He Will B.O.Y.

Kim came to Damir Saturday night crying

that he couldn’t do this anymore

that he was too tired, always too fuckin’ tired

and Damir took his face in his hands

and kissed him on his doorstep

and wasn’t surprised to taste puke on his tongue.

✖

Holidays were the hardest. Damir couldn’t spend evening smokes with his most absent art student — and Kim had to go back home where toilets were shared,

and clogging bathtub drains were tricky,

and stuttering heartbeats couldn’t be hidden when hugs were a constant,

and passing out on bedroom floors were dangerous.

So, “Please,” Damir told Kim, with his hands tight on his scrawny shoulders. “take care of yourself. You know your limit.”

“Don’t put on that act with me,” answered Kim slowly. His eyes looked feral under that mop of messy, obsidian hair. “You don’t care either way.”

Damir tightened his jaw and returned the hard stare, only to turn his head away at the last moment and let Kim go,

and disappear on the city transit bus.

Damir didn’t know whether he was driving himself insane, or Kim was just that good at making others as insane as he is himself.

✖

KIM WON JUNG - TEMPORARY MEDICAL LEAVE. No specifics, no additional information on the severity, just a brief e-mail to excuse Kim Won Jung’s absences for the next few months. Maybe even the entire semester. Maybe even forever. Because with something so complex, so twisted, so tangled, ‘temporary’ is never assured, and ‘temporary’ could easily be ‘forever’ by tomorrow.