But What Else Can I Do?

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"It's short"

"It's grey"

Jackjae yelled in unison, their mouths wide open with shock, Jinyoung was eyeing him, like a painter proudly showing off his latest masterpiece. "Silver actually" stated Jinyoung, stepping aside, moving Jaebeom onto a pedestal to be gawked at. He stared down at the other two, "You kept saying I needed something different" he said flatly, his face almost completely emotionless. "This is different" he stated, pointing to his new silver mullet.

He looked around at the bewildered faces, suddenly regretting listening to them at all, "Does it look bad?" he asked perplexed and was overwhelmed with shouts of 'you look great' and 'it's nice' from the three men around him, he rubbed at the back of his neck nervously staring down at his shoes. There was a deafening silence, he felt like his ears were ringing as he began to drown in his own self-deprecating thoughts, a small timid voice breaking him out of his internal prison.

"Hyung, it looks really good" he glanced up, connecting with Youngjae's warm brown eyes as they crinkled into little crescent moons as he smiled wide. He was a ball of sunshine, slowly melting Jaebeom's icy walls... and he had no idea. A pink flush spread across his cheeks and he felt a giggle rise in his chest, he tried to fight it, but he couldn't help but feel bashful under Youngjae's gaze. "You think?" He asked shyly and Youngjae nodded fervently in response, "Now I feel like mine looks a mess" he laughed loudly, throwing his head back in glee as he did and clapping his hands together like a seal.

"No, no, no!" Jaebeom reacted, a little too quickly, he saw the look that Jinyoung exchanged with Jackson and felt his ears burn as well. "I like the blonde," he said adamantly grinning back at him, it was too late to back down now. "Don't worry I'll make sure he only gets a trim!" Jackson teased ruffling Youngjae's hair playfully and leaving it sticking up wildly, Youngjae sighed and frantically tried to flatten it, with little luck.

Jinyoung snorted beside him, obviously captivated by Jackson's cheeky grin as he winked up at them. Jaebeom side-eyed them, his tongue sticking out the edge of his mouth as he gave Youngjae a knowing look, almost as if he was saying 'Mum and dad are flirting again' with his face and he saw Youngjae gulp in response before his lips turned upward. "Suits!" Jaebeom prodded at Jinyoung's side, like an impatient child and he sighed before leaning in and kissing Jackson, warranting a loud 'Ew!' in protest from the others as they were separated once more.

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Jaebeom staggered through the door, the mall was as exhausting as ever, too many sights too many people, too much of everything. He huffed as he slumped down in the chair, bags dropped on the ground with reckless abandon. "That's not staying there" Jinyoung fussed as he wandered through into his bedroom with his own shopping, Jaebeom gave him nothing but a grunt in response. He closed his eyes momentarily listening to the dull buzz of life, he revelled in the silence, sighing deeply, and shifting to make himself more comfortable.

 He felt a hand at his shoulder and flinched in response his eyes shooting open, Youngjae withdrew his hand shocked, "I'm sorry... I just wanted to check you were ok" he stumbled over his words, twiddling his thumbs as he spoke. He smiled up at him reaching out for his hand once more and offered him a seat on the arm of the chair beside him which Youngjae took. He sighed as he leant into him, it was odd, the way they still walked on eggshells with one another all day, terrified of crossing some invisible boundary they never explicitly created yet they'd spent the last week in a bed together.