Archive of Our Own

10 MINUTES

Seonghwa rubbed his eyes and sat back in his chair. He blinked a few times to try and get rid of the burning sensation, but alas. He looked down at the clock in the right-hand corner of his screen. It read "11:47 PM". Damn, his clock was behind again.

He'd been up for the past few hours trying to finish off a report his lab partner made him do; to him, it was nothing important, but apparently it was so urgent, he just had to pull an all-nighter for it.

"Damn it." he muttered while getting out of his chair.

As he stood up, he felt the lower half of his spine pop. He groaned and placed his palms against his lower back. Jeez, how old am I? he thought as he made his way to the door. The lights in his apartment were dim, considering it was almost midnight. The light above the stove flickered, he needed to replace that soon. Seonghwa looked over at the fridge, one more iced coffee wouldn't hurt, right?

As the glass bottles clinked against one another, Seonghwa felt a chill run down his spine. He rolled his shoulders to try and shake it off while he pulled out a few bottles of iced coffee. As much as he'd love an authentic cup from the nearby coffee shop, he'd just have to do with the store bought bottles that were supposed to last him the week.

He cursed to himself as he felt the back of his head collide with the top of the fridge. Tonight really just wasn't his night, was it?

While he was in the kitchen, he thought he might as well grab a snack while he was at it. He opened a nearby cabinet and pulled out a bag of chips. He felt that this was the last lap of the race. He just needed to finish typing up the summary and then he could sleep. O precious, sleep. So close yet so far.

1 MINUTE

Seonghwa rubbed the side of his neck when he finished typing his sentence. Why did it feel like he was forgetting something?

He counted on his fingers everything he did today. He finished editing his friend's essay, he paid for all of the streaming services he uses, he responded to the discussion post from his class, et cetera, et cetera. What else would there be for him to do besides finish the report?

He shook his head and went back to the kitchen anyway. There was probably another snack in there he could munch on. 

He opened the cabinet and scanned all of the items inside. They all seemed so... boring to him tonight. In the back of his mind, he heard the voice of his mother, nagging him to expand his taste and try new things. But it was almost midnight! If he went to the grocery store right now, his neighbors would think he's insane.

…

Ah, fuck it.

Worse things have happened to him.

He grabbed his keys off of his desk in his room, also pulling a tote bag off the wall. Even though his sweats had a large picture of Bulbasaur on one of the legs, he hardly cared at this point. The idea of finishing the report had been pushed back to the very depths of his mind. Now, he only focused on his half empty stomach. Which made itself present by rumbling loudly as Seonghwa bent down.

He grabbed a pair of slip-ons off his shoe rack and started heading to the front door. He made a mental checklist of all the things he could get from the store. "Honey chips sound good, actually. Okay, I'll get a bag of those plus uh... shit, what was that one thing I ate with Yeosang?" he muttered to himself as he put his shoes on. 

Seonghwa, after fumbling to get his left shoe on, was finally ready to leave. He dimmed the majority of the lights in his apartment before opening the door. He repeated the checklist under his breath and started the music on his phone. Everything seemed as normal as going to the store in the middle of the evening could be.

He reached for the doorknob, but it felt warm. He took his hand back and leaned closer to the door. It didn't smell like anything was burning. He looked through the peephole of the door.

For a moment, it was the same view he was accustomed to. The grey hallway was the same as usual. Until he heard a whirring-like noise. 

A blinding blue light filled the peephole and every crevice of the door. Seonghwa fell backwards as the door and the ground shook. 

TIME OF ARRIVAL - 12:00 AM

24 HOURS REMAINING

Seonghwa rubbed the back of his head. He sat up straight and tried to process what just happened. However, a thud from the opposite side of the door broke him from his thoughts. He instantly stood up and rushed to open it. 

On the other side, there was a man who looked about his age, just a tad shorter. There was soot all over his face and jolts of electricity emanated off of his... rather odd clothing. A mix of whites and light blues peppered with ash and dirt. The man wobbled as he stood in front of Seonghwa's door. He looked up and slowly smiled.

He slurred his words as he spoke. "You… you sure are pretty."

When he finished, his eyes rolled back and he fell directly into Seonghwa's arm. Seonghwa let out a tiny yelp as the man fell. The door to the apartment across from Seonghwa opened, his neighbor stared at him and the unconscious man in his arms.

"I, uh. I think he might be drunk." Seonghwa commented. His neighbor nodded as she slowly went back inside. 

Seonghwa quickly looked back at the man in his arms. Fuck fuck fuck . As gently as possible, Seonghwa moved backwards into his apartment. Of all directions he was expecting his night to go, this was the very last on the list.

Setting the strange man onto the couch, Seonghwa was reminded of his early university days. He recalled having to take care of his roommates after they had partied just a little too hard. Except they were blackout drunk and this guy... Seonghwa had no idea what this guy's current condition was. But, nevertheless, he needed help. 

He wrangled the man's shoes off and moved to reach for his jacket. It seemed expensive, almost luxury. Seonghwa didn't recognize the design, but on the right side, there was an embroidered patch with what Seonghwa could only assume to be the man's name: 'Kim Hongjoong No. 1117'.

"Hongjoong, huh?" Seonghwa asked as he unzipped the jacket. "Where the hell did you come from?"

Seonghwa put the jacket on the arm of the sofa, his knees cracked as he stood up. 'Hongjoong' groaned as he turned to his side on the couch. Seonghwa couldn't help but laugh. He asked, "Is there anything I can get you?" 'Hongjoong' only groaned in response. Seonghwa hummed, he walked over to the kitchen and reached above the sink for a cup. 

Before opening the fridge, he looked at all of the pictures hung on the door. Most of them were pictures printed from the good-ole-days, each of them tied to a specific memory. Even though he still had yet to graduate, those memories felt so far away. His life, back then, felt so colorful and vibrant. 

Now his days seemed to repeat themselves over and over. He didn't exactly know when that started.

He opened the fridge and pressed the cup to the water tap, without turning he asked, "I'm gonna give you some water, 'kay? If you think of anything else you could need, just let me know." 'Hongjoong' groaned for the nth time. 

Seonghwa pulled the cup away from the water tap. He reached for a few paper towels, folded them in his hands, and headed back to the couch. 'Hongjoong' was now fast asleep. Matter of fact, he was drooling a little. 

Seonghwa figured he should keep an eye on this person. Y'know. In case they started throwing up in the middle of the night. He rested his arm on the armrest, then settled his chin on his palm. He wasn't that tired. He slowly blinked a few times as he stared at the sleeping man on his couch.

Actually, he realized was that tired. Seonghwa's eyes began to feel heavy. The room started to go dark, and soon, Seonghwa began to wander the serene landscapes of his dreams. 

7:00 AM

17 HOURS REMAINING

Seonghwa awoke peacefully tucked under his pastel pink duvet, which he never considered a problem.

Until right now, at least.

He blinked and sat up straight. He fell asleep on the couch! How in the hell did he end up on his bed?

He flipped away the duvet and quickly ran to the door. Outside, he heard some commotion and music quietly playing from his kitchen. He ran back to his bed and put on his house slippers. There may be an intruder in his home, but he'd be damned before he got dirt on his socks. 

Opening the door, Seonghwa's nose was greeted by the beautiful scent of something cooking. He looked into the kitchen, the fridge door was open and there was something frying over the stove. Seonghwa immediately recalled the events of last night. How did that person wake up before him? 

'Wait . What was his name again? ' Seonghwa said to himself.

As if on cue, the stranger in Seonghwa's kitchen peeked his head up. "Oh, you're awake." he said, while closing the fridge. He closed it and put two mugs down before walking to stand in front of Seonghwa. 

"I didn't get the chance to introduce myself last night," he began, "I'm Kim Hongjoong. Captain of the Time Force Experimental Unit. It's an honor to meet you, Park Seonghwa." Hongjoong held his hand out, waiting for Seonghwa to take it. Frankly, he was more concerned about how a complete stranger A.) knew his name and B.) managed to navigate his kitchen when even his mother told him she couldn't find anything. 

He didn't reply just yet. Hongjoong stood there wondering if Seonghwa was okay. He took his hand back and cleared his throat. "I understand if the whole time travel thing confuses you. I can answer any questions you may have. Oh! And, uh, thanks for taking care of me last night! I didn't realize how exhausting time jumps can be. Especially that late." 

Seonghwa's jaw started to drop. "You..." he whispered, pointing to the floor. "You time traveled ? To here?" He asked, his voice wheezing. Hongjoong nodded.

"Yep!" he answered with a smile. "From the year 3005."

Seonghwa's brows furrowed. "Like the song?" he asked without thinking. Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, like the song." 

Seonghwa pushed his hair back and stood in confusion. "Wait, wait. So, you're here. In my apartment, in the year 2023. But you're from the year 3005? What for?"  Hongjoong smiled, he leaned in closer to Seonghwa as he answered. 

"On paper , I'm supposed to be here to study how life is functioning in this era for twenty-four hours. But in all honesty, I chose this year because there's a specific brand of hair dye that doesn't exist anymore in my time and I just loved the color. So! I came here to get it myself!"

Seonghwa blinked. To him, that seemed like one of the most ridiculous ideas known to man. But he looked down at Hongjoong and realized that he was dead serious. Hongjoong’s hair was short, almost buzzed. On top of that, it was bleached to a very light shade of blond. 

Hongjoong started walking towards the kitchen, but he kept talking. “I hope you know some beauty supply stores nearby. I have no idea how to navigate this part of town. It’s changed a lot in my time.”

Seonghwa stammered, “I… Well, uh. I haven’t been to a beauty supply store in a while-”

“Why’s that? Judging by the pictures on your fridge, I’d say you’ve ventured there quite a bit.” 

Seonghwa raised an eyebrow, he meandered to the fridge and took a glance at the pictures. On the top door, there was a polaroid of him in a public restroom. He was crying and, because of his makeup, it looked like his tears were made of glitter. 

He remembered the beginning of that night vividly. His little dance cover group had placed first in a local competition and they all decided to go clubbing to celebrate. 

Below that picture, was another polaroid of him in his dorm bathroom with a bowl of hair bleach in his lap. Half of his hair was blond, Yeosang sat above him with the brush in hand. 

Seonghwa raised an eyebrow, he tried to recall just when exactly these pictures were taken. "It was a long time ago," he muttered. He looked back at Hongjoong.

Hongjoong was standing in front of the stovetop, frying a mixture of eggs and spices in a pan. “I hope you don’t mind omelets, I think I might take you grocery shopping while I’m here,” he said. He stopped mixing the contents in the pan and turned to Seonghwa. 

“Is- is that okay with you?” he asked. Seonghwa paused, there was a sincere tone in his voice that stumped him. He swallowed and stood up straight. 

“Yeah,” he said, “Yeah, I think that’d be nice.” 

Hongjoong smiled. He turned back to the frying pan and kept talking. “I don’t mind paying. The Time Force department gave me a huge sum of money for this job, I was going to spend almost all of it on hair dye.” Hongjoong paused. 

There was a brief silence that passed between the two in the kitchen. Seonghwa cleared his throat and looked to the side. 

“Do you wanna… do you need some clothes?” He asked, Hongjoong laughed as soon as he finished his sentence. “Yes,” he answered, “Yes, I do need some clothes, actually. These uniforms will be the death of me, one day, I swear.” Seonghwa couldn’t help but laugh as well. 

Seonghwa started backing towards his room, he began thinking to himself. "I uh, I hope you're okay with oversized stuff. That's kinda all I have." Hongjoong didn't turn, but he gave a thumbs up in response. Seonghwa took it as his cue to go through his closet. 

7:30 AM

16 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES REMAINING

Seonghwa cleared his throat, stifling a laugh. He looked forward at Hongjoong, who, to put it gently, was being enveloped in a giant hoodie. Hongjoong looked down at his sleeves, he swung them back and forth and saw the ends dangle over his hands. 

"I told you they were oversized-" "I love it!" 

Seonghwa blinked, he smiled and shrugged, "I'm glad you like it, then." Hongjoong also wore a pair of shorts that Seonghwa thought he'd like. In Seonghwa's opinion, Hongjoong didn't look too bad. 

The two had finished their omelets earlier in a quiet shared meal. Seonghwa was still at a loss for words in regards to his situation. Hongjoong took a small light tablet from his coat pocket. With a touch from his hand, the tablet flickered on and chirped in response. 

"Before we get started, lemme check if the fake report I wrote before I came here was saved. Never hurts to check!" Hongjoong commented. 

Seonghwa raised an eyebrow, he swiped the towel over the plate for a final time then placed it next to the rest. "How long do you think you'll be? You said you only have twenty-four hours, right?" Hongjoong nodded, he placed the tablet back into his coat and reached for his wallet. 

"Yep!" he answered, "That's why you're coming with me." 

Seonghwa blinked, it took him a few moments before he processed the comment. "Wait," he began, "I'm coming with you?" Hongjoong nodded, he moved closer to Seonghwa and smiled up at him. "I don't understand, you have that- that, uh, tablet thingy. Can't you just use that to find your way around?"

Hongjoong shook his head with a mischievous smile on his face. "The map doesn't update when we travel, it just keeps the layout from the year we came from. I need a local to show me around!" Seonghwa blinked again. Hongjoong continued, "Plus, you need to get out of the house." Seonghwa scoffed at the comment.

He didn't need to get out of the house, that was just ridiculous!

"Hey, how come both your fridge and freezer are almost empty?" Hongjoong asked from a distance. 

Dear God, he needed to get out of the house.

"Alright, fine ," Seonghwa muttered, "So do you wanna, like, go to the store first?" Hongjoong nodded, he rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. Seonghwa cleared his throat and reached for a tote bag on the rack. He muttered again to himself as he patted against his pocket. Okay; keys, wallet, phone, mask. I think I'm good , Seonghwa thought. 

He turned around and found Hongjoong staring at the pictures on his fridge. Hongjoong tilted his head and hummed. When he turned to Seonghwa, he pointed to the pictures and asked, "Do you still talk to them?"

Seonghwa shook his head. "No," he answered, "We lost touch a long time ago."

Hongjoong gave a small laugh. "You certainly have," he said quietly.

---

Seonghwa didn't know what was playing on the overhead speakers in the grocery store. 

He felt like an idiot while standing behind the shopping cart. Hongjoong stared at two canned drinks that looked way too similar. Hongjoong had claimed that there was an incredible difference, however. 

"Y'know, I really can't decide which one I want more." Hongjoong held up each can as he spoke about it. "This flavor's discontinued in my time but this one is my favorite-" A third voice interrupted Seonghwa before he could reply. 

"There's a sale on those, actually. Buy one, get one for free." Hongjoong and Seonghwa looked over at the person speaking. It was clear he was in the middle of stocking a display. He had a bit of an awkward tone to his voice, and it was clear the roots of his hair needed a touch up.  He blinked and quickly followed, "Oh! I, uh, didn't mean to eavesdrop. Just, uh, store policy..." 

Seonghwa squinted while looking at the employee, for some reason he felt too familiar. After listening to the employee talk for thirty more seconds, he couldn't take it anymore. "Wooyoung?" he asked. The employee blinked, his brows furrowed. He looked at his blue vest, which clearly didn't have a nametag on it. 

"Yeah, how did you-" Clarity washed over the employee's face. "Seonghwa?" He smiled, he placed the snacks he was stocking down in a crate and walked closer to Seonghwa. "Holy shit," he said quietly.

Seonghwa smiled as Wooyoung came closer, he then cleared his throat. "Hongjoong, this is, uh, Wooyoung." He said, gesturing to Wooyoung. The two waved to each other, Hongjoong was still preoccupied with the drinks. Wooyoung raised an eyebrow, to which Seonghwa rolled his eyes and shook his head. He mouthed a simple 'No' while Wooyoung had a devilish smile on his face. 

"I mean, it's not like it's a bad thing! I just always had a feeling, y'know? Like, the way you used to look at Jinhwan made it pretty obvious-"

"Wooyoung!" Seonghwa whispered. Wooyoung put his hands up in defeat. 

Seonghwa looked over at Hongjoong, his eyes seemed a little less focused on the two drinks in his hands. It seemed like his mind began to wander. Seonghwa cleared his throat, which seemed to grab his attention. 

Hongjoong turned back to Seonghwa.  "I think I'll just get both. Unless you wanna try, then I can get more!" he said with a smile. Hongjoong presented the two drinks to Seonghwa. One was a black can with gold trimmings and lettering and the other was the same but the lettering was rose gold. Seonghwa only shrugged, silently denying a preference. 

Hongjoong bit his lip with a smile. "I'll get some more, then." Seonghwa could swear he skipped away. 

Wooyoung lightly nudged Seonghwa's shoulder. He said, "Hey, me and the guys are gonna go out tonight. Minsu, Hyunoh, Seyoung. Y'know, have like a little reunion. You should come, bring your, uh, friend ." Wooyoung smiled as he uttered the last word. Seonghwa rolled his eyes. 

Seonghwa's eyes softened as he watched Hongjoong reach for a few more cans. He rested his elbows on the cart and let his posture loosen. 

"I'll ask him," he said quietly. 

Wooyoung lightly punched the air in excitement. He started rambling about the location. Seonghwa only half paid attention, his focus remained on Hongjoong. He started to gather a few other drinks and placed them into the cart. 

Seonghwa looked in the basket, silently wondering how much they'd have to pay for all of the things Hongjoong had put in there.

After a while, the pair were still wandering the grocery store. At this point, the cart was almost half full. Seonghwa wanted to comment, he genuinely wondered how all of this was supposed to fit into his car, let  alone his fridge.

Hongjoong picked up two containers of assorted sweets and started comparing them, like he did the drinks earlier. Before he could start pointing out the details, Seonghwa grimaced and asked, "Hey, Hongjoong?" The man in question turned with his eyebrows raised. 

Seonghwa cleared his throat and using the most polite tone he could muster, he asked, "I don't want to sound rude, but is all of this necessary? I mean, I know you're gonna take back some stuff to your time, but some of this stuff is almost as if you're moving in somewhere." Hongjoong scrunched his brows.

"Well, I mean," he replied, "Not all of it is for me." Seonghwa tilted his head. "Yeah, some of it I'm taking with me when I go back. But, um, it’s mostly for you. I did say I was gonna take care of you." Hongjoong had a small grin on his face, almost as if part of him was unsure. 

Oh. Seonghwa readjusted his shoulders, he stood up straight against the shopping cart. He cleared his throat again and muttered, "Thank you."

Hongjoong's smile grew, his eyebrows perked up. Seonghwa's brows furrowed for a moment. "That last thing," he interjected, "You never said you were gonna... take care of me." He felt caught off guard as he finished.

"Oh?" Hongjoong replied. "Well. I'm going to." He smiled again, returning his focus to the assorted sweets. Seonghwa blinked, it took him a moment, but he grew content with the smile and light shade of pink growing on his cheeks.

8:20 AM

15 HOURS AND 40 MINUTES REMAINING

Seonghwa grimaced as he stared at his backseat. There was hardly any room for a human being, instead the seats were covered in reusable grocery bags filled with who-knows-what. His brow twitched. On one hand he was grateful for Hongjoong's generosity, but again, how was all of this supposed to fit in his fridge?

He sighed and turned back to the front. He looked to his passenger seat and saw Hongjoong scrolling through his phone. 

"Hey!" Seonghwa quietly yelled.

Hongjoong smiled and handed Seonghwa his phone. "My bad," he said through a laugh, "You got a notification from this shop called, uh... Tiny Threads? I think that was the name. Anyway, it said that one of your garments was ready for pickup." Seonghwa's eyes widened as he yanked the phone from Hongjoong's hands.

Hongjoong rested his arm on the car door and smiled at Seonghwa. 

"So," he dragged out the vowels in his words, "What's Tiny Threads?" 

Seonghwa's cheeks reddened. He quickly put his phone in one of the cupholders and answered, "It's just a clothing shop. They specialize in custom garments and I managed to get an appointment a while back to get a custom sweater." Hongjoong's eyebrows perked up. 

He gestured to Seonghwa's phone and offered, "We can go pick up the sweater if you want. I'm not on any schedule." 

The two sat in silence for a moment. Hongjoong could tell Seonghwa was thinking hard, he turned back to the grocery bags in the backseat. 

"Do you mind if we drop these off first? I wouldn't want the stuff to, like, go bad or anything." Seonghwa asked quietly. Hongjoong shook his head in reply. 

"No, yeah." He answered, Hongjoong readjusted in his seat. "Yeah, uh, let's drop these off first."

Seonghwa started the car and started backing out of the parking lot. Hongjoong's shoulders fell as he relaxed into the car seat. However, he couldn't help but take note of the smile on Seonghwa's face. 

---

It took the duo a solid twenty minutes to find parking. At one point, Seonghwa was nearly screaming at a bunch of smaller cars that made parking spots seem empty. 

The two had to park at the very top of the parking structure, which nearly drove Seonghwa insane. 

As the two got out of the car, Seonghwa fake slammed the door, yelling, "Why is everyone and their mother at the shopping center today?! I mean, come on! The 'Everything Half-Off' sale isn't for another month!" 

Hongjoong stifled a laugh as he put his hands in his pockets. He found the grimace on Seonghwa's face a bit amusing, despite the circumstances.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." He said, walking alongside Seonghwa. "You're just picking something up, right?" 

Seonghwa scratched the back of his neck. "Well, yeah," he answered, "But since you're here, I figured we could get some clothes for you to take back." Seonghwa cleared his throat.

Hongjoong bit his lip in an attempt to contain his smile, to very little success. "Oh- uh, okay! Sweet!" 

Seonghwa nodded, "Yeah, so, like, we can pick up my sweater and if you wanna go into any stores, just let me know. Oh! And I can pay this time, since you bought, like a year's worth of food for me." 

Hongjoong started to protest as the two grew closer to the elevator. However, Seonghwa pretended to ignore him. He kept a proud smile on his face while Hongjoong tried to insist that he didn't need to pay. Seonghwa couldn't help but laugh while looking at the shorter of the two. His brows were furrowed and he had the most adorable pout. 

The elevator doors opened, and the two stepped inside. 

---

Despite the large crowd at the shopping center, Hongjoong managed to lead Seonghwa to all of the lesser known shops. 

The two browsed a small boutique filled to the brim with repurposed clothes. When they entered, the owner greeted them from a small desk in the back corner. "Everything with a blue sticker is thirty percent off. Let me know if you find anything you like, we do revisions for free, too!"

Seonghwa smiled as a 'thank you'. He began sifting through a rack of coats. As his hands skimmed over the lieu of leather jackets, he thought about buying one for himself. He didn't hear it, but Hongjoong stood directly across from him on the other side of the rack. 

Seonghwa's hand stopped on a denim jacket with a small white square painted on the back. 

While driving from his apartment, Hongjoong briefly mentioned wanting to have his own customized jackets. He complained about his department's uniforms for at least thirty minutes, saying he was relieved to finally be wearing "normal people clothes".

He took the jacket off of the rack and walked over to Hongjoong. "Hey," he said, barely above a whisper. Hongjoong's eyes perked up from the rack. Seonghwa offered the denim jacket and asked, "Try this on real quick?" 

Hongjoong looked down at the jacket and smiled. He took the hanger in his hand and spun it to get a full look at the jacket. 

"The back's been painted," he commented.

Seonghwa nodded. "Well, yeah ," he replied, "I mean all of this stuff is donated so I imagine whoever previously owned this started a project and just... I dunno, just never finished it." The two looked back down at the jacket. 

"You said something about customizing clothes. Maybe we can get some supplies and do something at my place? And then afterwards we can eat with my old friends. I-if you want to, of course." 

Hongjoong smiled again. "That sounds great, actually." he replied, looking up at Seonghwa. 

Seonghwa couldn't even think to hide the grin appearing on his face. "Okay, cool!" he said with a cheer. Seonghwa turned around and asked the store owner, "Uh, excuse me, where's the fitting room?" 

The owner looked up from petting a cat, she gestured to a small seat next to a mirror with a curtain hanging next to it. "Right to your left, young man. Three garments per person, please."  Seonghwa nodded in acknowledgement.

It felt like Hongjoong was in the dressing room for a while. Seonghwa checked his phone multiple times to check the time. In all reality, only a few minutes had passed since Hongjoong left his side. 

He turned back to the clothing racks in search of something he'd like. His hands brushed through a matching set of letterman jackets. None of those really appealed to him, though, so he kept looking through the rack. Despite the enticing blue tags on some of the garments, there was nothing that really caught Seonghwa's eye.

His hand stopped when it hovered over another person's hand. Seonghwa looked up and saw Hongjoong standing next to him, looking at him with wide eyes. 

"Hi," Seonghwa whispered. 

"Hi," Hongjoong returned, with a laugh.

Seonghwa cleared his throat for the umpteenth time that day as he readjusted to look directly at Hongjoong. "So!" he quietly cheered. "Did you find anything you liked?" 

"I did," Hongjoong answered, "There's some old Dickie's that I've been dying to get. Think they're expensive now ? Ugh, wait until my time." 

Seonghwa couldn't help but laugh. He replied, "They're not that expensive. I actually think their prices are somewhat reasonable." 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes, he gestured to the fitting room and walked away. Seonghwa gave a thumbs up and started looking through a shelf of folded t-shirts. Folded over his left arm was the sweater he picked up from Tiny Threads. He was content with this being the only clothing purchase of the day. 

"He seems like a keeper." The store owner commented from her desk. Seonghwa looked up from the folded shirts with a slight warmth to his cheeks. The owner asked, "How long have you two known each other?" 

Seonghwa was slightly embarrassed at the answer, but he really didn't know what else to say. "Only about, like, a day ," he muttered. The owner laughed. 

"A lot can happen in a day, young man," she replied, "I should know. My wife and I found each other in a day." 

When the owner finished her sentence, the curtain of the dressing room opened up. Seonghwa turned and saw Hongjoong posing. He showed off the jacket Seonghwa found for him with a smug look on his face. 

Seonghwa laughed and shook his head. He turned to the store owner and mouthed a brief 'thank you' before walking over to Hongjoong. 

“You ready to go, yet?” He asked. 

Hongjoong gave a proud smile. He started fumbling in his pockets for his wallet as he answered. 

“Yep! I’ll pay for these and maybe we could pick up something to eat?”

Seonghwa nodded along. His eyes followed Hongjoong as he walked toward the cashier’s counter. Something about him seemed familiar, now that he thought about it. But he had no idea what it could be. 

11:30 AM

11 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES REMAINING

The trip to the mall wasn't half as bad as Seonghwa thought it would be, considering the time. Hongjoong suggested grabbing something to eat, but, in all honesty, there wasn't that much open that he'd consider a good breakfast. Or brunch. It was almost the afternoon, anyway. 

The pair were back in Seonghwa's car. 

Today must have been an off day for radio stations, because nothing good was playing; at least in Seonghwa's opinion. He silently cursed to himself as he kept changing the station. Hongjoong looked over at him with a raised brow. 

"I'm surprised you don't connect your phone. Isn't that the norm?" He asked. 

Seonghwa tilted his head and refocused on the road. 

"I actually prefer CDs. Don't wanna sound like a douche-y hipster but there's just something about them I really like." He answered. 

A smile, as well as an idea, began to grow. 

Hongjoong grabbed Seonghwa's phone from the cupholder and started typing in the search bar. Seonghwa scoffed. 

"It's been less than twelve hours, how do you already know how to unlock my phone?" Seonghwa asked. 

Hongjoong laughed to himself and rolled his eyes. 

"It's easy. It's the same as the passcode on your door. 10-24-18."

Shit. Seonghwa needed to change that now. A moment of silence passed through the car. Hongjoong was now scrolling, looking for something. 

Seonghwa's finger began tapping against the wheel. It felt like his mind was racing but, again, he had no idea why. He figured he was just hungry. 

Hongjoong finished scrolling. He placed Seonghwa's phone back in the cupholder. But this time, he had the map open with directions leading to somewhere. Seonghwa raised his brow, he looked over at the passenger's seat. Hongjoong had a proud smile on his face. 

"Just follow the directions. Trust me," he said. 

What harm could it do?

---

By the time the two had found somewhere to park, Seonghwa rested his head against the steering wheel. His head was pounding and his stomach was screaming. 

"Please," he whined, "Please tell me there's at least, like, a McDonald's or something in walking distance."

Hongjoong placed a hand over his growling stomach. He nodded his head, hoping Seonghwa noticed. Seonghwa sat up straight in a second, slamming his hands against the steering wheel in the process. He took a deep breath then reached in the backseat for his tote bag. 

Hongjoong raised an eyebrow when Seonghwa brought his bag to the front. 

"What, uh, what are you looking for?" he asked. 

Seonghwa bit the side of his cheek as he fumbled for something at the bottom of his bag. It took him a couple minutes, but soon, he pulled out his black wallet. 

"I, uh," he answered, "Let me pay for lunch. Or, well, I guess it'd be brunch right now- But that doesn't matter! Just, let me pay for this." 

Hongjoong had to hide a laugh forming at the back of his mind. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand while he nodded. Seonghwa opened his car door, he grimaced when he looked at the parking meter. Hongjoong could see him silently curse to himself. 

He unbuckled his seatbelt. When he got out of the car, he saw Seonghwa squinting at the parking meter and down at his phone. Hongjoong rolled his eyes with a laugh. 

Seonghwa muttered as he tapped the parking meter. He saw Hongjoong coming closer to him out of the corner of his eye. "I swear, these things never like me," Seonghwa commented. 

Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh. He looked below the QR code posted on the meter. In bright red letters, there was another sticker stating, 'FREE PARKING: SATURDAY 12-6PM'. He had a slight suspicion that Seonghwa hadn't noticed it. 

He smiled as he pointed to the small sticker. Seonghwa paused, he read the sign slowly. Seonghwa pursed his lips and hung his head in utter defeat. He faked a sob as he pocketed his phone. 

"Alright, come on," Seonghwa muttered. 

The pair strolled along the sidewalk, yearning for the McDonald's to be close by. In all fairness, Seonghwa wasn't really thinking about what he'd order. He just needed something in his stomach and he needed it now. Hongjoong kept his hands behind his back as he walked by Seonghwa's side. His eyes wandered, taking in the sights of the buildings around him. 

Seonghwa had never been to this part of town, he had no idea it even existed. It was honestly a gorgeous day. He figured he should explore this part of town more in his downtime. 

---

Seonghwa heard victory trumpets in his head the moment they stepped into the McDonald's. The line wasn't long and the contactless order kiosks were both free. He turned to Hongjoong first. 

"Do you want to order first? I'm not sure what I want yet." He asked. 

Hongjoong pursed his lips and meandered towards the kiosk. Seonghwa heard him hum to himself as he slowly scrolled through the different sections. At that moment, Seonghwa realized that the McDonald's menu in Hongjoong's time might be totally different than today. 

He reached his hand up and offered, "Um, if you're also not sure, I can just get two of what I want and we can share?" 

Hongjoong blinked, then nodded along. 

The two of them switched places, Seonghwa standing in front of the kiosk and Hongjoong at his side. 

Seonghwa pressed the digital tiles for his go-to order, adding extra for Hongjoong. He turned to him and pointed to the drinks tile, raising his brow. Hongjoong simply shook his head. 

When he finished putting in his order, Seonghwa reached for his wallet. He pointed to the small plastic numbers on the side of the kiosk. Hongjoong understood and grabbed the one at the top, the number '8'. He scanned the seating area for any open tables, there was one directly next to a window. Hongjoong gestured over to that section of the room, Seonghwa replied with a thumbs-up of approval. 

The pair sat down together. It took a little bit for their order to be called out. The moment Seonghwa had his hands on his crispy chicken sandwich with no tomatoes, he went to town. He didn't care at all if people saw him eating this sandwich like it was his last meal. He was hungry, God damn it!

Hongjoong bit his bottom lip to try and stop himself from laughing. However, Seonghwa started collecting small bits of mayonnaise at the corners of his mouth. Hongjoong lost it. He screwed his eyes shut and wheezed as quietly as he could, kicking his leg to the side underneath the table. 

Seonghwa hadn't acknowledged Hongjoong up until now. As he was about to take a bite, he looked up at Hongjoong, which somehow caused him to laugh even more. 

"Don't move. Please, don't move!" Hongjoong wheezed again. He fumbled in his pockets for his phone. Seonghwa didn't even realize he had one. 

Seonghwa sat still, mouth still wide open, waiting to take a bite of the remains of his chicken sandwich. Hongjoong was about to turn red from how much he was laughing. Seonghwa heard the shutter of the camera and raised his eyebrow. He finished his bite and reached for his phone in his pocket. He placed it on the side of the table, face-down. 

"Hey, woah. If you're gonna take one, I need one, too." He commented. 

Hongjoong didn't even process the comment. He was too busy laughing over the picture he took of Seonghwa. Seonghwa rolled his eyes, he gestured to Hongjoong's phone. Hongjoong bit his knuckle as he turned the phone around. Seonghwa's jaw dropped when he looked at it. 

Hongjoong wheezed yet again. Seonghwa was almost offended! However, he reiterated. 

"Nah, your turn, punk!" 

Hongjoong had his mouth covered. He shook his hand furiously to try and stop Seonghwa. The camera clicked and the damage was done. 

It wasn't like Hongjoong's laugh was pretty, per se. It sounded like it came from the depths of his chest, interrupted by wheezes every now and then. Nevertheless, though, it was cute. At least in Seonghwa's opinion. 

"How much time do you have left? You said you only had twenty-four hours right?" Seonghwa asked. 

He heard Hongjoong hum. He put down his sandwich and started counting on his fingers. "Let's see," he said, "It's about 12:15 right now so, that would be..." He drew out the vowel of the last word. Hongjoong closed one eye as he kept thinking to himself. 

"About eleven hours and some change," he answered. "Plenty of time left!" 

Right, Seonghwa thought, plenty of time.

Seonghwa looked at his, mostly, blank lock screen. The only notification that was there was a message from Wooyoung about dinner that night. He still hadn't asked Hongjoong if he wanted to go. He looked back at the man sitting across from him, Hongjoong was about halfway through his sandwich by now. 

"Hey, um," he started. Seonghwa screwed his eyes shut as he kept talking. "So, Wooyoung, the guy from the store. He, uh, he invited me out for dinner later today. It's, like, for a little reunion of my old dance group. I was wondering if you'd, uh..." 

Hongjoong's eyes were wide, even though he was still chewing. 

"I was wondering if you'd wanna go? I don't wanna just, y'know, leave you by yourself in my apartment, so, maybe you could come with? Only if you want to! Of course." 

There was a knowing smile on the corners of Hongjoong's lips. He closed the, now empty, box of his sandwich. He weaved his hands together and placed them under his chin. 

"So you're taking me out on a dinner date?" He asked with a smirk. 

A record scratched in Seonghwa's mind. He paused in his chair, staring at Hongjoong like an idiot. Hongjoong, in return, tried not to laugh yet again. 

Seonghwa stammered. He shook his hands in front of him, trying to come up with an alternative explanation. Hongjoong didn't say anything in reply, he just sat back and reveled in Seonghwa's embarrassment. 

"Seonghwa, I'm joking," Hongjoong finally said through a laugh.

Seonghwa's eyes raced around the room. He composed himself, fixing his jacket and hair - pretending to be cool. He cleared his throat, hoping that his embarrassment would just disappear. 

"I knew that," he muttered. 

The two started clearing their table. It hadn't felt that long since they first sat down and started eating, but now it was 12:30. Seonghwa didn't understand how time was slipping away so fast. 

As they were leaving the restaurant, Hongjoong commented quietly. 

"Y'know I was gonna take you to a record shop. But seeing how hungry we both were, I kinda threw those plans out the window." 

The two of them hummed. They stepped outside the doors and stood in the sun for a few seconds. Seonghwa rifled through his pocket, looking for his car keys. "So what do you want to do now?" he asked. 

Hongjoong poked the side of his mouth with his tongue. He looked up at Seonghwa. The sun was shining directly overhead, making Seonghwa look absolutely stunning. His sun-kissed cheeks and broad shoulders seemed more prominent at this time of day. 

"I might have an idea, " Hongjoong answered. 

1:30 PM

10 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES REMAINING

Seonghwa didn’t know how, but Hongjoong had found the biggest beauty supply store he’d ever seen. 

The store itself was in a large building on the third floor. From wall to wall, everything from salon supplies to simple five colored eyeshadow palettes was there. Seonghwa's eyes were wide with fascination. It had been years since Seonghwa dabbled with anything in this store, but now everything flooded back into his heart. 

Hongjoong's eyes were filled with the same wonder Seonghwa had. 

The next thing he knew, Hongjoong grabbed Seonghwa's hand and weaved in and out of the aisles. 

They had stopped in the middle of one of the many aisles dedicated to hair dye. Hongjoong eyed a box of red dye, he scratched the back of his neck the longer he thought. Seonghwa scanned the shelf Hongjoong was looking at. He pointed at one of the boxes. 

"Is this the brand you're looking for?" he asked. 

Hongjoong shook his head. He scratched his chin and kept scanning the aisle from where he stood. 

Seonghwa also looked up and down the aisle. There was no sign of any employees, at the moment, but there had to be someone who could help. While Seonghwa looked to the side, Hongjoong glanced up at him and his hair. A thought appeared. He tugged on the hem of Seonghwa's shirt. 

"Hey, I think I can figure out where the dye I'm looking for is. But, uh, let's get something for you!" he commented. 

Seonghwa's brows furrowed. Me? He thought. Hongjoong continued on his little ramble. He probably saw Seonghwa's confused expression.  

"Yeah! We probably have a lot of time before your friends' little dinner or whatever it is. Maybe we can do something new with your hair. It's been a while right?" 

Seonghwa bit the side of his mouth. It had been a while since he last did something outlandish with his appearance. He needed a change, in all honesty. And he felt like he deserved it. 

He took out his phone from his pocket and stared at the time. 1:45 PM. Dinner wasn't until 5:30. Yeah, we've got time.

Seonghwa took a deep inhale. 

"Sure. Why not? I hope you know what you're doing." He replied. 

There was a slight hint of sarcasm in his tone with the last sentence. Hongjoong's smile grew even wider. The pair of them scoured every aisle to look for the perfect color for both of them. At some point in their adventure, Hongjoong found the brand he was looking for. Matter of fact, there was an entire short aisle dedicated to that brand. 

While they stood in the middle of this aisle, Hongjoong practically had stars in his eyes. He looked up at Seonghwa with a smile only someone with a plan would have. 

"Could you grab a shopping cart?" he asked Seonghwa. 

Seonghwa's eyes widened. Oh God, this was going to be like the grocery store all over again. 

"Wait! No! I'll grab the shopping cart. You stick here and pick out what you wanna do with your hair."

With that, Hongjoong scurried off - leaving Seonghwa alone in the aisle. He took a closer look at this particular brand of hair dye. What was so special about it that someone would travel back 982 years from the future to get it? Was that even the real reason Hongjoong was here? What if he's actually here to figure out military strategies for some alien forces to take over the world? How much did he actually know about this strange person that passed out in front of his door last night?

As his thoughts raced in and out of focus, Hongjoong reappeared at his side with a shopping cart. Seonghwa didn't know how much time passed. 

"Hey? You okay?" he asked. Hongjoong seemed genuinely concerned. 

Seonghwa hesitated, but he nodded and put on his best orderly smile. Hongjoong wasn't too sure about his reply, but he continued anyway. He brought the shopping cart closer to Seonghwa and pointed up towards the top shelf. 

"If you haven't picked out a color yet, I think this one would look good. Of course, we'd have to get some bleach, but I think I can write that off." 

He held a small box of dye next to Seonghwa's face. He was only able to get a quick glance at the color and the name. It seemed like an ash blond, and the title was something along the lines of 'champagne' or something like that.

A small giggle came from Hongjoong, he started swiping boxes of every color available on the shelf into the shopping cart. Seonghwa silently prayed that he didn't have to pay for this. Logistically speaking, he didn't think he'd need to. It was what Hongjoong was here for, right?

Seonghwa told himself that he needed to ask Hongjoong the real reason why he was in the past. This morning, he believed whatever spiel Hongjoong gave him. But the longer he thought, the more he realized there had to be more. It went back to what he was thinking about when Hongjoong was getting the shopping cart. Seonghwa barely knows the person standing in front of him. 

So why was his heart beating so fast? 

3:45 PM

8 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES REMAINING

The stench of hair bleach burned Seonghwa's nostrils. 

"FUCK! Why does this smell so bad?" He yelled in his bathroom. 

He was sitting on the floor while Hongjoong was behind him, sitting on the rim of his bathtub with a bowl of hair bleach in his right hand. He rolled his eyes and continued applying the bleach to Seonghwa's hair. 

"You get used to it. Now, don't be such a baby. Hold still. I don't want to get some in your eye." Hongjoong answered. 

He ran the bristles of the brush through Seonghwa's pitch black hair. Regardless of whatever Hongjoong thought, Seonghwa was right. The bleach smelled awful. When Hongjoong first mixed the components together, Seonghwa rushed to open the tiny little window in the bathroom. Hongjoong seemed to brush it off as if it were nothing. 

Despite Hongjoong's insistence, he was very gentle as he combed the bleach into the strands of Seonghwa's hair. When it came to his scalp, Hongjoong was somehow even gentler. It reminded Seonghwa of going to a professional salon instead of his bathroom. 

He managed to get a closer look at the box of dye Hongjoong chose. He was right about the shade and the name. A champagne tone that seemed to capture the light perfectly in every scenario. 

Of course, Seonghwa wasn't the biggest fan of champagne, but that hardly mattered now. 

Seonghwa rested his arms on his bent knees, focusing on the vaguely flickering lights in his small bathroom. 

A brief silence passed through the room. It felt nice, he could hear the street commotion through the window. He loved moments like this, moments where he was able to just exist. In that moment, Seonghwa recognized that he hadn't had a moment like this in a very long time. 

He looked at Hongjoong through the bathroom mirror. There was a small smile at the corner of his lips as he continued brushing through Seonghwa's hair. 

The question that ran through his mind in the beauty store presented itself again. Seonghwa might as well ask now. 

"Hongjoong," he quietly began. 

Hongjoong's brows rose, but his attention didn't break away from the bleach. 

Seonghwa shifted his body a little before he spoke. "What, um..." he started. He didn't really know how to phrase what he wanted to say. After a little bit, the question finally formed. 

"What's your time like? I mean, 3005? Surely a lot of things could be different. What made you come to this time?" 

The question seemed to throw Hongjoong off a little. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, tapping the brush against the rim of the bowl. The longer Hongjoong was silent, the more Seonghwa regretted his question. 

He was about to take it back but Hongjoong formed his answer. 

"It's lonely." 

Seonghwa stopped completely. Half of him wanted to know more, but there had to be some reason for Hongjoong's answer. He didn't want to accidentally cause Hongjoong to think of something bad. 

He opened his mouth to speak but Hongjoong continued. 

"It's nothing bad, I promise. It's just... I dunno. Not everyone seems to connect with one another like they do here. Everything seems so distant. I have an older brother and there are times where he just seems like a complete stranger to me because of how little I see him. Everyone's either too concerned about what's going to happen tomorrow or whatever's going to get them even richer than they already are." 

Hongjoong set the bowl of bleach to the side. Seonghwa turned around to look up at him.

"There was this one time when I was going home from school. And there was this big hologram of one of the most gorgeous people I had ever seen. It looked down at me, I knew it was an ad for some business. I can't remember off the top of my head, exactly. But it looked down at me and offered its hand out to me. I wanted to take it but I told myself it's just a hologram. It felt like a dream. Then I realized, that was the most I've interacted with anyone for a while. I barely even talked to people at school, or, well, they barely talk to me." 

"Originally, when I was offered this task, I thought I'd still feel lonely because I'm going back in time. I don't know anybody here. Why would it be any different?" Hongjoong smiled at Seonghwa. "

"Glad to know I was wrong."

Hongjoong tapped his knees with his gloved hand. Seonghwa didn't really know what to say. What could he say? 

He moved closer to Hongjoong, looking up at him once again. 

"Do you feel lonely now?" he asked him quietly. 

Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh a little at the situation. As serious as they were trying to be, Seonghwa's head was covered in bleach and he could hear it slightly sizzling. He covered his mouth with the gloved hand and looked to the side. 

Seonghwa cleared his throat, realizing the situation. He moved back a little, creating just a bit of distance between the two of them. Despite this, Hongjoong leaned in closer. 

"No," Hongjoong answered, "I don't feel lonely at all." 

Seonghwa blinked. A smile was threatening to grow on his face, just from looking at Hongjoong's content expression. 

Hongjoong finally laughed, waving his hand in front of his face. He stood up and walked over to the sink. 

When they were back at the beauty supply store, Hongjoong had asked for the cashier to bag the bleach, Seonghwa's hair dye, and Hongjoong's hair dye separately from the rest. That bag now sat in the tub of Seonghwa's sink. 

"Okay, now that yours is settling in." Hongjoong reached into the bag and pulled out his box of red hair dye. "Help me out with mine." 

4:10 PM

7 HOURS AND 50 MINUTES REMAINING

Hongjoong's hair was a beautiful bright red now. Seonghwa initially thought it'd look like a traffic light during rush hour, but now he realized just how much it complemented Hongjoong's face. 

He was nervous to see his own hair. He hadn't bleached it since his dance group won that competition. 

He stuck his hand underneath the cold water running from the faucet. When Hongjoong was rinsing his hair, he asked Seonghwa to grab one of his biggest cups. The pair of them unfortunately had to use a hot pink plastic cup from an amusement park Seonghwa's family went to years ago. 

Hongjoong had just finished rinsing out the dye from his hair. Seonghwa had to help to get some of the bits that were on his scalp, but now it was his turn to rinse. 

"You better not drown me if I end up needing help." Seonghwa commented quietly. 

Hongjoong scoffed and rolled his eyes. He didn't really say anything, but Seonghwa took his silence as something along the lines of 'you'll be fine'.

Seonghwa filled the plastic cup with cold water. As he bent over the rim of the tub, he poured the cold water on the nape of his neck. He hissed at the sudden change in temperature. Hongjoong, however, seemed amused.

It made sense, considering it seemed like he knew what he was doing this whole time. 

Seonghwa continued rinsing out his hair, it was taking a little longer than he'd liked. The water that came out of his scalp was a murky light tan that, in any other context, would warrant a plumber. The good part, though, was that the stench of bleach and dye was long gone. 

Hongjoong had made some concoction of conditioner, toner, and developer when he was mixing the bleach. As Seonghwa ran his hand through his hair, it felt softer than ever. All of the horror stories he'd read on the internet told him that hair sometimes melted off of people's heads when they bleached it. This, however, was completely different. The more Seonghwa thought about it, the more he realized that this was the healthiest his hair had been. 

Seonghwa kept rinsing out his hair. He didn't realize it, but Hongjoong had his phone in his hands now. Oh, well. 

He asked Hongjoong, "Hey, have I gotten any texts from Wooyoung yet? Or Yeosang?" 

Hongjoong opened Seonghwa's messages, he turned the phone to show Seonghwa four unread texts. 

woo

hiiiiii ˶ᵔᗜ ᵔ˶

here's the location for dinner tonight! hyunoh said to meet at 5:50 but i'm pretty sure everyone's gonna get here at 6. ㅋㅋㅋ

can't wait to see you!

aaaaand ur friend    (｡•̀ᴗ-)

Seonghwa hummed, he circled his shoulders as he turned back to the bathtub. As he bent over to rinse once again, he asked Hongjoong, "Could you reply back? Tell him we can get there early and check on the reservation, if any of them made one." He muttered his last few words to himself. He heard Hongjoong typing behind him as he poured another cup of cold water over his neck. 

The water started to clear up. Seonghwa figured they'd need some towels soon. They could probably use some of the ones that were still folded on the sink. 

"What should we wear? The place seems a little fancy for a reunion." Hongjoong said. 

Seonghwa reached to turn the cold water off. What was he going to wear? Knowing his old friends, they'd never pick someplace as fancy as the one Wooyoung sent. It was probably Yeosang who picked. 

"Well," Seonghwa started, "It's probably semi-formal. You can look through my stuff again, see if there's anything you like." 

Seonghwa turned around and sat next to Hongjoong. He turned off his phone and tapped it underneath his chin. Hongjoong turned his head over at Seonghwa, scanned him up and down, then pursed his lips. 

"You still have your makeup?" he asked.

Seonghwa gestured to the cabinet above the sink. It's been untouched forever. He was worried that some of it might be expired. 

Hongjoong stood up, he walked over to the cabinet and rifled through the contents. Shit, Seonghwa thought, Did I take my meds today? He saw Hongjoong set down the orange bottle in question next to the sink. It was emptier than it was yesterday, so that was a good sign. 

Hongjoong pulled out a few eyeshadow palettes, they still looked fairly new. 

"I can do your makeup after we get dressed," Hongjoong offered.

A smile appeared on Seonghwa's face before he even knew it. He grabbed a towel near the sink and rushed to his feet. He practically ran to his room as he dried off his hair. His semi-formal section of his closet was collecting dust at this point. He did actually enjoy dressing up, especially when he did performances. 

With his classwork and looking for a part time job, Seonghwa had no time to wear all of his nice clothes. Most of the time, he was either in his pajamas or in whatever was comfortable at the moment. 

He deserved to wear something nice tonight, something he'd never normally wear. He set his towel on his shoulders. 

His hands reached for a wide print shirt and a pair of beige trousers. For Hongjoong, what would Hongjoong wear? Seonghwa thought back on the clothes he was wearing today. Maybe he should just let Hongjoong sift through his closet and let him keep whatever he picked. 

Before he even realized it, Hongjoong had walked right next to him. 

"Woah! You have LED lights in your closet?" he asked. 

Seonghwa's shoulders flinched in surprise. He cleared his throat and stood up straight. 

"Y-yeah. The, uh, the old light stopped working so I just installed these instead. I guess it matches the rest of the room." When Seonghwa finished, he scanned his own room to make sure he didn't just make himself look like an idiot for the millionth time today. 

Hongjoong smiled, he gently moved some of the hanging shirts to the side. 

"Do you have any crop tops?" Hongjoong asked. 

Seonghwa pointed to a small drawer in the left-hand side of the closet. While Hongjoong picked out his garments for the night, Seonghwa returned to the bathroom.

He was surprised to find that Hongjoong cleaned it up. He even folded the towers they'd placed down earlier and set them near the sink. The only thing that really would've been out of place was the small pile of eyeshadow palettes and brushes. 

Seonghwa called out, "Do you wanna do makeup in the bathroom or in my room?"

Hongjoong's reply was slightly muffled. Seonghwa guessed he was still looking through the closet. "Bathroom! The lighting's better!"

Seonghwa nodded. He picked up the pile of towels and placed them underneath the sink. Like his clothes, his makeup hadn't seen the light of day in forever. He wondered if he even remembered how to do his own makeup. Surely, he could just recreate a look from a YouTube tutorial or something like that. 

"I'm gonna grab some water, let me know when you're ready!" Seonghwa said. Hongjoong didn't give a clear reply, but it sounded like one of approval. 

As he walked to the kitchen, he remembered the grocery trip earlier this morning. Oh God, he was terrified to see the state of his fridge. He told himself that he would organize it another day, so he threw everything into the fridge to fend for himself. What would his mother think?

He thanked his morning self for placing two water bottle at the front of the chaos pile. Seonghwa grabbed the two water bottles and closed the fridge with his hip. 

When he turned the corner, he saw Hongjoong standing in front of the mirror. Seonghwa's heart stopped for a few seconds as he scanned over Hongjoong's outfit choice. It was perfect for him. Seonghwa forgot he even had these clothes. 

Hongjoong wore a simple blue sweater vest on top of a white button up with pair of acid-washed denim jeans. Seonghwa could tell that Hongjoong didn't know what shoes to wear with it. The ones he came in didn't really match the outfit at all, but Seonghwa remembered that he had a pair of platform boots that were just a little too small on him. 

"Do you-" Seonghwa's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and continued, "Do you need some shoes?" 

Hongjoong nodded with a pout. 

Seonghwa scooted behind him and opened the cabinet at the end of the hallway. In his words, this was where he threw all of his random shit. His eyes zeroed in right on the shoe-box. He had labeled it in Sharpie, 'TOO SMALL!'. There was a dumb smile on his face as he brought the shoebox over to Hongjoong. 

"You can keep these. I'm already tall enough as-is." He said as he opened the box. 

Hongjoong's hand flew to his heart as he gasped. He didn't have to say anything for Seonghwa to recognize that he loved the shoes. Hongjoong placed his hands on top of Seonghwa's on both sides of the box as he looked up at him. Instead of taking the box from Seonghwa's hands right away, his hands lingered. 

"These are great, thanks," he said with a bright smile. 

Seonghwa didn't know what to say. He just stood there and blinked down at Hongjoong. 

He swallowed and cleared his throat, Hongjoong finally took the box from Seonghwa's hands. 

"M-makeup," Seonghwa croaked. 

Hongjoong blinked, he smiled and set the box aside. When he looked back up at Seonghwa, there was a knowing smile on his face.

"Do you trust me?" he asked. 

Did he? Seonghwa reflected on the entire day. Did he actually trust Hongjoong? He had barely met him, and yet it felt like he had known Hongjoong forever. It was only a day, just one day. 

Realistically, what did he have to lose? It wasn't like he still spoke to his friends. 

Yeah. He trusted Hongjoong. 

"Yes."

5:00 PM

7 HOURS REMAINING

A gold shimmer gently sat on Seonghwa's eyelids. It was so simple, yet it said everything. Hongjoong's eyeshadow mimicked Seonghwa's, but in a way that coordinated with his outfit. 

They looked good side-by-side. He looked at the two of them in the long hallway mirror and admired their choices in garments. Then again, they were Seonghwa's clothes.

Seonghwa started to get excited about the dinner now. Although, he had no idea how this dinner was supposed to go.

He hadn't seen any of his friends from that time for months. He wondered if they even remembered him.

---

The lights coming from the restaurant were soft in hue, yet still bold enough to grab one's attention. Seonghwa and Hongjoong weren't the first one's there, thankfully. After the two of them parked, they walked over to the front of the restaurant to find Wooyoung and Yeosang. 

Seonghwa let out a sigh of relief when he saw them. He heard Wooyoung's signature laugh as they moved closer. 

Yeosang turned and smiled as he waved the pair over. As he walked, Seonghwa tried fixing any flaws in his outfit.

"Hyung! You look great! I'm glad you and your friend could make it!" Yeosang gently cheered. 

It was clear they weren't the only ones waiting for a table at this restaurant. It was a little crowded, but not to the point where it was outrageous. 

Wooyoung pointed inside and said, "I put our names down a little bit earlier. They said it should be, like, fifteen minutes. You hear from Seyoung or Minsu?" Wooyoung turned to Yeosang for the last question. 

Seonghwa kept taking deep breaths. Shit, he still had to introduce Hongjoong. 

He cleared his throat and looked over at him. 

Seonghwa grimaced as he said, "I promise they're nice people." 

Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh. He waved his hand in front of his face and shrugged. Seonghwa turned back to Yeosang and Wooyoung. 

"Guys, uh, this is-" Wait. How was he supposed to introduce Hongjoong? Was he his friend? 

"This is Hongjoong." That works. 

Wooyoung stood up to greet Hongjoong. It seemed like the two were already getting along, which relieved Seonghwa. All of them sat down on a cushioned bench near the entrance. Seonghwa could tell that Wooyoung didn't need any warming up to. But it wasn't him or Yeosang he was worried about. 

Yeosang could probably tell that his mind started racing. He placed a hand on Seonghwa's shoulder and asked, "How 'ya feeling?" 

Seonghwa pursed his lips. He sighed, might as well confess. 

"I'm worried about Seyoung. We weren't on the best of terms when we sorta- Uh, y'know, stopped talking."

Yeosang shrugged. On the one hand, he understood what Seonghwa met. A while back he called Yeosang because of this exact situation. It wasn't the most pleasant of nights, but Seonghwa desperately needed it. 

"I know, hyung. Look, if this whole thing goes up on its head, Woo and I will just leave with you guys." 

Seonghwa was a little confused. Did they also stop talking to everyone else? 

Yeosang poked his tongue into his cheek. He leaned back against the bench and stared up at the sky. The sun had just started to set. 

"Seyoung started to get really short with Wooyoung a couple months ago. I called him out on it and then after that? Crickets." 

Huh. 

Seonghwa started to twiddle his thumbs, his stomach was starting to hurt. Suddenly, a host called out their group name. 

Wooyoung shot up on his feet, Hongjoong and the rest of them followed. 

The restaurant was just a typical barbecue spot, but fancy enough that Seonghwa and Hongjoong didn't stand out in their outfits. 

Everyone that was already at the table placed in their orders. It was only 5 PM, there's no way they'd start drinking now. 

Wooyoung looked at his phone while the waitress fired up the grill. He groaned and turned to Yeosang. 

"Minsu got called into work. He can't come tonight." 

Yeosang patted Wooyoung's back as he started to sort the side dishes. Seonghwa turned to Hongjoong, he gave him a questioning thumbs-up. Hongjoong returned the thumbs-up. 

The pair smiled at each other, they were going to be fine. 

Their silence was interrupted when Wooyoung asked, "So how'd you two meet?" 

Oh God, here it is. How was Seonghwa going to explain any of what happened in the past day? Luckily, he didn't have to. Hongjoong answered for him. 

"I passed out in front of his door! It was the middle of the night, but he saw me outside his apartment and rushed to check if I was okay. He took great care of me, up until he fell asleep on his couch." 

A collective 'aww' came from the opposite side of the table. 

Seonghwa was surprised that Hongjoong remembered any of that. He overheard Wooyoung mention something he did for him in the past, but that wasn't important. He looked over at Hongjoong, who simply smiled at him in return. 

Hongjoong continued, "I was completely lost! But he showed me around for a while and, eventually, I got used to everything." 

Yeosang gave a fake applause to Seonghwa's direction, which earned him an eyeroll. Seonghwa attempted to brush it off as he took a sip of his drink. 

"You're actually here," a voice boomed from behind him. "I'm surprised." 

Seonghwa nearly choked on his drink when he heard the comment. He leaned over to the side to cough as Hongjoong rubbed his back. 

"S-Seyoung! I didn't know if you were going to show. You should've told us you were gonna be late." Yeosang tried to divert the attention away from Seonghwa as best as he could. 

Seyoung moved to the empty seat at the table, the one directly across from Seonghwa. 

"I did." He answered Yeosang coldly. 

Seonghwa's hands were shaking under the table. The ironic thing was that he was older than Seyoung, so there was no real reason for him to be this nervous. 

Seonghwa was petrified, he couldn't do anything except sit there. 

Hongjoong reached his hand forward. "You must be Seyoung!" He began. "I'm Hongjoong. Seonghwa told me a lot about you." 

Seyoung raised an eyebrow. He scanned Hongjoong up and down, he never returned the handshake. 

"Right," was all he said. He crossed his arms and looked away, not caring about anyone else at the table. "Hyunoh's parking the car right now. He should be here soon." 

A cold wind ran through everyone at the table. The awkward tension was so thick someone could cut through it with a knife. 

Thankfully, a waitress came by to break everything up. "Okie dokie, I've got the honey garlic chicken-" 

Dinner went surprisingly smooth. Hyunoh came and sat with the group halfway through after he parked. He, like Yeosang and Wooyoung, needed no warming up. 

Seyoung didn't speak that much, not even when Hongjoong tried making conversation with him. 

Ignoring the fact that Seonghwa avoided eye contact with Seyoung for the whole night, it seemed like everything was going okay. Up until Seyoung started to order drinks for the table. 

Hyunoh tried to mediate. He said, "Hey, a lot of us are driving, I don't think we should drink."

Seyoung rolled his eyes as he poured his shot glass. The table was silent once again. 

"So." He shot his words directly at Seonghwa. "Why'd you leave?" 

Yeosang smacked Seyoung's arm. 

Seonghwa slowed his chewing down. He stopped altogether, he set his fork down and stared at his plate of food. 

Wooyoung spoke up, "Let it go, man. It's fine." Seyoung shoved Yeosang's hand away. 

"That doesn't matter! You bailed when we all needed you! It was an asshole move and I need to know why you did it." 

Seonghwa tried to piece together his answer, his hands started to shake again. 

Hyunoh replied to Seyoung this time, "What's asshole is the way you're doing this right now. Can't we just have dinner?" 

Seyoung slammed his hands down on the table. The entire restaurant fell silent, everyone stared at Seonghwa's table now. Seonghwa's ear started ringing. His hands twitched as the sound of the other side of the table arguing drowned out. Everything began to slow down around him, he looked up and saw Seyoung yelling at him again. 

His ears rang as he screwed his eyes shut. However, the sound of water splashing brought him back to the current moment.

Seonghwa opened his eyes and saw everyone at the table standing still. Water dripped down across Seyoung's face. Seonghwa turned his head and saw Hongjoong standing up straight, empty glass in hand. 

Hongjoong's breathing began to quicken in pace. He placed the empty glass back on the table. Wooyoung and Yeosang followed in standing up, they started packing up their things. Wooyoung placed his share of the bill on the table before walking over to Seonghwa's side. 

Hongjoong gently placed his hand on Seonghwa's shoulder. 

"Hey," he whispered, "Let's go." 

Seonghwa didn't need to be told twice. He slowly stood up from his seat. He was going to also pay his share of the bill, but Hongjoong grabbed his hand and led him out of the restaurant. While they walked through the front door, Seonghwa looked down and saw his hand intertwined with Hongjoong's. 

---

The four of them wound up at a convenience store around the corner from the restaurant. From an outside perspective, they were all dressed a little too fancy for a convenience store. 

Hongjoong hadn't let go of Seonghwa's hand, even now when they were eating. Seonghwa poked at his food, nobody really knew what to say at this point. Everyone ate in silence. After a while, Wooyoung checked his phone with worry. 

"Hey, um," he started, "Yeosang and I gotta go."

Seonghwa just nodded, there was nothing to say. 

Wooyoung and Yeosang looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do. When they walked past Seonghwa, Yeosang placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"Let us know if you need anything," he said. 

The pair had left Hongjoong and Seonghwa at their small table in the store. Now, Hongjoong finally let go of Seonghwa's hand. He moved to sit across from Seonghwa. It was just them once again. 

Seonghwa felt a mix of shame and embarrassment flood through his body. Dinner was a bad idea, what the hell was he thinking? 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hongjoong place his hand on the table. His eyes grew heavy, nothing could stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks now. He bit his lip to fight back the sobs in his throat. 

He buried his face into his hands, he didn't care about the beautiful makeup Hongjoong worked on earlier. He swore under his breath as he tried to keep the volume of his sobs down. 

Hongjoong didn't say anything. Seonghwa couldn't believe he made him sit through that, he regretted ever saying 'yes' to Wooyoung's offer. He didn't deserve to see any of that, he didn't deserve to see Seonghwa like this. 

Should he explain everything to Hongjoong? If he thought about everything further, he was pretty sure he'd just cry more. God, this was pathetic. 

Hongjoong slid a water bottle over to Seonghwa, but he didn't take it. 

Once again, there was nothing much to say. Seonghwa just wanted to go home and fall into his bed. 

"We can go back to your apartment if you want." Hongjoong offered. 

They might as well. Seonghwa wanted to get out of these clothes. Hongjoong started to pile up their trash together. Seonghwa had to say something, he couldn't take the silence anymore. 

"I'm sorry," he croaked. 

Hongjoong sighed, his shoulders fell. He put the trash back to the side. 

"You don't have to be-"

"No, I- I didn't want you to see that. I thought that dinner was gonna go fine but I, just, I wasn't expecting to see Seyoung and I didn't know what to do and I..." Seonghwa trailed off. He was quiet for a little bit, there was only one thing he could say coherently. "I'm sorry." 

Seonghwa reached for a napkin, he dabbed the corners of his eyes. Glitter sparkled on the napkin as he pulled it away. 

Hongjoong placed his hand on top of Seonghwa's. He looked at him with such kind eyes, as if Seonghwa didn't look like a total buffoon in the middle of this convenience store. It was like Hongjoong didn't care about anything that happened in the restaurant, he only focused on Seonghwa right now. 

"Let's go back," he said, "We can make some popcorn and watch cartoons on your couch. We can do whatever you want." 

Seonghwa smiled. He didn't need to reply as Hongjoong started picking the trash up again. Seonghwa blinked, he wiped his eyes and started helping Hongjoong clean the table. 

When they left, Hongjoong thanked the clerk at the cash register. As they walked towards Seonghwa's parked car, Hongjoong laced his hand together with Seonghwa's again. He didn't let go when Seonghwa started driving. He held onto Seonghwa's hand tightly for the entire car ride back to Seonghwa's apartment. 

8:45 PM

3 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES REMAINING

Seonghwa and Hongjoong were now seated on Seonghwa's couch. They had his softest blanket wrapped around their shoulders and one of Seonghwa's favorite movies on the living room TV. 

"So, they're all Legos? And they know they're all Legos?" Hongjoong asked. 

Seonghwa tried not to laugh while coming up with his answer. "Well, I mean, yeah. You don't have to think about it too much, though. They kinda explain it in the end. Uh, let me know if this movie's too weird. It's one of my favorites, I usually watch it after a bad day." 

Hongjoong smiled. He moved in closer to Seonghwa, wrapped his arms around Seonghwa's, and leaned on his shoulder. Seonghwa took a deep breath, his cheeks felt warm as he looked at the TV. His heart was racing. Was he drunk? No, he didn't drink at all during dinner. He just had water. Maybe Seyoung passed him a shot and he drank it on accident?

He kept watching the movie, not even the funny copyrighted Lego franchise characters could distract him from his heart thundering in his ears. 

---

The movie finished and now they were on the floor of Seonghwa's living room. In the center of the coffee table was an unbuilt Lego set. Hongjoong had the building directions in his hands, he kept looking back and forth between the pile of bricks and the booklet. 

"You really like Legos, don't you?" Hongjoong asked. 

Seonghwa nodded. The set was supposed to be a dried flower bouquet. Seonghwa didn't need the directions, he already built some of the other sets from this collection. 

"Um, yeah. I also have some Lego video games if you wanna play!" Seonghwa smiled. 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes as he laughed. He reopened the directions and flipped them to the first page. 

Seonghwa opened his phone, he started playing some music to fill the silence. 

Click. Click. 

The bricks snapped together one by one. Until, finally, there was a fake bouquet of dried wildflowers in the center of Seonghwa's coffee table. It surprisingly fit really well with the rest of the living room. 

Seonghwa looked up at the clock on the wall. He remembered that Hongjoong had to leave soon. He did the math in his head, it was 9:15 right now. That meant there were about three hours remaining. 

He swept the plastic bags into one giant bag. He looked up at Hongjoong, who was taking a picture of the centerpiece. 

"Hey, is there anything you wanna do? I know you wanna take it easy, but maybe we can do something you like." he suggested. 

Hongjoong's brows raised in surprise. 

"I like this, though," he answered. 

Seonghwa's cheeks reddened for the millionth time that night. He blinked to center himself once again. 

"Okay," he replied, "Do you, uh, do you want a drink?"

11:00 PM

1 HOUR REMAINING

The pair moved to Seonghwa's bed. They cracked open one bottle of soju and were now, after four more bottles, staring up at the ceiling. The soft glow of Seonghwa's LED lights made everything rose-tinted. 

Their hands were mere centimeters away from each other, but neither of them dared to do anything. They sat in silence, Seonghwa's phone quietly played music at the foot of his bed. 

Seonghwa didn't know what time it was, but he wanted this to last forever. He turned his head to look at Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong was staring at the ceiling. He, like Seonghwa, had a slight hint of pink dusted on his cheeks. There was a smile on his face, but Seonghwa saw tears forming in his eyes. 

"What's wrong?" he asked. 

Hongjoong sighed. He started laughing, but he covered his eyes with his left hand. Seonghwa could see the tears falling from Hongjoong's cheeks, but he kept laughing. 

"I know it seems silly but..." he began. He turned over to look at Seonghwa. His eyes were so soft, despite being a little red. He looked at Seonghwa with so much happiness in them. Seonghwa heard his heartbeat in his ears once again. 

"I had a wonderful time. I went into this expecting to, just, I dunno, grab the hair dye and do fuck-all for the rest of the time I was here. I never expected to meet you and to have you take care of me the way that you did. You did everything I asked without even questioning it once. Everything you and I did today, I- I want that to be every day! Y'know? I want to feel this happy every single moment of my life." 

Hongjoong sat up straight, so did Seonghwa. Hongjoong turned to look Seonghwa in the eyes. 

Seonghwa felt tears begin to form in his. There was so much he wanted to say, but they had so little time left. They both sighed, then they spoke at the same time. 

"I don't want to go back." 

"I don't want you to go back." 

The pair stopped, Seonghwa rushed to cover his mouth. They both started laughing together. Tears were falling from both of their eyes, but it didn't matter. Seonghwa groaned, he pushed his hair back with both of his hands. 

"What do we do now?" he asked through a laugh. 

Hongjoong shook his head, he tugged at the sleeves of his shirt as they kept laughing. Hongjoong had already put his stuff together at the side of the bed. They were losing time, and they both knew that. 

11:30 PM

30 MINUTES REMAINING

Seonghwa stared at the clock on his bedside table. 

"What are you gonna do when you go back?" he asked. 

Hongjoong picked at a dye stain on his palm. He shrugged. He placed both of his hands in his lap when he looked up at Seonghwa. 

"I'll probably get dismissed the moment I return. I'll go back to my regular life and schedule. Maybe I'll dye my hair again after a while. My boss will yell at me and threaten to report me to HR, but it'll never happen. I'll go back to my life, as boring as it was." Hongjoong answered. 

Seonghwa bit his bottom lip. He already gave Hongjoong so much to take back, but he wanted to give him more. He started rambling.

"You can take one of my gaming systems! I mean, I don't know what you guys have in the future, but I have an unopened Switch in my closet! Here, I'll go get it." 

Seonghwa rushed to stand up and run to the closet, but Hongjoong grabbed his hand and held him there. 

"No!" he called out. 

Seonghwa turned his head to look back at him. 

Hongjoong swallowed, he dropped his hands. 

"I wanna stay and talk to you before I go. Can we do that?" 

11:50 PM

10 MINUTES REMAINING

Seonghwa stared up at the ceiling again, he was trying to stop himself from crying. 

"You know, the whole day I was thinking about what I'd do with you tomorrow. I got so used to having you around, as if we'd just be together every day. I've never done so much with just one person! I want to do more of it! I want to dye my hair on a whim. I want to drive around unnecessarily for hours on end. I want to wind up in random convenience stores. I..." 

He looked over at Hongjoong, his belongings were in his lap now. 

"I want to do all of those things with you." he said to him. 

The soju must have worn off a little. This was the clearest he'd seen Hongjoong all day today. He was stunning, both in this light and in every other light he had seen him throughout the day. He silently prayed that something would go wrong so that Hongjoong could stay longer. 

Before he even knew it, he was confessing more. 

"I wanted to, maybe, take you out on a real date someday." 

Hongjoong's eyes widened. He laughed with a wheeze, his hand reached forward. Seonghwa immediately locked their hands together. 

"I think that'd be nice." Hongjoong replied. 

Seonghwa smiled, his cheeks were starting to hurt. 

"An actual date. You and me, nobody else. We can do whatever we want! Watch movies, go to art museums, go to the mall again!"

"Build more Legos?"

"Yes! I want to do everything with you." 

Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh. The truth was, though, that neither of them knew if that was a possibility. Seonghwa pushed that fact to the very depths of his mind.

11:58 PM

2 MINUTES REMAINING

Words failed to form in Seonghwa's mind. Even until now, he was begging whatever higher power was out there to let Hongjoong stay longer. His heart was racing, there was still so much to do. 

Seonghwa asked, "Will I ever see you again?" 

The question weighed on Seonghwa's heart like a pile of cement blocks. He could tell that Hongjoong was struggling to answer. 

"Yeah," he answered. It felt genuine. It felt like Hongjoong actually was going to come back tomorrow.

He continued, "Yeah, I'll come back. So we shouldn't say goodbye." 

The clock was ticking. The things that Seonghwa wanted to say could either be said now or disappear as soon as Hongjoong left his room. He opened his mouth to speak, but Hongjoong rushed to envelop him in a tight hug. 

He wrapped his arms around Seonghwa's shoulders. And Seonghwa's arms slowly snaked around Hongjoong's waist. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, Park Seonghwa." he said. Seonghwa heard his voice crack. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kim Hongjoong." Seonghwa's voice cracked too. 

Hongjoong never let go of Seonghwa, but he kept talking. 

"We'll go on that date, like you said. We'll go to whatever art museum is nearby. I'll pay for the food this time." He kept rambling and rambling, but Seonghwa didn't listen. He buried his face into the crook of Hongjoong's neck. And he cried. 

For just this moment, just these last few seconds he had left with Hongjoong, he cried. He needed to say what was on his mind, he only had seconds left. 

"Hongjoong, I-" Hongjoong covered Seonghwa's mouth. 

He pulled back from the hug, eyes almost bright red from crying. A bright light began to surround his body. He was out of time. Seonghwa's grip on Hongjoong's clothes tightened. Hongjoong's hand moved from Seonghwa's mouth to cup his cheek.

"Tell me tomorrow." he whispered. 

With a bright flash of blue light filling up Seonghwa's bedroom, he disappeared, leaving Seonghwa in heartbroken silence.

TIME OF DEPARTURE - 12:00 AM

Seonghwa's breath shook. He was alone, and Hongjoong was gone. 

What was he supposed to do now? 

Seonghwa looked over at his phone, it had stopped playing music some time ago. There was a text message from Yeosang. 

Seonghwa sighed. He opened his phone and his FaceTime. He called Yeosang. 

"Hyung, are you okay? Do you need anything?" 

Seonghwa's voice waivered as he answered Yeosang. 

"We should get back in touch."