2:59am : yungi

𝟮 : tw

"Okay, I'll stay with you, then."

Shit! He really is going to stay here? Well duh, I was the one to invite him— But still!!!

Yunho placed Mingi in a backroom behind the counter, but leaving the door open so he could come in and out as he pleased. Mingi ate his chips in peace, whilst Yunho was — not surprisingly — panicking of what to say.
He didn't want to scare the other one off (but to be honest, it was a miracle that Yunho's first question didn't scare him off, I mean—)

So not knowing what to do, he just sat at the counter chair and roller around with it. He checked the clock and the cash register a few times, otherwise, he just tried to not focus too much on Mingi.
But, of course, that was near impossible.

Yunho kept stealing looks at the other, then pretending that he never saw him.

The silence kept getting longer and more intense, it was only the freezers hurrying and Mingi's never-stopping chips eating. How did his chips last so long? Mine only last for like 10 minutes...

Crack!

Yunho flinched. That sound didn't come from Mingi, it came from the other side of the store. It was like something had been thrown out of the shelf. And apparently Mingi heard it too because he had also stopped crunching his chips for a moment and just stared at the back of the little green-themed store, the confusion showed from his perplexed expression.

"Yo, what was that?" Mingi finally asked, as if Yunho knew. He didn't, why ask such a question?

Yunho totally froze. Uh oh. It's happening. 3:20. Not fun.

"I don't know. You! Stay there!" Yunho exclaimed, a maybe too loudly (it was automatic, he was just louder when scared). Mingi just sat there like an idiot and followed what the other idiot was going to do. Plus he had never had any intentions to go check the sound.

Yunho grabbed a newspaper, hey, it was the only thing he could find? and sneaked through the store, or more like acting like a ninja or an FBI agent, as he went. No, he didn't do a front roll, but he did have an almost unbearable temptation.

Hesitantly, he reached the source of the sound.

A fucking candy bag was on the floor.

Yunho yelped dramatically, then shouting a NO. NONONONONO. NO. Then quickly ran, more like blasted, back to the backroom where Mingi was.

The other had just been watching the whole situation, though he didn't know what had happened. he just heard Yunho's dramatic-ass shouting and saw him running to him.

Yunho clung onto the hand of the one sitting on the floor and shivered.
Wait.

Yunho backed away as quickly as he had ran to Mingi.

I'm dead meat, I just lost my guard for a moment. . . Shit!

"Sorry, I was just a bit shocked-"

Mingi chuckled. "It's okay", he said, "you don't have to apologize! You just got scared! What was there, anyway?"

Yunho looked a bit hesitant to tell the other that he had startled over a bag of candy. But still, he had that glimpse of hope that he could prove his 3 am belief.

"The sound we heard was a candy bag dropping! All on its own!" Yunho told furiously.
"And you heard that too!"

"I did. . . okay. I see. Is this a part of the 3 am thing?"

"So you're convinced too!?"

The both of them had just settled down on sitting on the cold floor of the dark backroom. They hadn't had the energy to put the lights on in the first place. The silence was like a while before, as quiet as before that freaking thing. Both were on their phones, Yunho didn't feel like going back to the counter. He wouldn't move until someone came in. Before that, he was staying here.

"Isn't it almost 4 am?" Mingi asked finally. Finally, because Yunho was about to explode from the tension.

Yunho checked the time from his watch. 3:49. It indeed was.

"Thank you for staying with me. But how are you going to turn your sleep schedule? It's Sunday. There's school tomorrow."

"I don't have a sleep schedule, it's for good people. But I'm a bad bitch who sleeps about 3 hours a night so I survive with coffee and energy drinks. You?" Mingi scoffed. Mingi really had a fucked up sleeping schedule. It was usually like this:

11 pm: Mingi goes to sleep.

1 am: Mingi is still rolling around his bed. Insomnia was his best friend, yay.

2 am: Mingi gives up and just starts playing a video game or goes for a late night snack. He could survive the next day with energy drink and a few cups of coffee, right?

4 am: Mingi literally runs to his bed and knocks out. He sleeps for the rest of the night. 7 am his alarm goes off. Then he sleeps for most of the classes or lunch break.

Yunho started laughing. "Why don't use sleep tablets? Have you tried them?" he asked with an encouraging smile.

To be honest, Mingi didn't want to use his money on melatonin tablets. They cost like hell! And for Mingi, they didn't really help either.

If he took them before he went to sleep, the melatonin would work only at like 6 am, then he'd wake up at about 12 am and therefore had to skip school for the rest of the day.

If he ate the tablets when daytime, it'd work almost instantly and he'd go to sleep at 6 pm. Then he'd wake up at 5 am, which was the worst. He hated being awake sooner than he needed to. Don't we all?

"They. . . don't work well on me. So, here I am, I was on a late night snack but we didn't have food at home. I came to buy something to eat. That's why I came here."

"Oh." Yunho was silent for a moment, but he was thinking harder than ever.

Mingi had (very severe) insomnia? Yunho worked night shifts. That means. . .

"You can come here anytime, if I'm here, you can stay 3-4 am and I'll buy you any food you want. When it's 4 am, you can go home. We'll help each other out? I'll have someone with me and you'll have something do to at night. I still encourage you getting help with your sleeping schedule." Yunho suggested.

"Sounds good", Mingi replied.