A Soft Place to land

28

He almost changed his mind, almost.

But just because he was reminded of himself - that still didn't mean that he'd let Gray freeload off of him and live in his home.

With a long drawn out sigh, Wolf uncrossed his arms and massaged his temple - a headache forming. "You-" He started, stopping as he met Gray's expecting magenta eyes.

Because, shit, why'd he have to look like that.

The beige haired male stared back at him intently, anticipating Wolf's next words. And if he looked long enough, he could see a little bit of hope within his monotonous expression. As much as Wolf dreaded the idea of mercilessly kicking him back out to live in the streets, there was absolutely no way he'd let Gray stay with him. His life would be made even more difficult by that.

He had to break it to him one way or another.

"Sorry." He breathed out "But no."

Wolf may have just imagined it, but Gray seemed to have deflated the moment he said his piece. His eyes dropped back to the table, blank, before he opened his mouth to speak. "If.." Gray paused, recollecting his thoughts. ".. If it's money you're looking for, I can pay rent to the best of my abilities, I-"

"Me? Looking for money? It's not that" Wolf interrupted with an incredulous look on his face. Shaking his head as he sat down again, just opposite of him. He sighed and leaned back into his chair before continuing on. "- I mean, how are you going to pay for your food? Your clothes? Rooming with someone else usually means that you don't need to do their shit for them. But you.. you're a whole different case, aren't you? Shit, are you planning on depending on me the entire time?"

Gray didn't answer him, he only continued to stare at the table listlessly, lost somewhere in his own thoughts.

For fucks sake.

He hated this feeling; feeling like some sort of bad guy for not wanting to help him out. It was the kind of guilt that brought back too many hard to swallow memories, and too many regrets. But, this wasn't about being a bad person, right? Well.. no. He just couldn't sugarcoat it for himself, and especially for Gray. The reality of the situation was that he had no responsibility or obligation over Gray, as bad as he felt.

If it was about having morals, about helping those in need and righting his wrongs; of course he wouldn't want him to starve or freeze. This on the other hand wasn't about morals - or at least it wasn't about morals for Wolf - this was about practicality, financial stability.

So.. No means no. Sucking air through his teeth, Wolf decided to break the stillness, and uncrossed his arms to pick up a bottle of Soju. He stood up, the chair legs screeching as it was moved, and took slow strides to the Kitchen exit while lazily holding the bottleneck between two of his fingers before dragging himself towards the kitchen door.

"I'll... I'll join Kyung in the living room. You can leave whenever you're ready. Take the chip bags with you if you really want' em" He said before leaving the room, closing the sliding door behind him and leaving Gray behind alone on the table with his thoughts.

In the hallway , Wolf leaned against the wall next to the closed door and took a deep breath. The sound of the TV filled the area with its noise, cheering noises, and the unintelligible speech of a sports commentator.

"Boo" A low voice drawled from just behind his living room couch. Which startled Wolf enough for him to nearly drop the bottle in his hand, but fortunately he managed to hold onto the alcohol without spilling any on himself or on the floor.

"Fucking christ!-" He yelped out, jumping away from the couch with a scowl on his face as his uncle snorted in amusement. "Language, Wolf" He chided him, standing up to lean over the top of the couch and pull his nephew into a hug. He then proceeded to pat his back a few times with no regards to what Wolf probably wanted to say.