He's standing guard in front of another luxurious hotel room again, and he has to think hard before he remembers they're in Los Angeles now, the place not meaning anything to him as he stares ahead, at the (to him) mediocre-looking landscape in the fancy frame on the opposite wall of the corridor, head almost empty of thoughts.

Nothing much can be heard through the soundproof door, but then it opens and Wonshik turns his head towards it.

"Can you come in?" Jaehwan asks in a sad voice, pouting at his own feet as he stands in the crack of the door.

"Is something wrong?" Wonshik furrows his brow.

"Just— can you just come in?" Jaehwan pleads and lifts his red-rimmed eyes on Wonshik's face.

Wonshik swallows hard but steps into the hotel room when Jaehwan pulls it more open for him, shuffling to his messy bed in a huge white T-shirt and a pair of boxer briefs. Wonshik closes the door behind him and pops his earbud out of his ear, pressing the small button on it to turn off the mic, like he's learnt to do when Jaehwan wanted to talk to him in private, mostly about things that would get Wonshik in trouble. (Because Jaehwan has a habit of letting his tongue get loose when he drinks too much, and at this point he feels himself authorized to ask Wonshik about teenage love affairs and his experiences with .)

Wonshik turns back to the bed on top of which Jaehwan is perched with his legs crossed, looking awful. There are small sounds coming from the enormous television opposite the bed and when Wonshik glances at it, he almost chokes on his own saliva.

"You're watching ?" he asks in a shaky voice he'd be ashamed of if he had any control over his emotions at the moment, staring at the of a girl before looking back at a shrugging Jaehwan.

"Boring hotel sometimes helps me fall asleep," he says and pats the mattress next to himself, beckoning Wonshik closer. "It's not working right now."

The girl is wrapped in tight-looking black ropes, so Wonshik has no idea how that would be boring, but he obeys and walks to the bed with his cheeks ablaze, sitting down by Jaehwan's knee.

"Can we switch it off?" Wonshik squeaks and Jaehwan rolls his eyes before taking the remote into his hand. "So," Wonshik clears his throat, taking a deep breath to calm down, "what's going on?"

Jaehwan blinks up at him, the ever-present bags under his eyes sagging more than usual, dark purple bruises framing them, the whites bloodshot, and he looks miserable, more miserable than any other night.

"I'm so tired," Jaehwan breathes and there's not even the ghost of his roguish grin on his face; he seems so open and vulnerable, more so than he usually does whenever he asks Wonshik to go into his room. He looks tinier, too, like a child in grief, and if Wonshik still had the heart he's lost during his training, it would be breaking for Jaehwan now. "I'm just... so exhausted," Jaehwan sighs.

"You can't sleep again, right?" Wonshik asks and Jaehwan nods.

Wonshik looks around the room, seeing a bottle of whisky snatched from the mini bar sitting on Jaehwan's nightstand, two shots' worth of it missing.

"I can ask Hakyeon to get you those pills again," Wonshik says and Jaehwan finally laughs, though it's sardonic and unhappy.

"I've been over those for hours," he replies.

"How many?"

"Two," Jaehwan replies and he must see something on Wonshik's face that annoys him because he says, "I'm not an idiot, don't look at me like that; I waited three hours before drinking."

"So, um," Wonshik scratches the back of his head, "how can I help?"

"I don't know," Jaehwan mumbles, and then he's pawing at Wonshik's jacket, fumbling with the sleeve and scooting closer on the sheets, pressing his forehead to Wonshik's shoulder. "Don't you ing hate this - Armani suit you have to wear all the time? I'd be so pissed if I had to wear a suit all day."

"The other set's more comfortable," Wonshik answers.

Jaehwan lifts his head, blinking slowly at Wonshik with his eyebrows knit, saying, "It's the same model as this one."

"Yeah, I was— I was trying to joke."

Jaehwan watches him for a few more moments before he chuckles breathlessly, resting his forehead on Wonshik's shoulder again.

"Just stay here a little longer," he murmurs, and Wonshik doesn't reply, only lets Jaehwan lean comfortably into his side.

Jaehwan is indeed a little difficult, but Wonshik doubts it's entirely his fault.