suzywoo - 10/10 [Last part]
Title: Fight fire with fire
Author: kanintallrik
Pairing: Wooyoung x Suzy, (onesided Suzy x Minho)
Rating: pg-13
Genre: highschool!au
Summary: For Suzy, winning the school dance competition marks the start of her new, amazing life. It doesn't really end up that way, but it's okay anyway. Suzy has Wooyoung and... it feels pretty damned good.
Although not having heard anything from Suzy during the weekend (this definitely being more rule than exception, to be perfectly honest), Monday is practice day and Wooyoung habitually packs an extra set of clothes in his school bag before leaving.
His face splits in an impish grin when spotting two familiar figures down the road; one with a mop of red hair, the other a mane of pink. He jogs to catch up, steps growing increasingly lighter as he approaches, but the two are completely unsuspecting; deeply engrossed in some kind of shove and poke-game, the latter cackling loudly. Wooyoung snorts quietly at them, before preparing to strike.
“Yo, lovebirds!” He pounces on Junho’s back, causing him to stumble forward and let out a colorful string of profanities.
“Woodong!” Jia chirps, giving his shoulder blade a good slap when he dismounts his friend, and he gives her an exaggerated whiny-face in return.
“Lovebirds?” Junho scoffs when having regained his composure. “Coming from the guy who gave the crush of his life a ride home this Friday night.”
Jia cackles again and Wooyoung sniffs haughtily, hiking the backpack higher up on his shoulders with a tug at the straps.
“Got really snuggled up on that bike there, huh?”
“Were you spying on us?” Wooyoung taunts, unable to wipe the smug grin off his face. “I’d understand if you were - after all, it was more action than you ever got.”
Junho stutters, indignation flaring like a stoplight on his face. “Th-That’s not true! Remember Hyoyeon from dance class?”
“Sure!” Wooyoung nods briskly. “I remember you almost getting to first base, before she ran off with that Thai exchange student!”
Jia throws her head back and howls with laughter. Junho narrows his already small eyes into thin slits, before giving his jacket collar a good tug and stomping off down the road. “Whatever.” He mutters. “I’m not talking to you guys anymore.”
“Hobaby!” Jia coos and runs after, still laughing. “You’re too easy!”
Wooyoung follows them, chuckling, but when they reach the fence separating the school yard from the street he starts lagging, subtly looking around. Jia and Junho have already turned the corner, a good bit ahead of him, and he trails to a tentative stop at the campus entrance. Then his face splits in a smug grin as he sees his savior sauntering down from the other end of the street.
“Hey, Chansung!” he calls, unnecessarily loud, and notes from the corner of his eye how Jia whips around at light speed.
“Oi.” Chansung nods, making no haste. Meanwhile, halfway across the schoolyard, Jia is violently tugging on the arm of a confused and tiredly complaining Junho, trying to pull him back to Wooyoung with a mix of horror and eagerness on her face. Wooyoung grins, dances a little in his spot before putting on a minor mime-show; pulling an invisible rope to speed Chansung up. Chansung cackles and flips his chest forward with imaginary force, stumbling a little quicker along the sidewalk.
“What the hell are you doing?” Junho deadpans and Wooyoung freezes in an awkward pose, arms stretched out in front of him, suddenly becoming aware of a clique of freshmen staring at him as they pass. The next moment Chansung appears behind the corner with a shit-eating grin on his face, giving Junho a nod as well.
“Oh.” Junho says and casts a look back at Jia who’s latched on to his backpack, a pair of eyes and some messy, pink bangs being the only things peeking up over his shoulder. “That explains it.”
Suzy laughs watching the scene from afar. Chansung has draped himself across Wooyoung’s shoulder, watching with delight as Junho tries to peel Jia off his. It’s not long until Wooyoung notices her arrival, lightening up and biting his lower lip in a smile that makes Suzy’s stomach contract. She enjoys this little private connection - the others are still occupied with their antics - and they keep their gazes locked (Wooyoung wriggling his brows and making weird faces, trying to make her laugh) all the way, until Jia suddenly spots her and pipes up from Junho’s shoulder.
“Suzy!” she chirps, before catching herself and sinking back down behind the boy, casting a bashful glance at Chansung.
Chansung, in turn, grunts happily and brings up the arm that isn’t wrapped around Wooyoung’s neck, hand beckoning.
“Morning.” Suzy greets, trailing up to Chansung’s side and letting him envelop her in a one-armed bear hug.
“Suzy.” Junho calls, lips pursed. “Can you do something about that?” He jabs a thumb over his shoulder in Jia’s general direction.
Suzy laughs. “Come here.” She coaxes, bringing up the hand that isn’t wrapped around Chansung’s waist (and comfortably tucked into Wooyoung’s coat pocket) and waves for Jia to approach as if summoning a wild animal. Jia blinks rapidly a few times before slowly leaving her safe haven behind Junho’s back and creeping closer to Suzy, practically taking the last few steps in one big leap and falling into her embrace, coyly glancing up at Chansung from under her bangs.
Junho just glares at the four of them. “You’re all way too perky for this time of the day.” He mutters. “I’m going to class. Chansung, you coming?”
Chansung grunts in response and starts untangling himself from their group-hug, and gives Jia a cheeky grin that makes a subtle shade of red come over her face. Junho’s already on his way towards the school building, but Chansung pauses for a moment, before raising his arm yet again, this time beckoning Jia with a vague humming from the depths of his throat. Jia shoots a quick look at Suzy’s face before mewling quietly and falling into Chansung’s embrace instead, again blinking rapidly as he wraps the arm around her neck and pulls her away across the yard.
Wooyoung laughs. “Those two. I bet they could go through an entire date without uttering a single actual word.”
“And still understand each other perfectly.” Suzy adds, pulling closer to Wooyoung’s side and burying her hand even deeper in his pocket.
“What are you doing?” He chuckles, and tugs at her wrist.
“I’m cold.”
“Yeah? Come here.” He tugs briefly at his scarf before taking a grip of both of her hands to stick them under it, splaying her palms against either side of his warm neck. “Better?”
She grimaces vaguely and nods, moving her hands around on his skin a little before sticking her cold fingers down the collar of his shirt.
“Hey!” he cries, and squirms to get them out. “No fair!” She laughs and tucks her hands into her own pockets instead.
“So, practice today?” he questions conversationally, slinging an arm around her shoulders as they start walking up towards the school building.
“Yeah…” Suzy trails. “Actually. I was thinking we’d head back to my place first.”
“And then get back to school? Why?”
“Just. Let’s. Okay?”
“Didn’t you bring your stuff?”
“Um. No, I didn’t.” Suzy says, and it isn’t a lie. Wooyoung frowns in confusion, but then decides to humor her and shrugs.
“I’ll make it up to you.” She adds with an ambiguous smile when they reach the entrance, untangling from his embrace. “Meet me here after classes, okay?”
Then she leaves, and Wooyoung’s left to look after her, blinking and somewhat frozen in his place with a faint blush creeping up his cheeks. Make it up to me?
-
They wait for the bus in silence, but with a quirked smile ever-present on Suzy’s lips. Wooyoung, who can’t get anything out of her, soon shrugs and just enjoys it; enjoys small-taking, enjoys complaining about the cold, thoroughly enjoys sitting next to Suzy on the narrow bus seat and certainly enjoys catching stray glances and grins across the narrow space of the elevator.
The first thing that strikes Wooyoung when she unlocks the door and lets him into the apartment is that the umbrellas are gone. Not even the bucket remains; the little corner sits empty, looking awfully lonesome all of a sudden.
The second thing that strikes Wooyoung is that the floor of the corner looks amazingly spotless for being right beside a front door. The vinyl carpet has been scrubbed squeaky clean and the whole hallway smells faintly of soft soap. He kicks off his shoes and looks up, not until then realizing that it’s not just the umbrellas that are missing; everything is gone.
The entire place is empty.
He staggers into the apartment without even taking his jacket off, distantly aware that his mouth is hanging open and that Suzy’s chortling somewhere behind him.
The living-room has been stripped into a minor ballroom, the only furniture left being a worn but neat couch pushed up against the far wall with a little sideboard at the inner corner, and a rug on the floor. That’s it. The brightness of the naked, white walls almost stings Wooyoung’s eyes, contrasting so infinitely with his last memory of the place that a part of his brain sheepishly wonders if they managed to get off on the wrong floor.
He whirls around to find Suzy smiling brightly enough to outshine the walls. “How did you do this?”
“I don’t know.” She says, face suddenly turning serious. “I seriously felt like dying. But then… I think I somehow managed to shut off.”
Wooyoung spins around in the room, still not able to close his mouth while Suzy plumps down on the sofa.
“There’s a second hand store downtown that picks up your stuff for free. I called them Saturday morning and told them to take everything of value. The rest I carried down to the street. The garbage truck picked it up this morning.” She looks up at him, eyes wide and apprehensive, as if she not until this moment actually realizes what she has done. “It’s all gone now.”
Wooyoung blinks at her, once, twice, before letting out a short, breathy laugh. He drops down at her side and starts unbuttoning his coat, suddenly noticing a door in the far corner that used to be obscured by a particularly tall pile of junk.
“What room is that?” he says before being able to stop himself; the very moment the question leaves his lips he startles, knowing fully well to whom the room belongs.
Suzy also tenses, tip of her tongue darting out to wet her lips. “I haven’t… gotten that far yet.”
He dares a glance at her before busying himself with tugging the coat off, not wanting to push any further. But Suzy’s awkwardly frozen in her pose, still looking towards the door. After a good minute she speaks up, voice somewhat frail;
“She’s in the ward.”
Wooyoung tenses, not sure how to handle this well, but it’s not long before Suzy continues.
“A long-term care facility.” She lets out a strangled laughter. “Got a little cray-cray there a while back…”
“…I doubt that’s the medical term.” Wooyoung says carefully, somewhat stern. Don’t make this smaller than it is.
Suzy blinks, intently studying her fingernails. “OCD.” She says shortly. “Which was fine, until she also fell into this really bad depression.”
Then her expression changes; she slouches back against the cushions and wears a strange, apologetic grimace. “I caught some of it as well, as you may have noticed.” She rants, the corner of her mouth twitching faintly upwards, and shoots Wooyoung a brief glance. “The cleaning and pedantry and all that…”
“Suzy.” He says darkly. Don’t.
She looks up at him, eyes wider than ever and fingernails clawing, wilder and wilder, at each other until he clamps a firm hand over them, causing them to still. She blinks, desperately holding on to the eye contact for a few moments, before he wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close.
“How long ago?”
Suzy blinks, thinking. “Three years, soon.”
Wooyoung’s eyes widen; since she was fourteen?
“We have a few relatives who pitch in financially, but they don’t want me there, and I don’t want to be there.” She shrugs under his arm. “…I should probably go visit her, though. It’s been… a few months.”
“…How many?” Wooyoung asks, eyes narrowed.
Suzy swallows. “Nine.”
His eyes widen again.
“And a half.” Her mouth purses suspiciously, and she digs her face even closer into his chest.
“I could go with you.” He says tentatively. ”If you want.”
She looks up at him. “I…”
“I mean, I could stay outside.”
She snorts softly. “That would probably be best.”
They rest in silence for a minute or two before she suddenly takes a deep breath and pushes out of his embrace with a hand to his chest. “Let’s. Just. Let’s just dance. Okay?”
The smile on her lips is weak, but honest enough for Wooyoung mirror it and nod.
-
They strike the ending pose on the very last beat and hold it for another couple of seconds, listening to each other’s labored breathing in the silent room.
“We… nailed it.” Wooyoung states flatly, realization dawning on him. They not only memorized all the moves, but also managed to perform them without screwing up. No blackouts, no wobbling, no half-assing - and they were completely synched.
“Fuck yes!” he groans, immediately sinking down to sprawl over the wooden floor. Suzy, however, remains on her feet, wiping at her forehead with the back of her hand.
“I don’t know.” She says thoughtfully, clicking her tongue and earning a half-hearted glare from Wooyoung. “We were a little off into the second chorus, and I totally bumped into you during the dance break, and-“
“Gimme a break!” Wooyoung exclaims, propping himself up on his elbows. “We were great! We were fucking fantastic!”
Suzy snorts out a laughter at the mix of irritation and excitement on his face. “Fine, it was good.” She admits, before turning on her heel and heading to the kitchen. “Water?”
“Why, yes please.” Wooyoung calls contently, scooting across the floor to lean his back against the couch. His eyes fall on her cellphone sitting atop the armrest, and he reaches his arm out on a whim, casting a quick look towards the kitchen before flipping the device open.
“…Suzy.”
There is something decidedly whiny over Wooyoung’s voice. Suzy takes the two glasses and walks into the living room, smiling in confusion at the look of clear indignation on his face.
“Why is my number labeled ‘u-g-h’ in your contact list?”
She freezes briefly in her step, before realization hits her and she doubles over with laughter, spilling some water over the floor. Wooyoung reaches up to save the glasses, lips stubbornly pursed.
Suzy remembers their first afternoon of practice all too clearly. Wooyoung had been all wide-eyed and nervous and infinitely, infinitely annoying. When he, by the end of the session, had suggested they’d exchange cellphone numbers in order to be able to keep in touch, Suzy literally had to force herself to not scoff in his face. It was after all a good idea if they really were to do this, so she had given him a piercing glare and whipped out her cellphone. But when she had typed in the number and was supposed to add a name to this new contact, she had realized that she couldn’t, possibly couldn’t, bring herself to type in his damned name as well. Facing this, she had thrown this god-forsaken boy another glare, and let out a vague groan. Ugh.
“Um, that was long ago.” She mumbles between chuckles, deciding to spare him the full story, and sinks down at his side. “I can change it, if you like.”
Wooyoung eyes her sourly over the edge of his glass. “Please do.”
“So, what do you wanna be called?”
He shrugs, feigning indifference. “I don’t know. You think of something.”
She sends him a glance, just barely holding in a snort, and starts tapping at her phone.
“How about this?”
W
Wooyoung blinks. “A double-u? That’s it?”
“Yeah.” Suzy says easily, already saving the change. “It’s your letter.”
“It’s weak.” Wooyoung mutters, and Suzy raises a brow.
“Why? What am I called?”
He startles, and tenses notably. “Nothing. Nothing special.”
There’s no way of holding in that snort this time. “Yeah, right. Let me see.”
“No.” Wooyoung protests, diving for his coat still thrown over the back of the couch, and pulls his phone out of the pocket to keep it out of her reach. “No, you may not.”
“Come on!” she coaxes, tugging at his arm. “You looked at mine, it’s not fair!”
“’Not fair’? What are you, ten?”
“You’re one to talk! Just let me see.”
His eyes narrow dangerously, but he still lets her wring the device from his hands, causing her to cackle viciously. She doesn’t even have to flip through the list; she’s on the very top:
<3SB<3
Suzy blinks; once, twice, before promptly dissolving into laughter on the floor. Wooyoung’s eyes narrow even further, and he smacks his lips dryly.
“Come on, it’s not that funny.”
“No, it’s just…” Suzy manages, catching her breath between giggles. “It’s what I used to call…” she trails off, and just settles with a mysterious smile.
“Call what?” Wooyoung wants to know.
“…Whatever.”
“’Whatever’?” he scowls, eyebrows quirked halfway into his hairline. “Yeah, whatever. Maybe I should just change it. Maybe I don’t like you anymore…”
“Come on…” she coaxes and creeps closer, completely unable to wipe the grin off her face. Wooyoung just sniffs and snatches the phone from her grasp, flipping in open. Suzy swiftly brings up a hand and slaps the device shut. “I like it, okay? It’s… cute.”
“Really?” he probes, swatting her hand away but making no attempts to open the phone again.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, then.” He caves, dryly smacking his lips once more, before throwing the phone on the couch and leaning back against it. He crosses his arms over his chest and gives Suzy a short glare, still evidently miffed.
Suzy holds in a chuckle, and leans forward to kiss him on the lips. He quickly softens under her touch, curling a hand around her neck that makes the last remnants of her grin fade, and she presses even closer, a hand resting on his thigh, tongue tentatively darting out for a taste of his lower lip.
Wooyoung startles. “You…”
“Mwat?”
“…Moffing.”
“’En stop talking.”
-
Suzy curses under her breath as she finally lets herself out of the Teachers’ lounge. Damned Park-ssaem. Just because she suddenly starts hanging out with people that (god forbid) dyes their hair, teacher after teacher, each more conceited than the latter, suddenly wants to salvage her from delinquency and ask elusively worded questions about her mother. Like they ever cared about her before, she scoffs. They should just be happy I’m making friends.
She casts a short look at a wall clock and is informed that half of the lunch break has already passed, causing her to let out an irritated groan and start making her way towards the cafeteria.
She’s hurriedly turning a narrow corner when her view is obstructed by something dark and big, and she only has time to let out a surprised yelp before she crashes into it. An arm clumsily wraps itself around her waist for support, but then it equally swiftly disappears, and Suzy looks up to find Choi Minho stepping back with a guarded look upon his face.
“I.” Suzy stutters. “Sorry.”
Minho’s eyebrows fly up, but he doesn’t say anything, only leans against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. The hallway is completely deserted and they look at each other for a good half minute before Suzy swallows and speaks up;
“I’m… I’m sorry. About the… shoes.”
“Oh, you’re sorry?” Minho repeats, voice ice cold and dripping with poison. “You think you can go around doing whatever you want, as long as you’re sorry?”
“No.” Suzy says, swallowing again. “No, I don’t. But it’s all I can do at this point; apologize. I can’t go back in time and have it undone, no matter how much I’d like to.”
“We would have won.” He says unexpectedly, voice suddenly laced with something childish. “If we had danced, we would have won.”
“I was afraid so too.” Suzy grants him, nodding. She eyes him for a moment, taking in all of his features from this close distance; the narrowed dark eyes, the pursed lips, his long neck against the shirt collar and his bangs softly framing his face. I was so in love with you.
“But you know.” She continues, looking straight into his eyes. “This is high school. In a few months, everyone here will have forgotten about it. In a year, I won’t even think about it anymore. And if you still do at that time… then it’s your problem entirely.”
She should have left there; just given him a cool smile and walked away before he could say anything else. But she lingers, for some reason she lingers just a second to long, and Minho lets out a spiteful scoff.
“This isn’t about me.” He says dryly. “This is about Krystal. She’s the one you screwed up for, she’s the one who suffered. But I don’t see you apologizing nobly to her. Why is that.”
It’s not a question; more like a hissed out accusation, and Suzy suddenly feels nauseous.
“It’s too much for you, isn’t it?” he continues, mercilessly. “It wouldn’t be comfortable. So you come to me. You apologize to me, to settle your bad conscience, and tell yourself that you’ve set things straight. But you know what?” he leans closer suddenly, lowering his voice into a poisonous hiss; “Unless you can say it to her, you apology means nothing.”
Suzy feels her face heating up, head spinning faintly with this ice-cold nausea spreading through her chest, but she still forces herself to meet Minho’s hardened gaze.
“Okay.” She says, running merely on spite and a sudden urge to prove herself. “Okay. Let’s go then.”
She takes a hard grip of his wrist and resolutely pulls him down the corridor.
-
“What the…”
Wooyoung looks up at Junho’s mumble and follows his gaze to find Suzy pulling Choi Minho by the hand, navigating between the tables of the cafeteria. He frowns, a mix of dread and confusion settling itself in the pit of his stomach. By the time they have reached the table where Krystal and her friends are sitting, the entire hall has fallen silent, but Suzy’s barely aware. She’s occupied trying to keep her knees from giving in under her weight.
“Hey.” She barks. “Krystal.”
Although Krystal doesn’t need to have her attention brought to Suzy; she’s already staring between her and Minho, eyes occasionally flitting over to Sulli’s face.
“I’m sorry.” Suzy says loudly. “I’m sorry that… I took your shoes. I’m sorry that I took away your chance at winning the dance competition. I’m sorry that I wouldn’t admit it, and that I couldn’t apologize. I’m sorry that Wooyoung had to do it for me. I know that it was a stupid and immature thing to do, and I have nothing to say in my defense. The only thing I can do, is to say I’m sorry.”
She stares so intently into Krystal’s eyes that the other is forced to blink, and she’s distantly aware that her expression might not help in conveying the apology as sincere, but to be honest; she doesn’t really care.
“Can you forgive me?”
“I.” Krystal says, eyes wide and voice small. “O-Okay.”
Across the table Sulli opens her mouth to say something, but Suzy’s seriously not interested in hearing what. She shuts her up with a narrowed glare before whipping around, only then becoming aware that her fingers are still tied around Minho’s wrist. They exchange a confused frown before she lets go and turns to gaze out over the crowd. A rough hundred of students are all staring at her in complete silence, but she can’t really find it in herself to bother. She catches a glimpse of Wooyoung halfway down the hall, staring at her with his mouth open, but a she also sees Jia waving at her from the opposite corner, and after a moment of hesitation she opts for the latter.
Fei’s eyes are wide and incredulous, but Jia and Min are both sporting matching enthusiastic grins.
“Gee, Suzy!” Min hisses when she sinks down in front of her, the room slowly filling back up with chatter. “What a show!”
“Uh… yeah.” Suzy says, slouching in her seat and suddenly feeling infinitely exhausted.
“I can’t believe you just did that.” Fei says, slowly shaking her head.
“Yeah.” Suzy agrees. “Me neither.” She casts a look at the half sandwich laying forgotten on Jia’s tray. “You gonna eat that?”
-
Wooyoung’s strategically perched in a windowsill in the sophomore’s corridor, and although class is just about to start Suzy doesn’t hesitate before trailing up to him.
“Holy cow, Suz’.” He says when she approaches. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m not sure.” Suzy says, offering him a slanted grin before promptly slumping against his shoulder, forehead hitting his collarbone. “An apology?”
She feels him chuckling quietly, and he spreads his knees to let her come closer. “You really know how to entertain the proletariat. This’s gonna be the source of gossip for months ahead.”
“Like I wasn’t already.” She cuts in, lifting her head to look him in the eyes.
“Always a drama queen.” He snorts.
Suzy muster a grimace. “How dare you. I, who am such a modest and subtle being.” She drawls, earning another snort in response.
“Speaking of subtle.” He says, fishing his cellphone from his pocket. “When did you change your contact name?”
She blinks for a moment, before scrunching up her face into an impish grin. “When you were getting dressed.”
“Why, though?” he flips the phone open and scrolls deftly through the menu, before finding her number;
Suz’
“Isn’t it a little simple?”
“No, it’s good.” Suzy argues, putting a hand over the device in his grasp. “It’s me. Don’t you dare change it, okay?”
Wooyoung sends her a confused glance. “Sure, whatever.” He shrugs, but the wide smile on his face betrays any attempt at indifference. “We’re gonna be late, by the way.” He adds, checking the time before slipping the phone back into his pocket.
They’re pretty much the only ones left in the corridor, but Suzy only presses closer to the windowsill, forcing Wooyoung’s legs further apart. “One minute more or less.”
Wooyoung clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Yeah, I don’t know about you, but I’m still considered a good boy, and I’d like to keep it that way.” He leans in for a quick kiss upon her lips before nudging her aside and jumping off the ledge.
“Teacher’s pet.” She taunts, sticking her tongue out and he earns her a wide grin and a roll of the eyes before hurrying down the hallway.
Suzy’s one of the last to trail in, but the teacher only gives her a lazy glare across the classroom before resuming taking attendance. She sinks down in her seat and haphazardly flips her notebook open, and it winds up at a page near the back that has <3CMH<3 scribbled across it particularly many times. She cocks her head to the side, studying the elaborate letters and hearts and realizes with a feeling of surreality that this was written just a few months ago. There is, however, an empty spot near the middle, and when the teacher starts her lecture Suzy takes her ballpoint pen and jots down a small, lonely letter on the blank line;
W
Authors note: THE END! ;___; ugh these two, they induce so much FEELS in me and I constantly find myself thinking of scenes to write with them before remembering that I finished the series already... don't be surprised at sequels! XD (anyone up for sexy!sequel? or would that ruin things? XD)
For everone who stayed with me throughout the whole thing and read and left comments; THANK YOU GUISE. the complete wordcount ended up at 28 990 words o___o I have never written something this long before and idk if i wanna do it again lol But I enjoyed it, and I hope you did too. <3
Author: kanintallrik
Pairing: Wooyoung x Suzy, (onesided Suzy x Minho)
Rating: pg-13
Genre: highschool!au
Summary: For Suzy, winning the school dance competition marks the start of her new, amazing life. It doesn't really end up that way, but it's okay anyway. Suzy has Wooyoung and... it feels pretty damned good.
Although not having heard anything from Suzy during the weekend (this definitely being more rule than exception, to be perfectly honest), Monday is practice day and Wooyoung habitually packs an extra set of clothes in his school bag before leaving.
His face splits in an impish grin when spotting two familiar figures down the road; one with a mop of red hair, the other a mane of pink. He jogs to catch up, steps growing increasingly lighter as he approaches, but the two are completely unsuspecting; deeply engrossed in some kind of shove and poke-game, the latter cackling loudly. Wooyoung snorts quietly at them, before preparing to strike.
“Yo, lovebirds!” He pounces on Junho’s back, causing him to stumble forward and let out a colorful string of profanities.
“Woodong!” Jia chirps, giving his shoulder blade a good slap when he dismounts his friend, and he gives her an exaggerated whiny-face in return.
“Lovebirds?” Junho scoffs when having regained his composure. “Coming from the guy who gave the crush of his life a ride home this Friday night.”
Jia cackles again and Wooyoung sniffs haughtily, hiking the backpack higher up on his shoulders with a tug at the straps.
“Got really snuggled up on that bike there, huh?”
“Were you spying on us?” Wooyoung taunts, unable to wipe the smug grin off his face. “I’d understand if you were - after all, it was more action than you ever got.”
Junho stutters, indignation flaring like a stoplight on his face. “Th-That’s not true! Remember Hyoyeon from dance class?”
“Sure!” Wooyoung nods briskly. “I remember you almost getting to first base, before she ran off with that Thai exchange student!”
Jia throws her head back and howls with laughter. Junho narrows his already small eyes into thin slits, before giving his jacket collar a good tug and stomping off down the road. “Whatever.” He mutters. “I’m not talking to you guys anymore.”
“Hobaby!” Jia coos and runs after, still laughing. “You’re too easy!”
Wooyoung follows them, chuckling, but when they reach the fence separating the school yard from the street he starts lagging, subtly looking around. Jia and Junho have already turned the corner, a good bit ahead of him, and he trails to a tentative stop at the campus entrance. Then his face splits in a smug grin as he sees his savior sauntering down from the other end of the street.
“Hey, Chansung!” he calls, unnecessarily loud, and notes from the corner of his eye how Jia whips around at light speed.
“Oi.” Chansung nods, making no haste. Meanwhile, halfway across the schoolyard, Jia is violently tugging on the arm of a confused and tiredly complaining Junho, trying to pull him back to Wooyoung with a mix of horror and eagerness on her face. Wooyoung grins, dances a little in his spot before putting on a minor mime-show; pulling an invisible rope to speed Chansung up. Chansung cackles and flips his chest forward with imaginary force, stumbling a little quicker along the sidewalk.
“What the hell are you doing?” Junho deadpans and Wooyoung freezes in an awkward pose, arms stretched out in front of him, suddenly becoming aware of a clique of freshmen staring at him as they pass. The next moment Chansung appears behind the corner with a shit-eating grin on his face, giving Junho a nod as well.
“Oh.” Junho says and casts a look back at Jia who’s latched on to his backpack, a pair of eyes and some messy, pink bangs being the only things peeking up over his shoulder. “That explains it.”
Suzy laughs watching the scene from afar. Chansung has draped himself across Wooyoung’s shoulder, watching with delight as Junho tries to peel Jia off his. It’s not long until Wooyoung notices her arrival, lightening up and biting his lower lip in a smile that makes Suzy’s stomach contract. She enjoys this little private connection - the others are still occupied with their antics - and they keep their gazes locked (Wooyoung wriggling his brows and making weird faces, trying to make her laugh) all the way, until Jia suddenly spots her and pipes up from Junho’s shoulder.
“Suzy!” she chirps, before catching herself and sinking back down behind the boy, casting a bashful glance at Chansung.
Chansung, in turn, grunts happily and brings up the arm that isn’t wrapped around Wooyoung’s neck, hand beckoning.
“Morning.” Suzy greets, trailing up to Chansung’s side and letting him envelop her in a one-armed bear hug.
“Suzy.” Junho calls, lips pursed. “Can you do something about that?” He jabs a thumb over his shoulder in Jia’s general direction.
Suzy laughs. “Come here.” She coaxes, bringing up the hand that isn’t wrapped around Chansung’s waist (and comfortably tucked into Wooyoung’s coat pocket) and waves for Jia to approach as if summoning a wild animal. Jia blinks rapidly a few times before slowly leaving her safe haven behind Junho’s back and creeping closer to Suzy, practically taking the last few steps in one big leap and falling into her embrace, coyly glancing up at Chansung from under her bangs.
Junho just glares at the four of them. “You’re all way too perky for this time of the day.” He mutters. “I’m going to class. Chansung, you coming?”
Chansung grunts in response and starts untangling himself from their group-hug, and gives Jia a cheeky grin that makes a subtle shade of red come over her face. Junho’s already on his way towards the school building, but Chansung pauses for a moment, before raising his arm yet again, this time beckoning Jia with a vague humming from the depths of his throat. Jia shoots a quick look at Suzy’s face before mewling quietly and falling into Chansung’s embrace instead, again blinking rapidly as he wraps the arm around her neck and pulls her away across the yard.
Wooyoung laughs. “Those two. I bet they could go through an entire date without uttering a single actual word.”
“And still understand each other perfectly.” Suzy adds, pulling closer to Wooyoung’s side and burying her hand even deeper in his pocket.
“What are you doing?” He chuckles, and tugs at her wrist.
“I’m cold.”
“Yeah? Come here.” He tugs briefly at his scarf before taking a grip of both of her hands to stick them under it, splaying her palms against either side of his warm neck. “Better?”
She grimaces vaguely and nods, moving her hands around on his skin a little before sticking her cold fingers down the collar of his shirt.
“Hey!” he cries, and squirms to get them out. “No fair!” She laughs and tucks her hands into her own pockets instead.
“So, practice today?” he questions conversationally, slinging an arm around her shoulders as they start walking up towards the school building.
“Yeah…” Suzy trails. “Actually. I was thinking we’d head back to my place first.”
“And then get back to school? Why?”
“Just. Let’s. Okay?”
“Didn’t you bring your stuff?”
“Um. No, I didn’t.” Suzy says, and it isn’t a lie. Wooyoung frowns in confusion, but then decides to humor her and shrugs.
“I’ll make it up to you.” She adds with an ambiguous smile when they reach the entrance, untangling from his embrace. “Meet me here after classes, okay?”
Then she leaves, and Wooyoung’s left to look after her, blinking and somewhat frozen in his place with a faint blush creeping up his cheeks. Make it up to me?
-
They wait for the bus in silence, but with a quirked smile ever-present on Suzy’s lips. Wooyoung, who can’t get anything out of her, soon shrugs and just enjoys it; enjoys small-taking, enjoys complaining about the cold, thoroughly enjoys sitting next to Suzy on the narrow bus seat and certainly enjoys catching stray glances and grins across the narrow space of the elevator.
The first thing that strikes Wooyoung when she unlocks the door and lets him into the apartment is that the umbrellas are gone. Not even the bucket remains; the little corner sits empty, looking awfully lonesome all of a sudden.
The second thing that strikes Wooyoung is that the floor of the corner looks amazingly spotless for being right beside a front door. The vinyl carpet has been scrubbed squeaky clean and the whole hallway smells faintly of soft soap. He kicks off his shoes and looks up, not until then realizing that it’s not just the umbrellas that are missing; everything is gone.
The entire place is empty.
He staggers into the apartment without even taking his jacket off, distantly aware that his mouth is hanging open and that Suzy’s chortling somewhere behind him.
The living-room has been stripped into a minor ballroom, the only furniture left being a worn but neat couch pushed up against the far wall with a little sideboard at the inner corner, and a rug on the floor. That’s it. The brightness of the naked, white walls almost stings Wooyoung’s eyes, contrasting so infinitely with his last memory of the place that a part of his brain sheepishly wonders if they managed to get off on the wrong floor.
He whirls around to find Suzy smiling brightly enough to outshine the walls. “How did you do this?”
“I don’t know.” She says, face suddenly turning serious. “I seriously felt like dying. But then… I think I somehow managed to shut off.”
Wooyoung spins around in the room, still not able to close his mouth while Suzy plumps down on the sofa.
“There’s a second hand store downtown that picks up your stuff for free. I called them Saturday morning and told them to take everything of value. The rest I carried down to the street. The garbage truck picked it up this morning.” She looks up at him, eyes wide and apprehensive, as if she not until this moment actually realizes what she has done. “It’s all gone now.”
Wooyoung blinks at her, once, twice, before letting out a short, breathy laugh. He drops down at her side and starts unbuttoning his coat, suddenly noticing a door in the far corner that used to be obscured by a particularly tall pile of junk.
“What room is that?” he says before being able to stop himself; the very moment the question leaves his lips he startles, knowing fully well to whom the room belongs.
Suzy also tenses, tip of her tongue darting out to wet her lips. “I haven’t… gotten that far yet.”
He dares a glance at her before busying himself with tugging the coat off, not wanting to push any further. But Suzy’s awkwardly frozen in her pose, still looking towards the door. After a good minute she speaks up, voice somewhat frail;
“She’s in the ward.”
Wooyoung tenses, not sure how to handle this well, but it’s not long before Suzy continues.
“A long-term care facility.” She lets out a strangled laughter. “Got a little cray-cray there a while back…”
“…I doubt that’s the medical term.” Wooyoung says carefully, somewhat stern. Don’t make this smaller than it is.
Suzy blinks, intently studying her fingernails. “OCD.” She says shortly. “Which was fine, until she also fell into this really bad depression.”
Then her expression changes; she slouches back against the cushions and wears a strange, apologetic grimace. “I caught some of it as well, as you may have noticed.” She rants, the corner of her mouth twitching faintly upwards, and shoots Wooyoung a brief glance. “The cleaning and pedantry and all that…”
“Suzy.” He says darkly. Don’t.
She looks up at him, eyes wider than ever and fingernails clawing, wilder and wilder, at each other until he clamps a firm hand over them, causing them to still. She blinks, desperately holding on to the eye contact for a few moments, before he wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close.
“How long ago?”
Suzy blinks, thinking. “Three years, soon.”
Wooyoung’s eyes widen; since she was fourteen?
“We have a few relatives who pitch in financially, but they don’t want me there, and I don’t want to be there.” She shrugs under his arm. “…I should probably go visit her, though. It’s been… a few months.”
“…How many?” Wooyoung asks, eyes narrowed.
Suzy swallows. “Nine.”
His eyes widen again.
“And a half.” Her mouth purses suspiciously, and she digs her face even closer into his chest.
“I could go with you.” He says tentatively. ”If you want.”
She looks up at him. “I…”
“I mean, I could stay outside.”
She snorts softly. “That would probably be best.”
They rest in silence for a minute or two before she suddenly takes a deep breath and pushes out of his embrace with a hand to his chest. “Let’s. Just. Let’s just dance. Okay?”
The smile on her lips is weak, but honest enough for Wooyoung mirror it and nod.
-
They strike the ending pose on the very last beat and hold it for another couple of seconds, listening to each other’s labored breathing in the silent room.
“We… nailed it.” Wooyoung states flatly, realization dawning on him. They not only memorized all the moves, but also managed to perform them without screwing up. No blackouts, no wobbling, no half-assing - and they were completely synched.
“Fuck yes!” he groans, immediately sinking down to sprawl over the wooden floor. Suzy, however, remains on her feet, wiping at her forehead with the back of her hand.
“I don’t know.” She says thoughtfully, clicking her tongue and earning a half-hearted glare from Wooyoung. “We were a little off into the second chorus, and I totally bumped into you during the dance break, and-“
“Gimme a break!” Wooyoung exclaims, propping himself up on his elbows. “We were great! We were fucking fantastic!”
Suzy snorts out a laughter at the mix of irritation and excitement on his face. “Fine, it was good.” She admits, before turning on her heel and heading to the kitchen. “Water?”
“Why, yes please.” Wooyoung calls contently, scooting across the floor to lean his back against the couch. His eyes fall on her cellphone sitting atop the armrest, and he reaches his arm out on a whim, casting a quick look towards the kitchen before flipping the device open.
“…Suzy.”
There is something decidedly whiny over Wooyoung’s voice. Suzy takes the two glasses and walks into the living room, smiling in confusion at the look of clear indignation on his face.
“Why is my number labeled ‘u-g-h’ in your contact list?”
She freezes briefly in her step, before realization hits her and she doubles over with laughter, spilling some water over the floor. Wooyoung reaches up to save the glasses, lips stubbornly pursed.
Suzy remembers their first afternoon of practice all too clearly. Wooyoung had been all wide-eyed and nervous and infinitely, infinitely annoying. When he, by the end of the session, had suggested they’d exchange cellphone numbers in order to be able to keep in touch, Suzy literally had to force herself to not scoff in his face. It was after all a good idea if they really were to do this, so she had given him a piercing glare and whipped out her cellphone. But when she had typed in the number and was supposed to add a name to this new contact, she had realized that she couldn’t, possibly couldn’t, bring herself to type in his damned name as well. Facing this, she had thrown this god-forsaken boy another glare, and let out a vague groan. Ugh.
“Um, that was long ago.” She mumbles between chuckles, deciding to spare him the full story, and sinks down at his side. “I can change it, if you like.”
Wooyoung eyes her sourly over the edge of his glass. “Please do.”
“So, what do you wanna be called?”
He shrugs, feigning indifference. “I don’t know. You think of something.”
She sends him a glance, just barely holding in a snort, and starts tapping at her phone.
“How about this?”
W
Wooyoung blinks. “A double-u? That’s it?”
“Yeah.” Suzy says easily, already saving the change. “It’s your letter.”
“It’s weak.” Wooyoung mutters, and Suzy raises a brow.
“Why? What am I called?”
He startles, and tenses notably. “Nothing. Nothing special.”
There’s no way of holding in that snort this time. “Yeah, right. Let me see.”
“No.” Wooyoung protests, diving for his coat still thrown over the back of the couch, and pulls his phone out of the pocket to keep it out of her reach. “No, you may not.”
“Come on!” she coaxes, tugging at his arm. “You looked at mine, it’s not fair!”
“’Not fair’? What are you, ten?”
“You’re one to talk! Just let me see.”
His eyes narrow dangerously, but he still lets her wring the device from his hands, causing her to cackle viciously. She doesn’t even have to flip through the list; she’s on the very top:
<3SB<3
Suzy blinks; once, twice, before promptly dissolving into laughter on the floor. Wooyoung’s eyes narrow even further, and he smacks his lips dryly.
“Come on, it’s not that funny.”
“No, it’s just…” Suzy manages, catching her breath between giggles. “It’s what I used to call…” she trails off, and just settles with a mysterious smile.
“Call what?” Wooyoung wants to know.
“…Whatever.”
“’Whatever’?” he scowls, eyebrows quirked halfway into his hairline. “Yeah, whatever. Maybe I should just change it. Maybe I don’t like you anymore…”
“Come on…” she coaxes and creeps closer, completely unable to wipe the grin off her face. Wooyoung just sniffs and snatches the phone from her grasp, flipping in open. Suzy swiftly brings up a hand and slaps the device shut. “I like it, okay? It’s… cute.”
“Really?” he probes, swatting her hand away but making no attempts to open the phone again.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, then.” He caves, dryly smacking his lips once more, before throwing the phone on the couch and leaning back against it. He crosses his arms over his chest and gives Suzy a short glare, still evidently miffed.
Suzy holds in a chuckle, and leans forward to kiss him on the lips. He quickly softens under her touch, curling a hand around her neck that makes the last remnants of her grin fade, and she presses even closer, a hand resting on his thigh, tongue tentatively darting out for a taste of his lower lip.
Wooyoung startles. “You…”
“Mwat?”
“…Moffing.”
“’En stop talking.”
-
Suzy curses under her breath as she finally lets herself out of the Teachers’ lounge. Damned Park-ssaem. Just because she suddenly starts hanging out with people that (god forbid) dyes their hair, teacher after teacher, each more conceited than the latter, suddenly wants to salvage her from delinquency and ask elusively worded questions about her mother. Like they ever cared about her before, she scoffs. They should just be happy I’m making friends.
She casts a short look at a wall clock and is informed that half of the lunch break has already passed, causing her to let out an irritated groan and start making her way towards the cafeteria.
She’s hurriedly turning a narrow corner when her view is obstructed by something dark and big, and she only has time to let out a surprised yelp before she crashes into it. An arm clumsily wraps itself around her waist for support, but then it equally swiftly disappears, and Suzy looks up to find Choi Minho stepping back with a guarded look upon his face.
“I.” Suzy stutters. “Sorry.”
Minho’s eyebrows fly up, but he doesn’t say anything, only leans against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. The hallway is completely deserted and they look at each other for a good half minute before Suzy swallows and speaks up;
“I’m… I’m sorry. About the… shoes.”
“Oh, you’re sorry?” Minho repeats, voice ice cold and dripping with poison. “You think you can go around doing whatever you want, as long as you’re sorry?”
“No.” Suzy says, swallowing again. “No, I don’t. But it’s all I can do at this point; apologize. I can’t go back in time and have it undone, no matter how much I’d like to.”
“We would have won.” He says unexpectedly, voice suddenly laced with something childish. “If we had danced, we would have won.”
“I was afraid so too.” Suzy grants him, nodding. She eyes him for a moment, taking in all of his features from this close distance; the narrowed dark eyes, the pursed lips, his long neck against the shirt collar and his bangs softly framing his face. I was so in love with you.
“But you know.” She continues, looking straight into his eyes. “This is high school. In a few months, everyone here will have forgotten about it. In a year, I won’t even think about it anymore. And if you still do at that time… then it’s your problem entirely.”
She should have left there; just given him a cool smile and walked away before he could say anything else. But she lingers, for some reason she lingers just a second to long, and Minho lets out a spiteful scoff.
“This isn’t about me.” He says dryly. “This is about Krystal. She’s the one you screwed up for, she’s the one who suffered. But I don’t see you apologizing nobly to her. Why is that.”
It’s not a question; more like a hissed out accusation, and Suzy suddenly feels nauseous.
“It’s too much for you, isn’t it?” he continues, mercilessly. “It wouldn’t be comfortable. So you come to me. You apologize to me, to settle your bad conscience, and tell yourself that you’ve set things straight. But you know what?” he leans closer suddenly, lowering his voice into a poisonous hiss; “Unless you can say it to her, you apology means nothing.”
Suzy feels her face heating up, head spinning faintly with this ice-cold nausea spreading through her chest, but she still forces herself to meet Minho’s hardened gaze.
“Okay.” She says, running merely on spite and a sudden urge to prove herself. “Okay. Let’s go then.”
She takes a hard grip of his wrist and resolutely pulls him down the corridor.
-
“What the…”
Wooyoung looks up at Junho’s mumble and follows his gaze to find Suzy pulling Choi Minho by the hand, navigating between the tables of the cafeteria. He frowns, a mix of dread and confusion settling itself in the pit of his stomach. By the time they have reached the table where Krystal and her friends are sitting, the entire hall has fallen silent, but Suzy’s barely aware. She’s occupied trying to keep her knees from giving in under her weight.
“Hey.” She barks. “Krystal.”
Although Krystal doesn’t need to have her attention brought to Suzy; she’s already staring between her and Minho, eyes occasionally flitting over to Sulli’s face.
“I’m sorry.” Suzy says loudly. “I’m sorry that… I took your shoes. I’m sorry that I took away your chance at winning the dance competition. I’m sorry that I wouldn’t admit it, and that I couldn’t apologize. I’m sorry that Wooyoung had to do it for me. I know that it was a stupid and immature thing to do, and I have nothing to say in my defense. The only thing I can do, is to say I’m sorry.”
She stares so intently into Krystal’s eyes that the other is forced to blink, and she’s distantly aware that her expression might not help in conveying the apology as sincere, but to be honest; she doesn’t really care.
“Can you forgive me?”
“I.” Krystal says, eyes wide and voice small. “O-Okay.”
Across the table Sulli opens her mouth to say something, but Suzy’s seriously not interested in hearing what. She shuts her up with a narrowed glare before whipping around, only then becoming aware that her fingers are still tied around Minho’s wrist. They exchange a confused frown before she lets go and turns to gaze out over the crowd. A rough hundred of students are all staring at her in complete silence, but she can’t really find it in herself to bother. She catches a glimpse of Wooyoung halfway down the hall, staring at her with his mouth open, but a she also sees Jia waving at her from the opposite corner, and after a moment of hesitation she opts for the latter.
Fei’s eyes are wide and incredulous, but Jia and Min are both sporting matching enthusiastic grins.
“Gee, Suzy!” Min hisses when she sinks down in front of her, the room slowly filling back up with chatter. “What a show!”
“Uh… yeah.” Suzy says, slouching in her seat and suddenly feeling infinitely exhausted.
“I can’t believe you just did that.” Fei says, slowly shaking her head.
“Yeah.” Suzy agrees. “Me neither.” She casts a look at the half sandwich laying forgotten on Jia’s tray. “You gonna eat that?”
-
Wooyoung’s strategically perched in a windowsill in the sophomore’s corridor, and although class is just about to start Suzy doesn’t hesitate before trailing up to him.
“Holy cow, Suz’.” He says when she approaches. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m not sure.” Suzy says, offering him a slanted grin before promptly slumping against his shoulder, forehead hitting his collarbone. “An apology?”
She feels him chuckling quietly, and he spreads his knees to let her come closer. “You really know how to entertain the proletariat. This’s gonna be the source of gossip for months ahead.”
“Like I wasn’t already.” She cuts in, lifting her head to look him in the eyes.
“Always a drama queen.” He snorts.
Suzy muster a grimace. “How dare you. I, who am such a modest and subtle being.” She drawls, earning another snort in response.
“Speaking of subtle.” He says, fishing his cellphone from his pocket. “When did you change your contact name?”
She blinks for a moment, before scrunching up her face into an impish grin. “When you were getting dressed.”
“Why, though?” he flips the phone open and scrolls deftly through the menu, before finding her number;
Suz’
“Isn’t it a little simple?”
“No, it’s good.” Suzy argues, putting a hand over the device in his grasp. “It’s me. Don’t you dare change it, okay?”
Wooyoung sends her a confused glance. “Sure, whatever.” He shrugs, but the wide smile on his face betrays any attempt at indifference. “We’re gonna be late, by the way.” He adds, checking the time before slipping the phone back into his pocket.
They’re pretty much the only ones left in the corridor, but Suzy only presses closer to the windowsill, forcing Wooyoung’s legs further apart. “One minute more or less.”
Wooyoung clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Yeah, I don’t know about you, but I’m still considered a good boy, and I’d like to keep it that way.” He leans in for a quick kiss upon her lips before nudging her aside and jumping off the ledge.
“Teacher’s pet.” She taunts, sticking her tongue out and he earns her a wide grin and a roll of the eyes before hurrying down the hallway.
Suzy’s one of the last to trail in, but the teacher only gives her a lazy glare across the classroom before resuming taking attendance. She sinks down in her seat and haphazardly flips her notebook open, and it winds up at a page near the back that has <3CMH<3 scribbled across it particularly many times. She cocks her head to the side, studying the elaborate letters and hearts and realizes with a feeling of surreality that this was written just a few months ago. There is, however, an empty spot near the middle, and when the teacher starts her lecture Suzy takes her ballpoint pen and jots down a small, lonely letter on the blank line;
W
Authors note: THE END! ;___; ugh these two, they induce so much FEELS in me and I constantly find myself thinking of scenes to write with them before remembering that I finished the series already... don't be surprised at sequels! XD (anyone up for sexy!sequel? or would that ruin things? XD)
For everone who stayed with me throughout the whole thing and read and left comments; THANK YOU GUISE. the complete wordcount ended up at 28 990 words o___o I have never written something this long before and idk if i wanna do it again lol But I enjoyed it, and I hope you did too. <3