the kids aren't alright. / golden child

05 ✕ no changes

autumn had the best weather to throw on a hoodie and lay in bed. donghyun did just that.

he didn't stop by the ice cream stand on his way home, didn't stay at the void deck to search for stray cats. he went straight home.

the thought had been with him for a while, whether he should be hanging out with them at all. bad influence, bad company, his sister warned constantly.

you're not one of them, kid.

"someone's home early," his sister said in surprise. "quit vandalizing?"

"i, um... i-it's not vandalizing when the wall is ours," donghyun replied, recalled what jaehyun told him.

his sister let out a laugh. "you can't own a wall, kid."

she went into the kitchen, opened up the cardboards, took out two packets of instant noodles. she held one up, "you hungry?"

donghyun nodded.

"see," he heard her mutter under her breath, "you're too nice to be with them."

"what was that?"

she shook her head. "i'm just wondering how you fit in with them when you're so... you know."

"i'm not..." his eyebrows furrowed. "what...whatever you're thinking."

she raised an eyebrow, stirring the noodles with a chopstick. "you still make me separate the onions in your rice, pickles in your burger, pineapples in your pizza — "

"okay, okay." he frowned. "i don't fit in with them. you don't have to tell me."

"that's — "

"i get it," he interrupted. "it's like, they're out there doing drugs when i'm here doing candy. you don't have to remind me what a child i am all the time."

his sister's gaze fixed on the boiling noodles. she didn't know how to respond. all the time spent trying, nagging, he still didn't understand.

"no, you don't get it." she drained the noodles, washed two bowls. "you think i'm trying to get you to be all cool rebel and stuff. i'm not trying to change you, kid."

"then what are you saying?"

she handed him the bowl of noodles, a pair of chopsticks, a spoon. she watched him gobble everything up in barely two bites.

"i want you to stop hanging out with them." she said. "completely."

donghyun looked up, face full of noodles, swallowed it down. "what? why?"

"trust me on this, donghyun. you don't wanna end up like me."

his jaw clenched. "well, how did you end up?"

his sister gave him a glare, grabbed his already-empty bowl, and threw it in the sink.