martyrs & maniacs. | tbz jujae

26.

They already walked a decent distance away from Chanhee, and yet Juyeon's mind is still flying.

No, it's not because of his encounter with his ex-boyfriend (God, that term gave Juyeon more relief than grief) — well, maybe it's partly because of that, but Juyeon is mostly distracted by something else.

His eyes unconsciously go back to their still-interlocked hands. He stares for a while, and then looks away.

For some reason, the warmth from Hyunjae's hand feels nice.

They keep walking away from the classroom and eventually, away from the fair. Juyeon just lets himself be dragged for the second time today. Only this time, he didn't resist nor his body tried to tell him to. He lets Hyunjae lead the way, fingers intertwined with each other, until Juyeon can't hear the noise from the crowd anymore.

The park is where they ended up, and it didn't take long for Hyunjae to get Juyeon to sit in one of the benches and hand him an ice cream cone from the ice cream truck nearby. Juyeon just watched the older as he did all of these. His mind is still a whirlwind of emotions; he's unable to think clearly, lots of thoughts occupying his mind.

But all of them disappeared the moment Hyunjae took a seat at the space beside him.

There's a comfortable silence in the air, none of them wanting to talk and just opted for watching the group of kids nearby play some game that Juyeon doesn't know. He didn't even know that this place beside their campus is open to the public.

After a while, Hyunjae speaks. "How are you feeling?"

Juyeon swallows the last fragment of the cone he was chewing before answering his friend. "Fine...?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there in time. And I'm sorry for... what happened. You know, intervening with your conversation and breaking up with Chanhee for you."

He looks at him incredulously. "Hyung, why are you apologising? You did nothing wrong."

The blond looks embarrassed, flustered even, and Hyunjae is about to reply with another explanation on why he apologised when Juyeon shuts him off with a raise of his finger, a warm smile plastered on his face. If anything, it should be Juyeon who needs to apologise to Hyunjae for bringing him into his and Chanhee's mess. The older man could've just ignored everything and walked away, but instead he chose to intervene and drag Juyeon away from the cause of his heartbreak and sleepless nights.

Hyunjae's an angel, and Juyeon is very thankful for that. He voices his thoughts to the older man.

There's a fairly visible blush dusting Hyunjae's cheeks when Juyeon finished thanking him. He pats his thigh lightly. "And why are you thanking me? You know I'd gladly fight with anyone for your sake."

Truth be told, Juyeon felt an non-existent spotlight shine on Hyunjae back when they were still with Chanhee on the campus. There aren't any extravagant costumes nor background music, he may have said only a few words and his tone of speaking wasn't that aggressive nor something that can make one cry, but Juyeon can't help but just... stare in awe at the way Hyunjae acted earlier. It was a new side of Hyunjae that he definitely hadn't seen before, even though Hyunjae is a versatile actor and has already played a vast majority of roles in previous plays.

The passive-aggressive words, the bored glare, the tight yet assuring grip on his hand... Juyeon can't help but let his growing admiration for his friend bloom even more.

And as they watch the sunset from their seats, ignoring the way Eunseo bombarded their phones with messages asking where they are, realization hits Juyeon and he falls silent.

Maybe, just maybe. He thinks. Moving on wouldn't be that difficult after all.