Chapter Text
3:06am.
Nam-gyu: Min-su? Min-su are you there? Its important.
Min-su: hi sorry im out and im tired. is it suuuper urgent? if it’s about me not coming to the movie night im not rly in the mood rn :/
Nam-gyu: It is urgent. You know how Thanos wasn’t wanting to come to the movie night either? I got back to the dorm, and he is nowhere in sight. I just brushed it off because I thought he was with you. Is he?
Min-su: oh damn. he isnt with me, altho when i was feeding the stray cats by the door he rushed past me, not even petting one kitty. Not even looking at them, which is pretty weird. Its strange, he has been super happy lately. Want me to go look 4 him? Im not rly doing much.
Nam-gyu: If you could, that would be lovely Min-su. Idk why but this is giving me the chills. Somethings up and I’m worried.
Min-su: dw about it, ill find him.
Min-su could feel the hairs on his neck stand up, painting him with quills of a porcupine. Oh how much easier that would be, he thought, I could just curl up into a ball and not deal with any of this...
It was not very common for Thanos to suddenly disappear, they all knew he would be sneaking off to see a dealer or get into fights, dodgy stuff like that. But in the winter? Now that was something to worry about. He hates the cold. He won't even get out of bed most winter days, Min-su speculated this was because he was so sensitive to the cold. His skin was so sensitive that sometimes even his wrists would bleed from how cold it was, or that’s what he was told anyway. It was kind of worrying, but he knew Thanos would be okay in the end. Tomorrow he will be back in the dorm and share breakfast with him and Nam-gyu. Things were going to be alright.
CLINK!
The sound of a glass bottle falling onto the floor. It didn’t smash by the sound of it, and it only had a few drops of whatever beverage left in it. Min-su jolted his head in the direction of the sound, and he saw the fuzzy silhouette of someone sat on the edge of a bridge. It can’t be Thanos, I’m too far away and in the wrong direction from college than the way he always goes . He checked his phone, 4:42am. He had been walking for ages searching for his friend... Keeping up his eyelids is starting to feel like a workout for poor Min-su, so he turned in the direction of college again, back the way he came.
Another sound coming from the same place. Choked up crying, and a plea to the sky, or whatever the man believed was up there; “take me home.”
Well, whoever it was, Thanos or not, they needed help, so Min-su trudged towards the now muffled sobs, slapping himself with his bare, cold hand so he could be more awake to be of more assistance to them.
“Excuse me?”
He called out shakily. And a small, lean boy snapped his head around, almost angrily, to face Min-su. Even though the orange light of the lamppost made any colours indistinct, he could tell it was Thanos from his spiky hair, almost resembling devil horns, and the way he pouted . Within a heartbeat, he rushed over to put his arms instinctively around him, pulling him away from the bridge-edge, worried sick.
“Thanos I- I have so many questions but I don't want to overwhelm you. Please explain what this is.”
Min-su started to dampen his face with tears now, too. He could feel Thanos pull away slightly to look down and think. He knew he felt guilty about this. But Min-su didn’t understand why. He didn’t understand why they were both crying, either. It just felt like the right thing for him to do. As quietly as he could, Thanos started clearing up his items from Min-su's view so as to not worry him. A large vape fell out of his slippery hands and onto the floor, clinking on the almost-empty bottle of alcohol right beside Thanos’ feet, and landing beside a fuzzy polaroid picture of... he couldn’t quite see what it was. The smaller boy tentatively lifted his head from the taller’s shoulder to inspect the scene. Once he had processed this information, his crying stopped and he stepped back to take a good look at the boy. He was looking oh so rough, it made Min-su's stomach churn and his heart sink to the bottom of his toes. Was he not taking enough care of Thanos? It’s all my fault, isn't it.
As if he could read his mind, Thanos started to speak, shakily and slurred.
“It’s not your fault. I’m sorry. I’m in a horrible state. I- I just thought...”
He swallowed hard and started pushing at his neck to not start choking up and breaking down and making a big thing of it, even though it was a big thing. He just didn’t want to worry the sweet little Min-su.
“If I got out of bed today, I might as well do it for something worthwhile. And I thought to myself; if I could do anything with my day, what would it be? I tried to be positive. But you know what, Min-su? I fucking hate my life. I despise every moment of it. So I decided that I no longer want to call in sick to classes and lay in bed, staring at the wall, ripping out my hair, getting high. I want to die. That is the only thing I want.”
They both stood in silence for a while, processing everything that just went on. And then Min-su's phone started ringing. He didn't want it to seem like he was diverting from Thanos’ situation, so he slipped the top of his phone out of his pocket to only see the name of the caller. It was Nam-gyu. Oh God I’d better answer this. And so he did.
“Have you found him? I might send out everyone to look if you haven't found him already. I’m so worried I think I might throw up, oh Min-su, I miss him so much. Sorry.. Sorry I’m in such a state. I-”
“I’m with him right now. He’s okay. I need to talk to him right now though. Speak to you soon Nam-gyu"
As soon as his best friend's name came out of his mouth, Thanos froze. He looked deep in thought, but not very good thoughts it seemed, as he started to tear up again. He felt guilty enough dragging Min-su into all of this, let alone Nam-gyu. He has dug himself a huge hole. And he doesn't know if he wants to get out of it alive.
“Please can we go home, Thanos. Please.”
Looking utterly defeated, his gaze lifted from the ground to look Min-su directly in the eyes, and instantly went over to hug him. As soon as his arms were thrown around the small boy’s shoulders, he watched another polaroid slip out of his pocket. This time he could make out what it was. A photo of the 3 of them; Thanos, Min-su and Nam-gyu at one of the other dorm’s movie night Fridays.
“Thanos-”
A car pulls up behind them. Thanos shudders at the sound of it, and closes his eyes. If it’s cops, he’s fucking screwed. He has so many things on him that he shouldn't have.
A familiar voice shouts over to them; “Come home now. Please darling”
“Nam-gyu....”