𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲 ━ SKZ Male Member

♣ . . . a misunderstanding

Anyone would say Anurak was irritated with the physical contact and praising by his maknaes, who had taken it upon themselves to 'strengthen his confidence' - whatever that meant - and he was. Anurak was plenty confident; he just made the simple mistake of sighing a little too loudly and telling them he was fine, which he was.

Felix was, of course, hanging off his arm, cheek squished against Anurak's shoulder as he pouted about his hyung being sad - or so he believed. Jeongin sat in front of him, face held in his hands as if waiting for Anurak to open his arms and pull him in for a hug. And then there was Seungmin pacing around making hand motions while he gave his speech of self-love or something -  Anurak stopped listening ten minutes in.

Jisung was somewhere in the kitchen making him something to drink but it sounded like he was trying to start a new beat with pots and pans.

Anurak sat blank-faced, doing his best not to push Felix away from him. He was very close to head-butting Jeongin's head which was growing exceedingly closer and then there was the thought of tripping Seungmin on his face so he would finally shut up.

"What's going on in here?" Changbin stood in the front door doorway, back from an afternoon at the gym, taking in the scene with confusion and mild amusement.

There was sweet silence for half a second.

"There's something wrong with Hyung." Jisung peeked in from the kitchen, cocoa powder in one hand and flour in the other.

Was he making a cake?

Concern struck Anurak, knowing Jisung couldn't cook. Was that smoke he smelt or his brain melting through his ears?

Something changed in Changbin and he dropped everything in his hands to the floor as he rushed over. "What?! Something wrong? What, what is it?" He looked at Anurak with wide eyes, hands on his hyung's unoccupied shoulder.

"Noth-"

"He's sad and he won't tell us why." Felix interrupted Anurak.

That was when Hyunjin entered the room. "Sad? Hyung? Where?"

Anurak rolled his eyes when the back of the couch was jumped and his back with enveloped by a body.

"There's nothing wrong."

"He's in denial." Seungmin nodded to himself.

Anurak groaned, his annoyance levels quickly rising. All he needed was someone of competence to step in and break them apart, maybe then he could breathe.

Then, his saving grace came in the form it always did.

Chan stepped through the still-open front door with much caution and Minho followed behind. Anurak had half the mind to reach out to the leader but that would mean admitting defeat and he would rather let someone else do that for him.

Minho was already giggling while Chan appeared to be trying to figure out the best approach. What Anurak didn't expect was the route he took considering the role he had. It was amusing and very odd but not exactly surprising.

"He's mine!"

Chan raced over, doing his best to pry his members off of Anurak as if his life depended on it only for the members to hold on tighter.

"Get off!"

"He's not yours!"

"Let me heal his heart first!"

"I'm his son, he needs me!"

To say the situation was getting out of hand was an understatement. The reason was so stupid and somehow it had evolved into some tug of war.

"Please, would you all quit it!" Anurak yelled and suddenly the drama stopped. "I'm not sad, I'm not in denial and I do not belong to any of you!"

Wide eyes shined at him from every direction.

"Sometimes I just like to breathe heavier than usual and I really am fine."

Felix's pout deepened. "But you've looked down all week."

Anurak frowned. "No, I haven't."

"But you've been so distant," Jisung muttered from the background.

Minho hummed, "And your flirting has been a little off."

"Well, I can't be expected to flirt every day like you do."

"... low blow."

Anurak gently pushed every limb attached to him and stood from the couch. Every one of the boys looked at him expectantly, possibly waiting for him to blow up and start yelling at them but he wouldn't because that would mean wasting energy on their idiocy.

Maybe he should just leave them to it but Anurak knew they would just end up getting into another argument.

"Now," Anurak began with a heavy sigh, "You lot are going to let this go and behave like the good children you are, understood?"

They stared up at him with mouths agape and wide eyes, some of them even had red tinting their cheeks and ears.

"Yes, Ap-" Jeongin interrupted himself with a cough, "Hyung."

It took everything in Anurak to suppress his smirk.