“Ah hyung, keumanhae (stop it) ~ “Chansung whined as Minjun continued trying to nuzzle his neck.

“Hyuuung~ What are trying to do to uri Chansung?” Wooyoung chuckled as he was pushed further into the sofa by the maknae who was trying to get away from their hyung.

“Hyung! Hyung! Nal bwa (look at me)! Palli!” Junho called out, trying to get his hyung’s attention.

The chaotic sounds could be heard even before Nickhun opened the door to their waiting room. Tonight, they were going to perform their comeback stage on SBS Inkigayo but there were more important things on Nickhun’s mind. He turned the knob resolutely.

“Oh, uri Khun-Khun wasso (is here)!!” Minjun jumped up of from where he was on top of Chansung to wrap his arms around Nickhun.

“Hyung.”

That one word, said in that particular tone made Minjun instantly pause, his arms lowering. It’s not frequent that Nickhun calls him ‘hyung’. He only does it when something is wrong, and from his facial expression, it seemed serious.

“What is it?” Minjun asked, a little apprehensive.

“We need to talk,” he answered, covering one of Minjun’s hands that were still on his arms with his own, looking at the other in the eyes.

By then, the room had gotten quiet and one by one the others got up from their sit to crowd around them.

“What is it, Khun-hyung?” Junho.

“Is it bad?” Wooyoung.

“Hyung,” Chansung

“Aniya, adeura. I just need to talk to your hyung. Geogjeong mal (don’t worry)” Nickhun replied, ending with a smile to reassure his dongsaengs. Unseen, he slightly tightened his fingers around Minjun’s hands, hoping he would understand.

In response, Minjun turned around to face the kids before shamelessly announcing, “I know you guys love me,” to which the kids replied with a groaned “eeeeyyyyyyy” and eye rolls in complete unison.

“But I will be back in a jiffy before you guys even knew I was gone and play with all of you again, okay? Hyung will be gone for just a while,” Minjun continued, undeterred, raising his voice to be heard above his dongsaengs.

“Eyyyyy ka (go)!” Junho said, as he stepped away.

“Geunyang ka! (just go!)” exclaimed Wooyoung at the same time, dismissing his hyungs and following behind Junho.

“Aisshhhh jinja” breathed Chansung, shoving Minjun’s shoulder before he too followed the rest.

Minjun’s loud laugh could be heard trailing behind as he, together with Nickhun, stepped out of the room. More mumbles of complains from his dongsaengs accompanied them on their way out. Only when the door clicked shut and their hyung’s laughter and steps could not be heard did the complains stopped and the three guys looked at each other.

“They’re hiding something,” Junho started.

The other two nodded in agreement.

“What should we do?” Wooyoung this time.

They sat in silence for a while.

“They’re always doing this. Just because we are younger, they won’t tell us anything. I get it that they don’t want us to worry but we can help too,” Junho mumbled, not liking how they were left out of the loop.

“I know, but there’s nothing we can do now. Even if we force them to tell us, they won’t until they’ve found a solution so that we won’t worry,” Chansung predicted.

“Maybe we have solutions that they wouldn’t have thought of. So they should ask us too,” Wooyoung added, unsatisfied.

“Yeah, I get that. But for now, let’s wait and see first. Maybe it’s nothing or something personal to Khun-hyung and has nothing to do with us at all. You know how we all need someone to talk to sometimes,” Chansung tried to rationalize the situation.

The others agreed but in their hearts they can’t help but worry.

“So? What is it,” Minjun started, anxious to know what had his dongsaeng so worried.

“You remember when you started getting close to Taec?” came the sudden question.

Minjun did not expect it and for a second was totally confused. What has Taecyeon got to do with this?

“What?”

“Remember when we were trainees? You weren’t really close with Taec at that time right? What’s with your rooms being on different levels and all” explained Nickhun, trying to refresh Minjun’s memory.

“Ummm… yeah… so?” Minjun still could not understand where the conversation was heading.

“So I’m asking if you remember the time when you started getting close to him?”

“I guess so. But why?” Minjun was getting more confused by the second.

“Just answer the question, will you?” Nickhun pressed, getting frustrated with him.

Minjun raised a brow, wondering what has gotten into his friend’s head. Nickhun reached out and by reflex, Minjun clasped the hand he held out.

“Please, hyung,” Nickhun half-begged, tightening his hold.

“Aish. Jangkanman (wait). Let me think,” Minjun furrowed his brows in thought.

“Well, it should be during hot blood, you know, after the elimination and then after I was confirmed to be in 2PM instead of 2AM, as was originally planned.”

Nickhun nodded, indicating that he too recalled the time while also encouraging Minjun to continue.

“Yeah, since we were gonna be in the same group anyway, I thought I should interact more with him. Then, after debuting, we were put in the same room, so I guess naturally we got even closer. So, what about it?” he ended, still not sure where this was going.

“How do you feel about Taec when you first got close with him?” came an even more puzzling question.

“What’s with the 21 questions?”

“Please. Just answer. I’ll explain everything in the end ok?” Nickhun tried to reassure his hyung, feeling himself getting desperate at the rate they were going.

They have yet to get ready for their performance, and at this rate, he won’t be able to explain his suspicions regarding his talk with Taecyeon last night to Minjun.

“Fine, fine. I felt normal. Like getting to know a new friend,” Minjun finally relented.

“No, Minjun. Think, we've talked about this before. What you REALLY thought of Taec at the time?”

“Ummm…” Minjun was starting to feel Nickhun’s exasperation and began taking his questions seriously instead of at face value.

After a deep thought he finally recounted,” well, I remember admiring his courage, like how he went into the boxing ring first. Then envying how he could attract everyone with his goofiness; he was always at the center of attention.”

Unwittingly, his lips formed into a sweet smile at the fond memory, his expression going tender, along with his voice. Nickhun grinned while watching the changes in his friend that he did unconsciously. Maybe there was hope yet, he thought.

"Yes, yes. But then, I noticed when you guys talk, you would always end up pulling away first” Nickhun pressed again, “there was something blocking you from getting closer to him, right?”

“What? No. Aren’t we close now? We’re practically family; all of us,” Minjun quickly denied.

“No. Don’t keep thinking about the others. Just you and Taec. He was special to you. Not like the rest of us. We’re your brothers. But he’s different,” Nickhun continued insisting.

Minjun was starting to get nervous. There was a pounding at the back of his head but his heart was telling him to ignore it, warning him to not open that Pandora’s box.

“Ummm… no he wasn’t. He’s a fellow brother. Like all of you are,” Minjun hedged, pulling his fingers out of Nickhun’s grip.

“No hyung, wait. Taecyeon called me last night.”

That made Minjun pause.

“You asked me to talk to him, right? He called me first last night,” Nickhun quickly finished, not wanting Minjun to leave.

Minjun sighed, “ok. So what has him so worried and zoning out these days?”

His worry for his fellow member made him disregard the warning bells ringing in his head, asking him to leave.

Relieved that his hyung was staying, Nickhun continued, “he’s getting confused about his feelings.”

Minjun blinked. He did not expect that.

“Okaaaay…” he drawled, waiting for Nickhun to continue.

“Just like you were.”

“Ok hold on there. What has this got to do with me?”

“The reason why you used to be so awkward with Taecyeon last time. Think about it. Taec’s experiencing it now. But he’s not handling it very well.”

“Excuse me? We were awkward because we weren’t close at first,” Minjun rebutted, totally missing the point.

“You guys were sleeping in the same room! How much closer can you get?!” Nickhun’s voice started rising in his frustration. Why wouldn’t Minjun just see?!

“At the time I was busy writing songs till late at night! I had no time to really talk heart to heart with him! I had to practice dancing too! You know how bad I was! I need extra time compared to you all. Also, I wasn’t as outgoing then as I was now. So it was hard for me to talk to someone as outgoing as Taec! And besides, at the time, Taec was, he was… well he was busy fangirling over our leadja!!!” Minjun ended, his chest heaving, hands flailing everywhere, feeling as frustrated as Nickhun.

For a second, silence filled the room, only broken by Minjun’s heavy breathing.

“Ok. So how did you feel about Taec ‘fangirling’ over our leadja?” Nickhun finally broke the silence, putting air quotations around the word fangirling with his fingers.

“Oh, stop it will you with my feelings?! I’m leaving!”

Minjun pushed Nickhun away before stomping towards the door, agitation in every step.

“Hyung! Just think about it please!”

That was the last thing Minjun heard as the door slammed behind him.

“Adeura, where’s your hyungs?” Taecyeon asked as he stepped into the waiting room.

The kids were huddled together on the sofa around the coffee table but the two eldest were nowhere in sight.

“Hyung! Did Jun-hyung say anything to you?” Chansung immediately asked, the moment he heard his hyung’s voice.

That got his attention.

“Why? What did he say?” Taecyeon asked instead, trying not to sound too expectant.

“Aniya, gwaenchanh-a.”

That was suspicious.

“What is it? Tell me,” Taecyeon forced, making his way towards his dongsaengs.

Just as he sat himself down besides Wooyoung, the door was opened non-too gently and in barged a very troubled-looking Minjun and an equally frustrated-looking Nickhun who was trailing behind him. All eyes were on them as they made their way towards the table.

“Hyung, please, wait,” Nickhun still would not give up, grabbing Minjun’s arm for the umpteenth time.

Minjun shook his arm out of Nickhun’s hold and walk straight towards where Chansung was sitting, which was at the edge of the sofa opposite Taecyeon. He forcefully pushed himself between Chansung and the armrest then shoved his face into Chansung’s chest. For a second, his gaze collided with Taecyeon before he closed his eyes.

“I’m sleepy,” he announced with his eyes closed, “wake me up when it’s time to get ready.”

Nickhun groaned in objection.

“Hyung!”

“Leave him,” Chansung said calmly, putting his arm protectively around his hyung.

Even though he did not raise his voice or change his expression whatsoever, everyone understood not to go against his words. Chansung may be the youngest, but he can be the scariest when he needed to be. Right now, his protective instincts for his hyung was on high alert. Something was seriously wrong for his hyung to act this way.

Nickhun threw his hands in the air and sighed in defeat before sinking down next to Taecyeon. Taecyeon nudged him, then raised an eyebrow when he turned towards him. When Nickhun didn’t say anything, Taecyeon nodded to where Minjun still had his head leaning on Chansung’s chest, prompting Nickhun to tell him what had happened. Nickhun stared at Taecyeon’s face for a few seconds, before turning his gaze towards Wooyoung who was on Tecyeon's other side, then Chansung and Junho, sitting opposite him. They all looked at him accusingly, as if he was the cause of Minjun’s distress. Well, he was partly at fault, but the root of it was the guy who was currently nudging him in the ribs non-stop.

“What?! I don’t know, alright?! It wasn’t me! Jeez! You two need to settle your own problems! Why should I even care anymore?!” he shouted, shoving Taecyeon away.

All he wanted to do was help but he ended up being the one annoyed and frustrated. Not to mention blamed for something he did not do. As everyone directed their gazes to Taecyeon and Taecyeon sputtered his innocence, Nickhun decided, he too needed some sleep.

Firstly, does the korean parts annoy anyone? Cos if they do, I won't include them next time. Also, I don't know how to spell "edera" But they always call each other that. So if someone knows, please tell me ^.^ xoxo

Sorry if this chapter seems more Chankay than Taeckay. I've been having Chankay feels this few days. But I swear I'll go back to Taeckay. Teehee~

Pics that inspire me for this chapter:

Also, I have this feeling that Jun.k would go to Chansung if he feels threatened. Not sure why though. Maybe cos Chansung is the one who is always taking care of him like in these pics:

And also cos Chansung looks more mature.

But poor wooyoung got ignored here though kekekeke xD

aaawwoo Yeayyy great minds think alike!! ^.^ Thats y I put the pics at the end. So that people can imagine more realistically. Hahahah!

EunM15 I try to include all members but it's hard writing about 6 people all the time. Haisss. Taecyeon and Minjun are both pabos. It'll take some time before they realise. So you're gonna have to wait a bit longer. Sorry xP

funzzz I try hard to make the story seem as real as possible, so I had to watch lots of fancams and observe their every actions. Thats y it takes pretty long between chapters. I also have to figure out their correct schedule. Hahahaha! Thanx for reading!!