Title: Up Down, Turn Around (1/8)
Author: Alfie
Rating: K+
Summary: Having daily doses of false information about his boyfriend being fed to him, Matthew begins to lose faith in Yong Soo, and eventually snaps. And it only worsens when he finds out who the anonymous sender is. Multific with 8 chapters CanKo Whisper!AU
A/N: Alex is Cuba.
Day One
Out in the cold of a Monday afternoon, Matthew Williams clutched at his leather winter jacket, shuddering and holding onto the arm of the boy beside him at the bus stop. This boy just happens to be his boyfriend, Im Yong Soo. The movement of his shiver alerted the boy that he was cold, and an arm came to wrap around Matthew's waist, pulling him close and to Yong Soo's side. Matthew looked at the boy, and they made eye contact, causing both of them to smile. Yong Soo placed a kiss on the blonde's cheek, and Matthew laughed lightly, returning it, but with a kiss on the mouth.
The brunette kissed him back, softly, turning to pull him by the waist against his chest with both arms, and Matthew complied, willingly. Yong Soo brushed the blonde's hair away from his face with one gloved hand, and pulled away to kiss his forehead, looking down at him after. Even though he was only half an inch taller than the Canadian, it still made quite a bit of difference to both him and Matthew.
Finally breaking the comfortable silence, Yong Soo questioned, "Are you cold?" During the asking of this question, he thumbed at Matthew's hair, avoiding the curl of hair that refused to stay put, no matter what Matthew did to try and tame it.
"Cold?" Matthew looked up, ignoring the blunt yes he wanted to tell the other boy. Yes, he was cold, but he would be a nuisance if he told Yong Soo that. At least, that's what he thought. He felt his skin prick at the terrible cold of January, but shook his head, ignoring his own thoughts. "I'm not cold." He held up his glove-covered hands with a grin, putting his arms back down afterwards to hide his face in the Korean's neck, nuzzling slightly. "I'm perfectly fine. Especially in your arms."
Yong Soo laughed a little at that, and Matthew ignored the heat that flooded his cheeks, due to him being laughed at, and because he loved to hear the other's laugh so much, considering he didn't get to hear it much lately. "That's cute," was all he said, merely stating what he felt it to be.
Matthew protested with a muttered it's not but wrapped his arms around Yong Soo anyway, despite his own stubbornness. The city bus pulled up then, and he pulled away, hiding his chuckle when Yong Soo whined in complaint. To make up for it, he slipped his hand between them and clutched at the boy's hand, linking their fingers together. That instantly silenced Yong Soo, and he earned yet another kiss on the cheek for it—but he wasn't complaining.
Letting the blonde step onto the bus first, Yong Soo showed the driver their bus cards and followed Matthew near the back of the bus, where they sat next to one another on the right side of the bus—Matthew at the window, of course, so he didn't get carsick. The brunette looked over at the people across the aisle from them, and received a kind smile from the couple. He, of course, returned it, and ended up engaging in a conversation with them over the mysteries over what it would be like with the gay rights law being passed years ago.
While this was happening, Matthew was looking through his phone, scrolling through it trying to figure out how to change his background picture. He then received a message, to his surprise. The only person who really texted him was Yong Soo and Alex, but Yong Soo was sitting right next to him, and Alex was probably in the middle of his engineering classes.
Matthew went to his inbox, noticing it was from Unknown. Finding it rather odd, he pressed the number—it was a touchscreen—and read the message. As he read it over, his eyes widened, and when he reached the end of the text, it was a surprise his eyes hadn't popped right out of their sockets.
Message: ur boyfriend is hiding things from you that you wouldnt suspect from a kid like him. but what im about to tell u is true. hes in a relationship with u only bcuz he wants to break up with u later so u can feel crushed. he finds pleasure in hurting others and will only hurt u in the end matthew. leave him before he leaves u. hurry. itll only hurt more if u dont do it soon.
He stared at the screen of his phone for a little longer, reaching up to fix his glasses on his nose, then remembering that he had gotten contacts long ago—it was such a habit, even after all these years.
"Mattie?"
"Wh—" Panicking, Matthew stuffed his phone back in his pocket, quickly, and looked to his left at his boyfriend, who looked miffed and concerned at the same time. The blonde cleared his throat. "Yeah?"
Yong Soo frowned. "You looked upset, so I was just wondering…" He paused and looked at Matthew's pocket, which had gone off again, the glow of the screen seen a little through the pocket of his faded denim jeans. "Who is that?" Yong Soo asked, his frown deepening and eyebrows scrunching.
"U-Um…" Shifting, Matthew waved it off and pushed his hand away when Yong Soo tried to grab his phone. "It's nothing, really." He sighed when Yong Soo didn't look convinced. The blonde leaned forward and kissed him briefly on the mouth, thumbing at his cheek. "Honestly," he murmured after he pulled away, as if that was going to convince the brunette anymore than his previous words were.
But Yong Soo obviously bought it, since his frown disappeared and was replaced by a soft smile instead. He nuzzled into his hand before sitting up straight again. "Alrighty then!" He laughed, and turned back to the people he was previously talking to, noticing how the girl was clinging to her boyfriend and giggling lightly. Matthew heard something along the lines of how cute! but ignored it.
Instead, Matthew pulled out his phone to see he had three new messages. What the…? His eyebrows knitted together in confusion, and he flipped through them, starting with the one that was sent first.
Message: he sees through ur lies matthew. keep trying. but remember that hes using u as a simple fuck or w/e. again keep trying matthew.
Message: ur not trying hard enough.
Message: way to go. he believed it. for now. but he wont be pulling an act like that for long u know. hes not as naive as u think he is. he will go and backstab u soon. when u will never know until it happens.
He took a deep breath. How did this anonymous person know that he had…? What was going on? Matthew wasn't sure, so he sunk further back into his chair as he delved into a deep thought process. No one on this bus had his phone number… right? No, of course not. He didn't know anyone on this bus. Nope. Did someone he know hack into his phone—or someone he didn't know? Did they put in a microphone chip so they could hear the short conversation he had with Yong Soo about who he had been talking to, even if Matthew did not know himself? But how? He always had his phone, so there was no way someone had gotten into his phone. As of late, that was. Maybe it had been in there when he had bought his phone? Or when he went to get it fixed for the cracked screen it had gotten from when he had knocked it off his nightstand in his sleep one night? It could be anything, and yet Matthew couldn't figure out what exactly it was… It was frustrating. Shaking his head furiously, the blonde combed through his own hair and sighed.
When Matthew turned back to look at Yong Soo, he noticed that they had reached their stop, and said brunette was currently at the door, calling his name—almost irritably, Matthew noted. Uh oh. That wasn't a good sign.
Standing up quickly, Matthew managed to shove his phone back into his pocket yet again and avoid hitting his head on the doorframe of the bus door, hopping out and apologizing to the man who was driving for making him late for his shifts.
It was dark now, and Matthew could see his breath. He could feel Yong Soo's gaze on his back, and he refused to make eye contact, putting his hands into his jacket pockets and starting to walk towards their shared apartment. The blonde swore he heard a tch come from the brunette, but it could have just been his currently paranoid imagination. Yong Soo was a happy person, but when he was upset, he was very upset. It wasn't just the I'm-upset-at-you-but-I-won't-get-really-angry kind of upset. It was the I-hate-everything-in-the-world-and-you'll-get-lucky-if-you-don't-get-yelled-at-or-a-punch-thrown-at-you kind of upset. Matthew dreaded whenever Yong Soo was upset, especially because it was usually something he had done, considering he tended to upset the boy without even meaning to or even knowing he had done something that had even come close to angering Yong Soo.
They reached the apartment, the walk there having been completely silent, even if it was for fifteen minutes. Matthew hated it when it was quiet between them, and especially when it was because he had upset the brunette. He already knew this meant he was sleeping on the couch tonight.
Remembering what the messages had said, Matthew shook his head furiously while he stepped through the lobby door behind his boyfriend, shaking them out of his thoughts and away for the night. But they kept coming back. He didn't let them get to him, and instead pressed the arrow at the elevator.
"Elevator's broken."
Matthew managed to keep himself from squeaking at the sudden break of their silence, said quiet having been cut off by Yong Soo. The Korean's voice was surprisingly gruff and lower in pitch than usual, but it was usually like that whenever he either didn't speak for awhile, or was mad and controlling his anger. Both, Matthew guessed, applied to the current situation. Especially that second one.
Eventually, Matthew nodded, and they walked over to the door with the stairs, taking several flights of stairs to reach their destination. When they reached their floor—the fourteenth floor—Matthew hurried over to unlock the door since he was the one who had the keys. He let Yong Soo in first, and then headed in after, locking the door behind him.
The brunette headed for the bedroom, and Matthew sat down on the couch, looking at the blocky, red letters that read on the digital clock above their small television set. It was already 10pm? The Canadian frowned, squinting in case his eyes were already in need of a new prescription of contacts. No, he had read the clock right, even if the time of day seemed a bit impossible. The day must of gone by pretty fast, but Matthew reminded himself that they had been in school longer than usual, due to missing class yesterday since it had been snowing enough to cut the power in their college building.
Not too long after—about half an hour, really—did Yong Soo return in plaid pajama pants and a faded t-shirt—sleepwear, he called it. He glanced at Matthew, who hadn't moved from his spot on the couch. Sauntering over to said blonde, Yong Soo plopped himself down next to Matthew on the couch, wrapping his arms around his waist and nuzzling his cheek, affectionately. He leaned against him, murmuring, "I'm sorry for ignoring you on the way home. I was being stupid."
This surprised Matthew, but he relaxed and returned the embrace by placing his hands at Yong Soo's hips, ignoring the slight trembling of his hands. He told himself that it was cold, and managed to believe it. "There's no need to apologize," he half-lied, looking up with a soft smile. "I understand." He was then pulled into a soft, yet passionate kiss, and led to their bedroom, where he was laid down on top of the sheets. Yong Soo was more affectionate that night than usual, and Matthew knew he was going to be sore tomorrow, but it was going to be worth it, he knew. As long as he knew Yong Soo wasn't mad at him anymore, he knew he was going okay.
But if he was going to be okay tomorrow, was the question.
A/N: I call my AU the Whisper!AU because… well, you'll find out later on. I'll try not to put an author's note at the end of every chapter, as I tend to do when writing by myself.