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it’s three in the morning when the party begins. as if they aren’t scheduled to start filming in four more hours, more than half of the group of 18 remaining boys are awake. the group of night owls stumbling down the hallways every now and then, searching for more snacks, more people to join, and more silly reasons to laugh despite the late hour.
ricky can hear the shouting, the giggles going up and down the halls but he’s not extremely interested. besides, jay was feeding him snacks and telling embarrassing stories about kamden, and he lives on free snacks and free blackmail material.
"you should have seen this one time," jay says between mouthfuls of popcorn, "kam got so drunk, he started confessing his love in japanese."
ricky beams, cheeks hurting from laughing so much, "he doesn't know japanese, does he?"
"literally none!" he shouts, "and then there was this other time—"
he's interrupted by a knock on their door. they both look up, glancing at each other, nobody able to respond before the door creaks open.
"are you guys still awake?" it’s jeonghyeon that peeks his head in first, but soon after the door fully opens to reveal a group behind him.
and it also reveals the ridiculous over me team puppy onesie that jeonghyeon’s wearing.
the one he won from being the biggest, most obvious liar ever.
"we are." ricky answers shortly in fear that he’ll blurt out something about how adorable jeonghyeon looks.
he probably wouldn’t ever hear the end of it, he’s got the biggest boys planet gossipers right behind him in the hallway.
he’d normally be a little self conscious over people looking into his room but he and jay are relatively tidy. especially since they were all packed up, prepared to be eliminated last night.
ricky doesn’t mind too much right now though because he’s got bigger problems to worry about.
such as jeonghyeon, in all his onesie glory, slowly starting to sway his hips suggestively.
"jeonghyeon, what the fuck." jay blinks at the now gyrating man, utterly shocked.
crude notes of beatboxing and high-pitched mumbled lyrics fill their room as jeonghyeon flips his hand away from his body, his eyebrow raising.
ricky feels his lips curling into a smirk on their own. jeonghyeon’s gaze is serious, with a hint of mischief. his puppy eyes peeking out from the hood of his matching onesie.
he throws his arm across his waist and ricky finally recognizes it.
taemin’s ‘move’
lee jeonghyeon, along with several other trainees, has invaded his dorm room and is wiggling his hips along to taemin’s sensual song in a puppy onesie.
a giggle bubbles it’s way out of his throat and he catches the way that jeonghyeon’s lip twitches.
jay stares, mouth agape at the sight before him, "what is this?" he exclaims, looking at ricky for any sign of reality, "it’s—it’s 3:24 am!"
"i don’t know what this is or why it’s happening." ricky replies, unable to tear his gaze away from jeonghyeon's.
jeonghyeon finally breaks out of his trance, snorting out a laugh as he spins around and dips into a lunge. his butt is pushed outwards in an exaggerated pose, and he grins at the two roommates with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "do you like it?" he asks.
"that’s not the move!" jay yells, covering his eyes.
ricky can’t help but giggle at how ridiculous he looks, feeling his cheeks burn at how wide his smile is but also because jeonghyeon is just overwhelmingly adorable. he’s just fighting his instinct to want to grab him and ruffle his hair, push him down and scatter kisses all over his face.
there’s more screams of laughter that echo through their room. he spots seungeon clutching his stomach, stumbling out of view. gyuvin and gunwook are both clutching onto each other, out of breathe.
finally, keita is out of breath, struggling to continue beatboxing the song’s melody while holding in his laughter.
jeonghyeon finally stops his dancing. his cheeks dusted pink and ricky’s a little surprised to see that he was embarrassed.
"it was a dare." he explains, scratching at the back of his neck, "how was it?"
"terrible!" jay puts in.
"cute but horrible." ricky adds.
their audience that isn’t trying to catch their breath from jeonghyeon’s silly dance breaks out into cheers of "ooo~"
"ricky called jeonghyeon cute!" keita teases.
"maybe you two should just get married then." jongwoo chimes in.
"married?! who’s getting married now?" park hanbin screams.
ricky’s starting to believe the rumors that someone snuck alcohol into the dorms.
"ricky-hyung, you’re too young to get married." yujin pokes his head into the door frame.
he watches as jeonghyeon blinks at him, jaw slowly dropping as he processes the situation. the puppy in shock at what this dare has become.
clearly, his words had more value than he expected.
their party group starts to travel down the hallway, noise and chatter filter away. all that's left is jeonghyeon's lonely figure at the doorway, the puppy still in a daze, contemplating his life decisions leading him here.
"are you gonna go back?" ricky asks, a mischievous smile on his lips, eyebrows raised in anticipation of jeonghyeon’s response.
surprisingly, it’s jay that answers first, "i’m gonna go make sure jongwoo will be alive when we wake up." he stands, grabbing a few snacks as he heads towards their door, "please don’t get married while i’m gone." he adds over his shoulder before vanishing from the room.
“i haven’t seen you all night.” jeonghyeon says with a pout, his eyes wide and expectant.
ricky, exhausted and unexpectedly confident, grins, “did you miss me?” he opens his arms wide, making grabby hands at him.
jeonghyeon, the gigantic, pouty puppy, eagerly jumps into his bed, curling up in ricky's lap, long legs draping over the bottom edge.
"i always miss you." he mumbles, "i like you."
the blonde giggles, gently brushing jeonghyeon's dark bangs away from his eyes. he can smell just a tinge of soju on his breath, which explains the everlasting pink dusting on his cheeks.
"i like you a lot." jeonghyeon continues, "i always want you around, want you touching me."
ricky's heart practically explodes,"you don't realize how cute you are when you're like this." he breathes out, hesitantly brushing his thumb across his cheek.
jeonghyeon looks up into his eyes, smiling softly as if taking in each moment to remember it forever, "are you saying i'm not this cute normally?" he teases, hand coming up to poke ricky's chest.
"i never said that, puppy." ricky catches jeonghyeon's hand lacing their fingers together.
"puppy." the brunette repeats softly, and ricky would normally pretend not to see the way jeonghyeon's cheeks flush a deeper red, but he's currently having too much fun teasing him.
"yes, puppy." ricky grins, leaning down to press their lips together briefly, "my puppy." he murmurs into his mouth, only pulling away a fraction of an inch.
jeonghyeon breathes out heavily against him, "i like that—like when it comes from you."
ricky feels a rush of ooey-gooey, sappy love wash over him. the trust and vulnerability in jeonghyeon's adorable eyes makes him feel like he's got a world treasure in his lap.
"here, sit up for a second." he mumbles.
as soon as jeonghyeon does, his pout grows every second that ricky's hands aren't on him, ricky stretches out on his bed with open arms. the brunette accepts the invite, lying with his head against ricky's chest, arms curling around his waist.
he watches as jeonghyeon's eyes drop, his hold around his waist loosens as he brings one of his hands down to poke at an exposed piece of his torso.
ricky flinches at the touch, "hey."
"tickles?" the puppy asks, glancing up at him, a soft smile on his lips.
"it does." the blonde grins, cupping jeonghyeon's chin.
he hums contentedly and ricky is legally obliged to press his lips to the brunette's forehead at that very moment.
jeonghyeon looks at him like he's the only person in the world and it makes a shiver run down his spine.
"can i—can i tell you something?" he asks, his tone soft but filled with emotion.
ricky hums, giving his chin a light squeeze.
"i'm scared." jeonghyeon admits, his puppy eyes meeting ricky's gaze "scared of losing you. and—and scared of never seeing you again." he pauses, finger tracing patterns into his skin, "what if you debut without me?"
"what if you debut without me?" ricky retorts quickly, unable to resist the urge to tease him a little, "i'm right here, puppy. you're thinking too much."
jeonghyeon shakes his head "what if neither of us debut? what if both of us debut?"
ricky simply smiles, "jeonghyeonie, no matter what happens, i will find my way to you." jeonghyeon grins at this, cheeks puffing adorably, "and unfortunately, i'm sure you'd find me too."
"you're stuck with me." the brunette laughs, tightening his arms around ricky's waist again, "i love you." he whispers.
legally, ricky has to pull him close and kiss him once more—deeper this time—as his heart swells with love and overwhelming affection for the giant puppy who's captured his heart.
he wants to hold him like this forever, but he knows that the future is uncertain for both of them.
they're lucky enough to have found each other.
"i love you too."