Cigarette Smokes (HIATUS ◇ REWRITING)

I S A

doyoung lit his cigarette stick with his best friend's lighted one, and puffed out a smoke that clouded the dark alley they were standing at.

it made all the bypassers steer away from them. but doyoung doesn't give a fuck.

he needed to release stress, and what's a more satisfying way to do it than smoke a pack of cancer.

he's not always a smoker, though. like the others, something triggered him to do it.

his was his parents.

it all started one summer night after his elementary graduation. his family were all seated in front of the dining table, plates of scrumptious food laid in front of them. his younger brother talking his ear off about the new gaming console his friend got and how they were planning to play with it all summer. he, too, was excited to tell his parents that he was granted a scholarship from the art school he always dreamed of going to.

but his dreams went down the drain when his parents dropped the news that they already enrolled him in a private science high school.

even as a young kid, he knew his parents had a bad habit of controlling his life. he was always told what and what not to do in front of the public, the clothes he wears should always have the approval of either his parents, who he should befriend, what places he should go to, and even when he should speak or not.

but he didn't thought that they would reached as far as that. they had just crushed their son's dream, stomped to it repeatedly, grounded it, then proceeded to throw it in the flames. but the worst thing was that they had unknowingly done it.

not that they would have a change of heart if they knew.

so after the dinner, he told them he'd sleep early and locked himself in his room. but he never slept, instead, for the first time ever, he sneaked out their house and went to his best friend's (he was pretty sure his parents wouldn't approved of them being friends if ten wasn't the son of a thai business mogul) usual hang out.

the first time he inhaled the cigarette ten offered, he was sent to a coughing pit. ten laughed but taught him how to smoke it properly. the second was not so bad, he coughed a bit but shrugged it off and proceeded to his third drag. and then the forth and the fifth.

and now he was smoking his, possibly, millionth cigarette.

"so what did your parents do this time?" the short male beside him, asked.

"just the usual nag. they were bragging to their friends how i got in to the university," doyoung then shrugged and inhaled his stick. the pressure his parents put on him were suffocating, and the only way for him to breathe was, ironically, to fill his lungs with smoke.

ten let out a snort then took his own drag, "let's just be thankful they let you off their claws by letting you stay in the dorms."

"yeah, i guess so," doyoung nodded and stared at the passing cars' tail lights that faded into distance.

                                                                              )^0^(

johnny smoked for fun.

he and jaehyun were experimenting back then, trying to see if the cancer stick would fit their taste.

jaehyun smashed his after his second drag, but johnny kept on. he instantly liked how the nicotine goodness swirled around his tongue and how nice it felt after he finished a stick.

he loved smoking.

so when taeyong reprimanded him about smoking inside his apartment, he excused himself to go outside and smoke.

it was rather a busy night for a monday. he saw a few clusters of people going this way and that way, but, he thought it was just because university classes would start soon and they were just savoring the remaining freedom before they would be tied to paperworks and deadliest deadlines.

that's what he, jaehyun, kun, and taeyong were doing but decided to just celebrate it in the latter's apartment.

but johnny was in dire need of a smoke. and two of his friends were health conscious enough to drink alcohol but steer away from cigarettes, and as a respect, he decided to do it outside. but he ran out of his precious sticks, that's why he headed to the convenience store two blocks away from taeyong's apartment.

alas, he found himself staring at the vacant rack where the convenience store put the packs of cigarettes they sell. sold out.

he went out the store, empty handed. he was about to passed a dark alley right next to it, but perked up when he saw on his peripheral vision a dark figure that held a cigarette in between his lips and a phone on his left hand. cigarette smokes clouded around him.

and despite the human's natural instinct to avoid such sketchy places, johnny turned to the alley.

"do you have another stick?"

doyoung was startled, to say the least. he was left alone to the alley because ten was called home, something about an unexpected guess had arrived in their house. ten would want him to come with him but doyoung declined. he needed some alone time.

but it was interrupted by a tall stranger asking for a cig.

despite the low illumination his phone provided, doyoung could clearly see the stranger's face; thick eyebrows, mellow eyes, pointed nose, bow-shaped pink lips. and even if the stranger sported a sharp jawline, he still looked gentle.

and an unknown feeling settled in doyoung's stomach. he shrugged it off though, and offered his pack of strawberry flavored cigarette to the stranger which the latter gratefully took one.

the stranger pulled out a lighter, lighted his stick and leaned back against the wall doyoung was leaned to. he puffed a smoke and the strawberry scent that lingered the air became strong now that there's a two of them who's smoking.

silence engulfed them, and doyoung went back to his phone. scrolling aimlessly at the colorful feed of his instagram account.

johnny looked at the stranger beside him and noticed how his big doe eyes sparkled with his phone's brightness.

cute, he thought.

"i never tried strawberry before and that's a shame because this stuff is good," johnny said, attempting to start a conversation. he lied though, he had tried strawberry before, once, and never tried it again. it's too sweet for his liking and it doesn't suit his 'bad boy image' well. "i'm johnny, by the way."

the stranger hummed, "i'm doyoung."

doyoung, johnny smiled and made sure to remember the name. a cute name for a cute guy, he thought and took another drag, smoke surrounding them in a nicotine bliss.