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When Zen comes home after a long day at work, he's surprised to see the lights still open at this ungodly hour. Immediately, he assumes that you're still awake and he prepares himself to gently scold you on how you should be getting proper sleep for your health; however, when he calls out to you and is greeted with nothing but silence instead, Zen doesn't know what to think. He can only assume that you've already gone to bed and just forgot to turn off the lights.
The young man shrugs off his coat and drapes it over the back of a chair, too tired to properly put it away. He walks to the shared bedroom, cautiously opening the door so that he doesn't wake you in case you really were already asleep. Once Zen peeks into the room though, he finds you still very much awake, sitting upright on the bed while leaning against the headboard, phone in hand with its screen illuminating your face in the otherwise dark room.
Zen thinks he hears music playing from your phone while you tap the screen in a rhythmic pattern, and he calls out to you once more. The actor knows you heard him since your expression changed to one of mild surprise, but you still didn't take your eyes off the screen. Instead, you merely told him to "just wait" and so he did, closing the door behind him as he walks over to the bed. The young man peers over your shoulder to see what it is that's stealing your attention away from him, and it looks like you're playing a game. A rhythm game, more specifically.
The song ends, and you exhale a sigh as you flick your wrists, trying to get some proper feeling back into them. You peer up towards your boyfriend, offering him a loving smile. "Welcome back," you greet him as he places a quick and soft kiss to your lips.
"Whatcha' doing?" he asks, gesturing towards your phone that rested on your lap, the screen still open.
"Grinding," you answer with a tired groan, and Zen immediately shoots up an eyebrow at your response.
"What?" he asks you to repeat yourself, confusion lacing his voice.
You stretch your arms over your head, giving a small contented hum at the relief the action brought you before turning your attention back to Zen who has now decided to sit beside you on the bed, wrapping his arms around your waist. "I'm grinding," you repeat.
"...With whom?" Zen asks, prompting you to mirror his confused expression.
"No one...?" you respond sounding uncertain, not quite sure you understand what Zen means with that question. "What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about?" the young man shoots back.
"I—" you're about to tell Zen that you don't understand, but then it suddenly clicks in your mind. Oh. You decide to answer Zen's question with another question yourself. "When you say 'grinding', what do you mean?"
Even in the relatively dark room, you can see a blush start to form on Zen's cheeks as he stumbles with his words, "You know, that...thing we do...sometimes..."
It took every fiber of your entire being to repress your snort at his response. Despite being someone who repeatedly warns you that men are wolves (you still smile and laugh at that, so sometimes Zen merely says it just to get that reaction from you), and even though the two of you have already given your bodies and soul to each other multiple nights before, Zen still can't find himself to say such things explicitly. It's cute and endearing how innocent he actually was, and you decided that it would be something you could tease him with.
You realized that the current situation was just a misunderstanding and miscommunication, but seeing Zen all flustered like this made you want to have just a bit more fun before explaining yourself. Hoping that your acting was just as good as your boyfriend's, you tilt your head to the side, batting your eyelashes as you say, "I don't know what you mean."
By this point in time, Zen has removed his arms from your waist, and you missed his warmth, but at the same time, you were extremely amused to watch him bury his face in his hands. He tried to explain, his words coming out muffled, "You know. That thing."
"No, I don't know," you have to make sure your voice doesn't end up sounding too sing-song, thinking that'll give you away all too quickly. You note how Zen's just repeating the same thing, not really providing any further explanation, and you wonder if the conversation will just go around in circles like this.
The actor groans in frustration and considers showing you what he means instead of voicing it with words, but he decides against it, thinking it would do more harm than good for him. He continues to fumble around with his explanation, and it doesn't help that you're staring at him with the most innocent expression ever. Eventually, you decide to take pity on him and clap your hands together as though you realized something.
"Ooohhh," you drag out, sounding way too exaggerrated, but you're having way too much fun to really care. "That's what you mean!" It's only then that Zen realizes you were messing with him, and he buries his face in the crook of your neck while you laugh good-heartedly at him. You pat his back as a small comfort and apology for teasing him before adding, "when I say 'grinding', I'm talking about in-game; not, y'know, actual physical grinding like what you're thinking of."
"I still don't understand," Zen replies, his words coming out muffled as he stubbornly refuses to pull away, both from embarrassment and simply because he enjoys the position the two of you are in.
"It just means repeating the same actions over and over again," you hope your explanation is good enough. "So basically, I've just been playing the same song for this rhythm game for a few hours straight without stopping."
The actor gives a small hum of understanding before continuing, "you should stop grinding and go to sleep then; it's late."
"Mm, but what if I told you I was waiting for you so we can grind together?" you teased further, and you heard Zen choke, eliciting another laugh from your lips.
"You're so mean," Zen whines, but he places a kiss on the column of your neck despite his words, and you smile at the feeling, your hands moving up to thread through his hair.
"But you still love me," you reply cheekily, pulling away from the young man's embrace to look up at him and his reddened face properly. His lips tug upwards into a smile, lightly tracing your jaw with his fingers.
"I do," he whispers before locking your lips with his. "I love you very much."
