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It never goes as planned, does it? You can't hold life in a choke-hold and force it into submission, as sad as that might be, because you wouldn’t even know where life is in the first place, and more importantly, life doesn’t have a physical manifestation of any sort, as far as he knows, at least.
So, his taekwondo skills won’t be of any help in this situation. It’s not like he’d be able to do any when he can’t even raise his head without it feeling like someone threw a brick at his face, which in all honesty isn't that far off from the truth.
He pulls his arms away from underneath his nape to hold himself up, but his head feels way too heavy and he thumps back onto his chest with a pained groan. "Are you- god, I'm so so sorry," he tries to look up at the other person's face and fails.
"Then fucking get off of me,…" his voice is quiet and sounds horribly rough. At this point, San is going to die of guilt. Or of pain. Or both, really. He rolls onto the ground to lie next to him, and winces at the pebbles digging into his skin. "Damn it, Choi San…”
Well, at least he didn’t potentially break the arm of a stranger. He manages to turn his head towards the other, and is met with a mesmerising pair of eyes. He notices a beauty mark under one of them even through his blurry vision. Truly, damn it- it’s Wooyoung. If these injuries don’t take him out, he might as well do it himself. For a while, they just stare at each other, and Wooyoung’s gaze wanders to his forehead.
“You’re bleeding,” Wooyoung says. Well, that explains why his head feels like it’s about to explode. “I think this was enough star-gazing in each other’s eyes, Sannie, we need help,” he tries to prop himself up on his arms, but falls back quickly after, “but I think I broke my arm.”
At that, San shoots up after all. “Fuck, really, I’m so sorry, Woo, I really am,” he hastily palms his pockets for his phone and pulls it out after finding the right one, “I’ll call an ambulance-”
Wooyoung tries to push him off balance and groans, “No, I -fuck-, no one’s on the verge of death here, I’ll drive us there, just help me up.”
Did he lose his mind along with the mobility of his arm? Great. San just gives him a concerned look and continues to dial the number.
He gives him another half-hearted shove. “Don’t ignore me, asshole…”
As they continue to bicker, with San having to raise his arm to get Wooyoung to stop clawing at it, a voice cuts through their quarrel. “San, do you want to get some fried chic-... what the fuck?” He looks straight ahead again as Seonghwa throws his skateboard aside and crouches down next to him. This is probably the first time he’d heard him curse, It's a little weird.
“Isn’t that Wooyoung??” He gets up again as soon as he crouched down and moves to Wooyoung’s side. “IS HE DEAD??” He tries checking the pulse of his neck, but Wooyoung weakly tugs at the cuff of his skirt before he can.
"Not yet," he answers.
"-and that's about to change unless we get you guys to the hospital," Hongjoong walks next to them and pulls the phone out of San's hand, “I’ll call Yunho to drive us there. He wanted to eat with us later, anyway.”
Well, at least he won't need to talk. He lies back down.
"Of course this'd happen on our date," he mumbles while starting the call, which Seonghwa lightly hits him on the calf for.
But- “You’re the one who invited me to third-wheel,” he contests.
His remark is waved off. “Who told you to crash into Wooyoung?” And yeah, San can’t in good conscience come up with a counter for that.
Hongjoong takes a look at the two of them and retreats to talk to Yunho without being interrupted. Which is a good idea, because Wooyoung takes the chance to poke at San’s arm, earning him a little shriek out of surprise. “Didn’t I tell you I’d drive us?”
“Wooyoung, you’re talking nonsense,” he lowers himself to take a closer look, “your arm… isn’t looking good enough to do that right now.”
“That isn’t very nice of you, hyung, I think my arm looks great,” he pensively looks at the sky for a second, “I don’t even have a car anymore.”
“...Do you like, have a concussion or something?”
He looks at him with a small grin on his face, but he loses consciousness a second after, which is when San and Seonghwa truly start freaking out. “Aren’t we supposed to, like, put him into that one position or something?? What if he swallows his tongue??? Hyung, you know what I mean, right??” His voice pitches the more he speaks.
“Yes, the recovery position!… But his arm’s broken? Wouldn’t that hurt??” The amount of desperation and confusion only manages to make San’s head hurt even more, but thankfully, Hongjoong comes back before either of them loses their mind.
“He’ll be here in a few minutes,” he arches a brow at Seonghwa's and San's distress, but notices the issue quite quickly. Oh thank god for the first-aid course he did. “Step aside, babe, I got this.”
Seonghwa does as he’s told, and Hongjoong puts him into the position despite the potential pain. Seeing the obvious bent of his arm makes his feelings of guilt swell up again. He was supposed to meet up with Wooyoung to have a date and terrorise Seonghwa and Hongjoong on their’s. Did he have to try and fail a firecracker while Wooyoung was walking down the stairs?? Sure, Wooyoung only got there while San was already doing the trick, but there must’ve been a way to prevent the accident.
Wooyoung’s eyes blink open again, and he tries to slur a sentence together. “What the fuck are you doing, Hongjoong. You’re too close and I don’t like you like that.”
They collectively ignore the lack of honorifics and what he said as a whole to let out a sigh of relief. “Oh my god, I’m so happy you aren’t dead, please don’t die,- I’ll buy you as much fried chicken as you want if you don’t die, I swear-” His feelings finally take over the aftershock of the crash, and his vision’s blurry because of actual tears this time around.
“Shut up, I don’t want chicken from the person who broke my arm… but I was also responsible, so should I just never eat chicken again? Hyung -shit, that hurts- what do you think?” He straightens the leg Hongjoong had bent, but he's quick to put it back in place.
"I think you should shut up, Wooyoung. Stop moving around."
He gives him a pout, but his face pulls into a grimace of pain halfway through, "I like it when you're mean, but not right now, please."
"It's honestly amazing that you can still talk crap in this state. I admire your consistency," Seonghwa says.
'Consistency'... that reminds him of something. "Hyung, can you give me my phone? I need to tell noona I won't come over today.” It’s a tradition of theirs for him to sleep-over at her place every other Saturday or so. And now he's... here.
Wooyoung scoffs. “Yeah, tell your dearest noona that her boyfriend broke someone’s arm and won’t show up to his little date-”
San gives him a confused look. “I meant my sister… and I am your boyfriend?”
“Then tell your dearest noona that her little brother-”
“Wooyoung, for the love of god, shut up and rest, or I will make you rest for an undetermined amount of time,” he gives San a small pat, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell her what happened later.”
San mutters a short “ok” in response, and his phone starts to ring. It’s probably Yunho asking for their location, which Hongjoong gladly tells him about after stepping away again.
Seonghwa frowns after the call ends. “Ok, so I am concerned about one thing, though. Who’s gonna…,” he turns to Hongjoong, “who’s gonna carry them?”
“I don’t think I need to be carried, my head just hurts,” San says. He might be undermining the pain slightly, but he really doesn’t want Wooyoung to fall onto the ground after literally breaking his arm. “And I’m pretty sure I’m stronger than you guys, so I could…”
Hongjoong sighs exasperatedly. “San, you can really be a fucking idiot sometimes. You’re bleeding . You could probably use a few stitches.”
He ignores Hongjoong’s remark and props himself up on his arms to stand up. Honestly? It only feels slightly horrible to stand. He probably just has a bunch of gashes on his knees. He goes to squat next to Wooyoung.
“Can I carry you?”
“When have you ever asked?” Wooyoung gives him a sly grin. “Take a guy out on a date first…”
“I already have, man,” he slides his arms under him, careful not to jostle his arm, while both Seonghwa and Hongjoong sigh again. He picks him up with ease.
“This is slightly embarrassing, though,” Wooyoung says.
Hongjoong gives them both a stern look. “You think?”
He leads the way to Yunho’s car, and Seonghwa helps with putting Wooyoung in his seat. The car ride is relatively quiet, excluding the hundred times Yunho asked Seonghwa for directions and San whispering apologies every single time Wooyoung hisses out of pain.
-----
“If you want me to forgive you, buy me ice cream and go on a walk with me.”
“Uh? I mean- sure, but we already do that kinda stuff every other day.”
“God, just shut up and stop apologising. ”
-----
The time at the hospital goes by without a hitch: Wooyoung steps out with a cast, a no longer deformed arm, and the order to rest until his mild concussion subdues.
Contrary to what Hongjoong said, San’s wounds didn’t need any stitches, but to his dismay, he was told to take it easy with exercising for the time being.
San supports Wooyoung with walking to meet the other’s outside while they are playing a game of some sort which consists of hitting each other, as far as San can tell, right in front of the hospital.
Yunho is the first one to notice them. "Wooyoung! Damn, does one of you have a pen? I want to sign his cast."
"No thanks, your writing is ugly. I'll allow Yeosang to draw Hehetmon, but that's about it."
"Just remember, you're a pretty heavy sleeper. I'm not saying anything, but be prepared," he grins.
"I’m not," San chirps, ”but I’d gladly help out.”
Wooyoung gives him a light shove while pouting.
“Ok, ignoring that,” Hongjoong intercepts, “ I noticed something, Choi San-ssi.”
Now that sounds even worse than having to carry Yunho’s writing on your arm for around a month. Hongjoong only uses their full names if they’re in trouble, which seems to be the case right now. He answers with a meek “yeah?”.
“Where the fuck was your helmet?”
San thinks he had his safety gear on at the beginning of the day, but he can’t remember exactly why he wasn’t wearing it while trying a trick he isn’t all that familiar with. He can’t really remember anything but crying and kissing Wooyoung on the cheek after his treatment. “I’m sorry,” he says. He feels a little stupid.
Seonghwa gives him a small pat on his nape before Hongjoong can scold him further. “Just don’t forget about it next time, we don’t want two people with a concussion.”
“Rude,” Wooyoung pouts.
“And you, Jung Wooyoung-ssi.”
“No, I’m good.” He hides a little behind San’s arm.
“No one asked. How about checking where you’re going next time? Especially at a skatepark ?”
Wooyoung considers it for a second. ”Ok, I do admit that that wasn’t a very good idea,” he pecks San’s cheek, “I’m sorry, baby, I’ll be more careful next time so you can fall on your own.”
“Forgiven,” he chuckles and returns the peck.