Hey. Sorry for the lateness, once again ;A; But I'm out of school now, so I should be okay. ^^ Once again, welcome subscribers! ( ^^ )/ And pleaaaaaaaaaase leave comments... they make me super happy... I feel bad when you don't, like I wrote a bad chapter or something :U ANYwhoo, please enjoy the chapter :'3

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Seungyoon’s POV

I can’t even remember how much time has passed. We’ve just gotten so busy, and now it’s almost hectic. The YG Family Tour is coming up, so rehearsals will be starting soon. I’m just very stressed out; performances, touring, photo shoots, and interviews here, there, and everywhere else. We’re being pulled in so many directions and it’s so much hard work. It’s rewarding just to see the smiles on the fans’ faces, but damn, is it difficult.

I’ve become less like my usual self and more like my leader self—I have to be. Things are getting even more serious than before. The noonas have it even worse than we do since they perform more on their tour and had promotions in between concerts. Everyone’s just got their game face on, which can cause a bit of strain. Minho’s more grouchy than usual, and Seunghoon is silent most days. Jinwoo does his best to cheer us up, but I know he’s tired, too. I guess no one is themselves these days, really.

Taehyun’s gotten concerned about me, I can tell. I’ve started staying up late again, mostly trying to improve my performance even more or worrying about the next schedule we have. He tries to calm me down, but I push him away; I know it’s not fair to him, but it’s just in my nature to be worried.

Tonight, I’m up late again. I’m sitting in the desk chair with my head in my hands, my mind a nervous wreck. I can’t sleep lately either, which only worsens my mood during the day. I told Taehyun to go to bed and leave me be long ago, but he’s defiantly doing the opposite. He sits up in bed staring at me, arms crossed and expression a mix between annoyance and sadness. I turned away a while ago so I didn’t have to look at him looking at me like that.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Seungyoon-ah,” he says, waiting for a reply. It takes me a moment, but I acknowledge him with a grunt. He sighs. “Please come to bed.” I can’t help it; I don’t want to be up late like this, but stress turns me into an insomniac.

I don’t answer. There are a few more moments of silence before I hear the covers rustling and footsteps coming toward me. I make no move to acknowledge him. He just stands behind me for a moment before he wraps his arms around my shoulders and leans his head on mine. I’m held for a few moments before I remove his arms from around me. He sighs again, and this time it sounds sadder.

“Kang Seungyoon, will you please look at me?”

Grudgingly, I turn in my seat to look at him. I immediately wish I hadn’t. I hate that look on his face, especially knowing that I put it there.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“Because I don’t want to talk to anyone. I just want to be left alone.”

Taehyun crosses his arms. “I don’t want to leave you alone. I’m getting worried!”

I shake my head and start to turn back around. He simply moves the chair around so I have to face him. “Don’t turn your back on me! I’m serious!”

“Taehyun, it’s fine. Really. It’s just something I go through when I’m stressed—“

“It is not fine,” he interrupts, his voice low. “You’re not getting enough sleep, you’re tired all day, you’ve been eating less, you’ve lost weight—“

“And no one else has? Am I the only one stressed?” I run a hand through my hair, frustrated. “No, I’m not. Go to sleep, Taehyun.”

“Will you let me just worry about you??”

“No! I don’t need to be worried over!” I raise my voice because I’m already tired of talking about this. “Can you just—“

“Damn it, Seungyoon! You are so insensitive! What are you saying, you don’t need to be worried over?” He bends forward so we’re eye level, so I can see how his eyes water as he speaks. “You will never know how I felt when I had to see you laying in a hospital bed with strange machines all around you, silent and unmoving.” A pang of guilt went through me then—I tried not to think about what he felt like during that time, because I know how I would be and I never want to put him through something like that. “I do not want a repeat, Seungyoon-ah.” He kneels down to the floor and places his arms and head on my lap. “I just care about you. Is that so wrong?”

I lean back in the chair and run my hands down my face. “No one’s saying there’s anything wrong with that, Tae. I’m sorry for worrying you and I don’t want to go through that again either; I’m being as careful as I can, but it’s hard.”

“So let me help you.”

I shake my head. “You can’t. This is just how my body deals. I can’t do much about it, and neither can you.” I look back down at him finally, pleading now. “Please, just go to sleep. It makes no sense for the both of us to be sleep-deprived.”

He shakes his head, insistent. “But I don’t want you to be up alone. I don’t want to go to sleep knowing you can’t. I can’t—“

I cut him off and lean down to kiss him on the forehead. “Go,” I say softly, signaling the end of this conversation. He twists up his face and pushes away from me, stalking to the bed and climbing in, facing away from me. I sigh; I’ve hurt him again. I’m just trying to keep him from getting in with me. Is that so wrong…?

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My mood isn’t any better when we’re going through rehearsals the next day. They went badly for us, so we stayed behind to practice on our own. I was in full on leader mode, trying to push them to do better. I don’t know what time it is, but I reckon we’re getting into the early morning hours. We’ve been at this all day.

They’re tired. I know they are; I’m tired, too. But we have to get this right. We can’t afford to show a bad performance when we haven’t even debuted yet. Taehyun specifically is having a hard time, and I keep focusing in on him to pick up the pace and do better. That’s not too fun, especially after last night. I honestly don’t know why we’re even having a problem with this; we’ve been doing the same thing for the past two months! In my mind, it seems like nothing is coming together anymore, making me even more stressed and nearly frantic.

“Taehyun!” I call sharply. He’s messing up still, and I’m getting really tired of this. Everyone else is getting frustrated as well, I can tell. We all just want to go back to the hotel and sleep—or at least attempt to, in my case.

He looks up at me, already knowing what the problem is. “I know,” he pants, dropping his head back down so he can stare at the floor.

“Then why do you keep doing it?” I snarl.

Slowly, he raises his head and glares at me. “I’m trying.”

“You must not be. It’s not like this is brand new; we’ve been doing this since forever!” I snap.

“I’m trying as hard as I can!” he yells back.

“Well, you need to try harder! Seriously! Just what the hell is so difficult this time?” I grab fistfuls of my hair as I pace around in circles. “I don’t get it…”

Jinwoo speaks up. “Can we please leave for the day…? We’re tired.”

“NO,” I growl at him. I don’t even know what’s going on anymore; I’m not myself. The frustration and stress has transformed me into someone else. “Goodness, just when did you all get so lazy, huh? You think this is something good to show as a performance? Absolutely not! We stay until we get it right!”

Seunghoon widens his eyes at me. “Yah, you calm down your tone.” He stands in front of Jinwoo protectively.

“I could literally give no more s about your hurt feelings right now. Don’t any of you see my frustration??”

Taehyun looks full of anger right now. “Seungyoon, what the ??”

“You what the , Taehyun! If you would just stop slacking off and freaking get this right, we could all leave and this wouldn’t be a problem!”

“Excuse me?!” His mouth drops open in shock and his eyes narrow in rage. He opens his mouth as if he has more to say, but decides against it. Instead, he just turns away, facing the mirrored wall.

“Again,” I say, starting the music. He still makes mistakes the first few times we run it again, making me even angrier. Finally, he gets it right.

He bows sarcastically. “Happy?” he snips.

“Yes.” I look towards the others. “We can leave now. Honestly. What the hell is so difficult about this today…?”

They all get up and start to take their things so we can leave. No one looks at me, and I don’t think anything of it. But then, as I start to cool off a little, I realize I may have been a little harsh. I sigh, vowing to apologize and make it up to them later. Taehyun’s on the other side of the room gathering up his bag, and I start to make my way toward him. He turns around and starts walking my direction, not looking at me and brushing past me without a word.

“Tae—“ I say, grabbing his elbow.

He jerks his arm away from me, turning to throw me a nasty look. “Don’t touch me.”

He walks away and leaves the rehearsal room, leaving me standing there. I crouch down and pull at my hair, growling at myself. I’m such an …! This stress is ruining me! I’ve pissed off my members; not only that, but I’ve hurt my boyfriend as well. What am I going to do with myself…?

After I don’t know how much time, I finally stand up and grab my bag so I can leave. When I make it to our hotel room, Taehyun is sleeping in the other bed. I wince. Well, that’s a statement…

I set my bag down carefully so I don’t wake him and walk over to the desk chair. I sit and put my head down onto the desk in the dark silence. I need to find a better way to deal with this stress; it’s coming out in unhealthy ways to my body and damaging ways to my friends. I spend the whole night pondering what I can do before I eventually drift off to an uncomfortable and fitful sleep.

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I wake up tired with neck and back pain from the awkward way I slept. I look around to see that Taehyun is already gone. I groan; this is not going to be easy to get out of. I quickly dress myself and head down to the lobby where everyone is waiting for me. Minho and Taehyun don’t even look at me as they stalk out to the van; Seunghoon walks toward me as Jinwoo gives me a small smile—bless him.

We pile into the van, and Seunghoon sits with me in the back. His face is scrunched up in slight worry as he looks at me. I give him a pitiful look before I open my mouth to speak.

“I’m so sorry about last night,” I whisper. I lean forward and shake Jinwoo’s shoulder. “Jinwoo-yah. I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I wasn’t—“

“It’s okay, Seungyoon-ah,” he whispers back gently. “I know you didn’t mean it… even though it still kinda hurt that you were so harsh with us.”

“I know, I know. I don’t know what got into me.” I sigh as I lean back.

Seunghoon looks at me. “Are you okay, Seungyoon?”

I rub my eyes tiredly. “No… not at all. I’m tired and getting so stressed about everything… the stress just comes out of nowhere and hits me like a tank. Then it prevents me from sleeping, making my mood worsen. And then this time, I became like a completely different person. I’m sorry, guys. I guess the stress about the performance today made me freak out and panic over little mistakes in rehearsals last night, making me blow up. It’s no excuse, but…”

“We know it’s not your fault…” Seunghoon glances towards Taehyun. “But you did say some mean things to maknae. And to have that come from you, of all people, must have irritated and hurt him to no end.”

“I know…” I groan mournfully. “I don’t know how I can fix this.”

Jinwoo was about to answer when the van stopped, signaling that we had arrived at our destination. Then he turned to me and shrugged sadly. “I don’t know. You know him best. Just do everything you can do to show him you didn’t mean it and that you’re sorry.” I nod and we all get out. I rub my temples as we walk into the venue, a serious migraine on its way. Now we have to perform with y group dynamics. This is gonna be a long day.

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I was right. The performance was no good. Well, I shouldn’t say that—we were pretty professional and got everything right, not letting on to the crowd that anything was amiss. We were all our happy, smiling selves for them. I just meant it was no good for me because I knew how we really felt inside; but on the outside, we were all good.

When we got back in the van, however, it was a different story. Seunghoon and Jinwoo were chatting with me quietly in the back, but Minho and Taehyun were far up and away from us. Taehyun wasn’t speaking to anyone, though. All day, he ignored not only me, but everyone. Even now, he was ignoring Minho’s attempts at talking. This isn’t right…

When we got out, we started heading inside to our rooms. Before we got on the elevator, I caught Minho’s arm and pulled him aside. He jerked roughly away from me and frowned. I sighed, asking, “Can I please talk to you?” He looked like he didn’t want to hear anything I had to say, but he just sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“Minho, I’m really sorry for snapping at you guys last night. I didn’t mean a word!”

“Hmph,” he grunted, looking to the side now.

“Please believe me, hyung. You know I’m not a mean guy.” I fidget with the gloves on my hands. “Please… It was just the stress and frustration talking, not me. I know it’s no excuse, but I’ve just been feeling a lot lately and it’s been weighing heavily on me.”

He looks at me finally. “Well, why can’t you say that? Why can’t you just tell us that?”

I look down. “I don’t want to burden you guys… I’m the—“

“Oh my gosh, if I have to hear you say ‘because I’m the leader’ one more ing time…” he groans. “Stop that. We already told you. We’re your members; it’s okay to lean on us, too.”

“But—“

“Just let us be there for you. Don’t shut us out and snap on us—we care about you just as much as you care about us. Please see that.” He’s looking at me earnestly, and I know he speaks the truth.

“I know…”

“Do you really?” he asks softly. “It’s selfish of you to just decide to handle it on your own; you’ve already proven you can’t.” He grimaces, and I know what he’s thinking about, making me feel guilty all over again. He quickly shakes the thought out of his head and continues. “Asking for help doesn’t make you a bad leader, Seungyoon. It actually makes you a good one, showing that you know you’re not invincible. Because if you just keep things to yourself like this, who knows how you’ll break down next, and then where will we be?”

I bite my lip as I feel my eyes sting. I don’t want to cry. But I just feel like the most awful person on the planet. Minho sees this and hugs me tightly; I squeeze him back as tight as I can.

“Listen…” he says softly. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and maknae, but you two haven’t been looking well. I’m guessing he’s even more worried about you than the rest of us.” He pulls away and looks at me, hands on my shoulders. “That’s the last person you want to push away, Seungyoon-ah. He’s your partner in life as well as your friend; just let him be there for you. You would do the same for him, right…?”

“Of course,” I reply firmly.

“Good.” He pats my back. “Seungyoon-ah, we love you and all, but stop trying to be the “perfect leader.” You can’t be everyone’s white knight and expect us to not to want to do the same for you; let someone be yours, for once.”

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I get up to our room a few moments after Minho leaves. I really screwed up, and I hope Taehyun forgives me. This time, I made a major of myself.

When I get into the room, Taehyun is finishing up his packing with his headphones in his ears. I decide not to bother him right now and change into my pajamas. Then I set out the next morning’s outfit carefully and start packing away the rest of my own things. When Taehyun is done with his, he gets into bed in the other bed again; I quicken my pace so I can catch him before he goes to sleep. I zip up my suitcase and look over at him again as he takes out his headphones and settles in to sleep. I get up and walk over to him, gently sitting down on the mattress.

“Go away,” he says immediately. Coldly.

“Taehyun, please, I just—“

“No! I said go away!” He clutches his pillow tighter. “I don’t want to talk to you. Good night.” And that was that.

I pinch the bridge of my nose, knowing I’d have my work cut out for me in trying to make up with him. Whatever. I’ve had to fight for him before; this will be no different.

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The next morning, we get up early to fly back to Korea. The atmosphere on the plane is tense; Minho is sitting with me, and of course the hyungs are sitting together, leaving Taehyun sitting alone as he looks out the window, standoffish. When we got up this morning, he ignored me completely once again, and I couldn’t even get a word in edgewise. It’s left me dejected, and I mope next to Minho the whole flight home.

There’s no time to dwell on that dejection though, because once we land, we head straight to a photo shoot. It’s a really weird feeling to sit and have people pull and pluck at you, powdering your face and stuffing you into tight clothes in this bright, bubbly atmosphere. I try to psych myself up and think of my favorite comedy to cheer me up so I can smile appropriately for this clothing line shoot.

I’m up first, so I get my solo shots out of the way. I pose and jump and smile for the camera, making the photographer coo in delight. While I get changed into a different outfit, Jinwoo goes next. Of course, he’s a natural—smiling cheerfully and flashing those big doe eyes at the camera. The solos in the first outfits continue on until the last one, Taehyun, gets up to take his.

I can’t help but stare, although I try not to make it so obvious since there are others around. They’ve styled his hair very dashingly, and no matter what he does, he looks amazing. We’re on location, so the wind is blowing wisps of his styled hair all around, but it only makes him more alluring. He plays around with the set like a pro, and I’m in awe of him for the nth time in I don’t know how many months. He takes his final shot, his eyes bright and his smile dazzling, and he’s breathtaking: simply beautiful.

As he walks away, I hide my face in my hands, embarrassed. This man turns me into a sappy mess whenever I look at him. What kind of spell does he have over me…? I sigh, remembering that that lovely creature is currently pissed at me and I can’t even steal a kiss. The photo shoot director calls me up again for my second set of solos, and I try not to drag my feet as I walk over to the photographer.

Then came the group shoot. It was a little awkward with Taehyun making sure he avoided touching me at any and all points (actually, it was really awkward). But somehow, we managed to please the director with our fresh faces and amazing charm—and yes, we deserve those compliments.

We were high-fiving and getting ready to change out of these clothes when the director stopped us. We turned around and she had this giddy look on her face, making me a little scared. She wasn’t one of those noonas, was she…?

“Um…” she stammered. I put my hands on my hips, waiting. “Ah… Actually, we would like to get some shots of just two of you.” What? That’s so weird… that’s not common in a photo shoot like this.

“Uhhh…” I stutter, taken by surprise. “Okay.”

“Which two of them did you want?” asked our manager. “And are you going to do just one set of two or more?”

“Just the one,” she replied. “Aaaaaaaaand I definitely want Seungyoon-ssi.” I smile and nod, walking over to the area she pointed to. “And for the next one, any of you would be fine. Which do you all think would look good?”

“Meee!” Seunghoon’s hand shoots up and he smiles like a little kid, making the rest of us laugh.

The director turns to me, giggling. “Is this okay?”

I decide to tease. “Well, I would have preferred Jinwoo-hyung…” I say, making Seunghoon stamp his foot.

“Yah!” he whined, making everyone laugh again. Then he hurried over and the director started to tell us what she wanted us to do. She basically said to just play around, so we just stood there and kind of did whatever came naturally. The majority of the photos taken ended up being me on Seunghoon’s back while he spun around, laughing. The director was gleeful and thanked us, and we all said goodbye as we went to get changed and leave. In the van, I look over at Taehyun and his attitude is still sullen and angry, which makes me sad, even though I wasn’t really expecting it to change because of the photo shoot. On the other hand, it did cheer me up to have genuine fun with my members and maybe that will give me the boost I need to try again with him.

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It’s about eleven o’clock at night… time for bed. We’ve both avoided each other long enough; him actually avoiding me and me just trying to stay out of his way. But now, everyone’s going to sleep, and we should, too. It’s been a long day.

I’m curious to see what he’s going to do… is he going to sleep in his room tonight? That would , but I’ll just follow him in there. I can’t stand him mad at me. I walk into my room and start to get undressed and, to my surprise, Taehyun is done watching TV and he walks in to get undressed too. I don’t say anything for now; I think I’ll wait until he’s settled. I sit in the bed and try not to stare at him. My previous guess was wrong, because as soon as he’s changed, he goes back out to watch TV. I hang my head, but get up and follow him anyway.

He’s sitting on the couch when I enter the living room. I sit next to him, and he just rolls his eyes. I sit and just look at him then, willing him to acknowledge me… I guess the tables have turned, huh? He ignores me for a long while before he takes a deep breath and finally graces me with his gaze. I missed it.

I clear my throat a little, nervous. “Can we talk, Taehyunnie?”

He doesn’t move for a moment; then he closes his eyes and sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair. He just looks at the far wall by the door and goes back to ignoring me, shaking his head.

I put my head in my hands, desperate. “Tae, please. I need to talk to you. We can’t go on like this.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” he says quietly. “I am still so unbelievably mad at you and hurt, that I don’t think I can have a rational conversation with you about it, so just drop it.”

“I will not just drop it; you’re upset because of something I did! I want to apologize and make it better—“

“Simply apologizing isn’t going to cut it!” He turns to me again, his eyes fiery. “It is deeper than that. You didn’t just say things and piss me off; you did things that hurt me.” A hand comes up to wipe his eyes as he starts crying. “It was like all those months ago all over again. You were shutting me out and you wouldn’t let me be there for you. Why do you do that…?” He sniffles, and I ache to gather him up in my arms.

I shake my head. “I don’t know… I guess I just feel like a burden to others if I try to let them into my problems.” I look up at him. “I didn’t want to—“

“That is such bull. I’m supposed to be the one that you can lean on. Forget the members for a second; it’s me, Seungyoon. Would you appreciate it if I did that to you?”

“No, I—“

“I feel like you don’t even get it! You still don’t get it! I can’t deal with you right now, leave me alone!” He gets up and turns off the TV.

I’m incredulous. “You won’t even give me a chance to finish a sentence! How can you say I don’t—“

“Because you did it in the first place!!” he turns around and snaps at me.

“Oh my—you just did it again! You’re impossible right now! I am trying to mend things between us right now because I don’t want to hurt you and I hate that I did!” I stop yelling and wait for him to say something; he just stands there and stares at me. I nod. “Okay. I can see you don’t give a because you’re still stuck on you and not on us.”

“What—“

I brush past him into my room and snatch a hoodie off the floor, not caring whose it is. Then I walk past him again and out of the door. I needed to get out of there; I was getting frustrated all over again and would probably say more things I’d regret later. Both of us need to cool down more… and it’s sad.

I head to the studio. It’s become more of a sanctuary than a workplace for me. I climb the familiar steps and sit on the familiar couch, thankful that I was lucky enough to catch it empty tonight. I sit there and think about how I’m going to try again tomorrow. They say that a couple shouldn’t go to bed mad at each other… we’ve already broken that rule.

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Taehyun’s POV

I wake up to a hungry stomach and a cold bed. I’m confused for a second, but remember that Seungyoon and I didn’t part on good terms and he probably slept on the couch or something. I get up to go raid the refrigerator, hoping that Seungyoon wouldn’t wake up for round two of fighting.

I don’t like fighting… but he has to understand that I’m more upset than normal because that’s the second time he’s done this. I’m mad about how he treated us at rehearsals alright, but I’m more upset and hurt that he was being so stubborn about keeping his issues to himself. It cut me deep last time, and it’s cut me deeper this time, especially since we’ve grown so much closer since then. I’d thought he’d understood when we talked about it earlier, and him doing it again made me feel like he didn’t, which is frustrating. I know it was wrong of me to not give him a chance to apologize; I know he wanted to, and I really did want to talk. But it was my issue of the hurt and anger coming back up too quickly and strongly, so I really wasn’t ready yet, which makes me sad because I have to go another night without speaking to him again.

I shake my head and continue on to the kitchen, deciding I was too groggy to think about the situation anymore. I open the refrigerator and am not impressed, so I look around and spot a banana, taking it. As I eat with the kitchen light on, I notice that the couch looks unoccupied. Confused, I move closer and see that he indeed is not there. I look around. He’s not anywhere on the floor either.

I throw my banana peel away and check back in our—I mean his room. He’s not on the floor there. He’s not in my room either. I peek into the hyungs’ rooms and don’t see him there either.

I panic.

It’s too familiar… I tell myself not to overreact because that’s probably not even what’s going on, but I can’t help it. It was a traumatizing event, and I’ll be damned if I brush off his absence again if there’s even the slightest chance he might not be okay…

I check the clock. It’s three in the morning… he’d definitely be back by now if he was coming. I know he’s at the studio—or somewhere in the YG building (*shudder*)—because that’s where he always goes. He’s probably just sleeping there and I’m overreacting… but I’m going.

I grab my jacket and head out in my flip flops, not caring how annoying it was to run in those things as I did just that. I ran all the way to the building and all the way up the stairs; those long sessions on the treadmill did me some good, I suppose. I make it to the studio and bust open the door, my eyes scanning the room for my boyfriend.

I see him sleeping peacefully on the couch, and I nearly cry out of relief. I knew he was okay… I freaked out for nothing. I bend over, panting from my run. I contemplate just turning around and going back home like I didn’t see him here, and decide that I will. But as I’m shutting the door behind me, I take one last look at him. Then I change my mind, deciding that he’s coming home with me.

I walk over to him as quietly as I can in flip flops, kneeling down next to him. His lips are parted slightly and I can hear him breathe deeply in his sleep. I reach up and his hair, my eyes tearing up as I close my eyes and lean my forehead on his. I miss him… it’s only been two days that we’ve haven’t been on speaking terms, but I miss him already. I’m tired, I want to go home, and I want us to be okay again… I think I’m ready now.

I stand back up and lean over him as I gently shake him, whispering his name. He barely stirs, merely frowning and turning over on the couch. I sigh, shaking him. “Seungyoonie, wake up,” I murmur, shaking him more.

He just mumbles in his sleep. “Go away…”

I sigh and look over at the table… he’s made a mess with snacks he must have bought from a vending machine. I shake my head and turn back to him, lightly smacking him on his shoulder to wake him, and he becomes a bit more lucid, but still half-asleep. I move away to clean the table.

“Wha…?” he says, his voice thick with sleep.

“Seungyoonie, you can’t sleep here. You’ll mess up your neck and your back,” I reply gently, still picking up the mess.

I hear him turn back into the couch, and his voice is muffled by the leather. “Go away. Stop bothering me. Why can’t you leave me alone…?”

I head to the garbage bin with the trash. “Because I care about you and don’t want to hear you whining about your neck later.”

“Shut up.” His voice is almost a whisper now. “ off with that.”

“Honey…!” I chide, laughing at him despite the mean things he’s saying. I’m not offended by this; he did the same thing to me once before when I tried to wake him when he didn’t want to be awoken. He doesn’t mean any of it and won’t remember when he wakes up fully.

I walk back over to him and start lifting him up. “Come on. We’re going home now.” He just mumbles angrily in his half-sleep, not saying anything intelligible. I manage to get him on my back so I can just piggyback him home since he won’t cooperate. I hike him up a little higher so I get a better hold on his legs, and he reluctantly wraps his arms around me to hang on. I turn off the light and start walking back home, Seungyoon mumbling about how cold and annoyed he was the whole way. I just hummed, not paying him much attention.

We get back to the dorm and I kick off my flip flops, padding into his room. I carefully lay him down on the bed and take off his shoes. Then I help him out of his hoodie, knowing he can’t sleep in heavy clothing because he’ll get hot too easily. When it’s off, he rolls over onto his stomach, already deep in sleep again. I turn off the light before crawling in next to him, giving him a light peck on his cheek before I settle in to go back to sleep myself.

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Seungyoon’s POV

I wake up in my room, and I’m confused. I’m sure I fell asleep at the studio last night… Even more surprising, Taehyun was sleeping next to me. What happened…?

I’m staring at him while deep in thought when he turns over and opens his eyes, looking right at me. For whatever reason, I have to fight a blush down. He still has this effect on me…

He blinks sleepily before propping his head up on an elbow. “Good morning,” he greets quietly.

“Good morning,” I reply.

He looks down at the sheets before looking back up at me. “I brought you here from the studio last night, in case you were wondering.”

“Ah.” Why’d he do that…?

As if he could read my mind, he answered my question. “I just didn’t want you to have neck and back pain from sleeping funny. And you could’ve caught a cold since you didn’t have a blanket.” I nod, still looking at him. He’s talking to me now… does that mean we’re okay again…?

I decide not to risk it. “Tae, I’m sorry. Please believe me when I say that.” He just looks back down at the sheets. “I never meant to hurt you. It seems I didn’t learn my lesson back then, but I know now. I’m sorry. I’ll never, ever, ever shut you out again.” I hold out my pinky finger to him as proof. “I promise. I am so sorry.” He looks me straight in the eyes again, and I’m reminded again of how much I love his pretty brown ones. Then he raises his own pinky finger and locks it with mine, giving me a small smile.

“You promise…?” he asks quietly. “You can’t do this to me again. It really, really hurts, and it hurts worse each time.” He moves to let my pinky go, but I don’t let him. “When I press you to tell me what’s wrong or to just talk to me, it’s only because I love you and don’t want you to have to go it alone.”

“I know… I know now. And I really do promise.” I look down at our linked pinkies. “You have permission to slap me if I ever try that again. I’ll remember and let you know quick.”

He laughs at that, and I smile. It’s the first time I’ve made him laugh in too long. I look back up at him and tug on his finger. “I’m also sorry for all those things I said to you. I was being an .”

“I know you were, and that was -ish of you… but I also know you didn’t mean any of it. You were just stressed out.” He pokes my nose. “See? I know how you work. You don’t have to get mad at me when I try to be there for you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I smile again. I finally let his finger go. “Now, give me a kiss.”

He grimaces. “That’s gross. We have morning breath.”

I laugh. “So?”

He makes a grossed out noise but leans down to kiss me anyway. I put my hands on either side of his face and hold him there until we both run out of breath. He’s just smiling at me as he puts a hand in my hair. “See? Nasty.”

“Psh. You loved it.” He moves to poke my nose, but I lean up and bite his finger playfully before he can, making him laugh again.

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When we walk out, with Taehyun clinging to my back like a koala on a tree, Minho heaves a sigh of relief. “Hallelujah,” he says. “You guys have made up. That was awful.”

Seunghoon agrees, bringing out breakfast now that we’ve woken up. “It was like watching mommy and daddy get into a nasty fight. Very traumatizing.”

“Yah!” I say, laughing. “How are we mom and dad when we’re the youngest?”

Taehyun climbs down from my back. “And who is mom?” he asks, making everyone else laugh.

Minho gives him a bright smile. “You are, of course!”

“What??” Minho just laughs at Taehyun’s reaction, making the latter shake his head. “Ugh… Yeobo~, I don’t want those kids,” he whines, pointing at Seunghoon and Minho and gripping my arm tightly.

I blush at how he’s acting like a housewife and how he called me by that name, but I shake it off and play along, too. “It’s okay, baby. We have Jinwoo,” I say as I walk over to the hyung and put my hands on his shoulders.

Taehyun joins me. “Yes. Jinwoo is our future.” He bends down and kisses him on his forehead, making him giggle in amusement.

The other two, on the other hand, are quite offended. “YAH!” they yell, hands pressed to their hearts. We just laugh at them. “Aigoo, a mother would have too much trouble with the two of you at once,” Taehyun remarks as he sits down. I sit next to him.

Minho thinks. “I guess we should all feel relief for my mom that we didn’t meet in elementary school…” We all crack up at that, imaging his poor mother having to deal with the two rowdy kids at once.

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We get to rest for a few days. Since the YG Family Tour rehearsals will be starting soon, 2NE1 doesn’t have any concerts for now and we don’t have a schedule. We’re excited for the concert because we get to meet more of our seniors again. It will be tons of fun for sure.

We spent the day lounging around, doing a whole lot of nothing. It’s late now, and I tell the hyungs that I’m going to bed (really, I just want to go fool around with Taehyun). They wave me away and I nearly skip to my room—should we just call it our room now?—whistling as I go. Taehyun and I haven’t made love since that time after the AON after party, but we’ve done… other stuff.

I open the door, and what I see immediately turns me off. Taehyun’s sitting on the bed, crying over something on his laptop. I raise an eyebrow and walk over to climb on the bed next to him, peering at the laptop screen. I immediately roll my eyes and laugh.

He smacks me on my arm. “Shut up!” he sniffles. He’s watching Akdong Musician’s music video for ‘Melted.’ “It’s totally sad!” he whines.

“Hey, I’m not disagreeing with ya,” I say, raising my hands up defensively. The video ends, and I hop up to get my guitar. I start playing a few chords aimlessly, before I get a song in my head that I want to sing. I start serenading my love, but he ignores me in favor of playing on his phone.

I keep singing anyway. “Touch my neck and I'll touch yours… You in those little high-waisted shorts, oh~”

He snorts. “Not even for you, love. I will wear no such thing.”

I continue anyway. I’m at the second verse of the song now. “The minute that my left hand meets your waist… And then I watch your face, put my finger on your tongue 'cause you love to taste, yeah~”

He immediately snorts in laughter. “Are you or something?” He’s dying on the bed as I laugh and try to continue. He must have pulled up a translation to Korean because he knows what song I’m singing, but he can’t understand English that well. Our laughter overwhelms me and I have to put the guitar down, defeated.

“See what you do?” I say, calming down. “I can’t even sing a nice song for you without you laughing at me.”

He doesn’t even try to deny it. “I’m sorry, love,” he replies, a laugh escaping him as he says this. Then he shuts his laptop and pats the space next to him. “Come here.”

I do as I’m told. I sit obediently and look at him, waiting. He then climbs onto my lap, his hands on my chest as he leans in to kiss me. Oh, okay… I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m definitely okay with it.

After several minutes, we’re lying on our sides with my hands up his shirt when he decides to pull away. Then he snuggles into my neck and squeezes me tight. “I missed cuddling you,” he says gently.

I kiss his neck. “Me, too.” I get up to turn off the light before plopping back down next to him. He’s reopened his laptop, and I pout. “Ani~, what are you doing?” He’s such a little tease…

He merely kicks his legs as he does whatever he’s doing on the laptop. “I want to watch a movie,” he says sweetly.

“Aigoo…” I whine, putting my head down. His “innocent” façade falls and he starts laughing, knowing what he did.

“It’s not bad, is it? Because then I’ll feel bad.” He bites his lip to keep from laughing again.

“No…” I lie. I sigh and lean over to kiss his cheek. I lean my head on his shoulder. “What are we watching?”

“’The Novel,’ or something like that. It’s about a lady who plagiarizes and a murder mystery.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“Just bear with me.”

I laugh. “I was serious!”

“Hm,” is his reply. Then, as he starts the movie, he says, “After the movie.”

“Okay,” I say, smiling as I rest my head in my hands, turning to the laptop screen.

He laughs at my expression and turns to the movie as well. After a few minutes, he says, “Put your hand back in my shirt.”

I snicker, but do as he says.

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I hope that was okay :'3