Chunji woke from his dreams, with the help of a brightly lit up phone, and his ringtone blaring loudly near his ear. He sat up in a stupor, answering the call, before he really realised that he was even awake or holding a phone. “Can you come round, I need your help?” a voice questioned, urgently. Chunji had answered yes and hung up, before he realised he hadn't placed who that familiar voice belonged to.

A quick glance at his call log, made his eyes scrunch up, at the bright light, but informed him that he'd just spoken with L. Joe. And that it was 2 am. He groaned, throwing a hoodie on over his pyjamas, without really thinking about it. He grabbed his keys and wallet, without turning on a light. He didn't need to, lightening lit up his apartment every 3 seconds. The light was so frequent that he got a nearly seamless view of his surroundings.

He raced down to his car, realising how hard the rain was pouring down when he got downstairs. He was going to have to run out into the rain to be able to get around to L. Joe's house. It was teeming down so hard that the rain looked more like a white sheet, rather than clear raindrops. He didn't want to go out in that, knowing he was under dressed for the weather, but he'd already said that he would come, and Chunji took his commitments very seriously.

He took a deep breath before dashing out into the downpour as fast as he could. He was soaked within a second, and the rough asphalt of the parking lot stung his feet, but he grit his teeth and pushed on. He crouched over his door, feeling very uncomfortable holding his keys with all of that lightening around. He hurriedly unlocked his door, sliding into the seat and closing the door behind him.

He took a moment to gather his breath, and push his dripping hair away from his face. He tried to wipe his hands dry before grabbing hold of the steering wheel, but it proved impossible. He started the car, horrified to see how poor his visibility would be. He had his fog lights on and the windscreen wipers on their fastest setting, and yet he could barely see 10 metres in front of him.

He drove round to L. Joe's place slowly, not feeling comfortable driving fast in this sort of weather. But he was filled with guilt at the thought of keeping L. Joe waiting. His only comfort was the knowledge that L. Joe had no idea how far away he lived. Ergo, L. Joe wouldn't know that he'd come round, driving 20 km/h, the trip thus taking twice as long as it should have.

He pulled into the driveway, nearly missing the house because of the poor lighting. He gathered his breath for a moment, breathing deeply to try and convince himself to hop out of the car. He was soaked to the bone already, so it was an understatement to say that he didn't want to go back out in the rain. His clothing clung to him uncomfortably, and the feeling of his own body heat rolling off his skin and hitting the cold clothing, made him feel feverish.

He mumbled a soft “1...2...3” to himself, forcing himself to open his door on the last number, and run up to L. Joe's front door. He was glad the other boy had a small porch out the front of his house, with a little bit of overhanging roof to protect the area directly in front of the door. Still, with the wind and the rain, Chunji found that he had to huddle against the door as he pounded on it with all of his strength.

He was convinced that the other boy wouldn't hear him, and he'd be trapped out there. But L. Joe opened the door, gesturing Chunji into the house, as he dashed out the back, where Chunji could no longer see him. He quickly let himself into the house, shutting the door behind him, as he followed the path he thought L. Joe might've taken a second earlier.

He found a torrent of water gushing out of a single section of the roof above the back door. L. Joe was holding a bucket beneath the stream of water, but it was clear that the water was coming out far too quickly for him to deal with. Chunji raced into the laundry, picking up another bucket, and racing over to where L. Joe was kneeling.

He stood, holding the bucket up, under the mini-waterfall, so L. Joe could empty the other bucket. The trip over to the laundry sink was maybe 2 metres in length, but by the time L. Joe returned, Chunji's bucket was already very full, water long since having started covering him as it landed in the bucket.

He ran off, to empty his own bucket, when L. Joe retuned, but by the time he returned, L. Joe needed to empty his bucket again. The boys kept working like this for what felt like ages to Chunji. He was silly enough to hold the bucket while it filled with water, and though he could feel his arms shaking from the weight, he didn't say anything to L. Joe.

Thankfully the waterfall eventually died down, becoming a small trickle of water, but before Chunji could really make a sigh of relief, they realised that the carpet around the bucket on the floor was soaked. L. Joe grabbed a few towels from a cupboard, and they started trying to dry the carpet. The towels got soaked within seconds, and trying to press the towel into the carpet to dry the floor, was backbreaking work, but still Chunji didn't complain.

At least, there was only a little bit of carpet. It would've been worse if they had to do it for the whole room, or the whole house or something. Chunji supposed that he should count his blessings.

He was definitely awake now.

The two boys settled against a wall, neither feeling particularly comfortable about leaving the room, in case the rain started up again. He let his head fall back against the wall, and he closed his eyes, trying to will the aches that had started in his body, to disappear. As a result, he missed the once over that L. Joe gave him, before a light grin broke out across his face.

“I see someone came right over.” he commented with a pleased grin dancing across his face. Chunji's cheeks burned as he looked down at himself. Bare feet were the first thing he spied. He couldn't believe he'd been so out of it that he'd left his apartment, without even putting shoes on. No wonder the ground had hurt his feet so much!

His completely soaked pyjama pants came into view, next, but he supposed he could have been spotted in far worse. Still, the knowledge that L. Joe was the one looking at him dressed like this, made him feel self conscious. His blue hoodie was weighed down by all of the water it had absorbed. No wonder it felt like such a struggle to move, earlier. He was already effectively doing weightlifting as long as he was wearing that item of clothing.

He ruffled his damp hair self consciously. “Shut up. You're the one that said you needed me urgently in the middle of the night. What did you expect?”

“Oh I dunno... Maybe you could have come round after you dried yourself from your shower...your pyjamas are soaked!” L. Joe replied, a small laugh bubbling out of his lips.

“Hey! I had my shower ages ago, it's the rain's fault!” Chunji exclaimed, tone full of false annoyance as he crossed his arms. “Besides... I'm not completely soaked.” Chunji stated, shuffling around, to cluck over his attire.

“Oh really? Prove it to me. Show me something that's not wet.” L. Joe stated, disbelief flooding his tone. Chunji eyed his bare feet once again, as his gaze moved up his own body. Defeat seemed complete, until he realised that he was wearing a hoodie. It was heavy and completely soaked, but perhaps it shielded his singlet from the rain?

He stripped himself of his hoodie, struggling to see the back of his singlet, to check whether he was wet or not. His top was certainly damp, but from what he could see it wasn't wet at all. L. Joe's eyes also scanned the new top, lightly tracing patches around Chunji's armpit, to show where his shirt had wet patches.

Chunji hung his head in defeat. He'd been so sure that he could win the little contest with his seemingly dry singlet. “Fine. You win.” he stated, childishly sticking his tongue out when L. Joe started acting too proud about his victory. He wondered vaguely if he should be concerned that he was so wet and cold, that the fact that his singlet was only damp by comparison, made it feel dry.

“I feel kind of bad now. Go have a shower to warm up.” L. Joe stated, flicking his hand towards the bathroom door nearby.

Chunji gave the other boy a perplexed look. “Why? I already had a shower this evening.”

“Yeah and then you went traipsing around in the rain. Your clothing is soaked. You'll get sick if you run around like that. So you go have a shower, and I'll find something you can change into afterwards. So go strip.” L. Joe commented with an eye roll and a shove.

“Don't you think your mother will be a little concerned that you're trying to convince a random guy to get at 3 am?” Chunji questioned, feeling kind of uncomfortable about the idea of being in L. Joe's house, even if it was in the bathroom, with the door closed securely behind him.

L. Joe waved the comment off with an odd look on his features. “I'm sure she wouldn't care, if she were actually here. It's just you and me.”

“Seriously? I know that you said she was working late tonight, but I didn't think anyone worked this late!” Chunji exclaimed, surprised. His heart sped up a little bit more, knowing that it'd only be the two of them in the house. He could do something if he wanted to; or L. Joe could.

But why should that possibility matter to him? After all, he didn't want to do anything, right?

“She isn't working. She was working pretty late, but then this whole storm kicked in. She phoned me earlier to tell me that she got stuck in the city, and that she'd be staying in a hotel for the night.” L. Joe explained, getting up to grab Chunji a towel.

He noticed the way Chunji's eyes scanned the floor, when he saw what L. Joe had picked up. “There's nothing bad about having another shower, Chunji.” he stated, plainly.

“I never claimed there was.” Chunji stated softly.

“No you didn't. But you're acting like... are you seeing someone?” L. Joe questioned suddenly. Chunji's head shot up to observe the other boy and his blank face. “I don't have any friends. What makes you think that I'd have a boyfriend... or a girlfriend?” Chunji enquired, derisively, knowing that L. Joe probably caught the pause before he said girlfriend.

He really wasn't good at this whole 'keeping his uality a secret' thing.

L. Joe shrugged, gaze unwavering as he answered, “You could be dating an .”

“I could. But I'm not.” Chunji answered, giving L. Joe an odd look, “Does your mother know you swear this much?”

“I'm not sure. We don't really talk.” L. Joe answered, as he handed Chunji the towel. Chunji accepted it, but continued to sit on the floor, making no effort to move into the bathroom.

“Why did you ask?” Chunji enquired, trying to work out what L. Joe was up to with his question. “Well, the way you're reacting to this whole shower thing. You act like you have a boyfriend and are afraid of betraying them.” L. Joe offered helpfully. Chunji was surprised that he answered, L. Joe not normally being the type of person to answer a question like that.

“I can just have another shower when I get back to my place.” Chunji suggested, still trying to avoid having to take a shower at L. Joe's place.

“Just go have the damn shower.” L. Joe groaned, prodding Chunji none too gently with his foot, to encourage the other boy to just hurry up and give in. Chunji flinched defensively, but still seemed reluctant to do as L. Joe said. But he was cold and it was clear that L. Joe was planning on bugging him about this until he gave in. So he huffed reluctantly, but picked himself up off of the floor all the same, walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

L. Joe shook his head, bending down to collect Chunji's hoodie from the floor where the other boy had left it. He realised that the material was heavier than he was expecting, and he felt inside the pocket, finding Chunji's wallet, phone and keys within it. He went to put them down, but an idea occurred to him, and he held one of the items, greedily as he set about making his arrangements, knowing that he wouldn't have long before Chunji returned.