He meets her at a support group for lung cancer, of all places. 

They lock eyes, for the second time, across the dimly lit room, one that smelled faintly of smoke (how ironic, Myungsoo thinks) and strongly of body odor and piss. It's an old, mostly unused assembly room owned by the local church, and it's hardly preposessing, but nobody minds. Not when they've got bigger problems than how the room's stench makes some of their eyes water or how some of the paint in the walls is peeling, or how the legs of their chairs scrape against the dirty linoleum tiles, the original color of the floor slowly coming out with each scratch. 

He watches her, even when her gaze is no longer on him. Her hair is tied back into a ponytail, and her droll grey knit sweater is starting to unravel at the hemline. A white sticker is plastered to the left side of her chest, reading, "Hello, my name is Jiyeon." She's new. Myungsoo's been to every meeting for this group for about five months, so he knows it's her first time here. He also knows she doesn't actually have lung cancer.

For one, she's a smoker. If not for the smell of cigarettes already ading the air, everyone would still have been able to catch a whiff of it from her. He'd passed by her earlier and knew, even if she tried to hide it with layers of different perfumes. She's been biting her nails for the last half-hour, and fidgeting with her hands non-stop, but the dead giveaway was the small patch of flawless porcelain skin revealed by the burn hole on her otherwise flawless black jeans. 

Myungsoo smirks. 

The meeting ends without one-on-one sharing tonight, over half the participants crying already from the group sharing. Myungsoo realizes he hasn't paid attention since the entire meeting even began, but stands with everyone else, smiling and rubbing their backs as they bid their goodbyes. He sees Jiyeon awkwardly smiling and bowing at everyone, and he makes his way up to her. 

When she notices him, she nods her head in greeting. "Hello..." she looks at his nametag. "...L." He smiles back and holds out his hand for her to shake. She takes it gingerly and shakes it once. "That's not your real name, is it?"

"Well, no," he replies sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just don't really like giving out my real name at support group meetings. Been here for nearly half a year, everyone's come and gone and known me as L."

He doesn't even realize what he's said until she raises an eyebrow. "Been coming here a while, huh? And you're still around."

"I - well..." he starts, before sighing and lowering his voice, leaning closer. "Alright, I don't really have cancer." She doesn't look at him strangely, or lean away in disgust, nor does she pry or question him about why he really was there. Jiyeon only nods absentmindedly, before looking up at him again and bursting into a small smile.

"Neither do I."

At that, he laughs. "Yeah, it takes one to know one." Then, because the other people in the room are starting to file out through the door at the back of the room, sniffing and wiping away their tears, Myungsoo clears his throat. "Hey, you wanna go get a drink?" She stares at him, before taking a deep breath and lifting her shoulders up in a shrug. 

"Why not?"

The pub's a little like the room where they just had their meeting - dim, half-empty and just a little smelly. But instead of holding handkerchiefs and tissues, people are holding beer mugs and cigarettes in their hands, and it's not nearly as depressing.

"No, but really, what were you doing at the meeting?" she asks. He shifts in his seat uncomfortably. He's not used to people asking him about a part of himself that he's always liked to keep to himself; people never understand why he does what he does, so he doesn't tell anybody anymore. 

She notices how his face changes and holds up her hands. "Alright, you don't have to tell me," she says, her tone far from insinuating. "Myungsoo," she adds with a tiny giggle. His smile returns to his face at that; he'd told her his real name while walking to the bar, and she would mention it every few seconds, her smile the same every time she says it. (He finds he kind of likes it, how it rolls off her tongue so naturally and how it sounds a little different each time.)

Myungsoo and Jiyeon are sitting at the booth in the farthest corner of the place, working on their sixth round of drinks. She's nursing her scotch on the rocks in her hand as his glass sits on the table, half-full of Johnnie Walker like hers. Her hair's out of the ponytail now and a pack of cigarettes rests on the table next to her phone. She checks the screen briefly for the time, and raises her eyebrows in slight surprise when she realizes they'd been at the pub for nearly two hours already. 

He notices her expression. "I know; it seems like we've only been at it for half an hour." She nods, before downing the rest of her drink, wincing as the alcohol burns .

"I should probably get going," she says, standing up. When she stands, Myungsoo can feel his stomach drop to his feet and his face contort into one of disappointment. She puts on her overcoat and shoots him a smile he's already grown familiar with in the span of a few hours, and his heart swells a little. "But we should do this again sometime. Not that lung cancer support groups aren't a great date idea and all," she adds. 

"Date," he echoes, looking up at her. She just shakes her head and laughs, before holding out her hand for him to shake. He stares at it for a few seconds, watching how her hands tremble erratically as she waits for him to shake it, before taking it and standing up. He smiles. "Date."

Jiyeon pulls her hand back with a smile. "You have my number." He nods, watching her walk to the exit and into the cold autumn night. He waits a few moments, turns around and looks down at his glass before downing the rest of his scotch, the liquid warming him instantly. 

Even after he leaves a few bills on the counter and heads out the door, even when the brisk winds slap his face harshly, his insides feel warmer than ever.

A/N: A little short, but I wanted to update! More to come. Hope y'all enjoyed! Comments, as always, are appreciated. (A part of me wonders how I didn't think of Woohyun and Hyomin while trying to figure out who to put in this story. A little regretful, but content with Myungyeon nonetheless.)