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Sunggyu walks down two steps at a time, being careful about not stepping wrongly but still being quickly enough to arrive at the ER in time record— two minutes.
The place is chaotic, but then again, when isn’t it? Nurses run from here to there with supplies in their arms, following the doctor’s orders. Interns take care of minor injuries, stitching and patching up. He quickly scans the room, eyes barely noticing the annoying red decorations of Christmas, expectation increasing and hoping to see something obvious and know which one of these dying people is his patient.
“Who paged Cardio?” He yells to no one in particular over the mess of everyone talking at the same time. There’s a woman screaming from bed 4, and he’s about to move in her direction when an intern shows up before him. There’s blood stained up to his elbows and his eyes stare at him with nothing more than adrenaline.
“In-in trauma room 2” Sungyeol stutters. “It-it was so much blood— a-all over the place”
Sunggyu lets out a little curse and moves toward the trauma room. Inside he finds Myungsoo, placing pads over pads over some other many pads on the male patient. They quickly turn red, making the doctor growl in annoyance. The patient's shirt is ripped, there’s an obvious cut in the middle of his chest but he can’t see how deep it is yet. He moves closer to help, eyes falling on the patient’s face as a nurse gloves him up.
“What the f—“
“You finally arrived!” Myungsoo complains. “We gotta move him to the OR right away, he’s loosing so much fucking blood as we speak.”
He’s about to answer when someone else does it for him first. “And you said there’s nothing to worry about” the patient laughs, lightly taking off the oxygen mask.
“Because you got nothing to worry about,” Myungsoo assures, "Doctor Kim will take care of you, he’s the best we’ve got.” his head moves slightly to point at Sunggyu. “How’s Sungyeol, by the way? He looked pale when he walked out of here.”
“Huh?” Sunggyu answers, not really understanding the question.
A nurse starts moving the gurney and the patient turns around, facing Sunggyu. “Huh, I must be dead already.” His hand hovers over the oxygen mask but he doesn’t take it off this time. “How come I’m suddenly seeing an angel in blue scrubs?”
Myungsoo frowns, head moving toward Sunggyu who’s following closely behind the gurney, eyes still on the patient. “You know him?”
“I-I do” Sunggyu answers “it’s Woohyun, Myungsoo. It’s Woohyun.”
—
The first time Sunggyu sees Woohyun, he doesn’t think much of it.
Summer sucks for him. He doesn’t like how he gets sweaty after a few minutes under the sun, how he wakes up at night because it’s too hot or how his mother forces him to sell ice pops during soccer matches. She swears it’s to help him gain his own money, but he knows it’s because she gets tired of his nagging all day long now that he has a break from school.
The money is good though. The ice pops sells rapidly, and with the help of Dongwoo he actually finishes before the game can reach halftime. But he stays the whole game, and it’s not because he wants to. It’s because Dongwoo has the biggest crush on one of the players.
“His name is Hoya” Dongwoo says, not losing the named one from his eyesight.
Sunggyu snorts. “What kind of name is that?”
Dongwoo starts explaining that it’s not his real name, but it’s still a great name. He explains how witty the other is at the end of the game when he screams “I say ‘ho’ you say ‘ya’” to the public who follows along. Sunggyu purposely snorts even harder.
He looks at his feet instead, suddenly more interested on how his white sneakers are slowly getting gray, and a yawn gets out before he hears someone talking to him. He looks up with the yawn coming out, and he sees him (by this moment he doesn’t know the importance of this pronoun).
There’s a cute and sweaty boy in front of him, but the whole football field is filled with those, so Sunggyu doesn’t even bother on covering his mouth.
“Do you have anything left?” Cute boy asks, kneeling down to have a better look at the cooler.
“Nope” Sunggyu answers, taking off the top to let the other see the emptiness. The cute boy gets even cuter when he pouts and before he knows, Sunggyu is adding “I can save you one next time if you want”
He doesn’t know where that came from or if he really wanted to go through the trouble later. What he knows is that Dongwoo is staring at him and that he likes the way the cute boy smiles at him.
“Really? Thanks” he says, and jogs back to the field, not before waving goodbye. Sunggyu sees the ‘Nam’ written on the back of his football shirt, and perhaps he also stares at his butt.
“You’re saving him one?” Dongwoo asks in disbelief. “Looks like I’m not the only one with a summer crush now.”
“Shut up.” Sunggyu answers, still with his eyes on the butt.
“Maybe I should save one for Hoya too...” the younger says, and Sunggyu rolls his eyes.
Sunggyu covers one ice pop with a towel the next time they see each other.
He sells a lot of flavors, from strawberry to orange, and on very good days he has some of grape flavor. He doesn’t know which one to save for the other, so he goes with lemon because... who doesn’t like a lemon ice pop? (if Sungjong asks, he says he doesn’t, just to bother the younger.)
You might think this time he dressed up nicely to make an impression on the other.
You couldn’t be any more wrong.
Dongwoo did, though. He chose his best pair of jeans and even a cap to match his flashy green sneakers. Sunggyu, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about how he looked or how it was going to be one of the hottest day of the year. He wore his red hoodie and a pair of old used jeans along with his everyday and used-to-be-white sneakers.
This time, Sunggyu actually looks back at the game while he’s selling the ice pop. Well, more precisely, he looks back at the Nam cute guy. He doesn’t understand what is even going on down there, but he smiles when the other goals and his teammates are congratulating him.
Nam comes by between the first and second half of the game, and unfortunately, Dongwoo accidentally ate the last ice pop. Sunggyu even felt bad for promising something he couldn’t keep.
The pout comes out again and Sunggyu decides he likes his smile the best.
“I’m really sorry” Dongwoo says with the last bit of ice pop in his mouth. “You can have this though!”
“I’m fine” Nam says with a laugh. “Actually, since you owe me an ice cream now,” he says, this time looking at Sunggyu, “what if we go for some after the game ends?”
“Oh, ah- yes, of course” Sunggyu will never admit it, for the first time, he found out what it meant to be flustered.
Dongwoo is punching Sunggyu’s arm as soon as Nam turns around, but the older doesn’t feel a thing apart from his shaking heart.
—
He’s shaking.
“It was a car accident, someone bumped him from behind and his car ended up crashing against a tree. Some branches went through the glass and one ended up inside of him—“
“Who took out the branch?”
“Someone from the scene.” Myungsoo sighs. “The paramedics arrived before they could stop the person. But he went through the Neuro exam on his way in and he seems to be alright.”
Sunggyu scoffs. “He’s anything but alright.”
He’s not the shaking kind of guy— he’s not even allowed to be. Holding hearts have never make him shake, never had and never will. But as he’s scrubbing in, sponge rubbing up to his forearms and down again to the between his fingers, he notices he’s shaking. It’s slightly, enough to cover it if he closes his hands in fists, but not enough for Myungsoo to miss it.
“You shouldn’t be his surgeon, you’re obviously still attached to him” Myungsoo complains. “I’m paging Doctor—“
“Don’t you fucking dare.” Sunggyu turns around to his younger brother. “I’m not attached, it’s just— I’m just— surprised, y’know? I didn’t expect to see him, and not here out of all the places.”
“You sure?” Myungsoo asks.
Sunggyu stares at his hands and forces himself to not tremble. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You know, I never thought I’d be meeting the oh so famous Nam Woohyun in this situation either.”
Sunggyu sighs, pushing the water button. “I never thought you’d meet him at all.”
—
Sunggyu won’t ever admit it, but that afternoon his hands sweated like they never had before.
It’s not that he hasn’t had dates, it’s just that he hasn’t been asked like this, from a person like him (there’s finally a meaning in the pronoun, but not the correct one just yet). Sunggyu was the type of not getting along with the popular guys, or the cute guys. He was more of the type who had a limited amount of friends who, maybe, at some point he fell in love with. (it happened just once, and he regrets with every cell of his body of confessing to Heechul that day.)
So this is new for him. The rush on his heart waiting for the other is a new feeling, and he doesn’t know if he’s a fan of it. Not until Nam is coming out from the lockers with a clean change of clothes and the same smile from before. His hair is still a bit wet from the quick shower he must’ve taken and Sunggyu wonders, just for a second, how’d it be to pass his hand over it.
“Hey, sorry if I took long.”
“No, it’s fine.” Sunggyu answers, cleaning his sweaty palms on his jeans. “Shall we go?”
Cute guy giggles, and nods. “Is your friend also coming or…?”
“Dongwoo?” Sunggyu questions. “No, he left already. I-I can call him if you want—“
“No, no!” Woohyun answers maybe a bit too quickly. “It’s fine like this.”
“I’m Kim Sunggyu, by the way.” Sunggyu smiles awkwardly. “And you are…”
“Nam Woohyun” the other smiles too, more confident than him. “You like soccer?”
Sunggyu shakes his head. “Not at all, but the money is good.”
Woohyun laughs, voice getting a bit deeper and eyes going on crescent moon forms. “I guess it is.”
They reach the ice cream shop between talks of this and that, and Sunggyu notices he likes the tone of the other’s voice. He lets Woohyun talk and talk and soon finds himself smiling too over simple things. It feels natural the way they speak to each other.
Woohyun chooses chocolate for his ice cream. Sunggyu chooses strawberry.
Woohyun’s ice cream melts on his hand and Sunggyu laughs it off, not before buying him another one.
It’s a simple afternoon, he spends a good time with the younger who, when he realized he was younger, started to call Sunggyu ‘hyung’ in cute ways that left him with red cheeks. They stop by the nearby park and keep on talking. Sunggyu talks about Myungsoo who’s currently in an year exchange program in Japan. He says they’ve never been that close, but it’s not until Myungsoo left that Sunggyu started feeling some kind of emptiness, specially in family dinners. His mother still sets up his plate and says it’s out of habit, but he knows it’s because even though his baby is just a 4 hours plane away, she misses him a lot.
“I know how you feel” Woohyun smiles in understanding. “My older brother just got married and left the house. He’s an hour away by car in Incheon but it kind of feels like he’s missing. But Myungsoo will be back, it’s just until the year ends, right?”
Sunggyu nods. “Just until the year ends.”
—
“So you met the summer I left?” Myungsoo asks behind the mask. “And you never said a thing when I came back.”
“What did you want me to say, Myungsoo?” Sunggyu answers annoyed, tying his scrubs. Woohyun is laying down on the operation table, a tube going down his throat. Even with his eyes closed he looks exceptionally handsome, Sunggyu thinks. He looks the same as before, just like that summer.
“I don’t know, maybe, ‘hey brother, I missed you, but I gotta tell you about my first real love’”
“You wouldn’t have wanted to hear about my love life.” Sunggyu retorts. He can’t see his brother’s face but he knows which expression he’s making. His eyes are furrowed in thought.
“Just— before we cut him open, you’re really alright, right?”
He’s a professional, he’s not worried about the surgery itself. He went through the scans and it seemed to be a minor rupture in one of his main veins. But somehow, he’s worried.
Sunggyu eyes the people around in the room. Besides him there’s his favorite nurse, Sunhee, hand raised offering him the scalpel. She’s looking at him from over the glasses. There are at least another five nurses inside the OR, taking notes and checking this and that as they proceed the surgery. It should also be noted that there are at least three surgeons in a 50 meter range, but none of them are as good as Myungsoo, who’s just on the other side of the table, staring at him.
He’s worried he could fuck this up, cut somewhere he shouldn’t or miss something that would eventually be the death of Woohyun.
“Maybe we should really call someone else” Myungsoo insists.
But more than worried for a mistake he could do, he’s worried about someone else do it. He’s good at his job, the best one in this whole damn hospital, and if another doctor had Woohyun in his hands and something were to happen to him— he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
“No.” Sunggyu answers, finally accepting the scalpel. “I already told you, he’s my patient.”
—
It’s a little embarrassing to say, but Woohyun grows on Sunggyu a little bit too fast that summer.
He still frequents every soccer play. Why? initial reason: to sell ice pop, current reason: to see Woohyun play and cheer on him as Dongwoo screams too but a different name. He still doesn’t understand completely what soccer is about (he tried reading soccer for dummies in the library, but there’s so much he can read without falling asleep), but judging by how the rest of the public comments, Woohyun is pretty skilled for a high school-er.
They haven’t really talked about the first time they went out. Sunggyu doesn’t even know if it meant the same for Woohyun as it meant to him and he reckons that if he asks, it’d be easy to pop his bubble of everything’s alright.
Woohyun turns around to him a few times as he plays, smiling and hand waving. The first time Sunggyu didn’t want to think it really went toward him, but after checking and rechecking that no one was behind him, he confirmed it really was meant to be for him. A few girls murmur on the side, eyeing Sunggyu with a mixture of admiration, fear and jealousy. Sunggyu doesn’t want to think much about it, so he leans forward in the railing and stares at Woohyun run around the field.
“You’re really good” Sunggyu comments, the empty cooler in his hands. Woohyun had offered and insisted to take it for him, and after having Sunggyu hit him on the shoulder a few times and shove the last strawberry ice pop on his face, he stopped offering.
Woohyun snorts on his side. “How can you know, hyung? You don’t understand soccer.”
“Yeah” Sunggyu admits, “but it’s easy to spot talent.”
Woohyun smiles. “Thanks.”
“What do you like?” Sunggyu asks. “Besides soccer.”
“You mean, hobby or, like, something more serious?”
Sunggyu shrugs. “Could be both.”
“Hobby speaking—video games. Serious speaking… singing.”
“Singing is not a hobby?” Sunggyu asks.
“It could be, but if it isn’t out of playing soccer, I’d really like to be a singer.” Woohyun confesses, cheeks slowly getting red.
“I should hear you sing, then.”
“One day” Woohyun laughs, dodging Sunggyu’s attempt to hit him with the cooler, “what about you, hyung? Hobby and serious speaking?”
“Hobby? Playing the piano. Serious speaking? Uhm…” Sunggyu thinks about it, eyes looking up at the setting sun. “I’ve never told this to anyone though.”
“What is it?” Woohyun asks, stopping on track. “You can tell me anything, hyung.” He licks on his ice pop and Sunggyu smiles.
“I want to be a doctor.”
“Wow” Woohyun exclaims, “that’s pretty ambitious.”
“Yeah? Well, life is about being ambitious.” Sunggyu answers, reaching a bench on the park and sitting on it, leaving the cooler on the side. It’s the same bench as the first time they walked together, almost three weeks before. He doesn’t realize this, but Woohyun does. Sunggyu always waits for Woohyun after the game and Woohyun always walks with him back home.
“I think you’ll be great.” Woohyun smiles, mouth biting the remaining part of the ice pop and munching on it. “I think you’d be pretty gr—ah, ah, brain freeze! Brain freeze!” Woohyun sits on the other side of the bench, eyes closed and the ice pop stick falling onto the ground.
Sunggyu moves to his side, a playful smile drawn on his face. “Lemme help you.”
He moves Woohyun’s head in his direction, both hands moving up to the sides and rubbing circles on his temples. Woohyun sighs in relief, feeling the pain vanish in matter of seconds. It’s now, when he finally opens his eyes, that both males realize how close Sunggyu is to Woohyun. Their eyes meet and Sunggyu is soon enough reddening up, making an attempt to move backwards. But Woohyun keeps his hand on the sides of his head, himself moving his body forward until his knee is touching Sunggyu’s.
His hands moves to Sunggyu’s elbows, somehow bringing the older forward as he moves on his own. Sunggyu keeps on staring at his eyes, his nose and the thick lower lip in his mouth.
“Is this okay?” Woohyun whispers, mouth inches away from his.
Sunggyu feels unable to mutter an answer, so he limits to nod.
Woohyun finally ends the distance between them.
—
“Hey,” Myungsoo calls with hurried steps. He’s trying to get to Sunggyu who’s trying to get— well, far from everyone. “I asked if you’re okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sunggyu answers without straight up look at him “I’m just tired, I need a nap before checking on my patients.”
“What?” Myungsoo scoffs. “hyung, I’ve seen you dance with kids in the cancer wing after a 10 hour transplant. This surgery was barely 4 hours, and I even closed for you.”
Sunggyu finally looks up, because he knows what Myungsoo is about to see speaks more than any verbal explanation. His eyes are red from crying and the tip of his nose is just as much.
“Hyung” Myungsoo repeats, this time in a more understanding tone. “I told you, you didn’t have to be his surgeon, we could’ve—“
“What, Myungsoo?” Sunggyu snaps. “If I hadn’t been operating him, I would’ve been up in the gallery, bawling my eyes out.”
“You said you were okay! And the surgery went just fine, what are you even crying for?”
Sunggyu rolls his eyes, annoyed. He turns around and keeps on walking to the on-call room. “You just don’t understand, Myungsoo. You weren’t there that summer.”
—
“So,” Woohyun begins. “What should we do now?”
Both males are lying on the grass, staring up at the blue sky. They were previously playing around, but Sunggyu’s stamina is not what it used to be (truthfully, he never was a pretty active person to begin with), so he found himself soon lying on the comfortable green grass. Woohyun followed.
“I’m tired.” Sunggyu explains, eyes closed. “We should sleep.”
Woohyun snickers from his side, hand slightly playing with Sunggyu’s and causing an internal blush on the older.
They kissed two weeks ago, but it was only that. A kiss. Sunggyu’s first kiss. He didn’t know what to say after, or if he even had to, because Woohyun had brought him into his embrace and murmured a ‘thank you, hyung’. They didn’t talk about it the days after, not when Woohyun had come for Sunggyu on a Sunday morning, little stones hitting Sunggyu’s window to wake him up. Woohyun had officially introduced him to his soccer friends that day, but the introduction had been 'everyone, please meet my favorite hyung, Sunggyu’ so there was that.
Was there something to say? And if there was, how should he say it? He likes the younger, and it seems like it’s reciprocated. So even if, in theory, he’s very much allowed to just sit up and lean forward to kiss Woohyun again, why isn’t he doing it? Why are they both playing around in the bushes?
“No sleeping, hyung” Woohyun exclaims, sitting up, hand closing around his wrist to push him forward to sit up too. Sunggyu whines with his eyes closed, and when he opens them, Woohyun is smiling at him.
“Then what?” Sunggyu asks, eyes focusing on his free hand, yanking innocent grass.
“You’re sweating” Woohyun points out, the back of his hand reaches his neck to clean off the sweat.
Sunggyu hums. “Another sign that we should just go back to my house where the AC is working.”
“No,” Woohyun answers. “I think I got a better idea, hyung. Stand up.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Woohyun, are you out of your mind?” Sunggyu hisses.
They’re both squatting against a house’s fence. A house that are neither his or Woohyun’s. A house which Woohyun swears the owners are out of town, a house that, fortunately, has a pool.
“I don’t wanna do it.” Sunggyu confesses. He’s not the kind of guy who breaks into someone else’s house and judging by Woohyun’s playful smile, he might be one.
“Own, come on, hyung” Woohyun says. “We’re not per se breaking in. We’re just… borrowing their pool. A perfectly good pool that’s being wasted on a hot summer like this one.”
Sunggyu snorts. “Are you that desperate?”
Woohyun shrugs. “I just want to spend a good time with hyung.”
It’s alarming how fast Sunggyu gives in. Before he can think about it twice, he’s climbing up the fence and falling on the ground with his shoulder crushing against the asphalt. Woohyun laughs on his way in, but still helps Sunggyu up. “You okay there?” Sunggyu nods, sobbing his shoulder.
“Go ahead” Sunggyu says, stretching.
Woohyun doesn’t need to be told twice, so he walks ahead.
Sunggyu is thinking about how his mother would scream bloody mary if she only knew her oldest son is getting on someone else’s pool with another boy. Myungsoo and him had always been pretty decent kids, getting on your typical problems. And even after Myungsoo’s departure to Japan, Sunggyu had been pretty dull. The start of his summer had been resumed on him glued to his couch, watching the oh so loved anime DVDs Myungsoo kept on his room. But since Woohyun had approached him that other week, he’s being going out more. Even his mother had noticed, laying a quick peck on top of his head as she said ‘I’m glad you made a new friend, baby’.
Sunggyu finally looks behind him, catching a slight peak of Woohyun’s naked ass before said male throws himself inside the pool.
Oh, what a friend.
“What the— are you naked?!”
“Come on!” Woohyun yells from the water, hand passing by his now wet hair. “Just do it, hyung!”
Sunggyu thinks about it, once, then twice, and then realize that no matter how many times he thinks about it, this is still a bad idea.
And he’s still doing it.
“Okay, but turn around.”
“Why?” Woohyun asks, arms resting on the edge of the pool.
“Do you want me to leave?” Sunggyu barks, hands on the hem of his shirt. “Turn around.” Woohyun finally does as told, not without laughing. He starts swimming some laps as Sunggyu strips off his clothes. He’s a boxer away from being completely naked, and when he see’s Woohyun’s perfect ass as he swims, he finally crosses the point of no return.
He throws himself in before he regrets liking Woohyun in the first place.
—
Sunggyu wakes up with yells and a headache. The yells are not new, everyone's always yelling on this particular floor. But the headache, that is pretty new.
He reaches for his phone to realize he barely slept two hours, enough time for him to make a quick check up on Woohyun and go back on with his regular patients.
"You up, hyung?" Myungsoo asks from the other bed, startling Sunggyu.
"You know it's not normal to watch your older brother sleep, right?"
Myungsoo snorts. "I'm not watching you sleep, I'm filling charts." He lifts the paper that was previously sitting on one of his legs. "And Sungyeol's napping. We have a surgery in... an hour."
"You've checked on Woohyun's vitals?" Sunggyu asks, sitting up on his bed.
"Yeah, like, half an hour ago. Prolly a bit more."
"How was he?"
"Not the best" Myungsoo sighs, "but still pretty normal for what he went through."
"I'll go check on him." Sunggyu says, taking his white coat and opening the door.
"Hyung" Myungsoo calls, Sunggyu turns around as he scratches the back of his head. "What happened that summer?"
"Myung—"
"No, really. I've always heard from Dongwoo hyung that Woohyun became a big part of your life that summer, but I want to understand why. What did he do in such short time that you've kept on feeling like you feel?" Myungsoo is whispering to not wake up Sungyeol who merely stirs, head still on Myungsoo's lap.
Sunggyu sighs, closing the door again and sitting on the couch's arm rest. "He was my first."
—
"This is so stupid" Sunggyu complains. "We're so gonna get in trouble."
"How?" Woohyun asks, slowly swimming his way toward Sunggyu's side. "No one's around and won't be for the rest of the day. I'd say we're pretty covered."
"Well, if someone was here, we'd so get in trouble."
Woohyun snickers. "Loosen up a bit. Whatchu wanna do now?"
The sun starts setting as both males play around in the water. Woohyun offers to play who can last the longest underwater without breathing and Sunggyu dismisses the idea right away, knowing very well that Woohyun is capable to see underwater. He proposes to swim some laps, since there's no ball to play with.
Three laps and Sunggyu is tired. He rests his back against the hot side of the pool, enjoying the last sun rains. The sound of Woohyun swimming calms him, putting him in a state of ease. It's not every day that he gets to be in a pool, and truthfully, even if he did, he'd very much enjoy the day sleeping instead.
"Hyung..."
Woohyun had stopped swimming at some point, slowly moving from here to there slowly. Sunggyu follows him with his eyes. "Hm?"
"Can I ask you something?" Woohyun asks tentatively.
"Of course." Sunggyu answers.
"Why do you want to be a doctor?" Half of Woohyun's face is inside the water, red cheeks hiding.
There's no special reason why, actually. The area simply dragged Sunggyu in at some point, and he happened to be good at every science related subject in school. He sees Woohyun's eyes fall in a bit of disappointment as he explains himself.
"Why?" Sunggyu asks.
"Mom's sick." Woohyun explains. "They don't want to tell me what's wrong, but I know it's cancer. It has to be."
Sunggyu furrows his eye brows. "How'd you know?"
Woohyun shrugs. "Isn't it always cancer? Anyhow, I just wanted to know your reasons."
"It doesn't have to be cancer. Maybe she'll get better, y'know."
Woohyun hums. "Yeah, I guess."
"Wanna swim some more?" Sunggyu offers, moving toward Woohyun, swimming in a circle around him.
"Not really." Woohyun answers, little smile cracking on his face.
Sunggyu is a bit taken aback. "Hmm, then, what do you feel like doing?"
"Can you... stay?"
"Hm?" Sunggyu stops moving. Woohyun swims toward him slowly, the sun behind him and the very last rays shining from on top of his head. Sunggyu thinks it's beautiful.
"Just, stay there."
Woohyun finishes on swimming, finally reaching Sunggyu. He stops less than a feet away, being able to see Sunggyu's naked chest under the water. Neither of them really dare to look further down, both with stained cheeks and eyes locked up together.
"Can I?" A hand touches Sunggyu's waist hesitantly, while the other comes from under the water, resting on his cheek.
Sunggyu nods, ending the remaining distance between them. Their lips meet just like the last time, barely touching to really know what the other tastes like just yet. But instead of breaking up the kiss like last time, he opens his mouth, taking in Woohyun's upper lip. He tastes the strawberry in his lip and his hand moves automatically to Woohyun's neck as Woohyun brings their bodies nearer.
Woohyun's chest touches his as his entire arm closes around Sunggyu's waist. They're immersed in each other's taste to really notice how their legs slowly lock or how their members are slightly touching underwater. Sunggyu tilts his head to the side, opening his mouth a bit more to let Woohyun inside and taste him all over. He likes how Woohyun's hair is cold wet, and the little sounds the water makes as his other hand emerges to touch Woohyun's cheek.
Soon, things heat up a bit. Woohyun pushes Sunggyu behind until his back is touching the wall. Their hands are resting in each other's faces, lips sucking each other's air as they kiss. This all feels too foreign for Sunggyu. He barely had his first kiss a few weeks back, and now he's experiencing his first make out— naked.
That fact arises quite soon as Sunggyu finally gives it a thought when Woohyun's member pokes his thigh. He moans over the kiss and Woohyun's hand lowers down from his cheek, palm touching his neck and chest on his way down. It finally reaches his shaft, slowly wrapping the hand around the base. It's enough to have Sunggyu squirming under him, finally breaking the kiss for some air.
"Woohyun.." Sunggyu whispers with a shaky voice.
"Is this okay?" Woohyun asks, leaving short pecks in Sunggyu's jaw and neck. "I'll stop if you want me to."
"No, no, don't— don't stop."
Sunggyu hides his face in Woohyun's neck, eyes closed enjoying the ministration of Woohyun's hand moving up and down his shaft.
"You like it like this?" Woohyun asks. It's not meant to sound dirty, Sunggyu hears the sincere curiosity in his tone, which is why he laughs in the middle of his moans.
"Yeah, Hyunie. Just like this." The pet name comes out naturally and Woohyun blushes. Sunggyu's arms are tangled around his neck, head still leaning forward, trying to leave lazy pecks on his shoulder. "It feels amazing."
"Okay" Woohyun whispers.
He covers the tip of his cock with his thumb, making Sunggyu moan even louder. Woohyun is starting to learn the sounds Sunggyu makes, understanding what he likes the best. He applies a little bit of more force to his grip as he moves up and down and up again, making Sunggyu move his head back in pure pleasure.
"I'm close" Sunggyu announces. Woohyun makes an attempt to move his hand even faster as he leaves pecks under Sunggyu's jaw, and in matter of seconds, Sunggyu is screaming the loudest so far. Woohyun doesn't feel the cum he spills, but soon the whole seed is coming up from between them.
Woohyun pays no attention to that, lips finding Sunggyu's when the older finally comes down from his high.
"Thank you." Sunggyu smiles in gratitude.
The sun has finally come completely down and the moon is slowly shining from the sky. Woohyun's smile shines the best now, Sunggyu notices. Just like he notices he's still quite aroused.
"We should get going." Woohyun says, kissing softly the side of Sunggyu's face.
"What about you?" Sunggyu asks, arms still around his neck.
Woohyun smiles, shaking his head. "I'm alright, hyung. I just wanted to make you feel good."
They stare at each other from inches apart, and when Woohyun means to move toward the little stairs to get out of the pool, Sunggyu brings him into another kiss. He cuts the innocent part and shoves his tongue inside Woohyun's mouth, making the younger moan instantly.
"My parents are out of town." Sunggyu explains, his eyes saying the rest of the sentence. Woohyun stares at him, nervous.
"You sure, hyung?"
Sunggyu smiles, voicing out his answer in a kiss.
Their feet walk backwards as they enter Sunggyu's bedroom. Woohyun doesn't really know where he's going, so he has to break the kiss to locate the bed and throw Sunggyu over it. Sunggyu falls back, the back of his right foot hitting the under-bed. He moans in pain and Woohyun rises from above of him, alarmed.
"You okay? Did I do anything wrong?" Woohyun asks.
Sunggyu smiles and laughs, hand reaching for his neck. "No, I just hit my foot, it's alright."
They continue their kiss, Woohyun lying on top of Sunggyu and finally accommodating their bodies. He's holding Sunggyu's head with his right hand while the left one uncovers a little part of Sunggyu's shirt, thumb drawing circles on his hip. Their hair are still wet from the water and Sunggyu is still trying to understand how did they do to walk back to his house in one piece. They started another make out session mid-way to his house, and Sunggyu was a bit afraid Woohyun would back down when they finally arrived about ten minutes later.
But Woohyun did the whole opposite.
As Sunggyu tried to open his front door, Woohyun had started to leave wet kisses on his neck, making him giggle and letting the keys fall to the ground. It took him another two attempts to open the door, but when he finally did, they didn't move away from each other. Sunggyu took off his sweater somewhere along the way and Woohyun had laughed, tripping on the stairs.
Which leads them right where they are right now— a few clothes away from being just as naked as they were in the pool.
Sunggyu finds Woohyun's shirt as bothersome at some point, so he breaks the kiss and starts pushing the shirt upwards until the thing finally falls to the ground and leaves Woohyun's hair disheveled. The younger snickers, coming down to Sunggyu for another kiss.
They move around in the bed, hands on cheeks, waists, backs— anywhere and everywhere.
Woohyun ends up under Sunggyu, and the older takes advantage of the position, sitting on top of Woohyun to let him see how he strips off his shirt. It was supposed to be totally sexy and the shirt wasn't supposed to get stuck in the middle of Sunggyu's face, but they're still young, nervous and this is pretty much the first time either of them had done something like this. Woohyun laughs and Sunggyu's red when the shirt is finally off.
"You're so cute" Woohyun exclaims, yanking on Sunggyu's arm to kiss him again.
Sunggyu falls on top of him with no shame or whatsoever, cupping Woohyun's cheeks in his hands. Woohyun's hands fall on Sunggyu's butt and slowly caresses them, feeling yet foreign to the whole situation. Sunggyu notices how he's hesitating on his movements, so he slows down a bit with the kissing with something more calm and closer, feeling so much intimate for both of them.
They're both with naked chests, but there's still clothes they must get rid off.
Woohyun's fingers move to Sunggyu's zipper, slowly opening his jeans and leaving his palm on Sunggyu's noted bulge. Sunggyu moans over his mouth, a hand of his moving down too and final give some attention to Woohyun's unattended tent.
Woohyun takes the advantage of turn Sunggyu around and under him, a hand holding Sunggyu's and pining them over his head. He focuses on kissing Sunggyu rather than acknowledging again what's between their legs, and when Sunggyu starts making sounds over their kiss that sounds something different than a moan— he stops.
"Take them off" Sunggyu whispers.
He finally follows the instruction, standing up to take off his pants and boxers as Sunggyu does the same from over his bed. Woohyun sits on the side of the bed, staring at Sunggyu and all his naked glory.
"What is it?" Sunggyu asks, worried.
"Just... you got... like, the stuff?" Woohyun asks, nervous.
"Oh... oh— yes..." Sunggyu leans to his nightstand, opening the last drawer and taking out a rather big box.
"What's that?" Woohyun asks.
"I keep it all together, y'know, so my mom doesn't find it easily."
"Oh.." Woohyun exclaims. Sunggyu takes out the lube and a few condoms, because one felt some really straightforward about what was about to happen, and because he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing. He leaves it all over the nightstand and takes the lube in his hands.
They both stare at each other, waiting for the other to say something.
"I can prep you." Woohyun snaps when Sunggyu opens his mouth. "I-I mean, if you want me to.."
Sunggyu smiles. "Yeah"
Sunggyu leans back over the bed and Woohyun pops open the lube, looking at it like it's something completely new and like he doesn't have the same jar back in his room under his clothes in the last drawer. He knows he has one too, even from the same brand, but being here, in Sunggyu's room, with Sunggyu's lube—
"You okay there?"
Woohyun turns around to him and smiles, humming.
He leaves the lube aside for a moment, leaning over Sunggyu to kiss him again. He makes sure not to crush him (or let their cocks touch each other's yet, that'd be the end of him), he caresses Sunggyu's cheeks again, lips focusing on distracting Sunggyu as he covers a finger with lube and slowly finds his way between Sunggyu's legs and up his hole.
Sunggyu hisses over the kiss and Woohyun draws little circles on Sunggyu's temple, his tongue exploring Sunggyu's mouth to distract him from the pain.
"Tell me if it hurts too much."
Sunggyu nods, and says "add another"
Woohyun does as told and waits a few seconds for Sunggyu to adjust to the change. He keeps on kissing the older until his fingers are moving to the inside and sides, stretching Sunggyu. Soon, Sunggyu is telling him to add a third and Woohyun does, admiring how Sunggyu's face change from pain to pleasure. He doesn't really know what he's doing down there, but it must be wonders because as his fingers reach the deepest point so far, Sunggyu moans loudly, hands making fists on the bed sheet.
"Fuck, there" Sunggyu moans. "It's right there."
Woohyun takes out his fingers, putting on a condom and taking a little bit of more lube, wrapping his fingers which just used to be inside of Sunggyu around his shaft. He places the tip in Sunggyu's entrance and repeats "Just tell me if it hurts, okay?"
Sunggyu nods rapidly with closed eyes and Woohyun smiles.
He moves completely in one movement, Sunggyu gasping for air loudly. It's a new feeling for Woohyun, it's so wet and so tight his instincts are telling him to move, to please move but Sunggyu is yet to adjust. He starts leaving kisses on his jaw and neck, a hand intertwining with his.
"Now" Sunggyu says after a minute or so.
Woohyun moves slowly, maybe a bit too much for Sunggyu's needs, but the older would like to be careful about it just like Woohyun is trying to, so he doesn't say a thing.
"You're so tight, hyung" Woohyun moans, "it's making me dizzy."
"Put a pace, Hyun." Sunggyu says, his left hand reaching for the back of the younger's neck. "It won't hurt me, I promise."
Woohyun murmurs an okay before accommodating his legs better sitting rather than just lying on top of Sunggyu. He takes Sunggyu's hips in his hands and moves almost completely out of the older before pushing back in. Woohyun takes Sunggyu's moans as something good, so slowly, he starts moving faster, finding the right spot to make Sunggyu scream like he did before with his fingers.
It's not until he's balls deep inside him that Sunggyu screams like that again, and this has Woohyun arousing on a whole new level he didn't even know it was possible. He lowers again to Sunggyu's side, moving the older's legs to wrap around his waist and moving faster than he was doing before. The obscene sounds of skin against skin mixed with the moans and oh fuck, yes make everything ten times better for both of them. Woohyun tries to kiss Sunggyu when he feels he's getting near his final point, but Sunggyu is not quite thinking about that, eyes closed and head moved completely back.
Woohyun has to move a hand to his cheek, forcing him to look down and finally meet him in a kiss as his trusts move the fastest as his needs lets him be, finally reaching his climax and cumming inside of Sunggyu and the condom.
Sunggyu is yet to find his, so before coming down his high, Woohyun keeps on trusting, a hand finding the neglected cock between them. He wraps his hand around it and moves just like Sunggyu had liked it back at the pool. In matter of seconds, Sunggyu screams, legs closing hard around Woohyun's waist and white seed coming in between their stomachs.
It felt so good, but more than good— it felt so right.
"Thank you" Woohyun whispers in Sunggyu's ear, making the older giggle before reaching down for a kiss.
"Hyun" Sunggyu whispers at some time in the night, head resting on his pillow just besides Woohyun. He feels the younger's eyes when he turns around to look at him, but he doesn't dare to turn around too. "I don't want to be the kind of guy who sounds all girly asking what are we, but— what are we?"
He hears Woohyun laugh on his side. It's a little and quiet one, you could miss it if you weren't really paying attention. Which Sunggyu clearly was.
He sits up, Woohyun following instantly.
"What's so funny?" He asks, trying to sound offended. But it's quite hard when the moon is behind Woohyun's head and it's illuminating the half of his face. Sunggyu loses his eyes in Woohyun's half smile when he rests both of their foreheads together.
"Hyung," Woohyun starts in a murmur "would you be my boyfriend?"
—
Sunggyu stares at Woohyun sleep. His vitals had been good the entire night and he finally decided to take him off by-pass when morning came.
"You did good, Hyunie." Sunggyu whispered when he took off the tub going down his throat. "You did just great."
He had come back to check on his other patients during that night, but he spent most of it sitting on the chair on the opposite side of Woohyun's bed. He had a blanket wrapped around his body, some hot cocoa a nurse brought him earlier and research papers in his hands. He had scheduled a surgery during the night but decided to push him a day back since it wasn't that urgent, and stay on Woohyun's side that night.
Woohyun hadn't change that much from before, he realizes.
Most of his features stay the same, he sees a few wrinkles here and there that show him that Woohyun had matured at some point— that most probably he won't meet the same Woohyun he came to know that summer. A lot has changed indeed, Sunggyu is not the same teenager like before, he doesn't feel as dull as before but what he felt for Woohyun— he's not sure if that's changed at all.
Woohyun stays the same the entire day. Sunggyu decides to push the surgery a bit forward to that afternoon instead, knowing from his studies that Woohyun won't probably wake up at all until the next morning. Myungsoo is taking off his surgical cap when Sunggyu walks in through the surgical wing. There's dry sweat on his forehead and he sighs at the sight of his older brother.
"Have you gone back home at all?" Myungsoo asks, a pointless question since he knows the answer.
Sunggyu shakes his head, checking in some files at the nurse's station. "I've showered, if you care to know."
Myungsoo snorts. "Hyung, really, you can't pull off two all nights here, you should go back and rest."
"I've slept—"
"In your bed, not the on-call room."
"I can't leave, Myungsoo." Sunggyu explains. "I can't leave him."
"I'll stay with him while you're on surgery."
Sunggyu smiles, patting Myungsoo's shoulder. "Thanks."
"Just, are his parents on their way? I mean, do I have to memorize his chart in case we receive som—"
"No" Sunggyu cuts him off, returning the patient's chart to the nurse and walking to the OR. "His brother just took a plane from Japan, he'll most likely be here tomorrow."
"What about his parents?"
Sunggyu sighs. There's a hand against the OR door. "His parents are dead."
—
"Aaaaaaand score!" Woohyun yells. The basket ball falls behind Sunggyu who's resting his hands on his knees. There's sweat going down from the sides of his face, and he eyes Woohyun with hate as the younger pretends to pass his hand around the imaginary crowd. "Player NWH does it again! Even though player KSG swore to be good at basketball!"
Sunggyu scoffs. "I am good, it's not my fault you're a cheater."
Woohyun stops on track, arms falling to his sides and face looking at him like a beaten up puppy.
"Alright, alright, you're good, you're better." Sunggyu gives in, and Woohyun smiles again.
"You're good too, hyung!" Woohyun says, back hugging Sunggyu and yanking him up to shake in the air. "You! Are! The! Best!"
"Stop already!" Sunggyu hisses between laughs.
It's been a week since their first time. Woohyun had woken up the next morning with at least 10 texts and 15 missed calls from his dad, making Woohyun run out worried, not without pecking Sunggyu on his way out and remind him that what happened last night was amazing and he would very much like to repeat it. Sunggyu had pushed him out of his house between laughs, him worrying on his own about his parents arriving any minute now.
Woohyun hadn't gotten on much trouble as he thought he'd get, his father had yelled at him about how worried he was and that was that. Then he asked him if he wanted more rice.
Sunggyu didn't know if he should ask more about his mom, didn't know if he even wanted to hear the answer of the question. There was a reason why Woohyun probably never talked about it, even though they basically saw each other every day, so he didn't touch the subject until Woohyun would. Aside from that, things had been pretty good that week. They were a few weeks from going back into school, which meant for Sunggyu to resume his last year of high school and Woohyun his second year.
Woohyun had explained that he had noticed Sunggyu from the moment he started first year, but never knew how to approach the older.
"You are intimidating, y'know?"
Sunggyu laughed. "How so?"
"Dunno, you got all the little killer eyes going on." Woohyun had explained. "But then once you get to know you, it's easier to realize you're pretty tame. Like a hamster."
"Excuse me?" Sunggyu had raised from the table, arm closing around Woohyun's head to fake-choke him, just without the fake.
"Okay, okay, you're totally intimidating still!"
"I don't want to be intimidating!" Sunggyu had complained in a laugh.
"Make up your mind!"
Sunggyu had also mentioned his golden year in middle school when his mom enrolled him into basketball practices. Woohyun didn't waste a second on putting on the right attire to play some basketball in Sunggyu's apartment backyard.
They're now walking up to Sunggyu's floor, Woohyun pecking the older every here and there. Sunggyu gives in before his entrance door, giving Woohyun a proper kiss and entering the apartment where Sunggyu's mother was waiting for them.
"You boys had a fun time?" She smiles. "Ah, Woohyunie, your father called. He wanted you to call back when you finished playing."
"Oh, thank you." Woohyun bows. "Can I—?"
"Oh, of course honey" Sunggyu's mom laugh. "Treat this as your house."
Sunggyu smiles reassuring, pushing Woohyun toward the phone as he made his way to the table where the food was waiting for the three of them. He dips his spoon in the soup, praising his mother for yet doing another great meal. She laughs, playfully punching his shoulder.
"Uh, I'm sorry." Woohyun walks in from the kitchen. "I have to go back home right away."
Sunggyu's spoon falls on his rice. "Oh, of course, of course, don't worry." His mom reassures.
Sunggyu stands up, following Woohyun closely behind up to door. "Everything's alright?"
Woohyun seems to be lost in thoughts, forcing Sunggyu on touching his shoulder to draw his attention.
"Yeah, yeah, it's just— it's nothing."
"You want me to go with you?" Sunggyu asks, being rather serious.
"What? No, it's good, it's just... it's nothing." Woohyun smiles although the smile doesn't reach his eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow, hyung."
He walks out without kissing goodbye.
—
"He's up."
Sunggyu half walks half runs on his way toward Woohyun's room. He takes off his surgical cap and passes a hand over his hair, trying to accommodate it a bit even though there's no fixing on that. He stops on track a few meters away from Woohyun's room.
His hand is trembling.
"You okay?" Myungsoo asks from his side.
"Yeah, of course." Sunggyu answers. "Just, give me a minute."
The minute turns into two, then three, and Myungsoo counts the five minutes they stay outside, Sunggyu looking down at the floor.
"I'm good." He says, finally feet moving forward.
The moment they walk in, Woohyun lifts his sight. There's a water cup in his hand and a straw between his lips. He's slowly trying to drink some water, frowning on the process.
"How are you feeling?" Sunggyu asks, taking his chart and reading the nurses' notes.
"You're a doctor here?" Woohyun asks with a rough voice. He tries coughing a bit, but Sunggyu stops him immediately.
"Don't force yourself too much, you're still pretty worked up from the surgery."
"What happened to me?" Woohyun asks.
Sunggyu explains the state in which he came into the ER almost two days ago, and Woohyun confesses not remembering a thing about that, even though he was pretty lucid at the time.
"We noted your brother, he's on his way."
"We?" Woohyun asks furrowing his eyebrows.
Sunggyu turns around, expecting to see Myungsoo at the end of the bed, and, of course, he found no one.
"Well, me, the hospital." Sunggyu laughs nervously.
Woohyun nods, head falling back on his pillow again. Sunggyu kind of hoped Woohyun wouldn't really remember him— say it's from the years they've been apart or maybe a slight side effect from the hit he had in the crash, but Woohyun is saying too much just with his eyes, Sunggyu is afraid about what he'd say.
"How you've been?"
—
"He hasn't called me, should I be worried?" Sunggyu asks Dongwoo through the phone.
"Why are you asking me? Just go visit him" Dongwoo snorts and laughs.
Two days had passed by for Sunggyu to reach his limit point. He's been worrying sick for Woohyun and the younger had the audacity to not answer his phone calls. His mom had also asked about Woohyun in those two days, and Sunggyu didn't know what to answer when it happened.
So two nights after, when Sunggyu's parents had gone out to have dinner and Sunggyu faked being asleep, he had raised up from bed exactly 10 minutes after his parents were out of the apartment. He basically ran to the entrance door, putting on his slippers and opening the door— to bump into Woohyun.
The younger is standing before him. Eyes looking at the floor, hair wet, probably from the rain Sunggyu hadn't really noticed until now.
"What is it?" Sunggyu asks, pushing Woohyun inside, hugging him. "What happened?"
Woohyun finally looks up, eyes red. "She had a heart attack."
Sunggyu had grabbed Woohyun by the arm, sitting him on the couch in his living room. "Is she okay now?" he asks.
Woohyun shakes his head. "The doctors aren't telling us— well, me, anything. They tell my dad, but he's not saying much."
Sunggyu sighs. "I'm so sor—"
"They say the best Cardio specialist lives in Busan." Woohyun explains at once, wanting to finish this up as quickly as possible. "We're going to Busan."
"When?" Sunggyu asks, fearing the answer.
"Tomorrow." Woohyun says. "I didn't have the time to come by, and I'm not even supposed to be here, my brother brought me back home from the hospital, 'cause I've been there and— I was supposed to pack my stuff, but I didn't want to leave without telling you."
Sunggyu looks at him with understanding eyes but still snorts a bit to ease the mood. "And what did you do? Did you run your way here?"
"Kind of..." Woohyun confesses. "I took my neighbor's bicycle."
"Hyunie..." Sunggyu sighs, bringing Woohyun into his embrace. "Don't worry about me, really. Just, go, be with your mom."
"Can I be honest?" Woohyun asks and Sunggyu nods right away. "I don't want to go. I'm scared what'd happen if I go."
"It'll be alright, and it's better if you're there to see her get better." Sunggyu answers. He leans forward and kisses Woohyun before he can start talking again.
—
"I've been here and there" Woohyun explains. "I'm a producer, not a singer per se, but pretty close." He smiles.
"I'm glad to hear that." Sunggyu answers from the chair. It used to be sitting besides the end of the bed, but he had moved it to Woohyun's side for the younger to just lean his head to the side as they spoke. "Have I heard anything you made?"
"Probably" Woohyun answers. "I've mostly focused on ballads." He starts singing a song that was popular nowadays, and Sunggyu doesn't take much time to recognize it. Woohyun smiles when Sunggyu starts singing along.
"Wow, you've worked your way in, then." Sunggyu exclaims.
"I was on my way to the studio" Woohyun says. "And then, well... but I'm glad I don't remember anything of that. Should I be worried, though?"
"About not remembering?" Sunggyu asks and the younger nods. "No, but I'll page a Neuro fellow to examine you again if you want." Sunggyu raises from his chair and is stopped by Woohyun's hand, closing around his wrist.
"Don't go." Woohyun requests. "I want to ask you something.."
"What is it?" Sunggyu asks, sitting back down.
"Why are you in Cardio?"
Honestly, Sunggyu was hopping Woohyun didn't ask him that. There was only one reason why he did it, and he suspected the moment he said it Woohyun would close, back away from him.
The truth is, he never got over Woohyun.
"Was it... because of my mom?" He asks, hesitantly.
Woohyun hadn't come back from his trip from Busan. If Sunggyu had known that night was going to be the last time he'd see Woohyun, he would've packed a suitcase too, and follow Woohyun across the country. But he didn't.
He didn't and Woohyun's mom had died a week later. Her heart had developed a malformation that doctors didn't know how to treat at the time, but now, as Sunggyu illegally asked a friend, who asked a friend, who knew a friend who had a friend working in a hospital in Busan to look for Woohyun's mom official records, he knew how to treat.
But almost 17 years have gone by and there's nothing to do about it.
Sunggyu nods, at last. "yes, Hyunie."
Woohyun stares at him. At first, severely, almost with hatred in his eyes. But they got softer in a few seconds, as if he just understood now— then his eyes wrinkle, his lips start shaking and soon enough he's crying.
Sunggyu stands from his chair, accommodating himself on the side of the bed, whispering shh, it's okay, it's okay in Woohyun's ear as said man leaned into his lap, sobbing loudly. Sunggyu keeps on whispering in his ear, his hand lightly petting Woohyun's hair, himself crying quietly.
Woohyun isn't crying for his mom. (This, Sunggyu knows some weeks after when Woohyun finally goes out the hospital and basically bribes Sunggyu into a date with him). He's crying because he knows what that meant. It meant that even after he moved from Seoul to Busan and forced himself to forget Sunggyu because he's probably moved on for better, his everlasting feelings for the older had always been reciprocated.
Woohyun is making a pond in Sunggyu's blue scrubs as the older wipes and wipes his cheeks with his thumb and index finger.
His songs about young love and innocent love had always been about Sunggyu, as the other had studied and basically ate his anatomy books with Woohyun on his mind. They both had spent the last decade and a half trying to get over each other and failing miserably.
And all it took for them to find about this was for Woohyun to need someone to fix his heart. A heart that, clearly, Sunggyu was the only one able to fix.