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Mingyu has been with him forever.
He’d seen the other change, from the slender-bodied kid he met years ago, to the tall broad-shouldered man he is today.
They’ve surprisingly stuck with each other amidst the change of settings. Playgrounds turned to convenience stores, then to bars. Crayons became ballpoint pens, and maybe even cigarettes got into the mix. But at the moment, they had coffee and rent to worry about.
All the while, as the wrinkles slowly enter his features, the same Wonwoo remains. The calm, grounding, fun, amazing Wonwoo never changed.
And as Mingyu himself grew, aside from Wonwoo being a constant, his camera was also there. It changed forms as he aged, but one was always with him for most of his life. Wonwoo gets a folder of his own, like all of the people Mingyu loved. It was filled with photos of Wonwoo at his lowest, and his highest. And maybe, Mingyu loved Wonwoo more than the others, judging by how his folder had the most.
Among the sea of photos Mingyu had, Wonwoo smiling was his favorite.
He sees it again at this moment, Wonwoo’s shy smile hidden beneath the courteous approach of a server to a customer. Their regular, Chan, comes in as their door chime rings. Mingyu smiles too, although it doesn’t crinkle on the edges like Wonwoo’s.
Mingyu wants to take a photo, imagine it was him the smile was aimed to.
He also realizes that there would come a time that forever would have to eventually end.
Wonwoo had that smile again. He was giddy, excited, seemingly scared but in a good way, thrilled. He was so bright and Mingyu couldn’t take all the light.
“I’m gonna ask him out.”
“Finally,” Mingyu replies, because even though he was dreading this moment, it was bound to happen with how much tension was building up between the two. It was clear that Chan was also interested, with how he’d been frequenting for the past month.
It was early in the morning, fresh sunlight streaming in from the glass walls as Mingyu wiped the counter clean for the nth time. As usual, he clocked in earlier than Wonwoo. The other was just putting on his apron while Mingyu tidied up behind the cashier, unsure of what to do with his hands and diverting his eyes elsewhere. He felt like he didn’t want to see that smile today, no matter how pretty it might be.
But he was only human, so he glances up just as Wonwoo looked down to tuck a stray hem of his shirt to his waistband.
Then he suddenly had his phone in his hands, up in front of him as he takes a photo. Wonwoo hears the camera click, then stares back at Mingyu with a raised eyebrow.
“What?”
“Lighting was good,” Mingyu shrugs, putting his phone back in his side pocket. He turns around just in time to hear Wonwoo lightly let out an amused breath.
“So, you asking today?” Mingyu questioned as he finally unlocks the front door, officially starting their day.
“Yup, maybe… I don’t know. If he does show up.”
“Oh please, he’ll be here by 9 before his class to stare at you for a solid minute before he orders,” Mingyu scoffs, feigning exhaustion. Well, he was partly exhausted with how he had been doing the same solid minute stares to Wonwoo for years now. The only difference was Wonwoo never looked back the way he does with Chan.
Wonwoo hides his fluster with the roll of his eyes. Mingyu smirks. He acts all indifferent but his blush says otherwise.
I’m happy with this, Mingyu says – repeats, to himself. He’ll gladly hide his affection just to be friends with Wonwoo. He’ll even willingly hear Wonwoo talk about the date just to see him smile.
“Hey hyung! Where’s Wonu?”
As soon as they started dating, Chan started to call Wonwoo by his name more often, or by other cute variations of said name.
For the past month, it’s either Wonwoo arrived to work late, or got home first. Chan drops him off, then Chan picks him up. Wonwoo does the same sometimes, when he walks the other to his classes or goes to drag Chan away from the library after hours of doing his papers.
Mingyu can’t find it in him to dislike Chan, because there was clearly nothing to dislike him for. Wonwoo deserved the best, and he thinks Chan was an almost perfect specimen of what the best could be.
“At the back, just packing up.”
A minute later Wonwoo finally emerges, eyes downcast and his bag slung over his shoulder. He had a particularly long day. An irritating customer soured his mood this morning, and for the rest of the day, he hadn’t smiled past his ears.
“Hi,” Chan says with too much warmth, sensing how tired the elder must be. Mingyu felt like he was intruding with just a simple greeting.
And just like that, a spell had been broken and Wonwoo suddenly gained the light he had lost before. His smile was purely genuine and effortless.
“Hey,” Wonwoo replies with an equally sweet voice. Mingyu had to look away.
“Let’s take you home, yeah?”
After their goodbyes, Mingyu’s eyes linger on Chan’s hand against Wonwoo’s waist and on Wonwoo’s fingers as it stroked Chan’s hair. This was the first time Mingyu had seen them this intimate, apart from the occasional kiss to the cheek.
As they walked away, Mingyu takes a photo and sends it to Wonwoo.
To: Wonwoo
(sent a photo) [10:27pm]
u guys are so cute [10:27pm]
It hurt but it was true.
From: Wonwoo
aww lol thanks [10:45pm]
Mingyu knows he just had to keep his distance. He can’t keep breaking his heart in the happiness of others.
But he can’t quit. Seungcheol would know what’s up even if he just asked for a break. That man already knew Mingyu like the back of his hand, with how the younger practically watched him build his place from scratch. And he can’t stay away, because Wonwoo himself would know what’s up, or at least dig and find out what was up.
So he does it slowly, because he had to try somehow. He starts by taking fewer photos of Wonwoo, and more of others. He takes his time cleaning, so he didn’t have to leave with Wonwoo when Chan wasn’t there. In his desperate attempt, he tried to find others, people who could presumably fill in the cracks in his heart.
In the course of his search, Wonwoo was there, urging him on and giggling when he announces a dinner with someone else. Wonwoo was happy he was dating around, yet he didn’t know if he himself was enjoying it.
And no matter how much time he spent with others, Wonwoo still managed to squeeze himself into his schedule. He attempts to decline, but as one offer gets turned down, another was given the next day.
Such as now, disposable take-out boxes scattered on the floor, a couple of beers in hand. Wonwoo proposed they had dinner, a simple greasy fast-food dinner. They had a ton of people towards the end of their day, so a little treat by Wonwoo was brought up.
He tries to live in it, enjoy the free food and company, maybe even reminisce on the time when he still didn’t know he was in love. A few years back he just knew Wonwoo was important to him, was a close friend he didn’t want to lose. In times like these, it is somehow true that ignorance is bliss. Because now he’s sure of what he feels, but he had just lost him, letting Wonwoo slip between his fingers.
Wonwoo breaks out into laughter after Mingyu mentions their college friend Seokmin, pulling up a photo of him a couple years back all dressed inappropriately for a Halloween party. It was exactly like the laugh he poured out when they were still cramped up in their old dorm. Same Wonwoo, Mingyu smiles.
And as for how things always go, the joy in their space was soon to break. Forever doesn’t last long.
“Wait. What’s today?” Wonwoo sits up from where he sat on the floor, eyes suddenly searching for his phone.
“Uh, the sixth. Why?”
Just as Mingyu stands, the sound of keys and the door opening filled his ears. Chan enters, and he felt the air thicken with how the younger’s brows furrowed with… rage? Not quite. Disappointment?
His gaze softens when he sees Mingyu though, but he stiffens again as Wonwoo comes close.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I forgot your stage was today,” Wonwoo cautiously steps closer. Mingyu retires back to the couch, recognizing the start of an argument.
They move to the kitchen, and Mingyu discerns something about Wonwoo being somewhere through their muffled voices.
“…had lots to do today, since late afternoon… couldn’t leave Mingyu behind.”
“Mhmm, Mingyu.”
This he heard clearly.
Although, the hushed environment was soon disturbed by Wonwoo’s harsh tone minutes later.
“God, Chan. I’m not your babysitter.”
Mingyu winces, shakes his head and closes his eyes.
“Oh, so that’s what you think of me now? I’m sorry I’m being a burden. Sorry I keep looking for you, expecting when I give and gi-“
“Don’t bring in everything I’ve done to the table.”
“Like you’ve done anything, hyung.”
Chan’s footsteps soon fade away as he exited the apartment. Mingyu looks to Wonwoo, at a loss for words as he waits for the elder to say anything.
“You should go,” Wonwoo finally speaks, voice low and tired.
“Okay.”
Mingyu packs up quickly and walks to the door. He looks back one last time only to be met with Wonwoo’s red-rimmed eyes, keeping the tears at bay. He knows it would spill the minute he steps foot outside. Same Wonwoo, Mingyu thinks, unfortunately. Wonwoo’s front of indifference was one of the constants Mingyu wished would change.
“I’ll be okay. Just please go.”
Mingyu goes.
It’s been a week, and Chan never came back.
They did try, Mingyu can attest to that. But it wasn’t long after that night when it was decided that they’d run out of thread to continue their mending.
As far as Mingyu knew, everything ended mutually. What Mingyu is certain of though is how he knows that Wonwoo is miserable, that he beats himself up for everything that occurred. Despite how they told each other that they were good before they parted ways, Wonwoo definitely wasn’t.
“I… I’m so stupid. He was right there, and I was so confident that he’d always be there for me,” Wonwoo utters one cold night, the one where the chill just sticks to your bones. It didn’t help Wonwoo at all.
This was also one of the few times that he had opened up about it. Mingyu understood, Wonwoo never really unfurled himself to others. However, Wonwoo does it with him, though rarely. It also adds to Mingyu’s surprise that the topic was out of the blue.
“And then I forget I wasn’t even there for him,” Wonwoo sighs, his breath puffing out from his mouth and turning to smoke in the winter air.
Mingyu does admit that Wonwoo was relatively at fault, this he had said before and Wonwoo acknowledged and is learning from it. But what the other refuses to accept is that they were both at fault and that drowning himself in what-ifs won’t help.
“Hyung, you know it’s not all on you,” Mingyu says as he hastened his pace, finally catching up to Wonwoo.
“Yes. Yeah, I know. He’s just... really great, you know?” A sad smile accompanied Wonwoo’s reply, an image of Chan clearly passing by his mind when his eyes revealed a slight sparkle.
Chan still had Wonwoo’s heart, and it seems like Wonwoo didn’t want it back at the moment, or rather he didn’t make an effort to take it back yet.
Mingyu thinks he can wait, no- is certain that he would wait. He would wait until Wonwoo had healed and regained his heart on his own accord.
But then, just as Wonwoo slowly heals months after, Chan comes back and pays a visit.
Mingyu watches as they talk. It was initially awkward, yet Wonwoo looked happy at the sudden visit. Mingyu thinks if Wonwoo had been waiting for this moment for a while, and if Wonwoo was currently thinking about hope and possibilities.
Mingyu and Chan chat too, exchanging small talk as they caught up on each other’s lives. Their conversation was a little more laid back, considering that they didn’t have the weight of a past relationship on their shoulders.
Chan asks how they’ve been, him and Wonwoo. He says they were good. Chan doesn’t push further and starts another topic.
As Chan walked out with his usual coffee in hand, while a smile was on Wonwoo’s lips, Mingyu figures that he’d have to wait longer.
Forever doesn’t last long.
“Um, this is Soonyoung,” Chan exclaims with a grin, but a hesitant one.
“Hey,” the man, Soonyoung, said casually. He seemed to be genuinely interested in Wonwoo and Mingyu, judging by the way his eyes disappeared into slits and his cheeks seemed to bunch up even more compared to how full they already were earlier without his smile.
“Yeah, he’s... my boyfriend.”
Wonwoo’s almost year-long wound suddenly opened again, the stitches disappearing into nothing as he was faced with Chan’s current boyfriend. Of course it wasn’t obvious to the naked eye, as Wonwoo kept a kind expression on his face while the couple talked. But Mingyu could tell with how the other was shifting from one foot to another that he wanted to get away.
When the two went home, Wonwoo slumps to the counter as if he had already gone through a full day of constant work when it was literally just one in the afternoon. He seemed to be going through the same predicament as Mingyu back then, which was the fact that it would’ve been easier if Chan was lacking so that there was something to dislike. Soonyoung was nice, and Wonwoo was struggling to pick up the pieces of himself that fell to the cafe floor the minute they arrived.
What Wonwoo soon did though, being short on finding imperfections in Soonyoung, was to start comparing himself to the other. Wonwoo started to change himself, from small things like hey, do you think I should start wearing this? to even asking Mingyu if he wanted to go to this new arcade? I heard it was nice, which coincidentally Mingyu saw beforehand on a photo Chan posted a few days ago, with Soonyoung. Mingyu knew Wonwoo never really wore bright clothes and he was sure that the elder preferred to play games at home rather than somewhere noisy plus packed to the brim with kids.
Mingyu tried his best, mindfully making Wonwoo feel that he didn’t have to force himself to be someone else. He casually says no, and suggests things that Wonwoo usually liked or did. Wonwoo soon picked up on Mingyu’s insistence, and as an immediate reaction he kept on brushing off Mingyu’s following attempts, pretending that he didn’t know he was hurting.
He was worried. He wanted to take care of Wonwoo and berate him, and at the same time hold him close while doing so. But he also knows that he can’t overstep. So he does his best to be close to him, whenever he felt that Wonwoo needed him but refused to say it. That was what friends are for after all.
As if Mingyu wasn’t preoccupied enough with thoughts of Wonwoo and his own ever-yearning heart, Chan adds something more to the chaos on his mind.
Chan soon asks again, the same question he had asked months before.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” Mingyu answers plainly, despite the growing curiosity on the back of his brain. Wonwoo wasn’t there that day, with how he called in sick very early in the morning. Chan was alone and took the opportunity to talk with Mingyu as the shop was nearly empty.
“Hmm, okay,” Chan suspiciously replies as he leans towards the counter, nodding his head as he took a sip of his coffee.
Mingyu couldn’t help it. “So, why are you asking?”
Chan looks at him, like he was gauging whether he should say what he had to say or not. He then sighs, and smiles.
“I know you like him.”
Mingyu felt like he was sinking, so he tried to dig himself out.
He scoffs. “Of course. I mean, I wouldn’t be friends with him if I didn’t,” he adds with an air of smugness and a tilt of his head. Okay, I gave it away, he thought, knowing that whenever he tried to be cocky it was always to mask something else. And well, he wasn’t really successful most of the time.
“You know what I mean,” Chan teases, although his voice held some sort of seriousness in order to make sure that his message comes across. Mingyu stays quiet and gives in, looking at the floor as he notices Chan move closer.
Chan waits for some sort of reply, but when Mingyu continues to stay silent he says something so surreal that Mingyu is sure it would keep him up later at night, and nights after that.
“I think… he feels the same.”
Mingyu looks up, brows furrowed as he questioned himself if what he heard was right.
“Wait, what do you mean?”
Chan turns his eyes away and stares at the people walking outside. “Well, I don’t know if he’s figured that out yet.”
Mingyu’s mind runs around on the tiny space that was his skull. His heart started to beat faster, not because of Chan knowing his hidden feelings, but because of the optimism starting to bloom on his chest.
He loves Chan, his brain begrudgingly supplies.
Chan spins around, and in seeing Mingyu’s current crestfallen expression, his voice falls in confusion.
“I don’t… know, hyung.”
With the additional knowledge, Mingyu fully engrosses himself in all the little things that Wonwoo did. All of a sudden the brushing of their skin felt like it lingered, and Mingyu didn’t know if his mind was playing tricks on him or if Wonwoo’s eyes really did wander on him for longer.
But just as his mind drifts further to the depth of Wonwoo’s feelings towards him, he gets pulled back to reality when the other mentions Chan, or when Chan comes in for coffee as a friend but Wonwoo treats him as something more.
This constant push and pull, an endless cycle of assumptions and rejections, all existed within himself. Mingyu was exhausted.
And it was also a matter of time before Wonwoo fully broke.
“Mingyu, come with me,” Wonwoo suddenly says the minute Mingyu picked up the call. There was a sense of urgency in his voice, suggesting that Wonwoo needed to go out immediately.
“To where?” Mingyu sat up from where he was laid back on the couch. It was a weekday, the only time Mingyu got a break from seeing Wonwoo at work. Just when he had a little moment to himself, Wonwoo comes in as always.
“Wherever,” Wonwoo simply replies, Mingyu already imagining the shrug the elder must’ve done.
Mingyu also wanted to go out, wanted to unwind, to just not think. So even if the cause of his thinking was the man who asked him to hang out, he still agreed.
God, I’m so stupid. It was a bad idea, he knew. But he was already walking outside, and the purpose was to not think, right? He continuously convinced himself every step he took.
Wonwoo looked close to horrible when he met him, close- because Wonwoo can never look horrible no matter the circumstances. Mingyu came closer, and before he knew it Wonwoo’s arms were already around his waist. The elder may have not used his words, but the hug alone stripped Wonwoo of his barriers and showed another side of him that Mingyu was again, grateful for. Mingyu also doesn’t speak, hugging back with equal force as a reply.
Mingyu decided it was time for him to pull out the last bits of energy that he had, as he would do anything to see Wonwoo smile that same smile again.
They go out, simply walking for a while as the last minutes of a busy evening tick by. They visit shops and Mingyu took photos, they were all blurry but they still had their charm. Night came after, and soon they were lost in the lights of a club nearby.
A few glasses in, Wonwoo surprisingly approaches the dance floor first. Mingyu could tell that Wonwoo was far from being drunk, so it came as a surprise when he coaxes Mingyu to come with him, fingers clasping his wrist to pull him up from his seat, and a shy smirk on his face.
Mingyu gives in. One last time, he says to himself, no more surrendering soon.
When Wonwoo pulled him to the center, the lights became dimmer as the DJ shifted to a song that was more bass-induced than the last one. Mingyu could feel the vibrations everywhere, from the heavy music in the air to other bodies that collided with theirs. But the moment Wonwoo gently placed his hands on Mingyu’s shoulders, he couldn’t feel anything else other than Wonwoo’s piercing gaze and the fire of his touch.
Wonwoo steps closer and starts swaying to the beat, head moving from side to side. Mingyu followed his rhythm, placing his hands on the other’s waist. Under the pulsating light, he found himself getting lost in the way Wonwoo’s eyelashes cast shadows against his cheeks, creating an image he would never forget.
Wonwoo visibly scans Mingyu’s features. There was so much in his eyes, they were so deep and Mingyu couldn’t decipher exactly what they were saying. Mingyu couldn’t take his expression, couldn’t let his mind wander and hope. So he spins him.
Although Wonwoo still manages to remain close despite the turn, with his back flush against Mingyu’s front as they continued to dance. Mingyu’s brain short circuits and he loses it, bringing his forehead to rest on Wonwoo’s right shoulder, which the other seemed to like.
Then it all happened way too fast for Mingyu to comprehend. Wonwoo was persistent and he spins himself back a few moments later, the piercing gaze back. Then Wonwoo’s mouth was on his, lips slotting together.
Mingyu could feel the want through Wonwoo’s hand on the back of his neck. He could feel the blood rushing to his head, which he could feel is turning him impossibly red. He kisses back and forgets everything else.
Until he starts to remember them again. The heat surrounded him and previously gave him a good burn, but now he feels the burn to be too much. It was slowly hurting when it shouldn’t be.
He pulls back and rests his forehead against Wonwoo’s. He closed his eyes and tried to memorize everything at the moment, since the second Wonwoo tried to pull him in again, he walks away.
He got a glimpse of what forever with Wonwoo could be, starting from early evening to a few seconds ago.
But this was the end of forever. Mingyu didn’t expect things to go this way, but nothing can be done as he was already out of the club, pushing past the far-gone drunks that were on his way.
Now finally out in the street, he hears a voice shout his name. He doesn’t look back, instead squeezing his way towards a neon-lit alley to catch his breath.
As Mingyu bends down, palms flat against his knees, he sees a pair of shoes enter his peripheral vision.
“Mingyu, you okay?”
They were both panting, considering that Wonwoo followed close. Mingyu looks up, coming face to face with Wonwoo, washed in purple from the blinking neon sign above. Wonwoo looked good in purple, it was his color, he looked good in it. His fingers itch to take a click. He was getting distracted.
“Mingyu?” Wonwoo repeats. Mingyu had been staring.
Wonwoo takes a step and brings a hand to the younger’s cheek. Mingyu flinches upon contact and looks away, willing himself to not spill the tears right now. He knows his eyes were probably red, judging from the pained expression on Wonwoo’s face.
“I… I’m sorry,” Wonwoo breathes out. He knows what just happened. He understands the unspoken things between them.
Then, Mingyu looks him straight in the eye, taking advantage of the little confidence he had just attained.
“It’s okay. You- you can’t just, give me your heart when I know you don’t have it yet.”
He smiles after, then he goes, for himself.
He never came back to work. It was time for him to find a better one that fit the degree he’d finished anyway. His resignation just came earlier than expected.
Wonwoo never chased after him either. He was actually thankful for it. They needed time. If they were to meet again, maybe that’s when they’d try.
Mingyu sometimes (always) thought about Wonwoo, at first with yearning but as time passed by, with just light fondness. Back then his mind was full of does Wonwoo think about me, does he still search for Chan? Now, it was I wonder what his hair looks like.
Wonwoo would look for him if he wanted to. Mingyu would stay put and be right here, as he always has been. Mingyu left it to fate, or whatever people called it. In the meantime, he was there for himself, as he had ignored his own pains for long.
They never meet again though, at least for another year and a half.
Mingyu never loved fruits, but apples always had a special place in his heart as it reminds him of Wonwoo. It was the elder’s breakfast almost every day, having seen it in his hands on most mornings in the café.
He wanders towards the fruit aisle, thinking of how he should buy some apples and help his sister’s slowly deteriorating eating habits.
“Mingyu?”
The voice was still so familiar, his ears easily welcoming the sound after not hearing it in a long time. It sounded happy, maybe even a little relieved.
He was in quite a shock, hand stopping mid-air in front of an apple, with his back turned to the other as he was still frozen. Mingyu wasn’t expecting to meet Wonwoo now, on a quiet weekday in a near-empty grocery store.
When he still doesn’t turn, Wonwoo speaks again, voice laced with hesitance. “Oh, I… sorry to trouble you. I should get-“
“Hey,” Mingyu replies, an upward curve on the side of his lips as he stops Wonwoo from going.
Wonwoo looked great, really great, in Mingyu’s opinion. His curiosity about Wonwoo’s hair was appeased as he finally sees Wonwoo’s new faded blond hair with natural roots peeking, a bit shorter from when he’d last seen the other. What really swept Mingyu off his feet was when Wonwoo smiled back, a bit timid but the expression was finally way brighter and vivid, painting his whole face with color.
Mingyu stops himself from being overjoyed though, as he doesn’t know anything about the other yet. But in the meantime, it was very nice to see an old friend again, especially when said friend was glowing.
They talk, picking up apples along the way. Still the same Wonwoo, as he had picked up a bunch of apples which were clearly going to be his breakfast for a week.
“I’m behind the desk now, and all. Running things with Seungcheol, branching out,” Wonwoo proudly says after Mingyu had asked him back where he was now. They’d been talking completely about Mingyu in the few minutes they’ve been together, as Wonwoo kept asking about how he was. He was pleased to learn more about Wonwoo now.
”Finally,” he answers with a sigh, as he knew Wonwoo deserved to be where he was at the moment. They were both doing good, which also makes him realize just how much can happen in a year.
There was something that he wanted to ask, clearly evident as the silence stretched on.
Wonwoo eventually beats him to it, his steps coming to a halt.
“I told him to stop coming a long time ago, to stop coming until I was okay.”
Mingyu looks deep into his eyes, only seeing sincerity and ease. “You did?”
“I talked to him. I told him,” Wonwoo lets out then pauses, breathing a sigh of relief. “I did.”
“That’s… “
“Great, yeah, felt great,” the other continues for him. Wonwoo chuckles at the way Mingyu’s face seemingly showed how glad he was for the elder.
This was the same Wonwoo, still the man who loved his apples, wore beige almost all the time, laughed the same, and still had that smile that could win over the entire world. But, so much can happen in a year. The fact that Wonwoo talked first was a surprise in itself. Wonwoo never changed and he loved it, but this was a change he definitely welcomed sincerely.
Mingyu notices another new thing later on.
“Ah, I’ve picked up a camera myself,” Wonwoo says when he notices Mingyu staring at the small camera hanging on his side.
“Good to see you’ve taken interest in it too,” Mingyu smirks and nods enthusiastically.
“I completely see why you love it now. Well- I mean, there wasn’t anyone who had a camera near me anymore. I just naturally looked for it... naturally looked for you.”
Mingyu just stares, having a hard time believing the words that came out of Wonwoo’s mouth. He knows he’s blushing.
And with an exhale, as if to say okay, time to do this right, Wonwoo adds, “Wanna go grab some coffee? Not at the old place though, if you don’t mind. We can try somewhere new if you want?”
Finally, Mingyu thinks.
“Of course,” Mingyu says.
Mingyu adds a new photo to his folder a few months later. It was of Wonwoo’s toothy grin under the late afternoon’s sunlight.
He never really deleted the folder, couldn’t do it as the photos held so much meaning, like they were all moments frozen in time. He just decided to keep them on a drive, away from him but still nearby. Now it resurfaces, bringing back the smiles that he had set aside for a while.
And the next time they kissed, it burned just right. There was no sting of worries and unspoken mess of feelings.
They were on Wonwoo’s couch, the elder’s hand on Mingyu’s nape, gently massaging the area as their lips were similarly gentle against each other. It was a lot softer than before, which gave Mingyu time to slowly process how everything was raw and real. Wonwoo was wholeheartedly his.
When they pull away to breathe, Wonwoo’s low whisper fills the air around them. His pupils were blown wide, and his lips were red, as were his cheeks.
“I’m home, Mingyu. This is where I was always meant to be. Sorry it took me long,” he says, along with the flutter of his eyelashes. Mingyu thought it was unfair that Wonwoo could look like that.
“Well, you’re here now,” then Mingyu surges forward with more vigor, eager to taste the other again. In his enthusiasm, he feels Wonwoo smile against his lips.
Maybe this is where forever actually begins.