He sat on his bed, back against the wall as he bounced his leg to the beat of a rock song playing through his headphones. He thought about how he probably should’ve kicked off his shoes since his mom always complained about the grass stains on his comforter, but he figured that could wait until he was ready for bed.

Minho always listened to music before sleeping and sometimes – like tonight – he would open the blinds of his small window so that he’d have a view of the dull suburban neighborhood he lived in.

It wasn’t much of a sight. The seven cars he could see on the weathered streets – among which only one of them appeared fairly new – were all in place. An owner-less cat or two always emerged from under those cars and then scampered off to do who knows what. The rosebushes of the old man across the street provided some variety to the palm tree-dominated area, and countless power lines sliced what grey clouds loomed overhead. The constant noise of the freeway a couple of blocks from his house only kept the scene from being dead quiet. Under the light of the moon and bluish hue of the darkness, it almost seemed beautiful.

Minho sighed after taking in the never-changing view and pulled off his head phones, tossing them into his backpack on the floor. He turned to close the blinds and was startled to see someone running outside.

“What the hell?” he muttered under his breath, confused, but also somewhat pissed from having been shaken.

The slight figure darted across a pool of orange light on the sidewalk and he realized it was the kid from two houses down.

There was nothing in the direction in which he was going, but he figured that didn’t matter if all he was doing was getting away.

Minho wasn’t one to get into people’s business, but his mom was another story. More than once she’d come home from a trip to the small strip mall nearby and told his dad about hearing doors slamming and unclear but rather worrisome yelling that went on in that corner house.

He didn’t pay it much attention, following his dad’s advice to stay out of it, but that became difficult to do when the police got involved.

A neighbor had called to complain about noise and two officers went to investigate. The issue was settled in a matter of minutes and nothing more came of it. Rather routine for them, no doubt.

After some weeks, his mom was putting groceries away in the kitchen when she mentioned noticing a boy follow her on the way home. It turned out that he wasn’t following her but was just going home. He lived in that same corner house.

Minho jumped off the bed to lock his door and then moved back to the window, cursing when he struggled to raise the blinds. He unlatched the safety and carefully slid the rough white metal frame all the way. Finally, he popped the darkened screen out and set it against the side of the house before slipping out. He hated wasting time, but he didn't dare leave his window open. The least he could do was lower the blinds.

Once finished, he sprinted across the front yard and leapt over the low chain-link fence, not slowing down until he caught sight of the boy again.

He was still running, but not nearly as fast. Minho saw him turn and it occurred to him that he was headed toward the park behind the elementary school. It wasn’t too far, but it wasn’t the best place to be at this time. He pushed himself to speed up when he thought about how there wasn’t a place nearby that would be any better.

Minutes flew by and the boy reached his destination. Minho slowed to a jog and then hid behind the massive trunk of a tree to watch him stumble onto the playground.

Minho wasn’t sure about how to reveal himself, but it didn’t matter because the boy had noticed him.

“What do you want?” he spat.

Minho couldn’t see him, but it was easy to tell that he was at the top of the structure. He stepped out from behind the tree, checking the trails and clearings for anyone who might be around.

“Why are you following me?”

“It’s okay, kid,” Minho called, lowering his voice when he heard it echo throughout the park. “I saw you running.”

He moved forward slowly, taking the steps of the structure one at a time. Minho crossed the wobbly bridge, chains rattling under his weight, and he finally reached the foot of more stairs that led to the boy’s hideout.

“Can I come up?”

A few moments went by before he got permission. Minho had to go on his hands and knees to make the climb. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in that tunnel, but he knew it hadn’t been quite so tagged up.

“Hey.”

The boy pushed himself into a corner by the opening of the slide to make room. He sniffled and wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hands.

“You shouldn't be out here.” Minho knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to have said, but it was true regardless. “Your paren–”

“They don't care.”

His words had a chilling effect in the darkness of the small enclosed space.

“It's not safe.”

“Are you watching out for me or something?” The question was intended to carry more attitude than it did, but his trembly voice didn’t allow it.

“Uh, no.” That wasn't entirely true. “But yeah.”

The boy furrowed his eyebrows. “Why?”

Minho sighed and hugged his legs to his chest like the boy. “I don't know.”

“You don't even know me.”

The corner of Minho's lips pulled up to form a tiny smile. “We can fix that,” he murmured. “I'm Minho. And like I said, I saw you running. I live two houses from you.”

He sniffled once again before dropping his knees and crossing his legs. “So I've seen you before.”

Minho mirrored the boy's movement. “Yeah, probably. What's your name, kid?”

“My name's Taemin. Stop calling me kid.”

“Sorry. I just figured you're a lot younger than me so..”

“I'm 14. You don't look much older yourself.”

Minho was shocked, to say the least. Taemin was older than he looked and he wasn't wrong. He apologized again. “Yeah, I'm.. I'm 15.”

They didn't say anything for a while until Taemin pulled the collar of his t-shirt to wipe a tear that had rolled down to his chin.

“Are you okay?” Minho asked. “Why'd you come out here?”

Taemin leaned against the panel behind him and dropped his gaze, thankful that the puffiness of his eyes wasn't easy to see. “I shouldn't say.”

Minho tried again. “Are you okay though?”

The younger boy nodded. “I'm fine. They were going to start yelling”

“Oh. That ...” he said, remembering everything his mom had recounted as well as the incident about a month back.

“It's not the first time I run out,” he admitted.

“You really shouldn't.”

“I know,” he said in a small voice. “But I don't know what else to do.”

Minho felt sorry. He couldn't imagine how stressful things had to be at his home to make him run off at night, and he wished he could make it better.

Minho shifted in his spot and went to sit beside Taemin. He patted his shoulder and told him it was going to be alright as convincingly as he could.

“How do you know?”

He didn't answer because he didn't know how to. Instead, he hesitantly wrapped an arm over his small frame.

Taemin gave in to the gesture and dropped his head onto his new friend's shoulder. He didn't want to cry, but tears just spilled out of the corners of his eyes.

“Sorry,” he whimpered.

Minho couldn't say he wasn't a little freaked out by the situation. He hadn't needed to comfort anyone else before, so he didn't know exactly how to do it.

“It's okay.”

Right then, he got an idea that was probably a bit much, but worth a shot.

“Hey,” he started, “maybe you should come to my house whenever you need to get away.”

Taemin hiccuped and his entire body shook under his hold.

“I snuck out through my window. You can sleep over tonight if you want...”

“My parents will kill me if they don't find me in the morning.”

“Never mind then,” he backtracked. “But the other thing still goes.”

Taemin nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

A breeze moved through the gaps in the structure and the boys shivered.

“We should go home,” Minho said. He didn't know how long they'd been gone.

Taemin agreed, but didn't want to move. He didn't even think he had the energy to until he remembered something.

“I almost forgot!” he whispered with a sudden burst of excitement.

Minho moved away to get a better look at the boy.

“What?”

“Let's go.”

Minho could only watch as Taemin stuck his legs through the gaping hole beside him and pushed himself down the slide, disappearing so fast he wondered if he'd dreamt it all up. But of course, he hadn't. Minho followed him, feeling both a new and forgotten rush as he fell to the bottom.

“Over here,” Taemin said softly when he saw Minho looking around for him. He sat on a swing, motioning for him to take the one next to him.

“What is it?”

“That,” Taemin said, craning his neck to look directly at the perfectly round face of the speckled sphere.

“Woah. Full moon?”

He nodded before adding: “Twice this month. That makes it a blue moon.”

The two watched the celestial body move higher and higher in the sky until they were certain it wouldn't go anywhere but down on the other side of the black expanse. Their eyelids were heavy by the time they began running back, and their bodies felt weak against the cool midnight air. The distance wasn't much, but to them the way from the park to their street felt like a journey. One that was tiring and most certainly dangerous, but one they'd be more than willing to take again.

Hello there. I'm lazy, but very much alive!

Like I said, this wasn't planned, so I went over this three times max to check for mistakes (/A \ ) lol
If you read my writing challenge and know about me saying I'd write more on some of those drabbles, yes, I am doing that. I have been working on them and hope to have one up soon. Sorry to keep you waiting;;;;

If you're just reading this bc 'oh look 2min' then hi thanks ily pls comment :))) lol

bye~