hansol's mother calls on tuesday. she asks how he's been (good, don't worry), if he's been eating (yes, i have), whether jiho has been treating him well (yes, he has), if he needs anything (no, i don't, i'm fine). she's worried about him in a way that mothers always are, the fact that he's 23 doing nothing to lessen her worries because after all, he is still her only son, her youngest child. hansol loves his mother, but talking to her only leaves him with anxiety pooling in his stomach, a vague guilt because - he's not quite lying, but he's not telling her the truth either.

when she hangs up, hansol is left in the silence of his room all alone. jiho went outside, to have a life outside of comforting his useless roommate and hansol shouldn't be bitter because - you're being toxic right now, his brain helpfully reminds him - but just sometimes he wants to be the center of the universe, wants to be taken care of, wants to be the biggest priority for someone.

(and yes, jiho always asks if it's okay before he goes out, would never knowingly leave hansol alone if he knew he was going through a bad spell, but hansol can rarely bring himself to burden jiho further, to say "hey, i'm not okay, can you please stay here with me?". and so it all comes down to being hansol's own fault)

there's no comfort in staying holed up in his room, but he feels a desperate, hopeless sense of giving up whenever he thinks about going out, getting out of bed, eating, showering - doing whatever. he has no classes today but he has to work in the afternoon and just thinking about it makes him feel slightly nauseous.

his phone vibrates.

from: lovely jiho 
[12:23]
have u eaten yet hyung?

hansol turns slightly in his bed, into a more comfortable position. with one hand he types a reply.

to: lovely jiho
[12:24]
no :(

he used to lie to jiho about having eaten but after finding out that jiho wouldn't scold him, would instead try to help him, hansol found himself opening up, telling the truth, not fearing the consequences. he goes on twitter, looks at news everyone is freaking over and in no time his phone vibrates again.

from: lovely jiho
[12:28]
im gonna be home in 10. dont fall asleep!!!

hansol smiles at his darkening screen, looks up and goes to open the curtains. the sun outside is hidden behind thin white clouds, the sky a milky grey. hansol opens one of the windows to let some fresh air in. a cat is sitting on the window opposite to hansol's room. it blinks at him slowly and lazily, stretching its paws and continuing its daily people watching routine. hansol inhales deeply. the air is sweet with blooming flowers, a bit heavy with the upcoming rain.

he ventures into the kitchen then, turning the lights off (their bill for electricity will be too high if jiho doesn't stop leaving the lights on) and sitting on the couch. he turns on the tv, flipping the channels absentmindedly until he finds a re-run of buffy the vampire slayer. buffy is in the middle of kicking some serious vampire when the door unlocks, jiho coming inside. behind him trails another boy, kind of like a confused puppy, except like ten times as tall.

"hyung, i brought a friend over," jiho calls out before spotting hansol on the couch.

the boy introduces himself as hyosang and bows awkwardly. jiho motions for him to sit on the couch and puts the takeout boxes on the table. there's fried chicken and three servings of rice.

hansol digs into the food immediately, listening to jiho's attempt to converse with hyosang, who has taken to replying only with one word because his mouth is constantly full of food. hansol is finished soon and excuses himself from the room, going to take his meds. yesterday's dosage is still in the box and he sighs. he should really start remembering to take his medication, but it's hard. after chasing the pills down with some water, he rejoins the two in the living room. the boy is still all limbs but he's laughing at something jiho said, almost choking on his rice in the process.

hansol pats the poor guy's back and hyosang smiles at him - except there's still rice in his mouth and some of it falls on the couch. trying not to laugh too much, hansol hands hyosang some napkins from the takeout bag. hyosang goes red in the face, tries to hide behind his snapback and cleans up the mess he made on the couch.

"um... i'm really sorry..." he offers but hansol is smiling a cat-like grin and leaning against the couch slightly.

"it's fine," hansol drawls and he spots jiho sending him the 'what the are you doing' eyes. hansol rolls his eyes slightly - no fun allowed evidently and gets up from the couch, leaving jiho and poor stuttering mess of a hyosang alone.

jiho corners hansol half an hour later, in his room where hansol is reading. hyosang had just walked out the door and jiho was already standing above hansol condescendingly.

"why do you always do that," jiho points accusingly.

"do what?" hansol asks, not looking up from his book.

"flirt with my friends," jiho spits bitterly.

"i'm not flirting with your friends," hansol rolls his eyes.

"you're always flirting with my friends. you do your weird guy attracting mumbo jumbo and all i have to listen to for the next weeks is 'hansol this~' and 'hansol that~'."

"it's not my fault i'm attractive to them," hansol sits up, slightly irritated now.

"you're literally jumping at every opportunity to flirt with them. i don't ing care if you're a but please stop trying to seduce everyone i bring over," jiho retorts and before he can catch himself, hansol has already punched him in the gut.

" off. i'm n