winter

The first time Jisung notices something amiss is at the waiting room, the snow flurries falling thickly against the window panes, leaving the group of teenage boys shivering in their jackets and coats.

Mark is leaning against the armrest of the sofa, speaking unintelligible words to Donghyuck, who sits on it comfortably, his head tilting to get a full view of the elder’s face. Jisung notices the way they are in such unnecessarily close proximity to each other, and how Donghyuck’s eyes keeps flitting to Mark’s lips, before settling on the elder’s face again, wearing a slightly bashful smile. He grows acutely aware of how the rosy tint on Mark’s prominent cheekbones intensifies with every passing second, turning a positive shade of ruby when he grows conscious of how the auburn-haired male keeps stealing glances at his lips, his bashfulness now even more apparent in the reddening of the tips of his ears. And mostly, Jisung realizes how two people having a normal conversation shouldn’t be in that close proximity to each other. Shouldn’t they?

Weird, he thinks to himself, and rolls over on the couch. Either way, he will rather choose to squeeze in five more minutes of sleep over creepily observing his hyungs, before their group was called up next for the camera rehearsal.

--

The sound of snores fill the car as it zooms past the highway, heading back to their dorms. Jeno is fast asleep on his shoulder, his mouth dangerously wide open, drool threatening to leak onto him. Jisung cringes in disgust and tries to wiggle free, but to no avail, for Jeno sleeps like a literal rock; his head like a boulder on the 15 year old’s bony shoulders. The maknae cranes his neck around, all ready to complain and whine to his Mark hyung about the injustice being done to him.

He decides not to.

The sight of his two constantly bickering hyungs huddling at the back of the sweltering car (the heater is working exceptionally well today), all tender and soft as though they are never jumping down each other’s throats is an obvious enough sign for Jisung not to interrupt such a moment. He squints at Donghyuck, all quiet and affectionate as he rests his weary head on Mark’s shoulder (not that he minded, unlike Jisung) and the younger swears the two are holding hands under the guise of Mark’s coat. He slowly turns to face the front again, choosing to put up with the suffering under the imposition of Jeno’s head, rather than watching such an odd and puke-worthy moment between his two hyungs.

Friends don’t act like that, don’t they? The teenager wonders to himself. He tries imagining him and Chenle doing that and shudders, unable to picture such an atrocity. No, he thinks. These two are definitely not acting normal. He is going to find out why.

spring

The music blares through the speakers at the four corners of the practice room, pumping the adrenaline in the teenager’s veins as he takes center in the dance number the group is currently practicing to. Spring is full of endless rehearsals, practices, and preparation for the onslaught of music festivals and shows both locally and broad. Jisung can say he’s excited, but he is more certain of himself being exhausted, having to push his young body into executing the most intricate of choreographies, while tanking as the role of the main dancer in the group. Yup, he most certainly is exhausted.

He could feel himself losing focus as the group gets into formation yet again, when a yelp jolts him out of his dance-induced stupor. He whips around and sees Donghyuck on the floor, clutching his ankle, his face paper white as he bites his lip, trying to conceal the pain. In an instant, Mark was by his side, worry etched on his face.

“What happened?” Jisung asks, wiping his sweat with the back of his hand as he bends over the rest of the boys, who were hovering around Donghyuck.

“He landed badly after the formation. I’m sorry, Donghyuck, I didn’t support you properly,” Renjun admits, looking extremely guilty at the scene before him.

“Where did you fall?” Mark asks, gingerly inspecting the younger’s swollen ankle.

“I don’t know. I just heard a loud crack and I couldn’t get up after,” he replies with a waver in his voice, tears b in his eyes.

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Mark soothes the younger, ruffling his hair, “Jisung, go get some ice will you? Jeno, go get manager hyung, we need to see how serious it is,” the elder instructs, the natural leader in him shining through.

The maknae nods and heads to the ice dispenser down the hallway, filling an empty plastic with the ice. He shakes his head in worry, hoping that the seriousness of Donghyuck’s injury is not to the extent that he can’t perform with the group. It will be a real blow.

He returns to the practice room, and sees Donghyuck resting his head on Mark’s lap as he elevates his foot on a chair, his eyes shut as he starts breathing more evenly, while the elder his sweaty hair from sticking to his forehead. Jisung tries to make himself scarce as possible while trying his best to ignore the both of them, wordlessly handing the bag of ice to Mark. Luckily for him, Jeno and their manager, his saviours, appear shortly after, instructing them to suspend practice for the time being, in order to take Donghyuck to the clinic. Jisung watches Mark hoist Donghyuck onto his back effortlessly, as though the younger bears no weight at all, as he follows their manager out the door. Jisung shoots Jeno a questioning look, hoping their telepathy was working for the day but unfortunately, it isn’t, as the elder looks away to a guilt laden Renjun, who sits forlornly by the mirrors. As Jeno walks over to pat Renjun on the back and assure him that it is not solely his fault, Jisung ambles over to disturb an unsuspecting Chenle, making a mental note to save his questions for another time.

--

“Tell me again, why do I have to carry all the picnic baskets when we have six members?” Jisung whines for the umpteenth time, glaring bitterly at his hyungs who were walking a few steps ahead of him, free of any physical burdens.

“Because, you’re our trusty maknae, Jisung ah. And, I’m injured, so that makes only five functional members,” Donghyuck grins, clutching Mark’s arm as he limps down the pathway.

“I will injure the rest of you if you don’t help me,” he threatens, to the deaf ears of s. “Seriously guys, these things are heavy. I’m not the one who chose to bring so much food!”

“Fine, fine,” Mark relents, laughing at the maknae’s indignation as he relieves him of one basket. “If you hadn’t sprained your ankle it would be you carrying both of these, seeing you packed them,” he nudges Donghyuck in the ribs, as the tan male laughs gleefully at the perks he enjoys from having an injured foot.

Jisung was absolutely sure by now, that there was definitely something more going on between his two hyungs. He can’t put his finger on exactly what it was, but the way Mark has been more patient with the younger’s deviousness, and the manner in which Donghyuck looks at Mark as though he hung the sun, signals to Jisung that something had changed between them. He just needs his intel, Jeno, to confirm his suspicions.

To celebrate the group’s three wins in a row in music shows, they had decided to utilize their day off for a typical picnic under the cherry blossoms, the first type of fresh air they would be getting after long hours of inhaling the dank air of the basement practice rooms back in the company building. Together, Jisung and Jeno lay the mat down on a grassy patch under a particularly thick blossom, shading them from the rays of the sun. Both boys flop onto the mat in unison, Jisung albeit more dramatically after the exhausting task of carrying two baskets worth of food for six teenage boys. Renjun and Chenle had already run off, the latter’s high pitched screams audible in the distance, probably out of exhilaration in competing with the older to get their first and only Pikachu within the vicinity. Mark and Donghyuck on the other hand…

Jisung rests himself on his elbows and raises his head a little higher.

The pair were undeniably holding hands alright, discretion and privacy all forgotten. Jisung watches, half intrigued, half confused as the pair of them walk towards the Han River, Donghyuck limping a little as he clings onto the elder for support. He turns towards Jeno, who has an arm slung over his eyes, dozing off as soon as his head comes into contact with any surface.

“Hyung,” he hisses, whacking the elder lightly on his elbow. Jeno grunts and cracks an eyelid open at the younger, “What?”

“Don’t you think Mark and Donghyuck hyung have been acting weird lately?” he prods, observing Mark giving the younger a piggyback as they walk along the river bank.

“Weird, meaning?” Jeno asks, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Don’t act like you haven’t seen anything, hyung! They’re usually yelling at each other, but nowadays they’re acting so lovey-dovey, it's becoming unbearable. And Donghyuck has been so tame lately, he isn’t even half annoying as he usually is,” Jisung lets out, feeling an odd sense of relief for having spoken out after weeks of bottling all the oddity to himself.

“Huh? How is any of that weird? They’re just close as usual,” Jeno says dismissively, his eyes landing on the pair a few yards across them. “Or maybe, a little closer than usual.” he concludes, slinging his arm over his eyes again.

“Yeah, I’m sure close friends hold hands every time of the day and stare at each other as though someone served a rainbow out of his ,” Jisung says huffily, disappointed that Jeno doesn’t share the same view as him. He lies back down with a grunt and watches the cherry blossoms sway with every breath of the wind in stony silence.

“What’s your point here, Jisung?”

“I don’t think they’re just friends. Unless you know something, and you’re not telling me,” the younger pouts.

“They’re just friends. Unless you tell me you and Chenle aren’t friends based on how you treat each other everyday, there shouldn’t be a reason why they aren’t,” Jeno grins mischievously, his eyes glinting as he teases the maknae.

Jisung rolls his eyes and lightly smacks the elder on his shoulder. “Screw off, hyung,” he scoffs and shuts his eyes, dropping the conversation before it could go a