~Day Five of Daehyun's Five-Day Plan to win Youngjae back – Part I~

Yoo Youngjae slept in until 1pm that Saturday.

Usually, he was never one to sleep in too late, but the past week's events shook him to his core so hard that he cried himself to sleep every night that week. Especially the previous night. He had stayed up until five in the morning reading and rereading and rereading the list that Daehyun had given him until he noticed the sun coming up outside his window and decided to try and get some sleep.

So many times he went to text Daehyun, or even call him, but he managed to stop himself. Twice, he actually let the phone ring a few times before he hung up. Daehyun never called him back, and Youngjae appreciated that more than anything.

It took a lot for him to drag himself out of bed that afternoon. In fact, the only reason he pulled himself out of his slumber was because his father came into his room, informing him of the time and asking him to come out of his room soon. He wanted nothing more than to roll back into his cocoon of fluffy blankets and pillows and sleep more, but he knew if he did that he'd never want to wake up and while he was heartbroken, he didn't want to make himself sick.

He shuffled slowly into the kitchen, grabbing his phone on the way past out of habit. Both of his parents were there; his mother had made him a ham salad sandwich and a cup of coffee (with cream, just the way Youngjae likes it) and his father was sitting on a stool at the island bench, filling out some paperwork. Even when he was home, his father's mind was on work. Youngjae wasn't mad about it, though; his father worked hard to get where he was now. He grew up the son of a fisherman, working extra hard in school to get where he was now; the proud owner of a string of charity law firms.

“Thank you, umma.” Youngjae said as he sat by his father and his mother slid the plate of food and the coffee toward him. The relationship Youngjae had with his parents wasn't even close to back to normal, but he no longer resented them (if Daehyun could find a way to not hate them, so could Youngjae) and he was trying. “Working from home today, appa?”

“Mmm.” his dad hummed with a nod, putting down his pen to look at his son.

“I don't mean to sound like I’m complaining,” Youngjae said, “but why?”

“I figured I’ve been spending too much time at the office lately.” his dad told him. “Your mother and I feel like you could use a good male to look up to at this time in your life.”

“A male to-” Youngjae's father's words went straight to his heart, making his blood boil. “Are you kidding me right now? You're home because you think I need someone to show me how to be straight?”

“Now, Youngjae, that's not what your father meant.” his mother assured him, but that's exactly what it sounded like to Youngjae.

“Let me tell you something, son.” his father wasn't mad, which only made Youngjae more angry. “Everyone goes through this phase in their life – questioning your uality, wanting to experiment, it's all normal.”

“No!” Youngjae shouted, shooting away from his father. He didn't even care that he knocked over the stool in his attempt to get away from these people. The wooden stool made a loud crack as it collided with the tile floor, a leg snapping off and flying away. “Let me tell you something; I know what I want! Daehyun isn't just a phase or an experiment as you so heartlessly put it. Do you know that it took Daehyun over a month of trying to woo me before I said yes to doing something with him as a friend? I didn't know if I liked him; hell, I didn't even know if I liked boys because I’d never liked a girl and you'd never let me find out because of your stupid rule! But most of all, I didn't want to disappoint you two because you're the most important people in my life and I couldn't stand the thought of you being upset with me.”

“Youngjae...” his mother sighed, sounding as though she were about to burst into tears. His father just looked down at his lap, feeling guilty.

“I like him so goddamn much, you have no idea how special he makes me feel, how much confidence I get just from knowing that he lo-” Youngjae paused, ignoring his parents sad stares, “and I’d love to share that with you two, because you're my parents. But I can't, because you can't see past the fact that he's a guy.”

Before he could do or say anything else he knows he's going to regret, the blonde stormed out of the house, only stopping to put on his shoes, not even caring that he was still in a baggy grey t-shirt and black sweats, his bed hair wild and untamed.

Pulling out his phone and blinking back unshed tears, he dialled the number he knew by heart. The call was picked up but no one answered straight away.

“Yongguk, stop it,” he heard Himchan's voice say quietly, away from the receiver. “Hello? Youngjae?”

“Hyung, hey.” Youngjae greeted, trying to sound happy while holding back tears.

“Where on earth have you been?” the elder screeched. “I've been trying to call you all damn day!”

“I'm s-sorry.” he cursed himself for stammering, but he couldn't help the choked sob that escaped. That was all it took for the other sobs to come rushing out of his throat. He couldn't stop them, he couldn't control them.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Please don't cry, Jae! I'm not really that mad, honest!” Himchan tried to sooth over the phone.

“T-That's not w-why I’m c-c-crying, hyung.” Youngjae managed between sobs.

“What's wrong?” his best friend asked.

“I fought with my parents.” he told the fashion major. “I'm so mad at them, but then I’m upset because I know they're disappointed in me, and I just...” he let out another loud sob. “I just miss Daehyun so much!”

There was a muffled sound on the other end, Youngjae suspected it was himchen covering the receiver with something. He vaguely made out the words 'Gukkie', 'Daehyun' 'plan' and 'go'.

“Okay, Jae, where are you?” Himchan asked. “I'm coming to pick you up.”

“I'm at the lake a few streets over from my house.” he said with a sniffle.

“I won't be long, stay there.”

X x X x X

When Himchan found Youngjae, the elder sighed. He knows his friend is heartbroken on more levels than one, but it was just sad to see him sitting there so dejectedly in his pyjamas – although that was mostly just the fashion major in him talking. He slowed to a stop on the side of the road. He beeped the horn of his red sports car twice to get Youngjae's attention.

The younger's head snapped up, and even from the distance, Himchan could see his puffy red eyes. Youngjae started toward the car, wiping his eyes along the way.

The moment he closed the car door, Himchan leaned over and hugged him, his back softly.

“I called Junhong.” he told Youngjae. “We're going back to my place, where we will feed you lots of chocolate and icecream and give you a makeover. I just need to make one quick stop on the way.”

Youngjae nodded. After already causing his friend so much trouble, the last thing he wanted to do was inconvenience him more, even if that meant Youngjae had to sit through 300 quick stops.

Himchan parked outside a mall, instructing Youngjae to wait in the car. He left the radio on and his window wound down, making Youngjae feel like a small child.

Himchan was in and out in less than twenty minutes. Youngjae thinks it's the quickest shopping trip Himchan's ever done. He was carrying (well, struggling to carry) two brown paper bags, obviously from the grocery store; a brightly coloured bag from one of the senior's favourite clothing stores; a small white bag from a chemist; and a purple bag full of what Youngjae assumed to be cosmetics.

When Youngjae asked what he bought, Himchan just told him he'd find out soon.

Zelo was waiting outside Himchan's house when the two boys arrived. Immediately, he jumped up to hug Youngjae.

“Are you okay, hyung?” he asked, squeezing his best friend tight.

“I will be.” Youngjae replied, despite the fact he could barely breath.

“Junhong, help me with the bags.” Himchan ordered. “Youngjae, go have a shower and then wait in my room.”

Youngjae saluted Himchan mockingly, but did as he asked.

The blonde closed his eyes as the hot water ran down his back. He felt relaxed – more relaxed than he'd felt in a long time.

Despite his relaxation, his head was filled with questions. Why couldn't his parents accept him? Why did he have to feel this way about Daehyun? Why did Daehyun have to make it so hard to get over him?

With a sigh, and the realisation that he wasn't going to get the answers to these questions any time soon, he turned off the water, put his underwear back on, wrapped a towel around his body and entered Himchan's room.

“Did that help at all?” the black-haired boy asked. Youngjae nodded.

“It did. Thank you hyung.”

“Here,” Himchan shoved the bag of clothes toward him, “put these on. I’ll turn around.”

Himchan did as he said he would, and Youngjae pulled the clothes out of the bag laying them on Himchan's bed. In the bag were a pair of light grey skinny jeans that – while being Youngjae's size – looked like they were so tight they'd create a watertight seal around Youngjae's legs. There was also a simple white button-up shirt and a deep purple sweater.

“Uh, hyung, I’m not sure these jeans are going to fit.” the younger said, holding up the denim between his thumb and forefinger.

“Don't be silly, Youngjae.” Himchan said and Youngjae could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “Just put them on.”

Youngjae shrugged, knowing there was no use arguing with Himchan.

The jeans, as Youngjae assumed they would, looked like they had been painted on. they were very Himchan, but not Youngjae at all. Next, he slid his arms into the sleeves of the button-up. He buttoned every button, right to the top so the collar was framing the base of his milky white neck. He slid the sweater over his head, the bottom of the white shirt hanging out at the front and back. Youngjae fixed the collar of the white shirt so that it wasn't tucked in to the sweater.

“Um, I’m not really sure this outfit is very me, Chan.” Youngjae said.

Himchan turned around and gaped. His friend looked hot!

“Damn, Youngjae!” he smiled broadly. “I didn't know you were this hot!”

Youngjae blushed deeply, biting his bottom lip. Junhong then barged into the room, cookies and cream icecream and three spoons in one hand, two large blocks of Cadbury Marvellous Creations in the other.

“Wah~! Youngjae hyung you're y! When did this happen?”

“Yah! Zelo! Don't talk like that.”

Zelo just smiled sheepishly.

“It's true, though.” Himchan said with a smirk. “If I wasn't totally in love and in a happy relationship, and if you weren't my best friend, and if I wasn't afraid of my next statement getting back to Daehyun and in return being skinned alive, I'd totally you straight into that mattress, right here, right now!”

Youngjae's jaw dropped at his dirty minded friend. “KIM HIMCHAN!!!”

“I'm just sayin'.” he said casually.

“Moving on from Youngjae's new-found appeal,” Junhong said, setting down the comfort food on Himchan's desk and shooting Himchan a look, “are we ready to move onto phase two?”

Himchan smiled at Junhong and nodded excitedly.

Youngjae had an uneasy feeling that this was going to be a long night.