~ bitter ~

pain

The sun rises and Hongjoong sighs, realising he had failed to sleep yet another night. It's a struggle to even sleep at this point and Hongjoong knows he can't go on much longer on no sleep.

He throws his head back in despair, trying desperately to quieten down the chaos in his head that had been stirred up again.

A notification on his phone grabs his attention as his fingertips instinctively leave his forehead and grab his phone.

It's his professor - he's going to be away for a week and the students just have to carry on with his investigation. Hongjoong, being the most caring person one would ever meet, finds himself wondering if everything was okay with him.

Most would be relieved by this, but Hongjoong dreads staying in and having nothing to do. He hates being left alone with his thoughts and university gives him a forced distraction.

His fingers find themselves on Seonghwa's contact page, itching to press "Call". He doesn't want to be a bother, though. Hongjoong's too selfless and he knows this because even though it's impossible for him to quieten his mind down by himself, he's reluctant to reach out.

With great strength, the dark-haired boy calls his boyfriend.

"Joong, I'm kind of busy. What is it?" Seonghwa sounds tired and fed up.
Hongjoong's heart sinks, thinking he had upset the older.

"No! No it's okay, I'm sorry! I just-"

Seongwha sighs, adjusting his tone.

"Baby, I'm almost done with this shoot and then I'll be home, alright? We'll watch a film and I'll make all the scary thoughts disappear," Seonghwa is careful with what he says, knowing how sensitive Hongjoong is and he's really trying to control his anger for him.

Hongjoong smiles to himself, finding comfort in his boyfriend's words.

---

Seonghwa clicks his last shot for the day, checking his camera to see if it looks good enough. It does, and the red-haired photographer packs his camera away and leaves the building.

"That was a good shoot today, Seonghwa!" his boss, Yunho, shouts as he catches up to him in the parking lot. "We should get you to come up with more concept ideas, hm?"

Seonghwa smiles and thanks him, putting his coat on and bidding goodbye as he walks away to find his car. 

When he gets home, everything is quiet and Seonghwa gets worried rather quickly. He hides the concern by not calling out to Hongjoong and just carries on looking for him. Seonghwa hates showing that he cares unless he absolutely has to. He finally finds him in the bedroom with a bottle of gin beside him. Hongjoong seems to be asleep or passed out while cuddling Seonghwa's hoodie.

"Oh, Hongjoong..." Seonghwa trails off, relieved yet still worried for his boyfriend, and walks over to him to make him comfortable.

---

besties im about to unalive myself if one more minor inconvenience happens :D

anyway i know i have no readers on this story yet but enjoy this chapter n stuffs uwu 

+{not proofread at all}+