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“Sang-woo!”
Sang-woo looked out the window from his apartment building and saw Gi-hun waving up at him from his bike.
“Mom, I’m heading out now,” he called, rushing through the hall before he heard mom call out to tell him to wait.
“Here, Sang-woo, your lunch,” she smiled, passing him a box of rice and mackerel.
Gi-hun tapped his fingers on his bike handles and whistled as he waited. The sky was blue but it was a little breezy, great for biking. He turned when he heard the door open and smiled big at the other boy running to his bike.
“Ah, there’s our little genius of Ssangmun-dong. Oh man, you get taller every day, not as tall as me though.” Sang-Woo rolled his eyes and got on the back of the bike, accepting the helmet that was passed to him.
“I still have time to grow, and I’m only one year younger than you.”
Gi-Hun chuckled and looked behind him. “Ah, but I was taller than you are when I was your age. I’ll buy you some milk at the vending machine to help.”
Sang-Woo punched the older boy’s shoulder before holding onto the handles on the bottom of his seat, settling his feet on the bars on the back wheel. Gi-Hun laughed and kicked off.
“Ah, shit, how are you so short but so heavy.”
Sang-Woo smacked the back of the other boy’s helmet, “It isn’t me who’s heavy, it’s your legs that are weak.”
“Well, they’re gonna have an exercise today.”
Sang-Woo ignored the other’s snickering, wind rushing past his ears and his jacket flapping against his arms as Sang-Woo watched the pedestrians they passed. Gi-Hun would wave to a few, smile and nod at some others. Some of them tried to smile and wave at Sang-Woo too, some of them elderly women and some of them young girls, but he just awkwardly nodded his head and stared at Gi-Hun’s back.
“Hyung, what are you going to do after you’re done with school?” Sang-Woo asked as they biked past some other students wearing the same uniform as them.
“Hm, probably drop you off and then help my mom out at the shop,” Gi-hun answered.
“No, I mean, after you’re done with technical high school.” Gi-Hun stayed silent for a bit, pausing in peddling so that the bike was just gliding.
“Well, I’ll probably try to get into a car company.”
“Locally?” Sang-Woo continued.
“Yeah.”
Sang-Woo nodded, though Gi-Hun couldn't see. “Hyung?” Gi-Hun hummed in response. “If you could buy anything in the world, what would it be?”
Gi-Hun chuckled, “You’re being a bit nosy today, huh?” Sang-Woo nudged his shoulder. “Ah, shit, I’m driving! Jeez, just wait a second.”
Sang-Woo waited, and when Gi-Hun took a bit too long he nudged his shoulder again. “Okay, okay! Well, ahh, hm. I’d buy a large house, so fancy that it has a room specifically to showcase cars.” Sang-Woo hummed, waiting for more. “It’d have a large garden, a field maybe, for my mom to grow whatever she wanted, just for the heck of it, not for selling. Just for her to enjoy it, you know? She can even keep some chickens. She loves those things, we had one that she wanted to keep for eggs, but, there was a time where we couldn’t get any food, and well… she was so sad after it was gone, that it was a little silly.”
Sang-Woo stared at the back of his head, waiting, but Gi-Hun stopped talking for a moment, seemingly finished with his answer.
Gi-Hun shook his head, “Ah, damn, that’s never going to happen though, not with my grades.”
“What if I got them for you?”
Gi-Hun stopped his bike in surprise. He turned around to look at the boy behind him, who is just in his last year of middle school, not even in high school yet. He thought he’d see an amused face, something that would show that the other boy was just joking, but what he found was all seriousness. “Well, it’d take more than your perfect scores in middle school, kid. You’d probably have to go to a top tier university for that kind of wish, something like SNU, my little friend.”
Gi-Hun blew at the other boy’s face, causing him to annoyedly push his face away and reaffix his hair.
“I’m only one year younger than you,” Sang-Woo muttered, red-faced and ears hot while Gi-Hun just laughed back.
--
When Gi-Hun told Sang-Woo that he’d have to go to SNU, he didn’t expect the boy to actually do it.
“Ohhh, my little Sang-Woo is all grown up now!” Gi-Hun watched Sang-Woo’s mom pinch the young man’s cheeks, though she had to reach quite high to do so. He snickered, causing Sang-Woo to shoot him a glare.
“A smart grown up, too,” Gi-Hun‘s mother commented, causing Gi-Hun to roll his eyes as he flipped the meat on the barbeque.
They were at a restaurant, celebrating Sang-Woo’s acceptance into Seoul National University before he had to leave. Gi-Hun himself was also celebrating landing a job at a motor company, and it was originally just going to be him and Sang-Woo, but the mothers wanted to come along, too.
“Oh, but Gi-Hun, too, he’s going to be a working man!” Sang-Woo’s mother started attacking Gi-Hun’s cheeks, but Gi-Hun put a stop to that by saying that he needed help with the cooking and Sang-Woo’s mother naturally did just that.
“So, hyung.” Gi-Hun turned towards Sang-Woo as the younger man started speaking, “will you wait for me?”
Gi-Hun cocked his head, “For what?”
“I’ll get you a big house, one with a room for cars and a field for chickens,” Sang-Woo continued.
Gi-Hun chuckled, “Oh, that? That was such a long time ago, I didn’t even think you’d remember that.”
“That’s so sweet, Sang-Woo! But you’ll be able to do a lot more than that once you’re done with university,” Sang-Woo’s mother cooed, putting cooked meat on his plate. Sang-Woo stayed silent, grabbing tongs and placing meat on Gi-Hun’s plate.
After they finished eating, the mothers started chatting with the cashier and the boys waited outside.
Gi-Hun put his hands in his pockets, rocking on the heels of his toes.
“Hyung.”
Gi-Hun looked up, taken back when he saw Sang-Woo closer than he expected.
He looked serious but nervous, older than how he actually was. The red lights of the neon signs harshly lit up one side of his face while the other side looked soft under the street lights.
Gi-Hun knew he was going to miss his friend, and wouldn't know who to bring to cyber cafes or who to talk with long into the night. Maybe one of his other friends, but he was just so used to it being Sang-Woo at his side.
Gi-Hun smiled up at the younger man, who seemed so much taller than him despite being only a centimeter higher. He grabbed the other’s hand, “I’m gonna miss you, Sang-Woo.”
Sang-Woo’s eyes became infinitely softer, “I’m going to miss you too, hyung.”
Gi-Hun smiled brightly, crinkled at the corner of his eyes, and he nodded before moving to let Sang-Woo go.
Before he could completely let go, Sang-Woo’s hand grabbed his forearm, and he was suddenly pulled forward.
Gi-Hun was engulfed in the firmest, warmest hug in his entire life, Sang-Woo’s arms wrapped so tightly around his waist that it felt like he was going to be broken in half. Gi-Hun laughed and patted the other man’s back, settling into the hug and wrapping his arms around his shoulders.
“Wait for me,” Sang-Woo whispered, warm breath tickling his ear. Gi-Hun shivered, felt Sang-Woo’s arms tighten one more time before he was let go.
“Don’t make me wait too long,” Gi-Hun replied.
—
6 years later
Gi-Hun groaned after hearing the doorbell ring a first, then a second time. It was 7 in the morning, and usually he didn’t need to get up until 8:30 at most. He cursed under his breath at the insistent doorbell, quickly pulling on pants from the floor before stumbling towards the door.
Hair a mess, only in a pair of pants and an undershirt, he opened the door and squinted at the morning light. His eyes widened at the man on the other side, dressed spiffy with a perfectly tailored suit and handsomely styled hair.
“Hyung.”