between us | hyunin

viii | ed asich

before i start, i wanna say tHANKS FOR 200 READS ILYSM k bye

---

changbin stared at the number that flashed on his phone. 

what.

it took a moment for him to realise that yes, he had indeed given his number to someone the day beforehand, and that no, this wasn't some random dude who had the wrong number. 

he smiled, and pressed on the notification, thinking of the excitable boy on the other end and wondered if that boy knew how much it filled his heart to receive and actual text. not one that said "changbin, get your ass home before ten or they'll be consequences", but a text from a friend. 

was the boy a  friend? they'd only met yesterday. he sure they were, anyway. 

unknown
lol i forgot where i put your number
sorry i didn't text sooner

changbin
Felix? 
It's okay.

unknown
yeah
but then i realised i literally wrote it on my hand

changbin, having no prior texting skills (majority of his previous texts had been "i'm sorry"), had no idea how to reply to that. 

in fact, he wasn't used to any sense of humour at all - his childhood had been full of the sorrys and fearful looks that he quickly replaced with a neutral expression because "don't look at me like that, it drains the very essence out of me." 

not that his mother had a very strong grip to the world; one day, she'd be high on who knows what, the next day, she'd be screaming at changbin why the earth felt so heavy. (no, not why she felt so heavy on the earth.)

one day, changbin had replied and told her that it was because of the drugs, and that she should give them up. he'd been sent to his room with a slap sting at the side of his face as company.

so basically, the word "humour" hadn't existed in his vocabulary until literally the day before a boy light orange hair had laughed at his nervous expression. 

changbin smiled, realising that he really should thank hyunjin for introducing him; and also for actually helping with their history project. 

so really, he'd received two texts from friends, then. ignoring the fact that one was a few thousand words long and about some random plague a thousand years into the past. still, the thought filled him with happiness. two friends - could he call them that - in one day. 

changbin opened his phone and was going to send hyunjin a thanks, thinking that the other would understand its full meaning, but then decided saying that in real life would mean so much more. 

anyway, so because of changbin's lack of texting knowledge, he left felix's text unanswered and went away to have breakfast and get ready for school. 

his mom was in the kitchen. he didn't know if it was a good thing that she was smoking weed - on one hand, it meant she was most likely in a good mood, but on the other, it meant another black strike to her already susceptible body. 

"mAWning!" his mother chirped at him. gods, how much stuff had she had? she hadn't been this cheerful since the afternoon she'd found the stuff and had her first smoke.