Work Text:
Hyung, can we start over?
They had their own theme song.
It was a slightly outdated pop song, the kind everyone has heard at least once in places like restaurants or cafes.
That song always played in the background during important moments in their relationship.
When they met for dinner nearly every day, and Kyuhyun finally couldn't hold back the urge he'd been suppressing for so long and confessed to Jongwoon, and even when Jongwoon agreed without a second's hesitation, saying, “Okay, then let's date,” that song was playing in their ears.
And on their first date, when hyung sat beside him on the bus home and gently placed his hand over his, that song played on the bus radio.
And even then, sitting in their usual spot at their favorite café, as if it were reserved for them, when Jongwoon always drank an iced Americano and he always drank a strawberry latte, that song sweetly enveloped them.
Even when Jongwoon came to apologize first, after their first big fight, when Kyuhyun was consumed by anxiety about how to reconcile or if it would end like this, he heard that song.
Because Jongwoon came to make up, carrying his guitar.
Kyuhyun's anger had already completely faded the moment hyung appeared in front of his room, but Jongwoon hadn't come to apologize with empty hands.
He played the guitar and sang that song for him; what a romantic guy.
The very song Kyuhyun had confessed to Jongwoon with, the one they'd heard on the bus coming back from their first date, and at their regular cafe.
Listening to that song, he was so moved that he cried a little. He kissed Jongwoon right there, sitting on the bed holding the guitar.
From then on, that song became their theme song.
And it became their time machine.
That song was with them at every moment that mattered.
They fought a lot and broke up so many times. Broke up, got back together, repeated it over and over.
The first time they broke up, Kyuhyun was so miserable he couldn't sleep.
In the deep, deep quiet of dawn, wondering where it all went wrong, what he did wrong, blaming and reproaching Jongwoon and himself, suddenly he remembered that song.
Even then, he didn't even know the song's title properly. He searched relentlessly online, finally found the title, and listened to the music.
The song flowed from the speakers,
and took Kyuhyun back to the past.
He loved Jongwoon so much. The seed of unrequited love sprouted in his heart and grew rapidly.
Every word Jongwoon spoke to him, every gesture, every glance—all nourished his affection.
Jongwoon graduated from university first, and Kyuhyun tried desperately not to be forgotten.
He raced to keep up with hyung, who was always one step ahead. After graduating, he rented a place near hyung's place.
As the number of dinners they shared grew, the rose he had nurtured alone in his heart bloomed ever more beautifully and abundantly, its thorns growing sharper still.
He liked sitting across from Jongwoon. That way, he could see Jongwoon's face and figure clearly.
He liked eating together because he could watch Jongwoon's face when hyung focused on his food.
Hyung's handsome forehead, smiling eyes, curled black eyelashes, smooth cheeks tracing gentle curves, lips moving as they chewed food—he felt he could gaze at these things forever and ever.
As if you could know
how much I wanted to touch your face.
The rose's thorn pierced his heart, red blood flowed, and he wanted so badly to touch Jongwoon's lips that he blurted it out.
“Hyung, I love you.”
The song was playing indoors. Jongwoon's eyes widened with surprise.
That moment, which felt like an eternity, passed along with the song. Jongwoon swallowed the food filling his mouth, took a sip of water, and those eyes Kyuhyun loved so much—Jongwoon's eyes, the ones that had nurtured his rose—looked straight at him and said,
“Okay, then let's date.”
Kyuhyun transferred the music to his phone and, as dawn passed and the first buses began running, immediately dashed out the door.
He went straight to Jongwoon's place and knocked on the door. Jongwoonie hyung opened it, looking startled. He must have been getting ready for work; shaving cream covered his chin.
“Kyuhyun-ah?”
Kyuhyun thrust his phone at hyung, who called his name. He pressed a button, and the music played.
Their theme song.
That song had been with them during every important moment of their relationship, and it had sweetly filled their ears on the day they first broke up and then decided to date again.
Years had passed, and there were days when sitting across from Jongwoon over dinner, his face stirred no emotion within Kyuhyun at all.
There were plenty of days like that.
He was shocked by how his feelings had cooled. He never believed love had an expiration date. He thought anyone who said such things was a fool. People who'd never truly loved were just spouting nonsense.
But love clearly had an expiration date, and just as flowers wither when the seasons change, the rose in his heart had faded.
But when he heard that song at times like that,
it could always take him back to the past,
and he knew.
There had definitely been days when his rose was red.
That its thorns, now worn and dull, incapable of causing any pain, had once been sharp blades.
He could remember. The moments when hyung's gaze made his heart tremble, the times when he loved Jongwoon so much he couldn't speak and just circled around him, the love that made Kyuhyun want to give up, yet hearing his voice alone made him start over from the beginning.
While living together, Jongwoon would sometimes play the guitar.
Sitting on the bed, resting the guitar on one thigh, he'd press the chords with his firm left hand, pluck the strings with his right, and hum softly.
Their theme song.
Ah, hyung.
Are you singing to someone else too?
Like you did for me...?
It had been over a year since they last parted ways, and tomorrow marked their old anniversary.
Kyuhyun had changed his phone several times since then, but their theme song remained, never deleted.
He sat alone in the early morning and played the music.
A time machine that could take him back to the past anytime.
Memories flood in like a torrent.
The curve of the guitar resting on hyung's thigh as he played, sitting on the bed—how aroused he felt watching it.
Or hyung's face, bursting into laughter at his joke, while an iced Americano sat before them.
After their first breakup, when he ran back to confess again—hyung, who hugged him the moment he heard the song and kissed Kyuhyun passionately at the front door. The shaving foam smeared all over their lips and chin.
That night, they sat quietly with their hands folded on the bus seat.
Jongwoon's ears turned red as he accepted Kyuhyun's love.
Once this dawn passes, Kyuhyun will take the first train to find hyung.
Holding his phone containing their song,
he will run again, just like in old days.
Blooming new roses over the withered ones.
Jongwoonie hyung,
Can we start over again?