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Usually, Eric always knows what to do in a lot of situations. He’s pretty adaptable, and he’s never really against trying new things when he needs to. This, however, is a situation in which Eric has absolutely no idea what to do.
He should be happy for his best friend—and, really, he is!—but he’s also feeling a lot of things that he can’t really explain, nor does he really understand these feelings. Eric doesn’t even know when Sunwoo and Juyeon had gotten so close in the first place. He guesses that it might be inevitable, with Sunwoo being a cheerleader and Juyeon being captain of the basketball team—they spend a lot of time together when Eric isn’t around, understandably. It’s just… it feels odd, yet it doesn’t at the same time. Eric’s barely making any sense to himself on the matter.
And now, out of nowhere, just two weeks into Sunwoo’s and Juyeon’s new relationship, Sunwoo has asked Eric to stay after a basketball game with them—for the three of them to go get dinner afterwards. And, of course, Eric being Eric, and being utterly whipped for his best friend, he’s said yes. Eric can’t say no to Sunwoo, even if he’d wanted to. He’s too infatuated with him to even let the word come to the forefront of his mind.
It’s just that—Eric doesn’t really know Juyeon. He’s a bit surprised that he doesn’t, honestly, considering that their friends and friend groups overlap into one giant circle of friends at this point. He only really knows of Juyeon, in the sense that Eric knows Juyeon’s friends and that Juyeon is one of the most popular guys at their school. He deeply wonders how he and Sunwoo even managed to become so close, especially when Eric hadn’t even noticed that the two of them were spending so much time together in the first place. And that’s not to say that Eric thinks Juyeon doesn’t deserve Sunwoo or anything of the like—he just can’t really wrap his head around it. It’s confusing and vaguely frustrating to himself.
He’s just going to have to do his best to understand.
Besides, it’s not like it’s Sunwoo’s fault that Eric is in love with him and has just never told him. Eric’s just been too shy to actually tell him—not to mention worried that it might put their entire friendship on the line. He doesn’t blame Juyeon for falling for Sunwoo in the slightest, and he certainly doesn’t hold a huge grudge against him for asking Sunwoo out—he just wishes that he had been the one to do it first, that’s all.
“Erigi, you made it!” Sunwoo’s smile is so bright and big—Eric feels slightly overwhelmed.
He smiles back, just as big, before his gaze locks onto Juyeon sitting right next to him. He tries to not seem as excited as he usually would be when meeting up with Sunwoo, if only for the fact that Juyeon is right there and Eric doesn’t want to accidentally overstep with Sunwoo’s boyfriend there.
“Hey!” Eric puts on a smile anyway, slightly stiff as Sunwoo hugs him. He makes sure to return the hug, he doesn’t want to be completely cold or something, but he doesn’t linger like he usually would. Juyeon is watching them, but his eyes are soft and kind—even so, Eric feels so awkward and shy right now. “Sorry I’m a little late, my hair didn’t want to cooperate with me.”
Sunwoo looks him up and down, slightly scrutinizing him, but he grins like he usually does, and Eric feels a bit more reassured. “I’m glad you managed to reel it in. I was almost beginning to think you’d flake on us.”
“Of course not!” Eric says immediately, probably a bit too quickly. Sunwoo’s nose scrunches as he smiles, amused. “I’d never do that to you—” He glances towards Juyeon, whose eyes are going between him and Sunwoo, before he clears his throat quietly. “I would have told you way before if I’d changed my mind. Have you guys ordered yet?”
When he goes to sit down, Eric expects Sunwoo to sit back down next to Juyeon—instead, Sunwoo sits down next to him and Eric feels a faint bubble of panic rising up inside of him. His eyes go a bit wide as he looks up at Juyeon, only to see that the basketball captain is now in front of him and Eric has to bite on the inside of his cheek to keep from making any surprised noises. What the hell.
“Not yet,” Juyeon is the one who replies to Eric’s question, and, wow, alright, Eric hadn’t realized just how nice his voice is. “Sunwoo-yah wanted to wait for you to get here, even though he would have been able to order your favourite thing from memory…” He sounds—happy, almost? He’s obviously teasing Sunwoo, with the way his nose scrunches up and his eyes crinkle. It’s—a really cute expression. Nearly cat-like, honestly.
Sunwoo lets out a small huff as he kicks at Juyeon’s ankle under the table—Juyeon laughs softly as he does, before he gently knocks his foot right back against Sunwoo’s. Eric watches their interactions closely, studying their expressions—before Juyeon’s gaze is turning away from Sunwoo and onto him. Eric startles a bit, being caught staring, feeling the way his ears warm as he now tucks himself away, hiding behind the menu.
“Why are you looking?” Sunwoo asks, gently nudging at Eric’s side with his elbow. “You order the same thing every time we come here—”
“Shut up—” Eric huffs as he pulls his head up, playfully glaring at Sunwoo, who merely grins at him. He bumps their shoulders together, causing the two of them to laugh. Eric glances across the table, catching Juyeon watching them, and as soon as he notices, he recoils slightly from Sunwoo as a result. He tries to not make it obvious, half-smiling to himself as he tucks his chin against his chest, biting at the inside of his cheek to keep from making too much of a weird face.
By the time they’ve ordered and their food’s arrived, Eric finds himself feeling much less anxious and nervous than he had been at the start. He banters with Sunwoo like normal, and it’s like Juyeon’s presence there with them isn’t as much of an problem as he’d originally thought it’d be—not that he had thought Juyeon would be a burden, but Eric had been scared that he, himself, would be the odd one out when it came to the couple being there with him. Rather, Eric finds himself being able to transition from talking with Sunwoo to talking with Juyeon, and back, with ease. Almost practiced ease, like the three of them had done this before, and like this wasn’t the first time the three of them were together in any kind of intimate setting alone.
Juyeon will smile at him and make his stomach fill with butterflies. Sunwoo will smirk at him and make him blush. Eric feels like he’s getting attacked from both sides at the same time, and it is not helping his situation right now.
Juyeon is so utterly charming and Eric can see just how, and why, Sunwoo fell for him. He’s surprisingly soft-spoken for being the captain of a sports team, especially one as big as their school’s, and everything about him just seems—big. Whenever Eric catches a glance of the two of them holding hands, Juyeon’s hand absolutely dwarfs Sunwoo’s, and he finds himself with the flickering thought: I wonder how big his hands would be over mine.
Eric goes home from dinner that night with a heart that won’t stop rapidly beating, and the panicked realization that he might also, actually, really like Sunwoo’s boyfriend, too.
“Jacob-hyung, Kevin-hyung.”
Eric finds the two of them in their usual spot right outside of Jacob’s house. The two of them are literally next-door-neighbours, and childhood friends, just like Eric and Sunwoo. They’re attached at the hip in the same sense as the two of them, but they’re not romantically invested with each other—in fact, they’re dating separate people, though a lot of people don’t believe it. Jacob’s boyfriend, Jaehyun, is actually on the basketball team, too. Kevin’s boyfriend, Changmin, goes to a different school than they currently do, along with several of their other friends in their group. They make it work, somehow.
“Hey, Eric-ah.” Jacob smiles at him, patting the spot next to him. Eric wedges himself beside Jacob on the porch steps, the older now between him and Kevin. “What’s up?”
Eric opens his mouth, but realizes that he doesn’t even know where to begin. It’s so complicated in his brain, but it’s probably a lot simpler than he’s making it out to be. Still, he has no idea where to start. So, he blurts out the first thing he can think of:
“I’m pretty sure I like Sunwoo and his boyfriend.”
Kevin blinks, before his eyes go wide. “Whoa.”
“Whoa,” Jacob echoes, his eyes doing just the same.
Eric wants to shrivel up now, biting at the inside of his lip as he tucks his chin into his chest, already curling up into himself a bit. “I know.”
“Hey, hey,” Jacob hushes him gently as he brings a hand up to Eric’s back, rubbing between his shoulders in a comforting motion. “It’s okay—you know we’re not going to make fun of you or anything, right, Eric-ah?”
“I know,” Eric sighs and curls into himself more, pressing his forehead against the tops of his knees. “I can’t help it—it’s so… I don’t even know. I barely know the guy! But—” Eric bites his lip as he turns his head some, now able to glance between both of his friends. “I went to dinner with them last week, right? And it was a lot of fun—I didn’t feel like a third wheel at all. He—” Eric pauses, genuinely unsure of how to address Juyeon, because he really only called him hyung when they’re together and he hasn’t particularly talked about him with anyone who’s not Sunwoo, up until now. “Juyeon-hyung, he’s so nice. He didn’t make me feel like I was ruining anything or that—I dunno, that I was maybe trying to steal Sunwoo away from him?
“Because, you guys know I’d never do that, right? I want Sunwoo to be happy—I’d never try to break him up with anyone, even if I wanted to date him myself. But I thought—I don’t know—I guess I just thought it wouldn’t go so well. Juyeon-hyung is really intimidating when you don’t know him at first, but he’s so sweet, and I really like the way he and Sunwoo interact and actually are as a couple…”
As he takes a deep breath, Eric realizes that he’s been rambling, and now he has the audacity to feel so utterly embarrassed about it. Both Jacob and Kevin are watching him, smiling and grinning at varying degrees, and Eric makes a noise of embarrassment as he hides himself against his knees once more. “Fuck…”
“You’re so cute, Eric,” Kevin laughs as he reaches over and ruffles the blonde’s hair, making Eric whine. He swats at Kevin’s hand, glaring at him from over the top of his arm. “What? It’s true! I know you’ve liked Sunwoo-yah for a long time, but it doesn’t seem like a shock that you’d like Juyeon-ah, too. It makes sense, really. Most people tend to get a crush on him.”
“Thanks, hyung, your words of wisdom are so helpful,” Eric’s voice is laced with sarcasm as he rolls his eyes, playful. He lets out a sigh and lifts his head, cheek pressed into his palm now as he rests his elbow on his knee, pouting some.
Jacob’s smile is gentle as he rests a hand against Eric’s back, patting it lightly. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with liking more than one person. It’s not really common to see, but it is a thing. It’s called polyamory. Maybe you can look into it a little?”
Polyamory. Eric’s heard of it before, but he’s never felt the need to really look into it. He understands it in concept, at least, but he’s never been able to see, or learn, about how it genuinely works for couples. Jacob’s probably right—looking into it might do him some good in this current situation.
Does it count as “homewrecking” if your best friend continuously invites you to events and things with him and his boyfriend?
Eric’s starting to wonder. He doesn’t feel like a homewrecker to any degree—when he’s invited out to things, it’s usually just by Sunwoo, but this time around, it’s Juyeon. He had approached Eric during lunch break—which, usually the basketball team and cheerleaders all tend to eat together because they often will have practice right after—and it had startled Eric badly enough that he almost lost his entire appetite after the whole ordeal.
Juyeon had said, “You should come to the game next weekend. It’s our semifinals. I know Sunwoo-yah wants you to come, but he wasn’t going to ask so soon.”
Eric had only managed to squeak out a jumbled “yeahcoolsure” to which Juyeon had smiled, bright and kind and warm, before he gave Eric a hug and walked away after. Haknyeon, Kevin, and Jacob got to witness Eric’s brain break that day. He’d felt so overloaded and overwhelmed that he had skipped his next period to recover from it. Haknyeon had stayed behind to help him talk through some things, too, and Eric had blurted out the fact that he likes both Sunwoo and Juyeon now.
It’s really not as complicated as Eric is making it, probably. He just—can’t wrap his mind around the fact that both of them might even be able to like him when they’ve already got each other. It seems just too far-fetched, like something written right out of those rom-com movies Sunwoo always makes Eric watch. None of those supposed love triangles ever work out, but then again, it’s probably because like Jacob said—polyamory isn’t necessarily common in society’s eyes. Most people don’t understand it or agree with it, so it’s not represented very well.
It’s halfway through the week to the semifinals game when Sunwoo and Juyeon both approach Eric again, this time when he’s alone and can’t make a further fool of himself in front of their friends.
“You’re coming, right?” Sunwoo asks immediately, sitting down on Eric’s left.
“What?” Eric blinks, looking up from his homework. He feels someone else on his right, and nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears Juyeon talking from that side.
“To the game,” he reminds, voice gentle as ever.
“Oh,” Eric swallows a bit, before he nods. “Yeah, of course—it’s important for both of you guys, right?”
“Yup,” Sunwoo pops the ‘p’ of the word as he says it, leaning into Eric’s arm. Eric swallows again, eyes shaking as he glances between the two of them. He can feel two arms behind him, probably both Sunwoo’s and Juyeon’s, and he’s got no idea what he’s supposed to do in this situation. “More Juyeonie-hyung than me, though, but it’s still going to be fun putting on a show for everyone. We’ve been practicing really hard—”
“And very secretively,” Juyeon adds, chuckling. He’s leaning into Eric’s space, as well, and Eric suddenly feels the weight of Juyeon against his right arm, too. It’s so warm between them, it’s making Eric’s head spin a little. “The entire team hasn’t let anyone see what they’ve been working on for the past like three weeks.”
“Yeah, ‘cause it’s supposed to be a surprise.” Sunwoo rolls his eyes playfully, a half-grin on his face.
Eric doesn’t know what to do. He’s so overwhelmed, being sandwiched between Sunwoo and Juyeon, and his head feels a bit fuzzy. He can’t even pretend to focus on his homework right now, his mind completely occupied on just how nice it is to be so close to them like this—like he’s part of them, like he’s—
He stops that train of thought immediately, sobering himself up a bit. Eric manages to smile, hoping that he doesn’t seem too off to either of them as he laughs softly at their arguing. “I’m sure whatever you’ve been planning will be amazing, Sunwoo-yah,” Eric says, facing towards Sunwoo. His best friend’s grin widens, but Eric doesn’t look too long as he looks towards Juyeon a moment later, grinning some now himself. “And I know you’ll do great in your game, too, Juyeon-hyung! I’ll make sure to cheer for you, too!”
Juyeon’s eyes flicker with something—it’s warm and solid and Eric doesn’t want to read into it too much right now—as a soft smile makes its way onto his face. “I’ll have my two favourite guys cheering me on, then.”
Eric nearly swallows his own tongue at Juyeon’s words. Sunwoo’s laughter distracts him long enough to start laughing himself, but the anxiety and warm feelings start bubbling up in Eric’s chest at the same time.
Ah, fuck.
The day of the semifinal game arrives, and Eric doesn’t think he’s ever seen Juyeon this nervous before. It’s almost unnatural to see him like this. His leg is constantly bouncing up and down, and he keeps gripping at his knees and elbows, chewing at his lower lip. Eric sort of gets it—it’s been a while since he’s played in any real sports himself, though he loves playing them of his own accord. He used to play baseball in middle school, but decided not to continue it furthering into high school. Juyeon must be feeling a lot of pressure. He’s their captain, after all.
“Juyeon-hyung,” Eric drops himself down onto the bench next to Juyeon, startling the guy out of his nervous stupor. Juyeon looks at him and smiles sheepishly, averting his gaze a second later. “Hey—it’s gonna be alright, yeah? You don’t have to be so nervous! You guys have been winning consistently this season!”
Juyeon lets out a soft puff of laughter, shaking his head a little. “Yeah, I know, I’m just—” He breathes in deeply, letting it out slowly. “Just nervous. I’m worried I’ll end up fucking everything up when we’re so close—”
“Hey ,” Eric’s voice is stern, but gentle. He reaches out and places his hand on Juyeon’s knee, forcing it to stop bouncing, squeezing it gently. “That’s just your brain being rude to you—don’t listen to it, okay? You’re gonna do awesome out there, hyung, and you’re gonna win. I know you will!”
Juyeon is watching him as he talks, and Eric can see the way his shoulders start to visibly relax. He smiles at him, and Eric gets the sudden urge to lean forward—suddenly wants to kiss Juyeon. The idea, and thought, nearly makes him pull away like he’s been burnt, but Eric doesn’t move a centimeter. He holds still, and offers Juyeon as much of a comforting smile as he can muster despite his own internal struggles.
“Thanks, Erigi,” Juyeon’s places his hand over Eric’s, and Eric’s brain fizzles out instantly. It’s so big and warm and Eric wants to turn his hand over and tangle their fingers together—he shakes himself out of that thought right away. “I’m really glad you came, by the way. And so is Sunwoo-yah. I’ll see you both after the game, okay?”
Juyeon squeezes his hand, leaning forward slightly, and Eric panics a little, with his own thoughts going a little wild—and he feels his panic is a little warranted, given that Juyeon presses a kiss right to his cheek. Now, it’s not uncommon for Sunwoo to kiss Eric’s cheeks—he’s been doing that since they were kids—but this is the first time that Juyeon has kissed his cheek, even after seeing Sunwoo still do it to Eric (despite Eric’s attempt at telling Sunwoo that Juyeon probably doesn’t like seeing Sunwoo kiss his cheeks like that).
“Okay,” Eric manages to squeeze the word out of himself, feeling at a loss for words and breath. He slowly pulls his hand away, but not before giving Juyeon’s own hand a squeeze, then carefully gets up from the bench and hurries his way back to his original spot—the third row of the bleachers, where the rest of their friends are sitting.
As soon as Eric sits down on the bench, both Kevin and Jacob are staring at him with wide, wide eyes. Eric makes a slightly strangled noise, bringing his hands up to cover his face. “Please, don’t say anything.”
Kevin opens his mouth, but Jacob immediately covers it with his hand and forces him to close it. Eric can only hope this game goes by as quickly as the other basketball games do.
And fast does it go.
Eric eventually gets himself out of feeling too embarrassed and shy, instead standing up and cheering on their team whenever possible—being particularly loud whenever Juyeon (and sometimes Jaehyun, just to keep up appearances) scores or blocks the other team. He’s glad he can at least understand basketball, otherwise he wouldn’t know what to do here. It’s a close game—their opposing team almost manages to overcome the major score difference, but in the end, it’s their team who wins. It’s Juyeon who wins. And Sunwoo’s half-time performance had been spectacular, too. All of the cheerleaders did a lot—so many tricks and spins and twirls, it had made Eric dizzy just by watching them. Both Sunwoo and Juyeon had put their best feet forward today, and Eric couldn’t be prouder of them.
“Sunwoo-yah! Juyeon-hyung!” Eric pushes his way through the crowd of adults and teeangers alike, until he’s standing on the wooden court floor and can properly look at the two of them. Sunwoo’s face is flushed, probably because Juyeon had found him right after their victory and kissed him amidst the chaos (but Eric had been watching them, so he saw—because he sees a lot when it comes to them).
“Eric-ah!” Sunwoo laughs brightly, tugging Eric into the hug between him and Juyeon—he’s pressed against Sunwoo’s side, and Juyeon’s arm moves from around Sunwoo’s waist to go around Eric’s.
Eric doesn’t waste a lot of time thinking about it—instead, he simply throws his arms around both of them, pulling them into his own kind of hug. “See?! I told you, hyung! I knew you’d win!” He’s laughing with the both of them before he knows it, but it stutters a little when he feels someone kissing his cheek.
He’s in a lot of shock when he sees that it’s Juyeon who’s just kissed his cheek, and his heart skips more than one beat when he sees, and feels, Sunwoo kissing his other cheek right after. Eric doesn’t know what to say or do right now. He sputters, the gears in his brain slowly working around, but he doesn’t really get any time to process anything before Sunwoo is talking to him again.
“Erigi, come have dinner with us. At Juyeon-hyung’s place—he’s a pretty good cook.”
Eric’s head is spinning and turning and he has no right to tell them ‘no’ (as if he actually could tell them no), so all he can do is nod and nod, until the three of them are making their way out of the gym and out into the world.
He feels a little lost.
The very next day is almost like Hell for Eric. He’d ended up getting convinced to stay the night at Juyeon’s place with the couple—at the insistence of Sunwoo, who used his pouting against Eric’s weak walls, and by Juyeon, who had smiled so sweetly at Eric and had told him he’d really like it if he stayed.
So, that’s what had happened.
That’s how Eric finds himself between the couple, quite literally. They had piled into Juyeon’s bed last night, despite its size and Juyeon being a giant, and now Eric is sandwiched between the two of them. Sunwoo is on his back, and Juyeon is in front of him. Eric is trying to keep his heart from beating too quickly, his face from turning too red, his head from getting too dizzy and fuzzy. He feels warm all over—thanks to the body heat from both Sunwoo and Juyeon, but also because he feels so utterly shy right now, even though the two of them are still asleep.
Eric stares up at the ceiling, trying to get his heart to calm down, when he feels a bit of movement. Turning his head a bit, he sees that Juyeon is slowly waking up. He yawns, stretching out—he looks a lot like a cat in this moment. It’s pretty cute.
“Good morning, Eric-ah,” Juyeon mumbles. His voice is deep with sleep, and Eric mentally curses his cheeks when they heat up.
“Mornin’, hyung,” Eric replies, turning away to peer up at the ceiling again.
They lapse into silence together as Juyeon wakes up fully, slowly rolling away from Eric’s body. It feels cold without him there. After a couple of sleepy minutes, Sunwoo wakes up, as well, and Eric is forced to roll over onto the bed as Sunwoo tries to clamber over him and off of the bed entirely, mumbling something about the bathroom.
As Sunwoo shuffles out of Juyeon’s room, Eric is left alone with him, and—it doesn’t feel as awkward as Eric had expected it to feel. Instead, it just feels… comfortable. Eric doesn’t feel like he’s intruding at all. It’s weird, though, because he still doesn’t believe that he should be here in the first place. Yet, at the same time, Eric doesn’t want to make himself leave.
He wants to—talk.
He wants to come clean, finally.
When Sunwoo returns, still looking half-asleep, he immediately takes up the space between Eric and Juyeon and kisses his boyfriend’s cheek, all while grabbing one of Eric’s hands and holding it. Eric feels like he’s on fire right now. He breathes out slowly, lacing their fingers together, before he speaks up.
“Hey, Sunwoo-yah… Juyeon-hyung…” He pauses briefly, glancing up to make sure that he’s got their attention, before continuing, “There’s… I have to tell you guys something.”
Neither of them say anything, though he’s sure Sunwoo wants to. Eric chews at his lower lip, squeezing his eyes shut as he squeezes Sunwoo’s hand, before he forces himself to look up at the couple as he starts talking.
“I don’t really know how else to put it. Um, I’ve—sort of been in love with Sunwoo for a long time now. Right? I think I always have been, even before I knew what love was. It hurt when you two got together,” Eric says the words carefully, trying to not sound like he’s putting any blame on someone right now, because he’s not. “But seeing Sunwoo happy made it all better. Because I want Sunwoo to be happy more than I want myself to be happy.”
He can see Sunwoo’s mouth twitch, and he knows that his best friend is about to yell at him, but Eric continues, “But I see now why he likes Juyeon-hyung so much. Because he’s nice and caring and handsome… and—” This is the difficult part. It’s something that Eric’s only ever said out loud to three people: himself, Jacob, and Kevin. He hasn’t even mentioned his crushes to anyone else, let alone the fact that he’s discovered himself to be polyamorous.
Eric shifts his eyes away, not because he can’t look at them, but because he just feels more comfortable like this. “And I realized, after a bit, that I really like Juyeon-hyung, too.” It’s quiet between them for several seconds. Eric breathes in deeply, letting it out slowly. “I love Sunwoo-yah, and I like Juyeon-hyung. That’s it.”
“You like… both of us?” Sunwoo repeats, tilting his head a bit. Eric nods in response. A pause. Then Sunwoo goes, “Well, thank god for that. A lot of this would have been really awkward if you didn’t.”
Eric sputters, becoming flustered instantly. His cheeks warm as he whips his head around to look at Sunwoo, eyes wide. “What—huh? What do you mean, Sunwoo?”
“I hate to break it to you, Eric,” Sunwoo laughs as he lets go of Eric’s hand to reach up, ruffling the top of his hair. “But it’s not exactly ‘just friendly’ to constantly go on dates together.”
“Dates?” Eric mumbles, squinting his eyes.
“Or sleeping in the same bed together,” Juyeon says, leaning himself around Sunwoo’s front to smile at Eric. “At least, not as close as we were.”
“But Sunwoo and I have done that since…” Eric trails off, blinking slowly.
“Yeah,” Sunwoo smiles crookedly, his eyes crinkling. “It was never really super platonic, ‘Ric-ah.”
“But… then why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was going to,” Sunwoo says, chewing at the corner of his lips. “But then Juyeon-hyung asked me out… I actually rejected him at first.” He confesses, to which Juyeon nods. “And I told him that I really liked you, and not him. But then we started getting to know each other, and—well, as it turns out, I’m the same as you.” Sunwoo grins then, chuckling. “I like both of you, too.”
“But what about Juyeon-hyung…?” Eric leans forward a bit, peering at said young man.
Juyeon is smiling at both of them, a soft look on his face. He shakes his head a little, reaching around Sunwoo’s body in order to lay a hand against Eric’s back, rubbing his thumb against it soothingly. “Whatever Sunwoo-yah likes, I like. Or, like you put it—whatever makes him happy, makes me happy. I wasn’t going to stop him from liking you, even if we were together. Or from seeing you. You’re his best friend—I’d never try and take him away from you.”
Eric feels like crying. Actually, he does start crying. Sunwoo laughs softly at him, mumbling something along the lines of “always such a cry baby” before he wraps his arms around Eric, hugging him close. Eric only cries harder, pressing his face against Sunwoo’s shoulder as Sunwoo cradles him, rubbing along his upper back. He’s not sad, mind you—but Eric is generally an emotional person, and it’s always been rather easy for him to cry. Right now is no exception.
“You’re good, Eric-ah?” Juyeon asks, running a hand over the back of Eric’s head.
Eric sniffs softly, nodding against Sunwoo’s shoulder. “M’fine. Just—I’m really relieved. And happy. I don’t even know why when that was just a confession and now—”
“Do you wanna be our boyfriend, too?” Sunwoo suddenly asks.
Eric nearly screams. He sputters loudly, pulling away from him to look at him with wide, somewhat horrified eyes. Sunwoo rolls his eyes at him. “What? Juyeon-hyung was going to ask you that last night after the game, but he chickened out after dinner.”
“Sunwoo-yah,” Juyeon lets out a whine, pouting at Sunwoo.
“What? You guys are too shy to do anything yourselves, so I have to do everything for you!”
“That’s so not true!” Eric feigns being hurt, throwing a hand over his chest where his heart would be. “I can do stuff on my own! I was just really scared I’d fuck everything up with you guys!”
Sunwoo rolls his eyes again, albeit more playfully this time, and he smiles. He reaches up and grabs Eric’s face, pulling him in as he kisses him—it’s soft and warm and Eric melts into it immediately. He feels rather dazed when Sunwoo pulls away, blinking slowly.
“Um,” Eric says, ever so eloquently.
“Do you wanna kiss Juyeon-hyung now?” Sunwoo asks, throwing his thumb over his shoulder at his—their—boyfriend.
“But I didn’t even answer your question.”
“Then hurry up and answer it, dork.”
“You’re mean,” Eric mumbles, pouting.
“And yet, you’re in love with me.” Sunwoo smirks at him, eyes dancing.
Juyeon laughs as Eric’s jaw drops, a dramatic gasp leaving him. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”
Then, Juyeon reaches out to Eric and rests his hand on top of his thigh, squeezing it slightly. Eric’s mind immediately turns to mush. “Please answer, Eric-ah?”
Then, Eric blurts out, “Yes—yeah, okay. I’ll be your boyfriend.”
“Finally,” Sunwoo lets out a dramatic sigh, throwing himself back onto Juyeon’s bed.
Juyeon laughs at him, shaking his head, before smiling up at Eric. His eyes are in crescents, and his cheeks are pink. He looks shy, and Eric thinks he looks cuter than he’s ever seen him before. He can’t stop staring.
“You gonna kiss now or what?” Sunwoo startles Eric out of it, causing him to flush.
He lightly smacks Sunwoo’s side, who yelps softly and rolls away from him, curling in around Juyeon. “Oh, you dare hit Sunwoo? Jail! Jail for a thousand years!” He sticks his tongue out at Eric, who grins as he shakes his head.
“Way to ruin the moment, dumbass.” Eric sounds so fond when he says those words. He can’t help it. This is something he’d never imagined he’d have in reality—being together with Sunwoo and Juyeon. Call him sappy if you want, but he’s absolutely on Cloud Nine right now. His heart soars the moment his lips touch Juyeon’s, and the echoing laughter of Sunwoo between them fills him with joy.