Just Before The Dawn [DaeJae]

Thirty Six

When Daehyun came to school on the following Monday, he got a strange feeling in his stomach when he noticed Youngjae was not there. The younger had been acting strange since the last night he had spent at Daehyun's house - the next day, he had barely looked at the older and had gone home really early without any explanation. Daehyun had not heard from him since, and the fact that he wasn't at school worried him. 

He could not focus on the lessons, constantly thinking about the younger, and although he had planned to go to the gym with Junhong after school, he skipped the last two lessons to go to Youngjae's place since he could not wait any longer. 

Luckily, he met Himchan at the front door, who let him in. As he knocked on Youngjae's door, he did not expect an answer, but after a few seconds a quiet "yes" could be heard and he entered the room. 

Youngjae sat on the floor in the middle of the room, a controller in his hand, and a video game on the screen of his TV. The boy looked up when Daehyun came in, looking a bit surprised. 

"Hey" Daehyun said, "I wanted to check on you, I was a bit worried when you didn't appear at school today. How are you?" 

Youngjae paused his game and put the controller aside. "I'm fine. I just didn't sleep that good last night." 

"Okay. Can I sit down?" 

"Sure." The younger moved a bit, so Daehyun had room on the blanket he sat on. "Do you wanna play with me?" 

Daehyun agreed and the played the game for quite a while, until there was a knock on the door. Then, a woman called Youngjae's name and he flinched before quickly getting up. He threw a blanket over something in his closet and shut its door, before answering. 

The woman Daehyun had seen in the office the other day opened the door and smiled at them. 

"Hello Youngjae, I wanted to remind you that today we are going to the Christmas market. Do you want to come with us?" 

"Um... I don't know..." he carefully looked at Daehyun. 

"Your friend can also come. If you decide to do it, we meet in an hour in the entrance hall." 

"Okay, thank you..." 

The door closed and Youngjae visibly relaxed. Daehyun waited till he had sat back down, before speaking. "What's in you closet that she isn't allowed to see?" 

The younger scratched the back of his head nervously. "Um... i-it's nothing..." he mumbled and Daehyun raised an eyebrow as he noticed a light smell of alcohol when the boy next to him moved. 

"Youngjae, did you drink?" 

Fuck. 

The younger felt the panic spread in his chest as Daehyun's question. He had not expected Daehyun to ask about it. How did he even know?

The boy shook his head, but did not look at the older. He already knew that Daehyun would most likely not believe him, but he could not just admit it. He could not let him know about his problem, he had to think about something, an excuse he could tell the older as a reason for drinking, but he could not think of anything fast enough. 

"Don't lie to me, Jae." Daehyun sighed. "Why did you drink again? Did something happen?" 

Meanwhile, Youngjae could barely hold back the tears anymore. He just stared at his hands, slowly shaking his head again. No, nothing had happened. He had just needed it, as he had not drank any alcohol for a whole week. How should he have known that Daehyun would just come over? 

He noticed how his classmate got up, and carefully watched him as he went to the closet. Daehyun opened the door and pulled away the blanket Youngjae had thrown in earlier. 

"Jae, talk to me." He said, as he saw the collection of alcoholic drinks the younger had in his closet. "What's wrong? Why do you drink so much?" 

Now, the boy could not hold it in anymore and started sobbing, hiding his face behind his hands. What did Dehyun think of him now? What would he do? Would he yell at him? Or leave? Youngjae felt like there was a heavy stone in his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. He curled up into a ball and just cried. He didn't care anymore that Daehyun was here, he just felt too weak to stop. 

Suddenly, he felt a warm hand on his back, and moments later, he was pulled into a warm hug. "It's okay" he heard Daehyun whisper, "I'm here, JaeJae... It's gonna be alright..."