《stray together》

Tie Up Some Loose Ends

Suddenly feeling suffocated, Seungmin awoke. Felix was cuddled against him, as usual, but it was moreso the feeling of the fabrics, every fiber feeling like needles brushing against him. The sleeve on Felix's shirt, of his arm that was draped over Seungmin's neck, likely the reason his sleep was interrupted. Seungmin shimmied out of the bed, pulling his shirt off as soon as he could, the collar feeling too constricting. At the loss of warmth, Felix woke up.

"Hey Lixie," Seungmin cooed in a whisper, brushing the blonde's hair out of his face, "Go snuggle Hyunjin, I'm gonna go shower."

A deep sound of acknowledgement vibrated from Felix's throat, before he rolled over and crawled to Hyunjin, attaching to his side.

Once Felix was content again, Seungmin got up and left the room, heading towards the bathroom. The thought of turning the light on was already too much for Seungmin, as he had already been sensitive to bright lights the last few days, so he grabbed the small salt lamp from the living room just before reaching the bathroom, plugging it in the outlet the furthest from all sources of water, illuminating the bathroom just enough to see, but not be too bright for his vision.

Shutting and locking the bathroom door, Seungmin finally rid himself of his pajama pants and boxers, feeling immediate relief from removing all fabric. As he turned the shower faucet, he eased his hand under the stream of water to see how it would feel, not the temperature, but the contact to his skin. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't painful either, just an amplified feeling of little pressurized lines of water hitting him.

Upon stepping in the shower, Seungmin opted to use the fragrance free body wash and hair products he had for days like this, not wanting to overwhelm his sense of smell.

"He's not like other kids. He's... off."  The teacher told Seungmin's dad, Kim Hak Kun. "He gagged washing his hands, and he also didn't want to go out for recess, he just wanted to keep studying."

After washing, Seungmin stood there looking at the towels, unable to bring himself to grab one to dry off. Water just dripping from his hair, and slowly running down his body. It felt like sandpaper just thinking about using a towel. Instead, he decided to just air dry.

'He has to know, there's no way he doesn't. It can't be this easy.' Seungmin thought to himself in the quiet. 'What if he hurts Lixie? No, he can't. But how would he have figured it out?  Lixie was disguised so well. Did I not plan it well enough?  Or is he fucking stupid? He is known to be smart, it doesn't make sense. None of it makes sense.'

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted Seungmin's thoughts. "Seung? You almost done? I need to piss." Felix's rough morning voice called.

"Yeah, lemme cover up a bit." Seungmin replied, realizing most of the water had fallen off his body. He grabbed the pair of boxers he planned to wear, silk and oversized, what he would find most tolerable on days like this. After slipping into them, he unlocked the door.

Felix opened the door not long after, flashing a warm smile. "Cozy." He commented on the minimal lighting, wrapping one hand around Seungmin's waist, catching his eyes in the mirror that was slowly unfogging. The blonde leaned and pressed a kiss on the back of Seungmin's neck.

"Stop, stop, stop. Please." Seungmin panted against Nara's lips, lightly pushing her hands away. "I- I don't- I don't want to have sex. I'm sorry."  He shut his eyes tight, the admission burning him like hot coals.

The pair of kind eyes he had fallen for to begin with were looking back at him, eyelashes making her expression even softer. "It's okay. If you're not ready yet, it's okay. We can wait."  Nara nodded, removing her hands from Seungmin's belt, reaching up to his face, caressing his cheekbone with her thumb.