Chapter Text
Seokmin has been feeling a bit impulsive lately. Packages have been piling up so consistently in their dorm that his online shopping habit was brought up as a suggestion for a SVT Club segment. He laughed it off during the meeting because all of the new producers were there, and over half the members voted him the king of shopping. It made him feel seen in a way he wishes he hadn’t been, and he didn’t realize the members had really noticed, since the rest of the dorm was a mess anyway, despite being newer and bigger.
But he didn’t want to seem like he didn’t have a sense of humor about himself because Seokmin takes pride in his sense of humor about himself. Before he knew it, the camera crew was at the dorm, and Shua was told to casually walk into his room and ask what he was doing.
“Shopping!” he replies, determined to keep it light.
When shopping in person, always surrounded by at least a few members, he tends to get insecure about his own taste. He still shrivels when he thinks of the one time he showed a pair of pants he liked to Seungkwan in store, only to have him raise an eyebrow in response.
“Aigoo, hyung,” he’d said, before flitting back to the rack where Vernon was.
Others like Mingyu or Minghao always looked cool in a way he couldn't conceptualize for himself. He’s always stuffing his hair under a beanie when he can’t iron the curls flat. He hears stylist noonas make comments about which pants will or won’t fit his hips and thighs when they think he’s out of earshot. He cares about his appearance, and he tries hard, but he has a difficult time feeling confident about it.
While Shua is there for filming, Seokmin finds himself having to defend his new shirt, similar in a way he hadn’t entirely noticed to the other shirts in his closet before it was pointed out on camera.
“There are subtle differences, I don’t have this thing,” he explains before his hyung stands unexpectedly, saying, “Shall we look at your wardrobe?”
They’re on camera, so Seokmin gamely opens his closet doors, dismayed to find himself in the wrong. He does indeed have several blue and white striped button down cotton shirts. Very much like the blue and white striped button down cotton shirt they just unboxed on camera. Very much like the shirt Jeonghan wore a few months ago to a fansign.
On Jeonghan’s narrow frame, the oversized shirt had skimmed the tops of his thighs. The blue stripes had brought out the new reddish tones in his hair. They had been seated next to each other during the fansign, and occasionally under the table, Jeonghan would pinch his thigh, never breaking eye contact with the Carat in front of him. Jeonghan was like that sometimes, trying to see what he could get away with. And Seokmin never stopped him.
So maybe he had been thinking of those secret pinches as he bought what he’s now realizing is essentially the same shirt, over and over again.
“You went too far,” laughs Shua, not even knowing the half of it.
The filming in the dorm concludes without much incident, and they eventually shoot the roundtable interview as well. However, a lingering uneasy feeling remains when he looks at his closet each morning, the seven or eight identical shirts hanging there, teasing him.
And the shopping continues. He keeps buying headphones and bluetooth speakers. He wants to know if each one sounds different. Jeonghan has a new white baseball cap, and suddenly Seokmin finds himself mindlessly browsing baseball caps online. He buys a few. Summer is coming up.
To everyone’s delight, the members are allowed to take a much needed break in LA in between tour and comeback preparations. Jeonghan asks if they could be roommates at the AirBnb, casually, just as they’re leaving dance practice. He’s tying his shoes by the door, kneeling down in front of Seokmin, not meeting his eyes.
“Yah, Seokmin-ah. Would you room with hyung again?” He pauses. If Seokmin hadn’t been so tired, he might have noticed the careful way Jeonghan let the question sit in the air for a second before continuing breezily, “You know I’m a light sleeper.” He looks up at Seokmin, with slightly pursed lips, blinking slowly.
Seokmin is grateful for the sheen of sweat and flushed skin he already has from dancing. He nods. “Of course, hyung.”
While Wonwoo has told everyone he wants to record their time in LA, determined to put together a music video for their new song, they’re not being filmed otherwise. They even have a break from their managers hyungs, who are staying in another place nearby. Once they arrive in LA and get to the house, it’s already late, and the other members disperse to various bedrooms and couches. It becomes obvious he and Jeonghan will be sharing a bed, not just a room. It’s nothing they haven’t done before.
The air in the bedroom is muggy, and they get changed quickly. They’re both quiet when they’re tired. Seokmin knows he should shower off the stale travel grime. Jeonghan is half asleep beside him already, leather duffel still on the bed. He decides he doesn’t care. There’s no production crew to surprise them in the morning with prying cameras. No one to see his greasy hair, starting to curl a bit and get textured at the roots. No one to catch the morning wood they always cover with their large hoodies. So Seokmin stays in bed, his eyes closed.
“See you in the morning,” he hears Jeonghan whisper quietly, and he feels a pinch on his thigh.
The next day some members go to an amusement park or out to eat. Jeonghan says he wants to take a scooter to do some clothes shopping nearby. Shua and Wonwoo agree to accompany Jeonghan to film. They glance at Seokmin, who gulps. He remembers Seungkwan’s comment last time they were shopping. He thinks of the clothes he buys online that he opens in secret and throws away when he doesn’t know how they make him feel. He’s being looked at again. He’s taking too long to answer.
Soonyoung and Mingyu walk past, and Seokmin does a 180 to follow them, “I said I’d go to the grocery store, actually!”
“Bring me some…” Jeonghan starts.
“Chuck flap tail, I know hyung,” Seokmin finishes, thankful for the excuse to leave.
After going grocery shopping and coming back to the AirBnb, lots of kimchi, beer, and beef in their possession, they walk around the neighborhood. The sun is harsh, and Seokmin is grateful for the baseball cap he brought. The group at home starts drinking early, and eventually the others return from their various outings. Once Wonwoo is there, Soonyoung is eager to be on camera, wiggling around and making everyone laugh.
They play Holiday on a bluetooth speaker Seokmin brought, his favorite amongst the ones he’s tried. When it gets to the chorus, Soonyoung, barefaced with bleached hair frizzy, giggles as he starts thrusting his hips in time to the tropical flutes. He’s already a little day-drunk. Seokmin, tipsy as well, throws his hands in the air, imitating the moves. Minghao and Mingyu walk by and join in. They’re all facing each other, faces red, laughing.
Seokmin can see Wonwoo holding the camera steady a few feet away, smiling into the viewfinder. He sees Jeonghan observing from further back. They meet eyes, briefly. Seokmin’s cheeks prickle, and he looks down, the bill of his hat covering his face, and goes back to dancing.
At dinner, they’re fully drunk. The house has a backyard patio with string lights where they’ve set up some cobwebbed tables by the grill. Seokmin finds himself eating one seat away from Jeonghan, Shua in between them. He looks closer at his hyung beside him, who’s changed for dinner. Shua’s wearing a blue and white striped cotton button down shirt, which he’s left half open, although it fits him a little more snugly than Jeonghan.
Heat rises through Seokmin’s body, already warm from the alcohol and from a slight sunburn. He doesn’t fully recognize what he’s feeling before he impulsively presses play on his phone, Holiday blaring through the backyard from the speakers.
Soonyoung, who had been mid-bite and mid-conversation immediately jumps to his feet, thrusting his hips, and Seokmin quickly joins, eager for the distraction. The other members get up, too. They’re all laughing again, the noises echoing, moving together to a clear space next to the table, years of practice synchronizing their movements, even their drunken swaying.
It’s humid. The baseball cap he’s wearing feels tight on his head. His stomach is still churning. He doesn’t know why. They’re all crowded in each other’s space. He feels Soonyoung’s hips grind behind him a little. He himself is practically pushed into Seungkwan who’s bent over, taking a breath.
They’re all thrusting in time to the music, facing the center but looking down at the ground mostly, no one quite meeting each others’ eyes. But he looks to his right, and Jeonghan is there, staring at him already. The eye contact lasts a second too long, and with another wave starting deeper in his gut, he grabs his hyung and pushes him to the center of the circle. Shy for a second, Jeonghan pauses before laughing and thrusting with even more gusto.
The night continues like this, rowdy but sweet, until they each calm down, one by one. Jun and Seungcheol are off to bed early, followed by Soonyoung. With the loss of Soonyoung, the energy in the backyard takes a turn, and people start yawning. As the other members trudge inside, Seokmin sees Jeonghan standing still, looking at him from the other side of the table. Seokmin blushes, but busies himself, and finds Mingyu, offering to help with the cleaning.
From behind him, he hears faintly, “Seokmin-ah, I’m going to bed. Keep the…”
“Keep the lights off when I come to bed, I know hyung.”
Seokmin turns, and they share a brief, sleepy smile. Jeonghan looks like he’s going to say something else, but then turns around and waddles back toward the house. After helping clear the table, and pile the trash to deal with in the morning, Mingyu and Seokmin turn off the string lights, and finally go inside. After they part ways, Seokmin realizes how late it is. The house is quiet, and most everyone is asleep.
Keeping the light off, he enters his bedroom, rummages around for a change of clothes and his toiletries. Despite being drunk and in the dark, he finds them with ease, years of being Jeonghan’s tour roommate under his belt.
In the shower, Seokmin lets the water run too warm. It stings as it falls on his shoulders and neck. He presses his forehead on the cool tile in front of him, head swimming. He thinks about when they were all dancing together. The hip thrust dance silly, until it wasn’t. Maybe the others were just having fun. But when Seokmin looked up, he saw members looking down at the ground, bottom lips caught between their teeth, focusing on the hollowing out of their backs before scooping their pelvises up, legs wide.
He thinks about Jeonghan’s large eyes piercing him when he got back from shopping, a few steps behind a lovestruck Wonwoo filming Soonyoung. Jeonghan’s eye contact before Seokmin felt compelled to pull him to the center of the circle, daring him. Jeonghan’s look when he was watching Seokmin clean up after dinner. An invitation?
He thinks of Shua’s chest in that shirt, the way he filled it out more than Jeonghan. Was it Jeonghan’s shirt? Why was Shua wearing it? Why did Seokmin buy a half dozen matching shirts if he could have just worn Jeonghan’s? When he could smell like Jeonghan? Feel the same fabric brush against his skin as Jeonghan? The pinch on his thigh during the fansign. The pinch on his thigh last night.
Seokmin is hard, forehead still pressed against the tile wall of the shower in front of him before he catches up to his thoughts. He looks down at his cock, just as red as his sunburnt cheeks. It’s not like he hasn’t had these thoughts about Jeonghan before, alone in a shower. But he’s normally not so inebriated. And he’s normally not about to share a small bed with the same man occupying his lusty thoughts.
He doesn’t think it would be responsible to go to bed without some sort of release, so he takes a step back, lets his right hand wander down, gripping himself loosely, left hand in front of him, keeping himself steady against the wall. He’s drunk, so he doesn’t know how loud he is when he quickly cums. An instant weight leaves his chest afterward, blood flowing back to the rest of his body, and he turns the water off. If Seokmin hadn’t been so tired, he might have noticed the way Jeonghan's body stiffened when he tiptoed back inside their room, and crawled into bed.
Weeks later, it’s the middle of comeback season for You Make My Day. They’re making it through successfully, even coming away with a few wins. Despite the late nights of practice and long hours in music show waiting rooms, summer albums put them all in a better mood.
It’s Friday and they’re at Music Bank, nominees for first place, and they’ve decided to do an apple ponytail on the encore stage if they win. They’re all sitting, antsy after performing, the Going Seventeen filming crew making the cramped quarters of the waiting room even smaller. The cameraman is focused on Jeonghan and Shua, on the other side of the room.
Seokmin is on his phone, browsing through Coupang by himself. He’s not trying to watch them, but his eyes keep wandering. He sees Minghao in the opposite corner reading, and he admires the way he doesn’t seem distracted by what’s happening around him.
But Seokmin is distracted. Shua and Jeonghan have gathered Soonyoung and Chan as well, and they’re bent over a bag, all talking over each other. Jeonghan looks up and sees Seokmin staring.
“Come here, Dokyeom,” he calls, cracking a smile, but he has a look in his eyes Seokmin can’t place. He’s barely made it over to the group before he realizes they’re playing rock, paper, scissors. Seokmin throws up scissors at the last second, but loses, not even having heard the punishment yet. The glint in Jeonghan’s eyes intensifies as he claps loudly, and orders Chan to start unwrapping sour candies from the bag.
Seokmin still feels a step behind, Jeonghan’s eyes boring into him. “On your knees,” his hyung says, “Don’t suck on it. Don’t chew on it yet.”
The gut punch feeling shocks him again, heat rising to his face, but Seokmin finds himself making eye contact with Jeonghan as he slowly kneels to the ground in front of the group, hands on his knees. The film crew is here after all, and Seokmin has a good sense of humor. He opens wide, and Chan, Soonyoung, Shua, and Jeonghan each put a sour candy in his waiting mouth.
“Now chew them facing the camera,” Jeonghan demands with a giggle, pointing to his right at the cameraman, but keeping his eyes on Seokmin, trying to see what he could get away with. And Seokmin doesn’t stop him.
He eats the sour candies, and they’re not too bad, but he puts on a little show anyway, exaggerating the taste, wanting to be good.
“Let’s do seven candies this time,” Jeonghan says, forcefully.
Another game of rock, paper, scissors. Another loss. Seokmin’s jaw drops, and he tries to complain before Jeonghan says, “You lost on purpose to eat this, right?”
Seokmin doesn’t have a response. He sinks to his knees again, opens his mouth, this time bracing his hands on the bench behind him. As he steadies himself, feeling several sets of eyes on him, he feels like he’s revealing something about himself that he doesn’t have a name for yet.
This time as he’s chewing, it really is too sour, and he’s dissociating slightly as he hears Jeonghan narrating to the camera, “Can you see how Dokyeom enjoys that candy?”
Seokmin’s cheeks flush again, tongue numb, and he doesn’t know what’s due to sourness, what’s due to humiliation, and what’s due to arousal.
Later they’re onstage, and the confetti cannon shoots as it’s announced Oh My! has won first place. As promised, they all grab hair ties from their pockets to pull the fronts of their bangs into ponytails. Seokmin finishes his hair and turns to find Jeonghan beside him. He still has the intense look from earlier in his eyes, but he’s holding the hair tie flimsily, rolling it back and forth between his fingers.
“Hyung,” Seokmin starts. Then pauses. His tongue is still numb from a few hours ago, and every time he feels it sting, his stomach flips again. The look in Jeonghan’s eyes softens slightly. He pushes the hair tie into Seokmin’s hand. Seokmin knows what’s being asked of him, even though Jeonghan doesn’t say. He tries to be gentle, and hopes Jeonghan doesn’t feel the way his fingers are shaking.
“Yah, you can pull a little harder if you need to. Hyung can take it,” Jeonghan says quietly, but Seokmin hears him even with all the noise on stage.
Seokmin then feels him pinch his forearm.
Later that night, Seokmin is in his room, tired after a shower, hoping to pass out quickly. He goes to his closet to grab some sweats, and as he slips them on, he sees all of his blue and white shirts hanging there, like they’re teasing him. His mind flashes back to earlier in the day, and he shakes his head.
Did he really get on his knees, mouth wide open, and let his members put candy on his tongue? On camera? He nervously looks behind him, his open bedroom door leading out to the hallway.
Without thinking he takes a few large strides and closes the door. He turns around, back against the wall, and surveys what’s in front of him. It’s not a big space, but it’s all his. Unlike earlier today, he had been lucky during rock, paper, scissors a few months ago and scored one of the few single rooms in their new dorm. It’s the first time since before he was a trainee that he hasn’t had a roommate.
Beside his closet, he has a pile of boxes. Some of them are already empty, but haven't been recycled yet. He didn’t want to deal with Mingyu’s fussiness about how to break the boxes down, and get a lecture about how they won’t fit in the shared bin. He knows he’s just making it worse by hoarding garbage in his own room, but Seokmin hasn’t had the energy to care lately. Some of the boxes are still unopened, and he’s honestly forgotten what he’d ordered.
With the door still closed, he turns off the light, and makes his way to his bed. His tongue is still a little sensitive. He can feel the phantom pinch on his forearm from when Jeonghan had told him to pull his hair harder. In the silence, he can hear his heart beating, and the blood whooshing in his ears. He can tell he’s half hard already.
He reaches inside his sweats to press the heel of his hand down against himself. He squeezes his eyes shut. This is the main benefit of having a room of his own. All the other members are home, some watching a movie in the living room, some in their own rooms. Jeonghan was in the kitchen when he saw him last. No one will come in here though, not when he has his door closed.
A thought flashes through his mind. Would he like it if Jeonghan burst in and saw him like this? Saw him with his hand under the waistband, the tenting of his sweatpants obvious?
He groans and can feel his dick jump a little at the thought. He wasn’t expecting to like being on his knees so much today. With everyone looking at him. He grips himself through his boxers. With Jeonghan looking at him. He squeezes.
He thinks of how he braced himself while he was on his knees today. He felt sure that this was what Jeonghan wanted from him. Jeonghan’s stare was so intense. He didn’t even smile when he called Seokmin over to play the game. He’d been watching Seokmin watch him. Did he get off on it? Knowing Seokmin was only pretending to browse on his phone? Had he been saving the bag of sour candy for exactly a moment like that?
Seokmin has pulled his cock out of his sweatpants and is fully jerking himself off at this point, and he’s not going to last. A bead of precum rolls down his shaft, and he uses his fingers to gather it gently at the head, his skin slick, and then he pumps his fist down to the base of his cock, the glide smooth.
He cums with a gasp that he covers with the crook of his arm, as he remembers Jeonghan saying, “Can you see how Dokyeom enjoys that candy?” eyes blazing and a sly edge to voice.
His breathing ragged, Seokmin lies in the darkness for a few seconds more, before he reaches for a tissue. He’s still feeling flushed. Earlier today felt different. He feels like Jeonghan was egging him on, but for what?
Seokmin knows some of the other members have certain arrangements, either with each other or with other idols, to varying degrees of seriousness and frequency. Vernon and Seungkwan have been inseparable for years. Wonwoo and Soonyoung had always had something, but it seems to have gotten more serious recently. Seokmin remembers the look Wonwoo was giving Soonyoung, as he was filming him dancing in LA.
Even though Seokmin is also a 97 liner, Mingyu was the one who had all the friends and hookups. Everyone wanted to fuck Mingyu. Jaehyun has. Seokmin scoffs. He couldn’t even talk to Jaehyun in middle school, because he was so handsome, and Seokmin was awkward.
Other than some desperate making out and hurried handjobs here and there, between him and whoever was closest and willing (Mingyu sometimes, Minghao once), and a very misguided teenage blowjob from Soonyoung in the corner of the Melona basement after hours, Seokmin doesn’t have much experience.
It’s also hard to think of hookups for himself lately when he thinks so much about Jeonghan. He always wonders about Jeonghan and Shua. He doesn’t entirely know what’s gone on between them, and he’s always too scared to ask Jeonghan about it.
He remembers Jeonghan’s body leaned in close toward Seokmin so he could hear him, fiddling with the hair tie between his slim fingers today on the encore stage. What would today’s orgasm have felt like if it was because of Jeonghan’s delicate hand? Seokmin has to squeeze his eyes shut and will the arousal out of his body.
The next morning, Seokmin has just finished breakfast, and he’s bringing his plate to the sink when Jeonghan comes in from the front door of the dorm. He sees Seokmin and walks over, nudging his chin against his shoulder affectionately.
“Han River was beautiful this morning, Seokmin-ah. You should have seen it.”
“I didn’t know hyung was out on a walk,” he replies softly, hoping the pouting isn’t too obvious from his voice.
“Ahh, that’s too bad,” Jeonghan says nonchalantly, nudging him one last time, before starting to head off to his room. He casts a glance over his shoulder.
“Did you not hear me leave since you had your door closed?” he asks rhetorically, as he continues to walk away, catching the fact that Seokmin was watching him leave, breakfast plate still held dumbly in his hand, hovering above the sink. Seokmin sees him smirk as he turns back around and heads down the hallway.
Later that month it’s announced they’ll be filming another MT, the first in two years. They’re told to pack overnight bags, and that they’ll be driving to the location themselves. Everyone is buzzing with excitement. Even though they’ll be filming, it will still feel like a nice break.
On the day of the trip, they’re lined up for opening ments in the parking lot. It’s a brisk September morning, and Seokmin is eager. He can’t stop holding the straps of his backpack at the front of his chest, as if he’s waiting for the bus in elementary school.
He knows that Jeonghan is one of the three drivers, and he’s working through how to get in his car without appearing too obvious when suddenly he tunes back into reality, hearing Seungcheol say, “Randomly, we’re not going to tell you who is driving which car.”
“Ah, so we just get in the cars without knowing who is going to drive them?” asks Seokmin, speaking out loud for the first time today, but cursing internally.
Mingyu goes on to explain for the cameras that one car will be going to the market while two go straight to the house. Seokmin is licking his lips, a habit that Jeonghan pointed out one time, and Seokmin had frozen in place, mouth halfway open. He must have had a look of panic in his eyes, because Jeonghan had softened and said, “No, don’t be shy about it, hyung thinks it’s cute,” and then patted the top of his head patronizingly. The embarrassment made his face fully flush.
But it’s a habit still, one he does when he’s anxious, and he’s doing it now, not totally listening to Mingyu, who is still talking. “Let’s get going,” says Seokmin, already starting toward the cars. Soonyoung, ever the MC, interrupts to finish the ment, and makes them shout their slogan first. After a rushed “Seventeen’s TTT!” Seokmin is the first in the line of members racing to the parked cars.
Mingyu and Soonyoung pull forward, squealing, stopping at the first car. So Seokmin decides to get into the second car, in the backseat, right as he sees Shua get in the shotgun. Vernon also joins them. Minghao then opens the driver’s seat door. Seokmin’s heart drops for a brief second, before he joins the others in cheering.
Minghao shakes them off, “I just came for a while,” he says, and then walks away, leaving the door open. Seokmin hears footsteps behind the car, and turns to look.
“It’s Jeonghan hyung!” he exclaims before he’s even really sure.
But it is. Seokmin grips both sides of the headrest in front of him in excitement. As Jeonghan settles in, Seokmin gulps. He hadn’t realized this morning, he had been so eager to be on the road, but Jeonghan is wearing that shirt. Of course he is, just Seokmin’s luck. Jeonghan keeps brushing his hand through his hair, pushing it off his forehead, and Seokmin catches whiffs of his shampoo.
Jeonghan is driving casually, with one hand. Seokmin is having a hard time not focusing on how sexy it is. He puts his hand on the seat in front of him, and Jeonghan’s shoulders graze his fingertips. Seokmin focuses on his breathing. It’s not overly warm in the car, but he can feel his neck and face starting to heat up.
He feels like he’s flying a little close to the sun for being so early in the MT, so he eventually leans back in his seat, but he still finds himself fidgeting. He’s been told he jiggles his legs frequently, and their managers will point it out when monitoring their variety show appearances. He feels himself doing it now, and holds onto his own leg to keep it from bouncing. After that stops working, he sits on his own hands to keep still. Seokmin clears his throat. He needs a conversation to distract him.
“Has anyone seen the movie Wolf Children? It’s an animation. So it’s about…”
Seokmin licks his lips again. Swallows hard. He can feel his knuckles curl into a fist under where he’s sitting on them. “I’m bad at explaining things like this.”
Jeonghan bursts into an open mouthed laugh at that, and the sound zings through Seokmin’s body. He then proceeds to tell the car about the time he and Seokmin had gone to see King Kong in theaters, and Seokmin did a poor job recapping the plot when Jeonghan got back from the bathroom, just pointing at the giant gorilla on screen and saying, “That’s King Kong.”
What Jeonghan’s version of the story doesn’t get right is that when he had asked Seokmin what he’d missed while he was in the bathroom, he had leaned over the armrest between them, and put his hand on Seokmin’s thigh for support. He tilted his head into the crook of Seokmin’s neck and whispered his question.
Goosebumps had raced down Seokmin’s spine, and suddenly the entire plot of the movie left his mind, leaving behind faint buzzing. He tried to tell himself that Jeonghan’s proximity was due to some misjudged depth perception in the dark theater. But Jeonghan had nudged his nose to his shoulder. Maybe an accident. Then he did it again. Not an accident.
And they were at the movies alone, without the other members. Jeonghan hadn’t invited the others. Just Seokmin. So all he could do was point and say, “That’s King Kong,” trying desperately to keep his cool.
At the time, Jeonghan had laughed a little, quietly, then started to bring his head back, removing his hand from Seokmin’s thigh. If the buzzing hadn’t been so loud in Seokmin’s head, he might have noticed Jeonghan pause and hesitate slightly, before sitting back up fully.
Now recollecting the abridged story in the car, Jeonghan meets Seokmin’s eyes in the rearview mirror. There’s heat to the gaze, incongruous with the gentle laughing and teasing he’s doing. Seokmin sits on his hands again, licks his lips, and breaks eye contact first.
The day goes by quickly, as MTs tend to do. Seokmin’s car goes to the grocery store, they play hours of foot volleyball, they cook, drink, and swim in the pool. They play games to get out of cleaning and to distribute various punishments. Jeonghan takes charge in front of the camera, as usual, directing the activities and their rules.
Hours later, the crew has left, and the members are slumped on couches and the floor, hanging off of each other in that clingy, late-night way. The combination of food, alcohol, chlorine, and 12 hours of filming has softened Seokmin’s sense of shame. Jeonghan had not yet asked him to be roommates, like he did before in LA, and he’s pouting.
He finds himself blatantly staring, and he can’t make himself stop watching the way Jeonghan’s sharp cheekbones rise, smiling sleepily at something Soonyoung says. Jeonghan is leaning back, sinking into the couch, his legs spread wider than he normally lets himself on camera. Jeonghan catches him looking. He raises an eyebrow, but Seokmin doesn’t break eye contact this time. Jeonghan stands up, and Seokmin stands too, moving to follow him.
Once they’re in the hallway, away from the other members briefly, Jeonghan asks quietly, “Did you want to share a room?”
“Please, hyung,” Seokmin whispers, hoping he doesn’t sound too desperate.