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"Ah,hyung!Stop clinging to me,im trying to win this game!" Hongbin whines,pushing taekwoon off of him "So annoying~"
Sanghyuk snorts as taekwoon quickly latches onto sanghyuk's side instead "Sometimes i wonder where the old taekwoon hyung i was scared of went to"
"Yah,would you rather i be mean and scary then?" Taekwoon frowns but still sticks to sanghyuk's side anyways
"Even hakyeon hyung is second now in clinginess,you took his place as first" Jaehwan says,grinning and smacking the oldest in the room hands away from reaching him
"Im just giving all my bottled up loves for my dongsaengs" taekwoon grins,pulling sanghyuk into a big bear hug
"Ah,you're seriously starting to be like hakyeon hyung,this is annoying" sanghyuk grumbles,trying to free himself from taekwoon's grip
"Go and latch onto hakyeon hyung,he'd be happy to give you all his attention" wonshik says,pointing at hakyeon's room
Hongbin smacks his hands on the keyboard frustratingly when the screen went grey indicating that his team lost "Even hakyeon hyung wouldn't be able to handle this hyung anymore.Ah,so annoying"
Taekwoon grins even though his heart shatters a bit at the cold tone and his even more colder glare.He cant help but feel a little insecure when the kids tells him that he's annoying even though more than half of the times,they are probably just teasing
Sanghyuk is still trying to free his way out when he's abruptly let free from taekwoon's arms "Im tired,if you want anything im in my room"
"Oh,finally free~Good riddance!" Sanghyuk shouts at taekwoon's back only for him to look back and poke his tongue out at sanghyuk
--
Closing his door shut,taekwoon walks lazily to the bed and throws himself on it.He closes his eyes,fighting off the tears threatening to fall.
Looking back,he really did have a big change in personality and he do feels quite proud of himself for being more open about his affection but everytime he shows the littlest bit of affection,he's called annoying and too clingy and is given cold glares.It might just be his mind doing things but they makes him feel insecure.Horribly insecure.
What if people prefers the quiet and overly-shy taekwoon?What if his newly changed personality really do annoys people?What if when the kids said that he's too annoying and that they wished the old taekwoon would come back,they weren't actually joking?
Taekwoon's mind is filled with what-ifs and insecure thoughts before the door to his room is suddenly opened and hakyeon peeked in
"Woonie?Are you sleeping?" Hakyeon mutters softly,still peeking from the door
Sighing softly,taekwoon shakes his head and open his eyes,hoping that his eyes arent glassy
"Do you want dinner?The kids are going to order some take-outs" hakyeon grins gently at taekwoon,sensing that he's somehow not in the mood -for reasons that hakyeon doesnt know of- or is just tired
Taekwoon seems to think about it before finally letting out a soft breath and smiles -a forced one,hakyeon notes- "I just ate,im still too full"
"Oh,mm.Okay then,if you changed your mind,you can always just come downstairs and join us in the living room" hakyeon smiles comfortingly,still trying to search the reason why taekwoon looks so sad and not in the mood
As soon as the door closes softly,taekwoon lets out the breath that he didn't even realise he's holding in.Rubbing at his eyes just incase there's any stray tears that managed to come out
Choosing not to do anything,taekwoon keeps lying on his bed and closes his eyes,trying to figure out how to solve his problem and before he knows it,he drifted into sleep,tiny droplets of tears falling down his face
--
Taekwoon wakes up with sticky dried tears on his cheeks,frowning,he wipes at his face almost too violently before walking to the bathroom to get ready
As soon as he's ready,he went out of his room with a huff.Putting on his personality mask,trying to hide his real self again just like how he did back then just so that people wouldn't get annoyed with him.Just like how they want him to do.
He went into the kitchen and jaehwan looks up at him before grinning "Ooh,the king of clinginess is awake!"
Rather than the expected reaction -a little tilt of smile and a peck to the cheek-,taekwoon looks at jaehwan and rolls his eyes and walks to the coffee maker,making himself a cup of coffee and ignoring the stares he's getting.Its not hard now,putting on a mask and hiding himself since he's quite used to doing it.
Taekwoon sips the cup of coffee before walking out of the kitchen with the coffee in hand,still ignoring the stares
Hongbin frowns,looking around at his friends "..what happened?"
"Beats me" sanghyuk sighs,shrugging "Woke up on the wrong side of the bed"
"Yah,did you said anything to him?" Hakyeon frowns,glaring down at his friends.
"He just woke up!He woke up being all cold and stuff" Wonshik defends himself,crossing him arms
"What the fuck happened then?"
--
Hongbin plops down at the living next to taekwoon but puts a little distance between themselves "No cuddling today"
Taekwoon once again looks at him as if they've never met and rather than pulling hongbin into a hug -like what he expected him to do- ,he puts even more distance between themselves.No little tilts of smile or a naughty grin,making hongbin more worried than he should be.
Sanghyuk walks into the living room too and senses the cold atmosphere,glancing at hongbin before raising his eyebrows in a silent question
Hongbin sighs and shrugs,he have zero idea why taekwoon is suddenly acting as if they all just met and he's back to his old self.Its weird.and concerning.
Taekwoon then pulls himself up,not meeting any of their eyes before walking -a little stiffly- back into his room,doors closing softly behind him
"What the fuck was that?" Hongbin half whispers,frowning at sanghyuk
"How'd i know?"
"He didn't even tried to cuddle up to me or touch me even a skin." Hongbin frowns,still trying to figure out taekwoon's sudden change in behaviour
Jaehwan suddenly sits himself down next to sanghyuk followed by wonshik
"Is he okay now?" Jaehwan asked,worried
"He's still so cold.Almost as if we just met for the first time and he's the old cold taekwoon hyung." Sanghyuk sighs
"Did we do something wrong?Or is this a prank?" Wonshik suggests,trying his best to come up with something logical
"That's unlikely" hongbin smacks wonshik on the shoulder for no reason at all,frustrated at taekwoon's 180 degress changes
"Stop venting your frustration on me.I would have thought that you'd be relieved at his change considering how much you hated his affections" wonshik whines,rubbing on "his shoulder
"You guys are always whining and saying that you hates it too!" Hongbin says,almost pouting
Sanghyuk watches the interaction with a frown before a possibly accurate idea of why taekwoon is suddenly all cold again pops in his mind
--
Throughout the week,taekwoon stays cold and almost never speaks with any of them unless spoken to,making them all worried
"Woonie~" hakyeon sits next to taekwoon and scans his face when he receives no answer "Are you okay?You looks like you're tired nowadays"
Taekwoon looks at him and he could've sworn that taekwoon's eyes went soft and his mouth tilts down in a frown but in a second,his face is back to stoic again almost as if nothing happened.Taekwoon opens his mouth as if to speak but instead of speaking,he shakes his head and closes his mouth.Exhibit A of why something is totally not okay
Hakyeon frowns but swallows his complains,not wanting to force taekwoon to speak about whatever problems he's having.Sighing hakyeon smiles at taekwoon gently "If you have any problems,i'd always be here for you.You know that,right?"
Taekwoon bites his lips and smiles -painfully forced- His eyes still seems dead but hakyeon chose not to say anything about it even though it hurts his heart seeing taekwoon who usually would comes to hakyeon or one of their friends to rants and cries to but now.Now it's almost as if he closed up his door -the door that used to be open for them- again.
Hakyeon is painfully reminded of the times when they just met and taekwoon is awfully cold.Hakyeon frowns,taekwoon is acting exactly like how he was back then.He can see that but what exactly is the reason for this change of attitude?hakyeon have suspicions but innocent until proven guilty,right?He's going to need to talk to his friends later about this.
"..are you going to join the dinner today?" Hakyeon asks carefully,looking at taekwoon
Taekwoon,as expected,shakes his head and replies in a soft quiet voice "I just ate earlier"
"That's too bad.I missed you so much~Make sure you join us next time,okay?" Hakyeon grins and gets up from his place,walking calmly to the door "im going to go,then.The others are already there"
As soon as the door closed,taekwoon sighs heavily and closes his eyes.This is way too tiring but as long as his friends are comfortable and happy,he can stay like this forever.
Teardrops once again falls from his eyes,he clenches his fists
For his friends' happiness
--
"Okay,first of all" hakyeon clears his throat,looking around at the others "what the fuck happened?"
Hongbin frowns,shaking his head "We dont have a clue"
Sighing,hakyeons chews his chicken loudly,muttering under his breath "This tastes fucking awful"
Sanghyuk looks around the table at his friends,all of them eating quietly and not making a noise.Something that's definitely not normal and the atmosphere is suffocating.He really just wants to run away until all of this issues are finished.And he misses taekwoon too -though he'd rather die than admit it-,its been days since the last time he had a proper conversation with taekwoon.
It's been days since taekwoon last cuddles him.or touches him at all.
"I..think i know why this is happening" sanghyuk starts slowly,making all four people on the table looks at him
"What?" Jaehwan frowns,jerking his head as a sign for him to continue
"Um..this,might sounds weird but.Do you remember when taekwoon hyung keeps cuddling us?" Sanghyuk says,not looking up to meet any of their eyes
"..Yeah.He started years ago,why?" Wonshik frowns,not understanding
"And our reactions each time he cuddles us are to push him away and tells him that he's annoying,right?" Sanghyuk sighs "Even saying shits like 'i miss the old taekwoon' or 'i want the old taekwoon back'"
Their eyes widen as realisation sinks into them
"..Are you trying to say he's like this because..we kept pushing him away?" Hongbin asks,voice wavering
Sanghyuk nods stiffly "I dont know but maybe,maybe he thought we really do want the old him back which leads us to this."
Hakyeon releases his breath shakily "I had my suspicions "
"God,that was terrible of us.We knew he's very insecure about himself but we,his own friends makes him feel even more insecure and horrible" Wonshik says,pushing his plate away.He feels like vomiting.
"This is horrible" jaehwan closes his eyes,sighing deeply
"What..what should we do,hyung?" Sanghyuk looks at hakyeon,his eyes glassy with tears threatening to fall down anytime.
Hakyeon shakes his head,not knowing what to do as well
"Anything we can to get our taekwoon back"
--
Taekwoon opens his eyes when someone suddenly throws himself next to him,cuddling into his side
Frowning,taekwoon sits up and see hakyeon grinning up at him "i missed you,woonie"
Taekwoon sighs,trying not to give in and cuddles hakyeon back.He tries his hardest to shrug him off,muttering under his breath "Let me go,hakyeon"
"No~I missed you.I rarely see or talks to you lately even though we lives under the same roof" hakyeon whines,his voice sincere "How could i do that?Ignoring my favourite person all week long,i was bad"
Taekwoon frowns,confused with hakyeon's behaviour today "what.."
"You know,when we first met back then,I thought we wouldn't get along because you and i are the exact opposite." Hakyeon grins,looking fondly at taekwoon "but then opposites do attracts huh?You're one of the most precious person to me,woonie"
Fighting off the smile that's threatening to bloom on his face,he flicks hakyeon's forehead "What are you on about?"
"...Im just saying that,woonie,i miss you.And im proud of how much you've changed since back then.I love both the shy taekwoon and the bubbly taekwoon but i hope you knows that we are proud that you're more confident about yourself now" hakyeon looks at taekwoon dead in the the eyes,hoping he'd see how sincere he's being
Taekwoon's eyes widen at his words and the sincerity in his eyes "hakyeon,i.."
Hakyeon gets up and pulls taekwoon into a hug "Im sorry that I wasn't there to comfort you just because i was busy with works.Im sorry that i didnt realise how much you're hurting"
Releasing a shaky breath,Taekwoon closes his eyes,dropping his head onto the older's shoulder,teardrops falling along.
"Im sorry that i wasn't there to make sure you knows that you're the most precious person on this earth-" hakyeon chokes on his own sobs,hugging taekwoon tightly
Hearingthe choked sob,taekwoon cries harder,shaking his head "It's not your fault.Im sorry for being too insecure about every little stupid things"
Hakyeon tightens his arms around taekwoon when the door to their room suddenly slams open,revealing the four of their friends with tears pouring down their faces -they looks like a mess and hakyeon would've laughed if he's not feeling so emotional- as they make their way to the bed and joins the hug
"Im sorry woon hyung for not realising how much we're hurting you with our words" hongbin cries,hugging taekwoon from behind
"We're sorry for being a dick" wonshik hiccups,holding onto taekwoon tightly
The messy apologies went on and on for hours until finally they all got tired and ended up laying down on the -hakyeon's and taekwoon's pushed together- bed with taekwoon in the middle
"..im sorry for being an idiot" taekwoon mumbles,sighing
"It's not your fault,just dont do that again.I was worried sick" hakyeon mutters,eyes red and puffy from how much he cried
"You know we were just teasing right?" Sanghyuk asks,holding onto taekwoon's hand tightly as if afraid he's going to dissapear
Taekwoon hums,squeezing sanghyuk's hand in his.
"We don't actually mind the cuddling and clinging.We were just amused at how clingy you were and somehow ended up teasing you" jaehwan mumbles,voice sleepy
"I know" taekwoon smiles
"All of us are stupid" hongbin grumbles
"I know" taekwoon once again replies,smiling cheekily at hongbin
"You're precious to us,hyung" wonshik sleepily adds,making all of them smiles to themselves
"Very precious"