only human // skz

5 ; here's home ;

   The smiles on Seungmin and his mother's faces both faded when, evidently, visible signs of real distress began to shadow Jeongin's down-turning face. His hands shook. 

   "Hey, hey, it's okay— Jeongin!" Seungmin wrapped an arm around his shoulder, chuckling a little, but clearly unsettled.

   "Does it really bother you that much, sweetheart?" Seungmin's mother asked gingerly.

   Thankfully, Seungmin's father came to his rescue, as he sighed, "How much were you paying for the last place you stayed?"

   Jeongin perked up again at the sound of that and somehow, they'd managed to agree on something, after whittling the price down to half of what he'd been paying before, plus a little less to account for the fact that he was "only paying for one room, not a whole apartment". Still, Jeongin felt uneasy, and he felt like he'd disappointed Seungmin's parents by not being able to accept their generosity, but in the end he felt better and was able to return upstairs and unpack with a little more peace of mind.

  ;

   Unpacking was nice. He felt like he got to know his new room a little better. He was a little more secure about thinking of it as his room now that he knew he was renting, and it really helped him relax and settle in. Though, he did intend to apologize for making a bit of a scene, later— he didn't really know what had come over him earlier and wished he'd controlled himself and been a bit more articulate, instead of driving Seungmin's parents to tend to and console him by compromising with him out of worry.

   And during thirty minutes or so of quiet that it took to unpack, he'd reached a conclusion.

During Christmas break, we didn't go out much. We were more focused on hanging out, spending time with Seungmin's parents (...our parents?), doing random Christmas stuff like building gingerbread houses, hanging lights, decorating a tree— stuff I never did, or at least, don't remember doing. Somehow, in December, when I was here for the first time, about three weeks slipped away like that, with hardly any exploring.

So now, hit with the realization that I actually live here this time— I'm not just visiting— I want to look around and see what it's like here. Home.

...Plus, I'd like to find somewhere to work as soon as possible. I'm hoping that they'll ease up and let me pay a little more for rent, since I'll be paying next to nothing. Or at least, I'll help buy groceries. Or something.

   Within a few hours of arriving, since the sun stayed up late nowadays, Jeongin poked his head into Seungmin's room while the boy was refilling his closet and asked, "Hyung, can you... like, show me around? Doesn't have to be tonight, but, soon?"

   "Oh yeah, sure. Let's go." Seungmin dropped everything (well, actually, he hung his shirt). "Hometown tour, coming right up, lil' bro."

;

  Lush green trees shading each stretch of neatly-tended, patterned-stone sidewalk, black roads with chipped yellow lines, faded red brick buildings, new, bright white and/or colored signs— all the things Jeongin must have only breezed past before, staring, face plastered out the window of Seungmin's car (minus the green trees, of course, since it had been winter). 

   Home. This was what it looked like. Jeongin repeated the words over and over in his mind, trying to get accustomed to them, quietly following at Seungmin's side, soaking in each little detail with the evening sunlight warm on his observing face.

   "So, there are some cool shops over there, and there's the diner where Minho hyung works, there's one of the places Chan works," Seungmin trailed off, chuckling, scanning along the wall of establishments.