“You’re an idiot,” Wonho scowled as he entered Hakyeon’s office.

“Huh?” the leader looked up, clearly confused over what he could have done to upset Wonho.

“You’re an idiot,” Wonho repeated, taking a seat across from the other, “a total, complete moron. I should slap you. Or maybe club you with a wrench. Anything really, so long as it leaves a mark to remind you what a total dip you are.”

“Not following,” Hakyeon admitted, “what did I do?”

“Sanghyuk told me,” Wonho explained, “about what you did.”

The room was silent for a moment as Hakyeon tried to find the right words. He didn’t know why he was surprised that Wonho knew. He was one of Sanghyuk’s closest friends, it was only natural that Sanghyuk would have told him about the stupid thing that Hakyeon had done. Heck, if anything Hakyeon should be surprised that Wonho was only showing up now. Or that Shownu and Hongbin weren’t there to rip him a new one, too.

“Oh,” Hakyeon hung his head, “that…..yeah. I….I messed up big, didn’t I?”

“I can’t believe you got into a fight about something so stupid,” Wonho sighed, throwing his hands up in frustration, “so what if Sanghyuk doesn’t want to take you to see his mother? You’ve only been dating for a couple of months, no one does the whole ‘meet the family’ thing after only a couple of months.”

“Some people do,” Hakyeon pointed out.

“Most,” Wonho amended, “most people don’t do the whole ‘meet the family’ thing after only a couple of months.”

“I know,” Hakyeon sighed, “I know. I just….I don’t know. I just heard that he was taking Shownu with him and it upset me. I’m his boyfriend, I should be getting to meet his family. I love him. My…….my jealously just got out of hand and I got angry and we fought.”

“Look,” Wonho sighed, “I know you’re thinking that this is some kind of sign that you like Sanghyuk more then he likes you, but--.”

“How do you know that?” Hakyeon questioned, looking Wonho over warily, “did…did Sanghyuk say something?”

“Kind of,” Wonho shrugged, “he mostly just raged about how stupid you are. But he did say that is was like you didn’t believe his feelings for you. I think that is what really pissed him off.” Wonho’s scowl deepened, “do you have any idea how long he’s liked you for? Pretty much since day one.”

“T-that long?” Hakyeon asked, “Really?”

“Really,” Wonho nodded, “pretty sure that you’re the first and only person he’s liked that way since Wonsik. And you know what else? I think that scares the crap out of Sanghyuk way more than even he realizes.”

“What do you mean?” Hakyeon frowned slightly, clearly concerned.

“Hongbin, Shownu and I have talked about this before,” Wonho explained, “Wonsik hurt Hyukkie. He hurt him a lot. That kind of pain…..it leaves a lasting impression. There’s been a few times where you had to cancel a date because of work and Sanghyuk……he hasn’t always taken it well.” Wonho sighed, seeing Hakyeon’s expression, “He hasn’t, like, said anything, but you can see it in his eyes. His rational mind gets that your work is important, that you aren’t going to turn into Wonsik and always put work before him. But if you think that your ‘whisper of doubt in the back of your mind’ problem is bad, try his.”

“Hyukkie,” Hakyeon whispered, feeling horrible that he hadn’t noticed anything. Sanghyuk could always read him so easily, yet it sure looked like he couldn’t read Sanghyuk even a little bit.

“He’s into you, Hakyeon,” Wonho said, “more than he can put into words. He’s just scared. So he’s moving slowly. Letting you farther and farther into his life slowly.”

“Because he’s scared,” Hakyeon finished, “scared that things will end like they did with Wonsik.”

“Exactly,” Wonho nodded, “so don’t get all jealous, alright? In time, when he’s ready, he’ll take you to meet his mother.”

“Right,” Hakyeon nodded, still clearly bothered by all of this.

“Go and talk to him,” Wonho advised, “he doesn’t leave for another couple of hours. That’s lots of time for you two to talk it out.”

“Right,” Hakyeon smiled, “thanks.”

“No problem,” Wonho shrugged, “Sanghyuk’s my friend, I’m just looking out for him.”

“Still,” Hakyeon replied, “I know you aren’t always my biggest fan, that you’d rather someone else be Sanghyuk’s boyfriend, so…..thank you for this.”

“You make him happy,” Wonho told him, “so long as you make him happy……”

The pair shared a look before Hakyeon headed off to find his boyfriend.

A/N: I wasn’t 100% sure if this was turning out alright as I wrote it, but now that it’s finished…….I rather like it! I love the look into Sanghyuk’s mind and the look into the relationship between Wonho and Hakyeon. how many of you read the first couple lines and thought that this took place after ‘keeping distance’ and ‘not broken’? Not gonna lie, that was part accident and part intentional. Haha I started writing and realized a couple lines in that people could mistake this chapter’s place in the time line and just went “well, that would be funny, wouldn’t it?” so I kept going with that. ……the effect will be lost on anyone reading everything in order according to timeline, won’t it?