Friends or Lovers [BossNoeul AU] [LoveInTheAir]

CHAPTER 4: The Ship Becomes Real

**** NOEUL ****

In the darkened bedroom, huddled under his comforter, he allowed thoughts that he had kept a tight rein on for the past several years to flow over him.

He missed Boss.

He missed him desperately.

He finally allowed himself to admit the truth.

He had made peace with the decision to part ways because he thought that Boss would always be his.

He had always felt very possessive about Boss.

This feeling of possession wasn't based on jealousy of others. Even though Boss could be flirty, he had never given him a reason for true jealousy. It was because of all the things they had shared and the strong connection they had, Noeul was sure he would always belong to him, no one else.

Even when they were together in the public eye, he would signal his claim in his own straightforward way even while never publicly confirming their relationship.

They never actually denied anything, but when the questions got blunter, they would reinforce their close connection as friends, which was the absolute truth.

Indeed, they truly were best friends.

The past pushed its way in. He remembered the day their relationship had changed irrevocably from friends to lovers.

*** 8 YEARS AGO ***

After a full day of rehearsals, Noeul drives Boss back to his apartment.

At this point, he still lived in his parent's house which was pretty far away from the set and Boss' condo was on the way.

Since he still had a long drive back, Boss asks him to come in, take a break, and say hello to his cat.

They park the car and go upstairs.

Boss feeds his pregnant cat, Maruay, and they play with her for a bit.

They chitchat about random things from the day and then the conversation turns to the scenes that are coming up in the next couple of weeks which would include their first real NC.

They had already had many workshops with the intimacy coach, where they had practiced and become comfortable kissing and touching the other. So, they thought nothing of sitting next to each other on the couch and cuddling as they chatted about it.

Noeul could feel his heart start to race as it always did around Boss.

He wasn't sure if Boss' reaction to him and the way he always looked at Noeul, like he could eat him up, was him channeling Payu or his own feelings.

These thoughts have been swirling in Noeul's head for quite a while – actually since the first day they had met.

Noeul had been immediately drawn to Boss the moment his eyes landed on him in that crowded room. His heart had literally dropped to his stomach and he couldn't pull his eyes away from the boy in the brown leather jacket.

There had been a sexiness about him – maybe it was the long hair, maybe it was the breathtaking face, or the way he sat so still avoiding looking at anyone else in the room – that hit all his buttons at once.

And even on that first day, after they had auditioned, someone had wanted to take their picture together so Boss had pulled him onto his lap and hugged him tightly from behind as if they had sat like that a thousand times before.