With U // YunGi

The Aftermath

The first thing Yunho did when he arrived Jongho's penthouse apartment was to join in with him on the couch.

Jongho was half slumping, half sitting with one of his boots lying abandoned on the floor and the other still on his foot. He held the TV remote, but was staring at a blank TV screen. "You're back?" Without moving his eyes away, he asked, more like a statement than a question.

Yunho didn't even bother taking his shoes or jacket off before he slipped into the unoccupied far end of the three-seater. He grunted in response, staring ahead with the same vacant eyes as his companion's.

The two of them sighed at the same time.

"I think Yeosang hates me now." Jongho remained still as a statue as he recalled his evening at With U. "He caught me staring at him too long and left work early just to escape me. Am I that scary?"

Yunho ignored him and voiced his own thoughts. "I can't believe I felt uncomfortable to see Mingi laugh with another woman, especially when she was supposedly his date. Now that I think about it, he never even said he likes men."

"I only asked Yeosang if he was interested in dating. Maybe it was a bad idea to suggest that I could rent him at a high price."

"I never felt so flustered before to pretend to be someone's boyfriend."

"Perhaps he didn't like the flowers...?"

"I even exempted him from the extra fees again."

At this, Jongho sat up and turned to Yunho abruptly. "What?"

Yunho had laid his head back and was staring at the ceiling, but now he peered at Jongho from the corner of his eye. "So you've been listening to me all along. I thought you were too busy talking to yourself to care about my problems."

"Says the person who ignored me first." Jongho stood up and realized he was halfway through taking his shoes off. He sat back down to untie the boot laces. "And you were thinking out loud, too! You should be grateful that I'm not shouting at you for not caring about my problems."

They narrowed their eyes at each other.

"Fine," Yunho said, taking his parka off. "How was your night at With U?"

Jongho kicked his Timberlands to the side. "Now you're interested?"

Yunho crossed his arms impatiently.

"Alright, alright." Being the younger one, he knew he shouldn't cross the bottom lines. "It wasn't that great. I tried to impress Yeosang with a bouquet of flowers. I guess he didn't see me as a gentleman like I thought he would."

"Because he left without saying anything?"

Jongho nodded.

"What if he's just going to another job? You know he works in a lot of places." The good hyung he was, Yunho scooted up next to his close friend - that was how he saw Jongho - to show that he was really listening and that he really cared.

"I don't know... Did I mess up? The first time I actually met someone I liked?" Jongho hung his head and played with his fingers.

Yunho wrapped an arm around the younger's shoulders, now playing the role of a teasing brother. "Come on, that's not the Jjongho I know! I only know the confident, successful, and ambitious man who will never stop until he gets what he wants. The guy who encouraged and motivated and supported me. Where did he go?"

In spite of himself, Jongho chuckled. "Thanks, hyung." Then he sighed again. "But that doesn't mean anything's going to change."

"Whoa," Yunho pulled back in feigned shock. "What I see right now is a young adult who has fell so deep into love that there's nothing to cure him."