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Something was wrong with Hongjoong.
Wooyoung couldn’t help it. He noticed a lot when it came to Hongjoong! He was overly quiet, not engaging with any antics. That in itself wasn’t a terribly odd trait. Hongjoong values his peace. But, he had a frown plastered on his face, brows furrowed. That’s what convinced Wooyoung there was something wrong. He looked upset. There weren’t really other words for it.
Seonghwa, ever the introspective person, seemingly realized it as well. He had his own little frown going on as well. It wasn’t a frown in the same sense as Hongjoong's, though; it was more like he was having a particularly hard time analyzing something confusing. Which really wasn’t all that different from Hongjoong.
He couldn’t actually do anything about it at the moment. Neither could Seonghwa. They had just finished filming three different interviews in the states and were surrounded by staff, both their own and American. It simply wasn’t the right location to have a potentially emotionally charged conversation.
With that thought in mind, Wooyoung decided to momentarily shrug off Hongjoong’s ill mood and file it somewhere in the back of his mind to touch upon later that night, bounding over to go bother San. He saw Seonghwa stand out of the corner of his eye, lilith frame easily getting lost in the crowd of people in the room.
San glanced over at Wooyoung as he frollicked over, smiling lopsidedly at the elder man. The corners of his mouth lifted, patting the seat next to him wordlessly before redirecting his attention to Yunho. The veins in his neck were fighting to make their presence known as he belted out the notes to a popular girl group song with Mingi contributing slightly off-pitch adlibs to the performance from his perch on a couch across the room. Jongho rolled his eyes good naturedly at Wooyoung as he gingerly sat next to San, going back to whatever he had been doing on his phone. If only it was so easy for him to drown out all of this noise.
San shifted closer, easily settling one arm across Wooyoung’s shoulders. His head dropped onto San’s shoulder, simply observing the scene unfolding in front of him as Yunho made his way onto both knees as he continued on singing. Mingi had begun to sprint over, his hair bouncing wildly, before sliding on his knees a good 3 feet to wind up next to Yunho to finish off on a high note together.
The end of their performance drew a bark of laughter from Wooyoung, eyes crinkling as he gasped for breath through his laughter and clapped eagerly. “Amazing!” He cried, making vaguely encouraging gestures. “Wonderful performance! Daesang-worthy, truly!” He said, broad smile dazzling in the light. San’s twinkling laughter echoed around the loud space as well, spurring on Wooyoung’s rambunctious giggles.
From the corner of his eye he could see Seonghwa and Hongjoong standing closely together off to the side. His laughter tapered off as he silently observed the scene, his worry about Hongjoong flooding back in at the sight of the elder. He looked… lighter, for lack of better words. His jaw wasn’t set so tightly, his previous grimace long gone.
Wooyoung couldn’t help the fond curve of his lips as he observed Hongjoong and Seonghwa clearly conversing. Some part of him felt bad for intruding on what seemed like a private conversation, but his nosiness and earlier worry curbed the fleeting feeling.
Something about Seonghwa made it impossibly easy to open up to him, and his emotional intelligence made him the perfect person to help process your feelings and sort them out, even offering solutions if that was what you were looking for. This fact led to most of the group confiding in Seonghwa when they needed advice or just had something weighing on their mind; be it his general caringness or his emotional intelligence. Hongjoong was his person of choice to go to with his own feelings, despite the younger’s general aloofness and introverted nature. The two of them confiding in each other just made sense. Wooyoung cared, and that point got across easily— but the two held a sort of intimacy and understanding of each other that Wooyoung simply wouldn’t be able to provide.
He was distantly aware Yeosang was bickering with Jongho about something, although he was completely oblivious to the topic. His attention focused on Seonghwa and Hongjoong. Seonghwa was slightly bent at the waist to be level with Hongjoong, who had one hand cupped around Seonghwa’s ear as he spoke into it. Wooyoung nearly looked away, Mingi’s yelling drawing his attention, before he noticed it.
Hongjoong’s free arm was slung low across Seonghwa’s hips, hand possessively gripping the widest part. His eyes narrowed, eyebrows furrowing as he took in the scene further. Rather than just cupping his hand in order to be heard like Wooyoung had originally assumed, Hongjoong’s fingertips were more cradling Seonghwa’s cheek and jawline as he spoke into his ear.
The casual intimacy of the actions struck something within Wooyoung, mind running a mile a minute as he put together the pieces. There was more to this. He was sure of it. Hongjoong’s loser-ism was apparent to everyone, even the fans, and just casually holding Seonghwa? As if it was something normal? The two were touchy to an extent off camera— Seonghwa generally doesn’t like to be intimately touched on camera. It was an unspoken rule of his, and everyone had caught on and adapted. But they were never this lax. This… open.
What happened after was something Wooyoung wouldn’t have believed if he hadn’t seen it happen with his own eyes. Seonghwa glanced around, and upon presumably coming to the conclusion it was only their group in the room— the staff had all cleared out by this point— quickly leaned in to plant a kiss on Hongjoong’s nose before pulling away entirely. One hand trailed up Hongjoong's bicep, lingering over his tattoo, before gently guiding his palm away from his own cheek and nudging his other arm, palm thrown upwards silently. No words spoken. Hongjoong, as if this was normal for them, wordlessly laced their pinkies together and led them over to the group.
Wooyoung gaped.
Nobody was going to fucking believe him that just happened.
///
Mingi knew it was probably time to leave the studio when the screen began blurring so badly all he saw was an odd amalgamation of color. Hongjoong, on his other side, was silently toying with different values of the layers of the instrumental.
He rubbed quite harshly at his eyes, colored shapes lighting up behind his eyelids. He blinked aggressively at the screen. Realized it was still blurred beyond recognition. Groaned, then pushed away from the desk with a loud squeak of the chair groaning in protest.
Hongjoong glanced over, eyes softening at Mingi. His lips parted, tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. “Go home, Minki-ah,” he croaked, grimacing momentarily before clearing his throat with some force. “I can tell you’re about to fall over. Would you like me to call our manager? I love you, but you have no use in here when you’re damn near asleep at the chair anyways.” He said, standing with a soft groan. He stretched. At least three different joints popped and several bones crackled. Mingi shook his head exasperatedly, but stood anyway, collecting his bags.
“Call Manager-hyung, please. Your senseless claims have some truth, unfortunately.” he muttered, earning an eyebrow raise from Hongjoong.
“Mingi-yah, you're, like, muttering. And your words are– uhm, you know, so poorly enunciated I can hardly understand you.” Hongjoong spoke bluntly, lips quirking at the end of his sentence. Mingi gave him a look, lips pressing together and his eyebrows raising.
“Yah! You’re one to talk! Mr. I-slur-every-word-together!” He yelled, pointing at Hongjoong. His cheeks burned red, and Mingi made a victorious noise, pumping his fist excitedly.
Hongjoong opened his mouth to retort back as a rapid succession of knocks on the door paused their banter. He broke out into a goofy smile, shaking his head almost… fondly? As he immediately crossed the room to open the door.
That knocking was distinctly Seonghwa, as he always used a particular cadence when knocking on doors. Hongjoong’s reaction to Seonghwa was… strange, though. An array of emotion he had never seen pass Hongjoong before. Or, at the very least noticed in the past.
The door clicked open with a soft creak of the hinges, and as predicted Seonghwa stood there in all his glory. Mingi shifted from leg to leg restlessly, stifling a yawn as Seonghwa entered the room. Hongjoong had one hand resting between his shoulder blades, guiding the elder to sit in his chair as he took the bag from his hands wordlessly.
For whatever reason, the couch seemed very appealing at that moment. Mingi went and curled up on it. Hongjoong spoke softly to Seonghwa, although the words were lost on Mingi.
“You need to eat,” Seonghwa chided. “You’re going to burn out at this rate. And die an early death from your horrid cholesterol levels.” He added on his final sentence as if it was an after thought, gesturing to the bag in Hongjoong’s hands. He swiveled the chair to face Mingi, who was nodding off in his seat. “I didn’t realize you were still here, or else I would’ve brought a serving for you, too. It seems like you’re quite tired, though, hmm? You should head back home.” Seonghwa said, Hongjoong unpacking the meal in the background. He stood close to Seonghwa, leaning up against the chair.
Despite vaguely registering the words, only an intelligible response passed his lips. Mingi’s eyes didn’t seem to want to stay open, and he melted into the cushion a bit as he let them slide closed. Missing a shared look between the other two. Oblivious to the soft shake of Seonghwa’s head, Hongjoong’s soft chuckle.
Seonghwa cooed at the sight, standing to drape a blanket over Mingi. “There’s no use in trying to wake him,” He whispered to Hongjoong, who had moved to sit in the seat Mingi had originally occupied. The other nodded, cheeks rounded with a large bite of the meal Seonghwa had provided. His computer continued to hum silently in the background, and Mingi looked particularly young bathed in the sparse lighting, the paleness of his skin brought out against the navy blue couch and black blanket he was cocooned in.
“He looks really young,” Hongjoong had finally struggled through swallowing his bite. “His face is so relaxed for once.” He mused, tilting his head to softly gaze at Seonghwa.
“Sometimes I can’t believe how young he looks. How young any of them are, really. Even you and I. Life has aged us all beyond our years.” Seonghwa spoke, voice soft with affection. One of his hands had moved to Hongjoong’s thigh at one point, absentmindedly drawing circles with his thumb.
“I get what you mean. Everyone is like… forced into such maturity because of the role we play. Where our lives have taken us.” Hongjoong mumbled, words drawing together. Seonghwa nodded, glancing over at Mingi.
“I love you.” He whispered. Just for the two of them. He shifted closer to Hongjoong, resting his head on his shoulder. The clock was about eye-level with him now. In bold red lettering it read 2:43 am. They had to be awake at 4:30 for the next morning’s schedules. All three of them really needed to go to their dorms.
Seonghwa pressed a kiss into Hongjoong’s shoulder, then one into his neck. Slowly, he trailed up to his face with kisses, eventually getting close enough to press kisses to the corners of his lips. A deep, disgruntled noise came deep from Hongjoong’s chest as Seonghwa kept dancing around his lips, and he took the elder’s chin tenderly into his palm, pressing their lips together unhurriedly. Seonghwa’s left hand rose from its spot limply by his side to sling around Hongjoong’s neck, pulling him closer as the scent he could only describe as Hongjoong clouded him.
Mingi’s eyes cracked open as their lips pressed, having been awoken by that strange pseudo-falling feeling. His eyes widened so largely it would have been comical had anyone seen, and he was quick to press his eyes closed again, attempting to even out his breathing.
Yunho owed him 50,000 won.
///
Mingi had damn near burnt their kitchen down. Bless his soul.
San had returned to the dorm after a short outing with Yeosang, who had texted their group chat wanting a buddy to go on a ramyun run with. San was out the door within minutes. Food, alright? Plus, they had spent nearly two hours working out together that day. In his opinion, they both deserved the meal. Even if it was unhealthy and certainly not allowed by the diets they were on.
The joys of comeback season.
Meanwhile, when San was traipsing Seoul at nearly 2 in the morning with Yeosang, Mingi had decided to cook. San came back to the kitchen slightly smokey and an overbearing burnt scent spread throughout the entire apartment. It was truly a wonder the smoke alarm hadn’t gone off, and he voiced this thought to Mingi as he set down his bag on the counter.
“San-ah,” He whined, scraping… whatever the hell had turned charcoal on the pan into the trash. “It’s not that bad. I think I can even hide it from Seonghwa-hyung, considering he’s asleep. As long as I don’t ruin this pan. Do you think it’ll be ruined?” he asked, slurring the last few words of his sentence together. His eyes wide at the thought.
“It does look, well, rough.” San winced, reaching out to pat Mingi’s shoulder. He pursed his lips, staring intently at the pan. “I think as long as you wash it really well you should be fine. Hyung’s been asleep for what, three hours now? He’s not gonna be awake for awhile but also shouldn’t have woken up easily from this. You have time.” San spoke through a pout, endearingly ruffling Mingi’s hair.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Mingi admitted, and glanced grievously at the pain. He bit his lip, turning on the sink and placing it under the hottest stream it could muster. The pan needed it.
San leaned against the counter, cool marble sending chills up his spine where it connected with his bare lower back. He spent some time mulling over Mingi’s actions, and at some point had begun doubting Mingi’s stealthing abilities and wondering if Seonghwa was awake. “Should I go check if hwa-hyung’s up? I mean, it’s half past two, but you never know.” He mused, brushing a few stray strands out of his face.
Mingi’s brows rose slightly, and he nodded just barely. His forearms flexed with the strength he was putting into scrubbing that damn pan. “Yeah, maybe. If you can, could you check if he has an alarm on?” He asked, partially through gritted teeth as his onslaught on the pan continued.
San nodded wordlessly, pushing off the counter with a nearly inaudible huff. His legs were shaking, okay? He worked his muscles hard today. They were fatigued.
Seonghwa had been holed up in his room for a majority of the day. He had been dusting the kitchen in the morning, then San had left for a few hours and when he came back Seonghwa was in his room. He had to have been watching movies, or maybe even binging a show, because the soft noise had drifted through the door and walls.
Despite the expense of their apartment, it really wasn’t as high-quality as one would hope. Things were audible. Very audible. He had learnt that the hard way.
Seonghwa hadn’t left his room at all the entire afternoon, and only popped out for five minutes to microwave a meal. San had noted, from his spot on the counter absorbed in a card game with Wooyoung, that his serving was a bit large. Seonghwa ate quite a bit, yes, but even that was an excessive amount for him.
Then Wooyoung tried to steal the cards right out of his hand again (Again! This wasn’t even the first time he’s tried to blatantly play dirty!) and any thoughts of Seonghwa’s ridiculously large meal slipped his mind.
He probably should’ve connected the dots from that alone, but oh well.
The hallway leading into the three bedrooms of their apartment was dim, with the only light illuminating it peeking out from the kitchen area. San’s room had an ensuite bathroom, something he had fought tooth and nail for, while Seonghwa and Mingi shared the other bathroom.
Pausing in front of Seonghwa’s door, San took a deep breath before gently knocking on the door. When he received no reply, he turned the knob at a snail’s pace, pushing into the room quietly.
The only illumination the room had at the moment was soft moonlight streaming in from the window, bathing everything in its hue. True to Seonghwa, the room was impeccable; his legos glinting in the light, desk perfectly clear with all his clutter organized. The chair pushed in. San glanced towards the bed with baited breath, only to pause.
There was no way.
He took a few steps closer, almost convinced his eyes were playing tricks on him. But, no, there were two heads.
Seonghwa and Hongjoong were asleep cuddled up together.
This wasn’t even Hongjoong’s dorm? San pressed a gleeful noise back into his chest, staring down at Seonghwa burrowed into Hongjoong’s chest and his arms wrapped around him. This could not be real. There was no way. Just simply no way.
But, at the same time, it made sense. Their inside jokes. The way they moved in tandem, knowing what the other wanted or was thinking without a word being said. The times they’ve been caught in compromising positions.
This one has to be, to San’s knowledge at least, the most compromising of them all. The two of them, dead asleep, so entangled he couldn’t even tell who’s legs were which under the blanket. Seonghwa’s hair, silky and long and black, fanned out somewhat over the pillow but also splayed across Hongjoong’s upper chest and neck.
He was well and truly speechless. Seonghwa and Hongjoong had never slipped up like this before. He slid his phone out of his pocket slowly, snapping a picture after triple checking his flash wasn’t on.
Hongjoong looked idyllic, wrapped around Seonghwa like a second skin. Even their breathing was nearly in sync. It was, however, the most relaxed he had seen Hongjoong in months. He didn’t want to tarnish that sleep.
Part of San wondered if they regularly did this, if Hongjoong this relaxed was a sight Seonghwa regularly woke to.
So, he sent Mingi the picture wordlessly and slid out of the room. That was for him and Mingi to know and them to tease about.
Something was going on between them, and it had just become blatantly obvious.
///
It seemed, nearly without a doubt, that Yeosang’s day was destined to go just about any way but how he wanted.
The morning had consisted of him waking up late, 5 interviews being added to their schedule, and the entire group being so addled from lack of sleep that dance rehearsal ran two hours over. Overall, not the most tremendous morning.
And they had the MMAs to attend that night.
Safe to say, he was going through it. Despite that, everyone else seemed to be in high spirits. Yeosang was content to leave them to… whatever the hell they all were doing and try to fall asleep in the green room.
He kept noticing things, though.
Something that Yeosang prided himself on was being a very observant person. He was similar to Seonghwa in that regard. Part of being able to fade into the background of any setting is that he naturally picked up on things most people didn’t.
Like how Hongjoong and Seonghwa were dating.
Truthfully, it wasn’t terribly obvious. They hid it well. But, Yeosang knows them. And he has eyes. Seonghwa is terribly obvious about his affection towards Hongjoong, to the point where even the fans had noticed, so that part of the equation wasn’t too surprising. It was Hongjoong’s quiet affection that had stumped him.
Hongjoong loves silently. They all knew that. Melodies and lyrics were his strong suit, not words. Despite that, Yeosang had noticed more lingering touches Hongjoong initiated with Seonghwa as the months went by. And the palm kissing, which damn near made him squeal into his hand the first time he had seen it.
What really sealed the deal was Thank You, though.
From then on, Yeosang was an untold third party of a secret he actively worked towards concealing. They would reveal it on their own time.
Today, Hongjoong literally seemed unable to keep his hands off Seonghwa. No matter the situation, no matter how many people present, he moved silently and efficiently until suddenly he was slung over Seonghwa, fingertips wrapped around his wrist or a whole arm slung around his waist.
Yeosang had even noticed Hongjoong kissing Seonghwa’s palms a few times.
The first had been during a break between the interviews they had recorded that morning. New staff was transitioning in to lead a new interview, and Seonghwa and Hongjoong sat in the corner of the room together, hidden from everyone else. Yeosang kept an eye on them to make sure they didn’t get interrupted.
It was really cute to watch. Their knees were knocking together, and Seonghwa had leaned into Hongjoong’s space, nearly folding in half to lay in his lap with how far over he was leaning. Hongjoong said something, whispered into Seonghwa’s ear really, and the elder turned bright pink. Yeosang stifled a giggle and looked away for a few seconds.
He missed how Hongjoong threaded their fingers together, pressing kisses to each knuckle as he brought his hand up to his face. When he looked back, Hongjoong was unraveling their joint fingertips, gently grasping his wrist to pull the palm of Seonghwa’s hand forward. From there, he pressed a gentle kiss on his palm before gently setting it down against Seonghwa’s thigh. He stroked a strand of hair out of Hongjoong’s face with that same hand, looking so incredibly adoring.
Yeosang turned away from blatantly staring at the moment, catching Mingi’s eye and sticking out his tongue at him. He stood, and from there his observation of the moment broke.
The next time Yeosang noticed the palm kissing, the moment was less damning. Two days later and Seonghwa and Hongjoong were tucked into the back corner of the van, whispering conspiratorially into each other’s ears periodically. Otherwise, Hongjoong was typing away on his phone and Seonghwa was watching out through the window. The car was mostly silent, with a few quiet conversations creating gentle white noise. They were all tired.
Hongjoong turned wordlessly towards Seonghwa, taking hold of his wrist like he was a porcelain doll before gently bringing it up to his lips to press a lingering kiss on his palm. Seonghwa blushed beautifully, his cheeks blooming pink over his sun-kissed skin, illuminated by the various different light sources zooming by.
Yeosang wondered both how he was the only one to ever notice these moments and how they never got caught. If you knew where to look, they were exceedingly obvious. For the rest of the car ride, however, the two were more subtle—if only to an extent— and what he had been continuously witnessing over the course of the day slipped Yeosang’s mind in favor of the debate happening to his right: Strawberries or bananas.
San faced a whopping loss after the debate, almost pathetically considering how unimportant in the face of their lives the debate was. Mingi’s loud giggles and Wooyoung’s infectious cackles echoed around the van as San pouted, Jongho hurriedly speaking through a pout of his own.
“Sannie-yah, your reasoning was so flawed, really, I mean–” Little breathless laughs escaped Jongho between words, although he was ultimately cut off by Hongjoong clearing his throat in the backseat.
“As much as I hate to stop this monumental debate, we’re back at the dorms. Seonghwa and I are going to run in and change but we’re gonna leave fast. We won’t be back until late, please don’t bother us unless someone is dying or an apartment is burning down.” Hongjoong pleaded with a pointed look at Wooyoung. Yeosang suppressed a snort. Looks like he was on Wooyoung distracting duty.
“It almost sounds like you’re going on a date,” Wooyoung intoned, a hint of a chuckle still in his tone and shaking his frame. “Hongjoongie-hyung finally got his shit together?” He rubbed his hands together mischievously, causing a loud groan shared between all 7 other men. Yeosang glanced back at Seonghwa. He had to bite back a smile. Seonghwa was blushing, glancing down shyly with the tips of his ears burning red.
Yeosang couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Hopefully those two had a good night. They deserved it.
///
To be entirely honest, Jongho wasn’t sure how he ended up in this situation. He was, well, flabbergasted.
His night went like this:
Pure, innocent Jongho of 3 hours ago had decided to go out and meet a few friends. He had informed Hongjoong where he would be, with whom, and approximately how long he thought he would be gone. Hongjoong seemed a bit overtly pleased, looking back on it, but Jongho had just assumed Hongjoong was glad Jongho was getting out of the dorm for once.
Boy, was he wrong.
The night out itself was fairly uneventful. Seeing as he was in public, he only had one bottle of Soju. Seeing as he could hold his alcohol well he was just tipsy. He ended up staying out for about three hours, nothing excessive, but a bit less than he had originally assumed he would stay out. He figured it didn’t mean anything that he would be coming home two hours earlier than he had estimated.
Again, very wrong.
On his way back to the dorm he messaged Hongjoong in the back of the van. Seoul at night was truly beautiful, and the traffic allowed him to sit and stare out of the window. Daydream a little. He thought it a fair thing to do, considering a drive that should’ve been roughly twenty minutes was already taking over half an hour and they were still quite far from the dorm.
Seoul has such shit traffic.
Knowing what he did now, more accurately what he would witness, part of him wondered if he would be less traumatized had the traffic taken less time. That required him to think harder about what he had seen. He didn’t want to do that.
At one point, Jongho had pulled out his phone and taken a few selcas with the flashing brake lights and occasional bright display of a storefront being his only light source. He looked good. Really good. The part of him he had yet to truly acknowledge ached to send them to Yeosang, to ask his hyung if they were instagram worthy.
Maybe he could make a story out of the night. That’d be nice. Atinys would like that.
Jongho spent the rest of the ride snapping selcas at various angles, making different faces, before choosing his favorites to send to Yeosang and ask for his opinion. As he sent the text, his fingers barely just having brushed over the button, the van finally came to a stop. He barely held in a sigh of relief as he thanked his manager and made his way out of the van and into the building.
He spent his ride up the elevator fighting a soft smile, stomach lurching as the movement upwards began. The uneasy feeling he got from the elevators was no match for how oddly giddy talking to Yeosang made him feel. Another thing to ignore. He did that a lot when it came to his feelings surrounding Yeosang.
After a painstakingly long ride to his floor, Jongho exited the dull elevator into an equally dull hallway. The carpet seemed luxurious, expensive in a way that shocked Jongho to this day, whilst the walls reminded Jongho vaguely of a hospital with the shade of off-white.
His footsteps echoed through the corridor as he marched down to their door, tapping in the passcode while bouncing his foot. All he cared about in that moment was making it to the bathroom, taking a quick shower, and collapsing in his bed.
The universe, it seemed, had different plans for him.
As soon as he walked in it seemed obvious that the dorm was empty. The lights in both the kitchen and living area were off, and so was the light down the hallway. Jongho stepped through the door, uncaring of his noise-level due to the lack of signs of life, and kicked off his shoes next to the entryway. He got to the hallway, padding quietly across the hardwood floors, before a soft noise stopped him in his tracks.
Hongjoong’s light was on.
He was home?
Jongho’s brow furrowed, lips pressing together as he squinted slightly. Another quiet noise. A moan?
Well, shit.
Some deity had to have it out for Jongho, clearly, because in nearly 6 years of living with other men he had never stumbled upon this. Until now.
Another noise drifted through the door, louder this time, and clearly Jongho did something wrong in his last life because he was becoming overly conscious of every noise drifting through the door in the five seconds he had been standing there. He could… hear the skin on skin. God. He was never gonna live this down.
Jongho took one step away from the door, towards his room, and groaned out loud when he remembered his room is next to Hongjoong’s. How he forgot? No clue. He did know every noise would drift through the wall, plaguing Jongho until they inevitably came to an end.
The noises halted suddenly.
He had groaned very, very loudly in front of Hongjoong’s door.
Well, fuck.
This situation was downright out of a novel. Catching your roommate having sex in your apartment and accidentally getitng caught because your frozen since ur senses are getting assaulted. However, Hongjoong, for whatever reason, wasn’t someone he imagined doing these types of acts in the dorm. Prior to today, at least.
Jongho stood, frozen, caught in the aftermath of his actions. The door clicked slightly, and Jongho knew he had about two seconds to school his face–he had to have looked like he had seen a dead body—before facing Hongjoong.
He poked his head around the door, naked shoulder coming into view. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of Jongho, mouth dropping open ever so slightly.
“Listen–”
“Please never speak about this with me again. Whatever you have to say I don’t want to know. Nobody will know I was here. Please free me.” Jongho spoke, deadpanned, and Hongjoong managed an awkward smile. A giggle echoed into the hallway from Hongjoong’s room. His very dimly lit, very much being used for sex room.
It occurred to Jongho at that moment that he was cockblocking Hongjoong.
Wait.
He knew that giggle.
“I mean, I– yeah, yeah, why not. Sure. We can ignore— Jongho?” Hongjoong’s eyebrows furrowed, and he shifted his weight, a bit more of his naked shoulder peeking out.
“Is that— that sounded like— Seonghwa?” Jongho breathed out, face taking several different pained expressions throughout his sentence.
Hongjoong’s eyes widened further. His cheeks, already colored pink, burned harder, his chest even coloring.
“What the fuck!?” Jongho exclaimed, hands reaching up to tug at his hair. “You and Seonghwa? Wait, shit, you probably don’t even have pants on right now, holy shit you were fucking Seonghwa-hyung, I’m— I’m leaving. We’ll talk about this later. Bye hyung love you sorry for cockblocking..!” Jongho rushed out, turning sharply on his heel in order to beeline out of the apartment.
The door clicked shut behind him.
“What the fuck.” He whispered, to himself mostly, opening up his chat with Yeosang. Apparently he needed a place for the night.
///
Yunho wasn’t stupid.
He noticed the dynamics within the group growing and shifting, taking new forms in light of relationships expanding and changing. All normal things. When Hongjoong and Seonghwa’s relationship had pushed past the boundary of a friendship, the change was there. He just… didn’t know that’s what it pointed to.
He wasn’t stupid, and yet he couldn’t help but be blindsided when Hongjoong and Seonghwa had sat them all down for a group meeting.
Seonghwa had opted for them to meet in his dorm, seeing as he could control the environment a bit more. Hongjoong, of course, didn’t note this when informing them of the meeting but it seemed to be a logical connection.
The room was overtly tidy, a normal trait of whatever space was inhabited by Seonghwa. Yunho sat on the couch across from Hongjoong and Seonghwa, sitting quite close next to each other. Mingi and Yeosang were on both of his sides. Wooyoung sat next to Seonghwa, San settled between his legs on the floor, and Jongho off to his right.
Hongjoong drew a deep breath, eyes bouncing around the room sporadically. Seonghwa settled an arm around his shoulders, squeezing encouragingly.
“Okay, so. Uhm.” Hongjoong very eloquently began. Wooyoung snorted, not at all helpfully, at Hongjoong’s fumbling words. Hongjoong had never quite been the best at speaking. Always better at organizing his thoughts and feelings onto a page, turning them into a song.
“Seonghwa and I have some—uh—some things to tell you.” Hongjoong stuttered out. Fingers pulling at his sleeve. He glanced towards Seonghwa, who nodded imperceptibly.
“Hongjoong and I are together.” Seonghwa spoke, the words dancing on his tongue. It was odd. Very odd. He wrenched his gaze up from his hands, looking around at his kids. They… didn’t seem too surprised. Minus Yunho. Yunho, whose jaw was dropped so far it looked unhinged. Eyes blown wide. Eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline.
“What?” Yunho whispered, eyebrows knitting together. His head swiveled slightly, observing the room. “Why do none of you look surprised?”
Five voices overlapped, all stating slightly different things.
“I saw them kiss!”
“I’ve known for a long time now.”
“I saw them act all lovey-dovey.”
“I… kinda walked in on them.”
“Went in hyung's room and they were cuddling in their sleep.”
Seonghwa turned scarlet when Jongho’s voice filtered through the rest, causing the whole group to turn inwards towards him.
“This is a story I wanna hear!” Wooyoung’s grin looked painful, turning his eyes into little slits. Seonghwa covered his face with both palms, leaning back half onto Hongjoong. Yunho couldn’t help but notice how relaxed both of them seemed after the reveal. It was nice. New, but nice. The two of them together just seamlessly clicked into place.
“Well,” Jongho sighed. “I came back earlier than I said I would one night. Walked into the dorm, thought nobody was home. Then… I went down the hallway. Heard things. Groaned—” Wooyoung’s eyebrows wiggled, and there was quickly a comment about being turned on tumbling from his mouth. “because I was mad! It was not sexy at all!”
The room erupted into a chorus of laughter, Wooyoung going so far as to point and laugh at Jongho’s agonized expression. San nudged him on the shoulder not-so-gently, corralling him.
“Well. anyways. Hongjoong opened the door and peeked his head around the corner, and we had a short exchange. But then Seonghwa, apparently the exhibitist, began giggling and I realized he was in there. It was mortifying and I never wanna experience that again.” Jongho shuddered, exaggerated mostly just for show. Seonghwa stuck his tongue out on him, Hongjoong’s hand having at some point wandered to his thigh.
“I obviously already knew Jongho was aware,” Seonghwa pressed his lips together and looked away from the youngest. He wasn’t suppressing his smile very well. “But the rest of you? Really? Yeosang, what do you mean you’ve known for a while?” Seonghwa’s brows knitted slightly, head pulling back as he spoke.
Yeosang cleared his throat. “I think I figured it out towards the beginning of your relationship,” he paused, glancing up towards Seonghwa and Hongjoong both. “Around early 2019, right? It wasn’t obvious, not at all, but the shift was there.” The two of them nodded, Seonghwa exchanging a look with Hongjoong. “And once I could see it, well, I couldn’t really stop. I noticed it all the time.” He paused, seemingly collecting his thoughts.
“There was this one day last year. We were preparing for MAMAS, and you, like, could not keep your hands off him.” He nodded towards Hongjoong. Mingi whistled, low and drawn-out. Seonghwa smiled close-lipped, eyes squeezing shut.
“I remember that. It was our anniversary in a few days. I kinda… well, uh, let myself a bit loose.” Hongjoong rubbed the back of his neck, the other hand still idly on Seonghwa’s thigh. Their affection was quiet. Still relatively in-your-face now that they weren’t fighting to relax it, but nothing seemed performative. Just calmly supportive; a hand on someone’s thigh, sitting pressed closed to one another. It was domestic and sweet. Two words Yunho had never thought he’d use to describe those two.
Nearly seven years, really? His mind seemed to nearly go numb with the shock of having missed something so big, especially since it apparently blared in everyone else’s faces. He just took everything in quietly. The stories of their consistent love, the soft touches, the look in Hongjoong’s eye he’s always noticed but never attributed to being smitten for Seonghwa.
“That actually… makes a lot of sense that it was your anniversary soon.” Yeosang mused softly. “I had noticed it prior to that day, but Hongjoong has a tendency to kiss the palms of Seonghwa’s hands. It’s so incredibly sweet. But he did it, like, a lot in those few days. Uhm… yeah. I’ve kinda just always known?" Yeosang finished weakly, shrugging his shoulders. He glanced over at Yunho, smile deepening as he took in his expression. Mingi was also drawn to Yunho’s prone form, pinching his cheek.
“How are you feeling, Yunho-yah?” Mingi teased, shaking his shoulder slightly. He knew his best friend better than nobody else and knew this had nothing to do with homophobia or any ill feelings. He was just taking a bit of time to reset his system to include his hyungs being in a relationship.
“I feel blind.” he said bluntly, causing several barks of laughter and snorts. “I’m… really glad for you guys, hyungs. You’re very sweet together. Thank you for telling us.” Yunho paused. “Does this mean we need to rearrange the dorms?” He bit his lip, Jongho enthusiastically nodding from his spot on the floor.
“Honestly… no? I like having my own space, oddly enough. We shared a room for a really long time and it was amazing, made hiding things much easier, but we both enjoy having separate rooms and besides. All the dorms are nearby, we cross the hallway anytime we want anyways. Just get used to seeing us outside of our dorms.” Seonghwa breathed out a slight giggle. Hongjoong squeezed his thigh, silent but supporting.
“I need you guys to warn me if you decide to pull anything again.” Jongho loosely threatened, pointing a finger at the pair. Hongjoong barked out a laugh, throwing his head back.
“Yeah, yeah.” A lazy grin splitting his face.
Yunho may not be stupid, although some would argue a bit oblivious. Just a tad oblivious.