Breathing in cold, winter air was never fun for Hansol. It always felt ten times more painful than usual. It was as though each year winter conspired with his asthma to plan a vendetta against him. Together with the feeling of needles piercing his windpipe when he breathed in, the intolerable chill seemed to only intensify the constricting pain he normally felt.

But here he was wearing like three padded jackets and a scarf covering his mouth walking aimlessly at the empty park down by his family’s apartment building. Why? Because apparently staying holed up in his room with a family-sized bag of tortilla chips and guacamole watching reruns of Adventure Time was not an acceptable way to spend his weekend.

As Hansol walked, kicking the snow under his feet, he noted that there really wasn’t anything going on at the park- a few kids playing in the snow with snot streaming down their faces,an elderly couple strolling along, maybe even some birds, and a few dog-walkers here and there.

Cough. Cough.

Hansol took a seat on an empty bench, shivering slightly when he felt bits of frost on the wooden seat.

Cough. Co- bark.
	
Blinking, Hansol looked down mid-cough to see a tiny snow-white puppy looking up at him excitedly. Its tail wagging at 10 wags per second to show his interest in the stranger. Hansol smiled and patted the puppy’s head. He always loved dogs and would have liked one himself, but you know he couldn’t because asthma- yeah, it was sort of a kill-joy.

	“What’s your name, little fella?” he wondered aloud as the puppy barked. It snuggled its small head in the palm of Hansol’s hand, allowing the thin pink collar around its neck to be seen.

	“Bookeu?” Hansol mumbled the name with a smile. The puppy must have heard him because it was trying its best to jump onto Hansol’s lap. “You must really be a friendly pup, huh? Jumping straight onto strangers’ laps isn’t something most dogs would do,” Hansol chuckled as he scratched the dog’s ear.

“BOOKEU!!” a voice yelled.

Hansol looked up from the fluffball resting on his lap and lying on top of his black- well, once black- coat.

“There you are,” the young man sighed in relief, worry marking up his cute-looking face- wait, cute?

Cough. Cough.

Hansol blinked up at the man, wordlessly passing the dog into his open arms.

	“Sorry about that! I don’t know how he got away. One second I’m crouching down to fix my shoelaces and when I got up he was gone,” the guy explained, his frosted-rosy cheeks rising and falling with each animated word.

"Uh,” Hansol buffers. Maybe he did need to go out more and socialize. “T-that’s alright. I actually enjoyed his company.”

The guy smiles so brightly back that Hansol coughs profusely- this time not being able to blame his asthmatic condition.
​​​
“Yeah, he really is a ball of sunshine! Seungkwan,” the cute guy reaches out his hand- the other holding onto the still-excited pup.

	“Hansol!” he replies back, grimacing internally at how overly peppy he sounded. He takes Seungkwan’s hand into his, taking a mental note of how soft and petite it felt in his own.

	“Nice to meet you Hansol. This is Bookeu,” Seungkwan raises the pup’s paw to wave at Hansol, “but, it seems like you already introduced yourselves to each other.” Seungkwan smiles at Hansol one again.

Wow. Okay, no offence to Princess Bubblegum, but this guy's smile alone makes him feel better about bailing his previous plans.

Seungkwan puts Bookeu down and attaches a pink leash to the rings on the back of his matching collar. “Can I?” Seungkwan gestures to the seat next to Hansol.

“S-sure!” Again with the pep. Nice job, Hansol.

	"Bookeu usually doesn’t take well to strangers, but it sure seems like you won him over instantly.” Seungkwan chuckles watching as Bookeu nudges Hansol’s shoes with his snout.

“Would have never guessed. This fella kind of called for my attention all on his own and then just jumped me after I called his name,” Hansol chuckled.

	Seungkwan’s brow raised. “Huh? He never does that. There must be something really special about you Hansol” Seungkwan grins, nudging Hansol’s shoulder teasingly.

Hansol might be blushing, or it might be the cold. Either way, his heart is beating a bit faster than normal and he isn’t complaining.


“So, what are you doing sitting alone on a cold- park bench?” Seungkwan questions, his attention still fully resting on Hansol.

“Mom made me take a walk. Said a bit of low-exertion exercise was good for me,” Hansol shrugs. Seungkwan smirks.

“Just guessing here, but...sounds like someone was planning to stay holed up in his room this weekend?”

Hansol flushes. “I mean, when you say it like that it makes me sound like some kind of hermit, but yeah...that was my plan.”

	Seungkwan laughs heartily and Hansol can’t help but awe. There’s just something about the way his cheeks rise and his eyes scrunch into these little half moons, and then that pretty smile stretches across his face...

“It's alright. If I had my way, I’d be on my couch under a pile of blankets binge-watching ANTM. But, this little guy needs walks everyday or else he goes into my room and tears holes into my Wonder Girls posters and t-shirts,” Seungkwan sighs dramatically.

	“ANTM? America's Next Top Model?" Hanson couldn't help but judge.

Seungkwan shrugs. "I like the drama and cat-fights. And the hair melt-downs? Good stuff," Seungkwan raises an "ok" sign with his fingers. Hansol shakes his head and laughs. "And Wonder Girls, huh?” Hansol can’t help but tease further.

	“What? They were and still are a solid group. Even as a grown 20 year old, I still dance my  off to Nobody the same way I did when I was a teen. All their songs are a bop and no can tell me otherwise! And if you have a problem, you may leave my presence,” Seungkwan insists quite excessively.

Hansol laughs, then finds himself caught in an untimely coughing fit.

Cough.

Cough. Cough.

	“Hey, are you okay?” Seungkwan places a hand on Hansol’s shoulder and looks at him worriedly. “I’m f-fin-” Hansol grimaces, hand clutching his chest.

Hansol is having trouble breathing. He tries his best to take in deep breaths, but his throat and chest starts to tighten- his breath coming out in continuous short puffs.

	“Hansol! W-What’s wrong?” Seungkwan starts to panic, not noticing that he lets Bookeu’s leash drop to the ground in place of bending down in front of him. Seungkwan’s rubbing Hansol’s arms in an attempt to calm him, hoping to God it works (thankfully Bookeu stays still while all this is happening).

	Hansol makes a reach for his coat pocket, his hands shaking in place. Seungkwan picks up on the action and quickly stuffs his hand into the pocket retrieving Hansol’s blue inhaler for him. 

Seungkwan places the inhaler in Hansol’s hand and brings it up to his mouth. His hands delicately supporting Hansol’s trembling hand.

“Come on Hansol...” Seungkwan encourages him to take a puff. Seungkwan’s voice was so fragile- words expressed so softly as if they could further harm Hansol if said any other way. Hansol closes his eyes and listens to Seungkwan’s voice, instantly feeling a bit of weight lifted off his chest.

He opens his eyes.

Seungkwan looks up at him, eyes flooded with so much concern that Hansol doesn’t know how to respond. “S-sorry…” Hansol breathes slowly out.

	“Why are you saying sorry, dumbie?” Seungkwan smacks his leg lightly and gives him a soft smile. Hansol tilts his head down. “How long have you had asthma for?”

	“Since I was in elementary school,” Hansol tells him. Seungkwan just nods his head, attentively listening to him. “My whole school had a track and field day and my home-room teacher noticed that I was lagging way behind the other kids. Then I collapsed and that was that.”

Seungkwan hummed, still crouched on the ground in front of him. His hands were on top of Hansol’s lap, unknowingly drawing little circles with his finger into his coat.

	Hansol found it oddly comforting being on the receiving end of so much concern from a mere stranger. Yet, at the same time he found it overwhelming- in a good way of course. Seungkwan wasn’t like any stranger he’s ever encountered. He made him felt at ease, yet at the same time Hansol just wasn’t sure how to process the weirdly familiar and strong emotional connection they had.

Seungkwan just looks up at Hansol staring curiously, but so sweetly and full of care. “Are you feeling better now?” Hansol hums.

He inhales slowly, placing a hand on Seungkwan’s and caresses it with his thumb. Seungkwan’s breath catches slightly.

	“Umm...good. I’m really glad.” Seungkwan confesses under his breath.

	Seungkwan soon gets up letting Hansol take his hand back to place it into his pocket beside his inhaler. Seungkwan grabs Bookeu’s leash once again and Hansol stands up from the bench.

	“So,um…” Seungkwan purses his lips then looks up at him, “Wow, ok you are taller than me.”

Hansol grins. “I’m not that much taller.”

Seungkwan smiles, then shyly looks down. “Listen, I know we just met, but I really enjoyed talking to you…”

Hansol smiles wider. “Me too. You're really easy to talk to. And I’m really glad you were there when all that happened. You really helped me, Seungkwan.”

Seungkwan’s cheeks stay rosy, "No problem, Hansol.”

Hansol felt so much better. Oddly enough- and as cliche as it sounded- he had no doubt in his mind that the person in front of him was part of the reason he did.

Seungkwan looks up at Hansol expectantly, 

“So, I-I was wondering if you wanted to hang-out and talk some more? Maybe over coffee?”

Hansol really can’t help his smile from widening further. Seungkwan doesn’t seem to complain though- his own smile being just as bright.


“Yeah, I’d love to.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

a/n the end.

pretty cliche, but I hope you liked it anyways :)