BRIDGES. － a.yt + j.ws

14: fleeting whispers

A bowl of steaming soup before each of them, a bottle of soju in the centre of the table, and their glasses both empty, drunk dry.

Wooseok ate away at his food at a pace much slower than his usual, stomach refusing the concept of eating and fingers struggling to properly hold his chopsticks with the way they still shook.

"Please eat, Yuto," He spoke in a hushed voice, dark eyes fixated on the man's hollow cheeks and sunken sockets, "It's really good."

"Hm."

Wooseok dipped his head, gazed into the shimmering broth that reflected the yellow-toned lighting of the mostly-vacant establishment. No longer shrouded by the moon and no longer hidden by the river, Yuto's appearance was one Wooseok found impossible to dismiss.

The shadows that were cast on his face were darker, his eyes seemingly made of glass, red and sore, with a black beneath them that looked like bruising. His brown hair was now the shade of gold woven into a chestnut-coloured cloth, and even if unkempt, knotted and falling loose from the band that kept the majority of it up in his usual ponytail, Wooseok thought it suited him more than it could any other being.

He was sickly pale, underweight and uncared for, like a ragged doll one adored in their childhood and abandoned soon after, a canvas of black, grey and white, with splatters of red and cuts; but Wooseok was enthralled and his heart would stutter whenever they met eyes.

"Can you tell me about yourself?"

It was his curiousity that got the better of him, the silence that was crushing him, and the way the cashier would continuously peer at them suspiciously.

Yuto haggardly lifted his sight from the chopsticks he'd been fixating, as though their weight was far too heavy and his will to do so was minimal.

"Why?"

The brash edge to the word stung and Wooseok squirmed in his seat, twiddled the sticks in his fingers and shifted his booted feet against the tiles.

"You're intriguing," He openly admitted, "I want － I would like to know more about you."

Yuto's stare remained bleak, but Wooseok took note of the way his pupils honed in on every twitch of his face and every detail on his skin, analytic, dubious.

"There's nothing about me that's interesting."

His eyebrows furrowed as his lips pursed, already preparing to counter the statement when a leaving customer strode past and Yuto shirked away, arms instantly pressing to his torso and body leaning closer to the wall, away from the man who payed him no mind. Wooseok swallowed his rebuttal to instead gaze upon the older in question.

"Are you alright?" He asked, disregarding whatever they had said before.

Yuto allowed their sights to meet for merely an infinitesmal moment prior to guiding his own back to the untouched food before him － but Wooseok, with a thudding heart and addled mind, understood that within those lifeless irises was fear.

"I don't see people much."

The younger's head dropped slightly forward, an automatic response in trying to hear the hushed words that hardly reached his ears.

"Huh?"

Full lips still a cherry red and swollen, the brunet let out a faint sigh, finally picking up his chopsticks and allowing them to enter his bowl.

"I don't leave my apartment unless necessary, or late at night when the streets are empty," Yuto explained, deciding to indulge the other with bits of information, "That's why I'm . . ."

"Afraid of people?" Wooseok attempted to offer, but he was taken aback by the monotonous chuckle that resounded from the brunet's throat, the sound akin to that of chains being rattled past midnight and of screws drilling into stone.

"I suppose so."

The younger of the pair allowed some time to pass, satisfying himself with watching as Yuto leisurely ate, mostly reluctant and doing so with great effort.

"In one of your letters you mentioned someone," Wooseok asked, after having gulped down a mouthful and licked his lips clean, "A guy who left you. Who －"

Yuto was looking at him then － no, not looking, glaring. His stare was penetrating, icy yet magma hot, burning Wooseok's skin and charring the rims of his mouth. The latter wanted to drop his gaze but found himself incapable of doing so, hostage to Yuto's eyes.

"A close friend from university," Was all he was supplied with, but Wooseok was at least grateful that he wasn't completely shut out by the man.

"I see," He replied, nodding, "I'm also in university. What do you －"

"I dropped out."

Wooseok blinked.

"Ah."

Their conversation struck a barrier, a wall that Wooseok didn't know how to climb nor knock down. He fiddled with his food, swishing what was left around inside the bowl, absent-mindedly watching the ripples in the broth like the waves of his own sea.

He wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to keep pushing the other to talk. Considering he was never around people much, perhaps he needed time to open up enough to feel comfortable with talking, and Wooseok decided he was willing to wait.

With a smile that stitched itself without his knowing, the ink-black haired male finished off his food and patted the corners of his mouth dry with the back of his hand.

"I come here often when I have to pull all-nighters," He casually stated, cutting through their festering tension and remaining undeterred by Yuto's shown lack of interest, "Most of the time I get hot chocolate or coffee, though. My friends join me too every now and then, for group study sessions."

Yuto's eyes drifted from his food and rose to meet the happy ones across from him, momentarily lingering on the honey sweet smile just below them.

"I moved here a few years ago specifically so that I could attend uni," Wooseok went on, now allowing his head to fall lax and setting his chin into the palm of his hand to hold it up, "It's quite a nice area. There's everything a student could need and there are plenty of shops too. You know, I've probably worked part-time at most of them by now."

He extended his left arm to the bottle of alcohol and tipped it over his glass, filling it to the brim prior to gulping it in one go, fully aware of the way his every movement was followed by Yuto's ever-dull eyes. It was something that oddly made him relieved and somehow proud, because finally those eyes weren't continuously distracted by the river's shimmer and the moon's face.

"It doesn't mean I get fired a lot though, I just like changing jobs after a while. The managers usually like me and tell me I'm welcome to go back to working for them if I ever need to; I haven't yet."

"Where do you work now?"

The question admittedly startled him and his sight snapped up to meet that of the older with mild surprise, heat brewing within his ribs and at the tips of his ears.

"At a stationery in one of the main roads."

Yuto let his tense shoulders ease, his expression softening as he gave a brief hum, taking in the sight of red ears with wonderment and appreciation.

"Why are you telling me about yourself?"

Wooseok's smile returned, something that made hearts take flight and comets race across black skies.

"I want you to feel comfortable around me," He shrugged, trying to quell the spark of happiness he felt at having Yuto talk to him, "The more we know about each other, the closer we can get."

"And you want us to be close?"

"As close as you'll let us be."

》》》

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