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“Go to sleep.”
“We haven’t seen each other for months and that’s the first thing you tell me?” Jae whined.
“It’s two in the morning there!” Brian argued. “Go to sleep!”
“Sleep is for the weak, Bri-Bri.”
“--but if you don’t sleep now, then you’ll sleep for a week.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad, though.”
“Go to sleep!”
Jae crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against his chair like he was about to drop the hottest tea of the year. “A little bird—well, bear has been telling me that you yourself haven’t been getting some rest,” he started, feeling both triumph and disappointment when he saw the way Brian’s expression slowly change through the screen of his phone. “Therefore, you shouldn’t be the one to talk.”
A choppy groan came out of the speaker.
“Whatever.” Brian mumbled, his voice suddenly soft.
Jae’s stern expression melted, with a small smile of defeat curving his lips. He really can’t stay mad at him, can he?
“Is my baby fox mad?” he cooed as a joke, chuckling.
“I just want you to be healthy,” his boyfriend muttered, shooting a Cupid’s arrow through the older's chest because of how cute he said it. “I mean, I know I myself am not being healthy either, but…I just worry about you…a lot…especially since you’re…so far away…from me..."
A wave of pain crashed into Jae’s chest. He suddenly was short of air, and his throat closed out of nowhere.
Silence filled the space between them, which was ironic, since they were miles apart, only connected by a screen that gave no justice to the beauty of each other’s face nor the sweet sound of each other’s voice.
Unfortunately, they had to deal with it. Jae’s career as a songwriter in America and Brian’s education in South Korea brought them farther apart from each other, and they didn’t have the heart to drop one for the other. Not yet, anyway.
Suddenly lost of words, Jae heaved a sigh and smiled. “Sorry, sweetheart. I’ll go to sleep.”
Brian looked at Jae through the camera, about to smile.
“…but you have to sleep with me, you big baby.”
Well, there goes his smile.
“First of all, I’m not a big baby, you are,” Brian said, pouting (without realizing that he was actually contradicting his own statement. You do you, baby Bri.) “Second, it’s like… three in the afternoon here.”
“Time isn’t real,” Jae joked with a straight face, then added, “Besides, Sungjin told me you’ve been studying and songwriting non-stop with zero sleep nowadays. I think you’ll need it just as much as I do.”
Brian opened his mouth to argue, but seeing that Jae was serious about his command, he just nodded, defeat evident on his face.
Jae smiled. “Good. Now go get your pretty ass off that chair and on your bed. I’ll do the same.”
With that, Jae took his phone, stood up from his desk, and crashed onto his bed, lying down on it sideways while waiting for Brian to do the same.
Once he did, Jae stared at the lying down Brian, imagining as if the man was actually lying down beside him. A strange feeling grew in his chest; a beautiful rose radiating happiness, with thorns dripping in poison called longing.
“Jae?”
Jae looked at Brian. The way he called his name was like he was asking what was wrong, but his eyes showed clearly that he already knew the answer to his own question.
They just laid there, staring at each other under the silence, while internally convincing themselves that they were not separated by a screen.
Before anyone could break the ice, Jae yawned.
Brian smiled, fondly watching Jae rub his eyes in attempt to drive his drowsiness away.
“Go to sleep,” Brian repeated his words from earlier, but softer and more gentle.
“I…” Jae mumbled in a breathy voice. “I was going to say ‘I refuse to go to sleep because sleeping would mean missing out on seeing something so beautiful,’ but at this point, I don’t think my eyes can hold on any longer.”
Brian chortled, flustered by Jae’s comment. “Idiot.”
Silence.
Brian looked at Jae, watching his slowly shut into a full close, hopefully sending him to sleep.
“ Good night, Jaehyung hyung ,” Brian whispered in Korean. “ I miss you so much .”
Beep, beep, beep.