nightmare!au

*

Lol, I can't remember if I've used this one yet or not XD

***

"Bedtime."

It was Sunday, again: the day on which the stick team would assign the prank-theme for the week. Wonpil sniffled in plain confusion and turned to Jae, who was sitting beside him. "What do you think Junhyeok-hyung has in mind, Jaehyungie-hyungie?"

Jae's expression remained as blank as before. He himself was confused by the implications of the term. "Bed—bedtime??" he questioned his slightly younger friend who had come up with the term.

Junhyeok blew his fringe out of his face and assertively twirled the marker he was holding around his fingers. One knee drew itself over the other and he sat up straighter whilst decisively clearing his throat. "Yes, bedtime. As in, you can do anything you want to your roommate when he goes to bed. If you're still confused, let me set an example: last month, Dowoon got me good — invited Wonpil over to eat ramyeon and listen to music at one in the morning. Ya get what I mean by 'bedtime,' now?"

Jae burst into a string of laughter while Wonpil sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "I understand, Junhyeokie-hyung. And I'm sorry. But you do look pretty funny with a face mask on, you would have totally scared the shit out of Jaehyungie-hyung!!"

"Hey!!" Jae swatted Wonpil's cap, setting the cackling boy straight about how he felt regarding the statement.

*

"You're not going to be here this week??" Jae murmured over the phone, his voice cracking a bit.

"Sorry..." Brian supplied. His voice was tinged with a sprinkle of remorse, but he mostly sounded fatigued and everything that was spelled 'sleep-deprived.' "I suddenly got sent on a business trip to Japan. Won't be back for a week or two."

Jae had called Brian to see what the man was up to, because he would have usually been home from the office by this time on a Monday evening. Jae had yet to prank his roommate, but that was all swept to the side when some stray feeling of discomfort crept into his chest at the notion that Brian would not be back for an entire week, or — god-forbid — a whole TWO weeks...

"You want me to send you a package? With food?? Or some money maybe?" Jae shifted his cell phone to his other ear, propping it up with his shoulder so that his hands could continue folding the clean clothes from the washer. Brian cleared his throat over the other end of the line and Jae realized that there was a speaker phone function. While the blue-haired man removed the phone from his ear to press the useful button, Brian muttered something which passed by his ears. "Huh?"

"Nothing. It's— it's nothing." A sigh was audible on the other line. Jae set down his phone on the edge of his bed but his hands made no move to pick up his previous task of folding clothing. Some crinkling was heard, as if Brian had been holding onto something but had set it down, and Jae's heart clenched at the next hushed words. "But— just call me by video chat before you go to bed, alright?"

"Alright," Jae murmured out, just loudly enough for his flatmate to hear him. "Will do."

"See ya," shyly tingled his ears.

"Bye."

The line died and Jae sat on the bed with a bitter feeling overtaking his mouth.

***

"Yo, chicken little!! I'm coming over soon." It was midnight, and Jae had just picked up his phone. Jimin was yelling down his ear. "I heard Brian was away; thought you could use some company. We're watching a movie. Get the popcorn ready, would you?"

"Sure."

"Sounds good. See ya in 12!"

Jae set down his phone, having just finished his conversation with Jimin. She had invited herself over many a time, and now was no exception. A movie, some popcorn, she had commanded. And so Jae had to drag his ass up from the couch with an "Oomph" of displeasure to prepare the buttery snack in the microwave. "I don't get paid enough for this," he muttered to himself, and his hands were set busy with their task.

Twelve minutes went by, then three more... then five more... And suddenly, the door handle was madly jiggling. Jae groaned and went to pull it open after opening the lock. Behind the door, unsurprisingly, stood the small body belonging to Park Jimin, aka Jamie, aka someone Jae didn't quite mind seeing at the moment. Though he was quite content with playing games on his own 'til the crack 'o dawn, he was even more content with some company, because DAMN, was he lonely with Brian away...

"Hey, man!" Jimin drew Jae into a hug, and he willingly wrapped her up in his long limbs. "How ya feelin?"

"Like shit," Jae told her honestly. A laugh tickled his tongue.

"Hmm... I wonder why," Jimin sarcastically whispered. "Maybe... because of a certain someone..?"

Jae's grunt of confirmation pushed a laugh out of his friend's lips. "Well," she said, drawing back from the hug, "I brought someone with me to soothe your pain."

Jae looked at her quizzically. "Wait — what??"

From around the corner came a squeal of joy and Jae was soon wrapped up in a warm hold. "Kevin??!" he burst out in disbelief. "Wait, you're back in Korea, bro??!"

"Yeah!! Got back, like, two hours ago!!"

"You must be so jet lagged, dude! Come in, and you too, Jimin! Might as well sit down before we all get talkin."

"Took you this long to realize," Jimin jokingly muttered, then pushed his arm playfully. "Didja get the popcorn ready?"

"Who do you think I am?!"

And all three friends, laughing, entered the apartment before any neighbors could think to file a noise complaint.

"First talk, then movie?" Jae asked, tipping his head to the side, and beckoned his two friends to the couch.

"Why not," Kevin mused with a laugh, and the three settled down side by side, making up for lost times.

***

Halfway through the movie, Jae fell asleep. Kevin cooed at him as Jimin turned off the bright tv and replaced its intoxicating light with the warm glow of the lamp standing by the armchair. She and Kevin headed over to the kitchen to make some food and talk; Jae's phone came with them in case it would ring and wake the sleeping man up.

About an hour later, Jae's phone erupted into a Panic!at the Disco song Jimin couldn't quite get ahold of the name for. Brian was calling.

"It's 'When the Day Met the Night??'" Kevin whispered out. Jimin shrugged. "What an oldie..."

With a quick look over in Jae's direction from the opening in the kitchen wall, then in Kevin's, Jimin reached over to slide the bar over and began the video call. "Wassup, Brian?!"

The man on the other end of the line, consisting of a blocky image because of the poor connection, grinned and shifted the camera a tad so that his face was clearer. "Yoooo, Jamie!! Hey, Kevin!"

"Hi," Kevin said with his characteristic giggle. "Ya doin okay over there, man?"

"Yeah, yeah; the scenery's gorgeous, the food's great, the WiFi sucks—"

"You miss Jae, don't you?" Jimin interrupted the spacing-out Brian.

A sigh. "Yeah." A small grin tugged at the corner of the translator's lip. The miserable lilt soon dropped into a pout, and Brian wiped at his eye with a fatigued exhale. "I'm just so tired, you know? And being away from that idiot of a hyung is taking an even bigger toll on me than work is. Ya know what I mean?" Kevin gave an understanding nod, and Brian continued to speak with a dismissive wave. "But enough about me — where's Jae-hyung?"

Now it was Jimin's turn to giggle. Kevin got a sneaky glint in his eye and a wide smile grew on his features when he announced, "Over there," with a point of his finger in the direction of the couch. Jimin stifled a laugh and turned the camera to show Jae, who was tilted over the edge of the couch, his mouth wide open, drool lightly seeping out of it.

"Hey, hold this for me, would you?" Jimin passed the phone to Kevin, who gladly took it, and they strode over to the couch.

"Dang..." came Brian's hushed voice from the phone speaker. "Hyung must have been really tired for that to happen..."

"Yeah; I don't think I've ever seen him fall asleep in front of me like that," reported Jimin. "He probably was planning to stay up all night, again."

"... He was supposed to call me before going to bed..." Brian mumbled.

"He did say something about that, earlier..." Jimin rubbed her chin. "But he looked too sweet for me to wake him up; all that drowsy blinking was softening my heart, he's such a quiet baby..."

"I agree," consented Kevin. "He's so quiet, I didn't even notice he'd drifted off!"

Brian sighed in understanding and passed his palm over his forehead. "Yeah, I can see that happening. But he's usually so loud when he's asleep, I swear!!"

Suddenly — as if to prove Brian's point — Jae released a snort and proceeded to let out a desperate chain of words, varying in language and volume. "Sayonara, Brian??? Wha— No!! Wait, don't — don't leave!! I haven't even—" then, something in Thai, "Don't go!!" and so on.

"He's— he's having a nightmare, again!!" Brian burst out, worry filling his eyes. "Quick — Jamie, wake him up!!"

Jimin took action, firmly shaking Jae awake. "You — Jae... You okay, baby?.."

Jae blinked like a lost kitten, his breathing a bit heavy. "Wh— Brian??" He had caught sight of the phone screen Kevin was still holding to face him and was staring at it with eyes bleary from sleep and the low angle of his glasses on his nose. His knuckle rose to wipe at his eye from beneath his glasses and he set the lenses straight again in order to better see his flatmate. "When'd you call??"

"Not important," Brian breathed out, frantically grabbing his phone as if wanting to hold Jae close. "Are you okay, bro??"

Kevin and Jimin watched on as Jae picked himself up into a sitting position and took the phone being extended to him. "Yeah— I just could've used some more sleep... Why??"

Brian let out an audible breath and a small smile graced his lips. "Just— Just wondering, since I'm away and all. Call me if anything ever comes up, okay?"

Jae nodded. His hand rose to muss up his hair where it was sticking to the back of his head, then moved to wipe at the sweat and the drool taking up a good portion of his face. He knew he'd just been woken up and that Brian was frantic about the whole ordeal... Had he had a dream? Why was his flatmate so worried..??

"Well, I'd better go," Jae heard awkwardly echo in from the other line. He had spaced out, but now his eyes were back on the screen, where a certain black-haired translator was shuffling in discomfort. "Have a nice time with Jimin and Kevin. And really, if you ever need to see me... want to talk to me... just— don't hesitate and call me. I'll do my best to answer."

"Sure thing, man," Jae dreamily whispered out. Then Brian was warmly, shyly grinning with a finger wave and the screen was blinking out of the call.

Jimin gripped his shoulder. "You know... the two of you seem like a couple."

"Yeah!" Kevin agreed. "When's the wedding?!"

Jae shook himself free of the clutches of dreaminess mixed with drowsiness and — with a pout — proclaimed, "It's all in your heads; focus on your own marriage proposals, lovebirds..."

This effectively shut the two up.

*

"Sam... What do I dooooo..." It was the next day — 3 in the afternoon, to be exact. Jae was busy practicing for his upcoming match, but there was too much stuff on his mind for him to hold back from calling one of his more understanding friends while he was stretching. So Jae had his back on his bed, doing his leg exercises while talking to his LA buddy by video chat. "It's not like I can prank him from all the way back here... not without feeling bad about it, at least..." He huffed out a long breath and stretched his body to the side. A drop of sweat rolled off of his forehead onto the sheets.

"Dunno, man. Why don't you just call it off with Wonpil and Junhyeok?" Sammy absentmindedly strummed his guitar, then continued in a softer tone. "We're all human — they'll understand."

"Psssch, I wish it was that easy..." Jae turned back onto his back, stretching as far as he could while bringing his knees to his chest at a regular rhythm. With bated breath, he huffed out, "They'd never let me live it down, I know that for sure. Especially after what happened last week..."

"But is 'protecting your pride' or whatever it is you're trying to do really worth Brian's feelings? From what you've told me, it seems like both you and Brian are pretty sensitive right now." Sammy paused his strumming and looked Jae right in the eye. "That's right — why are you two so sensitive all of a sudden?? Do you really rely on each other that much?.."

Jae sputtered on the extra saliva riddling his mouth from his exercise. "N—no!! What the heck, man?!!"

"Your loss, man. Can't wait for you to admit that you're head over heels for Brian..." Sammy grinned at the still-sputtering badminton player, and the call clicked off.

Jae sat, huffing, his phone in his clutches with his knuckles growing white around it for a while, a while enough to decide — DAMMIT — I can't do this shit... His fingers typed his password into his phone, clicked on the stick team chat, and — after a second of hesitation — typed out three simple words:

I GIVE UP.