Friday, 26/12

"I want to meet him."

"I'm not sure..."

"I'll be good! I'll be too busy to be bad."

"Your place is too expensive for me anyway."

"I'll cover half then. Don't worry."

Woohyun peers at Cheolyong over his bowl of seaweed soup. His fingers peek out the sleeves of his big white hoodie and his legs shiver in his decade-old jogging pants. It's early, he can't contemplate other clothes just yet.  Meanwhile, his room-mate sits across from his at the kitchen table, innocently tearing at his slice of left-over pizza (which Cheolyong claims is a perfectly healthy breakfast). Maybe it's only because he's still so tired from the last two days, but Cheolyong does seem to be making sense. Cheolyong's family's restaurant does really good shabu shabu. With his friend covering half of the bill, Woohyun could take Sunggyu somewhere more date-like than some noodle stand. At the same time, if Sunggyu appears not into it being a date, Woohyun can claim it's just his friend's restaurant, no big deal. Certainly not a date date. 

"Second opinions are important, Woohyun-ah," Cheolyong needles, knowing that his friend's resolve is crumbling. 

"I trust Kibummie's opinion a lot," Woohyun protests, pointing his spoon in his friend's face. 

"Like how you trusted him on those floral slacks last summer? Do you remember that? Because I do. Or that lime-green zebra shirt he convinced you to wear to the club before. You might have blocked it from your mind, Woohyun-ah, but I am elephant-kin. I never forget." The waiter is gesticulating with his pizza crust as if to illustrate the fashion crimes under discussion. 

"Fine!" Woohyun acquiesces, glaring without much venom, "Don't scare him away." 

~.~

He didn't scare him off! Woohyun internally cheers. I didn't scare him off. What's wrong with this guy? He can't help the laughter bubbling in his chest. His day had been outstandingly ty at work - he'd confused two recipes and ended up being yelled at by the head chef worse than ever before. He was relegated back to fish gutting duty for the rest of the day and he'll probably be there again tomorrow. Now here he is with delicious Japanese food in his stomach and a handsome man in his arms. The restaurant is packed. There is a table nearby with some drunk 20-something women shrieking with laughter. There's a couple in the booth behind them who can't stop arguing. Yet Woohyun's nerves aren't jangling. He feels relaxed and carefree. Sunggyu is a warm weight at his side, the scent of the man's shampoo in his nostrils. 

The current music video is showing a couple being showered with cherry blossoms. Woohyun holds Sunggyu closer, imagining the pink petals flowing through space, enveloping them in softness. He can barely believe this man likes him that way. 

~.~

Maybe because he doesn't. That strange effect Sunggyu tends to have on him is great when it's buoying Woohyun up. Nonetheless, if this is how it feels when it's tearing him down, Woohyun would like it to disappear entirely please and thank you. In one fell swoop, Sunggyu has confimed that 'Yes, I do like guys', but also 'Not you though - you're just a friend'. Woohyun's not sure how to feel, except that this . 

Even if it's just a crush, it'll still hurt - finding out that the person you like doesn't think about you that way. Doesn't think about you that way at all, apparently. Besides, if Woohyun's honest with himself, he knows well it was turning into more. He was enjoying it. He was enjoying this thing with Sunggyu and how he thought it was flowering. He was enjoying the feeling of his office worker at his side, in his arms, in his head. 

And he really wanted Sunggyu to like him back. 

~.~

Saturday, 27/12

Being the loving and kind best friend that he is, Kibum takes Woohyun's face in his hands and says, 

"You are truly stupid, My Hyun."

Woohyun grimaces. He sits down on the sofa, puts his hood up, and crosses his arms. 

"I don't see how you can spin this, My Beom. He doesn't like me." 

"He does though," Cheolyong butts in as he crawls around on the sitting room floor in search of his work apron. Woohyun harrumphs. It'd be easier to move on if his friends would quit trying to persuade him not to. 

"Have you considered," Kibum enquires, "That this guy - the producer or whatever - asked your salaryman on a date? A proper one, not an implied on. Or that he made his intenions clear instead of skirting around trying to divine if Sunggyu was bi or not? I know you wanted to take things slowly and naturally and stuff. Bu I think... I mean, from the little I saw, I think you need to be more frank. Do you see what I'm saying, Hyun-ah?"

Woohyun sighs and uncrosses his arms. He does see what Kibum means. He'd played with those thoughts himself. Essentially, this is his up and now he's lost his chance with the cutie who stumbled into his life. 

Dongwoon hurries into the room, Cheolyong's work apron clasped in his hands. (It had been in the medicine cupboard). Cheolyong jumps up with a squeal. He rushes off to finish getting ready for work, not before advising Woohyun to not be a and to listen to Kibum's words "because he's talking sense this time - not like those other times." Dongwoon pads over and sits on the floor in the space Cheolyong vacated. He pokes Woohyun's leg. Finding the man unresponsive, he asks Kibum, 

"Is this about the salaryman?"

Kibum nods, patting Woohyun's knee. He explains the situation and the chef's current depressed mood to Dongwoon. Of course, he does so from his own perspective, which, Woohyun postulates, leaves Dongwoon with a completely wrong interpretation of the hopelessness of events. He refrains from mentioning this outloud. Kibum might hold his face and call him stupid again. And anyway, wallowing in self-pity is easy and he's good at it. 

When Dongwoon starts poking his leg again, Woohyun swats his hand ineffectually. 

"What are you going to do?" the man asks, unperturbed. Woohyun looks down at him, blankly, the cogs of his brain grinding over the question. "You're going to do something," Dongwoon presses, incredulously, when he sees he's getting no reaction from the chef, "It'd be weird just to shrug and not do anything. You're obviously into the dude."

Woohyun can come up with no argument against this. He'd very much like one. But he suspects Dongwoon is spouting logic - logic which suggests Woohyun shouldn't be wallowing and which is, therefore, unwanted. 

"I didn't shrug," he contends, "I moped." Next to him, Kibum facepalms hard, making Woohyun giggle despite himself. 

~.~

Sunday, 28/12

On Sunday, Woohyun has an early shift. Afterwards, he spends an afternoon with Kibum, Jinwoon and some of Kibum's theatre friends - one of whom Jinwoon is trying to get in the pants of. The woman in question - a pretty Korean-American with a bob and a taste for sparkly clothes - shows zero awareness of or interest in Jinwoon's efforts. Seeing him working hard sure keeps Woohyun amused though. At one point, he surreptitiously mentions this to the man. Oddly, Jinwoon doesn't seem comforted by the fact. 

After Kibum's theatre friends have talked him into buying purple corduroys and leopard print trainers that he can't afford, Woohyun politely takes his leave. He buys a bottle of sikhye and goes for a stroll in the park. The old people are playing trot songs already. Woohyun can't help bursting into song. His rendition of an old Tae Jinah number gains him approving applause from a woman with silk trousers and blue, permed hair. That's one aye against Kibum and Dongwoon's nays, Woohyun tells himself with a lopsided smile. 

~.~

Monday, 29/12

He's tempted to ask about the date straight away. He resists. He keeps himself in check. And also, yes, OK, maybe he is scared. He doesn't want Sunggyu to tell him the date was great, wonderful, getting married next week, planning to adopt 2 point 8 Russian orphans. So yes, Woohyun keeps his mouth shut regarding any dates that may have occured over the weekend just gone. 

It's just so nice. Having his office worker with him, chatting with him. Sunggyu, with his gradually increasing readiness with compliments and tactile gestures. Sunggyu, with his handsome face and his pretty eye-smile and his mysterious way of making Woohyun act more giddy and dumb than usual. Sunggyu, who let Woohyun take his hand and lead him through a park during the night and who's pouting in frustration and embarrassment over his lack of co-ordination. (Sunggyu, whose pouting lips look pink and soft and are becoming a frequent invader of Woohyun's dreams). Woohyun knows he needs to ask something eventually. But eventually doesn't have to be right this minute. He's allowed to enjoy this moment for a little longer. Sunggyu's hand in his, his long eyelashes resting on his cheeks as he stares at his feet. 

At some point between Joo Hyunmi and Lee Sooyoung, Woohyun admits that he's doing just what Kibum warned him against. He can hear his best friend's voice in his head, reprimanding him for pretending to be cool when he's really just being cowardly. Straightforward, he tells himself, Frank. He just needs to say it. With that thought, he blurts out what's been on his mind all night. 

~.~

"Don't. Don't go out with him, OK?" 

He feels childish. He feels desperate. He hopes that Sunggyu can't tell. The man's slender fingers dancing over one of his scars is driving Woohyun crazy. Sunggyu's warm breath is just close enough to make Woohyun's skin tingle. It's torturous to have him so close. It's worse when he steps away. Woohyun doesn't care that he has no right to say these things. He wants Sunggyu in his arms and no one else's. 

When Sunggyu says his name in that way - that way that says he's not giving into Woohyun's childishness nor his selfishness - Woohyun spills out the first thing he can think of. Although, perhaps 'think' is too strong a word - 

"Can I kiss you?"

- because his tongue must be working faster than his brain. He's barely registered Sunggyu's shocked reply, before his legs are closing the gap between them and his arms are pulling the dazed man closer than ever. 

~.~

They never say the words. The 'be my boyfriend' never happens. Woohyun supposes they don't precisely need those words if they're adults. They talk, they hug and they kiss, long and slow. They share silly smiles and intimate gestures. Woohyun believes that the words are there between them, not needing to be voiced in order to be true. He thinks it's a mark of how much he's come to care about the shy Jeonju-man  with the secret rocker past that not saying the words aloud doesn't bother him. 

It doesn't bother him at all. 

Doesn't bother him much. 

It bothers him a little. 

But he refuses to let it keep him awake. He can wait one night to see Sunggyu and deal with it then. Nam Woohyun is an adult, darn it. He's not going to let thinking too much lead him to screw up a new relationship when it's barely started. He almost ruined things by giving up already, only saved by his friends verbal kick in the backside. 

When he gets home, he wakes Kibum up with a big hug. Kibum splutters for a moment then, with a sigh, goes limp in Woohyun's arms. 

"I take it things went well," he grumbles, voice thick with sleep. 

"I love you a lot, My Beom."

Kibum's slender shoulders shake with laughter. 

"Hey, wait. Did you have and, if so, did you shower afterwards?"

"No, I didn't," Woohyun smirks against Kibum's hair, "Your Hyun is a gentleman, Kibummie - how can you ask such a thing?"

"Just making sure," Kibum coos, patting Woohyun's chest and making himself comfortable in his friend's arms. 

~.~

Tuesday, 30/12

Woohyun doesn't see Sunggyu that day. Sunggyu sends him a message about finally getting the temporary replacement car from his insurance company and something about meeting his hometown friend that evening. That latter part reminds Woohyun of what Sunggyu said he told his boss the night of their Christmas party. Consequently, Woohyun can't help but wonder. He knows he shouldn't be the suspicious type. He promised himself last night that he wouldn't ruin things by thinking too much. A lot of people have one or two days off around now. There could easily by a couple of Sunggyu's Jeonju friends visiting. But along with the questions about last night, about if Sunggyu's really his now, Woohyun can't help but worry. What exactly are they now? Does Sunggyu want to be his alone? Will Song-Writer Guy give up without a fight?

He throws himself into work in order to shut his brain up. It works for the most part. He even gets some praise from the head chef - it's minimal, but hopefully enough to protect him from fish gutting duty for a while. On the other hand, he also gets one of the head waitresses interrogating him about why she hasn't heard him singing even once that day and is he sick and should she tell management and is every little thing absolutely OK. He attempts to placate her with a grin and a few bars of Lim Chang Jung's 'A Glass of Soju'. However, she leaves looking more troubled than before. Woohyun frowns and gets back to his coulis. Women are far too complicated for him. 

On a break that night, he checks his phone. 

 Are u jealous of my sweet ride, Namu? （￣＾￣） I know u said u finish rly late tomorrow, but msg me when ur done, yeah? i want 2 meet u... !!”(*>∀<)o(酒)” 

He mulls over the message for some time, weighing up what deeper meaning there may be behind Sunggyu using this emoticon over that emoticon. Eventually, he concludes that he's being ridiculous. Giggles froth up inside him and a genuine smile plays on his lips. Yeah, Kim Sunggyu wants him. He's 99.75% sure.

~.~

Wednesday, 31/12

It's technically already been January for a couple of hours by the time Woohyun texts Sunggyu to say he's out of work. He's not overly hopeful of a reply, despite what Sunggyu told him. The restaurant opened late so Woohyun ended up finishing exceptionally late. He dragged himself through a shower and pulled on his usual puffy jacket and a pair of clean jeans. His fingers still smell like chicken wings, he notes - which is an improvement on fish, so he's not too bothered. Perched on a stoool in a conbini, he's cradling a bottle of Coke Zero, waiting for some sort of response from Sunggyu. 

He'll give it 15 minutes, he decides. At a push, 20. Twenty-five minutes maximum. Because his Christmas was pathetic and then his New Year's Eve was pathetic - he missed the countdown because he was busy dealing with one of the newer trainee's flambe crisis. Now he's pathetically spending the first hours of the year with a bored shop assistant, an elderly drunk and his coke for company. The drunk shoves the newspaper he'd been reading back on the rack and takes out another. The red faced old man's on to his fifth, by Woohyun's count. The chef's pretty sure he's only looking at the pictures, given how quickly he's getting through them. Although, he's also muttering things under his breath - something about UFOs and the last emperor. So maybe he's searching for something in particular, Woohyun muses, watching the old man out of the corner of his eye. 

He hangs his head. His shoulders slump. Thus far, he doesn't like this year. At all. 

As despair is beginning to strangle him - and the old drunk is now wheezing about the Japanese and conspiracies - his phone vibrates. 

Woohyunnie! You're out (*＾▽＾)／ Ill come meet u. Msg u when im nearby ☆⌒c(´∀｀)ノ

Well... Well, he does like this year a tiny little bit. Thus far. 

~.~

Sunggyu's already waiting outside the shuttered up subway station by the time Woohyun arrives. The man's wearing blue jeans, a huge black hoodie, a black beanie pulled down past his eyebrows and a black face mask. His hands are fists buried in his baggy sleeves. Only the sharp lines of his eyes are visible, squeezed shut as he grits himself against the bitter cold. Woohyun thinks he looks cute. He pictures himself swaggering over and taking Sunggyu by surprise. Wrapping his arms around the man's slim waist and whispering huskily in his ear, "Miss me, Gyu-hyung?" Then Sunggyu would blush, probably punch him, and melt into Woohyun's hug. That's the plan. 

The plan is going fine up until Woohyun's crossing the road, covered in dirty slush, and his feet go from under him. A lexus narrowly avoids running him over and beeps at him angrily as it speeds away. 

"Oh gosh, Woohunnie!" 

Sunggyu's hauling him up by his armpits as Woohyun's still confusedly pushing himself onto his knees. Next, Sunggyu's hands are rapidly rubbing his arms, while Woohyun's vision is still blurred and he struggles to understand what just happened. 

"Aish, you're wet through. You're freezing. Look at that bruise. Is that a nosebleed? Why do you have a nosebleed? Aigoo, your poor face. Come on, let's get you out of your cloth- Let's get you into bed! I mean, let's get you... Oh god..." 

Woohyun allows Sunggyu to take his hand and drag him along. He's bundled into a Kia. Sunggyu puts the heating on full blast. Woohyun quickly drifts off to the sound of his office worker singing under his breath. 

~.~

"It was Junhyung's," Sunggyu mutters apropos of nothing. They're sitting on his couch again, Pia playing on the laptop this time. Woohyun has his head back, his nose stuffed with tissue. Sunggyu's affixed an icepack to the bruise on his forehead and is dabbing dried blood from Woohyun's face. Woohyun is now dressed in the massive hoodie Sunggyu had on earlier (only it's even bigger on Woohyun's vertically challenged frame) and a pair of thick, fleecy rilakkuma pyjama pants. (Sunggyu had been skittering around, trying to figure out what to give Woohyun to change into until Woohyun had groggily grabbed the hoodie and demanded it. Rather sweetly, the man had also averted his eyes when Woohyun, in the middle of the sitting room, peeled his damp shirt and jeans off). 

"What?" Woohyun grunts, eyeing Sunggyu's fidgeting free hand. 

"The gig tonight. I did go with Dongwoo, Bora and her friend, but it was Junhyung's band playing and I hung out with him and..." Sunggyu sits back, expertly flicking the wodge of tissue he'd been cleaning Woohyun's face with across the room, into the bin, "And yeah. I wanted you to know." 

Woohyun risks sitting forward. He's quite sure the nosebleed stopped long ago. But Sunggyu wouldn't stop nagging him about keeping his head back. He purses his lips while worrying the bobbles on the pyjama pants. 

"What does that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything," Sunggyu assures, laying his softer hand over Woohyun's calloused ones, "I met him yesterday to say we should just be friends and he, well, he beat me to it. We're just friends now." 

"And you're happy about that?" Woohyun questions, feeling the tissue paper sticking out of his nose flutter with every word. As kind as Sunggyu's been, Woohyun doesn't feel very cool right now and all this talk of Song-Writer Guy isn't helping. 

"Yes," Sunggyu says with determination. With one hand, he takes Woohyuns' chin and makes the chef look at him. His tech's different to Kibummie's, Woohyun thinks distantly, before thinking flutters away. He feels hypnotised watching Sunggyu's pretty brown eyes tracing his features, how his fingers Woohyun's jaw, returning to that scar on his neck. 

"I do like you, Woohyunnie. I want to try this. I mean... us. You want this too, right?" 

Woohyun nods weakly. Sunggyu is shifting in his seat to face the chef more fully. Then his hand is on Woohyun's nape, fingers playing with the strands of hair there, and his lips are pressed to Woohyun's. Woohyun's hands grab Sunggyu's t-shirt to draw him closer. This ought to be very romantic and y. Only, thanks to his nosebleed, Woohyun's been transformed into a mouth-breather tonight. He pushes Sunggyu back a little when the need for oxygen becomes undeniable. With a chuckle, Sunggyu tugs Woohyun close again, planting short, sweet kisses on his jaw and mouth. Teeth drag over Woohyun's bottom lip. And that's going great - like, really really great - until Sunggyu accidentally bumps Woohyun's nose in just the wrong way. Woohyun howls, hands flying up to cover his face. He blabbers apologies the moment the pain dies down. 

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. Are you OK? Has the bleeding started again? It doesn't look like it's -" 

Woohyun grasps Sunggyu's hands in his. Sunggyu's words stutter to a halt. He looks, big eyed, at Woohyun. A silence falls. Woohyun isn't quite sure what to say. His instincts want this to continue. Nevertheless, the logical part of him that he'll feel much ier without a busted nose and an icepack on his head. 

And that he's got time. 

"Let's go to bed. It's late." His arms link around Sunggyu's waist and he looks up at him with what he hopes is a healthy mix of smouldering and adorable. Judging by Sunggyu's flushed cheeks, Woohyun deduces that he's succeeding. "We don't need to rush. Let's just sleep." 

Sunggyu chews his lip. Woohyun can see the shy smile breaking out. He keeps his arm around Sunggyu as they pad to the bedroom, only half-listening to Sunggyu's nervous chatter. They've both got the day off tomorrow and Woohyun's got so many plans. 

XXX

Take that last line as you will, I guess, lmao. It's meant to be perfectly innocent, OK?! 

So yep, there it is. That thing that I never intended to write but quickly got too invested in to just leave alone D: I hope you enjoyed Woohyun's perspective. Originally, I was just going to write up the 31st from Sunggyu's PoV, but I seemed to just be repeating myself and I still wanted to say a bit about what Woohyun's been going through since running into Sunggyu and why he gave him that lift home in the first place. 

Comments appreciated! I'm posting this late at night, so I'm sure there are plenty of typos. Feel free to point them out xD;