moving day | Heeseung x Jay

nineteen

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"We should call home," Heeseung says.

It's a lazy Sunday morning, and Jay is turning on a retro-style radio that Heeseung's brother bought them as a move-in gift a while back. Despite its archaic appearance, it works pretty well and can connect to the local radio stations. Jay had found a station that played only Beatles music the other day and is now turning the dial to find it.

"Okay, should we call my parents or yours? We're three hours ahead, so they might not pick up." The omelet in Jay's stomach is settling, and Heeseung looks equally satiated as he waters their plants.

"Well, my mom would probably pick up since I don't call her as often as you do with your parents. Do you know what time your parents work?"

"Early, so they might miss the call if we try." Jack licks leftover salt and pepper from his lips. "Let's call yours."

"Should we facetime them?" Heeseung's hands are wet from the watering can. He wipes them on his jeans and unlocks his phone. "Mom would be thrilled if she saw our faces."

"Up to you," Jay comes and stands next to Heeseung as he opens the app on his phone. "Damn, when was the last time I facetimed someone?"

"Forever ago," Heeseung replies before finding his mom's name and pressing the call button. "It'd be funny if she didn't pick up."

"She will." Jay looks at themselves in the camera as the facetime sound emanates. Heeseung is focused on the 'calling' icon, squinting his eyes at the screen and ready to pout if the call times out. Jay likes how Heeseung's cheekbones look in the morning light, so he's half-disappointed when Heeseung's mom's face fills the screen, and he has to tear his gaze away from their own camera.

"Mama!" Heeseung greets, and his mother's face splits into the largest smile. Jay grins, too.

"How are you?" He asks, leaning into the screen and resting his chin on Heeseung's shoulder, "We missed you and thought we'd call."

"I would be better if my son spoke to me more often~" Heeseung's mother waggles a finger at the screen, and Heeseung cackles like a kindergartener.

"I've been busy. I haven't forgotten about you. Don't worry," Heeseung teases, voice lilted.

"You better not have," Heeseung's mother says playfully before calling her husband. "Look who deigned to give us a call."

"Who? Oh! Hey, kiddo! It's been ages!" Heeseung's father is holding a box labeled PEABERRY in sharpie. "How've you been?"

As Heeseung converses with his parents, Jay recognizes the surroundings on the other side of the camera. "Are you at the coffee plant?" He asks when there's a pause in the conversation.

"Yes, we are! We stopped by to drop off something, and Sunghoon and Mila looked like they needed help moving coffee bean packages, so we decided to help them out. Oh, speak of the devil!" Heeseung's mom tilts the camera, and Jay sees Sunghoon file into the room, a thin layer of sweat on his arms and forehead. "Sunghoon, come and say hi to Jay and Heeseung."

Sunghoon looks up, surprised, before a smile of disbelief forms on his face. "No way." He puts the box down before walking up to the phone. Heeseung's mother gives him the device after insisting that she get more boxes while they talk. "It's really you two idiots."

"Ass," Jay says. His cheeks hurt from smiling. Heeseung is just as elated next to him.

Sunghoon looks good, but he always does, so it's nothing different. Jay is reminded of how he'd envied his friend as a kid, but that turned to admiration and then to mutual respect. Now, more than ever, he misses Sunghoon.

Heeseung fills Sunghoon in on their busy schedules, and Jay relishes in Sunghoon's occasional sarcastic remark and hums of understanding. The guy has always carried himself with subtle confidence, and Jay is glad to see that he's never grown out of it. It makes sense, he thinks, that Jungwon and he make such a great pair: Their silent but lethal ambition combined with skin-deep loyalty is why he's proud to call them both his friends.

"Anyway," Jay zones back into the conversation and listens as Sunghoon updates them. "Mila has been home for the summer; she's teaching surfing with Niki to tourists for pocket money. Mum kept nagging me to come back to visit, so I did. I'll be gone next week."

"Back to Jungwon?" Heeseung asks, and Sunghoon blushes.

"Back to England," He corrects, but both statements are true. "Oxford is expensive. I can't stay away for too long."

"Sunghoon, are you bragging about getting to attend a fancy graduate school?" Mila walks into the room, her small frame taking up a tiny portion of the screen, and in their own camera, Jay sees Heeseung's lips part around an "oh," caught off guard.

"No," Sunghoon sneers before gesturing her over. "Jay and Heeseung are on the phone."

Jay hasn't seen Mila properly in a long time. He doesn't remember their conversations from his holiday visits during university. They had split on good terms, but it's still jarring. However shocked he looks, though, Heeseung looks ten times that.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" Mila looks refreshed, like she was just out at sea. Maybe she was.

Jay recovers first. "We've been good. Super busy, though. Sunghoon said you're teaching malahini."

Mila nods, dusting her hands off on her shorts. There is definitely sand in her hair. "Yea, it's been pretty easy. Niki is a great teacher, and he says that I'm good with the kids. 'Kinda just waiting for summer to be over so I can finish my last year at Uni."

"I get that," Heeseung says breezily. "The last year feels the longest and shortest, somehow."

Heeseung's parents come back into the room with the last of the boxes they were moving, and the four of them crowd into the camera screen. Mila checks her watch and says she has to meet Niki soon to teach more lessons.

"Remember when we learned to surf?" Sunghoon says, and Heeseung's parents start chuckling.

"We certainly do." Heeseung's mother brings a hand to her chest. "Heeseung thought Jay got eaten by a whale."

Heeseung ducks his head while Jay smirks. "You really had such little faith in me."

Heeseung has the gall to look insulted. "We literally watched Finding Nemo the day before, so don't even start! Marlin knew what the fuck was up."

"Language," Heeseung's mother crows as Heeseung's dad follows up with a hearty laugh.

"Speaking of whales," Mila says, "I saw a pod of dolphins during my study abroad in Australia last semester. My friends and I went sailing, and our boat got pretty close to them. It was super cool."

"Mila." Sunghoon turns to his sister with mock exasperation. "Do we need to go over the difference between sea mammals again?"

Mila's resting expression twists into a look of annoyance that only a sibling can master. "I hate you."

"No, really," Sunghoon continues, mirth tugging at his lips. "If you need a marine life review, I'm happy to give you some lessons."

"Dolphins are smaller types of whales!" Mila groans loudly, and the siblings start bickering. Heeseung's parents have a very amused but we've-seen-this-before reaction.

"It was nice talking to you two," Heeseung's father says. "This," he gestured at the Park siblings, "probably won't stop unless we intervene, so we gotta go. We love you both."

"Call me more!" Heeseung's mother scolds, and Heeseung says he will as Sunghoon and Mila pause their argument to call out a "bye!" Then they hang up.

Jay feels a little empty; he misses home. Heeseung's family is just as much his as his own is, and he hasn't properly chatted with Sunghoon in a while. Heeseung looks similarly absent.

"Let's play with Halley," Jay says, hoping the rabbit will fill the part of him that feels hollow.

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