Sunggyu burst out from under the water, gasping heavily for air. He had done it – he had submerged himself under water for the first time in years.

“Good job!” Woohyun cried, looking more excited than ever. “You stayed underneath for a whole two seconds!”

Sunggyu grinned up at him as he stepped out of the pool. “And I didn’t freak out this time either.”

Woohyun pulled him out with a helping hand. “You did so great! You’ve come so far in such a short amount of time!”

“And to think, those therapists I went to couldn’t even do anything within months.” Sunggyu laughed to himself as he wrapped himself in a towel. “I wonder why that is.”

“Maybe it’s because you weren’t motivated to make yourself better,” Woohyun replied, handing him a bottle of water. “And now that you have reasons to swim, you actually want to get better.” He kissed Sunggyu on the cheek. “Also known as me.”

Sunggyu laughed and rolled his eyes. “Excuse you, but Eunsol is the other reason, you know.” But he kissed him back anyways.

After a couple days of being a bit awkward and weirdly flirtatious, they decided to officially announce that they were dating. Sungyeol had almost thrown a party in happiness but Sunggyu had politely declined. Myungsoo wanted to give his congratulations in person, but he had been so busy juggling two jobs that he could only send a congratulatory text. These days, Woohyun would come around as many times as he could to help him in the water (and to cuddle afterwards.) It had been nearly a month since they had started dating now.

Hand in hand, they headed back inside and into the elevator. They talked with each other comfortably, making plans for dates and telling each other cheesy jokes. Despite only dating for a month so far, there wasn’t anything to hide between them. Things were very relaxed and adoring with the two of them.

“How are things at the park going?” Sunggyu asked, brushing Woohyun’s hair back. “Things are going well, right?”

“Yeah, things are relatively okay,” Woohyun replied hesitantly. “It’s a little less romantic now that Myungsoo doesn’t work at the park as much. Sungyeol isn’t as jumpy anymore,” he chuckled.

Sunggyu furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Yeah, now that you mention it, Myungsoo and Sungyeol haven’t been hanging out as much. Myungsoo’s been so much more stressed these days too. Must be the weight of two jobs settling down on his shoulders.”

“Hope he’s still getting enough rest,” Woohyun commented off-handedly. He linked his fingers in between Sunggyu’s and brought it up to kiss the back of his hand. “Hope you’re getting enough rest too.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes but smiled and leaned down to kiss Woohyun’s cheek. “I get enough rest. It’s you I worry about, Hyun. I hope you’re getting enough rest. It’s been busier at the park now, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Woohyun’s smile suddenly vanished and was replaced by a frown. “Not for the right reasons though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Word got out to the press. Someone leaked out information that we were mistreating our animals,” Woohyun grumbled underneath his breath. “I’m livid. Someone thinks they can get away with hurting our babies and try to make it story? It’s disrespectful and inexcusable. As soon as we find them, they’re getting fired.”

Sunggyu’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean… there are reporters coming to the park? What have they been doing?”

“They’ve been trying to snoop around.” Woohyun looked more than distraught as the elevator doors opened and they walked out hand in hand. “We’ve had to tighten the security so that they can’t get to the animals.”

“That sounds terrible,” Sunggyu muttered. “Who would do such a thing?”

“The same people who have been poisoning our animals,” Woohyun huffed angrily. “We have to get down to the bottom of whoever is doing this or one of our animals could get seriously hurt.”

“Eunsol hasn’t been touched though, right?” Sunggyu asked suddenly, pausing in their steps. “Nobody has touched Eunsol?”

Woohyun smiled at him, finding his concern for the orca calf adorable. “Nobody has touched her,” he reassured. “She’s being watched all the time by Key and Sungyeol, so no need to worry. She and her mother are in a separate tank until Eunsol is comfortable enough in the water.”

“Okay, as long as no one has touched her,” Sunggyu grinned. “I mean, the other animals are just as important but… Eunsol is special to me.”

“I can tell,” Woohyun chuckled. “It’s adorable though. I’m glad she’s a motivation for you.”

Sunggyu laughed lightly as he unlocked the door to his apartment. “I’m glad too. If she wasn’t born, who knows if I would have been able to even look at the water again.”

The laugh Woohyun let out sounded like music to Sunggyu’s ears as they headed into his apartment. Hand in hand, they had plans to sit down and maybe watch a movie or two. As Woohyun situated himself on the couch, Sunggyu grabbed a couple of movies to choose from.

“So,” he said, “would you rather watch A Werewolf Boy, The Bourne Identity, or Captain America: The Winter Soldier?”

“Hmmm,” Woohyun mused, “Song Joongki, Matt Damon, or Chris Evans…? Hard choice there.”

Sunggyu scoffed as he popped one of the discs out of its case. He placed it into his DVD player and hit play. “If you’re not making a choice then I will.”

“Hey, you didn’t even let me make a choice!”

“Too late, I already made mine.” Sunggyu chuckled as he sat down next to Woohyun and set an arm over his shoulder, ignoring the dirty look he was sending him. “Don’t worry, it’ll be good, I promise.”

Woohyun honestly wasn’t convinced until the Marvel logo appeared on the screen. His face lit up – Sunggyu knew he always had a love for a good superhero movie. Woohyun leaned into his embrace comfortably as the movie’s intro began playing on the screen. With Woohyun’s head resting on his shoulder and his arm resting around Woohyun’s waist, the entire atmosphere felt terribly nice. He would bend down every few minutes to plant kisses all over Woohyun’s face and Woohyun would occasionally turn his head to return the kisses now and then. It was hard to pay attention to the movie when they were too busy paying attention to each other.

“Oh… am I interrupting something?”

Woohyun and Sunggyu looked up to see Myungsoo coming out of his room, his hair rumpled as he wore nothing but a tank top and some pajama pants. Sunggyu was confused – he didn’t realize Myungsoo was still home. “I thought you left for work,” he said.

“No, I work from home today. I have to come up with a concept for next week’s photoshoot. Being an art director is harder than it looks,” he sighed. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. “Is there anything to eat? I stayed up so late last night and I forgot dinner.”

“Yeah,” Sunggyu responded, “Woohyun brought some food over earlier and there’s still some leftover in the fridge if you want to heat it up.”

Myungsoo nodded. “Okay, thanks.” He pulled his phone from his pocket as he slid some plates into their microwave. “Oh shoot, Sungyeol called me three times while I was asleep. I’ll need to return his calls later.”

Woohyun raised an eyebrow, turning away from the action on the screen to shoot a scrutinizing gaze at Myungsoo. “Why not just call him back now? You have time, don’t you?”

“I don’t,” Myungsoo replied gruffly. “I have to get back to work as soon as possible. I’ll eat in my room to not bother you two, don’t worry.” The microwave beeped and he grabbed the plate of food and made a direct beeline to his room.

Sunggyu sighed as he watched the bedroom door slam shut. “I’m worried about that kid,” he said. “He’s working too hard. I wonder if he should have taken up that other job offer while still juggling this one.”

“Sungyeol is worried too,” Woohyun murmured. “He talked to me yesterday about how Myungsoo hadn’t really been talking to him lately. I hope they’ll be okay.”

“They’ll pull through, won’t they?” Sunggyu said reassuringly. “They’ve been infatuated with each other for too long for this to come between them.”

“I don’t know.” Woohyun shrugged. “Sungyeol seems to be on the edge lately. On top of work being piled up since Eunsol’s birth and Myungsoo being busy? He’s really stressed.”

Sunggyu pouted. “I’ll mention it to Myungsoo later today. But let’s just hope they’re fine.”

Woohyun nodded. “And we still need to figure out who’s been hurting the animals,” he says with a bite in voice. “The stress added on top of that is unbelievable.”

Sunggyu leaned down to place a kiss on Woohyun’s temple. “It’s okay, I’m sure it will die down. You’ll find your guilty man in no time, I’m sure.”

“I just wish we had a clue,” Woohyun muttered. “If there was just one lead or one suspicion on someone that we could check out, it might lead to something else. I feel like we shouldn’t be playing detective but I have to find out who did it on my own. And I don’t need third parties coming into the park and causing a scene.”

Sunggyu thought for a moment. Seeing Woohyun stressed like this was unnerving because the latter was always so positive. Sunggyu wanted to do anything he could to alleviate the stress that had been settling down in the park or to at least help Woohyun out. If only he could remember any suspicious activity…

“Wait,” he said suddenly. “Who has access to all the animals?”

Woohyun tore his eyes away from the television screen and responded, “Only the veteran trainers, Hoya and the janitors.”

“Have you suspected any of them to tamper with the animals’ diets?”

“No. The only ones allowed to prepare the food are the trainers.”

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow and asked slowly, “What about Hoya?”

“Hoya?” Woohyun furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “…I suppose that he always had to be around to hand us the supplements for certain animals. Why would you ask about Hoya?”

Sunggyu bit his cheek. “Well… I don’t want to be a rat, but… I might have some information that could help you.”

Woohyun’s eyes widened.

“I don’t understand. Hoya?” Woohyun shook his head. “I feel like that wouldn’t make any sense.”

“Because it doesn’t,” Sungyeol replied. He attached a to the large bottle of milk for Eunsol. He laughed lightly as he knelt by the water and Eunsol came up to on the bottle. Sungyeol rubbed Eunsol’s head affectionately as he held the bottle of milk steady. “Why would Hoya ever want to hurt these animals? He loves them just as much as we do.”

Woohyun nodded in agreement. “Exactly. It just wouldn’t make sense.” He threw a handful of fish into the water where Luma swam up to eat it. “Hoya would never do something like that.”

“And Sunggyu based his assumptions off of what – a clipboard?”

“Yeah, and that Hoya’s been acting suspicious and anxious all the time these days. I guess that’s a fair accusation but there’s really nothing to back it up.”

“It sounds pretty far-fetched if you ask me,” Sungyeol mumbled. He grinned down at Eunsol as she finished her bottle and went back to swim with her mother. “I think we just need to crack down on security a bit more. I’m sure if we just watch whoever is coming in and out, the perpetrator will become clear.”

Woohyun agreed as he picked up the cold empty buckets to deposit. Sungyeol followed him back into the storage room, where all the meals for the day were being refrigerated. “So,” Woohyun began, “has Myungsoo returned your calls yet?”

Sungyeol frowned at the ground. “No. He’s been ignoring my calls, my texts – ignoring me. I just can’t believe it.”

“I’m sure he’s not intending to neglect you,” Woohyun tried to reassure. “He is handling two jobs now.”

“He barely even visits the park anymore. I get that he’s excited for his new job, but it would be nice if he could squeeze me into his busy schedule.” Sungyeol huffed out in annoyance. “I’m just hoping he won’t be too busy to pay attention to me when I come over tonight.”

“What are you going over for?”

“It’s our anniversary tonight, we’ve been planning this dinner for weeks now.” A small smile lit Sungyeol’s face as a sparkle flitted over his eyes. “I know we haven’t been talking much lately, but I’m so excited to spend tonight with him.” He giggled to himself and sent a knowing glance towards Woohyun. “And what about you – are you and Sunggyu going to be doing anything special?”

Woohyun scoffed but not before a blush colored his cheeks. “We’ve only been dating for like, a month. There’s really no reason to do anything special.” He glared at Sungyeol, who started laughing at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Sungyeol chuckled. “It’s just that your boyfriend is coming over right after we talked about him.”

“What?!” Woohyun whipped his head to the side to see Sunggyu bounding towards them. “Oh my gosh, I forgot he was even at the park today. How do I look? Is my hair alright?”

“Your hair is wet because you were in the water, you dummy,” Sungyeol laughed loudly. He took the bucket from Woohyun’s hands and said, “I’ll take this back for you. Go flirt with your boyfriend.”

Woohyun shot him a dirty look but lit up once Sunggyu reached him. Sungyeol only shook his head and chuckled to himself as he walked away from the two. It kind of made him miss how Myungsoo would visit him at the park and organize dates later for that day. It made him miss a lot of things about Myungsoo. He could only sigh to himself as he opened the door to the storage room.

But when he opened the door, he nearly jumped and shouted in surprise. The bucket fell from his hand as he reached up to clutch his chest.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I was just–”

“Hoya!” Sungyeol exclaimed with a sigh of relief. “Holy crap, what are you doing here?” He shook his head and picked up the dropped bucket.

Hoya smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I was just dropping off this month’s vitamins for the baby and her mom. I’ll head out now though.”

Sungyeol raised an eyebrow. “I thought you already dropped off the vitamins… You handed them off to Key earlier, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I just forgot my clipboard here.” Hoya grinned at him and Sungyeol couldn’t help but notice his eyes glancing to the left.

“Oh, well we would have returned your clipboard if you just called us and told us you forgot it. I know it’s probably really busy with all the sick animals these days.”

“It’s alright, I had a few spare minutes to get my clipboard, so… yeah. No need to look at it.”

Sungyeol was about to open his mouth and ask him a few more things again but Hoya was already pushing past him. He dashed away silently to Sungyeol’s confusion. As he put away the empty bucket and empty bottle, Woohyun and Sunggyu came up behind him.

“Hey, did I just see Hoya running out?” Sunggyu asked, looking over his shoulder curiously.

Sungyeol nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he murmured.

“That’s weird.” Woohyun scrunched his forehead with a little smile of disbelief. “What’s he doing here?”

Sungyeol tilted his head and stared at the tiny figure of Hoya running in the distance. “I don’t know.”

“Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?”

Woohyun shrugged. Opening a restaurant app on his phone, he started swiping through some nearby options. “What kind of food do you feel like eating?”

“Wherever you want, baby,” Sunggyu said with a coy smile. Seeing the flush on Woohyun’s face was always more than rewarding. It was kind of strange since before they were dating, Sunggyu felt shier. But now that they were an official couple, it seemed to be that Woohyun was the one who was shy. Sunggyu really liked complimenting him and Woohyun would always look down and grin at his lap as his cheeks turned pink. Sunggyu thought it was the most adorable thing on earth.

Woohyun laughed to himself and poked Sunggyu on the shoulder. “Keep your eyes on the road, mister. I don’t need you crashing us.”

“I am, I am,” Sunggyu replied with a chuckle. However, he took on of his hands off the steering wheel to hold Woohyun’s hand. “I’m a safe driver, trust me.”

“And this whole time, I thought you didn’t have a car.”

“Technically, Myungsoo and I share this car. But he’s staying home tonight, so he was okay with me taking you out to dinner.”

“Oh yeah, he and Sungyeol are celebrating their anniversary tonight.”

Sunggyu’s eyebrows furrowed as he slowed at a red light. “Wait, what? Myungsoo never mentioned that. He would have cleaned up our apartment if he did.”

“Are you sure? Sungyeol said they had been planning this night for a while.” Woohyun looked back to his phone and said, “Let’s go eat at a barbecue restaurant, I’ve got a craving for some good ribs.”

“Ribs sound great, actually,” Sunggyu admitted. “With some beer, too – damn, I’m really hungry now. Where’s the barbecue place?”

“A couple streets down from this light,” Woohyun replied. “Ooh, there’s a place that serves chili cheese fries next to it; want to get some after?”

Sunggyu snorted as the traffic light turned green. “You won’t be full after a big plate of ribs?”

“I’ll always have room for chili cheese fries.” Woohyun snickered as he replied to a few texts on his phone. “Besides, I’ll work it all off when I swim.”

“Fatty.”

“Oh please – do you even work out?”

“I walk around the park every day, I think that counts.” Sunggyu shot him a teasing look as Woohyun ordered him to turn the corner. “But that’s beside the point. I don’t want you to over eat. That’s bad for you, you know.”

“I know, Gyu,” Woohyun said, rolling his eyes sarcastically. “I won’t over eat, I swear. I just have an extra stomach for chili cheese fries.”

Sunggyu laughed as he drove past a few green lights. He spotted the barbecue restaurant as he replied, “Whatever you say, babe.” Woohyun grinned at him as he parked.

Exiting the car, Sunggyu put his arm around Woohyun as they entered the restaurant.

“Okay, but I’m just saying – is it illegal if I do it in my own apartment?”

“I don’t know… it sounds illegal.”

“But I’m doing it by myself. And no one will be there. I don’t plan on doing it in public.”

Sunggyu made a face. “I don’t know… a Pop Rocks body shot doesn’t sound very safe. Pop Rocks and alcohol don’t sound very safe in general.”

“It sounds fun to me.” Woohyun laughed at his own idea. “I mean, just think about it!”

“I’d rather not,” Sunggyu replied with a half-hearted chuckle. “And I didn’t realize that you were so adventurous,” he teased. They were driving back from their dinner together with intentions to hang out in Sunggyu’s room for a little bit. They smelled like barbecue and chili cheese fries and Sunggyu really wouldn’t want it any other way.

Woohyun let out a content sigh, watching as lights whizzed by his window. He had a full stomach and a caring boyfriend – he didn’t know anything that could have made his night more enjoyable. Taking out his phone, he turned it on, checking his notifications. “Oh. Sungyeol texted me twenty minutes ago.”

“Oh, he did?” Sunggyu asked. His eyebrow raised but his eyes stayed focused on the road in front of him. “What for?”

“Nothing much,” Woohyun replied. “He just texted that he was heading over to Myungsoo’s place. He seems nervous though.”

Sunggyu frowned. “What is there to be nervous about?”

“It sounds like Myungsoo hadn’t been texting or contacting him all day today. I’m almost worried for him.”

“Why?”

“Sungyeol doesn’t take it lightly when he’s ignored. If I ignored him I wouldn’t hear the end of it for days, but from what I know, he’s very patient with Myungsoo. He hasn’t snapped at Myungsoo yet but I feel like he’s been on the edge lately.” Woohyun frowned at his lap and sighed.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Sunggyu reassured. “As long as Myungsoo gives him the attention he needs tonight, nothing bad will happen.”

They pulled into the parking lot of Sunggyu’s apartment building shortly after. They walked side by side into the building, ignoring Heechul’s completely judgmental gaze. It was easy to appease him after Sunggyu explained that he and Woohyun had started dating. Woohyun was relieved also since it seemed that Heechul didn’t have much of a problem with him anymore.

They told each other jokes and funny stories up the elevator ride and as they walked down the hall to Sunggyu’s apartment. But before Sunggyu could open up the door to his apartment, the door flung open violently.

Sunggyu jumped backwards in shock. “Oh, what the– …Sungyeol?”

Sungyeol stood, looking petrified at seeing Sunggyu and Woohyun. He immediately took off down the hallway, wiping at his face as he snuck into the elevator. Although the moment was short, it didn’t take Woohyun long to realize that Sungyeol was crying.

“He’s crying,” Woohyun muttered with confusion. He rubbed Sunggyu’s arm and murmured, “I’m going to follow him and see if I can help. I’ll drive him home too, okay? I don’t want him driving with blurry eyes.”

“Okay,” Sunggyu replied. “I’m going to check on Myungsoo. Take the stairs, it will be faster.”

“Alright.” Woohyun reached up to give Sunggyu a parting kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Sunggyu nodded as he watched Woohyun rush away. Afterwards he pushed his way into his apartment, feeling a seething anger bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. He knew Myungsoo was a kind boy. There couldn’t have been a reason for him to be impolite or rude. But when he went inside his apartment, he found Myungsoo sitting at the counter, face in his hands. He was still in his pajamas and his hair was disheveled.

“Myungsoo…?” Sunggyu asked. “What happened here?”

Myungsoo looked up at him, his eyes miserable and pink. “I forgot. I forgot about tonight. Sungyeol got mad at me. And he told me I was an inconsiderate boyfriend who only cared about myself.”

“Myungsoo, I don’t know what to–”

“But that’s not true about me, Sunggyu, it’s not true! It’s not like I purposely ignored him! So I snapped at him – told him he didn’t understand me the same way he used to. And then… then…”

Sunggyu prompted, “Then?” He needed to know what happened in order to help Myungsoo fix it.

“And then we broke up.”

“What?!”

Myungsoo stood up from his chair and walked away angrily. “I don’t care anymore. What’s done is done. We’ll get over each other eventually.”

Sunggyu followed him, his eyebrows furrowed. “Myungsoo, wait. Think about the decisions you made tonight.” But he was responded to with a door being slammed in his face.

Sunggyu took out his phone – he needed to text Woohyun immediately.

“Is he okay?”

Woohyun leaned into Sunggyu’s arms, sighing sadly. “No. Sungyeol’s not that okay. But he’s too busy drowning himself in work to care.” The sound of Luma singing behind them brought a slight smile to Woohyun’s face. “But it looks like Luma is liking the extra attention.”

“That’s better, I guess. Myungsoo wouldn’t talk to me this morning,” Sunggyu sighed. “I’m sorry that this happened to them.”

“Me too. I’ve never seen Sungyeol so upset before.” Woohyun leaned up to peck Sunggyu on the lips. “Thanks for coming today.”

“You make it sound like I don’t come every day already,” Sunggyu chuckled, wrapping his arms around Woohyun’s wetsuit clad body. “Besides, I came to visit Eunsol, not you.”

Woohyun scoffed playfully. “Okay then. I see who you’re really here to see. Are you in love with me or Eunsol’s?”

“Clearly, I’m more in love with Eunsol than anyone,” Sunggyu joked. Woohyun took his hands anyways and lead him over to the other side of the tank. Now that Sunggyu had relearned how to hold his breath underwater for a bit, the small little ankle depth of didn’t bother him.

“Eunsol is over there,” Woohyun said, pointing to the edge of the tank.

Sunggyu tilted his head, staring at the calf strangely. She was laying up on the edge of the tank, moving slowly. Her squeaks sounded half-hearted and weak and Woohyun seemed to notice as well.

“Is something wrong with Eunsol…?” Sunggyu whispered. He watched as Sungyeol, who was swimming in the tank, started swimming over to the baby whale. Sungyeol rubbed her stomach and back, wondering what was wrong.

Sunggyu was about to ask Woohyun some more questions, but bit his tongue when he noticed how concentrated Woohyun seemed on Sungyeol. Sungyeol was whispering things to Eunsol, treading the water he waded in. It only took three seconds for Sungyeol to give Woohyun a certain gaze before Woohyun whipped around with angry determination in his eyes.

“I need to get the vet.”

( A/N ) : 

hullo hullo i'm back :3 im starting to update my stories at a more frequent and consistent pace which is good for all of us lmao 

anyways, this isn't very couple-y (?) but it's all kind of important so. also i think woogyu cuddling and going on bbq dates is already precious in general. also did you guys know that this is actually going to come to close soon? not sure how many chapters left exactly, but i don't think we'll hit 20 chapters! anyways hope you enjoyed :) and a belated merry christmas and happy holidays to all of you! 

~ Quinnie
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