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Donghyuck had never been happier.
Coming off his suspension from the field was like a medal after everything he'd gone through. He was enjoying his training more than he ever did before; probably because at some point during all the chaos that crashed his life, he thought he was going to lose this. He thought he was going to lose everything.
But the innocent always win. The innocent may be traumatized for life, but at least they win.
With the summer league coming up in just a couple of days, Donghyuck was on fire. By that, it meant that he was drilling the team into the ground in ways that he knew best. An anonymous member of the team had even joked that Donghyuck needed an exorcism.
(It was Jeno. Jeno made that joke.)
Except when Donghyuck saw a certain former captain of the team standing by the bleachers, the fire in him burned brighter for a completely different reason.
"What do you want?" Donghyuck tried his best to keep his voice down, yet he couldn't help the bitter note in his tone. He didn't want the rest of the team finding out he had beef with an alumnus.
"To talk to you," Jaehyun sighed. "To apologize—"
"Save it. I don't need to and I don't want to hear it," Donghyuck snapped. He swiftly turned around to walk away, but the next thing Jaehyun said made him freeze.
"Chae and I broke up."
Donghyuck didn't know why he couldn't move. Why he couldn't just leave. Why that simple piece of information sent a rush of a thousand emotions through this entire being at one time.
"We both agreed that it just wasn't right to do this to you and besides...I don't think she ever moved on from you either."
"That's a load of bullshit, Jae," Donghyuck scoffed. "You guys only came to this conclusion because I found out you were together. Listen, I don't need a fucking pity party. All I needed was an ex-girlfriend who would be honest with me and a friend who wouldn't fuck my ex-girlfriend the moment she's available!"
The silence that followed alerted Donghyuck that he may had been louder than he thought. Jaehyun's expression was indescribable, he had long looked away to avoid eye contact with Donghyuck. Or with anyone else for that matter, because when Donghyuck glanced backwards, he saw that his whole team and his coach were staring at him in both surprise and concern.
Donghyuck only realized then that he was panting and tearing up.
"Lee Donghyuck. Cool off." their coach said, sternly and simply.
Everybody on the team knew that "Cool off" meant get off the field before you explode, so Donghyuck didn't need to be told twice. He gave the coach a curt bow, shot Jeno a knowing look and next thing he knew, he was sobbing into his steering wheel.
He cried the whole drive home while one hand pathetically clutched the silver chain around his neck. He couldn't believe it—after all that, he still couldn't take the stupid necklace off.
He still held onto a small shard of hope that could exist for his future with Chaeryeong.
The living room was empty when he got home, but by the time he stepped out of his shower, Jiseol was reading on the couch with a blanket over her. She shot him one uninterested glance, while Donghyuck was gazing at her with his own ulterior motive.
"Having fun staring at me?"
"Shut up," Donghyuck muttered quietly.
Before Jiseol could be offended, she was taken aback by Donghyuck plucking her book out of her hands, lifting the blanket and climbing on top of her. As the blanket fell draped over them both, Donghyuck's full weight rested on Jiseol, his face buried in the crook of her neck.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Jiseol asked, clearly confused.
She barely recovered from almost making out with him and now he was snuggled up against her—it was a recipe for a disaster in Jiseol's chest.
"I need this," Donghyuck's answer was muffled. "If I don't have your consent then just say the word, I'll get off."
Jiseol didn't even hesitate. She wrapped her arms around Donghyuck to signify that he had her full consent, ignoring the way her heart rate was increasing from how close they were to each other.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Are you crying?"
"...No?"
It was a blatant lie. Considering that their faces were right next to one another, Jiseol could hear his sobs that Donghyuck was trying to pass off as shaky breaths. She decided not to say anything—not that she knew what to say anyway—and started caressing his back, which only made him sob harder.
They stayed like that for a while. Neither even noticed that it was totally quiet; no TV, no background noise, no moaning and grunting from next door. It was just the two of them in that moment.
Eventually, Jiseol began to shift under Donghyuck's bigger self, feeling a bit uncomfortable but refusing to say a word about it. Donghyuck noticed and without a single warning in their limited space, he skillfully flipped themselves over so that Jiseol was now on top of him. She didn't know whether to be more turned on by his impressive show of strength or by the fact that his arms remained glued to her back like he didn't want to let her go.
Jiseol thought she should go. Donghyuck's eyes were closed, his breathing a lot more relaxed than earlier and he wasn't crying anymore—this meant that he didn't need her anymore and probably needed alone time. Right?
Wrong.
Just as Jiseol was about to wriggle herself out of Donghyuck's arm, a single word came out of his mouth with his eyes still closed.
"Stay."
Jiseol's reply was just as simple: "Okay."
The two roommates spent the whole evening like that, in each other's arms. Donghyuck was the one who needed comforting but he was the one embracing Jiseol tightly and rubbing circles down her back.
Jiseol didn't know why Donghyuck needed her so bad at his low point like that. The thing was...Donghyuck didn't know why he needed her so bad either.
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making my overdue return with a quick, short chapter! just a lil sumn to get rid of this writer's block. anyhoooo hope everyone's doing great and ily all <3
