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Siwoo, who had not yet unpacked, was already lying in Jaehyuk’s bed.
Jaehyuk observed from the doorframe with his jaw slightly unclenched, not quite agape. He considered giving Siwoo the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d thought that bed was up for grabs. Maybe he didn’t notice that Jaehyuk’s half of their shared dormroom was already moved-into, posters hung and drawers stuffed. Maybe he didn’t notice that his elbow was resting on Jaehyuk’s favorite plushie, and okay, maybe the benefit of the doubt was a bit too generous.
“Excuse me,” Jaehyuk led with a mostly-joking annoyance, “I believe that’s my bed.”
Siwoo didn’t even look up from his phone. “Nope. Mine.”
“And what makes you think that?”
“Because I’m on it?” Siwoo’s tone indicated that this was the single most obvious thing in the world. The playful curl of his lips suggested something else entirely.
Sitting down on the edge of the mattress, Jaehyuk knocked the phone from his hand, meeting his pout with a scolding smile. “This has been my bed for years.”
“So?” As their eyes clashed, the unbridled version of Siwoo’s challenging grin surfaced. “Sounds like it’s due for a change of ownership.”
With a sharp tug, Jaehyuk yanked his plushie out from under Siwoo’s arm, disrupting his new support’s relaxed pose. Siwoo collapsed onto the bed with an underwhelming thud, then Jaehyuk thwacked him with the toy. “Up. You should finish unpacking.”
Siwoo groaned, but listened anyway. “You’re such a bully, Jaehyuk-ah. Is this how you treat your new teammates?”
Jaehyuk bit back his return quip, instead bellyflopping onto the bed victoriously.
The spot where Siwoo had been was still warm.
That night, Jaehyuk was snug in his sheets, already drifting off as a pajama-clad Siwoo scampered into the room. Had Jaehyuk been more alert, he might have noticed the sound of footsteps was approaching him rather than retreating.
He startled as the bed dipped, eyes adjusting just enough to see the shadowy outline of Siwoo beside him.
“What are you doing?” Jaehyuk whispered harshly.
“Sleeping,” Siwoo shot back, and Jaehyuk shoved him. He thought it would knock the support off the mattress, but Siwoo was sturdier than he seemed. He wriggled in closer, digging his frigid feet into Jaehyuk’s calves through the blankets.
Jaehyuk whined, “Get in your own bed!”
“I am in my own bed!” Siwoo insisted, laughter embellishing his taunt, but Jaehyuk was far too weary for that.
“Joke’s over. We should sleep.”
“It’s not a joke,” Siwoo grumbled, and once more, Jaehyuk was caught off-guard.
"It’s not?”
“Nope.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Why do you want this bed?”
The reply was instant: “Well, why do you want this bed?”
“It’s my bed,” Jaehyuk scoffed, “It’s always been my bed.”
“And now it’s my bed,” Siwoo sang breezily, worming his way under the covers.
At this point, Jaehyuk was completely at a loss. After futilely awaiting further explanation, he confirmed, “So you want to share?”
“You can move to the other bed if you want,” Siwoo suggested, and oh no, Jaehyuk was far too stubborn for that. If Siwoo wanted to play this game, then Jaehyuk was ready to match him, move for move.
“That won’t be necessary.” He rolled onto his side, simultaneously repossessing every inch of his rightfully-owned sheets. “Goodnight, Siwoo-ah.”
“Goodnight, Jaehyuk,” Siwoo echoed, stretching out to take up as much space as was feasibly possible for his stick-figure form.
Jaehyuk squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to let him win. He just had to endure.
That happened to entail falling asleep in Son Siwoo’s arms.
The biggest issue of the Big Bed Debacle of 2022 was neither the pettiness of the issue nor the physical contact: it was that Siwoo was a morning person whereas Jaehyuk was not.
Siwoo got up first, or rather, tried to get up. It was somewhat difficult to accomplish that with his legs entangled with the still-sleeping Park Jaehyuk’s. Despite his Operation-esque efforts to extract himself from his ADC, the last slither of his ankle caused Jaehyuk to grumble and roll over on top of him with a warm and oppressive weight, trapping him all over again.
“Too damn early,” Jaehyuk muttered, eyes still closed.
“Keep sleeping, then,” Siwoo huffed, not expecting Jaehyuk’s hands to suddenly seize his hips, dragging him back against Jaehyuk’s body, hip to hip.
The ADC’s voice came hot on his neck: “You really think you can slip into my bed at night, then just sneak away morning after?”
Siwoo winced as Jaehyuk hugged him close. “Clingy...”
“Says the one who couldn’t sleep without me,” he reminded, fingers tapping their way down from Siwoo’s hip onto the bare skin of the back of his thigh. “I’m starting to think you like me or something, Siwoo-ah.”
Unduly flustered, Siwoo shoved his shoulder. “Wake up already!”
“Too early,” Jaehyuk repeated.
“Well, I’m getting up.” Siwoo finally managed to shake Jaehyuk off and sit up once more. “You’ve already kept me here for five minutes.”
“That’s the price,” Jaehyuk bellowed dramatically, “The price you pay for invading my bed!”
“It’s my bed.”
“Saying that over and over won’t make it true.”
“Won’t it?” Smirking, Siwoo reached back over the bed to pat Jaehyuk’s newly-exposed stomach. “Don’t worry, Jaehyuk-ah. You’re welcome to sleep in my bed anytime you want.”
When he tried to retract his hand, Jaehyuk latched onto his arm and tugged, pulling him back down into bed without even opening his eyes.
Siwoo gasped, “Childish.”
“Fire with fire,” Jaehyuk answered, voice still gruff from sleep.
Compelled by some natural force, Siwoo’s fingers found the side of Jaehyuk’s face in a soft, almost inquisitive caress, as if assessing his heat. “Is that what this is?”
Only then did Jaehyuk crack one eye open, perfectly executing a reverse-wink, complete with a drowsy grin. “Or something like that.”
Despite Jaehyuk's successful retaliation, Siwoo’s offense repeated itself the following night, and the one after, and the one after. It was a vicious cycle: Siwoo won nights, Jaehyuk won mornings. Siwoo would talk big game from the cover of darkness, would poke and prod and snicker in the ear of his tired ADC, only to fall victim to his oppressive manhandling the following daybreak.
If Siwoo wanted to end it, he could, easily. He seemed to have no such desire.
“You do realize there’s another bed?” Jaehyuk confirmed as Siwoo weaseled in beside him for the however-manyth time.
“Of course I do,” Siwoo dismissed, “Do you want the other bed?”
“No, I want this one.”
“Okay.”
After that, Siwoo fell quiet, earlier than usual. His hand rubbed gently down Jaehyuk’s back, finally trailing off along his hip.
“Do you want me?”
Jaehyuk would’ve suspected that he misheard the question if it had come from anyone else. From Siwoo, he could believe it, but he still asked, “What?”
“Do you want me?”
Mentally, Jaehyuk plotted his response:
Want you how? → Don’t make me say it.
Does it matter? → Maybe.
Do you want me? → I asked you first.
I asked second → Is that a no?
Yes→ I don’t believe you.
No → …
Really, words were overrated.
Jaehyuk kissed Siwoo, and that was how it became their bed.
From their bed came their shower, their clothes, their meals. Forget privacy, forget personhood: as each day ticked by, they let the lines between them blur more and more.
It was a race to see who could bury themself deep enough in the other person to reach their core the fastest, and the prize was something great and unspoken.
Most battles occurred in that very bed.
It wasn’t a secret that Jaehyuk was moving to the LPL.
He had already told everyone that mattered: his agent, his managers, his family. Of course, that included Siwoo.
“I'm leaving at the end of the year, unless…”
He said “unless we win the whole thing.” He didn’t say “unless you ask me to stay,” because he didn't know if it was true or not, and he fancied being a man of his word.
Siwoo didn't respond right away. Jaehyuk took pride in being able to rattle him, even if he found the silence unnerving.
“You're that confident we'll win?” Siwoo finally asked, and Jaehyuk didn't know whether to laugh or not, so he let the conversation end there.
They lost.
Then Siwoo’s silence was no longer uncharacteristic. Throughout the plane ride home, Siwoo barely even looked at him.
The first night they returned to the dorm, Jaehyuk found Siwoo curled up in the other bed.
The two beds in the room were their bed and the other bed. No one had touched the other bed since Jeongmin moved out.
An unslept-in bed didn't suit Siwoo. Neither did the salt and water scrubbing his cheeks. Siwoo wasn’t the type to cry after losses; he’d only ever cried after wins, and even then, only because Jaehyuk cried first.
There wasn’t a passing thought about shared defeats or hollow victories when Jaehyuk climbed into the other bed behind Siwoo. His only thought was to hold Siwoo close while he still had the chance.
“Hey.”
“Don't,” Siwoo grunted, choking on a sniffle. “Go back to your bed.”
Jaehyuk tiptoed his fingers up Siwoo’s spine. “This is my bed.”
“Jaehyuk…”
He pressed a silent kiss to Siwoo’s shoulder. If they weren’t going to talk about it, he could at least do this much.
“You're in my bed, actually,” the ADC mumbled, giving the support a light shove. “Would you mind moving to the other one?”
Siwoo let out a deep groan. “You're ridiculous.” He hoisted himself onto the other bed with all the weight of a drenched mop. Once resettled, his tears continued.
But things were different in their bed. Despite their time away from it, the sheets still smelled of Jaehyuk, of the two of them. Siwoo relaxed more, settling in, burying his face in the fabric. A moment later, he called out:
“Come here.”
Jaehyuk did, loyally crawling back into their shared space, into Siwoo’s arms.
“This is the last time, okay?” Siwoo declared, sliding his fingers under Jaehyuk’s shirt and biting away the last of his sobs.
Two years later, Jaehyuk moved back into that same dormroom. Minkyu let him have his pick of beds, as if there was any choice to be made.
One year prior, Siwoo had made the same decision.
He’d said 2022 was the last time, but unlike Jaehyuk, Siwoo's words didn’t count for much. Within a few months of Jaehyuk's return, Siwoo was back in the Gen.G dorms, gasping for air as they gracelessly tumbled down the hallway, mouths interlocked nearly every second of the way.
Siwoo’s back slammed against walls with the familiarity of high-fiving an old friend, finally pressing against the inside of their bedroom door.
Minkyu cleared his throat.
Jaehyuk nearly dropped Siwoo, flushing with realization while Siwoo startled as if he'd genuinely forgotten the room was no longer their own.
“Anything you want to say?” Minkyu prompted with an appropriately belittling grin.
“Sorry!” Siwoo blurted, which Jaehyuk echoed with a short delay.
“And?” the younger support goaded, “Is there something you’d like to ask, hyung?”
“Can we please use the room tonight,” Jaehyuk mumbled, cheeks pink, eyes fixed on the floor.
“Tonight? Sure. Next time, advance notice would be appreciated.”
Minkyu gathered his belongings with both the smugness and speed as the tortoise beating the hare, finally leaving the couple in the place they once called home.
“You know, I don't have roommates at Nongshim,” Siwoo reminded, bouncing onto the center of their bed.
Jaehyuk shrugged off his shirt. “So?”
“So, we could be doing this over there, if you weren't a sentimental bastard.”
“I’m not sentimental,” Jaehyuk protested, “I just want to hear you say it.”
Siwoo cocked his head. “Say what?”
Flashing his canines, he asked a simple question: “Whose bed are you in?”
“Oh my God…” Siwoo laughed, making a full show of his eyeroll.
“Sorry, what was that?”
Looping his arms around Jaehyuk’s neck to tug him down, Siwoo confessed: “Yours.”
“Mine,” Jaehyuk gloated, pressing his princess to his pillows with a claiming kiss, “Finally, all mine.”