Chapter 2:

Diamond Dust

Snow settled onto the houses nestled within the bustling winter city of eternal white and glistening blues that seemed to have been made as a reflection of the whites. The small puffs of white danced in the wind and gently to the hard ground. The sight was simply amazing.

"It's nice isn't it?" Hwoarang turned around at the softness of the voice. He smiled blissfully looking into the cloud filled sky.

"Yeah....." The red head leaned with his back on the railing at the top of the apartment building.

"..... Thinking of something?" Raven strands fell a little as Jin leaned beside him, looking over at the alley below, that was covered in white as was the top of the building.

"Just a memory.... that's all." Hwoarang closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Can I invade?" Jin asked. Hwoarang laughed,

"You couldn't invade if you tried." Jin smiled.

'DID I REALLY SAY THAT??' Hwoarang laughed lightly and added,

"That's why YOU weren't drafted." Jin chuckled.

"I guess so." Hwoarang looked back toward the ever grey-white that stretched over the earth.

"I was.... Just.... Remembering...." Hwoarang smiled. "Snow.... Reminds me of Baek..." Jin looked at Hwoarang.

"Oh, I-I'm-"

"If you say you're sorry, I'm gonna knock the shit outta you." Jin grinned.

"I guess, you're just 'gonna have to knock the shit outta me' then."

"Guess so." Hwoarang laughed, but didn't move. He suddenly grinned, and grasped Jin's arm falling backwards into the snow a few feet away from the railing.

"Uh-AHH!!" Jin hit the snow with a soft landing. Hwoarang started to wave his arms and move his legs in the snow. "Wh-What are you doing?"

"Making a snow angel."

"A what?"

"A s-n-o-w a-n-g-e-l. Try it." Hwoarang laughed. Jin shook his head but watched Hwoarang for a minute before mimicking him in the snow. They stood up to look at their masterpieces. Jin smiled at the strange winged and dress shaped figure with his natural hairstyle. Hwoarang grinned,

"Heh heh.." He bent down and drew horns, a tail, and a hand holding a pitchfork on the angel he had made. Jin burst into laughter as Hwoarang drew a funky smiley face to go with it. He kicked the red head lightly in the side just to pick at him. Hwoarang fell over to the side and grasped Jin's ankle bringing him down with him.

"Ha HA!" Hwoarang laughed in triumph.

"Grrr..." Jin smiled and pounced him. They wrestled, kicking and stirring up the cold white blanket. Jin landed on top and for a spit second their lips were mere millimeters apart. Silence and tension hung in the air as if time had stopped.

Laughter burst into the air beating down all tension and throwing it out to trash. Jin relaxed on top of Hwoarang for a second, laughing whole-heartedly before pushing up and sitting on the snow. Hwoarang sat up and kept laughing.

'Man.... I haven't had THIS much fun in a WHILE.' The laughter calmed but smiles were still ear-to-ear. Hwoarang leaned over to what was left of Jin's angel and drew a halo over the head before flopping down in the lap of it.

'An angel... Me?' Jin wondered, his mind flowing from the angel's halo down to Hwoarang's peaceful face and his own old, green, blue, and white school sweater and the full-fingered red gloves he lent to Hwoarang to keep his hands warm. Hwoarang sat up and gazed at Jin.

'Wow... he looks so...... so.... angelic, stop it. STOP IT. Stop looking at me!!! Stop looking at me with those big brown eyes.....' Hwoarang reached out to touch Jin's glowing skin but caught himself before he got close to the Japanese's face.

"Help me up?" He asked, disgusting the longing to touch Jin. Surprisingly Jin smiled and grasped Hwoarang's hand lightly. This was about the time Hwoarang wish he didn't have gloves on. Jin hauled him up and Hwoarang laughed at Jin's soaked blue jacket, and the soaked blue jeans, even at his own soaked clothes. Jin just chuckled.

"Lets get inside before you get worse." Hwoarang nodded and left the white blanket behind to enter Jin's home.

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"How long has it been?" The words shocked Jin for a moment.

"What?"

"You know, how long has it been since you scraped me off of the street to take care of me?" Jin watched Hwoarang's light amber eyes sparkle in the light of the fireplace flame. Jin looked at the fire and pulled the black blanket tighter around his shoulders.

"Um..." Hwoarang looked out at him from under his white blanket as he lay on his stomach.

"Yeah?"

"Four days." Hwoarang raised his eyebrow.

"Really? Well, I lost track...." Jin smiled at the red-orange flames glowing through the darkness of Jin's apartment living room.

"You... Um.... You were fine two days ago." Jin looked at the floor in what seemed to be a mixture of embarrassment and selfishness.

"You... You mean I'm fine?" Hwoarang remembered how Jin checked his temperature everyday.

"I guess... I'm sorry. I guess I liked the company.... I'm sorry Hwoa, you should have already been on your way." Hwoarang laughed.

"You're my rival." Inside these words hurt Jin, but for his sake, he didn't let it show. Hwoarang laid a hand on Jin's shoulder. "But that doesn't mean, we can't be friends at the same time." Jin's face lit up. "I guess you never had that many friends coming up, huh?"

"No." Jin looked at the floor.

"Eh? Well, don't feel bad about it."

"Huh?"

"I never really found anybody I could trust enough to be a true friend." His heart lit up in a fury of hope that burned brighter than the fire in the fireplace. Hwoarang smiled at him. "Friends?" He held his hand out. Jin looked at it for a second and grasped it without hesitation.

"Competitive friends." Hwoarang grinned and nodded. "But..." Hwoarang's grin faded. "Does that mean.... Does it mean you're leaving?"

"Hm... I'll stay and bug the shit outta ya a little longer." Never in Jin's life had he been so happy, and yet he longed to hug Hwoarang, but out of fear, he didn't. Hwoarang began to make strange noises as he made shadow puppets in the flame's light. Jin watched in wonder, not the shadow puppets, but the red, spiked, Korean doll himself.