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chanhee curses as he lands on the wrong edge of his jump and goes tumbling onto the cold, unforgiving ice. he lets out a frustrated sigh. he was barely landing his doubles axels, how the hell was he ever going to compete?
“tighten your arms, chanhee-ah,” his coach says as she comes to a stop beside him where he lay on the ice, staring at the blinding lights that hung from the ice rink’s ceiling. “you’re almost there, really.”
chanhee blows out another breath, dragging himself up to stand again, brushing off bits of ice from his clothes. “okay, let me try again.”
the rink is relatively empty today, but it always was whenever chanhee came, seeing as he practiced in the early hours of the day.
he begins skating around the rink again, building up speeds as he rounds one corner and preps to jump the next. it was just a routine, at this point. forward inside mohawk, glide, step, jump and-
chanhee lets out a loud ‘oomph’ as he lands incorrectly, swinging his leg around and putting his hands out to meet the ice to stop himself from falling completely as his coach laughs.
“you kind of look like a giraffe drinking water,” she says amusedly, watching as he straightens up. “you know what i mean?”
chanhee rolls his eyes. “yes, coach. i’m glad you find this funny.”
she smiles at him, but crosses her arms. “chanhee-ah, i think it’s best if we end early today. i can tell your heart and mind isn’t in it.”
chanhee opens his mouth to rebut her offer, then shuts it promptly. she wasn’t wrong. “i’m sorry.”
his coach shakes her head. “it’s okay, we all have those days. i’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“yeah, i’ll be here,” chanhee sighs, toeing at the ice. “i’m gonna try one more time, though.”
“of course you are.” his coach nods. “off you go, then.”
chanhee goes throughs a series of backspins, waltz jumps and a single axel before he builds up speed again around the rink, preps for the jump and-
-lands. it’s wobbly, his landing leg shakes, and it didn’t feel like a complete double, but he lands. it's a start.
a loud shout is heard from the stands. “YEAH! there you go, hyung!”
and, as tired as chanhee is, having practiced for a while already and the time being barely past 10:30am, a smile creeps onto his face as he sees his boyfriend give him a thumbs up. chanhee sticks his tongue out as a greeting.
sunwoo was wearing dark sweatpants and a hoodie - his usual attire, but also with a large padding jacket that swallowed him almost whole. a big contrast to chanhee’s own tight fitting sports trousers and a loose white shirt. he had a jacket on when he first stepped onto the ice, but he never wears it for more than twenty minutes into the session.
“go home and practice the jumps on the ground,” his coach says as chanhee skates up to her. “and tell sunwoo i want to see him on the ice one day.”
chanhee lets out a laugh. sunwoo was very talented - he could do many things; he could rap, sing, dance, produce, write, play football, but he simply does not know how to skate. “we’ll see, coach. thank you for today.”
“yeah, i’ll see you tomorrow, chanhee-ah. get some rest. go on a date, or something,” she snorts, and chanhee waves at her as he grabs his jacket that was draped over the side of the rink before he steps off the ice.
“hey, hyung!” sunwoo greets immediately, startling chanhee.
“you got down here from the stands fast,” chanhee notes, relaxing as sunwoo throws an arm around his shoulders. it was a comical look, because even though they were roughly the same height, chanhee was several inches taller with his skates on, so it just looked as if sunwoo was hanging off of chanhee’s shoulders. “you’re pulling me down,” chanhee complains, but makes no move to shrug off sunwoo’s arm.
they reach the locker room, where chanhee plonks down onto a bench and starts to untie his skates.
sunwoo sits down a second later with chanhee’s skating bag, waiting patiently as chanhee pulls off one skate and then hands it to sunwoo. he begins to wipe the blade clean and dry of any ice then pulls on its guard and places it in the bag just as chanhee pulls off the other skate.
"how's the routine going?" sunwoo asks. "you look good."
"you say that everytime," chanhee laughs, handing sunwoo the other skate. he lets out a sigh of relief as he wiggles his toes freely, feeling the ache starting to set in. "it's fine, i guess. i just can't land my doubles at the moment, it sucks."
“ew, hyung, your feet stink,” sunwoo teases as chanhee slides his feet into his casual shoes. "anyways, you landed it fine just now, though. plus, with you being...you, you'll get it in no time." he sniffs. "but really, your feet stink bad, hyung."
“hey,” chanhee starts, smacking sunwoo on the arm. “you’re worse after dance or football, you know that right?”
sunwoo presses a brief but firm kiss on chanhee’s lips. “whatever you say, hyung. you ready to go?”
and because chanhee is weak, he leans in for another kiss. sunwoo hums happily against his lips, hand coming to cup chanhee’s cheek and brushing his thumb over chanhee’s cheekbone. ”tired, hyung?”
chanhee pulls away, small pout on his lips. “yeah. don’t know why, though. it’s not like i don’t do this almost everyday.”
sunwoo rolls his eyes. “yes, but it’s not like you work your ass off for university every day though. it’s finals, hyung.”
chanhee stands up, holding a hand out for his skating bag, which sunwoo ignores as he shoulders it instead and grabs chanhee’s hand with his own, linking their fingers. “sunwoo.”
“what?”
“i can carry my own bag.”
“i can carry your bag.”
chanhee sighs, squeezing sunwoo’s hand a little hard, but gives in. “thank you, idiot.”
sunwoo grins. “your idiot.”
“ah,” chanhee grimaces. “sunwoo, no.”
“come on, that was cute.”
“if you say so.”
-
chanhee pours over his books late at night by the kitchen counter top, scribbling illegible notes in his notebook and squinting every now and then at the small letters on the pages.
he had arrived back at his shared flat with sunwoo, taken a small break for lunch, rushed off to university for his classes of the day, then came back home to practice his jumps, and had almost missed dinner if it weren’t for sunwoo scolding him, and now there he was, revising for his finals.
the timing was terrible - his finals finished just a week before his skating competition, so now it was a matter of cramming in a year’s worth of material and trying his best to land his double axels so he could have a chance of doing well in the competition.
he blinks hard as the words on the page start to blur, and sighs. he sits back in his chair, closing his eyes for a few seconds as he ponders over what to do next. he could just wake up early and continue to study.
he hears the the sound of a door clicking open softly and slowly opens his eyes. sunwoo trudges into the kitchen space, wincing at the brightness in the kitchen with his eyes half open, hair sticking up on one side and steps slow.
chanhee’s heart aches. “hey, baby. what’s up?” he opens up an arm as sunwoo rounds the counter top and gets into chanhee’s personal space.
“hyung,” sunwoo mumbles, wrapping his arm around chanhee’s shoulder and leaning his entire weight on him. “when are you coming to bed?”
chanhee winces. “probably soon?” sunwoo begins to massage chanhee’s neck, and he lets out a soft groan. "ah, that feels nice."
“it’s like, one in the morning,” sunwoo mutters, his voice still full of sleep. “you’re going to be awake in not even six hours. you need to come to bed.”
“just let me finish this chapter, okay?” chanhee murmurs, angling his body differently so that he can look at his boyfriend. “five minutes.”
sunwoo tries to give him a menacing look but gives in to a yawn instead. “okay.” he detaches himself from chanhee and points right at chanhee’s nose. “five.”
“yep, five,” chanhee says, tugging at sunwoo’s arm. the younger boy lowers himself slightly as chanhee pecks him on the lips. “go back to bed, i’ll be there soon.”
sunwoo shakes his head. “nope. if i go back to bed you’ll be much longer than five minutes. i know you, hyung. i’m staying here until you’re done. your five minutes start now. hurry up.”
chanhee stares as sunwoo sits across from chanhee and rests an elbow on the table, hand supporting his chin. sunwoo knows him, indeed. “okay, okay.”
he crams as much as he can in five minutes under the watchful but sleepy eye of his boyfriend, and exactly five minutes later, sunwoo reaches over to close all of chanhee’s books, ignoring chanhee’s complaints, and pulls at him until he relents and they make way for their bedroom.
it looked like sunwoo was practically half asleep as he clumsily pushes chanhee towards their bed, chanhee being the one leading the way rather than sunwoo.
“god, you idiot, you shouldn’t have woken up,” chanhee scolds quietly as sunwoo pushes at him one more time to get into bed on the side nearest to the wall.
“can’t sleep well without you, hyung,” sunwoo replies and begins to snuggle down underneath the covers, reaching for chanhee beneath them. “i’ve already set your alarm for six, don’t worry.”
chanhee’s heart warms as his boyfriend slings an arm over his waist, pulling him over. “thank you, sunwoo-yah. you know i appreciate you, yeah?”
sunwoo hums, eyes closed as he blindly presses a kiss against chanhee’s forehead. “who doesn’t?”
chanhee bites back a smile, reaching up in the space between their bodies to brush away a strand that was hanging in front of sunwoo’s eyes. he traces the outline of sunwoo’s face with his finger, staring at the thick eyebrows, unrelenting jawline and pouty lips.
“hyung, you can stare at me tomorrow. and the day after that. and the day after that,” sunwoo grumbles, opening an eye to meet chanhee’s own eyes. “now go to sleep.”
chanhee laughs, leaning in to kiss sunwoo’s frown away. “okay, okay.”
“night, hyung.”
“goodnight, sunwoo-yah.”
and, under the warmth of their covers and in the arms of his boyfriend, chanhee falls asleep.
-
“god, hyung, you know, me waking up at this time of the day to see you off is practically just me tattooing on my forehead of how much i love you,” sunwoo grumbles as they sit at the counter top the next morning, fifteen minutes after chanhee’s alarm went off. chanhee had his coffee in front of him whilst he dug into his breakfast.
“you’re going to go back to sleep anyways,” chanhee reminds his boyfriend. sunwoo was definitely not a morning person - neither was chanhee, but he’d settled into his routine. sunwoo, however, still woke up at the same time as chanhee everyday so that he could be there while his boyfriend got ready to go practice and to walk him out. and even though sunwoo complains about it, chanhee had never asked him to do it. a love language in its own way. “your classes aren’t till one, right?”
“yeah.” sunwoo yawns, and chanhee follows the action. “when do you finish today? do you think you’ll finish early like yesterday? or should i come at eleven?”
“you don’t have to come,” chanhee tries, taking a sip from his coffee. “just get your sleep.”
“how can i get more sleep knowing that you get half the hours of sleep i get?” sunwoo snorts, stealing a grape from chanhee’s plate. “i’m coming to pick you up, hyung.”
chanhee rolls his eyes. there was no point arguing against sunwoo. “i finish at eleven today, yeah, so you can come then.”
“okay,” sunwoo nods, sitting back in his seat. “i win.”
“you didn’t ‘win’ anything, sunwoo.”
“i just did, though.”
twenty minutes later, chanhee is dressed and shouldering his skating bag as sunwoo walks up to him with a filled up water bottle. “here, hyung.”
chanhee smiles ruefully at the sight of sunwoo - almost like a walking zombie, he was barely awake at this point. “thanks, baby.”
“c’mon, let’s go,” sunwoo yawns, blindly pulling on one of the jackets that hung on their couch. “bus is almost here.”
and, just like every other day, sunwoo walks chanhee down to the bus stop, and waits with him until the bus arrives.
“okay, i’ll see you in a bit, alright?” chanhee says quietly as the bus appears in their sight. it was a quiet morning - it felt like he was shouting if he spoke a little too loudly. “go get some sleep.”
“yeah, okay, hyung,” sunwoo replies, tugging at chanhee’s arm to pull him in for a brief kiss. “be careful. don’t overwork yourself, you barely got any sleep tonight.”
“don’t worry, i’ll be careful,” chanhee reassures, patting sunwoo’s head as he pulls away. “love you.”
“love you too, hyung.”
-
the music plays from the speakers and chanhee loses himself in the moment, feeling the ice underneath his skates and the wind on his face as he goes through his routine.
as he sets up for the double axel, he mentally goes through the steps in his head before executing the jump, feeling himself airborne for barely a second before he’s landing - on the wrong edge, again.
he goes tumbling on the ice, unable to control the way he lands and pain shoots up his left wrist. he grits his teeth, but gets back up to finish the rest of the routine.
the music cuts off barely five seconds later when chanhee was preparing to go into a spin as his coach skates towards him, looking concerned. “is your wrist okay? you landed quite badly, there.”
chanhee winces. “yeah, i did.” he tries to bend his left hand up at the wrist, hissing at the pain. “it’s sore, but i can manage. we’ve still got like, two hours of practice left.”
“well, shit, chanhee, i don’t know about you, but i think skating with a limp wrist is going to look rather stupid,” his coach says bluntly, taking chanhee’s hand in hers and inspecting the wrist. “i don’t think it’s that badly sprained, but you’re going to have to rest it. did you drive here?”
“no, i took the bus,” chanhee mutters. a bitter feeling starts to settle in his heart. of course he found a way to injure himself. “but coach-”
“no buts, chanhee. we’re done here for the day. come on, lets get your skates off.” his coach skates away, leaving no room for argument.
chanhee sighs, but follows.
-
of course, he ends up heading back to his flat much earlier than planned, and as he is about to punch the code into their door, it swings open to reveal sunwoo, who looked freshly showered and dressed, no doubt on his way to pick chanhee up from the rink.
sunwoo’s face lights up for a second before it falls. “hyung? why are you back?” his eyes quickly scan the rest of chanhee, coming to a stop as he stares at chanhee’s wrapped up wrist, and the way chanhee had an ice pack in his other hand. sunwoo grabs at chanhee's wrist gently, inspecting it. “what happened?”
“bad landing,” is all chanhee says, unable to meet sunwoo’s eyes. his day was not off to a good start, let’s just say. “coach sent me home.”
sunwoo blinks at chnahee’s somewhat defeated tone, and quickly pulls chanhee into their flat. “does it hurt a lot? do you want some painkillers? i don’t know if we have any left but i can go out and get some quickly-”
“sunwoo,” chanhee interrupts, placing his good hand over sunwoo’s mouth. “i’m fine. coach gave me some already.”
sunwoo licks chanhee’s palm, and he yanks his hand back quickly. “ew.”
“are you okay, hyung?” sunwoo asks curiously as he smoothly takes chanhee’s bag from him, placing it no the ground.
chanhee sighs. “i’m just tired, sunwoo-yah. this- it’s just all bad timing. i’m barely a month away from finals and my competition.”
sunwoo pouts. “a month is still a long time, hyung.”
“i know, i know,” chanhee murmurs, moving to sit down on their couch. sunwoo follows soon after, angling his body so that he was facing chanhee. “it’s just- i don’t know. stressful.”
“of course it is, hyung.” sunwoo rolls his eyes. “i don’t know anyone else who works as much as you do - if you weren’t stressed i’d be seriously concerned.”
the comment gets a small smile out of chanhee. of course sunwoo finds a way to make him smile, somehow.
“there we go,” sunwoo murmurs, tilting his head. “you looked so down i was scared i couldn’t make you smile.”
“you always make me smile, baby,” chanhee replies softly, looking at his boyfriend, who makes a face.
“and you say i’m the cringy one?”
chanhee pauses. “okay, i take it back. you never make me smile.”
“hyung, i was just joking!” sunwoo whines, and chanhee laughs, swinging his legs over sunwoo’s. “you’re so annoying.”
“so are you,” chanhee retorts, leaning in and letting his head fall down to rest on sunwoo’s shoulder. “you’re worse, actually.”
“of course i am,” sunwoo huffs, naturally bringing his arms around chanhee. “should i cook something for you?”
“no, i don’t want to get poisoned.”
sunwoo snorts. “should i order something, then?”
chanhee lifts up his head, nodding. “yes, please.”
“can i get a kiss first?” sunwoo grins, bringing a hand back to tap at his own lips. “as down payment. and then you also actually need to pay for the food.”
chanhee kisses him - of course he does - pays for the food, and they end up in bed over an hour later, sunwoo’s laptop propped up between them with a movie playing that they weren’t really concentrating on.
a notification pops up on the screen, as a result of sunwoo connecting his phone to his computer, and it’s a message from one of his coursemates asking, yo bro wru?
chanhee gasps, sitting straight up and grabbing at his phone to check the time. “sunwoo, you have class!”
a beat of silence. “ah, yes.”
“what do you mean, ‘ah, yes’?” chanhee asks incredulously, pushing at sunwoo’s chest with his good hand. “what are you doing here?”
“spending time with you,” sunwoo says sheepishly. “you’re injured.”
chanhee stares at his boyfriend, feeling a mixture of frustration and endearment and love. “sunwoo, i have a sprained wrist. i’m not on my death bed.”
“you’re still injured,” sunwoo mutters, swiping away the notification. "there, that never happened."
“it’s not even my right wrist. i can basically do everything just fine.” chanhee scoffs. “you’re ridiculous.”
“yeah, yeah, whatever.” sunwoo sticks his tongue out, not making a move to get ready to get to his class, even though he was already late.
“what are you doing?” chanhee asks, a little stressed out. an injury like this definitely did not warrant for his boyfriend missing his classes. “go get ready!”
“hyung, it’s just one class,” sunwoo tries, finally sitting up. he pauses the movie, and gives chanhee the Look. chanhee simply doesn’t know how to argue against it. “seriously, it’ll be fine. i can get my friends to send me notes. just let me take care of you.”
chanhee makes a face. “i don’t need to be taken care of.”
“oh, yes you do,” sunwoo retorts, and pushes at chanhee’s chest, trying to get him to lay back down. “i promise missing one lecture won’t kill me hyung. now can we please just go back to cuddling and watching the movie?”
“sunwoo-” chanhee begins, but sunwoo lurches forward, effectively silencing him with a kiss, one that very much leaves chanhee a little breathless and lightheaded when sunwoo pulls away, a small smirk on his face. “...i hate you.”
“you don’t,” sunwoo says knowingly, placing a hand behind chanhee’s neck and pulling him in for another kiss.
and god damn him, chanhee lets him.
so, even though having a very slightly sprained wrist on his non-dominant hand definitely does not warrant his boyfriend missing his classes for him, chanhee lets sunwoo take care of him.
because it means that at least, lest he ever fall again, sunwoo will always be there for him.