There was something very wrong with the world or it was having a bit of a practical joke at Taekwoon’s expense. Those were the only possible answers that could account for his bizarre morning. Or perhaps he was dreaming, his drunken mind had come up with the most unusual circumstances possible to sate his own down played curiosity. How else could he explain the inexplicable? The coffee boy, Kim Ravi, and the photographer, Lee Hongbin were friends, not only friends, roommates. Roommates who shared a bed (cozily) when, what he supposed were, circumstances necessitated it. Roommates who also shared a cab, with him, going to his work place.

He winced behind borrowed sunglasses (round black discs that covered half of his face connected on a hard wire) and glanced into the rearview mirror to watch them carefully in the back seat. From all appearances they seemed oblivious to the highly strange situation they found themselves in. Other than the circus that exploded earlier in the morning, they’d both seemed to have adjusted fine. Once they’d sat down to breakfast, they both acted like nothing had happened, more they both treated him like he was just a normal part of their routine. ‘Taekwoon-ssi, I’ll grab you another cup of coffee.’ ‘Do you want to borrow a pair of my sunglasses for your eyes?’ ‘Shall we take a cab together, Taekwoon-ssi?’ ‘Will they be mad that you’re late? You can blame me.’

It almost reminded him of home. The constant familiarity and assumed affection. Not that he would say they overstepped the boundaries of etiquette, they didn’t know him, but then they weren’t pretending they did. More it was that he felt welcomed. By strangers. After leaving his hometown to pursue his dream of music, he’d lived on his own, even took comfort in the quiet solitude that solo living offered. He could have had a roommate. In the early audition days Jaehwan had brought up the idea that they could room together, but he’d quickly shot that down. But if he were being honest, the atmosphere of their breakfast, he’d liked it.

And as such, Taekwoon couldn’t help the suspicion that arose from it. After the blue haired boy, in all his nearly stumbling, had dragged the brown haired one out of the room he’d caught nothing but a sense of desperate urgency and then a fit of laughter that bordered on the unhealthy. Had they been speaking about him? Then why the laughter? And how had all of that translated into something else that wasn’t altogether normal. Something that felt familiar even though it wasn’t. Taekwoon didn’t like it.

With narrowed eyes he continued watch them and frowned. Ravi, he reminded himself of the other man’s name once more, was asleep or looked like it, cheek pressed into Hongbin’s shoulder and captivating eyes shut gently. It was so unusual to see him like that, Taekwoon had become quite adjusted to seeing the vibrant life in his eyes and the smirk that seemed to play on his lips most of the time. It reminded him once more that he really didn’t know him, reminded him how he thought he might want to, and all those times thinking maybe they’d have something to connect on. Ravi, a rapper who worked in a cafe and had body cut from stone it seemed. Heat rose into Taekwoon’s cheeks now that thinking hurt less than it had when he woke. The glance he’d taken had been short, and somewhat tarnished by the loud screeching Ravi had been emitting, but even that couldn’t diminish the image of a long, lean, and toned expanse of bronze skin stretched over taut muscle.

No, he wasn’t going to think about that.

The theatre was getting closer, and Taekwoon could already hear the potential complaints from the director, or the manager, or the conductor, from hair and make up, from the musicians, from the rest of the cast. When he’d finally thought to check his phone (and it had taken an almost embarrassing amount of time to come to that idea) he’d found several missed calls and messages. Starting with Jaehwan asking if he was coming down for a ride. Then another asking if he was okay. Followed by one from the director and the theatre manager, or well, ten from Manager Hakyeon, all escalating in urgency if the abuse of exclamation points and question marks was any indication.

When he’d finally responded that he’d be in soon he’d received another ten demanding to know what he was doing and why. Taekwoon had ignored all of them.

“Taekwoon-ssi,” as they were exiting the cab, Hongbin, half carrying half shoving Ravi out of the backseat, called to him, “Manager Hakyeon is upset right?” Taekwoon shook his head to try and deny it but form the nonplussed look on the boy’s face he wasn’t convinced. “I got a few texts asking me if i knew where you were. I think he was just blanket texting though.” Hongbin bit his lower lip worrying it with his teeth, and like the previous day Taekwoon caught himself doing it as well. “We’ll go in first, if I talk to him first then you can get to your rehearsal faster.”

Again Taekwoon shook his head, “He’ll be in a bad mood and might take it out on you.”

“Don’t worry about me Taekwoon-ssi; it’s my fault after all.” He offered a smile that nearly blinded Taekwoon through his borrowed sunglasses, dimples popping out and teasing the corners of his own lips up into a half smile. When he said it like that, so cheerfully and honest, it almost made Taekwoon feel bad for having the same thought earlier, almost. Despite the generosity of ordering a hangover remedy for him, Taekwoon still considered Hongbin dangerous. He wouldn’t have even needed it if it weren’t for him after all. It wasn’t until the two of them ran off that he realized he was still smiling. The thought brought him back to a stern face. That needed to stop. Dangerous.

The stage was already set, the cast waiting as he walked on. He’d buttoned the suit jacket up to try and hide how rumpled the shirt was beneath it, though it was obvious that he’d slept in his stage clothes. A fact that they were quick to take notice of. “Hyung,” of course it would be Jaehwan, “Did you have fun last night?” A cheesy grin spread over his friends face as he wisely kept out of arm’s reach. “None of us could get a hold of you, we were concerned.” The only concern Jaehwan needed was being concerned for his own hide. “And in your costume too, was it a fan?”

Taekwoon merely leveled a glare at him before walking toward their director. “I’m sorry.”

Ravi was bored. So bored. Bored as hell. A nap was probably in order but he was technically supposed to be playing assistant for Hongbin. Which basically meant slacking off because Hongbin didn’t even need an assistant. After the theatre manager, Hakyeon, had grilled his friend on the whereabouts of their star the previous night (a story that was news to Ravi though was conspicuously missing any mention of a kiss) he was more than thrilled with the new work his roommate had to show him. Talk about animated, Ravi couldn’t help but share a dumb grin with his friend as the manager ‘oooo’d and ‘ahhhh’d over every shot.

‘You sound like that,’ Hongbin mouthed to him over the ducked head of Hakyeon.

‘Do not, liar,’ Ravi responded, biting back a laugh.

By the end of it the previous days photoshoot takes had been deemed unworthy by the manager, who seemed to have forgotten all about being being pissed. And he then wanted all of the main stars to have similar shots as the new ones, citing genius and a large budget as the reasons. Ravi wasn’t all too sure those were valid, but he wasn’t going to argue. The man just kept clapping to himself and grinning over everything; from the look Hongbin sent him Ravi could tell that he’d tried especially hard to calm the manager down before he confronted Taekwoon.

Which led to the boredom though. Hongbin had decided that he wanted to scour the theatre for suitable locations to shoot the rest of the cast. Which was fine and all, for him, but Ravi wasn’t the genius with lighting and set pieces and visual atmosphere. Hongbin was like Mr. Visual when it came to his photography, Ravi preferred to let his words do the painting for him.

Still, one big theatre and one curious Ravi; the world was his oyster. Unfortunately time to think was the last thing he wanted. So far he’d been doing a damn fine job of not thinking he would say. Not thinking about the morning, or how things had changed with Tal-- Taekwoon. That was the nature of change though; you couldn't go back. You could never go back, only forward. Ravi wondered if he’d stop coming by the cafe. Would it be awkward? He smirked ruefully, or maybe it didn’t have anything to do with Ravi at all and he just liked the coffee that much. Maybe he could swipe him a bag of it for him like he did for Hongbin?

And he still wanted to talk to his roommate more. There was something off about the way he was smiling and the way they didn’t quite reach his eyes like they usually did. As something of an expert in Hongbin smiles, Ravi could tell when something was up. But his friend had been quick to suggest splitting up when they were given free reign of the building and he hadn’t had the chance to talk to him about it.

For a time he watched the rehearsals under the guise of ‘scouting’ the balcony. He’d seen a musical, once, when he was a kid but he’d fallen asleep half way through. Musicals had always been more Hongbin’s thing anyhow. He’d asked him to go with him to one once, during one of those times when Ravi had actually been dating someone. Someone who thought that he spent a little too much time with his best friend. It’d been stupid to try and bend over backward to please the lout, and Ravi thought he’d seen hurt in Hongbin’s eyes when he’d declined. It wasn’t much later after that when he’d decided to break up with boyfriend.

So, maybe musicals just left a sour taste in his mouth since then, though this one seemed more interesting what with gangsters and guns and all. And he really got a charge out of watching Taekwoon on point, how could someone with such a quiet voice have such a powerful set of pipes? He grinned down and waved to the singer on stage, but if the man saw it he didn’t acknowledge him.

Eventually Ravi found his way backstage for more ‘scouting’. It was almost a little spooky, with everyone on set for rehearsals the halls behind everything were like a ghost town. Steps echoed and he would swear doors were opening and shutting on their own. If he’d called out a cautious ‘hello’ to see if anyone else had been around, no one could blame him. It wasn’t like he was scared, that’d be ridiculous.

Some rooms were just long expanses of mirrored counter with ten chairs sitting in a row, while others were filled with racks of clothing. Curiosity got the better of him when he came across the room labeled ‘Jung Taekwoon’ with the door cracked open, but it wasn’t anything spectacular, just a room with a closet instead of a rack and it had it’s own personal mirror and couch.

“Bored.” Ravi muttered to himself, and sat down on the couch. A prop gun slid into him as he depressed the cushions. “Heh,” grinning, he picked it up and pointed it toward the mirror arching a brow at his own reflection, “You’re late on your payments, Mr. Hwang. You know how dangerous that can be. Bwah.” His wrist flicked the gun up and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his own foolishness while setting the gun down.

If he was acting out dumb like that it was probably time to track down Hongbin and get some lunch, but of course his friend probably had forgotten about poor starving Ravi. Laughing at that, he closed his eyes. Not sleeping, he assured no one, resting.

“What are you doing here?”

Ravi screamed for the second time in the day. Visions of ghosts with bloodied knives and long white gowns chased his feet from the ground as he jumped in fright. His heart hammered hard against his ribs as he scrambled backward, his spine colliding with the closet door forcefully, his head bouncing off the wood having him seeing spots of light. Standing just inside the door was Taekwoon, sweat on his brow and all done up in a suit and tie, eying him with what could only be categorized as amusement.

“,” Ravi wheezed, hand clutching his chest as he tried to get his breathing under control. “Can’t you hum or something if you’re going to sneak up on someone?” All he received in response was a bland stare and Ravi realized just where he was. “Ah, right, this is your room... I wasn’t snooping or anything.” Not entirely true, but it seemed like Taekwoon was ignoring him, instead he moved through the space between them until he was close. Something buzzed in the back of Ravi’s brain and he swallowed, too close; he wasn’t stopping.

Eyes screwed shut, Ravi wasn’t sure what to expect. His breath hitched when he felt a finger brush over his forehead, pushing back a lock of hair that had fallen out of place when he’d bumped into the closet. Carefully, his eyes slitted open only to be met with the sight of those picture perfect pink lips centimetres from his face. Something was clogging his throat, probably his heart, and he nearly whimpered when he felt fingers carding through his hair and along his scalp.

But then the feeling was gone and Taekwoon was stepping back and looking in the mirror, pulling his tie loose, as if he hadn’t done a thing, face completely blank of sentiment. “Lee Hongbin-ssi was looking for you.” How was he going to sound so calm like that when Ravi’s heart was nearly drilling a hole through  his chest?

“Um, thanks,” That was his chance to escape and he made a beeline for the door, but stopped short. “Taekwoon-ssi?” He waited until the singer was looking toward him. What on earth was possessing him? Ravi, don’t do it. “We were just going to hit a shop across the street, but do you want to join us for lunch? I mean, if you don't have plans.”