Chapter 10: The Worth of a Smile (3200 words) 

"Happy"- Never Shout Never

You make me happy, whether you know it or not
You could be happy, that's what I said from the start
But I am happy just being by your side

You're lookin' so cool, you're lookin' so fly
I cant deny that when I'm starin' you down and dead in the eye
I wanna try to be the person you want the person you need
It's hard to conceive that somebody like you could be with someone like me

It would be reasonable enough to say that when Wonwoo woke up Saturday morning, he was nervous to be going home, it's not that he didn't want to go home. Rather, he didn't know what to expect. It was scary, and his mother was particularly suffocating since he told her his plan for the game that afternoon. Although Wonwoo was sure he was probably supposed to be with his team warming up for the game, Mingyu had come by to help move Wonwoo home for the weekend. Wonwoo had to pretend that he didn't know about said Volleyball game since Jihoon made him swear to keep it a surprise. Mingyu would be leaving at 11 and then Seungcheol would come along with the boys to pick him up at noon, before they ran to the hospital to grab Jihoon.

The other issue was Seungcheol. When Wonwoo asked the older to take him to a volleyball game, Seungcheol immediately agreed. When he found out it was Mingyu's game, he definitely took more convincing. Wonwoo had to be a little manipulative and make him feel a little bad to get him to join. A lot of, "I just regained my life to live because of my two friends, why do they have to hate each other?" Eventually, and surprisingly with the help of Jihoon, Seungcheol agreed to take him, if he promised to go to dinner with just Seungcheol after the game.

All Wonwoo took home was just a simple overnight bag, an IV drip, his wheelchair, his thousand pounds of medication and medical wrap, and his humidifier. What Mingyu called, "Every teen boy's weekend essentials." Mingyu had followed the minivan that Wonwoo's mom drove on his bike.

Another thing that made Wonwoo nervous was the idea of Mingyu being at his house. Even if they hadn't become friends, Mingyu would still be spending a lot of time there for Wonwoo's necessary physical and at home therapy since he was also Wonwoo's intern. Wonwoo's house was in a pretty rough neighborhood and was by no means large, but Wonwoo had always loved the house's cozy simplicity. It had also been paid off long ago when Wonwoo's grandparents lived there before him, so it had never been a burden when Wonwoo's father and now Wonwoo, both required a large sum of medical bills to be payed. The bills were burden enough on Wonwoo's poor mother without a hefty house payment involved, Wonwoo would never ask for anything more than that.

When they arrived at Wonwoo's house, Wonwoo just sat in the car smiling out the window at the structure that he thought he'd never see again. Home. Wonwoo heard them getting his wheelchair out and waited patiently instead of trying to fight them for his independence; he had to preserve his energy for later. Instead of getting his wheelchair out and then helping Wonwoo into it, Mingyu decided it would be better idea to pick Wonwoo up like baby and carry him into the house himself. Wonwoo protested loudly as Mingyu ran into the house like a wild man.

As Mingyu started running faster, Wonwoo dropped his protests and gripped onto Mingyu for dear life. Which Mingyu noticed and thus ran faster, running into each room trying to decide for himself which one was Wonwoo's. He seemed to have decided on a room because he stopped, turned and then ran into the room. Then he dropped Wonwoo on the bed before collapsing next to him on the bed, both boys dying with laughter.

Wonwoo was lost in a field of giggles, unable to get a real word out of his mouth to reprimand the younger. He thought he'd never stop laughing, but then Mingyu did something that shut him up immediately. The younger rolled over on top of Wonwoo, successfully pinning the older with one hand on each side of a Wonwoo's head, allowing him to lift his body just barely off of the others. Wonwoo went quiet almost as quickly as his eyes grew. He still couldn't get a word put this way.

Mingyu seemed to notice the stiff nature of Wonwoo's body and moved his face down directly over Wonwoo's. Wonwoo's heart ran wild in a way it never had before. He couldn't even get a breath, as he just struggled not to make eye contact with the younger. Mingyu smirked, "Did I win? Did I guess the room right?" Wonwoo looked into the younger's eyes and immediately regretted it, unable to process the question or anything else but their close proximity.

"Um... T-this is..." Wonwoo blushed at the fact that he couldn't even get a sentence out. He was practically yelling at himself to get his together. He had never been more embarrassed in his life. Well, until....

"Did you boys get into the house alr- Oh!" His mom dropped the suitcase she was holding and Mingyu was off of him before the suitcase hit the floor, immediately understanding what this looked like. Wonwoo was a bit slower to react, still dazed and embarrassed in an entirely different way. He sat up slowly from the bed, red as a tomato.

"Hey, m-mom" Wonwoo struggled to regain his cool composure so he could make this scene look like even less than what it was, which was nothing, right?
He coughed, than leaned back on his elbows, 'this looks natural right?' he thought to himself. "Mingyu helped me to my room, and then tried to wrestle with me" he laughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck, "He's always trying to make sure I experience all that being normal stuff, but he's obviously going to win the stereotypical boy hoarding around stuff right?"

His mom didn't look totally convinced, but she did drop the subject, "Oh-yeah, okay. That makes sense. Tell me if you two need anything. Mingyu, it is almost 11, btw" Mingyu nodded, a bit fearfully, and then ran outside to go bring Wonwoo's wheelchair inside.

----------MINGYU POV----------

Mingyu's heart was beating wildly. He couldn't wrap his head around what just happened, or more importantly, what Wonwoo's mom thought just happened. What she saw obviously looked a certain way, but that obviously wasn't what Mingyu was intending, right? Then why did he look so damn guilty when she came in. He kicked a bad of trash that was outside due to his frustration. Whatever she thought she saw, he had to convince both himself and her that that wasn't happening or going to happen. If not, he could lose Wonwoo. He kicked the trash bag hard again before grabbing the wheelchair and picking it frustratedly. His already rushing heart jumped ag