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Briefly, his mind registers that he is falling.
Falling is such a strange feeling. He remembers that he was trying to climb up to the top floor to lay down more bricks. Which makes the fall even longer, makes his descent back to the ground more dangerous. He recalls Newton's third law: All forces in the universe occur in equal but oppositely directed pairs. He will reach free fall very soon.
Time slows, halts even. Seongwoo can hear the harsh breaths escaping from his lips as he curls into himself, body preparing itself for the impact that will most certainly break his legs. At worst, it will kill him. Falling is a unique feeling. He is seemingly weightless, bound by nothing. Here, his expectations and desires fade away to nothing but the whistle of wind he hears. The weight he has carried on his shoulders vanish, and he nearly sighs in relief.
"Seongwoo-yah, you are an old soul in a young body." His grandmother smiles sadly down at him. He's six again and packing his favorite stuffed toy into his luggage. Daddy is running from room to room, trying to salvage whatever valuables the family has so he can pawn them off at the next city. His grandmother chuckles and ruffles his hair, and he turns, grinning, to Daniel.
This Daniel is the one he remembers the most in his head. He's had this Daniel in the center of his life for nineteen years. He studied hard because he wanted to be a police officer. He wanted to be a police officer so he could find Daniel. His brother beams back at him and tosses a ball over so he can deflate it and put it in his backpack. Just as he catches it, he's in the back of the truck, screaming for his brother. Daddy opens the front door and leaps out of the front seat, coming to soothe his screams absently. Seongwoo never forgot the look on his father's face when he finally realized Daniel was missing.
Then he's at the hospital, his father dying in front of him.
"Seongwoo." His father whispers, and his grandmother weeps softly in the back. "Take care of Daniel. Your little brother-"
"-Seongwoo, I think you should answer my question." Mr. Jang points to him with the end of his wooden stick, and he's in class three years ago, Minhyun writing down the answers to the question down on little slips of paper and moving his arm so he can see.
"Yes, sir. The answer is thirty six." He wipes at his face to remove the evidence of sleep from his mouth. Mr. Jang looks over at Minhyun, but thankfully he just sighs and moves on to the next student. Mr. Jang was always his favorite Mathematics teacher. Minhyun slaps his arm and shoots him a warning look once the teacher turns his back on them, and Seongwoo gives him a greasy wink and a kissy face to thank him. Minhyun rears back in disgust-
He lands with a crash, hurtling through something and making banging noises. A crack alerts him to his broken arm, and then he smells blood. The rusty, metallic smell wriggles it's way into his nose, overpowering his senses and all he can see through his eyes is red. There are shouts and screams and people moving things away to get to him, and Seongwoo finally gives in to the tempting darkness, the one that has been clouding his vision the entire day.
When he wakes up, he's surrounded by beeping noises. There's something attatched to the inside of his left elbow, and his right arm is in a cast. He looks down at himself to see his leg being held up and bandaged in rolls of gauze. He surveys the damage, there's a stabilizer taped on his back- broken ribs it is. Other than the bandage around his limbs, he seems to be otherwise fine. Pain shoots up his entire body when he tries to shift though, a bad sign. Someone is in the chair next to the hospital cot, and he sucks in a breath, hoping it's not Daniel. The boy was worried and busy enough as it is.
His throat is screaming for water, so he tries to use his left arm to reach for the jug on the table stand, freezing when a hot rush of pain erupts at his shoulder.
"Ow, shit." He curses, putting down his hand again. The mass of black hair on the corner of his cot moves, and Minhyun looks up blearily at him. Seongwoo winces at how bad his best friend looks. He's got dark under eye circles and his hair is knotted in the front. He's still in his dark blue uniform, although there's a coffee stain on the sleeve. "Hi, Minhyun."
"Do you want water?" Minhyun asks slowly, eyes looking unfocused.
"Yes please." He requests, eyeing the way Minhyun stands to fill the glass, almost like a robot. Halfway as the glass is being filled, his grip on the jug slackens and water pours out of it, over filling the glass and splashing onto the floor, all over his shoes. Minhyun hands him the glass- which he takes carefully sips out of- and yanks the box of tissues onto the floor, dumping the paper into it to soak up the water. "Minhyun? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just waiting for Seongwoo to wake up." Comes his voice from beneath the bed. He frowns.
"Min, I'm awake." He prompts, and Minhyun hits his head on the plastic part of the cot, staring up at him.
"Oh." He gasps suddenly, eyes focusing on him. "You're up- Are you okay? I- We were so worried-"
"I think you need to sleep." Seongwoo says, worried. Minhyun looks impossibly confused, nothing like the calm and composed officer he is.
"Sleep?" He asks, and he nods towards the chair. His friend picks up the tissues and tosses it into the bin, then settles into the chair. It takes less than two minutes before his eyes slide closed and he leans forward, forehead coming to rest on the edge of the bed with a gentle thump. Seongwoo looks at his best friend and his glass of water, draining it before resting the cup on the bed. He's getting a little sleepy too, and he's pretty sure there are painkillers in the drip attached to him because the world still looks slightly fuzzy around the corners. He looks to Minhyun's head, covered by a mass of wavy black locks, and suddenly the black draws him in-
The next time he wakes up, Minhyun's chin is propped up on the hospital bed, and he's looking at him. His hand inches towards Minhyun's cheek, tentatively, because he knows his shoulder is still tender. His finger prods his friend's cheek, and Minhyun blinks slowly. Seongwoo's not sure if this is a dream or it is reality, but it seems pretty real as a tear slips down his friend's face.
"I thought I lost you." Minhyun smiles painfully at him, and Seongwoo remembers the last time he was in the hospital, six years ago. He had been tackled in a football match and hit his head. When he woke up, Minhyun had been there as well to welcome him back to the land of the living. "Again."
"Sorry." He mumbles. Minhyun's hand comes up to clutch his, desperately, and the both of them stare into each other's eyes, a thousand words unsaid between them.
He has three broken ribs, a broken right arm, a fractured foot and a broken shin bone. His right knee has been dislocated, as well as his left shoulder.
"You're lucky to be alive." Minhyun pauses from reading the list of injuries, looking down at him disapprovingly. "Records show evidence of malnutrition and dehydration, which probably led to a heatstroke. You landed in a pile of scaffolding, which broke your fall. If you hadn't landed on anything at all, you would have died, Seongwoo."
"I see." He utters mildly, and Minhyun snaps the folder closed, striding to the front of the bed to drop the brown file into its holder.
"Why didn't you tell me?" His friend demands, leaning forward and using his hands to brace himself against the plastic foot of the bed. "You don't have to work so hard all the time, Seongwoo. You have friends that can help."
"You've helped me a lot already." He deflects, and Minhyun looks more enraged.
"You certainly need it." He snaps. "You are completely incapable of taking care of yourself." Seongwoo flinches at the barb, and Minhyun's face goes into the Thinking Mode. He swallows nervously. Minhyun in his Thinking Mode is terrifying. "That's it. Once you're out of here you're moving in with me."
"What?" He chokes on his own saliva. "I can't do that!"
"You can and you will." Minhyun gets back into his chair, opening the day's newspaper to block his protests. "Or else, Seongwoo."
"Or else what?" He defies, nearly growling. Minhyun's always been there for him, he's always needed him. He just needs this time to prove that he doesn't completely rely on him all the time. Minhyun lowers the newspaper to stare at him.
"I'll tell Daniel." He threatens, and Seongwoo goes quiet. Shit.
"I'll take your silence as a yes."
"You can't cook for shit." He observes from his spot in Minhyun's kitchen, sitting in his wheelchair.
"Shut up." Minhyun replies immediately, squinting at the can in his hand. "You like chicken soup, yes?"
"With-"
"Elbow pasta, yeah, I got it from the supermarket." Minhyun searches in his cupboards, pulling the packet out. It's their first day as flatmates but Seongwoo's already irritated with him. There's a reason why they never considered living together even after making it to the police academy. Minhyun's too... clean and organised. Seongwoo likes chaos. They're polar opposites.
Minhyun wheels him out to the living room, tossing a book at him and commanding him to read before disappearing back into the kitchen. Seongwoo ditches the book after five minutes and settles instead for observing the room. Minhyun framed all the little Poloroids they took over the past seven years, ordering them up by date in rows in a dark grey metal frame. There's another picture there too, from his Christmas party with everyone- Daniel, Jihoon, Daehwi, Jaehwan, Woojin, Guanlin, Jisung-hyung, Jinyoung and Sungwoon-hyung. He reaches out to take the picture, pleased when there is no pain in his shoulder. It's healing faster than he expected.
In the picture, they are at the party Jisung-hyung put together to celebrate his and Minhyun's entrance into the police academy. He sees the remnants of a cake and some candles, and of course some of the cake is spread across his face. He's holding on to Daniel with one arm and Minhyun with the other, smiling like he's won the lottery. Minhyun in the picture looks very young, but his focus goes to Daniel, who is surrounded by his friends and his family. His friends are his family after all.
"Seongwoo, I think I burnt the soup." Minhyun calls from the kitchen, and he snaps back to reality, reaching forward again to put the picture on the mantle.
"How do you even burn soup, you idiot-" He shouts back, and his friend brings out the pot, yelping when he touches the metal exterior and bring the pad of his thumb and forefinger to his earlobes. "Did you burn yourself?"
"Nope." Minhyun looks at his fingers, then comes over to the living room to wheel him to the dining table. "What were you doing?"
"Remembering." He says, and Minhyun looks at the mantle to the picture.
"That's my favorite." He smiles sadly, then opens the lid of the pot to scoop the soup into two bowls. The water vapour from the boiling liquid engulfs his sight and he's blind for a split second before his friend is touching his elbow, nudging him away so he can put the bowl down for him to eat.
The soup's bland, but he keeps his mouth shut.
"Hold on to my shoulder." Minhyun advises, slipping his arm behind his back and one arm under his knees to lift him from the wheelchair and onto the bed. He holds on tight, remembering a time when he was the one carrying and flipping him easily onto the judo mats during practice. "Okay, gently."
He leans back against the pillow and Minhyun draws the blanket up all around him, tucking the fabric in at his chin.
"Did you just tuck me in?" He asks in surprise, and Minhyun chuckles, locking the wheelchair and heaving it to the corner of the room. His friend settles onto the mattress on the floor next to the bed, fluffing up his pillow as he grabs a lotion of the table stand to pat onto his face. Seongwoo watches him, seeing the curve of Minhyun's cheek and the playful lightness of his eyes, the way his hands are rough and callused from years of fencing and judo. He sees the way Minhyun smiles at him, standing over him and smoothing a hand over his brow to help him relax.
A surge of unknown gratefulness blooms in his chest, and he calls out for his friend just as he turns away to turn off the light. Minhyun turns back to look at him, eyes hiding a trace of worry.
"Will you stay?" Seongwoo asks, and Minhyun reaches out to pat his cheek.
"Of course." He croons simply, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Seongwoo remembers Minhyun picking him up after work in his car, driving him for a dinner he didn't ask for. He remembers asking how he got a single ward in the private hospital, the way Minhyun had paused before telling him his insurance covered it. He remembers the smile Minhyun wore the last time they were at jail, trying to convince the both of them that it would be okay. "Always."
"Go, go." He clutches his brother's shoulder. "I'll deal with the police. Don't worry, I'm going to be a police officer too, they'll believe me."
Daniel holds on to Jihoon, who is clutching his arm in pain. It's probably a clean break. His younger brother glances up at him, eyes uncertain.
"Hyung-" He mumbles, and Seongwoo smiles desperately.
"Go home first, Dan. I'll be right along once I explain everything." He coaxes, and Jihoon lets out a groan. Jisung is already leading the rest of the boys away, supporting an injured Daehwi. Daniel's gash on his cheek is starting to bleed even heavier. "Put antiseptic on that, okay? You don't want it to be infected."
Daniel nods, staring at him, and he passes Jihoon to him. The both of them stumble away just as the red and blue lights round the corner. The men on the floor are all unconscious, and he scrambles of a suitable story to tell the police when they come. In fact, the doors are already being slammed closed, and he can hear the thud of boots against gravel. A believable story, something that wouldn't complicate the boys and everyone else...
A few steps away, his ice cream has already melted to liquid, the milk bleeding into the pavement.