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“I warned you, didn’t I?” Yunho laughs like the utter menace he is, popping a bright pink candy in his mouth.
San doesn’t grace him with a reply, his mind too busy overthinking and reevaluating his whole life. The most frustrating thing is that Yunho is right; he did warn San about many things and decisions San should’ve thought over much better. For example, Yunho mentioned that applying to the department investigating time-related accidents was a big deal on its own, and there was no need to jump even higher than that, trying to get into the team led by the Kim Hongjoong.
Yunho also warned San that flirting back with Wooyoung was a bad idea, that as soon as Wooyoung felt like you accepted his advances, he would announce his affection toward you loud and proud, making the whole department believe that you are his next boyfriend of the week or month, depending on how great of a person you are and how good are your skills in life and bed.
As for Yeosang, Yunho didn’t say anything, but he also might’ve with how he looked at San with sheer pity every time San made an utter fool of himself by crashing into Yeosang in corridors and trying to initiate a conversation with him.
Mix it all and get the biggest challenge and cause of worry in San’s life: he's applied to Hongjoong’s team, so he has to take a test conducted by Yeosang, who most likely believes that San is dating Wooyoung because the latter announced to the whole mess hall that San’s dick is bigger than his heart.
It's true, although not helpful in this particular situation.
“Has anyone ever–?”
“Nope,” Yunho cuts San off before he asks the same question for the nth time. “No intern has ever passed the test, not since–”
“Since Wooyoung,” San grumbles under his breath, lifelessly tapping the picture of Wooyoung in a crumbled brochure lying on the table in front of him. Wooyoung in the photo looks even smuggler than now, the corners of his mouth curled in a wicked grin, the then-black hair slicked back according to the fashion trends of that time. Under the picture, there is a small, taunting line of text, “First-ever intern to be accepted in the Aurora division.” Whoever wrote it might’ve as well written, “First and last ever intern.”
Everyone in the Time Tower knows that for centuries, Hongjoong has been leading a small but effective team of six members, all of whom, except Wooyoung, were personally scouted and invited by him.
Officially, you can join any team in the investigation department of the Tower, and its leader will decide what kind of task or exam you need to undergo to pass their criteria. In the Levanter team, you have to relive a significant day and prevent a huge time disaster from happening, while in the Neverland team, you have to pass a difficult quiz.
In the Aurora team, you, apparently, have to somehow stay sane.
The rules announced by Seonghwa (Hongjoong was too busy laughing at San’s pouty, “Please let me in your team, mister Kim'') were pretty simple and sounded a lot like the oldest game among the Time Academy students — catch me when you can. One person jumps through time points while another tries to catch them in action.
For San, the rules were adjusted. He has to follow Yeosang without a tracker device, relying on his wit and logic only, analyzing patterns and events changes. Once he tracks Yeosang’s entry or exit point, he has to take a picture of himself at that place to prove he was there. San can also get bonus points for fixing whatever Yeosang has changed during his jumps. Extra bonus points and instant acceptance into the team are guaranteed if San catches Yeosang in action.
This is impossible, San is sure about it now, months after his testing started. That's why he’s whining in a library at 3 a.m., Standard Time, with Yunho laughing at him (at least he brought food) and a few datapads with maps, logbooks, graphics, and analysis of pattern changes scattered on a table.
“Maybe you should consider openly confronting Yeosang about what happened after all?” Yunho suggests, his voice sounding strangely soft, almost pleading. Which is a testament to how bad San looks.
“I'm not ready yet,” San shakes his head, slumping over the table and hiding his face in his hands, slightly shaking from the number of energy drinks he consumed in the last couple of days. “I will apologize to him properly and explain everything, I swear, and... I'll talk to him, just... Not now.”
A blurry, frequently revisited memory pops up in front of San’s closed eyes: a buzzing mess hall of the Academia, San, redder than a fresh tomato, his cheeks aflame, Wooyoung, loudly discussing the properties of San’s dick, having the best time of his life (and yes, Yunho also warned San not to have a bet with Wooyoung under any circumstances).
San also vividly remembers Yeosang’s face slowly shutting down, hiding behind a thick mask of barely any reaction.
Yes, San should’ve listened to Yunho.
“I’m sure by now he realized it was a bet, and Wooyoung was just having fun. And that you didn’t spend the whole weekend having sex with Wooyoung. It’s not like Youngie hasn’t boasted about winning much money later that day.”
“Still,” San shakes his head, sighing deeply, “Imagine how bad he must have felt, hearing all that the day after I confessed to him for the fifth time. It did change things between us, I felt that.”
“Yeah, he must’ve been devastated,” Yunho snickers, but San is too engrossed in his depressive spiral, so he doesn’t react to Yunho’s obviously sarcastic jab.
“I can’t ask you to help me to track him down, can’t I?” San murmurs after they spend some time in silence, rubbing his face with so much force flashes of colors explode behind his eyelids. It’s a rhetorical question because as soon as it leaves San’s lips, he takes the datapad, tapping in a few commands to re-analyze the behavior patterns and the scales of technological progress to see any fluctuations and abnormalities within the time period he suspects Yeosang might have visited the last time.
“Seems like you have it under control more or less,” Yunho clasps San’s shoulder, pushing the plate with now cold food closer to him and leaves at that.
Frankly speaking, San is faring better than he makes it appear. He does need some time to notice the exact time points when Yeosang changed whatever he did, but he sees them. And with every new jump Yeosang makes, San needs less and less time to track him, already working on scripts and automatized detectors. The skills and ideas San has constantly running in his head to not only catch but also intercept Yeosang would earn him an immediate position of time-navigator of any other team leader. But Hongjoong needs only the best people working with him, and Yeosang proved himself a cunning, vicious, and cheating bastard. Only he could jump right into another ongoing exam, making San try to decipher his and Felix’s signatures and time exit and entry points. San spent weeks working on that task, wracking his head over so much data he thought his skull would explode by the end of it. But he pinpointed the location where Yeosang entered the time point with a precision of 0.3 meters, and even Seonghwa looked impressed when getting the photo evidence from San.
This chase after Yeosang makes San get better and better. When he thinks about it during lonely nights spent in libraries or at his flat in front of a shitty, cracked screen, he inevitably ends up on the verge of crying, overwhelmed with the understanding that even while being pissed at him, Yeosang still pushes San to grow and improve.
(San loves him so much.)
Sometimes, these reveries, thoughts that Yeosang cares about him, the dreams about them finally talking and maybe, possibly, holding hands at least briefly is the only thing getting San going.
(Even though, logically, he knows that Yeosang doesn't see it like this. For him, it's just a job, test after test he conducts at Hongjoong's order.)
“Don’t you think you've suffered enough already?” Wooyoung asks one day, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand, another finding itself in front of San, who’s rubbing his bloodshot eyes with a groan that sounds like a cry for help.
It’s been a month since Yeosang made a time jump, and San is nowhere close to locating him. He did, however, solve a few time-accidents, one of which went past the department radars.
“No, I have to find him,” San mumbles, his words slurred together. Coffee tastes like water to him at this point, and he’s pretty sure if Mingi stabbed him during their weekly sparring sessions, he’d draw caffeine instead of blood from San’s trembling body.
“Did you forget where his room is? I’m pretty sure I saw him going in there after breakfast. Which you missed. Again,” worry, unmistakable and unusual, laces through Wooyoung's voice.
“No, I must prove I’m worthy of working beside him. Then we'll talk.”
“I’m sure he can already see how competent you are,” Wooyoung nods at the list of all the places where San has tracked Yeosang down, projected using an always-on lamp onto the white side of San's small closet. It’s been so long since San started this exam, no wonder the counter nears the thirty locations mark. It's a good thing that, as a time department intern, San has much time to spare.
“If he did, I would've already passed the test,” San says and puts aside an empty cup — he hasn't even noticed finishing it — exhaling softly and glancing over the graphics opened in front of his face once again.
Yes, it’s not like San doesn’t see Yeosang. He meets him in the Tower's cafeteria and corridors and sometimes notices him working in the library or discussing something with Hongjoong or Jongho. The ongoing exam San has doesn’t mean that their lives have stopped. It’s just… San restrains himself from bothering Yeosang, and Yeosang doesn’t seek him out, and it should mean something, right? At least, when San catches Yeosang at one of the time points, he’ll have a chance to talk to him without the interns, cadets, and civil workers being noisy.
“It can take years,” Seonghwa says softly, filing away another photo San took at the place Yeosang chose for his entry point. It was a lovely garden, spanning across several levitating platforms hovering over the mountain peaks. The view from the upper platform was breathtaking, and the atmosphere on the lower levels was serene and peaceful. San was so high on successfully locating Yeosang and getting through the evidence submission, though, that he barely paid the place much mind.
“Okay then,” San shrugs, reaching out for a chip with another set of initial data that will help him narrow down his search to at least a few centuries, courtesy of Hongjoong.
Seonghwa purses his lips, something close to sorrow crossing his face, and San hurries to exit the Aurora team's headquarters. Sorrow, pity, mockery… He has seen and heard all that and more from his friends and former classmates, most of whom were already hired. San knows now that his stubbornness has a price, but he also knows that none of the people looking down on him could even dream about getting interviewed for Hongjoong's team, let alone count on being hired. Honestly, those assholes and their side-eyes and twisted grins fuel San's determination. But to see even a hint of sorrow and pity in Seonghwa's eyes... That somehow feels much worse.
The first time San saw Yeosang, he thought he was hallucinating. Because there was no way a man so beautiful existed in the same plane as puny mortals like San. With his mouth agape and eyes wide open, San watched Yeosang walking down the aisle in the Academy mess hall, so engrossed in a paper book in his hands that he didn’t notice a cleaning droid crossing his path. Before San managed to warn him, Yeosang tripped over a small droid, losing his balance and gesturing with his hands wildly, like a bird trying to take off. Thankfully, Yeosang didn’t fall, but the expression of utmost confusion on his face when he looked around, trying to understand what exactly happened and how he lost footing, etched itself onto San’s eyelids forever. It was both endearing and gorgeous, and San was pretty sure he fell in love with Yeosang either at that exact moment or when Yeosang softly apologized to the droid that beeped insistently since Yeosang was standing in its programmed way.
What followed was San trying to learn everything he could about Yeosang without passing as a stalker. Thankfully, they had a few shared courses together, so San got to look at Yeosang for hours on end. Not so thankfully for his grades because San couldn’t focus on anything besides how good Yeosang looked, how funny he reacted to unexpected questions, how he always seemed to know a little more than professors, although he had never bragged or shown off, on the contrary, Yeosang shared his knowledge freely and with kindness, the same way he treated everyone around him.
It took much longer than San was willing to admit before he gathered the courage to try and talk to Yeosang.
Talking, he managed but eliciting any kind of reaction — not really. Yeosang shied away from him, which, frankly speaking, dampened San’s resolve a little. It wasn’t until San got closer to Wooyoung, Yeosang’s best friend, who explained that it wasn’t anything to do with San exclusively. Indeed, a few more people tried to befriend Yeosang, and all failed.
It took four regular years for San to finally worm his way into Yeosang’s good graces, earning a highly coveted right to hug him.
The day San jokingly begged Yeosang to let him kiss his hand, and Yeosang wordlessly outstretched it, palm up? Best day in San’s life.
Still, whatever progress San made vanished the moment Wooyoung opened his big and loud mouth. And yes, San doesn’t blame him. San knew he was lightweight, and having more than just a couple of drinks was lethal for his brain capacity. Still, he got drunk with Wooyoung and made a stupid bet, foolishly believing that Wooyoung, with his hopeless crush on Felix, wouldn't spoil his chances by implying he was sleeping with San for the whole overcrowded mess hall and hundreds of students to hear.
The joke was on San because while he lost any chance with Yeosang, Felix appreciated Wooyoung’s “honesty,” and willingness to be “open." Now, they are happily and disgustingly in love, roaming the ancient Mars crates, and San is...
Yes, San is dramatic, and yes, Yeosang is not ignoring him completely. They talk from time to time, and Yeosang smiles at some of San’s silly jokes when the latter has strength on anything but sleep, work on his task, or training. But ever since that day, Yeosang got wary near San. More shy, and more reluctant to accept San’s friendly touches (San hasn't dared to attempt hugging or kissing him). It got to the point where San distanced himself for good measure, unwilling to make Yeosang uncomfortable with his presence. And Yeosang didn’t react to it or show that he regretted such a turn of events anyhow.
They haven't talked about what happened, not in a way San assumes would clear any lingering doubts. One moment, San was hoping to call Yeosang his boyfriend anytime soon, and the next, he was happy with at least meeting Yeosang's eyes. Of course, it shocked him, but before he managed to get a hold of himself and gather his thoughts, the moment was lost. San could talk to him later, but at some point, he started thinking. And when it comes to San, it’s never a good sign.
He started musing about what he could offer Yeosang, one of the top students of the Academy, the guy Hongjoong invited into his team even before Yeosang graduated. Yeosang. Smart, funny, gorgeous, kind, lovely, the best person in the world, and whom San loved and still does so deeply.
Spoiler: San couldn't offer him anything back then. San wasn’t stupid, not at all, but in comparison with Yeosang, he was… not as brilliant. San keeps finding himself in many troubles simply because he trusts the wrong people and, more often than not, lets intrusive thoughts win.
(Yunho doesn't keep protectively hovering over him for the fun of it; he genuinely wants to help San, who actually needs those kinds of warnings. If only he listened to them.)
San can hardly hope he’s anywhere ready to be the partner Yeosang deserves, be it at work or in life. San wants to earn his place next to Yeosang and wants him to rely on San and not consider him a dead weight, dragging him to the bottom of the Lethe.
(And maybe, just maybe, San is getting ready for inevitable rejection, and having at least some self-confidence built up will help him pull himself together much faster once Yeosang softly tells him he will never return San's feelings.)
Essentially, San’s goal is not a position in Hongjoong’s team, even if it’d be a great bonus. It’s a firm belief that he won’t disappoint Yeosang. It's self-confidence forged by facts and hard evidence, not someone simply saying, "Wow, you are smart." His goal may be off, and the way to it overcomplicated, but he's set on achieving it.
San likes visiting old Korean communities on different planets and timelines. There is something immensely comforting and familiar in them, no matter when or where he finds himself. People's characters, appearance, customs, and some cultural things, like celebrating Solar New Year instead of a Lunar one and building their whole mythology around wise wolves instead of trickster foxes, may vary, still, San feels a deep connection to the people around him, a link that transcends time and space and is alive as long as the people are.
Despite growing up on Mars, San likes the Korean harbor on Venus more: it’s much brighter here, and unlike Mars, where you can’t really play with terraformation unless you want to pay a fortune, the floating cities of Venus are a sight to behold. At least they were before being ruined, but that’s something yet to happen for now, so San can take in the views while on his little vacation.
Mentally, being a field worker in the time department is not for everyone. You should be ready for a shit ton of mind-bending, world-turning events, to feel powerless and stay away even when everything in you earns to change, to prevent, to save. The more you jump across time, the more it messes with your head. You meet people who you know are already dead and walk along the roads that are yet to be built. It makes you feel powerful and insignificant at the same time.
San knew all that when he was enrolling into the Academy, knew how hard it would be for him to see and do nothing. But the human brain is a wonderful thing that, surprisingly, can endure a lot. After some time, even the fact that, for you, it has been fifty years since graduation and for your classmate from another department, only five, doesn't seem so fucked up.
Still, to preserve whatever mental strength San has left, he takes short vacations from time to time, exploring the past and the future and enjoying more than a few hectic hours spent at a time point.
After a long walk around the former colony turned into a full-fledged city, San stops at a diner. It's small, with barely visible hints of modern (for this era) technologies, represented by a rusty waiter-droid polishing one of the few tables stuffed in the room. But the smells from a tiny kitchen are mouth-watering, and the old lady standing behind the counter reminds San of his granny so much.
Here, sitting at the table facing the window, with a bowl of steaming Venus pork stew and spicy sea vegetables, San rightens himself, finding strength and determination. Once he feels like himself again, San leaves the diner and goes straight to his entry point.
He doesn’t follow any data analysis or predictions or open his personal datapad or time-watch. The set of coordinates he enters is dictated by a memory of one of the many evenings spent in Yeosang’s dorm room when San was still trying to control his crush while Yeosang had already allowed him into his personal space.
When San exits the jump point, he doesn’t know when or where he is. The overall sight around him is unfamiliar: a wide market square with rows and rows of diners like the one he was in not too long ago, small shops placed so close to each other you can barely distinguish them, and a steady flow of people wandering around, mostly speaking pre-interplanetary Japanese.
Slowly realizing where he is, San searches for the sight he saw dozens of times on a small photo tucked between "Time and Space Relation" and "Laws of Thermodynamics in Quantum Realm" textbooks. With a pleased smile, San powers up his camera drone and takes a few steps forward, standing directly in front of a bright red shed covering the entrance to a store from direct sunlight. Setting the timer on his watch, San throws a peace sign in the air, standing with his back to the camera, echoing the countdown in his thoughts.
Four.
He notices a familiar face in the crowd, walking determinedly towards the shop. It’s Yeosang, dressed in plain black cargo pants and a white shirt, his hair windswept.
Three.
Yeosang notices him, freezing in place, their eyes meeting across a small distance of just a few meters separating them.
Two.
There is a hint of a smile on Yeosang's lips as he lifts his left hand, mirroring San’s pose.
One.
San lunges forward, running towards Yeosang as fast as he can as if his life depends on whether he’ll catch him in time.
Zero.
Yeosang’s lips taste like coming home after a long and exhausting day.
San tries to control himself, not turning the kiss into a heavy make-out session. Even though he wants, he really wants, and the feeling is mutual, judging by how tightly Yeosang clutches San’s leather jacket and the tiniest needy sounds slipping past his lips.
Still, no matter how much San wants to keep going, stretching the moment, he pulls away, enjoying the view of Yeosang’s flushed cheeks and red, slightly swollen lips. Something akin to irritation flashes in Yeosang’s half-lidded eyes before he takes a small step back, licking his lips and not making San’s life better anyhow with that.
“Congratulations,” Yeosang’s voice is barely lower than usual, yet it sends shivers down San’s spine. “You caught me.” At that, Yeosang flashes a familiar chip, the one that usually holds a few pieces of information for San’s next stage in the examination task.
“Does it,” San blinks, hardly able to believe that the months-long chase has come to an end. “Does it mean that I passed?”
“Oh, you passed a long time ago. Hongjoong was ready to take you in after the first task.”
“What?”
“Sannie,” Yeosang sounds so fond, especially when he taps San’s shoulder lightly, “in the last twenty years, you are the only one who managed to locate my exit point at all. Let alone that you did it 28 times.”
“For real? N-no one?” San tries to grasp the implication behind Yeosang’s words, but it’s so… unbelievable.
“No one,” Yeosang repeats with a smile.
“Then what was I doing, if not proving myself to Hongjoong?”
“You visited all the places that are dear to me and hold important or fond memories of mine,” Yeosang snickers, although something is reminiscent of worry in his eyes. As if he’s unsure of himself.
San doesn’t say anything right away, the cogs in his head stuck without turning. San passed the exam. Hongjoong was.. is? ready to welcome him to his team. All these months after the first task, the sleepless nights and doubts clouding his mind were in vain. Were they, though? San does feel more confident and smart, the knowledge he gained mixing in with what he was taught in the Academy. San has at least ten ways to track down someone across timelines now, scripts and applications ready and at his disposal (raw and waiting for debugging, though, but San was more worried about their efficiency and not how many times he had to rerun them to get the result). So, San is ready to work with Hongjoong, Yunho, Wooyoung, and the rest of his team without being overly embarrassed and worried about his skills.
But it was Yeosang who made sure to assign San task after task. Yeosang assumed San wasn’t ready. Or was he going after something else? Maybe he had reasons to take San to the places that meant something to him? Was it a way for Yeosang to show San parts of himself that he was too shy or unable to share?
“So, did I?” San asks, looking at Yeosang expectantly.
“Did you what?”
“Did I pass your test?”
“Hmm,” Yeosang pretends to think about it and then ducks forward, stealing a kiss and blushing right away, “Yes, I think you did.”
The first thing they do after getting back to the Tower is report to Hongjoong. Yeosang calmly announces that San passed the test with flying colors; Hongjoong groans, like he’s already tired of them, congratulates San, and orders them to get the fuck out of his sight. Unsurprisingly, San assumes the worst, already imagining how Hongjoong will make his life a living hell in retaliation for the stunt with the prolonged exam. But Yeosang assures him that won’t be the case, and it’s just how Hongjoong usually shows his affection.
Once they take care of the paperwork while avoiding Wooyoung and Yunho at all costs, they wordlessly agree to go to San’s small flat to have a much-needed talk.
San calms himself down with the thought that whatever test Yeosang has prepared for him, he passed it. But San can’t help but act skittish around him. So much time has passed since they were alone like this, with no one and nothing distracting or separating them. San is ashamed to admit that he doesn't remember how to behave in Yeosang's presence, how to overcome the overflowing sense of being too simple, too little in comparison with bright and perfect Yeosang.
As for Yeosang himself, he also seems timider than usual, sitting at the very edge of the couch and not asking for anything more than a glass of water. The tension between them feels thick like jelly, but it's so difficult to come up with an excuse to start a conversation. What exactly should San say? Should he start with a small talk?
By the time San runs out of chores to do around the small apartment, he doesn't come up with a thing to say, so he decides to hell with it and simply tugs Yeosang to the bedroom, lying down first and nudging Yeosang to get comfortable cuddling to him, with his head resting on San’s chest. This way, Yeosang doesn’t face him, so it should help him feel more relaxed. San also pulls a blanket over them, a thin green one, which is more decorative than warm, but it does make their cuddling cozier.
“Ask,” Yeosang sighs when San fidgets under the blanket for the nth time.
“Why did you do it?”
“It’s complicated,” Yeosang exhales softly. San has figured out that much, so he doesn’t rush him into anything, patiently waiting for Yeosang to gather much-needed words. After all, just cuddling so close to each other is already much more than he could’ve hoped for just yesterday.
“I was feeling too much at once. When Wooyoung first said that you were together, I… believed it. It was only later that I realized how stupid I was and that I overreacted. Wooyoung also talked to me and explained what happened, but it felt like it was too late, and the damage was done. And then Hongjoong mentioned that you wanted to join us, and I agreed, thinking he'd appoint Wooyoung to test you, but then he asked me, and I got scared. I thought I wasn't ready to face you like this, let alone work with you. So, I came up with this test thing. And then… Then I was upset with you.”
“Upset? What? Why?” San jolts up, unable to hold still.
“You didn’t come up to me during the test. You haven’t tried to talk to me, and I thought that maybe I didn’t mean as much to you as I thought I did. You kept catching up with me, and I kept showing you around the places I’m so fond of, and… you didn’t react, and I thought you didn’t care, so I got angry and kept giving you tasks, and you dealt with them brilliantly, and I got confused and even more frustrated, and you still didn’t say anything. So… yeah. That’s why,” Yeosang trails off, shifting awkwardly, and San hugs him closer, feeling a few wet drops sipping through the fabric of his shirt stretched over his chest.
“Sangie,” San exhales, as a knot that has been tied around his heart, not letting him properly sleep and live for so long, keeping him anxious and doubting, finally loosens up. “You know you could show me a fallen leaf, and I would find it beautiful just because you thought so? You know you could take me to the abandoned cabin in the middle of a burnt-out forest, and I would live there like it’s a palace only because you would be by my side? If I knew they meant something to you, I'd have paid more attention and appreciated all of them, but I was so focused on catching you, improving myself and my skills to be worthy of you, that I hardly noticed anything around me. Ask Yunho how many times he stopped me from running into walls. Or how many times Wooyoung fed me because I forgot to eat... I hope you’ll give me a chance to fix this mistake.”
"I'm sorry for making you go through it," Yeosang mumbles, nuzzling into San’s chest, and it suddenly gets very difficult to stick to his initial train of thought.
“You didn't force me to. It was my choice," San gives himself a few moments to bring some order to his thoughts and feelings and then continues, "Also, I didn’t approach you because I was giving you space. And didn’t think I could. That's why I decided I had to improve myself first, and then come to you with something to offer. Because I thought you rejecting me was almost inevitable.”
“Stupid,” Yeosang murmurs and San can’t help a humorless chuckle.
“Yeah, it was a dumb decision.”
“No, I’m stupid. I should’ve realized you’d blame yourself.”
“Okay, let’s be both stupid,” San giggles, petting Yeosang’s long, dark hair. “As long as we are together in it.”
“Hongjoong will fire me if I can’t, quote, ‘get what you fucking deserve’. He said my sad face affected the whole team.”
“Well, then we will have to do our best to stay together, captain’s order,” San giggles some more and then says, more seriously, “But hey, you know I like you very very much and want to be with you? And as long as you don’t say you don’t want to do anything with me, I’ll be glued to your side, and you will have to deal with it.”
“I know,” Yeosang nods, rubbing his cheek against San’s chest like a cat asking for affection. And, of course, he immediately gets it. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Oh, okay,” San closes his eyes, feeling the knot finally disentangling completely, revealing his heart, battered, with angry red marks, but ready to heal and beat for Yeosang. “Me too."
Much later, after having some food and migrating to the sofa to bask in the light of the setting sun, they go through the pictures San took while following Yeosang, sharing their feelings and thoughts and rearranging the list for future visits. They also discover that San accidentally activated the camera's burst mode and took several pictures instead of one, making a slideshow of him running towards Yeosang on Osaka Prime. Wrapped around each other, under the blanket, their lips swollen from all the occasional kisses they exchange (it seems that in the privacy of San's flat, Yeosang is less inclined to pull away than when they lived in dorms), they watch the sequence again and again, reliving the feeling of immense joy both of them felt at that moment.
They print the best pictures and later hang them on the wall in Yeosang’s flat, marking it as a final step in making the apartment feel like their home.