Xero didn't appear to have slept well the next morning. His expressions were filled with boiling anger, and his posture was that of a person who wanted to ignore with crossed arms as his eyes were lost in the street. Byungjoo let out a silent sigh of sadness with a racing heart, looking for a chance to say the right thing.
"Xero..?"
The boy didn't respond.
"Xero I'm sorry..." Byungjoo's eyes wandered the ground. "I uh..." He took a deep breath, turning Xero to face him. "What I said yesterday, I meant it, but I was angry. Everything just came out wrong... It... It came from caring... Because I know what self hatred is like, even though I did it out of pity." Shaking his head, he continued. "You're different... And it's scary. Because I can't understand how you feel, and I don't want you to do something stupid that could take you away from me... So you can be mad at me if you want, but... Just sleep on it."

 

　 　"Byungjoo! Help the lady at the counter!" His grandfather barked at him, running from behind the service counter to another co-worker in need of help.
"Will do." He turned from that moments concentrations of organizing and labeling keys to a kind older lady waiting patiently for attention. "What do you need?"
"Yeah, hi, do you guys tow? My husband is on the highway just by the nearest exit." She had a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Uh, yeah." Byungjoo replied with a buoyant tone. "We have a thirty percent discount for anyone who registers a membership, did you wanna sign up before you pay for towing?"
"Thirty percent off? That sounds nice, how long will it take?"
"Just need your name, number and email."

"Sanggyun, we need a tow!" Byungjoo exclaimed to his brother, throwing him the trucks keys.
"Alright! Get to leave work!" He grinned jokingly, nodding his head. "Later dudes!"

Sanggyun and Byungjoo recently became close after many years of hatred that overcame between them from the inabilities to get to know each other. Byungjoo realized how down to earth Sanggyun really was, which helped him crawl out his depression with late night talks before he had moved out. Now, they only work together, making plans every now and again.

"You ever talk to that boy?" His grandmother frightened him from her sudden appearance at the counter.
"Uh, yeah actually... Kind of?"
"Is that why you were gone yesterday?"
Byungjoo froze for a moment then cut his blank expression with a cheeky smile. "Yeah."
His grandma laughed, patting his back. "So what happened?"
"We played Hockey." He sighed. "Turns out he's really good. But then like... He laughed, and then locked himself in the bathroom."
"He laughed?"
"Yeah, but with his voice."
"Oh! That's stupid. Why would you get upset over something like that?"
"My thoughts exactly. But then I found a note... And kind of got in his face."
"Oh B-Joo..." She let her head fall back in disappointment. "Why?"
"No no no! I apologized..." He paused. "This morning..."
"Mhm, what did the note say?"
"It just said 'I hate myself' over and over and over again."
"Okay, and what did you say?"
"I told him to grow up..."
"B-Joo, no..." She frowned, extending her words with a tone of dismay.
"Yeah but I was angry when I said that, cause I didn't want him to end up like me. So this morning I told him that I was sorry, and I was just afraid of him doing something stupid..."
"Good save."
Byungjoo laughed as he lifted himself on top of the counter to sit, shaking his head. "It wasn't a save grams, I meant it."
"Whether you meant it or not, at least you did the right thing."

 

　 　Byungjoo led himself off of the bus late that afternoon, slipping in his jacket as the weather became too chilly for a free walk home. He felt a sudden push on his back just after the bus had passed him. As he was about to retaliate, expecting a jerk from the streets, he found himself looking up at a smiling Xero.
"Whoah, dude I was about to give an old fashioned knuckle-sandwich."
They both chuckled, beginning to walk side by side along the path of updated pavements.
"So you're not mad at me anymore?"
Xero shook his head.
"That's good."

The air was filled with a few laughs and screams from children at play, a couple of yelps from family dogs, and a car every now and then that would speed down the street. It was of little time before they arrived at Byungjoo's apartment complex.
"What do you wanna do?" He asked, rattling his keys in the lock of his door.
Xero shrugged with a clueless thought.
"Yeah that sounds like fun." They let the both of themselves in, and Byungjoo headed for the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I'm actually getting really good at cooking. Well... Only a few things."
Xero laughed, shaking his head as he plummeted onto the living room's couch, watching Byungjoo through the kitchen's window-like opening. He then nodded his head, agreeing to a dinner.
"It's kind of hard to talk to you from afar to be honest. Since this is my first time really doing it anyways."

Byungjoo took a seat next to Xero after he set their dinner into the oven with a set timer of an hour.
"Wanna play a game?"
The boy nodded.
"You into board games or video games?"
He held up a finger to decide on Byungjoo's first offer.
"Okay then! Candyland it is!" Byungjoo sprinted to his closet, leaving Xero in a quiet laughter.

Midway into the game, Byungjoo began to feel tense at the boy sitting across from him, who became entirely unresponsive to anything other than the game.
"Are you okay?"
Xero still didn't respond, leaving Byungjoo to grab at his face, lifting his chin for eye contact.
"You're acting weird."
Nothing.
"I don't... Do you need to sleep or something?" He quickly offered. "We go to the same stop every morning anyway-"
Xero cut his words by pulling him into his arms, pressing his lips into his for a clean kiss with no tongue or shifting of heads, but only lips. Byungjoo let Xero end his desire, though was in deep shock, not able to process a single thought.