Title: Display

Pairing: Hyukbin

Word Count: 3093

Hongbin loved making displays, had ever since he was a kid. It was a well-known fact in his home town that he could always be counted on to have the best display for any and every occasion. The high school needed a big ‘welcome back’ display that would make kids look forewords to the new school year? Hongbin could do that. The church needed something for Easter? Hongbin would make it look amazing. His parents wanted to put up lights for Christmas? Hongbin would do that and more, making their house the best on the whole street.

Honestly, it was no wonder he’d ended up making displays for companies as a living.

It was great, doing what he loved. Plus, he was his own boss so he only had to do the jobs that he wanted. When he’d first moved out to the city, he’d worked for someone and it was kind of horrible. His boss didn’t have the talent those working under her did, nor the passion. And yet everything had to be done her way and any who dared go against her risked being fired. After a year of that, Hongbin had seriously considered quitting and going back home. But then his friend and co-worker Jaehwan had come up with the idea of starting their own business.

The pair had done exactly that and about half of their co-workers had gone with them. Within months, they had surpassed their old employer. Clients loved their work, their employees loved working for them, and everything was going perfectly. Hongbin couldn’t be happier that his professional life was going so well. It was just as shame his personal life wasn’t working out so nicely.

Seven years in the big city and he was still just as single as when he’d arrived.

“I don’t get it,” Hakyeon, Jaehwan’s husband, asked, “these are all really nice guys you’re going out with, not a jerk in the bunch. Why aren’t you going back for a second or their date?”

“It’s Sanghyuk, isn’t it?” Jaehwan frowned, “Bin, if you’re still that in love with him, call him. Ask him to take you back.”

“I can’t do that,” Hongbin moaned, “I broke his heart. He was all ready to ask me to marry him and I just……I ended it. And I was so horrible about it, too.”

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think,” Hakyeon tried to assure him, “you can be a bit of a brat, sure, but never nasty.”

“I told him that he was holding me back,” Hongbin scowled, “that he was always going to be small town and that I didn’t want that.”

“Ouch,” Jaehwan winced, “just…..ouch.”

“But it’s been years,” Hakyeon insisted, “I’m sure he’ll have forgiven you by now.”

“He’s probably moved on,” Hongbin moaned, “he’s probably married and has kids and everything.” Not that Hongbin regretted his life, but……..but there had been a time when he wanted that life with Sanghyuk. A part of him still did.

God, he was such a moron.

--

“Hello?” Hongbin yawned, wincing at how bright the numbers on his alarm clock were.

“Bin,” his little brother Minho’s voice rang out over the line, “you need to come home, now.”

“What?” Hongbin frowned, mind slowly becoming aware of how worried his brother sounded.

“It’s dad.”

“I’m on my way.”

--

“It’s just a broken leg,” Hongbin’s father scowled, sulking over Minho pushing his wheelchair for him, “I’m not a child.”

“You were up a ladder without a spotter,” Hongbin replied, “sounds like the kind of stupid thing a child would do. Minho?”

“Gotta go with Bin on this one, dad,” Minho laughed, “I told you to wait until I got home to put up the lights. You’re lucky that Jisung came by when he did or things would be way worse.”

“Yeah,” their father reluctantly replied before turning to Hongbin, “are you staying for Christmas this year? Don’t think I’ll be able to come see you with this leg.”

“Yeah,” Hongbin nodded, trying to hide his discomfort, “I’m staying.”

Hongbin hadn’t been home since he left, always thinking up excuses to avoid it. He knew if he came home, he would end up seeing Sanghyuk and he just……..he couldn’t do that. But now he was home so he might as well it up. Heck, if he was careful, he might never see Sanghyuk. He could go home without his heart breaking any more.

The likely hood of that happening however……

--

“You sure you don’t wanna come?” Minho frowned as he fastened his coat, “everyone is gonna be there.”

“I’m sure,” Hongbin replied, a clearly fake smile on his face, “I just want a quiet night tonight. But have fun, alright, Min?”

“I will,” Minho nodded before leaving for the local bar and grill that the group always visited on Friday night.

“So,” Felix said the second Minho sat down, “Hongbin’s back in town?”

“Yeah,” Minho nodded, “he’s home for Christmas.”

“Must be nice,” Seungmin said, “finally having him home after all this time. It’s been, like, seven years, right?”

“Right,” Minho nodded, deciding to ignore the tone the other used.

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Hongbin’s departure was a sore spot with the others. Well, it wasn’t so much him leaving that had rubbed the others the wrong way, more the how he left that upset them. As much as Minho loved his big brother, what the other had done to Sanghyuk was wrong. What he’d said was hurtful, down right cruel. As someone who’d been around to see the aftermath, Minho knew how much his brother had broken Sanghyuk.

And now that he was back……well, Minho couldn’t really blame anyone if they wanted to take this chance to call his brother out on his ty behaviour.

“How’s the big city been treating him?” Taekwoon asked, voice eerily calm considering Sanghyuk was one of his beloved little brothers. Minho knew how pissed off Taekwoon had been seven years ago, how pissed he still was. His current calm could only lead to bad things.

“He seems okay,” Minho replied after a moment, thinking over his words carefully.

“You should tell him that Sanghyuk is okay, too,” Wonsik spoke up, bitter feelings clear as say, “finally.”

“Wonsik,” Sanghyuk scowled slightly, startling everyone with his sudden appearance, “don’t.”

“Sorry,” Wonsik replied, looking ashamed. Minho couldn’t blame him for being bitter. Hongbin had been his best friend back when they were kids sure, but Sanghyuk was his friend too. And he was his brother-in-law on top of that. And on top of that, he’d been the one who set Sanghyuk and Hongbin up so the pain Sanghyuk had ended up with……it wasn’t a secret that Wonsik blamed himself.

“Maybe we should drop all Hongbin related conversation?” Woojin suggested, “There’s loads of other things to talk about after all.”

“Yeah!” Jeongin grinned, “Like how are your students doing? Are they gonna be ready for the Christmas concert?”

“They should be,” Woojin smiled, happy that someone was going along with his suggestion. As much as he loved his friends and husband, they weren’t very good at letting a subject drop.

“I heard them yesterday when I dropped off Jinnie’s lunch,” Felix said, “they sound really great.” He paused for a moment before giggling, “but with a teacher like Jinnie, that’s not surprising is it?”

“Ah,” Woojin smiled, pressing a kiss so Felix’s cheek, “thank you, baby koala.”

“You’re welcome, teddy bear,” Felix replied, snuggling against his husband.

“Gross,” Jisung huffed, “god, you’d think you’d just gotten married or something. Oh wait, you kind of did.”

“How’s plans for your first Christmas as a married couple going?” Taekwoon asked, “having your families come to your place?”

“Or are you gonna do the two Christmas thing?” Wonsik asked, “because I do not suggest that. I think my mom is still a little pissed that we didn’t spend Christmas day with her and dad.”

“We’re gonna invite everyone to our place,” Felix answered, “Minho, would your dad be able to come?”

“He should be good,” Minho nodded after thinking if over, “but he might wanna stay home since…..well.”

“He could come as well,” Woojin suggested, knowing what Minho was trying not to say, “we’ve got the room.”

“I’ll bring it up,” Minho promised, “but I make no promises about anyone’s attendance but my own.”

“And Chan’s,” Hyunjin pointed out.

“And Chan’s,” Minho nodded in agreement, laughing slightly.

The conversation turned to everyone else’s holiday plans and how their week had been. As everyone laughed, Jisung kept a careful eye on his brother. Sanghyuk was smiling and laughing at all the right times, but he knew that’s all it was. Sanghyuk’s heart wasn’t in it, hadn’t been since Hongbin broke it. Sanghyuk liked to say he was alright, that he’d gotten over it and moved on. He liked pointing at all the date’s he’d been on in the last couple years as proof that he had totally gotten over Hongbin.

Jisung knew it was crap. If Sanghyuk really was over his first love, then at least one of those dates would have bloomed into a relationship. As much as Jisung hated Hongbin for hurting his brother, the older man was Sanghyuk’s soulmate. And now that he was back in town…..

Jisung shared a look with Felix, Hyunjin, and Seungmin.

If he was gonna pull this off, he’d need their help.

--

“Are we sure about this?” Felix asked as started cleaning up his kitchen, “What if Sanghyuk notices Hyunjin flirting with him and realizes what’s going on?”

“I’m sure,” Jisung nodded, “one hundred percent sure.”

“Same,” Hyunjin added, getting up to help Felix clean, “and this is Sanghyuk we’re talking about, he hasn’t noticed anyone flirt with him in years.”

“Plus,” Seungmin added, “it’s Hyunjin. If he starts to notice anything, he’ll just brush it off as Hyunjin being his normal, cuddly self.”

“True,” Felix frowned slightly, “I just…..what if it doesn’t work? I don’t want Sanghyuk to hurt anymore.”

“I don’t either,” Jisung shrugged, “which is why we have to take this chance.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t stop at just trying to make Hongbin jealous,” Seungmin suggested, “what if we do stuff that forces them together.”

“Like what?” Jisung questioned.

“I know!” Hyunjin grinned, an idea immediately coming to mind, “the Christmas carriage ride!”

“That’s a great idea!” Felix said, “Wasn’t that something they did every year when they were dating?”

“So it would get them alone and bring up massive nostalgia,” Seungmin smirked, “perfect.”

“What’s perfect?” Woojin asked as he entered the kitchen, pressing a quick kiss to Felix’s cheek before turning to the others, “what’s going on?”

“Nothing important,” Jisung said with a big fake smile.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Hyunjin laughed, clearly nervous.

“What they said,” Seungmin replied, the only one able to keep his poker face on.

“Felix?” Woojin turned to his husband with a sigh, “what’s going on, baby koala.”

“Low blow,” Jisung muttered. Everyone knew Felix struggled when it came to keeping things from Woojin, especially when the older man used that pet name.

“We’re trying to get Hongbin and Sanghyuk back together,” Felix admitted after a long moment, “I know we shouldn’t meddle, but Sanghyuk’s not happy and Hongbin will make him happy. We just……we want him to smile again like he used to.”

“Guys,” Woojin said, looking at the others, “you……you know what? I’m going to stay out of it. If this is what you want to do, then I won’t stand in your way. I just won’t help you either.”

“Thanks, Woojin,” Jisung smiled brightly at the other man.

“Are you mad?” Felix asked later when the others had gone home and he was cuddling with his husband on the couch.

“No,” Woojin assured his husband, “but I am worried. If your plan doesn’t work……”

“I know,” Felix sighed, “I’m worried, too. I really don’t want to see Sanghyuk get hurt again.”

--

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes as Hyunjin cuddled against him. Honestly, did they really think he was that blind? That he wouldn’t catch on to what they were trying to do? He’d known Jisung, Felix, Hyunjin, and Seungmin all their lives, he’d been there to see every plan they came up with succeed or fail. From the failure that was their plan to get the most Halloween candy when they were ten to the total win that was getting Felix and Woojin together, he knew it all.

This was why he immediately knew what was up when Hyunjin started attaching himself to him.

Within minutes, he not only knew what they were doing but who was involved. Naturally the horrible foursome was the brains of the operation, but his future brother-in-law Changbin and Jeongin seemed very happy to help. Woojin and Chan seemed to be staying out of it, not surprising those two had always tried to avoid meddling in people’s relationships. Taekwoon and Wonsik taking part was a shocker though. The only one Sanghyuk hadn’t been able to figure out was Minho.

Well, it didn’t matter. Sanghyuk was just going to ignore it, let his friends and family do as they liked. And……and maybe a part of him wanted to see Hongbin’s reaction. Maybe he wanted to see if it would hurt him, make him regret leaving like he did.

Hongbin…….

Sanghyuk kind of hated how much he still loved Hongbin. It had been seven years since they’d last spoken, since they had seen each other, and yet he was still so in love with him. It was pathetic. Also maybe a bit obsessive and creepy. Who still loved the person who took a sledgehammer to your heart after seven years? That couldn’t be healthy, right?

And yet…..

God, he was pathetic.

--

Hongbin tried to hide his scowl as he watched Hyunjin clearly flirting with Sanghyuk. He knew what was going on. He might have been gone for seven years, but he knew a Kim-Han-Lee-Hwang plot when he saw it. What he couldn’t understand was the why. Did they want to hurt him? That had to be it, right? They wanted him to suffer. But then……why was Sanghyuk allowing for it to go on? Did….did he want to hurt Hongbin, too? That was it, wasn’t it? He’d hurt Sanghyuk, so now the sweet, kind, and loving man wanted him to hurt.

He’d made a horrible mistake coming home, hadn’t he?

Hongbin excused himself from the group and headed home, curling up in his bed to feel spry for himself. He was so……so…….horrible. He was weak, too. He’d run away from a punishment that he deserved. The pain that he felt seeing someone flirting with Sanghyuk was something he deserved to feel a hundred times over. That flash of irritation he felt over seeing someone so close to what had once been his…….he didn’t deserve to feel that because Sanghyuk wasn’t his anymore. He was the reason Sanghyuk wasn’t his and he deserved to the repercussions of that choice.

God, why had he done it?

He just……he was so caught up in what he wanted back then. He knew that Sanghyuk wanted to marry him, he’d found the ring in Sanghyuk’s dresser. And his stupid, foolish brain had just……reacted. He saw that ring and his brain said that Sanghyuk was trying to keep him in their home town, separate him from his dream. he was older now, smarter, and he knew that wasn’t what Sanghyuk wanted. If he had just talked to him……if he had asked Sanghyuk to come with him…….

God, he was such an idiot.

Hongbin was eventually pulled from his sulking by the sound of someone knocking on the door. He didn’t get up at first, expecting Minho to answer the door, but the knocking kept up he went to go check it out.

“Sanghyuk?” Hongbin said, “what’s up?” he honestly didn’t know how to feel about his ex-boyfriend showing up at the door, especially after his earlier thoughts.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Sanghyuk said, “well, more like apologize.”

“Apologize?” Hongbin frowned, “for what? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I haven’t told Hyunjin to knock it off,” Sanghyuk replied, “I should have told everyone to stop the second they started, but…….I wanted to see if you’d react. It’s dumb, I know. I should be over what happened, but……”

“It’s alright,” Hongbin assured him, “I deserve it.”

“No you don’t,” Sanghyuk huffed, “Bin, we were teenagers. Teens say stupid that they don’t mean all the damn time. If I had a buck for every time I told Jisung or Taekwoon something horrible when I was a dumb kid…….honestly I don’t wanna think about how much money I’d have. Point is, I get it and I don’t blame you.”

“You should,” Hongbin replied, feeling himself tear up a bit, “I said horrible things. Things you should never forgive me for. I just……I saw the ring and I freaked out. I should have been happy about it. The person I loved…..the person I still love…..he wanted to marry me and spend his life with me. But instead I just…….I saw it as a cage or something. I focused on my selfish desires and never gave you or what you wanted a thought.”

“I told you,” Sanghyuk smiled softly, pulling Hongbin into a hug, “it’s alright. People do stupid things when they’re young.”

“I missed you,” Hongbin started to cry, “so much. Every day. I wanted to call you, to apologize, but I didn’t think I had any right to talk to you again.”

“I wanted to call you,” Sanghyuk replied, “but I didn’t think you would want to hear from me.”

“I wanted to hear from you!” Hongbin insisted, pulling away slightly so he could look Sanghyuk in the eye, “every single day, I wished I could hear your voice. When things got hard, all I wanted was to hear you tell me that it would be alright. I was so close to packing my bags and going home so many times, but then I remembered what I did and……and I had to stay, had to succeed because if I didn’t……then I lost you for nothing.”

“Bin,” Sanghyuk said, “you….you didn’t lose me. Not if you still want me.”

“What?”

“I still love you,” Sanghyuk told him, “just as much as I did back then. So…..if you still want me…..”

“Do you still want me?” Hongbin asked, “because I will always want you.”

“I’ll always want you, too,” Sanghyuk replied, pulling Hongbin into his embrace.

A/N: this just kept growing and growing. But I like it so…..i don’t mind the length.