Infinitessimaly closer. || Woosan

6. Blanket

🏩

The car's door closes with a silent woosh, and San can no longer hear the last lingering guests chatting and laughing. Enough time has passed for him to be sober enough to drive. They packed their bags before going to the venue, giving them the leisure to take their time getting to the forest cabin.

Coated in the car's silence, San turns his head to find Wooyoung looking at him from under his bangs.

"Got something on my face?" he asks, but Wooyoung gives him a lopsided smile.

"You're handsome," he replies instead. Wooyoung always compliments him, but tonight, more than ever, it feels different, new, worthy of his blush.

San tuts at him, starting the engine as he busies himself with driving.

"You too." He looks at the sinuous road.

"I think I should be a little thicker on the compliments to make up for lost time," Wooyoung says it with a light tone, but San hears the crack in his delivery, the insecurity of being too late.

"You better," he says, but he's grinning, doing his best to focus on his GPS and not stare at the guy he's been in love with for years.

"What should I start with?" his friend hums to himself, and San feels it before he sees it, the feeling of Wooyoung's fingers playing with his shirt's cuff.

The road gets wider as they get closer to the highway, easier to navigate, enough for him to look to the side and see his friend looking ahead and biting his bottom lip. San feels jittery. He doesn't know where this conversation is going, but he's feeling much better after tonight. They talked about things they should've discussed years ago, but what matters is that they're now on even footing. Now, he knows he's not alone.

"I fell in love with you the day you... it was absurd...out of a novel. That time you rescued a stray kitten and nursed it back to health. I remember it was a scrawny little black cat, and you told me he should have my name to give him a good life. It was so sweet, so innocent, and my heart almost stopped. I was so happy when he got adopted."

San laughs, a bit choked, because he remembers that day exactly.

"Hadn't we been friends for less than a year?"

Wooyoung hums, and San cannot really see it with the road lights, but he could swear Wooyoung's blushing.

"Then there was your high school graduation ceremony, and you were so handsome. You looked like you could do anything, and I was so happy just to be around you. I remember, I was going out with that girl... I broke up with her that week because I couldn't stop thinking about your face, your laugh when I slept over that night."

"Ah," San coughs, this time blushing on his own. "I almost kissed you that night. I loved you so much, and I couldn't tell you. I wanted more."

Wooyoung hums, San finding his thigh with his hand as he gets onto the highway. Wooyoung's fingers lace with his.

"The first flat we lived in. It was hard. I was a coward. You started going to the gym, being proud of your gains, walking around shirtless. Ah. I didn't cope very well."

San laughs, still feeling bile at the back of his gums.

"The string of one-night-stands?"

"...Yeah."

"I was so heartbroken. By then, I'd figured you weren't interested in me. Being your best friend was one of the biggest joys in my life, and I didn't want to ruin it."

"I was so scared of losing what we had."

"And now?"

Wooyoung's grip tightens around San's fingers.