Kingdom of Knuffel

Tae managed to mumble a quiet "good night" back to Lain. However, he didn't find it very easy to sleep that night. It was like his brain just refused to shut off. He finally fell asleep, but he woke up fairly early.

Instead of staying in bed, which no longer felt as comfortable as it had before all the drama started, he decided to get up. He grabbed some comfortable clothes for the day off, a pair of black joggers and an oversized sweater. Then he got changed in the bathroom, so he didn't disturb Lain.

After washing up, he decided just to have a banana for breakfast.

Lain didn't typically sleep in on a day off. It felt like a waste of a rare block of free time. So he woke up quite early and took a shower to wash off the wooziness. He wore a sweatshirt and baggy pants. When he went to the kitchen, Tae was already there.

"Good morning! Do you have anything planned for today? If you can spare the time, want to go to the lending library?" said Lain, making an omelette for himself. "It's called Prince Comics but it has novels and other books too, not just comics. It's not far from here. If you happen to like their collection I'll get us a joint subscription."

Tae had pulled out his phone to occupy his attention. It didn't seem like long before Lain was up and ready for the day as well.

"Good morning." Tae had wanted things to go back to normal, that meant acting like they were. Lain asked about going to the lending library. Tae had almost forgotten they had talked about that.

"Yeah, hung, that sounds like fun." He tried to sound excited. Maybe if he pretended things were normal, they would be. Plus, some time without his other hyungs, he could ask the question that had been bothering him. He just didn't want to embarrass himself.

"Great, let's go there around 11? We can browse for a while and be back by lunchtime," said Lain. Part of him wanted to ask Tae whether he wanted to go for lunch after, but he knew that it was too soon. He knew he shouldn't push it.

Most probably Ju-Kan would order them all a pizza or take them out for barbecue, anyway. He liked to treat his dongsaengs once in a while.

"I'm going to walk down to the convenience store now. Do you want anything?" continued Lain. "I'm buying ice cream for Haneul, tea and some fruit for myself."

Lain came up with a plan and Tae nodded a bit. "That sounds good." He said. It wouldn't be too much time, but just enough. Maybe it would even help him feel like things were okay again. Then Lain asked about going to the store.

"Oh, um, no, thank you." He said after a moment. Even if he had needed or wanted anything, his brain wasn't entirely working on thinking of what it could be.

Tae said he didn't need anything from the store. Lain nodded, and was just about to take his wallet and leave when Haneul piped up, "It's green tea ice cream or nothing!" Ju-kan chose that moment to come into the living room as well.

Lain grinned. "Yes, yes, if that flavour's not available I won't try to soothe your soul with vanilla like last time. Hyung, do you want anything from the convenience store?" He addressed that last bit to Ju-kan.

"Haneul is not a vanilla person," smirked Ju-kan, and Lain grinned wider, remembering. Hyung, hit me more! Hyung, I've been a bad boy! That would haunt Haneul forever.

"I don't need anything, I'm going to order in for all of us," Ju-kan continued. "Is everyone up for pizza? We could also go out for barbecue but I'd prefer to stay in."

Haneul looked disgruntled. He glared at grinning Lain, and then he looked at Tae, his expression morphing into a calculating look. Before any alarm bells could ring in Lain's head, Haneul ambled over to Tae and said, "You and Lain are awfully awkward around each other since the breakup. Like you can't even stand to look at each other or talk to each other. Is it so hard to be friends and act normal?" Haneul raised his voice. "You said you'd sort yourselves out and not cause trouble for the rest of us; is this how you're going to do it?"

Tae sort of listened to the interaction between his hyungs. But he didn't want to get involved. Until Haneul decided that he was going to bring Tae into it whether he liked it or not. Tae looked up as Haneul came over and he didn't like the look on his hyung's face. Haneul's words made Tae angry. Even more so because he knew Haneul was just doing it to get back at Lain.

"Shut up." Tae stood up, he sounded about as angry as he felt. "Leave me out of your stupid spat." He didn't care anymore. He was sick of being the easy target for Haneul's cruel words. "You can be angry about that stupid viral video all you want, but don't take it out on me. I'm done!" He had never really shown anger in front of any of his hyungs. But now he couldn't even enjoy a day off.

"We were never together! You just can't see past your own big nose to even look at the truth. Lain only told you what you wanted to hear!" Tae felt like every emotion he had had was exploding out of him and the shocked look on Haneul's face didn't stop him. "If anyone here is causing trouble, it's you!"

Haneul had cornered Tae so suddenly that Lain was still getting his bearings and had no time to react. Ju-kan looked just as surprised as Lain felt, but he also wasn't moving to intercede. Perhaps he sort of agreed with Haneul. It made Lain's blood boil.

He thought he'd have to interject on Tae's behalf, but that thought had barely crossed his mind when Tae snapped. Literally. Like it was like the last straw.

Lain listened, astounded, as Tae called Haneul out on his bullshit. And Ju-kan too, though he didn't address him directly. The fact that he and Tae were never boyfriends hung in the air, and Lain wasn't sure which shocked Haneul and Ju-kan more: the revelation that they'd misunderstood completely, or Tae finally snapping. It was like Tae had turned into a different person. It dawned on Lain gradually that this was who Tae was. This was who Tae had been all along. It was just Lain's first time seeing it.

Hearing Tae's words, seeing his livid face, was rather cathartic. Lain wanted to cheer by the end of it. "Yeah! You're the troublemaker, Haneul!" said Lain after Tae's speech, and his tone was exactly like a cheer for an encore.

Ju-kan spluttered, "You were never together? You could've said so before-"

"I tried telling you the truth, but you refused to believe me, remember?" said Lain. He turned around and smiled at Tae. "I'm guilty of a misunderstanding, too. I misunderstood you. I thought you were incapable of standing up for yourself."
Lain had an unpleasant flashback to the time he had forcibly kissed Tae to try and goad him into self-protection. Why did he react aggressively to perceived meekness, and make the worst mistake of his life? He didn't know if he could even call it a mistake; it was the worst thing he'd ever done.

Lain didn't need to defend him this time. For some reason, that made Tae quietly sigh with relief. He had been so worried that even his freak out wouldn't have been enough to convince them all of who he was.

Tae sat back down, seeing how his hyungs had backed off and - finally - believed him, made him feel better. It calmed him down a bit. Then Lain was apologizing for not seeing who Tae was.

"It's my fault." He mumbled. "I was more worried about the manners and politeness here that I forgot who I was before I came." Then they'd been to busy for Tae to try and show himself again that he just went with it. "I don't wanna be like that anymore..." He wanted to stand up for himself like he knew he could. He had just been so worried his hyungs would hate him.

"It's not your fault that you held yourself back so much. Being an idol does that to people. We're told to keep everything in and outwardly be cheerful and obedient." Lain sighed, "You were under more pressure than the rest of us because you're used to a more open culture. It must have been especially hard for you... I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," said Ju-kan. "I should've guided you more so that you wouldn't worry about adjusting here."

Tae must have been so lonely, thought Lain. There was a weight in his chest, even though this conversation was clearing the air for all of them.

Haneul cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I kept bothering you because you seemed like an easy target."

"If you don't want to hold back anymore, don't," added Lain. "Even if you draw criticism for being true to yourself, I'll support you." He had gone about the wrong way trying to stand up for Tae all this time, barging in to shield him without ever giving him the chance to voice what he thought, what he wanted. Now, Lain thought he understood Tae a little better, understood a little better how to support him without being patronising.

Ju-kan nodded. Haneul too. "We all will," said their leader, for once actually leader-like.