STAY - Against The System | CHOSEN 2 (MINSUNG FF)

SIX

2320.12.08

What would you do when a mysterious man turned your view on the society you used to live in upside down at your first and only encounter?

When he told you about a mysterious place where people, deviant from the system’s ideal, can live in peace?

When he gave you the feeling of hope, tingling through your veins, so that a tiny voice somewhere in the back of your head kept encouraging you “It isn’t over yet. There is a way to get him back, Ji” again and again?

When the man had asked you to keep your meeting a secret?

What would you do?

Correct, you wouldn't tell anybody.
You would do as the man had said, take a shower, go to bed and think through everything by yourself.

And then, after a long night with too little sleep and a million things on your mind you would finally call one of your best friends over.

“I brought food!”
The blonde pushed a plastic box into Jisung’s arms. “Spring rolls. Selfmade. And I also have cookies.”
He put another, smaller box on top of the first one, after that he took off his shoes and jacket. Due to the cold air Felix’s nose and cheeks glowed red in the hall light.
It had started to snow this morning and didn’t stop until now. It had been around 11am when Jisung had called his freckled friend and invited him over.

“What would I do without you, Lix?” The chocolate chip cookies especially looked very delicious.
Felix flashed him a smile and shrugged. “Probably die.”
He walked into Jisung’s room as if it was his own, just to let himself fall on the bed with a groan, face forward.
“Man, I woke up way too early today. My neighbor thought it was a good idea to start cleaning his whole damn apartment around, like, eight?”

What should Jisung say? He has watched how the snowflakes had reflected the warm shine of the street lights in the dark this morning, watched the public cleansing service, the men with snow shovels freeing the sidewalks from the white layer.
He had watched the sun rising somewhere behind the gray clouds before finally accepting that there was no sleep left for him.

“So” Felix sat up on the bed and crossed his legs.
“What is wrong, Ji?”
On the phone the older boy had not dared to tell his friend what was going on.

Jisung also sat down and snuggled up into his blanket. He felt cold but it was more like an inner chillines, that kind that sent chills through your bones. Like the only way to ban the inner frostiness would be taking a hot bath.
Even though the boy right in front of him was one of his best friends, the elder felt a little uneasy about what he was about to tell Felix now.

“Okay, so, you know about the current… situation with Minho.”
The blonde nodded.

“And you also know about what we-” Jisung had to swallow hard. “What we were.”
Again, Felix nodded. He knew that his friend didn’t mean the system approved relationship. He talked about something deeper, about their feelings, what they meant for each other.
And yes, Felix knew.

It seemed like he was featured with some kind of radar to detect such feelings, sometimes even before the involved people realized it by themselves.
It was around two and a half years ago when the freckled boy had felt something between his friends, tiny sparks those two had seemed not to see at all.

“And you have nothing against it, right?”
“No, why should I? Love is love, who cares about the gender? I definitely don't.”
Relieved Jisung let out a sigh.
“Did you worry I would say something against it?” The freckled boy’s eyes went big when his friend shyly shrugged.
“Jisungie, I would never! I would never ever judge someone when it comes to sexualities. Never. Believe me. You know that I myself am bi, right?”

Now it was the elder’s eyes’ turn to pop out of his head. “You are?”
“I am. So please, don’t worry, okay? I am the last person who would judge you.” 
The reassuring smile on Felix’ face eased Jisung a lot.

The boys decided to snuggle in the blanket together and watch some series while eating the food the younger had brought.
Jisung really enjoyed his friend’s presence. It always calmed him down, assured him that everything would be fine. Felix was an angel to him, today again the younger’s optimism seemed to save Jisung’s mind from falling into a darker place.

“Lix.”

“Hm?” The blonde took a bite of his cookie.

“Do you think there are more people like us out there?”
“I’m sure of it.” Some crumbs fell on Felix’ sweater and he quickly picked them all up to not leave chocolate stains.
“But where are they? I have never met any of them, as far as I know.”
“Well, most of us try to hide it, right?
When you are young it doesn’t really matter, you could date whoever you want, at least nothing forbids it, even if people most of the time react badly to it. But after the choosing ceremony that piece of freedom is gone.
I mean, nobody asks for your sexuality, the system assumes us to be straight.”

“Profitable.”

“What?”

“It assumes us to be the most profitable for them. Straight people are most profitable for the system. Liking the same sex doesn’t help to reproduce and strengthen the society in their eyes. I think.”

The blonde’s hair bounced a little when he nodded. “I get what you mean. Yeah, it really isn’t lucrative for them. But what should we do? It just is like that, I guess. They will not change that from one day to another, right?”

It was a selden view, seeing Felix in resignation. His lips pressed into a thin line, the sparkles in his eyes gone.
It didn’t stay long, the younger boy’s face immediately switched back to a calmer and sunnier nature. “But let’s not talk about system stuff we actually don’t know anything about.”

“Well…” Jisung cleared his throat.

“Maybe there is actually a way to change it.”