Kyung ends up crashing at Yukwon’s dorm for a few nights. It turns out to be a bad idea because Yukwon lives on campus and his small hostel room only has one bed, but it’s not like Kyung has much choice. Jaehyo has called a few times after the day Kyung last talked to Minhyuk, probably to ask what had happened during the talk he had had with Minhyuk, because Kyung hasn’t went back to Jaehyo’s place since. He rejects all of the calls because he doesn’t know what to say.

(Oh yeah, nothing much happened. Just, I realized I might be falling for Minhyuk, but am I really? Or is it only because I saw that he has my name on his body?)

Kyung runs a hand through his dirty hair. He’s missed classes for the last few days, unsure if Jaehyo would find him in school and insist on talking, so he had chosen the easiest way out, even if it’s probably cowardly. But Yukwon has been getting more suspicious of his lie about being sick, and Kyung needs to find somewhere else to stay. Thumb hovering over his phone, Kyung runs through his very limited list of options again, before he grits his teeth to make a call.

The first thing he notices are the shoes that he still hasn’t packed sitting on the shelves, making him feel like he’s never left at all. But a few steps into the living room, now distinctly cleared of any of Kyung’s things, and filled only with Jiho’s, reminds Kyung of the reality. Jiho’s slipping his bare feet into indoor slippers, muttering that Kyung can take the spare room because he found some blankets that might work as a mattress for a while.

“Thanks Jiho,” Kyung says, because it’s only polite to, after Jiho agreed to let him stay for as long as he needs.

(Jiho’s changed. But some things are still the same.)

Oddly enough, there’s no lingering sense of dread or apprehensiveness in his interaction with Jiho, and Kyung wonders if it means he’s already moved on in some way. Probably. Jiho doesn’t seem to be affected by his presence either, just going around the house doing what he probably does normally. Kyung decides to head for the spare bedroom, diving straight under the covers so he can maybe sleep himself to oblivion again.

Unlike Yukwon, Jiho leaves him alone to stew, only occasionally leaving him snacks when he skips dinner. He’s thinking it had been a good idea to stay with Jiho even if the guy can only cook ramyeon, because Jiho gives him his space.

(Actually, didn’t Jiho always give him a lot of space, even back when they were together? It used to be something that annoyed him, but now Kyung just finds it a lucky quality to have in a friend, especially when he doesn’t want to talk. At all.)

He’s tucking into the ramyeon that Jiho had ordered him to cook (“You’re getting too thin, Kyungie. Cook some ramyeon, and leave some for me too.”), when Jiho puts down his chopsticks.

“What’s wrong? If you don’t like the way I cooked the ramyeon, you can cook a new packet for yourself,” Kyung mumbles as he slurps down the overly bloated noodles.

Jiho just gives him a pointed look, one which would scare most people, but Kyung’s too used to Jiho’s intimidating glare to be affected, so he continues eating, taking a sip of the spicy MSG-filled soup.

“You at cooking, you know, if you can even mess up ramyeon, but that’s not what I wanted to say,” Jiho states drily before he continues, “You’ve been hiding in the flat for a few days now. Whatever it is that got you this worked up, you need to do something about it. Hiding from the world isn’t going to solve anything.”

He doesn’t expect Jiho to be giving him a talk (a talk, of all things, and from Jiho, of all people), so Kyung accidentally chokes on the spicy soup, coughing. It doesn’t stop for a while, and eventually Jiho gets up to pour him a glass of water before Kyung recovers enough to glare at the guy. “You don’t even know anything about what happened, so don’t talk like it’s so easy.”

Jiho just stares at him with a grim face, mouth pursed like he has something he wants to say but doesn’t know if he should, before he opens it, and sighs. “Stop being a ing drama queen, Kyung. I may not know what’s going on, but I know that if you at least try, you’ll be able to do something about whatever’s bothering you. It’ll beat just sitting around and moping because nothing’s going to change unless you actually go and do something about it.”

Taken aback by Jiho’s words, Kyung accidentally snorts a bit of the soup up his nose, and he ends up coughing again. His face is most likely red from the exertion of rapid coughs, and there are probably tears and mucus on his face right now, but Kyung just looks dead into the eyes of Woo ing Jiho, before he spits out, “ you, Jiho. Don’t try to tell me what to do.”

Instead of retorting like he always had in all their previous arguments, Jiho just sighs loudly, before he stands up to say, “Suit yourself. But don’t say I didn’t try to help you.”

There’s nothing but foots