The next morning,  like usual, Jaebum woke up before Youngjae. He wasn’t sure exactly when he had fallen asleep, since he had stayed up all night overthinking everything.

“Youngjae,” Jaebum said softly, sitting the younger boy up and patting his back. This had been their routine. It was the only thing that woke Youngjae up. “Wake up, Youngjae.”

His eyes opened slowly, eyelashes fluttering as he tried to adjust to the now light.  Jaebum had always found this cute. He didn’t think much else of it, but now - now he wanted to kiss him again. It was cute. It was painfully cute.

Like a tsunami, memories of last night flooded Youngjae’s head - causing him to flush red with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry about last night,” He immediately said, eyes widened and already on the verge of tears.

Jaebum shook his head, trying to relax the younger boy.

“It’s okay. It didn’t mean anything.” Although Jaebum suddenly wished it had.

Youngjae nodded quickly, feeling the red in his face wash away. Jaebum almost felt disappointed. He liked seeing Youngjae blush. He hadn’t realized it until now; how adorable it was when Youngjae blushed.

And although you would think the fact that they kissed would make them awkward and distant - the truth is it only made them closer. They were closer than they had ever been before. Jaebum liked that. He liked having Youngjae constantly by his side, constantly around his arm. Constantly giving him attention.

Of course though, that was all ruined when Jinyoung decided to interact with Youngjae more, and Jaebum drifted from Youngjae, using this chance to figure out whatever he was feeling towards the younger. But, as Jinyoung and Youngjae became close, Jaebum couldn't help but notice they were a little too close and a little too touchy. Jaebum originally was using this time to stop talking to Youngjae. But seeing them together always made his fists clench. He didn’t know when he’d gotten so jealous, or even why, but when he saw Jinyoung wrapping his arms around Youngjae - he wanted to rip them off. He wanted to do that to Youngjae. He wanted to wrap his arms around him and feel that innocent touch again. The warm, welcoming feeling of home.

And that’s why Jaebum started to wrap his arms around Youngjae as they slept. He wasn’t sure if Youngjae even liked it, but he’d have to be blind not to notice the tinted red cheeks Youngjae got whenever he would pull him close to his chest.

Red cheeks that Youngjae never got with Jinyoung.

But flash forward to when they were in the studio, Jaebum wasn’t sure how it all happened. He’d lost his temper with Youngjae as they were practicing their choreography, one thing he promised himself to never do. Sure, Youngjae had gotten less practice than the other boys, but the choreography wasn’t even that hard - and Youngjae kept on messing up. Jaebum, having a short patience, blew up at the boy. It was early and he was cranky and tired. He didn’t want to. But he did. He lost his patience

And it resulted with tears streaming down Youngjae’s face.

Youngjae was having a stressful week. He felt angry and frustrated over his singing and dancing, he felt confused with Jaebum’s push and pull, he felt upset that he still hadn’t warmed up to the other members. And if that wasn’t enough, he also missed his parents. He was overwhelmed, and Jaebum yelling at him made him snap.

“I’m sorry,” Youngjae cried. “I’m sorry.”

Jaebum’s anger instantly went away, having a soft spot for people who were crying. Especially Youngjae crying. But before he could apologize himself, Jinyoung walked up to Youngjae and rubbed his back.

“It’s okay. You’re trying your best. That’s all that matters.”

Jaebum, now mixing guilt with jealousy, had never felt more ty in his life. He hadn’t even felt this bad when Jinyoung left him.

As everyone was leaving, Youngjae had decided to stay behind, promising to not give up and head back until he got the choreography down. Jaebum had considered leaving, but when he saw Youngjae’s look of desperation in the mirror - he knew he had to stay behind to help. The two of them went over the choreography together, over and over again - but Youngjae wasn’t getting it.

“Youngjae,” Jaebum said softly, walking towards the sweaty boy and putting a hand on his shoulder as Youngjae messed up one last time. “It’s okay. You can learn it later, okay? Don’t stress out. I’m sorry I got angry before.”

“I like you,” Youngjae suddenly blurted out. It felt nice to say it out loud. For once, he was getting something off his chest.