martyrs & maniacs. | tbz jujae

27.

Juyeon has never been too fond of the concept of time.

The flashing numbers on his phone and the slow circular motion of the hands of a nearby wall clock is all too familiar to him. Time has never been that significant for him. He only started caring about it when he started dating Chanhee. Looking at the clock has become a daily occurrence in his life — counting down the hours that passed, waiting for a certain blond boy to enter the restaurant, watching the days that passed by with him being ignored because of some petty reason.

Juyeon loathed the concept of time. It reminds him of how much Chanhee didn't care about him, how long the younger man liked to make him wait every single time they go out. He hated the way he always seemed to be walking in time.

Time has always been slow for Juyeon, which he dislikes. Though, these days, he thinks he hates it for an entirely different reason.

"I have a rehearsal to attend to in a few hours." Hyunjae waddles towards him, entire body engulfed in a thick padded jacket. There's a reddish hue covering the tip of his nose and Juyeon fights back the urge to giggle. "I'm sorry we can't hang out much today."

Juyeon waves away the slight disappointment of having his friend with him for only a short amount of time. "I should be the one saying sorry to you. You could've just rested to prepare for the rehearsal and yet you agreed to accompany me today."

Hyunjae chuckles. "I came because I wanted to. Now, let's go before we become late for the movie." He didn't think twice before grabbing Juyeon's hand and running to the mall's cinema.

They have been hanging out ever since, well, Juyeon doesn't really know when since they've always hung out ever since they became close friends. Whether it was after school or during cancelled classes, Juyeon likes to spend his time with Hyunjae... and also Younghoon and Eunseo. Going to the mall to watch a movie isn't anything new and they've done it before; the only difference now is that there's only the two of them and that there is no Chanhee to monitor Juyeon's action and location anymore.

Two friends hanging out with each other isn't anything new, except that Juyeon is starting to prefer spending time with Hyunjae alone— without Eunseo or Younghoon to accompany them. They've been almost everywhere with just the two of them — the movies, the amusement park, the local art museum, even in Hyunjae's hometown — and Juyeon treasures every single memory that he had created with him in those places.

Juyeon has always hated time. Before, it was because it always passes by slowly, but now, it's because of something else.

Time passes by quickly whenever he's with Hyunjae, and Juyeon hates it the most when he has to finally part with him after a whole day with each other.

Eunseo once called those "days" as dates. Hyunjae rolled his eyes and changed the subject, while Juyeon just stayed silent.

Dates.

He likes the sound of that.

They're watching some random comedy movie that Juyeon didn't even know existed. It was the result of the two of them eenie-meenie-miney-ing the available movies just because they both don't have a specific movie in mind to watch. Hyunjae's bucket of popcorn that they bought from the snack stall earlier is already gone and they're not even halfway through the movie. Juyeon reckons that it's something the older man tends to do when he's really focused on watching — he just mindlessly shoves any food into his mouth. And Juyeon thinks he's right, considering the large cola drink (that was, to Juyeon's amusement, poured in an Iron Man tumbler) that they also bought earlier is two sips away from being finished.

Endeared, Juyeon offers his own popcorn bucket to Hyunjae.

Before he knows it, it's already 11:38 AM and the movie already ended. Juyeon doesn't even know what happened after one of the movie's protagonists dropped his birthday cake, all Juyeon can remember is Hyunjae's laughter that keeps echoing in his ears every other minute.