Truth and Love

One pair of curious eyes, one set of confused eyes, one set of bored eyes, one pair of suspicious eyes and a murderous glare were all focused on a twitchy, fidgeting Yukwon and Minkhyuk.

P.O, Taeil, Jiho, Kyung and Jaehyo, respectively.

They were all, curiously enough, somewhat arranged in the same places they had occupied just hours before the whole debacle had started. Jaehyo was not pleased at having to give up most of the couch for Jiho to sprawl his entitled self onto.

Yukwon grinned sheepishly. Minhyuk went back to massacring his bottom lip. A thick silence stretched throughout the room, almost threatening to choke the boys, until Jiho came to the rescue and broke it with a loud clap before rubbing his hands together and standing up.

“Welp! Not like this has been a waste of time or anything, but--”

“No w-wait!” spluttered out Yukwon, as the others began to shift from their spots around the room. Everybody froze mid-step and turned back to the two dancers, all of them now sporting confused frowns, with the exception of Jaehyo who's mouth was pushed into a disgruntled pout, with sleepy eyes to complete his cranky demeanor. Yukwon inhaled deeply, his gaze nervously jumping from the five faces. His lips moved a a few times, but only a heavy breath escaped.

Then Minhyuk step forwarded so suddenly that even Yukwon started for a moment, almost letting out a yelp as the older dancer took his hand.

“Uhhh....” went Taeil, as his frown gave way to a wide-eyed, slack jaw expression. Everyone one else wore similar ones, completed with cocked heads. Yukwon looked to Minhyuk, cheeks only slightly flushed, while Minhyuk swallowed several times to keep his panic at bay. These were his friends, he tried to force himself to remember. Underneath their expressions, he reasoned almost desperately to himself, they cared. They had to.

As he was trying to find his voice, he motioned to their joined hands.

“This is....uh...we, um...“ he started, his motions becoming so frantic, that this time it was Yukwon who reached out for his other hand, a beautiful smile now stretched across his face.

“We...” he started gently, looking at Minhhyuk with adoring softness and warmth. The gaze alone brought the older dancer's voice back to reasonable quality, and he returned the smile before facing the others once again.

“We are together.”

It was it was difficult to tell which felt heavier in the room—the firm weight of Minhyuk's words or the deafening silence that followed it. Yukwon gripped Minhyuk's hand tighter, trying to keep up the remnants of a dimming smile, in face of the still-frozen remaining members. It was as if no one dared to move even an eyelash. Several beats passed.

“OK so hold up, hold, up, hold up here...” said Jiho finally, one hand in the air. “Since when?” he asked, one eyebrow sharply raised.

Minhyuk bit his lip sheepishly, his heart beating against his rib cage as if begging for an escape route. “About a year and some.”

“A year and three months, to be more exact,” added Yukwon. Taeil's mouth dropped open again.

“Wait so....the fans writing that stuff were right! H-how did they know?” he gasped, wondering whether they were the first Korean group to have psychics for fans. Jiho folded his arms.

“Who cares how they knew, how come we're not finding out till now? What the hell, guys? Don't you trust us?”

Both members in question began to grow red.

“We just thought that....”started Yukwon, softly.

“Maybe you guys wouldn't...” mumbled Minhyuk, looking away from the others. The rest of the members immediately began to whine in response to the implied judgments that were made, everyone except Jihoon sporting slightly miffed looks (“C'mon, really” “You know us better than that!”). Jihoon however, suddenly walked up towards the two muttering dancers who's eyes were determinedly (and quite guiltily) trained on the recently-swept floor. He gave both hearty claps on the backs, and grinned as they tried to hide their winces.

“I don't mind at all. Congrats hyungs—I think we all are happy for you, and I think we can all understand that talking about this sort of stuff can be scary. Right?” He stressed to the others, with a playfully pointed stare. The other members quickly halted mid-whine, realizing how slightly selfish they sounded, and settled for supporting nods. Kyung flashed them a thumbs up. Jiho grinned. Jaehyo gave a small, quiet clap. “ Oh and by the way, guys,” Jihoon continued, still standing up front with Minhyuk and Yukwon, “I'm in love with Taeil hyung.”

There was a gurgled sound as Taeil choked on his own shock. Jihoon continued to grin. Everyone else again was knocked back into silence.

“Huh?” gasped Kyung, almost bug-eyed. He had to lean on the arm of the couch for balance, as the weight of the newest revelation came crashing down on all the other members in the room. Even Jaehyo frowned—not out out of surprise at the revelation, but the fact that it was revealed at all. And quite unabashed at that. Moreover, yet another outed secret meant that he was going to be prevented from going back to sleep—again!

Jihoon shrugged. “Jiho hyung is right. We should try and trust each other more. I didn't do anything wrong, I just like a guy. A lot. And besides, he already knows.” He winked at Taeil. Taeil, who was giving a beet a run for its money, couldn't help but return the gesture with a faint smile, even though his hands were nervously wringing together in the front pocket of his hoodie. Yukwon and Minhyuk stared at the youngest member with wide, rapidly blinking eyes. Jiho, who had gotten up from the couch a bit earlier, returned to plunked down heavily next to Jaehyo once again, who just shrugged and leaned back, waiting to see what else would unfold. What was the point of trying to go back to sleep now, anyway?

“Taeil, do you, uh, have anything to say? Are you guys dating too?” asked Kyung. It was as if a spotlight had opened up to beam down over the oldest member. Now his gaze turned downwards.

“No...we aren't.” Jiho frowned.

“Are you sure, because in case you missed it, Jihoon just---” he stopped immediately when Taeil's head snapped up, face twisted in a scowl for Jiho. Jihoon walked over, the confidence suddenly slipping from his expression and posture.

“Should I not have said anything?” He muttered, facing Taeil. “I'm sorry, I--” Taeil quickly shook his head, grabbing Jihoon's hand. Yukwon let out a soft aww, and Minhyuk wrapped an arm around him as they watched the two. Even Jaehyo's gaze, still cranky and as sleepy as ever, softened for a moment.

“No. It's fine. We should be open with the others,” he squeezed the maknae's hand. He turned back to Jiho, the glare gone but his expression still sharp. “And no, we're not dating. But we're also not ruling anything out,” he said, this time turning back to Jihoon with such a warm gaze that everyone in the room began calculating what the platonic pair's future would like like in a couple of years; full of not-so-platonic-feelings, they all assumed.

All except for Jaehyo, however. He turned to a still seated Jiho, and a nearby standing, frowning Kyung, who was trying to imagine how Taeil and Jihoon would look like kissing. Taeil would need a step ladder, or something, once Jihoon got too tired of bending down. What a hassle.

Jiho however, was not so deep in thought that he missed Jaehyo's pointed look.

“Uh. Yeah?” he said slowly. Jaehyo motioned to Yukwon, Minhyuk, Taeil and Jihoon.

“Anything you'd like to share with the others? Speak now, or hold your peace till after I go back to sleep.” Jiho suddenly grew very silent, and before Kyung (who was startled out of his pondering by Jaehyo's voice) could rescue him, Yukwon let out a whoop which ended with a sharp finger point directly at him and Jiho.

“Aha! I knew it!” Jiho and Kyung froze.
 

“Uh, knew what?” The said, in perfect unison, with the same blank look on their faces.

“You guys are dating too! You know, even though Minhyuk and I were afraid to tell all of you anything, I always suspected something was going on between you two. I even considered telling Kyung about me and Minhyuk at one point....” Minhyuk frowned. Jiho's brows raised. Kyung's head titled to the side.

“Uh, why me?”

“Well...I guess I figured if you and Jiho were dating, you probably had to chase him to the ends of the earth before he returned your feelings. Suffered a lot. Or if not, you were hopelessly trying to get him to return your affections. Still suffering. You could relate to my pain, that sort of thing. ” Kyung blinked, wondering how to approach that.

“Uh....” Jiho sighed, shaking his head.

“Not even close.” at this Kyung's expression sobered, and he sat beside their leader who suddenly looked tired, but pleased as Kyung settled down next to him. Jaehyo grudgingly scooted over.

“B-but I've seen the way Kyung looks at Jiho...” Yukwon all but whined, softly. Minhyuk gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. A smile ghosted Jiho's lips. He didn't look at Kyung, but he had a feeling a red flush was flooding his face, from the soft oh god, here we go the other muttered under a huffy breath.

“And I've seen the way Jiho looks at Kyung,” Jaehyo added. And he's always looking at him was what he didn't add. Jiho smiled sheepishly.

“Honestly, if anyone were to ask me who was the most likely to be in a relationship with another member, I would say Kyung and Jiho. And actually kind of mean it...” muttered Taeil, his eyes widening slowly with realization. The comment was almost missed, but Jihoon picked up enough of a strain to begin nodding enthusiastically.

“Yeah me too! No matter what, they always stay together!”

“And there have been a lot of 'whats', if we are actually being honest here...” Jaehyo admitted, raising an eyebrow at the two of them. Both boys stuck out their tongues, but quickly fell serious again, as the truth sank in once more. The glanced at each other, and nodded. They had been through a lot.

Minhyuk frowned. Romance wasn't exactly his area of expertise, all the more reason he was so grateful to hold on to Yukwon for as long as he had managed. “I never really thought about it, but now that you guys are saying it. I see it. Jiho and Kyung are like...”

“Soulmates!” filled in Yukwon.

“The romantic kind,” amended Taeil, with a raised finger and a smile. Everyone turned to Kyung and Jiho expectantly. The two only had eyes for each other however, and without a hint of a stutter, without a trance of a pink on his cheeks, Jiho reached for Kyung's hand.

“What do you think? Are they on to us?” He chucked softly. Kyung grinned, and laced their fingers together.

“Damn straight.”

The room erupted in cheers. Yukwon and Minhyuk kissed, while Jihoon squeezed the life out of Taeil, who smiled through the slight pain. Jaehyo nodded slightly. A job well done if he did say so himself.

Once the excitement had settled down, Taeil shook his head. “I still can't believe it. The fans were actually right—about some things, anyway.”

“Forget the fans for a minute,” snorted Minhyuk immediately after. “What about Jaehyo? He was right about everything!” Jaehyo gave a smug smile, while the others began to laugh...until the laughter trailed off into pensive frowns. Only Jiho remained rather quiet during this latest realization, and he now turned to Jaehyo, mouth set in an unhumored line, one brow sharply raised.

“Yes Jaehyo. How were you so damn right about everything?” Taeil blinked.

“If you think about it...he totally knew all of our secrets....” Jihoon nodded slowly.

Everyone's frown deepened.

Jaehyo began to shift around in his seat. Maybe if he was fast enough to trip Yukwon, he could make a break for the door....

“Yeah ...hang on a second,” muttered Yukwon, his arms folded. “Jaeyho, what gives! How did you know all that stuff?” Jaeyho rolled his eyes, though it was not a pretty sight seeing the rest of the members inch closely towards him, and having Kyung and Jiho leaning closer to catch his every word.

“I'm just very observant,” he said coolly. “And it's my attention to detail that just helped all of your relationships, by the way.” Jiho snorted.

“Uh huh. Super. Thanks. Now, how observant exactly?”

“I already know you're not above spying...”

“Kyung! I already told you---”

Minhyuk crossed his arms, following Yukwon's suit.

“The most important question right now is...what else do you know?”

“Too much of our damn business, is my guess,” snapped Jiho. Everyone's eyes now darkened under a cloud of suspicion.

“....how about some one on one interrogation sessions, then?” offered Jihoon. Jaehyo gaped. Sweet Jihoon! How could he? Everyone nodded slowly, Taeil even gave the maknae a pat on the back.

Kyung and Jiho grinned, a sinister gleam glinting in their eyes. Minhyuk and Yukwon rubbed their hands together. Even Taeil was smiling, and Jihoon looked excited, slightly shaking in place.

“Guys c'mon...you can't be, ser....guys?”

“Get him!”

Poor Jaehyo, he should have known that no good deed ever goes unpunished. Especially multiple ones!

…:End:...

Ahhh. I'm done! I finished! I did it!

Told you, I wasn't going to leave the story hangin' :P

(But I can understand why you doubted me!)

Thank you soooo soooooo sooooooxinfinity much for commenting, upvoting, subscribing and most importantly READING! Your comments really kept me going and I'm still shocked that this little story managed to interest people enough to subscribe and such! Me being the author, I see every single flaw (including several typos, ahhhh ><), and I cringe at parts of it...but over all...I'm proud at least, that I finished!

I also can't believe it's been over a YEAR (it's been a year and a half, actually!) since I began this story. And I have to admit, I'm in quite a different place then I was when I started this story-- literally! I moved to a different country in the middle of writing this ;)

My goal was to create a funny story with just a touch of angst, and a happy ending (almost. Poor Jaehyo!), and most importantly to write a believable story, one that felt realistic (even if the ending was slightly cheesy :P). I hope I accomplished that!

Hmm what else? Oh! Well, as I was writing this story, I found my love for stories about friends with complicated pasts involving each other (coughcoughJiho and Kyungcoughcough). That being said, I have another story in the works, though it is a bit different from this one. It's tentatively titled “Blind Realization” and it will be about Block B AND B.A.P. Now that I'm done with this story, I can work on a new one! Let's see how long it takes haha

So! Check it out if you'd like (when it's actually posted lol), and once again, Thank Yooooooou :D