Mingyu wakes up to a cold, dark, empty house.

Sometime in middle of the night he had managed to kick off the duvet, and the chilly autumn air that seeps in the through the crack of the window he left open yesterday sent violent shivers down his spine. It seemed like his mom had left early for work, again.

Sighing, he gets off the creaky old bed (that was probably on the verge of breaking) to get ready for the day.

;;

Mingyu manages to get to school a whole fifteen minutes earlier than when he usually comes, and that's saying something, considering he’s normally dead tired in the morning. But the principal had requested the president and vice president of the student council to report to school early because there was a new transfer student needed some help getting around.

A figure stands by the entrance of the school gate. He could make out a lanky frame and soft hair if he squinted his eyes enough. But Mingyu doesn’t need to, he already knew it was Jeonghan. He softly jogs up next to him.

“How are you always here so early? I thought you said that you like sleeping?” Mingyu’s eyebrow rises slightly.

“I do, “ Jeonghan laughs out his reply. “ But I’m also a responsible person.”

The two of them walk into the building and towards the main office. Mingyu yawning slightly as Jeonghan softly knocks on the door, hearing a faint “come in” only moments later.

Mingyu, ever the gentleman (or playboy, if you chose to think of it like that), pushes open the door and held it open so Jeonghan could walk through, but not without his signature smirk, of course. Jeonghan seemed unfazed as he tilted his head in thanks and entered.

“Jeonghan, Mingyu, you’re here, please sit.” The principal greets them nicely as the two of them bowed before taking a seat.

Another person was in the room, a scrawny, short boy that was probably a few years younger than him. He fidgets in his seat nervously, hands clutched together tightly. Jeonghan decides to take a seat next to the boy, which Mingyu expected, since Jeonghan seemed to have a knack for dealing with people, whether it’d be prepubescent teens or seniors with less years to live than hairs on their head.

“Mrs. Choi probably told you why you’re all here today,” the principal, Mr. Kwon, continues.

He gestures towards the student. “This is Lee Chan, he transferred from a high school in Busan, and I was hoping you two would help him get used to the new environment.”

Mingyu smiles, “Yes, sir.”

He tunes out for the rest of the conversation, leaning back into his chair. He occupies himself by looking over at Jeonghan, whose hair seemed to tumble gently down his shoulders in scintillating waves. He was listening intently to what the principal was saying, subtly nodding his head whenever the principal spoke--- Mingyu found it cute, how attentively Jeonghan would give a person his undivided attention when they are speaking.

10 minutes later, the two of them exit the office, the new transfer student-- Chan, was it?-- squished between them.

“What’s your first class?” Mingyu asks, slinging his arm over the kid’s shoulder.

“English with Ms. Deng.”

“That’s perfect, my class is in the right wing, so I’ll walk you,” Jeonghan tilts his head and smiles- making Mingyu’s heart flutter at how cute and innocent that gesture was.

The three of them walk by a group of girls, clad in heels and body tight clothing, they giggle as Mingyu walks by. Flirtatiously, he sends them a wink.

“Hey, if you want me to hook you up with any girls just ask me.” Mingyu begins, starting light conversation as they walk.  

“Cut it out.” Jeonghan rolls his eyes, but Mingyu doesn’t miss the subtle grin on his lips.

(Mingyu marvels at how lightly Jeonghan takes his words-- things he says, anything he mentions about , girls, s, of that sort--  Jeonghan knows Mingyu doesn’t mean it and hell, it’s so refreshing.)

Instead, he pulls out his phone from his back pocket with his other hand. “Short girls? Tall girls? Pretty ones? I even got girls who top if you’re into that.”

Chan squirms nervously under his armhold. “Uh…”

Jeonghan brushes Mingyu’s arm off of Chan’s shoulder sparingly, “You’re going to scare him away.”

Mingyu smirks, “By the way, how old are you?”

“I’m a junior.”

Mingyu’s eyes nearly bulge out of his eye sockets. “Damn, you’re that old? I thought you were a freshman.”

Jeonghan laughs and pokes at Chan’s cheeks. “Oh how cute, you still have a baby face!”

Chan pouts his lips, but the look in his eyes tells Mingyu that he wasn’t all that upset. They bid goodbye when the hallway splits in two directions.

;;

When Mingyu enters the cafeteria, he expects to see thirteen boys huddled in a too-small table-- and he’s shocked when he sees Seungcheol, Jun, Seungkwan and Hansol in the far left corner, clustered together slurping their homemade soup while Jisoo, Jihoon and Soonyoung sit in the opposite side.

He strides to where Minghao and Seokmin sit. “Why aren’t we all sitting together?”

Mingyu sits next to Minghao who was busy finishing his math homework while Seokmin looks up from eating his ramen.

He shrugs. “I don’t know-- just happened.”

Mingyu’s heart wrenches when he realizes that not much has changed since their meeting in the library. And while he’s upset at the lack of development, he hurts more thinking about what Jeonghan will feel when he enters the room.

A pair of arms wrap around his neck and brings him out of his thoughts. He looks up and sees a girl with pretty feminine features, high cheekbones, eyelashes too long to be real. Yuna (or at least that’s what Mingyu thinks her name is-- he’s not really good with remembering his one night stands) puckers her lips.

“Gyu~” she singsongs.

Mingyu looks indifferent as he unwraps her arms nonchalantly. “Hm?”

“I texted you this morning. I said we should have lunch today.” She sits next to him and grips his arm tightly.

Mingyu unhooks her death grip. “Yeah, no. I’m sorry. Yuna, I don’t think it’s really working out between us.”

Yuna laughs, incredulous. “What? What do you mean?

Mingyu ignores her and pulls out his phone from his back pocket. Contact deleted.

“You said you loved me!”

“Oh that? I meant that I love you in bed. You’re s are great.” The entire cafeteria was watching them like the next hit soap opera.

Yuna’s face reddens and she scoffs. “Mingyu. What are you talking about? Stop joking. Now! It’s not funny, anymore.”

At this point, Mingyu doesn’t really give a damn. “I was never joking. Just go.”

She stays rooted in her seat.

“Go!”

His loud booming voice shakes her out of her daze, and her lips curl to form an ugly grimace that taints her pretty features. Violently, she lifts her arm and slaps him across the face.

“My name’s Yumi, you head!”

She storms out of the cafeteria, her friends following closely behind her. It’s ironic, really, when he gave her friends the exact same treatment he did her.  

Mingyu touches the red mark on his cheek, wincing, before pulling out his store-bought kimbap from his bag. An awkward silence descends on the room for a few minutes before the commotion resumes.

“Again?” Minghao says tersely. “You couldn’t even date her for more than two days?”

Mingyu shrugs as Seokmin shakes his head disapprovingly. “Not my type.”

Minghao laughs. “She’s not your type but you everyone who’s remotely like her? That’s sick.”

“We’ve been over this, Hao Hao. It’s recreational .”

“Recreational my .”

Before Mingyu can reply, Seokmin shoves a kimbap into his mouth. “I thought we agreed not to have this conversation every time Gyu crushes someone’s hopes and dreams.”

Minghao grumbles. “I only agreed to that when he agreed not to around anymore.”

“Whatever. Just someone tell me what’s on Meng’s test. Quick, because I didn’t study.” Seokmin adjusts the pencil in his grip.

The doors to the cafeteria open again, and Jeonghan emerges, tugging on Chan’s hand. Mingyu sees him pause for a second, his bright smiling disappearing before approaching Jisoo, no doubt, upset when he sees that no one sat together.

Mingyu tries to ignore Jeonghan as he turns his attention to his phone, scrolling through his facebook account. Who’s next?  He presses on the profile picture of a pretty junior, Kim Minkyung. He nods approvingly as he sips his water bottle.

“Hey,” he feels someone poke his side and looks up and sees Seokmin.

“What.”

Seokmin tilts his head towards the left, Mingyu turns his head and sees Jeonghan (and Co.) sit down next to him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks tersely, shoving his phone away.

Jeonghan nods at Minghao and Seokmin’s direction in acknowledgement. “Nothing, I just thought that since we’re doing the festival together we might as well eat together.”

Mingyu eyes him, but a small smile starts to form on his face. He shrugs, a bit glad to see that soft haired boy isn’t discouraged. He finds his determined ambition to get them to become genuine friends so characteristically Jeonghan.

“Hey, Seungcheol!” Jeonghan shouts across the cafeteria, gaining the attention of more than half, if not all, the entire student population.

Seungcheol raises his head almost immediately, mouth still full of ramen. When Jeonghan waves them over, Seungkwan, no doubt, is the most excited, nearly jumping from his seat and prancing to their table, Hansol in tow. Seungcheol hurries over a second later (Mingyu swears that if Seungcheol was a dog, his tail would be wagging so crazily, it could cause a hurricane), leaving Jun to reluctantly clean up the empty soup cartons littered on the table. He eventually joins, nonetheless, sitting next to Seokmin, who he seemed to grow fond of.

“Who's that?” Soonyoung asks, pointing at Chan, whose squished between Jeonghan’s shoulder and Seungcheol’s.

Jeonghan shushes him. “We’re missing someone. Where’s Wonwoo?”

As if on cue, a dark brooding figure walks bye. Mingyu scoffs at Wonwoo’s poor sense of fashion-- with a black hoodie pulled over his head, he’d be shocked if someone didn’t mistaken him for some trashed up emo kid.

“Wonwoo~~” Jeonghan singsongs, catching Wonwoo’s attention immediately as Jisoo visibly frowns. “Come sit with us, there’s a seat just for you, right beside Mingyu.”

Wonwoo noticeably hesitates, he stands there awkwardly, shuffling back and forth. He looks so pitiable even Mingyu feels bad for him. He eventually decides to sit down, but not before buying a milk carton from the food station.

Jeonghan cheers. “You know what they say, go alone if you want to go fast, go together if you want to go far.”

The table silences.

“Wow Jeonghan... that was very profound.”

“Thank you,” Jeonghan flips his hair over his shoulder as Seungcheol showers him with compliments.

“Hold up, hold up,” Jihoon stops the commotion. “Did you actually come up with that?”

“Nah, I got it from Mystic Messenger. Jumin Han, my love.”

;;

Mingyu comes home to an empty house but it was nothing out of the ordinary. On the fringe, a green post-it note was on the verge of falling off, but Mingyu catches it before it does.

“Order in for tonight. Don’t wait for me.

Love you, Mom”

Mingyu sighs and slams the note down on the kitchen counter, anymore of that Di Di Fried Chicken and he swears he would rather starve than see another chicken wing again. Instead, he walks over to a drawer and takes out a dusty, old green apron and ties it around his waist.

Cooking has always been his solace, even as a child ( 7 when he made his first omelet). When his dad left them to be with another woman, and his mom too busy working, he had learned to make his own food. He became pretty good at it, if he dared to say so-- sauteeing mushrooms became a second nature and flipping korean pancakes on a pan, an instinct.

Mingyu decides on tonkatsu and stuffed mushrooms on the side. When he walks to the refrigerator, he remembers that his mom would probably be hungry when she comes back. Like a giddy child, he pulls out extra ingredients to make dinner for her too.  

With his skill and expertise, he finishes in no time and sets the table, making sure to cover his mom’s portion so that it’d be hot when she came back. Perhaps because he’s in a particularly good mood, he sits at the dining table and patiently waits for his mom’s return.

After some hours, Mingyu hears the distinct jingling of house keys and perks up like a puppy. He looks over to the old analog clock perched over his television. 11:45, it reads.

The house is dark, the old yellow bulb does nothing to provide the house with the light it needs, but Mingyu can still make out two figures enter through the doorway instead of one. Immediately, he stands up

“...Mom?”

He’s met with sloppy kissing sounds and shuffling.

“Mom,” he tries again to no avail.

He walks over to the living room and turns on the other light. What he sees utterly disgusts him. On the couch, is a man of whom he’s never seen before, but has black hair dusted with white stands. He looks old, wrinkles evidently creased on his face, laugh lines like marks drawn with a permanent marker.

But that’s not what disturbs him the most. Underneath him is his mom, face painted with layers of makeup. Even as a 35 year old, she still looks like she’s in her early twenties. The man’s hand was up her dress, no doubt already pulling down her .

Mingyu doesn’t distinctly remember what happens, he just remember feeling anger and frustration heat his insides like a bunsen flame. He rips the man off his mom, throwing him on the old hardwood floor.

“Mingyu!” his mom screams, shocked as she stands up, pulling up her underwear along the way.

“What the ?!” the man screams standing up and approaching the startled woman.

Mingyu pushes him back. “Get away, you e.”

The man seems enraged, his face reddening rapidly. He looks like he’s about to combust. “What did he just call me?”

His mom shakes her head. “No, he didn’t mean it. You see, he’s just--”

The man reaches into her purse that was littered over at the side of the couch and pulls out a few $20 bills and waves it in front of her face.

“Goodbye, .”

He makes his way towards the door, Mingyu’s mom running after him. “Wait. Jack! Come back!”

The man opens the door.

“DADDY?!” his mom tries one last time as the door closes.

An ominous silence descends in the room, only Mingyu’s heavy breathing audible. They stay like that for what seems like centuries before his mom breaks it by slapping him across the face.

“What right,” she begins, “do you think you have, interrupting my work like that?”

Mingyu grips his face, turning his head slightly to glare at his mom. “What right do you think you have? Neglecting me like always!”

If his mom wasn’t angry before, she was furious now. She takes off her heels and throws them to the side.

“That nerve! I didn’t raise you to behave like this!”

“You didn’t even raise me at all!”

“KIM MINGYU!”

Mingyu stands his ground, gripping his hands in a tight fist at his side. He counts to 10 in his head in an futile attempt to calm down.

His mom points a finger at his face accusingly. “You take that back right now, or- or I’ll--”

“You will what?”

There is a 2 second beat.

“Get out.”

“What?”

“I said, get out! I refuse to be under the same roof, humiliated, by a son who doesn’t even appreciate me.”

“You know what? Fine.”

Mingyu doesn’t look back as he storms out of the house.

;;

Walking to the park seems to be an out of body experience. Instead, he’s lost in the reveries of his memories.

Mingyu feels like he’s ten again, when he ran away from home. He finds himself in the same park, sitting at the same swing set, brushing angry tears away with the back of his hand. The cold breeze bites away at his skin and he regrets not grabbing his jacket in his hasty exit.

The sky was exceptionally clear-- perhaps more clear than usual, but it’s not comforting. He doesn’t know what makes him do it, he thinks it’s loneliness, or maybe the sudden need of comfort that comes over him, but he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his phone.

With frigid fingers, he dials a number. It rings three times before someone picks up.

“Hello?”

“Jeonghan? Are you awake?”

There was a noticeable pause. “... Just barely.”

Even through the muffled phone speakers, Mingyu could make out the sleepiness in his voice. But he requests nonetheless, “Can you come to the playground right now?”

“You’re joking right.”

“Please?”

“It’s 1 a.m. in the morning. Any normal person would be sleeping.”

“Then, I guess I’m not normal.”

“That’s okay, but I want to be.”

Another pause as Mingyu figures out what to say. He hopes that the tears aren’t evident in his voice.

“I-I need you right now.”

“...”

“...”

“... Be there in a bit.”

With that, he hangs up.

;;

When Jeonghan finally arrives, Mingyu stone cold with mild hypothermia.

“Mingyu?!” Jeonghan calls, panic evident in his voice.

“Hi,” he manages.

“You’re actually crazy. Insane, even.”

Mingyu sees it, wide-awake, with both of his eyes. But it doesn’t take away from the dreaming feeling as he sees Jeonghan take off his large scarf and tightly wrap it around his neck. He leans close as he does so, so close that Mingyu can make out the subtle scent of strawberry lemon shampoo.

“There. Nice and cozy.”

Jeonghan sits on the swing beside him. He looks cute, tucked away in an oversized jacket, hands shoved in its pockets.

“So,” he begins. “Anything you want to say?”

It takes a while before Mingyu actually begins speaking, but he blames it on the cold for freezing up all the saliva in his mouth.

“My mom kicked me out.”

“And..?”

“We had a fight.”

“Wow, that’s elaborate.”

Mingyu laughs, but it ends up sounding like a long sigh.  He takes a deep breath before he explains his situation.

“Y’know my mom’s never actually been around. Yeah, sure, I see her at times, and when I was a kid she’d always pick me up from school, even though she was normally half an hour late. And I guess she fed me, I mean she leaves me money to buy food and stuff. But she’s never been actually there.

Parents, right? They take time off their jobs to go to their kid’s recitals. Or maybe call in a half day just to catch up on their child’s life. Hell, they’d spend their weekends with their kids. Anything, something, just some interaction. Is it sad that my mom’s never done any of that?”

Mingyu doesn’t wait for Jeonghan’s reply.

“She’s always working, the full week, Monday through Sunday. Somedays, I never even see her face. I’m not asking for much, I just want a home cooked meal once in a blue moon, or maybe just even asking how my day was. I just want to feel… loved.”

He wipes the fat tears that leak from his eyes. “I’m so tired of feeling neglected.”

Jeonghan thinks for a while, he bites his lips, eyebrows scrunched up in thought. A few minutes pass before he says anything.

“It sounds to me like your mom loves you a lot.”

Mingyu expected a lot of things, but that wasn’t it. “What?!”

“You know what you need to do? You need to go home and give her a hug, and tell her how much you appreciate her and love her. You need to understand, or at least try to, what you’re mom is feeling right now-- you’re her kid, Gyu, she’s responsible for you, remember that.”

“I don--”

“Do you really think your mom wants to be working all the time? Who is this all for? Herself? If she was really that selfish she would’ve kicked you out to the streets a long time ago.”

Mingyu stays silent, wordless.

“Loving someone does not simply mean giving the best to them, it requires compromise, too. You’re mom’s sacrificed a lot to get you where you are today--hours upon hours of diligent work. She’s suffered, too.”

Frustration and anger is no match for sadness-- especially when they attack him like a typhoon as he realizes what an unempathetic person he’s been. The tears don’t stop like Mingyu expected them too. If anything, they keep on coming until he’s reduced to a helpless puddle of sobs.

“I-I’m sorry,” he begins.

“Don’t be sorry to me, be sorry to your mom.”

While Mingyu’s too busy being blinded with his tears, Jeonghan gets up and kneels in front of him.

“You’ve grown up well.”

Jeonghan pats the hair on his head, fixing his bangs and brushing it away from his eyes.

“For someone who raised himself, you’ve grown up so well. I’m very proud of you.”

;;

When Mingyu returns home, he sees that his mom is not in much better shape than him (except for the fact that Mingyu has Jeonghan to lean on. What. A. God. ). Mascara is smeared across her upper eye lid, black liner running down her face pathetically. She sobs as she eats the tonkatsu Mingyu prepared.

She sits up straighter when he enters the dining room. “Mingyu?” she says nasally.

Mingyu shuffles in his step before walking over, gently pulling his mom out of her seat and into a hug. It appears that the waterworks are really going as they both cry into each other’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I love you,” he repeats it like a mantra.

Eventually, the two of them pull away from each other, his mom taking his hand and leading them to dining table. All the tension from their previous argument magically vacuumed out of the room. With a smile, she says:

“Let’s eat.”

;;

[A/N] Mingyu~ What a cute baby. 

Okay, so now that all the main characters' backgrounds have been established, future chapters are not soley going to be focused on a certain character's POV. It might have Mingyu and Seungcheol's, or Mingyu and Jisoo's, etc. 

Also, if you noticed, the previous 4 chapters are written in past tense, but in this one, I wrote in present. I'm sorry for that, I realized that halfway into the chapter, but rest assured, the future chapters are all going to be written in PRESENT TENSE so that the differences between flashbacks and present are more defined. 

The real drama starts in the next chapter, look forward to it, here's a sneak peak because I don't know when I'll be able to update: 

"Do you like someone?" 
"...Yeah, I do."

Note: we already know that Mingyu, Jisoo and Seungcheol like Jeonghan so it can't be them  

Also, because I'm into shameless self promoting, please give some love to my Jeongcheol fic "fly me to the moon." And while you're at it, check out my other one shots. (You don't have to, I'M NOT PRESSURING YOU, I SWEAR) 

Please comment/ vote/ subscribe! Thanks to all who follow this story <3.