A/N: Just a quick one after watching Sunggyu's vlive yesterday. Also I'm on twitter now so if anyone wants to come woogyu with me I'm @woogyuthingz

“And cut, we’re off the air,” one of the staff shouts.

Toeing into his slippers, he gets off the chair, twisting around and cracking his back lightly.

“Was that okay, do you think?” he asks the room in general.

His manager comes up to him and offers him a bottle of water. “The comments were really positive, they loved it.”

Smiling, he accepts the bottle, screwing the cap off to take a swig. "It was awkward, but something is better than nothing, I suppose."

“You only have 2 hours to get ready for the press call,” the manager reminds him. “We need to get moving.”

“Just give me five minutes,” he says. His make-up and hair need a retouch after he gets into his costume, and then they will need to rehearse. But two hours is plenty of time.

The staff are taking down the decorations, deflating the blow-up toys and cleaning up the remnants of the fruit cocktail. To his relief, he sees the camera man tucking into the fruit cocktail he made earlier, giving him a thumbs-up. Suppose it’s edible to some.

Stepping into the next room, which is a bit quieter and empty, apart from his stylist, he takes his cell phone out of his pocket. Watching him, the stylist bows and exits the room. Was it perhaps the smile on his face, or the way he looks at his screen?

He can’t use the picture he wants to as his lock screen or wallpaper – too risky. If he ever loses his phone…well, all his texts are password-protected, and so is his gallery. For good reason.

Shutting the door subtly, he stands with his back against it, dialing the second person on his speed-dial. The first is his mum, she always is his first. The second, he chuckles…is a close second.

“Hyung? Aren’t you busy with your musical?”

He’s heard Woohyun’s voice for close to 13 years now, and there hasn’t been a single time that it had not made him feel something. Even when they were living together and he would hear his voice every second of every day, somewhere in the pit of his stomach, it made him feel whole.

“I just did a vlive,” he replies, smiling to himself. “What are you doing?”

“Lunch break.”

“Hmm,” there are days when he just wants to run to him and hug him, and stay hugging for a very long, long time. At least when he was in the military, he could visit Woohyun when he was on vacation, and they could meet up, catch a movie, have dinner. But this year of pandemic has seen to it that they don’t get to see each other at all. Video calls are never the same. Touch is important to him; even though, funnily enough, before Woohyun, he didn’t like being touched. But somewhere between staring at the stars in his eyes and smiling through a kiss, he has grown accustomed to touch, even grown to like it, to the point where he initiates it now.

Nothing gives him as much of a sense of security as touching Woohyun does.

“Seven days,” he murmurs into the phone.

“Seven days,” Woohyun agrees. “Didn’t expect you to know the exact number of days hyung, have you been spying on my fans on twitter?”

Laughing mirthlessly, he thinks about his diary. He has never been the type of person to keep a diary. The first time he ever used one was when Woohyun had given him one, just before he entered military service. Woohyun had marked out a calendar with 545 days, a countdown for his enlistment to discharge. He had circled a few important dates too, like the day marked as ‘the day I met Woohyunnie’, ‘the day Woohyunnie confessed’, ‘the day I told Woohyun I like him’, ‘the day I first kissed Woohyunnie’, ‘the day Woohyunnie will visit’. It was so cute and so Woohyun, that he couldn’t help but use it. And before he knew it, he fell into a habit.

So when Woohyun finally enlisted, he had started a calendar for him.

Only yesterday, he had marked off day 8.

“Seven days,” he had said to himself. And it had slipped out during the vlive as well.

He’s not expecting it to be a big deal. It’s not like he can go and pick him up, what with all the covid rules and his musical schedules. But even then, just knowing that he could, and that maybe they can meet under the pretense of a schedule, is a lot.

“Do you think I’m not counting down to the day you’re free? I’m hurt.”

Woohyun laughs – he can imagine his shoulders go up and down in that charming way only he can manage.

“Actually, I’d have been disappointed if you didn’t know.”

“Of course.” It’s not like he didn’t have a very good reason for nicknaming him ‘Nam-sulk’ although the younger prefers ‘Nam-hulk’. “Are you eating properly?”

“I’m on a diet, hyung. This body just doesn’t make itself.”

“Well, don’t overdo it,” he warns. “Everyone will still love you.”

“I’m doing it for you, hyung, for me and my fans too, but also for you.”

“For me?” he double-takes. When has he ever asked Woohyun to get ripped?

“Uh-huh,” he replies. “Don’t you want a y boyfriend?”

Even as he hears the words, he blushes, passing his hand over his eyes. Nam Woohyun says the kind of things that make him want to become one with the ground.

“Very funny,” he grumbles. “But you know what, I’m perfectly happy with my Nam mandu, okay?”

“Hyung!” he exclaims. He is sulking now, his face contorted, his lips extra pouty. Just the image of it in his mind makes him break into laughter. “Hyung, seriously!”

“Sunggyu,” someone knocks at the door, “we need to go now!”

Forcing himself to stop laughing, he says, “I’ll be out in a second.” He doesn’t want to go, he wants to talk to Woohyun, more, ask him about his thoughts and feelings, but alas, duty calls.

“I have to go,” he tells him.

“So you call me mandu and now you’re saying you have to go?” he does not sound pleased.

“I’ll make it up to you okay, when you’re out.”

“No, make it up to me now,” Woohyun sounds like a petulant child.

“Now…I can’t…” and then he stops, realizing that as much as he gives off that vibe, it’s not the tangible things that make him the happiest. “Nam Woohyun, I love you.”

He hears the giggles that warm his heart. “I love you too, hyung. Seven days.”

“Seven days,” he agrees. "I'll wait for you."