Alone Together [RIIZE]

8. Digging Deep(ish)

The group sat together at the abandoned house one day after school, sitting on the dry grass rather than the roof this time. Somewhere behind them, Wonbin tinkered in the garage with an old four-wheeler. Sungchan had no idea where he found that or where he got it from, but didn't ask either.

The sun would be going down soon enough, probably in the next thirty minutes or so. Eunseok laid in the dry grass watching some sort of anime on his phone, happy that the grass here didn't trigger any of his allergies. Shotaro sat down near Sohee and Sungchan, all three were just silently on their phones. Seunghan was chatting quietly with Anton, but Sungchan couldn't make anything out over the sound of the train in the distance and birds in the nearby trees.

The sun shone down on them, casting a dusky glow over each person. The sun had started to go down quicker lately, which meant less sunshine and more darkness -which also meant less time to hang out together.

But still, they managed.

"How did you all become friends?" Sungchan wondered out loud, watching the clouds go by. About half a mile away the train kept going across the tracks, making a soft racket.

Eunseok raised his head, cocking an eyebrow. "Huh?"

The others started looking curiously at him too. Sungchan felt small underneath their stares, like maybe he shouldn't have asked a personal question like that, since he's pretty new to their dynamic. Still, he didn't back down. "I just meant, like... how did you six meet?" He tried again as Eunseok laid back in the grass, shrugging and putting his earbuds back in.

Behind Sungchan, Wonbin shrugged and wiped his hands off with a rag and cringed at the lingering smell of gasoline. He sat next to Sohee in the yard and looked at Sungchan, starting to answer.

"I was born here." Wonbin started, leaning on Sohee's shoulder as she scrolled her phone. He looked out at the train that chugged along the landscape and sighed. "I've never even been to Korea, it's always just been me and my mama here in the shitty U.S.A."

Anton hummed. "I was born in Boston..." He trailed off.

Sohee cleared her throat and looked up from her phone screen. "I was born in the U.S too! But my parents died when I was little, so I've been in the foster system. It really sucks but it's better than nothing."

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Sohee." Sungchan started, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

The girl shrugged it off, genuinely unbothered. She shut her eyes gently and huffed. "It's fine. I don't even remember them. I love my foster dads anyways."

"That's depressing, uh..." Seunghan scratched the back of his neck. "I mean, I only got here last year with my dad. He's here for work stuff, but I don't really know how long he'll be here for."

"So you'll leave when he does? I thought you were all going to move in together." Sungchan asked sadly, only now realizing that he might have to say goodbye to his new friends at some point.

Seunghan stayed silent and looked at his hands, making Sungchan's stomach turn. He didn't ask anything about it and the grove fell silent. Clearly, none of them wanted to acknowledge Seunghan moving away one day and Sungchan accidentally opened a fresh wound.

So, Sohee did what she's most talented at and broke yet another awkward silence with a lighthearted discussion.

"I met Anton when we were literally in diapers. Like, could barely pick our heads off the ground! The photos are soooo cute, I've gotta show you guys some time!" She squealed, clasping her hands together and kicking her feet. "I got moved from household to household until one day, Anton's parents decided to start fostering!"

"Do you live together still?" Sungchan asked curiously. "I thought you had foster dads now. Why did Anton's family stop?" He asked, almost as terrible at boundaries and social cues as Eunseok is.

"They stopped because..." Anton started to answer the question but then he looked to Sohee, who glared at him. She practically screamed with her eyes, so he decided not to talk about it. "Uh, nevermind. None of your business."

"I moved here when I was five years old. It was my birthday, I remember it." Shotaro reminisced lazily, sprawling out next to Sungchan. The sun beamed on his face, warming him up. "I was so excited to be on a plane, I didn't even realize we were leaving Japan for good. After that, I lived in San Francisco until I was about 11."

Eunseok clicked his tongue, shifting his weight to sitting sideways. He took out an earbud and nodded, his thumb fidgeting with the device. "Mhm. I got here when I was 8. And I didn't meet any of them for another 6 years, almost."

"Wonbin started to hang out with Anton and I back in elementary school and from there, we started to branch out. I think I met Taro in the 7th grade... no, 6th?" Sohee wondered, shrugging. "Some time around then. And then Taro was friends with Eunseok over Tumblr and they had no idea they were gonna go to the same high school that year- how lucky is that?!"

Seunghan raised his hand. "And then I moved here in July before our freshman year started." He pointed between himself and Wonbin. "The rest is history after Sohee came over and harassed me like she did with you."

Sungchan laughed a little. "I'm glad that I met you six. Really, it's hard for me to make friends and I'm glad that we're, like... a group now. It just sucks that we're still outsiders to everyone else."

"I mean, this country really doesn't look kindly upon minorities." Anton snarked, tugging at the strings of his jacket. He looked at Sungchan seriously. "They really hate anyone who doesn't blend in with a linoleum tile."

"Or queer people. They don't really like us very much." Sohee huffed, picking at her long eyelashes in annoyance. Wonbin nodded along with what she said and stayed quiet.

Eunseok clicked his tongue, eyes still on his phone screen where a new episode of Demon Slayer had started up. "Or disabled people."

"Or... y'know immigrants." Shotaro chimed in, shaking his head. "Can't believe they hate the very class of people who built this country up. Insanity."

"And they really don't like it when you march to the beat of your own drum. They'll call you every name in the book if you do. It sucks." Seunghan looked up from where he was picking at blades of grass.

"But we do what we want to." Shotaro grinned softly, scooting closer to Sungchan. "And that's a good thing."

"Yeah. I think the best thing is that we get it. All of us understand at least a little about what your going through." Wonbin's voice was scratchy and low as he lit another cigarette, only for it to get snatched by Sohee and smothered onto a rock.

"We're kind of alone, huh?" Sungchan chuckled solemnly. Things get better, things get worse, and people stay isolated.

"I guess so." Shotaro reached for Sungchan's hand and turned to the others, smiling. His dark eyes met Sungchan's and his eyes flickered to his lips before moving upwards again. He squeezed Sungchan's hand reassuringly and nodded. "But we're alone together... and that's what matters."