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Ryo is sucking on his papico after practicing for their upcoming comeback with a mini album. He scrolls down his phone after updating on his weverse and chats with some of the fans that has left comments on his post.
Ding. A notification from his line pops up on his notifications bar.
“Hng?” His finger taps on the notification and turns out it is from his older sister. His sister sends two links without saying anything. Ryo tilts his head in confusion as he clicks on the first link that somehow brings him to a website he has never known before called 'postype'.
“What is it?” Without closing the browser, Ryo returns to the chatroom and when he is about to click the second link that he believes will bring him to X (twitter), those links were removed from the bubble chats and another bubble chat suddenly appears on the screen.
‘Ryo-chan, I'm sorry. Onee-chan was supposed to send it to my friends but ended up sending it to you.’ And she ends her sentences with an emoji of a woman bowing her head. Since it looks like his older sister typed it in a hurry, the curiosity inside Ryo becomes a lot bigger. Secretly, he feels proud of himself who has quick fingers so he has accessed the link before it got taken down by his onee-chan. Too bad, he was not fast enough to click on the second link since he was contemplating and wondering what that site was. Postype? What is it? The website was full in hangul, did his onee-chan fully understand what's in it? What if it was a scam website?
But then, another bubble chat appears before him.
‘Ryo-chan, how was the practice going? Have you eaten? You shouldn't eat lots of ice cream! I saw from your contents, it looked like you eat so many sweet things.’
Ryo looks down to his papico that is half finished. He is still a teenager, isn't it alright for him to eat whatever he wants? He thinks as he sucks on his papico again and replies to his onee-chan's messages.
“Ryo, this part where you need to raise your hand... Raise it only above your forehead.” Yushi comes approaching him while his eyes are still busy looking on the monitor that he brings with his hands.
“This one.” Yushi replays the video and shows it to Ryo.
“Oh, that one. Okay! I will practice that part again.” There is silence between them. Ryo's big eyes scanning Yushi.
“Let's just practice it together with me.” Yushi says, then.
“I'm going to practice with Jaehee, too, after lunch. If you are done, come to the practice room.” Yushi continues and then leaves him.
Yushi is sometimes too quiet and straight forward. Well, Ryo doesn't dislike this side of Yushi. If all, he is thankful there is another member who quietly monitor the practice and even point out what needs to be corrected. Usually the member who will do so is either Yushi or Sion, however Sion was seen nowhere after practice these days. Looks like he is sleeping somewhere because their schedule was so packed these days and Sion lives to sleep. Also, for the members who usually get pointed out were always him and Daeyoung as known as Jaehee. So, Yushi and Jaehee usually stayed back to practice together and sometimes Ryo would join them, too.
Ryo was so impressed by how fast Jaehee can adapt well knowing how hard the choreographies are and how little he had those basic dance lessons when he was a trainee. Maybe it's thanks to those choreographers hyungdeul and those hyungdeul in nct wish, especially Yushi since Yushi usually teaches him the point and gives advices to Jaehee.
After the practice, Ryo who has just finished taken a bath jumps to his bed and grabs his phone that he has charged on top of his bed. There is no other messages from his onee-chan, well it's already almost midnight. He then remembers the link that he clicked this noon. He comes to his browser application and the link is immediately refreshed.
“What is it?” He carefully reads every hangul on it.
“Yutdaeng? (윳댕) What is it?” He then scrolls down. Without him having the intension to read it, Ryo has actually read the first three paragraphs then the realisation comes to him.
“What?! It's a fan fiction! A boys love one to top it.” He quickly changes his position to sitting on top of his bed and throws his phone to his pillow.
“So, yutdaeng is yushi and daeyoung?” He mumbles to himself. He takes several glances here and there and to his phone then keeps fidgeting alone. He wants to know the continuation of the story but it feels wrong to read a bl and the casts there are his older members being paired up together in a romantic relationship. So, Ryo closes his eyes and is contemplating it way too hard.
Bang! The door to his room is opened forcefully. Ryo jumps in his seat, he becomes a surprise maltese. Then he hears the door being close.
“Hahahaha!” From the sound of the laughter alone, Ryo knows that the owner of it is Sakuya.
“Ryo! Ryo! You need to see this!” Sakuya shoves his phone to Ryo's face.
“Wait! I can't see it properly if you hold it so close to my face.” Ryo grabs the phone and Sakuya's wrist then moves it a lot further from his face.
The screen shows him a photo of Jaehee sleeping with a fake rose on his mouth. He looks kind of dandy unless there is a drop of droll on his left cheek. Ryo turns his attention to Sakuya who seems like he will not stop laughing for a while.
“Hey! Why are you doing it, Saku?!”
“Jaehee-hyung didn't wake up with alarms and even the shuttle run's sound so Yushi-hyung and I decided to play a prank for a bit. We both got scolded by manager hyung in the end, though.”
“You and Yushi-hyung?”
Sakuya nods his head excitedly, “He was already there sitting on the floor while Jaehee-hyung was sleeping soundly on the sofa. He looked like he was just minding his own business scrolling down his phone while playing with Jaehee-hyung's hand. So, I asked him to wake Jaehee-hyung up with me.” Sakuya laughs again recalling the memory.
“Yushi and Jaehee?” Ryo says in such a low and soft voice.
“Ah, I really like it when Yushi-hyung teased Jaehee-hyung. Jaehee-hyung is so easily teased. I can't help it that I want to tease him too so much. I really like their dynamics!” Sakuya exclaims.
“Dynamic?”
“Eung! We have done the interview of that magazine before, right? We were asked for whose chemistry that we liked. I believe you answered Onriyu back then. Me? I answered Yushi and Jaehee.”
“Well, I will take a shower first before going to bed.” Sakuya continues and suddenly leaves Ryo there.
Ryo is still dumbfounded, he hurriedly grabs his phone again and read the continuation of that fan fiction. He still needs to understand the whole thing about the dynamic between those two. However, through fanfics? Really?
So, the next day, Ryo decides to observe the two of them closely of course with dark circles under his eyes because he spent the night reading four one shot stories. If he wanted to be really honest, it was fun. He could picture those two and sometimes he would think it was really them in the middle of him reading the stories. He wonders how the fans could portrait something like this.
But, anyway, now, upon closer look, it really looks like there is something. Ryo still can't fully grasp the situation, however he could feel it. The way Yushi casually sits beside Jaehee and fiddle with his fingers or sometimes he would pinch the back of Jaehee's hands and Jaehee completely let it slide without saying anything. He still continues to chat with Riku who sits across the two of them.
Then, after it looks like Yushi gets bored, he begins to lean his head to Jaehee's shoulder and plays with his phone. Jaehee turns his head for a bit and smiles softly. One of his hand is still hanging on the air as if he wants to stroke Yushi's head but suddenly the realisation comes to him. Looking at it closely, Ryo gasps. Both of his rounded eyes widened and his mouth are open.
Wait, is it possible? Ryo thinks to himself. Drowning in his own loops of possibilities, Ryo opens his postype application once again. He searches for the words and so many stories have been uploaded. He really thinks he needs to understand this whole situation from the expert, Yudae noonadaeul who has written many stories there.
Later, Ryo shows up to the dance practice room with his eyes being swollen. The one who greets him first is Jaehee, he looks so worried.
“Morning, Ryo~” He says before turning his head to Ryo, once he turns his head and sees Ryo with his swollen eyes, he begins to get worried. Jaehee approaches Ryo and cups his cheeks, asking “Huh? Why are your eyes so swollen? Did you cry a lot last night?”
Then, the door begind Ryo is opened. There is Yushi there staring blankly at the two of them. Jaehee slowly pulls his hands away to his side and greets Yushi timidly, but Yushi barely even answers and goes out again.
Ryo looks back and forth at the two of them sensing the heavy atmosphere around them so early in the morning.
“You should cold compress it, Ryo.” Jaehee says.
Ryo looks up at him, Jaehee seems sad. He wonders if the cause was Yushi so he decides to just ask him directly. “Why are you looking sad, hyung?”
“Me? Hahaha, that can't be, I'm still smiling! I think I just got a bit tired.” He says hiding his emotions.
Ryo decides to just believe it. It looks like there is no use pestering him about it, Jaehee will surely ask him about the cause of his swollen eyes again, too. And what will Ryo answer to him? He couldn't be honest to say that he was crying so much because he just read an angst story about yushi x jaehee.
That day, the practice goes smoothly like any other day. Once it's their break time, Jaehee flops down to the sofa in the middle of the room accompanied by Riku who suddenly puts his head to Jaehee's shoulder. Sion is laying on top of the cold dance practice's room floor, Sakuya is sitting beside his bag, and Yushi... He looks a bit troubled standing somewhere in the corner of the room while scratching his head. Ryo who witnesses it all begins to observes Yushi quietly as he also decides to approach Jaehee and Riku sitting on the sofa.
“Move a bit ” Yushi says to Jaehee and Riku, Riku slowly moves, while Jaehee looks fidgeting in his seat. Then, Yushi flops down beside Jaehee while playing with his phone. Jaehee sits with his back straightened. Ryo can see clearly Jaehee takes some glances to Yushi. Is he sorry for something? Did the two of them get into a fight? What if their relationship grew apart just like the fanfic that he just read last night? Suddenly, Ryo feels kind of sad and empty.
Ryo still observes the two, Jaehee moves his feet a lot closer to Yushi's that both of their knees touch. Is it an act to reconcile? However, there is a swift change in Yushi's expression even if it's a tiny little bit and Ryo feels relieved.
“Guys, you can have your lunch now.” Once the manager tell them to have a lunch, Riku, Sion, and Sakuya immediately leaves the dance practice room leaving only Ryo in between of Yushi and Jaehee who looks like they don't want to move a bit. Seeing Ryo who is still observing him closely, Jaehee gives him an awkward smile.
“You are not going to have a lunch, Ryo?” Jaehee says.
“Ah, yeah. I'm going, first.” As if it is a signal sent by Jaehee, Ryo leaves the room with a heavy heart. What if the two of them getting themselves in an argument again? Should he really leave the two of them?
Anyway, before he could answer his own question, Ryo unconsciously grabs the take away and goes back to the dance practice room. He takes a peek through the gaps of the door and sees Yushi playing with Jaehee's hand and Jaehee laughs heartily telling something to Yushi. Ryo chuckles to himself, it reminds him of that content where he couldn't participate back then, the human theatre. At that time, he actually has been feeling this weird feelings when he watched the clip, but he just let it slide since he didn't really want to overanalyze things and it's related to his members, too.
“Why aren't you entering?” A low voice comes from behind him and it surprises Ryo. Ryo immediately looks back and finds Sakuya still is munching his food.
“Ah, I was about to enter. I wanted to aks Yushi hyung and Jaehed hyung to eat lunch with me. Where are Riku hyung and Sion hyung?” He asks, stretching out the time because it looks like Sakuya wants to enter the room already. It will disrupt Yushi and Jaehee! So, Ryo could not possibly let him in.
“Both of them are still eating. Yushi hyung and Jaehee hyung are still there? I want to ask for some points in the choreography to Yushi hyung.” Sakuya says.
“No! You can't do it now.”
“Eh? Why? I also want to ask Jaehee hyung to give me some points in my singing part, too.”
“No, absolutely not!”
“....You are acting strange, Ryo.” Oh, did Sakuya finally catch up to what Ryo is trying hard to hide?
Creak, the door opens. Jaehee is standing there and behind him is Yushi with his reddened ears.
“Why are you two chatting in front of the room?” Jaehed asks curiously.
“Ryo is the....” Before Sakuya can answer it, Ryo blocks his mouth.
“No, hyung. Hehe, enjoy your lunch~” Ryo says whike dragging Sakuya into the room. Sakuya is protesting the whole tims but Ryo just doesn't want to hear it.
After the lunch break, the dance practice resumes. The mood gets a bit lighter that Sion even makes a comment saying that Yushi finally becomes energetic again after having a lunch. Yushi smiles widely and shyly and Jaehee finally laughs loudly. Ryo feels relieved and confused at the same time. Is it because he reads the fanfic? He begins to get a bit suspicious to Yushi and Jaehee's relationship. Is it possible that they..... It can't be right?
Even so, days go by quickly. Ryo has made it a new habit to read at least one fanfic about Yushi and Jaehee. Even though, he feels bad at first, he finally enjoys it without thinking much into it. He was just sometimes curious about it and began to compare the dynamic that he saw on the story to the real life event. So, he has been observing Yushi and Jaehee a lot these days and even made some notes on his phone. He also decides to observe Sakuya quietly and finds him enjoying Yushi and Jaehee's moments a lot. He wonders if Sakuya know something that the rest of the members don't know?
That day, Jaehee makes a bold move by teasing Yushi in front of the members saying that Yushi once fell asleep on his shoulder on their way back to the dorm and mumbled a few things. Yushi gets so embarrassed that he hides his face with the back of his hands. Then he encounters Jaehee's teasing by teasing him again, he says one time Jaehee sleeps on the sofa in their living room. Jaehee was having a sleep talking saying he was sorry to Yushi for getting the choreography moves wrong. The rest of the members laugh, only Ryo's suspicion grows a lot bigger. From their story alone, Ryo can tell these two actually spent a lot of time together.
Ryo actually has also noticed that Jaehee has been so proactive these days, when he knew some nctzen mostly wishzen has known about the fact that usually it was Yushi who always put his arm around Jaehee's shoulder that it looked like he would have a shoulder dislocation soon, these days, Jaehee was seen to put his hand on top of Yushi's shoulder a lot. He also makes a half love shape with Yushi but Yushi has failed to notice so the photos came out as if he was having his love not being reciprocated. Jaehee would laugh seeing the outcome of the photo followed by Yushi but then Yushi would whisper the apology to Jaehee which is kind of shocking for Ryo. I mean, what is he so sorry for?
Anyway, it's a bit strange. Sometimes Ryo finds Yushi acting like a completely spoiled child asking for Jaehee's attention and sometimes he acts like a knight ready to protect Jaehee. He feels weirdly ticklish seeing the two of them while still continuing to read their fanfic.
As the two of them completely immerse in theirselves playing with each other, teasing with each other. Ryo's curiosity has reached its peak.
Another day, as if to answer his curiosity, he finds Yushi and Jaehee in the dance practice room so late in the night. Ryo overhears the whole conversation behind the slightly opened door.
“Hyung, are you still upset?”
“No.”
“Hyung, you are upset.... We were just joking around.” Jaehee feels wronged.
“You also joked around with another members.” He continues, but it looks like Yushi still continues being sullen.
“I'm sorry.” Jaehee finally apologises.
After some seconds passes without Ryo hearing Yushi's answer to Jaehee's apology, he hears Jaehee's voice again.
“I will go back first.” As Jaehee's about to leave, Yushi grabs his wrist pleading while looking up to Jaehee.
“Where are you going?”
“To the dorm, it looks like hyung still doesn't want to talk to me. What's the use of us staying this late here.”
Yushi chews his lower lip, “I was upset. I couldn't touch you back then and you kept being touchy with others. I know Jaehee has lots of love to other members as well, but I can't help being upset.”
“So, you were jealous?” Yushi sulks and averts his gaze. Jaehee chuckles as if he find Yushi cute and pinches Yushi's cheeks.
“I like the members, but the one I love is you, hyung.” Jaehee confesses. Ryo who is still eavesdropping gasps.
“Show it to me if Daeyoung really means it.”
“Should I?” Jaehee smiles teasingly at Yushi then he kisses Yushi's cheeks.
“Is it not enough?” Jaehee asks again and Yushi gestures it with his index finger bringing it in front of his own lips and taps it. Jaehee chuckles and compiles to do so.
Ryo gasps for a second time seeing it. He then goes back to the dorm running. He takes off his shoes and goes straight to his bedroom. He sees Sakuya has fallen asleep then he unlocks his phone, he needs to read another fanfic. No, the reality is far greater than fanfics. Should he just abandoned postype? Does this mean he ship his members together? Heol! Does it mean he is one of the yudae dongsaeng? Since he is a younger boy compared to those two. Ryo that night can't help but giggling the whole time.
Ryo wakes up feeling refreshed. He goes straight to the vocal practice room and already finds Yushi, Jaehee and Sakuya in it. Yushi and Sakuya is seen bickering about something with Jaehee in the middle of those elementary school boys.
“What? How do you explain it?” Yushi asks almost furiously.
“No, hyung. I was just giving some points to Sakuya to his singing part.”
Sakuya reminds silent and just hums a song the whole time feeling not a tiny bit sorry for the lover quarrell that he just made.
“Jaehee, you didn't give me the vocak lesson.”
“No, hyung. I told you I was just giving some points. Do you still not believe me?” Jaehee reaches out holding Yushi's hand. Yushi's mood finally becomes a lot lighter. Ryo sneers at the two of them.
“Give me a vocal lesson too, I have given you the dance lesson.”
“Yes, I will really give you a vocal lesson, hyung.”
“Along with me, of course.” Sakuya chimed in nonchalantly. Jaehee turns his head to Sakuya after receiving a penetrating glare from Yushi.
“Hahaha, let's just take a vocal lesson with our trainer, after all.” Jaehee laughs painfully.
“No, can't do, I want it personally from Jaehee.”
“Me too.” Oh Ryo really hopes Sakuya would shut his mouth again just like before.
Jaehee tries hard to calm Yushi down, as he keeps rubbing his thumb over Yushi's hand. He also looks at Yushi endearingly.
Ryo thinks to himself, these two can't really hide their 'strange' love.
The End