VIVA LA VIDA ━ MINSUNG ✓

SPEED OF SOUND

Minho had reread the last sentence on the piece of paper he had in hand; yet another smile making its way onto his lips. He decided to just go for it as he unplugged his phone, leaving it at a deadly twenty percent, before pulling up H.J's contact. Feeling his heart drop slightly, he quickly pressed the call button so he wouldn't be able to turn back. H.J would see he had called, so there really was no point in trying to end the call as if it never started.

The phone had rung a good ten seconds, and when he was just about to hang up completely, the person on the other line picked up. A bit startled, Minho calmed himself down as quickly as he could, before quietly clearing his throat. "Hello?" he mumbled into his phone, hoping to hear a reply instead of sitting there in silence.

He could only make out the quiet whisper of H.J on the other line as he spoke a singular word. Minho struggled to even hear him, pushing his phone speaker a bit harder against his ear as if doing so would help him hear better.

"What?" Minho questioned, squinting his eyes as if that was beneficial to his hearing. "I couldn't hear you." He had plugged his other ear just to give him more of a chance to hear, slowing his breathing, too, until it was mere silence between the two.

"Hi," the boy on the other line uttered, this time a bit louder; a small hint of shyness behind the greeting.

"Hi," Minho repeated, smiling into the phone although he knew H.J couldn't see it. The fact that they were making slow progress was enough of a plus for him to accompany his words with slight happiness.

A quick silence had fallen over the both of them, and Minho would've considered awkward an understatement if it weren't for H.J to speak up again.

"...This is awkward," the boy had openly said, though his voice never went above the quiet mumble Minho still struggled to hear occasionally.

A light blush had crept its way to Minho's cheeks, because their call was, in fact, pretty awkward. He wasn't really expecting anything other than that, but having to confront the facts caused a great deal of embarrassment to flood through him.

"I know," Minho shyly muttered, bringing his attention back to the boy on the other line. He fiddled with a pen he found in his hoodie pocket from earlier in school, while simultaneously trying to listen to the muffled moving H.J was doing.

"H-How are you?" the younger male had asked in such a bashful manner, Minho could hear the slight embarrassment in his tone. Although H.J had mentioned, over text, that his teachers referred to him as both oblivious and loudmouthed, Minho couldn't help but believe that was untrue; going off the fact that he was just so shy right then and there.

Looking down towards the letter he still had in hand, Minho nodded, a small smile glued to his lips once again as he let his eyes drop. "I'm good." Waiting to see if the boy would reply in any way- ultimately getting nothing in return- he spoke up again. "What about you?"

"What about me?" H.J quickly questioned, finding that quiet, timid voice he seemed accustomed to using.

Minho chuckled, finding the boy's shyness, which obviously seemed to be taking a toll on his thought process, funny. "How're you doing?"

"Oh..." he mumbled, before quickly finding his composure, too. "I'm alright."

"That's good," Minho nodded, although, again, H.J couldn't see him. He quickly folded up the letter, before placing it on his table where he stored the others. He could hear the boy's small movements continue on, and just as he was about speak, the line went silent.

Minho immediately furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, before looking at his screen to see that they were both still in the call. "Are you tired?" he asked, taking a mental note of the way not only his, but the other's breathing had slightly steadied.

"Are you?" H.J answered with another question of his own; somehow finding a way to avoid speaking about himself first.

"A little," Minho truthfully answered. Seeing as school had taken all the energy out of him in a mere second, it was safe to say that he was more than a little tired.

"Me too," the apparent blond mumbled, before shutting his eyes, unbeknownst to Minho's same doings. He felt weirdly comfortable now that they had talked; and although the awkwardness still floated through the air between them, it seemed a bit better after moving further from the first minute.

Getting himself comfortable, Minho silently sighed. "You should sleep," he stammered, before closing his mouth as he waited for an answer.

"No," H.J murmured, his voice sounding as if it were now muffled by something like a blanket. "You should."

"No," Minho smiled, before silencing himself altogether. If H.J wanted to continue talking, then they would. It was only time and forced courage that allowed them both to have the mere confidence of staying on the call without speaking every second; and saying they simply enjoyed the presence of someone was a little bit of an understatement.