CHASING YOUTH. wsn ✓

025.

i wanted to conquer the whole world, only to realise that my whole world is you.

—

it was exam season and everyone was stressed. that includes yeosang and wooyoung. those two, despite being top students, were still stressed about their grade. their teachers had mercilessly piled more and more work onto them, each subject coming with two or more exam practices that they have to finish at least a week before the actual exam.

right now, the six of them were sitting in the library, buried in books that were fanned out around them. each were studying for a different subject, except for jongho, who was only there for yeosang's mental support and for sneaking in any type of food anyone wanted.

"wooyoung, what's the hooke law again?" mingi asked quietly, scared that the librarian would kick him out. him and yunho sneaked in here once after lights out in the library, causing their names to be on the black list of the librarian. the librarian was replaced with another a month later, but mingi still had this fear of being kicked out by the librarian, no matter who was on duty.

wooyoung sighed. he put down his pencil and glanced at mingi, "if you didn't know so many physics vocabulary and formulas, why did you pick physics over biology?"

mingi shrugged, "biology bore me. now answer my question!"

"shh." came the librarian's voice, followed by a glare at the group of students. yunho, being the oldest one, bowed in apology and later smacked mingi's head, earning a soft yelp from his boyfriend. "not my fault that she has great listening," mingi muttered. yunho threatened to smack him again, to which mingi buried his nose into his textbook to avoid yunho from doing so.

wooyoung looked over at san, who was frowning and very stubbornly drawing circles into his rough paper. the younger looked at yeosang, asking if he could scoot over to let wooyoung sit next to san. yeosang just moved away from the table completely, telling the rest of the group that he needed a break and dragged jongho out with him. wooyoung sat next to san, who only glanced at him very briefly.

wooyoung looked over at what san was doing. ah, it was maths. no wonder san was this frustrated. wooyoung took san's pencil from him and started solving the equation, smiling at san when he's done. "you were substituting the wrong number to the variables. does that make sense now?" wooyoung asked.

san nodded. wooyoung frowned, knowing that san was unusually quiet. perhaps it was the exam stress finally getting to him, but wooyoung knew that san worked exceptionally well under stress. there must be something else bothering san. wooyoung just wanted to know what it was, but it almost felt inappropriate to ask him in such setting.

so wooyoung waited until they were saying their goodbyes, promising each other that they'd be here at the same time tomorrow at 12. wooyoung was holding onto san's hand as they walked back home, san stopping all of a sudden.

"go, wooyoung," san muttered. his eyes were wandering around, highly aware of his surroundings. wooyoung frowned. he was even more confused now; what was happening?

wooyoung started to plead san to tell him what was going on, but all was revealed when a row of motorcycle headlights were shone on the couple. san cursed under his breath, gripping onto wooyoung's sides, "you've got to run now. call the police or something; i'll be fine."

"no," wooyoung protested. he held onto san's shoulders, "no! i'm not leaving you like the last time. i'll be here with you, i'll-"

"aw, you guys fall more in love every time i see you. we meet again, young brother. and you too, wooyoung." byun-min said, that sick grin on his face. san glared at his brother, placing himself between byun-min and wooyoung, "how did you know his name?"

byun-min shrugged. he was sitting on his motorcycle as he pulled the bat out from the back, "i did my research, of course. i couldn't go around no knowing the name of the man my brother loves now, can i?"

san snarled. wooyoung could tell that the older was about to tick off like a bomb, so he placed a hand on san's forearm, making san look at his lover. wooyoung smiled, "i'll be alright. i'll stay here with you."

"no, you're going," san said firmly, "i'm not letting you stay here. go. i'll come back to you, i promise."

wooyoung frowned, "you promise?"

san nodded. he kissed wooyoung and felt the younger wrapping his arms around san's neck, unable to let go of san. he knew san would only be gone for a while, but what if san was gone for longer than that? what would wooyoung do then?

"i promise. like how the moon promises us to shine brightly against the pitch black canvas." san replied, staring lovingly into wooyoung's lovely eyes. he saw the shorter tearing up and chuckled lightly, placing one last kiss on wooyoung's forehead before ushering him to go, "i'll see you soon, yeah?"

wooyoung nodded, then turned around and ran to the nearest alleyway to get away from the scene of action. wooyoung knew that it wouldn't end well, but him being away meant that san would at least worry about one less thing. it was for the better, he kept on trying to convince himself, but no matter how many times he tried to convince himself, it still seemed wrong. he knew that byun-min and his crew would beat san near to death. and it felt wrong that wooyoung wasn't there with san.

so he ran back. he didn't care how much san would scold him afterwards. he had to protect his lover, too. and if that meant putting himself in danger, wooyoung would do it. wooyoung would do it anytime, anywhere. and if that doesn't prove their immense love towards each other, then wooyoung don't know what would.