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It was unbearably cold.
Nam-gyu pulled his sleeves over his hands and rubbed them together, trying to get warm. After the previous game, mingle , all the contestants had returned to the dormitory only to find it freezing cold. Many had voiced their complaints before and during voting, but the masked men had only said “The heater is broken. We are working to fix the issue,” . Nam-gyu scoffed quietly to himself. Who would’ve guessed a place with murderous playground games would also suck at maintaining their facilities?
He sighed, pulling the shitty, thin blanket tighter over his shoulders as he tried to fight the shiver running down his spine. It felt like this was done on purpose, to torture them. People do tend to get more irritable when they’re cold and miserable. He wondered if Thanos was as miserable as he was.
Nam-gyu moved to the edge of his bed, his fingers touching the cold railing of the frame as he leaned over. Thanos was underneath him, sleeping like there was a radiator hidden in his sheets. That bastard, Nam-gyu thought, mostly out of jealousy. How dare Thanos be all comfy and relaxed as Nam-gyu froze his balls off? He had to have some secret. Maybe he got an extra thick blanket? Only one way to find out.
Nam-gyu quietly stepped down the ladder, grimacing every time it made a sound. When he finally made it down to Thanos’ side, he gently (not that gently) poked his shoulder to wake him up.
“ The fuck you want, bro? Tryna sleep…” the rapper mumbled in English as he lazily attempted to swat away Nam-gyu’s hand.
“I can’t sleep,” Nam-gyu whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible to not wake anybody up.
“ Man, why’s that my fuckin’ problem? I don’t give a shit, bro,” Thanos replied with annoyance, this time in Korean. He scoffed, starting to turn the opposite way to go back to sleep.
“Wait,” Nam-gyu blurted out, a bit louder than he intended. Thanos stopped.
Nam-gyu sighed, embarrassed to even think of saying it. “I’m cold, man… I’m gonna freeze yet you’re completely fine. Like, what the hell?” There was silence for a moment, then a snicker.
“You’re cold? Really? I’m not gonna cuddle you if that’s what you’re asking, man … ” Thanos sneered. “That’s fucking, gay, bro,” he added with a thinly veiled disgust in his tone.
“No, no, just- just let me sleep here and I promise I won’t do anything weird, okay? I just can’t sleep cus of the cold,” Nam-gyu said, regret creeping into his mind. He knew he should’ve just stayed in bed and endured it.
For a moment, neither of them said anything, Thanos being busy thinking and Nam-gyu regretting his life choices. But the silence was eventually broken. “You know what? Okay. I’ll let you sleep here since you’ve been such a bro, ” Nam-gyu beamed for a moment, happy to still be on Thanos’ good side after his pathetic little scene. Just as he was about to climb into Thanos’ bed, he was interrupted, by a finger placed against his forehead to stop him from coming closer.
Thanos glared at him as well as a man high on pills could. “If you try something, I will snap your fingers like Cheetos, bro. ” Nam-gyu gave him a nod and a smile to show he understood, although it was hard to take the threat seriously with the odd comparison to snacks he had made.
Nam-gyu swiftly made his way under the covers, immediately being hit by a wave of heat radiating off Thanos. He quickly relaxed, laying down next to the other man, their heads mere inches apart atop the single pillow. Nam-gyu sighed contentedly, finally comfortable enough to sleep, albeit way too close to another man to be considered normal.
A few minutes or so passed, and Nam-gyu was still awake. What the hell, he thought. All that shame and effort just to still be unable to sleep? He brought a hand up to his face to rub his eyes. He could feel the tiredness aching in his eyelids, but he just couldn’t get his mind to rest. What was he doing wrong?
A soft snore came from Thanos’ sleeping form, calmy dreaming away as Nam-gyu lay restless. Maybe if he- NO. Nam-gyu stopped himself before he moved toward the other man. Thanos had explicitly told him not to do anything weird or gay (same difference), and what Nam-gyu had just thought of doing checked those boxes exactly. God, why couldn’t he just shut off his brain? Nam-gyu stared at the bottom of the bed above as he thought.
He acted all self-assured and cocky, but in reality, he was scared, terrified . He didn’t want to die. Not in this shithole.
But Thanos’ vaguely familiar presence gave him confidence he didn’t know he had. Thanos was the only person in that giant crowd that he recognised. That gave him more comfort than he cared to admit. It felt like being at a party and seeing your friend, so you stick close to them the whole time. Afraid of getting separated.
Nam-gyu’s thoughts were interrupted by Thanos shifting, presumably in his sleep. His arms wrapped around Nam-gyu’s torso and their legs became intertwined. Okay, this is weird… Nam-gyu thought. Surely it couldn’t get worse.
“Nam-su…” He heard right in his ear as he felt Thanos’ nose nuzzle at his neck. Great. It could. Nam-gyu had stiffened at the contact at first, but he quickly relaxed. Maybe too quickly… He took a deep breath, careful not to move too much as to wake his purple-haired friend completely.
“What are you doing?” Nam-gyu asked as quietly as he could, a warm blush creeping into his cheeks. Thanos didn't wake. He just kept holding on to the other man while he slept like it was normal to cuddle another dude. What the fuck? Nam-gyu thought. Thanos was the one who told him not to cuddle him. What a hypocrite. Nam-gyu wanted to move, but he didn’t. Couldn’t. It was actually really nice to have Thanos’ arms around him, God knows how cold it was here, and Thanos’ body heat was like a lifeline.. Nam-gyu sighed. If he had to be in this position, he should at least enjoy it, right? He turned his head towards Thanos. Nam-gyu felt as the other man’s breath hit his face. It was warm and soft and weirdly comforting… Each steady breath grounded him in the moment. Made him forget about the blood and gore of yesterday and tomorrow. He never thought he’d find his friend cute
What . Nam-gyu paused. Thanos wasn't cute. He was selfish and annoying and so easy to hate, but when he looked to his side, all he saw was his friend lying there with his face in his neck as if he were the cold one.
Nam-gyu felt his eyelids grow heavy as time passed, the warm body snuggled against him clearly helping with the insomnia. Maybe this isn’t so bad, he thought as he drifted off to sleep with a small smile.
Maybe we can survive this. Together.