Rain: Lock & Key

Chapter 3

His heart beating fast, his cheeks crimson, Key looked at Jonghyun for a while before running off to close the shop.

For Key, it was a welcome distraction. The tedious task of locking every door and every window for the night took as long as he remembered, but it made him feel like be was finally back.

Back where he belonged.

Studying in America was great, but he missed Korea quite a bit. They say that there is no place quite like home, and Key was now a firm believer in that.

He considered Jonghyun and the café his home, and when his home was half way around the world, out of reach, it's a saddening feeling.

Having closed all doors except one, Key hung his apron on his hook in the kitchen.

He was glad to be back, he didn't feel like the awkward foreigner who everyone wanted to be friends with because he was interesting.

He was back to being just Key.

And there was nothing wrong with just being Key.

Being Key meant that he could spend all day at the café and have the smell of coffee cling to him.

Being Key meant that he could go shopping with Taemin and make him try on dresses because he looked pretty in them, although he was quite a bit manlier than he was three years ago.

Being Key meant that he could hang out with Minho and complain about getting dirty while attempting to play soccer.

Being Key meant that he could hang out with Jinki and practically trade chicken for advice on life matters, and indirectly, advice about Jonghyun.

What Key thought was the best thing about being Key was the fact that on Friday nights, he could lock up the café, and head up to the roof with Jonghyun.

Still hanging onto the fabric of his black apron, a nervous smile tugged at his lips.

Jonghyun was still waiting for him upstairs, pile of blankets and pillows on the seat next to him.

Key was nervous, it had been so long since he had gotten to be Key with Jonghyun.

It was a long time since he had been Bummie with Jonghyun.

Would he even still call him that?

He remembered the first time he had heard his best friend call him that. It had been shortly after they had met Onew, back then Jinki. The elder kept calling him by his real name, Key always complaining that he hated it. The truth was, Key only liked his name when Jonghyun said it.

It was a rarity for Jonghyun to call him Kibum. To Jonghyun, he had almost always been Key. He was the one who gave him his nickname, after all.

Key had studied English since he was very little, he still remembers carrying around a pack of flash cards with him as a child. Each one had a picture of something with the word written in English. He treasured those cards, but now he only had two. The stack dwindled down over the years, cards lost, cards worn and thrown away, but here were two that were so precious to him, that he took them with him to the other side of the world.

The first was the 'dog' card. It was his favorite.

I had Jonghyun's name written on the back of it in his six year old writing.

The second was the 'key' card. It was Jonghyun's favorite.

It had Kibum written on the back of it in Jonghyun's seven year old writing.

The first time Jonghyun called him Key was the day that they became friends.

Their parents made them play together since they were very young, they were always around each other since they were babies.