NOISE

His alarm was pulling him out of his sleep roughly, making his head pound from the second he had opened his eyes. "Shut up", he cursed, trying to turn off the alarm on his phone and failing twice before he managed to slide the button to the top.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up slowly, trying to avoid making his headache worse. His cats had left him and he suspected them around Chan, as the older one always fed them in the morning before getting back to work.

He threw the blanket aside and slipped out of his bed. The floor was cold, waking him up more and more with each step he was taking barefoot, on his way to the kitchen. He grabbed a cup and a bag of his favorite tea before turning on the kettle. His eyes fixated on the glass heater, watching the water turn into a bright blue and bubbles, getting lost in his thoughts.

"Are you okay?", he heard Chan say, feeling a hand on his shoulder. He nodded absent, "just tired."

"I can hear that", the older one said and Minho lifted his gaze. "What do you mean?" Chan bit down on his bottom lip, trying to find the right words. "Your walls", he started, but before he finished the sentence, Minho already knew what was going on.

"They're crumbling down", they both whispered at the same time and Minho was feeling like a bus had hit him. He swallowed, trying to repeat his mantra in his head. My name is Lee Minho.

"Hey", Chan said, wrapping his hand around Minho's wrist, pulling him in for a hug. "Do you maybe wanna stay at home today and get some rest?" Minho shook his head, staring into the air. "I can't fall behind, not with this course", he said, trying to calm down. His voice was shaking and he was feeling like the ground would collapse at any second.

He had spent years trying to build up these walls and Han Jisung made them crumble down in the time span of a day. Damn you, Han Jisung.

"I need to get ready", Minho said, breaking away from his roommate. "Thank you for telling me." Chan nodded, his face was covered in unsureness and worry. "Don't look at me like that, Channie. I'll be okay", he reassured, forcing a smile before grabbing the kettle and pouring the hot water into the mug.

He squeezed Chan's biceps in affirmation before walking out of the kitchen and into his bedroom to get ready for his first course. Dori had made himself comfortable on his pillow again, looking at him with tired eyes as soon as he stepped through the door.

He changed his clothes from his pajamas to a comfortable pair of black jeans and a white button up shirt, leaving out some of the lower buttons to squeeze one half into his waistband, letting the other one hang above his jeans as it is.

"Good", he mumbled, looking in the mirror, trying to fix his dark, grey hair. He applied some concealer under his eyes to cover his dark circles and slipped in his black, with different pins decorated blazer. "Bye bye", he said, patting Dori's head and placing a kiss between his eyes before grabbing his bag from the living room and sliding into his shoes.

"Do you wanna eat out for dinner?", he asked, waiting for Chan to look up from his computer screen. "I need to work late but we can order something?" Minho smiled and nodded. "Deal", he answered, opening the door. "Don't forget your tea", Chan called, reminding him. He rolled his eyes at himself, sprinted back to the kitchen to put a lid on the cup and grabbed his tea. "Thank you", he said, hearing Chan chuckle before closing the door behind him.

He pulled out his phone and headphones, put them in his ears and played his wake-up playlist. The campus wasn't too far away from his apartment, making it possible for him to sleep as long as he wanted without being late. He arrived fifteen minutes later, slipped through the door and nodded towards a professor in order to greet her.