---

Rather than going straight to the studio to practice the next morning like they usually do, their manager decided to stop by a restaurant to eat. The leader definitely didn't mind this as he followed closely behind Leo, grabbing on to the sleeve of his shirt along the way and humming in delight at the delicious smell as they walked through the door. Glancing up at the younger's profile, he smiled as he noticed him his lips. An action that the vocalist always did when he smelled food. "Someone's definitely hungry, huh?" He spoke in a teasing voice, poking gently at his back with his free hand before throwing out one of his 'hot' jokes. "You could've just ate me this morning you know~"

Of course Taekwoon would do what he usually do and pushed off the leader, making N pout slightly before hearing a rather obnoxious laugh coming behind him from Ken. Sighing heavily, he looked over at him before pulling at his cheeks. "Yahhhh. I didn't make that joke for you, mister."

Hearing the younger male in pain, he pulled his hand away before seeing the rather amused smile placed on his features. "Here I thought those hot jokes of yours were for everyone" He threw back teasingly, nudging at the elder's side. Clearly the rapper heard as he perked up and decided that he himself needed to have a word in it.

"Hot jokes? Was there a hot girl or something? What did I miss?" Seeing the tall male glance around with a clearly curious face, N shook his head before noticing him being elbowed by the visual of the group. No one understood why their leader couldn't help but try hard to hold back his fit of laughter expect the two that were glaring at him, Hongbin and Ravi.

Once they were lead to their seats, the leader gladly took the empty spot beside Leo before noticing that Ken was sitting on the other side. Needless to say, he was quite agitated, but he did his best to shrug it off as they all began listing their orders. Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, the darkest member of VIXX began glancing around at all the customers in the building. Quite honestly, it irked him to see the various of couples around him - including the pair across from him. He didn't like seeing all the lovey dovey scene around him, mostly since he couldn't be a part of it himself.

Looking over to his side, the leader bit on his lip every so often as he eyed Leo and his subtle actions with his phone. He really wanted to start up a conversation, but couldn't manage to figure out what to speak about. He wanted to do it before Ken did as well, which made his mind race with various of things that the singer wasn't interested in at all. Sighing a bit, the leader opted to acting annoying - as usual - towards the younger male. Placing his head on to the competitive male's shoulder, he puffed out his cheeks slightly and began to speak in a rather whiny tone. "Yahhh, Taekwoonie. I'm tired."

Of course what he received was something he had expected from the very moment the thought of remotely touching the not - so -social member. Feeling himself being pushed off, the singer made no effort to reply as he began looking through his phone. Pouting heavily, N wrapped his arms around the other's semi-free one before pressing his face against his shoulder once more. "Yahhhh! Don't ignore your leader"

Feeling a sigh being passed through the latter male, N felt the other's sharp gaze right at him as he couldn't help but purse his lips in anticipation. "If you're tired, you can give your meal to me and go to the car and sleep."

Pouting quickly at the younger male's words, N smacked his arm weakly before sitting up and folding his arms in annoyance. Of course the younger male would reply like that. Where did the caring male from last night go? Puffing out his cheeks, he glanced down at his meal once it was placed in front of him and began eating in agitation as chatter soon filled the air from the two next to him. His plans for a nice day was slowly crumbling from every syllable he heard passing Leo's lips that weren't directed towards him at all. "Aish..."

---

"Yah. How many times are you kids going to fool around? We have a deadline to meet." Hakyeon lectured for the hundredth time, running his fingers through his hair. The other members were clearly exhausted by now with the fact that they had been going nonstop for the past 3 hours. The leader on the other hand had more energy to burn. He wanted to go until he collapsed and it didn't help him to achieve such a goal with how high his stamina was due to how he was the lead dancer.

"Can't we have a small break?" Jaehwan was clearly hesitant to ask and as the leader glanced at the other member through the mirror. He could tell that he was about ready to shut down along with the maknae and visual. Leo as usual wore no emotion but he could see how tired he was with the fact that he was drying the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and Ravi seemed as if he could go a few more rounds before actually collapsing due to exhaustion.

"No. Our comeback is coming up and you gu-"

"Hakyeon. If you're a leader, you would think about the condition of the members."

Those words stung him, more so than it should due to the very person it came from. Biting back a need to snap, Hakyeon kept his eyes down towards the floor before glancing up to see that the singer's gaze was on the third oldest member through the reflective surface of the wall. Of course he would chip in at a time like this for him. Giving out a frustrated sigh, Hakyeon pulled off his cap and tossed it at the floor before exiting the room. He didn't care if the others were going to worry or question him later. He just wanted to be away from them. Away from Ken and most of all - away from Leo.

"... What do you think is wrong?" Jaehwan asked after hearing the door slam shut. “This is very unlike N. He usually doesn’t mind us asking for breaks…” Pursing his lips slightly, Jaehwan scanned the room to find the maknae on the sofa and drinking water as Ravi and their visual was nowhere in sight, as usual when it came to break. Once his eyes landed on the chic male, he noticed that he was still staring at the forgotten object on the floor. “… Hyung?”

“I’ll talk to him” The words took the younger singer back a bit as he tried to figure out about what. Did Taekwoon know something that he didn’t know? Did they all upset Hakyeon during practice somehow? Was it this morning? Or was he still upset about how he was scared yesterday? It was frustrating being left out of the loop and Jaehwan did not enjoy being left out of the loop at all. Pouting slightly, he attempted to trail the singer only to find the door being shut in his face.

“Aish- These hyungs.”

“Maybe they’re in a lover’s quarrel or something” The maknae joked, quite amused with the possibility of the idea. “That’d be quite scandalous you know. The umma and appa of VIXX in a relationship.” When the maknae heard no reply though, he glanced over to the vocalist with a raised brow.

"They aren't." Ken spoke sternly, clearly annoyed over the suggestion.

This only made the youngest member pout as he threw his hyung a 'how would you know' look. "And what makes you say that?"

"Because I know they aren't. Now don't suggest such a thing again." The clearly frustrated tone in Jaehwan's voice caused Hyuk to swallow nervously. First Hakyeon was pissed and now Jaehwan was pissed at him for the minor playful suggestion. Who was next to get pissed off in this group?

---

Walking into one of the private practice rooms, N shut the door behind himself and pressed his back against it. Never had he been so stressed in his life. Even during the times where he practiced and worked diligently for the position he has at this very moment, he never once had a moment in which he needed to cry like this. He couldn’t lean on the younger members at all because he was supposed to care for them, not the other way around. They wouldn’t even understand either and it would cause too much problems if Ken already likes Leo as well. What if they were both dating? He didn’t want to be the bad person – or well worse than he is right now.

Letting out a shaky sigh, the leader pressed the back of his head against the door. He didn’t care anymore about the tears that were slowly making their way down his cheeks. He felt so miserable inside that he just couldn’t find the will to care about how puffy his eyes will be after this. Keeping up a happy image was all too stressful – especially one in which he had to remain composed despite whatever conflicts should arise.

Slowly letting himself slide down against the door, the leader buried his face into his own hands. He hated how things were going and how frustrating everything was becoming. Nowhere in his contract did it say that being an idol would give him this kind of emotional pain. He was ready for everything but this. He was ok with not seeing the girl he liked constantly and he was perfectly fine with keeping it a secret. But falling in love with another member was something that was not in the contract. Falling for a male was definitely not in the contract. He hated how happy and full of life he felt around the singer but how miserable he could feel within seconds when the other gave his attention away to someone else. N despised how badly he craved for Leo's attention and acceptance. Why him? Why did he have to care for someone that was practically the opposite of him - that didn't want to give him attention? That always pulled away when they were close and told him off when he was being annoying. Why must a guy like that always make him smile and his heart race? That always was there for him at his lowest of times. Why did Jung Taekwoon steal his heart?

Why must love be so bittersweet?

Before he could drown himself in more miserable thoughts, Hakyeon heard a knock on the door but ignored it. He didn’t want anyone to bother him right now. He had no desire to talk – though clearly that didn’t matter to whoever was knocking. The noise was becoming annoying as it was going on continuously without a pause. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hakyeon rubbed away his tears and tried his best to shove away the emotions before standing back up and fixing his clothes. This knocker clearly wasn’t going to go away unless he answered and that he knew all too well.

“Aish, can’t someone have pr-“ Unable to even finish his sentence as he found himself shoved deeper back into the room, he heard the door close once again before the hat he once wore was forced on to his head.

“What’s wrong. You didn’t tell me the truth yesterday so you better speak up today” The stern voice filled the air, clearly not in the mood for arguing.

Keeping his eyes to the floor, Hakyeon could only scoff in annoyance. The day before he so badly wanted to be locked up in this small room with Taekwoon but right now he wanted anything but that. Taking his hat off, the leader tossed it over to where his bag was before sighing out in frustration. “Just leave me alone. I’ll be fin-“

“You’re not fine! I don’t get why you keep trying to hide it. I know you aren’t. If we’re best friends, why can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

Hakyeon couldn’t help but jump at how the younger’s voice raised. Taekwoon hardly ever did such a thing. Raising his voice was definitely not something that the leader was used to from the singer. Regardless though, he wasn’t going to budge. Especially not after hearing the 'best friend' excuse. “Just leave me alone! There’s nothi-“

Before the older male knew it though, he could feel his back pressed up against the wall. He could tell that Taekwoon was frustrated with him but he refused to glance up and look the singer in his eyes. “Tell me, Hakyeon. Right now. Whatever the problem is, it’s affecting your work. There’s no way you’re getting out until you tell me the truth.”

With the already foul mood he was in, the leader wasn’t sure whether or not he should shove Taekwoon off him and leave or tell. The day was horrible enough and this wasn’t making things any better for him. Actually, these feelings weren’t making things better for him. Everything was complicated and he just wish he could put the feelings he had for the taller male into a box and burn it to ashes. Giving out another frustrated sigh, he soon found his gazed being pulled up to stare into the stronger male’s concerned eyes. Words couldn’t even form how much he hated his feelings for Jung Taekwoon right now.

“Hakyeon. Tell me. I can’t be there for you as a friend if you d-“

“Shut up!” Those words that he hated to hear- how they’re friends. He didn’t want to be just friends with the younger male. Especially not right now. Those words were the words that caused him to snap. The constant repeating of how they were ‘friends’. “Don’t you ever think about how I feel? Just because you’re worried that doesn’t give you the right to ask me what’s wrong. Just because we’re friends, it doesn’t mean I have to tell you everything. Just leave me alone, Jung Taekwoon!”

Using the strength he wasn’t even aware that he had, Hakyeon pushed the male aside before storming out of the room without sparing the singer a second glance. He felt horrible inside. Even more so than before Taekwoon interrupted him. He just told his best friend – who was honestly sensitive to words – to go away. He wouldn’t be surprised if the vocalist avoided him for the rest of their career. His life couldn't get any worse than now - that was for sure.

Locking himself up in one of the bathrooms, the leader couldn’t help but cry out his misery. There was nothing more frustrating than this to him. Nothing more frustrating than falling in love with your best friend – who finds it repulsive to even play the paper kissing game with the same gender. There was nothing he could do but to push the singer away in hopes that these feelings would go away as well. Hopefully one day, he could forget these feelings and ask for Taekwoon's forgiveness. This was better than having things between them becoming awkward. He was definitely doing this for the singer's own good, at least that's what he's going to tell himself in hopes that things will be better. 

---

I hope you all enjoy this chapter /cry/ And hopefully it makes sense and isn't weird or anything. and no this chapter isn't happy at all. im sorry u__u I do thank you guys though for still staying subscribed and reading! ... btw the chapter titles are just random song titles I like. they don't really concern the stories at all. LOL just letting you all know.

ALSO! Please let me know how you think of it so far. ;; <3 feedback is loved. very much. 
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