“You goin’ to your studio again, Kkungie?” Hoseok asks, glancing up from his bowl of cereal. Changkyun looks over but quickly looks away, not meeting the older’s eyes. Hoseok pouts at this, raising his brow skeptically at the suspicious behavior.

“Y-Yeah,” he replies. “I’ve got the songwriting bug lately…”

“Yah! Changkyun-ah!”

Changkyun freezes, biting his bottom lip as he glances back to see Kihyun waving around a pair of underwear from the doorway of the laundry room.

“What did I tell you about making sure all your laundry was in here by today? You know I’m going to spend today doing all our clothes!”

“Sorry, hyung!” Changkyun shouts back, hurrying to get the hell out of there before he could get roped into helping out with the chores. He haphazardly slips into his shoes and practically trips over his own feet as he slips through the front door, leaving a very confused Hoseok in his wake.

“Did he just leave??” Kihyun demands, stomping into the living room with his hands set on his hips defiantly. Hoseok hums, bringing the bowl up to his lips to slurp up the remaining milk in the bowl. Kihyun ‘hmmph’s under his breath, the frown clear in his tone. Hoseok can almost feel the younger’s eyes shift over to him, and he goes rigid with expectation of what the vocalist will say next.

“ Hyung ~” Kihyun says softly, his tone so sweet it nearly nauseates Hoseok… because he knows there’s no way he can deny the younger now. “Could you pleathe help me with the choreth today~? I’m sure it wouldn’t take nearly as long with you helping me~”

Hoseok wants to groan and say no. He wants to say he has to work on music, too, and get out of there as fast as he possibly can.

Instead, however, he turns to Kihyun and gives a single nod. Kihyun chuckles breathily, closing the distance between them to give the older a grateful kiss on the cheek. Hoseok gives a short laugh, his jaw slacking to let loose the hearty sound of mirth.

Too bad he’s this whipped for five other men, as well. It just makes his life all the more tiring…

Changkyun keeps his head down as he walks along, checking his phone for a new message. He’s relieved to see there is none, that Kihyun just accepted his leaving without question. Otherwise, if he hadn’t, he’d demanded Changkyun come back right away, and when Changkyun inevitably said no, then he’d really be in for it when he got home…

After all, he hadn’t been entirely truthful with where he was going, his plans for the day. Not that he’s really got anything to hide from his six boyfriends, granted. He’s sure they’d all be fine with him meeting up with his old group for coffee if he’d told them… He just, you know, didn’t feel like telling them…

At least, that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Changkyun walks practically halfway across the city, having been sure to set up their meeting at a coffee shop closer to where their old dorm had once been, and nowhere near where his current home is. Again, he doesn’t think the others would have issue with him reconnecting with his old group, but… you know, better safe than sorry.

He rolls his shoulders anxiously when he finally gets to the cafe, heading automatically for the table furthest in the back.

“Changkyunnie!”

Changkyun freezes and turns, eyes slightly widened. He stares for a moment before realizing it is who’s called him: the old leader, Taehyuk. Changkyun gulps, drifting through the tables until he’s standing just before the fiver-seater where his old group sits, with one chair left for him. He bows his head and utters a small hello, eyes grazing over them when he straightens up.

Jongyeon and Jongwook are sitting a bit close together, followed by Taehyuk, and then…

Changkyun gulps again, quickly dropping into the only free seat, the one by Byungwha.

The man looks so different compared to before. His hair is a darker shade, and he’s wearing much less makeup than what he remembers the staff members caking onto them for the few underground shows they’d managed to perform in their few moments of glory. But, there’s no mistaking those eyes. The eyes that Changkyun had practically memorized back in the old days, the eyes he’d missed so much it had ached when he first moved into the Starship dorm.

“I told you guys he looked good!” Jongyeon chirps, clapping his hands together once as if finishing an argument.

“Idol life definitely agrees with you, Kyunnie,” Taehyuk agrees, nodding adamantly. This leader is so different from his current one… He’d never been standoffish or stoic, and he’d handled the mantle of leadership coolly from the beginning.

“Th-Thank you, hyung,” Changkyun says, trying for a smile. He tries not to blatantly watch Byungwha out of the corner of his eye as the older man shifts in his seat, but he isn’t sure how well he succeeds.

“When Jongyeonnie said he’d run into you, I didn’t really believe him at first!” Jongwook says jokingly, chuckling. “From what we see, you and your group are pretty busy. I can’t even keep track of when you guys are in Korea.” Changkyun laughs, though it’s a tense sound that finally brings Byungwha’s eyes to the side of his head.

“Relax,” Byungwha tells him, resting a hand over his knee under the table. They’re sitting close enough so that he doesn’t have to visibly shift, making the others oblivious to the touch that sends Changkyun’s heart rate skyrocketing. Byungwha’s thumb slightly brushes over Changkyun’s jeans as he adds, “We’re not here to flay you alive, Changkyunnie… We just want to catch up.”

Changkyun practically melts at this, the touch bringing back so many memories he’d tried to bury just since seeing Jongyeon again. He physically eases, slumping in his chair a bit. He even manages a genuine smile, eyes shining as he looks over at Byungwha. Though, it doesn’t even cross his mind for a moment to tell Byungwha to keep his hands to himself, that he’s happily involved with six other men…

“So… tell us what debuted life is like,” Jongwook says, bringing Changkyun’s attention back to the former leader. “And leave out nothing .” Changkyun nods once, firm, and starts at the only place he can think makes the most sense.

“Well, getting into this group like I did was no cake walk, first of all…”