from zero » hyungwonho

v

"Hoseok, for the love of God, slow down!" Minhyuk yelled for the fourth time since he and Hoseok had left the park.

He managed to catch up with Hoseok, who was moving unbelievably fast for someone on crutches, and stepped in front of him to place his hands firmly on his best friend's shoulders.

"What. Happened," Minhyuk repeated each word sternly as he stared Hoseok straight in the eye, not backing down.

Hoseok's head whipped to the side when he saw the look Minhyuk was giving him, and he focused his eyes on the worn out fronts of his Converse.

"I saw him," Hoseok mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut as if that would clear the image of Hyungwon from his mind. "I saw Hyungwon."

And the way Hyungwon looked at him. Hoseok could immediately tell the look of remorse gracing his - even more beautiful - features, and he never knew Hyungwon's eyes could look so bright yet so dull at the same time. Bright because he had seen Hoseok after all these years and dull because he had seen Hoseok after all these years.

Something told Hoseok that Hyungwon didn't want to see him just from the look on his face from before, and Hoseok was widely renowned for being able to read people like open books.

"Wha- are you sure it was him?" Minhyuk spluttered, ducking down to try and read Hoseok's face when he opened his eyes. "You're sure it's not just your concussion?"

"Yes, Minhyuk, I'm not fucking crazy," Hoseok snapped, meeting his gaze upright with so much annoyance and what Minhyuk could see as anger. "I'm sorry."

"No worries," Minhyuk let go of one of Hoseok's shoulders, squeezing the other reassuringly although the smile on his face was a bit less than uncertain. "Come on, let's go to my house this time. I'm round your house so much I'm beginning to forget what mine looks like."

It was a joke of course, but Minhyuk had a way with words and a sense of humour that never failed to make Hoseok smile even when he didn't want to.

~*~

The two arrived at Minhyuk's house within about ten minutes, the walk there being completely silent as Hosoek tried to wrap his head around what the Hell Hyungwon was doing here.

Minhyuk's parents weren't home which meant that the two could disappear into his room without being bothered. As soon as Minhyuk closed the door behind him, Hoseok began pacing (more like limping) around his best friend's bedroom, leading Minhyuk to sigh and sit down on his bed.

"Hoseok, please stop walking around and just sit down somewhere," Minhyuk begged. "You seriously are going to end up hurting yourself even more."

Hoseok wanted to argue but when he looked up at Minhyuk's face and saw the look he was sporting, Hoseok gave in too easily.

Minhyuk looked tired, probably from having to keep up with Hoseok so much these days, and Hoseok felt sorry for him so he did what he was told.

"Maybe I should call the others round here," Minhyuk suggested, looking up at his ceiling for guidance. "Hyunwoo and Kihyun are better with advice than I am."

"Really?" Hoseok asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at Minhyuk.

"You know me," the latter let out an airy laugh. "My first strategy is always 'beat them up' or 'egg their house'. I don't think the others would appreciate that - Jooheon and Changkyun perhaps but not Hyunwoo and Kihyun."

Hoseok let out his own small laugh as Minhyuk reached for his phone and began to dial Hyunwoo's number. "Besides, we did kind of leave them at the park without saying anything."

"Oh, God, we did," Minhyuk pressed a hand to his head in realisation as the dial tone began to ring from his phone. "Yeah, we're at mine. We need some help. What? No, no one's hurt. We just need you guys' help. Yeah. Hurry up, please."

Minhyuk dropped his phone down onto the duvet next to him and let out a loud sigh as he let his upper body lay down on his bed, Hoseok following suit.

"This is crazy," Hoseok muttered, and Minhyuk hummed in response. "Why now?"

"Hey, save the angst for when the others get here," Minhyuk teased, but Hoseok nevertheless buttoned his mouth.

The others arrived in a record time of six minutes, probably faster because none of them were on crutches. Minhyuk let them in and they sort of just stood around awkwardly for a few minutes before Jooheon collapsed dramatically to the floor in exhaustion.

"Whatever your problem is, it better be worth more than that bet I was about to win against Changkyun," Jooheon grumbled, and Changkyun pretended to kick him in his side.

"Jooheon, everything is worth more than that stupid bet," Kihyun replied, pulling up a chair from Minhyuk's desk and sitting on it (the right way around).

"What happened?" Hyunwoo asked, sitting on the bed on the other side of Hoseok while Changkyun took a seat on the floor next to Jooheon.

"I saw Hyungwon," Hoseok admitted, and looked up at the other others before anyone could cut him off. "And no, it's not just my concussion speaking. I saw him, and he saw me. He looked like he'd just been betrayed."

"Are you sure it was him?" Changkyun asked and Hoseok resisted the urge to kick him.

"Yes," Hoseok insisted, and the room fell silent for a few minutes before Hyunwoo spoke up.

"Well if he's back then he obviously is for a reason. He wouldn't leave for three years then come back again for no reason - especially if he didn't know you were still going to be here," the eldest stated wisely and was met with a chorus of hums of approval and nods.

"You told us yourself: you don't resent him and you never will, so if you don't feel any hatred towards him then you should still treat him with respect," Jooheon commented. "Although you may feel like you want to, don't badger him. Let him come to you."

"Hyungwon did this to you, Hoseok, not the other way around," Kihyun reminded softly, leaning forward on his chair and holding Hoseok's knee reassuringly. "You shouldn't feel obliged to go and talk to him, since you shouldn't have anything to say to him in the first place."

Hoseok nodded, running a hand through his hair and letting the locks fall back into place like clockwork.

"It's not your fault, Hoseok," Minhyuk reassured from next to him. "You know it's not your fault. Right now, he has just about as much meaning in your life as when you barely even knew him in high school. If he wants you back, he'll have to work for it because we're not letting you go that easily."

Minhyuk wrapped an arm around Hoseok's shoulders and Hoseok felt himself smile. Damn Minhyuk, always making him smile even when he didn't want to.

~*~

don't hate hyungwon ok he has valuable reasons that shall be revealed soon (also he's my baby meme i love him)