Work Text:
Ff6600 was a horrible colour.
Sure it could be styled if it was paired with the rainbow.
But alone? That just gave Iwol ptsd for editing Choi Jeho’s outfits in his past life.
It was unflattering, garish and obnoxious even on Choi Jeho.
But at some point, Iwol stopped hating the colour as much as he used to.
For their promotions this time, spark had a very vibrant colour palette. Luckily it still suited everyone’s individual style well.
Because of this Iwol had to go through the process of dying his hair a bright pink colour as the fans loved it so much during speaker promotions.
This time however, Iwol had another colour in his hair.
It was orange.
Not just any orange: ff6600.
A borderline traumatic colour all because of Choi Jeho and his unusual gravitation towards it.
Those stupid swimming shorts were a main factor at the beginning.
Iwol couldn’t let the Center Emperor Choi Jeho go outside wearing those.
It just didn’t match his palette.
To Iwol’s great dismay, Choi Jeho still got away with wearing them.
Even worse, he didn’t even look that bad…
Iwol’s pink and orange hair was striking. It made him look brighter, younger, happier.
His pale skin perfectly complemented it- not remotely looking washed out.
He didn’t look sickly anymore, just colourful and beautiful.
Jeho noticed how much Iwol had changed for the better ever since the coma.
He slept more, he worked less, he had people to rely on, and he had fun.
All things Kim Iwol should have always done but didn’t because of his stubborn mindset.
Iwol was even being open with Jeho about more things.
Obviously Choi Jeho never overstepped, remembering how Kim Iwol had a nose bleed at his house.
But they still talked.
They were probably the closest to each other.
They played basketball ball in the night and practiced together during the day.
Iwol took pride in his wins whenever he beat Choi Jeho and they’d chat until they got to the dorm, shutting up when they get close so they wouldn’t wake the kids.
Sometimes, spark would huddle underneath the pizza blanket together.
It was such a large blanket because Iwol wanted it to cover Choi Jeho entirely.
So they watched movies and shared warmth with the blanket if they were feeling particularly domestic.
The kids were still quite hyper despite their ages now being in the mid twenties, so Kim Iwol and Choi Jeho were left on the sofa alone with the blanket across both of their laps.
Neither of them particularly cared for tv.
Jeho could hardly see the screen since he always forgot his glasses, and Iwol just wasn’t particularly invested in the plot of whatever was on.
Since Kim Iwol was slowly getting better sleep, he even napped during these times.
Jeho made sure he was sufficiently covered by the blanket if this happened and he’d just sit and watch Iwol sleep peacefully, unconsciously checking if he was breathing or not.
One day, Kim Iwol had leaned towards Jeho while napping and randomly, Jeho decided to stroke Iwol’s hair.
He thought it might help Iwol sleep better since his family used to play with his hair as a child.
Kim Iwol’s hair wasn’t overly soft or anything.
It had been dyed many times in the past but due to vigilant care, it wasn’t remotely dry.
It curled slightly at the ends and was easy to wrap around Jeho’s fingers.
It was nice.
That was what Jeho deduced.
Iwol woke up to see Jeho’s hand on his head.
He didn’t dislike it. He just asked a simple question.
“Do you like playing with my hair?”
“Mhm.”
Jeho made a small hum of agreement as he continued to fiddle with Iwol’s hair.
Iwol didn’t mind the fuss, so Jeho simply continued.
This ended up being a common practice between them whenever they were sat next to each other after this.
Even if Iwol was awake, he’d lean towards Choi Jeho and let his hair get played with.
Iwol liked physical touch. It was nice. Especially since he was touch starved in the past.
So as well as leaning on Joowoo’s shoulders, he now had a person who would practically pet him.
Under the comfort of the pizza blanket, the two became closer than ever.
Choi Jeho was quite fixated on Iwol’s hair since this ritual began.
But ever since he had orange streaks in it, Jeho seemed even more interested.
It was weird how much he liked the colour. It’s not anyone’s typical first choice. Iwol supposed Jeho was just a weirdo in his own right.
He’d watched the man cover Kiyeon’s face with a banana leaf on television.
His favourite colour wouldn’t be the strangest thing about the man.
Jeho started playing with a particular patch of Iwol’s hair everyday.
It was a small orange section near the back of his ear.
Because of how much Jeho would touch it, the hair in that spot started to poke out slightly.
Iwol ended up nagging Jeho about it as it was something the stylists would have to fix but he didn’t tell Jeho to stop.
Jeho’s hands were surprisingly soft despite Iwol’s initial impression of them.
They were big, so surely they’d be rough.
But they weren’t. They were smooth without callouses.
Iwol found this out whenever Jeho’s hand would accidentally brush his ear and neck when fiddling with Iwol’s hair.
It was ticklish.
Still, it felt nice.
Iwol found it kind of cute that Jeho was mildly clumsy with such large hands.
Iwol found all of spark somehow cute.
Despite their stone cold ice prince faces, they were all so endearing and wholesome in his heart. Unfortunately, their cuteness wasn’t shared with the fans often enough.
He never thought that he would think of the emperor as cute, but here he was. Curled up next to him on a sofa while the emperor was playing with his hair and stroking his head with utmost care.
For a person with such harsh exterior, he was so tender and careful.
And he got embarrassed occasionally.
When that happened, Iwol would chuckle at the slight flush at Jeho’s ears.
They were quiet. Not talking much in this state.
Simply existing next to each other, they watched the buzz of tv or listened to the kids yap.
Spark seemed like a big family.
Iwol and Jeho were kind of like parents, due to their close age and also the affection they shared and everyone else were basically their children.
Iwol dubbed spark his kids since the beginning.
Choi Jeho also started to think from a similar stance after he helped the members more and more over time.
Iwol would ask Jeho to do something, Jeho would do it.
They’d cook for the kids, help them with their homework (although that was mainly Iwol) and assist them whenever they needed guidance.
They’d watch them when they were on the sofa next to each other and tease their hyungs about their relationship.
They weren’t dating or anything.
There was no need for labels. Especially in the idol world.
But still, it was entertaining for Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon in particular to tease their hyungs.
They’d talk about how Iwol’s hair stuck out and how funny it was.
Iwol liked to deflect from that conversation.
It mildly embarrassed him.
He noticed how that bit was curlier than the rest because of how often it was touched.
The orange was so prominent…
He originally thought it was hideous.
Who could even pull off that colour off?
He wanted Jeho to avoid the colour entirely as well.
But as time passed and as the members complimented it more, Iwol grew to like the colour.
It wasn’t bad.
Jeho liked it.
He liked Jeho.
Maybe that was all that was needed to like such a garish colour as well?