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Seungcheol and Jeonghan didn’t realize that during their interaction in Seungcheol’s Weverse live, someone was actually watching them and getting hurt. Of course the two of them didn’t know about it since it was normal for the two of them to have some sort of banter either in real life or over the internet now, due to Jeonghan having to do his mandatory military training. What the two of them didn’t realize was that they were forgetting someone, someone who is very important to the two of them and someone who was waiting to spend even just a few hours with just the two of them.
Joshua went to his room once they got back from the concert. He was tired and wanted to have a nice bath before going to bed and if it was possible to spend a few hours with his boyfriends. He wasn’t aware that during his bath Seungcheol decided to do a live on Weverse. He was so busy enjoying his shower that by the time he got out he saw the notification that Jeonghan had commented on the live and immediately opened it only to find out that his boyfriends were busy having a little fun online. Of course he knew the fans liked watching the banter between the 2 oldest members of the group but he oftentimes felt excluded by the two of them. Suddenly he remembered the photo Seungcheol posted of himself with Jeonghan just a couple weeks ago and it brought up the uneasy feeling he had back then but this time it felt even worse.
He didn’t want to do anything rash or hurt his two boyfriends so he decided to quickly dry his hair and go to bed. He didn’t realize that he still had the Weverse live playing in the background as he was getting ready. Once he was comfortably laying in bed he couldn’t help but watch his two boyfriends banter online, not realizing that he was already crying softly and eventually cried himself to sleep.
Once Seungcheol was done with his Weverse live he immediately received a call from Jeonghan.
“What’s up Hannie?” Seungcheol asked.
“Have you talked to Joshuji? I tried calling him while you were doing your live but he isn’t picking up.” Jeonghan replies, worry and concern laced in his voice.
“I haven’t. I can go check on him in a bit, I’ll send you a message once I do.” Seungcheol answered back.
“Please, I asked Kwannie to check on him but he said that Joshuji didn’t answer when he knocked and just assumed he was asleep.” Jeonghan continued after Seuncheol.
“I have a key to his room. I’ll go now okay Han, please get some rest baby. I love you.” Seungcheol reassured him.
“I love you too.” Han replied before hanging up the phone.
Seungcheol leaves his room and immediately goes to Joshua’s room. He, of course, knocks but after a couple of minutes of no answer he decides to use his key to open the room. He stepped into the room and noticed Joshua was laying down on the bed with the blanket half tossed on him. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight in front of him and decided to fix the blanket, tucking in their precious baby, then turning off the bedside lamp. But before leaving he bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead and whispered ‘I love you’ into his ear. What Seungcheol didn’t realize was that Joshua had tear stains down his cheek from crying himself to sleep that night.
Once outside Seungcheol sent a message to Jeonghan telling him that their baby has fallen asleep and is resting well. Jeonghan, relieved with the message, immediately calms down knowing that their precious baby was just sleeping. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw the package he has been waiting for these past couple of weeks finally arrive. Jeonghan knew Seungcheol would try to find him the bracelet but what he didn’t know was that Seungcheol not only found him the bracelet but Joshua one as well. He wanted to give it to them over a meal when they were finally able to grab on all together.
The next day Joshua woke up later then he would like and was rushing to get ready for the sound check. He noticed that he was a bit puffy from his crying and decided that he should wear a beanie and shades today or until the puffy-ness dies down. He picked up his phone and bag on the way out, not bothering to check the messages and calls he was sure to have missed from the other members and Jeonghan. Seungcheol saw him running to get into the van with the other members so he wasn’t able to tell him that he dropped by his room yesterday night but he did notice that he wasn’t wearing the jacket he stole from Jeonghan before the trip that he practically wore everyday.
During their last soundcheck in Tokyo the fans didn’t really realize that there was a little space between Seungcheol and Joshua but Seungcheol noticed the distance between him and the maknae of the 95 liners. After the soundcheck, while the members were getting ready, Seungcheol decides to message Jeonghan and tell him about what happened during the soundcheck. He doesn’t get an answer immediately knowing full well that Jeonghan is busy with his military service and decides to keep his phone and continue getting ready for the concert.
The concert was a huge success and the carats plus the members were having so much fun but little did they all know their leader was busy thinking about what was going on with his precious baby. He noticed that if Joshua was near him he would interact with him for a bit before going off and interacting with the other members especially Hoshi, Wonwoo and Mingyu. After doing their final ‘Aju Nice’ they all said their final goodbyes to the carats and bowed one last time. Once backstage they all got changed and ready for their group dinner. They once again got back into their vans with their belongings and made their way to the hotel. They will be eating in DK’s room tonight since he lost the game of Kai Bai Bo.
Joshua, who would normally sit next to Seungcheol or Jeonghan, decided to sit beside Hoshi and Vernon. The members didn’t seem to be bothered by it since they usually just sit wherever there is an available chair or next to the members they are feeling particularly clingy to for the day, like Seungkwan who was busy gossiping with Seokmin. Seungcheol noticed that Joshua was drinking more than usual and decided to tell Jeonghan, who immediately answers that he has to take care of Joshua since Joshua hates being drunk. Unknown to them Joshua already talked to Seokmin about staying over for the night which the latter didn’t mind at all, he loved spending time with his precious hyung. Joshua also noticed that Seungcheol was watching him as he was drinking but he was too busy messaging Jeonghan on the phone to actually know this.
After a couple of hours and members already getting drunk everyone slowly left Seokmin’s room with the exception of Seungcheol, Joshua and Seokmin.
“I’ll take Joshua’s back to his room Seok.” Seungcheol said as he was about to help a drunk Joshua up.
“Don’t worry about it hyung. Joshua-hyung asked me a while ago if he could stay over after the dinner and I told him I didn’t mind. But he did seem a little stressed when he was asking me, I just assumed he was tired or something.” Seokin replied, not wanting Seungcheol to bother Joshua who was already asleep.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind bringing him back.” Seungcheol asked again. He is very aware how Jeonghan feels about the “SeokSoo” ship and would like to avoid fan shipping them even more while Jeonghan was currently serving his country.
“Yes hyung I don’t mind, now go and get some rest as well.” Sekomin answered and ushered him out, with a final wave he closed the door on Seungcheol.
Seungcheol pulled out his phone as he was on his way to his room and answered an incoming call from Jeonghan.
“WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING CHOI SEUNGCHEOL?!” Jeonghan practically yelled over the phone.
“I don’t know what you mean Hannie.” Seungcheol immediately answered knowing full well that Jeonghan has already seen the photos of fans from both the soundcheck and the concert.
“DON’T I DON’T KNOW ME HANNIE! YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT CHOI SEUNGCHEOL. I AM RIGHT HERE IN KOREA LOOKING AT ALL THESE PHOTOS AND SOMETHING IS CLEARLY UP.” Jeonghan is furious with Seungcheol at the moment.
“I can’t tell you anything else Hannie, he is currently asleep since he drank more than he should. But Hoshi said that Joshua seemed a little stressed a while ago when they were talking.” Seungcheol half lied to Jeonghan, he will not admit that Joshua is currently with Seokmin now knowing how the other might react.
“If only I could book a flight right now and see you two I would. If only I didn’t have to do my mandatory military service we wouldn’t be having this problem right now.” Jeonghan finally said, sounding so defeated, afraid that he was losing his precious Joshua.
“Oh Hannie, I know you want to talk to him right now but he is already asleep. Maybe tomorrow morning the three of us can call for a bit since our flight back is still at night.” Seungcheol compromised with Jeognhan.
“....... Alright……….” Jeonghan finally caved.
Majority of the members were still asleep the next morning due to their late night drinking. DK woke up the earliest out of all the members and decided to check what the carats might have posted on Weversse. After about 10 minutes of mindless scrolling and reading comments he decided that he should post a good morning message. Since Joshua was currently sleeping with him in the same bed he decided to take a selfie but discreetly made sure Joshua was also in the photo without actually showing his face. Of course not even 5 minutes in the photo is blowing up with people speculating in the comments who Seokmin was with in the photo. He enjoyed reading the different replies and messages the fans were posting in the photo but
Jeonghan opens his phone for the day, having woken up earlier than usual, and decides to check Weverse. The first thing he sees as he opens the application is the photo Seokmin posted, he didn’t even need to read the comments to find out who that member was because he knew immediately that it was Joshua. Not wanting to cause a scene so early in the morning he decides to call Seungkwan to confirm his suspicions.
“...Ugh…. Hyung what’s up?” Seungkwan groggily answers.
“Kwan, where did my precious Joshuji spend the night?” Jeonghan asks as sweetly as possible.
“....Ummmmm...I think he stayed over at Seok-Hyung’s room last night.” Seungkwan answers, a bit more awake now.
“Okay, Bye.” Jeonghan ends the call and without even thinking immediately dials Seungcheol’s number. When Seungcheol finally answers Jeonghan had to hold back his tongue a bit if not he would have immediately lashed out.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was staging the night in Seok’s room?!” Jeonghan raised his voice a bit but not too much knowing the Seungcheol is a bit hungover as well from last night.
“I tried getting him back to his room but Seok said that Shua asked if he could stay over and he was alright with it. What did you want me to do? Force him?” Seungcheol answered, knowing full well how much Jeonghan hates it when fans ship SeokSoo over JiHan or JiHanCheol.
“I-” Seungcheol cut Jeonghan off
“You don’t know how hard it is, Shua is so near yet so far Han. I don’t know what’s going on and he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it as well.” Seungcheol admitted sounding so defeated.
“You should have told me though Cheol! You should have told me last night that he was spending the night in Seok’s room. I’ve been trying to call for 2 days now and he still hasn’t answered any of my calls or messages.” Jeonghan argued but also sounded so tired at the same time. As much as he would want to argue with Seungcheol he knows that arguing will get them nowhere especially with him being all the way in South Korea.
“I’ll try to talk to him today, Han. I promise I can’t guarantee anything but I will try.” Cheol reassured him. He knows how anxious Jeonghan is getting if he is giving up an argument so quickly. But even he, himself is getting anxious, he doesn’t know what is going on with Joshua and why this whole situation even started.
“Okay, thank you Cheol.” Jeonghan replied before hanging up the phone and getting ready for his day. Seungcheol pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at his home screen photo. A smiling Joshua and Jeonghan were looking at him through the screen and he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh that he has been keeping in for who knows how long.
Joshua woke up with a groan. He hated the feeling of being hungover and he was a hundred percent sure he was. To be fair he knew this was going to happen when he decided to drink his feelings away yesterday in their after concert dinner, good thing he asked Seokmin permission in advance to crash in his room.
“Ah, good morning Hyung!” Seokmin greeted enthusiastically while drying his hair with a towel.
“Ugh….. Morning…..” Joshua replied burying his face again into the pillow he had his head on. He wanted to go back to sleep but nature called and he decided to get up and go to the bathroom. While in the bathroom he decided that he will shower already and just borrow one of the bathrobes in Seokmin’s bathroom. He hasn’t checked his phone since last night and wasn’t sure what was going on at the moment since he decided to ignore his two boyfriends, who were actually going crazy with him ignoring them. Just as he was about to finish his shower he heard the loud ringtone of Seokmin’s phone which brought him out of his spiraling session. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself as he was trying to listen to who Seokmin was talking to. Before he was able to do anything else he heard a knock on the other side of the door.
“Hyung it’s Jenghan-hyung and he wants to talk to you.” Seokmin said from the other side.
“Can you tell him I’ll call him once I get back to my room for me Seok.” Joshua replied, grabbing a towel and started drying his hair.
“Sure hyung.” Seokmin answered. Joshua went back to drying his hair in the bathroom while Seokmin talked to Jeonghan, he was pretty sure the older one was angry that he stayed over in Seokmin’s room without telling him. After 5 minutes or so Joshua exited the bathroom and said his goodbye to Seokmin and headed to his room. Joshua knew he had to call Jeonghan but he didn’t feel like talking to him yet since he knew the other one would get mad at him and at the same time he still didn’t know how to explain how he was feeling very well to them. He grabbed a pair of clothes and went to the bathroom to change before throwing himself on the bed and burying his face in his pillow. He was too busy trying to figure out his feeling that he didn’t hear the knock on the door followed by it opening.
Unbeknown to Joshua, almost 2 hours have passed since he left Seokmin’s room and laid in his bed, ignoring the fact he needed to call Jeonghan. Since Jeonghan was already beside himself and was once again on the verge of booking another flight to Japan, he decided to have Seungcheol go check up on their precious baby. To Seungcheol and Jeonghan’s surprise Joshua was indeed in his room and not somewhere else trying to run away from either of them.
“Joshua we need to talk.”Seungcheol said once he was inside Joshua’s room. Joshua, who was in bed, immediately sat up and looked at Seungcheol as if he was caught red handed for doing a crime.
“What do you want?” Joshua asked, pulling himself up into a sitting position.
“Well for starters you can tell me why you haven’t been answering any of Hannie’s messages or calls? Do you know how worried sick he is?! Then you can explain to me what’s going on that you decided to create some space between the two of us? The others may have not noticed but I’m not as dense as them.” Seungcheol finally asked. He wanted to get mad, he wanted to scream and shout but he knew that wouldn’t get them anywhere especially with Joshua suffering the effects of his hungover.
“Is there a problem if I want space?! We aren’t always attached at hip Seungcheol. We don’t need to always look like a couple in front of the fans, especially since their precious JeongCheol ship isn’t here. If me wanting space is a problem then maybe we should give the fans what they actually want! Maybe you and Jeonghan should just be exclusive! ” Joshua finally said what he has been holding back for almost 2 months now. Hearing Joshua call them by their full names was something he didn’t expect and it hit him hard. What have they been doing to cause Joshua to feel this way? And it finally hit him that he must have seen the Weverse live he did a couple of nights ago and Jeonghan was there interacting with him making all the fans happy.
“Maybe us being all together was a mistake. Maybe it should have just been you and Jeonghan all this time. Seems like the fans like it better that way, their precious JeongCheol ship will finally sail and there won’t be the whole debate between JeongCheol, Jihan and CheolSoo any more!” Joshua continued. Hearing all of this made Seungcheol approach him slowly and carefully trying his best to calm Joshua down without causing more panic.
“I just did the live for a while. I didn’t know that Jeonghan would be joining, I swear. I was just as surprised as the fans when he started commenting on my live.” Seungcheol explained to him. Joshua noticed that he was slowly approaching him and immediately stood up to put more distance between them.
“Do you really believe me and Han would be complete without our precious baby? Because I don’t think this was a mistake and if Han could hear what you are saying I’m pretty sure he would also tell you this isn’t a mistake at all Shua.” Seungcheol continues speaking as well as taking baby steps towards Joshua.
“You don't know how many times Han wanted to book a flight to come here since yesterday all because his precious princess wasn’t answering him and he was worried sick something happened to you.” Seungcheol was already near him just a few more steps then he could wrap his arms around him. Joshua was placing his arms straight in front of him to put more space between him and Seungcheol, to show he doesn’t want to be near or touched by the other. Seungcheol held both of his hands and kissed his knuckles as he continued to speak.
“If you think we are better off without you then why are we going crazy with just you wanting some space? Why is Han losing sleep worrying about you so much? And why do I miss you so much when we are just two feet away from each other? Why does my heart ache when I see you having so much fun on stage with the other members and all you do is throw me a quick glance and a smile that makes all the heartache disappear? Do you think me and Han would want to give you to someone else when all we want to do is keep you for ourselves?” Seungcheol finally finished. Joshua didn’t know what to say. He was having an internal struggle because Seungcheol might be lying to him. If he had his way he would be curled up in bed, wallowing in self pity and self doubt. Seungcheol sensing Joshua’s hesitation lets go of one of his hands to pull out his phone and call Jeonghan.
“Cheol! Are you with him? Is he okay? Please tell me he is fine, please.” Jeonghan asks in a desperate plea, making Joshua realize just how worried he made one of his precious boyfriends feel.
“Your on speaker Han. Shua is here in front of me right now.” Seungcheol answers.
“Joshuji, baby how are you? Please tell me what’s wrong, please. You haven’t been answering any of my messages and call baby what’s been bothering you? Cheol also noticed that something was off with you since yesterday.” Jeonghan asked. Desperate to hear Joshua’s voice. Joshua was still too stunned to speak and just looked at Seungcheol as if wanting the other to speak for him.
“Cheol, why isn’t he answering? Is something wrong? Gosh I should have booked that flight already” Jeonghan was rambling which shows that he was starting to get anxious and Joshua knows this very well.
“Calm down Han. I think he is just surprised, I don’t think he expected me to call you since you should be at the base.” Seungcheol explained.
“How the hell do you think I can concentrate on training if the only thing running through my mind is worry! Joshuji, please say something.” Jeonghan was really getting desperate. The fact he skipped training because of him made him start to tear up.
“....Hannie…..” Joshua said in between sobs. He was slowly falling down and good thing Seungcheol was there to catch him. Once his face collided with Seungcheol’s chest his tears wouldn’t stop anymore and he was crying even hard. Everyone stayed silent, the only sound they could hear being Joshua’s sobs. Jeonghan, who was on the other line, couldn’t really do much except listen to his precious baby’s sobs. Seungcheol, who was holding Joshua with one hand and the phone with another, couldn’t also do anything except support the youngest of the group.
Back in Korea Jeonghan was currently waiting for them in Joshua’s apartment. He was too anxious to attend his training and decided to just go to Joshua’s place and wait for them to get back home. He had a surprise for them, well it was mostly for Joshua, but he didn’t think he would be showing it to them today and under these circumstances. He wanted them all to have a nice meal together and maybe be cuddling in bed but things happen and it might just be the best time to show them now instead of waiting. He ordered it a week ago and it only arrived today, he was hoping that it would come before they left for Tokyo but it was a bit hard to find with the piece being unique hence the delay.
“I hope they get back soon.” Jeonghan said, staring out of the window. Patience wasn’t his strong suit at all but right now he had nothing to do but play the waiting game. If only he could travel then he would have flown to Japan since last night. He had the worst sleep he has ever had these past few years. He kept tossing and turning and eventually gave up and just sat down in the living room with the TV on. Jeonghan did eventually fall back asleep while waiting for him but he was pretty sure he would be waking up sore.
Seungcheol didn’t leave Joshua’s room anymore after yesterday’s incident. He didn’t want to leave their precious baby alone in such a vulnerable state so he just sent a message to their manager saying that he is with Joshua and to make sure the members are all taken care of. Joshua practically exhausted himself with his crying last night, not even saying a word to Jeonghan after breaking down in Seungcheol’s arms.
“How is he Cheol?” Jeonghan asked when he didn’t hear anymore sobbing sounds as well as muffled breathing.
“He cried himself to sleep, Han. He must have been so exhausted, poor thing.” Seungcheol answered while placing the phone on the bedside table and then lifting Joshua onto the bed.
“Can you stay with him please? I don’t think you should leave him alone.” Jeonghan asked again. If he was there he would stay with Joshua in a heartbeat and let Seungcheol deal with the other members.
“I will. I texted hyung already to take care of the other members while I stay here with him.” Seungcheol answered once again. This time he got into bed and sat down next to Joshua’s sleeping form. He picked up his phone from the table and turned on video for Jeonghan to see Joshua’s sleeping figure.
“Oh Shua……. What could possibly be wrong..” Jeonghan said while looking at his peaceful sleeping face. Seungcheol just left the camera facing Joshua while he ran his hand through Joshua’s hair trying to give some kind of comfort to their precious 95 liner maknae. He will make sure that when they arrive back in Seoul all three of them will meet up immediately without delay.
“Han when we get back to Seoul can you meet us in Joshua’s apartment? I’ll make sure I ride in the same van as him going home.” Seungcheol said while still running his hands through Joshua’s hair. It seems to be helping Joshua relax since he started cuddling closer to him.
“Sure. You are arriving on a Friday right? I’ll bring extra clothes so I can stay over.” Jeonghan replied. Any chance to spend with the two of them or either one of them, especially Joshua, he will take that opportunity in a heartbeat. The two of them stayed on call a little longer, sure it was around 3 pm but Joshua didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon and Seungcheol decided that he can just ask one of the members or the manager to bring him something to eat when he gets hungry.
The day of their flight back to Seoul Seungcheol made sure that he and Joshua would be sitting next to each other even if it meant swapping seats with the other members. Joshua didn’t seem to mind that he was seatmates with Cheol, he even reached out to hold Cheol’s hand while the plane took off. Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile and leaned in and gave him a small kiss on his cheek making Joshua blush and bury his face into the pillow provided by the airlines.
“I’ll be riding the same van as you later, Shua. I don’t want to leave you alone just yet.” Seungcheol told him to make sure he won’t be surprised later and for him not to ask any questions once in the van.
“Okay” Shua replied before deciding to take a nap, he still hasn’t let go of Seungcheol’s hand which the other didn’t mind. If the three of them were together they would usually sit in a row and Joshua was of course in the middle. Jeonghan would usually get the seat next to him and Seungcheol gets the one on the other aisle if the middle seats aren’t by three. Seungcheol doesn’t mind this at all since he knows how attached Jeonghan is to Joshua since their trainee days so moments like these he doesn’t mind giving the two of them, especially Jeoghan, the chance to be closer to Joshua.
Arriving at the airport was as eventful as always, all the fans screaming plus all the reporters taking their photos as they walked. Seungcheol made sure Joshua had a mask on his face and that he was wearing his jacket with the hood up. He was about to grab Joshua’s Chanel bag from him but Joshua told him that it was alright. Seungcheol was the first to exit followed by Joshua and the other members, Joshua making sure to stick close to Seungcheol as they walk, he lowkey wished he let Cheol carry his bag for him since he had a hand carry luggage with him and he could put it on top of it.
Joshua was just physically and mentally tired at this point, his body was practically running on autopilot. He just wanted to lay in bed and sleep for the entire day without having to worry about anything or anyone. He was used to having Seungcheol and Jeonghan visit him randomly when he was too lazy to go anywhere so Cheol deciding to go with him wasn’t something he minded.
Once in the van Joshua just slumped in his seat and closed his eyes. It was another hour or so to get home so he might as well use this time to take a nap. Seungcheol, who was seated beside him, reached out for his hand once the door was closed. The drive to Joshua’s apartment was relatively peaceful except for Seungcheol's vibrating phone. A very impatient Jeonghan kept on messaging him privately asking if they were near the apartment already. Knowing Jeonghan as well as he does he knows he isn’t excited to see him but he is more excited to see Joshua who was practically missing since they went to Japan.
‘Gosh Jeonghan is so impatient when it comes to you isn’t he?’ Seungcheol thought as he looked at Joshua’s sleeping figure.
“But I would think I’m impatient as well with the both of you but more so with you’ Seungcheol continued to think. If the other members saw him now they would call him a love sick idiot for the two other 95 members but he isn’t one to deny it at this point. They have been together for almost 5 years now, dating and doing things in secret is never fun but they always made it work one way or another.
The car finally pulled up to the underground parking of Joshua’s apartment. Joshua, who was still asleep, was being woken up by Seungcheol.
“Shua were here.” Cheol said while nudging Joshua. Groggily Joshua stretched his arms and rubbed his eyes.
“Oh, let’s go.” Joshua said followed by a yawn. Seungcheol was the first one to get out of the car then Joshua. The driver was kind enough to bring down their luggages from the trunk. After saying goodbye and thank you to the driver the two of them made their way to the elevator.
As soon as Joshua opened the door a very stressed Jeonghan ran towards him and pulled him into a hug. Joshua who was still half asleep suddenly woke up, his arms instinctively wrapped around Jeonghan’s body but his mind was still processing the fact that Jeonghan was in his apartment on a weekday.
“Hannie? What are you doing here? Don’t you have training today?” Joshua, who was now fully and a hundred percent awake, asked with a very surprised expression on his face.
“How the hell do you think I will be able to concentrate when I’m too worried about you.” Jeonghan answered, hugging Joshua tighter. Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile from where he was standing beside the hugging couple.
“Let’s go move this inside.” Seungcheol said and ushered the two in while dragging his and Joshua’s luggage with them. Jeonghan still didn’t let go of Joshua even when Seungcheol closed the door behind them.
“Come on Hannie. Let Shua remove his coat and we can all cuddle on the couch.” Seungchel said, trying to give Joshua a little room to breathe. Jeonghan who was still, and quite literally, still clinging to Joshua did not budge at all.
“Please Hannie. Let me take off my jacket and put my bag down so we can cuddle and talk on the coach.” Joshua finally spoke up. Jeonghan relented and let him go, Joshua and Seungcheol removed their jacket, cap and placed their bag down before moving to the couch. Joshua, as always, sat in the middle with both Jeonghan and Seungcheol on either side. Jeonghan immediately cuddled up next to Joshua without a second thought while Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile at the two of them.
“Shuji, can you tell me what’s the matter? Cheol told me a little but I want you to hear it from you.” Jeonghan finally asked. He had one of Joshua’s hands in his and Seungcheol, who finally got comfortable on the couch, had the other hand. Even if hand holding was a simple gesture it kinda meant a lot to Joshua right now.
“For the last two months I’ve been feeling like I don’t really belong in this relationship anymore and when I saw how happy Cheol and the fans were during his Weverse live it kinda confirmed my feeling that maybe you and Cheol are better off together.” Joshua started speaking.
“Even the fans prefer the two of you guys together. People wouldn’t stop talking about you joining his live suddenly when it ended. It wasn’t that bad at first but with all the comments online and fan edits it was safe to say that I didn’t have a place in this relationship at all, so I decided that it was time to start distancing myself and-” Joshua was abruptly cut of by Jeonghan kissing him.
“I don’t care what the fans say and Cheol doesn’t care about it either. WE. WANT. YOU. HONG. JISOO.” Jeonghan emphasized. He made sure he was looking directly at Joshua as he was saying that they wanted him and his name.
“Just because the fans don’t like it doesn’t mean the three o f us can’t be together. This is not between us and them, this relationship is only between the three of us that is all that matters.” Jeonghan continued. Seungcheol didn’t say anything anymore and let Jeonghan take the lead this time. Joshua was now too stunned to speak, he didn’t think Jeonghan would react this way. Without even realizing Joshua was already crying, Seungcheol was a bit surprised that he still had tears to cry from all the crying he did in Japan.
“You’re our princess Shua, never ever forget that.” Jeonghan said while wiping his precious baby’s tears. Joshua couldn’t help but cry even harder and buried his face into Jeonghan’s chest, Jeonghan instinctively wrapped his arms around him and just held him close, Seungcheol leaned forward and placed a kiss on Joshua’s head before placing a kiss on Jeonghan’s forehead.
“We love you Shua, don’t forget that.” Seungcheol assured him, leaning into the hug. They stayed like this for a while to the point Joshua fell asleep against Jeonghan’s chest. He finally looked peaceful in his sleep after the past few days, even on the plane he looked so stressed while sleeping.
A couple hours have passed and everyone but Joshua finally woke up after having all fallen asleep after Joshua did, they didn’t move from the couch which might be a mistake but when they saw the look Joshua had on his face they didn’t have the heart to disturb him anymore. Jeonghan decided that they should just order take out instead of cooking and Seungcheol completely agreed. Opening the pedal app Jeonghan decided to just get some Korean food having just arrived from Japan. Placing the order then locking his phone after Jeonghan and Seungcheol decided to just stay seated and watch Joshua sleep. He was still leaning against Jeonghan but he was also holding Seungcheol’s hand. If anyone saw how the two oldest members look as Joshua you can clearly see how whipped they are for him.
Jeonghan and Seungcheol decided it was finally time to get off their butts and prepare the food they ordered. They carefully stood up and placed a blanket over Joshua before making their way to the door and getting the food left outside. What the two of them didn’t realize was that Joshua was already awake and carefully watching them from getting the food outside to fixing it for them all to eat. He could hear bits and pieces of their conversation as they were preparing the stuff and couldn’t help but smile especially when he heard them mention his name. Deciding that he had watched them enough he stretched from his spot on the couch and made his way to the kitchen.
“What are we having?” Joshua asked as he arrived at his dining room.
“Shuji! You're awake, how was your nap?” Jeonghan asked as he made his way to Joshua, wrapping his arms around his waist.
“It was the best sleep I had for the past few months but it could have been better if the two of you were there when I woke up.” Joshua answered honestly then teased them a bit after.
“Well after we eat we can go back to cuddling and actually get some sleep.” Jeonghan replied, resting his head on Joshua’s shoulder.
“But Han you haven’t answered my first question yet-” Joshua was cut off by Seungcheol who approached the pair and wrapped his arms around them.
“He ordered Korean food for us, no more pouting Shua, you know how Han loves to kiss you when you start pouting.” Seungcheol said. Jeonghan, hearing what Seungcheol said, couldn’t help but pout.
“Hey!” Jeonghan said from one side of Joshua. Joshua couldn’t help but laugh at his two boyfriends, gosh they were so childish but he wouldn’t replace them for the world. He loved them so much and he finally realized how important his place is in their relationship. With a happy heart he placed a quick but full of love and devotion kiss on each of their lips before smiling at the two of them and pulling away from the hug.
“Come on, let's eat already.”