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"Hyung."
Younghyun knows this was a risk—heck, not just a risk but a huge ass risk. Whatever he's onto right now is a traipse on a thin cord 50 feet from the ground.
Younghyun and Sungjin arrived at their apartment just as the rain started to fall that afternoon. The weather is just perfect to lull anyone to sleep, with the pitter-pattering of the rain that's gradually getting stronger and the cold air it carries itself with. The serenity in the neighborhood was one of the things they appreciated when they chose to move here from the college dorms. Although children's laughter was heard occasionally from the park in front of their building, it was still outweighed by the rustling of trees and the singing of birds across the open space—a kind of calmness that would find them at any time of the day. Just like now.
Their day was not far from the current weather, having their morning dampened amidst then's cloudy sky. Younghyun, ever quick on his feet when it comes to his lover, made sure that it doesn't soak through the other's plans for the day. He tries his best, crossing borders even, to mellow out the graying aura he was perceiving early in the morning. Still, he doesn't know if what he did was enough. Seeing Sungjin unmoving on the bed, face tucked away into a pillow, he prays that it was.
He shuffles closer to the bed, legs lightly bumping on the wooden frame. Though it barely made a sound, Younghyun still checks if the other noticed, but his resting figure remained motionless. Sungjin can sleep through anything and would sleep through anything. How he was able to sleep in the living room where both Wonpil and Dowoon were shouting whilst playing Mario Kart remains a mystery to Younghyun. Despite being a deep sleeper, however, Sungjin is magically still able to wake up to the softest of sounds.
He tries again, softer than the one before.
"Sungjin-hyung."
Younghyun was now sitting at the edge of the bed, just in case he'll be thrown off-balance if he was standing by however the other reacts to being woken up. He already knows by experience what could happen. Oh, but it's not his experience though, it's their common friend Jae's, who was roommates with Sungjin in the dorms back in their sophomore year. There was one night when Sungjin was woken up by Jae trying so hard to contain his laughs while playing a game in their shared dorm room. The next thing he knows, he was hit off-balance by a pillow and was already down on the floor. Honest to God, I was already trying my best to subdue it, Jae says as he narrated the late-night events to Younghyun the morning after while nursing the bump on his forehead with an ice pack. In Sungjin's defense, It was already 3 am for God's sake and I have a 7 am class.
Getting your sleep disrupted by loud sounds is already annoying on its own. However, those tiny noises that people put so much effort to conceal but fail in doing so register a different level of hell that sets Sungjin's blood on fire undoubtedly quicker.
So he also knows he's gonna be dead if this goes downhill. But Younghyun really has something to say to the elder. And apparently, just like a rich, entitled 53-year old man in line for a restaurant (or perhaps a child who's discovered an interesting worm that might be gone any second), it really cannot wait.
"-jin‐hyung."
"Mmm, what?" Sungjin answers groggily. He lifts his head a little but doesn't bother to open his eyes.
Being greeted by a rejection email was not something Sungjin wishes anyone would have to start their morning with. It was a mistake opening his emails on his phone a few minutes after waking up (a habit he has formed since he started college and is a habit he's trying to get rid of). Even though this company wasn't one of his top priorities for his summer internship, it still made some damage, having not yet recovered from the rejection email from his most preferred one.
He was thankful enough that Younghyun volunteered to run errands with him despite knowing Sungjin likes doing them on his own. Well, it wasn't like he had a choice. The younger insisted on coming along with him to the mall and the grocery. Even then, having Younghyun beside him seemed to have part some clouds in his gloomy morning.
Sungjin's morning went on—and beyond—as planned, with Younghyun as the only notable addition. They both got a haircut (because it was the start of a new month, so Younghyun suggested); mailed some stuff his mom asked him to buy for her (some sweet jam and honey she couldn't buy back at home); and restocked their kitchen and home goods (there was a grocery-wide sale and they didn't want to miss the opportunity). Sungjin thinks he's done well, even with a rough start, in proceeding with his day. Younghyun then treated the both of them to a buffet, something that they only do during special occasions, for their lunch before heading home, claiming that it was 'just because' when Sungjin asks him about it. So he just lets him off, shyly thinking that it was actually for something. He smiles to himself at that. To top it all off, a nice nap would be the only thing remaining to make it even better.
Although he knows that he shouldn't sleep immediately after eating, his mother's voice echoing in his head to sit up and wait for two hours. But he simply cannot fight his system anymore. Twenty minutes of being seated in the car driving home are already enough. Twenty minutes of imagining dozing off to Younghyun humming, curling into the fluffy pillows, skin on soft sheets. And the bed. How grueling that twenty-minute travel was.
Besides, isn't it better to give your digestive system a hand in doing its work? Sometimes it's better to just give in if it's sleeping. The world can burn down in the remaining minutes that he has to wait along with all of those rejection emails for all he cares because his sleep cannot.
So here he was, freshly showered and already snuggled up on their bed in this rainy afternoon. This is nice. Very nice.
Silence only follows his reply. Sungjin thinks that someone calling him was a hallucination (even if the voice sounds very much like Younghyun), which might mean that he must already be close to that one stage of sleep. It was something that he'd read about while scrolling through his Facebook timeline on the rare occasions he logs in. But his mind is already melting into an abyss to remember what it's called. Oh, whatever. So Sungjin stops anticipating a reply and lets his head fall back on his pillow, allowing himself to continue his well-deserved slumber.
And when only a tiny bit of consciousness is left in his system, Sungjin feels something cover his body. Then there is a weight on his waist, slowly, carefully pulling him in, followed by a hint of a warm breeze—a breath—on his neck.
"I love you."