As soon as they had made it back to the Red Tiger base, Yongguk had immediately went to his room and locked the door, locking Zelo out of the room.  It was decided later on that Zelo would just stay with Daehyun in his room.  For days, Yongguk had stayed in his room, never coming out, not even accepting the food that was placed at his door every day.  Zelo tried to make excuses for Yongguk to an angry Zico, but in truth, Zelo didn’t know why Yongguk wouldn’t leave his room.  Daehyun knew why, but he wouldn’t talk about, too busy with his own problems.  It didn’t matter anyway.  Zico was there when B.A.P practically split up to join rival gangs, Yongguk’s ex, whom he very recently broke up with, joining the opposite gang.  Zico already knew why Yongguk was sulking.  He just didn’t care.

 

“This is ing ridiculous!” Zico shouted as he banged on the door leading to Yongguk’s room.  “Open the door!  Now!”

 

“Calm down, Zi,” Kyung said, pulling on Zico’s arm, “let’s just give him some time.”

 

“Time!?”  Zico frowned and pulled his arm out of Kyung’s grasp.  “He’s been in there for days now!”

 

Zelo marched up to Zico and said, “Hey!  Yongguk-hyung can stay in his room if he wants too!  He doesn’t have to listen to you!”

 

“Oh yes the hell he does,” Zico replied, crossing his arms over his chest, throwing his leg back to kick the door.

 

“You’re not our leader!” Zelo yelled.  “Hyung is our leader, and he doesn’t take orders from anyone!”

 

“Ha!” Zico shouted.  “Your group split up under his leadership, and now the pansy is sulking in his room over a damn Black Dragon wannabe!”

 

The door opened behind Zico, and he turned around, ready to chastise Yongguk.  Before Zico could even open his mouth, Yongguk punched him right in the face, causing Zico to fall backwards.

 

“Yongguk-hyung,” Kyung and Zelo both gasped out simultaneously, surprised.

 

Zico sat up and wiped at his nose.  When he drew his hand back and saw blood, he glared at Yongguk.  “You ,” Zico grumbled before jumping up and tackling Yongguk, knocking him back into his room.

 

“Hey!  Hey!” Kyung shouted, running forward along with Zelo to break the two apart, but Zico kicked the door shut on them before they could enter the room.  Kyung ended up running into the door and Zelo ran into Kyung.  Kyung groaned and rubbed his nose before twisting the knob to open the door.  “It’s locked,” he said to Zelo.  “Zico, open this door!

 

Yongguk and Zico could hear Kyung and Zelo banging on the door, but they were too busy glaring at each other to acknowledge the two on the other side.  Zico’s nose was still bleeding, and now Yongguk had a split lip.

 

“Come on you bastard,” Zico said, trying to egg Yongguk on.

 

Yongguk, scowling at Zico, looked like he was going to attack Zico right then, but then Yongguk straightened up and snorted.  “Tch!  I’m not wasting my time on you.”  Yongguk, ignoring Zico, walked over to his bed and collapsed on it.

 

“What!?” Zico yelled, looking at Yongguk lying with his back to Zico.  “You’ve wasted plenty of time being locked up in this nasty room!”

 

“What’s going on in there?” Zico heard Zelo ask.

 

“Oh shut up!” Zico replied, kicking the door before walking up to Yongguk.  “You can’t just lie there after punching me in the face!”  Yongguk didn’t reply so Zico kicked Yongguk’s leg.  “Hey!  I’m talking to you.”

 

Yongguk pulled his covers over him and quietly replied, “Just go away.”  Zico sneered and then hollered.

 

“Hey, Zico,” Kyung said, “what’s happening?  Open the door.”

 

Ignoring Kyung, Zico ripped the covers off of Yongguk.  “Stop feeling pity for yourself and get the hell up!  We have some Black Dragons to kill.”  Zico smiled at the last part.

 

Yongguk finally looked at Zico and said, “Like you understand anything right now!”

 

“Listen to yourself, all whining like a little girl.  It’s not like I’ve lived a perfect life,” Zico responded.

 

Yongguk snorted.  “I can tell that,” he said, eyeing Zico.  “But it’s not your life that seems so great, rather what you have with Kyung.”  Yongguk looked at the door where he knew that Kyung was still on the other side of.  Kyung and Zelo seemed to finally have stopped making a commotion.  Yongguk quickly looked back at Zico.

 

“That hasn’t always been perfect either,” Zico mumbled.  Yongguk didn’t look convinced, so Zico sat down on Yongguk’s bed, sighing.  “I shouldn’t bother telling you this.  You’re being pathetic right now, so why should I care?”

 

Yongguk rolled his eyes.  “If you’re going to tell me then tell me already.  Otherwise, get out.”

 

Zico sneered at Yongguk before sighing again and looking away.  “Fine, but it’s a long story.”

 

“Nowhere to go,” Yongguk mumbled.

 

“Kyung and I knew each other since we were little, but we were just friends for a very long time.  I wasn’t even aware of my feelings for him until I almost lost him,” Zico said, scowling at the fact that he was revealing himself to Yongguk.  Zico then chuckled to himself before saying, “I bet you didn’t know that I was with Taeil-hyung once.”

 

“You dated Taeil?” Yongguk asked.  “Honestly, I still don’t know what to make of him.”

 

“He’s not complicated,” Zico said, “just quiet.  Anyway, a couple years ago…”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some years in the past~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Did you hear about the new student?” Kyung asked, waiting for Zico to get his things out of his locker.

 

“Tch!  I don’t care about the new kid,” said Zico, bypassing Kyung.

 

Kyung tilted his head.  “It doesn’t matter.  No one really knows anything about him anyway.”

 

Zico closed his locker and gave Kyung his full attention.  “With all the gossip hounds at this school, not one person knows anything about him?  I find that hard to believe.”

 

“Apparently, there’s nothing remarkable about him to bother mentioning or remembering,” Kyung replied, shrugging.

 

“Hm,” Zico mumbled, “now I’m interested.”

 

“You would be interested in something no one else is,” Kyung said, laughing as he followed behind Zico.

 

“Of course,” was all Zico said as the entered their class just as the bell rung.  They quickly made it to their seats in the back of the class, readying themselves to be bored out of their minds.

 

“Go ahead and introduce yourself,” the teacher said, drawing Zico’s and Kyung’s attention.  They saw a short guy in front of the class with pin-straight dark hair.  The way he stood in front of everyone made Zico think that he was timid, which was causing Zico to begin to lose interest in the new kid again.

 

“Just another scared nerd,” Zico mumbled to himself, frowning.

 

“Annyeong haseyo,” the new kid said, seeming to gain confidence from nowhere, but Zico refused to get interested again only to be disappointed.  “Lee Taehyung imnida.  Please take good care of me.”

 

“Okay, Lee Taehyung,” the teacher said, “go ahead and take a seat wherever you like.”

 

“Can I have your seat?” Taehyung asked the teacher, who glowered at Taehyung.  Taehyung then chuckled and said, “I’m just kidding.”

 

“Take a seat,” the teacher repeated sternly, still frowning at Taehyung.  Everyone was surprised at the new student’s guts to joke with the teacher on his first day.  They all watched as he found a seat in the middle of the classroom.

 

“Oh yes,” Zico whispered to Kyung, “I’m definitely interested.”  Zico was smirking, impressed with Taehyung already.  Kyung just chuckled and shook his head at Zico’s obvious curiosity.

 

Days later Zico and Kyung had gotten to know Taehyung pretty well.  They even found out that Taehyung had a brother that was two years older than them.  His name was Taeil, and Zico didn’t like him.

 

“Why should I call him hyung?” Zico asked, frowning.

 

“Because he’s older than us,” Kyung answered.

 

Taehyung laughed.  “Hyung probably wouldn’t care if you just called him Taeil,” he said.

 

“It’s not like he looks older than us,” Zico said, still frowning.  “And he’s always quiet.  I don’t like quiet people.  It’s like their always plotting something.”

 

Taehyung just laughed again, while Kyung sighed.

 

“Maybe I am plotting something,” said Taeil from behind them.

 

“Oh hi, hyung,” Taehyung said with a smile on his face.

 

Kyung nervously chuckled.  “Zico was just kidding.”

 

“No I wasn’t,” Zico said before Kyung covered Zico’s mouth with his hand, too late though.  Taeil didn’t say anything.  He just walked past them and entered his house.  “See!” Zico said after pushing Kyung’s hand away from him.  “Just quiet, too quiet, and sneaking up on people.”

 

“Come on,” Taehyung said, inviting Kyung and Zico into his house.

 

Zico truly didn’t trust Taeil and thought that the older’s silence was suspicious.  Zico started watching Taeil, hoping to see why the older had to be so sneaky, but the more that Zico watched, the more comfortable he got with Taeil.  It was like the two were friends with as much as Zico knew about him from watching him.

 

“Why are you following me?” Taeil asked one day.

 

“What?  I’m not following you,” Zico responded.  “You must be following me.”

 

Taeil rolled his eyes before going back to looking at the fish in the tank.  “I didn’t take you for the type to like going to the aquarium.”

 

“Aquarium?  So that’s what this place is called,” Zico mumbled to himself.  “Uh, oh yeah,” Zico said, speaking up and addressing Taeil, “I love going to the aquarium.”

 

“Really?” Taeil asked, smiling brightly, his eyes lighting up.  It was the most emotion Zico had seen on the older’s face.  “Me too!” Taeil said before grabbing Zico’s arm and pulling him along.  “Have you seen the octopi here?  Oh and the sharks are always cool, but my favorite has to be the tropical fish.”  Zico felt overwhelmed as Taeil pulled him from one tank to another, talking to him about fish.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Memories~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Where have you been all day?” Kyung asked when he saw Zico approaching him and Taehyung in the park.  The sun had set hours ago, and Taehyung was due to be home in half an hour.

 

“The aquarium,” Zico said, shrugging.

 

Taehyung perked up.  “Taeil-hyung goes to the aquarium all of the time.  He’s practically in love with fish.”

 

“Yeah, I know.  I was with him,” Zico responded, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

 

“Wait,” Kyung said, jumping off of the park table that he was sitting on, “you were with Taeil?  Don’t you hate him?”  Taehyung nodded his head, agreeing with what Kyung asked.

 

Zico wasn’t sure what to say.  He hadn’t told Kyung or Taehyung about how he had been following Taeil around, spying on the older.  Zico sighed and said, “I guess that I don’t hate him.”

 

“Hate him?  You practically went on a date with him if you were at the aquarium with hyung,” Taehyung said before he burst out laughing.  Kyung joined Taehyung and started laughing too.

 

“Yah!” Zico shouted.  “Shut up!”

 

“Just admit it, Zico,” Taehyung said between laughter.  “Hyung isn’t as bad as you made him out to be.”  Zico just frowned.

 

Kyung stopped laughing a bit to ask, “Actually, how was it at the aquarium with him?”

 

Zico glared before sighing again.  “Fine!  It wasn’t that bad, even though he talked about fish the whole time.  So, maybe I was a little wrong about him.”  Kyung and Taehyung ended up laughing again at Zico’s displeasure at his own admittance.

 

Weeks had gone by and Zico had grown accustomed to spending more and more time with Taeil.  They had become good friends.  Taeil even hung out with him, Kyung, and Taehyung at times, but not always because Taeil didn’t want Taehyung to think that his hyung was trying to take his friends.  Things were actually really good between all of them, but it didn’t last long.  Zico had started to call Taeil Tae-hyung, but he realized that it was like calling Taehyung’s name, so he just dropped the hyung part, which Taeil didn’t seem to mind.

 

Taehyung had started to get sick.  Taeil and his family had learned that Taehyung had leukemia.  Taehyung had went through chemo and even maintained his wild and happy personality throughout it all, but in the end he still passed away.  Zico and Kyung both attended his funeral.  Kyung was saddened by the loss of his friend, but Zico was not only sad because his friend died, but he was even more saddened by Taeil’s obvious pain.  Zico didn’t understand why he felt so strongly that Taeil mattered more than him, but he figured it was because he knew that Taehyung was Taeil’s brother, so they were obviously closer.

 

“You’re in love with him,” Kyung said one day.

 

“What!?” Zico asked.  “Shut the up!”

 

“It’s completely obvious,” Kyung continued.  “I think I noticed it the day you came back from the aquarium.  Somewhere along the line you’ve become obsessive.”

 

“Obsessive!?” Zico shouted.  “I’m not obsessed with Taeilie.”

 

Back at the Red Tiger’s base, in Yongguk’s room, Zico was wrapping up his story.  “Basically I was obsessed with Taeil-hyung, and by the time I finally accepted that, hyung told me that he kind of felt the same.  We started to date, but it was kind of weird at first because neither of us had been with a guy before.”

 

“As interesting as that story was, I don’t see how this has to do with anything that’s going on right now,” Yongguk said in his deep voice.

 

“I’m getting there, !” Zico said, glaring at Yongguk again.  “Don’t interrupt!  I was going to say that me and hyung were together for a couple of months with no problems, but I didn’t notice that Kyung was slipping away.”

 

“What do you mean slipping away?” Yongguk asked, but at Zico’s frown he added, “Sorry, no more interruptions.”

 

“Kyung was jealous,” Zico said, smirking.  “He won’t admit it now though.  He had started to spend less time with me, and was always acting funny, especially when Taeil-hyung was around.  When hyung told me how Kyung wasn’t really friendly with him when they were alone, I approached Kyung to ask him what his problem was.

 

“It didn’t take long before he broke down and confessed to me.  He said that he couldn’t stand to see me and Taeilie together, so he was leaving.  I didn’t want Kyung to leave me.  We had been friends together since we were little.  So I just told him that I’d go out with him.  I know that I didn’t do things right, but at the time I didn’t know what to do.  I just reacted.

 

“I broke up with Taeil and I started dating Kyung.  At first, though I wasn’t really into Kyung the way I was with hyung.  I was just trying to keep Kyung happy, but in the end I really did fall for him, even though he was paranoid for a while that I’d go back to Taeilie.”

 

“What did happen between you and Taeil?” Yongguk asked, sensing that Zico was done with his story.  “I mean, he’s a Red Tiger with you guys.  Seems like he’d want to stay away from you two.”

 

Zico sighed.  “Well at first hyung was kind of depressed, but when he found out why I broke up with him, he was pissed, and a pissed Taeil is not a good one.  That’s how I got this scar, actually,” Zico said before lifting his shirt, showing off a lightly pink colored line across his right ribs.  “Damn near tried to kill me, but left Kyung alone,” Zico grumbled.  “After being sent to the hospital to get stitches, Taeil came around crying about how he was sorry and how he understood about Kyung.  Since then he’s said that he’s okay with Kyung and that he thinks we’re better off as friends, but I had to go back to calling him hyung.  Though, I swear he still gets angry at me for no reason sometimes.  I think it’s because he thinks about what I did in the past.”

 

“Or maybe it’s because you’re just a ,” Taeil said, causing both Yongguk and Zico to jump in surprise.  The door was wide open and Taeil was standing just in the room with his arms crossed and a scowl aimed at Zico.  Kyung was standing to Taeil’s left, looking sheepish.  Zelo was on Taeil’s right, and he just looked happy to see that Yongguk was okay.

 

“What do you mean ?” Zico asked, quickly standing up from Yongguk’s bed.  “And how did you guys get in?”

 

Kyung shrugged.  “I asked the baby to help,” Kyung said, pinching Taeil’s cheek when he said baby, causing the older to glare at him too.

 

“See?  You’re a ,” Taeil said to Zico.  “Already forgot that I can pick locks.  Maybe if you actually let me help with some of the heists you won’t forget that.”

 

“Oh come on, hyung,” Zico said.  He tried to use aegyo to improve Taeil’s mood.  Yongguk and Zelo were both shocked at seeing Zico’s aegyo, which was actually really good, though it didn’t seem to impress Taeil, who was walking out of the room.  “Hyung!  Hyung!”  Zico called after Taeil and ran after the older.

 

Kyung chuckled before saying, “I better go make sure that Zico doesn’t put his foot in his mouth and end up pissing Taeil-hyung off even more.  He might end up in the E.R. again.”  Kyung went to leave, but stopped and whispered, “I hope you feel better, Yongguk-hyung.  And maybe things will work out somehow.”

 

Yongguk nodded to Kyung before the younger left to go mediate between Taeil and Zico.  Thinking about it, Yongguk realized that he did in fact feel better after hearing Zico’s story.  Hearing how fondly Zico talked about Taeil and Kyung, Yongguk could tell how much Zico loved the two.  Yongguk realized that he needed to reevaluate his relationship with Himchan.