It wasn't right.

The words were off-beat somehow. Not quite following the pattern of the music how he had hoped it would. Something about the pattern of the words. Something about the delivery. Something was wrong and he'd have to go over the lyrics again and re-work them before he could consider bringing this to anyone. Yongguk dragged his palm over his face, tapping out the beat on the soundboard as he mumbled the words to himself.

Behind him the door clicked open, and he turned to see a bright-eyed smile as Junhong stepped into the small room. The expression dropped, however, once he caught sight of him.

“Should I not have stepped in?” He asked, voice soft with shyness.

Yongguk looked at him, then glanced around to look for whatever it was that was making the trainee think he'd made some crime of entering the space. “Sorry?”

“You- you look really stressed. Should I go?”

“Ah,” he let out a small breath, “No, I'm just working on this track. I'm having difficulty with it.”

“Can I look?”

He nodded and let Junhong walk over and play the track, eyes following the piece of paper where the lyrics were jotted down. He mouthed the words along in time, circling a finger in the air to keep rhythm. After about a minute he paused it and pointed at the paper.

“It's here. The lyrics look like they'll fit but because of the way these parts are pronounced it throws it onto the off beat for a few lines.”

“Ah, of course!” Yongguk chided himself, and circled it with a pencil. “Stupid of me, I'm terrible with words these days.” It was supposed to be a mental thought to himself but he'd ended up letting it slip out as he gave his own hand an angry smack with the end of his pencil.

Junhong gave him a concerned look. “Did something happen? You seem really stressed...”

“It's nothing to worry about.”

“Is it about you and your boyfriend?”

“Junhong, he's not my boyfriend?”

“You broke up?” The boy's eyes widened, brows pinching.

He opened his mouth to say 'no', but stopped himself. What could he say? Wasn't that essentially what had happened? He and Himchan may not have been dating but they'd broken off whatever it was that they'd had.

“Oh no! You did break up! I'm so sorry, what happened?” Junhong had pulled his hands against his chest, fidgeting with his oversized sleeves nervously.

“I don't want to talk about it.”

“It might help if you-”

“I said I don't want to talk about it,” he growled, snapping the pencil down against the paper.

Junhong stared at him, eyes wide and shining, corners of his mouth turned down. He looked small, afraid, and deeply hurt. Yongguk was hit with a wave of nausea as he remembered Himchan looking exactly the same way when he'd snapped a him before.

“I'm sorry, Junhong. Could you just... Leave me alone for a little while? I want to work on this.”

The young boy nodded at him and started to leave, before stopping and quickly saying, “Um, I actually came here to tell you that someone's asking for you: it's that singer – not the really loud one, the one who sometimes brings food.”

Yongguk let out a heavy, exasperated breath. “Daehyun. Just tell him I'm here, there's no point me trying to anything productive today it seems.”

Junhong just nodded and left.

Daehyun had brought two take-away boxes of noodles and a sixpack of soda cans. They were comfortably sat on the floor, a drink each and eating away, when Daehyun jerked his chopsticks accusingly at the rapper.

“Hey, when were you planing to tell me that you and Himchan were a thing?”

Yongguk choked on his food.

“I saw the pictures but didn't say anything because I figured you should be the person to tell me first. Then I hear people see you guys out together all the time, and I'm thinking 'Hey! I'm friends with both of them. How come no one told me?' even Youngjae didn't know until he ran into one of your friends this morning.”

Yongguk managed to clear his airway and fixed the singer with a firm look. “I really don't want to talk about this.”

“Ah, of course. Something went wrong. Tell me.”

“I don't want to. Not today.”

Daehyun hummed knowingly. “Ah,you're a victim of his ty personality.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Yongguk narrowed his eyes.

“Not answering until you answer.”

“I don't want to-”

“Nope!” Daehyun cut across, one cheek stuffed with food as he clacked his chopstics aggressively. “You asked a question, that means we're talking about it. Come on, open up! This isa judgement free zone.”

He sighed, leaning out of Daehyun's arm range. “We weren't a thing.”

“Bull.”

“I'm serious,” he threw him a glare, “We posed as each other's fake boyfriends to get people off our backs. I was covering for him that day and we had to look convincing. My friends were threatening to set me up on a blind date so he covered for me yesterday.”

“Why didn't you go on a blind date? I know you're shy but it would do you good.”

“I...”

Daehyuns eyes widened. “You like someone, right?” When he didn't answer, Daehyun grinned at him. “You do! Who is it? I bet I can help. Even Himchan will help, I bet.”

Yongguk frowned. “He;s the problem.”

“What? Himchan's not a bad guy, he-” the singer paused mid-sentence, a clump of noodles partway out of his box. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“And you were pretending to be- Oh. Oh, Yongguk, that must have really .”

“Thanks for rubbing it in,” he grumbled.

“I didn't mean to. Come on, talk to me about it. You'll feel better.”

Yongguk didn't speak at first. He poked his food disinterestedly and swirled the fizzy drink around his can. “I don't know. I don't remember where it started or if there even was a point. It wasn't too bad at first, it was kind of nice actually. But then...”

“It got too much?” Daehyun offered.

“Yeah. It got too much.” He ran a hand through his hair and dropped his chopsticks into the box, giving up.

“No, don't stop now. Come on, we're getting somewhere.”

He frowned and kept his eyes on the food. “It's... It was difficult. Having to act like a couple but underneath that act like I didn't really want us to be a couple. I..” He let out a frustrated noise and pushed the noodle box away. “I'm an idiot.”

“No you're not.” Daehyun frowned, aggressively refusing to look at the abandoned food. “What happened in the end? Did you call it off?”

“I tried to... I... I ended up shouting at him. .” He pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed slowly, seeing Himchan and Junhong's hurt expressions behind his eyelids.

“Hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay.” Daehyun shuffled forwards a little and patted his arm encouragingly. “Just get it all off your chest.”

“He apologised for...for basically using me- everywhere we went he'd get harassed and end up needing my help... But then I slipped up and needed him to cover for me and...” He rubbed his face, irritated at the stinging at the corner of his eyes. “He was always so touchy and nice and... And he seemed like a genuinely good guy...”

Daehyun nodded as he listened, shuffling a little closer to rub Yongguk's back. He glanced at the door of the room to make sure it was properly closed. He didn't imagine the rapper would be too delighted if someone walked in and saw him like this. “But if you made up, what happened after?” he asked, voice a little quieter.

Yongguk took a slow breath, trying to calm himself down. “We were drunk. It was raining a lot-” he swallowed, then continued, “we went back to his place. I don't know. He wanted me to get changed, I think, because we were both soaked and... One thing lead to another...”

Daehyun nodded. “Yeah, as they do, right?”

“Right.” He nodded as well, taking a moment to try to calm himself. “I don't know... What I did. I don't know where along the line I made the mistake but... He-” he rubbed his face and took a breath. “He kicked me out.”

Daehyun blinked, hand stilled in surprise. “He just kicked you out?”

“Yeah. I mean... I don't remember what we were saying but suddenly he was telling me to go home. He said it had been a mistake. Said we shouldn't meet up again.”

“Jeez.” Daehyun gave him a gentle shoulder squeeze. “I dunno. It sounds like it's his own issues getting in the way there. Don't beat yourself up over it.”

“I just...” he wiped his face, trying to dry his cheeks,”I really liked him. I really did. I thought- I thought he'd understood that. I thought that's what the night was about. Clearly to him it was just some sort of... Huge mistake. An easy lay.”

“Nah, Yongguk, no one thinks you're easy. Himchan's just-” he pursed his lips. “Well, maybe I shouldn't say.”

“No, please, tell me. I want to know how I ed up so badly.”

“Ah, it's not you. It's...Well.” He mulled the words over, trying to think of the best way to word it. “Himchan's kinda... Like a coin. One side is the side that laughs and hugs you and buys you things, and the other side is the . The side used to be kinda funny but these days he's more the than the fun side so he's just really insufferable.”

“These days?”

“Yeah because the old Himchan was really jokey and fun and only an if you were an to him. But ever since his ex-” Daehyun slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Ever since his ex... What?”

“Can't say. Not my place.”

Yongguk huffed. “Fine. So, what? Himchan's turned to his other side out of the blue and I don't know why.”

“Yep. He's a lost cause.”

“I really... Don't like the idea of that. I thought I had a chance.”

“I'm sorry, man. But this is one of those life experiences you talk about, right? You live and you hurt and you move on.”

“Yeah.” Yongguk looked down into his drink as he picked up the can. He watched Daehyun steal a few things from his food, but didn't do anything to stop him. “I guess you move on.”

Soundtrack: 3 Doors Down - Away from the Sun