(500) Days of Sohinki

Chapter 1

A/N: Background: Luke Ovenshire is Joven's little brother.

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(290)

"I think we should stop seeing each other," Sohinki said.

He had to be joking. Sure, it was the first time he'd joked like that, but his I'm-gonna-troll-you-so-hard laughter rang clearly in Joven's head. It had to be playing out in Sohinki's head too.

But then he saw the abnormally serious expression on his face.

"What?" Joven snapped.

Nothing. Just an even, wide-eyed look.

"Seriously?" Joven exclaimed.

Sohinki's eyes cast down to their shared café table.

Maybe this was a really, really elaborate prank and Sohinki was holding back a smirk that Joven couldn't see.

Cars whirled past windows. People bustled around the café.

Joven paid them no attention.

He just stared at Sohinki, looking for any of those little signs he had that things hadn't actually gone sour.

But nothing.

And when Sohinki looked up, the expression on his face made Joven wish that he hadn't. "You wanna know why?" Sohinki asked him.

"No I don't. You're not breaking up with me you can't be," Joven's voice broke with desperation.

Sohinki sighed, as though it should have been obvious from the beginning. Or that Joven was so fucking slow that he was a snail crawling through quicksand and Sohinki was trying to save him from himself.

"Look, Joven –" Sohinki clenched his fists, sigh punching its way out of his now-pursed lips. "We've been completely dysfunctional for months now."

"No we haven't!" Joven protested.

"We're always screaming our heads off at each other!" Sohinki rebutted.

The shadows of the café workers lingered as they moved around them, crockery clinking as they cleaned and set up tables.

"Yeah but that doesn't matter. We all have good and bad parts to relationships, right? And the good parts are great."

"Yes..." Sohinki trailed off.

"So it doesn't matter. I'm happy with you."

"Of course it matters. And I'm not."

"You're not what?"

"Happy with you."

Joven froze. "Of course you're happy with me, you said so yourself!"

Sohinki sighed wearily. "Yeah, I know I did, but things change."

"What, like life?" Joven snarled.

"Yes."

How the hell could Sohinki say something like that with inflexion, yet be so flippant about –

The clinking of plates rang through Joven's ears. It was the waitress with their food: pancakes.

Joven cursed to himself. This had to happen at the worst possible time, didn't it?

Sohinki thanked the waitress with a terse smile and then it was just Joven, Sohinki and their lumpy pancakes.

Sohinki's teeth were gritted, eyes screwed shut; like he was desperate to tell Joven something. Something more, like he hadn't already said too much shit already. Joven quickly quelled his resentment. Maybe this would be when Sohinki would tell him that maybe they would actually work out –