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“i’m gonna miss you.”
seungcheol pulled chan in for a hug, kissing his temple. the younger smiled into the crook of his neck, wrapping his arms around the older.
seungcheol pulled back and held him by his shoulders, looking him in the eye. “it’s gonna be okay. my college is just in the next town over. i can drive up to see you, you can come down to see me. i’ll be back this weekend okay?” he said, brushing some hair out of chan’s face. he leant down slightly and gave him a small peck on the lips, which had the younger trying to duck his head down as his face began to flush.
“but that’s so far away,” chan complained, fiddling with the zipper on seungcheol’s jacket.
“three days, chan.” seungcheol pulled chan’s hand away from his jacket and held it in his. “not that long.”
“it’ll feel like an eternity.”
“it’s gonna pass by quick. don’t fret.”
chan pursed his lips, wanting to object to seungcheol’s statement, but the older bent over again, kissing him. he tucked his index finger under the younger’s chin, tilting his head up into the kiss. chan sighed, wrapping his arms around the back of his neck.
he pulled back and kissed the tip of seungcheol’s nose, which had them both giggling. “i love you, okay? don’t forget that when all those people start throwing themselves onto you at uni.”
“who can resist seungcheol choi, huh?” seungcheol joked.
“cheol, i mean it—“
“don’t worry, okay? i was joking. besides, this ass is yours, and so is this heart.” chan rolled his eyes at that.
he started off towards his car, leaving chan at the end of the driveway of his house. “facetime me when you get there! wanna make sure you got there in one piece.”
“sure thing, babe.” and seungcheol pulled off, heading towards the main road.
———
chan had just gotten out of the shower when his phone started dinging.
rolie polie cheollie wants to facetime…
he answered the call, holding the camera close to his face so only his eyes, eyebrows, and the towel wrapped around his hair were visible on camera. seungcheol soon appeared on screen, cheeks full with food.
he was about to speak, but chan threw his phone onto the bed, yelling a “hold on, give me two minutes!” and he just barely heard seungcheol chuckling on the other line. he finished drying off his body and threw on some clothes, taking the towel off his head in the process. he grabbed his phone and smiled into the camera, towel-drying his hair. “okay, hey babe.”
“hey channie,” seungcheol said, taking a sip from his milkshake. “did you eat yet?”
“yeah. passed by mcdonald’s about an hour or so after you left.”
“good,” seungcheol replied, nodding his head as he took a bite of his burger.
“i see you’re eating right now,” chan started, laying down on his bed, “is that sonic?” he nodded once more.
a figure passed behind seungcheol and flopped down on one of the beds in the room. “who’s that?” chan asked.
“oh?” seungcheol said, turning to see who chan was talking about before spotting the head of pink hair on the burgundy comforter. “that’s soonyoung. i’ve told you about him, yeah?”
chan nodded in recognition of the name and shifted his position on the bed. “yeah.”
“he’s my roommate now. soonyoung,” he called to the boy. “say ‘hi.’”
soonyoung picked his head up off the bed and got up before walking over to the desk seungcheol was sitting at. “hey, chan,” he said with a soft smile. he fixed his hair as he spoke. “seungcheol’s told me a lot about you.”
“mmhmmm?”
“i mean, not just today, just a lot of the time.” he glanced over at seungcheol as he took a bite of his burger and stuffed some fries into his mouth. “you’ve got him super whipped.”
chan covered his mouth as he giggled. “well, i hope that it was all positive.”
soonyoung laughed. “yeah. it was.” he paused and bit his bottom lip with a smile. “i’ll go ahead and leave before seungcheol throttles me. i take it that he wanted to speak with you alone. bye.” he waved and exited the frame, the sound of a door closing coming soon after.
“he seems cool,” chan said, still smiling a bit.
“you’re not falling for him,” seungcheol said playfully, quirking up a brow, “are you?”
“oh yes, he’s so gorgeous, i think i’ve forgotten about my own boyfriend,” chan teased. “who are you again?”
“ha-ha, very funny.”
“i should be a comedian then.”
seungcheol scrunched his nose and smiled. “stick to dancing.”
chan stuck his tongue out at the boy who was chuckling on the other end. “meanie.” he yawned softly. “school starts tomorrow for you right?”
“yeah,” seungcheol said.
“you should sleep. it’s really late,” chan pointed out.
seungcheol pouted. “i just finished eating, though.”
“i’m sleepy,” chan mumbled. “i won’t be able to stay up with you without falling out. at least promise me you’ll go to sleep early, okay?”
“okay. goodnight, babe.”
“goodnight, cheol.”
call ended.
———
seungcheol’s visit came and went. and then came and went. and then they became less frequent. chan had a key to his dorm and all, but seungcheol denied just about every visit that he offered up lately.
chan was tired.
for some reason the older was becoming more irritable and possessive over him. chan tried to rationalize it; maybe it was because they weren’t around each other much. but his behavior seemed to get worse as time went on.
he snapped at chan multiple times because he didn’t see him wearing the ring he got for him, but it was just on the other hand. he got mad whenever he saw chan’s texts with other people in his phone. he even used chan’s phone to send texts to the younger’s close friend, joshua, to leave him alone.
this time was even worse.
seungcheol decided to come over about a month after his last visit without letting chan know. he was expecting to see his boyfriend, maybe typing away at his phone or slurping away at some packet ramen. he didn’t expect to see joshua laying on the younger’s couch.
“what are you doing here?” seungcheol asked, gaining the male’s attention.
joshua’s head perked up at the voice and he turned around, facing seungcheol as he closed the door behind him. “well, hello to you too.”
“can you answer the question?”
“can you not be such an ass? he’s in the shower, we were going to head to the mall after he got dressed.”
seungcheol walked a bit further into the house and joshua turned his attention to his phone. he paused at the entrance of the living room, leaning against the wall slightly. the air in the room felt tense, the two obviously not wanting to be in a room with the other.
chan soon appeared at the top of the stairs, stepping down but starting to slow when he saw seungcheol standing near the end of the staircase. “cheol?” he asked, brows furrowed.
seungcheol turned to the sound and saw chan, his pace now at a crawl. he smiled softly. “hey, babe.”
as chan made it to the end of the stairs he gave seungcheol a hug. joshua could see the younger’s face, and his smile didn’t seem as strong as it usually would be, it almost looked forced. chan pulled away soon after, noticing seungcheol’s hand going further down than usual; he reached behind his back and gripped both of his wrists, pulling them away from his body.
“i wasn’t… expecting you to come by or anything,” chan said.
seungcheol felt… different. he was smiling, but it didn’t seem like his normal smile, nor did it seem forced. he seemed a lot more touchy as well, in places that chan wasn’t as comfortable with, with the hug and all, and now his hand was still lingering on the small of his back.
“i just wanted to stop by and pay you a visit,” seungcheol said, smile unwavering. “how long has it been? a week?”
“nearly two months, seungcheol.”
joshua snorted from his place on the couch but quickly caught himself when chan shot him a gaze as if to say ‘now’s not the time.’
chan moved seungcheol’s hand once again, his own hands beginning to shake. he clasped them together, holding them at his front. “two months since you’ve let me come by. what’s the point in having a fucking key to your place if i can never use it? what’s the point of you ‘stopping by’ if i haven’t seen you in so long that i’m starting to feel detached from you? that you don’t even seem the same to me anymore?”
“uh, should i leave?” joshua asked. “i don’t want to have to intervene in this but—“
“shua, you can stay.” chan cut him off, keeping his eyes focused on seungcheol.
“well, what do you want me to tell you? sorry that i have schoolwork and a job to keep up with?” seungcheol asked, throwing up his hands in frustration before letting them flop back down to his sides.
there was a pause. “funny how you always hassle me about wearing the ring you got me,” chan said, looking down at his hand that had the silver band adorning his ring finger. “but you can’t seem to wear it yourself.”
seungcheol clenched his jaw, but stayed silent. chan took off his ring and grabbed seungcheol’s hand, placing it in his open palm. “maybe you should keep it, then,” he said softly, keeping his eyes cast down. “since you can’t hold on to your own.”
seungcheol turned to leave, fist clenched around chan’s ring. the younger called out his name and he thrned around.
“what?” seungcheol asked, voice gruff.
chan walked to the living room table and picked up his keyring, slid the pink copy of seungcheol’s dorm key and tossed it to him. seungcheol caught it with his free hand.
“give me the house key,” chan mumbled. seungcheol did the same as chan, but with the blue copy of the younger’s house key. he placed it onto the small table near the front door.
“get out.”
and he left.
———
chan didn’t know where he and seungcheol stood. sure, they’d had an argument. but, neither of them outright said it was over. neither of them said that their relationship was through, so what were they?
a couple days after the ordeal, chan promptly changed his relationship status to ‘it’s complicated’ on facebook (joshua teased him for it a bit) and put away the physical copies of their pictures together in his house. there were no calls or texts exchanged between them except for one from chan to wish the older’s mother a happy birthday.
chan’s phone dinged. he groaned, earning a prompt “shut the fuck up” from joshua who was on the other side of the bed (followed by a “stop bullying him” from their other friend, hansol, who was at the foot of the bed), and grabbed his phone, disconnecting it from the charger so he could bring it closer.
there was a text from an unknown number that he didn’t recognize. he squinted at the message before unlocking his phone and turning away from it to address the other two in the room. “hey,” he started. “do you guys know this number?”
joshua put his own phone down and looked at chan’s phone, taking it into his hand to show hansol the screen as well. the phone buzzed a few more times in joshua’s hand and hansol’s eyes widened slightly.
“no,” hansol started, “but did you look at the messages? they seem kinda… close with seungcheol.”
chan reached to take the phone back and read through the messages.
unknown: you know, cheol isn’t that interested in you anymore.
unknown: always complaining about you not putting out, you being too domestic, tsk tsk.
unknown: [ photo attachment ]
unknown: don’t you think he looks much happier with me?
the picture was of seungcheol with someone facing him on his lap, hiding his face in the other side of his neck. seungcheol was smiling his genuine smile. chan recognized it as the couch in the older’s dorm living room; someone else must have taken the picture.
unknown: you know, it does make sense.
unknown: he has someone who’s always there, so why would he need someone two hours away?
unknown: [ video attachment ]
unknown: especially when he has someone right there in the dorm with him.
unknown: [ video attachment ]
unknown: who’s there for anything he wants…
unknown: [ video attachment ]
unknown: or asks for.
unknown: [ video attachment ]
unknown: chan, i know you’ve seen these so far.
chan: you’re right. i have.
chan: fuck you, soonyoung.
unknown: no thanks.
unknown: already have seungcheol doing that.