1 

Chani felt an arm being placed comfortably around his shoulder. He payed no attention to it, feeling rather out of it, as usual. His other members also payed no attention to it, sitting on the floor of the practice room eating a quick meal before they ran through the choreography of their songs for the day. Their chatting & laughter was only a murmur in Chani's head. Nothing but background noise.

"Why are you just standing there?" The voice that belonged to the arm around his shoulder asked, as the other hand rubbed on his belly.

"I went to go throw my plate away & then.."

"& then..?" The voice chuckled, & Chani turned around to find a tall, dark haired male dressed in all black behind him. "You always seem to space out at the weirdest times."

"Ahaha.. sorry, Rowoon hyung." Chani smiled brightly, sending the taller male into a frenzy of emotions. He quickly pulled Chani closer to him, wrapping his long arms around his torso.

"Shall we stretch? While we wait for the others to get done eating?"

"Wha? Yeah uh, sure." Chani slipped out of Rowoon's arms & sat on the floor, with Rowoon swiftly following to sit beside him. They spread their legs straight out in front of them & leaned in to touch their toes. The difference in the length of their limbs was quite amusing, but having lived together for over 2 years, they got used to everyone's size differences. With Rowoon being the tallest, he quite literally hovered over every member of the group. This caused eveyone to look short in comparison, when in reality it was just that he was abnormally tall.

Chani let out small, tiny groans as he stretched, & Rowoon glanced over at him for a bit. He tried not to let the cute sounds he was making distract him, continuing to focus on his own stretches.

"Ah-are we done yet?" Chani's eyes shut real tight, signaling that he wanted to stop.

Rowoon couldn't help but grin. "Just a couple more."

"Ah, ah.." He cried again, & eventually collapsed on the floor. Rowoon stopped stretching to look down at him.

"You are so dramatic!"

Chani smiled, leaning up to rest his head on one of Rowoon's thighs.

"Am not! I just don't like stretching.."

"Yeah? We do it all the time, so what's the problem now?"

"I dunno.. maybe I'm just not feelin' it today.." He closed his eyes, but the top of his head was met with a light tap from Rowoon's hands.

"Come on." He moved Chani's head off of his lap, sitting him upright again, as he himself stood all the way up. Rowoon reached out a hand to help him up, & Chani took it sluggishly.

"Jeez you really are feeling bad today. Maybe you're sick?" Rowoon pushed his bangs out of his face to feel his forehead. It felt extremely warm.

"Ah! Chani's sick, everyone!"

Hearing Rowoon's loud voice echo the room, all the other members went in closer to them now.

"Really?" Inseong asked, after throwing away the trash from his lunch. All the others took turns feeling the maknae's forehead, & their reactions varied from shocked to annoyed.

"How could you be so careless, Chani? What even happened for you to get sick like this?" Zuho groaned.

"Hey, it's not his fault! We just have to wait for him to get better. It'll only take a couple of days, right?" Taeyang was the member who almost always saw things on the bright side. Without him, the team would be in a much more desolate state.

"Taeyang, we already had you sit out once because of your injury. We can't afford to have a member missing during promotions again!" Zuho's voice seemed to get louder, making Taeyang frown in the process. His knee injury wasn't exactly his fault either.

Chani leaned his head against Rowoon's chest, trying his best to block out the bickering of the other members.

"I'd say just let him get some rest." Their leader, Youngbin, finally spoke up, putting a hand on Chani's shoulder. "We can do this without him. As a team, we need to make sure that we're here for each other. We can figure out who can cover his parts later. In the mean time, I'll tell management what's going on & Rowoon can take Chani back to the dorms."

They all nodded in agreement to the leader's orders.

"Can you walk?" Rowoon leaned down to whisper into Chani's ear.

"I may be sick but my legs are working just fine. I'm not immobile."

"Damn. I was hoping to use that as an excuse to carry you."

Chani rolled his eyes, as Dawon & Jaeyoon came closer to him to pat him on the back & give him their "Get well soon" wishes. With an arm around Chani's shoulder, the two made their way back to the dorms.

"Ah!" Chani plopped on the bed happily, his white sweatshirt blending in with the sheets of the bed. Rowoon plopped down next to him, & Chani gave him a look.

"Hyung, you'll get sick too if you're not careful. You shouldn't be so close to me."

"But what if I can't help it?"

Chani raised an eyebrow. "Wha?"

Rowoon frowned. Did the kid have to be so damn oblivious to everything?

He sighed, getting up. "I'll make you some soup. Is that ok?"

"But I already ate. You should go back to the others to figure out the new routine."

"Ah yeah, that." Rowoon pushed his bangs out of his face & groaned. "It's because of you that we have to re-arrange everything now."

"Hey! I'm sorry!" Chani shouted, sitting up now. "I didn't mean to ruin everything like that."

"Don't sit up too fast, or else you'll get dizzy."

"Okay, mom!"

"I should have known.. I think I saw signs of it earlier.. of you being sick.. I just didn't think much of it."

"I'm not that sick!" Chani jumped off the bed to walk past Rowoon, then soon after completely lost his balance. Luckily Rowoon was there to catch him & prevent him from falling face first onto the floor.

"You are that sick. No getting up until I say so, okay?" He pulled him all the way up, locking eyes with his. He couldn't contain himself any longer, because in that moment it felt as if he were going to burst.

Acting on impulse, he backed the younger one against the wall & dived right in for a kiss. Chani barely had any time for his brain to catch up to what was happening. Instinctively he stood on his tippy toes, trying to make it easier for the taller male. Rowoon broke away from the kiss, leaving Chani with stars in his eyes.

"You don't have to do that."

"What?" Chani asked, with somewhat of a scratchy voice. His cold was catching up to him, most likely.

"You don't have to stand on your toes. It's okay. I don't mind leaning down."

"Huh? I did? I mean.. I did that?"

Rowoon smiled. "Maybe you didn't realize you were doing it, but either way, you don't have to."

"O-okay.." Chani looked down shyly, & Rowoon brought his face back up with his hand on his chin.

"This is okay, right?"

"Hyung.. aren't you going a little bit backwards? You should ask if it's okay before hand, not after you've already gone & done it.."

Rowoon sighed & stood all the way up now, no longer leaning in to Chani's level. "That is a good point, but.. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm not going to force you into doing something you don't feel like doing."

"Okay. Well with that being said, I don't want to do this."

Rowoon's eyes grew wide, not really expecting that kind of answer from him. He seemed to be enjoying the kiss as much as he was, so that completely caught the older one off guard.

"Why..? May I ask? I mean I get it I guess.. You don't really even have to say it.." He hung his head down dejectedly.

"Say what?" Chani was curious as to what he assumed was the reason he didn't want to continue.

"This is kind of out of nowhere & stuff.. & I'm a guy.. not to mention your teammate.."

"Who said anything about you being a guy?"

Rowoon's head lifted up. "Huh? So that's not what this is about?"

Chani thought carefully. "I never.. had any experiences like that, with either a guy or a girl. So I don't know about any of that stuff, or how I'm supposed to feel.."

"But you would know if you were into guys like that, right?"

Chani shrugged, still not knowing how to answer his question.

Rowoon thought some more. "Okay, well if that's out of the way, then what could it be? Maybe you're just not attracted to me? That's fine, I guess-"

"No no no!" Chani shook his head, his hair swaying back & forth. "Quit assuming the worst!"

"I can't help it! I just love you so much-"

Rowoon's hands flew to his mouth, & Chani's expression went blank.

No one said anything for a while, & during that time, Rowoon finally released his hands from his face. After that sudden outburst of a confession, he couldn't bare to look Chani in the eyes, so his eyes studied the carpet floor instead. After watching Chani cutely rocking back & forth on the heels of his feet, he could only wonder what he was thinking. Would he say that he was a creep? For being in love with someone so much younger than him? Rowoon had a tendency to think the most negative things & expect the outcome to be the worst possible one.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw Chani's feet moving towards him.

"You really love me?" he heard him say, & Rowoon immediately pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around Chani's entire body. He didn't answer the question, but Chani didnt seem to mind, closing his eyes & resting comfortably in the taller boy's arms.

"Do you want to know the reason why I didn't want to kiss you?"

"Huh?" Rowoon let go, grabbing Chani's shoulders to push him away from his chest. He couldn't hear him since it came out muffled against his shirt, so Chani smiled & repeated it.

"Do you want to know the reason why I didn't want to kiss you?"

"Yes & no.."

"I dont want us kissing because I'm sick!!" His voice became louder with the last part of his sentence, as he hit Rowoon playfully.

"That's the reason?" Rowoon smiled along with him, feeling silly that he was worrying over nothing. "Who cares if I get sick?"

"I do! Who's gonna take care of me if we're both not feeling well?"

Rowoon lifted an eyebrow. "I thought you didnt want me taking care of you? I mean, I just assumed."

Chani's eyelid's lowered, pushing his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "Well maybe I do.. I mean you already do anyway, even when I'm not sick, right? So I guess it doesn't make much of a difference.."

Rowoon said nothing, absentmindedly staring at Chani & studying his features. The soft pink color of his lips. The rosiness of his cheeks. The cute shape of his nose.

Rowoon's breathing became more shallow, as he leaned in yet again for another kiss. Chani did not object, & tried to remember to have his feet flat on the ground like he wanted. He found himself slowly wrapping his arms around the taller one's neck, but right when he did that, Rowoon broke the kiss again.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to be able to do something like this?"

"No.. How long?"

"Forever. But I feel so impure for saying that.." He backed away a bit from Chani, & Chani's face became worried.

"But why? Don't feel weird about it. It's ok, hyung." Patting Rowoon's shoulders, the younger boy attempted to comfort him, but with no luck.

"I just can't help but feel that you're just saying that for my sake. You can tell me to leave if you want. I'll get the message."

"Why would I do that?" Chani's voice grew more worried, as he watched Rowoon fidget with his belt buckle. His eyes scanned across everything in the room except Chani, trying to avoid looking at him at all costs.

"Hey! Look at me!" Chani demanded, & Rowoon's head instantly whipped down to look at the shorter boy. "It's ok! I'm not lying to you. Not even a little bit. You've always been very touchy-feely towards me anyway, way more than the others. I've accepted that a long time ago, & I accept everything that you feel about me now. You're my friend & you've always been there for me. It's not the end of the world if you like me in that way. I don't think of you any differently. Because you're still Rowoon hyung to me." He gave a small smile & patted his shoulder once again. After hearing that, Rowoon couldn't help but smile with him.

"You know, you still never answered my question from earlier."

"Hm?" Chani tilted his head to the side. "What question?"

"Do you find me attractive?"

"Ah.." Chani laughed nervously. "Of course I do, yes."

After hearing that, Rowoon scooped him up in a big hug, nearly lifting him off the ground.

"But I find all of our teammates attractive."

Rowoon put him down gently & walked away, pretending to be mad.

Chani took him seriously & went after him."Wait, hyung! Don't be angry with me!"

Rowoon turned back towards him, giving him a smirk, & Chani felt relieved that he wasn't actually upset.

"I'm not angry, but just so you know, to me, you're the cutest one." The tall boy leaned down to give Chani a peck on the cheek, & Chani just gave his usual bright grin.

"Yeah, I know."