Requested by mimijjong! Thank you for requesting!! ^^

Prompt: A gyujong extension of the last chapter, in which Sunggyu’s feelings are looked upon

--

Sunggyu remembers the day he first met Lee Sungjong as clear as day.

He remembered the CEO telling him about how he was born in 1993 and had scouted him during a high school festival. He also told Sunggyu about how Sungjong would be debuting with them, even with less than a year of trainee practice.

Immediately, Kim Sunggyu decided he hated Lee Sungjong.

Why should this trainee get to skip all the hard work that all the others had been doing? It wasn’t fair to anyone, but nobody seemed to care besides him.

When the boy arrived at their dorm, all smiles and ‘hyung!’ and all that fake garbage, Sunggyu decided that he wouldn’t accept this person. He would make this maknae do all the chores and cleaning, just to vent out Sunggyu’s complex feelings.

“Hello! My name is Lee Sungjong! It’s very nice to meet you!” He bowed (not low enough, Sunggyu thought) and shot a heartwarming (fake, all fake) smile.

Sunggyu wouldn’t play this game with him. “Kim Sunggyu.”

He refrained from bowing back, even though his ironed-in habit almost showed itself. He even stopped himself from shooting a small smile back, even as he could see something in Sungjong’s eyes falter.

Yes. That’s it. He wouldn’t accept him.

--

“Yah, Lee Sungjong! What’s this? Do you think it’s fine to leave your trash here, Lee Sungjong?” Sunggyu pointed at the messy stack of plastic wrappers, frowning deeply.

Sungjong immediately came out of his room, looking at the trash mess and bowed deeply. “S-sorry, hyung-nim… I’ll clean it up now.”

He went to his knees, picking the mess piece by piece and throwing it into the garbage can. Sunggyu saw the boy’s long fingers clench into a tight fist afterward, and felt anger bubble in his gut. How dare he act like that, even when he made the mess in the first place?

“Lee Sungjong. Do you have a problem with me? Is that it, huh?” He said, eyes narrowing and glaring straight into the maknae’s eyes, which seemed so fragile and soft, and-

What am I even thinking about anymore?

Sungjong seemed to realize that he made another mistake, and bowed in a sharp angle again, his hair flopping ungracefully due to the speed. “Sorry, hyung! That’s not it, I swear…”

Don’t want to say it, do you? That you hate me just as much as I hate you.

Sunggyu shook his head, resolving to go back into his room and sorting through his books. That would be better than talking to Lee Sungjong. “Tch. Whatever. Don’t do this again.”

He turned, ignoring how he could hear Sungjong bow down again in shame and went back into his room. 

--

“That’s not it, Lee Sungjong. Are you paying attention? Look at how I do it, and look at yourself. Your arm angle’s completely off,” Sunggyu chastised, frowning darkly as sweat soaked his shirt. They were practicing altogether, and Sungjong had just made his umpteenth mistake. When would he learn?

Sungjong and Sunggyu repeated the part again, with Sunggyu’s eyes on Sungjong’s body, and he could see the frustration on his face. The angle was somewhat better this time, much more unnoticeable, but Sunggyu wouldn’t be content with it until it was perfect.

“Again.” They did it again, with Sungjong doing it perfectly until he made a mistake on one of the later moves. 

“Again.” Sungjong messed up the first move as bad as he did the first time he pointed it out, and Sunggyu could feel himself slowly getting more annoyed.

“Again!” Sungjong nodded, miserableness fully present on his small face, and Sunggyu ignored how he felt slightly guilty. That, however, was fully forgotten once Sungjong made the same damn mistake, even though he’s been doing this for the past 2 hours.

“Lee Sungjong… What’s wrong with you?!” he could feel his voice raising louder, to the point where Dongwoo flinched at its harshness, “We’ve been doing this for longer than 2 hours, and you still can’t do it? Do you think we’re going to succeed, huh?! With this kind of member in our-”

“Sunggyu-hyung!” Woohyun tugged harshly on his arm, catching Sunggyu off balance and making him stumble. “He’s trying his best! You yelling at him won’t make it any better! Look,” Woohyun said quietly, under his breath, “He’s basically crying now. Just give it a rest.”

Sunggyu did take a look at the youngest and ignored the pangs in his heart after he saw him sniffling and apologizing, bowing as tears ran down his flushed cheeks. Sungyeol and Myungsoo were by his side, patting his back gently and wiping his tears. 

The tension in the air was thick, almost constricting Sunggyu. Dongwoo seemed to notice, and took Sunggyu’s forearm in his light grasp, pulling him outside the practicing room. Woohyun and Hoya nodded gratefully, and they whispered to each other under their breaths.

The air outside was thankfully chilly, allowing Sunggyu to cool down after the intense practicing. They took a seat on the cement steps and sat in silence for a few moments.
“Sungjong-ah’s trying his best, you know,” Dongwoo murmured, looking downwards and refusing to stare into Sunggyu’s eyes. His fingers were idly fumbling, and he fidgeted around.

When Sunggyu didn’t answer to that, Dongwoo continued, “He’s working hard. Going to the practice room after hours. Even practicing in his room, when he should be sleeping. Today’s just an off day for him.”

He couldn’t help the words from escaping, even with how guilty he felt. “Off day? We don’t get off days; we should be perfect and-”

Dongwoo stood up suddenly, staring at him in disbelief. “Is this what this was about, all along? Sungjong debuting with us even though he isn’t perfect, hasn’t trained for as long as we have?”

Sunggyu’s silence only confirmed his suspicions. Dongwoo sighed. “There’s a reason why Taepyo-nim took him in, hyung. Even though you’re reasonable… I don’t think you have to treat him like this, Sunggyu-hyung.”

And with that, Dongwoo went back into the practice rooms, leaving Sunggyu to his thoughts, which were a lot more self-berating this time around.

--

The times after the practice room incident were awkward, even with Dongwoo laughing cheerfully and Hoya making stupid puns that even made Sunggyu snicker.

Sunggyu didn’t pick on Sungjong anymore. Sungjong didn’t even spare a glance at Sunggyu.

They both had a no-schedule day, and Sunggyu was going to go into the practice rooms again to sharpen up his dancing once more.

He grabbed his bag, which contained spare clothes, and put his shoes on in the middle of the messy entrance, and went to the practice rooms.

When he turned the worn down doorknob and opened the door, he didn’t expect to see a sweaty, panting Sungjong in the middle of the room as ‘Be Mine’ played. He was practicing hard, and Sunggyu could see he had been working hard to improve his moves. Though some were not as exact… Sunggyu could see the intention behind them. Just how long has he been practicing?

“Be Mine’s’ dance break part was coming up, and Sungjong still hadn’t noticed Sunggyu. Although the dance break looked sharp, Sunggyu could see Sungjong was still having trouble with making it perfect.

He couldn’t stop his voice from escaping. “Not like that. Your leg’s supposed to be a little bit closer to your other one.”

Sungjong flinched, yelping at his voice and almost fell down, which caused Sunggyu to run up and be ready to catch him in case he did. The music pounded in the background.

“Ah, Sunggyu-hyung… Thank you. I’ll do it again, then.” He bowed down in a 90-degree angle as gratefully as he did before as if Sunggyu had not yelled at him and called him a burden to the team just a couple days ago.

Something in Sunggyu’s heart warmed and made it pulse harder, but Sunggyu just wrote it off as him dancing too hard.

(It was strange, how his heart did that whenever he looked at Sungjong after the incident.)

--

Love. That’s what it was.

The feeling in his heart was ultimately love, the love he hadn’t felt since high school with a younger female student. This love felt different, though, something more sweet and important and it made Sunggyu feel enveloped with warmth every time he thought of it.

He was in love with Lee Sungjong.

He had to tell him. Confidence was the entirety of Kim Sunggyu, and he would not let his feelings go unsaid.

Their relationship was a lot more hyung-dongsaeng now, especially after they always practiced together after that day. Sunggyu’s nagging turned more into playful teasing, and Sungjong was a lot more open and trusting toward him.

That’s right. He was going to tell Sungjong, and fall back into that wonderful feeling of love and being loved, and he would be as happy as he was back then, back before days of endless practicing and training and fruitless efforts.

He would be loved.

--

“I like you, Lee Sungjong.”

“Oh, um… Hyung… I… need time to think.”

The younger’s face was too solemn. He wouldn’t need any time.

--

“Hyungs! And Myungsoo, of course… Sungjong and I are dating!” Sungyeol announced, grinning happily and holding up their intertwined hands.

Sunggyu felt something in his heart break when he saw that.

Nonetheless, the leader smiled. “I wish you two the best. However, don’t let this interfere with our group stuff, okay?”

Sungyeol laughed, nodding rapidly and pulling Sungjong into a tight hug that made Sunggyu’s breath catch in his throat.

The rest of the members had already left after wishing them well, but Sunggyu took a moment to look at Sungjong’s happy face, with love filled eyes that Sunggyu deeply wished would look at him once more, once more with the same feelings but towards him-

Sunggyu left the room with a last glance at their tightly weaved hands.