Hey guys! Thanks for all the comments and votes, and hello to new subscribers! 

I also want to let you guys know that I started a new fic a little while ago. It's a historical/kingdom AU and it's Bangdae again (I love them so much, I'm sorry) and you can find it here. 

And lastly, I want to announce the results of that poll I directed you guys to last chapter, and the winner, as of right now, is...DAEJAE! But it was very, very close. So, Daejae one-shot coming up! In fact, I shall post the forward and here it is. But don't worry Himdae fans, I will be writing a Himdae one-shot, too. You'll just have to wait a little longer!

And onwards~

Credit: BAPTONG6

November 2012

It’s the perfect day.

Yongguk is over the moon at the opportunity that they’ve been handed, and he doesn’t even question it, just takes it and runs.

Himchan, Jongup, Junhong and Youngjae will be away for most of the day. They were going to be guests on Boom’s Young Street and Kang had decided they would use the rest of the day to catch up on errands specific to those members, giving Daehyun and Yongguk a chance to rest.

It’s a trade-off, with Daehyun and Yongguk due to film for a variety show later that month, but Yongguk only sees that as more time alone with Daehyun.

Daehyun is impatiently fidgeting in the seat beside him in the car hidden behind a face mask and a comfortably large hoodie, “Hyung! You still haven’t told me where we’re going!”

Yongguk rolls his eyes and lightly knocks his knuckles against Daehyun’s head, “That’s what surprise means, Daehyunnie. Patience.”

When Yongguk had told Kang of his plans, citing the fact that he felt distanced from Daehyun and that they hardly spent any time together, Kang had not seemed suspicious. It was all true enough, at any rate, and Kang had arranged a driver for them for the day and promised not to tell the other members because Yongguk didn’t want it to seem like he was playing favourites.

Yongguk had wanted to blindfold the other, too, but wasn’t quite sure how he would explain why it looked like he was taking Daehyun on a surprise date.

Well, it was because he was taking Daehyun on a surprise date but they didn’t need to know that little detail.

Daehyun had reacted with a wide smile and a shy laugh when Yongguk had told him he’d be taking him out that morning for their first date. The younger was still somewhat shy with the elder, not noticeably so, since they were band mates and friends, but there was a new dynamic between them now that they were both still testing out and Daehyun often approached it with the caution of a child dipping his toes into a cold lake.

The car drops them off at an unmarked door and if it were anyone else but Yongguk, Daehyun would be worried. They disembark, Yongguk giving the driver a time to pick them up, and he guides the younger man to the door. When they step inside, Daehyun realizes it’s a studio, with every art supply under the sun filling shelves and cubbies that line the walls. There is also a hallway leading to a café with an outdoor patio attached to the studio.

Daehyun looks around in awe at the colourful space. The walls are lined with art work, amateur and professional alike, and jazzy music is playing from hidden speakers.

Yongguk is rubbing his neck, “It’s pretty out of the way, so we won’t have to worry about fans. They have a crazy tea collection in their café, which I thought you’d like. And I know you like to draw, and you’re pretty good at it. I like to draw, too, so I thought…”

“It’s perfect.” Daehyun says. Gripping Yongguk’s hand quickly and squeezing in assurance before Yongguk leads him to the back where a woman sits behind a desk. She tells them everything they need to know and Yongguk guides them over to a secluded spot, in front of two easels.

“I didn’t even know a place like this existed. You’re such a hipster, hyung!” Daehyun teases as Yongguk ducks his head with a pleased grin.

Daehyun favours caricatures, cartoon-like scenes, playful and humorous. He chooses to sketch with a marker, while Yongguk goes with paint and they begin to work, conversation steady between them. Being a weekday morning, the studio is deserted and most of the sound comes from the attached café with patrons coming and leaving during the morning hustle.

Daehyun is shy, but playful, growing more comfortable with Yongguk until he can eventually mess with him the way he does with Youngjae, dotting his nose with paint and laughing as Yongguk misses every time he tries to remove it.

“Here,” Daehyun wets a tissue with water from his bottle before bringing it to Yongguk’s nose and clearing away the paint, “There. All gone.”

They are close, hidden behind a wall and their easels and Yongguk darts forward to drop a kiss to Daehyun’s masked mouth.

“Hyung!” Daehyun whispers, eyes panicked as he looks around the studio.

“Relax. No one’s here. I’ll take care of you,” Yongguk brushes the younger’s cheek and tugs the beanie Daehyun is wearing around his head to cover his adorably prominent ears. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” Daehyun looks down, cheeks blooming with red, “Okay.”

*          *          *

They finish the artisan teas and scones they had ordered and put the final touches on to their art work. Daehyun’s is a scene of all of their members gathered around a table dressed as various characters of Alice in Wonderland; Yongguk’s an abstract painting that Daehyun stares at for a full minute before he decides to ask. It’s a swirl of lovely colours, and a faint shape of a figure appearing to dance in the middle, but that’s Daehyun’s best guess.

“Hyung,” he begins tentatively, “Um, what is it?”

Yongguk’s face is deadpan, “It’s you. I painted the way I view your soul, can’t you tell?”

Daehyun’s mouth opens and closes like a fish as he stutters out a response, “Oh, yes! Right, of course, I just-”

He is cut off by Yongguk laughter, as the elder rubs his shoulder comfortingly.

“I’m joking. It’s just some random person, but to be honest, I’m not the best with paint. Clearly.”

“Oh,” Daehyun says with a sigh, relived he hadn’t offended the elder, “Hyung, that was mean.”

“I know, sorry. Come on, our driver’s outside.”

They agree to leave their work at the studio, to be framed and displayed along with the other recent pieces and Yongguk pays their bill despite Daehyun’s protests. They enter the car and Daehyun eyes the streets they pass, attempting to guess at their next location. Yongguk’s hand is next to his on the seat and their pinkies are hooked discreetly as the journey continues.

By the time they arrive at their destination, Daehyun is surprised, though he makes no comment.

They walk up the stairs to the TS studios, Yongguk with a small smile on his face at the confusion on Daehyun’s and he guides them into their usual studio, pleased to see that it’s empty, “Come on, I want to show you some stuff I’ve been working on.”

“Wait, what? Really?”

That was a surprise. Daehyun brightens even more, excited at the prospect of being the first to see Yongguk’s new music.

There is a small selection of tunes, some further along than others, but all with something distinctly Yongguk about them. Daehyun listens, offers input when asked and Yongguk takes it all down in a notebook, a thoughtful look on his face. Daehyun is practically squirming with excitement, being able to contribute in some small way, being able to be part of such an intimate process with Yongguk. Even producers were left in the dark at this stage of Yongguk’s creating, not brought in until Yongguk had something more concrete to show them.

“Oh, um. Here,” Yongguk says, deceptively casual as he bends to tummage through his backpack and attempts to hand Daehyun a worn book, bound in leather.

Daehyun’s eyes widen, recognizing the object in his hyung’s hands, “You’re letting me see your notebook?”

“Yep.”

“But…you never let anyone see your notebooks.”

“I know,” Yongguk says with a small smile, “But now I’m showing you.”

He hands it to the vocalist, smiling as Daehyun takes it with both hands. Daehyun opens the book carefully and begins looking through the pages, lingering on some longer than others, paging through Yongguk’s words and pictures with gentle hands.

Minutes later, Daehyun pauses as his fingers run over a particular entry, smoothing over the raised lines of ink.

“Is this…is this about me?” Daehyun gestures to a particular verse, face pink as he reads descriptions specific enough to guide his guess.

Daehyun feels embarrassed just asking the question, feels arrogant for assuming such beautiful, sensual words are for him, but it’s too late to take them back and he anxiously awaits a response. Yongguk’s reaction after looking over the words is a blush brighter than any he has ever seen on the elder’s face and the elder stutters out a reply.

“I forgot…that was in there.”

Daehyun’s ears redden further as he re-reads the lyrics, “So…that’s a yes?”

Yongguk nods his head and rubs at his neck in agitation, “I’m sorry, Daehyun-ah, you must think I’m-”

“It’s kinda y.” Daehyun interrupts, before he can think and lose his courage.

Yongguk blinks, embarrassed frown morphing into a slow grin, “Yeah?”

“Yeah…”

Daehyun drops his eyes back down to the book, moving to the next page and the next to avoid looking directly into Yongguk’s eyes.

When they return to the dorm, there’s a new intimacy between them and a crackling energy just below the surface of their friendly banter.

Daehyun follows Yongguk to their bedroom, and when Yongguk sits on his bunk and looks at him expectantly as he lingers unsurely, the vocalist wastes no time crawling in with him and curling up with his leader.

The others are due back any minute and the two do nothing more than talk as Daehyun marvels at the fact that he’s on Yongguk’s bed. Cuddling. With Yongguk.

“Is this weird? This is weird, right?”

Yongguk frowns and his hand stills where it had been combing through Daehyun’s hair, worried that Daehyun is rethinking this entire relationship already, “What?”

Daehyun tilts his head, to look up the elder and twists around as he sees to look of worry on the elder’s face. He settles on his front where he can look at Yongguk and shakes his head, “No, I mean…you don’t…like this sort of stuff, do you? Like…being all touchy and stuff.”

Yongguk smiles softly, “It’s not that I don’t like it at all. I just…it’s not something I do with just anyone. It’s harder for me, than it is for you or Himchan.”

“So I’m special?” Daehyun says, sticking his face into Yongguk’s space and grinning when Yongguk does nothing more than lean closer.

“I thought we established that, Dae.”

They are still wrapped up in each other by the time the front door unlocks minutes later and Yongguk allows Daehyun to dart away to his own bed with a final peck to his jaw, smile hidden behind the book the grabs from his side table. 

Thanks for reading! I love hearing from you wonderful people.