Joon walked around the kitchen counter, his hands balled up tightly into fists. He sat on the stool next to Sanghyun and looked down at his lap.

“Hyung?” Sanghyun said, when Joon hadn’t spoken for a minute.

Taking a deep breath, Joon looked up at Sanghyun.

“I—I don’t know when this happened, I just know that I’ve felt this for a long time and—I like you. As more than a friend,” he added when he saw that Sanghyun was going to interrupt. “Let me finish, okay?”

The younger boy nodded, his eyes wide with shock.

“When I started college, I thought it would be a good way to put distance between us, so I could forget but, I couldn’t stay away and— When I went to the casting, I never thought I’d get the part, but then they called me and you—”

Sanghyun was looking at Joon with what he could only describe as a horrified expression.

Did I scare him? Did I go to far? I shouldn’t have told him, oh God, he probably hates me now. Stupid, stupid, stu—

“When you said you didn’t want to leave, it wasn’t because you thought I was a little baby that you had to take care of, right?”

Taken aback by the strange question, Joon gaped at Sanghyun for a second before shaking his head energetically.

“What? No! No, of course not! Why would I…? No! I, I just… didn’t want to be away from you.”

“Oh.”

Joon watched Sanghyun nervously not knowing what to expect from the boy’s sudden silence.

"Eat," he said, trying to act as if his confession wasn't that important, pushing the breakfast plate toward Sanghyun. "It's getting cold."

"Hyung—"

"I don't want this to change anything between us," he said, interrupting the younger. "It's already caused a misunderstanding—"

"Hyung!"

"—and you're my best friend and I don't want to lose you—"

"Hyung! Hyung, stop!" Sanghyun said loudly. "Listen to me."

"But—"

"Listen!" Sanghyun said, much louder this time. Joon fell silent, startled. "I don't understand how you expect things to be how they were before—"

Joon turned away to hide the hurt expression that appeared on his face.

"I don't want to talk about this. Just eat your breakfast, please."

"Joonie-hyung! Will you listen to me?” Sanghyun exclaimed, getting up from his seat and stnading right in front of Joon. “I don't want things to be how they were before. I—I always thought that the only reason you stuck with me was because you felt obligated to do it. I was practically a foreign student when I first came into school, and you just... Helped me, and I didn't understand why you would want to be friends with the new, awkward kid who couldn’t speak proper Korean. Especially when no one else even tried." He sighed and grabbed Joon's hands tightly, tilting his head so he was looking straight into Joon’s eyes.. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I want to give this a try."

Joon stared ad Sanghyun, speechless, his mind reeling from what he’d just heard.

"Hyung?"

"A-Are you serious?" he asked, clearing his throat. "I—Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah. I mean, why not?" Sanghyun said with a shrug and a half smile. "You like me, I like you, so..."

Joon got up from his seat and threw his arms around Sanghyun's shoulders, pulling the younger boy’s body flush against his, holding him tightly against his chest.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Aww, it’s like a drama!” Jiyong exclaimed, smiling excitedly. Seunghyun rolled his eyes.

“Could you please not make a scandal?” Joon said with a grimace.

Jiyong wiped imaginary tears from his eyes, fake-sobbing.

“What did Dara–noona say about this?” Seunghyun asked, ignoring Jiyong.

“She doesn’t know,” Joon replied. “We haven’t really figured out how to tell her.”

“But, hyung, how is this going to work out?” Daesung asked with innocent eyes. “Don’t you have to go back to America in a few days?”

“Dae! Don’t say that!” Jiyong scolded his friend, giving him a warning glare. Joon looked down at the table.

“I don’t know,” he answered, loud enough for them to hear him. “We’re still trying to figure this out.”

“Well done, Dae, you’ve made him depressed!”

“Sorry, hyung.”

“Sorry isn’t going to fix it! You made him depressed when he was all happy about his relationship with Hyunnie—”

Joon tuned out Jiyong’s voice, and thought about Daesung’s question. He was going to move permanently to America to continue acting and Sanghyun was staying in Korea to finish college. How were they going to make it work? Perhaps their relationship was doomed from the minute it started.

He was saved from falling into a hole of depression when the music suddenly stopped and the sound of voices shouting carried over to them through the now silent club.

“What’s going on?” Jiyong asked, standing up from his seat and looked at the dance floor below.

“It seems someone’s fighting down there,” Seunghyun said, also looking down.

Joon looked down at the dance floor with a feeling of dread running down his spine.

“Why can’t they save their fights until after the party?” Jiyong whined and walked down to the dance floor.

Curious, and a little worried since Sanghyun and Seungri hadn’t come back yet, Joon stood up and followed Jiyong, Seunghyun and Daesung right behind them.

“What’s going on here?” Jiyong yelled once he reached the circle of people forming around the two men fighting.

Seunghyun and Daesung moved into the crowd and separated the two men. Joon’s eyes fell on the man Daesung was restraining. He was wiping his bloody lip with the back of his hand, glaring at the other man.

I know that guy, Joon thought as the man freed himself from Daesung’s grip and turned around to look at someone in the crowd. Why does he look familiar?

“Are you okay?” the man asked.

“Yeah, thanks, hyung,” a quiet voice replied.

Sanghyun?

He pushed past Daesung and saw the guy looking straight at his boyfriend, a worried look on his face. Seungri was standing behind Sanghyun, holding him by the shoulders.

“What happened here?” Joon asked as soon as he reached them. The beat up man turned around at the sound of his voice, and Joon saw him sneer. “Sanghyun, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sanghyun replied. “Thanks again, hyung,” he said to the other man with a slight bow, and he walked up to Joon. “Let’s go, please.” Sanghyun grabbed Joon’s hand and tried to pull him to the door as well. Joon could feel the younger trembling slightly.

“What happened?” Joon whispered, but Sanghyun only shook his head. He had a slightly scared expression, which only made Joon even more apprehensive.

“Get this guy out of here!” they heard Jiyong exclaim, pointing at the man that Seunghyun was still holding.

The man—who looked far worse than the one Sanghyun had been talking to—shook off Seunghyun and walked to the exit, stumbling a little.

“Alright, everyone, let’s keep this party going!” Jiyong exclaimed, trying to diffuse the situation. The music started again, and soon, the crowd that had formed around them slowly dispersed around the club again.

“Sorry about ruining your party,” the other man said to Jiyong, although his eyes were fixed on Sanghyun’s hand holding Joon’s. “I should leave.”

He swiped his tongue over his cut lip once, he nodded at Jiyong and got lost in the dancing crowd.

“What the…?” Jiyong exclaimed. “Sanghyun, are you okay?”

Joon turned to look at him, still feeling him shivering against his body. Sanghyun nodded.

“Can we go sit down for a moment?” Joon asked.

“Sure. I’m gonna go talk to security to make sure that drunk doesn’t come back in here,” Jiyong said.

Joon led Sanghyun towards the VIP area. One they were sitting down, he looked at the younger boy and held his hands tightly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

Still trembling, Sanghyun wrapped his arms around Joon’s waist and buried his head on his chest.

“If Seungho-hyung hadn’t… If Seungho-hyung hadn’t helped me…”

“Shh. It’s okay,” Joon said, holding him tightly.

Seungho-hyung, huh?

hope you guys like this chapter, I'm not entirely satisfied with it but I didn't want to drag this out, espcially since next chapter has Seungho's POV(!). Sorry about the shortness but I really enjoy ending chapters with cliffhangers. 

As always, thanks to everyone who has read, commented, subscribed or upvoted.

Until next time~~!