Once the bell rung, indicating that school is over, the four boys immediately went down to their respective classrooms. They bade each other their goodbyes and went to their separate ways, giving Woohyun all the time he needed to be alone.

Woohyun was pretty much at loss and more than confused. He started to debate his decision on approaching them slowly and thought of confronting them immediately.

‘But then again there’s still Sungjong to deal with…’ Woohyun frowned at the thought of the petite boy ing up all over again.

Woohyun was really lost in his thought that he didn’t hear the yells reaching out for him. He stopped in his track and turned his head to see what was the commotion all about only to be greeted with such a force that managed to knock him off of his feet.

            “Luhan, you idiot!”

And darkness greeted him.

.

.

            “Well, well, Nam Woohyun. What a mess you got yourself tangled in,” the shadow chuckled. Woohyun sighed and ruffled his hair in frustration.

            “It’s really hard for me to do this all alone,” Woohyun muttered.

            “So you’re saying that you’re chickening out of the game?” The voice asked mockingly, making Woohyun frowned in response.

            “Of course not, you idiot. I’m just complaining about my life right now and you’re going to pester me as well?”

            “Easy there, kitten. You’re getting too sensitive for your own good,” the shadow chuckled. Woohyun sighed again.

            “What am I supposed to do…” He muttered as he stared at the nonexistent ground of darkness beneath him. The shadowy figure let out something what seemed to be a hum before he circled around the latter.

            “I suggest you take a few moments of rest, and I will personally help you with that.”

            “How—“

Woohyun never managed to finish his sentence. The figure pulled him deeper into the darkness and Woohyun let himself sank deep down, letting the oddly calming loneliness to embrace him.

.

.

            “Hyunnie~”

Woohyun slowly cracked his eyes open, letting the blinding light to seep through his eyelids. He craned his neck to greet his lover and chuckled when a chaste kiss was pressed onto his lips.

It was soft, gentle and caring. The loving feeling that only Sunggyu could give him.

            “What is it, Gyu?” Woohyun smiled and blinked his sleepiness away. Sunggyu dived down onto the other, gently wrapping his arms around the half-awake man’s waist.

            “Morning kiss,” he said as he pecked Woohyun’s lips once again. Woohyun smiled.

            “Gyu, you’re awfully touchy today. Is there something I need to know?”

            “Erm. Hoya and Dongwoo have morning shift today, and Sungyeol and Myungsoo are going to be away until this evening. Sungjong and I have work to do. Are you going to be all right alone..?” Sunggyu frowned slightly.

Woohyun smiled and cupped Sunggyu’s cheeks, gently placing a kiss on the other’s nose. He pulled away and caressed the other’s cheeks, an act that he used to express his affection.

            “Silly, today is my day off and I’m going to live it to the fullest,” Woohyun said laughing lightly. “I will be sleeping throughout the day most likely, so you don’t have to be worried.”

            “All right. Call me if anything happens, okay?”

Woohyun nodded before he clutched to Sunggyu’s pillow and curled up around it. Sunggyu smiled and placed a kiss on Woohyun’s hair before leaving their shared bedroom. Woohyun inhaled the familiar scent on Sunggyu’s pillow as he snuggled to it. He let slumber took over him almost immediately.

But the comfort didn’t keep him sleeping for long. The loud obnoxious ring pulled him out of his dreamland. He tossed around on the bed and kicked off the comforter. Feeling the dampness of his shirt, he sat up and frowned to himself.

‘Did someone forget to turn off the heater? Why is it so goddamn hot in here?’ Woohyun thought.

He quickly snapped out of his daze when he noticed the familiar ringing.

Fire alarm.

Woohyun quickly climbed off of his bed and ran towards the front door. He gasped when he opened his bedroom door.

Red, everything was red.

The heat was unbearable, fire dancing around the room creating a beautiful yet deadly artwork.

Woohyun quickly marched back inside, hastily pulling the blanket from his bedroom. He mentally thanked the genius architect for placing a bathroom in each bedroom. With the blanket wrapped around him, Woohyun the shower and let the water to drench him from the top to the bottom. He was going to break through the fire and he couldn’t risk himself to die like this.

Without wasting any moment, he immediately ran through the fire, not minding the painful pricks from the heat on his skin.

Woohyun wrapped the blanket around his body tighter. He almost cried out in frustration when he found out that the fire was not only from his floor, even the floor under him was on fire.

Mentally counting down from five to one, he calmed himself down and made sure that he got himself covered.

‘It’s now or never. It’s either I would die or live,’ with that thought, Woohyun ran down the stairs.

.

.

Sunggyu went out of his car and slammed the door shut hard, not minding that the other car’s alarm went off from how hard he banged the door. He ran frantically towards his apartment and his eyes went wide in horror when he saw that almost the whole apartment building was on fire.

It wasn’t a small one too. Three fire trucks were present and the flame was still dancing around the top floor of the building.

Sunggyu fell down on his knees. He was too devastated beyond words. Their apartment was also on one of the top floors. Woohyun was sleeping throughout the whole time and he didn’t answer to any of his calls.

Did he make it? Is his Woohyun still alive? He had no idea.

Sunggyu felt hands gripping tightly to his shoulders and he looked up to see frantic-looking Dongwoo and Hoya.

            “We need to take Woohyun to the hospital!”

Sunggyu immediately found strength and leaped out towards the crowd. His heart sank when he saw Woohyun lying on a stretcher with an oxygen mask covering half of his face.

But he was grateful nonetheless. His Woohyun was still alive, and he was grateful for it.

            “Oh, God… Thank God you’re still alive…” Sunggyu went to his knees and gently brushed the hair away from Woohyun’s forehead. He took notice on how Woohyun flinched slightly under his touch.

            “Hang on, Hyunnie, we’re taking you to the hospital soon,” Sunggyu gripped tightly to Woohyun’s hand. He smiled when he felt a gentle squeeze on his hand.

            “You will be all right, Hyunnie. I’m here. I’ll be here for you…”

.

.

            “Gyu, stop worrying already. I’ll be all right. You can go back to work now,” Woohyun frowned.

            “The last time I left you alone the building got burnt into ashes,” Sunggyu crossed his arms.

            “The hospital won’t suddenly collapse just because you go to work! Geez!”

            “Goddammit, Nam Woohyun, I’m worried okay?! You didn’t know how scared I was when I heard that our apartment was on fire, and you didn’t answer my calls too! You didn’t know how devastated I was when I thought you didn’t make it!”

            “I know, okay?! I was scared too! You’re not the one inside the building!”

Sunggyu stiffened and sighed when he saw tears b on Woohyun’s eyes. He reached out for the other and hugged him gently.

            “I’m sorry, Hyunnie. It’s okay, I’m here now…”

            “And to think that the only thing I could think of was you throughout the time when I escaped the fire…” Woohyun muttered, “I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you ever again…”

Sunggyu shushed him down and kissed his tears away before gently placing his lips on the other’s quivering ones. He placed another one on each cheek and on his forehead, trying to calm down the shaking Woohyun.

            “Gyu… You’re the reason to why I still want to live on…”

            “And you’re the reason to why I’m still here too. Don’t leave me, Nam Woohyun.”

Woohyun nodded and wrapped his arms around Sunggyu’s shoulders. He snuggled into the other’s warmth, enjoying the tight grip around his waist.

.

.

Woohyun cracked his eyes opened and winced when he felt throbbing pain coming from his head. He slowly sat up from the bench he had been sleeping on and noticed two boys around his age looking at him apologetically.

            “Um, hello? Are you all right?” One of them asked.

            “Y-yeah. What happened to me..?” Woohyun asked as he rubbed his temple and winced when he felt a bump on his forehead.

            “We’re really sorry. We were practicing and Luhan here kicked the ball too hard,” one of the boys said bowing deeply.

            “Yah! Suho here is the one who didn’t catch it, don’t blame everything on me!”

Woohyun blinked the pain away before he shrugged it off. He waved dismissively at them.

            “It’s okay, accidents happen most of the time,” Woohyun said.

            “Really? We’re really sorry,” Luhan bowed once again. Woohyun smiled and shook his head.

            “Don’t mind it. It was an accident. Thanks for actually waiting for me to wake up instead of leaving me lying on the ground,” Woohyun grinned. The two boys breathed out a sigh of relief.

            “We should go back to our practice now. We’re actually from the same school, you know,” Luhan grinned back. “We’re the strikers of the football team.”

Woohyun politely smiled and nodded, letting the two to go back to their routine. A deep sigh escaped his lips when he remembered something.

‘Hoya and Dongwoo are supposed to be the ones on their positions though…’ Woohyun thought sadly.

What about Hoya and Dongwoo? Are the two of them friends yet? Woohyun started to worry about Dongwoo recalling the last incident and knowing that the boy in question was not present at school earlier.

Woohyun silently walked down the pavement as the thoughts of his friends flowed into his mind. But the thought was quickly dismissed when a very familiar voice reached his ear.

            “Woohyun?”

‘Oh no.’

            “Ah, Sunggyu,” Woohyun looked up and smiled slightly. The other boy smiled back at him before waving at the other, asking him to come closer.

“What a coincidence. You live around here?” Woohyun approached him with a small smile.

‘Stupid Nam Woohyun, you shouldn’t get too close to him, moron.’

            “Yeah, my flat is around this area. What happened to your head..?” Sunggyu trailed off before he raised an eyebrow.

            “Just got into an accident with the football team members. Nothing big,” Woohyun shrugged.

            “I see… You should take care of yourself more, you know. You seem to keep on getting involved in both incidents and accidents,” Sunggyu frowned slightly. Woohyun looked at him and laughed, waving a hand dismissively.

            “Don’t jinx me like that! I don’t always get stuck in situations like that you know!” Woohyun chuckled.

            “All I’m saying is for you to be careful. You got me worried sometimes.”

He didn’t know whether it was the serious tone or the stern look on Sunggyu’s face that made him stiffen. Woohyun looked down and bit his lower lip, the other male’s gaze was fixed on him and Woohyun didn’t have enough courage to lift his head up and looked straight into Sunggyu’s eyes.

He felt awkward all of a sudden.

Suddenly, Woohyun felt a small yet comforting pat on his head. He lifted his head hesitantly and he was surprised to see Sunggyu smiling softly at him.

            “Take care of yourself more, okay? And look at this,” Sunggyu frowned, “the bruise is getting worse.”

Woohyun felt his face heating up and cursed himself for being an awkward teenager. He was supposed to be the older one here—well, considering he ‘time travelled’ towards his high school years—and yet this Sunggyu is capable of turning him into all splutters and staggers.

            “You don’t have to—“

            “Shush. Sit down there and let me help you with this,” Sunggyu placed a finger on Woohyun’s lips and the latter’s eyes widened at the sudden contact.

In the end Sunggyu had to drag a whining Woohyun towards one of the park benches and forced him to sit down nicely. Being a good boy he is, Woohyun complied and casted his gaze elsewhere but at Sunggyu. The latter simply ignored the mumbles coming out from Woohyun’s lips.

            “Why are you so nervous, Woohyun?” Sunggyu chuckled. One of his hands rested itself under Woohyun’s chin, tilting the boy’s face up while the other gently rubbed some ointment on the blue-ish spot.

            “I’m not…” Woohyun muttered out, clear enough for Sunggyu to hear him. “Your face is too close, by the way.”

            “Bear with it for a little longer. You’re acting as if I’m molesting you, geez.”

            “I’m just sensitive with personal space.”

Woohyun blinked when Sunggyu retracted his hands away from his face and placed them on his sides, using the wooden bench to support his weight. Woohyun felt his breath hitched when Sunggyu leaned closer, he could feel his breath on his hair.

            “So… Do you feel uncomfortable when I’m being like this..?” Sunggyu raised an eyebrow even though Woohyun wouldn’t be able to see it since he lowered his head down, avoiding Sunggyu’s eyes.

            “Y-yes… You’re being weird, Sunggyu…”

            “Am I?” Sunggyu asked softly, receiving a stiff nod from Woohyun in response. “I think you’re the one who should be blamed for this though.”

Woohyun raised his head slowly and gulped when he noticed that Sunggyu’s face were merely millimeters apart from his. He couldn’t decipher the glint in Sunggyu’s eyes, they were stern as always, yet there’s something else that he couldn’t tell.

            “Why me?” Woohyun asked, his voice turning smaller somehow. Sunggyu pulled away slightly and looked at Woohyun. Much to his dismay, the latter’s eyes were once again casted towards the ground.

            “Eyes up here, look at me.”

Sunggyu observed at how the other flinched slightly and how his eyes shifted unsurely. He smiled when the other’s eyes finally met his. Woohyun cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at Sunggyu, finally regaining his senses.

            “Why me?” He repeated, louder this time.

Sunggyu held his breath. With the way Woohyun was looking at him, Sunggyu had to restrain himself from leaning further to kiss those pouty lips.

            “I’ve told you, you worry me.”

            “Your behavior worries me even more, Sunggyu,” Woohyun frowned. Sunggyu just stayed quiet, this time it was him who casted his gaze to the ground.

            “Woohyun,” Sunggyu called softly, not lifting his eyes.

            “Yes?”

            “Can I kiss you?”

Woohyun’s jaw fell when the whispered question reached his ear.