the five kids changed out of their school uniforms, headed to their place. a dark alleyway, a graffitied wall. only because they made it to be.
"who's bringing the brushes?"
jibeom raised his hand. "i already have a pack."
"no way," jaehyun said. "you didn't get caught?"
jibeom shook his head, unwrapped the pack. handed one to bomin, one to joochan, one to himself. he pointed the pack at donghyun and jaehyun, who immediately shook their heads.
"we'll just stick with vandalizing," donghyun said with a grin.
jaehyun hit him upside the head. "you moron, it's not vandalizing when the wall is ours."
joochan held the stick between his fingers, watched the other two light up theirs. he unwrapped a lollipop, placed it in his mouth.
"you." jibeom sighed. "you're really quiting?"
joochan nodded, deliberately sucking on the lollipop annoyingly loudly.
bomin came forward, red-lit stick, handed donghyun and jaehyun a can of spray paint each. with his own, a gold one, he sprayed two gigantic words:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
joochan scoffed. bomin shrugged. "it'll be nice to have something remind us of our worth."
"what worth," he replied bitterly. jibeom nodded in agreement.
"we didn't bring you in so you can fantasize how not alright we are," he added.
bomin, instead of arguing, smiled. "it's worth a shot."
"to what?" this time, jaehyun spoke up. "to convince us everything's gonna be alright?"
donghyun hopped off the dusty cardboard someone discarded away, sat down on the ground. "it won't be, though?"
"that's what i'm saying."
bomin's eyebrows furrowed, sat down beside donghyun. "but everything will be. you just have to — "
"what," joochan snapped. "wait? because if it's not alright then it's not the end?"
bomin shrunk back. "e-exactly."
"we've heard that one a thousand times, bomin." donghyun patted bomin's knee. sad eyes, sad smile. "it's not happening."
"okay, look." bomin stood up, looking each of them in the eye. "consider this as me returning the favor."
the silence made a smile spread across his face.
"you guys saved me before. it's my turn to save you."
