WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER. banginho

°•6•°

The almost noon sun shone down bright on Minho, causing his eyes to slip almost closed. With that, he could almost pretend life wasn't as bad as it seemed.

He was currently stretched out in his house's side lot in a field of grass instead of at school learning because his parents just didn't care anymore. Everyone wanted space from their parents, but… this was different. Bad different.

He shouldn't be allowed to skip. He was a sophomore. He should be forced to study and complete his homework but they just let him do what he wanted.

Minho rolled over on the grass, ignoring the way it poked and prodded at his shirt and pants. His phone lay in the grass a few feet away, making an indentation of its own, but Minho ignored it.

Instead he opted to pull at a nearby dandelion. Twirling it in his fingers, he remembered the crown Chan had made for him once upon a time.

With a small smile, he pulled at another of the weeds. The field was full of them. Minho never really got the chance to hang out there anymore, but it was nice. He missed it.

Halfway through the creation of the crown, his phone started ringing. Since no one but Chan really called him, Minho rolled over to grab at it. Surprisingly, it was his mom.

"Momma?" He tried not to let the surprise show in his voice.

"Minho, why aren't you at school? Where are you?"

Minho gulped. "Be- because, Mom,"

"I don't want to hear it. Why are you acting out so much lately, Minho? What's-"

Another call came up. Minho didn't care who it was; he needed an escape from that conversation. "Mom there's really bad wifi, I'm sorry." He hung up on her and answered the other call. It was Chan. Minho frowned.

"What, hoe? It's like two in the morning. Why aren't you asleep?"

Chan just giggled. Chan never giggled.

"Are you okay?" Minho frowned at the phone and put Chan on speaker.

"My friend brought over some fun sticks. They were fun. We breathed them."

"Friend? Was it Felix?"

"Huh? Yeah it was Felix. Who else would my parents trust enough to come over whenever? Oi Felix," he yelled, forgetting to move the phone away from his face. "Felix say hi- oops he's sleeping he cant." Chan laughed again, "Felix says hi."

Minho frowned down at the flowers in his hands. "Chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are you right now? Where are your parents?"

"Whoa whoa calm down man. They took Hannah to Gramps. They won't be home untilllll... tomorrow. Today. Later? And I'm on the roof." Just from the tone of his voice, Minho could tell Chan was smiling, but that didn't stop the worry from crawling up his throat.

He sat up anxiously. "The roof? Chan, the roof??"

"Ha you sound like a dog."

Minho sighed as Chan started making small barking noises. Nothing seemed to be getting through to him.
And then he let out a yawn and seemed to quiet down.

"Do you ever look at the stars, Minho?"

Relieved that he was acting somewhat normal again, Minho let out a quiet, "yeah."

"I wish half the stars in the sky would shine as brightly as your eyes."

Minho choked.
"You what-"