Bed of Roses, Chapter Eleven
Title Bed of Roses
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: SungGyu/WooHyun
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Friendship, Love, Humor, Angst
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
Summary: WooHyun’s perfect life…his bed of roses is tossed into disarray when SungGyu makes a bold move changing their friendship forever.
A/N: You guys were so awesome and got to three pages of comments for the first time, so instead of replying to my comments from the last chapter you are getting this chapter a week early. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for all the comments!
Previous Chapters
WooHyun pulled away from DongWoo to look him in the face. “You don’t know what you are saying. The risk is too great.”
“No, it isn’t,” DongWoo told him firmly. DongWoo’s usual silliness had vanished as he became the calm, understanding hyung that WooHyun so badly needed. “What we have gone through for the last couple of weeks is way worse. If you feel the same way he does, then tell him. We have your backs.”
L stepped up and rested a hand on WooHyun’s back to emphasize the point. “We do.”
SungYeol, who was still leaning against the wall, couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “What did I tell you?”
“We are the best group, ever!” SungJong said, pumping the air with his fists. “It’s not natural for you and Leader to be apart.”
WooHyun wiped the last of the tears from his face and turned to look at Hoya, who had remained in the back, lingering close to the door. “And what about you, what do you think?”
Hoya gulped uncomfortably and told WooHyun honestly, “I’m not going to lie. It’s a shock, but I am not going to tell anybody.”
SungJong wrapped his arm around WooHyun and explained, “He’s just mad because he was wrong, and I was right.”
“I am not!” Hoya denied. “I think some of you are not grasping the full extent of the consequences if this ever gets out. I understand why WooHyun was so resistant to confess his feelings. This is a big deal.”
SungYeol frowned at Hoya and told him, “Well, duh! I know how disastrous it could be, but luckily they have us to watch out for them.”
“Of course we will protect them,” Hoya confirmed. “I am just saying it isn’t going to be as simple as some of you think.”
“No, it won’t be,” L agreed, but quickly added, “but Infinite has never taken the easy path before…why start now? We can do this.”
“I think we are forgetting about somebody,” DongWoo said with a huge grin, suddenly feeling very excited.
“The CEO already knows,” WooHyun assured DongWoo. “SungGyu has told him everything.”
DongWoo grinned bigger. “I know that. I have been SungGyu’s main confidant for days now. But I’m talking about somebody else. Somebody who doesn’t know what has just been decided.”
Hoya frowned and spoke up, “I don’t think anybody else should know.”
“Me either,” L quickly agreed.
SungYeol laughed loudly, realizing who DongWoo was talking about. “SungGyu doesn’t know.”
“Oh!” WooHyun exclaimed.
DongWoo shook his shoulders up and down and did a little dance, unable to contain his excitement. “He is in there recording, and hasn’t a clue. This is going to be great!”
SungYeol grimaced and added cautiously, “I think he might be a little irritated…”
DongWoo stopped dancing suddenly, realizing that SungYeol might be right. “Yeah, I have to admit that WooHyun had him going nuts. At times he really believed that WooHyun just thought of him as a close friend, and at other times he was convinced that WooHyun was full of bull.”
“I am full of bull,” WooHyun quickly confirmed.
SungYeol walked away from the wall he was leaning against and wrapped an arm around WooHyun’s shoulders. “That was obvious to anybody who wasn’t blinded by love.”
“Is he going to be happy…or mad?” WooHyun asked DongWoo, feeling the old panic setting in again. SungGyu had begged him multiple times to be honest with him, and he had denied him every time.
“He’ll be ecstatic!” SungJong answered for DongWoo, imagining the happy reunion of his Infinite parents.
SungYeol cringed. “Or not. You did make him pretty miserable.”
“He might be mad at first…” DongWoo paused but quickly added after seeing the dejected look on WooHyun’s face, “…but soon his happiness will outweigh his anger. He misses you. I know he does.”
“You should go tell him,” L told WooHyun. “Forget about us, go tell him. You should be talking to him about this, not us.”
Hoya shifted his legs uneasily and suggested, “Or maybe you should wait till after our activities for the day are finished. You two have a lot to talk about. You should discuss it privately, not around us or anybody else. It sure isn’t something we want anybody to overhear.”
SungYeol arched an eyebrow and scrutinized Hoya before asking him, “Homophobic much, Hoya?”
“No,” Hoya denied. “It’s just weird.”
“So you have said,” SungYeol told Hoya, still watching him.
“Well, they are not interested in you, so I don’t know why it would be weird for you? You need to be happy for them,” L told Hoya. L found himself getting excited along with DongWoo and SungJong at the prospect of the main vocals reuniting.
“Hey! I am not homophobic! I would much rather them be gay than hate each other…it’s just that I was caught off guard,” Hoya said in his defense.
“I told you!” SungJong pointed out triumphantly. “I told you they were in love, but you didn’t believe me!”
“That’s because you’re usually wrong,” Hoya said in his defense.
SungJong folded his arms and snapped back at Hoya, “Well, I wasn’t this time.”
An overly sensitive Hoya responded, “For once!”
“Hoya, if this makes you uncomfortable, I totally understand. Honestly, it makes me uncomfortable too. This is the first time I’ve admitted anything aloud, heck I usually won’t admit it to myself either. I mean, I don’t have to tell SungGyu. We can just keep it our little secret. I don’t have to tell him anything,” WooHyun quickly offered, feeling that old fear creeping back up on him, and scrambling for a way out.
“Yes, you do!” SungYeol, DongWoo, L and SungJong all objected.
Hoya winced, feeling terribly unsupportive. “He has a right to know…this isn’t about how I feel. We are a team, and I’ll have your back.”
DongWoo walked over to Hoya and gave him a gentle punch to the stomach. “See, he’s already seen the light. To be honest, I was really surprised too, at first. It was the last thing I was expecting when SungGyu stormed into my room that morning.”
“Really?” Hoya asked, feeling some relief.
DongWoo nodded his head. “It was a little weird, I have to admit.”
“Do you still find it…a little weird?” Hoya asked.
DongWoo shook his head. “No, not after seeing how miserable they both were. It’s just not right for them to not to get along and be together. I just want them to be happy.”
“Me too,” Hoya agreed.
SungJong clapped his hands together, and told WooHyun, “Go tell him already!”
“Or maybe not,” SungYeol, who still had an arm wrapped around WooHyun’s shoulders, said after doing some serious thinking. “Hoya is right. The less people that know, the better-that needs to be our motto. It could really affect the group. Some of the people working on this album, I don’t think we should trust them. I think we need to keep this between the seven of us and the CEO.”
L shook his head. “I hate to say it but you are right.”
“I usually am,” SungYeol reminded everyone.
Hoya rolled his eyes and asked, “Do the managers know?”
DongWoo frowned and looked at WooHyun. “Do they?”
“I sure didn’t tell them,” WooHyun answered quickly.
“They don’t act like they know,” SungJong pointed out. “Hyung Hyoan was really mad in Taiwan and after talking to the CEO…he still looked clueless.”
SungYeol smirked. “He often does.”
Hoya pondered the question and stated, “I don’t think the CEO would have told him. He’s too high strung.”
“I agree, I don’t think Hyung Hyoan knows,” L concurred.
“I don’t think Manger JungRyul knows either, but Hyung Geonam is a totally different story,” SungYeol pointed out. “He’s crafty; we wouldn’t know if he knew or not.”
WooHyun nodded his head. “Yes, if any manager knows it would be Hyung Geonam, but for all we know the CEO told them all; but we can’t tell anybody. Not the people at this studio, or anybody else. That includes your families.”
“Agreed, nobody else gets to know,” L agreed.
Hoya nodded his head. “Nobody.”
“What about SungGyu, can he know?” SungJong asked exasperated. “When does he get to know?”
“Later tonight, when we are back at the dorm,” WooHyun answered, paling at the thought of finally confiding in SungGyu. He couldn’t help but feel anxious.
DongWoo smiled hugely and proclaimed, “I can’t wait to tell him.”
“I will tell him!” WooHyun quickly corrected the older member. “And I will do it privately!”
DongWoo and SungJong instantly frowned. SungYeol let go of WooHyun’s shoulder and objected, “I think I should be there in case you screw it up.”
“I am not going to screw it up!” WooHyun protested.
SungYeol squinted down at the main vocal, furrowing his brows and looking extremely skeptical, which had WooHyun quickly adding, “I could always write down what I am going to say and have you approve it first.”
“That would be wise,” SungYeol said with a nod of approval.
Hoya looked around the bathroom and just shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Crazy…this is just crazy.”
SungYeol gave Hoya a deadpan look and told him, “This isn’t even slightly crazy, compared to what has come out of WooHyun’s mouth in the recent weeks. Someday remind me to tell you about sister swapping.”
Before Hoya could respond to SungYeol the door to the bathroom swung open and Manager JungRyul walked in, glaring at all of them. “What are you all doing? Why are you hiding in the bathroom? We have an album to make, not to mention a photo shoot we are already late for!”
The members immediately apologized.
“I want DongWoo, SungJong, L and Hoya in the van now. We have to get to the photo shoot. SungGyu is already out there waiting on you loafers,” the manager quickly told them. He then turned to SungYeol and WooHyun, and ordered, “And you two have a lot of making up to do in the studio, since you decided to sleep half the day away.”
“We are not going to the photo shoot?” WooHyun blurted out unable to hide his panic. He did not trust the always hyper DongWoo and the romantic minded SungJong not to spill their guts to SungGyu the first chance they got.
“No, you’re not! Don’t worry, you will get plenty of chances to make pretty poses for the camera, but right now the album is a little more important,” the manager snapped back at WooHyun as he ushered the boys out of the bathroom.
WooHyun leaped forward and grabbed both DongWoo and SungJong by the arms and begged, “Don’t tell him! It has to come from me.”
“We won’t say a word,” DongWoo assured WooHyun, but the wild look of excitement in his eyes only added to WooHyun’s worries.
SungJong smiled brightly at WooHyun and brought his hand up to his mouth and pretended to zip it shut.
***************
“Quit kicking the back of my seat!” SungGyu shouted at DongWoo, who sat behind him in the van. DongWoo was a ball of energy, and it was proving impossible for him to be still.
“Sorry! I’m so sorry! So, so, so sorry. So sorry, so sorry! Sorry is the hardest word! Sorry, I’m so sorry! So, so sorry!” DongWoo rapped back to SungGyu.
“Who gave him sugar?” SungGyu demanded from the front of the van.
“He’s just happy, Hyung!” SungJong told SungGyu from the back of the van. “It’s a happy day.”
SungGyu frowned as he looked through the mirror to eye his members. Hoya looked slightly nauseated, L looked smug, SungJong couldn’t stop smiling, and DongWoo was even more hyper than normal. “Dare I ask why it’s a happy day?”
“Because love is in the air, Hyung. Love the grandest of all emotions! It’s floating around in the air blessing all our lives. It’s the sweetest of scents,” SungJong told SungGyu and then inhaled a deep breath as if he smelled a glorious fragrance.
SungGyu swung around in his seat to eye his members suspiciously. “What? Love in the air? Why do you say that?”
L, who was sitting beside him, elbowed SungJong in the stomach, causing SungJong to add quickly, “Hoya Hyung is in love.”
SungGyu turned his focus on Hoya, whose mouth was gaping open at SungJong’s announcement. “Is this true, Dongsaeng?”
“Yes, it’s true!” DongWoo blurted out quickly. “He’s in love! But not with me…not that it would be wrong if he were! I’d be flattered, but not interested…but I’d be flattered!”
“Shut up!” Hoya managed to get out over the sounds of L and SungJong cracking up in the back seat.
“It wouldn’t be wrong if we were,” DongWoo continued to explain with exaggerated hand movements. “I mean, it would be wrong for me, but not wrong in general. Love is good. There should be more love in the world.”
SungJong said through his giggles, “Don’t you think so, Leader Hyung? Wouldn’t more love in the world make it even greater?”
DongWoo smiled at SungGyu, while L clamped his hands over SungJong’s mouth in the backseat. “All you need is love…wise words,” DongWoo told SungGyu, who was now glaring a hole through his head with his eyes. “The British are very wise people, especially those Beatle people.”
“Stop talking! None of you kids are allowed to talk for the rest of the day!” SungGyu yelled at his obviously insane members.
******************
“Where is SungGyu?” an alarmed WooHyun asked as the other members returned to the studio after the photo-shoot without the leader. He jumped up from the chair he had been sitting in to join the other members.
SungYeol, who had stayed at the studio with WooHyun, furrowed his brows, worried. He didn’t get up from the black leather couch he was sprawled out on, but he did sit up. “Where is he?”
DongWoo quickly explained, “He’s riding with Geonam; he said he didn’t want to ride with us.”
“Why didn’t he want to ride with you? Why? What did you do?” WooHyun demanded as the panic started setting in.
SungJong sat down beside SungYeol on the leather couch and answered, “We didn’t do anything. We were just really hyper.”
“We were not hyper-you and DongWoo were hyper!” Hoya quickly corrected SungJong. “They were going on and on about love and crap.”
“They didn’t tell him. They just annoyed him,” L quickly confirmed.
“They irritated me, too,” Hoya couldn’t keep from adding.
WooHyun sat back down in his chair, still looking worried. “You annoyed him so much that he wouldn’t ride with you?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” SungYeol told WooHyun. “He does come by the nickname Grumpy Gyu honestly.”
SungJong leaned back against the couch with a huge smile. “He won’t be Grumpy Gyu anymore, though! He will be Happy Gyu! He will be super nice and he won’t boss me around anymore.”
SungYeol turned and smirked at the clueless SungJong, and asked, “So do you think SungGyu has been really mean the last couple of weeks?”
SungJong shook his head quickly. “Nope, he’s been extra nice. I love it! He will be even nicer once he and WooHyun are together. Love makes everybody nicer.”
WooHyun just shook his head at the delusional maknae.
“You are such a little fool,” SungYeol told SungJong. “Grumpy Gyu that we all know and love thought he was in a tentative relationship with WooHyun for years-this nicer Gyu-is the dumped version. Once they are back to being the dynamic duo then it will be the return of Grumpy Gyu all over again.”
“I thought you two never…” L trailed off awkwardly not sure how he should complete the sentence.
“We haven’t,” WooHyun confirmed.
“Only oral,” SungYeol happily added, loving the blush that spread across WooHyun’s cheeks.
“Urgh,” Hoya, who was looking a little green, mumbled and sat down in a chair. “I don’t want to know this. This isn’t any of our business! I really don’t want to know.”
“Shut up, SungYeol,” WooHyun told the tallest member and quickly explained for the others, “we were not a couple, but we knew we liked each other. I might have led SungGyu to think that we would be more in the future, because I really believed that at times, but-”
“But when it got to the big moment, he totally wimped out,” SungYeol finished.
WooHyun swallowed down his growing irritation at SungYeol, and calmly explained. “I did wimp out. I got really scared of the consequences, and I let my fear take control. I said things I shouldn’t have, but that is over now. You guys will keep me honest.”
“We will,” DongWoo confirmed.
WooHyun stared at the door waiting for SungGyu to walk in. “Good,” WooHyun told them. “There has been enough lies and hurt to last a lifetime.”
*************
“Your friend isn’t anybody I know of, is he? Is he a celebrity?” Manager Geonam asked as he pulled up to the entrance of the luxury penthouses, where only the extremely rich could afford to live. When the manager had been told to take SungGyu to meet his friend, he hadn’t expected this kind of wealth. If SungGyu was meeting up with another celebrity it would make keeping it a secret doubly hard.
SungGyu shook his head. “No, he just likes famous people. He isn’t famous himself.”
Warning alarms went off in the manager’s head. Was this some kind of fame seeking whore? Groupies, no matter how rich they were, were not to be trusted. “How exactly do you know him? He’s older, I assume?”
“He’s a few years older. I knew him before I joined Woollim. He likes the rock scene. He and his boyfriend at the time were always checking out the clubs back then, looking for new talent,” SungGyu quickly explained. “I haven’t seen him in years, but he still calls and checks in with me at times. He is dating some Japanese rocker now. When I knew him, he wasn’t advertising the fact that he was wealthy.”
“What Japanese rocker?”
“I have no idea. He won’t even tell me. He’s very discreet.”
“Well, that’s good. What will the rocker think of you two…meeting up?” The manager couldn’t keep from asking; he was not pleased with any of this. It just seemed wrong to the manager. That the CEO was not only allowing, but helping arrange for SungGyu to hook up with some man for casual sex, boggled his mind. SungGyu might be the oldest of the members, but to Geonam he was still just a kid; a kid whose heart belonged to another.
SungGyu laughed. “Flower would never agree to be in a monogamous relationship. He’s all about personal freedom.”
Geonam frowned and turned to SungGyu unable to stop himself from dishing out advice. “Be careful.”
“I will be,” SungGyu assured him as he stared out the car’s window at the luxury penthouses.
“I will be here to get you at 5am…you better be ready,” Geonam ordered. “I am not going to wait for you.”
“I will be ready, but until then my phone is going to be off,” SungGyu told the manager as he pulled out his phone and flipped it off.
The manager couldn’t help but notice how SungGyu eyed his phone. “WooHyun won’t like that.”
SungGyu jerked his head quickly to look at the manager, surprised by the mention of WooHyun. “No, but it’s weird between us right now. He might not even try to call me.”
“I know it’s been weird,” Geonam replied. “But JungRyul says he’s much better today. The studio reports he’s doing great.”
“That’s good,” SungGyu said uneasily, not wanting to be reminded of WooHyun at the moment.
“The rumor is that you two made up,” Geonam told SungGyu, knowing the young man was not comfortable with the subject. He hated to pry, but he felt compelled to. This all seemed so wrong to him. He had the urge to drive off with SungGyu, but he had his orders.
SungGyu swallowed nervously and replied, “I was really mad at him-”
“I don’t blame WooHyun,” Geonam said, interrupting SungGyu. “It would be really hard to be in his shoes. I mean, you are obviously okay with meeting up with rich gay men for casual sex, but WooHyun isn’t made that way.”
SungGyu’s mouth dropped open, completely shocked by Geonam’s words. “Hyung…”
“I’m not judging you, I’m just being honest. If it was some hot actress you were meeting up with I’d probably be congratulating you. I know I’m a little homophobic, I won’t lie; but most of us are in this country. I do know that even if it was a hot actress, I’d still feel bad for WooHyun.”
“Feel bad for him…” SungGyu paused, confused. Why would the manger feel bad for WooHyun? What exactly had the CEO told him?
“He was so traumatized that night at the concert. I won’t forget the look on his face. I couldn’t even scold him for holding us up. I could see how-”
“Hyung, I have to go,” SungGyu practically shouted as he opened the car door, eager to escape. SungGyu didn’t need the manager to tell him how badly he had failed with WooHyun that night. WooHyun was a constant reminder of what happened after the concert, and how SungGyu had made the biggest mistake of his life. That one night had changed everything between him and WooHyun. Nothing between them would ever be the same thanks to that one dreadful night.
“When he heard the stage manager cursing, damning, and firing those gay dancers, you could tell how traumatized he was. The stage manager was being an ass; but really, the dancers were careless to get caught. Calling them filthy faggots was uncalled for though. He was really cruel to those poor dancers,” the manager continued.
SungGyu, who had quickly gotten out of the car, came to a complete stop. He stood completely still, listening to the manager intently.
“It had to be rough for WooHyun to hear such things. To have such a reminder of how South Korea views homosexuality thrown at him, and at that time of all times. It didn’t help that the stage manager was throwing Infinite’s name around, either; as if those two gay back-up dancers could be the ruin of Infinite.”
SungGyu stood completely still, speechless.
The manager reached across the seat and grabbed the door SungGyu had left open. “It’s not as if they were the two main vocals, now is it?” the manager asked SungGyu, and then he slammed the door shut. SungGyu watched as the manager drove off, leaving him standing at the curb.
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: SungGyu/WooHyun
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Friendship, Love, Humor, Angst
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
Summary: WooHyun’s perfect life…his bed of roses is tossed into disarray when SungGyu makes a bold move changing their friendship forever.
A/N: You guys were so awesome and got to three pages of comments for the first time, so instead of replying to my comments from the last chapter you are getting this chapter a week early. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for all the comments!
Previous Chapters
WooHyun pulled away from DongWoo to look him in the face. “You don’t know what you are saying. The risk is too great.”
“No, it isn’t,” DongWoo told him firmly. DongWoo’s usual silliness had vanished as he became the calm, understanding hyung that WooHyun so badly needed. “What we have gone through for the last couple of weeks is way worse. If you feel the same way he does, then tell him. We have your backs.”
L stepped up and rested a hand on WooHyun’s back to emphasize the point. “We do.”
SungYeol, who was still leaning against the wall, couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “What did I tell you?”
“We are the best group, ever!” SungJong said, pumping the air with his fists. “It’s not natural for you and Leader to be apart.”
WooHyun wiped the last of the tears from his face and turned to look at Hoya, who had remained in the back, lingering close to the door. “And what about you, what do you think?”
Hoya gulped uncomfortably and told WooHyun honestly, “I’m not going to lie. It’s a shock, but I am not going to tell anybody.”
SungJong wrapped his arm around WooHyun and explained, “He’s just mad because he was wrong, and I was right.”
“I am not!” Hoya denied. “I think some of you are not grasping the full extent of the consequences if this ever gets out. I understand why WooHyun was so resistant to confess his feelings. This is a big deal.”
SungYeol frowned at Hoya and told him, “Well, duh! I know how disastrous it could be, but luckily they have us to watch out for them.”
“Of course we will protect them,” Hoya confirmed. “I am just saying it isn’t going to be as simple as some of you think.”
“No, it won’t be,” L agreed, but quickly added, “but Infinite has never taken the easy path before…why start now? We can do this.”
“I think we are forgetting about somebody,” DongWoo said with a huge grin, suddenly feeling very excited.
“The CEO already knows,” WooHyun assured DongWoo. “SungGyu has told him everything.”
DongWoo grinned bigger. “I know that. I have been SungGyu’s main confidant for days now. But I’m talking about somebody else. Somebody who doesn’t know what has just been decided.”
Hoya frowned and spoke up, “I don’t think anybody else should know.”
“Me either,” L quickly agreed.
SungYeol laughed loudly, realizing who DongWoo was talking about. “SungGyu doesn’t know.”
“Oh!” WooHyun exclaimed.
DongWoo shook his shoulders up and down and did a little dance, unable to contain his excitement. “He is in there recording, and hasn’t a clue. This is going to be great!”
SungYeol grimaced and added cautiously, “I think he might be a little irritated…”
DongWoo stopped dancing suddenly, realizing that SungYeol might be right. “Yeah, I have to admit that WooHyun had him going nuts. At times he really believed that WooHyun just thought of him as a close friend, and at other times he was convinced that WooHyun was full of bull.”
“I am full of bull,” WooHyun quickly confirmed.
SungYeol walked away from the wall he was leaning against and wrapped an arm around WooHyun’s shoulders. “That was obvious to anybody who wasn’t blinded by love.”
“Is he going to be happy…or mad?” WooHyun asked DongWoo, feeling the old panic setting in again. SungGyu had begged him multiple times to be honest with him, and he had denied him every time.
“He’ll be ecstatic!” SungJong answered for DongWoo, imagining the happy reunion of his Infinite parents.
SungYeol cringed. “Or not. You did make him pretty miserable.”
“He might be mad at first…” DongWoo paused but quickly added after seeing the dejected look on WooHyun’s face, “…but soon his happiness will outweigh his anger. He misses you. I know he does.”
“You should go tell him,” L told WooHyun. “Forget about us, go tell him. You should be talking to him about this, not us.”
Hoya shifted his legs uneasily and suggested, “Or maybe you should wait till after our activities for the day are finished. You two have a lot to talk about. You should discuss it privately, not around us or anybody else. It sure isn’t something we want anybody to overhear.”
SungYeol arched an eyebrow and scrutinized Hoya before asking him, “Homophobic much, Hoya?”
“No,” Hoya denied. “It’s just weird.”
“So you have said,” SungYeol told Hoya, still watching him.
“Well, they are not interested in you, so I don’t know why it would be weird for you? You need to be happy for them,” L told Hoya. L found himself getting excited along with DongWoo and SungJong at the prospect of the main vocals reuniting.
“Hey! I am not homophobic! I would much rather them be gay than hate each other…it’s just that I was caught off guard,” Hoya said in his defense.
“I told you!” SungJong pointed out triumphantly. “I told you they were in love, but you didn’t believe me!”
“That’s because you’re usually wrong,” Hoya said in his defense.
SungJong folded his arms and snapped back at Hoya, “Well, I wasn’t this time.”
An overly sensitive Hoya responded, “For once!”
“Hoya, if this makes you uncomfortable, I totally understand. Honestly, it makes me uncomfortable too. This is the first time I’ve admitted anything aloud, heck I usually won’t admit it to myself either. I mean, I don’t have to tell SungGyu. We can just keep it our little secret. I don’t have to tell him anything,” WooHyun quickly offered, feeling that old fear creeping back up on him, and scrambling for a way out.
“Yes, you do!” SungYeol, DongWoo, L and SungJong all objected.
Hoya winced, feeling terribly unsupportive. “He has a right to know…this isn’t about how I feel. We are a team, and I’ll have your back.”
DongWoo walked over to Hoya and gave him a gentle punch to the stomach. “See, he’s already seen the light. To be honest, I was really surprised too, at first. It was the last thing I was expecting when SungGyu stormed into my room that morning.”
“Really?” Hoya asked, feeling some relief.
DongWoo nodded his head. “It was a little weird, I have to admit.”
“Do you still find it…a little weird?” Hoya asked.
DongWoo shook his head. “No, not after seeing how miserable they both were. It’s just not right for them to not to get along and be together. I just want them to be happy.”
“Me too,” Hoya agreed.
SungJong clapped his hands together, and told WooHyun, “Go tell him already!”
“Or maybe not,” SungYeol, who still had an arm wrapped around WooHyun’s shoulders, said after doing some serious thinking. “Hoya is right. The less people that know, the better-that needs to be our motto. It could really affect the group. Some of the people working on this album, I don’t think we should trust them. I think we need to keep this between the seven of us and the CEO.”
L shook his head. “I hate to say it but you are right.”
“I usually am,” SungYeol reminded everyone.
Hoya rolled his eyes and asked, “Do the managers know?”
DongWoo frowned and looked at WooHyun. “Do they?”
“I sure didn’t tell them,” WooHyun answered quickly.
“They don’t act like they know,” SungJong pointed out. “Hyung Hyoan was really mad in Taiwan and after talking to the CEO…he still looked clueless.”
SungYeol smirked. “He often does.”
Hoya pondered the question and stated, “I don’t think the CEO would have told him. He’s too high strung.”
“I agree, I don’t think Hyung Hyoan knows,” L concurred.
“I don’t think Manger JungRyul knows either, but Hyung Geonam is a totally different story,” SungYeol pointed out. “He’s crafty; we wouldn’t know if he knew or not.”
WooHyun nodded his head. “Yes, if any manager knows it would be Hyung Geonam, but for all we know the CEO told them all; but we can’t tell anybody. Not the people at this studio, or anybody else. That includes your families.”
“Agreed, nobody else gets to know,” L agreed.
Hoya nodded his head. “Nobody.”
“What about SungGyu, can he know?” SungJong asked exasperated. “When does he get to know?”
“Later tonight, when we are back at the dorm,” WooHyun answered, paling at the thought of finally confiding in SungGyu. He couldn’t help but feel anxious.
DongWoo smiled hugely and proclaimed, “I can’t wait to tell him.”
“I will tell him!” WooHyun quickly corrected the older member. “And I will do it privately!”
DongWoo and SungJong instantly frowned. SungYeol let go of WooHyun’s shoulder and objected, “I think I should be there in case you screw it up.”
“I am not going to screw it up!” WooHyun protested.
SungYeol squinted down at the main vocal, furrowing his brows and looking extremely skeptical, which had WooHyun quickly adding, “I could always write down what I am going to say and have you approve it first.”
“That would be wise,” SungYeol said with a nod of approval.
Hoya looked around the bathroom and just shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Crazy…this is just crazy.”
SungYeol gave Hoya a deadpan look and told him, “This isn’t even slightly crazy, compared to what has come out of WooHyun’s mouth in the recent weeks. Someday remind me to tell you about sister swapping.”
Before Hoya could respond to SungYeol the door to the bathroom swung open and Manager JungRyul walked in, glaring at all of them. “What are you all doing? Why are you hiding in the bathroom? We have an album to make, not to mention a photo shoot we are already late for!”
The members immediately apologized.
“I want DongWoo, SungJong, L and Hoya in the van now. We have to get to the photo shoot. SungGyu is already out there waiting on you loafers,” the manager quickly told them. He then turned to SungYeol and WooHyun, and ordered, “And you two have a lot of making up to do in the studio, since you decided to sleep half the day away.”
“We are not going to the photo shoot?” WooHyun blurted out unable to hide his panic. He did not trust the always hyper DongWoo and the romantic minded SungJong not to spill their guts to SungGyu the first chance they got.
“No, you’re not! Don’t worry, you will get plenty of chances to make pretty poses for the camera, but right now the album is a little more important,” the manager snapped back at WooHyun as he ushered the boys out of the bathroom.
WooHyun leaped forward and grabbed both DongWoo and SungJong by the arms and begged, “Don’t tell him! It has to come from me.”
“We won’t say a word,” DongWoo assured WooHyun, but the wild look of excitement in his eyes only added to WooHyun’s worries.
SungJong smiled brightly at WooHyun and brought his hand up to his mouth and pretended to zip it shut.
***************
“Quit kicking the back of my seat!” SungGyu shouted at DongWoo, who sat behind him in the van. DongWoo was a ball of energy, and it was proving impossible for him to be still.
“Sorry! I’m so sorry! So, so, so sorry. So sorry, so sorry! Sorry is the hardest word! Sorry, I’m so sorry! So, so sorry!” DongWoo rapped back to SungGyu.
“Who gave him sugar?” SungGyu demanded from the front of the van.
“He’s just happy, Hyung!” SungJong told SungGyu from the back of the van. “It’s a happy day.”
SungGyu frowned as he looked through the mirror to eye his members. Hoya looked slightly nauseated, L looked smug, SungJong couldn’t stop smiling, and DongWoo was even more hyper than normal. “Dare I ask why it’s a happy day?”
“Because love is in the air, Hyung. Love the grandest of all emotions! It’s floating around in the air blessing all our lives. It’s the sweetest of scents,” SungJong told SungGyu and then inhaled a deep breath as if he smelled a glorious fragrance.
SungGyu swung around in his seat to eye his members suspiciously. “What? Love in the air? Why do you say that?”
L, who was sitting beside him, elbowed SungJong in the stomach, causing SungJong to add quickly, “Hoya Hyung is in love.”
SungGyu turned his focus on Hoya, whose mouth was gaping open at SungJong’s announcement. “Is this true, Dongsaeng?”
“Yes, it’s true!” DongWoo blurted out quickly. “He’s in love! But not with me…not that it would be wrong if he were! I’d be flattered, but not interested…but I’d be flattered!”
“Shut up!” Hoya managed to get out over the sounds of L and SungJong cracking up in the back seat.
“It wouldn’t be wrong if we were,” DongWoo continued to explain with exaggerated hand movements. “I mean, it would be wrong for me, but not wrong in general. Love is good. There should be more love in the world.”
SungJong said through his giggles, “Don’t you think so, Leader Hyung? Wouldn’t more love in the world make it even greater?”
DongWoo smiled at SungGyu, while L clamped his hands over SungJong’s mouth in the backseat. “All you need is love…wise words,” DongWoo told SungGyu, who was now glaring a hole through his head with his eyes. “The British are very wise people, especially those Beatle people.”
“Stop talking! None of you kids are allowed to talk for the rest of the day!” SungGyu yelled at his obviously insane members.
******************
“Where is SungGyu?” an alarmed WooHyun asked as the other members returned to the studio after the photo-shoot without the leader. He jumped up from the chair he had been sitting in to join the other members.
SungYeol, who had stayed at the studio with WooHyun, furrowed his brows, worried. He didn’t get up from the black leather couch he was sprawled out on, but he did sit up. “Where is he?”
DongWoo quickly explained, “He’s riding with Geonam; he said he didn’t want to ride with us.”
“Why didn’t he want to ride with you? Why? What did you do?” WooHyun demanded as the panic started setting in.
SungJong sat down beside SungYeol on the leather couch and answered, “We didn’t do anything. We were just really hyper.”
“We were not hyper-you and DongWoo were hyper!” Hoya quickly corrected SungJong. “They were going on and on about love and crap.”
“They didn’t tell him. They just annoyed him,” L quickly confirmed.
“They irritated me, too,” Hoya couldn’t keep from adding.
WooHyun sat back down in his chair, still looking worried. “You annoyed him so much that he wouldn’t ride with you?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” SungYeol told WooHyun. “He does come by the nickname Grumpy Gyu honestly.”
SungJong leaned back against the couch with a huge smile. “He won’t be Grumpy Gyu anymore, though! He will be Happy Gyu! He will be super nice and he won’t boss me around anymore.”
SungYeol turned and smirked at the clueless SungJong, and asked, “So do you think SungGyu has been really mean the last couple of weeks?”
SungJong shook his head quickly. “Nope, he’s been extra nice. I love it! He will be even nicer once he and WooHyun are together. Love makes everybody nicer.”
WooHyun just shook his head at the delusional maknae.
“You are such a little fool,” SungYeol told SungJong. “Grumpy Gyu that we all know and love thought he was in a tentative relationship with WooHyun for years-this nicer Gyu-is the dumped version. Once they are back to being the dynamic duo then it will be the return of Grumpy Gyu all over again.”
“I thought you two never…” L trailed off awkwardly not sure how he should complete the sentence.
“We haven’t,” WooHyun confirmed.
“Only oral,” SungYeol happily added, loving the blush that spread across WooHyun’s cheeks.
“Urgh,” Hoya, who was looking a little green, mumbled and sat down in a chair. “I don’t want to know this. This isn’t any of our business! I really don’t want to know.”
“Shut up, SungYeol,” WooHyun told the tallest member and quickly explained for the others, “we were not a couple, but we knew we liked each other. I might have led SungGyu to think that we would be more in the future, because I really believed that at times, but-”
“But when it got to the big moment, he totally wimped out,” SungYeol finished.
WooHyun swallowed down his growing irritation at SungYeol, and calmly explained. “I did wimp out. I got really scared of the consequences, and I let my fear take control. I said things I shouldn’t have, but that is over now. You guys will keep me honest.”
“We will,” DongWoo confirmed.
WooHyun stared at the door waiting for SungGyu to walk in. “Good,” WooHyun told them. “There has been enough lies and hurt to last a lifetime.”
*************
“Your friend isn’t anybody I know of, is he? Is he a celebrity?” Manager Geonam asked as he pulled up to the entrance of the luxury penthouses, where only the extremely rich could afford to live. When the manager had been told to take SungGyu to meet his friend, he hadn’t expected this kind of wealth. If SungGyu was meeting up with another celebrity it would make keeping it a secret doubly hard.
SungGyu shook his head. “No, he just likes famous people. He isn’t famous himself.”
Warning alarms went off in the manager’s head. Was this some kind of fame seeking whore? Groupies, no matter how rich they were, were not to be trusted. “How exactly do you know him? He’s older, I assume?”
“He’s a few years older. I knew him before I joined Woollim. He likes the rock scene. He and his boyfriend at the time were always checking out the clubs back then, looking for new talent,” SungGyu quickly explained. “I haven’t seen him in years, but he still calls and checks in with me at times. He is dating some Japanese rocker now. When I knew him, he wasn’t advertising the fact that he was wealthy.”
“What Japanese rocker?”
“I have no idea. He won’t even tell me. He’s very discreet.”
“Well, that’s good. What will the rocker think of you two…meeting up?” The manager couldn’t keep from asking; he was not pleased with any of this. It just seemed wrong to the manager. That the CEO was not only allowing, but helping arrange for SungGyu to hook up with some man for casual sex, boggled his mind. SungGyu might be the oldest of the members, but to Geonam he was still just a kid; a kid whose heart belonged to another.
SungGyu laughed. “Flower would never agree to be in a monogamous relationship. He’s all about personal freedom.”
Geonam frowned and turned to SungGyu unable to stop himself from dishing out advice. “Be careful.”
“I will be,” SungGyu assured him as he stared out the car’s window at the luxury penthouses.
“I will be here to get you at 5am…you better be ready,” Geonam ordered. “I am not going to wait for you.”
“I will be ready, but until then my phone is going to be off,” SungGyu told the manager as he pulled out his phone and flipped it off.
The manager couldn’t help but notice how SungGyu eyed his phone. “WooHyun won’t like that.”
SungGyu jerked his head quickly to look at the manager, surprised by the mention of WooHyun. “No, but it’s weird between us right now. He might not even try to call me.”
“I know it’s been weird,” Geonam replied. “But JungRyul says he’s much better today. The studio reports he’s doing great.”
“That’s good,” SungGyu said uneasily, not wanting to be reminded of WooHyun at the moment.
“The rumor is that you two made up,” Geonam told SungGyu, knowing the young man was not comfortable with the subject. He hated to pry, but he felt compelled to. This all seemed so wrong to him. He had the urge to drive off with SungGyu, but he had his orders.
SungGyu swallowed nervously and replied, “I was really mad at him-”
“I don’t blame WooHyun,” Geonam said, interrupting SungGyu. “It would be really hard to be in his shoes. I mean, you are obviously okay with meeting up with rich gay men for casual sex, but WooHyun isn’t made that way.”
SungGyu’s mouth dropped open, completely shocked by Geonam’s words. “Hyung…”
“I’m not judging you, I’m just being honest. If it was some hot actress you were meeting up with I’d probably be congratulating you. I know I’m a little homophobic, I won’t lie; but most of us are in this country. I do know that even if it was a hot actress, I’d still feel bad for WooHyun.”
“Feel bad for him…” SungGyu paused, confused. Why would the manger feel bad for WooHyun? What exactly had the CEO told him?
“He was so traumatized that night at the concert. I won’t forget the look on his face. I couldn’t even scold him for holding us up. I could see how-”
“Hyung, I have to go,” SungGyu practically shouted as he opened the car door, eager to escape. SungGyu didn’t need the manager to tell him how badly he had failed with WooHyun that night. WooHyun was a constant reminder of what happened after the concert, and how SungGyu had made the biggest mistake of his life. That one night had changed everything between him and WooHyun. Nothing between them would ever be the same thanks to that one dreadful night.
“When he heard the stage manager cursing, damning, and firing those gay dancers, you could tell how traumatized he was. The stage manager was being an ass; but really, the dancers were careless to get caught. Calling them filthy faggots was uncalled for though. He was really cruel to those poor dancers,” the manager continued.
SungGyu, who had quickly gotten out of the car, came to a complete stop. He stood completely still, listening to the manager intently.
“It had to be rough for WooHyun to hear such things. To have such a reminder of how South Korea views homosexuality thrown at him, and at that time of all times. It didn’t help that the stage manager was throwing Infinite’s name around, either; as if those two gay back-up dancers could be the ruin of Infinite.”
SungGyu stood completely still, speechless.
The manager reached across the seat and grabbed the door SungGyu had left open. “It’s not as if they were the two main vocals, now is it?” the manager asked SungGyu, and then he slammed the door shut. SungGyu watched as the manager drove off, leaving him standing at the curb.