Modern day fairytale (P1Harmony's Theo Fanfiction)

3 - House of broken hearts

I woke up in the middle of the night by the sounds of Intak coming home. He was talking to someone and I recognized the voice. It was Jiung. Oh dear, I wondered what was going on at his again. Our dorm surely was a home to everyone who struggled with his package. It sometimes felt like Intak was the one nursing us all. Only I really knew how much that sometimes took of him since he tended to make our problems his. That's why I often tried to help him out as much as I could. Keeho did his part as well though not knowing that much about Intak's struggles. On the other hand, Keeho had his own problems to work through. He and I shared pretty much the same story, yet he was fighting against his demons while I just had decided to ignore them since I probably was too scared to actually face them. And nobody had persuaded me of the worth of trying it yet either.

Soul was the first one to move in. We all thought he fit in pretty well, in that house of ours. He had always been deemed the outsider, the one left out. Since then he had been secretly afraid of being judged, resulting in him pretending to not be interested in anyone the slightest. He was so good at it that sometimes even I thought he wouldn't care. Though being with us surely helped him. We all lost something inside us but secretly had the hope of finding it again someday and being with the others, we at least didn't hope alone.

I barely knew about Jongseob's story, but Keeho once said something about them bonding over the same taste in girls and therefore I had a vague idea of what had happened to him. Jiung's package on the other hand was pretty clear to us: He had a girlfriend that was... complicated to say the least. While he was trying to help her, she often pushed him away and tried to fight with him, resulting in him getting thrown out of their apartment for some time – That's when he came here. I smiled sadly as I thought about them.

Intak, the one giving himself up for others. Keeho, Jongseob, Jiung and I, struggling with relationships in our very own ways. Soul, the one who didn't feel loved or worth it. We surely had an open door for broken hearted people and somehow this comforted us all: Knowing we were all messed up in a way. But we would stick together.

My thoughts wandered on to Theo. Everyone had their problems. I wondered what his would be. Sooner or later, one would hit a nerve and figure it out for sure. It was a normal thing to happen when living together. However, Theo seemed to fit in here. His warm and considerate character, combined with being enthusiastic about things easily would maybe lift the mood of our home a bit. We could need that.

•••••

I woke up to the sun shining right into my face. I groaned, trying to cover my eyes. We still had holidays; I could sleep in and I was planning on doing that even though I apparently forgot to close the curtains fully. However, some shuffling heard from the garden made me curious. Who on earth was up already this early? I slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to my window to glimpse outside. Theo sat on our terrace, enjoying the morning sun with his breakfast. I rubbed my eyes and wanted to go back to bed. Yet, something made me decide against it.

I had tried to be the quietest when preparing some breakfast and my usual cup of tea to not wake up the sleeping Jiung in the living room – He probably was the reason for Theo not eating inside. The latter one flinched as I opened the door and walked outside. "Morning", I greeted him, still a bit groggy and let myself fall on the chair next to couch. "Morning", he greeted back. "Up so early?", I asked curious. "I am used to getting up early lately, my biorhythm hasn't adapted to holidays yet", he gave back. "Makes sense", I admitted. "How did you sleep?", he went on. "Almost like a stone. Only woke up to Intak coming home with Jiung." "Thought it's him in the living room." "And you? How was the first night here?" "Quite alright for a first night." I nodded and we went silent.

Instead, I looked around the garden satisfied. Whenever I felt stressed out, I decided to work on rearranging this small but adequate piece of land. It was my hobby. Then I closed my eyes and almost forgot about Theo sitting next to me as he spoke up: "In my last dorm they had some stupid traditions for newbies." I perked my ears. "Really? Which ones?" "Ah, stuff like the ones you see in American Highschool movies. Playing pranks and so on. Like putting bugs in one's bed or something. I didn't like it." "Sounds awful." "It was."

I looked at him curiously. I might find his package easier than I thought. Or at least one of them, maybe not THE one. Well, we all had more than one. "Honestly", he went on, "Since then I got a bit mistrustful. They didn't know a middle ground. That's why I am so glad to be here now. You guys are much better." I lifted my cup and cheered to him: "A toast on good house mates." He chuckled and did the same. "I'm glad we found such a nice one for the last room", I then said and took a sip, "You seem to fit in here."

We locked eyes and I could see something in them for a split second. I knew the look. He was like a second Intak – He wanted to make sure others felt comfortable around him, wanted to make their problems disappear. Hopefully he was able to handle us then. He probably did it in a different way than my brother though. I shook my head slightly. He would be fine here; we all took good care of each other. That's why everyone loved living here so much – We didn't need words to comfort someone, it was our weird synergy that reassured us that we were worthy, that it was okay to look after yourself first, that love exists and that obstacles could be fought through together over time.

I emptied my cup and got up. "Keep enjoying the morning to your likes", I said, "I'll leave first." He nodded and I went inside. I hadn't planned on anything yet and I didn't want to be too loud just yet since everybody else was seemingly still asleep. The weather was good though. I contemplated only a second before returning to my room and getting out my sportswear. I'd do a round of jogging.

As I walked into the hallway again, I almost bumped into Keeho who came from upstairs. I grinned and ruffled his hair to which he immediately sulked. "Ey, come on", he complained and I chuckled. "Sorry", I gave back. He looked at me and then concluded: "You'll go for jogging?" I nodded. "Mind if I join?" I shook my head, but added: "Have you eaten yet?" He assured me he did and I motioned him to go to his room to change. "Be there in a second", he promised and I smiled while nodding. Only a few moments later, he was back. "Alright, let's go", he said surprisingly motivated and together we left the house.