-1.

it's the holidays, and normally jiwon would be overjoyed for this long break, as much as he loves his students, some time away from those rowdy kids can never go wrong. except this break would be much better if jinhwan's here to spend it with him. jiwon sighs, his arms tightening around his pillow, wishing that it could be jinhwan instead. but, jiwon can't be so mean as to deny jinhwan a trip back to his hometown, can he? not when jinhwan did book him a flight back to his own family. jiwon would have went with jinhwan, except the strange atmosphere that settled around jinhwan when he brought up the matter made jiwon take back his suggestion. it had seemed sad.

sighing once more, jiwon struggles to get off his bed to actually start the day. he ends up rolling off his bed onto the lump of blanket he had supposedly kicked off the bed in his sleep. a groan and multiple grunts later, jiwon finally heads to the bathroom to wash up. the doorbell rings when he's brushing his teeth, and jiwon doesn't think much of it as he walks out with toothbrush in hand and toothpaste in mouth still.

it's yunhyeong, who tsks disapprovingly at jiwon's disheveled appearance once he opens the door.

"look at you, it's already 10 in the morning, look at you!"

jiwon groans at the nagging that comes out of yunhyeong's mouth immediately. "it's only 10, let me live!" jiwon grumbles back, except it only comes out as gurgled nonsense, what with the toothpaste foam in his mouth. yunhyeong looks positively disgusted as jiwon sprays tiny specks toothpaste foam from his mouth, and shoos jiwon back into the bathroom lest jiwon swallows the toothpaste. which he did, kinda, a little.

the smell of butter and toasted bread greets jiwon's nose as he leaves the bathroom, and despite being grumpy still at the morning disturbance and lack of jinhwan, jiwon's mood is slightly lifted with the knowledge of having yunhyeong's cooking for breakfast.

"jinhwan did tell me to check up on you, but i didn't think you would be like this..."

yunhyeong grumbles as he places one piece of bread on the plate, topping it with a perfectly cooked egg, adds ketchup and mayonniese, along with another piece of bread to complete the sandwich. jiwon lights up at the sight of the sandwich jinhwan usually makes him as he settles into his seat, and reaches gleefully to snatch his breakfast up from the plate. it's not until he bites into the sandwich and melts in pleasure at the taste that he registers yunhyeong's words.

"hey! i can take care of myself!"

"yes, but not very well, may i add."

of course it'll be jiwon to have sauce smeared all over his mouth. yunhyeong hands over the tissue box with a shake of head fondly. to yunhyeong, watching jiwon eat is like watching a younger brother eat. perhaps this is why jinhwan's perputually worrying over jiwon, going as far as to ask yunhyeong to check up on jiwon.

just then, yunhyeong's phone rings. checking it, yunhyeong's slightly surprised to see that it's jinhwan calling.

"jinhwan-hyung?"

and jiwon perks up at the mention of his boyfriend's name, yet inadvertently wondering why jinhwan would be calling yunhyeong instead of jiwon himself first.

"yunhyeong? are you at jiwon's already? he's not picking up his phone... is he sleeping still? it's already past 10."

the call's put on speaker, yunhyeong's laughing quietly at jinhwan's barrage of questions and jiwon pouts as he hears jinhwan's last sentence.

"hyungg, it's only past 10!"

the whine places a small smirk on yunhyeong's face, while light chuckles can be heard from the phone. sometimes jiwon feels as if the oldest duo of their group love ganging up on him especially. and it seems as though jinhwan knows what he's thinking even as he's more than four hundred kilometres away from jiwon.

"don't sulk jiwon-ah."

“yea, i made you breakfast, don't sulk."

yunhyeong adds on, and jiwon hears jinhwan gasp. laughing a little now, jiwon teases jinhwan back.

"haha, i have yunhyeongie's breakfast and you don't!"

there's unintelligible noises from jinhwan's side, yet jinhwan doesn't reply. jiwon exchanges looks with yunhyeong, both as puzzled as to why jinhwan isn't replying. it's more seconds of static, and jiwon lets out a worried call, "jinhwan?", concern growing as the time passes.

except the calls ends abruptly, a sudden disconnection of static that has jiwon standing up in haste, eyes wide with worry, as yunhyeong grabs at his phone hurriedly to re-dial jinhwan's number.

"HELLO!"

"WAH!"

"WAH!"

it's a loud exclamation that sends both yunhyeong and jiwon jerking and screaming, frightened out of their wits. and there's jinhwan, laughing and gasping for air, leaning against his luggage for support, tears in his eyes with his successful scare.

"hyung!!"

there's a mix of whines and complains from the younger two, yet jiwon can't be happier to see jinhwan back again. a minute later, and jiwon's latched onto jinhwan like a koala, just short of hanging off jinhwan.

"i missed you."

"me too."

jiwon whispers softly into jinhwan's ears, who reply just as softly, letting go of his luggage to hug jiwon properly. yunhyeong looks on by the side, left awkward and uncomfortable by the couple.

"i'll just, uh, make you another sandwich jinhwan-hyung."

and yunhyeong escapes back into the kitchen, his safe haven, words completely lost on jinhwan and jiwon.

well, yunhyeong thinks, at least the two are complete again.

-2

jinhwan has taking an interest to taking photographs, and it's cute, jiwon thinks, when jinhwan stops randomly while on the streets to take whatever has caught his eye, uncaring of when and where he is. except, of course, when he's in the middle of the roads. then, jiwon will drag jinhwan off and away to safety on the streets. jiwon always grumbles, and jinhwan always smiles sheepishly.

of course, jinhwan takes photos of him too, and jiwon has grown accustomed to hearing the snap of the camera whenever, wherever. be it the click that jolts jiwon out of morning stupor when he's just woken up, half- and brushing his teeth in the bathroom; or the click that startles jiwon awake, and it's usually followed by jinhwan's twinkling laughter that seems to make up for waking him up from his light nap; or the click that jiwon sometimes hear when he's focused on reviewing and grading his students' works, though he doesn't pay that much attention to that since it's only jinhwan; or the click that interrupts the comfortable silence jiwon and jinhwan share when they're out on the streets, hands held tight as they weave through the people.

and jiwon's relieving all those memories as he's flipping through the photo album from jinhwan after his shower.

but it's making jiwon all choked up too, especially with the short captions handwritten by jinhwan. notes of when and where they went under photographs of the sky, streets, sunset; thoughts of his boyfriend himself under the photographs of jiwon; and the small comments with teasing remarks written at the sides, decorating the whole photo album with jinhwan's love.

he takes a deep breath, in an attempt to calm down his heart and his emotions, lest he cries and gets puffy eyes, to which will only worry jinhwan more. it takes several minutes, but jiwon's finally able to control himself, and even if he did get a little teary-eyed, it's still better than a full on wailing that would no doubt draw jinhwan's concern.

he goes to enter jinhwan's room then, and he finds jinhwan on his bed with his reading glasses on, reading a book as he sits up on his bed, pillows behind his back. jinhwan looks up as he hears the door open, smiles softly.

"hey birthday boy."

jiwon replies by getting onto jinhwan's bed and snuggling close to jinhwan, long arms wrapping around jinhwan, burying his head into the side of jinhwan. jinhwan's hand rests on his head minutes later, fingers running through his black hair.

"you're too good for me, jinhwan-hyung."

"so you should treat me well then."

jinhwan's smug, yet he doesn't stop the treading of jiwon's hair with his left hand, while he continues reading with his right. jiwon sighs, leaning into jinhwan's touch.

"of course."

and jiwon hugs him closer, holds him tighter. he'd make sure to treat jinhwan well, he definitely will. he's going to give jinhwan the world.

-3

when jiwon mentioned offhandedly that maybe their group should go on a trip together, he didn't think that it would actually happen. not when usually, most of their plans were only just that, plans. so when hanbin actually went ahead to book a small guest house for the seven of them at a resort at the outskirts of seoul, jinhwan is understandably excited.

"hyung, we're not even going overseas, why are you packing so much?"

and that, is the answer to why jinhwan's struggling to zip his carry bag.

jiwon's just leaning by the wall of jinhwan's room, looking at jinhwan's struggle when jinhwan pauses and pouts at jiwon.

"jiwon help, please?"

so by now jiwon's immune to jinhwan's pout, he really is. he's immune to the puppy look that jinhwan's giving him, he's immune to that slight tremble of jinhwan's lips and the watery eyes...

"goddammit hyung, where did you learn that from?"

jiwon grits his teeth as he tries his best to squeeze the bag till it's just enough to zip it up.

"from chanwoo!"

jinhwan's eyes are, unsurprisingly, dry again as he chirps back his reply.

jiwon sighs internally, looks like the devil that is jung chanwoo has gotten to jinhwan as well. still, jiwon knows deep down that he won't be able to resist helping jinhwan, with or without chanwoo's tactic.

a message from hanbin arrives, and jiwon and jinhwan are out of their apartment to meet hanbin to go to the place where a shuttle bus from the resort will pick them up. yunhyeong, chanwoo, donghyuk and junhoe have already arrived at the venue, and minutes after jiwon, hanbin and jinhwan reached, a bus comes along to fetch them to the resort.

it's a good two and a half hours ride, but the excitement of a trip doesn't dim at all.

and so, screams and shouts can be heard as jiwon and the boys alighted from the bus to the resort, lugging their carry-bags along. hanbin went ahead to check in their group while the others loitered around the reception room, buzzing with excitement. a short walk to their guest house later and jiwon can already predict what they'll do once they've settled down in the guest house.

"let's go play jokgu!"

hanbin all but screams once he's dumped his bag onto the floor of their living room, not even bothering to explore the house at all. junhoe joins in as well, and soon they have the whole group up and out of the guest house to the jokgu playing area they saw on their way here. chanwoo volunteers as the referee, and it's a clean split between the older friends, jinhwan, yunhyeong and jiwon, and the younger friends, hanbin, donghyuk and junhoe. from then on, it's just a messy show of jokgu, with junhoe bragging about his skills yet failing still, donghyuk being an overall ace player, hanbin crying dramatically at the polarity of his team, jinhwan missing the ball at crucial moments, unlucky yunhyeong suffering a minor hit to the head, and jiwon showing his skills at times. throughout it all, chanwoo's just standing by the side, keeping scores and laughing crazily at the antics of his hyungs.

it ends with the hyung team's win, and in his exhausted mind, jiwon's body moves on its own and circles his arms around jinhwan, lifting him up and spinning both of them around. jiwon stops the spin and tucks his head into the crook of jinhwan's neck, mind getting soothed by jinhwan's twinkling laughter as yunhyeong drapes himself over both jiwon and jinhwan, celebrating their win.

and when chanwoo suggests ordering for pizza for their lunch, jiwon can only think that chanwoo's a smart boy because he's so, so tired from their jokgu match. and jiwon's pretty sure the rest feels the same way too, what with jinhwan, donghyuk and hanbin having dozed off on the couch once all of them have showered and changed after the intense game.

jiwon sort of wants to cuddle with jinhwan too, but donghyuk's beaten him to that as he and jinhwan lie on the couch together, sleeping peacefully. jiwon only feels slightly jealous, because donghyuk's a sweet guy, and jiwon doesn't have a right to feel jealous when jinhwan's not even his boyfriend, yet. so he settles down in one of the single seats there, opposite hanbin, before making himself comfortable and closing his eyes.

so when chanwoo finishes his call to order for pizza and returns to the living room, he's greeted with his sleeping hyungs, with the exception of junhoe and yunhyeong. jinhwan's curled up on the couch with donghyuk, facing donghyuk's chest as the younger wrapped an arm protectively around his smaller hyung. hanbin and jiwon both occupy a separate seat, hanbin with his head bent down, nodding off, while jiwon has his head leaned back, mouth opened wide. without a second thought, chanwoo whips out his phone for a photo of jiwon's face, and he's got a perfect blackmail material. he also takes one photo of jinhwan and donghyuk though, because they just look too soft to not have that moment captured.

as for junhoe and yunhyeong, a quick tour around the guest house and chanwoo finds yunhyeong to have taken the room with the single bed, and junhoe passed out on one of the two beds at another room. after another blackmail photo of junhoe, chanwoo retreats to the room he's set his eyes on, and waits for the phone call from the pizza delivery man.

-4

jiwon's got a bad feeling in his gut when he opens the door to chanwoo's and jinhwan's shared room to find only chanwoo in it. it's way past midnight already, and the group's spent an extraordinary amount of energy throughout the day. the banana boat ride that junhoe thought will be a good idea in the afternoon was the most draining of energy, and it's no surprise when almost everyone passed out in their rooms after that activity. not to mention that barbeque party that has everyone letting loose and getting crazy well into the night. so it's quite unexpected that jinhwan's not in his room and sleeping off his fatigue.

"where's jinhwan-hyung?"

chanwoo looks up from his phone.

"hanbin-hyung came by a while back, they went off together."

a realisation sets over jiwon, no wonder hanbin has been looking nervous the whole day. jiwon stands by the door, deciding for a moment on what to do before he drags his body into the room and flops onto jinhwan's bed. he'll just wait for hanbin to be done then.

but even as he thinks that, doubts wash over his mind. what if jinhwan decides to be with hanbin? what if jiwon doesn't even get to have a chance with jinhwan? jiwon doesn't think he can handle that well enough.

"don't worry, hyung."

chanwoo's voice cuts through his thoughts, and jiwon looks over to the younger. chanwoo's still scrolling through his phone nonchalantly, and jiwon has no idea how he's able to read his mind so accurately.

"just wait for jinhwan-hyung."

and he does. it takes jiwon only a couple of rotations through his social media accounts before jinhwan returns, while chanwoo is still on his phone.

jinhwan seems surprised that jiwon's lying on his bed, if that cute, confused face is anything to go by.

"jiwon, go find hanbin, yea? please."

okay, now jiwon's the one who's confused, and slightly worried. did something happen? why should /he/ go find hanbin?

but jinhwan doesn't elaborate, only shooing jiwon off his bed and tucks himself underneath the blankets, looking tired and, jiwon realises, sad. his heart twinges a little, and with a soft "goodnight, jinhwan-hyung." he exits the room and closes the door behind him as chanwoo finally breaks away from his phone to reach over and switch off the desk lamp by jinhwan's side.
though he's still concerned with jinhwan's behaviour, right now, hanbin is more important. if jinhwan's brushing off jiwon and ordering him to find hanbin, it's most likely because jinhwan thinks hanbin needs jiwon. and jinhwan's rarely wrong about that.

jiwon finds hanbin sitting on a bench not far from their guest house, overlooking the dark waters of the lake. his heart aches at how forlorn his best friend looks, staring off deep into the darkness.

"hey man, you alright?"

it's more of a rhetorical question than not, so jiwon's not bothered that hanbin didn't even try to answer him. he takes a seat by hanbin's left, and hanbin turns his head slightly to the right. well, at least hanbin's not chasing him away.

"i confessed to him."

hanbin's voice is low and weak, as if his soul is being drained out, as if his heart is being bled out. and it hurts, it hurts jiwon that hanbin is suffering, that jiwon can't even say anything carelessly lest he hurts hanbin more. so he only sits by his side, a heavy hand on hanbin's shoulder.

"you like him too, don't you?"

hanbin shifts to look at jiwon with his red-rimmed eyes, jiwon's hand slides off his shoulder. it's an intense stare and jiwon's the one who breaks it first.

"let's get to bed, it's late."

jiwon stands up, brushing dust off the back of his pants, waiting for hanbin to follow as he knows he will. hanbin does indeed, and is just one step behind jiwon as they head back to the guest house, soft ripples of the water fading away as they walk.

hanbin knows he's asked a rhetorical question too.