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As though sensing that Geonhak’s car had died down, Dongju’s eyes fluttered open. Immediately his hand travelled up to his glabella, applying mild pressure on it with eyebrows furrowed in pain. It felt like a hammer was constantly banging against his brain. His stiff legs weren’t necessarily helping either.
“What time is it…?” Dongju asked as he began to process his surroundings. The dimly lit street before him along with the familiar suburban houses just across his view sparked a sense of familiarity. Oh, we’ve arrived .
“One.”
Dongju frowned, his face conspicuous of displeasure as he faced his boyfriend in the driver seat. “You drove for 5 hours straight?”
Geonhak didn’t reply. He merely sighed, unbuckled his seat belt and pulled the key out of the lock cylinder. He then let his whole body loose against the backrest of the seat and slumped his shoulders. His pallor appeared so weak and sickly—something that Dongju could not stand looking at. The dark circles that were beginning to form underneath his eyes also weren’t something that Dongju could miss and set aside.
“Geonhak…”
“I’m sorry,” Geonhak said.
For some reason, his apology elicited a sense of guilt within the younger man. However, this did not stop Dongju to continue chiding his boyfriend, as he began to go on a tangent, “We told each other that we’d take turns driving for every two hours. It was a 9-hour drive, Geonhak! And we both know that the both of us are tired from all our activities for these past 5 days! You should’ve rested instead of driving all the way here. I could’ve driven while you were resting…”
“I know, I know.” Geonhak massaged his temples, as if throbbing in pain from hearing Dongju’s naggings. “I just… didn’t want to wake you up.”
Dongju, who had previously intended to resume his naggings, went silent. The older man took this as his cue to continue. “You just seemed so tired, I didn’t dare to wake you up and force you to drive. Well, maybe not force you, that’s not the right word—but you get what I mean.”
The suffocating guilt from before grew even more intense within the younger man the moment his boyfriend finished his spiel. He dropped his head, the frown still etched upon his lips. “Sorry…” he mumbled. “I should’ve known.”
Geonhak ruffled his boyfriend’s brown locks. “It’s fine. Besides, it was my fault. Thought I could be the ideal selfless boyfriend, y’know?” he said softly with his distinctive low voice. Sometimes Dongju wondered how Geonhak could emit such a low, guttural voice, yet is still able to sound soft at the same time. He could never find out the answer.
“Okay, okay, I get it. But you’re still in the wrong, okay! Our original agreement of taking turns driving is still valid,” Dongju pouted and crossed his arms, feigning annoyance.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever makes you happy,” Geonhak rolled his eyes, though the corners of his mouth were lifted upwards. “Anyways, let’s just get off and take all these baggage inside, yeah? I’m so tired that I’m already longing for our bed…”
Dongju shrugged. “Okay, yeah, fair. Let’s get this over with."
With that, the two of them stepped out of Geonhak’s navy hatchback and with all what was left of their energy, began unloading their baggage from the rear seat. It was just a couple of backpacks at the beginning of their trip, but after five days, it'd seemed like those backpacks had multiplied and perhaps made four children of their own. Well, Dongju supposed vacation does that to you.
Grunts and groans escaped both men's mouth as their already rigid limbs struggled to bring the bags and goods up to the door. The moment they were there, their grips slacked and their baggage plopped to the floor. Dongju’s whole arms ached almost immediately, from the muscles of his shoulders down to the joints of his knuckles, to which he’d stretched in order to ease them. Geonhak, too, was doing the same thing.
“The house key’s on you, right?”
Dongju perked up at the older’s question. “Oh, yeah, sure.”
It didn’t take long for him to fish out the key to their house from the smallest pocket in his duffel bag, and, before they knew it, they already found themselves dragging their bags against the creaking hard-wood floor towards the living room.
Their living room was clean and meticulous just a few seconds ago, but now it was similar to that of a shipwreck, with all of their belongings strewn all over the floor in such a disorderly manner. The two couldn’t care less about the mess they’d made, as long as they get their well-deserved sleep after hours and hours of being in a small, enclosed space like Geonhak’s car, they wouldn’t mind cleaning such a mess the next morning. The trip was fun—more than fun, even. It was exhilarating, especially with how Dongju’s previous week was one of the most draining work weeks he’d ever gone through. He still could remember how his back felt as though it could snap at any given moment from slouching too much in front of his desk. The fact that Geonhak was there with him, too, was something Dongju treasured. Nonetheless, everyone knows that post-vacation blues is a real thing, and the 9-hour drive did not help either.
Dongju just got back from locking the door again—considering it was already 1:15 AM—when his attention was caught by the figure of Geonhak lying down on his stomach on their worn out couch. A small smile grew across his lips. His boyfriend must’ve been exhausted after driving for hours. Not to mention it was for him . It was for him that Geonhak decided to push himself to the limits, even though he didn’t really have to. He had always been like this, the selfless Geonhak. He thought he could please other people by sacrificing his own wants and needs. But in reality, that’s not always the case.
Still, though, Dongju could never ask for a better partner. It was that soft part of him that caused Dongju to initially fall in love with him.
“Hak?” The younger man called out as he tiptoed closer to the other. No response.
Dongju raised his eyebrows. There was no way he could fall asleep so quickly like that , he thought. He could swear his boyfriend was still awake just less than five minutes ago, when they were unloading their luggages all over the floor. Dongju dragged himself to the side of the couch, closer to Geonhak, craning his neck just a little bit so that he could see his boyfriend’s face.
“Love?” Dongju called out again, but this time, there was a response—a snore.
“Oh.” A small laugh escaped Dongju’s mouth. His hand reached out to Geonhak’s head, running his fingers through his boyfriend’s silver locks. This was something Dongju would not dare do if Geonhak was conscious, as his embarrassment would definitely get the better of him. Displaying pure affection has never been his forte, with the exception of when the affection is mixed with a little bit of mischief. But this—he would never do it when Geonhak’s awake.
“Hey, Haaak. Don’t sleep here. Move to the bed.”
That drew no response from the older man, but Dongju wasn’t upset or anything. On the contrary, he was amused. Not giving up, Dongju sat down beside the couch, his head now on the same level as the sleeping man, and began to gently shake him awake. As he did so, he whispered, “Haaak, wake up. It’s comfier on the bed, y’know? You know the couch’s too hard.”
Geonhak, on the other hand, merely let out a soft “hhhmhhmm…” as a response.
“Oh, come on now…” Dongju sighed. He couldn’t let his boyfriend sleep in such an uncomfortable position and wake up, possibly, with sore muscles all over his body. One way or another, he had to move Geonhak to their bedroom, but how exactly he should do that was still a debate that his mind was currently disputing about. Sure, he could let Geonhak be here all night and wait for him to move all by himself, but like he previously thought, he couldn’t let that happen. He knew firsthand just how horrible it is to wake up with throbbing muscles and thews after hours of sleeping in an uncomfortable position. He also could continue trying to wake him up until he’s fully awake, but he didn’t dare to. Geonhak is one of those people who has a hard time falling asleep, therefore if Dongju wakes him up, it’d take a while for the older man to fall asleep again.
With those two possibilities set aside, Dongju was certain this next idea had to be the last resort. If he were to be honest, though, he did not know how his logic came up with it. Perhaps it was the drowsiness kicking in. Yeah, that was probably it—Dongu also just took a notice of this, but his eyelids had become progressively heavy since they first entered the house. Yeah—that must be it, because there was no way his right mind would come up with the idea to carry his boyfriend, who is considerably much bigger and heavier than himself, to the bedroom.
Standing up, Dongju brought himself to the side of the couch. He coiled his arms around the other’s shoulders and, after mustering what he thought to be enough strength, attempted to lift the older man up.
“Come on…!” Dongju groaned, heaving his boyfriend up closer to his chest.
This did not last long, however, as the both of them slid effortlessly down to the couch, weighed down by Geonhak’s body mass. Head now propped against Geonhak’s back and feet hanging at the edge of the couch along with Geonhak’s, Dongju exhaled slowly. His eyelids were starting to become steadily heavier compared to before, and his consciousness was ebbing away. It was as if his brain knew he was lying down, promptly ordering him to sleep, thinking that he was already in bed.
Dongju closed his eyes then. He thought that he might as well just sleep on top of Geonhak, if the latter wasn’t going to cooperate and move to the bed. Might as well wake up with a sore body, so that Geonhak would have a friend that suffers the same problem. The most important thing, though, was that he might as well just sleep then and there, as he had no more energy or motivation to bring himself up once again.
And so, without having any further thoughts, and with his body on top lying weakly on top of Geonhak, Dongju’s consciousness wafted away.
Never in his whole life had Geonhak woken up to an immense weight pressing him down against his back. As he tried to fully gather his consciousness back, he craned his neck to see what in the world was squashing him down against the couch. When he found out what it was, though, he was caught immediately off guard.
“Dongju—?”
Sure enough, the source of the weight was a sleeping Dongju. His head rested against Geonhak’s shoulder and his arms were hanging limply on both sides of their body. With his eyes shut and chest heaving, Geonhak could notice his boyfriend’s beautiful long lashes even in such an awkward position. His lips, too—which were slightly chapped from probably the dry air of their car from earlier—were slightly apart, giving access for him to breathe more easily. Geonhak smiled— what an angel , he thought.
The clock on the wall just a few feet in front of him conveyed that it was currently around half past four, most likely in the morning. At the back of his mind, images of him and Dongju in the car appeared, followed suit by them carrying their bags and goods into the house, and soon of him toppling down onto the couch with what he could recall as such vivid fatigue and exhaustion.
Oh. Right. That happened.
Did Dongju also just shut down all of a sudden like him? Geonhak didn’t know, but he assumed that was what happened. Though, why didn’t he just sleep in a more comfortable place like, say, their bedroom?
Bedroom sounded nice. Geonhak planned to migrate both himself and Dongju to the bedroom as it’d be much more comfortable there, however his boyfriend’s body was quite literally constricting his plan to move.
Thus, Geonhak shook his head, removing all unnecessary thoughts and proceeded to carefully turn around on the couch as best as he could. The fact that Dongju was also squishing him against the couch didn’t help much either. He grunted, one hand gently gripping the other’s arm to prevent the latter from falling. As he watched Dongju’s every movement lest he wakes up, Geonhak shifted bit by bit, his mind on edge over not wanting his boyfriend to wake up. But then——
“Hak…?”
Geonhak froze. With him now facing his boyfriend, Geonhak’s eyes wandered up to the other’s. Lids half open, brown optics looked straight back into him in feeble wonder.
“Oh, did I wake you up?” Geonhak whispered.
Soon the older man became bewildered, though, and for a good reason too. Dongju had subsequently closed his eyes then and only snuggled further against Geonhak’s chest, inducing a flutter of something within his stomachs.
Adorable , he thought.
After a few pokes on the younger one’s cheek, making sure that he wasn’t really awake, Geonhak slowly lifted himself up. Dongju did not weigh much, especially to him who regularly does weights, but his stiff joints and sore muscles made maneuvering his boyfriend much more of an endeavor than it should be. Not to mention that he also had to do it as gently as possible, as he didn’t want to wake the younger one up.
The joints across his arms crackled plenty as Geonhak carefully positioned his sleeping boyfriend on his lap. At this point he was just carrying him, basically.
Stationing his grasps against Dongju’s bottom, Geonhak then stood up. He wobbled at first, not used to the weight of his boyfriend—especially in this early morning. Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for him to regain his balance. With Dongju propped against his chest and on his arms, Geonhak strode toward their room.
Navigating through the faintly lit corridor was rather difficult with a person in his arms. However, Geonhak eventually found the door handle to the bedroom, and after struggling quite a while to maintain his grasp on Dongju while simultaneously opening the door, soon he found himself already in the room.
Despite the lights being off, Geonhak easily trudged toward the bed. He then laid Dongju on the mattress as gently as possible, who was still sleeping peacefully with soft, regular breathing. If Geonhak were to be in his situation, a simple movement would be enough to wake him up. He’s such a light sleeper compared to Dongju.
Geonhak pulled the sheets up to Dongju’s chin, tucking the latter in. The kiss he pecked on his boyfriend's forehead was almost automatic, as though the mere presence of a peacefully asleep Dongju itself was enough to spark him to do so. If he could, Geonhak would appreciate the view before him for more, but his brain was already sending him signals that he still needed sleep, so he gave in.
The last thing Geonhak felt was the emanating warmth of Dongju—comfortable and soothing—as he snuggled closer against his boyfriend. Then, he fell asleep.