Kai frowned as he watched his brother working with Hyuk. The pair looked so….close. It made him jealous. Sure, he knew that Chen loved him, but since training had started the older werewolf had been spending more and more time with Hyuk. At first, Kai decided that was just because Hyuk needed so much training, but then Heesun had commented on how Hyuk was actually even stronger than him. Well if that was true, then Chan shouldn’t have to spend so much time with Hyuk.

“You alright?” Hongbin asked, dropping down beside Kai.

“You’re a fae,” Kai rolled his eyes, “shouldn’t you know the answer to that already?”

“I like hearing it from people,” Hongbin replied, frowning slightly, “knowing what they’re feeling it kind of weird at times. I mean, I just know that you’re upset, but it feels weird knowing that without asking. It feels like I’m betraying some kind of trust.”

“Luhan hyung used to complain about that,” Kai said, “you’ll get used to it.”

“Maybe,” Hongbin then returned the conversation to why he had started it in the first place, “do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“That,” Kai nodded in the direction of Chen and Hyuk on the other side of the ceremony grounds, training in hand-to-hand combat.

“Oh,” Hongbin nodded in understanding.

He knew exactly how Kai felt. Hyuk hadn’t been spending much time with him lately and when they did get to spend time together, Hyuk was always going on and on about how amazing Chen was. It made him feel…….a lot of things. Hurt, inadequate, a bit worthless. At least twice, he’d come close to yelling at Hyuk, but then he felt Hyuk’s emotions and knew that the younger didn’t mean to hurt him. So he kept his mouth shut a suffered silently.

“What do I do?” Kai asked even though he knew that Hongbin didn’t have an answer for him.

He couldn’t go on as he was, silently suffering as he watched his brother bond with someone who wasn’t him. But he also couldn’t tell Chen how he felt. Either it would make Chen feel bad, or the older would get upset and call him spoiled or something. He really wanted to avoid both of those things. He didn’t want to upset his beloved big brother.

Hongbin was thinking similar thoughts. He hated seeing Hyuk upset and telling the younger how he felt would do exactly that; make Hyuk upset.

--

“Hyung,” Hyuk called, taking a seat beside Tao, “what’s wrong with Hongbin hyung?”

“What are you talking about?” Tao frowned slightly.

“He seems upset,” Hyuk explained, “I asked Ravi hyung and the others, but they said they didn’t know. But I think that you’re lying. I was hoping that you might know.”

“Do you want me to talk to Hongbin?” Tao questioned, “Or the others?”

“Hongbin hyung,” Hyuk explained, “maybe he’ll tell you what’s wrong. And you’re, like, a vampire lie detector, so you’d know if he was lying.”

“Alright,” Tao nodded, “but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I have to get to the ceremony grounds to do some training with Taeyang.”

“Let me know as soon as you find out anything,” Hyuk smiled brightly, “thank you, hyung.”

--

“Hongbin,” Sori called, stopping the fae as he walked away, “N asked me to talk to you.”

“Huh?” Hongbin blinked in confusion, “why would N hyung do that?”

“He’s worried about you,” she shrugged, “he said that you’ve felt….troubled.”

“Hyung’s using his fae blood?” Hongbin said, trying to change the topic, “that’s great!”

“He wants to know what’s wrong,” Sori frowned slightly, “and so do I. I don’t like to see my friends in pain. I don’t need to be a fae to know that you’re hurting.”

“Hyukkie doesn’t need me anymore,” Hongbin sighed, “he spends most of his time with Chen. And when we get to hang out, he talks about how awesome Chen is, how powerful Chen is, how great a hyung Chen is.”

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t need you,” Sori explained, “he idolizes Chen, but you’re his brother.”

“But aren’t related by blood!” Hongbin snapped, “He didn’t tell me that he was a werewolf for years. How can we be that close if he didn’t tell me something as important as that? If he thought I would stop loving him for that?”

“That only shows how much he loves you,” she told him, “he loves you so much that he couldn’t bear to lose you. He couldn’t tell you something so important because he was so terrified that you would be scared of him that you would leave him.”

“I just,” he sighed sadly, “I want to go back to how things were before all of this. I want him to sit with me and talk about things we could do together. I want him to spend time with me like he used to.”

“Then tell him that,” she rolled her eyes, “I’m sure Hyuk will want to do those things, too.”

“But he’ll feel hurt if he knows that he’s accidently made me feel like this,” he frowned, “he’ll feel awful, like he’s done something wrong.”

“He’ll feel worse if you don’t tell him,” was all Sori said before starting to walk away.

“Sori?” Hongbin called as she started to walk away, “maybe you should talk to Kai about this. He’s been feeling the same way with Chen spending so much time with Hyuk.”

“What makes you think I haven’t already done that?” she called back, “Got to say, Kai’s a harder sell than you.”

“Noona?” Tao asked, crossing paths with Sori a few minutes later, “have you seen Hongbin?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “why?”

“Did he seem upset to you?” Tao frowned, “Hyuk said he seemed upset and asked me to talk to him.”

“I talked to him,” Sori explained, “and I think that I fixed things.”

“Really?” Tao asked, smiling when she nodded, “good.”

--

“Hyung,” Hyuk smiled later that night when he found Hongbin standing at his door, “hi! What brings you by?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” Hongbin explained, “can I come in?” Hyuk moved to the side, letting Hongbin through the door, before leading the older to his bedroom.

“Is everything alright?” Hyuk asked once the pair were sitting cross legged on the bed facing each other, “you’ve seemed really upset lately.”

“I’ve been jealous,” Hongbin admitted, looking down at his hands, “of how much time you spend with Chen.”

“Huh?” Hyuk blinked, clearly surprised, “what are you talking about?”

“You two seemed so close,” Hongbin said, “that I felt left out. I felt like you didn’t need me anymore.”

“That’s crazy, hyung,” Hyuk said, pulling the older in for a hug, “you’re my big brother, I’m always going to need you.”

“I know,” Hongbin smiled slightly, wrapping his own arms around Hyuk, “I was just being silly.”

“You should have told me,” Hyuk frowned slightly, “I know that’s kind of rich coming from me, but I was worried, hyung. I thought that something was really wrong.”

“I’m sorry I worried you,” Hongbin ruffled Hyuk’s hair, “but you’re right, that is rich coming from you.”

“Sorry,” Hyuk said, looking down in shame, “I should have trusted you back then. I should have told you what I was, but I was just so scared. Every time I started to tell you, this voice in the back of my mind told me to shut up, that you’d hate me and I’d be all alone. I didn’t want to be alone, hyung.”

“I know,” Hongbin said, tightening their hug, “I know. You’re always going to have me, Hyukkie. I promise.”

“Love you, hyung,” Hyuk smiled.

“Love you too, brother,” Hongbin returned the smile.

A/N: don’t you just love the bond Hyuk and Hongbin have? Makes me hope that they really are that close behind closed doors and that they aren’t faking it for the cameras.