After our trip to Lotte World were packed with working on our new comeback and individual schedules. Woozi had finished up the title song called Boom Boom. We were going to be coming back with our third mini album going with a more mature concept. If everything went as planned we were going to release it in December.

“I’m beat,” Soonyoung said as he fell down onto the floor of our dorm. It was November and our schedule of practicing and recording for the album was taking up the majority of our time. After dinner we’d be dancing till it was one sometimes two at night.

“Let’s begin the showers,” Seungcheol said. Seungcheol, Jeonghan and Joshua left to head to the bathrooms to begin showering. Joshua looked at me raising an eyebrow before going into the bathroom that was closest to our shared room.

“I’m just going to go to my room,” I said getting up. “Good night or morning guys.” I smiled at them leaving to head down the hallway. I peaked into the living room seeing everyone too focused on other things; no one was paying attention to me.

After making sure Seungcheol was in one of the bathrooms I quietly opened the door to Joshua’s bathroom. The moment I locked the door behind me Joshua’s lips were on mine and I was pinned against the door. Let’s just say it had been a long time since we’d helped each other relieve stress in a way only we could.

“Never again are we going this long,” Joshua mumbled against my lips. “How long has it been?”

“Who cares,” I said shrugging my shoulders. “But long enough to make me really freaking frustrated.” Joshua nodded his head as he lifted my shirt off throwing it onto the floor. I did the same with his shirt; pretty soon we were both out of our clothes and in the shower letting the warm water wash away our sweat and our “stress.”

The two of us stayed in the shower for quite a while getting lost of the time until we heard a knock on the door. Joshua widened his eyes as he turned off the water quickly wrapping a towel around his waist.

“Hyung hurry up!” Vernon yelled. “You’ve been the shower for so long Chan and I are the last ones left.” I exchanged a glance at Joshua as I quickly got out of the shower grabbing another towel.

“Just a minute,” Joshua said as he frantically picked up his clothes. I didn’t bring my change of clothes so I’ll call you when I’m done in here.”

“Josh it’s just us,” Vernon said. “Were all guys here!” I watched in horror as the door to the bathroom swung open revealing our toweled selves. Not just Vernon but the rest of the members were crowded in the hall seeing the two of us in the bathroom together.

“What’s going on here?” Seungcheol asked as he crossed his arms looking at the two of us. Everyone that didn’t know their minds went to work as they slowly put two and two together. “Oh.”

“Excuse me,” Joshua said a deep shade of red on his face. He pushed past everyone before slamming the door to our bedroom shut. I just stood their frozen not sure what to do. I looked over at Wonwoo and Mingyu who were staring with wide eyes.

“Are you two?” Seungkwan asked as Soonyoung clamped a hand over his mouth. Everyone slowly left the hallway leaving me in the bathroom by myself. I ran over to our room opening the door and closing it behind me.

I dropped my towel quickly throwing on my pajamas before I heard a gasp from the closet. I turned around and slid open the closet door seeing Joshua on the floor hugging his knees.

“Joshua,” I said dropped down onto the ground next to him. He looked over at me his eyes glistening as tears fell down his face. There was no way we wanted to be found out like this. But now it seemed like all of the members knew that we had something going on. How were we supposed to face them again?

“It’s over,” Joshua said as I pulled him out of the closet and into my arms. “Now they all know.” I didn’t know what to say so I just held him close to me trying to calm him down. He buried his face into my chest continuing to cry.

If it were up to me I would’ve stayed on the floor consoling Joshua but there was a knock on our door before Jeonghan popped his head into the room. Seungcheol was calling everyone into the living room for a meeting. I helped Joshua onto his feet as he clung to my arm hanging his head down as the three of us joined everyone else in the living room.

I could feel everyone’s curious gazes on the two of us. If Joshua were to see this now he would’ve ran away in an instant. He didn’t like to be the center of attention and now that was exactly what the two of us were. Everyone probably had a bunch of questions for the two of us. If Joshua didn’t want to answer any I would do all the talking.

“We all want to know what is going on first,” Seungcheol said clearing his throat and ending the silence in the room. “Let’s just start with that.”

Joshua shook his head as he tried to hide behind my back which left me to explain everything to everyone. I started from the very beginning with when Joshua had kissed me in the recording studio, to Jeonghan finding us kissing on the rooftop. It was harder to talk about then I thought.

How was I supposed to know how everyone was going to react? Jeonghan, Wonwoo, and Mingyu had accepted it but what if someone else didn’t see the two of us the way they all did? What is Seungcheol went and told the company about us?

“Look guys,” Seungcheol said. “We’ve all been discussing and we don’t care if you’re in a relationship or not. If you’re both happy with each other then who are we to judge? I just wish you would’ve told us.”

“Yeah,” Seokmin said letting out a little laugh. “It’s not like we would’ve told on you guys or judged you. We’re all open minded here right?” Everyone nodded their heads as I finally moved so Joshua could face everyone.

“We know it must be hard for you Joshua hyung,” Soonyoung said giving a sympathetic look over at him. “But really we are happy for the both of you.”

“And we won’t tell anyone about the two of you,” Seungcheol said. I let out a sigh of relief at that news. Thank goodness everything was going well. There was nothing to worry about with the members. I slowly saw a smile creeping onto Joshua’s face as he wiped the last of his tears off of his face. God he was beautiful even when he cried it wasn’t fair.

“I told you they would be understanding of us,” I whispered into his ear as I rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb. “There was nothing to worry about.”

“How long have you two been secretly dating?” Chan asked with wide eyes. We answered all of the questions that they wanted to ask including how long we’d been together, had we kissed, did we sleep in the same bed, etc. All the dirty questions were ignored because TMI.

“Wow,” Jun said shaking his head is disbelief. “I can’t believe you’ve been dating for all these months and none of us were able to figure it out or knew.”

I smiled sheepishly as I glanced over at Mingyu, Wonwoo, and Jeonghan who were looking down at the ground. Our little secret of four was now a secret of all fourteen of us.

“Can I brag about this now?” Jeonghan asked with a smirk on his face. “I actually knew about them since almost the beginning.” He puffed out his chest as the others looked at him with wide eyes. “How could I not be the first to know about their relationship when he’s my cousin?”

“Hey hey!” Wonwoo exclaimed raising his hand in the air. “Skyler and I talked about it before you I’m sure! I was the one that knew they kissed when we re-recorded Adore U.”

“What?!” Soonyoung yelled throwing his hands into the air wildly. “You two kissed that day at the recording studio?”

The room erupted into complete chaos as everyone began trying to talk over one another. Mingyu smiled at the two of us giving us a thumbs up before moving closer to Wonwoo, wrapping his arms around the slightly smaller male. I saw a smile appear on Wonwoo’s face as he kept joining in on the never-ending conversation with the others.

Seungcheol eventually calmed everyone down telling us we needed sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day since we had the photo shoot. There were a lot of different concepts we wanted for the photos so it was going to take a long time to finish the task.

Joshua and I quickly fell down in our bed holding hands under the covers. Now that our secret was out I just wanted to rejoice in the moment. It was a big step for Joshua who was still reserved in telling others about the two of us.

“Not exactly how we wanted to tell everyone,” I laughed trying to start everything with a joke. I rolled onto my side to look at him. Joshua kept his gaze up at the ceiling. “But at least they know and accept us.”

“Yeah,” he answered after a while. “I guess I’m relieved telling them is now over. I’m sorry I ran away like a coward.” He rolled over on his side to look at me. In the dark the moonlight highlighted some of his features giving him a glowing aura. “Thanks for sticking with me Skyler.”

“Silly,” I said reaching out to brush my fingers against his cheek. “I wouldn’t leave you. Ever.” I saw the faint glow of a smile wash across his face as he closed his eyes.

“Thank you,” Joshua mumbled. I closed my eyes as well as Joshua moved closer to me before he was in my arms and the two of us fell asleep peacefully.

********

We all woke up early the next morning getting into the vans waiting downstairs for us to take us out to the countryside for the photo shoot. The main concept for our photos was going to be outdoors on a nice lake area. I was looking forward to it as everyone napped during the long ride to the photo shoot location. It was somewhere up in the mountains away from Seoul.

As soon as the vans parked it was chaos getting all thirteen of us changed into our different outfits before getting hair and makeup done. I quickly got dressed then sat in a chair as a stylist brushed different things on my face and another stylist worked with my hair.

“You look great,” Joshua said once we were both done and ready for our photos to be taken. “Like always.” I smiled at him as our hands touched briefly. Just because our members knew didn’t mean anyone else could know about our relationship.

“You look great too,” I replied as more of our members joined us to wait for our solo shots near the lake with the canoes. It looked like a summer camp kind of theme except that it was almost winter and getting extremely cold during the night.

Posing with all the canoe equipment and sitting the boat turned out to be a lot of fun and I enjoyed taking solo photos and photos with other members.

The time seemed to go by pretty quickly even though it seemed like a million different pictures were being taken. I couldn’t wait for teaser pictures to be released to see what the fans thought of our new concept and hear their excitement for our comeback.

We were given a thirty minute lunch break getting prepared lunches as we sat under a tent eating quickly. Now that the outdoor photos were done we would be heading to an indoor area the photo crew had turned into a little studio for a completely different set of photos. These photos we’d be wearing simple black and white clothes and pose with different props for the Make A Wish version of the album.

While it wasn’t as cool as being outside surrounded by nature it was still cool since we got to help choose what we wanted for our photos. Earlier in the week we each wrote on paper what our wish was. Joshua had chosen painting and I decided to go with skateboarding.

It wasn’t really my wish to be a skateboarder but I’d always wanted to at least learn how to ride on a skateboarder. Back in LA there were Skateboarders everywhere and they always looked like they were having the time of their life riding freely with the LA beach breeze flowing around them. I wanted that freedom sometimes, especially now that most of my life was being controlled since I was in Seventeen. Free time was a rare thing now.

“Okay guys let’s head off to the last area for the photos,” our manager said once lunch was over. We all got back into the vans as we were driven to the building for the last set of photos.

Once we got there we were immediately rushed off into changing and getting our hair and makeup touched up on. I got a glimpse of Joshua in a plain white-buttoned shirt and black pants. He looked so handsome as he sat there getting his hair fixed. Was there anything he didn’t look good in?
I finished getting my hair fixed before going into the main area where a big white canvas was hung up for the backdrop of the photos. Already some members were getting their pictures taken with their chosen props. I spotted my skateboard off to the side with the other props, forming a smile on my face from excitement.

“Someone looks handsome,” a voice said from behind me as a pair of arms s around my waist. I turned my head slightly to see Joshua resting his head on my shoulder as he hugged me.

“The same goes for you,” I said unable to contain the huge grin plastered onto my face.

“You two are so gross sometimes,” Jeonghan said joining us to wait as he rolled his eyes. “Like seriously.”

“I think they’re really cute,” Wonwoo grinned as he came over to us after finishing his photos. After these photos were taken we would be done for the day. If we got home quickly we would have a few hours of free time, something I hoped would happen if the traffic gods looked down on us favorably.

When it was my turn a worker handed me the skateboard they’d gotten for me. It was simple skateboard but the underside was decorated with Seventeen’s logo and music notes.

“So do I get to keep the skateboard?” I laughed, as the cameraman got ready to take my photos.

“It’s yours if you want it,” he answered after getting ready. I followed his instructions but also got to come up with some of my own poses. I smiled happily at the camera in some photos placing my foot on top of the skateboard. Other photos I had on a serious face like I actually knew what I was doing on this four-wheeled contraption.

“You’re a natural Skyler!” Mingyu yelled from where everyone was waiting. He made a few whistles causing me to crack up laughing. I heard the camera snapping as it captured the moment of me laughing.

When everyone’s photos were done it was the middle of the afternoon. The ride back to Seoul took a few hours but the traffic was relatively light. We got back to the dorm and were gifted with the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted.

“Let’s go get something to eat,” Mingyu suggested as we sat on the balcony of Joshua and my room. “I’m ready for eating.”

“When are you not?” Wonwoo laughed rolling his eyes. Mingyu lunged at him tackling him in his arms. “Yah I’m older than you.”

“Not when you say childish things,” Mingyu laughed as the two of them lay on the ground, Mingyu using his taller height to lie on top of Wonwoo.

“You two seriously,” Jeonghan said rolling his eyes. “But I agree I want something to eat too. It’s dinnertime. What should we get though? Do you want to head to one of the restaurants close to the dorm?”

“Yes please!” Minghao exclaimed with a smile on his face. “We can escape the dorm and tear up the town.” Joshua laughed from where he was resting his head on my shoulder. Now that everyone knew about us it felt good to be freely open about everything with the other members. Keeping it between Mingyu, Wonwoo, and Jeonghan had been kind of difficult.

Eventually we all left the room to head into the living room to ask anyone else if they wanted to come out with us to get dinner. In the end Soonyoung tagged along with the six of us as we took the elevator down.

“The real question is what are we going to eat?” I asked once we stood in the lobby of our dorm building.

“Meat obviously,” Soonyoung said with a smile on his face. “BBQ?”

We all agreed as we made our way to the BBQ samgyeopsal place that was in the nearby area of our home. Once all seven of us were settled down Mingyu began cooking the meat as Jeonghan and Minghao went off to get the side dishes from the station in the back of the restaurant.

“This feels almost like the first night we ate BBQ with Skyler when he got here,” Wonwoo said as we watched the meat sizzle on the grill.

“It does,” Mingyu agreed. “That was over a year ago. I can’t believe how much has happened since that summer. From the Adore U cover to Skyler joining Seventeen to him and Joshua.”

“Crazy,” I laughed shaking my head. I had never planned for any of this to happen. I was just there to visit my favorite cousin and my life had unexpectedly changed in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined. Sometimes it felt like a dream that I was in a pop group and had made such a close bond with the other guys in Seventeen.

“I’m glad it turned out this way,” Joshua said as his hand found mine under the table. “Very glad.”

The seven of us began to eat our meat as we talked about old memories and the upcoming comeback. It was a fun night of just telling stories and our hopes for everything that would happen in the future.

When we finally finished eating a ton of meat (thank goodness for all you can eat places) we got ready to leave as the door to the restaurant opened and a group of six males entered in talking loudly and laughing. I wouldn’t have paid much attention to them but one of them caught my attention as he wore a bright smile on his face.

I recognized that smile anywhere even if I hadn’t seen that smile in years. Not since high school to be exact. I stopped as I stared at him with wide eyes. Eventually everyone else noticed I wasn’t moving to look over at the group of guys as they sat down at a table to begin eating.

Finally he looked up seeing me staring at him as his mouth dropped open in shock. Seeing his face looking back at mine just confirmed everything about why he was so familiar. How could I forget the guy that gave me my first relationship, first kiss, first everything?

“Skyler?” he asked standing up from his table as his friends looked at him with confused expressions matching the ones of my members. “Is it?”

“Moonbin,” I said in awe as I felt my heart starting to race.
 

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I bet you weren't expecting that ending to the chapter right? So it's been too long since I updated this. I'm going to try and update this more regularly so I can ultimately finish the story. I don't know when that will be but I already have ideas for how I want it to end but for now we move onto our next plot with the reunion of Skyler and Moonbin and the emmergence of Joshua's green friend jealously. 

Thank you to everyone that still supports this story it really means a lot to me! 

Please leave your comments like always, I love reading them! 

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