MISSING, jongsang

26 ; safe and sound

pulled up outside of an apartment complex in the city, yeosang hurried over to san's side, who was in the process of shaking wooyoung awake.

"c'mon, woo..." san's hand brushed through wooyoung's hair, pulling apart the knots throughout, whilst the other rubbed gentle circles onto his shoulder.

not long passed when wooyoung's eyes gradually begun to flutter open, a scared whimper escaping him, before san grounded him of his safe surroundings. "hey, it's alright. you're alright, woo." san smiled softly through his reassuring murmurs, wanting the younger to be as comfortable as possible before moving him. "we're gonna get you inside, now, 's that okay?"

"mhm." wooyoung could only hum and nod his head the slightest bit, any more would leave him curled over in pain; he was too sleepy to act as if he didn't feel like he just got back from a trip to hell.

"yeosang," san called out in a hoarse whisper, grabbing the older's attention.

almost immediately getting the gist, yeosang swung one of wooyoung's arms around his shoulders, san doing the same on the opposite end. the two then hoisted the purple-haired boy out of the car, and up to the entrance belonging to the aisle of apartment blocks.

through the passageway they headed, small and thankfully empty — any passerby's bumping into wooyoung's horrendous state certainly wouldn't end well. squishing into the cramped elevator, san punched a button with the number 8 labelled upon its red paint, which, after a few seconds, caused the machine to whir as it started to travel them upwards.

the silence was thick, yeosang accidentally locking eyes with san at one point, being gifted an awkward blink in return.

the quiet internally driving him nuts, he eventually decided on breaking it. what better way to address the elephant in the room? "so..." two heads whizzed in yeosang's direction. "are you guys—"

"no." "uh huh."

san and wooyoung stared at each other, the older of them stunned. "but, woo, you said..."

"of course you two know how to turn such a simple question into rocket science," yeosang commented in disbelief, regretting even asking them. but whatever they did have, he was happy for them. they deserved each other.

"it's my fault," wooyoung made clear. "i suggested we keep it to ourselves for the time being."

"ah..." though there was a lot left to still unpack, yeosang was glad this fraction of the story was cleared up. "how long's it been?"

"i don't even know what time it is," wooyoung muttered, incapable of answering, earning a chuckle from san who took the question into his own hands.

"'s been five months!"

"that's... a while," yeosang bluntly responded, finding the situation unbelievable to comprehend. after a few mental calculations, he came to the sum that the pair have been together since summer that year. was he that dense, or were wooyoung and san just that good at keeping things to themselves, yeosang didn't know; he'd prefer the latter, however.

the ding of the elevator disrupted yeosang's thoughts, the trio exiting the sliding doors.

wooyoung managing fine with san's assistance, yeosang followed the couple to where san's apartment was situated. keys jingling irritably as they twisted open the room named 1117, they made it inside, san leading wooyoung to his kitchen as warmth seeped into yeosang's shivering body.