"i don't even think they're home," wooyoung muttered under his breath after a few rounds of vigorous knocking on the door to his home, only to receive no response each time.

"now, what? do we kick the door down, or something?"

"violence doesn't solve everything, san," yeosang chimed.

san sighed annoyedly. "to enlighten you, i was being sarcastic."

"oh! my apologies! but, y'know, that's pretty hard to believe when you break into convenience stores as if it's the norm."

breath hitching, san glared at yeosang momentarily, before avoiding wooyoung's utter confusion by finding interest in a boring, old brick wall. yeosang then chuckled nervously, quickly adding, "calm down, wooyoung, it was only a joke."

"yeah," san agreed, nodding his head up and down. "j-just an inside joke, yeah."

san sighed, relieved, whilst wooyoung's eyebrows only furrowed further. and yeosang, despite his countless inaccurate accusations on the pear-haired boy, couldn't help but ponder exactly how much wooyoung didn't know. by no means would he get in between their relationship; all he wanted was to make sure san wasn't making stupid decisions, though he wasn't sure someone like him had the right to instruct him on doing so.

suddenly, causing the three to snap their heads towards the rumbling engine, a car pulled up outside of wooyoung's house.

"m-mom...?" wooyoung shoved past the two boys, san thoughtfully stepping to the side to let him past, smiling small in endearment.

meanwhile, wooyoung's mother stepped out of her car, before finally noticing the male stumbling in her direction. bewildered, she was frozen-stiff, eyes widening along with her mouth.  "oh my- wooyoung..."

wooyoung beamed, laughing a bit at the shock painted across his mother's features. through a whirlwind of inexpressible emotions, she instantly swallowed her son up into her arms, squeezing him securely.

"ah- mom..." wooyoung hissed, gesturing towards his hip once under his mother's panicked gaze.

guiltily scrambling backwards, she frowned deeply. "oh no, honey, who did this to you? we have to see the police right away, we can—"

"i know, i know," wooyoung softly interrupted. "but i'm alright now, seriously. of course it's gonna hurt for a while longer but sannie did a great job bandaging me up, don't worry."

"ah, that choi san is a lovely kid, isn't he?"

"mhm, he sure is, mom." wooyoung chuckled, amused. "he's right there, too!"

wooyoung's mother followed her son's finger, eyes lighting up at the two figures by her doorstep — standing awkwardly with each other's presence. "huh, you visit your friends before your own mother?" she said light-heartedly with a playful scoff.

"they saved me, mom," wooyoung mumbled under his breath, as he glanced up at his pair of favourite people fondly. "it's crazy, i didn't even know they had it in them—" "asshole," a mutter came from yeosang's right "—but they did. they really did."

———

it was during lunch with wooyoung, his parents, and san when yeosang's mother barged in on them, distressed.

teary-eyed, she frantically rushed over to her son, flailing herself around him as she sobbed.

"w-what the- mom?" yeosang whispered. he couldn't take any more bad news; after all, that's what he assumed was coming. the past two months had been the very worst of his life, and he thought he'd lose himself if things were to become any worse.

"what is wrong with you?" yeosang's mother cried. "your friend, who i let in our home on multiple different occasions, was on the news for murder, kang yeosang, and you decide it's best to ignore each and every one of my worried texts after not arriving back home last night?! i was so scared, i thought—"

"i'm okay, though..." yeosang gulped back his tears. "look at me, i-i'm okay..."

yeosang's mother scoffed, shaking her head disbelievingly whilst she wiped the wet splotches against her cheeks with the back of her hand. "yeah? i bet that must feel real nice."

with that, leaving everyone wordless, she turned on her heel and stormed through the door she just entered in.

four pairs of eyes lingering in his direction, yeosang could only stare into the spruce table they were sat at. he scraped his fork against the metal of his plate, the bothersome screeches muting his sniffles. however, the tears he attempted to fight against won over him, the cool fluid tickling his skin as they dripped onto his lap.

"uhm..." the hesitant voice belonged to san; "after stuffing myself with so much of your delicious food, mrs jung, i think i need some fresh air... you're done with your food, aren't you, yeosang? wanna come with?"

eyes flickering to his plate, which was entirely smothered with lunch yet to be eaten, yeosang rashly nodded his head. not sparing a single glance at san — or anyone, for that matter — he circled around the dining table towards the front door. he sensed san step out into the cold after him, shutting the door behind them, his footsteps' pace then quickening in an attempt to join the older's right.

"thanks," yeosang started quietly, voice hushed over the chirp of the birds and breeze of the wind.

"for getting you outta there? sure! i know i'd appreciate it if it was me in the situation, so i figured it was the least i could do."

san stopped at that, and yeosang desperately wanted otherwise to disregard his overbearing thoughts. "could we... talk about something?"

"yeah, yeah, totally," san answered, humming to himself in thought. "do you not really care, or is there somethin' in particular you have in mind?"

"oh... not really, but—" yeosang hesitated for a moment. "what about you and wooyoung?"

"what- did us being a thing surprise you that much?" san laughed, before jumping up onto a brick wall, encouraging yeosang to join by patting the space besides him. the older scrambled up on, too, at that, as san proceeded, "and i thought i was doing a shitty job at remembering to friend-zone him around you."

entertained, yeosang mindlessly blurted out, "jongho and i did wonder if that was the case at one point, bu—"

then, he clasped his hand over his mouth as if he'd said the worst thing imaginable. "i-i- fuck, sorry, i didn't m-mean t-to mention him..."

"it's okay. i was just as clueless as you about who he really was, so i'm the last person who should be upset... please do be careful around woo, though," san advised out of caution for the boy.

chewing on his lip, yeosang nodded.

"you said you wanted to know more about woo 'nd i, didn't you?" san fortunately diverted the topic, earning a hesitant hum from the latter. "okay, so! it was near the end of high school, maybe close to this time last year? and, well, i lost my blazer this one time. it sounds stupid, but i was really upset about it 'cause my parents... we don't need to talk about them, but just know they're pretty crap," san said, so casually that yeosang would've questioned it in any other circumstance.

"anyway, i was terrified for my life, so i just cried in the bathrooms after school instead of facing them. but, as cliché as it sounds, woo was there. he caught me looking a mess and calmed me down and helped me search the entire building for it. gosh, he was just so nice — i thought i'd died and made it to heaven already." san giggled with a squeal.

"but 'cause of, well... family issues, i knew i couldn't talk to him after that. it didn't seem like he cared whether i spoke, or not, though, 'cause he continued to talk to me around school for a few weeks, even when i never once did... i wished i could've, though, so, so bad, y'know? and i did eventually. it took a hot minute, but i-i couldn't help it, i'd never met anyone as nice as him before in my life," san gushed. "we only got closer after that.

"nothing, like, lovey-dovey happened between us, though, until the end of high school. i... i got kicked out." san tugged his sleeves over his wrists. "f-for a bunch of reasons, but mainly because my parents couldn't stand me. the feeling was mutual, so at least there was that. you could probably guess, but... i-it wasn't easy. b-but woo was there. he was always there. and although he couldn't afford to do much to help my situation, just that meant more than anything ever had to me.

"i won't disgust you with the details, but here we are now and... not to be cocky, or anything, but i'd say we're meant for each other," san finished quietly, timidly kicking his feet back and forth.

"isn't that a cute love story?"

both san and yeosang flinched out of surprise at the abrupt voice which came from behind them. "what the fuck- where did you- gosh, you scared me!" san whined.

"not too bad, i hope." wooyoung grinned, joining the two on the wall. "i've been wondering, since when were y'all so close?"

"ah..." san glanced at yeosang embarrassedly. "well, i, uh..."

"the fairy godmother doesn't exist, does she, so who else was gonna look for you?" yeosang said without any thought. he didn't care anymore honestly; if he was going to be looked down at for his mistakes, shouldn't he be lifted for the good he'd done, too?

wooyoung blinked. "wait- you guys... what?"

smiling sheepishly, san nodded affirmably at yeosang's point. "yep... and maybe we risked our lives to find you. just maybe."

———

a/n: missing 2k !!! squealing like an idiot rn i love u all so much thats literally insane omg thank you thank you thank you ahhh ily <<<3<3