Blue {DoTae} | complete

Ten: Lost and found

Another weekend swings by and Doyoung's still heard nothing from Bubu. Taeyong hasn't been particularly active on social media either, so the app's been all too dry for Doyoung to mindlessly scroll through fan posts and edits from recent content. He doesn't think he has the mental capacity to put up with people's idiocy anyway. When it comes to Taeyong, a short absence on social media means he's busy planning something, working hard behind the scenes to record an album or a new dance video. So that doesn't worry Doyoung too much. But Bubu's never just left him hanging like this. Doyoung doesn't know what to do. He's made three tweets over the course of the week and none of them have received a single like. It's as though Bubu has just disappeared off the face of the Earth.

Doyoung flicks from app to app. His phone is always pretty dead, with not many messages for him to respond to apart from that one text from an old classmate he received nearly seven months ago but he was in too much of a bad state at the time to gather the energy to read it and reply. Especially given that the preview reads 'hey doyoung! i hope you're doing well! it's been a whi...' The very sight of the message had Doyoung squirming to fight off his tears, anxiety about how to respond bubbling over and out of control. With a simple tap of his finger, the chat was archived to sit out of sight and more or less out of mind, apart from the slither of guilt sitting heavy in his stomach that comes back to haunt him once in a while. He didn't mean to ignore the message. He really didn't.

Today, Doyoung is avoiding his homework and manages to respond to Jungwoo's question about the biology assignment despite not having completed it himself. The string of hearts Jungwoo replies with tugs a smile onto his lips as he swings around on his desk chair to exert some excess energy.

But he's heard nothing from Bubu. Doyoung rubs his teeth along his lower lip, not quite biting down, and he rethinks through his worries. It's unlikely that Bubu's fed up of him. They've only been chatting for a couple of weeks. Plus, he was often the one to initiate the conversation, so it's not as though Doyoung was doing all the work in the friendship. The possible outcomes of this situation are all blurred in his head. Should he message him? Should he give him space? He doesn't know what is the right thing to do, so he follows his gut instinct. With the tension dissipating from his muscles, Doyoung sends him a message to check up on him.

He closes the app, then opens the settings three times to check that notifications are turned on for twitter before starting a new game of solitaire. The cards don't play in his favour and he has to keep hitting the undo button with more and more frustration. Staring at the cards sucks all the energy out of him, so he switches to Instagram, only to quit immediately back out at the sight of Jungwoo and Mark smiling at a table in a café posted on Sicheng's account. His three closest friends all went out without him.

"But Sicheng knows I feel left out a lot of the time..." Doyoung mutters to his cuddly hedgehog and polar bear. "I told him, didn't I?"

Wait, did he? The memory is fuzzy in the back of his mind, the details too unclear for him to be able to come to a solid conclusion. He decides it was probably a daydream and that he shouldn't come to such quick assumptions, and therefore it's unsurprising that they didn't invite him and he has no right to complain.

His phone hits the desk with a solid thump and he doesn't bother checking it for cracks or scratches before standing up and pacing around his bedroom, fingers tugging in his hair.

"Bubu's fine. He's fine. He's just busy. He's not being rude, he's just busy and I should give him space." Doyoung chants to himself, quiet enough to make sure Jeno doesn't hear and take the piss out of him for it later. He then remembers that he's at Jaemin's house anyway.

But what if Bubu's an old creep who's left twitter to come and find you in real life now that he's got enough information about you?