memory is a puddle.
memory is a puddle
junkwang (junhyung/kikwang), pg-13, goosebump-inducing unbeta'd
bartender!junkwang, as requested by blur2katak! merry early x'mas, kyakyakya.
The night is filled with men crying into their beers, women making eyes over the top of their wine glasses and Junhyung trying to make sense of his surroundings.
Being a bartender was probably the last item on his to-do list (or was it 'become a stripper' instead?), but he has no choice- one day he found himself cleaning glasses and being ordered around by red-faced customers in this awful place and that was how it all began.
It was a tiny place that sat between a rock and a hard place- a popular stripclub and a huge brick wall. The small, cheap lighting (Christmas lights that flicker in painful yellow) that hung around the main entrance could not compare to the bright neon lights next door that seduced many horny men. Needless to say, when night falls, the stripclub gets all the customers (or 'brings all the boys to the yard', as Junhyung's boss says).
But the little bar had something special that the stripclub didn't. It wasn't all alcohol and tears for the customers of 'Mouse's Ear' (weird name, in Junhyung's opinion but he doesn't say anything to his boss of course), people come here to drink and forget.
A lady with relationship problems stumbles in crying mascara tears. She tells Junhyung to make her a drink that's coral blue. She takes tiny sips after each sob until she begins to smile again, the echoes of her husband's insults disappearing from the walls of her mind. A man with too many wrinkles on his forehead walks in timidly and orders a beer.
Junhyung slides the drink to the guy and watches him down the golden liquid quickly, wiping the froth from his stiff upper lip before exhaling satisfaction into the warm air. As the alcohol flows into the gush of blood towards his aching heart, he forgets the creased milk-skin of his old mother's hands as he held them by her deathbed, the last pained gasp she released before her pale eyes rolled to a stop in a frozen stare.
Junhyung watches him leave as a happier man with less wrinkles on his forehead.
Sometimes men arrive in small groups and drink themselves into sweet oblivion, other times they're just laughing too loudly. Junhyung doesn't know who's drunk or not since they bubble the same incomprehensible nonsense, but he manages well as the only bartender around.
Until one evening, two men arrive in the bar, one looking anxious and the other surveying his surroundings with lazy eyes. Junhyung gives them a quick glance, nothing more, then returns to polishing glasses and ignoring drunk customers. The taller of the two has a toothy grin and playful eyebrows, while the shorter has a neat and dark fringe that hides his nervous eyes. He keeps biting his lower lip.
Junhyung turns to them when they sit at the table, and he asks, "What would you like to have, gentlemen?" Slap on a plastic smile and everything's good. The taller guy (Junhyung wants to call him an ahjussi) looks him up and down meaningfully.
"I would like a piece of that fine ass, thank you very much."
His plastic smile becomes melting wax.
"Doojoon, quit fooling around!" The shorter brunette hisses and gives Junhyung an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that, he can be a real asshole sometimes, but I swear he's a good guy-"
"Kikwang," The guy ('Doojoon', Junhyung notes with gritted teeth) sighs and puts his arm around 'Kikwang's shrinking shoulders. "You'll never be able to work here if you can't handle a joke like that."
Junhyung blinks. "Work... here?"
"Yeah, he wants a job here as a bartender," Doojoon explains. "And I'd like a beer please. I'm going to get so wasted, just you wait and see." He turns to Kikwang with a laugh.
Junhyung and Kikwang stare at each other for too long, their eyes lingering on each other's confused mouths until Doojoon snaps them out of it.
The first day of work. Junhyung's boss said 'yes' almost immediately when Kikwang appeared with a confident smile on his face. Why the immediate consent, Junhyung doesn't know. It is six in the evening and Junhyung starts off Kikwang's training by giving him a tour of the bar.
"This is where we put the wine glasses, this is where we put the secret recipes, and this is where we hide, well, where I hide when I feel like slacking off." He mumbles and spins on his heel to see the shorter boy fingering the rim of a washed glass.
"I heard that you make drinks that..." Kikwang says quietly, and Junhyung freezes, waiting for the words to follow. Drinks that make people forget things.
"... taste like shit."
"... ... Who told you that."
"Doojoonie, and other customers, of course." Kikwang shifts uneasily under Junhyung's glare. For some reason, he can't bring himself to get mad at this sun-eyed boy, so he sighs loudly and says, "There's something you have to know about these drinks I make."
Kikwang looks up at him, his finger pressing onto the circle of glass until it turns pale. "These drinks," Junhyung tugs the ends of his shirt. "They make people forget."
"... So they're magical?" The smaller boy's eyebrows arch upwards in doubt.
"Um, not exactly, but um, how do I put this..."
After a moment of struggling with his own tongue to find the right words, Junhyung gives up and leans against the counter. "It just makes people forget things, bad things that they want to erase from their memories, okay?"
Truth be told, Junhyung hasn't any idea what it is that makes people forget, the alcohol or the special concoction that his boss makes in his secret room. Sometimes he suspects that the older man practises some sort of dark magic, once Junhyung caught a glimpse of his secret room and he saw that it was filled with bottles and flasks of colourful liquids.
They keep it in glass vials of different colours (the darker the colour, the stronger it is, Junhyung tells Kikwang) and add drops of the sweet-smelling liquid into customers' drinks according to their needs.
"And how do you measure their needs?"
"By the sort of drinks they order, simple as that. But when you stay behind the counter and watch people all day long, you learn to read them like books. "
Lifting a vial of pastel green, Junhyung unscrews the lid and holds it out to Kikwang. "We never drink this, it tastes like crap."
"How would you know that it tastes like crap then?" Kikwang laughs and he sounds as bright as shining bells.
The taller brunette mumbles under his breath ('bet it tastes worse, though') and keeps the vial away.
"So what about you?" Kikwang asks suddenly, his eyes staring right into Junhyung's, as if attempting to pierce the layers of chocolate brown and empty black (hoping to see something other than a hollow inside, maybe). "Have you tried forgetting something or someone before?"
Have I...? Junhyung frowns and wonders why Kikwang is asking these uncomfortable questions. He's just curious, perhaps. Yeah, he's just being curious.
Forgetting something is easy, like where you went for dinner last week, or when was the last time you visited an old friend. Forgetting someone on the other hand...
"I don't remember," Junhyung replies in a voice he doesn't recognise- it sounds as if the words are trapped underwater, making frustrated ripples but never hitting the surface. "I... I don't remember."
Kikwang watches him quietly, then claps a cold hand over Junhyung's shoulder and smiles. "Don't think about it, then. "
Do you remember me?
He's playing a game of cat and mouse.
Chasing memories is a tedious job, and requires patience. He needs to wait for each drop of memory to pinch off the leaking tap in his head and fall back into place. He is the cat that waits for the mouse to come out of its hole.
But lately, Junhyung isn't sure who's the cat or the mouse anymore.
The more he tries to recall and gather bits of information about his past, the more he drowns in confusion, until the past becomes the cat and he becomes the miserable mouse. How did he end up like this? He was born in 1989, he had a loving family, he went to school, he got good grades, he...
Yong Junhyung splashes cold water onto his face and sees his own sad eyes in the mirror.
The farmer takes the wife, the wife takes the child, and the child... what next?
The child becomes a bartender who sells amnesia, hi-ho the derry-o.
And after that, the only thing he remembers is the end- the cheese. Am I in the cheese's position right now?
Something must have happened in between, Junhyung twists the tap shut and goes to bed clutching a faded photograph of him with his family. He yawns into a foetal curl against the pillows (remember me, when I was in my mother's womb, remember).
The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone, hi-ho the derry-o, the cheese stands alone.
'Was' becomes 'is' when one letter is taken away and the other replaced.
He's walking to work one day, crossing the noisy roads and shifting along with the living dead. They wear suits and dresses, their mouths set in thin wax lines; Junhyung doesn't recognise anyone.
Memory is a puddle burnt by the sun, sometimes muddy sometimes clear, and sunlight sucks it up from an invisible straw until the tiny puddle is gone.
Junhyung is staring at it right in front of the bar when suddenly Kikwang hops into the puddle and splashes it all away, with his smiling lips as red as coca-cola under the bright blue sky.
It's ten at night, and Kikwang is serving a young man who has sharp features and sparkling eyes. He tells Kikwang that it's his first time drinking alcohol in a bar, tells him that he never really knew what 'on the rocks' meant until recently, tells him that he's kind of cute (with a shy smile and pink cheeks, how adorable Junhyung tries not to glare).
The younger boy is still unfamiliar with where the glasses and cups are placed, so Junhyung stays by his side and pulls him by the wrist to the right shelves and cupboards, places his hands over his to help him stir and mix drinks, whispers against his ear what he should do because the music is too loud. Kikwang only nods with his mouth slightly open, and Junhyung realises how inappropriate and awkward it must have been for him to be that close.
Funny how it seemed like something normal to do.
The following evenings are filled with laughter and the sound of Kikwang spinning his cocktail shaker. The dim lights bounce off the metal and blind Junhyung in silver arrows while he pushes a glass of Bloody Mary towards a waiting customer. Ever since Kikwang started working here, they've gotten more customers than usual, with young ladies swarming into the bar and ordering non-alcoholic drinks to sip as they swoon over his perfect smile, or boys who down beers like it's water and try to ask him for his number.
"You'd do so much better next door, you know."
Junhyung nudges him playfully and chuckles. Kikwang tilts his head and frowns, "What?"
"Never mind."
As long as you're here.
At nearly two in the morning, they close the bar and Junhyung brings out his favourite red wine from the wine cooler. It's high in alcohol content and he was reluctant to share it with Kikwang at first, but the latter took it from his hands, eyes shining in curiosity and Junhyung read it as a 'yes please'.
They end up in giggles and gasps on the floor behind the counter, forming incoherent sentences that never reach each other's ears. Junhyung breathes in the heavy, heated air and Kikwang's face nears his with each breath he takes, until the hot air suddenly becomes hot, full lips on his.
Tongue paints wine and desire in his mouth, running over neat, impatient teeth and Junhyung moves his hands under Kikwang's shirt, feeling the curves of his muscles slide under his fingertips. He pulls away from Kikwang's lips and watches those eyes cloud over with want as he lowers his mouth to his collar bone and marks pale skin with red teethmarks, I want you.
The clock reads four in the morning when the moans and gasps fade into light snoring, and Kikwang watches Junhyung sleep as he dresses himself again, and leaves.
He remembers how Junhyung held his hand when they laid side by side, wet chests heaving up and down as they chased oxygen. He didn't let go, not even after he fell asleep.
Junhyung nags at no one in particular (throws a curse or two at Kikwang, maybe) as he cleans up the place, wiping perspiration and frustration from his brow when his boss arrives. "Where's Kikwang?" The man asks, leaning against the counter.
"Asked for a day off, sir," Junhyung replies, hand feeling for his phone in his pocket. There was a message from Kikwang waiting for him as soon as he woke up, and he frowned when he saw it. i don't think i'll be working today, sorry.
"Oh, right."
Right before the older man can pass him and hide in his secret room, Junhyung calls out to him, putting his mop aside. "Sir, do you think you could um, make this space bigger? I mean, it's a bit narrow for two grown men to work behind such a tiny counter."
He watches as the other stares skyward and rubs his chin in thought.
"I'm not the boss, you know, Junhyung," The old man laughs and slaps him on the back, earning a hiss from the younger man.
"Then who is?" Junhyung grumbles slightly, rubbing his aching back where the old man's palm had been.
"Why, I'm not too sure myself, but I know his surname!"
"Which is... ?"
"His surname is Lee."
"Good evening."
Junhyung looks up from the dirty snow path and sees Kikwang standing in front of his house with an unreadable expression.
"Hey... how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine! And um, sorry for leaving you to handle the customers by yourself."
He shoves his hands into his coat pockets and stares at Junhyung's shifting feet. Words aren't enough to express the uncomfortably cold atmosphere, so Junhyung shakes his head and reaches out for Kikwang, his fingers touching the hems of his warm coat.
"No, I'm sorry."
Their bodies press together gently like the fold of a paper heart, and Kikwang closes his eyes, wraps his arms around Junhyung's and he smiles at his words, those familiar words spoken in a familiar voice. As he breathes him in, Junhyung feels his heart beat a little faster, and when Kikwang lifts his head to look at him with his crescent eyes, he feels himself surrounded by a warmth that he felt before, yet he can't put a finger on it, when have I felt this way before? Why did I apologize anyway?
So awkwardly, he pulls away and watches as the shorter brunette's smile grows into a grin. Kikwang pulls out his handphone, and says, "Let's take a picture together!"
"Are we in a relationship now?" Junhyung blurts out in careless puffs of air and slaps a gloved hand over his mouth immediately. The younger boy's grin falters a little as he considers this question, his mouth aching to say 'we were in one before' but instead, he replies, "... After we take this picture together, yes."
Kikwang's grin becomes a laugh as he hooks an arm around Junhyung's and pulls him close, raising his handphone high against the darkening sky.
He presses his lips to Junhyung's freezing cheek right before he pushes his thumb onto a button and the handphone camera clicks loudly. Junhyung chases him around briefly after that, yelling for him to delete it from his phone while Kikwang just laughs away.
"We have to take lots and lots of pictures together from now on!" He says.
( "We need to take lots and lots of pictures together so that you won't forget me!" He said. )
"It's a promise."
( "I promise." He smiled.)
Let's be together, always, you said, but you left one day and forgot everything, us. Why? Words may hurt me, but when you erased me from your life without saying a word, that killed me. Why?
But it doesn't matter now that I've found you. I'll keep us in your new memories, fill the blank pages of your diary with pictures of us and we'll be happy together.
"Let's go out on our first date tomorrow!" Kikwang latches onto Junhyung's arm and the taller boy sighs.
"Alright, alright. Hey wait, what about work?"
"Work can wait!"
Junhyung laughs when Kikwang dashes down the path from where he came from, waving madly and shouting 'goodbam see you tomorrow' as he disappears.
A yellowed polaroid slides out of Kikwang's pocket as he runs and falls onto the snow. The moonlight reflects two bright faces and the words 'i love you'.
I KNOW I HAVE A LOT TO EXPLAIN SO I'LL DO IT HERE.
First of all, 'Mouse's Ear' is another name for Forget-me-nots (flowers, yes). I wasn't creative enough to come up with a better name obviously
Secondly, junhyung obviously drank some of that amnesia-in-liquid-form thing that's why he ended up forgetting most of the past events of his life (that includes kwang) and became a bartender/slave
lastly, kwang went to look for him (and yes his father owns the place and stuff idek) but he never really hoped for junhyung to remember him, just went and jumped into a new relationship with him yes
OTL
junkwang (junhyung/kikwang), pg-13, goosebump-inducing unbeta'd
bartender!junkwang, as requested by blur2katak! merry early x'mas, kyakyakya.
The night is filled with men crying into their beers, women making eyes over the top of their wine glasses and Junhyung trying to make sense of his surroundings.
Being a bartender was probably the last item on his to-do list (or was it 'become a stripper' instead?), but he has no choice- one day he found himself cleaning glasses and being ordered around by red-faced customers in this awful place and that was how it all began.
It was a tiny place that sat between a rock and a hard place- a popular stripclub and a huge brick wall. The small, cheap lighting (Christmas lights that flicker in painful yellow) that hung around the main entrance could not compare to the bright neon lights next door that seduced many horny men. Needless to say, when night falls, the stripclub gets all the customers (or 'brings all the boys to the yard', as Junhyung's boss says).
But the little bar had something special that the stripclub didn't. It wasn't all alcohol and tears for the customers of 'Mouse's Ear' (weird name, in Junhyung's opinion but he doesn't say anything to his boss of course), people come here to drink and forget.
A lady with relationship problems stumbles in crying mascara tears. She tells Junhyung to make her a drink that's coral blue. She takes tiny sips after each sob until she begins to smile again, the echoes of her husband's insults disappearing from the walls of her mind. A man with too many wrinkles on his forehead walks in timidly and orders a beer.
Junhyung slides the drink to the guy and watches him down the golden liquid quickly, wiping the froth from his stiff upper lip before exhaling satisfaction into the warm air. As the alcohol flows into the gush of blood towards his aching heart, he forgets the creased milk-skin of his old mother's hands as he held them by her deathbed, the last pained gasp she released before her pale eyes rolled to a stop in a frozen stare.
Junhyung watches him leave as a happier man with less wrinkles on his forehead.
Sometimes men arrive in small groups and drink themselves into sweet oblivion, other times they're just laughing too loudly. Junhyung doesn't know who's drunk or not since they bubble the same incomprehensible nonsense, but he manages well as the only bartender around.
Until one evening, two men arrive in the bar, one looking anxious and the other surveying his surroundings with lazy eyes. Junhyung gives them a quick glance, nothing more, then returns to polishing glasses and ignoring drunk customers. The taller of the two has a toothy grin and playful eyebrows, while the shorter has a neat and dark fringe that hides his nervous eyes. He keeps biting his lower lip.
Junhyung turns to them when they sit at the table, and he asks, "What would you like to have, gentlemen?" Slap on a plastic smile and everything's good. The taller guy (Junhyung wants to call him an ahjussi) looks him up and down meaningfully.
"I would like a piece of that fine ass, thank you very much."
His plastic smile becomes melting wax.
"Doojoon, quit fooling around!" The shorter brunette hisses and gives Junhyung an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that, he can be a real asshole sometimes, but I swear he's a good guy-"
"Kikwang," The guy ('Doojoon', Junhyung notes with gritted teeth) sighs and puts his arm around 'Kikwang's shrinking shoulders. "You'll never be able to work here if you can't handle a joke like that."
Junhyung blinks. "Work... here?"
"Yeah, he wants a job here as a bartender," Doojoon explains. "And I'd like a beer please. I'm going to get so wasted, just you wait and see." He turns to Kikwang with a laugh.
Junhyung and Kikwang stare at each other for too long, their eyes lingering on each other's confused mouths until Doojoon snaps them out of it.
The first day of work. Junhyung's boss said 'yes' almost immediately when Kikwang appeared with a confident smile on his face. Why the immediate consent, Junhyung doesn't know. It is six in the evening and Junhyung starts off Kikwang's training by giving him a tour of the bar.
"This is where we put the wine glasses, this is where we put the secret recipes, and this is where we hide, well, where I hide when I feel like slacking off." He mumbles and spins on his heel to see the shorter boy fingering the rim of a washed glass.
"I heard that you make drinks that..." Kikwang says quietly, and Junhyung freezes, waiting for the words to follow. Drinks that make people forget things.
"... taste like shit."
"... ... Who told you that."
"Doojoonie, and other customers, of course." Kikwang shifts uneasily under Junhyung's glare. For some reason, he can't bring himself to get mad at this sun-eyed boy, so he sighs loudly and says, "There's something you have to know about these drinks I make."
Kikwang looks up at him, his finger pressing onto the circle of glass until it turns pale. "These drinks," Junhyung tugs the ends of his shirt. "They make people forget."
"... So they're magical?" The smaller boy's eyebrows arch upwards in doubt.
"Um, not exactly, but um, how do I put this..."
After a moment of struggling with his own tongue to find the right words, Junhyung gives up and leans against the counter. "It just makes people forget things, bad things that they want to erase from their memories, okay?"
Truth be told, Junhyung hasn't any idea what it is that makes people forget, the alcohol or the special concoction that his boss makes in his secret room. Sometimes he suspects that the older man practises some sort of dark magic, once Junhyung caught a glimpse of his secret room and he saw that it was filled with bottles and flasks of colourful liquids.
They keep it in glass vials of different colours (the darker the colour, the stronger it is, Junhyung tells Kikwang) and add drops of the sweet-smelling liquid into customers' drinks according to their needs.
"And how do you measure their needs?"
"By the sort of drinks they order, simple as that. But when you stay behind the counter and watch people all day long, you learn to read them like books. "
Lifting a vial of pastel green, Junhyung unscrews the lid and holds it out to Kikwang. "We never drink this, it tastes like crap."
"How would you know that it tastes like crap then?" Kikwang laughs and he sounds as bright as shining bells.
The taller brunette mumbles under his breath ('bet it tastes worse, though') and keeps the vial away.
"So what about you?" Kikwang asks suddenly, his eyes staring right into Junhyung's, as if attempting to pierce the layers of chocolate brown and empty black (hoping to see something other than a hollow inside, maybe). "Have you tried forgetting something or someone before?"
Have I...? Junhyung frowns and wonders why Kikwang is asking these uncomfortable questions. He's just curious, perhaps. Yeah, he's just being curious.
Forgetting something is easy, like where you went for dinner last week, or when was the last time you visited an old friend. Forgetting someone on the other hand...
"I don't remember," Junhyung replies in a voice he doesn't recognise- it sounds as if the words are trapped underwater, making frustrated ripples but never hitting the surface. "I... I don't remember."
Kikwang watches him quietly, then claps a cold hand over Junhyung's shoulder and smiles. "Don't think about it, then. "
Do you remember me?
He's playing a game of cat and mouse.
Chasing memories is a tedious job, and requires patience. He needs to wait for each drop of memory to pinch off the leaking tap in his head and fall back into place. He is the cat that waits for the mouse to come out of its hole.
But lately, Junhyung isn't sure who's the cat or the mouse anymore.
The more he tries to recall and gather bits of information about his past, the more he drowns in confusion, until the past becomes the cat and he becomes the miserable mouse. How did he end up like this? He was born in 1989, he had a loving family, he went to school, he got good grades, he...
Yong Junhyung splashes cold water onto his face and sees his own sad eyes in the mirror.
The farmer takes the wife, the wife takes the child, and the child... what next?
The child becomes a bartender who sells amnesia, hi-ho the derry-o.
And after that, the only thing he remembers is the end- the cheese. Am I in the cheese's position right now?
Something must have happened in between, Junhyung twists the tap shut and goes to bed clutching a faded photograph of him with his family. He yawns into a foetal curl against the pillows (remember me, when I was in my mother's womb, remember).
The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone, hi-ho the derry-o, the cheese stands alone.
'Was' becomes 'is' when one letter is taken away and the other replaced.
He's walking to work one day, crossing the noisy roads and shifting along with the living dead. They wear suits and dresses, their mouths set in thin wax lines; Junhyung doesn't recognise anyone.
Memory is a puddle burnt by the sun, sometimes muddy sometimes clear, and sunlight sucks it up from an invisible straw until the tiny puddle is gone.
Junhyung is staring at it right in front of the bar when suddenly Kikwang hops into the puddle and splashes it all away, with his smiling lips as red as coca-cola under the bright blue sky.
It's ten at night, and Kikwang is serving a young man who has sharp features and sparkling eyes. He tells Kikwang that it's his first time drinking alcohol in a bar, tells him that he never really knew what 'on the rocks' meant until recently, tells him that he's kind of cute (with a shy smile and pink cheeks, how adorable Junhyung tries not to glare).
The younger boy is still unfamiliar with where the glasses and cups are placed, so Junhyung stays by his side and pulls him by the wrist to the right shelves and cupboards, places his hands over his to help him stir and mix drinks, whispers against his ear what he should do because the music is too loud. Kikwang only nods with his mouth slightly open, and Junhyung realises how inappropriate and awkward it must have been for him to be that close.
Funny how it seemed like something normal to do.
The following evenings are filled with laughter and the sound of Kikwang spinning his cocktail shaker. The dim lights bounce off the metal and blind Junhyung in silver arrows while he pushes a glass of Bloody Mary towards a waiting customer. Ever since Kikwang started working here, they've gotten more customers than usual, with young ladies swarming into the bar and ordering non-alcoholic drinks to sip as they swoon over his perfect smile, or boys who down beers like it's water and try to ask him for his number.
"You'd do so much better next door, you know."
Junhyung nudges him playfully and chuckles. Kikwang tilts his head and frowns, "What?"
"Never mind."
As long as you're here.
At nearly two in the morning, they close the bar and Junhyung brings out his favourite red wine from the wine cooler. It's high in alcohol content and he was reluctant to share it with Kikwang at first, but the latter took it from his hands, eyes shining in curiosity and Junhyung read it as a 'yes please'.
They end up in giggles and gasps on the floor behind the counter, forming incoherent sentences that never reach each other's ears. Junhyung breathes in the heavy, heated air and Kikwang's face nears his with each breath he takes, until the hot air suddenly becomes hot, full lips on his.
Tongue paints wine and desire in his mouth, running over neat, impatient teeth and Junhyung moves his hands under Kikwang's shirt, feeling the curves of his muscles slide under his fingertips. He pulls away from Kikwang's lips and watches those eyes cloud over with want as he lowers his mouth to his collar bone and marks pale skin with red teethmarks, I want you.
The clock reads four in the morning when the moans and gasps fade into light snoring, and Kikwang watches Junhyung sleep as he dresses himself again, and leaves.
He remembers how Junhyung held his hand when they laid side by side, wet chests heaving up and down as they chased oxygen. He didn't let go, not even after he fell asleep.
Junhyung nags at no one in particular (throws a curse or two at Kikwang, maybe) as he cleans up the place, wiping perspiration and frustration from his brow when his boss arrives. "Where's Kikwang?" The man asks, leaning against the counter.
"Asked for a day off, sir," Junhyung replies, hand feeling for his phone in his pocket. There was a message from Kikwang waiting for him as soon as he woke up, and he frowned when he saw it. i don't think i'll be working today, sorry.
"Oh, right."
Right before the older man can pass him and hide in his secret room, Junhyung calls out to him, putting his mop aside. "Sir, do you think you could um, make this space bigger? I mean, it's a bit narrow for two grown men to work behind such a tiny counter."
He watches as the other stares skyward and rubs his chin in thought.
"I'm not the boss, you know, Junhyung," The old man laughs and slaps him on the back, earning a hiss from the younger man.
"Then who is?" Junhyung grumbles slightly, rubbing his aching back where the old man's palm had been.
"Why, I'm not too sure myself, but I know his surname!"
"Which is... ?"
"His surname is Lee."
"Good evening."
Junhyung looks up from the dirty snow path and sees Kikwang standing in front of his house with an unreadable expression.
"Hey... how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine! And um, sorry for leaving you to handle the customers by yourself."
He shoves his hands into his coat pockets and stares at Junhyung's shifting feet. Words aren't enough to express the uncomfortably cold atmosphere, so Junhyung shakes his head and reaches out for Kikwang, his fingers touching the hems of his warm coat.
"No, I'm sorry."
Their bodies press together gently like the fold of a paper heart, and Kikwang closes his eyes, wraps his arms around Junhyung's and he smiles at his words, those familiar words spoken in a familiar voice. As he breathes him in, Junhyung feels his heart beat a little faster, and when Kikwang lifts his head to look at him with his crescent eyes, he feels himself surrounded by a warmth that he felt before, yet he can't put a finger on it, when have I felt this way before? Why did I apologize anyway?
So awkwardly, he pulls away and watches as the shorter brunette's smile grows into a grin. Kikwang pulls out his handphone, and says, "Let's take a picture together!"
"Are we in a relationship now?" Junhyung blurts out in careless puffs of air and slaps a gloved hand over his mouth immediately. The younger boy's grin falters a little as he considers this question, his mouth aching to say 'we were in one before' but instead, he replies, "... After we take this picture together, yes."
Kikwang's grin becomes a laugh as he hooks an arm around Junhyung's and pulls him close, raising his handphone high against the darkening sky.
He presses his lips to Junhyung's freezing cheek right before he pushes his thumb onto a button and the handphone camera clicks loudly. Junhyung chases him around briefly after that, yelling for him to delete it from his phone while Kikwang just laughs away.
"We have to take lots and lots of pictures together from now on!" He says.
( "We need to take lots and lots of pictures together so that you won't forget me!" He said. )
"It's a promise."
( "I promise." He smiled.)
Let's be together, always, you said, but you left one day and forgot everything, us. Why? Words may hurt me, but when you erased me from your life without saying a word, that killed me. Why?
But it doesn't matter now that I've found you. I'll keep us in your new memories, fill the blank pages of your diary with pictures of us and we'll be happy together.
"Let's go out on our first date tomorrow!" Kikwang latches onto Junhyung's arm and the taller boy sighs.
"Alright, alright. Hey wait, what about work?"
"Work can wait!"
Junhyung laughs when Kikwang dashes down the path from where he came from, waving madly and shouting 'goodbam see you tomorrow' as he disappears.
A yellowed polaroid slides out of Kikwang's pocket as he runs and falls onto the snow. The moonlight reflects two bright faces and the words 'i love you'.
I KNOW I HAVE A LOT TO EXPLAIN SO I'LL DO IT HERE.
First of all, 'Mouse's Ear' is another name for Forget-me-nots (flowers, yes). I wasn't creative enough to come up with a better name obviously
Secondly, junhyung obviously drank some of that amnesia-in-liquid-form thing that's why he ended up forgetting most of the past events of his life (that includes kwang) and became a bartender/slave
lastly, kwang went to look for him (and yes his father owns the place and stuff idek) but he never really hoped for junhyung to remember him, just went and jumped into a new relationship with him yes
OTL