When Wooyoung woke up around four or five hours later, it was already noon and Yunho was gone. He was right about one thing, his back hurt so much that he couldn't even put it into words. It was his own fault for sleeping there anyways.
The sun was shining almost aggressively at him and the sand was painfully hot around him, he realized as he moved his hand to the side and felt it against his skin, jerking his hand away almost right after. He was making mental notes on what he had to do that day and it really wasn’t much but the most essential thing was that he had to go back home because he was hungry. His stomach was going to start protesting to be fed any time soon.
He sat up, feeling uncomfortable because his clothes were full of sand and he felt like he was melting underneath the fabric because of the heat. He realized his hair was in sand too and his body was covered in a thin layer of annoying, sticky sweat. With a groan, he stood up and tried shaking off most of the sand from himself. Then, he gathered his things in his backpack and headed home.
His phone hadn't been charged in over a day and it didn't have any battery at all since his mind was too busy being occupied with thoughts about Yunho that he didn’t even remember to charge at work. The first thing Wooyoung did as he got home was to charge it. He left it on his nightstand and went to the kitchen while he was waiting for all the notifications that he had missed to stop popping out all at once.
Making his way through the small kitchen, Wooyoung reached up to open one of the top cupboards, mumbling something out disapprovingly as he couldn't find any instant noodles. He dragged a chair and climbed up to check and make sure . He was left really disappointed when he found out that his supply of noodles was gone. He was too lazy to cook anything and wasn't going to settle for anything that took more than three minutes to make. Yes, he was hungry, but he wasn’t that desperate.
He went back to the bedroom and took his phone, checking the time before dialing one of his friends. He sat down on the edge of the bed , lightly swinging his legs above the ground while waiting.
A wide smile appeared on his face as the other picked up, letting out a quiet and sleepy "hello".
"Hey, Yeosangie ~" Wooyoung beamed, not taking too long to get to the point. He knew that otherwise his friend would’ve gotten moody and nothing would go his way. "Do you want to go grab something to eat? I'm too lazy to cook, so I thought we could go out."
For the past months, Yeosang got to know Wooyoung quite well . He was already familiar with some of his habits such as him calling him to go out when he wanted to do something but didn't want to be by himself.
The line went silent, Wooyoung was only able to hear quiet rustling from the other side for a few moments. He secretly hoped Yeosang wouldn’t ditch him because he didn’t have anyone else to go out with at that time .
"You can come over instead," Yeosang suddenly spoke again. He didn't sound that sleepy anymore. "I have plenty of food at home and I can cook for you, too, if you want."
Wooyoung got really excited about the offer since he had never been invited to Yeosang's home even though he lived just five minutes away. The closer he’s ever gotten to his friend’s house was at the gates of the front yard when he walked him home after work. They didn’t always happen to be at work at the same time because Yeosang also took day shifts and he didn’t have much free time but they still kept in touch as much as possible.
“So, what do you want?” Yeosang asked. “I will start preparing it while you’re on your way here.”
“I want noodles.”
“For real?” Wooyoung could feel the disappointment in Yeosang’s voice. “I invite you over and you can choose from literally everything because I’m willing to cook for you and you still want something as simple as noodles?”
Wooyoung rolled his eyes and stood up, taking his phone off the charger. “Don’t make me sound as if I’m ungrateful to your kindness. I’ll be there in a bit.”
After hanging up, Wooyoung took his charger and immediately headed to Yeosang’s house since he hadn’t even taken his shoes off yet. He got there in even less than five minutes and was left to wait for a few moments after he rang at the doorbell. A smile tugged at the edges of his lips when he finally heard the door unlocking. It opened, Yeosang peeking from behind it with a smile and messy hair, not really making an effort to do anything about it.
“Hey,” Yeosang said sweetly before stepping back and opening the door more to let Wooyoung in his house. By habit, as soon as Wooyoung walked in, he couldn’t miss the opportunity to wrap his arms around Yeosang and hug him tightly. “It’s nice to see you, too.” The older boy giggled, patting Wooyoung on the back. “Come on, let’s go in.”
After the dark haired boy pulled away from the hug, Yeosang lead him to the kitchen where he had left three packets of noodles to soften in boiling water .
“Do you want anything else except noodles?” Yeosang asked as he took juice out of his fridge. Then, he noticed that Wooyoung had never even walked past the door of the kitchen. “What’s wrong? You can sit wherever you want, don’t wait for a special invitation.” He shook his head and sighed as Wooyoung moved to sit on a chair by the table. “So, do you want anything else?”
“No .” Wooyoung reached out with his leg and pulled another chair closer to himself, gesturing at Yeosang to sit down next to him. “Come eat with me.”
"Of course I will." Yeosang moved the pot with the noodles to the counter, putting half of them in a bowl for Wooyoung and the other half – for himself. When he set the bowls on the table, he also put two empty glasses for the juice.
Wooyoung started eating almost right away and Yeosang followed soon after. The two were eating in silence, not really minding it.
While reaching out to pour juice in his glass, Wooyoung wondered if he should tell Yeosang about Yunho . Honestly, he didn’t know how his friend would react. Maybe he would start thinking Wooyoung is crazy, that he needs some immediate medical help. Or in the best case, that he’s either lying or has had a dream with a mermaid that felt real.
Pouting lightly, he brought the glass closer to himself and took a sip, his nose scrunching up a little at the lightly sour taste of the juice. It wasn’t that he didn’t like sour things, it was just the fact he had no simple control over his facial expressions.
“I met someone recently ,” Wooyoung announced, bringing his friend’s attention to himself. He decided that he was going to tell Yeosang at least part of the truth about Yunho . “He’s not from here, though. But he’s really interesting and I guess we have some things in common.”
Yeosang tilted his head up to look at Wooyoung. “So, you like him now?”
For a second Wooyoung thought about how weird and uncomfortable it would be to have a crush on a mermaid, not to mention to date one when you’re human .
He shook his head, putting his hands up . “No, no. I barely know him. I’m just happy I found someone who likes swimming as much as I do.”
Which was probably a lie. He didn’t even know if Yunho liked swimming or not. Or if he even liked being a mermaid in the first place. Swimming for mermaids was probably seen like something obligatory just like walking was for humans. They didn't see it as something they could enjoy that much because they don't really have any other choice but to swim around to go places.
“I’m happy for you,” Yeosang smiled and gently patted Wooyoung's thigh. “Maybe if you happen to get closer with him, we should go out for a drink some time if he doesn’t happen to live too far away.”
“Yeah, of course.”
They kept on talking about Yunho for a little bit more until Wooyoung got too awkward and perhaps too uncomfortable to lie about him, so he changed the subject.
Later on, after they were done with eating, they went to Yeosang’s bedroom, playing video games on his PlayStation and eating snacks for the whole rest of the day until they had to head to work.
They had a lot of fun the whole time but Wooyoung still didn't seem to be able to get his mind off of the mermaid he saw.