The night spent afterward was quite hectic though. Mark and Jinyoung had joined the table later on, loudly complaining about having had to share the same bed for two nights, only to elicit supressed giggling which rapidly morphed into full volume of laughter as both Sungyeol and Myungsoo had unsubtly ogled at the other two’s flushed faces. Mark and Jinyoung swiftly nagged the laughing two to let them in the fun.

The both of them had cackled even harder when Myungsoo struggled in between his hiccups, teasing as he basked himself in the glory of seeing a flustered Woohyun. “Why don’t you swap rooms with Sunggyu and Woohyun then? We’re sure they’d like that.” He had said, guffawed even louder afterwards as he clutched unto his hurting tummy. Mark and Jinyoung were probably way too innocent when the both of them had turned expectantly to the blushing messes, genuinely asking if they could, to which Sunggyu had vigorously shook his head while spluttering a loud “no!” Woohyun didn’t even have any strength left to deny nor refuse the hopeful looks Mark and Jinyoung had given them then.

The next day however, was even more of a mess than the night before, if Sunggyu were to size it up. They had all woken up that morning in Mark and Jinyoung’s room, limbs tangled everywhere as they laid all over the floor, recalling that night when he was forced to play some stupid mafia game until they had all somehow fallen asleep at some time, and Sunggyu unexpectedly woken up being spooned by Jinyoung while Woohyun had already long gone, missing from the room.

Kim Sunggyu’s chest had oddly tightened at the thought that Woohyun had disappeared on him again, only to brighten up when he saw that certain someone was in their own room, dressing himself up, his hair wet from the shower. The elder went up to Woohyun, had wanted to scold the other and maybe sulk for a bit for leaving him behind, for not waking him up, but Woohyun had only downright stared at him before throwing him a brief, odd smile and told the other that—

“You were sleeping soundly. I didn’t want to wake you up.” Sunggyu failed to hide the frown on his forehead when he had heard the flat tone of Woohyun’s voice. Yet deciding not to probe further, he had dismissed it, assuming that it was probably still a bit too early for jokes and sulking.

But it hadn’t stopped then.

It was only after a long and chaotic breakfast later when they finally found themselves walking around the town. Sungyeol, being the navigator to find the place that he had decided they would all have to visit, had somehow led them to several wrong turns before they finally admitted that they were lost in an unfamiliar place. But getting lost was the last thing Sunggyu was concerned about. No, it had been Nam Woohyun, it would always be him that was dominating the large space of his mind.

If Woohyun ever had the thought that he was being subtle about avoiding him, then he really should’ve think again. It was almost becoming a routine— Sunggyu had thought. Woohyun had always been following the elder closely, would always sit himself beside the other even before Sungyeol or anyone else could do so. He would walk with him, would go wherever Sunggyu was heading to and would never even once left the elder’s vision without his knowledge.

So when Sunggyu had often found the space besides him empty that day, or he just couldn’t seem to locate the younger within what was left of his vision, the elder had felt so very frustrated. Sungyeol and Myungsoo had seemed to notice the sudden change, seemed to be understanding when they had made sure to stay close to Sunggyu. They knew that the current half-blind Sunggyu had tended to attract misfortunes lately and knowing how clumsy the elder could get, Sungyeol had refused to leave his side for longer than a minute. The latter would definitely blame himself if his best friend were to get hurt while Woohyun was being odd and had apparently decided to walk several steps behind.

Sunggyu would be lying if he said he wasn’t upset with the abrupt change. In fact, he was already dwelling on the idea of asking Woohyun about the sudden difference, hadn’t liked the emptiness he was feeling when it had only been yesterday when Sunggyu had finally felt something filling him in. Yet the odds had seemed to favour him that day when Mark, Jinyoung and him had unexpectedly been separated from the others somewhere along the road when they weren’t paying attention. Mark and Jinyoung had fussed out loud, had wanted to call the others to tell them that they were lost when Sunggyu had shaken his head, gaze droned ahead to a road that had particularly felt familiar to him.

“Mark, Jinyoung. Do you mind going there with me?” The eldest had asked as he spun to the boys, eyes gleaming as he looked at them hopeful. The both of them had only exchanged brief glances before they finally nodded, Mark sauntering at Sunggyu’s right while Jinyoung on the other side, cautions quite apparent in their behaviour as they kept glancing over for any speeding vehicle. They then walked around almost randomly for a while until Sunggyu had halted his steps in front of a humble-looking house. Mark and Jinyoung had paused abruptly; had glanced at the elder in confusion before they finally realized what Sunggyu had been staring at.

“Hyung, whose house is this?” Asked Jinyoung, his gaze following that of the elder’s as he too, stared at the house in front of them. Sunggyu’s lips had quirked up a little at the question, eyes glinted with looks of nostalgia as his eyes fell onto the nameplate attached to the wall.

“Mine. Used to be mine.” He had muttered under his breath, his gaze roaming about as he took in the structure of the house. Sunggyu had smiled again then— the house hadn’t really changed all that much from the way he had always remembered it, he had thought.

“Before you had moved to Seoul?” Mark then added, his eyes too, wandered around as he slowly took in the sight. Sunggyu only hummed his answer then, eyes never leaving the building in front of them.

“Why did you move to Seoul, hyung?” Jinyoung had casually asked, hadn’t really guessed that it’d be a topic the elder wouldn’t want to answer. But they all had understood, had only left them in a pregnant silence when the only answer they had received was of a loose sad smile on the other’s lips. They let the silence droned on for a while until Jinyoung finally noticed the looks several people were giving them. They were gawking at them, probably suspicious for the reason that three adults had been standing in front of their neighbour’s house without exactly doing anything. He quickly stepped closer to Sunggyu before he spoke—

“Hyung, I think we should go back and look for the others.” The youngest of them had suggested, tugging unto the said boy’s sleeve as he awkwardly bowed his head to the gawking passers-by. Feeling the soft but urgent tug on his sleeve, Sunggyu’s eyes flickered as he was pulled out of his own reverie, only then apprehending that people had been staring at them almost suspiciously.

“Oh. Yeah, we should.” He had said, avoiding the unwelcomed stares as he slipped a hand into his jean’s pocket. It wasn’t even a second after when Sunggyu had abruptly stopped his hand from fishing out his phone. “Actually, I know where we can find them.” He had continued afterwards, a small grin adorning his lips when he saw the puzzled look Mark and Jinyoung was giving him—the question how was pretty noticeable then. But Sunggyu hadn’t said anything, had only grabbed the two’s wrists before pulling them along, keeping silent despite knowing how confused the others had been.

“Just follow me. I’m sure we’ll find them there.” He had convinced, bubble of confidence brewing in him before the younger two finally conceded, complying with their elder’s decision as they let themselves be dragged.

“Yah! Sunggyu! Mark! Jinyoung! Where have you been? Why didn’t any of you pick up our calls?” Sungyeol’s shriek blared loudly in the air as soon as he saw the three of them sauntering into the park. The said boy then had stomped his feet off, rushing over towards them while Myungsoo and Woohyun had silently tailed from behind, their frowning faces were noticeably mixed with worry—Sunggyu had noted.

The moment Mark and Jinyoung had seen the others though, their eyes widened uncharacteristically as they quickly exchanged a stunned look between each other before finally gawking at Sunggyu—the latter beaming proudly as he patted Sungyeol’s shoulder to calm the other down.

“Nowhere in particular, Yeol. We just got lost somewhere around here.” Sunggyu said, grasping firmly unto the other’s shoulder as a form of reassurance before he finally chanced himself a look at Woohyun. The latter, Sunggyu noted, hadn’t really said anything ever since they had arrived. He didn’t even twitch a muscle while Sungyeol was droning about his worries for the three of them. Heck, even Myungsoo had expressed his own concern, had said something along Sungyeol being worried, that his friend had almost called the police if only Myungsoo hadn’t stopped the other from doing so. But no, Woohyun had only remained silent throughout all the chaos. Sunggyu thought it was strange and maybe, had even felt a little hurt with the silence he was letting on.

Yet, as their eyes had connected for a brief moment albeit unintentionally, Sunggyu’s confusion had only surged when he saw the dim look in the other’s eyes. What? He had frowned then, had almost opened his mouth to say something when Sungyeol had interfered.

“Well, we were lost too! And we’ve been trying to call you guys! Why didn’t any of you pick up your phone?!” His friend scolded; his glare jumped between the three of them as he waited for any of them to answer. Jinyoung then had briefly glanced at Sunggyu before he finally sneaked another look at Mark, only answering when he realised three pairs of eyes were already drilling through his head, waiting for the answer. Jinyoung could only sigh when he finally did so—

“Sorry, we didn’t really think over that. We were just walking around while trying to look for this place.” He had opted to skip the part where they had gone to see Sunggyu’s house. He did realise though, the suspicious stare Woohyun was giving them and Jinyoung for once, had to guiltily look away. He hadn’t wanted to give his little lie away because he wasn’t exactly sure if the elder would want to disclose their small stop and he had wanted to respect the elder’s choice either way. So when Mark had fortunately changed the subject’s focus to Sunggyu, Jinyoung could only silently thank the other when he had noticed that the glare had already softened and his gaze had already been shifted to their eldest.

“Yeah, about that, hyung, how’d you know that we’ll definitely meet them here? That’s so amazing!” Mark had remarked, throwing Sunggyu an amazed look as he waited for his answer. Sunggyu’s lips had only curled into a wide smile when he had spun to beam at Sungyeol, the other’s pout then slowly morphed into a huge grin mirroring the elder’s.

“Well, because this is the park where Sungyeol and I always play around when we were younger. It’s like our own huge playground or something.” He gladly explained, Sungyeol’s grin then had changed to a smirk as he gently jabbed a finger to Sunggyu’s side.

“And also the park where you saved your first crush’s life too!” He had embarrassingly chimed in, chortling loudly the moment he saw Sunggyu’s mortified look. The latter though, couldn’t help but noticed the way Woohyun had quirked an eyebrow at the revelation while the rest were already wiggling their eyebrows, whistling suggestively as they did so.

“Hey, she wasn’t my crush.” The eldest declared as he whacked his friend’s head albeit gently.

“Who said it’s her?” Sungyeol shot back, the smirk on his face growing even wider when he saw the puzzled look on Sunggyu.

“What?” The latter had squawked, frowning then because if it wasn’t her, then who? But before he could even say the question in his head, Jinyoung was already interfering, feeling frustrated as he didn’t quite follow the conversation between the two of them—

“What are you guys talking about?” He had asked, impatient. Sungyeol quickly beamed at the question while Sunggyu had only groaned out loud, the hazy memory slowly coming back to his head as he let his friend do whatever he want.

“Well,” Sungyeol began. “You know, when we were still in our elementary year, our school had organised a one-day trip to play at this park. And the kids, meaning most of us, just suddenly decided to go on those boats there.” He pointed a finger at the vast lake just across them.

“But of course there were teachers to supervise us. So then, we went on and were happily paddling the boat randomly, until it suddenly toppled over when a few boys had fought on top of it. Fortunately, no one had drowned because my Sunggyu here had heroically saved a girl’s life when he had told the teacher that her life jacket was malfunctioning just before they got on.” Sungyeol finished his story safely, looking almost too proud at his amazing story-telling skill and looking almost as though he had already planned the whole story thing ahead of time. Sunggyu had felt the blush creeping up under his skin when he had heard the “oohs” and the “wows” from the rest of the group.

“Wow, hyung. That’s really amazing.” Myungsoo had remarked. Mark and Jinyoung only nodded along as they kept staring at him, looking even more impressed than ever.

Sunggyu however, hadn’t really liked being in the centre of the unexpected spotlight so when he had turned his head away, hoping to avoid the onslaughts of those awestruck eyes and their train of praises, Sunggyu hadn’t exactly expected to find Woohyun looking away, hadn’t paid any attention to their exchange nor to Kim Sunggyu at all.

Instead, Nam Woohyun had already been silently eyeballing the aforementioned lake, the expression on his look unreadable as he ignored the looks Sunggyu was giving him. And when Kim Sunggyu had somehow felt his insides churning horribly at the sight, he couldn’t exactly put a word to describe that feeling nor could he fathom the reason he had even felt that in the first place.

It wasn’t like he was expecting Woohyun to fawn over his chivalry story like the rest did. No, it wasn’t that. It was his response, or for the lack of it that had Sunggyu feeling odd, had stirred that feeling to even make the guy felt antsy. In fact, it had almost even felt like thousands of needles were prodding against his heart. It had hurt. Yet Sunggyu had tried to ignore the feeling. He had tried, had only smiled weakly when he heard Sungyeol’s endless compliments after that.

“Yeah, amazing right? At the age of 7, Sunggyu was already saving people’s life while the rest of us was still dreaming about being a power ranger.” His friend had droned on, bobbing his head proudly while the rest of them had only giggled and agreed. Sunggyu only briefly shook his head then, tearing his eyes away from Woohyun as he dismissed the topic.

“It wasn’t anything big, guys.” He had put on a small smile before he patted Jinyoung’s back and suggested— “Come on, let’s get on the boat. I missed going on it.”

After a brief and successful negotiation with the owner of the boats rental, they finally rented themselves a huge enough boat to fit all six of them. Sungyeol and Jinyoung had bickered about who gets to paddle the boat while the others had only shaken their head as they listened to their pointless bickering. It ended up with the both of them paddling together much to their chagrin because Mark had suggested them to take turns as he had cleverly told them: “You’ll tire yourself out if you had paddled alone.” They could only grumble out loud when Mark’s words had made sense to their ears although they did sneak a complain and had mumbled out a brooding remark of “I could’ve paddled alone, no big deal” – to which Myungsoo had heard and even snickered at their respective lanky and cushy bodies.

Everything afterwards had gone on pretty smoothly on the boat then, save for the casual bickering between Sungyeol and Jinyoung about whom being the best in paddling—Mark had carelessly answered Jinyoung’s name when Sungyeol had asked which of them was better. The casual bickering however, had gradually taken a huge turn when suddenly, the both of them were already shouting at each other, the paddles long forgotten as they suddenly started shoving each other off, the boat they were sitting in then was dangerously swaying along left and right with every push.

Sunggyu’s lashes had flickered when a sense of déjà vu had rapidly taken over him, the memory from the past suddenly rushed through his mind as he found the situation just so very familiar. His hands was already instantly gripping onto the side of the boat, his voice squeaking as he tried warning them.

“Sungyeol, Jinyoung. Stop.” He had said, had gripped even tighter when he realised that no one had listened to him. If Woohyun had ever noticed the slight tremble in Sunggyu’s voice, he probably couldn’t even do anything about it since he was seated a seat behind him, Mark only laughing from Sunggyu’s side as he found the whole thing of their bantering funny.

“Guys, stop.” Sunggyu had warned again. His hands were already turning pale as he gripped onto the boat desperately.

“Sungyeol, Jinyoung. Stop.” Woohyun had suddenly said when no one had listened. He noticed, Sunggyu had briefly thought yet the thought hadn’t lasted very long when the elder had caught Jinyoung standing up on the boat, had wanted to lurch at Sungyeol. But it hadn’t even been a complete step when the boat had leaned heavily to their left, had unexpectedly toppled over, throwing all of them out and into the cold water of the deep lake.

Sunggyu didn’t even have the time to think about the others when he himself was sinking deeper into the water, had even swallowed some of the water in as he tried blinking his eyes open, his arms flailing around as he tried pushing himself back up towards the surface. His legs were already kicking vigorously then, was already struggling to breath in the water when he had suddenly caught something moving from the far corner of his eye. A child? Sunggyu had stilled for a moment, narrowing his eyes at the direction before it finally occurred to him that a child was drowning just across him.

Panicking, Sunggyu could only kick his legs thoughtlessly, arms trying to push against the water as he struggled to grab the boy. Yet the more he had struggled in the water, the further the smaller boy had seemed to get. He tried to swim over but he just couldn’t seem to reach him. He could already feel his chest suffocating, the oxygen in his lungs running out but no, he had to save the child! He was drowning!

Someone, anyone! Save him! His head was screaming, dread taking over his system when he saw the child sinking even further down. No! His head had shouted, his hand stretching out far in the effort of reaching out for the small boy but it had only been a futile effort when he suddenly felt a pair of strong arms hooked under his own, had pulled him— and only him back to the surface of the water.

“No! The child— save the child!” Sunggyu had cried, coughing and wheezing as he harshly inhaled the air as soon as he broke out of the water. He had heard the faint call of his name but he was too busy trying to slip out of the arms that were holding him. “No!” He cried out again, furiously pushing against the body that was seizing him. But when he had felt cold fingers sliding through his hair, holding his head immobile as it firmly tried to fixate Sunggyu’s eyes onto something, Sunggyu slowly but surely found himself calming down when he’d seen a pair of worried eyes staring straight into his.

“Woohyun.” He breathed out; his own hands were already clinging unto the said boy’s shoulders tightly when he had voiced out the name.

“Sunggyu, calm down.” The other had told him, had probably been telling the same thing over and over again before he actually did— Sunggyu only blinking his eyes at him, the harsh beating of his heart seemingly slowing down as his own ragged breathing had begun to even out.

“You okay now?” Woohyun had asked after a short while. Sunggyu hesitantly nodded his head before his eyes had flickered again—seemingly reminded of the source of his panic.

“Wait, the child, where is he?” He had quickly looked around. But when the only ones he had seen were the faces of his own friends, not a single sign of any of them having a child in their arms, Sunggyu had paled at the thought of having failed to save him.

“No—“ He had breathed out heavily, terrified as he had looked over once again, hadn’t noticed the wary look Woohyun was giving him then.

“Sunggyu, what are you talking about? What child?” He had asked, confused. The rest of them had only mirrored his look as they stared at Sunggyu questioningly.

“Just now, there was a child. He was drowning.” Sunggyu had still answered; eyes returning back to Woohyun’s— only realising then that everyone was basically gawking at him like he was mad crazy.

“Hyung, there was no child here. We’re the only ones on the boat.” Jinyoung had spoken instead, safely floating about on the surface thanks to the life jacket he had put on beforehand. The frown on his forehead had only dug deeper then.

“But—“ He had wanted to argue. He knew what he saw. He knew he wasn’t mistaken but before he could even say anything, Woohyun had already beat him to it—

“Fine.” He started, looking into Sunggyu’s eyes intensely as he did so. “Then tell me, hyung. What does the child look like?” He asked, taking the elder by surprise from the sudden interrogation.

“I, I don’t know.” He had stuttered. “The boy was drowning, Woohyun. I couldn’t get a proper look at him.” He had clarified but when the said boy had only quirked an eyebrow, Sunggyu suddenly felt frustration slowly building in his system. It was as if Woohyun was challenging him with a loud yet inaudible “so?” And Sunggyu hadn’t liked that interrogative look, especially not from this man.

“He was really small, Woohyun. Maybe 6 or 7 year old. I don’t know. Everything had happened so fast. I couldn’t take everything in while I was panicking.” Sunggyu tried again, though he knew that the younger wasn’t at all convinced. Heck, everyone around him had seemed pretty unconvinced with his explanation and he didn’t even understand why. Why wouldn’t they believe anything he had been saying? No, he wasn’t lying. Kim Sunggyu was from being a liar.

“Hyung, for all we’ve known and seen just now,” Woohyun was suddenly speaking again, his voice firm as he listened to him carefully. “You are the one drowning just now.”

“What?”Sunggyu’s eyes had flickered, frowning and hesitantly shaking his head. “No, I was not. I was trying to save the child.” He denied.

“No, Gyu. Woohyun was right. We saw everything. You were drowning just now. And if Woohyun hadn’t grabbed you, you would still be drowning now, you know.” Sungyeol finally voiced out after a long while of silence, Sunggyu still shaking his head at his words.

“Your life jacket didn’t work, Sunggyu. I think it was probably an old one.” Myungsoo had said, taking their side.

“But that didn’t make any sense! I really saw—“

“Sunggyu, please.” Woohyun had interrupted, releasing a long sigh as he tiredly eyed the elder in front of him. “Look, why don’t we just go back to the hotel for now, okay? It’s late and it’s getting cold.” He had said, his cold fingers slipping away from holding Sunggyu’s head when he had seen the weak nod Sunggyu had given him.

“Let’s go.” He had whispered softly before he repositioned himself and pulled Sunggyu along out of the water, the rest tailing from behind as they swam out.

It had taken them awhile to return to their hotel, had to wait out for their soaked clothes to dry up a little before they could ride the bus back. All of them shaking and shivering as the soft breeze had made the cold seeping through their skin even worse.

The moment they had reached their own room, Woohyun had quickly pushed the elder into the bathroom, had forced him to take a quick shower, afraid that the other would risk getting a cold. Sunggyu had refused at first, had wanted the younger to go in first but the other wasn’t relenting to his suggestion so all Sunggyu could do was sigh and gave in—basking in the warm shower albeit only for a short while.

It hadn’t even been five minutes when Sunggyu had already walked out of the bathroom, warmly dressed and a towel slinging over his shoulder before he had quietly asked the other to go in. Sunggyu however, had quickly looked down and flushed badly when his eyes caught Woohyun stripping the wet shirt off of his then torso. But when he had suddenly heard a low hiss coming from the younger, Sunggyu immediately lifted his head up, only to freak out when he saw the deep scratches on Woohyun’s shoulders, each of them was of angry red and inflamed.

“Woohyun, your shoulder!” Kim Sunggyu had hurried over, eyes worriedly inspecting the several cuts as his finger had hovered over them, afraid of touching and hurting the younger if he did so.

“It’s okay, Sunggyu. They weren’t so bad.” The younger had told him as he once again tried to look over the scratches through the mirror. Sunggyu’s look hadn’t changed however, was still eyeing the wounds worriedly as guilt slowly made its way into his head.

“You’re bleeding, Woohyun.” Sunggyu had commented, was silently blaming himself for having hurt the other when he had done nothing but saved him earlier.

“Yes, it bled but it already stopped. No big deal.” Woohyun had dismissed, had probably understood the look on Sunggyu’s face as he had tried to dismissively convince the elder.

“But Woohyun, it’s—“ Kim Sunggyu began, was going to apologise, to say sorry for hurting him when Woohyun was already stopping him from doing so, had swiftly spun on his feet and downright glared at the elder.

“Sunggyu, stop. It’s nothing serious.” He had almost growled, his voice firm and final as he said them. Sunggyu though, wasn’t at all terrified of that low growl, wasn’t even affected by the finality of his words then. What he had worried about instead, was how painful the cuts had looked instead, how bad it had seemed as the younger was leaving them untreated when he had walked over to his luggage and took his spare clothes.

Sunggyu then, could only let out a defeated sigh before he finally walked over behind the other and had gently pushed him towards the bathroom.

“Fine, but at least let me treat them for you. I’ll go get the first aid kit. Now, go wash yourself for a bit.” The elder had commanded—hadn’t even let the younger to protest when he had swiftly closed the bathroom’s door on him and went out of the room to get the kit.

Sunggyu finally returned to their room after several minutes, ushering the younger to sit on the bed as he too, had sat himself by his side, Woohyun’s back turned towards him before he placed the first aid kit on the bed and pulled out all the necessary tools to treat the wounds. Sunggyu let several drops of iodine onto a ball of cotton before he gently dabbed it along the scratches of the wounds, Woohyun wincing and hissing some of the time as he endured the stinging pain. The elder had to frown every time he noticed Woohyun’s body flinching away from the touches, guilt had came creeping on him again.

“I’m sorry.” Sunggyu had mumbled, voice almost like a soundless whisper as he said so, his hand continued working on the cuts as he pulled some more cotton out.

“I told you, it wasn’t anything serious. You don’t have to apologise.” Woohyun had responded, his body seemingly relaxed for a brief while when he hadn’t felt the cotton assaulting his wound yet.

“But it looked so painful.” Sunggyu was borderline whining then, already slightly pouting his lips as he remorsefully eyed the scratches he had made there.

“It looked painful, Sunggyu but it wasn’t.” Woohyun protested again and Sunggyu hadn’t liked that. He didn’t like the push-and-pull they were both playing then and it was starting to irk and annoy the heck out of Sunggyu. So when the latter had suddenly jabbed a cotton against one of the wounds, Woohyun couldn’t really help the hiss he had let out—Sunggyu even dared snorting at the other when he’d heard the uncharacteristic yelp.

“Yeah, didn’t hurt, right.” He had scoffed before he continued pressing against the rest of them tenderly.

“Yah! That’s not fair. You purposely pressed on it!” Woohyun had retorted; his voice was sounding less firm and more relaxed then when a low chuckle had followed after. Sunggyu just couldn’t help the small grin he had already donned on— finally feeling like the heavy atmosphere that had been hanging between them finally lifted off along with the small chuckle.

“Well, you kept saying it wasn’t painful so I just wanted to make sure.” Kim Sunggyu had joked, taking some more clean cotton before he had dabbed on the cuts again, cleaning the yellow liquid off as much as he could. Woohyun had only chortled again after that, and Sunggyu realised, he had actually enjoyed listening to that laughter much more than the cold nor the flat tone of Woohyun’s voice earlier that day.

“Won’t you just let me look cool for once?” The younger had countered, had turned his body to grouch at the other when he finally felt a soft pat on his back, a sign telling him that Sunggyu had finally done treating his wounds. The latter had only snorted though when he playfully joked back—

“And why would you want to look cool in front of me?” He had said it a bit too soon, almost regretting it immediately when he had taken note of the sudden, awkward silence that followed soon after—Woohyun’s ears reddening rapidly while Sunggyu had hastily scrambled out of the bed, putting back some distance between them as his face too had begun to heat up.

“Uh, well. There. I’m done.” Awkward.

“Tha—thanks.” Woohyun had stumbled, eyes looking warily at the elder while Sunggyu could only fidget in front of him—his own eyes looking anywhere but Woohyun’s. It was a long and heavy moment later when Woohyun had finally decided to break all the awkwardness that was enveloping them and spoke.

“Hyung,” He had called, had been the first time after a while since Woohyun had last called him that and it wasn’t until then when Sunggyu finally realised how much he had liked hearing that word used on him. He had only hummed an answer then, eyes still evading that of Woohyun’s as he waited for the other to continue.

“Well, umm, about today…“ The younger had droned on, probably hadn’t known how to phrase his words as he had wanted to. Sunggyu though, had seemed to catch on the things that Woohyun was probably trying to say to him but the awkwardness and the blushes on his face hadn’t gone away yet and Kim Sunggyu just wasn’t ready to make everything worsened even more. So he had swiftly evaded the topic, seemingly to be something he had been doing very often lately.

“Oh, wow! Look at that time. It’s already 9! We should be sleeping now. We have to get up early tomorrow.” The elder had gasped almost a bit too loud then.

“Hyung—“ Woohyun had frowned, had thought that the elder had understood what he was going to say, only to be disappointed when Sunggyu had dodged the subject.

“Go on. Lie down.” Sunggyu had pressed on, tenderly tucking the younger into bed as he pulled the blanket over him. Woohyun however, had to wince and had hissed loudly when he felt the fabric was harshly grazing against his cuts—Sunggyu almost immediately apologising before he rushed to get a small towel soaked in cold water, had seated himself on the floor by the bed side and had gently placed it over the wounds, Woohyun gradually relaxing into it as he let the cold shooing the pain away.

“Hyung, I—“ Woohyun started again after a while, but Sunggyu had only shushed him up as he pressed on the cold towel.

“Sleep, Woohyun.” He had whispered quietly, Woohyun grudgingly muffling out a yawn before he reluctantly shut his eyes close and finally let sleep took over him. When Sunggyu had heard the soft snores of the other, his lips had secretly curled a smile as he eyed the peaceful look on the other’s face before he too, had fallen asleep, his head nestling against Woohun’s side before he knew it.

Needless to say, they had both woken up the next morning with faces heating up a deep red when they found themselves in each other’s embrace, Sunggyu’s face comfortably nuzzled against Woohyun’s bare chest as their arms had tightly wrapped around each other. A pleasant surprise in the early morning and they were both already scrambling away, falling down from the bed and onto the floor as they groaned in pain, rubbing their sore back afterwards, both Sunggyu and Woohyun already more than awake then.

Both of them had dressed themselves up quite awkwardly around each other after that, had silently packed up their stuffs back into their luggage before they finally escaped the stuffy room and went to get their breakfast soundlessly. How Sunggyu had ended up in the small cramp of Woohyun’s bed though, he hadn’t really remembered nor did he want to find out actually— the thought of embarrassing himself had held him back from asking Woohyun about it.

Though as soon as they all had settled down in the rented bus, finally on their way back to their college, Woohyun sitting two seats away from him while Sungyeol and the rest had opted to sit in the row behind them, Sunggyu had suddenly received a group message notification. He frowned when he had seen the name blinking on the screen of his phone. Sungyeol?

Well, that was odd.

Sungyeol was sitting directly behind him, could’ve just say or whisper anything he had wanted to say without actually having to use their phone as a medium. Heck, when did he even create this group chat? Why hadn’t he known about it until then?

Kim Sunggyu had been curious when he had opened the window to their group chat, had only wanted nothing more than to strangle his one and only best friend, his face blushing madly when he had seen the photo Sungyeol had graciously sent them.

“Yah, Lee Sungyeol!” Sunggyu had yelled, eyes glowering at the said boy—looking mad despite the cute rosy shade of his skin then. Woohyun had looked alarmed when he had glanced over them, had quickly thumbed over the screen of his phone when he saw the notification. And when he had suddenly heard Woohyun’s violent coughing fits, he could only assume that the younger had finally seen the photo too.

“Awwwwh, Sunggyu hyung! Woohyun hyung! You guys looked so cute cuddling with each other.” Mark had suddenly cooed once he saw it too, craning his neck out as he eyed the two blushing messes—Jinyoung was already grinning widely while Myungsoo had only snickered out loud. Sungyeol by then was already a bundle of laughter, cackling shamelessly in his own seat.

“Woohyun hyung, why were you in this picture?” Jinyoung had innocently pointed out, flashing the screen of his phone in Woohyun’s way. The latter could only hide his face into his palms then while Sunggyu was already throwing punches at Sungyeol’s cackling self.

“Wait, are those nail scratches on your shoulder, hyung?” Mark had asked, eyebrows joined close as he squinted his eyes to stare at the photo. Sunggyu had almost felt like jumping off the speeding bus when Mark had loudly pointed out, was already cursing their keen vision when it had all of a sudden turned inhumanly sharper than before.

“Wait, you’re—you guys were not doing what I think you were…. Right?” Mark had droned on, eyeing the both of them suspiciously, only to cackle too when Sunggyu had furiously coughed and Woohyun had sputtered a frantic “no!”

“Wha—No! Mark, what are you saying?!” Sunggyu had screeched afterwards, the blush on his face turning a shade darker if that was even possible.

“What? I was just asking!” The younger had protested, still laughing while the rest of them were already joining in the fun, Sungyeol wiping a drop of happy tear from the corner of his eye as he muffled out a soft “Oh god, this is funny,” before he decided to bully their friends even more.

“So, Gyu, you liked it so much to the point of scratching huh?” He added, had guffawed even louder when Woohyun had coughed even harsher and Sunggyu’s voice had blared a little too loud for the small space of the bus.

“What the ?! Yah, Lee ing Sungyeol!”

“Kim Sunggyu, language!”

Oh, if only murder was allowed in his country.

Yo! Finally, 7th chapter is up. Pheww, that was damn long but i honestly had fun writing down this chapter. It was challenging and had been fun to write. I hope you guys like this one too as much as I did. Do drop by and tell me what you think, okay? It was pleasant to see your thoughts and ideas of what was happening in the story. It sorts of give way to how I can let the story pan out from hereon. See you guys soon! 

p/s: this will probably the last time I update before my final exam! Then, maybe I'll see you guys in June or afterwards? Bye~ I'll miss you guys, especially my loyal readers~