Work Text:
your delivery has been delayed. you can contact your courier for an update on your delivery time. we will strive to make your next delivery a better one!
soobin groans as he reads the message that flashes on his phone screen. he had ordered a coffee table as a gift for his mom's birthday, which the company had said to deliver THREE days ago. now that the table was finally out for delivery, it had gotten delayed; his mom's birthday being literally tomorrow. great!
soobin picks up his phone, opens the furniture store's website and looks up his order number. his eyes search for the courier's information; and the first thing he notices is the name. choi beomgyu.
the name makes him pause. no way. that cant be him. there's no picture attached, just the name and the contact option button. soobin takes a few breaths. its fine, anyone could have that name. it was pretty common. yes right.
shaking his head, he taps on the bright red "contact courier" button. instead of opening up to a blank call log and unsaved number, soobin's phone directs him to a number he had called with multiple times; the contact picture smiling up brightly at him through the screen.
his picture. choi beomgyu. his choi beomgyu.
soobin feels his mouth go dry as he slams his phone facw down on his bed. what the hell? this couldn't be possible. beomgyu had left for the states two years ago. why would he suddenly be delivering furniture? in korea?
taking a gulp, soobin wills himself to calm down. he weighs his options. he could simply not call the guy, and sit around waiting for that damn coffee table to get delivered, which was god knows when.
he hears the door down the hallway open and thud close, signalling that his roomate, taehyun, had returned from his afternoon classes. an idea takes form in soobin's head, which currently felt like it was sounding fire alarms.
taehyun and beomgyu didn't know eachother. he'd call beomgyu using taehyun's phone. of course that still didn't stop beomgyu from delivering the coffee table over to his dorm, but he'll come to that later. one problem at a time.
soobin pads his way across the hall to taehyun's room. the boy had his college bag thrown across the room, his hair in a standard "fuck college i'm done" messy state, his headphones covering his ears as he watched what probably was the new episode of the Are You Scared series on his laptop.
"taehyun-ie," soobin says in a sing song voice. "can i borrow your phone i need to call someone."
taehyun looks up at soobin, an eyebrow slightly raised. "why aren't you doing it with yours?"
oh come on. "uh... mine died. i turned it off so it could charge."
taehyun slightly rolls his eyes as he hands out his phone. "make it quick," he says, as he returns his attention to the ominous charcoal sketches on his screen.
closing the door to his room behind him, soobin stands and clutches taehyun's phone in his hands. its just a call, thirty seconds; he tells himself. thirty seconds with his ex boyfriend, who he had not seen or talked to in the past two years.
he takes a deep breath, dials in the number he had learned by heart, and pushes the call icon. the ringing of the line resonated with the beating of his heart as he waited for beomgyu to pick up.
"hello?"
soobin feels like he was punched in the gut, the wind knocked out of his lungs. he'd recognise the voice anywhere.
he clears his throat and makes his voice sound deeper, hoping the boy on the other end won't recognise him. "yes uh, is this the Lee Furnitures courier speaking?" he didn't dare say beomgyu's name, for fear that the quiver in his voice would betray him.
"yes sir," comes the response. god damn it, he still had that little mischievous quip in his voice that soobin had hated, but became to love.
"yes yes um... i would like to know how long is it gonna take my order to get delivered? its CT718."
"ah yes! order for mrs choi miyoung; i'm right down your street, sir! i'll be there in ten."
"alright uh... thank you... arrive safely..." soobin mentally slaps himself. what the fuck is he saying.
"be right there, sir!"
soobin ends the call before beomgyu finishes his sentence. he thanks whatever higher power has made him register the order on his mom's name rather than his own. he doubted beomgyu even remembered his mother's name.
flopping down on his bed, he rubs his face. okay what now. unconsciously, his hand finds its way to his phone, and soobin's scrolling through his and beomgyu's old texts. they reflected their relationship pretty accurately, he noticed; formal and sparse when they had just been getting to know eachother, increasing in amount as they slowly become friends and gradually, boyfriends. they started to fiddle out again as they entered the time frame where beomgyu left for the states, where they got separated by distance and timezones and responsibilities; until the last one "keep on touch :)" being sent by soobin two years ago.
soobin realises, that despite being oceans away from him, beomgyu still remained with him. he wakes up every morning, his mind unconsciously waiting for a message from beomgyu, even though he knew damn well it wouldn't come. he still has a few of beomgyu's hoodies, lying somewhere in his closet as their owner had forgotten to take them back. he still has coffee for lunch at college, something he had got to love because of beomgyu. he had changed his lockscreen, which was a picture of him and beomgyu, just a few months ago, because saying "haha that's my ex who i haven't gotten over in two years" seemed pretty crazy if someone in college were to notice it.
but that's how soobin was. when he loved, he loved endlessly. when he was little, his mom used to say he has trouble letting go of his old toys easily. maybe, that applied to people as well.
the ringing of the doorbell jolts soobin from his thoughts. it rings once, twice. for a minute, he compliments just letting taehyun get the door. but seeing how immersed the boy was in his after classes routine, soobin knew it would be his mom's birthday by the time he would get taehyun to move.
soobin pulls himself up and walks to the front door, his heart doing somersaults in his chest. he stands infront of the door, takes a deep breath and opens it.
he's greeted by a large cardboard box in his face, the words Lee Furnitures sprawled in bold across it.
"delivery for mrs. choi miyoung!" comes a voice from behind the box. it's followed by a head that peaks out from behind. "sorry for the delay, we— soobin hyung.....?"
beomgyu's voice trails off and his eyes widen as theyest soobin's. emotions flash through what soobin can see of his face; surprise, happiness, sadness... guilt?
"beomgyu...?" soobin whispers. it comes out as a question, as if he still couldn't grasp the fact that the boy was standing right in front of him.
it's silent for a minute, both boys standing in surprise, the words said unsaid in those two years loud between them.
beomgyu breaks the silence. "can i uh, bring this in? my arms are starting to hurt."
soobin snaps out of his trance. "oh yeah.. come in," he stutters as he moves aside and opens the door ajar.
beomgyu places the table down in the lounge with a huff, taking a look around the spacious dorm. "didn't think you'd need a coffee table here," he says.
"it's for my mom," soobin explains, fiddling with the hem of his sleeves. he wanted beomgyu to leave quickly, but at the same time, he didn't. "its her birthday tomorrow."
"oh!" beomgyu's eyes slightly light up. "tell her happy birthday from me."
soobin nods as the boys fall into silence again. his brain was yelling at him to do two different things; tell him to go, no make him stay for a while, no he has to go, but what if he stayed just a while.
"when did... when did you come back?" soobin murmured. "to korea, i mean."
"around three weeks ago," the younger replies. "i uh, wasn't adjusting back in america, homesickness you could say?"
he was speaking too fast, which means he wasn't telling the truth. soobin still picks up on it. there was another reason beomgyu came back. but he let it go, it wasn't his place to ask.
"actually i'm uh thinking of joining snu... like you. i started working here so i can save up some money, gou know..."
what.
beomgyu was going to join snu... soobin's college?
"oh uh that's good, good for you!" soobin hopes that didn't come out too cheerful. "its uh, good to have you back." that too.
beomgyu smiles slightly but he doesn't meet soobin's eyes. his mouth suddenly let's out a small gasp. "you still wear that...?"
soobin follows his eyes to his wrist, where his bracelet peaked out from under his hoodie sleeve. it wasn't anything fancy, small bands of red and blue threaded together. beomgyu had made it for both of them on their six month anniversary. another remnant of beomgyu that soobin had made a part of himself.
"oh yeah i just... never took it off i guess, got used to it," soobin stutters, fidgeting with his sleeves again. it wasn't a lie.
he glances at beomgyu's arm for a fleeting moment. the sleeves of his work uniform were rolled up; exposing the absence of a bracelet.
"mine broke when i was in the States, by the way," the boy explains, as if sensing soobin's gaze. "i still keep the broken one... just in case you think i'm an asshole, you know."
his tone isn't angry or sarcastic, rather beomgyu sounds genuinely sad, but it makes soobin's face heat up.
"o-oh.. i see.." soobin manages to get out.
"soobin hyung, where the fuck is my phone its been—"
taehyun stops in his tracks on the stairs, as he takes in the sight of an incredibly flustered soobin, an awkward delivery guy, and an unpacked coffee table in his living room.
"hello..." he says to beomgyu, who returns a small wave, before looking at soobin with a questioning look.
before soobin could explain, beomgyu speaks up, adjusting his cap. "yeah so i should really get going, got deliveries and all."
"yes of course um, drive safe." soobin stop talking, for fucks sake.
beomgyu turns around again by the door. "soobin hyung, do you wanna get coffee some time?" soobin catches the slight tremor in his voice. he's nervous too.
from the corner of his eyes, soobin sees taehyun's hand shoot up to his mouth.
"i mean if you want to, like i totally understand if you don't i mean it would be nice to catch up—"
"I'd like that, actually," soobin finds himself saying.
relief passes over beomgyu's face. "great! i'll text you, your number is the same right?"
"y-yeah..."
"okay! bye bye!" and just like that he's gone.
its silent again.
"did you? just get asked out on a date? by a delivery guy? you just met today?" taehyun blurts out, the excitement in his voice pretty evident. "or did i miss something?"
soobin sighs, "that, my dear friend taehyun, was beomgyu .... and i just agreed to meet up with him what the fuck?"
"no way! thats waa beomgyu? your beomgyu? you're going on a date with your ex?!"
"it is not a date," soobin reasons, more with homes than taehyun. "we're just gonna catch up."
"he asked you to coffee, just the two of you. and seemed pretty happy when you agreed. sounds like a date to me, i don't know."
"or you're just bad at reading people." not true; taehyun could read people much better than soobin, especially if that person was someone who made soobin's senses go completely haywire, like beomgyu for example.
"hyung, i maybe aroace, but i can pretty much tell when someone is whipped." taehyun sticks out his tongue. "i know you, for one, are pretty much not over him. i think... beomgyu may still feel something too, something you guys can start over again."
back in his room, soobin goes over his roommate's words.
he still couldn't believe he had agreed to meet up with beomgyu. beomgyu, who he hadn't seen or talked to in two years.
it would be hard to start where they left off. hell, soobin's not even sure they can. a lot could have changed in twi years; beomgyu could not even have feelings for him anymore.
but it was worth trying. the years soobin had spent with beomgyu had been the happiest years of his life. he misses what they used to be, even before lovers, when they were the best of friends. he wants it back.
it was worth trying.