Stop reading at the first break to have a happy ending. Keep reading if you want to be unhappy.
No ships in this chapter.

[The Friendship Ending]

Part 4: An Inclusion (in the plan)

“You’re so boring,” Sanghyuk whines, watching Hakyeon do paperwork on the coffee table.

Hakyeon rolls his eyes, used to Sanghyuk’s complaining after three years of it. “Sorry for having a job.”

“You’re supposed to do your job at your job,” Sanghyuk whinges. “Stop bringing it home.”

Hakyeon sticks his tongue out half-heartedly. “Sorry for being an adult.”

Sanghyuk sighs and flips so he’s hovering on his back instead of his front. “When is Wonshik coming over? Even he’s slightly more interesting than you.”

“I’m really glad I’m the youngest child in my family because if having a little brother is like having you around then I would have been the youngest child again in no time.”

It takes Sanghyuk a second to pick up on what Hakyeon had meant and then it’s his turn to roll his eyes. “You can’t threaten me, silly. I’m already dead.”

Hakyeon groans. “Watch TV, that’s why it’s on.”

The ghost pouts. “It’s not fun to watch alone. Talk to me about stuff.”

Hakyeon puts down his paperwork at looks sadly at Sanghyuk. “I literally don’t have anything interesting to talk about. We’ve run out of things to say.”

It was true. Hakyeon was the only one who could bring in new stories and things to talk about and lately he’d been too busy with work to really go digging for things to entertain the ghost with.

Sanghyuk didn’t need Hakyeon to say that out loud, he knew already. Unless he managed to watch some of the news he couldn’t talk about current affairs and he couldn’t pursue interests. His entertainment came in the form of getting to know Hakyeon and he knew Hakyeon pretty damn well by this point. Probably too well, he thinks, glad he can’t blush.

“I’m bored.”

It isn’t a complaint, Hakyeon notices. It isn’t a whine for attention. No, it was a simple and sad statement of fact that made him feel weirdly lonely for the ghost. Instead of letting Sanghyuk feels bad he smiles.

“Don’t worry,” Hakyeon says, making up his mind with a heavy heart. “Soon enough you’ll be having fun again.”

Sanghyuk spends a long time pondering Hakyeon’s words, trying to figure out exactly what he’d meant. He hadn’t started another conversation and had returned to work so it wasn’t that. He hadn’t upgraded his TV plan so that was out too. The only thing Sanghyuk could think was that Hakyeon was suddenly going to get more interesting for some reason.

Frankly he doubts Hakyeon could get more talkative and he also doubts that Hakyeon would have the time to take on a new hobby or expand his social circle to have more things to talk about. Sanghyuk is getting weirdly obsessed with Hakyeon’s little hint when Wonshik distracts him by dropping by a week later.

“Don’t give me that look,” Wonshik orders when he walks in the door.

Sanghyuk pulls a face. “What look?”

“The one you always get when I come around. Like I’m some sort of story machine that trades puppy-dog eyes for entertainment.”

Sanghyuk tuts because he’d been caught out. The puppy-dog eyes had apparently reached their expiration date.

“Why are you here without Hakyeon?” the ghost asks, floating along behind the man.

“Hakyeon asked me to help him pack up his stuff.”

“What?!”

“You’re moving?!” Sanghyuk demands the moment Hakyeon walks in the door.

Wonshik has already made a sizeable dent in the random Hakyeon has scattered around the lounge room.

“You told him?!” Hakyeon cries.

“I didn’t mean to,” Wonshik replies with a frown. “He was doing the eyes thing behind my back, I could feel it.”

Hakyeon rolls his eyes but smiles. “Whatever.”

“What were you planning to do?” Sanghyuk questions. “It’s not like you can sneak out without me noticing since I’m always here and can’t ever leave.”

“Wow, tone down the stressing,” Hakyeon smiles. “I promise you’ll like this. I was going to tell you when I got home today but someone with a big mouth went and ruined it.”

Sanghyuk frowns, unable to deny that he’s feeling pretty hurt. “You said you wouldn’t leave,” he mutters.

Sure, it had been almost three and a half years since Hakyeon had said that the day he moved in, but he was still going to bring it up.

Hakyeon can’t help the sweet sense of nostalgia that Sanghyuk’s words bring him. At the time he’d been in a state of shock after meeting Sanghyuk and he honestly couldn’t afford to move, what else was he supposed to say?

He doesn’t regret the words but he’d always known the truth. “I can’t stay forever,” Hakyeon replies. “Besides, you’ll be fine, I promise.”

Sanghyuk wants to argue and throw a tantrum but he doesn’t. He wants to cry and complain but he doesn’t. Those things should be saved until after Hakyeon is actually gone. Instead he sighs and accepts what he’d always know, Hakyeon was going to leave. After all, everybody leaves in the end, even if Hakyeon did last way, way longer than anybody else.

“Have you found a new place yet?” Sanghyuk asks after a few minutes of silence, during which Wonshik has discovered Hakyeon’s embarrassingly large Tupperware collection.

Hakyeon nods. “Yeah.”

Moving takes slightly longer this time now that Hakyeon actually owns furniture but it still happens too fast. As Hakyeon and his friends haul the last of the furniture out of the apartment Sanghyuk hides out in the narrow wall space between the lounge room and the kitchen, the same spot that he’d emerged from and scared Hakyeon all that time ago.

“Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon calls. “Everything is done, you can come out of the wall now.”

“Are you leaving?”

“After we say goodbye.”

Sanghyuk bites his lip and hopes he doesn’t regret his next choice. “Goodbye.”

Hakyeon swallows down the lump in his throat and nods even though he knows Sanghyuk can’t see him. “Okay,” he says through a tight throat, accepting the ghost’s decision. “Goodbye, Sanghyuk.”

He knows he must have hurt Sanghyuk by suddenly moving and if Sanghyuk wanted a clean break then he was okay with it, ultimately he was doing this for Sanghyuk.

“I’ll come visit you some time,” Hakyeon tells him, picking up his last bag.

Sanghyuk doesn’t reply and Hakyeon brushes his fingers over the wall and then leaves.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Hakyeon asks trying to pretend his eyes aren’t wet as he and Wonshik walk down the stairs.

“He’ll be happier,” Wonshik answers.

“Okay.”

“Besides, we can visit any time we want to.”

Hakyeon nods and sniffs and refuses to regret this.

Sanghyuk doesn’t want to admit that he’s sulking. After so long alone his time with Hakyeon seemed to pass so incredibly fast, he doesn’t think he can go back to being that alone again and the thought of it makes him panic a little.

He’s sort of floating up and down in the bathroom trying to be calm when he hears the front door open. He sits up but stays where he is, unsure of what’s going on and not really wanting to give someone a heart attack if they’re just here to check the gas or something.

“Hello?” a voice calls. “You gonna come out?”

Sanghyuk is completely unsure of what to do and he freezes in his panic. Hakyeon only left yesterday, what is going on? The owner of the voice isn’t deterred by the lack of answer and checks every other room before the bathroom, calling out as he does.

“Who are you?” the ghost asks when the man enters.

The man grins, flashing his dimples when he sees Sanghyuk. “You must be Sanghyuk. I’m Hongbin, I live here now.”

“I…What…how?”

Hongbin laughs at the ghost’s bewilderment. “Hakyeon did this for you, so you didn’t have to be bored anymore.”

“He did?” Sanghyuk whispers, surprised and touched and feeling bad because he hadn’t even said goodbye properly.

Hongbin nods. “But don’t worry. I work with loads of interesting people and that’s why Hakyeon wondered if I wanted to live here.”

“You want to live here?” the ghost wonders.

“Yeah, and I’ll be here for a while. Or until you get bored of me and then I’ll find you someone else.”

Sanghyuk feels his spirits lift and he finally smiles, whole face lighting up in his joy. Hongbin grins back, unleashing those amazing – in Sanghyuk’s opinion anyway – dimples as he acknowledges what Hakyeon had said about the ghost being cute.

So that’s the happy friendship ending. If you want to read the sad ending, read below.

Sanghyuk feels his ‘spirits’ lift and hastily tries to cover himself with his hands. He knows his can’t blush but his face feels like it’s on fire. Hongbin’s face on the other hand can blush and tries to imitate a tomato… *laughs hysterically because this was what I originally wrote and I almost forgot to change it*

20 Years Later

“I thought there would be more of us than this,” Hakyeon states, looking around the small gathering.

“Well, I lived here for ten years so…” Jaehwan sighs. "When there was a 'here', I mean."

They all glance at the flat block of land that had once housed the apartment they’d taken their turns living in. It was destined to be a shopping centre now and several older buildings had been knocked down.

It didn’t matter that their ages were twenty years apart, Hakyeon wraps an arm around Taekwoon’s shoulders in comfort.

“You were the last one, right?” he asks.

Taekwoon nods, eyes not leaving the upturned dirt and the pile of debris on the far side of the block. “Until two months ago.”

Despite the fact that they’d all promised to visit after they’d left, none of them did. Hakyeon, Jaehwan, and Hongbin had all thought it kinder to stay away. Wouldn’t it have been cruel to show up in front of Sanghyuk aged and experienced and with lives and families he could never have?

“He talked about you sometimes,” Jaehwan says suddenly, nodding at Hakyeon.

“Me?” the eldest inquires, surprised.

“Just things like how you were the first to stay and he’d talk about some idiot friend you had that was a drunk.”

“He wasn’t a drunk,” Hakyeon whines. “Damnit, Sanghyuk.”

“Is Cha-Booty a thing that actually happened?” Taekwoon demands suddenly after a few seconds of silence, tugging on Hakyeon’s arm.

The almost forty-five year old groans in embarrassment but he feels like crying and laughing at the same time.

Soon they’re all lost in their memories of the ghost they’d shared a part of their lives with.

Hakyeon had learned what it meant to give something up to make someone else happy while living there. Those three years were some of the most memorable he had and he rarely forgot to think of Sanghyuk and hope him happiness.

Hongbin had spent six years there, recounting the crazy adventures his clients got up to. Nothing gave him more pleasure than the look on the ghost’s face when he loaded up the videos he’d shoot at work to show off.

Jaehwan’s ten years had been thanks to the fact that he’d been eighteen upon moving in and always had a funny story to tell, unafraid to exaggerate for Sanghyuk’s state. It was only after wanting to settle down had he passed his position over to Taekwoon.

Taekwoon had been there for a little over two years and had at first thought he’d be too dull to keep the ghost entertained, however Sanghyuk loved to tease people and Taekwoon made it so easy.

“You guys aren’t standing out here crying are you?” a voice cuts in.

Hakyeon scrubs at his face because yes he had been. “No, shut up, Wonshik.”

“Oh,” Jaehwan, Taekwoon and Hongbin mutter, eying the older man.

Wonshik pulls a face but doesn’t say anything about it. There’s no doubt in his mind that Sanghyuk had probably told these guys stories about him – stories that made him look bad, that is – over the years.

Instead he holds up the sticks of incense. “Let’s do this.”

The five men take a stick each and take turns lighting it. Hakyeon walks forward and stops before the path turns to sticky mud.

“Goodbye, Sanghyuk,” he sniffs, planting his incense in the mud. “I’m sorry I couldn’t entertain you for longer.”

Hongbin is the next to step forward, imitating Hakyeon. “I’m sorry I never visited. I hope you can have your own crazy adventures now.”

Jaehwan pretends he isn’t crying when he joins them. “I’m sorry you had to put up with me for ten whole years. Bye-bye.”

Wonshik pats the youngest on the back and then walks forward to do as all the others have. “I never lived with you but I knew you well enough. I’m sorry you had to see us leave but always remain behind.”

They look back at Taekwoon and he hesitates before joining them. Taekwoon plants his incense in the ground and works to not cry. He sort of felt like he didn’t deserve to when the others had spent way longer with Sanghyuk.

“I’m sorry that your last words were ‘Thank you, I’ve had fun’,” Taekwoon whispers.

The incense curls up around them and they bow their heads to hide their expressions. It didn’t matter that they’d all moved out of the apartment, what mattered was that they’d never moved on. Sanghyuk had made them pity him for being unable to live but they also envied him because he never stopped trying to. Through their hardships they’d thought of him and never given up because it seemed like it would be an insult.

“Goodbye,” Hakyeon says again, wiping his eyes for the last time.

He makes his way over to Wonshik who he hasn’t seen in a few years and tries to grin. “Do you know he told them all about the Cha-Booty thing?”

“He didn’t,” Wonshik gasps.

As the others all look up at him in surprise he can’t help feeling like he’s twenty-two again and being teased by the ghost.

This opens up the floodgates and they begin to announce all the things Sanghyuk had claimed Wonshik had done, demanding if they’re true or not.

Hakyeon smiles and begins to lead them towards a coffee shop so they can sit and chat. He wants them to remember the happy times with Sanghyuk so they should start now because there were a lot.

*sobs grossly while writing this*
That’s it for the friendship ending. Their ages were completely random, btw, there was no meaning behind it.