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"Are you serious," grunts Hyungwon as he glances over the outside world for the fourth time that week. Nobody seems to notice the lanky young man peeking out behind the back door of a shop's unused storage room as they all go about their daily lives. By now, he can recognize the old couple who sit by the park bench from nine til eleven-thirty, the young mother who pushes her stroller with one hand and grasps her toddler in the other, the high school students laughing as they walk to school, and the tailored businessman swinging his briefcase as he, too, walks to work. It would be serene and peaceful if it weren't the fourth time he's seeing this exact scene this week, and he's close to puking at the sight.
Changkyun, huddled on a worn couch by the wall, glances up from his book. This, too, is his third time reading the book from cover to cover, having picked it up in a dusty corner of the room. "So we're still trapped, huh?"
"Yeah." Closing the door and blocking out the sunlight, Hyungwon crosses the distance to the couch and plops on the other end, leaning back until his head hits the wall and his legs were outstretched. "When will this end?"
There isn't anything to do when they're limited to a six-by-six meter room stuffed with boxes and dusty items, a pungent smell hanging from the walls and seeping into their clothes; when their gadgets have no internet connection and no time-space portal would transport them any time nor anywhere else. In fact, time-travelling has been down the past few days as well, so even if they weren't trapped in this time loop, they'd still be in the same place regardless.
"I don't know." The sound of a page being turned overwhelms the air between them. "I don't even know what's going on. If I did, we could've figured something out."
As if on cue, their TimeKeeping watches come to life in unison as static booms throughout the room, then the screen flashes yellow and Hyunwoo's voice rings through. "Hyungwon, Changkyun," he greets them. Nostalgia surges in their hearts at this familiarity, at this snippet of home. "How are you two holding up so far?"
"Hey Hyunwoo. We're okay," answers Changkyun.
"Barely surviving," Hyungwon chimes.
"Don't mind what he said. We're safe and well, staying in an abandoned storage room for the time being," the younger says, elbowing his partner in the stomach. Hyungwon releases a small oof . "Um, but it'd be great if we could go home earlier, though. There's nothing to do here. The food they sell here never changes and I'd like to eat my mom's kimbap again."
Hyunwoo chuckles. "Sorry about the delay. Everyone here is trying their best, but it seems like the time-space ripples were disrupted and it can't connect to its correct coordinates or timeline. We've reached through other agencies in our dimension as well as outside but no one has figured out a solution yet. It's the biggest disturbance in the past half-century, so even the oldest agents here are rusty in solving the problem."
Hyungwon groans. "That sucks."
"Thanks for informing us," Changkyun says. "Good luck to you guys."
Tossing his head to the side of the door, Hyungwon mumbles, "Good luck. See you soon, Hyunwoo."
"Both of you as well. Stay safe there." Then the line cuts and their watches turn dark once more.
"I just want to go home," groans Hyungwon through gritted teeth. He stretches his long legs down the floor, willing the ants in his calves to disappear and wishing that he was in the comforts of his bedroom, where his soft bed and gaming laptop and endless comics stay. A pang of nostalgia hits him in the chest, but it's drowned by his ennui. "We've been on the field for too long. I might die of boredom here."
Changkyun shrugs, flipping the page over, its sound loud and clear in the small area. "Well, I don't mind being here as much if it's with you."
His teammate falters at that. "That's flattering, but I can't say the same for you. No offence."
"That's fine. Some of us are more prone to boredom than the rest."
Those words weren't meant to sound blunt, but Hyungwon rolls his eyes in reply. "Ugh. I'm sorry I can't be interested in a book about the history of indigo in Asia."
"I didn't say it was a bad thing, but okay." Changkyun returns to his book, but, when he's read a passage he has memorised by now, his interest is no longer there.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" his teammate wonders aloud, splaying his long limbs against the couch and staring at the dark patches in the ceiling above. "Somewhere to go? Something to buy? Something to return? People to talk to? I'm so bored. I'm very, very bored. I might as well shrivel up and die in this boredom."
His words echo around the four walls. It receives no reply for a while. Hyungwon curls on one side on the couch, making sure his legs don't take up too much space, while Changkyun gazes at the book in his hands, lost in his thoughts. There is something he, personally, could do, and he's not sure if now is the right time to say it, but it's a better way to fill up their time and space than throwing complaints into the air with no results. It could lead to another conversation. Or a development for better or for worse. Maybe better, he hopes, but that could be wishful thinking. He's not sure.
At the same time, it has been bothering him for a long time now, so he supposes he might as well say it.
To break the heavy, boring silence weighing on them, Changkyun places the book flat on his lap and glances at his teammate. "Hyungwon," he starts, rather soft and inaudible. "Hyungwon, I have something to tell you."
"What?"
"Since you're bored right now, I thought I'll, um, tell you something a little interesting. Maybe not too interesting, but it's worth thinking about."
"Okay." His tall teammate sits straighter on the couch, legs folding up so they're not stretched anymore. "Tell me."
"I, uh." Another clearing of throat. "I, uh, like you."
Hyungwon sighs. "Huh? That's not interesting. I already know that. We're good pals, great buddies, go out for drinks and games from time to time, yada yada yada. Am I right?"
The younger blinks. "Um, no, it's not in the way you think. I like you. Like, like like . As in, I have a crush on you."
The word crush appears to fall heavier than any other word from the rest of the sentence. Hyungwon blinks as the significance of the word settles into him, his brows dipping down, erasing any composure he had on his face. "What?" Unsure if he'd heard it correctly, he steels his gaze back on his teammate, who looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here right now.
Changkyun swallows, ignores the gaze and focuses on the dark patch on the ground that's suddenly very interesting to him. Damn, why did he let his mouth run ahead?
Before the pause between them can grow into a pregnant silence, Hyungwon presses another question. "Wait. For how long?"
A shrug. A quiet, "Not sure. Maybe a year now."
The elder of the two tries not to gape, but it's hard not to when it's possibly the biggest revelation they've had for the past five calendar days. Changkyun appears to want to curl into himself, his shoulders rising higher above his ears as he tries to disappear. Well. He's gone and done it now, hasn't he? It'll be weird for the rest of the time they continue to work together, wouldn't it?
Then Hyungwon shifts the awkward atmosphere back into an easy state. "Okay. I understand. You have a crush on me; I'm cool with that. But that doesn't change the fact that we're still stuck in this cramped area in the middle of an unknown city, ten years before either of us were born," Hyungwon continues, moving his gaze to an empty spot on the wall opposite them. "So what do we do now?"
Relief and gratefulness bursts into Changkyun's chest. He whispers a thank you to the heavens for his crush being nonchalant about...his crush, making it easier to talk about anything else. So he looks back at said crush. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"
"Besides processing your crush on me? No idea." Leaning onto the armchair and perching his chin in his palm, Hyungwon glances back at the younger. "What about you?"
"Can I kiss you?"
A blink. "What?"
Two hands rush to cover Changkyun's mouth, his eyes widening like saucers. This time, he'd really gone and done it now. "No, wait, sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I, uh..."
"You want to kiss? Me?" Sitting up straight, Hyungwon points to himself. "These?" This time, he jabs to his plush, luscious lips, which is also the subject of Changkyun's embarrassing daydreams when they're lounging in the office, on the commute to work or on the bus rides home. Changkyun flushes even deeper.
"No, it's okay, I didn't mean to say it out loud, I was going to suggest reading a book or playing a game or—"
"Why not?" The surprise seems to melt out of his teammate right away, Hyungwon's usual nonchalance returning back to the slope of his shoulders and his eyes. "We don't have anything else to do, right?"
"Wha— I mean. What?" It feels like a whiplash. Changkyun blinks. "Are you telling me you're okay with...with me kissing you?"
"Like I said, why not? We don't have anything else to do. Might as well smooch to pass the time."
The word choice continues to dig embarrassment into him. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, thoughts of what is going on and is he serious? and i didn't finish watching that kissing tutorial oh my god what do i do running back and forth through his head, sweat covering his palms and heartbeat racing a mile a minute, all with the added pressure of Hyungwon's gaze on him. Mustering whatever courage is left in him, Changkyun inches closer to his teammate-and-crush, closing the distance at a snail's pace, unable to lift his gaze from the floor until their faces are a hand's span away and he can't breathe properly.
Though his face is blank, careful of his partner's actions, Hyungwon can't keep the amusement out of his voice. "So? What are you waiting for? Go for it."
No words needed, no hesitation thrown in as Changkyun leans forward and presses his lips against the other's. It's soft, rather dry, but warm and very intimate and he forgets about the time loop, the stink of the room, the kissing tutorials he'd watched, and Hyunwoo as he pushes against the elder's chest, opens his mouth just a little, angles his face another way so he can press deeper, shifts closer so their knees touch and he can feel Hyungwon's breath and the stretch of his lips into a smile and—
"Whoa." Hyungwon pulls away. "Slow down there, buckaroo."
Changkyun is still in a dreamlike haze, still feels the phantom of Hyungwon's lips against his, still reeling over the fact that he'd kissed Chae Hyungwon, so he doesn't hear what he said. "What?"
"You were going too fast," says his teammate, wiping at his lips and eyeing the younger. "I wasn't ready for that."
"I...Neither was I." Having processed the kiss in his mind, Changkyun's face is well and truly red. "Sorry. Should have warned you or something."
"You're lucky you're cute," Hyungwon says, "because you sure as hell aren't a good kisser."
"Hey!"
Three calendar days later, Hyunwoo awaits at the arrivals field for his two closest agents to appear, checking his watch every five minutes and counting down the time left. After the disruption was cleared, everyone's field agents were finally able to return home in batches (to avoid too much traffic and cause yet another disruption), so Changkyun and Hyungwon were due anytime soon. Around him, their other field agents hustle and bustle towards their building, ecstatic to be home and finished with their jobs.
One of the time-space portals near him flicker as a sign of arrival. The screen at the top of the portal displays Kuala Lumpur 2010, which was where his two friends had gone too, and its lights turn blue to signal a living presence, right as a foot steps from the portal and Changkyun comes out.
Hyunwoo jogs towards him, arms wide open and a huge beam on his face. "Changkyun! Welcome back!"
Following their youngest agent was Hyungwon, long legs almost tripping over the other's as they stumble into each other and their hands intertwined.
"Hyungwon! Welcome back! Glad to see both of you are safe..." Their co-worker trails off as he notices their linked hands between the two, then glances back up at Changkyun, who looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here, and Hyungwon, who has a lazy smirk on his face. "And holding hands?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Did something happen between you two— never mind." Hyunwoo blinks, gives them a once-over each, and shrugs. "Never mind about that. You guys seem to be healthy and sound, so I guess that's alright. I don't think I want to ask about it, anyway."
While Changkyun buries his face into his free hand, Hyungwon laughs.