo dumps, the occasional selfie, some dance covers. But also, with Jiung’s approval (though Jiung kept saying Intak didn’t need his permission every time, that he was fine with it), posting pictures on his story like: his sneakers with Jiung’s shoes also in frame, a selfie from a bedroom that clearly wasn’t his dorm or a dance practice room, a restaurant food pic with a fraction of another plate across from him, and so on. 

It was actually kind of fun—Intak saw the appeal of soft launch pictures now. Hats off to Keeho, he supposed. 

Taeyang

lol where is this

Intak let out a huff of laughter at Taeyang’s reply to his story, where he’d just posted a photo of him reading at Jiung’s desk. Jiung’s room, duh, he texted back. 

Taeyang

oh what

Intak frowned, unsure if Taeyang was fucking with him. He very well could be; Intak really couldn’t tell with Taeyang sometimes. Do you not know what Jiung’s room looks like?? he sent. 

“What’s got you all frowny?” Jiung asked. He was on his bed with his laptop, writing a paper for his philosophy class that wasn’t even due for another two weeks. 

“Just Taeyang hyung,” Intak said, setting down his phone. “Does he ever come into your room?” 

Jiung seemed to think about it. “Yeah, but not too often,” he said. “Honestly, even since we’ve moved in together here, he’s over at Keeho’s so often, I don’t even know why they’re not living together already.” 

“They might as well get married at this point,” Intak said, spinning in Jiung’s gaming chair. Keeho and Taeyang seemed to perpetually think that their relationship was still new and uncertain, even though they’d basically been leading a perfectly domestic, married-couple life together for the last year and a half. Intak stopped spinning, the world temporarily swimming in front of his eyes as he stood up to inch onto the foot of the bed, not in the mood to read anymore. “You busy, hyung?” 

Jiung glanced down at his laptop. “Not really,” he said. “I should probably rewatch my bio lecture at some point, but I’m actually ahead on the labs right now, so—oomph!” 

Intak curled up to Jiung, who seemed surprised at Intak’s sudden pounce but quickly adjusted, setting his laptop to the side to settle a hand on Intak’s head. 

“I missed you,” Intak said.

Jiung laughed. “I’ve been working next to you this whole evening.” 

“It’s different,” Intak whined.

“Oh, it’s different,” Jiung said, amused. “How so, Intak-ssi?” 

“Do I really need to explain to you why doing work together is worlds away from cuddling together?” Intak said, exasperated. “You’re a workaholic, hyung.” 

“Yeah?” Jiung said, like he was considering something. “Well, would a workaholic do this?” he asked, and that was the only warning Intak got before Jiung was kissing him.

They’d kissed before, of course, many times, but something about this time felt… different. Jiung shifted on top of Intak mid-kiss, and Intak was suddenly surrounded by Jiung, Jiung, and only Jiung, and it was almost overwhelming with how good of a kisser Jiung was, thorough and controlled but still passionate, and Intak could feel his mind going blank from trying to keep up. 

When Jiung finally pulled away and Intak could catch a breath, the room felt so much hotter than before, something thrumming frantically under Intak’s skin as Jiung looked down on him. It had just been a kiss, but it was… it was… 

“How’s that for a workaholic?” Jiung asked, a pleased look on his face. God, Jiung was so lame. But also so attractive. 

Intak was so embarrassingly turned on that he didn’t even know how to respond. Foregoing a verbal reply, Intak just leaned up to connect their lips again, tugging Jiung down closer to him. He wanted to feel the press of Jiung’s body against his, wanted to kiss him deeper, wanted, wanted, and wanted. 

“Please,” Intak breathed out in between kisses, almost unwittingly, the word just slipping out of his mouth.  

The gaze Jiung had on him felt like molten liquid, and Intak couldn’t even bring himself to be mortified at his own admission of desperation. 

“Please what?” Jiung asked, tilting his head. 

Embarrassment then caught up to Intak like an afterthought. “I—I don’t know,” he said. 

Intak wanted it to be him who was seducing Jiung like this, to be the one reducing his hyung into practically nothing like Jiung was doing to him right now, but in the moment, it was like little else existed in the world except for Jiung, so all-consuming and all-encompassing that Intak was hanging onto every word that left Jiung’s mouth like it was the last thing he’d ever hear.

“You don’t know?” Jiung asked, leaning down to press a kiss against Intak’s collarbone, then thumbing over where he’d kissed as Intak shivered. He leaned closer to Intak’s ear. “Intak-ah,” he said, his voice lower, “do you want me to touch you?” 

Something hot washed over Intak then, his heart jolting and continuing to beat wildly as Jiung pulled away. The tips of Jiung’s ears were a bit red, embarrassed, maybe, with how this was something new for them, but Jiung’s gaze was still steady, searching Intak’s face for his reaction. 

“Yes,” Intak managed to say, his voice a little raspy. “Please.” 

Later, after— 

“You drive me crazy, Hwang Intak,” Jiung declared, his hair messy in a way it rarely was. “In so many ways.”

Intak cracked an eye open, unable to stop himself from giggling. “Oh yeah?” he said. 

Jiung gazed at Intak, a soft look in his eye. “But loving you is so easy,” he said tenderly, like he really meant it. “Easiest thing I’ve ever done.” 

Intak looked at Jiung with wide eyes as Jiung’s words sank in. “I…” Then, he smiled, something complete in his chest. “I love you too, hyung.”