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Sieun was tired. His days of fighting passed in the blink of an eye, but not without leaving permanent scars on a personality already corrupted by uncompromising hatred.
Although, thanks to a few miracles, he managed to get into a relatively decent college, his destiny - which he thought was set on something promising - proved to be very degrading when he found himself pursuing a specialization in programming. Not that the field was bad, but he imagined himself testing other waters in his professional life.
Any sloopy gang had a computer expert.
Sieun sighed and closed his eyes, not a minute had passed when he felt a chaotic energy disturbing the sphere of peace. Suho's fingers brushed across his eyes and he jokingly asked Sieun to guess who it was.
“Suho, I don't have another friend who would touch me like that.” He said with a languid smile. Suho's dark hair was longer than he had been used to, now covering the scar that ran up the side of his head. However, what piqued his interest was the enigmatic look Suho gave him, a fact that had become a daily occurrence. “What?”
As if snapping out of his daze, Ahn shook his head a few times before ruffling Sieun's hair, an act so common between them. He took him by the hand and then wrapped his left arm around Sieun's shoulders.
“Let's train, the gym is empty at this time.”
They crossed the campus with many eyes peering out, observing the contact and Sieun couldn't help wondering if he looked like some kind of trophy. Something to be displayed for God knows what reason.
“We're never going to find anyone, everyone thinks we're dating because you keep dragging me around like this.”
“And are you interested in anyone, Sieun-ah?” Suho whispered the affectionate nickname in his ear with as much honey as he could muster. “You never said anything like that, what's going on? Is it someone from your class?”
Sieun closed his eyes to keep the goosebumps far away from taking over.
"No, I was just saying something I've noticed now” and Suho's shoulders relaxed.
When they entered the gym, Suho immediately directed him to the ring. It was unusual for them to train like this, so he was surprised by the reform. The floor and ropes were dark and the posts were blood red. It all looked too much like the damn video. Four years had passed, the recovery was arduous and the guilt even worse.
Sieun stood in front of the ring, frightened by a memory that had already become a nightmare carved deep into his core. Fuckers. Fuckers. Fuckers. He should have killed them all.
Feeling his whole body tremble, Suho stepped through the ropes and inspected him with alarmed eyes and voracious hands, groping for the source of the pain; not that it could be touched, really.
“Sieunnie?” The concern on Ahn's face made his stomach turn, he shouldn't give Suho more trouble, he should be a good friend and support. “Talk to me, what's wrong?”
Yeon didn't answer and did something that he could hardly get out of his mind, he pulled Ahn close and hugged him. The warm skin wrapped around him like a soft blanket in the dark and lonely winter; Suho's chest rose and fell rapidly and there he knew for sure, his friend was fine, he was far from his endless nightmares. As he touched him, inspected him, he could feel the liveliness that he had missed so much during the six long months of pure hell.
“Please, please,” the voice trembled and Suho's eyes widened for a moment as he softened in understanding. “Don't do anything like that again.”
“You love me very much, don't you, naesarang? But don't worry about those stupid things anymore.” Ahn deepened the embrace and it was as if he could melt there and become an extension of Suho. “I love you too.”
The tone wasn't laced with fragments of sarcasm or Suho's other idiocy, it was precise and full of tenderness, affection and compassion. Sieun sniffed at his stupid hair and rubbed his tear-filled eyes.
And slowly, as if he was going to break down, Ahn took Sieun's face in his hands and smiled broadly.