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serim is the prettiest person alive, allen decides quickly, and it’s not just because he’s dating the man, but because everyone else seems to be falling in love with this man just as easily as he did.
it was normally never a problem, but since woobin has come along, allen has been scared that he’ll lose serim to the new addition of their friend group.
he should probably bring this up to serim soon, because soon he’ll be drowning in a puddle of his own guilt from feeling like this.
serim would never leave him though, he’s always going to be with serim, woobin be damned.
allen’s lecture ends and it’s finally time for the date that serim and him had set up quite a while ago, but unfortunately had no time to do with assignments being right around the corner. instead of feeling how he normally does before dates, especially after so long, he just feels uninterested, wanting to fall into his pillows and cry or something of that nature.
he walks back to his dorm, one he shares with the dreaded woobin of his nightmares.
“woobin!” he calls out, walking through the door, “i’m back!”
the other is watching their comfort show on the shared tv and allen immediately knows something is wrong.
“are you ok?” he asks, because despite not wanting to lose serim to woobin, he’s a nice person and will help woobin when they’re in need.
“uh… no,” woobin says quietly, “my ex-friends came up to me today…”
woobin stops, but it’s all allen needs to know where this is unfortunately going.
woobin’s old friends had started being very transphobic to woobin who had come out as non-binary, only politely asked them to use they/them pronouns, but instead of being nice and actually respecting woobin, they decided to misgender them, out them to anyone they could.
allen had heard about it quickly, being serim’s boyfriend and all, and so, as woobin’s roommate and friend, he knew he had to comfort them. it’s when allen decided to invite woobin to join his own group of friends, who were much nicer.
it was nice to see the change in woobin’s mood when being around their new group of friends. allen is happy that woobin is happy with them, so to see them so distraught over what happened today is breaking allen’s heart.
“i transferred out of all their classes after telling the administration, something tells me that something more server should have happened, but whatever, i guess, transphobia lives on yaaas. one transferred into my class, which meant the others were waiting outside. they just… started on me.
“i think i need to make a complaint about them. maybe put myself in that position again and record it so i can get something worse done to them like getting them kicked out of this fucking place.” woobin doesn’t normally swear, but when they do, it’s for a good cause.
moments where the focus is something else, allen can’t concentrate on the deep-running jealousy he feels for woobin.
“i can always help you if you need it. this is why i’m your friend now, to help you get through the rough patches, the others too.”
“thank you, to all of your friends as well. you guys were all so welcoming when i joined the group.” woobin tears up and allen rushes to his side, quick to comfort the crying person.
“hey, no, don’t say thank you, we’re only being decent human beings, unlike your old friends.” sometimes allen even forgets that woobin seems into serim, and that the two of them are getting closer day by day, and when they have moments like these, it’s easier to fall for seo woobin.
allen shakes his head. what is he thinking? woobin isn’t someone to fall for; he’s in love with serim! he’s serim’s boyfriend! he’s in a loving relationship with park serim, they love each other very much, nothing could possibly go wrong— there’s a ding from allen’s phone and he tenses up, eyes burning.
“allen? are you ok?” woobin has seemed to notice allen’s non-responsive body. he starts tearing up but decides to look at the notification anyway. it’s from serim.
selm <3
we need to talk
allen feels weak in the knees as he collapses on woobin, the other startling. woobin lifts allen from their shoulder, wiping the tears from his face, helping him by comforting him, even if they have no idea what’s going on, or what’s caused allen to break down like this.
he finally collects himself with the help of woobin and he finally opens his messages with serim. the last few messages with him are “i miss you”s and “i love you”s and then there’s a dreaded “we need to talk” that allen would rather just ignore.
they were supposed to go on a date, a nice date after so long since their last one, what happened to that?
selm <3
meet me where we’re supposed to have our date in an hour
he locks his phone and looks up to woobin’s whose eyes are filled with worry.
“is everything ok?”
allen wipes his eyes a bit, sniffling, “i-i don’t know,” he eventually says, because he doesn’t know. is this where they break up? serim has never been the one to send messages like that and he’s only heard horror stories on how things have gone and allen fears it’ll only go the same way with them.
the message just erupts allen into more tears and woobin decides to take him to their bathroom and washes allen’s face with water. he’s still hiccuping and the tears feel like a waterfall down his face. woobin sits him down on the toilet lid.
“what happened?” they finally ask, cupping allen’s face and rubbing their fingers along the older’s cheekbones. allen sighs into the motions, woobin’s fingers feel light but ground him to earth.
he sighs, opening his mouth to finally say something, “i was just overthinking things. then serim decides to send a message saying that he needs to speak to me.”
woobin nods their head, “oh, it’s important, i think you should go, no matter how bad you think the outcome may be.”
does woobin know? allen is confused at woobin’s statement but nods anyway.
“i’m going to go now, thank you ruby.”
woobin nods at allen, “of course, anytime.”
allen stands up from where he’s sitting on the toilet. looking at his face in the mirror, his eyes are red-rimmed but not puffy enough for it to really make a difference to his eyes. he washes his face again and quickly says goodbye to woobin as he exits the bathroom.
the walk to their meeting place is only a short walk, but allen still walks as slow as he can, trying his damn hardest to take all the time in the world to get there. it doesn’t even matter, he’ll eventually make it to the café anway, allen just doesn’t want to face serim at all, doesn’t want to know what his boyfriend has to say to him.
it seemed like woobin knew something about it, but he didn’t really want to ask. it shouldn’t be a surprise to him anymore, since woobin and serim are seemingly much closer than allen and serim.
when allen does eventually reach the café, serim is already waiting for him at a table.
it’s a simple café, not much meaning to the both of them, the perfect setting for a breakup.
“i honestly didn’t expect it to come to this,” serim says immediately as allen sits down, allen’s heart starts beating faster. “i’m happy with you allen. truly, i am, i love you so fucking much and i’m grateful for having you in my life. i am in love with you, allen, but i’ve also fallen in love with woobin.”
everything around allen stops and all he can hear is “i’m not in love with you anymore”, even if it wasn't even said in the first place. allen’s anxiety ridden brain can only believe that serim doesn’t want to be with him anymore.
“i don’t want to break up with you baby, please don’t cry.” when did allen start crying?
serim moves to sit next to his crying boyfriend and wraps his arms around his waist.
“a-are you going to break up with me?” allen pushes out.
serim shakes his head, rubbing the back of allen’s head, “not if you don’t want me to, no, of course not. i just… i guess i figured out that maybe i can fall in love with multiple people at once after suffering through it for so long, not knowing what was wrong with me. but i won’t date woobin if you don’t want me to, though. you’re my boyfriend first and foremost, and i want you to be the most comfortable with me,”
this could be worse, allen decides, because woobin is an amazing person and allen doesn’t blame serim for falling in love with them. allen would fall in love with them as well, with how nice they are, how amazing their— this isn’t the time.
“i’m… gonna need time, to process everything, i don’t think i’m ready for this change yet. i’m sorry.”
serim tightens his hold on allen, “don’t say sorry, please, woobin and i can work through it, they agreed with me that you come first. they knew you’d probably be upset over this and they said they’d wait for you. that’s if you ever do decide that woobin and i can date.”
allen sobs a little more, “i don’t want you to feel shackled down by me.”
allen has learnt in a lot of his life to never shackle down someone who doesn’t want to be. he’s let his past partners and friends go when they wanted to and has never even thought about keeping them back instead of letting them go. people need to be free and allen is not going to be a toxic human being.
“i-if you wanna break up with me for woobin i don’t mind. honestly, i want you to be happy, selm.”
serim shakes his head, “no,” he moves allen’s head so they’re facing each other, “i told you allen, i am into both of you, i feel very strongly for the both of you, but you’re my current partner. leon, i need you to be comfortable first and foremost. woobin said they’d wait and so will i. you’re the most important person to me leon.”
allen sheds a few more tears as serim tries to wipe them all away.
“s-serim.” he can barely get two syllables out before he bursts out crying again. a few people in the café look worriedly at him, and a worker even comes over to ask if he needs napkins for his tears. (allen only cries harder.)
“let’s get out of here, hey?” allen nods. “would you like to go talk about this with woobin? if not we can go back to mine.”
luckily for allen, serim holds up his hands and tells allen to pick which option he wants by tapping his hands so he doesn’t have to speak. allen taps the hand with the option to go see woobin.
serim grabs allen’s hand and gently guides allen to his car, opening the passenger side to let the younger in before hopping in the driver’s seat. again, the trip to allen and woobin’s shared dorm doesn’t take long, and it takes even less time being in serim’s car and all.
serim has to knock on the door to get woobin’s attention because unfortunately allen forgot his keys during his overthinking session.
woobin looks shocked to see serim standing outside the door, maybe not expecting him for obvious reasons, or maybe because allen is sniffling into his boyfriend’s chest, refusing to get out. (yes they did receive some stares walking from the car to the door.)
“is allen ok? nothing bad has happened right?” woobin asks wearily, not wanting allen to cause any scene by bursting out into more sobs.
“nothing’s wrong, ruby, i think he’s just distraught over this whole situation. he asked multiple times if we were breaking up during the conversation.”
woobin looks down at that, as if thinking that this is all their fault.
“hey, don’t worry ruby, none of this is your fault. allen wanted to see you, wanted to come and talk to you. i don’t think he’s mad, just anxious.”
woobin nods their head, shoulders falling in relief. serim looks down to see allen passed out in his arms.
“he must have passed out from exhaustion, poor baby. i’m sorry for making you go through this.”
allen stirs in his sleep, “‘s ok selm.”
serim smiles at his boyfriend, “i love you leon.”
“i love you too.”
woobin finally lets the couple into the dorm and serim sets allen down on the couch, letting the younger get a grip on his surroundings after falling asleep. serim sits next to him and woobin sits on the single couch across from them.
allen mulls about how he wants to approach this conversation. he… doesn’t think he minds, sharing serim. he feels like someone that needs to be loved, someone who needs more than one person to tell serim just how special of a man he is. allen doesn’t find himself caring about that person being woobin.
there’s only positive things that allen could say about them. he can’t think about a single negative that comes with having woobin as a friend. he knows the way woobin cuddles, the way woobin outwardly shows affection and love for all of their friends and it’s something so commendable.
allen finds himself sinking into the person that is seo woobin.
“i don’t mind if you guys date. just share serim with me ruby?”
woobin nods, “of course, serim is for the both of us, i would never try to take him away from you.”
they’re also someone who puts everyone else before their own. woobin is so selfless in a way that doesn’t even affect themself. they know when to put someone before themself, but they also know how to put themself first when it feels like helping others gets too much.
“you guys can kiss now or whatever.”
woobin and serim chuckle as they easily gravitate towards each other. allen feels a strange twinge of jealousy, but the confusing part is he isn’t sure just who he’s jealous of.
he… he wants to kiss woobin too, he recognises.
looking to serim, who has quickly made the first move, he still thinks he’s the prettiest person allen has ever laid eyes on, still feels the need to kiss the living daylights out of him, still feels the need to hug all of the love in his body to him.
he looks to woobin afterwards, the same feeling blooming in his heart. have i fallen for woobin too? he asks himself, and thinks back to earlier in the day. he not once thought about woobin in a negative light after learning about both serim and woobin’s feelings. he never thought about losing serim to a terrible person, to someone who only seemed natural to hate.
he loves woobin, they’re an amazing person and he knows serim will be stupidly happy with his new partner and him.
“leon?” allen shakes his head, serim is shaking his shoulders, trying to get his attention.
“are you ok?” woobin asks and allen looks up to them.
“kiss me.” he says as he stands up to face woobin.
the other looks shocked but kisses allen anyway. the kiss is soft and sweet but there’s so much determination in it, like allen and woobin need to prove something to each other. they separate and they stare into each other’s eyes.
“i think i want to be with you too, woobin.” woobin’s eyes widen.
“are you ok leon?”
“yeah, yeah, i am, i just think i realised something… i’m into woobin as well.”
the turn to each other, shock very evident on both faces.
“but you were just crying about us breaking up?”
“well… i’ve been thinking heavily these past few minutes… earlier today i even believed i was falling for woobin and seeing you two kiss was the cherry on top i guess. i-i also want to date you woobin, of you’ll date me too…” allen’s hand comes up to rub his forearm in embarrassment.
despite how allen feels, serim and woobin smile happily. they look at each other and woobin nods.
“i’d love to be your partner too, allen.”
allen feels his heart blossom with love at that and kisses woobin again. they separate when they hear serim whine.
“you want a kiss too?” woobin asks and serim nods, woobin gives him the kiss that he wants and allen laughs along.
“he’s a whiny one, be careful ruby.” serim whines again and the both of them laugh.
allen is going to be ok. serim’s not going to break up with him for woobin, instead, he gets not a break up, but a new partner. a whole new person for him to give all of his love to. a whole new person who can give him love.
he doesn’t know why he spent so long being so seemingly jealous over the fact that woobin and serim were getting closer to each other, it seems like such wasted time now that he’s here with said two being his partners.
allen grins up at serim and woobin and he drags them both into a big hug, as big as his arms will allow.
“i’m sorry about earlier,” allen apologises, even though he knows there’s really no reason for him to, “i hope we can be together through anything after this. i’m excited to see where our relationship will head from now on.”
and he is, allen has no reason to lie, especially not around seo woobin and park serim, his boyfriend and partner.