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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
__
2021
__
It was times like this, when he just so happened to wake up before any of the other members, that Hongjoong felt truly uprooted from everything considered normal.
He wasn't sure why he'd woken up- or more importantly, why everyone else was still asleep, but he gave into the instinct anyway, pulling himself from the tempting warmth of his bed to pass Seonghwa on his way out of their shared room.
Hongjoong figured it was just some coincidence, and that the place would be alive and bustling in minutes, echoing with Yunho's laughter and Mingi and Yeosang's obnoxious shouting as they tried calling dibs on the first shower.
Wooyoung would come out rubbing his eyes and Jongho would run into the nearest wall just trying to make it to the kitchen for breakfast, refusing to crack his eyes open all the way.
Hongjoong admitted it was bizarre, but it wasn't anything he thought to worry about, and so he just padded into the bathroom to wash his face like he always did in the mornings, this time using Seonghwa's moisturizer without asking, because even though he loved to give the guy shit, he couldn't help but believe maybe that was the secret to his handsome looks.
He finished up in the bathroom and peeked out into the hallway curiously, half expecting to see San sprint by with Yeosang glued to his back, but there was only an empty corridor and a disheartening silence.
Hongjoong was frowning by the time he made his way into the kitchen, wondering vaguely if he should go wake the others.
Usually it was San who got up first, gently rousing the rest of them with a soft voice and a hand to the shoulder.
Though Hongjoong typically woke to a smile as well, the kind that sometimes made him grab onto the boy's wrist and refuse to let go until he got a kiss.
And then another, and another one after that one, and they were usually quite good at being able to keep their hands off each other, hiding in plain sight, but in the morning Hongjoong was softer and he couldn't help but melt into the eyes that adored him, the hands that cradled his jaw and squeezed his palm and blew him a kiss on the way out.
It was an easy routine really.
San was the first to wake up, simple and thoughtless because that's just how it was.
How it had always been, only now he knew to wake up Seonghwa first; to give the eldest a head start in leaving their shared room so that by the time San came back to wake up Hongjoong they had a few seconds to spare, to give for those little moments.
