Work Text:
The sky was dark by the time Jihoon finished his essay. He sat back, raising his arms above his head as his back cracked. He yawned and closed his laptop.
“You finally done?” Seungcheol asked from Jihoon’s bed. He had been scrolling through his phone for the last two hours while he waited for Jihoon to finish his paper.
Jihoon nodded. “Let me change and then we can go.”
The two of them were planning to go to a club that was in a town nearby. The DJ who would be there that night was a girl who produced her own music, and Jihoon idolized her from the moment he first heard her music. He was excited to go and was working as fast as he could on the essay to get it done quickly.
“How much did you write?” Seungcheol asked.
“Seven pages.”
Seungcheol laughed. “Didn’t you say it only needed to be four pages long?”
Jihoon just shrugged.
Seungcheol rolled his eyes and laid back on the bed. “You are a homeworkaholic.”
“That’s not a thing.”
“You made it a thing.”
Jihoon shook his head as he dug around in his closet. He pulled out a jacket that had a tiger decal on the back.
“That’s a bold image,” quipped Seungcheol, looking at the large tiger design.
“It’s my roommate’s,” reasoned Jihoon. He tossed the jacket on the other bed. “We do each other’s laundry sometimes to save each other the trip.”
“Do you still have a crush on him?”
“Cheol!” Jihoon hissed, whipping around to face his friend. “Don’t just say that!”
“What?” Seungcheol laughed, sitting up. “He’s not here. So do you?”
Jihoon felt his face heat up. He turned back to the closet before Seungcheol could see. He grabbed a leather jacket and pulled it on harshly. “It doesn’t matter. He has a boyfriend anyway.”
Seungcheol grimaced. “Yeah, you’ve told me. Min Seojoon, right?”
Jihoon nodded.
“Yeah, I don’t like him,” Seungcheol said. “He was in my stats class last year. He cheated on almost every test.”
Jihoon nodded solemnly. “Soonyoung has brought him around the dorm a few times. He always glares at me and is super touchy with Soonie.” He moved toward his mirror to add some eyeshadow and product to his hair.
“Soonie, huh? Nicknames?” Seungcheol said, raising a brow. “But seriously, Soonyoung should get away from that guy. He’s sleazy as hell.”
“I wish I could make him see how much of a creep Seojoon is, but I don’t know how.” Jihoon groaned and sagged his shoulders, finishing with his final look. “Even right now. Soonie’s at his dorm and told me not to wait up for him because he’s sleeping over.”
“Do you want me to–”
BANG BANG BANG.
The loud knocking on the door made both boys jump. They looked at each other. Seungcheol shrugged so Jihoon reached for the door.
When he opened it, the sight on the other side made Jihoon freeze.
It was Soonyoung.
He looked terrible. His hair was messed up, tears were rolling down his face, and he was shivering. He had a thin robe wrapped tightly around his body, and as he ran past, Jihoon noticed that he wasn’t wearing any shoes.
“Soonie, what–”
A noise left Soonyoung’s throat when he spotted Seungcheol. He backed up frantically until he hit the wall, keeping the robe tight against his body. He was breathing heavily and his fisted hands were shaking. His eyes were wide and he looked like a deer in headlights.
Jihoon closed the door quickly. “Soonie, what happened?”
Soonyoung shook her head and muttered, “Seojoon.”
“What did he do?” Seungcheol asked, getting fully off of Jihoon’s bed, ready to be serious during this conversation.
Soonyoung winced and shifted away from the older boy. He was eyeing the older boy warily.
“Do you know Seojoon?” Soonyoung asked suddenly.
Seungcheol answered, “Yes–” A noise came from Soonyoung’s throat and he looked like he was ready to sprint. “–but I’m not a fan.” A small light seemed to appear in Soonyoung’s eyes and he relaxed ever so slightly.
“What did he do to you?” Jihoon asked. He reached out tentatively and placed a hand on his shoulder. That’s when he felt how cold his roommate was. Through the thin fabric, Jihoon could feel that his skin was ice and his whole body was shivering constantly.
Without waiting for an answer, Jihoon grabbed Soonyoung’s fuzzy pants that he wore for pajamas and an oversized shirt. Once he had the clothes, he reached toward Soonyoung’s robe. Jihoon wasn’t thinking. His mind was set on getting Soonyoung warm. The two of them were comfortable, so changing while the other was in the room wasn’t something that would be strange for them, but Seungcheol was there. Unfortunately, Jihoon wasn’t thinking about him.
Soonyoung definitely was, though. The second Jihoon’s hand grabbed his robe, Soonyoung yelped and jumped away, slamming his elbow into his desk. He cursed and grabbed his elbow, trying to rub the pain away. As he did, the neck of his untied robe slipped open and Seungcheol could see something that he wasn’t expecting to be down his robe.
“Are you wearing lingerie?” Seungcheol asked without thinking.
Soonyoung was quick to pull his robe tight again. He was looking at Seungcheol with wide eyes.
“What?” Jihoon breathed.
“Can I just change,” Soonyoung whispered, “please?”
Jihoon handed him the warm clothes and grabbed Seungcheol, dragging him to the door of the room. They left and before the door could close behind them, Jihoon turned and said, “Knock when we can come back in.” Then he shut the door.
“He was wearing lingerie,” Seungcheol blurted.
“Would you shut up about that?” hissed Jihoon. “He obviously didn’t want us to see it, so just drop it, ‘kay?”
Seungcheol frowned but nodded. “So, we really aren’t going to ask him what happened?”
“Of course we are! We just have to be delicate.”
A few minutes of silence passed before they heard a soft knock and then some shuffling away from the door.
Jihoon entered first. Seungcheol closed the door behind them. Soonyoung had his chair turned away from his desk, facing the rest of the room. He was sitting on it with his knees together and the end of his shirt pulled to his midthigh. His head was down.
Jihoon spun his chair around to face Soonyoung and sat down. Seungcheol went back to Jihoon’s bed to give Soonyoung some room.
“Are you okay?” was the first thing Jihoon asked.
Soonyoung’s head shot up in surprise. He blinked a few times, examining Jihoon’s face a few times before answering.
His eyes started to glisten before he choked out a meek, “No.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Seungcheol asked gently.
Soonyoung shook his head. “No, it’s okay. You don’t like him, so it’s okay.”
After a pause, Jihoon realized who he was talking about. “What did Seojoon do to you?”
The name had an obvious effect on Soonyoung. He winced slightly and his knuckles turned white as he clutched the bottom of his shirt. He glanced at the garbage bin near his desk, then quickly looked away. When Jihoon looked over the rim, he could see that the lingerie had been shoved to the bottom of the can, crumpled into a ball.
“I’ve had sex before,” Soonyoung blurted.
Seungcheol and Jihoon shared a look. Neither of them could get a word out before Soonyoung continued.
“And I’ve tried to be flexible, y’know?” he said. “I’ve done things that I’m not fully comfortable with, but I did it for him because I thought I would get something in return.” Soonyoung paused to clear his throat as he started to get choked up. “But tonight…” He shook his head. “He did something I didn’t know about. I didn’t consent to it! Why did he–?” His voice cracked and he started wiping at his eyes.
Jihoon wanted to ask, he really did, but he didn’t know how to word it. Lucky for him, Seungcheol tended to let his mouth run without thinking about phrasing.
“Is this about the lingerie?” the eldest asked.
Soonyoung looked at him through teary eyes. He shook his head and dropped his gaze to the ground.
“Don’t judge me,” muttered Soonyoung. “I agreed to wear that. He’s asked me to wear some things before, but not this… revealing. I was– I was laying on his bed – he told me to – and we were kissing… when I heard the door open.”
Jihoon’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
Soonyoung cleared his throat and sniffed. “Seojoon had invited some friends over without telling me. He was still on top of me when he welcomed them inside, saying that he was expecting them. He got up to greet them and that’s when I jumped off the bed and grabbed the robe. Seojoon was mad. He was glaring at me and saying that I should be into this because he was. When I asked him what he meant… he said that he had a fantasy of watching multiple guys, um, have their way with me. I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I ran. I sprinted out the door, not even grabbing the clothes that I had worn there. I forgot my shoes too. But I didn’t care, I had to get out of there. And – oh god – I left my phone. He has my phone! He doesn’t know my password, but what if he figures it out? He could message people. He could send photos. He could–”
“Soonie!” Jihoon interrupted. He had started just talking to himself at the end of the ramble, so Jihoon felt it necessary to cut him off before he said anything he didn’t actually want them to hear. And he didn’t want his roommate to spiral any more than he already was.
When Soonyoung looked at him, Jihoon was lost for words. There were tears rolling down his cheeks and his face was scrunched while trying to hold back his emotions. Jihoon didn’t know what to say. His mind was blank seeing Soonyoung crying like this.
Luckily – again – Seungcheol was there. He made his way over to the younger boy and knelt near him so he could look at his face as he spoke.
“Did they hurt you?” Seungcheol asked.
“No,” Soonyoung said. “I’m sorry that I’m crying. They didn’t even touch me. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
Seungcheol shook his head. “No, Soonyoung, that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m just making sure that you don’t need more help than we can give you. It’s normal to cry about this. Your boyfriend did something that you didn’t agree to, that’s not right. You’re allowed to have any reaction you want to this.”
“I don’t want him to be my boyfriend anymore.”
Soonyoung’s lip trembled after he said that, then he launched himself down to Seungcheol. He hugged the older boy tightly. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his scrambled emotions due to his ex-boyfriend’s betrayal, or from finally having someone on his side, but Soonyoung suddenly felt a deep feeling of trust for Seungcheol. He knew that he was a good person – he had seen Jihoon hanging out with him a lot – so it wasn’t a stretch to have some sort of connection to the older boy.
A bit shocked by the sudden action, Seungcheol froze for a second, then wrapped his arms around the crying boy, rubbing his back soothingly. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Jihoon. He was standing now, reaching a tentative hand out. He looked like he was fighting something internally before resting his hand on Soonyoung’s head.
“Do you want us to go to his dorm and get your stuff back?” Jihoon asked, running his fingers through Soonyoung’s hair.
Soonyoung blinked up at him through damp eyes. “You would do that?”
“Of course!” Seungcheol said. “What that dick did was terrible. We don’t want you to have to see him again after that.”
Soonyoung nodded in agreement. “Do either of you know Kim Mingyu? Or have his number? I’d text him myself but…”
Seungcheol patted his back. “I got you covered.”
He knew Mingyu from one of his classes. He typed a quick message telling him to come over to Soonyoung’s dorm and that more would be explained when he got there.
There were a few minutes of Soonyoung being comforted by the other two before there was a knock on the door.
“That was fast,” Soonyoung muttered.
He opened the door–
A hand shot out and grabbed him by the wrist in an iron grip. A shiver ran down Soonyoung’s spine when he saw who it was that had his wrist in their hand. It wasn’t Mingyu.
“Seojoon.” The name sounded like a pained breath escaping past Soonyoung’s lips.
At the sound of the name, the other boys in the room leaped into action. Seungcheol pried Seojoon’s hand off of Soonyoung, as Jihoon pulled the shaken boy farther into the room, away from the enemy at the door. Seojoon tried to push forward to get into the room, but Seungcheol blocked his path with a light shove.
“What do you want?” Seungcheol demanded with a cold gaze.
Seojoon rolled his eyes and tried to push past Seungcheol again. “I’m here to talk to my boyfriend.”
Seungcheol shoved him again, harder this time.
“He’s not your boyfriend anymore,” hissed Jihoon.
Seojoon scowled. “What’d you say, shrimp?” He advanced again.
“Fuck off,” Seungcheol said, getting right up in his face.
“I’m not here to talk to you, Choi,” huffed Seojoon. “I’m here to talk to my slut.”
Jihoon shot forward and punched him in the face. He was breathing hard and he could barely feel the stinging in his knuckles. Seojoon had stumbled back, hitting the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. He was holding his jaw with a shocked expression.
“You heard Cheol,” Jihoon said darkly. “Fuck. Off.”
Seojoon stood up straight and started marching back to the doorway. “You little–”
“Stop!” Soonyoung yelped. He stood in front of Seungcheol and Jihoon, trying to keep Seojoon from hurting either of them. “Seojoon, stop, please.”
With Soonyoung in the front now, all of Seojoon’s attention was on him.
“You,” he said with venom, pointing a finger at Soonyoung. “You ran away. You left me and my friends disappointed. And you left all of your shit in my room.”
As he walked forward, Soonyoung scooted back, pushing Seungcheol and Jihoon farther behind him. They ended up back in the door room, Soonyoung still making sure to keep himself between his friends and his ex.
“And you changed,” scolded Seojoon, gesturing at Soonyoung’s pajamas. “That lingerie was expensive. I expect you to wear it again.”
At the mention of the uncomfortable clothing, Soonyoung’s gaze shot to the garbage can, then back to Seojoon quickly. Seojoon noticed. He looked at the trash can and saw the lingerie crumpled into a ball and shoved to the bottom.
“You ungrateful bitch,” Seojoon snapped, jumping at Soonyoung with a raised hand.
The boy closed his eyes and held his hands in front of his face. He felt someone grab him from behind and pull him backward. What he didn’t feel was the pain of a slap. He cracked an eye open and saw that there were two reasons he didn’t get hit. One: Seungcheol and Jihoon had pulled him back; Jihoon with his arms wrapped around Soonyoung’s middle, and Seungcheol with a firm hand on his shoulder as he took a step forward. Two: Mingyu was standing behind Seojoon with his arm hooked around his elbow, stopping him from swinging his arm at Soonyoung.
“Gyu,” Soonyoung breathed, but Mingyu didn’t seem to hear him. His eyes were cold as they stared down at Seojoon.
Soonyoung looked between the two. Seojoon was tall, but Mingyu was taller. As Seojoon glared back at Mingyu, he had to lift his head slightly to level him with a harsh gaze.
“I think it’s time you leave, Seojoon,” Mingyu said. He started dragging him out of the room.
“Wait!” Soonyoung yelped, pulling out of the other boys’ hold. “Seojoon, where’s my stuff? My phone, my shoes, my clothes?”
Seojoon scoffed. “Back in my dorm. Why would I bring your shit with me?”
“I’ll get your things, Soonyoung,” Mingyu said shortly. “Be back soon.” Then he was out the door with Seojoon still being dragged behind him.
“Ji, you got this?” Soonyoung heard Seungcheol say before he followed after them, shutting the door behind him.
Everything had happened so fast, Soonyoung didn’t know what to do. He just stared at the door. He almost forgot there was still someone in the room with him.
“Soonie?” Jihoon spoke with a soft tone.
Soonyoung turned around to face the other. “I don’t– I don’t know–”
“It’s okay,” assured Jihoon. “Let’s just sit down for a moment.”
He guided Soonyoung to his bed since Soonyoung’s was lofted and would be harder to get on. Once they sat down, Jihoon left a little space between them, not sure if Soonyoung would be comfortable with contact.
“Did I fuck up?”
Jihoon blinked. “What?”
Soonyoung turned to face him. “Did I fuck up?” he asked again. “Did I overreact? I mean, sure, there were some times when he wasn’t the greatest, but there were some times when he was a good boyfriend. Did I ruin everything because I got scared?”
Jihoon stared at him in shock. “Soonyoung, you did nothing wrong. You didn’t fuck up anything. That was all Seojoon. He put you in an uncomfortable situation, how could that be your fault?”
“I ran away,” said Soonyoung. “I could’ve waited and heard him out. Maybe if I thought about it for a second, I would’ve wanted to.”
“Do you want to be passed around like you aren’t human?”
“No!” Soonyoung snapped.
“That’s what would’ve happened if you stayed,” reasoned Jihoon. Soonyoung stayed quiet. “They could’ve hurt you. He should’ve at least given you a heads-up if he was thinking about doing something like that with you. That’s not a decision to be made in a single moment. What he did was beyond wrong and you had every right to protect yourself and not let them do whatever they wanted. I’m proud of you, Soonyoung. You trusted your instinct and got out of there before something worse could happen. I know relationships are about compromise and that’s what you’ve been trying to do, but that’s not what Seojoon was looking for in this relationship. I’m sorry to say, but he was looking for someone who he thought he could convince to do anything that he wanted. Someone to manipulate.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jihoon shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize for someone who used your kindness against you.”
Soonyoung didn’t know what to say to that. He just sat there, looking at Jihoon like he was seeing him in a new light.
Finally, he asked, “Why do you care so much about this?”
“Because I care about you,” Jihoon blurted.
Soonyoung seemed truly shocked. “What?”
There was a pause. It would be so easy to just spill his feelings – to blurt out the words that he’s had to hold back for so long – but now wasn’t the time. Jihoon knew that. He knew that after a breakup like this, Soonyoung would be desperate for any kind of care he could find. Jihoon wanted him to have some time to process everything before he dumped his feelings onto the older boy as a cherry on top. He would never do that to Soonyoung. He would never overwhelm him like Seojoon had. No, Jihoon would make sure that he was different. He would be there to comfort Soonyoung, and if the time ever came, he would be there to confess to Soonyoung… but that time could wait for a bit.
“You’re my roommate,” Jihoon explained. “Of course I care about you.”
Maybe it was Jihoon’s imagination, but Soonyoung seemed to deflate slightly.
“Right, of course,” Soonyoung said. “Well, I care about you too.” He looked at Jihoon. “Because we’re roommates.”
Jihoon nodded, at a loss for words.
They stayed in an awkward – slightly comfortable – silence until Seungcheol and Mingyu came back. They had gotten all of Soonyoung’s belongings from Seojoon’s dorm. Soonyoung thanked them.
Now, they were all sitting in the dorm. Soonyoung and Jihoon were still on Jihoon’s bed. After putting Soonyoung’s stuff away and giving him his phone, Mingyu sat on Soonyoung’s bed. Seungcheol took Jihoon’s chair and dragged it closer to the beds and sat down on it backward, resting his arms on the back of the chair as he looked around at the younger boys.
“I never liked him,” Mingyu said plainly.
Soonyoung rolled his eyes. “I know you didn’t, Gyu.”
Jihoon rubbed his back, trying to be soothing.
“You know it’s better this way, right?” Mingyu questioned.
“What do you mean?” Soonyoung said with a sigh.
“Finding out what he’s really like before he could actually do something physically,” Mingyu explained. “I know it sucks, but it’s better that he couldn’t do something bad before he saw his true colors.”
“What he did was bad,” said Jihoon, some bite to his words.
“I’m not saying it wasn’t,” Mingyu defended. “I’m just saying that it could’ve been worse and I’m glad Soonyoung got out of there in time.”
“I’d rather not keep talking about this,” muttered Soonyoung.
There weren’t any arguments. For the rest of the night, the four boys talked about anything that wasn’t Seojoon and what Soonyoung went through. After a few hours, Seungcheol and Mingyu said their goodbyes. As he left, Mingyu wrapped Soonyoung in a bone-crushing hug, whispering reassurance in his ear before letting go and leaving after Seungcheol.
And so, the roommates were left alone in their room.
“Sorry I dragged you into all my shit,” Soonyoung laughed sadly.
“You need to stop apologizing,” said Jihoon. “Nothing that happened was your fault.”
Soonyoung just shrugged. “I’m going to go brush my teeth,” he said, grabbing his toiletries before slipping out of the room.
An idea sprung into Jihoon’s head and he quickly started digging around in his closet, fishing out a garbage bag that had a large object in it. Just as he got the bag out of his closet, Soonyoung came back through the door.
He froze. “Whatcha got there, Ji?”
“It was going to be a present for your birthday, but I think it’s better to give it to you now.” Jihoon untied the top of the bag, then hesitated. “Close your eyes and hold out your arms.”
“My arms?” Soonyoung questioned, but did as he was told, stretching his arms out in front of him and shutting his eyes.
He heard some rustling as Jihoon struggled to get whatever it was out of the trash bag. Then he felt something soft being placed into his arms.
“You can open now,” instructed Jihoon.
When Soonyoung opened his eyes, he thought he was dreaming. In his arms, he was holding the biggest and softest tiger plush he had ever seen. He immediately smashed his face into its fur, rubbing his head around to feel the softness all over his face. He smiled into the fur, and the smile stayed on his face when he looked back at Jihoon.
“I love it!”
Jihoon felt his heart swell, but he controlled himself. “I thought you would. And I know you like to hold stuff when you sleep, so I thought you could hold him instead of hugging your pillow every night.”
Soonyoung hopped over to Jihoon, moving the tiger plush to one arm so he could hug his roommate with the other.
“Thank you, Jihoon,” he said solemnly. “I really appreciate it.”
Jihoon gave him a quick hug back. When he stepped back, he ducked his head to hide his red-tinted cheeks.
“I should go change,” Jihoon said.
For the first time that night, Soonyoung noticed what Jihoon was wearing. He had an outfit on that wasn’t normal to wear for no reason; jeans, a tank top, and a leather jacket. He even had makeup on and some gel in his hair.
“Why do you look so fancy?” asked Soonyoung.
Jihoon shrugged. “Cheol and I were going to go to a small club tonight, but plans changed.”
Soonyoung winced. “Sorry you had to stay here and deal with me.”
“I’d rather be here with you than at a club with Cheol.”
“Don’t let him know that,” Soonyoung laughed.
“He already does.”
And Jihoon was out the door – pajamas and toothbrush in hand – leaving Soonyoung standing in the middle of the room with a shocked face. A few seconds later, he got himself together and climbed onto his bed with his new plush. He got under his blankets with the tiger hugged close to his body. He tried to stay awake until Jihoon got back, but all the action from the night caught up to him. He didn’t even realize he was losing consciousness as his eyes slipped closed.
When Jihoon got back to the room, he was pleased to see the content look on Soonyoung’s sleeping face as he clung to the tiger plush. Jihoon reached up and patted the tiger’s head and then he patted the plush’s head.
He went back to his bed and laid down, getting comfortable as he faced Soonyoung’s side of the room, going to sleep with the last image he saw as Soonyoung’s happy face squished against the plush’s head.
Jihoon smiled, knowing that his roommate’s night had been hard, but he was still able to make Soonyoung feel a bit better (not that Jihoon would brag). Then, he gave into his own deep sleep.