The first thing he registered was the grimy-looking ceiling and the unsettling smell of antiseptic. The next thing he registered was the white walls of the infirmary (and also Mr. Han’s office, often called the nursing office) in the high school. And the final observation he made was that someone was calling for him and it sounded awfully like Woohyun—he promptly decided that he was going to ignore that particular person for now, before his head burst again from the stress of listening to him speak. 

He shifted a little, realizing that he was also laying on a bed and the blankets were pulled over him. He shifted a little further in his position, and caught a small glimpse of a particular man who looked very guilty. He was sitting on the plastic chair provided at the bedside of the nursing bed, looking every bit like a very apologetic child that had just been scolded. 

One look at the distraught Nam Woohyun at his bedside was enough to tell him what probably happened after Woohyun had charged, even though he couldn’t remember the exact details leading up to Woohyun charging toward him. From what his foggy brain could recover, it involved an intercom, something embarrassing (thank god he couldn’t remember right now), and Jang Dongwoo. 

He was certain that he was going to recall what exactly went down right before he was attacked by Woohyun very soon. And he didn’t like that. 

Too bad he couldn’t forget everything that happened in the past month involving Woohyun and his determination to set him up with Ms. Jeon. It would save him the emotional distress. 

That was when Sunggyu stopped tuning him out, focusing on what he was saying. 

“You’re awake! Thank god! I’m so sorry!” his voice was louder than it needed to be. 

Sunggyu just groaned, throwing a hand over his eyes at the ringing sound his head was making from how loud and disruptive Woohyun was being. He wanted to throttle Woohyun now, forget the dinosaur-teacher-Dongwoo. His pain everywhere was more imminent than the embarrassment he felt. 

His head hurt like hell and his neck was beginning to feel sore (and that was adding onto his chronic back pain, that seemed to hurt right now more than it usually did). He was getting too old for Woohyun and his disastrous solutions to unexpected situations. 

“You try this stunt one more time, I swear I’m never going to talk to you again,” Sunggyu groaned, peeking over at the man who was fortunately still looking slightly guilty. Woohyun looked a little upset at that, but then a bright look appeared on his face, signalling that he recalled something in the distant past that Sunggyu used to say (that, he would never admit it even if you tried to force out of him). 

Woohyun pouted a little at that, although he was fighting a playful grin that was threatening to burst from his lips, “You’re joking with me, you won’t ever do that to me!” He slapped Sunggyu on the arm in a playful manner, not knowing the man was currently in pain.  

Sunggyu nearly shrieked in pain. After the aftershocks of the slap subsided, he just decided on grumpily grumbling under his breath, saying that he really meant it. His head hurt too much to even muster the energy to speak anymore. 

Sensing that his friend didn’t really want to speak, Woohyun took it upon himself to speak. 

“Anyway,” Woohyun said, “Mr. Han said that you were fine to leave after you woke up. Apparently, you fainted out of shock and exhaustion. You didn’t hit your head or anything because I caught you before you fell, so yay! You won’t forget me, your wonderful friend!” 

Sunggyu muttered some choice words which Woohyun decided to ignore. It sounded awfully like, “God damnit!” 

“But he did say that you were suffering from dehydration and you seem to not be getting enough sleep these days,” Woohyun continued on, frowning a little at that. But then a very devious smirk appeared on his face, making Sunggyu know that whatever was coming out of his mouth next was going to make him annoyed. “I think that it’s related to you not joining me on the weekly jogs we’re supposed to do every Saturday. You’re out of shape, Sunggyu.” 

Sunggyu decided to pretend he didn’t hear that. No thank you. 

“I know!” he perked up. He sat up a little straighter on the plastic chair in the nursing room. “We should resume our weekly jogs with vigour and this won’t ever happen again!” 

Sunggyu withered on the spot from just listening to that last statement from his friend, sinking underneath the covers. He would shudder, but he didn’t have the strength to. The last thing he needed was Woohyun to show up at his door this weekend and try to make him go out on a jog. Thankfully, his friend didn’t have access to his apartment building and he also didn’t have a copy of the keys to his apartment, otherwise he was sure he would invite himself in and drag him out of bed. 

Woohyun was very fit and Sunggyu… was just not, and he intended to keep it that way. He enjoyed sleeping in, snacking, and dramas too much. His new year’s resolution for the year was long forgotten. 

He didn’t forget those weeks he ran out in the cold with Woohyun in January before deciding to throw the towel in for his new year’s resolution. Screw getting into shape. 

Sunggyu may not have the strength to shudder or vocally express himself like he usually did, but he had the strength to scowl, so he did, “You can leave now.” 

Woohyun pouted at that, “Let me stay until your parents come at least.” 

At that, Sunggyu sat straight up on the bed at lightning speed, his back groaning in protest—but never mind that. “You what?” 

His best friend looked a little guilty for once in a long time, “Well, I called your parents right after you collapsed.” 

Sunggyu glared at him almost immediately. He hadn’t spoken to his parents in about a month’s time and had been ignoring their calls because they were being so annoying. The last thing he really wanted was to see his parents.  

The last time they’d seen each other, Sunggyu had yelled and stormed out of the sub-urban home. Woohyun knew all about it because Sunggyu made him go drinking with him at the local bar after he got home. 

“B-but I thought you were dying!” he protested. “The first thing I thought of was your parents.” Then as an afterthought, he added, “And your sister.” 

The last thing his older sister needed to hear about was the reason why he collapsed. She would never let him live it down. 

“But I called them back after Nurse Han said that you were fine; just shocked and exhausted. Oh, and your sister wanted me to pass this on to you.” Sunggyu withered a little further on the spot, when another devious smirk showed up on his friend’s lips. His sister never had anything nice to say to him. In fact, she was very much like Woohyun and loved stirring up in his life. “She told you to stop marathoning dramas on the weekend, you fool, and to start exercising.” 

Woohyun puffed up a little after that, “In fact, she entrusted me to whip you into shape!” 

Sunggyu just opted to flop down into the covers (and regretted it because his back and head hurt) and sunk further down into his sheets. 

It was in that exact moment when the door to the infirmary swung open, revealing his parents who looked very concerned—well his mother was, while his father looked stoic and rather indifferent. 

“Are you okay, Sunggyu?” Ms. Kim asked, reaching over to touch her son on the forehead to check his temperature. She was very cold and Sunggyu didn’t like it, though that wasn’t the only reason why he didn’t want her touching him on the forehead. Sunggyu pushed her hand away from him, a very calm and neutral expression on his face. “I’m fine.” 

She clucked her tongue at his expression, clearly picking up that her presence was not very welcome, much less her husband. “Is this how you treat your mother who has traveled this far to see you?” Sunggyu opted to not reply. 

It was at that moment she realized that there was someone else in the room that was not a Kim. She looked over to Woohyun, who was now standing from the plastic chair he was previously sitting on and looking every bit awkward. Sunggyu frowned a little at that, wondering what was up. He was being uncharacteristically quiet and he was fidgeting a lot. 

Usually he would be all up and over Ms. Kim and making her laugh. It didn’t seem that this was the case today... if anything, it seemed that even if Woohyun decided to act that way, his mother would in no way be receptive of it. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes narrowing a little at Woohyun, who flinched at the question. Sunggyu slowly sat up then, carefully observing the animosity that his mother was showing towards his childhood friend. It did not waver. 

If anything, he could see that his father also held the same sort of animosity, although it was not quite to the same level of intensity as his mother’s animosity. 

Something was very wrong, which was a huge understatement on Sunggyu’s part. 

His parents had complained some time ago that he was hanging around way too much with his childhood friend, which Sunggyu shrugged away, because it was usually Woohyun following him around and he was just the unwilling victim. 

“What’s going on?” Sunggyu asked, deciding that he had enough of it and it didn’t seem like the awkward tension in the room was going to resolve itself anytime soon. Woohyun just looked over to his friend with a little shrug and smile that was uncharacteristic of him. 

“See ya,” Woohyun opted to say and walked out of the room, being very careful to stick towards the wall and give as much room to Sunggyu’s parents as possible. 

Something smelled awfully rotten. 

After the door closed gently behind Woohyun, signalling his exit, Sunggyu could only turn towards the only other occ