𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘯

[❁] thirty-five

Yeosang's eyes were closed. He was lying on the couch with his head comfortably rested in Seonghwa's lap and his leg's shamelessly placed over Wooyoung's. Not that he minded. Over all, Wooyoung thought, Yeosang looked more relaxed than he had in quite a while. The group was slowly preparing for their next comeback and the pressure was increasing, expectations were rising. Thus, it was hardly surprising, they were getting stressed in the process. Wooyoung himself had taken who knows how much time to learn steps he would usually master in a few hours. Additionally to the general stress of countless rehearsals and an airtight schedule, his head was constantly swirling with irrational thoughts and illogical theories about why San could have stopped texting.

Of course, he never found a satisfying explanation.

He had been spoiled by San, always being able to reach out to him, day and night. Whether or wether not it was urgent never seemed to matter because San had a way of making him feel important and special, always. He had become an ever-present support in his life, one, he wouldn't trade for all the gold in the world.

But then, suddenly and without any apparent reason, San had disappeared.

Yes, Wooyoung was hurt. He trusted him. San had become his pillar of strength, he had become such an important part of his life so that now, without him, life felt different. Wooyoung often caught himself reaching for his phone, before it hit him. There wasn't anyone waiting on the other end any more.

Despite all that, he had faith. San was a good person. Wooyoung just knew, ghosting him was just as painful for San as it was for himself. Wooyoung hadn't been ignorant of his friend's more and more distant behaviour in their last chats. He had been aware that something was up, but pushing San into talking about something he clearly wasn't ready to share with him yet, that was something he never wanted to consider. Therefore, he simply tried to make San feel comfortable abound him. Wooyoung gave him more space, waited until he had sorted himself out.

No, Wooyoung wasn't hurt because he had been ditched. No, he only felt anguish over the fact that the person he had grown so close to was going through something painful all alone. He was sad and disappointed in himself because he couldn't be there for San when he seemed to need it the most. However, the feeling which had been the most distracting for the past week was neither pain nor sadness. It was simple confusion. And it was driving him up the walls.

Wooyoung couldn't find a single explanation. There was no evidence of any kind of problem in any of their chats. Only San being a mysterious dork. But even so, Wooyoung hadn't been able to make anything of the few cryptic messages. He had reread all of them, he could probably recite them in his sleep by now, if anyone cared to ask. He had even considered to look San up on the internet, but had quickly cast away the idea when he decided that whatever it was that had driven San away from him had to be something private, he would never find it online.

"Hey, can you do me a favour?" Wooyoung nudged Yeosang's legs in his lap but not a single muscle of Yeosang's face twitched at the question as he continued to relax under the soft touch of his boyfriend's hands stroking his hair.

Wooyoung let out a humoured sigh, then gently slapped his friend's leg. "Earth to Kang Yeosang?" This time, all the while keeping a straight face, Yeosang responded with a short questioning grumble, a sign that he was indeed listening.

Wooyoung ignored the giddy nervousness, which had been tingling in every nerve of his body since San's contact had popped up on his lock screen for the first time in what felt like ages, and took a deep breath. Trying to sound as casual as possible, he asked, "can you stay out of our room until I call you back in?"

He received no reaction. There was only Seonghwa, who calmly continued going through Yeosang's hair, carefully pushing a single brown strand behind his ear.