Craving (JJ x James)

01.

Justin_takagi06: I don't know how to say it, but everything's just sort of changed since they all found out. It's like my parents don't know exactly what to say to me; they're not being direct with the issue but I think they feel awkward.

Justin used to feel silly talking to someone he had just met over Instagram. He knew the dangers of the internet, and he knew that it wasn't the smartest thing to talk to someone while his full name and profile picture was on display. Yet here he was spilling his secrets to this particular stranger like he always did.

October_rooster: I get it, try to understand your parents. They're not mad at you, it's probably just shocking to them but trust me, they will get over it soon. But I hope no one's being mean to you at school.

Justin slightly smiled at October_rooster's concern. He cared about what Justin was going through at school, and it made him feel that someone out there actually cared. Of course he had his parents, but most times he felt misunderstood. He didn't have friends at school, except for Yorch, the school president, whom he barely talked to. So basically, October_rooster was all he had.

Befriending October_rooster felt like fate. Justin had no photos on his Instagram page except his profile photo, and his followers were only his school mates who somewhat felt the need to follow him because they were school mates. Some nice girls even left a few likes and comments on his profile photo, but that was basically it.

When a stranger called October_rooster followed him, Justin was curious to know which one of schoolmates it was. October_rooster had a random profile picture of a pair of feet in canvas shoes, probably taken off the internet.

When Justin couldn't figure out who it was, he finally respectfully messaged the person on Instagram asking him who he was. To his surprise, the person answered that they had no idea who he was but they simply liked his profile picture. Justin was strangely flattered, because he had nothing on interesting on his page. When he checked out October_rooster's page just to get to know him more, he found that Octobeer_rooster had no photos on his page too; he was just like him.

When October_rooster started to ask him how his day was a few weeks later, Justin couldn't help but respond to him. He wanted someone to talk to, and he thought this would be the perfect outlet for him. Slowly and surely, they got closer the more Justin talked about himself – he complained about school, family and everything else, and October_rooster always had the best advice each time.

When Justin asked if he could see the face of his online best friend, he said no. And Justin indeed understood – there was no need to show your face to an internet friend. He was the one silly enough to leave his photo out in the public and then befriend someone whom he didn't know. He even put his full name on display, he felt like an idiot.

He could only imagine what October_rooster looked like, probably someone as sensitive as him would be someone tall and svelte with long black hair, probably looked like the protagonist in his favorite Webtoons, the boy every girl wanted; or the boy every boy wanted.

Justin_takagi05: nobody is being mean yet but I'm not okay right now, I didn't want them to know. At least not in this way.

October_rooster: wanna talk about it till midnight?

Justin smiled to himself before he typed down "sure" on his laptop in his dark room. 

craving.