Kissing You

Chapter 3

Tony stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway, drying his hair as he walked. His damp hair fell forward into his face as he hummed softly to himself.

Suddenly, he stopped. He was two steps from the kitchen, and he could hear Woo Hyuk's voice whispering.

"But I don't know what I'm going to do here."

Silence.

"Of course not, he's -"

Another pause.

"Because I can never tell him."

Tony wished he could hear the other side of the conversation. He was only getting half of this story.

"Kang--ta~~!"

Tony leaned against the wall, his brow furrowed. Who was he? And what couldn't Woo Hyuk tell him? Were they talking about him? Likely not, Woo Hyuk could tell him anything... right?

Woo Hyuk sighed heavily. "Because Tony's just... Tony."

Tony's eyes went wide. What the hell did that mean?

"And when he freaks out? What then? Tell him, you told me to?" Woo Hyuk listened for a moment. "No... I'm sorry, it's just.. what would you do in my case? Scratch that. I know what you would do. But - well, what would you do if it wasn't you?" A pause. "I know, that made no sense. But Kangta, I can't not tell him. But I can't just tell him."

Tony had heard enough. Woo Hyuk had never kept secrets from him before. He stepped out of the hallway, humming loudly.

Woo Hyuk whirled around to face the doorway as Tony walked by.

Tony turned. "Oh, hey, Woo Hyuk." He kept walking.

"I'll call you later," he heard Woo Hyuk telling Kangta. "Well, I'll tell you what I decided when I call you." Tony heard the phone beep, indicating it was off.

"Who was that?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Taya." Woo Hyuk sat on the couch.

"What'd you two talk about?" Tony asked, toying with a loose thread on the couch pillow in his lap.

"Nothing really. You ready to go to the shoot?" Woo Hyuk attempted to avoid the topic.

"Nothing? Seemed like an awful lot of whispering over nothing."

Woo Hyuk's eyes widened. "How much did you hear?"

Tony threw the pillow in a not-so-friendly manner. "Enough to know my best friend is keeping secrets from me." He stood and walked out of the living room.

Woo Hyuk ran after him. "Tony - wait - "

Tony stopped. "What?"

"I... I'm sorry. I just... can't tell you."

Tony turned and continued walking.

"Tony, don't be like that. Are you telling me you haven't kept any secrets from me?"

Tony stopped again. "That's not the same."

"Oh?" Woo Hyuk asked, storming over to Tony. "And why's that?"

"Because my secret is just as much for your protection as mine."

"So as long as you consider it justified, you're allowed to keep secrets from me, but no matter what I may have to hide, I'm just a piece of shit?"

Tony rolled his eyes and pushed past Woo Hyuk. "It's not the same. You wouldn't get it."

Woo Hyuk grabbed Tony's arm. "You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

Tony gently pulled his arm from Woo Hyuk's hand and continued to his bedroom.

Fuck him and fuck his secrets.
~~~

Tony knew the photoshoot would go badly as soon as he and Woo Hyuk were placed together. Granted, the shoot was for their drama, which was mainly about him and Woo Hyuk, and Tony had known beforehand that they would be getting much of the attention during the shoot, but Tony could practically feel the anger radiating off of his best friend. And Tony was sure Woo Hyuk was thinking the same of him, perhaps with the term "his best friend" replaced by "that asshole".

As the photographer became more and more frustrated, Tony knew their manager would have more than a few words with them after the shoot. He didn't want a headache on top of everything else.

A single thought continued to run through his head, overamplified and overdramatized by his love for Woo Hyuk, 'How can I feel this way toward a man I can't trust, who can't trust me?' Yet even as he thought it, their proximity during the shoot brought up thoughts of Tony's dreams, and it was all Tony could do to keep himself from making out with the man.

The photographer dismissed them sometime later, and Tony stormed away from Woo Hyuk, wanting nothing to do with him, yet at the same time wanting to get away before he did anything regrettable, involving Woo Hyuk's lips... and maybe his chest...

Tony suddenly realised he'd stopped storming away. In fact, he'd stopped walking away altogether, and just stood a few feet from the set, staring at the floor, trying to focus his thoughts. Everything in his mind was dancing, entertaining every emotion he had and directing them all toward Woo Hyuk, anger, depression, love, happiness... lust.

He heard the familiar footsteps of Woo Hyuk approaching him from behind. He didn't turn, for several reasons he tried to avoid thinking about.

"I won't be coming home tonight."

Tony nodded after a moment.

"I should be home sometime tomorrow."

Lifting his head and staring at the door across the room, he asked, trying to keep disappointment out of his voice, "A date?"

Tony felt more than heard the disappoinment Woo Hyuk struggled to keep from his own voice. "Something like that."

With a sharp nod, Tony walked away from Woo Hyuk, toward the door. After a moment, he heard Woo Hyuk beginning to walk in an opposite direction.

"Woo Hyuk! Tony!"

Tony stopped in his quest to reach the door. Turning, he headed slowly toward the center of the room, where their manager stood, scowling. He knew what was about to happen, and, if he could have, he would have kept himself as far a possible from the man. But this was, after all, his fault.

Woo Hyuk and Tony stood in the center of the room, staring at their manager with barely hidden fear. The man began in a whisper, "Will one of you please tell me," his voice began to rise, until he was screaming the last few words, "what the hell happened up there?!" He glanced wildly from Woo Hyuk to Tony and back again, his gaze volleying while his hand clanched and unclenched.

Woo Hyuk cleared his throat and stepped forward slightly, a brave move, Tony knew. "We've.. been having a bit of a disagreement. I'm sorry we let it interfere with our work today, sir."

Tony stepped forward as well. "I'm sorry, too. It won't happen again."

"A disagreement?!" their manager shouted in outrage.

As he let his anger fly at them verbally, Tony had to literally take a step back from the man. He knew they would be there for awhile.
~~~

Tony slammed the apartment door shut. His head was pounding. Their manager had continued screaming at them for nearly an hour, and Tony wondered why he man hadn't lost his voice by that point.

Tony threw himself onto the couch, grabbing the TV remote. He turned on the television and automatically hit the "favourite" button, bringing him to his most frequently watched channel, and within five minutes the program he watched every Thursday night came on. The program he usually watched with Woo Hyuk. Tony threw a pillow across the couch, forcing himself to not think about Woo Hyuk. Woo Hyuk was a secret-keeping asshole, unworthy of his thoughts.

Ten minutes later, Tony shut off the television. He hadn't watched a moment of the show. He'd been thinking of Woo Hyuk, of sitting in his lap only thirty-six hours previously, after Woo Hyuk had just gotten done with a shower, and smelled like his shampoo and soap, yet still like himself, that smell that was only Woo Hyuk, like in cheesy romance novels where a person can be so in love with someone that their scent becomes special, but so much more real than that.

Tony laid down on the couch, shutting his eyes tightly and trying to redirect his thoughts. He thought of cars, of his car, drving in his car and smoking a cigarette as he headed somewhere, anywhere. With Woo Hyuk in the passenger seat as they laughed and talked, everything so perfect, like things always seemed with Woo Hyuk around.

Frustrated, Tony mentally berated himself, burying his head in his arms. Trying to concentrate on nothing at all, Tony was left to focus on his headache. The headache caused, indirectly, by Woo Hyuk. Yes, this headache, the reason he disliked Woo Hyuk. Wo Hyuk's secrets, his distrust.

Tony turned over on the couch. Not a single thing in his life was detached for Woo Hyuk. That couldn't be healthy.

Finally, after fighting himself for almost an hour for some mental topic that wouldn't evoke thoughts of Woo Hyuk, Tony dozed off, curled onto the couch and still feeling the headache from earlier.
~~~

"Sorry you couldn't stay over," Kangta apologised briefly to his friend.

"I'll call you tomorrow." Woo Hyuk stepped into his apartment and shut the door behind himself after delivering to Kangta one final wave goodnight.

Turning, he scanned the room to see if Tony had stayed up or gone to bed. With no signs of life throughout the apartment as far as he could see or hear, Woo Hyuk breathed a sigh of relief. One more problem that could wait until tomorrow. After all, his head was killing him from the lecture their manager had given them.

He poked his head into the living room to see if Tony had left any electronics on, and saw the man curled on the couch. The image was adorable to Woo Hyuk, Tony's hands curled against himself, his leg brought almost to his chest, a look of innocence on his round face. As quietly as he could, Woo Hyuk retrieved a blanket from the hall closet and draped it over Tony, taking time and care to tuck him in thoroughly.

As Woo Hyuk tucked the blanket further up, under Tony's sides, then his shoulders, he bagan to feel unexpectedly nervous. He gently slid a hand down Tony's cheek as he kissed the man's forehead. Pulling away only slightly, Woo Hyuk studied the man's face. Impulsively, Woo Hyuk leaned in and landed a gentle, loving kiss to Tony's lips. He wished the man wasn't mad at him about his secrecy, but how could he tell him the one thing that could separate them so easily? How could he tell this precious, perfect being something that could shatter his whole view of their friendship forever? How could he tell him that... "Saranghaeyo," Woo Hyuk whispered before standing and heading toward his bedroom.