It’s clear nobody has touched Junhee’s room since the accident. Somehow, he can tell everything is right where he left them: from the bed, where his beloved Pochita stuffed toy sits; to the acoustic guitar sitting precariously on its stand and the practice drum kit in the corner of the room; the mixer and synthesizer and microphone, all on the verge of bumping into each other on the other desk. Even the packet of tissue that had fallen onto the floor had never been picked up.

Hyunjun laughs softly when he sees Junhee's first instinct is to immediately pick the tissue up and place it where it was meant to be. Junhee doesn't know it, but Hyunjun tries to hide his laugh when Junhee instinctively frowns and picks up the tissue, placing it on the bedside stand where it used to be. And there we go - everything looks the same as it used to. Junhee still doesn’t know why he can remember how to go places and which music notes make what sounds even though he can’t remember the most important people in his life, but it doesn’t matter as much to him anymore now that there’s still hope.

They make idle chatter while Junhee shuffles around, looking at old pictures, tuning his guitar, getting himself used to the place that was his. He asks Hyunjun about the song that’s been stuck in his head - the one with the Daesang. Hyunjun laughs, gets flustered, and promptly refuses to answer. Shocking, considering his usual shamelessness.

Junhee cheers a little too loudly after finding his phone password written down on a post-it note which had been swallowed by one of his drawers. “Maybe I could’ve found my password if I just checked every single four-number password combination possible,” Junhee says with a snort. "What a random combination of numbers."

It's not his birthday, not a particularly lucky or unlucky number either.

Hyunjun gasps, faux-wounded. "Random? How could you? It's my birthday!"

"How do you know my phone password?"

"Jagiya, you told me your password."

"... Oh."

They both burst out laughing.

Junhee spots a notebook tucked under his pillow when he bends down to re-fold his messy blanket. It’s brown and unassuming, but when he flips it open, he finds it full of words, with colorful annotations all over. When he looks closer, he realizes no, they’re not just words. They’re lyrics.

It’s enough for memories to come trickling back - beats and rhythms, secret meanings hidden behind clever wordplay. Quiet longings for freedom written in the middle of the night, the only times he gets a life to himself. Odes to changing of the seasons, metaphors for sacrificing his youth to the stage and wondering if the world will still love him when he’s old and gray. In his head, he hears the rise and fall of bridges and melodies, and his fingers itch to bring them back to life.

Maybe once all of this is over, he’ll release a song or two or even an album to the world. Self-produced, self-written, self-composed. Not an end to superstar soloist Jun, but something better, marking the start of something new. Living a life as Song Junhee instead. Still a sunbae you can respect, but no longer one placed on an unreachable pedestal.

Maybe the dream is a little different, but his love for music remains the same.

“You were thinking of leaving Star Entertainment,” Hyunjun says quietly. “You’re successful enough to thrive on your own without the company’s complete backing now, and you’ve always wanted more creative freedom instead of writing what the public wants to hear. You’re too good for Star, honestly.”

“How did you know?”

That I was thinking about it, that I had thought about it before?

“Junhee-yah, it’s written all over your face. I know you. I’ve spent over a decade by your side. I can read you like a book.” Hyunjun nudges Junhee, who instinctively shuffles over to give Hyunjun space next to him. He picks up the notebook, flicking all the way back to the beginning. “You see this? That’s the draft version of ‘Don’t Stop’. We were drinking soju to celebrate you winning a Daesang for your album, and you got so drunk, since your tolerance is so low. You spat this out in fifteen minutes, shoved it in my face like ‘Hyunjunie-hyung, you gotta collab with me on this!’ and spent five minutes begging me to record it as a duet with you before passing right out on top of me.”

Junhee flushes, steadily pinkening from his ears to his cheeks to his neck and down. He really doesn't remember writing all these borderline slutty lyrics, but he does have a faint memory of the hangover the next morning. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Hyunjun shrugs, grinning. “I’d tell you to watch the interviews, but I’m a nice hyung who never exposed you on live television. So you’re just going to have to watch the music video."

"You know too much about me," Junhee decides. "I'm never getting drunk around you ever again."

Hyunjun pokes his red cheek, grinning from ear to ear. "You're so cute when you're riled up." Junhee takes a deep breath, trying to channel his blush away. Hyunjun only touches his other cheek, his grin softening into something gentle and almost tender. "I missed seeing your bare face. All your expressions are so obvious. It makes you feel less untouchable. Beautiful," Hyunjun murmurs under his breath. Junhee can't quite identify the look in his one visible eye.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Junhee chooses to ignore it. Surely Hyunjun hadn't just called him beautiful? That's really not what platonic male best friends do, but if they were really dating, Hyunjun surely would've told him, right? You're not really best friends if you're not at least a little bit in love with each other, Junhee remembers someone telling him once upon a time. Dallae-noona, it might've been. A girl group member and a close friend of his, even though they were from different agencies. Her real name slipped from his mind, even though they used to be classmates and he once produced a song for her.

"Not you too," Junhee mumbles, peeling Hyunjun's grabby hands away from his face. "I'm really not untouchable, or too cool, or whatever."

"Oh? Who else has been calling you b- I mean, cool and untouchable?"

Luckily for Hyunjun, Junhee misses his slip-up. Junhee can't say it's Dae Hyuk, since he's not supposed to remember having talked much to his hoobae before. "Oh, um, Minji's roommate is a fan of mine. I don't think she realized I'm Jun, so she talks about Jun in front of me a lot. That, or she suspects I'm Jun, or Minji already deduced my identity and told her."

Hyunjun raises an eyebrow. “Minji’s roommate?”

“Yeah, Choi Bora. She used to work for Dispatch, but she quit for a better journalism job.”

Hyunjun whistles. “Damn, Choi Bora? Impressive. I did an interview with her pretty recently, actually. I had no idea she used to work for fucking Dispatch.” He shudders. “There are so many stalkers these days, I swear. Speaking of which…” He pales, straightening. “Shit. Sasaengs. Did anyone get to you?”

Junhee shrugs. “I don't think so? I've only been stared at for, um, you know." He gestures at his outfit. "Wearing all black with a mask and a cap and-" He almost mentions the crow, but he really, really doesn't want Hyunjun to think he's going insane. "Yeah. That kind of thing. I got mistaken for a criminal multiple times."

“Are you sure they weren’t just staring at you because they thought you were handsome? People are more inclined to help others who are lost if those other people are good looking,” Hyunjun teases.

“Yah, hyung, flattery won’t get you anywhere!” Junhee throws a packet of tissue at him out of sheer pettiness, but it bounces harmlessly off his head. Hyunjun doesn’t even flinch! “Ugh, whatever!”

Hyunjun has the aw, you’re so cute smile on his face again, but he says nothing, preferring not to suffer under the wrath of Junhee’s mild irritation. Junhee really doesn’t understand why Dae Hyuk had told him Hyunjun was Too Cool For The Normies when the other man really was just a playful flirt who couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

Or maybe Dae Hyuk was wrong about Hyunjun. Maybe it was like how he saw Junhee - to him, the soloist Jun was the best sunbaenim, someone who could do no wrong, someone to idolize for their talent and personality. Maybe it was like how the Song Junhee from offstage was just slightly different from the Jun that everybody saw and thought they knew, slightly more open with his emotions, with more bite to his bark, more likely to ignore people he didn’t like instead of forcing himself to smile and be polite. Maybe it was the same with Hyunjun.

If there’s one thing Minji taught him, perception is different for everyone, after all, and the only things you can rely on are solid, proven facts. That’s why all theories have to be tested, and questions have to be asked, no matter how risky they might be to answer or how painful they might be to hear.

“What about you?” Junhee asks. Speaking of Dae Hyuk, he can’t help but wonder what the ‘scary thing’ the former idol had sensed in Hyunjun’s house. “Have you had to deal with any sasaengs? Anyone too close to home?”

Hyunjun groans. “I caught one, a week ago. The same one who tried to follow you home months ago. I haven’t seen her since, but I’ve still been careful. You should too. You should go, actually.”

“Go? Go where?”

“Back to Miss Minji’s detective agency, silly. It’s too dangerous for you to stay here with me for the time being, but don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you’re back. You have my number on your phone, text me when you’re there.” Don’t leave me again, is what the look in Hyunjun’s eyes says instead.

But I don’t want to go, Junhee thinks, isn’t it too early? “You’re right,” his lips say instead. “It’s getting late. I should head back.”

Hyunjun sends him off with a whispered goodbye, spending the longest time adjusting Junhee’s cap and mask to cover most of his face like he doesn’t want to let Junhee go. But Junhee trusts their relationship, trusts himself to beat his six-month ultimatum and return to normalcy.

Later that night, Junhee does indeed watch the music video for 'Don't Stop'. And the Inkigayo performance. And the Music Bank show, and the MCountdown one. He watches every single performance available, eyes drawn to the physical contact and the body rolls, anchored by Hyunjun's whispered raps entwined around his own vocals, mesmerized and unable to stop against his will. He tries to copy the Junhee from the video, gets embarrassed at the quite frankly obscene choreography, and sits back down, hoping Minji and Bora hadn't seen him try. If either of them had seen him, he'd probably beg the almost-recovered and incredibly clingy Byeol to claw their eyes out, and then claw his own out too.

He grudgingly texts Hyunjun, heart beating just a little faster after watching all those videos.

You were right. There's no way I would've written any of that sober. I swear there's no way I could dance like that or make that kind of expression sober either.

Hyunjun replies immediately, sending a string of laughing emojis and a selfie of himself biting his lip salaciously. It's so much easier for him to be hot. The best Junhee can do is be cute or pretty, according to Bora's comparisons of him to her boyfriend.

You're a flirty drunk, jagiya. Hotter than all those dating scandals. 🥵🥵😘

Junhee almost throws his phone to the floor. I want a divorce.

Hyunjun sends another selfie, this time of him begging.

Aigoo, don't leave me, we aren't even married!

Junhee leaves him on read, because he’s petty like that.