Conversations; All In Blue

Ten

"Hey," Mingyu opened the door at the top of the stairwell and then stepped aside as he took in the sight of Wonwoo, all rumpled and ruffled hair, cheeks still pink with heat. "Whoa, you look different..... Did you have sex?"

"No," Wonwoo frowned and took Cupcake from Mingyu's hands where he was holding her close to his chest. "Um, maybe...." He walked over and sat on the couch and focused wholly on the kitten, stroking her tiny head, enjoying the warmth of the tactile sensation. She closed her eyes and began to purr and Wonwoo turned to Mingyu with a bright expression. "Hear her?' "Yes," Mingyu walked over and sat next to Wonwoo and ran a hand donw the kitten's tiny back. She was barely longer than his palm. "But what do you mean maybe?"

"We didn't ....... You know...." Wonwoo couldn't meet his eyes. Eye contact was uncomfortable at the best of times but talking about this made it impossible. But he wanted to talk about it. He wanted to share with his best friend and so he starred at the kitten and his hands and everywhere but Mingyu's face.

"We didn't but we just touched each other and I came and he did too so I guess it counts. It counts right?"

"It counts," Mingyu smiled and tried not to laugh. Wonwoo finally looked up and stared at him, eyes inspecting every inch of his face carefully, wandering from his eyebrows down to the quirk in his lips. Pink warmth flooded up from his stomach to fill his cheeks with rosiness as he supressed his own smile. "You're laughing at me," he concluded and Mingyu let it go, chuckling deeply as they sat side by side. "Yeah I am. How can you not know if you had sex or not?"

"I don't know." It was true. The amount of times in a day Wonwoo had to say 'I don't know' was exhausting. Wonwoo liked rules and reasons. He liked black and white with no grey areas, do or don't, yes or no. He didn't like wading through confusing miasmas of innuendo and hidden meanings or spaces where boundaries didn't exist. "I know," Mingyu stopped petting the kitten and rubbed Wonwoo's' shoulder instead and the man was, for the millionth time, grateful for his best friend who was always his touchstone of the human condition. The world was less confusing when Mingyu allowed Wonwoo to see it through his eyes.

"You realy like him," Mingyu got up and began to make coffee without even asking. "Yes," Wonwoo admitted, "I like him a lot. But he's leaving." "I know," the coffee machine whirred into life disturbing the peace of the tiny first floor apartment. "Leaving town doesn't mean he has to leave your life."

Wonwoo considered this as he sipped the deliciously aromatic blend Seungcheol supplied him from his café. The options were clear and the boundaries were visible in his mind as he thought over them and tried to sort them out.

"He cant stay. I can't have Junhui all the time. If he leaves and I try hard I can still have Junhui some of the time. If I let him go I don't have Junhui at all." "That sounds about right," Mingyu sipped his own coffee and put the cup down on a little lamp table next to the couch. Part of the reason they were best friends was the way he slid a coaster under the mug without Wonwoo even having to explain to him how long it took him to restore the antique wood to its current glory. Mingyu took the kitten from Wonwoo's chest and carried her to the crate and secured here away safely. She was sleeping and Wonwoo was going to spoil her without even realising.