sang arrives in front of the restaurant jeup told him he worked at, worried for no reason that he probably got given the wrong location as a way of being stood up. he takes a look inside, peaking through the windows with his eyes squinted searching for the familiar boy in work duty. he sees jeup walk out and in front of the register, smiling stupidly to himself as he quickly moves to open the door and walk inside.
the bell jingles and jeup's head shoots up, giving sang a small smile as he counts the money from the register. someone calls jeup's name again, and he quickly finishes what he's doing to go to the back kitchen. when he disappears, sang takes a seat at one of the dining chairs, placing his backpack down.
"you brought a backpack?" jeup asks him when he comes back out, undoing his apron and hanging it on the rack behind the counter nearby.
sang smiles at him. "i usually bring a backpack whenever i go out. in case of emergencies." he says, and jeup simply nods at that.
"is there something you wanted to do? we could go grab an early dinner or something."
"really?" sang asks, surprised for whatever reason, and reminds himself to call his mum beforehand.
"if you're fine with that."
"i'm fine with that."
there's a silence between them before sang starts to talk again.
"why don't we just eat here?"
"ah..." jeup says, shaking his head as he looks down.
"i don't recommend it."
"you- you don't recommend the place you work at?"
"i don't."
"is the food really that bad?" sang asks, trying not to laugh.
jeup shrugs. "i need the money."
"c'mon," he says, gesturing for sang to get up so they can go somewhere else.
-
they end up sitting in a fast food diner, nothing fancy considering they're high school students with a tight budget.
jeup is eating his fries quietly when sang looks up at him, thinking of something to say that perk a conversation between the two of them.
"i've never been to your house before."
jeup freezes, looking up slowly to meet sang's eyes. he looks down again, swallowing his food carefully.
"really?" he laughs, wanting to scratch the back of his head.
"well i've never been to yours, so," he smiles half heartedly, and sang nods at that.
"true, true. we should organise it sometime. i go to yours, you come to mine. yadda yadda."
"right..." jeup's voice goes quiet and he looks down at his plate, grabbing more fries to shove into his mouth to stop him from having to talk.
"what? what's wrong?" sang asks, looking at jeup's face intently and noticing his obvious discomfort.
"nothing... it's nothing. i just live with my uncle, that's all,"
"your uncle?" sang sounds surprised, but only slightly. and jeup has to force a smile as he looks up at sang, answering with a 'yeah.'
"is it... bad of me to ask why you live with your uncle?"
"well... my parents live in seoul, they do a lot of business and they thought the big city life was too much for me. it was, i agreed to live with my uncle and aunt at the time, then they divorced... my parents couldn't let me come home though, not with the siblings and the business. it's hectic for them, i guess. it's... not that bad." jeup lies, swallowing his saliva as he shakes the image of strange women coming into his home at night, ruining the place with their stench. he clenches his teeth and fists simultaneously, but calms himself down when he looks up at sang again, sinking into his eyes as a distraction.
"you seem... unnerved."
"i am." jeup says simply, looking away when he feels sang's eyes digging into him.
"it's the smell of the... oil. we should go, i need some air." he says quickly, standing up and grabbing his jacket. sang is forced to agree and stands up with him, packing up the food and throwing out the remains and rubbish.
they leave the diner like that, simply and in silence. sang doesn't say another word until they reach the doorstep of his own house, and he worries that jeup won't be safe on his own to walk back to where he lives. he reminds himself that the boy in front of him, the one with the fading pink hair and soft face, who may look tiny and fragile, learned martial arts as a defensive skill. he smiles, bids his goodbye and closes the front door.
-
hii this isn't really proofread n it was really hard to write after a long time so my apologies it isn't too great...
i've had writers block for ages but im trying my best to get back into it!! i think im doing well considering... hopefully there should be a few more quicker updates this time, thank you for being so so patient and somehow not losing interest. i <3 you all!!
