Angelic || suhyeok x cheongsan || aouad || ON HIATUS

Chapter 17 - i think we're dreamy

A desperate knocking on the door alerted Cheong-san from nodding off.
"Cheong-san! Su-hyeok! Are either of you in there? Can I come in? You're not... doing anything are you?"
He relaxed when he recognised On-jo's voice. Cheong-san carefully placed Su-hyeok to the side, and stood to remove the wet floor signs to allow On-jo in. She sighed in relief upon seeing Cheong-san, but quickly pushed past to make sure Su-hyeok was with him. Cheong-san closed the door and reset their makeshift alarm.

"Don't be too loud, he's got a headache, and we thought sleep would be the best way to get rid of it."
She nodded, "He doesn't look very comfortable."
"That's because I had to stand up to let you in. He was laying on me before you came," in his annoyance, there was a slight hint of fondness.
"Well you can go back now."
They rolled their eyes at one another, small smiles escaping. Cheong-san lazily raised a middle finger as he settled back down, resting Su-hyeok's head back on his legs.

After resuming the stroking of his back, Cheong-san stared up at On-jo, who was awkwardly picking at a loose thread on her skirt.
"You can sit, you know."
She sat opposite them.
"He's still got my skirt."
The look on Cheong-san's face was enough to put some fear into anyone.
On-jo raised her hands in defence, "I'm not complaining! It's almost a compliment to me that he's even wearing it. And he looks good in it. Better than me."
"That's not really an achievement," Cheong-san grinned after a few seconds.
"If Su-hyeok wasn't there, I'd kick you."
"I know," he winked.

If On-jo had no self control, her foot would have collided right between his legs, probably rendering Cheong-san immobile for a few hours. Thankfully, for the sake of Cheong-san, she possessed enough control to not do so. And, Su-hyeok's head being right where she would have stomped probably helped too. 'Cheong-san is a very lucky person today,' she thought.

CHEONG-SAN

I was grateful On-jo was with us. She was almost like our personal bodyguard at that moment. I could finally relax my muscles, which I hadn't realised had been so tense. I tried to slouch as much as possible without waking Su-hyeok. Fuck, I hadn't realised how tired I was, even with the tiles on the walls partly digging into my shoulders, I wasn't far from sleep.
"Cheong-san? Are you going to sleep?" On-jo was full of judgement.
"Yeah. Fuck off and let me," my eyes were closed and my teeth were gritted.
"I'll wake you if anything happens outside. Sleep well," her voice grew softer.
I lowered my arms to loosely rest on Su-hyeok's stomach, and leaned my head against the wall.

I couldn't remember falling asleep, nor if I had any dreams, but when I woke up Su-hyeok had shifted into a semi-seated position, his head on my shoulder, arms tightly holding my torso, a small smile plastered on his face. I struggled slightly against his grip, and the smile morphed into a grin.
"You're awake?" I whispered.
"So are you."
"Welcome back to the land of the living," On-jo idly raised a hand from across the room.
"When did–?" Su-hyeok winced, his hand shooting to his head, "Nevermind, you can message me later."
"Headache?"
"Yeah. It's better but it still hurts like hell."
On-jo rummaged through her bag and tossed a packet of tablets.
"Painkillers."

SU-HYEOK

I owed Cheong-san for a lot of things, but the list of things I owed On-jo for was growing. That was twice she'd given me painkillers, and I wasn't going to give her the skirt back any time soon. It was comfortable. Cheong-san liked it. Wearing it, I had the confidence to say fuck you to the principal.
Maybe it was a slight liability – a liberating liability. Either way, I'd basically stolen the skirt.

I picked up the packet, instantly swallowing two tablets dry. Cheong-san's eyes widened and they flicked between me and On-jo.
"What?"
"You can swallow tablets dry?"
It wasn't really a question, more of a semi-yell, right in my ear. I scrunched my nose, and was about to call Cheong-san a fucking dumbass, and that it wasn't hard, but On-jo managed to cut me off.
"You must have a really small throat."
I couldn't help but choke down a laugh, my mind having wandered somewhere it really shouldn't have – especially with On-jo here.
'It must be the headache messing with my mind,' I tried to convince myself.
Cheong-san lightly flicked my back before shoving me off him.
"You're disgusting," he hissed.

I felt cold without holding onto him anymore. I ran my hand across the floor until it reached his, and leaned against the wall next to him. The chill paired with the sharp edges of the tiles was a shock, causing my grip on Cheong-san's hand to deepen for a moment. On-jo raised an eyebrow, clearly having seen the squeeze, but misreading it massively.
"I guess I'll go," she gathered up her things, only pausing to check the time on her phone, "You better be quick because school ends in ten minutes and you'll be locked in."
She ran out the door, knocking over all the wet floor signs, tried to pick them up and rearrange them, failed miserably, cursed under her breath, gave up, and left.
"That was..." I trailed off.
"Weird."
I looked at Cheong-san and nodded.

CHEONG-SAN

I had no idea why On-jo departed in such a strange way. Su-hyeok looked like he knew something but would never tell me. Honestly, On-jo had been acting slightly off since Su-hyeok and I became official. She'd been far more distant with me, or maybe I hadn't given her as much attention as normal. Maybe she liked Su-hyeok? Or me– no, that was a really terrible thought. I'd rather date a zombie than her. And I wasn't straight, which she knew. So perhaps she really did like Su-hyeok, but was just trying to be respectful of our relationship? I was probably overthinking it all. On-jo was just On-jo, my best friend since childhood.

I shook off all of those thoughts, and stood up, taking Su-hyeok with me. He wobbled, resting both arms on me to stabilise.
"I'm not carrying you."
"Can I at least lean on you?"
I wrapped his arm over my shoulders, and began our walk home.

Everything was quiet. Not too quiet. The perfect kind of quiet. Neither of us feared seeing Gwi-nam the next day, which granted us peace.
The apartment was also quiet. On the table, my mom had left a note saying the restaurant had a large reservation booked so she would back late. I smiled, embracing the sense of freedom that washed over me. Su-hyeok grinned at me, after reading the note too, his headache apparently completely gone.

We both dumped our bags on the floor, along with our shoes. Only when standing, could I fully appreciate the height difference between us. I reached up, standing on my toes, to wrap my arms over Su-hyeok shoulders.
"How's your head?"
"Completely better, thanks to you."
"So you won't mind if I do this?"
I gently brushed my lips against his, feeling him smile into it.
"You're supposed to kiss me back."
"Sorry," he smirked, taking this as an opportunity to lift me up and kiss me with more passion.
"Angel, fuck."
I knew I'd flushed bright red, but I couldn't care.
"Cheong-san? Su-hyeok?"
Shit.
That was my mom.