After an intense month of promotions and performances, their second comeback period was coming to a close. He knew it was too early, but Coups was beginning to feel a sense of security about Seventeen’s popularity, and just like the rest of the members, he was excited to see it grow.
They had planned a meal in celebration of the end of their promotions, and as promised, Coups was paying for Jeonghan. There’s a lot of them, so they split into two booths, and Seungcheol took his seat next to Jeonghan along with Soonyoung, Jihoon, and Seokmin. The waiter promptly came over to hand out menus, and Jeonghan began to scan his while Seungcheol’s face begged a silent plea of 'please go easy on my wallet'. The longhaired boy looked at the leader for a second, and then returned his eyes to the menu as a lazy, but smug smirk appeared on his face. One certainly not suited to an angel.

Seungcheol took the moment to stare at the “angelic” boy’s face, just for a little while. Man, he looked so tired. And pretty. But mainly tired. They often made fun of the fact that Jeonghan is the sleepiest member of the group, but for someone who enjoys sleeping so much, he sure hadn’t been getting much sleep recently. Seungcheol had found out that Jeonghan’s instance of staying awake through the early hours of the morning was not just one instance. He knew this because he had (slightly creepily) stayed awake to see if it would happen again after the first time he witnessed it.

“Seungcheol.” Jeonghan spoke up, making the leader jump.

“Hm?”

“It’ll total up to like, 15,000 won for me, is that okay?”

“There’s the angel I like to see!”

“Oh, but dessert though…”

“Oh my god, get out of my life.”

They both laughed, and Seungcheol could feel Jeonghan’s breath on his face. Another thing that he felt was pathetic for being so affected by it.

Their laughed died down, and Seungcheol thought for a moment. Jeonghan was a hard person to read. One moment, he’d be so bright and full of laughter, but it wouldn’t be unusual if within the next couple of hours he decided that he didn’t want to talk to anyone for the rest of the day. It was like that even in the pre-debut stages. He could be sociable when he wanted to be. Otherwise, he was always off to the side, as if he didn’t know why he was there.

“Jeonghan, I’ve gotta ask. Are you sleeping alright?” He knew the answer, but he didn’t think the longhaired boy would give it to him.

“Yeah, why?” came the reply. Just as expected.

“You look really tired. Actually, you’ve been looking pretty worn out for a while now. You know me, I get worried.”

“Are you saying I look ugly?” Jeonghan laughed, while Seungcheol attempted to defend his words.

“No, no! I’m just saying—“

“I know, I know. I get that you have to worry about your members and all that, but I’m fine. I do have a bit of sleeping trouble, but it’s not a big deal. Don’t waste your time worrying.”

“Well, for the record, I don’t believe you, but I won’t bother you about it. Just take care of yourself, okay?”

“Pay for my dessert, and I will,” the younger boy said with a devious smile.

“Man, get out!”

They both laughed until Woozi interrupted them.

“What are you two so giggly for? We’re the younger ones here!”

That only made them laugh harder.

When they returned to the dorms, Coups was still thinking about Jeonghan. Their conversation hadn’t eased his worry at all. If anything, it increased it. That evening, the younger boy was wrapped up in his bed with his phone, the screen lighting up his exhausted face. Seungcheol approached him with a grin.

“Don’t tell me,” Jeonghan murmured. “I look tired.”

“Yeah,” the older boy chuckled. “You good?”

“I’m great,” he replied, with a look on his face that said ‘I’m obviously not great.’

“Wanna chat?”

“Chat about what? This isn’t another leader pep talk, is it?” Jeonghan said, smirking a little.

“And what if it is?”

“I’ll throw my phone at you.”

As always, there’ll be no answers out of Jeonghan without being direct.

“Why is it that you’re in a good mood one moment, and then you suddenly hate everyone?”

Jeonghan seemed a little taken aback, but then he laughed, putting his phone down.

“First of all, I always hate everyone,” he started with a joking tone. “Secondly, I think those are called emotions. I have them. They do stuff, I dunno.”

“Don’t be a sarcastic bastard, you know what I mean. It seems like you just shut down sometimes.”

“I agree with that. I can’t really help it though, so. Yeah.”

“You bottle stuff up a lot, right?”

“Yes, doctor,” Jeonghan mocked.

“Well, my diagnosis is you should talk about it more.” While Seungcheol was talking, Jeonghan was sinking further into his bed. “I don’t want you to get disconnected from the group because you feel like you have to deal with your issues alone.”

Jeonghan let out a muffled sigh, his mouth covered by his quilt.

“Gotcha,” he said indistinctly.

Seungcheol knew that he was overstaying his welcome, and decided to call it a day. Jeonghan probably wouldn’t listen, anyway.

“I’ll leave you alone now, then,” said the leader, turning his back to the sleepy boy. He began to head over to sit with his other roommates.

“Seungcheol.”

The older boy stopped, and turned back around.

“Yeah?”

“Uh, thanks for asking, though,” Jeonghan said, before rolling onto his side, facing away from him.

“No problem,” Coups responded, unable to contain his grin.