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Chapter Text

One: Younghyun

Laughter and comical sound effects came from Dowoon’s phone, interrupting his music, and Younghyun didn’t need to peek at his screen to know that their youngest was watching past episodes of Weekly Idol.  

To say that him and his band members were nervous for this variety appearance was an understatement—they were not, by all means, a band that was fun in the way variety shows and general viewers would consider peak entertainment. Their kind of fun was more of the kind that you can find between a bunch of sleep-deprived college students when they gather together and strings of random, accidentally hilarious things come out of their mouths. 

Among the four of them, Younghyun thought that Sungjin and Dowoon would probably do well, since their leader had a way of making his speaking and movement ridiculous, not to mention his quick wit, and Dowoon’s awkwardness is adorable—they can surely put smiles on other people’s faces and warrant a good reaction out of them.

Him and Jae, though, he’d rather not get into that.

“Is it too late to run out of the studio and go home?” Jae asked as he gripped the back of Sungjin’s seat, his eyes large and asking for help. As rookies in the idol band scene, their company decided that it was a good promoting strategy to send them to Weekly Idol , so that when people look them up on search engines, they’ll find variety clips to get to know them, not just covers, busking sessions, and music videos. 

“Yes,” their leader replied, reaching behind to give reassuring pats on his back. “Let’s not think too much about this and focus on having fun with our seniors. It’s a chance to get to know them or even befriend them.”

Researching about the band that will appear with them in Weekly Idol amplified Younghyun’s concerns, because the N.Flying guys were talented, charismatic, and straight up entertainers. Through a quick Youtube search, Younghyun found snippets of their debut reality web series in which they do various missions; zombie game, whisper challenge, going inside a haunted house, cooking showdowns—they’ve done it all, and every single one was hilarious.

They had six members, two more than DAY6—which meant that they would probably secure more screen time because they had more personal talents to show. Their guitarist would definitely do his accurate animal impersonations and their drummer was a bank of unusual charms who had a flexible face that reminded Younghyun of Jim Carrey. 

Compared to them, they were variety babies. Younghyun considered doing his saxophone bit, but it wasn’t that impressive or funny. Maybe he’ll do it if he’s desperate to save the mood.

As he expected, Sungjin and Dowoon were the ones that held the most attention from the hosts; Sungjin did his best to save their band from being no fun, so he showed his unique way of freestyle dancing and spoke with a heavier accent every time he needed to show a reaction. His multiplication standoff with N.Flying’s vocalist, Hweseung, was the highlight for Younghyun, with their slow reactions and wrong answers instantly cracking up even the staff of Weekly Idol . 

Younghyun tried his best to give reactions that the editing could use, always saying something, anything, to whatever’s happening, just as long as he doesn’t seem like an onlooker at the side.

So far, so good.

“N.Flying, do you guys have any more personal talents? Cha Hun’s impressions were really something else!” the host asked their seniors, and based on Younghyun’s research, they probably have so much more to show.

Jaehyun, N.Flying’s drummer, raised his hand but pointed a finger to the one beside him. “Our Wonpil here has a really big mouth; Hweseung tried putting his fist inside when he yawned one time and it went in!”

“What? But Jaehyun your mouth is bigger—” he started to protest, but the drummer nudged him, a wide, almost threatening smile stamped on his face. Younghyun watched them in amusement, catching Jaehyun mouth the words screen time .

“Let’s see if it’s true then!” the host said, gesturing for N.Flying’s Wonpil to stand up. The vocal-slash-keyboardist-slash-synthesizer of the other band looked nervous, wiping his hands on the edge of his sweater and tucking some wavy locks of dark hair behind his ear. “This can be a bonding moment for Wonpil with a DAY6 member; is there a fellow 94-liner in the group?”

Younghyun felt Jae’s long fingers grip his shoulder, and he already knew he was the sacrificial lamb. “Younghyun here was born in 1993, but in late December.”

Jae had been pretty silent the entire filming, but he sure can talk when throwing Younghyun under the bus. 

The host grinned. “Perfect, come here and test if what they’re saying is right.”

He stood in front of his senior, and Wonpil looked up at him—he had noticed in their videos how smaller, more petite he seemed compared to the rest of the N.Flying members, but he somehow never expected to be that much taller than him. Wonpil was looking at him with big, dark eyes that reminded Younghyun of tapioca pearls.

He was really about to put his fist inside someone’s mouth. In front of multiple cameras. And it’s going to be aired on television if it doesn’t get edited out.

Younghyun spoke softly as he held out his fist, “I’m so sorry, sunbaenim.”

Both of them closed their eyes as Younghyun tried to fit his hand inside Wonpil’s mouth, but when it wouldn’t reach past his lips and Wonpil let out a pained moan, he immediately drew back his arm and stepped far away from his senior.

Wonpil whipped around, pointing at Jaehyun and raising his voice for the first time during the filming, “I told you that your mouth is bigger!”

As they exited the main studio and went to their dressing rooms, Younghyun took his chance to walk beside Wonpil, who blew out a puff of breath and relaxed his shoulders, looking relieved to be away from the cameras at last. The rest of their members were walking ahead of them, exchanging greetings and thank you for your hard work ’s. He bowed at his senior of 4 months, who waved his hands in front of his chest and bowed back just as deep.

“Wonpil-sunbaenim, um, sorry for the... thing, earlier.”

“Ah! Young K-ssi, it’s fine, I apologize as well! It’s not your fault, it’s our Jaehyun who I have to fight about it later.”

Younghyun laughed at Wonpil’s jab at his bandmate. Later in the shooting, Jaehyun also voted Wonpil as their aegyo master, backed by their guitarist, Hun, which resulted in him throwing hearts at the camera, biting his lip in an effort to not cringe. Rather than the aegyo, Younghyun found Wonpil really cute when he dashed behind Seunghyub's back to hide in embarrassment and only the crown of his head can be seen beyond the vocalist's broad shoulders; but that’s not to say that his aegyo wasn’t cute, because Younghyun together with the N.Flying members wore fond smiles while watching him. 

“Variety is pretty tough.”

“It is. I have my members with me and they carry me in that area, but being alone in the spotlight is always really scary,” Wonpil admitted with a shy smile. “We had a fun time, though, because of you guys!”

The corners of Younghyun’s mouth lifted at the sight of Wonpil’s smile. “Us too, sunbaenim.”

“Wonpil-hyung, did I accidentally put my power bank in your bag? I can’t find it,” Dongsung, their bassist and youngest, asked Wonpil as he looped their arms together. Younghyun couldn’t help but feel disappointed that his conversation with Wonpil was already at its end.

“Please excuse me, Young K-ssi,” Wonpil said to him, bowing as Dongsung tugged him back to their dressing room. “It was nice meeting you!”

Younghyun bowed back at Wonpil’s retreating figure. “It was an honor, sunbaenim! Thank you!”

"I have made a new friend," Jae announced in their living room with a puffed chest and holding his phone up proudly. Sungjin snatched the phone from his hold to look at the contact name himself.

“You got Seunghyub-sunbaenim’s number?” Younghyun leaned over to look at Jae’s phone as well, raising his eyebrows as he saw that there was already a conversation between them.

"I ran into him in the bathroom and we were both washing our hands and it was kinda awkward, so I just said whatever came out of my mouth. I asked him if he plays basketball since he's really tall and built," Jae explained, taking his phone back from Sungjin. “Apparently, he does. We’re playing together next week.”

Dowoon had his mouth forming a perfect circle as he stared at their eldest member. “Hyung, you make friends really fast. I wanted to talk to Jaehyun-sunbaenim about how he always catches the music show cameras while drumming, but I felt shy.”

“Let me teach you the ways of the world, Dowoonie. All you need to do is not have a brain-to-mouth filter. Talk now, regret later.”

“ That is some bad advice, Jae,” Sungjin chided. “Dowoon, erase that from your brain.”

Letting his members’ conversation fade into white noise, Younghyun plopped down on the couch and leaned his head on his hand, feeling a sudden wave of regret that he didn’t ask for Wonpil’s number.

Two: Wonpil

The fast stream of comments whenever they go on V LIVE never failed to make Wonpil dizzy and slightly overwhelmed; he loved that their fans were so passionate and communicated well with them, but sometimes, he couldn’t keep up with all the messages being written. It felt touching that they had a lot of fans tuning into their lives and saying beautiful things even though they were just a 7-month old band—as much as he wanted to read everything and respond to everyone, it was literally impossible to do so, even if the other members were looking at the comments too.

“Where is the maknae line?” a comment asked, pertaining to the presence of only Wonpil, Seunghyub, and Hun in their leader’s studio for their 12th Let’s Talk live. 

“They’re exercising together, probably,” Seunghyub replied.

Wonpil hummed in agreement. “I saw them in the gym before I went up here.”

“You came from vocal lessons?” Hun asked him, and Wonpil nodded, leaning back into the swivel chair.

“I saw you guys were live so I wanted to join too since no one’s probably at home yet.” 

A lull of silence took over as they read comments again; Seunghyub and Hun were looking at his computer screen while Wonpil read from his phone.

“The Weekly Idol episode was really fun. I became a fan after watching it,” Hun read out loud from a comment. “It was enjoyable for us too. The DAY6 members tolerated our weirdness well, especially Jaehyun’s.”

“Recently I’ve been playing basketball with Jaehyung of DAY6. He’s a really nice guy, really cute,” Seunghyub piped in. The members have already teased him multiple times about getting Park Jaehyung’s number and about being the only one in their band to successfully befriend someone from DAY6. Wonpil thought that the DAY6 members seemed like good people just by looking at their faces, and really talented, even more than he was—someday he wanted to befriend them too. He was considered the senior, but Wonpil knew that he could learn a lot from the DAY6 members, as they had unique vocal colors and were self-producing their songs. He would have tried to talk to them more during the Weekly Idol shoot if he didn’t feel so nervous and tired from the filming.

Wonpil looked at the phone in his hand and tried to read the comments even as they left the screen as rapidly as they came in.

김재현바라기 LVL. 7

오빠들 밥 먹었어요? 

myfia LVL. 6

WONPILLLLL BAKIT ANG GWAPO MOOOO

Let’s Roll! LVL. 7

Please speak in English, I can’t understand :(

흥 LVL. 7

씅짱 목소리 진짜…….

stream congratulations LVL. 2

do you listen to day6 songs?

(灬♥ω♥灬) LVL. 6

かわいい ( •ॢ◡-ॢ)-♡

“Do you listen to DAY6 songs?” Wonpil chose to read in English, because he thankfully understood it and it wasn’t far from the topic. He wanted to communicate with their international fans as much as his abilities would allow him. “I do! I really like their debut song Congratulations .”

When they guested together on Weekly Idol and DAY6 performed a medley of the songs in their debut mini-album, Wonpil found himself humming the chorus to Congratulations when they were already on the way home; the song refused to leave his ears, so he checked out the whole mini-album and then found himself listening to it constantly until the present. It was no wonder that DAY6 were considered power rookies in the idol band scene—Wonpil thought that their songs were addictive no matter what someone’s preference in genre was.

“Ooh, Wonpil, can you sing a bit for the fans?” Seunghyub suggested, tugging Wonpil’s chair closer to the camera and pushing Hun’s chair aside, earning a glare from the guitarist.

“Ah, how should I do this...” He fidgeted, wringing his hands and closing his eyes before he started singing, “ Congratulations, you’re so amazing .”

He sang the rest of the chorus, trying to keep in mind the correct lyrics so that he doesn’t end up disrespecting DAY6 and their fans. “ I see your smiling face as you completely forgot about me, as you’re being so happy .”

“How come it sounds so sad when you’re the one singing it? I remember it sounding more angry,” Hun joked while wearing a straight face, but Wonpil has known him long enough to know it wasn’t a dig at his singing skills. Still, Wonpil hissed at the younger member in retaliation for the teasing.

He bowed at the camera. “I’m sorry, DAY6, for ruining your song.”

Seunghyub and Hun laughed, pulling his shoulders back to get him to raise his head. “No, no, you did well.”

The three watched the comments flow in after Wonpil’s impromptu live performance, smiling at the enthusiastic virtual screaming from their fans. As always when interacting with fans, he felt a surge of appreciation for them who never failed to make their band feel loved and supported.

“Wonpil, a fan asked if there’s someone you like in DAY6.”

“Like, their singing?”

Hun shrugged. “I guess, if that’s what you like about them.”

He subconsciously pointed a finger at his temple, lost in thought. Wonpil had watched one live stage of Congratulations , but it only took that video to get familiarized with the different vocal styles of the DAY6 members. Their leader, Sungjin, had a raspy voice that hit hard, while Seunghyub’s friend Jae had a unique way of sounding out syllables and a style that reminded him of foreign artists. But it was Young K, who Wonpil talked to before in the Weekly Idol shooting, who caught his attention the most, whose voice can go as deep or as high as he wanted, and who can rap as well as he can sing.

He still felt a little embarrassed whenever he would remember the time when his hoobae had to try and fit his fit inside Wonpil’s mouth, but Young K, contrary to his rough look with his blonde hair and piercings, was really nice and soft spoken, even apologizing after the filming despite there not being a need to do so.

“Young K-ssi has a really captivating voice,” Wonpil replied to the comment. “His rap in Congratulations is one of the killing points of the song, I think.”

Seunghyub was still scrolling through the comments, and then he let out a snort before sharing what he read, “Wonpil, the fans are asking you to rap it.”

He shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest to make an X. “No, I’ll butcher it! I can’t do a disservice to Young K-ssi’s rap, I’m sorry!”

Three: Younghyun

“Brian, have you seen this?” Jae asked him as he showed him his screen, where he pulled up a video on Twitter. He recognized N.Flying’s Wonpil, Seunghyub, and Hun on the thumbnail, and the video’s caption read: oh my god, n.flying’s wonpil covered day6’s congratulations! i hope the 2 bands become friends and do a collab in the future @Jae_Day6 @day6official @NFlyingofficial.

He first wanted to scold Jae for calling him Brian, but he let it slide since they were just in a music show waiting room without any cameras around. He took hold of Jae’s phone to press play on the video and borrowed the elder’s earphones. “Is this from a live?”

“Yep.”

Younghyun knew that the vocalists of N.Flying were good, but the moment Wonpil started singing the chorus to Congratulations , he could barely recognize their own song, and that was a compliment—Wonpil’s voice was the epitome of the word emotion and all of its definitions, and his rendition of their song brought out the sorrow in the lyrics that the anger and bitterness were trying to hide.

He had heard him sing during their Weekly Idol appearance, but how come he never noticed how Wonpil sang with his entire heart, even a song that wasn’t his band’s? How could he have been so ignorant?

He wanted to hear more. He wanted to listen to everything that Wonpil had ever sung.

Jae glanced at him with a grin. “So good, huh?”

“Y—” Younghyun had to clear his throat, not realizing he had choked up while watching his senior sing. “Yeah. Really good.”

“I’mma retweet this,” Jae said as he took his phone back from Younghyun. “Oh wait, there’s another video below it.”

Younghyun took one earbud and wore it as Jae played the next video in the thread, where Hun asked Wonpil from a comment which DAY6 member he liked the most.

“Young K-ssi has a really captivating voice,” Wonpil in the video said, and Younghyun sat up straight on the couch, not expecting his name to come up.

Wonpil praised his rap too, calling it a killing point—and Younghyun accidentally let out a small gasp, which thankfully went unnoticed by the elder member beside him. Jae and Sungjin were really good singers too, and for a senior—one that had a voice that blew him away—to pick Younghyun, it was honestly making him feel lightheaded.

Beside him, Jae laughed when Wonpil refused to do his rap in Congratulations , starting to compose a tweet once the video ended; while Younghyun stared blankly at the elder’s phone screen, not quite over being praised by his senior. Him, specifically. His voice, his rap part.

@Jae_Day6

Wow, thank you! He sung it better than we do! Also, Brian said he wants to see Wonpil-sunbaenim do his rap

Younghyun tried to swipe at Jae's phone, but the elder held it away with a cackle. “Hey, I did not say that!”

“But it’s what you were thinking. Am I right or am I right?”

Younghyun just rolled his eyes and drew back, because Jae actually was right.

The video of Wonpil covering Congratulations started a new pastime that Younghyun never disclosed to his members—every night, before going to sleep in his bottom bunk, he had started going through N.Flying's discography and videos on their channel, always looking out for Wonpil’s parts in them. He was starting to get fixated with his senior’s voice, completely fascinated every time he sung and made Younghyun feel emotions he couldn’t put names to.

He even looked up fansign videos, originally looking for times Wonpil sung without any backing tracks, but also ending up watching clips of him being sweet with fans; it was unfair how someone with such captivating vocals also had a beautiful heart. A video of him crying because of a fan’s message to him went viral once, and Younghyun had to stop watching halfway through, chest aching with how his senior’s eyes were full of tears and his lips trembling.

Eventually, Younghyun had also found himself scrolling through N.Flying’s official Instagram account, pausing at Wonpil’s close-up selfies and 30-second snippets of him singing in music show waiting rooms but careful to not accidentally tap on the posts; while he used their group’s official Instagram account rather than his personal one, he’d rather not have any incidents.

“Have you washed up?” Jae asked, holding a towel on his head as he patted it dry.

“Yeah, I’m done.”

His roommate hummed in acknowledgement of his reply and stepped on the ladder to get to his upper bunk—and then also stepped on the wire of Younghyun’s earphones.

Younghyun froze as his phone played Wonpil’s first OST in loudspeaker, the voice he liked the most filling his and Jae’s room.

"Is that… Wonpil-sunbaenim's voice?"

“Yes,” Younghyun answered him, keeping his face as emotionless as possible. “Why?”

The OST came to an end and Younghyun’s YouTube playlist started the next video: Wonpil singing their song Crossroad in a fansign. 

Jae got down from the ladder and Younghyun squirmed under his knowing stare and blinks. He chucked his phone under his pillow.

“I’m telling Seunghyub,” the elder said, grabbing his phone from his mattress above Younghyun and starting to type with a smile on his face. "I've been wondering why you always tilt away your phone when I get near your bunk. I thought you were just watching porn, but this is why, huh?"

Younghyun dragged himself to the edge of his mattress, placing his feet on the floor as he saw the KakaoTalk interface in Jae’s screen. "What—what do you even have to tell Seunghyub-sunbaenim?"

"That you've got a crush on Wonpil-sunbaenim? That you love his voice? That you want to collab with him?" 

"When did I ever say that?"

"Brian, you forget that I can read your thoughts."

Younghyun lunged for Jae, pulling the elder to his chest as he tried to wrestle his phone out of his hands; but he didn’t expect Jae to put a lot of strength into pushing Younghyun to his mattress and gripping his phone like his life depended on it.

Younghyun abruptly let go of Jae when his finger got painfully wedged in between the phone and the elder’s fingers, and when he did, Jae was still pulling strongly.

And so the result was this: Jae flew back and hit his head on the ladder of their bunk beds as Younghyun inspected his finger.

“Ow, fuck! Brian, what the hell?” Jae shouted as he fell to the floor, cradling his head in one hand and shakily clutching his phone in the other. Younghyun gaped at him, not knowing himself what exactly happened.

“What’s going on here?”

Before Younghyun could check on Jae, Sungjin entered their room briskly, with Dowoon following right behind him, an alarmed look evident on his face most likely due to the loud thud that Jae’s head had made. 

“He hit my head on the ladder!”

“I didn’t—it was an accident, Sungjin!”

“God, Brian, it’s perfectly fine to have a crush, you know!”

“I don’t have a crush, Jae!”

“It’s alright if you swing that way, man! We don’t mind!”

“I still don’t get what’s happening here,” Sungjin intervened with a frown, extending his hands to haul up the roommates in a sitting position while Dowoon hovered behind him. “Get up and explain.”

“I was just teasing Brian about his crush on Wonpil-sunbaenim when he suddenly pushed my head to the bunk ladder—”

“I really didn’t mean to do that, and I do not have a crush on him, I just like his voice! And you were going to text Seunghyub-sunbaenim!”

“I was just fucking with you dude, I wasn’t gonna send it! You took it so seriously because you like—”

Sungjin clapped his hands once, loud and threatening enough to get the two to stop squabbling for a moment. 

“I’ll talk to you both individually in my room, since we’re not getting anywhere here,” he said, wrapping an arm around Jae’s shoulders and pulling him up to stand. “Jae, come on. I’ll have a look at your head too.”

As the eldest members left their room, Younghyun lowered his head, feeling bad for how the quiet night had disappeared in their dorm.

Dowoon sat beside him on his bunk, offering an awkward but sincere smile of comfort. Younghyun smiled back, although stiffly—he didn’t know how the situation escalated that much, but then again, he and Jae usually ended up in petty quarrels more often than he’d like.

A hand patted his back. “It’s okay, hyung. We accept you for who you are.”

Without even sparing the youngest a glance, Younghyun sighed.

Four: Wonpil

Wonpil rarely went on long walks around the neighborhood without any of the members or the managers with him, but he just got up and left his studio in the middle of writing a song, the frustration creeping up at him already reaching his brain and rendering him unable to continue. He didn’t want to stay inside his studio—not when he felt like pulling at his hair and screaming because he just couldn’t get the melody to sound right.

Their next comeback album would be the first one that their self-produced songs can be included in, and he could feel every drop of self-incited pressure combined with the greed to do well so he could be recognized as a producer and contribute more to his band’s music.

He plopped down on a stool inside a GS25, sipping on some chocolate milk that made him feel better. The walk cleared his head a bit as well, but he needed something else. He needed a bigger distraction to restart his mind.

wonpil: where are you guys?

jaehyun: filming 2idiots with hunnie. why?

seunggu: at the dorm, playing games. dongdong’s dead asleep as usual

seunggu: img_203.png

seunggu: look at him ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

wonpil: stop teasing the baby, hweseung :c

seungjjang: i’m playing basketball right now

seungjjang: at the court near jyp

seungjjang: what’s up?

seungjjang: pil?

wonpil: screenshot047_naver_map.png

wonpil: this one?

seungjjang: yeah that’s the court

wonpil: okay

wonpil: hyung stay there i’m on my way

Seunghyub was waiting for him in front of the court’s entrance, knowing how Wonpil tended to get nervous when entering a new place by himself; their leader always knew how to look out for them, and Wonpil never wanted to take that for granted, never wanted to abuse it either.

The elder was already sweaty, but it didn’t stop Wonpil from resting his head on his chest when he got close enough, wrapping his arms loosely around Seunghyub’s hips.

“You seem tired, Pil. You sure you don’t want to go home yet?” Seunghyub asked as he patted his head and his back, and the rumbling of his chest when he spoke brought Wonpil the comfort he was looking for.

Wonpil shook his head. “I’ll just watch you play for a bit, hyung. Then let’s walk back together.”

“Alright, let’s go in, then.”

They entered the court, and Wonpil was surprised to see only one other person playing basketball. He thought there would be more people, but he preferred it this way. “Hi, Jae-ssi.”

“Wonpil-sunbaenim? You play basketball?” DAY6’s Jae asked with wide eyes after bowing, like he couldn’t believe that he was there standing inside the court. It was a reasonable reaction, Wonpil supposed, since Seunghyub had played with Jae several times before but he never tagged along then.

Wonpil waved his hand in front of him. “Oh, no, I’ll just cheer on Seunghyub-hyung.”

“Okay—uhh—will you excuse me for one moment?”

Jae sprinted out of the court in a flash, leaving Wonpil and Seunghyub confused.

After Jae returned and they finished playing a few more rounds of basketball, Seunghyub went to take a shower while the other packed up his stuff. Wonpil was distracted with watching the two play and acting as Seunghyub’s cheerleader emptied his mind briefly, but now that they’re done, he was starting to get stressed again. In his studio, his unfinished track was waiting for him, and he didn’t know if he was ever going to complete it, or if he was just going to get disappointed in his own creation.

“Sunbaenim, are you alright?” Jae asked, sitting down beside Wonpil on the bleachers.

“Jae-ssi, DAY6 members write and produce songs on your own, right?”

“We do. Mostly it’s Bri—Young K doing it, though.”

“You guys are admirable,” Wonpil said, kicking his feet as he stared at the ground. “It’s really hard to self-produce.”

“Are you having problems with it, sunbaenim? If you’d like… you can talk to Young K about producing and writing songs. He’s insanely good at it. He once wrote a whole song while he was in a taxi; we haven’t released it yet, but it’s a really good song. When it comes to self-producing, there’s no one better than our Young K.”

Wonpil let out a giggle, finding the way Jae promoted his member like he was a manager trying to get him to be casted in a show. “It’s alright, Jae-ssi, I don’t want to bother Young K-ssi. I’m sure he has a lot of things on his plate.”

“Oh, you won’t be a bother at all, believe me,” Jae said with a laugh and a dismissive wave of his hand. “And is it okay if we drop the honorifics? It’s kinda making me feel super old and awkward, to be honest.”

“Okay… Jae-hyung,” Wonpil acknowledged, feeling less down as he made a friend from a fellow band. “You can also stop calling me sunbaenim.”

Jae sent him a pleased grin before continuing, “Young K really wouldn’t mind talking to you about making songs. He has a resting bitch face, but he’s really nice and soft inside, trust me. He’s very handsome, too, isn’t he? He’s our really talented songwriter and producer, we all learn a lot from him.”

Wonpil stared at Jae, who went full-on salesperson on him, and it may have been quite a weird spiel, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t swayed.

“Sooooo, can I have your number so I can give it to him? I’ll also give you his,” Jae offered, holding out his phone.

“Alright, sure.” Wonpil typed out his number, saving himself as N.Flying’s Wonpil on the elder’s phone.

“Here, I’ll give you Young K’s number—”

“Oh?!” Wonpil all but shouted, cutting off Jae but too surprised to realize it. In the distance, two tall men wearing horribly vibrant green and blue outfits waltzed into the court. “Hun? Jaehyun? Why are you guys here?”

“We’re here to pick you guys up, what else?”

Wonpil hopped off the bleachers and skipped towards the two, enveloping them both in a hug. He didn’t usually hug anyone but Dongsung, who loved both receiving and giving them, but it was a day that he needed to feel his members’ warmth physically; with the way Hun and Jaehyun stayed still and rubbed his back, Wonpil knew that they had caught on to his current mood already.

Another warm body joined their hug, and Hun let out an annoyed groan when Seunghyub squeezed all three of them, but Wonpil felt his temporary worries melting away.

“Come on, come on. Let’s go get take out and eat at home, I’m hungry,” Jaehyun whined, breaking the group hug and pushing the same-aged members towards their vehicle. Wonpil managed to briefly turn around and wave goodbye to Jae. 

“Jae, do you want a ride?” Seunghyub offered before he could climb into their van.

“Thank you, but it’s fine! I’ll ride my skateboard on the way back since our dorm’s just close. Bye, take care!”

Wonpil waved goodbye again to Jae from inside their van before leaning his head on Hun’s arm and letting himself be lulled to sleep by Jaehyun’s enthusiastic retellings of his day.

Five: Younghyun

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

The light turned on as Younghyun was just lying down on his bed and staring at the wooden frame of the top bunk, causing him to cover his eyes in irritation. “I just woke up from a nap. Did you call me?”

Jae set down his bag and nodded in the direction of his phone. “Check your KKT.”

Younghyun let out an exasperated sigh, still lagged from his nap, but unlocked his phone anyway.

jae: image089.png

The picture contained the elder member along with N.Flying’s leader, Seunghyub, and that part was nothing shocking to Younghyun, since he knew they’ve been playing basketball regularly together. But behind the two, seated on the bleachers, was Wonpil, holding up two peace signs that appeared like horns above Jae’s and Seunghyub’s heads.

Younghyun shot up on his bed, head almost colliding with the top bunk. "You—how?"

"I was playing basketball with Seunghyub when he just decided to visit and watch us play. I was trying to tell you to haul your ass to the court, but you didn't pick up. I texted you, but you never replied either,” Jae explained. “Check your KKT again.”

jae: +82 105-0494-029

“Don’t say I never do anything for you.”

All Younghyun could do was let his mouth drop and let out a tiny squeak, cradling his phone with both hands as if it now contained something precious and holy. “Is this his number? Wonpil-sunbaenim’s?”

"Yeah, that’s his number. You react like that but still say you don't have a crush on him?" Jae commented, shaking his head at the younger member.  "Makes no sense."

"How did you get his number?" Younghyun asked as he still stared at his phone, the crush remark sliding past him.

"Okay, so, Wonpil told me that—"

"You've dropped the honorifics?”

"Yeah, and if you answered your phone you could be calling him Wonpil now, too, but you didn't. Now let me continue." Younghyun narrowed his eyes at Jae but stayed quiet. “He told me that he’s been struggling with writing lyrics and producing his own songs, and being your loving best friend and official wingman, I told him that you’re very good at self-producing, and that maybe I can give you his number so you guys can help each other out.”

“Why did you have to say I’m good at it, Jae? What if I actually can’t help him?” Younghyun grumbled. Jae rolled his eyes.

“Well, you’d have to text him first and talk to him to know, wouldn’t you?”

“But Jae, what do I say?”

“ Hi, Wonpil-sunbaenim, this is your loving admirer, Young K. I don’t know, you figure it out,” he answered and Younghyun extended a leg to kick him in the shin as Jae left their room.

Younghyun laid back on his bed and stared at Wonpil’s number, already added into his KakaoTalk but without a message composed yet. He thought about how to introduce himself without sounding like he had been repeating a playlist of Wonpil’s songs and covers on repeat for the past month—which he was, but he didn’t want to make it too obvious. He had to sound like a normal, respectful hoobae.

He typed out the message he had decided on, reading it over and over to make sure that it didn’t seem like he was too eager to talk to Wonpil. After he had gone over it around 15 times, he sent the text with shut eyes.

kang younghyun: hello, wonpil-sunbaenim. jae-hyung gave me your number, he said you wanted to talk about producing music? i’m still lacking too, but i’ll try to help you however i can, sunbaenim :)

seen 8:13 pm

Younghyun almost dropped his phone as the ‘1’ indicating his message hadn't been read disappeared less than a minute after he sent it, and he held his breath, anticipating Wonpil’s reply.

But after 5, 10, and 15 minutes, nothing came.

An hour passed by and there was still no reply, even if Younghyun checked his phone every minute. He dug his head on his pillow, willing himself to sleep and to stop waiting for a text that may not even come at all that night. Wonpil was probably busy, or he may not need help anymore. 

Younghyun told himself that. But he couldn’t sleep, and 3 hours later, his hand immediately grabbed his phone under his blanket when it vibrated.

kim wonpil: hi, young k-ssi! i fell asleep while holding my phone, i must have opened your message then, i’m so sorry for the late reply.

kim wonpil: is it okay if i ask you a few questions on how you compose your songs? ^^

A grin overtook half of Younghyun’s face, and he tried as much as possible not to let out a squeal as he happily kicked his blanket and squeezed his pillow. 

“I’m guessing you’re talking to Wonpil. I’m happy for you, Brian, but stop kicking my fucking bunk or I’ll delete Wonpil’s number in your phone right now.”

Chapter Text

Six: Wonpil

“Hyung, you’re not going to sleep yet?” Dongsung asked as he set his ongoing 1000-piece puzzle set on top of his table, careful not to ruin his progress. Wonpil looked away from his phone to silently coo at the youngest smiling at his almost completed puzzle.

“I’ll stay up for a bit more. You can turn off the lights.”

Barely three minutes after Dongsung tucked himself in his bed and Wonpil found him already fast asleep with his mouth a bit open; their members liked teasing him about falling asleep as quickly and easily as shutting down a computer, and it never failed to make any of them laugh.

After he got enough dose of their youngest’s cuteness, Wonpil unlocked his phone again to see where his conversation with DAY6’s Young K had left off.

kang younghyun: sunbaenim, i think the best advice i can give you is to ask a lot of help from the producer-nims and the tech staff

kang younghyun: it may feel like you’re a bother, but i don’t think they think that! in the end, they help produce your songs and you learning how to produce better will make them very proud

kang younghyun: in my case, i usually ate lunch with them and visited their studios

kang younghyun: i bugged them so much even before debut 😅

kim wonpil: you’re right… it’s just hard to ask for help sometimes… 

kim wonpil: i don’t want to burden seunghyub-hyung with my questions either… 

kim wonpil: and because this is going to be my first self-composed song, i think i’m being too greedy

kang younghyun: i know how it feels, sunbaenim. and i think the greed doesn’t really go away 

kang younghyun: the greed may even grow bigger and bigger

kang younghyun: but asking a lot of questions and for a lot of help will really help you in the long run

kim wonpil: thank you, young k-ssi. thank you for your advice, i will do my best to follow it╭( ･ㅂ･)و

kang younghyun: it’s nothing, sunbaenim! i’m glad i could help

kim wonpil: thank you again

kim wonpil: and no need to call me sunbaenim, young k-ssi. when it comes to making songs, you’re the sunbae here ㅎㅎ

kang younghyun: wonpil

kim wonpil: yes?

kang younghyun: i was just testing it out haha

kang younghyun: gotta get used to it more

kang younghyun: you can also just call me younghyun too 😀

kim wonpil: younghyun… hyung?

kim wonpil: it felt rude without the hyung… 

kang younghyun: it’s okay, that works too!

kang younghyun: it’s 2 am already, am i keeping you up?

kim wonpil: i was just about to ask you the same thing, hyung

kang younghyun: to be honest, i have a schedule at 8 am 😞

kang younghyun: but i didn’t want to sleep yet

kim wonpil: go to sleep, hyung!

kim wonpil: thank you for all your help, i’ll return the favor next time (*＾▽＾)／

kang younghyun: there’s no need!

kang younghyun: i’m always here if you have more questions

kang younghyun: goodnight, wonpil 🙂

kim wonpil: goodnight, thank you again ^^

Wonpil buried himself under his blanket and smiled at his phone—it felt relieving to be able to converse with someone who knew how he felt about making music, and Younghyun’s advice was evidently coming from one who had gone through what Wonpil was experiencing. It was easy to talk to him and Wonpil felt thankful that he reached out first; besides forgetting to get Younghyun’s number from Jae, it might have taken days or even weeks for Wonpil to start a conversation with a junior he had only talked to once.

He slid his phone beside his pillow and drifted to sleep thinking about how to show his gratitude to Younghyun.

“We can get our own Instagram accounts now?”

“Mmm, Jaehyun pretty much badgered the company every day to let us have individual accounts,” Hun said in reply to Wonpil’s question. Sandwiched in between Dongsung and Hun in the back of the van, Wonpil glanced at the guitarist’s phone, where he was already choosing a profile picture for his account, finger hovering between a photo of him and a photo of his beloved cat.

Jaehyun turned around from his seat in the middle row, slapping Hun’s knee with a wide smile. “I did it for you! Now you can post as many pictures of Romang as you want.”

“You just want to post pictures of Deokbae, too.”

“Heh, that’s also true.”

“How do you even use Instagram?” Dongsung asked, earning a cackle from Hweseung even though there was nothing funny with what their youngest asked. “What?”

“You’re a rock that also lives under a rock.”

From Wonpil’s position in the middle, he could see Hweseung’s fond smile that Dongsung couldn’t; his words were teasing and were meant to annoy, but that was pretty much his members’ love language at this point. Hweseung admitted once, when they were all drunk and their maknae got knocked out after 2 shots, that he was worried he might be teasing Dongsung a little bit too much. Wonpil made sure to ask his roommate about it the next morning and relayed his answer to Hweseung—that Dongsung thought the teasing made it feel like they were close brothers.

With a smile brought by the memory, Wonpil opened his phone and started creating his account while he was still surrounded by the members who knew how to use Instagram.

“Who do I follow?” he asked, after he had set up the basics such as his username and bio.

“Follow me, Wonpil. My username’s sssn9_zzzn9 ,” Seunghyub replied from the passenger seat, struggling with pronouncing his own username.

Wonpil stifled a laugh. “I couldn’t understand that, hyung.”

“Gimme your phone, I’ll follow the members for you,” Hun said, holding Wonpil’s phone in between them, showing him what he was doing on the screen. “There are some recommended users for you to follow here; it appears below when you follow someone.”

Below the “Following” button in Seunghyub’s profile, the DAY6 members’ official and individual accounts were listed side by side. Wonpil thought if he could follow them as well, or if that wasn’t advisable. “Can I follow other people besides the members and our friends in the company?”

“Sure you can. I’m following Jaehyungie and my friends from other groups,” Seunghyub explained. “Just be careful on how you act in SNS, as always.”

Wonpil nodded and pressed on the “Follow” buttons on the profiles of Jae, Sungjin, Dowoon, and Younghyun. 

“Ah!”

Despite not being beside him, Jaehyun jumped at Wonpil’s sudden shout, letting out a startled scream as well. “Ha! What’s going on?”

“I just forgot something.” 

The something referred to was Wonpil’s plan of showing gratitude to Younghyun, which slipped out of his mind after two consecutive days of full schedules, late night practices, and barely any time to collect himself. He immediately felt bad that he let two whole days pass by without talking to Younghyun about it.

Seunghyub turned around to look at Wonpil when he didn’t explain further. “Did you forget something from the practice room? Do we need to turn the van around?”

“No, I forgot to ask Younghyun-hyung something.”

“Who’s Younghyun-hyung?” Hweseung asked.

“DAY6’s Young K?” Hun guessed, which Wonpil only nodded at in reply, too busy composing a message in his KakaoTalk.

kim wonpil: younghyun-hyung, how can i thank you for your advice? i’m sorry it took me this long to ask

kang younghyun: there’s really no need, wonpil!

kang younghyun: also was that really you that followed me on instagram?

kim wonpil: kimwon.pil, that’s me!

kim wonpil: but hyung, i really want to return the favor

kim wonpil: can i treat you to a meal, will that be okay?

kang younghyun: well, if you insist then

kang younghyun: a meal would be good, i love food 😁

kim wonpil: okay! when are you free this week, hyung?

kang younghyun: i can’t this week 😥 we’re going to a song camp in busan

kang younghyun: how about next week?

kim wonpil: we have japan promotions… (⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯)

kang younghyun: oh haha that’s fine!

kang younghyun: let’s treat it like a coupon, when our schedules match someday, i’ll claim it ㅋㅋ

kim wonpil: if that’s okay with you, hyung

kang younghyun: it’s really fine, wonpil 😃

Wonpil breathed out in relief as he finally settled the matter with Younghyun, but as he looked up, he was met with 5 pairs of inquisitive gazes. If their manager wasn’t driving, he would probably be looking at him curiously, too. “What?”

“Since when were you friends with DAY6’s Young K?”

“You call him hyung ?”

“Wasn’t he the one that put his hand inside your mouth during Weekly Idol ?”

Wonpil hid his phone inside the sleeve of his hoodie, groaning before he answered his bandmates’ questions one by one as if he was in a press conference.

Seven: Younghyun

It has been 23 days and still counting since Younghyun agreed to be treated to a meal by Wonpil in order to show his gratitude, and not once has their schedules matched. They were both in preparation for their band’s comeback, and N.Flying squeezed in their Japan activities in the middle of it as well, according to Wonpil. Even if their companies and their dorms were all in Cheongdam-dong, they could never find a similar day and time to meet up.

Once, Wonpil had said that he could meet Younghyun on a Thursday, but he texted the day before, flooding him with apologies because it turned out their leader was kidnapping their band for some sort of reality show that he came up with. Younghyun couldn't help but be disappointed for a little bit, but the pictures Wonpil posted in his Instagram afterwards made it go away, seeing as how he looked so happy trying to catch fish in a river with his members.

Younghyun supposed it was a blessing in disguise—because they always had to check their schedules with each other, they end up talking almost on a daily basis, sharing snippets and stories from their days aside from asking when they would be free. Wonpil also still asked him frequently about making music and updating him on the progress of the track he produced by himself.

Talking to Wonpil still felt new, but not as nerve-wracking as the first time he sent him a message. It surprised him how casually they could talk to each other after dropping formalities; sometimes he would stare at a text he had already sent and worry if he was speaking too friendly, but Wonpil never seemed like he minded, always playing along and sending those emoticons that made Younghyun want to pinch something (which happens to be Dowoon, most of the time) because of how cute they are.

Another thing that was new was Wonpil's comments on his Instagram posts, usually on his short covers, which meant he was watching them—he was listening to him and leaving little comments to hype him up and praise him. It never failed to make his day, and seeing a notification starting with kimwon.pil pop up always made his heart stutter.

And okay, so maybe Jae was right (as he always is, according to him) that he had a tiny crush on his senior.

It was barely anything, though. Just a minor happy crush on someone who’s insanely good at singing and who was genuinely kind and nice, even if they only just started getting close. For now, Younghyun thought it was microscopic, and it was going to stay that way. 

"Knock knock, is Brian in here?" Younghyun flinched and looked up as he felt bony knuckles tap on his forehead. 

The one beside him who knocked on his head instead of just calling his name was Jae, but it was Sungjin who spoke after he regained his focus. "There you are. We're going on air in 10 minutes. Stay present."

The band left the radio station at midnight in a good mood after performing a medley of tracks in their debut mini-album and covering Stop and Stare , a foreign song the members all liked; they would often review their performance and criticize themselves on where they lacked, exchanging opinions on how they could improve, but tonight, they had fun among anything else, and they wanted to enjoy it for the moment.

Sungjin had ordered chicken for all of them, resulting from his good mood, and reheated the remaining pizza they had left from yesterday’s dinner. If they didn’t have an early morning schedule the next day for a meeting about their comeback, they would have taken out the soju and beer inside their fridge, too.

“The PDs want us to guest again next week,” Sungjin announced gleefully, which the rest replied to with hurrahs. “What should we cover?”

“Kinda want to do something a bit more fun,” Jae suggested. Younghyun nodded to second the motion, seeing as how their debut mini-album and the covers they do as of late were angsty and sad.

“Trot?”

Dowoon put up two thumbs. “That sounds fun. It’ll suit Sungjin-hyung.”

“You all wanna go Shabang Shabang ?” Jae asked as he played the famous Park Hyunbin song on his phone, and Sungjin stood up, a slice of pizza still in hand, to do the choreography in his own way.

Younghyun watched in part fondness and part horror as the other two members also stood up and started swaying. “Are you sure you guys didn’t touch the soju in the fridge?”

“Nah, bro, it’s just the power of this song,” Jae said, tugging him up to join them, which Younghyun resisted, preferring to just sit on the floor and eat his chicken. 

“Oh, hyung, your phone is ringing,” Dowoon informed him as he picked up his vibrating phone on the couch, still stiffly dancing to the song while handing it to Younghyun.

He was a bit annoyed, wondering who could be calling him at one in the morning and disturbing the sight of his members shaking their hips to Shabang Shabang , but his mouth went dry when the name on display was Kim Wonpil .

Younghyun dropped the chicken leg he was holding and made his way to his and Jae’s room, closing the door to prevent any sound of trot getting in the call. “Hello?”

"Younghyunie-hyung! Hyung!"

It was the first time that he had heard Wonpil say his name that wasn’t through text, and Younghyun sucked in a deep breath, trying to fight off the dizziness that came with hearing Wonpil say his name.

"Hyung, you're so cool. You make your own songs, you sing and rap so well, and you’re good at English. Your radio performance today was waahhhh… " Wonpil trailed off and Younghyun almost thought he fell asleep on the spot until the younger started laughing softly. "Hyung, you're really amazing. Thanks to you, I was able to make my own song, too. So cool, hyung—"

"Wonpil, give me that—”

The sound over the phone crackled for a moment and Younghyun could hear the sound of Wonpil's giggles and hiccups getting further.

“Hun-hyung, I want to talk to Younghyun-hyung. I want to let him hear my song,” Wonpil said, his voice sounding far away and a little sullen.

“We’re the same age, Wonpil. And you should talk to Young K-ssi when you’re not drunk,” Hun sighed out. "Hello, Young K-ssi? This is Cha Hun. I'm sorry about Wonpil, he insisted on finishing this cocktail I made even if I said it might be too strong."

The guitarist sounded frazzled and annoyed, but Younghyun couldn't help smiling at the image of a drunk Wonpil having to be handled by his members. "It's alright, Hun-ssi."

"Hunnie, who do you love more, me or Romangie?" he could hear a voice that's not Wonpil's ask in the background. "Hunnie, answer me."

Hun sighed again for the nth time and Younghyun heard what he said next faintly as he probably held the phone away. "Why would you even compare yourself to my cat, Jaehyun?"

"So you do love your cat more than your best friend. You probably love every cat there is in the world more than me."

“Hun-hyung—”

“Wonpil, I’m months younger than you—”

“Where’s Younghyun-hyung?”

Amidst some whining and groaning, Hun spoke again, "I'm so sorry again, Young K-ssi. I'll take these two to sober up. Sorry for the disturbance, good night."

The line cut off and thoughts flooded his mind—a few revelations slipped out of Wonpil’s drunken self, such as him tuning in to the radio show they guested in because clips weren’t uploaded in YouTube yet, and that Wonpil wanted him to listen to his unreleased, self-composed song.

The call barely lasted a minute, but it left Younghyun feeling tingly after hearing Wonpil’s voice and what he said, wondering if intoxication was something that can be passed through the phone.

Eight: Wonpil

He didn’t know how he got dragged by the maknae line to go jogging by the Han River, but it was a good activity to keep his mind away from the fact that he drunkenly called Younghyun the other night—Hun told him he had showered the bassist in compliments, which didn’t sound too bad, but it still made Wonpil want to hide deep inside his blankets for the next month or so.

kim wonpil: hyung i am so sorry if i disturbed you when i was drunk

younghyun-hyung: it’s okay, no worries!

younghyun-hyung: it was cute 😁

The word “cute” for Wonpil meant that he probably said some really embarrassing things; Wonpil considered asking Younghyun what exactly he said to him in a drunken haze, but he decided not to, unsure if he could take that much shame at the moment. If he ignored it long enough, it would go away and they would both forget that it even happened.

“Jog a bit faster, hyung. You like an ahjumma brisk walking in the mornings,” Hweseung taunted from the front, chuckling at Wonpil’s huffs and wheezes.

“See, hyung, you should be doing more cardio,” Hweseung told him as he started jogging backwards so he could face Wonpil. “And no, running after Deokbae in the living room isn’t enough exercise.”

“I’m jogging normally, you’re the one that’s too fast,” Wonpil complained.

From beside Hweseung, Dongsung slowed down to match Wonpil’s pace and whispered, “Hyung, I’m getting hungry.”

“Seunggu, slow down, let’s take a break,” he shouted for Hweseung to hear, and the younger stopped, opting to stretch in place instead. “Dongsung wants to eat.”

“Me too, actually. Hyung, will you treat us?”

“So that’s why you dragged me along.”

“Hyung, isn’t that the DAY6 hyungnims?” Dongsung said, pointing at the entrance of the convenience store, and sure enough, Wonpil saw DAY6’s Sungjin and Dowoon by the door, carrying a bottle of Coke and a bag of ice each.

Wonpil was about to sigh in relief since Younghyun didn’t seem to be with them, but the bells on the door jingled as another person left the store, and—

“Wonpil?”

He should’ve looked away and hidden among the trees while they were still a few feet away from the convenience store, but it was too late.

The three members from each band bowed to each other in greeting, making small talk about how their comeback preparations were and if they’ve been well.

Wonpil stepped backwards and stayed behind his younger bandmates—he was sweaty and he had no makeup on and his hair was a mess and he was still very much embarrassed from drunkenly calling Younghyun. Of all the days and of all the times they could meet accidentally, why now, when he was wearing a neon orange windbreaker that he borrowed from Jaehyun and when he wanted to avoid Younghyun as subtly as possible?

“Your hair,” Wonpil said, a bit absentmindedly, his brain not quite functioning as well as he wanted it to from the shock of seeing Younghyun.

“Dyed it for the comeback.” Younghyun smiled at him, running a hand through his now shorter black hair that was being blown by the wind. “Isn’t it funny how we tried so hard to match our schedules but we just happened to be at this convenience store at the same time?” 

“Ah, the coupon!” Wonpil blurted out. It had been almost a month since he offered to treat Younghyun to a meal in order to show his gratitude, and Wonpil felt bad for making the elder wait so long. “Do you want to eat somewhere now?”

“It’s okay, I’ll claim it next time. I’ll need to go back to the company in a bit, too.”

“We’ll be leaving first,” Sungjin told the three of them with a bow. He nudged Younghyun. “Be back in 30 minutes for practice.”

The two DAY6 members left; Hweseung and Dongsung looked at Wonpil and then at Younghyun, who was shifting from foot to foot and not taking his eyes away from Wonpil, as if waiting for something.

“We’ll go get ramen and eat it here,” Hweseung said, starting to pull only Dongsung with him like he already knew Wonpil wasn’t coming with them. “You’re not hungry, hyung?”

“No, I, uh… I’ll just talk with Younghyun-hyung for a bit. You guys eat ahead,” Wonpil replied, handing his wallet to the younger members and ignoring the fist bump they exchanged between them.

Younghyun approached where he was standing, and Wonpil started walking to the riverside so he could sit on a bench and have a reason to look at the scenery instead of the bassist. The curiosity was eating at him and the smile on Younghyun’s face never went away for even a second even as he sat down beside him, so Wonpil finally asked, “What did I tell you when I called you, hyung?”

“Do you want the full version or the abridged version?”

“Full ver—no, abridged—wait, no,” Wonpil struggled to say, torn between knowing everything despite the shame it will bring or trying to be content with knowing something but not all of it. “Full… but abridged?”

Younghyun laughed, surprisingly getting what Wonpil’s contradicting words meant. “You told me I was cool at singing, rapping, and in speaking English. You thanked me for helping you.” Younghyun turned to look at him and Wonpil found himself at the receiving end of a teasing smile that he was seeing for the first time. “And you said you wanted me to listen to your song.”

Heat creeped up Wonpil’s cheeks and ears, cursing at himself for being so loose-lipped when he was intoxicated; while he did think Younghyun was cool and he was grateful for him, he never meant for any of those to reach the elder when he was drunk. He cursed the cocktail Hun made for being delicious and irresistible even if Wonpil knew that the last time he got drunk, he wrote a long letter to Seunghyub on Parent’s Day, thanking him for taking care of him ever since they were trainees.

At least the part where he said he wanted Younghyun to listen to his self-composed song wasn’t that mortifying, since he planned to send it to him anyway. “I have the guide version here with me… do you want to listen to it?”

“Oh, sure. If it’s okay with you,” Younghyun answered. He let out a soft chuckle when he saw Wonpil’s wallpaper, which was a picture of him and his members sitting on rocks and pretending to be mermaids when they were filming their reality show in Daegu.

Wonpil chose to look at the setting sun on the horizon while he played You Were Beautiful for Younghyun to hear, finding it difficult to meet the elder’s gaze as he slowly nodded to the beat of the song. He could still feel Younghyun staring at him even as the song came to an end and he removed Wonpil’s earphones.

“You—it’s amazing, sunbaenim,” he said, the honorific slipping out, and Wonpil wasn’t sure if it was to tease him or not. “This song will be appreciated well because of how good it is. And I can’t wait to hear more songs that you make.”

“Aren’t you praising me too much, Younghyun-hyung?”

“I’m not saying anything that isn’t true.”

Wonpil bit his lip and looked again at the sunset painting the Han River orange and pink, avoiding eye contact with Younghyun. He wasn’t a stranger to Younghyun’s kind and thoughtful words, but hearing his voice saying it while they sat side by side made Wonpil want to run back to the dorm and hide beneath his bed. 

“I think I have to go now,” Younghyun murmured, standing up to bow and smile at Wonpil. “I’ll go ahead, Wonpil. Go back safely.”

As Wonpil watched Younghyun walk away, he let himself breathe and fully feel how his heart was pounding. He supposed Hweseung was right—if he was feeling like this after a short jog, then maybe he does need to exercise more.

Nine: Younghyun

He stared at the piece of A4 paper stuck beside one of the vanity mirrors, feeling the corners of his mouth lift at the text printed on it. Younghyun held up his phone to take a photo.

@from_youngk day6 comeback + n.flying special stage today 😄 see you later @kimwon.pil #mcountdown

Jae let out a groan from the couch and Younghyun glanced at him, only to see that the elder was already glaring at him. “Seriously, Brian? Flirting through Instagram stories?”

“I literally posted it one second ago; you already saw it?”

“Yeah, I have notifs on for you guys—oh shut up,” Jae glowered when Younghyun and Dowoon, who was apparently listening in, let out a long awww . “This isn’t about that, this is about you flirting with Wonpil through Instagram when their waiting room is just down the hall.”

“They have a special stage today, right?” Sungjin piped in the conversation even though his eyes were closed and getting his makeup done.

“Their comeback is still next month but they’re doing a band cover of Cool-sunbaenim’s Aloha , since it’s summer now.”

“Hyung, you know everything,” Dowoon commented innocently, which earned a snicker from Sungjin and Jae.

Younghyun shrugged, the perfect image of trying to look casual. “Wonpil told me. And he sent me some videos of them during practice.”

“Look at that gross smile,” Jae shuddered, and Younghyun immediately put on a straight face. He didn’t even realize he was smiling with pretty much all of his teeth out. “You’re creeping me out. Just go visit their waiting room and make goo-goo eyes at him there.”

“Shouldn’t we all go together to give our sunbaenims a copy of our album?”

“You’re the only one who’s done with styling. Go, and then we’ll follow when we’re all done,” Sungjin said, and Younghyun was convinced that all his bandmates were trying to get him killed, since even Dowoon stayed silent and not siding with Younghyun.

“Yeah, dude, we’re trying to help you with your crush here but you’re not helping yourself.” Younghyun held up a finger to his lips, gesturing for Jae to shut up since they were in the presence of their staff, and although the elder rolled his eyes, he did stop talking. 

"Just go," he mouthed instead, and stood up to place his hands on Younghyun's shoulders so he could push him towards the door.

Jae opened the door with dramatics and even bowed with an outstretched arm as he motioned for Younghyun to leave their waiting room, but Younghyun stayed still, blinking at the person behind the door.

"Oh, hi, Younghyun-hyung. Hi, Jae-hyung." 

Wonpil was standing there in the hallway, one fist up and curled as if he was in the middle of knocking. Younghyun noted how cute he looked in a pink floral button up and a choker, his light brown hair unstraightened and tussled. In his other hand, he was clutching a basket as long as his thigh, and he held it towards the two. "Just some snacks from Gangwon-do. We went there yesterday."

They collectively bowed to Wonpil, including Sungjin who stood up with locks of hair upright in the middle of styling. "Thank you so much, sunbaenim. We’ll eat this well."

“This isn’t the coupon, Younghyun-hyung. I still need to treat you out to a meal properly,” Wonpil reminded him, and Younghyun didn’t need to look at his members to know that they’re probably smirking at what they heard.

"Wonpil, do you want to adopt Young K for a bit? He still has to wait for us to finish our styling, our rehearsals are an hour away, and he looks so bored here," Jae spoke, and Younghyun almost forgot he was beside him by the door. He pinched the elder’s arm, and for a skinny person, Jae couldn’t seem to feel it as his smile didn’t even falter in front of Wonpil.

"We're going to have our rehearsal in about ten minutes. Do—do you want to watch?"

“He does! Bye, Bribri, have fun!”

As much as he was cursing at Jae in his head for always meddling, he had to admit to himself that the elder’s annoying strategies do tend to work for the best.

He had a front row seat to N.Flying’s special stage, a chance that he wouldn’t get once they pre-record with their fans. Younghyun made sure to sit by the right side so he could see Wonpil clearly and without any of the cameras obstructing his view. Watching their performance, despite it being just the rehearsal, made Younghyun remember how much he loved Wonpil’s voice and the calm but powerful energy he exudes on stage—he shined bright, and Younghyun felt like he was way too lucky in becoming someone who could witness it beyond any screens and have Wonpil smile at him while singing. 

“Hyung, how was it?” Wonpil asked Younghyun after he monitored the stage with his members, approaching him with small skips that Younghyun found absolutely adorable.

“Your voice is in a league of its own, Wonpil.”

“Ah, hyung, there you go again with your overselling.”

"We're completely invisible," Seunghyub murmured to his members sans Wonpil. Younghyun happened to hear it and the way the rest of the band agreed made his mouth twitch—it wasn’t a crime to be pleased about that, was it?

“Wonpil, the floor is lava!” a loud voice shouted somewhere from behind them, and he suddenly found himself with an armful of Wonpil, the younger standing on Younghyun’s shoes and holding on to the sleeves of his leather jacket.

Wonpil blinked up at him with wide eyes. “I—uh—if I lose this game I have to wake everyone up for a month,” he explained; Younghyun couldn’t think straight and could only nod, pretending he understood even if his brain felt like it was letting out smoke.

“Young K-ssi is lava!” Jaehyun exclaimed again, and Wonpil detached himself from Younghyun with a small shriek.

“I’m so sorry, hyung! I need to go!” Wonpil called out to Younghyun, breaking into a sprint to chase Jaehyun despite the cries of the stylists and their managers. “Kim Jaehyun, come here! Give me the camera! Dongsung, chase him!”

Younghyun just stood there smiling at Wonpil’s back, only wiping it off his face and starting to walk away when he heard Seunghyub and Hun clear their throats.

At this point, there was no more use in lying to himself. Well, at least Jae was wrong—he didn't have a crush on Wonpil—Younghyun’s pretty sure he was in love with him.

Ten: Wonpil

After months of going back and forth, asking each other's schedules, and one cancellation (thanks to Seunghyub's self-produced, impromptu reality show), Wonpil and Younghyun finally found a day where they were both free. DAY6’s comeback promotions have slowed down after their third week, and N.Flying had one free day while the rest of their week was reserved for recording songs and shooting jacket photos for their own comeback.

Wonpil found himself waking up at 7 am even though he still had plenty of time to sleep before he needed to meet up with Younghyun at lunchtime. Unlike the hastened showers he took when they had a schedule and there were three more people waiting to use the bathroom, he turned on some music and found himself singing loudly even if there was a chance that one of his members could hear it and use it as a TMI later on in their Let’s Talk lives.

younghyun-hyung: wonpil 😭😭😭

younghyun-hyung: i'm so sorry 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

He stopped his humming and picked up his phone after he got out of the bathroom, a heavy weight in his stomach starting to form.

kim wonpil: hyung? what happened?

younghyun-hyung: i think i'm coming down with something

younghyun-hyung: i went out with jae-hyung last night to film a vlog and it suddenly rained

younghyun-hyung: i thought i was fine but my head hurts and i've been sniffling

younghyun-hyung: i'm really really sorry wonpil, i can't meet up with you, i don't want to get you sick

kim wonpil: oh, i'm sorry to hear that, hyung

kim wonpil: can't i at least bring you some food?

younghyun-hyung: wonpil, you might catch my cold

kim wonpil: i'm not going to go inside! i'll just drop some food off so you can eat it and recover

kim wonpil: since we can't go out for a meal yet, this is how i can make it up to you for now

kim wonpil: it might be a long time before our schedules match again

kim wonpil: please, hyung?

younghyun-hyung: ☹️

younghyun-hyung: okay fine

younghyun-hyung: take your vitamins and wear a mask, okay?

kim wonpil: of course, hyung ^^

kim wonpil: what's the food that you think can make you feel better right now?

younghyun-hyung: ummmmmmm

younghyun-hyung: pork gukbap?

kim wonpil: your order has been noted and will be on its way soon ー( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

younghyun-hyung: haha thank you, wonpil

younghyun-hyung: screenshot073_naver_map.png

younghyun-hyung: that’s our dorm

younghyun-hyung: take your time coming here 

younghyun-hyung: be safe

“Seunggu,” Wonpil singsonged, peeking into Hweseung’s room where he was already busy playing games despite it being only 8 in the morning. Wonpil raised his voice and called out again, “Yoo Hweseung.”

He had to wait for a few minutes for the game to end before Hweseung took off his huge headphones and faced him. “Yes, hyung?”

“Can you make some pork gukbap for me?”

“Oh? Are you craving it, hyung? That’s rare.”

“It’s actually not for me.” Wonpil let out his next sentence in one breath, “I’m-bringing-it-to Younghyun-hyung.” 

“Oh???” Hweseung exclaimed, then raised his eyebrows at Wonpil like they now have a secret between the two of them. “Alright, hyung. I got you.”

Despite it, Wonpil smiled, his lower lip caught between his teeth. “Thank you, Seunggu.”

“But tell me first that I’m a better cook than Hun-hyung.”

It was a good thing that Wonpil was the type of person to bring an umbrella inside his bag even if it was sunny, because one minute it was just a cool and cloudy morning, and then the next minute, rain was pouring and a strong wind was slapping Wonpil in the face. 

He arrived in front of Younghyun’s dorm looking like a wet puppy, because even though he had an umbrella, the wind still managed to aim the rain onto his body; though thankfully the lunch bag he used for the gukbap was thick, preventing the food containers from getting wet and cold from the sudden rain. With a shaky hand, he rang the doorbell and waved at the screen in front of him.

DAY6’s youngest opened the door and squinted at him for a few seconds, having difficulty recognizing him when he was wearing a cap and a mask. “Wonpil-sunbaenim?” 

“Hi, Dowoon-ssi. I just wanted to give Younghyun-hyung some gukbap since he said he was sick.”

“Wow, thank you, I’ll—oh, wait, sunbaenim, you’re wet!” Dowoon spluttered, looking horrified when Wonpil shivered and hugged himself for warmth. “Come in, come in.”

“Younghyun-hyung told me not to come in because I might catch his cold.”

“It’s okay, he’s sleeping in his room and the door is closed.”

Wonpil was ushered inside by Dowoon, grimacing when he took off his shoes with a squelch. He stood by the main door, not wanting to get their floors wet, and watched as Dowoon placed the lunch bag on their dining table before making his way to the couch, where four stacks of folded clothes were set. 

“Here, sunbaenim, change into these,” he said, handing him a sweater, sweatpants, and a pair of white socks. “The bathroom is the door in the middle and there’s a spare towel in there, too.”

Wonpil felt weird.

He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, the sweater he was now wearing overwhelming his small frame and printed on its breast pocket were the DAY6 official logo and the name YOUNG K . The sweatpants had a matching print, and he had to fold the hems twice so he wouldn’t trip on them.

He felt some sort of happiness when wearing Younghyun’s clothes, and that was weird .

With a soft slap to both of his cheeks, Wonpil left the bathroom with his wet clothes in hand, where Dowoon was waiting to hand him the lunch bag he brought.

“Wonpil?” He jumped at the raspy voice coming from behind, and Wonpil could see a pair of narrow eyes staring at him from a slit in the open door. It was Younghyun, wrapped inside a thick blanket, one hand holding the door to make sure he didn’t open it too wide. “You really came?”

Wonpil smiled at him, nodding. “Hyung, I brought pork gukbap, homemade by our Hweseung.”

“Thank you, you’re an angel,” Younghyun mumbled, leaning his head on the door jamb. Wonpil stopped himself from bristling from the term Younghyun used. “You’re going already? Isn’t it still raining?” 

By the door, Wonpil put on his shoes and ignored the coldness inside, bowing to the two DAY6 members. “I’m having lunch with the members, they told me to be quick,” he lied. “Thank you for the clothes, I’ll return them as soon as I can. I’ll be going now, enjoy the gukbap!”

He had to go—the weird feeling of happiness was starting to multiply at the sight of Younghyun and was beginning to hammer at his chest.

“I’m back,” Wonpil called out, slightly surprised to see all of his members lounging around in the living room because they were all off doing their own things before he left. Jaehyun and Dongsung were on the floor playing with Deokbae, Seunghyub and Hweseung were watching TV, and Hun was on his phone, sitting by the stairs.

“You went to DAY6’s dorm? In this weather?” the guitarist asked. Hweseung must have told them all already about the pork gukbap.

Wonpil nodded as he sunk on the couch beside Seunghyub, tired from battling with the rain and wind and, well, the new feelings that decided to jump on him all of a sudden.

"Are you wearing a DAY6 sweater? With Young K-ssi's name on it? And the sweatpants aren’t yours either, it’s too big." Seunghyub pointed out, pinching the material between his fingers. "Wonpil, did you come there to—"

Wonpil could see each of his members look at each other and widen their eyes as they connected dots that they drew themselves. He knew what was coming. He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose in preparation for it.

"Kim Wonpil," Seunghyub wheezed with a hand over his mouth.

"Damn, Wonpil," Hun deadpanned.

" Oh my god , Wonpil," Jaehyun shrieked in English. 

"Hyung!" Hweseung blurted out with an obvious smirk.

"Hyung?" Dongsung squeaked, his eyes as big as plates.

Groaning, Wonpil leaned down to take Deokbae in his arms and make her face his members. He whispered in her long ears, “Deokbae, bite these idiots for me. I’ll buy you all the treats and toys you want.”

Jaehyun let out a dramatic and offended gasp, trying to reach for his dog but Wonpil only hugged her closer to his chest. To Wonpil’s gratification, Deokbae barked at Jaehyun. “You dare pit my daughter against me?”

“Wonpil, we’re not judging you. We were just surprised,” Seunghyub said to soothe him and slid an arm over his shoulder, his leader mode activating at the sight of Wonpil’s deep frown. “It’s perfectly fine, although you have to be careful about it.”

“Nothing happened, nothing is happening, and nothing is going to happen,” Wonpil gritted out, and with this rigid reply, he could feel the mood in the room turning as dark as the sky outside. Trying to be softer this time, he breathed out, “It’s really not like that.”

“I’ll start making lunch,” Hun said after a few seconds of silence and their members glancing at each other to see who would talk first. “Wonpil, take a hot bath. We can’t have you catching a cold when the comeback is so near.”

Wonpil gave a nod a bit more curt than he intended, but Hun didn’t comment on it. A bath sounded good. Maybe a bath can clear his head; although a part of him knew that whatever he was feeling—it was a long time coming.

Chapter Text

Eleven: Younghyun

The prevailing thought in Younghyun’s head, ideally, should be about the fact that they were currently in Bangkok for their first KCON, which was an honor and a milestone for their band—but the day of their performance was also the same date for N.Flying’s comeback, and all he could think about instead was Wonpil. Their texts as of late have been about Wonpil preparing and practicing for their comeback, with the younger even documenting the process of his self-composed song being revised, arranged, and recorded with the whole band; with knowing so much about the making of Wonpil’s track, Younghyun felt as if he was almost a part of it, too.

He was waiting for Jae to get out of the bath when a notification popped up from Instagram saying that Wonpil had just posted, and Younghyun didn’t even have to think before tapping and then doing it twice to like the post before the photo had even loaded. He uploaded a photo of a B-cut from their group teasers, where they were piled up on a wooden floor wearing loose white shirts and lying on each other while trying not to laugh—Jaehyun, Dongsung, and Wonpil quite failed at that, hence the B-cut.

kang younghyun: d-day tomorrow, right?

wonpillie: yes… i’m so nervous, hyung

wonpillie: it’s the first time my song is going to be in an album

wonpillie: i don’t know if fans are going to like it

kang younghyun: wonpil, your song is amazing, believe me

kang younghyun: i like it so much i’ve been waiting for you to release it officially so i can stream it even though you sent me the guide version

wonpillie: hyuuuuuuuuuung

wonpillie: isn’t that too much of a bluff

kang younghyun: wow are you calling me a liar, wonpil? 😲

kang younghyun: would you believe it if you heard it through my voice and not through a message?

wonpillie: ㅎㅎㅎ i might, hyung

“Wonpil,” Younghyun breathed out as he put his phone to his ear, surprised at how Wonpil called first when he was a second away from pressing the button himself.

“Hi, Younghyun-hyung.”

Younghyun scratched the arm of the reading chair with a finger, not even trying to fight away the smile that overtook his face the moment he heard Wonpil say his name; the sound wasn’t new to him, but it never failed to punch him with shots of adrenaline and happiness.  “What time is it there? It’s around 10pm here.”

“It’s midnight,” Wonpil replied, voice muffled by what may be his blanket. “I can’t fall asleep yet because of how nervous I am. Do you get this nervous when you release music, too?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. I either drink a little to be able to go to sleep, or I practice until it’s dawn and I end up falling asleep from how tired I am. Though Sungjin-hyung scolds me for the latter one.”

“As he should,” Wonpil giggled out before his tone sombered again. “What if fans don’t like it because it’s not like our usual sound, hyung?”

“They’ll love it,” Younghyun said firmly, even when Wonpil let out a soft whine. “Seunghyub-subaenim praised your song, and you've told me how serious and strict he is when it comes to your band’s music."

The other end of the line stayed quiet, and Younghyun took it as a signal to keep praising him, hoping that he could ease Wonpil’s worries enough to let him sleep. “You made the song really well, Wonpil. And no doubt, with your voice combined with Seunghyub-sunbaenim and Hweseung-sunbaenim’s voices, it’s going to be amazing.”

Younghyun could hear Wonpil’s soft breathing, and he moved from the reading chair to his bed to lie down sideways and press his phone between the sheets and his ear. He didn’t wash up yet and he was still quite sweaty and sticky from their rehearsals, but when he closed his eyes, he could pretend he wasn’t more than a thousand miles away from Wonpil.

“Wonpil? Did you doze off already?”

“No, hyung. It’s just really nice to hear your voice,” Wonpil said, voice sweet and sounding like Younghyun’s dreams.

Younghyun inhaled and steadied his voice as he uttered out, “Do you want me to keep talking to you until you fall asleep?”

“I—is that okay, hyung? I don’t want to keep you up; you still have a performance tomorrow.”

“It’s not that late here yet, it’s fine. Anything for you.”

For a few seconds, all Younghyun could hear was silence. He couldn’t even hear Wonpil’s light breathing.

“Fuck ,” Younghyun mouthed at nobody in particular; although Jae did chose the perfect timing to exit the bathroom with his eyebrows raised as he stared at the younger member who had a hand covering half his face and his legs kicking off the comforter. 

It just slipped out of his mouth so easily, probably due to the fact that he wasn’t talking to Wonpil face to face; a confidence uncalled for subconsciously made its way to his brain because he wouldn’t be able to see Wonpil’s reaction. Although it did feel good, somehow—like he was almost halfway to completing a confession and this was already the first step.

“Hyung, did you know,” Wonpil started, and Younghyun let him change the subject for his own good as well—even though there was a part of him that felt some sort of sting, curious to know if Wonpil chose to brush it aside to save them both from embarrassment or something else entirely. Maybe he wanted Wonpil to question what he said so he could finally let out the one sentence that had been growing heavier by the tip of his tongue. “That I almost auditioned for JYP?”

“Really? But you didn’t end up going?”

"My friend dragged me to FNC instead for auditions because he got obsessed with Hongki-sunbaenim. JYP only had dance groups but I realized I wanted to be in a band so I just tagged along. If I did audition for your company and passed, then maybe I could have been in your band, hyung."

He could imagine Wonpil living with them, making music with them, and being on stage as their fifth member; and he could imagine, although with a tinge of guilt from what he thinks is his own selfishness, waking up in the same household as Wonpil and not having to go through hoops in order to see his face, eating with him every day as a routine, and actually seeing him in his studio working on his songs.

“It would be nice if you were. Then I don’t have to miss you so much like this.”

Wonpil let out a sound that was between a giggle and a whine. “Hyung, what are you on about?”

He’d already slipped up once, the second didn’t hurt, and maybe a third will take him a step further. “I miss you, Wonpil. The last time I saw you personally, I could barely even see your face because my colds had me tearing up.”

“I miss you too, Younghyun-hyung. I can’t believe I still haven’t treated you to a meal yet.”

The sentences they said were similar, but Younghyun knew they didn’t mean the same thing; for now, Younghyun was fine with that—hearing Wonpil reciprocate his words, not his feelings, was enough for him.

Twelve: Wonpil

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell Younghyun that you’re here?” Jaehyun asked as they found their seats on the upper box and Wonpil sat down, making sure that his mask covered his face.

“Yeah, Wonpil, why are you being so sneaky about this?” Hun added, taking his seat beside Jaehyun. “He’ll probably be so happy to know you’re watching them.”

Wonpil looked at the banner in his hands, an event arranged by fans for DAY6’s first anniversary fanmeeting, and asked himself the same thing. Why did he not want Younghyun to know he was attending? Was it because he wanted to surprise him? Was he feeling shy? Or was it because he wanted to try and keep his growing feelings at bay through putting some distance between them?

It was a mix of all three, but Wonpil knew that the last reason was heavier than the rest.

In this venue, he was no different than Younghyun’s fans who liked and adored him from afar—and like them, he told himself, the chance of getting those particular feelings returned was closer to zero than to one. 

Wonpil sat with his hands between his thighs, feeling very much like a child with his parents as Hun and Jaehyun turned the meat on the grill and placed a few pieces on his bowl of rice. They went to eat dinner immediately after the fanmeeting ended, with Wonpil insisting he still didn’t want Younghyun to know that they went.

He felt exposed—he was sure that his members saw the look in his eyes as he watched Younghyun play, doing what he loves the most; his crush on Younghyun was something established yet not directly acknowledged among their band, but it was another thing to be seen during a time when Wonpil let himself be enveloped by how much he admired Younghyun’s passion for music and the way he commands the entire stage along with his members.

His feelings ran deeper than he expected, and it would have been obvious on his face despite the mask he was wearing.

“You really like him,” Hun stated, leaving no room for Wonpil to disagree. It wasn’t like he was going to—he had reached that stage of resignment where it was easier to admit rather than spend energy in denying when he knows he’s bad at telling lies; and there was no point in lying to his same-aged members that had figured out his short lived crush on their leader (11 days, to be exact) during their trainee days until Wonpil realized he was straighter than the keys on his piano; Hun and Jaehyun knew him, and they knew how to keep secrets at least, since Seunghyub had no idea about that little piece of Wonpil’s dark past.

“I think I do.”

“Are you going to ask him out?”

“Nope,” Wonpil replied with a smile that lifted his cheeks but didn't quite reach his eyes. “I want things to stay like this. This is when it’s most comfortable and simple.”

“But does he think that way, too?” Jaehyun breathed out, low and serious. It was sometimes easy to forget that he was their most empathetic and sensitive member due to his tendencies to be loud and hyper, but Jaehyun knew how to observe—he knew how to mirror the thoughts Wonpil had buried deep.

Wonpil was quick to refute, “It’s not like that for him.” 

People like Younghyun, Wonpil had contemplated, were just kind, too kind , to the point that others could start to mistake their thoughtfulness and genuine friendship for a different type of attention—Wonpil had those same thoughts at times, when Younghyun would say he misses him and praises him like there was no tomorrow, but he refused to let himself entertain them.

“Don’t sound so sure. We’ve seen how he’s like around you, and he always mentions you in lives and interviews.” Jaehyun said with air quotes and an exaggerated imitation of Younghyun’s deep voice, “ Wonpil from N.Flying is amazing at singing , Wonpillie brought me gukbap once , Wonpil is my closest idol friend , Wonpil this, Wonpil that.”

“Are you jealous?” Wonpil asked, trying to steer the subject away from Younghyun.

Jaehyun scrunched his face at him while smiling and trying to pinch at his cheeks from across the table, as if he was talking to a baby or his dog. “Hmm, you wish.”

Hun set his chopsticks down, and Wonpil found himself at the receiving end of his piercing gaze, the mood turning a bit more serious again. “What if he feels the same way?”

“He doesn’t, but also I don’t really want to know. I just want to maintain this distance,” Wonpil sighed. “We’re good friends. That’s enough.”

“Because you might get hurt if you get too close?”

Wonpil glanced at Hun, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his face while mumbling, “Ah, the smoke is getting to my eyes.”

“Aren’t you already hurting a little like this, Wonpil?”

“No, it’s fun to have a crush if the one you like doesn’t and will never know,” he defended himself, trying not to crumble under the tag-team grilling of Hun and Jaehyun that hit his heart quite sharply even though he wouldn’t admit it.

A vibration came from his pocket, giving him a temporary escape from the conversation.

younghyun-hyung: wonpil, why didn’t you tell me you were coming to our fanmeeting?

younghyun-hyung: you told me before that you wouldn’t be able to go

younghyun-hyung: but i saw you in the lower box section

kim wonpil: you did?

younghyun-hyung: for me, you’re easy to spot 😁

younghyun-hyung: you should’ve told me

younghyun-hyung: we could’ve met backstage

kim wonpil: sorry, hyung

kim wonpil: we had another schedule

younghyun-hyung: it’s okay, i understand!

younghyun-hyung: seeing you there was more than enough for me 

younghyun-hyung: thank you, wonpil. it means a lot to me

Wonpil let out a sigh, unable to stop his chest from feeling heavy due to Younghyun’s words. He had to remind himself that Younghyun was simply too kind and thoughtful—he had to remind himself that these were words of friendship, and that wasn’t a bad thing. 

Hun and Jaehyun exchanged a look, small pouts appearing on their faces.

“I’ll be fine,” Wonpil brushed them off one more time. “These feelings won’t be permanent anyway.”

Thirteen: Younghyun

Younghyun couldn’t focus.

He was with their producers as they reviewed the recent tracks he had written, choosing which ones could be refined and which ones should be scrapped completely; it was an important process and he really should be paying more attention, but his mind was occupied by the fact that today was the day he and Wonpil could finally meet up and eat out together.

As if hearing his thoughts, a call came in from Wonpil, and Younghyun had to immediately excuse himself out of the room before any of their producers could see the dumb smile on his face.

“Hello? Wonpil?”

“Hyung, I’m at the cafe in front of your company.”

“You’re at the—you’re at the cafe already? Now? Downstairs?”

Wonpil let out a laugh at his disbelief. “I’m too early, aren’t I? I think I’m too excited.”

“You’re not the only one,” Younghyun admitted, his brain zeroing on the last bit of what Wonpil said. It was a relief to know that he wasn’t alone in anticipating their meet-up. “Do you want to go up to my studio for a bit? I’m still in a meeting with our producers before I can go out but I don’t want you to keep waiting there alone. Give me a moment, I’ll fetch you.”

“Oh, okay—ah, hello,” he heard Wonpil say to someone else, his voice getting further from the phone before he spoke directly to the receiver again. “Hyung, Sungjin-ssi and Jae-hyung are here.”

Younghyun wasn’t expecting that since he thought they would just be in the dorm for the entire day, but their eldest members had chosen to appear at a convenient time. “Can you hand Sungjin-hyung your phone for a moment, Wonpil?”

“Let me guess, you want me to accompany Wonpil to your studio?” Sungjin told him, and in the background, Younghyun could hear Wonpil and Jae already talking to each other.

“Yeah, hyung, if you can.”

“Alright. Jae and I will stay with him until you can leave the meeting.”

“Thank you, hyung!” Younghyun replied with a wide grin even though they couldn’t see it. “Just make sure Jae-hyung doesn’t say anything dumb, please?”

“That one I can’t promise.”

It was hard to believe there would come a time where Younghyun would be greeted by the sight of Wonpil sitting on his couch as he opened the door to his personal studio—he was seated in between Jae and Sungjin, showing something to them on his phone as they laughed together.

The image seemed so right . Younghyun could get used to this.

“Hi,” he greeted Wonpil bashfully, as if he was the one visiting his studio. The younger stood up from the couch and stepped towards Younghyun with his arms hovering in front of his chest before he backed away with a laugh.

“Hi, hyung. It’s been a while.”

Younghyun scooped him into a hug, deciding to do it himself when Wonpil didn’t; he kept it short and loose, his arms barely encircling Wonpil’s waist, but even the brief feeling of Wonpil’s head tucked into his shoulder was already lodged deep inside his memory. “It’s so nice to see you, Wonpil.”

“So,” Sungjin began as he cleared his throat. “We’ll be leaving now since you’re here.”

Younghyun nodded in reply although he still hadn’t taken his eyes away from Wonpil. “Yes, hyung. Be gone now.”

“Have fun, kids. Don’t stay out too late,” Jae said as he got shooed away by Younghyun out of his studio. Wonpil laughed at them, a squeaky sound that Younghyun could never get enough of, and bowed goodbye to the elder members.

Before the atmosphere could turn awkward with how they were the only ones in Younghyun’s small studio, Wonpil spoke first while handing him a black paper bag with a penguin-looking character on it. “Oh, hyung, I’m returning your clothes I borrowed when I went to your dorm.”

“Ah, that!” Younghyun took it from him and placed it on his desk, remembering how he had bestowed Dowoon the title of traitor upon knowing he intentionally gave Wonpil his labelled clothes—he didn’t know their youngest had it in him to be that sneaky. He told him before that he could just keep it since their schedules could never match for Wonpil to return it, but he insisted that Younghyun needed his clothes back (which made him a little disappointed, if he was being honest). “Thanks, Wonpil.”

Younghyun sat on his swivel chair and unlocked his computer screen while he felt Wonpil hover behind him. “Let me just shut my computer down and then we can go.”

“Were you working on something, hyung?” he asked as the windows on Younghyun’s desktop appeared.

“Yeah, I—um, I was laying down some lyrics on a melody I made.”

Wonpil clutched the back of his chair as he leaned over him, his chin almost resting on Younghyun’s shoulder. He was so close that when he spoke, Younghyun’s ear twitched. “Can I see?”

“Uhhhhh—”

If it was any other song that was open in his program right now, Younghyun wouldn’t hesitate to let Wonpil hear it and even ask for feedback. But the song Younghyun was working on before Wonpil arrived was a culmination of the things he couldn’t say to him directly, combined with the growing frustration with not being able to reveal his feelings and with how Wonpil stayed seemingly clueless even though his own bandmates look at Younghyun like they know that he’s struggling with their keyboardist’s obliviousness.

Sungjin had helped him come up with the lyrics and make the song a bit more generic and not obviously targeted at someone who has a voice like honey and smiles brighter than any celestial body that shines, but there was no way he could hide that when he and Wonpil are the only ones in the room and with how Younghyun has been wanting to let the feelings he had been shoving inside a box spill over.

To play it would be a confession in itself—and maybe this was the timing Younghyun was waiting for.

“—okay, I’ll play it,” Younghyun said after hesitating for half a minute. “I kind of had someone in mind as I wrote this.”

“Oh,” Wonpil breathed out, sounding intrigued but not asking further, probably cautious to overstep boundaries that didn’t actually exist for Younghyun. He wished he’d ask—it would be much easier to admit that the song is about him if he did.

Younghyun pressed play on the program and turned to face Wonpil.

I’m so troubled because of you

I keep giving you hints

But you don’t know at all

Wonpil was bopping his head along to the beat, his eyes fluttering closed and oblivious to Younghyun watching him.

You really don’t know

That it’s only you for me

Younghyun fought the impulse to look away as Wonpil opened his eyes, blinking at the bars on the screen instead of returning his gaze.

I’m serious

My eyes surely say “I like you”

Why don’t you feel it?

Can’t you already see it on my face?

The chair rolled backwards as Younghyun stood up and faced Wonpil at their full heights. Wonpil’s hip bumped into the computer table and his hands gripped at Younghyun’s jacket to keep him at a distance.

“It’s about you.”

“H—hyung?”

“I don’t know how you feel about me, but I like you, Wonpil,” Younghyun said as he stepped closer, searching Wonpil’s face for an indication that he didn’t feel the same, that he should stop and back away immediately, but he received his answer when the hands on his jacket loosened and settled around his waist.

He placed his hands under Wonpil’s jaw to cup his face as he bit his lips and avoided his stare—Younghyun could feel his cheeks heating up, and even Wonpil’s hands seemed to be burning through his shirt. “Is this okay?”

Wonpil looks up at him and meets his eyes—

And he nods.

Younghyun placed his lips on Wonpil’s, smiling against his mouth as he heard the younger let out a squeak and felt the arms around his waist tighten. His heart was singing at the feeling of Wonpil’s lips pushing against his own, and he could barely stop himself from leaning in again and chasing Wonpil’s mouth when he drew away.

“Go out with me,” Younghyun whispered as he pressed their foreheads together and bumped his nose against Wonpil’s. 

As he looked at Wonpil after they broke apart, he never would have expected the expression he was wearing—his eyes were wide and suddenly full of fear, and the lips that had sweetly kissed him a few seconds ago were now quivering. 

“Wonpil? Did I do something wrong?”

“No. No, I—” Wonpil held Younghyun's hands briefly, only to remove them from his face, and started heading for the door. “I think I have to go.”

Dread rammed Younghyun’s throat, barely making out the words he spoke, “Wonpil, wait, please—”

“I’m so sorry, hyung.”

Fourteen: Wonpil

“Wonpil? Are you awake?”

“No, I’m not. It’s way too early, leave me alone.”

“It’s one in the afternoon.” Wonpil cracked one eye open to squint at the owner of the deep voice that was currently disturbing his sleep. 

Seunghyub was sitting on top of his blanket, one hand patting his legs to get him to wake up. Behind him, the three other members entered his and Dongsung’s shared room, too—this got Wonpil to sit up and lean his back on the headboard.

Jaehyun and Hweseung sat beside Dongsung on his bed as the youngest rubbed his eyes, woken by the mere presence of all his hyungs in one small space, looking confused as to why all of their members were in their room. He poked Jaehyun’s arm and asked, “What’s going on, hyung?”

“We’re just going to have a talk with Wonpil,” Jaehyun replied, and Dongsung rested his cheek on Hweseung’s shoulder, blinking over and over to fight off his drowsiness as he waited to see what was going to happen. 

He knew what this was—they did this often enough since trainee days, although the main concern was usually not him. With the way Seunghyub was sitting near the end of Wonpil’s bed and how Hun was standing in front of the door like some sort of guard, Wonpil was literally surrounded by his members. 

This was an intervention .

“Wonpil,” Seunghyub began, making his voice softer in tone. “You’ve been really listless these past few days. Even during practice, you’re playing perfectly but you seem absent, and you haven’t joined any of our lives recently because you never feel well.”

He knew that. He also knew he had been snappier than usual, but he tried to hide it as much as he could. Wonpil tilted his head and put on a smile. “What do you mean?”

“Did something happen with Younghyun-ssi?”

“Why do you think it has something to do with him?”

“You went to have dinner with him last Monday, but you came back before 6pm; you stomped straight to your room and didn’t answer when I asked if you had eaten. How can it not be about him?” Hun explained as Wonpil sunk into his blanket with a groan.

“And Jae told me all he has heard inside their room for the entire week are sad love songs,” Seunghyub added. “It’s not that hard to connect.”

He leaned over, pulling down the end of his blanket to reveal Wonpil’s face and asked again, “What happened that day?”

Wonpil wasn’t obligated to tell them anything about what happened between him and Younghyun—but he hadn’t told anyone and the longer he kept it to himself, the more he thought about it and regretted how the events had transpired even though he just wanted to forget about it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and avoided the eyes set on him. “He played me a song that he wrote… and it was about me.”

“And?”

“We kissed.”

His bandmates let out a collective gasp; even Dongsung seemed fully awake now and looking at him with wide eyes. Wonpil tried not to pay attention to Hweseung beside him who started to wiggle his eyebrows, looking way too pleased about the story.

“Who initiated it?” the vocalist asked.

“H—he did.”

“And did you give consent?”

“Yeah… I did.”

Hweseung let out a scoff but while still wearing a big smile. “Hyung, don’t tell me you just ran away after?”

Wonpil had no other choice but to nod even though he knew it was going to warrant some face-palming (Hun and Jaehyun) and deep-sighing (Seunghyub and Dongsung) from his members; Hweseung was the only one who cackled, which Wonpil ignored. 

It wasn’t the best course of action he could’ve taken, obviously, but there was no way he could continue staying in Younghyun’s presence after hearing the lyrics of his song and after Wonpil kissed him back without thinking of the consequences.

“But I thought you liked him, hyung,” Dongsung said with a pout.

“I do,” Wonpil confirmed, his voice not shaking although he had said it in a whisper. “I do, but… this is scarier than I thought.”

He couldn’t have predicted for his chest to tighten, to be struck with so much fear and worry when Younghyun asked him out—he wanted to hear those words, didn’t he? He was sad with the thought of his feelings not being returned, but now that he knew Younghyun liked him too, it was suddenly overwhelming.

What was wrong with him?

“You need to talk to him, Wonpil. You can’t just ignore him forever, especially now that you guys kissed. The poor guy’s hair is probably going white thinking that he did something really wrong.”

There was a part of Wonpil that felt petty, since Seunghyub was implying that he was the one in the wrong—which wasn’t a lie, but still—it made him feel even more guilty. Wonpil buried himself under his blanket, kicked his legs a bit to hit Seunghyub’s arms, and then huffed, “I don’t take love advice from straight guys.”

“Ooh, that’s a burn,” Hweseung couldn’t help himself from commenting even though it earned him a kkong from their leader, his curled fist aiming for Hweseung’s head.

“You think I’m straight?”

Wonpil shoved his blanket away from his head to look their leader in the eyes. “Aren’t you?”

“I like women, sure, but I’d also kiss Hun if he asked me to.”

“Keep my name out of your mouth,” Hun snapped, at the same time Jaehyun faced him to murmur, “Would you kiss Seunghyub-hyung?”

“Be quiet, Jaehyun.”

“You wouldn’t, right? Hun?”

“Seriously? That’s not the topic right now, shh .”

“Going back to Wonpil,” Seunghyub said after he was done shooting daggers through his eyes towards the bickering pair of friends and the youngest members who found the entire exchange funny. “You can’t just hide beneath your blankets. You need to talk to Younghyun-ssi.”

“But… what do I say?”

“Well, what do you feel?”

He had been alternating between reflecting and deflecting his feelings for the past few days, and as he looked at his members all watching him with varying degrees of concern and sympathy, he could finally put a finger on what was holding him back and caused him to literally run away from Younghyun—it was his band. 

The reason he and Younghyun started talking in the first place was because he wanted to contribute to his band’s sound by producing a song, and since then they became close and Younghyun became a close friend and an inspiration to him; but the fact remains that they were both members of rookie bands that had a long way to go before they establish their names in the industry. 

They had to prioritize their groups, and for the past 10 months that they’ve known each other, they barely managed to meet up—how were they even going to date? Wonpil was scared to enter a relationship with Younghyun only for it to wither because of their busy schedules.

He wasn’t going to tell his bandmates all of that, though.

“I like him. I like him so much but—I’m not sure if I’m ready for a relationship.”

“Then tell him that,” Jaehyun piped in, offering his signature megawatt smile. “There’s no process you need to follow for these things, Wonpil. You two just need to figure out what you both want to do, together.”

Beside him, Hun nodded. “At the very least, you owe him an explanation.”

"Okay, I'll talk to him."

"Good! Good talk, everyone," Seunghyub cheered, patting Wonpil's legs again before standing up from the foot of his bed.

"What, no group hug?" Wonpil asked.

"No hugs for you until you talk to Younghyun-ssi."

Wonpil looked at his roommate, who loved seizing any opportunity to hug his elder members, but he shook his head. "Dongdongie, not you too?”

"Talk to him, okay?" their leader repeated before opening the door.

"I'll talk to him," Wonpil promised again. When the members who invaded their room started to leave, already satisfied with how the intervention went, he mumbled under his breath, "Eventually."

Seunghyub’s head popped out behind their door jamb. “I heard that. Anyway, come out to the dining room; let’s eat before we head to practice.”

Their room suddenly felt too quiet and empty after the members left, and Wonpil was once again alone with his thoughts even though their youngest was still in his own bed.

“Wonpil-hyung,” Dongsung called out softly, his back turned towards the elder as he was folding his blanket and smoothing down his bedsheet.

“Hmm?”

“I hope it works out between you and Younghyun-ssi. You always looked so happy whenever you were texting him before bed.”

Younghyun made him happy—but Wonpil couldn’t return the favor properly; he wouldn’t blame Younghyun if he lost his feelings for him because of what happened, since he did kind of reject him by running away. “He may not even want to talk to me anymore after what I did.”

“Wouldn’t the best apology be another kiss?”

Mouth agape, Wonpil threw a pillow at their youngest, who didn’t even budge and only let out a pleased giggle. “You’ve been hanging out too much with Jaehyun and Hweseung.”

Fifteen: Younghyun

“You look way too excited for this,” Sungjin mumbled to Jae, who was currently the only one among the four of them who actually had his head up and not on the verge of drifting off to sleep even as they were walking to their waiting room.

Younghyun wanted nothing more than to hole up in his studio writing songs about breaking up when you weren’t even in a relationship in the first place, and being rejected by someone who you thought felt the same way, but their management decided yet again that they don’t do enough variety; and so now they’re at a gymnasium at six in the morning, preparing for an 18-hour filming of Idol Star Athletics Championships when they’re only participating in two games.

He was not participating in anything except cheering his members on—he had already told his managers that he had a splitting headache that wouldn’t go away. (“You mean heartache,” Jae had whispered beside him, and Dowoon, the traitor, snorted.)

Jae wrapped an arm around Sungjin’s shoulders and shook him a bit, trying to wake him up. “It’s basketball! I get to compete with other idols officially this time, and I’m in the same team as Seunghyub—oh.”

Younghyun felt Jae’s eyes on him, only to dart away afterward. He sighed out as they came to a stop in front of the door that their staff had just entered, “Just continue what you’re saying.”

“No, uh, our waiting room.”

In front of them, the door had a piece of bond paper which had DAY6’s name printed on it, and beside it was another paper that said N.Flying .

“I guess they decided that the only two bands here should share a waiting room,” he cracked a joke as casually as he could, even though he was hovering by the hallway, since Wonpil was probably already inside the room and Younghyun was still thinking about how he would react if their eyes meet.

“You ready?” Sungjin asked, one hand on the doorknob. 

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Then you enter first.”

“You’re the leader, you open the door.”

Jae placed his hand on top of Sungjin’s and turned the knob. “Oh for goodness’ sake, let’s just go in.”

Younghyun couldn’t help but scan the room first in the search for Wonpil, and he tells himself it’s because it would be easier to avoid him if he could see where he was, but really, there was no point in lying to himself. He missed Wonpil. For two weeks he hasn’t talked to him in KakaoTalk, hasn’t heard his voice in a call, and he was stuck with asking Jae to ask Seunghyub how Wonpil was doing and if he had ever, just maybe, mentioned Younghyun—which he hadn’t.

Inside the waiting room, there was Jaehyun, Hun, and Dongsung who were leaning back on the couch and getting some shut-eye, while Seunghyub and Hweseung sat on the arms of the couch, fiddling with their phones. While it was troubling that the small couch was carrying the weight of five grown men, Younghyun was more concerned with how Wonpil was nowhere to be found.

Did he have another schedule? Was he sick? Did something happen to him during the two weeks they haven’t contacted each other?

“Hello, sunbaenims,” Sungjin greeted first, which they all echoed and moved to bow collectively.

Seunghyub and Hweseung stood up from the arm of the couch, and so did the rest of the members who were sleeping. Their leader bowed before he bumped chests with Jae. “Hey, you’re here!” 

“Wish I could kick your ass in basketball later, but instead we’ll be kicking ass together.”

With all of the N.Flying members standing up, Younghyun noticed a lump that remained on the couch, pressed so closely to the back of it that he got completely covered by the three members who were previously occupying the couch.

“Is that…?”

Hun shook the lump’s shoulder while Jaehyun poked his butt. “Wonpil, get up and greet the DAY6 members.”

“What?” Wonpil snapped at his members and swatted their hands away, before his eyes regained focus and saw that they weren’t alone in the waiting room anymore. “Ah! I’m so sorry, hello Sungjin-ssi, Jae-hyung, Dowoon-ssi… Young K-hyung.”

Younghyun could hear the pause and the dip in the volume of his voice when saying his name, but he shoved those thoughts aside. It was nice to see Wonpil again, rejection aside, and while he hadn’t called him Younghyun-hyung , at least he hadn't become Young K-ssi.

It became some sort of unspoken agreement that the two bands would stick together during the filming of ISAC because it was both their first time being at the event and also because Jae and Seunghyub never left each other’s side, talking about basketball, songs, and that one time they played an online game together but Seunghyub just sucked at it. 

Younghyun didn’t mind flocking together with N.Flying, because that meant he could stay in Wonpil’s immediate vicinity without having to make an effort or an excuse, and it just so happened that Wonpil wasn’t participating in any sport either—he was usually just sleeping on a member’s shoulder or waving their slogan around to cheer for another member.

He was ignoring Younghyun, which wasn’t a surprise. He did reject him after all; he probably never liked him that way in the first place. It’s just that Younghyun was enough of a fool to let his hurt feelings be overtaken by how much he missed Wonpil and how much he still liked him.

Sometimes, Wonpil forgot that they weren’t exactly on friendly terms; when N.Flying’s youngest won gold for the male 60m sprint, Wonpil had enclosed his arm between both of his, making him jump with him as he whooped and yelled before recoiling, stepping backwards and grabbing onto Seunghyub instead.

That made Younghyun miss him even more—he missed how they were before he screwed things up. He really should apologize, but it was hard when they were always surrounded by their members, staff, other idols, and the fans watching the events.

“Wonpil, go to the infirmary for a moment to get a check up,” Seunghyub said as he approached the circle made by the two bands beside their big tarpaulins. They were just hanging around and trying to beat boredom after the races had ended, and Younghyun was watching the N.Flying members, joined by Dowoon, flip bottles while Wonpil held a camera to film them.

“Huh? Why would I?” Wonpil asked, blinking slowly at his leader.

“You said that your head hurts and that your body’s aching.”

“Oh. Right.”

Sungjin nudged Younghyun as Wonpil stood up. “Might as well go, too.”

He couldn’t tell if Sungjin was being genuine or plotting something, but Younghyun trudged behind Wonpil anyway, ignoring the glimpse he got of Jae grinning at him with both his thumbs up.

The entire time Younghyun and Wonpil walked to the infirmary, got their check up in case they had a fever and needed medicine, and returned to their waiting room were moments all spent in silence.

It was also silence that greeted them when they returned to their waiting room; there was no one inside, not even one staff member was in sight.

Younghyun checked his phone in search of an explanation, where there were a couple new messages from his group chat with his members.

sungjin: we took the staff out to eat together with n.flying sunbaenims and their staff, so you and wonpil can talk there

sungjin: we said you didn’t want to eat since you didn’t feel well

jae: it was either this or we shove you in a supply closet and lock you in there until you resolve things

jae: i personally liked that idea, but sungjin vetoed it

jae: good luck man

sungjin: we’re giving you an hour and a half

dowoon: hyung, fighting!

When Younghyun looked up from his screen, he could see that Wonpil was also looking at his phone and he seemed to be getting red on his cheeks and ears. Was Wonpil that upset to be spending time alone with him?

He had to apologize and make things right between them.

“I’m sorry, Wonpil—”

“I’m so sorry, hyung—”

Wonpil sat down on the couch and clasped his hands together. “Can I go first? Please let me go first, I’m the one that needs to apologize,” he pleaded.

Younghyun nodded, taken aback by Wonpil’s insistence, and took a seat on the chair in front of him.

“I’m really sorry that I just ran out without explaining anything and that I didn’t reach out to you for weeks. I was suddenly so scared and it was like reality slapped me in the face after kissing you, and I did some thinking and—” Wonpil sucked in a breath and looked at Younghyun, his eyes surprisingly warm. “Hyung, I don’t want to go out with you.”

“You made that pretty clear, but… ouch,” Younghyun mumbled, trying to put a smile on his face despite the stinging in his chest.

Wonpil ran his hands through his face and let out a whine, “Ahhh no, I mean—I like you, I really do.”

“But not in a romantic way?”

“In a romantic way!” Wonpil blurted out, and Younghyun got to enjoy seeing his eyes widen and his cheeks puff up in embarrassment. “I—in every way. But I don’t think I’m ready to actually date you.”

That never crossed Younghyun’s mind as a possible reason why Wonpil ran away from him that day. He just immediately assumed that Wonpil didn’t actually like him back and regretted kissing him; he was so convinced that he ruined their friendship because he couldn’t settle with holding back his feelings.

It was both a relief and a different kind of sadness.

“Is it because we’re idols?” Younghyun asked.

“I… yeah. I need to prioritize the band and I think it would be hard to also be going out with you—like if we can’t meet up often because of our schedules, I’ll always be worrying if our relationship is dying, if we’re drifting apart; it’s like a label would put more pressure on us. It might be difficult for us too because we’ll be a source of a possible scandal for our groups,” Wonpil explained slowly, trying to get the words out carefully as he wrung his hands.

“That makes a lot of sense. I should’ve thought about that, too,” Younghyun said, smiling at Wonpil to show him that he didn’t say anything wrong. He wished he could drive all of Wonpil’s worries away but he can’t promise that none of it would happen, no matter how much he wanted to. “Friends, then?”

“But I still want to be with you, hyung. Like how we were before but, um… with...” Wonpil trailed off, his hands moving to cover his face that was growing redder by the second. He let out a muffled groan, “I’m sorry, this is confusing, isn’t it? I'm making everything so complicated.”

Younghyun transferred from the chair to the couch to sit beside Wonpil and held his hands so he could draw them away from his face. “No, not really. All that’s important to me is that you feel the same way I do.”

“D—do you still feel the same way?”

"I’m not going to lie, it really hurt when you just suddenly ran out of my studio, and I thought I did something to offend you and mess up our friendship. But during the two weeks we weren’t speaking, I just missed you every day," Younghyun admitted, squeezing their entwined hands that he laid on his lap. “Promise me you won’t run away from me again? If there’s something on your mind, I’m here to listen.”

Wonpil shook his head up and down almost frantically. “I promise. I’ll never do that again, hyung. I’m sorry for making you worry so much—” 

He paused as they both heard footsteps getting nearer and louder; Younghyun stood up from the couch, still holding Wonpil’s hands, and led him inside a cubicle they use as a dressing room. There was enough space inside it for the both of them, but Younghyun let go of Wonpil’s hands to grip his hips and pull him close.

They heard the door open and a voice say, "Hurry up and get your phone, I'm hungry. And we're not supposed to be here right now."

"Hyung, you didn't have to come with me."

"Well we can't have you getting lost or something—what. What's with that smug smile?"

"Don't tell anyone else, but you're my favorite hyung."

"I bet that's what you say to all of us. Come on, let's go back to the restaurant."

“I think that was Hweseung and Dongsung,” Wonpil whispered as the voices and footsteps faded, but Younghyun just tightened his hold on him. “Hyung, why are we still hiding?”

“I just really want to kiss you right now,” Younghyun said, and Wonpil ducked his head while spluttering out unintelligible sounds. Seeing Wonpil flustered brought an unquantifiable amount of happiness to Younghyun, and he almost couldn't believe that only an hour ago, he was ready to accept that Wonpil didn't like him back. "I can’t?”

Wonpil wrapped his arms around Younghyun’s neck and pressed his lips to his lightly, before leaning up again to kiss him more firmly. “Hyung, I think if you give me some time, I can go out with you officially but for now...”

“We’re friends who kiss and stay committed to each other?”

Younghyun’s wording caused Wonpil to giggle. “Yeah. Is that okay, hyung?”

“More than okay. Take all the time you need,” Younghyun reassured him, clenching Wonpil’s hips gently to emphasize his words. “I really don’t mind, Wonpil.”

Wonpil rested his head on the crook of Younghyun’s neck and let out an exhale; Younghyun pressed his cheek to his hair and smoothed his hand over Wonpil's back to comfort him. The past two weeks were hard on him, but it was equally tough for Wonpil, too.

“I’m sorry,” Wonpil mumbled, his lips grazing Younghyun’s neck.

Younghyun drew back from the hug so he could cup Wonpil’s face in his hands and make eye contact. “Again? Why?”

“It took so long before we could talk properly because of me. I hurt you. I’m sorry, hyung.”

“Apology accepted, and I don’t need more,” Younghyun said as he pressed a kiss to the tip of Wonpil’s nose.

They let silence overtake as Younghyun leaned down to kiss the corner of Wonpil’s mouth, to the apple of his cheeks, and to his eyelids. He loved the little noises Wonpil made whenever he would kiss him, as if he could never see any of it coming.

“Younghyun-hyung,” Wonpil called out softly, interrupting Younghyun kissing the path towards his forehead. “I still haven’t treated you to a meal.”

"I don't want to eat out. Let's just eat at my dorm instead, when the members are away."

"Y—you’re really not holding back anymore, are you, hyung?"

“Nope.”

“I won’t hold back either,” Wonpil whispered as he pushed Younghyun down to sit on the stool in the dressing room—Younghyun tried not to choke on air as Wonpil sat on his lap.

“Not that I’m against this, but Wonpil, we’re technically still in public.”

“We have about an hour left before everyone returns. I'm not letting you go until then.”

"Just until then?”

Wonpil laughed, and Younghyun couldn’t wait until he could feel him smile against his lips again. “I'm not letting you go, ever."

Epilogue

park jaehyung added lee seunghyub, park sungjin, and yoon dowoon to the group chat

lee seunghyub added cha hun, kim jaehyun, yoo hweseung, and seo dongsung to the group chat

park jaehyung: hello hello!

park jaehyung: i know we’re all sitting beside each other but we can’t exactly talk about those two in the presence of our staff lol

kim jaehyun: hi!!

kim jaehyun: i still think we should’ve locked them inside a closet

kim jaehyun: i wonder if its going well for them right now

park sungjin: they’ll work it out, i’m sure

cha hun: i think so too

cha hun: they’re disgustingly in love

lee seunghyub: i feel jealous honestly ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

lee seunghyub: must be nice to have that ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

yoo hweseung: hyung this is not the place for your desperation

lee seunghyub: dowoon-ssi i just saw you laugh

yoon dowoon: sorry sunbaenim!

seo dongsung: should someone check the waiting room earlier than our staff?

seo dongsung: what if the staff enter first and they’re...

seo dongsung: you know

park sungjin: actually… good idea

kim jaehyun: me and hunnie can go first

kim jaehyun: we’re almost done eating anyway

park jaehyung: thank you! we’ll leave them to you

park jaehyung: i hope you don’t see anything that will scar you for life hahahaha

kim jaehyun: so we just checked the waiting room

kim jaehyun: they’re not here

kim jaehyun: we checked all the dressing rooms too

park jaehyung: huh. weird

park sungjin: they’re online

park sungjin added kang younghyun to the group chat

lee seunghyub added kim wonpil to the group chat

park sungjin: are you guys good now

park sungjin: where did you disappear to?

kang younghyun: we’re buying lunch at the convenience store outside hyung

kang younghyun: because you left us behind

kang younghyun: but yes, we’re good now

kim wonpil: wow we have a group chat for all of us

lee seunghyub: it’s like our bands combined because you guys are dating now

lee seunghyub: we’re like in-laws

kim wonpil: haha we’re not dating, hyung

kim wonpil: but we’re together

lee seunghyub: well, whatever makes you happy

kim wonpil: younghyunnie-hyung makes me happy ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.°⑅

cha hun: ...

park jaehyung: 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

park jaehyung: i’m sorry everyone this is my fault

park jaehyung: i was too good of a wingman