poppyseed

Moon Shihyun has cut his hair. It's the first thing Hanbin notices, though as his eyes dart around it isn't the last. Shihyun is wearing a simple outfit, one of his favorites, slim black jeans and a white t-shirt under a denim jacket. The puffer he must have been wearing overtop is draped over his arm, much like Hao and Hanbin's respective coats are draped over their own in the artificial heat of this part of the greenhouse. Shihyun is wearing silver earrings that come down into dagger-like points where they hang from his earlobes, and he's swapped his nose ring for a stud. It emphasizes his delicate nose bridge, the round point it comes to ever since he got surgery for a birthday a few years back. His eyes, so dark brown they're black in most lights, hold none of the fondness he used to save for Hanbin when they first got together. No, what's familiar is his current expression: disbelief warring with irritation, a change from the usual only in that there's also desperation sitting underneath.

"Hanbin," Shihyun says again. He's looking at Hanbin's hand, which is still holding Hao's. "You never messaged me back."

"I have nothing to say to you," Hanbin returns. Though he tries to keep his voice even, he's sure they can all hear the wobble in it. Hao's hand squeezes his — a reassurance, or maybe a question.

There's something unreal about this moment, like if Hanbin closes his eyes and walks away it won't have really happened. Perhaps it feels unreal because it's truly the worst possible outcome. Of all the ways Hanbin thought this might happen — talking to Shihyun again, telling Hao about the past relationship, all of it — a confrontation with all three of them present had been at the very bottom of his list.