Dahyun was, debatably, a saint, the boy grew up as the support system for his older brother, who went through some very rough times at the beginning of his athlete career, people would always put him down and not spare the hateful comments. Then Seungwan came along and he got another big brother, this time, an anxiety riddled one, whom he hugged through an anxiety attack more times than he remembered. Chaeyoung came as a breath of fresh air, but also as a tornado, being younger and more energetic than our little tofu. 

When Dahyun met Jihyo, he was drawn in by the bright smile and the eyes that reflected a whole universe. They got close easily, both were easy-going and clicked perfectly with each other. Jihyo had a problem with his big heart, and Dahyun loved him for that, despite this, they would come to a few bumps in their relationship here and there and there was nothing Jihyo hated more than seeing Dahyun sad because of him and not knowing exactly what he did to cause it. This was one of those instances.

A few days before, Jihyo had found a new stray, and he wanted to keep this one, as Bomb had been getting friskier with Herbert and was rarely home, he was starting to feel neglected by his own cat and took the chance to adopt another one. It’s not that Ppuyo was bad, he was a very young kitten and needed a lot of care, Jihyo found him dehydrated and starving in an alley and if it took just another day, the boy might have found a dead kitten and this would be about how heartbroken he was. But now that the kitten had been out of the clinic, Jihyo had been spending every waking hour with him, boyfriend duties be damned.

Dahyun, on the other hand, had been a bit down lately, one of his pieces got destroyed by a ing hipster taking a selfie, during an exhibition that was a qualifier for a contest he really wanted to participate. The competition judges were deliberating to see what would happen, but his painting was already ruined and there was nothing else ready that fit the theme. Sure, there wasn’t much anyone could do, but he appreciated being pampered in moments like these and one of the people who should be pampering him, at least a little, wasn’t even answering his texts because he got a new cat and suddenly the world didn’t matter anymore.

So, Bae junior resorted to others, Joohyun and Seungwan had been cuddling him to sleep from the day he got the call, Chaeyoung and Yeri came by as much as they could to just goof around and try to not let him think about the problem. Seulgi, bless his heart, despite having to take care of his cousin, started getting up earlier to go jog with Dahyun, sometimes Daniel joined too, and even Nayeon and Jeongyeon were pampering him in the irritating and completely heartwarming way that was so them, by making fun of the pale boy, and each other, until he laughed. Even Tzuyu and Mina would silently sit with him for hours, their own awkward way to cheer him up. And despite all that, Jihyo thought it was enough to just go by his classroom before school started and give him a kiss on the cheek. 

On his part, Jihyo thought everything was going fine, sure, he wasn’t seeing his boyfriend that much, but they were fine. Dahyun had a lot of great friends, and it’s not like anybody could do much, what happened happened and it was up to the judges to determine the outcome, Ppuyo was there and there was a lot Jihyo could do about him. Now, as much as the pale boy loved him, this was going a little too far, nothing against the cat, at all, it was young and still very weak, but Jihyo didn’t have to cancel every time his boyfriend called him nor stopping Dahyun from going to his house at all. Even Sunmi had been complaining about his absence during club meetings.

Dahyun was tired, he was drained emotionally and stressed physically, so he did what anyone in his state would do, he shut out whatever was draining him and decided to drown himself in work to try and not go down the rabbit whole. Sure, his friends were still dragging him around and making sure he was taking care of himself, but if Jihyo deemed he was not important to spare him a minute, so be it. Since the painting was gone and the younger Bae was hopeful that he would be allowed to submit another piece, he began working on a new one to fit the theme and stand a chance in the competition.

It took a week, but Dahyun finished his piece, just two days before he got a call from the contest organizers, telling him to submit a new piece, and saying they would pick it up for it to be analyzed behind closed doors to avoid further troubles. He was also granted a few extra points for the accident was a mistake on the organizers and they were beyond ashamed about the whole thing, how much they had to beg the judges, Dahyun really didn’t care, he was just happy that he wasn’t out. This was one of his tickets to university, and in a few of the ones he was flirting with. Jihyo was still in radio silence, so the younger boy asked his brother and his boyfriend to go celebrate with him, mr and mrs Bae took the kids for dinner, Dahyun chose mrs Park’s restaurant just out of spite.

Mrs Park and mr Son were very happy to hear Dahyun was getting another chance, both had been worried when they were told about the tragedy. The woman sat them at the chef’s table (not that she would let them sit anywhere else) and ran away to the kitchen to make Dahyun’s favorite ice cream, which the boy was ecstatic about and made sure to hug mrs Park extra tight. The dinner was fun, a lot of laughter, mrs Park left the kitchen to eat with them, mrs Son did his best to participate, but there wasn’t really anyone who could take over in his absence, so the man would have to leave the table every now and then. But it was nice, mrs Park knew of what her son was doing, she wasn’t blind, nor dumb, and was a little relieved that Dahyun didn’t ask anything, so she never said anything either.

A little over a month since Jihyo had stopped contacting Dahyun and started spending all his time holled up in his backyard with his two cats and Herbert, Nayeon and Jeongyeon had it. They weren’t very known for being patient, and even less for measuring their words when they got fed up with something, Tzuyu and Mina were saints for being able to handle them at their worst. But this time, the quiet duo weren’t making a single move to get things under control, they saw how down Dahyun had been and how much of an idiot Jihyo was, especially when Jihyo started talking to that new Kang kid. It was absolutely not okay for Jihyo to get chummy with someone new and still not be there for his boyfriend.

Jihyo was, as usual lately, in his backyard watching Ppuyo play around with Herbert as Bomb was enjoying a nice nap. Jeongyeon, the more physically violent one, walked through the Park’s backdoor and immediately planted a nice, hard kick on Jihyo’s back. That would prove to be nothing after Nayeon started talking, but we’ll get there. The youngest of the trio was so surprised that he didn’t really react, and Jeongyeon decided he needed another kick, this time on his shin. Jihyo screamed in pain, despite Jeongyeon not being a fighter, his legs were strong like a bull’s, curse the track team.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jihyo screamed frustrated.

“That’s what we would like to know.” Nayeon spits. “What’s your problem?”

“I was just here watching my cats, what do you mean?”

“Exactly, you are always watching your damn cats. Now, I’ll give you a minute to see the problem here.” The eldest sat on the sofa on the back porch.

“I really want to kick you again, but I’ll leave it for later.” Jeongyeon says and takes his place beside Nayeon.

“I really don’t know what you are on about.”

“You are being an idiot and about to lose your boyfriend because of a damn cat, that’s what we are on about.” The eldest spits.

“Dahyun and I are fine, what are you talking about?”

“Fine?” Nayeon scoffs and Jeongyeon almost jumps his friend again though remains silent. “When was the last time you talked to him? Do you even know exactly what happened? Do you know what the organizers decided? You do realize just because your scholarship rides on studying hard, he needs to work hard on his pieces. I bet you didn’t even think about how the accident would affect his future, did you? And now we see you have plenty of time to get chummy with that Kang guy but Dubs has yet to hear from you.”

Okay, that hurt and Jihyo wished Jeongyeon would just beat him up and never let Nayeon speak again. But that was how they worked, while Jeong would kick your then call it a day, Nayeon would never lay a finger on anyone, he would tell you all the truths you didn’t want to hear and not let himself be stopped until he got everything out. Don’t be mistaken, Nayeon can handle himself very well in a fight if he meant to, but his power was on his words, they cut deep and he struck with certainty. Jihyo never stood a chance once those two decided he needed some waking up.

Seeing the younger boy frozen, Jeongyeon stood up and motioned for Nayeon to follow, they had done what they came to do and it’s not like Jihyo would really respond to much more at this moment. One the older duo left, Jihyo allowed himself to move and sat on the sofa they were on. What was he doing? How did he let his boyfriend go unattended for so long? How did he ever think this would be acceptable behaviour? Was Dahyun even dating him still? 

In another part of town, Dahyun was having a lot of fun with Chaeyoung and Yeri, they had gone out because the younger two wanted to find new inspiration for the cooking club. Their theme was ice cream, and what better place to start then mrs Park’s ice cream joint, nothing like a Michelin chef helping them understand how to make the treat. The woman was very happy to see youngsters and wasted no time in ushering them to wash up, protect themselves and into her kitchen, where she introduced the dessert chef but taught the boys how to cook herself. It had been too long since she saw Dahyun and was missing the boy dearly, but she knew not to ask her own son about it.

They had fun, the ice cream they made was fairly good, and mrs Park did teach them with everyday ingredients only, everything easy enough for highschoolers to replicate on their own, Dahyun recorded for them and wrote down the ingredients, he saw both Chaeyoung and Yeri were just too excited to think about these. All in all, the pale boy was doing much better, still saddened about how things turned out, but moving forward and living his life to the best he could regardless. Not that Jihyo didn’t mean a lot, but Dahyun just couldn’t keep waiting on someone who didn’t seem to remember him.