Cold air blew around the hospital room, making the room a little too chilly for Jihoon’s comfort, who was sitting up on the couch with his eyes shut, wrapped in his blanket. He bundled the blanket around him tighter, but the action did nothing to shield him from the cold. A soothing ballad played through his black headphones. Jihoon tried to lull himself back to sleep with the music, but the voices echoing from in front of him spoke much louder than the music played. He dragged out a sigh and opened his eyes as he eyed the source of the commotion.

“ARE YOU KIMBAP KIDDING ME?”

Chan’s shoulders raised in response to the piercing voice.

“Seungkwan…maybe we should think about changing the script a little…”

Seungkwan let out a huff of breath and crossed his arms.

“Chan, I know you’re not a very dramatic person, but the more outrageous the script is, the better. Trust me.”

Chan held their skit script in his hands as he lied in bed, while Seungkwan stood by his side, with his own script in hand. Chan directed a look of concern toward his brother, who was had taken his headphones off and hung it around his neck. Jihoon could only shrug apologetically to Chan for not being able to help him out. Warm morning sunlight peered through the blinds and spread over the tile by Jihoon’s feet. Jihoon outstretched his hands to bask them under the light, hoping it would thaw his icy fingers, but the weak sunlight did nothing to warm them.

Chan turned back toward his partner.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go all out then. Since we’re in a hospital we should be a little quieter, right?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes.

“Alright, alright. I guess so. We should be practicing as if we’re doing the real thing every time, but if you insist, I guess we could go over the skit quieter this time, since we’re in a hospital. Should we start from where we left off, then?”

Chan nodded.

“Okay, then.” This time, Seungkwan whispered almost inaudibly, but his facial expression was the same as when he yelled his line before. “Are you kimbap kidding me?”

Hansol, who was sitting cross-legged on the adjacent bed and observing the pair, stifled a laugh from Seungkwan’s modification. Seungkwan glanced at Hansol briefly, then stepped closer to Chan and whispered not so quietly in his ear.

“Chan, I don’t know if you realized this or not, but that boy across from you has been staring at us for a while now. Should I go say something to him?”

Chan met eyes with said boy, who gave him a cheerful grin in response.

“Ah, I forgot. I should have introduced you two earlier. Seungkwan, this is Hansol, my hospital roommate. Hansol, this is Seungkwan, my class president and my current skit partner.”

“And best friend,” Seungkwan chimed.

“And…friend,” Chan added flatly.

In response, Seungkwan brought a hand to his chest and wore a pained expression.

“Is that what you really think of me, Chan? I’m so hurt. I guess it was just me thinking we were best friends all along. How could you raise my hopes up like this?”

Hansol froze with a worried look on his face. His eyes darted back and forth between the two. He wasn’t sure whether to take Seungkwan’s dramatic monologue seriously or as a joke. Chan took a glimpse at Hansol and cupped a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t worry about him,” he reassured. “He’s a theater student so he likes to talk a lot. Besides, he knows I’m kidding.” Hansol relaxed and nodded in response.

Moments later, Seungkwan began to sing the chorus of “All By Myself” while making dramatic gestures. His majestic voice echoed in the room, and anyone else listening would have been dazzled by his wonderful vocal quality.

But for Jihoon, who was bordering on a headache, the voice was just an annoyance. He brought his hand toward his face to massage his temples, but it did nothing to ease the pain. He stood up and headed toward the exit.

“I’m gonna head out for a bit,” he groaned, still rubbing his temples. “If you guys need anything, have Chan call me. I’m just gonna walk around.”

Chan’s previously bright expression faded away. “Are you feeling okay, hyung?”

Jihoon nodded but regret the action almost immediately. Yup. It was definitely a headache now. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second before replying.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon,” he groaned.

Jihoon grabbed his coat and belongings and headed out the room. The room fell silent for a few seconds. Seungkwan turned sheepishly towards Chan.

“Was I too loud?”

.......................................

Seungcheol and Wonwoo were greeted by the door chimes and the aroma of coffee as they entered the cozy café. The space seemed much less crowded than when Seungcheol was there just yesterday.

Wonwoo looked around the café as he trailed behind Seungcheol.

“So, this is where you stalked Jihoon–”

In reflex, Seungcheol whipped around and covered Wonwoo’s mouth with his hand, eyes wide. Realizing that his own actions earned more attention from the surrounding customers than Wonwoo’s words did, he relaxed his hold on Wonwoo and adjusted his jacket, clearing his throat in embarrassment.

“I wasn’t…stalking him…”

Wonwoo raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, sure. You were just hanging around in this little café, which happens to have a pretty clear view of the hospital, for half a day just because you felt like it. Sure, Cheol, sure.”

“Well when you say it like that…” Seungcheol mumbled. He felt the heat rising to his cheeks when his friend’s comment made him realize exactly how ridiculous his actions were yesterday.

The two walked up to the counter where a tall male worker was talking orders.

“And what can I get for you today?” the employee asked, flashing his sharp canines at the two.

“A café macchiato, please,” Seungcheol ordered first.

“I’ll take your number,” Wonwoo said playfully as he leaned forward and rested an arm on the counter.

“Um, e-excuse me?” the employee stuttered. He blinked rapidly a few times.

Both the employee and Seungcheol stared open-mouthed at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo slowly retracted his arm and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Or…an Americano is fine, too.” He gave a nervous chuckle and stiffly walked toward a table far, far away from the front counter as Seungcheol and the employee watched him.

“Haha, um. I’ll pay for his drink, too,” Seungcheol said, restraining himself from face palming in embarrassment. As he reached for his wallet, his eyes wandered toward the large glass window, and he was struck with a feeling of déjà vu. Outside, walking along the sidewalk on the other side of the street, was a familiar figure in a puffy red jacket. He turned back around to the worker.

“Actually, can I have those drinks to go?”

Before waiting to hear an answer from the flustered worker, Seungcheol handed him a few bills and rushed to Wonwoo’s side.

“Wonwoo, let’s go.”

“What? But we just got here. I know I might have made a fool of myself but–”

“Something came up.”

“What? Already? What could be so important that…” Wonwoo followed Seungcheol’s line of sight and spotted the figure in red. “Wait a second. Is that…” He looked back at Seungcheol’s face, which gave him answer enough as to who the person was.

“Come on, hurry up!”

“You’re not planning on stalking him again, are you?”

“I didn’t stalk him!”

“Are you going to?”

Seungcheol groaned in frustration.

 “Ugh, just come on. Grab our drinks, will you?”

“Sure, sure.” Wonwoo returned to the counter to wait for their drinks. Seungcheol stood right by the door to keep track of Jihoon better and Wonwoo sighed at the sight. The tall employee worked furiously to get the orders out, his back facing Wonwoo. When he turned around, Wonwoo whipped his head down, unable to look the worker in the eye.

“Here are your drinks,” the worker mumbled shyly.

“Thanks,” Wonwoo replied in the same manner, still embarrassed. He swept the two coffee cups out of the worker’s hands and felt his cheeks glow when their hands touched. Without looking back, Wonwoo hurried to Seungcheol’s side and ushered him out of the café.

“Here’s your macchiato.”

“Thanks,” Seungcheol said as he received the drink. He cupped his hands around it to warm his fingers up. His eyes continued to trail the boy in red as he walked at the same pace as the other. Seungcheol and Wonwoo were a couple steps behind, walking on the other side of the street.

“Cheol, watch–“

Before Wonwoo could warn him, Seungcheol stumbled over a trash can in the center of his path, losing his balance and his coffee cup. Wonwoo groaned and face palmed in reaction before walking over to help his friend up.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Once he got up, Seungcheol scanned the area until he found his target again. He started walking again and motioned for Wonwoo to follow. Sighing, Wonwoo did as he was asked and caught up with Seungcheol.

Eventually, Jihoon stopped at a nearby park, settling on one of the swings.

“Okay. We’re definitely not stalking him at all,” Wonwoo hissed. The two ended up squatting behind a couple of bushes on the outskirts of the park. Seungcheol peeked over the edge to see if Jihoon had noticed anything. His back was faced toward them, and he was seated on the other side of the park, so Seungcheol figured that Jihoon wouldn’t be able to hear him.

“What’s he doing?” Seungcheol whispered.

“Why don’t you go and ask? It would be a lot faster,” Wonwoo replied sarcastically.

“Well…there was a misunderstanding yesterday, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some strange thoughts about me now. I don’t think having him think I stalked him would be a good idea.”

“But aren’t you stalking him?”

“…shut up, Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee.

“Really, just what in the world did this Lee Jihoon do to you? I mean, I know you had a thing for him before–”

“I don’t have a thing for him.”

“Sure.”

“I’m just…a little curious, that’s all,” Seungcheol breathed, voice faltering as he faintly heard Jihoon’s voice. At this point, Jihoon got up from the swings and started pacing slowly back and forth in front of the swings. He held a piece of paper in his hands and he moved his lips ever so slightly. Seungcheol tilted his ears towards the direction of Jihoon’s figure and craned his neck over the bushes in order to hear better. While his ears faced Jihoon, his face was directed toward Wonwoo, eyes cast down. Momentarily, Seungcheol forgot his current goal as something else caught his attention. He nodded his head toward the object in Wonwoo’s grip.

“Hey, what’s that?”

“What’s what?” Wonwoo looked down at his own coffee cup. Some black markings he didn’t notice before peeped out from between his fingers. When he turned the cup around, he found the markings made out to be numbers and a name. Mingyu. Upon the discovery, he felt a smile creeping onto his face.

“Haha, yes!”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened, and Wonwoo clasped a hand over his own mouth, having forgotten that they were still in hiding. Seungcheol dared to peek over the bushes to check if Jihoon had noticed them. Seeing that his back was faced to them, Seungcheol relaxed and reverted his attention to Wonwoo.

“Wait, did that coffee guy actually give you his number?” Seungcheol snatched the cup from Wonwoo’s hand and stared at the markings.

“What does it look like?”

“But is he your type? He seemed…sort of awkward.”

Wonwoo’s shoulders dropped as he sighed. He took back his coffee cup and took a sip.

“Cheol, haven’t you have learned by now that you shouldn’t judge people without knowing them first?”

Having no good answer, Seungcheol turned back to face the park again, where Jihoon continued to pace. His lips still moved, but the paper was now tucked into one of his jacket pockets.

“What’s he doing?” Seungcheol asked.

“Beats me.”

“Is he talking to himself?”

Wonwoo paused to listen a little more carefully. He looked back at his friend.

“Cheol, I think he’s singing.”

“I don’t hear it.”

Seungcheol held his breath in order to listen. In that moment, when the air stilled and Seungcheol’s movements stopped, he could hear it. A gentle voice filtering through the crisp air, barely audible where Seungcheol was situated. Jihoon had started to vary his pacing path, coincidentally getting closer to the bushes where his stalkers hid. In any other situation, Seungcheol would have panicked, but he was too occupied in trying to listen to Jihoon. He strained his ears to try to hear what the other was singing. He knew that he never heard the sequence of notes before, but the song felt so familiar. They were notes he never heard in reality but heard plenty of times in his mind within the last twenty-four hours.

Guilty.

“Well, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about your mid-terms. The guy can definitely sing.”

“Why thank you, Wonwoo,” a familiar voice chimed.

At the same time, both Wonwoo and Seungcheol looked up to see Jihoon’s small figure towering over them from the other side of the bush.

“But I have to ask,” Jihoon continued, “what are you guys doing here?” He shot a questioning look at Seungcheol.

Seungcheol could only stare back with his mouth agape.  Wonwoo cleared his throat.

“Oh nothing really,” Wonwoo replied calmly, bringing a hand up to the bush. “We were just admiring the beauty of the leaves on this bush,” he said as he plucked a leaf and held it near his face, examining it closely and tracing the veins with his fingers.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows in confusion while Seungcheol groaned.

“But now I’ve got another beauty to examine, so I think I’ll take my leave,” Wonwoo said, tapping his coffee cup and winking at Seungcheol. He stood up from his position and smiled. Seungcheol begged with his eyes not to leave him, but Wonwoo returned him a look that said that he was the one to put himself in this situation. He waved goodbye and walked back in the direction of the coffee shop.

An awkward silence fell between the two, and Seungcheol could not help but pray for Wonwoo’s unlikely return.

After a few seconds with both of them looking around, anywhere besides each other, Jihoon was the first to speak up.

“Hey.”

“H-huh? Yeah?”

Seungcheol finally gathered the courage to look at Jihoon. The shorter boy had his eyes fixed on the pavement in front of him. He didn’t speak up immediately, and Seungcheol wondered if he should respond again. Before he said anything, Jihoon let out a cough and a sniffle.

“I…um…never got to thank you properly for yesterday.”

“Oh. No, it’s fine. You don’t have to thank me for that.”

“No, I do.”

Jihoon lifted his gaze from the pavement and locked eyes with Seungcheol. A chill went down Seungcheol’s back.

“You have no idea how much it meant for me for you to do what you did. Chan, he…”

Seungcheol though he heard Jihoon’s voice break. Jihoon lowered his voice.

“He’s everything to me. So thank you. Truly. For saving him….and me.” Jihoon closed his eyes as he iterated the last of his words, cutting off the eye contact the two of them had.

Seungcheol was at a loss. The sincerity and vulnerability that Jihoon bared before him caught him off guard. For only starting to get to know Jihoon a few days ago, the heartfelt confession was unexpected, flustering Seungcheol. He couldn’t think of a verbal response, but he was also cautious not to make the same mistake from the night before. A chilly breeze whipped past the two, and the sound of dead leaves scraping along the cement surrounded them.

Just as quickly as Jihoon broke down his apathetic walls, he scrambled to build them back up again. His eyes had met Seungcheol’s again, but the sincerity and vulnerability had dissipated, leaving nothing but a seemingly empty gaze.

 “Anyways, about our midterm. I still can’t practice on any of the weekdays, so weekends are my only option. If you think one weekend isn’t enough time, I’m fine with practicing today. Chan is doing a lot better so I think he’ll be okay on his own for a few hours.”

“No, it’s-” Seungcheol paused momentarily. He thought back to the gentle voice that he could only get a small taste of a few minutes ago. Thinking back to it, he felt a need to listen to it again, to hear those notes harmonizing with his own. “Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah, I already said that it’s fine.”

“Do you want to practice now?”

“If you want to.”

“Then why don’t we head back to Daemun? There are pianos in the music building that I can use. I can drive us there.”

“Sure. I just need to go back to the hospital and grab a few things first.”

“Do mind if I tag along? I want to see how your brother is doing, if it’s okay with you.”

“If you want to.”

Jihoon turned around to head back towards the hospital and Seungcheol followed. He looked straight ahead as he walked and let their footsteps fill in the silence. The two reached the hospital and were making their way towards the hallway where Chan was admitted, walking without speaking the entire way. Jihoon wasn’t one to speak much, while Seungcheol was preoccupied by thoughts of the night before. The curiosity that haunted him all last night came back.

“So, is it okay if I ask you something?”

The other said nothing in return.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But are you close with the music theory TA? Just wondering.” Seungcheol asked with a calm expression, but his heart was thrashing wildly in his chest.

Once again, Seungcheol felt like he was involved in a one-sided conversation. Except that Jihoon was definitely awake this time.

“Never mind then. Sorry for asking.”

“What was that?”

Seungcheol looked over at Jihoon, who just slipped off his black headphones and hung them around his neck.

“Did you say something?”

“Oh. Um…”

“Hm?”

Seungcheol felt his boldness crumbling. He wasn’t sure if he could ask again. He searched for anything else to talk about, and his eyes were drawn to the childish dinosaur stickers plastered on the headphones.

“Uh…I…like your headphones.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Jihoon rubbed one of the stickers that was peeling on the edge as he smiled reminiscently. “It was a gift.”

“From who? Seok-”

Seungcheol trailed off as he noticed Jihoon slow to a stop by a door to one of the rooms. Jihoon peered into the room occupied by three lively boys with smiles plastered on their faces. A soft grin appeared on his own face as he watched. Seungcheol followed his gaze and spotted the boy he helped from yesterday. Seungcheol hesitantly followed as Jihoon walked into the room.

“Chan, how are you doing?”

Chan turned his attention to his brother, who had called out to him.

“Hyung!”

“Hello, Jihoonnie hyung,” Seungkwan sang.

Hansol simply smiled at the two people who entered.

“Is your headache gone?” Chan asked.

“Yeah, I just needed some fresh air,” Jihoon replied

“Sorry about that…” Seungkwan mumbled.

“Anyways,” Jihoon continued, “I’m going to go practice for a bit with my class partner so will you be okay by yourself for a while?”

Seungkwan grabbed Jihoon’s hand from his side.

“Don’t worry, Jihoon hyung. I’ll be sure to take care of him,” he announced in a theatrical manner.

“I’m fine, Seungkwan. I can take care of myself,” Chan chuckled softly. He looked over and finally noticed the person standing next to his brother. “Oh.”

Seungcheol cautiously stepped forward.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“A lot better. Thank you for helping me yesterday.” Chan smiled peacefully at Seungcheol, but then looked down as he contemplated over something. “Hyung,” he said as he faced his brother. “Did you say this your music theory partner?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

His smile was replaced with a look of confusion, his eyebrows slightly knitted.

Jihoon noticed his brother’s expression change and cleared his throat.

“I’ll be out for a bit, so call me if you need me,” he explained as he reached for a bag on the couch.

Chan nodded, eyeing Seungcheol as his mind churned with thoughts. He watched as his brother left the room with his partner trailing behind.

“Is there something wrong?” Seungkwan asked, looking from Chan to the exit and to Chan again.

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing,” Chan replied.

That’s strange. He seemed to be really nice to Hyung yesterday.

Does he really hate him?

It seemed more like….

“Chan…I’m hungry…let’s get some food,” Seungcheol whined at Chan.

“Okay, okay.” Chan carefully swung his legs out to the side and slid off the bed. “Are you coming, too, Hansol?”

“Can I?” Hansol asked excitedly.

“Of course!”

“Hurry up, guys…there’s delicious food calling for me in the cafeteria…” Seungkwan urged from the door as he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Chan said, only giving half of his attention to Seungkwan.

It didn’t seem like he hated him at all.

It seemed more like the opposite.

__________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: And we finally have some more jicheol in this jicheol fic (HOORAAAAY)!!!

ps Did you like that glimpse of meanie?:P Sorry to all the meanie shippers but it won't really be expanded upon. I wrote it in as a thing for two friends who are die hard meanie shippers since they did include a bunch of jicheol in their fics >:D. But the meanie isn't just randomly thrown in. It will have some use later haha.

So I know as of right now, this fic has a certain feel to it (which people seem to like according to comments). So I'm contemplating on keeping the mood of the fic this way, but that would involve a lot of unanswered questions in the end. Or I can continue along my original path, which means all questions answered but a different direction in the plot. I guess one of the reasons updates are taking a long time is my indecisiveness haha. Well spring break is coming up in about two more weeks so hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter in by then. But I also started a one shot that I'm feeling attached to (it's still in the drafting process though) so I miiight not update this quite then. But anyways, thank you for reading and thank you for waiting for these super off schedule updates~

And I didn't mention it but thank you sooo much to my beta reader EgoStorm who has read the previous chapter and this one.

Say hi to me on tumblr @woozi4carats :D