A gentle brush against one of Seunghyun's exposed arms caused the sleepy head to awaken, slowly his eyes opened and they trailed up to where he felt the contact. There was a hand softly clasped around the corner of his arm, fingertips lightly tucked into the curve of his elbow, and that's when Seunghyun realised he was no longer laying down on his back. As of right now Seunghyun was curled onto his side with his head on someone's still lap, he watched as the person's thumb absent-mindedly his exposed skin calmly raising strands of arm hair then smoothing it back down. The person's thumb made several journeys up and down Seunghyun's arm and he tried not to laugh at the sensation, it tickled, though he enjoyed the feeling so he tried to keep quiet purely captivated by the sight. It felt like he had reached a state of nirvana, discovered a peaceful haven and to him this was such a strange concept because quite frankly he had never left the house for this long in a while but, he didn't care, he wasn't scared. What scared Seunghyun more was the fact that he didn't feel this gut churning terror that he had come to know so well, he wasn't afraid, and the swell of anxiousness caused by being outdoors had been effortlessly replaced by that foreign feeling of tightness.

Perhaps he was getting an illness? Maybe he had been out in the sun for too long and his brain was fried?

Seunghyun's thoughts were cut off by the comforting sound of Jiyong's voice, it sounded as if he was speaking to someone on the phone and Seunghyun couldn't help but catch snippets of the conversation.

“Ah, I'm so sorry Dae. Yeah, I promise I'll phone work, soon. I know it was a pretty irresponsible thing to do, yeah. I'll make sure that they don't phone again, yeah, yeah. I know, I'll handle it.” It was the first time that Seunghyun had ever heard Jiyong sound utterly stressed and he didn't like it, he couldn't help but feel guilty as it was his fault for preoccupying Jiyong. “Guess what?” At this point Jiyong's voice softens into a remote whisper and he sounds a little bit more excited. “You'll never guess, no, nooo, nope~” He laughs that incredibly sweet giggle, returning back to Seunghyun's Jiyong, then continues “No I did not run away to join the circus... do you really think that less of me? I'm insulted! Wrong, wrong and still wrong. O.K give up, please? You know that guy I told you about? Yeah~ that one, he came back to the store today.”

Seunghyun's heart sky-rocketed into the sky, leaving the earth forever at the mere mention of himself, just what the hell was this feeling? His breaths shortened as his chest tensed, he held one breath.

“Yeah. I can't believe it either~ And he's, I know! I'll tell you all about it later, we're at the park right now. You know the one where Youngbae insisted we play soccer that time and I uh, yeah, when I accidentally kicked you in the head? I know I know. I still regret it. This had got to be fate though hasn't it? What are the chances of that happening? Yeah I do” He laughs again as Seunghyun's lungs force him to breathe that one breath. “Stop making me laugh, I have to be quiet, he's sleeping so shh... Yeah~~ OMG yeah! Aw he's so good looking it's not even funny, I can't take my eyes off him but I don't want to scare him off...Exactly, exactly, it's like you know me? Dae, I actually feel asleep in his arms. I know it's the first time I've slept soundly in a while. Yeah, yeah. Get your mind out of the gutter boy! Anyway I'll be back later, no you can't meet him because if you do you'll definitely scare him away! Shh... Yeah talk to you later, thanks Dae. Oh I will, you too. Bye~” Jiyong sighed and Seunghyun could feel a pair of eyes scan him, once Jiyong had finished expelling a vast amount of air from his lungs he faintly murmured

“Even though I've only just met you Seunghyun I feel like I have known you all my life. I just wish that I could read your mind and hear all of your thoughts, I want to know what you've been through” He hummed a little coarse tune before the world fell back into a peaceful silence and Seunghyun swore that he could feel something slide through his hair. He really wanted to show Jiyong that he was awake, that he had heard everything and he felt the exact same way. But that would be a stupid thing to do so Seunghyun pretended to be asleep for a little longer, just how much longer he couldn't tell as he had no way to tell the time, it may have been a few minutes or even an hour or was it two?

For once in his life luck was on Seunghyun's side and he felt Jiyong's arm move up to his shoulder gently trying to shake him awake, so Seunghyun took that as his cue. He pretended to yawn though he really did stretch, his body was awfully taut from curling up for so long and his neck was numb from the odd angle that it had been resting at. Sitting up and shifting a little bit away from Jiyong so that he could stretch Seunghyun couldn't help but return the smile which presently curled the corners of Jiyong's cheery mouth, a thousand words presented themselves in his mind although nothing came to the surface. Fortunately, Jiyong started to chuckle and he raised his hand up to hide his smile

“What did I do now?” Seunghyun groaned whilst stretching his arms out.

“You fell asleep with my sunglasses on and I just- I forgot how funny you looked in them” Jiyong tried to clear his throat and halt his laughter but as always he failed, this was becoming an annoyingly cute habit of his.

“Oh...” Seunghyun simply replied rolling his eyes whilst roughly taking Jiyong's sunglasses off. “Here you go” He held out the sunglasses to Jiyong who hesitantly took them although he didn't put them on, he put them back in his pocket, well that was pretty useless. “Oh and thanks” Seunghyun earnestly smiled, his cheeks started to hurt from the amount of smiling, really he wondered if his face would ever get use to the feeling.

“For what?” Jiyong asked looking as if his mind had taken an unexpected road trip.

For not telling me to go away this morning, Seunghyun cleared his throat. “You know, for letting me borrow your shades” He almost mumbled the answer as if it was a lie.

“Oh that's O.K!” Jiyong sweetly replied “Erm, I'm sorry for scaring you on your shop this morning” His laughter faded into a light good-natured smile and Seunghyun couldn't help but stare at him. Jiyong's smile was by no means perfect, one side seemed to be higher than the other and his usually full lips thinned out into one long slightly clumsy line, but this didn't matter and it was these kinds of imperfections that Seunghyun's eyes were drawn too. This imperfect smile made him feel something, he wasn't sure what, and despite whatever seemed to happen, good or bad, Seunghyun couldn't help but try to reflect at least a small percentage of this guy's smile. If he could do that, if he could smile and cause Jiyong to feel the same warmth as he through one simple smile, then something that was awkwardly imperfect would be beyond perfect.

“It's fine-” Seunghyun tried to smile.

“No it's not” Jiyong abruptly cut him off instantaneously wiping the smile from Seunghyun's face. “I mean” He nervously laughed “What I mean is, you didn't come into the store to see me so if you-if you need to pick up some items-we could go back and you could-you know-buy some...” At this out of the blue response Seunghyun could only blush with sheer embarrassment.

“Jiyong I-I” I didn't want to buy condoms, I didn't want to shop, I did however come to see you again. “I-uh, I don't have anyone so it's O.K” Seunghyun slapped his palm onto his dozy head at just how stupid that response was. Now he sounded like a weirdo.

“Ah, I see” Jiyong apprehensively laughed. “Well I should probably head back now” His laughter vanished and a small pout broke out on his lips. Seunghyun sighed, he had hoped that this moment wouldn't come, time flew past too quickly when he was with Jiyong and now he severely regretted falling asleep. “I'm sure I'll be able to make up some sort of excuse though so don't worry” Jiyong must've noticed the look of upset which Seunghyun had been trying with all of his might to hide, dammit, how did he do that? Luckily he couldn't decipher the true reason behind Seunghyun's upset.

“It's O.K, I mean, what I really mean is-” Seunghyun was at a loss for words, he wanted to see Jiyong again however he didn't want to sound like he was desperate. “If you ever want to escape work, or you know anything else, you can give me a call and I'll be there” Whilst Seunghyun tried to form some sort of reply the two guys stood up and a small distance formed between them. “Although I-” He was about to mention having to write his number as a note but then realised that it would be a nice surprise for Jiyong to find later. “I hope you call me soon” Seunghyun unexpectedly spoke his thoughts out loud and held his hand out to Jiyong. The angelic scrawny guy from supermarket seemed to glow and his cheeks suddenly became tinted with a light scarlet hue, he shakily reached out for Seunghyun and they rather messily shook hands.

“I-I will” Jiyong shyly answered “See you around Seunghyun”

Seunghyun wished with every fibre of his being that Jiyong didn't have to leave, out of all the new things that he had learned today the most important lesson was that he too wanted Jiyong to be a permanent member in the club of his life, even if he had to settle with just being friends. Wait, what else could there be?

“See you Jiyong” I see you Jiyong, that was what Seunghyun really meant. He wanted to say something more, something of which would definitely give Jiyong a reason to see him again but he couldn't say anything else. It was as if his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth and his brain was jammed again.

Jiyong dropped Seunghyun's hand from his and politely bobbed his head before he started to walk away, leaving a stumped Seunghyun to just stand there.

“My jumper!!” Seunghyun abruptly called out resulting in Jiyong's feet automatically grinding to a halt, damn, he had practised this excuse all night and he had no idea what came over him.

“What?” Jiyong spun around totally taken aback by the level of Seunghyun's shouting.

“Uh-” Seunghyun was truly stumped, he had planned on just letting Jiyong walk away but apparently now his mouth decided to function. He tried to take a couple of steps forward and had to stop as that stupid feeling of dizziness returned to him. “Never mind!” Seunghyun cursed himself for saying that, why didn't he give Jiyong the excuse to speak to him again?

“O.K” Jiyong laughed once more and the feeling of being sick intensified in Seunghyun's stomach, he felt as if something was exploding, it didn't feel right but it didn't exactly feel wrong. “Bye Seunghyun!” Jiyong waved once more as if he was trying to flag down a plane before turning around and resuming his trek. Seunghyun tried to breathe though such a task was becoming frighteningly impossible, he needed to sit down and so he dragged himself over to a bench just on the outskirts of the small park. As Jiyong faded into the distance Seunghyun sat down and tried to memorise the exact appearance of Jiyong's back, although he knew that he probably shouldn't go into the supermarket and search for Jiyong again, now that would really be desperate. No, what Seunghyun needed to do was remain calm and remember to breathe. In then out, in then out and repeat until the dizziness stopped. He should probably leave the park too and return home but he couldn't do this until he had fully calmed down.

“He's so good looking it's not even funny, I can't take my eyes off him but I don't want to scare him off...”

“Dae, I actually feel asleep in his arms. I know it's the first time I've slept soundly in a while.”

“In this crazy world, the cold heart of the city, I’m alone”

“Even though I've only just met you Seunghyun I feel like I have known you all my life. I just wish that I could read your mind and hear all of your thoughts, I want to know what you've been through”

Jiyong. Ji Yong, Jiyong.

Seunghyun tried to decode Jiyong's words; he wanted to inspect them thoroughly, examine every letter and wonder which of his many interpretations were true. What exactly did this mean? Was his Mother right? Did he like Jiyong a lot? What did that even mean? Why did he feel like this? Why was it that only Jiyong made him feel like this? And why did he have the sudden urge to go skipping and simultaneously throw up? Yes really, even skipping sounded like a wonderful thing to do and it was all Jiyong's bloody fault.

“Aish! I am going insane!” Seunghyun called out to his only audience which was the sun and the now empty park. More questions floated around his head combined with the words of Jiyong's note and that seemed to aggravate the dizziness even more. “I need to calm down...” He sighed dropping his throbbing head into his sweaty palms, keeping his eyes closed Seunghyun could feel Jiyong's arm around him again and it was as if time had reversed itself. The feeling of laying beside Jiyong, the small swift of his thumb, and the comfort of knowing that he was outside and was O.K allowed Seunghyun to gradually calm down.

The walk home was fine and the dizziness seemed to be something of the past as Seunghyun approached his front door, slipping his keys out of his pocket and turning them in the door he entered. Seunghyun was greeted by silence, there seemed to be no one home, so he shrugged his shoes off and wandered into the kitchen. Once there he noticed a small note on the kitchen counter which read as follows:

Babo! Me and Ma have gone out to do some shopping, might bring you back a present if you're lucky, there's a stew left on the cooker help yourself. Bom is with us in the car so don't worry about her, love Mihyun. X

“Well that's just fantastic!” Seunghyun grumbled to himself as he screwed the note up and threw it over to the bin, slam dunk, his aim was spot on – well the note rebounded against the roof of the bin's lid and it rolled it's way inside, that counts right? Regardless, he cheered in victory then realised this meant that now the house was truly empty, so he allowed his cheer to be vocalised and he even danced around a little bit.

Half of it was celebrating an empty house, the other half well that was another story...

Seunghyun ignored the food on the cooker and poured himself a drink, he wasn't particularly hungry so he figured he could eat later. Instead of doing something productive like eating Seunghyun thought it would be better to run around the house and dance in as many places as possible before the women came home. Though before that he needed music, once he had emptied his glass of water Seunghyun placed the glass into the sink and then ran as fast as he could into the living room. Once there he switched the television on and flicked to the music channels, it was some crappy boy band singing about something that ring-a-dinged a lot but after listening to the song for a few seconds it sounded ridiculously catchy.

Seunghyun turned the volume up and that's when his little imaginary victory party started, the band were singing about something elastic as he wiggled his way out of the front room and into the hallway. You could say that it was dancing but that would be a stretch of the word, Seunghyun's genius moves were completely improvised on the spot and it mainly consisted of robotic like jerks which caused his hands to wave about in the air at the same time as his hips. He made his way up the stairs, practically bouncing up every step, and ran along the landing before shimmying straight into his bedroom. What surprised Seunghyun was that he could still hear the song and as he jumped up onto his bed to further celebrate his day he started to sing along.

Everything was just perfect until reality decided to rear it's ugly head. Perhaps a universal balance needed to be restored? And thus the wooden legs of Seunghyun's bed decided to cave in causing both the bed and Seunghyun to fall to the floor. It could've been a comfortable landing for him if he hadn't decided at the very last minute to jump and as stupid is as stupid does Seunghyun fell off the end of his bed, meaning that now his face was pressed against the hard ground with the end of his bed painfully digging into his ribs. Now that was more like it, Seunghyun whined something indecipherable to the floor and rolled from his bed, cradling his surely bruised stomach. Despite the pain reality could not swipe the smile from Seunghyun's face and he smirked overwhelmed by the sudden knowledge that he had actually found Jiyong. He had done that.

~

The next few days seemed to drag on forever, Seunghyun's days merely consisted of waiting for Jiyong to text or call him. He hoped that Jiyong would find the note and smile, fondly remembering the time that they had spent together. Though whenever he checked his phone there was still nothing and Seunghyun unconsciously started to retreat back into his bedroom, he stayed in bed for longer and he dabbled in keeping his appearance up to par. His phone was constantly charged up and he carried it everywhere with him, even leaving it beside his pillow as he slept. Whilst it could be said that Seunghyun had begun to undo all of his progress, the time he spent waiting was undeniably vital, it gave him time to think things through. Though it didn't take long for him to receive several grillings from his Mother and Sister, they were probably the main reason why Seunghyun retreated back into his bedroom, if he couldn't place his own thoughts and feelings then he had no clue as to how he explain it to them. Seunghyun was able to get away with this defensive positioning until the inquisitive women decided to tag team up and invade his bedroom.

The invasion took place on what was apparently a Saturday morning and hence the reason why the employed busybody of Mihyun was available to grace them with her presence, not that this mattered much to her Brother. The pair claimed that Seunghyun had to grow a set of balls and leave his bedroom though when he asked where he could acquire a set of balls from or a magic potion to grow them he earned himself a swift smack from Mihyun. Moreover, they claimed that Seunghyun needed to be independent and he needed to go out into the world and get a job. This was fantastic news to him who, as you can imagine, was so ecstatic about the idea. Seunghyun was sat cross-legged on his bed staring at his phone when the pair barged in, it was kind of hilarious if Mihyun didn't slap him around the back of the head every time he even considered laughing.

“You were doing so well” Mihyun started the offence “You even met someone, imagine how many more people you could meet” Seunghyun had neglected to tell them about meeting Jiyong again and so he tried to bite the bottom of his lip in a subtle attempt to hide his grin. Of course they continued their pursuit completely oblivious to Seunghyun's actual emotions.

“I really don't need this from you two” He tried to end the argument early but to no avail. The back and forth futile arguing between the siblings continued on for a while until their Mother eventually spoke up.

“Seunghyun we don't want to push you away again but you need to earn your keep, we have bills to pay and if you can't help out” Their Mother approached Seunghyun's bed and knelt down beside him, reaching out for his hand and gently it. “Then you'll have to leave”

“What?!” Both Seunghyun and Mihyun gasped. “Just what exactly do you mean?” Seunghyun questioned practically ripping his hand from his Mother's coarse hold.

“What I mean is you need to get a job or you can't live here anymore” She sighed before suspiciously eyeing up Seunghyun's bed and giving him a stern glare.

“But that's not fair!” Seunghyun instinctively whined “You can't do that, you gave birth to me, it's your fault-”

“Ma that is a little extreme...” Mihyun's words fell on deaf ears, Seunghyun could just tell by the way in which his Mother was now icily staring at him, she stood up and returned to standing beside her treasured Daughter.

“Look I don't want to bring up the past just as you seem to be getting over it” Their Mother started causing Seunghyun to sigh, fall back on his bed and groan against his pillows.

“Ma I don't want to hear it!” And he really meant that, he cringed at what he knew that she was about to say.

“You need to listen to me!” There was something about her voice, a cold air of strictness which seemed to trigger her Son into a seated position, he stared up at her surprised by her tone. “It was your fault that you lost your job, it was you who-” Her voice failed her and she took this opportunity to warn Mihyun with a sharp glance. “The only person you have to blame is yourself and so it's up to you what you want to do. If you want to stay in here and do nothing then do that but if you want to right your wrongs then you get off your sorry and out into the job market. It's your choice Seunghyun Choi!” And with that his Mother her heels and left the room, ending the discussion. Seunghyun hated it when she called him by his full name, it reduced him to being a child again and he wasn't. He wasn't a child, he was an adult, Seunghyun sighed, his Mother was right as always.

“Seunghyun...” A little voice reminded him that Mihyun was still in the room, he didn't look up at her with the hope that if he ignored her she would just go away. But she didn't and before Seunghyun knew it his Sister was on his bed facing him, her hands gingerly brushed against his knees as she spoke. “You know you're better than this right? Look at me” Seunghyun ignored her again and so she grabbed his chin, tilting his head up to look at her.

“Mihyun just leave me alone” He breathed before leaning his head backwards, away from her hand. “Ma's right” Seunghyun unconvincingly agreed as he pushed Mihyun's hand away.

“No she isn't, I know it and you know it. Look, you can't move on from this if you don't talk about it” She shuffled even closer to her Brother, trying her hardest to catch his eye line. Seunghyun knew that he needed to act fast if he was going to escape her attempt at giving advice so he rolled onto his side, away from her, and stared straight at the wall.

“Just go away” He tried again.

“You know I've always looked up to you, even if you are younger than me, you're my Brother and whatever you would do I always wanted to do the same” Mihyun sighed in a false defeat. “Do you remember when Pa used to call us the troublesome twosome? T-T, that was us, remember all the pranks we used to play on him and Ma? Like that one time we-”

“Shut up” Seunghyun cut the end of Mihyun's memories off with a harsh remark.

“No” Mihyun speedily replied “I'm not going to shut up until you talk to me” Suddenly he felt a lump right next to him, the lump hesitantly stretched out her arms and wrapped them around her little Brother. “I'm not going anywhere” She tightened her grip despite the fact that Seunghyun didn't resist, he couldn't be bothered to fight with her any more, and he didn't have the heart to tell his Sister to leave again. “So babo, have you got anything new to tell me?” Mihyun sounded desperate for any sort of response from Seunghyun so he was naturally going to give her the exact opposite.

“Nope” He answered still keeping his gaze focused on the one patch of blue wall.

“Well I've got stuff to tell you so just listen. My new job is great” Oh this was just marvellous, Seunghyun really didn't want to hear this conversation and so his mind started to wander. He thought about his mobile which was at present lost somewhere on his bed and then well something his Sister said finally caught his attention. “So I met this guy at work and I really like him. At first I thought that he was just an idiot, you know, because he just ogled at me from a distance but yesterday I found a little note underneath my keyboard which said 'I'd really like to take you out for a quiet drink sometime. Here's my number, love D.' I had no idea what to do so I just called him up and he's the sweetest guy, we're going out for drinks this evening and I wanted to ask you if you'd come with me. I don't want to show up on my own and he's actually like a total ert or something” She anxiously laughed “And it's fine with him I called him this morning, he's going to bring a friend too so if we really hit off you two could maybe do the same?” Seunghyun wanted to say no, he wanted to tell her to go away again, because he didn't feel like “going out for drinks” whatever that meant. Although as much as he wanted to say no he couldn't, he needed to step up and protect his Sister.

“Sure” Seunghyun casually replied already dreading the experience.

“Great! Oh and I wanted to ask; have you seen Jiyong again?” He could feel her head shift up and lean against the side of his own. “I know you left the house the day after your little shopping trip so did you see him again?” She teased whispering as well as blowing some extra air into Seunghyun's ear.

“Argh! Get off!” He tried to lift a hand up to protect his ear but failed seeing as how Mihyun's grip around him was just too strong, she was like a boa constrictor.

“Nope!” Mihyun giggled squeezing him tighter. “Is that why my little ickle Brother is upset?” She knowingly struck a nerve which caused Seunghyun to wriggle around some more.

“I'm not upset, geddaoffme!” He yelled trying to escape “Hey did you-” The end of Seunghyun's sentence was cut off as Mihyun released him with one hard shove and this forced him to crash straight onto the floor. “OUCH!” Seunghyun rose to his knees and just stared at his Sister flabbergasted by her sheer strength. “Just what exactly is this poor sods name that I have to meet tonight?!”

“Daesung!” Mihyun smirked his name and started fiddling with the ends of her long hair. “It's a nice name isn't it?”

“No it is not!” Seunghyun grumbled whilst getting up onto his feet. “And I only want to know it so that I can warn the poor sod off” He walked back over to his bed and grabbed the strands of hair that Mihyun was playing with. “Now get out before I pull so hard that you become bald” She glanced up at him and her smile grew even wider.

“I love you babo!” Mihyun jumped up, forcing Seunghyun to let go of her hair, and cuddled him. “Thank you! We'll be leaving at Six, I'll calm Ma down and who knows, if you help me I'll try and help you” She giggled excitedly before releasing her baby brother and running from his room. “Make sure you're ready~!” She called from the hallway. Seunghyun immediately searched for his phone, he found it towards the end of his bed and picked it up, dropping it several times before he managed to unlock it and stare at the blank screen. Still nothing, he threw the phone back on the bed and promptly followed it face first. He just hoped that 6pm would hurry up and be over with.