Chan stared glumly at the bouquets of flowers on his table stand and the mountain of random, unrelated gifts from his weirdos of friends from school, Boo Seungkwan and Chwe Hansol. Unlike his actual relatives, his friends had been visiting him in the hospital constantly for the past week, entertaining him with useless chatter for the whole day, until he almost got sick of seeing them.

Looking down at the pristine, white bedsheets and blanket (everything was too white here), he sighed dejectedly. It’s not like he wasn’t grateful for visitors. In fact, Chan was deeply touched by their actions. But the one person he wanted to see wasn’t here.

Maybe Soonyoung’s just busy, he told himself.

He sighed again for the umpteenth time. Who was he kidding? Soonyoung had texted him once, asking him if he was alright and promised to visit sometime soon. That was almost a week ago. Soonyoung probably couldn’t be bothered with him anymore. After all, he was just a tool to help solve the case. Now that the case was over, what reason would Soonyoung have to meet him?

That’s right. He was never going to see Soonyoung again. He felt like crying, mood dampening even further. Why was life so cruel to him?

A knock on the door broke him out of his reverie.

“Come in,” he said monotonously, not even bothering to raise his head, knowing it must be either Seungkwan or Hansol. The door clicked open.

“Not happy to see me?” A lazy drawl sounded from the doorway.

Chan jerked up, his eyes turning round like saucers. He knew that voice too well. “Hyung!”

Soonyoung strolled in, pulling out a bouquet of different coloured freesias from behind him. And god did Soonyoung look stunning, Chan noted mentally. Having come from the office, Chan suspected, he was wearing a formal white dress shirt and pants, a few buttons at the top ed, his navy blue tie loosened around his neck. Chan averted his eyes when he realised he was checking him out for longer than necessary, oblivious to the smirk forming on Soonyoung’s face.

Chan wished he could have at least looked somewhat nicer than his current state. He was still in the hospital gown, bandages still wrapped tightly around his abdomen and head, his hair was tousled like he had just woken up and had dark circles so long they could touch the floor.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I come see my favourite dongsaeng?” Soonyoung placed the flowers down on the bed, pulled out a chair and sat next to Chan. Something warm tickled Chan’s heart.

“Anyways, I’m sorry for coming so late, I was incredibly busy. After the police arrested the Killer, I had to recount the entire story and fill up all sorts of paperwork. It was a torture, I swear,” Soonyoung sulked childishly. “But at least I got promoted. Seungcheol and I have become closer too! I was really surprised and grateful when he came after I called, you know? Just goes to show how much he likes me.”

Chan snorted. But really, he could just listen to Soonyoung talk for the whole day and never be bored. Not when he spoke with so much vigour and enthusiasm.

“And can you imagine the glory of having Seungcheol apologise to me in front of everyone?” His eyes stared into the distance, as if indulging in the joy of having your boss bow to you.

“Anyways, enough about me,” his voice became lower, fingers reaching forward to intertwine with Chan’s. “How have you been?”

Chan looked down at their hands, furrowing his brows. He tried pulling away but Soonyoung only clasped tighter. “I’m fine? The dreams have stopped for now,” he said, giving up after a while.

“That’s great,” he hummed, eyes never leaving Chan’s face. “I’m sorry,” he suddenly whispered, turning solemn. “For being so incompetent and putting you through that.”

Chan rolled his eyes. “Hyung that was ages ago. You saved my life and I’m here right now, healthy and alive, aren’t I?”

Soonyoung chuckled. “You’re a sassy, little brat.”

They entered a comfortable silence.

“What’s going to happen next?” Chan asked tentatively after a while, afraid of what he would hear.

“I guess I’m going back to doing boring police work. And you’ll go back to school?” Soonyoung’s grin stretched from ear to ear, looking so happy and unaware of the sadness eating away at Chan.

“Will we still keep in contact?” Chan blurted.

“Of course,” Soonyoung said, standing slowly. He moved forward close to Chan’s face. So close Chan could see himself in the other’s eyes.

“I don’t plan on letting you go.” Soonyoung closed the distance between them.

The familiar smell of citrus and soap was overwhelming as Soonyoung pressed his lips onto Chan’s, the other hand coming up to rest on his shoulder. Chan’s eyes went wide in confusion. His body tensed up, unsure what to do. He could hear the blood roaring in his ears.

Soonyoung pulled back a second later, lips quirking up in amusement. “You have to kiss back, idiot,” Soonyoung whispered softly, voice dripping with affection.

Chan stared into the other’s orbs, and saw the fondness and tenderness in them. He broke into a wide smile for the first time in a long time. Grabbing Soonyoung’s collar, he pulled the taller down for another slow kiss.

(A click sounded from outside the door as two heads slowly sank down out of sight from where they’d been initially pressed to the small rectangular window of the hospital door.

“I didn’t know Chan had a boyfriend,” Hansol nodded approvingly while staring at the photo he had just taken, looking like a proud father.

His partner however, didn’t seem to be taking this so well. Seungkwan’s back was plastered to the door, his face red and his palm covering his mouth as tried to control his breathing, looking close to passing out. A high-pitched sound emitted from the back of his throat.

“Shut up!” Hansol shushed him. “You’re going to get us caught!”

“That was so cute!” Seungkwan squealed, when he managed to collect himself after a few deep breaths. “He’s still going to get it, though,” Seungkwan muttered, losing all the previous excitement. He grabbed Hansol’s phone and sent the picture to Chan, fingers typing away furiously.

“Are we even his friends? I can’t believe Chan didn’t tell us about such a hot piece of hunk in his life!”)

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haha sorry i had to add the last bit. i realised i didnt talk much about Chan's school life and i felt like it made him seem like he had no friends