Are You There - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Jooheon strides into the house as confidently as he can, though he knows he would be much happier with Changkyun by his side. Instead, he sends Kihyun a listless smile and drags the petite red-head by the wrist after him. Jooheon does not want to lay his clammy hand in Kihyun's.
"I'm surprised you asked me out!" Calls the small man, his smile pinched as he tries to control his overeager expression. Jooheon merely shrugs, dropping Kihyun's hand behind him. Kihyun's skin is too warm in his hand, making it clammy in the already hot house.
"I just need someone here to make sure I don't get too drunk," Jooheon replies hotly, practically fuming. He still cannot believe that Changkyun ditched him with Kihyun, someone his best friend knows he could never stand. Of all Jooheon's exes, Kihyun is his absolute biggest regret. It had been a near empty threat against Changkyun to bring the smaller man tonight, but Changkyun had made it a challenge and Jooheon hates backing down from a challenge.The blonde must admit to himself that if he didn't have some faith that Changkyun would end up at the party tonight, he would not have brought Kihyun to begin with.
Peering down at the small man beside him, Jooheon can only grimace. "Ah, Jooheon-ie!" A clingy hand drops onto the blonde's arm, Jooheon's grimace growing with each passing second. "I won't let you get too wild, don't worry. I'll take care of you."
Jooheon holds back a gag, wishing endlessly that his best friend could be here. At least then he could have a few drinks without worrying about being jumped by a pint-sized weasel.
While Jooheon and Kihyun navigate their way through the large home of their mutual friend, Changkyun sits behind the counter of a comic store across the city. His chin rests atop his hand, his other paging through a new novel he had grabbed from the library a few blocks away. He smiles as the heroine strikes down an enemy, a crazed and fanged creature of the darkness.
It's not a plausible idea, Changkyun knows. Vampires and werewolves are not real, but the supernatural world completely draws him in. Each word holds him tight as if he were another character of the pages. Even the savage creature that disappears into a pile of ash within his imagination. Maybe Jooheon is right, he thinks to himself as he reaches the center of the novel. Maybe I do hide behind books.
The bell above the store's entrance tings, announcing a customer's arrival. Changkyun marks his page with his hand, glancing up from the counter and glaring through his fringe to find the newcomer. The front of the store is dark now that the sun has set, the large windows letting in only dim streetlight and making it hard for him to spot the customer. The new organization of the shelving in the store also confuses him in his search for whomever has just entered.
When he does locate them, Changkyun almost yelps in fright. A tall man, surely around Changkyun's own age, stands near the far corner of the shop. His long is neck bent to read the covers of a few newly released graphic novels. Changkyun recognizes the covers of the series and smiles, having read the first two issues after their releases. The display is dominated by the third issue just released the day before, and the customer eyes it almost warily.
"Are you a fan of 'Obscured'?" Changkyun sits a bit straighter on his stool behind the counter, eager to talk shop with someone new. Jooheon has never been very into the fictional world, more avid on living his life in reality. "Of that comic, I mean," Changkyun adds with a laugh. He brushes his hair from his face, losing sight of the man almost as soon as his vision clears.
Changkyun's eyes stutter over the store's small space, eyelashes fluttering in shock. "Hello?" He calls out nervously, his gaze sparing a moment for his phone sat beside him on the counter. The date and time blinks up at him, 8:29 PM, 10th October, 2018. He still has over an hour left before closing, and yet he's already dealing with troublesome assholes. "Hello!" He calls once again, growing impatient.
This is the third time this week that kids have entered the store just to play the part of a haunting. So goes October, Changkyun tells himself with a roll of his eyes. He hates that it still makes him nervous, despite knowing how childish the whole act of pulling pranks on someone is. With a sigh, Changkyun grabs for his phone, his fingers typing a text for Jooheon almost as soon as the device is in his grasp.
To Joohunnit: Hey, if you're not too drunk, could you come out to the store tonight? The monsters are out early :(
In his pocket across the city, Jooheon feels the vibration of his phone, but he chooses to ignore it for now. He's finally run into the owner of the house, the oldest man he knows and still calls a dear friend. "Hoseok!" He shouts out over the music, clapping the older man on his broad shoulder. "What's the celebration for?"
Hoseok, a man with the presence of a giant, but the smile of a child, chuckles into his glass. Taking a long sip of what Jooheon suspects is whiskey, Hoseok merely shrugs. "It's been a while since I've seen some of you guys. I just thought it'd be fun to have everyone together for a little blowout."
Jooheon nods understandingly, taking a long pull from his amber bottle. He hates beer, but with someone like Kihyun hanging off him like the plague, he knows that a drunken state will only take him somewhere he does not want to be. So he sticks to something less potent than he usual soju. Jooheon notices the subtle glance Hoseok makes towards the red-head, holding back his questions in front of the smaller man.
Jooheon rolls his eyes in answer, shaking his arm to try and free himself from Kihyun's tightening grasp. "Kihyun, seriously. Can't you give me a second to breathe?"
"I suppose," he replies with a sigh, standing on tiptoe to try and kiss Jooheon's cheek. He does not even react when Jooheon flinches away, one of the blonde's least favorite qualities of the man. Jooheon is not into the clingy antics, and would rather hide public affection instead of flaunt it. "I'll be back with something a little stronger," Kihyun offers up before turning from Jooheon, a dark wink aimed at the taller lad before officially parting ways.
Jooheon heaves a sigh of relief, sagging against Hoseok's side as if his energy has been drained. He almost always feels a bit physically weakened in Kihyun's presence, as if their contact sucks the life straight from Jooheon's body. Hoseok chuckles again, sipping away on his glass before nudging Jooheon off him gently. "So where's the shadow?" He asks casually, referring to Changkyun in his less-than-affectionate way.
Jooheon sighs yet again, leaning himself instead against a wall. "He's working. He didn't want to come tonight anyway."
"Why not?" Hoseok does not know Jooheon's best friend well, only knowing him as the blonde's darker half. The most he ever got conversation wise came when the young man was too drunk to control his mouth, earning Hoseok an earful of too much information. "He's too young to have a career that needs him twenty-four hours a day."
Jooheon nods earnestly, his annoyance from the day before making a reappearance. "That's what I'm saying!" He finishes off his beer, setting the empty bottle on a hall table beside him. "He keeps blaming his anxiety, saying that he's scared of crowds, strangers, blah blah-"
Jooheon cuts himself off to duck behind a passing party goer, having spotted Kihyun's bottle red head in the crowd. Hoseok groans in annoyance, grabbing Jooheon's wrist and dragging him towards the back of the house, a mud room resting empty. "What were you saying?" Hoseok asks quietly, sitting down on the floor and motioning for Jooheon to follow suit. Both settle on the carpet, though Jooheon feels too sober to really get into his issues with his best friend.
"There's not much to say. He's off working instead of hanging out with me. I don't know what you wanna hear." He shrugs pitifully, his thoughts deep as his best friend's face flickers in his mind's eye.
"Well, you could start with why the hell you brought Kihyun here as a replacement." Hoseok places his still half-full glass beside him, giving Jooheon his full attention. As the oldest in their group of friends, Hoseok has always felt a sense of responsibility for what the others do, and how they feel. Unfortunately, it also leaves him as the one who knows just about everything about everyone, a holder of secrets he never wanted. "What happened to your plan to confess to Changkyun?"
Jooheon clicks his teeth, shaking his head at the older man. "Yeah, I deleted that idea from my database real quick, don't be stupid." Though his words are bitter, he cannot help the soft thoughts of his best friend that infiltrate his mind. He smiles beside himself, not realizing until Hoseok chuckles at him.
"You can't even talk about him without grinning like a fool," Hoseok points out, reclaiming his glass and taking a thoughtful sip. "What's stopping you? It's not like he'll block you on Instagram or anything for having a crush."
Jooheon glares at the older man, half his mind ready to argue, half his mind still on the dark face sat half way across the city. "You already know it's not a crush," Jooheon grumbles, slumping against the wall behind him. "Besides, most straight guys freak out when homos come onto them-"
"Jooheon I've watched you try to give that poor kid a lap dance while drunk before-"
Jooheon claps his hands over his ears, successfully blocking out the horrifying memory from just a year earlier. "Don't talk about it!" He hisses, glaring down at his lap shamefully. "I'm still shocked he didn't completely abandon me after that."
"Well doesn't that tell you that he won't abandon you if you tell him something he doesn't know about you yet? I mean, you're supposed to be best friends." Hoseok hurries to finish his glass, groaning as his whiskey burns a trail down his throat.
"I don't think so," Jooheon mumbles, completely sullen now.
Well I know so, Hoseok thinks spitefully. The poor idiot told me himself how much he loves you, why aren't you taking the hints?
Jooheon jolts up in place, another vibration from his pocket startling him. He grabs for his back pocket, pulling his phone out and glancing at the notification screen. Hoseok can tell from the smile on Jooheon's face just who's texted, and he cannot help himself.
"Hey!" Jooheon lets out a loud curse as Hoseok stands, reading Jooheon's newest messages loudly.
"'Hey, if you're not too drunk, could you come out to the store tonight? The monsters are out early.' Aw, how cute, he added a sad smiley face." Hoseok reads over the next message quietly, Jooheon grabbing at the large arms of his older friend to try and get his phone back.
"Hoseok, can't you knock it off? What if it's personal!" Hoseok lowers his arms, passing back Jooheon's phone quietly.
"Sorry," he mutters, glancing at the floor between them. "He seems really upset, you should probably go out to see him."
Jooheon glares hard at his friend, scrutinizing the unfortunately perfect face hidden behind equally perfect hair. If he were ugly, it would be easier for Jooheon to be angry, but he can only sigh and wave Hoseok away with a small smile. "I'll probably head out in a minute," he admits, his eyes still yet to land on the new texts that continue popping up on his screen.
Hoseok nods, heading out of the room and towards his party, sounds of shattering glass filtering back to Jooheon's ears. Ignoring the ruckus, he finally takes his first glance at his phone, more messages popping up every few seconds.
From Changkyuhh: Hey, if you're not too drunk, could you come out to the store tonight? The monsters are out early tonight :(
From Changkyuhh: Hey please text back, this guy is seriously freaking me out
From Changkyuhh: jooheon
From Changkyuhh: jooheon pleasr
From Changkyuhh: please dudw
From Changkyuhh: anwer m
From Changkyuhh: ...
Changkyun's fingers are still atop his phone's screen, a message only half typed out before he's yanked away across the floor. He groans, the pain trickling down his spine beyond excruciating. He can feel every fiber in his body tear apart and snap, crushing him from the inside out. His body feels as suffocated for air as the bag of a vacuum, and he realizes that his muscles are no longer listening to his mind's commands.
He forces a few puffs of air past his lips, staring up at the tall man that almost hovers above him. Changkyun hadn't gotten a clear look at him when sat on his stool, but from this angle he can see everything. From the tall, catlike eyes, to the strikingly silver colored hair despite his young face, to the slope of a high nose and symmetrical cheekbones. Changkyun memorizes the face, begging anyone listening that he'll survive this to use his recall.
"Please," he mutters, more of a sigh than a word as the stranger crouches down. "Don't," Changkyun adds, his throat closing up as the stranger's cold breath hits his cheek. He hadn't realized the man was so near, but he can feel him as his vision fades in and out.
"It's time to hush now," comes the rhythmic voice of someone that should not have such a sinister face. "I understand that it hurts, but it won't last long. Someone will find you soon enough, and you won't feel a thing by then."
A cold hand presses against his cheek, but Changkyun cannot even muster the strength to flinch away in fear. He wants to cry there on the floor. Cry in pain, in fear, and loss. He feels as if he'll die in this moment, and nothing before now has ever been this terrifying.
Don't kill me, he begs in his mind, a lone tear escaping his eye. The sight is truly pitiful for the man that stands above him. Please don't kill me.
"You'll wake in a few hours, and I'm sorry to say that the pain will come back worse then." The man speaks quietly, moving to turn Changkyun's head up. He pulls his hand away tentatively, and Changkyun whimpers at the sight of his own blood clothing the man's fingers. Again, his vision blurs, but he is no longer making the attempt to stay conscious as his lips release more whines. The man hushes Changkyun once more, clicking his teeth as if he were a child who needed scolding. "I'll be leaving you now. But don't worry, I'll find you once again when you need me."
Changkyun can only blink, and in the split second that his vision is drenched in darkness, he finds himself alone in the comic store. In his peripheral, he can see his phone screen go dark, too much time passing since last touched. He wonders if Jooheon has seen his messages. Prayers that Jooheon did, that he left the party, that he caught a taxi, all leave Changkyun's parted lips silently. No sound escapes, but he puts as much force behind his pleas as he can.
Jooheon himself is praying in the back of a taxi, staring at those three floating dots on the left of his phone's screen. He's been staring at them for the last ten minutes of his ride, begging for a message to pop up and tell him that everything is okay. Hell, he would gladly take a message saying their friendship was over, just so long as it meant Changkyun was okay.
The message never comes, and his screen goes dark several times as he waits. He waits so long, that he does not even notice when the cab pulls to a curb and the driver turns in his seat, expecting a payment. "You getting out?" Comes his gruff voice, stretching a hand out for cash.
Jooheon fishes his wallet from his jeans, forking over what seems like too many bills, but the man does not argue. Shuffling himself out of the backseat, the blonde lad paces across the sidewalk up to the dark storefront. Glaring through the front window, he cannot see Changkyun sat in his usual spot behind the counter. There are no trace signs of any other employees, and the storefront is darkened as if the business has been closed for the night.
"What's going on?" He wonders aloud, yanking open the store's glass door. The familiar bell rings above him, and he calls out for his best friend, only the suffocating darkness replying. With his phone poised in his hand, he opens his contacts quickly and clicks his best friend's. Holding the phone away from his ear as he listens for a ringer in the oddly empty store, Jooheon waits at the entrance.
He hears the familiar sound of some pop song, the space behind the back counter illuminating as Changkyun's phone unlocks itself. "What're you doing back there?" Jooheon calls out, his nerves growing as he steps through shelves of comics, some of the covers terrifyingly gruesome. "Changkyun?" He almost shouts now, irritated to not have a reply yet.
He catches the sound of wood against the floor, and he quickens his pace, reaching the edge of the shop counter at almost a sprint. Peering over the edge, Jooheon can see Changkyun's empty stool, a foot lying on the floor beside it. He yelps, scurrying around the counter to find his best friend sprawled across the tiled floor, a dark puddle too wide to be safe surrounding him.
"Shit," he whispers, his fingers fumbling over his phone screen to end his current call and dial the emergency line. He kneels down beside Changkyun as he stutters over his call, patting around the tanned man's chest to find some kind of wound. "Shit I don't know," he answers in a rush as the operator asks him rapid fire questions. "I can't find anything, there's just blood-"
He drops his phone with a shout when Changkyun suddenly cries out, his face twisting and morphing in pain. Jooheon makes a mad scramble to reclaim his phone, on the verge of tears as his best friend rolls onto his side, his chest heaving as if he cannot take in any more oxygen.
Words hit Jooheon's ears through his phone's speaker, but he cannot hear them anymore. He's only listening to Changkyun as he screams on the floor, pale hands flitting over him to try and ease whatever is wrong. "Kyun- Kyun please!"
The blonde man's world tilts as Changkyun writhes in pain, no words or touches able to soothe him. "Please!" They shout at one another, so many different reasons to scream in this moment spiraling between them.
Yet they both feel the pain of what they can only hope will not come. For separate reasons, they are in complete agony together.