Archive of Our Own

seungcheol didn't know why he had agreed to go to some random apartment of his boyfriend's friend. jeonghan had dragged him to go with him for a visit—to this guy named jisoo—because the guy had just gotten his own place recently and whoever the guy was was jeonghan's childhood friend, and being a good boyfriend he was, seungcheol only nodded.

so here he was, standing awkwardly on the hallway of the building, waiting for door number 156 to open after jeonghan had enthusiastically knocked.

there was a sound of the door being unlocked, then the said door opened, revealing a boy about their age, not much shorter than both him and jeonghan. the boy's hair was a soft brown, slightly messy, which wasn't really questionable since he was in his own house. he was dressed in a casual outfit, a loose white t-shirt captured his skinny figure and a black sweatpants wrapping his slender legs nicely. seungcheol thought it's too good for something to wear in your own house.

but something that had captured seungcheol's attention was the boy's smile. it was gentle and soft and warm, and his cat-like eyes crinkled, but seungcheol somehow could make out the sparkle on the boy's dark orbs.

"oh, hey! didn't expect you two to drop by." the boy said, and it would be lying if seungcheol said that his voice wasn't the most comforting sound he had ever heard. maybe it was a side effect on always listening to jeonghan's never ending rants.

"you just got your own place, jisoo, and i would be a bad friend if i'm not coming to see you." jeonghan said, sugarcoating his words.

the boy—jisoo—only laughed. "visiting me or my house? i know your tricks, jeonghan. if you weren't my friend, i let you come in. but i know you to the point that if i let you in, i know you would've trash the whole place."

jeonghan let out a fake gasp. "i would never do that!"

jisoo rolled his eyes and focus on seungcheol instead, fixing his eyes on him, as if he was busy judging him.

"and this is your boyfriend?" he asked. seungcheol nodded. jisoo let out his hand for seungcheol to shake. "i'm jisoo, you probably know, and you're seungcheol, i already know."

"and this is how i get my bestfriend to befriend my boyfriend." jeonghan smiled to himself in pride.

jisoo decided to ignore what jeonghan had said, gesturing to the couple to get inside, opening the door wider for them. jeonghan stepped inside first, because he was just excited.

the place itself was nice, seungcheol noticed. everything was in place, the lightning was good, and it seemed fresh and comfortable, not like how most people their age would treat their place. there was a big possibility that jeonghan would drag himself up here everyday.

which, sadly, happened. countless of times.

—

the next time jeonghan brought seungcheol to meet jisso in his place was because they ran out of food and they were way too broke to eat at restaurants.

seungcheol assumed that the moment they showed up in front of the door, jisoo would kick them out immediately, because it was almost midnight and who the hell accept guests at that time of the night?

to seungcheol's surprise, jisoo did. he sighed and gestured them to get in, jeonghan rushing to the kitchen. it turned out that jisoo had jeonghan coming countless of times already, and he was used to it, knowing jeonghan's antics from they were young.

the three of them ended up with ramen cups for dinner, talking and sharing stories and laughters. seungcheol soon knew that jisoo was only a few months younger than him, being born in late december, that jisoo played guitar and sing once in a while, that jisoo took designing major, that jisoo had known jeonghan since they where practically babies (it was actually when the both of them was two, met in a nearby park from school, but jeonghan liked to dramatize things). when they finished, it was a little past midnight and both jeonghan and seungcheol were too tired to walk back to the dorm. jisoo was kind enough to lend his bed for both of them to take, for one condition.

"we're not." seungcheol said, face serious. jeonghan already knocked out on the kitchen's counter, where they had eaten their meal together.

jisoo only raised one of his eyebrows. "yeah? well, just reminding," he said, definitely amused at how he cleared out that his place is a no sex (except him) allowed place.

"and plus," seungcheol said. "we're not sleeping on your bed if you deadass sleep on the floor."

"no," jisoo corrected, putting up one of his fingers. "i'll sleep on the couch,"

"same thing."

"look, i'm not gonna fight with you on this." jisoo said.

seungcheol was about to open his mouth when jeonghan let out a small snore.

jisoo only looked at jeonghan, so he did too, staring at the boy who had brought them to this mess at the dead of the night. his boyfriend really was lucky to have a friend as kind as jisoo.

they only share a small nod to each other, and the two boys dragged jeonghan to the bed, seungcheol tucking jeonghan under the blanket and jisoo closing the bedroom door after they walked out.

facing the living room, there was only two sleeping spots left; the floor or the couch. seungcheol insisted on sleeping on the floor but jisoo only shook his head, laying himself on the cold carpeted floor in front of the couch.

"i'm sorry i'm such a hassle," seungcheol said, after lying down on the couch and getting ready to sleep.

"no, it's okay, you're not," jisoo said, his voice thick with sleepiness. "your boyfriend is, though."

seungcheol chuckled at what the younger boy said. he heard soft snores coming from below him, asuming jisoo had fast asleep, before joining him.

—

seungcheol had went to jisoo's place often now, only to accompany jeonghan and ended up with the three of them hanging out lazily together on the couch with cheap snacks and movies. (jeonghan once mentioned that he and jisoo had somewhat gotten closer by every visits.)

they shared few texts and calls too, mostly about jeonghan and the problems the boy had gotten into, but sometime they also just call each other out of boredom, though, it wasn't really that often.

so when he had gotten a text from the boy about a party on his place (and he knew it not from jeonghan), he was slightly surprised. he texted jisoo back with a casual yes.

a minute later, jeonghan asked him if he wanted to go to the very same party, as if seungcheol didn't know. he responded with yes, though.

the party itself wasn't the most hectic seungcheol had ever been. it was a typical friends gathering party, with cheap beers, blinding lights, and loud music. jisoo's living room was packed with people, boys and girls, some which seungcheol could recognize, but all of them seemed sober enough, despite the cups in their hands. no one had done stupid things for now, though seungcheol worried if jeonghan would be the first one to do it.

jeonghan had disappeared from seungcheol's side, so he was kind of lonely, but when he spotted the boy with soft brown locks and cat eyes, he smiled out of relieve. jisoo approached him, two plastic cups in each of his hands.

"glad you made it," he said, offering seungcheol one of the cup which seungcheol gladly accepted. he returned the smile the younger boy gave.

"when your boyfriend's jeonghan, it's kinda hard not going to parties."

jisoo let out a small chuckle. "he was actually the one who came up with the party, you know, house-warming or some stuff,"

the younger boy took a sip from his cup, drinking it lazily while making eye contacts with every guests coming or passing by.

seungcheol noticed the tint of red on his cheeks, a sign that he was getting drunker and drunker by every sip.

"well, do you feel like your house had been welcomed or something?" seungcheol asked, sipping from the cup just the same time as jisoo's.

the younger boy tilted his head. "i'm not sure what you meant, but it's definitely warm in here," he said, gesturing to the center of the room packed with people and red neon lights from somewhere in the ceiling. "hot, even."

before seungcheol could open up his mouth, jisoo shushed him.

"hey," he said, and suddenly seungcheol was attracted to how his soft locks captured the shine of the bright lights around them. "it's so cramped here, let's go get something from that nearby fastfood place?"

"it's your party and you're going to abandon it?"

jisoo only scoffed. "it's not like any of them gonna sneak weeds in or anything."

seungcheol raised one of his eyebrows. "you never know,"

jisoo laughed, soft and warm between the loud music and people talking. seungcheol may or may not have stop breathing. the younger smiled, the same crinkles on his eyes, the same shade of nude on his thin lips, before grabbing seungcheol's wrist and drag him out of the place.

out in the silent hallway, a little bit breathless from squishing their way through the bodies, they met someone unexpected.

"what are you doing?" seungcheol asked to the boy none other than yoon jeonghan himself. he was seated down on the hallway floor, eyes hazy and an empty cup beside him knocked over.

"just need fresh air," he said, his blonde bangs sticking to his sweaty forehead. "it's really hot in there, who's idea was it to use those lights?"

jisoo shrugged. "soonyoung. he said that it'll make the place a little bit like a club."

"well, it's a bad one." jeonghan said, struggling to stand up.

seungcheol was about to speak up when jisoo cutted in. "hey, we're going to that nearby fast food place," he said, then point the door with 156 sign on it. "the food in there sucks."

"i thought you, soonyoung, and mingyu had made the foods."

"well, mingyu had sudden classes that time, so it's just me and soonyoung."

"that explains." jeonghan said, patting the shorter boy's back.

seungcheol faked a cough. "so, uhm, shall we?"

so the three of them spent the night on one of the tables at the fastfood place, burgers and fries splayed on top of the napkins, loose loud laughter on the warm air of the restaurant, even when all their trays empty and stomachs full. they eventually got kicked out, though, since the place was about to close, and only by that jisoo recalled the party he left, seungcheol laughed way too hard at the younger's expression.

they bid their goodbyes on their way out, the couple going back to the dorm while jisoo heading back to his own (damned) place.

as soon as seungcheol's back hit the mattress of his bed, jisoo called, only to whine about having to drag almost every drunk people out of his house. seungcheol laughed at his distress, but soon find himself back on the said apartment, helping the boy on scouting people with empty cups glued on their hands and hazy faces out of the place.

—

ever since, seungcheol had drop by to jisoo's house more times than he had spent in his own dorm, with or without jeonghan. he almost always find himself taking the route to jisoo's apartment every time the classes for the day ended, almost as if it was automatic, but he didn't really mind. the place was nice and cozy, unlike his dorm; and jisoo welcomed him, so it wasn't really that bad. (he also sometimes fell asleep on jisoo's couch, coming back to the dorm just before the sun's up.)

there were times where when he got to the hallway, he found the door locked, since jisoo was still in his classes. he had to wait in the hallway, leaning his back into the wall or sitting down, until the boy came. ever since the fifth time it happened, jisoo gave him a spare key.

"why?" seungcheol had asked one day.

jisoo munched the popcorn in his mouth before swallowing it. "honestly, cheol? this place is like your second home."

"you know, i'd like to move in." seungcheol teased.

"heck no, we all know the reason you stay in the dorms was because you don't need to pay much."

seungcheol smiled. "you know me so well, shua."

jisoo just gave him a face while he munched the popcorns.

after a while of silence between them, both focused on some dumb movie on tv, and popcorns being crunched inside jisoo's mouth loudly just to annoy seungcheol, seungcheol spoke up. "did jeonghan have one?"

"one what?"

"key," he answered, putting up the keys he just had gotten from jisoo to see.

jisoo shook his head, waving his soft brown bangs. "no, so you're the first," he said, getting up with the bowl, now empty of popcorns.

jisoo walked to the kitchen when seungcheol shouted out. "should i be feeling special?" he teased.

jisoo made a gagging noise from the back of the kitchen.

—

seungcheol couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when he and jisoo got closer, but whenever that was, he was grateful for that.

because nobody else was really as welcoming as him when he opened the door, surprising jisoo with his black eye.

the boy rushed to where seungcheol stood. "what the–what happened?"

"some fucker knocked me on the eye," seungcheol answered, as if jisoo hadn't seen the black eye.

"and how did that happened?"

seungcheol huffed before letting himself fall to the couch. "see, i found this guy when i walked here, he had this creepy guy behind following him. i thought i'd ignore it, but then the creepy guy caught the guy and was about to dive in for his bag when i called him out to stop it. he punched my stomach instead, i kicked his crotch, then he left."

jisoo, clearly, tried to not laugh. "then, who hit your eye?"

"it was the guy i saved. he knock me on the eye and said all these stuff i couldn't recognize–i think it was mandarin or something. fuck him, i saved his fucking life." seungcheol said, putting all the bitter and sharpness on the last sentence. "though i know well that he didn't say a single fucking xié xié."

jisoo abrupted into laughter. seungcheol blinked at him. just a second ago, jisoo was concerned, eyes filled with worries, it was kind of amusing (and cute, but seungcheol won't admit), now the guy wiped off his tears from his eyes, still laughing breathlessly.

seungcheol figured there's only one thing to say. "fuck you. i hate you. and get me ice."

"you can't just curse at me then ask me to do things." jisoo said, but he stood up anyway and walked over to the kitchen to snatch some ice cubes from the freezer.

"please." seungcheol shouted out, teasing.

jisoo snorted, sitting down in front of seungcheol to examine his eye. he put the bag of ice on seungcheol's eyes. seungcheol hissed, at both the pain and the cold.

"hold it up," jisoo said, guiding seungcheol's other hand to put the bag on place.

after seungcheol's hand was clear on top of his eye, the bag of ice in between, jisoo pulled the hem of seungcheol's t-shirt up, making him jolt in surprise. he was sure his heart jumped out of his place. he reached to tug it down, but jisoo's grip was powerful.

"what are you doing?" seungcheol hissed.

jisoo looked him in the eye. "you said the creepy guy punched you in the stomach, right?"

"yeah, but it wasn't that hard. i barely feel a thing."

"yeah?" jisoo said. "then why is your skin red?"

seungcheol glanced down, seeing a patch of red on the skin of his stomach.

"you look surprised." jisoo said. seungcheol slapped jisoo's hand on the hem of his t-shirt. the hand itself loosen its grip and let go of the fabric.

"look, you're lucky it's not that bad. it's just a mark, no blood drew from it. just gotta add some gels to it for it to be back to normal." jisoo said, waving his hand. "but if i hadn't check it out, who knows what actually happens."

he stood up, and seungcheol's gaze followed him. "and also, that guy who hit you in your eye is actually my friend. and he hates when people find him weak. he learned taekwondo."

"well, he's a threat to me more than the creepy guy."

jisoo laughed, and seungcheol decided that his laugh is the greatest thing that he had ever heard.

"though you'd better get back to the dorm. it's late, jeonghan might worry."

seungcheol smiled drop from his face. he had called jeonghan after the fight had happened, but the other didn't pick up. he left a message on the voice box, telling that he'll be at jisoo's place instead and ask him to call him when he got the time, but up until now, there were no responses. it was rather weird, since the boy practically have his phone glued to his hand.

"he didn't pick up my phone, though, i think he left his phone off or something," seungcheol said. it seemed to caught jisoo in confusion.

"funny, because just about before you come in, he was chattering on our group chat."

seungcheol blinked at jisoo, before it hit him. "oh," he mumbled, helplessly.

"hey," jisoo said, gesturing seungcheol to scoot over and taking a seat beside him. "he might've didn't see it–"

"it was a fucking call, jisoo. multiple times. and none of it was picked up."

"he might've gone to the toilets?" jisoo offered, giving a forced smile.

"you know damn well he takes his phone with him anywhere."

and at that, jisoo fell silent. the room fell silent, only the heavy breathing coming out of seungcheol's nose, rapidly. jisoo rubbed small circles on seungcheol's back, a try to calm him down.

"i don't want to go back," seungcheol murmured, finally, nothing more than a small voice that jisoo could barely hear.

"you don't have to." the other replied.

—

seungcheol stood on the doorway, hands gripping the edges tight. it seemed to caught jisoo from the living room off guard, because seungcheol could see his eyes widen.

"i broke up," seungcheol started, feeling pathetic. he sounded like a child whining to his mom at the supermarket he found annoying while doing his grocery shopping.

"oh," was jisoo's reply.

seungcheol took step forwards, and jisoo opened his arms. he let his body fell down to jisoo's embrace, arms locking up on his back.

"it's okay," jisoo said soothingly.

"it's not okay." seungcheol said, fighting back a sniff. he never really meant to cry, but there was something comforting about jisoo, fingers drawing soothing circles on the small of his back. he could feel tears start to roll on his cheeks and to jisoo's narrow shoulder. "i love him, soo. all i know is he loves me too–or loved, i don't know. i don't know."

jisoo didn't say anything, only keep moving his fingers on seungcheol's back, and seungcheol really didn't mind. he knew there was nothing jisoo could say, and him listening to seungcheol's small sobs was enough. jisoo's warm embrace was enough. jisoo's presence was enough. jisoo was enough.

—

jisoo was preparing his christmas tree when seungcheol barged in.

"why are you inviting me?" seungcheol asked.

"well, we're the only people not going home for the holidays," jisoo said. he was right, though, jisoo's family is way back in usa, and the plane ticket there costed way too much for broke college students. seungcheol had told his parents that he'll be spending time with jeonghan—his ex now—back when they were still together. he hadn't tell them that he broke up and jeonghan, who he despite being ex but still was his friend, went home. all their other friends were sane enough to go back home. that left him and jisoo on the cold weather of seoul.

"and plus, i know that you'll barge in sooner or later." jisoo added, adding a smile afterwards. seungcheol rolled his eyes. that, was also true.

"so, what's in for today?" seungcheol asked, taking a seat on the couch and propping his hand on the hand rest, watching jisoo putting up gold ornaments on the tree.

"you know, the usual christmas stuff." jisoo said, cleaning up an ornament with the hem of his t-shirt.

"i don't know 'the usual christmas stuff'," seungcheol replied, his fingers gesturing a quote mark. "i spent most of it with my family, so, you know, we just do boring family gathering stuff."

"alright," jisoo clapped his hand after putting up the last bit of decoration to the tree, now filled with red, gold, and warm white lights. "so, we're gonna have some hot chocolate, just because it's freezing out there and cold here, and we're gonna watch some dumb christmas movies on tv with a takeout pizza."

"that's it?" seungcheol teased. "no gingerbread cookies? no peppermint sticks?"

jisoo shoot him a glare that earned himself a laugh from seungcheol. "i got a fucking mistletoe, just for you." he said, smirking.

seungcheol gave him a disgusted look, though his heart may or may not skipped a beat. he pretended to ignore that.

"so, let's start with the hot chocolates." he said, getting himself up from the couch and going to the kitchen, jisoo trailing from behind.

the day went by with them snuggling under layers of blanket jisoo brought from his bed, hands circling on their mugs of hot chocolates (jisoo had seungcheol using the 'i'm no. one's favorite' mug, just for seungcheol's annoyance), and after the mugs empty, they call for a pizza delivery (which, seungcheol found wasn't festive at all, he said it to jisoo, but the other just shrugged and said, "pizza is good for every occasions," and seungcheol couldn't argue with that). when the doorbell rang, a sign that the pizza had came, jisoo struggled to get out of the couch. he came back with a box of pizza and splayed it on the coffee table, almost got knocked over by seungcheol's feet. they spent the rest of the day eating, commenting on some boring overplayed christmas movies, like the things they do most of the time. but nevertheless, seungcheol had fun, and something made him feel that it was special, somehow.

when the sun almost went down, seungcheol was about to get up and leave to head back to his dorm, but jisoo's hands grasped his. seungcheol looked down to the other boy, his soft brown hair sticking up and his slender body bundled up in a blanket burrito.

"stay?" he asked softly. something tugged at seungcheol's heart.

seungcheol had a soft spot for jisoo's soft voice. heck, maybe seungcheol had a soft spot for jisoo.

he smiled, letting himself get pulled into the couch again.

they fell asleep like that, too, limbs tangled under the layers of blanket on their couch, because it still was cold (though seungcheol found jisoo's body warm).

and when the sun rised, seungcheol still couldn't get him to open his eyes, something slipped away from him. he could feel someone–jisoo, who else would it be?–whispered to him, the hushed voice tickling his eye lids.

"merry christmas," he said, and seungcheol smiled in his sleep.

—

when seungcheol was walking down the hallway to door 156, he found jeonghan just emerged from the said room. he smiled to seungcheol, and seungcheol noticed he had his hair cut shorter than before.

"hey," seungcheol started. jeonghan nodded. despite they ended up in a good term, there was still an awkward tension between them. the only thing that kept them stay connected was jisoo.

"how is he?" he asked, hands gripping the paper bag he had brought.

"not getting well," jeonghan answered. his eyes almost looked sad. "his temperature is higher than yesterday, and i've been giving him the same meds he always uses since we're kids."

sometimes, seungcheol forgot that jeonghan and jisoo both knew each other since they were two, that jeonghan knew jisoo much better than seungcheol did.

"oh," was the only thing seungcheol could say. jeonghan smiled sadly at him, then glanced down the paper bag.

"the surprise?" he asked, gesturing down. seungcheol nodded.

"say it's also from me,"

"you don't even contributed anything,"

jeonghan only winked at him and skipped away, soft steps on the carpeted floor.

"that wimp," seungcheol said, opening the door.

he stepped into the familiar apartment and went straight to the bedroom, door closed. he knocked first before twisting the door knob and pushing it slowly.

the room was dim, the sound of raindrops falling heard loud and clear from outside, and he could barely manage to make out the shadow of jisoo under the covers.

"happy december 30th," he said. jisoo groaned.

"why do you say that," jisoo said.

seungcheol rolled his eyes before sitting next to jisoo, placing the paper bag on top of his nightstand. "happy birthday."

"that's more likely," the other muttered. "now hand me my phone so i could wish taehyung happy birthday too."

"stop being so dead," seungcheol said, handing him his phone anyway.

jisoo gave him a mischievous smile while his fingers tapped fast on his phone screen. seungcheol stole the chance to look at the other properly, his brown locks and soft face features casted the light from his phone, eyes concentrated and tongue slightly poking up from between his small pink lips. seungcheol wondered how would it feel to kiss those heavenly-looking lips.

when jisoo turned his phone off, seungcheol tore his gaze away.

"let's go do something," he said, gazing onto the paper bag instead. "it's your birthday, after all. i've brought cake."

"i'm not feeling like it," jisoo yawned, fingers curling on the edge of his duvet tighter.

"come on," seungcheol tugged it down but jisoo's grip only got harder. he shook his head frantically, reminding seungcheol of a child.

"it's my birthday and i could be in bed the whole day if i wanted to."

"fine," seungcheol sighed. he was about to get up when jisoo shifted away from him, leaving a space on his bed. he opened up the duvet, gesturing seungcheol to slip in.

he didn't even say anything, only giving seungcheol a look.

"why are you so sappy today?" seungcheol asked, slipping beside him anyway. jisoo smiled wide.

"it's my birthday, there's rain outside, and i'm having the worst fever. me being sappy only makes sense."

seungcheol snorted. he never really saw jisoo's needy side until now, suddenly missing the jisoo who would scold him from not putting the dirty dishes into the sink. he smiled at the thought of jisoo's angry face, flustered and eyes sharp, but seungcheol still found him cute.

he snapped out of his thought when he heard jisoo's soft snores. of course the boy would fall asleep. he smiled listening to the steady breathing from the boy beside him, slightly nuzzling seungcheol’s chest with his head, and to the the sound of the soothing raindrops hitting the window.

and when he closed his eyes, some time later, he could feel fingers lacing on to his.

—

he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when he had fallen for jisoo. maybe it was when they got out and had lunch together, seungcheol trying so hard to not think of it as a date. maybe it was when seungcheol picked up jisoo from one of his classes, they had to run through the rain to get home. maybe it was when the spent christmas together, bundled up under layers of blankets as an attempt to keep each other warm. maybe it was when seungcheol spent the rest of the day cuddling a sick jisoo in his bed during a rainy day. maybe it was sooner than those all. maybe it was when jeonghan dragged him to jisoo's apartment in the first place, the first time they saw each other. maybe it was when jeonghan left him, and seungcheol found comfort on jisoo's warm embrace.

it always had him stay awake at night, eyes boring holes into the ceiling of his dull dorm as he lay on top of his bed, thoughts of jisoo clouding his mind. he felt funny sometimes, there was butterflies in his stomach whenever jisoo flashed into his mind. even in the silence, he could hear jisoo’s soft honey voice loud and clear, as if the boy was actually with him. he recorded everything jisoo did and played it on loop in his mind, making him all jiggly whenever he remembered the boy’s smile.

one night, he had fallen asleep on the couch with jisoo by his side, exhausted from watching detectives movies. jisoo curled up on his side, seungcheol’s hands rested on his waist to keep him, or just because he felt like it was right. jisoo fast asleep, already letting out soft snores along with a steady breathing hitting seungcheol once in awhile. seungcheol could only stare at the boy beside him, face looked so peaceful and ethereal and beautiful, how the feeling of holding him felt so right.

maybe he had been falling for too long, he couldn’t recognize when the feeling had started to hit him dead on in his chest and in his heart.

—

"jisoo?" seungcheol knocked on the door. he had forgotten his keys back at his dorm, and jisoo had, unfortunately, locked the door.

"jisoo?" seungcheol shouted again. the sign 156 only stared at him.

it wasn't normal that jisoo not opening the door. usually, it only took one or two knocks for the boy to answer it. he always had good ears. so after seungcheol's sixth knocks, he got worried more than annoyed.

he pulled out his phone from his pocket and called jisoo immediately. the dials seemed to be connected, then it stopped and replaced with soft breathings on the other end.

“let me in you dumbass,” seungcheol started.

there was a cuckle from the other end. “no can’t do, cheollie, i’ve got someone coming over.”

seungcheol breath hitched in his throat, or somewhere else. “w-who?” he asked, a low, unsteady voice came out of his mouth. if jisoo recognized the tremble in his word, then he didn’t show it.

“do you remember the guy i’ve told you about? that guy at my sudden design class? mingyu? he supposed to help me on my party that time? it’s him. he’s making dinner for two of us now and goddamnit if this wasn’t my lucky day.”

“oh,” seungcheol smiled, a sad one, even though he knew jisoo couldn’t see it. but somehow, the other caught the slight (big) change of atmosphere.

“hey, cheol? you okay?” he asked, voice as sweet as honey and seungcheol wished he could stop thinking about how good jisoo’s voice in his ears, how he would do anything for it to be ringing in his eardrums the same beat as his heart.

“yeah, just,” he took a deep breath as an attempt to calm himself down, but it only managed to get whatever flame inside his insides burst up. “j-just enjoy your date.”

“seungcheol i can sense something wrong,” but seungcheol hang the phone up, wanting to drop it or toss it across the hallway.

seungcheol swallowed the lump in his throat. this didn’t add up, he thought. jisoo was in there with mingyu, with someone else, not him.

his lucky day, he thought. it might be jisoo’s lucky day but it’s clear that it was seungcheol’s drop.

because seungcheol was dumb enough to think that he had stand a chance, that they could be something else more than this.

the anxiety in his heart and his lungs kept getting bigger and bigger and it forced down a tear or two out of his eyes. it made his breathing heavy and it made him mad and sad and he just wanted to kick the door open. but he couldn’t.

all he wanted to do was to crouch down and just let all his tears flood out of his eyes, just letting out all his feelings from his heart. he wanted jisoo to came out of the room, abandoning mingyu and his stupid dinner, just to comfort him, stroking his side slow, or hugging him and drawing small circles on his back with his fingers, because jisoo knew all the things to calm him down.

he thought of the night when he came into jisoo, eyes swollen on the other’s embrace as his heart breaks into pieces. jisoo helped him putting each pieces back to where it came from, helped him finish the puzzle that was broken by jeonghan.

now, he had the very same heart shattered, but no one would be able to help him glue it together again.

so seungcheol smiled at door 156 sadly, and left with a heavy feeling and a familiar broken heart. he thought he could get used to it.