The hall was lit with the sort of long florescent lights that would be hung up in school buildings and briefly gave Yongguk the nostalgic feeling of being a child. Outside the sun was low in the sky, harsh orange rays streaming in slices through the blinds. He sat with his back to the windows, keeping his eyes safe from the searing brightness.

The event he'd volunteered for was a Valentines Day speed-dating event for seniors, where single elderly could meet other elder singles and mingle and perhaps find love in their old age. It was a cute enough idea by itself, and had attracted his attention, but the discovery that the money the event made went towards helping the local homeless shelters had sealed the deal for him. Now he was among a number of other volunteers in a cheap but functional volunteer hoodie with his name printed across the back and meeting the rest of the team.

The entire thing would have been easy enough to do, regardless of his somewhat shy personality, had a rather well-kept elderly woman not been eyeing him up the whole time.

“So,” she struck up when there was a short break from event planning, “You're volunteering to help the homeless and elderly?”

“Ah, yes,” he replied, smiling and bowing his head a little. The scrutinising gaze of this woman made his skin jump a little.

“You seem quite young,” she commented offhandedly.

“Perhaps. I'm coming into my late twenties these days. Though friends sometimes say I seem much older.” He laughed nervously, and she gave him a small smile for his joke.

“You don't say,” she clicked her tongue as though mulling something over, “You wouldn't happen to know a young man by the name of Himchan would you?”

He blinked, slightly taken aback. “Uh, yes, actually. How did you know?”

A wry grin crossed her face. “He's my son.”

“Oh.” Then it clicked in his head. “Ah, I see.” He cleared his throat, readying himself to explain the situation.

“Don't you worry yourself, young man, I'm not some overbearing judgemental parent. If I was I imagine he wouldn't have had so much heartbreak up until now.”

“Um, actually-”

“No, let me finish.”

He snapped his mouth shut.

“I may not be an overbearing parent, but I am his mother and I worry about him a lot. You seem nice and I was a little hurt that he'd kept you a secret, but I can understand that from his perspective he's worried that things will go badly for him again and he'll feel embarrassed.”

Yongguk opened his mouth to say something before this all went too far, but she cut him off again with a stern look.

“Look, I don't mean to frighten you, but don't break my boy's heart. He's had it hard enough with the trouble he goes through on a daily basis, so I need you to promise me that you'll look after him.”

“I-”

“Promise me,” she fixed him with a stern look and he swallowed.

It was too late to back out at this point. Her expression was so sincere and for a moment he imagined the Himchan he knew, all smiles and laughter, and wondered how much of him was just walls and walls over his anxiety and true self. “Of course,” he found himself saying.

She smiled, “Glad to hear it.”

Yongguk zipped his coat up to his neck, his hood sticking out of the cop of his collar. The night was cold and the clouds hung heavy like rain was a potential threat. A grim breeze rattled through the gaps between buildings and ripped at his hair. The streetlight above him flicked. He threw his hood up to protect his face from the cold and marched on.

Unsurprisingly, just as he neared the warehouses he spotted a familiar long figure tugging his collar up against the cruel wind, paused beneath the streetlight that bathed him in silvery light.

“Himchan,” he called out, voice loud over the whistle of the wind.

Himchan turned and flinched, before calming. “Oh, Yongguk, it's you. You looked like... Never mind...”

He caught up to the younger man and frowned a little, opening his mouth.

“Look I-”

“Listen-”

They both shut their mouths at the same time.

“You first,” Yongguk suggested.

Himchan took a deep breath. “I'm... I'm sorry about the other night. I get really silly when I'm drunk and I don't really think about other people. Please just ignore everything I said or did. I'm going to call my mother tonight and explain everything. I'm really sorry that I messed up like that.”

Yongguk tried to ignore the way his chest clenched and how much he wanted to pull Himchan into his arms. “Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I volunteered to work at this event recently and ran into your mother there...”

“Oh... Crap. What did she say?”

Himchan gave him such a worried look, eyes wide and lip drawn between his teeth, shoulders hunched and brows knitting together, that Yongguk swallowed everything he'd been about to say. “Nothing, really. She just thinks I'm dating you.”

“You didn't try to tell her otherwise?”

“She seemed so excited about it... Also she mentioned later on that you're attending the volunteer event as well and I thought it might be awkward if we were both there and she knew you'd lied to her...”

Himchan rubbed his face. “Okay. Fair enough. Look, I'm really sorry about this. This is just a one-time thing I promise. I'll pretend we broke up after.”

“Uh,” Yongguk shifted awkwardly, “You don't have to do that. She seems nice. It might make her happy.”

Himchan eyed him suspiciously. “Okay. But I'll try to fix it either way. Honestly, I'm really sorry.”

“No, it's fine. I don't mind.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Come on, it's no big deal. No point standing around worrying about it. The sky looks pretty bad and I don't want to get rained on.”

“Right, we should move.”

They grinned awkwardly at each other and plunged themselves into the darkness.  

Soundtrack: Avril Lavigne - I'm With You