playing nice | park seonghwa

chapter four

- warnings: arguing? angst

...

Your entire body felt like death warmed up on a hot day. There was an insistent banging in your head that you soon realised was your own overly loud heartbeat. Your mouth felt like it hadn't seen water for five years.

You groaned and rolled over. Upon noticing how cold the bed was you peeled open your eyes. The room was completely empty. Not even a trace of life beyond yourself. You sat up slowly, reaching for the bottle of water on the side table when you noticed your sleepwear.

Then the groggy memories started to trickle in.

Lou and the wedding had taken up so much of your focus that you hadn't had a chance alone with your thoughts to process whatever was happening with Seonghwa. You had gone from constantly bickering and spewing rude remarks at each other to reminiscing about your childhoods and... kissing?

But this wasn't just kissing, because that would be strange but tolerable by itself, no it was far more than that. It was kissing behind closed doors, it was holding each other while you slept, it was that feeling that was starting to resurface. The uncertainty of having a crush on someone you shouldn't, someone too close to hurt, someone who's always been there.

Your mind flashed back to the countless times Seonghwa had been there with open arms whenever Nathan hurt you, regardless of how many times you pushed him away. Even when Nathan called him every name under the sun and you just stood there and let him, completely blinded by the illusion of a perfect boyfriend.

Somehow Seonghwa stayed through it all. You could feel yourself drawing closer to some kind of revelation as to what went sour between the two of you. Maybe a party? Or a big argument? Something threw off the balance of your relationship for the final time, that was the cause of all this.

You reached over to your bedside table for your phone, only to be met with a croissant? You blinked open your eyes and registered a tray full of pastries, chopped fruits and a glass of apple juice. In the middle of it all was your phone, on top of it rested a small handwritten note.

'Your family teased me so much for doing this, you owe me big time – mars bars x'

That feeling returned in your stomach, the gnawing feeling that wanted to completely consume you, the one that told you maybe. Maybe things really were changing between you. Maybe he wanted things to go back to the way they used to be. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted something different this time.

You grabbed your phone, flinching at the ungodly brightness, and texted him.

'Where are you??'

9:32am

Next you quickly opened Hongjoong's chat and called him without prompt. You waited in the dimly lit room for him to answer. While the phone rang you could feel your stomach churning with uncertainty, if anyone would be able to help it would be Hongjoong.

"Hey sweatpea, what's up?" His voice broke through the ringing.

"Joong, I've royally fucked up,"

He chuckled softly, "Who did you kill?"

"No, no, not a funny situation Joong," you heard him shuffle around on the other side of the line, "I kissed Seonghwa,"

"WHAT?"

You flinched away from the phone, "Inside voice, I had a lot to drink last night,"

He spluttered, "Clearly, or you wouldn't have kissed our best friend!"

"Well...that might not be the first time it's happened this trip," you waited for him to say something, but the line was deathly silent, "Joong?"