cw/tw: mentions of drug use, murder

you chose:
b) stay where he is and risk getting seen by whoever's approaching

* * *

Wooyoung knew he couldn't go back there for fear of being seen by Hongjoong or Mingi and getting into trouble, so he stood where he was, his heart soaring below his ribs.

It skipped a beat as soon as Seonghwa saw him below the stairwell.

The man's facial features were blank, like he'd wasn't at all surprised seeing Wooyoung there. But within seconds, shock bulged out of his eyes, his rosy lips parting a little.

Wooyoung felt like he'd committed some huge crime.

"Hey..." Seonghwa rushed up the stairs, fingers firm around the shorter's hand as he dragged him down and closer to the kitchen area. "What were you doing up there?"

"I-I -- " Anxiety swirled like a fiery pit of destruction in Wooyoung's chest. His tongue felt like lead inside his mouth, his head emptied of any and all excuses as Seonghwa's soft gaze bored into his.

The older man watched him for another long moment, only to smile after. "Okay, you don't need to explain yourself. I won't probe further."

Wooyoung blinked in surprise. Seonghwa's grip on his hand was still there. "You won't?"

"I won't," Seonghwa nodded. The man looked down, brows kneaded in thought. And Wooyoung could only stand there, awaiting his words whilst wondering if it'd be a bad idea to break off the contact Seonghwa had with his hand.

"Something tells me we got a bit off on the wrong foot," the blond haired man spoke. His eyes were now focused on his and Wooyoung's interlocked fingers. "And I honestly didn't intend on that. I think of everyone that lives here as my...family, almost, and I always like to welcome the newcomers. I just want to ensure the comfort of everyone staying here. I'm sorry if I came off a little too strong on you."

Wooyoung gulped when Seonghwa's eyes met his again. The man looked guilty. Sad. And the more Wooyoung looked at the older's discouraged face, the more his conscience plagued him.

"I'm sorry," Wooyoung apologized, staring at the floor. "I came off mean, but I never meant to hurt your feelings. I was just stressed out and stuff."

It was strange the way Seonghwa now made him feel guilt instead of the other way around. He was now the one spewing explanations left and right in order to save his ass, and he freaking hated it. It was so weird. And through it all, Seonghwa's dark eyes still remained on him, their hands still clasped.

"This Saturday," Seonghwa's thumb abruptly brushed over Wooyoung's knuckles, causing the shorter to take a clumsy step back. The older continued to speak, however. "We should go out, you and me. Get to know each other better."

"Huh?" Wooyoung could still feel the ghost of Seonghwa's touch on his skin.

The older laughed, lips curled quite impishly. He folded his arms across his chest, drawing Wooyoung's eyes to the tight black sweater he had on, which clung to his defined biceps. "I do this every time a new tenant arrives, it's nothing big."

"...Oh," Wooyoung quickly averted his eyes, missing the way Seonghwa's grin became a tad wider.

"Think of it as owing me for not telling Hongjoong anything, hm?" Seonghwa smirked, leaning in like he and Wooyoung had just shared a big secret.

Wooyoung didn't know whether to be relieved or even more nervous. But he did know he didn't want Hongjoong nor Mingi knowing he'd been up there. That'd be a disaster. "Um... Okay, I guess."

"Great," Seonghwa clapped, his excitement once again out of character, at least to Wooyoung. But they barely knew other in the first place, so who was Wooyoung to judge? "I'm so happy you said yes."

Wooyoung chewed his lip. His heart was still performing distressed somersaults in his chest. Everything he'd seen and experienced so far was making him more apprehensive, but it was a feeling he knew he had to get over. He wouldn't forget Yeosang's words, and he'd be more careful around here. That was all he could do because he knew he couldn't leave. Not yet.

Hongjoong waltzed into the kitchen at that moment, dressed in stripped pyjamas despite it being the middle of the day. Luckily, he completely ignored Wooyoung and Seonghwa, opting to grab a banana from the fruit basket.

"Rough night?" Seonghwa asked.

Hongjoong just shrugged, taking a seat at the island and stripping down the fruit in his hand.

We need help with the writhing. Those words echoed through Wooyoung's skull. He fought the shiver threatening to cascade down his spine, and decided he had to leave the kitchen as quick as he could.

"I hate the taste," Hongjoong's lips formed a little pout as he regarded the half-eaten banana through hooded, tired eyes.

Seonghwa laughed, making brief eye contact with Wooyoung before answering the redhead. "That's because you're so used to meat now."

"And whose fault is that?"

Wooyoung's hands clenched, revolting images of broken skulls and bloody cleavers sticking to his thoughts like cobwebs. Thick nausea clambered up his stomach, making him sick.

"Mingi needs to talk to you," Hongjoong told the blond, taking another bite of the banana even with his face twisted in slight disgust. "But keep it down. I have a huge fucking headache right now."

"Sure thing, Joong," Seonghwa patted the landlord's shoulder, eyes soon finding Wooyoung's again.

To make matters worse, Hongjoong had now finally acknowledged his presence. "Want some fruit, Wooyoung?"

Wooyoung swallowed, feeling like a caged animal with both Seonghwa and Hongjoong staring at him so attentively. "Uh, no thank you."

Before the older man could conjure up a response, Wooyoung quickly dashed out of the kitchen.

* * *

The rest of the week dragged on slowly, with Wooyoung walking on eggshells around his flatmates and conversing with them only when necessary. He mostly talked with San and Yeosang inside the apartment since he was the most comfortable around them, and at school he spent more time with Jongho, forgetting about everything going on with his life once he hung out with the younger.

Early that Friday morning, Wooyoung spent a considerable amount of time in the shower thinking over the one text his uncle had sent him the night before. Like always, anything coming from his relatives worried him to no end, but this time around he knew he couldn't just put off on answering that message for much longer.

The teen sighed, closing his eyes as warm water from the showerhead hit his bare skin. It bordered on steamy, but that was the way Wooyoung loved it.

San told him before that Hongjoong didn't like it when people locked the bathrooms as it prevented them from being time efficient, and ever since then Wooyoung became one of the first tenants to take a shower. He wanted to limit his interaction with everyone else as much as he could.

Wooyoung had just begun conditioning his locks when cool air slowly gushed into the bathroom. He continued to wash up, the sound of water splashing against the tiles preventing him from noticing anything.

It was the silence that got to Wooyoung first, resonating against the four walls of the bathroom and ringing loudly in his ears. Despite the heat, goosebumps lathered his arms, chilling him to the core. The sensation worsened until he couldn't take it anymore and screwed the faucet shut.

He knew he wasn't alone now.

What the hell is this? Wooyoung thought, annoyance seething beneath his skin. He seriously couldn't deal with this right now, and now he wished he'd locked the bathroom like he'd previously intended to.

He drove his hair away from his face, wondering what course of action he should take next.

"Is...is anyone there?" Wooyoung questioned. His jaw ticked when he heard nothing.

A little pissed off, he pushed open the curtain to reveal his head, only to pause in his tracks at what he saw.

Seonghwa stood by the sink, shirtless with a toothbrush in his mouth. He stared at Wooyoung through his deer-like eyes.

"I'm not interrupting you, am I?" The man spoke, words slightly muffled due to his toothbrush.

"You...you didn't say anything..." Wooyoung didn't know whether to look at Seonghwa's abs or at the smug look in his eyes. Everything about the older man suddenly seemed excruciatingly inappropriate. Wooyoung wanted to vanish into thin air.

"Sorry about that," Seonghwa replied, but the smile he had on his face didn't make him look all that apologetic. "Didn't want to disturb you."

Wooyoung wondered how long Seonghwa was planning to stay there. Even after he'd fully shut the shower curtains, he could still feel the older looking in his direction.

* * *

Two people stumbled into that apartment complex that Saturday night. One of them was a woman with curly blonde hair who clung to San, her dark red lipstick staining his neck with every rushed kiss she provided.

Her grip on San was as tight as a leech's, not minding the way he pushed her into the living room, lust brimming under her long lashes and dilated pupils. She ran her hands all over San's chest, too consumed in her drunken haze to notice the way San barely responded to her.

"I need to go get something from the kitchen, okay?" San's voice was hushed and sultry, pretending like he was enjoying this as well. But it wasn't like it mattered anyway, the girl was as high as a kite off all the weed and her attraction to him.

San appeared again before her with an apron tied around his slim torso, a devilish glint in his eyes once he saw the minute confusion on her features.

"You wanna have me, right? I can be your meal," San smiled, running a finger over her plump lips. She winced just as he dug his nail so deep it hurt. "Or not."

The woman gasped, the alcohol in her veins wearing off the second something sharp and cool rubbed her flesh.

"What -- what the fuck," she weakly scrambled off, hitting the ground with a thud. She could only crawl a few steps before San yanked her by her platinum blonde hair, almost snapping her neck in half.

"Let me go!" She shrieked. It only made San smile even more.

"But oh, Lee Yoora, I just can't let you go now that I've found you at last," San chuckled, deep and gutteral as he knocked her against the wall, pressing his arm against her neck. The terror in her eyes was like the sweetest honey, the one drug other than Kim Hongjoong that he could never get tired of.

"Let me go!" Yoora yelled once more, trying with all her might to free herself from San's grip all to no avail.

"You did some bad things to someone in the past. Some very bad things." San twirled around the knife in his hand, loving the way Yoora's frightened eyes followed his movements.

He stepped back, grinning broadly. "But I'll let you go. After all, the best kind of prey is the one who runs."

That was how Yoora found herself staggering out of the building and into the road, hot tears coating her cheeks. A deep gash ran down her leg, dripping with blood all over. It made every step she took feel like hell, but she knew she had to get out of there if she wanted to stay alive.

Darkness cloaked her surroundings, the thick trees casting ominous shadows everywhere she looked. Yoora could hear San's hurried footsteps behind her, and she knew she had to keep running. Pain burned like fire through her bones, tears and sweat sticking to her skin but she continued to move for the sake of her life.

A thin beam of light shot up the road, nearly blinding Yoora.

"Please help me! Please!" Her knees gave way just as a black van skidded to a stop beside her. "S-Someone out there -- someone in that apartment tried to k-kill me. Please, I'm bleeding and I need help!"

The door slid open, and out stepped two males who towered over her in height. But Yoora didn't care though, she just wanted to get out of here.

"You're hurt," one of them, a man with short blond hair commented. His tone was utterly bland, like he was reciting something out of a book. He held Yoora by her thin wrist and hauled her to her feet. "You're still alive."

Yoora didn't know what was going on. She was crying, in pain and bleeding out, yet they were doing nothing to help her. Fear flipped her gut when she saw the look the blond man shot the dark haired one. "What..."

A swinging bat was the last thing Yoora saw.

* * *

Wooyoung watched with squinted eyes as Seonghwa poured him yet another glass of soju, trying his best to not get drunk and reveal just how much of a lightweight he was.

"Is this too much? This is like, your fourth shot," Seonghwa chuckled at the younger male in front of him.

They were at a restaurant with golden indoor lights and handful of people, so it was quiet and peaceful, which Wooyoung appreciated.

"It's okay," Wooyoung responded, although he was a bit hesitant on taking that fourth drink.

"You can do it," Seonghwa assured, "I believe in you."

"Oh shush." Intoxication had certainly warmed Wooyoung a bit to the older man. It made him seem...friendlier, a lot less strange. "You're making me feel embarrassed..."

Seonghwa bit out of his sweet and sour drumstick, his smirk on the teasing side. He'd taken more drinks than Wooyoung had, but showed little to no signs of being drunk. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, though. Not everyone has high alcohol tolerance."

Wooyoung swallowed down his shot, wincing at the way his throat burned after he'd done so. He was seriously not used to this, the most alcoholic thing he'd consumed prior to this being the wines he used to get whenever his parents had their occasional get-togethers.

Heat flushed his chest as Seonghwa smiled at him, the man's amusement more obvious than ever.

"You're laughing at me," Wooyoung accused.

The older man grinned brightly, shaking his head. "I'm not."

"Then why do I keep seeing you smiling at me?"

Seonghwa paused at that, like he honestly hadn't expected Wooyoung to ask him that question. "...Well..."

"Well, what?" Wooyoung's face was now as warm as his body, and he was almost positively sure he was kind of drunk. His vision wasn't even that candid anymore, so maybe that was why he felt he'd imagined the way Seonghwa's dark eyes drank him up, observing him like he was committing every bit of him to memory.

Seonghwa leaned in, using his chopsticks to bring a boneless chicken up to Wooyoung's lips. "Eat it."

"Not until you answer the question."

"Eat first," Seonghwa gently commanded, Wooyoung complying seconds later. "That was easy, right?"

Wooyoung chewed on the seasoned chicken without a word, the week's exhaustion catching up to him.

"...You and Yeosang talked about something the other day." Seonghwa swiftly avoided Wooyoung's question and ate another drumstick, smiling when he saw the baffled look the younger wore.

Wooyoung felt like he was currently treading on thin ice, and Seonghwa's chilly expression amplified that feeling. "I... We didn't -- "

Seonghwa's leg grazed his, and his mouth snapped shut. "Yeosang's a compulsive liar. I'm only saying this because your well-being is my utmost priority now. Please... Don't listen to whatever he tells you, okay Youngie?"

That nickname slip didn't go unnoticed by Wooyoung, but he couldn't say anything about it. Not when he was now aware Seonghwa potentially knew about what he and Yeosang had discussed.

Wooyoung changed the subject before he could say anything he'd regret later. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-three," Seonghwa answered. "Why'd you ask?"

"Nothing..."

"I made you uncomfortable again, didn't I?"

Keep your distance.

Wooyoung shook his head. "No, I'm just tired is all."

Seonghwa glanced at his watch, looking satisfied. "We can head home now. I also plan on buying some ice cream on the way. Would you like that?"

"Sure..."

Wooyoung let Seonghwa guide him out and towards his sedan, pretending he didn't notice the older's hand pressed a bit too long on his back before he'd finally entered the vehicle.

The convenience store Seonghwa planned to get said ice cream from didn't take long to drive to, but by that time Wooyoung was already on the brink of dozing off.

He was conscious enough to know when Seonghwa draped his jacket over him before he left, though, the fabric helping a bit in fending off the cold.

Other cars were parked around here as well, with a few customers loitering around alone or with someone else.

Wooyoung knew he should've worried more about the weird infatuation Seonghwa seemed to have with him, but as he snuggled up to that jacket, inhaling the citrus scent, he found that he didn't mind it as much. At least, not right now.

His eyes lazily fluttered open, and for some reason they landed on the glove compartment. It was slightly loose, a couple coloured papers sticking out from it.

Curiosity trampled over Wooyoung's need to sleep.

what does wooyoung do next?

a) open the glove compartment

b) do nothing and wait for seonghwa to arrive

***

a/n: yooo i had a nightmare the other night because of this book which has never happened before😂😂

also hwa & hongjoong - 23
yunho, yeosang & mingi - 22
san - 21
woo - 19-20
jongho - 18-19

thoughts?