Minho yanked the blanket back, bending down and shouting, “GET OFF YOUR , SUNGMIN!” He glared in frustration at the curled up boy, hiding his face from the sunlit afternoon. “It’s been a ing month already and you’re not even trying to get over him!”

Originally, he had decided to give Sungmin some time to try and collect himself. Everyone was allowed mourning time – time to pity one’s self when it feels like the worst has happened. However, things were changing and solidifying. Kyuhyun and Ryeowook had been publicly flirting for two weeks already, yet Sungmin was left to quietly gaze after them. Minho saw those crushed looks, but he kept convincing himself that Sungmin was a trooper. He would definitely pick himself up again.

There would never be a need for Minho to try and be his shining knight. Sungmin had been the knight before. He should’ve known how to get out of being the distressed damsel. After all, Minho had never seen the boy unable to bounce back.

But another week passed by with no change. Ryeowook was steadily growing more confident in himself and by the looks of it him and Kyuhyun were happily deepening their relationship. Minho wasn’t one to talk though. It would be a lie if he said he knew what the old Kyuhyun and Ryeowook were like. However, by the looks Sungmin couldn’t help giving, it was obvious there was something far more real in the way Kyuhyun and Ryeowook treated one another. Otherwise, why would Sungmin appear so hopeless?

“Go away…,” Sungmin mumbled hoarsely, burrowing his head in the mattress.

And then finally they had reached the one month break up point. Ryeowook had recovered almost completely, aside from the sometimes guilty longing he held in his gaze around Sungmin. On the other hand, Sungmin was actually worse.

Minho couldn’t take it anymore. He was absolutely, positively sick of it all. The sad little light in the boy’s eyes had become unbearable.

“Ryeowook has already moved on! How can you still be moping over someone who doesn’t even like you anymore?” Minho growled, throwing the blanket across the room.

The balled up person mumbled incoherently, turning away from the driving words.

Strong hands latched onto his slender waist, raising him up off the bed sheets and into the air. Sungmin’s eyes burst open and he yelped, struggling in the arms quickly snaking around him. “What are you doing?” he screeched, twisting and turning in an attempt to look at Minho.

“We’ve always spoken better through actions,” the tall boy replied, ignoring the indignant outbursts. He threw Sungmin over his shoulder, trudging out of the room after nodding once at the boy’s scared roommate. “When was the last time you showered?” Minho prompted, wrinkling his nose as he walked towards the bathroom.

“It doesn’t even matter,” Sungmin muttered, “who would I shower for?”

“Yourself,” he retorted, shuddering, “have some self-respect, man.”

 “But he’s gone,” the voice had dropped, sounding gloomier with each word, “he left me for that Hound. That stupid, abusive, ridiculous Hound,” Sungmin couldn’t elaborate further as he felt his body being tossed to the floor – only slightly gently.

Lukewarm water showered down on him, jolting his senses immediately. He looked up, seeing Minho staring down at him, water soaking through his hair and clothes. Both arms were fully extended, pressing into the shower stall wall. “He was never your world, Sungmin,” Minho stated carelessly, head shaking back and forth slowly. “You’re so much more beyond Kim Ryeowook. I don’t understand why you can’t realize that.”

“Obviously I’m not much more than Ryeowook,” Sungmin exclaimed, eyes straining as he gritted his teeth. “I’m a ing nobody. I don’t have anything but him—”

“—WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!” Minho roared, punching the tile only to feel it chip under the power. “You’re just moping around like the ing world has just ended! Guess what, Sungmin? It’s still spinning and the whole, damn, ing ery of the ing ers is still ing up and down and around so it up, get off your , and ting take your pride back, you little wimp!”

Sungmin clenched his fists. “Who are you to talk to me like that? What makes you think you’re so much better than me?” he shouted, but soon they had turned into sobs and then the boy was pulling his knees up to his chest, fingers loosening and tangling in his sopping hair. “Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are?”

For a while he was quiet, watching the crumpled figure shake under the shower’s rain. “…I’m your friend, Sungmin,” Minho finally said, crouching down and shoving the hands covering the other’s face, “I care about you. I don’t think I’m better than you. I do, however, think it’s about time you stop thinking about the past. It’s over. You can’t just freak out forever. You can’t keep crying and telling yourself that everything has gone to hell.”

He didn’t answer, only continued heaving and whining.

Minho sighed and toppled down, grabbing Sungmin and pulling him to his chest. “I ing swear you’re not allowed to cry over Ryeowook again after this.” He rubbed the boy’s back, closing his eyes and nodding gently to the jumble of wails and regrets. “Get it all out now, or else you’ll never get to again,” he muttered, squeezing Sungmin slightly.

“O-Okay…,” the latter cried, gripping Minho as if he were the last lifeboat, the last survivor, the last of everything and anything.

You could say it was out of the one-sided love, but Minho would disagree. There was a lot more friendship in his actions than ulterior motive. If he wanted to be the “Rebound Guy” then he would’ve already made a move.

Helping Sungmin get back on his feet was a friend’s job, especially when it was the ex-lover who had knocked said-friend down. Minho wanted to be helpful, even once. After all he had done for Ryeowook and Taemin over the years he was beginning to realize, just maybe, he enjoyed helping people.