1948, Seoul
Seonghwa's standing by his desk, head bowed and shoulders hunched so he wouldn't hit the cupboard above his head while he ties the cloth around the empty box so Hongjoong could take it back.
The alarm clock blares loud and grating, and Seonghwa startles, a thud echoing dully in the room.
Hongjoong doesn't mean to, but he snorts at that, at Seonghwa raising a hand gingerly to his head and massaging.
"Brat," Seonghwa grumbles, reaching over and turning the alarm off.
"Aw hyung," Hongjoong says, barely holding his laughter back.
He raises his hand, smiling at the grimace on Seonghwa's face, and he lets his palm rest gently against Seonghwa's hair, at the part he had knocked against the cupboard.
He just lets it happen, it just seems natural, to pat his head softly, smoothing his hair down gently as if that would make the pain go away, it seems perfectly natural for them so he does it.
He doesn't think about it, just looks over at the sharp edge of the cupboard built stupidly low, and his hand slips to cup Seonghwa's cheek, and his thumb strokes his cheekbone absently.
It doesn't occur to him that he's doing something strange till he looks down at Seonghwa's face, and he finds him looking back, blank, dumb.
Blank, dumb, breathing shallow and fast, somehow nervous, somehow uncomfortable.
His smile slips a little, his hand slips down to rest against his shoulder.
He's uncomfortable, too, something squirming in his stomach and pulling at the insides of his chest as if it wouldn't let him breathe.
He should move away, he thinks.
He lifts his hand and steps to the side, squeezes into the space beside Seonghwa, fingertips tracing the edge of the cupboard, and he regards it carefully for a moment, at a loss for words.
"That... that seems dangerous," he says finally.
"Hmm? Right, yeah, I'll do something about it," Seonghwa says.
"Yeah."
__
Present Day
They're about to get out of the van, fumbling to get all their belongings in order.
Passports and tickets and neck pillows and bags.
Seonghwa looks over at Hongjoong.
His hair is a soft golden brown now, piercings glinting in his ears.
He smiles.
He likes this best, he thinks.
More than the red he had before, more than the curls, more than... alright maybe black hair suits him best, but there's something about how soft and pretty he looks like this, that Seonghwa can't get out of his head.
There's something here that they haven't addressed.
YOU ARE READING
↱SEMPITERNAL↲ ⇾seongjoong⇽
FanfictionA story where Hongjoong and Seonghwa find each other in three lifetimes. "What if I said I'd find you in lifetimes to come? What if I loved you in all my lifetimes past? Wouldn't that be lovely?" "I think I'd say you're a god awful poet."
