notes: i am PROJECTING YES. i have an exam friday but screw that bc i am LOSING my MIND i have been imprisoned in this apartment for the past year so i need more fluff ok kinda inspired by this tweet

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jihoon stops at the front door, sighing. he’s reluctant to enter the apartment, wondering what sort of chaos awaits him inside.

his housemates are weirdos.

there, he said it.

and not in the normal sense - like leaving dirty dishes in the sink or anything of that sort. (in fact, jihoon’s the one who barely cleans up in the apartment, so there’s that).

here’s why:

jeonghan has got himself a couple of hobbies. he’d started off with legos, which is a safety hazard, because jeonghan assembles them in jihoon’s room, of all places.

jeonghan claims that jihoon’s room has the most space (read: most sparsely decorated), that’s why. jihoon doesn’t mind, because he can’t say no to jeonghan (favouritsm, much? heh) but sometimes jihoon stumbles into his room after a long, long day in the studio writing songs and he steps on a lego.

a free acupuncture from a stray piece of lego is definitely the best way to end his day as he passes out in bed (/sarcasm).

but jeonghan makes all these cool lego sculptures that he puts around their house, which is nice.

jeonghan has moved on from legos, because he doesn’t inhabit jihoon’s room anymore to tinker around. his new thing is becoming a dad to a pet, but of all the cute animals he could have chosen, he’d picked a rock.

an inanimate object. which is not an animal. 

jihoon won't judge, because jeonghan seems happy about it. the rock has a name (doljjongie) and it’s living its best life.

it sits in its own special box on its own special table with its own special flower arrangement of the day.

and inside ddoljong’s box is an assortment of miniature items, decorated so that the box looks like a tiny home for a tiny person (in this case, a rock), including a tiny bed, and a tiny piano, among other tiny furniture. there are even tiny golf clubs, which jihoon never expected to be a thing (is there even demand for such items? answer’s yes. tiny decorative golf clubs for tiny little pet rocks).

it’s kind of cute, in a way, but the idea of spending so much for an inanimate object is a bit… much; at least, in jihoon’s opinion. but it seems to make jeonghan happy (he claims that it’s a lot fun, setting up a home in their home for little ddoljjongie).

and since jeonghan is jihoon’s favourite hyung, he won’t question his life choices.

(at least a pet rock won’t take up much space.)

speaking of pets, soonyoung (who is another eccentric person sharing jihoon’s apartment) has his own niche interest. ever since he’d adopted a tiger fursona (god, whose idea was it?!), soonyoung had gone out of his way to grab anything and everything in the world related to tigers.

from tiger phonecases to tiger-printed clothing; soonyoung has found joy in collecting tiger plushies after realising how cosy and squishy they are. now he has a bunch of them lying around in his tiger cave room: big ones, small ones, realistic ones, cartoony ones… all of them fluffy variations of the same animal.

soonyoung firmly believes that he’s a tiger (or at least he’d been one in a past life), and goes around saying it to everyone, which gives jihoon second-hand embarrassment.

home should be a place where he can chill, and not grind his teeth with anxiety, wondering if he should refer his housemates (or himself) to a psychiatrist. 

jihoon takes a deep breath before he opens the apartment door, hoping to make a beeline direct to his room, avoiding any humans (or rocks or tiger plushies) that he co-habits with.

but soonyoung is lazing around on the couch, cuddling with one of his many tiger plushies as he stares at his phone.

the best course of action is to ignore him.

“hey, jihoon.” soonyoung calls out, as he pets the tiger’s head like it’s a real animal.

jihoon grunts back in response, spying jeonghan hunched over the kitchen sink. if jeonghan is attempting to cook, it would be another reason for him to flee and set up camp in his studio forever. everyone is familiar with the horrors of jeonghan’s cooking, which is why he’s banned from the kitchen.

at this point, he’s too scared to ask what jeonghan’s up to, but curiosity gets the better of him. “jeonghan-hyung, what are you doing?”

“ddoljjongie’s undergoing training.” jeonghan replies. the rock is sitting underneath the constant stream of water from the tap, and jeonghan is filming it.

“…okay.” time to yeet, jihoon thinks, as he grabs a bottle of cola from the fridge. “have fun.”

he hurries away from the kitchen area, but to get to his room, he has to go through the living room where soonyoung and his tiger awaits.

god, give me strength, jihoon shoots off a quick prayer to all the deities in the sky.

“which one d’you think suits me better?” soonyoung waves his phone at jihoon. he’s online shopping, browsing for more (MORE!?) tiger items.

jihoon doesn’t even look at soonyoung’s phone. “ask seokmin about it.”

as if on cue, seokmin bursts into the apartment, grinning from ear to ear. “look what i got!” he’s carrying a box as he barrels into the living area.

“what’s that?” soonyoung perks up with interest, setting his tiger aside.

seokmin begins ripping the box open, revealing the content inside; which is another box.

and inside that box is…

jihoon’s worst nightmare.

“my own pet rock!” seokmin hefts the tiny thing in the air like he’s mimicking that one scene from the lion king.

save me, please. jihoon keeps his expression as neutral as possible. not seokmin, too…

hearing the commotion in the living room, jeonghan flits over with his pet rock in his hands, wrapped up in a little towel. “oh, that’s nice, seokmin. it can be friends with ddoljjongie.”

“ooh, what should i name it?”

while everyone is distracted with seokmin’s new pet rock, jihoon inches towards the front door. maybe he could crash elsewhere - he can’t keep up with the pet owners’ high energy (he doesn’t have his own pet, so he can’t relate).

he wonders what wonwoo would be doing, reaching for his phone in his pocket. they could co-exist in the same space in peaceful silence, with no mention of inanimate objects as pets. (and maybe they could scoff over the three guys’ niche interest, for kicks. not jeonghan, though, because they respect him. and seokmin is literally a walking ray of sunshine, so they won’t roast him. laughing at soonyoung and his obsession with tigers is fine, though.)

there’s a text message from seungcheol, asking him about lunch. that had been hours ago - it’s almost dinnertime now. maybe he could hang out with seungcheol instead, because it’s been a while since they did, and he feels bad for not replying.

seungcheol would at least be normal, he thinks. seungcheol has a dog (the most adorable little ball of cotton fluff to ever exist in the whole wide world), so he has to be normal, right?

jihoon instantly calls seungcheol, forgoing texting. and on the first ring, seungcheol picks up, as if he’s been waiting for jihoon to call.

“jihoonie.”

hearing seungcheol’s voice, jihoon calms down significantly. “they’re going nuts.”

seungcheol doesn’t have to ask for details, he knows about jeonghan and soonyoung’s unique interests. “is seokmin there too?”

“mmhmm.” jihoon hums, watching the three men in the living room going berserk with their beloved pets. “let’s grab dinner.”

“sure. meet me at my place?”

“alright.” jihoon’s already halfway out the door, shoving his feet into his shoes.

“by the way. can you grab my sneakers?”

jihoon knows what seungcheol is talking about. a couple of weeks ago soonyoung had gone on a closet raid, borrowing (read: stealing) a couple of clothing items from seungcheol. a bucket hat, a couple of shirts. the hat is securely back in seungcheol’s possession, but soonyoung has held onto seungcheol’s prized sneakers longer than he should.

jihoon scans the array of assorted shoes in the doorway - no one seems to mind the organised mess - trying to find seungcheol’s shoes. he’s got to be quick, before anyone realises that he’s trying to leave.

the second he sees the designer sneakers, jihoon grabs them and bolts out of the apartment quicker than lightning. since seungcheol’s apartment is just a couple of floors down, he takes the stairs; the pitter-patter of his footsteps against concrete echoing in the stairwell.

he’s breathing deeply when he reaches seungcheol’s door (maybe a bit more endurance training at the gym would do wonders for his stamina; he’s been sitting around too much in the studio lately); and he rings the doorbell, hoping that seungcheol would open the door.

he’s glad when his wish comes true, because he’ll probably snap if he has to deal with anyone else (like seungkwan or chan).

“hey.” seungcheol lights up when he sees jihoon.

“got them.” jihoon holds out seungcheol’s sneakers to its rightful owner, who smiles brighter than ever.

“thanks so much, jihoonie. you’re the best.” seungcheol immediately puts them on. “this way, soonyoung won’t be able to take them from me. i’ll beat him up before he does.”

jihoon laughs at seungcheol’s half-joke, staring at the shoes. “they look better on you.”

“of course, they’re mine.” seungcheol pulls jihoon into a half-hug. “dinner’s on me.”

free food? jihoon’s not going to turn down seungcheol’s generosity. as they head out, seungcheol’s still got his arm looped around jihoon’s shoulder, which is nice.

like, super nice.

nice enough for jihoon to forget about his weird housemates.

and nice enough for jihoon to lean closer towards seungcheol, soaking in the warmth.

(seungcheol really does give magical healing hugs.)