“It’s been a week, Jihoonie,” Soonyoung mentioned from the kitchen as Jihoon went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. “It’s been a week since all of this Seungcheol stuff and you’re still rearranging your schedule to get away from him.”

Mingyu sighed from the couch and took a sip of his coffee. “Leave him alone, hyung. Stuff like this is hard.”

Soonyoung waited over the toaster and replied, “No, I get that it’s hard, but I mean, he shouldn’t be giving Seungcheol all this power over him. He should be able to live his life however he wants without having to worry about seeing him.”

Mingyu leaned back and glanced over at the bathroom door. “It’s not even that at this point,” he said, softly. “I don’t think he’s over Seungcheol.”

Resting in silence for a moment, Soonyoung let his toast pop up with a ding. “You’re probably right.” He took a bite as he groaned. “I don’t know how I feel about this Seungcheol anymore. Like, god, he was in love with Jeonghan and basically broke Jihoon’s heart and he’s STILL living with Jeonghan.”

“Don’t talk so loud. Jihoon’s actually been leaving the house lately, don’t remind him of why he didn’t.”

Soonyoung nodded. “Right,” he whispered. “But still, it’s all so messed up. How could he do that to him?”

“People do crazy things, hyung. And most of the time, they don’t mean to hurt anyone,” Mingyu reasoned.

“But this is insane. He was madly in love with Jeonghan and then he goes chasing after Jihoon. And now JIHOON’S the one who has to hide?!”

Mingyu closed his eyes and answered, “You’re just being protective.”

“Hell yeah, I’m being protective!” Leaning against the counter, Soonyoung furrowed his eyebrows. “And you should be too! That’s our Jihoon. For as long as I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him this hurt.”

“But I seriously don’t think that us hating on Seungcheol is what he needs right now,” Mingyu suggested.

Confused, Soonyoung tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

But just as he was about to answer, the bathroom door cracked open and a groggy Jihoon walked out. “I can literally hear everything you guys say,” he flatly said.

Feeling a bit guilty, Soonyoung straightened up and sat down at the counter. “Sorry, Jihoon.”

But Jihoon just batted his hand and headed back into the bedroom. “It’s fine, just thought you should know. Please be careful of what you say behind closed doors.”

Both Soonyoung and Mingyu felt their chests ache for their friend. He clearly wasn’t okay. “Are you heading out, hyung?”

“Mm-hm,” he muttered as he rolled a sweatshirt over his head and shoulders. “I’m gonna get some coffee.”

Soonyoung leaned forward and asked, “Not from downstairs, right?”

Throwing his backpack over his shoulders, Jihoon stepped back out. His hair was unkempt and his clothes looked rather crumpled, but obviously that didn’t matter to him. He had spent half of the last week just continuing to mope until he finally picked himself up, even if it was in the slightest way possible. He had to do a little bit of rearranging, but he managed to make his entire schedule “Seungcheol-proof,” which actually wasn’t too hard aside from leaving the house in the mornings. He had to push everything an hour earlier to make sure he wouldn’t run into Seungcheol in the hall, especially since the boy knew about his old routine. “Definitely not from downstairs.”

his lips in, Soonyoung nodded. “You gonna go study after?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon sighed. “I’ve got some big exams coming up and I haven’t really been studying right lately. I’ll probably be there all day.”

“Do you want us to go with you? We haven’t hung out in a while.”

“I see you every day.”

“Yeah, but…” Soonyoung stopped as he looked at his friend. Jihoon just stood in front of him waiting for a response. But Soonyoung couldn’t pull himself to say anything. He had seen this boy on so many mornings for so many years and it hurt him to see what was standing before him now, someone that looked so broken.

“But we miss you, Jihoon,” Mingyu finished.

Jihoon glanced back and forth from the two of them and cracked a small smile, the first one in a long time. He sighed and looked down at the ground. “I miss you guys, too.”

Surprised, Soonyoung’s eyes widened a bit. “Jihoon…”

“But I need to be alone for a little longer, okay?” Jihoon interrupted.

And he didn’t need to say anymore. Soonyoung and Mingyu understood. “Okay,” Soonyoung agreed.

“Just call us if you need anything,” Mingyu said as Jihoon headed for the door, with Soonyoung following behind.

“Thanks guys,” Jihoon nodded.

But just across the hall, Seungcheol was feeling anything but thankful. Jeonghan stepped out of the bedroom and rubbed his eyes. Squinting, he looked over by the front door and found Seungcheol pressed up against the peephole, intensely staring through it. “Seungcheol? What’re you doing?”

But Seungcheol didn’t reply. He just kept focusing on the closed door of apartment 917B. With this lack of a response, Jeonghan sighed and walked passed him towards the kitchen. “Still not talking to me I see.” No response. “That’s fine, I guess. I would definitely like to know why I’m getting the silent treatment, but fair enough. You do you.”

Still nothing. Seungcheol breathed heavily against the wooden frame.

“It’s really early, Seungcheol,” Jeonghan remarked, glancing at the kitchen clock. “It’s seven in the morning! Wow, it must be something important if you’re up this early.”

Nothing.

“Are you waiting for the mail? I remember at the old apartment, you used to always do that when you ordered something cool.”

Nothing.

Pouting a little, Jeonghan opened and leaned into the fridge. For the past week or so, Seungcheol had been acting like this, ignoring him and not talking. It was extremely discomforting in Jeonghan’s mind, especially since he didn’t know what was wrong. A small part of him feared that it had to do with what Seungcheol told him a couple months ago, but he brushed that idea off. “We’re completely passed that by now,” Jeonghan thought to himself as he looked over at Seungcheol’s back, concerned. “It definitely doesn’t have to do with that.”

Taking out the milk and pouring it in a glass, Jeonghan casually said, “Hey, I haven’t seen Jihoon around in a while.”

“Neither have I.”

Caught off guard, Jeonghan spilled outside of the cup, letting the milk splash onto the counter. He quickly controlled himself and put the gallon down as he reached for a paper towel. He looked up at Seungcheol, but his roommate was still in the same position. Furrowing his eyebrows, Jeonghan paused before he asked, “Is everything okay?”

Seungcheol sighed and pushed his arm against the door, finally letting his head tilt down from the peephole. “No. Not really.”

Jeonghan felt worried at how distraught Seungcheol looked. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Not really,” he thought. But his outer-self craved some form of human interaction at that particular moment. He stepped back and looked over at Jeonghan, eyes drooping. “Jihoon’s avoiding me.”

“Oh,” Jeonghan uttered, nodding slightly. He looked away as he put the milk back in the fridge and finished wiping off the counter.

“Yeah,” Seungcheol sighed. “And I’m trying to catch him before he goes out again.”

“How long have you been waiting?”

He shrugged. “An hour, maybe.”

Jeonghan, who was hearing all of this for the first time, didn’t fully know how to react. But Seungcheol didn’t blame him. He had no prior knowledge and no idea how this all started. “You can’t just go over there?”

Seungcheol shook his head. “I can’t. He would never open the door. I just have to wait to be in the right place at the right time.”

“So you’re watching the door.”

“I’m watching the door.”

“How long has it been?” Jeonghan asked, softly.

Seungcheol furrowed his eyebrows. “I just told you. Like an hour or…”

“No,” Jeonghan interrupted. “I meant how long has it been since you’ve seen him.”

Seungcheol took a second and just rubbed his forehead. “Too long.”

Jeonghan in his cheeks and nodded. Pausing to let Seungcheol’s situation soak in, he drank his entire glass of milk in one gulp. Slamming it down on the table, he walked over to the concerned Seungcheol. He stopped in front of him and gave a small smile as he firmly gripped his shoulder. “Keep watching.” With that and a friendly pat on the back, Jeonghan headed back into the bedroom.

Appreciative of the small gesture, Seungcheol grinned into his chest and let out a small puff of air. He turned back to the door and repositioned himself, but just as he looked through the peephole, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He felt his heart sink and sweat build on his forehead as he immediately flung the door open. Frantically, he jumped into the hallway and screamed, “WHERE’S JIHOON?!”

Soonyoung was standing with his toast in their doorway, leaning on the frame. Surprised, he didn’t know how to respond. “Seungcheol…,” he mumbled with his mouth full.

But Seungcheol barely even heard it. His eyes quickly shot down the hall. At the end just before the turn, he saw Jihoon’s profile right as he disappeared past the corner. And the instance he caught a glimpse of that pink hair and those soft lips, Seungcheol’s heart started racing. And so did he. “JIHOON!” Seungcheol screamed as he broke into a mad dash.

The familiar voice rang in Jihoon’s ears for a split second before he reacted. “!” he muttered. Without even looking back, Jihoon started running faster than he thought was physically possible. He could not see Seungcheol right now. No, he wasn’t ready yet. He just could not see him. Sprinting down the halls, Jihoon’s heart started beating rapidly as he became flushed with worry. He knew Seungcheol was athletic and had no clue how close behind he was. Making all the necessary turns, Jihoon just kept going as he heard, “JIHOON!” again.

Seungcheol was yelling into nothingness. It wasn’t until he turned into the longest hallway did he get another glimpse of who he was chasing. Thankfully too, because seeing the cute boy who he hurt so bad was enough to get him to run even faster. “JIHOON!” he cried out, heavy breaths following every scream.

But Jihoon refused to give in and it felt like the halls were never ending. Pumping his legs furiously, he skidded to a halt in front of the elevator, frantically pounding on the down button. “COME ON COME ON COME ON!”

“JIHOON!”

DING!

As soon as the doors opened, Jihoon slid inside and repeated the same process, trying to force the doors closed. “COME ON COME ON COME ON!”

“PLEASE! JIHOON! WAIT!” Seungcheol screamed, desperation just ringing in his voice. He watched as Jihoon got onto the elevator and hoped with his entire soul that he didn’t leave before he got there.

But it was too late.

Nearly tripping over his feet, Seungcheol forced himself to stop by smashing his palms against the edges around the elevator. Unable to catch his breath, Seungcheol stared between the tiny sliver the elevator doors formed just as they were about to close. He couldn’t even pull himself to scream anymore. Jihoon was fading away right in front of him. But just before the doors fully shut and Seungcheol felt his body give out in defeat, Jihoon flicked his head up and met Seungcheol’s gaze. For that split second, time slowed down. And they both stared into each other’s sad, hurting eyes.

Then the doors closed.

Seungcheol was gone. Gasping for air, Jihoon clutched his chest and slammed his body against the back of the elevator, letting his backpack cushion the blow. He was again drenched in the same pain that had been drowning him all week. His mind was racing with too many emotions. All of that hurt seemed to slap him in the face. But at the same time, he couldn’t get over how scared and frenzied Seungcheol sounded screaming out his name. He couldn’t erase the boy’s voice from his head. He couldn’t stop thinking about those big eyes. Those big eyes he hadn’t looked into for a while. He felt his heart strain from the exhaustion, but also from the confusion. As he was running, Jihoon knew more than anything that he had to get away. But for some strange reason, something inside of him made him second guess that instinct. Somewhere, there was a small part that...wanted to stop running. Even as mad and upset as he was at Seungcheol, he longed for him. Hearing that voice, that scream, just reminded Jihoon of what it was like to have Seungcheol around, and that confused him even more. How could he want someone who put him in this situation? Why would he crave someone he couldn’t forgive? And seeing Seungcheol’s face...made it all worse. How could he run away from that face? Completely shaken, Jihoon rubbed his cheeks and tried to contain himself. But he couldn’t. Flipping around, Jihoon gritted his teeth and smashed his fist against the elevator. Filled with so much confusion and rage and hurt and uncontrollable yearning, he screamed, “WHY DOES HE DO THIS TO ME?!”

Jihoon was gone. Still staring at the closed doors, Seungcheol couldn’t stop panting. He just stood there completely out of breath and tried to wrap his head around what just happened. His stomach felt like a pit falling in on itself. His eyes were stained with the image of Jihoon running away. His legs were shaking from all that speed. He knew he could’ve hit that elevator button and tried to catch up with Jihoon at the bottom. He knew that was an option, but something inside of him said not to do it. And then, he cracked the tiniest, most out-of-context smile. And as he stood there, trying to steady his breathing, it slowly got bigger and bigger. He leaned his forehead against the cold, metal doors and closed his eyes. With that massive, genuine grin chiseled across his face and satisfaction starting to replace his exhaustion, he whispered into his chest, “He looked at me.”

hope you guys liked that! i know the angst is just...we're getting somewhere XD thank you so so much for all your comments and amazingness! next chapter hopefully sooner I'm sorry for the week gap BUT I've already started so we should be good :)

PS! did you see my new poster??? its kinda really great i'm in love with it XD