CHAEBEOL | minsung

twenty-five

 ༉‧ ♡*.✧

Jisung should never have gone. 

He knew it was stupid, knew that the last however many times he had gone, too, but this time - it was after that he realised just how much of an idiot he really was. 

Minho didn't even protest as he opened the door just for Jisung to barge straight on in as always. Jisung was expecting more, for Minho to yell, to put up a fight, and yet the older did nothing more than follow Jisung through into the living room. 

Jisung had paused when he walked into the room. In a split second, he took in the subtle changes; the curtains were drawn, and the room would've been dark if not for the warm glow coming from nightlights scattered throughout. The couch was transformed with a thick, plush blanket, and the TV was switched on and paused on Howl's Moving Castle.

Jisung had paused, and Minho hadn't noticed. He collided straight into the back of the younger, and still, didn't shout or swear. Just pouted, rubbed his forehead where it had bashed against the back of Jisung's skull. 

As Jisung turned to yell at the older, something about watching where he was going or not being such a fucking idiot, he paused once more. The smile on Minho's face was soft and almost apologetic. Who was this? It definitely wasn't Minho, or at least not the Minho that Jisung had the pleasure of hating. 

"Who are you?" Jisung voiced the question with a glare. 

The unexpected - Minho laughed. 

"I'm Minho," he eased. "Nice to meet you."

The hand extended between them was like an alien creature and Jisung looked at it with an equally weirded-out stare. 

Minho rolled his eyes when Jisung didn't shake his hand, but still didn't seem to get annoyed. Instead, he shouldered past the younger, who still stood in the middle of the room looking dumbstruck. 

"Where the fuck am I...?" Jisung mumbled, watching as Minho used gentle hands to shuffle an irate-looking cat into the corner of the sofa so he could curl up next to it. Minho wasn't looking at Jisung, but had his eyes fixed on the TV, fingers twiddling with something that had been propped up on the arm of the sofa. "Have I stepped into a parallel universe?"

"You've interrupted my smoking time," Minho answered back, sulking, eyes still glued to the screen.

Ah. 

It all added up at last. Jisung had wondered what that smell was, funny yet familiar, and he'd been confused about the haze in the room when he entered. He'd put it down to the low lighting, but realised now it was the last reminder of exhaled smoke clouds. 

"Wanna join?" Minho asked with a sly smile, holding up the thing he'd been twisting sub-consciously between long fingers. 

A joint, only partly smoked, the smell bitter and harsh now it was closer to Jisung. The younger hesitated before shaking his head in a no. Minho shrugged, sparked up the joint anyway, took a pull that almost lasted a minute. Exhaled with the same giggle from the rooftop. 

It didn't take much more than seeing the bliss in Minho's face to change Jisung's mind. Eyes soft, relaxed, rimmed pink and glistening. He sat down on the couch next to Minho, reached out with a tentative hand.

"Had second thoughts?" Minho grinned. He handed over the joint. Jisung fought to hide the tremor in his fingers as he took it. 

For a moment, Jisung just looked at it. The smoke curled around the tip, burning down charred paper slowly, threatening to wind closer and closer to Jisung's fingers.