Round 5: Red Velvet ( for bluedreaming )
Fic Title: Red Velvet
Written For: bluedreaming
Main Character: Junho
Pairing: Junho/Wooyoung friendship
Warnings: mentions of suicide, very small hint at homophobia
Word count: 4,000
Prompt used: [x] caption: when your friend is back in town
Summary: It’s been four years since they’ve met each other face to face, and a lot has changed.
Junho sat in the cafe, and tried to smile when the other man came and set down the tray with two cappuccino's and a cake that was cut in half. Junho eyed the tray a few times and then looked at his friend, "red velvet, really?" He mumbled, picking up his fork and taking a small bit. He ate it and smiled, "you picked my favourite. This has nothing to do with what you saw on facebook, right?" Junho said before he took a sip of his drink, ignoring the other's eyes on him. "Because I'm really ok, you know." He wasn't exactly lying, he was doing a lot better than he had been doing before, but he still wasn't back to normal after everything that happened. He wasn't however, looking to have a heart to heart with his best friend, not when he'd traveled up so they could hang out - they'd already been out to see some of the fun things in the area and they'd eaten kimchi jigae together. Today wasn't about being sad and dealing with feelings, it was about just catching up and getting up to speed with everything that had happened in the years since they'd last seen each other in person.
"I know." Wooyoung said sitting down, and taking a sip of his own drink. "I just happened to get your favourite. So... you gonna tell me what happened with him?" Wooyoung said taking a sip of his drink again. Junho just nodded, Wooyoung wasn't facebook friends with his ex-boyfriend so didn't know the full details of everything that happened - well that and Junho didn't exactly call up his best friend to complain about men, they had other things to talk about, usually Wooyoung's family - who amused Junho to no end.
"Why don't you tell me about your daughter?" He said instead of an answer. "I know she's getting old now. Why haven't you married her mom yet?" Wooyoung just raised his brow at the other. Junho knew this was always awkward, Junho was always suggesting Wooyoung marry his girlfriend - because he was in reality a hopeless romantic. He loved the idea of his best friend getting married and having everything he wouldn't be able to have.
"She's seven," Wooyoung said quietly, "Hyemi is seven and she's doing really well at school. You'd know that if you'd bothered to come down any time I'd invited you. You are her Godfather." Seven, Junho reminded himself in his head that he needed to make more of an effort to see the little girl, rather than just talking to her on the phone when she was around while he was talking to Wooyoung - it wouldn't be that much longer that she wanted to speak to her Godfather.
"You know why I didn't come." Junho said quietly. He said picking at the cake with his fork while Wooyoung did the same. He almost smiled at how they mirrored each other, it was something they'd always done when they shared a plate, they always seemed to become mirror images, even down to the fact that Wooyoung was right handed and Junho used his left.
"Your dad?" he sighed a little, "You know he's probably gotten over the fact that you're gay by now Junho." Wooyoung shrugged a little, "Plus you and him are over now. So you should come back to Busan." He wanted to roll his eyes, his dad had probably not gotten over it, his dad hadn't called since he left to live with his boyfriend, so that spoke for itself really.
"You know I'm not that far away living in Daegu, but I think I might move away from here, I was only here because Minjun loved it here," Minjun was proud to be Daegu born so Junho was just happy that his boyfriend was somewhere that he felt good in. Minjun had never been afraid to be himself in Daegu, and that meant that Junho felt more comfortable being himself. Junho had just fitted so naturally into Minjun's life but now he wasn't sure where he fit, not without Minjun to guide him. "My work are looking to send some people up to Seoul so maybe I'll take the offer." Junho said with a small shrug. He didn't want to go back to Busan there were too many bad memories that were housed there. He didn't want to go back to having to hide or to feeling uncomfortable on the streets.
He, however, didn't want to be walking down Minjun's streets, looking at his parks, his favourite places, the things they'd done together. Junho didn't really wanted to be surrounded by all that. While Minjun hadn't been his first boyfriend, he had been the first serious man in his life and that was something that could never be replaced. He'd been the first person that Junho had said I love you too and known he really meant it. He'd really wanted to spend the rest of his life with Minjun but it just wasn't to be.
So he wanted to just get away, so he could move on properly, so he could find someone else, just so he could stop running away from the shadows of his former love. He knew he had to leave - and going home was not an option, no matter how much he'd like to go and live closer to his best friend and his daughter. He didn't know where was going to be the best place for him to live, but he was going to find somewhere that he could breathe in, where he didn't feel like he had to look over his shoulder. Where he could date and not feel guilty, or worse ashamed. He didn't want to go back to how it was when he was living in Busan, only kissing someone when he knew no one could see them. He wasn't big on public display's of affection, but he had liked the small things that Minjun had done when they were together - that had made him more comfortable with who they were together. Minjun had really helped him understand who he was and what he wanted when it came to love. It was the best gift anyone could give him, Minjun had shown Junho how to love himself - even the bits he wished were better, Minjun had given him the confidence to get the job he wanted, and to sing in bars every week.
"You do know that if you go to Seoul this is going to get even rarer." Wooyoung said - although it had taken them about four years to have this meeting, it had just not worked out any time prior to this. But they had remained close, they texted and called, it was close even without having to be with each other all day, everyday like school had been and there was something comforting in knowing that their friendship could survive that. "Although, it would be nice to bring Hyemi to see Seoul and of course her mom would love it too." Wooyoung smiled, "but at the same time it would suck that you were so far away. I'd have to drive even further to threaten your boyfriends not to hurt you."
Junho smiled a little at the others words and shook his head. "I still don't know why you did that to Minjun when we just moved into each other." he said with a small smile. It had been five years prior when Junho had first moved into his and Minjun's tiny apartment, the floorboards needed covering and the walls weren't all covered well, but it was their place. There wasn't much that could be bought with a singer and a music teachers wage - it was two years later that Junho had changed to teach in a music hagwon - that had links to a hagwon in Seoul -, the money was better. Wooyoung had driven up maybe a month after they'd moved in together to 'surprise' Junho.
Junho had been so excited to see his best friend and introduce him to the man who'd changed his life for the better. Wooyoung had just walked up to him and told Minjun that if he ever broke Junho's heart that Wooyoung would be up to 'see to it that Minjun didn't have heart to break', even now just thinking about that moment made Junho laugh. Minjun had just taken it in is stride - as he did with most things. Minjun was someone who was very rarely not composed, he seemed to always be in control - although Junho learnt that that had all been an act and in reality below the surface Minjun had been fighting many demons.
Junho took a deep breath and then took a quick sip of his drink. "He killed himself." he said letting out a quiet breath. "You asked earlier, that's what happened between us, and why I just want to get away." Junho shifted a little, trying not to make eye contact with his best friend. He knew that Wooyoung would be surprised and he didn't want to hear an apology, he just wanted to stop talking about it, he hated having to tell people why he was now single.
"He... didn't do it at your place, right?" Wooyoung said, as if he was checking up on Junho.
"No, the police knocked on my door and told me what had happened." Junho sighed a little, "I didn't get a goodbye, I didn't get a reason why. It was a complete shock to me. Maybe I just wasn't paying him enough attention to notice." Junho had already been through all the days leading up to it, over and over, trying to work out if there was any way he could have known and stopped Minjun. He knew that Minjun was the kind of man who did what he wanted and he knew that realistically there was nothing he could have done to stop him. But he couldn't help but imagine there being a scenario where he noticed, or where he'd been with Minjun and didn't let him go anywhere alone. But he also knew that Minjun wouldn't have wanted him to be hung up on the what-if's, he'd want Junho to live and to still be doing what he loved.
"You know that's not true. You could write a book on that man you knew so much about him." Wooyoung reached over and squeezed Junho's hand, "I'm really sorry he did this to you." Junho just gave Wooyoung a little smile.
"You know, it almost suited him, he was always in control." Junho said before taking a bit of his cake and eating it. "But now I just want to move on, I just want to get out of here, and away from his parents six million questions about if he said anything. Like I'd have let this happen if I'd known what he was going to do, what kind of person does she think I am?" Junho sighed again, "ok I know she's hurting, he was her son as well as my boyfriend." He'd become an expert in avoiding Minjun's mother because he really didn't want to deal with all the questions, that quite often felt like accusations.
"Maybe moving away would be a good thing, it must be hard to be around everything." Wooyoung sighed a little, "Look, before you rush into a job in Seoul, why don't you just take some time out and come stay with me, Hyemi and her mom for a bit and then you can decided if you want to go to Seoul." Wooyoung suggested, "We have a spare room - and honestly if you're there you'll be doing me a huge favour because she always has her 'girlfriends' and their kids over." Wooyoung rolled his eyes "and that means I get them pestering me about marrying her."
"Why don't you propose, you've been together for like your whole life or something crazy." Junho said with a laugh, "You two got married at recess in pre-k, so it's not like it wasn't like stupidly fated or something," he smiled, "I vote you propose to her - then all her friends will leave you alone and you know you always wanted to marry her since we were young."
"I know, but I don't see what the point is, you know, weddings are just huge - expensive - things, that really don't change anything. Marrying her wont make me love her anymore than I already do, it wont change how we feel about each other, or how we are with each other."
Junho rolled his eyes, "but it changes a lot at the same time, it gives you both legal rights if something was to happen, it means you have more security. I would have married Minjun if it had been legal and our baby is only three."
"Your baby is a Bedlington Terrier." Wooyoung said with a laugh. "Your baby doesn't got to four hagwons, so you can afford a wedding."
"Four hagwons? She's seven, what could you possibly be sending her to hagwon's for?" Junho was honestly shocked, he never thought his best friend would be the kind of person who would send his daughter to a hagwon.
"Mathematics, memory skills, piano and violin." Wooyoung said with a sigh, "if her mom got her way she'd be going to even more hagwons, she wants her to start going to English and Mandarin hagwons as soon as possible. And before you even say it, I know she's crazy."
"It's really too much for that girl, when does she get time to just be a kid?"
"She needs to go to a good college, and this is apparently the only way we can make sure that she gets her best shot at that - which again comes from the mouth of my crazy girlfriend - who you want me to marry." Wooyoung teased.
"Also just because my baby isn't going to a hagwon doesn't make it any less my baby. I love my little princess." Junho said with a little pout.
"You and Minjun spoiled that dog, I saw the photos on your facebook, there is something wrong with you." Wooyoung said shaking his head taking some cake and eating it. "It's ok that I say his name, I was avoiding it incase he broke your heart."
"He broke my heart, but just not in the usual way." Junho said quietly, "but you can say his name, I don't think of the bad things. I only think of the good." Junho paused for a second, "and he was the one who did most of the spoiling of our princess. OK? He was the one who always found gifts."
"You had a birthday party for your dog with all your other crazy dog friends." Wooyoung said raising a brow, "or was that all him as well?"
"Ok, that was both of us." Junho shook his head, "but it was his idea, We couldn't have kids so all our love went to our princess.... and our kitchen." Junho said with a shrug.
"Don't even start on your food pictures all over your instagram." Wooyoung shook his head, "you make the weirdest, fanciest food and it always looks so good, you're seriously awful." Wooyoung said with a small smile, "I always get hungry when I look at your instagram." He paused for a second, "your instagram is like ninety percent food, five percent Princess, three percent Minjun sleeping and two percent anything else."
"I am pretty proud of my cooking skills ok?" Junho said with a small smile. "So you know there will probably be an increase of photos of Princess," He said with a smile, "and maybe you should cook fun food instead of getting jealous."
"I have a seven year old Junho, she won't eat anything unless the packaging has pororo on it. And just so you know I hate that bird." He said shaking his head, "she hasn't grown out of it, she still loves that bird, although I do prefer it to her whole barbie thing. Those dolls are stupidly expensive." He shook his head. "Oh and you haven't seen hell until you see the wrath of a seven year old."
"What happened?" Junho said with a small smile.
"I got her the wrong Ken, apparently they bring out a new Ken to do with some of Barbie's new outfits and hairstyles or something." Wooyoung shrugged, "and my daughter can tell the difference between all the identical Ken dolls, and I became the worst dad in the world for not being able to tell the difference." Junho couldn't help but laugh at his best friend's misfortune.
"How did you resolve it?" Junho asked as he took more cake. He was always interested in listening to his best friend's tales of parenthood. He was never going to experience it, so this was the next best thing. He had no other options, well unless he was going to go and get a girl pregnant - and he wasn't planning on doing that ever. He'd worked so hard to be comfortable in his own skin and he didn't want to lie to anyone. Although the other option was always to get with a man who had kids already, from a previous relationship but Junho wasn't sure that was going to be an eventuality either.
"I bought her the Barbie that went with the Ken." Wooyoung said finishing up his bit of cake. "I'm not proud of what I did, but it was that or forever be the worlds worst dad. Oh and to make it worse she doesn't keep the Barbie and Ken as a couple, sometimes Ken marries a different Barbie or one of Barbie's friends."
"Ken gets around." Junho said with a small smile. "You're cute when you talk about your daughter, you do know she's really lucky to have you." He shrugged.
"Don't you go all soft on me Junho." Wooyoung whined a little, before taking another sip of his drink. "You know she would love to meet you again, it's been a long time since you spent some time with her and she loves you." Wooyoung sighed a little, "I know it was hard, but we both need to put more effort in - as I want you to have a relationship with my daughter."
"I will, I'll try harder to come down to Busan and spend more time with you and her." He promised. Junho didn't know if he really would do that. He didn't really want to spend any time in Busan if he could help it. He did like his hometown but after how he left things with his family he wasn't really sure if he'd ever be ready to go back. He knew that he was letting his best friend down by not going home to see him and his life there. He knew it was unfair that Wooyoung was always the one who had to come to him.
"I know you won't." Wooyoung said as if he could read the other's mind. "I know you too well, you're not going to come back and that's fine. You're just missing out on a lot." Junho just shook his head at the other.
"You know it's not that simple." Junho said with a small sigh, "I can't just come home. Busan doesn't hold anything for me anymore." He forced a smile before taking another drink. "But it's fine. I don't mind having to find a new place to call home."
"You're just going to keep on taking your boyfriend's hometowns? Daegu felt like home until you were single again. I don't want to you to keep having to move, you should come back and re-claim your hometown. You don't even have to see your dad if you don't want to. We can just hang out - and take Hyemi to the beach. You should see her now, she's too adventurous for my sake but she's a beautiful swimmer. She loves the beach and she loves the stories of her daddy and uncle Junho from when they were younger and used to hang out at the beach all the time."
"Presumably, not the stories where you brought girls and made me be your cover?" Junho said with a small smirk, "or the time we both snuck out to go midnight swimming and we nearly drowned because we hadn't anticipated the tide. And you didn't tell her about the time you tried to flirt with her mommy by undoing the back of her bikini while she was sleeping on the beach?" Junho said with a smile, Wooyoung was right, he was letting a few bad memories of his family ruin his own memory of his hometown and making it feel like he couldn't come home. He loved his hometown and he'd had some amazing memories growing up, memories that Minjun had loved hearing about when they were just having a lazy night and were curled up on the sofa with Princess.
Maybe he should come down to visit, it couldn't hurt going to Busan. Maybe he'd even consider seeing his parents. They hadn't kicked him out or disowned him, but he'd just felt like he'd let them down by being gay so he'd left. He was afraid of going back - although he wasn't sure if that was because he thought his parents were mad at him for being gay or because he was embarrassed about how he had left everything. He'd just left without saying goodbye, he'd left without letting his parents saying whether or not they were against what he was, or who he was going to be with. They'd never met Minjun so he couldn't exactly go home and tell them all about his ex-boyfriend, who he'd been living with ever since he'd left. And then how would he explain, the whole being single thing, he had a hard enough time explaining it to Wooyoung, he didn't want to have his parents judging his ex even though they'd never met him and hadn't known about him.
"Yeah, I keep it to the age appropriate stories, but they were just as fun." Wooyoung said with a smile. "Do you remember that day when were like nineteen and we both ran in as a dare even though it was below freezing?"
"Of course I do." Junho said with a small smile, "we ran in in our clothes and we had forgotten to bring a change with us because we were dumb and we had to walk back to your parents house soaking wet and freezing. I think your mom laughed at us more than we did." Junho said.
Wooyoung looked down and his phone and sighed, "Look, I have to go soon, I need to back in time to have dinner with my daughter." He said with a small smile, Junho nodded, "but really think about what I said about coming home I'd really like to see you back on that beach." he smiled.
Just as Wooyoung was about to leave, Junho suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Wooyoung, thanks for not asking me more about Minjun."
"I figured you'd been crushed already and were sick of going over what happened. Plus I know you, you will tell me if you want me to know all the details and I respect that you don't want to talk about it, he was your boyfriend and I only need to know the basics, I would never force you to say anything that would make you uncomfortable. When have I ever pressed you on a topic you didn't want to talk about? So don't mention it, what are friends for?" They exchanged a smile, an unspoken promise that there had always been, and always would be that they were going to be friends and that they understood each other better than anyone else in the planet.
Written For: bluedreaming
Main Character: Junho
Pairing: Junho/Wooyoung friendship
Warnings: mentions of suicide, very small hint at homophobia
Word count: 4,000
Prompt used: [x] caption: when your friend is back in town
Summary: It’s been four years since they’ve met each other face to face, and a lot has changed.
Junho sat in the cafe, and tried to smile when the other man came and set down the tray with two cappuccino's and a cake that was cut in half. Junho eyed the tray a few times and then looked at his friend, "red velvet, really?" He mumbled, picking up his fork and taking a small bit. He ate it and smiled, "you picked my favourite. This has nothing to do with what you saw on facebook, right?" Junho said before he took a sip of his drink, ignoring the other's eyes on him. "Because I'm really ok, you know." He wasn't exactly lying, he was doing a lot better than he had been doing before, but he still wasn't back to normal after everything that happened. He wasn't however, looking to have a heart to heart with his best friend, not when he'd traveled up so they could hang out - they'd already been out to see some of the fun things in the area and they'd eaten kimchi jigae together. Today wasn't about being sad and dealing with feelings, it was about just catching up and getting up to speed with everything that had happened in the years since they'd last seen each other in person.
"I know." Wooyoung said sitting down, and taking a sip of his own drink. "I just happened to get your favourite. So... you gonna tell me what happened with him?" Wooyoung said taking a sip of his drink again. Junho just nodded, Wooyoung wasn't facebook friends with his ex-boyfriend so didn't know the full details of everything that happened - well that and Junho didn't exactly call up his best friend to complain about men, they had other things to talk about, usually Wooyoung's family - who amused Junho to no end.
"Why don't you tell me about your daughter?" He said instead of an answer. "I know she's getting old now. Why haven't you married her mom yet?" Wooyoung just raised his brow at the other. Junho knew this was always awkward, Junho was always suggesting Wooyoung marry his girlfriend - because he was in reality a hopeless romantic. He loved the idea of his best friend getting married and having everything he wouldn't be able to have.
"She's seven," Wooyoung said quietly, "Hyemi is seven and she's doing really well at school. You'd know that if you'd bothered to come down any time I'd invited you. You are her Godfather." Seven, Junho reminded himself in his head that he needed to make more of an effort to see the little girl, rather than just talking to her on the phone when she was around while he was talking to Wooyoung - it wouldn't be that much longer that she wanted to speak to her Godfather.
"You know why I didn't come." Junho said quietly. He said picking at the cake with his fork while Wooyoung did the same. He almost smiled at how they mirrored each other, it was something they'd always done when they shared a plate, they always seemed to become mirror images, even down to the fact that Wooyoung was right handed and Junho used his left.
"Your dad?" he sighed a little, "You know he's probably gotten over the fact that you're gay by now Junho." Wooyoung shrugged a little, "Plus you and him are over now. So you should come back to Busan." He wanted to roll his eyes, his dad had probably not gotten over it, his dad hadn't called since he left to live with his boyfriend, so that spoke for itself really.
"You know I'm not that far away living in Daegu, but I think I might move away from here, I was only here because Minjun loved it here," Minjun was proud to be Daegu born so Junho was just happy that his boyfriend was somewhere that he felt good in. Minjun had never been afraid to be himself in Daegu, and that meant that Junho felt more comfortable being himself. Junho had just fitted so naturally into Minjun's life but now he wasn't sure where he fit, not without Minjun to guide him. "My work are looking to send some people up to Seoul so maybe I'll take the offer." Junho said with a small shrug. He didn't want to go back to Busan there were too many bad memories that were housed there. He didn't want to go back to having to hide or to feeling uncomfortable on the streets.
He, however, didn't want to be walking down Minjun's streets, looking at his parks, his favourite places, the things they'd done together. Junho didn't really wanted to be surrounded by all that. While Minjun hadn't been his first boyfriend, he had been the first serious man in his life and that was something that could never be replaced. He'd been the first person that Junho had said I love you too and known he really meant it. He'd really wanted to spend the rest of his life with Minjun but it just wasn't to be.
So he wanted to just get away, so he could move on properly, so he could find someone else, just so he could stop running away from the shadows of his former love. He knew he had to leave - and going home was not an option, no matter how much he'd like to go and live closer to his best friend and his daughter. He didn't know where was going to be the best place for him to live, but he was going to find somewhere that he could breathe in, where he didn't feel like he had to look over his shoulder. Where he could date and not feel guilty, or worse ashamed. He didn't want to go back to how it was when he was living in Busan, only kissing someone when he knew no one could see them. He wasn't big on public display's of affection, but he had liked the small things that Minjun had done when they were together - that had made him more comfortable with who they were together. Minjun had really helped him understand who he was and what he wanted when it came to love. It was the best gift anyone could give him, Minjun had shown Junho how to love himself - even the bits he wished were better, Minjun had given him the confidence to get the job he wanted, and to sing in bars every week.
"You do know that if you go to Seoul this is going to get even rarer." Wooyoung said - although it had taken them about four years to have this meeting, it had just not worked out any time prior to this. But they had remained close, they texted and called, it was close even without having to be with each other all day, everyday like school had been and there was something comforting in knowing that their friendship could survive that. "Although, it would be nice to bring Hyemi to see Seoul and of course her mom would love it too." Wooyoung smiled, "but at the same time it would suck that you were so far away. I'd have to drive even further to threaten your boyfriends not to hurt you."
Junho smiled a little at the others words and shook his head. "I still don't know why you did that to Minjun when we just moved into each other." he said with a small smile. It had been five years prior when Junho had first moved into his and Minjun's tiny apartment, the floorboards needed covering and the walls weren't all covered well, but it was their place. There wasn't much that could be bought with a singer and a music teachers wage - it was two years later that Junho had changed to teach in a music hagwon - that had links to a hagwon in Seoul -, the money was better. Wooyoung had driven up maybe a month after they'd moved in together to 'surprise' Junho.
Junho had been so excited to see his best friend and introduce him to the man who'd changed his life for the better. Wooyoung had just walked up to him and told Minjun that if he ever broke Junho's heart that Wooyoung would be up to 'see to it that Minjun didn't have heart to break', even now just thinking about that moment made Junho laugh. Minjun had just taken it in is stride - as he did with most things. Minjun was someone who was very rarely not composed, he seemed to always be in control - although Junho learnt that that had all been an act and in reality below the surface Minjun had been fighting many demons.
Junho took a deep breath and then took a quick sip of his drink. "He killed himself." he said letting out a quiet breath. "You asked earlier, that's what happened between us, and why I just want to get away." Junho shifted a little, trying not to make eye contact with his best friend. He knew that Wooyoung would be surprised and he didn't want to hear an apology, he just wanted to stop talking about it, he hated having to tell people why he was now single.
"He... didn't do it at your place, right?" Wooyoung said, as if he was checking up on Junho.
"No, the police knocked on my door and told me what had happened." Junho sighed a little, "I didn't get a goodbye, I didn't get a reason why. It was a complete shock to me. Maybe I just wasn't paying him enough attention to notice." Junho had already been through all the days leading up to it, over and over, trying to work out if there was any way he could have known and stopped Minjun. He knew that Minjun was the kind of man who did what he wanted and he knew that realistically there was nothing he could have done to stop him. But he couldn't help but imagine there being a scenario where he noticed, or where he'd been with Minjun and didn't let him go anywhere alone. But he also knew that Minjun wouldn't have wanted him to be hung up on the what-if's, he'd want Junho to live and to still be doing what he loved.
"You know that's not true. You could write a book on that man you knew so much about him." Wooyoung reached over and squeezed Junho's hand, "I'm really sorry he did this to you." Junho just gave Wooyoung a little smile.
"You know, it almost suited him, he was always in control." Junho said before taking a bit of his cake and eating it. "But now I just want to move on, I just want to get out of here, and away from his parents six million questions about if he said anything. Like I'd have let this happen if I'd known what he was going to do, what kind of person does she think I am?" Junho sighed again, "ok I know she's hurting, he was her son as well as my boyfriend." He'd become an expert in avoiding Minjun's mother because he really didn't want to deal with all the questions, that quite often felt like accusations.
"Maybe moving away would be a good thing, it must be hard to be around everything." Wooyoung sighed a little, "Look, before you rush into a job in Seoul, why don't you just take some time out and come stay with me, Hyemi and her mom for a bit and then you can decided if you want to go to Seoul." Wooyoung suggested, "We have a spare room - and honestly if you're there you'll be doing me a huge favour because she always has her 'girlfriends' and their kids over." Wooyoung rolled his eyes "and that means I get them pestering me about marrying her."
"Why don't you propose, you've been together for like your whole life or something crazy." Junho said with a laugh, "You two got married at recess in pre-k, so it's not like it wasn't like stupidly fated or something," he smiled, "I vote you propose to her - then all her friends will leave you alone and you know you always wanted to marry her since we were young."
"I know, but I don't see what the point is, you know, weddings are just huge - expensive - things, that really don't change anything. Marrying her wont make me love her anymore than I already do, it wont change how we feel about each other, or how we are with each other."
Junho rolled his eyes, "but it changes a lot at the same time, it gives you both legal rights if something was to happen, it means you have more security. I would have married Minjun if it had been legal and our baby is only three."
"Your baby is a Bedlington Terrier." Wooyoung said with a laugh. "Your baby doesn't got to four hagwons, so you can afford a wedding."
"Four hagwons? She's seven, what could you possibly be sending her to hagwon's for?" Junho was honestly shocked, he never thought his best friend would be the kind of person who would send his daughter to a hagwon.
"Mathematics, memory skills, piano and violin." Wooyoung said with a sigh, "if her mom got her way she'd be going to even more hagwons, she wants her to start going to English and Mandarin hagwons as soon as possible. And before you even say it, I know she's crazy."
"It's really too much for that girl, when does she get time to just be a kid?"
"She needs to go to a good college, and this is apparently the only way we can make sure that she gets her best shot at that - which again comes from the mouth of my crazy girlfriend - who you want me to marry." Wooyoung teased.
"Also just because my baby isn't going to a hagwon doesn't make it any less my baby. I love my little princess." Junho said with a little pout.
"You and Minjun spoiled that dog, I saw the photos on your facebook, there is something wrong with you." Wooyoung said shaking his head taking some cake and eating it. "It's ok that I say his name, I was avoiding it incase he broke your heart."
"He broke my heart, but just not in the usual way." Junho said quietly, "but you can say his name, I don't think of the bad things. I only think of the good." Junho paused for a second, "and he was the one who did most of the spoiling of our princess. OK? He was the one who always found gifts."
"You had a birthday party for your dog with all your other crazy dog friends." Wooyoung said raising a brow, "or was that all him as well?"
"Ok, that was both of us." Junho shook his head, "but it was his idea, We couldn't have kids so all our love went to our princess.... and our kitchen." Junho said with a shrug.
"Don't even start on your food pictures all over your instagram." Wooyoung shook his head, "you make the weirdest, fanciest food and it always looks so good, you're seriously awful." Wooyoung said with a small smile, "I always get hungry when I look at your instagram." He paused for a second, "your instagram is like ninety percent food, five percent Princess, three percent Minjun sleeping and two percent anything else."
"I am pretty proud of my cooking skills ok?" Junho said with a small smile. "So you know there will probably be an increase of photos of Princess," He said with a smile, "and maybe you should cook fun food instead of getting jealous."
"I have a seven year old Junho, she won't eat anything unless the packaging has pororo on it. And just so you know I hate that bird." He said shaking his head, "she hasn't grown out of it, she still loves that bird, although I do prefer it to her whole barbie thing. Those dolls are stupidly expensive." He shook his head. "Oh and you haven't seen hell until you see the wrath of a seven year old."
"What happened?" Junho said with a small smile.
"I got her the wrong Ken, apparently they bring out a new Ken to do with some of Barbie's new outfits and hairstyles or something." Wooyoung shrugged, "and my daughter can tell the difference between all the identical Ken dolls, and I became the worst dad in the world for not being able to tell the difference." Junho couldn't help but laugh at his best friend's misfortune.
"How did you resolve it?" Junho asked as he took more cake. He was always interested in listening to his best friend's tales of parenthood. He was never going to experience it, so this was the next best thing. He had no other options, well unless he was going to go and get a girl pregnant - and he wasn't planning on doing that ever. He'd worked so hard to be comfortable in his own skin and he didn't want to lie to anyone. Although the other option was always to get with a man who had kids already, from a previous relationship but Junho wasn't sure that was going to be an eventuality either.
"I bought her the Barbie that went with the Ken." Wooyoung said finishing up his bit of cake. "I'm not proud of what I did, but it was that or forever be the worlds worst dad. Oh and to make it worse she doesn't keep the Barbie and Ken as a couple, sometimes Ken marries a different Barbie or one of Barbie's friends."
"Ken gets around." Junho said with a small smile. "You're cute when you talk about your daughter, you do know she's really lucky to have you." He shrugged.
"Don't you go all soft on me Junho." Wooyoung whined a little, before taking another sip of his drink. "You know she would love to meet you again, it's been a long time since you spent some time with her and she loves you." Wooyoung sighed a little, "I know it was hard, but we both need to put more effort in - as I want you to have a relationship with my daughter."
"I will, I'll try harder to come down to Busan and spend more time with you and her." He promised. Junho didn't know if he really would do that. He didn't really want to spend any time in Busan if he could help it. He did like his hometown but after how he left things with his family he wasn't really sure if he'd ever be ready to go back. He knew that he was letting his best friend down by not going home to see him and his life there. He knew it was unfair that Wooyoung was always the one who had to come to him.
"I know you won't." Wooyoung said as if he could read the other's mind. "I know you too well, you're not going to come back and that's fine. You're just missing out on a lot." Junho just shook his head at the other.
"You know it's not that simple." Junho said with a small sigh, "I can't just come home. Busan doesn't hold anything for me anymore." He forced a smile before taking another drink. "But it's fine. I don't mind having to find a new place to call home."
"You're just going to keep on taking your boyfriend's hometowns? Daegu felt like home until you were single again. I don't want to you to keep having to move, you should come back and re-claim your hometown. You don't even have to see your dad if you don't want to. We can just hang out - and take Hyemi to the beach. You should see her now, she's too adventurous for my sake but she's a beautiful swimmer. She loves the beach and she loves the stories of her daddy and uncle Junho from when they were younger and used to hang out at the beach all the time."
"Presumably, not the stories where you brought girls and made me be your cover?" Junho said with a small smirk, "or the time we both snuck out to go midnight swimming and we nearly drowned because we hadn't anticipated the tide. And you didn't tell her about the time you tried to flirt with her mommy by undoing the back of her bikini while she was sleeping on the beach?" Junho said with a smile, Wooyoung was right, he was letting a few bad memories of his family ruin his own memory of his hometown and making it feel like he couldn't come home. He loved his hometown and he'd had some amazing memories growing up, memories that Minjun had loved hearing about when they were just having a lazy night and were curled up on the sofa with Princess.
Maybe he should come down to visit, it couldn't hurt going to Busan. Maybe he'd even consider seeing his parents. They hadn't kicked him out or disowned him, but he'd just felt like he'd let them down by being gay so he'd left. He was afraid of going back - although he wasn't sure if that was because he thought his parents were mad at him for being gay or because he was embarrassed about how he had left everything. He'd just left without saying goodbye, he'd left without letting his parents saying whether or not they were against what he was, or who he was going to be with. They'd never met Minjun so he couldn't exactly go home and tell them all about his ex-boyfriend, who he'd been living with ever since he'd left. And then how would he explain, the whole being single thing, he had a hard enough time explaining it to Wooyoung, he didn't want to have his parents judging his ex even though they'd never met him and hadn't known about him.
"Yeah, I keep it to the age appropriate stories, but they were just as fun." Wooyoung said with a smile. "Do you remember that day when were like nineteen and we both ran in as a dare even though it was below freezing?"
"Of course I do." Junho said with a small smile, "we ran in in our clothes and we had forgotten to bring a change with us because we were dumb and we had to walk back to your parents house soaking wet and freezing. I think your mom laughed at us more than we did." Junho said.
Wooyoung looked down and his phone and sighed, "Look, I have to go soon, I need to back in time to have dinner with my daughter." He said with a small smile, Junho nodded, "but really think about what I said about coming home I'd really like to see you back on that beach." he smiled.
Just as Wooyoung was about to leave, Junho suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Wooyoung, thanks for not asking me more about Minjun."
"I figured you'd been crushed already and were sick of going over what happened. Plus I know you, you will tell me if you want me to know all the details and I respect that you don't want to talk about it, he was your boyfriend and I only need to know the basics, I would never force you to say anything that would make you uncomfortable. When have I ever pressed you on a topic you didn't want to talk about? So don't mention it, what are friends for?" They exchanged a smile, an unspoken promise that there had always been, and always would be that they were going to be friends and that they understood each other better than anyone else in the planet.