Okay, the day hadn’t gone too well so far, Dongwoo mused. But that was okay. They were still young and had their good health. They’d just have to try their best the next day.

Dongwoo sighed internally. The problem was how he was supposed to convey that to the rest of the group. The atmosphere in the car was so gloomy, Dongwoo half expected rain clouds to drop in and soak all of them.

They were waiting for Sunggyu and Myungsoo to return, and through the windows, Dongwoo could see all the other idols entering their cars. He looked in the rear view mirror. Geonam was at the wheel and Dongwoo could see the bags under the managers eyes in. Geonam hadn’t yelled at Woohyun and Hoya for the fight, but Dongwoo would preferred it if he had. The manager’s tiredness was disturbing to see.

Woohyun and Hoya themselves kept very quiet, despite Dongwoo’s attempts to initiate conversation. Sungyeol sat next to Dongwoo with Sungjong sleeping on his lap. Dongwoo sighed. It made his heart sink to see everyone so depressed.

“Woohyun-ah,” Dongwoo said, “the broadcast went well, didn’t it? We sent the message out to our fans, didn’t we?”

Dongwoo cursed himself at the dark shadow that flashed across Woohyun’s face. Reminding his friend about their fans was never a good idea. Dongwoo knew that amongst all of them, Woohyun was the one who took the fans’ rejection the hardest.

“Ah, never mind, never mind,” Dongwoo laughed nervously. “Let’s just go back to the dorm and rest, huh?”

They startled as the car doors opened. Sunggyu and Myungsoo got in, hastily fastening their seatbelts. Dongwoo clenched his fists to see the red mark decorating Myungsoo’s cheek. Was it Gura who’d hit his dongsaeng? Dongwoo’s stomach coiled into knots at the remembrance that he’d once considered Gura a good friend. Today’s show had shown where Gura stood.

“Let’s go, hyung,” Sunggyu told the manager. Geonam nodded but didn’t start the car, seeming busy in replying to a message on his phone.

“Wait, what happened?” Woohyun demanded in a hiss, so as to not wake Sungjong. “Why has Myungsoo got hurt?”

“It’s nothing, hyung,” Myungsoo muttered. “Really, just leave it.”

“No, I want to know,” Woohyun said. “Gyu-hyung. What happened?”

Sunggyu sighed loudly. Dongwoo bit his lip, torn between wanting to know and not wanting to make Sunggyu more upset than he clearly was.

“Hyungdon hyung says we can’t film Weekly Idol,” Sunggyu said slowly. “I lost my temper and said some things, and when Park Myungsoo came to hit me, our Myungsoo got in the way.”

Heavy silence reigned in the car for a while. That was a huge blow, Dongwoo decided. Weekly Idol was their second home...to be told not to come...Tears prickled at Dongwoo’s eyes but he drew in a deep breath and forced a grin on his face.

“Okay,” he said with a clap of his hands. “Never mind! We will give our all at the awards night performance instead!”

No one said anything though Myungsoo reached forward to clasp his shoulder encouragingly. Woohyun and Hoya remained glum and Sungyeol looked close to crying.

“What are we going to do?” Sungyeol whispered. “I feel like everyone is turning against us. I can’t breathe.”

Dongwoo felt as though he’d swallowed a lump of wood that was splintering his throat. He pulled Sungyeol’s head to his chest, keeping the hug firm as he patted Sungyeol’s hair.

“We’re going to be fine,” Dongwoo said, trying not to let his voice crack. “Really. We will be fine.”

The car’s door opened again, making Dongwoo almost leap up. He blinked confusedly to see Shinee’s Key and Jonghun standing just outside with grim faces.

“Kibum-ah?” Woohyun leaned forward. “What are you - ”

“Shhh,” Key said frantically, “we haven’t got much time. Heechul hyung is covering for us.”

Jonghun leaned in the car, crouching down and hiding behind the car door. “We came to warn you.”

“Of what?” Hoya asked sharply. “If you’re here to threaten us – “

“No, listen!” Jonghun hissed. “Heechul overhead our CEO at a meeting yesterday. The CEO was talking about the awards night performance you’ll be doing next week. He said that he was going to find a way to spoil Infinite’s performance.”

“How?” Woohyun gasped.”What do you mean – “

“We don’t know much,” Key said. “Heechul hyung had to run away so that he wouldn’t be caught. But it sounds like he’s going to mess up your sound system or lighting or something. I don’t know, Woohyun-ah.”

Dongwoo’s heart was beating fast again. It seemed to do so more regularly nowadays, probably because of the fear constantly drowning him. Infinite needed to perform well at the awards night. They couldn’t afford to mess it up.

“Why are you helping us?” Sunggyu asked, a note of suspicion in his voice.

Jonghun smiled tightly. “I just want to show my support to the first outed idol.” He nodded towards where Sungjong was peacefully sleeping.

Key raked a hand through his hair. “Woohyun-ah, no matter what happens, you’re still my good friend, okay? I’m here for you, and hence, your team.”

Woohyun’s eyes teared as he nodded back and leaned to grasp Key’s hand. Dongwoo bowed as far as he could, words of thank you forming in his mouth, but when he lifted his head, the two idols were already gone. Zipping through the car park to get back to their own group.

Dongwoo closed the car door and watched as Geonam revved up the engine and started driving, his face even grimmer than before.

“Hyung, what do we do?” Woohyun asked. Dongwoo looked at Sunggyu’s tired, confused face in the rear-view mirror and answered Woohyun’s question himself.

“We get a new plan,” Dongwoo decided. “We’ll talk about it more once we get home.” He snuggled back in his seat and ordered in his most authoritative voice. “Everyone get some sleep now. No talking.”

Sunggyu met his eyes in the mirror and nodded his gratefulness. Dongwoo smiled back. He craned his neck slightly to allow for Sungyeol’s head to rest in the crock of his neck. Outside, it was pouring rain.

Geonam accompanied them as they walked through the apartment’s main hallway, trying to shield them from the clicks of the camera. Even though Dongwoo didn’t feel like it, he smiled widely at the camping paparazzi, choosing to ignore questions flying around like “Are any other Infinite members gay?” “Will Sungjong leave Infinite?”

They eventually reached their room, Dongwoo finally breaking into a true smile at the sight of Sungjong rubbing the sleep from his eyes. But Dongwoo’s smile was wiped in an instant once he saw the sight that waited them.

“What’s going on?” Geonam roared at the busy men in their dorm. Dongwoo could only follow behind his manager, his jaw dropping at the sight of uniformed men packing up their belongings. Boxes were piled up by the door, the living room and what Dongwoo could see of the kitchen stripped completely bare.

Jungryoul manager was there and he hurried to Geonam, a distressed look on his face. “SM’s CEO – he ordered for Infinite to leave this apartment. It was under his lease anyway so he cancelled our boys’ contract to stay here. He’s arranged for alternative accommodation for the boys.”

“But this is our home,” Hoya whispered. “He can’t do this.”

“It’s a punishment, he said,” Jungryoul admitted. “He said that as long as Sunggyu doesn’t comply, this is what will happen.”

Dongwoo was busy hugging Myungsoo firmly, the younger boy looking as though he was about to drop to the floor. Out of all of them, Myungsoo was the one who had cherished this apartment the most, seeing it as a place big enough to keep them all together for a long time to come.

“Can’t we sign a new lease? Of our own,” Sunggyu asked the managers urgently.

Geonam shook his head. “All Woolim’s money is under lockdown right now while Jungyeop CEO is away. Jungyeop CEO had a deal that SM would pay for our promotions’ price.”

Sunggyu nodded slowly before muttering, “Fine...fine...we’ll just go to the alternative accommodation then.” He turned to face the rest of the group, “It’s fine.”

He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself too. Dongwoo forced a laugh, “Yeah guys, this might be nice too. It’s a change of scenery.”

No one laughed with him and it was a morose group that waited for the delivery men to finish their packing, before heading back to the managers’ car. Dongwoo felt empty inside. As though he was literally detached from everything. But he tried to keep the slight smile on his face.

Sunggyu once told him that he was Infinite’s sunshine, and without him, the rest of Infinite would just be stumbling in their gloomy darkness, unable to find each other. It was a comment made years ago, a set of drunken words said while they were partying. Nevertheless, Dongwoo remembered.

But right now, smiling had never been so hard.

“You’ve got to be ing kidding me,” Geonam hissed to Jungryoul as he read the sheet of paper the other manager had handed him. “This is their “new” address?”

Jungryoul shrugged helpless, and Dongwoo felt a deep sense of foreboding.

They got into the car again – and Dongwoo was beginning to get fed up of the car’s dull interior and too cold air conditioning. The ride took over an hour, another traffic jam having occurred on the streets. Dongwoo saw the news reporters taking photos of them, even in the car, but felt too exhausted to protest.

Eventually, they reached a very familiar area. Dongwoo thought that it was a coincidence at first but as the manager began to take a new route, Dongwoo’s fears were confirmed.

“No,” Woohyun and Hoya said simultaneously. “No, no, no, no – “

There was a buzzing in Dongwoo’s ears but he shook his head once and it was gone.

“I can’t believe this,” Sunggyu said faintly.

“I refuse,” Sungyeol yelled. “I completely refuse! How dare they!”

Geonam pulled up in front of the house, just behind the removal van waiting for them, and bowed his head. “I’m sorry, kids. There’s no other choice.”

“We could pay for our own hotels,” Myungsoo suggested. “Or stay with our friends.”

“No, we need to stay together,” said Sunggyu. “We need to practice more than ever for the performance next week. And if we pay for our own hotels, we’d waste so much money. Jungyeop CEO might not be back for a month. Are we going to pay for a month?”

Everyone dropped their protests, though it was more because of the slightly hysterical note that had entered their leader’s voice rather than his reasoning. Dongwoo followed Sunggyu and Woohyun up the all too familiar stairs (he used to sit here at night and look at the stars) which led to the front door. The knob had always needed just the right amount of force to open the door (a gentle squeeze followed by a hard tug) and Dongwoo’s hand had not forgotten it. He shouldered the door open and stepped into their old house.

Despite having had no one live there for a few years now, the place still looked clean, and Dongwoo supposed he should be partly thankful for that. He and Woohyun stared at the tiny living room, and Dongwoo wondered if his best friend was remembering those memories too.

The corner where they liked to spread a mat and lay down, the spot where they had the banana prank for Sesame Player, the kitchen where they let all their washing cluster until they had to do it because of the bad smell. Woohyun and Sungyeol had to scoop out mouldy cheese-milk from the sink once, Dongwoo remembered.

“Wow,” Dongwoo murmured. “We’re back here, huh?”

He glanced around at the others, who all looked as though they had entered a prison cell with a tiger.

“Let’s start unloading, okay?” Dongwoo said gently. The members stared at him for a few seconds before moving.

Everyone automatically moved to their old rooms – Woohyun and Sunggyu sharing, Myungsoo and Dongwoo sharing, and the other three in the smallest room. It felt like old times again, but it left a bad taste in Dongwoo’s mouth.

No one unpacked fully – as though they were itching for a quick escape from the mould infested house. Dongwoo saw how Sunggyu left his clothes in his box, how Hoya refused to put his toothpaste and brushes in the bathroom, how Woohyun barely unpacked his personal things at all. But Dongwoo unloaded their plates and started filling the kitchen cabinets, grimacing at the cobwebs inside.

They were all done in a few hours and the place almost looked like it did during Sesame Player era but without so much personal belongings cluttering the space and far more boxes lining up the room. The daylight outside had almost completely gone and he switched the lights on, sighing as the outside light for the porch didn’t work.

Sungjong was cooking in the kitchen, making some noodles for everyone. He didn’t allow anyone in to help him, telling them to go rest instead. Sweat beaded Sungjong’s forehead, and there was a hollow look in his eyes that Dongwoo didn’t like.

He went into the kitchen, ignoring Sungjong’s protest and stood by the cooker silently until -

“Jongie,” Dongwoo said gently, “how are you feeling?”

Sungjong wiped his brow and stirred the pot again, before letting out a deep shuddering breath. “I wish I didn’t exist.”

His voice cracked at the last syllable, but he sniffed and took a moment to compose himself before placing the blank face back on. Dongwoo took a deep breath and lunged forward to hug Sungjong tightly. The maknae was not a touchy-feely person at all but to Dongwoo’s surprise, Sungjong hugged him back tightly.

“I’m sorry, hyung,” Sungjong mumbled brokenly into Dongwoo’s slowly dampening shoulder.

Dongwoo squeezed tightly, worried about the bones he could feel through Sungjong’s shirt. “Yah, Sungjong ah. Aren’t you tired of apologising by now?”

“It’s not that, hyung,” Sungjong sighed. “I’m just so upset that I’ve brought our group down to this level.”

“It wasn’t you, Jongie,” Dongwoo whispered.

He’d been confused at first, sure that Sungjong was in the wrong for being gay. He had understood the entertainment industry’s rage and why everyone reacted so badly. Though he couldn’t bring himself to scold Sungjong over it when the younger had been so broken hearted.

But the more he had looked at that photo of Sungjong kissing the other guy, the more he realised. Because there was nothing but adoration in the photo Sungjong’s face. It was a simple moment of love that seemed equal to any other type of love Dongwoo had seen.

And it was becoming more and more clear to him as to who were the good guys and the bad guys here.

Sungjong was most certainly just an innocent victim in this.

Dongwoo pulled slightly away from the maknae to look him in the eye. “Yah, Sungjong ah. Can’t you see? We’re all living, we’re breathing, we’re together. It’s normal to have obstacles in our life. It’s how we deal with them that’s important. And right now, we’re doing great.”

Sungjong smiled slightly, “Hyung, you talk like a philosopher.”

“My next job once I get old.” Dongwoo laughed. He nudged Sungjong, feeling giddy that he’s managed to cheer Sungjong up somewhat. “Hey, tell me the truth. You’re the perfect person to judge! If we rank the other members...how handsome am I?”

“Hyung!” Sungjong snorted and batted Dongwoo’s arm with a frying pan. “Get out!”

“Yah!” Dongwoo giggled and he was pushed out of the kitchen. “Yah! Tell me!”

“Last place,” Sungjong said firmly and went back to mind the cooking with a slight spring in his step.

Once he got laughing, Dongwoo couldn’t stop and he raced around the house, hugging everyone he saw on the way, despite their lack of response. Finally, he found the person he was looking for. Sunggyu was in the middle of fixing the curtains so that no one outside would be able to look in.

“Hyung, let’s get everyone to sit together for dinner,” said Dongwoo, leaping forward to hug Sunggyu from the back.

Sunggyu sighed. “But we’ll have to get straight back to practising after dinner. We’ve already lost too much time today.”

“No hyung,” Dongwoo said firmly. “Tonight, everyone needs to rebuild themselves and relax.”

“How can we relax like this?” Sunggyu wrenched Dongwoo’s arms from around his waist and turning around. “The performance is next week and bloody SM wants us to go down in flames! Stop being so naive, Dongwoo-ah!”

Dongwoo met Sunggyu’s glare calmly. He’d never liked it when someone got angry with him. It always made him cry or tremble. But he’d never been afraid of Sunggyu’s temper. Maybe it was because Dongwoo had always seen himself and Sunggyu as the parents of the group. Woohyun was of course the deputy to Sunggyu’s leader, but Dongwoo liked to think that Sunggyu could lean on him too.

“Hyung,” Dongwoo said, “the kids are really upset. They need some time off. Otherwise it will do more damage in the long run.”

Sunggyu stared at him for a while before closing his eyes and exhaling loudly. “Yeah...yeah, okay...sorry.”

Dongwoo dismissed the apology with a laugh. He hugged Sunggyu tightly, lifting him off his feet before running to call everyone into the tiny living room.

Sungjong’s cooking was good as usual but no one seemed to have much of an appetite. Dongwoo heaped plenty of food for himself and Sungjong, glad to see that the maknae at least was eating a good amount.

There were all kneeling on the floor around the coffee table. Dongwoo slurped his noodles noisily and put his finished bowl on the table. Everyone seemed mostly finished eating, and Sunggyu was frowning at his laptop on his lap.

“Everyone,” Dongwoo said cheerily, “let’s play a game.”

His good mood seemed to be catching because the other members didn’t protest against it. Grinning widely, Dongwoo took his two chopsticks and asked.

“What are these?”

“Don’t know,” Woohyun was beginning to grin slightly despite the pain he must be feeling from his cut lip. “What are they?”

“My Wolverine claws!” Dongwoo yelled, slipping the chopsticks in between his fingers.

Everyone laughed, albeit slightly quietly. But Dongwoo was happy enough to see the starts of smiles on s’ faces. He passed the chopsticks to Hoya, whose eyebrows were deeply furrowed.

“These are not chopsticks,” Hoya said slowly, “they are...my moustache!” He placed the chopsticks above his upper lip, collapsing into giggles at the roar of laughter.

“My turn!” Sungyeol snatched the chopsticks eagerly. “These aren’t chopsticks...they’re my fangs!”

Dongwoo clapped, falling against Myungsoo who seemed to be struggling to breathe from the laughter. Warmth blossomed in Dongwoo’s chest. Who needed the sun when the members’ laughter lit up his world? Dongwoo giggled, reminding himself to never repeat something so cheesy out loud. Especially not in front of Woohyun.

“Kids,” Sunggyu said suddenly.”Come see this!”

Everyone instantly clustered around, whacking at the other to get into the best position.

“Our fansite followers...it’s gone up,” Myungsoo said with wonder. “And our MV’s youtube count! It’s past two million now!”

Dongwoo peered past Hoya’s shoulder and gasped. The numbers, which had halved upon the revelation of Sungjong’s secret, was almost close to the original number. And rapidly increasing still!

“Look at the comments!” Hoya said with wonder.  

Sungyeol laughed and began reading them out.

“Infinite fighting! The hyungs defending their maknae on the show today was so cute!”

“Sungjong, your noona fans are here to protect you too!”

“Really, Infinite’s strong brothership was why I fell for them! I was against Infinite after the scandal broke out but today showed me that I am wrong instead! Leader-nim’s words are truly wise!”

“Did anyone see Woohyun and Hoya oppa looking beaten up?!!! I’ll kill their attackers!”

“From Bangladesh here, and any Inspirits that turned against Infinite because of this should be ashamed of themselves! Sungjong is perfection and I will always support Infinite!”

Woohyun squealed and rolled around the floor, laughing maniacally. “They’re coming back! My girlfriends are coming back to me!” He grabbed the laptop off Sunggyu’s lap and hugged it to his chest. “Don’t ever leave me again! My precious Inspirits, Oppa will tie you up if you try to leave me again!”

“Hyung, that’s erted,” Myungsoo said with distaste, ducking a kick from Woohyun’s feet.

Dongwoo laughed, slapping Woohyun’s arm to try and get the laptop off him. His heart felt lighter than it had been in days. The problem wasn’t over, Dongwoo knew. They still had to deal with the discrimination from the others in the industry, from SM’s CEO revenge. They still needed to ensure a perfect performance next week.

But for now...just with everyone smiling, with everyone happy...

Just for now...

It was enough.

Please leave comments on what you thought! ^^ Exams are coming up and I'm going to need comments to keep me going, haha! xxx