CHAPTER 2

The ride back to their dorm was awkward. Nobody said a word. Youngjae was stealing curious glances to Zelo but the boy kept looking out of the window, which made looking at his face impossible. Daehyun glared openly at the other vocalist, not bothering to hide his fury. Yongguk and Himchan were deep in thought, probably wondering how to solve that mess. It was a live interview after all! Jongup for once wasn’t being his oblivious, 4D self – he was staring uneasily at every member, his smile strained and unsure.

When they got to the dorms, for a moment everything was quiet. Then Daehyun finally burst.

“You idiot!” he shouted at Youngjae, shaking with rage “Do you know- our image-“ he couldn’t speak properly, anger tying his tongue in knots “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! WERE YOU EVEN THINKING?!” because of his Busan accent slipping every other word his speech was barely understood.

Jongup put his hand on Daehyun’s arm, trying to calm him down. His hand was roughly shaken off, the singer taking threatening step towards the culprit of the tense atmosphere. Youngjae mentally prepared for a fight with the other boy, analysing his weak and strong points, planning where he would throw punches and kicks. Fortunately, Yongguk’s stare was enough to stop the incoming bloodshed. The two vocalists stepped away from each other. Their leader asked with that deep voice of his:

“Youngjae-yah… why…?”

That simple question threw Youngjae off guard. To be honest, he wasn’t prepared to reveal his feelings towards Zelo, before the whole band at that. He planned to have romantic dinner with him or just plainly take him to the roof of their dorm, where they could watch stars together, and ask him out. He just wanted their maknae all to himself, craved for the closeness between them. There’s no way he will admit it in the presence of his band members.

But when he looked at their expectant faces he changed his mind. He decided to tell them everything and gain their trust back.

“Because-“

Suddenly, the door to their dorm were slammed open. It was their manager, smiling brightly.

“Youngjae!” he hugged the vocalist tightly, knocking the wind out of him.

Confusion filled the room. Every set of eyes was directed at the chubby man.

“After that interview… do you know how much our sales grew? In just thirty minutes we sold over five thousand merchandise, CD’s and all that!” he couldn’t contain his happiness and hugged Youngjae one more time “You planned this, right? It was an excellent move! You really are the brain of this band!”

Now everyone looked at the vocalist again.

“Was that your plan all along…? That’s what you wanted to tell us…?” Yongguk asked.

“Uh…” Youngjae looked at all of them, maintaining especially long eye contact with Zelo. He chickened out, his resolve to tell the truth running out of the window “Yeah…”

He had a feeling that the two oldest members didn’t believe him, if their sceptical gazes were anything to go by. They kept eyeing him suspiciously and Youngjae had a feeling that they knew. But how? He was careful so how could they find out?

He didn’t have time to think about it more though because manager Kang started talking again.

“Now we only have to make it look like you two are really dating. From now on, I want you to sit beside each other on interviews, variety shows and the like. Don’t be afraid of skinship – a little bit of fanservice will only raise your popularity even more. But don’t overdo it, we don’t want the audience to lose interest too quickly”

Youngjae couldn’t believe it. He got permission from their manager to be extremely close to Zelo in public. He jumped and laughed and cried with happiness inside but on the outside remained surprised. He could cuddle and kiss Zelo till he grew tired of it (which will never happen by the way).

The other members were flabbergasted, their jaws wide open. Daehyun was the first one who snapped out of it, his initial shock giving way to absolute anger.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” with that he stalked off, muttering profanities under his breath.

Unaffected by the vocalist’s behaviour, their manager said: “Junhong, Youngjae, I want to see both of you in my office first thing in the morning” he left the dorm with a pleasant smile on his face.

One by one, the members were leaving the living room. Soon there was only Youngjae and their leader. Before he left, Yongguk put a hand on Youngjae’s shoulder.

“I think that wasn’t what you wanted to tell us” the vocalist opened his mouth to reply, deny, but the oldest beat him to it “but that’s okay, you don’t need to tell us if you don’t want to. Just… take care of Junhongie…” he patted the younger’s shoulder and went to the bathroom.

‘Yongguk knows’ the singer thought with growing dread ‘will he tell other members…? What if they won’t accept my feelings towards Zelo…? What if they will hate me…? What if Zelo will hate me…? Or… maybe he already does… after what I’ve said on that interview… making him pretend to be my boyfriend…’ a tear slid down his cheek. Then another. And another. Before he knew it, he was shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. He laid on the couch in their living room and cried himself to sleep.

The next day Youngjae woke up to someone shaking him. He opened his eyes blearily and saw an angel with wet hair, droplets of water sliding down his neck and cheeks, briefly stopping on his chin just to fall on the floor seconds later.

‘Wait… since when angels have pink hair? And are all of them so freaking tall?’

“Wake up hyung” it turned out that his angel was really Zelo. Youngjae liked the way it sounded, his angel.

“Five more minutes, Hongie…” he grumbled, not fully awake yet.

The maknae laughed heartily “Already getting into the role?” he poked the vocalist in the ribs, successfully making him roll on to the floor with a thud.

Youngjae grumbled some more, the cold floor rousing him from sleep. Zelo’s cheerful attitude bugged him. ‘Doesn’t he mind pretending to be my boyfriend? Or maybe he forgot about it? Nah, not possible…’ the vocalist pondered over it for a minute. Finally he asked:

“Are you okay with this?”

That sentence surprised Zelo, his mouth forming little ‘o’.

“Oh!” he exclaimed at last “You mean, the whole ‘being a couple’ thing? Yeah… I mean, our fans will like it, right? So it’s okay. I actually thought about it so long that I couldn’t sleep all night! You see those?” he pointed at the bags under his eyes “It’s your fault. Makeup noonas are going to have one hell of a job… and they will make ramen out of my hair again!” he pouted and Youngjae couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face.

“You couldn’t sleep because you were thinking of me? Awww! How cute!”

Zelo stuck his tongue out and lightly kicked the singer before running to the kitchen.

“Whatever!” he shouted from the other room “Hurry up or I’m going to eat all the food!”

Youngjae shook his head with a smile and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After an hour the two of them were standing in front of the door to their manager’s office. Youngjae knocked lightly and entered the room, Zelo closely following him.

“Ah, there you are! Come in, come in!” Kang greeted them warmly “Sit down, it’s going to be a long talk”

They sat on a black leather sofa and only then did the chubby man start speaking again.

“First things first, we need to come up with some kind of story. The press will undoubtedly ask how you two stared dating. So, any suggestions?”

Youngjae had a suggestion, many suggestions in fact, ranging from innocent to erted. But he was afraid to speak up. He didn’t want to reveal his true feelings. Their manager would probably get a heart attack and Zelo wouldn’t want to be close to him ever again, scarred for life.

“Maybe during Pacific Tour…?” the youngest proposed shyly. Their manager hummed thoughtfully, urging Zelo to continue “Then, um… Youngjae suddenly, uh… proposed…?” the boy was red with embarrassment. The vocalist really liked the way Zelo was biting his lower lip, cheeks decorated with a blush. He wanted to taste those lips so badly…

“And how did he propose?” asked Kang.

“I kissed him” Youngjae wanted to kick himself for spewing things like that out of the blue. He thought of correcting himself but their manager clapped his hands and shouted “Perfect!” so there was no way out of it. Zelo’s cheeks were now as red as those cherry tomatoes he so adores.

“I just thought of something. How about you two record a song together? As a sub unit called… YoungLo, no, JaeLo! Yes, it’s a good name. I will talk to the CEO and start necessary preparations. You may go. And Youngjae…” he added at the end when the boys were getting up from the couch “Junhong needs to study, see to it that he does” Zelo groaned which made the other two people in the room smile.

They bid Kang goodbye and left the office. Just when they were outside the door the maknae said:

“I thought it was supposed to be a long talk…”

Both of them laughed merrily. Youngjae wrapped his arm around Zelo’s waist and they walked like that to the elevator.

By the time they came back to the dorms every band member had already woken up and left, following their daily schedules. Today Zelo had time to catch up on his studies and Youngjae were to keep an eye on him for 3 hours, until he had to attend vocal lessons. Then another member will come and help the maknae study. Junhong was spoiled like that. He is their precious maknae and they all do their best to help him pass his exams.

The young rapper brought his books to the kitchen and sat at the table. Youngjae made tea and took some cookies from the cupboard. He set the plate on the table and took a seat next to the boy.

“I can’t eat sweets, hyung… I’m on a diet…” even though Zelo said that, his eyes were glued to the plate with treats.

“Who said they are for you?” the vocalist smirked, eating one cookie. Junhong pouted and turned his attention to his books.

The older boy was looking at the maknae with a smile. After a moment he grabbed one cookie noticing that the younger kept glancing at him from the corner of his eye. He was about to put the treat into his mouth when suddenly he changed his mind.

“Junhong-yah…” Zelo turned his head towards the boy calling him. Youngjae put the cookie just in front of the dancer’s lips. “Say ‘ah’…”

Junhong blushed. The singer poked his lips with the cookie and the maknae reluctantly opened his mouth, his cheeks getting redder every second. Youngjae smirked. Zelo immediately turned his head away, munching on the treat silently.

“And there went your diet”

“Shut up, hyung…” the vocalist only laughed.

They were so immersed in solving mathematical problems that almost 3 hours have passed without them noticing.

“I need to get going soon” said Youngjae, grabbing the last cookie. Zelo looked at him with a pout “What?”

“I wanted to eat that one…”

The older blinked owlishly, half of the cookie sticking from his mouth. Then an idea struck him. He leaned in, dangerously close to Junhong’s lips. A little ‘eeep!’ left the maknae’s mouth and the vocalist took advantage of it. He pushed one half of the cookie in Zelo’s mouth while still biting the other half. Their lips were only two millimetres apart.

Youngjae admired the sight before him: the rapper’s eyes were wide open in surprise, a prominent blush adorning his cheeks. His long eyelashes made his eyes seem bigger, more innocent. Trembling lips looked so inviting, making the other boy crazy with desire. The vocalist could even hear the other’s rapid heartbeat, that’s how close they were. He wasn’t going to lie, it turned him on.

When Youngjae was about to close the gap between their lips, the sound of the front door opening could be heard. Zelo quickly backed away, blushing even more. The vocalist wanted to strangle the person who dared to interrupt the happiest moment in his life.

After a while Daehyun appeared in the kitchen’s entrance. He seemed surprised.

“You haven’t left yet? Don’t you have vocal lessons today?” he asked and Youngjae panicked. He completely forgot!

He ran out of the dorm, barely avoiding crashing into a wall on his way out and stumbling over his feet.

He couldn’t concentrate at all, thinking only about Zelo and how good it felt, being close to him, making him blush… Damn, he really wanted to kiss him, now more than ever.

It was almost 10 p.m. when Youngjae got back to the dorm. He went straight to the kitchen. The first thing he saw was Zelo sitting at the table, supporting his head on his palms. There were books and various papers scattered everywhere in front of him.

“Hello Junhong” he greeted but got no reply. He furrowed his brows in confusion. Was Zelo angry with him for that cookie incident? Youngjae was ready to apologise to the maknae, when he heard a light snore. He walked closer to the boy and saw that he was sleeping soundly. The vocalist’s heart started beating faster at the cute sight. Not being able to resist the temptation, Youngjae kissed the other on the cheek.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat behind him. Youngjae turned his head towards the sound and saw Daehyun with a blanket in his hands, an annoyed expression on his face.

“You will wake him up” Daehyun whispered angrily. He walked towards the sleeping boy soundlessly and wrapped the blanket around him, hugging him in the process. Youngjae got a sudden urge to punch the other vocalist. Daehyun sensed his irritation and with a smirk hugged the maknae tighter, leaning his cheek on top of Zelo’s head “I won’t let you have him… He. Is. Mine.”

Next chapter will probably be around New Year's. I know it's a long time but I will be able to work on chapter 3 after I finish writing a Mirai Nikki fanfiction for my friend (and I want to finish it before Christmas).

If you see any grammar mistakes feel free to correct me.