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Doyoung is looking forward to today. His lawyer is meant to introduce him to some new attorneys, ones he’s hiring to work at the law firm. Doyoung couldn’t care less about who they are, really, but he’s excited to hear Dongsoo’s knuckles grace his office door. Or maybe he won’t even knock, there’s no reason to. That would be lovely.
So Doyoung is in a good mood. With the firm starting up he’s had less time with Dongsoo at his side. It gets lonely in his office. He wants to call Dongsoo at the top of every hour, wants to hear every detail of his day as it happens. Doyoung doesn’t call, but he does sometimes text. Dongsoo always responds. He’s scared what will happen if he doesn’t.
Before he’s even left his house, Doyoung gets a text. He’s excited, thrilled at the idea that Dongsoo thought of him first thing in the morning. His face hardens when he sees that it’s from Ohjae, not his lawyer.
Attorney Han is pushing the meeting to next week.
That’s unacceptable. He responds to Ohjae saying just that. Is Dongsoo suddenly avoiding him? Ohjae is always so quick to respond to him- his phone buzzes again seconds later.
He said he’s not feeling well. He won’t be at the law firm today at all.
Doyoung holds his phone, blinking at Ohjae’s explanation. This is worse than Dongsoo just pushing the meeting back. His fingers tap away, worry growing in his chest.
Is he sick? Is it a virus?
He sends the text and immediately drafts another one.
Has he been hurt?
Ohjae isn’t responding quickly enough. Doyoung taps the back of his phone with his fingers, waiting for an answer. When Ohjae finally replies, Doyoung opens the message so quickly that his phone doesn’t have time to buzz at him.
I believe he’s sick.
Doyoung clicks his tongue and then traces the back of his teeth with it.
Sick with what?
Does Doyoung need to buy him vitamins? He should send the lawyer to his personal doctor. Doyoung curses himself for not already doing so- he should get Dongsoo a full examination. He can probably bribe the doctor into letting Doyoung keep the X-rays. Maybe he could hang them on the ceiling of his bedroom. And he could get some copies made so he can keep Dongsoo’s bare bones in his wallet. Ohjae texts him back.
I don’t know. Should I find out?
No. Doyoung can do that on his own.
Don’t bother. I’ll be late today.
Doyoung pockets his phone and heads for the door. He can stop at a pharmacy on his way to pick up— Something. He doesn’t know what Dongsoo needs. But he needs something if he’s feeling unwell. Does he have an appetite? Would coffee settle well in his stomach? It’s too early for a big meal. Can Dongsoo even get out of bed?
Doyoung stands at his untouched front door and reaches for his phone again. He calls his lawyer before he can stop himself. There’s a tremor in his wrist when he raises the phone to his ear.
It rings. Dongsoo had told Ohjae about rescheduling the meeting, so surely he’s still breathing. And it rings. Why didn’t he tell Doyoung directly? It rings again. If Dongsoo doesn’t answer Doyoung is going to have to call an ambulance to his apartment.
“Yes?” Dongsoo’s voice comes through Doyoung’s speaker and it breaks the man’s heart in two. He sounds pitiful, his one word scratchy and strained and wrong. Dongsoo answered, at least, which means he’s still alive. Doyoung catches the breath he didn’t realize he had lost, but his hand is still trembling.
“Hanbyeon.” Doyoung doesn’t wait for even a hum in response, he doesn’t want Dongsoo to push himself. “Where are you sick?”
“I’m not-“ Dongsoo coughs, immediately giving himself away. He pulls the phone away from himself to cough and sputter away from the speaker. “It’s just a cold.”
“Have you been to a doctor?” Doyoung could call his doctor, he would pay as much as was asked to get Dongsoo an at-home visit. “Do you have a fever?”
“I don’t need a doctor.” Dongsoo is sitting up in bed now, rubbing circles around his Adam's apple to try to ease the itchiness there. He knows he sounds like shit and he hates that Doyoung can hear it. “It’s nothing, I’ll be fine in a few days.”
A few days. Doyoung’s wrist burns and his heart aches. Dongsoo wants to confine himself to his recently emptied apartment to ride out his illness alone. The image of his weak, feverish lawyer sleeping alone in that quiet, lonely place makes Doyoung miserable.
“Are you at home?” Doyoung realizes it's a stupid question after he asks it. Dongsoo doesn’t have anywhere else to go.
“Yes…” Dongsoo is laying on top of his comforter, curtains drawn shut. His room is quiet and his sleep shirt is stuck to his sweaty back.
“What’s the code to your door?” Doyoung doesn’t want Dongsoo to have to get out of bed just to let him in. And he, of course, wants Dongsoo to give him the numerical key to his home voluntarily.
“Why…?” Dongsoo keeps his question at a whisper because he knows why. Doyoung wants to come over. The thought of Doyoung seeing him sick in bed makes him feel weird- it’s a line that they haven’t crossed yet.
But now that Hyeyoung and Minhee have moved out, there’s no reason not to give Doyoung the pin to his home. If Doyoung decides to one night invite himself in unannounced, so be it. What’s the worst that could happen? Having a bedside caretaker would be nice right now, it has been ages since Dongsoo has been doted on. Just having another breathing human in his home would do wonders for his heartache, too. He’s not used to being so alone.
“I’ll text it to you.” Dongsoo trusts him.
“Good.” Doyoung finally steps up to his door and reaches for the handle, anxious to set off. He needs to see his lawyer. “I’ll be there soon.”
Dongsoo is the first to hang up. He sets his phone aside and lays down on his back, arms and legs spread out. His head hurts so bad. Doyoung must be busy, must have better things to do than abandon his office in favor of coming to see Dongsoo. It doesn’t really surprise him, though. Doyoung has been sticking to him like glue ever since Dongsoo’s crime. He even leaves a sticky, hard to wash away feeling on Dongsoo’s skin.
No, he’s just sweaty. When Doyoung gets here, Dongsoo will tell him to turn on the A/C.
Standing in the pharmacy, Doyoung feels like an idiot. He has no idea what to buy. He should have asked what Dongsoo needs. Doyoung hasn’t been sick in a long time, and hasn’t played nurse since he took care of Kim Yusung. He shakes that man’s face from his mind and focuses on the at-home remedies in front of him. Dongsoo is waiting for him. Dongsoo needs his help. He starts pulling items from the shelf.
Doyoung buys cough drops, liquid cough medicine, two different brands of pain relief pills, a reusable ice pack, a new thermometer, a box of tissues, a box of tea, six cans of soup, and Dongsoo’s preferred brand of smoking candy. At the counter when he’s paying, he adds on a chocolate bar.
For some reason, Doyoung hesitates at Dongsoo’s door. He’s been chanting the passcode in his head the whole way over, but he can’t punch the numbers in. Is he nervous? That doesn’t make sense, why is his heart pounding? It isn’t the normal excitement that bubbles under his skin over his lawyer, this feeling sits deeper down.
Dongsoo is waiting for him, he doesn’t have time to get all confused and emotional. Doyoung keys in the code and slips into Dongsoo’s apartment. There are still extra pairs of slippers by the door, Hyeyoung must not have taken them when she left. But they’re too small for Doyoung, so he goes in only his socks.
The last time he was here, Dongsoo had greeted him at the door. He gets excited just walking down the quiet hallway, remembering Dongsoo’s shock at his presence. He’s so glad to be back.
When Doyoung ducks into Dongsoo’s bedroom, the lawyer is not shocked or scared or startled at all.
“You’re here.” Dongsoo’s voice is shot and it makes that weird feeling claw at Doyoung’s skin.
Doyoung looks him up and down. He’s halfway sitting up in his bed, wearing a thin shirt and well worn sweatpants and his bangs are stuck to his forehead. His face is flushed and he’s smiling at Doyoung. Like he’s glad to see him. Like he’s happy that Doyoung is there. Maybe he is.
Doyoung doesn’t reply. He steps up to Dongsoo’s bed and kneels by his lawyer’s side. He wordlessly drops his two bags of purchases and starts rummaging through them. He finds the thermometer he bought and rips open the packaging.
Dongsoo watches him. He doesn’t startle back when Doyoung points the thermometer at his face, but he doesn’t know what to do. Should he take it? Doyoung shakes the thing at him, waiting.
Dongsoo decidedly opens his mouth. Doyoung pauses, hand perfectly still in the air. He blinks and then carefully slides the thermometer under Dongsoo’s tongue. The lawyer closes his mouth around it, and Doyoung lets go to pull more things out and arrange them on Dongsoo’s side table and floor.
Dongsoo turns his head to follow Doyoung’s hands. He notes every item that Doyoung unpacks and his heart swells with appreciation. Seeing Doyoung care for him so obviously answers a lot of the questions that have been plaguing him. There is no possible ulterior motive Doyoung could have here, and it puts Dongsoo at ease. It makes him happy. For the first time, Doyoung’s presence satisfies him.
With everything laid out, Doyoung faces him fully. He pinches the thermometer between his fingers and slowly takes it from Dongsoo’s mouth. His lips twitch into a frown when he reads the too-high number.
Doyoung looks up at him. Dongsoo would expect pity, had this unfolded between them earlier. But he reads worry from Doyoung’s face and he welcomes it. If Doyoung fell sick, would he let Dongsoo worry over him, too?
Dongsoo doesn’t like the way his stomach turns when he imagines Doyoung feverish and alone in that big, empty house of his.
“You can put the soup and tea in the kitchen.” Dongsoo tilts his head toward the cans and the box. Sharing tea with Doyoung in his bed could be nice, actually. How long is Doyoung planning on staying?
“I will later.” Doyoung stares at him, openly unwilling to leave his side so soon.
Dongsoo wants to call him out on his clinginess. He eyes the ice bag, instead.
“There’s ice in-“ Dongsoo covers his mouth to cough, and points with his other hand at the ice bag. “The freezer.”
That gets Doyoung moving. He trades the thermometer for the empty ice bag and sets off for Dongsoo’s kitchen. The tea and soup sit untouched.
Maybe Doyoung is cute. Maybe Dongsoo’s fever is making him think irrationally. Maybe Dongsoo deserves to be doted on and taken care of. Maybe Doyoung is the person he wants by his side. Maybe Dongsoo misses him while Doyoung is away, puttering in his kitchen.
“Will you turn the air down, too?” Dongsoo’s throat hurts too much to yell, but Doyoung hears his request from across the apartment. He adjusts the temperature with one hand and Dongsoo can hear it click on.
Doyoung walks back into his room, taking long strides to return to his position at Dongsoo’s side. He gets on his knees again, ice bag in hand.
For some reason, Doyoung hesitates. But the moment passes and he pushes back Dongsoo’s damp bangs. His skin is hot to the touch, and the contact makes them both shiver. When the ice bag meets Dongsoo’s bare forehead, the lawyer can’t help but groan in relief.
Doyoung almost jumps back at the throaty sound, worried that it was too cold. But Dongsoo settles and he closes his eyes. It’s nice. He considers keeping Doyoung as a live-in nurse, the man already has experience with it.
While Dongsoo has his eyes closed, thinking up ways to capture Doyoung, his partner opens up a pack of cough medicine. He pushes a hard candy out of the foil and raises it to Dongsoo’s face.
But Dongsoo isn’t looking at him, and doesn't see his waiting hand. Dongsoo’s guard is completely down. Doyoung could do anything he wants to him.
Doyoung presses the cough drop to Dongsoo’s closed, chapped lips.
Without opening his eyes, Dongsoo takes the medicine into his mouth. It makes Doyoung feel crazy, makes him see red.
No- pink. Doyoung sees pink. Dongsoo’s face is flushed that color and his lips are the same. His heart hurts and his wrist aches and his blood is boiling. It’s so confusing.
Doyoung opens a bottle of pain medicine. He wants to ask which brand Dongsoo prefers, but his eyes are still closed and he’s contentedly sucking on the cough drop Doyoung fed him. So Doyoung opens the other bottle and leaves them both on Dongsoo’s bedside table.
“Why…” Did Dongsoo give Doyoung his passcode? Why did he get sick? Why did he decide to call Ohjae instead of Doyoung? Why does he make Doyoung feel so… funny? Doyoung doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what to do, either.
Dongsoo hums, eyes still closed and tongue still working around the cough drop. Doyoung watches his throat bob- He hopes it's being soothed. Dongsoo’s scratchy, painful voice tugs at some of Doyoung’s most neglected heartstrings.
Doyoung doesn’t finish asking his question. Dongsoo hums at him again but the silence drags on, so he opens his eyes.
Doyoung is just looking at him, his eyes big and round and concerned. He lowers his head at Dongsoo’s gaze, chin almost touching Dongsoo’s bedsheets. He looks like a pleading puppy.
Dongsoo wants to click his tongue and pat the bed and invite Doyoung up. He turns his head instead, and Doyoung sits up.
“I got-“ Doyoung grabs up the opened bottles and holds them out so Dongsoo can read the labels. “Two of these.”
Dongsoo can see that. Just one would have lasted him through the next year at least. Two bottles of pain reliever is overkill. But Dongsoo’s lips turn up and he nods, staring past the medicine to look at Doyoung.
“Either is fine.” Doyoung’s jaw tightens and Dongsoo’s smile grows. He nods toward one of the brands at random. “This one.”
Doyoung fishes out two pills and drops them into Dongsoo’s waiting palm. He closes both bottles and sets them aside to watch Dongsoo take the medicine.
Dongsoo doesn’t, though. Doyoung tilts his head and breathes loudly out of his nose.
“Water…?” Dongsoo coughs weakly for emphasis.
Doyoung falls for it and is on his feet and out of the bedroom so quick that he doesn’t see Dongsoo’s face get torn open with a toothy smile. Dongsoo can hear him opening cabinets in his kitchen, and then glass clinking together. In less than a minute, Doyoung returns with a short glass of water.
Dongsoo reaches to take it before Doyoung kneels back down. He holds a finger out to keep Doyoung standing while he swallows the two pills.
“Fill a bowl up, too.” Doyoung doesn’t move to obey. He intercepts Dongsoo’s cup when he reaches to set it down.
Doyoung just puts it on the end table. Dongsoo huffs at him, amused. Entertained. Interested. Convinced. Doyoung cluelessly looks at him.
“A bowl.”
Doyoung sets off again. He finds a mixing bowl and fills it with water. He picks it up with two hands and carefully makes his way back to Dongsoo’s room, much slower than he would like. If something happens to Dongsoo while he’s out of the room, Doyoung would never be able to forgive himself. He doesn’t want to see Dongsoo die yet.
Doyoung shakes the bloody thought of his head and Dongsoo sees it. He steps up to Dongsoo’s bed carefully, looking only at the bowl he’s carrying. Once he reaches Dongsoo’s side, Doyoung only stands and stares down at him.
“Sit.” Doyoung bends one leg at a time to kneel at Dongsoo’s side again. He listens well to Dongsoo.
Doyoung has killed people. He’s a violent, powerful man. He leads countless other bloodthirsty men who have killed at his word and who would die at his word. That same criminal- that killer is silent in front of Dongsoo, waiting for his lawyer’s instruction.
He wordlessly points at the washcloth that Doyoung had bought. Doyoung looks at it too, and then at the bowl Dongsoo told him to fill. His stomach drops unexpectedly. He remembers doing this for his boss. But Dongsoo is his equal, this is what true and honest partners do for each other. Doyoung takes the rag and drowns it in the mixing bowl.
Dongsoo could get addicted to this power. He might already be dependent on it.
Is this power, though? This isn’t how Dongsoo felt when he killed- that was power. Dongsoo closes his eyes to focus. He’s felt this way before. When Doyoung met him at the courthouse he felt it. And when he came to pay his respects at his mother’s funeral. Dongsoo swallows. Is it devotion? He felt it when Doyoung left him in that container. Worship, maybe? Trust? Respect?
Dongsoo’s eyes snap open. Doyoung wrings out the towel and folds it.
“Are you in love with me?”
Doyoung meets Dongsoo’s eyes. His face is flushed with fever and his brows are furrowed- his head must still be hurting. Doyoung leans forward to carefully lay the damp rag on Dongsoo’s forehead, covering the angry lines there.
“I like you.” Doyoung says simply. “I’ve already told you that.”
“Yes, I know, but-“ Dongsoo’s throat itches and he swallows down the rest of his rebuttal.
Doyoung slowly, silently wipes down the rest of his face and it’s nice, it feels good.
Dongsoo has wondered for so long what Doyoung’s intentions are. This makes so much sense. He’s been clothed by Doyoung, been given a car and an office and a gnarly scar on his palm that he’s not sure will ever fade. He’s not sure if he even wants it to. If he could give Doyoung something similar in return, that would be enough.
The back of Doyoung’s hand presses to Dongsoo’s forehead. The lawyer holds his breath without realizing it.
“Is that better?” Doyoung asks, not retracting his touch. “Should I get colder water?”
Dongsoo shakes his head and then nods. He swallows thickly before he speaks.
“It’s better.” Doyoung goes to move his hand away, but Dongsoo grabs his wrist before he can turn away. “Hold on.”
Doyoung doesn’t move. Dongsoo’s hand is warm on his skin and his fingers can’t reach all the way around his wrist. He blinks at his lawyer’s strained expression, but remains perfectly still. If he’s told to hold, Doyoung will hold.
“You like me.” Doyoung just nods at him. “As… a friend?”
“No.” Dongsoo’s heart immediately speeds up and it worsens his headache. “As a partner.”
“What kind of partner?” Dongsoo is still holding onto his wrist, and Doyoung has obediently not tried to escape his grasp. Dongsoo doesn’t want his interrogation to end without answers and Doyoung doesn’t want to lose the skin on skin contact.
Doyoung thinks. He thinks hard. This line of questioning from Dongsoo is confusing him- is the fever making him delirious? Maybe he just needs to wait for the medicine to kick in. Dongsoo is smart, why is he asking Doyoung about this? Doesn’t he already know?
“I like you as my partner.” Doyoung’s pulse is steady and unchanging under Dongsoo’s fingers.
“Do you want to kiss me?”
Doyoung wants to take back his wrist and shove Dongsoo away and run out of his apartment and drive straight off of a cliff. His sudden onset suicidal ideation manifests as only a slight twitch of his eyebrow.
Doyoung hates this line of questioning. His underlings all chat and laugh about their dates and their kissing and their sex and Doyoung always feels left out. He doesn’t have stories to share or exes to miss or anyone waiting for him at home. He has smashed glasses over his gang members’ heads for asking him this type of shit. He wants to make Dongsoo bleed right now, too.
Even in prison, his cell mates were all obsessed with it. They’d cry over pictures of their wives and brag about their visiting girlfriends. Doyoung had been put in solitary for four days after attacking the man who dared to ask him about his nonexistent previous relationships. In that dark, quiet cell, he had no one to think of. No one was waiting for him to be released.
Dongsoo is waiting for his answer.
Doyoung hates it. He hates that now Dongsoo is bringing it up, too, just like everyone else. The anger shows on his face. He isn’t even looking at Dongsoo now, eyes and thoughts far away from his lawyer’s bedroom.
“No?” Dongsoo finally breaks the silence, and Doyoung’s gaze snaps right back to him.
“I didn’t say that.”
But Doyoung doesn’t say anything else, either. Dongsoo thinks he can feel Doyoung’s skin turn cold under his fingertips. He twists Doyoung’s wrist to get his attention back.
“I want you to.”
It works like a charm. Doyoung inches forward until he’s pressed up against the side of Dongsoo’s bed. He leans over Dongsoo slowly, like he’s afraid something might snap under him. Like he might hurt Dongsoo. But it's Dongsoo’s fingers wrapped around his wrist. And it’s Dongsoo who yanks him down.
Suddenly he’s so close to Dongsoo. Doyoung can smell the citrus of the cough drop that has long since melted. He can almost taste it. He wants to taste it. Does that mean he wants to kiss Dongsoo? Does it matter? Dongsoo wants him to.
Doyoung closes the short distance between them.
Doyoung kisses him so softly, so delicately, like he’s scared Dongsoo will get cut by his lips- like he’s going to crumble under Doyoung into tiny, unsalvageable pieces. Doyoung’s hand hovers by Dongsoo’s cheek like he wants to cup it, but it hangs unmoving.
Dongsoo breaks it first. He can’t take it for a second longer- he hasn’t been kissed so shyly since he was in law school. No one has kissed him so sweetly since his wedding day. His heart thumps in his chest and when he finally opens his eyes Doyoung looks confused.
No, fuck, Doyoung looks cute. His eyes are wide, pupils dilated and obvious. His mouth hangs open and it looks like he wants to speak but nothing ever comes out. Doyoung’s suspended hand slowly falls to the other side of Dongsoo, and Doyoung subconsciously, minisculely, obliviously, leans toward him. He’s hooked.
“Was that your first kiss?” Dongsoo doesn’t mean it to offend him, and Doyoung can’t be bothered with how loud his ears are ringing. But Dongsoo can’t hold it back- he has just been kissed like a teenager at his big age and it’s throwing him for a loop.
“No.” Doyoung tells him quietly. He’s breathless. Breathless from a closed mouth juvenile peck. “I’ve kissed people.”
“Have you ever kissed someone that you like?”
Doyoung swallows. He’s really going to talk about this kind of stuff. He doesn’t want to. But it's Dongsoo asking, it’s Dongsoo talking to him sweetly. Doyoung nervously licks his lips. It’s Dongsoo there, too.
“I’ve never liked anyone the way that I like you.”
Doyoung finds it hard to lie to his lawyer now. He feels like Dongsoo has cut open his chest to reach in and strangle his beating heart. Doyoung doesn’t seem to remember that he coughed up his feelings on the day that they met. That’s Dongsoo’s fault, though, for refusing such a hearty meal.
Dongsoo waits for Doyoung to realize what he’s saying. Doyoung is just breathing at him, mouth open and thoughts scrambled. Dongsoo can hear his walls crumbling.
“Why did you come here?” Doyoung blinks at the question.
“We had a meeting scheduled today.” Doyoung’s voice comes out hushed. He looks like he wants to kiss Dongsoo again. “I didn’t want to miss it.”
“Do you miss me?” Dongsoo wants to kiss him, too. But if Doyoung doesn’t understand why they’re doing it, there’s no point. There’s already been enough misunderstandings between them. “When I’m gone?”
Doyoung thinks. He misses standing on the mound, but other than that the emotion is foreign to him.
“I don’t know.” The backseat of his car feels empty when he rides in it alone. Things are better when Dongsoo is around, Doyoung feels better with his lawyer at his side.
“Are you…” Dongsoo, at Doyoung’s contemplative silence, decides to try something easier. “Interested in me?”
Doyoung nods. He’s been intrigued by Dongsoo since before they met. If being interested in someone means you love them, then Doyoung is absolutely head over heels for his lawyer.
Is he? Maybe he is. He knows that he wants Dongsoo by his side forever. He knows that he’s willing to do anything it takes to keep Dongsoo with him.
Doyoung’s head is really hurting, now. He feels nauseous and confused and a little scared- out of his depth. He doesn’t want to look away from Dongsoo.
“Can we kiss again?”
“No.” Doyoung visibly deflates. Dongsoo raises a tired hand to trace Doyoung’s jaw. “You’ll get sick, too.”
Doyoung leans into the touch. It makes sense. Dongsoo is right. He can already feel his throat tightening up and his head pounding. He’s dizzy. Can Dongsoo feel how red his face is?
Of course he can. But Dongsoo knows Doyoung hasn’t instantly fallen ill. His client is just lovesick. He drops his hand and Doyoung’s head falls a bit.
Doyoung is in love with him and doesn’t even know it. Dongsoo is wielding so much power that he doesn’t know what to do with it. Doyoung is at his every beck and call over a cold. If Dongsoo coaxes him into a deeper relationship, he would become completely untouchable. They could reign absolute terror together.
“Do you have to go to the office?” Doyoung immediately shakes his head. “Will you make me that soup?”
Doyoung heats up the soup for him. Without being asked, he feeds spoonfuls of it to Dongsoo. Dongsoo purposefully stays quiet, doesn’t thank him, and meets Doyoung’s eyes every time he swallows. Doyoung visibly crumbles into himself in the silence, thinking so hard that his whole body might give out. Still, he doesn’t spill a drop.
While Doyoung is rinsing the bowl, he considers drowning himself in the kitchen sink. Dongsoo’s apartment is high enough up- he should smash through a window and fling himself out of the building.
He delicately places the bowl and spoon in the sink, instead.
When Doyoung re-enters Dongsoo’s room, he finds his lawyer laying down flat. It’s different than when he had first arrived- the room seems less sad, now. Dongsoo doesn’t seem to be knocking on death’s door anymore.
He never was. Doyoung doesn’t want him to ever die. He doesn’t want Dongsoo to leave him.
“I’m going to sleep.” Dongsoo’s voice sounds much better, too. He lifts his head to look at Doyoung standing motionless in front of him. “You can stay if you want.”
Of course Doyoung wants to stay. He kneels by Dongsoo’s side again, this time resting his arms on the mattress. He can’t take his eyes off of his lawyer, he’s still trying to figure it all out- he’s still confused and his mind is a mess.
Dongsoo closes his eyes. If Doyoung still can’t work it out by the time he wakes up, maybe he’ll have to try something else. Leaving him alone with his thoughts is cruel, but Dongsoo also needs the time to dream up some new plans. If he can get Doyoung perfectly under control, they will have endless opportunities to go up and up and up further. They could do everything together.
He’ll need to curb his own bubbling, fuzzy feelings, too. Those will just get in the way.
Dongsoo falls asleep. When Doyoung is sure that he’s out cold, he carefully lifts Dongsoo’s hand that is closest to him. Dongsoo doesn’t rouse at the touch, but his fingers twitch when Doyoung lays them on top of his hair.
The weight of Dongsoo’s sleeping hand helps Doyoung think. He isn’t completely sure of it yet, but he’s starting to think that Dongsoo was right to question the love thing. Dongsoo is special to him. That must mean that his infatuation has actually been love this whole time.
While his lawyer sleeps, Doyoung imagines what it would be like if they really were in love with each other. Would they have to hold hands and say nice things to each other? The kiss had completely short-circuited him and Doyoung might not ever recover.
He’ll be alright. Once Dongsoo is feeling better he can help to heal Doyoung’s fragile heart, too.