▪︎▪︎▪︎》in which jeongwoo can't fall asleep so he drags haruto to the busy streets for a night excursion
ships: hajeongwoo (friendship), t5, harukyu (romantic), jaewoo
genres: light-hearted
|city lights|
WHEN JEONGWOO couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard he tried, he decided it would probably be the best idea if he woke up his best friend and roommate, for a night excursion out.
"Psssht," he whispered loudly to Haruto who was soundly asleep in the lower deck of their bunk bed. "Ruto-ah, wake up now!"
Jeongwoo was usually the excited type of person, but tonight, it was even more exceptional. Why, you might wonder? It was their last day of high school. The night before their final graduation. Aren't students supposed to do something special on that night, to celebrate the fact they've survived four years of hell?
"What?" Haruto finally replied, not surprised at Jeongwoo's head peaking out from the top of the bunk.
The latter looked so funny with his eyes wide open of excitement that Haruto unwillingly let out a chuckle. He was still a little bit sleepy, but he was used to being interrupted by Jeongwoo's innumerable ideas and unstoppable energy at random times during the night. That's what four years of being roommates with him did to his sleeping habits. Tragic, really.
Now it was Jeongwoo's turn to frown. "What do you mean what? Why are you giggling? Is there something funny?" He glanced right and left in an exaggerated manner.
"Yes. Your face," Haruto teased him.
Jeongwoo was about to throw a pillow down at his best friend, but someone knocked from the room beside of theirs. The walls were thin. He instantly knew who it was.
"Yah, stop this right now," their friend Asahi ranted from the other side of the wall. "We can hear every single word you're saying."
"Sorry not sorry!" Jeongwoo whispered loudly, throwing his hands in the air. "We are graduating tomorrow! This is the perfect excuse to have some fun."
"Is this why you're so loud?" Asahi groaned back. "Alright, have your fun, but outside our apartment, I'm begging. Jaehyuk and Junghwan are in a deep sleep so don't you dare wake them up."
"Aww, selfless Sahi!" Jeongwoo cooed. "Fine! I will listen to you. Ruto, wanna hit the busy streets?"
Haruto had learned to not be surprised with whatever strange request Jeongwoo throwed anymore. So he only nodded and followed his friend's lead as they hurriedly put on their coats and stepped out in the dark of the night. Although it was summer, the temperature was still cool outside. They looked like two crazy people as they ran across the streets, the moon gleaming upon them.
2am ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
They laughed. They both forgot their phones in the dorms.
"Well, that's too bad. Guess we will not know the time." Jeongwoo shrugged like it was not a big deal, which he genuinely didn't think it was. He motioned to the sky full of stars. "See? We can just stare at the moon as reference. When it will be replaced by the sun, then it'll be morning."
"Good job, Sherlock!" Haruto teased, laughing at loud at his best friend's theatrics. "I guess when the moon will eventually replace the sun, then it'll be night again."
"That's right! You understood the cycle of the universe." Jeongwoo jumped off the bridge barrier a little too fast.
Haruto hurriedly caught his arm, making sure he wouldn't fall on the wrong side and tumble down into the river. He sighed, "be careful, Woo. We don't want an accident."
Jeongwoo smiled at him fondly. "Look at you all worried for my safety. It's heartwarming to see!"
"Shut up," Haruto interrupted, faking an annoyed voice. "You are simply a piece of work."
"And you still chose me to be your best friend. That says a lot about you."
Haruto had nothing to reply to that.
2 am and a half ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
Walking by the river was more calming and therapeutic than they both thought. Being so caught up in the drama of their usual high school lives, they barely had some time for themselves. To reflect and relax. Perhaps they really needed this moment to feel better.
Jeongwoo squinted at the distance in front of them. They would only arrive to the supermarket open 24/7 in approximately thirty minutes. He was craving for some late night snack and couldn't wait to arrive there. Plus, it was chilly outside even with his coat on.
"Tell me something, Ruto," he suddenly broke their confortable silence.
"Mmm? What is it?"
"Remember that seatmate of yours, during sophomore year. What was his name... Kim- Kim Junkyu, right?" Jeongwoo stammered, trying to remember the name of this mysterious boy.
"Yeah. That's him," Haruto confirmed, frowning. His voice deepened a little as he quickly glanced at his friend, probably wondering why he would bring up that subject at such a random time. He seemed shaken.
"I don't know. It's just something that I was wondering back then," Jeongwoo shrugged mindlessly. He pursed his lips and decided to go on, even if it might hurt his friend's feelings. "What's your deal with him? You never told me about it."
"My deal with him? I don't have any deal with him," Haruto said defensively. He kicked some rock on the side into the river.
Jeongwoo threw him a long look, even if it wasn't exactly noticeable in the dark of the night. He stared sideways at his flustered best friend who went completely silent and decided to drop the subject. After all, he wouldn't force him to talk about something he wasn't ready to open about.
He did have a feeling there was a lot more to the story, and he wondered if he'd hear about it tonight.
3am ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
The supermarket was Jeongwoo's favorite place to stroll in. It was big, but not the point of him getting lost, and it was cozy, which would always be criteria of win for him. He ambled through the different sections of the store, searching for the chocolate cookies he buys everytime. At night, there was almost no one.
"My sacred strawberry latte, ta-da!" Haruto announced proudly as he jumped in front of him to block his path.
"Good for you! Now move away, I need my cookies or I won't rest."
"Do you wanna try something new today?" Haruto wriggled his eyebrows.
"Stop this, you sound ridiculous," Jeongwoo said in a joking tone. "I must have too big of an influence on you."
"Oh, that's no secret." He lowered his voice. "We are eighteen now. We could try some beer."
"You are eighteen in one month, yes. And there are still six months for me." Jeongwoo raised an eyebrow. He didn't think his friend would go against the law but he was amused to find out.
"Oh come on. It's not like it's the first time. I always take some of Jaehyuk's beers and he never says anything."
"Stop complaining, Jaehyuk has simply gone too soft on all of us." Jeongwoo stepped closer to his friend so they could stop whispering so loudly in the drinks section of the supermarket. It would look suspicious to the cameras.
"One beer. You don't have to do it with me. I'll slip it into my bag and if I get into trouble, it's on me," Haruto mouthed like a madman.
Geez, Jeongwoo thought to himself. If his friend had his mind set on something, it was impossible to distract him from it. They might as well just take this risk and take off as soon as possible.
Jeongwoo took the cookies in one hand. Then, he took off his coat and delicately folded it into his bag. Haruto widened his eyes, wondering what in the world his friend was doing.
Suddenly, Jeongwoo shoved a very illegal beer into his bag at a lightning speed.
Haruto's mouth dropped open.
"Wh-"
He didn't have time to finish his sentence that Jeongwoo casually strolled to the payment row. There was only one more customer so he waited patiently like everything was perfectly fine.
Since the workers were there, Haruto couldn't say anything. He simply eyed Jeongwoo silently, swinging on his feet like the usual habit he had when he was feeling nervous about something. Jeongwoo didn't regret putting the beer into his own bag. He would go down with his friend if he had to. That was who he was.
"Next," the cashier said.
When the duo arrived in front of him, they realized it was Jihoon, one of their classmates and a regular cashier at that supermarket. Although they weren't close, it was still funny to see him there.
"You work here at night too?" Jeongwoo exclaimed, truly shocked. "Jihoon! When do you even sleep?"
"Just for today," Jihoon explained, letting out a big sigh. "It's my dad's shop after all, and he needed a hand tonight."
"It's graduation tomorrow!" Jeongwoo insisted, putting his hands on his hips. "You should be sleeping soundly."
"Now I could say the same thing about you two," Jihoon remarked, sending them a judgmental look. "Let me guess. Jeongwoo's idea for a night out before the big day? Let me guess again, cookies and a strawberry latte?"
"Oh my god, Jihoon, are you sure we are not best friends?" Jeongwoo chuckled and clapped slowly.
It was funny to think that Jihoon was one of the popular kids. Which explained why they never fully clicked together; he had his own solid group of friends starting from his boyfriend Hyunsuk and his best friend Junkyu. Talking about Junkyu... Was this the reason why Haruto was so quiet beside him?
He glanced at his best friend and indeed found him with a stone cold expression and still like a statue. When Ruto was like that, he could be quite scary.
Jihoon definitely felt that vibe because he looked away as soon as he crossed eyes with Haruto. "Anyways," he quickly tried to conclude this awkward encounter. "It's nice seeing you two. It will be 9,25$ please."
"Coming right up," Jeongwoo said before counting his money and giving it to Jihoon.
Jihoon nodded, waving them goodbye. Jeongwoo confidently advanced toward the exit until a middle-aged man stopped him by taking his arm. Taken by surprise, Jeongwoo halted brusquely which made his bag swing. He heard a horrifying glou sound that was quite recognizably liquid.
He looked at the man in slow motion and just like in his worst nightmares, it was the owner of the shop. Jihoon's stern, scary dad.
"Hi Jeongwoo," Jihoon's dad greeted in his caveman voice. "May I know what's in this bag?"
Jeongwoo felt cold sweats coming down his back and stammered, "Of course, M. Park." He opened it a little and showed it to the latter. "This is my coat! I was feeling a little hot here."
"Oh, should we lower the temperature of our shop?" M. Park raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Thank you for the recommendation."
Jeongwoo felt like it was sarcastic. He mentally evaluated all the possibilities. Should he run for his life toward the exit or come clean and risk... an amend? A scolding? Police?
Haruto stepped beside him and firmly gripped his arm.
"Thank you, sir, but that won't be necessary. It is quite late, so we need to go."
The owner stopped them again. "Not so fast, kids. I heard something right then."
"What's going on?" Jihoon interrupted them, abandoning his cashier role for a moment. His face seemed stricken with concern as he looked at them one by one. "What are you doing, dad? They're fine. Let them go."
"Open your bag and pour its content to the ground," M. Park ordered to Jeongwoo, now looking angrier by the second. His eyes were flaming red.
"Dad," Jihoon whined. "Please. They're my friends."
"Not now, son," M. Park scoffed.
Jeongwoo decided that he wasn't very sympathetic. Jihoon would probably receive a lecture afterwards for his claim of being friends with him and Ruto. He almost felt bad for him.
"I- um..." Jeongwoo hesitated and looked at Haruto for advice.
Haruto was making big eyes and glancing at the exit. He definitely wanted the first option: running for their lives. Jeongwoo trusted him. More than anything. So, he didn't think twice before breaking into a run, Haruto on his footsteps.
"STOP RIGHT NOW OR I'LL CALL THE COPS!" M. Park's voice resonated through the empty supermarket.
He was running after them, and even came out of the shop into the cold of the night, screaming after them. His screams were muffled with Jihoon's pleading ones and Jeongwoo's scared laugh of disbelief.
They didn't stop running. When Haruto stopped to catch his breath after they were far enough into the city streets, they simultaneously turned toward the shop. They saw from a distance that Jihoon had convinced his dad to calm down and let them go.
Jeongwoo and Haruto looked at each other and burst out laughing. An uncontrollable laugh.
That was the most daring thing they've ever did throughout high school, and it just had to be on their last day.
3am and a half ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
They were walking toward the park. The adrenaline rush from a few minutes earlier was still pumping in their veins, lighting them up.
Jeongwoo was walking fast while Haruto tried to catch up to him.
"The last time I ran this much was that time with Jaehyuk and Asahi!" Haruto whined.
"What time?" Jeongwoo asked. He thought about it for a second and then slapped his forehead. "Ohhhh. That unforgettable moment, of course."
One time, Jaehyuk and Asahi were playing a game against them as a team when they were in an amusement park during summer vacation. They had to take each other's funny hat off. It was a dumb concept but they had so much fun.
They ran miles on that day.
4am ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
Haruto almost drank the whole bottle of beer.
Of course, he was the drinker out of the both of them, but Jeongwoo felt a little concerned anyways. He didn't want his friend to get drunk because that never ended up well. So, he took the bottle away before his friend could drink some more and drown in his sorrows, Jeongwoo dramatically thought before catching himself off guard.
Did Ruto have any sorrows? He wondered to himself. It made him feel instantly sad. He wanted to protect his friend at all costs and whoever hurt the latter, they could go to hell.
"I'll tell you Junkyu's story," Haruto suddenly spoke, dryly.
"Huh?" Jeongwoo let out, startled. "Oh... you don't have to. You can wait until you're fully sober to not regret it."
Haruto passed a hand through his dark hair and dangled his feet into the air like a child. He was sitting on the table of the skateboard park, his back against a tree trunk, while Jeongwoo sat a little below him on the park bench, enjoying his chocolate cookie.
"Don't worry, I want to. It's about time we let go of all these high school stories and move on to new things, right? And don't people say we are more honest when we drink?" Haruto laughed to himself, the sound of his voice resounding through the empty air.
"A confession for a confession, then? Alright," Jeongwoo accepted.
They were the only souls in the park, which gave Jeongwoo sort of an euphoric feeling. Like the world was theirs, you know?
"To make it simple, I had a huge crush on Junkyu." Saying it out loud to someone made Haruto's head even more light-weight. He let out another humorless laugh which scared Jeongwoo a little and said, "Damn. Who am I kidding? I was so in love with him."
Jeongwoo nodded. He tried to not show a strong reaction because he had a feeling about it already, so he wasn't entirely shocked to hear it. Some things were very suspicious, especially during sophomore year when they were seatmates. He contemplated this possibility long ago.
"You probably already know about it, but yeah, it started when we were sitting beside each other and had to interact throughout the whole class. You know how the teacher loved giving us assignments with the person sitting next to us? He loved pairing us together."
Jeongwoo nodded. He remembered it perfectly. As for him, he was beside Jihoon, which was honestly so great. Although they didn't become best friends, he appreciated the class clown's presence and found out that Jihoon was much more than what was shown in the surface. He was caring, loyal, and passionate.
"You know how Junkyu, Jihoon, and Yoshi were always together? The popular kids, really," Haruto went on, his eyes lost in the memories.
"They're still the popular kids," Jeongwoo pointed out. He munched on his cookie.
"Yeah?" Haruto echoed. He crossed his legs and put a hand under his chin. "Yeah, you're right, but I guess I see Junkyu differently after getting to know him better."
There was a short silence. Haruto continued his story.
"Well, you see, at first, I was really intimidated by him. I didn't know what he could be like, but I had that feeling... when someone is two-faced, you know? He just seemed like... I don't know. Someone cool and unattainable. Too good and perfect for me."
"He's not," Jeongwoo quietly countered.
He loved finally hearing his best friend's thoughts on that situation, but it was difficult to hear at the same time. He knew it didn't have a happy ending.
"No, he is." Haruto's voice broke for an instant, but he recollected himself and cleared his throat. He didn't want to get too emotional. "He just has this other side to him. Where he is so broken and sad and tired and... Struggling, you know? Unlike the image everyone might have of him."
"Oh."
"Yeah. And sitting beside him everyday, noticing all the little things about him, I just wanted to know him more. It might sound crazy, but I wanted to just fix what's wrong." Haruto shook his head like he was disappointed in himself. "No matter how good and pure he is, I can't do that job for him."
Jeongwoo nodded and patted his friend on the shoulder to let him know he was listening.
"We talked a lot after school," Haruto whispered out like it took him a lot of energy to even form those words. "At first, we would just see each other casually. During lunch or so, for a few minutes. After school, hanging out in the music room, which was his favorite place. He would talk about his life and I would listen. I talked about mine too... you, Jaehyuk, Sahi, Hwannie... I didn't have much to say." He stopped himself for an instant. "I won't tell you what he told me about his life, but just know it wasn't all pretty."
"I understand," Jeongwoo said. "I hope he's okay now."
Jeongwoo didn't want to say but he noticed all of it. Sometimes, Haruto would text him and say that he'd skip lunch. He'd also stay at school after classes ended or not answer his calls during certains hours of the evening. He noticed that during class, they would steal glances at each other or a few touches here and there when they thought no one else was looking.
Sometimes, Junkyu looked sad and Haruto looked worried.
Jeongwoo saw it all in silence and didn't say anything about it.
Haruto shrugged like he had no clue. "Anyways, we fell in love. I know it sounds so cliche and pathetic, but I don't know how else to describe what happened. I kissed him behind closed doors and he invited me to his house so we could have time for ourselves. We saw each other for... months? Almost a year."
"In secret," Jeongwoo added.
"Yep," he confirmed. "I got tired of all this hiding, the lies, the running, the problems eventually. I didn't stop loving him, Woo, we just- we just had to break it off. It wasn't working."
Haruto looked so lost and confused for a moment that Jeongwoo just had to lean over and give him a big hug. He'd been itching to do that for quite sometime.
"He wasn't ready to be in a relationship with me or anyone really," Haruto whispered, his arms around Jeongwoo's neck. He felt a lot more comforted like that. "I cried so much back then. I knew he loved me but he didn't how to."
Jeongwoo felt his friend was close to tears so he rubbed his back incessantly and whispered over and over again, it's okay.
"I ended up telling him if there was ever a chance between us, if he would ever be ready for commitment, he would have to contact me and leave an audio message or something before the end of high school. We could walk together to school and try to work it out. That's the only reason I never blocked his phone number all these years."
Haruto pulled away from the hug. Tears had welled up in his eyes but he frustratedly wiped it away.
"Needlessly to say he never did. And now here we are," he mentioned to the empty park around them. This seemed to pull him out of his momentary daze and he cracked a small smile and looked to the ground. "Sorry for the sob story."
"Thank you for sharing this story with me," Jeongwoo said honestly. He was touched that his friend opened to him this completely, which he knew was hard for him. He wanted to return the favor even though he was mostly an open book. "So what do you want to know about me?"
Haruto hesitated. He opened his strawberry latte and took a long sip. There were many things he could ask, but chose one in the end.
"Why do you have such a strong bond with Jaehyuk in particular?"
That was a good question.
Jeongwoo digged into his memory to find a story that was worthwhile. He had many things to say.
"Jaehyuk is the brother I've never had." He quickly glanced at his best friend. "You know I do consider you as family, but our dynamic is different from mine with Jae. I feel like we are sort of soulmates while with Jae, he's just really my long-lost brother."
"Soulmates," Haruto repeated, finally smiling for the first time since they were in that wretched skatepark.
"Of course. But that's not the point. The point is, Jaehyuk has taken care of me so much in that regard. Leaving our parents at such a young age for boarding school - as you can relate - was hard to the very least. Do you know how Jae and I met? It was the first day of school, so I met him before I even met you."
"Yeah," Haruto nodded. He chuckled a little and shook his head. "I can't believe I missed the first day of school. I was so pissed my mom had sent me to a Korean school and would leave me behind in Korea that I stayed glued to my hotel room's bed and refused to move of one inch."
"Not your best moment," Jeongwoo joked.
"Definitely not!"
"Back to the story. I met Jaehyuk when he saw me crying in the bathroom on the first day of school because I already missed my mom, my dad, and my older brother. I swear, I was such a crybaby." Jeongwoo rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead in embarassment.
"You still are," Haruto pretended to cough to say it out.
Jeongwoo playfully hit his shoulder. "Hey! Not like before! It was really bad back then. I couldn't take anything or else, I'd break down into a fountain of tears. I was so ashamed that a new classmate of mine found me like that... I avoided eye contact for twenty minutes as Jaehyuk talked me through things and said some nice words to encourage me. Then, we were kind of inseperable."
"Uh huh."
Jeongwoo raised an eyebrow at him. "You know the rest of the story."
Haruto raised his half-finished strawberry latte into the air. "Yep. I came into the story because we were paired up for gym class and we both sucked. You introduced me to the squad. Then, Asahi came into the picture as Jaehyuk's friend and finally, Junghwannie who needed a place to stay and who became our last roommate."
"Ta-da!" Jeongwoo laughed. "Sorry mine was not as good as yours."
"What do you mean?" Haruto laughed. "Our story is the best. T5 for life!"
Jeongwoo smiled at the dumb name they gave themselves. Their apartment number was five and the T was just a random letter they all liked.
"T5 for life!"
5am ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
"Are you done yet?" Jeongwoo whined.
Haruto shouted a no and continued to take countless pictures of his best friend.
They went into a shop and bought a polaroid camera on impulse. It looked fun and they wanted to try it out.
"Change your pose!" Haruto requested as he changed his position to take the picture from another angle.
Jeongwoo sighed and posed again in front of the graffiti wall.
"Wait till it's your turn..."
6am ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
Lying down in the grass to watch the sun rise was like a whole entirely spiritual experience. The explosion of colors was unlike anything Jeongwoo had ever seen. Of course, it wasn't his first time witnessing such a phenomenon of nature, but it was the first time he was looking intently at it without anything else to do. At times like this, he can only be thankful to have the opportunity to watch such a simple, yet so extraordinary event.
Yellow, orange, red, purple... What could be more amazing?
"A thought for a thought?" Jeongwoo suggested. They often did that when they couldn't fall asleep and were staring absentmindedly into the ceiling. Late night talks were the best.
"I'll start," Haruto volunteered. "High school would have not been the same without our little group of friends. Even though we almost make fun of each other, I love all of you most."
"Aww. That's a nice thought but I already knew about it so make it more original next time," Jeongwoo joked.
"Ha!"
"My turn. No matter what, Ruto, you can always come to me if you are facing a difficult decision. I'm just saying it as a general thought. I want you to be able to lean on me like I lean on you. So please, please come to me if there's anything wrong. I would never judge you."
"Aww," Haruto now teased, but a tremor of emotion could be heard in his voice. "Now look at who's all cheesy and teary."
"Ahhh, shut up."
They laughed.
6am and three quarters ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
"You are my best friend, Woo. For this life and beyond."
Jeongwoo smiled as he continued to watch the sunrise. It was like the whole world came to a stop overnight and was opening up again to a new beginning, one that would shine even brighter for the both of them. He tightened his grip on Haruto's forearm. They were cuddled together.
"You are mine too, Ruto. For this life and beyond as well."
7am ▪︎▪︎▪︎》
When Jeongwoo and Haruto finally came back to the dorms, they found their roommates already woken up and preparing themselves for the graduation.
Asahi was busy making breakfast for all his roommates, flipping some pancakes that were Haruto's favorites and cooking some scrambled eggs that were Jeongwoo's favorites. He nodded at them as they came in and motioned to the breakfast table. Banana milk was already poured out for them.
"You're an angel!" Jeongwoo cooed before sending some finger hearts in the air.
Asahi rolled his eyes and muttered something inaudible that sounded like yeah, yeah, go on. He was pretty bad at receiving compliments.
Jaehyuk was sloppily brushing his teeth in the bathroom and taking cool selfies at the same time in front of the mirror. He mumbled in between his teeth to Haruto, "By the way, Junkyu called you earlier this morning. He said you were supposed to go to the graduation together. He even left you an audio message that was registered on your phone..."
"He did?" Haruto echoed, quite surprised. His heartbeat was already accelerating.
"Yes." Jaehyuk raised an eyebrow. "How come I only know about this now? I had no idea you were even friends."
"Know what?" Haruto replied defensively a little too fast. "We are just walking to school together. We settled this a long time ago."
He tried to contain the excitement in his voice but it still trembled a little. Jeongwoo threw him a long sideways look that said, we'll talk later.
Jaehyuk seemed clueless. "Great. Enjoy then!"
At this moment, Junghwan suddenly came out of his room, fully dressed, a schoolbag hanging from his left shoulder. His hair looked nice, too, for once. He stared at his two friends up and down with a raised eyebrows.
"You two looked like you went through many adventures in the last hours. I heard you stayed out the whole night?"
"You heard right," Jeongwoo admitted, smiling proudly. "And yes, we had a lot of fun, thank you for asking."
Junghwan shrugged his shoulders. "I had fun too getting enough sleep for the big day. Which makes me wonder, what did you guys even do for all these hours? Don't you get tired of each other at one point?"
Jeongwoo and Haruto exchanged a sly smile that only they knew, like partners in crime. They even giggled a little bit in their heads at the thought of the precious moments they went through. They didn't need to say it out loud to themselves, but they both knew it was one of their favorite nights in their entire life.
"That's for you to keep wondering," Jeongwoo finally replied before entering his room to prepare his graduation uniform.
Haruto winked at a confused Junghwan before entering the room as well.
For their big day.
the end
Hey! Did you guys like this? I had so much fun writing this. T5 friendship is honestly so heartwarming to see, and of course hajeongwoo is pretty unmissable. Besties.
Harukyu um no words, this almost made me want to write a spin off.
Hope you have a nice day!
beomromantic