After just a few days of taking the sleeping pills Sungjong was finally back to normal. At first noona would give him the pills, but she finally allowed him to take them himself. She was always watching him, though. But once a week had gone by, everyone seemed happy to forget all of his insomnia drama and Sungjong couldn’t have been happier about it. He felt like he could breathe again as even noona stopped watching his every move.

            He was still plagued with negative thoughts about his uality, but he decided the best thing to do was ignore his feelings. When Sunggyu Hyung had a crush on Julia he ignored his feelings and they seemed to manage. Well, for awhile at least until everything went crazy, but maybe that wouldn’t happen to Sungjong. Maybe it would all work out and no one would ever have to know.

            A few of them were hanging out in the main room watching television when Myungsoo joined them. Sungjong trained his eyes on the screen and didn’t even look up as Myungsoo lay on the ground beside him; their elbows touching.

            “What’s on?” Myungsoo sighed tiredly. He had been practicing longer than the others lately. Myungsoo tended to practice more when he had something on his mind.

            “Girls.” Sungyeol answered his question with a smirk as his eyes stayed glued to the screen.

            Sungjong had been watching the girl group perform their song focusing only on the dance moves. He really liked the girl group dances and memorizing them was one of his favorite hobbies. He looked to Sungyeol and the rappers and realized they weren’t just looking at their bare legs because they appreciated their dance skills.

            “I like her,” Dongwoo shouted as he tried to point to one of the girls on the left, but the camera cut away. “That one!” he shouted as she came back on the screen. She was cute.

            “I prefer her,” Hoya shouted as he pointed at a different girl. She was cute too.

            “Myungsoo which do you like,” Dongwoo asked. “Her or…… her.” The screen had fingerprints on it now.

            “They’re both cute,” Myungsoo said with a shrug, before he laid his head on his arm with disinterest. He looked up at Sungjong who kept his own eyes on the screen.

            “Which one do you like Jongie?” Myungsoo asked him. His beautiful eyes were piercing even when he was tired.

            “Ummm… that one,” he pointed at one of the girls at random.

            Apparently his choice was odd.

            “Was that the chunkier one,” Sungyeol asked with a laugh.

            “None of them are chunky,” Hoya said with a frown.

            “I didn’t mean to say she was, but she’s the one the others in the band are always picking on for it. Haven’t you seen their show?” They continued to watch. Sungjong wasn’t even sure which one he had picked anymore. “Ha Sungjongie likes chunky girls,” Sungyeol teased.

            “Yah!” They all jumped when they heard noona yell.

            She came out of the kitchen with a spatula in her hand and her eyes were furious.

            “Who said that? Was that you I heard Lee Sungyeol making fun of chunky girls?” Sungjong tried not to smirk. Sungyeol was in big trouble. Sungjong turned his head to hide his smile and saw Myungsoo was smirking as well. His sleepy face turned warm and beautiful when he was amused. Sungjong met his eyes for a second as they both laughed, but then they both looked away to watch Sungyeol’s scolding.

            “Noona, I wasn’t I swear,” his voice came out in a terrified squeak. It wasn’t often noona got mad.

            Sungjong was grinning even more when he saw noona was wearing her apron Hoya got her for her birthday the year before. A silly group shot of them with all their amusement park winnings stared back at the boys watching TV. He looked between her smile in the picture and her furious scowl she wore now and buried his face in his hands while he laughed. He was turning for air when it caught in his throat. Myungsoo was watching Sungjong laugh with that little smile of his. Sungjong’s heart beat fluttered and he buried his face again.

            “All girls are beautiful Lee Sungyeol! Whether they are chunky, or skinny, short, tall, have glasses, or braces, or…or acne… or” she fumbled as she tried to come up with more kinds of girls. The floor had bits of food on it now from her waving the spatula around. Dongwoo lost his cool and started rolling on the floor laughing.  

            “Noona I was just picking on Sungjongie,” Sungyeol explained. His arms were raised in surrender.

            “What is going on out here,” Sunggyu asked suddenly as he stumbled quickly out of his room. He had his serious leader face on.

            “Sungyeol-ah thinks it’s funny to make fun of chunky girls!” She yelled as she pointed the spatula at her victim with a deadly stare.

            Sungyeol was losing his mind. He really hadn’t said anything bad, but that just made it all that much funnier to Sungjong.

            Sunggyu’s face quirked as he tried to look serious, but he started laughing too. Noona was outraged and she started hitting him with her spatula. They were all rolling on the ground laughing now. Except for Sungyeol who was still a little worried.

            “Noona, why are you so mad?” Hoya asked suddenly. It distracted her from hitting Sunggyu who was rubbing his arm and laughing through the pain. At least it wasn’t a metal spatula.

            Noona mumbled something unintelligible as she looked down at the ground; suddenly embarrassed. Sunggyu, who was closest, heard her.

            His face lit up. “Really? Do you have a picture?”

            “Yes, but you can’t make fun of me,” she mumbled as she went to her room.

            They all looked at Sunggyu questioningly as she disappeared. He turned to them with a silly grin. “She said she was chunky when she was a kid.”

            “No way! I have to see this,” Dongwoo shouted as he got up off the ground and joined Sunggyu. Hoya and Sungyeol got up too and the four of them followed Sunggyu to her room in excitement.

            “You don’t want to go see,” Myungsoo asked Sungjong as he rolled onto his back. He was no longer watching the television. He just watched Sungjong.

            “I’ll see it later,” Sungjong answered with a shrug. He tried not to look at Myungsoo as he stretched his lightly muscled arms above his head and let out a noisy yawn.

            Myungsoo rolled back over as a boy group came on the stage. They watched silently as the men danced on their screen. Sungjong picked a favorite in his head after watching for only 30 seconds.

            He peeked to the side and saw Myungsoo’s eyes were locked on the screen. Maybe he’s picking a favorite too, he thought with a little grin. But he could just be sizing up their competition.

            He heard the laughs of the others returning before he could see them.

            “Noona you were really cute,” Hoya was saying. “Not that you aren’t now, of course.”

            “Noona, please believe me I wasn’t saying anything bad,” Sungyeol was still insisting. “I really love all girls. You know that noona. It’s me Sungyeol.”

            When noona came around the corner she had a Kim Sunggyu attached to her back. His head was down on her shoulder and his hands looped loosely around her not so chunky stomach as they followed the boys slowly.

            When she saw Sungjong she gave him a wink and a cheeky grin without Sungyeol seeing. Sungjong smiled as he realized she threw that whole fit for his sake. She always had his back.

            “Is there any ice cream in the freezer,” Sunggyu was asking noona in her ear. “Eat ice cream with me.”

            “Are you trying to make me chunky again Kim Sunggyu,” she asked as she narrowed her eyes and looked back at him.

            He just nipped at her nose with an unreadable look in his eyes. Sungjong remembered when everything went wrong with her and Sunggyu and noona had stopped eating. Sunggyu had blamed himself for the whole mess. They had all been worried about her, but no one had been as disturbed as Sunggyu. Sungjong had a feeling the image of her so frail and skinny would haunt their leader forever. It still bothered Sungjong.

            They made their way to the kitchen and disappeared, but the boys soon heard them giggling. Sungjong shook his head and looked back at Myungsoo. He had fallen asleep at some point. The tip of his nose was touching Sungjong’s arm. Sungjong couldn’t help but reach out and poke his nose tentatively with a little smile.

            Myungsoo was normally one of the hardest to wake up, but he suddenly rolled over. His eyes opened a little and he spotted Sungjong’s surprised face. Myungsoo gave him a sleepy smile before he rolled to his side and rested his head on Sungjong’s back. His head nuzzled comfortably right in the dip above his behind.

            This is normal. This is normal. This is normal.

            Sungjong looked to the others as they got comfortable again in front of the television. They weren’t fazed at all by Myungsoo’s new choice of pillow. Sungjong didn’t want to wake Myungsoo so he stayed in front of the TV for hours. Eventually he succumbed to boredom and passed out. He hadn’t been able to take a nap in a long time with all of his sleeping issues, but as he focused on the steady rhythm of Myungsoo’s breathing he somehow managed to doze off.  

            He woke with a start hours later. It was dark outside. He looked around and saw that he was alone. He put his head down and stared at the space where Myungsoo had been; wishing he could have his breathing lull him back to sleep.