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Chick and Tiger Tales

Summary:

A Hwando/Hwanhak anthology. Formerly known as I Hwando, You Hwando, We Hwando

Chapter 1: Simple Pt. 1

Summary:

Hwanwoong and Leedo deciding their feelings after 6-7 years.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

No one knows what triggers it.

It could be the long flight. On what could be their final tour together as a group. Southeast Asia being the first international stop. It feels like that time when they first toured in the US.

It could be the frustrations of losing to Seoho on rock, paper, and scissors and see his smirk when he gets to choose the room he will use on his own while waiting for Xion to arrive. Xion has a movie premiere on the very day they have to leave their homeland for the next venue. It was discussed beforehand and Xion or his actor name, Dongju, has decided to take a flight the day after the premiere. They could have taken a room each but for the sake of the good old days, in the words of Keonhee, they decided to share rooms. Hwanwoong shares room with Geonhak.

It could be the never ending sound of "so what?" from Ravn and Keonhee during their dinner together. A sound that was once so frequent when their career has barely lift off. Nowadays, they rarely see each other. On the fourth year after their debut, Keonhee had already been busy with his modelling gig, Dongju gets a side character role in an adaptation of a webtoon. Youngjo, or Ravn already had several music show winning songs under his belt and a few fashion items with his brand, Seoho a fairly popular feature artist, Geonhak learns how to DJ, and Oneus was well known. They had the privilege of moving out of the dorm after a long heartfelt talk many nights before. Geonhak was the last person to leave and he left a bit before their fifth anniversary. They were still close if not closer, but a year after, they could only meet up at comeback meetings and some company events.

It could be the sudden storm that ruins the evening that they planned to go for an outing, visiting the place that they have just set foot on. It was cold, but Hwanwoong can feel sweat building up on his back as he was pinned to the bed, mouth busy. Geonhak breaks the kiss to softly slides a finger underneath Hwanwoong's bangs, as he pushed it to the side, the hand slipped behind his ear and cups his face. Hwanwoong sees Geonhak smiling so softly, eyes glassy. Not much has changed since the last time he saw Geonhak, his hair is short almost as short as the time they promoted their second mini album. His body is bigger, bulkier. Hwanwoong can tell even over the two layer shirt he is wearing by running his hands which was resting on Geonhak's chest to move on to his shoulders. He runs his fingers on Geonhak's hair. Nope, the hair was shorter than before. He closes the gap by pulling Geonhak down and catches his lips.

Nostalgic.


It was a few comebacks after their debut where they both confessed in having feelings for each other. It was a time where they were assigned for a couple dance and the tension was unbearable. They have done it many times before, while the chemistry was a bit iffy, they overcome it with professionalism. But this particular choreography which involves a lot of sensual touching. Hwanwoong finds himself unable to keep his facial expression and Geonhak couldn't keep his position and flinched a lot.

"Hyung, this is not working well. We need to talk, sort it out?" Hwanwoong suggested while taking sips of water. It was a culture that they had made as a group, to talk it out whenever something is bothering them. This method really helped with their teamwork.

"It's nothing. An off day. I'll fix it." Geonhak rejected. Hwanwoong decided to let it go at that. Talking it out, as their culture goes, needs more than just two sides, to have a moderator just in case it turned sour is something Hwanwoong needs to consider. So he asked Geonhak about the little things that happened to him to distract the older man.

However, the frustrations of that week had left them tangled up in each other, hot, sticky and breathless in an empty dorm room. There was some guilt but mostly confusion. "Hyung, what are we?" The question led to a series of other questions. They stare at the bedroom ceiling as they ponder on the what ifs. They chose their career and it was easy.


"What do you and that hyung do everytime you roomed together?" Geonhak asked one day, during a tour. He knocked on Hwanwoong and Youngjo's hotel room door earlier to talk to the older man. But to his surprise Hwanwoong answered the door, looking half sleepy. Hwanwoong grumbled about Youngjo heading out to take a call somewhere and now he had to stay awake so that Youngjo will not be locked outside.

Hwanwoong, who was trying to keep himself awake by playing a game on his phone, shrugged. "Whatever we always do when we're roomed together. Talk about clothes, personal stuff, joke around, play games, the usual." He could see that Geonhak wants to ask more. Maybe about how he and Youngjo appears on screen lately, he noticed it too, the naughty captions and all, but that has always been how he and Youngjo are.

He waited but Geonhak didn't continue. "Youngjo is like that with everyone, even to you and you know it." Geonhak hums. "And everyone knows you have a soft spot for Dongju."

Geonhak mumbles, "So do you". He fishes out his phone from his pocket, fiddling with it to reduce the tension in the air. It was awkward since the two of them are clearly trying to distract themselves from each other.

"Youngjo-hyung and I have the same personality and interest, it's easy for us to get along." Hwanwoong explained, after a long pause. He wondered does he really need to expain himself? He slaps himself lightly to stay awake and sigh, whining when will Youngjo return.

"Seoho-hyung is fun to be around because we have the same interest too, but that hyung really gets on my nerves."

"That's because he's Seoho-hyung. Teasing people is his second nature."


The reason for Geonhak and Hwanwoong to choose not to pursue their feelings is simple, it could be bad for the group and their dynamics. There are so many reasons they can tie to their feelings being only temporary. A rebel against the dating ban, the lack of people they meet day in day out, hormonal, and so on. At the very least, they decided to wait it out until their contract is over. Which neither of them are sure that they would still hold feelings towards each other.

And they were right. While it took more than a year, Hwanwoong finds that he had fallen out of his feelings and assumed Geonhak did too, when they started seeing someone and sometimes talk to each other about it, like the rest of the members. There was no bitter feelings, no heavy heart, no awkward smiles. But there was a cycle, Hwanwoong noticed, he fell out of love for a while and some time later, he finds himself back in it. It wasn't hard dealing with it, their tight schedule helped.

He thinks, he is currently in the 'fall back in' phase. A few days ago, he just happened to see the man above him in a show, a new show where celebrities shows a group of children what they do at their job. Singer, rapper and songwriter, DJ Leedo reminds him of the time where they went around the filming site, distracting a child celebrity as Seoho and Ravn worked on a song. He loved how Geonhak took care of the kid. It was such a wholesome sight to behold at that time. It was probably when Hwanwoong had fallen for him. Especially after the shoot, he noticed that Geonhak looked brighter and sometimes smile at himself when he thinks no one is looking. Geonhak is a beautiful, sweet, sensitive man with so many sides of him contrasting each other and Hwanwoong can't help but fall for him.

Hwanwoong does his best to switch their position until he's on top of Geonhak, he pulls off his shirt and stretch to grab the tv remote and switch it on. Geonhak looks back at him, swollen lips, messy hair. Beautiful. There is that soft look again when he looks at Hwanwoong. An answer. The sudden shout of the announcer from the tv snaps him back to reality. He must've look silly while being in a daze and brushes off the thought. He continues to kiss Geonhak and feels his hands on his hips.

When Hwanwoong comes to, his throat feels scratchy. He is still on top of Geonhak, with his nose buried in the crook of Geonhak's neck. He plants a kiss there and flips himself to the side, resting his head on Geonhak's arm.

"Hey?"

"Yeah?" Geonhak answers.

"Are you continuing your contract as Oneus?" He can hear Geonhak snickers.

"Planning to."

"And that thing we decided on?"

"Does it matter anymore?"

Notes:

If you made it this far, pat yourselves on the back. You made it, yeay! I've reformatted it and fix a few things here and there, if you came back after reading it once before, you'll notice it. Haha.

I like this pairing and didn't expect to write them in a shippy manner. I usually write Hwando-centric stories but in a buddy manner, if you're interested ;D

Chapter 2: Simple Pt. 2

Summary:

In between the time of the 1st chapter.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

CRASH!

Geonhak watches as the fallen dumbbell rolls towards the mirrored walls. Fortunately, the roll slows down before the dumbbell reaches the wall and hits the mirror with the softest tap. He wonders if the sound would bother his colleagues in the building since Keonhee once complained that he was doing a live when he heard crashing noises from among the rooms within the level. He looks at the hand that the dumbbell had fallen off of. It is trembling and the palm is red. He can see the lines formed from where he was gripping the dumbbell. He sighs. He was so out of it today. He had overworked his muscles. That would be a problem tomorrow when he wakes up with the sorest arm. He walks towards his bag and grabs a bottle of water, he plops on the floor, leaning on the wall, and takes a few gulps of water. He brings a hand to his face to wipe off sweat. The thought of yesterdays pops up again and he rubs his face as if to rub the thought away. He wants to scream in frustration.


"Hyung, what are we?" Hwanwoong asked from over Geonhak's chest, where he was resting his head. Geonhak wondered as if they had not just recovered from the wildest makeout session a while ago. Like they didn't just confess to each other midst kissing on the bed of an empty dorm room. Like his chest had not exploded from the joy that his feelings were reciprocated.

"Are we allowed to do this?" Hwanwoong added. Geonhak runs his hand in Hwanwoong's hair, carding it as he feels the issue weighing down on him, but is still a bit too blissful to properly think about it. Kim Geonhak had always been the one to do what he wants, but not entirely since he signed under the company he debuted in.

He feels Hwanwoong moved, lifting his head and look at him. “Ya, Kim Geonhak ah.” He calls in the softest yet bratty tone. He grins a bit after which Geonhak finds adorable. The grin later turned into a bitter smile. It was a surprise that Geonhak anticipated this. “We shouldn’t do this.”

“We shouldn’t.” Geonhak parrots. Hwanwoong rests his chin on Geonhak’s chest, bringing his hands to be placed under it.

“Then, what should we do about this?” Hwanwoong gestures lazily with one hand, which indirectly points to the floor.

"Put it in the laundry pile?" Geonhak jokes, referring to their sweaty clothes on the floor, earning himself a hit on the chest. He giggles. "Idol life is... a bit restricting, don't you think?"

Hwanwoong hums, back to resting his head on Geonhak's chest. He groans. "I really don't want to think about it right now."

"We can leave it for tomorrow."

"I don't think I can hide it well, hyung." Hwanwoong confesses. "We will have to explain everything and what happens then?"

"And Oneus-" Geonhak trails off.

"It's too risky."

"And what if things didn't work out between us?" Geonhak feels like retracting the words. He wouldn't think of ever hurting Hwanwoong. And he couldn't remember the last time they had a proper disagreement.

"I'm not sure if I would want anything to do with my ex after that." Hwanwoong comments. "Maybe it's because we don't get to see many people. We're confused and tired and lonely."

Geonhak ponders. He frowns at the thought that the storm in his chest and the riot in his head when Hwanwoong is around is because of confusion and loneliness. It feels all too real to him. "Dongju found someone despite that."

"He's different. He has hobbies."

"Excuse me, Yeo Hwanwoong?"

"You practically live in the gym and I spend most time in the studio. We don't get as much sunlight as him."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?"

Hwanwoong laughs. "Bottom line, there's too much at risk here." Hwanwoong peels himself of Geonhak."We can wait, can't we? Just until we become the Earth Idols that we claim to be. We're almost there."

Geonhak closes his eyes as Hwanwoong watches. He thinks about all of the things he had sacrificed in order to debut. He remembers his journey to get here. He wonders about the what ifs. He had just experienced one of the best things in his life, having his feelings returned. Why does it have to go this way? He can feel anger bubbling. It's not fair. He knows that if he really think about it long and hard, this is the better choice. There is Oneus, what happens to the rest if two of their members are in a relationship? Their group dynamic would shift accordingly. Would that be a good thing? And then what happens if the company finds out?Are they going to support it? While the dating ban had been lifted, having their idols dating each other would bring unnecessary attention to the group. Attention is good thing for them, but what kind of attention? Acceptance? Gossiping fuel? Just when they have gained some momentum of being recognized by their motherland and some parts of the world. How can Hwanwoong decided on it so fast? Does he really like Geonhak as much as he claims he does? There are so many questions. Geonhak takes his time in considering it.

"You looking at me with such lovestruck eyes is making everything harder, you know." Geonhak says as he opens his eyes.

Hwanwoong pouts. "It's hard for me, so I'm making it hard for you too."

"You're so bratty."

"That's why you love me." Hwanwoong sticks out his tongue.

He studies Hwanwoong's expression. "Yeo Hwanwoong. You know what will happen if we hold it off for too long." Hwanwoong hums and looks away.

Geonhak hears an 'I know' mixed among the whiney sound Hwanwoong made in frustration. Maybe it's not as easy for Hwanwoong as he thought. Geonhak grabs his hand, fits his fingers in his. "Hey, we're going to see this through together."


"See this through together my ass" Geonhak mumbles into his hands. He could feel his stomach shrivel at the thought. He immediately shuts down his flashbacks. Why was he so confident in saying all those things. It all came biting him back. It's been a year since they took a break. To call it a 'break' would be too liberal since nothing has started. He was doing so well not thinking or bringing up about that incident, but today, seeing Hwanwoong being too close to the members seems to have stirred him up. He shouldn't be. He understands the situation, his mind knows that he has no right to be mad. Not when he was sure he had moved on. He was absolutely sure of it. When he noticed it, he tried to hold on to the remnants of that feeling out of guilt. Guilt of moving on too fast. But he couldn't, so he let it go.

Why now, Kim Geonhak?

 

"Ah, hyung." He hears a familiar voice from a familiar face as he exits the company building. It is Hwanwoong who seems to have also just exited the building. Hwanwoong raises a hand to say hi as he approaches him. "Hi."

"Did you just get off work?"He asks Hwanwoong.

"Yeah, I'm waiting for Dongju and Dongmyeong, they ran off somewhere and not answering my calls." He waves his phone before pocketing it. "I see the duffle bag and the thin one layer jacket in this weather. You've just finished working out."

Geonhak rolls his eyes, pretending to not to give Hwanwoong credit for guessing it right because it is that obvious. As he is about to turn, the duffle bag he hung on his shoulder falls to the floor. He picks it up and tries to put it back over his shoulder but his sore arms stops him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Overworked my arms today." He squats and try to hang the handle on his shoulder but Hwanwoong grabs the bag from him and walks ahead. "What are you doing, Yeo Hwanwoong?"

"I'll walk you to the dorm." Hwanwoong grins. The lights from the streetlight, passing cars and the building illuminates his face. Even when part of his face is blocked by the hat that he is wearing, he is beautiful.

"What about your roommates?" Geonhak snaps out of his daze and follows him.

"They'll call me when they're done with whatever they're doing. Besides, I parked the car close by the dorm."

Geonhak does not expect Hwanwoong to send him right up to their dorm room's door. Former dorm room for Hwanwoong. He moved out a few months ago and is currently living with Dongju and Dongmyeong. Hwanwoong walks in as he says he would rather wait for the twins somewhere warm. Geonhak could not remember the condition of the dorm room he left before going to work. It was not as messy as he thought since he already pack most of his things in boxes.

Hwanwoong looks around. "Oh, you're finally moving out?" Geonhak tells him that he is still looking for a place and thought he should pack early. It wouldn't bother him as much because he doesn't use a lot of things. Hwanwoong asks him to update them when he finally moves out. Geonhak excuses himself to shower and ask Hwanwoong to tell him when he's about to leave.

He finds Hwanwoong still there after showering. He was looking around their dorm, taking it all in, looking somewhat nostalgic. He could hear the sound of camera shutter while dresses up.

"I'm really going to miss this place. Must be lonely living here alone, huh, hyung?"

"It's just as lonely as someone who lives alone in any house."

Hwanwoong shakes his head. "True, but this place used to be filled with six adult men. Loud. Busy. Six young men with a dream. Seven, including the manager at one time." He points at a corner of the dorm and chuckles. "This used to be filled with all our empty luggage bags."

There's something about the longing look in Hwanwoong's eyes that makes Geonhak wants to wrap his arms around him, pulls him close. He wonders if he's allowed to do that. He does it so many times before. He likes the feeling of the smaller man in his arms. But the air is different right now. He has his feelings bubbling up in his chest which messes up with his head. He really wants to pull the younger to his chest and kisses him. It was in this very room when the others were caught up in a game while doing a live, they let themselves be vulnerable and let their feelings overflow.

And then Hwanwoong's phone rings. "Where were you? Is Dongmyeong with you?" He watches the younger man answers. "Meet me at the car."

"Roommates have returned. I uh, have to go." Hwanwoong excuses himself. At the door, he asks Geonhak to update them again if he had found the new place. Hwanwoong looks like he wants to say something more, but he doesn't. He bids farewell and walks away.

Geonhak walks to the refrigerator to retrieve an ice pack for his sore muscles. He lies down on the sofa and taps on a random youtube video while he ice his bicep. His mind wanders to the look on Hwanwoong's face before he left. Maybe it's not just him.

Notes:

More self indulgent stuff. Don't mind me. Though, comments are welcomed.

Chapter 3: Good boyfriend

Summary:

Geonhak looking for Hwanwoong but Hwanwoong was busy.

Notes:

Unrelated to the first two chapters.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Woong ah. Woong ah. Yeo Hwanwoong!" Geonhak softly pat on Hwanwoong's cheek after silently sneak into the maknae line's room. The three of them; Keonhee, Hwanwoong and Dongju are still sleeping. Keonhee tosses and have one of his long legs hover dangerously above the railings of his top bunk bed before dangling off it and hit Geonhak's head. Geonhak's yelp wakes the youngest, Dongju who is very sensitive to noise. He sits up and checks his phone while Geonhak continues to shake Hwanwoong, bunched in two blankets, sleeping serenely without a care in the world.

"Hyung, we've only just slept. It takes another hour to get him to actually hear you." Dongju's voice sounds raspy and deep. Geonhak frowns and shakes Hwanwoong harder. "What do you want from him?"

Geonhak tells Dongju that Hwanwoong promised to go on a run with him and spend some time at the gym before his lesson starts. "What did you guys do to sleep so late?"

Dongju shrugs. He tells Geonhak that they were having a midnight snack as usual while catching up with the latest drama, bur somehow the cliffhanger of the drama caused them to create their own theories and discussing them until dawn. "He's a lost cause, hyung. Tell you what, call him after your run, before going to the gym. Pray that he can function until then."

And so Geonhak goes running alone, with a heavy heart. His boyfriend had promised to spend some time with him today. They had finally cleared a chunk of their schedules today after a hectic period of promoting season. Today, there're only lessons and a short meeting to finalize their schedule for the next month. He planned to spend time with his family tomorrow and group practice starts a day after. He wants to spend the most out of his off day today, even if it's only for a few hours.  

Hwanwoong was still asleep even after he finished his gym session.


"Youngjo-hyung?" Geonhak calls out. "Have you seen Hwanwoong?"

Geonhak looks for Hwanwoong in the room where Youngjo exited from. He and Hwanwoong had their lesson session together, but the room is empty. Youngjo apologized for not being able to talk to him because he wants to chase after a couple music producers of the company to discuss something with them.

He tries to call Hwanwoong but the call is disengaged. Before he could send a text, Geonhak sees Dongju snacking on an egg at a lounging corner of the level. He is focused on his phone, typing something away. When he gets closer, he could hear Seoho's singing from Dongju's phone. "Dongju-yah."

"Lee Keonhee, I will murder you in your sleep." He hears Dongju mumble beneath the sound of Keonhee making a song out of dissing Xion. Geonhak couldn't entirely catch what exactly are the words but he could hear a familiar squeaky laugh.

"Is Hwanwoong with them in the live?" Geonhak asks. Dongju told him that it was initially Hwanwoong's live but was crashed by Seoho and Keonhee. They were using Hwanwoong's phone for the live and Geonhak thank the heavens for not letting him send Hwanwoong the text. As far as he knows, his relationship with Hwanwoong is still a secret between the two of them. While he knows his text is innocent, he couldn't predict what will happen on Hwanwoong's side. What if he opens the text while he's with someone and they saw their previous conversations, which escalates a lot after they were in a relationship. Hwanwoong can keep secrets sometimes, when proper strategy and planning is applied. However, when the right question is asked and proper pressure is applied, he would cave. Neither of them are prepared for the things that comes after.

Geonhak looks at the already peeled eggs on the napkin. Dongju is still focused on his phone, cursing at the three members that are live. Geonhak grabs the egg with a thank and leave as fast as he can. He hears a loud whine and a yell of his name.


"Where is Hwanwoong?" Geonhak asks.

"His mom came to visit, he went and see her." Seoho answers at the company later that evening.

"He went out with Dongju and Youngjo-hyung. They should be back any minute now" Keonhee answers at the dorm when Geonhak came in.

Geonhak can feel himself pouting. He's beyond frustrated. He tried to spend time with Hwanwoong since morning and now he had already have his head on the pillow, eyes already heavy with sleep and Hwanwoong had not returned to the dorm yet. The only time he sees the younger man eyes opened is during the meeting and Geonhak had to run to his lesson right after. He hears his phone buzz but his consciousness drift into slumber.


Hwanwoong notices that Geonhak isn't speaking much to him, even when they were discussing the gestures they can try during their performances. Geonhak is usually very active in giving suggestions, not as enthusiastically as Seoho but he has ideas. He gets a lot of one word reply the older man and only a silent head pat once practice is over. 

Hwanwoong wonders as he scroll through his phone gallery for good pictures to send to To Moon. His selcas have been good lately it's a shame he could only upload four per post. He doesn't want to post a lot of the same background, same outfit photos like Youngjo-hyung or Keonhee. He finds it hard to make meaningful captions with the same batch of photos. He scrolls some more and find several photos with his members. He has a lot of great and cute shots with Dongju and Keonhee. Youngjo-hyung is always happy to tag along when he was taking photos alone. There are several unuseable ones with Seoho-hyung. That hyung can't really stay still for 5 seconds and is always making weird faces.

And then there's Geonhak-hyung. He has a special album for the photos he took of him and with him now, it had not been updated but he looks through the album every now and then. Some of it he has showed To Moon a while ago. While the photos looked innocent back then, now the photos hold a different meaning to him. He scrolls through and realized that there was a lot of Geonhak's back view. There is also quite a number of selcas taken by Geonhak with him in Geonhak's arms. He hates that he looks very small in those shots and Geonhak, loves taking it from an angle that enhances their size difference. He always gets the passing remark of "Oh, you're actually bigger than I thought" from people who had seen him only from behind the screen and he hates it. He's not small, his group mates are too tall. But he would be lying if he says he hates those photos entirely. Geonhak's arms are huge but they are also gentle and reassuring.

Suddenly, he hears a door opens and he almost breaks his phone when he accidentally toss it so high up due to panic.

He hears Geonhak chuckles. "Isn't it too early to go through those websites." Hwanwoong sticks out his tongue and refute by saying he was watching SpongeBob and it would ruin his image if he's caught dead watching it. "Cheeky." Geonhak replies as he walks into the bathroom.

Hwanwoong wonders if something did happen because Geonhak's tone feels a bit cold. He calls Geonhak to sit with him in the living room after he's out of the bathroom.

"Is something bothering you?" Hwanwoong boldly asks.

Geonhak shrugs. Hesitated a bit before running a hand on the back of his neck before sitting in the couch next to Hwanwoong. "It's nothing. I just felt a bit sad that I couldn't spend some time with you two days ago."

"They told me you were looking for me all day. I apologized."

"I know." Geonhak stretched his arms and rest it on Hwanwoong's shoulder. A habit Hwanwoong noticed everytime Geonhak is beside someone. "It's really silly. But I really hope to spend that day with you. I had some plans for it too. Now that I think of it, they weren't great plans after all. Just hanging out and exercise together."

"Hey, I'd love to do that!" Hwanwoong says. "We can just talk and it'll be fun."

Geonhak chuckles. "Thank you, Woong ah."

Before they could kiss a loud scream from the maknae line's bedroom. Hwanwoong sighs and rolls his eyes, Geonhak laughs.

"Well, goodnight, Woong." Geonhak rubs Hwanwoong's shoulder, kisses his cheek instead before ruffling his hair. "If we want to hang out tomorrow, make sure to wake up early. So go to bed now."

Another scream is heard from the room. "Do you think I can?" Hwanwoong yells. Geonhak continues to laugh before disappearing into the hyung line's room.

Hwanwoong went back into lying on the couch, plugging his earphones in and scrolling through his gallery before choosing the best photos to upload. He'll make up to Geonhak tomorrow. After all, he's trying to be a good boyfriend.

Notes:

Decided to make it a compilation. I want some place to impulsively write hwando.
My cc

Chapter 4: Campus Crush

Summary:

1theK campus crush au with loner Geonhak and part timer Hwanwoong.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Hwanwoong, Mr Boyfriend is here." Hwanwoong hears a call from outside of the staff room. He rolls his eye and slams his locker shut. He grabs his bag and jacket and proceed to clock out. His two female colleagues giggle as he makes his way to the front of the diner. Hwanwoong playfully gestures a flick to their forehead, three inches away from their actual forehead. 

He sees a familiar bluish green-haired man sitting at the corner of the diner. He nod to greet Hwanwoong as he makes his way to the man. Not even a smile on his face. "Geonhak-ssi. A bit later then you would totally miss me."

The man, clad in all black, black leather jacket and black skinny jeans pours a shot of soju and pushes it into the smaller man's hand. He gestures Hwanwoong to down it. Hwanwoong turns away and downs the shot. "Are you drunk already, Geonhak-ssi?"

"Call me hyung." He urges with the lowest voice he has ever heard from the older man. He smiles so widely when Hwanwoong calls him Geonhak-hyung.

Definitely drunk, Hwanwoong thinks. While their university is huge and knowing everyone is impossible, Kim Geonhak is infamous for having this cold untouchable aura to him. The wolf of Early Childhood Education major, as they call him. A Chemical Engineering major like him shouldn't know and be this close to Geonhak like he is right now.

 

It happened a month after Hwanwoong lands a part time job as a diner helper, it was two weeks after the new semester has started, the diner had a reservation for a group of early childhood education majors, an ice breaking event. There were a few students that stood out at that event, a very loud student who walks around the diner a lot and lowkey forcing the juniors to enjoy themselves, a long blond-haired beauty which Hwanwoong mistook for a female student until he calls for him to add orders and Geonhak. He sat silently for the most part of the event. He looks exactly like how he did today. Bluish green hair and leather jacket. A few students had come up to him to chat but they left just as fast. The blond tried talking to him as well and Hwanwoong swore he could see some spark with those two. They stayed a bit after everyone had left. However, the blond called for Hwanwoong when Geonhak passed out, leaving Hwanwoong to handle the loner because he had to handle his twin brother, who coincidentally passed out drunk in a bar not far from the diner.

Since Hwanwoong was the only male helper at that shift and the rush had started to slow down, his boss asked him to handle Geonhak. It was really hard bringing Geonhak back to his place since the taller man is built like an aspiring bodybuilder and Hwanwoong has a smaller than average built. Luckily, Geonhak was very cooperative while being intoxicated, it didn't take much time at all to get him home. He was very honest when drunk. Very different from what Hwanwoong had seen from him hours ago. Almost cute. Almost. Hwanwoong tries his hardest not to be smitten by the taller man.

A few days later he came back to the diner, alone. Hwanwoong learned that he wants to practice drinking so that he wouldn't embarrass himself at the next welcoming party or other drinking parties with his batch mates and juniors. Hwanwoong learned that Geonhak is not a loner after all, he likes talking but is too shy. The lone wolf image he has been known for is just his awkwardness. The leader jacket, in Hwanwoong's opinion, was the least expected explanation from Geonhak.

"I didn't bring my padded jacket because it will take a lot of space. Besides, this baby is thick and heavy as hell, and so far it does it's job perhaps better than the padded jacket I left at my parents'." Geonhak told him a few drinking sessions before, after he asks Hwanwoong to be his drinking buddy. "And, it's stylish."

Hwanwoong laughed out of shock. He had this whole image of Geonhak from the first time he met him crumbling in front of him that one drinking session alone. Geonhak, taken aback by his reaction breaks into the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and his laugh? Hwanwoong had sworn cupid had got him that night.

Geonhak did got better in holding his alcohol and at the same time, Hwanwoong learns more and more about the older man. There were many times when he comes across people gossipping about the Lone Wolf of Early Childhood Education, he wants to correct them so bad but something is holding him back from telling the world how cute Kim Geonhak of Early Childhood Education is. He brushes it off as being too busy to meddle in other people's business. 

They meet several times a week, for drinking and sometimes they meet in campus, especially during the time Hwanwoong is helping around in the library. 

 

There was a time when Hwanwoong was busy reorganizing a bookshelf, he stumbled across Geonhak sitting across his eccentric room mate, Seoho. While trying to keep busy, he finds himself casually glancing at Geonhak. His eyebrows furrow as he focuses on the words in his book. Meanwhile, Seoho was looking suspiscious behind his book. Hwanwoong figured that Seoho brought his digivice into the library again. "Ah, this hyung." He muttered under his breath. He saw Seoho chanting something to the digivice and it piqued Geonhak's interest. Seoho chanted again a few times and left his books and digivice unattended and disappeared to who knows where. After Hwanwoong placing the last book from the trolley to the shelf, he sneaks a glance to Geonhak again and saw Seoho's digivice in his hand. He looks around as if to see if anyone's watching and whispered something into Seoho's digivice. He did it again, louder, and Hwanwoong thinks it's the chant Seoho did earlier.

"Hngh!" Hwanwoong fell on the floor, clutching his chest. He hoped that no one heard him.

"Fuck, he's an idiot. Oh my God, he's an idiot. He's an idiot and he's fucking adorable! Holy fuck, I'm in love with an idiot!" Hwanwoong's thoughts ran as fast as his heart that moment.

Hwanwoong is in love with Geonhak. But the problem is, Hwanwoong is too busy for love. He has to juggle his part time job and volunteer work as well as his studies. He had only adjusted his sleep schedule and study hours recently and this is something he definitely should not try to fit in his schedule. But he did add a spare hour for Geonhak after his part time job, even though Geonhak doesn't come as often. He might not have time for love, but he wants to keep Geonhak in his circle of friends. Greedy. He couldn't blame his colleagues for teasing him because he did that to himself.

And it doesn't help that lately Geonhak too had been nice to him, not that he thinks too deeply in this. Geonhak just doesn't have a lot of friends. They come across one another one fine weekend morning, Hwanwoong had just plug in his airpods ready to start his run before a sweaty, but beautiful Geonhak, almost sexy. Almost. Hwanwoong did not think that the shirt sticking onto certain parts of his body is alluring at all, no. He didn't stare for who knows how long, no. Geonhak asked to join Hwanwoong for his (late) morning run. "Hyung, didn't you just finish your run?" Geonhak shrugged and say adding another lap is a good thing and he won't feel tired if he has a partner. He noticed that Geonhak's stride is wider and often times Geonhak accidentally lead the run before slowing down to match with Hwanwoong's. He didn't think that it was a sweet gesture, no. He didn't think about how Geonhak told him that he thinks Hwanwoong is amazing for being able to fit a lot of activities while studying, in an engineering course on top of that. His face burned red and he can feel it to the tip of his ears, but it is not out of flattery  no, it was hot outside and it was because he was exerting himself for the run. He didn't smile to himself a lot that day, no. It was just a thing that happen. 

 

"Hey there, Wolf Tamer." Seoho says as he slides into the bench next to Hwanwoong, breaking Hwanwoong off his daydream. It was lunch time and it is the day where all his housemates are able to eat together in campus. Hwanwoong had his class ended an hour early. And it is time for the rest to show up. 

"What- Wolf Tamer?"

"Didn't you know? Dongju told me that you're pretty popular among the people in his course. The Wolf Tamer, for being able to tame the Lone Wolf of Early Childhood Education?" Seoho takes a bite of his waffle which Hwanwoong assumed he bought snacks while waiting for the rest to arrive. He also has a bowl of miso ramen next to it on his tray.

Hwanwoong rolls his eyes. "Nicknames like that only exists in webtoons. Which you read too much of."

Seoho scrolls his phone, smiling to himself. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He takes another bite of his waffle without looking away. "I read webtoons, a normal amount."

"So what? I ordered first." They hear as two tall figure approaching their table.

"I'm just going to ignore you today." Keonhee says as he asks Seoho to move a bit before sitting a distant away from Youngjo. They both ordered pizzas for lunch which Hwanwoong assumed the cause of their bickering.

"Ah, Hwanwoong!" Keonhee says as he grab Hwanwoong's hand. "We saw Geonhak. Talking happily with his course mates. And girls."

Hwanwoong looks at Keonhee in confusion. "And that's... news?"

"Yes. Because he's so smiley and warm." Keonhee says while trying to fit most of the pizza in his mouth.

"He's so cute. Kind of like the time he hung out with us. I guess he's comfortable around people now." Youngjo adds. He has the softest look in his eyes when Keonhee lets out happy noises as he munch away. Hwanwoong looks at him knowingly and smirk. Youngjo looks away.

Hwanwoong has an idea of what his friends are getting at but decided to feign ignorance. It started when Hwanwoong decided to bring Geonhak to their communal house. Seoho, being the webtoon library, was the first to theorize that maybe Geonhak likes Hwanwoong with the way he reacts to him. He has made several references from the many webtoons he had read. Dongju, the long blond who Hwanwoong thought to have a spark with Geonhak, being the attentive person that he is can see through Hwanwoong like he is made of glass. While Keonhee and Youngjo are romantics and love romance in general hopped on the hype train as well. "I'm so done with all of you." He finishes his sandwich, eye rolling between every bite because Seoho happens to come up with a cheesy, overdone, webtoon plot for him and Geonhak. 

 

"Haven't seen you in a while." Geonhak greets Hwanwoong as soon as he steps out of the diner to go home.

"Hey. Yeah. It's been a hectic uni week. I had my colleague cover for me then." Hwanwoong trails off. Hwanwoong decides to be playful. "Have you been waiting for me?"

Geonhak hums. Hwanwoong asks why is he waiting outside when he usually would come in and order soju. Geonhak tells him that he decided to stop drinking since he heard that drinking would cause muscle loss. Hwanwoong laughs at that. Then, there is a pause. Hwanwoong waits for Geonhak to say anything, since he was the one who was waiting for him to finish work. Geonhak stays silent. "Well, if you-"

"Can I have your number?"

Geonhak's face is serious. Hwanwoong wonders how would it look like if the lighting was brighter than the dimmed faulty street light in front of the diner, if there is no glaring red light from the diner's sign. "I went here last week and you weren't there. The store owner told me that you switch shifts because of the exams and I couldn't find you in campus either."

Hwanwoong chuckles. He takes Geonhak's phone and taps on his number. "Sure, if I hadn't been so busy, I would've noticed that I don't have your number either." Inside he is nervous, Geonhak was actively looking for him. He had been meaning to ask for Geonhak's number for a while but when they met and talked, it always slips his mind. And when his schedule is full, he would almost always move like auto pilot, following his schedule to a tee.

"Want to talk while we walk home?" Hwanwoong wonders where all his bravado comes from. His heart is pounding so hard in his chest that he feels like he could pass out any second.  Why does his heart act out now? He had been keeping it so well. Is it because it's dark and air is calm that it feels almost romantic? Is it because he was touched that Geonhak came all the way, waiting for him and actually ask for his number. The shy and awkward Geonhak going out of his way to do all this for a guy who just happens to follow his drunken whims. Part of him wants to believe that he is that special for Geonhak, but the realistic part of him keeps making excuses as why this happens. Ah, he wants to kill Lee Seoho for injecting hope with his webtoon plot theories. 

Hwanwoong prays that he would survive the walk home because he can hear his own blood rushing in his ears when he sees Geonhak looks at him, smiling the ever so beautiful smile. His newly dyed black hair compliments his wonderful being so nicely tonight. Hwanwoong is thankful for whatever force that drives him tonight because he is able to carry the conversation without being suspicious. They talked about what they were doing while being away, Hwanwoong tells him about what his housemates were up to every night because he was rarely home before, Geonhak talks about how he managed to get a few friends after their many nights as drinking buddies before and since Geonhak has friends that understands his condition, he can opt out of the drinking sessions of the next welcoming parties. Geonhak says that Dongju helps out a lot with keeping the awkwardness low and Hwanwoong is glad for that. As they talk, the turmoil in Hwanwoong's heart slowly settles down. It's not been that long, but he almost forgot how calming talking to Geonhak was, before his friends starts injecting this weird thoughts in him. And then he saw the street of his place.

"Oh no! We missed the intersection to your place."

"Why are you panicking?" Geonhak chuckles. "I want to walk you home."

"Wha- I'm not a girl!" Hwanwoong harrumphs. "I maybe small but I am capable of-"

"Look, if I were to take that street, I would probably not hear about this book you discovered during that day off of yours."

Stop, Kim Geonhak, stop, Hwanwoong screams in his head. "Well, I'm here. So we can part ways now."

"It's not your house yet, let me walk you until your front door."

"No no, there's no need. I can't have my house mates see you." Hwanwoong realized that he wasn't exactly thinking of it in his head.

"Why shouldn't your house mates see me? We're friends. At least I think we are." The doubt in Geonhak's face is killing Hwanwoong. 

Hwanwoong tries to make up excuses as to why Geonhak should turn back here but Geonhak is having none of it. Hwanwoong sighs. "You know how in the diner, how my colleague addresses you when they call me?"

Geonhak hesitates a yes. "It's, um, the same here. My house mates thinks it's funny to joke about how you might have more than friendly feelings for me." Hwanwoong feels his face burns and consider running as fast as he can for ever verbalizing it.

"They're idiots and I cannot guarantee what they'll do if they see you right now. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. That's why we part here okay?" Hwanwoong turns to run before he feels a grab hold on his arm. 

"D-did you ever think that they... might be r-right?"

Notes:

Well... that was all over the place..
Comments are welcome.

Also, not @ me forgetting that phones exists in a university au, which phones are important. And the best part is, this chapter was written 100% on phone. Brains, unpredictable. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Chapter 5: Baby Woongie

Summary:

Some light stuff, set after practice.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Geonhak laughs before dropping on to the chair at the corner of the practice room. He is amused by the staring contest Youngjo and Keonhee are actively participated in. It reminds him of that one episode of Running Man he just happens to watch while lounging around at his parents' house that time he had a one week off. That episode had Yoo Jaesuk and Lee Kwangsoo having a stare off and the editor of the show edited them as if they were on ice skates. He couldn't remember what game it was. But Youngjo and Keonhee is definitely doing that at the moment.

It starts off with Keonhee bragging about how he had bought the last of the seasonal snack their companys' lounge served and kept the last bite for after practice to savour the moment. But Youngjo grabbed and ate that very last bite making Keonhee upset. Youngjo is holding Keonhee's hand to avoid from getting hit by the taller male and he thought he could catch Keonhee off guard by doing his usual stare but the younger is determined today. He is devastated beyond belief and he swore Youngjo will get a beating today regardless of whether he is older than him. Now the two of them had their faces very close to one another while Youngjo still strongly holds on to the younger's hand with all his might and pushing back Keonhee, who is determined to ram him to the wall. Both forces somehow made them spin in place, making them look incredibly silly despite the build up of emotions and revenge. Xion and Seoho is on the floor holding their tummy. Hwanwoong is trying to hold back his laughter as he slowly follows the couple spin with his phone camera.

The scene went on for too long that Seoho and Xion had to leave despite being curious about how it'll end, with tears in their eyes. Hwanwoong's attention had changed to his phone while he provokes the couple even more by bringing their past sins to each other. Geonhak's laughter had died a bit but he is pretty much amused. Keonjo, as To Moons call it, has been his comedic relief these past few weeks. Geonhak rarely watches romantic comedy but their dynamic most definitely reminds him of one of those couples in that genre. He would watch it when he sat next to one of the maknae lines during break as they play it from their phones.

Keonhee lets out the loudest and heaviest sigh, intentionally let his breath on Youngjo's face to make the older back off and it works. Keonhee pulls his hands away and walks to his bag completely ignoring Youngjo, as if the whole scene did not happen. Youngjo quickly pulls out another uneaten bag of snack and offered it to Keonhee while laughing. Geonhak thinks that is just like Youngjo. He really doesn't have any bad bone in his body. For a split second, Keonhee looks hopeful but then he turns to look at Youngjo's face, as if a switch flicked in him, Keonhee huffs and power walks out of the practice with Youngjo chasing after him while laughing. 

"Don't hug me, you sweaty pig!" Geonhak hears a shout before the door finally clicks shut.

Geonhak notices that Hwanwoong had not left and was scrolling away on his phone. "Those two are really funny these days." Geonhak comments. He gets a hum from Hwanwoong, uninterested in his small talk, eyes not looking away from his screen. Geonhak studies his face. Yeo Hwanwoong is known for his explosive facial expressions on stage and off stage, he is as animated so it's not that hard to read if something is bothering him.

"What?" Hwanwoong asks when he catches Geonhak staring at him.

"Are you sulking?" Geonhak guesses.

"What are you talking about?"

Based on what happened lately, Geonhak recalls that time they film a rooftop vlive. It was revealed that the eldest and the youngest had gotten close lately and were always sweet to each other. He recalls Hwanwoong saying that he was a little bit jealous of them. He noticed that Youngjo had more people he hang out with, which is not a surprise since Youngjo has always been an outgoing person despite his quiet personality. He recalls that time when he first joined the trainees at their current agency under Youngjo's recommendation. Youngjo and Hwanwoong are always together, always sticking to each other, mostly Hwanwoong fitting snugly in Youngjo's arms, sometimes walking hand in hand. Geonhak can still see it happening, but not as often as back then. Especially now when Youngjo had found a new victim to test out his newly discovered spicy side. Which Geonhak finds silly but also cute.

"That Youngjo-hyung isn't babying Woongie anymore."

Hwanwoong looks at him, annoyed. "M'not a child to be sulking over that." Hwanwoong mumbles. He starts packing his things into his bag, ready to head out.

"It's okay to be jealous, Woong." Geonhak pushes. I'm the same, he doesn't say. Before he meet Youngjo again after going through one of the most painful time of his life, they were inseperable. They spend a lot of time working together and hanging out. Youngjo invited him to join his other group of friends, often egging him to make connections with them, saying it will be useful later in their career. Geonhak was incredibly thankful that Youngjo was always there when he was too shy to talk. Thanks to him, he has a few people who he considered as friends in the industry. Often times they were spotted, spent, in the corner of their previous company, quietly dozing off back to back. Geonhak trusted him. In fact he trusted him enough to call Youngjo when he couldn't take it anymore. He remembers that evening very vividly. He decided to get help, to admit that he is weak and get help. Youngjo dropped everything and went to see him. Geonhak isn't someone who would notice if he is special to someone. Sure, friends are sure to help you when you ask of them, though not often. But the length Youngjo went for him during that evening and a few weeks after that, and after how he was betrayed by people who he consider as friends, he was sure that he is in a special place in Youngjo's heart.

It somehow hurts when he entered the company and Youngjo was often found sticking to the smaller man in front of him right now, not that he would ever admit to that. It wouldn't be fair for Hwanwoong. He just happens to be there. However, it's hard to be mad at Hwanwoong when he, along with the other members, even the other trainees outside of their assigned group welcomed him with open arms and always try to include him in everything they do. They make him feel belonged. Hwanwoong too, he was stern and serious when training and practicing, but his praises are prized by the members because he only gives them when he absolutely means it. Geonhak got praises a lot during their early days, especially when they create choreographies together, they would monitor one another, giving points of improvements. The way his friendship with Hwanwoong progressed is pretty much like co-workers who are in the same team, who slowly slips in small talk in between discussions of work, then escalates to house visits. He couldn't be mad at Hwanwoong for 'stealing' his confidante, because he also finds himself sticking to the younger man as time passes. And it's not like Youngjo had abandoned him, when they are in the recording room, suddenly it feels like that time, when everything was fun, except the uncertainty of whether they will be idols together are gone. Geonhak has to accept that he has to share and he is fine with it. 

"I'm really not." He hears Hwanwoong mumbles again, almost whining. He chuckles. It's obvious but Geonhak doesn't feel like coercing Hwanwoong to say it out loud.

Geonhak pats his lap, loud, to distract Hwanwoong from leaving. He had his backpack on his shoulder, ready to go. He turns and raises an eyebrow. "Come here."

"What?"

"Baby Woongie clearly needs to cuddle. Come on. Here."

Hwanwoong looks at him, playfully making a face of disbelief. "What are you doing, hyung?"

"Trying to give off Youngjo-hyung vibe. Baby Woongie." Geonhak calls him.

Hwanwoong catches on that Geonhak is trying to cheer him up. Geonhak catches a small smile before Hwanwoong pretends to snarl at him "Gross, hyung."

Hwanwoong grabs Geonhak's bag and toss it to him. "Let's go, hyung. Someone else needs to use this room."

Geonhak offers his hand while still being seated, asking for Hwanwoong to help him up. They leave the practice room hand in hand. 

Notes:

Not exactly shippy, but still Hwando. It was supposed to be short but decided to dive a bit into Geonhak's life story. Enjoy.

Chapter 6: Towels

Summary:

Mid 40's salarymen Leedo and Hwanwoong celebrating their 11th anniversary together

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Hwanwoong watches as Geonhak tries to hold his laughter as he hurriedly enters the passcode to their house. "Hurry, Hakkie." Hwanwoong urges. "The water is pooling."

 

The both of them are dripping wet from being in the rain. There are trails of water on their corridor floor. He wonders if that will cause trouble with the maintenance staff. They should at least mop most of the water trail, especially near their door. Once they entered their house, both of them burst into laughter. Hwanwoong tosses the fancy paper bag he was holding to the side along with Geonhak's blazer which he insisted Hwanwoong to use to protect the paper bag and it's content from the rain. He did peeked into the bag at the restaurant but he only saw a box of expensive wine. Maybe there are gift cards worth protecting in the bag.

 

He turns to look at Geonhak who has already kicked his shoes away and stripped off his soggy socks. He is struggling to unclip his bowtie and bends down to let Hwanwoong help him with it. Geonhak mumbles about it being wet making him unable to move the bowtie clip properly. It always amazes Hwanwoong over the years how fast Geonhak can unbutton dress shirts, whether it's on him or on Hwanwoong. But couldn't take off his bowtie without help. He's not sure how long he has been distracted, staring at Geonhak's body, watching water drops move on the dimples of his toned body.

 

"Hey, can we at least get out of these wet clothes and properly warm ourselves before doing that?" Geonhak says as he leaves the doorway and disappears into the bedroom before coming out with two fresh towels. He takes the pale green towel and tosses the pink one to Hwanwoong.

 

Hwanwoong shakes his head. "Right, like I have that little self control at this age." He starts pulling off his socks and pants. He pulls the towel over his shoulder and over his head in an attempt to catch the drips from his upper body.

 

It was the 11th anniversary of their relationship and Geonhak had booked dinner at a fancy restaurant. The experience was incredible, they had the table with the best view, the food was extravagant. He wonders if Geonhak feels the same way about the food because he kept on picking out some beans and greens off his plate, which Hwanwoong told him off. "How are you still picky over food at this age? You paid for this. Don't be a child and finish it. Desserts will taste better if you do." Their exchange caused the waiter to quietly let out a chuckle while topping up their wine. Geonhak pouted as if he is not one of the influential figure at the company he works at. Hwanwoong snarled at him 

 

Given that this year their anniversary falls on the last working day of the week, as opposed to last year's where they went on a day trip to several tourists spots at the next region, they had a lot to talk about, especially about work which they tried to talk about quietly. Tried. There were many instances that they get emotional and the other tried to lower down their voice as to not disturb the vibe of the whole evening. "Man, fancy dining is hard. This feels nothing like the company's annual dinner." Geonhak brainlessly commented, it's a habit of his to just say things like that. Hwanwoong makes a stabbing gesture at Geonhak with his fork, asking him to shut up.

 

It was still one of the best experience they ever had. Geonhak was driving that evening so he let Hwanwoong have all the wine they served, as much as he can handle. On the way home, it rained heavily and a slightly tipsy Hwanwoong drug Geonhak out of the condominium parking lot and building to play in the rain. "Hak, we're not working tomorrow. And it's our special day. Let's have fun." Hwanwoong pulls Geonhak to a more secluded area of the condo where they can't be seen but can still enjoy the rain and the open space. He wonders what would their fellow neighbours think of when they see two ahjussis in their mid 40's playing around in the rain with their fancy suits on.

 

Hwanwoong swung the paper bag back and forth as he spun around and jumped into the puddles, completely forgetting his age and Geonhak's. He danced around, trying to remember the moves from his younger days, before he slowly gave it up to be a proper salaryman. Geonhak pulled his blazer, covered the paper bag and pulled it away from Hwanwoong in an attempt to bring it out of the rain. Hwanwoong pulled him and put his arms around Geonhak. "Hey, Handsome. Slow dance with me."

 

"There's no music. And I can't open my eyes with all this water." Geonhak shouted, he knew his low voice would just be drowned by the sound of rain.

 

Hwanwoong laughed. "Use your imagination, old man." He started to move, leading the both of them to sway to an imaginary rhythm. Geonhak held the bag in one hand and rested his other hand on the small of Hwanwoong's back. Geonhak looked incredibly attractive, sexy even when Hwanwoong's couldn't see that well from the rain. Hwanwoong thought of how much he loves the man in his arms, how lucky he is to have him here, in the rain, following his whims. He didn't have to and Hwanwoong would love him the same. He would sulk but Hwanwoong was a bit drunk, they can brush over it. He wondered maybe Geonhak too wants to add this moment to his memory. They tried their best to look at each other, they spinned, they kissed in between. Despite the crazy and loud downpour, it feels like time has stopped and they are just living in the moment. Then a bright flash of light startled the both of them and they bolted to their house not anticipating the loud crash of thunder that might come soon after. 

 

"This is one of the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life." Geonhak said in the elevator up to their floor. They both laughed all the way up.

 

Hwanwoong wraps the towel around his waist after he is sure that no water will drip on the floor, he hurriedly grabs the paper bag and walks to their bedroom. Geonhak has already stripped all of this clothes off, only with a towel on his waist. He has his back facing the bed where Hwanwoong decides to sit after stripping his own wet clothes off. Hwanwoong takes the paper bag and look through it. There are two gift vouchers, slighty wet and a wine box, which Hwanwoong only realized was light for a box that size. He pulled it out and opened it. There is a small red velvet box nested in the mould where a wine bottle was supposed to be. 

 

"Kim Geonhak... you-"

 

Geonhak turns back and sees the box in his boyfriend's hand. He stumbles the words, tossing one or two curse words as he tries to explain himself. "I did not think we would play in the rain."

 

"Fuck." He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "I figured that it is time, so, I've been looking for places that can accept us around here. There's a few now and we can discuss that later. But for now," Taking the box from Hwanwoong's hand and gets down on one knee. Hwanwoong swears he sees all of his 11 years with Kim Geonhak.

 

From the day they were introduced to one another by a mutual friend, where they both parroted the other's name awkwardly, to the day their department had to work together for a project, to where they start to small talk and find similar interests. Then the days passed where they started to grow close and hang out outside of work to sharing a drunken kiss under the mistletoe in a small friendly gathering. It grew to them deciding to give their relationship a name. Having to keep it a secret for long before Hwanwoong got recruited by another company that offered a higher pay and better benefits. Many years of only meeting at either of their house and acting friendly in public even if they want to do more since inter company relationship is a big no-no. The discussions they have before they took it to another level and moved in together. Hwanwoong recalls the first night they shared a bed, the next day he went to work with a sore body and lack of sleep, the latter is due to his then new room mate being a loud snorer. The many burnt food that Hwanwoong made even after intensive cooking lessons with Geonhak that had the two of them spending the whole evening cleaning up. The ridiculous amounts of fight that left Hwanwoong sobbing in his pillow thinking that could be the end for them while Geonhak sleeps in the other room. All of that and many more crashes on to him like a huge ocean wave. He can feel his eyes warm and watery.

 

Geonhak opens the box to reveal a white gold solid ring with a line of gems, diamonds, embedded in it. "Mr. Yeo Hwanwoong." Geonhak starts.

 

And the tears just flows, unstoppable. He tries to stop it but it comes out as a hiccup. Hwanwoong is neither the type that cries easily nor the type to hold it in. He thinks his tear capacity is normal, however, he wants to hold it in for this yet he couldn't. He starts sobbing, holding a hand to his face to wipe the tears away. He could see that Geonhak's eyes are also very red and tears threatened to spill out of the corner. Geonhak has always been enthusiastic about weddings, always asking to be included in their friends' receptions. He would talk about the ceremony, the decorations, the family members and many other things once they got home. While it is not a surprise that Geonhak would want one, it still catches Hwanwoong off guard because they had never once discuss about their own plans.

 

"Will you marry me?"

 

Hwanwoong accepts it but it sounds more like a wail than a proper answer. Geonhak puts the ring on his ring finger and it fits him perfectly. All the questionable squeeze Geonhak would give on his ring finger whenever they held hands now makes perfect sense. Geonhak lifts him up to kiss him. They kiss like they would usually when something incredible happened, but this time it feels different. It feels new, complete, like everything had fallen into place. Like they belong. And it feels right.  

 

Geonhak shifts Hwanwoong to princess carry him. "For the record, I want a do over for this whole proposal thing."

 

"I agree. We did something similar for our anniversary date anyway." Hwanwoong replies. It's not a lie. Neither of them actually knows the date that marks the start of their relationship. It was decided almost a year into their relationship where Geonhak asked if Hwanwoong had their anniversary date marked while Hwanwoong was preparing his planner. They argued a bit before settling that that day was the day they will celebrate their anniversary for years to come. They decided it casually, without knowing how long they'll last. Having experienced 11 years after that feels unreal to him. "I'll promise not to make an ugly face then. That was embarrassing."

 

"And we're in a towel, too. A bathrobe would be acceptable, but we just have to go that extra mile with just towels." Geonhak adds.

 

"Romantic."

Notes:

Hwando wedding, anyone?

Yooooo, I think I've fallen in love with these Ahjussis. I might write them again.

Also, imagine the next day when they wake up and greet each other with "Good morning, future husband." or "Hey there, fiance." Aaaa.

Chapter 7: Hwanwoong is here

Summary:

Hwanwoong comes to check on his childhood friend, Geonhak after his breakup. High school au.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Geonhak, honey. Woongie's here." Geonhak hears his mother's muffled voice from outside of his closed bedroom door. Geonhak doesn't move from the position he was in, sprawled on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He waited a few minutes before he hears footsteps in front of his door and a turn of the door knob.

He sees Hwanwoong's head peeked in before the door was opened wide enough for him to come in. Geonhak gestures Hwanwoong to close the door after he comes in.

"Long time no see, Hwanwoong ah." Geonhak turns to look at Hwanwoong before back at looking at the ceiling.

"You look horrible, hyung." Hwanwoong invites himself to sit on the bed next too Geonhak.

"I'm fine."

"Right."

"I'm just... bored." I feel empty.

Hwanwoong asks if Geonhak has any new manhwa he usually borrowed from his classmates. Geonhak tells Hwanwoong to check on his study desk or his bag pack, as usual. However, it hadn't been like this for long. Hwanwoong had not visited him in the evenings for at least two weeks with no explanation, but Geonhak has an idea why.

"I saw, by the way." Hwanwoong says, eyes still focused on the comics he is reading. Geonhak raises an eyebrow, wondering what is he talking about. "With Mina. Must've hurt."

"Oh." Geonhak replies. The messy breakup. Geonhak didn't anticipate anyone would find out, at least not today since his and Mina's argument happened a little while after club activities have ended and most students have already went back home. He felt a phantom sting on his left cheek that she slapped earlier and brings his hand to it. "Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because you're the one helping us get together."

Hwanwoong hums. Geonhak watches his reaction from the corner of his eye. Hwanwoong glances at him every few minutes, he wonders if he is even reading the comic in hand at all. He chuckles to himself.

"You want to know what happened, don't you?"

Hwanwoong denies it under his breath, mumbling and saying he has no idea what he's talking about. Geonhak teases by thanking Hwanwoong for understanding his privacy, which is something foreign for them as childhood friends. Geonhak and Hwanwoong grew up together and was once even next door neighbours. Hwanwoong moved to the next neighbourhood once they entered high school but they still spend most of the time together. Sometimes Hwanwoong would bring his new neighbour, Seoho, with him when he visits or when Geonhak visits him. They are also attending the same high school. In theory, they spend most of their time in a day together.

"You were so cute together." Hwanwoong says, putting the comic down and holding one of Geonhak's deco pillows to his chest. Geonhak doesn't know how to reply to that. "How long has it been? Three weeks?"

Geonhak nods. "She's fun and outgoing. So full of energy. I really like her." he says. "Whereas I am-"

"Equally as fun and energetic. Remember that time when we went to the arcade and you and Seoho-hyung got so heated up that you almost played every game there competitively. Even with the crane game! We ended up dozing off on the floor in my bedroom until late at night."

Geonhak and Hwanwoong laugh as they recall the memory. Luckily it was on the weekends, while Seoho went home and was almost locked out for going home so late, Geonhak ended up sleeping over at Hwanwoong's that night. 

"You're just... too shy."

"Yeah. I really took my time warming up to her. Even after you helping so much with the ice breaking."

Hwanwoong grunts and rolls his eyes. "I feel like I was the one dating her because I was talking too much while you just stammers around. You owed me so much for always being the third wheel."

"Ugh, I remembered her glaring at me everytime I joined the two of you." Hwanwoong shivers. "You never told me she was with you when you called me!"

He hits Geonhak's unguarded middle, causing the bigger teen to crunched up. Geonhak reminds him that he is older. Hwanwoong sticks out his tongue in retaliation. Geonhak apologizes. "Is that why you didn't come here for a while?"

"I can't be with you forever, you know?"

The words hit Geonhak. He is aware of that fact. People part. He felt it back when they graduated elementary school where some of his friends went to a different middle school and also in high school. But Hwanwoong was always there, even when they have a year gap between them, because they were neighbours. Even when Hwanwoong's family was busy moving in the middle of summer break that Hwanwoong hadn't visited him for days, it was Geonhak's parents that kept him assured that he can still play with Hwanwoong. 

And when Hwanwoong brought Seoho during his visits one day, he felt uneasy. He had heard about Hwanwoong talking about this eccentric but hilarious hyung next door. Seoho likes to tease the both of them but somehow Geonhak reacts harder than Hwawoong and so he teases Geonhak more. The three of them get along well, but Geonhak feels like he had to prove himself a lot when Seoho was there with them. It was a feeling he can't quite explain until a bit later. Hwanwoong spends more time with Seoho since they live next door to each other and while Geonhak will never dare to admit, especially as a sophomore in high school, he is a bit jealous of Seoho. And it's not like Geonhak doesn't have friends of his age, but an incident that happened in middle school had made him more guarded.

The idea of his life without Hwanwoong by his side when Hwanwoong had never left for so long scares him. He is aware that what they want for themselves after school are different, they had talked about it before. He tells himself that it is a long way to go, every night, when the thought pops up. He tells himself that they will stay friends given that their parents are close. At this point, it might not be a stretch to call themselves brothers. Somehow the thought irritates Geonhak.

"But the two of you had been getting along fine. I know. Seoho-hyung and I checked." Hwanwoong asks, snapping Geonhak out of his thought. "You guys are being grossly lovey dovey."

"You've been peeping!?"

"Someone needs to check on you. I am partially involved at the beginning of your relationship after all." Hwanwoong explains himself. "I didn't think she'd be screaming at you."

I think I'm in love with you, Geonhak didn't say. "I messed up." You not coming to visit me affects me a lot that I have been thinking about what you really mean to me. "I can't remember why. But it was serious."

"I'm in love with someone else." was the last thing he remembered that he uttered that evening.

"How can you not remember?" Hwanwoong asks in disbelief.

"Can we do something else? I don't think I want to continue talking about this."

Hwanwoong looks at him and apologizes. Geonhak scoots closer. He takes the comic that was left on the side and gives it to Hwanwoong. He lets Hwanwoong continue reading the comic as he leans on Hwanwoong's shoulder. Hwanwoong pats his head, reassuring him that it'll be alright before apologizing again.

For now, he doesn't want to think about the future. Hwanwoong is here.

Notes:

I feel so out of touch writing teenagers. It's been a while since I was one. Pretend you didn't see whatever oof you see in here :)
Feels kind of ooc too, LOOK AWAYYYY :DD

Things that happened today: Hwanwoong and Leedo matching outfit selcas ♡

Chapter 8: Matching Outfit

Summary:

That matching outfit incident.

Notes:

A short one because I can't get that incident and anecdote out of my head.

Chapter Text

Geonhak is avoiding Hwanwoong.

Hwanwoong notices that Geonhak doesn't try to wake him up for early morning workouts. They are quite busy now that they are now within promotional period. It happens. But usually he would make a fuss when Hwanwoong misses the workout sessions, even when he knows Hwanwoong is not missing it on purpose. These days, he doesn't mention it. And it has been three days straight.

Hwanwoong does catch Geonhak within that three days, asking him out for lunch or asking him for his opinion on several dance moves. But Geonhak would ask another member to join them or tried to be as brief as possible when saying out his thoughts on the matters they are discussing.

Hwanwoong manages to wake up as early as he can on a day off to join Geonhak for his workout session but somehow, the older has decided to sleep in.

"Hyung, are you mad at me?" He pulls Geonhak into a corner one day.

Geonhak avoids his eyes. "Why do you think so?" Hwanwoong squints, Geonhak is indeed sulking based on his body language.

"You would usually nag when I miss our working out session." Before Geonhak could reply, Hwanwoong adds "Even when we have packed schedule. You would make it a big deal, playfully complaining to the staff-unnies."

Geonhak continues to be tight-lipped.

Hwanwoong sighs. "Whatever it is that I did, I am sorry. I'll try not to oversleep."

"It's not that..." Geonhak trails off. "Do you remember what you said to To Moons about the day we accidentally matched clothes?"

Hwanwoong tries to recall the late night live stream he did a few days ago. "Uhuh?"

"You said you get self-conscious and feel like all the gym users eyes were on us? And how you try to not draw attention to us?"

"Yes?"

"That day you were unfocused that you barely hear what I was saying. I thought it was me. I thought I was doing something wrong because you were all over the place and somewhat irritated. I spend a lot of time thinking about it, even though you were okay the next hour." Geonhak spills. "Turns out it was just- Yah, do you hate matching with me so much?"

Hwanwoong stammers, trying to think of an excuse. The truth is, he doesn't remember the exact thing he told To Moons that night. He remembers joking a bit with To Moons when they suggested exercise date, like who goes on an exercise date? It's not romantic at all. What else did he say on that live stream?

"It's not that, Hyung. It's just... We attracted too much attention. I still had pink hair at the moment, Hyung. We can't be missed. People might misunderstand us!"

Geonhak continues to stay silent.

"Look , Hyung. I'm so sorry if I hurt you that day. Believe me, it's not you. I'm just not ready to be seen like this, just yet. You would understand, right?"

Geonhak puts a hand on Hwanwoong's head and playfully nudges him in the head. "You can be a handful sometimes. Please tell me properly, next time." He says with a smile.

Hwanwoong yelps as he tries to escape Geonhak's. "Yeah yeah. I will." He fixes his hair after being let go. "Also, how did you know anyway? You don't really watch vlive."

"Dongju was watching it as he lies on my leg at the dorm."

Chapter 9: This is rididculous!

Summary:

Hwanwoong tells Geonhak something shocking and continues to act weird.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Geonhak watches the small boy before he groans into his arms that were folded on the table between them. He is trying to process what his friend had told him earlier. It was a string of words that couldn't make sense to their sixteen, seventeen-year-old self. It can make sense but it sounds incredibly wrong.

"Are- are you sure?" Geonhak asks again, for the fourth time. From the distance, he could hear a familiar shrill voice, Geonhak assumed, yelling at a student playing too close to a certain flowerbed in the middle of their school. Geonhak feels his hair stand on end. Hwanwoong whines.

Hwanwoong jumps close to him, grabbing his hand and places it on his chest. "Hyung, feel my heart. It's so loud and fast and I get jelly knees hearing it."

Geonhak could feel it, in fact, it is as fast as his own heartbeat at the moment. He wonders if it is Hwanwoong's heart or his. But these hearts are hammering for different reasons, according to Hwanwoong. Geonhak asks if Hwanwoong is mistaking terror for whatever he is feeling right now.

"Her voice sounds so sweet, hyung," Hwanwoong says, sending shivers down Geonhak's spine. He grimaces and yells to stop Hwanwoong from continuing his words.

"Yeo Hwanwoong, Mrs Lee just tore your diary yesterday because you forgot to put it away during her class." Geonhak pulls his hand away. "You were cursing her so much,  I thought you were manifesting her to divorce her husband."

"Ah, it might be wise to manifest that."

Geonhak slaps Hwanwoong on the cheek, carefully to only get him to snap out of it but not enough to hurt him. Hwanwoong thanked him for that.

"Hyung, I think I'm in love with that crazy gardening teacher, Mrs Lee," Hwanwoong finally told him after moaning and groaning, almost like fighting his inner self but on the outside, as he sat Geonhak down after break time.

Geonhak shudders at the memory that happened not ten minutes ago. Hwanwoong told him he had suddenly thought the scariest teacher in school attractive. The teacher who is obsessed with her flowerbeds around school, the teacher whose voice would trigger your fight or flight response. It seems like Hwanwoong is still somewhat aware that he is losing it as if he's only partially hypnotized. Hypnotized? It does seem like it, but what are the chances? Hwanwoong was still normal yesterday. While normal is subjective, not having a crush on Mrs Lee is definitely the norm.

"This is freaking me out," Hwanwoong whines. He paused, looking unsure. "I'm gay."

Um.

"Okay," Geonhak says, trying his best to sound calm. This might be one of Hwanwoong's biggest moment, but is he sure he wants to tell Geonhak, of all people, right here, right now, in a panic. "That's good-"

"Since I was four, hyung. I've never fallen for a woman. I don't know how to!" Hwanwoong's voice started to sound like a scream, like a man possessed. Geonhak quickly catches Hwanwoong, covering his mouth and dragging him away from the other students. Geonhak scolds Hwanwoong for being insensitive to his surroundings and a bit too loud. Hwanwoong tells him that he will have a class with Mrs Lee after the break and he is terrified of what he might do because this is Mrs Lee they are talking about. He could truly end up in trouble if he does something inappropriate.

"Calm down, Yeo Hwanwoong," Geonhak shakes the smaller boy. "It's a crush, right? How do you handle that?"

Hwanwoong's eyes widen as if he is hit by an epiphany. He lets out an excited breathless cheer, right the second the bell rings. "Geonhak-hyung, this is why I trust you to be my voice of reasons." He pecks Geonhak on the cheek and runs back to class, leaving Geonhak in shock.

I'm your what now? Since when?  Also, are you...

 

When school ends, Geonhak has to walk home with Hwanwoong clinging to his back underneath his blazer. "Hwanwoong, this won't help with your case at all."

"Shut up, hyung," the smaller boy instructs him to ignore him and walk home. While everyone is looking at them, Geonhak tries to stifle a burst of laughter. Hwanwoong did not keep his cool at all and ended up uprooting the flowers from Mrs Lee's beloved flowerbed in an attempt to give them to her. Luckily, or unluckily, in this case, Hwanwoong's house is just around the corner of the school. Geonhak is forced to walk up to Hwanwoong's room, only that would make the younger boy release him. Geonhak could see Hwanwoong's swollen eyes and feel the warm wet patches on his back. Geonhak presses his lips into a line in order to hold another laughter bubbling up his chest. Hwanwoong frowns at that expression and dramatically throws himself on his bed, burying his face into the pillows. "Laugh all you want, hyung. I'm going to beg my parents to transfer me out of that school tomorrow. This is going to be the last time you see me."

"Hwanwoong ah," Geonhak plops down on the bed next to Hwanwoong and pats his butt. "Too dramatic. It's just a fever hallucination. You should have just rested at home. Why do you insist on going to school?"

Hwanwoong hums and whines that Geonhak would not understand since he doesn't take school seriously as Hwanwoong does. That earns him playful spanks from the older boy. Geonhak stands up and gives the back of Hwanwoong's head one last rub. "Alright, rest well, Hwanwoong. Take tomorrow off too."

"Like I have a choice."

Geonhak leaves Hwanwoong's house after telling the gist of the story to Hwanwoong's mother. He takes the route he usually does to get home but stops just between the gates of two houses that has an alleyway small enough to fit only one person. He follows the path in the alleyway which opens up into an area different from the neighbourhood he was just in. Geonhak walks to the lone, small, old-looking establishment, a tea house and enters it. He sees the back of a familiar-looking man, dressed in red hanbok with small details that Geonhak doesn't really care enough to note. Geonhak pulls out a glass vial from his blazer pocket, which looks like a bottle of perfume, complete with an atomizer. Inside the vial is a shiny red liquid floating around in shiny yellow liquid that would shift around to form yellow dots within the fragments of red like stars in patches of what looks like red skies. Geonhak puts it on the counter, almost too fast that his hand bangs on the counter, attracting the attention of the man.

"My my, I presume something had happened?" The man, known as the owner, looks at Geonhak with his cat-like eyes and smile.

"It went horribly wrong," Geonhak says, angrily.

"Oh my, that is unfortunate. But it did work?" The owner says, in a sly tone. "Now, do you still believe that magic does not exist?"

Geonhak bites his tongue. He remembered a few days prior when he was lead to the shop by sheer curiousity of finding the alleyway that he know was not there before. While it was awkward for him to step into a place he had never been to, alone at that, he braced himself and entered it. He met the owner, Youngjo and his fox-like companion or assistant, Seoho. They got into a slight disagreement when Youngjo talks about magic. Geonhak was never one to believe in things like it, while he's not that up to date with science and technological advances, Geonhak is the type to just live and believe in what he can see. Youngjo decided to produce something to help with what he thinks was Geonhak's deepest desire and that was the vial and its content.

It was one thing to admit that Youngjo might be right, it is another to admit that he had actually used the love potion on his own best friend, causing the friend to suffer and be miserable as it went the wrong way. Geonhak decided to not say a word and let Youngjo assumed with whatever expression he had on his face. He sees the older man's sly smile, yet saying nothing, as if waiting for the magic words to come out of his mouth. 

Geonhak pulls out a small ziplock bag from another blazer pocket. It contains an earring of a darker coloured metal. It's thin and barely looking like anything, but it is in a shape of a feather. Geonhak produces it from the bag. Youngjo's eyes widen as he understands what Geonhak is trying to do. Youngjo and Seoho had told him that they can grant wishes with a price. Seoho had added that it doesn't have to be expensive but just enough to be an important thing to the wish maker.

Geonhak gives the earring one last look, his cherished item. It was given to him by Hwanwoong when he told him he was going to get his ears pierced. Hwanwoong is in the student council so it was only natural for him to be against Geonhak as it would get the older boy in trouble at school, yet he said nothing and gifted him the earring one day, a few days before getting it done. It might be nothing to others, even Hwanwoong himself, yet to Geonhak, it meant a lot.

Youngjo holds out his hand, palm facing up. "Only drop that item when you are sure about your wish and make sure it doesn't have unwanted consequences or downside because once it's done, there is no turning back," he repeated the words he had said to Geonhak that day.

Geonhak takes a deep breath, focusing on only the wish he had. He drops the earring on Youngjo's hand.

Thank you for believing in us. 

Notes:

I think I've seen it in an anime before, or perhaps in a few animes.

Chapter 10: Live

Summary:

Prince Hwanwoong head into the cursed forest to find a cure for his dying brother, but unfortunately, he could not be the one to bring the cure back home. Neither does his knight.

Major characters death.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Geonhak's blurry vision clears up and he winces at the sight of the bright light of the flame before him. He slaps himself to fully wakes himself. He had dozed off when he was supposed to keep guard. He glances over his shoulder and sees the other soldiers silently slumber. They might not be fully asleep, he could hear some of them tossing and turning and he could hear mumbles. He rubs his eyes and tries to remember what was he thinking about before he fell asleep.

He hears a rustle, slowly approaching him, he lowers his right hand to his boot, ready to take out a small dagger in a pocket on it. He is sure that it is no one dangerous given how loud the sound of fabric brushing over another as the sound gets louder, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. Before he could see who is coming, his vision is met with a water pouch.

"Drink," he hears a familiar voice orders him. He takes the water pouch and takes a sip before handing it back to the man that offered.

"Your Highness," he addresses the man.

"No one calls me that anymore, Geonhak," the man says, taking a seat on the block of wood next to him. "Not after what we have been through in this cursed forest."

Geonhak averts his eyes and watches the darkness ahead of them. He recalls why they are here, away from the safe and warm castle, and why the prince, the man in front of him is away from it. The promise of two princes of the kingdom. Prince Hwanwoong is not one of those pampered princes, he knows his way in the woods and would train with his knights every day. His brother, Prince Dongju however, does not show a knack for those and prefer to do community service and mingle with the villagers and listen to their worries. Their kingdom is peaceful enough that the royalties could connect with the commoners without any concern for safety. But one day, on the celebration of Prince Dongju's coming of age, he fell ill. His body becomes significantly weak with little appetite and can't be exposed to sunlight. It was revealed that Prince Dongju was born under an unlucky star and moon phase that Geonhak couldn't quite comprehend, a curse had befallen upon him that he won't live to see adulthood. An oracle revealed that Dongju could be saved by finding a strange flower that could be found in the enchanted forest outside of the kingdom. The forest itself takes a couple of days to reach and exploring it would take so much more since no one has ever stepped into the forest, many have tried, but no one had ever heard from them again. Whether they made it to the forest were unknown. Apart from where the flower would grow and the appearance of the flower, nothing else was known about the forest, no maps, nothing. Prince Hwanwoong was determined to save his brother, many were against him, including Prince Dongju himself since that would be suicide. 

Geonhak happened to catch him sneaking out one day. He was sure Prince Hwanwoong would do something stupid, especially when the brother he adored so much is involved. Geonhak had rallied several men who were willing to follow their crazy prince. Some commoners had also overheard them in the tavern and wanted to help because they are indebted to the sick prince. They helped the knight and soldiers gather supplies for a week-long trip. Prince Hwanwoong was more than grateful for all the help but he was also reluctant since the journey was unclear, but the men stood by him until they reached the forest. It was a sudden high unrecognizable tree and a dense forest after a length of a flat grass field.

That was the start of their trouble. The forest is alive, the trees, the rocks, even the air can be dangerous. They lost their supply cart and some horses, some of them are injured, including Geonhak and also the prince. However, the further they got into the forest, the familiar the vegetation becomes and the less threatening the forest becomes, yet they still have no idea where they are and how long they need to explore the place. It has been a full week since they left the castle.

"Hwanwoong," Geonhak says and Hwanwoong's lips curl into a smile.

"Thought I'd catch you here before you ran off again," says the prince. "How are you?"

"What are you talking about, I was always with you. And them," Geonhak laughs it off, playing it as nothing. 

Hwanwoong shrugs. "You always ride close to me. Now, you're waaaaay at the back."

"I couldn't possibly follow your pace, on foot. Unlike Your Highness, I lost my horse."

"You can ride with me," the prince joked. He laughs as he sees a strange type of fear shows on Geonhak's face.

"I guess I was wrong to think that you... might be avoiding me," Hwanwoong continues. "I don't know. I feel like I shouldn't feel this way, especially now when we are racing against time, but you have always been beside me everywhere we go, it feels weird when you're not."

Geonhak assures him that nothing has changed, just the situation is different from their usual training and hunting trips. Hwanwoong's expression changes when he thinks about Dongju again. He recalls how sickly Dongju looked, the last time he visited the younger prince's chamber. Hwanwoong looks at Geonhak, asking if he is okay since he looks a bit sick too. Geonhak panics as Hwanwoong stretches his hand to his face.

"I need to get more firewood," he says, pointing out how small the fire has become. He excuses himself and heads south, not far from the campsite, where there are more dried twigs and burnable wood.

Geonhak wonders if he is being too obvious. He can't afford to be found out by the prince. Not now. Not until they had found the flower. The prince is not stupid, Geonhak is avoiding him. Have the crushed flowers not worked? he thinks. Maybe the colours have worn out. He feels the throbbing on the side of his stomach with every stride. He has been holding out for this long.

Geonhak had sustained several cuts from facing an invisible force that tries to harm them at the entrance of the forest. All of them did, including the prince. It felt like a gust of wind except the wind went on for more than a few minutes and make slashing sounds when it hit metal. They decided to abandon the heavy supply cart and outrun the gust, getting deeper into the forest. The medics treated them with the little medical supplies they could carry as they outrun the gust. However, one of the cuts on Geonhak, on the right side of his stomach, did not show any sign of healing, it festers. An infection. Geonhak, knowing how scarce the medical supply was, decided to handle it on his own, with the basic medical knowledge he acquired while being one of the apprentices of one of the royal medics. He didn't pursue it and chose his current job. He frequently cleans and drains the infected wound himself and collects herbs to alleviate potential symptoms of infection. However, he feels himself getting weaker as days passed. He's been rubbing crushed flowers on his lips to give colour.

He snickers every time he is reminded by his condition. How cruel it is for him to fade away by just a single cut by moving air and not the moving ground that had swallowed some of the men, or the indescribable monster that they had faced in the forest. He pulls out a tree bark he collected before from his pocket and chews on it to get rid of his pounding forehead. "Get a grip, Geonhak-ah," he tells himself. Before he gets to the firewood collecting site, only he had realized that he could see colour on the ground, the sun has risen.

Damn it. He definitely knows I'm lying. 

 


Geonhak opens his eyes, blinking the dust that was caught in his eyes before he passed out a while ago. He wonders how exactly he had survived the second, stronger gust of wind. The troops found out that it was a troop of forest trolls attacking while hiding in the gust of wind. Geonhak was lifted and thrown to the ground as he was making his way to the prince that was surrounded by the trolls as if they know that he was their leader. With Geonhak's weakened state, he passed out immediately.

When his vision recovers, Geonhak's heart sinks from the sight of his men, lifeless bodies strewn all over the area. He scrambles to find the prince, calling him with a gravelly voice. Slowly the burning sensation of the infected wound intensifies and the throbbing of his head returns with every step he takes. His diaphragm forcefully pushes air out of his lung with a cough. Two coughs. And then he feels the content of his stomach leaves his throat. He falls to his knees.

"Geonhak?" He hears a voice, small but close. He looks around. He struggles to stand. He hears the voice again. He walks weakly to the nearby tree and walks around it, carefully avoiding the tangled roots. 

"Fuck," he exclaims at the sight of the prince, in a half stand, his hands gripping on the handle of a spear, impaling the area under his left collarbone. He looks like he is pinned to the tree.

"How dare you curse at your prince," Hwanwoong greets, trying to sound cheerful. The cynic. Geonhak could see he is gritting his teeth, holding in pain, face pale from the loss of blood. "Ah, I'm glad you're here. And okay!"

Geonhak runs to the prince and tries to pull the spear off of him. Rationally, he would know that it would potentially harm Hwanwoong rather than helping him, but the sight of his prince makes his heart and mind race, unable to think of anything. He curses at his condition. He could not hear Hwanwoong groaning in pain and calling his name countless times until he feels hands on both sides of his cheek. "Geonhak, stop."

Hwanwoong pulls Geonhak's face until their foreheads touch. Hwanwoong closes his eyes. "Geonhak, listen to me. Promise me."

Geonhak pulls back so that he could see into the prince's eyes as he speaks. Hwanwoong's hands did not leave his face. 

"Geonhak, you are going to bring this bag home with you. Protect it at all costs. Make sure it reaches the royal medics and the oracle." Hwanwoong points at the leather satchel near his ankle, where the prince has the magical flower kept. "Promise me."

Hwanwoong's voice breaks as he utters the last two words. Geonhak could feel a lump in his throat.

"I- I can't, Your Highness."

Hwanwoong's round eyes widen, Geonhak could see the tears welling. He closes his eyes and confesses, with heavy breathing.

"I'm sick, Your Highness. An infection. I tried to fix it and hold on until now, but, I don't think I can make it until tomorrow."

He feels Hwanwoong's hand move to his forehead. Geonhak averts his eyes, unable to witness whatever emotions that the prince is experiencing. The prince curses, Geonhak can see from the corner of his eye that the prince is gritting his teeth again, probably thinking. He runs his hand through his hair. He notices that Geonhak is studying how the spear pinned him to the tree and the blood that seeps through his garment.

"I'm a lost cause, Geonhak. Even if we can manage to free me from this, I'll cause more trouble." Hwanwoong sighs, defeated, looking at the forest floor. His eyes suddenly widen as if remembering something. "Wait a minute."

The prince pulls a pendant from under his shirt. Geonhak stares at the small red rock tied on a black tassel, confused. "Protect him as you have done for me," Hwanwoong kisses the rock before tying the tassel around Geonhak's neck. The rock looks dainty around his thick neck.

Without giving him a chance to speak, Hwanwoong instructs Geonhak to take the same route they took on the way to the forest but halfway there, he has to make a detour and look for a cottage with a small family. Given Geonhak's condition, Hwanwoong suggests that he passes the satchel to the head of the family, someone the royal family trusts as a messenger. "It's a long way back, so you need the pendant more than I do."

Hwanwoong starts to heave. "It is something the oracle gave Dongju, it is supposed to keep your life essence from going off. Dongju chipped off some of his and gave it to me some time ago. I don't know how it works or if it does work at all, but this is all we have, all I have."

Geonhak stands in silence, unable to process his prince's order. Even if the pendant was supposedly magic, Geonhak doubts he could deliver the flower safely. But between him and the prince... Fate is indeed cruel. His train of thought is disturbed by the prince suddenly lowering his head. 

"Kim Geonhak, I know this is too much for me to ask for, but please save Dongju. For the kingdom. For me."

"Your Highness...," Geonhak panics, he drops to his knee, lowering his head more than the prince. He grabs the satchel and slings it on over his head so that it settles on his shoulder. He reaches out for Hwanwoong's hand and kisses it before getting back on his feet. "I'll do my best."

"Thank you. From the bottom of my heart," Hwanwoong smiles, bittersweet. He looks like he has more to say, but his eyes start to look unfocused. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"I was wondering if I can see Dongju again, in the next life," says Hwanwoong, tired and sad. Geonhak's heart sinks, he tries to think of some words of comfort, but the words are stuck in his throat. "He must know that I love him, right?"

Geonhak could see the prince slowly fading away. His head dropping slowly, swaying as a person would when sleep hits at the wrong time. His heart aches at the sight but his conscience tells him to not leave his prince, his friend, his partner to die alone. He holds the prince's cold hands as the swaying slows down and stops. "Rest well, my Prince," he kisses the cold hands once again before leaving.


Geonhak was able to deliver the satchel to the family Hwanwoong mentioned. Since the troll army was defeated, the deadly gust of win at the entrance of the forest was no more and Geonhak escaped the forest safely. The supply cart that was abandoned earlier was still there, he was able to clean and change the bandage of his wound that seemed to get worse. He could see how pale his skin is, perhaps the infection had worsened. However, he does not feel as sick as he did in the forest, maybe the pendant did have a healing effect, but he did not dwell on it. The horse that was tied to the cart didn't look a day older than the day they left it, he did not dwell on it either. Geonhak did not remember anything from his journey from the forest to the cottage. Before he passes the satchel, Geonhak asked for some privacy for him to write several letters. He documented as much he can remember into the letter for the castle. He removed the pendant from his neck and packed it along with one of the letters in the satchel, to Prince Dongju. The head of the family, Geonhak recognized from seeing in the castle, was indeed a trusted man. He had no room for doubt when he handed over the satchel.

As soon as the satchel left his body, the faint symptoms he felt throughout the day came hitting back like a brick wall slamming on his body. The pounding, the burns on the wound, nausea, intense enough to knock him off his feet and to suck the air out of his lungs. Geonhak wondered if this meant that his time is up. He could hear faint voices, his vision slowly faded to black, he felt abnormally numb. He was tired. Very tired.

Notes:

Update: I remembered the birthday fest. It's for Malamyszk. HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYY!!
Sorry for the pain though.

Chapter 11: Hiccups

Summary:

I'm a photographer at a wedding and the bride didn't show up. The handsome groom is trying to process it but all I can focus on is his hiccups.

Notes:

Pardon my ignorant ass for not researching wedding cultures and photography. I just want to write something short.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Hwanwoong sighs, zipping up the last of the bags he brought with him to the wedding reception. He has heard of stories like this before but had never seen it happen with his own two eyes. He watches the guests helping themselves with the food. He hears them talk as they walk past him. With something like the bride not showing up at her own reception,  not many good things can be heard. But the food is good, that's what they all say. Hwanwoong had been eyeing the dessert bar for a while. He's not that much into sweets but the way the bar was decorated, he had to take a few pictures or two, for his own personal blog. He'll ask for permission later.

Hwanwoong does not know anyone from this event aside from the bride, who reached out to him for his photography service, and the lady who welcomed him when he arrived earlier. Neither of them is in his field of view and looking somewhere else that he does not have access to might just be rude to the host, so he decides to wait. He did try to find the bride and groom's family members, but they were nowhere to be found. He did find a nephew of the family, but the man does not know about their business with him. Usually, Dongju, his best friend-cum-assistant, helps him with the communication, but he had to cover for another staff on their shift at the very last minute. Hwanwoong thought he would be okay given how easy it was to negotiate and discuss with this particular client, but here he is. He puts two slices of the fancy brownies on his plate rather than one.

Hwanwoong looks over the garden of tables and picks one that is a bit far than the food bars. With a bit of struggle with the bags as well as his plate of cakes, he manages to sit at the table, a bit secluded, partially covered by a questionable hedge-like centrepiece of the garden.

Hic.

The back of a man's head appears when Hwanwoong circles the hedge towards the table. Since the hedge covers half of the table from afar, he is a bit surprised to see that the table is not empty. He contemplates whether to sit or find another table. It is just one man, but one man having an alcohol-induced hiccup at 10.30 am sounds like something he does not want to deal with.

Unless...

He looks down to see a black tuxedo, fitted on the large back that was facing him. The groom.

While the man being the exact person Hwanwoong is looking for, only the back view of the man is enough to bring chills down his spine. He's huge. And Hwanwoong faintly recalls how deep the groom's voice is when he was negotiating the package price with the bride. Why? Hwanwoong mouths as he looks to the sky. He braves himself to walk past the groom and pick a seat three chairs away from the man at the huge, round table.

The man's eyes did not move from the wine glass, quietly studying the bubbles that form and disappear in the glass, with the intermission of hiccups from his chest. The man's eyes, to Hwanwoong's surprise, looks soft and naive, like a boy discovering the world for the first time. That's not right. Hwanwoong's gaze falls to the man's wide shoulder and then back to his face. What a gap.

"It's rude to stare at people like that."

Hwanwoong wonders if it's the wind, blowing in the right direction and speed that the man's mumble sounds clear despite the open space and his low voice. Hwanwoong apologizes, shifting his gaze to the cakes and helps himself to it, quietly. Hwanwoong regrets it every second the time passes. Neither of them says anything and the only thing that keeps the air from absolute silence, apart from the ambience, is the hiccups and the sound of fork meeting the plate after the cushion of cake is cut. Hwanwoong is someone who can't stand awkward silence and always prides himself as someone who gets along with others well on first meeting despite his introverted personality, but in this case, he could not find the opportunity to break the silence and it is far too late to do so.

"So, uh... Do you want some water? Fo- for that hiccup?" Hwanwoong forces himself to say something, anything, to cut the weird tension in the air. 

The man finally looks at him, Hwanwoong freezes. His glare looks sharp before his eyebrows furrows into a frown. Hwanwoong feels as if his soul leaving his body. "You're the photo-hic-grapher?"

"Yes?"

"I apologize for hic inconvenience."

Is he going to talk about it here? Is this the appropriate time? Hwanwoong thinks. Maybe he should get some water first, to let the groom get rid of his bothersome hiccups. He holds out a finger, gesturing the man to wait.

"About your fee hic..." the man continues, Hwanwoong sits back down. "I'm afraid we won't be hic needing your service."

"That's what the deposit is for. If there is a last-minute cancellation, I spoke about it with-"

"With her, yeah yeah. Fine hic by me, it's her hic money," says the man, bitterly. Hwanwoong says nothing but feels himself relax. He hears another hiccup from the bigger man. Right, water. 

"So, how hic long have you been doing hic this? Is this like your main hic job or is it a side hustle?" the man asks, swirling the wine in his glass, watching the bubbles rise to the top. Hwanwoong could tell, the man's champagne is almost flat, there are barely any bubbles in the pale pinkish-yellow liquid. He squints at the man who somehow decides to make small talk with him. He rationalizes it with the possibility of the man coping with his devastating situation, perhaps, this is why Hwanwoong was reluctant to sit here. 

"It's a side job, sir," Hwanwoong cringes at his choice of words to address the man, who looks like he would be only one or two years older than himself. He notices that he is quite the looker. What has this man had done to deserve it, he would rather not know. Judging from where this conversation might go, Hwanwoong has to think fast. "I've done it for several weddings, one of which, Mrs- I mean, Miss Lee had attended."

Wait, no! Hwanwoong mentally slaps himself as he sees the man's face changes to one that is trying to hold back from being upset. He tries to hold on to it by regulating his breathing and furrows his brows as if trying to focus on another thought. God forbid Hwanwoong finds it adorable, despite him being terrified of the man earlier. What was his name again? Hwanwoong looks around for that banner that has the bride and groom's name. Kim Geonhak.

Hic.

"It's her loss," Hwanwoong screams internally. Yeo Hwanwoong, why do you think it is your place to comment on that? He feels another chill up his spine as the man glares at him again.

"I'm just hic glad nothing bad happened to her hic," Geonhak says, easing his glare and shift his gaze back on the glass. He takes a sip and grimaces. Hwanwoong recalls the uproar that happened earlier where the bride failed to reach the venue on time. The panicked family members have started crying and calling several numbers. He remembers snapping photos of the groom, Geonhak's pre-wedding jitters. He thought it would make the wedding album more memorable with the difference of the groom's expressions before and after the wedding. What he did capture was the change in expression from pre-wedding jitters to concern, before he was asked to stop shooting altogether. What a waste, the light was incredibly flattering on the handsome man. He was sure to capture many more women's hearts had it been a normal product shoot, probably could sell the products well too. "Wine is horrible, hic. Who drinks this stuff."

Hwanwoong feels his vein pop, the hiccups have been bugging him. Hwanwoong empathizes with the man, but he needs to get his head straight and get rid of the hiccups. Hwanwoong digs his hand in his backpack and finds a bottle of water that he recalls bringing, unfortunately, it was already empty. He mentally scolds himself for not throwing the trash away.

"I saw it hic coming," he hears Geonhak grumbles. "But she hic keeps insisting. It hic just didn't feel... right hic."

Hwanwoong glances back into the opened backpack on his lap, eyes falling on a pack of tissue paper. He wonders if the man in front of him will need it any time soon.

"Hic. Hic. Only proceed when you're sure of it, Mr Yoo-ah," Hwanwoong frowns in confusion. The change in the mood of the man in front of him scares him now. He is laughing now. Is he drunk? Has reality finally checked in? Who is Mr Yoo?

"It's uh, Mr Yeo. I think I need to go-" Hwanwoong's words are stuck in his throat as he sees the bigger man looks like a kicked puppy. Is he pouting?  He looks around to see if there is anyone who is looking for him.

"Is the cake hic good?" Hwanwoong's heart almost jumps out of his throat when he realizes that Geonhak already moved to the seat next to him. It must be the close up on his good facial features but Hwanwoong can't seem to control how fast his heart is beating.

Hic.

That is the last straw. Hwanwoong asks politely for Geonhak to stay where he is and watch over his camera kits while he gets some water and perhaps gets a glass of wine for himself. He looks over the crowd of guests to see if anyone misses their groom, once again. Where even is the family members, it can't just be the extended family and guests in this space. He walks back to the table to see Geonhak hugging his camera bag and is asleep? He taps on the older man, he can't be asleep with just half a glass of wine. He tries to pry the man off his bag, but obviously, the man has it in a death grip. Hwanwoong buries his face in his hand. Well, at least the hiccups have stopped.

HIC. SNORTS.

Geonhak coughs as he accidentally choked himself awake. Hic. Hwanwoong hurriedly pushes the glass of water to the struggling man and pulls the bag from him as to not get any liquid near his precious camera, while waits patiently for the man to calm down. He downs the whole glass of wine. 

Geonhak releases a long sigh after successfully calm himself down and maybe think for a little. He looks at Hwanwoong and runs a hand through his neat slicked back hair. Hwanwoong can see his face reddens. "God, I'm a mess. I'm so sorry you have to see that."

The both of them look at one another and realized one thing.

The hiccups have stopped.

Notes:

Hey, since ao3 wouldn't let you leave kudos per chapter, I kind of want to know if you have a particular chapter you like (or three). Could you let me know?
It's an anonymous google form :D I just want to know if there is a crowd favourite or not.

Chapter 12: Let's go to the beach

Summary:

Ahjussi's Hwando is back. And they went to a spontaneous date at the beach.

Notes:

It's Wednesday, one of the toughest day of the week. Have some unbeta'd fluff, fellow Hwandos 💕

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It's almost 6 pm on a Friday, Geonhak drags his feet exiting the bad air from the office, taking two trains after, stops by the convenience store near the turn of his apartment block. He takes his time looking at the arrangements of microwaveable food displayed. He visually weighs the meat and rice and calculate the amount of nutrients in his head, in a different measurement unit than that is displayed on the sticker. He wonders why does he bother stopping by the convenience store when he could just order food from home. Delivery is not the same when he is home alone. He catches himself checking the ice cream freezer, eyeing a mini cup of matcha ice cream and wonders if he should keep one in the freezer at home.

Geonhak had never been more grateful as he sees the driveway to his apartment after taking the last turn. These couple of days of work had been draining and it's not over yet, but he's just glad for the existence of the weekends. The break can keep his sanity in check. He hears a tap from a car that he walked past. A brown Kia Veloster that he realized he knew. He anticipates a familiar face when the window is lowered.

"Hey, Handsome. Come here often?"

Geonhak snorts but feels the tension within every fibre of his muscle relaxed. Hwanwoong's cocky smirk is something he does not expect he needed. The smaller man gestures him to hop in the car and Geonhak follows.

"I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow," Geonhak says as soon as he closes the car door. "You would always take another day break if you have to go outstation on the weekends."

"Ah, that was before I had a loving husband waiting for me at home," Hwanwoong immediately pulls out of the parking spot and enter the traffic.

"Eh? I thought we were going home?" Geonhak asks when he notices that Hwanwoong had driven past the entrance to their apartment.

Hwanwoong grabs his hand, kisses it. "I'm taking you to see the sunset."

Geonhak glances in the gaps between the skyscrapers for sunlight, he notices that some of the streetlights and shop signs had already lit up. The sky, or what little space that could be seen among the tall concrete walls in the city has turned reddish. Geonhak tries to read his husband's face, wondering what the smaller man is scheming.

"Relax, babe. Tomorrow is the weekend, leave this to me." His husband chuckles and turns on the radio. 

Hwanwoong is definitely planning something, he thinks, before his mind wanders as if surfing the fleeting melodies of the tune that is played on the radio. He leans further into the passenger's seat.

 

Snap!

"Mr. Kim, you better delete that." Geonhak says, as he realized that he had dozed off for a while. More snapping sound of a camera shutter is heard after, followed by a mischievious giggle.

"Can't do that, Mr. Yeo," he hears the other man reply when he reaches a hand out to grab the phone with closed eye. The both of them had kept their surname as most do after the marriage but they would joke around calling the other with their own surname, just for the sake of it. "Come on, Sleepyhead. The sun is setting, fast!"

Geonhak finally opens his eyes and stretch his limbs out, facing the opened door. To his surprise, they are at the beach. The sound of seagulls and waves surrounds him. As soon as he gets out of the car, he notices that the wind is on the stronger side and see Hwanwoong struggle to keep the picnic mat on the ground not far from where he parked. Where did he even get a mat, wait-

"Yah! Is that my towel?" He says as he sees a familiar green fluff with grains of sand on it. Hwanwoong refuses to comment and urges Geonhak to sit to weight the mat from flying and flipping the microwave convenience store food he bought earlier, among other chips and snacks that he hadn't seen since his school days, laying on top of it.

Geonhak sits on one side of the mat (towel), letting the food sit between him and Hwanwoong. He turns to the front to see the sunset that Hwanwoong had brought him to watch. He could see shades of red and oranges before strong wind hits his face and forces his eyes to glue shut.

"So... The sunset-"

"Ah, shut up. Let's just eat some food." Hwanwoong changes the subject, Geonhak could see the disappointment in the younger man's eyes. 

Hwanwoong twitches and his face contorts immediately after taking a bite of the meat from the plastic tray of microwaveable food. "Why is it so cold?" He sticks out his tongue and make little spitting sound, probably sand. 

Geonhak laughs, feeling a bit lighter than a few hours ago. He turns to look at Hwanwoong. His hair is a mess, tossed by the wind. His eyes are closed, trying to block the wind from overly drying his eyes. He still looks as good as when Geonhak first met him. Even though some line on his face stays for a bit after he smiled.

Geonhak grabs Hwanwoong's hand to attract the other man's attention. He mouths thank you sincerely and sees the other man brightens up. The lines on his face that Geonhak adores deepens.

Notes:

Then they played a bit in the water and used Geonhak's towel. They went home and ordered food delivery. And then they complained over the sand collected in the car the next time they use it. Haha.

Also, Hwanwoong brings something of his husband everytime he has to leave home for work trips.

Thank you for the feedback last chapter, I will consider the suggestion 💕

Chapter 13: The Blanket Kicker and The Blanket Hoarder

Summary:

What the title says: A doodle

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Untitled69-20210913010751

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Notes:

I don't think this can be made into a drabble, so I drew it :)

If you're here for a new drabble, I'm so sorry 👉👈

Ps: You can use it (link above), but just know that the magazine's account is very strict and might catch you if you're not careful. Though I wonder if you can use it at all, the scans were pretty bad :/

Chapter 14: Cuddly

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kim Geonhak loves skinship. As little as a brush on the shoulder and as big as a wrestle. He does it to everyone he's close to. He noticed the reactions every time he did it for the first time. Everyone would have a confused look, he expected it because he knows what kind of vibe he has. Cold, unfriendly, looking like trouble. He wanted to break those impressions but he is also incredibly shy, partially scared of how people would accept him. But he understands, not everyone likes them.

But his current colleagues are a blessing, no one pulls away when he puts his arm around them. Apart from Seoho, but Seoho does it with everyone so Geonhak knows better than to get hurt when Seoho pulls away. Geonhak also learned that Seoho has his days where he doesn't pull away and sometimes even initiated them. With Keonhee and Youngjo, they would always initiate it. Sometimes, putting their hands around his waist while talking, natural and fluid, yet feels good. Dongju too would initiate sometimes, but it always escalates to him climbing Geonhak like a tree and hanging off of his arms or waist. And also Hwanwoong, whose back is always warm and welcoming for everyone to latch onto.

And now said back is empty. Usually, there would always be someone attached to that back. Maybe they are about to stream a LIVE that everyone had chosen their seats, behaving well for To Moons. Geonhak too is seated on a comfortable chair next to Seoho, behind Hwanwoong. They had just finished a practising session and Dongju suggested they say hi to their fans. They are exhausted. To Geonhak's relief, they all agreed to do a voice-only LIVE so, Geonhak plans to lean back and chime in every once in a while to let the fans know he is there, with everyone. However, the chair is not very cooperative, leaning back on it feels horrible. And he realized that the room is way too cold, it doesn't help that he is wearing shorts.

As usual, Geonhak finds himself joining in with the games and the talk. It is another thing about Geonhak that he notices himself and the members pointed out as well. There are times where he feels very reluctant to do anything, yet ended up doing it anyway. He didn't really have any problems with it, it's not a bad trait. His life motto is to go through something until the very end. He complaints just because he feels like it. With the members, he's allowed to be bratty, just as much as they do. His body does warm up a little after playing around with them, but it's not enough. He can't imagine how the members are feeling right now, especially Dongju, who is incredibly sensitive to temperature changes. But Dongju is too far away, he eyes the victim close to him. Seoho is out of the question since they had just done their daily playful bantering. Geonhak has some form of pride when it comes to this particular Hyung. 

He grabs onto Hwanwoong, curling his arms around the smaller man along with the back of his chair. Hwanwoong turns around to look at him but says nothing. Geonhak feels a bit warm around his arms, the jacket that Hwanwoong is wearing works like a charm. They stayed like that for a while before the members decided to turn on the camera. Hwanwoong even rests his cold fingers on his warmer ones. They get distracted by the comments and focus on replying to them. Geonhak does let go at some point to do something more animated for the LIVE. But he gets cold again, so he clings on to Hwanwoong again, like a magnet. He really appreciates how Hwanwoong had never made a fuss out of him clinging to him, he does complaint at certain times, mostly when he has something important to do, but most of the time, Hwanwoong carries on with his life as if there isn't a man almost twice his size adding weight to his every step. 

"Now what?" Keonhee asks after Dongju had switched off the LIVE streaming. 

"I have a lesson after this," Hwanwoong answers, trying to stand up and stretch. Geonhak loosens his arms around, ready to let him go. But Hwanwoong grabs both of his hands and crosses them on his chest. "You're coming with me, Hyung."

"What are you talking about? I'm done for the day," Geonhak replies.

"I want to get to class and it's really cold," Hwanwoong whines. "You're like a portable heater, just walk with me to class."

"Like this?" Geonhak asks, referring to the cuddling position they're in. 

Keonhee joins in, putting his arms around Geonhak's waist. "We can go like this, Oneus train." Youngjo catches on to the trio and adds himself to the train, holding Keonhee's waist.

"Yah! Get away from us! This is so unnecessary," Geonhak yells.

Dongju grabs Hwanwoong's hands and places them on his shoulders. "All aboard on the Us Choo Choo!"

"STOP!" Geonhak finds himself getting pushed off his feet and they start moving out of the room. He glances at Seoho, who is focused on his digivice, probably cleaning Agumon's poop. Seoho catches his eyes, scrambles off his feet to open the door for them and wave Geonhak goodbye with a smirk.

"YAH!" Geonhak feels his face burns at the thought of a train of 5 men walking through the company corridor, with almost accurate sound effects, courtesy of Dongju.

"Shut up, Hyung," Hwanwoong hushes him, between giggles. "You're bothering the other staff."

Once again, Geonhak finds himself contemplating his decision of joining this company and this groups.

Notes:

Short and maybe not as Hwando-centric as I thought (I put this here because creating another entry for something this short is a hassle :P ). I miss them and I don't have much time to make stories with elaborate plots. Enjoy :D

Also, do follow me ontwitter, sometimes, I post very short drabbles there, if you're interested in that.

Chapter 15: Do you not trust me?

Summary:

Geonhak was attacked before going to work. Historical but very loosely referred.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

CRASH!

The old wooden wall crashed down and a man falls into the table where a group of men were having their late breakfast. The owner of the diner recovered from the shock and screamed when he realized the damage his shop had suffered.

Geonhak groaned, feeling sore on his back and blinked his dizziness away. He tried to get up as fast as he can. He felt some goop and water over some part of his body, probably the food that he fell on and spilt on him as he fell through the table. His thoughts were all over the place, he didn't even notice that some of the food was still warm, even though they were not hot enough to hurt him. In the midst of dizziness, he realized everyone who was enjoying their time at the diner were looking at him, jaws opened.

"Isn't that our soldiers?"

He heard one of the men say. He brushed the food off of his uniform as much as he can before urgently mapping his way out of more civilians. He felt a nudge on the back of his neck and his hat came into view. A man, clad in uniform held out his hat.

"What happened, General Kim? Are we under attack? Should we alert the other guards?"

The man, Geonhak noticed, had stains near his lips, possibly he was sitting among the civilians during their job. Geonhak would love to nag the men but he had no time. He had to get away from this place, fast. After confirming that he did not sustain any serious injuries, he hurried out of the store without uttering a word. 

"Where are you going, General Kim?"

Geonhak's hair stood up. The tone of the voice was playful but slightly deep. His instinct told him to jump to the left and hide behind one of the empty buildings. He followed the instinct. Just a few seconds after he heard a loud crash behind him. He peeked to see a huge and heavy bat had dug a bit in the enforced floor of the domed city. He was glad he had made it into the area of the town that was yet to be developed.

"How the hell did I miss? You're huge and slow!"

The voice screeches. Geonhak looked around to see where exactly in the area he was. He cursed at his sense of direction, because he had no idea where to go from here, neither did he know how to get back.

"Come out, come out wherever you are. Kim Geonhak," the voice sounded near and Geonhak could see the shadow of the man closing in.

"Wait!" Geonhak stepped out from behind the building, with his hands up. He watched the man, the thug's facial expression as he saw him. The initial frown the man wore slowly turned into a contempt grin. The man slowly drew his short sword from the scabbard on the back of his waist. Geonhak's eye shifted on the sword on his own waist, while he has no intention to confront the man in front of him, but he had to consider drawing it for self-defence. His mind was still figuring the situation out. 

Early this morning as he was on his way to report for work before he was ambushed by the thug, and that was how he found his way crashing into a diner. Given how infamous the thug was in the area, he hurriedly distract the thug away from the crowd to avoid chaos and panic among the civilians. However, he was not sure what warranted this attack, especially given that-

"Are you really doing this, Yeo Hwanwoong?"

The thug, Hwanwoong, gave a contemplating look, only for a few moments before holding the sword out. "I told you I don't react well to betrayal. Defend yourself, draw your sword."

"Can't you at least tell me what did I do?" Geonhak lowered his hands and put one hand on the sword handle. 

Hwanwoong snickered in disbelief. "You don't even know?" He charged aiming for Geonhak's neck, but Geonhak lowered himself and try to kick Hwanwoong down before he got there. Hwanwoong instinctively jumped to avoid the kick, but rather than jumping backwards, he lurched towards the bigger man to knee his middle. Hwanwoong's knee dug into Geonhak's chest making him fall backwards, Hwanwoong let his knee rest on the chest, knocking the air out of Geonhak while his other leg landed next to the side on Geonhak's head and brought his sword and rest the blade dangerously on the skin of Geonhak's neck. Geonhak was trapped.

"Well, that was easy. Playing around makes you dull, General," Hwanwoong grinned.

Geonhak held on Hwanwoong's ankle with his left hand and haphazardly twisted the right side of his body in order to push the smaller, much lighter man off of him. He was aware of the thin metal flushed against the right side of his neck but he was determined to escape the thug. He felt the metal sliding off of his neck as the smaller man fell off him. He hurriedly pull himself away once he saw an opening. He brought his hand to his neck, to check, but there was no blood. 

"Your blade is dull," said Geonhak, confused. He shifted his eyes from his hand to meet Hwanwoong's gaze but he was met by another kick from the smaller man to his gut. He fell to his knees, but he kept his focus and blocked another kick. He held Hwanwoong's leg to stop him from kicking but the thug used his elbow instead. Geonhak was faster and managed to block the hit while pushing himself up. He let Hwanwoong's leg go as he blocked another hit from Hwanwoong's fist. He held both of the thug's arms tight. But the thug was determined, rage in his eyes, he lifted his leg again for a kick, but Geonhak managed to slide his leg behind Hwanwoong's knee and tripped him, causing the both of them to fall. Geonhak used his weight and pinned the man to the ground. The man's hands were sandwiched between their chests. Hwanwoong squirmed and thrashed, an attempt to free himself.

"Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me what exactly is going on."

"You're crushing my lungs."

Geonhak hastily shifted his weight to his legs and tried to get up. He felt Hwanwoong trying to slip away. He grabbed Hwanwoong's hands and lift them above his head so that the shorter man is unable to take one step away from him.

"Please, Yeo Hwanwoong!"

"General Kim!" He heard a voice calling out to him. He saw a man in a palace guard's uniform approaching him, panting. "I saw you were chasing a thu- Oh, you caught him."

"Ah, yes," Geonhak answered, turning so that the guard won't identify Hwanwoong. He felt a tug as he talked to the guard. Hwanwoong was still trying to free himself. Geonhak asked the guard to check on the prison cells back in the city and asked the guard to bring in help, which he was sure there wasn't any within the vicinity. He dragged Hwanwoong the opposite way as soon as the guard disappeared from his view.

"We need to get out of here," he told Hwanwoong, pulling the smaller man. "And you need to tell me why in the ever living hell were you causing a scene? A betrayal? What are you talking about?"

There was silence from the man but Geonhak could hear a low mumble.

"You missed a turn!" Hwanwoong yelled when Geonhak asked him to speak up. He huffed in frustration as Geonhak turned back to take the alley that they missed. After they made their way out of the domed city, Geonhak, who had already let go of Hwanwoong's other hand and only held Hwanwoong's left wrist, loosened his grip on the wrist.

He pulled Hwanwoong into the woods until they find a track that led them into a large field far from the city. He let go of the thug's wrist and confronted him, looking directly in his eye without saying a word. He saw the smaller man furrowing his brows, lips thinning into a line.

"I won't know what I did wrong if you refuse to tell me?"

"You're horrible for pinning this on me when you are the one who cheated!"

"Cheated? I didn't- Where did you hear such things?"

"I came by because I missed you, but the first thing I hear is how one of the ministers is elated to have his precious daughter married off to War General Kim. How would you expect me to take that news?"

Geonhak was confused. He remembered being introduced to a few minister's daughters, but neither of them wanted to see him again after their first meeting. It was mainly because he was quiet most of the time. It was a struggle he always faced when meeting new people, talking to them felt like a challenge and most of the time, he failed to overcome. Only the ones patient enough to keep on trying to talk with him stayed. He tried to convince Hwanwoong that he heard wrong, that it was impossible. But Hwanwoong insisted on what he heard and he pressed Geonhak to clarify. Geonhak defended himself and could hear his voice risen, he can't help it when he was wrongly accused. He told Hwanwoong that he was disappointed that the younger man did not trust him. Hwanwoong lowered his head, quiet.

Geonhak paced to cool himself down. "God, the poor man's shop. And the report I have to make for that." He turned to look at Hwanwoong, who was still looking at the ground.

"You know how the people in this city look at our tribe. We're always assumed to pillage and destroy at any place we set foot. It's really hard to change that in these people, especially when the king is actively prejudiced over us. Hey, where are you going?"

Hwanwoong fast-walked past Geonhak without ever lifting his face. "I didn't come this far from home to be nagged. I'm going home." After a few steps away he stopped. "And go find my bag at the inn next to the destroyed shop. I kept some of your mother's crazy good cured meat in it. She made it for me, initially, for my journey here. I thought I saved some for you because you might miss her cooking."

"Hwanwoong, wait," Geonhak realized that he went a bit too far and trailed after the smaller man and grabbed on his shoulder. Hwanwoong slapped his hand away and asked him to not touch him and walked faster. Geonhak was determined to stop him, he embraced the man from behind. He felt resistance for a bit but it relent after a few moments. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I went too far. Let me hear you out."

He felt the man heave a heavy and frustrated sigh. From the crook of Hwanwoong's neck, he watched the man bringing his hand to his face and making two swiping motions. The left hand swiped to the left, the right hand swiped to the right. He saw the younger man's fingertips dampened after the swipe and hugged the man tighter, his heart sank. His attention shifted to the soft fabric under his chin, light blue silk, looking a bit familiar. "This is a really nice hanbok."

"It's one of yours."

"It is? I don't remember having this light blue thing."

"It didn't fit you so you brought it home and your brother thinks the city design is too fancy. I thought I'll wear them to not stand out too much. Grandma fixed the sleeves."

"Yeah? You look nice, like a local." 

"You'd love a local, wouldn't you?" Geonhak yelped when he felt a pinch on the top of his hand, which turned into a chuckle as he heard the tone of Hwanwoong's voice.

"If only the local is you," he replied, rubbing the sore hand, never letting go of Hwanwoong. He brought himself closer to Hwanwoong's ear and whispered. "Stay. I'll come to fetch you after work at the inn later. I'll bring you to see the night scene around here. So, be good, okay?"

"If you're late, I'm going to finish the cured meat."

" So, I'll have to take the blame for the property damage you caused and you're going to finish my portion because of it? What a brat." he pecked Hwanwoong on the cheek.

"That's why you love me."

Notes:

Do they feel out of character to you or is it just me? Oh well :D

Chapter 16: The most beautiful flower is you

Summary:

Six Monarchs finally managed to break their curse of immortality and travelled back in time, starting a new life. Only five of them managed to make it back. Open-ended.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Hwanwoong almost dropped the box in his hand when he turned to see Geonhak, chest burst open, blood gushing. His knees dropped on the floor. Hwanwoong dove to catch Geonhak before he fell hard to the ground. Geonhak grabbed Hwanwoong's hand that was holding the wooden box that they had been planning to steal. The old wooden box and Hwanwoong's hand was smeared with blood as the injured man ran his hands on the surface to find the opening. Hwanwoong could see his eyes were very unfocused. He was heaving heavily, he tried to speak but every word came out as bloody coughs. Hwanwoong got the message, Geonhak wanted him to escape. To open the box and flee. Hwanwoong's eyes started to water as the smell of iron finally hit his nostril. His mind went blank at the sight of Geonhak's usual white uniform drenched in red and even more, he could see the movement of legs approaching them from the hole in Geonhak's chest.

"-go," Geonhak managed to say as he opened the box in Hwanwoong's hand. Waves of colours appeared between Hwanwoong and Geonhak. Geonhak started to look blurry and Hwanwoong could see a large figure behind him pointing a weapon at him.

BLAM!

Hwanwoong felt his whole body was thrown into an indescribable current that pulls him somewhere, too fast that his skin felt like it's on fire. He was launched into a bush where he tumbled and the impact made him accidentally released the box which then smashed into a rock, breaking into smaller pieces. Hwanwoong crawled out of the bush towards the destroyed box. He let his body dropped on the ground, trying to feel everything and letting everything that happened in what felt like a blink of an eye sank. 

"I don't expect you to accept it or anything, but I'm just letting you know, anything can happen tomorrow."

Hwanwoong opened his eye as the flashback came to him. No. His mind started to recall a face, a voice, the background was a blur. He forced his mind to stop recalling.

"I like you. More than I thought." 

A mop of blonde appeared in his mind, looking at him after the meeting between the 6 cursed monarchs, was adjourned. Hwanwoong stayed a bit to go through the scripts that were presented in the meeting and the plans they had decided on. It was a habit of his to talk to himself as he studied the floor plan as a strategist, but Geonhak offered himself to stay and listen to him with an excuse that he was assigned to be the front lines of the operation. Hwanwoong didn't think much about it. They had found another way to lift Helios's curse and Hwanwoong was determined to make this their final attempt. Immortality had chipped everything that they have ever had when they were born. Watching humanity stripped off bit by bit as time passed instilled nothing but hopelessness.

 

Hwanwoong suggested that Geonhak inputted every possible scenario that he could ever face as the frontline in order to eliminate the risk from Geonhak's part. They discussed for a few hours before Geonhak dropped his confession. Hwanwoong, despite the confusion, chided him for his negativity. He believed that they are going to succeed but why is he talking like he's dying?

 

"Being free meant we only had one more life to live, I thought I'd act more like it," said Geonhak, looking forlorn, ruffling Hwanwoong's hair before going back to his room.

 

Hwanwoong felt the phantom hand going through his hair as he was remembering it. He burst into tears, not hiding his voice. His heart hurt so much. More than the sore he felt all over.

 

"Hwanwoong!" he heard a familiar voice calling out. "Hwanwoong is here. He's hurt."

 

He heard the sound of leaves rustling and twigs crackling. He heard the sound of fabric approaching him. It was the other monarchs. He was sure of it, he heard voices and felt hands on his chest, head, everywhere.

 

"It's not his blood. There're no wounds." Dongju, Hwanwoong was sure that was Dongju's voice. "Hwanwoong are you okay?"

 

Hwanwoong was still sobbing uncontrollably. The stream of tears had never seemed to stop, even as he closed his eyes, the thing he saw was red on Geonhak, the sound he heard was guttural breaths and bloodied coughs, and he smelled nothing but iron that he forced himself to stop inhaling.

 

"No, stop. Look at me," said Dongju, lifting his back to put Hwanwoong in a half-sitting position, lowering his head so that he was at eye level with Hwanwoong, asking him to open his eyes, relentlessly. "Breathe, Hwanwoong. Breathe."

 

"I've never seen him like this," Seoho said, face heavy with worry.

 

"Geonhak's been taking too long, I'm worried." 

 

Hwanwoong keeled at the sound of Geonhak's name. His mind recalled the blurry silhouette, Geonhak's before he was pulled into the time current. Accompanying the ear ringing loud explosion sound was the silhouette of Geonhak's head spreading out in pieces before everything turned dark.

Most of his days after the travel were a blur. Hwanwoong spent most of his days gazing into nothing, having the other monarchs helping him most of the time. Having had lived the era before, the monarchs adapted to the time almost immediately. The moment time travelling was made possible, the monarchs had fantasized and whimsically talked about the eras they loved most and what hurt him the most, this was the era Geonhak chose. They made fun of him because it was one of the oldest times among their pick. Late 2010's while everything was already as easy as pushing a button or a tap on a flat screen, the extent of said accessibility was still at its lowest. The safety, especially. It was a time where it seems that the world is ending due to incompetence in using resources and corruption, but in 2078, it was like a switch had been flipped and the world was reprogrammed of its current value system like a reset button was pushed. Seoho and Keonhee were convinced that it was some form of brainwashing.

"So what?" the eldest of the monarchs asked. "We've been through this, anything we try to fix will end up happening eventually. Rather than fixing it, we ended up delaying it just a bit."

It was a surprise to hear that from the first king. The former first king, before the six monarchs were dethroned by the curse. He was an optimist, filled with an idealistic worldview. No one would blame him after having his hopes crushed time and time again for what feels like an eternity. All the times Hwanwoong and Geonhak had to witness him breaking down from the build-up of frustrations. Immortality had changed them, stripping the value that they uphold little by little. 

"Youngjo," Hwanwoong found himself calling the eldest at the doorway of their shared apartment one day. An apartment that they lived in during this era, which seemed to have still been theirs despite leaving the time period for a while. It was like they never left. Time travelling is a strange concept. Youngjo was on his way to the woods, where they had landed a few weeks ago. A routine Youngjo had acquired since then, to be there when Geonhak returned. Except...

"He's not coming- back," Hwanwoong swallowed. He noticed a head popping from the next room behind them, Keonhee. Fuck.

Youngjo directed them to move to the living room, at the same time Dongju had just walked into the doorway after getting groceries, he was immediately told to move to the living room. Hwanwoong chose to sit between Dongju and Keonhee while Youngjo sat across them. He braced himself and recalled the exact moment where the cue for them to escape was called out.


Hwanwoong tried hard to dodge the android that was hot on his heels, even the rocket skates he already put on overdrive he could still see the shadow of the android cop trailing behind him. It was his fault for being too confident with covering his trail. He was a goddamned strategist of the team, it was his job to eliminate every risk possible and he had been doing it all his immortal life. He missed one crucial step as the building was shutting down. The building was the final monument that was mentioned by Helios that can help lift their curse of immortality, returning to the place with the necklace they stole centuries ago. They made it to this place where the hand statue was, but the important element that was required to complete the ritual was not yet discovered.

"Hwanwoong, where are you?" he heard Youngjo calling from the earpiece. Hwanwoong wanted to reply but there was a large boulder and hanging debris in front of him that he had to evade, in his desperate effort to not worry the others with his situation he tried to report back to them but his voice came out strained, mainly due to him having to swerve in a millisecond to avoid knocking onto sharp metal bits that appeared just when was about to make a turn.

"Are you being chased?" he heard Keonhee's concerned voice.

"Listen, I can shake this piece of metal off, but I need time. As Seoho said before, we can use the box separately within a few hours, right?"

"That's not how we decided." Geonhak barked, through the earpiece. He sounded like he was still moving, unlike the other voices that sounded like they were waiting somewhere, stationary.

"Dongju, what do you think- Oh no," he heard Seoho's tone changed from the other line and Hwanwoong could hear the sound of rocket skates turning on one by one. "They're not supposed to find us here. What the hell is going on?"

"There's too many of them, we really have to use the box. Right now," Dongju gave the instruction. I trust all of you to meet back at the promised place. There was a loud sound of static and a ringing sound that crescendos to a point Hwanwoong had to pull the earpiece out and toss it away. He shifted his focus on finding the exit route out of the wasteland he was currently in. There wasn't a window of opportunity for him to activate the box he was holding, he couldn't even pull out the gun he was carrying on the holster on his thigh, the moment he tried to he can feel the android cop closing up the gap. He tried escaping through a narrow tunnel he found that he knew was too small for the android to go through. Just when he felt like he had outrun the android, he could hear the sound of the beam gun charging and his blood turned cold. The gun is a high energy weapon that takes quite a long time to charge and a longer refraction period but the power and speed of the beam would burn anything in its way as fast as almost the speed of light. Hwanwoong thought he had evaded enough beams that he was sure that it has run out of juice, apparently not. He could see the light out of the tunnel but judging from the sound of the charge, he didn't think he would make it. He was trapped.

He continued to run despite knowing deep inside that he was not able to make it, but his survival instinct urged him to carry on. He made his way out of the tunnel and continued on before realizing that there was no beam released right after the gun had finished charging.

"Hwanwoong!" Geonhak called out from behind as he joined Hwanwoong, kicking his rocket skate to overdrive. His hair was horribly messy and part of his shirt was torn, showing half of his chest and shoulder. Hwanwoong held out a hand and he grabbed it. "We need open the box right-"

It was a matter of moments, he saw the change in the expression of Geonhak's face and felt a shove before falling and rolling off the side, hard. He could see a line of blue and Geonhak's body being thrown a few feet away from the corner of his eye. Before registering the pain from falling, he immediately picked himself up with many thoughts running through his head and rushed to where Geonhak's body landed. He could see Geonhak's body moving, trying to push himself up on his feet before falling on his knees. The ringing sound of the beam gun charging resonated again.


Hwanwoong felt bile rose as the iron smell of blood came back from memory. He made a beeline to the bathroom and let all of it out. 

 

Hwanwoong felt a dip on the bed, felt a blanket fall on his body, covering him up to his head. He felt a hand snaking on his waist and the warmth of the body. "It's bedtime already? Dongju-yah?"

He heard a hum from behind. "It's still early, but after today, we're all exhausted."

"Sorry."

Dongju embraced him tighter, digging his nose into the crook of Hwanwoong's neck. "I've thought about it for quite some time. Us being human meant we have to part, eventually."

"He..." Hwanwoong trailed off, contemplating. He wasn't sure if he should, but the load of emotions in his chest urged him to be let out. It hurt. "He told me that he loved me."

There was no sound from Dongju, neither do any movement. Just the steady rise and fall of his chest and the fanning of his breath can be felt. Hwanwoong wondered if Dongju had dozed off. He continued. "And he was cruel, telling me right before we moved to The Capital. I can't focus on anything else apart from our mission, so I brushed him off."

"He was always here, around with us so I thought... I could go back and tell him all these things that I have come to realize. "

That I might have loved him too, he didn't say, but it was understood that Dongju's embrace became tighter. 

"How did you do it?" Hwanwoong asked, quietly.

Unlike most of them that eventually shut their heart away after living through numerous betrayals and losses, Dongju continued to love, to live, as though it was his first life. To continue to work with the community as he did before the curse, living up to his role when they reigned, The People's King. They saw him getting hurt time and time again but afterwards, he would continue to involve himself with a community. Hwanwoong had always admired how wise and strong the youngest is in spirit, despite losing his naivety centuries ago.

"I don't know. We used to have all the time in the world to grieve and be angry, time is always best to heal and to forgive. But now, we don't have that kind of luxury. We have to work so that we can eat, we have to eat or else we'll get sick. And if we get sick, that's it. That's the end of us, the end of our lifelong battle. It feels a bit twisted to just go like that so that's why we're here, why you're still here. We've lived our life to the fullest, heck we even have lived this time before, we had seen what would happen tomorrow. We're not obligated to stay, but why are we?"

Why are we?

 

Hwanwoong found himself picking up after himself and tried his best to re-adapt to their current era. It only hit him how he missed the future technology, the one where he doesn't have to move a muscle to commute from home to his workplace. He forgot how face masks can be quite stuffy when he had to run in them to the station after waking up late. It was the era of the flu pandemic, but having lived through it before, they know the illness will be wiped away soon, however, not without several more scares to the unknown. After work, he stopped by the convenience store outside their apartment complex to get a list of snacks Dongju had sent him earlier.

"Dongju, I am literally at the door, calm down," Hwanwoong said into his phone before tapping to off the call as he use the same hand to punch in the passcode for their door. He heard an urgent turn of the doorknob just before he was able to punch in the final number of the passcode, he took a few steps back to avoid getting banged by the opening door. Dongju grabbed his arm and hurriedly pulled him inside. He almost tripped on the shoes he rushed to remove. He was ready to yell at Dongju before a figure caught his eye. He looked at the television screen to see a familiar figure, looking a bit different from what he remembered, doing what Hwanwoong thought he wouldn't do. A familiar man with long blonde hair, wearing a comfy knitted sweater and ripped jeans, performing an emotional song on stage. He read the name card that appeared after the man finished performing, Leedo. Something hit deep inside when he saw the man's lips turned into a smile wide enough that his eyes turned into upside-down crescents. It irritated Hwanwoong how his heart stirred at the sight of that familiar smile. He looked at Dongju and then to Keonhee, who was sitting on the sofa, and also Seoho who was still in his work clothes, like him. All of them had surprised looks.

"That's Geonhak, isn't it?" Dongju asked Hwanwoong before turning to Seoho. "Is it possible?"

He looked at Seoho whose eyes shifted slightly, recalling and thinking, bringing his hand to his chin. "Given that the concept of time in our travel is a straight line, it's possible." Seoho sat on the sofa and mumbled a few things while continuing with his thought process. "As we know there can only be one of us, our being, in a certain time. Since the Geonhak from the future didn't make it here, this is Geonhak of the past. And he might still be the immortal one since the one with the curse lifted was of the future."

Dongju and Keonhee looked at each other with a joyful look in their eyes.

"Are you serious?" Hwanwoong realized the sound of his voice came out cynical, but he's just not convinced. "Just because he looked like him, doesn't mean it's him. Didn't you hear him? The voices are vastly different. And he sings? Our Geonhak can't sing for shit. This guy stands out so much."

"Hwanwoong..." Dongju gave him a disapproving look.

"It's possible that his storyline changed too since the five of us are human at this time period."

"The voice was a dead giveaway." Hwanwoong was having none of it. But Keonhee was faster in finding an interview where the blond singer talked on his phone and the voice, despite sounding soft and airy when he sang, sounded heavy and deep like it would be drowned by the slightest noise. The monarchs continued to discuss their plans to learn more about this Leedo person. Hwanwoong reminded them that it would be hard considering that the guy is a celebrity. They looked at him like he was the one being unrealistic. While it might take them a while to reach out to Leedo, they reminded him that Youngjo worked in a broadcasting company and had also got himself a place as a music producer's apprentice in a nearby talent agency. Hwanwoong knew and understand the rationale behind the monarch's plan. They started off as six, their fate was tied together by a common enemy, after being together for so long, neither of them has the heart to leave anyone behind. Hwanwoong understood the sentiment, but something in his heart made him feel reluctant and unaccepting of the idea. As Seoho explained his idea, Hwanwoong found himself unable to focus as the sound from Keonhee's phone, Leedo's interview video was still playing.

"Keonhee, could you-"

"...fans? I love you."

Hwanwoong left the other monarchs to retire to the bedroom he shared with Dongju. The words rang in his ears, too loud. His chest tightened, it made him want to scream. The face, the smile, the voice... Everything reminded him of Geonhak. 

"...this is Geonhak of the past."

It's wrong, everything about it is wrong. Hwanwoong felt a strong conflict within him. Part of him is anxious and hopeful that Geonhak is here but part of him kept on bringing back the memory of the future where Geonhak was everything but this. But Leedo might remember them, he was one of the six Kings who were cursed by Helios. They fought alongside for centuries. Changing the past will alter the future, that's what the warning that the time travelling company preached. What they had changed was the present. Hwanwoong knew that their future had changed to some degree, but the past? He dared to hope. Being a realist all his life and having his life experience turn him jaded, he felt off. Having just a glimmer of hope for something he could not change with his own hand is scary. He wanted to hope that this is his second chance with Geonhak. And if it turned out that Leedo was not Geonhak after all, he can take this as a closure.

"..., time is always best to heal and to forgive."

He plopped face down on the bed, trying his best to melt into the mattress to get rid of the anxiety. It's terrifying. His strategist mind was at a loss. He was not given time, there was no proper information about the other party, everything was out of his hand. But, the reason his mind was a mess now was that he thought everything was in his control. He thought he was able to get back to Geonhak when the man confessed back then. He thought by running through the small tunnel when he was chased by the android cop meant he was taking control over the situation. He wondered maybe this time since there was no big stake, it's either that man is Geonhak or that man is not, he could just leave it to fate?

Maybe I will.

Notes:

This could be its own fic! But I don't think I'm prepared to elaborate on the other monarch's story. It'll be interesting to do so, but one needs time and brain juice for it, which I don't have much of :P
If any of you creatives want to have a go at it, go ahead.

Chapter 17: Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Summary:

After a Christmas dinner, a couple of friends talk while watching their boyfriends bicker. It's mostly nothing. Short and kind of suggestive. Dialogue heavy.

Notes:

The story is still centred around Hwanhak, but the pair is Rawoong and Keondo (they were mentioned a bit). If they're your notp, skip it.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Geonhak walks out of the kitchen, brings out a tray of hot chocolate for four and sits next to Hwanwoong on the sofa in the living room. He passes one of the hot chocolate to him and takes a sip out of his. The tv is not on but the smaller man is looking very amused. He follows Hwanwoong's eyes to see two tall figures at the other corner of the living room, by the bookshelves.

"So what, it's my house," Keonhee says, standing up straight, near on tiptoes to make himself taller than the man he is against.

"They're at it again," Hwanwoong chuckles. "Over a silly autographed book."

"Can't you restrain your boyfriend a bit, it's starting to get a bit tiring," Geonhak replies, also getting a bit entertained by the mini-drama by the bookshelves.

"Oh, I restrained him enough. Doing it outside of the bedroom is a bit..."

Geonhak rolls his eyes. "You haven't changed." The shorter man giggles until a smacking sound is heard from the bookshelves. Keonhee has managed to land his hand on Youngjo's shoulder and the bigger man managed to hold his hands before he could land another with an amused, low-key evil laugh. The man continued to bicker with the lanky man.

"They're bickering under the mistletoe, they should kiss," Hwanwoong blurts out and that statement makes Geonhak turn his head and squint. Hwanwoong shrugs, taking a sip out of his mug, trying to make his best-unbothered face and continues, "It'll be hot."

"Please, you can't handle that and you know it," Geonhak says, sniggering. He knows Hwanwoong and his jealousy streak well.

Hwanwoong pouts and mumbles, understanding what Geonhak is implying. "I'll be furious, I'll admit to that. But also turned on. Our boyfriends are hot, come on."

Geonhak puts on his best judgemental face, but in reality, he would never admit it out loud, especially not in front of Yeo Hwanwoong, he had imagined it. He'll admit that their boyfriends are hot and their bantering can easily come off as sexual tension. It's hard not to, especially when Hwanwoong blatantly invited them to join the couple in their bedroom adventures over dinner a few weeks ago. He remembers Keonhee spraying the juice he was drinking. Knowing Hwanwoong, he had expected this much but he would have never thought that the man would bring it up in front of the food.

"Your reaction pisses me off," Hwanwoong mumbles again. "We know you're as filthy as I am when it comes to kinks. Go to hell."

Geonhak sticks out his tongue to mock Hwanwoong, saying he's a changed man, earning himself a kick to the thigh. Hwanwoong was not wrong. They were young and experimental, they were also lonely and looking for love, so that's how they comfort one another in the past. It's a 2-in-1 deal, they reminded one another of that, often.

"Good chocolate. Bad for my diet though," Hwanwoong comments after taking another sip from his cup. "And peppermint? Don't you hate mint chocolate?"

"Keonhee loves it. Not as much as you though, you weirdo," Geonhak answers, patting Hwanwoong's back playfully and Hwanwoong gives him a bratty grin. "I didn't put the syrup in mine. And Youngjo-hyung's because I don't know if he likes it or not."

"He pretends to like it, but he would always take just one bite out of my ice cream and it's always in hesitation," Hwanwoong explains. "I like to feed him just to see how much he can handle before he caved. Didn't cave yet."

"Sounds like you," Geonhak chuckles, bringing the hand that was patting Hwanwoong's back to the back of his head. "You're loved, I'm so happy for you."

"And you're whipped," Hwanwoong replies, feeling heat in his face and also his chest. Geonhak does too. 

That's right, they were both lonely people at the start of the year. There is an awkward but warm silence between them before they are joined by the two that was bickering a while ago. Keonhee immediately throws himself into Geonhak's lap and cuddles up to him, filling the two seater sofa. Geonhak warns him about the cup of hot chocolate in his hand. Hwanwoong hurriedly sits up straight and busies himself with the two cups of untouched hot chocolate that was on the coffee table. He looks at Geonhak and asks which cup is Youngjo's. Geonhak does not miss the evil glint in his eye as he asks that. As much as he empathize with Youngjo, he plays along with Hwanwoong's plan, which is to give Youngjo the peppermint hot chocolate. Keonhee's laugh fills the space, resonating around the house when Youngjo's calm face tightened when he takes a sip, it is obvious he could not handle peppermint taste in his drink but the man is determined to keep his cool guy image and power through the whole cup. Geonhak laughs at Hwanwoong's defeated face when his plan to expose Youngjo backfires. 

Geonhak sits back down, feeling exhausted and parched from laughing at his friends' antics. He reaches for his cup that was abandoned from a while ago and takes a sip. He feels a familiar cooling sensation spreading all over his mouth, up to his throat. He pulls away, pulling a face by reflex. The action attracts attention of his boyfriend who immediately asks what was wrong. He hears a snort and turns to see a confused Youngjo looking back at him and Hwanwoong suspisciously looking away. 

For the first time in a while, he doesn't feel like getting angry. He still hates the combination of mint and chocolate, but it doesn't taste that bad. It's sweet, it's warm, it's a bit spicy and overall cooling, it's Christmas after all. 

Notes:

Oh forgot to mention, they were that kind of friends ;)

it's early, but the mood of this chapter feels a bit festive so, happy holidays, friends.

Chapter 18: I'm always the little spoon

Summary:

"Hypothetically speaking, if we were to have a kid, maybe we found a good surrogate mother, which of us would be the donor?"

Notes:

Ahjussi Hwando from Towels and Let's Go To The Beach is back! This time, a bit younger, not married yet. Partially beta'd by Grammarly.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Hak?"

Geonhak, 33, around 2 minutes after he was told to lie down unmoving after having a sheet mask put on him as a final step of their Friday night facial routine was about to be put on the spot by a question he had never anticipated in his life. Not knowing the weight of the question, he hummed loud enough for his boyfriend to hear from the bathroom, about a few steps away from the bed he was lying on. 

"Hypothetically speaking, if we were to have a kid, maybe we found a good surrogate mother, which of us would be the donor?"

Geonhak's eyelids blew wide open. What is Hwanwoong thinking? Just the other day, no, literally last weekend, they talked about moving in together and had not decided on it yet. It took them 4 years and a company change for them to decide on it. Slow, step-by-step, safe. The question in itself was not bad, in fact, it might be fun to indulge in the thought of them having a family of their own, but Geonhak was told to relax and clear his mind. Rather than not knowing the answer, he doesn't know where to start.

"Babe?" Hwanwoong peeked his head out of the bathroom door to check on Geonhak. He walked out of the bathroom while continuing to brush his teeth, something Geonhak had told him numerous times not to do, especially in his house. "You're not snoring, so you're still awake."

He sits on the empty side of the bed and leaned to pat on the sheet mask edges that folded away from Geonhak's face. Geonhak blocked his hand just before the fingertips touched the mask. "What did I tell you about brushing your teeth away from the sink? And drool always gets on your hand when you brush, don't come near my face, it's icky."

Hwanwoong snorted, he knows Geonhak was joking. He retaliated by wiping his hand all over Geonhak's bare torso and arms and that earned a shout from the older man followed by a laugh. "You're so annoying!"

"So, have you thought about it?" Hwanwoong asked again. Geonhak assured Hwanwoong that he will give an answer if he finished up brushing his teeth and come back after, which Hwanwoong complied with a pout. A 32-year-old man's pout might not be something anyone wanted to see, but Hwanwoong is an exception. Maybe it's because Geonhak is totally whipped for the younger man, who knows. And he's cute. Geonhak also thought he could buy some time as he sent Hwanwoong away, but the younger man came back as fast as lightning and cosied himself up under the duvet, leaving all lights on for Geonhak to switch it all off after.

The man turned to his side facing Geonhak, anchoring his head with his elbow. "So, your answer?"

Since Geonhak still had a sheet mask on his face, he tried his best to look at Hwanwoong by only moving his eyes, which could be considered a glare. "I think it should be you?"

Hwanwoong's eyes widen. "Me? Why?"

"You seem a bit too surprised. You'd think it'll be me?"

"Yeah. You're the oldest and all, the pressure of producing an heir and whatnot."

Geonhak chuckled. "I think a hapkido studio ownership is not that big of a deal and I have a younger brother. He can take that pressure for me. What about you? You're your parents' only son."

There are many reasons that Geonhak can think of, now that he had an answer for the question. One, Hwanwoong loves children, he's great with it. Geonhak can't imagine how happy he would be to have one of his own. The thought of it alone makes Geonhak's heart fluttered and filled with hope, he's starting to look forward to it. Two, Hwanwoong has great genes. A tall nose, fair complexion with little skin complication, his body proportion is great and he could imagine the younger man bragging about his prized sharp jawline being inherited to their child one day. Just the thought of another Hwanwoong in his life brought a smile to his face. Third, he thought he could handle the idea of the love of his life inseminating a woman for the sake of it. Or not, he thought as he felt a strange sinking feeling when the thought crossed his mind. He's sure he can handle it better than Hwanwoong.

"My genes are great, the best of the best, except... you know," Hwanwoong said vaguely, implying something that Geonhak was supposed to get immediately. And Geonhak did.

"Woong-ah, it's not a bad thing. I still fell-"

"Sorry to interrupt whatever you're trying to say. But growing up was hard and it takes forever to get over this complex. Even now people don't take me as seriously. I do not wish my child to go through the same thing I went through."

There's a tug in Geonhak's heart that made him want to wrap his arms around his love and kiss all his worries away.

"So, can I take this thing off my face now?" Geonhak asked referring to the face mask. Hwanwoong checked the time and gave him an okay. He immediately peeled the mask off, jumped and was heading to the bathroom before he was stopped.

"We've been through this, Babe. You're not supposed to wash the residual essence off."

"But it feels tacky on my face, I can't sleep like this. Can't I just wash my hands and the part you wiped your drool on?"

"Promise me you won't wash the essence off or you'll have to pay for the mask, it's a premium one too."

Geonhak groaned and disappeared into the bathroom to rinse his hand and the parts where Hwanwoong's hands glided over earlier before. He peeked out of the bedroom door to make sure all the unneeded lights are switched off before switching off the bedroom lights that Hwanwoong had left on. When he head to bed, Hwanwoong had spread one arm over Geonhak's side of the bed, inviting. 

"Not today."

"Come on, I want to be the big spoon today," Hwanwoong begged, raising his eyebrows as high as he could while jutting his bottom lips out. 

Geonhak sighed. He had been wanting to give Hwanwoong a hug from before. He wondered if the effect of him trying to cheer Hwanwoong up and give assurance while being the little spoon would be as effective. Since Hwanwoong had expressed concern about his size before, even him wanting to be the big spoon feels like a reference to that. Geonhak relented. He climbed onto the bed, resting himself on Hwanwoong's arm, facing him. He felt a poke on his cheeks, chin and forehead.

"What are you doing?"

"You didn't wash your face, good boy."

"Why you-" Geonhak brought his hands to curl around the man's middle and squeezed him hard enough for him to feel it but not hard enough to hurt him as the man laughed and tried his best to pull himself out of the hold. They went at it for a few minutes with Hwanwoong adding various comments that may or may not sound like announcements from a wrestling match. He might be small, but he was able to fend himself by always pulling himself up when he was pinned to the bed as to not lose the "wrestling match" and Geonhak was never one to put in his strength whenever they play like this. 

"I surrendered. Yah, I surrendered!" Hwanwoong shouted as he taps on the bed countless times before Geonhak loosened his hold. They got off the bed to smoothened the duvet and to pick up the fallen pillows before climbing back in. Geonhak slid back into the little spoon position in Hwanwoong's arms, burying his face in the younger's chest. His face felt less tacky, the essence from the sheet mask had probably been wiped off from their bed sheets and duvet as they played around. 

"Woong ah?"

"Hm?"

"We can find a genetically tall surrogate mother," Geonhak said before yelping as he felt a tug on his ear as he finished his sentence. 

Notes:

I realized that when I write Ahjussi Hwando, it's always about adults getting in touch with their inner child when they're around one another. Playing in the rain, going on a spontaneous picnic at a windy beach, wrestling match before bed... I want what they have :(

Chapter 20: Leisure and Lunch

Summary:

A do over on their outing in Lawrence.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Geonhak grunted again as he watches another red and white ball flew way too far from his target in his phone screen. He felt his head itch, everywhere is itching. He tried his best to not show his irritation, but he is irritated. He clicked his tongue, loud and puts his phone down. "Why?" he asked, looking up from the chair he was sitting in to a younger man in front of him.

"You know how bad I was at the last outing. Why do you bring me to another shopping trip? And a handbag boutique on top of that?"

Geonhak looked around, looking at the displays, women's bag and leather products, lined up calculatively on crystal clear acrylics, in front of reflective surfaces. The smell of leather hits at every turn of his head causing him to occassionally put his head down, bringing his nose down to his shirt to sniff something other than leather and also the strong perfume the staff that was talking to Hwanwoong a while ago was wearing. Apart from them and the two staffs, there was barely anyone else in the store which, coincidentally was quite far from the other stores in the mall, making the place eeriely quiet. And the staffs, despite the tall heels, were walking quietly to and from where they are. Just like last time, he was very out of his element. 

Hwanwoong glares at the older which changed into a sweet expression as he eyes shifted towards the staff that was approaching them with a bag in hand. Geonhak returned to his game, launching the pokeballs to the pokemon in front of him. A Ducklett who had been staring at him with it's empty looking eyes, as if judging him. He drags the normal pokeball on his screen and spins it around to increase his chance of capturing the same pokemon he had been getting since he arrived in the city. He missed and the Ducklett fled.

"Fuck!"

"Are you a child, Hyung?" Hwanwoong hisses as they left the boutique with a bag, which he's not really sure if he bought the right one. He had asked his mom if she has any bag she fancied and she sent several photos. And he had asked the unnies what do they think of them and followed the general consensus. It's still within his mother's choice so he's safe. He thinks.

"I said I didn't want to go, yet you still drag me here," Geonhak protests.

"If I know you'd be like this, I wouldn't have asked you to come at all," Hwanwoong walks as fast as his feet can take him and take a turn to the next clothing store.

"That's what I've been saying! Where are you- yah! Yeo Hwanwoong!" Geonhak wants to yell but they are in a public place and Geonhak is too self-conscious to even be angry. It is also a new place. While the mall was quite wide and Geonhak could see the exit from where he is, he's still worried about getting lost when he's alone, so he followed the younger into the clothing store. The younger quietly and briskly shuffle through the rows of pants and walked to the area that displayed shirts while the older followed. As if realized that Hwanwoong is offended he tried to explain his circumstance as he trying to wrack his brain from where exactly Hwanwoong's anger is coming from.

Before he could open his mouth to ask, Hwanwoong grabs a hanger with a shirt on and put it in front of his torso and abruptly turned to Geonhak, asking for opinion. His expression was still sour from before. But the frown looked quite charming, as if he wants to prove a point that he is still upset but needed an opinion. Geonhak felt a smile forming but he tried to hold it in by pressing his lips into a line. Hwanwoong's eyes met his for a second before the shorter brunet averted his.

Ok, I can do this. Geonhak assures himself. He takes a good look at the shirt Hwanwoong was holding, it was neatly-ironed shirt, lines crisp. It is yellow, bordering light orange, not the colour Geonhak would ever be inclined to choose, but this is not for him. Hwanwoong might be able to pull it off. But before he could say his piece, his view catches a blurry speck, that slowly spread throughout the shirt as he started noticing it. Are there patterns? Prints? He squints and brings his head closer to the shirt, he notices Hwanwoong leaning back and realized he is too close to the other man. "Ah, was trying to see the patterns," to which Hwanwoong replied with him pushing the shirt into Geonhak's hand. 

Upon a closer look, it was a chicken, lots of rounded chickens, printed on the shirt. Geonhak snorts. Hwanwoong takes the shirt back and put it in front of him like before, looking a bit relaxed. "So?"

"You don't want that on you."

"Why not? I think it's cute."

"Tigers would fit you more."

"That's a given. Now, what about chickens?"

"You really should've brought Youngjo-hyung or Dongju. I am not cut out for this."

Hwanwoong sighs, hurriedly putting the shirt back and rushes outside. Geonhak looks at the shop staff that had just stood by them in case they needed help. Awkwardly, he nodded his head, mumbling barely audible apologies before following Hwanwoong out.

"Just one time, I want to hang out one on one with you before we head home and you just have to do this," Hwanwoong spits.

"What are you talking about, we hang out on most da-"

"Yeah, at the gym and at practice," Hwanwoong interrupts. "I thought last time was because the unnies were around and you're pressured because there are cameras. I rewatched it and thought it looked like I was the only one enjoying myself."

"So, you want a do-over? By bringing me to handbag store?"

"Look, it was supposed to just be lunch, but since you're already up and about, so I thought I snatched you before you make other plans. And we can walk around for a bit before lunch."

"By lunch you mean, you're paying...?"

Hwanwoong rolls his eyes but with a smile plastered on his face. "Only if you eat within your means, Hyung."

"If we eat now, before I get really hungry, I think I can eat within my means."

Notes:

Been a while... I feel like not doing any serious writing and just do short Hwando being cute together.

Chapter 22: 225lbs Bench Press

Summary:

Hwanwoong went to the gym and called Geonhak to come by.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Geonhak didn't realize he was about to pass out on the bed of the hotel room while texting with To Moons after finishing his gym session. That was until his hand felt a sharp vibration. His phone buzzed from another incoming text.

"Hyung, I'm at the gym. Are you free? Come by."

It was Hwanwoong. Geonhak, having just shaken from a near doze, his head was a mess. The sweat on his skin has dried, barely. It was sticky from the salt.

"I just got back from there. What do you want?"

The moment he shoot out the text, he regretted adding the question, he should just shut Hwanwoong off. He's not in the mood to move, not even going to the bathroom for a shower, but he had to do it anyway. After the screen dimmed, he tossed the phone on the bed and hurried to shower. It's not that Hwanwoong will reply anytime soon anyway. It always amazes Geonhak how slow the younger is to reply to anyone. Borderline annoying, the kind that makes you want to grab his phone and type it for him.

"I need you to watch over my form, I want to do some lifting, today."

"Can you ask someone else? I think I saw one of the dancers coming in as I was about to leave." Geonhak replied once he had done showering, he opened his luggage to grab a pair of shorts. He took a whiff of it, wondering if he had washed this one since he can't remember when he wore them. It smelled faintly of detergent, no laundry softener because he forgot to add them when he load them in the washing machine. The experience of doing laundry in another country isn't entirely bad, but he just wants it to get over with, as fast as he can.

He heard another buzz from his phone as he had just put on a shirt. Rather than walking to the bed to grab his phone, he slipped under the covers, cosying himself for a nap. And then he tapped on his screen to check the message.

"He's here." Hwanwoong sent.

Hwanwoong gave a knowing smirk when he saw Geonhak approaching him. Just in time, he slowed the speed of the treadmill and reduce the elevation before stopping altogether. He couldn't hold his laughter when the older finally stood in front of him, lightly panting. He did bait his hyung, didn't expect him to show up. No, he did expect Geonhak to show up because that's just how Geonhak is. Never really know how to say no. It's just funny that the older man didn't reply after his last text and just show up, in his usual white shirt under a light windbreaker and shorts. It's cute.

Hwanwoong directed them to the power tower area while making their way through a row of chest press machines. Hwanwoong noticed Geonhak's attention was captured, he snickered. The 'he' he mentioned in his text, his bait. A 6'4'' racially ambiguous guy with the nicest shoulders they had ever seen. Not just his shoulders, every inch of him is perfectly sculpted. His complexion while similar to Geonhak's, under the gym lights, managed to bring out every muscle group he was training with the machine. A naughty thought crossed Hwanwoong's mind, he abruptly stopped and crouched as if to tie his shoes. He braced himself for impact when Geonhak stumbled on him and wobbled for a bit, yelping in surprise. He didn't fall, which was unfortunate, but the yelp was loud enough to catch the man's attention. The man stopped his exercise and lean his head a bit, looking out for the two.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Hwanwoong decided that he was occupied by the inexistent pain in his back and said nothing, leaving the other man to fend for himself. Hwanwoong didn't attempt to lift his head at all because he was sure he would burst out laughing. He heard some stutter and slurs of words and then finally he heard the older said something close to coherent words. "Y-yes. He ties his shoes. I didn't see."

"Oh, be careful. Don't trip over the machines now."

Hwanwoong was the first to fast walk to the power tower. Geonhak grabbed his arm and followed him.

"Puhuhuhuhaha," Hwanwoong finally let out his laughter after they are a bit far away. Geonhak tried his best to bury his face in his palms but Hwanwoong can see his ears were bright red. "That was funny."

Geonhak composed himself. "Oh, I'll have the last laugh."

Hwanwoong realized he had made a miscalculation on his plans.

"How are you feeling, Hwanwoong-ah?"

Hwanwoong didn't answer, he was preoccupied with the sound of his heart, the soreness of his muscles and the heave of his breathing after 40 minutes of the death training session with personal trainer Kim Geonhak. "You're-huff-out of-huff-your mind, Kim Geonhak," squeaked between pants, his eyes blinked rapidly from the salt that went into his eye. Is it sweat? Is it tears? Who knows. "We have many stops to go! I'm gonna strip you naked on stage if I'm too sore to dance."

Which had never happened in his 24-year-old life. Hwanwoong is a hard worker and always pushed his limit, but he had never experienced an injury or sickness that caused him unable to dance. But his heart ached. Kim Geonhak should never get away with this.

"Are you still up for another set?" Geonhak snickered.

What? Oh, it's on. Something about the lack of oxygen reaching his brain at the moment made him do something he absolutely won't do with a clear mind. His eyes caught the figure of Geonhak's crush finishing his set of curls and drinking. Geonhak, as if noticed that Hwanwoong's attention was not on him, turned to look at whatever Hwanwoong was looking at. He felt his gut tighten.

"Don't even thi-" Geonhak exclaimed before turning back to see Hwanwoong was gone. Hwanwoong, smirked at him as he was making his way to the man. "Yah, Yeo Hwanwoong!"

"He's crazy. I'm gonna kill him. He's as good as dead," Geonhak mumbled to himself, panicked. "I'm dead. No way, I'm leaving. I need to leave right now."

Except they are deep within a smaller space of the gym, and the only way out was to walk past where the man was sitting. There was no way he's gonna survive whatever Hwanwoong had planned for him. Hwanwoong might be childish and spoiled, but he has a sensible and rational side to him that was commendable by their circle of friends. And this was low, very low of him.

Hell hath no fury like Hwanwoong scorned, Geonhak thought. He had to stop the younger man, he managed to catch the smaller man two machines over where the hunk was sitting. The scene that the both of them created was quite obvious but to their luck, the man was facing the other way and had airpods in. Geonhak put his arms around Hwanwoong's torso and lifted him up. That was the only way he can stop the younger man from ruining his day.

"Hey," they heard a voice amidst the tussle. Geonhak felt a chill on his spine. "Is everything okay?"

The man noticed them and approached them. Hwanwoong took the opportunity to squeeze himself off of Geonhak's grip while the older was in the turmoil of his inner feelings. "Hi, I'm Hwanwoong. My friend, uh, he wants to say something to you,"

The man gave a confused look and it tugged at Geonhak's heartstrings. In a mere millisecond, it looked like he was wondering if he had done something wrong and Geonhak's heart sank. He wanted to tell the man that he did nothing wrong and that Hwanwoong is crazy and they should just ignore him, but the words were stuck in his throat.

"You guys are Korean, right?" the man asked, after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "You can speak Korean to me."

"Not that I think you can't speak English, I mean, who am I to assume. I overheard you talking so I thought... If it's more comfortable speaking Korean... Part of my family is Korean, so I kind of understand them."

He looked directly at Geonhak when he said that and Geohak felt like combusting there and then. His shy smile was charming as heck and it tugged harder on Geonhak's heart.

Suddenly, a hit on the gut, hard enough to snap him out of his thought. "Say something," Hwanwoong communicate said message with the gaze of his eyes. "He's quite shy."

The man hummed, he was at a loss. Geonhak thought this might be one of the weirdest things the man had ever experienced and he wanted the ground to swallow him whole. "Yesterday, I think?"

"I saw you pressing 225. I thought you looked cool," the man continued.

"Ah, no, I um. You're cool too," Geonhak finally said something, after staying silent for too long.

"Whoah, your voice. It's so deep," the way the man's face lightens up in awe like a child's further tugging at Geonhak's heart and his brain starts to scramble. "You're smaller than me yet the way you press 225 with a good form was so impressive, while I had only started it and haven't managed to get 20 per set."

"He's really strong," Hwanwoong chimed in, in Korean. "He can carry three men on his back. And do squats!"

"No way," the man reacted as if mirroring Hwanwoong's sparky expressions. He has a bit of a foreign accent as he speaks Korean. Geonhak found it charming. Hwanwoong looked quite amused too. "Hey, are you done with your workout?"

"YES!" Hwanwoong was first to yell while glaring at Geonhak.

"Wanna talk while we get out of this place?" the man gave them a smile and Geonhak swore his heart burst. Apparently, Hwanwoong too.

"Sure/Let's gooooo," the both of them said.

Notes:

What even are these gym terms? My couch potato ass can't comprehend.

Chapter 23: Mischievious Maknae

Summary:

Maknae playing a prank.

Chapter Text

"I saw Geonhak-hyung and Hwanwoong at the company a while ago. They were acting weird," Keonhee said as he walks towards Dongju when he saw the younger man coming out of their company's Lounge.

"Weird how?" Dongju says as he successfully stabbed the Americano he had just purchased with a straw and takes a long, satisfying sip from it. "Ah, today's brew hits hard."

"I don't know, they were moving like robots and they were being... polite?"

Dongju snorts. "Those two?"

"Yeah, do you know something?"



 

"Hyung," Dongju calls from behind the couch that Geonhak is sitting on at the lounging area on the floor of their practice room. 

Dongju giggles at the sight of Geonhak startling, caught off-guard. The older grumbles words that Dongju had never bothered to focus on. He has something more important to ask Geonhak so he tuts the man.

"So, you guys are dating now, right?" he asks.

Geonhak goes back to his phone, scrolling over some page with a layout that Dongju couldn't recognize. Probably some gaming forums. "Who is?" Another question was thrown back at Dongju without his answered. 

"You and Hwanwoong-hyung. You know... The confession," Dongju follows up.

Geonhak straightens his back and look at Dongju as if he had asked the weirdest question. "Dongju, how long have we been doing this? It was a mission."

"Tell that to Hwanwoong-hyung." Dongju hears a familiar giggle from around the corner. Seoho and Youngjo must have arrived and ready to head to the practice room.

"He knows it's business."

"And I know my roommate," says Dongju, before following Seoho and Youngjo into the practice room.

Keonhee and Hwanwoong arrived 12 minutes late. Earlier than usual.


 

"Why are your clothes in my pile again?" Dongju asks, as he dumps the few stray shirts that was not his on his roommate who is lying around on his bed, again.

Hwanwoong gets up and stretches, pushing the clothes to the side. "I had already started the washing machine and missed them, so I put it in yours. It's just two shirts and a sock,"

Dongju rolls his eyes and looks around the room, inspecting if he had missed a spot while cleaning the room in the morning. He sees the upper bunkbed, bedsheets unstretched and the blanket rolled loosely. "Hyung, your bed-"

"Yeah yeah I know. It's bedtime again anyway, just let it be."

"But you haven't been up here for two days. What were you looking for anyway?"

He knows the mess was new, even if Hwanwoong hadn't been on his bed for a while. He had checked it this morning. He plops down on the space next to Hwanwoong. He throws the clothes that Hwanwoong pushed away on the older man and asks him to do fold and put it away immediately. The older man whined under his breath, his tiny hands slowly moving to straighten the shirt on his lap.

"So, you confessed to Geonhak-hyung..."

There is a silent from the smaller man. "Oh. The mission. Don't put it like that, it sounds so wrong."

"Yeah, but the ears moved so much," Dongju says.

"That was the point- What are you trying to say?"

Dongju looks at Hwanwoong in silent.

"What?"

Dongju shrugs, making an expression that he is letting it go. "Nothing. He must have really adore you. Don't worry, one-sided feelings tend to not last long."

Before Hwanwoong gets a chance to say anything, Dongmyeong barged into their house, yelling for Dongju to get ready for their game night at his dorm. 

The next day, he pretended to not know what Hwanwoong is talking about.



Dongju shrugs, continues to drink the Americano. 

Chapter 24: Exes and Ohs

Summary:

Hwanwoong spotted an ex and he couldn't look away.

Tw // vomit mention

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Put that glass under your chin, you're drooling."

Hwanwoong jumped at the sound of the low voice in his ear. Dongju laughed and made himself comfortable in the seat opposite Hwanwoong. Dongju's eye makeup is way over the top for the occasion. Dramatic, but absolutely beautiful. The holographic shimmers and glitters on his lid were still reflected under the flashing blue and pink lights from the club's dance floor.

Hwanwoong cleared his throat, trying to distract himself from staring again at the person on the other side of the building who happened to catch his eye. "So, is your date here yet?"

"He is. He is. We danced for a bit and it's starting to get really hot. I'm here to air out my sweat."

Hwanwoong winced, rolled his eyes, and turned his face away to dramatize being disgusted. His eyes caught on the figure of a man he was staring at a while ago and this time, he could hear a burst of high-pitched laughter as he saw the man's body shake and clap. His heart stirred. Hwanwoong wasn't sure what was his reaction because when he looked at Dongju, the younger man was squinting, looking over his shoulder at whoever the man was.

"It's so unlike you to be flustered," Dongju said and craned his neck, trying to get a good look at the man. Hwanwoong decided to play around by moving his head to cover Dongju's view. "I hate you."

"Forget the guy, he's here with a date," Hwanwoong said, trying to change the topic by asking Dongju about his date. 

Dongju glanced at Hwanwoong's face when he saw the "date". The woman that was at the table with the object of Hwanwoong's attention was dressed in a way that it was obvious that she wasn't trying to attract men at all. His eyes then fell on a figure approaching them with two glasses of drinks in hand. "Babe, is that for me?"

Hwanwoong mouthed 'babe?' in disbelief. He watched Dongju take the glasses from the man to place them on the table and grab his arm to sit next to him. Hwanwoong looked at the man, he was wearing a tight black sleeveless top paired with tight pants. The contrast between the jet-black top and his creamy white arm was hard to overlook. The man was a bit hunched before he made eye contact with Hwanwoong. The thick eyeliner complemented his fox eyes, Hwanwoong was sure that it was Dongju's work. The man straightened his back and introduced himself. Seoho. 

"He's my boyfriend," Dongju announced. Hwanwoong's mouth hung open. He watched Seoho's reaction, he didn't look at Hwanwoong but had a shy smile plastered on his face. "We had just decided to go steady."

Hwanwoong shook himself out of disbelief. "You were seeing someone? I've never heard of this and I live with you."

"Hyung, when was the last time you were home before I left for work? Even when I was home, you were dead asleep,"

"It's a huge project with a short deadline."

"I know, you workaholic, which is why I dragged you out tonight. You need to de-stress. I'm starting to see very fine lines on your face. Especially around your eyes."

Hwanwoong immediately brought a hand to his face and immediately he reached for the orange peel in his glass and chuck it at Dongju's face. "Yah, those have always been there!"

"Anyway, how did you two meet?" Hwanwoong felt a tiny bit of regret as he felt a bit dizzy and suddenly the music felt overwhelming. He thought it was interesting given how the two of the men in front of him had different vibes to them. Besides, it's been a while since he sits and talks to Dongju, it would be better if they talked about it at home, where the lights weren't crazy and the music wasn't blaring, but he doubted if Dongju would go back home tonight given the look he gave Seoho.

Seoho, Hwanwoong learned was quite awkward, he constantly gave Dongju a glance, as if sending a message to the younger to take the lead but at the same time, not share too much. Dongju caught a cute one this time. Apparently, they met at a speed dating event? Was Dongju that desperate? Hwanwoong decided not to chide on that, so Dongju continued on and Hwanwoong learned that he was there to help the friend that organized it and stood in for one participant who got cold feet. They didn't hit it off right away, but they were constantly bumping into each other which led them to occasionally grab lunch and then it just moved on from there.

"Look, I would tell you the whole story, but he's..." Dongju trailed off as he put up his hand to show that Seoho was squeezing it just before it got to the good part. Hwanwoong teased that he is practically the other half of Dongju and that he will find out eventually.

"Kidding. I'm not that nosy. But we should get along since we'll be seeing each other more often," Hwanwoong winked.

"Babe, let's leave this drunk and his 5 negronis," Dongju said, softly pushing Seoho from the seat. Hwanwoong chuckled at the reaction. 5 negronis and two bottles of beer.

"Possessive much?" Hwanwoong said as Seoho left and went back to the dance floor.

"Coming from you?" Dongju rolled his eyes and sat back down. "Ok, what's the deal with you?"

Hwanwoong finally felt the alcohol, a bit late than usual, maybe he paced himself well, however, it's starting to take a bit more effort to keep his eyes open. "Nothing."

"A self-proclaimed dance mania barely even set foot on the dance floor... Really?"

Hwanwoong looked away. Dongju continued. "Turns out he's been ogling this guy in a really tight shirt and his lesbian friends. Just go talk to him."

Hwanwoong dropped his head into his arms that were resting on the table. "I can't," he mumbled.

"Why not?"

"He's my ex."

There was a silence from the taller man. Hwanwoong assumed he was trying to take it in and also judging it. Oh, he's definitely judging him. "So what? Did it end badly?"

It didn't. In fact, they both agreed to it. And to Hwanwoong's memory, it didn't even hurt. He was up and about sealing deals with clients and spending more time with his small family. Clean. Too clean as if there were no feelings in the first place. 

"I simply don't get back with my ex. You know how much I would fight for my relationships. A break meant it was beyond saving," Hwanwoong said, leaning over the table, shallowly swirling his drink with another orange peel. Dongju hummed. They haven't lived together for long, but Hwanwoong was never shy to talk about his love life and that made Dongju feel at ease about his previous relationships. Hwanwoong was always a passionate lover, a low-key romantic. When he loves, he loves with all the bones in his body, willing to bend over backwards to accommodate, which Dongju was never a fan of, but hardly say anything about because of how happy the older man looked. "He's like that too. Even more than I."

Hwanwoong was there to witness the distraught look on a relentless ex's face who came after a gym session that one weekend. Hwanwoong couldn't recall exactly, but the reply the man gave was one of the coldest things he had ever heard someone say to a person who once meant everything to them.

"I've never heard of him though," Dongju said, implying the conversations they often have in the middle of the night when there was no work tomorrow.

"He's-" To be honest, the memory of it is a blur. "-from uni. My roommate."

Dongju gasped. "Yikes! You dated your roommate?"

"Nobody is smart in university. You can be a top student in high school, but once you step a foot in uni, you will be humbled."

Dongju hummed again, agreeing with his statement. "I'm so sorry but I have to go check up on Seoho-hyung, he's awkward with people coming on to him, he just froze. Gotta whack those weeds away, you know?"

Hwanwoong raised a hand to wave goodbye as the younger rushed downstairs to the dance floor. "The kid had grown up, just a few months ago he shitted on me for being too jealous," Hwanwoong mumbled to no one exactly.

He dared himself to take another look at Geonhak. Kim Geonhak with a nice smile from Early Childhood Education. Hwanwoong snorted. The sweet hyung that took care of him at the dorms, in the room they shared. The attentive hyung would, without missing a beat, say random words just to mess with Hwanwong when his brain was struggling to find a word to say, but would help him after being amused. The hardworking hyung who is always eager for his free time to run to the nearest gym after talking to his friend from Sports Science for some working out tips, and then dragging his roommate who would rather sleep in on a cloudy Saturday morning. The chummy hyung who would always include him in everything he wanted to do (only if Hwanwoong wanted to), especially during meals, even when they are of different majors, was rarely seen in their rooms at the same time except for weekends. Hwanwoong thought he was quite independent, living in the dorms as he attended a nearby arts high school. While everyone over there was also taking care of each other as they are still quite young and living away from home, he thought he was independent still. Until he met Geonhak, who subtly spoiled him and maybe that's how he fell for the older guy. The memory is slowly coming back to him as Hwanwoong took a sip of his almost finished beer. 

Geonhak looked different now, he was no longer the lanky guy with a puppy-like face that Hwanwoong was always tempted to leave kisses on (still with the puppy face, rather, a big dog now, but not so much on the kisses part). His heart was still racing albeit slowed down while he distracted himself with Dongju and his boyfriend, ever since he stepped upstairs for a drink and saw the older man. Nothing out of the ordinary when bumping into an ex, it's just anxiety of the unexpected happening, Hwanwoong told himself. Hwanwoong assured himself that nothing would happen since he had decided to head home after finishing his drink, hoping Geonhak would not notice. After all, the spot is quite secluded, but you can never be too sure. He chugged the last of his glass.

Hwanwoong opened his eyes to a really bright light from the opened curtain in front of his face. He forced himself to look around, making sure the place is familiar. The window opposite his bed, the laundry that was spilling from the basket onto the floor near the door, the clothes hanging above his head, everything was exactly like he left last night. Even if he doesn't really remember how he got there, it was such a relief that he woke up in his own bed, minus the gross and greasy feeling on his tongue. While his eyes failed to adjust to the light, he quickly got up and ran to the bathroom to scrub the taste off before what he drank and ate last night made its way out again. 

He bumped into a figure at the bathroom door. "Whoah."

"Seoho-hyung?" Hwanwoong is now fully awake to a hunk of a good body hitting his face. He wondered if the name is correct while trying to have any recollection of last night. Instead, he was distracted by the sweet smell of what Hwanwoong know as Dongju's new and expensive body wash, which he never stop making a fuss about. Mostly of how much it cost and how strong it smelled. Dongju had made it his current personality trait to use just a tiny pump (not even all the way) and lather it thoroughly, making his morning shower take a bit longer than before but it left the bathroom and the area 1 meter from it smelling nice for a day. But currently, the same pleasant smell was triggering his gag reflex.

"I heard Hwanwoong-hyung, is he up?" Dongju peered from the kitchen area.

"Time out!" Hwanwoong shouted, he felt his head pounding. "Let me just do my business first and we'll talk."

After washing up and having breakfast which consisted of haejang-guk prepared by Dongju for his hangover and a cup of green tea instead of his usual coffee, Hwanwoong excused himself to lie down again on the couch, one arm covering his eyes from daylight that usually wasn't this bright at this time of the day. He felt like a bit of a jerk for letting his roommate clean up after he had already done everything else beforehand, on top of having his boyfriend around. He made a mental note to make it up to Dongju once his head had cleared up. He felt a soft nudge on his shin and he folded his leg to make space for someone he sure was Dongju to plop. "Did Seoho went home?"

"No, I sent him out for ice cream. We're going out later," Dongju said, turning on the tv and pretending to channel surf.

"I know I'm being a little shit right now," Hwanwoong said, not moving his hand from his face. "I'll make it up to you."

"Glad you brought it up, two all-day passes for Lotte World. Date undecided."

"What the fuck. You don't even go on the rides."

"Seoho-hyung seems like he'll go on every ride. He'll be worth the money."

"Then I'll just pay for his pass."

Dongju pinched the older man, earning him a satisfying squeal. "You're being a real shit right now, after what you put all of us through last night. You're lucky Seoho-hyung saw you leaving with that guy last night, you didn't say a word!"

"What guy?" Hwanwoong shot up. 

"You don't remember?" Dongju asked. There was an expression on his face Hwanwoong couldn't quite be able to read, not that Hwanwoong bothered to read it anyway. "I came back to the table and you weren't there and you weren't answering the phone for a good 20 minutes and who knows how long have you left."

"And I was with a guy...?"

"Yeah. You lead some guy to our humble abode, luckily Seoho managed to find you. Almost decked the guy too for kidnapping. A mess."

Hwanwoong tensed after learning the danger he was in when he was out of his mind last night. Guilt rose in the depth of his heart. 

"He's a good guy, though," Dongju said as if he can feel Hwanwoong's anxiety, but that unreadable expression never left his face. "He said you asked him to take you home, so he did."

Hwanwoong squinted at Dongju in disbelief. How can he say that nonchalantly, did they talk with the man because that doesn't sound suspicious at all, Hwanwoong thought sarcastically. They could've been robbed or worse than that, Hwanwoong stop himself from overthinking. No stranger would willingly take a very intoxicated person home just because they asked them to in their drunken state without having other intentions. He felt a chill down his spine. 

"Don't worry, if he intended to sleep with you, which I will give him hell for it if it actually is the case, it's long gone. You were a sobbing mess and you retched on his shoes before passing out. This brings us to this- Oh my god, I am not touching it," Dongju ran to the entryway of their shared apartment to the shoe area and stopped midway. "Yeah, nope. You have to come to get it yourself because you ruined it."

Hwanwoong drug his feet behind Dongju, putting pressure on the side of his head as if it helped with the pounding whatsoever. He saw a pair of black converse in a semi-transparent plastic bag. It doesn't look as bad from where he was standing, but Dongju's not going to make him clean it, right?

"He had to hurry back to the club because he was their designated driver and they were already looking for him. He insisted to go back with that. I lent him one of your shoes and took his number."

The more he hears about the guy from Dongju, the whackier the mystery man gets. And the weirder Dongju seems to feel. Suspicious. "You didn't give him my best shoes did you?" Dongju said that he gave the man the ones that were in their second shoe cabinet where they keep older shoes that they would wear daily instead of on special occasions.

"Ugh, can't we just buy him a new one?"

Dongju shrugged. "Try contacting him, I'll pass you his number." Dongju reached for his phone in his sweatpants pocket and fiddled with the screen. Hwanwoong remembered leaving his phone charging in the bedroom and wondered if he should check that first or nurse his hangover until he's able to form proper sentences to a stranger. He looked at Dongju making a cutesy face to ask for a favour.

The taller man rolled his eyes. "Oh no, my friend. My contribution should've stopped at the packing of your vomit-covered shoes. And you seem to have said a lot to him before passing out."

Hwanwoong's shoulder hung low, in his head, he imagined his drunk self and he gave that projection an earful. He was never good with alcohol and it runs in the family too, he knew that, but why the hell was he drinking so much last night. The image projection then shifted into a taller muscular man with very tight leather pants and a white shirt that wrapped ever so nicely around a very beautiful pair of pectorals and biceps. His hair was slicked back with a few stray strands falling on his face with length passing his eyes. The image gave him a wide smile, one that would lift his cheek way up, making his eyes smaller, refreshing.

Oh yeah. The ex.

Hwanwoong sighed and walked back to his room and dove under the pillows savouring the nice temperature under it.

"I am really losing my mind. To drink that much just because I saw him. Fuck," he said to himself. He heard Dongju knock on his door, announcing that he and Seoho-hyung were leaving. He wished them a good time and turned to lie on his back. "Why is he here?"

Neither of them was supposed to be in this town. Hwanwoong was a child of the capital while Geonhak was from a neighbouring town. After university, both of them took internships and temporary jobs in their hometown, living apart while still being together. Weekend commutes were a thing, Hwanwoong reminisce. It wasn't a long journey but doing it as frequently as they did after exhausting themselves for the rest of the week took a toll on their relationship. Paired with the anxiety to make progress in their career, something that they never considered even though it was inevitable for them, a couple of young adults stepping into the adult world for the first time, argued over the smallest things and took longer to forgive. A lot was going on in their lives and everything seems to move at a fast pace. Hwanwoong really wondered was the break as easy as he remembered? He remembered vaguely how they stared into each other's eyes that one day and decided to let go. Geonhak transferred right after and Hwanwoong landed his first real job in broadcasting. He thought it was the right timing because of how much he had to travel on sight with the department he was in. More commute but less arguing, he thought that was his peace. After a few years of doing that, he managed to get a proper footing in that world and got most of his life together, he tried making his own path with a smaller company, where he is now. It was a lot tougher due to the limited resources, but he felt fulfilled. Along those times, he met Dongju and the rest is history. Never once did the thought of Geonhak crosses his mind, until last night. 

Hwanwoong clicked his tongue, an almost fake-sounding disgust. "The tight-fitting shirt? Since when?" He recalled before wandering back through some memories of the older always wearing oversized knitwear with his leg-hugging pants. Hwanwoong remembered his effort of trying to make the shy man be more confident about his lack of volume around the shoulder area would always wound out at the back of the closet or even worse still in their plastic packaging that was conveniently available when they were preparing gifts for friends during Christmas. Look at him now, with tits comparable to an anime girl. Hwanwoong thought to himself, feeling petty, not knowing what for. He tossed again, reaching for his phone on the dresser and looking through what he missed. The screen lit up with 1.47 pm on display on the lock screen temporarily before his phone captured his face id.

Eighty-seven Kakaotalk messages, 18 missed calls (All from Dongju he checked), 3 snoozed alarms, and a youtube notification saying someone liked his comment on a video which Hwanwoong tried to recall when exactly he last left a comment on. He removed all the push notifications list and opened the Kakaotalk app. Thirty-five messages in the work team chat room, and 7 from the boss. He ignored the messages and opened the family chatroom which just consisted of him, his mom and his dad. His mom asked about his whereabouts last night and his dad joked about their haejang-guk shop is always open, a joke that he had never heard once since he started drinking, he rolled his eyes. He replied that he considered visiting the shop next week and exited the room. He scrolled back up to the work group chat and see if the hubbub involved him. To his luck, it wasn't and his old boss was asking yet a string of questions regarding being a parent to an angsty teenage homosexual, something to this very day, Hwanwoong regretted ever getting involved in. He saw 1 notification number on Dongju's name and remembered the man that walked home with his shoes. He groaned at the mess that could have easily been avoided if he had just gotten up, and drag his ass back home after the last beer. Instead, he ordered a bottle of peach soju and continued to be hypnotized by his ex's chest and blacked out. He felt dread thinking of what to say to the man given how he had no recollection of last night after that peach soju. He wondered if he should wait until his brain and organs decided to function normally again. But he thought, at the very least, that man deserved a text apology. 

He shot up from his bed straight to a stand when he saw a name that the contact was saved under. He felt a strain on the back of his neck and he wasn't sure if his headache was gone but at that moment, that was the last thing on his mind.

Kim Geonhak.

So convenient. He called Dongju, and when the younger man answered, Hwanwoong thought he could keep his cool but his voice came out frantic and desperate. "Haha, Son Dongju, please say sike. I promise I'll make it up to you and Seoho-hyung, honest. So just-"

"Hyung, you never mention what your ex's name was. I took the contact personally from him."

"I'm not contacting him."

"Then you will never see your Jordans again."

"You gave him my Jordans?! I barely wore that myself! What the hell, Dongju."

"You puked all over my boyfriend! You know how long it takes to get the stench off of him?"

Dongju sighed at the end of the line. "Hyung, I may not know what happened between the both of you but from what I see, you guys needed to talk it out."

Dongju excused himself and hang up in a hurry. Hwanwoong lay on the bed again trying to process the fact that he didn't avoid Geonhak, in fact, he managed to bring back Geonhak into his life. He pressed his face against a pillow and groaned from deep down his stomach. 

Notes:

Usually, I plan what I write, but not this one. I'm trying to bring myself out of a block so I tried with one line and see where my brain move the story from there.

26/7. Happy birthday, Leedo.

Chapter 25: Queen of the House

Summary:

If Hwanhak had a daughter... An idea I had been fermenting in my brain since last year.

Notes:

I Grammarly'd it now, hoping the grammar error feels less offensive than before :D

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

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Untitled95-20220804224835

Calm down, Geonhak thought. Assess the situation. 

"Mimi," he greeted, looking at his daughter, eyes catching the soft peach ruffle dress before gasping loudly. "Look at you, is that the new dress Papa bought you?"

Mimi stayed silent. He shifted his gaze to Hwanwoong, hoping to get a clue on what this is all about. Hwanwoong still looking like he had just kicked a puppy reluctantly raised his hand above his head and make air gestures showing twin-tails hair. Geonhak looked back down and finally see his husband's handiwork on their daughter's hair. It was crooked and messy with lots of stray hair. One of the tails was loose and the parting was also all over the place.

Geonhak bent down to Mimi's eye level. "Ah, the hair ties are not the right colour." Geonhak pointed out, seeing one of the hair ties having cat decoratives and another having stars.

"Come on, let's go fix it. I think the orange ones will match your dress," Geonhak said, holding out a hand so that Mimi could grab it and follow him to her bedroom. 

He asked Mimi to get him the hairbrush and the oranges hair ties. Mimi slowly and silently got them and put them on the mini dressing table and sit on the chair in front of its mirror. Hwanwoong followed them to her room as well but only stood at the door, holding one of Mimi's squishmallows. Geonhak took the small chair from the study table and sat behind her. From the reflection, he saw Mimi saw her Papa also joined them at the doorway and Geonhak did not miss a side eye from their daughter. From the looks of Hwanwoong's distraught face, it seems like he saw her expression. Geonhak stifled a chuckle, trying hard to not even break into a smile.

Geonhak removed the hair ties and started brushing Mimi's hair. It was difficult to part her hair neatly because it was dry and strayed everywhere, so he asked Mimi for some hair cream. She handed him an empty case, so he asked Hwanwoong to fetch one of theirs to which Mimi frowned because she didn't like the smell of their hair cream, so Geonhak asked Hwanwoong to fill a spray bottle from their room with some water.

When Hwanwoong left, Geonhak whispered. "Mimi-yah, are you still mad at Papa?"

"Papa makes my hair ugly," the child replied. "I told him he is doing it wrong and it hurts."

"Papa is doing his best, you know. Couldn't you forgive him? You are going to the park fair with him after this."

Mimi looked down at the floor with a pout, thinking. Geonhak couldn't help but see Hwanwoong in her and broke into a smile.

"Appa, can you come to the fair too? Please," Mimi said, finally turning to look her dad in the eyes. Geonhak could've sworn he can see stars beaming from them and he is weak. It's not the first time Mimi used them to get her way, she had been utilizing them for a week asking him to join them at the park fair. Geonhak hates going to those places, it is often crowded and loud and hot. Especially in this hot and humid summer weather. If Geonhak were forced to sweat his ass off, he'd rather do it in an air-conditioned gym for a 3-hour session with the muscle soreness to boot.

"I don't want to hold Papa's poop hands, I want to walk with you," Mimi continued, unable to let her other dad's handiwork on her hair go. Geonhak stifled another chuckle. It was always something Mimi and Hwanwoong always argue over when there are mini projects she gets from kindergarten or if she gets inspired from watching a kid's craft show on tv. Hwanwoong always does his best to support Mimi's interests like dancing and fashion, but he is utterly hopeless when it comes to arts and crafts when left alone, Geonhak would be alarmed by their little girl screaming or running to him to complain so Geonhak had learned to step in beforehand to avoid the apocalypse. As far as things go, they haven't run into any problems for a while, until today when Geonhak decided to go for an early morning run before a gym session which he planned to go after dropping Hwanwoong and Mimi at the fair.

"Mimi, what have we decided?" Geonhak asked.

"I will go with Papa and then later we can go eat together outside for lunch," she replied, to which Geonhak gave her a smile. "Then, I don't want to go."

Geonhak's eyes widen. Mimi and Hwanwoong had been hyping over the fair for a week before because she saw that her and her dad's favourite actress would come and visit the fair. It baffled him how Mimi was able to come to this decision. Geonhak had to counter it. "Mimi-yah... Appa has somewhere else to go, no one will be at home."

"I'll go play at Mina's house," the girl said, determined. Mina is a kid Mimi knew from the kindergarten that lived two floors down from their unit. 

"It's not good to bother Mina and her family on the weekends last minute like this, they might have other plans. Mimi, please."

"I don't want to go alone with Papa," Mimi frowned just in the nick of time when Hwanwoong got back with a little spray bottle filled with water in hand. Hwanwoong gave them an awkward smile, which Mimi quickly turned her back to.

"You're not going anywhere important are you?" Hwanwoong asked, passing the bottle so Geonhak can get to work on Mimi's hair. He also had a tiny straw hat on his other hand and suggested Geonhak do a low ponytail so that she could wear the hat at the fair given how bright the daylight had been recently.

Geonhak asked if it was okay for the change in style and Mimi just nodded slowly while playing around with a doll on the dressing table.

"I haven't had time to workout lately," Geonhak replied after tying Mimi's hair, making sure it was tight enough to hold but not enough to hurt the queen of the house. Geonhak handed Mimi the straw hat and let the girl go and pack the little sling bag they bought for her for Christmas last year.

"What's another day," Hwanwoong said. "She's been excited about it all week."

"And you've been agonizing the lack of definition of my chest," Geonhak jabbed, earning a playful glare from his husband. "It's really bright and warm these days and the crowd... Augh."

"And here come the complaints. You can carry her around if you want some muscle stimulation."

Geonhak gasped, falsely offended. "She's your daughter."

Hwanwoong pinched Geonhak's side. "Ours! And you know what I mean."

"Fine... Just let me shower first."

"Yeay!" They heard a giggle from the outside of the room before seeing Mimi appearing at the entrance holding out her pinky finger. "Appa, promise?"

Before Geonhak could register, he was on his knees on the floor, thanks to Hwanwoong. He held out a pinky finger which was immediately linked by a tiny, manicured one. The girl in front of him giggled, smiling so wide that her eyes make upside-down crescents and there are two little lines under her eyes.

"Do you want me to prepare your clothes?" Hwanwoong said, following him to the bedroom.

"Just a white shirt and jeans, please. It's really hot out there," Geonhak grabbed a new towel from the shelf under the sink just in front of the bathroom door. He stared at the grey towel wondering how did he get here, all his plans before noon went down the drain. He's weak. He had grown weak as he grew older. He's very whipped for the two people who occupied some part of his brain and all of his heart.

He resigned and closed the bathroom door, completely missing his husband and daughter high-fiving one another with a sneaky smile on their faces. 

Notes:

Geonhak fell into a trap.

I've been reading a chinese webtoon Who's Baby Is it (I think). Not sure how S.K.'s take on surrogacy but this is a world where there is no homophobia, so surrogacy should not be problem. Mimi's biological father is... Hwanwoong! Technically, there isn't any other variation to call someone dad in Korean too, so that part too is made up in this ideal world.

Chapter 26: Visual Film

Summary:

Based on the Malus Visual Film behind the scene photos on their fancafe and weverse. Model boyfriends having their schedules at the same place.
A repost from twitter :D

Chapter Text

"Thank you, everyone," Hwanwoong bowed as he thanked the staffs after the director dismissed them. Hwanwoong looked at his manager approaching him with his tablet, open and bright. Disregarding the writings he barely see, or decided not to see, he wondered how much time he had to slip away for a bit to visit another set in the studio. He tried to listen to the manager as much as he can underneath the loud pounding of his heart, just enough information to know that he has around 40 minutes before he has to move to the next location for another contract negotiation and signing.

"Great, I'll meet you in the car in 30 minutes," he mentally rolled his eyes because it was very obvious it is a promise he could not keep, not with all the glitters scattered on his skin and in his hair. "Grab some of those spring rolls, it was added when we were filming. Pretty please and thank you. You're the best manager ever."

Hwanwoong sent a flying kiss to the manager as he saw the man walk briskly to the lunch table. Once he was sure he was outside the man's view and also the stylist's view, he sneaked out of the set, with the glittered skin and the outfit from the photoshoot, a loose blouse and tight leather pants. He walked through the studio corridor, not sure what he was supposed to look for to find a certain someone. He wondered how much trouble would he be if he were to open the closest door to his current left, but it was too quiet to have something going on on that set, so he left the door alone. 

"Ok, crumple the shirt a bit. Perfect," he heard a yell not far from where he was walking, the door to the set was wide open. Hwanwoong peeked his head and looked around to see what was the set shooting for and saw a piece of paper with the Calvin Klein logo on the floor. He dared to step in and stealthily walked to where the people were. He had forgotten that he is literally leaving "fairy dust trails" as he walked. He just hoped that the surroundings are dark enough for him to not stand out too much and that the staffs are more focused on the photo shoot and did not notice him there.

Curiousity got the best of him and the moment he realized he had been too close to the crew was when one of the staffs, gasped his name a bit too loud. He flustered for 2 seconds before holding a finger to his lips and gesturing for her to calm down. "I'll leave in a bit."

"Remember Geonhak, look as playful and refreshing as you would with your girlfriend in the room." 

Hwanwoong scurried quickly to the side when he realized he was very close to the director as well. He stuck himself to the wall away from all the lights, contraptions and wires... and humans. He still couldn't get a good look at his boyfriend, Geonhak. All he could manage to see was his back. The styling was what Hwanwoong usually would see on a Saturday when he slept over at the guy's house. A crisp white shirt that's big enough to cling to the best part of him over worn-out jeans. Even after the director yelled "Action!" there was not a second that his boyfriend's body was turned. But his side profile, albeit from far away, looked gorgeous. 

The scene was Geonhak with a woman who Hwanwoong couldn't recognize, possibly a model out of his circle, splashing water over each other. Hwanwoong did not miss the toothy grin his boyfriend had when he was turning his head to the side. Hwanwoong bit his lips. 

"Now's not the time, Hwanwoong-ah. He is working. This is a professional setting," Hwanwoong said to himself, feeling a bite of bitterness at the back of his throat. Slowly he regretted coming here and decided to leave and wash up.

Speaking of time, what time is it now? He really should get moving. He learned the hard way that sometimes, time moves fast especially when you don't have a watch. If he had his phone on him right now, it must've been buzzing like crazy. The manager is going to chew him out.

"You there, in the light shirt by the wall, are you authorized to be here?"

Oh shit.

"Oh, Hwanwoong-ah. What are you doing here?"

"Director Yoon," he greeted sheepishly, aware of the eyes that were on him as he made his way to the director. He was glad that it was a director who had worked with him numerous times and also had a history together, academically. Not romantically. It'll be awkward if they did. "I was just on the set next door. Just wandering around. You know what, I have to move to another location so I'll just go..."

He managed to glance once more at Geonhak before he leave and noticed that the man was looking straight at him. Hwanwoong couldn't help himself, his heart drummed in his chest and his lips naturally curl into a big smile, mirroring the joy he felt in his heart. He raised his hand to wave at him and mouth 'see you tonight' while wondering if the man could actually see him at all with all that lighting directed at his face. And considering his boyfriend's vision and the stubbornness of not wanting to wear corrective lenses, he thought he might just have to shoot a text later. 

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To his surprise, the man gave him the softest grin he may have ever seen, enhanced by the lighting and background of said set, filling his heart to the brim. 

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He's beautiful. It took every single muscle on Hwanwoong's body to not jump his boyfriend, to kiss him silly on this gorgeous set and making a scene that might drag the crew's schedule. No, that's not fair, Hwanwoong was not prepared for that. Two can play that game. He dug his hands in his pocket while scheming a perfect payback. A nice dinner or-

Right, his phone is with his manager. Hwanwoong slaps both sides of his face as reality hits. He ran back to the set he was at before with a huge silly smile on his face.

Chapter 27: They don't know

Summary:

Is this proper to tag as Idiots in Love?

Chapter Text

Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't know that Kim Geonhak is in love with him.

Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't know that while Kim Geonhak takes care of the others, his heart flutters when he cares for Yeo Hwanwoong.

Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't know that Kim Geonhak loves hugging Yeo Hwanwoong, not just because he is tiny and hug-sized. Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't know that even if Kim Geonhak's body is above the average temperature, the body goes even hotter when he hugs Yeo Hwanwoong. 

Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't know that Kim Geonhak's heart grows when he sees him at the gym. Kim Geonhak loves it when his friends go to the gym and share his passion for building muscles, but Kim Geonhak's heart grows ten times bigger when that person is Yeo Hwanwoong. 

Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't know that Kim Geonhak tries his best during practice so as to not worry him. Kim Geonhak loves improving when he practices, but it feels nicer when Yeo Hwanwoong compliments him and goes to him to discuss and monitor.

Kim Geonhak loves Yeo Hwanwoong and Yeo Hwanwoong does not know. 

 


 

Kim Geonhak doesn't know that Yeo Hwanwoong is in love with him.

Kim Geonhak doesn't know that Yeo Hwanwoong enjoys teasing him, not just because it is funny, but it also makes Yeo Hwanwoong's heart flip flops.

Kim Geonhak doesn't know that Yeo Hwanwoong loves watching him working out. Yeo Hwanwoong also thinks it's vital for him to keep in shape because he had been eating too much, which might mess with his stamina. But he also enjoys glancing at Kim Geonhak when his muscles flex and relax as he lifts weights. 

Kim Geonhak doesn't know that Yeo Hwanwoong enjoys his hugs. Even when it is hot and Kim Geonhak's body temperature is hot, Yeo Hwanwoong doesn't get mad at Kim Geonhak for holding him tight. But Yeo Hwanwoong enjoys the hug the most when it is cold outside when his body is cold and shivering.

Kim Geonhak doesn't know that Yeo Hwanwoong admires and watches him a lot. Kim Geonhak is hardworking and consistent, Kim Geonhak follows orders well. When they are practising, Yeo Hwanwoong would compliment him because he deserves it. Kim Geonhak doesn't know that Yeo Hwanwoong knows that compliments will make Kim Geonhak happy and improve more. And Yeo Hwanwoong loves it. 

Yeo Hwanwoong loves Kim Geonhak and Kim Geonhak does not know.