Woohyun could not sleep.

His eyes were itching but he didn’t think he could cry anymore in the silence. Sunggyu had long drifted into dreamland, evident by the soft breathing coming from his friend and little to no movement from him.

He was sleeping over at Sunggyu’s place once again because he couldn’t stand the sound of his parents fighting again.

The divorce had been finalized and all there was left was to sign the legal documents. His mother was still putting up a fight, insisting that his father was supposed to pay her more in alimony. She was going to be a single mother, someone who was stigmatized by society.

Woohyun wondered if what both of his parents didn’t want to admit was that neither of them wanted him. The realization was damning, but that was life. He figured he could figure something out—study hard and just get out there, cut off all contact.

His parents had both initially agreed that they didn’t want to drag on the process any longer but Woohyun had a feeling that their feud was going to last at least for another month. Both parties were too proud and didn’t want to settle for anything less than what they believed that they deserved.

He rolled over again on his makeshift bed on the floor of Sunggyu’s bedroom, laying on his left arm that supported the weight of his head. He closed his eyes, trying to shake off all of the thoughts that were keeping him up.

He took in a deep breath and exhaled.

He repeated it for at least another hour, but sleep evaded him.

His eyes shot open.

He couldn’t do this anymore.

He threw the covers over, and crawled away towards the door of Sunggyu’s room, giving up. He had just reached the door and stood up when he heard creaking from Sunggyu’s bed.

He opened the door a little bit, letting some of the moonlight in from the hallway window.

Woohyun turned to see a very confused looking Sunggyu sitting up on his bed, warily rubbing his eyes and squinting to see better in the dark. “What are you doing?”

He pondered about if he was going to lie and say that he was just thirsty and wanted a drink of water. However, he decided against it because he knew that Sunggyu would probably stay up until he came back.

Sunggyu was awfully perceptive.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted, looking away after he spoke, not wanting to maintain eye contact with his friend. A look of understanding dawned on his friend’s face. Sunggyu pushed the covers away from him and moved to leave his bed.

Woohyun opened his mouth, ready to protest his friend leaving the bedroom. But his words caught in his throat, seeing how his friend seemed to have shaken off the sleepiness he had and now had a determined look in his eyes.

“I’ll make tea.”

If it hadn’t been for the small cry that was making its way up his throat, Woohyun would have laughed and cracked a joke about how his friend really was old for his age. He just settled for a slight nod and quietly pushed the door to the bedroom, so that the two of them could shuffle past the doorframe comfortably.

The hallway was almost equally as dark, save for the moonlight that was streaming in from the window in the hallway.

It was dead quiet.

“Be quiet,” Sunggyu whispered as he snuck up to him, closing his room door behind him. “My mother is sleeping, and her shift starts early tomorrow.”

Woohyun nodded in agreement and the two of them quietly tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen. Woohyun had been over so many times in the past while that he had practically memorized the path like the back of his hand—almost as if he were at home—the home that he had known no longer existed.

He was lost as Sunggyu the lights in the kitchen and began to bustle about. Sunggyu looked back to him, standing and looking lost at the doorway of the kitchen, about half a minute after he located the kettle.

If he noticed Woohyun’s red eyes, he didn’t give any indication of it. “What are you doing?”

Woohyun could only dumbly ask, “Huh?”

“Sit down,” Sunggyu smirked, although there was a hint of concern painted on his face. “Didn’t think I had to tell you that.”

“Oh,” was all he managed to say as he sat down and watched Sunggyu moved about, getting the tea ready. When everything was set up and all that was left was to wait for the water to finish boiling, Sunggyu sat directly across from him at the dining table.

Silence.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Quiet breathing.

The moonlight silently watched on from the kitchen’s window.

“Not really,” he truthfully said, looking down to his hands that were intertwined with each other. He gently his thumb along his index finger.

“That’s okay.”

They did not speak until the kettle began to wail. Sunggyu jumped into action immediately, not wanting to wake his mother up, and began fumbling with the kettle and the tea set.

Woohyun quietly watched, a