The new semester starts again, with Tony and Jaeduck moving back into their dorm room. Jaeduck became busier than ever with his concert coming up in a month, practices after practices taking up all his time.  Tony almost always wakes up to an empty bed on the left side of the room, and falls asleep with the left bed remaining empty. Jaeduck sneaks into the room in the wee hours of the morning, afraid of waking Tony up.

Still, Jaeduck still tries to take care of Tony, knowing full well that the elder will start subsisting on a diet of convenience store bentos and instant ramyun without any reminder. Tony finds post-its reminding him to eat proper meals and sometimes even meals prepped for him, the accompanying sticky note claiming that ‘I accidentally had prepped extra for myself, so please have some hyung!’ or that his mum had sent him extra side dishes and Tony had to eat them before they went bad.

-

Over lunch, Jiwon asked if Tony was going to Jaeduck’s dance concert. Tony gaped at Jiwon, realising that Jaeduck had never really asked him and he had never asked Jaeduck about going either.

When he told Jiwon that, Jiwon burst out laughing, “Why are you even waiting for him to ask, this isn’t a date or something. Just buy a ticket and go with us.”

“Us?”

“Yea, me Sunghoon Jiyong and Suwon, obviously. Jaijin is dancing too.”

-

Later, Tony sent a text to Jaeduck.

T: Jaeduck, when is your concert again?

J: It’s this Friday night, why?

T: Can I come?

J: What? What kind of question is that, hyung. You’re funny!! I’ll get you a ticket.

-

On the day of the concert, Tony showed up at the university’s concert hall, feeling inexplicably nervous. He scanned through the programme brochure, and found out that Jaeduck was not only a choreographer for one dance together with Jaijin, he was part of a special dance segment.

“Wow, he’s doing a lot for a sophomore.” Tony pointed it out to Jiwon.

“Yup, he’s pretty talented despite only picking it up in university.”

The concert begun shortly and Jaeduck and Jaijin’s dance was the 2^nd one. It was a hip-hop dance filled with plenty of slick moves, strong beats and lots of energy. Tony watched in rapt attention, eyes naturally focusing on Jaeduck.

The special dance segment came right in the middle of the concert. The lights shone red and Jaeduck emerged from the stage in a tank top and jacket. When Jaeduck started his routine, Tony felt as though he was into a vortex. He could see, and only see, Jaeduck dancing, the hip swaying, the body waves, the chest popping.

Tony could almost hear the wind roaring in his ears, his heart pounding getting louder and louder.

Jaeduck struck a pose, the spotlight shining on him, and the light went out, signalling the end of the segment. It felt as though a veil had been lifted on him. Tony stood up abruptly, and mumbled to Jiwon “Sorry, it’s an emergency, but I gotta go. Tell Jaeduck I thought he did amazing.” Before Jiwon could ask why, Tony scooted out of his seat and out of the theatre.

-

“Congrats Jaeduck!!! You did amazing!!” Jaeduck emerged from the crowds to the cheers of his friends in front of the concert hall. Quickly, he surrounded by his friends, giving him hugs and high-fives.

“Wait, where is Tony hyung? He said he was going with you guys.” Jaeduck looks around.

“He came, but he left really quickly after you finished your part. Said he had to rush off for something. He said to tell you that you did great! That solo dance, wow!”

Jaeduck smiles, poses numerous photos with his friends and his dancers, with his arms full of flowers, chocolates and gifts. But he somehow misses one very important hyung, wanting to receive his congratulations and compliments in person.

-

Tony sits on a bench in a nearby garden, staring blankly into space. He felt he was going crazy, with a million thoughts rushing through his mind, but at the same time, a single thought really standing out, as if shouting at him.

I’m in love with Jaeduck.

Tony knew he liked Jaeduck, after all, they had gotten really close in such a short period of time, but he always thought his feelings were just platonic. He didn’t think he was actually in love.

But he was. He missed Jaeduck like crazy, even though they were living in the same room. He didn’t think he would fall in love with the way Jaeduck nags him to sleep earlier, or when Jaeduck hits him repeatedly on the thigh when they watch Running Man together, or when Jaeduck secretly prepares healthier food for him, or when Jaeduck tries to sneak a pack of his health supplements but gets caught and whines ‘hyungggggggg’ at him; the list could go on, really.

Tony realises that he was deeper in this than he originally thought.

-

“Chilhyun, are you home? Can I come over?” Tony speaks the moment he hears the line being picked up.

“Hello to you too hyung. I just ended class, walking home now. What happened? You sound really panicky.”

“I’ll tell you when I see you. I’m waiting in the lobby.” Tony hung up, letting out a deep sigh.

 “Aren’t you supposed to be Jaeduck’s concert now?” That was the first thing Chilhyun said to him after sitting themselves down on the sofa.

“Smart. This is related.”

“So?”

“Get me some soju, Chilhyun-ah. I need a drink first.”

Letting out another big sigh after a shot of soju, Tony confessed. “I’m in love with Jaeduck.” He stares straight at the ground, not daring to see how Chilhyun reacted.

“…Is that it?”

Swerving his head around quickly, Tony looked at Chilhyun in disbelief. “What do you mean is that it??? I just bared my soul to you, Chilhyun.”

“You mean you didn’t know you liked Jaeduck? Hyung, everyone knows you like Jaeduck. I thought only Jaeduck didn’t know.” Chilhyun shook his head at Tony, who looked completely lost, while trying to restrain himself from laughing.

“Who knew we had another clueless person here, ah you two are made for each other.” Chilhyun blurts out, and immediately realises he shouldn’t have said that. Luckily, Tony was too flustered in his distress to notice.

“What do you mean everyone!!! Who??”

“Well, all of Jaeduck’s friends know.”

“All? How do you even know that?”

“ALL, hyung. I forget I know Sunghoon? That guy talks once you get a few drinks in him. How are you so clueless about your own feelings?! I think there may be even a bet going on about when are you gonna confess.”

“Well excuse me for never liking a guy before!!! I was so distressed over this, I sat alone on a park bench for an hour before coming here, trying to sort out my feelings.” Tony runs his hair through his hair

“The question is how could you not know you liked him. During the holidays, when Jaeduck went back to Busan for 3 days, you sent him a text saying ‘I missed you so much. How are you doing? How’s life? When are you coming back? It has been too long’ with like 10 crying emojis. It was only 3 days, hyung.”

“Honestly, that felt like 10 days to me. And I wasn’t in the room much the day before, so it was like 4 days?”

“Listen to yourself, hyung.” Chilhyun tried hard to stop himself from laughing too hard, he was going to get hiccups at this rate. “4 days and you missed him so much.”

“That’s beside the point!! How am I gonna face him now? I don’t even know if Jaeduck likes guys.” 

“You guys never talked about your dating history?”

“I think I boasted about my ex-girlfriends when I was drunk? Jaeduck told me that…but he never talked about himself before, I’m sure.”

“Well, you just gotta take a chance. If you never try, you’ll never know.” Chilhyun encourages Tony, but Tony simply stares blankly ahead, seemingly to not have heard those words.

While talking, they had unknowingly finished almost 8 bottles of soju between the two of them. Tony falls into deep asleep on the sofa. Chilhyun smiles down at his clueless and very much in love hyung, “Just confess, hyung. I really think Jaeduck likes you too”, he whispers.

-

A/N: I'm clearly not a dancer orz I know nothing about it. I'm hoping to finish this fic by the end of july!

Any comments are really appreciated~