Jongin wakes up feeling groggy, sweaty and cold. But at least there were no nightmares. He doesn't feel refreshed, but he does feel like he's been asleep for a long time, which hasn't happened in a long while.

He shifts slowly, muscles stiff from not moving so long, and something rustles beneath him. He squirms, and reaches for whatever is under his stomach. It crinkles as he pulls it out, and when he brings it up to his face, and squints at it-the curtains are closed and it's still dark in here-he finds that it's a piece of lined paper, folded in half and in half again. It looks like it's been torn from one of his work books.

The only person that could've done that is Kyungsoo, and the instant that clicks, Jongin is hastily unfolding the paper, more awake than he's been for weeks.

The letter isn't long, and Kyungsoo's handwriting is terrible,

Dear Jongin,

I'll be back sometime tonight, about the same time I was last night.

Remember to pack everything, I dont know when/if youll be back to get anything you dont pack now. Try not to get caught :o
hope you have a nice sleep, you looked really tired. Actually you look really handsome rn

love you x

KYUNGSOO

There's a cute sketch of what Jongin thinks is a baby wolf, with a heart drawn around it. The heart looks to be a bit of an afterthought, but Jongin loves it anyway. He doesn't often get to see his boyfriend's artwork, so to have something that was drawn specifically for him, even if it's a quick scribble, is nice.

He glances at the clock on his desk, and it’s just dark enough in here for him to be able to see the display. It's nearly midday. He's forgotten what day it's supposed to be, but he thinks it's either Tuesday or Wednesday, though.

It's not a weekend, he's pretty sure of that at least.

He folds the paper back in half and puts it under his pillow to make him feel safer. Then he gets out of bed. It's at this point he realises he hasn't changed clothes since he came home, and has worn the same pyjamas for the entire time- three weeks.

He must smell so bad! Mortification almost sweeps him off his feet. At the very least Kyungsoo was courteous enough not to mention it. He wonders if showering will draw unnecessary attention to himself from his mother. He needs to check on where she is.

But more importantly he needs to find a suitcase or something to pack his things into. A sports bag from when he used to play football? That might be big enough, he muses. If only he could remember where they put it. Hopefully they haven't thrown it away.

He digs through his wardrobe, behind all the hanging shirts and underneath his pyjamas. It's not there which means they must've thrown it away.

The next best option is his school bag, which will only probably fit maybe two or three days’ worth of clothing in, along with his phone and its’ charger.

He empties the contents out on the floor, and then shoves them under his bed, carefully listening out for any sounds that might mean his mum is around. Luckily there's nothing to indicate she's up. Maybe she's in her room typing, in which case he should still be quiet. There are only a few metres in between here and there.

He really needs to take a shower, but he doesn't want to risk her hearing it, the plumbing is really noisy in his house, everyone knows when somebody’s just gone to the toilet. She would probably take it as a sign he was finally 'accepting' the fact that he shouldn't be with Kyungsoo. She thought he was either taking the piss, or high on something. Maybe if he just uses a cloth and wipes himself down. Hardly satisfactory, but maybe the best he can do under the circumstances.

She had given him a huge long lecture, which he’d tried his best not to pay attention to, about how he should know better than to hang out with people who did that kind of thing, and how could she not have noticed it?

He hated it. Not her, but that she could be so blind. How could she not believe him? Was he untrustworthy? Her own flesh and blood’s words, no more reliable than those of the man who left her.

He feels like an intruder in his own home, sneaking about like this. It's like when he used to go downstairs at night to steal cookies, but this is the middles of the day, and there's a lot more at stake than a cookie and the possibility of being banned from the TV for the next day.

He makes his way cautiously down the corridor to the bathroom, grabbing a towel and a flannel from the airing cupboard on the way. In the bathroom he brushes his teeth, inspects his face thoroughly, then catches a glimpse of his hair. Ugh.

Wiping himself down just isn't going to cut it. He needs to find out where his mum is. He peers out through the gap between the door and the wall, and listens. Nothing. He checks his mum's room on the other end of the hallway, and luckily the door is open, so he can tell easily that she's not in there.

The stairs creak a little, so he has to do some ninja crawling to move silently down them, stopping halfway and looking through the bannister bars into the living room. The TV is on but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, she leaves it on all the time. When she's cooking, when she's doing work (she claims it doesn't distract her but that's such a lie) and even when she's not even in the house.

Maybe she's in the kitchen. He slithers downstairs further to find out, reminding him of when he would do so for fun when he was little, sometimes he'd slide down on a tray until his mum told him to stop in case he broke his neck or something.

Craning his neck around the bottom of the bannister, he tries to see past the kitchen door. If she catches him here, looking relatively alive, then it's all over. She'll put him on lock-down and expect him to watch TV with her or something, and then he won't be able to pack.

The kitchen door is closed, so taking a chance, he peeks out of the frosted window just beside the door. He can't see a dark blue blob, so that must mean she's out shopping or something.

He smiles, exultant, then rushes back upstairs, without a care about how much noise he's making, and into the bathroom, where he rapidly strips and jumps in the shower. He spends as long a time as he thinks he can risk, not knowing when she went out and when she's likely to return home.

He washes his hair twice, and uses copious amounts of soap to eliminate any sweat that remains. In his bedroom, after drying himself off, he searches for clothes. First, some pyjamas he can wear for now just in case his mum comes in. Then he finds some of his more preferred clothes, and rolls them up tightly and shoves them into the bottom of his bag to see how much room is left over.

There's plenty, so he packs some more clothes, and then searches for his phone until he remembers it's probably locked away in his mum's room somewhere. Does he dare to go and retrieve it?

No, not yet. She might check, to see if it's still there, and then he'll be busted. What else does he need? Sanitary stuff, like his toothbrush. He packs that next, feeling nostalgic. It's like when he used to sleepover at Sehun's house.

With everything safely stored away, he hides the whole thing in the back of his wardrobe and settles down to wait for Kyungsoo. At least six hours to wait.

He sighs and fidgets, antsy.

-

that is my handwriting. its actually neater than usual lol i put extra effort into that haha ( idk if the image is even showing up oops lemme know if its not ill see what i can do)

i know this is kinda fillerish, i'll update the next one sooner than usual, maybe tmrw, to make up for it

comment? please? even if only to say how weird my baby wolf looks?