"N-hyung is on Class A illicit drugs." Everyone turned to face the Maknae. 

They were use to this. Hyuk saying strange things, or at the very least, surprising odd things that ended up having a ring of truth. Things that were not common knowledge to the rest of them. The youngest had a way of digging up everyone's buried secrets and then constantly alluding to them to no end.  

This time his words were strange, both because---It was an odd picture—and it was spoken more straightforward than was typical of his methods. 

Leo playfully neck-sliced Hyuk, although his tone was a little done with the boy. "What are you talking about?"  

Hongbin was stiff. Hyuk's revelations or comments were usually to the chagrin of the visual.  

He had the expression where he was genuinely surprised but almost afraid to listen. His head was cocked forward in attention and his mouth held an almost smile, ready to become a full one if the joke was funny enough, but his lips were pursed with an amount of pressure ready to assume a fixed disapproving look if it was a particularly biting comment.  

Ravi interrupted, drowning out Leo's words. "Ah..and?" Hoping hyuk kept it up. They often told each other things that happened and this formulation of Hyuk, was a product of one of their many 'investigations' Sometimes, Ravi could incite people. At the very least he wanted to see how far Hyuk would go with it. He knew where it was leading.

They were all sitting around the living room area. They had plates and dishes, take-out scattered around, everyone had just had their fill. N wasn't around because he had a late schedule he hadn't returned from, but except for the leader and Ken-hyung who had left for the shower a minute before Hyuk opened his mouth, they were all accounted for.  

"I was reading this study done in the US. It said that when someone's in love their brain is like someone who has taken powerful drugs." Hyuk sat up straighter, he pulled out his phone, ready to reference the study he was talking about. 

Everyone's shoulders seemed to collectively slump down, at Hyuk's recent suppositions about N. No longer an issue of a threat of their leader's life, their resumed relaxed positions.  

Leo's eyes held thoughts he didn't speak, but he did avoid one person's gaze among them.  

Ravi, the most mischievous of the bunch, although his fans wouldn't guess, had that devilish smile appearing on his small lips. He pressed his mouth together, trying to suppress any amusement. He poked his tongue over the inside of his cheeks willing himself to keep a straight face. "Stop playing around." He said reprimandingly, but his heart was obviously not in it.  

Hyuk grinned, having found what he was looking up on his phone. "Here it is. They put two groups of people in a room, one group they showed pictures of their love and the other group people they had no interest in. The brain activity of people in love was like a person on Class A illicit drugs. Powerful kind. They did the study on 17 college students. It's really fascinating."  

Hyuk was a beast. He often did his best to treat his hyungs as friends which was not appreciated, given their age differences, speaking banmal at times and calling out their names without attaching '-hyung' to it. It grated on their nerves.  

Hongbin turned his eyes away, he was sticking a fork in his unfinished mound of rice. He looked like he simply wasn't interested in where this conversation was going.  

Ravi had punched Hyuk's arm, and was getting a hold of him by the neck. The strong Maknae pushed him off. "Ravi-hyung." He grumbled, half-laughing (because none of them could really physically restrain him, and it was funny when they acted like they were disciplining him.) 

"Eat your food, Hyuk." Leo instructed. He was swirling instant coffee into a paper cup.  

"What do you think Hongbin? Can you imagine that when you're in love your brain gets high?"  

Ravi who had the purpose of leading Hyuk from the room, loosened his hold, the devilish side of him overcoming any sincere desire to be proper.  

Hongbin was really good at the cold mask look. On camera he was often all smiles and laughter. Off-camera he was stern and hard to read. He wasn't cold in the sense Leo appeared to be. Hongbin just had trouble—always had—expressing his emotions and he was someone they didn't mess with if they could help it.  

Before his best friend and leader, Hongbin didn't smile as much. Now, he knew how to fake it as much as how to actually genuinely present himself more.  

It was a long day, no flashes of camera present in their home, he didn't have to excite his muscles and let his mouth assume a straight line. His face unreadable.  

He was normally a ball of reactions when he got excited, but as s knew, he didn't always laugh and smile every second as he did on broadcasts. Especially of late, now that he had overcome his embarrassment and shyness, he was better at acting like he was always having a good time.  

Hongbin was by no means a sullen individual, but given constantly fluctuating relationship with Hyuk, they were times when he found it best to not respond to anything he said. 

There was a glint of some kind of embarrassment, because his ears were starting to tint a little. He didn't like being put on the spot. This was a typical push and pull with the maknae since their debut days.  

Hongbin's close friendship with N was always under scrutiny. Hyuk openly and not so openly suggested to him about an inappropriate closeness whenever he could help it. Although, Hyuk was more reserved about it more recently, probably bored with getting a rise out of him.  

It was more that Hongbin walked the line of genuinely being friends with N, and not just seeing him as a Leader that he had to listen to. Ravi and Hyuk, didn't understand it because as the dongsaeng line, it was a unwritten rule to give the leader a hard time, which Hongbin didn't like to do. Ravi, himself was very close with N, but this wasn't something he displayed as loyalty when he teased N, despite appreciating him as much as hongbin, but as he thought (the same as Hyuk) not in the same way.  

Ravi had to bite the inside of his cheek again to keep from showing the full extent of his interest in hearing Hongbin's response to Hyuk's comment. Yes, he could be devilish. He just wanted them to admit what he could see so plainly.  

Hongbin kept his voice light. "What's that? Your new interest? You always move on to something else without finishing what you started before." 

"What's most interesting is that Love is a drug. They said in the article I read, that 'feeling in love is the best high you can get without breaking any laws.'"  

"That's great." Hongbin was finishing up the last portion of his food. If he was done, he could leave. He had been taking his time eating all this time, wanting to prolong it, but now he was trying to get done so he could just go up to his room.  

'The way the brain reacts to love is not the same as lust. That's the part I found really interesting. People always just say, love and lust are the same. They're not. I argued about it with Sungjae before I ever saw this article. The simpler parts of the brain are activated during lust.." Hyuk backtracked quickly. "This part isn't Important. The part I wanted to share is how love is like a habit, if you have continual exposure—or I guess you could say continue a relationship doing things like holding hands, gazing into each other's eyes..it becomes an addiction. What's interesting is the way they defined the word addiction. It's not used in a bad way. "a natural process that triggers a wanting or craving for something you desire." 

"But ah..I guess you're not really interested in things like this. Have you ever had that experience?" Hyuk was blinking with innocence.  

Although, Hongbin was quiet, he looked up fully prepared to retort in some way or other. 

"What has he experienced? What are you kids talking about?" N's voice floated into the room, making all, except Leo, jump with surprise.  

Jung Taekwoon just lined the coffee cup with his mouth and took another quiet sip.    

They hadn't noticed the door to the house open and someone's shoes clack into place. They hadn't heard the soft padding of footsteps into the living room before N's clear voice had rung out. 

Hongbin felt a flood of emotion go through him. It was like when the highest authority of the house came home. There was a sense of absolute protection that filled the house, now that N was home. It was warmer somehow without a change in temperature in the atmosphere. 

Hongbin spoke, 'Oh N-hyung, you're home." (It sounded like N-yong when he said it.)  

The same time Ravi said, "Oh Hyung."  

N shook out his jet black hair (now that he had removed all the dye) and beads of water shook everywhere. His eyes were shining with typical N enthusiasm. At least that's how it felt to Hongbin, N didn't have to be excited to give off a bright aura. His presence was so comforting. He was a very playful person, and it made you smile despite your best efforts. This was the very characteristic with which he had melted the introverted Taekwoon's shell.  

He was not the only member to feel that way about N.  

"Was it raining?" Ravi inquired. Hyuk was moving to show N the study, when Ravi redoubled his efforts and dragged him off, but not before he spit out the words,  

"Are you on drugs Hyung?"  

"Huhn?!" N looked chidingly at Hyuk. "You rascal, what are you saying now..."  

Ravi quickly intercepted. "Come on, Hyuk, don't bother N, Let's go. You said I was the messy one. Who's clothes are on the floor in our room right now, huhn?"  

"I'm sure those are yours.." Hyuk voice trailed away, but not before he cast a look at Hongbin before he left.  

"At least give me 1 min before you start attacking me with weird questions." N's words broke off into a laugh. A classic soft, husky chuckle. He was removing his socks and folding them together. 

Leo's soft voice broke clear. His whole tone and strictness with words was off when the cameras went down. There was no hesitation or delay in them now. There was the comfort of being home.  

"You just got done, Haykeon?" Leo finished up his cup and throw the paper cup like he was aiming for a basket during a game. He scored. 

"Mm." N acknowledged, he was removing his jacket while stepping onto the carpeted area. He knelt down across from Hongbin, grabbing the remaining cartons of food and digging a spoon through them.  

"You haven't eaten yet. It's pretty late." Leo pointed out. "You should take better care of yourself."  

N spoke through mouthfuls. "I know. I planned to eat sooner, hoped to eat with you guys. I ended up being late." He shrugged while chewing. "Can't be helped."  

N's eyes locked with Hongbin who had been silent since Ravi and Hyuk exited the room. Hongbin returned the reassuring smile, but with an added avoidant gaze towards N. It made the room much smaller.  

N's smile and voice softened a great deal when he spoke next, his hands gesturing to Hongbin's food. Like he was talking to a child. Like he was talking to a most dear and precious friend.  

N had a way of caring, even just by his tone. It felt like a patting hand on your shoulder.  

"You're done already?" 

"Mm."  

N nodded, his mouth pressed together matter-of-factly. 

Leo suddenly felt like he needed to leave, or heave, whichever one came first. He couldn't take the atmosphere.