Chapter Text
The morning light filtering through the drapes of the bedroom window stirs Youngwoo awake, eyes blinking and bleary. He’s not used to this sort of peace, not used to hearing birds twittering their morning call and not used to the lack of urgency of everyday life. All he's ever known is instability, violence, and the struggle to survive the next waking day. But instead, Youngwoo lays on soft linen sheets and a plush bed next to a familiar warmth wrapped around him.
Youngwoo stirs and flips around, coming face to face with Taejoon's sleeping frame. For all the years they've known each other, Youngwoo imagines he would have Taejoon’s face committed to memory. But watching his sleeping body rise and fall, Youngwoo finds new details to admire. The way Taejoon’s eyebrows are furrowed as he sleeps, the way his lips are just slightly agape as he breathes in his slumber, or the way his face twitches just so as his dreams carry him away. Youngwoo thinks about caressing Taejoon’s precious cheek, hand reaching out to trace his thumb along his scar, but quickly stops himself. No, Taejoon has spent so many years in survival mode. How many days of his life was he ever allowed to sleep in and enjoy a slow start?
Youngwoo flips back around and presses his back into Taejoon’s body, feeling them slot together like puzzle pieces. He closes his eyes to bask in the moment before he makes to move out of bed. However, a strong arm quickly wraps around Youngwoo’s hips and pulls.
"No," Taejoon slurs, voice still laden with sleep.
Youngwoo lets himself get pulled tight into Taejoon’s embrace. "You're awake?"
Taejoon rubs the sand out of his eyes into Youngwoo’s back and takes one deep breath both to wake his brain up, but to also inhale the smell of Youngwoo’s skin. "Don't go...not yet."
Youngwoo smiles to himself and relents. He feels Taejoon place butterfly kisses all over the expanse of his shoulders before they start trailing up the length of his neck. A thought tugs at Youngwoo’s mind, still unaccustomed to this peaceful life after all those turbulent years growing up.
"Do you think you'll ever grow tired of this?" Youngwoo asks softly.
Taejoon pauses before squeezing Youngwoo’s body in between his arms, humming in thought. "We've known each other a long time already. I don't think even a lifetime would be enough."
Youngwoo cranes his neck to look at Taejoon’s face with a puzzled expression. "What does that even mean?"
"It means..." Taejoon mutters before he props himself up enough to lean down and press a tender kiss on Youngwoo’s lips, eyes fluttering shut. When he breaks away, he looks deep into Youngwoo’s eyes while he holds Youngwoo’s chin in between his fingers. "That I hope we'll be together even in our next lives," Taejoon says, voice uncharacteristically soft.
Youngwoo’s heart flutters as the implication weighs heavy in the air. He stares in disbelief for only a moment before he reaches for his pillow and smacks Taejoon square in the face.
"Ow," Taejoon groans, his voice muffled behind the pillow. If Taejoon wasn't already awake, he sure was now. Youngwoo feels bad, but for only just a second. In part, it's both punishment for the sickly sweet words that came out of Taejoon’s mouth and the need to prevent Taejoon from seeing the blush that is spreading rapidly on Youngwoo’s face.
Youngwoo sits up and shifts out of the bed. "I'm sorry I even asked," he says, trying his best not to sound flustered.
He makes his way to the bathroom to wash up and start the day. When Taejoon removes the pillow from his face, all that's left is a soft, genuine smile. "Wait for me," Taejoon calls out before he also gets out of bed to chase after Youngwoo.