Hongjoong and San deal with the aftermath of revealing their relationship to the world through a music video.
Through this potentially devastating decision, Hongjoong is reminded why exactly he fell in love with San in the first place.
A story told...
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2021
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Hongjoong expected to see at least two of them.
He knew they were all busy with their own music, their own lyrics, practicing until every movement and twinge of exhaustion in their bodies was deemed to memory, but even then Hongjoong still thought he'd have an audience to help cheer him on.
Instead, he filed onto the soccer field with nine other idols, and found that the only familiar face in the stands was a pink cheeked singer with matching vibrant pink hair, a color that made him stand out even more beautifully in a crowd of dozens.
He was waving his arms around, laughter exuberant and loud despite the echo of the stadium and the roar of the crowd.
Hongjoong wanted to be embarrassed.
He so badly wanted to act like San being there made him wish to hell he hadn't shown up, but he was smiling too big for anyone to really believe him, eyes disappearing as his laughter turned into violent hiccups, hands reaching for his knees when it became too much and he had to bend over.
He hadn't spoken to San in a little while, not because he was avoiding him exactly, but because he was getting weaker and weaker as the days went by, too obvious with his feelings to ever really feel calm around the boy.
He could feel it getting worse.
Whatever it was, it was getting harder to hide, and Hongjoong had spent the last few weeks doing his damndest to act normal.
To pretend that it was routine for him to sit by Yunho at dinner instead of San, and it was just a coincidence that he had stayed up with Yeosang, Mingi, and Jongho the last few nights instead of going to bed at the same time as San.
It took a hell of a lot of effort to keep that distance, but San was there anyway, dancing among the fans, and Hongjoong was completely entertained by the idea of him sticking around for a little while.
There was sweat already running down over Hongjoong's forehead from warm ups, lathering his body with irrepressible heat, but Hongjoong found that he didn't care nearly as much as he would have.
As much as he should, because San was there and somehow that was enough to make any lingering nerves split apart and fade away, making room for a new flood of excitement that made his feet bolt to the center of the field before anyone else, eager for the game to start.
