fic: Team Building
Title: Team Building
Series: The Formative Years
Length: one-shot
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: pg
Genre: pre-slash, pre-debut
Pairing/Characters: Yoseob, Gikwang, Doojoon, Jokwan, Dooseob
Warnings: RPS, pre-debut
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Comments/Notes: I'm working on a timeline for all of the actual known events from when the guys first entered the entertainment industry (and all the possible artists who keep popping up when I write Beast fic) but it's slow going. Please forgive any inconsistencies.
I'm going to include Fit into this verse. Each fic will be able to stand on it's own, but together they'll flesh out a more full universe. I can't swear what order they'll each come in, so... yeah. I'll make a page for the verse all it's own where they're listed in chronological order.
Also... My knowledge of any of the other bands and charas that will drift in and out of this (by necessity) is mostly peripheral. I know DBSK, SuJu, and Beast well. Everything else is... sketchy at best. :x I'm working on it.
Summary: Trust has to start somewhere...
~*~*~
“This sucks,” Yoseob muttered, rubbing sleepy eyes and listing sideways into Gikwang.
“I know.”
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
The younger boy sighed and helped his friend steady himself. He was no morning person either, but he had a little more practice at these random early morning gatherings.
And as the one who’d talked Yoseob into giving life as a trainee a try… He figured he had some responsibility for his friend’s current misery.
As much as he told himself he’d done it for Yoseob’s own good - he knew how much Yoseob longed to be a singer, and how much he shied away from actually doing anything about it (Yoseob didn’t handle failure or rejection well at all) - that was only a tiny part of the truth. He’d wanted company, a friendly face in a competitive environment that all too often felt hostile. No matter how well things did or didn’t work out for Yoseob, Gikwang had wanted his friend’s company more than anything else.
“This is stupid.”
Although he was having a hard time remembering why just then.
“Seobie-” Whatever placating he was going to try to do cut off abruptly as a heavy head dropped onto his shoulder and Yoseob cuddled up against him.
“Wake me up when it’s over.”
He sighed again and shook his head. It was probably for the best. “Fine.”
~*~*~
“Yoseobie… Come on, hyung…”
Yoseob made a face and clung to his pillow more tightly. “Five more minutes.”
“You’re the only weirdo I know who can sleep on his feet.”
“Mmhmm…”
“Fine. Sleep if you want. But remember, you made me do it.”
The world rocked horribly and Yoseob yelped and clutched at Gikwang’s shoulders as the younger boy scooped him up. He pouted at his friend. “I hate it when you do that.”
“Then you shouldn’t fall asleep on me so often,” Gikwang replied calmly as he joined the line of trainees. More than one gave them odd looks, but he just smiled. He and Yoseob had been getting odd looks for years and it had long since ceased to phase him.
Despite his grumbling, Yoseob snuggled against Gikwang, uncaring of where he was being taken or what the people around them thought of it all. “S’over?”
“The meeting, yes. But we’re doing a team building weekend, so I hope you didn’t have plans.”
“What the hell is a ‘team building weekend’?”
“It’s where we go spend the weekend together.”
Someone behind him laughed and Gikwang glanced over his shoulder to see one of the older trainees watching them with a grin. “That’s the most simplistic explanation I’ve ever heard.”
“What?” Gikwang shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
Yoseob cracked an eye open to see the older boy, but dismissed him as less important than sleep.
“Still, I’d think your boyfriend would be interested in knowing what you’ve gotten him into.”
Gikwang sighed, but didn’t bother to correct the mistaken assumption. It was something else he’d gotten used to. “This early in the morning, I doubt he really cares.”
Mostly dozing, Yoseob still managed to hum his agreement.
~*~*~*~
“Give it back.”
“No.”
Gikwang scowled and tried to reach around Yoseob for the stolen comic. “But it’s mine. And it’s the only one I have!”
“Then you should have warned me to bring something of my own,” Yoseob said, calmly despite having to twist around and protect the comic with his body. Gikwang was stronger than he was - by a lot. But Gikwang wouldn’t actually hurt him - something Yoseob knew well and was willing to use against his friend.
That gave him the tactical advantage.
“I tried to tell you last night when I called about the meeting, but you told me to shut up and let you sleep.”
“And obviously you do everything I tell you.”
“Dammit-” Gikwang cut off and got both of his arms around Yoseob, lifting the older boy bodily and shaking his squirming form, trying to make him loosen his hold on the comic. “Give it back!”
The door opened just as Yoseob managed to wiggle around and get his legs wrapped around Gikwang’s waist.
“Whoa, okay. First rule of the weekend. No sex in the bedroom without my permission.”
They both paused and twisted around to see the older trainee from before followed by another one that Yoseob didn’t recognize at all.
Despite the words, both looked more amused than anything else.
“We are not having sex. With or without your permission.” Yoseob blushed a bright red and made a face. Then he elbowed Gikwang hard in the stomach. “Now let me go, fucking caveman.”
“Language,” the unfamiliar trainee scolded with a grin and Yoseob looked at him hard for a moment, trying to decide if he was going to allow the scold to pass unchallenged. The boy was tall and solidly built even though Yoseob didn’t think he was much older than they were. He’d passed the awkward phase of chubby cheeks and soft rounded features that still had Yoseob clutched tightly. His cat shaped eyes flashed with good humor and intelligence.
He would, Yoseob decided, make a good ally.
Yoseob obeyed the scolding and repeated his demand more demurely. “Gikwang, would you please put me down?”
Gikwang dropped him inelegantly, gawking at him as if he were some kind of strange alien.
It was on the tip of Yoseob’s tongue to go off again, but he could feel those eyes on him. So instead, he sighed and chose to look a little more hurt than he actually was. He pouted up at Gikwang, feeling his lip tremble slightly. It was harder to fake a hint of real tears, and Yoseob wasn’t sure he could actually pull it off, but it turned out to be unnecessary.
The unknown boy was kneeling beside him in a flash, hands running over him, checking for nonexistent injuries. He frowned up at Gikwang as he declared Yoseob just bruised and helped him to his feet. Yoseob made sure to sway slightly and had to suppress the urge to purr with the success when the boy’s arm came up to steady him and pulled him close. “You should be more careful. You could have really hurt him.”
“You really are a sucker for the cute ones, aren’t you, Doojoonie?” The older boy wasn’t physically laughing at them all, but Yoseob got the impression that he might as well have been. He glanced up at the boy and realized that he knew exactly what had just happened, even if Doojoon just gave him a quizzical look of confusion.
“Thank you, hyung,” Yoseob whispered, curling against Doojoon in a display of helplessness that had fooled more than one adult in his life even though it was about as far from the truth as one could possibly get.
Yoseob had been ‘the little cute guy’ for as long as he could remember. Working out and playing sports had never changed that as it had for Gikwang and he had a sneaking suspicion it never would.
That was fine. He was a big believer in using what he’d been given and making it work for him instead of against him. People underestimated him because he was smaller than they were and he was good at acting pathetic.
The arm around him tightened slightly and Doojoon smiled down at him. “You don’t have to call me hyung. You’re older than Kwangie, right? That means you can’t be much younger than me. Doojoon is fine.”
“Doojoon-ah,” Yoseob corrected softly, looking down. He peeked through the fringe of his hair to see Gikwang still gaping at him while the older boy was covering his mouth to keep from laughing out right.
~*~*~
Team building weekends, it turned out, were nothing more than excuses to group together and hang out.
All of the trainees were separated into groups of four, given a handful of tasks that had to be completed by the end of the weekend and a list of items for a scavenger hunt, then turned loose. It seemed like a waste of time and money to Yoseob - there was no way even a group discount could have made taking over most of the small inn in the equally small town that had been chosen cheap, and that wasn’t even taking into account feeding so many teenagers over an entire weekend.
Most of the trainees knew each other better than they knew their own blood relatives.
As far as he could tell, Yoseob was the newest one in the entire bunch.
Jokwon had taken charge of their little group of four and no one had argued with him. He was the oldest and he’d been with the company the longest. He’d done so many of these things he could have completed all of the tasks and the scavenger hunt in his sleep without any help from anyone else - or so he insisted.
He split them into pairs, claiming Gikwang for himself and sending Yoseob off with Doojoon, and halved the two lists between them.
Apparently, if they got done early, they could all just stay in the inn until it was time to go back home to Seoul.
Doojoon was a charming companion, prone to chivalry and easy to humor. When he realized that Yoseob had never actually been out of Seoul, he took on the role of tour guide, showing the younger boy the sights as they slowly ticked things off their lists.
Yoseob wasn’t sure how many of the stories were made up and how many were real, but mostly he didn’t care. Doojoon’s voice was nice to listen to and even in the depths of a story, he stayed focused on Yoseob in a way that very few people ever had. It was heady to have that kind of attention on him when he wasn’t even doing anything to warrant it.
Though Yoseob was well liked by most people, there weren’t many that he was truly close to. He’d always held people at a distance, using his easy manner and infectious smile to distract them from it. Gikwang was his only true friend - largely because they’d known each other since practically infancy.
He was used to setting the boundaries where he was comfortable with them and effortlessly maintaining them.
Somehow Doojoon managed to walk around the boundaries as if they weren’t even there.
Yoseob wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
~*~*~
“So you and Gikwang aren’t… well…”
Yoseob rolled over in the bed so that he could peer at Doojoon. It was too dark to see much, but he could see the shape of the other boy across the tiny span between the futons. Behind Doojoon, Jokwon had sprawled out over most of futon and passed out like a dead log.
At least he was quiet. Behind Yoseob, Gikwang was snoring and snuffling like a puppy. They were familiar, comforting noises, though. It was easy for Yoseob to let them fade to the background. From Jokwon’s earlier grumbling before sleep had claimed him, he knew that it had bothered the older man.
“No.”
“Jokwon said-”
“We’ve been best friends forever. And we’ve always been the two smallest boys in any class.” They’d always been the favorite targets of bullies back before Gikwang had gotten strong enough to knock people’s teeth in and Yoseob had become a good enough actor to head most of the fights off before they started. “We stopped correcting the assumption as soon as we realized denying it was just giving them more enjoyment.”
Once they’d stopped giving the bullies that opening, it had become easier for them. It wasn’t much fun to torment someone who didn’t seem bothered by it, apparently.
“Ah.”
It was quiet for a long minute and Yoseob thought maybe that would be the end of the conversation.
Then a form flopped over on him and he let out an ‘oof’ of surprise and protest at the weight.
“Don’t worry, Doojoon-hyung. He likes boys who are taller than he is. I don’t qualify.”
Yoseob was glad for the darkness that hid the blush he was sure went all the way down to his toes.
“You are so dead,” he muttered, shoving Gikwang off of him.
Through the darkness, Doojoon laughed, soft but full. “Good to know.”
“Of for fuck’s sake, just go to sleep before I smother all of you with a pillow.” Doojoon just laughed harder and didn’t stop even when the thumping sound said he’d been pushed out of bed. “You’re worse than the both of them. Go sleep over there and leave me alone.”
“I’m not going to push them out of their futon because you’re a drama queen,” Doojoon said, humor still in his voice as he grabbed a pillow and smacked Jokwon with it.
Before Jokwon could retaliate, Yoseob spoke up, shoving Gikwang and wiggling backwards so that there was room in their futon. “We don’t mind, Doojoon-ah. You can sleep with us.”
Gikwang pressed his face into Yoseob’s back, snickering hard but not protesting the offer. His arms slid around Yoseob’s waist as he cuddled close. There weren’t many people he’d have let hold him so closely and he supposed it was no surprise that people thought they were more than friends.
Though he hesitated for another moment, Doojoon eventually crawled into bed with them. He brought the pillow he’d hit Jokwon with, shoving it under his head once he was under the covers.
“I’ll try not to move around much.”
“He sleeps like a rock. Once he’s asleep, he won’t move at all,” Jokwon called from the other bed, snuggling in and getting comfortable now that he had the entire futon all to himself.
“Just go to sleep,” Doojoon muttered, shifting around slightly trying to get comfortable.
Eventually, Yoseob was the only one left awake, wondering at what he’d done.
He wasn’t comfortable having strangers pressed as close to him as Doojoon was despite the care the older boy had taken in making sure he wasn’t actually touching either of the younger two. He was close enough that the soft exhales of his breath brushed against Yoseob’s hair and the warmth his body generated was competing with Gikwang’s for overheating the bed.
Yoseob sighed and pressed back into Gikwang slightly.
If he didn’t get any sleep at all, it was no one’s fault but his own.
~*~*~
“Hey.” A soft voice murmured in his ear, but Yoseob just scrunched up his nose and cuddled closer to his pillow.
The soft rhythm of a heart beat steadily under his ear, a soothing sound that was easing him back to sleep when a hand brushed his hair away from his cheek. “Yoseobie… Time to get up….”
Yoseob made a grumbling noise and shook his head. “Dun wanna.”
The soft laugh made his pillow shake.
“I told you he’s not a morning person.”
“Who is? Besides our favorite freakazoid, Doojoonie, of course. We let him sleep as long as we could. Any longer and he and Doojoon will both be late.” There was a pause, then a sigh. “You could just dump him off, you know.”
The arms around him tightened slightly and Yoseob absolutely did not purr as he curled closer. “I’m not going to dump him anywhere.”
“Well, making him more comfortable really isn’t going to help wake him up, hyung. Trust me, I know.”
“…” Yoseob’s pillow shifted a little, but not enough to really disturb him. “But he looks so tired.”
“He probably stayed awake a long time after we all fell asleep. He doesn’t like being touched by strangers.”
A snort. “Funny, it doesn’t seem to be bothering him now.”
Gentle hands petted at his hair. “Yoseobie, come on. We really do have to get up. The bus will leave without us.”
“Of for…”
The world erupted in movement then and Yoseob couldn’t help but squawk in protest as he was dumped onto the floor, Doojoon’s heavier weight tumbling right after - and on top of - him.
He squinted at the bright light, glaring up at Jokwon.
“Jackass,” he rasped, as Doojoon scrambled up onto his knees with worried apologies.
Jokwon just smirked at him. “Next time get up when you’re asked nicely and I won’t have to resort to drastic measures.”
Doojoon was not amused, though. Once he’d gotten to his feet, pulling Yoseob up with him, he glowered at Jokwon. “Dammit, I could have actually hurt him!”
The older boy just arched a brow, looking singularly unrepentant. “Then you should have removed him yourself.”
Sighing and rubbing his eyes, Yoseob glanced around to see Gikwang hovering nearby looking worried but fully dressed and ready to go. Their things were all packed except for a set of clothes set out on his bag and another he supposed was Doojoon’s. “What time is it?”
“Time to go,” Jokwon declared, grabbing his bag. “You two need to hurry up and get dressed. You missed breakfast and the bus leaves in fifteen minutes.”
He stopped in the doorway and turned to grin at them, waving his cellphone in the air. “I’ll be sure to send you copies of the pictures I took.”
Then he disappeared, Gikwang following more uncertainly. He glanced back as he was leaving, but stayed silent.
Yoseob glanced at Doojoon and scratched his head. “How long were you awake?”
“Well…” Doojoon blushed slightly as he shucked his sleeping clothes and quickly changed into what had been set out for him. “I’m an early riser. So… Maybe a couple of hours?”
“You let me sleep on you for a couple of hours??”
Doojoon’s blush deepened as he stuffed the dirty things into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “You looked like you needed it.”
Yoseob was slower at changing, his mind circling around that thought, but he was still pretty quick. He didn’t want to get left behind.
“You could have rolled me off,” he said softly, grabbing his own bag and following Doojoon out the door.
The older boy paused, nearly making Yoseob run into his back, and glanced down at his feet before shrugging and continuing on. Outside, they could hear the staff counting the trainees and they picked up their pace a little more. “Maybe I didn’t want to.”
It was a long time before Yoseob managed to put those words and the look on Doojoon’s face out of his mind.
~*~*~
fin
Series: The Formative Years
Length: one-shot
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: pg
Genre: pre-slash, pre-debut
Pairing/Characters: Yoseob, Gikwang, Doojoon, Jokwan, Dooseob
Warnings: RPS, pre-debut
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Comments/Notes: I'm working on a timeline for all of the actual known events from when the guys first entered the entertainment industry (and all the possible artists who keep popping up when I write Beast fic) but it's slow going. Please forgive any inconsistencies.
I'm going to include Fit into this verse. Each fic will be able to stand on it's own, but together they'll flesh out a more full universe. I can't swear what order they'll each come in, so... yeah. I'll make a page for the verse all it's own where they're listed in chronological order.
Also... My knowledge of any of the other bands and charas that will drift in and out of this (by necessity) is mostly peripheral. I know DBSK, SuJu, and Beast well. Everything else is... sketchy at best. :x I'm working on it.
Summary: Trust has to start somewhere...
~*~*~
“This sucks,” Yoseob muttered, rubbing sleepy eyes and listing sideways into Gikwang.
“I know.”
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
The younger boy sighed and helped his friend steady himself. He was no morning person either, but he had a little more practice at these random early morning gatherings.
And as the one who’d talked Yoseob into giving life as a trainee a try… He figured he had some responsibility for his friend’s current misery.
As much as he told himself he’d done it for Yoseob’s own good - he knew how much Yoseob longed to be a singer, and how much he shied away from actually doing anything about it (Yoseob didn’t handle failure or rejection well at all) - that was only a tiny part of the truth. He’d wanted company, a friendly face in a competitive environment that all too often felt hostile. No matter how well things did or didn’t work out for Yoseob, Gikwang had wanted his friend’s company more than anything else.
“This is stupid.”
Although he was having a hard time remembering why just then.
“Seobie-” Whatever placating he was going to try to do cut off abruptly as a heavy head dropped onto his shoulder and Yoseob cuddled up against him.
“Wake me up when it’s over.”
He sighed again and shook his head. It was probably for the best. “Fine.”
~*~*~
“Yoseobie… Come on, hyung…”
Yoseob made a face and clung to his pillow more tightly. “Five more minutes.”
“You’re the only weirdo I know who can sleep on his feet.”
“Mmhmm…”
“Fine. Sleep if you want. But remember, you made me do it.”
The world rocked horribly and Yoseob yelped and clutched at Gikwang’s shoulders as the younger boy scooped him up. He pouted at his friend. “I hate it when you do that.”
“Then you shouldn’t fall asleep on me so often,” Gikwang replied calmly as he joined the line of trainees. More than one gave them odd looks, but he just smiled. He and Yoseob had been getting odd looks for years and it had long since ceased to phase him.
Despite his grumbling, Yoseob snuggled against Gikwang, uncaring of where he was being taken or what the people around them thought of it all. “S’over?”
“The meeting, yes. But we’re doing a team building weekend, so I hope you didn’t have plans.”
“What the hell is a ‘team building weekend’?”
“It’s where we go spend the weekend together.”
Someone behind him laughed and Gikwang glanced over his shoulder to see one of the older trainees watching them with a grin. “That’s the most simplistic explanation I’ve ever heard.”
“What?” Gikwang shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
Yoseob cracked an eye open to see the older boy, but dismissed him as less important than sleep.
“Still, I’d think your boyfriend would be interested in knowing what you’ve gotten him into.”
Gikwang sighed, but didn’t bother to correct the mistaken assumption. It was something else he’d gotten used to. “This early in the morning, I doubt he really cares.”
Mostly dozing, Yoseob still managed to hum his agreement.
~*~*~*~
“Give it back.”
“No.”
Gikwang scowled and tried to reach around Yoseob for the stolen comic. “But it’s mine. And it’s the only one I have!”
“Then you should have warned me to bring something of my own,” Yoseob said, calmly despite having to twist around and protect the comic with his body. Gikwang was stronger than he was - by a lot. But Gikwang wouldn’t actually hurt him - something Yoseob knew well and was willing to use against his friend.
That gave him the tactical advantage.
“I tried to tell you last night when I called about the meeting, but you told me to shut up and let you sleep.”
“And obviously you do everything I tell you.”
“Dammit-” Gikwang cut off and got both of his arms around Yoseob, lifting the older boy bodily and shaking his squirming form, trying to make him loosen his hold on the comic. “Give it back!”
The door opened just as Yoseob managed to wiggle around and get his legs wrapped around Gikwang’s waist.
“Whoa, okay. First rule of the weekend. No sex in the bedroom without my permission.”
They both paused and twisted around to see the older trainee from before followed by another one that Yoseob didn’t recognize at all.
Despite the words, both looked more amused than anything else.
“We are not having sex. With or without your permission.” Yoseob blushed a bright red and made a face. Then he elbowed Gikwang hard in the stomach. “Now let me go, fucking caveman.”
“Language,” the unfamiliar trainee scolded with a grin and Yoseob looked at him hard for a moment, trying to decide if he was going to allow the scold to pass unchallenged. The boy was tall and solidly built even though Yoseob didn’t think he was much older than they were. He’d passed the awkward phase of chubby cheeks and soft rounded features that still had Yoseob clutched tightly. His cat shaped eyes flashed with good humor and intelligence.
He would, Yoseob decided, make a good ally.
Yoseob obeyed the scolding and repeated his demand more demurely. “Gikwang, would you please put me down?”
Gikwang dropped him inelegantly, gawking at him as if he were some kind of strange alien.
It was on the tip of Yoseob’s tongue to go off again, but he could feel those eyes on him. So instead, he sighed and chose to look a little more hurt than he actually was. He pouted up at Gikwang, feeling his lip tremble slightly. It was harder to fake a hint of real tears, and Yoseob wasn’t sure he could actually pull it off, but it turned out to be unnecessary.
The unknown boy was kneeling beside him in a flash, hands running over him, checking for nonexistent injuries. He frowned up at Gikwang as he declared Yoseob just bruised and helped him to his feet. Yoseob made sure to sway slightly and had to suppress the urge to purr with the success when the boy’s arm came up to steady him and pulled him close. “You should be more careful. You could have really hurt him.”
“You really are a sucker for the cute ones, aren’t you, Doojoonie?” The older boy wasn’t physically laughing at them all, but Yoseob got the impression that he might as well have been. He glanced up at the boy and realized that he knew exactly what had just happened, even if Doojoon just gave him a quizzical look of confusion.
“Thank you, hyung,” Yoseob whispered, curling against Doojoon in a display of helplessness that had fooled more than one adult in his life even though it was about as far from the truth as one could possibly get.
Yoseob had been ‘the little cute guy’ for as long as he could remember. Working out and playing sports had never changed that as it had for Gikwang and he had a sneaking suspicion it never would.
That was fine. He was a big believer in using what he’d been given and making it work for him instead of against him. People underestimated him because he was smaller than they were and he was good at acting pathetic.
The arm around him tightened slightly and Doojoon smiled down at him. “You don’t have to call me hyung. You’re older than Kwangie, right? That means you can’t be much younger than me. Doojoon is fine.”
“Doojoon-ah,” Yoseob corrected softly, looking down. He peeked through the fringe of his hair to see Gikwang still gaping at him while the older boy was covering his mouth to keep from laughing out right.
~*~*~
Team building weekends, it turned out, were nothing more than excuses to group together and hang out.
All of the trainees were separated into groups of four, given a handful of tasks that had to be completed by the end of the weekend and a list of items for a scavenger hunt, then turned loose. It seemed like a waste of time and money to Yoseob - there was no way even a group discount could have made taking over most of the small inn in the equally small town that had been chosen cheap, and that wasn’t even taking into account feeding so many teenagers over an entire weekend.
Most of the trainees knew each other better than they knew their own blood relatives.
As far as he could tell, Yoseob was the newest one in the entire bunch.
Jokwon had taken charge of their little group of four and no one had argued with him. He was the oldest and he’d been with the company the longest. He’d done so many of these things he could have completed all of the tasks and the scavenger hunt in his sleep without any help from anyone else - or so he insisted.
He split them into pairs, claiming Gikwang for himself and sending Yoseob off with Doojoon, and halved the two lists between them.
Apparently, if they got done early, they could all just stay in the inn until it was time to go back home to Seoul.
Doojoon was a charming companion, prone to chivalry and easy to humor. When he realized that Yoseob had never actually been out of Seoul, he took on the role of tour guide, showing the younger boy the sights as they slowly ticked things off their lists.
Yoseob wasn’t sure how many of the stories were made up and how many were real, but mostly he didn’t care. Doojoon’s voice was nice to listen to and even in the depths of a story, he stayed focused on Yoseob in a way that very few people ever had. It was heady to have that kind of attention on him when he wasn’t even doing anything to warrant it.
Though Yoseob was well liked by most people, there weren’t many that he was truly close to. He’d always held people at a distance, using his easy manner and infectious smile to distract them from it. Gikwang was his only true friend - largely because they’d known each other since practically infancy.
He was used to setting the boundaries where he was comfortable with them and effortlessly maintaining them.
Somehow Doojoon managed to walk around the boundaries as if they weren’t even there.
Yoseob wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
~*~*~
“So you and Gikwang aren’t… well…”
Yoseob rolled over in the bed so that he could peer at Doojoon. It was too dark to see much, but he could see the shape of the other boy across the tiny span between the futons. Behind Doojoon, Jokwon had sprawled out over most of futon and passed out like a dead log.
At least he was quiet. Behind Yoseob, Gikwang was snoring and snuffling like a puppy. They were familiar, comforting noises, though. It was easy for Yoseob to let them fade to the background. From Jokwon’s earlier grumbling before sleep had claimed him, he knew that it had bothered the older man.
“No.”
“Jokwon said-”
“We’ve been best friends forever. And we’ve always been the two smallest boys in any class.” They’d always been the favorite targets of bullies back before Gikwang had gotten strong enough to knock people’s teeth in and Yoseob had become a good enough actor to head most of the fights off before they started. “We stopped correcting the assumption as soon as we realized denying it was just giving them more enjoyment.”
Once they’d stopped giving the bullies that opening, it had become easier for them. It wasn’t much fun to torment someone who didn’t seem bothered by it, apparently.
“Ah.”
It was quiet for a long minute and Yoseob thought maybe that would be the end of the conversation.
Then a form flopped over on him and he let out an ‘oof’ of surprise and protest at the weight.
“Don’t worry, Doojoon-hyung. He likes boys who are taller than he is. I don’t qualify.”
Yoseob was glad for the darkness that hid the blush he was sure went all the way down to his toes.
“You are so dead,” he muttered, shoving Gikwang off of him.
Through the darkness, Doojoon laughed, soft but full. “Good to know.”
“Of for fuck’s sake, just go to sleep before I smother all of you with a pillow.” Doojoon just laughed harder and didn’t stop even when the thumping sound said he’d been pushed out of bed. “You’re worse than the both of them. Go sleep over there and leave me alone.”
“I’m not going to push them out of their futon because you’re a drama queen,” Doojoon said, humor still in his voice as he grabbed a pillow and smacked Jokwon with it.
Before Jokwon could retaliate, Yoseob spoke up, shoving Gikwang and wiggling backwards so that there was room in their futon. “We don’t mind, Doojoon-ah. You can sleep with us.”
Gikwang pressed his face into Yoseob’s back, snickering hard but not protesting the offer. His arms slid around Yoseob’s waist as he cuddled close. There weren’t many people he’d have let hold him so closely and he supposed it was no surprise that people thought they were more than friends.
Though he hesitated for another moment, Doojoon eventually crawled into bed with them. He brought the pillow he’d hit Jokwon with, shoving it under his head once he was under the covers.
“I’ll try not to move around much.”
“He sleeps like a rock. Once he’s asleep, he won’t move at all,” Jokwon called from the other bed, snuggling in and getting comfortable now that he had the entire futon all to himself.
“Just go to sleep,” Doojoon muttered, shifting around slightly trying to get comfortable.
Eventually, Yoseob was the only one left awake, wondering at what he’d done.
He wasn’t comfortable having strangers pressed as close to him as Doojoon was despite the care the older boy had taken in making sure he wasn’t actually touching either of the younger two. He was close enough that the soft exhales of his breath brushed against Yoseob’s hair and the warmth his body generated was competing with Gikwang’s for overheating the bed.
Yoseob sighed and pressed back into Gikwang slightly.
If he didn’t get any sleep at all, it was no one’s fault but his own.
~*~*~
“Hey.” A soft voice murmured in his ear, but Yoseob just scrunched up his nose and cuddled closer to his pillow.
The soft rhythm of a heart beat steadily under his ear, a soothing sound that was easing him back to sleep when a hand brushed his hair away from his cheek. “Yoseobie… Time to get up….”
Yoseob made a grumbling noise and shook his head. “Dun wanna.”
The soft laugh made his pillow shake.
“I told you he’s not a morning person.”
“Who is? Besides our favorite freakazoid, Doojoonie, of course. We let him sleep as long as we could. Any longer and he and Doojoon will both be late.” There was a pause, then a sigh. “You could just dump him off, you know.”
The arms around him tightened slightly and Yoseob absolutely did not purr as he curled closer. “I’m not going to dump him anywhere.”
“Well, making him more comfortable really isn’t going to help wake him up, hyung. Trust me, I know.”
“…” Yoseob’s pillow shifted a little, but not enough to really disturb him. “But he looks so tired.”
“He probably stayed awake a long time after we all fell asleep. He doesn’t like being touched by strangers.”
A snort. “Funny, it doesn’t seem to be bothering him now.”
Gentle hands petted at his hair. “Yoseobie, come on. We really do have to get up. The bus will leave without us.”
“Of for…”
The world erupted in movement then and Yoseob couldn’t help but squawk in protest as he was dumped onto the floor, Doojoon’s heavier weight tumbling right after - and on top of - him.
He squinted at the bright light, glaring up at Jokwon.
“Jackass,” he rasped, as Doojoon scrambled up onto his knees with worried apologies.
Jokwon just smirked at him. “Next time get up when you’re asked nicely and I won’t have to resort to drastic measures.”
Doojoon was not amused, though. Once he’d gotten to his feet, pulling Yoseob up with him, he glowered at Jokwon. “Dammit, I could have actually hurt him!”
The older boy just arched a brow, looking singularly unrepentant. “Then you should have removed him yourself.”
Sighing and rubbing his eyes, Yoseob glanced around to see Gikwang hovering nearby looking worried but fully dressed and ready to go. Their things were all packed except for a set of clothes set out on his bag and another he supposed was Doojoon’s. “What time is it?”
“Time to go,” Jokwon declared, grabbing his bag. “You two need to hurry up and get dressed. You missed breakfast and the bus leaves in fifteen minutes.”
He stopped in the doorway and turned to grin at them, waving his cellphone in the air. “I’ll be sure to send you copies of the pictures I took.”
Then he disappeared, Gikwang following more uncertainly. He glanced back as he was leaving, but stayed silent.
Yoseob glanced at Doojoon and scratched his head. “How long were you awake?”
“Well…” Doojoon blushed slightly as he shucked his sleeping clothes and quickly changed into what had been set out for him. “I’m an early riser. So… Maybe a couple of hours?”
“You let me sleep on you for a couple of hours??”
Doojoon’s blush deepened as he stuffed the dirty things into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “You looked like you needed it.”
Yoseob was slower at changing, his mind circling around that thought, but he was still pretty quick. He didn’t want to get left behind.
“You could have rolled me off,” he said softly, grabbing his own bag and following Doojoon out the door.
The older boy paused, nearly making Yoseob run into his back, and glanced down at his feet before shrugging and continuing on. Outside, they could hear the staff counting the trainees and they picked up their pace a little more. “Maybe I didn’t want to.”
It was a long time before Yoseob managed to put those words and the look on Doojoon’s face out of his mind.
~*~*~
fin