take me home ; nct johnten

08

"Hm? Where are you, Jaeho?" Johnny asked, pressing his cigarette down into the ash tray.

"Your room!"

Johnny's eyes widened. He ran to the doorway and paused, finding Jaeho standing in the middle of his bedroom. He rushed to pick him up and bring him out of there.

His sister already despised the fact that he smoked around Jaeho, so he would probably get killed if the boy went home knowing about alcohol at the age of four.

Traces of Ten were all around his apartment. The scent of alcohol, his vest, and the warmth he brought that still lingered. It all made his heart flutter.

Johnny set Jaeho down and pulled his bedroom door shut.

"Why did you do that, Johnny?" Jaeho asked with a pout.

Johnny crouched down and put a hand on Jaeho's shoulder. "You remember my friend that I told you about? The one that had a sleepover?"

Jaeho nodded.

"Well, it turns out he left a few more things over here than I thought. He has a lot of stuff in my room, so let's not go in there for now, okay?" Johnny lied through his teeth. He always felt horrible lying to child, but it preserved his innocence.

He honestly felt really bad about Ten forgetting his vest. Since he was new, he didn't exactly know what the penalties were for not wearing full work attire, but they were still his clothes nonetheless.

"Can I meet your friend?" Jaeho asked.

Johnny turned him and smiled. "I don't know, I'm not sure if he likes me very much."

"Why?"

Not exactly wanting to answer the question, Johnny quickly averted Jaeho's attention.

"Hey, go watch some TV while I make dinner, okay?"

Jaeho smiled and nodded.

Johnny watched him from the kitchen. It was adorable to see him so absorbed in the TV show, especially since it was his money that was allowing the boy to do so.

As he cooked, he thought things over in retrospect.

He has only lived in this apartment for three months. Before that, he lived on his university's campus. He had managed to live off of the leftover money his parents gave him for that time, but things started to get scarce. Even after getting a job, he hardly has any food to eat.

Johnny was satisfied with his choice of paying for Disney Channel, since it was the only thing that Jaeho got really invested in.

After about fifteen minutes, Johnny set two bowls on the table.

"Come eat, Jae!"

————

Ten leaned over the bar and waved his hand in front of Yuta, who seemed very concentrated on his work.

"Yah, pay attention to me!"

Yuta huffed and paused his work, looking over at Ten with annoyance.

Ten's frame got smaller under the intimidation he felt. He suddenly regretted provoking him.

"What do you want? I'm working!" Yuta exclaimed.

"I-I just..."

"See, you're not even dressed right for your own job, stop disturbing me while I'm doing mine!"

Ten got scared by Yuta's sudden outburst. What had he done? Was he mad about last night? Did something happen to him at home?

He looked down at himself and noticed that one key part of his attire was missing: his vest. He knew it couldn't he in his car or at his apartment, so could it be with...

His eyes widened. Was he really that stupid to leave something at Johnny's house?

Maybe that was good, though. This way, he also had an excuse to check up on him, or rather, to make sure he wasn't lying about being sick.

"Yah! Go somewhere else! I need to work!" Yuta yelled over the blasting music.

Ten huffed and walked away, realizing now that his closest and only friend was angry with him. It hurt, but he temporarily brushed it off. He had a job to do.

Within the next hour, he had made a total of 15,000 won in tips which, in hindsight, was hardly enough. Although, if he didn't get taken by a certain someone again, he could have himself a nice fresh meal out at a noodle restaurant sometime.

He brought his fantasies to a closure when he remembered that he still had to pay his water bill that was due in three days.

This was why Ten was basically broke, just barely hanging onto a normal life. He was already underweight since he often had to skip meals due to lack of money, so he was far from healthy.

His boss dropped by his station a few hours later telling him that he could wrap it up for the night since he was the only waiter who showed up that night anyways. Ten thanked him for his generosity and went into the back room to change.

As he pushed himself out of the club, he checked his watch. It only read 11:00pm, which was about three hours earlier than when he usually got off.

He threw his things in the passenger's seat of his car and pulled out his phone, looking up a map of the area.

He quickly recognized Johnny's neighborhood by the convenience store chains. Throwing his phone in the same pile as his other junk, he shifted the gear and backed out of the parking lot.

It was only after about ten minutes when he reached a familiar apartment complex; not his, but one he had been to recently. He parked his car in an empty spot in the front and slowly walked in, a little anxious to be showing up to Johnny's house unannounced. But it's not as though Ten could contact him or anything; neither had each other's phone number.

He found the door to the apartment that he stayed in the night before, and only recognized it because of a star sticker on the doorknob. He gave a subtle knock and unintentionally held his breath, anticipating the sight of Johnny.

He heard some shuffling from behind the door until it opened, revealing exactly who had wanted to see.

"C-Chittaphon?"

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oof

If you couldn't tell, I enjoy ending chapters with dialogue haha

I have a headache and so much is going on right now it's not even funny but we're making our way through it sis

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Have a nice day/night!💓💕❤️