In pieces | 2Jae

11, Morning

-TW, mentions of blood and cutting-

The next morning comes too quickly. Jaebum wakes up to their manager's call and he gets up from the bed feeling jet lagged. He wasn't able to sleep during their flight and this one night of sleep wasn't enough. He never sleeps enough due to their busy schedule and looks like today is going to be filled with short naps just like every other day is. Jaebum rubs his eyes as he stands next to his bed, still not ready to face the world. He opens the curtains to let the sunlight in and then stretches to wake up his exhausted body. After that Jaebum turns around and walks over to Youngjae. The good thing about being in the same room with him is that Jaebum can wake up to see his beautiful face the first thing in the morning. 

The younger one is sleeping quietly wrapped inside his blanket looking gorgeous as usual. For a minute Jaebum just stands there and stares, he adores the little details and particularities on Youngjae's face looking at him with eyes full of admiration and a gentle smile playing on his lips. It's during times like these when his heart is at ease despite being in the company of the other one. It's during times like these when he can look at the younger without worrying about his affection showing, he can stare and admire him without receiving weird looks or questions. 

After a while, Jaebum shakes his head and relaxes his face.

"Youngjae, wake up", Jaebum's voice is gentle as he shakes Youngjae. The younger one stirs up a little in his sleep but doesn't wake up yet.

"Jae-ya, get up. We need to leave soon and you should have breakfast first-" Jaebum's words get caught in his throat as Youngjae's hand slowly wraps itself around Jaebum's.
"Hyung..." Youngjae mumbles unclearly as he pulls Jaebum's hand closer. Jaebum jerks forward as he's pulled and the leader looks at the other one with wide eyes. Youngjae's hands are warm and soft. He has a firm hold on Jaebum and he presses their hands against his chest as if hugging them. Jaebum can't do anything but stare.

....What exactly is the younger one doing right now? Why is he holding Jaebum's hand? He's asleep right? He must be. The leader can hear his heart beats loudly in his ears and in a small panic he jerks his hand back. Jaebum covers his other hand with the other, it feels like his hand is on fire.
"Youngjae, wake up", this time Jaebum's voice is strict and no longer quiet. Finally, Youngjae shows signs of waking up by slowly blinking his eyes. Jaebum leaves immediately. He locks himself inside the bathroom and leans against the wall, staring at the hand in front of him. He takes a deep breath,  shakes his head, blinks his eyes and straightens himself. It's all good, he's fine.

On the other side of the wall, Youngjae is still lying in his bed, blissfully unaware of his actions. Surprisingly he's not that tired. He used Mark's shoulder as a pillow in the plane so he got some sleep during their travel and the soft hotel bed made it easy for him to sleep deeply.

Youngjae has mixed emotions about today. He's super excited to see their fans and sing in front of them, he's scared he'll screw up and he's nervous and terrified -there's even a part of him that's happy- to act with Jaebum like everything is okay. Youngjae knows Jaebum will be able to pull it off, he has no reason to feel weird since Youngjae is the one who caused their separation in the first place. What Youngjae isn't sure about is his own acting ability. Can he do it? Actually, he can't even ask that. He must do it. Yeah, he'll be able to do it. Since it's their fan meet Youngjae won't have time to focus on anything unnecessary and hopefully being close to Jaebum will become a natural thing once again. Youngjae's eyes brighten as he gets an idea. If after the fan meet Youngjae keeps acting normal and he's close to Jaebum the same way they used to be, maybe things will fall on their right course just like that! If he stops ignoring Jaebum, the leader won't have any reason to ignore Youngjae and maybe after some time the younger one will be able to forget his feelings and things will be exactly the same they've been for several years before. Energized by his realization, Youngjae gets up from the bed. Since Jaebum's in the bathroom, he'll just put on his clothes first and let the leader take his time.