Wonho had asked Hyungwon to walk with him back to their room, letting everyone else get ahead of them before Wonho began walking, Hyungwon quiet at his side.
"Look, I don't get what's going on here, but you've had something against me from day one," Wonho said, stopping, and Hyungwon stopped beside him. "You said I did something to you when I'd never even seen you before. But- that doesn't really matter. That's not why I wanted to talk with you. I just wanted to clear things up since we got off on the right foot. Can we just call a truce and let bygones be bygones?" He smiled hesitantly. He knew what smile he was wearing because he'd seen it a lot reflected back at him in the mirror at the gym. People loved his smile.
"Maybe when you stop looking at me like I'm not human," Hyungwon muttered quietly, and Wonho's smile faltered.
"I'm sor- what?"
Hyungwon bit his lip and waited a few moments before looking up and exhaling. "I'm...sorry. I haven't been very fair to you..."
I just want him to stop looking at me like that. Like I'm something that belongs in a cage or a laboratory, something that should be cut open and studied.
"I..." Hyungwon began, but he began to feel light-headed, and his train of thought was racing down the tracks away from him. "I..."
"You what?" Wonho asked just before Hyungwon collapsed.
Wonho's shock counteracted his reflexes, and he failed to catch him, instead crouching down next to him. "Hyungwon? Hyungwon?"
Minhyuk came trotting back from down the corridor, looking like he'd remembered something he'd wanted to tell one of them, when he took in the situation. "Oh, he passed out again. Hasn't happened in a few days so I can't say I'm surprised," he observed calmly, and Wonho gawked at him.
"Isn't this bad? I mean, he fainted and hit his head-"
"He wouldn't have hit his head if you'd have caught him," Minhyuk said disapprovingly, clucking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
"How was I supposed to know-"
"Just pick him up and put him over your shoulder. We need to get back to our rooms," Minhyuk said.
Wonho had no choice but to pick Hyungwon up and along the unconscious boy over his shoulder.
***
When Hyungwon came to, he was in their room, and Wonho was on the ground.
"Hey," Wonho said with a smile, panting as he lowered himself for another push-up. "You're awake. That's good." He grunted as he went down for another push-up. "How's your head?"
"It...hurts...How'd you know?" Hyungwon asked, frowning as he gingerly prodded the back of his head with two fingers.
Wonho laughed nervously, almost dropping himself onto the ground. "Lucky guess, I suppose..." Definitely not because I let you fall. He finished off one more push-up before sitting up with his back against the bed, inhaling and exhaling, enjoying the strong beating of his heart in his chest.
"Sorry, I try to do my exercise before bed, but I missed it last night and I felt out of shape," Wonho said, his lips lifting in a smile. There was something about the blood pumping through his veins that just made him feel alive and healthy. "You're really feeling all right?"
"Yeah..." Hyungwon studied Wonho carefully, somewhat interested. "I guess...I should have warned you. I might, um, pass out occasionally. But it's fine, it's normal. For me, I mean. I have a condition. Like, a medical one, I mean."
Wonho looked over, smiling at Hyungwon, who seemed to be struggling to speak. "Minhyuk might have filled me in a bit."
"Oh." Hyungwon looked down, and Wonho couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"I...um." Wonho cleared his throat, and Hyungwon looked back up. "I wanted to apologize to you. I, um, I work with a lot of different people as a trainer at the gym, and everybody has their own story and their own problems. And...working with them...it never made any difference to me what they looked like, what body type they had, any of that. And...I feel like...I feel like I may have made you feel uncomfortable or ashamed of yourself, and as someone who works to build other people up physically and in terms of their self-confidence, I..." Wonho bit his lip. "I feel really horrible about it...and I'm...ashamed of myself...that I would hurt your feelings...even inadvertently...not that I'm trying to make excuses for myself, I just-"
"It's okay," Hyungwon said from the other side of the room, looking down and picking at something on his blanket. "It's not a big-"
"But it is," Wonho insisted. "You were struggling, and I...instead of helping you, I not only turned away but made you feel like there's something wrong with you. It's just who you are. As a personal trainer..." He paused. "Just, as me, as who I am...it's my job to support you." He looked over at Hyungwon. "So...can you forget that I messed up? Can we just start over and be friends?"
Hyungwon looked over at Wonho in shock. "You want...to be friends...with me?"
Wonho nodded, smiling encouragingly. "Please?"
"But you're- I'm messed up and you're, well you're not-"
"Pretty please?" Wonho tried again, batting his eyelashes.
Hyungwon sucked in his bottom lip. "Is this like a pity thing? You just think I need a friend because I was crying last night?" Hyungwon conveniently left out the part where he almost stopped breathing.
"Nah." Wonho was still smiling, trying to convince Hyungwon of his sincerity, and he couldn't rightly blame anyone but himself for making Hyungwon so doubtful in the first place. "I don't really understand why I'm here or what's going on, but...I'd like to make the best of it, and I feel like I'd be missing out if we didn't become friends."
"...you're really trying to force this friendship, aren't you," Hyungwon commented, but Wonho grinned when he saw a small but reluctant smile hiding on Hyungwon's lips.
"I'm calling that a yes," Wonho said.
Hyungwon just smiled, and the fact that he didn't deny it seemed to make it true.
