Joshua was jumping on the bed when Hansol walked back into the room.

"Please get down from there," Hansol said sighing.

Joshua giggled childishly and continued jumping. "You can't tell me what to do," he replied in English.

"Joshua why are you drunk?" Hansol asked.

"I'll only answer if you ask in English," Joshua said.

Hansol sighed. "Why are you drunk?" he asked in English.

Joshua stopped jumping and landed on the bed sitting down. "Because of you, dummy," Joshua said.

Hansol had been expecting it. "Why exactly?" He knew he was taking advantage of the fact that Joshua was drunk but it might be his only chance to get the answers he needed.

Joshua stuck out his tongue and crossed his arms. "I'm not telling you."

"Please Joshua," Hansol pushed.

Joshua shook his head.

Hansol moved to sit next to Joshua on the bed. "Joshua, I know you probably won't remember this tomorrow, but, I'm sorry, I really am—for whatever it is I did."

Joshua sighed and rested his head on Hansol's shoulder—much to Hansol's surprise.

"Why do you have to be so… you? You're all sweet and handsome—you make it so hard being mad at you."

"You don't have to be mad at me," Hansol said, "let's just forget about what happened and start over."

Joshua picked his head up and looked Hansol in the eye. "We can't—no. Yeah, no, we can't. You—I, I can't let myself be hurt by you anymore."

Hansol wanted to bury himself in a hole and never come out. "I never meant to hurt you Joshua, please believe me."

Joshua shook his head. "It's not your fault—it's mine, I let myself fall for you and I shouldn't have."

Hansol didn't know what to say.

"I'm tired," Joshua said as if the last few minutes hadn't happened. "Hansol do you want to sleep on the right or the left? I usually sleep on the left but it's okay if you want to."

"Sleep wherever you want, I'll sleep on the couch," Hansol said. He knew it would be useless confessing to a drunk Joshua that his feelings weren't one sided. "Why don't you take a shower? I'm going to step out for a minute."

Hansol didn't know where he was going, nor did he care. He wondered down the silent halls of the massive hotel without a destination in mind.

He eventually found himself at the entrance to a pool—Pool C he assumed, since he hadn't seen it before. He was surprised it was open this late.

He rolled up the bottom of his pants and put his feet into the water.

He was at the brink tears—squeezing his eyes shut to keep the drops from pooling in his eyes.

He tried to focus on other things, but his mind kept going back to his conversation with Joshua.

"I let myself fall for you"

Joshua felt something for Hansol, but Hansol had been too much of a coward to admit his feelings. The first person he ever felt a genuine caring for had slipped through his fingers without him even noticing.

The tears started coming involuntarily, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably with his sobs.

He buried his face in his hands.

Joshua hated him, he'd liked—maybe even loved—him once but Hansol ruined everything. He had to have gotten drunk and ruin everything. He hated himself for it.

"Hansol?"

His head snapped up.

"Oh my God, Hansol." Soonyoung dropped the towel and water bottle he was holding and knelt by Hansol. "What happened?"

Hansol wiped away his tears as quickly as he could. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Soonyoung wrapped his arms around Hansol, he welcomed Soonyoung's comfort and warmth without hesitation.

Soonyoung didn't ask any more questions and simply allowed Hansol to sob onto his shoulder.

Soonyoung eventually helped Hansol to his feet and steered him out of the pool area and up to his hotel room.

Chan and Minghao—Jun was fast asleep on his bed—didn't ask questions when Soonyoung walked into their room with a sobbing Hansol on his shoulder.

Soonyoung sat Hansol on the bed and said something to Minghao about making tea.

Hansol felt the bed sink next to him as Soonyoung sat next to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Soonyoung asked.

Hansol shook his head.

Soonyoung didn't push; he wrapped his arms around Hansol again and rubbed soothing circles into his back.

"Chan, go check on Joshua," Soonyoung whispered away from Hansol.

Hansol dug inside his pocket and tossed Chan the key card.

Chan gave a small nod and left the room.

They stayed a few minutes in silence, the only sounds heard in the room being Hansol's sobs.

"I ruined everything Soonyoung," Hansol finally said, breaking the silence. "Joshua actually felt something for me but I ruined everything—he hates me now."

"Joshua doesn't hate you," Soonyoung said, "how could he? Hansol, I see how you look at him, I see how much you love him. I know how much this hurts you—but Joshua is hurting too, you have to give him time."

"I know I do—but... I don't know, it's like something's eating me from the inside."

Minghao extended a steaming mug to Hansol. "It's chamomile," he said.

"Thanks," Hansol murmured, taking the mug and bringing it up to his lips. The hot liquid almost burned his tongue but he swallowed it, feeling it warm his stomach.

"You have to tell Joshua how you feel," Minghao said.

Hansol had a feeling it was unlike Minghao to give romantic advice by the look of surprise on Soonyoung's face.

Minghao shrugged. "I've been through it before," he said, gesturing to the sleeping boy on the other bed. "The same thing happened to Junnie and I, all of it was just miscommunication—neither of us would admit their feelings, afraid that the other wouldn't feel the same, but that just complicated everything."

"Talk to him tomorrow, when he's sober, once he sees that you're truly sorry, he'll open up to you," Soonyoung said.

Hansol nodded.

"You can sleep in our room if you want, I'll go stay with Joshua.

"Thanks," Hansol said.

Soonyoung shrugged. "That's what friends are for."

Joshua woke up to a pounding headache. He groaned and blinked his eyes open. The room was dark, except for a string of light coming from the bathroom door.

He tried to recollect what he remembered from the previous night. He'd gone to the bar after seeing Hansol at the spa and then things began to get blurry in his mind. He remembered seeing Jun and Minghao then Soonyoung, and later—Hansol. Joshua scrambled up, looking around the room for any sign of Hansol, but he only saw Soonyoung laying on the couch fast asleep.

Where was Hansol?

Joshua tiptoed to the bathroom, careful not to wake Soonyoung, to check his current state.

He looked like he'd woken up from the dead. The dark circles under his eyes were as prominent as ever, his hair was a mess, his clothes wrinkled.

His mind was slowly waking up and starting to piece things together. He was at a hotel in Seoul for SCA auditions, Hansol was his roommates—currently nowhere to be seen—

The auditions.

Joshua hurriedly checked his phone for the time.

"SOONYOUNG!" he yelled. They were late. Very late.

"HOSHI FIGHTING!" Soonyoung yelled and sat up abruptly.

"Soonyoung we're late—they probably already left."

Joshua had a million questions going through his head but at the moment his first priority was SCA.

Soonyoung checked his own phone just as it started vibrating in his hand.

"Minghao, I was just about to call you," Soonyoung said.

Minghao replied something that Joshua couldn't make out.

"Joshua and I overslept, where are you guys?" Soonyoung said, then a few seconds later, "Okay, we're coming." Something Minghao said upset him.

"What happened?" Joshua asked.

"The director wants to talk to us, she's been waiting for us."

Joshua knew it was all his fault. "I'm sorry Soonyoung, this was all my fault, you and your friends are in trouble and it's all because of me." Joshua covered his face in shame.

Joshua felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Joshua, it's okay, don't blame yourself."

"No, it's my fault, you might get disqualified—Hansol might..."

"We'll be alright Joshua." Soonyoung wrapped his arms around Joshua to comfort him.

Joshua gladly accepted the warming embrace.

"Soonyoung, I'm sorry, it's just... I've had a lot on my mind lately, I-I wasn't

thinking straight."

"I don't think you ever think straight, Joshua," Soonyoung joked.

Joshua gave him a light shove. "Now isn't the time for jokes, Soonyoung," he said, but giggled nonetheless. Joshua wiped away a tear that had slipped.

"Look, whatever happens, we won't blame you, okay?" Soonyoung said.

Joshua could only nod. What did he do to deserve the friends he had?

Hansol, Jun, Chan, and Minghao he been waiting in the lobby for what must've been just over an hour, Minghao nonstop calling Soonyoung and Joshua, until the two of the them finally woke up and got down to the lobby.

"They're coming," Minghao said to the very frustrated-looking director.

"Have you finally decided to grace us with your presence?" the director scolded sarcastically at Soonyoung and Joshua.

The two bowed, rattling off apologies.

"Sit," the director said, gesturing to the couches around them.

"I have never been more disappointed in SCA competitors than I have ever been in my 15 years of directing—"

"It was all my fault director, they had nothing to do with it," Joshua interrupted.

"Do not interrupt me," the director snapped, and Joshua shrunk back into his seat.

Joshua was not-so-subtly avoiding Hansol at all costs, as Hansol had already predicted. He wondered if Joshua remembered their conversation.

"My first instinct was to disqualify all of you without another thought, but I was convinced to do otherwise." The director took a deep breath. "I am going to give you one more chance, if you ruin it, you will be disqualified and sent home. Understand?"

They all muttered their understandings.