“Suho wait!”

You tripped over the top step of the staircase but quickly regained your footing before your body could go crashing to the floor and cause yourself even more embarrassment.

You looked up to see Suho already making his way into the kitchen, not even sparing you a glance to see if you were okay.

“Suho!” you called after him.

When you both reach the kitchen, you somehow managed to grab onto his wrist, stopping him in his tracks before he could reach the door to the back porch.

“Suho,” you breathed.

You tried to even out your breathing as Suho took a deep breath before turning around to face you.

“What?” he quipped as he stared down at the floor, still refusing to look you in the eye.

You felt your breath get caught in your throat once again at the cold and harsh tone in his voice.

“What do you want, Miyoung?” he said through his teeth with irritation. 

“I…” your voice trailed off.

What did you want?

What were you supposed to say?

You honestly didn’t think you’d actually reach this point in your plan to regain normalcy.

Suho pulled his hand out of your grip and let out a tired sigh, “Why don’t you just go back to Luhan? I have stuff to do.”

“No!” you grabbed back onto his hand, “That wasn’t what I looked like!”

You bit down on your bottom lip when Suho let out a cold, mocking laugh.

“Really?” you could almost see the sarcasm rolling off his tongue, “You’re really going to use that line?”

Suho shook his head and looked away from you with a bitter smile.

You knitted your eyebrows together, a sudden burst of anger and frustration starting to bubble up in the pit of your stomach.

“And you’re really going to act like this?” you asked in the most condescending tone you have ever spoken in.

“Excuse me?” Suho stared at you in complete shock.

“You heard me. Why are you acting like this Suho?”

“Acting like what, exactly?” he challenged, towering over you in an intimidating way.

“Like this!” you exclaimed, motioning towards him, “Angry, storming off all the time! And don’t think for a second that I didn’t notice how you yelled at Sehun this morning.”

“He needed it,” Suho huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, “I’ve been letting him get away with too much lately.”

“He wasn’t even doing anything!” you rolled your eyes.

“Exactly! He wasn’t doing anything! He should have been training! Do you want him to get killed on a mission?!”

Your eyes widened in horror at his accusation, “Of course not!”

“Then stop distracting him.”  

A sudden blanket of silence fell as the noon sun seeped into the kitchen.

It was probably lunchtime and somewhere in the back of your mind, you wondered why the boys weren’t barreling in searching for food. But, then again, they probably got the hint to steer clear of the room.

You both stood a few feet away from each other, arms crossed over your chests, eyes refusing to meet each other’s.

“Why are you acting like this?” you asked again, this time your voice small and somewhat timid.

“Well, excuse me for getting a little angry when I find my girl-” Suho stopped short and you could have sworn your saw his lips twist slightly in pain, “ex-girlfriend snuggling up with a bunch of different guys.”

You winced a little. His misjudgment of your relationships with the other members didn’t affect you as much as the correction you wish he didn’t have to make. You knew he was just as upset as you were and you couldn’t blame him for slipping up and letting his feelings do the talking.

 “They were just trying to make me feel better when I was upset,” you said, your voice faltering at some points.

Suho looked at you, pain in his eyes. The way your voice seemed so small and how vulnerable you looked as you hugged yourself, it just shattered his heart to pieces. What he would give to take back his words and be able to wrap his arms around you like his did so many times before.

You looked up at Suho through your eyelashes, “I used to think of this place as my home.”

“Well,” he swallowed, “a lot of things have changed since the last time you’ve been here.”

“I can really only thing of one that has,” you mumbled, both knowing what (well, who technically) you were referring to.

“I’m just being a leader,” Suho ran a hand through his hair.  

“No,” you shook your head slowly, “you’re being an overprotective dictator.”

Suho sighed and walked towards the counter, staring out the window at the quiet forest that lined the mansion.

“You don’t understand,” he hung his head, placing his palms flat on the counter edge and leaning over the sink.

You walked up behind Suho and, after a few moments of internal debating, hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder, “Then help me understand.”

It seemed like an eternity of silence as the two of your stood there.

“I’m scared.”

Although simple, the two words that left Suho’s mouth seemed say a lot.

“After what happened to Kris,” Suho let out a shaky breath and turned around to face you, “I don’t think I’ll be able to handle losing another one of them.”

You gently took his hand into yours, “Don’t worry about them. They’re not as fragile as you think they are. They’re Guardians, too.”

“I know,” he sighed and stared down at your connected hands, “But Kris was the one who was always so confident, so sure of himself. I just, wanted to be that leader for the guys too. I didn’t realize I was acting like a total jerk. It’s amazing how they don’t hate me right now.”

“They understand what you’ve been going through,” you shrugged, “And now I do too.”

Suho bit the inside of his lip and you laced your fingers through his.

“I’ll always be here for you, Joonmyun,” you felt the corner of your lips lift when he gave your hand a little squeeze at his real name, “No matter what.”

“Thanks, Miyoung,” he gave you a bashful grin, “You’re a really good…” he paused for a second before taking a deep breath, “friend.”

You released his hand and, before you could stop yourself, threw you arms around his neck in a hug.

Friend.

It may not be what you wanted Suho to say, what you wanted to be to him. But it was a start.

You realized what you were doing when you felt Suho stiffen and quickly pulled back, still keeping your arms around his neck.

“Friends can hug, right?” you asked, stifling your laugh when you caught sight of the blush on Suho’s face.

Suho rolled his eyes as he wrapped his arms lightly around your waist and gave you the smile you fell in love with, “I guess they can.”

The two of you shared a laugh and it was the first time you laughed, really laughed, in days. And you were pretty sure the same went for Suho.

“Hyun – oh.”

You snapped your head around quickly jumped away from Suho when you saw D.O and Lay standing in the doorway.

“Did we interrupt something?” D.O asked hesitantly.

“No, you guys are good,” Suho shook his head as he leaned back casually against the counted, smirking as your face started to redden, “What’s up?”

D.O didn’t reply and continued to study the both of you.

“You need to come up to the Communications Room,” Lay responded instead, a sense of urgency in his voice.

“What? Why?” Suho asked as he stood up straight.

D.O and Lay glanced at each other, “You’re just going to want to see something.”

---

Back with an update! Some progress for the SuYoung ship. I mean, they don't hate each other anymore >3< But I'm getting back into the swing of things with this story and we're finally getting to some good parts so look out for more updates! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! 

~Admin Kelc