Tuesday


Kyungsoo watches over his hyung. Lying on the hospital bed, clad in a thin hospital gown and head wrapped in a bandage, his hyung looks incredibly small and frail. Kyungsoo edges near him and watches as his hyung’s eyes slowly flutter open.

“Minseok,” Luhan whispers through barely open lips the moment he opened his eyes.

Kyungsoo steps back a little because it was a call not meant for him but for the owner of the name.

At this moment, Kyungsoo feels like an intruder, he considers running away but then his hyung notices him standing there.

“Kyungsoo . . . where is Minseok?” Luhan asks as he attempts to get out of the bed.

Kyungsoo put his hand on Luhan’s shoulder to stop him.

“I need to see him. Is he okay? Is he hurt?” Luhan asks holding tightly onto Kyungsoo’s arms.

“Hyung,” Kyungsoo starts but his throat suddenly constricts and he finds it hard to speak.

“He’s right Kyungsoo. It was not a dream. He knows I’m going to die. He knows so he tries to sa-,” Luhan says eyes unfocused. “I was supposed to die. Why am I here? Where is Minseok?,” Luhan asks looking Kyungsoo in the eyes.

“Hyung,” Kyungsoo tries again. He swallows. “He’s gone, hyung.”

Luhan stares at him and Kyungsoo prevents himself from turning away. 

“No,” Luhan croaks lips quivering, his voice crumbling in defiance. “I was supposed to die, not him. Why did he do it? Why?”

Kyungsoo answers with the only reality that he knows, “He loves you hyung.”

A sob seems to come from Luhan’s chest but it stops at his close lips letting out only a faint sound of anguish. It was then that Kyungsoo cannot stand to look anymore. The next sobs come rushing like a wave and it wrack Luhan’s whole body as if it is coming from deep within his bones. Kyungsoo fixes his eyes on the walls as Luhan’s sobs crumple him into a ball. Kyungsoo is not looking but the sound of it and the feel of Luhan’s body shaking under his hold, is enough to the air out of his chest as he too, starts to cry.

*








“What are you having man?” the bartender asks his only customer that uneventful Monday night.

“Ahm, can I think about it first?” The costumer looks young, probably a student from the nearby university. They always go to this bar when it’s already past campus curfew on alcohol.

“Yeah sure, your call,” Baekhyun turns back to the glasses he’s been wiping.

“My name is Chanyeol,” his costumer volunteers. Please not another one – Baekyun thinks – of those customers who think it’s the bartenders’ job to listen to everyone.

Baekhyun does not answer, better not encourage him. He can feel Chanyeol eyeing him. Many times, Chanyeol sounds like he’s about to say something but when Baekhyun glance at him, he’s just brushing his lips with his own fingers looking immersed in his own thoughts. Baekhyun wonders what this guy could be thinking, probably something about whether 12 midnight is AM or PM.

After a while, Chanyeol finally speaks up “Those glasses are crystal clear already.”

What’s your point? Baekhyun wants to ask but instead he continues wiping away.

“What were you doing for the past 2 minutes?” Chanyeol asks.

“Yeah I know, I have been polishing these glasses for a good 2 hours,” Baekhyun aswers back finally putting the glasses to the counter.

“Are you sure about that?”

“What?!” Baekhyun asks wondering if this costumer is already drunk.

“How sure are you that you are, indeed, right there polishing those glasses at exactly two minutes ago?”

Nope, not drunk just crazy.

“Because. . .” Baekhyun can’t believe he is really trying to answer.

“What if,” Chanyeol continues “the universe was created only 2 minutes ago, along with everything else, the sun and moon, you and me, everything. . . and those glasses” he says motioning to the glasses in the counter “were created perfectly polished and you were created with the memory that you are the one who polished them? If it is possible that the universe was created 2 minutes ago then isn’t it also possible for the world to end in the next 2 minutes?” He finishes like he just asked a perfectly normal question.

Baekhyun’s mouth is hanging open. He catches himself and closes it. He blinks at Chanyeol who nods at him as if to encourage him to think about it. Yes, definitely crazy. The questions replay in his mind but the other side of his brain thinks instead of his rent that was due yesterday and his cat waiting alone in his apartment because he is forced to cover a shift that Sehun decided to ditch. He decides he is not going to take anymore of somebody else’s .

“I don’t really give a man,” he shrugs. “I am a person who does not think very much. It’s tiring for me. But you go ahead and think about how the universe, the sun and the moon are created or how the world will end, if that really makes you happy. I’m not judging,” he says crunching up his nose that makes Chanyeol doubt if he really isn’t judging.

Baekhyun leans down the bar on his elbows to be more level with Chanyeols eyes. “But me, I will think about pizza, and cookies –freshly baked cookies, and cake, and ice cream because they make me happy,” he says brandishing his hand for effect. “And after work I will try and eat all of them. Now, did I answer your question?”

Chanyeol snorts in amusement but Baekhyun feels a little insulted so he adds “What ifs, I hate what ifs. What is the point in them? What if the world ends tomorrow or right now? What’s the difference? Endings are just endings man.” Baekhyun wonders why he feels a need to defend himself to this weird stranger. “I’ve read somewhere that it does not matter how it ends what matters is it happened or something like that. And I thought, yes finally something that will justify if I ever end up a loser, if I’m happy about it, I’m still a loser who matters.”

Chanyeol did not expect how the conversation boiled down but he seems satisfied. It looks like he finally found someone as weird as him but weird in a different way.

“I can see your point, yes, yes,” he nods continuously. “I do agree with you and of course you matter. I like the way you think. I like you.”

Baekhyun slowly stood up straight, slightly uncomfortable by the sudden pronouncement. “So, have you thought about what to order?” he asks just so he can say something.

Chanyeol thinks for a moment, lips pouting a little, before saying “You know I asked this certain bartender once to make me a drink that would make me abandon reason.”

“Man, all alcohol has that effect-“

“No, no, I asked him to make a drink that is so good, so satisfying that I would always ask for more. You see I wanted to get wasted that night.”

Baekhyun wanted to say that it is not satisfying if it makes you want more but somewhere along the line it sounds wrong.

“He has a name for it too,” Chanyeol continues. “Second something on something.”

“Second shot on the rocks.” a voice approaches the bar.

Baekhyun eyes the newcomer before smirking to him in greeting and to the guy he’s tugging by the hand. They all watch as the look of confusion and recognition interplays in Chanyeol’s face.

“You. You?”

“Yes. Me, me.” Minseok answers.

“Yes. Him, him.” Baekhyun affirms.

"Him, him yes," Luhan echoes even though he has no idea what's going on. Minseok chuckles and leans close to him to whisper an explanation.

And then all of them exchange looks, trying to account the ways they all connect.

“. I need myself a drink,” groans the bartender, already--unconciously--mixing second shot.
 

a/n: the very first fanfiction i've written