*somehow inspired by the book Native Speaker.

Kyungsoo ended his day like any other, at the Korean grocery down the street from his apartment. He worked the graveyard shift dealing with the flustered mothers buying emergency sidedishes, the drunk party goers giggling at the silly packaging of some of the goods, and the shady characters, who linger for a few minutes and only buy things half the time; characters like the guy currently lingering in the ramen isle. 

He's been living in the city long enough to know that he should keep an eye out for anything suspicious, lord knows how many times he's caught teens shoving snacks down their baggy ripped jeans, trying to grin their way out of it. He's lost all trust in his uncle's clientele and as such, makes sure to eye every person who comes and goes with the utmost scrutiny. Unbeknownst to him, Kyungsoo is known by most regulars as "The Night Owl" for his seemingly unblinking wide eyes and his alertness in the store.

However, tonight he feels off. He knows for a fact that he's the sickest he's ever been since he left home. His head is pounding, he has chills and he can’t stop coughing. He sways on his feet and tries his hardest not to succumb to the darkness at the edge of his vision. Eventually it becomes too much for him and he drops to the ground like a stone.

**

A hand freezes in the ramen isle, an inch from putting a pack into his pocket. Jongin tries to see if what just happened is real and good god it is. The cashier just collapsed. Frozen, he rationalizes what the hell he should do. In a normal situation one would rush over and maybe see how the person is doing, call the ambulance, make sure they're not dead. Usual decent human being behavior. Unfortunately, Jongin is not a decent human being, hasn't been for a while-if the stolen shoes and pockets filled to the brim with food is anything to go by-and as such he's not quite sure what his next move should be. He knows many people would call the cops and leave but really, he has no idea what sort of repercussions he might get for leaving a store unmanned with the only employee passed out behind the counter from whatever the . 

He flails in the isle, clutching his hair tight and breathing heavily. Of all the ing nights. Whining loudly he runs to the counter, leaps over, and crashes down on the other side, tearing his palm open on a nail protruding from the side of the counter in th process. It's where they hang their plastic bags. They merely flutter at the disturbance while Jongin cusses from the side, fighting back helpless tears ar the stinging pain in his hand. This night really couldn’t get any better. Now his hand is bleeding and the cashier is passed out and it's nearing 2AM and he's got a coat full of stolen food also where IS THE STORE MANAGER WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

He ignores his palm for the moment and slaps the man’s cheek lightly, seeing the pale complexion of his skin and the bags under his eyes. Thankfully, he groans in his sleep, his fingers twitching at the contact. So he was alive, though barely so, if his shallow breathing was anything to go by.  

Moving on, he searches the man’s pockets frantically for a cellphone and dials 911, telling them of the situation. They promise to be there soon and Jongin relaxes for the moment, leaned against the cigarette rack behind the counter with his left palm facing up and bleeding onto one pantles while the grocery boy's head rests on the other. He really doesn't know how things got to be this way. Or, maybe he does. Shaking the thought from his head, he focuses on listening for the ambulance.

Nearly 10 minutes later an ambulance arrives, the medic announcing his presence with a loud "Hello?" to which Jongin, hidden by the counter replies with a shout of "over here!" followed by a slightly less obvious mumble of "get this guy off of me oh my god". 

The next few minutes go by quickly, with him being required to state what happened and his relation to the guy, as the other is carried out on a stretcher. The paramedic, upon seeing this gashed palm, forces him to ride to the hospital where he is made to get stiches. 

Once he is given instructions on how to care for his palm he's free to go. He walks out of the hospital with a bill in his hand, staring helplessly at the numbers. As he passes the nurses' station, a niggling feeling makes him turn on a whim and ask about the man he came in with. 

"Oh, your friend is in room 36B, it is right down the hall." She smiles kindly before leaving the station, leaving a stuttering Jongin, "He-we're not friends I just-we just- yea okay you don't care." He sighs and walks down the hall. He pauses outside the room and rolls his eyes at his hesitance. He has every right to check up on the other so why is he so damn scared? He decides to just peek in to see the state of the boy before leaving. What he doesn't expect is to see the other awake and blinking at him from the bed. 

He jumps at the attention, not sure what to do, when the other speaks up, "Are you the one who found me?"  He looks fragile and tired, heavy bags under his eyes, but his complexsion is healthier than before.

Jongin ignores his inner panic to answer the other, albeit with a grimace on his face, "How did you know?" 

"I remember you from when you walked in the store earlier; you've still got your hood on."

"o-oh"

A moment of silence. 

The shorter boy stretches his arm out to Jongin, "Kyungsoo Do. Thank you for saving my live."

Jongin cringes at the sincerity, but stretches his hand out to meet the others all the same "...Jongin Kim." 

Another awkward moment of silence. 

"So do you-"

"Well, I guess-"

They blink at eachother. 

"No you-"

"Sorry you can-"

Another pause before Jongin sighs and huffs out a laugh. 

"I'm going to let you get some rest, Kyungsoo. It was nice meeting you." 

He gets up and starts to leave the room but is stopped by Kyungsoo from behind him. 

"Hey, you're Korean right?" 

Jongin nods slowly.

“And you’re still in highschool?”

Jongin hesitates but nods all the same. Technically, he should be.

Kyungsoo grins back. "Call me hyung then. Bye Jongin-ah."

Jongin chokes on air but nods once more and hastily makes his escape. 

Kyungsoo looks at the door thoughtfully. The awkward look on Jongin’s face makes him chuckle before he turns on his side, getting ready to sleep. 

Once Jongin makes it outside he looks around, calming his racing heart. That was a bit too close for comfort. Kim Jongin does not like dealing with the authorities. After taking in his surroundings he surmises that he's not too far from his usual place and takes off down the road. It's already after three now and the neighborhood is mostly quiet, aside from the occasional drunk spilling from pubs, laughing hysterically at nothing and shifty pedestrians. The night crowd used to scare him, but he's long gotten used to seeing the shrouded figures and mean glares from those coherent enough, as well as the inebriated people blocking his path. He sees them as mere obstacles, objects that do not concern him and whom he does not concern. Reaching a quiet street he turns into a gated playground and heaves himself to the top of the jungle gym, where the slide shoots downward into darkness and he is closest to the stars. The night is warm, warm enough to not need shelter and he enjoys the spring breeze while he gazes up at distant galaxies and constellations. He thinks about his night. He thinks about Do Kyungsoo. 

The situation with the other boy makes him cringe at his own behavior, disgusted at how flustered he was. Jongin, despite his homelessness likes to think of himself as a rather charismatic guy when he needs to be; he has smiles and the right words for people to take him seriously, clever when it comes to diverting attention from himself in order to get out of most situations. However, this one tonight made his stomach churn with nerves, simply due to his own involvement. He doesn't really think about how he takes things any longer. Wherever he is, if he can manage to fill his pockets without incided he will. without fail. This is a fact about himself that has let him survive until not, there he has long since come to terms with it. However, tonight something about it made him ashamed for the first time in…well, forever. Perhaps it was having to cradle the boys head while he waited for the ambulance and tried not to get blood on the floor, thinking about how he would disappear after this, or maybe looking into Kyungsoo's eyes while the other thanked him, unknowing of the stolen goods that lined his pockets. He doesn't like to get involved with for this exact reason. He knows someone will get played in the end. He tries to shake it off though, thinking about more important things like where he'll be tomorrow. The last thought on his mind is that perhaps he will start in Central Park. It's far, but he'd rather stay out of this side of town for the time being. 

*