A/N: So first, I basically did not update last week because of the SEWOL ferry incident. It was really tragic and I read about the boy and girl tying up their life vests together and my heart just broke. The whole tragedy is really devastating because there were families and student who thought they were going to have so much fun, and I just could not imagine because there are still so many people missing and the issue becomes so huge.

Okay, that aside. I almost did not have time this week, so this chapter was not re-read, I just do not have time for that and I’m sure there will be so many mistakes and I’m sorry if it bothers you so much. I had a really really week so I hope this is not a chapter :) <333 and I just realized this is too similar to 20 years. Oh noesssss OTL

Senior High School, 18 years old.

There he is again, Doojoon mused as he watched a young boy made his way to one of the shaded wooden bleachers in the soccer field. It was a hot day and the heat was sweltering and Doojoon just wanted to plunge into a pool of ice water. At times like this, he missed winter and the snow – but he remembered how he slipped that one time on the ice and hurt his hips – maybe not missing the winter and the snow too much now.

“Hyung!” Son Dongwoon called out to the boy from the soccer field, which was already sitting down on the shaded area of the bleacher, and waved to him excitedly. The boy straightened up a little and waved back to Dongwoon – he grinned, showing a set of silver-coloured braces. Dongwoon silently mouthed something to the boy from the soccer field and the boy nodded, giving a thumb up.

Immediately after, Dongwoon jogged slowly to Doojoon and stood in front of him. He cleared his throat and asked, “Doojoon Hyung, can I finish my practice earlier today?”

Doojoon raised an eyebrow and looked at the sitting boy, who beamed and flashed Doojoon a grin. That silvery braces again. He turned back to Dongwoon, “You going somewhere?” The younger boy nodded slightly and answered, “Yeah, Yoseob Hyung is going to tutor me for my exam two days later. You know how badly I in Biology, and I don’t want to be kicked out of the soccer team because of my failing grades.”

“Oh, okay.” Doojoon approved instantly and spared another look to the boy on the bleacher. He was watching the practice match on the field. There was a pensive look on his face as the evening sun elongated on the ground. Doojoon wondered what he was thinking about.

Doojoon knew his name. Yang Yoseob. Doojoon was not required to know Yang Yoseob’s name, of course, because Doojoon was absolutely dashing and charming – even through the awkward teenage phase – and he was the captain of the soccer team and everybody knew him and everybody loved him and he was just the coolest thing on earth with his easy going and carefree attitude and although his grades were not the best (they were not too bad either, they were just okay), that apparently added up to his charm – bad boyish charm or so. Bottom line, someone like Doojoon was not required to know the name of someone like Yang Yoseob. But he did know anyway.  Haters to the left.

“Thank you, Hyung. I will come early for the next practice. I promise.” Dongwoon smiled, too obvious of the fact that he idolized Doojoon.

Doojoon chuckled and clasped Dongwoon’s shoulder, “It’s okay, Dongwoonah. Study comes first. Let me know if you need help or anything else.”

Dongwoon visibly beamed and quickly scurried away. He packed his sport equipment and carelessly slung his huge bag on his shoulder. There was a short thud and crisp laughter when Dongwoon tripped on a bleacher and the boy laughed at him.

To be extremely honest, Doojoon had never thought that Dongwoon was cut out for soccer. Sure, he could play well, but there was nothing fantastic about him. He was too tall and too thin and his hair was always two inches too long. He looked extremely awkward even in his own skin. He lacked the intuitive and the reflex of a soccer player, but he had the passion for the sport and Doojoon was impressed by the perseverance showed by Dongwoon. It was enough for Doojoon, as the team captain, to give the young boy a chance in the team. Most often than not, Dongwoon would sit at the side of the field, watching the match instead of playing, but it was more than enough for the younger boy and he truly appreciate the opportunity that Doojoon had given.

Doojoon knew that everyone was surprised when they saw Dongwoon, one of the new recruits of the first years, jog onto the field on the first day of soccer practice for the new school year. But the best surprise for Doojoon came in the form of a smaller boy sitting on the shaded area of one of the bleachers to wait for and cheer on Dongwoon. He reckoned there was something extremely special between the both of them – a strong bond and mutual understanding – and Doojoon thought it was quite sweet.

Another surprise came when Doojoon went for his practical chemistry one sunny afternoon. The weather was too hot and too humid and Doojoon was sweating too much and was absolutely dehydrated and he honestly thought he was hallucinating – because really, people did hallucinate when they were dehydrated hence the water in the desert hallucination stuff – when he saw Yang Yoseob sitting in one bench (it was the second from the front on the right side) with Yoona, a huge smile on his face when Yoona animatedly told him some stories. That silvery braces again.

 Doojoon went to his usual bench – the third from the front on the left side – and dropped his things onto his side of the bench that he shared with Junho. “Are we mixing class?” Doojoon asked.

“Yeah,” Junho nodded, “I heard their teacher, Mrs. Kim, went for maternity leave so they will be joining us for a bit. But I think this is nice,” Junho smiled with obvious fascination on his face, “at least we have one class with Yoona. Don’t you think she is so pretty, I mean – yah Yoon Doojoon are you listening to me?”

“Huh? What – ouch – you don’t have to be so physical,” Doojoon frowned when Junho slapped him on the stomach, “Yes, Yoona and blahblahblah… I heard you just fine, brother.” He turned to look at Yang Yoseob again and he could hear faint laughter from the smaller boy.

Honestly, he did not even know why he kept meeting Yang Yoseob, and he did not even know why he even bothered to notice Yang Yoseob – maybe because he kept meeting Yang Yoseob? But that did not make any sense at all because then he would be noticing everybody else he kept seeing and that did not even happen. Or maybe because he had a soft spot for Dongwoon and Dongwoon obviously had a soft spot for Yoseob? But that did not make sense either and all of these thinking made Doojoon’s head hurt just a little bit so he decided to stop analysing things.

The class was a blur and at some point Junho provided too much heat to a solution and it splattered hazardously to Doojoon, which made the soccer team captain yelped because bloody hell, it is ing hot. The whole class looked at them, including Yang Yoseob and he could see Yang Yoseob smiling and frowning at the same time at them. Doojoon could not unsee the silvery braces again.

After class, Doojoon had decided that he would talk to Yang Yoseob so he approached Yang Yoseob who was washing up after his chemical experiments.

“Hello.” Doojoon leaned against Yang Yoseob’s bench with a wide smile.

Yang Yoseob looked up slowly and widened his eyes in surprise, “Hi, can I help you?”

“I’m Doojoon,” he offered a hand to Yoseob, “Yoon Doojoon.”

Yoseob motioned to his wet hands, “Um, my hands are wet, so… I’m Yang Yoseob.” He bowed a little politely instead of shaking Doojoon’s offered hand. “I know who you are, can I help you?”

Doojoon retracted his hand quickly and scrambled to take his note out, “Is it possible for you to teach me some stuff? I have no idea what was going on here that resulted in the small incident Junho and I had before. I just don’t want to kill anybody or melt anyone’s face during practical chemistry.”

There was a really short pause before Yoseob burst out laughing. Doojoon noted the laughter was crisp, it danced in the wind into the ears, he noted the silvery braces too, and he found something else. Yoseob had dimples near the corners of his mouth. One could only see them when they were this up close to Yang Yoseob.

“I can teach you stuff.” Yoona cut in suddenly. “I’m good at this, y’know.”

Doojoon stared at the girl called Yoona and he prayed to God she did not just wink to him. He did not even know where she came from, she was like a mushroom that popped out of nowhere.

“Yeah,” Yoseob agreed, “Yoona is fantastic at this, aren’t you?” Yoona nodded at that and Yoseob continued, “She even solved question number 5 about the zinc strip and the solvent. She is really talented in chemistry. I’m not even half as good as her.”

“What? But I don’t –“ This was not like what Doojoon had planned.

Yoona flipped her hair back, “Do you want to take it after school? I know this really good place for hanging out. We can go there and have our small tutoring lesson. I’m sure you will get it in no time at all.”

“Yes,” Yoseob nodded, “Yoon Doojoon-sshi, you are in good hands.”

Doojoon could do nothing but watched as Yoseob walked out of the chemistry laboratory with a mountain of things on his hands.

=&=

Now, 29 years old.

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon?” Doojoon asked, still sprawled on the hotel’s bed.

Yoseob stared silently at Doojoon as he buttoned his baby blue shirt. They met for a secret rendezvous, as Yoseob called it, in a hotel in Apgujeong and had quick furious satisfying . Doojoon thought it was just basically a booty call, but he had nothing to complain about anyway.  

“Shall we go for lunch?” Doojoon continued.

Yoseob looked down at his shirt buttons, making sure he was not messing up the holes and the button order. “Honestly I’m too busy to have a quickie tomorrow, I have a meeting at 1.30 and I don’t –“

“I said lunch, not .” Doojoon deadpanned.

“As in lunch lunch?” It was Yoseob’s turn to ask.

“Lunch, you know. Us sitting on a table, eating real food and drinking real drinks, having a few conversations, nice and cozy. I had nothing about on my mind when I asked you for lunch.”

“Ah, that kind of lunch.”

“It’s not that kind of lunch. That is the real lunch.”

Yoseob turned to look at Doojoon as he put on his jeans, “I told you that we are purely buddies, didn’t i? friends? Ring any bell?”

Doojoon huffed, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean we cannot be friends. I mean how do we become friends if we are not friends to start with. It’s not like I cannot see you if it’s not for . We are friends with benefits, it means we are friends to begin with but we have benefits, which is .”

“Awwww, look at you pouting.” Yoseob crawled back to the bed and kissed Doojoon’s pout. “Okay, let’s have lunch tomorrow. But I told you I have meeting at 1.30 so I need to get back before 1.”

“Okay, noted.”

“And you are buying.” Yoseob teased.

“When am I not?” Doojoon grinned.

“I’ll pay for the room today, so you pay for the meal tomorrow.” Yoseob got out of bed quickly before Doojoon decided to drag him back to bed and have another round. He combed his hair with his hand and check for any obvious hickey on his neck.

“I miss your braces.” Doojoon quipped.

“What?” Yoseob turned around so quick the world seemed to go merry-go-round.

“I miss your braces, they are nice.”

Yoseob gawked at Doojoon. “Are you mocking me now, Ahjussi?”

“No, of course not.” Doojoon laughed, “I really miss them. I think you look nice with your braces.”

“They are called orthodontic devices.”

“The silvery thing. Whatever they are called. You look nice with them on.”

Yoseob scoffed, “Oh no, you didn’t just say that. You had no idea how much pain I had to go through with that. And I looked so ugly with it, I mean why do you want to fence your own teeth? It’s not like they are running away from your mouth. Don’t remind me of those years. Yuck.”

 “You didn’t look ugly. Come on.”

Yoseob shuddered thinking about his years with braces on, “I cannot possibly give you a with braces on, can I now?”

“Oh my God, Yang Yoseob. Stop it. Really, stop it with the innuendos.” Doojoon plopped back onto the soft mattress, “I’m gonna get hard again.”

Yoseob chuckled, “Should I help you, then? With my current teeth positions, they are perfect for a quick and nice , don’t you think so?”

Doojoon would really want to see that silvery braces again, just like in high school. “I like your braces.”

Another scoff from Yoseob before he walked out of the hotel room, prim and proper. “I’ll call you to confirm if we are having lunch tomorrow. You can use the room as long as you want, I have paid for the night too.” Yoseob winked and blew a kiss from the door before it shut.

Doojoon sat up and leaned on the headboard. He told his secretary he would be missing the rest of the days for personal reasons and he was so relieved he took the rest of the day off. He just wanted to be alone now.

He stared out of the window and watched as the evening sun started to set, casting dark elongated shadows into the room. His mind took him years back into high school. He remembered the wind, the sound of leaves rustling against each other, the smell of green grass and soil. He remembered the small boy sitting on the shaded area of the bleachers, smiling to Dongwoon.

He remembered the silver-coloured braces, glistening under the setting sun. He remembered, but apparently Yoseob did not want to remember any of it.

Yoseob wanted to throw it away.

He prayed hard that his existence would not end like those silver-coloured braces. Doojoon did not want Yoseob to throw him away and forget about him years down the road.