“Noona!”

“Daeunnie!”

“Where have you been?! I- Oh look, Hyung’s back too.”

“So, how was your guys’ date? Kiss yet?”

“Shut up, Frosty.”

“That’s her nickname for me, not yours Hyung. Get your own.”

“Nurse Nam, I do believe you have been neglecting your duties.”

“Screw you, Lee. I hope you suffered.”

The second they had walked through the dark blue tarp that blocked the warehouse’s entrance, their appearance was greeted with loud, happy exclamations, teasing, relief, and the commotion of Minhyuk and Changkyun pushing each other over as they raced to be the first to hug the only female member of their Flight, whom they had both missed terribly. It may have only been two days, but they had all grown used to having her around- it wasn’t abnormal for Wonho to disappear for a few days without any warning or news of his whereabouts, so they hadn’t really cared that he was missing; Daeun, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. They were friends, a family. However, while everyone seemed to be happy about their return, Shownu looked to be the one exception to that statement.

“Where have you two been?” Their leader frowned deeply at them, clearly unimpressed, with his arms crossed over his chest in an obvious show of his current mood.

“We lost the car,” was Wonho’s only response, false cheer in his voice and smug expression on his face that gave away the fact that he was pleased Shownu seemed upset with him. After all, he was a bit of a sadistic that enjoyed pissing people off immensely, and that was something that would never change.

“We had a car?” Jooheon muttered to no one, eyebrows raised.

“What happened?” Shownu pressed for more details. Suddenly, there was a thick tension in the air as everyone quieted down, watching the staring match going on between the two oldest members. It wasn’t as if Shownu and Wonho didn’t have arguments where they disagreed from time to time, especially with whatever weird history they had between them and Wonho’s natural dislike of authority, so this really shouldn’t have been anything new- it was practically normal, even. But with everything going on recently, the definition of normal had changed as the dynamic of their group had as well with the addition of two new members to their dysfunctional little family. Unsure of what to do and whether interfering would make things better or worse, Daeun stayed silent along with the others,

Wonho simply shrugged, the action so nonchalant it would have been considered lazy or perhaps even innocent, had it not been for that stupid smirk on his face that hardly ever left, ruining the whole gesture so that it could only be read as arrogant. Shownu sighed in response, his own shoulders sagging in something akin to defeat. Taking this as some type of cue that the conversation was over and he had permission to go, Wonho left the room in favor of who even knows where- most likely, his answer if asked would be anywhere that wasn’t right there, honestly. Before he disappeared around the corner though, he had thrown a wink at Daeun- something that none of them missed.

“What the hell was that?” Minhyuk demanded from beside her, his voice a little more high-pitched than normal as he tugged on her arm insistently. He reminded her of those high school girls that lived for gossip, those overdramatic ones in all the dramas and movies, and the fairly accurate comparison brought a grin to her face.

“I missed you guys.” She laughs, brushing off the question altogether; and it’s true, for, despite not having known them for long, the seven boys -Wonho included- had become an integral part of her life. However, Hyungwon isn’t about to let the flirty interaction he just caught go that easily- his favorite ship, and his money, are at stake here, after all.

“Yeah right, I’m sure you were more than busy with your Honeymoon going on. Anything special happen while you two were alone together?” His expression was blank, as if he were purposefully trying to hide his true intentions and appear as purely curious, but the look of amusement in his eyes and the suggestive tone of this voice told her otherwise. Plus, this was Hyungwon; he wasn’t fooling anyone with his act. “As your biggest supporter, I call the position of godfather and- ow!”

“Except for you,” Daeun amended her previous statement, retracting her hand with a roll of her eyes followed swiftly by a lighthearted glare. “I definitely did not miss you, Frosty.”

“Does that mean you missed me?”

“Shut up, Lee. Since when are you this playful, huh?”

“Daeunnie, pay attention to me!”

“Hyung!”

What had her life been like before she met them? Truthfully, it was getting a little hard to remember, and she wasn’t even entirely sure she wanted to think about it anyway. She was perfectly happy with the way things were now.

···Ä···

Roughly an hour after she had arrived at the Safe House, Daeun finds herself once again up on top of the scaffolding with Shownu, having a private conversation that borders on a heart-to-heart. Despite his stern appearance and those moments in which he tries to be a distant, authoritative leader, she’s pretty sure that Shownu’s a not so secret softie with a gift for getting people to open up and natural predisposition towards parental nurturing. It’s different from the worried, sometimes almost overbearing, mother hen act that Kihyun often puts on, but it’s reassuring nevertheless, and it’s one of the reasons why he makes such a good leader. Perhaps it’s why she feels so comfortable around him too and why she puts up with his awkward mushiness despite her preferred method of interacting with the world and those around her, no matter how close to her they are, being sarcasm coupled with a strong dose of humor.

"So what now, bird boy?"

The affectionate nickname hurt a little for the first time, making him let out a sigh in an attempt to release some of the feelings he usually kept trapped inside. Shownu had always known were he stood in Daeun's mind, his position in her world seemingly fixed. He was a gateway to greater things, a guardian that watched over her and the others, the awkward older brother figure. He was the person that liked seagulls because she made the underrated bird sound beautiful- he himself was like one of those birds to her. She cared about him, very much so, there was no doubt about that, but it wasn't the same way he cared about her- the secret, warm feelings he harbored for her weren't mutual, and he had never been under any delusions to believe otherwise. But it still hurt. It couldn’t be helped. Emotions were just stupid like that.

"Now's the part where I ask you about what happened the past few days and then we see where we go from there,” he answered, pushing his personal feelings aside as he always did.

And so she told him- not everything, not even most of it. In fact, she mainly recapped the altercation with their rival Flight that had taken place a few hours prior and summarized the rest as Wonho just being annoying- she had just happened to oh so conveniently forget to mention any of the intimate moments they had shared together. She still didn't understand any of that really herself, and would rather just ignore it and put the whole thing behind her.

It didn't matter. Even though she had left many things out of the story, Shownu was bright enough to read between the lines and piece everything together. He knew Wonho too well to not know what most likely occurred; he knew Daeun well enough to be able to predict what she's not saying, what she doesn't want to admit. People have always underestimated his ability to be perceptive.

He can't really say he's surprised at the conclusion he reaches. After all, there was a reason that he had brought Daeun with him to pick up Wonho from the police station- he had seen the way his best friend looked at her, how he interacted with her. Maybe a small part of him in the back of his mind had unconsciously expected something like this to happen- actually wanted it to happen, as improbable as that sounded on the surface.

Wonho wasn't a great person, nor a good friend, far from it, but he was Shownu's ty friend, whether he admitted it or not. Another thing people always underestimated when it came to him -even something Shownu often underestimated himself- was just how far he would go for the boy a year younger than him that seemed to immensely hate his guts, the things he would do. Apparently, giving up Daeun was one of those things.

"Do you want to hear a story?" he blurts out, the question so abrupt it's awkward and the girl beside him winces at the broken silence. "I used to be a Heavy too."