Saturday the 13th, Nov 2018

Namjoon knocked at the door—three raps in a row.

Again, five raps this time.

He rung the bell repeatedly, until his thumbs were asking him to stop.

It was of a surety that Seokjin was in; there was almost no way he couldn’t be—almost. He certainly was taking a while responding to the door, however.

The hallway was bare; no one save Namjoon on it, and the one person who at that moment, appeared from within the elevator and disappeared through the door to their apartment. The lights, each separated by a feet's length on the ceiling, cast their glow with all their might; as children engulfed with the TV, taking in all they could before a proposed lights out.

Namjoon put his right ear to the door, listening for any movement. He heard, very softly, the patting of feet on floors, and very suddenly, a shift of furniture.

He rapped at the door once more, and with added celerity.

‘Seokjin! You’re keeping me waiting!’

He put his ear to the door again.

‘Open or else, I’ll do it myself!’

He listened for any more noise, and heard more careful foot steps.

Then he fumbled for the key pad cover, and punched in digits.

The door remained locked.

Namjoon face palmed, sighing. ‘You win, I don’t know your pass code’.

The door gently pried open, and Jin’s face appeared from a crack of black space. Namjoon frowned at him.

‘Let me in?’

Jin nodded, and swung the door wider, his body coming fully into view.

Namjoon eyed the raven haired and walked in, his air incredulous.

He couldn’t choose a finger to put on what exactly it was, but the apartment smelt tedious; reeked of acedia.

It could have been the clothes on the arm of a sofa, or the stray converse at the far side to the right, or the plates in the sink in further view, or the discomposed feel to Jin himself.

‘I haven’t been here in a while’, Namjoon announced, setting himself on am armchair. He observed the clothes on the sofa opposite him. ‘I’ve missed it’.

Jin shrugged, and sat on the sofa with the clothes. He nimbly slid the lot behind the cushion.

Namjoon eyed him.

‘Did you just get back from somewhere?’

‘...Yes. Why?’

Namjoon shook his head, turning to the plates in the kitchen area. ‘I just thought so’.

Jin nodded, following the younger’s gaze. A frown visited his lips, but only for a split second.

‘Why are you here?’

Namjoon got up, and made to go to the corridor that led to Jin’s room.

Jin got up too, and grabbed him by the arm, hard. Namjoon scowled at his hand.

‘Why?’

‘Why are you here?’

Namjoon blinked. ‘I can’t be here?’

Jin inhaled a thick amount of air.

‘Ok ok’, the younger sighed, brushing Jin’s hand off. 'I’m here for your company. Tae’s gone back home for the weekend, and I didn’t go, so I’m here to spend tonight with you, and tell you how it went with Uncle Minseok, and to also watch a movie or something—hopefully on your tablet that you keep hidden from me because you think I’m going to destroy it’.

Jin blinked, slowly.

‘I also want to know how you are, since Thursday... you know.’

Jin pushed the boy back to where he was initially sat, and dropped himself to the floor. He looked up at the younger, who looked unimpressed.

‘Ok. Ask me what you wish.’ 

Namjoon shrugged. ‘I already did. It’s your turn’.

Jin scratched his head. ‘I don’t have anything to ask you’.

Namjoon rolled his eyes. ‘To answer my questions, silly’.

‘Oh’.

The brunet nodded, expectant.

Jin looked off, behind Namjoon’s head. His eyes caught the faint outline of a door, and he began to trace it with his eyes.

‘I’m ok now. You saw me yesterday. I’m no more in the hospital, as you can see, and I was going to go to bed before you came’.

Namjoon gave a smirk. ‘Is that supposed to guilt trip me into leaving?’

Jin looked sheepish. ‘Maybe?’

Namjoon stared the older long in the eyes. Then he snickered, eyes shifting into mocking crescents.

‘You failed. Come on, bring the tablet out already. I promise you’ll be the one holding it throughout, and I won’t be able to smudge it ever again.’

Jin tipped his head to the ceiling, thinking hard. Namjoon poked gently at his adam’s apple. Then in realisation, he suddenly looked up, eyes tripping about the room.

‘Why in God’s name are the lights out?’

Indeed, the only source of illumination was the lone lamp on a side stool, and one that dangled from the ceiling of the kitchen area.

As though he had had no idea, Jin looked up at the light bulbs over the living room. His right hand went up to squeeze his neck.

‘I did go out’.

‘You’ve come back in. Anymore reasons?’

Jin rolled his eyes, and got up to turn on the lights.

The room blinked alive, and Namjoon could notice a lot more.

‘Is that your toothbrush on the sofa?’

Jin pinched hard at the bridge of his nose. He jumped at the sudden hand on his shoulder.

Namjoon was looking very bothered.
‘Are you ok, Jin?’

Jin sighed. His head spun hazily.

‘I was going to bed’.

‘Here is not your bed’.

‘Fuck, Namjoon. Are you really going to do this?’

Namjoon’s mouth fell open. His hand fell off Jin’s shoulder, back to his side.

Did Seokjin just... curse?

He looked down, trying to piece his mind as quick as he could try. Then his eyes widened, and the same hand he had had on Jin’s shoulder pointed sharply to his foot.

‘Have you always had that?’

Jin’s head dropped to view the scar on the big toe of his left leg. His eyes lit up, enlarged, and he stared at it like it was his first sighting.

Then he sighed and shut his eyes, shuddering from the way they swirled behind his lids. He ached to turn off the lights.

‘Please, leave?’

Namjoon spluttered, lost. He brought his hand back onto the older’s shoulder, but Jin shook it off.

‘Please’.

‘You can tell me what’s wrong.’

‘Please’.

Namjoon stared the older in the face. Jin looked down to his feet, tracing the scar.

‘What’s wrong? I can tell there’s something; I understand if you don’t want to say it now, but know that Tae and I—’

‘Namjoon’. Jin flicked his eyes up to meet the brunet’s. ‘Monday, please?’

Namjoon stared at the hand on his arm, the arm that was beginning to urge him away, towards the door. He willed himself to walk to where it wanted, moving slowly, in hopes that it would change its mind.

Jin wasn’t changing his mind.

Namjoon stared at him as he stepped out the door, but his hand held on to it in a bid to stop the older from shutting it just yet.

‘Monday, yeah?’

Jin nodded. ‘Monday, yeah’.

‘You let us know what’s up then?’

Jin smiled at the younger; one thin line curved at the ends.

‘There won’t be anything to say’.

Namjoon wanted to desist, but let his hand fall to his side, as Jin pushed the door shut.

He watched the lights go off through the blinds, perplexed.

His being went dark, for the bulb above his head gave up.