The first time we met Jaehyo I had expected Jiho to about being a pretty boy and then make some sort of off handed comment about there was no way he was as talented as the great Woo Jiho. None of that came though. He patted the pretty male on the shoulder and welcomed him to the group. I had prepared an apology ahead of time because Jiho always – always – managed to insult new people when he met them. He even did it when he thought he was being nice.

I opened my mouth to ask him about what had just happened but he waved his hand at me. I figured he was just tired and couldn’t be pissed with socialisation. He was like that from time to time. I knew I would have to bring up the fact that he was so nice to Pretty Boy Jaehyo though.

“You weren’t a .” I told him, not sure if he was unaware that he had been so nice. That was highly possible.

Jiho shrugged. “He looks gentle.” I knew that meant nothing to him, – I had been there when he made Yukwon cry on their first meeting – but the look he gave me told me that he was done with this conversation. “I have work. I don’t want to be forced to apologise for accidentally insulting someone again. Apparently I do that a lot.” He sat down and turned away from me. I didn’t believe that he didn’t know what he did. There was no possible way he was that wrapped up in his work to not notice the way people flitted around him so as to not upset him in some way. He had a bad habit of cursing at people and making them feel lower than dirt when they crossed him. He was getting better at it, but it still happened. Just not as often.

“Well, keep that up.” I patted him on the back and sat down in the other chair.

Jiho and Jaehyo didn’t get along. Jaehyo was soft in every way that Jiho wasn’t, and the two had nothing they could talk about. This seemed to bother Jiho because he always went out of his way to sit next to the pretty male at meals even if – after a short argument – they would ignore each other the entire time. Jiho was trying though, and that impressed me. He would serve up Jaehyo’s meals and make sure that there was always some left over just in case Jaehyo wanted more when he finished his plate.

Jiho just shrugged when I brought it up. “He’s gentle.” He told me again. That was the only word he ever used to describe the elder male. “I have to make sure he eats enough because he won’t do it himself.” He leaned back against the wall and nudged the door shut with his foot.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh?” I wasn’t sure why he cared. It certainly seemed like he wouldn’t be concerned with what Jaehyo did. They didn’t communicate at all.

“He’s not good at asking for what he wants.”  He responded, shrugging again. That wasn’t a good answer either though. Taeil and Yukwon weren’t good at asking for what they wanted either but he didn’t make sure they got everything they needed. Jaehyo was the only person he served food for, even though they ended up arguing about it every single time. “I have to make sure he eats well.” He pouted slightly as though the idea of letting Jaehyo go hungry upset him on a deep level. “You guys would let him go hungry if I didn’t serve his plate.”

“You don’t serve anyone else.”

“Why are you questioning me? I don’t want to be interrogated. Stop.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

I raised my eyebrow at him and he flipped me off. I thought he was being a bit too guarded about this, but I knew pushing it wouldn’t do any good for anyone. Jiho would just retreat into himself and disappear for three days. That was the last thing we needed. We had work to do and our boss had told me that one of my major jobs was making sure Jiho got along with the other members. Minhyuk was still fairly certain that Jiho might kill one of them. “Do you like him or something?”

“You’re judging me. Stop judging me.” He threw a stuffed animal at me. “You told me to be nice. Stop being a .”

“You’re being defensive.”

“Why the would you ask me something stupid like that? Are you projecting your lusty feelings onto me? Do you want me and you’re jealous that I serve food for Jaehyo?” He threw another stuffed animal at me. “Stop being a .”

“I’m sorry.” Jaehyo mumbled, staring at the ground after he messed up the same dance move for the seventh time in a row. He could not dance. He wasn’t the worst but he completely lacked all confidence and that made him mess up more often than Taeil. Taeil thought about the dance and Jaehyo thought about not screwing up. “I’ll get it. I promise.”

I looked up and saw Yukwon staring at Jiho and biting his lip. He probably expected Jiho to start yelling at the pretty male. It had been known to happen, and Jiho has lost his head more than a few times while we recorded the album. He liked to tell people to just do what he said and it would be perfect. People rarely did things exactly how they were in his brain. He was a perfectionist though.

“Maybe we can change this part?” Everyone stared at Jiho when he spoke. “Do you think that’s possible Minhyuk hyung?”

“Yeah sure.” Minhyuk shrugged but he looked just as shocked as everyone else. “Kwon and I can work on it later.” Yukwon nodded and moved a little closer to the elder dancer.

Jaehyo kept his head down. “You don’t have to change it for me. I’ll practice more.”

“We’ll change it. Don’t worry.” Jiho patted Jaehyo on the shoulder. The elder of the two looked up and nodded his head slightly, earning himself a smile in response. The room stayed silent for a few moments before the rest of the members scattered and decided it was time for a water break. Jaehyo scurried out of the room with a blush painted across his cheeks. It seemed like this pleased Jiho.

“Ji-“

“He’s gentle.” He told me before I even had the chance to question him. He always gave the same answer and even after all this time it still was a terrible answer. Especially after I had been there when he’d made Yukwon cry the day before.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Stop saying that.”

“I didn’t like that part of the dance anyway.”

“You didn’t bring it up before Jaehyo hyung messed it up too many times.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Stop interrogating me. I hate it. Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss of me. I don’t deserve the third degree; I’m going to cut your lines if you don’t stop asking so many questions. I hate it.”

I held my hands up defensively and he flipped me off.

The two of them kept getting weirder around each other. By the time debut came they couldn’t be near each other anymore. Jiho had given up on trying to serve Jaehyo food and the elder of the two didn’t even look at Jiho anymore. At least I thought that was the case.

“Hyo?” I walked into the dorm and I heard Jiho call out for the pretty elder male. “Are you hungry?” I stayed hidden so I could hear where this was going. I was starting to doubt that the two could ever be normal around each other.

“What are you cooking?” Jaehyo asked, it seemed that they got along just fine. I didn’t know what to think. They had been arguing just an hour before about something stupid – not even daring to stand on the same side of the dance studio and instead choosing to yell at each other across it like – and now they were playing house.

Jiho hummed. “I can make you ramyun if you want.”

“That sounds fine.” I wondered if they were just pretended to dislike each other around the rest of us. I decided that they didn’t want to confuse us. I also decided that they were stupid.

I listened to Jiho work in the kitchen and then walk into the living area. I had no idea how I hadn’t been spotted. Apparently the two were too enamoured with each other to notice another body in the room. “Here’s your food.”

“Where’s yours?”

“Cooking.”

“Cook it faster. I want to watch a movie.”

Jiho scoffed. “I can’t just make the microwave go faster Hyo.”

“Why not?” Jaehyo sounded whiny. It was like he wanted to be in the same room as Jiho and that it was incredibly bothersome that he had to wait for Jiho’s food to cook.

There was a soft chuckle and I assumed it was Jiho. “Because that’s not how time works.” The microwave beeped and Jiho hurried to get it and then returned to his spot next to Jaehyo. “Happy now?” Jaehyo hummed in response. “God, you are so needy.”

“I’m not needy.”

“You told me to change the way time works. You are way past needy.”

I started keeping a closer eye on my best friend, and spent far more time than I should probably admit to, trying to figure out what was going on between him and the elder male. After I caught their little house thing in the dorm I wasn’t sure what to expect from them. I certainly hadn’t expected to walk into the studio one day and find a pouting Jiho lying on his stomach on the couch. “You’re pouting.”

“Not.” He mumbled, pouting even more than he had been before I walked in. I chose not to call him on it though. “I’m pissed.” He told me after a while, but I didn’t believe him.

I pulled up a chair and stared at him. “Why are you pissed?”

He glared at me as though I had done something wrong, I was sure I hadn’t though. I had been very well behaved. “Jaehyo hyung blew me off. He was supposed to come here and he didn’t.” He huffed and lifted himself off of the couch just so he could flop back down onto it. This must have been his new way to show anger. It was just as ineffective as the ‘he’s gentle’ response that he had finally stopped using.

I raised an eyebrow at him but he was no longer looking in my direction. “Since when do you and Hyung hang out?” I knew they had been doing it a while but I needed to pretend that I hadn’t been spying on him earlier. “I thought you two hated each other.”

“I don’t hate him.” He snapped, once again being far more defensive than he needed to be. I was getting use to that when it was about Jaehyo. “He wanted to learn how to write songs so he was supposed to come by today so I could teach him some things. But he didn’t show up and just texted me saying he was going to a movie with Taeil hyung instead of hanging out with me.”

That was the last thing I had expected him to say, and I had no idea how to respond to it. I didn’t know the two of them hung out outside of the dorm. I didn’t know that Jaehyo wanted to learn how to make music. “Oh?”

He whined. I pretended that I didn’t hear it. “That’s all you have to say? He blew of the great Woo Jiho and you don’t even care.”

Jiho’s eyes got him in a lot of trouble. Girls thought he was flirting because he made eye contact with them, and on more than one occasion I caught him staring at Jaehyo from across the room. If I hadn’t known him so well I would have assumed that they were lusty stares. They weren’t though. Jiho didn’t make lusty stares at men.

After months of catching him stare at the ulzzang I finally asked him about it. I caught him alone in the studio and pulled his headphones off. I was probably the only person that was allowed to interrupt his work – though I was starting to wonder if he let Jaehyo do it too, they didn’t even argue over stupid things anymore and it confused me. “You forgot to come home for dinner last night.”

“Did not. Jaehyo told me he would bring me dinner so I didn’t come home.” He mumbled, rotating his chair so he could look at me. “He brought me nice things. He stayed here until two AM.”

I raised my eyebrow at him but he ignored it. I had no idea when they had gotten that close. “You stare at him a lot.”

“He’s attractive.” He shrugged. “I just want to sit on a park bench and eat candy with him all day.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “I like him.” I had no idea how he was so calm about what he was saying. He had never shown any hints of liking men and then suddenly he was telling me he wanted one of our friends that way. “Is that a problem?”

“Of course not. It’s just sudden.” I patted his thigh and he pouted at me. This was probably just as confusing for him as it was for me. He was the one that suddenly liked a guy.

He messed with a couple of nobs on his workstation. “Not really. I got over the shock months ago.” I opened my mouth to question him but he put his hand up to stop me. “We’re not talking about it. I like him, and no, I’m not going to ask him out. That stupid tattoo is enough proof that he won’t be interested.”

“You don’t know that.” I wasn’t sure what to say in these situations. I’d never had to convince my friend to ask a guy out before. Was that even the right thing to do? What if Jaehyo really wasn’t interested? That would cause tension and probably hurt everyone involved. “He did come up and spend hours with you last night.”

“He likes girls.”

They thought I didn’t notice. Jaehyo’s hand resting a little too high on Jiho’s leg, Jiho sitting just a little too close to Jaehyo wherever they went. Jiho said it was nothing but I wasn’t stupid.

“Do you want me to come up to the studio tonight?” Jaehyo asked, he probably thought he was keeping his voice down, but, as always, he was a lot louder than he intended to me. He was standing against the wall, smiling at Jiho when he rested his hands on either side of Jaehyo’s body. “I can bring food again.”

Jiho smiled and moved even closer to the older male. At my angle I couldn’t tell if there was any space in between them but I doubted it. They were being incredibly obvious and with as secretive as Jiho was about his feelings for the older male I was curious as to why they weren’t hiding this at all. “I’d say yes even if you didn’t bribe me.”

Jaehyo’s hands shot up and rested on Jiho’s hips. This definitely wasn’t nothing. “I’m bribing you regardless. I’ll be there at seven with take out.” There was some more motion between the two of them and then Jaehyo shoved Jiho off of him. “Go to work.”

“Come with me?”

“I’ve got things to do.” Jaehyo stuck his tongue out and shoved at Jiho again. “Go to work.”

Jiho pulled Jaehyo back against him and I heard something that sounded mysteriously like a kiss. Jiho would have told me if he was anything with Jaehyo so I knew it wasn’t that. “I love you Hyung~”

The next thing I heard was unmistakable. They were kissing and I was infinitely upset with Jiho for keeping that from me. He already told me that he liked Jaehyo, this wasn’t much different. “I love you too, now go to work. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Jiho smiled at him and then left the dorm, giving me a few seconds to decide what to do. In the last second I decided to escape and not ask Jaehyo about what had just happened.

The bed had stopped moving and the only sound in the room was heavy breathing. I realised that there had been plenty of times that I could have done something that would have likely stopped this event from ever occurring. Had I been more involved I probably would have known this was happening next door. “So… ah… Jaehyo likes girls huh?” I smirked even though they couldn’t see me.

A pillow was launched in my direction and I couldn’t help but laugh. Whichever one of them had thrown it obviously thought they were making a stand. “You told him I like girls?”

“I thought you did! I was freaking out.” Jiho tried to defend himself but the smack on his chest told me that he was unsuccessful. “Whatever, you like me. I don’t care about anything else.”

Jaehyo chuckled a bit and I heard them shifting around a bit more. “Don’t tell the others? This is our business.” He asked and I quickly agreed. Telling the others might make them feel uncomfortable and I didn’t want to do that. “We’ve been leaving hints all over the place, one of them will figure it out eventually. It took you long enough though.”

_______

I finally got some time to finish this :D yay~
So here it is and I don't really have much to say. It's not what I usually write but Zihyo is glorious.
Comments are appreciated. <3