ISS 2011: FOR SPECIALISES (Part 2/2)
Part 1
"Yah, shut up and pay attention!" Professor Choi yells from the front of the class, and Woohyun looks up from where he's penning down lyrics in the margins of his paper, about a lost smile and the singer feeling something odd in his chest.
Is this love? he scrawls down, and Professor Choi grumbles before speaking up, "So, for your end of semester project, y'all gotta write a song. You can sing in groups, duets, solos, I don't care."
The class proceeds to mutter to themselves about how small a problem it was before Professor Choi roars at them to pipe down, tugs at his jacket and glares them all down.
"The catch is you gotta find someone to perform them for you. You'll be judged on your song and workmanship. And don't you guys dare whine!"
Woohyun feels something like excitement flood his chest and he raises his fist like a grade schooler. Professor Choi raises an eyebrow and urges him to speak and Woohyun swallows, "Can we sing our own song?"
The professor shrugs and runs a hand over the back of his neck, "Knock yourself out," he says, and Woohyun races out of the class once the bell rings, beaming wide enough to split and races off to find Myungsoo, tell him about how he's going to ace this project. Myungsoo rolls his eyes and his mouth tugs upwards just slightly at how childishly excited Woohyun is, takes him out for coffee to celebrate. Woohyun counts it as a date and Myungsoo rolls his eyes.
"Hey," Woohyun mumbles as they walk to the bus stop. It's dark and they take a less traveled road to avoid the pedestrians and prying ears and judgment. Myungsoo nods his head to show he's listening and Woohyun goes on, "I've been thinking: fairy godparents aren't assigned to any random kid, right?"
"No, they are," Myungsoo says, and Woohyun looks disgruntled, shot down. "But go on," Myungsoo says, curious, and Woohyun shifts awkwardly.
"They're given to kids who are sad, right? Thing is, I'm not sad at all."
"No, you are," Myungsoo responds. Woohyun looks pissed and Myungsoo amends. "Or princesses. Guess that makes you a princess if you're not a depression patient."
He snorts and Woohyun looks appalled that Myungsoo would laugh at all. Myungsoo catches the look of astonishment on is face and covers his mouth before he doubles over, cracking up. Woohyun is amazed and smiles a little bit himself.
Myungsoo composes himself once they reach the bus stop and deadpans, "I was imagining you in a frilly dress."
Woohyun whirls on him to scream but Myungsoo is gone, standing on the bus and clutching to a pole, raising an eyebrow at Woohyun as the bus speeds off. Woohyun stands there and thinks Myungsoo's laugh (awkward, loud) is one of the most beautiful things he's ever heard.
---
The next day comes with promises of little more than boredom. Woohyun plops down at his table and remembers that Myungsoo doesn't have classes, and is probably at home eyeing dust specks swirling in the rays of sunlight that filter in through his transparent blue curtains. Woohyun passes up an invitation to sit with Kibum and Dongwoon and sits down by Sungjong, who's busy eyeing a half-painted canvas, sporadic bursts of color splashed across and blurred at the edges. Sungjong examines the painting and shakes his head, mutters that it isn't finished yet and looks up at Woohyun, raises both eyebrows, "Wow, it's a miracle, the great Nam Woohyun came to see me, a humble freshman."
"Shut up," Woohyun grumbles, shoving at Sungjong gently. "When wouldn't I see you?"
"Since you fell madly in love with a certain Kim Myungsoo, of course," Sungjong shoots back, fingers brushing over the paint specks.
Woohyun blinks profusely; "You know him?" he asks, and Sungjong rolls his eyes, "Of course I know him, everyone knows him, and I know everyone. Everyone's crazy for that kid, he's fine. Not my preferred gender, but he is fine."
"Calling him fine doesn't help save your image, just so you know," Woohyun mutters, and Sungjong shrugs, "Let them think what they want, I know myself well enough for all of them."
Amen to that, Woohyun thought.
"But anyways," Sungjong continues, "Everyone thinks you two are dating."
"We just got coffee together!" Woohyun retorts and Sungjong cuts in, "And...?"
"Um, hung out a few times?"
Sungjong looks around lazily, "Go on..."
"Okay, I studied over at his house once-"
"Dating!" Sungjong calls, looking thrilled.
"We're not," Woohyun growls and Sungjong raises both eyebrows with a, "Defensive? Oh, you want in his pants. Don't try to fool me, Nam Woohyun, I know you better than your own mother, and you know that."
Woohyun gets Sungjong in a headlock and makes him call him 'hyung' before he releases. Sungjong rubs his head and scowls, looks down.
"Look, all I want to say is be careful. Myungsoo might be fine, but there are some weird rumors about him."
Woohyun throws Sungjong a look and Sungjong shrugs, adds a 'just trying to help,' and goes on mock-painting with his fingers. Woohyun goes home that day and tosses and turns in bed, wonders if he knows any more about Myungsoo than the fact he's magical, has the most awkward, perfect laugh, and takes amazing photographs.
Professor Choi calls his class together a week afterwards on a Friday, far above his usual cool, laid back self, he's animated as he starts class, and everyone exchanges glances with each other. To his left, Woohyun watches Jonghyun sit up straight, look ahead excitedly, knowing something good's about to come out of this, something challenging.
"There's gonna be music company representatives there," is all Professor Choi manages to get out, before the adrenaline roaring in Woohyun's ears drowns him out.
He races to Myungsoo's house, legitimately racing (well, running, then taking a cab, and then running a bit more for dramatic purposes) and pressing the button, hearing Myungsoo call through, a bit surprised, "Why aren't you out partying? It's Friday night."
Woohyun runs up the stairs and collapses into Myungsoo's flat panting and gasping and Myungsoo stands above him, looking vaguely amused, and Woohyun gasps out, "Could-get-signed!"
Myungsoo pulls Woohyun up, clutching to an envelope of photos, and tells him to take deep breaths, and explain to him properly and Woohyun whines but obliges, because he's so excited, so thrilled.
"So," and he swallows, "Professor Choi has us writing songs for our performance and I'm singing mine and there's going to be talent agents at the performance and I might get signed,Myungsoo!"
Myungsoo applauds, but there's something like a twinkle in his eyes and Woohyun beams.
"I'm going to make it! I mean, with your help, since you could totally get those agents to sign me with your fairy godparent powers and all," and Myungsoo cuts him off.
"What," he asks, though it's not really a question. Woohyun looks at him, beaming, and says again, "You're going to help get me signed."
Myungsoo is silent for far too long and Woohyun's hype slowly starts to die down, and he calls Myungsoo's name once before Myungsoo shakes his head once, imperceptive. "I'm not going to do that. I can't."
Woohyun is numb. Be it with anger, disappointment, or hurt, he just doesn't know. Maybe Myungsoo's dismissal hasn't struck him properly yet.
"You can't," he repeats, and Myungsoo meets his eye, that same damn blank look on his face. "Why not?" Woohyun asks now, gritting his teeth, and Myungsoo looks back down to his envelope, hides the softest tremor of his hands. "You know perfectly well why not."
"No, maybe I don't," and Woohyun's voice is getting softer, the syllables growing harsher, flung from his perfect mouth like daggers. Myungsoo knows everything about Woohyun, knows that he always gets quiet before the screaming begins. (Before the tsunami, all the water in the ocean recedes from shore before it roars and rises like a vicious monster, devastates.)
"Myungsoo!" Woohyun's voice rises, interrupts Myungsoo's train of thought, and Myungsoo looks down at his envelope again.
Woohyun's nails bite into his palms and he speaks again, "Look at me and tell me, Myungsoo." Myungsoo's fingers bend the photos at the ends and Woohyun is shouting. "Look at me!"
Myungsoo looks up finally and his expression is cool, calm. Woohyun hates it. Wants to see some flicker of annoyance in those eyes, wants Myungsoo to just let go and trust in him enough to get angry, throw stinging words back at him. They're friends, they're meant to argue, not hide their complaints like acquaintances, passers-by.
"It's not in your best interests," Myungsoo says levelly, and Woohyun imagines a crack in his voice, a lump in his throat, feeds off of it.
"It's not in my best interests? This is what I've wanted my whole life. This is my dream,Myungsoo!"
"It's not in your best interests," Myungsoo repeats, fingers trying to smooth out the ruined photos, eyes never leaving Woohyun's. "And it's not in my ability."
"Bullshit!" Woohyun calls out, and he's almost amused, he's so pissed. His lips pull back over his teeth in a sneer. "Bullshit, you know you can, and you have before!"
Woohyun barks out a laugh, tries to catch his breath and compose himself. He's stood there, panting quietly, and an eternity seems to pass between the two of them. Myungsoo is silent; his silhouette not as ramrod-stiff as before, but tired. Woohyun would feel bad but right now he's wishing so much illness on Myungsoo that it's going to strike down the whole city.
"Even if I can," Myungsoo says quietly, "I'm not going to."
Woohyun's silent, stunned, and this is more than Myungsoo refusing to help him pass calc; more than Myungsoo not helping him get some girl's number. This is Myungsoo taking everything Woohyun's ever wanted it and ripping it to pieces, that same dead look in his eyes.
Woohyun thinks of caramel macchiatos, thinks of transient rays of sunlight.
"I thought we were friends," he says, deathly quiet.
Myungsoo is silent again, and Woohyun thinks that he's this close to breaking, yielding.
He's wrong.
"I'm your fairy godparent-" Myungsoo remarks almost inaudibly. "-before your friend. And I always will be."
Woohyun doesn't scream, surprisingly. He stiffens slowly before he steels over, and Myungsoo knows this is it. "Well, hope you enjoy being a full-time fairy godparent, then."
The door swings shut behind Woohyun, the words left unsaid hanging in the air.
Because we sure as hell aren't friends anymore.
Myungsoo throws the photos in the garbage and the line of his back, bowstring tight, loosens up slowly in the empty walls of his apartment.
{Ripping half the photos down, fingers tightening on the plastic and metal so hard that they just may break.}
---
Woohyun drops engineering, drops biology, and immerses himself in his passion; all halfway through the second semester. (He inquires at the office and they tell him that he can change his major by the next year, so that sorts itself out well enough.) He calls his parents and they take the news without the drama Woohyun imagined, just hear the pain in his voice and congratulate him. He finds that old fast food napkin from months ago and throws it in the garbage; takes that photo Myungsoo took of him and shoves it in between two of his old textbooks, where he won't have to look at it. He sleeps less and less, grows used to the constant downwards pull of his eyelids. He stays up every night penning down dots on a scale, vicious treble clefs and songs with rolling, violent arpeggios. He doesn't take any shortcuts, walks all the way through the west wing in the day, to the east in the afternoons, avoiding the sun on purpose. He forgets (well, tries to forget) about Kim Myungsoo.
Sungyeol performs his play. Dongwoo and Howon and Sungjong attend along with Woohyun and Woohyun presents Jihyun with a bouquet, smiling his greasiest smile and laughing, clapping Sungyeol on the shoulder, mocking him for wearing more makeup than she is. "Obviously," Jihyun remarks, "He needs it," and Sungyeol's eyes get big, and Jihyun pecks him on the mouth with a smile. (To a whoop from Sungjong.)
They all go out drinking afterwards and the two leave together, Jihyun's head leaning on Sungyeol's chest, their hands linked between them. Sungjong whoops a "Get it, hyung!" and Howon sits him down in his chair as he nurses his second. Dongwoo eventually passes out on the table and Sungjong tries to jump up on said table after three more rounds, leaping into a rather dangerous-looking rendition of Bubble Pop, with twice the gyration and alarming popping.
Howon watches Woohyun across the table half an hour later. Sungjong has passed out next to Dongwoo, his head pillowed on Dongwoo's back as Dongwoo's head lolls onto his shoulder. It's cute, really, but Howon's peeling Woohyun apart with his eyes, and not in a particularly sexual way, either.
"What," Woohyun sighs out, and Howon shrugs his shoulders. "You've changed," he says, "You're not really embracing the music, you're flinging yourself at it."
"It's my passion," Woohyun says indignantly, and Howon shrugs, downs the rest of his shot glass. "Have you set any goals?" And Howon's voice goes all low and dopey, an imitation of Woohyun, "'Oh, I'll write something by here, ace that project,' whatever."
Woohyun is silent and Howon looks into the depths of his glass in a sagely manner. "I think you're using it to hide from something, is all."
Woohyun could speak but he's kind of buzzed, so he lets the words roll around in his head for a few minutes.
"Then again," Howon adds, holding his head, "I'm hammered, so... so...-"
Woohyun laughs and gets to his feet, swaying a bit, and taking Sungjong over his shoulder when Howon gently lugs Dongwoo from his seat. Howon takes Dongwoo and Sungjong home in a cab, since the three of them live pretty close and he is not safe to drive on his own. Woohyun attempts a sobriety test and walks in a straight line over the curb. When he falls on his ass, he takes a cab home as well. Maybe it's because he's drunk and his house is empty, but he thinks of Sungyeol and Jihyun walking back together, twined against each other like that was where they belonged.
He takes a shower and tries to reason with himself that the rivulets of water cascading down his cheeks are just from the shower jet. That the way he's yanking for a breath and sniffling hard is because it's cold as fuck in his tiny little apartment. (Remembers a warmer apartment, one residing in controlled chaos, with an antique coffee table and bleak bedrooms and walls splashed with photographs.)
He sleeps that night, sleeps in until one the next afternoon, wakes up with a hellish hangover. He cuts classes that day, calls Howon as a safety blanket, because Howon goes the next day despite his headache because he never misses dance practice, ever. "He's sick," Howon grunts to each of Woohyun's professors for him, and Woohyun prays to every god above that Howon lives a long, fulfilling life, marries a nice girl (or Dongwoo) and has an eternity of happiness.
---
"Class," Professor Choi tells them gruffly in class the next day. Woohyun jerks his head up from where he's been nodding off and tries to focus his eyes on the fuzzy blob that is his professor, finds a smaller blob next to him, and rubs slowly at his eyes, not in any particular hurry to focus upon him.
{An image on a square of paper, still gray.
No, it's not ready yet.}
"-m Sunggyu," Professor Choi mumbles and claps on the new kid's-now Sunggyu's- shoulder, "Transferred into this class from one of my later ones cause of some mishap with his schedule."
Woohyun furrows his eyebrows and buries his head back in his arms, tries to find that perfect position he was in, before the professor's sharp yell yanks Woohyun upright once more. "Nam Woohyun, you're my best student, I'm reassigning you. Sing a duet with Sunggyu; he's behind on his assignment."
Woohyun groans in annoyance and doesn't spare this Sunggyu another glance, just nods tiredly and nods off again as Professor Choi talks to the new kid in a corner. (He ends up getting lectured by his professor over this, goes home and naps again. His dreams are empty, and it's welcomed. (Painful.)
Woohyun flatly ignores Sunggyu. Mainly it stems from indignance over having to drop his half-written song for this kid. That and he's just not interested.
It doesn't last, because Sunggyu corners Woohyun outside their comp classroom two days later, frustration obvious. "We're supposed to compose-and sing-a duet," he starts, scowling slowly, looking somewhere between angry and hurt. "And we have nothing done! Are you going to contribute or what?"
Woohyun meets his eyes and scowls slowly, this (Kim) Sunggyu more and more of an annoyance. "What, not like you haven't done anything either."
Sunggyu looks massively unimpressed, a look that's kind of familiar to Woohyun, but before the latter can cross-examine this, Sunggyu pushes an elegant scrawl of sheet music into his face, eyes thinned with distaste.
Woohyun blinks and eyes the eighth notes with more seriousness than he has spared Sunggyu with at all thus far. He sees the slow, rolling chords of a soft rock song, not at all Woohyun's preferred ballads, and yet-
{The image clears and is set aside, gray slowly lifting to give way to something new, a hint of eyes and a lift of a mouth.}
-he smiles a bit, pushes the paper back into Sunggyu's hands and eyes the other's brief surprise with a slow grin. "I'll see you tomorrow," he says and races off, has to head home and pick up all those pieces he has scattered upon his bedroom floors. He goes late into the night sorting through them, putting them aside, doesn't once wonder why. Needless to say, Sunggyu's thrilled the next day when Woohyun shows him, a slow smile working itself across his features, an easy one. (It's a nice smile, yeah.)
{Fingers tremble, take the finished picture, set it on one board, and hesitate.}
They decide on a slow rock song, half of Woohyun's ballad and half of Sunggyu's rolling guitar chords. Woohyun has fun for the first time in a long while, harmonizing with Sunggyu on the spot, figuring out his vocal ranges. They finish the song in two weeks and prepare for the rest of the month, and Woohyun and Sunggyu grow close, close enough to walk home and share headphones with each other. Dongwoo is somewhat baffled when he finds out that Woohyun's found a new best friend and Sungjong is thrilled, tells Woohyun that they are a beautiful couple and should get married.
{Long fingers, pushing the pin into place, the photograph clear now, developed. A sigh, almost a cry of pain.}
Woohyun looks at Sunggyu closely and finds himself laughing along with Sungjong, saying that he just might. Sunggyu catches Woohyun's eye with a look of slow surprise, a careful smile.
---
Duet night rolls around. Woohyun and Sunggyu are there early, and they spot the suited individuals already sitting in the front row, exchange a mutual glance and clench their fists in unison. The students file in, chattering and excited, all knowing that Nam Woohyun is singing with Kim Sunggyu towards the end, all ready to sit through twenty other performances just to hear that last duet. Woohyun and Sunggyu peek out anxiously from behind the curtains in between performances and Sungyeol happens to catch sight of them once, stands up on his chair hollering for Woohyun to come out already. The two dissolve into laughter and stumble backstage and Woohyun shrugs off his favorite leather jacket, slings it over a chair, and feels too antsy to be caged. Besides, his arms are to die for. Sunggyu laughs quietly, not having spoken this whole time, and Woohyun catches his hand, smiles at him.
They deliver their performance to the toughest audience they will ever have; their peers. Their voices wind around each other in a flawless harmony and everyone screams and cheers and begs an encore, and one of the talent agents rises to his feet to applaud. Woohyun and Sunggyu collapse backstage and attack each other with a mutual hug. Seconds pass before Woohyun's aware of their position, finds himself almost daunted by it, as if suddenly aware that Sunggyu's got a really nice eye smile; that his laugh is awkward and hoarse after screaming into that mic; that his warmth's radiating into Woohyun.
He didn't notice that before.
{A thin strip of paper clutched in skinny fingers, held up against a pale, pained mouth.
A breath in, a heavy exhale, and the paper flies out into the night, catches a ghostly updraft and disappears from sight.
Two characters in incredibly neat, girly-looking Hangul.}
Woohyun is distracted from Sunggyu's sudden attractiveness when the Fantastic Four (and Jihyun) come barreling up onto the stage as the rest of the crowd leaves. They form a pretty impressive battle formation; Sungyeol at the front, ripping the curtains back; Dongwoo at the right flank, stopping a stage light from knocking over and Sungjong at the left, eyeing the racks of stage clothes with disappointment. Howon brings up the back, sauntering over with a smile.
They all decide to go out for drinks. (Typical.) The five start on out with Sunggyu when Woohyun hangs back for a few to go find his leather jacket, finds it slung across the same old chair, and pulls it on. He takes a backstage exit into the night and pulls the jacket on with a shiver, walking down to the main road, where Dongwoo's car will inevitably be waiting.
Woohyun stops when he spots an all-too familiar figure standing on the edge of the side street, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, plaid shirt peeking out from
beneath a designer coat.
The man straightens up without otherwise acknowledging Woohyun's presence and Woohyun damns the fact that he has clairvoyance.
"You didn't need me after all," he says softly, the wind carrying his voice to Woohyun so well that it's almost as if he's whispering the words right into his ears.
"Guess I didn't," Woohyun replies coldly, feeling anger rise up into his throat like bile. Myungsoo pulls his sweater tighter around him, his profile barely lit by the dull streetlamp a few feet away.
"You sang well," Myungsoo says after a pause, the words leaving him in a slow exhale, almost an admittal of defeat. It's rare, so rare, because Myungsoo is stubborn, unyielding; in an instant, all the anger in Woohyun's system drains out of him at once, leaving him thoroughly baffled.
"You did that, didn't you?!"
"...did what?"
"Made me... not angry at you anymore!"
Myungsoo quirks an eyebrow. "No. I can't do that, remember? Not in my ability."
Woohyun eyes him for a long moment before he strides past, remembers that he's got five people (and Sunggyu, Sunggyu with his slim waist in his t-shirt and jeans) waiting on him.
"Bullshit," Woohyun says, and when Myungsoo looks up after him, he's hit in the face by Woohyun's leather jacket, smelling of cologne and familiarity. Woohyun disappears around the corner and Myungsoo, for once, is at a loss for words. He wraps himself in Woohyun's old leather jacket kind of reluctantly and isn't the slightest bit cold when he walks home.
So, the second rift between the two of them ends.
---
It takes them ages to return to the way they were. They shuffle around each other awkwardly for the first few weeks before Myungsoo finally grits his teeth and waits for him outside of his calc class, looking a bit irked.
"Are you going to avoid me forever, or what?" He asks, looking unimpressed as ever, and Woohyun rears up and they delve into a mini shouting match (on Woohyun's part) before they get over their tension and walk off to get coffee together, (and tackle Woohyun's latest paper) shoving each other all the way there.
"I'm dating Sunggyu," Woohyun tells Myungsoo eventually, and Myungsoo pauses with his cup halfway to his mouth. He's drinking black coffee again, and Woohyun finds it odd, because he went back to macchiatos before their last argument and Myungsoo shouldn't have anything to be upset over (since his mood seems to coincide with his choices of caffeine.)
"I know," Myungsoo says with a shrug. "I'm magical, remember? That and the whole school's buzzing about you guys."
Woohyun grins and sips at his coffee and promptly shoves his paper to Myungsoo's end of the table with a look of far too much expectancy, and Myungsoo thins his eyes in annoyance and shoves it right back. "Write down the formulae and solve it yourself. I'm a lifeline, not a slave."
There's something in his eyes that makes Woohyun do a double-take before he looks back down and starts dissecting the problems. He struggles valiantly before Myungsoo muses, "So, Sunggyu," and Woohyun looks up, quirking an eyebrow.
"Since your life's a fairy tale now, what would Sunggyu be?"
"The princess," Woohyun scoffs, and Myungsoo smirks, "No, you're the princess. He's the prince. Sounds like a happily ever after for sure."
Woohyun mimes spilling his coffee all over Myungsoo's lap and Myungsoo cracks up again, covering his mouth and doubling over. He continues to occasionally hum the wedding march at random intervals while Woohyun works before he gets fed up with Woohyun's constant failure and pens down a negative where Woohyun neglected it. Woohyun whoops with joy and notices it again, how Myungsoo's amusement doesn't reach those jagged eyes of his.
It's evening when they manage to escape the café. Woohyun flips through his finished and triple-checked paper and beams before walking back to the main road with Myungsoo, whose fingers are shoved in the pockets of his peacoat, save for the hand clutching his second cup of black coffee. He's looking down at the ground and reaches the road, looks to Woohyun, and Woohyun mumbles something about taking the bus from here. Myungsoo shrugs and makes to leave, opening his mouth and looking at Woohyun hesitantly before he stops and shakes his head, downs his coffee and hails the nearest cab with a, "See you around."
Woohyun feels something click inside his head but doesn't comprehend what it is. He turns in the opposite direction and heads to the nearest bus stop and tries to erase the look of pain in Myungsoo's eyes.
{He shoves the camera back into its spot and leaves it there, not sparing it a second glance.
Woohyun stops dreaming.}
---
"My jacket," Woohyun insists, pulling at Myungsoo's arm and whining a bit. Myungsoo stiffens and yanks his arm out of his grasp, looking a bit miffed because of his incessancy. (But mainly because they haven't had physical contact in what seems like ages.)
Two or three weeks have passed since their study session over coffee, and Myungsoo's avoided Woohyun more than ever, which has left Woohyun baffled. He's only just caught onto Myungsoo for the first time in days.
Myungsoo rolls his eyes and grumbles, "It's a ratty old jacket you've held onto for years, why do you need it so much?" and Woohyun pulls at him even more, "Going to a sweet party at Chulyong's house and I need it!"
Myungsoo looks to him, looking a bit annoyed, "Going to a party without Sunggyu?"
Woohyun stares back, a bit confused; why would Myungsoo be pissed? "Of course I'm taking Sunggyu," he says, and Myungsoo's shoulders relax just a bit, though still looking tense as anything. They walk in silence to the bus stand and Myungsoo just shrugs after a while, "I'll drop it off. I gotta go to the library. Research project for calc."
"Why would you takecalc?" Woohyun grumbles, before he nods and rolls his eyes, watches Myungsoo step up onto the bus and waits for his own to arrive, calling after him, "Seven! Have it there before seven!"
Myungsoo glares at him pointedly, "I don't run errands," he mouths through the windows of the bus, and Woohyun hears him perfectly, feels something shove him back a few steps. Woohyun stares at the bus driving away and keeps it in mind to totally get Myungsoo back for using his creepy fairy godparent magic on him.
Five rolls around and Woohyun wakes up from his nap from a call from Sungjong, who is trying to yell over Sungyeol and Dongwoo laughing maniacally and Howon telling them both to calm down, he can't watch Usher videos with the racket they're making.
"We're heading out for dinner and dragging Sunggyu hyung with! Last time we ate at Chulyong's we all came down with something nasty, and I am not in the mood for poisoning of any kind, be it food induced or al-Lee Sungyeol, get off of my couch-alcohol induced!"
Woohyun snorts and hopes that Sungyeol wrecks that couch of Sungjong's; it would be hilarious.
"Alright, I'll meet you guys there. Where are we going?" He asks, grinning, and Sungjong rambles off a modest place, tells Woohyun to be there in an hour. Woohyun gets ready in half an hour and tries calling Myungsoo, but when it goes to voicemail, (Myungsoo always turns his phone off in the library, damn him and his chivalry) Woohyun decides to drive by his place and pick it up himself. It's not like Myungsoo would get mad (well, he would) but honestly, it's his leather jacket. That and Woohyun already knows where his spare key is and that Myungsoo hasn't moved it, because Myungsoo's ridiculously stubborn about change. His key's always been beneath the doormat and it will always be beneath the doormat.
Woohyun climbs into his dinosaur of a car and drives.
Woohyun pulls up and parks on the side of the road, takes the elevator to the sixth floor and pulls Myungsoo's key out from under the doormat, slips inside quietly. He pulls out his phone in the meantime and leaves a text saying that he picked up the coat himself. (But doesn't yell at Myungsoo for it via text since he'll be pissed enough that Woohyun was in his house.)
Nothing's really changed; the apartment's still cluttered and still somehow tidy, and Woohyun starts searching, on the backs of chairs and the coat closet, where he finds a ton of peacoats and blazers and damns the fact Myungsoo has so much money. (Where does Myungsoo get it, anyways? He's too honorable to just magic the money up from nowhere. Going by his face, though, he could easily be a model.)
Woohyun gives up and eyes Myungsoo's room with general discomfort before he looks at his phone screen and races in, throwing the door open and looking about, finding his jacket neatly folded up on his bed, as if ready for taking. Woohyun wonders vaguely why Myungsoo didn't magic it over to his place as he shrugs it on (and notices it smells a bit like Myungsoo, like sunlight and soap and vague cologne and he feels weird.)
He turns to leave and notices the three bulletin boards, but something's changed. They're neater; half of the pictures are gone, replaced with crappy polaroids of his dreams that have gone and those yet to come. He sees the building of Woollim Entertainment (that one talent agent who smiled and stood up to applaud at his and Sunggyu's performance.) and feels something great flood his chest and realizes that Myungsoo was pushing for him to get signed all along.
He stops smiling when his gaze centers on a crappy polaroid plastered in the center, of a boy with smiling eyes and hair spilling across his forehead, and a small piece of paper with one word (two characters) scrawled in Myungsoo's girly handwriting.
Love, he mouths, and he looks up at Sunggyu, captured in the photo. It's obviously a candid, since he was laughing, eyes looking off at someone to his right, and Woohyun would get pissed at Myungsoo for his fairy godparent-required stalking tendencies, but he feels something choking him up, something for the boy who's sitting in Dongwoo's car with its four other inhabitants, laughing at something Howon says and looking at his phone, waiting for Woohyun to text him back.
It makes sense, Woohyun realizes, how Myungsoo got so pissed when he suspected Woohyun's infidelity. How he couldn't stand Woohyun touching him, how he grew distant after Woohyun performed his duet, how his eyes looked pained that night they sat drinking coffee and how Myungsoo looked like he wanted to say something the whole time but shook his head and drained his black coffee before calling a cab to head home.
Woohyun steps back and looks around again, as if wishing to leave but unwilling to at the same time (because he knows now that he can tell his future here, that Myungsoo has liked him this entire time, and has been forced to set Woohyun up with Sunggyu, because it would be 'in his best interests;' as Sungjong said, they were perfect for each other.)
It's here that he spots Myungsoo's cameras once more, perched upon his shelf, and notices once more, that polaroid camera that's incredibly worn down and looking ready to fall apart, a stark contrast to the cameras that Myungsoo cleans meticulously for his photography courses. The ancient polaroid camera that Myungsoo had in his hands when he presented Woohyun with that first polaroid picture of the riverbank painted magentas and oranges and he recalls Myungsoo's words from ages ago, about how fairy godparents have 'vessels,' where they draw their power from.
Woohyun thinks things over at light speed for only a few moments before he takes the camera gingerly, turns it over in his fingers and sees marks left behind by grudging fingers, sees a dusty lens and a date on the bottom that shows that this camera has been Myungsoo's forever.
He holds it like a precious thing before he throws it onto the ground as hard as he can.
Myungsoo runs home the instant he feels the winds change. He knows; knows something's happened, so when he throws open the door and finds Woohyun clutching the dusty pieces of that camera in his gorgeous hands, he's not surprised.
Then again, he is, and Woohyun looks at him in that way Myungsoo's grown familiar with; that look that says well, I really didn't think this over, but you're not mad, right?
"I'm not," Myungsoo says out loud and Woohyun clambers to his feet, flashes that nauseatingly greasy grin of his, pushes the shattered remnants of the camera into Myungsoo's fingers.
"You're free," Woohyun says with a smile bright enough to blind, and Myungsoo takes the old machinery, the corners of his mouth pulling upwards slowly, before he smiles, the warmest, most perfect smile Woohyun's ever seen.
"Let's start all over," Woohyun says, and Myungsoo just nods silently, smiling too widely for words.
---
When Woohyun trudges into Composition to break the news to Sunggyu: that he's breaking up with him, that it's not Sunggyu, it's him, (because he can't say, 'Oh, a friend of mine happens to have magic powers and made me fall in love with you and you fall in love with me and I made him lose those powers and although you're still really nice I'd much rather just be friends because I kind of had a flame for him before we ever met and I'd feel constantly insecure about you really liking me for me.') He sees Sunggyu sitting in a backwards cap and oversized t-shirt and feels remorse choke him up, steal his words.
When he sits down, he sees Sunggyu look up and his face contort into a matching expression of pain, though his lips tilt upwards and Woohyun blinks, stunned.
"I think," Sunggyu starts, before taking a deep breath and continuing on, shifting awkwardly. "I think we should break up. I'm sorry Woohyun, it's not you, it's me, and-"
Woohyun cuts him off, looking like he's gonna laugh, and Sunggyu looks baffled in return before he looks a bit relieved, very sheepish. They stay friends and Sunggyu laughs, eyes disappearing and Woohyun thinks that maybe (if Myungsoo's smile didn't make his heart stop in his chest) he could have liked Sunggyu in another life.
He re-evaluates that when he tells Myungsoo that he broke it off with Sunggyu and Myungsoo looks guilty and Woohyun feels like kissing him without punching him first.
(He does actually kiss him, some time a few weeks after that. Myungsoo's eyes go wide and he stares at Woohyun and Woohyun kind of feels like doing it again. Myungsoo looks away and purses his lips with that same flash of guilt coming across him and Woohyun laughs, says; "I never did that with Sunggyu, just so you know."
Myungsoo pulls him in for the second one and Woohyun laughs against his mouth.)
He decides that no, he'd probably fall for Myungsoo in every life after this one.
---
"What are you doing," Woohyun asks, and Myungsoo pulls his head out of the huge box full of one of their various articles of clothing. Woohyun raises an eyebrow at the fact Myungsoo's unpacking, since they've spent the whole day unpacking - Woohyun's already hung up his diploma, Myungsoo's bulletin board in their room, all their basic needs: soap, toothpaste, some food. They haven't had time to start on full out turning the new apartment into their own, but there Myungsoo is, ahead of their unpacking agenda, elbow-deep in a box of shirts. (Woohyun assumes they're his own, since he sees no plaid scattered amongst the various articles.) Myungsoo throws Woohyun a look and rises, pulling out a crumpled up button-down, a suit jacket. (Which Woohyun doesn't even remember owning, to be honest.)
"Picking out your ensemble for the launch party, since you'll just go in that atrocious leather jacket of yours- "
"Which I still never got back from you."
"Sorry," Myungsoo amends, "I added it to my Nam Woohyun shrine. All I need is a few locks of your hair."
Woohyun snickers and throws an arm around his shoulders. (Myungsoo's brushing up a centimeter past him and it irks him, but whatever, more Myungsoo to love.)
"Doesn't matter," Myungsoo adds quietly, "Since we've moved in together and all. Into your nice new company-paid apartment, since you're going to debut and release my album and become a famous soloist in..." Myungsoo trails off and pretends to think. Woohyun knows that he's got the days numbered in his mind. "About two weeks? A little less than that, actually."
Woohyun smiles wide enough to burst and looks down, a mockery of bashfulness. Myungsoo rolls his eyes and Woohyun's arm around his shoulder pulls him in closer as Woohyun nudges his head up against Myungsoo's like some sort of kitten.
"My album which you photographed the cover for," he hums up into Myungsoo's ear, and Myungsoo shrugs, mumbles that of course he had to, or else he'd get some nauseatingly cliché two-bit photo of a sun rising or something. Woohyun grins and Myungsoo pushes him off, rolling his eyes and shoving the clothes into his arms with a, "Go iron these. I'm getting dressed, since I actually don't want your management to think you're dating a total slob."
Woohyun laughs and turns on his heel, but not before leaning up and brushing his mouth against Myungsoo's own fleetingly. (He then races out of the room before Myungsoo grabs him and turns it into some sort of makeout fight, because they really need to get to that party on time.)
Myungsoo stares after him before he smiles wholly and heads off to call up Woohyun's manager, tell him that they'll be on their way soon.