Changkyun giggles delightedly, squirming under the torturous fingertips of his hyung. Hyungwon merely stares down at him, his eyes shining fondly.

"Hyuuuung~!" he cries out, only halfheartedly complaining. "Stop iiiit~!" The others around them chuckle at the sight, their gazes quite similar to Hyungwon's.

"What'll you do to get me to stop?" Hyungwon asks, smirking at the fact that, for once, he has the upper-hand. "Huh? What'll you do?"

"Anything! Anything!" Changkyun answers immediately, tears coming to his eyes as he continues to laugh. Hyungwon hums, pretending to be in deep thought, though he knows exactly what he wants from the maknae. He suddenly withdraws his fingers, grinding down on the younger with a dark look to his eye.

"Then kiss me, maknae," he says simply, causing Changkyun to blush a little despite himself. Luckily, his cheeks are already pretty red from the continuous laughter, so no one seems to notice.

"Alright, alright," Kihyun suddenly interjects, coming to the maknae's rescue, as always. "Wonnie, let him go. He needs to run to the store for me."

"But, Kihyunnie~" Hyungwon complains, pouting, "he said he'd do it if I stopped..."

"No buts," Kihyun insists, wagging a finger. "He has to leave and get back as soon as possible for dinner. Do you not want to eat, Wonnie? Do you just want to starve?" Hyungwon grumbles under his breath, descending from his perch atop the rapper to allow him to leave. Changkyun chuckles to himself, pausing only to give Hyungwon a quick peck on the lips before standing. Though, it's enough to bring a smile to the older's face... and to earn a smack on the from the lead vocalist in the room.

"To the store with you, you cheeky maknae," Kihyun tells him, chuckling fondly. Changkyun gives him a quick wink, and then quickly scrambles to comply.

He knows better than to stick around and tease Kihyun when dinner's at stake.

Changkyun hums under his breath as he peruses the different shelves, a shopping basket in-hand. He hadn't meant to be here long enough to get so many things, but he's done something one should never do: he went shopping while hungry.

With a heavy sigh, he turns away at last from the ramyeon aisle, finally making his way to the cashier. Kihyun's going to absolutely kill him when he gets home because of how long he's taken... Good thing he's been working on a new aegyo set lately. Kihyun's always just putty in his hands when he breaks out the—

"Hyung??" a vaguely-familiar voice suddenly asks behind him, causing the rapper to stop and turn. His eyes widen in utter shock. The boy’s hair color has changed, but there’s no denying that all too familiar smile… The smile he never thought he’d see again after his first failed attempt at debut…

“Jongyeonnie???”

The younger’s smile only widens at being recognized. He catapults himself forward, landing against Changkyun and practically crushing him in a tight embrace. Changkyun nearly drops the shopping basket, and pats at the younger’s back awkwardly with his free hand.

“I almost didn’t recognize you, hyung,” Jongyeon chuckles as he pulls back. “It’s a good thing I’ve been keeping up with you, or else I wouldn’t have approached you at all.”

“Y-You’ve been keeping up with me?” Changkyun asks, dumfounded. Jongyeon nods, smirking as if the question had been ridiculous.

“Of course!” he replies. “Changkyun-hyung, you were the only one to make something of yourself after Nu’Bility disbanded… The rest of us… Well, the rest of us haven’t been so lucky.” Jongyeon pauses, chewing on his bottom lip. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now about my failed attempt at Produce 101…” Changkyun hums, remembering all the rumors he’d heard around the time of the show’s second season airing. Of course, more of the outlandish rumors, he’d known, weren’t in his character. However, he was admittedly a bit surprised to find out some of the accusations were true.

“Yeah, I heard,” is all he says, offering a supportive smile instinctually. Jongyeon’s gaze brightens up a bit, and grips onto his upper arm.

“I’ve gotta go,” he says, glancing towards the back of the store. He pulls out his phone suddenly, offering it to Changkyun. “Here, put your number in. I have all the other hyungs’ numbers, too… Maybe we could get together and talk sometime? You could give us the inside scoop about what it’s like to be an idol.” There’s no hint of jealousy or anger in his voice, only lighthearted joking and pride. For some reason, this just makes Changkyun feel all the guiltier.

So, with that in mind, he takes the younger man’s phone and types in his number, handing it back to the man after only a second. Jongyeon hugs Changkyun once more, the older returning it more genuinely than before, and the two separate and go their separate ways.

Changkyun’s head is still spinning when he returns to the dorm. He can’t quite believe what’s just happened. It almost feels as if he’s seen a ghost. Which, he supposes, in a way, he has.

He dazedly takes off his shoes at the door, and shuffles into the kitchen to find Kihyun and Minhyuk bickering over god-knows-what. He wordlessly sets the bags on the counterspace nearest them and goes to the room he shares with them, needing some time alone to sort through everything. He throws himself onto Minhyuk’s bunk, very much not in the mood to climb the ladder to his own.

Seeing Jongyeon had brought back everything from the past he’s so artfully managed to hide away. From all those hopes and disappointments from his Nu’Bility to the hurt and ostracization from when he’d first met the men he now loves… He groans a bit, shutting his eyes against the harsh light in the room to try and shut out those painful memories.

“Changkyunnie?” Jooheon’s voice suddenly asks from the direction of the doorway, his voice curious and slightly concerned. “You took a while at the store… Is everything okay?” Changkyun opens his eyes, wondering for a moment if he should let Jooheon in on what’s happened this evening. But, he doesn’t even know how he feels about the situation yet. So, instead he tries for a small smile, deciding to wait on it for now.

“Everything’s fine, hyung,” Changkyun tells him, swallowing down the guilt that rises in his throat at the lie. “Sorry I took so long… I, uh, got distracted.” Jooheon chuckles warmly at this, smiling as if that’s so terribly typical of him. “Did I hold up dinner for too long?”

“Not at all,” Jooheon assures him with a shake of his head. “Kihyunnie-hyung had to enlist Minhyuk-hyung’s help… I’m sure you saw how well that’s gone.” Changkyun gives a small laugh, only able to imagine what kind of arguments have gone down in his absence. “Come on, dinner’s nearly ready and I’m sure a desperate plea from our adorable maknae will be able to tear them apart before blood is spilled.”

Changkyun hums, shoving away his swirling emotions for now. He’ll deal with them after dinner, after everyone else has gone to bed.

He’ll deal with it all the best way he knows how to deal with things: alone.