The Long Game//XiuChen [UAU II]

XV / The Minseok Effect

WARNINGS: Strong language; mentions of violence; drug mentions; implied sexual references

-Day 45; Friday, July 14th, 2017-

Stepping into the house, Kim Jongdae flipped on the main light, illuminating the kitchen and the living room.

With a sigh, he removed his shoes, picking them up and moving to them to the side, placing them beside a pair of Minseok's.

They looked normal placed beside Minseok's, as if that was their proper spot. Jongdae could tell Oh Sehun would throw a fit, as the spotless white sneakers clashed with the brown dress shoes, mud splashed up the sides.

It was weird, he knew, but Jongdae felt this tiny detail of the way their home was laid out to be so normal yet out of place- it was borderline abnormal seeing Minseok's shoes beside his but no Minseok.

Jongdae had never been completely alone (or awake) in the house at this time of night, and the eeriness and emptiness of it seemed to settle in upon his shoulders.

As he walked further into the house, preparing for bed, he felt as if the walls were slowly closing in around him and everything was sucking the life out of him.

Minseok's flashcards, stacked nicely on the dresser, made him feel as if he was being watched, and Jongdae ended up tucking them into the sock drawer as he changed.

The neat rows and organization of Minseok's shirts hanging in the closet freaked him out so much he brought a chair in from the kitchen and pushed it against the closet doors, as if he was a small child afraid of the monster in the closet.

Jongdae ended up throwing Minseok's toothbrush out into the trash, feeling as if it was screaming out to him while he quickly brushed his own.

For what was probably the first and only time, Jongdae scrubbed the bathroom counter down. There was nothing wrong with the counter, there never was- Minseok was such a clean freak he gave it a wipe-down every night- and Jongdae felt as if it was his job to fill in for Minseok.

As Jongdae was ditching the majority of the usual bedding in the living room, leaving nothing but the duvet cover and fitted sheet, Jongdae heard a scratching at the door.

Shit was the only word continuously racing through his mind as he heard the picking at the screen door, a sound so relentless he crossed over into the kitchen and dug out a knife.

It's okay, Jongdae. he thought as he carefully approached the door. You're a grown ass man. You can fend for yourself. It's just the door. Probably the wind.

He carefully opened the door, the knife held in front of him. Jongdae winced as he opened his eyes to meet his murderer, but relaxed immediately when he glanced down and saw the stray, grey tabby cat pawing at the door and mewing, its claws getting caught in the screen door as it begged for attention.

Jongdae reached over and placed the knife on the counter, and then turned back and opened the door. "Come here, kitty kitty kitty." he cooed, making kissy noises, trying to lure the cat inside. "Are you hungry?" he continued, speaking as if he were talking to a baby.

He propped the door open and went over to the fridge, filling the bottom of a small bowl with milk and coming back over to the door, laying the bowl on the kitchen tile away from him at arm's length.

The cat immediately took its cue and made its way inside, and Jongdae shut and locked the door before sitting beside the cat as it dipped its paw into the milk and licked it off its paw.

"Are you lonely?" Jongdae asked, placing his hand above the cat's nose to give it a moment to smell him before running his hand down its head and across its back, repeating the motion. "I'm kinda lonely, too. This house seems very empty without Minseok. You know him- he's the one that always sets out food for you. Sometimes I do it, but he says I don't do it right." he laughed at himself, and hearing his laugh echo off the kitchen walls and not have it returned by the light, familiar laugh of Minseok's hit Jongdae in the face.