"I'm home."

"oh, Joochan-ah, you're back. Good job for today."
Daeyeol cheerfully greeted the return of the second youngest member with a hug and then ruffled Joochan's hair. His hand wrapped around Joochan's shoulder as he led him to the living room where the majority of the members were gathered to enjoy Jangjun's homemade dinner. Joochan then took a seat between Seungmin and Daeyeol, immediately received a pair of chopsticks and a spoon to participate in eating the dinner.

"I was almost going to watch your show today, but the manager suddenly told me to come to the company to discuss about the concert. So I can't come to your show," Daeyeol then said in between his mouthfuls, with a little difficulty because he had to endure the spicy stew made by Jangjun. (He couldn't protest anyway, because it still tasted good.)

"Ey, it's okay Hyung. Besides, the current condition is still prone to go out, you can watch next time when the condition is better." Joochan said without looking up from the bowl at all, too busy eating the kimchi stew which he somehow thought tasted very delicious that night.

He just waved his hand at Daeyeol, telling his brother not to worry too much about the show, even though in his heart, he knew that his brother really wanted to watch it. Even his brother mentioned it many times on vlive.

"But Jibeom and I watched your show though. You did well, Joochan-ah. I never thought I would see you as a musical actor." Jaehyun said suddenly.

"ya! You cheater! You said you don't want to go anywhere today! Then why were you watching the musical with Jibeom?! Why don't you invite me too?!"

Jaehyun's words successfully distracted Joochan from his food. He looked at Jaehyun in surprise, his eyes rounded and blinked several times trying to digest what Jaehyun just said.  He even ignored Youngtaek who was busy protesting Jaehyun, still processing information that his two 99z friends had come to watch the show. "You and Jibeom? But I didn't see you in the audience seats though? You didn't come to see me at the backstage either?"
Jaehyun, who was still busy trying to save himself from Youngtaek's attacks, finally moved to save himself by sitting between Jangjun and Sungyoon,  "agh! Jibeom keeps whining at me! He asked me to accompany him to watch!" Jaehyun said to Youngtaek, his red lips pursed in annoyance at his roommate. "At first I didn't intend to watch either, but Jibeom kept bothering me to come watch the musical with him. We even came late & sat at the back."

"Then why don't you come to see me at the backstage?"

"And you didn't bring anything for Joochan? Aish, you ungrateful brat!" protest Daeyeol.

No, that's not the problem. Joochan is fine if the members didn't give anything to congratulate him on his first musical. He was only concerned about why they didn't visit him at the backstage, even more so this was Jibeom and Jaehyun. 99z. His close friend.
"AH! it's not like that hyung!" Jaehyun seems to be getting stressed, why are the members keep blaming him? His lips pursed even more irritated, making the two Hyungs beside him chuckle at his behavior.
"I already bought a gift for Joochan, but Jibeom dragged me home instead! He said his stomach was acting up again!"

"Eish, nonsense! That kid, his behavior is so weird!" Jangjun commented in his usual joking tone.

Joochan then turned his gaze to the members, looking at their faces one by one, looking for the figure of someone who had been the subject of conversation. "Then where is Jibeom? Why doesn't he eat with us?"

"He said his stomach still hurt, so he didn't want to eat dinner. That kid is in his room, busy playing games." Jaehyun replied while returning to his previous seat.

Joochan just nodded, he will see Jibeom later after all the members entered their respective rooms.

***

 

Later around 11 pm, all the member has entered their respective room after finished showering and cleaning up.

Joochan just finished showering, he dry up his wet hair with a towel when Daeyeol came up with a slight shocking question. "You want to sleep with Jibeom tonight? I'll tell Youngtaek and Jaehyun to sleep here."
The said boy could feel his cheeks heating up, feeling caught again by his brother. Without waiting for the respond, Daeyeol send a message to Youngtaek and Jaehyun to sleep at his room tonight, said he want to have a quality time with them.

After giving a grateful smile to his brother, Joochan leave their room. Just as he close the door to his room, he met Youngtaek and Jaehyun who seemed to be carrying a bag.
"oh, Joochan-ah!" Seeing Joochan, Jaehyun stopped in front of him, gesturing to Youngtaek to go first because he still has 'business' with Joochan. "Here, I should have given it to you after the play, but Jibeom ruined the surprise." Jaehyun gave the bag that he brought earlier to Joochan. "Anyway, good performance today, I'll definitely watch it again later with the kids."

Joochan peeked into the bag curiously, his lips immediately forming a big smile after realizing what was inside. He looked at Jaehyun with a bright smile, clearly unable to hide his happiness. It was a set of painting kits, which Joochan really like. "You know you don't have to give me anything, but thank you so much Jaehyun."
Jaehyun only chuckled lightly while patted his friend's shoulder, told him to take a good rest and sleep well before he entered Daeyeol's room.

Joochan nodded, waiting for his friend to disappear into his room before going to Jibeom's room. He knocked lightly on the door then opened it without waiting for a reply which immediately greeted by Jibeom who was busy playing games on his phone. The boy who disappeared since dinner time looked at Joochan for a second then returned to his phone, making Joochan grunted unhappily. "Ya! Jaehyun said you guys watched my musical today. Why didn't you come to the backstage then?"
Joochan made himself sit on the edge of Jibeom's bed, hitting the boy's leg a little hard until he grimaced in pain. "I had a stomachache and can't hold it any longer."
Just as Joochan was about to threw another protest, his eyes caught a familiar crumpled medicine wrapper on the table (he also drank it whenever he had a stomachache). So he's not lying?

Joochan glanced at Jibeom, the said boy indeed did not look too good that night, his chapped lips looked paler than usual. "how about now? do you feel better?"
At that question, Jibeom glanced at Joochan before turning off his game then put his phone on the table beside his bed. He shifted to the other side of his bed, asking Joochan to lie beside him on the bed. As a big cuddler and skinship lover, Joochan complied without protest. He made himself comfortable beside Jibeom, his arms hugging Jibeom's waist tightly as his head lay on the other's shoulders.

Jibeom wrapped his arm around Joochan's smaller body, his thumb rubbing Joochan's arm gently. He hummed an answer, then tilt his head down to look at Joochan. "anyway, your performance was so good today. I almost shed a tears watching your play."

Joochan chuckled, he knew it was impossible for Jibeom to cry because of a fictional story, be it drama or drama. "Thank you Jibeom, I'd be happier if you could come see me at the backstage though. We can take pictures together and show it to Goldenness."

Jibeom hummed again, his thumb continued to gently rub Joochan's arm, made the boy's tired body relax and eyes grew heavier from sleepiness. He then started humming a lullaby, with his head resting on Joochan's. Without waiting too long, Jibeom could then hear Joochan's steady and gentle breath, making him smile after seeing the sleeping boy in his arms.

***

Later in the morning, Joochan could hear his phone buzzing. He grunted, annoyed that his deep sleep was disturbed by tons of notifications. He stretched out his hand, looking for his cellphone to see the culprit who dared to disturb his sleep.
Instead of being angry, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief. A post has just been uploaded to Hi_Goldenness account. A photo of him sleeping on someone's chest (definitely Jibeom's but their fans don't need to know) with a caption 'S who slept soundly last night after delivering a great performance. Good job, Hong S!'

 

Yeah, Joochan definitely couldn't get mad at the culprit.