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It was cold. The gentle warmth of the watery winter sunlight had long since slipped away with the rise of the bright, icy moon. the stars chined forth with all there power, as though they hoped that, in some small way, their twinkling beauty could be as comforting as the winter sunlight. Unfortunately for the few people roaming the icy streets, stars cannot warm the skin.
Among the people rushing to their destinations, bundled tightly in long, woollen coats and soft, fluffy scarves, there was a boy. He was relatively average height wise, a little on the thinner side and what could be seen of his skin was pale and soft looking besides his cheeks which were bitten red by the impossibly cold winter wind.
He, too, was wrapped tightly in a long, woollen coat with a rather battered, red checked scarf. The biggest difference, of course, is that, unlike the other people rushing back and forth through the streets, he was standing on the street corner. There is a smallish pile of long, thin boxes piled at his feet along with a tiny tin with a lock on the lid, perfect for storing money.
Every time someone walks past him he offers them a wide, sweet smile, calling out “Do you need some matches? Only two dollars for a full box!” And people would quicken their steps, shaking their heads and avoiding eye contact until they were well out of sight. A few people smile sadly at him, as if they already know his fate.
The head of the shelter he was staying at had said that if he came back before every single box of matches was sold he would be kicked out of the shelter. There was no room for layabouts. Not with the amount of kids seeking shelter, so it was either, contribute enough money to earn your place there or sleep on the streets. Unfortunately, the latter option was becoming more and more of a reality for the boy.
As the moon continued to rise, the merger amount of people on the street continued to decline until it was only the boy and the gentle twinkling of the distant stars. Even the harsh yellow light from the streetlights seemed cold and impersonal as the temperature continued to drop even though it was already well below freezing. The boy packed up his boxes and found a snow free patch of cement just inside the mouth of a pitch black alleyway, providing a little shelter from the wild north winds. He sat down, tucking his knees into his chest trying to generate some body heat to the best of his ability. The little tiny remained depressingly empty.
The boy looked at the long thin boxes. He knew that the matches inside might just be enough to keep him alive for the night. But then again using the matches he was unable to pay for would certainly cement the fact that he would never be able to return to the shelter. The matches had been given to him to sell not to use after all. He supposed it wouldn’t matter much if he didn’t even make it to tomorrow, a prospect that was becoming more and more likely as the temperature dropped lower and lower by the minute.
He tore open the wrapping on the first box, lighting one of the tiny matches. It took a few tries before the little flame flickered into existence, his normally nimble fingers heavy and frustratingly sloppy from the frigid night air. The tiny wisp of heat warmed the tips of his fingers. He brought the flame a little closer to his face, relishing in the little pulse of heat on the tip of his nose. He was honestly a little shocked that the matches could still be lit. The cardboard boxes were pretty soaked from sitting in the snow at his feet all day but, the little light in his hand told him that the boxes had retained most of the water, keeping the matches dry. this unfortunately meant that no matter how hard he tried the cardboard box simply wouldn’t light on fire. So he settled for sitting huddled against the brick of the alleyway, half shrouded in darkness, lighting match after match, waiting in the cold for as long as he could bear before lighting another one. Before he knew it he was on his last match, dawn still a few hours away. His eyelids started to droop with exhaustion. A strange heat began to gather in the front of his face and the tips of his fingers. Even his toes, which had gone almost completely numb within his first few hours of sitting there, began to feel warm. It was nice. slowly he felt his eyelids slip closed this new, almost unfamiliar warmth making him drowsy. He was just so tired. So with the last match grasped loosely in tingling fingers, unlit, he let his exhaustion sweep over him, finally able to rest.
Jaebum, seriously! I thought you had a better hold on her leash! Its already way too cold for her to be out here. Its too cold for anyone to be out here.”
The boy feels something snuffling around his half frozen face. He figures its probably some stray dog looking for scraps. Even if he is in danger he doesn’t even have the energy to open his eyes to see what it is let alone the ability to fight anything off. He also hears something that sounds like human voices but everything is so muffled and distorted that he could just be imagining things. He thinks he hears something about how “it so damn cold out here I wouldn’t even be able to tell if I was still holding onto the leash.” and “someone tell Mark to train his dog to make it through the night without having to pee.”
The boy just ignores the sounds and tries to slip back into slumber. He had been having the most wonderful dream about warm spring breezes and soft, dewy grass that brushed his cheeks as he lay down in a vast green field filled with all sorts of wild flowers, warm and completely content.
“Got it— holy shit.”
This time, what ever vaguely human sound that was there was much closer to the boys little patch of cement. He tried to ignore it in favour of slipping further into dreamland.
Jaebum, come here! There’s a kid… I’m not sure he’s breathing.”
There was an odd pressure against the boys face. It was comforting, almost like the breezes he had been dreaming about. He leaned his head into the feeling and sigh.
“He’s alive! Help me get him up and into the house.”
“Jinyoung, we can’t afford to take in another one of your strays. We don’t have the room, not to mention the money to take care of another kid.”
A second pair of footsteps crunched through the snow toward the boy.
“What, are we just gonna leave him here then? He won’t make it till morning.”
There was a long sigh.
“I know.”
All of a sudden the boy felt something slide under his knees and around his back and all of a sudden he was floating. There was an odd heat working its way into his side and, just like before, it weighed down on his eyelids until he succumbed to sleep.
Jaebum had woken up to the sound of Mark’s dog, Coco, whining and scratching at the front door. Reluctantly he got up and grabbed her leash trying his best not to disturb the man sleeping in the living room. He was wildly unsuccessful when he tripped over a chair and nearly ended up face planting on the ground.
Jinyoung woke up with a start at the commotion. He saw Jaebum standing near the door with Coco’s leash in hand smiling sheepishly at him.
“Sorry.” Jaebum whispered wary of the other boys sleeping throughout the apartment. There were currently six of them living in a house made for four. Originally it had been himself, Jinyoung, Mark and Jackson. The four of them had gone to the same high school and when they found out they were all attending the same university they decided that it was simply practical that they all live together. The other two, Yugyeom and Bambam had joined them about a year later after being kicked to the curb when their respective families had found out they were dating. Jinyoung had found what happened and that they needed a place to stay and he had offered to allow them to stay with the four of them until they figured something out. That had been more than a year ago now and the original four occupants of the place had made it very clear that they wanted Yugyeom and Bambam to have somewhere safe to stay until they were finished school, swiftly derailing the conversation anytime either boy brought up the fact that they should probably leave.
So it was the six of them. Yugyeom and Bambam sharing one room and Jinyoung on a futon in the living room, insisting that he was perfectly comfortable there and that he woke up first anyways so it didn’t really matter to him.
Jinyoung sighed. “Do you want me to come with you? It suppoosed to be the coldest night of the year.”
Jaebum started to say the no, it was okay. He could take Coco out on his own when the little white dog ran away from him and straight into Jinyoung’s arms. JinYoung picked her up, taking the leash from Jaebum and clipping it into her collar before setting her down.
“Let’s just go quickly, before she starts whining.”
And so that’s how Jaebum ended up outside on the coldest night of the year with a thin, almost sickly pale boy curled limply into his chest as he hoisted him up the stairs and into their house, Jinyoung following close behind, Coco in tow. He sat the boy down on Jinyoung’s bed in the living room.
“Can you try and wake him? I’ll get him some dry clothes to change into” Jinyoung said.
Jaebum grabbed the boy, sitting down beside him, hands coming up to tap his cheeks gently, trying to rouse him from his slumber. The boy let out a small whine, trying to pull his head away from Jaebum’s instantly tapping hands. Jaebum didn’t relent though and eventually the boy opened his sharp, angled eyes, framed by thick dark lashes, wet with snow and sleep. Jinyoung let out a sigh of relief.
“Hey, my name is Jaebum. My friend, Jinyoung, just went to get you some clothes to change into. Can you tell me your name?”
They boy slurred something sleepily.
“What was that? Try one more time?”
“Youngjae.” The boy forced out, lips uncooperative as the drowsy, hypothermic heat began to leave his body in the warmth of the apartment, bringing back the bone chilling cold of the winter’s night. He began shaking in Jaebum’s arms, His brain finally registering the wetness of his clothes against his skin.
At that moment Jinyoung came out of Jaebum’s room, sweater and sweatpants in his hands.
“I think these will fit him. Do you think he needs help changing or—“ Jinyoung cut himself off and Youngjae collapsed forward into Jaebum;s warm chest, shivering violently, thin, pale fingers clenching and unclenching in the front of Jaebum’s shirt.
The two boys helped Youngjae strip down to his boxers before helping him slide on the sweatpants and sweater, hanging way too loose on his thin frame, the chill of Youngjae’s skin sent shivers down Jaebum’s spine.
“What now?” Jaebum asked.
“Well, if I remember correctly we have to warm him up and sharing body heat is the fastest way to do that. So he can sleep in the middle, you and me on either side.”
Jaebum nodded, helping the shaking boy slip under the covers with no protest. Jaebum was a little uncomfortable spooning a kid that they had found sleeping on the streets simply because he was completely unsure of what would happen when they woke up. Jinyoung got under the covers on the other side of Youngjae, pulling him tight into his chest, frigid face pressed right into Jinyoung’s neck. Jaebum reminded himself that they were doing this to save the kids life so he slipped under the covers as well, pressing his chest into Youngjae’s back, arms draped over his hips, praying that Youngjae would understand when they woke up. That he wouldn’t freak out and call the cops on them.
He felt Youngjae’s breath even out, even though he was still shaking. It was warming up under the blankets incredibly fast and Jaebum was starting to get drowsy. Worries about money and space and what on earth they were going to do with this boy when they woke up flooded through mind. They couldn’t kick him to the curb, since he clearly had no where to go or he wouldn’t be outside on the coldest night of the year.
As the very first rays of sunlight began to lighten the sky outside their window Jaebum sighed and succumbed to the warmth. They could figure everything out in the morning. The most important thing was that the boy between him and his best friend had survived the night. Everything else seemed unimportant in the quiet of dawn. So Jaebum closed his eyes and let himself join his best friend and the pale, shaking boy between them in slumber. yes, everything would be clearer in the morning.