iii. fragile

it's almost five years later when they meet again.

by some twist of fate, sungjoo is sitting beside him underneath fancy chandeliers, peering over crystal glasses and wondering how it's so natural to fall back into what they were. yixuan still grins wide with crinkled eye-corners and ed chuckles. and he still laughs with his whole body and full lips pulled back. it's all the same yet it's all different. where lanky awkwardness and shy glances once were, there is nowfull-blown confidence in their skins for both of them.

how easily they can fall back to hesitant kisses, fingers daydreaming below hems, and whispers of better tomorrows. except that maybe this time they can make it work, now with time on their sides and no hazy future to separate them. not that anything is set in stone. but for once sungjoo's okay with it.

what does he have to lose? so sungjoo tilts on his axis and takes yixuan's hand beneath white tablecloth, slips his fingers through the spaces and he revels in how well they fit. only yixuan's tightening grip back betrays his calm expression. sungjoo remembers how, back when they separated, yixuan had given him lilies of the valley and had wondered if the flowers’ meaning of 'return of happiness' was attached to the bouquet in lingering script below his skin.

and so sungjoo leans forward to whisper something fragile in yixuan's ear.

A/N: aaaaand that's wrap!

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