Written by: "Banana" 

Pairing: Woogyu

Prompt: "You're the softest thing I've ever tasted...cotton candy..."

(Words: 3,432)

"Why are you even so obsessed with it..." Sunggyu whined, as he rolled over in bed, trying to mute out the sounds of Woohyun's whining.

"It's soft and fluffy..." The pout was evident in his voice as he wrapped his arms around the other male's torso, much to his annoyance.

"Nam Woohyun I swear that one more time..." Sunggyu's eyes shot opened, and he hurriedly felt the bed beside him. He could have expected it -- it was empty, and he was wondering why he was still not accustomed to that yet.

Sunggyu still remembered the times which he had been sitting in the empty hall in the hospital, alone beside the coffin of his best friend, the one and only best friend who would stay by his side all the time, no matter what happened.

He was in a pair of simple black trousers, covered with a white dress shirt. His blazer was hung on the coat hanger beside him, and he tugged lightly on his black neck tie.

As far as Sunggyu knew, Woohyun did not have many friends, neither did he keep in touch with his family members ever since he graduated and moved out. According to him, Woohyun did not like mixing with people, unless they were ‘fluffy’, or ‘soft’, measured only by his standards and his standards alone.

Sunggyu rolled his eyes at the memory. Woohyun used to stick around whenever he went, especially since they practically grew up together -- that was the reason why Sunggyu knew practically everything about Woohyun.

The memory of the image of Woohyun’s smile was the most vivid -- the way the other male’s lips will curve up, the way his plumps lips would thin so slightly that it was barely noticeable. Of course Sunggyu noticed every single slight change in Woohyun’s expressions, because he paid attention, every single time.

He felt the clenching in his chest again. He hated, it, but had no other choice but to deal with it. He had two choices -- the first was to forget about Woohyun, and feel no pain. The second choice was to remember him and to bear with the pain without complaining. He clearly chose the latter.

Sunggyu forced a smile onto his face, before he sat up in bed, getting ready for his work that day.

He tried his best not to remember himself trying to wake his best friend up for breakfast, before dragging him to work together. Yes, they worked in the same company, just that they were in different departments. Sunggyu had always been in the human resource department, while Woohyun was with marketing.

Stop thinking about him Sunggyu, you can do better than this… Much better…

He could not understand why the other male seemed to live in his mind, and seemed to have a life of its own in his memories, but it simply happened that way.

He dragged himself into his room in the office, like what he had been doing for the past two months, not any different from a robot.

“Gyu-hyung, fighting!”

Sunggyu would have slapped the owner of the voice in his head long ago, if it was even possible -- oh, how he wished it was. The voice could be whiny at times, or it could be just simply cute, adorable and irresistible, all at the same time.

He hated how the other male had always succeeded in messing the way he thinks up in the most atrocious manner since the day they got to know each other, and things only became worse when he left -- left to die by himself in his own corner. So that’s how you treat your best friend, eh? Not telling him anything and suddenly get the doctor to tell him that you have less than half an hour alive? Wow…

Sunggyu did not realise that his hands were already clenched into tight little tiny fists, until his secretary walked in, a large stack of files nestled neatly in her arms.

“Boss, what’s wrong.” Her voice was monotone, as if she was a robot, just like Sunggyu, but was programmed to speak only a few specific words, unlike Sunggyu, who just simply had no emotions. Her name was Lee Soojung, but for some reason or another, she preferred to be known as ‘soul’. No one knew the reason why.

“Nothing.” He replied, with the same tone.

“Okay.” Her machine-like voice was starting to annoy him. “Big boss wants you to read those documents and make the necessary arrangements. If you do not have anything else for me to do, I will go and do my work outside.” She was still speaking in the same tone and rhythm, and Sunggyu could not help but nod, wishing nothing more than to keep their conversation short.

Yes, Sunggyu did have the tendency to speak in a robot-like voice ever since the day Woohyun left the human world, but unlike Soojung, he did have some variations in his speech from time to time. Sometimes, conversations with the female made him wonder if she was in fact a robot specially programmed to do human work.

However, he was always grateful for the help that Soojung had given him. She had covered all his work when he was stuck in the hospital for close to a month taking care of Woohyun, and had even handled all the problems that had arisen during his absence when he was dealing with Woohyun’s funeral.

She was always a great help wherever she went, but it was a huge pity that she did not really believe in the existence of friends -- which was the main reason why he did not know much about the female despite her being his secretary for the past few years.

~~

Sunggyu opened his eyes, realising that he was in a familiar room. The room had whitewashed walls, so spotless that it blinded his eyes for a short moment. There was a single bed in the middle of the room, where a familiar male was lying. The male was shifting uncomfortably in his position, and anyone could tell that he was in pain.

“Woohyun! Woohyun are you okay?”

Sunggyu shot up from his seat near the window and ran towards the bed, shaking the male who was curled up in a fet

al position by the shoulders, as if his instincts had already programmed his body to do so.

Soft whimpers escaped from Woohyun’s lips. “I’m cold… And it’s really painful…”

Sunggyu had no idea where or how Woohyun was hurting, but he knew for sure that it was one of the many side effects chemotherapy had on people. “Woohyun, relax, it’s going to be fine… Everything is going to be fine as soon as you find a suitable donor…” Sunggyu held Woohyun carefully in his arms, whispering quietly into his ears.

Woohyun started shivering, his arms proceeding to wrap themselves around Sunggyu’s neck. “Gyu-hyung… I really scared… What if I die one day…”

Sunggyu bit his lips, as the possibility flashed through his mind. “You won’t, believe in your own abilities to lie on.” He did not want to think about living without the best friend he had depended on since the first day he could remember, therefore he was willing to risk everything in order to save Woohyun.

To his disappointment, Woohyun only shook his head against Sunggyu’s shirt, and Sunggyu could feel the tears seeping through his dress shirt onto his skin. “I know that I don’t have much time anymore… Don’t cry alright, if I leave.”

Sunggyu wanted to smack Woohyun every single time the words tumbled out from his mouth. Woohyun had the ability to jinx everything, and Sunggyu did not want to take any chances, especially when Woohyun’s health came into play. But Sunggyu held himself back -- simply because he could not bear to hurt the other male anymore, not when he was literally in a dying state.

It hurt Sunggyu to see Woohyun suffering more and more, retreating more and more every single day in his fight against Multiple Myeloma, a rare blood condition which worked in a way scarily similar to leukemia. He would pray for many nights in a row, hoping and blaming himself for not being the one who was down with the sickness, instead of Woohyun.

He felt unfair. Woohyun grew up as an orphan, with no support or help from his relatives whatsoever. He was bullied by other kids for as long as he could remember and if not for Sunggyu, he would have died in the orphanage long ago.

A person with such a depressing childhood, in Sunggyu’s opinion simply did not deserve to live through a horrifying sickness like cancer, let alone die because of it.

He must have spaced out for too long, because before he knew it, Woohyun was impatiently tugging at Sunggyu’s shirt, looking questioningly at him.

“Hm?”

He hummed, meeting with Woohyun’s gaze as warmly as he could.

“I want something soft.”

The greasy smile was back on Woohyun’s face, and Sunggyu could not help but feel his heart clench slightly at it.

Sunggyu released an arm from Woohyun’s waist to scratch at his head. “Soft? Do you need a pillow? I’ll get…” He was about to press on the red button on the remote control in the room to call for a nurse, only to be stopped by a hand on his wrist.

He then heard a chuckle. “I like how cute you are like this…” Woohyun choked, a bitter-sweet smile on his face. He pointed to his lips. “I’m talking about this.”

Sunggyu blushed at Woohyun’s words, deciding not to give any reply.

“Do you not want to give me that?” Woohyun pouted, and Sunggyu could not help but marvel at how Woohyun could bring himself to do such a cringe-worthy thing despite all the pain that he was experiencing.

“Fine. Where do you want it?”

Woohyun pointed at his lips again, resulting in a roll of the eyes by Sunggyu. “Are you serious?”

“Why not? The last time I tasted it, it tasted like cotton candy… You know that I can’t eat cotton candy in this state, therefore I have to look for an alternative.” He wiggled his eyes at Sunggyu, and Sunggyu pondered over the possibility that the other male was in fact healthy and well.

He spent the next five minutes or so staring at the pair of plump lips presented in front of me, as Woohyun felt himself squirming involuntarily under the strong gaze. “I don’t have sixty years for you to contemplate whether you want to kiss me or not.” Sarcasm was evident in Woohyun’s voice. “It’s fine if you don’t want to kiss me, just say so. I accept the fact that I’m not attractive anymore.” He let out a short laugh, as if he was assuring himself.

Screw self-control… It’s just a kiss. Sunggyu squeezed his eyes shut, before crashing his lips onto Woohyun’s. It was a simple peck, but more than enough for him to feel the rough edges of the other male’s dry lips.

“It’s sweet, like always.” Woohyun muttered, as tears started swimming at the edge of his eyes. “I guess this is the thing that I’ll miss most.”

“Will you stop speaking like that?” Sunggyu chided sharply, as he tightened his hold onto Woohyun. “You need the hope in you to win against this.”

Woohyun’s expression turned serious at the statement, before pushing himself off Sunggyu. “Gyu-hyung, it’s time for you to give up. Stop clinging onto that last thread of hope. It’s not strong enough to hold you up. It’s going to rise up, higher and higher and when it snaps, you might just die from the fall. I’ve let go of that thread, and it’s your turn to do so.” He fought back his tears, before wrapping his fingers around the white blankets. “It hurts, and I’m tired. The sweet smell from your lips, I’ll remember it forever.”

“Woohyun what are you talking about? You’ll be fine, you’ll…” A tear slid down Sunggyu’s cheek, before a whole stream of liquids started spilling onto his face. He stopped, as Woohyun leant his head back onto the pillow, his upper eyelids falling slowly to meet with bottom eyelids.

Sunggyu jammed his fingers onto the red button on the remote control. “Woohyun! Wait!”

Those were the last words that escaped from Sunggyu’s mouth before he was dragged out of the room.

Woohyun was pronounced dead five minutes later, and Sunggyu could not help but break down onto the ground, crying his heart out.

“Boss, cry your heart out.”

Somehow, his secretary was in the same building when all the drama happened, as she was in the hospital visiting her classmate from long ago, and so happened to be in the next room. A tissue was dangled in front of Sunggyu, and he took it gratefully, despite the voice in his head telling him to push the female away.

“Thanks.” He choked, not caring for the fact that the doctors were leaving the room one by one, together with the nurses who were covering Woohyun’s body with the white blanket. Soojung helped Sunggyu out with all the funeral matters, and Sunggyu trusted the female well enough to take care of most of the important work.

~~

“Boss, you should rest at home today. you still have one month’s worth of paid leave.” A robotic voice was heard as his eyes jerked open. Darn it, I fell asleep again… He cursed himself in his head as he forced a tight-lipped smile onto his face.

“I’m fine, don’t worry and do your work.”

“I brought chamomile tea. If you need someone to talk to, I’m here. I don’t want you to neglect your work quality because of your negative feelings.” Soojung said, pronouncing every single word of the sentence with the same amount of stress and type of articulation. Not a very good person to talk to about emotions, but she was the best option Sunggyu had.

“Thank you.” Sunggyu held the cup gently with the tip of his fingers and took a small sip. It was warm, of the perfect temperature for the liquid to travel down his throat without scalding him. “You do agree that talking to someone is a good idea, right?”

Soojung nodded, as if she was a robot which joints needed oiling.

“What would you not mind listening?” He asked this time, as the female shifted slightly in her position. She might have helped Sunggyu with a lot of work when it came to Woohyun, and could have guessed their relationship -- but there was no way for her to understand the relationship and dynamics between the two of them

“I pledge confidentiality.”

Sunggyu laughed at her reply, and how stiff she looked at the moment. “Take a seat. I’m done with my work for the day anyway.”

She sat down, in a surprisingly gentle manner that was a huge contrast to her normally robot-like actions.

“You do know Woohyun right? In the marketing section?”

Soojung nodded.

“He’s my best friend.” He took another sip out of his cup. “We grew up in an orphanage together. He was always bullied, and I stood up for him, because he was too intelligent to be bullied that way. He had always done well in school -- better than I ever would.”

Soojung’s back stiffened, the moment her eyes caught Sunggyu turning his attention back onto her.

“You may relax a little in front of me, I don’t bite.” He smiled slightly. “We grew up together, and he looked out for me in ways that no one else could. He was always the first to tell whenever I had a problem, and was willing to listen to all the complaints I had. He also had many different ways to lift my mood. I wouldn’t have come this far without him.” There was a faraway look in his eyes, and he could not help but reminisce all the memories with Woohyun.

Soojung ‘s shoulders visibly relaxed a little as her eyes remained trained onto Sunggyu’s. “I see why you still can’t forget about him…” Her voice trailed off, as she started retreating into her own thoughts.

“I took him for granted. I thought he would stay with me no matter what happened, but I guess I was wrong… He was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer, which does not have a cure. The doctor told us that he had a year at most, as long as he went for treatment.”

Which simply meant that if he did not go for treatment, he would die earlier.

“I wanted him to receive the treatment, but he refused to do so at first, until I told him that I would die without him. Because he was an orphan, he had no suitable bone marrow donor. I wanted to donate mine, but I was not suitable.” Sunggyu stopped, blinking back some tears which threatened to spill. “Do you know how guilty I felt?”

Soojung made no reply but nodded, just to show that she was still listening.

“It was obvious that he had given up, but he kept that smile on his face. So I tried keeping the hope alive for the both of us, but he still died. I tried my best to save him, but he still insisted on leaving me. I feel bad, but I don’t know why anymore.”

Soojung bit her lip, as if she was holding herself back from saying something.

“Don’t have to hold yourself back, we’re equals at this moment.”

“You’re feeling bad now because you can’t bring yourself to move on.” She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting an onslaught of scolding, only to open them a moment later, after a period of awkward silence. “We all know that Woohyun’s death was fate, no one could foresee that happening. I guess you must have promised Woohyun that you would move on, but look at what you are doing.”

Sometimes Sunggyu had to spend some time complimenting Soojung’s observance, because she tended to be spot on in most of her guesses on issues.

“Do you think that’s what I should do?”

“Sorry boss, I guess I should go out now and complete all the planning for tomorrow’s meeting. Please have a break and I hope to see the boss I worked with during my first years in this company again.” She sounded flustered for some reason, as Sunggyu clenched his fists in a determined manner.

I’ll try, it’s a high time for me to move on anyway… The feeling of the fluffy white clouds against my lips… I’ll keep it locked in the deepest parts of my memories… I guess?

~~

“Gyu-hyung, let me kiss you~” Woohyun sang, as he pounced onto Sunggyu's back, clinging tightly onto his back like a koala.

Sunggyu feigned a disgusted look on his face as he pried Woohyun’s fingers from his neck which was choking him. “Ew, why do you even want to do that? We're in public…” His voice trailed off as he glanced at the people around them warily, as if being out in the open was more than enough to rid him of his energy.

The two were in the middle of a parade square of one of the biggest shopping centre in town. The doctor said that he had one more year to live, before the blood in him would be so overridden by platelets that his white and red blood cell count would be so low that he could no longer carry out life processes.

There was no cure for that, other than getting rid of the cancer cells as much as possible. Woohyun however, did not seem too affected by that fact, and continued to live his life normally, despite the pains that were starting to take a toll on him physically.

Sunggyu was quickly pulled out of his thoughts however, by a soft pair of muscles against his lips.

“Gyu-hyung, I swear your lips are so addictive that it’s going to be the thing I miss most when it’s time for me to leave this world.” Woohyun had a cheeky smile plastered onto his lips as he quickly placed a peck on Sunggyu’s cheek.

“It’s going to be my replacement for cotton candy from now on.” The last part came out as a mutter, but Sunggyu’s sharp ears caught it, nonetheless, a nervous small smile playing at the edge of his lips.