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Seungcheol lies facedown on the bed. He doesn't think he could move even if he wanted to.
It's easier to keep himself going during the thick of a tour, with the constant pattern of post-show adrenaline waning just before the pe-show nerves kick in. It's easier when it's somewhere overseas, when there are stores he wants to visit and restaurants he doesn't want to miss out on. The money he'd spent on the claw machines in Aichi was a justifiable expense, okay? His plushie sits proudly on the dresser across the room, one of the few belongings he'd unpacked before collapsing onto soft bedsheets that were so enticing his eyes had started to droop just looking at them.
They're even softer then he remembers, and they smell like home in a way that siphons the very last dregs of energy from his muscles. Cheek pressed to a cool, soft pillow, he relaxes completely.
He's close enough to the brink of unconsciousness that he misses the soft footsteps that pad through the bedroom doorway.
"Did Seungcheollie give up on unpacking that quickly?" an amused voice says from behind him.
"Mmph," Seungcheol says into his pillow. It's all he can muster.
A quiet snicker, and then footsteps shuffling around to the opposite side of the bed. The mattress dips. Soft thumps of slippers falling to the floor and then a body scooting across the sheets.
A hand in Seungcheol's hair, which he knows needs to be washed, but it's such an ordeal when it's dyed. He doesn't regret it, though. He likes being pink. He thinks he looks good. He's felt good up on stage.
The hand is soft, fingers brushing his skull in a way that sends sparks cascading down Seungcheol's spine. He nearly groans, but settles for blindly throwing out an arm and hooking Jeonghan around the waist, pulling him closer. Seungcheol has enough energy reserved for that. The important things.
"Yah! How did you get stronger?" Jeonghan says when he slides a few inches across the sheets. He sits more securely in Seungcheol's hold, then positions Seungcheol's head more comfortably against the warm dip of his waist. He resumes running his fingers through Seungcheol's hair.
Right, as if Jeonghan hadn't seen Seungcheol's most recent muscle gains the other night, in Chiba, after the show and their dinner with Mingyu and Wonwoo. It was the first night they'd had in a while, one where they had time and weren't bound by Seungcheol's crazy idol schedule or Jeonghan's rigid civil service one. It was exciting, far from home and separate from the realities of enlistment, and different from being on tour with Seventeen. "You're like my rockstar boyfriend," Jeonghan had whispered in his ear as Seungcheol's hands ran over his bare, warm skin. Actual giddiness ran through Seungcheol as he touched Jeonghan's body. He felt breathless, like something so intensely familiar was again brand new.
Now, Seungcheol presses his nose into Jeonghan's clothed waist. This is why their bed smells like home; it smells like Jeonghan. Soft, mild, with something lightly floral from the moisturizer he uses. Any worries Seungcheol might have had feel soothed over in this moment. Moving in with Jeonghan has done wonders for him, honestly. More than he realized it could, having been in each other's pockets for so long. But it has. He actually doesn't know how he held out for so many years, living apart. This is heaven. Once he actually falls asleep, he knows he's going to be out for hours.
He's glad he managed to change out of his airport clothes before lying on the bed, though historically he wasn't always as strict about that as some of their team are. After spending so much time with Mingyu in the last year, it's now ingrained in him. Still, something niggles at him.
Seungcheol shifts the arm that's around Jeonghan, then spreads his hand out flat against Jeonghan's stomach. "Need to take off this nail polish," he mumbles.
Jeonghan chuckles. "Now?" He plucks at Seungcheol's hand, like he's trying to see his fingers.
Well, no. But kind of. It's started to chip badly, and for some people that may add to the aesthetic, but he finds it makes him feel a bit messy. Sloppy. He likes when it's glossy and neat. He'd chipped away some of it on the plane and only made it worse. He'd meant to remove it as soon as he got back so it would stop bothering him.
"Do you want me to do it?" Jeonghan asks. He rubs the pad of one of his thumbs against Seungcheol's chipped nail. Then he starts to move and get up.
Seungcheol makes a whining sound in his throat, moving his arm to grip Jeonghan again so he can't leave. Jeonghan laughs and pats his arm. "Seungcheollie, I'm going to take your nail polish off. Like you wanted." Seungcheol sighs, loosening his grip and rolling onto his side. Jeonghan snickers again and leans down to kiss him on the head reassuringly. "I'll be right back."
He walks out of the room to the place in the apartment they must keep polish remover. Seungcheol doesn't know. He didn't think of that. Jeonghan's had much more time to organize all their belongings over the last few months. He's also just better at it, enjoys that kind of thing more. Seungcheol will learn where everything is. He'll appreciate Jeonghan's organization. When he's not so tired.
Jeonghan comes back with a bottle in his hand, then disappears into the en-suit bathroom and reemerges with some cotton balls. Finally, he slides open the little side table drawer on his side of the bed and pulls out what Seungcheol recognizes as the moisturizer Jeonghan always keeps on hand.
Jeonghan clamors back on the bed and makes himself comfortable again, neatly setting down his supplies. Then he reaches over and grabs one of Seungcheol's hands and pulls it into his lap. His own hand is soft, if a little cold. He settles Seungcheol's hand on his knee and then reaches for the nail polish remover and a cotton ball.
"I didn't even know we had this stuff," Seungcheol comments.
Jeonghan glances at him. "It's important to have things, Cheollie." It's exactly the kind of self-evident, near-meaningless thing that Jeonghan likes to say. Seungcheol feels himself smile.
The scent of the nail polish remover is strong in the air, and Jeonghan brings the damp cotton ball to Seungcheol's thumb. It's wet and cold against his skin, but it feels kind of good.
"Your nails were pretty," Jeonghan says as he works, moving to Seungcheol's pointer finger. "You should do them again for Busan."
"I am," Seungcheol says. One of their stylists was happy to do his nails for him when he asked her. He'd also asked if she could teach him how to do his own, eventually. It'd be better to attempt it when he's not trying to show them off on stage, and when he has time to make mistakes. But he'd like to learn, to make his nails pretty himself.
"When I come back," Jeonghan says, working on Seungcheol's ring finger, "I want to do mine again."
Seungcheol stares up at him while Jeonghan stares down at Seungcheol's nail. "That will be nice, Hannie."
"It's been a long time."
It has been a long time. It's felt like it's been a very long time. But there are only a few months left. He's on the downhill slide. Seungcheol knows it's hard, and that Jeonghan has been getting restless. Posting on Weverse more often. Letting his hair get longer. It hangs over his eyes, now, as he bends over Seungcheol's hand. His quiet reluctance to come back to Korea after his few days in Japan had not gone unnoticed. Seungcheol knows Jeonghan wants to paint his nails again. He knows.
"We'll paint them together," Seungcheol says. "Matching."
Jeonghan shoots him a dry look. "Like the bracelets?"
Seungcheol laughs. They'd really pushed it with those.
They fall back into quiet as Jeonghan starts working on Seungcheol's other hand. Seungcheol watches him, watches his face. Jeonghan knows Seungcheol is watching him.
When Jeonghan finishes Seungcheol's pinky, he sets the polish remover aside and grabs his bottle of moisturizing lotion. He squeezes some onto his fingers, the floral scent diffusing into the air, and then grabs Seungcheol's hand again. He starts moisturizing the skin around Seungcheol's nails, his fingers, his entire hand.
Seungcheol grins. "Are you a professional, Jeonghannie?"
"We can't have your hands getting dry," Jeonghan says. "You'll whine."
Seungcheol frowns. "Dry skin is painful!"
"Exactly," Jeonghan says, and brings Seungcheol's hand up to his lips so he can kiss the back of it. He puts it down and grabs his other hand so he can do that one, too.
By the end, both of Seungcheol's hands are tingling pleasantly from being massaged, moisturized, and kissed. If Seungcheol had done this himself, he probably would have rubbed his nails raw and skipped the lotion part completely. Jeonghan always takes care of him well.
"There," Jeonghan says, setting the bottles and used cotton balls aside. He looks back at Seungcheol, a small smile playing on his lips. "You can rest now."
Seungcheol does, in fact, feel himself becoming sleepy again. He reaches his hand out for Jeonghan before he can go anywhere, even though he didn't look at all like he was about to leave. "Rest with me."
Jeonghan lets himself be reeled back in easily. He, too, only just returned from Japan, if a little earlier, and perhaps he's not as wiped out from performing concerts, but Seungcheol knows he's never one to turn down a nap. And it's just nice, to have a little more downtime before they have to return to the grind of their days.
"Love you, Hannie," Seungcheol murmurs into the curve of Jeonghan's neck, one of his favorite places to fall asleep. He feels the way Jeonghan's fingers brush along his back, the way he murmurs the words in return against his forehead, into his pink hair, words that have seen both of them so many different ways.