Hoya sat in the corner deep in thought, eyes focused on one particular person despite the rush of activities happening around him. His heart has been beating a mile a minute whenever he thought of said person and really it's getting ridiculous, affecting even his performance in work at times. It's ironic he thinks, or maybe not. He was the one that he always teased mercilessly, coming up with words where it will hit dead straight onto the right buttons. He wasn't sure if it was because he loved seeing his leader getting annoyed and flustered or because during this time is when he has the leader's full attention but whatever it is, now that he thinks about it the entire situation really sounds a little childish. It's like those stories of the little boy who keeps on pulling the girl's pigtails because he doesn't want to admit he likes her. The difference between Hoya and that little boy though, is Hoya can admit, to himself at least, that he does like his leader. No, more than that. He is probably in love with his leader. Yes, definitely. Lee Howon aka Hoya is in love with Kim Sunggyu, charismatic leader of Infinite.

"INFINITE you're on in 10!" Hoya was snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden announcement. Quickly getting his finishing touches done before heading to the stage, he tried to push thoughts of his leader to the back of his mind in hopes that he'll be able to concentrate better.

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"That was a great performance done by Infinite!" The emcee announced as the lights dimmed signaling the end of their stage.

"Hello, we are INFINITE. Nice to meet you!" In synchronisation, the members did their greeting flawlessly. As they all settled down getting ready for the interview, Hoya made sure to be situated beside his leader. The interview went on as per usual with the same routine questions asked, about the new album, their future activities and so on. It was starting to a little bit of a bore and even more so because Sunggyu was not paying him much mind. One question however perked up Hoya's interest as it involved a specific member.

"So, we all know that our Sunggyu here is a great leader. Always showing us such charismatic stages but how is he really like at home? Still as charismatic?" This was the question posed, receiving laughter from the members. Immediately Hoya volunteered to answer. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Sunggyu turning towards him, a bewildered expression donning his face.

Giving a slight grin, Hoya proceeded with his comment. "Since we've moved to a new dorm now, only Dongwoo and I are living together with Sunggyu. And I can tell you that our Sunggyu here is far from the charismatic image he gives off on stage” His answer brought more laughter to the scene and Hoya chuckled looking over at his leader who was pretending to look affronted. Continuing with his answer, the response of the members and audience spurred Hoya on to reveal more secrets of his leader when at home. More questions were asked following those as the interviewer tried to dig out more of how Sunggyu really is behind closed doors. Hoya felt like he was at the top of his game and he knew that he had his leader's full attention. The one thing that Hoya failed to notice was that with every secret revealed, Sunggyu’s expression became darker and darker. By the end of the recording, the smile plastered on Sunggyu’s face was an effort he didn’t have the energy for.

On the other hand, Hoya couldn’t keep the smile off of his face even if he wanted to. It’s always good to be the funny one. It ensures that you’re not edited out much, or at all. It was as they were all changing out of their stage outfits and packing up to head home that Hoya noticed how quiet his leader was. Usually during this time he would hear Sunggyu praising the members on their good job or advising them on how they should perform the next time. However, there was only silence coming from the leader. Hoya looked up at his leader wondering for Sunggyu and was shocked to see such sullenness on his face. Confused, the dancer was about to approach the quiet leader to find out his problem. Before he even managed to lift a hand to announce his presence, said leader made a turn and resulting in the both of them in direct eye contact. Sunggyu's eyes widen upon noticing Hoya. He quickly look away, wanting to avoid his groupmate but in that split second Hoya managed to catch a glimpse of hurt and sadness present in the elder's eyes. Quickly finishing up with his cleaning, Sunggyu spoke in a voice just loud enough for all the members to hear asking them hurry before heading out without sparing Hoya another glance.

The frozen dancer listened as the door clicked shut, effectively snapping him out of his immobilized state. It was then that he knew maybe he had gone too far with his teasing.

"Oi Hoya! What are you just standing around for? Go and change quickly before Sunggyu hyung screams for us" Woohyun reminded his friend. Noting that the others are about ready to leave, he quickly changed back to his clothes making a mental note to have a talk with Sunggyu once alone. As the remaining members filled up the van, Hoya tried to catch a glimpse of the eldest who was sitting upfront. He wanted to confirm that what he saw previously wasn't just a trick of the eye. His efforts were for naught. Sunggyu had decided to pull on his mask and with his fringe in the way, one could barely see the vocal's face bar his thin eyes. And even those were closed, effectively blocking out the world. Hoya heaved out a dejected sigh at the sight. He needs to fix this before the day ends, he thinks.

Hours later, they finally reached their respective dorms. Dongwoo didn't even make it to his room before passing out on the shared couch while Sunggyu, there was no mistaking how upset he was. He made a bee line for his bedroom the moment he stepped into their dorm, and the click of his door could be heard before Hoya has even managed to undo his shoe laces. Letting out a heavy sigh for the second time that night, Hoya decided to have a shower and changed into some more comfortable clothes before facing the problem.

Fresh and clean, Hoya slowly made his way towards Sunggyu's bedroom. He realised halfway through that the elder might have fallen asleep in the time that he took to wash up. He made up his mind though, that if really that was the case then he'll just have to wake his leader up. It didn't settle well in him to let his leader end his day upset, especially if it was because of the dancer.

Standing in front of Sunggyu's bedroom door, Hoya thinks he's fortunate that both of their rooms are away from Dongwoo's room and the living room located on the other side of the apartment. He'll have more privacy to settle this situation with Sunggyu also should there be a possibility that the talk turn for the worst and end up a shouting match, well hopefully Dongwoo's flight to dreamland and their distance is enough to prevent from accidentally waking up the older rapper.

Giving two raps to the door before twisting the knob to gain entry, Hoya was quite surprise to find it unlocked. When he looked into the room only darkness greeted him. Taking a moment to adjust to the change in lighting, it was then that he saw the lying silhouette of his leader. Silently closing the door behind him, Hoya stepped further into the room. He still couldn't tell if his leader was awake or has surrendered into the arms of exhaustion. Nonetheless, Hoya made sure that his steps were light. As he got nearer to the lain man, Hoya debated if he should have just left him alone for the night. That decision was taken from him though when Sunggyu suddenly sat up straight in his bed, turning around to face Hoya. To say that the rapper was shock would be an understatement. Hoya nearly had a cardiac attack from rapid beating his heart underwent due to Sunggyu's action. He didn't think the singer could even move that fast with how tired he's supposed to be.

"Uh...h-hyung..." Hearing how he stuttered, Hoya took a deep breathe before trying again.

"Hyung, I..." He didn't get to finish his sentence before Sunggyu spoke up. Head down with shoulders bunched together, Sunggyu's voice was hard when he told Hoya to leave.

"Leave. I'm not in the mood right now. Just go, please.." His voice got softer at the end as if the sadness that he experienced moments ago is rising up again. Hearing the dejected tone made Hoya even more determined to clean up the mess he made.

"No." was his answer. Sunggyu looked up at the dancer who was standing just a foot away from him. He could barely see Hoya's face in the dark room. The moonlight that seeped in through the curtains was of little help.

Walking the final steps to reach the bed, Hoya plopped himself down beside the leader. Sunggyu turned his head away again not wanting to look at . He was really quite upset over what Hoya said during the interview. Although it was nothing new for the members to tease and "bully" him during broadcasts, he never thought Hoya would stoop that low to get the attention on him. He had more trust in Hoya but now he wasn't sure if it was all worth it.

"Hyung," Hoya started but Sunggyu still had his head down, refusing to acknowledge the presence beside him. "Hyung please, look at me" the plea was made with a hint of desperation seeping through. Deliberately, Sunggyu lifted his head towards the younger's face. Looking at Hoya up close he could see in the youger's eyes his guilt and regret. "Hyung, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all of those things on air, I was wrong" and finally Hoya saw just how much he has hurt the one he loved.

"Why?" was the reply given, soft yet heavy with question. Eyes searching for a reason. "Why would you do something like that to me?" Sunggyu was sinking lower and lower into the darkness of his sorrow as he thought of the possible backlash.

"Because of you, because it's you" Confusion spread through Sunggyu at the response. Taking a deep breath, Hoya told Sunggyu of his feelings and thoughts. "Because you weren't looking at me. Because you weren't giving me any attention. Because I was jealous. Because you were smiling at the emcee so brightly and sweet and I wanted you to smile at me the same way. Because I was selfish and I just wanted to be the only one you'll look at." The more Hoya said, the more Sunggyu's confusion turned to being surprised. "Because...I love you" By the time Hoya ended his confession, it felt both like a weight has been lifted from his chest and a stone crushing it. As the three words left his mouth, his brain caught up with the realisation of rejection. There was a reason why he has never even thought of confessing to his leader. He knew there was nothing there for him except heart break if he up and told his leader the truth.

"L-love me?" Sunggyu felt like his heart was in his throat. Never would he have thought that Hoya, tough manly funny talented Hoya, who almost never miss a chance in or off stage to rib him, would feel that way about him. "Hoya...I.." He didn't know what to say apart from calling out his name.

"You don't have to say anything, hyung. I know, I know you don't feel the same way. That you only see me as another member, as a younger brother. I don't expect anything from you. To be honest, I wasn't even planning on confessing to you but I'm not sorry now that I actually did it. You can even forget about whatever I said if you want to. All I need from you is just for you to say that you'll forgive me for my stupidity, that you're not mad at me for possibly ruining your image. I can't live with the fact that you're upset because of me." Hoya pleaded. He seemed so earnest with his request but Sunggyu could see the minute pain present at knowing his feelings will never be returned.

Sunggyu doesn't know what to do. Never had he received such a confession before, at least not from a man and never would he have thought he would receive such a confession. But with the look Hoya was giving him, full of hope and love, his insticts moved him forward to envelop the younger in his embrace. He felt Hoya relaxing in his arms, shoulders sagging and a relieved sigh was heard. Moving his hands onto Hoya's shoulders, Sunggyu pushed him away enough to be able to look at the dancer.

"I forgive you, Hoya. I know how sometimes you do things without thinking things through and if anything untowards happen with whatever that was revealed then I'll just have to come up with something to make it all better then. But don't think you are off the hook just like that because I'll drag you down to solve the problem with me" he chuckled seeing Hoya's smile widening and nodding his head like a little boy. He sobered up quickly though, remembering Hoya's confession.

"Hoya...the other thing...I'm sorry. You're a member of Infinite and you're one of the few that I've known the longest. You're right, I've always seen you as the younger brother I've never had. I don't know if I'll ever see you as something more than that but I can't just forget what you said to me. I can't just ignore when someone just confessed to me, especially not someone whom I would be devastated to lose. I know you will be experiencing a lot of heartaches from me and I am selfish too because I want you to always stay by my side. But you're someone who I know I can always count on when things get difficult. So please promise me, if in the future you find someone else to love, tell me. I need to know that I'm not the reason that you're upset." It was Sunggyu's turn to let out all he felt and thought. Unlike Sunggyu, Hoya's response was to give a laugh and land a light punch to Sunggyu's arm.

"Hyung, I already told you that it's ok. I knew ever since the moment I figured out my feelings for you that I won't ever stand a chance. What I'm more worried about was if you decided to distance yourself from me if you ever found out. Knowing that that will never be the case, I can finally sleep peacefully tonight." And Hoya was still putting up his big smile. It managed to lessen Sunggyu's penitence at putting Hoya up tp such emotional torture. Sunggyu returned the smile presented with his own. With the mess of the day all cleared up, the exhaustion made itself known onto Sunggyu's physique and he couldn't stop the yawn that escaped. And like a contagious virus, Hoya followed after, eyes watering as he let the carbon dioxide out of his body.

"Well then, I think we should go to sleep soon. We have another day of packed schedules to go through" Hoya got up to leave the room as Sunggyu made himself comfortable on the bed. Sunggyu was ready for sleep to greet him when he heard his name being called, a soft whisper

"Sunggyu hyung"

"Hmm?"

"Good night"

"You too, Hoya" his voice trailing as he went into slumber

"I love you.." It went unheard by the elder as soft snores were already emmiting from him. But the relief and happiness still stayed within Hoya as he closed the bedroom door and made his way to his own sanctuary. He knew there will be changes between himself and Sunggyu after today but he is confident that no matter what, they won't lose each other. And that is all that matters in the end. He's happy enough to be able to stand beside the one he loves.