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⸻·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ♡ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙⸻

"I have my wallet." Yunho re-enters into the living space, stirring everyone to look back at him with little excitement. San in particular pays more attention to Wooyoung not being present rather than Yunho re-entering the space. "Are we ready to go?"

"Is Wooyoung coming?" San rises from the couch, looking behind Yunho for any sign of his friend, fully prepared to go and get his friend himself, but Yunho waves him off.

"Yes. Just give him a minute." San's brows furrow. Something isn't right.

He walks away from the beige couch, moving around his other friends' legs and further moving towards Yunho, but Yunho puts his hand down and holds San by his stomach, preventing him from walking past. San gives him a questionable look, but Yunho subtly shakes his head.

Something definitely wasn't right.

"He'll be out in a second." Yunho states again, almost trying to reassure San, but San was hardly convinced. He knew Wooyoung better than himself, and watching Wooyoung run after Yunho only a couple of minutes ago felt as weird as it looked.

"Is he okay?" Yunho nods wordlessly, but San can't help the feeling building in his chest.

What if it was about the kiss? What if he suddenly remembered everything and was freaking out? What if he didn't want to see me? What if–

"I'm here, San'ah." Wooyoung appears behind Yunho suddenly, and San feels instant relief swimming over his chest.

"You okay? San mutters in a tone that only Wooyoung and Yunho would hear, but all Wooyoung does is nod and offer a soft smile at his friend. It wasn't unusual for Wooyoung to be a bit more reserved, but something about this entire morning seemed weird.

"Let's get going," Yunho looks at his two friends having a quiet conversation and pushes them both towards the front door, listening to the rest of the group rise from the couch with muffled groans and whines. Wooyoung glances at San once more, eyes trailing his neck and chest before leaving and watching Yunho open the front door, practically forcing them out.

San walks towards his SUV and stops near the driver's door, watching Wooyoung walk around the front of the black car and stop at the passenger door (or to what he proclaimed was his seat and only his seat), waiting for San to unlock the doors. Seonghwa and Hongjoong eventually make their way over too, and Wooyoung hears the doors click unlocked. Wooyoung opens his door and settles inside, San and the other two not too far behind.

"Do you know where we're headed?" Wooyoung asks quietly, clicking his seatbelt on as he looks over to San briefly, but hr almost immediately looks away.

"Not exactly," San sighs, waiting for Jongho to pull his car out first from the view out of Wooyoung's window. San wasn't directly looking at Wooyoung, but he could feel San's eyes drift to his that played avoidance.

"Something about getting ice cream or going to the beach," Wooyoung shrugs, dragging his eyes down to his phone as he leaned back, biting the inside of his cheek.

Wooyoung can't lie to himself. He knows he's confused and he sure as hell doesn't want to be so close to San right now, but San is here, and he smells so good. He's partially irritated at how nonchalant San is about the whole kiss, but it's possible that it's only because he thought Wooyoung didn't remember.

Everything about San is intoxicating from his voice, his mannerisms, his laugh and his physique. Wooyoung had always admired how well he took care of himself, but with the kiss engraved into his memory, his admiration is amplified into something deeper and warmer, and God it was driving him insane.

Wooyoung isn't quite sure if he wants San to know anything right now. The thought of dealing with the kiss in front of their friends scares him to his core, and he's hardly ever this scared about anything. All he can think to do now is scroll thoughtlessly on social media in hopes to drown in something else but the memory of San's lips.

San begins to follow Jongho out of the driveway, feeling the sand grind between his tires until the SUV meets asphalt and takes off without issue. Both cars drive along the two-laned road, keeping a reasonable distance from one another as the view suddenly changes from a narrow housing district to an ocean view available on both sides; almost panoramic.

Seonghwa had leaned over, hand tangled in Hongjoong's, gazing out of the window and pointing to various roadside shops and the ocean. Wooyoung is hardly interested, hand holding his chin as he leans against the door, watching the new scenery fly past. It was calm outside, the sun shining brightly as it brightened the Earth beneath it, but Wooyoung couldn't seem to find the radiance in the beauty of summer, sorrow torturing his soul.

San is hardly paying attention to Wooyoung, but the lack of talking or humming to the melodies of the radio is not absent in his mind. He wanted to reach over and touch Wooyoung to provide some sort of comfort, but it seemed inappropriate at the time. All he could do was follow Jongho's expensive car through the small ocean-side city and focus on the road.

Eventually they stop, pulling into empty parking spaces adjacent to each other as San places his SUV in park, turning the engine off and reaching for his phone. But, it wasn't there. It normally rested in one of the cupholders, and a moment of panic set in as San's eyes shot down to the cup holders, unaware of where his phone could've fallen on a seemingly smooth ride.

"Shit, did I–"

"I have it, San'ah." Wooyoung holds out his phone, gently tapping his hand with it. San's eyes rake up towards his phone, then further towards Wooyoung's gaze. San smiles at him, taking his phone from Wooyoung's grasp with a thankful expression.

"Thank you." San turns to exit the car, but Wooyoung is frozen, watching San leave with a growing frown.

He wasn't sure why he felt like this, but there was lingering sadness clinging to his tongue. His head turns to the windshield, watching San step onto a sidewalk and share a few words with Jongho and Yunho, and something inside of him aches to leave. He just wants to go home and wallow in his shameful pity. But he swallows it, putting his hand on the handle and pushing his door open.

"The ice cream here is really good," Wooyoung hears Mingi brag about a local parlor as he steps out into the warm climate, half-slamming his door shut. His steps feel sluggish as he walks a few feet over towards his friends, standing near Yeosang for the better part of the next two minutes as the group talks about their plans. Wooyoung barely listens, mind completely in the gutter as he stares at San, looking away at points to avoid his friend's gaze as he seeks shelter behind Yeosang.

"Let's go in," Yunho leads the group inside, almost forcingly as the appointed leader, waiting for all seven of his friends to file in before walking in himself.

The shop was decorated cutely with images of cows and fields with a large topping bar stationed to the right. Details of specials were highlighted with neon lights set behind the counter that illuminated all of the flavors to pick from. Mingi doesn't take too long before walking to the counter, eyes focusing directly on some form of chocolate ice cream, leaving the girl behind the counter to laugh at him cutely.

Wooyoung is nearly last in line, Yunho's hand resting just an inch behind his back, moving everyone along so they can see the flavors. San and Seonghwa find the topping bar, looking at several options that range from brownie pieces to caramel drizzle and rainbow sprinkles.

"I'm overstimulated," Yeosang mutters, eyes taking in the fourteen flavors ahead of him.

"I'm freezing." Wooyoung adds back to Yeosang, who chuckles at him and throws a comment over his shoulder.

"It's literally an ice cream parlor. It's not supposed to be warm?"

"I know that." Wooyoung shrugs his shoulders.

Each male orders two scoops of some kind of ice cream, choosing between a cone and a cup then heading towards the unlimited topping bar, stacking their dessert high with more potent sugar to overload their senses. Wooyoung is the last to join his friends, sitting in a booth with Seonghwa, Hongjoong and San. He topped his regular vanilla ice cream with fudge and cookie pieces, trying to feel some sort of excitement for their shared time away from the beach house.

"No mint chocolate chip?" Seonghwa points to Wooyoung's dish. He looks up, shaking his head as he shovels his spoon into the side of his vanilla dessert.

"Not today." Wooyoung mutters, pulling his spoon free with a small scoop centered on the plastic-wear.

"Feeling okay?" San gently bumps Wooyoung's arm with his elbow, Wooyoung almost wants to ignore him.

"I'm okay. I just have a headache." Wooyoung lies through his teeth, but San doesn't seem to catch on. It was believable enough, considering the copious amount of alcohol he consumed yesterday.

"Did you want us to find you some medicine or anything?" Seonghwa kindly asks, but Wooyoung refuses.

"It'll go away after we eat. Don't worry about me." Wooyoung assures lightly, but no one seems convinced. "Really, I mean it."

"Okay." San seems to no longer want to pry, digging into his chocolate-overload ice cream without another thought. San did want to pry further, but he trusted Wooyoung enough to not lie to him. If he said he was okay, he was okay.

Their table is more silent than the other, listening to laughs break out from the other group of four as they sit wordlessly. As much as Wooyoung didn't want this ice cream nor to be out of his room, he was glad San was at least acting normal. He honestly just wanted to go back to the house and drink a case of soju by the beach alone, stuck with his thoughts to dive into the feelings he wished he could avoid. But, here he was, elbow to elbow with San, feasting on ice cream as if nothing even happened.

"I wish I would've gotten more." Seonghwa whines quietly, looking at Hongjoong's nearly finished ice cream cup.

"We're literally going to go eat an actual meal later," Hongjoong smiles at him and Seonghwa rolls his eyes.

"I don't care," Seonghwa chuckles. "I still want more."

"You always want more of something," Hongjoong nudges him and San laughs.

"He's not wrong, Hwa." San doesn't look up to see the stern gaze Seonghwa was glaring at him with, but Wooyoung spots it and starts laughing.

"What?" San looks over to Wooyoung, incredibly confused, but Wooyoung points towards their glaring friend and San also starts laughing.

"Hwa," Hongjoong gently taps his shoulder, a smile raised on his lips. "Stop doing that."

"I'm not doing anything." Seonghwa's lips twitched into a smile, unable to remain composed while his two roommates laughed ahead of him.

"But you are!" Hongjoong starts laughing too, which finally causes Seonghwa to start laughing. The group was laughing pretty loudly now, unable to stop because of how much they were laughing, but Mingi and Yunho heard the commotion and turned around, eyes looking over the top of the booth with raising smiles.

"What's so funny?" Yunho asks the laughing group, but no one seems able to answer him.

"I blame San." Mingi nods, watching San immediately stop laughing and glare at him too, but Mingi starts laughing and darts below the threshold of the booth.

"Why me?!" San is confused, just about the same amount as Yunho is, but Yunho shrugs and turns back around, leaving San to look at his friends with a befuddled look smeared on his face.

"You're definitely a shit-starter, Sannie." Seonghwa finally breathes, head resting on Hongjoong's shoulder. San rolls his eyes and sighs, listening to Wooyoung's laughs finally simmer into quiet huffs.

"I am not!" San tries to defend himself, but no one seems to agree. "Believe what you want, I'll

be contacting my lawyer."

"Sure," Wooyoung smiles at him, sliding out from under the table and escaping the booth. His hands grab for his empty ice cream bowl, his other hand making grabbing motions for the other empty dishes around the table as his friends stack them and hand them over. Wooyoung walks away as his friends continue to tease Seonghwa, dishes in hand, circling around towards a blue trash can and letting the bowls fall into the pit of the garbage bag.

"Young'ah?" Yeosang delicately calls for his friend, holding up his bowl and pointing to it. Wooyoung stands at the trash can, rolling his eyes and marching towards the other table, looking at all of his friends that stared at him expectantly.

"We love you, Woo." Jongho nearly bats his eyelashes at his friend, and everyone seems to stifle a laugh when Wooyoung opens his hand and waits for everyone to pile their bowls. Wooyoung obviously didn't mind throwing away his friends' trash, honestly he was happy to do it, but something about Yeosang's shit-eating grin made him want to initiate an act of love-stricken violence.

It doesn't take long for him to decide on a plan, walking away to the same trash can and tossing the bowls in, then pretending to walk back to his table. But before he can sit down, he turns on his heel, rushing to grab Yeosang's left cheek with both of his hands and plastering a kiss on the other.

Yeosang automatically starts fighting the kiss, trying to lean away but it was useless. Wooyoung let the kiss linger for no longer than five humiliating seconds, listening to his friends laugh and giggle at Yeosang's obvious discomfort.

Wooyoung finally lets his poor victim go, watching him wipe the wet kiss from his cheek with a look of utter betrayal. Wooyoung shrugs, patting his friend on the shoulder and leaving with a smirk on his lips.

"What did you do?" San asks Wooyoung as he sits back down in the booth, biting back the smile pulling at his lips.

"Made a fool of myself," He humbly replies, looking at Seonghwa who happened to hear the whole thing. Seonghwa is smiling with a quiet bout of laughter, but San doesn't seem to notice.

"The usual, it seems." Hongjoong mutters, looking over to San, who was still completely lost. San glances from friend to friend, eyeing everyone evenly until he lands on Wooyoung last.

"Seriously? What did you do?"

"I made Yeosang regret making me garbage boy."

"But you offered–"

"To you three, not to them." Wooyoung continues to defend his actions, but Seonghwa and Hongjoong hold their judgment internally, voiding their opinions immediately.

"So what did you do?"

"I gave him a kiss on the cheek." Out of context, this doesn't seem much like a punishment. But to someone who hates skinship, like Yeosang, this was cruel torture.

"You're evil for that." San gently pushes him with a smile, listening to Wooyoung laugh.

"I know."

The boys leave the ice cream shop, walking down the sidewalk to peek into different open stores. Seonghwa and Hongjoong led the crew down the path hand-in-hand, leaving Yunho and Mingi to walk behind them, and Jongho and Yeosang directly behind them. Wooyoung didn't exactly want to walk next to San right now, but given how comfortable everything felt at the ice cream parlor, he assumed it would be best to pretend everything was normal.

San was talking to Jongho about something that didn't seem relevant for Wooyoung to pay attention to, mind off elsewhere as his gaze seemed distant, which stirs Yeosang to turn and glance at Wooyoung. They make brief eye contact, Yeosang mouthing 'you okay?' in an effort to pull away at Wooyoung's facade.

Wooyoung shakes his head at first, but his brows furrowed as he looks at his friend while thinking of a different response. He waves his hand, trying to offer an 'I'm fine' in his direction, but Yeosang doesn't seem to care.

As they're walking, Yeosang slows down in an effort to walk next to Wooyoung, but San looks at him with his eyebrow raised, and Yeosang practically shoos him away. San begrudgingly walks next to Jongho, continuing their conversation about music, leaving Yeosang the privacy to talk to his friend quietly.

"What's wrong?"

Wooyoung really didn't want to talk about this right now, but Yeosang was one of his closest friends, he deserved to know what was happening; Wooyoung also needed this weight off of his chest. "I'm just confused."

"Confused?" Yeosang tilts his head forwards slightly, trying to gauge Wooyoung's expression, but Wooyoung nearly looks away from him.

"I think I kissed San last night." Wooyoung winces, afraid of Yeosang's reaction, but Yeosang says and does nothing.

"Okay." Yeosang settles into a silence that seemed comfortable between them as they both walked while thinking, but Wooyoung really can't stand how awkward it began to feel.

"I didn't hate it either." The sudden confession really stirred Yeosang's attention as he felt Yeosang's hand grab his wrist. Wooyoung expected more of a vocal reaction, but was thankful for the discreet surprise.

"Are you serious?"

"I wish I was fucking joking." Wooyoung sighs in contempt, his free hand rising to hide his eyes as embarrassment crawls over the sill of his spine. "I was drunk and I literally couldn't help myself. I don't even know where my feelings came from. I've never felt like that before. I-I don't even think San was remotely drunk."

"Soju really makes you feel things–" Yeosang sighs, but then realizes something more important hidden in Wooyoung's sentence. "Wait, San wasn't drunk?"

"No. Yunho told me he barely drank anything last night."

"Oh my god, so he remembers everything?"

"Mhm." Wooyoung bites down on his lip, feeling Yeosang finally free his wrist. "Now you can understand why I'm so confused."

"God." Yeosang swallows, looking forwards as his eyes trail San's back. They were far enough away to talk discreetly without drawing the attention of either male in front of them, but Wooyoung was still nervous San would somehow find out, regardless of how quiet they were.

"I don't know what to do." Wooyoung shakes his head. "I'm just fucking lost. Like, how do these emotions come from nothing? Where were they all this time?"

"I mean this in the nicest way possible, Young'ah, but–" Yeosang breathes through his teeth. "You are drunk a lot of the time you're awake. It's possible you never had time to think about it until it just clicked."

Wooyoung's chest hurts at Yeosang's observance of his behavior, but he ignores it for now. "But why now? Why alone in our shared room at a beach house?"

"Does it have anything to do with seeing Seonghwa and Hongjoong trying to make it work?"

"No, I don't think so." Wooyoung steals a glance at San's back too, then looks down. "I think it has something to do with not being able to sleep in my own bed. His bed started to feel like home to me, y'know? I hardly ever sleep in my own bed anymore."

"Well how would that relate to the beach house?"

"He was taking care of me the entire night, Yeosang. He always does. Regardless of what shit I get myself into, he makes it his job to drag me out of it."

"He does care about you a lot." Yeosang mentions lightly and Wooyoung smiles into the thought of it.

"I know he does. I care about him too." Wooyoung looks back up, slightly tilting his black cap upwards. "I just don't know if he feels the same as me."

"Why don't you just talk to him?"

"No. Not here." Wooyoung's jaw tenses. "I think I wanna be home for that. We still have to sleep in the same bed tonight."

"Fair." Yeosang nudges his arm gently. "But hey, this was bound to happen. I'm glad it finally did, honestly."

"Really? You saw this coming?"

"Oh, everyone has been waiting for something like this to happen. Only other couple besides you two that hasn't gotten together yet is Yunho and Mingi, which, I doubt would ever happen because of Mingi's love for random women."

"Interesting." Wooyoung nudges Yeosang back. "Thank you for listening to me. I know it's odd timing and whatever but I really needed to get that off my mind."

"I could tell something was up. You're never doom and gloom around San, so, I had to be nosy."

"Well, thanks for being nosy." Wooyoung smiles at Yeosang gratefully, and Yeosang offers a smile in return.

The boys meander around in various shops for what feels like most of the afternoon. They settle into a cozy restaurant a bit later, eating a large amount of fresh seafood and hand-tossed pasta. Mingi doesn't hesitate to order some form of a margarita, but Wooyoung stays sober and drinks nothing except for water.

They make their way back towards their cars, getting back into their previous seats tiredly, waiting for their drivers to lead them home to seek the comfort of their beds.

The sun was about to set at this point, ready to be taken over by the rising moon, but Wooyoung sits outside on the overused bench when they arrive home, a bottle of soju dangling between his fingers. Most of his friends had gone to bed or were preparing to at least, but his mind was too loud to find himself in a quiet bed with the one person he felt warm towards.

Wooyoung knew he was attractive. It was never hard for him to bring home nameless women (and sometimes men) to spend a night in his lonely room, filling the void in his soul with what felt like meaningless sex. He felt the same every time; hopeless and hungover, unable of wanting anything more from the person he just brought home.

Something was different about the sudden emotions he felt towards his best friend, something that became nearly impossible to ignore. It's not a completely new feeling, but it's stronger now. But, now with Yeosang's input, he finds himself hoping San feels the same way. It would be comfortable being able to openly love San, being able to hold him closer than normal and freely kiss him when he wanted to.

But here he sits, afraid to say anything, back on what feels like his normal bench, downing a bottle of soju shortly after opening it. He knows he won't sleep soundly tonight, so his inner demons call upon alcohol to cope with lingering insomnia that was looming over the edge.

He could hear commotion inside the home behind him, but he slouches forward, eyeing the bottle of soju pressed against his fingers as he reads the label, and unconsciously feels himself gripping the sweating bottle. His jaw tightens with watering eyes as he examines the branding further, but he can't stop himself when he stands from the bench and chucks the bottle over the backyard fence.

Relief. Wooyoung takes a deep breath, blinking away tears as he watches the bottle soar through the air before crashing down somewhere in the nearby sand. Did he want to litter? No. But somewhere within him did that throw make him feel something besides dread for the first time today.

By the time San exits the shower and changes into comfortable clothes, he opens the on-suite door to find a bundled Wooyoung asleep in the bed alone. He almost wants to call his name and was half expecting him to turn over in the bed when San opened the door, but neither happens. San waits for a minute, watching Wooyoung breathe deeply beneath the comforter with his back towards San.

San admittedly was happy that Wooyoung was asleep on his own, but his heart wished that he would've waited for him as he got under the covers and settled down into the mattress, head pressing into a cold pillow with a soft sigh of relief.

San instead has a hard time falling asleep, staring at the skin shown by Wooyoung's wrinkled shirt that exposed parts of his neck and shoulder. San wants to touch him again. But, this was the first time in awhile Wooyoung had put himself to bed and fell asleep with little issue. The last thing he wanted was to disturb him, let alone wake him.

But as San watches him breathe, he feels his heart swell with warmth, eyes becoming heavier every second as he lays there silently. Breaths become deeper, and before he knows it, he too falls asleep just before the cusp of midnight.

The second Wooyoung wakes up, it feels like a complete surprise that he was not in San's arms for once and had finally woken up just as the sun was rising. It felt like adequate rest, and from what he could tell, he wasn't hungover.

Eventually, all of the boys spend most of the morning packing their things and cleaning whatever remnants of trash laid around the large beach house. Mingi sends a couple pictures to his parents, and before they know it, everyone is packed away in their cars and heading back home.

Little to no words were exchanged in the car as Wooyoung quietly hummed to the music San was playing over the speakers. Seonghwa was drowning his focus into his game, mindlessly flicking his joysticks and pressing buttons to pass the time.

San glances over to Wooyoung every now and then, once again, wanting to reach over and rest his hand on Wooyoung's thigh like he had always done. But with the kiss burned forever into his mind, there was a different message plagued by their affection towards one another. Seonghwa was keyed in on this too, so if he saw it, there'd surely be chaos.

So the car ride is quiet and touchless, leading them home to an empty apartment to unpack and unwind, preparing for the beginning of the work week. Wooyoung disappears into his room, throwing his duffel bag into his closet as his phone begins to ring, stirring him to grab it, only to see his boss calling him. This was a first.

"Hello?"

"Jung Wooyoung? Where have you been? You've missed four shifts in a row!"

"No, no. I scheduled the weekend off. I haven't been in town."

"You never called a single shift off! We were short all weekend because of your childish games and I'm growing to be sick of his repeated behavior from you!"

"Sir, I'm so sorry. I thought I had called off–"

"I'm done! You're fired!"

Wooyoung's stomach shrivels into a frail organ, barely alive, barely breathing. He wants to say more, wants to apologize and beg for his job, but before he can do so, the call ends.

Wooyoung stands in his room, tears streaming down his face as he stares at his blank phone screen, hands beginning to tremble as the realization of his behavior hits him like a truck.

"Woo?" San rounds the corner after hearing Wooyoung on the phone briefly, but as his eyes meet that of his friends', he instantly feels his heart sink.

"I–" Wooyoung struggles to breathe. "I got fired."