the smell of wet gravel permeates the air as jongin’s footsteps echo throughout the empty streets, followed by the sound of his sneakers splashing into the spring rain collecting in puddles all around the pavement.

holding a hand over his face to keep his vision clear of water, jongin spots the mom and pop convenience store located a few yards down and across the street from his school. glancing left and right to be sure that absolutely no cars are in sight, he quickly sprints diagonally for the little building, backpack swinging left and right as he makes his way towards the overhanging roof to get out of the rain until he can collect his thoughts and figure something out.

jongin runs all the way to the store, leaping over a particularly deep stream of water rushing along the curbside, until he finally makes it to drier grounds.

“aw man,” he falls against the glass window, heaving for breath as he stares out into the gray skies above, roiling clouds opening up and pouring even more rain than it did just a few minutes ago. his parents are both at work and his sisters are away for university. so unless he wants to be drenched to the bone, there’s nothing else for it but to wait it out.

since there’s nothing jongin can do to change the situation, he opens the door and enters the store, a warm draft of air washing over his shivering body.

“welcome,” the cashier girl hums in a disinterested tone from the register, eyes glued to her cell phone as jongin quietly passes by to get to the hot cocoa and cappuccino dispenser near the back.

he walks along the candy and granola bar aisle, glancing left and right to see what the store has in stock, no real intent to buy anything other than the hot cocoa that is all jongin’s weekly allowance can afford at the moment.

a bell tinkles at the front as another customer enters the building.

‘ooh, i’m getting those next,’ jongin thinks as he eyes a bag of chocolate covered gummy bears with interest, leaning down and staring longingly at the sweet treat before his gaze travels up to the price.

“yeesh, $3.75 for a bag of gummy bears,” jongin mutters to himself, quickly straightening up and walking away.

he finally makes it to the back of the store where the hot cocoa and cappuccino dispenser stands between a slushie machine and the alcohol refrigerators.

grabbing a paper cup from a stack on the side, jongin places it under the spout and selects the correct button for hot cocoa. immediately, a whirring noise fills the air as a thin drizzle of the warm beverage pours into the cup, the rich smell of chocolate invading jongin’s nose.

“mmm.”

jongin releases the button right before the frothy drink spills over the edge of the cup, carefully bringing the steamy hot cocoa to his lips to sip a bit off the top before pressing on the lid.

he walks back over to the cash register, placing the cup on the counter and turning away to grab his wallet from the front pocket of his backpack.

“$1.45,” jongin hears the cashier girl say as he finally finds his wallet, smiling as he digs up two dollars and hands it to the girl.

“55 cents is your change,” she says, handing jongin his coins and quickly turning her attention back to her phone. “have a nice day. thank you for coming.”

“uh huh, you too,” jongin replies, twisting over to shove his wallet back into his backpack. zipping up, he turns back around to grab his hot cocoa, only to realize that the cup is missing.

“what?” jongin furrows his brows in confusion, glancing over his shoulder and jerking back in surprise to find kyungsoo standing behind him, carefully sipping on a paper cup of something hot. "is that mine?“ jongin’s frown becomes more pronounced, kyungsoo silently drinking and staring at him intently with round eyes.

"let’s go,” kyungsoo simply replies, turning away and walking towards the door, cup of hot cocoa in one hand and a bright red umbrella in the other.

“give me my drink,” jongin calls, catching up to kyungsoo as the smaller boy walks out of the store, flipping open his umbrella and waiting patiently for jongin to reach him.

“that’s mine,” jongin power walks out the door, pouting as kyungsoo shoves the umbrella into his hand and slides his own into jongin’s arm, clutching a small handful of jongin’s uniform.

“let’s call it a trade,” kyungsoo smiles, prompting jongin to walk forward. but the taller boy refuses to budge, digging his heels into the ground and yanking his arm out of kyungsoo’s grasp. jongin shoots a petulant glare at kyungsoo, who merely raises a brow and purposefully takes another slow sip of the hot cocoa.

jongin continues to glower at the other boy for a few seconds before his face splits into a wide grin, throwing his arm around kyungsoo’s shoulder to draw him in closer and finally stepping away from the protection of the convenience store’s roof, the rhythmic pitter-patter of rain against fabric pounding above their heads.

“what about your driver?” jongin asks as the two slowly make their way towards the direction of his house, the sound of their squelching footsteps trailing behind them.

“sent him home,” kyungsoo shrugs, steadfastly staring straight into the hazy street ahead, and jongin smiles even wider. “he’ll pick me up when i call.”

“aww,” jongin coos, rubbing his cheek against the top of kyungsoo’s hair. “how sweet. just so you can walk me home?”

“shut up,” kyungsoo mumbles, turning his face away as his ears burn red from embarrassment. “before i change my mind about sharing the hot cocoa.”