The first thing Jihoon sees when the door to his room cracks open is the dark agenda sitting on the top shelf of his furniture. It hadn’t been moved for two years ago since he moved here. It’s also the first thing Jihoon puts in his bag, coughing twice when the dust that has pilled on top of it reaches his still sensitive throat.

“Why are you afraid of fire?” Seungcheol asks later. They are at their usual coffee shop, but this time it’s more like a study session than a date. Woozi stops from writing, a little annoyed at the interruption, and looks up at his confused boyfriend. He tried to prepare himself for this question, but now he realises that he has no reason to lie.

“I burnt my hand once.” He replies calmly and his pen meets the paper again. Just that his previous thoughts of doing homework had disappeared. Instead, his hand starts automatically doodling, painting the page with his worries.

“Can I see it?” Seungcheol asks again, but this time his voice is quieter, filled more with worry than curiosity.

“There’s nothing to see. The doctor did a good job, I don’t even have a scar.” Woozi replies, trying to look busy. His voice sounds carefree, but he knows that his scar is too deep to be seen on the surface. The place is quiet in the late afternoon, so quiet that he hears when Seungcheol’s breath stops, preparing to talk, so he speaks before him.

“Do your homework, Seungcheol. I really have to finish this song.”

And he really has. The contest’s deadline is in less than two weeks and he needs to polish this piece to perfection. Thankfully, the other understands this.

A few hours later, when they get ready to leave and Seungcheol cleans their table of wasted paper, his eyes stop on a piece filled with doodles and a single name written in a corner. He doesn’t ask Woozi about it, but that night he falls asleep wondering who Lee Jihoon is.

The owner of Jihoon’s place was kind enough not to throw away his things, but she did specify that she doesn’t want to see him again. Jisoo helped him pack them in boxes and carry them to his house. In the end, the small trunk of Jisoo’s car was only halfway full. Jihoon’s recording system, the one he spent two years working for, was seated on the back seat.

Jisoo says that he can stay for how long he wants, but Jihoon knows better than to take advantage of his saviour. In the end he chooses to study the black agenda’s content than to sleep.

“Hey!” a deep voice salutes him the next morning, but Woozi pretends he doesn’t hear it. However, he walks faster.

“Don’t ignore me!”

Unfortunately, Jeon Wonwoo is taller than him, and that means he also has longer legs, so he can walk faster than Woozi can. The short boy groans in frustration.

“What?” he asks, stopping so suddenly that the other boy almost runs into him. Woozi shivers at the thought of having the enormous, 180+ cm monster of a human crushing him. Wonwoo seems to have realised that he is not in a good mood, so he at least tries to look guilty.

“Have you seen Kim Mingyu?” he goes straight to the point. Woozi frowns.

“Why would I?”

“I don’t know. Have you?” The answer Wonwoo gives seems exasperated. The boy’s patience is obviously as thin as Woozi’s.

“Look.” Woozi starts, knowing that things could end up pretty bad if they keep it like this. “In spite of what you guys seem to think, I’m not friends with Mingyu. We are barely acquaintances. Shouldn’t you have met him yesterday?” Wonwoo seems taken aback by the fact that Woozi remembers about the dared date so it takes him a bit until he somehow grumpily answers.

“He didn’t come yesterday.”

Wonwoo tries to look nonchalant by that fact, but Woozi can see that there’s more emotion in his eyes than the emo guy will ever want to display. Woozi wonders if he should pry further, but that’s not like him after all. Wonwoo lowers his eyes.

“I just wanted to know if he talked to you this week or something. He keeps ignoring my texts and he didn’t even come yesterday, so I was kind of worried.”

Woozi gets it. He can understand both Wonwoo and Mingyu. After all, just as Wonwoo, he doesn’t really understand or believe in love. But Mingyu is exactly the opposite, a hopeless romantic who probably thinks he found his soulmate or something. When Wonwoo said that he doesn’t really invest in relationships he must have crushed all the hopes Mingyu had. Because Mingyu will never understand people like Woozi or Wonwoo.

“What were you expecting, though?” he asks. He can actually see how concern forms wrinkles on Wonwoo’s forehead.

“Still…”  the deep voice is silent, almost dead. Woozi turns around, resuming his walk to the library.

“Don’t be and , Jeon. Find another toy and leave the kid alone.”

Seungcheol spends the next morning searching for Lee Jihoon. He thought it would be a useless, maybe just a random name his boyfriend thought of. It wasn’t. Google gives him a few pictures of a Lee Jihoon Seungcheol can easily recognize. The images lead to articles and to a more confused Seungcheol.

Jisoo sees the agenda. It would be strange if he wouldn’t, given the fact that Jihoon kind of carries it with him all the time. When asked about it, Jihoon tells the truth. At first Jisoo is angry at him, scolding him for even thinking of using it. But Jihoon made up his mind already. And after all, Jisoo is the one who taught him to use all the opportunities.

His father’s agenda contains information about all kinds of people, from doctors to businessmen. It makes everything so easy that Jihoon often scolds himself for not wanting to use it earlier. He lost so much time. 

Towards the end of the agenda, he finds exactly what he looks for. His father had scribbled in a hurry a few words about the headmaster of some prestigious music academy. Seems like said man had an affair and a child was born. Smirking, Jihoon saves the address in his phone and gets dressed.

Woozi doesn’t see Seungcheol for three days in a row. He should be happy since now he has all the time to finish his song. The headmaster allowed him to skip this week’s classes so he stays inside his room, glued to the recording system. Seungkwan bothers him a few times, but he brings food so Woozi lets him in every time. The younger keeps on mentioning Jiwoon to the point that Woozi has to kick him in order to shut him up. Sometimes Chan tags along and Woozi asks him how’s home, but Chan always shrugs it off with a smile. Woozi even sees Wonwoo once when he has to go to the store, the dark haired boy looking more emo than ever. He probably hasn’t reached Mingyu yet.

However, he never sees Seungcheol. And in spite of trying to ignore it, he misses him to the point that he can’t concentrate on his work. He even takes trips to the first floor of the dorm, passing by Seungcheol’s door, hoping he’ll run into him. He doesn’t and his pride stops him from knocking every time. After all, Seungcheol was always the one that came to Woozi so maybe the other needs some time for himself. With this on his mind, Woozi drowns himself more in his music.

“What are you doing?” Jihoon lifts his eyes for a moment to be met with Jisoo’s questioning gaze. The older takes a seat on the couch next to Jihoon and drags the black cat in his arms. The animal hisses angrily but stays still, too lazy to move.

“I’m changing my name.” he answers, eyes back on the paper.

“Why?” there’s pure confusion dripping from Jisoo’s voice.

“Because.” He can’t tell Jisoo that he is haunted by this name.  That he doesn’t feel worthy of wearing the same name as that kid.

“You know…” Joshua starts and Jihoon’s pen stops in the air, cold drops of sweat forming on the back of his neck.

“You can’t hide from your parents forever.”

The pen starts writing again. Truthfully, Jihoon never thought of this, but now it starts to make sense. If his parents will ever think of looking for him, this is the perfect way to remain hidden. He doesn’t answer Jisoo though, just keeps on filling the forms with his info.

“What name are you gonna choose, anyway?”

The question makes him stop and glance up at the top of the form where the space was left blank. He raises his eyes to Jisoo but he stops on the cat in Jisoo’s arms. The feline looks back coldly.

“Woozi.” He answers.

Almost a week passed and Woozi decides to give up and reach for Seungcheol first. It’s not for himself, but for his song. The thoughts keep him from working and drives him mad. He wonders if he should go to Seungcheol’s door or call him, but he doesn’t want to look that desperate. In the end he opts for a text. It’s short, but while pressing send he feels his stomach flip a little. What if Seungcheol won’t answer? Maybe the other really wanted some time away. He sighs and tosses the phone on his bed. When did he become so attached to Seungcheol? Yeah, he knows he is attracted to the other and he likes him a little more than he intended, but since when is he so needy? He was never like this in his past relationships. He wishes he hadn’t sent that text. He starts to turn into someone he is not and he doesn’t want it.

Seungcheol doesn’t answer his text.

“I still can’t believe Woozi likes you.” Jisoo says one night when they laze around the living room. Jihoon smiles a little and continues to pet the cat. Woozi is comfortably spread on his abdomen, slowly purring.

“Cats have always liked me.” Jihoon answers. Jisoo just scoffs, obviously feeling betrayed by his own pet. Jihoon starts humming out of habit. These days he can’t get the song he composed with that kid out of his head. It haunts him even in his sleep. In his arms, Woozi starts to fall asleep.

“When did you start playing music?” Jisoo asks out of nowhere. Jihoon stops singing.

“Hmm… when did I?” he asks himself trying to remember. “I don’t exactly remember when it started, I guess I’ve always liked music. But I remember when I first received an instrument.” He pushes himself more into the couch, letting his head fall on it. He feels Jisoo’s gaze on him, urging him to continue.

“It happened when I was around six. I remember I had this red and black keyboard toy and I was playing it every single day to the point that I was driving my parents insane.” He smiles at the memory. Back then they looked like a happy family. Even if he annoyed his parents so much he recalls their proud smiles every time he presented them a new ‘song’. 

“Then one day my father came home with a real keyboard.” The smile on Jihoon face enlarges. “My mom then asked me to play something for them. It was awful, I didn’t even know what to press.” He laughs slowly. Somehow his eyes start to ache. “But they clapped for me. My dad lifted me in the air, claiming that he has the most talented son in the world and that I’ll be an amazing singer.”

Jisoo frowns. “Then why are they like this now?” he asks. Jihoon gulps, his smile tightening at the corners to the point that it looks painful.

“My dad died later that year. My mom remarried two years later and they decided that the family’s business was more important than my music.” Jihoon doesn’t recall how many times he recited the same phrase… probably thousands of times, in his mind and to everyone that asked. Now it sounded almost robotic. He doesn’t lift his eyes, he doesn’t want to see the pity in Jisoo’s eyes.

The loud knocks on his door almost make Woozi fall off the bed. He blindly reaches under his pillow for his phone to find out that it is only 5 am. He fell asleep only an hour ago and he definitely doesn’t want to get up already. But then the loud knocks are back and he can think of just one person who’ll have the courage to wake him up at this hour.

On the way to the door, he trips over something but he ignores the ache in his ankle. When he opens the door, Seungcheol's smile almost makes him trip again.

“Morning.” The other greets, voice low, obviously still laced with sleep. Seungcheol is still in his pajamas, hair sticking out and phone in his hand. Woozi just stares in confusion.

“I’ve just seen your text.” The other answers his silent question. It makes Woozi’s heart skip a beat and, before he realises it, his arms are already around Seungcheol’s waist, face buried in his sturdy chest. Seungcheol smells as his bed and it makes Woozi want to sleep in his arms.

“I’ve missed you.” He murmurs, a little too late in controlling his mouth. He can feel Seungcheol's smile in his hair and it makes his lips also turn upwards.

“Me too.”

Ooookay, short chapter... and after a long time... Sorry?

Buuuuuut.... I've finished work and school too so I'll have more time to write ;) hopefully,

I've also got a betha reader :D A friend of mine offered to correct this story. Thanks darling ;) 

About the plot.... prepare for the storm! ^^/

See you guys in a week... or maybe earlier 

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