(5 years after)

donghyuck was, once again, waiting for his best friend renjun at the end of classes. that one finally arrived running, almost falling because of his untied shoelaces.

"sorry i was- "

"too occupied having your tongue down jeno's throat?" donghyuck cut him. "what happened to the 'bros before hoes' motto?"

"first... it was jaemin... not jeno." renjun answered between breaths. "and- "

"yeah, yeah. i know what you're going to say. anyway, let's go."

"where?"

"i don't know...where do you want to go?"

"my house. the weather looks bad." renjun said eying the grey sky.

"there we go." donghyuck said before following his best friend to his house.

donghuck had been raised as an orphan, in an orphanage of the city. he had never seen his parents, or at least, he didn't remember seeing them once. he was sure he had some though: each month, his father would send him money to live, and his father must be very rich, because he sends generous amounts of money (well, perhaps it wasn't but for donghyuck it represented a lot of money). he was raised there since when he was a toddler, and until his 16thbirthday. not that he had been chased, but he preferred starting a brand-new life, as a responsible adult, even though he wasn't an adult at all. anyway, he had enough money to do so...

that's how he had rent a small flat in town, not so far from school, but at the total opposite of his best friend's house. he was in his last high school year, with his best friend, renjun, and his best friend's boyfriends, jaemin and jeno. they were his only friends. not that he minded. one true friend was sufficient for him.

he had met renjun at primary school. and, well, they had been glued together since then. their personalities were a total match. jaemin and jeno came way after, at the end of middle school. they were first friends with renjun, who introduced them to donghyuck, and it's only two years after that the three of them finally got together.

donghyuck was perfectly fine with his life. okay he had no parents, but the women at the orphanage had treated him as their child, and his father was sending him money every month, so it was better than actually having no one. and concerning his friends, he was perfectly fine with having only three. and about relationships? well, he was sure of one thing, he was gay; but he had never tried anything with anybody, meaning he had zero experience. but he didn't mind. his life was perfectly fine for him.

"bye injun, see you tomorrow!"

renjun's door closed just after. it was almost 10:00pm, donghyuck had spent the afternoon at renjun's and after they had eaten together; he was now on his way back home. it was late, but he would often do this, so he was used to walk back home at night.

so, here was donghyuck, crossing the city, with his school bag and a full tummy.

he walked through the streets, not really paying attention about his surroundings, until he found himself witnessing a very unpleasant scene, in front of a seven eleven. two men were fighting, rather violently, just in front of his eyes. donghyuck stayed glued on his spot, not daring to move. he watched as one of them left, leaving the other leaning against the wall of the supermarket.

even though his mind told him to run away, he walked cautiously towards the boy. when he was close enough, donghyuck could see him getting a pack of cigarettes and pulling one out to smoke it. that's when he noticed donghyuck was approaching him.

"you shouldn't stay there. it's danger- "

"you're bleeding" donghyuck cut him widening his eyes.

the mysterious boy blew out some smoke before looking up at the sky. "it will eventually stop."

donghyuck approached him again to look at his injuries, the other boy not caring. "don't move, i'm coming back." donghyuck said before running to the supermarket.

he didn't know what he was doing, nor why he was doing it. this man was dangerous, he had just fought with somebody else, and got out of it bleeding massively. plus, he was smoking, and for donghyuck, smoking means danger. but he couldn't leave the boy dying here when he could help...

that's why he got out of the supermarket with a first aid kid and ran towards the boy who was finishing his cigarette. the boy looked at donghyuck strangely as he pulled him towards a picnic table that was near.

donghyuck made him sit before opening the aid kit and starting to disinfect the boy's wounds. the injured boy got his pack of cigarettes out, pulling another one and lighting it.

the two boys stayed in silence; the injured one smoking, and donghyuck wrapping up the wounds of the other. when he was almost done, donghyuck broke the silence.

"you should stop."

the boy looked at him with a questioning look allowing donghyuck to see his face fully. his milky skin was full of cuts and bruises, his lower lip was slightly bleeding, causing his cigarette to take a light red tint on the part he had in his mouth. the boy must be older than donghyuck, he already looked like an adult. what marked donghyuck the most was his pitch-black hair with blond highlights at the front. the boy was beautiful.

seeing donghyuck wasn't responding, the injured boy spoke.

"what should i stop?"

"smoking. it's bad for your health." donghyuck explained calmly, pressing a bit too much on a bruise causing the older to wince.

"well, you should stop going back home this late." he said to donghyck emotionlessly and ignoring his remark.

donghyuck didn't answer, instead, he continued wrapping the boy's injuries.

just when he finished, a black car pulled up next to them. the injured boy raised to his feet and walked towards it. he opened the door, threw his consumed cigarette on the pavement and entered the car. "goodbye." he said before closing the car door and disappearing in the night.

donghyuck stayed there, dumbfounded, without moving from his spot. what had just happened?

he didn't have time to think about an answer. the same car showed up again, and the same boy got out of the passenger seat, angrily walking towards donghyuck, catching his wrist and pulling him into the car. donghyuck was so taken aback by the action that he didn't manage to free himself. "w-what are you doing?" he asked when he was in the car.

the boy who was driving answered "bringing you back home."

donghyuck was at his house in the five minutes that followed, with tons of questions on his mind.