only human // skz

16 . like the undertow .

MAY 23

.

   Minho was on autopilot. His days passed by in a bluish summer haze when they weren't spent with Jisung. 

   Much more unpleasant than it sounded— they were all a blended tense, bitter mess, and steadily getting worse the longer he spent in that house. This morning he drove himself to work only to find that it was, in fact, Saturday. And that was, in fact, his day off.

   When he walked in all ready to work, in his uniform, heading straight behind the counter with a polite wave to his boss, he was confused when his boss was confused to see him.

   "Minho? What are you doing here? It's Saturday?"

   Stopping in his tracks just as he'd started to reach for an apron, Minho turned his head with big, bewildered eyes. Had he really lost track of what day it was?

   "Oh... Oops."

   "I worry about you sometimes."

   Minho chuckled nervously, with a hint of surprise due to the fact that, uncharacteristically, he didn't feel overly bothered by that statement. "Well, I'm already here, so... I'll just make some coffee and get out of here."

   About fifteen minutes later he was on the floor of Jisung's bedroom. He'd handed off a caramel-drizzle-coated cup to a groggy Jisung while he swirled a straw around the ice in a half-empty Americano, and now he was sitting on Jisung's old carpet floor, recounting his morning to explain reason he'd suddenly shown up with coffee at 9 AM. Explaining that he decided, after muscle memory had led him to start making a sugared-up cold brew, that he wasn't in the mood for anything sweet, and that he thought he remembered Jisung liking sweet coffee. Making a mess of the words, of course. Stuttering and stumbling over his tongue.

   "...So I ended up with two cups of coffee and, um, a whole day off when I wasn't expecting it. I figured out the first part obviously, but I— uh... don't know what to do with the rest of my day."

   Jisung, clad in light summer pajamas, smiled through a yawn as he listened. "Thanks for the coffee," he giggled softly, "and for visiting."

     That made Minho feel a little better— he'd been feeling guilty, half-regretting his decision to drop by, ever since Jisung's mother had let him in and sent him towards Jisung's room with instructions to "get him up before the morning glories close". "S-sorry I woke you."

   "No biggie." He shrugged, taking a sip. Chuckling, he went on, "Actually, I'm kinda glad you did. I got lazy and started sleeping till almost noon the past couple days. But I want to get up earlier to water the plants and— I dunno, just enjoy the morning before the sun starts burning everything up." He craned his head toward the window. "Oh!"

   Suddenly, Jisung scrambled— albeit slowly, since he was still sluggish after rolling, quite literally, out of bed— to his feet, and planted himself in front of the window to peer out. He grinned, then motioned for Minho to come over.