Ateez Stories & Imagines : A compilation

Wooyoung • Friends •

He had never looked lost before. You weren't entirely sure how to deal with the shattered Wooyoung outside your front door, letting out short hiccups of pain between his gentle sobs.
Every broken sound that left him cracked your heart more, splintering fractures of empathy through it.

And yet, despite him being your best friend, maybe even more, you hesitated to let him in.
"Wooyoung, what happened this time?" You murmured with a sigh, kneeling down on the creaking wooden slats beside him, hand resting carefully on his warm shoulder which shook with his cries.

It wasn't the first time you'd seen him cry, not at this time or out of the blue. And definitely not the first or last time you'd see him cry over some other girl.

He tilted his head, catching your gaze. You doubted that he would miss the exasperation in your tone or the hardened acceptance in your own gaze, but you also knew that it wouldn't stop him from carrying out his story of pain this time.

You had long ago steeled yourself to the fact that he saw you as nothing more than his female best friend, the one he'd come running to with his problems and heartache, barely noticing that every time he did he pushed another brick into your own heart.

"It doesn't matter." He said quietly, maybe for the first time. You bit back your surprise and regarded him carefully, retracting your hand from his shoulder. Wooyoung wasn't stupid, you were pretty sure that he had figured out your feelings a long time ago, maybe even before you had.

But it had never stopped him before, so there had to be something beyond that that was holding his tongue now.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk then at least come inside and... we'll watch a movie." You offered, standing up and dusting dirt and tiny pebbles from the wood off of your pants. Truthfully you weren't exactly dressed for visitors, but Wooyoung had seen you in both less and worse outfits than your pyjamas so that was hardly a deciding factor in whether you offered him inside.

But he shook his head, a bitter smile briefly curving his full mouth as he stood, grey hair flopping with less vibrato than usual over his forehead.

"No, you look tired. Don't worry." A new smile met your confused stare, his hands also rubbing dirt from the tight fitting pants clinging to his legs and his adams apple bobbing with a deep swallow. "Really, Y/N. I don't know why I even came here in the first place, it isn't your problem to deal with."

You sighed and grabbed his sleeve, preventing him from turning and leaving.

"If you don't tell me what's wrong how am I supposed to just let you leave? You could go and do anything in this state." He frowned glancing down at your hand on his sleeve, like it were acid rather than just your hand, you kept your grip firmly though refusing to give in to the insulting glance.

"You can't exactly stop me." He reminded you, tone gentler than his hands as he tore your grip from him. He wasn't being overly aggressive, but the movement hurt non the less, more so in your heart than your skin.

"Wooyoung!" He shook his head, sighing. At some point since he'd turned up on your porch crying and now, his tears had dried on his cheeks and you barely resisted the urge to swipe your fingers over the dried trail.

Everything about his pain hurt you, but you'd tried countless times to capture his attention, to be more than just his best friend. Unfortunately, Wooyoung was either dumb or just so completely uninterested in you that he couldn't even consider being more than friends with you. Judging by his almost perfect grades throughout high school, you'd have to go with the latter option.

"It's never stopped you before." You muttered at him, narrowing your eyes in annoyance. It was true, never before had he hesitated to pour out his heart or mind to you until now.
And yet here he stood for the first time in years, clearly distraught but throwing up a half defensive wall to keep you out. You weren't accustomed to being on this side of the wall, to seeing the careful distance being put between you like he needed to protect you from something; from himself.