To the members of VIXX, Cha Hak Yeon was the best leader they could get. Maybe they’ve never experienced better, or maybe they didn’t need to. Hak Yeon was in every aspect, perfect enough for them.

On screen he was lively and boisterous and talked enough for two in order to seamlessly cover up Taek Woon’s lack of words. He was often violent towards the younger ones (recall the countless times he’s sent a quick slash to their throats with his hand or a punch to the shoulder for being too rowdy or disobedient) whenever the TV producers called for it.

Even then, his natural motherly instincts would come out subconsciously every now and then and he would find himself nagging at his dongsaengs. When that happens everything would be caught on film and subsequently, Hak Yeon would bury his face in his hands in mortification as they gathered at the main office to review their shows. The younger ones would playfully berate him for going into ‘N-jumma’ mode, but inside they were deeply appreciative of his masked concern towards them.

Behind the scenes, despite always had the interests of the others at heart, the dark-skinned leader still wasn’t the kind of person who expresses his care and concern freely. Instead of being an openly affectionate person, his love language was more subtle and harder to detect.

Since their pre-debut days, Hak Yeon had the habit of spying on the members inconspicuously. He would monitor their daily behaviour during training sessions quietly and through this, gauge their feelings and emotions. On the days when everyone was ridden with fatigue and tensions were high, he would quietly usher them into the dorm like little ducklings after a long, drawn-out day of non-stop practice and send them off to the shower or bedroom with a pat on the back and a whispered ‘Good job today. You did well.’

They were small, seemingly insignificant gestures, but to the members who were on the brink of giving up, it meant the world to them.

It was also through so much observation that he knew all of the members inside out and memorised every single aspect of their preferences, idiosyncrasies and personality traits. He knew that Taek Woon feels as though he was burdening the rest of the members because of his silence. He knew that Jae Hwan was in constant limbo because he was too young to be a proper hyung, yet too old to join the dongsaeng line and felt that he didn’t have a true identity in the group. He knew that there were days where music production simply wasn’t enough to fill the emptiness in Won Shik and he would need someone to talk to. He knew that Hong Bin was extremely insecure about his singing and frequently cried himself to sleep for not being good enough. He knew that Sang Hyuk has a volatile relationship with his hyungs and occasionally still felt his presence in the team unwanted and unneeded.

And there was Hak Yeon, the VIXX buffer solution that kept team dynamics from veering towards any extreme. He was a mood detector, a peace diplomat and a monarchy all rolled into one 1.79m tall body. He neutralised any disgruntlement and smoothed out the friction between the five before problems escalated. He kept the team constantly happy and sated or uplift whoever’s mood that wasn’t. He would wedge himself between Hong Bin and Won Shik, the only two 93-liners, and keep the maknae from gluing himself to the visual member to ensure that enclaves wouldn’t form in the group.

It was tiring being a leader. He’d expressed this opinion honestly in interview after magazine interview. When asked what kept him going during his arduous training days, Hak Yeon would share about the times he seriously considered giving his aspiration up to live normally instead, perhaps becoming a banker or even a real estate agent, but his love for dancing and passion for his dream and responsibility towards his dongsaengs drew him back to the Jellyfish Entertainment building day after day.

After debut, the bonds he shared with his teammates continued to deepen to the point they knew what each other was thinking without the need for verbal communication. Just like how Hak Yeon would lightly encourage the members when they were feeling under the weather, on the days that the elder was down he would receive tiny back hugs or muttered words of appreciation or find sticky notes taped to the bathroom mirror telling him to ‘Have strength, leader-nim!’. He would never realise the importance until he seriously pondered over it late into the night in the darkness of their dormitory when everyone else had turned in. When he did though, a wide smile would spread across his face and he would gaze endearingly at the silhouettes of his sleeping teammates, silently thanking them for their support. It made him fired up to want to achieve success together as a team.

Now that they’ve started running towards their dream, they couldn’t and wouldn’t stop.

Still, Hak Yeon was a man with flaws. He was rather irritable and often lost his temper when the younger ones started to go out of hand, a fault that he has been steadily working on to improve himself. He’d learnt to be a lot more tolerant of others and their shortcomings, and he would count to ten to give his anger time to subside before he would speak to prevent himself from saying harsh words that would hurt anyone’s feelings. He was also the kind of guy who, despite his dauntless image, was actually really insecure about himself. Having been a trainee for a long time had done his self-confidence. The harsh critiques delivered during their monthly evaluations in the years he was under various entertainment companies had left a scarring impression on him.

Hak Yeon always thought that he was lacking in some way, especially when reading hateful posts by online netizens and anti-fans, and felt that he needed to correct any flaws immediately. Under the close supervision of Taek Woon and the other members he’d gotten much better though, but occasionally still skipped a meal or two when he read comments on how he’d seemed to have gained weight.

Having been dating for over a year since debut and the closest friends for much longer than that, Taek Woon took it upon himself to constantly watch over the elder to ensure he wasn’t on any polarised end of the emotion spectrum. He was always around to keep check of Hak Yeon, providing not only the calm to his high but also the comforting shoulder to rest on when the stresses of being an idol proved to be too much for the leader.

Hak Yeon was like the four walls of a house that kept everyone from getting out of hand. He, on the other hand, was the silent and sturdy roof that provided a soft, paternalistic shelter to those who seek it. While Hak Yeon was the one to go to if the younger ones were seeking advice, Taek Woon was the hyung they relied on for a non-judging listening ear. If Hak Yeon was the head of the VIXX family then Taek Woon was the neck and backbone, without both the head would not be able to function. Their flaws complimented each others’ strengths perfectly and they worked hand in hand to bring the team up.

But it doesn’t mean that this dream couple was always smooth sailing.

Despite knowing Taek Woon’s introverted nature, Hak Yeon never liked the fact that his beau rarely expressed himself in words. (“How would the kids know what you feel then? They’ll walk all over you!” He would say). He always felt that the singer should do so to exert authority over the younger ones to garner respect.

But Taek Woon wasn’t that kind if person who would terrorise his dongsaengs for no reason. No, Taek Woon only makes his displeasure known when he felt that they were getting out of line. Besides that, he would let them do whatever they want and choose to suffer in silence. They were too immature to take his threats seriously anyway.

Day in and out, the soft-spoken main vocalist would be prodded like a cuddly animal by the curious little ones, but Taek Woon would hold in his temper and bear with the mistreatment as far as he could. This rule still applied even to Jae Hwan, who never really understood the concept of ‘Glare = Leave me alone’, and would constantly annoying the other just to try to incite a reaction. Taek Woon kept his cool and humoured the younger as best as he could manage.

However, Hak Yeon, being a person who gets jealous very, very easily, saw things in a very different light. Taek Woon had already lost count the number of times when the oldest two, in the unsettling darkness of the dormitory long after the kids have turned in, got to a hefty argument over the kids’ clinginess and Taek Woon’s apparent reluctance to put a leash on them.

And eyond the superficial level of jealousy that arose from the lack of attention, the silence Hak Yeon’d always gotten from the other made him, well, insecure. Sure, they’d been together for long enough to know what each other was thinking without the need to express it verbally. Even then, Hak Yeon would’ve preferred to hear the words ‘I love you’ coming from his beau’s lips directly than to have to resort to his telepathic skills to get the message.

Taek Woon knew, though, and he really did try his best. He made evident effort to shower more attention on his boyfriend, like responding to his love calls on camera instead of shuffling away awkwardly, and staying up late into the night with his boyfriend as the other rushed out his television script for a filming the next day. No matter what, the fact still remained that the main vocalist really was just incredibly shy with his words.

Taek Woon had always been known by his family, kin and friends as a man of little words. He was soft-spoken since young. Being the youngest in the family, there wasn’t much of a need for him to raise his voice in order to steal attention and get what he wanted. Even his mother would often joke that when he was born he’d come out stone-faced instead of wailing like what other normal babies do.

Normal. Was that what he wasn’t? Normal? Did being more reticent than the boisterous kids of his age make him abnormal? Having been raised around two older sisters who were nearly a decade older than him, Taek Woon matured much more rapidly than his peers. While boys his age were still sweating it out on swing sets and sand boxes, he was indoors tinkling with the musty old piano in the music room. Without fail on the first day of every year right up to middle school, his mother would get a call from his form teacher enquiring if he was possibly suffering from autism, which she dismisses saying that he’s “more of an arts person than one who plays sports”. It was pretty ironic that he was scouted to play for the national junior football team right next year.

Taek Woon never understood what the fuss was over speech was about. Sure, his facial expressions were about as diverse as Kristen Stewart’s, but who was to dictate that self-expression must be done through the form of words?

Up till now, the main vocalist sometimes still wondered how a bubbly and outspoken person like Hak Yeon would fall for someone like him. He was so quiet he was equivalent to a wall sometimes. Why would Hak Yeon like inanimate objects? Surely he would, if he were even gay in the first place, go for someone more like Jae Hwan or Won Shik whose personalities were much more alike.

He wasn’t about to complain though. What were the chances of finding true love in the person who stood shoulder to shoulder with you each day and slept by your side every night and spent all twenty four hours of your day with? Hak Yeon truly was a rare gem to uncover and Taek Woon couldn’t be more thankful for the sweet, caring and responsible guy.

Taek Woon loved Hak Yeon beyond what he thought was humanely possible of a person to do so. It sounded cheesy to say this, but the main vocalist had never expected that he was capable of caring for anyone to this extent, someone who wasn’t kin nor had any blood relation to him. He cherished every single moment of his waking hours where he was beside the eldest one. Be it all squished in a cramped recording booth, sweating it out in the dance studio or promoting their team tirelessly on their schedules, there was not one time where Taek Woon had given anything less than his full effort because the team, because Hak Yeon didn’t deserve anything less than his best.

He could only wish for more times when they return to the dorm in the wee hours of the morning where it was fruitless to go back to sleep and they would lie down next to each other, faces close but not touching as they gazed at each other wordlessly. Seconds would stretch to minutes to hours and neither would do anything more than blink as they watched each others’ faces for even the slightest hint of fatigue that both were reluctant to show. It were instances like these, simple yet beautiful, that made Taek Woon feel the most special. Nothing else mattered but the precious, fragile hearts of each other that they held in their hands. He wasn’t Leo the pokerfaced main vocalist then, but simply Jung Taek Woon, a twenty-three year old university student who was imperfect and had his insecurities and anxieties.

Like how the saying goes, all the peace he was experiencing now was only the calm before the storm. When you were working in the merciless, perfectionistic Korean music industry, being an idol who was in love meant that trouble was always lurking around the corner

A/N: Well, what can I say. VIXX had their official comeback today. As a crazy  ST☆RLIGHT of course I had to post something. Two minutes before 12AM KST that marks the end of 20th May 2013, here is the first chapter of Tongue Tied.

How was it? Do comment and let me know! ~ ^^

HYDE... Oh my freaking goodness, HYDE. Don't you think the boys were simply perfect? Their concept was genius and they pulled off the look flawlessly without making it look tacky. Kudos to Jellyfish for that!

There is seriously too much perfection in that 3 minutes 20 seconds.

By the way, don't you think it's completely appropriate of me to use this divider? Stars, starlight, VIXX... Geddit, geddit?

Goodness why am I so retarded XD