home | hyunho

nine

the overwhelmingly hot feeling minho woke up to almost felt like it was meant to be, the first beams of light forcing their ways past the closed curtains signaling it was still too early to be awake.

minho stirred, or at least tried to, but was met with a steady grip holding him in place. he was facing the window and curled up inconveniently close to the edge of the bed, cursing under his breath as he went to grasp on the arm around his stomach to pry himself free.

"minho?"

he froze, letting his own hand slip down before clearing his throat. of course the brunette had to be awake.

"you're squeezing the life out of me and i'm about to fall off this fucking bed" the older complained loudly, shrugging off the faint feeling of awkwardness at the foreign situation.

"oh" minho heard a small huff and before he was truly able to process it he had already been pulled off the edge. "better?"

his back was now closely pressed against the other's body but the grip around his stomach hadn't gone anywhere — if something it was even tighter now.

"you missed the point."

with a soft 'sorry' the brunette rolled over on his back, his arms falling on his sides. minho frowned in response but was quick to sit up, the duvet dropping down on his lap. it was quiet for a moment, minho feeling the other's gaze on him as if he wanted to say something. from the unusual silence minho knew he was being the problem, handling the situation poorly considering the circumstances. he figured he was only making the brunette uncomfortable and should at least make an effort to be nicer to him. he knew the younger deserved it no matter how much of a handful he had been before. why was it so hard to let it go?

even if minho didn't see it he could sense the brunette tensing up, clearly hesitant. minho couldn't blame him, he too was unsure what he was allowed to do or say. he knew a lot of what he had been told last night must have come apart by accident, at least it seemed like that much wasn't meant to be told.

"i should probably leave."

minho hummed, still not facing the male.

"why?" he asked nonchalantly. "where are you going to go?"

the older turned around just on time to see hyunjin looking away and refrained himself from doing anything at all to not mix the situation up by accident. he could see the way the younger was suddenly avoiding his gaze and seemed a little more distant while parting his lips slightly to speak. for a few seconds no words came out.

"i— i don't know."

minho nodded slowly, finding himself hesitating as well as he reached out his hand towards the brunette. he saw hyunjin frowning, confused for a moment before gently taking a hold of it.

it was somewhat awkward, as expected, and the older could clearly feel hyunjin's hand trembling against his own at least for a moment before he seemed to have calmed down enough to look back into minho's eyes.

"what do we do now?"

"i don't know," minho replied honestly, looking up just on time to see hyunjin's eyes glittering with tears that threatened to fall down before the brunette looked away. minho bit on his lower lip harshly. "but we'll figure that out. can i ask you something though?"

"oh" the brunette breathed out. "i guess."

"who's that jeongin guy?"

"j-jeongin?" he repeated after a pause, voice quiet. "we uh— we were best friends in high school. until— until i— m-messed up."

"where is he now? i don't think i've ever heard of him."

"he always wanted to study history" hyunjin revealed reluctantly. "he lives a few miles away, probably studies somewhere close now. i— i have seen him around a couple of times after graduating..."

minho nodded slowly, a little unsure what to say but proceeded anyway.

"have you spoken to each other?" he tilted his head, possibly a little too invested. "like— about that stuff?"

"no. he told me to stay away from him so i did, he acts like i'm a stranger to him now," the brunette mumbled. "if i just walked up to him— yeah..."

the older gave another nod, a frown forming on his features.

"would he—"

"oh no," hyunjin denied quickly without even the slightest bit of hesitation in his voice. minho leaned in imperceptibly. "innie's not like that, he's so kind. he just— he got really angry and snapped— on that day. he wouldn't actually hurt me, i hope."

minho hummed in acknowledgement, drawing small circles on the back on hyunjin's hand thought the gentle gesture of attempted comfort came out rather awkward between them. none of them mentioned it out loud.

"you're pretty naive, you know," the older commented blandly. "i've always hated that about you."

"uh huh? shut up."

hyunjin pulled his hand away rather suddenly, shaking his head softly.

"i should really get going."

"where are you going to go?" minho repeated, sighing as he threw himself on his back on the mattress. "it's like seven a.m."

"then what? maybe i have places to be" hyunjin insisted and this time minho didn't question it, just let put a small 'mhm' as he stared up at the ceiling.

"why? are you just going to lay here the whole day?" the brunette then questioned, raising an eyebrow at the other. lee minho was a strange guy.

"yeah," the male in question nodded in confirmation. "at least until chan hyung comes home."

"he's still with jisung and changbin hyung? are you sure?"

"yeah" minho nodded again. "i already told you, they're working on something. i'm sure he's just fallen asleep in the studio again, you know what he's like when they're working on something good. why?"

"oh," hyunjin breathed out. "do you think he's surprised to see me here?"

minho let out an involuntarily chuckle.

"you practically live here, we can just say you came to see him and opted on waiting."

the brunette nodded slowly, crossing his legs before finally bringing his gaze to minho.

"so— do you mind if i sleep for a bit more?"

minho found it a little funny that the younger was asking but kept it to himself and hummed in response instead.

"no need to ask."

hyunjin nodded again, quietly laying down on his side of the bed and curling up on himself a little. minho found himself missing the warmth of hyunjin's body had provided during the night but would never admit that out loud. he continued staring at the ceiling mindlessly, almost succeeding in tuning out the sound of hyunjin breathing beside him as he tried to come up with an answer to the question the brunette had asked him.

what were they going to do now?

a/n ; another filler of some sort chapter before things get kinda rough