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How To Save A Life

Summary:

Because Keonhee had changed too: he was still so tall ('Why couldn't I be graced by good genetics??'), but his young puffy face had turned into sharp features and mature looks. He looked so handsome and confident in his own body, no longer that awkward teenager with too long limbs and poor coordination. Keonhee was also quieter and more like a private person, not the loud troublemaker who used to sing girl groups songs at the top of his voice.
Hwanwoong wanted to know this new Keonhee, wanted to listen to his stories and bask in his presence.
'Where did I go wrong? Why did I let you go?'

Notes:

This... was totally unplanned, but I just got inspired and had to write it down so... Here it is! It's my first time writing for this pair, so I hope it came out okay.

"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'

Enjoy~❤

Come and chat with me on Twitter

DISCLAIMER: I don't own ONEUS or any of the members. I only own the plot and the writing that made this story up.

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

Work Text:

"And then we heard him scream in shock and yell «Why is there a chicken in our shower??» and we all just lost it."

Hwanwoong was laughing so hard he could feel tears coming out.

"Your flatmates sound like funny people" he said once he got his breathing back under control.

"They are terribly noisy, but... yeah, they are good" Keonhee said, a small smile appearing on his lips.

Hwanwoong stared at those lips for a moment, before he realized what he was doing and quickly took a sip of his coffee to hide his blushing face.

Luckily the other hadn't noticed, telling him more about the daily troubles he had to deal with because of his roommates.

 

It was nice watching Keonhee talk with such a content smile on his face.

'When's the last time I saw him like that?' Hwanwoong thought, even if he already knew the answer.

They had been inseparable since they met in Junior High all the way through High School. They had inside jokes and knew they could always rely on each other.

They even had been each other's first kiss because, as he said to Keonhee before leaning down and kissing him "A first kiss is Important and I wouldn't wanna waste it with someone who means nothing to me. You are my best friend so this can mean Something".

 

And then they went to College and things... Changed.

Hwanwoong changed.

 

He wasn't anymore the "shortie who's not bad at dancing" or "Keonhee's friend". He got into the dance crew and people admired and appreciated his talents. It made him feel important, like he was finally getting his time to shine.

But to do so, he had to take a step back from Keonhee.

'No, that's a lie. I didn't have to. I wanted to.'

He liked being the center of attention, he liked that people would see Hwanwoong, not as someone else's friend or whatever, but as himself.

So he left Keonhee behind, getting bedazzled by bright smiles and sweet words. He became someone his younger self would have never recognized nor approved of.

Hwanwoong even "stole" Youngjo (a popular senior in their group of friends) from Keonhee who, to be fair, never even considered Youngjo's advances as something serious: considering how the older ended up cheating on him, maybe Keonhee had been right when he didn't pay him much attention.

 

And Keonhee...

 

Keonhee had tried to stay by his side, encouraging to pursue his dreams, going to watch his practice sessions and cheering for him at every performance.

He tried even when Hwanwoong had started to push him away, to subtly giving him the cold shoulder, telling him not to come to his practices anymore.

Keonhee didn't fight with him, because he probably knew him better than he knew himself.

So he just smiled and cheered for him at a distance, subtly letting him know that he understood but he would always be there because Hwanwoong was important for him.

But Hwanwoong didn't want to see, didn't want to feel like he could fall under his shadow again if he remained too close ('why did I ever think that? Why? Why??'). So he pushed and pushed and pushed.

Until there was nothing left.

When one day he had a performance and noticed Keonhee was absent, he felt a sense of accomplishment, even if it was bittersweet.

 

But it didn't last long.

 

Hwanwoong graduated from College and the dream was over.

 

No more bright smiles ('fake, they only got close because you were getting popular'), no more sweet words ('empty, they never meant anything, just to manipulate you'), no more passionate romance ('it was just sex for him and he only looked for an easy hole'), no more best friend.

The house of cards he had started to build his life on crashed at the first swing from the wind of reality.

And Hwanwoong had only himself to blame.

He got a job as a dance instructor at a private academy and he spent his days trying to encourage his young students to follow a dream he had lost sight of a long time ago.

Hwanwoong had thought about getting in touch with Keonhee again, but shame always made him change his mind. The last time he saw the other had been at their graduation: Keonhee was talking with other people not far from where he stood, but Hwanwoong was still living on Cloud Nine, so he turned his back to the other and walked away.

But he never stopped thinking about the other since then, always telling himself he had no right to crawl back to the other with his tails between his legs, admitting that Keonhee was right, had been right all along.

But he was a coward and shame burned brightly in his heart.

And when a couple of years later he had felt like he was about to hit rock bottom and he needed Keonhee to give him hope and tell him he still believed in him, he realized that he couldn't reach for him, because he had deleted Keonhee's number back in College.

 

So Hwanwoong threw himself into work, trying to be the Keonhee his younger students needed.

He tried to be encouraging and supportive, even towards himself, because now he had no one who would do it for him.

Slowly but surely his dull, empty life started to become a little better, bit by bit, day by day.

He tried not to think about the giant hole in his heart and tried to move on.

 

But life could really be strange.

And so it happened that, by pure chance, almost five years since Hwanwoong had last laid his eyes on him, Keonhee was suddenly in front of him, waiting for his order at a coffee shop Hwanwoong had recently become a regular of.

"Keonhee...?" he had called the other, almost in a whisper, afraid that he was just imagining that the person in front of him was his former best friend and the one he kept thinking about every single day.

But Keonhee had turned around and his eyes widened when he saw him.

"Woongie! Hi! How are you?" the other asked, a bright smile on his face.

Hwanwoong had felt like someone had punched him in the gut when he heard the other call him by his nickname, his mind taking him back to when they were barely teenagers and spent all their afternoons together.

 

And Hwanwoong couldn't let him go this time.

 

So he answered that things were okay and invited him to sit down at a table so they could enjoy their drinks and chat for a while.

"If you have time, of course" he added, afraid that the other would walk away from his life again.

"Sure!" Keonhee said instead, waiting by his side until he got his own order and settled in front of him at a table near the windows.

Conversation was awkward at first, as if they were two acquitances trying to get to know each other better. But they weren't just strangers, they had a past together and Hwanwoong tried really hard to make Keonhee feel comfortable with him once again.

And it sort of worked.

The more they talked, the easier and relaxed the atmosphere was around them, and Hwanwoong used the time to observe the other.

Because Keonhee had changed too: he was still so tall ('Why couldn't I be graced by good genetics??'), but his young puffy face had turned into sharp features and mature looks. He looked so handsome and confident in his own body, no longer that awkward teenager with too long limbs and poor coordination. Keonhee was also quieter and more like a private person, not the loud troublemaker who used to sing girl groups songs at the top of his voice.

Hwanwoong wanted to know this new Keonhee, wanted to listen to his stories and bask in his presence.

'Where did I go wrong? Why did I let you go?'

 

It was almost two hours (and more coffe and a slice of cake split between them) later when Keonhee announced he had to leave.

"Oh, I see..." Hwanwoong said, trying to smile while he was internally panicking: he didn't want Keonhee to go, didn't want to see him walk out the door and disappear from his life again.

And Keonhee proved once again that he knew him better than anyone else, himself included, when he just gave him a small smile and proceeded to grab a piece of paper and a pen from his bag.

"Here" Keonhee said once he finished writing something down and passing the paper to him. "My number. Let me know when you wanna meet up for coffee again."

Hwanwoong reached to grab the paper with trembling hands, Keonhee's name and phone number written in a very neat calligraphy.

"You... How..." he gulped, trying to suppress all the emotions warring in his heart. "Thank you" he said, tightening his grip on the very important square in his hands.

Keonhee simply smiled and stood up, stopping to gently pat his shoulder when he walked by his side.

"It was nice seeing you again, Woongie."

"You too" he said, smiling widely at him and reaching with one of his hand to gently squeeze Keonhee's one on his shoulder, hoping to convey how much all of this meant to him.

Keonhee nodded and soon he walked out of the door, waving at him when he passed outside the window in front of his table.

Hwanwoong kept his eyes glued to the other until he turned the corner and couldn't be seen anymore, before dropping his gaze to the piece of paper he was holding with so much care.

 

'I got a second chance. And this time I won't let go.'

 

 

Notes:

Thanks for checking out my story!

Positive reviews are welcome.
Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Needless hate can be left outside the door.