Chapter Text
The sun slowly shined through the room, the light making its way to minghaos sleeping face. The warm bright light caused him to stir in his sleep, the man turning the other way to avoid it.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Minghao let out a groan as the shrill sound of the alarm clock pierced through the peaceful silence. With a lazy hand he fumbled for the off button, slamming down on when he eventually got to it. 7:00 AM. It was time to start yet another shift cleaning and sanitizing a towering corporate building. He sighed as he sat up and swung his legs over the bed, staring at the wall while he thought about how much he wanted to sleep in.
"MINGHAOO!!! I made you breakfast!!!" A cheery voice from downstairs shouted.
Food is at least worth getting up for, minghao thought. With all his strength and courage, minghao finally got out of bed and made his way downstairs and into the kitchen. There he saw his best friend, Kim Mingyu using chopsticks to scrambled the eggs in the pan.
"Hey gyu." Minghao sleepily said.
"Hi hao!!! You ready for work??"
Minghao's response was a weary groan as he slumped into a chair at the table. "I wish I could call in sick, but I need to save up my money if I want to get into art school. You know the place I want to go to has a tuition that costs a fucking buttload. All I want to do is follow my dream and fate decides to have other plans for me."
Mingyu looked over at his roommate, the boy with his head down on the table as he stared at him cooking. He frowned. "I'm sorry that it's taking a while to get into your dream school Hao and I know cleaning up after snobbish rich people isn't the best job either...If only your parents didnt- "
"Don't mention them." Minghao said sharply, frustration appearing on his face. Mingyu slightly flinched at the aggressive tone and his face turned into that of a sad puppy. Minghao sighed at his best friends expression, "I'm sorry Mingyu, I didn't mean to get all angry like that. I'll just have to pick up more shifts." Minghao said as he got up from his chair and started heading towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Mingyu pouted and started following him, "I should be sorry hao! I didnt mean to bring it up again like that....It's just that, you could've been in a way better place right now..I'm just angry at what they did to you."
Minghao stopped walking and sighed, his head down, "I know..."
—
Minghao sighed as he waited for an obnoxiously long red light to turn green. It had been almost 4 minutes and nothing. Any longer and he's just going to drive straight through traffic.
"If I'm just gonna sit here, might as well listen to something." He told himself as he put the radio on to one of his favorite stations.
He hummed along to the song that was currently playing, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel while the light turned green. Minghao began to continue his drive to work, dreading the next eight hours of breaking his back with mopping and his have his feet ache from climbing up and down a million stairs.
"What's your ETA what's your ETA." Minghao sung while taking a left turn.
"I said what's your ET-AHHHH!"
Minghao screamed as he tried gaining control of his car as it began to slide across the road, his hands turning the steering wheel crazily. He pressed down on the breaks as hard as he could, eventually coming to a hard stop on the sidewalk. "my fucking god-" the air bag comes in next, doing its job a bit too late.
"ughh." Minghao groaned, his voice muffled through the airbag in his face.
"OH MY GOSH ARE YOU OKAY?!!!" A voice shouts from the other side.
Minghao grits his teeth in anger and lifts his head up, "What the fuck does it look like asshole?! My car literally skidded across the whole road, my arm is bleeding, and not to mention how my car is absolutely totaled-" His words came to a quick stop once he looked up at the approaching driver who had crashed into him. But as his gaze met the other man's, shock and disbelief washed over him like a cold wave crashing against the shore.
"W-Wen Junhui?"
The man's confusion mirrored Minghao's own, "How do you know my name? Have we met before-" his voice faltering when he got a better look at who he had crashed into. Memories flooded his mind, stirring emotions that had long been buried beneath the surface.
"Minghao....I can't believe it's you..." Junhui said, walking closer to him as he reached his hand out for Minghao to take.
Minghao's response was a cold glare at his hand, eventually turning his head away from it as a way of showing his rejection for Junhuis help.
Junhui frowned and slowly dropped his hand back to his side. "I'm sorry about crashing into you...you see I was on my to an important job meeting that my dad had set up for me and I-"
"And you fucking destroyed my car!! I worked so hard to pay this shit off and you decide to ram your fancy sports car in it!!!! My car is completely ruined compared to yours!!!" Minghao spat while flinging the unhinged car door open. He walked over to Junhui, anger taking over his face.
Junhui gulped nervously as he remembered how scary Minghao can be when he gets angry. He sighed, "Look I can help you pay for it and I can also get you a better car too! You can't seriously be crying over a car like that." Junhui pointed over to the totaled car. It already had looked pretty beaten up before it was crashed into, the paint chipping off, a headlight held up together by tape and a handle missing from one of the doors.
Minghao turned red from embarrassment and began to lash out once again, "You don't know anything about my car! So what if it's not latest model like yours, it was bought with my own hard earn money. But you wouldn't know about that, daddy's boy."
Junhui frowned at the nickname, "I don't want to pick more fights with you Minghao, the crash was 100 percent my fault. I was....i was distracted. I promise to pay you in any way you'd like."
"You destroyed something I worked for. I'm going to need some interest with that."
Junhui smiled slightly, "Then that's what I'll give you."
Minghao was still frowning, his anger not only coming from the wreckage of his car, but because of Junhui. There was so much he wanted to tell the older man, but he bit his tongue, Junhui didn't deserve to know anything about what's happened in the last six years. And also because there was a group of people gathering to see the crash.
"I guess I also need to get a tow truck for you, and also a ride to wherever you were going." Junhui says.
Minghao gasps as he realizes he was supposed to be on his way to work. Panic begins to creep up on him as he realizes how late he's going to be and how angry his boss will be too.
Junhui notices his panic and is quick with a solution to clam the younger, "Since both of our cars are in need of some repair, why don't we take a cab together? I'll pay for both destinations."
Minghao wanted to say no. He wanted to say no so badly. But there was no other way he would make it to work on time. The bus would come late and so would a train. He sighed, no other choice but to say—
"Fine, but only because I have a job to go to. Other than that I would never in a million years leave with you."
Junhui forced a smile, "Great."