Best ways to avoid getting a runny nose after being under the rain past midnight

(Or how to swim away from dangerous waters)

If you have only a few friends, you’ll get this feeling.

This kind of feeling where you always feel like you owe them. Like there’s an implicit debt between you and them, but you can’t exactly point out why, because they never made you feel this way, not even once. Well, maybe once or twice, but not on purpose, you are sure.

And, well, you always feel like you have to pay for that ‘debt’. Not in money, of course, but in friendship current, this would be: hanging out, answering messages, holding active conversations, eating together. Maybe even telling them your problems? Yeah, that sounds fine. To give and to take, you have to actually help growing this reciprocative relationship.

Telling it like this, it sounds more like an effort than a pleasure. Like social activities are too much of a trouble to be something you seek for.

But you know what? Minwoo is slowly learning that sometimes, theory sounds way worse than practice.

After some time, you start to enjoy it. You start to miss them when you are not hanging out, you start to crave for longer, deeper active conversations, you start staying up until 3 a.m. on a school night laughing at stupid texts, and when you see a new restaurant being opened you think ‘I should go with them’.

Or, well, maybe not everyone can relate to this. Maybe it’s just him, who is a bit too paranoid and a bit too antisocial to begin with.

But to be fair, he really has only one friend. And that friend is enough for him.

Because this particular friend sometimes is too much.

 Riing, riing, riing.

“Hmm…?”

“Put some shoes on and get out!”, the yell came out as soon as he answered the call, half asleep as he still was. Had the speaker of his phone always been this loud?

“Hmm-what…?”

Minwoo still felt his tongue heavy, as his mind tried to wake up.

“Put. Some. Shoes. On. And get out! Fast!”, Jeongmin’s voice sounded urgent, so urgent that it made his sleepy mind go into alert mode. He dropped the phone on his bed and automatically ran to his door, not even wasting time in lacing up.

“Aish! Not like that! Go get a jacket, come on!”, was the first thing he heard when he opened the door while he massaged his eyes, trying to wake up.

Minwoo ran back inside and took a random jacket, putting it on as he closed the door behind him.

Once he was on the corridor, he turned towards him.

“Hi!”, Jeongmin’s big smile appeared as he casually called the elevator. They waited for it in silence, and once they were inside it, the bright lights helped to finally wake the younger up.

Wait…

He looked at himself on the mirrors, and patted his concerned face. It was now that his brain was slowly waking up, trying to process the situation he was in. He had just been woken up, right? But Jeongmin had sounded hurried. But he was now calm? Also, hat day was it again? Friday…? No, definitely not Friday. Oh, right, Wednesday. Hold up, Wednesday? He had been woken up on a Wednesday night!?

“What time is it?!”, he suddenly blurted out, his eyebrows joining in concern.

“Right now? 12:30…”, was Jeongmin’s vague answer; his eyes only paying attention to his own reflection.

“A.M.?!”

“Mhmm!”

“But… It’s a Wednesday night!”, Minwoo felt stuck between astonishment, worry and that feeling you get when you are about to get pissed off.

“Actually, more like Thursday morning.”, the other replied, as he opened the door and walked out the street.

Okay, now Minwoo was about to throw a fit. A Thursday morning!? Thursday morning!? He had class in a few hours! He stopped on his tracks.

“…”he his heels. “I’m going back.”,

“Hey, wait, no!”, before he could reach the card on his pocket (that he had somehow grabbed before leaving), Jeongmin stopped him by the wrist. “You are already outside.”

“So?”, Minwoo raised an eyebrow.

“Come on, man. Just for a bit.”, the younger ignored the pleas until… “I’ll buy you food.”

He was still about to say no.

But then his stomach grumbled. Loud.

“Ha! Gotcha!”, Jeongmin laughed, “Let’s go!”

They were walking down the streets now. Unexpectedly, this part of the city was pretty busy even on a weeknight. The street lights shone in a warm orange that contrasted greatly against the dark blue sky, the traffic lights seemed brighter but somehow calmer than during the daytime, and the lights from the shops that were still open looked inviting with the promise of the warmth that held inside.

“Where are we going?”

A couple of lovers walked beside them, laughing about who knows what, and crossing the street, a group of co-workers were doing a cheer. An old lady was closing her shop, and her husband was packing up boxes and boxes inside their grey van.

“On an adventure.”, Jeongmin picked both of the sweet potatoes he was buying, and handed one to him.

Minutes later, Minwoo was munching on his potato, as his feet swung him lightly. Jeongmin was on the swing next to his, but he was sitting leg crossed on it. Some part of his mind wondered how he could balance himself like that; some other part, how long until he fell.

In the park, some crickets were sounding, and a thunder rumbled far away, but he didn’t bother. The cold air stuck to his skin, making his hairs stand when a particularly cold breeze hit him, but the warm heat of the food on his hands and on his lips made him feel somehow comfortable.

They occasionally talked, but it was nothing more than light conversation. Minwoo talking about his classes, Jeongmin telling him about the movie he had seen the day before.

“I really try to read books, but I never get to the end of them. I’ve only finished a few of Murakami’s, and only because they were short.”, Jeongmin shared.

“I don’t really read outside of school readings. I should try to read something else.”, Minwoo offered.

Even though they were outside and they barely talking, it felt like the most private chat he’d ever have. Maybe it was the low tone that they had adopted, as if they were trying to hide their words from the rest of the world (though the only possible audience was the night animals that may be trying to catch a meal of their own).

“You should read The Catcher in the Rye.”

“Hmm?”, Minwoo munched on his potatoe.

“It’s an American book. You’ll like it.”, Jeongmin assured, as he ate the last of his, “And when you finish it, you can tell me the ending of it.”, his lips curled cheekily.

“Yah…”, Minwoo started, but quickly apologized, “I mean, are you recommending it to me, or you just want to know how it ends?”

“Hmm…”, the pink haired let his back rest on one of the chains that held the swing, “Bit of both.”

 “Aish…”, but Minwoo’s complaint was interrupted by a big drop falling on his nose. “Oh?”

Soon, more raindrops began falling. And then some more. And even more.

“Oh no!”

And by the time they both had stood up, a thick curtain of water was falling nonstop from the sky.

“Yah, hurry!”

Soon, they were both running for their lives. Or well, for their clothes. And possibly for their health, too. Minwoo felt sweat starting to fall down his cheekbones, and his legs were starting to want to give in. When had they walked so far away from their building?

Finally, they got to their place. Minwoo hugged himself as he stood under the small roof that protected the entrance, chills running down his spine when he was hit by a cold gust. God, he could already feel the cold he would wake up to in the morning.

 “Uh-oh.”

“What?”, he turned to the other guy, to see him patting himself. “What…?”

“I think I lost my keys.”

“What?!”

They both groaned. Minwoo refused to go back there, he wasn’t about to leave that roof. Andno, no type of friendship debt was about to make him change his mind.

“I guess I’ll have to stay at your place.”

“What? No!”

“Come on, open the door.”, Jeongmin buried his hands once again, and walked all the way behind Minwoo, as if he was rounding him up.  “Hurry, I’m freezing!”

Minwoo was about to protest, but Jeongmin kept pushing him, so he ended up opening the door. Inside the building, the temperature was higher, but it only worked to make him shiver some more.

He looked at himself once again when they were inside the elevator. He looked like a mess. His hair was sticking out on every direction, and even though he had had put his hood on, it hadn’t helped one bit; his whole everything was wet.

“We look like alley cats.”, his eyes looked at the reflection next to his, and Jeongmin was right. They both were in the same conditions.

The elevator beeped, the doors opened, and Minwoo ran to his door, opening and getting inside as soon as he could. Unfortunately, something didn’t let him close the door; that something being Jeongmin’s feet.

“Hyung, your floor is the next one.”, Minwoo pointed upwards, his eyes opening bigger in fake innocence.

“I told you I lost my keys! I wasn’t lying!” Jeongmin whined, “Come on, let me in, I’m freezing.”

“No!”

“Yah, what am I supposed to do then?!  Where will I sleep!?”

“On the corridor…?”

“Yah!”, Minwoo felt a push on the door that he tried to resist, but Jeongmin was surprisingly stronger than he looked. He ended up falling on his and the shorter almost falling along with him.

“Why you make things so hard? Aish…”

Minwoo was about to protest, but was rudely interrupted by his own…

“Achoo!”

Jeongmin cracked up.

After Jeongmin’s insistence, Minwoo was the first to shower. And believe him; it took him tons of insistence, because while on the outside he seemed really calm and collected, (well, as calm and collected as someone who sneezes every three words can be) he was actually freaking out because of the state his house was in. Had he picked up his laundry? Had he thrown the trash? Was his bed made? What about his books, were they in their place or scattered all around?

But… every time he tried to refuse either he had to sneeze or run to the kitchen for some napkins to blow his nose, which proved Jeongmin’s point, ‘You gotta wake up for class tomorrow don’t you? You’ll get sick!’, further. And he couldn’t really argue against that.

So, he had a quick, hot shower, and changed as fast as he could (he had never noticed before just how small his bathroom was until he almost hit his head against the sink while putting on his socks inside of it) before heading out. He didn’t’ even dry his hair or put on the usual facial lotion he wears before sleep.

When he got out, towel hanging from his neck, he was greeted by Jeongmin’s snicker.

“What?”

He felt his intense stare for a few seconds, and his amused smile widened, “Nothing, nothing,”, he said, while standing up, “It’s just that you look like a punk chicken.”

“Hey!”

It was Minwoo’s turn to be amused once the older got out of the bathroom. Minwoo had lent him one of his pajamas, and even though they DID were one of the ones that fitted him big… Did he ever look that small in them? Jeongmin’s hands were hidden by the too long sleeves, and the loose shirt reached far down his , covering it completely.  The pants too, covered almost his whole feet, only the big toe peeking from behind the fabric.

Unfortunately, that cute sight was soon disappeared by him rolling up his sleeves up to his elbows, and letting himself fall next to Minwoo, who had been sitting cross-legged on his bed since after checking his whole place was in order.

The rain had lessened; now it was constant but not heavy anymore. The deep rumbles of faraway thunders sounded every now and then, but made him feel relaxed and cozy, somehow.

Without even meaning to, instead of going to sleep, the chatting began.

“I really like rain.”

“Hmm?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know? Artists get more creative when it rains.”

“Really?”, Minwoo’s  eyebrows raised slightly. He was feeling kind of lazy, but not entirely sleepy, so he just let himself fall on his back.

“Yeah… Something to do with muses… Or was it with a goddess?”, he felt Jeongmin mimicking his position, making the mattress bounce slightly, “I kind of don’t remember. But yeah. When it rains, I stay up until my eyes won’t stay open , writing and playing and writing and playing. My best songs come when it rains.”, he finished, a cocky hint on his voice.

“Oh…”, Minwoo fell silent for a few seconds, and they both stayed a few minutes like that, just hearing the rain. Another thunder resounded far away. “I used to hate rain when I was a kid.”

Jeongmin snickered silently next to him. “Did the thunders scare you?”

“Hmmm…”, Minwoo closed his eyes, and pressed his lips before answering, “Not really. I used to live in a really ugly house, and it sometimes got really flooded. I was just scared one day it’d flood aaall the way up to the roof, and me and my mom wouldn’t be able to get out.”

“…Oh.”, the younger’s eyes found the other guy staring at the ceiling, a serious expression gracing his face, “But wouldn’t your dad come in and rescue you both from all that water?”

“I don’t have a father.”

He felt a sudden move next to him, and Jeongmin was sitting once again. “What?!”

“I mean…”, he sighed, “Biologically, I do. But he kicked us out when I was three.”

“W-what…?”, Minwoo’s eyes opened once again, and found a new expression on Jeongmin’s face. His eyes seemed a bit unfocused, and shinier. He saw his Adam’s apple going up and down, as he swallowed hard. “But… But you were just a kid… ”

For not even half a second, some memories of his childhood flashed behind Minwoo’s eyes. His mom feeding him ‘the yucky cereals’, the big crack on the wall next to his bed; that time he woke up with a rat walking over his cover, the fungus that grew in almost every corner of the house. How his feet used to be constantly dirty, as his mom could never get every inch of dirt out of the house even if she tried (both for lack of time and because of that hole in the kitchen that made way for more to get in).

He felt a knot beginning to tie his neck, and the corners of his eyes were threatening to start to burn. A ticklish feeling on his legs began to spread, and his hands were desperate to grip on the soft cloth of his pajama pants.

 ‘Don’t think about that. Don’t think about that. Focus on what happened next. The good things.’

“Yeah… W-we had had to move to an ugly house. But once my mom was able to get her title-“

“Get her title?”

“Yeah, when she got pregnant of me, she had to give up college and marry him. But she was able to pick up where she had left. ”

“She was in…?”

“Yeah; she was twenty-one.”  He felt his throat dry, so he swallowed, before carrying on,” After she graduated, one of her teachers offered her a really good job because of her good marks. And after three months, we had moved to a pretty apartment. So it’s okay. After that, things only got better, I guess.”

He shrugged, and a heavy silence fell between them. Minwoo had resorted to playing with his own fingers and biting the inside of his cheek, and it was somehow helping the nasty feeling fade away. In his mind, like an arrow, a thought went through; it had been an unusually quiet night for Jeongmin, who hadn’t nearly spoken half as much as he usually did.

 He suddenly felt a hand making pressure right above of his knee, and his attention turned to it instantly.

“Okay, you know what?”, Jeon0gmin’s voice sounded strong and loud once again, “ him. I’ll be your dad from now on.”

“Huh?!”, Minwoo whipped his head at him. What was this guy..?

“You heard me. I’ll be here to… Uh… Do dad things. Yeah. Like say bad jokes and drink beer on the couch.”

“But you already do that…”

And just like that, the mood was turned. He must really have been a wizard, this guy.

“Hey-!”, Jeongmin looked like he was about to complain, but then his eyes lightened with an idea, “Oh, I can also give your life advice. Yeah, I can do that. Like, uh, how to get more Instagram followers… How to pick up girls…”

Minwoo stared at him with his eyes huge, astounded, mouth slightly agape. He still wasn’t sure if the guy was kidding or if he was being serious. Like, he could have been kidding… But he sounded too resolute… And that bewildered look he had in his face...

He looked like a crazy conspirationist. Like a mad scientific.

He looked absolutely hilarious.

“I-I…Pfft-!”, Minwoo ended up snorting, and then, fighting to contain his laughter. “What are you even..!”, he failed to answer properly, shaking his head. After calming himself, he added, “Besides, I don’t need advice on picking up girls…”

“Aigo… What makes you so confident?”, he punched his shoulder, “Is my Minwoo popular with the ladies?”

“W-what? No! I just, um… I really don’t need…”, oh no. He did not want to get into that topic. Not with his… Neighbor… Friend…

“Then why…?”

“And besides,”, he quickly interrupted him, stretching himself over him to pick up his phone from his bedtable, “I already have a lot of Instagram followers. See?”

“What? No way.”, that worked to make Jeongmin’s attention divert. The older snatched his phone, and starting going through his account.      Effectively, Minwoo had just hit 3500 followers yesterday. “Aigo, these aren’t too many...”

“What are you saying? These are a lot!”, Minwoo’s eyebrows raised, indignated. What was this guy saying?!

“I’ve got more than that.”, he just slyly said, his head falling a little, making his chin point upwards, feigning indifference. “Around… 6800 last time I checked.”

Minwoo was going to protest, but he couldn’t. He had seen his account and he knew he wasn’t lying. But he also knew that a lot of those followers he had were because he hung out with some idols. But if he mentioned that, Jeongmin would know he knew. And that was a no-no.

“But okay, if you won’t call me dad, call me hyung.”

Minwoo pondered it for a few seconds. Well… He wasn’t exactly… fond of the idea but he wasn’t against either. He didn’t really have anything to object. Or at least, nothing that wasn’t disrespectful.

“...”, Minwoo looked at him for a few seconds with a solemn aura, before breathing out, “Okay.”

“Huh?”, his voice was flooded with doubt. “Okay…?!”

“Sure. But hyung…”, wow, how weird the word felt rolling off of his tongue! It was as if he was still unsure of how to even pronounce it. Still, he wasn’t about to let him have a full victory, “Even with all of those followers, I’m sure I still get more likes than you.”

“Tch- As if.”

“I’m serious though! I always get a lot of likes…“ ‘More than you, I checked’, he wanted to add, “I’m pretty confident about it!”

“Yah… This kid… Who do you think you are? Wanna bet?”

So, this is how it was going to go. They took two selcas together, one with Minwoo’s phone (and all of his camera apps), and one with Jeongmin’s. The conditions were not putting any hashtags, nor mentioning each other. And they still couldn’t follow each other, so the followers couldn’t find each other’s accounts. They had until Sunday to get the most likes, and the one who won could ask the other for anything, including expensive meals.

Jeongmin satisfactorily posted his selfie, when Minwoo yawned.

“Okay, we should sleep now.”

“Yeah…”, Minwoo mumbled, as he entered inside his covers. He noticed that Jeongmin was looking at the bed with a bit of doubt, so he got out of it again and covered himself only with the first thick cover.

“What? No, no, you cover yourself with all of them, you’ll get sick!”, the older hurried him under them, as he covered himself like Minwoo had done previously. Minwoo tried to protest, but his eyes were starting to feel… Just... So, so heavy…

“Okay, uh, hyung…”

A silence felt between them as they were both in bed, lights off. Minwoo could feel the body heat of the one beside him, even though they were both facing opposite sides and far away from each other. The moonlight was hitting him, highlighting his nose and lips, and he ended up staring at the hypnotizing droplets hitting his window, falling on each other, racing against down the glass.

He felt the need of cuddling up to something, and he wished he had another cushion around.

A thunder rumbled softly far away.

“Minwoo-yah?”, he suddenly heard, the pink- haired’s voice soft and low, breaking in the quiet darkness.

“Yes, hyung…?”

A few seconds of silence were followed by this:

“Are you sure you are alright about your dad?”

The question surprised him; not because of the question in question, but because of the feelings on it. The care that each of his words dripped, that lit up something inside his chest. Somehow, he felt his heart pumping harder for a second or two.

“Yes, hyung.”, he whispered back, trying to sound reassuring, moving his head up and down still laying on the pillow.

“O-okay….”, he felt a hand briefly petting his hair, and his eyes fell closed instantly, “Sleep well, okay?”

“Yeah… Night-night….”

And after that, he fell in a deep, deep, dreamless sleep.

The following day, his alarm woke him up for the first time in almost five years. His eyes felt tired and burning and heavy as rocks; the bags under them looked as if he had smudged eyeliner; his nose was runny as hell. Plus, he had this weird feeling, as if everything that had happened the night before had been just a really vivid dream.

Maybe it was also because when he woke up, he was alone in his apartment once again.

He did his morning routine just in time with his muscles feeling heavy inside his skin, and, hugged by a thick light brown raincoat, he finally ran to class. He didn’t even had time to get himself a coffee (and that left him craving for his Vanilla Latte the whole morning), and in class he could barely pay attention, due his constant need of blowing his stupid, red nose.

But somehow, he couldn’t get himself to get overly pissed off about it. His mind was in another plane; wondering things like where the hell was Jeongmin and if he had actually lied about his key in the end.

And most important: if that was true, just why he had lied.

But as soon as they had their break, he laid on his head on his crossed arms on the desk and checked his notifications.

So, his pic had gotten 748 likes already.

He checked Jeongmin’s… and he had 1043?! How?!

He briefly went through the likes and… Oh… One of his famous friends had given it a like. That usually made people find it easier.

He also had five texts. Two were from his mom, asking how was he and if he had gotten a cold in this weather.

‘Is this woman a psychic…?’

(ME)

Of course not, mom. You raised your son well.

But then, the other three messages…

(Jeongmin-sshi)

yah sorry I forgot to tell you I had to go to the studio in the am

(Jeongmin-sshi)

whats that that kwangmin told me abt you falling asleep in class you weak kid!!!

(Jeongmin-sshi)

this is not how I did not raise you!!!!!!!!

(ME)

I didn’t fall asleep though, just sneezed the whole time

The answer came sooner than expected:

(Jeongmin-sshi)

whats this then?

-Jeongmin-sshi has sent a photo-

The photo was of himself at that very moment, laying on his desk. Well, to be fair, from that angle it did look like he was asleep. He got up, startled, and looked around until he found the only familiar face in the classroom. The twin, Kwangmin, was boredly staring at what Minwoo guessed was his phone inside one of those unnecessarily huge cases which had the shape of a Pikachu doll. He looked up, and the corners of his lips curled up, as he waved with the phone still on his hand; but somehow it looked kind of stiff.

Unluckily, before he could even reply to that, the teacher re-entered and the class begun again.

Later that day, he was on his bed, sitting, as he wrote:

“Caught a cold~ My nose looks so red! #boy #cuteboy #red #nose #cold #seoul #y #lips #winter #rain #hat #hoodie #fashion #seoulfashion #brunette #lightskin #smile…”

And almost every hashtag he knew could even slightly apply to his pic, which had taken almost two hours to get. He had put on one of his favorite outfits, had put on his B.B. cream, concealer and even a bit of lip balm. He had taken almost 60 shots until he found the perfect one. He had been playing with filters for what it seemed an eternity.

All that, to get himself a little extra virtual attention.

Was he feeling down? Not at all.

Minwoo was just kind of really competitive. And he was determined to win this fight.

After all, a favor from a hyung wasn’t a thing you could get just any day, right?

so....  a week late than what i said...

will add a longer author's note tomorrow

or will i?

probably will

hope you like it!!!