cold | junhao

三十四

Jun passes out that night sprawled out on Mingyu's sofa, and wakes up to a gentle light streaming through the curtains and a hand shaking his shoulder.

"Jun?"

Peeling his eyes open, Jun can only squint as Wonwoo offers him a smile. He places his hand back on his lap once he sees him awake, "Do you want some breakfast?"

Slowly, still adjusting to the brightness around him, Jun nods his head and watches Wonwoo stand up. Jun's hand finds Teddy's soft fur as the dog sleeps soundly on his chest, curled into a little ball.

"I'm not as good at cooking as Minghao," Wonwoo says, "But I can make pancakes."

Pushing himself into a sitting position and keeping Teddy wrapped in his arms, Jun laughs. "Sounds good."

Minutes later, as both of them are sat at Mingyu's table and eating breakfast, Wonwoo drops his fork to the table. "Mingyu told me what happened," he says, looking at Jun with a genuinely pitiful expression. "Sorry, Jun."

Jun shakes his head, "It doesn't matter. I can't do anything about it." He stuffs another mouthful of fluffy pancake into his mouth, and then frowns. "Where is Mingyu, anyway?"

Wonwoo shrugs. "I don't know, actually," he admits. "He just said he had to talk to someone—that it was important."

Brushing it off, they both carry on eating. Just as Jun clears his plate, the front door to the apartment swings open with a bang, followed by a strained curse from the person walking in. This leads to Teddy's yaps being heard from all through the apartment—and probably throughout the whole floor too. Wonwoo leans his head around the wall to spy on whoever it is, and by the smile that appears on his face, Jun knows it's Mingyu. 

"We were just talking about you," Wonwoo grins, and Jun hears Mingyu reply from the other room, but can't make out what he says. Wonwoo rolls his eyes. "What've you been up to?"

"Causing trouble," Mingyu enters the kitchen with a couple bags clutched in his hand, "And food shopping." He drops the bags onto the counter, but cringes when the loud sound of glass clanking pierces their ears. "Shit. I also knocked on Jeonghan's door, and asked him if he has a spare room—" he opens the fridge and starts unpacking food into it, "—and he said he doesn't mind you living with him and his family are fine with it too."

A breath leaves Jun that he's been holding since yesterday evening. "Thank you," he says. "You didn't have to ask for me, Gyu, but thank you so much. I still need to find somewhere for Teddy, it's not fair to ask Jeonghan for that too."

Wonwoo smiles suddenly, "I can have him! I know I work a lot, but my mother would love to look after him!"

"Since my dad... you know—" Wonwoo vaguely waves his hands around in the air whilst looking widely uncomfortable, "—she's been getting a little lonely I think, so even if it's only for a little while it could help her a lot."

"So when will you tell Minghao?" Mingyu asks, once Jun has praised Wonwoo like he's some higher being who saved his life rather than a friend who offered to take care of his dog.

Wonwoo's head turns and he stares at Jun with wide eyes before almost shouting, "You haven't told him?!"

Jun shakes his head. "Not yet..." he sighs. "I don't know if I should or not. From what I'm aware, the company didn't fire him, so he's still got a place there and I don't wanna ruin it for him. Plus, I have a sinking feeling he'll blame himself for my problem."

"It's understandable," Mingyu drops into the seat beside him. "But you can't keep a lie going forever: he'll find out in the end and it could end up worse than it already is."