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Stress affects everyone differently. For some, it plays with their emotions, making them suffer from random mood swings and sudden "I'M FINE, LEAVE ME ALONE"s . For others, they become more reclusive and refuse to interact with anyone. And then there are people like Seungcheol , who bottle it all up inside and continue on as if they're not physically drained on the inside.
Seungcheol is quite the actor, and most aren't even able to tell how the dear leader is feeling actually. All except for Lee Jihoon, that is.
Jihoon has been noticing the change in Seungcheol's mood for months. It started with him being exhausted more easily, going to bed far earlier tha n he used to and waking up later and later. Then came the voice cracks in the sound booth. And tripping over everything during dance practice.
What Jihoon doesn't know is that Seungcheol stays up most night, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
It takes about a week of Seungcheol's constant yawning before Jihoon has had enough. One night, long after Seungcheol claimed he was going to bed, Jihoon entered the shared dorm room. Instead of heading straight for his bed like he would usually do however, Jihoon makes a beeline straight to where Seungcheol is "sleeping." He stands beside the leader's pull out bed for a few minutes; watching as the older's chest rises and falls with each breath he takes, and how his eyes shudder involuntarily beneath his eyelids.
Jihoon lets out a deep sigh before taking a seat on the bed. Seungcheol stirs slightly from the sound of the springs groaning under the added weight. He slowly cracks opens his eyes and reaches in front of him blindly as he tries to tell which of dongsaengs was not sitting beside him . "Hmm?" he mutters as he sits up slightly and rubs at the crust on his eyes. He looks once more at the stranger on his bed with the pumpkin-orange hair. "Jihoon?" he asks tenderly, reaching out to rub the others back. "Is something the matter?"
"You could say that..." Jihoon replied in a down trodden tone. Seungcheol attempts to sit up more but stops when two hands push down lightly on his chest. Seungcheol opens his mouth to say something but Jihoon just continues. "You haven't been sleeping," he states in an accusatory tone. Seungcheol swallows. He knew someone was bound to notice at some point, and to be honest he had expected it to be Jihoon. Jihoon could always read Seungcheol like a book, probably due to the fact that the two had known each other for so long.
"I'm sorry." Seungcheol didn't know what he was apologizing for exactly. Apologizing for not sleeping? For how it's been affecting the group? For worrying the boy? He didn't know. He tried to avoid eye contact but he kept being drawn back to the pumpkin-haired boy with the bright, innocent eyes . Seungcheol could feel the tears slipping from his eyes and reached up to wipe them away when he felt his own hands being tugged slightly by smaller ones . Jihoon had captured both Seungcheol's hands into his own and set them in his lap, before leaning over to brush the tears off the elder's cheeks. Seungcheol blushed slightly at the closest as Jihoon held Seungcheol's head in his small palm.
"Don't cry," Jihoon spoke softly as he soothed Seungcheol's slightly disheveled bed head. Seungcheol just sat their motionless as he let the younger slowly pet his head. Seungcheol nodded and held Jihoon's hand in his own. They both sat there for some time, staring into the others eyes.
"Thanks, Jihoonie ," Seungcheol said after a few minutes passed and slowly pulled the younger into a hug. He looked down at the younger boy in his arms and smiled before leaning his head down. H is lips were hovering just above the others, as he smiled. "Will you sleep with me tonight?" Seungcheol asked, his hot breath grazing the others face as he smiled back and nodded. Seungcheol then closed the distance between them.
For the rest of the night they spent it together, wrapped up in each others embrace, as they swiftly drifted off into a restful sleep. Little did they know that they weren't the only ones up at that time, for from the other side of the room sat a blonde figure with his trademark 10:10 eyes perched on the top bunk, watching it all. "Fucking finally," he muttered to himself as he buried his head into his own pillow and fell asleep.