Sunggyu eyes opened wide and he quickly became petrified as he realized what he just did. A second later, and as Woohyun looked at him kind of petrified as well, Sunggyu started to panic. How could he do this? How could he betray his hyung and spill his secret? How could he even betray himself and hurt Woohyunnie when he said he would protect him? He had to fix things but what he should do? He gulped hard unable to think quickly, he knew he was doomed because there was not of his hyung there to advise him, and every second it passed was worse.

“What?” Woohyun managed to ask after some time.

“Woohyunnie, I’m sorry…”Sunggyu tried to pat Woohyun shoulder carefully although still didn’t really know what he would say to justify what he had just said, but he hadn’t the chance to say anything  because Woohyun pushed him away.

“Hyung!” He scolded then grabbed Sunggyu by the shoulders and shook him a bit “Noooooooo hyung, nooooo, stop lying to me.” He said.

Sunggyu closed his eyes for a moment as he was shook but then steadied himself and Woohyun. “Woohyunnie ...” He pleaded to be heard.

“No, no, no, no!” Woohyun pushed Sunggyu slightly away then got up to pace on the bed. “Nooooooo.” He repeated in denial as he ruffled his head.

“Wooohyunnie.” Sunggyu tried to grab his friend by the arm but Woohyun skillfully avoided that. “Please hear me out.” He begged and only then the boy walked towards Sunggyu and sat in front of him.

“Hyung, you were just pranking me, right? Tell me what you just said isn’t true.” The boy desperately begged.

“Woohyunnie, it is true.” Sunggyu said with a soft but guilty tone that made Woohyun distressed.

“Noooooooo~~~~” Woohyun insisted as he pulled one of his hands out of his hyung hold in order to ruffle his hair and the more the younger denied the more desperate and guilty Sunggyu became.

“Woohyunnie, that can happen and it is not a bad thing.” The elder tried to argue.

“It is.” Woohyun disagreed.

“But uncle Moonsoo and Sungjong hyung love each other and it’s ok. We like them, right?” Sunggyu said nervously as he tried to somehow calm his friend.

“It is not the same thing!” The younger insisted.

“Why is it ok for them to like boys but it isn’t ok for Sungyeol hyung to like boys?” Sunggyu dared to ask, taking Sungyeol side already.

“It’s not that, he can like boys.” Woohyun said firmly and Sunggyu felt at least a bit relieved until Woohyun whined. “But you said he lo-lo-lo-likes daddy.” Woohyun stuttered as he couldn’t bring himself to repeat what his friend said.

“And?” Sunggyu asked confused.

“Hyung, he can’t.” The younger boy insisted.

Sunggyu stopped and leaned back to examine his friend as he thought then he tried to defend his brother one more time. “He didn’t mean to love your daddy but it happened.”

“I know, still he can’t love daddy.”

Sunggyu sighed defeatedly since he knew Woohyun wouldn’t like the idea. “Why? Don’t you want to see hyung happy?” He asked as if he was the one being hurt.

“Because it is unrequired.” Woohyun tried to explain himself and Sunggyu had to hold himself not to roll his eyes. Despite all, his goal was to do some damage control but he knew better than that, the adults were dating until they broke up, they definitely loved each other, at least till some point. “I don’t want to see him sad, he will suffer.” Woohyun continued and that surprised Sunggyu a bit because it seemed like despite not liking the idea of the adults being together, Woohyun seemed still have a soft spot for Sungyeol.

“He will not suffer if we tell Myungsoo hyung it is ok to love him, maybe he is scared of loving Sungyeol hyung back.” Sunggyu tried to somehow make Woohyun think without spilling even more things.

“There is nothing to be scared because daddy won’t love him!” Woohyun insisted, confident on what he believe it was the truth. “Why Sungyeol hyung just go back to loving the girl he loved before, hum?” He suddenly asked sassily.

Sunggyu internally winced as he recalled telling Woohyun that his brother loved a girl but he still thought he could do some damage control. “Sungyeol hyung says that that can happen but he likes boys only. Besides, he can’t change who he loves, that doesn’t even happen in your dramas.”

Woohyun squinted his confused eyes at his elder friend. “Then why you said he loved a girl?” Ok, Woohyun got there but Sunggyu was smart and knew just how to get out of this one.

“He didn’t say, I heard wrongly.” He said firmly, trying to fix the mess he got himself into.

“Then he likes my dad since then?” Woohyun asked flabbergasted and Sunggyu knew this one would be difficult, he decided to play dumb.

“I don’t know, maybe?” The older boy found better not to confirm anything much. “Maybe that was why he didn’t like being in love back then? Because it wasn’t supposed to happen?” Sunggyu offered what he thought would be good theories and that seemed to calm Woohyun a bit until...

“But you knew all this time and didn’t tell me anything?” The boy asked with a hint of betrayal.

“No, I didn’t, I didn't.” Sunggyu tried lying bluntly as this time he thought quickly. “Hyung just told me recently when-when I stopped talking to your dad. He said it wasn’t your daddy’s fault that he had feelings for him and…and...” As Sunggyu nervously stuttered while trying to defend himself and his brother, Woohyun made a face as things fell into place and finally he understood everything.

“Wait that’s why they fought right?” Sunggyu blinked quickly at his friend. “Sungyeol hyung must have confessed and daddy rejected him. Daddy would never be able to return hyung feelings because he is already taken, this is why Sungyeol hyung cried, right?”

No, not at all, Myungsoo didn’t reject his hyung and they dated. DATED. Sunggyu wanted to scream but he knew he already messed up too much, maybe he could use this in his favor. “Maybe, he didn’t tell me.”

“Hyung, and daddy must have insisted to keep being best friends but it would be hard for Sungyeol hyung so this is why they fought. It definitely was.” Now Woohyun seemed to be convinced, but Sunggyu knew he couldn’t be more wrong.

“What if this isn’t why they fought?” Sunggyu tried to ask. “It seems that there is also something happening in their school too.”

Woohyun snapped his fingers together then offered. “I know, I think they are forced together - like when Dongwoo hyung puts Minggyu in our group - but daddy is so uncomfortable that he thought it wouldn’t be ok if I visited your apartment at first. And that’s why he gets upset every time he meets Sungyeol hyung in college.”

“I don’t think it was like this.” Sunggyu said warily, his friend couldn’t be more wrong.

“Of course it was, daddy doesn’t like boys and he always says that mom is the only girl he will love forever.” Woohyun said as if that was obvious but after a thought, he added something else. “Aside grandma.”

“But WHAT IF?” SUnggyu asked as he was losing his patience with his delusional friend. “What if they love each other but Myungsoo hyung is afraid of what you would think?”

“That’s impossible hyung, don’t be crazy!” Woohyun also started losing his patience.

Sunggyu grabbed Woohyun by the shoulders again and stared deep into his eyes. “Woohyunnie, aside we both studying in Hogwarts, anything can happen. Would be that bad if your daddy would date Sungyeol hyung?”

“Yes!” Woohyun said impatiently because his hyung didn’t want to understand. “Because Sungyeol hyung is his friend and friends are just friends.” He said as he got rid of Sunggyu hands on his shoulders and now Sunggyu was kinda done.

“But they are not like that! Can’t you see that since they fought their eyes don’t sparkle anymore? If you don’t support your daddy, you’d be the only one hindering their happiness.” Sunggyu barked angrily. “Besides, Sungyeol hyung loves you too so if they got together we would be a real family and….”

Woohyun made an extremely angry expression. “Yah! That it a lie! That will never happen, my dad is married to my mom and it will always be!”

“But people can fall in love again!” Sunggyu said with confidence. “If that was impossible then my mom wouldn’t have divorced my hyungs dad and wouldn’t have married mine and then I wouldn’t be here talking to you because I wouldn’t be born.” He tried to explain, although his patience was entirely gone.

Woohyun didn’t even need to think to know he didn’t like that scenario. Not only he hated what his friend was saying about his father because that would mean his mother wasn’t important, but when Sunggyu put like that he wasn’t able to completely refuse something that would make his best friend not exist. Out of anger and confusion, Woohyun pushed Sunggyu out of the bed, and the boy was lucky enough to manage to fall on the ground without breaking any limb, while the younger stomped his feet towards the door and screamed loudly.

“GRANDPAAAA, GRANDMAAA, I WANT TO GO HOME!”

____________________________________________________________________

Sonmi and Bumsoo tried to talk to the children and discover what happened, but Woohyun was angry and Sunggyu seemed upset and no one wanted to talk. It was clear as day they didn't want to stay in Incheon anymore so they packed everything they brought them hit the round in Seoul direction.

In the hour-long trip, Woohyun kept looking through the window with an angry pout while Sunggyu stole a few upset glances at his friend in the beginning, only to change that to some longing looks at the end. By the time they reached the boys building, nothing was solved yet but Sunggyu seemed deeply guilty while Woohyun seemed to be less angry, but no one made concrete tries to talk to each other.

“Guys, you’re best friends, you can’t act like that.” Bumsoo tried to encourage the boys to talk when they entered the elevator.

“Woohyunnie…” Sunggyu was the first to try to get his friend attention so he could apologize but Woohyun didn't seem to calm down enough to accept it and just turned his back at Sunggyu and pretended he heard nothing.

“Come on, boys, if you don’t makeup Sungyeol and Myungsoo will think it will be ok for them not to make up.” Sonmi said and although that made Sunggyu feel even worse, it was enough to make Woohyun pay attention. “I know you two don’t want that right? Because you’re best friends and you want to keep playing together.” She added

Sunggyu looked at his friend again, but the younger just shifted his weight and didn’t turn back, so the elder boy hung his head down until the elevator arrived at their floor. Once they were out of it and walked down the hall in direction of their respective apartment Sunggyu bowed deeply at Woohyun grandparents, thanked for taking care of him, said his goodbyes (of course he tried addressing Woohyun again) before pushing the door of his apartment open and going inside.

Bumsoo was about to press the doorbell but Woohyun put his hands on his pockets and showed him his keys. That made both elders frown but Bumsoo ended up getting the key and opening the apartment. When they got inside everything was quiet with the exception of soft tapping coming from Myungsoo room.

“Myungsoo, we arrived with Woohyun.” Sonmi called from the living room as Woohyun threw his bag near the couch.

“Coming!” The young dad yelled and seconds later he came running. “Namu!” He greeted happily but  Woohyun just ignored him and walked straight to his room only to close the door with some force.

It took a few seconds for the young dad to register what just happened before he turned to his parents. “What is happening?” He asked cautiously.

His parents looked at each other helplessly before they said something. “He fought with Sunggyu.” “We don’t know why.” Bumsoo said right after Sonmi only for Myungsoo to pinch the bridge of his nose out of stress.

“Now this.” He sighed tiredly.

________________________________________________

Sungyeol had a light sleep, after all that happened to him in that boarding school any noise would wake him up, he wasn’t also the type to sleep in too much, his routine was kinda strict since Sunggyu came to live with him. But he had been tired and he felt light after he was able to take things off his chest and explain things to Myungsoo, so it was the first time he actually slept in unperturbed with any kind of sound.

When he woke up he felt a little bit adrift, not knowing if it was morning or afternoon, he just knew he had to eat something. He got up and walked directly to the kitchen only to find Hoya and Sungjong catching up with each other while having their second, or maybe third meal of the day.

“Good morning! Is there anything for me?” He asked the two that were distractedly talking in the kitchen. Hoya jumped in the air because he was surprised, Sungjong just turned to his brother with a smile.

“You mean to say, good afternoon right?” Sungjong said with an amused smile.

“Yah, Sungyeol, don’t startle me.” Hoya complained as he turned to face his elder cousin while holding the blender cup.

“Whatever.” Sungyeol said unbothered as he walked to sit on a bench in the kitchen island then asked with a happy undertone as he tried to inspect what Hoya was holding. “What were you doing?”

“Strawberry smoothie.” Hoya said as he turned the pink smoothie on a cup Sungjong held.

“Oh, can I have some?” Sungyeol asked interested as Hoya filled a second cup.

“Here, drink mine, you were sleeping till now so you’re probably starving.” Sungjong offered as he passed his cup to Sungyeol.

“But…” Sungyeol tried to push it back because he didn’t want to steal from his brother when Hoya placed the third cup in front of him and said full of pride.

“There is enough of my secret magical smoothie for everyone.” He said as he filled the cup for Sungyeol that smiled widely and seemed satisfied as he took a sip.

Sungjong snorted as he saw the perfect opportunity to pick on his elder and only cousin. “Smoothies are not that hard to make hyung, even more when you were reading a recipe of our mom.”

Sungyeol eyes snapped to Hoya, that made a face, then back behind him where a book laid opened then back at his cousin. “Sungjong 1 x Hoya 0.” He said with amusement.

Hoya was about to try to defend his dignity when something dawned on him so he turned to observe his elder cousin. “You’re in a good mood today.”

“And it seems you rested well.” Sungjong added as he quickly forgot to pick on Hoya and placed his hand on his brother's forehead. “You’re not feverish anymore.”

“Best night of sleep in a while, hands down, and day of sleep too.” Sungyeol agreed.

“Does this have anything to do with a certain neighbor?” Hoya asked as he wriggled his thick eyebrows but Sungyeol decided to ignore him just to throw a question at his brother.

“You knew I was feverish?”

“Hoya hyung sent me a message yesterday to tell me.” He briefly explained only to team up with Hoya a second later. “And he also told me that Myungsoo hyung came here.”

Sungyeol looked back at his smoothie and played a bit with the cup only to get Hoya impatient.

“What happened, dude? Just spill the beans, I’m so curious that I barely slept.” Hoya urged.

“Liar, I know you slept really good in Dongwoo hyung arms.” Sungjong said deviously, probably scoring another point in their silly but usual bickering, then turned to his brother. “But he does have a point. Just spill.”

Sungyeol took another sip from the smoothie and played with the cup a little more as he thought about the previous night. Sungjong and Hoya were almost losing their patience when they noticed Sungyeol trying to hold a pleased smile.

Sungjong gasped happily. “Oh my god, did you two made up?”

“I don’t know.” Sungyeol said honestly, though he finally let the smile break out of his lips. “We just talked…”

Hoya made hand gestures as if he was about to scratch the skin out of his face out of frustration, he took a deep breath to control himself and tried asking as politely as he could. “Please spill.”

“I already said we talked. I let him take things out of his chest and then I was able to explain my point of view...” Sungyeol began explaining just for Sungjong to clap his hands then throw them in the air.

“FINALLY.” The younger exclaimed.

“Details please.” Hoya demanded.

“I don’t think I should tell you that much details but…” Sungyeol combed a bit of his hair behind his ear before talking. “At first I thought we would be killing each other but our conversation was really good, I’m feeling very light since I explained how I feel, how I planned things to be and why I did things I did. I apologized too. And I think he finally feels better he knows about that.”

“Are you making up or not, Sungyeol?” Hoya crossed his arms over his chest to demonstrate his impatience.

“I don’t know.” Sungyeol said honestly. “I’m his first boyfriend and our situation is complex so this really hurt him and I know out of the experience that hurt doesn’t fade out of nowhere...” The other two nodded as they understood that part well. “But we kissed so there are possibilities…” Sungyeol said with a silly smile and contorting himself a bit because… Feels, he was too happy and couldn’t control them.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.” Sungjong got up and started to dance happily.

“You daredevil.” Hoya smiled and showed his fangs in amusement.

Sungyeol was a bit embarrassed but ended up laughing at Sungjong dance until the younger stopped. “I didn’t think attending Myungsoo hyung match yesterday would be a good choice but it turns out it was.”

“Really?” Hoya asked.

“Of course, because I managed to fix things with Moonsoo hyung AND encourage Myungsoo hyung to talk to Sungyeol hyung. Am I not the best?” Sungjong asked his cousin with a really smug and happy expression.

“Ok, you are.” Hoya conceded.

“Thank you, Jong.” Sungyeol didn't know if that was true or not but either way he was thankful for his brother support, then turned to Hoya. “Thank you too hyung, for taking care of me one more time.”

“Oh, you don’t need to.” Hoya felt embarrassed and waved his cousin off only to finally take his smoothie in one go.

“Hyung, he is thanking you…” Sungjong looked at his cousin as if he was going crazy or something. “Savor this moment please, Sungyeol hyung was never like this…” Sungjong was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and closing and that could only thing Sunggyu had arrived.

They stopped with their previous conversation and moved towards the living room in order to greet the maknae but found Sunggyu still in front of the door as he looked at the floor.

“Sunggyu, you arrived.” Sungyeol greeted with a happy smile.

“I know I saw you yesterday but come give hyung a hug.” Sungjong demanded.

“I told you I would take care of your brother, see, he is fine.” Hoya also greeted.

No reply came. Sunggyu stood where he was, silent, looking at the ground in a defeated posture, the max he did was to try to hold the straps of his backpack nervously. The three of them shared a concerned look.

“Sunggyu, are you feeling well?” Hoya asked in worry.

“Did anything happened when you were in Incheon?” Sungyeol managed to ask right after.

“...” Sunggyu shifted his weight and bit his lips nervously.

“You can tell us anything Gyu.” Sungjong said as he got close to pat the boy in order to encourage him.

“I… did something bad.” The boys said and the three hyungs shared another concerned look.

“Did you misbehaved?” Sungjong asked softly.

Sunggyu head snapped up and he promptly shook his head to tell them that no, he didn’t misbehave.

“Then what happened?” Hoya asked and Sunggyu looked at the elder Lee but then noticed Sungyeol standing beside Hoya and looking at him with furrowed brows. He was quite happy to see his brother was fine but, after what he did, he didn’t have the courage to look in his hyung eyes so he immediately hung his head low again.

“I did something really, really bad.” Sunggyu said in almost a whisper.

“Did you fight with Woohyun?” Sungyeol guessed and he was halfway correct so Sunggyu nodded slightly.

“It’s ok Sunggyu, friends can fight.” Sungjong said as he ruffled the young boy hair. “You just need to apologize.”

Sunggyu bit his lips nervously again and the adults just knew that wasn’t the whole truth. “Did you beat Woohyun up or something?” Hoya dared to ask and Sungyeol was taken aback by his side, Sunggyu was a pain in the at some point, but he was not a violent kid at all.

“Worse.” Sunggyu said guiltily and as low as he could as his eyes watered.

“What?” Hoya and Sungyeol asked at the same time because they couldn’t hear.

“He said worse.” Sungjong clarified. “What can possibly be worse than…” Sungjong couldn’t properly finish his sentence because Sunggyu instantly interrupted him loud and clear.

“I told Woohyunnie, Sungyeol hyung loves Myungsoo hyung like boyfriends.” That confession made Sungyeol face drain of color and the boy promptly put his small hands over his face to hide. “I know I did wrong, but please don’t send me to the orphanage.”

Oh, boy!

It took exactly ten long minutes to Sungyeol register and recover from that information, that, after his conversation with Myungsoo, could him up again. It took more thirty minutes to calm a crying Sunggyu that was convinced he was the cause of the end of the world, and that he would surely end up in an orphanage, even if Hoya told him that orphanages weren’t prisons for children.

After that, they sat Sunggyu and Sungyeol in the younger bed so they could talk and the elder finds a way find a way to 1- forgive Sunggyu, 2- come up with something to fix this.

“Ok Sunggyu, why don’t you start telling me how and why you told Woohyun that? You promised me you wouldn’t meddle and that you would keep a secret.” Sungyeol started softly although by the end he sounded almost scolding.

“We were trying to find a song to rehearse for the festival.” Sunggyu muttered not able to look at his hyung in the eyes. “We had a list and we were ruling them out. He started ruling every love song out while saying that you two were not like that so I ended up telling him.”

“Ok.” Sungyeol took some seconds to process that information which made Sunggyu become desperate again.

“But, hyung, it was a mistake, I didn’t mean to spill the secret, but… but… Hyung, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to, I even tried to fix it.” Sunggyu tried to shake Sungyeol shirt for attention.

Sungyeol sighed as he took his brother hands out of his body, he knew Sunggyu was probably guilty and feeling desperate but his hands were not bringing the best memories right now. “You tried to fix it? How?” He ended up asking softly and then made eye contact with Sunggyu. “Please tell me everything so I can think of a way out for us because - I won’t sugarcoat - Myungsoo won’t be pleased when Woohyun tells him about it.”

“I tried to apologize because he was upset but I felt that if I were to tell it was a lie he would be even angrier with me…”

“So you told him Myungsoo and I were dating and our fight was a breakup?” Sungyeol asked at loss, god his whole sleeping day would be thrown out of space if he didn’t manage to fix this.

“Nooooooooo~~~” Sunggyu said, practically begging to be believed. “I told him that you love Myungsoo hyung, and it is not a bad thing and that you didn’t want to, but it happened and you can’t change your heart.” The younger blabbered.

“Then what?”

“Then he said you can’t love his dad because it would be unrequired and that it would break your heart and he doesn’t want want to see you sad.” Sunggyu dutifully informed and Sungyeol squinted his eyes at his brother as if he didn’t believe, he didn’t think Woohyun say this. “I swear I’m not lying.”

Sungyeol took a deep breath in so he just had some time to process that information because Sunggyu words seemed legit. “So Woohyun still likes me somehow? He didn’t say he never wanted to see me again or something like that?”

“No.”

“Strange.”

“He likes you.” Sunggyu said and Sungyeol didn’t think his brother was lying but he was perplexed.

“ We can figure out Woohyun love later, I need to know everything so keep talking.” Sungyeol urged.

“Ok.” The boy replied nervously then closed his eyes as he spoke, clearly in fear of his hyung reaction. “He asked why you don’t go back to loving Myungsook.”

“Kim Sunggyu, you told Woohyun that?” Sungyeol snapped appalled.

“Sorry, back then I didn’t know she was a code for Myungsoo hyung.” Sunggyu tried to apologize. “So I told him I heard wrong and that you love boys only.”

”Oh my god, what a nightmare.” Sungyeol rubbed his temples. “Did he even believed that?”

“Yes.” Sunggyu said guiltily. “So he asked me if you love Myungsoo hyung since that time.”

“And what did you say?”

“That I don’t know, and that you only revealed that to me recently, when you said to stop treating Myungsoo hyung coldly because it wasn’t his fault that you developed feelings for him.” Sunggyu revealed, kinda proud of himself and Sungyeol felt his body relaxing just a tiny bit, this was smartass save Sunggyu did there. Unfortunately, that only saved the young boy . “He then started thinking this is why you and Myungsoo hyung fought.”

“Hum.” Sungyeol said as he scratched his chin. “We'd have to be careful but I think I can work with that.” He mumbled to himself then put his focus back on Sunggyu. “Anything more I should know?”

Sunggyu looked everywhere before replying. “Yes.”

“Kim Sunggyu!” Sungyeol called and, by the tone alone, the young boy knew he should spill things faster.

“He kept saying that Myungsoo hyung would never return your feelings because he is married to his mom and that she is the only one he will ever love.” Sunggyu said and Sungyeol couldn't say that surprised him, it was exactly what he and Myungsoo thought the boy would say. “But I know this is not true, because you ALREADY dated so you two love each other and your eyes sparkle and…”

“I don't think Woohyun would like to know about that.” Sungyeol said softly.

“That's why I didn't tell him, so he didn't get more upset.” Sunggyu quickly explained.

“Then what you did?”

Sunggyu looked back at his lap and fiddled with the hem of his shirt nervously. “I told him it was ok to fall in love again. I told him that it was possible because mom fell in love with my dad after…”

Sungyeol suddenly lifted his hand and made a sign for Sunggyu to stop. “Sunggyu let's not talk about that.”

“But…” The boy seemed confused.

“I recently discovered some things about our mom that hurts me and are difficult for me to comprehend

so let's not talk about her, I can't fall sick because of that again. I have a lot to do in the upcoming weeks.”Sunggyu inhaled deeply and nodded in agreement. “Did you said anything else?”

The boy hesitated a bit before trying to wrap it up. “I told him if falling in love again wasn't possible I wouldn't be here. But he didn't like it and pushed me out of the bed and I fell into the ground…” Sunggyu rambled as his eyes started to water again. “Then he asked to go home and didn't talk to me again.” The boy said as he hid his face in his hands and started to cry all over again.

Sungyeol sighed tiredly and pet Sunggyu head. “Have you tried talking to him?”

“Yes, before we arrived home, but he pretended I wasn't there.” The boy sobbed.

Sungyeol pinched the bridge of his nose to alleviate stress. “Just when I managed to talk to Myungsoo this happens, urrrgh!” He groaned then squinted his eyes at his brother. “I hope you know you’re grounded.”

“I deserve.” Sunggyu said as tears started to fall on his cheeks and that made Sungyeol once cold heart, melt a bit.

“Come on, you don’t need to cry. I know you’re genuinely guilty so you won’t be grounded for long.” Sungyeol tried to console the boy somehow.

“This-this is not it.” Sunggyu sobbed then looked brokenly at his hyung. “What do I do? I don't think Woohyunnie wants to be my friend anymore.”

Sungyeol pulled his brother closer and hugged him a bit. “Don't say that! We will think of something” He tried to be positive as he patted his brother. “Maybe I should ask Myungsoo how we should proceed since this also concerns him. If he is ok with it, maybe I can talk to Woohyun and explain.”

“He won’t like it.” Sunggyu said.

Sungyeol leaned back then grabbed the boy by his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Maybe he won’t, but he also shouldn’t take on you. If he has to be angry then he has to be angry at me or his father.”

Sunggyu sobbed once more but ended up nodding but he seemed to still be thinking about that matter, so Sungyeol got up and nudged the boy to gain his attention. “Let’s play a bit with Sungjong and then you can help me kick Hoya hyung out so you can have your room just for yourself again. We can try talking to Woohyun after dinner.”

Sunggyu sighed but ended up agreeing, he was still scared of what would happen and scared that woohyun didn’t want to be his friend anymore, but he wanted his room for himself again because Hoya made weird noises during the night and that usually gave Sunggyu the creeps.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in the apartment across, Myungsoo tried to inquire his parents but the elders didn’t know much. They told him they heard a thud come from the room the boys were at before Woohyun started screaming and saying he wanted to go home. It was clear the boys fought, maybe even physically, but none of them wanted to talk about it and none of them seemed to hurt so Myungsoo’s parents hadn’t a clue about it. After that was informed, Sonmi seemed curious to know if Myungsoo and Sungyeol talked but Myungsoo skillfully avoided talking about that by saying he had a lot of things to work on and that he needed to try to talk to Woohyun. Once his parents were gone Myungsoo marched towards Woohyun door and knocked and asked but Woohyun didn’t want to come out and asked to be alone.

Myungsoo had managed to get some work done in the morning and once he got tired, he made some corrections Sungyeol suggested in his second chapter. It wasn’t like he was extremely fast, but things were working despite constantly spacing out as his mind drifted to the conversation he had the last night with his ex-lover. Even so, he decided to move his laptop to the living room so he could keep an eye on his son if the boy wanted to get out.

The young dad could say he tried concentrating but after he moved to the living room he just couldn’t.

Myungsoo could simply push the door open and just inquire the boy but he decided to give Woohyun some space, because if one hour trip from Incheon to Seoul wasn’t enough then he would take some time to calm down. He kept looking to Woohyun door, in the hopes his son would come out and open up, but time passed and nothing happened.

Myungsoo tried to think of anything that could cause a rift in his son and the little neighbor friendship but maybe his head had too many things in it because he couldn’t think of anything. Besides, he believed Sungyeol when he said that he didn’t have any intentions on telling Woohyun anything and that he would protect his secret, but then what happened?

As his thoughts briefly drifted to Sungyeol, Myungsoo placed his fingers on his lips as he recalled taking the initiative of kiss the elder. Due to their situation, it was clearly wrong, but just like the first time he kissed Sungyeol in the bathroom and the time when he (kind of) confessed, he didn’t regret. He didn’t exactly know what he would do but he didn’t regret feeling those plump lips against his again.

He didn’t know how long he thought about that but when he least expected when Woohyun finally came out of his room. “Daddy, I’m hungry!” The boy demanded.

Myungsoo instantly woke up as the perfect opportunity to inquire his son appeared. “Of course, let’s make some dinner together.” Woohyun seemed a bit suspicious but once Myungsoo got up to go to the kitchen he followed his dad.

Woohyun watched as Myungsoo grabbed some ingredients in the pantry and in the fridge then received orders to help. Myungsoo tried to give his son space during all the process of food making and the boy kept quiet, although sometimes he looked at Myungsoo as if inspecting him from head to toe, but once they sat to eat the young dad was done with that silence.

“Are you gonna tell me why you’re upset?” He asked once Woohyun was almost done.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Woohyun said and Myungsoo was a bit surprised, his son usually opened up to him without much effort.

“But you should.” He retorted. “Grandma said you fought with Sunggyu, what happened hm?”

Woohyun made a displeased pout. “Nothing.”

“Namu, come on, she said they heard a thud from the room you were in, did he hurt you? Or did you hurt him?” Myungsoo asked using a more firm tone and Woohyun angry pout intensified, he really didn’t want to talk about it.

The young dad was about to become frustrated when their heard knocks on the door. If it was any other person it would use the doorbell but Sungyeol and Sunggyu previously entered without such bureaucracy so when Myungsoo imposed closed doors Sunggyu settled for knocks. Myungsoo got up to answer the door hoping it was really the boy, at least he would get some help to crack his son, but when he finally opened the door it wasn’t only the boy that was there.

He was a bit surprised with Sungyeol presence but tensed when he saw Sunggyu red eyes and Sungyeol putting his hands on the boy's shoulders to comfort although he seemed a little nervous himself.

“What do you want?” Myungsoo asked more taken aback than aggressive.

“You don’t know?” It was Sungyeol turn to be taken aback, Myungsoo wasn’t angry, and that could only mean that he didn’t know what happened with the kids, otherwise he would surely be.

“Can we talk with Woohyunnie?” Sunggyu was the one to ask and Myungsoo blinked quickly at them then looked at Woohyun that was preparing to ditch the bowl and scurry off to his room, he quickly realized that they were probably here to solve the fight.

“Get in.” He ended up saying, he thought he hadn’t an option, but if they were here at least he would know what was this was about. As he said this magical words, Woohyun dashed to his room to avoid whatever confrontation might happen but Myungsoo quickly noticed his son intentions and intercepted him.

“No, daddy no!” Woohyun tried to squirm out of his dad hold as Myungsoo dragged him to the couch and Sungyeol closed the door behind him.

“Woohyun, if Sunggyu is here to talk you’re gonna hear and solve whatever this is.” Myungsoo said then finally put the boy on the couch and if Sunggyu weren’t sad he would have rolled his eyes. He wanted them to talk but didn’t want to talk to his hyung?

“No!” Woohyun insisted as Sungyeol gently coaxed Sunggyu into walking towards the couch.

“Woohyun, what’s wrong with you? You’re not one to act like that.” Myungsoo huffed as he finally was able to control Woohyun enough for the boy to stay seated but the oy made sure to glare at him, at Sunggyu that was by his side and finally set his glaring eyes on Sungyeol.

Sungyeol gulped a bit as Myungsoo looked from his son to his ex-lover then rubbed his hands on his face tiredly. “Ok, I’m clearly the only one in the dark, can somebody explain what is happening?”

“We…” Sunggyu was about to open his mouth but after the happenings of this afternoon, Sungyeol didn’t trust his little mouth anymore so he interrupted.

“Can I have a quick word with you?” Sungyeol asked trying not to show a panicked state in front of the kids but, by Sungyeol forced smile, Myungsoo knew the taller was concerned to say the least. He quickly nodded and starting moving to the farthest corner of his living room, but not before sending a warning to his son.

“Stay right there, I’m keeping an eye on you.” He threatened only for Woohyun pout even more, and avoid, not only his dad eyes but Sunggyu completely, as the adults reached the corner. “What is this about?” Myungsoo finally asked although he kept his eyes on his son.

“They disagreed about the song choice and things escalated until Sunggyu blurted that I have feelings for you.” Sungyeol tried to resume things by a lot.

“This can’t be happening not right now.” Myungsoo was not only perplexed he was becoming more desperate by the second, but the number of things he had to deal with weren’t enough, now there was one more problem?

“But we already discussed this, so… I just need to tell him now.” Sungyeol forced a sad smile because back then Myungsoo had told him he could tell woohyun about his feelings, but at the same time that meant he would take the blame.

Despite everything between them not exactly being completely ok at the moment, Myungsoo felt his heart squeeze, Sungyeol didn’t deserve that, mainly when he developed his relationship with Woohyun on his own. He wanted to stop the elder but Sungyeol seemed resigned and quickly walked back to the boys in the couch.

“There are things that I was keeping to myself because I thought it was too complicated and even unnecessary for you two to understand but I think we need to talk so we can clarify a few things.” He started firmly as Myungsoo walked towards them and sat beside Woohyun, he wasn’t ready for this conversation but he had to make sure to control his son when hell was unleashed.

Sunggyu looked at Woohyun, the boy seemed to be interested in this conversation but was still pretending he was very upset with it. Due to Sungyeol seriousness, Sunggyu raised his hand and asked something that would be more beneficial to his friend. “Can we ask questions?”

Myungsoo and Sungyeol looked at each other for a second before Sungyeol looked to the kids and replied. “You should take this opportunity to ask questions if you want.”

Woohyun immediately raised his hand and fired. “Why do you have feelings for my daddy?”

For a second Myungsoo was jealous because Woohyun didn’t want to open up to him but asked things right way to Sungyeol, but then that second passed and he just wanted to die because he knew this was a serious question.

“Woohyun!” He scolded as his face slightly got flushed.

“He said I could ask.” The boy fired back. “You didn’t know?” The boy squinted his eyes in confusion.

Sungyeol gulped hard as he watched Myungsoo try to rub his hand on his face out of stress. “I-I did.” After he confessed Woohyun looked back at Sungyeol and waited for his answer.

Sungyeol had to stop to fan himself a bit, this was perhaps as awkward for him as it was for Myungsoo, he decided to pretend his ex-lover wasn’t in the room .“Your father has a beautiful heart, don’t you think he should be loved?”

“Yes, but hyung, you shouldn’t...” Woohyun said with conviction.

Sungyeol not only forced a smile but he had to force himself not to look at the person they were talking about. “I can’t really change that, no one can.”

“But you’ll suffer then.” The boy put his anger to the side a second to show concern.

“Woohyun!” Myungsoo scolded again. “This is no way of talking to an elder.”

“It’s ok, Myungsoo, I can handle him.” Sungyeol thanked then returned his attention to the boy. “That can happen.” He confirmed

“But hyung~~~” Woohyun wriggled his body. “Mommy is the only girl daddy will ever love and he is already married to her...” The boy tried to dissuade Sungyeol. “Dad can’t return your feelings.”

Sungyeol looked intently at Myungsoo showing resigned sadness as if he was expecting this already and the said guy wanted to die, really. This speech of Woohyun was one of the few things that made Myungsoo heart shatter into pieces then combust, That hurt, a lot, as if he was condemned to be alone all of the very long life he had planned to have. And it wasn’t enough to hear that, did Sungyeol had to look at him like that?

“Myungsoo is a grown-up Woohyun, he knows what he can and can’t do better than you, more than that, he knows what he can and can't feel and it's ok.” Sungyeol said, he knew that a conversation about the young dad feelings should be done by him, there was so much Sungyeol could and would do. He then sighed. “But I’m aware of that. I know your father was once married and you just made clear what you feel about it, so if you’re uncomfortable with it and have to be angry at someone, I think you should be at me because your father has no fault in it.”

“I’m not gonna be angry at you.” Woohyun said with some confidence that surprised the three others. “But hyung-ah, this is not good.”

“But I can’t change what I feel, I already tried.” Sungyeol said sadly and that took Myungsoo completely aback, did this really happened? When?

“I told you so!” Sunggyu said after a little snort and Woohyun slightly pouted at him then turned to Sungyeol.

“How this is gonna be ok?” Woohyun asked confused.

“It's ok because I can accept what your father decided.” Sungyeol forced a smile then tried to check Myungsoo reaction but his neighbor just seemed plainly tortured by this conversation.

Woohyun looked from one adult to the other. “If you’re ok then is daddy the one uncomfortable? Is this why you fought?” Woohyun asked as he looked from one adult to the other and while Sungyeol looked at the boy's eyes Myungsoo chose to look away.

“No.” Both of them said which surprised Woohyun a lot, now he understood nothing again.

“It was because of school stuff.” Sunggyu tried to make his friend remember what he had been trying to say since Incheon and Woohyun immediately looked from an adult to the other waiting for confirmation.

Myungsoo gulped hard. “He is right.” He finally spoke after some time just wanting to disappear in a hole, but that was the tip of the iceberg only.

“I became Myungsoo teacher and the school says we can’t be close, this is why I’m helping him with his project and he is giving his best to finish it quickly.” Sungyeol explained then took a deep breath before adding. “When I apologized to your father about my behavior in the beginning...” He stopped and changed his speech as he found a better way to distort the truth. “We promised each other that we would do our best so you and Sunggyu would keep being friends, so we did the best we could to treat each other well enough for this to happen even if he knew about my feelings.”

Woohyun seemed to stop to think about Sungyeol words while Sunggyu continued asking. “Will you be able to be friends again when the project is over?” Of course he knew Sungyeol plans, but he asked this mostly to hear what Myungsoo had to say.

Sunggyu knew more than Woohyun so Myungsoo knew that that question wasn’t really about friendship. “Time will tell.” He ended up blurting quickly.

Sungyeol twitched his lips in a sad smile because he knew how uncertain their situation was now before talking again. “We are trying our best so our problems won’t hinder your friendship so why you would fight because of us hum? We, the adults, don’t even have much control over this so why you two want to in and try to fix something that you can’t?” Sungyeol inquired softly.

“He is right, you shouldn’t fight about us.” Myungsoo agreed a second later.

Sunggyu and Woohyun looked down at their lap and seemed to start considering the elder's words. Sunggyu had already been guilty enough so he was the first one to look at his friend.

“I’m sorry Woohyunnie, I was being dumb. I shouldn’t have said what I said.” He apologized but Sungyeol saw right through him. Sunggyu was telling Woohyun he was dumb to make him feel better and more likely to forgive him. Sungyeol was already preparing a long scolding for Sunggyu in his mind because the boy wasn’t being sincere, but the next thing Sunggyu said was, and there was no one that could say otherwise. “I just wanted us to be like a family again.”

Woohyun ended up being defeated by that argument because deep down he wanted that too, though mostly because he interpreted 'us’ as in him and Sunggyu. “Ok. I'm sorry too for pushing you out of bed.”

“Nam Woohyun, you pushed your hyung out of bed?!” Myungsoo was surprised with such behavior and the said boy closed his eyes to wait for his dad wrath, but instead, he heard his friend.

“I wasn't hurt so it is ok.” The elder said as he pleaded with his eyes for Myungsoo to let it go.

“You shouldn't fight anymore ok? We want you to keep being good friends.” Sungyeol said.

“Give him a hug to seal the deal.”  Myungsoo instructed, happy that this was solved and about to end. The boys quickly hug and kept apologizing in each other's ears as the adults watched them.

Once the hug was over, both adults seemed to think the case was closed, that they were done with this torturing conversation and that Sungyeol would probably get up to leave but no, Woohyun wasn’t done. Before hugging Sunggyu, Woohyun had been trying to think and make sense of the explanations he just received, and now he could understand things better but then there was something that no adult had talked about yet.

“Daddy, how long do you know about Sungyeol hyung feelings?” The boy asked.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol shared a desperate look for a brief second before Myungsoo replied trying to hide his nervousness. “A few months?”

Well, it certainly wasn’t above a year so his answer wasn’t exactly a lie but that way Woohyun could think it had not been very long. To tell the truth Woohyun wasn’t expecting an exact answer, Myungsoo could have said any amount of time because what disappointed the boy was something else.

“So… all this time Sungyeol hyung tried to be my friend to make you like him?” The boy asked with disappointment dripping from his voice, as he seemed to think the friendship he thought he had with Sungyeol was fake, and that surprised everyone.