Chapter Text
“I didn’t just, ‘disappear,’ on you, I went to the nurse for some headache medicine. I’ll be back for art class before it starts… No, I’m not skipping, Yongbokie, and it’s not because of Daeseong… Well, maybe a little. Either way, I already told you I didn’t sleep well last night, and now I have a headache… Whatever, I’m hanging up now.”
Minho pockets his phone and sighs. He knows Yongbok is just looking out for him, but this headache is killing him. The fresh bruise on his face isn’t helping, either. Minho enters the school infirmary and asks the nurse for some headache medicine, repeating what he just told Yongbok a minute earlier. The nurse asks Minho if he’d like her to send a note to the art teacher that he won’t be able to attend class. She’s familiar with Minho by now, often seeing him for headaches and the occasional scrape or cut that Minho insists happens just because he’s clumsy. Sometimes, she offers the infirmary bed, knowing by now that he doesn’t get a lot of sleep at home.
It’s also become a common practice to ask Minho if he wants a note sent up to the teacher since he’ll never directly ask for it himself.
“You don’t need to, I’ll be fine for class.”
“Do you need anything else?”
Minho knows what she’s implying.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
He thanks her for the medicine and heads out. The nurse writes up a note anyways, knowing that he’s likely not heading back to class. She’s figured out by now that he doesn’t want to bother her with extra work just for him.
Feeling the headache getting worse, Minho heads outside to get some fresh air. He heads to a backless bench that he and Yongbok hang out at all the time, as if by muscle memory. He takes the medicine and lies down, watching the clouds pass over the sky and listening to the trees.
He always thought he was lucky that his high school was close to the mountains. He's loved the forest since he was a little kid. It’s easy to wander around in one, not having to worry about anybody for hours if he so desires. Minho lets his mind wander with the breeze, his headache fading, wishing that he could just stay like this instead of going back to class. Why should he waste his time dealing with idiots that don’t even want him there, anyways?
And then he closes his eyes, not feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket.
𓂃𓂃𓂃𓇢𓆸༻𓂃𓂃𓂃
“...Up… Missed class… wake up. Minho, wake up!”
Minho slowly opens his eyes to see Yongbok’s face. He blinks twice, staring at Felix’s face.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class, Yongbok?” Minho thinks. “ Technically, I’m supposed to be in class, too, if I think about it… Shit, what time is it?”
Minho quickly sits up and pulls out his phone. He turns it on to immediately be faced by several text notifications from Yongbok asking him where he is. Minho faces Yongbok and opens his mouth to apologize, but Yongbok cuts him off.
“It was fucking Daeseong again, wasn’t it? I swear only the nurse and Mr. Wang actually cares about it.” He pauses. “That being said, Mr. Wang was sorry to hear that you weren’t joining, though he seemed understanding about it. Started a new unit, he said you’d enjoy this one.”
“Sorry…” Minho looks away, practically whispering.
“If your nights are getting worse again, you can sleep over at my house for a bit. That seemed to work the last time it got this bad.”
“I think that would be a good idea, I’ll let my mom know… Thank you.”
Yongbok hands him one of the two popsicles he was holding.
“Here.”
Minho takes it.
Yongbok stands up, and gestures for Minho to do the same.
“We’re going for a walk, you still look half-asleep.” Yongbok laughs, and then starts walking away.
Minho stands and jogs to catch up.
𓂃𓂃𓂃𓇢𓆸༻𓂃𓂃𓂃
“So what were you daydreaming about before you fell asleep. Surely it was something important, or else you wouldn’t have skipped class. Though you did fall asleep, so it can’t have been something that important.”
Minho chuckles. If it were anyone else, he would have to deal with judgment, criticism, and insults. But, it’s Yongbok. Yongbok never judges or criticizes, no matter how bad it may get.
He hums a little, contemplating how much he feels like sharing.
“Before I fell asleep, I was thinking about being an actor… There’s something liberating about acting. I can become anyone. It’s like… I can see the world from outside of a window…” Minho trails off, staring at the trees with a visible spark in his eyes. He inhales and looks at Yongbok, who’s patiently waiting for him to finish his sentence.
“I can be free.” Minho smiles softly, and then looks away.
Yongbok stops walking and grabs Minho’s hand.
“I understand.”
Minho looks back at Yongbok, seeing a faint hint of blush on his cheeks, which in turn, makes Minho flustered as well. They stand in silence, as if frozen in time, the only sound the wind blowing through the trees. The sun making patterns on their faces as it shines through the branches. But then, quietly over the rustle of the leaves, two voices emerge.
“And then they say, ‘I have to go now.’”
“Are you sure? It’s amazing, but we need the perfect actor to deliver that kind of line.”
“I’ll find them… but the film club is already so small this year. Jeongin and I were the only ones interested in joining other than the returning members. Will anyone else be interested?”
“Don’t be so pessimistic. We’ll find the perfect actor somewhere. We just have to keep looking… Oh my god. I found them, Seungmin, we need to ask them right now.”
“Jisung, wait-”
Minho and Yongbok break apart at the sound of the approaching voices, and turn around to see one guy running enthusiastically up to them. The second is jogging behind, clearly tired and embarrassed for his friend.
“Hey! Sorry for interrupting like this but I was wondering if you’d like to act in our short film. You look perfect for it.” He hands them both a paper. “Fill this out and submit it to the film club by Friday, we’re holding auditions on Monday. Oh, I’m Jisung by the way, a second year and film club member.” Jisung turns to see Seungmin has arrived. “And this is Seungmin, he’s a first year and also in the film club.”
Seungmin looks at the papers that Minho and Yongbok are holding.
“Sorry about that, Jisung gets a little too excited sometimes. Those are application papers. If you’d like to act for our short film, feel free to fill those out and submit them to the film club by this Friday. We’re auditioning on Monday so we can’t take late forms. The synopsis of the short film and contact information is on the second page. We’re submitting this for the short film festival coming up, so you’ll need to be ok with strangers seeing your acting. We’ll stop disturbing you guys now, sorry again.”
Seungmin grabs Jisung’s arm, “Jisung we’re leaving.”
And with that, the two boys disappear as quickly as they appeared, leaving Minho and Yongbok staring at the application forms in shock and confusion.
“What was that about?” Minho wondered aloud. He skims the application and synopsis.
“Leave.” Minho blurts out.
“What?”
“That’s what it’s called. Sounds interesting. One of the main characters is from a parallel world.”
𓂃𓂃𓂃𓇢𓆸༻𓂃𓂃𓂃
“Wait, Yongbokie, I just realized. Tomorrow is Friday. That guy from earlier totally didn’t realize the date, didn’t he? We have less than a day to actually decide if we’re doing this.”
Yongbok turns around in his chair, showing off a completed application form.
“Catch up actor-boy, I’ve already decided and filled mine out. You should fill yours out, too, before you pass out on my bed.” Yongbok laughs.
“Screw you,” Minho smirks, getting up with a stretch to fill out his form. “You know I was waiting for you to say yes. And I wasn’t about to pass out.”
“Oh sure, I totally didn’t hear you yawn earlier. Also, you would’ve filled it out with or without me.” Yongbok playfully shoves Minho with his shoulder.
“I don’t think they would’ve even approached me without you in the first place. You know everyone who doesn’t hate me just avoids me.” Minho shoves Yongbok back.
“I don’t hate or avoid you.” Yongbok says with a sigh.
“You’re different-” Minho interrupts himself with a yawn. “Dammit, I think you might be onto something. I’m going to bed.”
Minho puts his completed application form in his school bag and sets off to go wash up in the bathroom. When he comes back, Yongbok is already in his pajamas - just an old t-shirt and boxers. As Yongbok is in the bathroom, Minho changes into his pajamas - another old t-shirt and boxers.
As he sits on the futon that he’s borrowing, a sudden wave of exhaustion hits him, despite the nap he had earlier that day. Minho can barely keep his eyes open anymore, and falls asleep with the lights still on and before Yongbok returns.
𓂃𓂃𓂃𓇢𓆸༻𓂃𓂃𓂃
“Minho, listen to me! You know he just wants to apologize, give him a chance!”
Yongbok yells at Minho, but he isn’t listening to him. Minho’s upset, furious at… someone? And when did he even get to school in the first place?
“ Why is Yongbok yelling at me? I thought he was in the bathroom. And what am I mad at? ”
He’s trying to connect the dots, frustratingly pacing around the class for reasons unknown to him. Minho’s head is throbbing. He notices there’s blood smeared on his sleeve, and scrapes on his knuckles.
“He doesn’t care about me, and he never did. Why should he start now?” Minho shouts back, though he didn’t want to. He runs out of the school and down the street, feeling an odd sense of deja vu.
“ What… Oh no. No, no, no, no.” Minho realizes he’s having one of his recurring nightmares, but he can’t force himself to wake up. As if he’s trapped in his own body, he can’t stop running; watching the familiar scenes play out before him. He’s panicking.
As he crosses an intersection, he hears a car screech and sees a blinding light-
Minho jolts awake, breathing heavily and sweat dripping from his forehead. He blinks quickly to get the image out of his mind, and pulls his knees up to his chest. He sits like that, trying but failing to calm himself down.
“That was just a dream. Just because it felt real, it doesn’t mean it happened.”
He feels a hand against his back, which startles him. Yongbok is already halfway off his bed to sit with Minho on the floor.
“Did you have another nightmare? I heard you yelling something in your sleep, and then you just woke up.”
“Yongbokie… We… We were at home the whole time, right?” Minho blinks rapidly, still clearly out of it. “We weren’t fighting… I was just waiting for you to come back… But the car… “ Minho trails off, his breaths getting quicker the more he thinks about it.
Yongbok turns on the bedroom light and quickly returns to Minho on the floor.
“Minho, we were at home the whole time. We never left, see?” He pulls Minho up from the floor and onto his bed. Minho gets a good look at the room around him, and his breathing slows down as he starts to calm down. “We can sleep in my bed for the rest of the night, so that way you’re not alone on the floor, ok?”
Minho nods, and then gets settled on Yongbok’s bed.
“I’m going to turn the lights off now, but I’ll keep the lamp on just in case.” Yongbok turns on the lamp, turns off the bedroom light, and goes to lie back down on his bed next to Minho.
Minho, already half-asleep as the adrenaline wears off, grabs onto Yongbok’s arm.
“It felt too real for it to be a dream, Yongbokie,” he whispers. “It felt different…” Yongbok felt a sudden squeeze on his arm as Minho trailed off, already quietly asleep.
For the rest of the night, Minho sleeps soundly while holding onto Yongbok’s arm.