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When they still roomed together, it was easy for Changbin to pad into Chan‘s room late at night, to regularly slip right in next to him, to cuddle into Chan onto their small beds and finally drift off into restful darkness.
But then they split the dorms and suddenly they were parted not only by one wall but by many. So Changbin stopped coming and Chan stopped waiting.
With every day they were apart, Changbin felt worse, his sleep quality deteriorating, robbing him of his usual energy. But Chan looked way more awful, dark circles framing his eyes, bone-deep exhaustion in his eyes and every move. They weren’t well, Changbin thought while staring blearily at the track they'd been trying to edit for the last hour. Maybe Chan wasn’t sleeping too, insomnia had always hit him harder.
***
Changbin lay in his bed, the darkness in his room enclosing him in a warm blanket. He was in limbo between being asleep and awake after a seemingly neverending day in the studio. Chan looked today like he hadn’t slept in days, the days since he last came over. So Changbin waited, tired, but never close enough to sleep.
His phone rang and Changbin picked up drowsily, knowing it could only be Chan calling at nighttime.
“It‘s late hyung“ Changbin’s voice was raspy in the wee hours of the night.
“Are you busy?“ Chan asked, voice quiet through Changbin’s phone, barely a whisper resonating through his even quieter room.
“I was just about to sleep“ Changbin answered slowly, “The door is already locked“. It was his code for Chan to know to be quiet and use the key Changbin gave him after the first few times he came over so as not to disturb Hyunjin, after they stopped finding sleep, and Chan started calling late at night.
Changbin lay alone and barely awake in his bed for a little longer, but never having to wait in the darkness after Chan called for more than a few minutes, until hearing the door click and Chan padding across the room right up to his bedside. Changbin heard Chan undressing, his clothes rustling quietly and them being discarded absentmindedly on the floor, no regard to the state they would be in come the next morning, desperate to lay down and find sleep. He felt the burning warmth of Chan's body when he finally slipped under the cover and pressed right into Changbin’s form.
Chan's breath slowed against his back and a content sigh left his lips, the tension of their day leaving his body, fully relaxing into Changbin and dissolving the ache in his body, pulling him right alongside into a heavy darkness, arm curled around his midriff, his warm hand right over Changbin’s heart.
Resting was so much easier, when the other one was there, just like they’ve always been better together.
***
They sat alongside the kitchen island, steaming mugs clutched in their hands, enjoying a slow start into the day with a hot tea, Changbin in his sleepwear and Chan in one of the oversized shirts he always borrowed from Changbin when he was over. It didn’t take long for a tired Hyunjin to come in, completely unfazed by Chan sitting in his kitchen drinking tea. It was something they picked up doing when Chan's visits started, it apparently helped with relaxation or something like that. Hyunjin grabbed his own mug, sitting right on the counter waiting for him, sipping slowly and staring pensively out of the window.
“I always wanted to move back in with Innie, you know? I missed living with him those last few years“, Hyunjin said quietly, locking eyes with Chan, a knowing look softening his face.
It was Changbin who answered.
***
Now they could always sleep together.