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 knew they were there.
He'd gotten a phone call just two days prior telling him they'd be, but stepping out onto that stage knowing they were watching wasn't nearly as hard as meeting their eyes through the floodlights.
It had been months since Hongjoong had last spoken to them, even longer since he'd seen them, but that wasn't what bothered him.
That wasn't what made him squint desperately into the audience with an arm raised, searching with a determination that was frightening, eyes helplessly wide like he was a child all over again, seeking approval for the one thing he wanted more than anything.
The time apart from them wasn't what made his heart cave the second he picked them out in a crowd of thousands.
It was the relief.
The relief is what brought Hongjoong to his knees right there in the middle of the biggest concert venue they had ever performed in, emotion punching him right in the throat, seizing his lungs, and he wanted to bow to them, to thank his parents for coming, but he was sobbing the moment his forehead met the stage and the force of it held him captive.
Hongjoong had enough sense left to be embarrassed when the cheers grew louder, the fans both screaming in shock and understanding as Hongjoong's shoulders shook in silent agony, every camera turning to catch what some thought impossible.
Kim Hongjoong was showing emotion.
Hongjoong always thought it was ridiculous how people could take one look at him and assume such things, think so little of him.
There were so many people who misinterpreted his blunt exterior as just plain rudeness, and Hongjoong vaguely wondered what those people thought now.
Were they surprised?
Were they disgusted?
Hongjoong wasn't emotionless, not by any stretch of the imagination.
He had just learned better than to show what he was really feeling, give people the opportunity to strike him down for something as concealable as emotions.
He used to be too emotional in fact, bursting into tears about everything, but then he moved to Seoul and suddenly he had other people he had to fight for, he had Wooyoung who depended on him, and Hongjoong decided that work came before play.
