Homeless ➹ 2jae [✓]

- 02 -

Just before reaching the campus, Youngjae's hands shook wildly as he caught his breath from walking so quickly. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. Even before the building, he and Jinyoung were walking in between carved bushes and a fountain, perfectly clear water spitting out from the top. The concrete that made the ground was grey, but clean, with little pieces shining in the light from the building. The greenery mixed with the modern hints of glass made Youngjae feel like he shouldn't have been walking on that ground at all. He felt like his shoes were too dirty. He felt like his thrift store jacket shouldn't have been allowed inside the dorm building. He felt like he was intruding.

"Jinyoung, should we really be doing this?" he asked as they walked to the back, Jinyoung taking out his phone to call Jackson.

"Of course not, but will we do it anyway? Hell yeah." Youngjae laughed at his friend's casual view of the situation. He couldn't believe he was actually going along with some stupid idea that Jinyoung came up with last minute. On the phone, Jinyoung said, "We're here... Yeah, go now. I'm heading inside."

"Oh my god," Youngjae chuckled nervously, rubbing his hands together.

"Okay, you see the pipe, right?" Youngjae nodded, following Jinyoung's pointer finger. "My window is the second from the top, with the blue curtain. Good luck, buddy," Jinyoung finished, running off to make it inside in time for curfew.

Youngjae was left to hide behind a bush, his heart rate beyond measurement. He looked around to see if he could spot any guards. To his right, he saw one speaking with a guy who looked around his age. He couldn't see very clearly, but he could make out bleached hair underneath a snapback. Assuming that guy was Jackson, Youngjae closed his eyes tightly, praying that nothing would go wrong, and ran to the base of the pipe.

From the temperature outside, Youngjae's hands were already cold, but touching the pipe just made it worse. He was hit with a sudden burn of the freezing and rusting metal, nonetheless, beginning his way up. He looked around some more, seeing passersby that didn't notice him, and a hauntingly long way to go. Whispering to himself, he said, "Right hand... Right foot... Left hand... Left foot..." Before, he didn't realize why Jinyoung asked him about climbing rocks, but noticed that he never caught himself talking in his head like that.

Just before Youngjae made it to the window, he saw the blue curtains pushed out of the way, and the window opened. He climbed a little higher before reaching his foot onto the window sill, getting his right leg inside, and Jinyoung grabbing his right hand to help him fall into his destination.

As he lie on the floor, Youngjae looked around the room that was still relatively boring, since Jinyoung was never the type to decorate. Aegean blue covered the walls in matte paint, and a white carpet was soft on his hands.

"Holy shit, it did work," Jinyoung marveled to himself, looking out the window to see the security guard marching around. They both laughed, Youngjae still rolling on the floor. "I'll have to introduce you to Jackson sometime. He's an idiot, but he's cool." Youngjae stood up and cracked his back, going over to sit on the top bunk where Jinyoung put his stuff.

"Where'd you meet him?" he asked, swinging his legs and throwing off his shoes. Unintentionally, he noticed the details in his jeans and his socks while his heart beat fast beneath his clothing.

"We share a table in my history class." Youngjae mouthed an Aah, and moved his bags to the end of the bunk bed so he could use them as a pillow. "Oh, I need to get you some sheets..."

"Worry about that tomorrow. I have my blanket in my bag anyway, it'll do." Youngjae opened one of the bags to retrieve the blanket he'd kept since he was 14. "You have classes in the morning, right? It's late, you should go to sleep," he said, making himself comfortable. Jinyoung chuckled and walked to the younger, affectionately ruffling his hair.