Daniel was rewarded by a hug not long after the shooting ended. The person who hugged him was a tad bit shorter than him, yet he was the one getting enveloped in the said person’s arms. A bit unusual since he was usually the kind of person that gives hugs instead of receiving one. Daniel didn’t complain though. The hug felt comforting nonetheless.

“You look down today,” said the shorter male, hand reaching up to Daniel’s hair gently. “There’s only the two of us here. It’s alright to cry, you know.”

“Jinyoung,” Daniel called out as he broke free from the hug, trying to sound stern but failed miserably at it. What was the boy thinking? Well, it was true that they were alone in Jinyoung’s dorm room—he got dragged there as soon as the camera stopped rolling—but did he forget that they’re not completely alone, that there were also cameras applied on the room, watching their every moves? He looked up at the room corner where he knew he could find the camera, and frowned slightly when he noticed that the camera was covered by some clothes.

“Jisung hyung got them all covered.” Jinyoung shrugged as he sat down on the nearest bed. He patted the empty space next to him as if telling Daniel to join him.

Daniel glanced at the other corner and hummed in appreciation when he found the camera was also covered. “Did you plan this?” he asked as he plopped down next to the younger man.

“Jisung hyung did. He said you looked sad these past few days but you kept acting tough in front of the kids,” Jinyoung said. He cupped Daniel’s cheeks and made the taller turn to look at him. “He knew that you wouldn’t reject hugs from me so he assigned me to do this. You’re a softie for younger guys after all.”

“What?” Daniel bursted out into laughter and Jinyoung squished his cheeks to stop him.

“Stop it, will you?” He looked straight into Daniel’s eyes and Daniel stopped laughing right away. The serious look Jinyoung gave him was no joke. The shorter male then sighed softly and said, “You’ve been acting like the mean comments doesn’t affect you, but we know that’s not true.”

“So what should I do?” Daniel asked. “I can’t sue them, can I?”

Jinyoung seemed to think for a while before shaking his head. “No, no you can’t.”

“Listen,” Daniel said, placing his hand on top of Jinyoung’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know how scary this entertainment world can be, but I still chose this path. I want to debut, I want to be an idol. And that means I should get used to people fixing their eyes on me, judging my every moves. I know what I did was wrong. It was considered as cheating and even though those comments did hurt me, I’d take that as punishment for my reckless act.”

Jinyoung was totally not prepared for this.

He didn’t know his hyung could be this wise.

Not knowing on what to say, Jinyoung pulled the older man into yet another comforting hug. He placed a kiss on the top of Daniel’s head and said, “But that doesn’t mean you need to be strong all by yourself. You have us.”

Daniel wrapped his arms around Jinyoung’s waist, letting himself being hugged as he nodded slightly. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good boy.” Jinyoung patted his back. “Also, let’s sit down like this whenever we hug. I don’t like the height difference.”

Daniel giggled as he nodded once again. “Okay,” he said, snuggling in deeper into Jinyoung’s warmth.

God. Maybe Jinyoung was right. Daniel is a total softie for younger guys.