2 weeks have passed as the boys approached the day before the competition. They've been practising hard these past few weeks, seizing every moment possible for group practises, and the effort did pay off as they were pretty satisfied with their performance yesterday.
So now, here they were: in a mall looking for their performance outfits as they dispersed into different sections of the clothing store, planning to have a sleepover at Beomgyu's later.
After scouring the entirety of both floors, they have finally pieced together each of their outfits: Beomgyu picked a white, long-sleeved top paired with light-blue jeans and a denim vest; Hueningkai with a plain white top matched with overall jeans (the straps plain white) with purely white, half-finger gloves; Soobin's fit which was designed to complement Beomgyu's―a denim jacket that is the same shade of blue worn over a pair of jeans and a white turtleneck; Yeonjun picked a pink crop top with light blue jeans; and Taehyun with a light blue sweatshirt, a pair of jeans and a baby-pink beanie.
And with that, they paid for their clothes, left the mall, and headed towards Beomgyu's, buzzing with excitement for the ―bound-to-be― chaotic sleepover later.
»»—— ♡ ——««
Considering the size of the literal mansion the boy lived in, there were enough bathrooms for them, without all five having to take turns- Hueningkai took the one downstairs, Yeonjun with the guest's room, Soobin in Beomgyu's room, and Taehyun with Beomgyu in his father's old bedroom. While waiting, Taehyun sat on the edge of the bed, looking around the room; a hollow feeling starting to devour his body whole. Perhaps it was the harsh shade of red the curtains had that created such an unsettling feeling in him, or maybe it was because he knew that this was the very same room Beomgyu's father used to fuck countless desparate women in need of fast cash.
The wall behind him was painted black, the floor carpeted with a soft shade of grey with a black vanity sitting across the bed; next to it, a plump, leather-red chair. The bed was a king-sized one with at least 5 white pillows and a velvety red blanket.
In the imposing room, Taehyun sat in, a pang of sadness hit him as he realised that there wasn't a single portrait of Beomgyu here- dissimilar to his parent's that was adorned with family pictures.
The sound of the bathroom door sliding open snapped Taehyun out of his trance as Beomgyu walked out. "Do you have any pictures of your younger self?" Asked the brunette curiously, ready to fawn and gush over how cute the latter would look like a child.
Beomgyu shook his head; Taehyun's heart sank. "My father never took pictures of me when I was younger, but I do have one...," he said, walking towards the vanity as he pulled the drawer open to bring out an old photograph with a baby in it.
Carefully handling it, Taehyun took it from the boy's hands as he looked at the picture lovingly; it was a baby looking no more than a day older than a week with huge, adorable eyes and chubby cheeks. Holding him was a beautiful woman with Beomgyu's bright, shining eyes, luscious brown hair and a perfectly sculpted nose. She was smiling, and she looked gorgeous.
"This is one of the only ways I feel connected to her― my mother," spoke Beomgyu.
"She's lovely," breathed Taehyun, who was still in awe of the woman's captivating beauty, "I guess you take after her―you have her eyes,"
Beomgyu shared a smile.
»»—— ♡ ——««
After eating dinner and completing several rounds of practice, they decided to spend the rest of the night having some fun, starting with a game of Truth or Dare. Beomgyu fetched an empty glass wine bottle from the kitchen before quickly joining the others as they sat in a circle.
The game was fairly simple; the person pointed at would simply be asked to choose between a dare or a question from the person who spun the bottle.
"Let's go in this order," said Beomgyu, doing a clockwise motion with his finger, starting with Taehyun, who was seated on the boy's left, to Soobin, Hueningkai, Yeonjun, and lastly, Beomgyu.
Taehyun spun the bottle as everyone held their breaths, watching the bottle spin around... getting slower... until it was pointing towards the chosen one; Hueningkai. Everyone flicked their eyes towards the youngest's direction with amusement.
"Hueningkai," Taehyun taunted with a grin, "truth or dare?"
"Truth," the younger replied without hesitation. "It never goes wrong."
"What is the meanest thing you have ever done?" He asked, genuinely wanting to hear the boy's answer as everyone knew what an innocent angel he was.
"Pouring slime into my sister's bag when I was younger after we had this one fight," Hueningkai said, not bothering to stifle a cheeky smile.
It was Soobin's turn to spin the bottle next. It landed on Yeonjun. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare," the pink-haired boy spoke boldly.
"Let us go through your phone for a minute."
To everyone's surprise, Yeonjun didn't bother negotiating the dare given as the boy took his phone out from his pocket, entering his password before passing it to the other's to look through.
Everyone scrambled towards Soobin as they sat next to him. "Let's go through his search history," whispered Hueningkai slyly. Unfortunately for them, they may have underestimated the latter's purity as all his recent searches were ones about cute cats and his favourite artists.
"Try his messages," suggested Taehyun as Soobin clicked on the "kakaotalk" application. Nothing but messages to his mother, their own group chat, classmates and his tutor were found.
"Spotify―his playlists," said Beomgyu. Everyone pursed their lips at the unique suggestion but listened anyway as no one had any better ones. Scrolling through the playlists he made, there were ones named after moods and ones labelled with emojis. A smiling one for happy songs, a frowning one for sad ones, and so on. However, there was one that was uniquely named―it was a bunny emoji with a heart next to it.
"Are you guys done? A minute is up," Yeonjun grumped, suddenly reminding the rest that, indeed, more than a minute has passed and that they weren't able to find anything tea-worthy.
"Boohoo, you have nothing to hide," pouted Beomgyu.
Hueningkai whirled the bottle, which pointed towards Taehyun
"Dare," he said.
"I dare you to kiss Beomgyu, right here, right now."
Surprisingly, the brunette didn't hesitate or think twice as he leaned in towards Beomgyu, delivering a kiss on the boy's lips. Beomgyu's ears turned a shade of red by how brazen his boyfriend was acting―especially in front of their friends right now.
"You guys are so bold. I didn't actually think you'd do it," laughed Soobin as Hueningkai clapped his hands together with glee, Yeonjun joined along too as he let out a giggle―Beomgyu just turned redder.
The bottle landed on Hueningkai once more. "I'm so unlucky," he muttered under his breath, "dare."
"I dare you to let us change your Instagram bio and leave it for 24 hours," grinned Yeonjun. The younger brought his phone out as he passed it to the older. The others went behind Yeonjun, whispering towards each other as they exchanged gleeful smiles.
"Done," said the pink-haired boy as he returned the latter's phone.
Hueningkai immediately took his phone back as he read the new bio his friends had just put for him: What up, I'm Jared, 19, and I never learnt how to f*cking read. Hueningkai frowned at them.
"My turn!" Piped up Beomgyu excitedly as he spun the bottle.
"Soobin, truth or dare?" he asked, looking up towards the unfortunate soul whose fate has been decided by the mere existence of a wine bottle.
"Truth."
"Do you, or have you, had a crush on someone in this friend group?"
Everyone looked up towards the ravenette, anticipating his answer. "Yes."
Choosing to play several more rounds before moving on watching a movie in the living room later, the five began to ask more questions―which slowly tore apart their friendship, but at the same time, built their trust for one another by asking spicy questions and doing stupid dares, resulting in a ripple of laughing fits, and an abundance of chaotic energy.
»»—— ♡ ——««
A blanket of stars glowed softly in the night sky with the lights from the streets outside accompanying its lighting brilliance, illuminating the city of Seoul. Signalling for most people that it is time to get some shut-eye, to be rested well for the day that was about to come.
The boys laid out sleeping bags across the living room floor, supporting their heads with a pillow or two as Beomgyu put out the lights as a faint glow streaked from the living room's windows.
"Good night, everyone," he spoke, settling in his own sleeping bag. "Let's all have sweet dreams, and hope for a better tomorrow."