It’s a lot easier to find Hyunjun than Junhee had first thought.
He had started off with Dae Hyuk guiding him, but the younger boy had a horrible sense of direction and was too used to being carted around in vans with black-tinted windows. He’d gotten them both lost, too busy trying to catch Junhee up on Hyunjun’s latest activities, like radio show promotions for ACE’s last comebacks, and being a guest star on reality shows. Luckily, Junhee’s subconscious brain had realized where he was going, and somehow managed to pull through.
Instead of taking them to Star Entertainment like Junhee had thought, he’d walked right past it, down the streets to a rich-looking suburb. The two former idols find themselves in front of the door of a quaint little house with a blue-painted door and white picket fences. It doesn’t feel like coming home, not quite just yet, but Junhee feels like he’s had a weight taken off his shoulders. It’s familiar enough to be comfortable, yet not enough to be welcoming.
“Wow,” Dae Hyuk whispers, “is this where you and Hyunjun-hyung live?”
Junhee looks around, trying to deduce the most likely places for a spare key. He hadn’t found a key in his bag, so there must be one around, right? “Why are you whispering?” He asks Dae Hyuk. It might be a little hypocritical of him, but he’s also whispering.
“I feel like I’m too broke to even be here,” Dae Hyuk admits. “If I talk louder, I’m scared someone will hear me and tell me off for being loud.”
“Hyuk-ah, I’m sorry to break the news, but you’re literally a ghost right now. The only person who looks insane here is me.” To the mortal eye, Junhee is muttering to himself while flipping over carpets and poking around plant pots while looking like a robber.
Junhee smacks his forehead on a dangling guitar decoration when he stands up after checking under the chair in the front yard. “Ow, motherfucker!” Why is it so much heavier than it looks?
“Sunbae!” Dae Hyuk cries. “You swore!”
“Oh,” Junhee realizes, completely ignoring Dae Hyuk’s overdramatic gasping. “I’ve been so stupid.”
He reaches towards the tiny guitar, humming under his breath as he presses down on a few frets. “A, C, E,” Dae Hyuk sounds out. “Oh!” True to Junhee’s intuition, the guitar decoration springs open, revealing a spare key tucked inside. “Sunbaenim, that’s so smart!”
Junhee grins. “Time to go home. You wanna come along?”
“Sunbaenim, I would love to, but I really don’t want to intrude, and…” Dae Hyuk pales, almost going translucent. He’s shaking. “I feel like I shouldn’t go in. I don’t know why, but I feel like something scary is in there.”
“The scariest thing in there is probably Hyunjun,” Junhee mutters dryly. “But I’m not scared of him.” Dae Hyuk looks skeptical. “Don’t worry about me, how bad can a roommate be?”
“Still, I’ll wait for you outside, sunbae.”
The key fits perfectly into the lock, and it opens with a click. Junhee steps into the house and lets the door swing shut behind him.
"Home sweet home," he says out loud to the empty living room. Reflexively, he leaves his sneakers by the door, slipping on a pair of blue slippers. He knows the gray ones that have been haphazardly kicked aside can't belong to him. He’s not that messy.
The living room is relatively clean, although there are spots of dust here and there, and there are a few takeout boxes which haven’t been thrown out yet. It looks lived-in, and Junhee finds framed photographs on a shelf, a string of polaroids clipped on the wall above the sofa. He recognizes himself in most of them, and the silver-haired man standing next to him in all of them must be Hyunjun. That means Hyunjun must be his friend from the polaroid in his phone case.
He can’t help but smile, looking at all those inaccessible memories. They’re both dressed up for some of them, casual in others. They’re wearing matching jackets with matching eyeshadow in one of them, both of them grinning as they hold a trophy together. It’s from the Korean music awards - a Daesang! Impressive. Junhee doesn’t have to be a seasoned detective to guess they won it together, although he doesn’t know what they had won it for. For a moment, he hears the sound of a synth bass in his head, a voice whispering along stop, baby don’t stop along to the kick drums. Maybe that was the song? It sounds catchy.
Junhee freezes in front of the door of his probable bedroom when a key clicks in the lock of the door outside. It creaks as it swings open, and Junhee freezes like he’s a thief instead of the supposed co-inhabitant of this house.
Half a minute passes with Junhee standing in silence, his heart drumming in his chest. Why are there no footsteps? If Hyunjun had just gotten back, wouldn’t he have come in by now?
Junhee turns around to check, only to get slammed against the door. He’s frozen in surprise, too winded to fight back when his hands end up pinned up above his head. He stares up with wide eyes at the silver-haired man looming over him who effectively has him trapped in a kabedon. It’s the same man from the photos, alright. They’ve got the same heterochromatic night-black and storm-gray gaze, sharp cheekbones and tiny scar on the right eye.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Hyunjun?” Instead of a steady question, it comes up as a breathy gasp. His heart is beating in sixteenth-beats. Junhee winces to himself. Embarrassing! “It’s me, um, Junhee? I’m back.”
“Jun!” Hyunjun stumbles back, ripping his own mask and cap off and tossing them both aside. Short silver hair tied up in a half-pony comes tumbling out, bangs covering half of his face. “Shit, I’m sorry, I thought you were-”
“Someone else?” Junhee finishes sympathetically. He chuckles to himself, removing his own cap and mask and placing both into his bag. “It’s alright, I would’ve thought I was a thief too.”
Before Junhee knows it, he’s being wrapped up by a pair of lean arms, pulled flush against the other man’s body. The two of them are standing close enough for Junhee to smell Hyunjun’s cologne. It’s vanilla, sweet and rich. Hyunjun’s grip is rigid, but the telltale beat of his racing heart gives his desperation away. “I missed you.”
It’s only three simple words, but it makes Junhee’s chest squeeze all the same. “I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long.”
“No, don’t- Don’t apologize. I know what happened, and it’s not your fault.” Junhee tries to ease himself out of Hyunjun’s embrace, but the other man holds on just a little tighter. “Stay a while longer, please? Just so I know you’re real, and I’m not dreaming.”
Junhee can’t bring himself to say no.
Hyunjun exhales, breath fanning against Junhee’s neck as he presses his face against Junhee’s shoulder. “I thought I lost you.”
“But you didn’t.” Junhee steps away with a small smile. “I’m still here, safe and sound. Well, I don’t really remember much, since I apparently have amnesia, but I still found you, didn’t I?”
“That you did,” Hyunjun agrees. Now that they aren’t hugging anymore, he seems more uncertain, hands wavering like he isn’t sure where to put them. He leads them back to the living room, flopping onto the sofa. Junhee follows suit, perched on the edge instead of splayed out like Hyunjun. “So, where have you been these past few weeks?”
“I got adopted by a detective,” Junhee admits. “Her name is Ahn Minji. I told her I didn’t remember who I am or where I live, so she agreed to help me search for information about me and let me stay in her flat in exchange for me being her sidekick. Basically, I just help out with the housework when her housemate isn’t here and feed her ego by telling her her deductions are right, and she treats me like I’m one of the stray cats she takes in.”
Hyunjun laughs softly, nudging Junhee with an elbow. “What a far cry from an idol’s life, huh? From worldwide superstar to stay-at-home catboy. So, where is Miss Detective now, hm? I don’t see her around.”
Junhee leans back against the arm of the couch, refusing to comment on being called a catboy. It’s much more comfortable than the ratty, cat-shredded sofa Minji has at her apartment. He has the inexplicable urge to shift his legs onto Hyunjun’s lap, and he knows it’s probably a remnant of old habits, but it would be rude to do it to someone who’s effectively a stranger now, wouldn’t it? Even if Hyunjun’s thighs look comfortable… Junhee gives himself a mental slap on the cheek.
“I left her behind at the ‘agency’, and I tried to go to Star Entertainment but I ended up here instead. Minji took me along to investigate Dae Hyuk’s case, and… I guess I felt bad finding out he was my hoobae and I was just a useless sunbae relying on other people’s help.”
“Oh, so you remember your fanboy hoobae, but not your best and most important friend?” Hyunjun pouts, leaning closer. “I’m hurt, jagiya. I thought you loved me enough to be the first person you remembered.”
Junhee splutters. “I just know his name and I’ve heard things about his personality, you know, to guess who would have a grudge against him!” He pushes Hyunjun away by the nose, ignoring the reddening of his cheeks. “And who’s your jagiya!”
Hyunjun pouts even more, looking half pitiful, half pathetic. “What? But I used to call you that all the time, and you would respond! Junie-yah, you don’t love me anymore?”
Something slips into his mind, not quite a complete memory but a phantom of something special.
Jagiya, pass me the salt? Hyunjun’s voice echoes in his head.
Jagi-aniya, Junhee vaguely remembers himself saying in response, but here’s your salt.
Junhee looks at Hyunjun, completely and utterly deadpan. He is most definitely Not affected by incomplete memories of domestic bliss. “I don’t have to remember anything to know you’re just bullshitting. I can see it on your face. You're as obvious as ever.”
The pout melts away into a grin, and Junhee can’t help but notice that Hyunjun’s canines are sharp and slightly crooked and honestly kind of cute, much to his half-hearted dismay. “Damn, and here I was hoping you’d fall for it. You have the cutest reactions to being teased.”
What a peculiar thing to say to someone you claim is your best friend, but Junhee can’t help but feel like they’ve been toeing the line between friendly banter and not-quite-friendly one-sided flirting from Hyunjun. Junhee would like to retaliate, really! It’s just that he doesn’t quite have the confidence just yet. The best he can do is act cute, so he tries copying Hyunjun’s pout, lips jutting out and eyes large. “I’m being bullied!”
Hyunjun makes a sound like he’s been shot in the chest, falling backwards dramatically. “You’ve never used that kind of tactic against me, goddammit! Don’t do aegyo with me, I really can’t handle it!”
Junhee swats at Hyunjun, snorting. "You're so melodramatic, hyung." It's so easy to fall into this comfortable back-and-forth conversation, like his lips already know what to say even when his mind doesn't. It's as natural as humming. "If you don't have anything else to do, maybe you could come into my room with me? Maybe I'd remember things if you gave me hints."
Hyunjun wiggles his eyebrows, and Junhee gives the other man a flick on the forehead before he can say anything questionable. "Don't say it. Don't you dare say it. I don't want to hear anything like you comparing me to an innocent virgin or whatever."
Hyunjun laughs, eyes bright. "I wasn't going to say anything sussy, trust me! Even if you are a virgin, and forever innocent in my eyes." He bats his eyelashes, much to Junhee's endeared exasperation
"Absolutely," Junhee drawls. "Like I'd trust you with my life."
"Not if you knew the truth," Hyunjun mutters, so quiet Junhee misses it.