July 10.

Two people sat together.

Food wrappers fill in the awkward space but fail to relieve the awkward air shared by the unexpected pair.

Two boys sat at opposite ends of a bench.

Both looking up to the dark sky.

No one needed to know they were here together.

Just like before.

"Didn't expect you'd be so early," one tried to spark a conversation.

"Didn't expect you to drop out," the other said. Just realizing what he did, he quickly turns to the boy with wide eyes. Scared of the boy's reaction, his shaky hands clench slowly inside his sweater paws.

"It's okay Oh-je," the boy smiles at him softly. 

His hands relax, yet his heart beats faster.

"Are you okay?" He tries to utter. He didn't know if Hwiyoung could hear his question with the loud heartbeats; logically, he wouldn't, but Oh-je couldn't care less about logic in this situation.

"You can say so," he responds. "And you?"

"Hm?"

"Well, there must've been s..." Hwiyoung was unsure if it was right to mention the whole event. Luckily, Oh-je could understand him easily.

"Oh... School was basically done by then, so I didn't have to worry too much."

"Oh, okay. Also..."

"Hm?"

"I'm really, really sorry." 

Yes, Oh-je noticed the change in the usually prideful Hwiyoung, but he'd be lying if he said he expected those words. His eyes slightly widened because of such and, since he took extra time to digest what just happened, Hwiyoung took the silence as a bad thing.

"You don't have to accept my apology, if that's why you're so worried." Hwiyoung said.

"No!" Oh-je's hands flew up to cover his mouth. He quickly moves his hands away to explain. "It's not that!"

"Oh?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, I just really didn't expect that from you." Although Oh-je didn't meet Hwiyoung's eyes, the latter could see the corners of his lips curling as he took a pause, so Hwiyoung couldn't help but feel a small burden on his shoulders lighten. "You were never really the type to need to apologize, you know? Well, at least that's what it looked like, being that role model president and everything."

Oh-je hoped Hwiyoung's laughter was loud enough to cover him exhale heavily - thank goodness he wasn't offended.

"You look gorgeous laughing." Oh-je blurts out—so perhaps his brain buffered a bit.

"Thank you." Does Hwiyoung know how killer his smile is right now? It was one thing for Oh-je to see his formal smile in events, and now he has to hold in from melting at this very moment? For now, Oh-je smiles back in hopes to match the standards the man gave.

Another bundle of burdens falls off Hwiyoung’s shoulders.

"To be honest with you - though you probably already knew - I wasn't in the best place that time. But also, I know it's still not right to push you off like that. It must've already been shocking to be forcibly outed, my reaction would've just made it worse.” Hwiyoung hopes he’s able to show his sincerity here.

“Thank you,” Oh-je responds. “Really, thank you for reaching out and telling me this.” 

When Hwiyoung’s harsh words were still fresh on Oh-je’s mind, it definitely left a horrible mark. Oh-je felt like his crush knew even a little bit of his feelings, he wasn’t the best at hiding after all, even when he was dating Dahuin. Because of that, he believed Hwiyoung at least respected him, that’s what he thought when Hwiyoung felt comfortable enough to ask him advice after a short football session. To be fair, he also thought the guy already knew when they met the night people spread his secret like any other piece of gossip. So when he was told cold words the next day, as if his identity was poison, definitely—oh, it definitely left a mark.

Oh-je didn’t know if they were comfy enough for him to shed a tear but, luckily, his eyes remain glossy and nothing more. Maybe it was because he still believed in even the smallest ounce of hope for Hwiyoung, maybe it was the joy knowing his first crush didn’t have to become so tragic. Maybe it was both that gave confidence to the boy in his next words.

“I forgive you.”

Today, Hwiyoung’s shoulders feel extremely light.

“And, you don’t need to worry, I’m getting over the crush thing anyway…” 

Why did Oh-je say that?

Although his burdens lightened, one question was still unasked. Hwiyoung was just forgiven though, so is it okay to ask? Is it too much? Too fast? 

Hopefully Soobin’s advice won’t let him down.

“Uh, Oh-je… Can I ask one more thing?” 

“Sure, what is it?”

“Would..” He rethinks his question, “would it be too much to ask if you wanted to be friends?” Hopefully it wasn’t too direct.

“Friends?”

“Uh, well, I never thanked you for the times you would talk to me and everything even if I wasn’t that approachable… And I was hoping next time we could talk comfortably, at least more than when I looked like a ‘president who doesn’t apologize’…” 

Two people sat together.

And with empty food wrappers in their fidgeting fingers, there was a small space left in between the two.

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“Hwiyoung!” A familiar voice called him.

It’s a new day and the part-timer was at his usual station, attending to a customer. He simply looked over to Sanghoon to signal that he heard him, going back to getting change for the customer’s payment.

“Anything new happened today?”

Lucky for Hwiyoung, Sanghoon dialed it down a bit after his first entrance back into his life. It made it easier for the former to listen about his complaints and diary entries—at least, that’s what Hwiyoung would describe Sanghoon’s conversation starters so far. 

“Nothing today…” As Hwiyoung waits for the next car to stop, Sanghoon stays close to him. 

Previously, he assumed he’d have to explain to his boss that having someone trail behind him most of the time doesn’t affect his work ethic, but his boss laughed it off when he brought that up. Sometimes he wonders if Sanghoon had anything to do with his boss’ lenient response—that, or his boss just doesn’t care. 

“Today? So how ‘bout last night?”

The car stopped next to them, and both could see the customer as she rolled down her window.

“Full Premium,” she requests. Hwiyoung nods and turns to the pumps.

“Last night… was nice.”

“Ooh, what happened?” 

It took a few seconds of hesitance, but Hwiyoung decided to talk about it.

“Do you know Oh-je?” 

“Oh, the guy that was outed in school?” Hwiyoung could see Sanghoon’s eyebrows furrow to show confusion, and he nodded in affirmation.

Perhaps he was afraid of the words that would trail after. Will he also make fun of what happened? Will he call his friend a freak? 

Nevermind, Hwiyoung is definitely worried.

“Is he doing okay?”

“Oh,” Hwiyoung exhales, “yeah, he said he’s doing fine…”

“That’s great! My god, I remember when everyone would share it and their useless opinions online like, the ? It was all just so wrong, they really treated him like a ing monkey…”

“I’m glad you feel that way honestly,” Hwiyoung says.

“How can I not? It’s not like he deserved it, it was personal and everything,” Sanghoon sighs. “And what? They’re making fun of him ‘cause he likes guys? So what, it’s not their love life.”

“Exactly,” the taller agrees. 

“Anyways, what about him?” 

“So, you know how he was forcibly outed, right?” 

“Actually no, I didn’t really want to pry into it,” Sanghoon admits. “Can you tell me?”

“Uh… Long story short, they found out he had a crush on me…” Hwiyoung couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed saying this, but his friend’s laughter seems to have made his awkward feeling disappear.

“Aren’t you a flirt?” He exclaims in between his laughter. 

“Back to the point, I basically acted like an , so I wanted to meet up with him and apologize.”

“As you should, I'm not gonna be friends with an !”

“So we’re pretending that you’re an angel today?” 

“Of course! I’ve always been!”

Hwiyoung tries to stifle his laughter as he pulls out the nozzle, returning it to its original place. He didn’t notice as he turned his back against Sanghoon to properly close the gas tank, but the chatty boy couldn’t help but smile. 

“How did you feel, meeting up with Oh-je?”

“I was—no, I am so thankful. You have no idea.” 

“Really now?”

“Yeah! He even said he forgives me and wouldn’t mind being friends.”

“Damn, maybe he’s the angel after all.”

“Now that, I can agree.”

And today, Sanghoon can confidently say he has no regrets barging back into Hwiyoung’s life.