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☆．。．:*･° home ☆．。．:*･°
"Soonyoung-ah."
There was no reaction and Jihoon felt a dullness in his chest. He was usually one of the first to get up in the morning. Sometimes, the dancer would even help Seungcheol wake up the rest. Jihoon was the opposite, but today seemed to be an anomaly. Today, the pink haired boy had woken up before Soonyoung.
He crawled over and shifted to comfortably kneel on the bed, hovering over the other's sleeping form. The petite boy easily managed to fit. He recalled that the dancer was still in their practice room when he left Pledis early yesterday morning. Thinking that he would've been the last to leave as usual, Jihoon was surprised to hear music still playing from the practice room when he passed it on his way back. It couldn't have been anyone else but Soonyoung.
Last night, he had waited for Soonyoung to come back to the dorm. The next thing he knew, he was woken by the Seungcheol alarm.
Pausing for a brief moment, Jihoon listened to the quiet breathing that was almost drowned out by the chatter from outside.
The ache in his chest worsened and he couldn't bear to continue trying to wake the dancer up. Soonyoung had spent the night working on the choreography for their new song. Because they were busy with endless schedules and practices during the day, neither could find the time to properly fulfil the roles they were entrusted with in the team: Jihoon to produce their songs, and Soonyoung to come up with the choreography for them. It was a team effort and they were the main engines.
There have been times because of this where Jihoon felt like the world was coming to an end - When, at 3 in the morning, his worthless brain refused to work and the score sheet in front of him stayed empty for hours. There would be a persistent buzzing in his ears and anything he played on the piano sounded disgusting. He would hit his own head, cursing himself as to why he couldn't think of any good rhythms or melodies. What was he to do if his song was crap? The downfall of the team would be his fault. It scared him. The pink haired boy was sure that Soonyoung felt the same.
When things weren't going well for him, Jihoon would show it. He took it out on the other members with his short temper and harsh words, sometimes to the point where he angered them.
Something the producer still couldn't grasp after all this time is how Soonyoung manages to refrain from that. When he was in one of his bad moods, the dancer never took personal offence. Instead, he would quietly soak up the things Jihoon threw at him; Because he understood that like him, the younger was handling much more stress than he should be at a point as early as this in their career.
He's heard it himself, too - When Soonyoung thought that he wasn't around, he would explain to the others why he feels it's important that they be understanding towards Jihoon and forgive him for his irritable behaviour.
He also couldn't understand how Soonyoung was always laughing. Jihoon wouldn't deny that he loved the way the corners of the dancer's eyes crinkle when he paints that ray of sunshine over his face, though.
The small boy felt the edges of his thin lips rise slightly at the thought and he wondered; In all seriousness, what the hell he was doing? Soonyoung deserved so much more than to be stuck with a grumpy brat like him. Eight out of the ten times Soonyoung brought him flowers, Jihoon didn't accept them with a smile. And yet, there he was, sleeping peacefully in front of the producer with zero ill feelings. He let out a sigh at his own incompetency - At how he could never really show Soonyoung how much he appreciated his puppy-like affection. This morning was a chance for him to make ammends.
"Soonyoung-ah," The boy tried again, gently shaking the limp arm and letting his pink bangs fall over his eyes. In return, the taller of the two lazily hummed, a small tug already appearing at his lips - The pain in Jihoon's chest was quickly replaced by warm bubbles. Soonyoung lifted a hand to run through his fluffy blond forelocks before sliding it down to cover his eyes.
"5 more minutes..?" He asked carefully with the best voice he could muster in the morning.
"No," Jihoon deadpanned, all shreds of tenderness in his voice vanished. Almost inmediately he paused, remembering that today, he was to be nicer to Soonyoung.
"..The rest are waiting," He finished with a much softer tone.
"I know," The blond groaned loudly, "I can't believe you're the one waking me up. What time is it?"
"Pretty late if I'm the one that's here," He replied with a dry laugh. Soonyoung lowered his hand and looked over at Jihoon. His tired eyes lit up as his smile widened in agreement - The composer could almost taste the bittersweet on his tongue. Blankets were still draped over Soonyoung's knees when he sat up in bed and ruffled his hair.
"Jihoonie."
The pink fluff blinked and sniffled, habitually scrunching up his button nose at the mention of his name. "Yeah?"
"Good morning," Soonyoung beamed, grinning so drowsily yet radiantly that his eyes became slits; The smaller boy felt his icy walls being thawed. When the both of them first began, Jihoon was unsure if he had done the right thing. He thought that love was synonymous with pain, but Soonyoung had proven many times that it wasn't the case for them. He made the little composer feel safer than anything else.
That morning, Jihoon took himself by surprise and mirrored the smile, "I love you too."
☆．。．:*･° home ☆．。．:*･°
"What took you so long?" Seungcheol complained, handing the shorter male a steaming mug. Jihoon took it with a nod of appreciation.
"Nothing," He said quietly, blowing air over the surface of the cup. The warm bubbles in his chest hadn't left since just now; He could hear the sounds of Soonyoung in the shower. Soonyoung made him look forward to each day.
"Well obviously, they were being hanky panky," Jeonghan piped in from his spot in front of the TV with a smirk as hellish as the Devil himself, earning a weird look from Chan who was beside him.
"Jeonghan..." Jisoo sighed and shook his head.
"I don't need to know about this..." Mumbling under his breath, Chan let out a nervous laugh. The long haired male only snorted and slapped Jisoo playfully on the shoulder. From the other end of the room, Hansol whipped around and had the most horrified expression on his face, making the targetted pinky cower in embarrassment.
"We were NOT," He said firmly, feeling his cheeks heat up as he stared straight at the floor.
The bathroom door clicked and out stepped Soonyoung with a towel slung around his neck; The composer's heart lept higher than he would've liked.
"Here's our main character," Seungcheol mused under his breath, turning away to make a cup of coffee for the dancer as well. "Hey," In a flash, Jihoon was next to the blond, smiling up at him while clutching the cup in his pale hands, "Want some?"
"It's fine, drink up," Soonyoung spoke in a gentle tone, patting the shorter's pink head.
"Okay, but you're dripping wet."
Holding the cup in one hand, Jihoon reached up to dry the dancer's hair with the fluffy towel. Soonyoung in turn giggled and lowered his head to accommodate the composer's lack of height. The other members stared before shrugging at one another.
"It's rare to see Jihoon-hyung so happy," Chan observed from the couch, amused.
"Yeah. Goddamn lovebirds," Scoffed Seungcheol, making his way over to the TV where the maknae was.
Looking into the little bubble the two had made for themselves from the outside, Jeonghan rests his chin in his palm and lets out a dreamy sigh. "Oh, leave them alone."
Jihoon brought the cup to his lips and carefully sipped the hot drink as the blond babbled excitedly on about the ideas he came up with for the new dance.
In that moment, as Jihoon watched the dancer's animated actions, listened to his warm laughter, saw the joy and passion in his eyes, he knew - His definition of home was short and simple: Kwon Soonyoung.
/ end /