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Mornings are always colder when Seungcheol wakes up alone. Even with the sun shining through the slits of his curtains, warming his face. Without Jeonghan beside him he always felt cold. Seungcheol pulls his blankets tighter around himself, turning away from the sunlight, the faint scent of Jeonghan’s shampoo still lingering on his pillow.
For a moment, he wonders where Jeonghan could have been - having a shower, gone to get food, maybe Seungcheol had snored and he’d gone back to his own room on his own floor. Last he saw, the second oldest was clinging to his side in peaceful slumber. But then, Seungcheol remembers a few members had been scheduled for filming today, Jeonghan included. He must have snuck off earlier.
Seungcheol finds it odd Jeonghan hadn’t woken him up to at least say goodbye, but he doesn’t let it linger for long, drifting back to sleep once he’d warmed himself up.
Three hours later, Seungcheol finally drags himself out of bed, messy hair and half-closed eyes. Exhaustion beckons him back to sleep, but he ignores, reaching for his phone after sitting up.
One notification, a text from Jeonghan 3 minutes ago:
Coups-yah, I'm sorry... I can't do this anymore....
Now he’s awake.
He couldn’t do this anymore? What ‘this’ was Jeonghan referring to, exactly? Fingers scrambling to press the right buttons, Seungcheol presses Jeonghan’s name and then holds his phone against his ear.
“Hello?” Comes a sweet voice riddled with emotion. Jeonghan sounds odd, but Seungcheol isn’t exactly sure why.
"What are you talking about?" Seungcheol asks, painfully aware how half-asleep he sounds.
"I just... We're filming..." Jeonghan spaces out his words like he isn’t sure how to put them. "And they kids are fighting..."
Seungcheol feels his body relax. At least Jeonghan isn’t talking about them, but now he had to switch from concerned boyfriend to concerned leader.
"Fighting about what?" He asks, hearing a snicker in the background of their phone call. Was someone laughing?
"I mean, of course, they're hungry..." Jeonghan says after a moment of silence. A light goes off in Seungcheol’s head and the pieces fall together.
"If it's a prank then do it properly." He complains, hearing a small chorus of laughter then ring through Jeonghan’s end of the call. It sounds like Seungkwan and Seokmin are there, too.
"Who told you?"
"No one told me, your acting is weird!" Seungcheol laughs, falling back against his bed to lay down. Jeonghan whines for a second before ending the call with some pleasantries. Realizing that their conversation had been filmed, Seungcheol does the same.
Another 5 minutes pass, and it’s Jeonghan who calls. Seungcheol picks up the phone quickly, a smile on his lips. He doesn’t wait to speak.
"You're mean, I thought you were going to break up with me." Seungcheol says, pouting to himself. Jeonghan giggles back.
"Why would I break up with you?"
“I don’t know, but I was half-asleep, and you sent me a cryptic text message with nothing to follow!”
Jeonghan laughs as his boyfriend’s frustration, Seungcheol finding himself laughing, too. The sound of Jeonghan’s happiness is contagious, just as it’s always been.
“Sorry to disappoint, but you can't get rid of me that easily."
Seungcheol smiles and hums in response.
"If you came with a receipt, I would have returned you already.”
“Hey! That’s mean, you know. I’m one of a kind, priceless – no refunds!”
Seungcheol’s smile turns warmer, thinking of Jeonghan getting so worked up over what he’d said.
“Whatever you say, Hani.”
“Hmph, well, I have to go back to filming now. We’re going to call Dokyeom’s sister and tell her we won the lottery.” Jeonghan says, laughing at the thought. Seungcheol rolls over onto his stomach, hugging Jeonghan’s side of his bed.
“Sounds like fun, love, I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Okay!” Jeonghan beams. They bid each other goodbye and hang up for the second time.
Pulling his blankets back around himself, Seungcheol allows one more round of sleep, if only in hopes that he’ll dream of Jeonghan and wake up back in his arms.