♔ ;a thousand miles ii (chunjoe)
The next day, a Saturday for him, Chanhee realized he didn’t have anything to do for the weekend, thankfully, and he gradually got up from bed. The sun seeped through his light-blue blinds and into his room, and it was warm, but still not the kind of warmth that he grew accustomed to. Although, he thought, it would have to do for now. Chanhee shook his head, shaking away with it any thoughts of Byunghun and the event that happened yesterday afternoon. It wasn’t unlike Byunghun to walk out. The latter had done it a few times when he was still in Seoul, usually when they had a fight. Did they have a fight yesterday, Chanhee couldn’t even recall.
The first thing Chanhee did after getting up was turn on his laptop, hoping to get an e-mail, offline message-anything-from Byunghun, an explanation, maybe an apology, but Chanhee was disappointed to be greeted by an inbox full of Daniel’s online postcards from his family vacation in Japan, and some of Jonghyun’s messages asking how he was (much love from Chuncheon). He’d remember to reply to those later.
Naturally, Chanhee waited in front of his laptop the whole day, hoping Byunghun would go on. It was barely midnight in New York, Chanhee knew; he had New York’s time on the upper right-hand corner of his desktop. He was running out of things to do on the Internet, too, and it wasn’t even noon yet. He tried distracting himself-replying to Daniel and Jonghyun’s e-mails, chatting with Changhyun and Minsoo, reading random articles online, staring at the wall, eating anything he could get his hands on downstairs. Until, finally, it was late afternoon and, of course, Byunghun should be in bed by then. Heaving a sigh, Chanhee shut off his laptop for now and decided to look for something to take his mind off of things again-anything-but then he just found himself lying down on his bed, and eventually falling asleep.
That night, after waking up and forcing himself to eat dinner, Chanhee still expected Byunghun to leave him anything eventually, one way or another. Chanhee was getting a little desperate. Byunghun never left him hanging like this for this long. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing; and Chanhee’s heart sank. Instead, he found himself chatting with Minsoo and Changhyun.
Changhyun:
you mustve done something tho
Chanhee:
i told you.
i honestly have no idea
Minsoo:
This happened last night?
Chanhee:
what i did.
yes hyung this happened last night.
or yesterday afternoon. whichever.
Changhyun:
oooh
wonder what you did tbh
byunghun hyung never gets mad
Minsoo:
You haven’t talked to him at all?
Changhyun:
does he
Chanhee:
hyung are you even paying attention or?
he hasn’t been on.
haven’t talked to him since.
someone help.
Changhyun:
i actually miss byunghun hyung
Chanhee:
me too.
you have no idea.
Three days later, and Chanhee was at his breaking point. He refused to get out of bed, and Changhyun had to call him up to check on him. “See if you’re still alive and stuff. Minsoo hyung’s orders,” he explained through the other end of the phone one early morning (it was around noon, really, but Chanhee lost all sense of time a day ago). “You okay?”
No, Chanhee wanted to say, his face buried in his pillow, lazily holding his phone against his ear. No, I’m not. “I’ll be fine,” he mumbled, his voice muffled.
“You know, Niel hyung just got back from Japan, and Jonghyunnie got back from Chuncheon last night,” Changhyun tried, determined to drag Chanhee out of the house, get his mind off of anything related to Byunghun. “Want to meet up?”
Chanhee flipped himself over, and decided that staring at the ceiling felt better than attempting to suffocate himself with his pillow. “I’ll think about it,” he replied, not even giving it much thought, before hanging up, not even giving Changhyun a chance at a quick reply. Chanhee was left alone in his house, and it felt a lot lonelier than it should be. Sighing, like he had been doing a lot more frequently over the last few days, he pushed himself up and sat on his bed. His eyes landed on a picture of him and Byunghun together, framed on his bedside table, and he felt like crying again. Before he got the chance to, the sound of the doorbell reverberated throughout his house. Since he wasn’t expecting anyone, he decided to lie back down. If it was anyone important, they’d call, or come back. He didn’t feel like getting up and facing people. Maybe if I pretended there isn’t anyone there, they’d eventually go away.
But the person was insistent, and kept on ringing the doorbell, until Chanhee began to get a headache. Two minutes of consecutive doorbell ringing, and Chanhee was done. He pushed himself up and trudged down the stairs, practically screaming, “What do you want?” before opening the door. Stunned to silence at the sight in front of him, Chanhee’s jaw dropped, and he was rendered speechless yet again, and frozen in place.
“Bad time?”
“Byunghun-ah?”
Byunghun rubbed the back of his neck, offering Chanhee a sheepish smile as he stood in the latter’s doorway before adding, “Yeah. Sorry. Forced my mom to get me a ticket back to Seoul; spent the last day packing.” He let out a nervous laugh, dropping his hand back down at his side. “I’m back, though.”
When Chanhee finally came back to his senses, his bottom lip started quivering and he looked like he was about to cry. His hands balled into fists at his sides, and Byunghun was almost sure he was going to get hit, but Chanhee, instead, practically flung himself at Byunghun. Familiar arms made their way around Byunghun’s neck, and Chanhee buried his face in the crook of Byunghun’s neck, taking in the scent that he grew accustomed to through their years of being inserparable. “Fuck you, asshole,” he mumbled. “You fucking scared me.”
Byunghun let out another laugh, wrapping his arms around Chanhee’s waist. “Sorry,” he said. “But, hey, I’m here now, you know.”
“I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
Before they got a chance to completely pull away from each other, someone practically tackled Byunghun to the ground, and Chanhee stood in shock until he realized it was only Changhyun. He laughed, like he hadn’t laughed in days.
“Hyung!” Daniel shrieked, running over to topple Changhyun over, Byunghun struggling to break free from the younger’s grasp. Byunghun yelled, telling them to get off, but was laughing nonetheless. Chanhee missed hearing that laugh.
“Thought we’d check up on you,” Jonghyun explained, walking over to stand beside Chanhee, and watched as Daniel and Changhyun continue to harass Byunghun, and Minsoo prying the two of them off.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Chanhee asked, eyes never leaving the four who were chasing each other around his front lawn. A smile tugged at the corner of Jonghyun's lips.
“Hm?” Jonghyun asked, feigning innocence. “Knew what?”
Chanhee finally turned to the other, letting out a playful scoff. “Please,” he answered, rolling his eyes. “You knew Byunghun was arriving today, didn’t you?”
The smile threatening to form on Jonghyun’s lips was a dead giveaway, Chanhee thought. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
With a laugh and a small shrug, Chanhee decided to finally let it go. They stood in silence for awhile, watching the rest play among themselves, with Minsoo chasing at Daniel and Changhyun, telling them to calm down and stay put. Jonghyun was never really one to join them when things got too rowdy. Chanhee missed this, really--having everyone together. He missed Byunghun more than anything, especially.
Finally, Jonghyun broke the silence with a quiet, “You okay?”
Chanhee smiled. “Yeah,” he replied, chuckling lightly. “I am now.”
A/N: i don't think you have any idea how proud i am of finishing a one-shot in a day. omfg.