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As winter break finally started, the first few days were used to hang out and catch up on everything you missed during final exam season. Usually, Ricky would be hanging out with Yujin or Zhang Hao, but both were with other friends and Ricky wasn’t in a rush so he stayed home. He could’ve been in Zhang Hao and Hanbin’s apartment, but Hanbin, Gyuvin, Taerae and Matthew, most likely being the gossipers they are (even though they would object to that title). His last option was Jiwoong, but the boy was across the world with his lover on some impromptu trip (Ricky had no idea where exactly they were in the Western Hemisphere).
So, with all his options exhausted, he was left to his own devices, which was usually fine. But today he felt off. Maybe it was the fact he almost burned himself with his morning tea, or the fact that he bruised his elbow during his stretching, or just the plain fact that he used a face serum as a toothpaste on accident. He just knew that today he felt off, and seemingly that the best option (and safest) was to sit on the couch and watch whatever k-drama was on the tv.
It had been a few hours of watching whatever show when an interesting scene came on. It was raining, the road practically empty except for the car that the two main characters were in. Ricky felt his chest tighten, but couldn’t bring himself to reach for the remote to turn it off, so he watched with a racing heart.
The male lead was in the driver seat, seemingly a stereotype that was seen in every drama. The female lead is pissed, Ricky hasn’t been paying enough attention to know the full story, and says something to the male. Dialogue is further exchanged and as their arguing increases volume, the driver puts more energy onto the gas pedal, causing the car to go well over the speed limit. Ricky doesn’t blink as he watches the scene unfold, unaware that his breathing is picking up.
By the time the couple notices how fast they're going, it’s too late. The rain, which is much heavier than the start of the scene, has caused the road to have no traction and the car goes spinning and flips over, and Ricky feels a sob slip out his mouth.
Suddenly everything is too much and Ricky is aware of his uneven breathing and the cries leaving his mouth. Images of his parents flash across his mind, and he scrambles to grab his phone before his panic attack gets to its worst stage. He can’t see clearly, but he presses what he thinks is Zhang Hao’s number, sobbing as each ring passes. On the 3rd ring, the call connects and he tries to stabilize his breathing to speak.
“Ge?” Ricky’s voice cracks, but that’s the least of his worries as he tries to ground himself and remember how to breathe and to stop the tears from coming out, especially as he sniffles into the phone.
Gyuvin doesn’t get many calls often. Most of the time, he’s with his friends so there was no point in them calling him. That’s why when he finally feels his phone vibrating, a look of confusion is on his face. The confusion as he looks at the caller id and sees the name Ricky.
Before he can speak, he hears the other let out a small whimper, similar to one when your chest is tight, and a word is following.
“Ge?” Now Gyuvin is extra confused, sitting up just slightly and ignoring the other 3 boys in the room. Gyuvin remembers quickly that he does need to respond, especially because something isn’t right.
“Wrong person darling, but what’s up?” He’s answered with a heartbreaking sob, and that’s when he’s up and putting his shoes on. As he moves with urgency to collect his stuff, ignoring Hanbin trying to ask questions and Matthew and Taerae’s concerned glances, he can tell Ricky’s breathing is picking up.
“Breath darling, can you do that for me?” A quiet yes is heard through the phone.
“Good, in for 4 and out for 4 okay? Just try darling and I’ll be right there.” When he hears Ricky attempting, he turns to Hanbin, who’s about to ask him a question. Gyuvin beats him to it.
“What’s Ricky's apartment number?” Hanbin’s eyes widened and now all 3 boys are sitting up with faces painted in concern.
“Gyuvin what’s going-”
“What’s the apartment number Hanbin?” The room is quiet at Gyuvin’s tone, cold and sharp in a way that hasn’t been heard before. Gyuvin opens the door to leave, scoffing at the lack of answers before Hanbin speaks again.
“He lives on the 5th floor, number 501.”
Gyuvin nods and exits the apartment, leaving 3 very concerned men to stare at each other.
As he enters the elevator, Gyuvin is so adamantly reminded about the fact that Ricky is all but sobbing into the phone.
“Gyuvin…” He sounds so scared it’s breaking the boy’s heart, but he continues making his way down to the blond’s apartment.
“I’m almost there darling, I’m coming.” Ricky lets out a sob again, and Gyuvin feels his heartstrings pull tight at just how distressed the boy is.
“You’re coming?” Gyuvin steps out the elevator, thanking one of the gods above that they gave him long legs.
“Yeah angel, I’m about to be outside your door.” Despite the fact that there were only 2 apartments on this floor, the entrances were far from each other, one of the east wing and the other on the west to provide privacy.
Gyuvin finally reaches Ricky’s door and knocks before speaking into the phone.
“Darling, can you open the door for me?” He hears a small gasp and if the situation wasn’t so terrible, Gyuvin would’ve cooed at how cute it was.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah angel, I’m here. Can you open the door?” It takes a few minutes, and he can hear shuffling, but Ricky is there to open the door, eyes red and trying to conceal his sobs. Gyuvin wastes no time taking the boy into his arms, who breaks down as soon as he’s wrapped into the embrace.
Gyuvin maneuvers the two into the apartment and makes sure the door is closed. Looking around quickly, he notices the tv is playing a depressing k-drama and decides that whatever is going on is not helping.
“Angel, why do you have such a sad show on? Can I change it?” Ricky, who’s sobs had quieted down and breathing had stabilized, held onto Gyuvin tightly as he nodded. Gyuvin feels his breathing get a bit irregular, so he grabs Ricky with one hand (all the time in the same certainly paying off) and heads over to the couch and quickly changes the show to a more suitable k-drama, deciding on ‘Part-Time Idols.’
Gyuvin then moves, to the best of his ability with Ricky seemingly wanting to be one with his top, into a position where Ricky is resting between his legs on his ridiculously large couch.
Ricky seems to be relaxing as he continues to rub against Gyuvin’s hoodie, so the boy lets him until it seems to get a little rough. Gyuvin lightly grabs Ricky’s face, and he’s able to see the boy’s eye bags that seem to be worse than the last time he saw him just last week. With exams being over, Ricky should be getting more sleep, but something’s keeping him awake.
“Darling, when was the last time you slept over 3 hours?” Ricky hums, dropping his head on the taller’s chest. Gyuvin waits patiently for an answer, because it’s Ricky and he’s still lucky that the boy responds to him.
“A few weeks ago, after Hanbin hyung’s lame excuse of a party.” Gyuvin lightly laughs at the dig, before realizing what the blond said.
“That was over a month ago, you need sleep.” Ricky shifts higher on top of Gyuvin, his head now right above his heart and hums again. He doesn’t get to say anything as a yawn escapes and his eyelids feel heavy. Ricky feels a light kiss on the top of his head before falling under, heart light despite all the prior events.
It seems like the universe wants to mess with Gyuvin and his no calling agenda, because as soon as Ricky starts lightly snoring, Gyuvin’s phone rings for the second time that day, caller id stating Zhang Hao (although it's truly Hao hyung with a bunch of random emojis). He picks up, and is immediately met with an angry yell.
“GYUVIN!” Gyuvin resists every nerve in his body trying to flinch and instead sighs.
“Yes hyung?” He can tell he’s on speaker phone because Hanbin’s whispers something and Matthew is laughing. He face palms in his head and hangs up, deciding to facetime his hyung instead.
“Since you all are here, it’s easier to know who’s going to talk.” They all nod and Zhang Hao goes back to being the dramatic person he is, trying to glare at Gyuvin.
“Kim Gyuvin!” Ricky shifts and Gyuvin shushes them, turning his phone volume down a bit.
“Yes hyung?”
“What happened earlier? Hanbin is clueless!” He hears Matthew mumble something that sounds like, is that new?, and bickering starts in the background. He sighs and playfully rolls his eyes. They could never stay on task peacefully.
“Ricky called me mid panic attack, so I left and went to his apartment.” Zhang Hao looks like his eyes are going to pop out his head, but he asks Gyuvin to tell everything that happened, which Taerae is quick to interrupt.
“Omg hyung you should’ve seen him, we were talking one minute and next he’s putting his shoes on and talking to Ricky on the phone and yelling at Hanbin!”
“I did not yell!” Ricky lifts his head, making a confused noise, eyes still fogged over with sleep.
“Quibing?” The mentioned boy looks down, cooing at the blond boy before kissing his forehead.
“Sorry darling, I’m just on the phone with Hao hyung and his peanut gallery.” Multiple protests are heard, but Ricky tilts his head, so Gyuvin shows the boy the phone. Ricky shakes his head as a wave, and it brings another coo out the taller.
Ricky lays back down on Gyuvin’s chest, muttering something. Matthew was ranting about something irrelevant, so Gyuvin looked back down.
“What was that darling?”
“I’m cold.” Ricky could truly be related to Zhang Hao, the two almost always running cold. Gyuvin lightly laughs and puts the phone on the console, forgetful of the mini audience on the phone.
“Are you going to let me up then?” Ricky mumbles no, pulling on Gyuvin’s hoodie instead. Gyuvin rolls his eyes but takes the jacket off and puts it on Ricky instead.
“Now go back to sleep angel.” Ricky doesn’t need to be told twice, snores filling the apartment again as Gyuvin picks his phone back up and is met with the faces of his hyungs.
“You guys are so cute! I've never seen Ricky like that!” Taerae all but squeals, causing his lover to laugh at him but nod in agreement.
“Are you sure you guys are just friends? Seems like something else.” Matthew tries to wiggle his eyebrows, but it doesn’t go well and leaves them all dying with laughter. Zhang Hao wipes a fake tear, complaining about how fast they grow up.
“Do you guys want to know what happened or not? This isn’t the time to discuss me and Ricky’s friendship .” Putting emphasis on the last word in hopes that they get the point. Hanbin perks up and nods, so Gyuvin continues.
“Ricky called me on accident, assuming I was Hao hyung. But he was crying so I got concerned and asked what’s up, and he started sobbing into the phone.” They all have different levels of concern on their face, but Gyuvin continues.
“So then I realized he was having a panic attack and immediately put my shoes on and asked where’s Ricky’s apartment to Hanbin hyung-”
“He was like, ‘what’s Ricky’s apartment number?’ and then hyung went to ask a question and he was scary! His tone was cold and he didn’t even call Hanbin hyung!” Matthew interrupts and Zhang Hao rolls his eyes.
“Well if hyung had answered my question I wouldn’t have done that! Sorry though hyung, hehe…” Hanbin just face palmed and Taerae says something but Matthew is quick to cover his mouth. Zhang Hao urges the young boy to continue.
“Right! Well I got Ricky’s apartment number and on the way down I helped him with his breathing and by the time I got there he wasn’t sobbing or struggling to breathe too bad. Then I changed the tv show because the one on was all sad and loud and he fell asleep after he rubbed his face in my hoodie for a few minutes.”
“That’s it? You just…calmed him down? He didn’t get worked up again?” Gyuvin shakes his head, and Hanbin and Zhang Hao look at each other and seem to come to a realization of some sort.
“Well thanks Gyuvin! Have fun and make sure to order something to eat!” Then the call ends with no chance to say something back. Gyuvin decides to wait until Ricky wakes up again to order something, knowing the boy is really picky.
He wasn’t in a rush anyway, if Ricky needed him, on purpose or accident, it didn’t matter how long he had to be stuck on the couch watching random k-dramas.
If Ricky needed him, Gyuvin would come running.