The next morning, a sleepy Zelo shuffled out of his room, to the bathroom on the opposite side of the hallway. His rather large yawn was interrupted by the bumping into of someone. "M-mian." he mumbled sleepily, blinking his bleary eyes to see which member he'd nearly knocked over.

            Zelo quickly became more alert when the shocked face of Daehyun came into focus.

            Dae's eyes looked from Zelo, to the room the boy had just walked out of, and then back to Zelo. "You're back?" he asked awkwardly.

            A confused look crossed Zelo's face as he looked from his hyung to his room. "Oh...ah neh...Guk hyung's floor stops being comfortable after a while." Giving a grin he chuckled and rubbed at the back of his neck, the awkwardness of the whole situation weighing down on him.

            Daehyun took in Zelo's face, trying to decipher if the younger boy was hiding something from him. "Ah...I see..." he muttered.    

            A silence descended upon the two as they awkwardly stood in the middle of the hallway, Zelo looking off to the side as Daehyun continued to observe the younger boys face.

            As the silence stretched on, Zelo cleared his throat and met Daehyun's gaze. "Um so I kind of need to get ready..." he muttered.

            Dae blinked a few times as if waking out of a trance. "Oh right. Sorry" he replied stepping out of the way so Zelo could use the bathroom.

            "Thanks..." Zelo slipped into the bathroom and shut the door, thankful for the place to hide.

            Daehyun stared at the closed door for a moment before walking off, his brow creased in deep thought.   

            Several hours later the group was joking around and talking in the van, headed to yet another interview. Things for their comeback were beginning to wrap up, making for a slightly less stressful schedule.

            As usual JongUp, Zelo, and Daehyun were all busy messing around with Himchan and YoungJae observing and Guk laughing heartily as he participated every so often.

            "Aigoo stop growing!" JongUp grumbled playfully as he mussed with Zelo's hair.

            "Yah! You'll both get scolded by the cordi-noona for his hair. Stop." Guk chuckled, lightly shoving JongUp's shoulder.

            The shorter man released Zelo with a grin. "But that ramen hair of his is so much to mess with."

            Zelo sat up an attempted to straighten out the curly mess of hair. "Yah~ my hair is not a toy!"

            "Sure it is." Daehyun interjected with a teasing grin. "Maknae's are open game."

            Guk reached over the seat to grab Dae in a headlock. "And so are cocky dongsaengs who pick on my maknae." he teased before releasing his hold on the other boy.

            "Who said he was 'yours?'" YoungJae teased, lightly elbowing the leader.

            Himchan seemed to straighten up in his seat, almost instinctively going on the defense.

            "Aigoo you all are my kids. So of course he's mine." Guk teased, giving the maknae a goofy grin.

            A collective groan from JongUp, YoungJae, and Zelo sounded through the van as a very tense Daehyun and Himchan relaxed. slightly.

            "Hyung~" Zelo groaned, lightly shoving the grinning man.

            "Should I prove it by asking the fans at the next fan meeting?" The leader teased.

            "Dear God no." JongUp groaned. "We'd never make it out of there alive."

            Zelo blanched slightly. "You have a death wish don't you? There wouldn't be enough security to handle that uproar."

"Aish~ it was a joke~" Guk replied exasperatedly.

            YoungJae grinned and shook his head slightly. "Let's save the jokes for the interview."

            "I can't believe how close we are to making our comeback." Himchan commented, relaxing back into his seat.

            "We're not out of the woods yet." Guk warned, not wanting the group to begin slacking off.

            "Neh...but we only have two weeks left until the awards ceremony." YoungJae interjected.

            "And the MV is set to be release din a few days." JongUp continued.

            "We've come a long way." Dae put in and everyone nodded.

            "Let's make a promise." Zelo spoke after a moment of reflective silence. He met the eyes of his group, his cheeks tinting a slight red.

            "What kind of promise?" Guk asked curiously.

            "That no matter what happens we'll all still be friends. That B.A.P will be forever even after we're old and have long since giving up on the idol lifestyle."

            The van fell into a still silence as the group looked at their maknae with mixed looks of shock and adoration.

            JongUp broke the silence by slinging an arm around Zelo's neck and mussing his hair again. "Aigoo you're so cute maknae!" he cooed before letting go of the fiercely blushing boy.

            Zelo sat up and straightened his hair again as he took in the smiling faces of his bandmates.

            Guk held out a fist. "It's a promise."

            YoungJae gave a huge smile and bumped his fist against Guk's. "Neh!"

            JongUp chuckled and added his fist in and was closely followed by Himchan and Daehyung who also smiled at the curly-headed maknae.

            Zelo looked at each of his hyungs in turn before smiling happily and adding his fist in. "B.A.P forever."

            After the interview Himchan pulled Daehyun aside. "Can we talk?" he asked, no sign of ill intent present.

            Dae observed his elder's expression and, deeming it sincere, he nodded and followed the other, shoving his hands in his pockets.

            Himchan led Daehyun to a more private spot before turning around with a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Look...let's face it. This fight is stupid. When it comes down to it one of us is going to lose."

            Daehyun's eyes flashed dangerously. "What are you saying?" he challenged in a low voice.

            Himchan sighed. "Nothing. Only that when it comes down to it he'll only chose one of us and I think we both can agree that although we won't like it if he doesn't pick us, we'll respect his decision either way because we want what will make him happy...right?"

            Daehyun grit his teeth as he stared into Himchan's eyes before letting out a huff and looking away, rubbing at the back of his neck with a begrudging look. "Neh."

            Himchan nodded, understanding the others' displeasure. "Then can we both promise that no matter how this ends we can still be bandmates? We can still get along and joke and not hold any grudges? For nothing more than Zelo's happiness and the sake of B.A.P as a whole."

            Dae blinked, honestly a little shock at Himchan's proposal. Mulling it over for a moment, Daehyun gave an accepting sigh and nod. "Arrasseo."

            As much as he was willing to fight for Zelo's affections, Daehyun didn't actually hate Himchan no matter how it may have appeared over the past few weeks. In fact this whole fight had been tearing him apart a little. He loved Zelo but the thought of losing his other brothers was enough to have him hesitating on fighting harder.

            Himchan sighed in relief and held out a hand with a smile. "Ara. Let's shake on it?" he offered.

            Dae gave a half smile before taking Himchan's offered hand and giving it a shake. "It's a promise...but that doesn't mean I'll back down."

            Himchan's smile fell as he gave an equally serious look in return. "Neither am I." he replied before releasing Dae's hand and heading off to the van.

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Hello all~ Well looks like this fic is slowly coming to a close :) One or two more chapters left and we'll see who our dear loveable maknae ends up with ;) Surprises are coming your way. As always thank you so much for your support! Please continue to read, comment, subscribe and share! *bows* ~Jello