You Should Leave, Baby → ZUWOON

chapter nine

Seokwoo had slept through the entirety of Sunday. He'd woken up once or twice, only to turn over, check his phone, and fall back into the clutches of sleep not even mere minutes later.

Now, wandering through the darkened streets of Seoul, Seokwoo is thrown back into the chaos from his life previous to the vacation he'd just returned from.

People look at him as they pass, glaring or wide eyed with astonishment. He feels overexposed, under the criticizing eyes of the world. Juho's voice rings through his earbuds, causing Seokwoo to give a soft sigh of comfort. He wasn't completely alone. Not anymore.

"You getting here soon?"

"Yeah," Seokwoo mumbles, passing under an overhang that dribbles brown, greasy looking water over the edge. The neon lights on the sides of storefronts illuminate it, giving the whole street a sort of odd feeling. The sky is dark, promising more rain from what had come yesterday. "Aren't you tired?"

Juho laughs, the line between them crackling. "Tired of missing you."

"Gross."

"Yeah."

Seokwoo smiles, finding himself immersed by a display inside a store's front window. "Hey, do you want to go out tonight?"

Something shifts on Juho's end, and the other hums quietly. "Sure, I needed to pick up something for the party anyway..."

Clipping on the end of the other's words, Seokwoo's phone alerts him of his distance from the other's apartment. Five minutes more, he could do this.

There's a flash of light from behind him, and he nearly turns around. The flashes continue, growing closer to him until he starts running.

A shout sounds out around him and his hood flies backwards. He adjusts his slipping face mask, gliding over the pavement as he nearly slips in a puddle. "Fuck!"

"Whoa, wait, wait, are you running right now!?"

"Reporters..."

Out of breath, Seokwoo ducks into the nearest alley to him. The crowds had gladly accepted him, and happily he'd lost the trail of cameras behind him. "Oh, God..."

"I'll come to you," Juho states, another bout of rustling coming close to his microphone, "share your location with me."

Without hesitating Seokwoo pulls his phone out of his pocket, crouching down against the wall behind him. He opens his conversation with Juho and shares his location, closing his eyes as he drops the device back into his pocket.

The call ends and Seokwoo pouts, pulling out his earbuds to hang them around his neck. He stands, turning the corner before walking into the store he'd been hiding beside.

Inside, it smells like sweat and grease. Seokwoo recoils, bringing a hand up to cover his nose as he looks around. It's dark, candles scattered around being the only source of light in the dank room.

"Excuse me," a woman's voice says from somewhere in the cloak of darkness, and Seokwoo screams. "Sir, this is a book club meeting!"

He spins on his heel and walks out of the shop, slamming into somebody in the doorway.

"You go to book club?"

Juho grins, hand interlacing with Seokwoo's the moment they brush against each other. "Hey," he hums, resting his head against the younger's shoulder.

They leave the occult behind them as they begin walking down the street. The attention on them is doubled, maybe even tripled, and Seokwoo definitely sees cameras and phones pointed in their direction. He finds himself waving at two girls who have their phones out and jaws slack, still wearing their uniforms from whatever school they'd attended that afternoon. One shrieks, the other waves back.

Hand in hand, the two make their way down the streets. Juho pulls on the neck of his hoodie, eyes wide as he looks around at the slowly increasing crowd around them. "So much attention..."

"You're not used to it?"

Shaking his head to give the other his answer, Juho slips closer to Seokwoo, nearly hiding behind him as his grip tightens on his hand. Seokwoo grins, squeezing his palm comfortingly.

"How does he not get his hand bitten off?"

Seokwoo, laying across Juho's lap, scrutinizing the show the two were watching on the older's television. He has a pillow wrapped tightly in his arms, trying to warm them against it from the other's cold bedroom; which holds three opened windows and a blasting A/C. "He just... Sticks it right into the water."

"He's Jeremy fucking Wade, Seokwoo."

"But is he immortal?"

Juho looks down at Seokwoo with incredulous eyes. "Of course?" His voice pitches up at the end of his statement, further pushing the fact that Juho truly thought the man on the show was a God. "How could he not be?"

Shaking his head, Seokwoo smiles. "Don't know; sorry for doubting him."

"Absolutely you are." Juho mumbles, reaching over to grab a blanket that hangs over the back of the couch. He lays down next to the other, pulling him against his chest as he tucks them in haphazardly with the blanket. After they're comfortable, Juho adds on a quick, "he's coming for you."

The rain had begun to come down long ago outside, the sound of the drops pattering against the pavement soothing to Seokwoo's ears. He'd always loved the rain, especially in the city. And, it seems like Juho does, as well. Every so often Seokwoo turns to see him gazing wistfully outside, watching the rain come down in torrents with fascination prominent in his gaze.

They had been to several stores that night before the storm had fully finalized itself above them, and had gotten back to Juho's home moments before the sky had broken open and released its finished masterpiece. In each store they'd bought something, whether it be their outfits for the party tomorrow or the entire first season of Pokemon on DVD. Yes, they had bought both of those things. And they regretted neither purchase.

Juho's arms encircle Seokwoo's waist, dragging him closer. Seokwoo flushes, burying his face into the blanket he clutches tightly in his fingers. Juho's breath, warm on the back of Seokwoo's neck, hitches when the lights in the room turn off suddenly, the television blinking off alongside them.

The two sit up, looking outside to see that the only lights that were still on anywhere near them came from storefronts with backup generators. Juho huffs. "Power outage."

Sitting in silence together, the two watch the world outside from inside the darkened room.

Thunder crashes from far in the distance, and the sky flashes with lightning above the tall, greyscale buildings that surround Juho's apartment.

Between the moments of prolonged silence when the thunder isn't rumbling through the atmosphere, Juho pulls Seokwoo back against himself, holding him there fast before he turns around.

"What are you getting at?"

"Hm?" Juho looks at him innocently, but the exchange he attempts to give with his features is shrouded and concealed by the darkness around him. "Nothing..." His voice trails off, and Seokwoo laughs, resting his head against the other's shoulder.

Seokwoo looks up to the older, kissing his jawline softly. His own yawn interrupts him, though, and he opts to settle back down against the other's shoulder. Juho wraps his arms around his back, sighing blissfully as he lets them fall back against the pillows on his bed.

"Are you tired?"

"Mm-hmm," Seokwoo nods against Juho, hair tickling his cheek. Juho pulls up the blankets around them, allowing Seokwoo to settle under them before he does himself.

Taking in a soft breath, Seokwoo realizes he feels protected with the other wrapped around him. His loneliness had been buried underneath his comfort and ease, leaving him in a dazed euphoria the longer the other's soft, slow breathing lulled him closer and closer to sleep.

Before Seokwoo falls asleep, he feels a tired kiss placed messily on his forehead and hears a soft, murmured voice whisper something incomprehensible to him under the cloak of exhaustion.