Seokryu was staring at the ceiling.

How weird, she thought. Why were her glow-in-the dark stickers glowing? It's not even dark –

Oh wait, it is dark. Why the heck is it dark, she questioned. Who turned off the lights?

Just before she lost her mind figuring out who turned the damn lights off, she felt a warm and slightly unsteady breath on her face. Her eyes focused, trying to gather its bearings.

It's… Seunghyo.

In a second, everything came back to her. She felt her own unsteady heartbeat pounding. Her body was warming up from the way their limbs and their clothes touched. She could even feel the smooth material of Seunghyo's collar, which she was…currently yanking down towards her?

Yah, Bae Seokryu, are you crazy?, she could only tell herself, because she could not wrap her head around the fact that she just did that to her best friend.

A million thoughts were coming and going and passing through her mind (... just like that sushi conveyor belt place she loved that had a gazillion dishes rotating nonstop that overwhelmed her). How did they get here? They were just friends a few days ago, now - much more. A mere few minutes ago, they were like bumbling teenagers trying to express their feelings to each other, and now… now, she was staring at her best friend, not uttering a single word but somehow sending across her utmost adoration for him in a single gaze.

Just when Seokryu's nonstop sushi dishes - sorry, nonstop thoughts were about to completely overwhelm her, she felt Seunghyo's lips on hers, warm and insistent.

Bliss. Absolute bliss.

Almost instantly, her mind quieted down, and all she could think and feel and perceive was Seunghyo. Seokryu found it fascinating how different it felt being in her best friend's presence. Before, they would roughhouse and headlock each other and neither would bat an eyelash. Now, even the lightest of touches from Seunghyo - from his clothes, to his hands, to his limbs weighing down on her, each movement was setting her on fire. It was different.

She wanted more of it.

Seokryu's train of thoughts momentarily stopped when she felt Seunghyo's lips leave hers. He gazed at her softly and smiled as he began to reach for the button of his shirt.

Seokryu couldn't help but take a shaky breath. Shit, this is really happening, she thought.

Seunghyo, the ever hyperaware of a man that he was, clocked in her reaction in an instant. Suddenly, he moved his hands away from his shirt and gazed at Seokryu silently.

He was staring. Waiting. For her.

Seokryu felt warm again inside. Hesitantly, she reached out for the first button on his top. "Y-yah, Choisseung, w-we're in our 30's already. Do you still need me to r-remove your clothes for you, like when you wet your pants way back?"

"Yah, Seokryu-ah, you - seriously - " Seunghyo said in a berating tone, but she swore she saw his cheeks redden slightly, even in the dark. "I was - I - waiting for-"

Saving her best friend from his blubbering mess, Seokryu ended the discussion by finally unbuttoning his shirt. She could curse herself with how much her hands were shaking, hoping Seunghyo wouldn't notice. She prayed her heart was not beating loud enough to break the silence they were in.

"I guess our femme fatale is speechless now," Seunghyo chuckled as he watched her unbutton the rest of his top, removing it from his torso and putting it to the side.

Now, it was Seokryu's turn to blush. "Seunghyo-ah, cut me some slack. This is the first time I've seen you this way -"

"Aniyo, you saw me like this when I was on Dongjin's bed and you were staring the exact same way-"

"YAH!" Seokryu shrieked, charging towards her best friend, slapping and hitting him square on the chest just like old times.

Seunghyo could not help but laugh, easily catching her wrists but holding them back half-heartedly because he was enjoying this too much. "This is the thousandth time you've hit me, but for some reason, it feels different this time around."

Seokryu's expression softened. "What do you mean, different?"

"Mhm…" Seunghyo sighed, dropping Seokryu's hands from his chest and then slowly clutching her hands with his own. "It makes me feel warm inside."

"Yah, Choisseung," she quipped, her tone not having the same fire as earlier. Seokryu tightened her grip on Seunghyo's hands, as she couldn't conjure up any other words at this point. You make me warm inside too, she thought, probably enough to light a fire and cook up a kkimchi-jigae or something. But she was too shy to say any of this, so alas, she let her body do the talking.

Seokryu pulled Seunghyo closer and kissed him tenderly, not caring that he was shirtless, or on her bed, or the simple fact that she was kissing her best friend of 30 years. Seunghyo kissed her back just as fervently, cradling her head with one hand and clutching her waist with the other, and that hand was ever so slowly reaching for the bottom of Seokryu's sweater and -

"YAH, YEOBO! We've been planning this trip to Seoraksan and YOU decided that you can't fall asleep in the AirBnb? I can't believe we're not sleeping there right now- "

In the many years that Seunghyo has heard his Aunt Mi-suk's voice, this was the only time that made him feel like he just jumped into a pool filled with ice-cold water.

Seunghyo let go of Seokryu in an instant. "I-is that imo? What is she doing here-"

"I don't know!" she hushed, getting out of bed to peek through her window. "They're not supposed to be back this early?!"

Seunghyo got up and started pacing back and forth, his head buried in his hands. "Well, what are we gonna do? Sh-should I just get out through the window?"

Seokryu whipped back from her window to face him. "Choisseung, th-that won't be necessary. Y-you can… say you stayed up with me to… read comic books."

Seunghyo let out his most ludicrous expression. "Yah, what are we - 15 year-olds? Who would believe that we stayed up all night to do that?"

Seokryu huffed and started pacing with him. "If you don't have a better idea, I swear to God I am gonna-"

"YEOBO I TOLD YOU I HAVE PROBLEMS SLEEPING IN ANOTHER HOUSE! I'M JUST NOT USED TO IT!" Seokryu's dad shouted much louder than her mom earlier, which means… they were both close by.

No more words were uttered between the two friends. Almost instantly, they each grabbed a handful of comic books from the floor, with Seunghyo rushing ahead. "Seokryu, you think this is enough -"

"YAH CHOI SEUNG HYO! ARE YOU CRAZY?" Seokryu bellowed as he chased Seunghyo down the stairs. "PUT YOUR SHIRT ON!"

Seunghyo had no more brain cells nor energy to quip a worthy response, so he grabbed his shirt from her hands and hastily put it on. He buttoned his top quickly and smoothed it down the best he could, praying he did not look like what it actually looks like.

As he settled down on the floor and grabbed a comic book, he glanced at Seokryu. "Bae Seokryu, do I look okay?"

Seokryu, who was already finding her position on the sofa, gave him a quick once-over. "Yes, yes, you look fine. Ah, wait-" she said, before reaching for his hair and fluffing it a bit. "Ok, now you look fine." She then smoothed down her own hair and tucked it behind her ears. "What about me? Do I look okay?"

Seunghyo gave her a once-over of his own. "You look beautiful." he murmured, a small smile already forming on his face.

And before Seokryu could muster any worthy comeback to that, she was oh so rudely interrupted with the sound of the door opening.

Phew, here goes nothing.