Title: noticable
Disclaimer: Not mine, maybe one day will be.
Rating: Safe
Pairings: Jongki / Jongseung
Word count: ~1,200
Summary: Seunghyun notices some things.
When Seunghyun is told one day that he gets the chance to make his debut earlier than planned out by the company, he perks up and almost bounces in his chair. But then when he's told that he's going to replace Wonbin-hyung, he sinks bank down into his chair and wants to crawl into a hole and maybe lie in the hole until he's 80.
Two days later he finds himself on the doorstep of FT Island-sunbaenim's dorm, shuffling his feet and making up his mind and sort of well, working up the courage to press the bell. (He was given a key to the dorm, but it didn't really feel that right to use the key to open the door to something that didn't belong to him). 20 minutes later, manager-hyungnim finds him still standing there, intent on boring a hole into the welcome mat. In the end, manager-hyungnim opens the door with his key and practically shoves Seunghyun into the dorm.
He had met FT Island-sunbaenims before of course, and they had even gone to meals together. But being taken care of as a trainee by his sunbaes was a totally different matter from the current situation now, the situation where he was smiling awkwardly at his 4 sunbaes looking at him. A rather puffy-eyed looking Minhwan who was sitting next to Jaejin-hyung, both looking at him rather emotionlessly. Hongki-hyung was muttering something under his breath about how it was unfair the newcomer gets to share the same room and bed as Jonghun. Seunghyun smiled meekly at the comment, the smile growing just a little bit bigger when he saw Jonghun-hyung positively beaming at him.
Because he's the newcomer, because he's the replacement, because he's the intruder carrying thousands of anti-fans on his shoulders, Seunghyun keeps to himself most of the time, because really, he doesn't feel like he has any right to say anything. And because of this, Seunghyun notices quite a lot of the obvious and not so obvious interactions between his hyungs.
He notices how from time to time the door to his and Jonghun-hyung’s room would be mysteriously locked for several hours, and because Seunghyun really needs to get his guitar from the room, he notices how Hongki-hyung would leave the room looking rather happy with himself (sometimes also walking a little funny). He also notices how this started happening more and more and how Jonghun-hyung started smiling like an idiot to himself when he thought no one was watching. (Seunghyun later learned to keep most of his important belongings in Jaejin-hyung’s room and to avoid the shared bed and sleep on the floor or the couch on the days when he found the room door to be locked).
When Hongki-hyung was away for his solo schedules, he noticed how Jonghun-hyung would check his phone every 5 seconds, as if his life depended on receiving a message or a phone call. What generally followed was either Jonghun-hyung being all smiley or love-struck looking while tapping away at his phone, or frantic phone checking, until he did get a message. He also noticed the small frown on Jonghun-hyung’s face when Hongki-hyung would return to the dorm late from partying all night, sometimes not returning until the next day.
Then, one day, Seunghyun starts noticing some other things, like the way he really, really, really looked forward to having guitar-jamming sessions with Jonghun-hyung, and the way his palms would get all sweaty when Jonghun-hyung would move his fingers on his guitar so he could play the chords better. He notices how his heart would start beating out of control whenever Jonghun-hyung would lean over his shoulder to read the chords, hell his heart would start beating like crazy when he was just standing next to Jonghun-hyung. He notices how his stomach kind of did all these somersaults when Jonghun-hyung said he thought his music compositions were really good and they should be included in FT Island’s albums.
Seunghyun thought his heart would explode when Jonghun-hyung said, “Let’s write a song together”.
One night, he notices the wetness on his shoulders when Jonghun-hyung is cuddling against him in their bed after waiting around for the better part of the evening for Hongki to fulfill his promise of taking him out for dinner. Then Seunghyun asks (what in retrospective, he thinks is the second most stupid question he has ever asked in his life) “Hyung, why? Is it…is he…even worth it?” In response, Jonghun-hyung just tightens his arms around him.
They fall into this routine for a couple of months, Jonghun needed someone to cuddle up against to, and Seunghyun actually…rather liked being hugged by his hyung.
Then one day, Seunghyun notices that Jonghun-hyung no longer always checks his phone, his face no longer perks up when Hongki-hyung walks into the room, and, there are no longer any cuddles and hugs during the night. And Seunghyun thinks, he misses it.
He slowly notices how Jonghun-hyung started not-so-secretly avoiding him. There were no longer any guitar sessions, the promise of writing a song together never got fulfilled, but the thing he minded the most was that hyung wouldn’t even really be in the same room as him alone.
And finally, one day Seunghyun couldn’t stand it anymore, so he asks, “Hyung, why, why are you avoiding me?” Leader makes a pained reaction and Seunghyun almost thinks it’s comical, until he hears his hyung mumble something about there was nothing of that sort. “You were and you are. Is it…is it because I know how much you love to cry at night or something? Because you know, I would never tell anyone so your manly image won’t be ruined, so you can sto-“ Seunghyun stops speaking because he simply lost the ability to speak when he is pulled into Jonghun-hyung’s arms.
“Alright, I was sort of, maybe avoiding you, but it’s complicated and I don’t think you would want to know.” “Try me.”
Seunghyun’s heart kind of stops when Jonghun starts singing “I Confess” softly into his ear, and when Jonghun presses a kiss to his cheek after singing “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you” Seunghyun thinks his heart and stomach and everything inside him just exploded into some festival celebration.
They stay in like that for a while, Seunghyun in Jonghun’s arms with Jonghun breathing into his ear, before Seunghyun works up the courage to ask, “So, hyung is…confessing to me?” This question earns him a light smack on the head from Jonghun and another kiss on the cheek (and also the title of the most stupid question to be asked by Seunghyun ever).
Seunghyun notices, how it’s more comfortable to sleep in Jonghyun-hyung’s arms than being hugged from behind. He notices how his hyung is smiling more than before (and smiling wider too). He also notices (but chooses to ignore) the glares that Hongki-hyung gives him whenever he and Jonghun-hyung are huddled together. Most of all, he notices just exactly how much he really loves his Jonghun-hyung.