TR | MW [✔]

02.

Wonwoo was still alive in the morning, but he'd not had much sleep. For hours he lay awake, waiting for Mingyu's arms to shoot up from around the bed and clutch him, or a pillow to be pressed to his face. Nothing happened, and eventually, he drifted off only to be awoken by Captain's scream of terror. He called out for twenty minutes before the nightguards roused him.

Wonwoo stayed on his bed while Mingyu got dressed. There was barely enough room for them to stand in front of the bed together, and Wonwoo felt oddly safer off the ground, being as quiet as possible, curled in a ball at the end of his bed. He peeled looks at Mingyu's physique, he was tall, strong, his chest firm. He looked good, but then when he attached his gaze to Wonwoo, any good feeling vanished, and fear rose up in its place.

Mingyu pulled on another tight white t-shirt and smart black trousers. He wetted his hand, then stroked back his hair. He tested the length of his stubble with his fingertips, then nodded.

"How am I looking?"

Wonwoo's struggled to find words—he didn't know what was acceptable. He settled for 'good', but Mingyu raised an eyebrow.

"Good?"

"Ready to face the day," Wonwoo tried.

Mingyu snorted. "That's the kinda rubbish they'd put on a cereal box."

The door clunked, then swung open. Mingyu strolled out and disappeared around the corner. Wonwoo dropped back down on his bed and pressed his palms to his face. On paper, it sounded simple—go into the prison, strike up a conversation with Mingyu, and over the course of a few months, he reveals all his secrets.

Mingyu didn't want to speak with Wonwoo, and the way his eyes narrowed and his lips twisted into a sinister smile set alarm bells off in Wonwoo's head.

*****

Captain looked worse than the day before, and his prediction had come true. The other inmates looked at him with a mixture of pity and fear. Captain's cellmate serving breakfast couldn't look him in the eye when he held out his tray.

It wasn't burned toast and watery eggs of the day before, but thick bland porridge that stuck Wonwoo's teeth together. He slapped his lips noisily as he ate, and his taste buds cried out for sugar.

Captain ate his up, then tapped his spoon on his tray. "I woke you?"

Wonwoo nodded. "It's not your fault—"

"It is my fault, that's the problem." He tapped his temple. "I deserve to feel like this."

"No, you don't."

"You don't know the shit I did, and the shit I didn't do when I was serving overseas."

"I know I couldn't have handled it."

"Neither could I."

Captain's eyes were red and watery, and his huge body slumped forward, seemingly defeated by his dream. Beomgyu poked his head out of his cell, and Wonwoo waved him over. He slipped into the chair beside him, and Wonwoo looked him up and down.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, Jungkook didn't try anything. How about Mingyu?"

"He clearly hates my guts but left me alone. Says if someone else maims me he won't give a shit."

"Nice... well at least we survived the first night on the wing," Beomgyu muttered.

Captain laughed. "You've only got thousands more to go."