Despite it already being morning, the sun was hiding and the sky was dark. Few birds tweeted, and the outside rocked with wind, the clouds above grey and stormy. The colours were drained and monochrome, the sun barely able to shine, street lights illuminating the paths instead. The rain drenched the plants and soil outside, making the surroundings muddy and grim. It was unusual for such a stormy day to come in autumn. Junhui peeked through the slit in his drawn curtains, viewing the outside warily as he cupped a mug in his hands. Today was a gloomy day, but it wouldn’t stop him from making the best of it.

His best friend Minghao was supposed to come over, and although he was coming a bit late, Jun didn’t worry, because the weather outside was terrible and was bound to cause a few jammed roads while people hurried to get home. Once his friend arrived, they’d do their normal activities - whatever normal was. Sometimes normal meant curling up on the couch to watch movies, sometimes it meant playing board games, sometimes it meant just talking over a cup of tea. Junhui didn’t mind, he enjoyed the time anyways.

More minutes passed, and Junhui couldn’t help but glance nervously at the clock. Minghao was about half an hour late and he was starting to worry. Sure, the boy was often tardy, but never this tardy. Jun grinded his teeth softly against each other, fingers rubbing around the sides of his warm cup. Somehow, that gave him comfort. Still, he gave one last look at the clock, before he reached for his phone, unlocking it before speed-dialling Minghao- knock, knock, knock.

Junhui almost dropped his mug as he raced towards the door to open it, the contents nearly spilling onto his carpet. Minghao was stood outside, umbrella dangling from his fingers, his keys in the other hand. He looked up at Junhui with a guilty look on his face, and Junhui couldn’t bring himself to do anything but scold the other as he came in. As the younger dropped his umbrella into the umbrella stand, the older rushed to get him a cup of warm hot chocolate - as he didn’t have any tea bags and he knew the other didn’t like coffee. They both sat down on the sofa, Minghao wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, and Junhui lazing back, flicking through the television channels as he talked distractedly.

They both made small talk, Minghao occasionally pointing out something weird on the screen, both of them laughing momentarily before their conversation continued. Junhui smiled and laughed. So did Minghao. Even with the upsetting weather outside, the two still had fun. Junhui learned to treasure these moments - one day they would run out. He’d seen it happen, even though only in movies, he knew films imitated reality. Junhui was scared.

The two moved on to playing a game of Monopoly - which mainly consisted of Junhui winning and Minghao throwing various plastic buildings at the older, resulting in uncontrollable fits of laughter and hurt stomachs. Accusations of cheating were made, some bruises were forming (from Minghao punching Jun’s arm so much), and they either lost a little bit of their friendship or strengthened it.

The Game Of Life was up next, in which Minghao insisted on having multiple wives and a dozen children, and Junhui played safely, taking longer, more strategic routes than the other. The house became loud with laughter and shouting, mostly of telling Minghao off for being such a player, and even more injuries were made when Junhui ended up toppling over the board, wiping out all progress, definitely not intentionally. They both laughed and packed up the game, settling later just for watching a movie.

However, all throughout those events, Junhui couldn’t help but nitpick at all the little actions and wonder if something was wrong. To an outsider’s eye, the things that went on were normal, just best friends being best friends, but Jun knew there was something off. Like how Minghao’s smile was forced to reach the eyes, like how the younger seemed aloof and distant (although not by much), like how his laugh didn’t quite echo around the walls like Junhui’s did. The older took note of how the other’s voice seemed more quiet, and how there seemed to be hesitation in his actions, and how often Minghao’s mouth would open as if to say something, then close again and pass it off as a burp that never came.

At this point, Junhui’s eyes weren’t trained on the movements of the actors on the screen anymore - most of his attention was on Minghao. The boy seemed happy enough, but there was something, something, that was lurking, casting a long, looming but faint shadow across him. Junhui needed to know if something was up. It wasn’t like Minghao to keep things from him.

“Minghao-” The younger didn’t turn to face him, maybe even turning away from Jun even more, pretending to focus on the television, “-what’s wrong?”

The shorter continued to watch the movie intently, but Junhui knew he was just playing aloof. The former refused to meet Jun’s eyes, his chin propped up on his knees and eyes reflecting the pixels of characters. Jun sighed, tugging on Minghao’s arm, which was wra