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When Dongheon had first been admitted here at the local hospital several months ago, he’d assumed that he was in for an unpleasant, dull experience at best, and an unbearable, loathsome one at worst, and though his condition has stabilized since he’d arrived, there’s still no sign that he’ll be clear to go home any time soon.
The thing is, he’s terribly lonely, with no one to visit him and his only company the nurses who stop by his room to give him his medicine. The only other bed in the room, directly to the left beside his own and separated by an open curtain, remains empty, day after day, week after week.
The hospital itself is as comfortable as it probably could be, all soft, clean white, with Dongheon given a soft, clean bed, soft, clean clothes, and three meals a day along with all other necessities provided for. His room even has its own private bathroom and a TV mounted to the wall, though Dongheon hardly uses it, much preferring the peace and quiet of an open window to the garden outside.
And it’s not that Dongheon isn’t grateful for the care he’s received; he is, wholeheartedly. But a hospital is still a hospital, and the sickness and pain, the palpable stress and exhaustion of the overworked staff, and the unbearable frustration of being confined, powerless and useless, to a bed all day, well, it’s all taking its toll, little by little eating away at Dongheon’s strength even when he’s supposed to be getting better the longer that he stays here.
He sits leaning back against the pillows of his hospital bed on the right side of the room, right beneath the stream of sunlight coming in from the large window, his hands resting on his lap over the covers as he stares at the blank, white wall ahead of him. The room is silent but for the constant ticking of the analog clock all the way over on the left side of the room, near the door, and Dongheon lets his mind drift, wondering what he’ll do to pass the time today, yet another long, endless stretch of tedium.
Perhaps he’ll read another book (though he’s lost count of how many he’s read) or ask for a jigsaw puzzle (he's been thinking of taking it up as a new hobby). Maybe he’ll just spend the day scribbling in his notebook like he so often does, his only constant companion resting on the night table by his bed.
Or maybe, he’ll just keep staring at the wall, just like this, until it’s finally time to leave this place...
Dongheon hears footsteps approaching his room, and he doesn’t think much of it, assuming it’s just a nurse coming to take his lunch order, until his attention shifts to the doorway just as it opens, revealing a nurse, yes, but accompanied by someone else, a new patient.
It’s a boy, around Dongheon’s age, and obviously blind by the way the nurse carefully guides him into the room while his eyes remain fixed on a random point in space ahead of him, and Dongheon can’t help but to notice the other boy’s handsome yet somehow soft, cute features, and how the other boy’s eyes, though unseeing, are stunning.
In fact, everything about the boy is beautiful, Dongheon realizes with a rush of warmth as he slowly takes him in.
The nurse offers Dongheon a small smile, but soon focuses on assisting the new patient over to his bed, and Dongheon just keeps staring at the boy from the other side of the room, unable to take his eyes off of him until the nurse draws the curtain between the two patients’ beds closed, cutting off Dongheon’s sight of his breathtaking new roommate.
The moment after the nurse finally leaves and closes the door behind her, Dongheon leans over and unceremoniously yanks the curtain open, heart racing, but words failing him as he stares, wide-eyed and lips parted.
Normally, Dongheon would be the type to be a bit shy in the presence of someone so attractive, at least at first, until his nerves would bubble up and spill out of him in a tidal wave of oversharing and general giddiness, but he’s been cooped up for so long, so bored, so alone, that he doesn’t know how to react to things normally anymore, and so he keeps watching in a kind of frantic fascination as the boy beside him spends a few moments adjusting his blankets and making himself comfortable in his bed, Dongheon so transfixed that he nearly jumps when the boy finally speaks.
“You know, I can tell that you’re staring at me,” the boy says, his voice deep and smooth, but he’s grinning as he says it, his unseeing gaze fixed in Dongheon’s general direction.
Dongheon’s ears redden as he lets out a guilty chuckle, but his voice is steady, nonchalant, as he replies, “I just never thought they’d put someone else in here.” He returns the other boy’s grin, Dongheon’s voice taking on an exuberant rise as he continues.
“I’ve had the room to myself this whole time,” Dongheon says. “I thought I just got lucky, but now I have to share with someone else? Ugh, worst luck ever...”
The other boy laughs, the sound skipping lightly through Dongheon’s chest, and Dongheon hates to be so embarrassing, but the truth is, this boy is really, really cute, and Dongheon, well, he’s always been shameless once he gets going...
“And here I was thinking your staring was because you were excited to see me,” the other boy says, leaning forward slightly, his hands resting in his lap.
“Who says I’m not?” Dongheon replies. “I’m a complicated person; maybe I’m feeling a few different things at once.”
“Somehow, I don’t think you’re all that complicated,” the other boy says, smirking. “But that’s okay, because I’m not either.”
There’s a pause between them, and Dongheon’s heart pounds harder as he’s overcome with an impulse, until he decides to run with it, and he climbs out of his own bed, bare feet briefly touching down onto the cold, smooth hospital floor before he’s crawling up into the other bed beside his, getting under the covers and leaning up against the pillows right beside the other boy who, flashing a truly adorable smile, moves over slightly to accommodate his sudden bedmate without missing a beat, the boy’s expression surprised but distinctly amused, intrigued.
“Do you know what you look like?” Dongheon asks, turning his body and leaning on his side to face the other boy comfortably. “I mean, do you know how cute you are?”
“I lost my eyesight just a few years ago, so I know what I look like, generally speaking,” the boy says, turning and leaning on his side to face Dongheon just the same, the space between them warming with their shared body heat. “Can’t vouch for the present, though.”
Dongheon smiles. “In the present, you’re gorgeous,” he purrs.
To Dongheon’s delight, the other boy blushes, his cheeks begging to be kissed. “We just met and you’re already trying to seduce me,” the boy says. “Already climbing into my bed...”
“Well, we just met and you’re already letting me climb into your bed, aren’t you?” Dongheon quips effortlessly, and thrilled at himself.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” the other boy replies. “Maybe it’s the sudden reminder of my own mortality that got me here in the first place.”
“When you have a big health scare, it does tend to make you a little bit reckless, doesn’t it,” Dongheon says. “Wanting to act on every impulse?”
“Maybe,” the other boy says. “What’s your excuse?”
“Boredom, mostly,” Dongheon replies, his eyes scanning over the boy’s face, over and over and over again.
“Oh, that’s all I am?” the boy asks, but he’s smiling that heart-melting smile again. “A toy for you?”
“I said ‘mostly,’” Dongheon replies, his gaze settling back into the boy’s eyes, even more beautiful up close and stunningly expressive, emotive despite the blindness. “You’re really, really cute too. Did I mention that?”
“Hmm,” the other boy says, as if contemplative. He pauses for a long moment before concluding cheekily, “I’m thinking maybe I kick you out of here until you get to know me first.”
At that, Dongheon scoffs, feigning offense, but then, he says, “We have all the time in the world to get to know each other, don’t we?”
Another pause between them as Dongheon’s words sink in, until the other boy coos, “Well, if I’m really gonna be so reckless, then I just hope you’re my type.”
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Dongheon says, and with that, he carefully sits up, the other boy following along after just a moment’s hesitation, curious, until they’re both sitting up against the pillows and turned to face each other, and Dongheon is taking the other boy’s hands into his own, guiding them up to his own face.
It’s then, with a soft, tiny smile, that the other boy understands, and Dongheon lowers his own hands to rest on the bed as the other boy starts slowly running his palms up and down, his hands large but incredibly soft, his thumbs rubbing gently over Dongheon’s cheeks.
After a few moments of this, the boy's hands then spread out on either side to learn Dongheon’s jawline, the boy's palms warm, and Dongheon is frozen in place, his breath caught in his chest, when the boy, once pushed through his initial shyness, becomes more deliberate in his touches, running a hand up to feel along Dongheon’s forehead, then running his fingertips gently down over Dongheon’s nose, down over Dongheon’s lips.
And his hands move down further, still, down Dongheon’s neck to Dongheon’s broad shoulders on either side, the boy squeezing gently along the defined muscles as his hands make their way down Dongheon biceps and back up again, then slowly, slowly down Dongheon’s well-toned chest, and the other boy doesn’t have to say a word, Dongheon able to tell exactly what he’s thinking by the way his hands stop on Dongheon’s pectoral muscles, the boy’s fingers curling ever so slightly.
“So, what do you say?” Dongheon murmurs, his eyes fluttering. “Are you feeling, in fact, a bit reckless?”
The other boy says nothing, and there’s a silence between them that seems to go on forever, the distance between them much too great, until it’s broken by the boy suddenly reaching a hand up and around for the back of Dongheon's head, pulling him down into a deep, dirty kiss and Dongheon moaning loud as they both tilt back and lean into it eyes closed, then wetly wrenching apart and Dongheon rolling over, scrambling back to his own bed as a large group of people pass by just outside the door to their room.
The hallway quiets again outside, leaving both boys flushed and breathing heavily in their beds, both of them half-laughing through it as they calm themselves and finally exchange quick, breathless introductions, and once again Dongheon finds himself staring at the boy in the bed beside him.
Yeonho.
Yes, Yeonho is exactly what Dongheon needs.