There's an uneasy feeling weighing down Minjun's heart. He did not know the cause, but thinking back, it might have started when he first noticed Taecyeon zoning out in the waiting room. He thought he had rectified whatever it was when he had his brief 'motivational talk' with Taecyeon by the door, before leaving the room. Everything had seemed normal again afterwards. Actually, even better. Especially when they went back to the waiting room after their performance; Taecyeon's smile had returned and the furrow in his brow had gone, as had the uneasiness in Minjun's heart. That was why Minjun had chalked it up to nervousness and anxiety for their comeback stage and left it at that. Yet the uneasiness began bothering him again not long after.

He glanced at s as they walked towards where their fans were waiting. They all looked worn out but that's not surprising considering their packed schedule of late. Wooyoung was not jumping around and Taecyeon was not being his usual goofy self. Still, they each had a smile adorning their faces, excited to meet their fans again. Minjun knew from experience not to dismiss his feelings totally but he decided now was not the time to address them. He figured he could deal with them later and enjoy the moment right then.

"We're crossing the road. Let's hold hands~ Kaja!" Minjun announced cheerfully as he grabbed Chansung's and Junho's hands, intertwining their fingers.

"Taecyeon-sshi, kaja!" Junho cheered along, infected by his hyung's liveliness, and went to take Taecyeon's hands.

Instead, Taecyeon grabbed his wrists and, with a stern "no", pushed Junho's hands away. He then put his own hands in his pockets, leaving Junho stunned and confused.

Oblivious to the exchange, Minjun continued their "proper way to cross the road" play with Chansung while waiting for the rush of cars to stop. He did not notice Junho retracting his hand from where it was clasped together with Minjun's and folding them across his chest.

"We should raise our fists instead, hyung" Chansung played along good-naturedly, inducing a hearty laugh from Minjun.

The cars stopped and they finally crossed the road, both of Minjun's hands now around Chansung's arm. It wasn't long, though, before he noticed Junho's awkward expression.

"Yah! Put your fist up!"

Junho felt a warm hand wrapping around his, lifting it high in the air. He turned to see his hyung who was smiling oh-so-brightly. His mood instantly lifted with that simple gesture and he forgot why he was upset in the first place. Smiling shyly, he did as he was told, playing along with his foolish hyung.

"There's that eye smile," Minjun thought, relieved that he managed to prevent another impending storm from landing on his plate since he had not resolved the ones that were already filling it.

By the side, Taecyeon watched the whole scene playing out, from the start of the childish play to Minjun's hands wrapping around Junho's. Amidst the fanchants screamed at their direction, Taecyeon felt his headache worsening.

________________________________________________________________________________

"What the hell is wrong with me?!"

Taecyeon began questioning his sanity as he watched, as if in slow motion, slender fingers slid up his left arm before moving away. It must've only been a couple of seconds. Just a simple touch without any thought behind it. Just another innocent act of habit. Yet, it effectively put Taecyeon's whole world to a complete halt. He had to consciously force himself from reaching out and grabbing that hand, so desperate was he to prolong their contact.

For the past few days, since the moment that cursed doubt had poisoned his mind, he had not been able to shake it off. He thought that if he was not occupying the same space as Minjun, it would eventually die down and leave him the hell alone. Then he'd be able to stop questioning their friendship and breathe normally again. Instead, even when he was alone in his room or doing his individual schedule, it just kept on nagging at him, poking and prodding until he felt trapped and suffocated. So much so that when he did lay eyes on Minjun, he had an unbearably strong urge to just walk up to him and shake him while demanding for an answer. Except how could he demand an answer, when he himself was not sure of the question?! He'd just make a fool out of himself, sputtering like an idiot while trying to put his thoughts into words.

"Just interact with him more. You'll see that you're just being silly, making a mountain out of a molehill," he resolved as he got ready to leave his home that morning.

"Ignoring it had not worked. Just face it straight on," he decided as he said his goodbyes to his mother and walked out the door, determination echoing in every step.

It was not long before he realized how futile his plan was as it left him with nothing but a mounting frustration. He had begun by trying to engage Minjun in a conversation. See, Minjun has this special way of showing that he's paying attention to someone when they're talking. He'd turn to face the person, lean his whole body in, tilt his head to make sure they have eye contact then hold their hand, shoulder, knee or whatever, just so that they have bodily contact too. It makes the person feel special, as if they were Minjun's only focus and what they say really matters. In contrast, Taecyeon was feeling anything but special. Since the moment they got out of the car, all he got from Minjun was his side profile or the back of his head. Except for some two-second glances his way, even when Minjun was responding to TEACYEON'S questions, all he got was Minjun's right cheek. Granted, Taecyeon thought that it's a nice cheek to look at, but he would rather look into two beautiful dark orbs. He had tried tilting HIS face to look into Minjun's eyes to a point that if he had tilted any further, he'd be pushing his face into Minjun's, quite literally. He was trying so hard to interact with Minjun that, unconsciously, about 98% of the time, he had his back to Wooyoung, who was standing on his other side.

Even more maddening, all his thinking of Minjun made him more aware of his every actions. For example, where his hands landed. Or his eyes. Or his head. Or even his whole body - which was frustratingly leaning on Junho at the moment. It was a normal Minjun-thing which he does all the time. Akin to a guy with no back bone and needed constant support, Minjun was always leaning on someone. Most of the time, that someone was Junho. It has been that way since before their debut. Even when these two had rooms on two separate floors, it did nothing to stop them from being close. Junho would go up to his Jun-hyung's room even if Minjun wasn't there as he had went back to Daegu, just because he missed him. Taecyeon knew this, had grown accustomed to their closeness and had never felt bothered by it before. However, right now, it was frustrating the hell out of him.

Increasing his efforts to at least be looked at, he had pretended to not understand their mission to make small hearts with their fingers, then pretended that he was hesitant to do it. For a second, he thought he succeeded as Minjun reached over to grasp his fingers and adjusted them to form the small heart.. However, only seconds later, his efforts were torn to shreds when their next mission came and Minjun turned to Junho straight away. It was just like that time during their concert when Minjun didn't realise he wanted to make a heart and left him hanging. Only now it felt ten times worse because in addition to the feeling of dejection, he was strongly doubting their friendship. Seeing the two sharing eye contact and then blushing all over was all he could do not to just drop everything and leave. He gritted his teeth, biting his lips in an effort to hold his emotions in.

So engrossed was he in trying to control his emotions that he didn't expect Minjun's touch. He hadn't realised just how much he was waiting for it until he felt it. Stunned, he watched, transfixed again, as those slender fingers slid up his arm as if in slow motion.

"I must be crazy," he thought, feeling numb while following the rest to where they had to make the big group heart.

The rest of the mini fan meeting went in a blur. He didn't even realise when Minjun laid his head on his shoulder or when Minjun finally looked, really looked, him in the eyes. All he wanted was for the fan meeting to end and finally be relieved of Minjun's presence. He needed some room to breathe.

"What the hell," Nickhun mumbled as he grabbed blindly for his phone.

2am. Great. He'd better be ready with a very good reason for calling at freaking 2am.

"'sup dude?" he asked as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Were you sleeping?" came the aggravating reply.

"No, I was just sharing an intimate moment with my pillows with my eyes closed. How 'bout you?"

The guy had the cheek to laugh sheepishly.

"Sorry man. You could've just ignored my call..." He trailed off.

"Yeah right, Teac. We don't call. Especially not at 2am in the morning. So what's up?"

He knew something must be bothering the guy since, as he said, they all don't call each other unless something bad had happened. The warning bells were ringing even louder since the call came at 2am in the morning.

"I just...can't sleep" Taecyeon replied, exhaustion combined with resignation lacing every word.

"Yeah? Want me to sing you a lullaby or something?" he joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

A chuckle.

"I wish that could do it..."

Nickhun sat up in his bed, re-arranging his pillows against the headboard before leaning on them and making himself comfortable. He had a notion that this was going to be a long night.

"Well, spill it dude. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out. Is it about the album? Are you stressed about that?"

"Nah. I mean; I am nervous since it's my first production. But it's not just that."

"Well, Minjun said- "

"What?! What did he say?!"

The desperate question interrupted Nickhun before he could finish his sentence.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Yeah!!! Managed to write something. Was really busy this week and I thought I wouldn't make it. Haha!

Is the story getting draggy? I hope not >.<

I get my ideas for this chapter from 2PM''s mini fanmeeting 20160924. Watch them to get a better picture :)

Also, special shoutouts to new subscribers!! Thanx for subscribing!! <3

funzzz

EunM15

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