Daesung dragged his feet, he didn't want to go home. It had been a week and no word from Seunghyun. He had done the only thing he could to survive, and that was to keep busy. Unlike Seunghyun, Jiyong and Youngbae had kept their promise and every day this week they had stayed late helping him come up with ideas, practicing and fantasizing about what it was going to be like if they all got in.

It was scary how smoothly and effortlessly life had continued without Seunghyun. It was as if nobody had noticed he was missing except him. People just went about their lives like there was nothing more natural, as if the center of gravity hadn't just been ripped out from under them, leaving a gaping wound that was messing with the gravitational forces, making him excruciatingly light with emptiness. How was everything moving forward when it should have been stuck in suspended animation? He was almost starting to believe that Seunghyun was the figment of his imagination, that he had made him up to feel less alone in a new and scary environment. It made sense, he had been too good to be true. Way too good. That kind of happiness didn't exist in the real world, it could only be found in the land of wishful thinking.

At the end of the day, Daesung had packed up his things, doing everything he was supposed to do, but nothing had felt the same. Nothing felt like anything anymore. It was all just a collection of empty gestures. A pointless charade designed to make others feel better. Others, not him. No, he felt worse. Everyday, he felt a little bit worse. Everyday, waking up was just a little bit harder. Everyday, life seemed a little bit less worth it. And yet nobody noticed. Happy not to have to deal with other people's messy pain, they thankfully accepted his act, pretending it was real. Using it as a get out of jail free card. But Daesung possessed no such card, spending every single moment of every single day in the prison of his own heart. A dark dungeon of terror, with no hope of parole for good behavior.

After practice he had waved goodbye to Jiyong and Youngbae, promising to do better next time after a lifeless performance. It was an empty promise. He didn't have the will nor the strength to do better next time. There was nothing left inside him, and there was only so much this empty vessel of his could do. One heavy step, and then another. That was how he got home.

“About time!” a low gravelly voice slithered into his right ear as he turned into his street. His heart stopped on the spot, making the blood in his veins come to a complete standstill, his whole body freezing in an attempt to capture this moment for all eternity. But that wasn't how the world worked, even though he stopped, the world around him kept turning.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Seunghyun stepped out of his hiding place, revealing his drawn but beautiful face. He looked like he had been to hell and back. But he had come back. He was back. Daesung blinked, staring at him, trying to convince himself that this was actually happening. That Seunghyun wasn't just a magical creation of his own brain, heck his brain wasn't good enough to come up with something so amazingly beautiful and perfect.

“You.. you're back?” he stammered as his hand reached out, wanting to make sure he was really there. “Your phone.. turned off..” he added incoherently, he was in total shock.

“Heh.. yeah uhm.. we need to talk.” Seunghyun timidly took his hand, weaving their fingers together before he pulled him aside. The feeling of his skin against his was so familiar and yet so alien, it was like reviving a memory long buried in the past, the memory was there but it had been so long that it felt like it had been planted there, perhaps borrowed from a novel he had once read.

He was right about one thing though, they really did need to talk. Daesung had a million and one questions. He wanted to ask him where he had been all this time, what his mom had said after he had left, whether he had been eating properly. He wanted to tell him how much he had missed him. That he had ruined him, that life just wasn't the same without him anymore. That they should never again spend so much time apart. He wanted to kick him for leaving him behind. But he also wanted to kiss him for coming back. Maybe he would start with the kiss.

“Is your mom home?” Seunghyun asked as he glanced furtively in the direction of the front door.

“No? Why?” Daesung grinned, having an idea where this was going.

“Can I come in for a second? It would really be better if we talked in private.”.

“Oh, I get it. We need privacy, huh.” he giggled, sending him a naughty wink. He wasn't completely stupid. He could feel there was something looming over them, tainting the atmosphere, but he didn't want to deal with it. He had gotten his Seunghyun back. After the longest week in the history of the Universe, he had returned to him, unscathed, for the most part at least. He was going to enjoy it. All the world's problems could wait until later. They could wait forever for all he cared.

Before they emerged out from behind the wall they had been leaning against, Seunghyun pulled the hood on his sweatshirt as far over his head as it would go, his face disappearing into darkness. “Let's go.” he instructed in a low voice, like he was on the run or something. It felt kind of ridiculous, but Daesung still matched his mysterious attitude, and with light, quick and quiet steps, they half-ran up the stairs and into the house.

“No, no... Daesung-ah... I think it's best if we stay in the living room, I really do have something important to tell you and we can't afford any such distractions.” Seunghyun resisted as Daesung tried to drag him up to his room, for one very obvious purpose, but he wasn't having it. The knot in his stomach got bigger. What was so important that it couldn't even wait for a measly half an hour, fifteen minutes if they were quick. He was glad to see the ghost of a smile on Seunghyun's gaunt face though, but it disappeared all too fast.

Seunghyun made sure all the curtains were closed shut, giving Daesung a bad feeling. Where had he been all this week? Had he committed some kind of crime and was now on the run? What on Earth was going on? A part of him had to know, but another, bigger part of him wanted to ignore it. If it was going to interfere with his and Seunghyun's relationship, he didn't want to know about it.

“Sit down.” Seunghyun all but demanded.

“What.. I don't even get a kiss hello first? One little kiss?” Daesung folded his arms theatrically, pursing his lips. He wasn't going to make this easy for him, whatever this was.

Seunghyun sighed, his expression turning soft. As he slowly drew closer, looking him straight in the eyes, Daesung was overcome by a swarm of butterflies. After all this time, he still couldn't believe that this god of a man was his. Seunghyun stopped right in front of him and just looked at him, as if he was painting a detailed portrait with his eyes alone. Daesung found it hard to breathe, the air between them saturated with electricity.

Daesung was the first to bridge the gap between them, not able to wait a second longer. His fingers longed to touch his smooth, warm skin. His heart ached for his arms to once again protect it from the loneliness that had overtaken it, while his lips kissed and made everything better again. And so he did. The moment Daesung's fingertips touched the back of Seunghyun's neck, it was as if he finally came to life. Abruptly, he pulled Daesung closer, squeezing him tight, so tight in fact that there was not a molecule of air left in his lungs. He didn't care. Who needed oxygen, when they had Seunghyun? He didn't.

He felt so warm, both inside and outside. It started to dawn on him just how much he had missed him. All the feelings that had been bottled up came bursting out, causing the tears to start flowing. Seunghyun let him cry for a bit, holding him even tighter, his back gently. After a while he started to let go, pulling back to get a better look at him, using his thumb to wipe some of the tears away. Seunghyun's big, sad eyes silently begged him forgiveness. And he forgave him at once, their lips meeting in a bitter sweet kiss, filled with regret and longing.  

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A/N: It wasn't my intention to go on such a long hiatus, it just happened that way. Thanks so much for your patience ♥