sicheng's signs ↠ taewin au

seventh.

taeyong.

The first thing I immediately do the moment I wake up is brush my teeth and fix my stupid-looking hair, wisps and all sticking out at random places on my head. The bags beneath my eyes look so obvious on my pale skin, too. I could only grimace and think that the longer I look at my reflection, the clearer my realization becomes: I look so bad.

If I could say so myself, I'm not the worst-looking boy back at my school. I'm not the best-looking one, either. Jaehyun comes on top if we're talking about looks here. He also knows how to talk his way out of anything. He's just this charismatic little thing while I'm out here looking sickly and hopeless. Even Sicheng looks better than me.

"What the hell," I mutter to myself. I shake my head and hope the rugged, uncombed look fits me better than, well, this. Staring at the mirror for this long suddenly feels weird and I'm forced to huff out a breath and finally look away.

I inhale for as long as I could before bolting out the bathroom door and down the stairs. Mom almost drops the glass of water she has in her hand.

"Taeyong—!" she starts, but I'm already by the door before she could finish her sentence. I still hear her muffled voice by the time I'm out, though. "You didn't even eat breakfast, young boy! Where are you going—"

"To Sicheng! Again!"

The stomps I make on the ground are all clumsy and hard at the same time, but I'm able to reach his place without hurting myself.

I ring the doorbell and wait as I catch my breath, looking hard at the door in front of me.

I then hear a click. Soon enough it's opening and the sunlight comes streaming inside their house. A familiar face greets me with the biggest grin in the world, and what could anyone possibly do except to smile back, right?

I still wonder why the hell people had rejected him before.

'Good morning.' I sign to Sicheng, who's wearing the same shorts and a different colored shirt from yesterday. He still looks thin and much paler than me, but his warm smile is something you could feel. It makes you overlook anything else, really.

'Hi, Taeyong.' Sicheng's feeling extra giddy today. Aside from his smile, you could just feel the energy oozing out from him. Kinda reminds me of our gym teacher or some child on a sugar rush, to be honest.

'What's making you so happy?' I ask with a smile as he lets me in their house. Once I'm in, I hear some scuffling further back and immediately think that it's his Mom.

'I don't know.' He signs this but he's still practically jumping and visibly shaking from excitement. 'Well, it's probably just because you came back again. Having a friend feels amazing.'

Too pure and honest.

Just standing next to Sicheng makes me feel like I've just done something wrong. That's how innocent he always seems.

But I couldn't help but feel happy and proud when he's looking like that.

'Why wouldn't I come back?'

Sicheng then looks like he's thinking for a moment, but then he shrugs his shoulders and looks at me with his wide and happy eyes. 'I don't know. Still, I'm glad you're here.'

I smile. Everything about what he signed and how happy he looks right now makes me smile.

'I actually brought some video games with me but what do you want to do now?' I ask while holding out a plastic bag with a couple of my video games in there. I actually just went and stashed anything I could put in a tiny plastic bag last night before going to bed. He looks at it, and just then I witness something shift in him.

'You think I could play with you when I can't hear you?' he signs as his shoulders visibly droop low, the brightness in his eyes dimming a bit. I don't know how but the sight makes every inch of my body freeze.

I start panicking. "Um," I accidentally blurt out and then automatically cover my mouth when I see him looking over. 'We don't need to speak.' I shakingly sign as I take one video game out from the bag. 'We just need to play...?'

Sicheng takes one look at the game I'm holding.

And I could swear a fire just started burning in his eyes.

'You think you could beat me at Mario Kart?' I say, looking straight at him with a stupid grin.

'You'll see.' The innocent image disappears all at once and in a split second I'm standing before someone hella fucking confident about their Mario Kart skills.

'Let's play it then.'

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author's notes

i know this isn't enough as an update after 6 whole months, please forgive me ㅜ.ㅜ

plus!!!!!!! i know i'm asking for a lot but please stay tuned for more updates ;(

sorry again and thanks so much for sticking with me and this story!!!