“What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Niel froze in the dressing room in the middle of pulling his shirt up.

“That,” Ricky stepped closer. “On your—OMG hyung are you hurt!?”

“W,what!?” Niel quickly pulled his shirt down back over his torso, his face paled. “W,what are you talking about, Changhyun?”

“On your rib there was a bruise. It looked bad,” Ricky frowned.

“It… really? Haha I don’t know then,” Niel said and turned away.

Ricky frowned and couldn’t help but notice the way that Niel’s shoulders seemed to slump and the way his hands trembled as he reached for the clothes for the day’s schedule.

“Niel…?” Ricky asked. “Are you sure you’re—“

“I’m fine!” Niel cut in, laughing a bit. “Uhm I think I must have tripped or something. I don’t know. It doesn’t hurt so I didn’t really notice it until you said anything. It’s not like anything crazy or bad happened like I said I just don’t know. If it was anything crazy I would have said something so just… I dunno I must have bumped into a corner and it bruised!”

He was talking so fast and Ricky felt like he was being pelted by the words.

“Hey you don’t have to get defensive about it!” Ricky said raising his hands in front of him.

“I’m not getting defensive!” Niel shot back.

Ricky frowned and turned away, “Whatever. It was just a question.”

“Well don’t.”

“Sheesh. Sorry for asking.”

Ricky walked away, grabbing his clothes intending on leaving Niel alone. It annoyed him so much that Niel just snapped on him about such a simple question. He didn’t even ask about how he got bruise just if it hurt and yet Niel immediately tensed up.

“Wait Changhyun I’m sorry,” Niel stopped Ricky from going by putting a had on hs arm. “You’re right I was defensive. It’s really nothing. It was just C.A.P hyung and I…we were just playing around and then it was there.”

“And then it was there?” Ricky quirked his brow.

“Yeah I dunno how to explain it just don’t worry about it. It really doesn’t hurt. I didn’t even notice it was there. I don’t want you to worry.”

“I’m not,” Ricky said.

“Good. And…don’t tell anyone about it ok. Not Chanhee or Byunghun especially. I think they’re trying to… uhm,” Niel seemed to be searching for a way to word it. “They’re trying to make me out to be clumsier than them or something. It’s not true, you know. They’re still clumsier than me.”

Ricky smiled brightly, “Don’t worry, hyung! We all know that.”

Niel smiled back with a look of relief in his eyes.

-----

“What’s that all about?” Chunji asked pulling Ricky over as soon as he finished his talk with Niel. “Did you make fun of his lips again?”

“No!” Ricky frowned. “I didn’t do anything! “

He yanked his arm from Chunji’s hold and smoothed out the wrinkle that formed. L.Joe frowned as he shrugged on his jacket.

“Well, how did he get it?” L.Joe asked.

“Huh?” Ricky’s brow furrowed. “Get what?”

“The bruise on his rib… We saw it too. Didn’t you ask?” Chunji inquired.

“I don’t know. He said he tripped or bumped into something,” answered Ricky, remembering to keep Niel’s secret.

“Which is it?”

“Which is what?” asked Ricky.

“Well, did he bump into something or did he trip? Or did he give both excuses at once?” L.Joe clarified.

“Is it just me or does he seem more clumsy lately,” Chunji sighed.

“Even more than you?” L.Joe said grinning up at his friend.

“Haha like you’re one to talk,” Chunji laughed.

“Let’s just agree that you’re a pair of unfortunates,” Ricky suggested.

“No but seriously… the other week what was it?” L.Joe continued, ignoring the visual maknae. “He said he ‘smashed his fingers in the car door’ or something like that? Who does that?“

“Shh, ,” Chunji raised his hand stopping L.Joe from speaking.

“I’m just saying—“

Ricky looked at his hyungs curiously and didn’t miss the way Chunji gestured with his eyes over to Ricky and L.Joe immediately stopped talking. Ricky didn’t know why though. He remembered the day Niel got his fingers caught in the door. There was this gross black bruise around 3 of his left fingers and he could barely bend them but nothing was broken. It was pretty careless to slam a door onto someone’s fingers but it wasn’t impossible. If anything it was just really unlucky.

-----

“Knock knock!”

“Who’s there?”

“Me.”

“Me who?”

The door opened and Niel looked up from his book to see the two maknae peeking into the room.

“Me… RICKY!” Ricky laughed.

Niel rolled his eyes and threw his book aside, “What kind of joke is that?”

“I couldn’t think of one,” Ricky admitted.

Ricky and Changjo came in with a bag of goodies they picked up at the convenience store and sat on the floor where Niel joined them. They sat in a circle cross legged and dumped the contents of the bag out in the center. There were chips, crackers, cookies and candies galore. Niel let out a shocked noise at seeing the display in front of him.

“Tomorrow there’s no schedule so you know what that means!?” Changjo said.

“Pigging out!” Ricky exclaimed!

They high fived and each grabbed something to eat.

“Wah! You guys when did you get all of this stuff?” Niel asked tearing open a bag of crackers.

“We just got back. Manager was called out for some reason so we went out super quickly while he wasn’t looking like secret double agents,” Ricky explained.

“Did you get anything for the hyungs?” Niel asked.

“No if they want something they can get it themselves,” Changjo said. “This is just for us.”

“So what are we going to do on our free day?” Ricky asked.

“Sleep,” Changjo said. “Eat.”

“We should go shopping,” Ricky said. “We can get new skateboards.”

“Oh yeah that’s a great idea!” Niel exclaimed.

Ricky nodded, “So we going to do it? We can probably go to a skate park too.”

“Well OK I’ll probably go with you then, but first I want to see what Minsoo’s doing.”

“He’ll probably just sleep. It’ll be boring staying in with him so come with us,” Changjo said.

Ricky agreed, “Besides you see Minsoo every day.”

“I see you every day too,” Niel deadpanned.

“Oh… right,” Ricky said. “Regardless we’re more fun.”

“Staying in bed with Minsoo can be fun too,” Niel laughed.

There was an awkward silence before wide mischievous grins broke out on Changjo and Ricky’s faces.

“Guys, what—“ Niel stopped mid-sentence, his entire face turned beet red and he slapped his hand over his mouth. “No. No no no! You ing erts!”

“Hey we didn’t say it! That was all you,” Changjo said, throwing his hands up.

Ricky cackled and leaned forward laughing and clutching at his stomach.

“I see how it is! You want to stay in bed with Minsoo all day!”

“Stop!”

“You want to kiss him,” Changjo teased. “You wanna love.”

“Oh Minsoo hyung, ‘I wanna love you all day wanna love you all night!” Ricky joined in, trying to imitate Niel’’s voice while saying L.Joe’s lines.

“Oh my god!” Niel covered his ears. “You guys are so ing gross.”

“Pssh, stop being so modest. We all know what you two get up to,” Changjo rolled his eyes.

“That doesn’t mean you have to talk about it!” Niel protested. “It’s too damn weird since we all live together.”

“”Well we can’t help it when you leave evidence like… THIS!” Ricky leaped up and tackled Niel to the ground and tickled his rib while trying to expose the bruise he saw earlier..

“Changhyun stop… stop,” Niel groaned but Ricky kept trying to tickle him.

“Don’t be shy now! I know what you and C.A.P ‘playing around’ means,” Ricky said.

“No really ouch ouch stop.”

“Ricky stop, you’re hurting him,” Changjo said and pulled Ricky back off of Niel.

Niel groaned and rolled forward hugging his stomach. His shirt had risen up and Changjo and Ricky both gasped when they saw the big bruise on Niel’s side and back. Ricky had no clue that the little bruise he saw earlier was really a part of this.

“Owww,” Niel moaned and Changjo immediately were at his side.

Changjo pulled Niel’s shirt down to cover the bruises and Ricky touched his shoulder.

“Daniel I’m so sorry,” Ricky said. “I’m so sorry you said it didn’t hurt earlier and I believed you I—“ Ricky looked at Changjo. “Really I didn’t know.”

“It’s ok,” Changjo said.

He pulled Niel so he was sitting up and Niel’s hands moved from covering his stomach to covering his face.

“Hyung,” Changjo said, pulling Niel’s hands down, but Niel fought him to hide his face but as much as he tried to hide it, they all knew he was crying. “What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened? Nothing happened,” Niel finally said, bringing down his hands. He wiped his cheek against his shoulder.

“If nothing happened, why are you crying?” Changjo asked.

“Because Ricky hit me in my ribs and they’re already sore. What do you think!?” Niel asked, turning away from Changjo.

“Daniel, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know,” Ricky pleaded.

“I know you didn’t know,” Niel said, trying his best to smile over at Ricky while keeping his back still towards Changjo.

“You said you and Minsoo were just playing so I figured it was nothing—“

“It is nothing,” Niel interrupted. “I fell in the kitchen yesterday.”

Ricky frowned at that. How many different stories about that bruise was Niel up to now? Somehow the conversation between L.Joe and Chunji flashed into his mind. Which was it? Did he get it from playing around? Was it falling? Did he bump into something? Which was it?

“When you and Minsoo argued, right?” Changjo asked.

Niel shook his head, “It wasn’t like that.”

And yet it was the only theory that made sense.

“I saw you, hyung,” Ricky said. “On the floor when I came home. You were just lying there for what reason.”

“Can we… can we just not talk about this? It’s stupid to talk about when and where some bruise happened. I don’t know. Do you know when you get every bruise? Let’s just drop it.”

“Hyung—“ Changjo started.

“Drop it!”

Changjo and Ricky said nothing else and Niel reached into the since forgotten pile of treats and pulled out a candy bar and began to eat it.

“Tomorrow… forget about skateboarding… I’m just going to stay with Minsoo,” Niel said, sniffing and wiping his wet face with the back of his hand. “I just... I’d rather not go out anymore. Not in the mood.”

He stuffed the rest of the bar into his mouth and Ricky and Changjo just watched as Niel reached for another. They knew better than to argue. The decision was already made.

To be continued

AN- >< thanks so much for subscriptions and comments and I really hope nobody is mad about the content of this fic! I apologize really. btw i was wondering, does anyone want changrick?