Why do you love? -Seongjoong

Part 1

Hongjoong was grinning broadly, a half emptied glass of champagne swirling gently in his right hand.

He was dressed to the nines, of course. His assistant-slash-best friend, Wooyoung, had managed to use his connections to get him a BALMAIN suit for the evening, which made him feel even more like the burgeoning success that he was.

His photography exhibition, WALKER A, had done so well he was asked to keep it open for an additional weekend, and those tickets had sold out just as fast as the first ones.

Hongjoong was one to stay humble, but it didn't change the fact that he felt on top of the world. The truth was that he worked hard for this. He poured out his blood, sweat, and tears for years to get where he was now and tonight was the night to relish his success.

Another swig of champagne, another boisterous laugh—his cheeks were beginning to hurt from all the smiling he'd done. His best friend Yunho had come by for a second time, bringing his boyfriend Mingi to see the exhibit, and Hongjoong may have had an extra glass of champagne with them. They were still wandering around here somewhere, waiting for Hongjoong to finish up for the evening so they could go out for (more) celebratory drinks.

Hongjoong was warm and buzzy and happy, so happy.
He was sure that tomorrow when he took down the photos he'd start to feel the reality sink in and feel the pressure that came from being an overnight success, but tonight he planned to ride this high for as long as it lasted him.

Hongjoong finished his glass of champagne and was debating reaching for another. The watch on his wrist indicated he only had another half hour before the end of the show. A waiter passed by and Hongjoong snagged a champagne flute, just to at least have something to occupy his hands.

As he meandered back towards the main room he smiled at people he knew and people he didn't. The crowd was slowly thinning as the night grew later, but there were still plenty of people lingering, either chatting or perusing Hongjoong's photos.
Yunho and Mingi were chatting with Wooyoung in a corner and Hongjoong was just about to make a beeline for them when he heard a soft voice calling his name.

The voice was vaguely familiar, and so Hongjoong turned around with a friendly smile on his face, only to feel it freeze as he saw who he was looking at. His eyebrows arched and his eyes went huge because his brain could not accept what he was seeing.
Or rather who he was seeing.

Because how the fuck was Park Seonghwa standing in front of him at his photography exhibit?

And why the fuck was Park Seonghwa standing in front of him at his photography exhibit?

It must've been what, five, six years since he'd last seen Seonghwa?
They had been the best of friends through all of high school, ever since freshman year when they'd been seated next to each other in art class. It took Hongjoong two weeks to be able to form a coherent sentence around Seonghwa, who misunderstood Hongjoong's ineptitude for dislike.

Seonghwa had been quite pleasantly surprised and delighted when Hongjoong managed to invite him to hang out after school. They had been inseparable after that.
The friend group that formed around them during the following years teased them for being the eldest among them, calling them 'mom and dad' (or 'grandma and grandpa' on special occasions), but it had only further strengthened their bond as a unit. Yunho, Mingi, and Wooyoung had all been a part of that group, they were all still close.
All of them but Seonghwa.

The last time any of them had seen Seonghwa was at the two eldest's graduation party. Not the boring one held by the school or by their families where all the relatives gathered, but the secret, fun one planned only for themselves. The one that was just the eight of them sneaking alcohol into Mingi's house when his mom was gone for work during the weekend. The one where they accidentally ordered fifteen pizzas instead of five. The one when Yeosang bet Jongho he could make a bigger cannonball than him, just to trick the tipsy younger boy into jumping into the pool fully clothed.

The one when a drunk Seonghwa clung to an even drunker Hongjoong and, on the verge of tears, confessed that he was in love with him.

Seonghwa. In love with Hongjoong.

Elated, Hongjoong turned back into that voiceless idiot he'd become when he'd first met Seonghwa, gaping like a fish at his confession.

Devastated, Seonghwa tried to run and hide in embarrassment somewhere, only for Hongjoong to pull him back with a little too much force, sending them both crashing into the couch.

Hongjoong may not have been able to verbalize his feelings back, but he met Seonghwa's lips in a kiss. And then he did it again. And again.

The rest of the evening was spent wrapped in each other's arms, stealing kisses, being mocked continuously by the rest of their friends.
It was perfect. For one night, everything was absolutely perfect.

Hongjoong woke up wrapped in Seonghwa's arms on the couch. They all went out for brunch as one big happy and hungover family, and then they went back to their respective homes, planning to enjoy the rest of the summer together just like that.
Then suddenly Seonghwa was gone.

First they noticed he wasn't responding to any of their texts. Then they noticed he'd left the group chat. Then they couldn't find him on social media.
Then Hongjoong and Yunho had worriedly showed up to the condo Seonghwa lived in with his father, only to find it vacated.

Hongjoong didn't get over it that summer. He still wasn't over it by the following summer either, even after his first busy year of university.
The group chat blew up when Jongho found Seonghwa's new social media by accident when he was running the account of their former high school.
Apparently he had disappeared to Japan.

Hongjoong met that information with a lot of difficult feelings.
He knew he didn't have the full story. He knew there was probably a lot of complicated shit that went into Seonghwa's disappearance from Hongjoong's world. Hell, he was even 99% sure that Seonghwa had been yanked from their lives against his will, but it still hurt.
It hurt so fucking bad.
Because it was one thing for him to disappear without a word, and a completely different thing to never come back and explain.
Not a peep for over a year.
And not a peep for the next four years either.

Not a peep until the man himself had the gall to show up in front of Hongjoong at his fucking art exhibit.