checkmate ; xdinary heroes

3.

long story short, jooyeon ended up staying.

the youngest among them, was still trying to figure out what was happening around him and what was going on. where was he and why was he there. even though, he had been staying in the abandoned building with his brother and his brother's friends for quite awhile now. it has already been a week or so.

jooyeon was staying in the building all the time. he was strictly warned not to step a foot out even for one second. he had to stay indoors all the time.

and to say he was getting bored sometimes would be a total understatement because he had nothing to do. he had literally nothing with him to entertain himself. sure, most of the times someone was in the building with him, but they most of the times were minding their own business and definitely didn't have time for the youngest among them.

the only person who never was tired and always volunteered to spend time with jooyeon was jiseok. every time he was home, he would go to the younger and suggest playing a board game, drawing, watching the old tv they had in the living room or talking.

jooyeon considered him as the best one among them all. as he always would have time for him. and jooyeon honestly started liking spending time with the elder one. jiseok was a nice guy overall. well, maybe other's weren't bad as well, but jooyeon didn't even get a chance to talk to any of them properly.

jiseok was the best one for him, because he always spent time with him and actually showed some interest and tried to understand jooyeon's situation. at least, that's how jooyeon saw it.

he knew, all of them were different and that was why they lived the life they did. that was why jooyeon was trying not to talk much and just observe. as a med student, he really wanted to know what was wrong with them. as bad as it sounded, he would love to examine the whole case and state the final answer.

so far, the only one he could 'work with' was jiseok. because others simply never spent at least five minutes with him.

if jooyeon met jiseok somewhere else and if the elder was actually not living this kind of life, jooyeon would consider him as the best person in the world. he was funny, interesting and really pretty too. he told jokes and made jooyeon laugh all the time, he taught him how to draw, he retold different stories and the shows he had been watching on tv, he played games with him, especially chess and even though he was the one winning most of the times, jooyeon didn't mind that. with jiseok, he felt like learning a new thing every day.

the elder one never was tired to talk to him and entertain him, show him something or just spend time with him.

the only thing that was staying as a total mystery to jooyeon, was the changes the elder suddenly would have. one day he would randomly stop responding and reacting to his actual name and just would not pay attention to anyone who called him by his real name.

in those cases, jooyeon learnt that if he wanted his attention, he needed to call him by a certain nickname ⸺ gaon. that was the name he would react to in those times when he was not acknowledging his actual name.

and there in fact was some kind of difference between jiseok and gaon. and jooyeon didn't know what exactly was the reason behind it.

very honestly speaking, if you asked jooyeon he would say he liked gaon way more than jiseok. even though, even for him it kind of didn't make sense because technically it was the same person.

jiseok was more cold and teased jooyeon a lot and was more sarcastic most of the times. while gaon, was sweet, kind and adorable even if you asked the younger. gaon showed more of a soft, cute side while jiseok was the total opposite.