Jeonghan woke up with a pain in his legs on his couch with nearly no recollection of how he got there.

He groaned and struggled to sit up, the sunlight streaming through the window telling him it was way past the usual time of waking. He flipped his tangled hair out of his face and stood up, earning a yelp from something on his floor. Still moderately groggy from his late waking, Jeonghan flipped a tangle over his shoulder and looked down, seeing a very much in pain Jisoo laying on his floor with his face scrunched up at the prospect of Jeonghan’s foot in his stomach.

“Oh.” He examined the boy underneath his foot. “Jisoo. Sorry.”

Jeonghan hopped off his friend and grabbed his phone in a groggy mess. He was aware that he was still acting drunk, and he had a vague memory of dragging Jisoo to a bar after his little Runaway Incident wherein he was almost hit by a car because he had his eyes closed so the tears wouldn't fall.

So if he was acting a little bit drunk, he didn't care (also he may still be repressing any leftover feelings from last night).

Jeonghan winced when he saw the insane amount of messages from Seungcheol, most of them apologies of some kind, but Jeonghan was fairly certain that the elder had no recollection of what he did wrong, so he didn't reply, only scoffed and carelessly tossed his phone across the island, where it slid to a stop just a hair before crashing to the floor.

“Ugh, Seungcheol drama is not what I need in the morning,” he groaned dramatically, throwing himself back over the island after his phone.

“Technically,” Jisoo said roughly as he pushed himself off the floor. “It's not morning.”

“Whatever, Superman,” Jeonghan moaned.

“Superman?”

“Get a cab before I throw something at you,” he muttered.

“Someone’s on their period!” Jun chirped, swinging out of the hallway. “I’m glad you two are finally up, I was wai--”

“Oh cork it Junhui,” Jeonghan sighed. “I have a fake boyfriend to appease.” He slid off the counter dragging his phone with him and waving mildly at Jisoo as the ginger man exited the apartment.

“What did you do this time?” Jun sighed, pulling a yogurt cup out of the fridge.

“I hung out with Jisoo. Oh, and I told him to stop treating me like a real boyfriend. Or his property.” Jeonghan called as he went down the hall.

“Hmm, have fun with that one.”

“Yep.” He slammed his door shut and got dressed, wearing a pair of jeans with a beige hoodie and his vans, leaving his hair down after brushing it. He then grabbed his phone, keys and wallet and exited his apartment without sparing Jun another glance.

He took a cab downtown towards the business district and stopped at a cafe to get iced raspberry tea before walking the rest of the way to Seungcheol’s apartment. He ignored the dirty glances he received from the passerby of clientele heading to some fancy restaurant for Sunday lunch or dinner or whatever. He stepped into the glass elevator of Seungcheol’s building and sipped his tea as he went up to the elder's penthouse.

The doors opened with a pleasant sound and he stepped in, toeing off his vans and setting his tea down on a nearby decoration table thingy.

“Seungcheol?” He called, looking around for the elder. When he got no reply, Jeonghan stuck his head in the kitchen. Seeing no one, he headed upstairs. He heard the shower running, so he decided not to bother his fake boyfriend and instead he went into Seungcheol’s room. It was actually clean, and Jeonghan wondered briefly if he had cleaned it in the last few days that he hadn't been at Seungcheol’s place, or if he had gotten bored and payed for the maids or whoever to clean his penthouse.

As he waited, Jeognhan scrolled through his social media until he came across a picture of Mingyu and Wonwoo from the night before. Mingyu had been Doctor Strange while Wonwoo was The Riddler.

He smiled at the picture and pulled up his messages with Mingyu, who he just remembered was his best friend. Not Jihoon, not Jun, not even Seungkwan.

To: my tall idiot❤️
Hey Gyu, what's up?

From: My tall idiot❤️
Nm, u?

To: my tall idiot❤️
Gotta talk to Seungcheol, ugh

From: my tall idiot ❤️
Ooooh, rough, let me know if you need an escape plan

To:my tall idiot❤️
Totally
Hey, it’s been awhile since we've hung out
You wanna do something this week?
Bestie?

From: my tall idiot ❤️
I thought you'd never ask

To: my tall idiot ❤️
Cool, just text me when u got an idea

From: my tall idiot ❤️
Sure thing love
😘

Jeonghan smiled at his best friend’s text, then abruptly had his phone taken from his hands. He glared at his attacker, seeing Seungcheol looking at his phone with a towel around his waist and his hair dripping onto his carpet.

He tried not to let the sight affect him and instead folded his arms across his chest, knowing it was useless to try and fight for his phone.

“Can I have that back?” He muttered.

“Who is ‘my tall idiot’? And why is he calling you love?” Seungcheol asked.

Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “It's Mingyu you , and he’s calling me love because he’s called me that since about halfway through my junior year in high school.”

Seungcheol frowned. “I thought the boys called you Hannie or Mom.”

Jeonghan shrugged. “Mingyu’s my best friend, he has rights.”

Seungcheol scoffed and tossed him his phone back before turning away from Jeonghan and throwing on a pair of boxers and joggers with a t-shirt before toweling off his hair.

“Thanks for coming over. We need to talk.” The elder turned back to face Jeonghan with a serious look in his face.

“Then talk,” he sighed, falling on his back and shutting off his phone.

Seungcheol didn't say anything, then moved over and sat on the edge of the bed as far from Jeonghan as possible. “Look, I don't want to do this. I don't want to fight with you until one of us snaps, because someone’s going to get hurt and I don't want that to happen.”

Jeonghan sighed. “One of us already got hurt, Seungcheol,” he muttered.

The elder looked distressed. “I know, Jeonghan, I know I really shouldn't have said those things these past two nights, it's just, seeing you with Jisoo made me upset, and I was pretty goddamn wasted last night too, and I just… I don't want to fight with you about this. Let’s just finish this the way we started, yeah? We only have two weeks left, Jeonghan, and I don't want to end things badly, if anything I want us to be friends afterward, and --”

“Look Seungcheol,” Jeonghan cut in, sitting up. “I don't want to fight either. But you have to understand, we agreed on being fake. We agreed on putting on a show for the public, and we do that, yeah, but we also have all this behind the scenes stuff that is entirely unnecessary. We can be friends when no one’s watching, but the pet names, the kissing, I think it’s best if we leave all of that to the people watching, not to keep behind closed doors. Okay?” He glanced at Seungcheol from the side.

The elder seemed more than happy with that agreement. “Yes, yes that’s completely fine. I just really didn't want to have to end this badly, and I just felt that--”

“Seungcheol.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Shut up. I’m not used to you like this, where's Mr. Arrogant, hmm?” Jeonghan playfully nudged Seungcheol’s shoulder with his own. “Now come on, I left my tea downstairs and I’m hungry, call up room service or whatever you have here. Catering?”

Seungcheol laughed and pulled him up. “I guess it counts as catering.”

Jeonghan nodded contentedly as they walked downstairs side by side.

It hurt him more than he expected to say what he had. And he didn't like it.

/     /     /

They ended up on Seungcheol’s couch with chicken wings and ranch on the coffee table as they marathoned chick-flicks, their legs brushing ever so slightly. There was still that thin, unbreakable layer that used to be nonexistent between them, as sharp as ice, at least to Jeonghan. He was hyper-aware of the minimal space between them, and he desperately wished he hadn't said anything on Friday night, and just let it happen. His heart was screaming at him to do something, anything, that would fix their situation, but he really couldn't think of anything besides pouring himself out to Seungcheol and hoping for the best.

Which he was adamant about not doing.

But he couldn't handle it. The hardly-existent brushes of their things, the feather-light touch against his hand every now and then as Seungcheol shifted on the couch, none of it was okay to him, it just drove him crazy.

Jeonghan didn't like crazy, but that was exactly what he had agreed to. That very first day he had unknowingly agreed to six weeks full of crazy, and right now, he was feeling it more than ever.

“Are you gonna eat any more?” Seungcheol’s voice broke into his thoughts .

Jeonghan started, jolting away from the elder. “What? Oh, no, I’m done.”

Seungcheol gave him a weird look, then shrugged and reached forward, pulling the box of wings into his lap to finish off.

Jeonghan shook his head to clear it the settled into the arm of the couch with his feet tucked up beside him, as far from Seungcheol as possible. He wanted nothing to do with guy drama, yet here he was, falling in love with the biggest douchebag he’d ever met and trying not to show it. Not to mention he’d had with said douchebag.

“You alright?”

Seungcheol voice had gotten raspy and deep in the five minutes Jeonghan had been lost in his thoughts and it startled him when the elder spoke. He blinked and looked at him for a second before nodding.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why?”

Seungcheol shrugged, his coffee eyes never leaving Jeonghan’s face. “You’re not here. Where’d you go?” He moved closer to Jeonghan tentatively, making him tense.

“N-Nowhere. I’m fine,” he stuttered, then cursed to himself when he saw Seungcheol’s eyes flash at his breaking voice.

“Jeonghan.”

He chewed his lip, then stood up, pulling at his hair. “Goddamnit Seungcheol, I can’t do this. I can’t keep pretending. It’s getting to hard to do this everyday, with everyone looking and whispering. I feel like I’m constantly being watched, and every day I wake up wondering what new rumors are floating around us, not to mention I’ve practically been branded as the campus for stealing you away from all the girls.”

Seungcheol blinked slowly before standing up and approaching him, setting his hands on his shoulders. “Hey. Don't listen to them. Okay? I don't like it when you're like this.”

Fed up, Jeonghan pushed Seungcheol off him and rolled his eyes. “You don't like it when I'm like anything, Seungcheol. Really, when do you like me? Because from what I can tell, you really don't. Is everything a charade to you?”

Seungcheol’s eyes were closed and his hands were still at his sides. “Jeonghan, stop.”

But he was too far in.

“No! You know what, I’m done here. I don't want to keep pretending Seungcheol, I just--” he choked on his words when he realized just how close he was to confessing. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and continued his yelling. “I can't keep this up! There's this layer, Seungcheol, that's between us now, and I don't like it. I don't like anything that's happening, and you’re not making it any better. How can you just act like everything's okay? Honestly, you should be an actor, you're so good at hiding your true emotions. How the hell am I supposed to trust you when I don't even know when the hell you're being serious or not!”

“Stop, Jeonghan…”

“Like hell I’m gonna stop!” He snarled, his hair flying everywhere as he animatedly stalked around the room. “You're a ing bastard, Seungcheol. You play with everyone around you. Like, what am I? Am I just a toy, a game? Just another person you toss out your door when our time is done? Because if so, then I’m gonna walk out right now. But you wouldn't even react, because you don't even know what emotions feel like!”

“Goddamnit Jeonghan, would you shut up? You can't just tell me that I don't know what emotions feel like, because you’ve experienced firsthand just how emotional I can be. You can't just walk away from what happened that night! You know just how broken I am Jeonghan, and you’re the only one who knows! For s sake, did you ever stop to think why you're the only one who knows so much about me without ever pressing for it? You never even ing asked, and yet here I am, pouring myself out for you yet again! I don't even know why I do it! You just have this hold on me that I can't ever break, and just by looking at me I feel you pulling me in and I can't ing shut my mouth! Goddamnit Jeonghan, how can you do that to me when no one else has? You're the only one I’ve ever known who can do this to me. And I ing hate it because I’ve never felt this way and I don't know how the hell to deal with it!”

Seungcheol was out of breath, and over the course of his speech he’d gotten so unbelievably close to Jeonghan, close enough that ever shuddering breath out of the elder's body, Jeonghan could feel on his cheeks.

“Seungcheol, I…” The words died in his throat as he looked up at Seungcheol’s coffee eyes.

The elder stared down at him. The ice had broken and now they were both drowning.

Jeonghan didn't know who stepped forward first to close the space between them. Maybe it was both of them at the same time, but the next thing he knew his lips were pressed desperately against Seungcheol's and his fingers twisted in his black hair. Seungcheol’s fingers dug into his waist, pulling him against his body. There was no space between them, their breath mixing as they stood there in Seungcheol’s living room, feeling the need to do nothing expect share in each other's presence. Their lips moved and slotted together so perfectly, and Jeonghan couldn't help but let a single tear fall from his eye. He brushed it away before Seungcheol even noticed and stepped back, letting his hand fall.

The stood there, staring at each other. How this all happened in one day, Jeonghan had no idea. 

“Two more weeks,” Seungcheol murmured, reaching up and brushing back a strand of Jeonghan’s hair.

Two more weeks indeed.

Jeonghan didn't know how we was going to handle it, but all he knew was that after those two weeks he was going to tell Seungcheol how he felt.

/     /     /

Jun sighed. He was bored. Jeonghan was out doing who knows what with Seungcheol, Mingyu and Wonwoo were on a date or something, and Chan was out with some friends who were in town. So he was left by himself in the emptiness of his sad, lonely apartment. Okay, he might be overreacting a little bit, but Jun did not like being alone for more than an hour at most.

He flicked through his messages until he came across a contact he almost forgot he had: ThugHaoHao. Sure he and Minghao had more or less gotten back together, but the kid was busy studying yesterday so he couldn't come to the frat party last night, and the last time he texted Minghao was at least three months ago.

To: ThugHaoHao

Hallooooo

From:ThugHaoHao

What do u want, Jun?

To: ThugHaoHao

I'm booooored afffffffffffff

From: ThugHaoHao

I'm studying

To: ThugHaoHao

You studied yesterday babe, entertain me

From: ThugHaoHao

Ugh, fine

Come on over

To: ThugHaoHao

Nah, you should get your fine over here.

From: ThugHaoHao

Jun.

you’re a pain.

Why can't you get ur lazy up and over here, huh?

To: ThugHaoHao

Bc, u said it ur self, I'm lazy.

And ik u love me and will come over

From: ThugHaoHao

I hate how much you're right.

I’ll be over in ten

If I open the door and you're on the couch I'm walking right back out

To: ThugHaoHao

:/

Jun turned off his phone and scrambled up to put on clothes. Sure he was in his pajamas earlier, but once Jeonghan and Jisoo left he found himself in the couch. Not that he cared, but Minghao did, so he threw on a pair of sweats and a muscle tank before combing back his now golden hair. He’d dyed it before the party yesterday to go with his ghost costume. It wasn't as pale as he would've liked, but it still looked good.

There was a knock on the door, so he called out, “it’s unlocked” before throwing a couple shirts in his laundry hamper and skipping out to meet his boyfriend. Minghao wore a pair of joggers and a tee with a hoodie Jun immediately recognized as his.

“Hey, I was looking for that last week,” he whined, falling in the couch.

Minghao shrugged. “Not my fault you felt the need to shower me with affection and give me your hoodies so I could, how did you phrase it back then, ‘remember your scent when you were gone.’” He plopped down on the couch near Jun’s feet and pulled out his phone.

Jun gave him a look. “Hey, you asked for one of them. Who was I to deny you your desires?”

“Yes, I asked for one. You gave me like, four.”

Not knowing how to reply, Jun stuck his tongue out at the younger before sitting up and falling back down on Minghao’s legs.

“Yah,” the sophomore muttered. “Watch where you throw your weight.”

Jun pouted up at him. “You’re so rude.”

“Mmm.” Minghao continued to scroll through social media feeds or whatnot, his eyes focused on the screen of his device while his fingers began to softly tease Jun’s hair.

“I like the gold on you, it’s nice.”

Jun hummed in acknowledgement and closed his eyes, relishing in the way Minghao’s thin fingers gently tugged at his scalp as he played with his hair. Jun stretched out his legs, propping his feet up on the arm of the couch. Minghao poked his stomach. “You’ll lose feeling in your feet.”

“But my legs are long.”

“You have knees, bend them,” Minghao muttered, flicking his forehead before going back to teasing Jun’s hair. He sighed but complied with the younger’s demand, bending his legs a bit awkwardly so they fit on the couch. Jun was happy. Happier than he’d been a while, actually. It felt nice to finally have Minghao back. Sure, they still had some things to work out, like Minghao’s thoughts toward Jun tutoring Chan, and just Chan in general, because the kid was really just too clingy sometimes.

In a burst of affection for Minghao, Jun reached up and caressed the younger’s cheek, smiling at him fondly. Minghao glanced away from his phone and down at Jun, smiling back.

“I’m happy, Hao.”

“Me too, Junnie.”