Chapter Text
The boys were preparing for another comeback and Dongju is sitting on Geonhak’s lap like any other day. The other members just shrugged at the sight of their clinginess like it was such an obvious normal day occurrence. It would have been like that for Seoho too, only if he didn’t harbor any feelings for Geonhak. In fact, Seoho hated every moment of their skinship. So just like any other day, Seoho readied himself to disrupt the two lovebirds' painful skinship and pinched Geonhak’s arm as hard as he could, but not hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Hyung!” Geonhak stood up into his fighting stance, obviously not amused.
“It didn’t even hurt...you’re just exaggerating again,” Seoho beamed with a smile knowing he finally got his muscle chick’s attention.
“Whatever,” Geonhak retreated and went back to Dongju because he knew that if he gave in to his hyung’s teasing again, it won’t stop.
“Whatever,” Seoho copied Geonhak by speaking in his signature baritone voice. Geonhak didn’t respond back.
“That was it?” Seoho craved for something more. He knew Geonhak only has his eyes for their maknae but he can’t help but feel frustration build up. With how quick Geonhak ended their interaction, Seoho sighed knowing that he can’t win over Geonak’s little baby. He decided to just play games on his phone. At least with it, he doesn’t have to compete for attention.
A notification interrupted his game reminding him that it’s gym day. Gym day for him is the only time he could have Geonhak for himself. “I almost forgot we have a gym date today,” he giggled to himself. After practice, he immediately went to the locker room to freshen up and messily stuff his clothes and towel in his duffel bag without a care in the world. He felt giddy he couldn’t even hide how happy he was while waiting for Geonhak in the hallway. Confidence was coming back to him until he spotted Geonhak and Dongju walking out of the practice room together.
“Why are you still here?,” the two shot Seoho a questioning look.
“It’s gym day,” Seoho faltered. Right then, Seoho just wanted to curl into a ball and disappear. “Did he perhaps forget? Was I the only one excited?” Seoho thought, making him feel even more depressed as if he wasn’t feeling depressed enough the whole day.
“Oh right, hyung I’ll pass this time. I have plans with Dongju.”
“Okay then, but call me anyway. I might still be in the gym once you’re done.” He has seen this scenario playing in movies a lot. This is when you force a smile and ignore your heart whaling in pain. And he did smile, acting like it was nothing; but silently, he wished for someone to just stab him and end his misery. Defeated, Seoho goes back to their dorm because he was sure Geonhak wouldn’t see him at the gym after his date with their maknae. It’s just how it works.
He arrived at their empty dorm, not even surprised. The rest were probably taking a stroll enjoying the night view to take a breather. Because he has no one to eat with, his appetite dropped so he decided to just take a quick shower and immediately go to bed. But the god of sleep wasn’t on his side. After staring at the ceiling for a good hour, he got up and did some push ups. Working out keeps your mind off of things and it relieves frustrations. It has always been Seoho’s go-to when he wants to rest his mind for a while. He hated himself for caring too much. “Something must be very wrong with me, I can’t stop thinking about Geonhak. Stop thinking about him.” He scolded himself, forgetting to count how many push ups he already did.
The push ups probably worked some wonder as he came to his senses and felt a strong desire to finally man up and do something about his one-sided situation. He only has two choices really. One, he could suppress his feelings and hopefully get over Geonhak. It’s clean and neat, no one would get uncomfortable and everything will go down without anyone ever knowing. Two, he could swallow his pride. Confess. Get rejected. “Any sane person would go with the first option,” he told himself. He doesn’t want to add any more pain to what he’s going through. With a clear resolution, he went to dreamland with his heart at ease the first time in 6 months of unrequited love.
Seoho entered the practice room smelling nice and looking spotless. He inhaled deeply as he knew it will not be smelling as nice once they start dancing. Just then his eyes land on Dongju and Geonhak on lying on top of each other on the yoga mat. They were monitoring their dance practice yesterday. As a sign of progress, he seemed to be getting used to them being like that since he was able to divert his attention quite easily. The rest of the week pretty much went like that. Whenever Seoho saw something he doesn’t like, he would avert his gaze to somewhere else. He kept his conversations with Geonhak as short and straightforward as possible.
It was going well for Seoho - everything went according to plan and no one seemed to notice him avoiding Geonhak. If he keeps this up, he might be able to find a new person to crush on by their comeback date. On the other hand, Geonhak felt bothered and confused trying to initiate small talks with his hyung. He knew Seoho was avoiding him and he doesn’t know how to approach this topic.
At first he thought maybe his hyung was just tired. But further observation showed that he interacted just fine with the other members. It was just him that he was being so dull and unexpressive. Geonhak went through hoops and loops inside his mind trying to figure out what it is exactly that he did to make Seoho act that way. And so far as his memory could recall, he did nothing wrong. Whatever it is that turned them into an awkward mess, he needed to find out before he completely loses his mind.
Geonhak jumped into Seoho in a headlock position, “Seoho hyung! Let’s go to the gym later.” It must be because he missed one of their gym days that his hyung is acting this way. Although it’s pretty far-fetched, he thought maybe it hurt Seoho. After all, it was this incident that he thinks Seoho started acting weirdly.
“Why so suddenly? I don’t think we need to since we’re practicing anyway,” Seoho reasoned out.
“Then let’s just hang out”. Geonhak’s persistence is confusing Seoho and it’s making him feel like perhaps Geonhak noticed that he’s avoiding him already. If he did notice, Seoho felt he had to say yes to avoid suspicions. “Okay then...let’s invite Youngjo hyung too.”
It didn’t go as Geonhak planned but it was still something. Just like that, Youngjo was dragged into their conversation. Thankfully, the older didn’t think twice and just agreed. “It’s Hyung line’s day out then,” Youngjo joked, receiving small punches from the two. “Quit being cheesy,” Seoho chuckled, flashing his eye smile. When Geonhak saw happy Seoho, he realized then and there that he missed his small squabbles with Seoho and that he would do everything to bring those moments back.