Hakyeon bit back a sigh as he glanced at Wonsik sitting across from him. The scientist didn’t look even slightly excited to be there and Hakyeon couldn’t say he was surprised. Honestly, if anything shocked him it was that Wonsik had agreed to go out to dinner with him at all. He almost wondered if someone had made him do it, if they’d told Wonsik to accept Hakyeon’s date request because it was the nice thing to do or something.

“Wonsik?” Hakyeon asked, “are you, um, enjoying your meal?”

“Yes,” Wonsik nodded, nodding slightly before returning his attention to said meal.

“Good,” Hakyeon sighed, looking down at his own food.

Since Hakyeon was going with honestly, he should also admit that the date wasn’t his idea. No, it was Taekwoon’s idea. After his friend had struck out, Hakyeon had taken him out for a drink to help cheer him up. At some point in the night Overwatch’s “fearless” leader had accidentally let it slip that he’d lied about having feelings for Sanghyuk so that Taekwoon would ask Wonsik out. Taekwoon had been grateful that Hakyeon had wanted to help him so badly, but he’d apparently decided to return the favor.

Taekwoon had pushed and pushed for Hakyeon to ask Wonsik out. He seemed convinced that if Wonsik wasn’t interested in him, he’d be interested in Hakyeon. He was determined that at least one of them would capture the heart of the scientist who had captured both of their attentions.

While Taekwoon had been doing that, Hakyeon had been watching Wonsik clearly. Specifically, watching Wonsik’s interactions with Sanghyuk. And he’d been completely crushed when he realized that Sanghyuk’s words the night of Taekwoon’s date with Wonsik were right. Wonsik still had feelings for Sanghyuk. Strong ones.

He never had a chance and neither did Taekwoon.

“Why did you say yes?” Hakyeon sighed to himself.

“Huh?” Wonsik looked up, eyebrow raised, “what did you say?”

“Nothing,” Hakyeon plastered a bright smile on his face, “just made a mental note to try making something like this later. It’s really good.”

Wonsik nodded and returned to his food, not convinced but not interested enough to dig deeper.

--

“He really didn’t look interested?” Taekwoon frowned.

“No,” Hakyeon sighed, “I have no idea why he agreed to go out with either of us. Clearly neither of us are his type.”

“Maybe Sanghyuk or Hongbin told him to?” Taekwoon suggested.

“No,” Hakyeon sighed, “well, maybe Hongbin did, but not Sanghyuk.”

“Why?” Taekwoon suddenly frowned, “what do you know?”

Hakyeon winced, silently cursing his loose lips for all the trouble they got him into. He didn’t want to tell anyone about Sanghyuk and Wonsik’s history. It felt like gossip and since neither seemed to have really told anyone in the first place Hakyeon had come to assume they didn’t want people to know. But now he kind of had to tell Taekwoon. If he didn’t, his friend would go looking for the truth and that could end rather badly.

“They used to date,” Hakyeon said after making sure they weren’t going to be overheard, “remember Sanghyuk’s files? Wonsik’s the reason behind why he got his powers and…..it was part of the reason Sanghyuk ended it.”

“How do you know this?” Taekwoon questioned, “Did one of them tell you?”

“The night you went out with Wonsik,” Hakyeon explained, “Sanghyuk sat down with me and told me. He said that neither of us were gonna get anywhere with Wonsik because he’s still into Sanghyuk.”

“And you’re sure he’s telling the truth?” Taekwoon asked after a moment, “It’s not Sanghyuk who’s hung up on Wonsik?”

“Positive,” Hakyeon nodded, “ever since he told me, I’ve been watching how Wonsik acts around Sanghyuk and…..it’s pretty clear he’s still holding out hope that they can get back together. That he can fix things.”

“Hmm,” Taekwoon sighed, “Wonsik does act differently around Sanghyuk.”

“Yeah,” Hakyeon nodded, about to say something else when Sanghyuk came into the lunch room looking like death, “what the hell happened to Sanghyuk?”

“He looks hung over,” Taekwoon replied, “I heard he, Shownu and Hongbin went off base to a bar. He must have gotten pretty smashed.”

“I’ll say,” Hakyeon frowned, already getting up to go check on the hung-over fly boy, “I’ll go see if he needs anything.”

Taekwoon watched the pair’s interaction carefully, mulling over what Hakyeon had told him and trying to figure out why Sanghyuk felt like telling Hakyeon. If he was just trying to spare people’s feelings, then why didn’t he tell Taekwoon that going after Wonsik was pointless? And Taekwoon had noticed a few others flirting with Wonsik, too. Did Sanghyuk give them the same warning he’d given Hakyeon? Probably not.

As he watched Hakyeon try to fuss over Sanghyuk while Sanghyuk tried to brush him off and get away, Taekwoon came to a realization.

Sanghyuk had feelings for Hakyeon.

Taekwoon wasn’t at all sure of what to do with this bit of information. Obviously he wasn’t going to spread it around like gossip, that wasn’t his style. He couldn’t just tell Hakyeon either. He didn’t know exactly how his friend would react, but it wouldn’t be pretty for Sanghyuk since Hakyeon didn’t feel the same. Depending on how deep Sanghyuk’s feelings ran, it might even break his heart and Taekwoon couldn’t do that to someone.

Taekwoon sighed to himself, deciding to keep this little secret of Sanghyuk’s.

A/N: I kind of get the feeling that everyone in their little circle of friends knew about Sanghyuk’s feelings for Hakyeon ages before our wonderful Overwatch leader even started crushing our little time distortion creator. Haha poor Hyukkie. But at least they did end up together in the end!