deluge. // seungjin

three

the ride to hyunjin's apartment was silent. hyunjin's car — a black 1998 toyota corolla — had a slightly broken radio that muffled the music. the window wipers squeaked every now-and-then. the rain was will pouring and a car passed every few minutes.

"sorry about the car, it's my grandpa's old one. he doesn't drive anymore so..." hyunjin explained.

"it's okay, it's better than nothing." seungmin looked out the window — the rain pattering against it, the street lights they passed by, the stores over now-and-then. he looked at two raindrops on the window and raced them, the one on the right winning by a landslide. good job, you won.

"how much longer?"

"about 20 minutes. um, you can sleep if you want. you must be tired, you must've run a long way to end up at the gas station."

"i guess." seungmin closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

he must've run for a while, there aren't any houses in the direction he came from for at least two miles. hyunjin glanced over at the sleeping boy. why were you running? why won't you tell me? i have so many questions you left unanswered...

-

hyunjin pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex. parking, he sat back and sighed, watching the people run by covering their heads with odd objects to their hair wouldn't get messed up. he chuckled and unbuckled his seatbelt. he leaned over and shook seungmin's shoulder.

"seungmin. seungmin, get up. we're at my apartment." seungmin lifted his head and fluttered his eyes open. he looked around and nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt. he reached for the handle when hyunjin stopped him. "hold on. wait here a bit."

hyunjin reached back and grabbed an umbrella. he opened his door and opened the umbrella before stepping out. he shut the door and hurried over to the passenger side. he opened the door and held the umbrella out above seungmin. seungmin smiled and stood up under the umbrella hyunjin held. seungmin reached for the umbrella and hyunjin lightly smacked his hand.

"don't you dare try to hold it, i'm being a gentleman." seungmin nodded and hyunjin led the boy. hyunjin closed the umbrella as they walked under the shade and continued to lead seungmin upstairs.

"ta-da! here we are." hyunjin put the umbrella strap on his wrist as he opened the door with his key. he opened it and allowed seungmin to walk in first, following suit. he turned on the light and sneaked past seungmin.

the apartment was quite spacious; the hallway had a bathroom to the left, and it eventually led to a kitchen on the left, living room on the right, and a closed door (which he assumed was the bedroom) straight ahead. seungmin took off his shoes (as hyunjin had done) and walked down the hall.

hyunjin was in the living room cleaning a bit.

"sorry it's such a mess, i hardly have anyone over other than my close friends."

"it's okay, i don't mind." seungmin awkwardly stood there as hyunjin stuck empty snack bags into a trash bag.

"oh! sit down, you can sit down anywhere." seungmin nodded and sat down at the edge of the couch. hyunjin hurried past him and put the trash bag next to the trash can. "right, now that that's taken care of, we should discuss sleeping arrangements. um, you can sleep in my room and i can sleep on the couch, let me get some blankets."

"it's okay, i can sleep on the couch. i am the one who came over last minute so-"

"no no no, it's fine, i'm fine sleeping on the couch." hyunjin opened a drawer and pulled out two blankets. "i need to clean my room a bit so i'll be right back."