Chapter Text
It was no secret that Jisung and Hyunjin had a strained relationship, to say the least.
In their little misfit family that had been pulled together by Chan over the years – a collection of loose ends all looking for something to hold them together – the only two that hadn’t gelled immediately were the two in mention. Even Minho and Seungmin and their bickering was only surface level; it was a bad kept secret that the two were often found cuddling once everyone else had gone to bed.
The eight of them shared a house that was taller than it was wide, in the downtown of the city. It wasn’t without it’s problems (the windows whistled in high winds, the boiler was temperamental at best and the fuses kept tripping when too many of them were using the electricity), but it was a place to call home and wasn’t too far from the University most of them were currently studying at.
It was enough.
The ground floor was quite open plan, with the living room, dining room and kitchen all connected by high archways and a small bathroom tucked under the stairs. The first floor housed Chan, Minho and Seungmin along with their shared bathroom. The second floor belonged to Jisung, Hyunjin, Changbin and Felix as well as their shared bathroom. Jeongin was in the attic room, quite happy to take what the others were reluctant to have, being the youngest.
Chan had graduated the year previous and although he was working at the local gym, he spent most of his spare time producing music, trying anything and everything to get picked up by a label. Unfortunately, that meant the older boy barely slept until eventually his body couldn’t physically stay awake any longer. Similarly, Minho had graduated only the month previous and had managed to land himself a job as an assistant dance instructor at a small local studio. It didn’t really pay the bills, but he was happy and although they didn’t really talk about it with the younger boys, most of them knew Chan was covering for him.
Changbin and Felix shared a room in their 7-bed house and as much as it was for convenience in the beginning, it didn’t take long before the two started gravitating around each other in a more intimate way. Changbin was going into his final year and much like Chan, he was often found producing and performing in small dingy music bars when his time allowed.
Felix, Seungmin, Hyunjin and Han were going into their second year – none of them currently worked, their student loans covering what they needed with scraps to spare.
That left Jeongin, the baby of the house, who was barely 18 and just about to start his first year. Surprisingly, Jeongin was one of the first ones Chan ‘adopted’ at the tender age of 16 – his parents were barely around and he’d been trying to fend for himself when he’d met Chan. The rest was history.
Having eight young men all under one roof was chaotic at the best of times, but for the most part, they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. For the most part –
“Yah! Who left this much milk?!” Jisung frowned, holding up the mostly empty carton of milk. There was maybe an inch of milk at most left; he glanced forlorn at his already portioned bowl of cereal that he was now going to have to eat dry – maybe he could pour the dregs of the milk into a glass and sip as he ate.
“Hyunjinnie Hyung had cereal and a glass of milk earlier –“ Jeongin piped up from where he was sat at the dining room table, visible through the archway that connected the kitchen and dining room.
“He had both? At the same time? Fucking selfish…” Jisung cursed under his breath, angrily pouring what was left of the milk (barely enough to fill half of his glass). His muttering continued until he was sat opposite the Maknae, spoon clashing against the bottom of the bowl, grimacing at how immediately dry his mouth became with the first bite. Jeongin stayed silent as he finished his toast and jam off, not wanting to take sides in their never-ending feuding.
“Didn’t realise I had to run what I eat by you every time I get hungry” Jisung tensed, spoon frozen halfway to his mouth as Hyunjin quipped at him from where he’d appeared from the living room.
“Or maybe just be considerate that seven other people live here and might want milk, asshole” His eyes flickered up to meet Hyunjin’s nonchalant gaze. It infuriated him how indifferent the taller seemed at all times towards him, as if he wasn’t worth the breath it took to fight. It didn’t help that he couldn’t keep his own emotions in check long enough to appear the same; it was always written all over his face, exactly what he was thinking.
“Boo-fucking-hoo, we’re doing a grocery shop today anyway – it’s literally not a big deal” Hyunjin rolled his eyes, turning to disappear back to wherever he’d came from, making it clear the conversation was over.
“Boys” Chan’s voice was stern but clearly exhausted as he slouched into the kitchen. He was the only one working today, with university not starting for another few weeks and so the only one with the actual right to be annoyed over being up so early. “It’s 10 in the morning, can we not do this right now?”
“Sorry Hyung” Jisung pouted, gaze turned back to his still half full bowl. His appetite was gone though, Hyunjin killing his mood as he always did. If Hyunjin had apologised he hadn’t heard it; instead Jisung shot Jeongin an apologetic smile as he stood, slipping past Chan quietly to dump the rest of his cereal in the trash, before heading for the stairs himself.
He really didn’t know what it was about Hyunjin that put him so on edge. Every word out of the other boy’s mouth had him tensing, every smug glance or petulant glare had him itching to retort.
It wasn’t even as if Jisung was problematic to get on with, he didn’t think – none of the other boys had issues with him and he really hated when any of them fought. So why couldn’t Hyunjin just give him a break? Minho said they were too similar, both big personalities in a small house. But Jisung argued that Changbin was equally present in terms of who was the loudest, but managed to get on with both of them just fine. Minho just shrugged, looking as over it as Jisung felt and for a moment he felt guilty – it was hardly nice for the rest of the house to be stuck in a constant whirlwind of fights.
Jisung paused as he reached his floor, glancing towards the door opposite his own – the one that belonged to Hyunjin.
He’d had many moments like this, where he’d debated knocking and trying to sort out whatever their shit was. But each time he thought was the right one, something had stopped him. This time, it was the hushed but hurried tone of Hyunjin’s voice coming from behind the door. It sounded like he was on the phone and Jisung knew better than to interrupt and cause another fight in the process.
Sighing, he turned and entered his own room, door shutting quietly behind him. Today was not the day.
~~
By the time dinner had rolled around, there was only 3 of them left in the house. Chan was still at work and Minho had taken Jeongin with him to the gym to keep Chan company for a bit; Changbin had decided to take Felix out for a date, probably to their favourite little dumpling shop that was a few blocks away (it was super cheap and the Ajumma who ran it was particularly fond of the pair).
Unfortunately, that left himself, Seungmin and Hyunjin to fend for themselves, which more often than not meant ordering in or eating instant noodles. Had it just been the two of them, they’d have most likely eaten separately, but with Seungmin in the house too, Jisung didn’t want to cause a scene by not eating with them.
“I’ve been seriously craving Jokbal… or maybe sushi” Hyunjin mused aloud while thumbing through the delivery apps he had on his phone.
“With what money?” Jisung snorted, eyes glued to his own screen. “What about this new pizza place? Felix mentioned it was good”
“You know I hate pizza, dumbass” Just like that, the simple task of ordering food fell into their usual routine. A heavy sigh sounded from between them, where Seungmin was sat arms crossed over his chest, frown deep set on his face as he glared between the two of them.
“For fuck’s sake, can we not have one night of peace, just one?” Seungmin gave both of their shoulders a shove, before leaning over to rest his chin on Jisung’s shoulder to watch as he browsed. “Chicken is always good” Jisung hummed in agreement, not wanting to put his friend out more than he already had. When Hyunjin also gave his consent, they managed to place their order with only one or two comments made.
Seungmin was in charge of what they watched, not even bothering to ask what the other two wanted in fear it would start their Nth argument of the day.
Jisung settled against his side, head lolling onto Seungmin’s shoulder. He had always been a cuddler, second only to Felix who was almost always touching at least one of them at all times. Glancing over his shoulder, to the other end of the sofa, he saw Hyunjin still tapping away at his phone. His knee occasionally knocked with Seungmin’s but as a whole, he seemed to be keeping his distance. It wasn’t as if the taller boy wasn’t also a bit of a cuddler either, so he could only assume he didn’t want to cuddle into Seungmin’s right side and end up too close to Jisung.
Whatever.
Turning his attention back to the latest episode of Running Man, Jisung found himself easily giggling along, sagging further into Seungmin as he relaxed.
When a firm knock sounded on the front door, it was Hyunjin who stood first, eyeing the two of them with an unreadable look in his eyes as he passed. He was acting even weirder than normal and it was putting Jisung on edge. With a gentle nudge, he was pushed more upright as Seungmin ducked into the kitchen to grab whatever they would need.
The smell hit him and his stomach rumbled loudly just as Hyunjin returned; chuckling sheepishly, he rubbed at his stomach, eyes glued to the bags which were placed on the coffee table in front of him. It was second nature to slide to the floor and shuffle closer (the sofas belonged to all of them and it was a silent agreement to try not to eat on them, to prevent further staining). What wasn’t expected, was the way Hyunjin settled on the floor on the side of the table adjacent to his, instead of walking back to where he’d been sat.
Their knees bumped for a moment as they got comfy and Jisung tensed, eyes automatically flicking to his face, fully expecting Hyunjin to snip at him. When he didn’t even so much as glance his direction, simply leaning forward to unpack the bags, Jisung blinked. That was unusual, but entirely unwelcome. He knew he wasn’t the only one who thought it was odd when Seungmin padded back in, pausing for a moment to regard them both before slowly returning to his position next to Jisung.
If Hyunjin could tell Jisung felt weirded out, he didn’t let on, eyes flitting between the TV and his food. Attempting to do the same, Jisung crammed his mouth full the way he normally did (the boys joked he ate like a hamster, but it was just how he’d always eaten) and pointedly payed extra attention to the TV. At one point, he accidentally met Seungmin’s gaze, who simply raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.
It was almost involuntary, the way his eyes kept drifting to Hyunjin. He wasn’t sure whether he was expecting Hyunjin to suddenly snap, or what, but he couldn’t keep his eyes away too long.
His knee was bouncing lightly, an out for the nervous energy buzzing around him. He almost hadn’t even realised he was doing it under a hand landed firmly on his leg, fingers digging in ever-so-slightly. “Can you stop, it’s distracting as hell” Hyunjin’s eyes were sharp as ever when they turned to him and before Jisung could really even process, the hand was gone and Hyunjin had already returned to eating. On a normal day, Jisung would have snapped back, said something he probably didn’t really mean, or continued to bounce his knee just to spite him. But something felt different and he couldn’t put his finger on it, but even as he could see Seungmin side eyeing them, he said nothing.
Maybe this was the start of change. Or maybe he was just finally losing it.