Mir was lying on his bed, a cheap mattress on the floor with a flimsy blanket and no pillow, staring out the window at the stars in the night sky. His stomach grumbled loudly and he moaned softly, wrapping his arms around his body. He was really hungry, it had been at least two days since he’d last eaten, which was at Joon’s house. The pain in his stomach was almost enough for him to go to the kitchen and eat something, but the consequences wouldn’t be worth it so he just remained in bed suffering.

It was Wednesday night and he was home alone, much to his relief. His parents had gone out to some dinner with their friends. Outside of the apartment they were a respectable couple who owned a nice business, and not many people knew they had a son. But inside their home, they were complete tyrants. No, they weren’t alcoholics or drug users, they just never wanted children. But Mir’s grandparents had wanted a grandchild so his parents had been forced to get pregnant, thus resulting in his unwanted birth.

It hadn’t always been abusive, though. Life had been nice when his grandparents were still alive. Mir would spend a lot of time with them and get spoiled rotten, and his parents were somewhat nicer to him because he was always with his grandparents and out of their hair. But after he turned eight his grandparents died and he was left with his parents. It started with yelling, progressed with pushing and a few smacks here and there, but in the end it was pure abuse and beatings for no reason.

He only ever bluntly told someone he was getting abused at home, and that was his sixth grade teacher. He had been going through a rough time and his parents had been exceptionally hurtful lately and he just couldn’t take it anyone and he told. His teacher gave him a look and told him to stop lying; his parents were such sweet and respectable people. After that, he never told anyone. The landlord knew of course, because people on the same floor would complain about the noise and then move out. But that was it. But he was sure Joon understood what was happening, since they lived next door to each other.

There was a sound coming from the hallway, footsteps it sounded like, and Mir froze slightly. He held in his breath until he heard it was only Joon coming home from where ever he had been. Mir sighed in relief and rolled onto his other side. He had been scared his parents had come back early or something. He liked it best when they were gone, at least then he could do his homework. He had gotten yelled at last week for bringing his school bag full of books home and doing his work at the table, so now he had to wait until he was allowed to go to his room or when his parents weren’t home. He had homework today as well, and his parents hadn’t been home, but he didn’t do it. He was too hungry to even concentrate.

It wasn’t even that late, only around eight at night. But there wasn’t anything to do so Mir had just opted to go to bed. But Joon was home now, so maybe he wouldn’t mind if Mir stopped by? It was worth a shot anyways, so Mir stood up and walked out of his bedroom and walked next door to knock softly. He heard a soft sigh and then a shuffling noise; he knew that he was probably bothering Joon.

“Are you busy?” Mir asked when Joon had opened the door.

“I’m doing homework; it’s going to take me all night. What do you want?” Joon asked in a strained voice, trying to keep the irritableness out. He promised himself the other day when Mir had come over that he would be nicer to the boy. But they still couldn’t be friends.

“You’re doing homework? I have homework too! Can I come over and do mine with you?” Mir asked excitedly, he is face lighting up hopefully. Joon sighed again and ran a hand through his hair.

“Only if you be quiet and don’t bug me,” He responded. Mir nodded and practically ran back inside his apartment to grab his school bag from his room and raced back over to Joon’s, shutting the door behind him. He walked over to where Joon was sitting at the kitchen table and took the seat across from him.

He pulled out some of his books and be