Where are my pants? / final

Jongin felt restless. He hadn’t seen Taemin in the dining hall and there was no way he was going to eat another tray of food by himself. Reluctantly, he walked over to the only person that could know something.

He sat next to Soojung, oblivious to the other girls’ stares.

“Where’s Taemin?”

Soojung slowly turned to him with a smile that sank faster than the Titanic at the sight of her brother. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, her shoulders dropping.

“How should I know? He’s not my pet.”

“Did you see him today?”

“Wasn’t he with Wonshik just a while ago?” One of the girls at the table spoke up, her eyes travelling between the siblings until they settled on Soojung. She grinned, expecting some kind of answer, but all she earned was a scoff.

“Yeah, whatever,” Soojung flipped her hair and sulked. “Wonshik isn’t here, so I guess they’re together.” She muttered, glaring at her glass of water.

“I bet they went to meet some girls by the lake,” another girl added, moving her eyebrows up and down, her dimple showing as she beamed at them.

“Shut up, Mari. Why do you even care where he is,” Soojung turned to Jongin, finding air instead. “Of course he’s gone.” She said to no one in particular and shook her head, poking her tray and pouting while everybody happily chatted around her.

Meeting girls at the lake sounded like something that could get them in trouble.

---

“I’m here,” Jongin winced. He was suddenly glad for being steady on his feet. “I’m right here.” He grabbed Taemin’s hand. “I got you.”

He pulled his friend down the way he had come, hurrying before anyone could catch them. Inside the campgrounds, they ran up the stairs, not slowing down or stopping until they were in front of their room. Jongin checked if anyone else was inside, then pushed Taemin ahead and shut the door behind them, locking it quickly, hitting his back against it and panting. He grabbed at his T-shirt and fluttered it, dispelling the heat that had suddenly taken over him.

“You ok?” He saw Taemin standing in the middle of the room, staring lost at the floor, trembling and shaking his head in response. “Do I want to know?”

Taemin would tell him if he had something to say. Jongin had learned long time ago that patience brought all the answers, yet he really wanted to slap Taemin back to the present and force the answer out of his mouth. With a silent Taemin, Jongin chose to help him get into dry clothes and in bed and let Taemin rest for the rest of the night.

“I ed it up,” Taemin confessed, eyes on the floor. Jongin let go of the hem of Taemin’s shirt and waited.

He didn’t know what to say. ‘Good job?’ Or ‘Well, that’s life’. Making a joke wouldn’t feel right. Even though, making inappropriate jokes was their thing.

“Get to bed.”

Taemin started, watching Jongin tug the blanket aside. Jongin gestured for Taemin to lift his arms and Taemin obliged, let Jongin get rid of his wet T-shirt, his boots and pants. He lied down and Jongin covered him with the blanket. Taemin curled into a ball, shivering, fighting to warm up after his adventures in the wild.

Jongin wished Taemin would have hit the showers first. He touched Taemin’s head and gently petted him.

Taemin would open up to him in the morning, he was sure of it.

After unlocking the door, he remained in his bed, watching over Taemin’s sleeping frame. He closed his eyes when he heard the door, listened to the steps and the other boys talking in whispers. They gossiped about how some of their colleagues thought it was a good idea to wander outside the campgrounds on their last day and how the teachers caught them.

They gossiped some more about one of the guys showing up in front of the teachers.

Jongin heard Wonshik bark at them to shut up. He opened his eyes just enough to burn a glare in Wonshik’s back.

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