“Yahhh!  JunHyung ah!”  DooJoon called into the dorm room when he finally made it home.  Dressed in straight leg jeans and a bold, bright shirt, he stood in the entrance to his home.  The week had passed uneventfully outside of the events that ate up all of the B2ST leader’s time.  He had gone to all the B2ST meetings, all of his show meetings, and all of his movie rehearsals, never once complaining to anyone but his close friends.  No one outside of his trusted confidents could hear him act weak; he wouldn’t let anyone see that if he thought they would think less of him. 

     “Aish, quit yelling…!”  JunHyung’s deep voice replied to the call from the living room. 

     DooJoon easily slid his shoes off and hopped over the tiny mountain of others’ shoes and trailed into the living room, looking down at his friend.  JunHyung, the friend in question, was lying on his side, staring at the television.  DooJoon bit on his lip to quit from laughing; JunHyung was just as exhausted as the rest of them but he was so comical when he was tired.  He laid like a rag doll in an awkward position; as if as soon as he saw a moment to rest, he took it, no matter what way he had to lay down. 

     “Let’s go drinking.”  DooJoon murmured, his eyes alight with the need to tease this kid.  They had earned a few days off and for a moment, could rest easy.  JunHyung was taking his time off by lying around like a lump but DooJoon wanted to drink.  It was the time of the week for him to get so intoxicated the world would spin for days afterwards. 

     However, at the sound of a possible drink, JunHyung pushed himself up off the ground, smirking as was his way.  The younger B2ST was dressed casually like his leader; dark washed jeans, a simple tee shirt, and a black hoodie; nothing too extravagant.  JunHyung zipped up the black hoodie he was wearing, nodding his agreement. 

     “It has been a while since we’ve gone boozing.”  JunHyung said to his friend, using the American slang easily.  JunHyung liked using English in his songs, but normally his speaking English was garbled nonsense.  On occasion, though, he’d get it right.  Especially words he liked the idea of and “boozing” was one of them.  To “booze”, the way JunHyung had explained it when he had learned it, was to have fun and get drunk.  So of course he could say the word perfectly.  He was strange like that but the smile had grown on DooJoon’s face when JunHyung used the slang.  The leader got a kick out of the few moments of English clarity the younger man got when the rest of his English was incomprehensible.

     “Yeah, with all the comeback work we’ve been doing plus all the extra schedules, it’s been a while since we’ve gone…’boozing.’”  DooJoon patted JunHyung’s shoulder, both of their faces adopting a grin at their bad English. 

     “Besides,” the leader added, “I missed your mean eyes.”  DooJoon could feel the tease in his words and knew his companion would be quick to snap back.

     “Yeah, well, I missed your horrible jokes,” JunHyung fired back, the smirk and the liveliness in his eyes contagious to DooJoon.

     As the duo walk out the door and lock it behind them, DooJoon puts on a fake pout, being overly dramatic as he says, “I’m hilarious!” 

     JunHyung’s grin grows wider as he shakes his head, pulling on the snapback he had grabbed before leaving the dorm.  “Whatever you say, man,” the hiphopper said.

     The older man turns around and walks backwards down the hall, smirking at the other man, “I can get funny, you can’t change those mean eyes.”  DooJoon feels like he’s won this battle, but JunHyung surprises him.

     “I can so!”  JunHyung then opens his eyes so wide and stares at DooJoon so seriously that the brunette boy nearly topples to the ground but lands instead in the wall, the laughter splitting his sides.  “You look like a wannabe HyunSeung!”  DooJoon calls, pointing boldly to the wide-eyed youth, laughing loudly.  DooJoon was a violent laugher, he tended to hit whenever he thought something was astoundingly funny and this time was no different.  However, instead of a person, he slapped the wall as tears welled in his eyes with his raucous laughter. 

     JunHyung stared at his older brother, blinking his eyes a few times as he too began to laugh.  The two men clapped each other on the back as they took off down the hall again, trying not to disturb the neighbors with their laughter.     

     “Yah, if we don’t hurry up, the kids will get home before we can get a drink in.”  JunHyung says, trying to quit chuckling to no avail.  DooJoon’s smile was infectious today. 

     ‘The kids’ was the affectionate term the older boys used for the rest of their members.  HyunSeung, KiKwang, YoSeob, and DongWoon would act even more lively on their days off and become rowdy kids…  They would, honestly, act their age.  The four younger boys would be carefree, their worries sliding off their backs for a day or two.  It was also a time for them to see their families for a moment and escape their idol standards.  Each and every boy, DooJoon included, would become a son again in the gaze of the mother that raised him.  They would feel the love in a warm meal and a kindly smile and for that moment…that treasured moment…  that idol could be a normal young man with his mother doting on him. 

     DooJoon reflected on his younger siblings for a moment before returning to the present with JunHyung at his side. 

     “Such a good dad,”  DooJoon teases the hip-hop styled friend, his tone comical but his smile gentle.  JunHyung would, when DooJoon was away, step in as the “father” to the group.  He would round up the kids and get them out the door in the morning and make sure they were all back home safe at night.  JunHyung would readily admit that he would never want to take DooJoon’s place for longer than necessary; the replacement dad found rounding up four other young men to be a nearly impossible task and couldn’t fathom how DooJoon did it day in and day out.  It was a hard job, but DooJoon was happy that it was him with such a wonderful burden.

     “Don’t you tease me, Yoon appa,” JunHyung retorts quickly, a smirk on his full lips.

     “Heh…I’m the proud father of five uncontrollable kids.”  DooJoon replies in his honest way, taking the moment to convey some of his feelings to his friend. 

     “I’m an uncontrollable kid?” 

     “Of course.  We all are.”

     “Very true…heh…too true.”  A chuckle ripples from one man to the other as they make their way to the front doors.

     “But we wouldn’t be happy if we weren’t a pain in the to someone.”  A smile graces one set of lips, warm, protective, understanding.  It flies away on the sound of the front doors opening and JunHyung stares at his brother, standing back some.  JunHyung’s eyes are contemplative, thoughtful, and as understanding as the smile his brother wore for a moment.  The leader may joke around about how his role of father, brother, friend would bear down on him but he would also never give up those titles.  DooJoon wore them with such pride, JunHyung could nearly see DooJoon wear those titles like the cloak of a grand king… 

     DooJoon glanced back, stopping in the street.  “You alright?”  He asks, his eyebrows shooting up in concern.

     JunHyung smiles at this elder brother and shakes his head, casting the image of a king to the recesses of his mind. 

     “Yeah, let’s go drink.”

     They stand outside of a bar they thought was long since abandoned, but still it stood silently in the bustling city that guarded it like a sentinel.  DooJoon eyed the worn windows, the faded sign, the squeaking door and so many memories flooded through him.  He saw the table the night he broke it, he saw the smiling faces of people cheering him on, he saw his initials carved into the top of that broken table.  The images came back to him easily; like an old friend.  JunHyung stood beside his leader with his eyes closed, listening to the shouts of the past rise up beside him.  He could hear the fights, the cheers, the cries, the laughter…  they reached out for him as if they were waiting right where he left them. 

     No words are exchanged as the elder boy pushes the door open, touching the door handle reverently, afraid it would disappear if he brought it into this moment.  It was like bringing the past into the present and it almost seemed taboo to both of the men that stood in their bright futures that they had fought for.  Fights had been held in this bar, not just between the two of them, but between them and their problems.  Would those confrontations still be waiting, barely resolved, behind this door?  Would they be able to overcome their hardships a second time?  As the door swung open to give them entrance, those worries of past battles disappeared.    

     The duo stand in the door way, the daylight piercing the darkness to light up their silhouettes in an ethereal way. 

     “Nothings…changed,” JunHyung says with a sigh but not one of disappointment.  His smile is warm as his gaze flits from thing to thing in the well-worn bar.

     “Ah, remember?”  JunHyung points to a crooked table…  the same DooJoon saw in his memories moments ago.

     “Heh…remember when we broke that table?”  DooJoon asks, smiling at the younger man.  The table in question had an evil crack down the center that was held together with glue and a prayer.  DooJoon and JunHyung had, several years ago in the trainee days, danced on the tiny table, insisting it would hold them.  The crack proved otherwise.   

     JunHyung smirks, a chuckle issuing from his mouth to be accompanied by his brother’s own laugh. 

     “That’s how everyone found out these tables aren’t that strong.  I’m still surprised we didn’t get kicked out that night…Why did we dance on them again?”  JunHyung asks softly, making his way to the very table that had seen better days and probably dreaded the arrival of the two men that had damaged it so.

     “Ohh…I remember…”  DooJoon’s smile is wide as he sits in the chair next to the memory, his hand gliding over the split with recognition.  “We were trying to earn a meal and a night in the bar owner’s house so we didn’t have to…”  DooJoon’s face falls as he completes the thought, “Sleep in the spa and dumpster dive…”  DooJoon’s eyes go cold and full of freshly remembered sadness and it causes JunHyung to shake DooJoon’s shoulder, desperate to get that pain away.

     “Hey, quit that.  Remember how he let us sleep in his house because we tried to fix it after it broke?”  JunHyung smiles up into his brother’s eyes, trying to turn the sadness into a happy memory.  It was hard; those days had nearly ended the two boys’s dreams of becoming great singers and musicians.  There were happy memories hiding in the sad ones but they were few and far between. 

     DooJoon seems to ignore the comment, his fingers scratching into another memory; his and JunHyung’s initials they carved into the wood after they had faultily repaired the table.  A smile pulls up DooJoon’s spirits as he touches the letters. 

     JunHyung’s eyes follow DooJoon’s and his smile grows quickly, touching his own faded letters.  “Why do you think they kept this table…?”  JunHyung murmurs fondly, scratching at the marks he left. 

     “Maybe they knew we’d get out of the gutters and their dumpsters and become something.”  DooJoon replies, his eyes distant, lost in the past. 

     JunHyung looks up with worry in his ‘mean’ eyes.  Quietly he orders two beers, the waitress leaving them without much recognition that they were B2ST.  The younger man cracked his own drink and sat back in the chair, thinking of a way to get that lost look out of his leader’s gaze. 

     With a smile, JunHyung sat his beer down as DooJoon opened his.

     “Hey, remember that time we went into the woman’s locker rooms on ‘accident?’” 

     DooJoon instantly smiled wide and JunHyung knew he had found a happy memory to remind his brother of.

     “We didn’t even see anything…  they were in sweats…”  DooJoon chuckles, sipping his beer.  Suddenly, JunHyung bursts out laughing, causing DooJoon’s eyes to go wide; it wasn’t like JunHyung to be so jovial. 

     “Yeah, sadly.  Ahhh…!”  The rapper catches his breath, grinning up at his companion with a wistful but happy expression on his normally stony face.  “Where did those days go…?”  JunHyung raises his beer to his lips, kicking more back as DooJoon smiles into the mouth of his own drink. 

     “Heh…don’t laugh, I’m going to get deep.  Maybe they’re in our palms.” 

     DooJoon watches JunHyung’s expression go from surprised to confused in no time at all. 

     “What do you mean, man?” 

     “Mmm…we used our hands to claw our way up from nothing.  Maybe our memories are in the hands that lifted us.”  DooJoon speaks so softly that JunHyung has to lean forward to hear him.  But as the elder brother speaks, JunHyung’s eyes go wide, not expecting such poetry from his beasty leader.  DooJoon sees the expression his friend wears and instantly his ears go pink in embarrassment.  DooJoon tries to wave his hands and dismiss the comment, smiling shyly into his drink. 

     JunHyung sits back again in his chair and studies the man he thought he knew like the back of his hand.  Where had such a beautiful statement come from?  Had it been harbored away along with those sad, challenging memories?  Was there more lying in wait behind the familiar surface of DooJoon’s personality? 

     “Next album…”  JunHyung begins, smirking to the person across from him, “I want you in the studio with me.” 

     DooJoon looks up from the initials he had been staring at again and his grin splits his face in such a happy way, JunHyung feels he did a good deed. 

     DooJoon truly was happy that his sentimental thought had been deemed song worthy and it read on his face. 

     JunHyung looks to the inscribing DooJoon’s fingers flit across restlessly and after a time lifts his gaze to his brother.  DooJoon’s eyes had gotten that lost expression as he stared at the carving. 

     “Hey, quit looking like that.  We had a lot of good memories here,” JunHyung’s head tilts to the bar the two of them had spent many days in trying to earn enough money to get a warm meal to fill their hungry stomachs.  They had seen each other fly above the clouds, land hard on their feet, cry with their souls in their heartfelt laments…all in this one place.  “We still have more good memories to make,” JunHyung concludes, smiling gently to his brother, his friend. 

     DooJoon’s eyes had shot up when JunHyung spoke, surprised to have been caught lost in thought.  He listened, half paying attention, still mired in the past heartaches and joys this place had been for him.    

     “I…I know, JunHyung,” DooJoon replies softly, his smile fleeting and small. 

     “Hey…DooJoon…if something is bothering you…you know you can tell me.  Remember that promise we made each other all those years ago?  No matter the situation…” 

     “You can confide in me…”  DooJoon concludes the promise they had shared a lifetime ago.  DooJoon’s hands pull away from the carving and they fall into his lap and with his eyes closed, DooJoon repeats the phrase that had bound these two young men together so long ago. 

     “No matter the situation… you can confide in me.” 

     DooJoon’s eyes open slowly and a smile graces his handsome, tired face.  Gently his gaze travels up to JunHyung who watches his brother with concern and pride.  DooJoon’s eyes reflected JunHyung’s; concern for the lives of the boys he leads and pride for what they’ve accomplished so far. 

     “You’re a good brother, JunHyung.”

     “So are you, DooJoon .” 

     A sigh, a smile, a chuckle, and a promise is remembered.