The voices echoing in his head and the faces mocking him from every direction; every night the same.  Such a tragic tale the lost soul lived, going from wishing and hoping to see his friend again, to becoming nothing more than an empty shell that could only long to hear his sweet voice one more time.  To see his bright smile shine even in the darkest of times was all he could hope for and all he saw in his head every second of his life.  There were many days when all he could do was ache for his friend's touch to heal his bleeding wounds.  And other days when he would wish he could freeze time so that they could both stay in those moments together, forever.

Because sometimes you're here, and sometimes you're not.

That night, however, was yet another of the many days that Hoseok's friend was not there, for he has wasted that disgustingly lonely day in his room, crying for hours and hours on end in the corner as thousands of shadows laughed at how pathetic he was.  At how dependent on Hyungwon he truly was.  He was used to it, but it was never easy to survive those lonely nights in fear.

The only tall mirror within the room was shattered to pieces on the ground, the broken pieces of glass forever frozen in time with the image of his disgusting figure etched into every single piece.  It had been a week since he last looked at himself in the mirror, the night that he smashed it.  He was able to see how his ribs poked out from under his skin, how his arms were so small and fragile looking, the dark circles permanently marking the area under his eyes and his once lightly-tan skin was a sickly pale.  That was what he looked like a week ago and he can only have gotten worse with time as he could so easily feel how his body trembled from supposed hunger that he no longer felt, and how he could feel the bones in his waist jutting out at his sides.  His legs had grown weaker as well and sometimes he could barely hold his own weight when standing.

But some nights it would be a lot worse:  He'd be crying in the bathroom, retching into the toilet with tears staining his cheeks until his throat felt like it was on fire and his eyes stung under his tears.

More commonly though, he'd crawl into bed, pushing past the shadows of those laughing at him, and curl up under the sheets to protect himself, whispering to himself over and over like a chant "tomorrow I will see you."  

As he fell asleep to sounds of distant laughter and his own voice, he quickly found himself waking up with the sunlight on his eyes, peeking in from the curtains and a voice that rang in his head and suddenly all of his defenses had dropped to allow that voice in, to cherish it as though it was the last time he'd ever hear it again.  And he smiled.

"Hoseok, are you awake yet?"

Hoseok knew, just at the sound of that voice, that that day was going to be perfect.  He sat up in the bed, pushing the covers off his body and looked at the one face he ever only wanted to see.  Hyungwon's face and the smile that just brightened his features.  His short, black hair sweeping over his forehead so smoothly and his old, worn-down hoodie and torn jeans that brought a somewhat nostalgic sting to Hoseok's heart as he notices them.

With a smile that could mask away any degree of pain he felt inside, Hoseok nodded at the younger man and gave a soft "yeah" in reply.  As Hyungwon's smile turned into a gentle grin from ear to ear, Hoseok could feel how his heart beat a little faster, how his eyes just couldn't look away and suddenly all the memories of yesterday felt like years away.

"I'll go start some tea then."  With a light turn on his heels, Hyungwon left the room but in Hoseok's head he can still hear his sweet voice calling out to him.  It was one of those days that he wanted to stay in forever, to freeze time and just stay with Hyungwon for eternity.

Because today you're here.


 

A/N:  I apologise for such a short chapter, but I wanted to go a little bit more into what this story is about so I wanted to keep it short.  I promise the next chapter will be longer! That's all and I hope to read any thoughts you all have on the chapter or the story so far. Thank you!