"...hello?" a soft but recognizable whisper floated from behind Seungcheol. 

He turned around and swore his heart stopped beating momentarily.

One week earlier...

"Are you done packing?" Jihoon didn't even say hello over the phone. Seungcheol was used to this anyways.

He held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he folded an old blue jumper. "Hello Jihoon. So considerate of you to call and say hello. How are you doing? I'm doing absolutely splendid!" he said sarcastically.

"Real funny Seungcheol. But seriously, you done?"

"What's the rush?" 

"Remember I told you about that galbi place that opened up recently? Well I want to try it out but I hate eating alone and you know that. Let's get dinner there." the man replied nonchalantly.

Seungcheol sighed with a little smirk. Typical Jihoon. He couldn't blame him, but again, Seungcheol had been eating alone for a while. It was a bit pathetic to admit it but sometimes, he would tune into those random food vloggers and watch them while he ate. It made him feel less alone in his small apartment.

After Seventeen had broken apart seven years ago, Seungcheol had taken the split very hard on himself. He completely withdrew from the public eye and quietly worked as a freelance composer under his real name instead of S.Coups, the name he had chosen for himself to represent the very proud leader of Pledis' Seventeen. Living in a small apartment in the residential neighborhood of Seoul, nobody would have seen him there twenty years ago. Fans had given up trying to find him. He had lost contact with every member except for Jihoon, who worked with him.

Today, Seungcheol was packing the last of his items before he moved into another apartment farther from downtown. He pushed his unruly black bangs from his face and wiped some sweat. Jihoon was talking seriously about something on speakerphone while the elder male cut tape to seal his boxes. 

"Hey..." he interrupted Jihoon, "I'm gonna have to hang up now dude. I gotta make sure I didn't forget anything in here." 

Jihoon quickly ushered for him to hurry up. Galbi sounded perfect after all of this hard work. Seungcheol hung up and shoved the phone in the pocket of his sweats. He inspected the rooms of the unit carefully, throwing away small garbage pieces into the garbage bag he was holding. He walked into the study, which was now empty. Earlier, he had seen a box in the back which he had left to inspect later.

Now it was time. He tiptoed a little to grab the box and coughed when he felt the accumulated dust spread. Making a face, he felt his heart beating faster. It was also because Seungcheol felt a little stupid to be forgetting about his own belongings. He pulled the lid open, holding his breath.

In the box was a stack of polaroids which were always facing downwards, with dates written on the back of each of them. Seungcheol's hands were shaking as he placed the box in front of him and sat down. He placed the lid next to him and picked up the first picture on top. It was dated "May 2015".

There stood a younger and seemingly happier Seungcheol, his hair dyed in the brightest blonde shade possible and traces of purple from the roots. He was wearing a white jumper and white pants (can you say fashion feaux pas?) and had his arm around the shoulder of a long-haired male with his brown long hair tied in a loose ponytail. 

Jeonghan

He breathed out and ran his fingers over the outline of the boy, tracing the jawline and hair gently. Seungcheol read the small caption which the photographer (probably Lee Chan) had written with semi-legible handwriting. 

These are the dads of Seventeen! Why do they look like they've been hapily married for many years? ㅠㅠ

Seungcheol sighed and blushed remembering that day. The two eldest had been standing backstage fanning each other between songs. It had been their third fanmeet that week and somehow, the boys were still not off the high of performing. Being fresh rookies, the amount of love and support they had recieved in just two weeks of debut had been overwhelming. Lee Chan, their youngest member, had been walking around with a polaroid camera that Seungcheol had secretly bought for the group. 

"Hyung! Wanna pose with Jeonghan-hyung? It can be the first of many 'dads' pictures,  yeah?" he grinned cheekily, his cute eyes becoming crescents as he held the camera up to his face. Seungcheol hadn't know how to pose, so he had just had one arm by his side and the other in a victory 'v' sign. It had been Jeonghan, the sneaky one who had put his arm over Seungcheol's shoulder and motioned for the blonde male to do the same. 

When the two had their pose together, Chan snapped the picture and it came out before Seungcheol and Jeonghan had gotten to take a look at it. Chan gave it to the leader later when they were alone in the restroom.

"Hyung, here! The picture from earlier came out well." he smiled and washed his hands.

Seungcheol took a look at the picture and felt the back of his hair stand up. Why had they looked like a newlywed couple or something? It was too corny, especially since he had pretty much grown up with the gentle male.

Seungcheol placed the picture on the ground facing upwards. He picked another one up of just Jeonghan this time, with his hair dyed a bright blonde before their first comeback. The male had been wearing sports gear for Idol Olympics, and Seungcheol remembered how this picture had come about.

"Coups, can you take a picture of me? I'm not sweaty yet and I think this color is totally my style." the blonde squeezed up to Seungcheol and held his arm like a clingy girlfriend.

Now how was Seungcheol supposed to resist that?

He picked up the polaroid camera on the table next to their food and raised it to his eyes, squinting into the viewfinder. "Okay, say kimchi!"

Jeonghan cutely stuck a 'v' pose next to his face and winked, the camera shutter capturing it at the perfect moment. Jeonghan skipped over to where Seungcheol was and took the picture from him, their fingers brushing subtley past each other. 

"Ah man, I'm so cute. I'm going to caption this!" he said gleefully and borrowed a pen from the makeup artist on her phone. He leaned over onto the table and scribbled something quickly before their manager called them for a quick meeting. Before walking out the door, Jeonghan passed the picture to Seungcheol and whispered a low  "hold onto that."

Seungcheol held the picture up and felt his face getting intensely red. In the caption, Jeonghan had left a short but sweet caption in his neat and symmetric handwriting.

thanks for this, seungcheol-ah! i owe youu ㅠㅠ

Seungcheol remembered something else about this picture. He remembered keeping this picture in his wallet secretly for all of their years as Seventeen. Jeonghan had never known, and Seungcheol intended to keep it that way. His heart was beating even now thinking about how naive he had been about their situation. To be fair, Seungcheol had never had a real crush before Jeonghan. He had been so keen on becoming a successful idol that love hardly crossed his mind.

And now? Now he was seemingly stuck in time.

Another picture surfaced quickly of Jeonghan snuggled up beside Seungcheol in their meager sleeping bags from "One Fine Day".

Seungcheol came back into the room a little later than the other members. He had secretly begged the staff to provide some small snacks for the hungry boys who had gone to sleep after just a bowl of kimchi stew. He tiptoed as quietly as possible past the members who had arranged themselves on the floor. It honestly reminded the leader of sardines packed tightly in a container. 

Jeonghan was all the way near the end, sleeping without a care in the world. Even though it was dark, the moonlight from the window shone perfectly on Jeonghan's smooth and blemish-free skin. Seungcheol held his breath and almost reached out to the man's silky hair. He caught himself quickly and laid