His eyes flickered at the sight of the aggravated angel, silently inching closer to the couple. Ricky stood there frozen, staring at the two couple, smirking at the subtle trembles on their skin that was obvious to his keen eyes. When chunji was gone, rather calmly the boy sat on the counter, face down.

“me too…”

“i’m never giving up on byung hun too, no one in this house are so…”

Hyuna’s lips gapped as she stared in awe at this obnoxious sight, neither of the boys were listening to her. The fact that finding a cure was too close to impossible wasn’t already a legit reason for them to move on, this reckless guilt-full life they were enduring was enough to make anyone sick.

“healing byung’s wing would be like growing a lung, its that hard!”

“and its not like you can donate one…please you guys have a life to live…”

She cried as her hand gripped the fibers of hyunseung’s leather jacket-

Ricky counted his steps on the stairs, climbing the abandoned building endlessly when his heavy breath halted for a moment. His eyes locked on a particular back.

“where are they?”

“gone. But they’re coming to visit next week….. with more infos”

“great. Now leave.”

“hyung…. Lets not give up. Lets never ever give up on byunggie hyung… we can endure this, I can”
“so I’ll live with you hating me, its fine. Cause when he’s awake, we’ll all be fine again”

Taking the silence as an answer, changhyun walked away with a pained smile. That decision was made even before he could remember it, he wouldn’t mind. He loved both of them enough to not be plague by his own fear and flee.

But that plague had already rooted deep inside his heart.

“aargh!”

Blows per blow were ramming against the skin of the punching bag as it trembles harder each time changjo threw a punch. His knuckles were already purple, stained by the endless collision. Stopping for a moment, the boy took a faithful peek at his phone, grunting at the empty text box.

“aish, does he even know how to use a phone?! Dammit changhyun”

Then grabbing a bottle of water, the boy moaned at the relief of his dry throat when his nose started to twitch. Speak of the devil, Ricky was outside the school gym. Standing still in his thin two layer sweater, snooping around probably in search of changjo.

When the door opened wide, giving the smaller boy an entrance inside the warm workout station. A sheepish smile was on his face as the boy tip toed inside, exchanging glances with the buffed lad.

“hi”

A smirk broke free the moment changjo heard the word, trying to act like in control the boy kicked the punch bag even harder. But after a few blows the boy winced out of the arena and took a seat beside ricky.

“hi. How did you know im here?”

“heh… everybody knows. Am I disturbing you?”

Shaking his head the black haired boy leaned back, drained by the excessive training. Then realizing that ricky was staring at his fist, the boy moved his hand further away. But before he could, changhyun had grabbed the swollen hand; a frown was obvious on his face as he grumbled at the awful state it was in.

“seriously jonghyun, you shouldn’t leave your hand like this!”

“uhh.. nahh.. don’t fret it. it’ll heal in a day or two”

“stay here”

Ricky dashed out of the gym and went outside, bracing the bone chilling snow as he grabbed a ball of ice in his hand and went inside. Wrapping it in a washcloth, he gently dabs it on changjo’s fist.

“this is like a magic potion for bruises, I do it all the time.”

“all the time? You must bruise all the time too huh, haha”

“yeah… I do…..”

Changjo’s face darkens at the reply, he knew exactly why. Why changhyun was always in slight bruises here and there, and who caused it. But he also knew that asking would only bring more pain, so he bit his lips and stared down at ricky’s small fragile hands.

“im just kidding..”

“ funny.. ha.ha. have you eaten yet ricky?”

“no…. but im not hungry….. I just… I wanna talk with you”

“I was on my home and I didn’t even realize it but when I looked around I was already here, I guess I wanted your company.”

“hummmmm.. well here I am. But since when did you like me so much, I remembered one time you practically death stared me for drooling on your table”

“now here you are, dabbing my hands”

Smiling ricky took the melted ice away and rested his head on the table. Sleepy from the warm temperature inside the gym. It was funny how comfortable he felt around jonghyun, this feeling of security just like what he felt long ago in the arms of ljoe. He felt safe.

"you were the one who gave me the cold shoulder first you know”

“but now see who’s bribing me”

“i….didn’t like it”

“your smile back then, even now sometimes when you’re grinning like that it makes me boil. I just can’t stand that fake smile of yours.”

Ricky sat straight, his eyes peering at the statement. Perplexed by the fact that jonghyun knew his smiles were fake from the beginning, a smile no one was able to recognize. Who is this guy? a thought that rumbled inside his mind as he tried to piece ideas together, to cover his broken tracks from jonghyun’s sight.

“ff..fake? I never fake anything. It was probably your super suspicious attitude”

Ricky grinned as his eye looked dead straight into jonghyun’s, still figuring a way out of his suspicion.

“ah… never is strong word. Especially when you’re doing it now! Honestly changhyun, you have the brightest most adorable smile I’ve ever seen. But most of the time its fake and I can see it from the way you daringly look straight at me, each time you smile…..”

“it was to push me away, right?”

Changhyun choked on his own breath as he felt a deep cut inside his chest. A jab that covered a different side of his already swollen heart, a space that he thought had run out. He glared at the tall lad, aggravated by the truth changjo had spoken.

But the moment their eyes met, this surge of electricity went down his back. A different type of shiver that ran down his spine, jonghyun’s stare was stabbing him deep as his heart skipped beats by beats.

“yes”

hi guys hehe so this chap is a bit long than normal. but well i hope u liked it ^^ its #1004dayswithTEENTOP yay!! posting this update on this happy day muehehe<3 drop ur comments ^^ i'll be thankful for each one !!