When they brought him back from his checkups, after confirming that everything was fine, he actually gaped when he entered his room.
Hoshi was here, still sitting beside the window. As if he hadn't moved an inch since he was gone.
Woozi gulped down the lump in his throat. How could he possibly face the boy now? He still had his mask on. He couldn't lie.
He sighed, his shoulders slumping a bit. Well, he would tell the truth. Anyway, he was already accustomed to it.
Hoshi would be shocked, then sad, then he would leave.
And he would never come back.
When the nurse finally finished setting him back on his bed and left, an awkward silence invaded the room, both boys staring at their hands wordlessly. The pink-haired boy parted his lips numerously, but each time, no sound would escape from his throat, as if he had gone mute.
Hoshi was finally the first to break the silence. "I am sorry."
Woozi's eyes widened in surprise. It had been a mere whisper, but he knew it wasn't a product of his imagination. Hoshi said he was sorry.
But why?
"I probably said something that upset you since you ran away like that..." He bit his lips, guilt still punching him in the guts. "So I am really sorry. It wasn't what I meant."
Once again, the sick boy parted his lips, about to say something. But the other boy didn't let him do so.
"You're different. But in a good way." He finally explained.
Something snapped in Woozi's heart as he craned his neck towards Hoshi. At first' he wanted to laugh it off.
It was a good lie, really.
But when his eyes met with Hoshi's, he could see all the frankness in them, all the honesty in the boy's soul.
Hoshi wasn't lying.
'You are different because when I'm with you, it feels like..." He lowered his head, a heart-wrecking smile breaking on his lips. "I feel like, I might not be such a freak. Like there is still some hope for me to be like the others..." He suddenly stood up, scratching the back of his head, eyes still reflecting all the sadness that was drowning his soul. "Sorry, I am probably not making sense right now. And you probably don't want me around. Since I am such a freak...And all..." He turned on his heels, eyes still glued to his feet, unable to look at the boy in his eyes. He was about to rush out of the room when he felt something tug at the hem of his shirt.
His whole body froze as he didn't dare turn around, and he heard a tiny raspy voice whispering under its mask.
"Don't" There was a pause. A pause where nothing could be heard in the room except for the beeping sounds describing the abnormally slow heartbeat of the sick boy. "Don't leave. Don't leave as they all did..." Woozi's voice had something painful in it, something that tore Hoshi's heart apart and forced him back to go back on his tracks and hug the tiny boy tight against his chest. The pink-haired boy gasped at the sudden token of affection but soon wrapped his own hands around Hoshi's frame.
"Don't be like the others. Don't be. Because all the others left me."
Let's be freaks together.
Then maybe we can become normal together.