ic inbox.

[unathletic]

"... Park Heung Soo. Leave a message."

[ either leave a voice message, call him, or send him a text! ]

Comments

[unpresidential]

[aren't they both? it's not the first time they've sent texts like this.]

who knows? that hyung's a real annoying bastard sometimes. he's probably poking his nose in someone else's business right now.

[unathletic]

[ dumb bastard hobbies.. ]

More like busy being annoyed these people won't open even though I've rang the bell thrice. [ claiming those accusations as his own with little difficulty, apparently. ] How did you keep it up?

[unpresidential]

Didn't have much of a choice. People who want dumb things that don't make sense is how it goes.

...It was more exciting than this job, though. Maybe I should go back to it.

[he kind of misses it because it's familiar. being a lifeguard is boring as hell and he's not. woosang.]

[unathletic]

At least trade with me then. I'd love to sit in a chair all day doing nothing compared to this.

[ He's presenting it as laziness, but let's be real - it's also since it's less taxing on his leg than walking around like this all day. Not that this is too bad, but sometimes he can notice it a little.. but of course he's not going to mention that out loud to someone who'd instantly feel guilty over it. ]

[unpresidential]

Aigoo, you could have said that sooner. I'm probably better at a job like that than you anyway.

[he'll let heung soo have the satisfaction on that one too, but there's no denying that his leg is a concern to nam soon. he'd prefer to be the one running around all day and taking shit from the dumb customers while heung soo can sit around and watch nothing happen at the pool. the water's not even that deep...]

[unathletic]

[ They're both just typical bastards when it comes to this, really.. they care so much for the other that they don't want the other to be stuck with a shitty job - hence why he's actually a little reluctant all the same to actually switch despite his half-joke just now. ]

Got complaints about my customer service?

[ Not.. that he actually thinks his customer service is any good.. his face sure doesn't help with it, he's visibly seen some people look a little wary or surprised because of it, whoops. He can't help these bench pressing eyebrows are usually stuck in a half frown. ]

[unpresidential]

Do I need to complain? I already know your face probably scares the customers.

[nam soon calls it like he sees it, and it's not like he doesn't know heung soo is thinking it too. the bastard's intimidating to most strangers, after all.]

[unathletic]

Sorry that not all of us can be a flower boy.

[ Is he implying Nam Soon looks like a flower boy.. probably.. okay, he knows the guy is too much of a sloth to be that charming, but he's sure not got as scary of a face as Heung Soo does (ironically enough) so he's got to make fun of him by using the opposite end of this scale. ]

[unpresidential]

You figured out my secret to getting a lot of tips from the ahjummas.

[okay, so it's true that he's a lot less scary. and maybe even that a few people who only saw nam soon in passing would think nice things about his appearance... but considering nam soon knows he's anything but a flower boy, he's obviously just stirring shit for the hell of it. if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?]

[unathletic]

Aigoo, is that how you do it? Do you always pull out your special brand of aegyo on them?

[ Trying to imagine Nam Soon acting like that is.. an experience, though... ]

Making cutesy crying gestures or something?

[unpresidential]

They like that bbuing bbuing thing. Not really sure why, but it works.

[the meta is too real right now.]

It gets things paid for.

[unathletic]

I'm going to block your number.

[unpresidential]

Then what will you do when I get home?

[unathletic]

Is it that hard to ignore someone who sleeps so much?

[unpresidential]

Probably, for you. You never really do, anyway.

[unathletic]

[ Please refrain from pointing out how homo he is for you, it's embarrassing as hell even if Heung Soo knows it's true... ]

You're underestimating me. [ It's not that he's incapable of ignoring Nam Soon, it's just that he doesn't want.. to...

Even if that's worse. ]

[unpresidential]

You would have let me leave back then.

[if heung soo was really that capable, he'd never have gotten to the point of stopping nam soon from transferring. even went he probably wanted to ignore nam soon the most, he never really acted on it very well.]

[unathletic]

[ It's true. It's true, and Heung Soo knows it's true even without the other having to point it out.. he's always been terrible at ignoring Nam Soon. Even at the points where he was still bitter at the other and might have actually wanted to, he couldn't ignore him. He still tried to drag him out of any sort of trouble, he still ran halfway across the city just to try and keep this punk's ass out of trouble.

That doesn't mean it's less embarrassing to have it pointed it out to him though. ]

Would you have finished school if I let you, you bastard?

[ Not that it was his main concern - his main concern was that he wanted to stay close to Nam Soon, that he actually wanted to make things right with him again.. but this is another concern that does play a small part for him too since he wants the other to live well, so it's an easy excuse. ]

[unpresidential]

Don't know. Would have depended on the school, probably.

[which is kind of a strange thing to admit. he was willing to transfer schools so that heung soo could stay at seungri. so that heung soo could keep his promise to noona, and so that nam soon could assure that he wouldn't get in the way of that and ruin his friend's life any further. even though nam soon had a bunch of people that were considered along the line of friends—and they still treated him that way even after knowing he was older than them all, he'd been willing to give it up for heung soo's sake.

it's definitely a good thing that heung soo can't leave him alone, and that he's a meddlesome bastard.]

I still wanted to keep that promise though. The one to my mom. [even if he'd tried to drop out once already... he didn't want to disappoint her any more than he probably already has.]

[unathletic]

[ Honestly, hearing that, he's only more glad that he didn't decide to just let Nam Soon leave after all. Glad that he couldn't. Because it's important that not only Heung Soo keeps his promise to his sister, but that Nam Soon also keeps his promise to his mother. Even if they're promises on different levels, since Noona is well alive (Heung Soo won't accept any other thought out of fear that it'd make him crumble) and Nam Soon's mother isn't.

It doesn't matter though. They both need to fulfill their promises. Together, at the same school, side by side.. once they get back, anyway. ]

Good thing I'm around again to make sure you don't pull something stupid then. [ Even if a lot of the more recent stupid things Nam Soon pulled involved him in some way.. but still. ]

1/2

[unpresidential]

Thanks.

[unpresidential]

[of course, it's not until after he sends it that he realizes that statement makes no sense without context. sure, heung soo could probably figure out what he means... but he doesn't feel right leaving it vague.

their playful texts have gotten a little more serious, though not necessarily in a bad way. he's glad that heung soo is there to keep him grounded; he's glad that the only time heung soo didn't do that was the fateful night when everything went downhill. he was only able to behave himself when he emerged from his year long isolation because the thoughts of heung soo bore into him so heavily. even if he's done a lot of stupid things since then, heung soo still manages to influence him and stop him from totally losing himself.]

For keeping your promise, too.

[unathletic]

[ The texts that appear on his device are a lot more serious.. but he doesn't really mind either. In fact, just that simple single word is enough to make a smile appear on Heung Soo's face.. since it lets him know that despite their shitty circumstances right now and despite everything they've gone through, they're just happy to be together now.

And that's what matters. ]

I don't make promises I don't plan on keeping. [ Or maybe it's more that he makes them to people who matter too much to just break them. Heung Soo, his sister.. they're definitely both important people to them. Them, and no one else. ]

[unpresidential]

That's what makes you such a stubborn bastard.

[and only when it's them is saying something like that a good thing. their terms of endearment definitely differ from the standard, and someone on the outside looking in wouldn't be likely to understand that. but that's what makes it special, isn't it?

there's never been another person for nam soon like that, so being able to have that in his life again, and especially during some trying times like this... it's the best he could ask for short of being back in seoul where they belong.]

[unathletic]

[ He understands very well just what kind of term it is between the two of them, honestly.. he can already imagine Nam Soon smiling at his device at his job. Embarrassing. But just for this once, he'll live with it.. at least it means his dumb bastard of a best friend is happy. It took him long enough to be able to feel that way again, anyway. ]

I'll be going home soon. Almost done. Is there anything I should pick up at the store on my way home?

[ Benefits of working around the area with all the shops, at least.. and also evidence of them slowly starting to fall into little dumb domestic habits. Look, someone has to buy something other than ramen for them to eat just once, okay, and he knows that person is not often going to be Nam Soon. ]