Chapter Text
Jisoo thought he'd be open to trying poly if it's with Seungcheol and Jeonghan. They have been best friends since middle school. When Jisoo transferred to Korea from LA, he thought it would take a lot of work for him to find new friends. He isn't an introvert, but his Korean is comparable to a five-year-old, and the language is just an excellent barrier for him to make new friends.
Lo and behold, enter Jeonghan and his best friend, Seungcheol. Despite barely understanding what Jisoo meant most of the time, the two stuck to him and even taught him Korean, which indeed improved as time passed.
When they were in their senior year in high school, it was only natural for the three to choose the same university and hunt for an apartment to be roommates.
Unit 143
This will be their new home for the following years. A small cozy bachelor's pad with two double-decker beds and a tiny space with a four-seater dining table serving as their kitchen or dining area.
It was heaven for the first few months. Living with your best friends is a dream come true for Jisoo. Not to mention the slight attraction he has for the two of them. Slowly getting more profound as the days passed by.
Who wouldn't when they are the most caring, supportive, and comfortable people to be with. Jeonghan being his solace, and Seungcheol being his rock.
The two made his first year in university exciting and bearable. Never did Jisoo feel homesick when these two made themselves his new home. Though miles away from his family, Jisoo is fine because he has Seungcheol and Jeonghan with him.
So there go Jisoo's feelings.
Deeper and deeper until Jisoo is almost falling.
Almost.
Because surprisingly, no amount of forced proximity can exempt his best friends from Jisoo finding annoying bits in their personalities.
...
Jeonghan being a light sleeper is sensitive in the morning. At first, Jisoo and Seungcheol would understand and try to move as quietly as possible if they had schedules earlier than Jeonghan.
But today was different. Jisoo hadn't slept a wink as his exams were fast approaching, not to mention the shit load of reports he still needed to finish. Still being a considerate friend and roommate, he tried to hover silently across their shared unit to boil water for his sixth cup of coffee.
Jisoo decided to close his eyes for a bit while waiting for the pot to heat up. And maybe tiredness and sleepiness got ahead of him, and he didn't hear the pot's faint whistle as the water started to boil.
Soft grunts were made by Jeonghan as the whistle continued, "Cheolie, the kettle." But Seungcheol already went out, and Jisoo was deep asleep, so no one answered Jeonghan.
"Shuji, the kettle," the older repeated but still got no response from the sleeping Jisoo.
"Shuji," Jeonghan called out louder as he became more and more awake.
The thing is, Jeonghan is a light sleeper and a grumpy one when his sleep is interrupted. He's whiney most of the time, but early mornings make him lash out. And both Jisoo and Seungcheol learned it within a month of living together. So they adjust - early mornings are quiet hours.
"Yah! Jisoo Hong! The kettle, for fucks sake!" Jeonghan screamed, bringing Jisoo back to consciousness.
Hearing that made Jisoo's heart jump out of his chest out of pure fear. Yes, he knows Jeonghan's tendencies to lash out for interrupting his rest, but he's never been on the receiving end of it. And he hated it. He hated being shouted at. He hated waking up after a few minute-nap, scared because Jeonghan was so angry at him for letting the kettle whistle for quite some time.
For weeks a silent war between the two occurred. To say that things are awkward and uncomfortable is an understatement. All three of them were literally walking eggshells around each other. Seungcheol tried to make them talk, for the very least but failed miserably. You know Jisoo is a sweet guy - might be the sweetest, but he holds grudges. And this is one of the rare moments he can't let his pettiness take over as his blossoming feelings for the older man are thrown out of the window.
...
Now Seungcheol, well, Seungcheol is a sweet boy. He loves cooking, but maybe the cooking doesn't love him as much as he does. The kitchen is certainly not where he belongs. He is simply the worst. Not to exaggerate, but he can make a simple fried egg taste weird.
But Seungcheol isn't a quitter, so he tried and tried. At first, Jeonghan and Jisoo would find it endearing. But certainly, after the umpteenth time trying out his dish, the two would even bribe each other on who's in charge of tasting Seungcheol's poisonous food of the week.
Jisoo had a rough day in school. He got called because a classmate of his decided to sleep in class, and the professor thought his name was Jisoo. A problem also arose with their org, which made Jisoo's supposed dismissal at 2pm become 6pm. So right now, he is just looking forward to eating the takeout soup from the Thai restaurant they went to yesterday. But Seungcheol had other plans. The older decided to add hotdogs and some other spices to their takeout tom yang soup.
And Jisoo didn't know. So when he took a sip from the freshly microwaved soup, he coughed for his dear life. Not because it's hot but because it tastes like shit mixed with puke and the like. The perfect hot and sour shrimp soup he looked forward to sipping after a tiring day of school was down the drain because no one in their right mind would certainly eat this abomination.
In the drain is the soup from hell, down with the last inch of hope that he'll fall in love with his best friends and try a little poly with them.