+ Conflict Resolution [2PM]
Title: Conflict Resolution
Rating: PG
Characters: Chansung (Wooyoung/Junho)
Word Count: ~3400
Notes: Written for kpop_ficmix, where I was lucky enough to be assigned biases. This gave me an opportunity to do some things I haven't had the chance to before, which I'll always appreciate. Remix of War and Peace and originally posted here.
Summary: Nine times Chansung suspects there's something going on with Wooyoung, and the one time it's confirmed.
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9. Wooyoung's text message is typically short and includes a suitably ironic emoticon:
Got detention, it reads, go home without me. ^0^
In a way, Chansung should be glad that Wooyoung even bothered to let him know, but actually he's just really really curious. Wooyoung talks back to teachers sometimes but only when he knows he can get away with it, and he's very good at figuring out just how far to push things, carefully controlling and guiding every altercation to get what he wants. He's been scolded but he's never been so reckless as to get detention before, and as Chansung walks home alone he wonders what went wrong.
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8. He finds out that evening. He's supposed to be working on his algebra but instead he's talking to Khun about their taekwondo competition on Sunday when suddenly Khun laughs, a loud, grating exclamation over the tinny speaker of Chansung's phone.
"Oh my God," Khun manages, "this is just-you're friends with a Wooyoung, right?" he asks, and Chansung tips back to lay out straight on his bed, hugging his banana-shaped body cushion and wondering what Wooyoung has to do with anything.
"Why?"
"I'm gonna email you something that Taec sent me, hold on..."
Chansung groans but drags his laptop closer anyway, waiting for it to boot up.
"Okay tell me when you get it," Khun says, sounding way too eager.
"It isn't something to do with Twilight again is it?" Chansung asks, suspicious, before he opens the attachment to see what looks like a photo of a classroom whiteboard.
"Are you looking at it?"
"Yeah..." Chansung tilts his head and squints. "What is it?"
"Are you serious?" Khun asks. "It's a di-"
"Ohhhhhhh," Chansung breathes, "I see it now. And is that... is that supposed to be Mr Peters?"
"I think he's 'Mr Penis' to Jinwoon and his friends," Khun says, laughing some more. "Seriously, your Wooyoung is talented but he's also very brave."
Chansung agrees-everyone knows that Mr Peters has a short fuse, so Wooyoung must have been either very bored or very angry to provoke him like that.
"Still, it's a good resemblance," Khun continues. "Taec and the rest of the soccer team have printed out pictures and decorated their locker room."
They talk for another ten minutes or so before one of Khun's sisters needs help with something, and Chansung hangs up only to call Wooyoung immediately, but Wooyoung doesn't pick up. Chansung is so preoccupied by thinking about his friend that none of his homework gets done.
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7. "Chansung," Wooyoung says from where he's pretending to work on his English verbs from Chansung's bed. He yawns because it's getting late but this is nothing new for either of them. Wooyoung is a common fixture at Chansung's house, and his parents are quite happy to have him over because Chansung has told them all about Wooyoung's father, told them how much he disapproves of Wooyoung's art, and they've taken it upon themselves to be as supportive as they can. They're great like that, and Chansung knows it, especially since Wooyoung's family life can be so difficult.
"Yeah," Chansung says from where he's doing sit-ups on the floor. He's counting but he'll make an effort to listen.
"You have dreams and stuff, right?" Wooyoung sounds like he's trying very hard to seem disinterested. "Ambitions and plans?"
"Of course," Chansung puffs. In the great scheme of things he doesn't know much, but being persistent and never giving up and always giving your best-those things, he could write a book on. "I'm going to keep working, I'm always going to stand up and try, just like a weed."
"Right," Wooyoung says, but there's still too much emotion in his voice for him to be as satisfied with the conversation as he's making out.
Chansung stops and gets up, finally giving Wooyoung his full attention. Wooyoung never talks about this stuff, about what he's thinking or feeling. He's never been this open and unguarded before, and that makes Chansung both confused and intrigued. He waits for Wooyoung to continue but he doesn't, just keeps dragging his pencil over the same line in the border of his workbook until it's darker than the printed ink.
Chansung wonders if he should push him. Sometimes that's the only way to get a honest response from Wooyoung but he also doesn't want to go too far, because that can mean Wooyoung won't talk to him for days.
He decides to try it. He sits on the edge of the bed and takes Wooyoung's hand, playing with his fingers. Wooyoung doesn't take his hand back. Chansung takes that as encouragement. "Are you okay?" he asks, but Wooyoung immediately shuts down, taking his hand back and shuffling away.
"I'm fine," he says stiffly, and Chansung sighs, because of course he is, Wooyoung's always okay. He shakes his head, about to slide back to the floor when Wooyoung hurriedly adds, "But there's this guy in detention. He's annoying and he likes sports so there's obviously something wrong with him-"
"Obviously," Chansung says drily.
"But he knows exactly what he wants, too. He has fans. And a stalker."
Chansung laughs. "What, you want a stalker?"
Wooyoung pulls a face. "No, I want... I don't know. Maybe that's the problem." Chansung is touched, happy that Wooyoung is reaching out to him, and is about to pull him into a hug when Wooyoung continues, "You know what, whatever. Just get me ice-cream."
He throws his pencil at Chansung and Chansung laughs again and relents. He's happy to take it one step at a time, if that's what Wooyoung wants.
It's when he's standing at the freezer, fishing out a flavour he knows Wooyoung will like, that he can't help but wonder who got Wooyoung to open up like that in the first place.
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6. It's not like Chansung planned to peek, it's just-Wooyoung's kind of picky about hygiene and would never eat anything off the ground, so when he drops his chopsticks on the cafeteria floor he has no choice but to go and get new ones. He grumbles and curses as he goes, leaving his sketchbook open and unattended on the table, and Chansung has never been very good at containing his curiosity. So, shooting a furtive glance at Wooyoung to establish his position, Chansung leans forward and takes a look.
The drawing isn't big, and he's drawn it using his cartoonish technique rather than his true-to-life one, but it's a picture of a guy with a soccer ball wearing a uniform with a 'J' on it. He has really small eyes and Chansung wonders if Wooyoung's experimenting with exaggerating features, because the curve of the subject's ass seems way too prominent. It's a nice sketch though, it's cute, and Chansung is a little surprised because typically that's not Wooyoung's style. He sometimes draws funny caricatures but usually it's his observations about real life, entertaining scenes or interesting faces.
Chansung's about to reach forward and turn the page, interested to see if there are any more pictures of 'J', but he hesitates to look back at Wooyoung and it's a good thing he does because Wooyoung has already turned around to come back. When he glances over and sees Chansung he frowns, and Chansung hunches over his food and shoves a giant spoonful of rice into his mouth, trying to look innocent.
Wooyoung arrives at the table and slams down his new chopsticks, yanking his sketchbook back and closed. "Did you look at this?" he asks suspiciously. "Yah, Chansung."
Chansung finally looks up at him, making his eyes as big as possible. "Hmm?"
"Hmph," Wooyoung answers, and they finish their meal in silence.
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5. Wooyoung's detention and Chansung's taekwondo training end at the same time on Wednesday nights so they walk back to Chansung's house together. Wooyoung's a little more perky than usual, humming a girl group song as they walk, but Chansung chooses not to question it. He gets out his keys when they reach his house and unlocks the door, leading the way inside. They take off their shoes and Chansung heads for the kitchen, but he loses Wooyoung somewhere along the way and backtracks to find him still in the hall, in the doorway where Chansung's brother is watching soccer on TV.
"Shouldn't you be studying," Chansung says, entering to playfully poke his brother repeatedly in the cheek.
His brother bats his hands away and goes for a nipple cripple but Chansung darts away just in time. "Yah, I've been studying for the past twenty hours, I'm taking a break you little jerk."
They continue to wrestle, slapping each other around, and when commentators' voices start to get louder and more high-pitched they get distracted by the play for a few moments, but it's a false alarm and one of the players misses the goals entirely.
"That was a shitty shot," Wooyoung remarks, and Chansung does a double take.
Chansung's brother finally turns away from the television. "I didn't know you liked soccer," he says, looking at Wooyoung with renewed interest.
"He doesn't," Chansung says, because Wooyoung hates sport, soccer most of all, and pushes Wooyoung into his bedroom. He tries to say something about it but Wooyoung shoots him a glare that has his mouth snapping shut, and he doesn't bring it up again.
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4. Saturday sees Chansung staying back late at school for taekwondo. Technically he's supposed to head straight to training after his last class (English with Mr Peters, who issued even more detentions after three boys presented him with a lunchbox and the food inside was arranged into the shape of a penis) but the timing means that he's really hungry, so he decides to swing by the shop right in front of their school just beforehand. He joins the queue of hungry boys and wills the line to go faster, because if he's too late then his coach will get mad, and Khun might have already agreed to be someone else's sparring partner.
At that thought he starts bouncing on the spot, glancing at his watch every few seconds as he edges closer to his goal. The guy in front of him distracts him, though, when he drops his soccer ball, and Chansung instinctively kicks his leg out, stopping it from rolling too far. He picks it up and passes it to the other guy, who grins.
"Thank you," the guys says, and bows.
Chansung is struck by the strangely familiar tininess of his eyes but he forces himself to nod in acknowledgement. He's about to follow it up with a 'you're welcome' but at that very moment someone leaves the shop and the whole line shuffles forward again, and the guy turns back around.
Chansung tries not to watch him too obviously. He's nothing special as he stares open-mouthed at the shop, probably deciding what to buy, but there's something about him, something that's causing the tiniest of niggles in the back of Chansung's brain, something stuck between being late and what he's going to eat and how pretty the sky is looking for this time of year.
They're one person closer again when the guy gets out his wallet to count his money, and that's when Chansung sees it-right there, tucked into the small plastic ID pocket, is Wooyoung's drawing.
It's not the same one Chansung saw in his sketchbook but it's definitely Wooyoung's work, Chansung would know it anywhere and finally, the soccer ball and the small eyes click, and then the guy bends over to pick up some dropped coins and that clicks too.
Chansung spends the rest of his time in line in a daze, sure of nothing and uncertain of everything, and when it's his turn to order he leaves without buying anything, following Junho back into the school's premises and watching him enter the building where Wooyoung is having his detention.
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3. Chansung goes to school the next Monday armed with information about the guy.
He started off by asking Khun, because Khun knows about everyone. The guy's name is Junho, and apparently he's actually a good soccer player, unlike Taec who is just on the team for the credit. Unfortunately that was all Khun had known, but further internet research (some people would call it stalking, but Chansung knows he's just being thorough) had upturned the fact that he's in Chansung and Wooyoung's year, he's friends with Doojoon, and while he excels at sports he also injures himself a lot.
Now all Chansung needs is an opportunity to talk to Wooyoung about it. His every attempt so far has been thwarted, but now that they're having lunch Chansung can see his chance. He gets out his own home-packed meal, unpacking the containers carefully as Wooyoung creates a new art piece out of the cafeteria food. Chansung opens his mouth, just about to broach the subject, when Junho himself appears at their table. He seems angry and Chansung immediately looks at Wooyoung, who has suddenly tensed and closed right off, his face an unwelcoming mask.
"Careful," Wooyoung says, trying to sound cool but Chansung knows better, "you almost ruined it."
Chansung looks back to Junho, keeping his spoon in his mouth so he isn't so obvious about watching them, and Junho's glaring, almost snarling at Wooyoung.
Their conversation goes downhill from there.
Junho is brutally honest and Wooyoung is Wooyoung and Chansung hates all of this, hates the horrible tension and the mean words that make even his banana taste like ash, hates that he can't help because this is none of his business and Wooyoung will kill him if he ever finds out how much Chansung knows.
It finally ends, Junho storming off and Wooyoung deflating faster than any balloon, and Chansung wants to make it better but he doesn't know how. He waves after Junho and immediately feels stupid. "Your friend?" he asks carefully.
He doesn't know what he was expecting, but it's not for Wooyoung to look quite so upset when he answers, "Not anymore."
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2. Chansung thinks there's something wrong when Wooyoung calls him on Saturday night (calls! Him! Voluntarily! Chansung hasn't even heard from him telephonically since his first afternoon of detention, and Wooyoung's been sullen and withdrawn since the thing with Junho) and asks if he's going to the soccer match.
Chansung turns down the volume of his Guy Sebastian playlist to make sure he's not imagining things. "What?"
"The game tomorrow," Wooyoung repeats and he sounds strangely normal, even though he usually gets annoyed when he has to repeat himself. "Are you going?"
"I... Khun was going to cheer Taec on, I was going to go with him."
"So the short answer is yes."
"...Yes."
"I'll meet you there."
He hangs up. Chansung stares at his phone.
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1b. Chansung knows there's something wrong when he actually sees Wooyoung at the soccer match. After several hours of tossing and turning and trying to puzzle out his friend's latest behaviour, Chansung had put it down to Wooyoung trying to play a stupid prank on him-although Wooyoung is hardly the resident joker, he likes messing with people and Chansung has never really been an exception. However, when he and Khun arrive try to look for people they know, Wooyoung is right there, leaning on the fence in front of the bleachers.
"That's Wooyoung," Chansung says dully. He shakes his head, sure it's a mirage, but Wooyoung doesn't go anywhere.
"Wooyoung?" Khun says. He looks as Chansung points and grins, immediately moving over to him, manoeuvring his way through the crowd of families and friends and apologising the whole way. Chansung follows, still trying to process the idea of Wooyoung being at a sporting event.
"Hi, I'm Khun," Khun says, and bows. Wooyoung nods and looks back towards the pitch. Khun looks at Chansung. Chansung shrugs.
Thankfully it's not awkward for long because then the game starts, the players jogging out onto the pitch and taking their places. Chansung spots Junho and swaps between watching Wooyoung and watching Junho but neither of them do anything out of the ordinary. Junho is bouncing up and down in his spot, doing a couple of last-minute stretches, gaping again as he watches the captains of both teams pose for a photo, and Wooyoung is still casually leaning and observing.
It isn't until hours later, during extra time, that Wooyoung does anything out of the ordinary. The score is even at two-all and the other team has already had one aborted shot at goal and it's so tense that Chansung has forgotten his mission and allowed himself to get caught up in the excitement. Then he looks at Wooyoung and Wooyoung's lips are pressed into a thin line, which is nothing out of the ordinary in itself, but combined with his fingers clenching tightly onto the fence and toe of his right boot digging into gravel and his eyes that never leave Junho's sweating figure, it's something.
And then someone from Junho's team, Jung Jihoon, Chansung thinks, passes the ball to Junho, and Junho runs, and he runs, and he's fast, and everyone on the other team is somehow too far away to reach him, and he bears down on the goal, an unstoppable force, and-
Everything seems to go quiet. Junho's foot rears back, then snaps forward. The ball arcs towards the goals. And it goes in. And the siren sounds. And the game's over.
There's a roar from their side of the bleachers, screaming and yelling and jumping and clapping, and just before Chansung allows himself to get caught up in the hysteria he glances at Wooyoung one last time.
His eyes are trained on the pitch, but he's grinning and Chansung looks over to see Junho, standing amongst his celebrating teammates, holding up a piece of paper. The size and shape of it are similar to the picture from his wallet, which means-it's Wooyoung's drawing.
And for Wooyoung, Chansung knows, that's everything.
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1a. When the team comes out of the locker room half an hour later they're still ecstatic, buoyed by their win, and Taec heads straight for Khun. Chansung tries to watch what Junho does but then Taec wraps his other arm around Chansung's shoulders and pulls him close, crushing both him and Khun to his chest.
"Let's celebrate!" Taec yells, and everyone cheers, and when Taec finally lets Chansung go Wooyoung and Junho are long gone. Taec turns to Khun, his eyes glittering. "I can finally have beer," he says, wiping fake tears, and Khun laughs and pushes him. He takes the opportunity to lead the way out of bleachers and everyone starts to follow him but Chansung still can't see Wooyoung.
"I'm going to find Wooyoung," he tells Khun, who squeezes Chansung's shoulder and smiles.
"Fighting! I'll wait here for you."
Chansung nods before heading in the direction of the locker room, thinking he might still be with Junho.
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0. Chansung probably shouldn't be surprised by what he sees, but it seems there's a difference between suspecting that something might be going on between his best friend and another boy, and seeing it right in front of his eyes-Wooyoung pressed up against the lockers, Junho's hands in his hair and his tongue in his mouth. Wooyoung's own hands are gripping Junho's hips tightly and when they slip down to Junho's ass and someone moans, Chansung decides he's seen more than enough.
He hurries back to Khun, who greets him with a smile that Chansung finds incredibly comforting. "Hey, did you find him?"
Chansung wonders how much to say but in the end it's not his secret to tell, no matter how much he knows he can trust Khun, so he settles on, "I... think he found himself."
Khun tilts his head. "Huh?"
"Nothing, he's in good hands." For a moment he's struck by the literal implications of that statement but Khun's still looking confused so he shakes his head and grabs Khun's hand, dragging him towards the exit. "Let's just go."
Chansung spends most of the next hour wondering and worrying but when Wooyoung and Junho finally meet up with them at the restaurant Wooyoung's actually smiling, smiling like he means it, smiling like he's happy, smiling like his life is good, and in the end that's more than enough for Chansung.
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