Prompt 15: Friends

It has been 10 months.

The mad unicorn has disappeared for 10 whole months.

And finally, he’s back.

Lay burst into his place.

“ KRIS! I’M BACK FROM MY VACATION! IT WAS TOTALLY FUN AND LOOK I GOT YOU CHOCOLATES FROM I DON’T KNOW WHICH COUNTRY AND YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE HOW-“ Lay yelled on the top of his lungs before pushing Kris and himself on the ground.

“…What on earth. You are back. Like seriously, after so long. You are finally back.” Kris stuttered.

Lay looked at him with big round eyes before speaking with a big hopeful voice. “ Yeah, I’m finally back.”

And wow, he was sure expecting a big hug from Kris until a large fist came flying to his face.

“Wh-what was that for? I did promise to come back right! How could you punch me!” Lay said while feeling wronged.

“Dude, you literally vanished for ten whole ing months and the only thing you could tell me was that you bought chocolates? You have no idea how worried I was! I thought you were dead or something!“ Kris scolded as if he’ll lose his mind within any minute before Lay hugged him.

“I’m sorry, okay? I just needed some time for myself and you know you, you’ll drag yourself with me if you knew about it. I tried to write letters to you but well it turned very awkward every time I read it so I like, kinda tore it. Multiple times.” Lay confessed before scratching his head in embarrassment.

Kris looked at him before laughing out loud, realizing how dumb his friend is and how he has been a friend with him for 10 years. They both then helped each other to move the luggage and all the souvenirs into Lay’s room. The brunette then took a long shower before sitting in the living room, waiting for Kris to come out with their tea. He was dressed in comfy clothes that Kris kept in the drawer for so long while in his hand was a camera he brought along the trip. As Lay waited for Kris, he gave a quick scan around the whole place. The place was still the same as he left - just what he hoped for. He wouldn’t want Kris to change with his disappearance, meaning that he grew used to his missing existence. Soon, Kris took a tray filled with tea and cookies as they crawled on the couch while talking about Lay’s trip.

Lay took a light sip before looking at Kris. “Hey, thanks for the tea and holy crap it’s my favorite!”

“No problem. So, you left during summer and you’re back in winter. Tons of must have happened.”

“Well, you can put it that way. My second main reason of going was to find how many people have the same name as us, like our real names. And apparently, I met quite a few here and there. Some are dating, some are not, some are even friends like us.”

Kris shifted his head a bit.” Dating, you say?”

“A few. One of the Zhang Yixing-it sounds so weird to say my own name with my own voice- met his loved one through a friend and another one married his companion for 60 years. There was also one who helped his ‘Kris” through hard times.”

“That’s cool. But, not everything was all butterflies and spring right?”

“Sigh, that’s right. One of the Kris I met only knew Zhang Yixing through a radio show and another one almost lost his companion in the crowd in Tokyo. I was pretty shocked, you can say.”

Kris slowly sipped his tea before giving a slight nod. “It’s quite weird to realize that there’s so many people in the world that shares the same name with you, yet they live such different lives.”

“I know right. A flip in the phonebook and a single call can bring you to so many amazing people with such unique stories has been extremely intriguing for me. But you know, some of them really pulls your heartstrings.” Lay lowered his head.

“Why? Unrequited young love?”

“ An unrequited love is just a beginning to what I’ve seen. One of the Zhang’s has mental illness, which is called…uh… too-long-can’t-remember, resulting into him hallucinating his dead partner – yes you Kris – visiting him in the hospital. I asked the nurse if I could meet him but somehow they wouldn’t allow it.” Lay mumbled at the end before playing with his drink.

The older male looked over to him before understanding how big of an impact it was to him. Lay wasn’t just affected on the outside; he was mentally broken on the inside too. Only to realize that somewhere in the world, a person who’s slightly connected to you is having such a hard time while you’re just here, trying to run away from petty problems; it was too hard of a wake up alarm.

Lay’s enthusiasm slowly died as the guilt stabbed him. He didn’t want to look like this in front of his best friend but then, Kris gave him a warm pat on his back before looking at him. He gave him a reassuring look that it wasn’t his fault nor should he take the blame. Lay looked up and gave him a light nod before turning on his camera. 

“Oh yeah, I took quite a lot of photographs during the trip! First of all, this is me in my formal attire for my friend’s wedding party, which I met another couple with our names. And this one is where I was walking down the beach enjoying the sunset before seeing this boy sitting there alone. I wanted to talk to him before a guy ran towards while calling him my name. They then hugged each other before leaving the beach together.”

Kris asked a few questions here and there while Lay continued to share his stories. Their stories lasted throughout the whole night and when the clock chimed to 4AM, they finally dozed off. The two boys slept on the couch with Lay’s head rested on Kris’s shoulder and his on Lay’s head; their hearts mutually bonded for life.

“You know, after hearing you talk about other people and their love stories… isn’t it our turn to start one?” 

A/N: after so long, it has ended. thanks for sticking with me guys <3

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