Chapter Text
Sakuya and Ryo, these two names, according to everyone, was meant to fit eachother. And even sakuya and ryo could not deny it, because they knew it was true. They had been inseparable ever since trainee days. People around them always knew, if they saw sakuya, ryo would be there and vice versa. It was only natural for them to become so close to eachother since they moved to a completely new country on their own at a young age, and them being of the same age bought them comfort and a sense of familiarity. So the other members of WISH understood when they wanted to share a room together in their new dorm.
Sakuya had been cute, the maknae everyone doted on and ryo was also the small, cute maknae. But just like how seasons change, they were changing too, mostly sakuya. He had become taller, lost a lot of baby fats and he was, as always, undeniably handsome. Ryo on the other hand, did change too, but he remained short, he remained cute, and he was also very pretty. The hyungs of course saw these changes and sometimes Sion liked to act dramatic and smother them with kisses.
Sakuya and ryo were so close that it was just natural for them to be at eachother's space. Especially since ryo was very clingy and his love language was physical touch, so he never thought twice before clinging to sakuya, because he knew sakuya did not mind.
But there were changes, very small changes that ryo was starting to notice, in their friendship. Sakuya pulled away more than he used to, he usually spent more time with yushi hyung, playing Minecraft. It's not like ryo had anything against yushi, but he wonders why sakuya is not spending time with him like he used to.
One day, when they were in their shared room, ryo was getting bored. It was a day off and maybe his body and mind is too used to being occupied by work the whole day, he could not stay and use phone only. As he became increasingly bored, he poked sakuya who was busy playing in his Nintendo switch. He poked again but still got no reply. "sakuuu" he lightly shook sakuya "what?"
"I'm bored, wanna go to the convenient store?" he slowly stood up, looking at sakuya who was still playing. "no I'm playing, maybe ask yushi hyung or riku hyung" ryo pouted. He shook sakuya again, "C'mon pleaseeee?"
"i told you i don't want to, can you stop!? go annoy others!" sakuya snapped as he shook ryo off of him. Ryo was genuinely shocked, sakuya had never raised his voice or talked like this. Ryo’s expression changed as he nodded. "right...sorry for annoying you, i-i'll ask y-yushi hyung" ryo stood up and left. Ryo’s eyes were watering, he never thought sakuya would use that tone with him. was he really being so annoying? maybe sakuya was getting fed up with ryo. Ryo shook his head. 'no ryo! maybe he's not in a good mood. He's your best friend!' ryo tried to convince himself. He went to yushi hyung's room and knocked, the door opening soon.
"ryo-chan? do you need something?" yushi looked at ryo who nodded his head. "umm do you wanna go to the convenient store?" yushi looked kind of confused. "don't you usually go with saku?" ryo scratched his neck. "uh- i asked him but he seemed to be in a bad mood..so he said he'll not go" yushi hummed, "okay then, let's go ryo-chan"
By the time ryo and yushi came back, the other members seemed to have gathered in the living room. Sion looked at them coming through the door. "you guys finally came! c'mon let's watch a movie" ryo excitedly nodded and quickly took off his shoes. Yushi followed behind with a small smile.
"we bought some snacks" yushi gave the snacks to the members and they all sat down. Ryo instinctively was about to sit next to sakuya, but then he remembered what had happened earlier so he decided to sit next to yushi hyung, who looked surprised-again- but opened his arms for ryo to cuddle.
sakuya also noticed ryo sitting with yushi, because they usually sat together while watching a movie. He decided not to think too much, but as all the members settled down, an uneasy feeling settled in his chest.
As they were watching the movie, sakuya could not really focus on the movie. His eyes drifted towards ryo and yushi constantly. Ryo was settled in Yushi’s arms comfortably and yushi had his arms around ryo's waist, while the other was occasionally feeding snacks to ryo and to himself. Sakuya told himself it was nothing, because the members were always physical with eachother like that in their group.
Finally, the movie ended, and ryo looked sleepy. Sakuya was about to tell ryo to get up so they could go to their room when ryo whispered something to yushi and yushi looked at ryo for a second before nodding. "saku, I'll take ryo for a moment, okay? you can go ahead and sleep" sakuya could only nod and leave.
When ryo and yushi entered yushi's room, ryo sat down on yushi's bed. "did you two fight?" yushi asked and ryo just shook his head. He was looking at his fingers that was settled in his lap.
"so what's wrong ryo-chan?" yushi asked softly as he sat next to ryo. Ryo sighed before he finally spoke. "i-i don't know hyung...recently, saku has been distant, and at first i thought it was because of the tight schedule, that we were tired, but now i know for a fact that it's not that. I've been...I've been trying to close the gap that we now have, but it seems that sakuya does not want to close the distance and today too, i just asked him if he wanted to go to the convenient store with me and he...he snapped at me and told me- he told me to 'annoy others' " yushi silently listened, and ryo suddenly felt broad shoulders covering his small once. Yushi was hugging ryo.
"you're not annoying ryo, if sakuya made you feel like that. I don't know why sakuya would act like how he's been acting, maybe he's really just tired, but that does not mean he can talk to you like that. please don't feel bad, I'm sure you and saku will figure out whatever is going on once sakuya gets his shit together" ryo did not notice the tears spilling from his eyes as he nodded, burying his face in yushi's chest.
"do you wanna sleep here tonight?" yushi asked and ryo was so thankful. Because he did not know how he would face sakuya alone. "yes please, thank you hyung"
The next morning, yushi had already woken up before ryo. Ryo almost forgot about yesterday, almost, because when he went to the kitchen, he saw sakuya eating breakfast while using his phone, and he remembered what had actually happened. Ryo decided to act normal as he went past sakuya. Sakuya noticed ryo and looked up, just then yushi turned around to see ryo.
"good morning ryo-chan, did you sleep well?" yushi smiled when ryo hugged yushi's back sleepily as yushi made some omelette. Ryo just nodded and closed his eyes, he really needed some distraction. Yushi chuckled a little at ryo's action but he tapped ryo's hands. "C'mon, I've made some omelette, eat it" ryo reluctantly let yushi go and he sat down, a bit far from sakuya as yushi gave ryo the omelette. Sakuya and ryo ate in silence while yushi went to wash up and change for their schedule.
"ryo?" ryo was about to stand up but stopped, he looked at sakuya. "uh- I'm sorry...for yesterday night" ryo looked at sakuya, and just nodded. "it's okay" he stood up and went to the sink to wash up. "and i-i didn't mean what i said...i just- i needed space" ryo's hands stopped, the water running, but he soon nodded nonetheless. "okay" He quickly did the dishes and went to wash up and change. He did not want to overthink anything, he could not mess up his work because of his bad mood.
Even in the car, ryo asked riku if he could sit next to yushi. "riku hyung, is it alright if we could change seats?" riku looked at ryo "aegi, are you feeling sick?" riku asked worriedly. Riku did really treat ryo like his own younger brother. Ryo shook his head, "no hyung, I'm fine. Just wanted to sleep a bit more and yushi hyung has really broad shoulders" riku pinched ryo's cheeks and nodded. "of course, aegi"
He climbed to the seat next to yushi who smiled at him. "hi ryo" ryo sighed, finally. Yushi hyung had become his comfort person ever since what happened and he hoped yushi hyung didn't mind that he was being clingy to yushi hyung. "hi hyung, is it fine if i sit here?" yushi linked their arms. "of course"
"are you not mad that you won't be able to sit with riku hyung?" yushi chuckled. "ryo, let me tell you a secret, come here" ryo leaned close to yushi and yushi whispered in ryo's ear. "riku and i are dating"
"EHHH?" yushi closed ryo's mouth, "shh!" Ryo honestly did not know about this. "since when!?" ryo whispered back. yushi showed his fingers, 8 months. ryo was genuinely shocked at how good their hyungs were at keeping it a secret for so long.
"soo i have riku all to myself whenever i want, that's why I'm not mad, and i could never be mad at ryo-chan" ryo smiled and nodded happily. "i was actually shipping you and riku hyung, did you know?" ryo whispered and yushi's eyes widened, ears turning red. "what?"
ryo laughed, actually laughed. "yes! my ship finally sailed" yushi playfully hit ryo but hugged him from the side nonetheless.
And this whole scene was being watched by sakuya, who was sat at the back. When riku had come to sit next to sakuya, sakuya was confused, but riku said that ryo wanted to sit with yushi. and now watching ryo and yushi talk like that, in hushed voices as if someone would hear their little secret, he felt a weird coil in his stomach.
During shooting, sakuya and ryo acted perfectly fine. They talked with eachother, they laughed with eachother, because they were THE duo in their group. Everyone loved sakuryo and people would notice really fast if they showed even a little crack in their act. So they acted as if nothing happened, as if they were still the same, but as soon as the cameras shut down, ryo was the first to pull back, and it kind of sting sakuya.
Ever since that day, their dynamic had changed. To the fans, they were still the same sakuya and ryo, but in the dorms, even if they did talk to eachother, something had changed. They still shared a room, but they had kind of made a routine where, ryo washes up quickly and goes to bed before sakuya returns and vice versa. This distance, was of course noticed by their members too. Yushi already knew about it but the others didn't know about it.
At first the changes were small, ryo would often sit next to other members except sakuya, they only sat next to each other during interviews. Ryo would busy himself with schedule or other members, he would give simple replies to sakuya and leave right after. Ryo stopped being clingy to sakuya and he stopped asking sakuya to go out or hang out with him. He was replaced with yushi, often. Because ryo had grown closer to yushi, and at some point, since riku was yushi's boyfriend and someone he views as an older brother, he had also grown a lot more closer to riku too. Ryo joked that yushi was his dad and riku was his mom.
Sion after noticing the tension between sakuya and ryo, had told them to talk it out with eachother. They both had agreed but sakuya was too scared, and ryo was too tired. Sakuya didn't know what kind of bond ryo had formed with yushi, nor did he know about yushi and riku's relationship.
One day when sakuya was going to the kitchen, he heard some noises, as if someone was trying to muffle their sounds. It was coming from yushi's room, and naturally, being curious, sakuya went up to yushi's door. Just as he was about to ask what yushi was doing, he heard something that made him freeze.
"ah! y-yushi hyung, slow down!" then there was a muffled sound, the sound of someone shifting. "ryo-chan is so cute, do you want everyone to hear you?" that was undeniably yushi's voice. Sakuya’s eyes widened. then there was some giggling sounds.
"h-hurts!" he heard ryo say. "did i hurt ryo-chan? hyung is so sorry" before he could hear anything else, he went straight to his own room. Did he really heart ryo and yushi hyung doing it? Were ryo and yushi hyung dating? Sakuya’s eyes watered before he could stop it.
Sakuya missed ryo, he missed when ryo was clingy to him, he missed when ryo paid attention to him, he had taken ryo for granted and now...now ryo was gone. He felt so stupid, he let ryo go, he told ryo that ryo was annoying when ryo is not. He could only cry himself to sleep.
The next morning, sakuya did not want to wake up from bed, but he had no choice. He lazily stood up and washed up, and headed towards the kitchen. Sion and jaehee hyung were eating while Sion was monitoring today's schedule, jaehee was using his phone. Riku was making some coffee while yushi started making breakfast for sakuya once he saw sakuya coming out. "morning saku" yushi greeted and sakuya could not help but recall yesterday night. He did not trust his voice so he just nodded.
After a while, ryo also came out of yushi's room. His bed hair still there as he absentmindedly walked and sat down next to sakuya. "ryo, did you hurt yourself or something? why are you limping" sion asked. yushi immediately looked sorry as he looked at their leader. "hyung, ryo and i were playing yesterday and he kind of hurt his leg because of me" sakuya looked down at his plate. yeah right, playing, as if he had not heard them doing- fuck what ever.
Sion sighed but nodded his head "be careful next time, also why is there a literal bruise in your neck yushi-ah?" yushi heated up, "u-uh it's also from us playing yesterday" sakuya saw yushi get flustered, but he did not see riku blushing too, because he did not know that the hickey was riku's doing, not ryo.
He stood up, "thank you for the food" and left. It was getting hard to breathe for him, and he had lost his appetite. He decided to just change and get ready to go to the company. As he was getting ready, he heard ryo's voice, "are you sure you don't wanna eat anything else?" it was the first time in a while that ryo had asked sakuya something like this. "I'm not hungry" sakuya simply said. He saw ryo nod and leave to get ready. He sighed 'get it together sakuya, you're the one who needed space' he reminded himself.