Warning: Small triggering.

 

Jiyong kissed his mother once more before getting out of the car to go to the shop. The happiness he had felt a moment ago was diminished when he realized who he was about to face,and now that he wasn't talking, the burning of his wrists was cutting out his mind. Him and Seunghyun weren't dating. Seunghyun had just spilled out his feelings to him, but that didn't mean he had to admit anything back,right? If there was one thing he was good at, it was hiding after all. But what is Seunghyun brought it up? Jiyong wasn't sure he was ready to be in a legit relationship. Where they friends with benefits? He reached for the doorhandle to the shop-Buzzzzzz.

 

Jiyong pulled out his phone,checking the ID. "Hello?"

 

Dami sighed in the phone, laughing. "Nevermind, I see you at the door. Usually you get home ten minutes ago so I was wondering what was holding you." She snapped close her phone and made her way to the doors; her face was a little pink from the embarrasment she was feeling at the moment. 

 

Jiyong laughed as he ended the call and opened the door to see his sister rushing at him. She gave him a big hug,immediately meaning she had work for him.

 

"You chose the perfect time to come home later then I expected. I was going to ask you to move something which was why I called." She laughed, dragging him by the hand to the desk where a box was. "I have no idea where this goes,but you do,right? You spend all your time back there nowadays." She joked, gently nudging him in the side. 

 

"I guess I do. I'll take it back right now noona." He smiled,getting a kiss on the cheek from his sister. As she left to move on to another part of her busy schedule, he picked up the box, hissing lightly as it was heavier then he assumed. Wait,wasn't it always? He'd never been a strong person in the family,even now. Especially now. Jiyong picked up the box and headed across the room to the double doors. He put the box onto the old counter and looked around for scissors. Seunghyun appeared to be doing something as he wasn't here yet. Apparently he'd have to entertain himself for a little while. 

 

Suddenly he remembered where the scissors were left. Youngbae borrowed them the other day and put them on the first shelf,or was it the second? 

 

Jiyong jumped visibly when something poked him in the side, and his loud whining made Seunghyun laugh so hard he was almost howling. "Yah! When did you get here? You weren't here before!"  He brought his hand to his chest,trying to fix his heart rates sudden incline before punching the older boy in the shoulder. It took a moment before he broke out in a small grin as Seunghyun's contagious laughter got to him just like it always did. The melodious noise of his spontaneous sounds of liveliness. 

 

When Seunghyun has school, he works a later shift of five p.m to nine p.m instead to his normal eight a.m to nine p.m. How on earth Jiyong memorized his schedule was new to him. Actually, he seemed to remember everything Seunghyun had told him about himself. Selective memory maybe? He also remembered that Seunghyun gets to the shop around five minutes before Jiyong, how is still a mystery of course, and always surprises the younger if he isn't on his guard, like right now. Except usually he comes around from the back of the isles and yells something.

 

"No, I wasn't, but I'm here now though." Seunghyun chuckled, his voice slow. It made Jiyong's heart start beating faster again. Didn't he just get his heart rate down? Why did this man have to be so attractive? Why was being around him so overwhelming? Is it even legal? "I was stopped by Youngebae, and then Dong-wook caught me, and it was just a lot of talking." He laughed another melody. Jiyong suddenly felt the burning of his arms subside.

 

Jiyong stood upright,watching Seunghyun move over to the counter where he usually sat, and followed slowly so he was standing next to it. Seunghyun rubbed his shoulder lazily,getting a curious look from Jiyong. "What's wrong with your shoulder hyung? Do you want me to rub it?" Jiyong had done it before so it wasn't anything new. It was probably the first week or so that he massaged his shoulders because Seunghyun had slept wrong,and apparently he was pretty good at it with the response he got from Seunghyun. It made Jiyong feel like he was slowly repaying a debt that he owed Seunghyun, the debt of him having to suffer by giving Jiyong attention.

 

Seunghyun thought about it for a breif second before smiling. "Sure,thanks Jiyong-ah."

 

Jiyong's cheeks flared slightly as he shuffled around to be behind the male on the counter. Seunghyun pushed backwards so he was in front of Jiyong,and leaned his head forward the moment small circles began being rubbed at the area of skin behind his ears. "Do you know what you did to it?"

 

Seunghyun grumbled lightly,shrugging. "It's been like this since last night. I think it might've been because of the work I've been doing to it." 

 

Jiyong's hand moved downwards to the base of Seunghyun's neck as he listened,nodding his head as if the older could actually see him or something. "Ah. What work have you been doing to it?" He was surprised really. Even his friend on the basketball team didn't overuse his shoulder the way Seunghyun had apparently done, and they go hard with what they do.

 

Seunghyun began to bite his lip. Jiyong noticed that something obviously happened and it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. Well, Jiyong told him a secret today, he deserves to hear one of Seunghyun's too. Jiyong wove his hands in small circles as they reached Seunghyun's shoulders. It was prompt that he felt the tense muscle tissue under it as he tried to make it subside. "Yah, what did you do?" He said anxiously, voice raising as his annoyance grew with the hesistance of the man.

 

"Don't talk to me like that. It's rude." Seunghyun smiled,breaking through his pretend scolding.

 

"Don't try and act cool now. You can't scare me to stop asking. What'd you do Seunghyunnie?"

 

Seunghyun raised his eyebrow as he turned to face the younger. Jiyong looked into his eyes,hands still on his shoulders, trying to stand his ground. It was difficult though,because Seunghyun began to speak slow again. "Are you challenging me ja-gi-ya?" His smile was crooked with eyes that looked like he'd just locked onto prey. 

 

Jiyong raised a brow,smiling back. A sudden playfulness began to wrap around his mind now that he realized the way Seunghyun played games. "What could you possibly do to me,Seung-hyun-nie?" He smirked back, looking at the taken aback face of Seunghyun who rubbed his jaw once. 

 

"Well, I could start with..." He trailed off, swinging around quickly. Jiyong immediately fell into the trap from the surprise making him move backwards a few steps until he hit the cold maroon metal. Seunghyun took a few steps forward and was right in front of Jiyong so fast he barely registered what was happening. "This." He finished,bringign his hands up to tickle the boys small frame, resulting in a laughing Jiyong.

 

"Yah,yah,yah!" Jiyong screamed, bending over and trying to move Seunghyun's hands away from his sides, but the sneaky man always found a way to reach through his barricade and abuse his sides more. "S-Stop! Yah!" Even through his protesting,Seunghyun began laughing alongside him.
 

"You know, it's a lot of fun to have you at my mercy." Seunghyun laughed, letting up as tears formed in Jiyong's eyes from how much he was laughing. Finally he stopped when Jiyong began kicking him away. "Yah, don't kick me! I'll  hold you down!" Seunghyun questioned why he even said that, as he knew Jiyong wouldn't listen, and he wouldn't mind doing it. Jiyong didn't let up and continued kicking, so Seunghyun did just as he had said. He grabbed both of the hands and used his leg to block the current kicks from damaging his stomach or higher(and slightly lower). In a matter of minutes he had Jiyong laying on his stomach, and held his hands like he was a police officer. 

 

"Yah, let me up!" Jiyong whined, trying to wriggle around in an attempt of knocking off the older boy as if he was a bull at a rodeo, but within a few seconds of that, it ended up hurting his wrists really bad, and he wanted to cry out. 

 

Seunghyun looked at the boys face as it contorted into one of pain. Was he hurting him? The older jumped off so he sat on the side of Jiyong, who was now just lying sprawled across the floor as he felt the burning,itchy feeling in his arm. Seunghyun grabbed Jiyong's hand as the boy sat up,frowing deeply. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry, I totally forgot-" 

 

"Yah, it's alright." Jiyong smiled, chuckling lightly. "It was just that my arms were a little to far back and they felt strained. I'm not hurt, I promise." The eyes of the other made Jiyong's heart jump slightly. They flickered like a candle burning, soft and slow. That was how Seunghyun was with Jiyong; soft and slow. It seeemed like all that mattered was how Jiyong was, even if it meant causing himself more pain then he could endure. It seemed just by small things of Jiyong, Seunghyun could hurt. Did Seunghyun lose sleep over Jiyong? If Jiyong suddenly left, would Seunghyun put his head in his hands and cry? Jiyong put a finger to Seunghyun's cheek,holding it there a moment as he touched the skin. "You take care of me a lot Seunghyun. Why do you do that? You keep saying that you just feel like you want too, but why?" 

 

Seunghyun closed his eyes,taking in the sweet touch of Jiyong. His eyes flickered through pain and happiness, back and forth. It was as if Seunghyun was slowly spiraling out of himself,changing like metamorphasis. And for a moment, he wanted to just drown in the sweetness. His walls were falling like Jiyong's was starting too. "I didn't think I would, at first. I, I thought we would be friends, normal hyung and dongsaeng,right? But, after the first week, I realized... I realized that I wanted to be more to you. I want to be the person you would run and hug when you saw without another thought. The one you cherish,feel safe around. I want to be you're safeguard. My mom used to tell me,'Someday you'll find someone, and this someone will be the only thing that will be able to make and break you with a look, but it will be worth it. It could be a lover, or a best friend, maybe a family member, but this person will be there.'"

 

"So, you might just want to protect me as a dongsaeng?" He questioned,curious now as he brought back his hand. This was what he had been waiting for. This was why he wouldn't admit how he felt to Seunghyun,nor call him silly names or even treat him differently. Seunghyun didn't say that he was gay and had feelings for Jiyong. In fact, he said he was confused. So how could he be with him, if Seunghyun wasn't sure of his feelings? For all Jiyong knew, he could just want to protect him because he's bigger and had a protective side of him.

 

Seunghyun ran a hand through his hair and looked at Jiyong,unsure. "Maybe."

 

Jiyong suddenly felt like there were chains on his chest, trying to pull him every which way. Something was clawing at his skin, trying to tear it's way through him to dig and lay eggs of evil. There was a lump in his throat as he choked out,"You should find out instead of playing games the way you do. Calling me "jagiya" and hugging me all weird and stuff." 

 

Seunghyun didn't meet Jiyong's eyes now,but he nodded as he thought about it. Even he knew he needed to realize what he was feeling. Was he scared of it or something?

 

"I'll find out right now, because honestly, there is something I really want to do."