Prologue: Crimson

Twelve Forty One AM. He wasn’t really sure if he should call it a Sunday or a Saturday – he was too tired to care. Minseok, his co-worker, called in sick for the night and he really didn’t have much choice but to work double shifts. More money for him, he thought. He really wasn’t sure if it really was worth it though. One of their managers, Junmyeon, once told him that almost all of the money he earned from overtime usually just went to tax. He just sighed, like he had a choice. Everybody had something else better to do on a Saturday night. Chanyeol didn’t really have a life outside other than his job at a tacky comic book shop, his university, and the four corners for his room – sometimes the kitchen too when he felt like setting something on fire and triggering the smoke alarm. He got banned from the kitchen after the third time the fire fighters came to the driveway of their apartment. Third time was the charm.

Chanyeol lazily swiped his keycard on the slot right beside the pin pad on the door. Technology really was glorious; he had problems with locks and keys. It was really bad. He once locked himself out of their house when he was about fifteen. For some apparent mysterious reasons, his keys weren’t working, only to figure out the next day that the door was unlocked. His mother just laughed while his father almost beat him up with the morning newspaper.

 “I have no idea how are you your class’ valedictorian. You’re kind of dumb you know?” His older sister even added, laughing behind her geometry textbook.

The apartment was filled with darkness like he expected it to be. His roommate shouldn’t be home until around the same time the next day. The boy said he was spending the night at his boyfriend’s house – for a surprise on their second anniversary. Chanyeol just shrugged as the boy bounced towards the door, innocent smile taped on his lips, off to somewhere around the Myeongdong district.

He wouldn’t even think of turning the lights on. He would just rely on the light that his barely functioning phone to lead him to his room if his stomach just didn’t make that creepy and disgusting sound signalling that it wants something. Desperately, he started touching the walls, hoping that at some point he would find the light switch. It took him about three minutes; the longest three minutes of his life. He really was kind of dumb.

The light from the kitchen blinded him. It was like one of those mornings when his awfully-ed-up-of-a-roommate would open the blinds wide enough for him to get a punch in the face from the morning sun. It took him a while and a few eye rubs to adjust and notice something very unusual under their kitchen table. He was pretty sure they didn’t have any pets of any sort. Pets also don’t grow almost six foot tall, unless it was a ing Chupacabra. He had read about it out of boredom, it was the one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

Chanyeol’s eyes roamed around the room, there were clutter everywhere. A total living and breathing man cave, yet he couldn’t find anything of reach that he could use to at least smack the Chupacabra in the head or maybe break one of its nails and make it go home, crying. He just gave up and settled with a random garlic clove lying on the floor. Maybe Chupacabras were also scared of garlic? Like vampires? He had also read about those. He usually would usually spend his free time leeching off the internet for random information. He once spent a whole seven hours in front of his laptop, just randomly searching for whatever came up in his head. He even found himself typing turkey foot in the search images page of google. It was rather amusing and it made Chanyeol somehow start re-evaluating his life’s decisions.
With eyes focused on his target, or maybe his predator, he adjusted the hood of his gray jacket and walked closer to it. The Chupacabra was a little too scrawny and a little too bony than what he expected it to be. It also had milky white skin and a familiar mop of brown hair.

“Oh.”

The Chupacabra groined when he shook its shoulder. The creature reeked of a mix of soju and kimchi. He scrunched his nose as he pulled it on a chair.

 “Sehun-ah?” He tapped the boy’s flushed cheek.

Chanyeol couldn’t say he had never seen his roommate drunk. He was always the boy’s designated driver whenever they would go to parties or just randomly decide to pour alcohol in their brains and be their drunken selves. Sehun would usually be very chirpy and very clingy when he was drunk. The boy even once d in the middle of the street on a winter night – he said he was just too happy thathe had to strip. Chanyeol just threw his coat over the younger’s shoulder as Kyungsoo frantically started picking up the boy’s underwear, Jongdae just lost himself laughing as he walked into a pole.

“Sehun-ah?” His hand rested on the boy’s cheek, tear stains were visible.

Sehun wasn’t just drunk. Drunken Sehun would walk around on a winter night. Drunken Sehun would never cry, unless he was laughing so hard because Minseok almost lost a limb when he fell into a ditch. Sehun wasn’t just drunk that night, he was broken.

“Sehun-ah? Are you okay?” He petted the boy’s cheek, like he would a hurt kitten. He almost got his hand bitten off. “What the ?”

The boy just looked at him with his sleepy eyes; clouded with emotions Chanyeol had never seen his entire life. Sehun’s eyes looked lifeless, it made him cringe.

“Hyung, why are you holding garlic?” The younger groined, voice cracked, probably from too much crying.

Chanyeol’s eyes switched to the boy, and then to his left hand, and then back to the boy again. He really should start re-evaluating his life. He really was starting to doubt his own sanity. Something his friends had started doing quite a long time ago.

“I thought you were a Chupacabra.” He sheepishly replied.

Sehun snickered, bitterness written all over it. “Nice choice of self-defense.”

Silence.

Chanyeol started cleaning up the mess on the table that he failed to notice because of his fascination about seeing a Chupacabra in real life. There were about twelve empty bottles of soju, minus the broken ones right beside the stove. There was also an empty bowl of kimchi that Chanyeol’s sister brought over when she went to Seoul for a visit. He wondered how long had Sehun been drinking.

He switched his attention back to the boy. His swollen eyes were about to burst into tears. It pierced Chanyeol’s heart. The word pierce got a little too ironic when he noticed what the boy was about to do.

With a piece of broken glass in hand, the boy was about to make a cut on his wrist. Crimson liquid started dripping on the floor as the boy tried to make the cut deep enough to make time stop ticking for him. Everything suddenly became irrelevant. Every breathe he took suddenly became useless.

“What the do you think you’re doing?!” Chanyeol was furious as he ran towards the younger and yanked the shard of glass off his hand, making his own bleed. He winced but the blood that was seeping through the towel he grabbed to cover the boys wound was more important. Chanyeol would thank Kyungsoo later for dragging him into that first aid class a few summers back.

“ Sehun. What the hell are you thinking?!” He mumbled as he wrapped thick gauze around the boy’s wrist. The bleeding had already stopped but the cut would definitely leave a mark. It wasn’t deep enough neither to damage anything, nor to require stitches. Yet he knew that the cut his friend had in his heart was deeper than any wound a shard of glass could do.

“Sehun-ah.” He nudged the boy after finally managing to settle the younger in his bed. “What happened?”
The question was left hanging for about ten minutes. Chanyeol was about to give up and probably leave the boy for a while and give him time to think.

“Hyung. Stay. Please.” Three words, it broke Chanyeol’s heart. Sehun had always been a very adorable kid. Being the youngest in their group; he always got what he wanted. It was very rare to see the boy moping over something; except for that math test he failed so badly that he had to take summer classes. But that night, the Sehun he saw was not the Sehun he grew up with. It was a Sehun he hadn’t seen before. It was a Sehun that he would really rather not meet at all. It was a broken Sehun.

“Shhh.. “ He whispered and took the empty space on the boy’s bed. “Hyung is here okay? Hyung will never leave you.” He added and wrapped his arms around the shivering boy. He almost felt like Sehun would fall into tiny pieces with just one touch. The younger felt too vulnerable. “You need to tell me what happened though. So Hyung can help you. I want to help you.”

Sehun’s tears started rolling once more. Maybe he shouldn’t really ask anymore? Maybe he should just leave the matter alone? Maybe he should call Kyungsoo, he had always been better at talking than him? Maybe Jongdae could trick Sehun into talking? Maybe also making the boy laugh in the process? Maybe he should get some bubble tea? Sehun loved bubble tea. But it was two o’clock in the morning, bubble tea shops were closed. Maybe he should call Luh-

“I caught Luhan making out with Kris.”

His lips formed an O. Fire started burning inside him, smoldering every bit of fondness he had for the Chinese boy they met in a bar one night. He had always known that Luhan wasn’t the type that would stay in a relationship longer than a few weeks of flirting; leaving the whole university in shock when the HunHan couple lasted a year, though he had never expected that the elder was capable of doing such. Chanyeol wanted to bury his fist in the elder’s face.

“Hyung please don’t.” It was as if Sehun could read his mind.

“But he deserves it-“

“Please.” The younger shifted his gaze at him, eyes pleading yet still void of any emotions. “Just .. just stay with me. I’m fine now. I’m gonna be okay. Just stay with me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Thank you though.”

With eyes locked on the younger, Chanyeol’s mind suddenly went on cool down. His heart took over. He leaned towards the boy and the next thing he knew, their lips were connected in a sloppy, yet very careful kiss. He was still afraid that the boy might break under his touch. It was that night when the unexpected happened. It was that night when inhibitions were all forgotten. It was that night when old, long hidden feelings were unintentionally released. It was that night when the Park Chanyeol woke up the next morning with his unclothed best friend in his arms. It was that night when Oh Sehun woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, sharp pain flowing from his wrist up his whole being, barely any memories of what happened the past night, and a dumbfounded giant named Park Chanyeol on the foot of his bed.

“Good morning.” He muttered before the elder hauled himself out of the room, leaving a confused sober Sehun still in his bed.

note: proofread 2013.09.21