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The sun-kissed skin of his new slave is the first thing Sanghyuk notices when the man steps out of the shadows, eyes daringly staring into the ones of the youngest Han clan member. It's beautiful, bronze and healthy, and he gulps, wriggling his hands in his lap in a desperate attempt to ignore the twitching of his fingers. Summers on Helion are difficult for everyone, especially for men working outside and Sanghyuk wonders if the man's hands are calloused, too, as it's obvious the man has been a slave for a long time.

Useless hands mean an useless slave and Sanghyuk won't allow that, even if the man in front of him is one he never wants to get out of his sight.

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When he looks back at it, Hongbin wonders why he hadn't seen it coming. It was, after all, weird for a youtuber to not broadcast his face and to, instead, film his hands playing the piano but he had thought nothing of it, as it had made sense to him that maybe, that person wanted his subscribers to focus more on his music than his face. Hongbin could, after all, understand that more than anyone and he hadn't really cared to watch the pale hands for long anyway, prefering to listen to the smooth voice of this faceless singer while browsing on the internet.

The voice had been quite familiar too though, but the english cover of songs had thrown him off as had the perfect replies to comments, in english. None of the members was good enough with foreign languages to pull it off and they had no time for recording things that weren't VIXX-related either, too busy with overseas schedules and what not.

But Hongbin had been wrong, someone had had time to be a youtuber on top of being a VIXX member. Someone that he knew rather well and to whom he had left embarrassing comments, using awkward english and too much google translator. Oh, well.

"Taekwoon hyung! Tell Hakyeon hyung to not scream at Hyuk for stuffing himself with food next time you record a video! He's too loud!"

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"Do you think you could have loved me?" Sanghyuk asks, his voice so soft, so low, so different from the loud kid they have known to meet and appreciate. He needs to know, needs something to hold on. He had just been rejected, and it was fine but maybe, maybe---

"I do love you, Hyuk-ah." He closes his eyes, before opening them again and looking straight into the maknae's eyes. "Just not in the way you want me to love you." It can't happen, it won't happen is what is left unsaid but they both hear it clear and loud.

This, and the sound of Hyuk's heart crashing on the ground and breaking in dozens of fragments he will never be able to put together perfectly again.

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"Hyuk-ah, come look at this," Hakyeon asks, gesturing for the maknae to sit next to him and shoving his laptop on the youngest's lap. Sanghyuk raises an eyebrow but stays silent, scanning the article his leader wants him to read quickly while he wonders why he's reading something about Infinite's leader and maknae dynamic when he's obviously not an Infinite member (nor a teenage fan).

"See!" Hakyeon starts, smiling cheekily at him and clapping his hands together, "You're not that bad with me, right? Hyung is cool, right? I'm not as bad as Sunggyu sunbaenim, right?"

"I like Sunggyu sunbaenim. He's cool." Sanghyuk deadpans immediately, giving Hakyeon his laptop back. "He really has... snark."

"But Hyukkie--"

The maknae gets up, throwing a last glance at his hyung before flashing him a cheeky smile. "Yeah, you're too boring, hyung. You should ask him how he does it. Stop barking and start biting, okay? I'm waiting for it."

Hakyeon can't remove the image of the youngest winking at him from his head for nights and he rolls around in his bed, wondering where he has gone wrong with his life.

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Hongbin is a star, twinkling brightly even when there's darkness in this ugly world. Hongbin is a star, one admist many others and he can only look afar at the sun, at Hakyeon who is shining so bright that even him can't compare.

"Please, notice me," he inwardly wishes everytime he looks at his hyung. Hakyeon never looks back.

After all, the sun and the stars can only meet for a fleeting moment.

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Sanghyuk wonders why he's feeling different this time. It wasn't like this when he watched Taekwoon perform in his musical two years ago, he wasn't feeling like this -- blown away and completely mesmerized by his hyung.

But Jaehwan is different and Hyuk still can't believe that his goofy hyung can be the suave, sleek man he has just seen parading on stage a few minutes prior.

It's like the veil he had over his eyes for all these years has been lifted and when Jaehwan wraps an arm around his shoulders, grinning and eyes sparkling, and asks him how he was, Sanghyuk can only say one thing.

"The best."

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Hongbin fumbles in his seat as he waits for his first meeting at the photography club to start. He’s just joined a few days prior, three months after the school year started but Wonshik had been so insistent for him to join and finally get a taste of what he truly loved to do that Hongbin had, in the end, caved in and submitted his sign-up form on a whim.

His friend is right -- majoring in pre-med is sucking the life out of him as much as it is giving it to his parents who are delighted to have their son follow the footsteps of success but the road to success isn't a smooth ride and Hongbin wants nothing more than stop and follow his dreams. The photography club isn't exactly what his fantasies are made of, is quite different from what he ever imagined actually, but it's the closest of his dreams that he can get at moment and he's content to have something to hold on to, at least.

A group of upperclassmen flocking into the room makes him look up from the camera sitting on his lap. His Canon EOS 550D is his baby, his most precious possession which he worked three summers and in a row to get but suddenly, it doesn't seem that impressive amidst seniors with way more recent and advanced cameras hanging around their necks.

He's ready to put it in his bag, to hide it before anyone can see it when a pale hand appears from nowhere and stops him.

"Nice camera you have there," Hongbin looks up again, eyes wide as someone is talking to him. To him.

Someone whom he has heard about because he clearly knows the face of the black haired sophomore sitting next to him. He’s Kim Myungsoo, one of the most sought-after boys on campus. Hongbin has heard of him, or more specifically has heard girls gushing after him and his oh-so-dreamy looks, lamenting over the fact that he should be in front of the camera rather than behind it.

Maybe once or two, Hongbin had rolled his eyes and wondered what was that great about this dude but now, as he blinks and flashes a sheepish smile at the older man, he’s starting to understand.

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Soyeon is slowly getting used to meeting fellow idols backstage and she doesn't tremble as much as she once did while greeting sunbaenims. She has, slowly but certainly, learnt how to handle the amazement that she used to feel when she stumbled upon celebrities whom she used to fawn over a few years ago.

Now, she is even able smile to back at them without avoiding their eyes when they cross paths in hallways and upon their departure, her chest doesn't feel as an imaginary weight has been lifted off her chest anymore.

Except for one.

Lee Hongbin is handsome, but then so are many of the boy groups members that she has met. He's friendly and nice and just pleasant to be around but so are many boys in general.

But he's also different, because he's the only one who makes her heart races and when he smiles at her, it's not that weight that gets off her chest. No, it's her heart that gets out of it.

Someday, she guesses, she will give it to him. After all, it's already his.

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It's almost cliché, their love. A romance made for movie screens and teenage girls with their head in the clouds and daydream during class of a prince charming who will sweep them of their feet.

She's the sweetheart of the town, an angel of kindness who sings in the choir of the town and attends mass every Sunday, without exception.

He doesn't go to church, doesn't even believe in God and he ignores all the whispers that follows him when he rides his motorcycle through town, decked in the same leather jacket and combat boots that he always seems to wear. He ignores it all, the whispers and the stares of people too afraid to even look into his sharp eyes.

Jung Eunji and Jung Taekwoon. Two teenagers of seventeen who have nothing in common, except a surname that makes them share a locker in a rural high school.

And that’s how everything starts.

It happens on a warm, sunny day of May and Eunji leaving him a short note - in pretty looped cursive penmanship that is so hers - as she borrows his physics textbook after noticing that she has forgotten hers. The next day, she makes sure to put his book back in its place and she leaves a few candies on top of it, strawberry-flavored ones because it’s her favorite.

Taekwoon doesn't start acknowledging her after that, never even mentions his textbook disappearing or the sweets she has left for him but Eunji doesn’t care and her smile never leaves her face because she doesn't want anything from him in the least, has never expected anything to come out of this.

The pocket of his leather jacket is always full of candy wrappers when she puts new ones in it - between the second and third period, when she's sure he's on the other side of the school and won't be there to witness what she's doing - and this makes her realize that Jung Taekwoon, the silent senior she has never talked more than three words to, has a sweet tooth (has a sweet side, too).

He likes them enough that one day, it's her who finds a couple of lemon candies stacked on top of her thick textbooks. Lemon, she supposes, is his favorite flavor and she smiles to herself as she unwraps one and puts it in her mouth. Tangy, sour with a sweet aftertaste. It's strangely fitting, strangely Taekwoon.

Everything after that day happen naturally - the shy smiles they flash each other when they stand in front of their locker in the morning and the mumbled greetings in his soft voice and her unusually shy one, the first time he gets her home as the rain downpours on them and her chest fits against his back so perfectly, their first date at a park two cities over because he doesn't want her to be the talk of the town for the weeks to come.

Before they know it, Taekwoon is graduating and Eunji knows that he will leave, leave this place that has never accepted him, leave her and an eight months teenage romance that wasn't meant to be more than that - a silly romance that girls her age gush over and can't stop thinking about.

And Taekwoon indeed leaves for Seoul once August ends, ready to leave the past behind to chase after his dreams of being an artist.

He goes away but he doesn't leave empty-handed. He's taking the jewel of the town with him, the jewel of his heart, too.

It's a silly romance, a perfect plot for movies but as she presses against his back and they speed towards new horizons, Eunji knows that this is real. This is a real love story.

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"Finally." Jaehwan growls when Sanghyuk steps into his own apartment, completely unaware of his friend waiting for him behind the door. They haven’t been just friends in forever though, and Jaehwan pushing him against the door while proceeding to kiss the hell out of him is a clear indication of their new-found relationship, of this deal they have going on.

The way Jaehwan is kissing him is firm and straight to the point and there’s nothing tentative about the way his tongue explores the youngest’s mouth. It doesn’t take long before a moan escapes Sanghyuk and Jaehwan smiles against his lover’s lips. “I have been thinking about the way you say my name all day.”

His breath hovers Sanghyuk’s swollen lips and the latter shudders as Jaehwan's mouth trails down his neck and latches on his collarbone, teeth nipping on smooth, white skin.

"Say it again, Sanghyuk," Jaehwan orders, hands gripping Hyuk's waist firmly, their bodies molded together. "Say my name again and again as I kiss you, as I fuck you down the mattress until my name is all you remember."

And Sanghyuk obeys.

"Jaehwan."

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"Hyung, your horoscope says that you're in a good mood today but I don't get it because you're never in a good mood so it must obviously be--"

Sanghyuk doesn't even manage to finish his sentence before he's being softly pushed against his locker and his captain's lips are on his. He hadn't even noticed that Taekwoon wasn't on the other side of the locker room anymore, too busy trying to find his uniform in his bag but he definitely feels the older one against him now, their naked chests pressing together.

It's not a chaste kiss and Taekwoon kisses as he plays soccer - rough, fast, with passion and the intention to conquer. Sanghyuk doesn't think he will be ready to resist for long, especially not when a gasp escapes his lips and reasons in the otherwise silent room.

"I really don't like scorpios, they're truly the worst and we shouldn't--" Sanghyuk protests before Taekwoon claims his lips again, pressing him up against the lockers with a little more force this time. It's very Taekwoon, Hyuk thinks while his lips part to let the other in, no words and all action.

Sanghyuk whimpers low in his throat as one of Taekwoon's knees slides between his legs and his captain wraps an arm around his waist, dragging the goalkeeper closer against him. Their teammates are going to arrive soon and Sanghyuk pushes weakly against the older's chest, his pale hands now against even paler skin. He's nervous that they're going to get caught and they should stop, they really should stop. Cancers and scorpios don't work out anyway if he has to be lucid (he doesn't really want to).

"Seriously, stop it hyung, my horoscope isn't compatible with yours and oh my fucking god, don't laugh at me--" But Taekwoon doesn't listen as he burrows his face in the younger's neck, his body silently shaking.

Sanghyuk pouts slightly and hits the other's shoulder, "You're a dick, hyung. Get off now," But Taekwoon doesn't bulge and instead starts nipping at his collarbone, leaving fresh marks that Hyuk won't be able to hide nor explain.

Fucking scorpios.

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"Good," Jaehwan nods as he observes Sanghyuk's expression - cheeks blown out and brown eyes wide open in what is supposed to be a playful way. "Now, form a fist with both of your hands and bring them really close to your cheeks and move them slowly back and forth, like that, yes, just like that—"

The gasps they can both hear behind the closed door makes Jaehwan pauses mid-way and Sanghyuk breaks into a laugh before he can even try to follow his hyung's instructions "Oh God, don't tell me they've heard and are—" The maknae groans before taking his head in his hand. "Why am I doing this again? This is ridiculous."

"Well, you're the one who said this would be your gift for Hakyeon hyung's birthday." Jaehwan justifies, ignored the pointed glare Hyuk is giving him. "A free aegyo show." Jaehwan scoffs, teasing grin streching his lips as he pats the other's head. "You're the cheap ass, kiddo. I just think everyone is thinking that now."

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Na Haeryeong can't imagine a life without Lee Hongbin in it, can't even start thinking of a life without the one whom she calls her best friend by her side.

Their friendship started as the beginning of a cheesy romance story between two teenagers that only high school girls would read. They have been neighbours since birth and all her memories involve the dimpled man who is standing in front of her and is getting ready for a date with his girlfriend of almost six months, Jung Soyeon.

“Are you going to introduce her to your parents?” Haeryeong asks, lying on his friend’s bed as she watches him remove his blue t-shirt to try on a pristine white shirt instead. Hongbin’s roommate, a blue haired guy named Wonshik, has just left their dorm in order for the two childhood friends alone to catch up.

They haven't seen each other in a week and it's the longest time they have spent without talking in years. She had hoped for something better than this when she came in though, had wished for night in with the both of them cuddled on his bed and marathoning dramas, the acting majors they were mimicking the awkward acting they were victims of while trying to keep straight faces. But this isn't happening, not with Soyeon in the picture and she inwardly wonders if it will ever happen again (if that girl will forever be there, between Hongbin and her.)

“I like the white shirt better,” she quickly adds, crossing her fingers behind her back in a hope that he hasn’t heard the jealousy in her voice. He looks perfect either way is what she really wants to say but she doesn’t. It’s not her place, they’re best friends and nothing else and she closes her eyes as the thought hit her deep, deeper than she would have liked. Their friendship wasn’t supposed to hurt like this.

Hongbin just hums, smoothing his shirt with the palm of his hand. “Soon, I guess. Soyeon has been bugging me to do so for the longest time but—” “But?” Haeryeong echoes, wondering if there’s something happening that she isn’t aware of, wondering if maybe, her heart will stop hurting soon.

“But I will have to get your approval first. You’re the second woman of my life, after all.” The sigh coming out of her lips doesn’t escape him this time and he joins her on his bed, lying on his side so he can see her face but she's hiding it from his view and ignores the frown on his face she knows is there. "What's up with you?" He nudges her shoulder softly, frowning even deeper as she still doesn't look at him, doesn't smile either.

"Bin-ah," she starts, her eyes looking everywhere but at him. "You know those cheesy love stories where the shy not perfect girl gets the amazing guy who isn't a douche and they fall in love and they get married and all?" She doesn't wait for an answer as she continues, eyes closed to not see the curiosity in his eyes and too afraid he will see the longing in hers. "This... I want this, too. I want to be loved and happy and give my heart—"

Haeryeong hears him chuckle before he pats his hair and gets up to finish getting ready, not letting her finish. "Are you jealous, Ryeongie?" She doesn't answer, doesn't know how to answer. Her heart hurts so much she's ready to give it to him but something has always hold her back. "It happened to me, it will happen to you too, soon!"

This is what has always hold her back - the fact that she knew her heart would never be cared for, would always be tramped on by him without a second thought.

Lee Hongbin isn’t a douche, but he never hears the ”I want it to happen to me. With you.” that she whispers while looking at her fidgeting hands in her lap.

He doesn’t because he is gone, off to meet his shy and perfect girl. Jung Soyeon.

Lee Hongbin is an amazing guy, but Na Haeryeong doesn’t have her place in his love story.