Chapter Two

With awareness came the chill. Jonghyun felt his face screw up; he was in a lot of pain. He blinked open gritty eyes to see the stone of a building. Looking around he found himself in an unfamiliar alley. Wiggling both legs, he assessed the stiffness in his body. His body felt numb and dead in the most uncomfortable way.

Panicked, Jonghyun hurried to try and lift himself up to get some feeling in his limbs. His muscles seized up painfully and he fell back to the dirty ground. He paused and started taking semi-deep breaths to alleviate the pain and gain some calm. Each breath was punctuated by sharp pains in his chest.

A small gasp brought his attention to the left. A trash can blocked his view of outside the alley.

“Are you awake?” A small voice whispered.

Jonghyun nearly jumped out of his skin before spotting a head popping up behind the garage bin. The dirty child stepped closer when he didn’t answer.

“Who are you?” Jonghyun blinked.

The kid shrugged, bony shoulders shifting upward.

“You don’t know?” He squinted and then closed his eyes when a headache began to pound.

“What happened to you?” The other child murmured.

Jonghyun stared at the kid, who looked pretty nervous. He couldn’t tell if it was a guy or a girl. The kid had pretty long black hair that dangled in dirty clumps around his or her face. It had been a long time since he had talked to another kid, this one looked younger but they might be around the same age. It was hard to tell, everyone Jonghyun saw was wasted away from lack of food and the harsh treatment of the streets. Chances were this kid was homeless.

“What’s it look like? I got the crap beat out of me!” Jonghyun snapped.

The kid flinched and so did Jonghyun. It came out harsher than he meant it to. This kid had probably stuck around a few hours to make sure he was alright. He was really lucky no one had slit his throat in his sleep. Then again the kid probably didn’t even care, curiosity is a powerful thing after all…

“Y-you know, there’s a p-place you can go…” The kid fidgeted and took an uncomfortable step back.

Jonghyun stared, uncomprehending. He wondered if the kid was telling him to go to a church or some kind of gang, maybe a cult.

“This guy… he lives a little while from here, around those white apartment buildings down the street. H-he takes care of our kind. Kids, with no one to take care of them; he’ll take care of any kid if they get real messed up and come knocking on his door. I couldn’t get him for you ‘cause he won’t leave his house, not for anything.” The kid told him, gesturing vaguely outside the alley.

In this stretch of talk Jonghyun detected slight traces of a changing voice, a bit deeper than a girl’s voice and guessed the kid was a boy. What the boy was describing sounded like a cult or some other fishy thing to him.

“What do you mean he never leaves his house? Why? And why would you tell me this.”  Jonghyun was suspicious; people weren’t nice for no reason.

The boy didn’t get instantly defensive though he just shifted from foot to foot again.

“Y-you don’t look like a bad guy and I don’t know why he doesn’t leave his house. He told me once that it wasn’t safe outside so he stayed in.”

“He told you?” Jonghyun raised his eyebrows in question.

“Yeah. He saved my life once.”

The boy stayed silent and didn’t offer anything else, so Jonghyun didn’t ask. He began to try and lift himself up because he was sure it wasn’t good to lie where he was much longer.  Being awake had loosened him up a bit but the aches and pains all over his body still screamed in protest at moving.  

“Do, you need some help?” The other boy whispered.

“No!” Jonghyun winced as his ribs were jostled because of his volume.

The quiet boy took a few steps back looking horrified. Jonghyun froze and looked up at him.

“M-mian, I didn’t mean to shout.” Jonghyun attempted to make a consoling motion but failed miserably and moved his hands to grasp his painful chest.

The boy took a tentative step forward again and Jonghyun could see the concern in his eyes. He seemed like a nice kid, it was a wonder he had lasted this long on the streets.

Using the wall for support Jonghyun managed to get to his feet, swooning a bit as the blood rushed fully back into his limbs. He blinked then looked down and saw the remnants of a banana peel. Maybe the kid had been there longer than he thought.

“Thanks for watching me. If you ever need a favor, I owe you one.”

The other boy nodded before dropping into a clumsy bow.

“Taemin.”

“What?” Jonghyun stared.

“I’m, I mean my name, it’s Taemin.” The boy looked up blinking in rapid succession.

“Oh.” Jonghyun nodded. “I’m Jonghyun. Pleased to meet you.”  He bowed too.

Taemin looked a little shocked at the formal introduction. Jonghyun was too, memories of the manners his mother had taught him popped up randomly sometimes.

“Yes…” Taemin agreed. “Well… I guess if you ever want to find me, I’m always around the restaurant dumpsters by the east side.”

Jonghyun nodded with more force. Taemin waved awkwardly before skittering off. Jonghyun began his slow walk out of the alley but before he could get far Taemin popped back up. He smiled nervously before taking an edge of the garbage bin at the entrance to the alley and tugging it towards the opposite end of the street. It looked difficult for the small boy to drag but Jonghyun was in no shape to help. After Taemin placed the can in what seemed to be it’s rightful place he was off again, wagging his fingers behind himself at Jonghyun.

Jonghyun stared after the strange boy, he had been the only kind person he had met for years after all, and he had left him with some valuable information too. Where to go for some help if someone ever seriously screwed him up (he knew it would come in handy) and where to find more food without stealing. He must look really bad if Taemin thought he was a homeless kid too. No, he was different. He had a house… well an apartment complex. Jonghyun swallowed nervously at the thought. He didn’t want to go back. It wasn’t a good idea in his state. But where else did he have to go? Nowhere. “Home” pulled him back to it no matter what happened within to make him leave in the first place.

A/N

Yeah, so this chapter is a bit longer! :D Anyone guess who it is that patches up the homeless kids in their appartment? Anywho Taemin's hair is black like you first see it, like Replay era (because he's young) but long like in lucifer (because he's homeless (No i am not suggesting anything about his lucifer hair-doo)). Yes so I'm sorry if this seems boring. I'm still untangling the story and getting  used to this writing style. I really hope this didn't sound awkward and dragged out :/ Anywho next chapter will problably have Key in it, unless it doesn't, but it probably will... Jonghyun's hair is also like the hair in Replay, maybe a bit longer and in his face. You should comment if you read this its good for the soul. Both yours and mine :P