He slipped in through the door to the shop and looked around; the place was packed with high schoolers. Hoya sighed. They were all so loud, the line was long, and the empty tables few. Maybe this wasn’t the best day to try this; he considered returning later. But then, Dongwoo appeared at the counter and served someone their drink, then looked up, catching eyes with Hoya, and smiled. Dongwoo smiled- at him. Not because he said something funny or because he was being polite, but because the sight of him, though meaningless compared to how Hoya felt upon seeing him, made him smile.

Hoya stayed in line behind a group of large, giggling girls. They were so loud, he could hardly stand it. The girl in front of him took a step back and bumped into him; she turned to apologize and all of them looked up at him and started giggling even louder. “So handsome,” he heard one whisper. He snickered and shook his head.

When he finally made it to the counter, Dongwoo grinned, and Hoya managed to smile back. “Peach mango?” Dongwoo asked. Hoya nodded.

Dongwoo dipped his head to type in the order, “Hyung,” Hoya began, “when do you get off?”

Dongwoo glanced at the gold watch on his wrist and sighed, “In about a half hour.”

“Would you like to take a walk with me somewhere? It’s nearby.” Hoya frowned. He didn’t think the idea was weird until he actually said it. He bit his lip and shuffled his feet as Dongwoo hesitated.

After a moment, his coworker appeared with the smoothie and spooked him. Dongwoo jumped and nearly knocked it out of her hands, but caught it just in time and, embarrassed, passed it off to Hoya. He could tell he felt awkward about asking. He didn’t want to go, but couldn’t think of any real reason not to. It was strange to him, having someone he didn’t remember clinging on so tightly after so long, but a part of him wanted to reconnect. He didn’t have a lot of friends, and there was something familiar about the man’s face.

Hoya looked at him questioningly, finally looking him in the eyes.

Dongwoo opened his mouth to reply, but it took a second for the words to come stuttering out, “S-sure. I don’t have plans, so why not?”

Hoya smiled brightly, “Really? I’ll stick around then!” He took a seat at an empty table and drank his smoothie slowly, watching Dongwoo as he prepared to leave.

“I don’t remember ever coming out this far,” Dongwoo breathed.

Hoya nodded, “We used to come here a lot,” he said, “usually if we cut class, we were here.”

“Were we bad kids?”

Hoya laughed, “Of course we were. I’m still a punk now.”

They walked slowly along the concrete wall that lined the river. Dongwoo kept his distance from the water, making Hoya walk closest to the edge.  Dongwoo eyed him but didn’t say anything. Was he getting involved with a bad person? He seemed nice enough, but what if he was hiding something?

“You really don’t remember?” Hoya whispered, more to himself than to Dongwoo.

Why did he want him to remember so badly?

“I don’t come out here often anymore,” Hoya said, “I always wanted to, but Myungsoo never wanted to come,” he frowned, “Eventually I stopped asking him, and stopped visiting myself.”

“Myungsoo?” Dongwoo repeated.

Hoya nodded, “He was friends with us, too.” He stopped and watched the other man take a few steps ahead. Dongwoo turned to see why he had fallen behind. Hoya shook he head and jumped off the rock wall and into the grass. He laid down on his back, with his arms stretched out, staring up at the sky.

Dongwoo slowly lowered himself to the ground next to him and folded his arms over his knees. “Myungsoo,” he whispered again, “like the comedian?”

“Yeah,” Hoya snickered. He closed his eyes, “except the only thing funny about him is his addiction.”

Laughing, Dongwoo put his hand flat to the ground behind him and shifted to lean back on them, with his legs stretched out in front. “The name is familiar, but I’m not sure why.” He paused, then took in a sharp breath. Hoya’s eyes opened wide. “Maybe he and I were closer than me and you.”

Hoya’s face scrunched up crankily, “No!” he shook his head, “You were my best friend. You loved me.”

“Yah, why would I love a punk like you?” Dongwoo said with a straight face. Hoya glared up at him and he started laughing. “It’s probably just the name. Maybe I should meet him, too?”

Hoya closed his eyes again and considered it. Myungsoo wouldn’t believe he’d seen him, he didn’t believe he still existed in this world at all. “I don’t know,” he whispered, “he was always convinced you’d died. Right from day one, he told me to forget you.” They were both silent for a moment, “I could call him, see if he’d come?”

Dongwoo nodded. Sighing, he pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and dialed.

Myungsoo found it hard to catch his breath as he drove towards their old meeting place. His hands were trembling and palms sweaty, his face drained of color at the thought of seeing Dongwoo after all this time. Either Hoya had lost it and mistaken someone as a dead teenager, or the boy was still very alive and very likely to remember that night.

He had to play it cool.

He didn’t still look the way he did back then. At least, not really.

Myungsoo parked and got out of his car, shutting the door with a loud thud, and locking it with the keyless remote.  He straightened his suit jacket and took a deep breath as he started towards the rock wall next to the river. He could see it even from here. His knees wobbled with each slow step. “Get yourself together, Myungsoo, you can do this,” he thought.

He could see two men lying in the grass. He knew it was them; it sent a cold wave of bittersweet memories over him.

Eventually, he came up behind them and froze. His shadow fell over them and made the pair turn. Hoya smiled softly, but Dongwoo’s face fell.

The two stared at each other; Myungsoo tightened his fists, trying to muster up the courage to say something. He gulped hard- his mouth was dry.

“What are you doing?” Hoya asked.

“Hyung, I-“

Dongwoo stood suddenly and shifted away. He didn’t know why he was so wary of the newcomer, but seeing him made his stomach churn and he got goosebumps. He was scared.

“Are you okay?” Hoya asked, standing. He reached out and took Dongwoo by the wrist, “You look really ill.” He glanced back at Myungsoo, who was taking a step backwards. “Myungsoo…”

Dongwoo ripped his wrist out of his grasp and took a step back, also. His head was spinning; something about this place was familiar to him, now, but it wasn’t anything good like Hoya wanted him to remember. He remembered suddenly how dark it was at night, how quiet apart from the movements of the river, and then, he imagined a loud splash and he was overcome with cold chills. He remembered dark faces and screaming and falling. He remembered splashing. Losing his breath, Dongwoo reached out, barely catching Hoya’s sleeve before tilting over backwards. He heard him call his name, but then everything went black.

Hoya caught him by the front of his jacket and helped lower him to the ground. His eyes had rolled back before shutting. “Hyung!” He patted him on the face, but he was out cold. Hoya spun around, “Call an ambulance!” but Myungsoo was gone.

I am so sorry I'm a really bad person I promise it won't be a whole ing year before I update again I bet you guys aren't even around anymore who wanted me to update.