“Why do you always carry around that stupid camera if you’re never going to post any of the pictures? It seems a little useless.” Daehyun said to Youngjae as they sat in their hotel room. He reached out for it, but Youngjae held it close to his chest.

                “It’s none of your business, and you’re never going to look at it. Ever. I’ll sleep with one eye open if it means you don’t touch it.” Youngjae said, and Daehyun scoffed, wiggling his toes and looking out the window. America was nice and all, but it was no Korea. He was always a home boy, which is why he didn’t take a lot of pictures himself. He knew it would make him homesick.

                “Do you have nudes on there or something, you sick ?” Daehyun asked, and Youngjae just rolled his eyes.

                “You sure have gotten liberal with your cursing ever since you said ‘’ in Dallas.” Youngjae joked. Daehyun again, scoffed.

                It had been a year since their last world tour, and it was certainly tiring. California was only so big and Daehyun wished Yongguk would let them take a break. The two weeks they got off a year wasn’t quite nearly enough since he felt like he should be obligated to go save the world in his free time. Youngjae, it seemed, had at least picked up a stable hobby while Daehyun’s favorite pastimes included sleeping, eating a lot, and not being able to finish because he was too tired, and sleeping again.

                It had also been a year that Daehyun had come to terms with himself that Youngjae would never quite feel the same way he felt about him. He was strictly a friend, while Daehyun couldn’t help but to have his eyes linger just a little too long on the younger when he stepped out of the shower. Every morning, he wanted to tell Youngjae that he looked beautiful when he slept, but he also didn’t want to be publically humiliated on Twitter again because that was enough for him to get the message. He thought that Youngjae might have been even straighter than Junhong if there was such a thing. They were good enough friends they his manliness might have rubbed off on each other and that made Daehyun all the more irritated. He rolled his eyes and Youngjae side-eyed him.

                “What’s got you in such a sour mood?” Youngjae asked, looking up from his camera and over to the older boy. Daehyun sighed out and shrugged his shoulders.

                “It’s nothing.” he replied. Youngjae didn’t waiver though.

                “That doesn’t sound like nothing. You sound really troubled. We’re friends you know. You can talk to me.” Youngjae said, and Daehyun just nodded. He would never talk to Youngjae about Youngjae because that would be a dead giveaway about his crush on him. He couldn’t even use different pronouns or make it sound like he liked some phantom girl because they were with each other all the damn time. He’d probably bottle it all up and cry about it later to Yongguk or Himchan, who both were more liberal than his mouth. Himchan might as well rainbows with how flaming he is and Yongguk is Gandhi reborn, or so Daehyun thought.

                “I’m just stressed out like all of us are, you know?” Daehyun lied. He wasn’t stressed. He was used to it. He was used to the endless touring and the night after night concerts that even his precious tea couldn’t sooth. His throat felt raw and the only times he ever cried on stage anymore was when he was thinking about how deep in the friend pit he was with Youngjae because nothing was worse than touring and sharing a good time with the love of your life every night. But he doesn’t know. Daehyun wiggled his toes again and thought about how gross his feet were and that he should talk to Jongup just for the sake of the young boy shelling out compliments. At 22, Daehyun felt like his life was slipping away fast and his promise to get married early was becoming more like a distant dream if anything. The media kept asking him and the smile he had to present was so forced he felt like his skin was going to crack.