(OLD VER.) Avenue 17 | SVT ENSEM.

[ 十一 ] ELEVEN

[ "BOYS! guess who's fuckin HOMELESS!! ME!!!" ]

finally, night washed over junhui and he sent a text to minghao asking if he was ready to video call. the boy responded quick and said yes. before junhui could reply, minghao had started the video call and he greeted junhui with a warm but tired smile. "hey." junhui said. "hey. how's the injuries? anything bad?" of course, that would be the first thing minghao thought about. junhui smiled, attempting to assure the younger through body language. "yeah, i'm okay. i gotta get these bruises covered though... and this cut..." he looked at his own video feed and assessed how the injuries looked after a couple hours. "they don't look too bad. but maybe it's the video." junhui hummed, "i guess they're alright."

wanting to change the subject, he asked about minghao's day. "ah, the kids we got are an amazing bunch. and because of that, soonyoung's decided to push their limits further and up the level of class. so we got a better and more technique based dance we've been practising since we came up with it." junhui nodded along. ah, there's the passion burning in minghao's eyes. the younger always got fired up when talking about dance; junhui had seen it since they first met.

after a while more of talking about random topics, minghao suddenly brought up junhui's problem again. "oh, i just realised..." minghao bit his lip and junhui couldn't stop himself from staring. "by telling me what happened, you just indirectly came out to me. was that what you wanted as well?" junhui shook his head, "actually, no. i never had a plan to tell anyone, actually. i could live without telling people close to me." he looked away before returning his gaze back to minghao, "but i trust you- a lot- so, i think i'm okay with you knowing." junhui smiled and minghao returned it.

"let's sleep, okay? i know you're tired." junhui said. minghao wanted to argue but a yawn gave him away, "talk about perfect timing..." he muttered, although junhui could hear. "goodnight, huihui. talk tomorrow!" "alright, little hao. sleep tight~" junhui shut off his phone, plugged it in to charge and rolled over to the other (cooler) side of his bed. he thought about minghao. he always did after calls. he liked to memorise his voice so he could hear him speak again, even when he wasn't around. junhui liked minghao's company, there was no doubt about it. he loved how strong their bond developed into and how well they connected with each other on every sort of level possible. as junhui fell into sleep, he dreamt about how it seemed like minghao was practically his soulmate.

"wen junhui, we need to talk." of course, the loving but strict voice of his father came at his bedroom door some time after he woke up. what could it be about this time? sometimes junhui's parents would overreact and call him for a talk over the smallest of things, so he really wasn't expecting them to be wanting to talk to him about... the whole situation. from yesterday. his mother was sitting on one of the chairs already and junhui took his place on the sofa. "so your friends tell me... tell me that..." junhui clearly felt the uncomfortableness in his mother's voice. "they tell me, us, that you... you're- what- gay? what's that about?" junhui adverted the question, "friends? who?" "you know, the boys you hang out with all the time?" his mother answered with a wave of her hand, telling him that it wasn't important right now. junhui scoffed, "no way in hell are they my friends." his father seemed to have suddenly been enlightened or something, because he tapped his wife's arm quickly and exclaimed, "see! they weren't his friends! they must've told us that to make us get angry with junhui." his mother wasn't one to change beliefs so quickly, so she asked junhui again to confirm.

if he denied it, his lifespan would probably increase by a lot but he wouldn't be true to himself. but if he confirmed it... well, there wouldn't be a wen junhui anymore, that was for sure. but wen junhui refused to lie, he couldn't. so he said it, "it's true." something clicked in his parents' brains(maybe it was the nonchalance...) and the atmosphere changed drastically. it wasn't waiting with bated breath, in fact, the dread had settled in and the air was thick with uncertainty of the other party. junhui didn't know what to expect.

"do you have a luggage?" came just mother's voice. an arrow being pulled back. "yeah, why?"

"pack it up." silence. the release.

"w-why..?" his voice was shaking. junhui knew he wouldn't and couldn't bear to hear the words that would come out with his mother's mouth next.

"oh god, wen junhui is your brain not working anymore? you're kicked out! i want you out!" there it was, the shot to his heart.

what was there left to do? he was broken. and yet again, wen junhui was listless and aimless as he trudged his way back to his room with heavy feet. suddenly, he didn't feel like he could live anymore.

【 ☆ 】

minghao had recently checked his savings account and was glad to see that he had enough money to pay for soonyoung and jihoon's building renovation (especially the dance studio level). he decided it would be nice for soonyoung (and him) to spend the older's birthday in a new space that he loved and was designed by him. minghao thought an early birthday present never hurt anyone. a while ago, he had asked jeonghan to hook him up with one of the interior designers for Avenue and she had quoted her price, give and take a few hundred depending on what soonyoung wanted. minghao's balance fit nicely in that range.

he smiled as he flicked through the videos on his youtube home page on his tv. nothing much of interest. he just chose a café vlog to use as background noise. usually, he'd be in the studio sweating it out with soonyoung but he was told (and nearly scolded) to stay at home because he'd been working too hard in there. minghao sighed, sometimes your passions had to take breaks too. 'taking a break' was rarely ever minghao's middle name. gues he'd have to be xu 'you're overworking please take a break' minghao. "has a nice ring to it." he rolled his eyes as he mused over soonyoung's earlier begging.

some café vlogs (that he didn't pay attention to) later, a call from junhui interrupted his meme scrolling. "hello?" a short silence and then a deep, snotty inhale came through. "hao...i..." "junhui? are you crying, is everything okay- what happened?" minghao immediately switched to video call because he always wanted a visual of the situation for himself. this time, it wasn't a physically injured junhui sitting in front of him. it was an emotionally and mentally injured junhui, crying his eyes out, tears on a constant stream down his face, eyes rubbed red, hair all messed up and just... a broken boy. and it hurt minghao to see him like that.

"hui hui, breathe in and out slowly and tell me whenever you're ready to." minghao instructed calmly. once the feeling in junhui's chest stopped making him shudder every time he exhaled, he tried to keep his words concise. "my...my parents... i got kicked o-out-" he felt the heaviness press down on his chest again. minghao's eyebrows came together in a concerned and hurting expression. "i don't know where to go... i," junhui had a mini-hyperventilation moment before being able to speak again, "i have no one, hao... i really have no o-one. what do i do?" junhui felt the tears pour from the corners of his eyes again. he hated looking like this in front of minghao.

speaking of minghao, the boy was paying attention to junhui, sure, but half of his mind was contemplating doing one thing. if he did it, junhui would be helped greatly. if he didn't... well, minghao wouldn't know what would happen to him... fuck it.

"i'll fly you out."

a/n: ITS GETTING SPICY. so i'm going back to school on monday,, i don't rly know how i feel about that :/ i'm happy but also ew school. i'll probably return to my 1 chapter a week schedule but who knows when the next 3x update will be again HAHAH

also! pH-1 is coming out w a new album soon on the 8th! we're getting another h1ghr gang song and i'm going to CRY. stan h1ghr!!

호랑해! 🐯
- eli