Chapter Text
I.
Jungsu
His little room feels much smaller than usual. Like there is something outside pressing against the windows, aching to come in. Maybe it is the noise. It is probably the noise. Tap. Tap. Tap. A thousand, million taps at once.
The language of water.
And yet, the air inside seems distilled, or about to be so. It is heavy. Hanging, like how he waves his hand and feels something heavy.
Jungsu loves—adores the rain, but not when it’s like this. He groaned in frustration as he turned again to the other side of his bed for the nth time, feeling a wet spot from his pillow that obviously came from the ceiling. He took a glance at it and saw a wet patch on the corner of it.
He sighed and blinked a few times.
When he felt the dripping of the water wasn't going to stop, he stood up abruptly, walking over to his roommate’s bed, Jiseok, and softly nudged his shoulder to wake him up. Jungsu hates it when people are disturbing his sleep, given that due to their practices, it’s something he rarely gets nowadays, but he’s doing this for a good reason… for a good purpose. He’ll just apologize to Jiseok tomorrow morning.
The younger stirred in his sleep, finally acknowledging the boy who was in front of him, “What is it…” Jiseok muttered under his breath, definitely still half-asleep.
“There’s water dripping on my ceiling, can you move please?” Jungsu whispered as he nudged Jiseok legs, beckoning him to give him some space to lay on.
“Aish, just don’t snore too loud…” It was all gibberish, but he eventually saw Jiseok shuffled around to the other corner and Jungsu couldn’t be any happier.
“Thanks…” Jungsu said and laid carefully beside the younger. The bed was originally made for one person only, so it was cramped. It was uncomfortable, but it’s better than having water fall on your face every second.
Jungsu sighed in content and let the sleep take over him.
Jungsu woke up later than usual.
He glanced at the bedside drawer and saw it was already 10 in the morning…so much for being productive and early. Jungsu sighed and noticed Jiseok was no longer beside him, but rather the younger was already at the living room as his voice rang just outside the thin door that separated him and his other members. He grabbed his towel and finally got out of bed to wash up, silently praying that there’s still warm water left for him as the rain still continued to pour outside.
Stepping out of his room, he was greeted by the usual scene—just like any other day, Seungmin is on the sofa, scrolling endlessly on his phone. Jiseok heated up food as Junhan was sitting down on the dining table as they prepared for breakfast and Jooyeon—still asleep.
Jungsu’s eyes scanned slowly around the room, as if trying to find something wrong and unusual when there is nothing.
It’s just—Gun-il wasn’t there.
It hasn’t been long ever since Jungsu started caring and feeling a bit more attached to Gun-il than he’s supposed to. He doesn’t confront it, hell, he does not even think it’s real. Maybe it’s just his homesickness; being away from his family definitely played a huge part of his dependency on the band, he finds himself always turning to them when the feeling of loneliness starts to linger around him.
“Good morning, hyung. Why are you just standing there?”
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he saw Seungmin, who has his back turned from the TV to look at him with a slight concern on his face.
Jungsu smiled, “It’s nothing, I’m going to wash up—Ah, wait where is Hyung-nim?”
“Gun-il hyung? He went—”
“No, our manager.” Jungsu softly cleared his throat.
“Yes, he went out to do some errands…” Seungmin slowly continued as if hinting that he’s not finished talking yet.
And Jungsu waited, he doesn’t know why, but he did.
“With Gun-il hyung.” Seungmin finished and finally turned his back on him to watch TV again.
Jungsu just gave a slight nod and strove his way to the bathroom, closing the door behind him and immediately turned on the faucet. He gathered water on his hands and splashed it on his face, waking himself up more in the process. He has to report his dripping ceiling somehow, if there’s one thing he can’t live without, it’s getting a goodnight sleep.
“There’s water dripping?”
“Yeah, it used to be okay back then, I don’t know what happened now…” Jungsu explained to his manager, who was exploring their room for any cracks, molds, or any problems that may cause the water to slip inside the walls.
His manager sighed and took out his phone, “I’ll have to contact the staff to help us fix this ceiling later, but I’m not sure if they are accepting clients right now because of the storm.”
Jungsu nodded, “Well, I can just sleep on Jiseok's bed while—”
“Hyung, please don’t. We could barely fit on it last night!” Jiseok suddenly said from behind him as he entered the room.
Jungsu let out a loud laugh, “Yah! Where am I supposed to sleep? On the floor?”
“No one’s using the couch,”
“All by myself? In the living room?”
“Well, it’s better than the floor, is it?”
“No! It's not better, It’s scary!”
“Hyung—look, it’s just going to be a couple of days—actually, weeks considering the storm—”
“See?! Who can—”
“Okay, okay, you two stop it. Both of you actually have to move out from this room for the meantime, I’ll have to get the entire ceiling fixed, just to maximize the whole process.” Their manager suddenly stepped in. Jungsu and Jiseok both looked at him, quietly processing what he has just said.
Light bulb.
“Then the two of us can just move to the liv—” Jungsu started, but was immediately cut off when Jiseok quickly walked out of the room.
“Yah, Jooyeon-ah, Seungmin, please let me share a room with you, please please please.” Jiseok begged on his knees as he saw both of them sitting at the dining table, eating dinner.
“Yah! Jiseok, let’s just use the living room!” Jungsu laughed as he tried pulling Jiseok away from Jooyeon and Seungmin, who was laughing from their spot. The younger cried in frustration as he protested to Jungsu that he’s also scared of the living room and finds it not comfortable to sleep on.
“What’s going on?” A voice suddenly rang from the distance and Jungsu felt his heart leap out from his chest.
He turned around and saw Gun-il by the doorframe of their room as he tried looking around, the voice of their manager was muffled in the background while he explained to Gun-il the situation. Jungsu didn’t really mean to stare, but time really flew by as he finally noticed the sun was already setting and this was the only time he saw Gun-il.
He knew he was busy, to the extent they wouldn't see him the whole afternoon. The members are quite used to it too. It was already expected, being a leader after all is a no joke.
Maybe it’s the atmosphere. Yeah, it probably is. Gun-il looked extra… something that day, he had his cap on that covered his black hair, to which Jungsu hated. But other than that, he did look good. Wearing some worn hoodie that’s paired with dark blue jeans, highlighting the height of his legs which was questionably adorable, probably because the younger was taller than him.
Jungsu should’ve stopped staring when he saw Gun-il walk towards the kitchen, where they all are, and gave him a small smile as a greeting.
He smiled back.
“Junhan has this extra sliding bed thing under his bed, one of you can use that.” Gun-il offered and looked at Jiseok and Jungsu.
About a minute of silence has passed until Jooyeon spoke, “Jiseokie hyung already asked share the room with us, so… hyung?” The younger looked at Jungsu who was honestly getting tired from all the bickering, so he just shrugged in agreement.
God, he just wants a place to sleep on.
“Yeah, I’ll use that, hyung. Thank you, really.” Jungsu smiled at Gun-il, where he gave him a brief nod and removed his cap.
“It’s no problem, get your pillows and stuff. I’ll fix the bed for you.”
Suddenly, the wind is raging. As the wind came, the soy-sized raindrops slid down like a sharp arrow. The other boys were found sitting by an electricity outlet, charging all of their technologies in case a power shutdown might occur, he should probably do it too.
“Is there anything I should or shouldn’t do while I’m here?” Jungsu inquired.
He stood at the doorway of Junhan’s and Gun-il’s room while he carried all of his blankets and pillows on his arms as he waited for the older to fix the bed for him.
“This is not a prison. Just do whatever you like.” Gun-il laughed.
Well, that’s a relief. Having Jiseok as a roommate is actually fun until the list of rules had become unreasonably long for his liking. He can’t blame Gaon for having boundaries though, but it still feels refreshing to freely do anything you’d want.
“How are we going to practice then, hyung?” Junhan asked while he quietly sat down on the edge of his bed. He offered to help fix the bed, really. But as usual, Gun-il declined the offer and wanted to do the work on his own, he did want to be a reliable leader to his members after all. They all adored that.
Gun-il sighed, “I dunno. We’ll have to wait for our manager with regards to that.”
“Hopefully it will stop soon.” Jungsu muttered as he stared out to the nearby window, the entire surface starting to fog due to the water and wind that’s been continuously pouring. “It will, just trust in the clouds,” Gun-il remarked and walked over to stand beside Jungsu.
He didn’t even notice the bed was already fixed due to his attention being occupied by the window he was just staring at.
“Yay, thanks, hyung!” Jungsu beamed and jumped over the bed. It was cold, which is understandable as it was left alone to store underneath Junhan’s bed for quite some time. He was just thankful he didn’t have to resort to the living room and its solid and small sofa.
“You can just move in here, hyung.” Junhan suddenly spoke, grabbing his acoustic guitar in the process. Jungsu laughed at that, “What do you mean? I can’t stay here; you guys will be cramped forever.” The older plugged his charger, thankful that he was near an outlet, and proceeded to pull his blanket over his shoulders.
“That’s true. Jungsu-yah, you have to find another home soon, okay?” Gun-il jokingly said.
Jungsu looked up from his blanket and saw Gun-il remove his hoodie in front of their cabinet. He wanted to scream, he placed his hand on his chest and felt it thump from nervousness.
This is stupid.
Why is this happening to him now?
“No, I don’t have enough money to find a new home.” He cleared his throat and fell back again to his bed, closing his eyes to let sleep take over him before he say anything weird and irrational.
Gun-il glanced at him, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Stay as long as you’d like, we’re a family here!” Jungsu just hummed in response and finally shut his eyes to sleep.
This is going to be a long week for him.