The last time Dongwoon had panicked was when he woke up late for his exams about a year or two ago and that had been a one-off occurrence.

 

But that situation didn’t prepare him in any way for someone who had fainted on the floor.

 

He knelt down next to the crumpled body, unsure of what to do. Dongwoon placed a trembling hand on Kikwang’s shoulder and nudged slightly.

 

“Hyung?”

 

There was no response.

 

At this moment about a million things were going through his mind ranging from trying to remember what his mother had told him before to what if it were really serious that he needed to go to the hospital to the fact that he needed to do something and not be panicking like this…

 

Dongwoon took a breath and attempted to calm himself down. It couldn’t be that serious. Yes, it couldn’t. He told himself that over and over again.

 

Okay Dongwoon, if you just fainted… What would you want?

 

Somewhere comfortable to lie down. Right.

 

He didn’t bother questioning the fact that he was probably out of his mind for thinking like this but it seemed to work. The blond spotted the large couch at the back. That would have to do. Now, to get him there.

 

In the dramas that his mother and aunt watched where this situation had cropped up, the guy would carry the girl effortlessly to some bed or couch and lay them down while looking cool. 

 

However, Kikwang was not a girl.

 

He was a guy and as Dongwoon soon found out, not as light as he had hoped for. It was right then and there that Dongwoon was glad that Jinwoon had been persistent in dragging him along on his weekly gym sessions. The younger male scooped the unmoving body into his arms and stood up slowly, moving as fast as he could. As soon as he reached the white couch, he lay Kikwang down.

 

The older male was shivering slightly. Dongwoon felt his head with the back of his hand. It was as he thought. Kikwang had the beginnings of a fever.

 

Dongwoon shrugged off his suit jacket and laid it across, adjusting it so that it covered as much of his body as it could. Fainting, he had no clue but when it came to fevers, he knew the basics at least.

 

The blond walked briskly to the kitchen area and prepared a bowl of ice and a clean cloth. He flicked the on switch on the ice machine and left it to do its magic. He would probably need more before the night was over.

 

Dongwoon dragged one of the chairs nearer to where the shivering white lump lay. He wrapped up a few ice cubes in the cloth and reached over, pushing Kikwang’s raven black fringe away from his forehead as he dabbed the cold cloth. This was the first time he was doing it for someone else. Usually, his mother would be the one taking care of him when he was younger.

 

His gaze wandered over the male’s features. Kikwang wasn’t that bad looking really. He probably had his fair share of girls fawning after him when he was in school, especially with those lips that were always in a smile most of the time.

 

Dongwoon’s attention paused slightly at his visible eye bags and cheeks that were slightly gaunt. He frowned at the sight. Just how long had this guy gone without sleep while preparing for the opening?

 

He got up to change the ice but a hand stopped him.

 

“Need to go set up…” Kikwang mumbled as he clutched at Dongwoon’s sleeve.

 

Dongwoon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Kikwang was either a workaholic, loved his job too much or was just an idiot. Dongwoon decided it was a combination of all three.

 

He sat back down again and tucked Kikwang’s hand back underneath the makeshift blanket.

 

“Shh,” he whispered softly. “The café’s already closed for the day. Everything went very well. Relax and sleep now.”

 

The male smiled gratefully and nodded, worry lines softening and disappearing as a peaceful calm took over. Dongwoon watched silently as he drifted off to sleep.

 

“What a pabo.”

 

The blonde shook his head with a slight smile as he carried the bowl into the kitchen.

 

---

 

Kikwang felt something heavy on his head and groaned a little as he tried to sit up. A neatly folded towel tumbled onto his lap. He blinked slowly as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.

 

He was in the café and lying down on the sofa. Thin shafts of sunlight filtered in through the windows, illuminating the tables and chairs that they fell on. It dawned upon him that it was morning which meant that he had to go to work… But he was already at his work place. That didn’t make sense.

 

He lifted his blanket…

 

Kikwang stoned at the familiar white jacket for while. A quick glance to his right confirmed his suspicions. His savior, for what looked to be the second time, was sleeping on the chair next to him. Stray blond hair fell across his face, obscuring his closed eyes. His mouth was slightly open and Kikwang just had to smile at that. He had seen the normal Dongwoon and the serious Dongwoon but a cute, sleeping Dongwoon? He could enjoy this for just a bit more, if his head wasn’t trying to implode upon itself.

 

The jacket was folded neatly and placed on the sofa. Kikwang gripped the armrest to steady himself as he stood up. The world seemed to whirl in circles and all his body wanted to do was just to flop back down and go back to sleep. Aches in muscles he didn’t know existed were alerting him to their presence now. He took an experimental step and stumbled forward, still feeling horribly weak. He was about to move forward when he felt a warm hand encircling his wrist.

 

“You should be resting,” muttered Dongwoon, his voice was lower than usual and thick with sleepiness.

 

“Yes, Kikwang.”

 

Both of them stiffened at the sudden intrusion of the new voice. Heels clicked on the floor as none other than Gina walked in.

 

“You should be resting,” she repeated after Dongwoon in a matter-of-fact tone. Her questioning gaze flicked from Dongwoon to Kikwang to their hands which they dropped immediately. “So, what happened last night?”

 

Gina was silent as she listened to Dongwoon’s story.

 

“Kikwang, go home and rest.”

 

“But, Noona-“

 

The older woman cut him off sharply. “No ‘but’s, Kikwang. I don’t want you fainting again or falling even more ill than you already are. I know you’ve been staying up till late. I can handle things here.”

 

She shifted her attention to Dongwoon, who unconsciously stood up straighter.

 

Kikwang had to hide his amusement. It really looked like a teacher berating a student for something he had forgotten. 

 

“You, make sure he gets home and rests,” the longhaired brunette pursed her lips as she gave out instructions. “Get him to take some meds too. His place is nearby. I’m really sorry about this. I would take him myself but…”

 

“I understand,” the blond nodded.

 

Kikwang watched as Dongwoon grabbed both of their things and he let himself be herded out the door before Gina could say anything else.

 

“So,” the taller male readjusted the bags so that they were slung comfortably over his shoulder. “Your house is nearby?”

 

“Yeah, it’s this way,” Kikwang nodded and set off, waving off Dongwoon’s concerned questions. He most definitely could walk on his own. It wasn’t like he was going to drop dead or anything though after last night’s incident, the other probably had reasonable grounds to worry. Dongwoon had resorted to following him closely from behind instead.

 

Kikwang’s smile was easy even though his head weighed a ton right now. Sure, he smiled a lot. Most of the time it was out of being polite or so that other people wouldn’t worry about him. There were the rare times though that the smile came without effort, without being affected by the need for it. This was one of those times, strangely enough.

 

He came to a sudden stop and was met with a Dongwoon walking into him from the back. Kikwang let himself be amused at the sight of the younger apologizing. He wasn’t sure why he was doing stupid things like this. He concluded that it must be a result of the fever.

 

“Hyung,” Dongwoon blinked in confusion. “This is my house.”

 

“Yes, I’m quite sure I remember what my house looks like,” Kikwang laughed and pointed across the road. “I live over there.”

 

He made to get his bag from Dongwoon but the other stopped him.

 

“I can make it home on my own,” the older male insisted. “And don’t you have school by the way?”

 

Dongwoon’s face was blank for a moment before it struck him that yes, it was a Monday and yes, he did have school. Kikwang took this chance to grab his bag from him and handed him a name card.

 

“If you’re that worried, then just ask right?” Kikwang waved as he crossed the road. “Have a good day in school, Dongwoon!”

 

The raven-haired male felt what was left of his energy dissipate as he entered the lift. He leaned back against the wall and felt his own hot head. Kikwang vaguely wondered if he would remember all this when he woke up. He really needed to lie down.

 

A buzz in his pocket caused him to take out his phone and stare at the screen. It was from an unknown number.

 

From: 010-82-1xxxxxx

Take your meds, hyung.

 

Kikwang laughed out loud, knowing full well who it was from.

 

---

 

Junhyung bit his lip as he watched the blond read through the lyrics, mouthing it out at times.

 

“So how is it?”

 

Yosebo removed his white headphones and ran his hand through his hair to fluff it up again.

 

“Not bad,” he grinned. “I can work with this.”

 

The brown-haired male let out a sigh of relief. Despite the boy’s easygoing ways, Yoseob was serious when it came to music. There were times when he told Junhyung to rewrite the entire thing because he wasn’t expressing the feel of the song properly. That was how they worked. Junhyung would come up with the ideas, though Yoseob often had input as well, and the other would help him to refine it.

 

“Is that other boy coming?” Junhyung asked, checking the clock on the wall.

 

It was about half an hour past their stipulated meeting time and there was still no sign of the deer boy.

 

“Don’t worry,” Yoseob stretched himself out on the floor of the studio and rolled around as he read over the lyrics again. “He’ll be here.”

 

Junhyung nodded and went back to scrolling through his iPhone. Yoseob was acting like he knew that boy already when they probably couldn’t have met more than a few times. But then again, it was Yoseob so almost anything was possible. This was a fact that he had come to accept over the years of knowing him.

 

There was a knock on the door, causing the both of them to look up. An orange head poked in, followed by a flustered Hyunseung.

 

“Sorrysorry!” He apologized, putting his bag down in the corner while trying to keep his balance from having a Yoseob hugging him from behind. “Something came up and… I got lost trying to find the place.”

 

Junhyung stared at the older boy in disbelief. “You got lost?”

 

The blond caught Hyunseung’s flinch at the rapper’s look and gave Junhyung a disapproving frown. “Now now, don’t scare him off with that face.”

 

“B-but I was born with this face,” he protested indignantly. “What do you want me to do about it?”

 

“I don't know,” Yoseob shrugged, still clinging on to Hyunseung. “You figure it out.”

 

Junhyung sighed and picked up his black leather-bound notebook. It was full of verses, notations and markings which he scribbled in every time inspiration struck. He flipped it open to the most recent page.

 

“Hyunseung… Right?” He waited for the other’s acknowledging nod before continuing, ignoring Yoseob’s ‘how-could-you-forget-his-name you idiot ’look that was directed his way. “Yoseob and I will do a run through and let us know what you think or if you have any inspiration or something. Cool?”

 

 The energetic blond had finally detached himself from Hyunseung and rolled over to where Junhyung was sitting. “Ready when you are.”

 

The rapper hit the play button on the MP3 player and tapped out the counting with his finger. On the second set, he launched into the intro rap. Junhyung pointed at Yoseob to signal him to come in on the next verse. His strong voice filled the studio as he brought the lyrics to life.

 

Junhyung couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at hearing his own lyrics being sung. Not to mention, despite the fact that he wanted to punch that boy at times for his remarks and crazy ideas, Yoseob had one of the best voices that he has ever heard. He ended off the song with the final rap and paused the track.

 

“Yoseob, put more emphasis on this part,” Junhyung pointed at a section in the chorus. “I think it’ll sound better.”

 

“Got it~”

 

He turned to Hyunseung who was staring at one spot intently with a faraway look in his eyes.

 

“Hyunseung?”

 

The other jumped upon hearing his name, snapping out of his daze.

 

Junhyung was slightly taken aback and just a little bit concerned. Was this boy alright? Ever since he met him, Junhyung wasn’t quite sure on how to talk to him or approach him. Somehow, it didn’t seem like conventional methods would work.

 

“Do you have any comments?” He finally asked.

 

Hyunseung was silent as he got up from where he had taken a seat. He picked up the MP3 player and searched for the start of the chorus. When he was satisfied after listening to it a few times, he walked to middle of the studio.

 

Junhyung watched as the dancer shot Yoseob a look to which the blond nodded in reply. The vocalist pressed the play button and started to sing along. But the moment Hyunseung started to move, his eyes grew wide. He couldn’t deny the fact that the boy knew how to dance and that he did it very well.

 

Junhyung was impressed. And that was saying something.

 

This was the first time he had met someone who could come up with a good choreography after just listening to the full song once.

 

“Umm, that was what came to mind so far…” Hyunseung trailed off.

 

As much as he wanted to express his joy at finding someone so talented, Junhyung was not one to jump tackle them like what his dear blond friend was doing right now. So he settled for an approving nod.

 

“Perhaps you could work on it some more and if you got any questions, just let either of us know.”

 

Their practice didn’t last very long seeing as their booking slot was almost up but they made the most of it with Junhyung and Yoseob working on the song and Hyunseung listening in.

 

Junhyung was coiling up the wires when a small round object appeared in front of him. He blinked and glanced up to find Hyunseung handing him a lollipop.

 

“You should eat more sweets,” the doe-eyed boy explained in a serious tone. “It would help with the scariness.”

 

He placed it in Junhyung’s half-opened hand and walked off leaving a stunned rapper staring after him.

 

Junhyung glanced back down at the bright pink lollipop.

 

Of all flavours, it had to be strawberry.