❝my youth is with you❞ yeonbin

chapter 1

When you can hear the buzzing sound of flying bees and insects hiding in tall grass; feel the heat that can't be escaped by standing under the tree and see kids waiting in line at every local shop to buy as many pops as their allowance allowed; you know that summer has started. 

Three teenage boys spent the hottest day of summer inside a cold garage. Pop-rock music played through the Bluetooth speakers and all sang to the lyrics they knew. The garage wasn't necessarily functioning as one. Over the years, it became the hang-out spot for the friend group. That's why various posters of their favorite musicians, idols, or actors were plastered on the wall. Polaroid photos, they'd taken on different occasions, were randomly glued too. Some of them started peeling off, but the boys would take good care of them and plaster them again using whatever was close to the hand, mostly strawberry gum.  

Choi Yeonjun tripped on the CDs exhibition that was scattered on the floor. He screamed in pain and folded on the ground, messaging a toe that was hurt. 

"Don't cry," Choi Beomgyu nagged him but didn't even look in his direction. His eyes were stuck on a TV screen, and his hands strongly held the joystick hitting the right buttons to progress in the game.

He was sitting cross-legged on a couch, completely immersed in the zombie apocalypse-themed game. Next to him lain Kang Taehyun who would scroll through his phone and from time to time peek over it to look at Beomgyu, he'd also reach for potato chips that were on the table.

A wood table before them had countless stains from sodas or food. It's not like the furniture was valuable, it was an old legless desk that they found one night in a dumpster. Five middle schoolers dragged it to Taehyun's garage and put it on some bricks they had found at the back of the house. 

"Wanna die?" Yeonjun directed his words to Beomgyu. "It's your CDs, your skateboard, even your comics everywhere on the floor. Is it even Taehyun's garage anymore or your room?"

Beomgyu sighed and ignored him. "Do you mind, Taehyun?"

"Sometimes you could clean it up" he admitted, Yeonjun smirked happily, but Taehyun quickly added" but the one who leaves the most mess after we eat is Yeonjun. The one who leaves their gum everywhere is Kai. All of your DNA is in this one room, if the murder happened here, everyone would be suspected, I guess." 

"Why are you so dark," Beomgyu furrowed his brows and looked at him slowly. "Speaking of which, when is Kai coming back?"

"You just changed the topic-" Yeonjun said getting up from the floor.

"I dunno, he left quite long ago" Taehyun interrupted his friend. He looked at the watch in his left hand and realized that their youngest friend has been gone for shopping for a long time. Even though the shop was ten minutes away from Taehyun's house.

Yeonjun sighed, feeling used to being ignored, he squished himself next to Beomgyu on the couch and took out his phone. 

"I'm texting him," saying so, he opened their chatroom.

"I already did," Taehyun shrugged.

Suddenly a scream filled the garage. It startled Yeonjun, his hands almost dropping the brand-new phone on the floor. Taehyun's heart stopped for a second and he looked at Beomgyu. The long-haired boy was devastated, it was written GAME OVER on the TV screen. It didn't take long for Yeonjun to slap Beomgyu's arm.

"Calm down," Yeonjun nagged him. 

"I give up!" He exclaimed and leaned back on the couch. "I'm bored." 

"Same, but it's too hot outside." Taehyun blocked his phone and adjusted himself to a sitting position. "We can choose a movie for now and just go out in the evening," he suggested and Beomgyu nodded agreeing with him. They both looked to Yeonjun.