i'm your a to z | jihancheol

seungcheol's just salty

chapter 11

Seungcheol didn't even have time to put the handcuffs away before Jeonghan started crying again. The boy had always been sensitive so he knew how to handle it. Without mentioning Jihoon, he tried to comfort the boy while stroking his hair. It always worked in the past and it still worked to this day.

Although, Seungcheol has forgotten it also made him fall asleep. He sighed when he saw Jeonghan was sound asleep in the middle of a sentence.

He stood up, ready to flop into his bed but he couldn't even reach the staircase before the doorbell rang. Seungcheol groaned before waking to the door, seeing his uncle was on the other side.

"Chan, you're going home!" he shouted before opening the door. "Hello, Uncle."

Chan ran out the door, slamming it behind him, confusing Seungcheol. The boy would usually complain about having to leave so what was up today?

"Anyways," he said to himself as he put the handcuff around his wrist out of boredom.

He walked back to the living room to see Jeonghan was awake again—must've been the doorbell. Joshua was by his side again and they were awfully close. Why were they so close? Seungcheol knew it wasn't his business but he always felt mad whenever he saw their skinship. It was lot more than average strangers who'd met less than a week before.

"Oh, Seungcheol," Joshua called before he could try to sneak away. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course."

Joshua stood up and walked over. Seungcheol wondered what he had to talk about.

"I know I said I was only going to stay a few days but would you mind if—" Joshua's voice trailed off as if he was nervous.

"I said you can stay for as long as you want." Seungcheol smiled. He meant it. He loved having Joshua stay because not only he'd made Seungcheol's house feel less empty, he was generally fun to be around. "I know you're stressed out over a job."

"Yeah, I promise I'll leave when I have enough money to get my own place. I can even pay you back if you want-"

"Don't worry about it."

"Thank you so much," he said with the widest grin on his face. Seungcheol liked seeing him happy. "Would you mind if I brought some things from my apartment to stay?"

"Of course not. Take my car if you need." Since when did I trust people this much?

"Thanks, you're the best." He put his sweater on and walked out, taking the keys on his way out.

"I know I am." He smirked before beginning to walk up the stairs.

That's when he remembered he had a sad man on his couch. Seungcheol internally sighed before walking to the couch, where Jeonghan was lying and staring at the ceiling.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" he asked, noticing how uncomfortable he looked. "Onto you know... a bed?"

"Yes but... no energy..." Jeonghan whined.

Seungcheol huffed before squatting down in front of the sofa. I'm going to regret this, he thought. Why am I doing this? he asked himself before picking the younger boy off the couch. He ignored the protests as he carried Jeonghan in a somewhat princess carry up to the guest room. Seungcheol threw him onto the bed before sitting on the chair beside it at the same time Noire jumped out from under the bed and onto his lap.