"Mingyu, you dumb . How am I supposed to use your notes if you didn't even prove your formula?"

"I don't know, Miss Lee didn't give us the proof, and she hates it when we ask her to repeat things."

Soonyoung sighed, running his fingers through his throughly bleached hair. This is what I get for relying on my friend for homework, he silently thought.

Mingyu chuckled, his eyes going back to the magazine he was reading. The tall sophomore didn't really care about his grades that much, and he didn't want to stress over something that would be over in a few years. He wasn't one to keep commitments.

The teacher pulled open the door, sending the rest of the students to rush back to their seats. Outside, the rain battered against the windows, leaving the glass cloudy with moisture. The teacher, presumably Miss Kim, opened her attendance book, ready to call roll.

"Alright, we going to start cla-"

Before she could finish, the door swung open. There stood a boy with dark brown hair, completely wet from the rain. His uniform was slathered in mud, and he had a large scrape on his cheek.

"Hong Jisoo! What happened?"

Jisoo looked up blankly, completely ignoring the snickers coming from the rest of the class.

"I...tripped."

Miss Kim sighed, shooing Jisoo out. "Go to the nurses office to get a change of clothing. Come back to class without making a mess next time, and remember an umbrella."

Jisoo quietly obeyed, pulling the door shut.

Mingyu continued to stare at his magazine, inattentive even as Soonyoung urgently poked him with a pencil.

"Mingyu, she just called on you!"

"Huh?"

The tall boy looked up from his magazine to see his teacher, her eyes ferociously staring down at Mingyu while she gripped her attendance book tightly.

"Magazine away, Mr. Kim."

Mingyu replyed weakly, "Yes ma'am." Sliding the magazine back into his desk. He couldn't wait for lunch.

"C'mon Soonyoung, they're gonna run out of jajangmyeon if we don't get to the cafeteria in time!"

Mingyu dragged his blond friend to the mess hall, his hunger obviously overtaking the well being of his friend. Apparently, there was still plenty of jajangmyeon, leaving Soonyoung to yell at Mingyu for being an impatient, over-sized five-year old.

"All the tables are full, should we go outside to eat?"

Mingyu looked at his friend in disbelief, "You're kidding right? It's raining outside. There are empty seat right there!"

Soonyoung stared at the table Mingyu was referring to, and his narrow eyes widened considerably. He pulled his gigantic buddy down to his height, whispering sharply into his ear.

"We can't sit at that table, Hong Jisoo's there."

"So?" Mingyu looked at the boy they mentioned. His muddy uniform was replaced with the school's track suit, the large uniform three or four sizes way too big, practically swallowing the boy.

"C'mere you." It was Soonyoung's turn to drag Mingyu, who tried to balance his lunch bowl from spilling black bean sauce everywhere.

Once Soonyoung found a place with no people in sight, he released his friend, who he pulled close. 

"Don't you know anything about Hong Jisoo from last month?"

Mingyu frowned disappointedly, "No, that was the month I was out for appendicitis, did you seriously forget?"

Soonyoung quickly hushed him, "Okay okay, that's my fault. But Hong Jisoo's, well he's actually a really nice person, but don't go near him. You'll probably get pushed into mud like he was before class."

Mingyu remembered the image of the boy's muddy clothing, but not the boy himself, 'Why? Is he being bullied or something?"

"Pretty much," Soonyoung ran his hand through his hair, sighing deeply. "I don't know the full story, but there were some photos of him that got posted around school. Things haven't really been the same for the poor dude."

"What kind of photos were they?"

Soonyoung's face flushed to a shade of red pepper. He quickly looked around, and pulled Mingyu down to his height again.

"They were pics of him being screwed by his boyfriend. Some sick person decided to blow the image up to poster size, and everyone at school basically got a good look at what Hong Jisoo looked like during . They've been calling him "" and "" for a while now, but I guess you never noticed since your attention is so selective."

And with that Soonyoung sat down, letting out a deep breath as he found a seat by a window ledge, "I got assigned to be his lab partner, and everyone in class just stared grouping us together. I didn't really care but Jisoo felt guilty about it, so I got reassigned to a different team. Since he wants to be alone, you might as well ignore him."

"Didn't need to tell me twice," Mingyu muttered, his eyes focused on his bowl of lunch. Soonyoung frowned, obviously unpleased by his friend's response. 

"I didn't know you were this heartless."

Mingyu looked up again while a big bunch of noodles hung off his chopsticks, just centimeters away from his mouth.

"You know my motto Soonyoung. If it's not my problem, I don't get involved. If it is, I let it go if I can't do anything."

"That's a ty motto, it's not gonna work for you in future."

"Hey. If my motto's lasted for the past fifteen years of my life, it's probably gonna last longer. Now hurry up and eat, class begins in five minutes."

This , was what Mingyu thought as he stared at the pouring rain he was about to enter on his way home. He had an umbrella, but it wasn't big enough to keep him completely dry, so he could end up walking home in drenched shoes and soaking pants. The meer idea made the gigantic boy shiver.

"Okay, here goes."

Trying his best to swiftly make his way home, Mingyu rushed through puddle strewn sidewalks, his eyes squinting hard as he tried to navigate through the thick rain. He was so excited to see his house that he almost missed the red umbrella standing at the corner before his home.

Almost.

"Hong Jisoo."

The red vinyl of the umbrella shrouded the boy's face; the said umbrella in his hands had a broken frame, so only Jisoo's hidden face was dry while the rest of his clothing became drenched. He was back in his school uniform, which was no longer covered in mud but rainwater, in addition to his school bag, there was a regular suitcase by his side. Responding Mingyu's call, Jisoo used his arm to lift the red vinyl, parts of his face peeking through.

This was probably the first time Mingyu had ever looked at Jisoo properly, if seeing only his face partially counted as looking properly. The boy's skin looked rather fair, and his rosy lips trembled at the cold weather. He didn't look like someone who would get bullied at school, rather he seemed too frail to be bullied. His body frame, his gentle domineer; they were the features that would trigger a person's protective instincts.

Was it working on Mingyu? Likely.

"Oh...hi. Kim Mingyu, right?"

Jisoo's mellow voice could barely be heard through the thundering rain, so Mingyu moved closer. Soon, streetlights were as the night descended upon the two.

"Uh yeah. How did you...?"

Jisoo lips curved up ever so lightly, revealing a small smile.

"Everyone sort of knows you. You're the pillar of our school, as in you just tower over people."

"Uh-huh." Mingyu nodded in response. It obviously wasn't a really good one, since Jisoo immediately started to panic.

"Well-I mean-you really do stand out. And you're handsome so that's-wait no, that's not what I meant. Anyways, you're more popular than you think you are."

Mingyu just nodded along, ending his conversation with a boy he just got to know today. Jisoo hid his face underneath his red umbrella again, as if trying to hide a secret.

This was probably the first time that Mingyu ever took out his time to spend on anyone else. He wasn't sure what it was but something kept him from leaving the other alone, even when his knees started to go numb at the cold weather. Although his parents were almost never home, he learned his motto from them. While he knew it was not the best example to live by, it's what kept him alive and well today.

And yet here he was, probably about to break his old motto for the start of something new.

"Not to pry, but what's the suitcase for?"

"You techincally asked, so doesn't that count as prying?" Jisoo chuckled quietly, his face still hidden.

"Okay I'm prying. What are you doing in general?"

"I mean, what do you expect?" Jisoo shrugged, his shoulders either shivering from the cold or his emotions.

"A pastor finds out that his son was having ual relations with an older man? He obviously kicked me out," the boy's voice trembled. Mingyu acted as if he wasn't able to hear him under the pouring rain, which gave the other boy some security from the thought of a random classmate getting to know his most vulnerable state. 

The boy under the broken umbrella laughed, his voice clearly cracking as Mingyu glimpsed tears running down his chin.

"My mom thought ahead and helped me out the house with some of my stuff while she tried to stop my dad from getting too violent. So as of right now, I'm a street dweller who has his pics all over the Internet."

"I see, must've been hard." Mingyu said. In his whole life, the taller boy had never learned to be sympathetic. He knew nothing about comforting someone; only that people usually felt better after it.

Jisoo sniffled, his heartbroken laughter resonating with the heavy rain.

"Yeah...it's been...really...hard..."

The rain kept pouring, beating Jisoo's broken umbrella down against the trembling boy. The streetlight beamed down on Jisoo's body, his skin turning into a porcelain peach shade that had a soaked shirt plastered against it. Mingyu's hands gripped at the hem of his blazer, his head spinning rapidly at the thought of what he was about to do.

"Do you have a place...well, you know, to stay for the night?"

Jisoo gripped his broken umbrella so hard, his knuckles went white, "I'll be fine, I can think of a few places...yeah, no worries-"

"That's bull."

Mingyu reached forward and knocked the broken umbrella out of Jisoo's hands, his own umbrella coming to cover the boy. 

With the umbrella no longer covering the hidden boy's face, Mingyu could closely look at Jisoo. The slightly shorter of the two looked up in shock at his classmate, who was now standing close enough to practically touch him. From wide cat eyes, small streaks of tears painted his cold cheeks.

"I don't usually interfere with other people's matters, but I'm not gonna leave someone out here in this crappy weather." And with that, Mingyu reached over and grabbed Jisoo's suitcase, walking towards his house.

"No wait! Mingyu, I have a place- Mingyu don't do this, we aren't even that close!" Jisoo grabbed onto the taller's sleeve, his grip loose while his cold numb hands did what they could to stop Mingyu.

"Hey, do you like staying in this weather?"

"Mingyu just give back my suitcase, I'll manage-"

"Just answer the stupid question."

Jisoo found himself looking up at Mingyu again. The latter's piercing eyes were enough to tell him that Jisoo would probably be better off if he just followed the given demand.

"No, not really."

Mingyu snatched Jisoo by his collar, pulling him so the shorter boy couldn't run even if he wanted. Mingyu blankly into Jisoo's eyes, which sparkled from the remaining tears still in his cat eyes.

"Great. Neither do I, so I think that we are close enough to agree that we would both like to get out of this rain."

Mingyu released Jisoo and ventured onward, leaving the latter to only chase after him.

Mingyu flipped through his wardrobe, trying to find anything that could fit his guest. He sighed as he pulled out shirts and pants from his middle school years, relieved to finally find something after combing through his closets. He then cleaned up everything, knowing Jisoo would probably start apologizing excessively if he were to see that Mingyu had to mess up something for his sake.

All of Jisoo's clothing from his suitcase were wet in some way after being out in the rain for so long. The cat eyed boy was probably going to wear his partially wet clothing after his shower, but not on Mingyu's watch. The taller secretly dumped all of the clothing into the dryer; leaving out underwear and socks, which just happened to be the only clothing dry enough to wear.

"Jisoo, I'm gonna leave your change of clothing here," Mingyu called into the bathroom, where he heard the showerhead in action.

"Oh. Okay..."

Before Mingyu could even walk away, he heard something collapse. Alarmed, the tall boy opened the bathroom door to find Jisoo down on the tile floor, unresponsive while water streamed down.

"You were in that rain for two hours? No wonder your fever is so high."

"I didn't really think much about my well-being at that time. Sorry for making you-"

Mingyu placed his hand down on Jisoo's mouth. After pulling him out of the shower, Mingyu placed Jisoo in his own bed and then continued to grab his essentials for first aid. After practically living alone for nearly all his life, Mingyu was practically the master of the house, and of himself.

"Stop apologizing or I'll seriously regret picking you up. I'm just doing this because I want to, so saying thanks would be more appreciated."

Jisoo stared with a weak gaze, nodding slowly. Mingyu sat on the side of his bed, looking at the boy he picked out of the rain, who was buried in his bed covers. 

"What happened last month?"

Jisoo hesitated, and then rolled away from Mingyu. The boy in bed could feel another uncomfortable lump stuck in his throat, almost stopping his breath.

"Don't you already know what happened? You saw the picture, didn't you?"

Mingyu looked over to get a closer view of Jisoo's face, but the latter kept the bed covers over his head, obviously not wanting to show his face. Outside, the rain kept falling hard; knocking against Mingyu's bedroom window.

"Not exactly. I was out for the past month with appendicitis, so I wasn't there for your tough times."

Jisoo's poked out from under the bed covers, his watery eyes staring at Mingyu, as if asking the other if he was telling the truth. He was startled by how close Mingyu's face was to his, leading him to cower under the covers again.

Mingyu sat up, patting Jisoo's back from the top of the cover. The tall sophomore sighed, mainly in disbelief of how kind he was being.

"I know you might not want to talk about it, but I'll probably believe your story more since I wasn't there for all the drama. I'm not gonna judge you, since I don't exactly have a basis to follow."

The rain poured down even harder, the raindrops forming some strange percussion as the droplets fell against the house's roof top.

Jisoo sat up, the covers falling from his shoulders. Even in Mingyu's old rock band t-shirts and dark sweatpants, Jisoo looked young and frail, easily broken.

"It...was just...another date like always." Jisoo started, his voice trembling violently. "We were going to his place like always, and he had just taken off all of my clothing." Jisoo hesitated, knowing the hard part that he was about to explain.

"He said he wanted to take a few pictures for reference. I didn't want to, but I was too...in the moment...to fight him."

"C'mon Jisoo-ah, it's just for safe-keeping."

"S-Seungcheol, stop. I-It's too embarassing."

"Babe, you should see yourself right now. Your face is great, especially with splattered all over your body."

"Stop-ah! Stop t-taking pictures Seungcheol, I said I don't want to!"

"You sure? You look like you're feeling good right now, getting all hard again with my inside you."

"N-No! I said st-ah! Please, just-ah...enough!"

"Don't hide your ty face babe, it's no good if I can't see you in these pictures."

"Seungch-! I...don't want-ah! Please!"

Jisoo's face started to burn hotter than his fever, his voice choking up as old unpleasant memories ran through his head. The rain kept falling hard; it seemed like there was no stopping the tears of the world, like how nothing could stop Jisoo's tears. He breathed deeply, trying to continue what he had started.

"He shared the pictures with his friends and the next thing I know, I see a poster of me in the main hallway of school; my exposed body for the whole world to see."

Like the rain dripping in long trails down the windows, tears kept rushing out of Jisoo's eyes. His shoulders went up and down as his breathing became hiccuped. Soft whimpers became heart wrenching sobs; Jisoo tried to hide his tears away from Mingyu, but he knew it was too late to hide anymore as he felt the bed sink behind him.

"I really loved him, I really did..."

Mingyu wrapped one arm around Jisoo as he pulled the two of them back onto bed, his other arm flinging his cover over the both of them. The sobs were paused by Mingyu's comforting arms, which slowly encased Jisoo in an embrace filled with warmth. Jisoo could feel Mingyu's heartbeat resonating through the bed, beating in a strong, quick pace. Between the two of them, there was nothing to look at but their eyes and the reflections of themselves in them.

"This is the first time I've ever layed down in bed with someone, much less a person I just got to know in few hours," Mingyu whispered quietly, his voice vibrating softly across the meer distance between their faces.

"I don't know what's the best I can do right now, but I think it's fine if you cry. I'm the only one here after all."

Into Mingyu's chest, Jisoo cried and cried. The rain kept falling, but there was the earth to keep soaking it up. 

"Jisoo, where did you plan on going if I hadn't taken you in?"

A hesitant look was plastered on the boy's face, his lips pursed together. Mingyu frowned at the answer he was given.

"I would probably go to my boyfriend's place. I hate being there, but he probably wouldn't kick me out."

In annoyance, Mingyu flicked the top of Jisoo's head, making the latter flinch.

"After all he's done, you'd still go to him? And why are you still calling him your boyfriend; didn't you already break up with him?"

Jisoo rubbed his flicked forehead as he sat up, climbing over Mingyu to get out of bed. "I mean, we never really broke up, but I just don't want to see him again."

Mingyu locked his arms around Jisoo, leaving the latter to lie on top of him. The smaller of the two grew red when he became aware of the lean body beneath him or the arms around his waist.

"M-Mingyu..."

"You should stay here." Mingyu starred up into Jisoo's caramel eyes,  which went round in shock.

"What? Mingyu I can't, you've already done too much."

"I'm not gonna take no for an answer. You said you can't live with your parents anymore, but your only place left is with your ex-boyfriend?"

"I'm already causing you so much trouble, your parents-"

Before Jisoo could finish, Mingyu grabbed the crook of Jisoo's neck, pulling him down into a kiss. The suprised sound from Jisoo's throat sounded reminiscent of a dying dolphin. Beneath him Mingyu rolled over, throwing Jisoo back onto bed, this time keeping the other caged in with his limbs. Mingyu once again kissed him, softly moving his mouth against Jisoo's pillow lips. The gentle kiss left Jisoo breathless, his face burning red as he tried his best to return the kiss, his lips clumsily matching Mingyu's movements.

Mingyu stopped his kiss to look at Jisoo. The latter's blush went as far as his neck, his half-lidded eyes in a hazy state as he looked up at the boy who just kissed him. Mingyu smiled gently, his hand the side of Jisoo's face. The new feeling of affection was completely new to the tall boy, but he was sure that it couldn't be bad as Jisoo leaned into his hand, the smaller's own hand coming up to touch it.

"My parents are practically never home, so this house has more than enough room for you to stay. Besides, I don't think you're gonna find it easy to leave after what we just did."

Jisoo laughed, his voice flooding Mingyu's ears like honey.

"I don't think I want to leave now."

Outside, the sun's rays came down. The warm light blanketed the cold wet town, it's sun rays peaking through Mingyu's window, where Mingyu pulled Jisoo down for another kiss.