April, 2012. Jellyfish Entertainment.

 

        Sanghyuk sat on the floor of a vocal studio, head downcast to the linoleum that lined the tiny closet-like space. Something was off. He wasn’t sure exactly what, but it was off. And he didn’t like it.

 

        He heaved out a sigh; things would get better, right? Surely a forehead kiss couldn’t heal the awkward tension that lingered every time he and this person crossed paths, but it could spark the beginning of progress, right?

 

        Sanghyuk wasn’t convinced. The air between Taekwoon and him still felt stiff and uncomfortable, despite the valiant efforts of their self-appointed leader, Hakyeon, to put aside their differences and become friends with a forehead kiss. It had only been a few days since the members of their band had been set, but already Sanghyuk felt the arising difficulties of getting along with Taekwoon.

 

        A light knock came to the door, and Sanghyuk’s head shot up, greeting the person who walked in. It was Hakyeon, a faint smile on his face as he spotted the newly appointed maknae.

 

        “Have you been practicing?” the older one asked, the sweetness from his smile seeping through into the tone of his voice. Sanghyuk nodded, but his shoulders slumped and gave off his overall attitude. Hakyeon caught on.

 

        “Why don’t you take a break and join us out in the practice room? Manager hyung brought us some snacks for a quick refresher!” the taller male remarked. A break sounded like something that could definitely lift his spirits, but the possibility of the ever stoic Taekwoon being there knocked his optimism straight into next week. Nevertheless, Sanghyuk scraped himself off the floor and followed his senior out into the practice room, expecting to see everyone else munching away on the snacks Hakyeon mentioned. However, much to his surprise, he only saw a crate of colored milk cartons and baggies of trail mix and fresh fruit.

 

        “I’ll be back with the others, ok?” Hakyeon smiled, skipping off back in the direction of the vocal rooms, leaving Sanghyuk alone. Awkward at first, the youngest one shoved his hands into his pockets, glancing back and forth in the empty practice room to ensure nobody really was in there.

 

        His back was turned to the entrance to the vocal studios, and Sanghyuk finally felt confident enough that the one who made him so anxious wasn’t there to build that anxiety once again. Backing towards the crate of milk, Sanghyuk swiftly his heel, darting a hand out to pull one of the brightly colored cartons when he collided with another hand going for the same carton. Frightened, Sanghyuk yanked his hand away in a fit of quickly dispersing jitters; it was Taekwoon.

 

        “A-Ah, I’m sorry!” Sanghyuk bowed, berating himself silently in his head. He tried to hide the evident nervousness and awkwardness that was showing on his face, but Taekwoon just stared at him, cat-like eyes blinking every couple seconds with silence enveloping the two.

 

        At this point, Sanghyuk felt even worse. When Taekwoon didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what to do; that was what made it so hard to close out the tension between the two because Taekwoon never spoke.

 

        Distraught, mouth agape just slightly with anxiety, Sanghyuk snapped at one of the milk cartons again to run away and drink his milk in the solace of a vocal studio, but Taekwoon’s hand rested on his wrist before he could wretch the carton away. Sanghyuk’s mouth fell open a little bit further; he was caught.

 

        “I didn’t know you liked strawberry milk too,” Taekwoon commented in his distinct near adolescent voice. His sentence threw Sanghyuk for a loop, who was expecting something - what exactly, he wasn’t sure - completely different. His glance cast down to the carton his hand was still grasping; it was strawberry milk, a bright pink outer package signaling the flavor without the necessity of reading the label.

 

        “O-Oh, ah-” Sanghyuk tried to find words. Something that would help break the ice, even though they had been training together for the past month and a half already. “It brings me memories of my childhood! I remember drinking strawberry milk when I was in kindergarten, so when I saw it, I wanted to drink it again, you know, to feel young again,” Sanghyuk stammered.

 

        “You are young,” Taekwoon commented. Sanghyuk could almost feel himself physically droop at the older boy’s words. Again, not quite the conversationalist, he thought to himself.

 

        “I meant younger than I am now,” Sanghyuk muttered to himself, his sassy side briefly making an appearance that his high school friends knew all about, but only Hakyeon among others had witnessed a peep of. And then Sanghyuk heard something for the first time: a giggle from Taekwoon. His head shot back up to Taekwoon’s expression, and the faintest smile had fell over his features.

 

        At last, after all this time, Taekwoon let go of Sanghyuk’s wrist and reached for his own small carton of strawberry milk, sauntering over to one of the couches that sat in the practice room. Oddly enough, for the first time since meeting, Sanghyuk felt drawn and compelled to sit next to him. So he grabbed the carton his hand had been on and joined the taller male on the couch.

 

        Much to Sanghyuk’s dismay, silence consumed them once again. Unsure of how to progress any further, he took to chugging on the strawberry milk in his hands. Taekwoon still was saying nothing, swirling the milk in his carton, but not bothering to take a sip.

 

        Hakyeon still had yet to return from fetching the others from the various vocal studios lining the hallway, but Sanghyuk felt more and more anxious being stuck next to Taekwoon with nothing to say and found himself wanting to leave before too long. So much for the “progress” he was making just a few moments prior.

 

        “I drank strawberry milk in kindergarten too,” Taekwoon piped up. The sudden instigation of conversation coming from someone who rarely talked ended up startling Sanghyuk, his gaze turning to the other seated next to him.

 

        “O-Oh, you did?” Sanghyuk clarified. He could feel another silence coming with the nod of Taekwoon’s head, but much to his surprise, he continued after that.

 

        “It was my favorite part of the day. Our teacher always made sure we got the really cold crates of milk, too. She was so caring. And she would always let the kids who acted the best get first choice of the milk, so I always made sure I was on my best behavior because I wanted to pick the first milk carton,” Taekwoon smiled slightly.

 

        “I just always wanted to read the little two line anime comics on the cartons,” Sanghyuk spat out before he had time to think through his response. At first, he held his lips, thinking Taekwoon would view him as dumb in some respect, but he laughed.

 

        “Your milk cartons had the comics on them too?” Taekwoon giggled. Sanghyuk instantly warmed up.

 

        “Yeah!! Those were the best, I always went home every night from school and told the jokes to my family!” Sanghyuk recounted the event fondly.

 

        “Those jokes were the best when we were kids. Everyone always got a different joke, so we would take turns telling each other what joke we got as we drank the milk,” Taekwoon smiled, thinking back on his childhood days. It was at that moment in which Sanghyuk noticed how handsome Taekwoon was when he smiled.

 

        Sanghyuk shook his head at the random, unwarranted thought that flew through his head.

 

        “Man, I wish I could be a kindergartener again,” Sanghyuk remarked.

 

        “You’re not far off from it now,” Taekwoon remarked to the 16 year old. Sanghyuk frowned in Taekwoon’s direction who only giggled in response. That was a first.

 

        “I wish Hakyeon would buzz off about making us closer,” Taekwoon changed the subject.

 

        Sanghyuk’s eyebrows raised in curiosity and misunderstanding. “What do you mean?”

 

        “Well, he came up with the idea of the forehead kiss before anyone else did, and that’s how everyone ended up routing for us to do that during filming. I know he means well, but he needs to let friendships flourish naturally. Like this. That skinship was so uncomfortable, but I feel comfortable here with you now drinking milk like we did when we were six year olds. If only Hakyeon could understand that things happen naturally at their own rate,” Taekwoon scoffed, taking a sip of his milk.

 

        Shocked, the maknae stared at Taekwoon until he noticed. “I-I didn’t know you felt that way, but…” he paused, trying to think of the best way to word things. “I feel the same way actually. To be honest, the first time I saw you I was really scared of you. I felt like Hakyeon hyung butting in was just making things worse, but talking to you like this, I don’t feel as scared of you.”

 

        “You were scared of me?” Taekwoon asked, pulling his milk away from his lips with wide eyes. Sanghyuk awkwardly giggled.

 

        “Well, yeah, but… I guess I’m not now,” he offered with an uncertain shrug and the two laughed. For once, Sanghyuk thought, the atmosphere wasn’t heavy with Taekwoon’s stoic features or with Sanghyuk’s own fears of the other. Things felt nice and airy.

 

        In the background, however, Hakyeon’s lips were contorted into the saddest frown his facial muscles could muster as Wonsik patted him on the shoulder with slightly forced sympathy.

 

        “Ah, come on now, hyung, they’re closer now, look at them! Aren’t you happy for them?” he tried to point out the positives to the emotionally-damaged leader.

 

        “But at what cost??” Hakyeon whined, referencing the fact that both of the boys in the practice room felt uncomfortable with his friendship forcing skills. “They don’t even know that I set this up too!”

 

        “But as long as they’re getting along better, right? So technically, they should have you to thank since you made this happen,” Wonsik made Hakyeon feel better. The almost pretend sniffling rolled to a gradual stop, and Hakyeon nodded at Wonsik’s words.

 

        “I guess…” the leader pouted. Wonsik wondered in the back of his mind how Hakyeon was the oldest one among them.

 

        “Do you wanna go get some ice cream?” Wonsik suggested. Hakyeon immediately perked up, almost bouncing on his feet with sudden happiness as he nodded an excited “yes” before they set off, leaving Sanghyuk and Taekwoon enjoy their entire crate of milk to themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello~! I would just like everyone to know that in the last part, I can just picture Hakyeon frown/pouting like the meme below, and it brings me so much life. Please upvote and comment to let me know how you liked it! :)