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Byungjoo avoids looking at his phone over the next few days. He spends the time instead working on his dance routine and hanging out with Jiho and the other members. Jiho hasn’t tried to kiss him again and Byungjoo wonders if he should be feeling relieved or disappointed. He decides to ignore his conflicted feelings and just enjoy the other man’s company instead.
*****
The day Hansol comes back, he walks into the practice room (surprising the other members) and is greeted with hugs and pats on the back. The huge smile on his face lasts until he catches sight of Jiho and Byungjoo approaching him with their hands intertwined. The older dancer grits his teeth but keeps the smile on his face as Byungjoo breaks away from Jiho to give him a hug. He embraces the smaller dancer warmly, making sure to hold on just a little longer than necessary. Jiho subtly gives him a look but nonetheless steps forward to give his own welcome back greeting. Hansol accepts the offered handshake with a firm grip, smile firmly in place. He internally smirks when Jiho narrows his eyes as he briefly tightens his hold before letting go.
The victorious feeling is short-lived though as Byungjoo immediately floats back to Jiho’s side. Hansol wonders if he waited too long to come back as he watches them walk away, Jiho’s arm around Byungjoo’s lower back
*****
As the days pass by, Hansol takes more and more notice of how often Byungjoo and Jiho are together. If he tries to seek out alone time with Byungjoo, Jiho is already there, occupying what was once his own place next to the other dancer. Hansol’s gut twists with jealousy and he takes to sneakily disrupting their alone time by clinging to Byungjoo more often, claiming he misses hanging out with his friend. Byungjoo, of course, smiles at him sweetly and offers to include the older dancer in whatever activity that he and Jiho are doing, much to the youngest dancer’s displeasure.
As the weeks pass by, Hansol grows increasingly frustrated by Jiho’s presences in Byungjoo’s general vicinity. He subtly encourages the other members (mainly Taehyung) to include Jiho in whatever activity they are doing. Jiho will try to politely refuse the offer (shooting Hansol a hard look, as if he knows what the other is doing), but at Byungjoo’s encouragement, will acquiesce. Once Hansol manages gets Jiho out of the way (for the moment), he will attach himself to Byungjoo via offers to go out to eat or practice a new choreography he’s learned. Hansol will manage to get the younger dancer all to himself for a few hours before Jiho eventually returns and flocks back to Byungjoo’s side (much to Hansol’s chagrin).
The tipping point of Hansol’s jealousy comes when he discovers Byungjoo and Jiho have taken to sleeping in the same bed together. He stands frozen in the doorway of the room, staring at the pair wrapped up around each other, looking for all intents and purposes as if they were a couple. Hansol swallows harshly and clenches his fists tightly before turning away from the scene in front of him and making his way back to his own dorm room.
As he lies back down on his bed, he wonders over the past few weeks; at his lack of communication with Byungjoo. He hadn’t meant to stop texting the other boy, but he’d been caught up in something that he wouldn’t ever admit to the other and hadn’t wanted to burden him with. However, it seems that while he was away, someone else had taken his place.
Fucking Jiho, he thinks as he angrily presses his hands against his eyes, trying to stop the tears of frustration that threaten to spill out.
*****
Four weeks after he comes back, Hansol punches Jiho in the face during practice.
*****
Practice starts off normally enough. The members are hanging out in small groups, chatting while waiting on the arrival of their choreographer. Byungjoo finds himself in tucked away in a corner, joking around with (or rather, reacting to) Sanggyun and Sangwon when a loud, cracking noise fills the room. Byungjoo’s head whips around, thinking that maybe one of the members might have fallen. Instead, his jaw drops as he sees Jiho sprawled on his back on the practice room floor, blood dripping from his nose and Hansol standing in front of him. The older boy has his back facing Byungjoo but his squared shoulders are screaming with tension.
A hushed silence falls over the room as Jiho carefully wipes the blood off his face using the back of his hand and glares up at Hansol. Time seems to stop as the others stand frozen at the sight of the two boys.
“Hansol?” Byungjoo gasps, voice laced with shock and concern. Hansol seems to register his voice (by the slight twitch his shoulders give) but he otherwise doesn’t react. Jiho is the one who looks beyond the older dancer, spots Byungjoo’s shocked face and grits his teeth. Before anyone can say anything else, Jiho aims a kick at Hansol’s gut, causing the other boy to double over in pain when it makes contact. After that, it’s pretty much a free for all; each boy aiming kicks and fists at each other.
“Oh shit!” One of the maknaes shouts (Byungjoo thinks it might be Sanggyun) and that sets the other members into motion. They rush over to break up the fight and Byungjoo watches as it takes the combined strength of Dongsung, Sangdo, Taeyang, and Yoonchul to forcefully separate the two dancers. Jiho, who stands supported by Taeyang and Yoonchul, has blood dripping down his face from the bloody nose Hansol had given him earlier. Hansol, for his part, is has a quickly blossoming bruise on his left cheek and is sneering at Jiho. Dongsung and Sangdo aren’t holding him as tightly as Jiho is being held, but they are ready to intervene if he tries to attack the younger dancer again.
The other members hover around the group and everyone turns at the sound of a door slamming open. It seems the fight had managed to permeate through the recording room door because now Sehyuk and Hyosang (the two had been discussing something privately) stand in the doorway, looking into the room. Sehyuk is about to start yelling at them to ‘keep the noise down’ when he notices that the rest of the group are holding onto one-half of the dance team each. He takes a moment to process the blossoming bruises on Hansol’s face, the blood on Jiho’s nose, and starts cursing at everyone.
*****
Sehyuk is in the middle of his rant when Byungjoo maneuvers himself closer to Jiho.
“Are you okay?” Byungjoo asks quietly, reaching a hand out to carefully examine Jiho’s face. The younger dancer closes his eyes as Byungjoo’s fingers ghost softly over his skin, carefully avoiding his nose. Yoonchul hands Jiho a handful of tissues and Byungjoo moves back to let Jiho clean himself up.
Hansol grits his teeth as he watches the other dancers interact and without thinking, he abruptly pulls away from Dongsung and Sangdo; roughly grabbing Byungjoo by the arm and hauling up and away from Jiho.
Byungjoo’s eyes widen in surprise as he is yanked back. The others watch, stunned, as Hansol tugs Byungjoo along with him, quickly making his way out of the room. Jiho makes a noise of protest and tries to follow them but Yoonchul and Taeyang are quick to restrain him.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?!” Sehyuk shouts angrily, furious at Hansol’s blatant display of disregard for their leader. The older dancer continues to ignore their leader’s shouting and drags Byungjoo out of the practice room. The pair rushes past company staff and other trainees, ignoring any attempts from others to speak with them. Byungjoo stumbles after Hansol, unsure where the other boy is going but not willing to abandon his keep obviously upset bandmate.
Hansol charges full speed ahead, out of the company building and into the street, bumping shoulders with a few other pedestrians as he drags them further and further away from everyone. Byungjoo stutters out apologies behind them as the older dancer keeps moving. After being dragged along for three blocks, Byungjoo decides he’s had enough.
“Hansol, stop!” He shouts, firmly planting his feet on the ground; refusing to take another step. Hansol doesn’t listen and tries to keep moving, causing Byungjoo to tug back on the hold. The older dancer finally stops moving and turns around to face the other man.
Byungjoo waits for Hansol to say something, anything, but the other man doesn’t utter a word.
Getting fed up with the other’s silence, Byungjoo finally lets some of the frustration he is feeling bleed out. “Let go of me,” he commands, tugging away from the other. Hansol stares at him in silence but obligingly release his hold.
Byungjoo sighs in relief and hurriedly rubs at his arm, attempting to get the circulation back to normal and frowns at the man before him.
“Seriously, what was all that about? What were you thinking punching Jiho like that? What if the managers find out? Sehyuk is definitely going to kill us for walking out on him,” he finishes, staring at Hansol. The other boy just bows his head in silence but Byungjoo notices his fists clenching, signaling that he is listening.
“Seriously Hansol, what were you thinking?”
Hansol lets out a frustrated growl and spins around on his heels, quickly walking away from the younger dancer.
Byungjoo’s eyes widen in surprise and he quickly moves to follow the other man. Hansol doesn’t slow down and this time, Byungjoo is chasing him instead of being dragged along.
“Hansol! Hansol!” He shouts, rushing to reach the other man. Hansol ignores him and keeps moving. Byungjoo manages to get ahead of the other boy and plants himself directly in Hansol’s path, forcing the other dancer to stop abruptly to avoid colliding with the other.
“Ah hey, Hansol, are you okay?” He asks, hands taking hold of Hansol’s arms in an attempt to keep him from fleeing. The other dancer avoids his gaze, turning his head away from Byungjoo. The younger man frowns and movies to cup Hansol’s face with his hands.
“Hansol-ah,” he tries again, this time turning Hansol’s face, forcing the other dancer to look him in the eyes. Hansol grunts at the touch as Byungjoo unintentionally presses his fingers into the bruise on his cheek.
Byungjoo quickly apologizes and lets go of Hansol’s face but before he can move his hands away, Hansol’s own hands capture his and Byungjoo swallows nervously as the other dancer kisses his palms. Hansol stares at him intensely as he leaves butterfly kisses on his hands, causing the younger man to blush profusely.
“Joo-ah,” he whispers as he releases said dancer’s hands. Byungjoo looks at him, unexpected nervousness bubbling up inside of him at the intensity of Hansol’s gaze.
He is about to answer but finds a set of lips pressing against his own.
Hansol is kissing him.
Byungjoo’s eyes widen in surprise and he nearly pulls away, but finds himself held in place by Hansol’s hands; one cupping the back of his head, the other grabbing on firmly to his waist. The older dancer insistently rubs his lips against Byungjoo’s own and at the gasp let out by the younger, he manages to slip his tongue inside. Their tongues meet and Byungjoo feels a sudden heat rush through his body. His initial resistance fades and soon he finds himself tentatively returning the kiss, despite the fact that the two of them are standing in the street in broad daylight. When they are finally forced to pull away from lack of oxygen, Hansol licks his own lips as Byungjoo finally pulls away, and touches his own lips in shock.
“I’m not sorry for punching Jiho, he deserved it,” Hansol says suddenly, causing Byungjoo to look back at him in surprise.
“What did he do?” Byungjoo asks, curiosity overcoming his shock.
Hansol looks back at him, expression suddenly becoming solemn as he moves to interlock their hands and tugs Byungjoo up against him once again.
“He forgot his place,” Hansol whispers as he moves to press a chaste kiss against Byungjoo’s lips, leaving the other boy to stare at him with a perplexed expression.
*****
Byungjoo doesn’t get to ask Hansol what he means; the loud, obnoxious ringing of his cell phone suddenly interrupts them.
Startled, the younger dancer jumps slightly but quickly moves to answer the call.
“Yoboseyo,” he greets, turning away from Hansol slightly. The answering voice on the other end of the line returns his greeting with harsh, angry words.
“Tell Kim Hansol he better get his ass back here before I kill him!” Sehyuk voice booms through the phone before he abruptly clicks. Byungjoo flinches at the words and quickly pockets the phone again, and turns back to Hansol. A pissed Sehyuk is not one to be messed with lightly and he knows if they stay away any longer, the consequences will be worse.
“Sehyuk is pissed, we need to get back ASAP,” he says, watching as Hansol lets out a frustrated sigh. Byungjoo waits for Hansol to start walking first before moving to walk beside him. They walk back to the company building in silence, but after a few steps, Hansol takes a hold of his hand. Byungjoo glances down at their interlocked fingers briefly, but says nothing.
*****
When they finally make it back to the company building, Hansol is immediately hauled into a conference room by Sehyuk, leaving Byungjoo to his own devices.