Craving (JJ x James)

06.

'I really wish you were here,' Justin said to himself as he drew another picture of what he imagined to be October_rooster. He had the same long dark hair he had always put him in, narrow mysterious eyes and probably hardly smiled. But he had a heart of gold, which Justin had made sure to highlight in the drawing.

He could imagine how much fun him and October_rooster would have if they were together. They would probably be the best of friends who wouldn't run out of stories every single time they were together. Just like how they always talked on the internet.

Another sudden urge to text October_rooster hit him; but he couldn't do it. He had to listen to his parents. He continued to draw with a sad look on his face.

As he used his pencil to shade on the white paper, a familiar sound greeted his ears. It was the song which had become his favorite: Stay.

He found himself listening to the faint sound curiously, before he got up from the chair and opened the door to his bedroom. The sound was becoming louder and he could now tell that whoever was listening had turned up the volume too high beyond the acceptable level. If the neighbors were home, they were probably complaining in their houses.

Justin continued to follow the sound outside, until he found himself opening the door that led to the garage. He walked into the garage, only to find Sangwon and James busy with boxes in the messy space.

'Whoa you came down?!' Sangwon shouted to Justin, having to raise his voice louder because of the loud music.

'You like this song?' Justin asked his cousin.

'What!?' Sangwon asked him, his ears blocked by the music.

'You like this song!?' Justin repeated.

'One sec,' Sangwon walked over to the Bluetooth speaker that was on one of the boxes and pressed pause.

'Hey what was that for!?' James complained and turned to the two. It was only now that he had noticed that Justin had just walked into the garage. He had the sleeves of his t-shirt rolled up all the way to his pits, revealing some tenuous muscles.

Justin turned back to Sangwon. 'So you like this song?'

'Me?' his cousin asked then chuckled. 'Well I mean...it's okay. It's not my favorite song though. It's James who likes it more.'

Justin turned to James – what a shame that October_rooster and James liked the same song. It almost seemed so improbable that the people whose personalities were like night and day would share a similar song on their playlist.

'That's weird,' he said to James, 'my friend also likes that song.'

James looked at him with an unimpressed face. 'Yes Justin, it's a popular song. Billions of people also like this song.'

'Wait do you also like this song?' Sangwon asked Justin. 'I thought you only listen to classical music.'

'What!?' James almost dropped the box of Christmas decorations he was carrying to the other side of the room. 'You only listen to classical music!?'

'Yeah and he doesn't listen to songs with cuss words so I'm confused he's listening to Stay. You do know there's cuss words in Stay don't you?' Sangwon laughed.

'He...doesn't listen to songs with cuss words?' James cracked a smile. 'He's so adorable I can't even believe it.'

'He's super innocent.' Sangwon cooed.

Justin felt like glaring at the two, he felt like they were making fun of him. In a way, it almost felt like they were taunting him. He started to leave the garage, not wanting to be around them a moment longer.

'Oh come on Justin!' Sangwon complained amidst laughter as Justin walked back inside. 'Oh! You can make your own pancakes right!? I'm just busy today!?'

'Yeah!' he quickly answered.

The two boys resumed their music and continued to listen to it on loud blast. As Justin reached for the pancake mix in the pantry, he almost dropped the glass jar once he heard another familiar song.

'Wh...what is going on?'

It was At The End of The Night by Tone Stith.

~At the end of the night, just wait
Something's on the other side...

Him liking one song that October_rooster liked could be a pure coincidence, but a second song? Justin found himself quickly returning the pancake mix in the pantry and rushing out of the kitchen.

He took the door to the garage and found the boys once again busy with cleaning while listening to the music.

Justin walked over to James who was now looking at the contents of a cardboard box in order to categorize them. Once James had seen Justin standing next to him, he looked at him curiously.

'You like this song too?' he asked. Thankfully, they were now able to hear each other because this song had a slow and gentle rhythm. After all, it was a love song meant to make someone's heart beat.

'Yes Justin.' James answered him once he had stopped looking in the box and now gave him his full attention. 'Do you like it too?'

'My...friend likes it. So I guess I like it too.'

James slightly smiled and nodded. 'It's a popular song too.'

'Can I see the rest of the songs on your playlist?' he asked innocently.

'Justin!' Sangwon complained as he walked towards him. 'Stop being weird. Why should you touch James' cellphone?'

James chuckled. 'It's fine, go ahead.' he took his cellphone out of his pocket and handed it to Justin.

Justin took the phone and his eyes landed at James' Spotify. He looked at James' liked songs, and all of them were exactly the songs that October_rooster had sent him on his playlist. He looked at the list then looked back at James with surprise. What were the odds? 'These...songs...my friend likes all these songs.'

'They're popular songs.' James felt like he was repeating himself for the 100th time.

'You wouldn't know cause you don't listen to mainstream songs.' Sangwon slowly took the cellphone from Justin then placed it back in James' hand. 'Go have breakfast will you?'

'Oh...yeah...of course.' he looked at James very curiously once more. James simply chuckled then continued to put things in order.

Sangwon was the next to get back to work. It seemed Justin was the only one concerned with the matter.

But maybe it really was not a big deal, James and October_rooster simply shared music tastes despite their very different personalities. And James was right, those were popular songs. People probably liked the same songs, it was not something he had to be concerned about.

He once again looked back at James who seemed to be getting tired as he took a deep breath.

Certainly very different from October_rooster...

craving.