Chapter 20

Today was Monday—another day of college. Ju-woon walked into his first class, expecting to see Min-ho there, but... he wasn't. Whatever, probably late, Ju-woon thought. He waited, but still no Min-ho. He guessed Min-ho just skipped class again. No big deal.

The remainder of the day passed, while Ju-woon waited for Min-ho to come and start annoying him, but nothing. No Min-ho. All day felt wrong. Ju-woon wandered around the campus half-expecting to run into him somewhere, but he might as well have dropped off the face of the earth.

At the end of the day, Ju-woon was vaguely wondering: Where was Min-ho? Did he ditch all day? Weird. That was really strange for Ju-woon, as he was fast becoming accustomed to Min-ho's usual ploys, but now he couldn't quite find him.

The following day turned apparent to Ju-woon as nothing but a repeat of yesterday's absence, with no sign of Min-ho. So he didn't wait further, just assumed that Min-ho was once again bunking. Same story on the very next day... and the very next again. This continued all week long. Ju-woon was irritated by Friday. His days just felt empty. Nothing interesting would happen. The same people and the same routine was boring him now.

He sighed with that and put his head on the desk. Late class today, and he was ready at last to go to bed. It was six in the evening; the class was almost finished. He was already dreaming about the weekend, how nice it would be sleeping in with no worries about class tomorrow. But just as he was daydreaming about how great a Saturday would be, his phone buzzed. He checked the reminder. Late night volleyball practice. 

Shit. He completely forgot. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. Just not Fridays, 

He had spent the rest of class in a bad mood. He could not believe that he had practice after all that. That practice was actually on campus, which did not require him to go very far. Still, it was late and everyone was tired. By the time practice wrapped up around 11, they were all too tired to cook so they headed to a café for food. 

However late it was, none of them wanted to end the day without having eaten. Actually, by the time they were done eating and went their separate ways, it was already close to 2 in the morning. 

No way was Ju-woon going to call a cab. He decided to take the subway home. It was going to be a very peaceful ride at this time of night anyway. Who else would be riding the subway at 2 in the morning? He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked downstairs to the subway entrance, but as soon as he hit the bottom, he stopped. 

There was someone sitting on the bench. A mysterious figure, just waiting for the train. Ju-woon didn't pretty much think anything of it at first. He couldn't see the person's face, and to be honest, he really didn't care. He just sat beside them and was about to drink some water from the bottle when the person next to him grabbed his hand and took it instead. 

"Ju-woon? Aren't you going to say hi to your friend?" said the person. 

Ju-woons eye twitched. He could recognize that stupid voice from miles away. 

And, of course, it was Min-ho.

It hit him then—Min-ho hadn't been in class the whole week. Ju-woon blinked, suddenly remembering.

"Hey! Don't just ask me stupid questions, why haven't you been coming to class? I-I was worried..."

Ju-woon didn't know why he said that last part. It felt stupid, but it was out there now.

Min-ho's eyes went wide for a second, and he looked genuinely shocked.

"You? You worried about me?" Min-ho smirked. "Ju-woon, you say the most out-of-pocket things sometimes."

Ju-woon didn't care about that right now. He just wanted answers.

"Answer the fucking question," he demanded. "Why didn't you come for a whole week?"

Min-ho shrugged nonchalantly. "Chill, I got suspended. No big deal. I should be back on Monday."

"Suspended? Min-ho, what trouble did you get into this time?"

Min-ho looked at him, his face blank. "I hospitalized a kid."

Ju-woon stared at him. What the hell...

"Anyways, back to my question," Min-ho continued, grinning. "You said you were worried. Hm, Ju-woon, is that right?"

Ju-woon just rubbed his temples. "It's whatever. I don't know why I said that…"

Min-ho wasn't convinced. "Sure, say what you want to."

Ju-woon didn't reply. There wasn't much to say. They both just sat there, waiting for the train.

Ju-woon took out his cigarettes and his lighter. The lighter was barely working, and he should really get a new one soon. He managed to light it and took a long drag. As he exhaled, the smoke filled the air, making the subway station feel a little less... empty.

"Ju-woon, you smoke? I thought you were joking the other night when you got drunk," Min-ho said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, so what?" Ju-woon replied, a little defensive.

"No, I'm just surprised. Pass me a cigarette. I wanna try."

Ju-woon handed him one, but before he could say anything, Min-ho grabbed him by the neck, pulling him in slightly. He lit the cigarette from Ju-woon's lighter, the action so smooth that Ju-woon didn't know how to respond.

Suddenly, Ju-woon felt his cheeks heat up. It was such a casual move, but something about it caught him off guard. Min-ho always teased him, called him silly names, but this was... different.

The two of them just sat there, waiting for the subway, until the train finally came. It was warmer inside, and no one else was on the train. As expected, it was just them. They sat close, a little too close for Ju-woon's comfort.

Ju-woon closed his eyes, planning to take a quick nap, since the ride would be a bit long. But before he knew it, his head had fallen onto Min-ho's shoulder. He didn't even realize it at first, but Min-ho froze.

His breath stopped for a moment.

Ju-woon's breath was soft, almost like he was asleep too.

Min-ho wasn't sure what to do. He was still tired, so he just gave in and leaned his head on Ju-woon's, trying to get comfortable. He didn't care if Ju-woon noticed.

The subway stopped at the next station, but Min-ho didn't move. He figured he'd just let Ju-woon stay asleep and tell him he fell asleep too. How clever, Min-ho thought.

But then, as time passed, he realized that he didn't actually know where Ju-woon's stop was.

The next thing Min-ho knew, he was scrolling through Ju-woon's social media. He found a video from 2019 of Ju-woon drunk off his ass, holding a bottle of vodka and talking to someone.

"Hmm, you know… vodka actually like... isn't... that bad..." Ju-woon slurred in the video. Then, he threw the bottle at the person recording. The video cut off right there.

Min-ho chuckled to himself, then hit play on the video, just to mess with Ju-woon. He could see Ju-woon stir slightly, probably not realizing he was still on the subway.

Ju-woon blinked, suddenly waking up, and when he realized what was going on, his eyes narrowed.

"Min-ho, I swear to god, if you don't turn that off, I'll hospitalize you, and then we'll have a double suspension!"

Min-ho laughed, clearly enjoying the reaction. "Seriously? It took you this long to realize what I was doing?"

The subway stopped at Ju-woon's station, and he got up to leave. But Min-ho followed him.

"Ju-woon, my hands are cold. Can I hold your hand?~"

"Min-ho, what the fuck? Are you following me or something?"

"I am. I missed my stop, so I'm staying with you tonight." Min-ho flashed him a grin and grabbed Ju-woon's hand without waiting for a response.

Ju-woon tried to pull away, but Min-ho's grip was strong. They walked out of the station, and Min-ho followed him back to his apartment.

Once inside, Min-ho casually asked, "Hey, Ju-woon, I don't have a change of clothes. Can I-"

Min-ho couldnt even finish his sentence but Ju-woon already started speaking

"Yeah, yeah. The closet's in my bedroom," Ju-woon replied without even thinking.

Min-ho raised an eyebrow. "You know me that well?"

Ju-woon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I know what you're gonna ask."

Min-ho dug around in the closet and found a white shirt and a pair of pink pants, of all things. "Why do you have such weird clothes, Ju-woon?"

Ju-woon shrugged. "I don't know, Min-ho. I don't really care."

That night, after all the chaos, it was surprisingly peaceful. Min-ho, who always had trouble sleeping, felt... better than usual. It wasn't perfect, but it was something. Maybe it was just the calm of being there, with Ju-woon.

Eventually, Min-ho fell asleep, his thoughts fading away

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