Bed of Roses, Chapter Four
Title Bed of Roses
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: SungGyu/WooHyun
Rating: R
Genre: Friendship, Love, Humor, Angst
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
A/N: Although the pairing is WooGyu……..I love all the Infinite boys, and they all show up in this story. I update when I want. I try to stick to a pattern, but I always fail.
Summary: WooHyun’s perfect life…his bed of roses is tossed into disarray when SungGyu makes a bold move changing their friendship forever.
Previous Chapters
Later that morning a nudge to his side had WooHyun waking up to a very displeased SungGyu standing over him. He was still sprawled out on the living room floor where he had fallen asleep, and unfortunately for him, he was still clutching the leader’s phone to his chest. There was another nudge to his side that he recognized now as SungGyu’s foot. The leader asked in a very put out voice, “Why do you have my phone?”
WooHyun looked up at the leader and gave him a weak smile. “Would you believe me if I said-”
“No, I would not,” SungGyu snapped, interrupting him. “Just tell the truth.”
WooHyun swallowed and answered honestly, “I was trying to find out who you were talking to yesterday.”
“Why did I even ask? Did you kill my phone?” SungGyu asked as he reached down and snatched his phone up, wincing as he straightened back up.
WooHyun shook his head in a denial and watched as SungGyu pressed a hand to his lower back, holding it. “Does your back hurt?”
“No,” SungGyu lied as he checked his phone; relieved to find it still working. “So did you by some miracle figure out my password, or did you fall asleep trying?”
“SungYeol caught me, and shamed me into leaving it alone,” WooHyun answered as he got up off the floor, and looked to the couch to find it empty. The younger boy had returned to his bed during the night, leaving WooHyun on the floor to get caught.
“Did you talk to him?”
“About what?”
“You know what about.”
“Umm….” WooHyun coughed to clear his throat. “If I did, would that be a bad thing?”
SungGyu shook his head, turned around, and headed toward the kitchen. “No, you need somebody to talk to, and he already knows. That’s why I roomed you two together in Japan. I was hoping you would talk things over with him.”
WooHyun sighed in relief, and followed the leader into the kitchen. “Did you tell him, or is he just a mind reader?”
“I didn’t tell him,” SungGyu told the younger man as he opened the refrigerator and gazed at its contents. “He is just always looking at us like…like he knows.”
“Sit down, I will find us something to eat,” WooHyun told his friend as he watched how SungGyu carried himself. It was very obvious to WooHyun that SungGyu was in pain.
“I’m completely capable of making myself breakfast,” SungGyu grumbled.
WooHyun walked up to the other man and gently pushed him toward the small table in the kitchen. “Are we channeling Grumpy Grandpa Gyu today? I know you can make your own breakfast, but humor me. Do you want me to go get you some pain medicine?”
SungGyu shook his head, not sitting down. “No, it’s just a muscle. I need to be alert today, especially if we are going to be on television.”
“True, it’s hard enough keeping you awake as it is,” WooHyun pointed out to the older man. “Sit down.”
SungGyu relented and sat down at the table. “So, should I cower in embarrassment in front of SungYeol?”
WooHyun, who was pulling out fruit and cereal from the refrigerator, snorted, “No, he is totally sympathetic towards you. I’m the evil temptress, who led you on.”
SungGyu smiled. “Well, wonderful then.”
“Don’t sound so happy.”
“I’m actually really relieved. Is he going to tell the others?”
“No,” WooHyun answered, setting the food on the table. “You know, I’m really sorry.”
“You said that once before,” SungGyu told him as he reached for a slice of melon.
WooHyun turned around and grabbed two bowls and a couple of spoons. “It could probably bear repeating.”
“Yeah,” SungGyu conceded as WooHyun placed a bowl and a spoon in front of him. “It does help hearing it.”
WooHyun sat down at the table and admitted, “I know I’m crazy, and a little dense.”
“A little?”
“Okay, a whole lot, but you mean a lot to me, and just because we aren’t in that kind of relationship doesn’t mean-”
“Don’t…not now. I know how much our friendship means to you; I don’t need confirmation of something I already know. Let’s just eat breakfast.”
“But”
“No, I’m not in the mood. My back hurts, and we have a television show today; let’s just eat in peace. No drama today.”
“But-”
“If you let us eat in peace, I will ignore the fact that you tried to violate my privacy by stealing my phone.”
WooHyun frowned as he watched SungGyu eat his cereal. He wanted to say more. “I don’t like it that you are keeping things from me.”
“What part of letting it go do you not understand?”
“Hyung, we used to never have secrets from each other…you used to tell me everything.”
SungGyu put his spoon down on the table and gave WooHyun a severe look. “Times change. You are going to have to get used to not knowing everything.”
“Why? What is so important, or secretive, that I can’t know about it?” WooHyun asked, refusing to give in.
“You are just like a dog with a bone! It isn’t that I can’t tell you…it’s that I don’t want to tell you. It’s the principle of the matter,” SungGyu tried to explain.
“If I hadn’t rejected you…would you have told me?”
SungGyu laughed as if the thought was ludicrous. “Hell, no.”
WooHyun propped both elbows up on the table now, surprised by the other man’s admission. “So it has nothing to do with us?”
“Nope,” SungGyu informed him. “It has only to do with me, and I want to keep it that way.”
WooHyun smiled, feeling strangely relived that it had nothing to do with the rejection, but still a little irritated that his best friend was keeping things from him. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t tell you. Ask me anything.”
“You keep me awake most nights with your constant prattling on about your every thought, so there really isn’t any need to ask,” SungGyu said as he pushed his cereal aside and grabbed another piece of melon.
“That must be nice. I wouldn’t know how it feels to have a friend that trusts me absolutely,” WooHyun said with his best greasy smile, as he watched SungGyu attempt to pick the seeds out of his melon.
SungGyu groaned, realized the trap that had been laid for him. “On second thought, I do have a question. How much did SungYeol know?”
WooHyun, who was still watching SungGyu butcher his melon, snatched the offending fruit away from the leader and started picking the seeds out with ease. “He knew we didn’t fight about singing. He thought our feelings were mutual…” WooHyun paused, realizing the sensitivity of the subject for once.
“Oh; well, SungYeol wasn’t the only one. He’s pretty clever, so if he was fooled too, I don’t feel so stupid now,” SungGyu said as he leaned back in the chair, trying to twist his back into a comfortable position.
WooHyun pushed the now seedless melon back to SungGyu. “I didn’t mean to fool you. I feel really bad about it.”
“I know you do,” SungGyu told him as he started eating the melon. “What else did he say?”
“Mostly rude, insolent things; all directed at me.”
SungGyu just smiled. “Well, better him than me.”
“What?”
“You would not like me saying those things to you,” SungGyu pointed out. “You wouldn’t handle it well at all, since I’m not allowed to be mad at you.”
“No,” WooHyun sighed in agreement. “You are not. He also said that I’m your most important person.”
“You already knew that,” SungGyu said, unashamed, as he popped the last piece of melon into his mouth.
“Yeah,” WooHyun conceded and looked at his friend sincerely. “You are mine too.”’
SungGyu exhaled a breath and gave WooHyun a bitter smile. “For now.”
“Forever!”
SungGyu shook his head at his younger, more naïve member. “Forever is a long time.”
“No, it isn’t,” WooHyun said, smiling as he remembered his plan from the night before. “I thought of a plan, a way that we can always be together.”
“I don’t think I want to know,” SungGyu said in dread, knowing WooHyun well enough to be very afraid of any plans he came up with. His last plan had been a surprise birthday party for DongWoo that had left the birthday boy in tears.
WooHyun rubbed his hands together. “It’s wonderful! You will love it.”
“Namstar, just don’t…let it go. I’m trying to get out of this mood. If you make me grumpier I’m going to tell the other members who to blame.”
“No, this will make you happy! It’s genius!”
“I highly doubt that.”
“I think we should marry sisters!” WooHyun announced, unable to keep it inside any longer.
SungGyu groaned. “Stop…just stop.”
“No, it’s a great plan! We should marry nice sisters, and live together in a huge house. We can even swap them back and forth. I don’t mind…actually I think we should swap them once a month,” WooHyun happily informed his best friend. “I don’t mind sharing wives with you!”
SungGyu just stared at the younger man, speechless.
“You see this way we can always be together, and it looks good to the public. Best friends that married sisters. It’s a moving story, and nobody has to know about the wife swapping, except us. Well, the sisters would have to know, but sisters are used to sharing aren’t they?”
“Swapping!” SungGyu shouted stunned, his lisp suddenly returning. “Swap…sissters, share…swap…swap sisster wives!”
“Yes,” WooHyun said beaming. “I told you it’s a fantastic idea! Just genius!”
“Sssswap! Sharing wives! Sisssster wives!”
WooHyun wiped his face where SungGyu’s spit had landed on it. It dawned on him, with the sudden emergence of the lisp, that the older boy was not pleased. “I thought it was a good idea.”
SungGyu glared a hole into WooHyun and seethed, “I can’t decide if you are the most insensitive person alive, or if you really are this dense!”
“He’s that dense,” SungYeol, who had been awoken by the leader’s shouting, happily answered as he entered the room with a very sleepy SungJong.
SungGyu reached out a hand for SungJong and ordered, “Ya, Lee SungJong, help me back to my room. I have to find my pain medicine, so I can overdose myself and be rid of WooHyun’s insanity forever.”
“That’s not funny! Don’t joke about stuff like that!” WooHyun said, reprimanding SungGyu. “I really thought it was a good idea.”
SungJong followed the leader’s orders and walked over and helped the leader stand up. “Hyung, are you sick?”
“No, my back is just giving me trouble this morning,” SungGyu answered, pulling on SungJong to help him stand.
“Oh,” SungJong answered full of sympathy as he watched the leader try to stretch. “And WooHyun was bothering you when you weren’t feeling well?”
“Yes, he was,” SungGyu replied, heading out of the kitchen with the maknae.
SungJong looked back at WooHyun, gave him a defiant stare and said in a sweet voice for the leader as they left the kitchen, “He should be a better dongsaeng to you. You should have woken me up, Hyung. I would take good care of you.”
“That little shit,” WooHyun cursed under his breath.
SungYeol, who had taken a seat at the table, watched a fuming WooHyun. “So I guess SungGyu didn’t take the whole swapping sister wives idea well?”
WooHyun, who was still glowering in the direction that SungGyu and SungJong had left, answered, “No, not well at all.”
“Imagine that.”
************
SungGyu’s mood had gone from bad to terrible. WooHyun, who was keeping a close watch on him, had noticed the steady decline in the leader’s mood. He watched with observant eyes as the leader paced back and forth in the small room, trying to loosen up his sore back and control his mounting irritation. They were in the middle of a break as they filmed for the television show, Weekly Idol. Somehow the show had turned into the ‘Let’s Bully SungGyu Show’; the hosts were having a ball giving SungGyu hell, and the other members were joyfully joining in.
None more so than the maknae, who had listed every wrong or perceived wrong the leader had ever done him. WooHyun had enjoyed watching the smug maknae turn into a total rat. While SungJong rejoiced in all the attention he was getting as the poor abused maknae, WooHyun could tell SungGyu was growing less and less amused. SungGyu was pretending to take all the negative attention in good spirits, but WooHyun knew differently.
And even though WooHyun could tell SungGyu was growing more and more sensitive to the criticism aimed at him on the show, this had not stopped WooHyun from joining in. He had brought up the unfortunate quiz show incident, sparking a lively response from the testy leader. WooHyun would never have told what really happened that day, but the response from SungGyu was television gold.
He had done his best to avoid SungGyu for most of the morning, knowing the other man was annoyed with him. He had also made sure to sit apart from the leader. After some caffeine and the light of a new day, WooHyun was beginning to understand why his plan for them to marry and swap sisters…might not have been embraced by the other man.
“Hey, did you hear what we have to do next?” DongWoo asked as he entered the small break room.
“Hear what?” L, who was getting his hair touched up by a stylist, asked.
SungJong, who was standing beside DongWoo answered, “They want us to play that kissing paper game.”
“No way!” Hoya groaned from the sofa where he sat with WooHyun.
“I thought we were going to do that for our next concert intermission? You know, the couple contest,” SungYeol stated as he leaned against a make-up counter in the back of the room.
“I don’t have a couple,” SungJong pouted.
SungGyu, who was still pacing, offered, “You can have WooHyun.”
“No,” SungJong answered quickly. “He would probably bite me.”
WooHyun just gave the maknae a toothy grin in response, but on the inside he was dreading the game. How could he and SungGyu play such a game? What if SungGyu got swept away and couldn’t stop himself? Or worse, what if he got swept away too? He paled, realizing he had never disliked the kissing, or any of it for that matter, his conscience evilly reminded him. He pushed those thoughts away…his mind was not allowed to go there.
“We don’t have to pair up in couples. We can save that for the concert,” Geonam, their manager, told them.
“I totally agree, let’s save it for our concert,” WooHyun spoke up, unable to hide his relief.
“My poor handsome darling, don’t be too heartbroken,” SungYeol teased L as he came up from behind him and massaged the younger man’s shoulders. “Our lips shall not meet today.”
L smiled at SungYeol through the mirror and told him, “You know I like to keep our kisses private.”
SungYeol winked. “Later then.”
“Later,” L replied, winking back at the taller man. They both silently declared this round of gay chicken a draw and withdrew.
“Well, I don’t want to disappoint the YaDong fans,” DongWoo stated. “I don’t want to seem like some kind of cheater.”
WooHyun shook his head at the older man and reminded him, “It’s just a game. Nobody…well, no sane person takes it seriously.”
“But still, I hate to disappoint the YaDong fans,” DongWoo insisted.
Geonam rolled his eyes and told DongWoo, “You can do what you want. One couple probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. The fans do like this sort of thing.”
“True and we are the most popular couple,” Hoya pointed out.
“In your dreams,” WooHyun spat back.
“Okay, this will be the order then,” the manager told them. “SungGyu, SungYeol, WooHyun, L, SungJong, Hoya, and DongWoo. Now let’s get back to filming,” the manager ordered, causing most of the members to hurry from the room.
“Aren’t I the lucky one,” SungYeol said as he walked up to SungGyu and put an arm around his waist.
SungGyu couldn’t keep from laughing at the taller boy. “I’m touched.”
“Did you say touched? What do you say we really touch? I will drop the paper…it would be classic television,” SungYeol suggested with a wink.
SungGyu whispered, “What makes you think I’m willing to kiss a boy?”
SungYeol, who was very aware of the fact that WooHyun had lingered behind to eavesdrop, licked his lips and said seductively, “A little birdie might have told me…plus, it would guarantee a laugh.”
“I’m game, and if they don’t approve they can always cut it out,” SungGyu told the taller member.
“Oh, they will like it. They will probably make us reshoot it till it’s perfect,” SungYeol said for WooHyun’s benefit. “I hope you don’t mind kissing me a hundred times or so.”
WooHyun’s bottom jaw was still on the floor when SungYeol and SungGyu exited the room arm in arm.
***************************
“This is not the arrangement that was agreed to,” SungGyu hissed under his breath.
WooHyun, who had squeezed in between SungYeol and SungGyu right before filming started, explained, “You are not feeling well; it would be wrong to make you touch lips with SungYeol. Who knows where they have been?”
SungGyu glared at the younger man, trying his best to intimidate him. “Switch places with SungYeol. Now.”
WooHyun didn’t budge. “You should be thankful that I am looking out for you.”
“It’s just a game. I don’t mind.”
WooHyun turned to look at SungGyu, his eyes blazing with jealousy. “Oh, I bet you don’t.”
SungGyu lost his calm, grabbed WooHyun by the arm and whispered harshly in his ear. “What did I tell you about acting like a territorial lover?”
WooHyun whispered back to SungGyu, undaunted, “I’m not being territorial! I was just thinking of you. This show has been rough on you…you need a friend at your side. I am your best friend, so who better to be at your side? I know this ‘gang-up on the leader’ crap is really bothering you.”
SungGyu loosened his grip on WooHyun. “It’s just a show…it’s supposed to be funny. I am just grumpy today. It’s okay…really. You don’t need to worry. I’m a big boy, I can handle it.”
“I know you can, but there is another issue.”
“What?”
“I am not going to let the blasted porno couple move past us. We have to maintain our position as the most popular couple in Infinite.”
SungGyu let go of WooHyun, and shook his head. “You just aren’t right.”
**********
It had been a long day…like all their days seemed to be lately. After the television recording, they had spent the remainder of the day at a magazine photo shoot, and they had ended the day filming for a commercial. It was half past midnight before the boys made it home.
WooHyun had watched as SungGyu headed immediately for bed after issuing a warning to the members that they had to be at the dance studio at 7am, and he wouldn’t be accepting any excuses tomorrow. The other members had verbalized their understanding, promising to head to bed quickly. Once SungGyu was gone the other five members ignored their eating curfew, and invaded the kitchen, finding anything they could to eat. They had only broken once to eat during the day, and that had been in the early afternoon; they were all hungry. WooHyun even found himself in the kitchen, ignoring the curfew and chomping on an apple.
WooHyun watched as his hungry members quickly stuffed down whatever food they could find. DongWoo warned them more than once that SungGyu wasn’t kidding, and tomorrow’s practice was guaranteed to be rough. The other members, who had noticed their leader had been more quiet than usual, took heed of the second eldest’s words of warning. L, Hoya, and DongWoo were the first off to bed, with SungYeol and SungJong close behind them.
WooHyun stayed in the kitchen, regretting his actions earlier in the day. He now knew that SungYeol had manipulated him, and he was deeply ashamed of himself. He should not have made SungGyu play the card kissing game with him. He had been extremely jealous at the time, and unable to think clearly. How was he supposed to convince SungGyu that he only wanted friendship from him…when his every action screamed otherwise?
If the leader had been angry, he had carefully controlled his anger after the television filming, hiding it from it all. He had gone quiet, and he hadn’t lashed out at any of the members. Not even SungJong, who WooHyun would have loved to smack for his actions during the recording.
SungGyu had not even been short tempered or unfriendly with WooHyun…he had treated him just like he treated the other members. And WooHyun hated it. He knew that if he were smart, he would go climb onto his top bunk and go to sleep. But as he got up from the table and headed to their bedroom; he was once again reminded that his brain very rarely had any say when it came to his relationship with SungGyu. And when he did listen to his brain…he only ended up hurting them both. He knew it was necessary, but he hated it.
He entered the room, without turning on the light. Moonlight shone through the window, casting a soft light in the room. This allowed him to see the older boy, who he felt strangely separated from. Separated…yes, WooHyun settled on that word to describe how he felt. They were separated, and it was tearing him up inside.
SungGyu was sleeping on his back with his left arm stretched out across the mattress of his lower bunk. WooHyun bent down and gently moved SungGyu’s arm until it was resting on the leader’s stomach. WooHyun swallowed nervously, knowing if his hyung woke up he would not be happy with him, but there was only a slim chance of that happening. SungGyu slept like the dead.
WooHyun crawled onto the bed with the other man as carefully as he could. He laid down on his right side, carefully balancing himself on the edge of the small bed. He kept his eyes open, watching SungGyu in the moonlight; yearning for the days when he could have collapsed on the bed beside the other man without fear of rejection. He missed the times in the old dorm when they awoke in the mornings all tangled up in each other. Other, more intimate memories of waking up together flooded his mind, and he closed his eyes, pushing them away.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
WooHyun, who had been lost in his own world of regrets, opened his eyes to find the leader’s head had turned to face him. “I…I thought you were asleep.”
“I was, and then you woke me up.”
“I didn’t think I would, you usually sleep like a rock.”
SungGyu turned away from WooHyun and looked up at the bottom of the top bunk. “Not any more.”
WooHyun winced, hearing the unspoken words…not since WooHyun had broken his heart. Unable to keep his own sense of sadness and loss out of his voice, WooHyun told SungGyu, “I know I’ve disappointed you.”
SungGyu forced himself to turn back and face WooHyun. “I’m trying to control my disappointment. It’s not your fault…if you don’t feel the same way.”
WooHyun closed his eyes, both loathing and thankful for his slippery, lying tongue as he replied, “No, it’s not.”
“But it is your fault when you climb into bed with me, when you know how I feel,” SungGyu told him harshly now. “There has to be personal boundaries. You have to respect my personal space.”
“No,” WooHyun said firmly. “I hate being separated from you…we don’t need personal space between us.”
“Yes, we do.”
“No, it’s wrong.”
SungGyu resisted the urge to toss WooHyun on the floor and snapped, “Get on the top, now!”
Even with only the moonlight to light the room, SungGyu could see the confused look on WooHyun’s face as he moved closer to him, and said, “Won’t this be weird for you? I don’t mind, but you were the one preaching about personal space just seconds ago.”
SungGyu sat up quickly and pushed the younger boy who, was climbing on top of him, off the bed and onto the floor. “I meant on the top bunk, you idiot!”
WooHyun sat up from the floor and frowned at the older boy. “I don’t want to sleep on the top bunk!”
“You are not sleeping with me.”
“What happened to us switching back and forth?”
SungGyu lay back down, refusing to look at WooHyun. “I only did that because you were so freaked out about the thought of tops and bottoms. Since that is no longer a concern of ours, I am going to stay on the bottom bunk.”
WooHyun cringed, remembered that awkward conversation with SungGyu. “I wasn’t freaked out.”
SungGyu’s only response was to snort…loudly.
“I think we should share,” WooHyun persisted.
“No, I am the older of us, not to mention the leader. I get the bunk I want.”
WooHyun couldn’t keep from suggesting as he sat down on the bottom bunk again, “Then just let me sleep with you sometimes, and it should be fine.”
“Why would you want to do that?” SungGyu asked, flabbergasted by the younger member’s request as he sat up in bed. “Why would you want to sleep on the bottom bunk with me?”
“We did it before!” WooHyun quickly pointed out.
SungGyu’s gaze was fixed on WooHyun now. “I didn’t ask why I would want to do it. Why I happily did it before? I want to be close to you. I love our bodies being pressed up next to each other. I sleep best with you beside me. I asked why would you want to sleep with me? So why would you, WooHyun?”
WooHyun gulped and quickly jumped up from the bed, but SungGyu was not done with him. SungGyu got out of bed quickly, very unlike a man with a hurt back, and pushed a startled WooHyun up against the wall of their room.
“So tell me, why would you want to sleep with me?” SungGyu asked his tone suddenly husky, as he pressed his body up against WooHyun’s.
“I am sorry…I will go to bed now,” WooHyun answered, looking at the floor, avoiding his hyung’s gaze. WooHyun knew he should pull away from the leader before his body betrayed him, but his feet felt as if they were glued to the floor.
A gentle hand tilted his chin up until he was looking SungGyu in the eyes. SungGyu’s eyes were shining with newly acquired knowledge. SungGyu asked with confidence, “WooHyun, you are not being a coward, are you?”
“Coward?” WooHyun repeated, trying to ignore the feel of SungGyu’s breath on his face.
SungGyu’s intelligent eyes were still fixed on WooHyun as he explained, “You wouldn’t break my heart because you are a coward, would you? You wouldn’t deny us the chance to be together, just because you are afraid?”
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: SungGyu/WooHyun
Rating: R
Genre: Friendship, Love, Humor, Angst
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
A/N: Although the pairing is WooGyu……..I love all the Infinite boys, and they all show up in this story. I update when I want. I try to stick to a pattern, but I always fail.
Summary: WooHyun’s perfect life…his bed of roses is tossed into disarray when SungGyu makes a bold move changing their friendship forever.
Previous Chapters
Later that morning a nudge to his side had WooHyun waking up to a very displeased SungGyu standing over him. He was still sprawled out on the living room floor where he had fallen asleep, and unfortunately for him, he was still clutching the leader’s phone to his chest. There was another nudge to his side that he recognized now as SungGyu’s foot. The leader asked in a very put out voice, “Why do you have my phone?”
WooHyun looked up at the leader and gave him a weak smile. “Would you believe me if I said-”
“No, I would not,” SungGyu snapped, interrupting him. “Just tell the truth.”
WooHyun swallowed and answered honestly, “I was trying to find out who you were talking to yesterday.”
“Why did I even ask? Did you kill my phone?” SungGyu asked as he reached down and snatched his phone up, wincing as he straightened back up.
WooHyun shook his head in a denial and watched as SungGyu pressed a hand to his lower back, holding it. “Does your back hurt?”
“No,” SungGyu lied as he checked his phone; relieved to find it still working. “So did you by some miracle figure out my password, or did you fall asleep trying?”
“SungYeol caught me, and shamed me into leaving it alone,” WooHyun answered as he got up off the floor, and looked to the couch to find it empty. The younger boy had returned to his bed during the night, leaving WooHyun on the floor to get caught.
“Did you talk to him?”
“About what?”
“You know what about.”
“Umm….” WooHyun coughed to clear his throat. “If I did, would that be a bad thing?”
SungGyu shook his head, turned around, and headed toward the kitchen. “No, you need somebody to talk to, and he already knows. That’s why I roomed you two together in Japan. I was hoping you would talk things over with him.”
WooHyun sighed in relief, and followed the leader into the kitchen. “Did you tell him, or is he just a mind reader?”
“I didn’t tell him,” SungGyu told the younger man as he opened the refrigerator and gazed at its contents. “He is just always looking at us like…like he knows.”
“Sit down, I will find us something to eat,” WooHyun told his friend as he watched how SungGyu carried himself. It was very obvious to WooHyun that SungGyu was in pain.
“I’m completely capable of making myself breakfast,” SungGyu grumbled.
WooHyun walked up to the other man and gently pushed him toward the small table in the kitchen. “Are we channeling Grumpy Grandpa Gyu today? I know you can make your own breakfast, but humor me. Do you want me to go get you some pain medicine?”
SungGyu shook his head, not sitting down. “No, it’s just a muscle. I need to be alert today, especially if we are going to be on television.”
“True, it’s hard enough keeping you awake as it is,” WooHyun pointed out to the older man. “Sit down.”
SungGyu relented and sat down at the table. “So, should I cower in embarrassment in front of SungYeol?”
WooHyun, who was pulling out fruit and cereal from the refrigerator, snorted, “No, he is totally sympathetic towards you. I’m the evil temptress, who led you on.”
SungGyu smiled. “Well, wonderful then.”
“Don’t sound so happy.”
“I’m actually really relieved. Is he going to tell the others?”
“No,” WooHyun answered, setting the food on the table. “You know, I’m really sorry.”
“You said that once before,” SungGyu told him as he reached for a slice of melon.
WooHyun turned around and grabbed two bowls and a couple of spoons. “It could probably bear repeating.”
“Yeah,” SungGyu conceded as WooHyun placed a bowl and a spoon in front of him. “It does help hearing it.”
WooHyun sat down at the table and admitted, “I know I’m crazy, and a little dense.”
“A little?”
“Okay, a whole lot, but you mean a lot to me, and just because we aren’t in that kind of relationship doesn’t mean-”
“Don’t…not now. I know how much our friendship means to you; I don’t need confirmation of something I already know. Let’s just eat breakfast.”
“But”
“No, I’m not in the mood. My back hurts, and we have a television show today; let’s just eat in peace. No drama today.”
“But-”
“If you let us eat in peace, I will ignore the fact that you tried to violate my privacy by stealing my phone.”
WooHyun frowned as he watched SungGyu eat his cereal. He wanted to say more. “I don’t like it that you are keeping things from me.”
“What part of letting it go do you not understand?”
“Hyung, we used to never have secrets from each other…you used to tell me everything.”
SungGyu put his spoon down on the table and gave WooHyun a severe look. “Times change. You are going to have to get used to not knowing everything.”
“Why? What is so important, or secretive, that I can’t know about it?” WooHyun asked, refusing to give in.
“You are just like a dog with a bone! It isn’t that I can’t tell you…it’s that I don’t want to tell you. It’s the principle of the matter,” SungGyu tried to explain.
“If I hadn’t rejected you…would you have told me?”
SungGyu laughed as if the thought was ludicrous. “Hell, no.”
WooHyun propped both elbows up on the table now, surprised by the other man’s admission. “So it has nothing to do with us?”
“Nope,” SungGyu informed him. “It has only to do with me, and I want to keep it that way.”
WooHyun smiled, feeling strangely relived that it had nothing to do with the rejection, but still a little irritated that his best friend was keeping things from him. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t tell you. Ask me anything.”
“You keep me awake most nights with your constant prattling on about your every thought, so there really isn’t any need to ask,” SungGyu said as he pushed his cereal aside and grabbed another piece of melon.
“That must be nice. I wouldn’t know how it feels to have a friend that trusts me absolutely,” WooHyun said with his best greasy smile, as he watched SungGyu attempt to pick the seeds out of his melon.
SungGyu groaned, realized the trap that had been laid for him. “On second thought, I do have a question. How much did SungYeol know?”
WooHyun, who was still watching SungGyu butcher his melon, snatched the offending fruit away from the leader and started picking the seeds out with ease. “He knew we didn’t fight about singing. He thought our feelings were mutual…” WooHyun paused, realizing the sensitivity of the subject for once.
“Oh; well, SungYeol wasn’t the only one. He’s pretty clever, so if he was fooled too, I don’t feel so stupid now,” SungGyu said as he leaned back in the chair, trying to twist his back into a comfortable position.
WooHyun pushed the now seedless melon back to SungGyu. “I didn’t mean to fool you. I feel really bad about it.”
“I know you do,” SungGyu told him as he started eating the melon. “What else did he say?”
“Mostly rude, insolent things; all directed at me.”
SungGyu just smiled. “Well, better him than me.”
“What?”
“You would not like me saying those things to you,” SungGyu pointed out. “You wouldn’t handle it well at all, since I’m not allowed to be mad at you.”
“No,” WooHyun sighed in agreement. “You are not. He also said that I’m your most important person.”
“You already knew that,” SungGyu said, unashamed, as he popped the last piece of melon into his mouth.
“Yeah,” WooHyun conceded and looked at his friend sincerely. “You are mine too.”’
SungGyu exhaled a breath and gave WooHyun a bitter smile. “For now.”
“Forever!”
SungGyu shook his head at his younger, more naïve member. “Forever is a long time.”
“No, it isn’t,” WooHyun said, smiling as he remembered his plan from the night before. “I thought of a plan, a way that we can always be together.”
“I don’t think I want to know,” SungGyu said in dread, knowing WooHyun well enough to be very afraid of any plans he came up with. His last plan had been a surprise birthday party for DongWoo that had left the birthday boy in tears.
WooHyun rubbed his hands together. “It’s wonderful! You will love it.”
“Namstar, just don’t…let it go. I’m trying to get out of this mood. If you make me grumpier I’m going to tell the other members who to blame.”
“No, this will make you happy! It’s genius!”
“I highly doubt that.”
“I think we should marry sisters!” WooHyun announced, unable to keep it inside any longer.
SungGyu groaned. “Stop…just stop.”
“No, it’s a great plan! We should marry nice sisters, and live together in a huge house. We can even swap them back and forth. I don’t mind…actually I think we should swap them once a month,” WooHyun happily informed his best friend. “I don’t mind sharing wives with you!”
SungGyu just stared at the younger man, speechless.
“You see this way we can always be together, and it looks good to the public. Best friends that married sisters. It’s a moving story, and nobody has to know about the wife swapping, except us. Well, the sisters would have to know, but sisters are used to sharing aren’t they?”
“Swapping!” SungGyu shouted stunned, his lisp suddenly returning. “Swap…sissters, share…swap…swap sisster wives!”
“Yes,” WooHyun said beaming. “I told you it’s a fantastic idea! Just genius!”
“Sssswap! Sharing wives! Sisssster wives!”
WooHyun wiped his face where SungGyu’s spit had landed on it. It dawned on him, with the sudden emergence of the lisp, that the older boy was not pleased. “I thought it was a good idea.”
SungGyu glared a hole into WooHyun and seethed, “I can’t decide if you are the most insensitive person alive, or if you really are this dense!”
“He’s that dense,” SungYeol, who had been awoken by the leader’s shouting, happily answered as he entered the room with a very sleepy SungJong.
SungGyu reached out a hand for SungJong and ordered, “Ya, Lee SungJong, help me back to my room. I have to find my pain medicine, so I can overdose myself and be rid of WooHyun’s insanity forever.”
“That’s not funny! Don’t joke about stuff like that!” WooHyun said, reprimanding SungGyu. “I really thought it was a good idea.”
SungJong followed the leader’s orders and walked over and helped the leader stand up. “Hyung, are you sick?”
“No, my back is just giving me trouble this morning,” SungGyu answered, pulling on SungJong to help him stand.
“Oh,” SungJong answered full of sympathy as he watched the leader try to stretch. “And WooHyun was bothering you when you weren’t feeling well?”
“Yes, he was,” SungGyu replied, heading out of the kitchen with the maknae.
SungJong looked back at WooHyun, gave him a defiant stare and said in a sweet voice for the leader as they left the kitchen, “He should be a better dongsaeng to you. You should have woken me up, Hyung. I would take good care of you.”
“That little shit,” WooHyun cursed under his breath.
SungYeol, who had taken a seat at the table, watched a fuming WooHyun. “So I guess SungGyu didn’t take the whole swapping sister wives idea well?”
WooHyun, who was still glowering in the direction that SungGyu and SungJong had left, answered, “No, not well at all.”
“Imagine that.”
************
SungGyu’s mood had gone from bad to terrible. WooHyun, who was keeping a close watch on him, had noticed the steady decline in the leader’s mood. He watched with observant eyes as the leader paced back and forth in the small room, trying to loosen up his sore back and control his mounting irritation. They were in the middle of a break as they filmed for the television show, Weekly Idol. Somehow the show had turned into the ‘Let’s Bully SungGyu Show’; the hosts were having a ball giving SungGyu hell, and the other members were joyfully joining in.
None more so than the maknae, who had listed every wrong or perceived wrong the leader had ever done him. WooHyun had enjoyed watching the smug maknae turn into a total rat. While SungJong rejoiced in all the attention he was getting as the poor abused maknae, WooHyun could tell SungGyu was growing less and less amused. SungGyu was pretending to take all the negative attention in good spirits, but WooHyun knew differently.
And even though WooHyun could tell SungGyu was growing more and more sensitive to the criticism aimed at him on the show, this had not stopped WooHyun from joining in. He had brought up the unfortunate quiz show incident, sparking a lively response from the testy leader. WooHyun would never have told what really happened that day, but the response from SungGyu was television gold.
He had done his best to avoid SungGyu for most of the morning, knowing the other man was annoyed with him. He had also made sure to sit apart from the leader. After some caffeine and the light of a new day, WooHyun was beginning to understand why his plan for them to marry and swap sisters…might not have been embraced by the other man.
“Hey, did you hear what we have to do next?” DongWoo asked as he entered the small break room.
“Hear what?” L, who was getting his hair touched up by a stylist, asked.
SungJong, who was standing beside DongWoo answered, “They want us to play that kissing paper game.”
“No way!” Hoya groaned from the sofa where he sat with WooHyun.
“I thought we were going to do that for our next concert intermission? You know, the couple contest,” SungYeol stated as he leaned against a make-up counter in the back of the room.
“I don’t have a couple,” SungJong pouted.
SungGyu, who was still pacing, offered, “You can have WooHyun.”
“No,” SungJong answered quickly. “He would probably bite me.”
WooHyun just gave the maknae a toothy grin in response, but on the inside he was dreading the game. How could he and SungGyu play such a game? What if SungGyu got swept away and couldn’t stop himself? Or worse, what if he got swept away too? He paled, realizing he had never disliked the kissing, or any of it for that matter, his conscience evilly reminded him. He pushed those thoughts away…his mind was not allowed to go there.
“We don’t have to pair up in couples. We can save that for the concert,” Geonam, their manager, told them.
“I totally agree, let’s save it for our concert,” WooHyun spoke up, unable to hide his relief.
“My poor handsome darling, don’t be too heartbroken,” SungYeol teased L as he came up from behind him and massaged the younger man’s shoulders. “Our lips shall not meet today.”
L smiled at SungYeol through the mirror and told him, “You know I like to keep our kisses private.”
SungYeol winked. “Later then.”
“Later,” L replied, winking back at the taller man. They both silently declared this round of gay chicken a draw and withdrew.
“Well, I don’t want to disappoint the YaDong fans,” DongWoo stated. “I don’t want to seem like some kind of cheater.”
WooHyun shook his head at the older man and reminded him, “It’s just a game. Nobody…well, no sane person takes it seriously.”
“But still, I hate to disappoint the YaDong fans,” DongWoo insisted.
Geonam rolled his eyes and told DongWoo, “You can do what you want. One couple probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. The fans do like this sort of thing.”
“True and we are the most popular couple,” Hoya pointed out.
“In your dreams,” WooHyun spat back.
“Okay, this will be the order then,” the manager told them. “SungGyu, SungYeol, WooHyun, L, SungJong, Hoya, and DongWoo. Now let’s get back to filming,” the manager ordered, causing most of the members to hurry from the room.
“Aren’t I the lucky one,” SungYeol said as he walked up to SungGyu and put an arm around his waist.
SungGyu couldn’t keep from laughing at the taller boy. “I’m touched.”
“Did you say touched? What do you say we really touch? I will drop the paper…it would be classic television,” SungYeol suggested with a wink.
SungGyu whispered, “What makes you think I’m willing to kiss a boy?”
SungYeol, who was very aware of the fact that WooHyun had lingered behind to eavesdrop, licked his lips and said seductively, “A little birdie might have told me…plus, it would guarantee a laugh.”
“I’m game, and if they don’t approve they can always cut it out,” SungGyu told the taller member.
“Oh, they will like it. They will probably make us reshoot it till it’s perfect,” SungYeol said for WooHyun’s benefit. “I hope you don’t mind kissing me a hundred times or so.”
WooHyun’s bottom jaw was still on the floor when SungYeol and SungGyu exited the room arm in arm.
***************************
“This is not the arrangement that was agreed to,” SungGyu hissed under his breath.
WooHyun, who had squeezed in between SungYeol and SungGyu right before filming started, explained, “You are not feeling well; it would be wrong to make you touch lips with SungYeol. Who knows where they have been?”
SungGyu glared at the younger man, trying his best to intimidate him. “Switch places with SungYeol. Now.”
WooHyun didn’t budge. “You should be thankful that I am looking out for you.”
“It’s just a game. I don’t mind.”
WooHyun turned to look at SungGyu, his eyes blazing with jealousy. “Oh, I bet you don’t.”
SungGyu lost his calm, grabbed WooHyun by the arm and whispered harshly in his ear. “What did I tell you about acting like a territorial lover?”
WooHyun whispered back to SungGyu, undaunted, “I’m not being territorial! I was just thinking of you. This show has been rough on you…you need a friend at your side. I am your best friend, so who better to be at your side? I know this ‘gang-up on the leader’ crap is really bothering you.”
SungGyu loosened his grip on WooHyun. “It’s just a show…it’s supposed to be funny. I am just grumpy today. It’s okay…really. You don’t need to worry. I’m a big boy, I can handle it.”
“I know you can, but there is another issue.”
“What?”
“I am not going to let the blasted porno couple move past us. We have to maintain our position as the most popular couple in Infinite.”
SungGyu let go of WooHyun, and shook his head. “You just aren’t right.”
**********
It had been a long day…like all their days seemed to be lately. After the television recording, they had spent the remainder of the day at a magazine photo shoot, and they had ended the day filming for a commercial. It was half past midnight before the boys made it home.
WooHyun had watched as SungGyu headed immediately for bed after issuing a warning to the members that they had to be at the dance studio at 7am, and he wouldn’t be accepting any excuses tomorrow. The other members had verbalized their understanding, promising to head to bed quickly. Once SungGyu was gone the other five members ignored their eating curfew, and invaded the kitchen, finding anything they could to eat. They had only broken once to eat during the day, and that had been in the early afternoon; they were all hungry. WooHyun even found himself in the kitchen, ignoring the curfew and chomping on an apple.
WooHyun watched as his hungry members quickly stuffed down whatever food they could find. DongWoo warned them more than once that SungGyu wasn’t kidding, and tomorrow’s practice was guaranteed to be rough. The other members, who had noticed their leader had been more quiet than usual, took heed of the second eldest’s words of warning. L, Hoya, and DongWoo were the first off to bed, with SungYeol and SungJong close behind them.
WooHyun stayed in the kitchen, regretting his actions earlier in the day. He now knew that SungYeol had manipulated him, and he was deeply ashamed of himself. He should not have made SungGyu play the card kissing game with him. He had been extremely jealous at the time, and unable to think clearly. How was he supposed to convince SungGyu that he only wanted friendship from him…when his every action screamed otherwise?
If the leader had been angry, he had carefully controlled his anger after the television filming, hiding it from it all. He had gone quiet, and he hadn’t lashed out at any of the members. Not even SungJong, who WooHyun would have loved to smack for his actions during the recording.
SungGyu had not even been short tempered or unfriendly with WooHyun…he had treated him just like he treated the other members. And WooHyun hated it. He knew that if he were smart, he would go climb onto his top bunk and go to sleep. But as he got up from the table and headed to their bedroom; he was once again reminded that his brain very rarely had any say when it came to his relationship with SungGyu. And when he did listen to his brain…he only ended up hurting them both. He knew it was necessary, but he hated it.
He entered the room, without turning on the light. Moonlight shone through the window, casting a soft light in the room. This allowed him to see the older boy, who he felt strangely separated from. Separated…yes, WooHyun settled on that word to describe how he felt. They were separated, and it was tearing him up inside.
SungGyu was sleeping on his back with his left arm stretched out across the mattress of his lower bunk. WooHyun bent down and gently moved SungGyu’s arm until it was resting on the leader’s stomach. WooHyun swallowed nervously, knowing if his hyung woke up he would not be happy with him, but there was only a slim chance of that happening. SungGyu slept like the dead.
WooHyun crawled onto the bed with the other man as carefully as he could. He laid down on his right side, carefully balancing himself on the edge of the small bed. He kept his eyes open, watching SungGyu in the moonlight; yearning for the days when he could have collapsed on the bed beside the other man without fear of rejection. He missed the times in the old dorm when they awoke in the mornings all tangled up in each other. Other, more intimate memories of waking up together flooded his mind, and he closed his eyes, pushing them away.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
WooHyun, who had been lost in his own world of regrets, opened his eyes to find the leader’s head had turned to face him. “I…I thought you were asleep.”
“I was, and then you woke me up.”
“I didn’t think I would, you usually sleep like a rock.”
SungGyu turned away from WooHyun and looked up at the bottom of the top bunk. “Not any more.”
WooHyun winced, hearing the unspoken words…not since WooHyun had broken his heart. Unable to keep his own sense of sadness and loss out of his voice, WooHyun told SungGyu, “I know I’ve disappointed you.”
SungGyu forced himself to turn back and face WooHyun. “I’m trying to control my disappointment. It’s not your fault…if you don’t feel the same way.”
WooHyun closed his eyes, both loathing and thankful for his slippery, lying tongue as he replied, “No, it’s not.”
“But it is your fault when you climb into bed with me, when you know how I feel,” SungGyu told him harshly now. “There has to be personal boundaries. You have to respect my personal space.”
“No,” WooHyun said firmly. “I hate being separated from you…we don’t need personal space between us.”
“Yes, we do.”
“No, it’s wrong.”
SungGyu resisted the urge to toss WooHyun on the floor and snapped, “Get on the top, now!”
Even with only the moonlight to light the room, SungGyu could see the confused look on WooHyun’s face as he moved closer to him, and said, “Won’t this be weird for you? I don’t mind, but you were the one preaching about personal space just seconds ago.”
SungGyu sat up quickly and pushed the younger boy who, was climbing on top of him, off the bed and onto the floor. “I meant on the top bunk, you idiot!”
WooHyun sat up from the floor and frowned at the older boy. “I don’t want to sleep on the top bunk!”
“You are not sleeping with me.”
“What happened to us switching back and forth?”
SungGyu lay back down, refusing to look at WooHyun. “I only did that because you were so freaked out about the thought of tops and bottoms. Since that is no longer a concern of ours, I am going to stay on the bottom bunk.”
WooHyun cringed, remembered that awkward conversation with SungGyu. “I wasn’t freaked out.”
SungGyu’s only response was to snort…loudly.
“I think we should share,” WooHyun persisted.
“No, I am the older of us, not to mention the leader. I get the bunk I want.”
WooHyun couldn’t keep from suggesting as he sat down on the bottom bunk again, “Then just let me sleep with you sometimes, and it should be fine.”
“Why would you want to do that?” SungGyu asked, flabbergasted by the younger member’s request as he sat up in bed. “Why would you want to sleep on the bottom bunk with me?”
“We did it before!” WooHyun quickly pointed out.
SungGyu’s gaze was fixed on WooHyun now. “I didn’t ask why I would want to do it. Why I happily did it before? I want to be close to you. I love our bodies being pressed up next to each other. I sleep best with you beside me. I asked why would you want to sleep with me? So why would you, WooHyun?”
WooHyun gulped and quickly jumped up from the bed, but SungGyu was not done with him. SungGyu got out of bed quickly, very unlike a man with a hurt back, and pushed a startled WooHyun up against the wall of their room.
“So tell me, why would you want to sleep with me?” SungGyu asked his tone suddenly husky, as he pressed his body up against WooHyun’s.
“I am sorry…I will go to bed now,” WooHyun answered, looking at the floor, avoiding his hyung’s gaze. WooHyun knew he should pull away from the leader before his body betrayed him, but his feet felt as if they were glued to the floor.
A gentle hand tilted his chin up until he was looking SungGyu in the eyes. SungGyu’s eyes were shining with newly acquired knowledge. SungGyu asked with confidence, “WooHyun, you are not being a coward, are you?”
“Coward?” WooHyun repeated, trying to ignore the feel of SungGyu’s breath on his face.
SungGyu’s intelligent eyes were still fixed on WooHyun as he explained, “You wouldn’t break my heart because you are a coward, would you? You wouldn’t deny us the chance to be together, just because you are afraid?”