빛나게 해줄게

sgnahri·:

ahri admits that looking at seungwoo seeming like a puppy who was just scolded about peeing on the bed does make her feel a little bad herself. she knows, deep down, that seungwoo is being sincere when he tells her that he just wanted to have fun that he used to have when he didn’t have a messes up knee and ahri knows that this is something that she’ll never completely understand since she was never someone who was in love with any kind of sport, who had a perfect healthy and the closest that she’ll ever perhaps is if someday she messes up her wrist and then not being able to sketch anything anymore for her designs or something that like that. however, no matter how much ahri tries to imagine it, she can’t fully understand it because it hasn’t happened to her. yet, at least. 

and it must’ve been such a strong feeling, if it made seungwoo that reckless.

“i know.” that’s why her tone is soft this tine without all the edge of the lecture she gave seungwoo two seconds ago. “i know, darling, and that’s not a crime.” because it isn’t, ahri would never hold it against him. “let’s just be more careful next time, ok?” she pats seungwoo’s tummy gently. “perhaps not venture into aerial rope courses, but something a little less… less.” however, it doesn’t mean that ahri will just let it slide so easily. even if seungwoo didn’t have the intention to mess up his knee during that activity, she’d rather not have him taking that chance again.

and ahri thinks that’s it. that they’ll move on to what seungwoo needs next and she’ll just look after him like she has always done, almost forgets that her best friend is a little more observant than that and perceived the changes in her behavior even if ahri didn’t perceived them herself so she could try to cover them. seungwoo’s voice is as soft and gentle as the pat on her hair and it just unties something inside of her, the senior’s eyes filling up with tears that thankfully she gains control over before they spill and she makes a big fool out of herself. after all, this is supposed to be about seungwoo and his knee and not about her and her break up. “it’s—” she looks down, suddenly very interested in the details of her shirt. “not a big deal.” she lies to seungwoo and to herself. 

the thing is as much as ahri doesn’t want to talk about this, not when seungwoo is clearly the one who needs the support now and not her, she also knows that the other won’t let it go until he finds out what is wrong. he might give ahri space for a while to gather her words to tell him but he’d never completely drop it. to be honest, ahri is also tired, just too tired to fight the urge to tell seungwoo everything, to seek comfort of her friend. so in the end, ahri makes a small compromise. she’ll tell seungwoo what the problem is so the grad student can let it go for now, they focus back on his knee and then perhaps when this is all over and hopefully ahri is also over it, they can talk about this again. “remember this guy i was seeing? the one you even had a talk with?” she tries to sound casual, nonchalant, but she’s still not looking at seungwoo and there’s something weird on her tone, on how she pauses before continuing. “he—” she sighs shakily. “we broke up.” 

     ever since he’d suffered his injury, he’s been scolded left and right by so many people. the thing is, even though seungwoo doesn’t enjoy being scolded, there’s something about the love that goes into the scolding that makes him not mind it quite so much. it’s better than wallowing in his own misery alone. his friends might be scolding him, but they’re also caring for him, and that’s exceptionally better than where he was mentally the last time this had happened. 

     “i’ll be careful,” he promises quietly and tearing his acl for a third time is definitely not something he wants to do. not that he had wanted to tear it the first time, either, but he’s certain to be even more careful from now on. “i just... i got carried away,” he admits quietly, and somehow it’s easier to do so to ahri than it is to wooseok. maybe it’s because their friendship had literally started with him in the hospital. hell, he had actually thrown up on her and she had still stayed with him despite having absolutely no obligation to do so whatsoever.

     maybe the reason to why ahri hadn’t heard about his injuries is actually simple. maybe the reason is just that she had other things to do than listen around for what he was doing. but the news had even made it onto the school gossip blog, so he really doubts that the explanation is quite as simple as that. at his question, though, the tears well up in ahri’s eyes, and he knows for sure that there’s something wrong. her excuse is weak and flimsy, but instead of accusing her of lying or demanding to know the truth, he doesn’t say anything in response, just looking at her patiently. 

     she does know him well, in the end. she’s absolutely correct in assuming that seungwoo would not let the matter go until they’d had a chance to properly talk about it and everything that’s going on. “i remember,” he says slowly, his eyebrows furrowing. there’s something wavering in ahri’s tone and he has a sinking feeling that knows what’s coming. 

sgnseungmin·:

sometimes it’s a little amazing to seungmin that he has managed to form connections like this with people outside of his brother. at first it was with his girlfriend who to this day he doesn’t know how she puts up with him and he’s always grateful to have her around. now he finds himself thinking that as he takes in seungwoo’s reaction to his words. the way the younger male seems to genuinely be comforted by the fact that seungmin cares for him. it’s a wonder to him for the fact that he isn’t the most approachable.

in fact he’s been told a time or two that he’s mean–even heartless–and while those words never bother him as he doesn’t care for the opinion of outsiders, it does make him wonder how he has managed to collect so many kids–as jaehee fondly calls them. it makes a ghost of a smile spread over his lips as he looks back at seungwoo. the feeling akin to the one he gets when seungjun is involved over taking him for a moment. 

he supposes it’s not a bad thing, regardless of how ever this bond with the older han came about. he wasn’t lying when he said he cares, after all. 

“how positive is your doctor regarding the possible surgery and results from it?” he’s asking as he makes a note in his planner of the week seungwoo pointed out. sure he could find time to give the younger support for this. seungmin has never experienced and injury like this himself – some sprained ankles and wrists–so he can’t claim to have any prior knowledge of the healing process. 

    his chest still feels pleasantly warm from seungmin’s words, the sentiment meaning even more given that seungmin doesn’t easily express himself, and seungwoo offers him a small but genuine smile, despite his situation. he feels much better now than he did last time he had torn his acl, and part of that, he knows, is because he has people like seungmin who have come to check in on him. wooseok, of course, has been a big part of it — rarely leaving him a moment alone to overthink.

    “he’s my doctor from my previous injury,” he explains quietly, “and while a second tear is slightly more complicated than the first one, he’s positive about the surgery and recovery.” he grimaces, more than smiles, his mood still down despite being a lot more optimistic than he had been two years ago.

sgnahri·:

“aerial ropes course?” she repeats in a higher pitched voice than her natural one louder, since she’s already in seungwoo’s kitchen to get his cup of water as promised, completely incredulous that seungwoo, even for a moment, the briefest moment that took him to get in line for that sport (or whatever) until he finally get it to do, thought that this could end up again, that there would nothing with it in the slightest, that the chances of him ending up with his knee injured again were minima, if not zero. ahri actually needs to take a moment in the kitchen too, a moment to press two fingers on the bridge of her nose again and then she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath to make sure that she won’t commit a crime like murdering seungwoo. after all, wooseok would be widowed and uyu without one of his dads. it wasn’t fair that two innocent souls would suffer because a stupid one. 

ahri goes back with the water and offers it to seungwoo and then sits gracefully on the floor by his side since the senior doesn’t want to disturb her injured friend’s position on the cough. even with all her bravado, ahri is terrified of making seungwoo’s condition worse, remembers when she actually offered to massage his knee for him once and how she lost almost a decade of her life through sheer stress and nerves. a mistake that she only does once — unless of course seungwoo asks her for it. 

“aerial ropes course.” she repeats, this time definitely a lot calmer and in a more natural tone. “seungwoo.” ahri sighs heavily, a ilttle lost at words of what she should say because really— this is why they can’t leave seungwoo unsupervised for too long, because then he gets ideas like going to the aerial ropes course like he doesn’t have a fragile knee and then there’s no one by his side to remind him that he does have a fragile knee and even if he could still participate in a lot of physical activities, but aerial ropes course is not one of them. “would you care to elaborate how that sounded like a good idea? how— how it didn’t cross your mind that this could go terribly wrong? wasn’t wooseok oppa or seungmin oppa there with you? well, clearly not considering you went through with it.” and because if they were there with seungwoo, then they’d also hear a piece of ahri’s mind when she sees them.

but even then there’s something tired about ahri’s usual scolding, still something off. she should be more annoyed about this or at least be trying harder to conceal her worry with annoyance, should be pacing from one way to the other in front of seungwoo or at least standing with her hands resting on her hips in her characteristic mom pose, going off about responsability and seungwoo’s body limits and how he isn’t young anymore, but instead she’s still sat on the floor, sighing for the fourth time. “you should’ve told me. at least i would tell you how much of a terrible idea that was.” 

    he winces at her incredulous question, his expression rather sheepish and he knows exactly what she’s thinking. to be totally fair, it’s not like he doesn’t agree with her. it was dumb of him to think that going on the aerial ropes was a good idea, no matter how much he’d wanted to. he knows that if wooseok had been there, he definitely wouldn’t have approved of the challenger course — but seungwoo, in that moment, had been so caught up on the adrenaline he’d forgotten momentarily that the challenger course was meant to be, well, challenging even for people who’d never suffered an injury before.

    perhaps the disappointment in ahri’s voice as she seats herself on the floor by his side is worse. guilt bubbles up in his stomach as she just sighs, the helplessness in her voice making him feel bad, and he exhales softly. “no,” he admits quietly, his eyes casting down to his lap, propped up slightly to drink the water she’d gotten for him, even if he’s supposed to elevate his knee above his heart to reduce swelling. “seokie didn’t go, he didn’t want to join in something like that. hyung wasn’t there either,” he mumbles, “i just wanted to have fun.” he bites his lip, unsure if he can express just how much he’d missed being active and moving around.

sgnwooseok·:

     he inhales sharply, actually caught off guard by his boyfriend for once because he had been staring down into the depths of his open suitcase, wondering where the hell he should start with their unpacking. he just … really hates unpacking. and packing. it makes him not want to travel ever, even though the memories he had made over the past couple days had only been good ones. so he guesses he can put up with the packing and unpacking. 

     overall, everything had ended up being better than he had expected. not that he had high expectations or anything, considering he had still been expecting everything to fall apart. honestly, wooseok had still been wary about spending time at seungwoo’s place with his parents, having looked into cheap airbnbs in the area just in case something had gone awry. 

     nothing had happened, thankfully, but he was still glad he had prepared that, even if it was just to make himself feel more ready. with all bases covered. though seungwoo’s mom and dad had been more than accommodating, surprisingly so considering the difference between their backgrounds. it had helped that subin was there too, and helped a lot as a sort of buffer sometimes. 

     the nuzzle to his head though, makes him laugh and pulls him out of his thoughts from the last few days, reminding him that his boyfriend is very much there and apparently wanting his attention.

     “did you need something?” he asks, amused.

     he grins down at wooseok, his expression full of amusement and adoration. “your attention?” he says hopefully, his eyes sparkling as he leans in to press a kiss to the other’s lips, evidently just really happy. his relationship with wooseok has been so good — there’s not really much that they hide from each other, nothing major, not like... not like when she had been unwilling to meet his parents or have him meet hers. perhaps, in hindsight, he should have realized that something was wrong because of that. 

     hindsight is always 20-20, as they say. but with wooseok, they’ve taken so many steps together. unlike his previous relationships, their financial statuses are so different that communication has been more necessary than anything else. and it’s been a blessing, leaving seungwoo feeling more confident than worried, ten months into their relationship. 

     the past week and a half has felt like a blur, with everything that’s been going on. first, it’d been the dahlia masquerade ball, which he’d been so proud of ahri for, and they’d both had fun, ending the night with smiles. and then it’d been their trip down to daejeon, then busan, for chuseok. and that, too, had gone so much better than seungwoo had even dared hope. so he’s happy right now, unbearably so. 

sgnhyuk·:

     “i wasn’t sure if you were just,” he pauses here, thinking of what he wanted to say and he waves a hand in a vague gesture, “this nice to everyone. the rumours made it seem like you were, so.” there’s no real need to elaborate, he’s sure. he also doesn’t listen to rumours—or perhaps, more correctly put was that he didn’t believe rumours—always preferring to find out things for himself instead of listening to baseless words from people who probably only said those things to get a reaction from the person the rumours were about. but the only things he had heard about seungwoo were nice ones, and that was definitely intriguing. even to hyuk, who didn’t care much, if at all, to any of these things. 

     he raises an idle hand to run through his hair, scarlet strands falling back into his eyes despite his attempt at pushing them out of his face. he just lets out a soft sigh, shaking his head in slight amusement that apparently all the rumours were true for once. the helio president really was just a genuinely nice person. 

     “yeah, i’ll take it,” hyuk says after only a moment of consideration, thinking that it would be a good way to ensure that he wouldn’t have too much down time, that he would have duties to fulfill so he wouldn’t be stuck in his own mind for too long. “tell me though,” he adds after a moment, leaning back slightly in his seat to be more comfortable and making sure their gazes were level. “was i chosen because of my experience dealing with charities?”

     he raises an eyebrow at the other’s admission and while he’s not surprised to hear that there are rumours about him — aren’t there rumours about everyone? — he is pleasantly surprised to hear that they’re all positive. “that’s... flattering,” he says quietly, clearly surprised by the rumours. it’s true that that’s the image he tries to cultivate, but he didn’t think that he’d actually succeeded. usually, the little voice in his head would be whispering about how he’s really nowhere near what he tries to be, but his friends’ voices are louder, silencing those thoughts for the time being. 

     he’s more than pleased when hyuk appears to be considering for a moment before accepting the offer, content that he will, indeed, be getting the philanthropic chair he’d hoped to have. “welcome to the helio executive team, hyuk.” he says with a warm, genuine smile. 

     the other’s question amuses him and he smiles in return, meeting the other’s eyes without worry. “of course, that was part of the reason,” he says quietly. “that was why your application was considered so strongly despite other people having been in helio for much longer. we thought you’d be an excellent fit to the position.” 

a starter for @sgnwooseok​ !

     it hadn’t taken him that long to convince wooseok to attend the ball, much less than he’d originally thought it would. part of the reason he’d assumed his boyfriend would be hesitant was because of the ticket price — far above the other’s budget, without question. in addition to the fact that there were two tickets — one for the dinner, and one for the ball — there was also the matter of appropriate attire, which he knew his boyfriend didn’t have. 

     appropriate attire for a ball is not exactly what most people have in their wardrobe, seeing as how balls are not all that common among anyone other than probably the social circle of the rich. so seungwoo had known that convincing wooseok to let him buy an appropriate outfit and get it tailored would have been the big challenge. it had taken some work, but seungwoo had been determined, since the masquerade ball was ahri’s event, after all. 

sgnwooseok·:

     he rolls eyes at the other’s words, but doesn’t give in to responding with something snarky despite how much he wants to. he thinks that seungwoo doesn’t deserve the brunt of most of the mean things that go trough his brain, honestly, and wooseok finds himself trying to filter out a lot of the things that he would usually say without thinking around his boyfriend. not that he thinks that seungwoo couldn’t take the unnecessary snark, but more that he didn’t think he should have to. 

     “uyu?” he echoes when the puppy barks, and it swivels its head around to glance at him when he says it too, a small smile appearing on his lips. “i think he likes it,” he agrees, gently ruffling the puppy’s fur and cooing softly. 

     honestly, he hadn’t expected a reaction from the puppy itself so this was more than he could’ve asked for. he leans down to press a soft kiss to the puppy’s snout, giggling to himself when he gets licked—a kiss in puppy form—and his eyes curve into crescents. 

     “ahhh he’s so cute,” wooseok coos again, ruffling the pomeranian’s fur gently, fluffing it up with a soft laugh. “i was thinking something like cloud too, would work, but i think he might like uyu best? it seems?”

     he can’t help but laugh at the little puppy’s reaction, not having expected to get a reaction from the puppy at all, considering it’s their first time meeting him. but he supposes that his boyfriend is just magnetic that way, that the puppy is already attached to wooseok despite having only known wooseok for such a short time. after all, he was much the same, wasn’t he? he’d wanted to be friends with the other immediately, but too many things had happened and he hadn’t been in the right mindset for anything other than just the project they’d had to finish. 

     “i think uyu suits him,” he agrees warmly and he can’t help but feel warm at the smile on wooseok’s face. god, he’s so in love with the other and he’s just relieved that nothing went wrong. it kind of feels like he’s flying, soaring on a high that nothing can break right now. 

sgndanbi·:

the gradual dwindling of vitality in seungwoo’s tone doesn’t go unnoticed by danbi, and it’s when she picks up on this that she knows there’s an oncoming lull in his state of mind. though it’s not like she doesn’t know that it’s unavoidable, even with how well he seemed to be doing when she had first seen him today. yet it still leaves her feeling slightly dispirited and she wonders if it’s something she did, if it’s her fault for bringing up things she shouldn’t have, though she guesses that much is inevitable as well.

even still, it’s seungwoo she’s here for today, and she knows very well that she can’t afford to spare too much time nor effort on feeling bad like this. so, with a soft inhale of a breath, she composes herself again, quickly putting on a bright smile once more when her cousin comes over to the dining table where she’s seated. “mm, it really does smell so good!” she enthuses, animatedly taking in a deep breath as she clasps her hands together, an excited smile settling upon her lips. “let’s dig in!”

taking a huge mouth of the food that seungwoo had whipped up, danbi immediately lets out a hum of approval as soon as she gets a taste of it, testifying to just how yummy his food is. it’s the taste of home, a taste unique to family, something she can only get when she’s around her cousin these days. “i wonder what movies there are today?” thinking out loud as she picks up her phone, pulling up the cinema website to check what movies they have showing.

     he smiles at his cousin’s enthusiastic appreciation of the food that he’d made, and while his expressions are not quite as energetic or as dramatic as they were before everything happened, they’re still genuine. danbi still has that power. he eats quietly, and as his cousin muses over the different movies, he tries to remember what he’d seen and heard of, his mind clearer than it had been in the past few months. “i think the new avengers movie, endgame, is out... or the remake of aladdin...” he murmurs after some thought, “and there’s that new movie, parasite...” 

     he doesn’t really care what they go to watch, not sure how much attention he’s going to be able to pay to the movies, but at least he can try. he remembers going to see avengers: endgame with subin earlier that month, but he doesn’t remember all that much of it, somewhat hazy on the details. so he wouldn’t mind seeing it again if his cousin wants to watch it, too. 

a starter for @sgnwooseok !

     his arm sneaks around the slim waist of his boyfriend all too easily, pressing a kiss to the other’s temple. they’re supposed to be unpacking now, having just gotten back from their trip to daejeon and busan, but seungwoo thinks he might be too happy to unpack and go to sleep now. 

     it had been more than he’d ever expected, if he’s being honest. he had thought that it might go well, especially after having met his boyfriend’s mom almost two months prior. he had really seen where wooseok got his sweeter side from, and it had just been nice, overall. he’d really enjoyed his time in daejeon. and this time had been... just as nice, save teasing from his siblings. 

sgnwooseok·:

     he makes a soft sound in response to the squeeze to his hand, knowing that seungwoo meant for it to be more of a reassuring gesture than anything else. he’s still a bit unsure of everything, but the one thing that he is sure of is seungwoo. so he trusts the older’s judgement, honestly, and he just squeezes back in a silent agreement. 

     they would get through this. together. 

     the gentle peck to his lips—despite his initial reaction saying that the date was gross—does reassure him a bit, that his boyfriend knows him well enough by now to know that he’s not entirely serious when he reacts to things like this. 

     if anything, maybe there’s still a part of him that’s a hopeless romantic and wishes to be swept off his feet by his shining knight in armor. maybe there’s a small part of him that believes that seungwoo is that knight. cheesy things might make him outwardly cringe and react, but he’s not entirely sure about whether he’s just conditioned himself to hate them or not, for fear of wanting more. something like that. his commitment issues run deeper than he had originally thought they did, apparently. 

     “i love you too,” wooseok replies softly, settling down on the blanket and he makes a soft sound as he watches seungwoo unpack the food, wondering if he would ever be able to overcome something that had been so deeply embedded into his personality since he was thirteen.  

     watching as seungwoo pulls out the food he had prepared, wooseok swallows quietly and settles back slightly, knowing that his boyfriend would probably not want him to help. he can feel a fond smile pulling at the corners of his lips as he watches the other. 

     yeah, he thinks to himself, watching as seungwoo glances up and makes eye contact, a smile spreading on the older’s lips when he realizes wooseok’s been watching him. for seungwoo? he could overcome anything.

sejunsgn·:

it’ll be different than what they’re doing right now. for one, with bungee jumping, there’s nothing on the ground—no walking, just falling. sejun would be lying if he said he didn’t want to try, but he’d also be a liar if he said he isn’t afraid. he’s already slightly worried doing this course, especially the one they’re on right now. he admires seungwoo’s bravery, one of the reasons why he holds respect for the older.

they seem to finish the second obstacle without a hitch, but they’re talking less easily compared to when they were doing the basic course. this course demands a lot of their attention, so much so that sejun tries not to distract either of them too much with conversation. that doesn’t seem to help, though, considering what happens next.

he notices the way the obstacle shakes a little, a tell-tale sign that someone slipped, but it wasn’t sejun. he cranes his neck, panic gradually seeping under his skin. he tries not to yell, he doesn’t want to make seungwoo panic more than he already has. unfortunately, he can’t control himself much. “hyung—are you okay?!” he has half a mind to run towards the other, but he knows he shouldn’t. it’ll only shake the course even more.

“oh my god, what happened? is it your knee? can you still continue, or should we—no wait, that was a dumb question. we should get the staff! yeah!” he waves at the staff on the other end, catching their attention. “they should be able to bring you down… it’s why they strapped us into all these belts, right?” it sounds like he’s trying to convince himself more than he is trying to convince seungwoo.

[ trigger warnings: knee injury ]

     he grits his teeth painfully as he fights the urge to simply collapse, his instinctive reaction to curl up around his knee to protect it from further harm. instead, he’s holding himself up by his arms, his good leg trembling on the shaky surface, and everything is moving, his arms straining to keep him up. the staff are immediately calling out orders but he can barely hear them, too focused on keeping himself from falling. 

     he can’t really pay attention to sejun in that moment, but he can hear the panic distantly in the other’s voice. he can barely gather the presence of mind to speak through the pain, but he forces it out. “s’okay, i’ll... they’ll g-get me down,” he manages through gritted teeth, his eyes squeezing shut as he tries to concentrate on keeping himself mostly upright. his heart is racing as somehow, somehow, they get him to let go of the ropes, putting his full weight in the harness they’d been secured into, and they lower him to the ground slowly. flat on his back, it feels better to be on solid ground, though his knee is still throbbing with pain, it’s not as intense as it had been up in the air.

* for old times’ sake ,

SEUNGWOO

     -

     “i’m not on the soccer team anymore,” he confirms with a smile that almost mirrors jiyul’s, sad but resigned. he glances down at his own knee, and while it’s true that the injury had taken him out of soccer, his knee is more than just functional now and he’s been enjoying the recreational soccer games he’s been playing with his friends. 

     “well… i tore my acl,” he says to jiyul, the sad smile still on his face. “i’m sure you heard about that. it’s been a year and a half now, so it’s okay — i’ve actually been playing again, just for fun! we should play sometime. are you still on the soccer team?” he asks the younger with genuine curiosity, his smile warmer now. “actually, if you’re not busy now, let’s go grab a coffee.”

he’s not good at making friends—this much, he knows. it makes appreciating the friends he does have that much easier, and while jiyul’s never had a lot to say, he’s always been grateful for the pillars of support he’s found in the most unexpected of places. seungwoo’s one of them, and though they don’t have soccer anymore, it’s the same on and off the field; jiyul looks up to him the way he would an older brother. 

he isn’t sure if it shows on his face, the waves of emotion he’s wading through. there’s shock, a biting sort of sadness, and then relief all at once. jiyul lets out a faint exhale—gratefully—when seungwoo explains he’s fine now. 

the smallest smile works its way onto jiyul’s lips when he meets seungwoo’s gaze again. “i’m really glad,” he says, gaze dropping again when he feels like he’s been too forward. “i’m glad you’re okay, hyung,” he adds, because it was never just about soccer. jiyul presses his lips together before nodding firmly. “i’m still on the team. trying to get back into it, at least… but i’ll play with you whenever you’re free.” the tiny smile he’d been wearing stretches into a grin—almost rectangular. “you’re still my captain, after all.” 

the truth is, the soccer team doesn’t feel the same when seungwoo isn’t technically his captain, but jiyul’s more than thankful that seungwoo seems to have made peace on his own. there’s nothing left for jiyul to do but accept that—and he will.

“as long as you’re not busy,” jiyul acquiesces when invited to coffee. it’s nice, he thinks in retrospect, connecting with familiar faces. he’d been concerned about finding a place to fit into upon returning, but he’s managing. “you can lead the way,” he adds. 

to be frank, he’s a little on edge around seungwoo—but not for the same reasons that he’s on edge around his actual older brother or his father. jiyul just doesn’t want to seem too unreliable in front of someone he really looks up to. 

“military service was really long, but i feel like toward the end… i was really considering staying.” jiyul hums, figuring there isn’t much else seungwoo would want to say about his injury. “it wasn’t easy work, but it was nice—the sense of belonging, i guess. my family would have been happy if i did.” he scratches his cheek. “sorry, i think i’m talking too much.”

     he makes a soft sound as he watches the emotions flash across jiyul’s face, and his sad smile softens, losing some of the melancholy when he sees the other relax. it’s true that seungwoo had been bitter over the loss for a long time, had let the loss drag him down into a spiral that he’d nearly lost himself to. but he’d been pulled up by the strength of others, namely his baby brother, and he’s better now. it’s not as devastating of a loss as it had been, not anymore. 

      it helps that he has different things in his life now — the helio presidency, for one. his brother’s constant presence at the school, for another. and his boyfriend, too, of course, new though their relationship is. it really hasn’t been long for them, but seungwoo feels remarkably content with wooseok despite the few short months that they’ve been together. it’s his first serious relationship after his disastrous spiral that he’d spent most of the past year recovering from, and while he doesn’t think things are perfect, they’re going well. 

     his own smiles widens in response to jiyul’s, the familiar boxy grin making its appearance, and the sentiment touches him, his heart warming in his chest, dimple deepening in his right cheek. “captain, huh? i haven’t been called that in a long time,” he says with an affectionate smile and a pat to the other’s head. “i’ll text you about soccer — you didn’t change your number, did you?” 

sgnseungmin·:

he hums in response , agreeing without explicitly saying it that yes rumors are more than often just dramatizations of the actual event. he rarely listens to or even takes stock into rumors as the odds of what he is hearing being true are slim. like a poorly done game of telephone each time a rumor has been whispered to someone knew it’s warped even farther from the truth. the only reason he found himself following this one was because he was aware of seungwoo’s previous injury and if this was actually a re-injury. 

he finds himself frowning just thinking about it.

“that’s good.” seungmin nods, unbuttoning the middle button of his suit jacket as he accepted the offer to sit. angling himself on the couch so he was still mostly facing seungwoo, without making his position improper or slouching in anyway. the moment seungwoo starts talking about what his doctor said he had his planner open to check what his schedule was like in the next few weeks. the last words making him scoff. 

“busy i may be, i’m never to busy to check in on one of my dongsaeng.” he replies, giving seungwoo a look. “do not doubt that i care for you, seungwoo.” it’s rare for him to state his affection for someone but he feels as if the younger has already been through enough. he knows with his own brother that sometimes a person needs to verbal validation. “I would like to be informed if and when you’ll have surgery.” 

     seungwoo sighs softly, unable to help his smile despite the physical pain that his knee is still giving him. he remembers the last time he had torn his acl, and it had been a considerably more tumultuous time. for starters, one of his closest friends had simply... disappeared. to this day, nearly two years later, seungwoo still has no idea what happened to him. he’d obsessed over it for months, until everything had sent him spiralling down. 

     this time, though, things are different. he’s no longer on the soccer team, and he hasn’t just suffered a loss (and he hopes he’s not going to). he has a stronger network of friends and a boyfriend that he adores. despite his exasperation, wooseok has made no signs of intending to leave — in fact, his boyfriend has been sternly ordering him to not move around too much. the younger male might complain the whole time, but he’s also actively taking care of seungwoo, not just doing the bare minimum. so seungwoo thinks that despite the verbal complaints, wooseok is still planning to stay around. that relieves him.

     seungmin’s posture is perfect as always when he sits down, and seungwoo shifts a bit more to give the other as much room as he can. the older male’s words catch him off guard, and his eyes widen slightly as his lips part, his chest warming with affection. seungmin is not naturally that expressive with his feelings and thoughts, so it means even more than the other had said that without real prompting. “... thank you, hyung.” he says finally, after a quiet pause. “it means a lot to me that you would say that.” 

sgnhyuk·:

     “i don’t like wasting time,” he shrugs, and while he wouldn’t consider dinner with the president of the social club he was part of a waste of time, he also disliked small talk and would much rather jump to the interesting parts of the conversation instead. there’s no reason to beat around the bush, in his opinion, and he’s long since stopped being the type of person to sugarcoat words, knowing that it only prolonged the inevitable most times. “but i’ll enjoy the food, i’m sure.”

     he doesn’t say anything else, falling silent as he waits for the heliotrope president to either continue talking or … not. whatever. he’s still anticipating what seungwoo is going to tell him because he’s genuinely not sure why he’s been called out. he racks his brain to try to remember if he had heard of any of the other candidates getting called out for a dinner, whether it be to be congratulated or rejected. 

      nothing comes up, but hyuk isn’t too deterred. he had only applied on a whim, deciding that it didn’t hurt for him to try for a position that he didn’t quite think that he would deserve. 

     when they order, and he spends a moment requesting a slight change in the menu, he turns his gaze back onto seungwoo, flicking scarlet hair out of his eyes as he waits, raising an eyebrow, expectant. he knows he’s not quite in a position to demand anything, but he can try. once seungwoo starts speaking though, he can’t help but feel his eyes widen ever so slightly. “wait, seriously? i thought this was a rejection dinner.”

     his lips quirk up into a small smile, his dimple not quite making an appearance with such a slight expression, but he truly is amused at how blunt hyuk is. it’s something he’d noted over the past few months that the other had been in helio for, but he had wondered if that would change depending on who the other was with. if he’s being honest, he’s extremely pleased to see that it doesn’t seem to matter who hyuk is with — he’s apparently just the honest, straight-forward type. 

      but hyuk’s reaction when seungwoo tells him that he’s the one who was chosen genuinely pleases him, and he smiles warmly at the other, feeling satisfied with their latest addition to the executive committee. “if it was a rejection, i probably would have called you into the helio office or taken you out for a coffee if you were a particularly good candidate,” he admits with a chuckle. “i’m surprised you didn’t guess the position was yours when i invited you out for a dinner.” 

sgnchan​:

   a part of him always knew it would come to this. despite the way he acts, he isn’t so dumb to not realize what he was doing to himself. keeping up with intense trainings, and getting so into it at baseball practice. he knows he doesn’t stretch enough and spends so much time messing around that it’s no wonder his shoulder is still giving him a hard time. he knows this. but sometimes it just feels like he’s watching a movie.

he’s not the main character everyone is watching destroy themselves, he’s just an audience member equally as frustrated.

and seungwoo’s words hit him pretty hard. he knows the older male has experience in this, in dealing with injuries that need rehabilitation and physio. has gone with him one or two times when their appointments lined up. never mind that he knows the older actually does care for him and it hurts to know he might be letting seungwoo down. letting everyone down.

“okay hyung.” he finds himself saying softly in reply, shifting slightly as if physically needing to strengthen his resolve. he could do this, he could start on the path to recovery–properly this time. “you’ll help me, right? at least nag me about not missing appointments?” his words gain more of a confident tone, smiling again as he follows along with the stretches. “i do want to get better, you know. i just.. haven’t learned how to ask for help yet, i guess.”

     his expression is soft when he senses chan’s defensive posture softening, the other male accepting his words, painful though they might have been to hear. “of course i’ll help you, chan.” he replies and he pokes the other’s head with a smile before he returns his attention to the movement of the other’s shoulder. 

      “help isn’t an easy thing to ask for,” he remarks quietly, a small, wry smile quirking up the corners of his lips. seungwoo says this from a wholly personal point of view, reflecting back on his own experiences. while his knee hadn’t been the thing that he had hesitated to ask for help on, it was the rest of the stressors building up, until his mental health came crumbling down around him and he didn’t know what to do with himself. he’s just lucky that subin had come to take care of him and drag him to help. 

sgnwooseok·:

     there’s a lot of things that could go wrong with this. 

     he has a lot of fears, and commitment is one of them if he’s honest, but he and seungwoo have talked through a lot of them and discussed everything that was needed to be talked about in that case. he’s still afraid, and he’s still tentative about everything that’s coming but he also knows that with seungwoo, he wants to take all these challenges head on. 

     also his mom really wants to meet seungwoo, so there’s that too. 

     “yeah, if you have a better idea,” wooseok jokes, turning to shoot a playful glare at his boyfriend at even suggesting it but he knows he wouldn’t be opposed. he has a few names that are running through his mind, because he’s been thinking about getting a white puppy in the future. just wanting to be prepared if he ever came across a large sum of money. or something.

     “i was thinking … som? sommungchi?” he starts, having been thinking about cotton balls. “maybe somsatang,” he says with a soft laugh, his fingers running gently through the puppy’s fur and it reminds him of cotton candy. “maybe …” he pauses, glancing up at his boyfriend again. “maybe uyu?”

     perhaps it’s the fact that both of them are equally as afraid of being hurt and hurting each other that gives seungwoo the courage to do things he usually wouldn’t dare to do. maybe it’s why the words wanted to burst their way out of his chest before he had even really had a chance to think about it. and maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t really mind, taking this risks and jumps with wooseok. 

     because as scared as he is to lose the other, the feeling that comes when his gamble (or mistake) is rewarded is something quite unlike any other feeling he’s ever felt. 

     “okay, okay, i don’t get a veto,” he says playfully, knowing that the other doesn’t mean it, but it’s fun to play along anyways. he rests his cheek in his hand, tilting his head as he stares down at the puppy that they’re going to adopt as soon as they can. 

sgnbin​:

     “i didn’t say that,” bin pushes out his lips, a pout instantly forming without him realizing - a habit, obviously, that he does often whenever he feels wronged. “but i also won’t say no if you want me to finish it either…” this, he trails off while saying because he supposes seungwoo does have a point so the pout doesn’t last long and he’s soon back to eating his food like nothing had happened.

     he shrugs hearing the older’s question, visibly taking on an expression to show he’s thinking. “i don’t have any plans, honestly,” he replies around a mouthful of food–also another habit of his that again, he doesn’t notice most of the time–and mid chew. ”i didn’t have any plans when you first attacked me either so i still don’t know.”

     he takes a few more purposeful (and large) bites of his meal and before he knows it, he’s emptied the bowl. letting out a satisfied sigh and a lick of his lips, bin glances back at seungwoo. “i’ll probably just walk around, see if anything catches my eyes or if i see someone i know. maybe go back to the dorms if nothing does though and sleep?” or maybe watch a movie, or eat more. he doesn’t know, he was pretty much winging today’s plans since him staying back on campus for the holidays was very last minute. “why? do you want me to tag along with you and wooseok?” he asks with a playful grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows. “i don’t know how he’d feel about that…”

     “why am i not surprised that your options would include sleep?” he teases wryly as he finishes off his food slowly, pleased with his impromptu meal-like snack. at the other’s question, he wrinkles his nose slightly, pretending to be utterly disgusted. “no, please don’t come along with us, that would be a nightmare,” he says with a shake of his head. “why would i want to spend more time with you... this already filled my quota for the week,” he jokes with a playful quirk to his lips. 

     checking his phone, he can’t help the smile that crosses his face involuntarily. “okay, i’m going to go meet seokie. i’ll see you soon, binnie,” he says warmly, reaching out to ruffle the other’s hair with a smile. 

     despite their harsh teasing and playful words, bin is someone he truly enjoys spending time with. he’s lucky to have the other as his treasurer, and he thinks that this short interlude had certainly been a good way to spend some time before his date with his boyfriend.