“Hey,” Seokmin softly said as he creaked Mingyu’s door open.

Mingyu stopped typing and swiveled around in his desk chair. “Yeah,” he answered as he stretched out his arms.

Seokmin smiled and came into the room. Sitting down on his friend’s bed, he asked, “How’s the paper?”

Glancing over at his work, Mingyu sighed. “It’s boring, but coming along. What’re you and Seungcheol up to?”

“Seungcheol passed out. It’s pretty late,” Seokmin said. “I came in to check on you.”

Mingyu looked down at the time. 2:34 am. “Oh man,” he uttered, pulling the hair back from his forehead. “Yeah, I didn’t realize.”

Seokmin laughed. “You should go to sleep soon.”

Mingyu yawned and closed the document before shutting his laptop. The textbook in front of him was shoved to the side. “Yeah, I will. It’s been a long day.”

“It’s been a weird day for you,” Seokmin joked, as both of them looked down at the unfamiliar phone resting on Mingyu’s desk. “Not everyday you get shoved into alleys and forced to trade clothes with strangers.”

Mingyu awkwardly chuckled. It sounded so ridiculous in words, but remembering the event was even more ridiculous. Seokmin was right. It was a weird day. He picked up the Android and clicked the lock button. The screen showed a beautiful photo of Los Angeles at night. The stranger had gotten a few texts over the past hours, but it was secured so you couldn’t read them unless it was unlocked. “This guy was really bizarre.”

Seokmin leaned over to get a good look at the lockscreen. “Ya know, you can tell a lot about a person based on their screensaver.”

With a scoff, Mingyu stared down. “Yeah, right.”

“No, seriously!” his friend argued. “Just think about it. What’s your lockscreen?”

Didn’t take very long for Mingyu to remember and for his shoulders to slump in defeat. “It’s me and Boba.”

Boba was the name of one of the local cats. She was black and liked to hang out in the front, but sleep on the balcony. Mingyu called her that because she followed him home from a boba shop, and because she kind of looked like a small ball of tapioca. Seokmin burst out laughing. “SEE! The definition of Mingyu is the first thing someone sees when they get on your phone.”

Mingyu glared at him, annoyed at how right he was. “Fine.”

Still teasing, Seokmin asked, “Is it the one I took the other day?”

“Yeah, when she was in that tree.”

“That one’s cute.”

Mingyu rolled his eyes. He checked the stranger’s phone again, this time swiping up to let the phone ask for a passcode. “What do you think LA says about this guy?”

“Maybe it’s not LA,” Seokmin suggested. “Maybe it’s just cities. Or maybe it’s night time. Stars? Who knows. But I bet he’s a city boy.”

“You’re so intuitive,” Mingyu teased.

“I don’t see you making any guesses,” he argued. “You’re the one who met the guy. What do you think he’s like?”

Mingyu turned the phone over a few times in his big hand. White case. Very risky, he thought. My case is black ‘cause I’m scared of it getting dirty.

He glanced over to the jacket resting at the foot of his bed. Tan coat. Pretty average, nothing that stands out too much. He’s someone that likes to blend in. That makes sense, since he was running away from someone.

He was running away from two people, and his face was bruised. A kid who gets bullied? Like I used to. Maybe we have that in common.

He was very calm, actually. The whole time I thought I was gonna die, he seemed stable and ready. It was like he’d done that before.

“Maybe he’s a con-artist,” Mingyu finally said, not putting his trust in anyone. “He took my clothes and my phone.”

“Yeah, but you have his clothes and his phone.”

Mingyu nodded and scratched his head. “Right.”

His eyes were really intense, Mingyu thought, reevaluating some more. It was like he was staring into my soul.

Really strong. I couldn’t even fight back.

Dark eyes. Dark hair. Around my age.

He said “please” and “thank you.”

“Maybe he just needed help,” Mingyu concluded, putting the phone back on the desk.

Seokmin nodded in agreement. “Lucky he ran into you, then. Someone else may have done the rational thing and screamed.”

Sensing his friend’s sarcasm, Mingyu stood up and lightly shoved him over. “I saved his , is what you mean to say.”

Seokmin scooched over as his friend struggled to crawl under his covers. “Sure, think of yourself as the hero.”

“I’m no hero,” Mingyu groaned as he pulled off his t-shirt, tossing it onto the desk chair. “That sounds like a lot of work.”

“If you were, your super power would be feline communications.”

“Okay, maybe I’d be up for that gig.”

Chuckling, Seokmin patted his friend on the leg before he headed for the door. “You’re what the world needs.” That made Mingyu smile. “So, did you call your phone yet? See if this guy picks up?”

“I was going to, but I forgot about it until now. He’s probably asleep. I’ll call him in the morning.”

With a nod, Seokmin slipped out the door. “I’m sure you’ll get yours back soon.”

“Thanks.”

Seokmin turned off the lights. “Night dude.”

“Night.”

After the door shut, Mingyu slipped his jeans off and dropped them on the floor. In his boxers, he wiggled deeper under his sheets until he was well nested in a bundle of warmth. Mingyu was the type of person who could fall asleep incredibly easily, especially after working for a while. He didn’t even have time to reflect more on what happened that day. But just when he was about to drift off, he heard something intensely vibrating.

Squinting, he turned over to see the phone shaking and the screen brightly lit. Damn, who’s calling this guy so late? Mingyu reached over to find out.

It was an unsaved number to the phone, so no caller ID. But there was a displayed location.

London.

London? Why the hell is he getting a call from London?

The phone kept vibrating as Mingyu stared down at it. For whatever reason, he decided to pick up.

“Hello?” he grumbled.

“Hi,” the person replied. It was oddly familiar. “This is the guy who covered your mouth and took your jacket earlier today.”

Mingyu’s eyes flew open and he immediately sat up. Rubbing his eyes in the dark, he cleared his throat. “Hi,” he managed to say.

“Hi,” the boy said again. “Is this who I think it is?”

Mingyu definitely recognized his voice. It was stronger than his whisper, but that made sense. “Yeah. I remember you.”

There was a weak chuckle from the other side. “Yeah, first off, I’m really sorry about that.”

Mingyu waited. What, that’s it? He’s not gonna explain?

“That’s okay,” Mingyu automatically replied. It most certainly was not okay, but he was so used to his canned answers that he didn’t derail from what he would say in any normal circumstance.

“I didn’t realize I left my phone with my jacket, and I really didn’t mean to take yours. I promise.”

Mingyu hesitated. Sounds genuine, but this is a guy who somehow managed to take my clothes right off my shoulders. “Thanks, I guess.”

The stranger laughed again. “No, thank you for earlier. You really saved my .”

I know.

“Yeah,” was all he could say. Again, this person made him lose his words for whatever reason.

“Sorry, I realize it’s really late. I’ve just been kind of busy. I didn’t notice my phone was actually yours.”

“That’s okay.”

“So, um, yeah. I guess, if you’re free tomorrow, I can give you your phone back.”

Yawning, Mingyu tried to think of tomorrow’s schedule. He had a class around three, and then another at five. “I can do before three or after seven.”

“Before three,” the boy didn’t hesitate to reply. Realizing his quickness, he softly added, “If that works for you.”

“Yeah, that works.”

“Where do you want to meet?”

Mingyu had a few spots where he liked to hang out with his roommates, but he wasn’t sure if this guy would know where those were. They could meet at the library, but maybe he wasn’t a student. He needed somewhere this guy would definitely be able to find. Mingyu thought back to their weird encounter. He remembered the friend he made.

“The alleyway from today,” he finally said. “One of the buildings it’s between is a restaurant. We can meet there.”

The stranger smiled. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you there at…” The end of his sentence trailed off so Mingyu could assign a time.

“Noon?”

“Yeah, noon is good.”

Mingyu nodded and pursed his lips together, waiting for more. Nothing came from the other end. There was an awkward silence between the two of them before Mingyu finally said, “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll bring your phone, jacket, and scarf.”

“Thanks. And I’ll bring your phone, jacket, and hat,” the boy responded. “Again, thank you so much.”

“No problem.”

“Your hat was really warm by the way.”

Mingyu paused. He had no idea how to respond to this. Just beyond confused about his relationship with this person, he slowly responded, “I’m...glad.”

Laughing, the stranger could tell he was weirded out. “Sorry, this is probably all really weird.”

“Yeah, it definitely is.”

Another laugh. Taking a breath, the stranger happily added, “I’m Wonwoo by the way. Jeon Wonwoo.”

“Kim Mingyu,” Mingyu introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you, Mingyu. I guess, for the second time.”

Still confused, he weakly laughed at the joke. “Yeah.”

Before this person could continue the conversation, there were some strange noises in the background. “Um hey, I gotta go. I’ll see you at that restaurant tomorrow.”

“Okay, yeah. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye Mingyu.”

“Bye—”

The phone cut out.

“—Wonwoo,” he said into the empty line. He pulled the phone off his ear and looked down at the screen. The number and location stayed there for a few seconds before they faded to black.

London. He’d forgotten to ask about that. What the hell? That’s weird.

But then again, nothing was normal about this person. He didn’t give it much thought. All he knew was he would get his phone back tomorrow.

He placed Wonwoo’s phone on the desk and rolled onto his back. Pulling the covers up, the last thing he thought about was that cat he’d get to see again.

— — —

Mingyu stepped into the alley with a small bag in his hand, while the other held Wonwoo’s belongings. Making a few clicking noises with his tongue, he waited for his friend to appear.

It didn’t take very long for the brown cat to saunter out of the darkness. Smiles on both of their faces, the two were excited about the reunion. Mingyu came down to a squat, put the bag down, and stuck out his hand. His friend comfortably came forward and let himself be pet. Laughing, Mingyu appreciated his purring.

“Hey buddy,” Mingyu cooed. “I brought you something.”

Taking his hand away for a moment, he unwrapped the gift he brought. The cat watched eagerly, since he could already smell what it was. It almost looked like his eyes lit up when he saw the treats. Mingyu smiled and offered them to him. He graciously accepted.

Grinning from ear to ear, Mingyu watched as his friend gorged himself. his head, Mingyu said, “You don’t have a name do you?”

There was no response. He was too busy eating.

Mingyu didn’t mind. “Is it okay if I give you one?”

The cat paused to look up. “Can I call you Donut?”

He purred and lowered his head again.

With a laugh, Mingyu stood up. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He lingered for a few more seconds before he headed towards the restaurant entrance. Donut watched him go, again. “See you in a bit, Donut.”

Mingyu walked into the noodle shop that he always passed on his way to school. For whatever reason, he’d never gone inside. Mingyu didn’t really like going to places he wasn’t accustomed to, which meant he didn’t really go anywhere new. Thankfully, this shop looked pretty inviting.

“Mansae!” all of the waiters cheered as he stepped inside.

A little surprised, he weakly smiled and nodded at all of them. One of those places, he thought. He now realized he had no idea what this place was called.

“Hi and welcome to Mansae!” the hostess joyfully greeted him.

Oh, okay cheering makes sense then.

“Hi.”

“Table for one?” she asked as she pulled out a menu.

Mingyu was about to nod, but he remembered why he was there. “Uh, actually two. I’m expecting someone.”

She smiled and grabbed another menu. “Right this way,” she said as she lead him to a booth along the front window.

He slid into the side that still let him see the door. He placed the coat and scarf on the table. “Thank you.”

“Once your friend gets here, a waiter will come help you.”

Not waiting for a friend.

“Alright, thanks.”

With a nod, she left. Mingyu instinctively pulled out his phone to burn some time while waiting, but he quickly realized his mistake. Right. Not mine. Whole reason I’m here.

Oddly enough, Mingyu didn’t have to wait very long. Just as that thought was running through his head, there was a tap on the window. He immediately looked over to find the boy from yesterday. He looked exactly the same, except this time he was all smiles.

Mingyu gently waved and Wonwoo waved back before he came into the shop. He had a bag with him, and Mingyu could tell it held his belongings. After briefly explaining to the hostess, he strolled over to join Mingyu. “Hi, again.”

“Hey,” Mingyu greeted him.

Wonwoo took a few deep breaths, and Mingyu could tell he’d been running again. Spotting the bruise, Mingyu noticed it was still just as dark. “Hope you weren’t waiting too long,” Wonwoo said.

“No, I just got here.”

“Cool, cool. Thanks again.”

Is he seriously still not gonna explain anything?

Mingyu watched him get comfortable in his seat. “Yeah, of course.”

Just then, the waitress came by with a notepad. “Hi guys. Can I get you started with something to drink?”

“Oh,” Mingyu said, just now realizing that a restaurant constituted eating a meal. “I didn’t realize we…”

Wonwoo picked up on his confusion. “Yeah, I forgot, too. You hungry? If you don’t have somewhere to be…”

“Uh, no, I don’t.”

Wonwoo grinned. “Okay, then this one’s on me.”

“No, you don’t—”

“I owe you,” Wonwoo insisted. With a grin, he looked back at the waitress. “I’ll just have a water.”

She nodded and turned to Mingyu. “Uhh...the same for me.”

She smiled and said, “I’ll give you guys some more time,” before she turned to leave.

Mingyu looked down at the menu and then back at the boy across from him. “Thanks.”

Now all situated, Wonwoo smiled brightly at Mingyu. There was a horribly awkward silence. Well, it was awkward for Mingyu. Wonwoo looked rather relaxed. Trying to be polite, Mingyu lightly smiled.

Snapping back to the moment, Wonwoo shook. “Right!” he exclaimed, turning to pull up the plastic bag. He put it on the table and slid it over. “Here are all of your things!”

Mingyu briefly inspected what was inside, trusting that it was all there. His phone sat on top of his jacket. He pulled it out and pushed the lock button. Impulsively, he smiled at the picture of him and Boba.

As Wonwoo watched him, he couldn’t help but be amused with that look on Mingyu’s face. “She’s really cute.”

Mingyu flinched and looked up. “What?”

Chuckling, Wonwoo gestured to the phone. “Your cat. She’s adorable.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mingyu replied, showing another grin. Whenever he talked about the cats, he was just naturally happy. “But she’s not my cat. She hangs out around my apartment. We’re more like friends.” He paused and let his mouth hang open, realizing how weird that must sound to someone who didn’t know him.

But Wonwoo just smiled even brighter. “That’s pretty awesome. She have a name?”

“Boba,” Mingyu quickly replied.

“Boba’s really cool.”

Mingyu laughed. “Yeah she is.” Woah, what was that? People usually never got such a genuine response from him.

Pleased with the reaction, Wonwoo grinned. He looked and nodded towards his belongings. “Is that my stuff?”

“Yeah!” Mingyu uttered, forgetting about it for a moment. “Everything’s here.” He put the phone with the pile and handed it over.

“Awesome.” Naturally, the boy did the same thing Mingyu did. Looking at his lockscreen, he saw his screensaver and the two unread text messages.

“That’s a really cool picture of LA.”

Wonwoo tilted his head up and found Mingyu craning over to see the screen. “Oh, yeah. Really pretty, right? I took it the last time I was there.”

Mingyu nodded, wanting to add more, but his tongue wasn’t used to that much conversation.

Thankfully, Wonwoo was good at filling in the empty space. “Yeah, I really like LA. It’s one of my favorite cities I’ve been to.”

“You travel a lot?” Mingyu managed to ask.

Wonwoo chuckled. Mingyu couldn’t tell why that was funny. “You could say that.” He sighed and continued, “I’ve jumped around a lot these past few years so I’ve gotten to see a lot of cities.”

Seokmin was right. A city boy. “That’s cool.”

The boy sighed again, slumping in his seat a bit. “Yeah, it is. though ‘cause I never get to stay too long.”

“It still must be nice. I’ve never been out of Korea.”

“Trust me,” Wonwoo said, fiddling with the menu. “It’s not all that great.”

What’s that supposed to mean? Mingyu thought, but he decided not to question it too much. But as they were talking, he remembered something that he questioned last night.

London.

For whatever reason, it made sense to ask about it now. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

Sitting back up, Wonwoo looked interested. “Yeah, go ahead.”

“Last night when you called your phone, it said the call was coming from London.”

Unphased, Wonwoo quickly nodded, adding in a chuckle. “Oh, that. Yeah, my phone’s kinda weird when it comes to locations. I was calling from my grandma’s phone. It gets the ID all messed up for whatever reason.”

Mingyu didn’t question further. That made sense. “Oh, okay. Sorry, I just thought that was kinda weird.”

“If you didn’t notice, Mingyu,” he said with a laugh as he read over the menu. “I’m kind of a weird guy.”

Mingyu paused, oddly intrigued by this person. As he stared forward, his gaze fell to the bruise. He realized he actually had a lot more questions, but maybe this wasn’t a good time.

“I noticed.”

Wonwoo smiled and asked, “So what’re you gonna order?”

For the next forty-five minutes, they ate and talked. Every so often, Mingyu would catch himself acting like a different person, a person who knew how to hold a conversation. He realized that he was wrong about yesterday. That wasn’t the weirdest thing to ever happen to him, this was. He’d never been out with a person who wasn’t Seungcheol or Seokmin for this long. Not only that, but he’d never actually enjoyed a new person’s company unless he or she had nine lives. It was so bizarre.

Maybe the most bizarre thing eating at him, though, was the fact that the acts of yesterday were never brought up. Why was Wonwoo running away? Why was he bruised? Who were those two guys? Why did he need Mingyu’s clothes? Well, okay, he may have needed them to blend in. Better question would be why was he able to get Mingyu’s clothes so easily? Mingyu was never one to be too curious about other people’s personal circumstances, but these questions kept running through his mind. He wanted so badly to ask, but there was never a good time. Wonwoo was just too good at talking about everything else.

Once they finished, the waitress came back and placed the bill on their table. Wonwoo immediately reached for it, pulling out his wallet.

“You really don’t have to pay for me,” Mingyu said.

Wonwoo shook his head. “No, no, I owe you at least this.”

Mingyu watched hesitantly. “You sure?”

Wonwoo laughed. He paid in cash. “Yeah, don’t worry. Maybe you can pay next time.”

Next time. Who said there would be a next time?

But Mingyu didn’t mind the suggestion. “Sure.”

After the waitress took the payment and brought back the appropriate change, neither of them had any reason to stay longer. Getting out of the booth, they headed for the door.

With his belongings in hand, Wonwoo stepped out first. Moving to the side to not block the door, he looked back at Mingyu and smiled. “Thanks again for...well, everything.”

Mingyu nodded. “No problem. Thanks for paying.”

“The least I could do.”

Opening his mouth to say more, Mingyu was interrupted.

“Meow.”

Both of them turned towards the familiar alleyway. Donut slowly came over and started purring as he rubbed against Mingyu.

He laughed and knelt down to properly greet him. “Hey Donut.”

Wonwoo got this warm feeling as he glanced down at the two of them. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Another friend of yours?”

Mingyu looked up and blushed before turning his attention back to the cat. “Yeah. We met yesterday.”

“Are they all named after food?”

“Maybe.”

Wonwoo laughed. For a moment, he just stared at Mingyu and Donut and how happy they both looked. Cute, he thought.

Squatting down to join them, Wonwoo softly Donut’s back. He seemed to like it. “Ya know,” he said, “It could be really useful to know someone who’s good with cats.”

Mingyu furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That’s my excuse to ask for your phone number,” he nervously explained.

Stunned, Mingyu didn’t respond. He looked up to find Wonwoo’s shy smile. “What?”

Shrugging, Wonwoo tried to play it off like it was no big deal. “You seem like a nice person.”

If Mingyu had felt out of his element before, now was a whole nother level. This guy wanted his phone number? Based on what he knew about social construct, a phone number usually meant someone was interested in something more. The entire afternoon, Mingyu had never considered this interaction to be anything more than friendly. He was comfortable, and he was glad. But if Wonwoo was looking for anything more…that thought made Mingyu want to gag. “What?” he said again, hoping the situation wasn’t what he thought.

“Look, I don’t know about you,” Wonwoo responded as he got Donut to purr louder, “but I usually don’t get along with strangers this easily, and trust me when I say I’ve met a lot of strangers.” Staring into Mingyu’s eyes, he tried to convince the boy of his honesty. “You seem like a good friend. Donut here definitely thinks so.”

Friend. That word rang in his ears. His chest loosened and he could breathe a little more easily. Thank the ing Lord. A decent person almost ruined. Mingyu finally smiled. “Donut’s cool.”

“So that phone number?”

Mingyu thought it over one last time. He didn’t want to give in so easily. “On one condition.”

Wonwoo furrowed his eyebrows. “What is it?”

Mingyu hesitated slightly until he said what had been killing him all day. “You tell me what all of that was yesterday.”

A smile crept onto Wonwoo’s face. There was no question. “Sure.” Mingyu expected to hear the explanation, but instead the boy just stuck out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

“Sure you won’t take it?” Mingyu asked as he pulled it out.

Wonwoo laughed. “I promise.”

Mingyu unlocked his phone and handed it over. Wonwoo proceeded to create a new contact. After entering in his number, he opened the camera to take his contact photo. Mingyu watched as the boy put down his jacket, carefully scooped Donut up in his empty hand, held him close to his face, and took a selfie. Putting the cat back down, Wonwoo inspected the picture. He smiled and showed it to Mingyu. “Nice.”

Mingyu grinned at the little brown cat snuggled against Wonwoo’s warm, smiling face. “Very.”

“There,” he said as he finished saving the information. He handed it back to the owner and stood up. “Just send me a text and I’ll have your number.”

Mingyu nodded and also got up. It wasn’t until now did he notice he was a few inches taller than Wonwoo. “Cool.”

“Alright then,” Wonwoo exhaled as he stuck out his right hand. “It was nice meeting you, Mingyu, I guess again...again.”

Mingyu firmly shook his hand. “You too, Wonwoo.”

He grinned as he headed off. “Hope to hear from you soon.”

Mingyu and Donut watched him leave. What a weird guy, Mingyu thought. Then he remembered. “Hey!” Wonwoo spun back around. “You didn’t tell me what yesterday was about!”

Smiling, Wonwoo continued to back away. Cupping his hand around his mouth, he called back, “Text me! I’d be happy to meet up again and explain everything!”

And with that, he flipped back around, turned a corner, and was out of sight.

With a confused grin, Mingyu scoffed and looked down at Donut. “What a weird guy.”

“Meow,” Donut said.

Mingyu laughed. “Yeah, I guess I like him, too.” For some reason, the idea of making a new friend who wasn’t a cat actually didn’t seem too bad.

After Wonwoo turned the corner, he realized he was still smiling. Something about this Mingyu character was oddly enticing. That made Wonwoo’s heart race. He’d never felt this way before, and it was really exciting. The only thing he regretted was he didn’t directly get Mingyu’s number, but he wanted Mingyu to decide when the next time they’d speak would be. The wait seemed like it would be weirdly thrilling.

Is this what I’ve been looking for? he thought. Shaking his head, he decided not to jinx himself.

Now a decent distance away, Wonwoo pulled out his phone, remembering the two unread texts. He already knew he’d be seeing them too late, but still. Clicking the group chat, he read the short messages he was used to.

Joshua
Moscow

Minghao
Dublin

Wonwoo gave a sigh of relief before he typed his response.

Wonwoo
Sorry didnt have my phone
London

It seemed like Minghao had his phone on hand because he immediately replied.

Minghao
Glad i didnt miss u then

Wonwoo
Hopefully we’ll see each other tonight

Minghao
Doubt it but theres always a chance

Wonwoo smiled as he put his phone away and continued to walk down the sidewalk.

— — —

“Do you think he saw us?”

Jihoon cautiously glanced over his menu to look out the restaurant window. Outside was the stranger who was eating with Wonwoo. After following Wonwoo for so long, neither of them had ever seen this new guy before. Adjusting his hat to make sure his hair was hidden, Jihoon said, “No. He would’ve left.”

“Who was he with?” Soonyoung asked.

Jihoon scrolled through the notes on his phone. He’d never written anything down about Wonwoo with someone like this before. “I have no idea.”

Soonyoung also checked his notes. No information. He sighed and lowered his menu. “Think he knows anything?”

Squinting out at the stranger, Jihoon saw him with a cat. “Doubt it.”

hope you like it! more to come soon <3