Being ignored by Jonghyun was weird, unfair, abnormal, taunting; and it made him wonder what Jonghyun felt whenever he was being ignored by the elder. When they were working, Jonghyun stood in the corner of the room with his back facing Jinki. When they were at home, Jonghyun made sure he'd be in his own room until he was sure Jinki wasn't around.

Taemin and Kibum joined in on ignoring Jinki, which never made things any easier for the elder who was always being stressed out about what was going on. Minho was the only one who hadn't picked a side, though Jinki could always feel his gaze when the two of them were in the same room. Jinki made it a point to ignore those three the same way he'd always ignore Jonghyun.

One afternoon, Jinki had gathered all of his courage to confess to Jonghyun as soon as the two of them were alone together, and silently followed Jonghyun into the house, quickly reaching out to grab his wrist.

"Let go, Jinki." Jonghyun was sounding resigned again and shook his head as if fighting with himself.

"I have something to say." Jinki's words came out without him meaning for them to, but Jonghyun's shoulders squared.

Then, the younger man let out a chuckle and yanked his hand away, "We can talk later, then."

As Jonghyun started to walk away, Jinki lunged forward and grabbed onto the younger's wrist once more; and though he'd like to deny it, tears were starting to pool in the corners of his eyes, "Wait-"

Just then, someone came skipping to the front door with heavy footsteps, and Jinki knew it was his brother. Taemin was calling for Jonghyun, since he was ignoring Jinki openly once more, and because he didn't want to be a bother, the elder Lee pulled away and reached for the door. The same door that was opened from the outside at the same time he opened it from the inside.

"Manager." Jinki made sure his voice was composed so no one- and especially Jonghyun- could know he was about to start crying. His manager had a slightly panicked look in his eyes, one that was quickly forced down when he found himself face to face with Jinki.

Taemin's manager was right behind him, and seeing Taemin and Jonghyun standing there to see what was going on, sent the younger two a look to shoo them away. When neither moved, Taemin's manager gently tugged on Jinki's arm, "We should go into your studio and talk for a few moments."

Just those words had Jinki tensing, because if the managers wanted to talk, something had gone horribly wrong. Without glancing at either his brother or bodyguard, Jinki hurried past them and up to his studio with the two managers on his tail.

As soon as the three had gotten into the studio, Jinki was shoved onto a chair and the door was shut and locked behind them to make sure the others weren't able to come in during their discussion.

"What is this about?" Jinki found himself whispering in case the others were listening from outside the door, though his eyes never once left his manager's, and his heart was still pounding in dejection because of his earlier conversation with Jonghyun.

The managers glanced at each other and then with a collective sigh, the two started to explain what was going on. Apparently, Jinki's company was filing to have him fired. As Jinki listened, he felt his heart split in two, because he loved to sing more than anything, and what was he supposed to tell Taemin about this? Since his debut, all Jinki ever did was perform and make music for the company, so to be told that he was going to be let go was sending a dagger through his heart.

"What can we do?"

Jinki's manager sighed once more and rubbed at his arms as if he were cold, "We thought you'd know what to do."

After a few moments of silence, Jinki nodded and stood up, and with a deep breath, he unlocked the door, "I'll figure something out."

Thankfully, no one was outside when the door opened, so Jinki quickly crossed downstairs to find Jonghyun so the two of them could go together. He eventually found Jonghyun in the living room with the other three; all of whom were openly laughing and enjoying their companionship until the eldest appeared.

"Is everything alright, Jinki?" It was Minho who asked, since none of the others seemed to care for why Jinki was just there staring at them.

Jonghyun had lost his brightness when he saw the elder and looked away, leaving Jinki to inwardly sigh because it just delayed the confession he had been working on for days.

So, since Jinki didn't want to worry anyone, he did what he did best and smiled, "Yeah! Nothing's wrong!"

Okay, so maybe going into "Onew mode" wasn't the best line of defense since it certainly caught Taemin's attention, but it was too late and Jinki was already skipping out the door. It wasn't until past midnight that he decided to return home after mindlessly wandering and thinking of all the things he could do to keep his career intact. The company argued that Jinki's age was causing his fandom to decline and his music wasn't as beautiful as it had been. Jinki agreed to both things, but to be let go simply because he wasn't as amazing as he had been when he was younger was unfair to him.

Without even realizing it, Jinki had made his way back to their front door, and was mildly surprised to see that the lights in the house were still on. It was impossible for them to wait for him, since they were so blatantly upset with him, but he still hoped they'd be up. Slowly, Jinki unlocked the door and stepped in, only to be surprised again when hearing the television from the living room. Jinki wanted to ignore it and go back to his room, but his feet were already stepping in that direction.

"Hyung?" It was Taemin's voice calling, and Jinki slowly turned to see Taemin standing by the staircase with a hand rubbing at his eye and a mug in his hand. Taemin walked up and held out the mug as if it was the most important thing in the world, "Here's some coffee. I thought you could use it."

Taemin looked like he had been crying for a while, so Jinki nodded his head and stiffly took the mug, walking towards the living room with Taemin following after him. He was touched that Taemin cared enough to wait up for him and make him coffee, but Taemin usually slept hours earlier, and Jinki was still not used to feeling loved by Taemin.

"I'm fine." His voice sounded disbelieving in his own ears, but he chose to ignore it and entered the living room to see the other three sitting around with their eyes quickly fixed onto Jinki. Jinki tried to ignore the ache in his heart when he noticed Jonghyun's gaze on him, but he was admittedly going crazy without the younger's attention.

Key was the first to acknowledge him and quickly stood up, crossing over to guide the elder to the reclining chair, "We heard from your manager. Do you need any-"

"I'm fine." Jinki repeated this with the coldness he hadn't been using around them for months; and after registering the hurt and shock in Taemin and Key's eyes, Jinki decided he'd had enough and placed the mug down before bolting to his room and locking his door behind him. He threw himself onto his bed and his eyes locked onto the ceiling with tears now shamelessly streaming onto the bedsheets under him. He was sure that the others were so upset with him now that they would refuse to even look at him for the rest of their lives, but Jinki could hardly think of that. Between his troubles with Jonghyun and now his career, Jinki was finding it hard to know what he should do.

Then came the knocking. It probably hadn't even been half an hour since he escaped to his room, so he was surprised anyone was attempting to check on him, but despite the knocking, Jinki refused to move a muscle. It was locked, so what did he have to fear? When the knocking finally ceased, he believed that he was finally given up on, but a moment later, his door was opened and shut once more, and Jinki sat up in alarm to see what was going on.

"Jinki." Jonghyun's face was red and his lips curved into what seemed to be a smile of relief, but his eyes were red from crying and Jinki almost asked him why he was crying. Just before he could, however, Jonghyun had crouched down before him and reached up to cup Jinki's face and wipe away all of the elder's tears instead, "Jinki."

Though Jonghyun only said his name, Jinki knew what he was really saying. "I'm glad you're okay", "I'm here for you", "Don't cry anymore," and a countless amount of things Jinki could only guess about.

"Why are you so cruel?" Jinki knew he probably should have been nicer to Jonghyun who cared enough to check on him despite the quarrel they were in the middle of. Jonghyun's eyes held the smallest spark of confusion before they faded into peace and possibly even love, "I say such harsh things to you, ignore you, leave you behind, make you cry- and yet you're the one who worries for me. Why are you so cruel?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Jonghyun slowly got off the ground, and Jinki didn't object when Jonghyun sat down on the bed next to him. Jonghyun angled himself so that he could look right into the elder's eyes, and seeing that had Jinki turning as well, because Jinki was addicted to the depths of love Jonghyun never bothered to hide.

Jinki's lips quirked into the smallest of grins because no, he didn't have to ask, and his eyes roamed to the key that was peeking out of Jonghyun's hoodie's pocket. Jinki had given him a spare room key in case something were to happen, but he never expected Jonghyun to remember about it. Jinki felt tears pricking his eyelids again as his eyes roamed back to Jonghyun, because Jonghyun was still there despite everything.

"I'm sorry, Jong-"

"Even if you don't say it, Jinki, I know." Jonghyun's voice was low now, and he reached out to take both of Jinki's hands in his own, "I shouldn't have pressured you into saying it when you weren't ready for it."

"You know?" Jinki was asking more to himself, because it was obvious that Jonghyun would know; Jonghyun knew everything about him and Jinki often forgot about that. Jonghyun's eyes were now filled with fear and of love, a mix Jinki knew too well.

"I know, Jinki. About how you feel for me, how you feel for Taemin, and how you feel like you're alone in fighting for your career." Jonghyun's grip on his hands tightened, but in a way that reassured Jinki of his presense, "But I refuse, Jinki. I refuse to let you hide again; from me, from Taemin, and least of all from your career. You deserve to be happy more than anyone, Jinki, and-"

And they were kissing again. It wasn't meant to happen, but seeing Jonghyun there and looking so brilliant, Jinki couldn't help himself but lean forward and kiss the younger. It didn't take long for Jonghyun to react, though he chuckled against Jinki's lips before doing so. In that same way, it didn't take long before hands wandered and clothes were being thrown to various ends of the room.

At the end of it all, when Jinki and Jonghyun were about to fall asleep in each other's arms, Jinki pulled back just enough to look into Jonghyun's eyes and smile; a smile that was quickly reciprocated and rewarded with a kiss. Jinki didn't know much about whatever else was going on; about his career or about his brother, but he knew Jonghyun would be there to held him find out.

"I love you, Jonghyun."

Jonghyun chuckled again, this time more openly, before he pulled Jinki into one last kiss and then allowed for the elder to finally drift off to sleep.

"I know."