begin again | woosan

- fifteen -

wooyoung woke up about two hours later with his head in san's lap, the older gently brushing his fingers through the boy's hair.

"s-sannie?"

"hi, woo~" san greeted with a smile, his voice soft.

"w-what are you doing here?"

"ahh, yeosang gave me a call and told me you had fallen asleep. he invited me over so i wouldn't have to guess when you'd be waking up. did you sleep well?"

"mm.. i slept okay."

"that's a start. do you want to stay the night at mine tonight? you still look pretty tired, bub."

"can i?"

"what have i told you before, hm? you're welcome to stay whenever you want, woo. that includes overnight."

"i-if you're sure it's okay..."

"i wouldn't have asked you if you wanted to if it wasn't, woo. stay the night with me, we can watch another movie or something if you'd like."

"can we play video games?" wooyoung asked shyly.

"of course we can," san agreed, his dimples poking through.

"yay... i-i really had fun playing last time i was over... um... it's been a really long time since i've been allowed to play."

san held back a frown at this statement, nodding in response.

"i'm glad you had fun, woo."

"i-i'm gonna go pack a bag really quick and then we can go... is that okay?"

"wooyoung, you don't have to ask me, bub. you do whatever you need to do to feel ready to head out and then we can, i'm not in any kind of rush. okay?"

wooyoung mentally cursed himself for asking, responding with a small nod and holding back an endless spew of apologies. he walked to his room with tears in his eyes, embarrassed, and quickly started putting a bag together.

san had realized something was off as the boy walked away, deciding to wait a few minutes and give the boy a little space before checking in on him. he was afraid that if he reached out too soon, the boy would panic.

"woo?" san said softly, knocking a bit on the boy's bedroom door a couple minutes later.

"i-i'm almost ready, san!"

"woo... that's not why i came to check on you... is it okay if i come in?"

"yeah... y-yeah, sure..."

"are you sure, woo? i don't want to invade your space."

"i-i'm sure... i-i just—" wooyoung choked out, struggling to hold back his embarrassed tears.

san quickly came into the room, hugging wooyoung from behind and resting his head on the boy's shoulder.

"i'm sorry if i upset you, woo."

"n-no... n-no, it's not you..." wooyoung whimpered, shaking.

"hey... hey, just let it out, yeah? you don't have to hold yourself back like this. you're safe here, it's okay to let it all out."

wooyoung burst into tears, beginning to feel a bit weak on his feet. san felt the gentle pull of wooyoung's body and guided the boy to sit down, pulling him into a hug again as soon as they were both seated.

"i've got you, woo~" san murmured into wooyoung's ear.

"i-i'm s-so sorry..."

"shh... you're okay, bub. you're okay. you have nothing to be sorry for, woo."

"i-i—"

"shh... come here, woo... i'm not upset with you," san whispered as wooyoung started to pull his body away from the older's.

wooyoung finally fell back into san's arms, laying limply in the comforting embrace. he started to calm down at the soft affirmations being whispered into his ear, closing his eyes again.

"woo? when you're ready, can you tell me how you're feeling?"

"mm... e-embarrassed..."

"embarrassed? woo... did i embarrass you?" san asked in worry.

"n-no! n-not you... i-i embarrassed myself. l-like i always do..."

"bub... you shouldn't feel embarrassed for doing things the way you're used to, if that's what this is about. it's going to take a really long time for you to break those habits and build new ones, and i completely understand that. i just want to do what i can to remind you that things are different now to help you break the habits that were forced upon you."

"r-really?"

"of course, woo~"

wooyoung sniffled a bit, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

"how's packing going, hm?"

"i-i'm almost done."

"okay... take your time with finishing, yeah? i don't want you to stress yourself out or anything."

wooyoung nodded, keeping his eyes shut as he leaned his head on san's shoulder for a moment. after that, he finished packing and gave san a nod, the two heading on their way back to san's dorm.

the rest of the day and into the night, the two boys rotated between playing video games, cuddling, going to grab snacks (and dinner, of course) and playing around with each other.

every moment spent by san's side, wooyoung grew more sure of his feelings, and despite the lingering fear he held, he knew it was inevitable.

he really liked san, and there was no way he could avoid his feelings.

-
happy comeback!! how are you all feeling about halazia??

i'm personally obsessed & ridiculously proud of the boys!

enjoy this celebratory update <3