#shinmin

Some people tell Eunhyuk it's weird to be friends with your ex's ex. Those people may even be right. What they often fail to consider, however, is: if he enjoyed his ex's company enough to date him, logic follows he'd probably enjoy his ex's ex's company, too.

(And if said friendship is making said ex, whom he has decidedly not gotten over, pay just a little more attention to him, even in incredulity… well, that's neither here nor there.)

Tonight, however, Eunhyuk finds himself all of a sudden agreeing with those people.

He and Sungmin are hanging out in the studio after hours, happily drinking and gabbing the night away, when Sungmin decides to bring up persona non grata apropos of absolutely nothing.

"Okay, so remind me again why you're not trying harder to get back together with Shindong? What's wrong with him?"

Eunhyuk sighs. "Nothing's wrong with Shindong—"

"—Exactly! He's a successful business owner, wildly talented and creative, not to mention extremely flexible—"

"—Remind me again why you're trying to set me up with your ex?" Eunhyuk rejoins in the same tone Sungmin originally used, cutting him off before the other could expound on that last train of thought.

"Remind me again why you're talking like he's not your ex, too?" Sungmin says with a sticked-out tongue.

Suffice it to say: the conversation really isn't going anywhere, and Eunhyuk is not sure what Sungmin expected. Thankfully, the other seems to have given up on the subject after that, instead pouting into his drink and staring at nothing.

Eunhyuk lets his head be empty when a random conversation he had with Sungmin a week ago flits through his mind. Just when he opens his mouth to ask Sungmin how things are going with the new girl he's seeing, Sungmin snaps to attention and exclaims, "Rock paper scissors!"

"What?"

"We'll rock-paper-scissors for it. If you win, I'll stop bothering you about this. If I win, you have to try to mend things with Shindong."

(Eunhyuk stared at Shindong with a challenging gaze, waiting for the other's next barb.

What he heard next was not what he expected. "I challenge you to rock-paper-scissors."

Eunhyuk scoffed. "What?"

"To be honest, I think you're being a little dick about this, but I also don't think it's worth an argument. If you beat me at RPS, I'll give you the fight you're clearly trying to instigate. If I win, you let it go."

"Shindong, this is serious!"

"I'm being serious. Can you agree to those terms?"

Eunhyuk eyed him with incredulity, refusing to budge.

"... Or are you chicken?"

If this was how Shindong wanted to settle this, then fine. He'll win, and he'll make Shindong argue within until he sees it Eunhyuk's way… But looking into the eyes of his boyfriend as he readied his hands for the game, he can't help but notice Shindong looks like he's already won.)

Eunhyuk is struck with the realisation that Sungmin and Shindong must have done this to solve disputes while they were together, which is why Shindong introduced it to their own relationship. He hates to admit that he's glad for it—it's great at helping him decide how much he cares about the problem at hand. If he doesn't think he could make peace with the results of the game, they both can tell it's something more important.

But Shindong learned it from his relationship with Sungmin.

Eunhyuk's mind is latched onto that fact, and he doesn't know what to do about it.

The words come out of his mouth like he was a talking toy with a pulled string. "You're on. Best two out of three."

~~~

Shindong slowly climbs up the stairs leading to the floor the studio is on. In one hand is a pizza box protecting a large meat lover's, and the other holds a manila folder of paperwork to be done. The end of the month is approaching, and he has some customary business deadlines to meet.

(Leeteuk likes to call nights when he voluntarily does administrative work instead of leaving it for the next day 'wallowing and avoiding your problems', but Leeteuk isn't here right now, is he?)

He's about to turn into the hallway that leads to his office when he sees a light on in one of the smaller dance studios. There is no music playing, but what else could it mean aside from Eunhyuk being in the studio late rehearsing?

He stops where he stands, hesitant and unsure. Should he subject the both of them to awkward small talk by walking in and acknowledging that he knows the other is here? Or should he just go to his office like planned and pretend he never knew?

~~~

Sungmin wins the first round with a rock against a scissor, but Eunhyuk is not deterred. He takes another swig of his drink and snaps in Sungmin's direction. "Ya, ya! Stop celebrating! Let's play again," he demands. If he ekes out a win, it forces them into a tie breaker. He would feel better about losing in the last round than in the second.

They both rise to their knees, too caught up in the excitement to maintain their previously languid positions sprawled on their butts.

At the same time, they chant, "If you don't play, you lose; gawi bawi bo!"

"Yes!"

Sungmin dramatically falls over in annoyance when he sees Eunhyuk's paper against his rock. The movement accidentally knocks over a bottle, which rolls towards the door unnoticed.

Sungmin flexes his abs and quickly brings himself into an upright sitting position in one smooth movement. Eunhyuk's eyes are victorious and hopeful, and it spurs him on. "One chance left," he taunts.

"That much will do." Eunhyuk grins and raises his fist.

~~~

Shindong eventually decides he should, in fact, go back home. What if Eunhyuk leaves and sees his office light was on and then realises that he knew that Eunhyuk was there but didn't do anything about it? Worse yet, what if he would want him to do something about it? It's safer to just pretend he was never even here.

Just then, a large shout and the sound of someone falling over resounds from within the dance studio. Shindong doesn't even question it. He rushes right in to see if Eunhyuk is alright and promptly trips on some sort of cylindrical thing that is never usually right there within the doorway.

His own yelp draws the attention of the pair in the room, just in time to see an airborne pizza escaping from its cardboard cage and heading straight for them.

Realising Eunhyuk is distracted, Sungmin wastes no time. "Gawi bawi bo!"

Eunhyuk's attention snaps away in shock from the chaos at the door, brain firing on as many synapses as possible to process all the stimuli. "What? Bo! Ack!"

The pizza splats right onto Eunhyuk's face, knocking him backwards and making him pinwheel his arms out to the side as he stumbles for balance.

His hands are open.

Sungmin lunges forward with his own hand shaped like a peace sign, striking Eunhyuk's flailing arm. "SCISSORS BEAT PAPER, I WIN!"

Eunhyuk finally falls over, Sungmin makes a sloppy victory lap around the rehearsal space, and Shindong is no closer to understanding what the everlasting fuck is happening here.

"Not fair!" Eunhyuk yells as he throws the pizza off his face, roughly wiping traces of marinara sauce off his skin. "I was clearly distracted!"

"My pizza," Shindong whimpers desperately. Somehow, it still looks delicious despite being crumpled on the floor in a pathetic lump of baked flour and various meats.

"I demand a rematch!" Eunhyuk maintains.

"Nuh-uh. You know what they say."

Victorious and smug, Sungmin gestures at Shindong, who just now is getting up and walking over to his intended dinner in a melancholic trance.