Chapter Text
⩇⩇:⩇⩇ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
Why's it so damn cold.
Jiung rubbed his hands together. Despite the gloves on his hands, the cold weather still got under his skin.
It's late. He should be back in his dorm room right now. But exams are seriously getting to him and it just so happens that today he ran out of vegetables. Which, sue him, but he really loves to cook in the middle of the night. Especially when he doesn't have to share with his greedy roommate who treats him like his mother. This was supposed to be an excuse to get out of the suffocating dorm room. However, on his way to the supermarket, the temperature started rapidly decreasing. He usually thought beforehand but it seems today he failed to foresee the temperature drop. Not like he has magic to do so.
He hurried his pace with the very thin layer of clothing he had on. The supermarket was in sight, bright and vast. It should've been a short and easy walk, from where he was to the store. He was approximately 20 meters away when -
*sniffle*
Jiung instinctively turned around. Beside him was a red coupe. The sound couldn't have been made by the car, could it? The closer he went, the louder the sobs were. He looked in through the window intrusively. No one. He circled around the vehicle, before halting. A black-haired boy, still in his uniform, at the dead of the night, was sitting on the moist pavement soaked with melted snow, his body hunched over his knees like he has collasped. Jiung hesitated. He really didn't want to disturb his own little peaceful bubble. But he, being the kind person he was, round of applause there, he walked right over next to the boy hurriedly, crouching down to face him.
"Need someone?"
The boy looked up, staring at Jiung for an uncomfortably long time. "Huh?"
Jiung scratched the back of his neck. Probably not a good conversation starter. " I meant, do you need someone to sit here and listen to you or help you go through whatever you're going through." It didn't come out as a question like he had originally intended. He stared at the boy. The boy stared back. Blankly, presumbly processing Jiung's words before returning to his pitiful state.
"The person I liked rejected me and called my love a 'weird obsession'. But I-I've done nothing except give her all the love she derserves," the boy managed through choked sobs. Jiung adjusted his position, now on the pavement, directly facing him. It felt awkward. Weirdly setimental. This isn't something he'd normally stumble upon. But. But.
He thought for a moment. Maybe two.
"Have you ever thought that maybe that's not the kind of love she wants?"
He sniffed. "Why would she not want my love? Am I not good enough?"
Well. "Well, she might not want a love where someone dedicates their whole life to her because it's too overwhelming. The love you carry just needs someone with enough space in themselves to withstand your affection. There is nothing wrong with loving someone, and, most importantly, there is nothing wrong with you. "
The boy stared at him again. Took him a minute to realise it was in awe. His eyes shone in admiration. Jiung shifted awkwardly, before meeting his eyes once again.
"Do you have a space in your heart for a love like this...?" the boy asked next, just to fill the space.
Jiung's eyes squinted, his lips pulled taut. The amiable side of him wanted to reply, but the rational side of him stopped anything from coming out. This boy was young. Younger than him, at least. He eyed the oversized, crinkled uniform around his shoulders, the shirt which was damp from the snow, his hair tousled and wet, shoes wet, everything wet. This was what permitted him to keep his mouth shut.
"This," he started, then paused. "Uh. Isn't something I should be talking to a highschooler about, I think..."
The boy frowned. Jiung looked away, suddenly become immersed with a distant neon sign. The boy mumbled something under his breath.
"Hm?" Jiung hummed distantly in acknowledgement.
The boy grumbled out his reply in indignation. "I said I'm graduating this year."
Jiung laughed. It was the kind of laugh that made the joke even funnier, the kind that could melt a thousand stone-cold hearts. Gradually, the sound died down slowly, replaced with a soft and understanding smile. "Well, I guess I can tell you then, right?" He shook his head at his own words. "To answer your question, I can. Or I assume I can, anyway." He blinked. "Actually, I'm not sure. I've never really liked or loved anyone before."
The boy laughed. "You're not really a reliable hyung, are you?" Jiung smiled a smile to match his. "Your fault. You asked for my advice."
He inclined his head forward, his neck craning to peer at the boy a bit more closely. It was cold. Colder. They couldn't stay here long.
The tug of his sleeve, the pull of his chest, whatever it was, something compelled them to move. To stand, shuffling away from the cold with their ridiculously wet shoes and their ridiculously thin layers of clothes. The moistness of their clothes clung on to each of their skins, the cold sending chills down his spine. If he were with his friends he would've made some dumb joke. Something something along the lines of "I'm shivering in my timbers". He walked mindlessly with the joke repeating in his head. The younger boy wasn't far behind.
Unsteadily, he stared at the silhouette of Jiung ahead of him, frame slightly smaller than his, despite his older age. He wanted to tease him about his height but something he definitely should have asked the moment they met came to mind.
"Hyung, what's your name?"
Jiung didn't look back, eyes focused ahead. "Jiung. Choi Jiung".
The boy sniffed. "I'm Intak. Hwang Intak". They talked more, their voices drifting , wavering, shaking from the cold, wandering off into the night.
Whatever was said afterwards is now simply a distant memory—a memory of their pure and innocent youth—that is fading. Slipping through their fingers, and if this was any other meeting it would be intergrated into another memory. Distant and forgotten.
But it isn't. This wasn't something to be forgotten. This was the ignition of something stirring. The smell of seawater, the cage of their lungs, like standing in the eye of a storm. The start of something unnamable. Dangerous. Jiung turned into a home for something vicious.
Jiung was peace, a place of pureness. Intak was chaos, in need of peace.
Intak needed a human sanctuary.
Jiung was just that.