Okay first of all, excuse that this is INSANELY SHORT, LIKE...ONLY 1000 WORDS WHICH IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT I USUALLY WRITE. But promise that the next chapter will be longer, and I apologize in advanced if this feels rushed. IT IS.

But, there's a little surprise in this chapter that i kept thinking over like "should i really write this?" but I did so

I hope you enjou!! <3

It’s been a month since the accident and Junhwe’s injury and he’s almost fully recovered by now, they’ve been staying at the safe house for the past house just as a precaution and Chanwoo’s been avoiding everyone and everything. He’s been spending a lot of time with Toaka but other than that he’s barely left his room, only to join the others for a meal or talk about the loft and their ‘situation’ with exo, but he’s never willingly left the comfort of his own room to go talk to the others. Even when he probably should have.

He’s been having nightmares lately but thankfully not woken up in the middle of the night with a scream so no one has noticed his struggle, and he’s been noticing his severe lack of appetite lately as well. The last time he ate something was last night, and when the piece of chicken touched his tongue all he could taste was ashes and when he swallowed it he had to quickly down a glass of water to keep it from coming up again. It isn’t entirely because of Junhwe and Hanbin, it’s also because of everything that ‘s happened the past couple of months, how his world has been turned completely upside down and his perception of life has been altered. After seeing Junhwe’s bleeding stomach, the beatings from his dad seem like nothing.

But he won’t lie to himself and say that it has nothing to do with the leader and his old roommate, when he’d seen the picture of the two of them and been there when Junhwe asked him to get Hanbin for him, he’s felt a strange feeling in his chest, like a sharp pain. Very unpleasant and frankly, quite scary.

“Chanwoo?”

“Hm?” Chanwoo looks up at Donghyuk in the doorway, fully dressed and looking ready to go somewhere, “we were planning on going back to the house to check what state it is in but Junhwe’s staying and we were just wondering if you could keep him company, even though he’s a grumpy little ” Donghyuk says as he steps through the door and sits next to Chanwoo.

“Does he want me to?” Chanwoo asks quietly as he looks down to his lap bites at his lip nervously, “I haven’t asked but i’m sure he’d appreciate it. Did something happen?”

Chanwoo look up then to meet Donghyuk’s concerned look and he realizes that he really doesn’t know how to answer that question because no, nothing ‘happened’ but yes something has ‘happened. But that won’t make any sense whatsoever to Donghyuk. So Chanwoo just shakes his head with a small smile, “no, it’s okay” he says and Donghyuk sides him tightly, “we’ll be back in a few hours” he says and then he’s out of the room and gone from Chanwoo’s sight.

Chanwoo sighs deeply as he mentally prepares himself to go join Junhwe in the living room to watch some boring TV and try not to stare, you can do this, he thinks as he stands up and walks out the door to his room and makes his way down the corridor. He can hear the TV as he comes closer and after a single turn to the left he’s immediately backing up and turning around because he can not do this when Junhwe is shirtless and he was worried about not staring at him clothed my god everything’s a mess, “yah, what are you doing?” Chanwoo hears and he’s so not ready for this but he can’t just ignore the elder and so he turns around and tries to look anywhere but Junhwe’s chest as he points at the couch, “can I sit?” he asks and Junhwe rolls his eyes, “kind of the point with me not lying all over it,” he snaps and Chanwoo cowers because believe it or not a few months spent with iKon won’t make his anxiety disappear.

“Sit down,” Junhwe mutters and Chanwoo awkwardly places himself on the edge of the sofa with his hands clenched tightly and his head hung low which doesn’t go unnoticed by the other. “Okay, look, listen to me and listen carefully ‘cause you won’t hear this very often but, I’m sorry” he says and Chanwoo looks up in shock because he certainly wasn’t expecting that, “what are you sorry for?”

“I don’t know, for being an I guess, ignoring you and stuff, what else have I done?” he huffs and if Chanwoo didn’t know better he’d guess that Junhwe’s embarrassed, “i’m not mad at you though,” Chanwoo whispers and Junhwe sits up straighter and stares at him in disbelief.

“Really, is that why you’re avoiding me and won’t even look at me? Still sure you’re not mad?” Chanwoo shakes his head and tries to scoot away because he really doesn’t want to talk about this, ever, and he’d appreciate it if Junhwe just forgot about everything and went back to ignoring him.

“Hyung-”

“I want to know what I did wrong,” he cuts off and moves closer to Chanwoo to the point where they’re almost touching but not quite, Chanwoo stays quiet as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to say, should he tell the truth, or just lie about needing space or something. He’s not a good liar and Junhwe’s job is literally lying so he’s pretty sure that won’t work.

When he looks up to say something to the elder he realizes how close they really are, Junhwe’s right in front of him and watching him intently, slightly biting his lip and looking so deeply into Chanwoo’s eyes that Chanwoo doesn’t know if he should avoid or never stop staring.

Apparently Chanwoo’s programmed to follow the dumb part of his brain because his next action is certainly not the ideal one. He leans forward and then suddenly he’s pressing his lips to Junhwe’s, it’s only for about two seconds and it’s nothing more than a peck but he’s never kissed anyone before and this isn’t just anyone, this is Junhwe.

As soon as he parts from the elder he looks away and bows his head a bit, “I’m sorry,” he manages to whisper before he’s running out of the living room and down the corridor to his own room where he slams the door shut and slides down to the floor.

Junhwe doesn’t move from his position for at least a few minutes because the younger boy just kissed him, granted it was nothing more than a touch, but from the redness that spread across the younger’s face he’s certain that the boy has never done anything like that before. He moves his hand up to touch his lips where the other’s had just been, of course there’s no physical difference but he feels different, still.

Only thing is he doesn’t know how to continue from here, go talk to the younger, call someone, go kiss the younger, go call someone preferably Hanbin?

Instead of doing any of that he lies down on the sofa and turns up the volume of the TV to drown out the sound of his self pitying.

****

“Junhwe!” Jinhwan calls as they enter the house, silence meets him and he wonders if maybe the younger is asleep but when they enter the living room they see him lying on the floor and Yunhyeong quickly runs forward in fear of the worst, only to see that he’s breathing perfectly fine and blinking regularly, “eh, Junhwe?” Yunhyeong asks as the rest throw themselves at the couch and fight for the comfiest position.

“What are you doing on the floor?” Hanbin asks and Junhwe only shrugs, not feeling up for discussing what happened when they were gone, “how’s the house?” he asks instead and Donghyuk slaps Jiwon’s thigh to get him to stop trying to take all the room before saying, “a little messy but we’re planning on going back tomorrow.”

Thank God, Junhwe thinks, because going back to the house means privacy and a room all to himself and Chanwoo so that they can talk about...that. Not that he knows what he’s gonna say, but he’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it.

Please excuse any mistakes and please look forward to the next chapter which I promise will be longer!

Leave a comment if you have the time, they make my day! <3