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ONEUS is on break. It’s between promotions, so each of the members use their time to relax and have fun.
Dongju receives an invitation to meet up with one of his old high school friends. He agrees, eager to catch up with him. They decide to meet for late-night karaoke.
Dongju has informed the others he is going out already. They told him to be careful when in public and to wear a mask and cap so no one recognizes him. He already knows this, though.
He dresses up casually in a turtleneck, denim jacket, and skinny jeans. He throws a hat and mask on after tying the laces of his Converse sneakers.
Dongju has a wonderful time. They order dinner for their room—a private one seeing as Dongju is famous—and enjoy finger foods and singing classic kpop hits. His friend orders a couple of soju shots, but Dongju declines the offer to drink any. His friend seems pretty drunk by the time their rent expires, the way he can’t seem to follow the tempo of a song a show-tell sign.
Dongju offers to walk him to the train station. It’s late and his friend is drunk, so he’s a bit worried. They walk in silence until they reach the train station. It’s pretty much empty, his friend would be catching the last train out before the station closes. They sit on a bench and wait for the train to arrive.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Dongju says.
His friend turns to face him, “Me too. It was nice catching up.”
His friend’s eyes are a bit glossy and there’s a high flush on his cheeks. Dongju zones out debating if he should even let his friend on the train alone when he’s this drunk. He seems to get the wrong impression when he sees Dongju staring.
Dongju’s friend suddenly leans forward and tugs down Dongju’s face mask enough to reveal his lips. Then he kisses Dongju roughly. Dongju’s eyes widen. He can taste alcohol on his friend’s breath and it’s not pleasant. He shoves him off as quickly as he can.
His friend seems offended when Dongju tugs back up his face mask and scoots away. “What the fuck? I thought you were into me?” His tone is a bit aggressive in his drunken state.
Dongju scoots even farther away; he’s a bit frightened by the sudden shift in his friend’s attitude. “I-I think you got the wrong impression. I just wanted to meet as friends.”
“Typical idols, thinking they’re too good for commoners. You’re a piece of shit, you know that? I thought we had something—you were all over me in high school. Hell, you even told me you were gay! I thought we could hookup, but I should’ve known you’d think you’re too good for me. I should have never invited you out.”
Dongju bites back tears. He thought he was his friend, but it seems he was wrong. Drunk people speak the truth, and it seems his friend only wanted him for pleasure. Dongju gets up wordlessly and leaves.
When he returns to the dorm, only Youngjo is awake. He’s writing lyrics in his notebook on the couch when Dongju walks through the door.
He looks up, “Did you have fun?”
Dongju can’t take it. He immediately plants himself next to Youngjo and curls into his side, finally letting the tears fall.
Youngjo throws his notebook aside and wraps an arm around Dongju. “Hey are you alright, Ju?”
“He—” Dongju sniffles, “—he was just using me! He only called me to try to hookup. I shouldn’t have told him I was gay...”
Youngjo just rubs Dongju’s back and lets him cry into his shoulder. He’s a little shocked to hear Dongju come out, but he doesn’t mind. He’s more shocked at the context of the situation. “I’m sorry, Ju.”
“It just hurts. I thought he was a good friend. We were so close in high school, we even came out to each other.”
“Just forget about him, ok? A true friend wouldn’t invite you out just to hookup.”
Dongju nods into Youngjo’s neck. “Thanks, hyung.”
“Do you want to sleep with me tonight?”
“Are you sure you want to be near me? I mean, now you know that I’m gay and all…”
“I don’t care. You’re still the Dongju I love.”
Dongju smiles fondly, unbelievably thankful for Youngjo’s support. “C-Can we cuddle?”
“Of course. Tomorrow will be a new day and we can move on from this, so let’s just sleep.”
Dongju falls asleep curled up in Youngjo’s embrace. He can just forget about his fake friend. He has his members who actually care about him.
What Dongju doesn’t know is that the whole time, a sasaeng was following him. She had snapped a few pictures on her phone of Dongju and his friend together. She had even caught a picture of them kissing from within the shadows.
She had run off giddily with the photos of their kiss before she could hear the truth. She was all too excited to release the exposing photos, ready to see her Twitter account blow up with clout.
As Dongju slept peacefully in his hyung’s arms, the photos spread like rapid fire. Overnight, Dongju became the talk of K-Pop Twitter…