Chapter Text
The night is still.
Its darkness is reversible with an artificial spotlight, with a little light from the full moon, with the flame of a candle or with the lighter that lights a cigarette to see the sky at the moment where the stars appear without the sun.
Mingyu shouldn't be smoking, since Minghao always scolded him about it.
That's why at that time, when the other young man should be in his own room, preparing to sleep, Mingyu opened his window and looked out through it to enjoy the harmful nicotine in his lungs.
He only went to his vice in seasons like this, of final exams, accumulation of projects and assignments, of nights that seemed to be his only solace.
At least he had the advantage that his dream did not disappoint him. It was always easy for him to lie down in a comfortable place, close his eyes, and sleep.
Mingyu felt the cool autumn breeze and the first drops of rain that would either leave in the late night or stay until morning. He let the ashes fall into the ashtray he hid under his bed and it was now on the windowsill.
He and Minghao shared an apartment. They had been best friends for so long that it was impossible for him to remember a memory from his childhood and adolescence where he wasn't there.
He smiled, because it was automatic that it happened when he thought about Minghao. It was as natural as breathing and having him close.
Mingyu put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray and closed the window to keep out the rain. He moved the sheets on his bed and got into it, without covering himself, because his body, in Minghao's words, was a human heater.
So he curled up and with his wonderful ability to fall asleep as soon as he lay down in a comfortable place, he closed his eyes and sank into gentle, restful sleep.
Mingyu was sound asleep in REM sleep. His body was spread across the bed because he was very tall and took up almost all the space. His mouth was open and he was snoring. The only light coming into his room was the orange light from the street lamp.
The door to his room slowly opened, revealing a slim figure who entered slowly. He walked directly to the bed and climbed on it, first on his knees and crawling until he fell down without a care in the world.
Mingyu felt the weight on his belly and chest and stopped snoring, frowning and being pulled out of his sleep little by little. He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. His limbs were spread completely across the bed, but there was something on top of him.
At first he didn't react, because he was really still with a part of his brain asleep, and moving to the reason of wakefulness was not such a quick process for him.
But without panicking and with more confusion than anything, Mingyu lowered his chin to see what was above him. Fortunately the street light coming through the raindrop-filled window was enough to reveal the invader of his room.
Mingyu looked at Minghao's hair that was using his body as if it were the most comfortable place to sleep. He had him on his body, curled up on top of him.
Minghao was sleeping soundly, and unlike Mingyu, his snoring sounded more like soft sighs. He had his hands in fists near his face and his long legs were lost in the older man's.
When the reasoning came to his mind, Mingyu felt his face heat up and his heart race. He literally had Minghao on top of him, sleeping peacefully. At what point did he come to his room?
He looked at his nightstand clock and it was late at night. That whole situation was strange, first of all, because Minghao would never dare enter Mingyu's room like that. He even scolded him when he entered his room without knocking.
Mingyu didn't know where to put his hands or what to do with Minghao. He felt embarrassed, but at the same time, he couldn't deny that he liked it. Minghao's light weight and the scent of his floral shampoo reached Mingyu directly, because he could smell his hair having it so close to him.
So Mingyu didn't move. He decided that he would let the always-trouble-sleeping Minghao rest peacefully on him. Although Mingyu still didn't know where to put his hands. Minghao was his best friend, they had all the trust in the world, he shouldn't feel so nervous.
If it weren't for Minghao's modesty, both men would have found themselves in situations that would be quite normal for two friends like them.
Or that was what Mingyu wanted to think, because the reality was different.
He decided that out of respect for the sleeper, he would not move a muscle. He closed his eyes and after breathing in and out, smiled and waited for sleep to come to him. He had half his brain still asleep and he didn't want to think about anything, just let go.
However, Mingyu, who was not such a light sleeper but was awakened again, opened his eyes just as an elbow dug into his side and drew a groan from him.
A weight lifted off of him, and while he was holding the pained area, in the darkness that the street light illuminated, he saw a silhouette get out of his bed.
“Hao?”
Mingyu vaguely remembered that Minghao had come into his room to sleep on him. He sat on the bed and watched as his friend walked towards the door, without responding.
Mingyu found it strange and stood up. Minghao's behavior was being unusual, so he wanted to know if there was a problem or something he could help him with.
Minghao left his room and walked down the short hallway that separated the two rooms, but he did not go to his own, but continued on.
Mingyu walked behind him, eyes half-lidded and one hand in his disheveled hair. He barely noticed how Minghao avoided the furniture, as his eyes were very lowered. He stopped between the couch and the coffee table in the living room, got on his knees, and dropped down.
Mingyu blinked in confusion. The street light came in through the glass doors of the balcony that had the curtains drawn, so he saw Minghao curled up on the floor in a ball.
“Hao?” He asked again, approaching in confusion.
His friend seemed peacefully asleep. Mingyu blinked, rubbing his eyes and looking down at him. What was happening?
Not two minutes passed when Minghao sat up, causing a surprised gasp from Mingyu. The younger man stood up little by little and Mingyu looked at him intently. Or rather, he understood better what was happening.
Minghao walked around the furniture and walked past Mingyu, heading towards the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator door and took out the milk.
Mingyu followed him and turned on the kitchen light, blinking several times at the sudden illumination, although Minghao seemed unaffected.
Instead, he stood on his tiptoes and opened the cupboard, pulling out two different boxes of cereal. He had his eyes lost but he did things diligently. Or so it seemed.
“Hao, what are you doing?” Mingyu asked, watching how his friend grabbed the milk and opened it, throwing the lid behind him. “Hao--
Minghao opened the cereal box and poured the milk directly.
Mingyu ran to his side and stopped him from spilling all the milk and ruining the cereal.
“Hey, hey, hey,” he said in a hurried, soft voice, taking the milk from him and almost confirming what he suspected: Minghao was sleepwalking.
He saw the ruined box of cereal and sighed, gently taking it from Minghao and removing the things so he wouldn't grab them again. But Minghao, looking at nowhere in particular, frowned. “I have to make dinner for my husband, excuse me,” he said, approaching the stove and taking an empty frying pan, placing it on a burner and making the motion to sauté the food.
He was wearing his Kermit pajamas, his hair was disheveled, and he was staring at the wall with lowered eyelids as he shook the empty frying pan.
“Minghao, you don't have a husband,” Mingyu responded, smiling and shaking his head, watching his friend closely, leaning against the counter.
He heard from Minghao that he had been sleepwalking as a child, but that he had no longer had episodes as an adult.
Minghao clicked his tongue.
“Yes I have, I have been married for ten years to the same clumsy man and…”
The next words were spoken quickly and in Chinese, so Mingyu no longer understood anything.
Minghao kept moving the pan and making the imaginary food jump while he went on a tirade in his native language.
Mingyu sighed and approached him. He had read somewhere that the ideal was to guide sleepwalkers calmly to his bed.
He put one hand on Minghao's waist and the other on his shoulder and moved him gently. The sleepwalking househusband Minghao moved his head in Mingyu's direction, his eyes lost, frowning.
“I have to prepare dinner for my stupid husband.”
Mingyu had no idea what Minghao was dreaming, but he gently took the pan from him and moved it again to walk them forward.
“Okay, dinner is ready and your husband is eating, good job, now come with me.”
But Minghao shook his head several times, not wanting to move.
“No, my husband is clumsy, if I don't put a bib on him, he's going to get all dirty.”
What kind of husband did Minghao have in his dream? A giant baby?
“You already put it on, Hao, come with me.”
Mingyu again moved him carefully and Minghao finally began to move forward.
“I hope he doesn't choke, sometimes he eats things in one bite like a crazy dog and I'm afraid of having to apply the Heimlich maneuver on his body.”
“Hao, divorce your husband, it's obvious that he's a constant stress for you,” Mingyu said, chuckling softly, guiding Minghao to his room, turning on the light since his friend was completely closing the curtain.
“I'm not going to divorce him, Kermit, I love him with all my life,” he responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, rolling his eyes.
“Ah, I'm Kermit, I see.” Mingyu held back his laughter because he found the situation very comical. “I thought the love of your life was Kermit, mind me.”
They reached the bed and Mingyu helped Minghao climb onto it and lie down.
“No, Kermit, you're very cool and all, but you're not Mingyu.”
Hearing his name, Mingyu was stunned, with the blanket suspended over Minghao's body to cover him.
“Mingyu...?” He asked in a whisper, with his heart pounding in his chest and feeling an emotion that he already knew well.
“Min Kingyu, yes.”
And saying that, Minghao closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep without somnambulism anymore.
Mingyu let go of the blanket, tucking him in absentmindedly as his thoughts kept coming and going.
Sleeping like this, as always, Minghao seemed like an angel fallen from heaven and being kind enough to share his presence with a human like Mingyu.
Thus, that first night that began a season of sleepwalking in Minghao, Mingyu little by little discovered that despite being the best of friends, there were things that were not told.
That they were both hiding from each other.