rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 46

Jungwon woke up, feeling blurry and utterly content. He squinted at the sun streaming through his window, trying to recall why his lips felt swollen and his thighs burned. Then, it all came back to him in a rush. He groaned, in embarrassment. His last conscious memories before he'd fallen asleep-- Jay's lips on his, Jay's body pinned under him.

Jungwon pulled his blanket over his head, cutting the light off, hiding his blush from the rising sun. He'd fallen asleep in the midst of making out with Jay, he realized, beyond a shadow of a doubt. He couldn't have guessed at which point he'd slumped over and fallen asleep. It had been difficult to gauge the passage of time-- it could've been an hour in, but it might have been four. And after he'd fallen asleep Jay had somehow painstakingly carried him in through the window.

He wondered about that, about how Jay had slept. Wondered when he had woken up, and whether he'd risen thinking of Jungwon, as Jungwon was thinking of him.

Jungwon could only put off facing whatever lay downstairs for him for so long. He'd showered, and afterwards he'd stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He prodded at his lips and wondered if his parents would be able to know from the moment they laid eyes on him that he'd spent hours of the night kissing Jay.

Then, Jungwon had finally steeled his nerves and crept out of his room. He slowed at the entrance to the kitchen, as heard a pair of voices conversing within.

He walked in.

Jay was at the stove, swirling a frying pan. He looked up as Jungwon walked in. His face was near-blank. It was a close enough approximation to the blank Jay that Jungwon's parents were probably fooled, but Jungwon instantly zeroed in on Jay's eyes. They were dead giveaways, their warm intensity.

It was hard to read from his eyes alone if he was bothered that Jungwon had fallen asleep in the middle of kissing him, though. Jungwon felt a flush rising to his face. He and Jay had kissed for hours.

"Crepe?" Jay asked Jungwon, gesturing with the pan at a plate by the stove, stacked high with crepes. It was such an innocuous question, but Jungwon didn't have to wonder why Jay was acting so reserved.

Jungwon spotted his father out of the corner of his eye, seated at the kitchen table with a plate of half eaten crepes in front of him, his tablet in hand.

Jungwon's heartbeat ratcheted up. He could do this. He'd always been shit at deception, but this was deception for a purpose, for a far more important cause than he'd ever had cause to lie before. He looked back at Jay.

Jay's eyes glinted, as though this was just another joke between him and Jungwon. A game.

Jungwon felt a weight lifted off him. Jay wasn't bothered, Jungwon had fallen asleep last night, then.

"I'll take a few. Somehow, I managed to work up a bit of an appetite overnight," Jungwon said, and he was proud of how even his voice sounded, "Can you make them with strawberries and nutella?"

"Of course," Jay answered, voice toneless. As he looked away to slip the crepe he was making from the pan and onto a plate, Jungwon spotted the corner of his mouth twitch.

Jungwon smiled as he slid into a seat by his father. He looked up as Jungwon sat down, his expression one of abject curiosity.

"Whatcha reading?" Jungwon asked, quickly, to distract him.

"Oh, it's really neat!" Jungwon's father extended the tablet, forgetting in an instant whatever he'd meant to ask Jungwon, "You know the progress they're making with bringing bees back? This article's about how the bee comeback will lead to the spread of wild fruits...."

Jungwon nodded indulgently, pretending to listen, pretending to scan the article. In reality, he kept sneaking glances at Jay as he worked. He watched secretly as Jay pushed his sleeves up his forearms, as he started chopping strawberries and drizzling nutella.

Jungwon's furtive looks travelled up to Jay's lips. He wondered if he was just seeing things, or if Jay's lips looked a little fuller, and little pinker today. He moved his eyes from Jay's lips only to find that Jay was looking back at him.

Jungwon blinked, caught. Jay shook his head, his blank mask cracking for long enough for Jungwon to spy a warm smile across his features. Then he carefully retrained his features and dropped his gaze back to his work.

Jungwon smirked to himself, nodding at whatever his father was droning on about. It might've had something to do with flowers, he thought.

He couldn't have told you, not for the life of him, not with his mind filled with the memory of kissing Jay, and the exhilarating thought that he'd definitely get the chance to do it again.

— the end of chapter 46 ♡

last chapter will be published tomorrow! i can't wait to hear your reactions and thoughts <33