wooju realizes that they're too close. probably not to the usual onlooker, or the viewers even – but they're too close between two people that are what they are. whatever they are, wooju doesn't quite know the word for it. once upon a time he'd given hyeongyu his world, only to have hyeongyu give it back with tears that wooju didn't get to witness, tears that he wasn't sure were genuine.
but wooju is a fool, he realizes this when he allows himself to sink so easily into hyeongyu's personal space. it shouldn't be so odd anyway, the both of them have a long history together. a simple naver search, and one would realize that they attended the same school together. pry a little deeper, and there might be some pann posts about how hyeongyu and wooju were close as schoolmates. pry too much, and you'd find rumours of how wooju skipped school often because of his training schedule, and would only ever magically appear during physical education classes.
that's as far as the public knows though, and in wooju's mind, he wishes that that was as far as the both of them ever were. maybe that way he wouldn't have this annoying pang in his chest whenever he looked at hyeongyu, wouldn't have to think about 'what was' and could instead think about the 'what ifs'. what ifs always seemed to hurt less anyway.
he's well aware of the fact that he's told hyeongyu that he'd be less cold now, despite the fact that being cold in itself was his first line of defence when it came to protecting his heart from the very person that destroyed it. but wooju's figured that he's a weak weak man, and if the first line of defence doesn't work, then he'd have to quickly find another.
it's not fair though. wooju doesn't know how he's supposed to pretend that he's unaffected by hyeongyu when he's like this. and so he just listens to hyeongyu speak – like he always has – about some bird, with a smile on his face. he's tempted to reach out, to pinch hyeongyu's cheek, but he doesn't. an act of professionalism on his end. he feels pathetic, so easily affected by hyeongyu despite what the younger boy had put him through.
a part of him can't wait to get this over and done with and to not have to face hyeongyu like this again. a part of him never wants it to end, thinks of it as a good excuse to stay close to the wonder member. wooju wants to split his brain into two.
hyeongyu doesn't even give wooju any time to reply, running off like he always does. wooju's noticed this, even more so in these last few years they've bumped into each other from time to time in a professional setting. he doesn't call hyeongyu out on it. he has no right to.
"i'm close to some other wonder members, so yeah, maybe," he says, voice teasing – but there's an edge to it. he wants to see if he affects hyeongyu as much as hyeongyu does him. it's cruel, sick, masked as a joke so he can easily cower away if it doesn't bode well. this time, he's the one that doesn't allow hyeongyu to reply.
"why are you trying to get every member's signature? i'm not your favourite anymore?" he asks, but there's no malice in his voice. if hyeongyu's moved on, then so be it. after their break up, wooju's knows better than to expect to be special. even if they were once best friends. even if the cameras do catch it, they might be able to brush it off as friendly banter.
wooju nods his head, settling himself beside hyeongyu. "yeah, let's do it hoobae-nim," he jokes, smiling. he takes in a deep breath, professional mode on. for now he's no longer wooju, he's woo, maknae of hiraeth. "you should read out the first question."
