Chapter Text
"Morning!"
Min Ho looks up from the coffee in his hand and shoots a smile at Q, who is walking out of his room with a small spring in his step. He can see Dae do the same next to him.
"Hey. Sleep good?" he asks.
Q hums and grabs a yogurt out of the fridge, along with a tea spoon he fishes out of the drying rack. He walks over to the kitchen island and leans against it to face Min Ho and Dae both. "Florian and I are hanging out tonight." he grins and shoves a spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.
Dae smiles right back at him. "That explains the good mood."
Q flashes him another smile and Min Ho laughs at his friend's lovestruck expression. "Should we wait up for you or do you reckon you'll be too tired to even walk home afterwards?" he shoots a wink at Q, ignoring the faux-affronted expression on his face.
"I'll be home by eleven, thank you very much," he says with a roll of his eyes, "And there will be nothing inappropriate happening. We're just hanging out."
Min Ho chuckles. "Sure, mate."
"We are very happy for you," Dae chimes in with that lovely smile of his plastered on his face. Min Ho can't help but smile as well, every time he sees it. It's like he's been conditioned to mirror Dae's sweetheart personality at times like these, when it's so obvious how deeply Dae cares for his friends and Min Ho feels all loved and cherished by him.
Q thanks them and finishes his yogurt in record time, walking off to the bathroom to get ready for his day.
Min Ho looks over at Dae, who has gone to rinse his empty mug in the kitchen sink. "Guess that just leaves the two of us for tonight. You wanna watch something?"
"Sorry. I promised my dad I would come home for the weekend. He's picking me up at four." he shrugs, sending Min Ho an apologetic smile.
Min Ho pouts. "Seriously? You guys are leaving me alone on a Friday night?"
Dae's eyes flit over to the closed door of Kitty and Q's room and Min Ho knows what he is about to suggest before he even opens his mouth. "You can always hang out with Kitty."
Min Ho doesn't even dignify that with a response. He drowns the rest of his coffee and leaves the empty mug in the sink to be dealt with later.
Dae sighs, but doesn't push the issue any more. He knows better than to start a discussion about Kitty. They could go back and forth forever, with Dae trying to convince Min Ho to treat the girl better, to give her a chance, but they'll always ultimately circle back to the fact that Dae has been cheating on her all summer. At least Min Ho's disrespect towards her is reciprocated.
"Whatever. I'm off to class." Dae smiles at Min Ho, a little awkwardly. He grabs his backpack from the couch and shouts a farewell to Q through the closed bathroom door. Then he's gone.
As if on cue, Kitty opens the door of her room as soon as Dae leaves their dorm. She comes shuffling into the living room, looking like she wants nothing more than to go back to sleep. She's wearing a thick purple hoodie and sweatpants with multiple stains on them. Her hair is tied in a loose bun with strands sticking out of it in every direction. It's driving Min Ho insane. He genuinely wishes he could just step closer to her and brush through her hair to make it nice and neat. Or, preferably, shave it all off.
"Someone's looking adorable," he teases, "do you even sleep at night? It might help with those eyebags, you know?"
Kitty huffs and walks into the kitchen to start boiling water for her coffee. "Gee, thanks, Min Ho. That's only the twentieth time this week you pointed them out."
He flashes her a tight smile and watches her work. She pulls out a tall thermo flask and scoops a few spoons of instant coffee into it.
"That much caffeine cannot be good for your skin," Min Ho mutters as she fills the flask to the brim with hot water.
"That much judgement cannot be good for your personality," she shoots back without hesitation, screwing the thermos shut.
Min Ho grins, not quite able to stop himself. Not when Kitty is so effortlessly fun and always up for a challenge. Always able to keep up with him.
He opens his mouth to let her know just how judgy he can be, when Q strides back into the kitchen.
"Hey, you awake?" he asks Kitty and walks up to her to give her a one armed hug. Kitty hums and leans into his side, letting him support her entire body weight. Q looks down on her, and Min Ho can see the concern on his face when he turns to face her properly. "Are you okay?"
Min Ho doesn't care about the answer, obviously, but he does stop typing a message to his mom for a second. Kitty shrugs and steps away from Q's hold. "I'm fine. I stayed up late, doing research for this paper that's due today."
That's a lie, Min Ho wants to say. Q beats him to it.
"You sure?" he says, every bit the awesome, concerned friend that everyone deserves. "You look... off."
"Yeah. I'm okay. Just a little tired" Kitty shrugs.
Q meets Min Ho's gaze over the top of Kitty's head, and Min Ho suppresses the guilty feeling that tries to rise up in his chest, as if he'd been caught red handed. He clears his throat and hastily grabs his bag from where it's been sitting on the kitchen island.
"Well, I'm off. Have a good day." he smiles at Q and rushes out of the dorm before either of them can reply. He pushes all thoughts of Kitty to the back of his mind for the rest of the day.
---------------------
Min Ho ends up in their dorm room right after classes end, bored out of his mind. He helps Q pick an outfit for his date with Florian, which Q still denies is anything more than a friendly hangout, and wishes him good luck when he leaves a few minutes before seven o'clock.
Then, he prepares the easiest dinner he can think of, and eats it on the couch, grateful for the fact that there's no one to scold him for doing so. He tries watching a movie, but it's not nearly as fun when he is alone and his hilarious commentary of what's happening on screen goes unanswered. He ends up scrolling through his Instagram feed for hours, before there's a disruption.
Kitty comes through their front door just when he is trying to convince himself to leave the comfort of their little couch and get started on his skincare routine. He listens to what sounds like her taking her shoes off and throwing them carelessly into a corner, before she comes into the living room, back hunched and backpack hanging precariously off of one shoulder.
He slowly raises an eyebrow and watches as she lets it fall to the ground completely, leaving it lying on the floor, before she walks up to the kitchen counter and fills the kettle up with water. Her movements are heavy, and it seems like she sags closer to the ground with every second that passes by. Min Ho sits up properly from his slouched position against the couch cushions and clears his throat.
"You alright there, Covey?" he tries, his voice carefully blank.
Kitty startles, and her whole body spasms hard, as if she just now realized Min Ho's there. Min Ho winces and shifts to his feet. She doesn't turn around, simply turns on the kettle and leans her elbows against the counter, letting her head fall low between her shoulders. It almost looks like she wants to fall asleep right there, standing up, with the water starting to boil right next to her head.
Min Ho isn't sure what to do. If Q were here, he would've immediately sat Kitty down and made her feel better. He would ask all the right questions and make all the right faces and Kitty would lean into his side, seeking the same comfort, that Min Ho will never be able to give. Hell, even Dae would probably do something worthwhile, despite the lingering awkwardness and guilty yearning plaguing their every interaction. He cares a lot for the people he loves, Min Ho knows, and he has this weird thing where he makes everybody feel safe and well looked after. It's probably because he's an older brother.
Min Ho, however, isn't one of Kitty's close, most trusted friend. He's not even a cheating, apologetic ex. He's just... whatever.
The kettle gives a little ding as the water comes to a boil, and it seems to startle Kitty the same way Min Ho's voice did. She drags herself off of the counter, opens the cupboard, and takes out a mug at random. She sets it down with a loud bang, almost like she couldn't control her muscles enough to keep it from partially falling down, instead of being carefully lowered to where she needs it to be, and reaches for the box of tea bags to pull one out.
Min Ho doesn't even comment on the fact that she is currently stealing his red rooibos tea. Her hands are shaking as she untangles the string from the bag and sets it into the mug. He steps a little closer.
"Kitty, are you okay?" he asks again.
She finally looks at him, but her gaze seems wrong, somehow. Distant. Her face is kind of flushed, and there are some strands of hair sticking to her skin. She looks exhausted. "Fine." she mumbles. "Just need some tea. And a nap."
You look like you're about to keel over and die, Min Ho wants to say, but then he sees Kitty pick up her pink mug, as well as the full to the brim kettle, pour some water into it with her shaking hands, and immediately lose her grip on both.
The noise it makes is horrible. The ceramic mug shatters with a loud clatter and the kettle drops to the floor with a dull smack, metal and plastic parts all grinding against each other. Min Ho's eyes widen and he's standing behind Kitty before he even realizes he's moving.
He grabs her shoulders and she lets out a hurt little noise, which immediately makes him want to let go, but he can see the puddle of extremely hot water on the floor expanding and soaking into her socks. He pulls her towards himself, making her back up a few steps.
"Are you okay?!" his voice is hard and demanding, he knows, but Kitty is shaking in his arms, and he can see her eyes are filled with tears when she turns around to face him, and he is properly starting to panic now. "Kitty! Are you okay?" he repeats, making his words loud and clear in an effort to pierce through whatever mist has managed to cloud her senses.
Kitty sobs. "I'm sorry." her voice is uncomfortably high pitched, dazed. "I'll clean it up." she moves, as if she were about to step away from Min Ho and he can't help but tighten the death grip he has on her shoulders.
"You will do no such thing." he informs her with an air of decisiveness, leaving no room for argument. "What is wrong with you?" he asks, and he doesn't mean for it to come out that way, so accusatory and authoritative, but it does, and Kitty's crying and shaking all over again, forcing out apologies in between sobs.
Min Ho curses himself for his lack of practice with these things. He's never really had to comfort anybody. Or be comforted, for that matter. Sure, his mom would hold him and pet his hair when he was little and upset about one thing or another, but they both grew out of it eventually, and after the divorce, she was often the one needing the most coddling anyway.
Min Ho rubs careful circles into Kitty's shoulders, listening to her apologise over and over again. After a while, she quiets down, and her sobs become nothing more than little gasps for air. Her eyes are red now and her cheeks even more puffy than before, but Min Ho takes the win. He keeps stroking one of her shoulders with his hand and brings the other up to her face to try and smooth the strands of hair away from it in a display of affection so out of character for the two of them he would rather not analyse the meaning of it. The moment he touches her skin, he flinches away.
"You're burning up!" he hisses and shakes out his hand instinctively to get rid of the lingering heat. He looks at Kitty again, properly this time, and silently takes in the redness of her skin, the shine of sweat on her temples. She really has been looking worse for the wear this week, with her messy hair and the bags underneath her eyes. "Jesus, Covey..." he breathes. Min Ho thinks that if he had been paying more attention to his own stupid jabs, he might have noticed and done something earlier. Prevented this exact moment from happening, maybe.
Kitty is still shivering in front of him, and only now does Min Ho realise it's not just the sobs making her whole body shake, but probably the fever she's sporting as well. Min Ho sighs and gently pulls Kitty in the direction of her bedroom. "Okay. You're going to bed now."
Kitty trails after him, stumbling a little as they pass the threshold of her and Q's room. Min Ho supports her all the way to the bed, where she practically collapses into the mess of sheets she left there in the morning. She instantly curls into herself, bringing her legs towards her chest and hugging her knees with a low whine. Min Ho stands over her, unsure and awkward, trying to figure out what he is meant to do next. What he is allowed to do in a situation like this. God, he would have loved to let Q or Dae deal with this.
He stares at Kitty's curled up form, at the way her blazer stretches over her sides, at her wrinkled shirt which is probably getting soaked with sweat. He notices an oversized t-shirt hanging over the back of her chair, next to some shorts, and thinks that she would definitely be more comfortable wearing something other than her school uniform. He looks at the pile of clothes and then back at Kitty, who looks like she's trying to bury herself in her mattress.
He runs one hand through his hair and contemplates the possible consequences of his actions. Then he looks at the way Kitty's skirt is digging into her waist, and grabs both the shirt and the shorts, kneeling on the edge of Kitty's bed.
"Kitty, get up," he whispers.
Kitty's only response is a tiny shake of her head and a small sound that sounds so pained it kind of breaks Min Ho's heart. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud. Or even in the safety of his own mind, for that matter.
"Okay, seriously," he lays one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist, forcing her up, "You're not falling asleep like this. Put something else on first."
Kitty closes her eyes and rubs at her forehead with her hand. "Everything hurts," she croaks, and the broken sound of her voice pierces right through the centre of Min Ho's chest, like a knife.
He sucks in a sharp breath and uses the hand still resting on top of her shoulder to start pulling her blazer down. "Come on," he urges her, helping her move around until the blazer falls off her shoulders and he can throw it to the ground. He gets started on her tie when he figures out she probably isn't going to undo it herself and forces himself not to think about the fact that he is currently in Katherine Song Covey's bed, helping her undress.
Kitty then thankfully takes over and begins unbuttoning her shirt with her own clumsy fingers. With every piece of skin she uncovers, Min Ho begins to feel even more inappropriate and out of place watching her do it.
He clears his throat and stands up from the mattress, taking an aborted step back. He tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling or, really, anywhere that isn't the girl in front of him. Kitty doesn't even seem to notice he moved, simply taking off her shirt and letting it fall off the bed.
Min Ho catches sight of her reaching to undo her bra in his periphery and turns around on his heel abruptly. He shoves his hands into his pockets and listens to the sounds of Kitty pulling on the shirt he left on the bed, then taking off her skirt and exchanging it for the shorts.
It seems like Kitty is unconcerned with him standing awkwardly in the middle of the room while she's undressing, but that might be caused by her dazed state of mind. Min Ho is pretty sure she would otherwise have an awful lot to say about his presence. He probably should have stepped out to give her some space, instead of lingering around like a creep. Except, well, it's kind of hard, leaving someone, who was literally sobbing in your arms a second ago, alone, even for a minute. And Min Ho always has trouble walking away from Kitty these days. Not that he'd ever admit that.
He only turns back around when he hears Kitty flop back down. She's all curled up again, looking way too soft in her new set of clothes, and Min Ho can't stop himself from stepping closer to her.
"Good?" he asks.
"'M cold," Kitty mumbles, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. Min Ho doesn't reach out to wipe them from her face, but he does grab the blanket and spreads it over her body, tucking in her feet.
"Oh," he pauses, "can I take off your socks?"
Kitty hums quietly, otherwise not moving or saying anything else. Min Ho takes that as a yes.
He carefully tucks his fingers into the hem of one of Kitty's bright blue socks and pulls it down carefully. He does not think about how weird it is to be doing this for his best friend's ex-girlfriend. He takes the other sock off as well and spreads them out on the floor, next to her shirt and blazer, to dry. The tips of them are still wet and Min Ho is secretly glad Kitty didn't have to sleep with them on.
He readjusts Kitty's blanket as he stands up and looks at her tear-swollen face. Her shoulders shake with every shallow breath she takes. Min Ho grabs a box of tissues he finds on her bedside table and leaves it near her pillow, in case she needs it.
He kind of wishes he could do more, but he is not her friend, and the best he can do is let her sleep this off. Still, he lingers near the foot of her bed when it's time to leave.
"I'll make you some more tea," he announces, and doesn't wait to see if Kitty replied, before leaving the room and shutting the door quietly behind himself.