Changkyun couldn’t work out why he was awake, not at first. A quick glance at his phone told him it was 2am. He’d only been asleep for little over an hour he thought groggily. Then he realised how quiet the room was. There was no snuffling coming from the bed on the opposite wall and definitely no snoring. Jooheon didn’t usually snore but he’d recently caught a rather nasty cold so for the last three or four nights that had been the background noise in the room as Changkyun had tried to get to sleep. It had been starting to wear on him a little but since Jooheon was legitimately ill it wasn't as if he could complain.

Right now though the room was blissfully quiet. Which meant Jooheon was no longer in it. And that was probably why he’d woken up Changkyun mused. Jooheon had gotten up for some reason and had tried to sneak out without waking him only to knock into something in the process. Changkyun shook his head and rolled over, burrowing further under the covers. He was so clumsy sometimes.

But five minutes later he’d given up on going back to sleep because his stomach was reminding him that he’d missed dinner and lunch could barely have been classed as lunch.

He threw back his covers and sat up, running a hand through his hair in a bid to make sure he looked at least halfway presentable. Then he got out of bed and started for the kitchen. That was probably where Jooheon was actually, now that he thought about it, in the kitchen raiding the cupboards. He hadn't had the chance to eat much today either.

Only that wasn’t where Jooheon was. No, he was standing outside the room Hyunwoo shared with Wonho, his ear pressed to the door. And unlike Changkyun he hadn’t bothered to try and make himself look even halfway presentable. His hair was sticking up in at least four different places and the shirt he’d put on to sleep was about two sizes too big for him and was hanging off of one shoulder. Changkyun stopped in the middle of the hallway, tilting his head as he considered his appearance. He came to the conclusion that he looked just the right amount of dishevelled from where he was standing for the fans to start squealing if they saw him. Walk a few steps closer though and they’d see that his eyes were still sticky from sleep and that the skin around his mouth and nose was red and chapped from him blowing his nose so often and they’d realise he was actually kind of disgusting right now. Although they’d probably ignore the snot and the sweat and think he was just as adorable when he was sick. Fans were like that.

Then Jooheon looked up and noticed Changkyun looking at him. His eyes widened and he put a finger to his lips to shush him. Then he was holding out his other hand and beckoning him over.

Changkyun thought about pointing out that he hadn’t actually been making any noise but quickly decided it would be a waste of time. Instead he responded with a shrug of ‘why not?’ and made his way over to stand next to him.

“Listen.” Jooheon hissed, nodding towards the door he’d just had his ear pressed to.

Changkyun did as he was told and stepped closer to the door.

All he could hear was the low rumble of Hyunwoo’s voice. He stepped back. “He’s talking to Wonho.” He observed, his voice hushed. “So what?”

Jooheon shook his head emphatically. “Wonho crashed on the couch.” He told him.

Changkyun briefly wondered why no one had bothered to move him then remembered that when Wonho was asleep it took considerable effort to wake him. Also he was heavy. It was all that muscle mass. “So he’s on the phone then.” He said next, still not seeing why Hyunwoo talking to someone was such a big deal. “He has friends that aren’t us you know.”

“But he was giggling.” Jooheon confided, his expression solemn.

“He laughed?” Changkyun asked, just to clarify. He failed to see the problem. Was Hyunwoo not allowed to find things funny now? Was laughing some sort of crime?

“No.” Jooheon corrected him. “Not laughing, giggling. He giggled.”

“Right.”

He obviously didn’t sound as shocked by this relevation as Jooheon wanted him to be because Jooheon rewarded him with a frown. “I mean have you ever heard him do that before?” He asked.

Changkyun shook his head. Because he had to admit that he hadn't. Whether he was being Shownu or Hyunwoo giggling wasn’t something Changkyun could envision his hyung doing. But then he wasn’t one hundred per cent sure Jooheon had heard him giggling either. He probably had a fever and was hallucinating. He briefly thought about checking his temperature but then decided he was under no obligation to put a hand to Jooheon's sweaty forehead. He wasn't his mother.

“Exactly.” Jooheon said, unaware of Changkyun's train of thought. He sounded triumphant.

Maybe a little too triumphant because the low rumble of Hyunwoo’s voice on the other side of the door stopped.

Jooheon froze.

There was the sound of blankets rustling and then feet hitting the floor.

Eyes widening comically in panic Jooheon grabbed Changkyun’s elbow and started dragging him back down the hall. Changkyun let him. He could try and explain to Hyunwoo that he hadn’t been the one eavesdropping, he’d been listening to the ramblings of a mad man not to his conversation but he doubted he would believe him.

~~~~ ~~~

After ten minutes of lying under the covers and pretending to snore as they waited for the flush of the toilet and the sound of Hyunwoo heading back to bed (oddly Jooheon’s fake snoring sounded more realistic than his real snoring) Jooheon was at it again. And by at it again Changkyun meant he was talking nonsense.

“It’s a girlfriend.” He was saying. “It has to be a girlfriend.”

“Why?” Changkyun asked, aware he was encouraging him but unable to help himself. “Because only a girlfriend could be that hilarious?” Talk about jumping to conclusions.

“No.” Jooheon said as if he was the one being ridiculous. “Because he sounded… I don’t know… smitten I guess…”

Changkyun almost snorted. “You got smitten from a laugh?”

“Yes.” Jooheon insisted. “It wasn’t the same laugh he uses when he’s with us.”

“That’s because the laugh he uses with us is his ‘I’m surrounded by idiots’ laugh.” Changkyun reasoned. Between Jooheon, Minhyuk and admittedly himself that was understandable. “He probably found whoever he was talking to genuinely funny.”

“I’m telling you, it’s a girlfriend.” Jooheon stubbornly repeated.

“Could be a boyfriend.” Changkyun pointed out. Arguing with Jooheon very rarely got him anywhere but again he couldn’t help it. Being contrary came naturally to him.

“No, it’s definitely a girlfriend.” Jooheon said. He sounded like a broken record. “You know as well as I do that Hyunwoo hyung’s all about the… you know.” Jooheon demonstrated what he meant by the ‘you know’ but making vague hefting movements close to his chest.

Changkyun rolled his eyes. “s?” he provided for him. Jooheon was twenty-one years old, saying the word s shouldn’t still be making him flush red. Granted, if Changkyun had been in a better mood he might have found the elder's embarrassment endearing. But he wasn’t in a better mood. He was tired and still hungry and both of those things were Jooheon’s fault. So he didn’t find it endearing in the slightest. Or at least that’s what he was telling himself.

“Yeah, those.” Jooheon said, taking no notice of the eye rolling. It was something he was used to. “I mean have you seen some of the stuff he has saved on his laptop?”

Changkyun had but only because Jooheon had shown him, he was a bad influence. And yes, most of it was pretty heavy. But he’d always been under the impression that it had mostly been downloaded for Wonho who used his own computer for gaming purposes only. “He could like both.” He reasoned. “People with s and people without. I’m sure I’ve seen him checking out Minhyuk hyung’s during dance practice more than once.”

Jooheon remained unconvinced. “Everyone’s checked out Minhyuk hyung’s during dance practice more than once.”

It was a valid point, Minhyuk had a talent for making his backside hard to miss but Changkyun wasn’t going to let that sway him. “I still think it’s just as likely that Hyunwoo hyung has a boyfriend as it is he has a girlfriend.” He maintained. “Which is not very because I’m pretty sure he has neither.” The group was doing so well, going from strength to strength. Changkyun couldn’t see Hyunwoo jeopardising that by secretly dating someone. If the media found out that could total his career and theirs. He was much too responsible for that.

“You keep thinking that.” Jooheon told him. “And when I prove you wrong we’ll see who’s laughing.”

“I wasn’t laughing at you.” Changkyun felt the need to point out.

“You're laughing on the inside.” Jooheon insisted.

He really wasn’t. If he was doing anything on the inside it was sighing with exasperation. But if that was what Jooheon wanted to think that was fine. If he kept arguing with everything he said then they’d be there all night. And he was tired. “Fine, prove me wrong.” He told him. “But before you start working on that can we get some sleep? We need to be up at five.” They’d had earlier wake up calls but that didn’t mean getting up five was something he was looking forward to. Jooheon was lucky he liked him and wasn't thinking up ways to make him pay for giving him a broken night's sleep.