Chapter Text
Hansol is miserably hungover when he wakes. It feels like his brain is sitting on the floor of his skull, sensitive to every slight movement.
Last night was fun, though. He's in a good mood, despite the painful fog in his head, memories filtering back one at a time.
The original plan was dinner and drinks, but his friends wanted to see everything Seoul's nightlife had to offer. One of them had researched so much before the trip they knew spots even Hansol hadn't seen before. Some were terrible, some were great, but they were laughing the entire time.
The last memory to hit him is his goodnight call to Seungkwan. Or had Seungkwan called him? No – no, Hansol remembers now, laying in bed and feeling drunk, and floaty and happy, and realizing he was alone, and wishing that wasn't the case. And then he called Seungkwan.
He remembers saying that he wasn't drunk, and Seungkwan's gentle but obvious disbelief. Amused at himself and ready for the teasing, Hansol gropes for his phone on the nightstand.
Hansol:
hung over.. ㅜㅜㅜㅜ
Seungkwan:
I thought hansollie wasn't that drunk~
haejangguk?
Hansol:
ㅜㅜ thank you
Warm with gratitude, Hansol lets his phone drop back onto the stand, and closes his eyes. He is going to sleep until Seungkwan arrives. Seungkwan will ask questions about last night, about his friends, and what they did, and where they went. Hansol will tell him about the projects they're working on, how workshopped them over drinks, and now natural and fun it all was, but still different to be alone, without any of the members, and how maybe Seungkwan could do a guide, if he wants.
Seungkwan will be happy about being asked to help, but try not to show it. Hansol is smiling to himself as he dozes off, because it's rare that it gets to be like this: Hansol doing something for Seungkwan.
"Morning, man."
The hotel door opens, a jarring wake up call. Hansol lifts his head, surprised to see three of his visiting friends filter in: Kurt, followed by Sam, then Emma. They look as groggy as Hansol feels, dark eye makeup smeared around Sam's eyes.
"Everyone's on their way over," Sam says, while Emma collapses in the empty spot beside Hansol on the bed, still recovering. "We're starving."
"Oh," Hansol says, groggy. It takes him a beat to work out that he will be the one responsible for directing them to food.
Three more friends arrive shortly after that, and they include Toby, who seems to be unaffected by the alcohol from last night, even though Hansol knows he was drinking. He's all loud and upbeat.
"Man, this time difference is a killer," he's laughing. There's a knock on the door, and Toby turns down the little hallway to answer. A second later, "Oh! Hey, it's Seungkwan!"
That wakes Hansol up. Toby walks back in the room, Seungkwan trailing behind him, slowly, looking disoriented and holding tight to his bag of take out, eyeing the strangers in the room. He obviously wasn't expecting a crowd.
Hansol sits up, pulling on his hoodie, "Good morning."
Seungkwan finds him in the room and his expression lightens in relief. Apparently more confident, starts setting down the bags of breakfast, which has everyone's hot attention.
"No, we don't need to get any breakfast," Sam is saying on their phone. "Someone brought us food. Vernon's boyfriend?"
"No, no," Hansol says, quickly, heart jumping up to his throat, looking quickly over to Seungkwan to see if he heard it. He doesn't seem to have, and Hansol sags in relief.
"Oh. Sorry, I thought I recognized him from pictures of you guys together?"
"Yeah, we're just friends."
"Really," Kurt says, and exchanges an amused a look with a few other people, and Hansol feels his face start to flush. Did he say something last night.. ?
"I don't know. I never went to my friend's place at 8am for soup delivery."
"Maybe you're just a bad friend," Emma laughs.
"Or maybe he's more like Vernon's nanny?" Sam says, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.
"Just a good friend," Hansol says, annoyed by the conversation, and annoyed that his friends are doing this – talking like this, about Seungkwan, in a way that Seungkwan can't understand, in front of him. He's annoyed too that Seungkwan's face has stayed perfectly, utterly blank.
If he couldn't tell what they were talking about, if he didn't have any idea, he'd be looking at Hansol, expecting a translation, but he's setting up breakfast as if it's the most fascinating thing he's done in his life.
"Dude. Come on," Kurt says. "You wouldn't shut up about him last night."
"You showed us like, sixty videos of him singing."
"Guys, stop picking on Vernon's no-homo soup," Toby says. "If they're just friends, they're friends."
"I kind of thought y'all were together, too," Emma says, apologetically. "You were doing that whole proud boyfriend thing..."
Hansol can't remember this. In his own memories, any discussion about Seungkwan was relevant and appropriate and to the point. But maybe he went overboard.
Seungkwan goes still at the kitchenette counter, still staring down at the meal. He's considering his next move, and when he looks up, he smiles a picture perfect, utterly fake smile.
"Eat a lot, feel better," he says, also pleasant, also fake, then nods to the group, and quickly leaves.
Hansol is behind but only by a beat. He scrambles from the bed, jogging to the door, after Seungkwan, ignoring the amused glances from his friends.
"Wait – Seungkwan!" he calls, and Seungkwan must have been practically running, he's already at the end of the hall, waiting at the elevators.
Seungkwan stops. He's not pretending to be pleasant anymore, his gaze is cool and distant. He's mad. Or hurt. Or hurt and mad. This is so far from the morning Hansol had hoped for.
"Sorry," he says. "They all came in the room after I messaged you."
"Ah," Seungkwan says, and that does clear some of the anxiety from his eyes. But not enough, and Hansol doesn't know what to say, he's still half asleep, and the hangover is still there, clogging up his thoughts.
"Sorry – uh," he apologizes again. "Thank you. For the soup."
Seungkwan nods, but he's unaffected. Still cold and distant. What did he hear? What does he think? The thing between them is so vague and weird, what it really means is a private decision to be made between them. It shouldn't involve anyone else, let alone strangers, let alone strangers that would joke about it, and Hansol wants to say all that, and he wants to apologize, but he doesn't know where to start. Any opening he can think of would just make it worse. He's actually about to apologize for a third time when the elevator arrives, and saves him.
"Really, feel better," Seungkwan says, nodding again. He seems to mean this, giving a wan but real smile. "And have fun."
And then he's gone.