"Where's Hwiyoung?" Jaeyoon asked with a smirk as soon as Taeyang entered the dorm the other male shared with Inseong, Juho, and Dawon. Taeyang rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised that Jaeyoon already knew about the kiss.
"Him and Inseong had an interview," Taeyang answered. "Where's Juho?"
"Living room," Jaeyoon sang. The purple-haired male gave him a look before making his way to the front room where Juho sat on the couch about to start the live.
Taeyang sat on the floor in front of the couch. He took the phone that showed themselves on camera from Juho and helped the older set it up.
"I can no longer call you a fellow heterosexual," Juho said, amused.
"I will smack you," Taeyang threatened.
Juho gave a smug smile in response. A few minutes later, they had the live started, and Chani joined them.
"'Can you give us a hint about the new single?'" Chani read aloud. "A hint? Um . . ." He glanced at Juho expectantly silently saying This one's all yours.
"I'm not sure how much we can tell you, but a couple of the members actually wrote the song," Juho said. Taeyang watched as the chat continued to be spammed.
Who???
That's so cool 🤩
My car broke down this morning.
I'm so proud of you😭😭
Can you tell us about the drama?
Juho took the phone out of Taeyang's hands. "Should we just do a Q and A?" he asked, sliding off the couch and taking a place next to Taeyang.
"Isn't that what we've been doing?" Taeyang asked.
"Well, yeah. But I mean a Q and A where we each pick a couple of questions for someone other than ourselves to answer," Juho explained. "Like, I'll choose 5 questions for you, you'll choose five questions for Chani, and Chani will choose 5 for me."
"I'm down," Chani said. Taeyang glanced at the comments. Apparently, the viewers were all for it, too. The only thing he could do was agree. He mentally scolded himself. The live was likely to go down a path he would rather not explore.
"I'll go first," Taeyang volunteered. After getting a notepad and a pen, he asked viewers for questions meant for Chani and wrote a few down. All the while, Chani had his face stuffed into a pillow.
Taeyang cleared his throat. He chose some pretty good questions. Most involving Seokwoo. Seokwoo was either going to thank him or kill him after the live if he saw it.
"I have a question first," Chani said before Taeyang could say a word. "What if we don't want to answer the question?"
Both of the younger males looked to their hyung. Juho shrugged. "You'll get a punishment of some kind. Which has yet to be determined."
"Okay," Taeyang said. "Question one: Is it possible that Rochan could ever become an actual thing?"
"Maybe," Chani answered. "Next question."
Taeyang rose an eyebrow and glanced at the comments. Apparently the maknae's answer was satisfying enough to move on.
"Okay, question two," Taeyang said, crossing out the first question. "If you could pick one member that you consider yourself to be closest to, who would it be?"
Chani thought about it for a moment. "I'm not sure," he said. "Do I have to choose?"
"Punishment," Juho hummed.
"Um . . . Rowoon, probably," Chani answered quickly.
"Okay, question three . . ."
They went on like that for the last three questions. Then Juho decided that he would be the one to ask questions next. Taeyang had to look away from the screen until Juho said so. Here's where everything went downhill. This is what he gets for having band-mates as gossipers and viewers who have a habit of asking member-relationship questions.
"Question one: Are you happy to be in the drama with Hwiyoung?"
Taeyang wasn't surprised it was about the drama. Or Hwiyoung. "Yeah," he said. A smile pulled at his lips remembering just earlier. He bit his lip to hide it. "There have been a couple of scenes I struggled with in the beginning, but these past couple of months have been really fun."
Juho and Chani grinned at each other as if they knew exactly what Taeyang knew by "really fun."
"Okay, question two," Juho said. "Are you making any friends while filming the drama?"
Taeyang nodded. "I get along well with the other actors, and I have been super grateful for their positive attitudes and helpful tips. I'm closest to both Jaejin and Sarang."
"Number three: Is it weird to like your best friend?"
Taeyang gave Juho a look then turned back to the camera. "I'd say no. If you like your best friend, you like them. Sometimes, you just can't control your feelings. If this is the case for you, I do wish you the best of luck as to whether or not your best friend likes you back."
"Number four, if you ever go the chance to date on of the members, who would it be?"
Taeyang sighed.
"I can't say for sure," Taeyang told them, even though he knew perfectly well who he would choose. He pretended to think about his answer in procrastination. "Hwiyoung, probably," he finally said--just to get it out of the way.
Chani and Juho shared a look again, and Taeyang swatted at them. "Next question, please."
"Alright, last question," Juho said. "Do you enjoy the kissing scenes with Hwiyoung?"
Taeyang held back a groan. Of course, Juho would save that question for last.
He could admit it. But as for whether or not he should was a whole other matter that he would have to go to either their manager or the head of the company. But he didn't want to say no in case Hwiyoung watched the live and got the wrong idea.
He snatched the notebook from Juho's hands and handed it to Chani. "Your turn," he told Chani.
"What about the punishment?" the younger asked.
"Your turn," Taeyang repeated.
Juho answered the questions Chani chose and then they talked more about their new single coming out soon. Taeyang was grateful they dropped the whole Hwiyoung conversation, although he did see the occasional question pass by in the comments.
When the live ended, all members--except for Hwiyoung-- met up in the dorm, which kind of sucked because Taeyang wanted to see Hwiyoung.
"Hwiyoung's birthday is in a week," Youngbin said. "Hwiyoung and Taeyang have a shoot for the drama that day, so while you guys are gone, the rest of us will set up all the decorations and the cake in the meeting room for the live. Sound good?"
The other members agreed and they were able to split off. Taeyang followed Youngbin, Seokwoo, and Chani into their own dorm. He was disappointed Hwiyoung wasn't there yet. Inseong had told him that Hwiyoung was still at the studio, probably creating the music for an OST Director Choi had asked them to make for the drama.
Chani and Youngbin both went to bed as soon as they entered the dorm. Seokwoo plopped on the couch and began watching something on his phone. Taeyang sat next to him.
"What are you watching?" the purple-haired male asked.
"Did you know there are approximately over 30 different ships for SF9?" Seokwoo responded.
"You counted?"
"And I'm not meaning as like a bromance-best friend kind of thing, but like, as boyfriends."
"And that's a good or bad thing?"
Seokwoo practically ignored him. His focus was on his phone. "Am I really that obvious with my feelings for Chani?"
Taeyang leaned forward and looked at the screen. "When are you going to actually confess?"
"I have a plan, I just need to set it into motion." Seokwoo tapped at his phone and opened a new video. "Here, look. It's obvious that Hwiyoung has feelings for you, too."
Taeyang cautiously took the phone from Seokwoo. It was a compilation of Hwitae moments from the interview from K-Talk-A-Lot. Hwiyoung glanced at Taeyang often with an admiring gaze in his eyes.
No; not admiring--affectionate, or even loving. It was the same look Chani and Seokwoo used when the other wasn't looking.
Why hadn't he seen it until now? Clearly, he was oblivious.
Taeyang forwarded the video looking for the dance. He caught it towards the end of the dance.
It was amazing what a video could reveal. Taeyang had the same gaze in his own eyes.
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a/n: "wow, an update, finally! it took you long enough 🙄"