House of Sin ‖ an rp discussion

Song Haneul and Park Eunwoo live here.

Mod

Haneul was tired — exhausted, even. Even though all he did was sit there and talk to people about how to fix their problems, it somehow took a lot out of him. He'd been intending to cook dinner once he got home — but the moment he'd sat down, he'd lost any energy to stand up that he'd previously possessed. He could already feel himself drifting off, on the verge of falling asleep, and he knew that even if he could get up, he wouldn't be able to stay awake enough to cook.

One day, he had promised, he would teach Eunwoo how to cook. But realistically, he knew that would be a long time in the future, after Eunwoo had finished his residency at least — so for the time being, Haneul needed to figure out how he was going to cope with being exhausted but having no food. As well as finding time to buy more stuff.

Groaning, he got off the couch and walked into the kitchen, searching for something he could make without putting in much effort. Pasta would work, he supposed — they hadn't had it for around a week, now, so it wouldn't be eating the same thing too many times in a row. He pulled vegetables at random from the fridge — anything that looked like it needed to be used soon, or that would taste good — and, after much internal debate, got the bacon out of the freezer. Trying to separate the sheets of bacon from one another proved to be difficult, especially with his hair falling in his face, slightly too short to be tied back and slightly too long to not be a problem.

It occurred to him that he wouldn't hear or see Eunwoo arrive when he got back, because the front door was down the hallway from the kitchen and living room, and because the noise he was making with cutting things would drown out the soft sound of the door closing. So long as Eunwoo didn't sneak up on him, though, it wouldn't be a problem.

Eunwoo thought he knew exactly what he was signing up for when he registered for the medical school and then later for his job at the hospital. Yeah, being a surgeon was nothing like what people see on TV. It's not rejoicing every five minutes because another life was saved at the hands of a genius doctor. It's actually short moments of silence every hour or so because someone else passed away under their care. The stress of the job was slowly catching up to him, making him doubt every decision he made. An insecure doctor can still get the job done but an anxious and doubtful doctor was sure to leave a string of bodies in his wake.

But Eunwoo was careful. He was stressed, sure, but he worked harder than anyone he knew. He had memorized every procedure and technique out there and he never walks in an operating room if he does not know how to do everything exactly. From the way he holds the scalpel to the way he washes his hands, everything Eunwoo does is exact and routine. He always puts his patients first, especially their safety. He's tired of the lack of sleep and he's tried of all the extra grunt work. But Eunwoo still has a fire inside him found only in the new doctors who first step inside the hospital, fresh out of medical school. He has to keep his excitement at bay whenever he is assigned new surgeries, especially ones he has never done before or surgeries they rarely get.

Eunwoo overworked himself all the time. It was just like him to wake up at 4 am to go to the hospital and end his shift at 9 at night. He had no regrets and no complaints. But his body complained by showing just how fatigued it was. Eunwoo was still as bright as ever, smile radiating in friendliness towards his patients and an excited competition towards his peers. But he was slightly paler, much thinner, and his eyes were darker and more sullen. He also had a lot of tremors at night from his body crying for help. He paid no attention to his health though. He needed to worry about other people's health before his own. They counted on him and trusted him.

Eunwoo shut the front door to his and Haneul's house. It was just him there until Haneul moved back a few months ago. But Eunwoo was more than happy to live together with his best friend. He trusted Haneul and relied on him for almost everything. Eunwoo noticed how quiet the house was but he heard rummaging coming from the kitchen. With an easy smile on his face to hide just how tired he really was, Eunwoo makes his way to the kitchen to find Haneul hovering over the stove. HE was probably making pasta, judging by the ingredients out on the counters. Eunwoo knocks on the door frame to make his presence known. Haneul hated it when Eunwoo sneaked up on him and Eunwoo was too tired to make the effort anyways.

"Hey..." he begins, letting the rest of his greeting drop. He was going to wait until they were seated and eating until he started asking Haneul about his day. He also needed to change, since he was still in his scrubs.

Mod

Haneul glanced up from his cooking at Eunwoo. "Hey." He could tell that Eunwoo was tired — though it didn't exactly require much deduction. He worked ridiculous hours at a hospital, and it was a mark of just how ridiculous they were that he left the house several hours before Haneul and got back several hours after him. As much as Haneul wished he could do something about it, he knew that it was Eunwoo's choice — and the hospital could always use more staff. So for now he would settle for forcing Eunwoo to sleep in on weekends — even if it was only until six, it was still over two hours extra, and if he convinced him to stay in bed until Haneul had finished making breakfast, then he'd at least be resting until eight.

"Go get changed, have a shower — dinner's nowhere near finished." At the very least, there were a good twenty minutes before it was done. A shower would help Eunwoo to relax — and it would give Haneul space to change his mind's current course to something more conducive to talking to Eunwoo.

He wasn't sure when it had started — probably long before he noticed. But for the past few weeks (or months? or maybe even years? It had been slowly happening for as long as they'd known each other, Haneul suspected) he had become acutely aware of the way his heart behaved around Eunwoo. He had initially labelled it as a crush, something he could get over reasonably easily, but as it refused to go away no matter what he did, it became apparent to Haneul that this feeling was much deeper than he had thought.

For a psychologist, he was laughably bad at introspection.

It wasn't that Eunwoo didn't respect what Haneul did- because he did respect it and admired him- but he was just worried about him. Being a psychologist, Haneul had an open ear and an open mind to anyone that needed him. But who was the open who listened to Haneul and helped him with his own problems? Eunwoo did his best to be that person for him.

Eunwoo nodded at Haneul's suggestions and he gripped the bottom of his shirt and lifted the piece of clothing over his head. He had a few blotches on blood on it and he couldn't wait to take it off. He started walking over to his bedroom, that also had a private bathroom inside. Their two bedroom house both had private bathrooms. Eunwoo didn't feel shy in the least to be stripping in front of Haneul. In fact, he was so nonchalant about it, he was already only in his underwear before he even reached his room. They grew up with each other, it was only natural they were this comfortable around each other.

The shower did the best it could do to make Eunwoo relax. But he was so far from a relaxed state, he needed professional help just to get rid of the tension knots on his back. Maybe a day with a masseuse would help.

He walked out of his room with a trail of steam following him. His wet hair was mostly dry but sat in a curly and messy clump on his heat, a few locks falling into his eyes. His pastel pink shirt clung to his damp back but he felt the need to hurry up and not keep Haneul waiting. Eunwoo pulled out a chair and sat down at the table, waiting for Haneul to finish.

Mod

Haneul hadn't thought when he'd made the suggestion. If he had, he would have remembered that Eunwoo rarely bothered with privacy — why would he, when it was just the two of them? They'd known each other for long enough that it wasn't weird.

But the fact that Eunwoo saw him as a friend was reinforced by his actions. Haneul wasn't bitter, but some part of his heart broke a little every time that happened. Knowing that he would never be anything more than a close friend and that no matter how hard he tried he could probably never fully erase his feelings — it hurt.

Haneul returned his focus to cooking, doing his best to move on. There was no point in thinking about ‘that stuff’, and he had yet to finish the sauce. It didn't taste quite right, but he couldn't figure out what it was missing. So he settled for leaving it to stay warm while the water boiled and he set the table.

By the time Eunwoo had emerged from the shower (clothed, to Haneul's relief — he wouldn't put it past Eunwoo to forego a shirt in favour of food), he had finished, and was serving it out. One benefit of the two being close friends for so long was Haneul could predict that Eunwoo would always be starving by dinner time (even if he ate lunch, that was usually nine or ten hours prior to getting hime), and he was pretty much an expert at figuring out portion sizes for the two of them. Glancing at the amount that was left once both plates were served, he guessed there would be enough for lunches for the next few days — which meant that they could wake up later without having to to rush to get everything ready, something that would be very beneficial to Eunwoo in particular.

He carried the plates out, setting them down at the table, where Eunwoo was already seated. "How was your day?"

Eunwoo should have made the effort to set up the table for the both of them but he knew he couldn't get up the minute he sat down in the chair. Eunwoo felt guilty for being away so much and letting Haneul take care of the house all by himself. He asked if he could take the day off tomorrow since he had no surgeries planned and in a town such as this one, there rarely were any emergency medical cases.

Eunwoo smiled at the question, his eyes lighting up once more as he thought back to the events of the day. Today especially was hectic. He sat up and leaned forward a bit in his seat, excitement radiating off of him. " So damn hectic, oh my god, you won't believe what I saw in the morning. So you know the party the Monroes next door had last night, right? I walk into the hospital and there's this kid from the party with a knife in his head. And he was completely functioning. I mean, I've always heard of cases like that but I've never seen one in real life." He pauses, wondering if Haneul shared his excitement. But he settled with a smile and took his plate and cutlery and set them in front of him before pouring himself pasta.

" How about you, bee? How was your day?" He asked, using a childhood nickname he had given Haneul. Eunwoo loved bees and when they were younger, Haneul reminded him of one.

Mod

Haneul smiled at Eunwoo's excitement. Other people might think it was weird, but Haneul found it cute that Eunwoo could get so excited over things like that — and he did see where he was coming from, it was kind of cool that people were capable of having a knife stuck through their head and surviving. "I'm not sure whether I'm more interested in how he survived that or how it happened."

At the question, he shrugged. "It was alright. The usual stuff — people with anger management problems, people with depression, people with anxiety, people who wanted me to tell them what was wrong with them. Sometimes I think they think I can magically tell exactly what's going on." His job wasn't nearly as dramatic or interesting as Eunwoo's, but he helped people — and that was what really mattered to him. Besides, he was never really able to divulge particularly many details, without breaking the code of ethics.

god this is short, sorry

it's all good
Eunwoo laughed at Haneul's comment, relating to him on a rather sad level. Eunwoo should have known how he survived and how it happened and what parts of the brain were effected and all the possible outcomes that could have ended the night. But as soon as Eunwoo saw the man, his brain shut down and his 2 years old self in a candy store emerged. " I have to admit, I was fighting the urge to poke the knife to see if anything would happen, but he's safe, thank god. I mean... he's not gonna be the same person he was since the knife lesioned his frontal lobe, but he'll live." He explained, his shoulder sagging now that the intitial excitement wore off.

Eunwoo nodded as he listened to Haneul, eyes softening at the sight of his best friend speaking and eating alongside him. They were so domestic and comfortable with each other that it made Eunwoo thankful for having met the man. He wouldn't be where he was now if it wasn't for Haneul support and care. " You're so heroic, Haneul, if I had to listen to all these people's problems, I'd probably quit on the first day. But I meant how was your day, not your patients' day. Did you eat breakfast? Lunch? Did you take a break today or did you keep working?" He asked him in curiously. He felt like they weren't speaking enough. Eunwoo would leave early and come back late and collapse in his bed after dinner, if he ate dinner at all. They barely spoke anymore.

Mod

Haneul shrugged. "You'd hardly expect someone to be the same if they had a knife embedded in their brain." So long as he doesn't get more patients because of this — his schedule is already full, and he'd like to avoid overfilling it. Because it's him, and he can never turn someone down — even when he's got ten hour-long appointments in the same day, he'll ask if they can come at seven-thirty at night, and then he'll race home after so that there's something to eat when Eunwoo gets home. So if people just stay neurotypical, then he can avoid having to do that and he won't disappoint anyone.

He shook his head. "Any psychologist can do it. It's part of getting your certification — you have to be able to separate your feelings from the situation." Eunwoo's concerns were, while noble, entirely unnecessary — if Haneul skipped his lunch break in favour of fitting in more appointments, he'd often eat during the appointments. "This is my third meal of the day. What about you? Did you eat? Am I going to have to complain to your co-workers about making sure you take breaks?" He carefully avoided mentioning whether or not he'd taken a break — he hadn't, in fact, and had eaten half his lunch while he was waiting for one of his patients to arrive. The other half was still untouched. But Eunwoo didn't need to know that.

Eunwoo exasperatedly groaned, Haneul's concerns embarrassing him. Eunwoo didn't mind the younger man worrying about him but he wasn't used to it. He hadn't has anyone besides Haneul even ask how his day went and genuinely mean in. Eunwoo looked down in shame, as if Haneul was going to scold him. He probably would. " Eh. I ate a few protein bars on my way to emergency rooms, but yah..." he trailed off, pushing the pasta around his plate. He was absolutely starving but he had lost his appetite. Eunwoo hated when he was the cause of Haneul's worry. Haneul had practically dedicated his life to taking care of Eunwoo, he wanted to give him a break and also return the favor, But if Eunwoo couldn't take care of himself, how did he expect himself to take care of his best friend; whom he most times valued more than himself.

Eunwoo decided to look up and cease Haneul's worries. He broke out in a large grin and pushes his hand across the table, slowly taking Haneul's in his and interlacing their fingers. " Don't worry about me Haneul." He simply stated, not knowing what else he can say to ease Haneul's mind. He knew that no matter what he said or did, Haneul would continue to worry about him.