The Great Pretender

Self Discovery

The next morning, Seunghyun eased out of sleep, soft sunlight dispersed over his bed, blanketing him in warmth. His eyes opened slowly, reluctant to open at all, more than happy to stay enveloped in his cocoon all day. But once they did open, the first thing he saw was a smattering of dark hair, and then the pair of eyes below it, closed gently in sleep, eyelashes fanned against two soft cheeks.

Jiyong was curled up in front of him, arms folded and tucked between them, lips parted over even breaths. Seunghyun's first thought wasn't about how Jiyong got there, it was about his mouth, how soft it looked, how inviting. How it had yielded to him last night when they'd kissed.

And then Seunghyun wondered how he got there. He had a brief, panicked moment where he checked to make sure they were both still clothed, and when he saw that they were, he let out a relieved sigh and relaxed back against his pillow.

His movements must've roused Jiyong, though, because his features scrunched in displeasure at having been disturbed. One eye peeked open. It snapped back shut under the sun's rays. His hand came up to rub at his eyes before finally letting them open all the way. He blinked at Seunghyun from across the pillow. "Morning."

"Morning," said Seunghyun. "Did you get lost?"

Jiyong gave him a sleepy smile. His eyeliner was smudged under his eyes. "I take it you don't remember how I got here? I'm not surprised. You were wasted."

Seunghyun felt a sense of unease at that. Just what the hell had he done? The last thing he remembered was kissing Jiyong and thinking he was not nearly drunk enough to handle it. He supposed he'd decided to fix that last part.

"I haven't seen you drink that much in ages," Jiyong said. "I had to drag you home and put you to bed."

"And then what? You decided to stay with me?"

"You wouldn't let me leave!" Jiyong laughed. "I got you in bed and then you pulled me down with you! You had your arms and legs wrapped around me like an octopus. You fell asleep on me like that."

Seunghyun swallowed, embarrassment rising in his cheeks. It was starting to come back to him, bits and pieces of last night. He remembered giggling as Jiyong pushed him down onto his bed, playfully kicking away the blankets each time Jiyong tried to cover him up. And he remembered watching Jiyong talk to Joowon. Remembered stumbling over to them and draping himself along Jiyong's back until Joowon got the message and went away. Fuck. He'd made such an ass out of himself.

"Sorry," Seunghyun mumbled.

But Jiyong just grinned. "It's okay. It was really cute."

Seunghyun pressed his lips together, feeling awkward in the face of his embarrassment. Jiyong didn't dwell on the situation for long, though. He yawned, stretching his arms over his head, and then he sat up so he could get a look at Seunghyun's bedside clock.

Jiyong groaned at the time. "I'm supposed to meet Teddy-hyung at the studio this morning."

Seunghyun nodded as Jiyong got up, mind still racing with thoughts about how they got here, flitting from this memory to that, unable to settle in any one place.

Jiyong cracked the door open and made to leave, but then he quickly pushed it back shut, turning back to Seunghyun with a wicked smile on his face. "Seungri's out there," he said.

Seunghyun just stared at him, unsure what he was supposed to get out of that.

Jiyong's grin grew even more devious as he crept over to one of the piles of clothes on Seunghyun's floor, fishing around for a bit before pulling out a t-shirt. He held it out in front of himself and gave it a good shake. He nodded his head once, satisfied, and laid the shirt out on Seunghyun's bed.