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"Do we really have to go to your uncle's for chuseok...."
Eunyung glared as the train began to move. He was fully dressed in a white furry winter coat with a pale pink scarf wrapped around his neck. It was so cold he'd even gotten earmuffs to wear that matched. As he glared, Haejoon leaned over and moved a piece of fluff away from the other's fringe.
"He doesn't have anyone else to spend it with. Besides, I haven't seen him since graduating college. I feel bad for not visiting sooner."
Next to Haejoon on the train are their suitcases, one pink and the other completely black. It's easy to tell whose is whose from the colours and stickers all over Eunyung's, oh and the colours sure. He glances over at Haejoon, who's dressed in a similar attire but in his signature dark navy and blue combo. His hair has gotten noticeably longer, barely reaching the nape of his neck.
Eunyung studies the man, and begins to ponder on just how strange he is. How can Haejoon trust an adult like his uncle to be welcoming to them? If it's been that long since he's seen him, then there's no way he knows about them being in a relationship. Haejoon's uncle had always given Eunyung horrible vibes, and he knew that man would only be a bad influence on Haejoon. The only good thing his uncle ever did was get him away from Haejoon's father. The guy was overly emotional too, something Eunyung couldn't handle.
"We could've just stayed at home. And done nothing... but no.." He sighs, and turns his head back to look outside.
A hand gently grabs onto his, "Hey,"
Eunyung turns to look.
"It'll work out fine. I promise-"
"Don't say that." Eunyung's face scrunches up.
Haejoon sighs, "Okay, okay. Just, try to relax."
He stares into the other’s eyes, getting lost in the deep, dark blue that they are. If they weren't on a public train heading to his uncle's house, he would've kissed him right there and then. Instead, Eunyung settles for a quick peck on the cheek.
He smiles, "I'm perfectly relaxed."
Eunyung could not be further from relaxed.
When they'd arrived there, Haejoon's uncle had greeted them at the door, and Eunyung already knew. Even though he was only a little tipsy, Eunyung knew. He wasn't trying to be morally superior by spotting it or pointing it out, in fact he hadn't even said anything about it out loud. They were all adults now, they could handle themselves. And yet, since becoming of legal age, Eunyung hadn't touched a single drop of that poison people relied on.
Apart from that one time when he was, perhaps, underage, that had been it. Haejoon had also avoided it. Eunyung didn't need to ask why. He assumed he had his own selfish reasons possibly regarding his father. So when the man who'd fought him off appeared at the door with a cheery smile and breath that reeked of the poison to Eunyung's nostrils, he simply couldn't understand it.
If Haejoon knew then it wasn't obvious, the man went along with greeting his uncle and allowing the other to take their things in. There was already food set by the table which Eunyung assumed had been ordered prior (he was correct). Haejoon's uncle had been living in the same apartment since they'd first met him and had been working the same job too. Nothing had changed in the miniscule world that he lived in. Eunyung supposed Haejoon was the only change that had ever come into this man's life.
Even after all this time, he didn't trust it.
As they sat down to eat, having taken off their warm clothes and putting their luggage away, Eunyung could already sense something off. It was indescribable; this sudden feeling he got around any badly behaving adult that raised sirens in his mind. He wasn't a kid anymore, but around some of these seniors, he sure did feel like one.
Eunyung sat right beside Haejoon across from his uncle, neither of them thinking much of it. Haejoon made some small talk, asking how work was, and his uncle asked back things of a similar caliber. The blonde had been indulging in the cheap ordered chuseok meal when a question that included him suddenly caught his ear.
"-but will it be alright for you two to stay in the same room? I know you're quite close, but I thought about the last time you were both here and... I shouldn't have made you stay together, but my apartment is small, and there's not much else I can do.."
He smiled awkwardly and before Eunyung could even think about answering he was surprised to hear the confidence in the voice that suddenly spoke up beside him.
"That's alright, samchon. Eunyung and I live together. We've been dating for about two years now, right Eunyung?" He turned to smile at the other.
Goh Haejoon. You. You damn bastard.
Just what do you think you're doing going around and saying it like that?!
His poor uncle is probably in shock- wait, poor? What the fuck am I even thinking.
Eunyung slowly nods his head, "Yeah. Right. We have, uhm.."
He turns to see the look on the older man's face, and is half-surprised to see that he's actually not that shocked. But before he can start smiling, Eunyung catches the tiniest bit of change in the older man's expression.
"Ah I see! Well then, I hope my nephew has been treating you well Eunyung." He's smiling but the confusion of his face still lingers in Eunyung's mind.
"He has. He's been the best." Eunyung stared straight at him, watching for any sort of change. "His mother taught him well, I'm sure she'd be proud." Not that you would know.
Haejoon turns to look at him in slight surprise. His uncle is just as baffled before smiling awkwardly again. "Ha, you're right. Eunju always was a kind-hearted girl, but stubborn enough to stick to her morals..."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing." Eunyung poked again. He really didn't know why he was doing this. To prove some kind of point? He wasn't even sure himself.
But it earned him a light nudge from the man sitting beside him. He felt the other's lips barely brush against his ear, "Hey, that's enough. What are you-"
"It was never a bad thing." Haejoon's uncle replies, sighing as he glances down sadly at the table. "She was right to be mad at me. I shouldn't have pushed her so far away. It's truly my fault..."
"Samchon.." Haejoon starts, getting up to walk over to him. "It isn't your fault. Let's.. let's stop for now, okay?"
He carefully took the single bottle of poison away from where it had been sitting on the table, slightly pushed more towards his uncle. Eunyung tried to help clean up but the stench of the glass hurt his nose so bad he felt like throwing up. Haejoon must have noticed, because he took the glass away without another word.
After all that, Eunyung felt terrible. He really hadn't been trying to make the guy get so emotional. He didn't even know why he spoke up. There was something on that man's face that was telling him that he wasn't convinced. That he thought something about their relationship but didn't want to say it outright.
As Eunyung silently cleaned up the rest of the table, washing up and making his way to bed, he'd prepared the duvet covers ontop of the bed Haejoon's uncle had installed into the second room when he overheard a conversation outside the door. The apartment walls were thin, Eunyung recalled, since he'd heard them talking the first time he came here too.
He wasn't anywhere near the door when he caught the sound of Haejoon's uncle's voice.
"-nice boy, but I'm just worried you two will have a hard time. In a country like thi- no, in a world like this that's filled with so many prejudices, it's difficult. Your mother was judged just the same for believing in something others didn't. I don't want you to go through that again Haejoon-"
"Samchon,"
Haejoon's voice cut through his words.
"With all due respect, I don't care what other people think of me and Eunyung."
Eunyung's eyes widen, drawing himself closer to the door.
"Living with eomma, it was only difficult because other people made it that way for me. I loved her all the same. Despite everything." Eunyung watched Haejoon stare straight into his uncle's eyes, hands place over his arms. "Samchon, I care about Eunyung. Nothing other people say will change that. They can talk all they want. At the end of the day, it's all empty words fueled by hate and jealousy. You understand that, right?"
Haejoon's uncle trembled a little, and Eunyung was surprised to see he was crying again.
God, this guy....
"Oh Haejoon, you're just like her..." He wrapped his arms around the taller man, "You're right, of course you are. I'm sorry..."
Haejoon chuckled lightly, "Stop apologising, samchon."
They hugged it out and Haejoon took the other guy to bed while Eunyung waited.
He waited patiently on the bed, sitting as he watched the time pass by. The shadows on the floor began to move ever so slightly until darkness filled the room more and more. Eunyung lay back against the covers and stared up at the ceiling. He barely even noticed the click of the door opening and closing until he registered the weight that settled beside him.
Eunyung took a deep breath in, "I-"
"Shut up for a sec."
He stayed quiet. A hand slid itself into his, as the two lay with their backs against the covers, legs still reaching the floor.
"I'm not mad."
"Liar, you so are." Eunyung whispers, "I deserve it. I don't know why I said that."
"It's fine. You were annoyed, I get it." Haejoon's hand lightly squeezes his. "It's the only way he knows how to cope. I've been trying to get him off of it, but... it's not easy."
"I know that." Eunyung pauses. "I'm still sorry for being a dickhead."
When he doesn't get a reply, Eunyung assumes that he's still upset. But he feels a shift next to him, and turns to see Haejoon has turned himself over to face the other. They're hands are still clasped together.
"It's okay. You don't have to get mad at him anymore. He's really trying his best, y'know. I know you are as well."
"Am I?" Eunyung turns to face him, but glances away, almost ashamed.
He feels so stupid for acting like that now. For saying some bullshit about his mother, for acting like it was all Haejoon's uncle's fault. For making him blame himself even more. He thought he was done being so hateful all the time, but he supposed bad habits die hard. But with Haejoon, everything felt just that tiny bit easier. He thought it was good. That he was changing. Wasn't he?
A hand reaches out against his cheek, "Of course you are. I see how much you try."
Eunyung's lip trembles. He hates being vulnerable. He hates it so much because it leaves your guard down, it means anyone can get in, anyone can just as easily break your heart. But Goh Haejoon's heart has already been broken once. And Eunyung's has been hurt a thousand times over. They've both been broken before. Which makes it all the more easier to heal together.
"Thank you." Eunyung closes his eyes. "I don't deserve you."
"You deserve just as much as anyone else." Haejoon shuffles closer so their foreheads are touching. "Happy chuseok Eunyung."
He plants a soft kiss on the other's forehead and Eunyung smiles. "You too sunbae."