Work Text:
2:23 am, deep in the night, Cha Eu-jae woke up from a nightmare, covered in sweat.
He when he checked that Lee Sa-young was sleeping soundly beside him, he quietly got up to wash his face.
A regular event has occured, Cha Eu-jae had a nightmare, though this time, he was particularly shaken. He had dreamt of the time he was fighting in the West Sea rift, his aunt and all his comrades dying right in front of him. Upon waking up, he felt immense sadness and hopelessness.
Drip.. drip.. looking at himself in the mirror, his face wet with water was pale. Safe to say he wasn't really dandy. The nightmare, being still vivid in his mind, flashed right before his eyes once more, though now the one dripping from his face was not water but tears.
It came out of nowhere, Cha Eujae himself was surprised. It's true that he felt really sad, gut-wretchingly sad and hopeless deep to his bones but he thought it wasn't a sadness where one was to cry. No sound came out, for the good few minutes he was now spending in the bathroom. The tears just... flowed.. Endlessly. He just stared at himself not knowing what to do, until he heard a knock.
''...Hyung, are you alright? you've been there for a while.'' Sa-young asked, his voice still sleepy. Upon hearing his voice, Cha Eu-jae's tears had established themselves even stronger, giving him no chance of calming down anytime soon.
He didn't answer Lee Sa-young, he just closed the tap and opened the door, staring at him, with tears streaming down his face.
Lee Sa-young frowned when he saw Cha Eu-jae. Cupping his cheeks and looking directly into his saddened eyes, he asked: ''Hyung.. what's wrong?''
Cha Eu-jae just looked at him and then looked away with a look on his face saying 'i didn't want you to see me like this.'
''...I don't know.'' he finally replied, but Sa-young just wiped away his tears and pulled him into a hug, cupping his head with one hand and holding his waist with the other.
Cha Eu-jae hugged him back and buried his face into Lee Sa-young's chest.
Sa-young quickly felt his shirt become wet from Cha Eu-jae's tears, occasionally hearing a quiet sob, which made him hug Cha Eu-jae even tighter.
''It's just... i woke up..'' sob ''really sad.. pretty pathetic right? i'm sorry, Sa-young.'' Cha Eu-jae said, wanting to go hide in a hole.
''No hyung,'' Lee Sa-young said warmly, stroking his head gently, ''It's okay.''
Cha Eu-jae let out a muffled sob, hearing his words.
''I don't mind.. I don't mind, at all.'' he said with a smile, ''I love every part of you, and will love you, no matter what.''
Cha Eu-jae looked up at him with his tear stained face and eyes that were saying: Honestly? Really? Promise?
Lee Sa-young just cupped his face again and kissed his tears away. His cheeks, his nose, or his eyes, every place where a tear had landed or passed through, until they stopped falling.
With the clock having displayed 3:40 am now, and the two having moved to the bed, Cha Eu-jae said with a slight smile that could be heard in his voice: ''Sa-young, it's fine now, you don't have to kiss me anymore..''
Lee Sa-young, pretending not to hear, had kissed and cuddled Cha Eu-jae until he fell asleep.
Running a hand through his hair and embracing the one he loves, confirming he's not in any pain or troubled by anything, Lee Sa-young softly kissed Cha Eu-jae on the lips. Only then, he too was able to fall asleep.