heartstrings • seventeen au

two.

'NEW KING PASSES OUT DURING CORONATION'  reads on the front of the local newspaper.

"Darn, wonder what'd happened." He says while taking a sip from his tea. Wonwoo lowers the newspaper from his face but still keep his eyes locked onto the headline.

"Exhaustion?" Wonwoo says as he pushes his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. Junhui shrugs and lets out a 'could be'.

The evening is windy. It was slightly drizzling but Junhui had thankfully found a small shelter to protect them from any 'sickening drips of God's tears' as Wonwoo states. The rain had been falling even harder since they had found the small hut but that didn't matter since it was breezy.

It was nice. Being outside, smelling the stench of the rain and watching the downpour.

A few clomping noises were heard and two moved their heads toward the sound.

"Yo!" A thin figure wearing a raincoat much too big for him was walking their way.

Junhui smiles widely. "Joshua!" He waves his hand high while Wonwoo gives him a slight wave.

He takes off his boots and hat which reveals his stunning peach pink hair. He shakes his head to shake off any excess water that had somehow landed on his hair.

"I made some fried noodles, fried rice," Joshua says while placing several food containers on the wooden floor. "And," He pauses.

"A friend!" The boy opens his coat and feline friend jumps out.

"Xiao Ba!" Junhui exclaims happily and holds out his arms to which the feline jumps into. He snuggles Xiao Ba into his chest while Wonwoo pats the cat gently.

"Did you two hear the news?" Joshua asks sitting cross legged and opening the food containers, letting the pleasant fresh smell free.

"Yea, Wonwoo thinks it's just him being tired or something." Junhui says stroking the cat's fur.

"It is! It's the only explanation that would make sense." Wonwoo retorts while breaking the moulded chopsticks into two. Joshua stuffs a fishball into his mouth.

"Well I mean, he could have been tranquillised by some assassin," Joshua manages to say with a mouth full of food. Wonwoo glares at him.

"An assassin assassinates people Shua, not just knock them out- and in plain sight too!" The peach haired boy huffs.

"Well, maybe this is just phase one of the assassination, gain- attention?" He says questioning his own choice of words.

"I- alright, okay-"

"Boys, boys." Junhui puts a hand each in front of them.

"May we please enjoy this meal that Joshua had so kindly prepared for us?"

Joshua and Wonwoo turn to each other and simultaneously huff. They turn back to their meal resume eating.

The three have a pleasant afternoon as they gobble up their homemade lunch under the rain. Junhui looks up to his two best friends arguing once again about something pointless. He sighs and smiles. He loves them, he really does. The three had been inseparable since forever as they were all orphans and lived in a small house across a small lake. Though their personalities were vastly different, one couldn't live without the other.

And he was happy with that. They were happy with that. Spending everyday with the people you cherish most.

Thunder booms through the sky.

"We should head back now, it isn't safe." Joshua says as he quickly packs the food back into their respective containers. Junhui and Wonwoo nod.