Love is deaf • Meanie

A Date But Not Really

Like a fire on timber wood Mingyu's voice was warm and soothing. He spoke in a hushed tone only due to the fact it was nearing 3 am but Wonwoo loved it. He loved the way it crumbled and cracked like a chocolate chip cookie. The pitch, the volume, the tone; it blessed his ears and for some strange reason lifted his low mood swing a little higher up off the ground.

"Hi, Mingyu." He said. His name rolled from his tongue so prettily that he almost forgot about his damp cheeks and blocked nose.

"You've been crying?" It was more of a question than a statement but the worry in his voice threw Wonwoo completely off track.

Nobody had been there for him on a low. Soonyoung was never good at handling emotional situations so Wonwoo always left him out of it. But now Mingyu was there for him he felt more at peace.

"It doesn't matter." Mingyu's voice is what matters. Wonwoo didn't care what he was saying but he sure as hell craved the sound.

"It does. You should talk about it. You know, get it off your chest."

But Wonwoo didn't want to. All he needed was a distraction, something to push his sad feelings down deep into the abyss of his stomach rather than him bury them in false whispers of "I'm ok" and "Don't worry about me."

"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to hear your voice."

Mingyu hummed into the phone through a smile. "I know and I'm here."

Wonwoo didn't speak much after that. He stayed deadly silent whenever Mingyu spoke so he couldn't miss even a single whisper.

"You said you like reading. If it will cheer you up I can tell you my favourite story?"

"Please." Wonwoo wiped his eyes and nose on his shirt sleeve and snuggled into his bedcovers.

Mingyu told a story Wonwoo had read many times before but this didn't bother him. The phone call gave him a reason not to cry and hate how he felt in addition to that (although Wonwoo couldn't admit it to himself) he was starting to quite like Mingyu. Mingyu cared.

The sun had already started weaving golden rays onto Wonwoo's floor through the cracks in his curtain before a gentle snore replaced the two boy's chatting. He giggled at the sound of it. Wonwoo had only ever heard his father snore once before he lost his hearing and even though it was something insignificant to most people he couldn't help but to smile from the inside out when he heard the faint rumble.

It's amazing how much you can learn about someone from just spending a night on the phone with them. Wonwoo discovered that Mingyu started working at SVTea with his friend, Minghao, who moved back home to China in his second month of working there. Mingyu missed him and Wonwoo's heart broke just a little when he heard his voice shake solemnly through the speaker.

"But you can text him, right?" Wonwoo had said but Mingyu explained that it still wasn't the same.

He also learned that the barista enjoyed drawing in his free time. He liked filling white canvases with vibrant colours and deep meanings. Wonwoo giggled when Mingyu told him about the time he spent days painting something for his colleague's birthday only to find him using it as a coaster a few weeks afterwards.

"Wonwoo, I like you. You're sweet and I want to get to know you more. Let's do this again." Was what Mingyu had said before he finally drifted off at 7am.

And before Wonwoo had chance to answer back a cage of butterflies burst open in his stomach and swarmed up to his heart where they danced happily in time with Mingyu's snoring.

After their call Wonwoo now knew he was wrong to originally assume Mingyu was shallow and as soon as he ended the call and closed his own eyes to sleep he instantly took his assumption back and regretted ever thinking it.