Chapter Text
it is late at night; the night before.
but yunho has a million things he wants to say.
he knows he can't say it in the day.
so he gets up and grabs paper and pen.
he thinks for a bit, while chewing on the end.
and then he sets pen to paper and starts.
baby,
i don't say this often enough; god knows you'll kill me if i do.
but it's okay.
i call you baby, when you are with me under the covers at night.
when you're asleep, long lashes tightly stroking the skin under your eyes.
The windows to your soul; carefully hidden from the world.
in the day you're everyone else's; a light for the world to see.
a diamond in the rough; a rose in the dark.
but in the night; when the sun decides to sleep;
when the moon shines bright, and you are just with me.
just you, with just me.
i call you baby, and when you push at me, the twinkle in your eye makes my world alright.
i call you baby, as you lie under me;
your long limbs entangled in mine.
a flush colouring your cheeks, caressing pink but a shy smile on your lips;
a smile that brings me to my knees; that makes me want to weep.
when you smile at me; that smile that is only for me,
i call you baby.
your lips of sin; my pleasure and my pain.
when i touch and freeze; because it's all too much.
when you lean in impatiently, and i feel you on me;
i call you baby.
when we stand together on stage; and when you call me king.
i look at you and i can fly.
inside between the two of us, you're the reason why.
the reason i feel so alive.
when you whisper the three words that are tattooed in me;
when my heart beats in time with yours,
when your arms go around my own and you lightly kiss my back;
when i'm down and out; my home, my shelter,
it's you, baby.
even when the world seems to question us;
and you scoff but look worriedly at me;
not for yourself but for me;
i call you baby,
as your fingers interlace; your skin soft and warm.
a squeeze to reaffirm; to have and to hold.
and i know, baby. you're mine.
you are like a statue, carved out of marble.
but your every inch from inside out.
your sadness, your happiness, your insecurities and your fears.
i've kissed them away, i've loved them to grey.
you are my perfection, my soul's twin; my partner in crime and life.
my downfall; my temptation; my best friend.
and most of all, i love it when i call you baby, you grin quietly and say it back to me.
i love you, baby.
see you soon.
---
'baby.'
'yes?'
'what are you doing over there?'
'nothing, i couldn't sleep.'
'... are you worried? come here.'
yunho folds the letter quietly; his back still turned to his bed companion who is now sitting up in bed; hair tousled from sleep, eyes half-open.
he returns to bed, into a waiting embrace.
---
the next day as changmin stands next to yunho's farewell press conference outside the army camp he is due to enlist in; he feels a numbness like fire and ice all at once; especially where his heart is. he's due to enlist himself in a couple of months but he had always dreaded this; the moment where yunho would leave first. the emptiness seems too sudden; even as yunho smiles and waves at the fans before bowing. he bows as well, having said goodbye in private the night before; the morning of and an hour ago.
he stares at a ring on his left hand; the twin to the one that is hung around yunho's neck. a present from him the day before. he's there but not there at all; he finds his mind wandering to the morning of; as yunho held him tight as the last teardrops fell from changmin's eyes.
'baby; i'll miss you.'
'and me, you. everyday. until we are back together again.'
'by the way, when you return home after the press conference, check my desk drawer.'
'why?'
'you'll see. now, let's go.'
---
-dedicated to f.-