even becoming more amicable with the boy, even starting to consider the kid a friend, it’s still a shame that sungho and sunwoo’s senses of humor don’t quite line up. he hears the jokes that the boy makes, but his own responses are dry and a bit literal; sunwoo might have laughed at his words, but it wasn’t out of humor. in a worse mood, sungho might have gotten frustrated, angry. but he’s still in better spirits than that; being kept in kt and his upcoming vacation keep him light and pleasant for once in his life.
“just be careful,” he warns the kid. nothing worse than getting hurt on the job. the coaches never liked it much either. “you’re young and you’ll bounce back quick, but it’s a real bitch to deal with.”
sungho cares, even if he doesn’t often show it.
he sees the kid smiling just a hair too wide, but sungho pretends not to see it. or at least, he tries. his own smile flickers a little bit wider, an unheard of expression to be on his face in this day and age. at least someone is happy that he decided to stay, for better or worse. “not that long,” he says, casually as if he doesn’t notice some restraint in sunwoo’s words. “the first two went pretty fast. i’d think the next to might be even faster now.”
though who knows. he could still be kicked out and thrown on the streets by next week.
and then he actually laughs, his humor good enough to allow such an expression of emotion in a place he wouldn’t be caught dead having it on a normal day. sunwoo’s defensiveness is endearing in a sort of pitiful way, how he seems to resent sungho’s teasing. “well after the first misunderstanding, i had to be sure,” sungho’s smile is more relaxed than it had ever been in this place; how long such a good mood would last was still out to the jury.
sunwoo sounds like a kid who was told that they’d be skipping christmas this year, and sungho has the heart to be a little sympathetic for the boy. he still doesn’t understand why the kid likes him so much, why he always seems to want to impress him, but he knows what it was like to have a hero, someone he looked up to. not that he thinks he’s deserving of that kind of attention, but what can he do about it now? “i guess i’m gonna miss it,” he shrugs. “you’ll have to show me when i get back. card magic is usually better close up anyways, isn’t it?”
Out of all their conversations in the past, this might have been the most amicable and least tense between them. Not that Sunwoo noticed it in the moment, focused on the sentiment that came with Sungho telling him to be careful and that he’ll bounce back. His lashes fluttering at the curse word, but nonetheless, nodding his head. “Yes, hyung,” coming from his lips without much secondary thought. “I’ll be careful.” And he did mean his words, if Sungho was asking him to be careful, he would be extra careful.
When Sunwoo had signed to KT, he hadn’t thought he’d get along with everyone else. It had been like that every time he changed high schools. The struggle to fit in, the isolation when he couldn’t find a friendship group, and the doubts that bubbled up over whether he was a good friend, an interesting person; worth anyone’s time. Sunwoo had never been in the position since he started middle school, where he could see and be around people he considered friends, every day.
He was beyond ecstatic believing he would continue to see Sungho for two more years now.
“I hope they don--” Sunwoo cringed one of his eyes shut when his voice slipped out before he could work out if he was saying the right thing. Both hands pressed flat to his knees, fidgeting in the spot and then glancing at Sungho, “I mean.. I want it to go fast, but.. not too fast that I forget or don’t get to do everything I want to.” (With hyung, was kept himself.) “You still have to make me into a better dancer,” was the best excuse he had instead.
Sunwoo scratches the back of his neck, sitting taller and trying to show off that he wasn’t a child anymore; he was this tall. His bottom lip jutted out and his nose crinkled more. “I’m not.. stupid. I can figure things out on my own. I could have asked someone too.. I would have figured it out though!” He continues to protest, gaze darting around as if he would find a concrete retort written somewhere on the walls. “I got into one of the hardest universities in Seoul. I’m smarter than I look.
Studying and book smarts never translated well to real life though.
It’s difficult to keep his expression from growing momentarily sullen. He didn’t know why he wanted Sungho to see it, but it was likely because this was something he thought would make him look cool in the older trainees eyes and even if he had two more years to do it, he wanted to do it quickly. There was no expectation for Sungho to mention showing him when he gets back, Sunwoo peering up at the older and then down at his cards. “Do you want to see it after? It--It is really cool, especially up close. And I’ll have practice and done it in front of the coaches already, so.. I’ll be even better at it when you see it. It will look cooler then--?” His speaking pace increased with excitement and then stilted when he had a secondary doubt.
“Will you really want to see it when you come back?”
