underground;

She patted his head when he curled into a ball beside her, admittedly being a little forceful, but eh? What could you do? It was nice for her–especially when Brandon was involved. “I heard you the first time you said that,” she mumbled back with an eyeroll, glaring at him at his next statement. “Never in a billion years, Brandon Sung. Never.”

“Yo, I’m not saying we actually should get married,” Brandon said quickly, shaking his head. “Or that we ever will. You’re too young to me. And I tend to go for girls who are actually nice. But I’m just saying--if we had to be on a show like We Got Married or MK Matched as a couple, how d’you think that would even play out, huh?”

It sounded bad, how they worked together in their friendship through their pranks and such, but Brandon was still one of his closest friends. Even if they fucked with each other constantly and the others, he could still consider Brandon as one of the members he was closest with within the group, after Rae of course. “S’that mean he still hates me for it? Or did I get off the hook– wait, I probably did. I think I blamed it on you.” He grinned. “I will try and remember them from now on, or try to but we’ve done a shitton of them at this point. Okay, true. One of our best ones too– dunno how we got away with it still. ”

Brandon put on a little pout. “Of course you got off the hook for it. He likes you more than me. Or, I mean, he’s quick to forgive you. No matter what I do, he never lets anything go with me. Maybe it’s cuz I’m his roommate-mom or something,” Brandon whined. crossing his arms. He really didn’t mind. He knew deep down Seok loved him. “I should make you a special prank anniversary calendar so you never forget again. We were sneakier back then. And less people expected it of us.”

He was annoying. Not annoying in the way where she wanted him to shut up and leave, but annoying in the sense that she couldn’t get away with anything. A good kind of annoying. The kind of annoying that kept her safe from herself. The best kind of annoying to have around. Rolling her eyes, she wrapped her pinky finger around his, replying, “Fine. And I’ll try to behave, too.” She shrugged. “Sounds as good as anything. You think a rom com is my jam anyway? Because newsflash; it sure as hell isn’t. Let’s see Civil War. Mhm, you’re right. Plus Ahki’s hardly ever around, and Tia’s probably going to be out with either Sage or Eliza or something.”

He squeezed her pinky lightly, glancing at her softly for a moment before letting go and taking her face in his hands. Planting a quick kiss on both cheeks, and then on her nose, Brandon grinned. “The best promises are sealed with a kiss,” he said teasingly, patting her cheek gently before putting his arm back around her shoulder. “Nah--I bet you’re a horror flick kind of girl. Or gore. I’m sure youre’ into gore. See? Perfect. We can go to your dorm. Oh, yeah--about that. I’m 98% sure Ahki and Seok have a secret thing going on. He doesn’t cringe nearly as much as he used to when she came up in conversation, you know. I’ll bet they’re hooking up.”

She sputtered, flinching a little and brushing the chips off of her chest before slugging him in the arm. She tugged the bag away from him and moved to the other end of the couch, munching on the chips. “Oh, shut up. We’re watching ‘We Got Married’. Shut up and watch or I’ll tape your mouth shut.”

He winced, rubbing his upper arm with a groan and rolling his eyes at her. That didn’t discourage him, though, because he quickly crawled up next to her and took more chips, curling to a ball at her side. “I love this show,” he murmured, nodding his head a little. After a moment of thought, he spoke up, “What if we got married?”

She jumped a little, but leaned up closer anyway. It had surprised her, but she enjoyed the close contact, as fleeting as it was. The admittedly juvenile (but pretty cute) swinging had her smiling as she glanced over at him, feeling a little better about things. “If you were always a gentleman, I wouldn’t have had to remind you to be one,” she pointed out with an eyeroll, shrugging a little. She’d never been much of a lady anyway. “Those sound like very date-worthy events. Any movies you want to see? I know a place with the best soba in Seoul, so we could hit it up after…..But yeah. Sounds like a plan to me.”

Her smile warranted an even bigger one from him, and he resisted the urge to hug her again. His plan seemed to be working, for the moment anyway. He had no ide what was going on inside her head, but he hoped she wasn’t thinking of doing anything too rash anymore. If he had to stay with her 24/7 to make sure she didn’t get hurt, he’d definitely try. “Fair enough. But I promise to be a gentleman today, okay? Pinky promise,” he said, holding out his smallest finger for her to wrap hers with. “Um...it’s not really romantic or something people would see on a date but....I really wanna see Civil War....” he admitted sheepishly. “I’m down for soba, though. And then your dorm has less people so we can go to yours after, then...”

“She must have been going easy on you then, because she’s way better than you are. You’re like…..I dunno. Maybe on Ahki’s level. Whatever level you’re on is nowhere near mine though, champ. I’m much better than you.”

“Hey, I’m way better than Ahki is--you shut your stupid mouth,” Brandon whined, sticking his lower lip out in a childish pout. “I’m at worst half a step behind Liza, but you’re like three steps behind me, so I’m better.”

“Eh…?” Kaili was just staring at the other with a sense of confusion, probably evident on his face because what was so important? Honestly, he was just waiting for him to say something cheesy like ‘it was the first day you let me hug you properly’ or some crap.. wouldn’t be surprised. His face blanked a little when Brandon finally explained the reason behind this, but it didn’t take long for somewhat of a grin to take over his features as he thought back on that. So maybe it was an amusing thing then. “Didn’t Seok hate us for like a week after that? And I’m sorry, but I don’t exactly remember every prank we pull, shit. We should do that one again though, that was fun.”

 Brandon and Kaili’s dynamic heavily relied on fucking with other people--pranking them, bugging the hell out of them, shit-talking them....even if those other people turned out to be each other sometimes, that’s just what they did. Brandon liked to think a true friendship had blossomed from that somewhere along the way too. That tended to happen when you spent nearly every single day together. “I think he still hates me for it. So worth it though. Yeah, but I expect you to remember the iconic ones! That was the first one we successfully pulled off! It’s meaningful.”

Zhen was fragile. Well, not physically–physically she was a tank. And mentally she was tough–mostly. But in those parts of her mind where she wasn’t so strong, she was extremely fragile, and if something broke there, everything else went to shit too. SHe’d never admit it, but she was grateful to people like Brandon who refused to let anything she said go. She probably would be around if it wasn’t for people like him. Securing her hand in his and automatically shuffling a little closer, she sighed. This was making her anxious–not in a bad way, just……it was weird. She didn’t like having feelings for people. It gave them too much control, but perhaps that was good in this case. Brandon didn’t seem like he was going to abuse that control, instead using it to make sure she was safe. “A date, then,” she repeated quietly. “Fine okay. we’re going on a date. You’d better be a gentleman, though.”

A smile appeared on his face as she scooted closer to him. Letting go of her hand, he wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders, pulling her right up against him and giving her a quick one-handed hug. After that, he laced his fingers back around hers once more, swinging their arms. “I’m always a gentleman. I’m the model gentleman, Zhen. And by doubting me, you just shot your lady status, so it’s gone now. Sorry.” He chuckled. “Awesome, date....what do people do on dates? Do you want to go see a movie? Civil War just came out--do you want to see it? There are other movies too....and then after the movie, we could get something to eat? And you can come to my dorm and chill if you want. Sound like a plan?”

She was in another low. She was upset and slipping and she just didn’t see the point of going on like everything was okay. It wouldn’t last, it never did–within weeks she was right back to normal (or as normal as she got….). But in that moment, Zhen didn’t see the point, and she wished she did. She wished she had held her tongue and kept her thoughts to herself, because now Brandon was worrying about her and was going to attempt to keep her busy and she’d have to turn him down and leave. That was her plan until she heard what he had to say, that is, cheeks flushing as she glanced at him from under her eyelashes. “A date? I heard you right, you said date–right?” she mumbled quickly.

You wouldn’t think it if you’ve ever spent more than about a minute with him, but Brandon was pretty level-headed and mature. Did he act on it? No. He preferred goofing off and making people smile. But when things got serious, so did he, and he was a good person to have in your corner when it did. A small smile appeared on his face and he squeezed her hand. “Yep, you heard me right. You need to get your mind off of things. I need a day off. We could both probably do with something to eat. Let’s call it a date.” Maybe he was abusing his knowledge of her feelings for him to get her to eat and stay healthy, but it wasn’t like he didn’t feel anything back. He was making things more awkward maybe, but at least she was healthy.

Learning a new language was tough, and while Nori was learning quickly, she still often felt quite overwhelmed–people talked so fast and it was so hard trying to keep up. People got excited–she was sure they couldn’t help it. And now was one of those times. Awkwardly, Nori smiled, nodding a little and taking a deep breath before muttering in broken Korean, “Um…..could you please repeat that?”

“Oh. Sorry,” Brandon said, smiling sheepishly. “I didn’t realize how fast I was going. I was just wondering, like...what’s it like to be a performer and be so little? It must be weird. Because fans are in love with you and stuff, but you’re a minor... and not just barely a minor, but like....a minor. You were like....ten...”

“Pass me more of those chips,” Ahki grumbled, making herself comfortable as she leaned on him, remote in one hand as she surfed through the channels. Time alone with her best friend was scarce, and they’d finally gotten a moment together to just chill out and take a step back from the hectic life of an idol. She hated it with all of her being, but she missed him. “Pick something to watch or I will, and you’re not gonna like it.”

Grinning mischievously, Brandon took a handful of chips, reaching over and trying to shove them in her mouth, crushing them against her nose on accident instead. “There  you go. Enjoy.” He was happy hanging out with her for the first time in what felt like ages. “See, there’s where we’re going to have a problem. I like everything. So that makes it really hard for you, doesn’t it?”

She poked him hard in the stomach, rolling her eyes at him, though she didnt hate the contact as much as she pretended to. It was actually kind of nice. She’d never admit it though. “What’s me being here have to do with anything. You could easily just push me off. I’m light as fuck.” She laughed. “If I was standing, I’d bow. You’re pretty stubborn too, you know. It’s impressive in its own right.”

“Fuck off,” he muttered with a little laugh, flinching a little but catching her hand. “I don’t want to push you off, though. It’s cold in here and you’re keeping my legs warm. So I guess I’ll stay. Besides, you look comfy, and if I push you off, you’d get mad and probably punch me or something. And I don’t really want to get punched today.”