Daehyun sighed as he reluctantly turned off the warm water of the shower. Stepping out into the cold air he quickly wrapped himself in a towel, drying himself with the fluffy fabric. His hair was next, ruffling it briefly and then looking up to inspect it in the mirror. He liked how the pale pink and blue strands became darker when they were wet. It looked nice on his skin tone.

Finished drying, Daehyun pulled on his clothing. He heard the door to the bathroom open as he slipped his arm through a sleeve and watched as Youngjae started to search through the drawers.

“What’re you looking for?”

“Where do we keep hair dye...” Youngjae’s voice was quiet as he tried to remember.

“Did we even have any here?” The older searched as well, surprised that their stylists would even let them keep any at home. “What do you need it for? The orange doesn’t look any less cheesy yet, haha.” He meant it as a joke, but it was quite obvious that the younger did not take it that way when he looked up, his expression pained. “No, like…literally cheesy. It’s orange, Youngjae. It was a joke.”

“I’m looking for brown, not orange.” He huffed and slammed one of the drawers shut. Now Daehyun knew something was up. He followed as his friend rushed out of the room to check the other bathrooms. Brown? He wanted to get rid of the hair that fast? They had just began promoting though…why the hurry?

“You don’t like the orange?” He called as he stood in the hallway. “I actually really like it, yknow. It’s nice and summery.” When the only response was muffled rustling, he added “…look. Sorry if the whole cheesy thing got you upset…”

“It’s not that, Daehyun.” A downcast Youngjae appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame. His usually straight and proud shoulders were slumped. “I just…don’t really like how it looks on me.”

Daehyun knew that was a lie. He remembered how excited Youngjae had been with the new hair tone. He’d never done something so bright before, and Daehyun thought it fit his vivid self perfectly. His friend eagerly went along with the suggested orange, and smiled radiantly once the coloring was done and over. It really did suit him.

The way he was acting now, he might as well have been searching for a dark blue he seemed so defeated. Youngjae didn’t know but Daehyun could tell; the two lived together, he’d picked up on his mannerisms long ago. Deciding he wouldn’t pursue it farther to avoid making the younger more upset, he let him search, moving to sit down on the lumpy couch in their small living room. He reclined, squirming against the unusually stiff pillow. “What even-” he raised an eyebrow quizzically as he reached behind it and pulled out Youngjae’s tablet. Weird.

Because Daehyun was a little mischievous when it came to his friend’s belongings, he unlocked the screen and was surprised to find a comment thread staring him in the face. He read through the words, quickly noticing that it wasn’t friendly discourse.

One post stood out to him: “jimin invented orange hair, can sing, can dance and youngjae can…?”

What? He let his eyes scour the page closer, pinpointing everything that the author of the comment had posted. “youngjae wanna be jimin so bad” followed by people both agreeing and disagreeing. He felt his skin start to crawl. Is this why Youngjae wanted his brown hair back?

All this over his hair color?

He jumped up from his seat and nearly crashed into Youngjae, who was looking at him with hurt eyes. It burned Daehyun up inside.

“So you saw…” His voice was lackluster and passive, not the usual exuberant sound that Daehyun loved. “Look…I’m not blaming BTS or Jimin-ssi for any of this, it’s not their fault, but the point is some fans are upset and I don’t wanna bring any negative light to B.A.P so…I don’t mind dying it.”

Daehyun was fuming. What did Youngjae do to deserve this? “You like that color though, don’t you?”

“Yes, but-” He was stopped by Daehyun’s thick glare. It didn’t make him any more upset, however. He knew it wasn’t aimed at him, he was just being protective again. His heart warmed a little. “Dae, its fine. I can deal with it if it means the group will do better.” He smiled, causing the older’s fire to dampen a bit. It was a real smile, not as radiant as usual, but still beautiful. “If this is all it takes to be strong for the group then so be it. I’ll show them that you, our fans, and the other members are more important to me than hair.” He laughed, relaxing the tense man as they stood alone in the room. The breathy sound lit a different fire in Daehyun, and he gently smiled back. He was proud of his friend. He nodded once, pulled him into a hug, and relished in the warmth that coursed through his body at the contact.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll respect that.”

“Thanks.” Youngjae loosely hung his arms around Daehyun’s waist and rested his head on the older’s slim shoulders. “None of that should bother me when I have you.”

“Damn right, babe.”

“Please don’t call me that…” He smiled brighter when he felt Daehyun’s honey laughter filter through his chest. Comments like that didn’t matter when he knew he had someone who loved him like Daehyun did.