it had all started with a single word.

a simple two letter word that youngjae had tossed in jest, something to amuse babyz because they expect youngjae to say of fucking course daehyun is his best friend. why would anyone even feel the need to ask that question in the first place to confirm a fact that should’ve been quite obvious to any and everyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear?

right. so youngjae had said it, and hadn’t meant anything by it.

it was supposed to be funny.

but daehyun hadn’t laughed.

daehyun had merely shot him a flat smile over his borrowed yongguk’s ipad, quickly glancing back down to swipe through the numerous influx of tweets with their 1004 hash tag, filtering through the jumbled mess for his personal twitter account tagged on the messages and valiantly evading youngjae’s questioning gaze.

youngjae really hadn’t thought anything of it, didn’t think daehyun would actually take it to heart and spend the next few weeks ignoring him and actually taking circuitous means to go so far as to avoid even being in the same room as him.

yeah, totally hadn’t counted on that to happen.

it’s been exactly two weeks, four days, thirteen hours, and fifty-two minutes, not that youngjae had been counting mind you, and youngjae has finally had enough of all this silent treatment bullshit.

and the final hammer to the nail happens the morning of their after school club filming, the sky above promising bitter cold winds and roiling gray clouds as the overcast heavens threaten imminent downpour.

all six of the b.a.p members scamper out of the dorm, piling into seokgu hyung’s van when daehyun subtly pushes his way past juhong to claim the corner of the very backseat, a spot usually reserved for the the maknae line and himchan (only because himchan insists on sitting next to his favorite jonguppie), and youngjae has the most lucid suspicions that it’s all in effort to avoid sitting next to him.

youngjae fumes for the duration of the car ride, subtly glancing into the rearview mirror to glare into the backseat where daehyun is squished between the side of the car and jongup’s lean body, himchan fussing over the state of the younger boy’s hair, elbows jutting in the cramped back space.

this is the final straw, and youngjae really needs to do something about it. because not only is all this high school drama throwing off group dynamic, but also youngjae actually misses having daehyun’s constant chattery presence around. he misses having daehyun’s endless stream of mindless commentary to soothe his nerves before they jump out onto the stage for performances. he just misses having his best friend, plain and simple.

as they draw nearer to the arirang broadcasting station, tiny droplets of rain splattering across the windows, youngjae quickly makes up his mind, steeling his shoulders as seokgu hyung turns into the private parking lot. and as soon as the car doors open and himchan and jongup have climbed out of the backseat, youngjae firmly grabs daehyun’s arm and drags him bodily out of the van.

“give us a few minutes!” youngjae calls over his shoulder as daehyun splutters, struggling to fight off the vice-like grip on his wrist, and yongguk gives youngjae a knowing nod.

“you have ten minutes to figure your shit out, and it better be resolved by the time i get there.”

yongguk’s voice is soft and understanding, but there’s also an undertone of warning, something a bit threatening and terrifying and youngjae heeds all of it. 

squaring his shoulders, he pulls daehyun towards the building, steadfastly ignoring daehyun’s shouts and grumbles, until they reach their private dressing room.

as soon as they enter, youngjae kicks the door closed and slams daehyun’s body against it, trapping the elder in with arms placed on either side of daehyun’s head.

"i have had enough of your bitchy attitude,” youngjae grits through his teeth, chest heaving with temper and the spike of adrenaline from his sudden anger. “and we are talking about this, right now.”

some incoherent combination of nonsensical words dies on daehyun’s quivering lips, and youngjae can’t help but stare at its plush fullness.

the confounded look on daehyun’s face is actually kind of hilarious, eyes nearly bulging and lips popping like a fish out of water. and on any other day, youngjae would be snickering much to the elder’s chagrin. but during the culminating weeks, youngjae’s patience had been stretched so thin, just barely on that side of his breaking point. and funny is the last thing on his mind right now.

youngjae is still huffing and puffing angrily through his nose when daehyun finally finds his voice, glaring at youngjae as he pushes the younger away with both hands on his chest.

"there’s nothing to talk about,” daehyun declares as youngjae stumbles back a few feet, taken a little off guard by daehyun’s sudden mobility. “we’re done here.”

daehyun turns around, fingers wrapped around the doorknob, and youngjae knows it’s now or never. something has to give, because tensions are running so high, and everything is just so charged with bottled up emotions, and if youngjae doesn’t do something now, he thinks he’ll explode and go insane from which he’s sure he’ll never truly recover.

and the knob is slowly turning, the tiny click blasting so very loudly through the stifling silence between them.

and youngjae closes the distance again, slamming a hand on the minutely opened door and forcing it back shut before grabbing daehyun by the shoulders and spinning him around.

youngjae’s fingers fisting into daehyun’s hair is far from gentle, and his lips crashing angrily against daehyun’s surprised ones even more so.

at first, daehyun is so shocked, his mouth automatically drops open and youngjae takes this opportunity to push his tongue in to explore the moist cavern, mapping out the bumps and grooves of daehyun’s teeth and warm tongue.

and as the initial shock slowly fades away, daehyun melts into the kiss, hands gripping into youngjae’s sides to try to press their bodies even closer, pliant tongue equally participating in their quest for exploration. and youngjae feels a little bit of victory, and joy, and exaltation warming inside his chest as a faint mewl emits from the back of daehyun’s throat.

so, well, this really wasn’t what youngjae had expected. but he’ll take it as long as daehyun keeps making noises like that. and really, youngjae thinks maybe this is where they were headed all along, all those years of pushing each other’s buttons, testing out the extents of each other’s patience, the push-pull motion of giving and taking until one of them breaks and the other just laughs off the silliness of their own antics.

and youngjae thinks he could kiss daehyun forever, except, well damn if they didn’t need to breathe because youngjae’s lungs are starting to burn, and maybe the room is kind of spinning a little, and everything is just so hot, hot, hot.

so giving into their damned human frailties, youngjae reluctantly pulls away from daehyun’s lips, hands sliding down to rest on the elder’s shoulders as youngjae buries his face against daehyun’s neck.

“you know i never meant what i said,” youngjae whispers against daehyun’s soft, warm skin. and as his breath fans out over daehyun’s sensitive skin, a pleasant shudder travels down the elder’s chest. and youngjae smiles as he leans in closer, resting most of his weight against daehyun’s body as the door keeps both of them propped up.

“yeah, whatever,” daehyun mumbles, arms wrapping tighter around youngjae’s waist as he burrows his nose into the younger’s hair. “water under the bridge now.”

with a happy smile, youngjae presses a small kiss on the crook of daehyun’s neck before himchan suddenly comes bursting through the door, purposefully being as loud and obnoxious as both boys get thrown off balance and go toppling onto the floor.

“i need a touch up!” himchan commands imperiously, eyes narrowing through the vanity mirror as he takes in youngjae’s and daehyun’s disheveled appearances. and he’s about to open his mouth and probably say something embarrassing or inappropriate, but yongguk has mercy on the two and cuts himchan off before he can even start.

“did you two work it out?” yongguk enquries as daehyun helps youngjae off the floor, fingers lingering together even after youngjae is settled on his own two feet. (himchan splutters in the background, muttering about disrespect, and where’s the courtesy these days, and dragging jongup into his arms to wail over the poor state of chivalry)

“yup,” daehyun smiles, linking his pinky with youngjae’s. and yongguk smiles back in consent. as long as their teamwork stays strong, he doesn’t really care what they choose.

youngjae is about to pull daehyun out of the dressing room for another private moment of alone time when junhong giggles from behind.

“you know, daehyunnie hyung looks like he’s been mauled by a crowd of fans,” junhong says from his perch on the back of a small couch situated in the center of the room. “nice work, youngjae hyung.”

the little brat has the audacity to wiggle his eyebrows suggestively before yongguk walks over and gives him a light smack on the back of his head.

youngjae’s cheeks burn with the power of a thousand suns as junhong moans over the injustice, quickly dragging a bemused daehyun away before more potentially embarrassing situations can be tossed his way.