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jihoon tosses and turns in his bed, trying to find a comfortable position. his blankets are in a tangle and he knows he’s going to have a god awful bedhead when he gets up. if he’s able to fall asleep first.
he sighs heavily into his pillow. they had just finished their concert and jihoon’s body is exhausted, wanting nothing more than to close his eyes, rest his mind and drift into dreamland.
because dreamland can’t be that much worse than reality, right?
the past few days had been terrible. the sensation of being watched followed him wherever he went. especially after the saesang broke into his room and filmed him. he isn’t sure what exactly happened. only that he heard the click of his room door shutting even though he was quite sure he left it locked when he took a shower.
why do we have to room separately, swing? earning off of our wannables’ money and not treating them well?
jihoon semi consciously wonders how swing can afford for them to room by themselves in hotel rooms, instead of hiring better security.
but, it’s not his place to say anything.
jihoon hears a sound and his head jerks up instinctively, only to realise it was the vibration from his phone on the bedside table, screen lighted up with a notification. jihoon blinks a few times and moves to see who could be up at this ungodly hour, and of course—it’s a vlive notification. daniel went live. again.
jihoon sighs in relief and sinks back into his bed. reaching for one of the extra pillows to hug. he wonders how woojin is doing, relieved nothing as terrible as what had happened to him happened to the younger.
if anything happened to woojin, jihoon doesn’t think he’ll be able to hold himself back anymore.
“please” jihoon says into the dark silence of his hotel room. he wonders if anyone’s listening. he’d rather not know. “i don’t care what happens to me, but please don’t hurt him.”
jihoon shuts his eyes and changes position for the nth time, trying to relax and imagine what performance he’ll put on for their fans the next day.
until he hears a scream.
it wasn’t loud enough to wake the sleeping members, assuming they aren’t having a sleepless night like him. but it was high pitched and without a doubt, feminine, a sound as if caught between a laugh and a scream.
jihoon squeezes his eyes shut and covers his head with his blanket. tunnelling deeper as if that was the key to escaping this hellhole.
he hears faint footsteps going down the hallway, and jihoon finds himself stilling. he keeps his breathing even, telling himself he’ll be safe.
all the comfort he feels vanishes when he hears a knock on his door, followed by a voice, though muffled as jihoon has his blankets scrunched around his head. blocking the outside world.
he can’t mistake the sound of a keycard being scanned, and the lock sliding open. jihoon holds his breath under the blankets, he already feels as if he’s being suffocated. whoever this person is, he can face them. and then he’ll cover it up. by the morning it’ll be as if nothing ever happened.
jihoon hears the door click shut, and the dragging sound of something heavy being pushed, in front of his door?
someone is in his room and they’re locking him in.
the sound is followed by a series of footsteps growing louder as the intruder crosses the room, and jihoon anticipates the sound of a camera shutter, or a squeal or giggle.
what he doesn’t expect to hear is a familiar voice.
“jihoonie?” he hears, the voice soft and comforting in this unsafe space and jihoon lets out the breath he had been holding. he makes an opening and peeks through the blankets, relief coursing through him as he sees woojin looking down at him.
“hey,” he greets gently. jihoon finds it hard to say anything back.
woojin lowers himself to the level of the bed and pushes the pile of blanket off jihoon’s head. his hand trails over jihoon’s hair, combing through the strands until they land on his cheek, and they freeze.
“have you been crying?” woojin asks, worry lacing his voice. jihoon tries to voice a reply, but his throat is too tight, and he realises at some point tears had started to fall, making it hard to swallow. he doesn’t remember when, but they did. he shakes his head instead, knowing that even though he’s a great actor, the younger wouldn’t be easily fooled.
jihoon’s suddenly overcome with a wave of helplessness. both at being unable to suppress his emotions, and protect his dear members around him.
woojin stands up and climbs into jihoon’s bed, the latter rolling over to make space for him.
jihoon’s hands find woojin’s waist and encircles it, holding the younger tight as if he’ll disappear if he didn’t.
“i’m not going anywhere,” woojin whispers, pressing his lips onto jihoon’s forehead. hands wrapped around and tracing patterns on his back, holding him as if he were glass. “i’m staying here with you.”
jihoon takes a deep breath, though his voice still comes out shaky when he asks. “how did you get in?”
woojin stays quiet for a moment, as if he doesn’t want to reply. but he does, “i heard footsteps, there was a.. person outside in the hallway. and she had the masterkey, so i..”
“was that the scream just now?”
“you heard it?” woojin asks, followed by soft cursing. “then the fans who are watching daniel hyung’s live probably did too.”
jihoon feels his lips curve into a smile, despite the absurdness of the situation. “you’re gonna have so much explaining to do.”
he feels woojin smiling as he rests his chin on jihoon’s head. “i pushed your suitcase to block the door, but that doesn’t matter. what matters is that i’m here with you now.”
jihoon tilts his head up and plants a kiss on woojin’s throat. woojin catches his lips just before he moves away. jihoon’s hands flutter to woojin's sides and trail up his biceps, which never fail to make him feel secure, just like what’s happening now. woojin’s fingers move to jihoon's cheek and gently cups it, his breath is hot on jihoon’s lips. jihoon leans forward and presses their lips together, the sensation is both familiar and comforting like home. jihoon misses this terribly, and world tour schedules were making them too busy and too tired and the time they have to spend together is way too little. he coaxes open the younger’s mouth and takes the opportunity to bite down on his bottom lip, satisfied at the low moan emitted from the younger.
woojin pulls away and kisses jihoon’s cheeks, left and right before pressing more onto his eyelids, drying the dampness of the tears from jihoon’s face. “if anyone hurts you they’ll have to go through me.” he murmurs.
jihoon tangles their legs together under the blanket. “that’s my line. if anyone lays a finger on you, we’ll need someone to restrain me”
jihoon feels woojin chuckle softly, and jihoon finds himself relaxing in the hug.
“sleep, hoonie. we’ve got another concert later.”
jihoon closes his eyes, his mind is calm and woojin’s warmth is spreading through him like a second blanket. the younger resumes drawing circles on his back, and jihoon wraps his hands around woojin’s waist, sighing contently.
“woojinie?” jihoon asks, closing his eyes and finally feeling his body relax.
“yes, jihoonie?”
“stay with me,” he breathes out as he finally drifts into unconsciousness.
“always”