When Jongwoon misses someone, he’s insufferable about it.

It’s not even a conscious decision to do so, but he makes sure everyone around him will know about it, besides the person in question that he is missing.

Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, Donghae and Jongjin had lost count of the number of times Jongwoon had dragged them to Mobit for a “nice catch-up with my favourite dongsaeng”, because it would simply end up with Jongwoon waxing poetics about everything Hyukjae. Oh, you’re ordering the strawberry latte? Hyukjae really likes that drink too… Did you see Hyukjae’s airport photos? He looks so good… Should we get abura soba for dinner today? Hyuk-ah would usually eat that with me on the weekends… Do you think Dongba is taking care of himself? Aish, he can be such a pabo sometimes…

Enough is enough! After being asked out for the third time in two weeks, Kyuhyun decided to create a support group chat for the four of them. So far, they have been compiling an excel timesheet of all the times Jongwoon had met up with them, and the number of times he mentioned his boyfriend during each meetings. Poor Jongjin currently holds the highest record of sitting through a six hour shopping trip with his hyung, with 44 mentions of Hyukjae from Jongwoon. The four of them plan to submit the Jongwoon hyung’s Down Bad Log Sheet.xlsx to the couple eventually, to demand for monetary compensation for their time and their mental health, after the whole ordeal ends when Hyukjae returns from his travels.

It wasn’t like Hyukjae was completely missing from action either. The younger had simply went on a family vacation in Europe, and Jongwoon, though invited, was too caught up with his solo album preparations and Yessay filming, so he was unable to tag along. Honestly, Jongwoon did not expect himself to be missing Hyukjae so much too, but maybe it was the gloomy autumn season that made him more sentimental and melancholic, or maybe he loved Hyukjae way more than he expected, but Jongwoon had been waking up feeling extra empty ever since Hyukjae left for the trip.

I wonder how did Hyukjae feel when I was away for work the other time… The older wondered as he mulled over the sheet of song lyrics that he was trying to churn out. Did he miss me as much too?

(Oh, Kim Jongwoon, you have no idea…)

Realising that he had been staring blankly at a blank page of his song lyrics notebook for the past ten minutes with absolutely no inspiration coming to him, Jongwoon reached for his phone and tapped into his chat box with Hyukjae.

The younger had sent him hundreds of photos since the start of his trip, updating him whenever he visited a new attraction or ate a satisfying meal. Hyung, since you can’t be here, I’ll travel harder on your behalf! Look at the world through my eyes, okay!!! Try not to miss your handsome boyfriend too much~ was the message that Jongwoon would read over and over again, because it was the sweetest message ever and of course, his boyfriend would still be a brat even when he was sweet.

Looking through the different photos of his lover enjoying himself during the trip, Jongwoon found himself smiling and suddenly, it felt like all the words for the song lyrics that were previously stuck in the back of his head were finally able to flow. Ah, of course, he was stuck because he was missing his muse, who would have known, right?

Immediately, he picked up his pen and started scribbling away. Words gushed out easily, as if he hadn’t been stuck in a creativity block for the past few hours. He wrote about the bright crescent moon that was smiling back at him through the window, he wrote about strawberry-flavoured kisses, he wrote about missing someone so much that it mildly debilitates you, he wrote about—

His phone rang.

Without glancing at the caller ID, he picked up the call, too fixated on getting the words out of his system lest they slip away.

“Hello?”

“Jongwoon-ah!”

His writing halted.

“Sora?”

“Yeah! Jongwoon-ah, how are you?”

Despite his confusion, Jongwoon chuckled at how happy Sora sounded over the phone. “I’m good, how’s Croatia? Are you eating well? Is Eomma adjusting well to the climate there? Is Hyukjae still being a brat?”

There was a hearty laugh over the phone. “It’s beautiful here! We are eating well, Hyukjae has the tastebuds of a child though, so he didn’t like some food here. Eomma is happy and well. She really liked looking at the architecture here. It would have been nice if you were here too. Your Hyukjae though—”

Sora got cut off abruptly, and there were rustling noises from the other end of the call. Jongwoon could also vaguely hear his boyfriend’s loud ‘Noona!’ in the background. The older furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled and almost worried.

“Sora?”

“—oops, sorry, Jongwoon-ah. I was saying— Yah! Lee Hyukjae stop poking me!— Actually, I called you because— Lee Hyukjae, you poke me one more time and I’m complaining to Jongwoon about you! And when he scolds you, I’ll laugh at you!” There was a pause, and then, “Okay! Yes, Jongwoon, I called to tell you that Hyukjae is being absolutely insufferable these few days because he is missing you too much. So I’m begging you, to call and text him more, because if I have to drink his coffee for him one more time because he ordered them thinking of you but ended up hating the taste of it… I can’t guarantee that I will not ditch your boyfriend back in Europe when I fly back to Korea.”

Jongwoon burst out laughing. Aish… his stupid Dongba… and to think he was trying to refrain from bothering the other man too much so that Hyukjae could enjoy himself on the trip… they are both simps for each other, huh.

“Yah! How can you laugh?! Do you know that I had to drink four cups of cold brew yesterday??! I thought I could smell colours by the end of the day. Your lousy boyfriend—”

Sora was cut off again, there were more shuffling noises and suddenly, a familiar voice voice rang through the phone.

“Hyung!”

Jongwoon found his smile growing even wider.

“Hyukjae-ah?”

“Hyungggggggg! What did noona say to you? I swear she’s just saying nonsense!” Jongwoon could even imagine the pout on Hyukjae’s face, he had to hold himself back from making cooing noises.

“Oh, is it? So it was nonsense when she said that you missed me? You don’t miss me?”

“W-What? No! Of course, I miss you!”

The older feigned a sigh. “Aigoo… poor me… here I am, missing you so much. But you don’t even miss me at all. I guess I’ll just continue missing you by myself… have fun without me, Hyukjae-ah…”

“Nooooooooooooo! Hyung! I miss you so much… I can’t wait to go back home to hug you… I miss you…”

How could anyone not melt at such an endearing Lee Hyukjae? Jongwoon shook his head in defeat. Ahh, really, he was so in love, it was almost embarrassing. Outside, the crescent moon continued to smile back at him, amidst the dark skies.

“Yeah, yeah, okay. I know you missed me, Dongba. I miss you a lot too. Let’s talk more often, okay? Call me whenever you want, show me everything that you like over there, I want to see all the places with you. I’ll call you more often whenever I’m not busy too, yeah? I’ll keep track of all the calls that you missed from me, and that’s the number of times you’ll have to do the laundry for the two of us.”

“W-What? Hyung! That’s not fair! You might sneak attack on me and call me at 4AM! Hyung!”

“I guess you’ll always have to be ready then~”

“Jongwoon hyung …”

The petulance in Hyukjae’s voice made Jongwoon’s heart squeeze tightly. He couldn’t wait for his lover to be back.

“Yah. I’m joking, okay? Sleep well, and have fun, my Dongba. I’ll pick you up at the airport in a few days time. I’ll end the call now, so you can continue travelling, yeah? I miss you and I love you a lot, Hyukkie.”

“I miss you too. I love you a lot too, hyung. I can’t wait to go home to you.”

The call ended with Jongwoon feeling the most sated and at ease he had been ever since Hyukjae’s departure. It surprised him how little it took for him to feel so happy after all the unsettling yearning for the past two weeks. Refreshed and basking in the sweetness in the air, Jongwon picked up the pen, flipped to a new page of his notebook, and words flowed.

So I’m waiting for you

Just tell me all the places you want to go

Anywhere, let’s go

We’ll be happy