begin again | woosan

- thirty three -

wooyoung was sick for three days. jongho and san both stayed with seonghwa, yeosang and wooyoung during this time, jongho wanting to be there for yeosang and san as they helped wooyoung. seonghwa found himself at wooyoung's side as often as possible, worried sick for his best friend.

the last day was evidently the hardest. wooyoung felt like he was going to die from how weak he was, and it hurt his friends and san to see him like that. the boy stayed curled up in yeosang's bed, tremors taking over his body. san held him close and did everything he could to comfort the boy, but he felt like it was useless. wooyoung was in immense pain, and san couldn't fix it.

so when seonghwa came in to check on the boy, san used this opportunity to take a few minutes to himself. he left the apartment and went down to jongho's car, sitting on the hood and sighing deeply. he felt like crying, seeing wooyoung so sick. the boy had barely been able to move from room to room or stay awake for the past three days, and san felt like he had failed the boy he had fallen in love with.

yes, san could finally admit to himself that he was in love with wooyoung. he couldn't deny it any longer, this was no longer a like, but a love.

"san? what are you doing out here?"

san turned around quickly to see hongjoong, the boy appearing confused to see the younger outside.

"i just... i couldn't be in there any longer..."

hongjoong walked over and sat next to san, gently resting his hand on the boy's back.

"he's gonna be okay, san. i promise you that."

"i-i just don't think that i'm doing enough, hyung... he's been so miserable and i don't know what to do."

"you're doing everything right. seonghwa told me last night that he's seen him worse before and that he thinks you've been helping a ton."

"really?"

"yes, really..."

"i-i don't know... i'm just... i hate seeing him like this. i want my wooyoung back..."

'i know you do..."

"this is so hard..." san whimpered.

hongjoong gently hugged san, rubbing the boy's back as he took shaky breaths.

"it's okay to cry, san... it's okay. you're safe."

that was the trigger for the younger, san bursting into tears and clinging to hongjoong. hongjoong did his best to comfort the boy, but he knew that if anyone was really going to be able to help, it was going to be jongho.

"let's get you upstairs, yeah? go see jongho?"

san nodded, tears streaming down on his face. he hadn't felt this loved and supported in years, since before everything happened in high school. he finally found the people who treated him well, who loved him and who were happy to call him a friend. this realization caused san to cry harder, clinging to hongjoong a bit as the two went upstairs.

"san... are you okay?" yeosang asked softly as the boys walked inside.

san could only shrug, beginning to hug himself a bit.

"sangie, where's jongho?" hongjoong asked.

"he's in the shower... he should be out soon though. san... is there anything i can do to help?"

san shrugged again, yeosang hugging him warmly before the three sat on the couch. yeosang and hongjoong each held one of san's hands, doing their best to comfort him while they waited for jongho.

within ten minutes, jongho was making his way into the living room, his face dropping the second he saw his best friend crying.

"sannie... what's wrong?"