SCREAMING. CRYING. THROWING UP, ETC. This is so good, I'm going bananas, the gentle ache of it all, the way it's already happened and fixed and just a quiet what-if.... I'm obsessed with the entire jicheol dynamic here, how you established that it fell apart so early on but they've done their best all these years to still be there: in some ways, they're the closest - the only one i'd consider my real brother, jihoon had said once - but sometimes jihoon feels like he's a thousand miles away even when they're in the same room. && if it were seokmin, they'd throw out casual i love yous before departing. since it's jihoon, he just smiles and watches the black cab leave before heading back inside. BECAUSE 'I LOVE YOU' would MEAN TOO MUCH. I also really loved how wholesome Seungcheol's relationship with Jiae is and how that wasn't threatened, it was all so sweet, a cherry on top of the ache. Thank you for writing this, I'm rolling platforms now to bookmark this on ao3!!