The front door slammed. The bedroom door slammed. The workroom door slammed.

Jaehyo pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to grind his teeth into nubs. It was the first time in a long time that their group got a whole entire day of downtime, and of course, this is how it had to end: with tempers flaring and feelings torn. After taking a few moments to collect his own anger and frustration, he looked up to glare at the remaining three members standing around the living room. Two had hands shoved deeply in pockets, the other was running a hand through his hair, and all three had picked a fascinating spot in the room to stare at and contemplate. All three jumped at the sudden sound of Jaehyo’s firm voice.

“Well? What are you going to do about this?”

- - -

1 hour earlier

Peace and quiet was pretty much a stranger to the Block B dorm. With seven members, the atmosphere tended to get rowdy with pranking, teasing, joking, some arguments, and a whole lot of laughing and yelling. Shouts of “who used my ___?” and “did anyone see my ____?” and especially “no one better not touch my ____!” were the common cries echoing throughout the cramped space. Even at night there was at least one or two members up late, threatening the sleep of all the others, except for Taeil who slept like a solid rock.

But today, things were different. Today, the group was so tired that no one, not even Jihoon had the energy to bounce around. Even Jiho was nowhere to be found in the small workroom they had in the dorm— instead he was joining the members for a slow, quiet day of lazing around in the living room. The windows were open, a cool breeze provided just the right caress and everyone had made themselves comfortable.

 Jiho was curled up on the couch with a book he had been meaning to start, while Kyung was next to him, tapping away on his laptop. Jaehyo was propped up against the side of their shared couch, also on his laptop, immersed in about ten different tabs. Yukwon and Minhyuk were sprawled out on their bellies on the floor reading comics. Taeil was lying in the smaller overstuffed chair across the room, listening to music and wiggling his foot to the beat, while Jihoon’s back was propped up against the chair as he played a game on his phone.

The only noise that could be heard was the slight tick of the kitchen clock, the hum of appliances and the occasional voice outside of the window—until Kyung took it upon himself to change things.

“Yessss! Woo!” He cheered, beaming at his laptop screen. Three sets of eyes—Jiho, Jaehyo and Minhyuk— shot daggers at him, while two sets of ears—Yukwon and Taeil—ignored him all together. Jihoon peered curiously over in his direction, making sure that his game was paused. Jiho tapped his friend’s head with his book.

“Shut up, Kyungie” he smirked, but then caught a glimpse at Kyung’s laptop screen. “Oh my God, Kyung—really?” he rolled his eyes. Now even Yukwon and Taeil, who had only one bud in his ear, shifted positions to get a better view.

“What? What?” called out Jihoon, game almost forgotten. Jiho turned to the rest of the group, shaking his head.

“Kyung’s reading fanfiction about us—again.”  He shot the other boy a raised eyebrow, as the remaining members laughed or groaned, shaking their heads. Kyung only smiled his crooked smile, and raised up a wagging finger.

“Hey, I’m notreading them exactly. More like, uh, monitoring.”

“Like hell you aren’t,” snorted Jiho, settling back down in his book and muttering something about addiction. Jaehyo noticed that the book went up just in time to cover the small smile playing on his lips. From his spot on the floor, Minhyuk rolled over on his side to get a better glimpse at Kyung.

“I don’t get why you read that stuff. I feel like it’d mess with my head.” Yukwon and Jihoon nodded. Kyung waved them off.

“Monitoring. It lets me know the fans still love us; there’s like 10 new stories here! And besides— hey what gives?” The boy all but screeched, causing hands to clamp onto ears and faces to wince. Jaehyo sighed. He was never going to get anything done if Kyung couldn’t keep his outbursts to himself.

“What now?” he asked. Kyung’s five-seconds-ago grin was wiped from his face and replaced with a scowl.

“Where. Are. The. ZiKyung. Fics?” Jiho’s mouth parted slightly, eyes narrowed, but he stayed silent as though the words wouldn’t come. Jihoon and Yukwon laughed, knowing that Kyung was probably the biggest fan of the “couple,” having announced his support as much in public—much to Jiho’s off-screen embarrassment. Minhyuk continued to shake his head, and Taeil contemplated whether he should sneak off to the bedroom to take a nap, and rid himself of all of this crazy. Jaehyo placed his laptop down, careful to not let his frustration out on the precious device.

 “So you’re mad that people aren’t writing about you and Jiho….or about you in general? That’s kind of narcissistic.” Kyung leaned over the side of the couch to give him a dirty look, before sticking out his tongue.

“That means a whole lot coming from you,” Jaehyo rolled his eyes at the sarcasm. “’Sides, you can talk. Three of these fics are ‘Jaeco’! I don’t believe it! Who would—“ Jiho’s interest had been piqued once again, and this time he set the book down on the floor to lean over to Kyung.

“Jaeco?” He murmured.

“You and Jaehyo,” Kyung muttered back, furiously hitting the back button and mentally cursing their slow internet. Jaehyo’s brows rose and he now leaned up to get a glimpse, even though Kyung was apparently dead set on destroying the evidence.

 “You know, I could see why people would write that,” murmured Taeil thoughtfully, looking up at the ceiling. Kyung threw a bedroom slipper at him.

“Hey!” snapped Taeil, looking just in time to see the weapon flying at him. Jihoon caught it mid-air and threw it back with a whining “hyung!” Taeil glared, and pulled up his hood for future defense.

“It makes no sense. At all,” sniffed Kyung, to the amusement of the others, though Taeil looked warily at the other bedroom slipper by his foot. Jiho frowned, glancing over at Jaehyo.

“Well it could. I mean I laugh at all of his corny jokes.” Jaehyo stared at him, wondering what version of reality their leader was living in. And his jokes weren’t corny!

“No you don’t. And when you do laugh, you’re laughing at me,” Jiho grinned, running a hand over his shaven hair.

“So it’s a love/hate sort of relationship. Dude, romance is built on like that!” Everyone laughed except for Kyung who muttered “whatever,” and Jaehyo who just glared. One day, he really would find someone who appreciated his fantastic humor, and then they would all see.

 Jiho, chuckling to himself, went to reach for his book, yet again—he wasn’t even sure what had happened in the last few pages, thanks to Kyung—but froze when he saw a beam of triumph break out on the cucumber’s long face.

“What?” he asked slowly, cautiously.

“Well for someone’s information,” Kyung started loudly, glancing at Jaehyo. “A fan did write a story about me. Look! This one is about me and Taeil!”

There was a short “wah!” as Taeil nearly fell off of the couch in shock, and Jihoon grunted as the other’s foot connected with his shoulder. The youngest recovered with enough time to snap “what?” in Kyung’s direction. Kyung grinned.

“I’m loved! Even if it is by Taeil!”

“Congrats,” said Jaehyo, returning to his computer. From his spot on the couch Taeil frowned, mouthing even if?

“See, now that makes no sense at all,” said Yukwon, moving into a sitting position. Taeil’s arm flung out to point to Yukwon, as if to silently (if not frantically) indicate: This.This right here. Kyung only continued to grin, waggling his brows at the group’s smallest singer, who made a face at him.

“But…” continued Yukwon, now frowning contemplatively, “maybe Taeil and Jaehyo though.” Jaehyo rolled his eyes, wanting to be left out of these shenanigans. From the looks Kyung had given him, from the frown ingrained onto Jihoon’s face, and from the faintest flush on Taeil’s cheeks, this was probably going to go south fast.

Block B was good at a lot of things, like singing, rapping, trolling and unfortunately getting themselves into trouble, but one thing they weren’t good at was talking about feelings with each other. Not the hard ones—they had argued and apologized many times, had mentioned worries and fears and dreams to each other as well. It wasn’t as if they weren’t close, but there were other feelings too. Jaehyo knew this, because unlike the other six members, he wasn’t as caught up emotionally, and watched them all when they thought he was busy being a derp.

“Taeil and Jaehyo are called ‘Jaeil’ by the way. Oh and here’s Zico and Yukwon. That’s Zikwon.” informed Kyung. Jiho and Yukwon nodded at each other and smiled—they liked that name, Zikwon.Minhyuk made a gagging sound and Kyung followed suit.

“Why does Jaehyo hyung get to be with everyone?” grumbled Jihoon, ignoring the new facts.

“But think about it!” said Yukwon, brightly, ignoring Minhyuk’s snort. “They’re the vocal line, so all those late night practices in the studio…” he trailed off with a mega-watt grin of feigned innocence. Jihoon threw his hands over his ears muttering shut up shut up, and Taeil threw his hand over his face with a groan. Jaehyo pretend as though the conversation was currently not happening, and continued to browse the web. Jiho laughed.

“Couldn’t people say the same for you and Minhyuk? Both dancers…and you have late night dance practices together a lot…” Jiho snickered. The two members in question notably froze for a moment. Suddenly the smile on Yukwon’s face tightened to something a bit more strained, while Minhyuk scoffed, sitting up properly to glare at the grinning leader.

“ Except that’s crazy. Who would write about that?” Jaehyo peeked up from Twitter and watched as Yukwon stiffed once again, throwing a frown at Minhyuk who noticed nothing. Jaehyo inwardly sighed, thinking it was time to step in and be the sensible one, since even Taeil would be no use here.

“Alright, alright let’s remember that this is just the fans’ interp—“

“Uh, a lot of fans would write about ‘that,’ man. Tons,” cut in Kyung, without a glance at Jaehyo. “U-bomb is like the most popular couple.” Yukwon blinked.

“Really?” Kyung smiled at the wonder in his voice. Minhyuk snorted at the other boy’s interest to which Yukwon now openly glared. Jaehyo rolled his eyes for just about the millionth time in the past few minutes, it seemed. Why did he even bother with them sometimes?

“Hey, hey, don’t get too excited,” warned Kyung, his eyes flying over his laptop screen. “From what I can tell Zikyung is a close second. Kinda.” Jiho nudged Kyung’s knee with his Hello Kitty socked foot.

“Yeah, okay. Just drop it.” Kyung frowned, moving his knee away. Jaehyo had recently noted that although their playful relationship was alive and well in front of the camera, the two hadn’t been seen too much around the dorm together. Of course, Jiho was forever busy and even Kyung had his own schedule, but even their usual joking had been missing from the dorm’s daily atmosphere, even after the group began to get back to their usual selves. Neither Jiho nor Kyung had mentioned anything, so nobody else did either, but Jaehyo knew form the sudden tightness in Kyung’s voice that it wasn’t forgotten.

“I’m clearly the only one here who believes in the awesomeness that is Zikyung, and I owe it to our fans to support them and keep up appearances. So sue me.” Jaehyo winced, as he saw Jiho’s eyes widen, before his round cheeks began to flush with what Jaeyho knew was anger. And then some.

“What in the actual hell, man?” he rose up in the couch, while scooting slightly farther away from Kyung, who eyed him cooly.

“Dude, you should know what fanservice is by now—“

“I know what goddamn fanservice is, but—“

“What about me?” cut in Jihoon, leaning forward slightly from his spot by the couch on the floor. “Where are the stories about me?”Jaehyo watched Taeil at this point. From the slight frown that creased his forehead directed at the maknae, and the way he adjusted his glasses, Jaehyo knew that mistake number three was about to be made. He closed his laptop for good now, because at this point there was no return. Jiho had his arms crossed and was glaring at Kyung, who was ignoring him for whatever cursed fanfiction website he was on, and Yukwon and Minhyuk were sitting slightly farther apart than before, with Minhyuk glancing every now and then over at the smile representative who would neither smile nor look at him.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Taeil quickly to Jihoon. “You’re too young, anyway.” Yep. Wrong answer. Jaehyo sighed. On cue, Jihoon whirled around; brushing way Taeil’s hand that was currently poking at the beanie cap on his head.

 “I’m an adult too!” Jaehyo nodded to himself, but knew that Taeil wasn’t going to give him total credit for his claim. Despite his own insecurities, the oldest had taken Jihoon under his wing once they all began training together, and Jihoon was attached to Taeil in a way that not even Jiho could touch.

The lead singer blinked in surprise, adjusting himself in the chair so that he was sitting and no longer laying. “Well sure, but—“ Jihoon’s glare narrowed, and Jaehyo wondered why the oldest member could not take a hint.

“There’re actually a few stories here about you, Jihoon,” said Kyung, continuing to ignore Jiho who was mumbling something that sounded like “you mother…” under his breath, from what Jaehyo could make out. The maknae’s dark eyes suddenly brightened, and with lightning speed he scrambled over to Kyung and the laptop as if he were racing towards Christmas. Minhyuk shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe they were still on this topic. Yukwon scooted further away ever so slightly.

“Hey look! This one’s about me and Taeil hyung!” Jihoon cried, pointing at the screen. Kyung muttered watch it, holding back the younger member’s offending finger from his newly cleaned laptop screen. Taeil ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head.

“No!” Jaehyo bridged his fingers together, waiting for mistake number four. Taeil was on a roll, though by the way Jiho was still glaring at Kyung, and calling him all sorts of names under his breath, the oldest member wasn’t in first place yet. Everyone, even Jiho turned to him at the sound of his outburst. Jihoon no longer looked happy. Color flooded Taeil’s cheeks again, as he cleared his throat.

“It’s just that…those stories always make me seem so….cute,” he said frowning, shaking his head as if to rid himself of a mental image.

“You’ve read them?” gaped Minhyuk. Taeil groaned.

“I was just curious! You mean you guys have never even looked? Besides Kyung,” he added quickly. Kyung smiled, air high-fiving him, not caring that Taeil ignored it or that he completely ditched his own “monitoring” front. Minhyuk, current king of the scoff, shook his head.

“Why bother? Zikyung, U-bomb, Jaeil—whatever the heck it is, it just sounds stupid!” Mistake number six, Jaehyo mentally counted. “No offense to the fans and all,” continued Minhyuk, unaware of the red-faced Yukwon next to him, “but we’re not just puzzle pieces they can arrange every which way. Plus we’re all guys, what are the odds that—“

“Just shut up,” Yukwon suddenly snapped, shoving the other boy in the shoulder. The older dancer spun around, mouth dropping. He was now facing a glaring Yukwon who had his arms folded. Jaehyo nodded slightly; he had been waiting for that. Jihoon now glanced over at Taeil, still frowning.

“What’s wrong with being cute?” he asked slowly.

“N-nothing!” stammered Taeil, suddenly realizing the thick animosity in the air. Minhyuk and Yukwon weren’t even paying attention to the other five members anymore, but scowling and talking to each other. Taeil refocused on Jihoon. “Cute is uh, great for you, cause you’re the maknae and all.” Jaehyo could barely watch. “But I’m supposed to be older than you, and in those stories, especially the ones with us, you’re always protecting me or something--“

“What’s wrong with that?” Jihoon demanded, louder this time. He moved away from Kyung now and stood in front of Taeil. The older one quickly scrambled out of the chair, hands flying to emphasize his argument.

“It’s just wrong! I’m supposed to be looking out for you, like a good hyung!” Jaehyo’s eyes fluttered closed for an instant, feeling as though he was on a downhill rollercoaster about to crash right through the track. Jihoon was retorting to what Taeil had just said, but Jaehyo was now focused back on Kyung who leaned over in Minhyuk’s direction.

“Hey, Minhyuk, Zikyung isn’t stupid, by the way.” Minyuk paused in mid-point at Yukwon to flip Kyung the bird. Yukwon’s scowl was so deep Jaehyo wondered if he would be able to smile again come their interview in two days. In fact, at this rate, how would any of them sit through the interview without murdering the other?

Jiho came back to life at Kyung’s latest remark, and he grabbed the other boy’s shoulders with a defiant shake.

“Kyung. Shut. The. Hell. Up.” Kyung slapped away Jiho’s hand and placed his laptop down in his seat as he got up to face his friend.

“Well what do you want me to say? Fine—screw Zico and Kyung, screw whatever the hell they have, it doesn’t even mat—“Jiho sprung up, pushing Kyung squarely in the chest.

“You are such a godamn bastard—“ Kyung returned the shove as they continued to argue, fingers pointing, chests puffing out. Jaehyo turned from their argument to another, wondering how long until the three pairs wore themselves out.

Taeil was still trying to explain himself to Jihoon, who refused to look at him anymore, which earned him a sharp nudge from Taeil for his rudeness. This did nothing to help their situation, as neither did Taeil’s “I just want what’s best for you” to which Jihoon, still glaring at being pushed, retorted “then stop treating me like a little kid so much!” to which Taeil launched back into his whole spiel about “being a good hyung,” which brought out a new wave of frustration from the maknae. And so on.

Minhyuk and Yukwon, like the others, were no longer sitting (Jaehyo was the only one still seated) too worked up to be even remotely still. They weren’t pushing each other like Jiho and Kyung, who were nearly butting heads, but they also weren’t (relatively) calm like Jihoon and Taeil (Jihoon was starting to look too annoyed to even talk). The two dancers were hissing their words to each other, murderous looks planted on both their faces, arms flailing, but Yukwon’s eyes seemed sharper than his current foe’s. He was holding up three fingers and shoving them in Minhyuk’s face as if to remind him of something. Minhyuk tried to wave his hand away, as if he was waving away the argument too, but Jaehyo caught Yukwon’s seething, “No, you’re gonna listen…” Jaehyo nodded ever so slightly—it was about time Yukwon showed some defiance.

But then again, there was a lot of defiance taking over the small space at the moment. The room had become a din of cursing, growling and shouting. Each pair was in their own world, and Jaehyo was in all three; his head was beginning to split at the tumultuous mix of pent up emotions erupting and boiling all around him.

“You’ve never even give me a chance!” cried Jihoon, pointing at the older singer.

 “What are you talking about?” wailed Taeil and Jaehyo was being to think that Taeil was hopeless. Or pretending to be.

“You’re such a godamn liar!” snapped Kyung, and Jaehyo had to admit it was the strangest seeing him so angry. Even when Jiho was busy fuming over a minor detail that was off in one of their performances or in one of their sets, Kyung usually (not always—sometimes the mistakes out of their control got him just as pissed—but usually) kept the rest of the group in high spirits, before attempting to calm Jiho down. Now the smooth-talking right hand man looked ready to push the leader out of a window. Jiho looked just as friendly.

“Me? I’m the liar? Go to hell, Kyung!” snapped Jiho, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. Jaehyo shook his head slightly, knowing the leader wasn’t going to be able to evade Kyung forever. It was like his defense mechanism and he clung to it for dear life whenever things became too heated between them. Kyung would eventually get over whatever it was and go back to being easy-going and loveable, if not slightly annoying. Jaehyo had long realized that Jiho depended on this dance between them, depended on pushing Kyung away at very particular moments. But from the firm set of Kyung’s jaw, Jaehyo knew Jiho wouldn’t have it so easy this time. He nodded in slight approval at Kuyng.

“That’s it!” Shouted Yukwon suddenly, backing away from Minhyuk, shaking his head. “This is such bull! I’m getting away from here,” He made for the front door and began to put on his shoes. Jiho gave a dry, almost pained laugh and pushed past Kyung to grab at his book.

“What a freakin fabulous idea,” he muttered, stalking away from the scene without another glance at Kyung who only glared after him.

With one last frown at Taeil, Jihoon wordlessly left the other gaping at him and went towards the bedroom.

“Wait, hold u—“ began Minhyuk, frowning as nearly half of their group walked away.

Three slamming doors ended his sentence.

------

That's it for now! This is my first time writing anything in the k-pop fandom, so it's hard for me to remember when to use "hyung," and I'm pretty sure I missed some spots. Ah, well, I'll get better...hopefully.

So what did you think? I had a ton of fun writing this, but i do feel slightly guilty for making everyone so upset. Poor Jaehyo, go rescue your friends! P.S I totally made up the idea of Block B having a little "workroom" in their dorm. They probably don't, but I needed three seperate doors, and it sounded like a good idea haha. Couldn't have Zico storming into the bathroom or the closet XD

See you next time :D