LOSE MY BREATH

LMB 27

27: Selcouth.

Jisung woke to an empty bed, void of the warmth of Minho. It took him a while to recognize where he was. There was a window by his bed, but that one had a view of the forest, and was not covered by a light curtain.

Then last night’s memory came to him; the inn, the drinking, the part where he got into bed with Minho.

Jisung felt kind of guilty. For a moment, he wished he could just burrow deeper into the bed and ignore the world for a while, but then he sighed and rolled over.

Minho was sitting by the table, handling what seemed to be their breakfast. At the sound of Jisung moving, his eyes sprung up, and Jisung was caught in that stare.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, but when they decided to–

“Jisung–”

“Minho–”

Jisung snapped his mouth shut, pulling himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. “You go first.”

Minho’s dark lashes cast shadows over his cheekbones as he tilted his head down, almost shyly like he had done something wrong; much to Jisung’s amusement.

“I cannot remember yesterday.” he said a bit hesitantly.

Jisung felt even a slight sense of relief at that. He was extremely worried about answering back and forth with Minho’s every rigid question, thanking the Lee ancestors who might have wanted to save their descendants dying from embarrassment.

Then the emotion turned promptly into mischief. He couldn’t help himself from tragically throwing a hand over his forehead, a long sigh like he was a damsel in distress.

“Minho how could you… you were so rough with me last night! Forcing me into your bed like a beast! What was I to do with my lesser physical strength but let you?”

At the small gasp, Jisung glanced at the other and saw Minho staring at him pale and wide-eyed. 

Oh, no.

Jisung bit his lips and closed his eyes, knowing that if he looked at that face again, he would drop the act and burst out laughing, as if Minho would go insane any moment. Minho on the other hand, took Jisung’s action as contemplation and pain. Not good at all.

“I must have bruises on my waist from the way you gripped me! Who would’ve thought the illustrious Master Minho was like this?”

"Jisung," Minho uttered, sounding extremely distressed and Jisung wasn’t able to hold his laughter any longer.

“Aigoo, Minho! What are you thinking? Did you think you did something bad? Is that how your drunk self normally acts, hahaha?”

The exhale from Minho was either relief or irritation. Maybe both. The guy’s jaw squared, head turned away like Jisung had insulted him badly.

“Minho, don’t ignore me!” He couldn’t help the grin pulling around his lips. “It was not a lie! You pulled me to sleep with you, and you really did use your strength to make me stay put, but we just slept next to each other. We have done that before, right? It’s not so bad.”

Minho sighed and didn’t reply. Jisung’s smile turned into a pout.

“Aww come on! I was joking, okay? You didn’t do anything else embarrassing last night,” Jisung continued. “We only told each other about some of our favourite things. Very appropriate stuff!”

“Favourite things?” Minho repeated.

“Yes! My favourite colour is red, yours is black. I like cheesecake, you like cats. That kind of stuff.”

This seemed to make Minho relax. The man nodded, and by the slightest lowering of his shoulders did Jisung notice there had ever been any tension before.

Ah, poor Minho.

Jisung padded to the table and sat down next to him. He leaned his face on his palm, looking at the other. There was no sign he’d been drinking, none at all. The face was as impeccably cold and beautiful as ever.

Jisung probably looked like he had been run over.

“Well, it was nice that you drank with me anyway, Minho.” Jisung said. “Yours is my favourite company, so you should do it more often, yeah?”

Whatever was showing on Jisung’s face, it was enough to make Minho’s face lighten up just a little. The man nodded, his face glowing like he was happy.Jisung cleared his throat.

“Ah, anyway, aren’t we supposed to head out? The monsters won’t kill themselves! There is no resting place for the dead! Minho, please serve me my morning tea.”

And Minho did.