How had they forgot to close the blinds? Hongbin’s eyes winced shut but it wasn’t enough to block out the morning sun, the glow of it penetrating through his eyelids to make it all too bright inside his own head. An arm and leg wrapped over his waist and thigh, no doubt belonging to Ravi, ensured that he couldn’t turn away from the light. Some amount of relief shot through him that they were already back to the normal, on that front at least. After the recent pepero game and what could only be called the most awkward not kiss ever, he’d been worried. But it seemed even that sort of slip couldn’t stop the hug monster. In all honesty, he’d have missed it sorely if Ravi ever stopped.

Still, that only meant that he was trapped, trapped awake on a Saturday morning when he should have been sleeping as late as his idiot roommate. Who, of course, had his face buried into Hongbin’s back, safe guarded from the evils of the pre-emptive waking. Not that anything really got through that sleepy brain, but it wasn’t fair on the principle of the matter.

Fight it, Hongbin, he mentally encouraged himself to return to sleep, it’s just the sun.

Wasn’t it?

Something else felt off, almost as if a pin was sticking him in the side. Or, more accurately, there was a pin sticking him in the side. Constricted as he was by one very snuggly roommate, he tried to shift away from the offending point. Jeez, it wasn’t like he was sleeping on the… couch…

His eyes popped open while a rush of memories from the previous night crashed through his mind with no care for his body that only wanted to shrivel in on itself at the thoughts. It was then he became aware that he and Ravi weren’t the only two in the living room. Sensing a presence (maybe that had been the reason he woke), his head swiveled to look down the mattress.

Standing at the foot of the bed, where the door to the bedroom was situated on the wall, was someone that Hongbin would have normally considered a figment of his imagination. Leo’s eyes were wide, more wide than Hongbin thought they could get, nearly popping out of his head as he just stared down at the two of them. His mouth hung slightly open and stayed that way even as their eyes met, both shocked to see what they saw.

Neither of them blinked.

“L-Leo-ssi,” Hongbin whispered, but the other man had finally regained control of his motor functions, slight color washing his cheeks and his mouth snapped shut into a furious line. He promptly his heel and strolled back into the bedroom to escape, the door swishing shut, his note for Ravi still hanging there. Though Hongbin couldn’t imagine why, there wasn’t an exit in there unless he was keen on trying to scale down the outside of their building, and he must have had a major hangover.

Extracting himself from Ravi was even harder than normal. Not only was he in a hurry, but Ravi seemed even more determined to latch onto him (probably subconsciously aware of the sun), plus there was still that spring that gleefully jabbed into him when he turned wrong. There was a bit of a wrestle as he struggled out of the iron grip of his roommate and slipped his pillow into the man’s arms. Of course he wasn’t wearing a shirt that morning, it would figure that would be the case. The one night there’s someone in the apartment and Ravi just strips down to his boxers. Your own fault Hongbin, his mind reminded him, your note told him he couldn’t retrieve his pajamas from the closet in the bedroom.

Tossing the covers over Ravi, he shut the blinds to hopefully make sure his friend stayed asleep. It was going to be hard enough speaking with Leo about this, adding trying to explain it to Ravi as well and it became way too much. Yet somehow that bedroom door seemed awfully large and far away suddenly. Hongbin chewed on his bottom lip and stared at it. He knew that Leo was in there, but then he also remembered that Hongbin was probably the last person he wanted to see at the moment.

But he couldn’t just let him stay in there all day. They were gonna need clothes eventually, and it wasn’t fair to Leo to not at least try and explain what happened. No, this was something he had to do, his resolve straightened up.

So why was he trembling so much?

But when he approached the door it merely buzzed angrily at him. “Omo,” Hongbin blinked a few times at the still shut door confused for a moment and then his brows narrowed down into a ‘v’. The door was locked. He had actually locked the door, what the hell was he supposed to do now? “Leo-ssi…” he said quietly at the door knowing that despite the barrier he could be heard in the other room. “Please unlock the door.”

A sound like rustling filtered through the door, and Hongbin could almost picture Leo turning away from the door on the bed (his bed) glaring at the opposite wall. “Leo-ssi, please let me explain.” But what was there to explain really? He’d got him drunk to the point that he’d been willing to kiss a stranger. The memory of it made his lips tingle in a strange sort of betrayal by his body. Traitor.

“Coffee.”

Hongbin blinked a few times again wondering if he’d heard correctly, glancing behind him to the softly snoring Ravi. No, it hadn’t been him so then it must have been Leo. “Err, what was that?”

“Coffee.” The response didn’t change at all.

The giggle started before he could stop it. Hongbin had to press a fist to his mouth to keep it from spilling out to wake the dead. It wasn’t even that funny, but with the stress of the morning it was either laugh or cry. Laughter was the order of the day. “Y-yes,” he managed without letting the cracks break the dam holding back his giggles and started toward their kitchen grabbing his phone on the way. Somehow, he didn’t think Jung Leo would approve of the rice and fish he and Ravi had breakfast on a regular basis.

Taekwoon stared at one point on the shabbily painted wall, stared so hard that he might burn a hole right through it with the laser point precision he was using. His head was pounding, his throat was dry, there was sand paper behind his eyeballs that scraped at the delicate membrane every time he moved them, and also the hot blue haired coffee boy and the handsome photographer with dimples, together, in bed, spooning. .

Whatever he had been expecting when he woke in that foreign room, nothing could have prepared him for the sight he saw upon exiting. The hair had tipped him off, as if he weren’t already dizzy enough, his entire view had pulled hard to the left when he saw the fluffy mess of light blue hair, and that face he knew all too well attached to it, gorgeous nose pressed into the nape of another’s neck. A neck connected to the offensively attractive face of the one he’d shared drinks with the night before. From what he could see, the coffee server had his arm wrapped around the photographer over the covers and he didn’t miss the way the brown haired boy curled his hand to rest and partially intertwine with the other’s.

There was nothing for Taekwoon to do but escape back into the small respite that was the extremely cramped bedroom when he’d been caught staring. Logical deduction said that this was their place, their place, his mind grinded and groaned with the effort of trying to remember how he’d got there. Hongbin had wanted to do more photos at a club, to evoke the feel of the old world crime life. They’d gone, it was awkward when the servers looked at them strange so Taekwoon had ordered drinks for them. Yes, he could remember all of that. Then they’d had a few more, it was starting to get less clear. He could vaguely remember a competition, did they play a game? It was fuzzy. He was fairly certain it was Hongbin’s fault though. Especially since the other had the nerve to look almost as fresh faced as he did the previous day.

Something else was there too, just beyond the reach of his thoughts but he couldn’t make the memory come into focus. Why did he have such a low tolerance for alcohol? He must have passed out, that was the only explanation why he woke in someone else’s bed and not his own. Well, woke alone at least.

“Leo-ssi,” there was a soft tap at the door and Taekwoon could recognize the scent of coffee on the air. “I brought you a cup of coffee, will you please open the door?” He wanted to open it but that required moving which made his head spin. Slowly, carefully, he shifted his legs off the bed and shuffled to the door, swiping along the touch pad that would unlock the opening mechanism.

Hongbin led with the cup of coffee and slid through door quietly with it. Those doe eyes of his widened as he took in the sight of Taekwoon. He must have looked as rough as he felt. “Taekwoon,“ he muttered wincing at the harsh sound of his own voice.

“What?” Confusion was written across the face of the photographer.

“My name is Taekwoon.” This definitely hadn’t classified as his professional life and he didn’t like hearing ‘Leo’ when it wasn’t. Without another word, he plucked the cup from the other’s hands and drank deeply while taking his spot back on the bed, standing was too much effort. It shouldn’t have surprised him that it was the same blend from the Coffee House, but it did. Another reminder of just what he’d seen that had him scowling.

“Is it okay, Taekwoon-ssi?” It sounded like he was testing out Taekwoon’s name, giving it a brief once over verbally. His own narrow eyes flicked up from the cup to stare just over the rim at Hongbin, at least he caught on quick enough. So, he nodded once. “Good” the boy smiled brightly, pleased with that apparently. It was too early in the morning and Taekwoon was too hungover for those dimples to be showing up, his defense was too low. Especially as the boy crawled on the opposite end of the mattress from him and sat cross legged, his tank top giving a much too inviting look at his chest and arms.

“Who is that?” Taekwoon changed the subject and focused his eyes back on the dark liquid in his cup. Safer that way. Plus it was a subject he had a rather keen interest in, not that Hongbin would ever know.

“Oh,” the other man dipped his head to glance down at the comforter trying to hide his face, “that’s my roommate. Don’t think anything weird, okay? We’ve been friends since we were kids so…” The way he trailed off made Taekwoon wonder though.

“What’s his name?” It was probably playing pretty unfairly that he’d learn the coffee boy’s name before ever giving his own considering the extent of any of their communication.

“Kim Wons-- I mean Kim Ravi.” Taekwoon’s brows rose slightly at the adjustment. “It’s his nickname when he raps.” Hongbin added helpfully with a proud grin plastered across his face. It must have been important to one or both of them. A rapper, huh? He took another deep sip from the cup. It wasn’t what he expected, but he didn’t know what to expect with the mysterious barista in the first place. When he thought about it, and thinking still kind of made his brain throb against his skull, the cafe worker’s deep voice would suit rapping well.

“Hongbinnie?” as if on cue, it called out from the other room. “Is it safe yet? Is the quarantine over?” The door to the bedroom slid open and the subject in question strolled in wearing nothing but black boxer shorts and a sleepy look on his face, arms stretched high over his head giving Taekwoon an unmitigated view of every raw cut curve and dip of the man’s chest and abs and jesus, his legs. He nearly choked on the coffee that now seemed to be scalding his throat.

Their eyes met, wide meeting surprised, before someone was screaming. By the way it made his head pound, Taekwoon couldn’t tell who it was.