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Junhui scowled at the number on his wrist. He was getting sick of watching all his friends reach the end of their timer adventure, where they joyfully count down the seconds before they meet their fated one, hug, and tell each other, "I've been waiting for so long!" Even after they begin dating, he still had to endure the same lines- "I missed you, it's been too long!" It's only been 10 minutes, they literally just went to the washroom, calm yourselves.
He sighed. He wasn't going to admit it out loud but he wanted a cheesy adventure, too. But his number had always been there, a big fat "0". Where was the suspense? Where was the wonder? Where was the surprise and joy when he finally meets his soulmate?
"Why the long face, Junhui?" Soonyoung slid into the seat next to him, resting his chin near the edge of the table, looking up at him with innocent puppy eyes, "Want to go play basketball?" All his oh-so-thoughtful-and-friendly classmate was trying to do was get his friend's usual high spirits back, but all Junhui could see was Soonyoung flaunting his newly formed tattoo in front of him.
"Say," Junhui began slowly, inching his hand towards the curving pattern-less lines embroidering Soonyoung's wrist, "how much do you think it'd cost to get a skin implant?"
"Jesus, calm the fuck down!" Soonyoung struggled, ripping his arm away from Junhui's tightening claws, "Hey, look, isn't it good you've met your soulmate already?"
"But I haven't, that's the problem. Besides, isn't it supposed to turn into a tattoo or something?" Junhui whined childishly, flopping half of his body on top of his desk, completely discouraged. It didn't help that they had a self-study period next, there was really absolutely nothing to look forward to, today was just going to pass like any other boring day.
"Well, maybe that is your tattoo." His desk mate prompted, a futile attempt to cheer Junhui up, "It's a lame-ass one, but it's still something- Hey, NO BITING!" Soonyoung's voice raised to a screech as Junhui mercilessly bit down on the poor boy's shoulder.
Thankfully for Soonyoung, a newcomer to the conversation came to relieve Junhui of his teething, "What are we talking about?"
"Go away, you're not going to help." Junhui immediately griped, throwing an empty coffee cup at the unwanted new presence. Namely, Jeon Wonwoo, and to explain why Junhui was feeling extra aggravated by his presence, he was Soonyoung's recently found soulmate, yet they were acting like honeymooners already.
Immediately realizing what the topic was from Junhui's reaction, Wonwoo placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes full of sympathy (or at least from what he can muster because come on, he's not the single one), "Don't worry. Maybe your timer's broken, or maybe you had a twin and-"
"You have ten seconds to take your trash hamster and leave. 10, 9, 8-"
Junhui scoffed as Wonwoo disappeared out the door, dragging Soonyoung with him. They knew that Junhui's wrath shouldn't be taken lightly. Well, normally he was very patient, it was just on this particular topic where he becomes pretty... antsy.
He stared down at the "0" printed over his wrist. What does it mean? What if Wonwoo was right? No, wait, let's not jump to conclusions, Wonwoo was never right. Somewhere down the hallway, a certain facially inept boy sneezed.
The day went by exactly how he expected it to go - dull, boring, painfully predictable. Except today felt especially dull for Junhui. Normally he would walk home with Soonyoung, but ever since Wonwoo's appearance in their friend group, those two have been walking home together, and although a bitter person, Junhui wouldn't stoop as low as to intentionally interrupt their moments. All right, he just didn't want to be a third-wheel, it wasn't fun.
Just when he was about to trudge upon his lonely single way, a notification went off from his phone. Swiping aside the lock screen, Junhui arched an eyebrow to see Minghao's private message-
[Sent 5:23pm]
Want to go home together? We have sashimi in the fridge.
[Sent 5:24pm]
My angel! ｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡
[Sent 5:24pm]
Lol I figured you'd be feeling lonely because of Soonyoung's new status.
[Sent 5:25pm]
Btw I'm bringing a friend from class along, is that cool with you?
[Sent 5:27pm]
Yup yup, that's completely fine!
Thank you Xiao Hao Hao~ ♥～(‘▽^人)
Junhui spent two minutes pondering about the identity of this mysterious friend Minghao was bringing home. It wasn't that he doubted his childhood friend and neighbor had other friends, but it was very rare for Minghao to invite someone over (aside from Junhui because their family had known each other for years). Well, if Minghao approved of him as a worthy human being, he was sure there wouldn't be a problem.
Boy, was he wrong.
"Jun, over here!" Minghao was bouncing up and down excitedly as Junhui made his way towards their meeting point, a horrifyingly familiar figure next to him, "Surprise! Look who's back!"
As the youngest boy looked from Junhui to the "mysterious new friend", the two stared at each other, but with different emotions and intensity.
"It's been a while, Jun..." The younger raven haired boy smiled, but his lips quirked up at an awkward angle.
"...Lee Seokmin." Junhui suppressed a shudder. He remembered him all too well. After all, who can forget their childhood bully?
Junhui stabbed his chopsticks into the poor innocent raw salmon pieces. How could Minghao invite him over? Out of all the bad choices in guests, he had to go with Lee Seokmin, the guy who traumatized and occupied his childhood nightmares.
What could a child even do, you ask? Well, let's see, he would tell the other kids not to play with Junhui so the latter spent a good chunk of his kindergarten days a loner, which resulted in broken social skills when he grew older. He used to steal food from him during snack time and meals, and he insisted on sleeping next to him during nap time. His goddamn snoring was the reason why Junhui developed dark circles at a young age.
What do you mean it's not as bad as it sounds? All right, fine, maybe not anymore, but back then it was terrifying. He had to endure this for 13 years before the troublemaker finally moved away, give him a break. Not to mention there was that one accident that almost costed Junhui's life-
"GAH!"
"Oh, sorry, I just..." Seokmin smiled at Junhui from across the table, his chopsticks were caught in-between Junhui's, "I was just going to remove the eggplants. You can't eat them, right?"
The older boy blinked, then quickly withdrew his chopsticks, "You could have just asked..."
"Sorry, habit." Seokmin replied, his smile unwavering as he took the dark purple vegetables from Junhui's bowl.
Again with the awkward smile...
Another thing that used to terrify Junhui about Seokmin was how much he smiled, deceiving everyone around him. They all thought he was some happy-go-lucky sunflower, but Junhui knew better. He knew that it was all just a facade. It made him scared. Whenever he saw that forced smile, he'd feel strong pain in his chest.
Wait, what...? Do you feel pain in your chest when you're scared? He blinked. Well, of course! Because Lee Seokmin is a terrifying person!
"Hm, it's raining pretty hard outside. Why don't you two stay over for the night?"
Junhui whipped his head around, attempting to glare daggers into Minghao. Of all the cheesy excuses, what the hell was that shit about? He was about to insist on going home when lightning struck outside the window, making him literally jump out of his chair. The two younger boys looked over at him with raised eyebrows.
"...I call the shower."
With that, Junhui escaped from the table.
He didn't know how he let Minghao talk him into sharing the one guest room in his friend's apartment with his sworn enemy. Childhood enemy, whatever. He was not being petty, shut up. That doesn't mean he didn't put up a fight while Seokmin was having his turn in the shower though.
"How could you let him stay over? He's my childhood nightmare!" Junhui had griped towards Minghao in a furious whisper, half scared that Seokmin was going to come out and overhear their conversation in the next second or so.
"The hell are you talking about?" Minghao had scowled, crossing his arms and examining the boy who was supposed to be a year older than him but never acted his age. Never.
"Don't you remember? He used to bully me all the time! He made my childhood miserable!"
The youngest of the trio had merely arched an eyebrow, wondering if Junhui had finally lost it, "That's not how I remember it. You two were the closest friends from my point of view. Seokmin used to fend off kids who made fun of you for looking like a girl back then, ate stuff you didn't like for you, and slept next to you when you lost your stuffed toy."
Junhui had stared at Minghao, his mouth hanging open at a loss for words. Did Minghao even understand the shit he was saying?
"He told the other kids to leave me alone-"
"Because they were making fun of you." Minghao had replied patiently.
"He stole my food-"
"Because you didn't like the 'yucky purple stuff.'"
"He snored next to my ear-"
"Well, that's not really something you can plan, is it?" Minghao had sighed exasperatedly, "You really don't remember? When you found out Seokmin was moving away, you stormed out of the playground, onto the road, and-"
"And straight into a car." Junhui had finished, leaning against the wall tiredly. Who was he fooling? Lee Seokmin was his childhood bully. Or at least that was what he made himself believe. It made it far more easier for him to forget about him and move on.
After the accident, Junhui had evidently miraculously survived, but Seokmin was gone by the time he opened his eyes. So he pretended that he never put up a weak front so that Seokmin would always come to his rescue; he pretended that he never asked for extra eggplants on purpose so that Seokmin would eat lunch with him; he pretended that he never hid his stuffed bunny under his bed so that Seokmin would offer to sleep next to him and "chase the nightmares away"; he pretended that he never felt sad that Seokmin never told him the truth, that he was moving away-
And he pretended that he forgot about Seokmin running after him, knocking him out of the way just in time, and hurting his own wrist in the process.
All he pretended to know was that when he woke up in the hospital, the timer on his wrist had stopped at zero, and refused to move on ever since.
Junhui sat on the bed, playing with the house slippers Minghao had made him put on. He watched them dangle from his toes and flopped them around for a bit. Occasionally one would fall with a dull thud, and Junhui would merely hook it back up and resume his pointless game of boredom.
The shower door opened, and Junhui swallowed. Please don't let it be one of those cheesy "I-accidentally-saw-him-coming-out-of-the-shower" scenes, please don't...
"Oh, I thought you'd be asleep by now." A thankfully fully clothed Seokmin smiled with mild surprise in his eyes when he saw Junhui sitting on the edge of the bed. It only made Junhui scowl. Again with that awkward smile...
"Why are you back?" Junhui asked in a quiet tone, focusing his eyes on the spot in front of Seokmin's feet.
"Dad's business trip is finally over, so..." Seokmin heaved a deep sigh, coming forward and leaning down so that his face was leveled with Junhui, "Let's cut the crap, what do you really want to ask?"
Junhui opened his mouth, then closed it again. Darting his eyes everywhere but on Seokmin. He felt his lips go dry and ran his tongue over them nervously. Seokmin waited patiently, looking into Junhui's eyes seriously even though the latter refused to meet his.
"...When are you leaving again?"
"I'm here to stay this time."
Junhui ran his tongue across again, then chewed on his bottom lip with his brow furrowed. Subconsciously, his eyes trailed down Seokmin's exposed arms, towards his wrist. He almost bit down on his tongue when he saw what was there. Cryptic symbols were written around his wrist, to the point that Junhui wasn't sure if they were numbers or words or both. It was like a broken timer running out of battery.
Meanwhile, Seokmin was studying Junhui's expression, silently tracing his gaze towards his own wrist, "Yes?" He prompted when Junhui merely gaped at what was supposed to be his soulmate identifier.
"W-what happened...?"
"It's been like that since the accident. My grandmother told me my soulmate probably passed away, or maybe I never had one in the beginning."
"That's absurd! Everyone has a soulmate-"
Seokmin's face was suddenly abnormally close to Junhui's, and he found himself holding his breath. A smile spread across the younger's sharp features yet again, but this time in a clearly less than friendly manner, "Does that mean you've found yours?"
The older let out a weak laugh, rolling up his sleeves to show Seokmin the ugly, boring "0" on his wrist, "Clearly."
Then there was silence. Uncomfortable silence. Junhui shifted uncomfortably on the bed, making awkward creaking noises in the process. So he forced himself to stay put and stop moving while Seokmin continued to stare at him through narrowed eyes.
Finally, the younger let out a sigh and dropped his weight forward, pulling Junhui towards him in the process. The next second, Junhui found himself wrapped in Seokmin's embrace, and the younger was whispering into his ear with a shaky tone, "Jun, you don't have to say anything, I just want you to listen... Your timer turned to zero when we got you to the hospital, which means your soulmate was there, but you two never 'met', that's why it's frozen now. At least that was the doctor's guess."
Junhui blinked, feeling his heart beating rapidly. Not at the thought of how close he was to meeting his soulmate, but because of the position they were in. Strange, he thought he had been more than eager to find his soulmate before today.
"What I'm saying is... They're probably still out there. Looking for you."
Somehow, the thought didn't make Junhui's heart speed up even one bit, but the way Seokmin's voice had lowered into a husky tone sure did.
"There's still a chance, Jun, you can find them and be happy-"
Junhui pushed Seokmin off gently, a smile quirked up his lips as he noticed the younger's reddening eyes. Finally, he was seeing his true colors. That stupid facade of a smile was honestly ticking him off. "You're such a hypocrite." His smile widened as Seokmin's eyes grew wide from the sudden accusation, "If you really wanted me to be happy with my soulmate, you wouldn't have bothered to come back... Ah geez, now everything's messed up because of you."
Though I should have realized it sooner. Junhui laughed to himself, cupping Seokmin's face and drawing him closer. Chuckling to himself at Seokmin's still very much confused expression, Junhui placed a light peck on the younger's lips.
"...But your soulmate-"
"Is right here." Junhui interrupted, pulling him back down and deepening the earlier peck into a smooch.
After a few seconds of deciding whether he was going to continue being the nice guy and follow the soulmate system, Seokmin decided to give into his selfish side and respond to Junhui's kiss, slipping his arms around the older's slim waist in the process. When they finally separated to allow room for breathing, Junhui suddenly wrapped his arms around Seokmin's neck and pulled him downwards, blinking up at him with feigned innocence.
Seokmin leaned down, pressing his forehead against Junhui's, looking into the older's eyes and finally receiving response for the first time in forever, "...The soulmate system..."
"Screw the soulmate system."
"I'd much rather screw you."
"NO SEX IN MY BLOODY HOUSE, JESUS CHRIST, I LEAVE YOU TWO ALONE FOR ONE SECOND-"
Junhui and Seokmin quickly sprang up from the bed as Minghao's angry ranting continued on from outside the doorway. Finally feeling the embarrassment catching up to him, Junhui felt the tips of his ears burn up, and he sheepishly shrunk into the blankets.
Needless to say, Seokmin was never invited to Minghao's place again, at least not along with Junhui. But that was fine, they could just invite each other to their own houses. Soonyoung tells Junhui it's a sickness, but he didn't see how they were different from him and Wonwoo.
Maybe they were all sick.
"Junhui, your boyfriend's here to see you... again." Soonyoung rolled his eyes, pushing Junhui towards the window, "Wasn't he just here last recess?"
"Don't you have Wonwoo's face to eat out?" Junhui retorted, but his annoyed atmosphere was immediately replaced by bliss as Seokmin came to view, crossing his arms upon the window frame, "How's it going~?"
"I imagine he feels the same from one hour ago-"
"Go away, Soonyoung!"
Seokmin chuckled, tugging Junhui over and planting an adoring kiss on the tip of his right ear, "Much better now that I've done that-"
"Call the cheese police!"
As much as he wanted to drown in a lovey-dovey world with Seokmin, Junhui figured he needed to take care of Soonyoung first. Seokmin merely chuckled as Soonyoung bickered with Junhui until Wonwoo arrived to feed his boyfriend chips.
If this was really a sickness, then Junhui never wanted to be cured. Although Seokmin still seemed troubled by the fact that Junhui's actual soulmate might still be looking for him, Junhui assured him that he wouldn't let himself be stolen. After all, his soulmate wasn't the one who risked his life to save him. Who said a soulmate had to be a romantic interest? Maybe they would just be best buds!
And the zero on his wrist? It didn't bother him anymore.
Zero. It was the start, and at the same time, the end.