Pairing: SuHan

Warnings: Unbeta-d bit of stuff

He takes one final bow, dazzles the crowd with a last smile as he tries not to squirm under the brightness of the venue's lights and the camera flashes from the audience. As the leader, it's his job to usher everyone off the stage and for once, he's grateful that neither Baekhyun nor Jongdae isn't sneaking back to play with the fans or pick up the rest of fan gifts thrown onto the platforms. They're all exhausted when they pile into the dressing rooms, but Junmyeon seems most obvious with his fatigue. The smile he plasters on as the backstage video camera pans onto his face is insincere, a mere pulling of the corners of the lips, uncovering his white teeth; not the usual open-curtain display of his happiness accompanied by his string of exhilarated words. It is definitely not the face of the leader of an internationally-known boy band after concluding a very successful concert.

Kyungsoo picks up on the bizarre mood and therefore surprisingly allows himself to be whisked away by the camera instead. Chanyeol ups his antics to hog all the attention to himself, and all the other members do their part to give Junmyeon some space for a while. They know it's the best way to deal with their leader suddenly falling uncharacteristically quiet. He'll talk later on; if not, they'll make him.

It is Sehun who already has a pretty good idea as to the rainclouds hovering over Junmyeon, shading gloom on his face for days following their last concert. He tries to approach the leader about it, but every time, Junmyeon finds a way to keep himself out of reach, even to the other members who still don't have a clue what's going on. About why the grin on their usually participative leader may as well have been made with cardboard, and stuck on with glue that doesn't hold enough for when they are back at the dorms after every day's end. He still goes well through his leader duties, but when there's only nine of them, Junmyeon becomes a shell, retreating into himself.

~o~

Some moments Junmyeon thinks he's being overly dramatic, and that the other members are noticing that he's become too closed up somehow. He's surprised they haven't cornered him about it yet, it's a matter of time they'd do just that. About 'it,' Junmyeon thinks he's really feeling it too much. It shouldn't bother him because he doesn't have any right to feel hurt, but it does and he does.

Their Changsha concert was marvelous as always, and they'd been hyped up throughout the show. However when Baekhyun noticed something in the crowd that made him go wide-eyed, wildly pointing it out to Sehun, it garnered Junmyeon's attention as well. He was about to go join them for amusement but when he craned his head to look to the crowd, what he saw made his heart pummel to the ground instead.

Out of thousands of fan banners being waved up in the air, his whole existence zeroed in to one adorned with pink hearts bearing a couple name: HunHan.

Two weeks pass by without a hint of Junmyeon opening up, much less allowing anyone to talk to him for more than five minutes. Baekhyun, the only other person aside from Sehun who's in the know, agrees to keep the other members and the manager hyungs occupied while Sehun takes Junmyeon out under the guise of wanting bubble tea.

Stepping out into the busy streets of metropolitan Seoul seems to be functioning fairly well, since it is lifting Junmyeon's mood a bit. Sehun mentally wishes his other idea would work perfectly fine as well. They've let themselves into a milk tea place that looks like a small house instead of a shop, when Sehun pauses to say, "Hyung, I think I forgot my wallet at home. I'm just gonna go back and get it."

"Don't be silly, Sehun-ah. I'll just pay for it, I do it most of the time for you anyway." A soft chuckle escapes Junmyeon's lips and it's like it's the first time Sehun's ever heard of it, he's mesmerized. They've all gone too long not being bugged by Junmyeon's usually failing attempts at humor, and his usually obnoxious laugh for someone who's way too proud of his really not-too-funny jokes.

"Ah, hyung, I said I'll treat you today," he insists. "You should grab the chance now because you never know if this could be my gift for your birthday."

"Oh wow, so your gift for me is treating me to something you like?" Junmyeon snorts. "But really, you don't have to go back. What would they say about me forcing the maknae to make an effort like that?" he teases.

Sehun simply rolls his eyes and pushes his hyung to the nearest table, forcing him to be seated on a plastic chair. " Stop being stubborn and just accept my generosity for once, will you? It's a privilege to be pampered by me, you know. I'll be back, okay?"

"Fine."

Sehun is almost out the door when he looks back and narrows his eyes, saying, "You better not dare drink anything while I'm gone."

After shaking his head quite fondly at his dongsaeng, Junmyeon