✓ | with silence. (sunsun)

eleven.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"MY EYES!!!!! MY INNOCENT EYES!!!"

nishimura riki flew into the couch cushions, childishly kicking his legs in the air behind him as he stuffed his face into a pillow. sunoo looked up from his spot on the opposite chair, bewildered. "why are you screaming?"

ni-ki sat up, pouting. "i walked in on jay hyung sucking face with jungwon and i swear i don't know what i did to deserve witnessing that scarring event!!!"

sunoo couldn't help but laugh at his best friend. they sat in the living room of jay's apartment. jake and heeseung were about to arrive, too. the gang was going to hang that saturday night.

jungwon came scurrying out from the bedroom, cheeks flushed. "knock next time, riki!!!"

ni-ki groaned. "i'm traumatized!"

the front door rang and jungwon walked over to open it, revealing jake and heeseung at the other side. "hey guys! uh...why does ni-ki look like he's just seen a ghost?" jake asked.

"don't even ask," ni-ki whined, falling back onto the couch dramatically.

"so, is the mall still the plan tonight?" a voice belonging to jay suddenly asked, approaching from the bedroom next door.

heeseung shook his head. "actually, jake and i drove by it and it seemed to be closed! the security guard there said there was a fight and i guess something broke? not sure what. anyways, they had to close up the mall to fix it all."

sunoo's eyes went wide. a fight??? he immediately thought of sunghoon.

that had been sunghoon fighting at the mall that one time, he was sure of it. so...did it happen again? and what broke? would sunghoon be hurt?

"i-i have to go."

sunoo stood up from his chair and collected his keys and phone. this got riki's attention. "wait what?! why?! where are you going?" he blurted, sitting up.

sunoo didn't even know. heck, he didn't even know where sunghoon lived. but he needed to find him. "i'm sorry, guys. i just need to go, okay? call you later."

and with that, he left the apartment, leaving the other five boys dumbfounded.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

park sunghoon pulled his hood over his face as low as he could, hoping his purple colored eye would be covered from his father.

hesitantly, sunghoon unlocked his front door and stepped inside, the same old alcohol stench filling his lungs.

"where the fuck have you been?"

sunghoon turned his head to his left and kept it low to the ground, so his father couldn't see his face. he didn't dare reply.

"out with other people like you?"

sunghoon cringed at those words. like him. sunghoon knew exactly what his father meant. he would never be forgiven because of it and he knows that. it just hurts to be reminded of it every passing day.

alone, he replied internally.

sunghoon's father realized he wasn't going to get a response. "whatever. just go to your room or some shit, i don't care."

sunghoon released a shaky breath and wasted no time hurrying to his room. he slammed the door closed and slid down against the back of it, his hands shakily reaching up to his poorly conditioned face. his eye was a throbbing shade of purple, his cheeks were dusted in gravel and the cut on his lip seemed to have reopened.

why does he keep going back to the mall if he knows he is always there? what does he get out of fighting aimlessly with him every time? the rush of adrenaline sunghoon feels midst fighting gives him a sense of relief for even the slightest of seconds to cover his pain. sunghoon soon realized this fighting "addiction" was like his drug. a temporary fix for his inner pain.

suddenly sunghoon felt claustrophobic. he needed fresh air. a flashback of kim sunoo laying under the stars filled his mind, sunghoon wanting to try the same thing.

so, the boy tip-toed into the hallway again, peering over carefully to find his father drunkenly passed out on the sofa. sunghoon quietly made his way to the door and opened it with a creak, and afterwards, closing it carefully before trudging over to a spot on the grass.

the evening sky was glittered in stars. sunghoon laid back on his front lawn and exhaled. he wouldn't lie, he did feel a little sense of relief.

but then his mind drifted. he remembered the relief he felt in the warmth of kim sunoo's embrace. and the comfort he felt listening to the rhythmic beating of sunoo's heart. and the reassurance he felt when sunoo called him "hyung."

wait, why am i thinking about him so much?

"sunghoon! sunghoon hyung! where are you?! park sunghoon!"

the cries of choked sobs rang through the empty streets. sunghoon sat up instantly. he recognized the voice. k-kim sunoo?

sunoo swore he heard the faint disembodied voice he'd grown to familiar with. "hyung? where are you?!"

sunghoon whipped his head around and saw on the opposite sidewalk, the figure of kim sunoo aimlessly walking around. despite the darkened streets, sunghoon knew it was him. he didn't know now how or why and what on earth sunoo was doing there so late, but it didn't matter.

this time, sunghoon stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth, bravely shouting, "sunoo!"

it came out a bit cracked, for sunghoon hadn't screamed so loud in a long time. plus, his heart was pounding so loud that it practically deafened out his own voice. nevertheless, it worked. kim sunoo stopped in his tracks and instantly turned toward the sound. he felt his heart melt at the sight, seeing sunghoon safe and okay. plus, he'd never heard his name called out loud before by the boy and it caught him off guard.

all the adrenaline built from rushing through the streets in a panic looking for park sunghoon left sunoo's mind all fuzzy. his brain wasn't thinking straight and he was so relieved to see sunghoon that he didn't even think before running across the street. fortunately, the quiet street didn't change as sunoo ran over to him.

sunghoon watched the smaller appear into view. the sight of sunoo twisted his insides. he felt surprisingly happy to see him. he knew it meant he was growing attached to the boy in some way.

but he didn't have time to think about it because kim sunoo practically threw himself into the taller boy's arms. sunoo rested his chin on sunghoon's shoulder, digging his fingers into the fabric of sunghoon's hoodie as he clasped onto it, almost like sunghoon would disappear if he let go. sunoo squeezed his eyes shut as he embraced the older, breathing in his familiar scent.

sunghoon was a bit taken aback, but he didn't hesitate to return the hug, one hand reaching up to caress the back of sunoo's head.

the boys stood like that for a few moments, but it could have lasted a lifetime.

sunoo, are you crying?

sunoo sniffled a bit before croaking out a small, "maybe."

sunghoon released the hug and took sunoo by the shoulders. he aimed to study sunoo's face to see if he was truly crying, but sunoo studied sunghoon's first.

"hyung! your face, w-what happened?!" he squeaked.

instinctively, he reached a hand up to sunghoon's cheek, but sunghoon flinched before he could touch. sunoo sheepishly retracted his hand. "sorry, are you in pain?"

sunghoon then remembered. his dad was inside. we can't talk here, sunoo.

"then come home with me."