Work Text:
-Night One-
Waking up in a cold sweat after seeing something you wished you never had to witness was the worst way to wake up, especially when your shirt stuck to your skin making you feel like a slug.
The middle of the night, the moon trying to shine through the sheer curtains. The dorm room was filled with two beds, minimal decoration and a rug that Seungmin’s mom insisted on having to ease their feet against the cold wooden floors.
Two desks filled the rest of the space. One owned by a hardworking Music major who hopes to become a big shot producer, and the other a Bio-chem major who hopes to one day become a doctor. It was a bit cramped but they enjoyed it.
Seungmin shot up in his bed, breathing hectic as his eyes readjusted to the darkened room with only a small light projecting from Chan’s side of the room. He ran a hand through his own hair and felt the sweat that collected on his hair. He felt disgusting as he pulled his shirt away from his chest.
“Another nightmare?” Chan’s voice filled Seungmin’s ears which gave him a small sense of security. He felt safe around Chan, knowing how much he worked out as he was begged numerous times to join him on the many trips to the gym. They were always refused as Seungmin felt strong enough. This was one of the many moments where he felt small and weak.
“Obviously.” Seungmin scoffs and shoves his comforter off of him to let the cool air being let through by the fan cool him off. “You wanna talk about it?” Chan is looking at him, with a worried look. Seungmin’s nightmares have never been chill. They‘re always super extreme by what the boy describes them to be. Chan just wants to make sure this wasn’t a bad time.
Chan watched the boy shake his head and stand up, making his way to his personal desk and plopping down on the chair that accompanied it. He shoved the empty cups from his view and slumped his head down on the wood, the sound making Chan giggle.
“Come on, let's go on a walk around the building, get your teeny body moving.” Chan ends his request in a small tease, knowing well enough that Seungmin has the broadest shoulders he has ever seen.
Seungmin complies and stands back up, putting his slippers on and grabbing one of Chan’s discarded sweatshirts to cover the sweaty sight. “Oh great, now my hoodie is sweaty, more laundry! Fantastic.” The sarcasm dripped off of his tongue like a snake with venom.
Chan grabbed his things and opened the door for the younger boy, they both slipped out and began their trek around the building. They got stopped by their RA Minho once on their way around and once on their way back for talking too loudly. It was mostly Chan telling Seungmin a new story about Changbin shooting milk out of his nose and Seungmin laughing too loud. Oops
The two boys made perfect company for each other, learning more and more about each other as the nights went on. It didn’t seem possible for them to get closer than they once were. Sure, they got off on the wrong foot as Seungmin dropped one of his heavy ass textbooks on Chan’s foot, making it swell up and turn purple on the top.
Their late night conversations about literally anything made the nightmares and the lack of sleep just fade away. They felt okay around each other. Seungmin never boasted about Chan towards his friends, but Chan always seemed to bring the younger boy up whenever the conversation could handle the sappy feelings Chan felt.
-Night Two (9 days later)
The day came and went faster than Seungmin wanted. He knew sleep would capture him eventually after his endless studying with Felix and hearing Hyunjin boast about Minho, their RA and his ‘Hot face’.
As soon as his head hit the soft silky pillow that laid on his perfectly made bed, he was out like a light. Chan walked in a few hours later, seeing the sight and his heart fluttering. Seeing the boy sound asleep cuddling a stuffed animal of a dog. Chan messed with Seungmin’s hair before getting ready for bed himself.
A useless act on his part. He knew he would never fall asleep, no one had to know why though. No one seemed to care either way. Changbin enjoyed the late study nights where they could make many songs with their younger friend Jisung. The boy he tutored Jeongin deeply pleased with their sessions being stretched to fit in more lessons so he could pass his History final.
Chan sat at his desk and began working away on the many demo’s he and his friends that named themselves 3racha made the night before. The soft beats going through the small speakers of the laptop and their voices projecting out to fit the rhythm together.
It was about 2 hours later until the heavy breathing appeared behind him from his roommate's bed. The nightmares were a recurring thing, never seemed to be the same one twice. Seungmin always had a new creepy tale to tell that gave Chan the heebie jeebies. He wanted to be there to protect the boy but he didn’t know how. He was a full simp for that scaredy cat,
“Are you okay??”
“I don’t know why you ask me every night when you know I’m not.” His voice was shaky, unsettled by the new scene he just witnessed. “Tell me what happened this time?” Chan doesn’t demand because he knows Seungmin hates being pushed around. He swivels his chair to fully face the younger who was rubbing his face with his hands atop his bed, thinking if it was worth it to even mention the nightmare.
He finally speaks up after minutes of awkward silence between the two. “I was in a forest with my family. They were huddled together on the ground and I tried to go to them but I was tied to a fucking tree. I pretty much watched my family get mauled to death by a bear. It was fucking disgusting and so gruesome.”
Chan stood and walked over to the bed, sitting down beside the boy and wrapping him up in a large hug. Seungmin tried to shove Chan off but eventually gave in and hugged him, still shaking like a chihuahua. The constant stories he heard from Seungmin about his family, and seeing him always on the phone with his mother made him know this one was worse.
“Your family is okay Seung. Everyone is at home and probably sleeping. Don’t worry, everything is perfectly fine. You’re safe and everyone else is safe.” Chan was annoying, but he knew exactly what to say to calm Seungmins nerves. The older boy held the other close to his chest, letting Seungmin slowly fall back asleep after an hour.
Seungmin slept soundly in Chan’s arms, unaware that he hadn’t let go and that he was very much enjoying the sight of Seungmin sleeping soundly without any worries. He actually laid the boy down at one point and he was captivated by the others strong arms. They both fell asleep, on Seungmin’s bed, holding each other close like they were going to leave,
That was the very first night they both slept soundly after the nightmare.
-Day 3, the morning after night 2
Starting off the day as he normally would, wake up, check phone, get u-
Why the fuck couldn’t he get up? He felt like a weight was holding him down. A very clingy weight that just happened to be the arm… and leg of his roommate. Staring at Chan sleeping was a new sight for him.
Everytime he came home late, Chan was always awake.
Everytime he woke up from a sweat-inducing nightmare, Chan was always awake.
And yet every time he woke up early, Chan was bright eyed and bushy tailed as he got ready for his morning class and workout.
He definitely didn’t understand his hyung, but he wanted to find out what the fuck was wrong with him. If Chan can help Seungmin, then he can help Chan.
Seungmin slipped out from under Chan’s grasp and lifted his covers over the broad body. He began getting dressed, slipping on sweats (yet again) and a graphic tee shirt along with his favourite sneakers. He washed up, almost screaming at the cold water coming from their bathroom sink. Seungmin grabbed his phone and texted his friend’s group chat.
Minnie <3
Guys, Meet me at the library?
I wanna ask you something
Lixie :p
It’s 10am and you expect me to get out of
bed this early on a day we dont have classes?
This better be good or else I smack you
Jin *-*
im with felix
ill be there anyways.
Minnie <3
Love you guys :)
And so Seungmin grabbed his keys and started walking to the main entrance of his building.
“SEUNGMIN!!”
That was definitely a voice he recognized. His RA… Minho. The one who had complained constantly about him and Chan being too noisy in the halls during their walks, or even about Hyunjin who slipped one too many love letters in the wrong doors. Minho showed he hated everyone but in reality he had the biggest soft spot for Seungmin’s best friend.
“Good morning Minho-hyung, what can I do for you on this fine day?” Seungmin was acting like a smartass, being polite with sarcasm wrapped all around it like sour candy. “Don’t even. We got more complaints about Chan being a bit noisy while coming back to the dorms late at night. Could you tell him to please keep it down?”
“Oh uh yeah of course! No worries.” Seungmin replied with a small smile before Minho continued, “And tell Hyunjin that my room number is 364. If he wants to send me letters so badly he should at least know my room number.”
“Will do, thank you!” ew, Minho flirting with Hyunjin through him? Gross. They need to get a room and work on their relationship because it's annoying. Seungmin continued on to the library which was thankfully only a 5 minute walk from his building. That was definitely a perk about living in this dorm, you never have to buy your books because you can just steal them from the library! The two boys he had asked to come were tiredly waiting inside at one of the lounge areas where many students came to read manga.
“Min, glad you could join us, now let's hurry this up so I can go the fuck back to bed.” Hyunjin ‘kindly’ greets Seungmin with a fake smile plastered on his face. “Okay shut up you nimrod and sit down.” The boys take their seats and wait for the conversation to begin.
They don’t have to wait long, but this definitely isn’t what they expected.
“Do you guys know anything about Chan not sleeping often? I know you guys are friends with some of his friends and Felix is like canoodling with the kid he tutors, have they mentioned anything?”
“Okay asshole, we aren’t canoodling. I just help him with…”
“Mouth troubles?” Hyunjin butts in.
Felix quickly rebuttals “Shut up you kdrama obsessed idiot.” which reminds Seungmin, “Oh yeah, Hyun, Minho told me to tell you his room is 364.” that alone made Hyunjin squeal and cover his mouth in embarrassment. Felix wont forget that for the longest time.
“Can we get back on track please? Do you guys know anything?” Seungmin tries to get the interrogation back to its original pace, but they don’t get far with answers.”Changbin has said squat to me about Chan’s sleeping because that's not really a normal thing to talk about. I can give you his number though?”
“Yeah thank you Hyunjin that would be great.”
“Why do you care about this so badly? He's in university, no one sleeps anyways...apart from Hyunjin and Han.” Felix questions Seungmin with the question he never planned to ask himself.
“I don’t really know? Whenever I come home late or wake up in the middle of the night, he's always awake. I don’t know If I have ever seen him sleep.” other than this morning of course, but Felix and Hyunjin would’ve pressed on and Seungmin was too tired for that.
“I’d talk to Changbin and Han? They’re super close with him.” Hyunjin suggests to speak with
2/ 3 of 3racha about the older boy’s sleeping habits. Everyone knows Chan and Changbin have been friends since highschool so he's definitely a jackpot.
“And Jeongin, they always study super late together so he may know something.” Seungmin nods. Felix and Hyunjin text the contacts to Seungmin before leaving quickly to get some well needed sleep after a stressful week of midterms.
And so the texting begins.
The 3 plan to meet a local restaurant that sells the ‘all time best meatballs and chicken fingers’ according to Han. They agree to meet at 4pm, giving them all time to get prepared. Seungmin had wasted 4 hours reading things on a new assignment he needed to finish but just now decided to study.
Seungmin made his way back to his dorm room to see Chan now awake, and editing another school project that his partners had given up on. His hands worked vigorously on the presentation laying on his computer.
“Well good morning sleepy head. Glad to see you’re awake.” Chan chuckles after the greeting. Seungmin shakes his head and plops down on his desk chair. “I could say the same for you. Seeing you sleeping was definitely a new sight.”
Chan nods and smiles, refocusing on the work clogging his laptop. He really has to ask his teacher for different partners next time. Seungmin gets ready the entire time Chan is complaining about the idiotic work, pretending not to notice the younger boys’ broad shoulders in the reflection of the dark screen. “Why can’t they just do what they need to do! This is why everyone fails.”
“Totally agree Channie, I have to go, i'll be back soon. Be safe!” Seungmin pats chans head and leaves the room, not knowing he left the older in complete shock by the new nickname. “Channie..aww that's cute.” That left Chan’s heart beating a bit faster than normal.
The restaurant was a little crowded but Seungmin eventually found the two boys he wanted to speak to. “Hey, take a seat! So you wanna know about Chan?”
“Uh yeah, he's my roommate and he like never sleeps? So I was wondering if either of you had any idea why? It’s not like he's a vampire or something.”
Han speaks first, “I mean I don’t know if it’s really our space to answer. Why didn’t you just ask him?” Changbin quickly answers for seungmin; “Chan is stubborn, especially with questions. That dumbass wouldn’t have answered anything.” Everyone at the table agreed with that. Chan was always stubborn mainly when it came to taking care of himself before others.
“He has Insomnia. I think he said it was Chronic? Just stress really. He said there was one thing that normally helped him sleep but he never told us.” Seungmin got the answer he had been craving for weeks. He knew what was up with Chan, and he knew something else.
“He’s very closed off about that kind of stuff.” Han stopped and studied Seungmin’s face for a second before continuing. “But, I’m guessing you already know how to help him sleep?”
Seungmin recalls this morning. The first time he had seen Chan sleep in months, it was nice..
“I might have an idea.”
-Night four, that night-
It’s 11pm when Seungmin comes back to the dorm after a long time speaking with Han, Changbin and even Jeongin in his dorm. They all hung out for a bit and lost track of time.
As he walks through the door, he sees a visibly exhausted Chan at his desk as always, writing down lyrics for a new rap he wanted to try out. His hair was messy and he was gnawing at his already swollen lips. His entire body looked tired.
“Channie hyung?”
The younger boy’s voice always caught Chan's attention and even in this tired state it still made him light up and smile like a little boy. “Hi Minnie, how was your day?” Seungmin realized Chan was making tired small talk, but he continued the conversation anyways while he got changed and washed his face and fixed his hair.
Seungmin walked back to Chan and grabbed his hands, pulling him out of his chair and to a standing position, Chan protested but Seungmin ignored every bit of it with a smile on his face. They walk towards Seungmins bed and sit down facing each other. Chan flops down on the pillow with a low huff and takes in the overwhelming smell of Seungmin.
The younger one lays down beside him with his face oh so close to Chan's, staring at his Hyung’s side profile, until Chan moves his head.
They’re facing each other. Faces ooh so close and breathes reaching each other's noses. Their eyes connect to see the others' reactions. Chan is the first to flick his gaze down to Seungmin’s lips and back to his eyes. He knows what he wants but he would never do it without asking.
The memo came across and Seungmin agreed, leaning forward and connecting their lips in a gentle yet lustful kiss.
Hands reaching for eachother and pulling the other closer than they could ever get. The kiss was getting softer despite the constant moving. Seungmin trusted Chan and knew that he wouldn’t hurt him. The older boy knew how to keep things minimal and soft to keep the feelings in the air. He was an expert.
They broke away from the kiss, breathing quite heavily. Chan rested his forehead against Seungmins and sighed, closing his eyes to take in the moment he had waited months for. He finally kissed his roommate, he finally got to hold his roommate close by his waist and smile.
Chan’s sleepiness quickly caught back up to him. Making him feel drowsy even though he had a surge of energy a second ago. He laid back down on the bed and pulled Seungmin in to wrap his arms tightly around the boy’s torso and hold him.
Chan fell asleep faster than he would ever believe, and Seungmin followed suit a minute after but not before letting himself admire his Hyung for a bit.
Both boy’s slept soundly that night.
No sweat, no screaming, no fear.
No eyebags, no coffee, no stress.
Just Seungmin, Chan and their much needed Sleep.
And the sound of Seungmin’s phone blaring with text messages from Hyunjin about Minho asking him on a date.
Finally.