chapter 25 | placid

“Is it okay if I stay with you for a few days?”

            Hoya pushes up his reading glasses and looks up from his book. Sunggyu is towel drying his hair, a large sweater hanging loosely off his shoulders. He’s wearing one of Hoya’s bigger and more comfortable sweaters, though Hoya hadn’t expected it to be that big on Sunggyu. He realizes how thin Sunggyu is and how recently he hasn’t been eating properly, assuming that it’s due to the appearance of Woo Bin. “Of course, Gyu. Do you want to stop by your house to pick up some clothes?”

            “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

            “When you finish drying your hair, we’ll head out.”

            Sunggyu nods and continues ruffling his hair with the fluffy towel. “Hey, do you still have my one pair of glasses I left here a while ago?” Sunggyu asks, blinking. He hears Hoya open a drawer in his desk and fish around for something until Hoya stands and walks over, handing Sunggyu a pair of black thick rimmed glasses. “Thanks.”

            “Is your hair dry?” Hoya asks, reaching over to place his hand on top of Sunggyu’s head. “Yep, all dry. Ready to go?”

            Sunggyu nods and throws the towel into the hamper. On the way out he turns on his phone – he’d turned it off after getting to Hoya’s – to find thirty new messages. He scans over them; there are some from his mother asking his whereabouts, some from Dongwoo asking if he’s okay. The rest are from Woohyun who’d been texted by Dongwoo that Sunggyu hadn’t returned home. There are missed calls, too, and Sunggyu feels bad for not anwering any of them. He’ll tell his family that his phone died and he stayed at Hoya’s.

            They walk to Sunggyu’s home (Hoya insisted that Sunggyu could use some fresh air) and on the way Sunggyu gets a call from Woohyun. He hesitates to answer it because he’s not sure how to handle it. Yes, he’d thought about telling Woohyun. But he doesn’t know what Woohyun will do and this isn’t Woohyun’s problem. Woohyun is always helping Sunggyu and Sunggyu feels like he shouldn’t trouble Woohyun further with problems that Woohyun is not apart of. Sunggyu is, to be very honest, afraid that Woohyun will one day just give up on helping Sunggyu. So Sunggyu’s solution is to try to do things on his own, or at least without troubling Woohyun. He just wants Woohyun to stay by his side.

            “Are you going to answer it? You should. He’s probably worried sick right now.”

            Sunggyu glances up at Hoya and sighs. “I guess I should.” Sunggyu hits answer and brings the phone up to his ear. “Woohy—”

            “Sunggyu! Sunggyu, are you okay? Why didn’t you go home yesterday? Did anything happen to you? Where are you?”

            “Breathe, Woohyun, breathe. I’m fine so you really don’t have to worry.”

            “Of course I’m going to worry! You can’t just disappear like that. What if something happened to you?”

            Sunggyu swallows the bile that rises in his throat. He blocks the memories of the previous day’s events, pushes them from his mind. “I’m with Hoya. I was going to say something but my phone died.”

            “What about Hoya’s phone?”

            “I… hadn’t thought of that…”

            Sunggyu hears Woohyun take in a deep breath and he thinks Woohyun might be very annoyed. “Are you mad?”

            “Of course I’m mad!”

            Sunggyu winces. “I’m sorry—”

            “If anything happened to you I don’t know what I would do. Don’t worry me like that again. Please, I beg of you. You know I’ll always protect you so just come to me when you’re in trouble and I’ll help you. You know I’m always here for you, right?”

            Sunggyu bites his lip. He’s been reduced to a blushing mess and he thinks that if he opens his mouth, the only thing that will come out will be incoherent phrases and words that make absolutely no sense. He opens his mouth, however, and intends to say something along the lines of ‘thank you’ but instead ends up saying, “I love you.”

            Sunggyu claps a hand over his mouth and squats, staring at the ground in complete embarrassment. Hoya is looking at Sunggyu with wide eyes and people stare as they pass. There’s a pause and Sunggyu’s pretty sure he’s just scared off Woohyun with such strong words until Woohyun answers quietly. “Do you know how annoying it is that I’m not with you right now, especially when you say things like that?”

            “Um—”

            “I love you, too, idiot.”

            Sunggyu becomes a stuttering mess on the pavement, his world going dizzy and his head going loopy. “S-Sunggyu?” Woohyun calls but Sunggyu is currently unable to answer.

            Hoya takes the phone away from Sunggyu and puts it up to his ear, hauling Sunggyu up. “Sorry, Woohyun. I think you just killed Sunggyu so he’ll get back to you later when his sanity has returned. Don’t worry, I’m taking good care of him!” Hoya hangs up before Woohyun can say anything else.

            Hoya chuckles as he slips Sunggyu’s phone into his pocket. “Alright, lovebird. Let’s go,” he rolls his eyes and drags Sunggyu into the direction of his house.

            “L-love… h-he l-loves… m-me….”

            “Honestly, Sunggyu. You really are an idiot.”

--

            “Oi, what the hell were you thinking? Don’t you know that you’re supposed to tell your mother and father where you’re going?” Sunggyu’s mother cuffs him upside the head, causing him to wince painfully, before pulling him into a hug. “I know you’re a teenager and the time for university is coming and you’re growing up but I’m not used to you going out so much without telling me. You’re going to give me a heartattack!”

            Sunggyu returns the hug and nods. “Sorry, mum. Won’t happen again.”

            “It’d better not! If you get hurt and die, I am going to kill you.”

            Sunggyu rolls his eyes, pulling away from the embrace. “I got it, mum. Don’t worry.” He kisses his mum’s cheek, hoping to bring her some comfort. “Oh, and I’ll be staying at Hoya’s for a few days if that’s okay.”

            “Of course, sweetie.”

            “I’m going to go grab some stuff, then.”

            “Alright, sweetie. Go say hi to your dad and your siblings, too, so they know you’re safe.”

            --

            After an eventful trip home (his sister had punched him for making her worry, Dongwoo hit him with a book that was luckily soft cover, and his dad had told him he knew Sunggyu was safe all along, although Sunggyu didn’t really believe him), Hoya and him had headed back to Hoya’s apartment.

            “Maybe I should tell him…” Hoya mumbles as he falls on his bed.

            “Tell who what?” Sunggyu asks, dropping his bag next to the bed and jumping on the bed next to his friend.

            “Dongwoo that I like him.”

            Sunggyu nods and remembers that Hoya isn’t actually looking at him so he speaks instead, “Yeah, I think you should. He likes you more than you think.”

            “And how would you know, Mr. Know-It-All?”

            “I’m his brother! I live with him!”

            “Fair enough. So you really think I have a shot?”

            “Of course I do. So when do you plan on doing it?”

            “I’m not sure,” Hoya contemplates this for a moment, his fingers tapping absentmindedly on his stomach. He sighs heavily – should he really do this? All those years of secretly pining after Dongwoo would be lost. He wouldn’t be able to go back. Hoya’s not sure he wants to take a risk, but then again, there is a big part of him that can’t hold it in any longer.

            “Tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

I'm starting to think about what kind of fic I should do next and who I'll feature. Another woogyu perhaps? Maybe some fantasy? Maybe an Alice In Wonderland theme? Harry Potter theme? Oh, oh, or maybe a Top Gun theme! That sounds fun. 

The end of this story is nigh, maybe a few more chapters and an epilogue and then I think I'll be done. If you have any suggestions for what I should do about my next story, I'd love to hear it. I'm always welcome to new ideas!

.... not proofread.... sue me....