Ok, so they may be delirious with sleep deprivation, but Hongjoong can't find it in himself to regret the late— or early— hour.
It's just after three am— or is it four?— and after their fun at the park, Seonghwa started complaining about being hungry again.
So here they are, outside a convenience store shoving pastries in their mouths and washing them down with melon soda.
"This is so fucking good," Seonghwa groans, licking the frosting off his fingers. "I would've never picked either of this shit to try."
"The cheese in the pastry balances out the sweetness of the melon in the soda," Hongjoong explains with a satisfied smack of his lips. "Perfection."
Seonghwa lets out a little burp but doesn't bother to excuse himself for it.
"How do you figure this shit out anyway? Honestly, most of the shit you do is so weird."
"Hey," the nurse snaps, pouting. "I'm unique, not weird."
Seonghwa snorts, almost inhaling up the last dregs of his soda.
He points behind the nurse back towards the store.
"Speaking of unique, they have a machine with fake tattoos. Thought you bought all of them in the whole city."
"There's not that much space on my body, hyung. I couldn't fit them all last time, but I definitely tried." Hongjoong tosses a pastry wrapper in the trash and cocks an eyebrow.
"Why? You going to challenge me again?"
"Fuck no. I don't think I can take the sight of you covered in those hideous things again."
"It wasn't that bad!"
"You looked like you just got out of a prison filled with preschoolers," Seonghwa deadpans, his eyes narrowed to near slits.
Hongjoong feigns offense before squaring his shoulders.
"Ok, look, some of them were juvenile, but some fake tattoos can look cool."
"That's bullshit."
"I'll prove it!"
They wind up back inside the store, staring at the machine's display of tattooed offerings.
Seonghwa thinks they are all ridiculous, but at least they're not as childish as some he's seen—these are clearly meant to emulate "gangster" tattoos and the artwork isn't half bad.
"This one is cool," Hongjoong muses, pointing to a roaring tiger, stretched out and reaching out to claw something in front of him.
"Or this one." The nurse taps the glass and Seonghwa laughs at the design.
It's a lone wolf in front of a silhouette of a forest, complete with a huge full moon.
"I'm getting cheesy werewolf vibes from that one," Seonghwa admits, smiling and looking over to Hongjoong with a shine in his eye.
YOU ARE READING
↱ECHO↲ ⇾seongjoong⇽
FanfictionAfter losing the love of his life three years ago, Hongjoong vows to honor Seongie's memory by becoming a nurse, caring for the sick and elderly. Jaded by the tragic past, he resigns himself to a quiet life without attachment. Seonghwa was an extra...
