WHAT. [zb1]

dumb, dumber & dumbest

"so... how do you two know each other again?"

taerae and junhyeon share a quick glance at each other, both sitting on the couch as the other five sit on the floor like children being read a story in school. it's where they ended up just moments after taerae walked through the front door of gyuvin's home with a stranger. well, he wasn't a stranger to hanbin.

"i went to where hanbin's crush works," taerae reiterates, already having told them the story, "and junhyeon was there instead of the infamous crush"

a couple seconds of silence follow before gunwook speaks up. "so you met him a few days ago and now you're bringing him to our sleepover? i mean, no offence junhyeon-"

"none taken"

"-but it seems... fishy"

"yeah," ricky says. "how did you two get so close so quickly?"

"who said we're close?" taerae counters.

"i smell gay"

at that, everybody goes silent, all eyes travelling to yujin, who only shrugs. "what? am i wrong?"

"you guys are making this very awkward for our guest," taerae says, grabbing hold of junhyeon's arm and standing. "i'm showing him around the house, you guys entertain yourselves"

"hey- i should be giving the tour! it's my house!"

but taerae ignores gyuvin, laughing silently along with junhyeon as he pulls him further into the house, disappearing from sight.

now that taerae and junhyeon are no longer occupying the couch, hanbin springs from his spot on the floor and takes his spot on the couch - a spot that he claimed many years back, the first time he came to gyuvin's home.

"you alright hanbin?" gunwook asks, noticing the older shut his eyes and cross his arms the moment he's on the couch. "you're really... quiet"

"you're not upset about taerae looking for your crush are you? because let's be for real here-" yujin pauses, looking at the others before back to hanbin "-we've all gone there... right?"

hanbin's eyes open. "you've all gone there?"

silence follows, although yujin is nodding his head diligently as gunwook glares at him.

"well i mean... ricky and i had already gone there when you had your little accident, and then we figured out that matthew knew him, so i guess it does make sense that people went to see him"

"we felt left out," gunwook pouts, and hanbin rolls his eyes in response.

"speaking of matthew, where the hell is he?" gyuvin asks, glancing at the door. "we're all here and he's still off doing... whatever he does when he's not with us"

"jiwoong isn't here either"

"oh," gyuvin responds. "i don't care"

as the others question their whereabouts, matthew, jiwoong, and hao all stand just in front of the door, none of them making a move to knock. hao has cracked all of his fingers at least twice, and mumbled unsuccessful words of encouragement to himself for the past few minutes.

"hao, we're already here," matthew says, laying a hand on the boy's back and leaning forwards so he can see his face. hao continues to stare at the door. "literally, just one knock and you can change your life around. right now"

though hao doesn't look, he hears as jiwoong smacks matthew on the arm with the back of his hand. "that's, like, the worst thing you could say to him," jiwoong scolds as matthew looks back at him. "this will change your life well obviously he knows that, that's why he's so scared... dummy"