Chapter Text
"Living together is an art. It's a patient art, it's a beautiful art, it's fascinating." a quote coming from Pope Francis - Very wise words indeed. Although, those words did NOT exist in Riki and Sunghoon's dictionary. Not at all.
If you ask Riki what would it be like to live with a pet shop owner like Sunghoon; he would most likely describe it as 'Black in Deep Red'. Artwork by a depressed artist/painter named Mark Rothko, his works were recognized as paintings that express every tragedy, exultation, ecstasy, and fatality. (They scare me fr)
Why Black in Deep Red though? A few people would've asked him that, nonetheless, they chose to avoid the question. An utterly sad artwork to represent life with Park Sunghoon? Of course, he labeled it with pure exaggeration. He was just blinded by their daily arguments that usually occurred day until night. You could say one of them was rather stubborn, which caused the two to misunderstand one another constantly.
The hatred that Riki carried was equal to Sunghoon's. Riki, according to his (Sunghoon's) description, has a head as hard as wet rock. He would always appear pigheaded in Sunghoon's eyes. Though, he always admired how skilled Riki was in painting - The only problem was Riki's immature behavior.
"He lives in MY apartment, can't he just thank me for taking him in?!" Sunghoon would mumble those words every time after an argument. In short, the two hated each other's guts ever since they were in their mother's womb. You can also say they were destined to hate each other.
-
Sunghoon inhaled as he stared at the once-beige counter, now splattered with colors, before yelling at the top of his lungs to reach the other person upstairs, "Didn't I warn you numerous times NOT to paint or doodle on random areas in the apartment!?!?"
Riki rolled his eyes and peered his eyes on the dropped sandwich on the apartment floor after he heard the shout from downstairs. "It's too early to motivate my rights for a debate!" Riki yelled back, picking up the sandwich and throwing it in the trash with sorrow in his eyes. It was newly made, he didn't even get to bite a crumb from it!
"Don't get cocky with me, child! Get down here and wipe your paint clean, we're gonna open soon!"
"I'm 22, damn!" Riki exclaimed as he went downstairs to clean up his mess. If he didn't, who knows-his bags could be waiting for him outside the shop's transparent glass doors.
"And I'm 25!"
"Yeah, and you're still single," Riki deadpanned as he snatched the hanging towel in irritation and washed it wet in the nearby sink. Sunghoon? Oh, he appeared to be offended. In his annoyance, he felt obliged to fly and bonk Riki's head.
Sunghoon let out a loud huff and then went to the food storage to fetch some food to feed the other cats and dogs who may not have been fed yet-obviously to also get rid of the urge to jump on Riki's back. "What makes you any different?" he muttered.
Went back to the counter, only to see Riki aggressively wiping the surface without even trying, however, he was focused. Too focused that he didn't even notice Sunghoon approach him to pinch his ear and painfully drag it up, resulting in a whimper from Riki. "You'll leave a scratch on the counter if you keep relying on your stupidity!" Sunghoon scolded, finally letting Riki's ear go.
Riki snarled at him, stroking his ear to relieve the pain as well as opening his mouth to say something when he noticed a moving truck in the corner of his eye. It wasn't unusual to see a moving truck cross their road, but this time it was parked across from their shop. Now, that's a rare case. Sunghoon claims that the residence across the street has been rather abandoned since he moved in.
Sunghoon's gaze followed Riki's, only to see what Riki saw. Curiosity peaked, the two stared at the truck in silence.
Soon came a black car that followed the truck. It stopped. Then holy moly. Such a beautiful goddess came out of the car.
Long silky hair, pale yet healthy skin, a beautiful straw hat she's wearing, and a white (not plain) dress. Expect a dramatic scene wherein Riki's point of view; cherry blossoms surround the lady. It might have made him mumble "Pretty..." only to be heard by Sunghoon who was close beside him.
Sunghoon frowned at what he had heard as he slapped the dog food he was holding on the back of Riki's neck, "Clean the counter, will you!?" Walking away to feed (?) the dogs in silence.
Riki tsked at his strange behavior, bringing his attention back to the counter.
-
The next day, Sunghoon's morning was encountered with an excited: "Hey, Sunghoon. Look!" along with a dog jumping up and down his bed as if the human and the dog in front of him shared the same emotion.
A groan escaped his lips as soon as the dog, Bisco started licking his nose. He stayed up all night to manage the shop, he deserved some beauty sleep!
"What??" he forced out a word in annoyance, carrying the dog away from him with both hands.
Riki, with his huge gummy smile (that Sunghoon could barely see on a daily basis, continued to jump excitedly, extending his arm, to point at his window.
Well, who wouldn't be curious when the kid you've known for months points outside excitedly when he rarely acts such behavior?
Following his fingers, he looked outside his window, where Riki was pointing, and- a "Woah.", unconsciously slipped from Sunghoon's lips.
"I know right?????" Riki excitedly jumped.
"Hmh." Sunghoon blankly threw himself back to his bed, covering his whole body, "Don't wake me up again." with Sunghoon's careless tone, Riki's delight cracked and a sad whine came out from Bisco. Sunghoon was UNINTERESTED, and he didn't even try hiding it!
Across the street, there is a newly-built shop which can be seen in a glimpse. It stood out. The clean light-pastel colors, the shop surrounded by flowers that Riki couldn't name. Man, even from afar, you can imagine that it smelt like freaking heaven.
Sunghoon wondered why Riki was so excited about this new neighbor. Could it be that Riki has developed special feelings for the woman from across the street? Impossible, they haven't even spoken to each other yet. Or is it that Riki and this woman had been dropping lines to each other not long ago? It shouldn't matter to Sunghoon, right?
-
Not long enough, this "pretty" (according to Riki) woman visited Sunghoon's shop and introduced herself to the boys, bringing a bouquet of yellow roses (which was soon displayed on the shop's front counter) along with homemade cookies hoping to be in great terms with her new neighbors.
Sunghoon admits that she was lovely, pretty, elegant, kind, soft-spoken, and anything that explains the ideal type of a woman. Although, he just couldn't ignore Riki's gaze, as well as his tone. It was gentle, and his happiness was doubled when having a conversation with the woman.
Sunghoon was sure jealous, though he won't admit it. He was oblivious to his feelings. At least that's what he convinced himself to believe.
Riki never looked at him like that, nor talked in such a tone. What made this kid act like sunshine and daises towards a woman he just met? Throughout the whole conversation, til the woman bid goodbye, Sunghoon kept quiet unless he was required to talk as Riki grasped the chance to get close to her–which unfortunately worked out... Ouch?
"Ouch!!!" Sunghoon yelped, feeling his fingers burning. Removing his hands from the burning pot and turned off the stove with a sigh, "Goddammit, it hurts!"
"I heard a shout, are you hurt?" Riki's head popped, with a cat comfortably on his arms.
"It wasn't a shout, it was a sound coming from my vocal cords. A normal reflex from totally NOT getting hurt from burning my fingers unconsciously, I'm okay. And you never in your life heard me yell 'It hurts' a while ago." A sarcastic tone, matched with a sarcastic smile is what Riki received before Sunghoon yelled, "Of course, I'm hurt, you dimwit! Look at my fingers, they turning tomatoes!"
"Damn, don't be so hot-headed. I didn't even do anything yet to annoy you yet..."
"Ah, sorry. Can you grab me a small pack of ice..?"
"Sure..."
"Thanks..."
Riki then strode to him with an ice pack and the cat landed on its feet gently after feeling the freezing air making its way toward its fur. After mumbling another "Thanks." to him, Sunghoon was expecting Riki to give him the ice pack from his already-freezing hands—However, Riki seemed to refuse and grabbed Sunghoon's wrist instead, treating his tomato finger in silence.
"He-"
"Hey." Riki cut him off, no emotion could be heard in his tone, which made his next words hard to read. He continued, "You seem to be quieter and more easily annoyed these days, did I do something wrong?", still pressing the ice pack gently, not able to look at the other's eyes directly.
"What, no-"
"Great!" Riki cut him off again, looking directly into Sunghoon's eyes. "I'll show you something real quick! I started making it a few days ago, and just finished it lately, and I wanted some critical review. Since you're the only honest friend that I know." Of course, he would choose Sunghoon as a critic, it's not like Riki had any other friends to show his artwork.
After Sunghoon nodded, Riki immediately dragged him toward his room, full of excitement.
Sunghoon laughed at Riki's childish behavior as he removed the cloth covering the canvas, "Dan-dun!! It's pretty isn't it!" Sunghoon's smile drops as soon as he sees the painting Riki made. Riki secretly glanced at Sunghoon and felt as if something was wrong with his expression. "So, what do you think..?" he was nervous all of a sudden.
Oh?
Oh.
There, in front of Sunghoon, was a portrait of a young woman. Smiling so breathtakingly with a ray of sunshine that shone across her smiling face, next to her was a vase full of sunflowers. He assumes Riki drew that out since she reminded him of sunflowers. Bright and full of adoration. It was pretty- no, scratch that. It was rather, flawless in other fitting words.
"I-it's beautiful..." Sunghoon let out a bitter chuckle, looking nowhere else than the floor below him. His neck hurts from looking up, so he wanted to stretch it a bit by looking down. Or is that the case? Sunghoon tried to stop his trembling shoulders by rolling his fist and squeezing as hard as he could. His stomach tightened as he felt a lump in his throat, he was unable to gush out words now. "I need to go to the bathroom, I feel like it's going to explode." With that, Sunghoon rushed straight to the bathroom and shut the door with a bang, leaning against it, panting.
An artwork of their neighbor was too much for Sunghoon! Yes, he did spot Riki painting a few days ago. It was hard to ignore that Riki was smiling the whole time as he brushed his paintbrush across the canvas.
Sunghoon sat on the floor, heaving a deep sigh, hoping the uncomfortable feeling could finally disappear. Oh no, he thought—his eyes were starting to betray him. Oh no, indeed.
-
The next day, Jake visited his shop along with his dog to see how Sunghoon's business was going on. Riki greeted the unknown man and went away from home to whatever. He mentioned he wanted to paint in a relaxing scenery. Who was Sunghoon to refuse when he wanted to distance Riki away from him to calm his thoughts too?
"Have a great day, Hoon! I'll visit next week!" Jake bid goodbye after he played and talked enough with Sunghoon and the pets of the shop. Sunghoon hummed in response and said "I enjoyed your company, please do come back!" and watched Jake disappear from his sight. He saw the shop from across the street which made him feel the urge to rest upstairs. So then, he closed the shop - not that it mattered anymore, it was almost closing time anyway - and proceeded upstairs.
"Oh look." Sunghoon blankly stared at the fridge, he forgot he bought alcohol a few days ago. It was finally time to make use of it.
-
There he was, drinking in the middle of the night. He was thankful Riki was not yet home, it made him wonder how he was doing and where he was currently staying- BANG!! "Why do I care about that large asshole, I'm just spending my time thinking about him! He's probably fine or he might be with that perfect woman that everyone wants!"
Such a bother... Every pour of alcohol into the tiny glass, every sip seemed to calm him from this burning jealousy. He drank as he drowned in the abyss.
Moments later, Riki finally arrived home. Late. He slowly tiptoes as he climbed the stairs of the apartment. As he opened the door to the second floor, he met a drowsed-off Sunghoon, mumbling gibberish under his breath, making cute small movements with his fingers unconsciously.
What a sight. Riki let out a genuine soft smile along with a small chuckle. It was—as you can say, the first time he saw Sunghoon sleeping in such a state.
Then reality finally hit him. His Sunghoon was laying on the floor instead of the couch. Bottles of alcohol surrounded his drowsed state.
Riki let out a small sigh, cleaning up before him. After he threw the bottles away, he strode to Sunghoon and softly stroked his cheeks, tapping them in hopes that it could wake him up. "Hoon, wake up. You need to go to your room, its more comfortable sleeping there than laying on a carpet." Sunghoon did not budge, resulting in Riki with only one thing to do.
"Really, you're such an infernal nuisance. You can't change my mind about that." Riki furiously (?) said to the unconscious person that currently lays on his arms and continues to mumble gibberish.
In the middle of bearing Sunghoon to his room, Riki stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard the latter mumble his name. Riki pulled himself closer to hear what kind of shit he was on.
"You... Riki... You... Uh, stof. Stop here.. ing... This.." Sunghoon unconsciously tapped his heart, though Riki did not seem to catch up. What was Sunghoon trying to say??
"Y-you... Stay 'way frlom hrr 'nd look a' me... fo' one... A genuine sft louk ez enough... Ah.." Sunghoon giggled at his thoughts, "Maybe evern a fainting..!"
Riki froze. His eyes were as wide as an owl. A sober Sunghoon would probably smack him to death for hearing what he just said. He obviously was helpless.
"Ah.." Riki sighed, remembering Sunghoon was drunk, he would probably forget about this whole ass situation when he wakes up tomorrow. Maybe Riki was also assuming it was his name called when it wasn't. What if it was another man name Sunghoon called out? Thinking about this, Riki felt the twisting of his stomach. What if the name Sunghoon mumbled a while ago wasn't his but the unknown man from earlier who visited Sunghoon? Was it by any chance, his lover? No no no no. That shouldn't be the case, right?
Riki brushed off his thoughts and was about to resume his journey of carrying Sunghoon to his room - when he heard a giggle. It was more conscious but obviously in a drunken state.
"Oh, you're ignoring my statement now? Might as well ignore me tomorrow, it'd make you feel better, I guess." Turning to the half-awake person in his arms, only to meet another pair of eyes looking back at him.
"What are you talking about, Hoon?"
"D-don't call me by my nickname..." Sunghoon looked down, trying to cover up the mixed emotions. "Drop me, I'm already awake, I can walk to my room by myself... Besides, you shouldn't be carrying me. It should be her; there's no reason for me to butt in your life anyway." The last sentence was supposed to be inaudible, Riki heard it anyways.
Riki gulped a huge amount of saliva, "You're not fully conscious of your words, aren't you? It's fine, let me carry you. I can already imagine your legs wobbling on your way." His voice cracked but still managed to crack a joke which was not funny in this serious situation. (Though, even if it wasn't serious, it still wasn't funny. I apologize for my poor choice of humor.)
"Hm, not fully. But I still woke up from your stupidity." Riki bitterly laughed at Sunghoon's reply.
"Let's take you to your bedroom, your head must hurt."
Sunghoon tucked his head on Riki's shoulder. He wanted to savor the moment before a disaster happens. "No, don't wanna."
"Hoon, don't be stubborn..." Sunghoon snapped awake at this. He immediately removed himself from Riki's grasp, savoring the moment who? All in Sunghoon's mind is supposed to be hating this guy in front of him for making him feel the sick emotions he's feeling right now.
That nickname, he hates it whenever it rolls off Riki's tongue. His stomach would twist from butterflies having fun inside, and the beating of his heart would raise so that his face could cosplay a tomato like his finger once did. It made him want to deny his feelings more.
"Stop it, for god's sake! Why are you making me feel this way?! This whole one-sided crap is just so stupid, I'd rather marry an asshole!"
"I'm the asshole though-"
"Shut the fuck up, you dimwit! I like you, just stop doing shit that makes me feel so special when there's someone who you already like who's more fitting for your affection!"
Riki froze in shock. Sunghoon, this big guy likes him? He could only stare at the latter in disbelief. Oh no, Sunghoon wanted the ground to eat him up already. How embarrassing...
"I-"
"SHUT UP!!" With that, Sunghoon ran to his room and slammed the door shut.
Riki was still frozen but forced himself to go straight to Sunghoon's door. He knocks on the door gently, calls his name gently, sighs oh-so-gently, sits against the door so gently... 'WHY THE FUCK IS HE SO GENTLE WHST THE FUCKING GODDAMN HELL', Ah yes... That's Sunghoon panicking behind the door, clutching his sweat shirt for his dear life.
"Hey, Hoon? Please open the door..."
"No, what the hell. Why the fuck would I." Sunghoon tried to hide the obvious panic in his voice.
"I... I want to talk to you. I want to see you as I do so. I mean, what's the point of talking if I can't even see your face?" Riki chuckles.
"Fuckfuckudkcukfuckfuckfuckfcik WHAT THE HELL." Sunghoon panicked.
Clearing his throat, "But I don't want to see your stupid one."
Riki laughed at his reply, "Alright... I heard you wanted me to paint for y-"
"DELETE THAT FROM YOUR MEMORY WILL YOU?!"
"I don't want to, it's precious."
"Fuck, just go away!!"
Ignoring Sunghoon's angry cussing towards him, "Hey, I- The- That... Ugh..." he grumbled, he couldn't continue his sentence due to Sunghoon's never-ending swearing behind the doors.
Riki sighed and ruffles his own hair roughly, Sunghoon didn't lock the door, which means he had chances to – "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU OPE-" Sunghoon was cut off by a huge tight hug.
"You didn't lock it, dumbo."
Sunghoon felt his face heat up once again, "Let go!" he tried punching this huge duckling away from him but it couldn't budge, when the fuck did he become this strong?!
"That... That painting of her was a commission... Were you jeal- OW!!" Finally, Riki had to let go of Sunghoon to support his head from being hit over-and-over again by a telephone which Sunghoon grabbed for self-defense.
"That hurts..!"
"The fuck do I care, OUT!"
"It was a commission, Hoon!"
BOOM END CREDITS
Extra:
That man... Riki looked dejected as he drew beside the lake. He's been drawing for hours, and he couldn't stop overthinking about this guy who visited Sunghoon early in the morning! The guy looked handsome... Could it be Sunghoon's lover..? I mean pfft, he's handsome alright, he'd bee too much out of Sunghoon's league.
Riki looked down at his sketch book, it was already dark... He sighed... It was full of Sunghoon sketches! Page-to-page was full of Sunghoon's face.
Riki frowned, "I don't have enough money to buy a new canvas and paint Sunghoon... I find it unfair to paint a woman without even attempting to paint the guy that I like..."
Squeezing his pencil hard as he thought of a memory, "Anyways, that guy... How can he hug Sunghoon while I can't!"