Chapter Text
Suho was almost asleep when the bedroom door was thrown open. His panicked state was only met with an exhausted looking seongje, the lock pendant on his necklace quietly clinking in response to the heaving of his chest.
“I had to walk them to the nearest place with cell service. I earned my spot,” he huffs, defending himself to nobody in particular. Sieun already promised him permission to return if he got the jocks out.
His side of the deal is completed, it only makes sense for the couple to follow through with theirs as well.
The lanky boy carefully shuts the door and makes his way across the room. He pauses when he sees his preferred spot next to the bed has been occupied already.
Suho had gone to retrieve some of the couch cushions and unused pillows from the sleeping nook to create a sort of nest-bed arrangement for their newly adopted friend.
“Let us know if you need more blankets,” he mumbles, melting again under the mindless kisses that sieun had been placing along his jawline. He never expected the smaller to be so obsessive over this, but it's addictive. Suho's not sure how he survived life without this, but he certainly won't if it's taken from him now.
“stop moving” sieun whispers against his skin, teeth brushing a sensitive spot on his neck in a clear threat. His voice is equally soft and rough, the affection smoothing out his impossibly worn and tired voice like honey.
“Stopping,” he hums easily, relaxing into the grip of the boy on his lap. The shorter lets out a proud huff at the ready submission, rewarding him with a kiss on the nose before getting back to working on his indecipherable goal.
With his boyfriend sedated, suho returns his attention to seongje, who seems to be on the verge of tears, curled up in the pile of cushions and hiding under a fluffy blanket.
“What's wrong, little guy?” He asks, naturally tilting his head to accommodate for sieun's rapid repositioning. “Do you need something?”
Selfishly, he hopes the answer is no. He doesn't want to leave this, not for anything.
“Can I…” he starts, but he trails off. Both parts of the couple make uncomfortable eye contact, before turning their attention fully to the boy on the floor. Bashful was a word that nobody would expect to be used next to seongje's name. He was always confident, cocky, and overly flirtatious at any given moment. “Never mind. Sorry.”
Well, that's not going to work. Now seongje is denying himself something, despite being owed a reward.
“Here,” the command is sighed from suho's own mouth before he could even consider the idea. The boy follows orders perfectly, nearly hurting himself as he stands up and moves to the side of the bed quickly. “Now, what did you want?”
In an attempt to avoid eye contact, seongje tilts his head to fixate on the door. It's hard to believe that this is the same guy that was feared for his violent contributions as co-founder of the union.
He went from a psychopathic second in command to… whatever kind of kicked puppy he resembles now.
After enough silence eats away at his willpower, he finally speaks. “I just… I don't want to interrupt you, but I-” he takes a deep breath, trying and failing in his attempts to swallow his nerves. He breaks eye contact again. “Seeing you like that…”
Sieun seems to understand first, because he pats the space on the mattress behind suho. “lie down.”
The command is simple enough, but Seongje hesitates this time. “Are you sure?” He asks, hand pressed to the bed like he's physically restraining himself from immediately obeying.
“Do I seem like the type of person to be unsure?” Sieun asks, fixing the taller with a cold glare.
The lanky figure is awkwardly reclined across the wall side of the bed, clearly trying to not even breathe loudly.
“Good boy,” suho praises, reaching a hand down to ruffle the boy's hair, feeling a little relief when the praise seems to let him relax a little.
“You can curl around us, if you want,” sieun offers, tucking his legs in to avoid having any uncomfortable spots if the other were to take the offer.
Unexpectedly, he does. Suho feels a warm abdomen press to his back and left side, and watches as sieun scoots back slightly before manhandling the apparently snuggly teen to rest his head on top of the couple's legs.
Both of them take to petting and scratching the head of hair between them, sharing a satisfied sigh when seongje finally falls limp, like he could sleep right there.
With petting being a mindless activity, suho greedily uses his free hand to grip his boyfriend's jaw with unabashed affection, before pulling him into the inevitable kiss.
It's certainly an unconventional arrangement, but to suho, it makes enough sense. It feels natural. They've not lived like normal teens, why should they expect their bonds to be normal to any capacity?
It's not so different from when couples adopt their third wheel as a “trial baby” or adopt a pet to fill the silence of their home.
He pulls away from the kiss, but doesn't bother to put any distance between them. “I think I don't mind this,” he admits, grinning against sieun's lips.
“You think?” The retort comes quickly, but lacks any of the venom or ice that you would expect from a comment like that.
Any response he could have conjured was immediately overwritten as he was pulled into another kiss.
If this is the new normal, he could live with that.
The sun rises through the window, bringing warm light to drench a scene of sleeping boys. A tangled mess of bodies resembling something not unlike the undergrowth of the jungle, climbing and intertwining amidst each other as they wrestle for a place in the rare spots of sunlight that stream through the canopy of leaves.
“Ow, fuck,” suho mutters, being the first to wake from the light. Clearly, they fell asleep before they could choose a more acceptable sleeping position. The sight of sieun asleep on his shoulder, though, with one hand loosely gripping his shirt and the other still stuffed in a mess of fluffy hair? It's worth the ache that radiates up his spine.
Seongje is the next to rouse, eyes slowly sliding open as a sneer pulls at his lips, a natural reaction to the discomfort of waking, and the burn of the light in his retinas. His face softens when he remembers where he is, though. The two make eye contact, sharing a glance before suho gestures to sieun.
He nods, eyes lighting up as he gets the same idea.
Suho makes as much space as possible between him and his boyfriend, allowing the third to escape without causing any disturbances to the sleeping beauty. He holds his hand over the charm of his choker, preventing it from making noise as he walks through the room and slips through the door, being sure to close it softly behind him.
Now, he just needs to get sieun's neck out of peril.
Easy enough, he just needs pulled up against suho again. Being shorter seems to have its advantages for him, like using his partner's shoulder as a pillow with no cervicogenic repercussions.
… he needs to stop reading sieun's textbooks. He scared himself. Where the hell did he learn a word like that? It's unnatural.
“Mnh?”
The sound breaks suho out of his daze, and it gives him the chance to watch his beautiful boyfriend's face scrunch at the thought of waking up. Grumpy as ever, and every bit as adorable as he'd expect from his sieunie. Regardless of his demeanor, his hand still curls to hold suho's shirt tighter, cheek nuzzling further into his shoulder with a soft sigh.
“Good morning, my star,” he hums happily, placing a soft kiss on his lover's nose. Delightfully, the appendage crinkles even more, reminding him of the bush stone-curlew from Australia. They always look so unimpressed with whatever is happening around them. “Did you sleep well?”
Reluctantly, the shorter nods, pressing closer to the warm body and trapping suho against him with a tight hold from his legs.
Not that he was planning on letting go anytime soon.
Suho hears soft sniffing, before his boyfriend finally speaks up.
“Mm, smells like miyeokguk,” he mumbles, sleep making his voice rumble a little deeper than normal.
It affects the taller a little more than he's ready to admit. “You hungry?” He asks, placing a quick kiss on the top of his head before wrapping his arms around the other and carefully bringing himself to a standing position. In the air, sieun looks uncomfortable with the koala position they're in, so he shifts one arm to scoop under his thighs, putting him in a bridal carry. “Let's see if seongje needs anything.”
The walk to the kitchen is slow and careful. Partially because suho doesn't trust his strength yet, and partially because sieun looks so cute when he's half-awake. Regardless, they do eventually make it, and the smaller is carefully deposited in a seated position, perched atop the kitchen island.
“When you see him like this, it's hard to believe he's capable of murder,” seongje notes with a snort from the stovetop, wordlessly offering a spoon for suho to taste the soup.
He appreciatively nods, taking the spoon quickly.
As soon as it hits his mouth, he notices a flavour that never appears in restaurant versions of the soup, but his halmeoni always swore by. “perilla seeds?”
Seongje simply nods and hums in approval, flashing him a grin as he closes the bottle of toasted sesame oil. “I forgot how fun it is to make food… good tasting food. I gave up when everything started to taste like cigarettes.” He admits with a shrug, as if he didn't expose a sad truth to his life. “Baekjin didn't like my cooking before I started smoking, though, so I figured I didn't have much skill to lose when I stopped trying.”
“Sieun should've gone for the head,” suho grumbles in response, placing the spoon next to the sink. “That's delicious, you're an incredible chef.” He praises, giving a few scratches at the nape of the cook's neck, just to punctuate the acclamation.
He melts into the affection immediately, nearly folding in on himself. Luckily, suho has experience from handling his chronically dehydrated sieun to catch him before any danger could come from the fall.
“Sorry,” is all seongje can mumble before sheepishly turning back to the food, turning the stove off and moving the pot to a cool burner.
“Suho-yah,” a soft, low voice whines from behind the two, making them both turn to look. Sieun is yawning, rubbing his eyes, and struggling to keep himself upright. The scene is illegally cute. He pouts at the lack of response. “Hyung?”
Brilliantly, he builds a plan to kill two birds with one stone. He grips the back of seongje's choker, carefully but forcefully guiding him to back into sieun's legs. Instinctively, he wraps his limbs around the taller, pulling him in for a tight hug from behind.
When he seems to try to squirm out, suho steps in to wrap both boys in his arms, creating a snuggle sandwich around the insecure teen. “Don't be sorry, alright? You're here because we want you here. We want you to take up space, have a personality, and advocate for your needs. I promise, we want this to be as equal footing as possible, okay?”
An unsteady voice replies, uncertain and shaken. It lacks the entirety if its usual edge. “Okay. I can try.”