It was around 10-15 minutes before the others were making their way back. All except for Yongguk. They piled into the van with many bags in their hands (Himchan had the most of course).

“Hey where’s Yongguk hyung?” Zelo asked to nobody in particular.

“He went to go get Manager Kang” Daehyun replied while getting settled into his seat.

“What’s wrong with him?” Youngjae asked motioning over to Jongup who was still blankly staring out the window.

“Umm well…” Zelo tried to think up a decent lie, “he’s not feeling too good, I think it’s something he ate.”

Youngjae seemed to have bought it cuz he nodded in response, “So you didn’t get to shop at all?”

“No, we’ve been in the car almost the whole time.”He patted Jongup’s shoulder.

“Poor baby!” Himchan said while looking at Jongup with concern, “I’ll give you something to make you feel better when we get home okay?”

All Himchan got in response was silence so he tried again, “Uppie?”

Zelo reached over and roughly pinched Jongup on his thigh which seemed to snap him out of his trance “Ow, what…..” he stopped when he saw Zelo motioning over to Himchan.

He guessed from Himchan’s confused look on his face that he had once again zoned out and heard nothing of what was said to him. So he picked the most suitable reply that usually seems to work for any situation, “Umm, okay.”

The older frowned at him a bit but said nothing and turned back around in his seat. Though he couldn’t ignore the “umma” radar going off in his head signaling that something was off.

It wasn’t too long after that Yongguk and their manager returned to the van to take them all home.

Manager Kang got in the driver’s seat and buckled himself in before looking back at the rest, “Do I need to tell you to buckle your seatbelt every single time? Are you children?”

“Yes sir,” Daehyun said with a salute in a high pitched voice before buckling up (Jae cracked up while everyone else was trying to act like they didn’t find it funny)

“Smartass.” The man mumbled to himself as he pulled the van out to the street and back towards the dorms.

~~~~~~

After an uneventful ride home (uneventful as in more arguing between Guk and Himchan plus a few smartass comments thrown in by Daehyun), they were back home.

Himchan took his newly acquired “unnecessary crap that he didn’t need” to his and the leader’s room then went into the kitchen to get dinner started.

He got together everything that was needed for dinner and proceeded to get everything cooking in its assigned pot/pan. Though somewhere along the way while staring at the stove and checking the time, he couldn’t help but notice something was off…..

It’s too quiet in here. He thought to himself. Usually there’d be a smiling bunny following him around in the kitchen and asking him questions about anything and everything. He stepped out the kitchen and into the living room to only find Youngjae, Daehyun, and Zelo.

Dae and Jae were playing a video game. Zelo seemed to be watching them, but the look on his face said that his mind was somewhere else. He looked worried Himchan noted. And said smiling bunny he assumed was in his room as was their leader.

These days Yongguk spends quite a lot of time that they’re not traveling or performing either in the studio, in his room, or just anywhere on his laptop writing songs and composing music and such. It often seemed like that’s become his number one priority over watching them. Himchan also noted (and quite bitterly too).

The smell of something burning brought him out of his thoughts as he ran back into the kitchen to save as much as could of his masterpiece (as he liked to call his cooking).

~~~~~~~~~

Dinner went by like it usually did. Except for Zelo not being as chatty as he usually is, and Jongup not really talking at all. They finished eating and took their dishes to the sink. Yet Jongup had seemed to have spent more time poking at his food with his fork than actually putting any in his mouth.

The boy eventually managed to choke down the rest of his cold dinner and took his plate to the sink. As he was leaving the kitchen he was stopped when Himchan gently grabbed his arm (he didn’t even realize he was in there).

“Hyung?” he questioned him after the older put his hand on his forehead and then both hands on the side of his neck.

“Sorry,” he said removing his hands from the boy’s soft skin, “I was just checking, you did say you weren’t feeling too good earlier.”

“Oh.” was all he could think of to say. Something about Himchan’s proximity to him was making him nervous and he wasn’t sure why.

“Well are you okay now?” Jongup nodded in reply, “Are you sure?” He asked again for reassurance.

“Don’t worry hyung, I’m fine.” Jongup said with a less than natural smile. He stepped around Himchan to leave when he was stopped yet again with a hand on his arm.

“Uppie, you know that I care about you right?” He said while slightly caressing the boy’s arm, “If you ever need anything, doesn't matter where or when, I'm here. Always.”

“I know hyung, thanks.” Jongup replied with another smile that seemed more genuine than the last. He turned and continued on to his and Zelo’s room.

The maknae was sitting on his bed with his headphones on when Jongup came into the room. They made eye contact for a second but much to the rapper’s dismay, he said nothing to him. So he kept on watching him. He watched as Jongup grabbed his school books off the desk in their room and began doing homework on his bed. He watched as he typed away on his laptop. And he watched as his hyung sent a few glares his way, obviously annoyed at being stared at.

Is he seriously ignoring me? Is he trying to act like nothing happened today? The silence answered his question. Zelo really didn’t want to be the one to bring it up, but seems like he had no choice……

“HEY!!” Jongup yelped as his laptop was snapped shut in his face, “Junhong what the hell?”

Zelo sat down on his bed and just looked at him, “Well?”

“Well what?” Though Jongup knew full well what this was all about.

“Are we gonna talk about what happened earlier today? With your father?” He waited for an answer.

“No.”

The maknae stared at him confused, “What? Why?”

“Because it’s just not something I want you involved in, now DROP IT!” He yelled as he got up from the bed and stormed out the door. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath hoping to calm himself down. He really hoped that would be the end of that conversation (he knew Zelo too well to really believe that).

He rubbed his temples trying to relieve some of the tension in his head. He looked up to see the creaky bathroom door open and their leader stop out with a towel around his waist.

He patted Jongup’s shoulder as he walked by and said, “It’s all yours kiddo.”

Perfect timing, a hot shower was just what he needed.

Back in the room Zelo sat there in a bit of shock. Jongup has never yelled at him before. In fact, he’s never yelled period. He never even seems to get angry. Though the more he thought about it, the worse he felt. He did follow him when he shouldn’t have, and ended up knowing something about his personal life that he obviously didn’t want anyone knowing.

Why would he be hiding something from us? We’re always so open with each other. Do I even have a right to ask him about it?

Zelo wished he could ask one of his hyungs for advice on what to do. He was just trying to be a good friend, he never meant to upset Jongup. He got up from Jongup’s bed and went to lay down on his own. He decided to just drop it like he was told to. At least for now. He laid there staring at the ceiling until he heard the door open and saw Jongup fresh from his shower.

“The showers free now.” He told him as he got dressed for bed.

The maknae just shrugged, “I’ll shower in the morning,” He pulled the covers up over his long body, and his side.

Jongup was about to do the same, but he just couldn’t. He felt guilty and he knew he had to say something. He went over to Zelo’s bed and flopped down next to the boy who then turned around to look at him.

After a few minutes of silence Jongup turned his head to look the maknae in the eye, “I’m sorry Junhong, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. It was wrong.”

“I’m sorry for following you, I know I shouldn’t have. I was just worried when I saw you leaving,” Jongup nodded.

“I understand, I probably would’ve done the same.” Zelo smiled at him and he smiled back (which was confirmation that everything was good between them again). He then got up to turn off the light before getting into to bed.

Just as he was getting comfortable the light clicked on. He sat up in bed and saw Zelo rummaging through one of their dresser drawers. After he found what he was looking for he came over to Jongup and sat on the edge of his bed. In his hands was a sock with a rubber band wrapped around the opening, and something was in it.

“Junhong what….” But the boy shushed him. He then unwrapped the band and pulled out from the sock a rather large handful of money. He grabbed Jongup’s hand, placed the money in it, and closed his fingers around it.

Jongup was in shock, before he could speak Zelo said, “What can I say I’m a good saver. Plus, you have no idea how easy it is to charm money out of Yongguk hyungs wallet,” Zelo had a smirk on his face then added with a giggle, “he just can't say no to this cute face of mine!”

Jongup rolled his eyes at the boy, “Look, I really appreciate this but I can’t take this from you." Even though they were close in age he was still the hyung and the thought of taking money from the younger made him feel like he was taking candy from a baby.

“Yes you can hyung, you need this more than I do. You don’t have to tell me what it’s for, and I won’t ask.” Zelo told him with a smile.

All Jongup could do was look at him, he didn’t know what else to say other than, “Thank you.”

Zelo turned the light back off and got into bed, they said their goodnights and Jongup stashed the money under his mattress.  The boy was right, he did need it. Sure, he felt guilty as hell for taking his friend’s money. But at least now because of his friend, he’d live to make it up to him.