The next morning Hansol woke up first. Seungkwan had one leg wrapped around him. The bruise on his cheek had gotten darker and Hansol hoped it would fade soon. He had hated his own dad for hitting him, but he didn't even have words for how he felt seeing Seungkwan like this. If he'd ever run into Seungkwan's father he wasn't sure what he would do to him. He carefully moved Seungkwan's leg so he wouldn't wake him and got out of bed.

He boiled some water for his instant coffee and shoved a bunch of papers out of the way so he had a place for his mug on the small table. He almost choked on his coffee when Seungkwan walked out of the bedroom a few minutes later. Eyes still heavy with sleep, messy hair, and the shirt that was way too big on him. He looked so darn cute.

Seungkwan rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat down across from Hansol. “Why are you staring at me like that? Is it because I look all puffy and unwashed?”

Hansol got up and walked over to him. He planted a kiss on his good cheek and smiled, “You're adorable. Coffee?”

“Always. It's not even a question.”

“I don't have much for breakfast, but I can go out and get some. What time do you want to go pick up your stuff? Your car is still over at the hangout, so we should probably get it first.”

“Oh, ehm, my dad should already be at work and it's Friday, right? My mom usually has her book club at eleven so she's probably gone by ten thirty. Don't you have work today?”

“I do, but I called my boss and he said it was okay if I come in later and just work the hours I missed after closing. There's always work to do even without customers. He's going to cover the shop for now.”

“You have a nice boss.”

“Yeah, he's all right. I just wish he could pay me more or give me more hours, but it is what it is. That's why I also work some other odd jobs here and there.” He got up and took his keys from the table. “Anyway, why don't you finish your coffee and take a shower and I'll go pick up your car.” Hansol said as he put a cup of coffee in front of him on the table.

“We don't have to go today if it's a bother to change your work and get the car and-”

“Seungkwan. I can understand you don't want to go, but, despite the fact that I could just eat you up with the way you're dressed right now, I really don't have enough clothes for the both of us. If either of your parents are there we'll leave right away, okay?”

<>

They arrived at Seungkwan's house and Hansol stared at the size of it. He knew Seungkwan's family was rich, but he didn't know they were huge-fountain-on-the-driveway-rich. He followed him inside and it almost felt impossible to him that Seungkwan went from this to his crappy apartment.

“Holy , Seungkwan.” Was all he could say as he looked around the entrance of the house.

Seungkwan was looking around anxiously and told Hansol to shush. He thought there was no-one there and approached the stairs when he saw someone moving from the corner of his eye. For a second he was afraid it was his father, but he found it was the head of their household staff. An older woman who always looked quite stern, but had never been unkind to Seungkwan. She looked at him, but didn't say anything. She also looked at Hansol who gave her a small awkward wave before she turned around and walked away without saying a word or even really acknowledging their presence.

“Was that your mom?” Hansol whispered, “She doesn't really look like you, no offense.”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes, “Of course that wasn't my mom, didn't you see the uniform? She runs household affairs around here. I guess she was instructed not to talk to me or something.”

“Oh...well, at least she didn't tell us to leave either. Let's go to your room quickly so we can get out of here. Not to be rude, but this place makes me very uncomfortable. Like...it's so big and spacious and yet I feel like it's suffocating me.”

Seungkwan sighed, “Imagine living here your whole life.” He guided Hansol up the stairs and to his room. He scoffed as he entered.

“What?”

Seungkwan pointed to the set of suitcases in the middle of the room. “I guess they expected me to come pick up some stuff.”

“There's a note on it.” Hansol pointed out.

Seungkwan took it and read it out loud: “Seungkwan, use these suitcases to take some of your things. Since you've decided to pursuit a lifestyle that we can't support I think you can understand we can no longer support you financially either. Your father has blocked your credit cards. I've convinced him to let you finish college, but that's the best I can give you. It's probably best if you don't come here as long as you insist on leading a homoual lifestyle. I hope you'll reconsider going to the facility your father suggested. I really think they can help you. We only want what's best for you. Think about the kind of life you're choosing now. If you won't change your ways, please think of our reputation too and keep your lifesyle to yourself.”

By the end of it he was shaking. He wasn't sure if he was more angry or sad. Hansol took the note from him and put it away. “Come on, let's get your stuff and get out of here so we can go and live our homoual lifestyle.”

Seungkwan did most of the packing since Hansol had no idea what he wanted to bring anyway. He mostly looked around and handed Seungkwan things whenever he asked for it. The neat and organized room was a sharp contrast from his messy apartment and Hansol felt the gap between the different lives he and his boyfriend had lived up to this point. He stopped to look at a pinup board on the wall next to Seungkwan's desk. It was covered with photos of Seungkwan and the rest of the Rubies. He wasn't sure if Seungkwan would want these, but he was afraid to bring up the topic of his friends. He was still looking at the happy faces in the pictures when he felt Seungkwan next to him. He didn't say anything, but Seungkwan reached out and removed all the pictures from the board. He made a neat pile of the photos and walked over to the suitcases to put them in one of the compartments.

The whole packing took a lot longer than Hansol would have thought, but then again, Seungkwan had a lot more stuff than Hansol could have imagined. He had a hard time narrowing it down to the limited space of his car and suitcases. When they were all packed and ready to leave Seungkwan took a look at his room and let out a big sigh he had been holding in.

“Are you okay?” Hansol asked carefully.

“Yeah. No. I mean, I guess. It's just weird, you know. My whole life packed in two suitcases.”

“Don't forget the stack of books on the backseat.”

<>

When they got back to the apartment and dragged all of Seungkwan's things upstairs it was really time for Hansol to leave for work. He didn't really want to leave his boyfriend alone right now, but he couldn't afford to not go to work. “Listen, I'll be home pretty late I think. Will you be okay all by yourself?”

“I'm not a child, Hansol. I think I'll be able to manage a few hours without you.”

“Just checking.” He leaned in and placed a quick peck on Seungkwan's lips.

Seungkwan watched Hansol's back as he walked out the door. He sighed. He almost let himself fall into a pit of self-pity, but he told himself to it up and do something useful. He looked around the messy apartment and knew how he was going to fill his time without Hansol. He took a deep breath of determination, rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

Hansol got home late that night. He wasn't sure if Seungkwan had eaten yet, so he picked up some food on his way home. When he opened the door he thought he had the wrong apartment for a minute. He walked to the table and was amazed at the fact he didn't need to shove anything out of the way before he could put down the pizza-box he was holding. He walked around, without having to step over anything, looking for Seungkwan. He was nowhere to be found however. He was almost starting to get worried when the door opened behind him.

“Oh, you're home! Welcome back.”

Hansol turned around and saw his boyfriend carrying a large bag of what seemed to be clothes. Seungkwan put the bag down on the couch. “Laundry.” He explained. “Obviously I didn't have a chance to fold it yet, but I had no idea what time you'd be home. I actually also have no idea what time it is. Besides this is the third load. You might not have that many clothes and towels and stuff, but you sure had a lot of them that needed to be washed.”

“Y-you went to the laundry room in the basement?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes, “Don't sound so surprised. I know how to clean stuff.”

“No, yeah, that's not what I meant. I mean like...was it okay? You didn't run into any of my crazy neighbors?”

“It was fine. I met the neighbor from across the hall, but when I greeted him he just sort of grunted at me.”

“I told you to ignore him. He drinks a lot.”

“Well, I greeted him and got ignored instead. People.” Seungkwan opened the bag of clean clothes and started to take them out to fold them. “How was work?”

Hansol walked over to him. “Work was work. It was fine.” He took the shirt Seungkwan was about to fold from his hands and put it back down. “Do you...want to take a bath together? I know my bath is tiny, but we can fit. From the look of this place you've been busy all day.”

“Now that you mention it...I feel pretty gross. And I probably smell.”

Seungkwan felt his tired body relax in the hot water with his back pressed against Hansol's chest. He felt him nuzzling his hair. “Thank you for making the apartment so nice, Boo.”

“Not to be rude, but it wasn't that hard to make it nicer than what it was. It was a huge mess.”

“I don't just mean the cleaning. The fact that you're in my apartment already makes it a nicer apartment. Before I just thought of it as a place to sleep, but today for the first time since living here it felt like coming home.”

<>

Mingyu was busy finishing a painting he was making for Soonyoung to replace the one that got damaged when Seungcheol walked in.

“Mingyu, we're going to catch Soon in a good mood and tell him to get over his .”

Mingyu put down his brushes, “Finally. Why now?”

“I just heard from my dad that Seungkwan's dad kicked him out last week.”

“What!? Why?”

“He wasn't sure, my dad said he was being pretty vague. Something about Seungkwan making bad life choices.”

“Do you think his dad found out he's gay?”

“I think it's definitely possible and if that's the case we-”

At that moment the door flew open and Soonyoung entered. He dropped his bag near the entrance and sat down on the couch with an exaggerated sigh.

“I don't think he's in a good mood.” Mingyu whispered in Seungcheol's ear.

“What's wrong with you?” Seungcheol asked of him.

“I went to get coffee and I saw Seungkwan and Vernon. They were at the coffee place. Drinking coffee. Together.”

“I see. What did you do?”

“Nothing. They didn't even see me because I hid behind a fake plant and eavesdropped for a bit.”

“That's mature of you.” Seungcheol normally wasn't one for sarcasm, but his friend's childish behavior brought it out of him.

“Shut up.”

“And? What were they talking about that has you all huffy and annoyed.” Mingyu asked this time.

Soonyoung was quiet for a moment before he declared, “They are like the cutest couple ever.”

Seungcheol and Mingyu looked at each other in complete surprise. That was about the last thing they had expected him to say. “W-what?”

“The way that Vernon looks at Seungkwan...like he's looking at the most beautiful thing in the world and has momentarily forgotten how to breathe. And not just that. Seungkwan was freaking out about all his schoolwork and assignments and Vernon calmed him down. Like...he actually managed to calm down Seungkwan in stress mode. He did it super casually too. He was just like 'here Boo try this drink it's really good' and offered him a sip of his drink in the middle of one of Seungkwan's rants and it totally calmed him down. If one of us had done the same thing he probably would have snapped at us.” Soonyoung let out a deep sigh before he suddenly jumped up.

“Gays, we're going out!”

“Don't you mean guys?”

“I know what I said. Let's go.”

<>

The parking lot was empty except for one car, one motorcycle, and three people. Two on one side, one on the other.

“Can you guys speak in a language I can understand?” The youngest and smallest of the three asked the others in a demanding voice.

“Sorry, it's just easier to speak in Chinese, you know.” His friend replied, but he continued his conversation with the other man so that everyone could understand. “As I was saying, it just came in yesterday. It's top of the line. You're lucky to get it.”

The tall slender man leaned back against his motorcycle and scoffed. “Luck? More like money. You never want our business, so I'm guessing you guys are real desperate for cash.”

“We're happy to take the next best offer if you've changed your mind.”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Let's just make the trade.”

The short man nodded and offered him a small brown package as he took an envelope from the other.

“Nice doing business with you. I guess.” He turned to his friend. “Come on, let's go. It's movie night.”

<>

Jisoo took the popcorn he just made from the microwave and carefully opened the hot bag, put the popcorn in a bowl and set it down on the coffee table in front of the TV. “Jun, what movie did you pick?”

“You'll see. By the way, Hansol. When is Seungkwan getting here? I think he'll really like this movie. Oh, maybe I should have picked a scarier movie so that he'll hold on to you when he gets scared, hehe.”

“Please no, I don't need my poor young eyes to see that.” Chan chimed in.

“Wait,” Hansol interrupted, “what do you mean what time is Seungkwan coming? You guys told me I wasn't allowed to invite him for our movie nights. Carrots only. Remember?”

“Oh yeah, I guess we did say that.” Jun said and he exchanged looks with Jisoo and Chan.

Chan shrugged, “Well, whatever. Just tell him to come over.”

About a half-an-hour later Seungkwan showed up. Hansol opened the door for him and let him inside. He looked at what his boyfriend was wearing and raised an eyebrow, “Are you wearing my hoodie?”

Seungkwan looked down at his clothes as if he had forgotten what he was wearing, “Oh yeah, I hope it's okay. I just wanted to wear something comfortable while working on some school stuff. When you called and told me to come over I forgot to change I guess.”

“It's fine, but that one is so old and it hasn't been washed in ages. Somehow you missed it with all the cleaning you did.”

“I didn't miss it. I just didn't wash it, because...well. Because it smells like you and it makes me feel calm.”

Hansol felt a blush coloring his cheeks and he quickly pulled Seungkwan to the couch and sat them both down so they could begin the movie. From the corner of his eyes he saw his friends laughing at how flustered he must have looked and he saw Chan mouthing the word whipped to him.

As Seungkwan was watching the movie with Hansol and the other Carrots he felt happy because he felt accepted by them, but at the same time it really made him miss his own friends. He got a little closer to Hansol and held him a little tighter. They were all startled by a sudden loud knock on the door.

_____________________

+I don't know why I bothered to write that whole trading part without names, it might be super obvious what was happening and who the people were? lol
+Boo Seungkwan is adorable. Just. Okay.
+Okay so, I ended on a semi-cliffhanger I guess? But the Rubies are finally getting their together (and getting on that Verkwan ship).

+Verkwan Vlive!!
+Seventeen trolling Mingyu by all posting bananas (Here's what I imagined happened: Mingyu posted his banana pic on Insta, the rest saw it and were like 'lol why is he posting a banana, let's all copy him')