/rēˈalədē/

. . .

They both clocked out at 1 A.M, which according to Yuta, was just when the parties were starting. Keep in mind, this was Taeyong’s first ever party in his 22 years of living, but he had his fair share of binge watching cliche movies. To his innocent head, they most definitely did not start at 1 A.M. But of course, movies weren’t exactly reality. If they were, at age 22 he would’ve been done in school and probably met the love of his life. NOT an insecure, blind NEET.

“Taeyong~ watching ?” Yuta teased Taeyong as he approached the hunched over boy on his phone.

“N-NO!” Taeyong quickly covered his phone out of impulse of hearing the words “watching” and “” in the same sentence. He’s been embarrassed enough by his roommate catching him off guard too many times, he’d quit his job on the spot if Yuta caught him.

Luckily, he wasn’t watching . This time.

“What kind?” Yuta’s eyes brightened.

What a strange guy, Taeyong thought. Although he’d have to admit, he did like his personality. Taeyong uncovered his phone and showed what he was really doing, which not to his surprise, showed disappointment in Yuta’s face.

“You’re shopping for glasses?” Yuta rolled his eyes, “I was thinking you were watching step mom or something. We could’ve bonded.”

Taeyong cringed, “Gross…”

“Hey, how’s it gross? Are you shaming? What better do you watch then?”

“Normal ??”

“That’s ing gross. Sicko.”

Taeyong rolled his eyes, scrolling through the frames the website had. Although this being his first day, he feels like he’s been working here for weeks. Maybe it’s because Yuta and him are already talking about , when he could never even dream of bringing it up to his old high school friends. Well, “friends”. Perhaps it was just Yuta’s shameless personality, but whatever it was, Taeyong found himself infected with it.

“If you want your own sugar mama,” Yuta cut his thoughts, “You’re gonna need these bad boys.”

Taeyong didn’t notice Yuta had taken his phone already, scrolling through frames again, and adding a pair to his cart.

“Which ones?” Taeyong tried to peak at the screen, but his heart almost fell to his when he saw Yuta went straight to Paypal, and then clicked to confirm purchase.

“Y-Yuta!” Taeyong gasped as he snatched his phone back.

The elder simply laughed at him, “I’m doing you a favor. Let’s get going now!”

As Yuta walked Taeyong to his car (apparently, he had one), Taeyong begged him to cancel the order, because he was certain his card - that he recently got - was in the negative. Yuta only laughed at him.

“Who cares? That’s what credit is about!” Yuta hopped into the car, which was polished and neat. He couldn’t help but wonder how he could afford this car working at a convenience store, or maybe Yuta had a sugar mama of his own without the glasses. But he couldn’t think of a woman crazy enough to buy this guy a new car, especially this nice.

“If the second great depression hits tomorrow, at least you can finally say you contributed with something!” Yuta said as he started the engine, Taeyong buckling in his seatbelt.

“That’s not funny…”

“It wasn’t a joke?” Yuta glanced over at Taeyong with a slight smirk.

It was disheartening, how spot on Yuta could be despite today being the first day they became co-workers. Was Taeyong’s depressing life that easy to read? Taeyong thought to himself again, Yuta is a strange, cruel person.

“Alright! Whatever God is listening, let there be no accident today. I have a passenger now, and this car is a rental.”

That answered a question pondering in Taeyong’s head, but now he found himself gripping onto his seat and his heart beating against his chest.

Yuta pulled out of the parking space abruptly, Taeyong bumping his head on the back of his seat and wincing in pain, but there was no time between to stop Yuta from drifting out of the parking lot and rushing onto the street, already almost running into another car.

“Oops! I’m going the wrong direction,” Yuta laughed as he peaked at the GPS on his phone, “U-turn~”

Not even waiting to be at a light, Yuta stirred the wheel and the car followed, Taeyong feeling his body lean over to one side, as if the car was tilting.

“Y-Yuta!”

His co-worker pretended not to listen, or he genuinely didn’t, because he was on his phone while driving scrolling through his music playlist, smiling when he found the right song.

AC/DC - Highway to Hell.

Somehow, the two boys made it to the college campus alive. Whatever God had heard him, granted their wish. Taeyong wasn’t religious before this, but tonight he’ll make sure to pray before he goes to sleep and thank every God of every religion, and even the atheists, for sparing his life tonight.

“Alright, put this on!”

Yuta threw articles of clothing at Taeyong.

“What is this?”

“Uh, clothes, you ing idiot?”

Taeyong rolled his eyes, “I know that. But why?”

“You think you’re going to the ing party in that ugly hoodie?”

“H-Hey… I like this --”

“I don’t give a about what you like. That ’s disgusting and you’re changing. Unless you want me to change for you?”

“I-I’ll do it myself…” Taeyong blushed, after a pause that was too long for his liking.

“You actually considered it?” Yuta laughed as he threw his shirt off at ease - as if he’s done it countless of times in this car (Which Taeyong wouldn’t be surprised of), “If you keep doing that, I’ll keep you here and up all night.”

Taeyong shifted his leg casually, “U-Uh, no… I just want to get this over with, p-please…”

Yuta shrugged, knowing Taeyong was trying to cover it up down there, but with time running short before getting fined for parking at a fifteen-minute space with a cop car passing by a few minutes ago, decided to stay mute this time around.

Taeyong let Yuta in the campus by giving him his campus card to park inside. Once they were in, Yuta was already on Snapchat, preparing for a long spam of his anticipated night.

“I haven’t been to one of these parties in so long! I’m gonna wild out, nothing in the world can stop me!” Yuta chanted as he hopped out the car, checking his hair in the reflection of the car.

Meanwhile, Taeyong hopped out the car, pulling on his sweater because for a summer night, it was chilly.

“Don’t you have a shift in the morning?”

“You think I give a ?” Yuta was already behaving drunk, perhaps it was the adrenaline already pumping in his blood, preparing for a long night to let go all of his stress. “What did I say about that ugly hoodie?”

“It’s cold, and I’m leaving as soon as we enter. I’m tired --”

“Taeyong, you’re so selfish,” Yuta smacked his teeth as he walked over to Taeyong, “Can’t you see I’m doing this for you too? So you don’t spend the rest of your life friendless and lonely, going straight back to being a nobody in your mother’s basement?”

Taeyong froze. He never told Yuta he was a NEET for the past four years, which scared him for how accurate he described his life before coming here. He was right, there was no denying it, but nothing would change in his life if he had the wrong attitude. He was aware of that, but it didn’t stop him from being bitter and against the world.

“I’m tired, Yuta,” Taeyong concluded their small conversation, “Let’s hurry so you can blame the alcohol for being an , and I can sleep.”

“Liar. You just want to go home quick so you can to step-mom .”

Taeyong shrugged. He was half right…

As they snuck into the dorm, it was easy to tell the people apart that were going to the party, or trying to get to their own dorm. The party was being held in the boy’s dormitory, yet there were so many women inside that Taeyong felt he had taken the wrong turn.

How is this possible? Taeyong began to wonder. Where were the staff, the security, any authority whatsoever? They were absent, as if some godly force clicked CTRL+ALT+DEL and all of them had vanished off the face of the earth.

With a nervous quench in his stomach, he continued to follow Yuta, who was clearly a popular face amongst the crowd. He wondered how someone like Yuta could possibly know any of them, being the way he is. He’s a loser just like me, Taeyong thinks to himself. To support his claim, they do work at a convenience store together. Yet, an important question finally arose in his head. Why didn’t Yuta come here? He could be broke, but his face blended in so easily amongst the students. He’d have to ask one day, when they’re close enough...

Taking a crowded elevator all the way up to the top floor - off bounds, according to Chanyeol on his first day - it was such a relief when everyone rushed out at the sound of blasting music and loud, obnoxious cheering.

Yuta seemed bright at the sight of a group of girls surrounding their girlfriend throwing up into a trash can, and the guy passed out on the floor with his jeans getting robbed. Taeyong gulped. He had forgotten to take off his ugly hoodie before getting inside.

“Yuta! My man!” A voice called out, “Glad you could make it!”

“Of course!” Yuta smiled, “Now, now, you don’t need to cream your pants because you’re so excited to see me.”

“You’re still ing gross as ever. Let’s take shots!”

Yuta didn’t even consider introducing Taeyong to his apparent friend, simply dragging him inside by some random impulse to pull someone with him. Taeyong tried to fight back, but it was hard to pull the opposing direction with bodies surrounding him in all sides. When he admitted defeat to the sweaty bodies with a distinct aroma he tried hard to ignore, he started to observe his escape plan once he’s stopped getting dragged.

He found himself deep amongst the crowd, watching Yuta and his friend drown in alcohol, taking shot after shot. At a certain point, Yuta was rendered useless in Taeyong’s eyes when he tried picking a fight with the cup he just drank from, for apparently “not minding his own business.”

It was time to abandon Yuta, and break the friend code. Surely enough, one of these people will be kin