HAPPY ENDING | svt ✓

⁸³ : soulmate

"i need to tell you something." joshua stared at jeonghan, the blonde boy putting down the cloth he had been using to wipe joshua's wounds. "it's something that's been bothering me for a while," jeonghan continued, head still bent downwards.

joshua's eyes wandered over every aspect of jeonghan, wondering what it was that could've caused his best friend to talk in such a serious manner. before he could even ask what was wrong though, jeonghan suddenly lifted his hand up in front of his face. "do you see it?"

"see what?"

"the red string."

in that moment, joshua was sure that his friend had gone mad, his eyes scanning each finger and seeing nothing but scratches and some of his blood staining his hands. but, since it seemed important to jeonghan, joshua took his friend's hand in his and tried his best to further inspect it.

he was so focused that he didn't notice seungcheol creeping up behind him, the god of the underworld glaring at their connected hands before sitting between them and taking jeonghan's hand away from his. "what're you two doing?"

"hades, weren't you supposed to be helping jun to heal minghao?" jeonghan asked, his hand resting comfortably in seungcheol's. the boy shrugged, casually bringing jeonghan's hand onto his lap and beginning to play with his fingers. "are my fingers that fascinating to you?"

joshua looked between the two of them, a smile playing on his lips upon seeing his friend that comfortable with someone else apart from him. ever since he had known jeonghan, the boy always let people into his life but never allowed them to so much as enter past his gates. in a sense, joshua felt thankful that he was one of the few that jeonghan had given a key to but the longer he observed the pair before him, he realised that what jeonghan had with seungcheol was far more than just him giving a simple key to unlock his gates.

as seungcheol continued to ignore jeonghan's questioning, joshua took note of the fond smile growing on jeonghan's face and that was when he knew for sure what exactly seungcheol was to jeonghan, the god smiling when jeonghan flipped his hand around to hold his hand instead.

"why're you smiling blondie's sidekick?" joshua didn't notice how wide his smile had gotten, his vicarious happiness evident. "you're really weird," seungcheol remarked, his hands glowing blue as he stood up. soon, a hand warmer appeared in his hands and as soon as it appeared, he handed it to jeonghan. "you're always cold so there," he said in a tone that joshua assumed to be an attempt to sound cool.

"thanks hades," jeonghan said, seungcheol patting his head in return before walking away from the pair. when he was gone, jeonghan turned to look at joshua. "i'm sorry for him. he's been strangely clingy these days and-"

"you two are soulmates aren't you?" jeonghan's eyes widened, looking down at his hand. "and no, i can't see the red string of fate but i don't need to see it to feel it."

silence fell upon them, joshua knowing jeonghan well enough to realise that he was piecing all his thoughts together.

"i didn't want to believe it at first." once jeonghan started, joshua immediately blocked out all other noises around him, all his attention trained onto jeonghan. "but, thinking about it now, i think deep down, i've known that all along ever since the weekend retreat we all went to when we stayed at mingyu's place." jeonghan looked up, the sun slowly setting as he spoke. "i want to pretend that i don't know the reason for my denial but i'm pretty sure even you know of it by now." joshua smiled at him, inching closer to rest his hand on his shoulder. "i thought that i'd always be in love with you joshuji-don't laugh! i'm being serious!"

joshua waved his hands around as jeonghan attempted to hit him. "how cute! you thought i'd be your one and only love-"

"shut up!" jeonghan said, finally landing a soft hit on the side of joshua's head. once both of them calmed down, joshua urged him to continue speaking. "you made me lose my train of thought," he stated, frowning slightly at joshua who stopped himself from chuckling. "but i guess, i just didn't want to move on from what was familiar to me so i kept denying anything new."