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Sunghoon likes his routines. He appreciates tidiness, predictability, neatness. He isn’t married to his routines, mind you, but he functions better when he doesn’t deviate from them.
Sunghoon wakes up at 4:45 a.m. every morning during the week and at 7:00 a.m. during the weekends.
Sunghoon gets classroom cleaning duties the third Thursday of every month.
He always gets a carton of strawberry milk from the blue vending machine (never from the red one) outside of the ice skating rink at 3:15 p.m. right before practice starts.
Sunghoon always rides the subway back to his house after practice at 8:45 p.m. in order to get home by 9:30.
Sunghoon likes that there is decidedly less people riding the subway during this time than during the day. He gets to sit back, pop his earphones in and listen to his R&B playlist. Usually nobody sits next to him so he can even spread his legs out comfortably.
He is then predictably upset when his routine gets disrupted one night by a rush of people boarding his subway car a stop after he gets on. They all seem to come from the same event, probably a rock concert downtown, filling the car with chatter and bumping bodies. Sunghoon feels a bit claustrophobic and very much annoyed. He can’t even hear his music over the general din going on around him.
Sighing, he puts his earphones away and resolutely stares at his phone trying to ignore the noise surrounding him. At least he is lucky enough to be sitting down, avoiding getting crushed by the people that have to stand due to the lack of seats. People keep jostling his legs even after he tucks them as close to his body as possible. This crowd reeks of alcohol, piss, and body odor. Sunghoon thinks about switching cars but the next one over looks just as full so he stays put.
“Oh, precious, you don’t look so good,” he hears someone tut really close by, startling him.
It turns out to be the woman standing right in front of him, the one with a single, long earring dangling from her right ear, her long, dyed hair braided over her left side. She seems to be directing her scolding towards someone Sunghoon can’t quite see over the sea of bodies.
Braid Woman bobs her head enthusiastically at whatever the mystery person answers.
“Yeah, well, take it easy, honey, you can’t keep burning the candle on both ends. Come here, I’m going to clip your bangs away from your face so that you don’t overheat— Yeah, that’s right. There we go. My, my, your face is all flushed!”
Braid Woman is so clearly wasted, it makes her mother-henning even funnier. She suddenly turns towards Sunghoon, dark Kohled eyes settling on him for a second before landing on the guy sitting next to him.
“Han Seok, give your seat to this little boy right now,” she demands.
The guy huffs but obediently stands up and vacates the seat. Braid Woman produces a guy about Sunghoon’s age from behind her and practically shoves him into the seat. He accidentally steps on Sunghoon’s foot on his way down and Sunghoon tries not to wince.
He is really trying to mind his business and ignore this affair completely but he can't help but sneak a look at the boy next to him.
Jet black bangs are indeed pinned back by haphazardly-placed rhinestone hair clips. The guy’s face is incredibly flushed, pouty, pink lips shiny under the fluorescent lights. Drops of moisture are collected in the corner of each of his eyelids. He is wearing a school uniform but Sunghoon doesn’t recognize the school crest.
He is so attractive that he looks like an idol cosplaying as a high school student.
Braid Woman keeps haranguing the boy, urging him to take the bottle of water that she magically produced from her tote bag. The boy just nods his head weakly and does as he is told.
“Tilt your head back, tilt your head back,” she commands, pushing the guy’s forehead back with two fingers with a bit too much force.
The boy’s head connects with the seat’s backrest painfully. He doesn’t even cry out and just leaves his head hanging back, maybe to avoid another concussion.
Braid Woman looks satisfied and turns to burp in her companion’s face, who merely wrinkles his nose at her. Sunghoon feels himself recoil at the sight. He can’t wait to get off the subway and be home already.
The car starts thinning out in the following five stops, Braid Woman and her companion exiting the car after exuberantly bidding the boy next to him good-bye. Sunghoon sighs a bit in relief. The abrupt silence in the car is now loud in his ears. That is why he jumps in surprise when he suddenly feels a light weight rest on his shoulder.
His whole body freezes, neck and shoulders stiff as boards. He looks at his reflection in the window across the aisle and sees that the boy next to him is seemingly out like a light and using Sunghoon’s shoulder as a pillow. Sunghoon’s day really can’t get any worse.
He isn’t gonna jostle the guy like an asshole, but he sorely wants to. He still has 15 more minutes to go before his stop so he concentrates on regulating his breathing like he does before competitions and gets as comfortable as possible on his seat.
Car now much emptier and quiet, his earphones make a comeback. Ne-yo will make everything better.
Sunghoon’s hackles were raised thanks to all the chaos earlier, but he slowly feels the tension ease out of his body as the music drones softly on in his ear. The boy’s head would tilt this way and that way on his shoulder, and Sunghoon smells a hint of perfume coming from him.
His shampoo perhaps?
He feels creepy for smelling him, but whatever fresh and citrus-y thing he has going on is a much preferable aroma to that the crowd had somehow left behind.
Once the subway reaches his stop, Sunghoon tries his best to rest the guy’s head behind him on the seat so he can slip away. The boy only slips slightly down, mostly remaining upright.
Sunghoon looks back and sees that the boy has not woken up at all, hands resting cutely over the backpack he had gripped to his stomach. He makes sure to rush home after that, wanting to wash off the stench of practice and what had transpired at the subway. The moment he gets home, he skips dinner and instead showers thoroughly, just to drop face first on his bed after and fall asleep immediately.
The next evening, Sunghoon sees exactly in what stop the now-dubbed Sleeping Boy from last night boards the subway since the car is less full today.
He still looks unnaturally flushed and basically drops on the seat across the aisle from Sunghoon’s like dead weight.
Sunghoon really really wants to mind his business this time around, but he sees Sleeping Boy’s head dip sharply down into his chest not even a minute after he sits down.
Unbelievable, Sunghoon thinks. He is asleep already, passed out completely.
Sunghoon resists the urge to do something about Sleeping Boy’s head bobbing up and down like a bobblehead figurine, but then he notices a group of three older guys also staring at the boy and snickering amongst themselves.
Sunghoon can’t hear what they are saying, but when one wipes out a phone and another starts to slowly creep close to Sleeping Boy, he acts on impulse and flings himself across the aisle, sitting next to the boy and acting as a barrier between him and those guys. Sleeping Boy’s head somehow gravitates to his shoulder so that he is once again sleeping on him.
Sunghoon makes sure to look in the direction of the guys as if bored, as if the prospect of getting into a fight with three random dudes over one sleeping stranger didn’t daunt him in the slightest. The guys roll their eyes but back off easily enough, seemingly losing interest in Sleeping Boy.
Sunghoon can’t believe that this is his life. He is glad that these guys get off before his stop so that Sleeping Boy won’t be left alone with them in case they get another idea. He once more helps the boy rest his head on the seat's headrest as gently as he can and gets off at his usual stop.
Thus begins the strangest addition to his routine by far.
Sunghoon really likes his routines. Has he said that before?
He really appreciates tidiness, predictability, neatness. He isn’t married to his routines, mind you, but he functions way better when he doesn’t deviate from them.
Sunghoon wakes up at 4:45 a.m. every morning during the week and at 7:00 a.m. during the weekends.
Sunghoon gets classroom cleaning duties the third Thursday of every month.
He always gets a carton of strawberry milk from the blue vending machine (never from the red one) outside of the ice skating rink at 3:15 p.m. right before practice starts.
Sunghoon always rides the subway back to his house after practice at 8:45 p.m. in order to get home by 9:30.
Now, in addition to everything else, Sunghoon always moves to sit next to Sleeping Boy on the subway no matter where the other sits so that his head can rest on Sunghoon's shoulder instead of swinging back and forth with the subway’s movements like a human pendulum.
Sunghoon is then very predictably upset when his routine gets disrupted by two unwelcome additions to their subway car, the one he’s been sharing with Sleeping Boy for over a month now.
About three stops after Sleeping Boy boards, two guys wearing the same uniform as his get in the car and are obviously looking for something until their eyes land on the boy nestled against Sunghoon. Their faces don’t have any particular expression that Sunghoon can discern, but he is immediately on edge.
They walk right up to them in quick strides and Sunghoon has the lightning-quick thought that he is about to get the hell punched outta him.
“Sunoo-yah,” calls the taller of the two, haughty-looking with an appearance that better belongs on a school drama TV show.
The other guy is not as tall but also has a hard expression on his face. On their blazers, the school insignia reads “SUNSHINE BEACH ACADEMY” in bold yellow letters under a howling wolf.
“Kim Sunoo!”
Sleeping Boy, who now Sunghoon knows is named Kim Sunoo, jolts out of the seat as if electrocuted. He blinks his eyes rapidly, clearly disoriented and scared. When he sees the two guys looking at him, he goes pale.
“Hyungs! I don’t— I— What are you— I—"
“Who’s this, Sunoo?” asks the taller guy, jutting his chin in Sunghoon’s direction. “Your friend?”
The boy seems to note Sunghoon’s presence next to him then, and he jumps as far apart from him as possible, spluttering and shaking his head. Sunghoon tries to not get offended at that and fails.
“No, I don’t— I really— I don’t know—!”
Sunghoon is kind of worried about how terrified this Kim Sunoo seems to be and is about to intervene when the shorter guy pulls the boy up by the wrist forcefully.
“Well, if he’s not your friend then come sit with your hyungs,” he tells him, smiling.
The wide grin looks far from friendly.
Both guys drag the boy to the seats across the aisle and squeeze him in between them. Sunghoon bites his lip and does nothing, not really knowing what to do. He vows he’ll do something if the guys actually pull something, but besides throwing their arms familiarly around the boy and jostling him a bit, they don’t do anything seemingly bad. Sunghoon can’t shake off that bad feeling in his gut, however.
It was further reinforced when the boy springs from his seat two stops before Sunghoon’s and says, “Sorry, this is my stop,” and basically sprints out of the car the moment the doors open. Sunghoon is not sure what this Kim Sunoo's stop is—but it is one after his and not before.
Sunghoon makes eye contact with the two guys after Sunoo’s abrupt departure and the shorter one rolls his eyes at him, turning away. The tall guy looks straight at him and does not look away; Sunghoon breaks the stare-off first, scalp tingling.
Danger ahead, Sunghoon thinks, proceed with caution.
He has the feeling that he is followed home despite making sure that the two guys didn't get off on his stop or trailed him.
It is pouring all day the next day, dampening Sunghoon’s spirits further. He trudges through his routine despondently. He is not surprised when he gets on the subway that night and there is no Kim Sunoo. He hadn’t expected anything differently after what happened yesterday. Whoever those guys were, Sunoo would want to avoid them at all costs.
Sunghoon can't help but wonder if he’s made the entire incident up. His mom is constantly encouraging him to make friends. Was this his brain’s way of coming up with a solution for that particular problem?
The next three days also have no Kim Sunoo. His trainer scolds him during training more than once for his inattentiveness, his dad makes a comment about his head being on the clouds, and his teacher calls him out for not paying attention during math class.
Over the weekend, Sunghoon is restless, worried for a stranger he saw on the subway a couple of times, which frustrates him to no end.
On Sunday, he decides to go to the mall close to the skating rink to distract himself. He loses track of time there, and rushes towards the closest subway station to get home before his parents scold him a couple of hours later.
He realizes that this must be where Kim Sunoo usually boards the subway. He surreptitiously looks around to try and spot a head of dark hair but has no luck. He wants to laugh at himself when he can't help but feel disappointed. What are the chances of bumping into him here?
Jumping to his feet when the subway pulls into the station, he walks up to the doors and waits for the hiss of the doors opening before clambering in, suddenly exhausted.
It takes him a second too long to realize what he's looking at, almost bowling over in shock when he spots a familiar face sitting there, distinctly awake. That face is gaping at him—pink mouth wide open, glittering eyes blinking owlishly at him. Sunghoon gets so caught up on this staring match that he almost falls on his ass when the subway starts moving.
This snaps Sunoo into action and he quickly rests his head back behind him, crosses his arms across his chest, and closes his eyes tightly as if he was sleeping.
It is Sunghoon’s turn to drop his mouth wide open. They had just made eye contact and now the dude is pretending to be asleep? Right in front of his face?
He feels very awkward all of a sudden.
Sunoo is very evidently trying to avoid interacting with him, and Sunghoon can't help but feel somewhat affronted. He had just spent days ruminating over what'd happened, fretting over whether the boy was alright, and yet here he is—after disappearing for days—intent on ignoring him!
Sunghoon, in a rush of pettiness, sits next to him anyways.
If this Kim Sunoo guy wants to pretend to be asleep so badly, he’ll let him. Sunghoon is not going to stop him.
He pulls out his earphones and viciously shoves them in his ears, hoping to drown out the presence next to him. JT will surely make everything better.
A shy touch on his arm snaps Sunghoon out of his venomous thoughts. He turns to look and sees that silky black head of hair slowly leaning towards him until it rests on his shoulder. He squishes the urge to run his fingers through the strands by tugging his earphones off.
“What are you doing?” Sunghoon questions.
The person next to him doesn’t say anything for about half a minute and then snuggles closer to him.
“I'm sorry,” Sunoo whispers. “I am so embarrassed. I want to die right now.”
Sunghoon is flabbergasted. His neck and ears feel hot to the touch. How should he act about this? Would anyone else be shaking a stranger off their arm by now? Even if they were their stranger?
“Where were you?” Sunghoon asks instead.
“I got sick,” the boy explains. “I had to stay home a couple of days.”
“Okay,” Sunghoon says, surprisingly at peace with that answer.
Sunoo does strike him as particularly fragile, fair skin and smaller frame giving him the appearance of a porcelain doll. It had been raining heavily these last few days, so it would’ve been easy for him to catch a cold.
“It was strange not to see you these last couple of days,” Sunoo confesses quietly. "I'd gotten used to seeing you every day without fail, same time and place."
Sunghoon can’t really see his expression from this angle. His heart traitorously speeds up.
“Did you know?” Sunghoon asks, wetting his lips nervously.
Were you consciously sleeping on me this whole time?
“Not until that day,” Sunoo weakly denies, referring to the day they met the other two boys.
Sunghoon scoffs.
“Were you perhaps ‘so embarrassed that you wanted to die’ and that’s why you pretended to fall asleep on my shoulder every day?” Sunghoon throws his words back at him.
A fist softly connects with his arm, making him laugh.
“I did actually fall sleep every day,” the boy argues, pout somehow evident in his voice. “I would just wake up sometimes and, see, you know, see you next to me every time. What else was I supposed to do but go back to sleep when I had such a dependable, and strangely comfortable, shoulder to lean on next to me?”
Sunghoon clears his throat, suddenly aware of how damning his behavior sounds. He is flustered beyond belief. He sounds like a weirdo that forced the boy into pretending to be asleep to get out of an uncomfortable situation because someone couldn’t get his overprotective streak under control.
Also, is Sunoo flirting with him just now?
Sunghoon’s stop is announced over the intercom. He sees Sunoo’s hands twist into knots on his lap.
“I’m Kim Sunoo,” the boy says urgently, the subway slowing down, “and I swear I don’t sleep on just anyone’s shoulders on the subway.”
Sunghoon barks a laugh. He reaches with his hand and pushes Sunoo’s head back slowly so that it rests in the back of the seat, as he usually does. Kim Sunoo willingly goes, light eyes hopefully blinking up at him. The subway comes to a full stop.
“I’m Park Sunghoon,” he says, smiling at the boy, “and I swear I don’t let just anyone sleep on my shoulder on the subway.”
Sunghoon really likes his routines. He really appreciates tidiness, predictability, neatness. He isn’t married to his routines, mind you, but he functions way better when he doesn’t deviate from them, that’s all.
Sunghoon really really likes his routines. Has he said that before? He feels like he has.
But what Sunghoon really, really, really likes is a guy named Kim Sunoo. He really, really, really likes his coyness, his cleverness. He isn’t married to Kim Sunoo yet, mind you, but he functions way, way, way better when he doesn’t stray far from his side.