Tally Marks- soulmate au

Chapter Twenty-Five: Darkening Nights

"Kwannie! Hansol!" Junhui exclaimed as he threw himself into Seungkwan's arms.

"Oh, you poor baby." Seungkwan said as he wrapped his arms around Junhui.

Hansol watched fondly as the two embraced. It had been a while since they had all seen each other. Hansol and Seungkwan had aged quite a bit, but they were still the silly, comforting couple Junhui had known them as.

"Let's get inside, we have a lot to catch up on." Seungkwan said as he pulled both Hansol and Junhui inside.

Once they were inside Junhui led them to his bedroom and they all plopped down upon his rather large bed. They all sat close to each other as Seungkwan asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Junhui's eyes washed with dread as he shook his head. And Seungkwan immediately understood and took to his usual banter. They talked about all the things they had been up to. Seungkwan and Hansol are now living together with a dog, they both also retired because within their lifetime they had been able to save up enough money to spend the rest of their lives together. At one point Seungkwan joked about adopting a kid, but based off of the fond look that Hansol gave him when they mentioned that, Junhui could tell that neither of them were considering it as a joke. Hansol began telling Junhui about how he had recently got into some new hobbies that he never thought he would consider, like poetry. He and Seungkwan had been combining Hansol's new love for poetry and Seungkwan's old love for singing to make some songs as well. They even showed Junhui some of the things they had been working on. Despite their bodies getting older, they were still the same young hearted couple Junhui had known them to be. It was sweet, really. How they got to go through life together. How they got to grow up together. Their bodies were now 48 years old but they still had plenty of time with each other. They talked about all the trips they had taken and all the trips they plan to take. They had been to the Bahamas and planned to go to Paris.

The three of them talked for hours and hours on end, trying to distract Junhui from everything that had been happening, however, he couldn't get his mind off of it. How was he expected to get his mind off of what had just happened. Seungkwan and Hansol had tried getting Junhui to go to sleep, they built a bubble of comfort for him. Junhui had lied down in the middle of his bed with Seungkwan to his right and Hansol to his left. Seungkwan quietly sang in hopes of getting Junhui to sleep, but to no avail. Junhui pretended to sleep because he didn't want to worry them anymore than they had already been worried. Pretty soon, both Hansol and Seungkwan were asleep on either side of his body, but there was no way he was getting any sleep that night.

After a few hours of just lying between Hansol and Seungkwan, listening to Seungkwan's light snores, he finally got out of bed and trailed around through his house. He just felt so empty and heavy at the same time. He dragged his body around his house like a ghost. His shoulders drooped as he walked towards his craft cabinet and pulled out some old colored pencils and a coloring book. He then went to his living room and just endlessly began to fill in the lines on the old pages. He wasn't able to get his hands to put enough pressure into the pencils so all his colors ended up looking faded and depleted of life. He couldn't even seem to color in the lines properly, he just really needed to do something to keep his mind off of everything that had happened, and off of Chan, that poor boy. How was he doing? Is he okay? Is Seungcheol okay? Why couldn't Wonwoo just stay with him? What about his job? How is he supposed to move on with his work after this?

What about Minghao?

That was an odd question to think at this time, but Junhui was worried. Worried about how the man might see him now, worried about what might happen if this were to get out. They just met recently and were starting to develop something between the two of them. How would this affect their growing relationship? What would Minghao think about how he reacted to the whole situation?

It was all too much to think about, Junhui just kept coloring, trying to push his body away from all the crazy. He just didn't know what to do. No one ever prepared him for this. No one told him that this would happen, because things like this don't happen. Of course, they're heard about, but no one ever thinks that it will happen to them, they think they're safe, when really, no one is safe. Things like this could happen out of nowhere and everyone is an unsuspecting victim. Everyone thinks that they are safe because they always have been, but the past doesn't always dictate the future. Everyone is safe until they aren't and that's something that no one seems to realize. This could happen to anyone at anytime, without warning.

No one is ever safe.

You are never safe.

I am never safe.

No one in this story is safe.

Because disaster could strike at any moment. And it did, for Junhui. And he couldn't understand why. Because there is no answer, and sometimes that's just how it happens. Sometimes life doesn't have any answers. And that was so unsettling to Junhui. An uncomfortable feeling settled in his stomach as his hand ghosted across the paper. He couldn't understand why him, or why now and maybe he would never get an answer. The idea of never getting an answer to these questions caused a gnawing feeling to spread from his stomach to his heavy heart.

He definitely wasn't getting any sleep tonight.