To See The Moon

Party Time

     Jisung picked up on the first ring when Hyunjin called him that night. "What's up?"

     "I heard your entire argument with Minho hyung," Hyunjin said, confessing straight to the point. "So I wanted to see if you're okay."

     "... so you know where he's from. I promised him I wouldn't let anybody else know."

     Hyunjin felt his spirits lift up at Jisung's worried tone. Despite everything, Jisung's biggest concern was his possible broken promise. Minho's friendship was still on his mind.

     "I talked to him. He doesn't see it as your fault. After all, I was the one who eavesdropped the entire thing." Of course, Hyunjin had already known Minho was from the Alley just an hour before that fight, but that was going into a deeper rabbit hole that Jisung couldn't even come close to. Hyunjin honestly still felt a little sick, thinking about what he had confided to Minho.

     "... that's good," came the reply.

     "So you're good?" Hyunjin asked.

     "I... guess so?" Jisung seemed to have more questions than answers. "I don't know... I'm still kind of pissed with how things went down and how I couldn't get Minho hyung to understand what had happened at home. But on the other hand... I feel kind of guilty. Maybe I was acting like a brat, maybe I wasn't, I just don't know. I hate feeling like the bad guy when I don't think I was."

     Hyunjin sighed. "Understandable. But Jisung, if you want to make things right with Minho hyung, there's one thing you're going to have to accept. You can't get him to sympathize with you, to even be able to understand when you feel upset. People living in the Alley... they've gone through too much crap to be able to be that kind of friend."

     Hyunjin felt bad for those words escaping his mouth. If he were any other person, maybe he would have been able to tell Jisung what he wanted to hear. That things would get better, that Minho would listen more.

     But he couldn't. Hyunjin himself was, as guilty as he was to admit it, having a hard time trying to understand where Jisung was coming from, and what exactly had driven him to steal that watch. If Minho's life was at least ten times harder than what Hyunjin had to experience, then he really couldn't promise anything on Minho's behalf.

     Hyunjin could practically hear the disappointment at the other end of the line. But he hadn't been expecting the next statement.

     "You... seem to be talking oddly from experience."

     Whether it had been an attempt at a joke or not, that sentence made Hyunjin realize what he had to admit. He took a deep breath.

     "That might be because... I live in the Alley too."

     Terrifying silence.

     "Wait, really?"

     Hyunjin meekly nodded before realizing he was on the phone. "Y-yes."

     "Why didn't you tell me sooner, man? I don't care about that stuff. Did I... seem like that type of person?"

     "No!" Hyunjin said immediately, the one thing in this phone call he was absolutely certain of. "I'm just... used to hiding it."

     A deep sigh at the end of the line. "Thank you for trusting me. I guess that meant you could talk to Minho hyung better than I ever could."

     "Only a little..." Hyunjin could never deny the Alley bond. It was seen and used little but it always existed. "But I mean only a little. I may not ever hang out with you guys on Friday, but I see how Minho hyung loosens up when he sees you. From our very first dance class, I could tell he thinks something special of you. The way he will complain about following you but let you take his hand anyway, the way he will deny what you tell him but let himself get convinced at the same time. It's quite possible you were his very first friend and despite being from completely different backgrounds, your friendship is undeniably strong. Don't ever doubt the type of connection you and Minho hyung have."