no one else can do || soonchan

★ 7

soonyoung can't handle change.

an example of that would be the day soonyoung found out seokmin was moving in with his boyfriend. seokmin, having noticed the way soonyoung reacted to seungkwan moving out and in with mingyu, thought it would be better to gently ease his older friend into it.

in the weeks leading up to his news, seokmin would often pull soonyoung over whenever he was cooking for them and ask soonyoung for help. soonyoung wasn't known to be a great cook, so the oldest of the trio thought it was very considerate of his younger friend to teach him and ask for help.

but, as the days passed, soonyoung began to question why seokmin was doing this all of a sudden. the three of them had lived together for nearly four years at that point (with the exception of seungkwan moving out a year ago). seokmin never bothered to give him cooking lessons. so, why now?

soonyoung eventually put the pieces together: the impromptu cooking lessons, seokmin subtly bringing up jaehyun more often in their conversations ("jaehyun is so good at cooking. we should go to his place for dinner sometime!" "jaehyun is so funny, his humor is very subtle. and he's already friends with seungkwan and mingyu!" "jaehyun is so handsome, right? and he always keeps his apartment neat."), seokmin talking about their lease ending in a few months, seokmin talking about how happy he was with jaehyun. soonyoung knew what was about to happen.

seokmin was teaching him how to cook so soonyoung would be able to cook when he left.

seokmin was hyping jaehyun up for soonyoung, and the oldest finally understood why.

and soonyoung didn't say or do anything when he realized. he knew this, the relationship seokmin had with jaehyun, was something his friend had been yearning for since he was sixteen.

soonyoung didn't want to do what he did when seungkwan broke his moving out news to him: start an argument and run away. so, he just let seokmin continue with his not-so-subtle plan. and when the day came that seokmin sat soonyoung down and told him that jaehyun asked him to move in and he said yes, soonyoung was gracious and said he was excited for him. and if soonyoung cried himself to sleep that night, he never let his young friend know.

case in point, soonyoung could not handle change. whether that was watching the two most important people in his life move on and live with their partners, or not hanging out as often with his friends, or starting to see one of his closest friends in a different light, he couldn't handle change.

he was willing to change. but he knew he needed to talk to someone first.

when soonyoung arrived at seungkwan and mingyu's apartment building, he took his time getting there. when he was in the building, he opted for the stairs instead of the elevator. wanting some time with his thoughts, he even took his precious time walking up those steps.

this was soonyoung's first time telling someone about his recent news, and he was feeling the pressure get to him. normally, he would have gone to seokmin, but soonyoung knew that seokmin was getting ready for a date with jaehyun that day, so he opted for one of his other couple friends. he hoped their insight would make things clearer for him.

once soonyoung made it to the couple's front door, he unlocked it with the passcode seungkwan relayed to him a few months ago – against seungkwan's will, obviously. the boy walked into the apartment, toeing off his shoes and hanging his bag on the coat hanger next to the door.

soonyoung walked further into the apartment, pursing his lips as he noticed that neither of his friends were anywhere to be seen. he knew they were home, their shoes were still on their rack, and seungkwan's favorite candle was lit in the living room. soonyoung sighed loudly as he peeked into the kitchen and still didn't find them.