Daehyun eventually found Youngjae in one of the smaller rooms upstairs, where he was staring at the wall, some random papers with what looked like lyrics on the table in front of him. He hesitated, lingering in the doorway. What if Youngjae didn’t want to talk to him? Or if it turned out he actually didn’t care at all? He wasn’t sure what was worse, to be honest, but he didn’t have time to contemplate it for much longer, because Youngjae soon spotted him, a frown appearing on his face when he did.

“What?” he asked, tone curt.

Daehyun chewed on his lip nervously as he stepped inside. That wasn’t exactly a great start, but that was okay. At least he hadn’t ignored him or told him to get lost, so it could be worse, right?

“I was hoping we could talk,” he said softly. “About… about earlier.”

Youngjae rolled his eyes and pulled the sheets closer to him, pretending to focus on them instead. “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. You’re with Himchan, no surprises there. After the way you two have been acting recently I expected it to come out much sooner.” He looked up at Daehyun and raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be with him instead?”

Daehyun shook his head and sat down across from the other, wanting nothing more than to reach out and grab Youngjae’s hands, but knowing that was not a good idea. Not that he was the best judge of that, he had to admit.

“I don’t like Himchan,” he finally said. “I… It’s stupid.” He laughed awkwardly and scratched his head, Youngjae not looking the least bit amused. It suddenly hit him how stupid the plan had really been. Or, well, he actually still thought it had been rather brilliant, but something had gone wrong along the way and things had gone too far.

“Himchan and I… we made a deal,” he started to explain slowly when it became clear that Youngjae wasn’t going to say anything. “We both liked someone but thought those people didn’t like us, or at least didn’t want to admit it. So we decided to see if we could make them jealous enough to make them change their minds.”

“You’re right, that is stupid,” Youngjae said flatly. “Normal people would talk to their crush instead.”

“You were avoiding me!” Daehyun replied indignantly. “You barely noticed me because you were too busy with Zelo and, for a while, you’d get annoyed with me over everything I did. How could I talk to you? You even said I wasn’t your best friend, and then later on you said I was, so excuse me for not knowing what to do.”

Youngjae blinked repeatedly, surprise clear on his face. Daehyun was about ready to tear his hair out when it hit him what he had just admitted. Out of all the ways he had imagined confessing to the other boy, that had not been one of them. Literally everything about it was wrong, but it wasn’t as though he could take it back now.

“You… like me?” Youngjae asked softly, a light blush dusting his cheeks. It made Daehyun smile to himself, but shook himself when he remembered he shouldn’t be admiring the other’s adorable face right now, no matter how tempting it was. He nodded.

“I do… I have for a while, actually.” He chuckled sheepishly. “I guess I didn’t handle it very well.”

Youngjae bit his lip and looked up at Daehyun from under his lashes. “I like you too,” he admitted. “A lot.”

Now it was Daehyun’s turn to be surprised. “Then why did you act like you didn’t?” he asked once he got over the initial shock. Because weren’t people generally nicer to someone when they had feelings for them? Clingier? Or was that just him?

“Because it’s not that easy,” Youngjae sighed. “Look, before I met you, I thought I was completely straight. Then you came along and ruined all that, with your stupid perfect face and your voice and how you just wouldn’t leave me alone. I was confused, I needed time to figure out what I even felt for you. And I couldn’t do that if I was constantly around you.”

“You didn’t have any problems being close to Zelo, though,” Daehyun pointed out before he could stop himself.

Youngjae looked at him incredulously. “Yes, because I don’t like him that way. We’re friends. Besides, it was apparently okay for you to cuddle up to Himchan. Why would you want me when you can have him?” He sighed impatiently when he saw Daehyun didn’t understand what he meant. “He’s more attractive than I am, older, more experienced. Get it yet?”

Daehyun shook his head and this time he did take one of Youngjae’s hands in his own, momentarily appreciating the softness of it. “Sure, Himchan is good-looking, but I’ve always found you more attractive than him,” he assured the other. “You’re really beautiful, Youngjae, and I don’t care if you’re experienced or not or whatever. I love you exactly because you’re you.”

Youngjae almost smiled, but a frown pushed it away. “You still kissed him, though.”

“That was…” Daehyun sighed deeply and squeezed Youngjae’s hand, happy the other hadn’t pulled away from his touch. “Himchan is in love with Yongguk. And I’m sure Yongguk feels the same way about him, but he keeps getting close to him and then avoiding him. I just…” He shrugged. “I guess I’d had enough and thought it’d make him actually talk to Himchan for once.”

“So you kissed Himchan because Yongguk was hurting him?” Youngjae asked carefully. When Daehyun nodded, he bit his lip. “And that was the only time you two ever kissed?”

Daehyun started to nod again, but stopped himself when he remembered what had happened not too long ago. “Technically, yes, but we once came close…” He looked at Youngjae pleadingly. “We didn’t want to, though, I swear. I think we were just around each other too often.”

Youngjae smiled sadly and scooted his chair backwards, their hands separating. “Sure. Most people wouldn’t help their friend out by kissing them, though. You could’ve even just pretended instead.” He looked into Daehyun’s eyes seriously. “But you cared too much about Himchan’s feelings to even consider that, didn’t you?”

Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What exactly was Youngjae getting at here?

The other got up and walked around the table, stopping next to Daehyun’s chair and looking down at him. “I do believe you,” Youngjae said sincerely. “About caring about me. And I know I’ve been a jerk lately, but it seemed easier to make sure you didn’t suspect anything than to be rejected. So I suppose we were both idiots, huh?”

He placed his hand on Daehyun’s cheek, the other closing his eyes and leaning into the touch. “But you’re right, you have been around Himchan too much,” Youngjae continued softly. “And I think you may feel a bit more than friendship for him, even if you don’t realise it yourself.”

Daehyun started to protest, but Youngjae stopped him by putting a finger to his lips. “It’s fine, really. Well, it’s not, but it happens.” The younger took a deep breath and forced a smile on his face. “You need to figure out what you feel for him. Maybe it’s just a crush from being around each other so much and going through the same thing together. Maybe you’ve just become really, really close friends, I don’t know.”

“But I don’t think I feel anything for him,” Daehyun finally managed to say, standing up as well. They had finally confessed and Youngjae was still trying to stop them from being together?

“And maybe you don’t,” Youngjae replied. “But find out and come back to me once you do. I’ll wait for you until then.”

Daehyun’s eyes closed again when Youngjae came closer and kissed him sweetly, Daehyun feeling elated at finally feeling those lips against his own, his hands gripping at Youngjae’s hair tenderly. When he tried to deepen the kiss, he suddenly thought of Himchan and realised with a pang that Youngjae was right. Whatever was going on there needed to be resolved first.

They parted slowly, looking into each other’s eyes for a while before Youngjae smiled and stepped back. “You know where to find me.”

And then he was gone.

Himchan had tried to find Yongguk after he left the studio, but the other was nowhere to be found. He had asked around but no one seemed to have seen him, and ringing his phone had no use because every call he made went unanswered. Eventually he had returned to the dorm, where only Jongup was waiting for him. The younger had assured him everything would be fine, and reminded him that Yongguk wasn’t one to hold a grudge for long.

He had left after a while, telling Himchan he was going to look for Junhong, because the poor maknae still had no clue what was going on and right now all he knew was that people were angry. He never was too fond of fights. Himchan had only nodded, feeling only worse at the thought that he should really explain the entire situation to the two youngest. After all, Jongup still didn’t know about Daehyun and Youngjae and Junhong… well, he knew nothing at all, except that everyone seemed to have gone insane.

There was one thing Jongup didn’t seem to know, though, and it was something that had been haunting him for the past few hours. Yes, Daehyun had kissed him, for reasons Himchan honestly didn’t understand, but he had also kissed him back. Briefly, but he had. After the kiss had ended, he hadn’t been able to tell if he was angry with Daehyun for initiating it in the first place, himself for responding, or Yongguk for refusing to even talk about it.

He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache come up. Fantastic, that’d certainly improve his mood. He perked up when the door opened, freezing when Daehyun stepped inside. Daehyun wasn’t doing much better, avoiding looking at him as he toed off his shoes.

“I take it you talked to Youngjae,” Himchan said, trying to sound as normal as possible when the silence became unbearable.

Daehyun nodded. “He likes me too.”

Himchan was about to congratulate him, but Daehyun’s tone didn’t really fit in with his words. Wasn’t he supposed to be happy? He wondered what else could have happened and dreaded hearing about it, but as his friend, he knew he should listen. After all, Daehyun had listened to him whenever he had needed to rant about Yongguk.

Daehyun sighed and sat down on the settee, where he placed his head in his hands. Himchan sat down beside him cautiously, rubbing the other’s back in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

“He thinks there’s something going on between us,” Daehyun finally blurted out. “Like… I don’t know. That I have a crush on you or something. And he wants me to figure that out first.”

Himchan let out a frustrated groan and rubbed his hands over his face. “Jesus, Daehyun, all this because you decided to kiss me.” He glared over at the other. “I still don’t know why you did that, by the way.”

“Because I wanted to get a reaction out of Yongguk,” Daehyun replied in a small voice. Then he straightened up and glared back. “You kissed back, though, so don’t put all the blame on me. Yeah, you tried to push me away at first, but you gave in at the end.”

“I don’t know why I did that either,” Himchan mumbled. “This is such a mess… Yongguk might never talk to us again, Youngjae thinks you have a thing for me, and I don’t even want to know what the other two are thinking.”

He had known this would end badly, but he hadn’t expected things to go wrong to the point they had. And, ironically, it seemed like Youngjae had become the calm one, while Yongguk was completely overreacting (although Himchan knew he would’ve probably reacted a lot worse if their roles had been reversed).

“What do you think we should do?” Daehyun asked. “Because Youngjae may be right…” He stopped and then hastily added: “I mean, I don’t think I’m in love with you or anything, but a crush is possible. We did nearly kiss before, when no one was around, so who knows.” He looked at Himchan curiously. “Have you ever thought of me in a romantic way?”

Himchan promptly remembered the shower moment and felt his ears turn red. It wasn’t exactly romantic, but it definitely wasn’t friendly.

Daehyun noticed his reaction and raised his eyebrows, looking vaguely amused. “You know what, I don’t need the details, but good to know.”

“How would we even figure it out, though?” Himchan asked quickly, hoping to divert the topic. “Because of course I care about you, you’re my friend, but it’s not the same as with Yongguk.”

“I don’t know,” Daehyun answered, feeling frustrated. “I tried telling Youngjae the same thing, but he wanted me to be sure. Whatever that even means.” Daehyun looked over at Himchan thoughtfully. “Maybe we should kiss again?”

Himchan rolled his eyes. “Yes, because that worked out so well last time.”

“I’m serious!” Daehyun insisted. “Aren’t you supposed to feel something when you kiss someone you like, or love? So if we kiss again, properly this time, with no distractions, we can figure it out. Because I definitely felt something when Youngjae kissed me earlier.”

“Wha- Youngjae kissed you?!” Himchan spluttered. That hardly seemed fair, since barely anything had even happened between them the past few weeks, while Yongguk and he had had multiple moments that could’ve led to more, but they still hadn’t kissed. It was hard to actually be annoyed when Daehyun avoided his eyes with his cheeks flushed and eyes shining. He was happy, and who was he to complain about that? That had been the point of all this, hadn’t it? For at least one of them to end up that way?

“Never mind, let’s just… get this over with,” he said quietly. Daehyun and he stared at each other for a while, unsure how to start and shifting around to get into a more comfortable position. Himchan was pretty sure even his first kiss ever had been less awkward than this, which was saying something.

Eventually he had had enough, and with a mumbled “ it” he tugged Daehyun towards him by his shirt and kissed him full on the lips. Daehyun squeaked in surprise but was soon returning the kiss, one arm wrapping around Himchan’s waist while the hand of the other ended up on the visual’s leg. Himchan wrapped his own arms around Daehyun’s neck and deepened the kiss, their bodies soon up against each other.

It wasn’t until Daehyun at Himchan’s mouth and Himchan on Daehyun’s bottom lip in return that they finally broke apart. “You’re a really good kisser,” Daehyun said, a little breathlessly, his lips swollen and his hair messed up from where Himchan had run his fingers through it.

Himchan grinned, well aware that he didn’t look much different. “Thanks, so are you.” And he was, really. Excellent, one of the better ones he had had, which he hadn’t expected after their terrible beginning. But he wasn’t Yongguk.

“You’re not Youngjae, though,” Daehyun continued softly, looking almost apologetic.

Himchan let out a relieved breath and chuckled. “I was thinking the same thing. Well, about Yongguk, of course.”

Daehyun grinned. “Good. So… We’re okay?” He smiled when Himchan nodded. “Then now all we have to do is let them know.”

Ah, of course. Himchan’s mood deflated at the thought. Easier said than done, considering how Yongguk had become so skilled at avoiding him. He shuddered at the thought of what the other would say or do if he knew Daehyun and he had kissed again. Daehyun seemed to have realised this too, because he gave him a worried look.

Himchan forced a smile and shook his head to show him it was fine. He just wished Yongguk would turn back into himself and be willing to listen to him, and then he’d know, one way or another. Well, so he hoped. Because he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.

A/N: Whoa, I didn't realise I'd get such a reaction to the last chapter. O__O But thank you for the comments, the upvotes and the new subscribers. :) I hadn't planned on updating again so quickly, but I had some time and I didn't want to make you guys wait too long after the last chapter.

So erm... yes. Let me know what you think. :)