“Something is definitely up,” Hongseok finally said. He had been silent for awhile, pondering on his thoughts for a few minutes as he tapped his fingers impatiently against the wooden kitchen table, feeling anxious.

Jinho, who had volunteered to prepare dinner instead of Hong-mom after noticing how distracted the younger was about something, turned to him as he switched the stove off to let the curry simmer. “What do you mean?” Hongseok was standing just across him, watching over the eldest as he cooked to make sure everything was in order and that Jinho won’t burn their dinner, again.

“Wooseok and Yuto,” the younger’s answer came, the way he said it sounded off and it made Jinho tilt his head in confusion as to why the maknaes’ names were suddenly brought into the conversation. “They’ve been acting strange lately.”  

In contrast to Hongseok’s remarkable perceptive nature, Jinho was rather dense and oblivious to a lot of things happening within their group. He wasn’t insensitive, mind you. But despite his age, he had the attention span of a five year old kid, and wouldn’t notice if something was wrong most of the time if it wouldn't slap him directly on the face.

“How so?” Jinho asked, too innocently for Hongseok’s liking.

“They seem inseparable these days.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Hongseok defended quickly. “I just feel like something’s up, y’know.”

“Well… they could be dating,” Jinho put simply. The eldest never did fancy over complicating things. There was nothing wrong with them dating, right? And if he was being honest, Jinho had already saw it coming; Yuto and Wooseok being together.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Hongseok admitted.

It was Jinho’s turn to frown at the younger male’s assertion. “Why? You didn’t bat an eye when Hyunggu said he was dating Shinwon, what changed now?”

“The fact that both Wooseok and Yuto are still underage?” Hongseok pointed out as he casually leaned his back against the counter top with his arms crossed idly in front of his broad chest.

Jinho quirked a questioning brow at Hongseok which opted the latter to continue his previous rumble.

“I was fine with Hyunggu and Shinwon dating ‘cause Shinwon was older and he knew better, he knew what to do,” Hongseok explained then sighed deeply. “What if they’re already going at it? Wooseok and Yuto?”

“Wait. Are you suggesting that Hyunggu and Shinwon already have—” Jinho's eyes widened then he violently shook his head repeatedly to get the vulgar imagery of their main dancer and Shinwon doing nasty things out of his head. “I did not even need to about know that!” Though he was beet-red and embarrassed, Jinho made a face at the statement; he already knew where the conversation was going and what the younger was really worried about. “C’mon, they’re old enough to know what sort of decisions to make. Wooseok and Yuto are already 19.”

“But they’re still underage, hyung,” Hongseok emphasized sharply. “They aren’t adults yet. There’s a difference. And it changes everything entirely.”

Although Jinho wanted to argue with the ridiculous notion, Hongseok did have a point. “Okay, so have you talked to the both of them about this?”

“I asked Yuto a few days ago but he won’t say anything, he’s been avoiding me whenever I brought up into the conversation.”

“You were giving him the talk? Seriously, Hongseok?!”

“What? I should be. It’s a hyung’s duty.” Hongseok was unfazed and he seemed quite proud about what he had done. “My hyung did it for me. I want to do it for them but they won’t let me!”

“But that’s awkward,” Jinho added, his forehead creased in tight knots. Jinho might not have an older male sibling to give him his ‘coming of age’ talk but he could still vaguely remember how his dad tried to do the job instead and left Jinho traumatized. “No wonder he has been avoiding you. Can you blame him?”

“And that’s why you’re going do it this time, hyung. You talk to them.”

“WHAT?!” Jinho’s dark orbs widened incredibly.“Why me?!”

“’Cause you love me,” Hongseok said, matter-of-factly. “That, and because you’re the eldest.”

“You know this isn’t my kind of thing,” Jinho whined cutely to get Hongseok out of his back but he didn’t budge at all. Some kind of boyfriend he is.

“It will be now.”

“I hate you,” Jinho shot back, almost seething. But it was Hongseok, Jinho could never hate him even if he wanted to.

Hongseok smiled fondly. “Yeah, I love you, too."

Hwitaek was already stressed enough as it was with all their busy schedules, his own personal music production sessions, and never-ending practices without Hyojong bugging him for a few days about something he wanted to talk about, demanding that Hwitaek spared a moment. When Hwitaek didn’t meet his requests, the younger had harshly grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the rapper’s shared bed room with Yuto and locked the door behind him, being vigilant that no one would disturb them, facing Hwitaek, an evident sense of urgency graced his features.

“I think they’re having ,” Hyojong suddenly announced, and Hwitaek wasn’t going to take him seriously if not for the look he had on his face. “Wooseok and Yuto are having a go at it, I’m sure of this.”

“W-What?!” Hwitaek wailed that his high pitched voice slightly cracked, he was flustered but he still maintained eye contact. If it was some kind of joke that Hyojong was pulling on, it was neither funny nor creative. Not at all.

“Wooseok’s been hanging out in our room quite often and they’ve been touchy with each other,” Hyojong explained, playing with the hem of his shirt idly, some sort of habit of his he had picked up over the years. And he only did that when he was nervous. “It’s getting out of hand.”

“They could just be playing around,” Hwitaek reasoned. “Seriously Hyo, it could be nothin—”

“Don’t tell me it’s all fun and games when you know that’s how we started as well!” Hyojong snapped impulsively, eyes glaring at their leader. Hwitaek was caught off guard by the sudden reaction; he hadn’t expected Hyojong to act like that at all. It took a few seconds before Hyojong looked away, muttered a soft apology then dropped himself on his bed which was the lower bunk. “I’m sorry for being over dramatic, but Hwi, you know where they’re going. We’ve been there, done all that.”

Hwitaek wasn’t able to come up with an immediate comeback. But he knew that Hyojong was right. Heck, besides Hyojong’s unprecedented stubbornness, his boyfriend was right most of the time!

Both of them were the oldest trainees in Cube back in the day, just after BTOB debuted. They knew each other the longest, more than anyone, and there was no denying how profound and thick the tension was. Like most kids their age, they were naïve, curious and ually frustrated to the point that they had to relive themselves in the way they only know how— — and a lot of it. Hwitaek understood exactly where their main rapper was coming from; he was talking from past experience, their experience.

Hwitaek sat beside the younger, slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close to his body until Hyojong's side was leaning on Hwitaek’s chest. “Okay, okay. We’ll sort this out, just— don’t worry, okay? We’ll handle it.” Hwitaek tried his hardest to sound relaxed so that Hyojong wouldn’t feel so isolated. He needed to assure his boyfriend that everything will be alright. “So how do you suggest we solve this?”

“Do something.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?”

“Talk to them,” Hyojong said. “I think that’s the easiest way.”

Hwitaek frowned. “You now I’m kinda awkward around them, what am I going to say?”

“Anything! Just stop them before they have anymore in my room. I don’t mind if the stench is from ours but smelling Yuto’s and Wooseok’s scent lingering in our barely large room is a turn off.”

Hwitaek sighed in defeat, there was no use arguing with his boyfriend about it anymore. “Fine. I’ll think of something.”

“You better cause you aren't getting any if I catch even just one trance of in this room that ain’t caused by you or I.”

Now that was a threat.

“So….” Jinho trailed off awkwardly as he and Hwitaek stood in front of Wooseok and Yuto. After their traditional group dinner at the other dorm, the two had asked the maknaes if they could kindly proceed to Wooseok’s shared room with Kino, claiming that it was important. “Thank you for sparing us a bit of your time. This won't take long, we promise.”

“What is this all about, hyung?” Wooseok had been meaning to ask ever since the older dragged them into the confinements of his quarters. It felt strange, having other people besides Kino and Yuto in his own personal space. Not the bad kind of strange- it was just really strange.

“We came to talk.”

Yuto raised a questioning brow, not used to the two’s sudden attitude shift. “About?”

Hwitaek was staring at Jinho, silently communicating with his eyes, urging the eldest to say something first. But Jinho hadn’t understood what he meant; he blinked cluelessly like a child instead. Hwitaek ran a frustrated hand down his face and ruffled his hair nervously to prepare himself mentally. “So I presume that you boys are dating, correct?”

It took a whole minute but neither said anything. No answer. Interesting.

“We’ll take that as a yes,” Jinho concluded right away, the maknaes were slightly taken aback.

Now here comes the fun part.

Jinho cleared his throat. “So.. Umm, I don’t know if they even teach this at school anymore but we’ll try our best to provide you with what we know. We’re sorry if we weren’t able to do our part as your brothers but we’ll make it up to you.”

“What are you taking about, hyung?” Yuto asked, very confused.

But Jinho wasn’t listening, he continued on and on, he was rumbling but he didn’t stop. Then Hwitaek added, “you know how there comes a time in a man’s life where they have certain urges and would have this need to fulfill such urges—”

“What?”

“You know, urges,” Hwitaek repeated, even gesturing with his arms to aid the younger in understanding his point more. “Have you heard about the bees and the flower? Well, technically, there won’t be any flowers in this. Just bees. And more bees.”

“Oh my g-hyung, please stop,” Wooseok cut him off before Hwitaek could continue explaining, the maknae groaned in obstruction and wanted nothing more than to block out whatever his hyungs would say next. He was cringing so much, it was that bad.

“Jung Wooseok, that isn’t the proper way to talk to your hyung,” Jinho scolded.

“Can we not talk about this then?”

“Look, I don’t know about you two but we didn’t want to do this too.”

“Then why are you doing this, hyung?”

“Hong-mom is worried,” Jinho started. “And he’ll kick me out of my own room if I don’t talk to you.”

“Hyojong too,” Hwitaek added. “He thinks you and Wooseok had in their room.”

“WHAT?! But we never-"

“Not yet, you mean,” the eldest corrected. “You will, eventually.”

“HYUNG!”

“It’s okay, Yuto. It’s better to be educated now than to be sorry later,” Hwitaek said then shrugged nonchalantly.

Yuto looked like he had something more to say but Wooseok beat him to it. “Okay, fine. Say what you have to say but promise us you’ll leave us alone after?” Hwitaek’s face brightened at the proposition, immensely thankful that at least Wooseok was cooperating with them. It could have been far worse but the maknae eased the burden somehow.

Yuto honestly looked betrayed when he heard what the maknae said but Wooseok shook his head and spared the older a small reassuring smile. Jinho honestly found the gesture to be pretty endearing. They really good together.

“Where are you going, hyung?” Wooseok asked as he noticed Hwitaek retreating his earlier steps.

“To get my laptop. I prepared some educational presentations for you both.”

Wooseok’s mouth was left agape and Yuto whined in the background as their leader exited the room to retrieve his computer. Yuto then turned to Wooseok, his eyes were pleading, begging the younger to find a way out of the conversation. The hyungs were embarrassing.

But with how determined their hyungs looked, there was simply no loophole. Wooseok could only rub comforting circles on Yuto’s back, tightening his lock on their intertwined hands under the blanket when the older leaned onto the maknae as Jinho and Hwitaek took turns through a fifteen minute speech of the safest way to have protected, safe and pleasurable gay . Their talk included some of the risks they could encounter if they hurt each other and how the two oldest members of the group supported them in their quest for ual activity and would always be there if they needed anything; for advice, or for extra lube and condoms.

It was subtle at first, just casual conversation, nothing too extreme or too humiliating.

But then, the videos came.

Oh the horror.

Watching was one thing, but watching an explicit video with your hyungs while the other two were busy discussing the pros and cons of various positions was a whole different experience.

What did they do in their past lives to deserve such torment?

Yuto swore he never blushed that hard before as the evening wore on. He didn’t know how long he would last before he bolted through the door and left the dorm, uncaring if he would hurt his hyungs’ feelings or whatnot. Yuto made a mental note to kill Wooseok later after all of the torture was over. He's never welcome in my room again.

It was all Wooseok's fault.