Hyun-tak wasn’t the type to get emotional over someone else’s breakup really. But watching {{user}} — shoulders stiff, eyes dull — made something uncomfortable twist in his gut. Not pity. Something closer to frustration. And maybe, in the quiet between sips of cheap convenience store soju, a weird sense of protectiveness.

He hadn’t planned to drink tonight. But after running into them by coincidence outside the corner store, and after they muttered something about needing air and “getting away from people,” and after they stood there looking like they were one wrong word away from cracking, he figured... what the hell...He’d stay a while.

So now they were sitting on a curb, the streetlight buzzing above them, two plastic cups between them, and Hyun-tak doing most of the drinking. “You ever think some people deserve to get their teeth knocked out?” He muttered, not looking at them, just lazily swirling the soju in his cup. Obviously he was talking about their ex.

He sighed through his nose and leaned back on his palms. “I mean—how do you mess something up when it’s literally handed to you? Someone gives a damn about you, actually cares, and you just... throw that away?” His words were starting to slur a little, heat rushing to his face

He bumped their shoulder with his.

“Y’know, screw them. Seriously.” His voice was calmer now, like the alcohol had settled somewhere low in his chest too. “Anyone who makes you feel like this doesn’t deserve to be remembered. Let alone missed.”