Hey y'all! I'm trying to get these next few chapters out as soon as I can! I have all the notes written up, just finding the time to sit down and write them all is a bit of a struggle. I'm currently writing this on my laptop while sitting on a transit bus. .-.
But, anyways- here's chapter 7 :D
Yoosung dragged his feet through the doors of the grocery store, his breath heavy on his lips. He had finally dragged himself out of the house to get food, something he hadn't been bothering much with the last few days, feeding himself with cup noodles and gas station hot food- but after a scolding from Jaehee about eating properly, he decided to get some proper food.
He picked up a basket, shuffling through the isles, staring dazedly at the food on the shelves. Nothing caught his eye, nothing stuck out. Everything looked the same to him, right now, as it had for the past week since he walked out of Saeran's apartment. Everything felt like it was shrouded in the grey clouds of a foggy sky.
He turned into the next isle, lifting his head ever-so-slightly, his eyes widening in surprise as he caught sight of unruly red hair. He ran down the isle, stopping right next to the redhead, opening his mouth without second thought.
"Saeran, it's you! Please, please just give me a chance to talk, please!"
The man turned to him, a cheeky smile on his lips, a finger coming up to tap his chin as he smiled down at the blond.
"Ah, so you're the one my brother has been brooding over the last few days."
Yoosung straightened, taking in the sight of the red and yellow glasses the man was wearing, as well as the bright, golden eyes- nothing like Saeran's cool and intense mint-coloured ones.
"Brooding- but you look like him-" Yoosung's eyes widened, pointing at the readhead in surprise, "Saeran has a twin?!"
The man scoffed, crossing his arms, feigning an air of hurt.
"What, he never mentioned me? I'm wounded, after all i do for my little brother!" He let out a fake sob, wiping an invisible tear from his eye. Yoosung stared in confusion as the man laughed at his own horrible acting, patting his shoulder through his giggles. Yoosung let out a slow breath, keeping his eyes on the strange man.
"Um, what do you mean by brooding..?"
The man stood up straight, giving Yoosung a soft smile. Yoosung felt his heart skip at the sight- he was definitely Saeran's twin. They had the same smile, though somethings about Saeran's was more intense.
"You seem like a nice kid. Yoosung, right?"
Yoosung nodded in affirmation, blinking slowly as he patted his shoulder.
"Do you have some free time? I think there are some things I'd like to talk to you about."
Yoosung nervously stirred his sugar and cream into his coffee, his eyes staring at the liquid swirling as his head spun with confusion. Just a week ago he was being told to leave Saeran's apartment, and now, somehow, he was having coffee with his twin brother who he'd met by chance. His normal life seemed to be getting stranger by the day.
His train of thought was interrupted as the man spoke up, sliding off his jacket and placing it over the back of his chair, taking a sip from his mocha, smiling softly.
"So, as you know, I'm Saeran's twin. My name is Saeyoung Choi."
Yoosung nodded slowly, shaking his hands softly.
"Nice to meet you, I'm-"
"Yoosung Kim," Saeran laughed softly, shaking his head, "I know. I've heard."
Yoosung's face flushed, his eyes wide.
"H-Heard what?!"
Saeyoung waved his hand.
"Oh, nothing bad. No need to worry. Good things only, I swear on my honour."
Yoosung relaxed into the chair, letting out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He took a sip of his coffee, letting the warmth of the drink soothe him slightly before speaking.
"You said there were some things you wanted to explain to me?"
Saeyoung's playful smile left his lips, a more serious look becoming his face. He leaned onto his elbows, holding his mug in his hands.
"About my brother," Saeyoung sighed softly, shaking his head, "He's always been severely insecure, for a lot of reasons. His perception of himself is far from high, and he's also had some, well… Not so great experiences."
"Like what?"
Saeyoung smiled sadly, shaking his head again.
"It's not my place to go into detail. All you need to know about that from me, is he's had it hard. And as a result, he thinks it would be impossible for somebody to love him for any reason other than, well, sex."
Yoosung's face turned grim, his eyes wide with horror, his hands finding their way into his hair.
"Oh fuck."
Saeyoung laughed, waving a hand at Yoosung's response.
"Well, while I know that you did have sex with him, I can tell that it's more than that," Saeyoung raised a brow at the blond, smiling still, "It is, isn't it?"
Yoosung nods slowly, his face dusted with a bright shade of pink, a small smile forming on his lips.
"I… I can't explain how I feel when I see him at the Palace. He's beautiful when he laughs, y'know? And when he smiles, his eyes crinkle at the corners and it's beautiful. And when he's joking around, he tilts his head to the left side and his bangs fall into his eyes-"
"So," Saeyoung laughed, cutting him off, "In short, you're smitten with my twin brother."
Yoosung blushed, blinking slowly, tapping his fingers on the table softly.
"…. I suppose so."
Saeyoung stood suddenly, nearly knocking over his chair in the process, whipping on his jacket and promptly grabbing Yoosung by the arm.
"Well, that settles it!"
"Settles what?!"
"You're comin' with me."
"Wait, what?!"
Yoosung gasps as he is dragged out of the shop and lead to Saeyoung's car, a gorgeous, shining red sports car.
"This- this is yours?!"
"All mine, little one, but now's not the time. Get in, get in! We have places to go and twins to see!"
Yoosung buckled himself in, looking around in awe at the sleek design of the car. Yoosung suddenly froze, blinking to himself.
"Wait- twins to see? What do you mean?"
"We're going to my apartment to see Saeran."
"WHAT! He hasn't talked to me since what happened a week ago, why would you-"
"I think this is important, for both of you."
Yoosung sighed, tracing slow circles on his palm.
"Do you think Saeran would be okay with you doing this?"
Saeyoung sighed, turning the wheel to steer the car onto a residential street.
"My brother has a lot of things he can't accept about himself. and he believes that nobody else could, either. It's not my place to tell you those things, but I can tell you're not like the others."
"The others?"
Saeyoung cringed, realizing he'd spoken too much, his face grim as he glanced at Yoosung.
"That's something I"ll leave to him to discuss. For now, let's focus on getting him to talk at all."
They soon pulled up to the apartment building that was only a hungover memory for Yoosung, his heart pounding in his chest as he looked up at it, knowing Saeran was inside. He followed Saeyoung into the building and up the stairs, fidgeting nervously as he unlocked the door.
"Oh brother darling, I have brought you a present~" Saeyoung spoke in a sing-song voice, kicking off his shoes at the door, shooting a wink at Yoosung.
"I swear to god Saeyoung if it's some other stupid invention you've made that throws confetti in my face-"
"Nope!" Saeyoung laughed, shaking his head, "Not this time! This one is much more lively."
"Lively?" Saeran's footsteps neared closer, about to turn the corner, "I don't-"
Saeran froze in his tracks as he saw another pair of legs along with his brothers', his eyes trailing up along the body of said person, growing wide as they recognized the face before him. He stared in silence for a moment, the air thick between them.
Yoosung stepped forwards, opening his mouth to speak.
"Saer-"
"Why did you bring him?" Saeran turned to his brother, cutting Yoosung off, hurt visible on the blond's face.
"Because you need to talk," Saeyoung spoke matter-of-factly.
"There's nothing to talk about."
Yoosung's shoulders fell, his watery eyes fixated on the ground before him. Saeyoung wrapped an arm around his shoulder, sighing loudly.
"See look, you're making it sad!"
Saeran scowled, rolling his eyes.
"He's not an it-"
Saeyoung waggled his eyebrows at his brother, and Saeran glared, realizing he had acknowledged Yoosung. He crossed his arms, looking away from the two.
"I don't want to talk to him."
"Please."
The twins looked at Yoosung, whose eyes were fixated on Saeran, violet marred with unshed tears, his voice soft and shaky as he spoke.
"Please talk to me."
Saeran stared for a moment, his grip on his arms tightening as he did so. He closed his eyes, saying nothing as he turned, walking into his room, leaving the door open behind him.
Yoosung looked over at Saeyoung, who nodded towards the door, smiling. Yoosung took the hint, walking through the door of Saeran's room, closing it behind him. He looked towards the bed, his heart hammering as he saw Saeran sitting against the headboard, his arms draped over his bent knees.
"So," The redhead spoke with a seemingly nonchalant tone, "What did you want to talk about?"
Yoosung shifted awkwardly, playing with his hands.
"You know what I want to talk about."
Saeran smiled softly, laughing to himself.
"We've already covered this. And you forgot anyways, didn't you?"
"Well, I didn't remember, no- but I sure as hell felt it the next few days."
Saeran laughed under his breath, shaking his head in amusement.
"Ah, yeah, I bet you did."
Yoosung blushed bright red, biting his lip as he took a step towards Saeran.
"Saeran, I"m sorry."
"For?"
"…That's not how I wanted things to go."
"What do you mean?"
Yoosung sighed, taking a couple steps towards the bed, sitting on the corner, farthest from Saeran, looking at him with earnest.
"Saeran, I like you."
Saeran's face remained unchanging, his only response a slow blink in return. Yoosung shifted, crossing his legs as he looked at him, his eyebrows curling together in the center.
"I'm serious, I- I like you a lot. I'm sure you noticed that that's why I started coming to the bar alone, because I wanted to see you." Yoosung did his best to keep from stuttering, despite the bright pink blush on his face. Saeran looked away slowly, staring at the far wall.
"… I noticed."
"And you seemed interested in me, too. Clearly enough to have sex with me that night."
Saeran's head snapped back towards Yoosung, anger flashing in his eyes.
"That's not-" He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, running a hand through his hair, "-You know what, I can't do this. You need to leave."
Yoosung stood, staring down at him, glaring at Saeran, his hands shaking with hurt.
"No, Saeran. Explain to me what is going on!"
Saeran let his hand fall from his hair, staring up at Yoosung with tired eyes. He sighed, looking down at his knees.
"…That's not what I did that for."
"Did what- the sex?"
"Yeah."
Yoosung shifted, rubbing his elbow slowly.
"Well, then… What did you do it for?"
Saeran smiled slowly, still staring at his knees, drawing slow circles with his fingertips on his kneecaps.
"… You said you loved me."
Yoosung's face erupted in a bright red blush, his hands flying up to his mouth.
"I- I did?!"
Saeran nodded, looking away at the far wall again. Yoosung sat back down on the bed, closer to Saeran this time, and his heart gave a small leap when Saeran didn't flinch away from the proximity.
"That's why you did it?"
Saeran nodded again, squeezing his arms tighter around his body. Yoosung watched his body language, concern and nerves filling his stomach, a sad smile crawling on his lips.
"I'm assuming you didn't sleep with me in response to that because it made you happy, huh?"
Saeran closes his eyes, letting out a heavy breath.
"It's… Somewhat that."
"And?" Yoosung inched closer yet again, now only a foot of space between the two, "What else?"
Saeran opened his eyes, meeting Yoosung's gaze, and Yoosung felt his heart wrench at the fragility he saw in their depths, a weak smile on the redhead's face.
"Because I don't think anybody could ever actually love me."
Yoosung didn't break his gaze, his heart pounding in his chest, his voice softer than he intended it to be as he spoke, "Why?"
"I just," Saeran's eyes dart away, his nails digging into the skin on his shins, "I just don't."
Yoosung frowned, moving closer again, this time gently placing a hand over one of Saeran's- he didn't move away. Yoosung slipped his hand into Saeran's, giving it a soft squeeze, smiling tenderly at him.
"What if I wanted to prove you wrong?"
"It would take a lot of effort."
"I'm willing to try if you'll let me."
Saeran bites his lip, his eyes hazy and lip quivering as he replied, "Yoosung, you deserve so much better than me-"
"I think I'm the one who decides what I deserve. And I think I would be blessed if I got the chance to be with you."
Saeran's cheeks tinted a soft pink, tilting his head down so his bangs hid his eyes.
"I.. I don't know."
Yoosung took his other hand, running his thumbs over his knuckles soothingly, his eyes sparkling with hope.
"Please, just… At least let me take you on a date. Please. I want to express how I feel, properly," Yoosung smiled nervously, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, "Unlike last time."
Saeran stares at him for a moment, his eyes searching for any sign of hesitance, but he is only met with pure eagerness, and he sighs, defeated.
"… I guess if you want to."
Yoosung grins, happiness blooming in his chest as he brought Saeran's left hand to his lips, tenderly kissing his fingers, staring into his worried eyes.
"I want to."
OKAY GUYS THAT'S CHAPTER 7~~~ hopefully this 2k+ word chapter makes up for the last really short one ~~~ :D
I hope you're all enjoying it! See you soon!
~Pixil-8