V ~ I See You

“Party time…” Sanghyuk unenthusiastically sang as he raised an empty cup in the air. The group of six around the coffee table raised their own cups, half filled with soda while the others as empty as the light-blonde’s. It had become their own little tradition, to have a Next Chapter party two days before the start of the new school year. A day where they partied hard all day and night—well, some of them, considering there were a couple of homebodies in the group—and used the following day to rest, recoup, and give one last once-over to make sure they were prepared for the first day of school. It used to be that the group rotated homes each year, but ever since Hakyeon got his apartment, the eldest’s home became the permanent headquarters for such gatherings.

“Aw, is Hyukkie going to miss us that much?” The dark-brunette grinned. Had he not been standing on the opposite end of the coffee table with two friends standing on either side between them, he would have hugged the boy, but alas, if he were to make a move now, Sanghyuk would see it coming and either side-step out of the way or say something especially bubble-bursting to stop the dark-brunette in his tracks. The golden male’s smile was wiped clean anyway, however, as the maknae stared back at him with annoyingly slow blinks.

Hongbin stepped in. “How can he miss you when you still go to the dance academy?”

“He can miss my out-of-school charm and charismatic personality.” Hongbin briefly looked off to the side, then back at the eldest. He opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the slightly shorter male wrapping his arms around his broad shoulders. “Just like you did~” Hakyeon cooed.

The edges of Hongbin’s eyes creased and his mouth became a tight line with twitching edges. He glanced at Sanghyuk, but the sixteen-year-old only smirked back. The doe-eyed boy suddenly regretted helping the light-blonde out and wished he left the maknae to rot instead. However, he let Hakyeon hug him for a few seconds, in which the latter gave a little nuzzle to the brunette before gliding away to do the same to Wonshik. Hongbin stood as still as a statue, eyelids the only source of movement as Wonshik’s groans and Hakyeon’s chuckles overshadowed his processing thoughts.

The white-haired boy half-heartedly tried to untangle the eldest’s limps from his neck, but ended up making Hakyeon secure his grip and cling on longer as punishment. Wonshik sighed before downing the rest of his soda. “One thing’s for sure,” the eighteen-year-old said. “It’ll definitely be boring with Jaehwan-hyung not around…”

Said blonde grinned at him from across the table. “No, it won’t. I officially transfer my responsibilities to Hyukkie~”

The maknae turned to him. “Wha?”

Jaehwan nodded firmly. “Somebody has to be there to bring joy and laughter, and I feel that you are best suited for the position.”

It was now the nineteen-year-old’s turn to receive an uncertain, slow-moving gaze from the youngest, and just like that, Hakyeon found and took the opportunity presented to him. He swiftly left Wonshik’s side, but attacked the light-blonde calmly. Sanghyuk blinked in a flutter for a moment at the arms wrapped around his torso, but unlike the other maknae-line members, Sanghyuk relaxed and simply tried to ignored them. It was the last day for all of them, after all. He’ll let Hakyeon have his fill without much fuss…unless the brunette pushed it, of course, but Hakyeon was content where he was, so Sanghyuk slightly raised a brow at his fellow blonde, whose eyes had casted downward to the golden arms around the maknae’s waist. “Really?”

Brown eyes snapped back up as a grin stretched over the nineteen-year-old’s features. He tapped his glass with the index finger of the same hand that held the cup. “Of course! Your cuteness comes second only to mine, after all~”

“Please specify who exactly he’s bringing ‘joy’ and ‘laughter’ to,” Hongbin stressed. “It can’t be just for himself.” He eyed the maknae warily, but Sanghyuk only smiled.

Jaehwan wagged his finger in a ‘tsk, tsk’ motion. “That’s up to him. He just can’t do anything to make me regret my decision!”

“I won’t disappoint you, hyung.” Sanghyuk looked the most angelic the gang had ever seen him, and the room suddenly became quite cold. Wonshik scoffed nervously, Hongbin’s heart dropped, Jaehwan briefly wondered if giving the maknae such a big responsibility was a good idea, and Hakyeon and Taekwoon enjoyed knowing that they wouldn’t have to suffer any of the youngest’s antics.

And so, the party officially resumed. After squirming his way out of the eldest’s clutches, Sanghyuk brought out his Wii and suggested a friendly game of competition. Hongbin was the first approve, followed by Taekwoon, who narrowed his rather glowing eyes at the console in the maknae’s hands. Wonshik opted to pick the game and watch the three virtually kill each other, and Hakyeon sighed quietly to himself.

“I’m going to get some more drinks,” he said to the platinum, who had looked at him curiously when the dark-brunette got up. Wonshik nodded and turned back to his task. The twenty-one-year-old had to smile at the intense look on the younger’s face as he slowly contemplated which video game to choose, while Hongbin and Sanghyuk began making plans to buy some game coming out the following week and playing it till dawn.

Hakyeon really was going to miss seeing these rugrats everyday…

Not that it’s anything new… he thought, stopping midway into the kitchen as the sink caught his eye. The dishes from earlier in the day piled halfway up, and the smile morphed into a frown. “Those little…” He glanced back in the direction of excited chatter, but huffed. Turning on the faucet with one hand and grabbing a sponge with the other, Hakyeon mused that at least this meant he’d have less to clean up later.

A shout came from the living room, which was immediately followed by Wonshik’s and Hyuk’s laughter. “Not too loud!” Hakyeon called over his shoulder. I’m going to get reported one day if this keeps up… He pursed his lips and reached for th