Skype is a wonderful thing, Myungsoo thought as Mr. Lee logged into his account. When Sungjong’s status showed up as “online,” Myungsoo slid over the back of the couch and hid behind it.

“What are you doing, Myungsoo?”

“I want to surprise him.”

Mr. Lee laughed. “Okay, then.” He clicked the “call” button and waited for Sungjong to accept. It wasn’t long before the boy’s face popped up on the screen, excited smile and all.

“Dad! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to come online. How are you?”

“I’m great, Jongie.” He eyed his son with a relieved smile. “You look much better. How’s therapy going?”

He shrugged. “Okay, I guess. They keep telling me to take things slow, but that’s hard to do considering Mom keeps feeding me coffee in the morning. She says it’s good for me.”

“She’s crazy.”

“I know. I can’t wait to come home. Speaking of which…you aren’t too lonely without me, are you?” Sungjong asked with his best pouty face.

His father grinned. “Actually, I’m doing pretty well. I found myself some decent company.”

“Decent?” Myungsoo cried out indignantly from behind the couch before slapping his hand over his mouth. Sungjong seemed to hear him and raised his eyebrows inquisitively.

“Is someone sitting with you, Dad?”

“No.”

“Then who said that?”

“MEEEE!” Myungsoo screeched, throwing himself back onto the couch. He missed the cushions by a good foot and a half and ended up tumbling down onto the carpet.

Sungjong burst out laughing. “Myungsoo? Is that you down there? Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” he replied with a fake cough, waving his hand in the video frame.

“Dad, what did you feed him?” Sungjong eyed his father suspiciously, and Mr. Lee sank back into the cushions.

“Just…some of my favorite teas. An assortment. He loves the stuff.”

Sungjong facepalmed. “Your teas are like drugs, Dad. Most of them are caffeinated, and a few have some pretty questionable ingredients.”

Mr. Lee laughed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna kill him. You’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Peachy,” Myungsoo groaned as he pulled himself up onto the couch. Upon seeing Sungjong on the screen, he grinned widely. “It’s great to see your face again.”

“Ditto.” Sungjong smiled back and giggled slightly. Myungsoo’s hair was sticking out in all directions from his adventure on the floor, and his eyes were still sleepy despite the fact that he woke up an hour before. Nevertheless, Sungjong thought he looked perfect. Unruly Myungsoo was his favorite Myungsoo. “So how come you’re at my dad’s house?”

Myungsoo sighed. “My dad kicked me out.”

“WHAT?!”

“Hey, don’t worry,” he reassured. Sungjong looked like his head was going to explode. “I was happy to leave.”

“And I’m letting him stay here,” Mr. Lee piped in from the kitchen, where he had wandered off to make a fresh batch of tea. “I’m considering adopting him.”

“Oh God.” Sungjong grimaced at the thought.

“Kidding. Wouldn’t want to break up your love-fest.” He winked suggestively at Myungsoo.

"You're terrible, Dad."

"I know. Now, Myungsoo, do you want to tell Jongie our good news?"

"What good news?" Sungjong asked eagerly.

"Sure!" Myungsoo chirped. He turned back towards the computer screen. “We're going to visit you for your birthday!”

Sungjong’s face instantly lit up. “Really? That sounds great!” he exclaimed, clapping excitedly. “I can’t wait to see you guys. I miss you so much.”

"Not as much as I miss you," Myungsoo said, half-smiling. "It's not the same without you here." Even though Mr. Lee was fun to spend time with, he wasn't Sungjong. Not even close.

He couldn't wait to get on that plane. 

---

One month later:

Myungsoo wasn’t sure exactly what came out of his mouth when he saw Sungjong. Something between “Hi,” “I love you,” and “happy birthday,” came out in a messy jumble, and he didn’t even bother to correct himself. Sungjong started laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his wheelchair.

“Nice to see you too,” he coughed out when he finally regained his composure. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Myungsoo shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Uh…I want to hug you, but I think I might trip and knock you over on accident.” An embarrassed blush appeared on his cheeks.

Sungjong raised an eyebrow. “Guess we’ll have to work around that,” he said with a smirk. “Come here.”

Myungsoo gulped. He remembered what happened the last time Sungjong said that and his face turned a whole new shade of scarlet. In a few moments he was standing next to his boyfriend, hands swinging by his sides.

That’s the awkward boy I remember, Sungjong thought with a smile. “Bend your knees a bit.”

Myungsoo complied, lowering himself until he was at Sungjong’s eye level.

“Good.” Sungjong leaned forward and connected their lips, something he hadn’t done for what seemed like an eternity. He had missed this feeling, and…had Myungsoo improved, or was he imagining things? The older boy was kissing him back far more than before, and Sungjong certainly wasn’t complaining.

“Whoa,” Myungsoo breathed when they pulled apart. “I had almost forgotten what that felt like.”

“Me too,” Sungjong giggled.

An awkward cough interrupted them. The pair looked up to see Sungjong’s father standing in the hallway near them, looking amused. “When am I ever not going to walk in on you two?” he asked with a fake grimace. “It’s like you want to be caught.”

“Well, maybe we d—” Sungjong began with as much sass as possible, but was cut off by the sound of the front door being thrown open.

Dongwoo and Hoya came tumbling in, brightly colored party hats on both of their heads. Hoya was holding two huge gift bags while Dongwoo dashed into the house excitedly.

“Sungjong!” he exclaimed, stumbling across the floor. Hoya smiled and shook his head from where Dongwoo had left him. “Happy birthday!”

Sungjong grinned and greeted Dongwoo, who then enthusiastically asked Sungjong about twenty questions at once. Before he had time to answer any of them, however, he was already rambling on about his own news: Hoya had just been approved to spend a semester in the United States!

“That’s awesome!” said Sungjong, and Myungsoo nodded his head happily in agreement. The two of them had both been worrying about how Dongwoo and Hoya’s relationship would fare with Dongwoo heading off to college overseas.

A knock on the door was heard then, and Hoya jogged over to answer it. Woohyun and Sunggyu were standing there, and were quickly welcomed in by the rest of the group. They had brought little tins of confetti with them and made a point of throwing the stuff everywhere. Mrs. Lee briefly stepped out of the living room to glare and shove a vacuum in their general direction, but did nothing else (Sungjong’s birthday wish was that she would let him hang out with his friends, alone).

“We’ll clean that up later,” Sunggyu promised.

Sungyeol was last to arrive, and brought an uninvited guest along – not that Myungsoo and Sungjong weren’t happy to see her.

“You’re dating my cousin? Now that I didn’t see coming, Sungyeol.”

Sungyeol’s eyes widened. “Wait a sec, you two are related? I didn’t know that. How come you didn’t tell me?” He turned to his girlfriend.

Jiyeon let out an exasperated sigh. “I thought you knew already. Not my fault.”

“You’re so mean.”

“I know.”

“Looks like you finally found someone to keep you in line,” Woohyun mused.

Sungyeol blushed. “Oh, shut up.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on each other’s lives and eating unhealthy portions of cake. While sitting on the couch, each member of the group revealed what had happened since they had last seen each other. 

Sunggyu and Woohyun told the story of the confrontation with Sunggyu's childhood bully, much to the amazement of their friends. Apparently, Sunggyu was now completely comfortable with PDA, something that they all were surprised by. 

Dongwoo talked about his decision to go to college in the States, and how happy it made him that Hoya would be able to join him. Even just talking about the situation made Dongwoo squirm with delight and glomp onto Hoya's waist contentedly, like he often did during school.

Sungyeol told the story of how he and Jiyeon met: he had tried to hit on her, and she had promptly slapped him in the face. It was love at first sight.

Sungjong gave them an update on his therapy. At one point, he took out a cane and managed to walk a few steps – aided by Myungsoo, of course. Sunggyu remarked that Sungjong looked older than him, which earned him a thwack from the aforementioned cane.

Finally, it mas Myungsoo's turn. Much to his delight, his mother and brother had recently decided to move out, and they would soon be seeing his father in court - where he was being charged on account of domestic violence. When Myungsoo returned home from Japan, he would finally be with his family again. At last, the three of them would be able to live without constant fear. 

Time passed quickly, and before long it was getting dark outside. Mr. Lee offered to let the guests sleep over, but his decision was quickly vetoed by Sungjong’s mother.

As his friends were heading out, they each made him promise to keep in touch. Sungjong assured them that he’d be back in Korea in a few months, which seemed to satisfy them. With a few more waves and happy birthday wishes, they were gone, leaving only Myungsoo.

“I guess I should be going, then,” Myungsoo mumbled. He really didn’t want to go. It could be multiple months before he saw Sungjong again.

Sungjong sensed that Myungsoo was upset and reached out to take his hand. “Don’t worry, you’ll see me again soon,” he promised. “And by then, I’ll be walking again.”

“Meaning I won’t have to bend over in order to kiss you.”

“Yes, meaning that.” He stuck his tongue out at Myungsoo. “I still demand another kiss, though, just for good measure.”

Myungsoo nodded, and quickly stepped back to do a check around the area.

“What are you doing?” Sungjong asked.

“Checking for your parents. I don’t want us to be interrupted again.”

Sungjong shook his head. “Dad’s making Mom drink tea. The sleepytime kind. I don’t think she’ll be out for a while.”

“Good,” Myungsoo said, bringing himself closer to his boyfriend’s face with a suggestive grin plastered across his face, “because we’re going to need a while.”

a/n: OH LOOK AT THAT IT'S DONE. wow. that feels really weird to say. did i really just finish this thing? it needs to be edited so badly ;u; i'll do that tomorrow.

...i don't really know what to say, guys. i'm sorry for being a ? i know i must have disappointed a lot of you with my lack of updates, and i know a lot of you were probably hoping for more of a concrete ending than this. but i didn't want to end with "and then they got married the end." that just doesn't sound right to me. i think this ending allows for me to write some sequel-y oneshots in the future, anyway c: which i'll likely do next time i'm bored. 

thanks so much for being patient with me throughout this whole fic. it's been over a year since i started, and it feels great to finally finish. i appreciate all your commentary along the way, and i hope you'll continue to read my stories. who knows, maybe i'll even write another chaptered infinite one someday. hint hint. until then, i love you guys, and thanks for reading! bye!