today, tomorrow, and ever after
of loneliness and angels"Seungcheol."
"Mm?"
"You weren't listening, were you?"
"What? I.... No, I wasn't, sorry." He was watching Junghan playing video games. He was kind of terrible at everything, but he seemed to have a lot of fun anyways.
"Okay, are you listening now? Stop staring at Junghan." Mingyu grumbled. Seungcheol could practically hear him rolling his eyes over the phone.
"I wasn't even-"
"Shh. Anyways, what I was saying. It's been two weeks now, how long are you gonna keep pretending he's only staying for a few days? A few days is kind of over."
"Look, I... One minute." Seungcheol held the phone a few feet away from him to talk to Junghan. "I'm gonna go check the mail, okay?"
"Okay!" Junghan replied cheerily, turning to smile at Seungcheol before returning his attention to the controller in his hands.
Seungcheol waited until he'd gone outside to start talking to Mingyu again, but when he placed the phone at his ear again, the other boy was laughing.
"What are you laughing about?"
"You have to tell him before you walk outside for a few minutes?"
"I left without telling him last week and it kind of freaked him out. He thought I died, for some reason."
"Aww."
"Yeah... hey, don't 'aww' him!"
"Oh my god, you really got it bad, don't you?"
"Shut up."
"So, considering you're basically in love with him..." Mingyu paused to allow Seungcheol to finish protesting before he continued. "Why don't you just tell him he can stay? As in, forever."
"What if he doesn't want to?" Seungcheol mumbled, practically under his breath.
"Huh?"
"What if he doesn't want to stay." he repeated, louder this time.
"Why wouldn't he? Do you think he doesn't like you or something? I'm pretty sure you're just worrying about nothing."
"Well, he hasn't said anything about staying permanently."
"Neither have you, maybe he thinks you don't want him to stay."
Seungcheol was silent at that. Mostly because Mingyu had a point, and he didn't really want to admit it.
"Anyways, I'd better go. I really never thought I'd be giving you relationship advice like this." Mingyu said once he realized Seungcheol wasn't going to say anything.
"It's not like that!" he argued.
"Oh, so you're saying you wouldn't-"
"I really should be getting inside, Mingyu! It's starting to rain, I'll talk to you later. " he said hurriedly, hanging up on Mingyu before he had to listen to him making any more brilliant points that he didn't want to agree with. Besides, he wasn't lying. It had begun lightly raining, and he didn't feel like standing around getting wet. He quickly checked the mailbox before going back inside.
Junghan was still situated in the middle of the living room, but he seemed to be getting bored of playing games. He paused the game and turned around to look at Seungcheol. "Do we- do you have any instant ramen?"
"Yeah, do you want me to make some for you?"
"No, it's okay, I can-" But Seungcheol was already on his way to the kitchen. Junghan couldn't help but smile. He hadn't expected the other to dote on him so much, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it.
A few minutes later, Junghan had abandoned the video game to sit on the couch beside Seungcheol while eating. His hair kept falling into his face and nearly into his ramen, and each time Seungcheol would tirelessly reach over and tuck it behind his ear for him.
"Maybe I should get a haircut." he said eventually, sighing.
"But it suits you. So pretty~" Seungcheol cooed, causing Junghan to laugh.
As much as Seungcheol liked how the other boy's hair looked when he wore it down, he eventually accepted that it was inconvenient in the current situation and pulled a hair tie out of his pocket.
"Why do you have that?" Junghan asked, raising an eyebrow. Seungcheol didn't exactly have enough hair to use it himself.
"Because you always need them and you forget to carry them with you." he mumbled, carefully putting Junghan's hair up for him.
Junghan murmured a thank you under his breath, reaching up to cover the blush on his cheeks with his hands now that he didn't have his hair there to do it. Seungcheol pretended not to notice.
Once he was done eating, Junghan stretched out on the couch, laying his head in Seungcheol's lap. "Can I take a nap?"
"Of course, you don't have to ask." Seungcheol replied.
"I have to ask if I'm going to use you as a pillow." Junghan said, grinning up at him before closing his eyes.
"Um, before you go to sleep, Junghan..."
"Hm?"
"Tomorrow, would you like to go over to Mingyu's with me for a while? I know you've only met him briefly but if you're going to stay with me for a long time then... it would be good, because we're friends, so...."
"If I'm going to stay for a long time?" Junghan repeated, his eyes certainly open now.
"Y-Yes." Seungcheol replied as steadily as he could when he was practically holding his breath.
"Can I?" Junghan asked quietly.
"If you want to, of course."
Before Seungcheol knew what was happening, Junghan had sat up and was now nearly suffocating him with a tight hug.
"I guess I'd better go with you to Mingyu's, then." Junghan mumbled into his shoulder.
"So you really want to stay?" Seungcheol asked. He tried not to sound excited, but he couldn't help it.
"Of course I do. I like you, you know." Junghan replied, pulling away a bit so he could look at him.
For a moment, Seungcheol was surprised by how forward he was. But then, seeing how innocent his facial expression was, he realized that maybe Junghan's definition of 'like' wasn't exactly the same as how Seungcheol felt about him. That was okay, though. For now, it was enough to know that Junghan would be by his side for a long, long time, and they could figure out the rest later.
"I like you too." Seungcheol said quietly, and when Junghan smiled at him, all he could think about was how nice it was to be here with his own precious angel.
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