Minseok woke up alone this time and frowned when he noticed the curtain pulled back to it’s original position.  He didn’t like the idea of his roommate being cut off from everyone.  He reached over and pushed the button on the side of the bed, making it sit him up.  The nurse walked in pushing a cart and smiled at him.

“Good morning,” she greeted.  Minseok smiled back at her slightly.  “Care for some breakfast?”

“Sure,” Minseok replied with only slight sincerity.  the nurse brought over a tray with orange juice, eggs, and some sort of meat patty that Minseok was afraid of.  She walked back over to the cart and grabbed a clear bag.  She disappeared behind the curtain as Minseok tried to choke down the powder eggs.  He only managed to finish half of them and didn’t touch the patty.  He was afraid of it, though he would never admit it out loud.  The nurse returned and smiled sympathetically down at the tray.  It was no secret to her that the food was terrible.

“You all finished?” she asked anyway.

“Yeah.  Is it possible to leave the curtain open?  I want to talk to him some more,” Minseok requested.  The nurse looked confused, but opened the curtain once again.  The boy was still there, looking exactly as he did yesterday.  She took the tray and placed it on the cart before walking out. 

There weren’t many sounds going on.  Just the quiet words from the outside and the beeping of the monitors in the room.  Minseok wondered if the boy could actually hear these things as well.

“Hey, Minseok again.  Just letting you know that it’s January 19th.  This is the fourth day you’ve been asleep.  That doesn’t sound like fun does it?  Maybe you’ll be like me and wake up today.  I was asleep for three full days too.  Well, I thought it would be fun to tell you a little bit about myself.  My birthday is March 26th and I’m 22 years old.  Jongdae is my best friend, but I have three other really close friends.  Their names are Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun.  Kyungsoo is the youngest in our group, but he’s way more mature than the rest of us.  Chanyeol likes to have fun all the time and Baekhyun is probably the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.  We all work together at a small clothing store in the city.  Nothing too big, but the owner likes to use us as models.”  Minseok paused to chuckle at the memories.

“Anyway, we live in the same apartment building, but we’re not all roommates.  Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun share an apartment and Jongdae and I share one.  We used to laugh to ourselves and joke that we should just all buy a house together since we spend most of our time together anyway.  There was a time we sincerely thought about it, but we didn’t feel like moving.  The houses near our work would be too expensive.  I don’t really see my parents anymore, but we keep in touch.”  Minseok stopped, wondering why he was saying all of this.  He didn’t really believe that the boy could hear him.  He hoped he could, but he didn’t believe he could.  The door opened and Minseok looked over, watching all four of his friends walk into the room.

“You scared us all half to death man,” Chanyeol said.

“Hello to you too,” Minseok replied with a chuckle.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asked, his large eyes full of worry.

“As far as I know.  Everything’s still attached and i can breathe and eat just fine,” Minseok said.  Kyungsoo smiled and Baekhyun walked over with a smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay.  The three days you were sleeping killed all of us.  Jongdae barely left the hospital,” Baekhyun explained.  Chanyeol grinned and wrapped his arm around Jongdae’s shoulders.

“Yeah, he’s such a good little roommate isn’t he?” Chanyeol asked playfully.  Jongdae glared at him and ducked out from under his arm.

“I was worried I was going to have to pay the entire rent by myself,” Jongdae said stiffly.

“Uh-huh, sure ya were,” Chanyeol said with a smirk.  Everyone laughed and Chanyeol noticed the boy on the other side of the room.  “Who’s this guy?”

“I don’t know.  He’s in a coma,” Minseok replied.

“Isn’t it a little depressing to have the curtain open?” Chanyeol asked walking over to the boy.  He waved his hand in front of his face and Minseok rolled his eyes.

“Leave him be Chanyeol,” Minseok said.  Chanyeol looked over at him and walked back over. 

“Minseok thinks he can help that guy if he talks to him and such,” Jongdae explained with a shrug.

“Well that’s nice of you,” Baekhyun said.  Minseok shrugged and winced a little.  He kept forgetting he was hurt.  “Did you need anything that we could help you with?”

“Yeah, you could bring me real food.  This hospital stuff ,” Minseok answered.  The others laughed and Chanyeol put his hand on Minseok’s right shoulder.

“I believe that could be arranged.  Kyungsoo, go make him something,” Chanyeol said.

“Why always me?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Because you’re the best.  And you love cooking.  Don’t deny it, you’ve said it yourself plenty of times,” Baekhyun pointed out.  Kyungsoo was about to say something, but stopped.  He didn’t have a good comeback. 

“Fine, I’ll be back with dinner.  Get well soon,” Kyungsoo said before leaving.  Minseok smiled and waved.  Chanyeol gave Minseok’s shoulder a pat and started walking away.

“I’ll go pick up some fast food for lunch.  If the food here is as bad as you say it is I don’t want you eating it anymore.  It’s probably a ploy to keep you here so the hospital can steal all of your money,” Chanyeol said, looking in thought.  Baekhyun just shook his head and started pushing Chanyeol out the door.

“Sorry, my shift starts in twenty minutes.  I’ll be back to visit for dinner like the rest of them,” Baekhyun said on the way out.

“Okay, see you then,” Minseok said as he watched them go.  “Good to see everyone else is as lively as ever.”

“Yeah, though it’s depressingly quiet in the apartment.  When did the doctor say you can leave?” Jongdae asked.

“In a couple of days.  They want to make sure everything is healing properly.  Did you talk to Owner?” Minseok asked.

“Yeah.  She said she’ll find something for you to do when you get released.  She told me to tell you not to worry and to rest up,” Jongdae replied.  Minseok smiled slightly.  The store owner was a middle aged woman that didn’t tell anyone her real name.  She just demanded that all of her employees called her Owner.

“I assume you have to work soon too correct?” Minseok asked.  Jongdae laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head slightly.

“Yeah.  Owner is having me model the new skinny jeans.  I probably won’t be able to make it to dinner, but I’ll visit when I can,” Jongdae admitted quietly.

“That’s okay.  I appreciate that you come at all,” Minseok said with a smile.  Jongdae smiled back and looked at his watch.  He let out a heavy sigh and began to head out.

“Get better soon,” he said before he left.  Minseok just nodded and looked over at the boy again.  He felt another sting of pity for him.  Minseok was visited by his friends, but the boy didn’t have anyone visiting him.  He sighed and smiled slightly.

“So now you’ve kind of met all my friends.  Sorry about Chanyeol, he doesn’t mean to be rude.  He’s really a good guy.  I hope you get to actually meet him sometime.  I didn’t mention it before, but Kyungsoo is amazing in the kitchen.  He usually makes dinner for him and his roommates and then ends up inviting Jongdae and I over since he made too much.  I feel like Baekhyun and Chanyeol are spoiled by him.  When Kyungsoo has to work a late shift they have no idea what to do.  It’s always really funny when they barge into our apartment asking for advice on dinner.”  Minseok chuckled and winced.  He put his hand gently over his chest and sighed.

“I don’t remember getting hit by a car, but Jongdae said the person who hit me just left me there.  Who does that?  I don’t even know if it was an accident or someone did it on purpose.  I really don’t know how to feel about it.  I know people do crazy things when they’re scared, but to leave a wounded person on the road without staying to make sure he got help?  I can’t even imagine a person like that.”  Minseok looked over and could’ve sworn he saw the boy flinch.  He sighed and grabbed the remote, turning on the TV.  There wasn’t really anything on, but he found some mind numbing cartoon to watch while he waited for his friends. 

Chanyeol came running in and nearly slammed the door behind him, hiding beneath the window.  Minseok looked at him confused and Chanyeol put his finger to his lips, telling Minseok to be quiet.  Minseok nodded slightly and watched a couple nurses pass by, but none of the entered the room.

“They’re gone,” Minseok said when he was sure the coast was clear.  Chanyeol peaked out the window slightly, making sure Minseok was telling the truth, before standing up.  “What did you do this time?”

“I may or may not have accidentally insulted a nurse who made a snarky comment about me,” Chanyeol replied innocently.  Minseok rolled his eyes.  “Hey, she started it.  Well, technically I didn’t hear what she actually said, but it was in response to what her friend said.  I’m pretty sure her friend was fawning over me, like girls do, and she told her friend that I wasn’t worth it since my height meant other things weren’t up to par.  So I pinched her to teach her a lesson.”

“Chanyeol!  You can’t just do that to people!” Minseok said in shock.  Chanyeol grinned and walked over. 

“The important thing is that I was able to deliver this,” he said handing Minseok a chocolate shake and a paper bag. 

“All is forgiven,” Minseok said before digging into the bag.  He pulled out a cheeseburger and started to eat, thanking the heaven above for Chanyeol.

“I got you three since I didn’t know how hungry you were.  I guessed extremely,” Chanyeol explained.  Minseok nodded and didn’t even notice that he practically inhaled the first burger.  He grabbed the second one and ate slower this time, pausing occasionally to drink some of the shake.  Chanyeol sat down on the chair backwards, resting his hands on the back of the chair and his chin on his hands.  “So have you been talking to Depressy Lessy while we’re gone?”

“Depressy Lessy?” Minseok asked confused.  Chanyeol looked over at the boy and then back and Minseok.  He followed his gaze and frowned.  “Yeah, and I wish you wouldn’t call him that.”

“Well what the hell else am I suppose to call him?  No one knows his name,” Chanyeol said.  Minseok opened his mouth to say something, but there was nothing to say.  Chanyeol was right.  Minseok just ate and Chanyeol smiled.  “It’s cool though, that you’re trying to help.  I don’t think I could just talk to someone I knew couldn’t hear me.”

“No, probably not.  Although I couldn’t really see you sitting here for any length of time anyway,” Minseok pointed out.  Chanyeol thought about it and ended up just nodding.

“I get bored easily and I don’t like to get bored,” Chanyeol said grinning.  Minseok moved onto the third burger. 

“So how bad are the pants Jongdae has to model?” Minseok asked with a smirk.  Chanyeol smirked back and pulled out his phone, flipping through the pictures before handing Minseok the phone.  He took it and winced, but not from physical pain.  “Are those even for men?”

“Not at all,” Chanyeol replied.

“That.  That’s harsh.”  Minseok laughed as carefully as he could and handed the phone back to Chanyeol.  He took it and placed it back into his pocket.  The two of them talked for a while about work and basically whatever came to mind.  Chanyeol tried to see of there was anything interesting on the TV, but became slightly disgusted by the limited number of channels.  It was a few hours later when Baekhyun and Kyungsoo walked in carrying bags of what Minseok assumed was food.

“I made too much again,” Kyungsoo admitted quietly.  Minseok smiled and chuckled slightly.

“It’s to be expected.  It’s fine,” Minseok said.  Kyungsoo smiled back slightly as he sat on the floor and separated the containers of food while Baekhyun got out all the dishes.  Chanyeol helped dish out the food, making sure Minseok’s portion was slightly bigger than everyone else’s.  “Thank you guys.”

“Don’t mention it.  We’re friends.  It’s what we do,” Baekhyun said with a smile.  Everyone began eating and Minseok couldn’t even express his appreciation for his friends.

“Kyungsoo, this is amazing,” Minseok said.

“Really?  I was trying to experiment a little bit with the spices,” Kyungsoo replied.

“Your experiment was a success,” Baekhyun said.  Kyungsoo blushed slightly, but smiled as well.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you should just marry me,” Chanyeol said.  Everyone looked at him shocked.  “What?  You all have a problem with me wanting to monopolize Kyungsoo’s cooking?”

“Of course I do!  I live with you too ya know!” Baekhyun said, pretending to be outraged.  Chanyeol wrapped his arm around Kyungsoo’s neck and pulled him against him.

“Too bad, I’ve got dibs,” Chanyeol stated with a grin.  Kyungsoo just looked around, not entirely sure what to do in this situation.  Everyone laughed and Chanyeol let go of Kyungsoo.  Kyungsoo scooted away from Chanyeol slightly and ate in silence.

Hours passed and the nurse had to come to tell the boys that visiting hours were over.  She must have been the one Chanyeol pinched since she gave him the scariest death glare Minseok had ever seen.  They all packed up and said their goodbyes, promising Minseok that they would visit again soon.  Minseok smiled and returned his bed to it’s original position.  He looked over at the boy once more before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.