Chapter Text
For Minhyuk, loving Hyunwoo has always come so naturally. As natural as the oxygen that he breathes; as the sun rising and setting in the horizon; as the twinkling stars on a cloudless night; as the falling of leaves; as thriving crops on fertile soil; as the blooming of flower on the first day of spring; as the changing of the seasons. Natural. Organic. More of a part of who he is than his own personality.
He doesn’t even remember anymore when he first started feeling that way towards his best friend. All he remembers is…he just does. It’s as if his whole existence is programmed to love his best friend Son Hyunwoo — it operates on autopilot. If Hyunwoo was the sun, then Minhyuk would be Mercury — the closest planet to the giant fire ball that is the center of this solar system; with the absence of any atmosphere, Mercury is always directly hit by the sun’s deadly radiating heat.
And that is exactly how loving Hyunwoo feels like. It burns. It’s suffocating. It’s just an endless cycle of breaking down and picking himself back up again — and again, and again. It physically pains his heart to love Hyunwoo — he might as well die from it.
For Minhyuk, loving Hyunwoo has always come so naturally — like cancerous cells multiplying in his body. Turns out, too much of something good is in fact not good. Minhyuk learned that the hard way. But there’s nothing he could do about it. What is he expected to do when the one he loves is the one who unknowingly pulls the trigger? What is he supposed to do when he looks so happy doing it?
Yoo Kihyun.
That hit Minhyuk like a brick. Hyunwoo had been babbling about this ‘invisible red string’ that was attached on his finger and Yoo Kihyun — a string that connected them both together. He said that he woke up one morning and it was just…there. Then Hyunwoo found out that Kihyun was on the other hand of that string. Hyunwoo had never noticed Kihyun’s existence up until that point, but one day he did.
Red string of fate, he later found out — he found out because Hyunwoo couldn’t look it up, and oh how he wished he hadn’t. It’s said that ‘everyone’s pinky finger is tied to an invisible red string that will lead him or her to another person with whom they will make history’.
And that is how Minhyuk knew that he lost the battle that he had been fighting for the past two years. Two — god damn — years of fruitless efforts; of wasted emotions; of spilled silent tears; of picking himself up again; of nothing. He was never meant to win the game — how could he ever? He’s not the one at the other end of Hyunwoo’s red string, but why couldn’t it be him? He was with Hyunwoo first; he’s been by Hyunwoo’s side the longest — why the fuck wasn’t him the one fated to be with Hyunwoo?
Whichever god that was in charge of Minhyuk’s life is a heartless one. Maybe they enjoy seeing Minhyuk miserable; his life is mere entertainment for them. But he has no time to wallow in his misery — oh no, sir — he has a best friend to support.
And so he does.
Because for Minhyuk, loving Hyunwoo has always come naturally — but Minhyuk needs to find a way to stop himself from doing so.