We were finding ourselves regularly visiting our spot in the alleyway now…

That backstreet corner of dead end streets- with tall abandoned derelict factories either side had officially become ours- just like I’d wanted.

But in a slightly more intimate way…

See; since starting back at school and the few weeks that’d past since our last incident together we hadn’t initially ventured back.

It was as if the place was now just a sweet memory- but not to be repeated. Not to be acknowledged between each other or out loud for if we did something would change, and things would be too hard…

And so we’d left that area without a trace, and continued to skate in the streets we were totally used to being in. Learning some new tricks in our weekends off and catching some hours up a few newer pathways and corners in the dwindling moments of daylight after school finished.

Our map was actually looking rather brilliant- might I add, and one entire section was now highlighted a bright glorious green.

We’d travelled the town pretty well it seemed!

But that one unmarked area still stood out to me- and we hadn’t even coloured it on the map yet…. Almost as if we knew the day would come when we’d return.

 

And return we did-

 

Almost immediately after our second run in at his place, we’d ended up back here one early afternoon on a Saturday about one week later.

Having just ridden around a new block we’d somehow trailed back and before we could even say anything to the other or try and bluff our way out of it we were right back behind those buildings with those old padlocked dusty doors and skip bins.

“Ah…” I murmur lowly, as I pull up behind Kyungsoo, and the lad hops off his own orange ride to look blankly back at me.

Asking why we were here…. wondering who we were supposed to blame or accuse for leading us here-

When we both knew the answer to that already...

No one was to blame.

We wanted to be here-

“Should we…. Um, should we take a look out the other side?” the teen questions, valiantly going for the casual flick off as his neatly spiked hair turns away from me.

“Mm… yeah that’d be cool, I guess” I respond, kicking my board into my arms as the boy trails off to look through one of the cardboard boxes on the ground.

“Remember last time I found that cool mirror-?“ he starts excitedly as I slowly make my way over.

“Oh yeah! That was so-“

And then we halt, and that quiet silence descends as we realise we just mentioned the unmentionable.

That we just broached- that topic.

And that wasn’t allowed….

D.o hunches his shoulders over, and drops quietly to the ground to get a better look, as I stack my board against the brick wall.

Why were we here again…?  I wonder to myself, as that nervous little emotion slips into my gut.

“We could get so many streets ticked off by hanging around…” I begin as my minds instantly goes into meltdown at the words I’ve just said-

What the fudge Kai??

He’ll think you freakin want to stay here-!

Swallowing, I stare down to the box before him, watching as he idly removes its contents and wait for a response.

“Yeah… we would get a lot ticked off.” he resumes, maintaining a calm level tone as expertly as ever, as I note his defences rising.

He wasn’t sure what this was…. and neither was I for that matter!

So he was doing what he always did- shut himself out…

He was gonna wait till he knew my response first, before he’d open up to me.

Because otherwise…

Trying to act more chill than I actually felt, I drop down beside him and help in raiding the box of its bubble wrap and random newspapers.

“So what are we looking for?” I muse lightly, wanting to nudge the guy a little to make things more normal again.

He chuckles and looks up to me-“I dunno… something cool? Metal…. old junk….”

Nodding, I go along with this and leaving him to this box I go in search for the other metal bins round the sides of the walls- opposite to the giant skips.

Both of us subconsciously making the decision to stay anyway as we completely ditch our rides by the wall.

Otherwise he’d think I was rejecting him…

Something he always seemed to fear from everybody…

“Well…. there’s gotta be something good around here somewhere. Wonder who keeps dumping this though, if no one ever uses the actual businesses??” I say, as this odd realisation strikes and I frown over to the mysterious old buildings around me. “Seems sorta sus, right?”

“Maybe we’ll find drugs then…” the brunet jokes, and ditching a ball of paper over his shoulder.

Bursting into laugher I shake my head as I idly remove the lid of one of the trash cans. “Ha- and what sort you searching for mate? Just the regular ? Or you more an ice sorta guy-?”

He chuckles behind me, and I feel a happy little glow bubbling between us as we work, something much more comfortable than what we previously had going on.

“Maybe~~ gotta like the pricey stuff, man.” he hums mysteriously. 

“We could find bodies like this too ya know-“ I jab, and pointedly glancing back with a raised brow as he instantly halts in place.

“Yah! Don’t be so morbid!” he cries, and shaking his head in disapproval. “At least mine makes you high!”

“Mine just makes you smell gross!” I continue to laugh and running a hand through my hair, as I decide to drop the search and meander back over to the warehouse doors instead.

“Aish… charming bro. Real nice-“

“Of course~!” I tease, feeling just a little silly as a big grin crosses my features. “But hey, d.o… we never did get the torch and go through here like we said we would.” I remind him, as the memory of cracking open that creaky old door last time passes through my mind.

“I never agreed to that-“ he says and pointedly not following me as I start tugging at the doors in turn, making my way back round to the previously unlocked one.

“Oh come on~~” I sing, cocking an arrogant brow over my shoulder. “Don’t be such a -!“

“Hey!” he jabs, leaping up and coming over in an instant, brushing his jeans as he goes and dead set on throwing off that insult as soon as possible.

Smirking at such easy bait, I go back to the door and place my fingers against the metal handle.

 “Ok…. let’s do it now then~” and with that I creak open the heavy door and feel that strange dank cold air wash back at me, making the atmosphere feel dry and dusty as the pitch black interior looms mysteriously before us.

“Are you sure we’re even allowed in there…?” he murmurs behind me, and making me shift to see just how close he’s come to stand.

“Why not?” I muse casually as my skin tingles, “There’s no sign saying we’re not…”

“Kai…” he warns, but that’s all he manages as I’ve already taken out my phone, flicked it to torch settings and taken a step inside.

“Dude- what the hell??” he continues, but I pay no heed and instead cast curious, apprehensive, and just slightly scared eyes around the old warehouse.

“Wah…. D.o- we have to do it! I’m sure you’ll find cool stuff in here-“ my voice whispers happily, as I take in old shelves, and desk drawers- dusty boxes and faraway darkened dank corners.

Looks right out of a horror film set if I ever did see one…

The lad lets out a sigh behind me, and I can tell he really doesn’t want to do it, even as he obligingly accepts and steps carefully after me.

Deep down he knew he had to- I wouldn’t let him live it down if he didn’t~

Turning back I signal him to come closer as he hovers anxiously near the entrance and I continue to get further and further inside- the sudden dark silence encircling me like a cold unfamiliar blanket.

Ok…. it was just a little creepy in here-

“Kyungsoo-ah- hurry up!” I nag, and dropping the light away from him as I head over to the study desk on the left side wall.

“Ok, ok….” He whispers, and quickly scuffing his sneakers over as he comes towards me, instantly falling into pace by my side as I hold the phone confidently before us.

“Look at the floor- there’s all weird marks and like animals have been in here-“ I say quietly, and ghosting the light to the ground as my sneakers pad lightly over the dusty disturbed prints.

“Urghh- don’t say that.” The boy cries, and smacking my shoulder just a bit as we get closer and closer to the furniture.

Smiling I realise how our voices sort of echo in here and I vow to keep my own lowered just in case some workers are still lingering around- like that guy at the bins all those weeks back…

“Alright- what draw should I open first?” I question as I reach the wooden desk and shine the light over the thick grey surface area, the odd pencil and paper clip left strewn on top.

“Do we really have to stay….?” D.o asks, clearly trying to hold back the need to run as I pointedly ignore his wishes and he steps up closer behind me.

It was kind of cute how he did that…

“Yeah, come on man!” I encourage, and turning swiftly to stand a mere foot apart as his wide anxious eyes zero in on me. “It’ll be fun! There’s no one else around, we won’t get into trouble-“

And yeah, of course we wouldn’t…. everyone could see that.

But I wasn’t gonna admit to the guys face that I knew he was petrified being in here- that’d just be uncool.

“Ok then…” he mumbles, and caving in to my excited behaviour as his own eyes wonder over to the draws behind me. “Then you should open the top one first-“

Grinning I instantly step closer with a loud scuffle, making the lad wince just a little as I pass him the light instead and carefully pull the draw forward.

“Ugrhh- there’s so much dust and !” d.o cries as I shield my face away from the little flurry of particles in the air and wait for my vision to clear.

“Someone’s been slacking off on the cleaning duties...” I mock, as he chuckles behind me.

“So what is there-?’ he queries, and stepping up near my shoulder, as I bend over to have a better look, the light illuminating more thoroughly now at d.o’s proximity.

“Mmm…” my eyes scope through the old stuff and alight on a cigar box at the back-

Reaching out a hand I pull it free from a lose spider web and dust it off with my fingers.

“We have smokes-“ I say with a light shake.

“No way-“ he denies, as a mischievous smirk tugs his lips and I quickly try to pry the cardboard open. “Dude- surely they’d be too old to actually still be-“

But nope, there they were.

Still sitting there in their packet and looking just as manky and brown as the day people actually used them.

“Omg….” He chuckles and grinning up to him I finally catch that ever chill glint back in his eyes as he starts to warm to this new search and find activity.

“Ok… I guess this place isn’t so bad then-“

And with that he too steps forward as we begin tearing every single desk drawer open before rapidly moving on to the next-

“Yah- Kyungsoo-ah,” I say easily, the nickname no longer causing him any qualms as we hurry after each other to a massive box of old dilapidated boxes.

“Use your phone too! Then we can split off to different sides-“

“Good thinking,” he agrees, and chucking my device back to me, which thank fudge I caught! He whips his own out of his jeans pocket and goes off to the right, leaving me behind on the left.

                                                                                                                ********************

“So, ah…. D.o?” I begin just a little bit later as I note the lad digging through books a few meters away- encircled in his own little glow of white light as blackness rests all around us.

“Mmm?” he hums distractedly, happiness glowing from his words now that intrigue has taken over.

“Um… you like this place, yeah?” I say randomly, trying to take the long route to this conversation as nervous butterflies start dancing around my gut.

“Yeah, it’s awesome as!”

Chuckling, I look back at the brown boxes before me and carefully drag another off the shelf- feeling carefully for the tell-tale touch of a spider as I go.

Spiders really weren’t as cool as some guys liked to think they were-

“So, do you think- ” my tone hitches in effort as I manage to lower it down to the ground, “Do you think, that we should…. like, come back here again?”

And somehow my uncertainty mustn’t have reached him yet as he instantly replies- “Yeah, deff man. We can get food as well and eat it in this dark spooky place like a couple of goths or something~”

“Omg….” Laughing I shake my head, as his stupid words ring through my mind.

Aish, he was such an idiot sometimes!

“What, you gonna get into the whole eyeliner thing too then?” I tease, and making him laugh now, as he brushes his hands down his thighs.

“Ahh- I will if you do. How’s that~?”

Snickering I decide to let that remark go, and instead stare down at the ground before me.

I really didn’t know how to bring this up properly…

Without making this uncomfortable-

“What about- er… like, is it fine to be here after- after so long?”

And god.

That was sooo not the right thing to say-

D.o drops something across from me, and I wince as I see the startled look appear on his face.

“Um… well- we, we have the map section still-“ he tries, attempting to drag our sorry butts out of the awkward mess right now as I feel a blush coming to my cheeks.

Why was I even going there…??

I swear to god, if I ruined this-!

“Yeah- yeah definitely man,” I swoop in and sending what I hoped was a causal smile his way, as he anxiously darts his eyes away and fiddles distractedly with something in his hands. “Not to mention all this free were gonna find~”

He lets out a small laugh, a sound that’s not quite relaxed as he nods his head in return. “True that-“

Releasing a sharp sigh I try to calm down my racing heart as a silence once again descends, broken only by the sound of our shoes on the floor and the occasional gusts of wind hitting at the window panes, making the wood framing creak above.

How the hell was I meant to do this…??

I struggled internally, as the want and shy need to tell the other what was going on inside my head right now battled against the terrified and more logical part of my brain that screamed at me to just shut the hell up.

I wanted d.o to know I was in the same boat as him… that I thought the same way he did- without making him embarrassed...

And yet; I couldn’t seem to do it without risking everting we’d already precariously built up together over these last few weeks…

All the quite secret keeping, and ways in which we ghosted past the topics we really needed to discuss, simply because we trusted the other not to bring it up themselves.

Because talking would mean we acknowledged what we’d done…

Would mean it wasn’t just a mistake or a ‘bout of insanity or hormonal lust-

But now I wanted to, and I didn’t wanna scare him off…

“Um… l-last time we were here…” I begin carefully, my tone dropping into a low whisper, as I stare transfixed at some ancient newspaper and d.o ruffles quietly amongst his shelf.

…

“Did you… I didn’t want to make you feel awkward or anything-“ I start, deciding to just play the self-blaming game to try and evoke that sympathetic side of his-

“N-no…” he denies, as my heart thuds uncomfortably in my chest. “I- it was fine…”

…

A small pull of my mouth was trying to win out but I keep casual as I continue, “That’s good... hey, you found anything yet?”

“Err-“ D.o’s tone changes and obviously trying to shake out of the rather intense atmosphere I’d created he obediently looks up; “I found a lighter before- and I think I’ve just got some sort of letter opener too…. But I can’t quiet manage to get the blade out-”

“A what-??” I cry, instantly enthralled as I drop my own papers and hasten my way over. Forgetting all about my phone light as I step into the darkness and over towards his instead.

His happy grin pulls back up at his heart lips and my stomach clenches as I realise the situation may be still be ok….

He was still here, wasn’t he-?

“Lemme see-“ I demand eagerly, and reaching out a hand to accept said items.

                                                                                                                   ***********************

Now as it turned out- we had in fact found a lighter, just unfortunately one that didn’t work...

So much for testing out those cigars-

But the letter opener- now that was sweet!

It wasn’t even rusty and opened by flicking a switch across at the other end before swiftly shooting out of the opposite- almost slicing my leg the very first time I managed to pry it open for the other teen.

“Dude-! Jeez, be careful-“ d.o reprimands, as I stare amazed at the strange metal blade before me, taking in the old knots and grooves of design on the handle. “I don’t know first aid yet-”

Chuckling, I hit his side with my shoulder and we go about passing the blade back and forth as we investigate its sharpness and whether or not it was engraved with a name.

‘Oh we are soooo keeping this one!” I’d cried, as I give the device back to him and watch as d.o effortlessly stabs it into a piece of cardboard- his big eyes widening further in shock.

“Holy, crap that’s sharp….”

“Exactly!” I grin evilly, as we resumed our search once more.

 

After this we’d half finished searching through the rest of Kyungsoo’s shelf instead- leaving behind my rather boring side, and the sky began to dim outside as we realised that we’d be forced to scoop out the rest some other time.

“Dude- tomorrow.” I say at once. As we start to make our way towards the exit, carrying out goodies in hand. “Tomorrow we are coming back here-!” I instruct, leaving little room for complaints with the sheer enthusiasm in my tone.

I mean, god if we found this stuff today- then what else could be in there??

Not to mention other draws we hadn’t even tried yet…

“You should’ve asked to stay over tonight-“ he says suddenly, and making me smile as his own excited expression looks back at me. “Then we could’ve left hell early in the morning-

‘Ahhh….I’m such an idiot.” I conclude, as he lets out a chuckle and we step back out into the fresh cooler air.

“Wah- didn’t realise how much warmer it is in there.” The lad sighs, and wiping his wrist across his sweaty forehead as he holds tight to the objects in his dirty black stained hands.

We’d picked up some neat stuff so far, and ok- by neat; we mean old and dirty.

And to others- it probably wouldn’t be so cool. But we thought it was pretty awesome-!

Aside from d.o’s knife and old lighter, he’d also rummaged around and found some old ink pots still full, a couple of old pennys and a random metal wheel that had numbers on it that we just couldn’t seem to work out what on earth it could have come from.

And I myself, got my cigars~

Which I was most definitely hanging on to- even if we did miss our shot today. Cause I know smoking is bad and all- you’d have to be an idiot not to! But… I just think there might be a time that d.o and I could be bored and curious~ and that would be an epic thing to try on such an occasion!

I also found a typewriter stored in a box- which was hell heavy and really weird to work out. BUT we’re pretty sure it still works so next time we come we're gonna try work it out on paper which’ll be fun…

Cause we were definitely coming back here… that was already decided.

“Oh man,” I say suddenly, as my eyes drop down to the messy state of d.o’s jeans. “Dude- your mums gonna dice you,”

His eyes follow my gaze, and he pulls a face at the blackened stains running down his legs- from both kneeling on the floor for so long and wiping his hands all down his front.

“… yours are the same-“ he responds, cocking his head my way as I take in the damage to my own clothes, my blue shirt dotted with random smears and prints.

Looking up, I catch the mirrored look of ‘dam’ on our expressions, before we burst into instant irresponsible laughter-

“Ahh well~ “ I hum, shrugging my shoulders as I forget the horror that my mums face would be. “We’ll just have to dodge them when we get home is all. Just like- run up to your shower and strip straight away!”

He snorts at my choice of words and too late I realise what I’ve just said-

“Omg, so inappropriate Jongin~”

“Yah-!” smacking his arm, he continues to chuckle as I grin back at him, and we make our way back to our rides stacked against the wall.

“Mmm, where am I gonna put my stuff though?” he asks suddenly and looking around at our lack of back packs. “I don’t want people to find it…”

It won’t fit in your pockets?” I sling back, and looking over the gear in his hands. “I’m gonna just shove these in- but you have got more…”

“I can’t take these anyway- if I fall off that s gonna go everywhere,” he says smartly and holding up the ink bottles as I an amused grin.

“Oh god- then you’d really be in trouble.”

Ducking back over to the room he carefully creaks the door back open and leaves the ink inside before re-joining me and shoving the rest away- only leaving that neat shiny envelope opener in his grip.

“Mm… here-“ I say, watching his struggling expression as he tries to find a spot on his persons.

Stepping forwards I take the object from his grasp and lift the hem of his shirt up-

“You can keep it under your waistband-“ I say idly, as he shifts his arm aside and I pull the side of his belted jeans away from his skin to slide the sheathed blade into place against his hip bone.

I never really noticed his stomach before….

I had never really paid attention, until now-

Hovering just a little longer than necessary I make sure its stuck in place before dropping his shirt again and stepping back with a grin, “Just hopefully it doesn’t budge when you skate.

“Ah, good thinking man!” he says with a big smile, and looking down at the barley conceivable bump to his thigh. “I reckon it’ll stay put- and more importantly they won’t be able to thief it off me when I get home either.”

“Pretty much.” I laugh, as I imagine the looks on his parent’s faces if they ever found out what he was playing with.

And it’s here when I’m looking back into his eyes that I catch that soft sort of warmth lingering there- but not like it was before, not like it was when we were just talking or rummaging through those boxes-

No, this was something different.

Something like I saw the last time we were together at his place, waiting for that movie to start….

“We better get back before it gets much later…” I say, as I roughly wipe my hands at my pants and try to break our eye contact.

“Dude- stop it!” he cries, and grinning as he reaches out to catch my wrists by my side, “You’re totally making it worse-!”

Dropping my eyes down I remember the stains-

“Oh… right.”

Bursting into laugher d.o shakes his head innocently back at me, as we turn around to pick our boards up from the wall.

“So, meet back here tomoz yeah?” I double check, as I step up onto the board’s hard surface and get ready to kick off.

“10:00. And bring food-“ the lad adds with an instant boyish grin.

 

---

Hey guys, I just wanted to quickly post the link for the awesome pic I used above by DA zzij-  http://zzij.deviantart.com/art/alleyways-51000328  :) Thanks for reading~! ^-^