Lmao, here I am again posting in the middle of the night to relieve some stress. Why is injustice so apparent nowadays....?

This is JunDong. Again. This is meant to be some sort of sequel/side story to Ch. 46 so the titles are similar. I actually wanted to post a Donghyuk x Everyone piece for the 50th but, nah. I need this stress relief more. I'll just save the AllDong for a better occasion (like Dong's bday).

This is done in one-sitting too, like the 1st version of Forever In A Day: Start, so please don't expect much. (Also, shout out to Chi. I think you'll know where this piece came from lol. Shout out to Ja as well, for buying me coffee float earlier XD)

As always dear readers, don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts ~ ♥

Junhwe hadn’t realized how much time Donghyuk spends with other music producers until he comes in one day at iKON’s studio and Donghyuk’s not there.

“Where’s Donghyuk-ah?”

He gives another look around the small room as if that would make Donghyuk magically appear. He also throws the recording booth a 3-second glance for good measure. Chanwoo waves a hand at him from there.

“He’s working on songs.” Hanbin answers him, not looking up from the computer. That still doesn’t answer Junhwe’s question.

“Then why isn’t he here?”

This time, Hanbin and Jinhwan - who’s looking through lyrics sheets beside the leader, stopped what they’re doing to stare at him. Even Chanwoo stretches his neck towards the booth window pane to look in curiosity. Junhwe glares because they’re treating him like he has no clue about something he should know.

“I don’t appreciate the staring so just blurt it.”

“Donghyuk isn’t here because he’s working on songs with other producers. You know…” Jinhwan exchanges a look with Hanbin. “…Like he does nowadays.”

Junhwe raises an eyebrow, thoughts jumbling and reconciling in his head.

Okay. He does know Donghyuk’s meeting with different music producers, but it just didn’t dwell with him right away that his fellow 97-liner is seriously working on songs with them. He had thought Donghyuk was merely expanding his industry connections and music know-how. That when it comes to actual song-making, Donghyuk will still do them with his team. With Hanbin. Or with any of the other members except Bobby (he's not salty about Secret).

Like him, for example. Junhwe frowns.

“He’s at iHwak-hyung’s studio if you need him for something.” Hanbin says, wary but curious.

“Again?” Junhwe frowns more.

“Yeah?”

“And you’re alright with that?”

The leader exchanges a look with Jinhwan again.

“Shouldn’t I? It’s not like he’s playing around there.”

Hanbin gives him an inquisitive look and Junhwe throws the same look back because he doesn’t know too why he’s acting like this. It’s weird how he feels something offensive was done to the team. He doesn’t want the overall mood of the room to worsen so he groans at himself and makes his way to the empty couch behind Hanbin and Jinhwan.

“Whatever. Please pass me the draft we did last Tuesday.”

When the other two just stares at him again, he gives them a glare and points at the small pile of papers on the desk with his frowning lips.

---

Donghyuk isn’t at the studio. Again.

“Wasn’t he supposed to record his part today?”

“Yeah. He did a good job so he finished early.”

Junhwe blinks at Hanbin. “So, where is he?”

“He said he’ll go to Rovin-hyung.” Hanbin pauses on his work, looking up from the soundboard as if he remembered something. “Ah, then after that he said he’ll check out iHwak-hyung’s new songs.”

Junhwe frowns, the unpleasant squirmy feeling settleing in his gut again. He takes a moment to look around the studio in an attempt to get some sort of comfort because surely, it’s not only him who’s bothered about their member’s constant disappearance, right?

But, no. Chanwoo’s busy playing on his phone. Jinhwan’s engrossed in lyric sheets, and even the two closest hyungs to Donghyuk - Yunhyeong and Bobby, appear as alright as the warm sun in a spring day. Yunhyeong even manages to bother Chanwoo with his phone game.

Junhwe inwardly grumbles. Since majority of the team’s fine with it, he might as well ignore whatever contradictory opinion he has. Never mind that he doesn’t exactly know why he feels contradictory in the first place.

“Why are you looking for him though?” Jinhwan suddenly asks, not so engrossed with lyric sheets after all. “You can text him if you need something from him, you know. Maybe try checking out your KKT chat for once.”

That made Junhwe frown deeper. Why is he looking for Donghyuk? Honestly, he doesn’t know why as well. It’s not like “I just have a sick queasy feeling in my gut and I need Donghyuk to explain to me why” will cut it as a logical response. So, he shrugs and sits himself beside Yunhyeong.

“Just wondering.” he mutters, grabbing the hyung’s lyric sheet from his hands and ignoring his small yelp.

---

That night at the dorm, he kind of figures out why Donghyuk’s constant visits to other music producers bother him, and why he feels the need to look for him in addition to it.

It’s a rare night when all of them are free to have dinner together. Yunhyeong-hyung and Jinhwan-hyung cooked a large serving of Kimchi risotto and all 7 members share the meal. As they each take spoonful of the food directly from the wok placed in the middle of the table, questions are thrown to initiate story-tellings of the things they did that day.

And of course, Donghyuk has to be the one who has a lot to say. Tonight, he decides to talk about his music-writing progress.

He talks about asking advice from Rovin-hyung, of being thankful to Sunghak-hyung for teaching him advance techniques in mixing audio. There’s also something about a song he’s been working on recently.

As Junhwe (not-so-deliberately) listens and takes note of the excited spark in Donghyuk’s eyes, he realizes why he keeps on having the ugly-squirmy feeling in his gut. It’s a mixture of two emotions. He feels like he’s left behind while Donghyuk is learning these awesome things from other producers, at the same time he feels like Donghyuk is leaving the whole team out. It’s as if their main dancer prefers other people’s company more now, than the people who represents the gold ring he faithfully wears.

Yet the other members appear to be alright with Donghyuk’s activities. Hanbin even encouraged his same-aged friend to learn more. Junhwe wants to be like Hanbin.

But he can’t, so he pretends instead to be nonchalant while inwardly sulking.

---

This isn't the best time to talk to someone but he’s afraid he won't get the chance for the remainder of the day if he lets it pass.

Donghyuk raises an eyebrow at him, droplets of water dripping down his wet hair strands. Junhwe momentarily (and involuntarily, he likes to believe) takes note of the towel loosely wrapped around the other’s hips, before he clears his throat and crosses his arms.

“Umm.” Donghyuk makes a move to step to the side. “Shower’s totally free now --”

He steps to his right to block Donghyuk, who in turn frowns.

“June?”

“Are you meeting with producers today?”

Donghyuk drops his frown in favor of tilting his head in question. June wants to arrange the towel on his head better.

“Yeah. Can we talk later? Let me wear clothes first--”

“I want to go with you. Meet your producer friends.” Junhwe blurts, coughing a bit.

He made sure his tone is firm so Donghyuk won’t think it’s just a thought or an idea. His chingu stares at him in surprise, a question obvious in his eyes, but he nods and smiles a bit.

“Sure. I’ll meet up with Sunghwak-hyung by 10:30. You should be ready by then.”

It’s already 10 and he would have grumbled by the lack of time left for him, but Junhwe just shuts his mouth and dashes to take a shower too. Never mind the inconveniences because he needs to settle this weird issue once and for all.

But honestly, it’s not like he wants to do surveillance as if he’s being threatened to lose something. Thinking over his realizations last night made him want to learn what Donghyuk learns as well. There’s always a small sense of friendly competition between them, due to their opposite personalities and the simple fact that they’re the same age. Though they had conceded to each other eventually; he let Donghyuk have the dance specialty, and Donghyuk had acknowledged him as a main vocal. This new thing of composing and making music is something they can compete over again, he wants to believe.

“Hyung hi! Did you eat already?

Donghyuk latches to the aforementioned producer as soon as they arrived at the studio, quickly wrapping both arms around the other’s right arm when he had stood up to greet them. A huge grin is on his chingu’s face.

Junhwe shifts his weight subtly, hands pushing down the pockets of his jeans as he resists the urge to show a scowl. Why would he even scowl at the scene anyway?

Again, it’s not like he’s threatened.

“Good morning, hyung.” he greets with a bow, eyes glancing for a second at Donghyuk. “I’m Koo Junhwe, if you don’t know.”

The producer laughs as if what he just said is ridiculous. Donghyuk laughs too, but it’s done in a softer way. He notices how Donghyuk averts his eyes elsewhere.

“Of course I know you Junhwe! I’m not living under a rock.” Sunghwak grins at Donghyuk, who didn’t show any response except a soft pink that Junhwe may or may not have imagined. Then the producer pulls away from Donghyuk to approach him, so he gulps down the reflex to scowl again because what was that blush? (never mind that it may really have been just his imagination)

Sunghwak-hyung offers a hand. “Can I call you familiarly?”

He shakes the hand back. “Sure, hyung. Can I hang out here like Donghyuk?”

---

Okay, he’ll admit Donghyuk wasn’t exaggerating when he said Cho Sunghwak, aka iHwak, is amazing.

He knows for himself that he has a lot of knowledge about making music already. After all, following Hanbin and Bobby, he’s the expected one to walk down the composer’s path. But talking and discussing music-related things with the producer just makes him feel how green he still is with the skill. Donghyuk also manages to convince Sunghwak to let them listen to his work-in-progress songs and the end result is Junhwe being very impressed.

And jealous. Why didn’t he get Donghyuk to let him in on the music lessons sooner?

“I told Donghyuk that layering is important. You can put a bunch of it there but make sure they’re in thin layers that complement each other. At the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm the listener by adding too much.” Sunghwak explains as they huddle around his setup. The producer smiles at him then gestures to Donghyuk with a soft jerk of his chin. “Your chingu’s still struggling on that.”

“Learning, not struggling.” Donghyuk interrupts with a pout. “And you don’t have to tell June about that.”

Junhwe frowns a bit. “Why not?”

“Well, you’re already good at layering. Hyung should tell you about something else.” Donghyuk gives him a smirk. “Like mixing, for example.”

Junhwe glares at Donghyuk. Donghyuk smirks wider. Mixing is his weakness at the moment and just happens to be the thing that Donghyuk’s good at.

Sunghwak interrupts by asking him if he has some songs of his that he can assess. Junhwe quickly pulls out his phone from his pocket and plays a song out of the 7 he had stored at the present.

“Oh wow, you are good at layering.” the producer remarks as the pre-chorus blasts from his phone’s speakers. Junhwe grins at the praise. “The mixing… yeah, I think we can do more to spice things up.”

Junhwe purses his lips at that and ignores Donghyuk sticking out his tongue at him. He gets a small sense of vengeance when Sunghwak ordered Donghyuk to buy all of them snacks from the nearby convenience store. His fellow 97-liner grumbles but still stands up from his seat. Junhwe gives him a cheeky wave of a hand.

When Donghyuk’s out of the room and the playful atmosphere dies down, Sunghwak suddenly opens the topic that’s been boggling him recently; unknowingly answering Junhwe’s internal questions.

“You know, Donghyukie talks about iKON a lot.” the producer gives him a little smile as they transfer his song into the computer. “Whenever he comes in here, he’ll go on and on about each one of you; about how he wants to be able to make good music soon so he could contribute more to the group.”

He thinks for a moment. “That’s… so like him.”

Which makes him feel quite stupid for doubting Donghyuk’s love for iKON.

Junhwe feels something squirmy again in his gut. This time, it’s not the unpleasant queasy kind. It’s more of like a sudden hint of sugar that one would want more of.

He doesn’t let anything in his reaction show it, of course. “I bet he disses us, though.” he adds.

“Sure, he does.” the producer laughs. “Mostly, he complains about how he’s being bullied by all of you - Bobby, for that matter. But I can tell he really loves all of you very much.”

There’s that sugary squirmy feeling again. The remaining apprehensions he had about Donghyuk casting them aside disappears into almost nothingness. Almost, because he has one selfish concern left that he had refused to acknowledge until now.

“Even me?” he whispers. Is he included in that “all” that his chingu loves? Because as much as Junhwe wants to be fully assured in that aspect, he can’t. After all, out of all the members in iKON, he has the most distance with Donghyuk. They’re not… close in all sense of the word. They’re definitely not best friends. Not even full-fledged close friends. Yet at the same time, they understand each other in a way that’s uniquely theirs, and they can trust everything to each other without a second thought.

The whisper is only for him to hear, but Sunghwak’s ear catches it. The amused look the producer throws at him makes Junhwe stiffen, warmth blooming on his cheeks. He expects the other man to laugh but surprisingly, he doesn’t.

“The song Donghyuk’s working on right now - No. 5… You can get your answer in it.”

Junhwe blinks at the enigmatic answer. He wants to ask Sunghwak to elaborate, but the older man plays his song and started pointing out how he could improve the mixing of it.

---

Lying isn’t something to be proud of. But sometimes it’s necessary to get things moving forward (Sunday school memories remind him that lying is bad, but.) Besides, Junhwe knows Sunghwak-hyung will go along with him if ever he catches wind of it.

“Sunghwak-hyung told me we should work together on your song. No. 5, is it?”

Donghyuk gives him that look that consists of narrowing eyes and lips pursing in a straight line. He’s suspicious alright, and more prone to refusing him. Good thing Junhwe knows how to win over that side of Donghyuk (at least in 2 out of 6 times).

“You need help with layering, and I need to learn more about mixing. Working on your song should be perfect.”

“Why does it have to be my song?”

“Is there a reason why it shouldn’t be your song?”

He knows he got Donghyuk trapped the moment his chingu pursed his lips again. Junhwe feels a bit proud. Often times, it’s Donghyuk who wins in a battle of words because Junhwe isn’t fast in thought like him, but the rare times he wins, Donghyuk can’t fight back.

“Besides, you can’t always work with other producers.” he adds just to add more reasonings. “I’m a producer too and a member of your own group.”

“A producer-in-training, you mean.” Donghyuk corrects in a childish tone. Junhwe snorts.

“Yeah, we’re both producers-in-training. We have to mutually help each other.”

Donghyuk sighs in defeat so Junhwe inwardly cheers. He loves moments like these.

---

No. 5 is a song with dream-like instrumentals of piano keys and soft percussions. Junhwe can tell it’ll be a really good song once they improve on it. It’s not something sajangnim might approve as a title track though, but Junhwe can totally see it being a B-side track someday.

They work on it during an early night when one of the frequently used studios iKON uses is empty, and the other members are busy with their own schedules. Junhwe quickly takes note of how Donghyuk mixed the tracks, remembering the tips and tricks Sunghwak-hyung told him about. At the same time, he identifies where Donghyuk lacked in layering and tells his chingu as constructively as he could. He knows he could be quite rude when pointing out things, but they’re already past the point of Donghyuk being hurt from it.

He hopes.

“Please revise it.” he quickly adds after a blunt comment on the piano track. Donghyuk raises an eyebrow at him.

“Get on to it, you punk.” Donghyuk mimics with a chuckle. “That should be how Koo Junhwe speaks. What’s with you?”

He can feel the blush creep on his face so he shrugs and swivels on his chair. “Can’t I be polite sometimes? Just appreciate it.”

He’s thankful Donghyuk just laughs.

Version 2 of the Donghyuk-Junhwe collaboration arrangement of song No. 5 plays through the Hi-Fi speakers after that exchange. The song’s so much better now, Junhwe decides. Donghyuk agrees because he has a wide smile on his face as they listen.

Junhwe takes it as a chance to focus on something else; remembering what Sunghwak-hyung said about No.5 being the answer to his secret question. He pays attention to Donghyuk’s vocals as he sings in the song, letting his ears drink in the angelic quality of Donghyuk’s voice.

To speak or not to, where to begin

A great dilemmas I'm finding myself in

And the lyrics, which strikes him somehow.

For all I know you only see me as a friend

I tried to tell myself, ‘Wake up fool.’

‘This fairy tale's got to end.’

He feels his whole body stiffen. Eyes cautiously shifting, he glances at Donghyuk to see him not paying him any attention. He's just looking at a distance as if he’s in a trance; as if each word sung is a testament.

Yet when the song plays into the end, Donghyuk slowly meets his gaze back.

You’re everything I wanted

They hold that moment until Donghyuk immediately averts his gaze, saying a jokey comment about some pitchy parts. Junhwe forces himself to laugh and blurt out a retort about practicing singing more.

His whole body doesn’t relax though, and instead just freezes even more. The lyrics are carved into his mind now. If… if Sunghwak-hyung isn’t trolling him and Donghyuk really meant each word…

, why is he so delighted?

---

“I like the song, by the way.”

He tells Donghyuk, a few days after they finished revising No. 5, and after having a new round of realizations.

Their members are giddy about the song after listening to it. Hanbin and Bobby are suddenly in work-mode, discussing whether background rap would work ala “Perfect”. Jinhwan-hyung is seriously trying out singing some parts while Yunhyeong and Chanwoo excitedly chooses which lines they want to sing.

Donghyuk nods as he happily watches them, happy and proud of their group’s approval of the song. Junhwe feels happy seeing Donghyuk happy.

“Know what? Scratch that. I don’t like the song.”

Donghyuk’s face is half hidden by the black hoodie he wears, but Junhwe can see him rolling his eyes.

“You like the song or not? Make up your mind.”

“I already did.”

He steps closer to his “chingu”, leaning down to whisper so his words are only between them.

“I love it.”

He smirks smugly when Donghyuk flinches.

“Why do you love it?”

“Because it makes me feel assured about many things.” He pauses and softens his voice. “About us.”

Donghyuk flinches again.

“And it also reflects how I feel.”

“…Feel about what?”

“About you.”

He doesn’t move, waiting for the other to retort.

A happy grin makes its way to his lips when Donghyuk turns and knocks his head softly on his shoulder blade, repeating it three more times before pressing one last time insistently. It’s a playfully childish, but endearingly sweet form of scolding. He looks forward to more of it in the future.

“You like messing with my head, huh?” Donghyuk mumbles. Junhwe chuckles.

“You messed with my mind too, anyway. I didn’t like how you choose spending time with other people instead of us.” He gently knocks his chin on Donghyuk’s head. “Instead of me.”

“That explains why you suddenly want to go with me to visit Sunghwak-hyung. He told you, didn’t he?”

“He gave me a hint.”

He hears Donghyuk sigh, poking his head on him once again, before lifting his head so his chin is resting on his shoulder blade. Their eyes meet.

Like diamond eyes – as a lyric line in No. 5 describes, Junhwe takes note.

“You’re everything I wanted…” he sings to the other male. Donghyuk blushes deep red then breaks away to nudge him in annoyance.

“You’re everything I wanted…” He repeats, then breaks the playful tone to replace it with an almost steely seriousness. “What about you?”

Donghyuk looks back at him. Junhwe unconsciously holds his breath as he waits. His heart skips a bit when a soft glint appears in those eyes.

“I have a whole song that answers that for you already. Why still worry?”

Ah.

That’s right. Junhwe echoes Donghyuk’s words to himself. Why still worry?

He releases a breath. Reaching out to grab Donghyuk’s hand in his, he laugh in relief. The other members look at them quizzically, then proceeds to tease about their joined hands when they noticed. Donghyuk shrugs, smiling and not making any move to pull his hand away.

Junhwe squeezes Donghyuk’s hand, and he squeezes back. He grins once again because that’s more than enough affirmation needed.

No need to worry now.

.

.

.

A surprise for everyone since it's still the 50th chapter (and as compensation for being given a stress-relief work once again):

I borrowed some song lyrics for the story. The 1st person who can comment the Title, Band/Artist, and Vocalist for the song where the lyrics came from, will be granted a story/prompt request. I'll update this to announce the winner when someone answers correctly. 

Good luck everyone. It's totally fine if no one gets the answer though. hehe

EDIT: User deactivatein321, you got the answer right! The song is indeed Balisong – sung and written by Rico Blanco of Rivermaya! But why did you answer?? This is too easy for you! There’s a reason why I didn’t tell you I updated… (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

But a promise is a promise, so please comment or send me a message of your story idea. There’s no deadline so take your time to think and decide, then let me know. Depending on what you’ll give me, I might post it as a separate fic from this collection :)

Special shoutout to Todaeeveryday and Ruannie for participating! You almost got it Todae if it weren’t for your answer for vocalist. ^^;; Still, thank you!