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Hyeonjun watches Hyeonjoon stomp around the waiting room in amusement, the older man’s frustration from their most recent series evident in his movements.
They had won their match today, thankfully, but not without multiple sacrifices and annoyed cursing from their resilient top laner. So despite their victory, Hyeonjoon’s mood is dampened by the amount of ganks he’s had to take for the team and Hyeonjun is just a bit entertained by it, being the menace he is.
Hyeonjun approaches the older man who’s angrily packing his remaining things away in his bag, a small teasing smile on his face. “Hyeonjoonie-hyung, you good?”
All his bravado disappears as Hyeonjoon suddenly straightens up and looks him dead in the eyes, with a burning gaze that wipes the smile off his face. “No, and I’m really not in the mood to talk to you right now, okay.”
The tone in the older man’s voice is so cold it burns, Hyeonjun’s chest tightening up like it usually does whenever he fears he’s actually made his hyung mad. A beat of silence passes over the room, before Minseok bursts with a loud ‘PFFFT–’ followed by maniacal laughter. The sound makes Hyeonjun whip his head towards his three other teammates, who all look absolutely amused by what just happened.
Hyeonjun, for one, is confused as hell, because why does it suddenly feel like he’s the one at fault here? He knows there was no good outcome if he chose to help the top laner during those endless dives, and he knows Hyeonjoon knows that, too. So yeah, he’s a little confused about why he’s bearing the brunt of the frustration here.
Sanghyeok offers nothing but a greatly amused smile before returning his attention to his phone, typing away with a grin. Minhyung has a smug and teasing smirk on his face, while Minseok is still cackling like he’s lost his mind. Soon after, they’re called to head for the vans so they can have a team dinner before heading back to their dorm.
As they pack up the last of their things, Hyeonjun makes a decision to talk it out with Hyeonjoon later after their dinner, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head as if to get rid of whatever dark cloud has manifested over his head after their short interaction. They won their match today, so he should have a good time celebrating.
Hyeonjun lingers at the back of the group in relative silence, wondering if his hyung is actually mad at him or at something else. He turns the entire day over in his head, but finds nothing that could help him find the source of the older man’s annoyance. So maybe it really isn’t him?
When Hyeonjoon said he didn’t want to speak to Hyeonjun right now, Hyeonjun realizes the older man means that quite literally.
Hyeonjun is currently sitting at the corner of a long table with all their closest staff present, periodically glancing at Hyeonjoon who’s sitting literally at the far end of the table. On the same side too, so Hyeonjun knows how serious Hyeonjoon is about not speaking to him — and now he's not even looking at him!
Hyeonjun foolishly assumed that whatever mood his hyung was in receded at least a little bit during the car ride over to the restaurant after he read the older man’s message on pop. It definitely felt like their usual teasing banter, so he playfully sent a countering pop message of his own; only for Hyeonjoon to beeline to the other end of the table once they arrived at the restaurant, not even sparing Hyeonjun a glance as he sat down next to Sanghyeok.
Hyeonjun’s troubles are definitely showing on his face right now, judging from the way the disgustingly inseparable bottom duo teasingly smirks at him. He can’t resist rolling his eyes at them, already dreading what’s going to come out of their mouths.
“Wow Jjunie, you really fucked up this time, huh?” Minseok begins, no efforts spared by the support to hide the amusement in his voice.
Minhyung gives a low whistle. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hyeonjoon-hyung that mad since like, ever .”
“We’ve all only been teammates for a year, what are you saying,” Hyeonjun fires back, angrily shoving food in his mouth.
“Okay, well, Minseokie, have you seen Hyeonjoon-hyung that mad when you two were still in DRX?” Minhyung asks the support sitting beside him.
Minseok gives it a thought, his eyes roaming around the room as he recounts his time together with their top laner all those years ago. After a few moments, he tentatively shakes his head, inhaling sharply. “No, I don’t think so. At least not to the point of straight up ignoring someone’s presence.”
Minhyung’s face shifts into a grimace at the support’s words. “Damn Jjunie, what did you even do?”
“I don’t know either!” Hyeonjun exclaims as loud as he politely could, his shoulders hiking up into a big shrug.
“Well, whatever it is, Hyeonjoon-hyung seems really upset about it. What are you planning to do about this?” Minseok asks, nosy as he always is.
“I’ll just talk to him about it later, I guess? Is he actually mad at me?” Hyeonjun leans in towards the pair and lowers his voice, fearing that someone — Hyeonjoon — might overhear his cluelessness.
“I don’t know, but he doesn’t seem all that cold to the rest of us. Look, he and Sanghyeok-hyung are teasing each other as usual,” Minhyung responds, subtly tilting his chin in the direction of the older pair at the other end of the table.
Hyeonjun’s eyes follow the direction Minhyung pointed to, and is even more confused to see Hyeonjoon smiling back at Sanghyeok as he normally does whenever they’re engaged in a conversation. Hyeonjun looks back at the bottom duo and they shrug in sync, not much help to his predicament at all.
Hyeonjun sighs heavily and shakes his head, turning his attention back to his food as his mind swirls with a thousand possibilities about the top laner’s sudden aversion and dismayed disposition towards him. He’ll just go through with his plan for them to talk it out later. Surely by then, Hyeonjoon’s annoyance would have receded even more, right?
When the van drops them off at their dorm, none of them are surprised to see a tall figure dressed in a comfy hoodie and checkered pajama pants waiting in the lobby. Sanghyeok breaks away from their group and makes a beeline for the said figure, steps quickening in their pace as the person he’s heading for turns towards them at the sound of their footsteps.
Jeong Jihoon’s eyes immediately land on his rival midlaner walking towards him, and his face lights up into a bright expression. The rest of the team watches on as the two supposed rivals greet each other tenderly with dopey grins and hearts in their eyes. The pair slowly make their way back to the group as they wait for the elevator to take them up to their floor.
Hyeonjun notices how Jihoon surveys their group with curious eyes, lingering for a beat longer on Hyeonjoon before turning to Minseok who was standing near him. The two former teammates engage in a hushed conversation, Sanghyeok being pulled into it purely because of proximity — and because Jihoon just involves Sanghyeok in everything.
Hyeonjun could guess what they were talking about just from how Minseok and Jihoon glance at Hyeonjoon in between their whispering. After a few minutes the elevator finally slides open, but they’re all shocked into silence when Hyeonjoon nearly sprints into the elevator and closes the doors on them, expression looking troubled and deeply lost in thought.
Their group that remains behind all glance at each other with varying expressions of confusion and surprise at what just happened. Minhyung recovers first and presses the up button, the five of them waiting for the elevator to arrive once again.
Jihoon speaks up and breaks the silence in their small group. “What’s got Hyeonjoon-hyung so mad? Don’t think I’ve ever seen him that mad since I first met him,”
Five people simultaneously turn their heads towards Hyeonjun, and he throws his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t do anything!?”
“Are you sure?” Sanghyeok gently questions, not accusatory in any way. “He seems to only be upset with you though. He’s interacting fine with the rest of us.”
“I really don’t know what I did, hyung. I swear, I couldn’t even start teasing him in the waiting room earlier and he immediately shut me down anyway,” Hyeonjun answers, arms flopping back to his sides and his shoulders sagging in despair.
Sanghyeok makes a sound of consideration, before turning to Jihoon for his input. The taller midlaner hums in thought, eyes flicking around the lobby as if the walls had the answer to Hyeonjun’s dilemma.
“Maybe he’s upset that he got giga-ganked during the game and you couldn’t go help him?” Jihoon offers, shrugging when Sanghyeok looks at him incredulously. The couple then exchange a hushed conversation with Sanghyeok feigning being touched that Jihoon watched their game, and the younger midlaner whining to stop his teasing.
“But it’s not like his situation would get better if I did help him, though,” Hyeonjun responds, breaking the pair out of their own little bubble, tone disbelieving that this could be the real reason.
“I don’t know, just speaking from experience whenever I play top-jungle duo with Sanghyeok-hyung, I guess.” Jihoon’s eyes cautiously slide over to Sanghyeok whose lips start to curl up into an amused smirk.
“You still get upset when I don’t visit top?” Sanghyeok continues to tease, and the taller midlaner gently nudges the older man with an elbow in response.
“Anyway, knowing Hyeonjoon-hyung, he most likely knows it’s for the good of the game but he’ll still be upset, if that really is the case. Especially since you guys are dating and all,” Jihoon continues, “Just talk to him, he’ll open up eventually. He just wants some time to process his emotions so he doesn’t catch anyone in the crossfire while his emotions are still running high.”
“Wow, that’s four years of being teammates for you.” Minseok interjects in awe, nodding in approval at Jihoon’s advice, stepping into the elevator once the doors slide open once again.
Hyeonjun is lost in thought as he follows the group to their dorm, his body moving on autopilot as they all settle into their nightly routines before bed. Jihoon disappears into Sanghyeok’s room right after the older man, Minseok crashes onto the couch with a loud ‘OOF!’ while Minhyung goes to the kitchen to look for something warm to drink before bed. Hyeonjoon is unfortunately nowhere to be seen, and the door to his room is closed shut.
Hyeonjun dumps his backpack in his room and goes to grab a fresh pair of sleep clothes. He goes through the motions of washing up and brushing his teeth, feeling refreshed after another gruelling match day. By the time he finishes, he’s more than ready to go to Hyeonjoon’s room to talk things out with his hyung.
He’s beaten to the punch however, when he re-opens his bedroom door and sees Hyeonjoon already sitting on his bed, still with a frown on his face.
“Um,” Hyeonjun blurts out in surprise, “Hi.”
Hyeonjoon’s eyes flick up from the floor to his face, expression turning blank which scares Hyeonjun just a bit more. The older man silently pats the space beside him, and Hyeonjun gratefully takes the invitation. At least he’s allowed to be within five feet of Hyeonjoon now.
“So…” Hyeonjun trails off, clearing his throat that’s suddenly gone dry.
Hyeonjun doesn’t really know how to open up a conversation with the older man right now without setting off any triggers. If he knew the reason for his hyung’s foul mood earlier, it would be a big help, but as it stands, he’s left to walk on eggshells.
The silence stretches into minutes, Hyeonjoon still as silent as ever beside him, with confusion and curiosity eating at Hyeonjun’s being. He wracks his brain for something, anything that’s safe to say and won’t set the older man off into another sulking episode, and thinks that simply asking what’s wrong is the safest bet, right?
“Uh, hyung…” Hyeonjun’s voice feels strained by the anxiety that grips his throat. “Did I do something to upset you?”
He gets a pillow to the face in reply.
The force of the hit makes him fall into the bed on his back, and then he’s suddenly met with Hyeonjoon’s frowning face once again, closely looming over him.
“You! Why did I even start dating you if you just let me get ganked like that! And then you have the absolute nerve to laugh about it!? Even singing in the van like you don’t know what you did!” Hyeonjoon launches into a frenzy, straddling Hyeonjun’s waist and poking his chest with an accusatory finger.
Hyeonjun is in absolute shock at the angry words pouring out of the top laner’s lips, the absurdity of it all stunning him into silence. So it really was just about the crazy chain ganks during the series today?
Hyeonjun couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbles out of him, halting the other man’s assault on his being. “Is it really because of that!?” He asks in between giggles.
“Yes, you idiot! And you were gonna tease me about it too, if only I didn’t stop you right there in the waiting room! You think it’s so funny your own boyfriend gets ganked like crazy in one game!?” Hyeonjoon fires back, taking the same pillow he smacked Hyeonjun with earlier and landing another one square in the face.
Hyeonjun can’t reply anymore as he bursts into cackles at the older man’s annoyed ranting, holding his arms up in a half-hearted attempt at stopping the barrage of pillow attacks. At some point he hears Hyeonjoon crack up into laughter as well, finally letting up and flopping back onto the bed with a huff. Hyeonjun starts to wipe at the tears that formed from how hard he laughed, his room finally settling down into a more familiar and comfortable atmosphere.
“Come up here and comfort me before I actually sock you in the jaw,” Hyeonjoon says, heavily patting the space beside him.
Hyeonjun is still chuckling when he goes to lay properly on his bed beside the other man, expression finally looking the brightest it has been since their match ended.
“You wouldn’t do that,” Hyeonjun replies lightheartedly, turning his body to face his boyfriend.
“I so would. Or I’d practice some wrestling moves I’ve picked up, I’ve been watching a lot of WWE recently, you know.” Hyeonjoon replies defiantly, looking back at Hyeonjun with a challenging glint in his eyes.
“Okay, okay, fine. No need to take it that far,” Hyeonjun laughs. “We can just talk about it.”
A heartbeat passes, then Hyeonjoon sighs heavily. “I know, it’s stupid. I know better than anyone nothing would’ve changed but… it still sucked, I guess.”
Hyeonjun reaches an arm out and gathers the pouting top laner into his arms, their bodies shifting with an ease and familiarity of many nights spent lying closely side by side. A silence filled with implicit understanding settles between them like a warm blanket as Hyeonjoon nestles his head right over Hyeonjun’s beating heart.
“Hyeonjoonie-hyung, I’m sorry, I really couldn’t do anything about it.” Hyeonjun says quietly, his tone soft and sweet, the way he knows his hyung will crumble under after hearing it once.
A rush of warm air blows across his torso as Hyeonjoon huffs petulantly, lips still firmly set into a deep frown.
“I know, you don’t have to apologize, but I’m still upset. Getting ganked like five times in nine minutes wasn’t exactly the best experience.” Hyeonjoon mumbles, a finger tracing the neckline of Hyeonjun’s sleep shirt, his skin underneath tingling at the light touch.
Hyeonjun hums in acknowledgement. “I get it.”
Hyeonjoon lifts his head to meet Hyeonjun’s eyes, that blaze of frustration roaring back to life. “And you just let it happen.” The fire quickly dies down though, and shifts into something more sad and watery. “Do you hate me now?”
Hyeonjun splutters both in disbelief and shock at his boyfriend’s words. “Absolutely not!” He exclaims in defense.
“Do you think I date you for nothing then?” Hyeonjoon continues, tone turning accusing, yet Hyeonjun can still hear the teasing underlying the older man’s voice. He thinks he’s about to get whiplash from how fast the other man is switching up on him though.
“You date me for my handsome looks?” Hyeonjun tries and successfully pulls a laugh from the other man.
“Well, you’re lucky enough to be funny, at least.” Hyeonjoon counters with a teasing smile.
“Hey! Surely I have–” Hyeonjun’s words die in his throat when the older man lands a gentle kiss on his cheek.
Hyeonjoon laughs at Hyeonjun’s surprised expression before adjusting his position back on Hyeonjun’s chest, the older man surely hearing the racing heartbeat underneath. The next moment, Hyeonjun recovers from his initial surprise and wraps his arms tightly around Hyeonjoon who yelps at the sudden pressure around his body.
“Ah, Jjunie, I can’t breathe–!” Hyeonjoon chokes out, pushing against Hyeonjun’s torso in protest.
“I missed you so much, hyung!” Hyeonjun responds lightheartedly but earnestly, ignoring the older man’s cries to be let go. “Please never give me the cold shoulder ever again,”
Hyeonjoon stops his thrashing at the words. “I really am sorry. I didn’t want this to blow out of proportion, I just needed some space to clear my head and let the frustration fade.”
Hyeonjun makes a sound of acknowledgement, before shifting them around so that Hyeonjoon is lying comfortably on the bed while Hyeonjun is looming over him, hands on either side of the other man’s head and caging him in place. “You can just make it up to me then.”
Hyeonjoon huffs in disbelief and rolls his eyes. “Unbelievable. We have scrims tomorrow, you know?”
“I’ll behave, I promise! Just let me kiss you stupid for a job well done during our match today.” Hyeonjun bargains, and the older man laughs, arms coming up to wrap around Hyeonjun’s shoulders tenderly.
“Fine. I do deserve that after today.” Hyeonjoon assents, and Hyeonjun wastes no more time in landing a chaste kiss on his boyfriend’s lips once, twice, before finally melting into a kiss that washes away all the frustrations and worries from their long day.