Hongjoong did as Taehwan suggested, he invited his friends over and they were quite shocked to see just how big the place was, they all hung out together for the first night and everything went well, Taehwan kept Hongjoong updated every now and then, telling the boy that he was doing well and that he shouldn’t worry too much.

Saturday night the group of boys gathered in the living room, they had picked movies to watch and they had snacks ready, but in reality, the movie played in the background but no one really watched, they were catching up a  little talking about what they have been doing, about school and just in general about their lives.

“So Joong hyung… about Taehwan, do you like him?” Yeosang asked the boy curiously.

“Of course I like him, he is such a nice and caring person, why wouldn’t I like him?” Hongjoong replied cluelessly.

“Hyung, I don’t think that’s what Sangi meant… we want to know whether or not you are in love with Taehwan or not,” Mingi asked the boy, Hongjoong looked at them, his face slowly flushing bright red.

“Well… I don’t really know whether or not I’m in love… I mean Taehwan is really great and my heart races whenever I am with him but you know it could just be that I am nervous or something like that you know?” Hongjoong said with a small smile.

He thought about it often, was what he was feeling towards the older his feelings towards him? It wasn’t friendship he knew that at least because he never felt like that around them but then with Taehwan, he often found himself missing the older if they were apart, even just going to class made him miss Taehwan.

But no one had the time to reply because the man who stayed behind to keep Hongjoong company, Insoo came frantically rushing into the room, he had a phone in his hand and you could tell he just got bad news.

“Hyung what happened?” Hongjoong asked the older man.

“Taehwan… Hongjoong we need to get to the hospital right now, Taehwan has been shot” the man said, and all the color drained from Hongjoong’s face, he basically jumped up but his body wouldn’t move any more than that, he didn’t know what to do or how to respond to what the man said.

All he knew was that his chest felt tight and he wanted to cry, his mind jumped to the worst possible things that could happen, he couldn’t think straight anymore.

“Hongjoong go,” Seonghwa said giving the boy a small push on the back, the boy turned around and all his friends gave him encouraging smiles, almost as if trying to tell him that it would be okay and that he should go.

He nodded a little and he and Insoo ran out of the room, Insoo drove them to the hospital, when they arrived they were a little shocked, all the others that went with Taehwan were there as well, they looked quite beat up as well but there stood one man close to the room door, his shirt was covered in blood and his tears still ran down his cheeks.

“Yungho what happened? Where’s Hwan” Insoo asked.

“It came out of nowhere hyung, we finished the meeting we agreed on peaceful terms, and when we turned to leave they just pulled out their guns and hyung” the man couldn’t speak much as his tears got worse, Hongjoong dreaded it, just standing there, seeing this man covered in blood that belonged to Taehwan, not knowing whether or not Taehwan was even okay, he hated it all.

When they could go into the room Hongjoong was hesitant, was it really okay for him to just enter like this? He was still someone new to Taehwan, was it really okay for him to go in instead of someone like Yungho who has been through so much?

When he saw Taehwan he froze, he was sleeping peacefully, he was hooked up to some machines, it felt as if his heart was being ripped apart and stepped on, that’s when it sunk in… the answer to the question his friends asked him before, whether he liked Taehwan or not, he now knew, he knew he liked Taehwan, he just wished that he didn’t need to see him in this state to realize it.

That night he stayed at the hospital, as well for the next night, he stayed waiting and hoping for Taehwan to wake up, he wanted to be there when the older woke up, he had too much he wanted to tell him, he was scared that if he left the hospital he would never be able to tell him what he really felt.

Even without being sure if Taehwan felt the same he knew he needed to tell him because if something were ever to happen to Taehwan, he didn’t want to regret not telling him.

It was later that night that Hongjoong was sitting next to Taehwan’s bed when the older stirred awake. It wasn’t the first time he woke up but it was the first time that Hongjoong was present that he was awake.

“Hyung~” Hongjoong let out a small whine when the older looked at him, a small smile appeared on Taehwan’s face when he saw Hongjoong.

“Joong-ah,” Taehwan said softly as he held out his hand for the younger, Hongjoong happily took it and held it tightly.

“Hyung I have a lot to tell you,” Hongjoong said softly, Taehwan nodded, he also had a lot he wanted to say.

They just stared at one another for a little, almost as if their eyes did all the talking, it was as if they understood everything without a single word being spoken. 

Taehwan took Hongjoong’s hand and brought it closer to his lips and softly placed a kiss on it.

“Sorry for scaring you, and for worrying you,” Taehwan said to the boy.

“It’s okay hyung, just don’t do that again okay? Be careful next time” Taehwan nodded a bit and moved closer to Hongjoong.

The two gazed at one another before closing the gap between them, they shared a short but passionate kiss, the kiss confirmed what their hearts needed to know, and it was the starting point for something they both knew would be an amazing experience for them.