When Sunggyu finally broke off, he rubbed Woohyun’s bottom lip with his thumb. Woohyun smiled bashfully. In that short moment, He felt flooded with Sunggyu’s warmth, it made his skin tingle and his heart race. He was finally getting some clarity as to what his feelings were and why he’d been uneasy with Sunggyu. He’d never felt this way about anyone. The foreign feelings had been pulling him apart but with a kiss, he somehow knew deep in his heart that he had fallen for him.

        “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

    Woohyun look at him confused. 

“What did I forget?”

“Your answer to my confession.”

    To think after all that He really had to say it for him.

        “ I like you, I like you,  I like you, I like you. Happy?.”

    They both broke into an uncontrollable laughing fit. As Sunggyu held him close again, they laughed and kissed and it all felt right.

                        —

    When they left school it was already dark outside. Woohyun checked his watch and shrieked. 

        “It’s already 5 o’clock! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner!?”

    Sunggyu shrugged with a laugh.

        “You looked peaceful.”

    And when Woohyun protested again, Sunggyu laced their fingers together and put their hands in his pocket. As they walked Woohyun could feel Sunggyu’s thumb back and forth against his hand. He didn’t want the day to end, but Sunggyu began walking him home.

        “Can we not… go home just yet?” 

He unwillingly conceded when Woohyun kissed him on the cheek. We took our time as walked through the parking lot. Sunggyu complained of the weather as they huddled close together. Their faces were flushed from the grazing rough wind. 

 Sunggyu drove a small, almost compact, red car. The inside was impeccably clean and smelt strongly of Sunggyu. He leaned back to grab something in the backseat and as he came back he dropped a wool blanket on Woohyun’s lap.

“I don’t want you to get sick.” 

Woohyun wraps his legs with the blanket with a soft thank you. Sunggyu turns the key and the car roars to life. He slides his glasses on and pulls out of the parking space slowly.

“Where do you want to go?” he asks as we are stopped at a red light.

“Y-Your house?”

It’s embarrassing to ask him if he can come to his house so quickly. Woohyun hopes he doesn't think he meant that. Of course, (maybe) he wouldn’t mind if Sunggyu did want that! But…Woohyun just wanted to go somewhere quiet and comfortable. 

Sunggyu doesn’t say anything more than an ok and continues driving. The silence following makes Woohyun uneasy but he can’t think of anything to say. He wants to talk about everything and anything. To learn everything about him and love every part of it. But as the drive drags on Woohyun feels drowsy and eventually drift out.

When Woohyun wakes up, he’s in an unfamiliar bedroom. White walls and hardly furnished.

He checks his watch, which had been removed from his wrist and placed on a wooden bedside table. Yet another hour had gone. Woohyun hops off the bed and wanders out of the room. The next room he enters is larger and more spacious but still lacking furniture. From one end of the hall he can hear water running. He assumes its Sunggyu and paces around the room, waiting. Soon a pair of large hands snake around the front of his chest.

“Where did you go? When I woke up alone I had thought I’d been kidnapped.”

“Sorry,” he spun him around “He was in the shower.”                                                   There stood Sunggyu, water dripping off of every inch of his bare torso. A towel draped over the top of his damp hair. Woohyun couldn't hide his expression as he imagined things he shouldn't.

Sunggyu leaned down and pecked him on the lips. 

“Come on.”

He lead Woohyun back to his room with their hands intertwined. Woohyun took a seat on Sunggyu’s bed as Sunggyu left to change. He watched Sunggyu closely, the way he walked fascinated him, taking light steps, almost like a dance. He watched as Sunggyu picked out a t-shirt, and how he dropped the towel around his waist. Woohyun felt embarrassed but couldn't help but look. Sunggyu threw on a pair of boxers and turned to Woohyun again with such an audacious grin. Woohyun frantically pretended to be uninterested as he walked over. Sunggyu laughed at him telling him it was yet another joke.

Next thing he knew, Sunggyu tackled him onto the bed. They rolled around and eventually settled into each other. Pressed against each other; Sunggyu’s arm holding him close. He loved Sunggyu’s smell. He smelt like home, fresh lilacs beside an open window carried in by a passing breeze. Like the crackling handmade fire and the warm cup of tea. Something even more indescribable… something like that.

Woohyun kissed him first this time. Sunggyu’s hands held his lower back while Woohyun’s lay loosely on his neck. As his hands brushed upward into Sunggyu’s damp hair he pulls off.

    “You need to dry your hair.”

Sunggyu threw his hairdryer on the bed, claiming that the thing was broken and that he usually lets it air dry. But when Woohyun examines it, seeing the quite obvious ‘reset’ button solved everything. And when the device whirled, Sunggyu laughed lightly in embarrassment.

Sunggyu sat up on the bed with his back to him. Woohyun had offered to properly dry his hair and he obliged. Sunggyu leaned back every so often; sometimes even to the point where he’d tilt his head back and look at him. Woohyun combed through his short hair with his fingers and in a short time, it was complete. 

    “I’m done now.” He said, wrapping the cord around the hairdryer.

That was when he finally collapsed back into the curve of his lap. He looked up at Woohyun with such a radiating sweetness and that unique smile of his.

    “Thank you, Woohyun.”

                —

Sunggyu hummed a soft tune as he rubbed Woohyun’s cold hands between his own. He complained that they were far too cold and Woohyun tells him that he worries too much. Although, at the same time, Woohyun was grateful to finally have someone who cared that much.

For some time he only spoke of cheerful things like dates and the future, but when they ran out of things he asked about Woohyun’s father. It was an only common curiosity but the thought sent Woohyun into a panic. He became anxious and could no longer control the speed or articulation of his words. But then Sunggyu squeezed his hand bringing him back.

“Woohyun calm down, I’m right here.”

He looked at him with tears filling in his eyes. He’s come to realize that in meeting Sunggyu, he hasn’t been afraid to cry anymore. Sunggyu jokes that he wants to out all the negative feelings and leave his soul with only genuine happiness.

The thing that scared him the most was that he would have to confront his father at the end of all of this. Not only did he need to explain why he hadn’t come home, but about Sunggyu entirely. For now, he is unwillingly waiting out the day where he tells him everything and he can leave for good. But until then, there was Sunggyu. Sunggyu was like a splint on his broken backbone; supporting him in the best way possible.

Woohyun studied the composed expression Sunggyu wore as he slept. The part of his lips was subtle and he breathed slowly through his nose. He didn’t fidget, his arms around Woohyun were like dead weight. Being so close to someone so lovely makes him feel so content. And if he had the choice, He would choose to never leave Sunggyu’s embrace.