Chapter Text
Wonwoo finds that he’s certainly been seeing Soonyoung a lot more than he would like to. Turns out both of them love to hang out at the cafe, watching their soulmates. He’d like to talk to Jun, not Soonyoung. And watching Soonyoung and Seokmin together is so sweet, he could barf. Nothing against the couple really, it was just too much, sometimes.
And Soonyoung must have clearly planned something, going by the glint in his eyes as the couple approaches Wonwoo and Jun.
A double date. He wants a double date. As if Wonwoo wasn’t already seeing Soonyoung too much. Now, the bastard was taking away his alone time with Jun. He doesn’t really want to but Soonyoung’s a stubborn ass and Seokmin is an angel and he knows that Jun wouldn’t say no, considering that he is close to all of them.
Wonwoo smiles and looks at Jun, who’s rubbing his wrists again. They don’t want to intrude but Soonyoung’s eyes shine bright and Seokmin smiles and Wonwoo nods when Jun gives in.
Seokmin mentions he knows a place, barbeque is always good. Wonwoo grills the meat, hitting Soonyoung’s chopsticks away. This was a good cut anyway. He should get his own. He wraps the meat in the lettuce and puts it in Jun’s bowl. Jun fills both their glasses up and they dig in.
Dinner is anything but silent, by god, do both Soonyoung and Seokmin love to talk.
The both of them had met on an exchange program in Australia, before Seokmin moved back. At that time, Soonyoung had fallen headfirst for him, yet Seokmin hadn’t felt a thing and had rejected him. They hadn’t talked since.
Wonwoo’s only known Jun for a couple of weeks and being separated from him sounds too painful. He’s surprised that ‘SoonSeok’ hadn’t gotten together then with the way they get along like a house on fire. They haven’t seen each other in forever yet they finish each other sentences and speak in unison. A tad creepy if Wonwoo was being honest. He pours himself a drink. Some pairs just fit like puzzle pieces.
Seokmin talks about how his parents who were soulmates had just gotten divorced at the time, making him question love. He hadn't believed in soulmates, then. They’d met just a bit too soon but it all worked out anyway, they say clinking their shot glasses together. Huh, guess destiny wasn’t perfect after all...
Seokmin has his arm wrapped around Soonyoung as he asks, words slurring, about how he and Soonyoung met.
Wonwoo’s tipsy but not that stupid. Not yet anyway.
“Met at a party and -” Before he can finish about how they run in the same circles, Soonyoung and his flush cheeks interrupt.
“We were fuck buddies!” He says, giggling. He is this close to throttling him. Seokmin punctuates that with how Soonyoung must be so lucky, Wonwoo was soooo hot. He was all over the table now and definitely about to pass out.
Jun? Jun says nothing. His lips are pursed together and if Wonwoo had a few more brain cells, he’d have something better to say.
He points his olive at Jun and says, “Olive you.”
Jun smiles although it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Jun glances at his phone, “It’s getting late and both Seokmin and I have the morning shift tomorrow. I’ll bring him home…” He shakes the man by his shoulders, barely managing to get him up and they leave.
Soonyoung must still have some sort of awareness left because he apologises but really, it's not his fault. Having fuckbuddies wasn’t uncommon either, Jun was just being a hard ass. It’d be fine tomorrow. He knocks back another drink and for some reason, it burns.
Wonwoo had thought nothing of it when Jun hadn’t texted him all day. But then the day after, there was no good morning text. So Wonwoo takes the initiative to start conversation; the replies take forever to come and are flat.
Was Jun mad? Why would he be mad about something that happened before he met him… Maybe he should explain? That it meant nothing. He tries to catch Jun at the cafe, it’s nearly impossible, Wonwoo only manages to talk to him once in two weeks.
Giving up on telling him in person, Wonwoo texts him. He only gets an “Ok.” At least, it was a speedy reply?
Wonwoo has an idea of what’s wrong but how does he fix it? They’re just friends anyway, Why was Jun upset?
He leaves Jun be. Sometimes, people need space.
Being apart from Jun aches, his chest hurts so much at times. Wonwoo doesn’t even know if it's his own pain sometimes. He keeps himself busy with games, studies, actually hanging out with Minghao to get to know him better, doesn’t go to the cafe even if he wants to.
It’s two more weeks before he gets a text from Jun.
Junnie <3: 3:20pm
Let’s meet in the park now?
I have something i wanna say
It’s warm out. Some leaves were poking out of the mostly barren trees. The snow is slush now, leaving puddles everywhere. Jun’s sitting at the edge of the fountain. There’s still some water in them. He spots a few coins at the bottom as he takes a seat next to Jun. Their shoulders touch.
Jun is silent. Wonwoo holds his tongue.
Not many are around, the last frost is better spent huddled together around fireplaces with warm cups. Soon, Wonwoo thinks, the park would be full of life again.
Jun takes off his gloves to reveal thorns poking out from the skin of his hands. His hands are scarred and eyes are shining.
“Jun-”
“It wasn’t any of my business what you and Soonyoung do or did, because we are just friends. It still hurt and upset me, because you’re my soulmate and I realised that I only felt that way because you mean more than just a friend to me, I was jealous but I’ve been pushing you away, will you accept me because I’ve fallen for you and I don’t know what to do. I’ll probably still push you away sometimes cos I’m scared but will you accept me?”
It’s all said way too fast and Jun’s accent is heavy. Ah. Jun’s expression falls as Wonwoo stays quiet.
“Yes, yes yes!” He’d been waiting for this for too long.
Wonwoo takes Jun’s hands into his, ignoring the pricks.
“You’re bleeding,” Jun hiccups between his tears.
“That’s alright.”
Jun’s body shakes as he whispers ‘Wonwoo’ over and over while Wonwoo holds his hands and whispers sweet words of comfort. They’re leaning into each other almost hugging and Wonwoo only notices because his hands don’t hurt anymore.
It must be magic Wonwoo thinks as the thorns retract, and instead flowers bloom where the thorns used to be, hiding the scars. It’s all too familiar, really. The small flowers of pink and white, that he now knows are Baby’s Breath bloom around his hands. The pattern begins to grow even further, swirling around his forearms, changing from the tiny flowers, to lavenders to deep red roses as it goes from his hands up his arms. There’s some leaves but no more thorns.
It’s almost identical to Wonwoo’s.
“See, you don’t have thorns anymore,” Wonwoo kisses Jun’s hands, “As long as we keep trying, we’ll be alright.”