Work Text:
Euijoo arrived back in the dorms quite late today. He was the only one who had a schedule in Japan today, and he had to come back within the same day. He was beyond exhausted.
He steps into the dorm to find
Chaos.
Yuma, Harua, Taki and Maki were all playing some board games and screaming their lungs out at each other. Nicholas and Jo were scrolling on their phones and eldest two were probably gone to sleep by now.
Euijoo sighed deeply, before stepping in.
As he stepped in everyone's attention fell to him. But a certain someone's eyes lit up.
Nicholas immediately shot up from the sofa, after spotting Euijoo at the door. He rushed towards him.
"Juju you must be tired, give me your bags" Nicholas says, taking the stuff out of his hands. "I ll make sure to get everything in your room, you can go straight to bed" Nicholas smiled, patting his back.
Euijoo smiles faintly. "Thank you Nico"
"HYUNG IS BACK" Taki screams. "EUIJOO HYUNG EVERYONE IS CHEATING IN THIS GAME AND GANGING UP AGAINST ME"
"Shut up you're just a loser" Maki smacks his head.
"Guys, quiet down" Nicholas scolds. "Your Euijoo hyung is tired, and I better not hear any more shouting. Let him rest"
"It's okay Nicholas, let them have fun" Euijoo says putting a hand on his shoulder.
"No means no" Nicholas once again warns them. "Let your hyung rest" he then turns to Euijoo. "Go to your room, I ll get you something to eat"
Euijoo sighed, shaking his head. "It's really alright Nicholas, I ll be in my room. The kids can have their fun"
"But you need to rest too, can you listen to me?" Nicholas says, with furrowed eyebrows.
Euijoo just nods, before walking towards his room.
"Can you stop being a simp for him? It's kinda annoying" Maki adds, looking at Nicholas.
Nicholas crossed his arms, standing next to where the younger ones were gathered. "You guys should be a bit considerate too. He's our leader and he has a very tough schedule. The least you can do is not shout when he's back tired from the day"
"Okay okay sorry" Maki says. "I didn't comment that to get a lecture from you" 'simp' he muttered under his breath.
Nicholas just turns around from them, dragging Euijoo's stuff to his room.
Euijoo was laying face down on his pillow, when Nicholas entered the room. He dragged all his suitcases and stuff to his room, before walking towards Euijoo's bed and sitting beside him.
He runs a gentle hand through his hair, ruffling them. "You okay?" He asks.
"Hmm" Euijoo answers, in a muffled voice.
"Should I make you something to eat?" Nicholas asks.
"No, I'm fine nico, you go rest too" Euijoo says, finally turning around and sitting up in bed.
"I don't think you ate anything" Nicholas says, caressing Euijoo's face, who lets him do it. "I will make you ramen, you just wait here for 5 minutes" Nicholas says before getting up to leave.
"Nico it's really fine!" Euijoo calls, trying to stop him but he had already left the room. Euijoo sighed deeply.
10 minutes later, Nicholas returns with a tray of food. He cooked Euijoo's favourite ramen.
"You really didn't have to do It. I wasn't hungry" Euijoo says, rubbing his eyes as Nicholas sat in front of him on the bed, the food tray in between.
"You have been skipping meals lately. You want me to take care of you?" Nicholas says.
"No, really I don't need you to, it's fine" Euijoo gives a reassuring smile. "You can leave"
"Juju, I don't trust you. You won't eat it if I leave" Nicholas says, frowning.
"Nico, trust me I will" Euijoo convinces.
"Nah I don't believe you" Nicholas grabbed the chopsticks, and bowl. "I will feed you"
Euijoo's face turned bright red in milliseconds. "W-what"
"Yes, I am not leaving until I feed you this entire bowl of ramen with my own hands" Nicholas says, as he mixes it and prepares a bite.
Euijoo was a huge flustered mess all of a sudden. "Nicholas it's fine, I can eat myself you don't have to do this please"
Nicholas was stubborn as fuck. "No, I'm not taking a no in this regard. Open up now" he says, holding the chopsticks closer to Euijoo's mouth.
Euijoo hesitated for a couple seconds, but then eventually gave in because Nicholas wasn't taking a no. Nicholas gently blew on the steaming hot ramen, before carefully feeding each bite to Euijoo.
Nicholas wipes away the sauce dripping from Euijoo's lips with his thumb, and Euijoo could feel his heart thumping all of a sudden.
Without a word, Nicholas continued to feed him the entire bowl.
"I'm full" Euijoo says, after the bowl is nearly empty. "I will throw up if I eat more"
Nicholas laughs. "Okay, I won't force you" he then picks up the tray from the bed and puts it aside.
"Rest now, you deserve a good sleep" Nicholas says, gently caressing Euijoo's hair, who stares back at him fondly.
"Thank you" Euijoo says shyly.
"Anything for you" Nicholas says smiling.
Today was the jacket shoot for their comeback, Euijoo was wearing a sleeveless shirt for todays shoot. He was actually freezing to death.
After his shots were taken, he came to sit down curled up against the wall, hugging his knees.
Nicholas notices him, and sits down beside him. "You good?"
"Yeah, it's just a bit chilly today" Euijoo says.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Nicholas frowned. He immediately took of the jacket he was wearing for the shoot and hands it over to Euijoo.
"No, it's fine you don't have to" Euijoo refuses.
"Juju, you're freezing, wear it. Wait I will get you a blanket" Nicholas springs up, and runs up to the staff.
Euijoo just sighs deeply. He didn't like it that he was causing this much inconvenience.
Nicholas returns with a blanket in hand, walking up to Euijoo, and draping it on him. K and Fuma walk up to them.
"What's with this special treatment?" K raised his eyebrows, seeing Nicholas wrap Euijoo in a blanket while they are on set.
"Juju is cold. Fuck the stylists for not giving him a jacket" Nicholas says, his tone full of annoyance.
"But I think Euijoo looked hot in this outfit" Fuma says, winking at Euijoo who gave a shy smile in return.
Nicholas narrowed his eyes at Fuma. "Yeah of course he does. There isn't a time he doesn't look hot. But they should also care about juju, he's the leader. What if he falls sick wearing sleeveless?"
"I'm also wearing sleeveless though, where's your concern for me? I thought I'm the leader too" Fuma adds, crossing his arms while K laughed at him.
"Nah nothing is happening to you" Nicholas says, smacking his arm lightly.
"You're just biased" K teases.
"He's our leader and my best friend" Nicholas defends. "Of course, it's my job to take care of him"
"He's so in love" Fuma says nudging K's shoulder as they observe Nicholas sitting down next to Euijoo, holding his hand tightly, so he doesn't feel cold?
"Here hold my hand, it's warm" Nicholas offers, grabbing Euijoo's hand in his own.
It was quite cold today, but Euijoo could feel the heat emitting from his face at Nicholas being so touchy and caring about him like this.
They were done with the shoot, and now everyone was rushing back towards the dressing room to change back into casual wear.
"Juju wait!" Nicholas calls, and Euijoo turns around to find Nicholas running towards him.
"What happened" Euijoo asked, in concern.
Nicholas bent down on one knee, and grabbed Euijoo's shoelaces which were untied. He carefully tied both of his laces and then looked up to Euijoo smiling.
"Your laces were undone, you could have tripped" Nicholas says, flashing a smile.
Once again, Euijoo felt his heart start racing at an abnormal rate. Lately Nicholas has been really giving him the princess treatment, and Euijoo doesn't want to believe things which might not be real.
"Thanks nico" Euijoo replied.
In the dressing room, Euijoo was leaning back in a chair, tired from the days shoot. Nicholas comes to stand beside him. He gently places his hands on Euijoo's shoulders and starts gently massaging them. Euijoo whipped his eyes open.
"What are you doing" he asked.
"Your muscles seem stiff, should I massage you tonight?" Nicholas offers.
Euijoo turned red at the offer, he started coughing all of a sudden. "It's alright"
"If you're stubborn, then I am too" Nicholas says. "I will be in your room tonight"
There actually was no point in arguing with Nicholas. He always won.
Yuma walked into the dressing room, watching the two having a very intimate moment.
"Nicholas you don't give this premium treatment to anyone else. What is juju to you? A princess?" He teases.
"Shut up, he's your leader and hyung" Nicholas says. "And yes a princess to me" he pinches Euijoo's cheek gently who slapped his hand.
Taki walks in too laughing at what Yuma says. "I wish to be born as Byun Euijoo in my next life. I want someone to give me this treatment too"
Yuma immediately kicked him. "You only deserve this treatment though"
As promised, Nicholas had arrived in Euijoo's room to give him a shoulder massage. Euijoo sighs seeing Nicholas actually ended up coming.
"Here to give you the massage which was long due" Nicholas says, smiling as he walks up to Euijoo on his bed.
"You really didn't have to" Euijoo says, running a hand though his hair.
"You really need one" Nicholas says. "Anyways take off your shirt"
Euijoo widened his eyes. "What"
"What?" Nicholas stared back.
"Why do I need to take my shirt off?" Euijoo asked, his heart racing.
"Oh I got this massage gel, it would help release the stiffness around your neck and shoulders" Nicholas says, taking out the gel from his pocket.
Euijoo took a deep breath. It would definitely get weirdly intimate if he took off his shirt. "Can I stay in the tank top I'm wearing underneath the shirt?" Euijoo asks.
"Are you shy?" Nicholas raises his eyebrows.
"Something like that" Euijoo says, looking away.
Nicholas laughs. "You're shy in front of me? That's cute" he teases and then pats his leg. "Yeah fine you can keep the tank top on"
Euijoo took off his shirt, and he could see Nicholas eyeing him from up to down as he did so. He turns around, laying face down on his bed.
Nicholas sits down on Euijoo's lower back, as he starts applying gentle pressure on Euijoo's shoulder, massaging.
This had gotten way more intimate than Euijoo would have thought, and what the scary thing was that he liked it. He liked it when his 'friend' touched him gently like that.
"Euijoo hyung can I burrow your charge-" Harua stops mid sentence when he opens the door to find Nicholas in a weird position on top of Euijoo, massaging his shoulders.
"I'm sorry I interrupted" he immediately shut the door loudly before running away.
Euijoo immediately turned around, causing Nicholas to fall off of him and on the bed. "What was that"
Nicholas laughed. "Nothing, I guess Harua thought we were doing something else"
Euijoo's face and ears were bright red, and he was having a hard time calming his breathing.
"I think it's enough Nicholas" he says, avoiding eye contact.
"What, but I'm not done" Nicholas says.
"It's enough" Euijoo says, shoving him away. "Trust me I feel better now, thank you"
Nicholas looks at him in confusion but then eventually gets up from the bed. "Okay, rest well then" he reaches towards the door.
Euijoo let out a sigh of relief after Nicholas leaves the room. He didn't know he had been holding his breath for that long. His heart was definitely feeling things it shouldn't for his friend and bandmate.
But Nicholas also gives him an extraordinary treatment, which he doesn't give other members, so Euijoo could be delusional enough to think that Nicholas might actually like him?
It was the night before Euijoo's 23rd birthday. He was in his room, scrolling through Twitter and seeing fans already making edits for his birthday.
He suddenly hears a knock on his door. "Come in"
Nicholas peeked through the door, before walking in smiling. "Hi"
Euijoo waved. "Hi?"
"How's the birthday boy doing?" Nicholas says, settling down beside Euijoo on his bed.
"There's still a few minutes till it's my birthday" Euijoo laughs.
"Yeah, I know. At 12 all the members are gonna hog you and then I won't get time alone with you. So I decided to come early" Nicholas says, cuddling next to Euijoo, who lets him.
"I wanted to give you your gift earlier, so you can go out wearing it at 12"
Euijoo turned his head towards Nicholas. "What gift?"
Nicholas detaches himself from Euijoo, before taking out a box from his pocket. He then gently took out a watch shaped ring. Euijoo mentally gasped seeing that. It was the ring Nicholas had been wearing lately. Did he get Euijoo a matching one?
"I got you this ring, which is matching with mine" he said showing off his own finger.
"Oh my god, seriously?"
Nicholas grabbed Euijoo's hand who widened his eyes at the sudden contact. Then Nicholas gently slipped the ring on his finger. "Happy birthday juju"
Euijoo stared at him, and then at the ring in disbelief. It had to mean something.
"Thank you nico" Euijoo replied, smiling.
"Did you like it?" Nicholas asked, his eyes sparkling.
"I really do" Euijoo replies, grabbing his hand. "But..I want to ask something"
Nicholas furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you want to ask?"
Euijoo hesitated. He hoped it would not turn out badly. "Well, I have been noticing since a while now that, you treat me differently from the others, and even this gift and this moment. It feels way too intimate..I wanted to ask like—like are we friends or like what are we?"
A smile started spreading on Nicholas's face slowly. He caressed Euijoo's hand. "What do you want us to be?"
Euijoo blinked. "I don't know, I'm confused by this all. Shouldn't you like—at least tell me or clear things to me"
"Gosh I thought I was obvious with my actions. I been dropping hints since years. Did you finally notice" Nicholas says sighing.
"Yeah, I been noticing but then again I didn't want to be delusional until you said it to me" Euijoo says.
Nicholas turns his head towards Euijoo before gently putting one hand on his nape, turning his head towards him. He leans forward and tilts his head to attach his lips to Euijoo's, who in return was frozen at his place.
As they part, Nicholas stares into Euijoo's brown eyes, almost drowning in them. Euijoo could feel his heart pounding out of his chest.
"I like you" Nicholas confesses.
Euijoo blinks, in disbelief. All his theories were proven right. Nicholas indeed, liked him.
Euijoo shyly turns away from him. "I think this is the best birthday present" he says, hiding his face in his hands, not being able to face Nicholas.
Nicholas envelopes Euijoo in an intimate hug, and kisses his forehead, and then his cheek. He's about to reach for his lips once again when suddenly
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY EUIJOO" the door is burst open, and the remaining 7 members stood there holding a cake.
"Oh shit, wrong timing" Taki says.
"Yeah look at their faces, full red. This indeed was a wrong time to barge in" Maki says looking around at the members.
Euijoo and Nicholas immediately separate. "Come in guys" Euijoo says, trying to act normal but was failing miserably.
K comes forward to smack Euijoo's shoulder, teasingly. "Seemed like you already got your birthday gift"
Euijoo blushed hard at his comment, shoving him away.
"Nicholas won once again, he was the first one to be here" Fuma whines.
"Are we even surprised?" Harua adds.
Euijoo laughs at them. "Thank you guys, means a lot" he appreciated the effort put by his members.
After they cut the cake, slowly everyone started disappearing from his room, but Nicholas was still there beside him on the bed.
"You want to sleep here tonight?" Euijoo asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah" Nicholas answers, smiling. "And also I been waiting to hear the confession back from you, you still didn't" he sulked.
"Oh" Euijoo put a hand on his leg. "Sorry, I thought I conveyed it that I like you too, by saying it's the best birthday ever"
Nicholas grabbed Euijoo's face, giving him a kiss on the cheek, and then lips.
"I love you juju. To many more birthdays with you, my princess" Nicholas says smiling at him.
"I love you too nico"