ANGEL ☾ winwin one shots.

no longer 2. [jaewin]

a/n: ironically back 2 u played when I was writing this. love that song sm. y'all bullied me to this, btw. still love y'all.

gotta thank taylor swift (and chippiemunkies but she's less important) for giving me inspiration. way less angsty than part 1 though.

~

sicheng hates that even home doesn't feel like home without jaehyun.

upon him, there's an old playground, which most of its equipment are either broken or rusted. it's the playground he used to go every evening back then with jaehyun, when they were little kids. now it's just empty, broken and pathetic... like him himself.

drawing out a long sigh, he kicks a rock on the pavement, hands in his pockets. the coldness of winter has subsided, much to his dismay. he has to return to los angeles soon – and faces the subject(s) of his dilemma.

he's been ignoring jaehyun's texts and calls (not that jaehyun bothers to reach out often, anyways) and makes no effort to initiate any form of communication. maybe it's the guilt slowly eating him. until this day, he doesn't know what the kiss means and perhaps it's best if he never does.

" sicheng ," he turns to the voice and sees joshua jogging to him. sicheng stops in his steps. " there you are. I've tried to find you for half an hour ."

" sorry. just went out for a walk and I got... side-tracked ."

joshua pats his back. " it's okay. my fault, too. should've told my parents we're only friends, right? I'm sorry they made you uncomfortable ."

sicheng presses his lips into a thin smile. joshua's parents mistaking them for a couple is the least of his concern now. hell, if he could, he'll make it come true to forget his one hell of an unrequited love.

but it'll be unfair to both of them. a rebound relationship isn't a good idea, with one of your closest friends at that.

joshua takes his time scanning the playground, from the old swings to the sandbox, which is full with empty chip packets. sicheng keeps his eyes on a certain spot: the seesaw. it was jaehyun's favourite. sicheng hated it, but when jaehyun started pouting he never said no.

" reminiscing ?" joshua asks, dragging sicheng back to present.

" what ?"

" something tells me you used to go here often ." joshua side-glances to sicheng, nudging him. " I could see the nostalgia in your eyes ."

sicheng bites the inside of his cheek. " no... not really ."

" c'mon, sicheng. this playground's like, thirty years old and five blocks away from the neighbourhood. no one goes here anymore. if my mom didn't tell me I wouldn't even know it exists ."

damn it, why did joshua has to be so mister-all-knowing?

" fine. I went here almost every day back then, when I was a kid. happy ?"

" you didn't look particularly happy about it though... any bad memories ?"

" no ," sicheng pauses. " in fact there's none. this used to be my safe haven ."

" so why the long face ?"

" nothing, really. let's just go back ."

joshua shrugs. " fine. I guess listening to my mom about how we'll make a cute couple is better than me meddling in your past ."

sicheng shoves joshua away, who bursts into laughter, and for the first time in the week – he laughs as well.

~