There were two reasons why Beomgyu hid under the blanket after surviving last night.
One was because he remembered very well what he had said yesterday.
Not only to Han, but also to Yeonjun.
Secondly, because today was the day of the Dance Battle and nervousness made him nauseous.
"I made us milkshakes!" shouted Yeonjun from the kitchen, knowing that the younger boy had been acting strangely since this morning, and when still no one appeared in the kitchen after a few minutes, he trudged to the open door of the room.
The pile of blankets the 21-year-old was hiding under made the rapper grin.
"Bow," he admonished him, then leaned against the doorframe, waiting.
The pile of blankets moved slightly, scrunching up more at the headboard after Beomgyu pulled them closer, as if that would allow him to hide more. There was a reason why the younger man normally did not touch alcohol. A few years ago, he would not have minced his words, cheeky as he was. Once he had even started a fight with Taehyun. But in his current state, where talking had become an effort for him, a loose mouth was not really helpful.
"Choi Beomgyu," the 23-year-old repeated and followed up with, "Honey..." to get the blond's attention. Finally, he took a few steps toward Beomgyu and knelt in front of him, placing a hand on his head, which was covered by the blanket. "Talk to me."
The addressed shook his head. He didn't know if there wasn't some residual alcohol in him, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he would just talk bullshit.
"I can make you some tea for your hangover, too," Yeonjun said caringly, trying to find the end of that pile of blankets, and when he caught it, he lifted them up and just slipped under it, so they were both sitting cross-legged across from each other.
"I-It's not the hangover," muttered Beomgyu meekly, who had pulled his hood over himself under the blanket. His head was stuck low between his shoulders and he couldn't put his gaze on his boyfriend's face either.
"What is it then?" Yeonjun asked cautiously, stroking his feet with his hands, which were in blue and white striped socks.
Embarrassed, Beomgyu pulled his head in deeper. "I-I ..." he began, "I was pretty embarrassing yesterday ..."
A pinched smirk formed on Yeonjun's full lips. "The others asked awkward questions, it's not your fault." He took his hand and pulled it to him. "You've been drinking again after a while, don't be ashamed of it."
Beomgyu pushed his lower lip forward, not knowing how to respond or what to say to that. His counterpart was always understanding. That had to be a gift one really only got from higher powers. The younger leaned forward and was about to crawl into the black-haired boy's lap when Hwasa's voice interrupted his intention.
"You should really eat breakfast now! Your milkshake will start living if you don't."
Immediately, Yeonjun pulled down the blanket to reveal the two of them. They both glared at her before looking back up at his boyfriend.
"Come on," Yeonjun whispered as he tried to pull him up by the hand.
Rather reluctantly, Beomgyu allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, us followed into the kitchen where a veritable feast was prepared. At least by the standards of this household. Hesitantly, he sat down at the table, reached for the milkshake and took a sip. Definitely banana. He liked the taste. "This is delicious!" the 21-year-old expressed, immediately drinking the glass half empty as his gaze wandered over the sliced bread.
"Enjoy," Hwasa announced with a smile, reaching for a loaf of bread himself to smear with butter.
"You're up earlier than usual," Yeonjun noted, since the young dancer usually slept into the afternoon because of her job. "Do you have plans?" Meanwhile, he sipped his milkshake, smacking lightly at the delicious taste
Hwasa cleared her throat a little.
"Yeah," she confessed, trying to stifle a smile, "I have a date tonight."
Surprised, Beomgyu raised his eyebrows and was really happy for Hwasa. But since he had nowhere near as intimate a relationship with his savior as his boyfriend, he kept the curious questions to himself. "Oh!" the latter brought out to Beomgyu's happiness, "that's new! With whom?" Grinning curiously, Yeonjun took one of the sandwiches and tore off a piece without taking his eyes off her.
"With ... a work colleague?" her sentence sounded more like a question, because the word itself could only raise more questions. "He works as security at the club where I work," Hwasa added explanatorily, buttering her bread for what felt like five minutes already.
"Cool," Yeonjun smiled, genuinely happy for his mentor. She hadn't dated a man since he'd known her. She didn't really have time for friends either, so he could imagine that her life was pretty lonely sometimes. "A security guy," he grinned, "fortunately. Then he'll watch out for you, too."
Because that was important to Yeonjun, especially because he knew how dangerous this job was.
Hwasa smiled slightly, but then changed the subject, "How are you going to get to the Battle today? It might be difficult with the car." With that, she alluded to Beomgyu's fear of vehicles and looked at the ash blonde with slight concern.
"Maybe I should ... just try ..." Beomgyu muttered, knowing that the walk would be too far and they had too little money for public transportation. Especially since it would also be a waste to spend anything because of that.
Surprised, Yeonjun looked at him, "You really want to?"
It was really a surprise, but at the same time the black-haired boy was happy that Beomgyu wanted to get over himself.
Beomgyu nodded.
"I want to try. Hoshi said he'd pick us up," the ash blond told him with his head down, reaching for the milkshake once more. Of course, he would have preferred public transportation, but didn't say anything because Yeonjun was happy about it and he didn't want to disappoint his boyfriend, even if the 21-year-old felt like his body was going to faint.
"I'm with you anyway," Yeonjun said with an encouraging smile, then lovingly stroked his friend's forearm. "This is really a big step," then he became more serious once again, "if you don't want to after all, we'll find another way."
"I ... got this," Beomgyu uttered the words that the older would probably say.
Hwasa nodded appreciatively.
"I'm really proud of you guys. What about you, Daniel? Did you sign up for a battle at some point?" the 27-year-old Hwasa inquired about her friend's activities.
"I've been thinking about it, yeah," Yeonjun mumbled, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, "so ... I talked to the others about it yesterday too, and I think I might participate next week, Leedo's doing it too."
"Really?" blurted out Beomgyu, his eyes widening. He knew Yeonjun had been working on songs again, but it had been a very long time since he had heard his voice on a stage.
The older woman also smiled happily, reached over to her offspring and nuzzled his neck with her long nails.
"Yeah,I agreed with the others to practice a bit. You know Han and Changbin are extremely good, so I'm practically practicing with professionals," Yeonjun smiled proudly, even if there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "I-somehow it'll work out." He had also particularly liked how his ex had lost handily to Han in yesterday's battle. Not often had that happened, and he was almost a little gloating.
"That's true, they're good," Beomgyu expressed after remembering the two of them on stage, "but power in a rap doesn't always mean the best. I prefer your style of rapping." He took a bite of his bread and stared at the plate as if it was totally normal to say that, and even though his voice sounded serious, you could clearly see that his own words embarrassed him. His cheeks glowed like overripe tomatoes.
Even Hwasa couldn't help an amused smirk, but kept a comment to himself.
"Thanks," Yeonjun mumbled with a slight snort, ignoring his mentor's look and leaning in to press an innocent kiss to his boyfriend's cheek, causing the younger boy to nearly freeze for a moment. With a grin, the rapper sat up straight again.
Beomgyu, whose face was now completely flushed, glanced at Yeonjun before his eyes darted to Hwasa.
Jerkily, he stood up.
"I'm going to take a shower," clearing his throat, he left the table and disappeared into the bathroom.
After the ash blond disappeared, Hwasa leaned back in her chair, moistening her lips in a knowing, smiling gesture. "You're really making him blush, Daniel," she said, crossing her legs. "I'm happy for you both. Are you happy?"
Yeonjun couldn't wipe his grin from his lips at all, had watched the 21-year-old disappear into the room with quick steps, then almost run into the bathroom to avoid being addressed by the other two.
"Very happy," Yeonjun smiled, then raised his eyebrows and took a bite of his bread. The comment that he always embarrassed his friend amused him. Especially because he found it rather cute how Beomgyu sometimes reacted to the simplest things, even when they had already taken much bigger steps.
Smiling, Hwasa stood up and went to her bag to get money from her wallet, which she then placed on the table in front of the 23-year-old. "That's $300, you guys have a nice day today, okay?"
Coughing because he had swallowed in shock when he saw the amount, he patted his chest, looking at his roommate with eyes squeezed shut in suffering, "That's $300, Hwasa. Should we take a cruise?"
"Honey, I'd pay for your wedding too and you know it!" the woman laughed, amused. "And don't get carried away. I just want you to have the opportunity to build him up in case he doesn't win." It wasn't that she didn't believe in the boy, but she knew from her own experience how hard beginnings were.
Yeonjun's gaze fell to the bills again before he hunched his shoulders, dropping them again with a deep exhale. "Thanks," he murmured then, giving her a sweet smile, "have a nice day with your date today, too. I'll do my best next week." To give back to her what she always did. She gave him a home and motherly love, yet she was only 27, four years older than him. But he was comfortable, had been since he lived here, and she always worked hard to provide for them.
Hwasa nodded.
"I will - Oh! I should start getting ready, too. Would you help me pick out the right outfit?" she asked the dark-haired rapper.
"Sure," Yeonjun said, rising from his chair and accompanying her to her room. This was always dark, since she had pulled down the shutters during the day to sleep. With a tug, she pulled them up so daylight could flood the room. Her bed was still messy, only her large closet was extremely clean and tidy. For when she opened it, the left side was adorned with loud skimpy pieces, but the right side showed her everyday clothes. Immediately, the 23-year-old scanned the clothes just the right side, of course, and also let his fingers slide over it a bit, then got stuck on a bright, knee-length floral dress. "That's something different," he said and pulled it out of the hook to hold it against her body. It was really different, but matched her dark hair and complexion perfectly.
"Should I leave my hair down, or should I tie it up?" Hwasa asked the younger man, demonstrating the difference by just holding her hair up.
"Open," came it immediately from the younger man, who was actually giving fashion advice to a trendsetter. "Definitely open."
"Okay, okay," Hwasa relented, letting her black mane fall back over her shoulders and taking the dress from the 23-year-old's hand. "Thanks," she added, turning away to change. She didn't mind that her roommate was still in the room, but Daniel was already on his way out. And as soon as Hwasa put on her dress and reappeared in the living room to put on her shoes, the whirring of the hair dryer could already be heard in the bathroom.
Yeonjun flopped down on the sofa in the living room, even putting his legs on the cushioning, making it even cozier.
"I think he's worrying too much about tonight," he then murmured softly, glancing at Hwasa, "he was even drunk yesterday."
"You can tell he's pushing himself too hard, too," Hwasa replied, tugging at the zipper of her ankle-high boots. "But Beomgyu is old enough to decide for himself what he wants to do. He might as well say it if he doesn't want all this. I'm not angry with him."
"Neither am I," he said immediately, "but ... - well, Beomgyu is not someone who says straight out what he thinks. Not if he thinks it's going to hurt someone."
She gave a sigh. "Or maybe he just doesn't want to disappoint us? Do you think he would be like that?"
"Absolutely," Yeonjun said, nodding and clasping his hands on his stomach, "he's pressuring himself."
"Then you'll probably need the money today. Nothing makes you feel better than really good food," Hwasa assured, reaching for her bag and facing the door. However, the older woman turned to her pupil once more. "Just be yourself, that alone will calm him down," she suggested, sending him a small air kiss in farewell.
With a nodding smile, he waved her off as he watched the bathroom door open. His ash blond hair was still a little tousled, but he was wearing a white and red sweater of his boyfriend's, which he wore over a simple shirt with a zebra pattern. His hands were just barely peeking out from the sleeves, so the older couldn't help but grin.
"Has Hwasa left yet?" asked Beomgyu when he found his boyfriend on the couch, but there was no sign of the black-haired girl. With his fingertips peeking out from under his long sleeves, he tugged at his blond strands as he walked towards the couch.
"Yeah, had to go on her date," Yeonjun said, straightening slightly, pulling his legs up so Beomgyu had room on the couch as well. "You ready?"
Slowly, the younger nodded.
"Yeah, I think Hoshi should be there in about ten minutes."
Yeonjun swung off the couch to take care of his own outfit as well. "All right, give me two minutes," he said, disappearing into the room.