SungGyu decided that if SungYeol was a cartoon character at the moment those words slipped from WooHyun's mouth, his chin would have hit the ground in shock. Typical of SungYeol to add a hint of comedy to a serious situation. The varied reactions showed just how individual each member was. Naturally, MyungSoo barely moved, his eyes widened just a little. Hoya's eyes doubled in size, lifting his eyebrows right into his fringe. SungJong's jaw fell slack with shock but nowhere near to SungYeol's extent.
     Keeping his presence to himself, SungGyu relaxed against the wall, content with listening to the story WooHyun was going to tell. He decided it was probably as important for him to understand the whole story as it was for the younger members. Woohyun chewed nervously on his lip and kept his eyes firmly on the ground in front of him. MyungSoo seemed to regain his thought processes first. "You're gay...?" He questioned, not sure if he believed what he was hearing. WooHyun nodded, squeezing DongWoo's arm just a little bit tighter.
     "But you're always saying...Inspirits are your girlfriends!" SungYeol blurted out, making WooHyun flinch and Hoya whack the younger around the head. "What? It's true!" DongWoo cocked an eyebrow and laughed, the way they had reacted was a lot better than he'd expected, that was for sure. Manoeuvring himself onto his knees, SungJong shuffled across the floor and threw his arms around WooHyun in what was possibly the most encouraging sight DongWoo had seen.
     WooHyun's fingers shook as he wrapped his arms around SungJong's waist, hugging him tightly as the younger played with his hair. "You'll always be the same to me, hyung." He whispered. Peeking around the corner, SungGyu smiled at the embrace. Hoya and MyungSoo glanced at each other before smiling broadly. "I'll love you no matter what...That's what family does, right?" He sat back on his legs and wiped the tears from WooHyun's eyes with his thumb.
     DongWoo noticed MyungSoo was staring intently at him, a trace of a smile touching the edge of his lips. Cocking an eyebrow at his gaze, DongWoo said nothing and nothing was said in return. "You said on the phone..." Hoya started, hesitating as all eyes focussed on him. "That both DongWoo and SungGyu were involved...?" WooHyun nodded and returned his stare to the floor. SungGyu felt an odd sensation flutter in his stomach as he settled back to listen.
     "I'm not proud of what I did..." WooHyun started, biting his lip as DongWoo rubbed his back to comfort him. "I don't blame SungGyu hyung for hating me..." He took a deep breath and looked up, taking in the faces of each of his friends before dropping his eyes down to the fingers resting against his. "Remember when DongWoo persuaded you all to go practice without us because I was 'ill'?" DongWoo smirked at the memory, it was still one of his favourites. Around the corner, SungGyu stared at the floor in front of him in shock. If that was the start of it then things with DongWoo had been going on a lot longer than he first thought.
     Hoya patted SungJong's thigh and gestured for him to move back a little so they could all talk to each other properly. Scooting back into the circle, SungJong pulled his knees up to his chest and grabbed one of the cushions behind him to cuddle. "So...This has been going on for a while then?" Hoya asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He knew WooHyun wouldn't really want to answer questions but so many were floating around in his head. WooHyun nodded and glanced up. There were no disgusted faces, which made him feel a little better. "What started it?"
     DongWoo interrupted before WooHyun even had a chance to absorb the question. "It doesn't just start. Being gay isn't a choice." He clarified. The younger members all nodded to show they understood. "A straight person can't make themselves gay, just like a gay person can't make themselves straight." SungGyu glanced to the side, wondering if DongWoo knew he was there. None of them showed any signs of realising his presence so he stayed put and continued to listen.
     "It sounds really vulgar..." WooHyun murmured, staring more intensely at the floor than previously. "I had a dream about SungGyu and it spiralled from there..." SungYeol pulled a face. He knew how important it was to support WooHyun though and stayed where he was to listen to the elder's story. "I really didn't want to be gay...I thought that because it was a dream it wouldn't impact on my every day life..." He hesitated, drawing circles on DongWoo's thigh with his finger. "When DongWoo stayed behind so I could talk to him about it, we kissed...That's how it all started..."
     They sat in silence for a while. DongWoo was sure WooHyun was in danger of chewing right through his lip if he didn't relax a little. MyungSoo sat contemplating what they'd been told already, happy to just absorb whatever WooHyun decided to tell them instead of asking questions. He looked across at SungJong, who appeared to be deep in thought. The younger looked up suddenly. "What about Hyeri?"

     WooHyun flinched at the mention of her name. "I was desperate..." He whispered, looking truly ashamed with himself. The members glanced at each other nervously, none of them wanted to make this any harder than it had to be. Now that she'd been brought up, WooHyun thought it was only fair to tell them the whole story. "I met her just after we came back from Japan." DongWoo glanced away in embarrassment, drawing attention away from WooHyun for a moment.
     Nudging him in the ribs, WooHyun couldn't help but smile at how awkward their encounter in Japan seemed now. He welcomed the momentary distraction from the otherwise serious atmosphere. "I...Uh...Well..." He screwed his face up. "I thought if I was with a girl enough then the feelings for guys would go away..." WooHyun rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "But the more time I spent with her the more I realised that I wasn't in any way attracted to her." He glanced around again, expecting them to be mad with him for using Hyeri like that. Once again each one of their faces was calm and understanding.
     He felt brave enough to talk to their faces instead of at the floor but still chewed at his lip at random, awkward silences. "When I ended it with her I wanted to do it on nice terms...She tried to force herself on me and I got angry..." He noticed the raised eyebrows and slightly shocked expressions. "To be honest I'm surprised we haven't heard from her yet...She seemed pretty upset when I left..." SungYeol reached over and patted his knee comfortingly.
     "Maybe she doesn't want to make any fuss about it, just in case you tell everyone how ty she is." Hoya rolled his eyes, stole the cushion from SungJong and threw it at SungYeol's head. "What! You heard what he said!" Passing the cushion back to SungJong, SungYeol stuck his tongue out at Hoya and shifted over to sit beside MyungSoo, out of the elder's line of fire. "But what about Gyu hyung?" SungYeol asked on a more serious note.
     WooHyun rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I never wanted to hurt SungGyu..." Around the corner, SungGyu chewed on his lip, listening nervously to what WooHyun was saying. "I thought that...Because this all started with that dream..." He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I thought he was the one I loved and I focussed all my attention on...Well...Avoiding him to begin with..."
     "And that's how DongWoo got involved?" MyungSoo asked, receiving a simple nod as reply. The younger had been piecing everything together in his head while WooHyun was talking. "So basically...Because you were scared of the reactions you might have received, you hid how to felt to try and convince yourself you weren't who you are?" WooHyun nodded, smiling weakly at MyungSoo as he slotted the few final pieces into place. "Your willingness to help everyone really got you in trouble this time." He commented, poking DongWoo's leg with his toe.
     "Don't I know it?" The elder grinned, hugging WooHyun to his chest. "We all do stupid things when we're scared, that's just part of human nature." He smiled and looked down at WooHyun. "If this idiot had listened to me and told SungGyu in the first place half of the drama wouldn't have happened." WooHyun pulled away and scowled at him. They stared at each other for a moment before WooHyun noticed SungGyu's feet protruding from behind the wall.
     Flushing in embarrassment, he gestured to the others that SungGyu was there and leant out to look at the elder. "Hyung...?" He asked carefully, afraid that SungGyu would be angry with him. Wiping his eyes, SungGyu looked across at WooHyun and flashed a sad smile. Getting to his feet, WooHyun held his hands out to SungGyu and pulled him off the ground and into a tight hug in one swift motion. "I'm sorry I did this to you..." He murmured into the elder's neck.
     DongWoo allowed Hoya and MyungSoo to slide him across the floor as they hugged him from behind. The smiles on the younger members' faces was more comforting than they realised. He hoped everything would settle down now and things would start to get back to normal. All it would take was SungGyu and WooHyun's friendship to get back on track and they seemed to be making great progress already.
     "I should have respected your decision..." SungGyu whispered, tightening his fingers into WooHyun's back. "DongWoo was right...I can't force myself to love you...I'm so sorry..." Fingers appeared on SungGyu's arm, he opened his eyes and looked up at SungJong. Stepping back from WooHyun, the leader bit his lip and expected SungJong to pull him away. Instead, the youngest threw his arms around both of them and burst into tears.
     "You guys are so stupid!" He sobbed, allowing SungGyu to hug him tightly, ignoring the fact that the elder was laughing at him. Hands crept around WooHyun's waist, he didn't need to look around to know who they belonged to. DongWoo's chin came to rest on the younger's shoulder as they watched SungJong and SungGyu comfort each other. "Never ever let anything like this come between us again okay?"
     Hoya, SungYeol and MyungSoo joined them as they crowded around each other for a group hug. "We're Infinite, right?" Hoya called, smiling brightly. "We're a family, we love each other no matter what." He caught WooHyun's eye and grinned, "Let's promise not to keep any secrets from each other from now on, okay?" The rest of them nodded in agreement and, for the first time in a long time, the smile on every member's face was 100% genuine.

     WooHyun didn't think he'd ever been so relaxed in the final minutes of going on stage. He was in the frame of mind that, with his best friends behind him, there was nothing that could go wrong. The atmosphere in the waiting room was at least a million times more positive than it had been yesterday, the members were laughing and joking and enjoying each other's company again. DongWoo kept shooting WooHyun dirty looks in the mirrors, it was almost as if he was mentally preparing the younger for what would happen later that evening.
     MyungSoo threw a tube of eyeliner at the back of DongWoo's head. "Will you stop mentally undressing him please?" The tube was swiftly thrown back at him. He smirked as he recovered from ducking to miss it, almost getting the following wet flannel square in the face. SungYeol snorted at MyungSoo's disgruntled expression and hid behind SungJong to avoid any items being launched at him. Maknae didn't appreciate being used as a living shield and bopped SungYeol on the head with a cardboard tube that had been left in the room.
     Laughing at SungJong's creativity, WooHyun froze as a coordi attacked his lips with a makeup brush. He caught DongWoo watching as the fine hairs of the brush dragged over his lower lip. Once the coordi was finished, WooHyun's lips glistened with a coat of slick gloss. His lips looked so inviting that DongWoo had to force himself to look away before he undid all her hard work. "WooHyun ah!" Hoya called, said male glanced over his shoulder at him. "Your lips look kissable now." He commented, grinning broadly as the others cracked up. WooHyun smirked and shook his head, this sort of light teasing he could put up with quite easily.
     Grabbing the coat from the back of the chair he was sat in, DongWoo threw it over his head before leaning into WooHyun. The others whooped and cheered, thinking that they were actually kissing. DongWoo smirked and rubbed the tip of his nose against WooHyun's, making him blush just a little. "Later..." He promised, winking as he pulled away. Leaving the others to taunt WooHyun, DongWoo tapped SungGyu's arm and led him outside. "I wanted to ask you first." He started as they wandered up the corridor. "If you're comfortable with us moving back into the dorm."
     SungGyu sighed, thankful that DongWoo was considerate of his feelings after everything that had happened. "You belong at the dorm, with the rest of us." He replied simply, glancing across at DongWoo. "DongWoo...?" The younger hummed to show he was listening. "Do you think next time...You could be a little less blunt in your text messages?" Stopping suddenly and staring at him, DongWoo burst out laughing and patted SungGyu's shoulder.
     "Let me see your phone." SungGyu gave him a curious glance before handing the device over. Before he even opened the messages under his name DongWoo was already creased up, trying to contain his laughter. "Oh my God, hyung I am so sorry." SungGyu's confusion. "This one's from me." He pointed at the text telling SungGyu to come out of the room. "This one..." He scrolled up to the message about ing WooHyun. "That was from Hyunnie."
     Sighing heavily, SungGyu took his phone back and shook his head. "He's good at immitating you." DongWoo nodded and grinned. "I guess he didn't let you have your phone back after he send that then?" At least that cleared that up. SungGyu couldn't help but laugh at the awkwardness of the situation and hugged DongWoo as the younger slipped an arm around his shoulders. "If you guys want a room to yourselves I'll happily move." Taken aback by his generosity, DongWoo blinked in shock before doubling over laughing again.
     "Hyung, if we did that the rest of you would get no sleep." The blush exploded on SungGyu's face, adding to DongWoo's amusement. "I think it's best WooHyun and I sleep in different rooms, we don't want to traumatise anyone." The elder nodded, not really knowing what to say. DongWoo squeezed his shoulder before turning on his heel and leading the way back to the waiting room. The others were all ready to go by the time they got back. The blush on SungGyu's face made them all curious.
     Giving the leader an apologetic glance, DongWoo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned. "I think it's best you guys don't ask." He called, squeezing his way past the other members to WooHyun. "You are in big trouble." DongWoo purred silkily in his ear, squeezing his firmly. "I'm never letting you use my phone again." WooHyun realised what SungGyu was blushing about and let out a nervous giggle. The others were distracted by the call for them to go on stage and everything changed. Their professional sides came out again as they made their way, as a full, happy unit, to the stage. This was the first performance of the brand new Infinite and it was going to be the best ever.

~

Okay kids I wont be updating til monday at the earliest (most likely to be tuesday tbh)

I'm stupidly tired rn and I work night shifts over the weekends so getting time to write chapters has been increasingly difficult :B

next chapter is a scene which takes longer to write anyway OTL hope you guys understand <3

thank you for all the wonderful comments as always ^^ It's intriguing how everyone blames WooHyun for everything XD;