Hoshi 💩:
hey, you ok?
you've disappeared
off the face of the earth
and i'm kinda worried

A text woke Wonwoo up abruptly.

Me:
oh.. sorry. was kind
of sad for a while but its
ok now :))

Hoshi💩:
ok. Jeonghan said Mingyu
hasn't been at the coffee shop
since his friend went back to
China. are you with him?

Me:
yeah but he's sleeping
rn. ill tell him to go to
work when he wakes up

Hoshi💩:
Mingyu has been sleeping
at your house a lot lately ;)

Me:
shutup. its not like that

Hoshi💩:
is there somethin ur not
telling me??? ;))))

Me:
nOO its not like that
at all.

Hoshi💩:
suureeee

Me:
ive got to go do
something bye

Hoshi💩:
is that 'something' Mingyu
by any chance?? ;)))

Me:
NO. IM LOGGING OFF

Hoshi💩:
IM PROUD OF YOU
BRO. MINGYU HAS A NICE

Me:
STOP EW

Wonwoo shut his phone off as fast as he possibly could. He'll explain to Soonyoung some other time but not while he's acting like that.

The body next to him moved, stretching out it's long legs and rubbing it's eyes. "Hello, Wonu." Mingyu groaned. His morning voice was cracked and uneven like bark on a tree which gave Wonwoo butterflies for no apparent reason.

"Wonu?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's your new nickname because it's cute like you." Mingyu replied.

"Ok, Mingmong."

Mingyu chuckled which turned into a yawn.

"What time is it?"

Wonwoo checked his phone. "10.30"

"It's too early. Come back to sleep." Mingyu oustretched his arms and tried to pull Wonwoo back onto the pillow they shared.

"Haven't you got to go to work?"

Mingyu shot up with wide eyes. "Oh no." He quickly threw the covers away and scrambled round the room for his jeans and shirt in his boxers. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I haven't got my uniform and my clothes are covered in food from last night!" His hair was sticking up in several different directions making him look even more out of control and panicked.

"Um... Ok, well... I can't drive so I can't really give you a lift to your house. Nor do I have a car. We can't walk you home in your boxers and-"

"Stop telling me everything we can't do, I'm panicking!"

"I can call Hoshi. Maybe he can help."

"Oh my God. Thank you."

"Ok, no problem." Wonwoo chuckled as he unlocked his phone and went to facetime.

The call rung a few times but Soonyoung finally answered from his parent's sofa.

"You ok?" Soonyoung signed into the camera. It had been a while since Wonwoo had called him- he only really did it if it was an emergency, otherwise he'd text.

"Mingyu has no clothes. Could you drive over and let him borrow your car?" Wonwoo looked over at Mingyu to see if he agreed with the plan. He nodded and smiled.

"Sure. I'll be there in ten." Soonyoung signed before yelling something that Wonwoo didn't hear but judging my the shade of red on Mingyu cheeks it was quite inappropriate.

"N-no, Soonyoung. We didn't do anything. I promise!" Mingyu walked into the view of the camera but quickly backed away after realising he was wearing Wonwoo's t-shirt and was still in his underwear. That really set Soonyoung off, he was hollering and screaming all sorts of assumptions with a mischevious grin on his face. Wonwoo ended the call in fear of Mingyu collapsing from embarrassment.

"I'm so glad you couldn't hear any of what he just said." Mingyu sighed.

"Yeah, me too."

Soonyoung took more than ten minutes to arrive at Wonwoo's doorstep but when he did a massive smirk was plastered to his face. Mingyu wore his own jeans to the car which were covered in egg; Soonyoung rose an eyebrow as he passed.

As the younger descended down the apartment block stairs Wonwoo couldn't help but stare as he disappeared from view. To Wonwoo, his body was perfect. His lean legs, broad shoulders and strong arms were unbelievably handsome.

"You two are definitely dating."  Soonyoung signed, snapping Wonwoo from his trance.

"Shutup." Wonwoo blushed.

"That's a Wonwoo way of saying yes."

Wonwoo rolled his eyes and let Soonyoung shut the door behind him and they walked into the living room.

"So, you told him?"

They sat opposite on the sofa.

"Yeah, I told him I was deaf." Wonwoo signed back. It had been a while since he had used sign language now and he couldn't lie, he missed it. In some weird way I felt like his very own secret language that he only taught to his closest friends.

"What did he say?"

"He thought I was making fun of his Chinese friend at first, who's blind, but he believed me after asking a few questions and getting used to the idea."  Wonwoo answered.

"I'm surprised he didn't notice before. It's not like it's hard to tell a deaf person and a non-deaf person apart."

The comment kind of hurt Wonwoo. It seemed insensitive and rude as if Soonyoung was treating him as something from a different species. Wonwoo brushed it off though and tried not to hold it against him.

"There's something I haven't told you..." Wonwoo had dropped his arms and spoke out loud, this was when Soonyoung knew things were about to get serious.

"It wasn't hard to hide my deafness from Mingyu because... I can hear him." Wonwoo didn't even panic. Speaking all of his thoughts and feelings out loud to Mingyu before had made him feel invincible.

Soonyoung furrowed his eyebrows as if to say "That's stupid."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" Soonyoung spoke leaving Wonwoo to lip read and it annoyed him a little bit.

 "Pull a face as if what I'm saying is ridiculous."

"It is ridiculous. You're deaf. You can't hear."  Soonyoung used his hands to speak again.

"Yeah. No . I think I would realise that after 15 years of hating myself because of it."

"That doesn't mean you can make stuff up."

"I'm not making it up. I'm telling you I can hear Mingyu even though I'm deaf."  Wonwoo was standing up now, the tense atmosphere that had developed around them was too stuffy to sit in.

"You can't be deaf and hear people. You're making it up."

"Maybe it's a miracle or something. I don't know! But it's true." Wonwoo shouted this time making his friend jump.

"Sure. Whatever." Soonyoung huffed and Wonwoo wanted to hit him.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Sign it! God dammit, Soonyoung. Are you stupid? I can't lip read when you're mumbling." Wonwoo was angry at Soonyoung for not listening and disrespecting his disability. It wasn't fair, he was just trying to tell his best friend about something and someone that made him so happy and he was calling him a liar!

"No need to be a little about it." Soonyoung crossed his arms and scowled.

Wonwoo snapped and his friend followed shortly after. Soon both of the boys were standing millimetres away with fire in their eyes and anger in their throats.

Wonwoo threw another verbal punch "I'm being the ? You're the person being difficult in this situation!"

"Yeah. Difficult. You'd know a lot about that wouldn't you?"  Soonyoung's signing was so angry it was almost impossible to understand.

Wonwoo didn't respond for a short while as he was certain his voice would crack with the hurt received from Soonyoung's insults and he wasn't prepared to show he was weak.

"That was really ty, Soonyoung."

Wonwoo watched his lips move to form the words "Get over it." and like poison it ran through his blood painfully. The purple haired boy had never acted like this before. It was like someone had hidden the real Soonyoung away and replaced him with a vicious snake- he whipped his tongue back and fourth splashing venom across the room.

"All I did was ask you to listen to what I had to tell you." Wonwoo continued.

Soonyoung turned away and sat back on the sofa, sulking. "What you told me was bull."

"So, you're just not gonna believe me? Why are you acting like this? You're supposed to be my best friend, I thought I could trust you to believe me!"

"I'm your only friend." Soonyoung said. Wonwoo lip read it clearly but didn't want to believe he had just blurted out something like that, it felt like a stab to the guts.

"What?"

He signed it this time but his movements were violent and angry. "I'm your only friend because you refuse to let anybody else in. You've wasted your whole life cooped up in this ty apartment because you're afraid of how people will treat you if you left." He was right, "You're lonely. Go outside and make some friends. Don't tell me dumb lies to get attention." Leaving an ominous cloud of frustration and pain hanging in the air, Soonyoung stormed out slamming the door so harshly Wonwoo didn't need hearing to know the building shook.

He had no idea how to react. He knew Soonyoung was right about him needing to meet new people but he was almost heartbroken over the fact that the person he had known the longest and trusted so much had refused to believe him. Yes, what was going on was completely insane, yes, he struggled to make sense of it too, and yes, Wonwoo can understand his friend's point of view but Soonyoung didn't even try to understand. He just denied him as soon as the truth left his mouth and walked out on him when he tried to prove it.

Being deaf was hard enough. Being deaf and not being listened to is even worse.

A lump formed in his throat but he blinked back the tears. His veins pulsed as a destructive anger rushed through them, spreading evil adrenaline into his muscles. He screamed and kicked the sofa, then took two deep breathes then pushed the lamp off the coffee table sending it flying across the room. He was throwing an immature fit, he knew he needed to stop and sit down but the heavy beating of his heart in his head wouldn't let him calm down. If only he was normal everything would be easy. The stress was seriously getting to him and he wondered if it would ever get easier as he slammed his head against the wall. Tears were falling now; painfully and cruelly across his face as he slinked to the floor.

"Whatever." He tried to steady his weak voice. "I don't care." He lied.

But he did care. More than anything. Because being normal was all he has ever wanted.

-

Mingyu☕:
hey bby. how do you feel
about coming over mine
after i've finished work?
its ok if you want some
alone time though ❤❤

Me:
yes please. anywhere but
here.

Mingyu☕:
you ok? 💞💞

Me:
no. soonyoung came over
and we had an arguement.
he wont listen to me. i dont
know what to do, mingyu.

Mingyu☕:
uh oh.. thats not good.

Me:
i'm so fed up of feeling
different. i want to be
normal. i hate this so
much. i hate me.

Mingyu☕:
noo don't say that. different
is good. it really is. i think
you are the most fascinating
person. and everything about
you is so wonderful.

Me:
mingyu i want to be with
you now because you
somehow make everything
so much easier to deal with.
i cant stop crying and i cant
stop feeling like i want to
disappear.

Mingyu☕:

its ok baby. we'll sort this.
i'll pick you up on the way
home and we can go buy
some hot chocolate and
cookies if you like.
does that sound good?💞

Me:
ok

Mingyu☕:
we'll talk about what
happened and find a
way round it all. i
promise to help you
through this no matter
what 💞

Me:
ok

Mingyu☕:
jeonghan's yelling at me
to get off my phone. he
says hes gonna get jihoon
to attack me if i dont get to
work so i better go. i care
about you wonu ❤❤❤❤
❤❤❤❤❤❤

Me:
you're cheesy.
but it made me smile.
❤

Wonwoo turned off his phone and stared at the ceiling. The floor was uncomfortable under his skin but lying there seemed to clear his head just a little.

In every way Mingyu was his light in the darkness. He always seemed to be there exactly when he needed him to pick him up off the ground and carry him towards the sky like an angel. Mingyu was the knight in shining armour Wonwoo had always read about in books. He was thankful to have him by his side.

Wonwoo packed a bag. He had learned from Mingyu's mistakes and made sure to bring an extra pair of clothes. He was also planning on staying at Mingyu's for a while. His apartment held too many bad experiences and he was ready to forget about that as soon as possible. As well as packing a toothbrush, phone charger, pyjamas, underwear and several changes of clothes Wonwoo didn't forget to bring his favourite DVD's to show his boyfriend. Movies always cheered him up.

A text signalling Mingyu had arrived made Wonwoo jump and rush towards the door.

"Woah. You look like your going on a month long holiday! What's with all the luggage?" Mingyu gasped as the door opened.

"Please just take me anywhere but here." Wonwoo stepped forward to bury his face in Mingyu's coat.

"I will, Wonwoo. Don't worry."

Mingyu handed Wonwoo a parcel once they had finally managed to stuff his bags into the boot of Mingyu's car and sit in the front seat.

"What's this?"

"Normal couples give eachother flowers. We're not normal. And you always say being not normal is a bad thing so I'm going to show you that that's not true." Mingyu said as he fastened his seatbelt.

Wonwoo opened the parcel carefully to find a delicate, red notebook. He examined the spine and cover which were empty and so was every page.

"Why a notebook?" Wonwoo asked.

"You've always said how much you love books. I thought we could write our own."

"That's actually a really sweet idea."

"Don't sound so surprised!

Wonwoo laughed. He had only been with the younger for a few minutes and he was already feeling so much better.

"Have you ever read a book about a normal person living a normal life and doing normal things?" Mingyu asked keeping his eyes on the road as they drove.

"Not really..."

"Exactly. Only not-normal people get books written about them."

"That doesn't mean being not-normal is good."

"It doesn't mean it's bad either. It means it's wonderful and fascinating and unique and special. Just like you."

Wonwoo felt as if a flower was blooming in his heart; tickling the walls with it's petals and filling his inside with warm colours.

Kim Mingyu was an incredible man.