After Dark 》Minsung

Final 》Where Paradise Grows

Nothing filling that moment but his own hitching breath locking up in the treasure chest of his throat. Unwilling to unblock itself from the regrets it held.

Beats that passed by with the drumming of his heart, matching the rhythm of the snare drum Chan was banging away at from the other side of that battlefront. Each beat a bomb, a minefield of stunning rhythms that didn't stop for nothing. Chan may have been vaguely problematic in his romantic relationships, but damn was he a talented musician who wrote phenomenal songs.

Minho took a deep breath.

And—

"Okay."

"Fuck, Minho, dude," Felix cut himself off with an irritated groan. His older brother recognized that sound in an instant. Felix was done. Fed up. Too far gone, so far gone, unrecoverable for tolerating anymore of Minho's pensiveness, coming to shove Minho to the side to sulk himself against the wall as he threw the door open and tugged his older brother inside.

Forcing him into the typical scenery that met his eyes when he stepped into that comfortable cave that friend group marinated in; Chan sitting at the stool of the drumset, the white oak drumsticks gripped tightly in his veiny hands (Yes, his best friends were hot motherfuckers and Minho was not afraid to admit it), the acorn tips slowly being brought to a stilled halt as he muted the crash of the symbol his sticks previously banged on; Changbin perking up from the sway of the indoor hammock he dropped himself dramatically to, were he wrote in the oldest's notebook sagged into his lap, laying on his thighs while he set his pen down on the binding; Both of them sturring to his direction as Felix forced them into the hangout spot. The secret lair for the gremlins of the world. The BatCave, for the group of borderline criminals and deviants who occupied the gadgets inside.

How unfamiliar it felt to his fingertips as he quietly shuffled over to the edge of the couch. Keeping his eyes diverted from the other two in the room while he gingerly perched himself at the cliffside ledge those pillows became beneath his weight. Knowing he must've looked silly in their eyes at that moment; The grand disposition of Lee Minho without a care for his self dignity in the world, curling in to himself. Hiding himself with the jittery uncertainty rooting itself within his body. Thorns and branches against his heart, piercing him while he tried to contain his nerves away. Knowing for certain the invasive stares training holes onto his body like arrowheads puncturing their targets were from his two friends. Evidently curious while they stayed quiet. Evidently puzzled by the strange behavior, no doubt the strange request from Minho sent by text earlier that day.

Meanwhile, while they were probably wondering a hundred things and assumptions of what was going on, Minho's mind was racing. Barreling down the drag strip with burning rubber tires spilling smoke from their engines like smoldering soot from dragon's lips, roars as mighty as those mythical beasts while they ripped through his head with their questions. How could he begin to explain? Where does he start? At the beginning, when he met those two all those years ago in elementary school, how every time they played tag, he sat out because he was wonky in the head? Because the kids that called him a freak were correct? Because whenever the promise of fighting dragons in the sky came to fruition of make-believe, he had to be the cave walls watching the battle? Could they even understand that... That there wasn't anything wrong with him in that way?

How could he begin? Knowing that their friendships would end here.

Finally, after an amount of silence which Minho considered to be longer than physically comfortable for any of the four involved, Changbin sat up off the swinging hammock. Sticking his leg out against the wall to bump the cadence to an ended tempo. Closing up the rock drummer's notebook while those page's owner held his sticks still. Facing Minho fully as he started, "So, what's up dickwad? What did you want to tell us us?"