Safe and Sound

June

Jongin is startled when he feels a weight drop onto his shoulder. He glances over and finds Sehun out cold in the seat beside him. He leans to the side and fixes Sehun's head so that he's more comfortable. The bus is fairly quiet since not many people want to leave air-conditioned Seoul in the middle of summer to go to humid and mosquito-ridden countryside fields.

It's been an hour into the drive and there's still another forty minutes to go before they'll reach home. So Jongin chooses to nap too, leaning his head against Sehun's and loving the feeling of Sehun's hand on his thigh.

"You're so skinny, eat more!"

Sehun watches helplessly has Jongin's grandmother pushes more and more side dishes in front of him and watches him with eager eyes.

"Eat all that you want. There's more in the kitchen!"

Sehun is used to all the doting but he can never get used to the amount of food Jongin's family feeds him every year. He always comes back to Seoul a few pounds heavier and cheeks a little rounder. Somehow, he manages to lose it all before winter break though.

Jongin snickers beside him and picks fish cake from the plate nearest to Sehun. This doesn't go unnoticed by his grandmother, who swats his hands out of the way. "Eat your greens and leave Sehun alone. The boy is a stick!" Jongin hides a smile when Grandma pinches Sehun's cheek and leaves the boy still as a rock.

"Incoming," his mother calls. Jongin clears the table for his mother's pot of tofu soup and the woman sets it down in front of Sehun and Jongin.

"Thanks, Mom," Jongin says. Sehun pinches his thigh as a reminder to not talk with his mouth full. Sehun chimes in with his thanks as well and begins to eat too.

Dinner here is definitely louder than in Seoul, where it's usually just Sehun and Jongin and occasionally Kyungsoo. They never get these hearty meals with a table overfilled with side dishes. In Seoul, it's rice, kimchi, and whatever main dish Sehun decided to make. More often than not, there's takeout on the table.

When Sehun feels like his stomach is about to burst from the amount of food he's eaten, Jongin finally stops – and it's only after Sehun had made it apparent that he can't take Grandma prodding every body part anymore by playing footsie under the table. "Mom, I'm taking Sehun to my room!" He helps with the dishes while Sehun is stuck in that chair while Grandma dotes on him some more and manages to extract Sehun from her only after promises that they'll still be here tomorrow.

"Goodnight Grandmother, goodnight Mrs. Kim," Sehun bows before he leaves.

Mrs. Kim clicks her tongue and corrects him, "I've told you to call me 'Mom' for the past year Sehunah." Her eyes are warm. "Rest, darling."

Jongin drags Sehun upstairs to his room, where their stuff is already thrown haphazardly around. Jongin digs through his duffle and steals the shower first. Sehun is left to clean out Jongin's closet and put his clothes in the empty half. Jongin is taking so long he has time to go through Jongin's stuff and hang them up as well.

When Sehun emerges from the shower, Jongin is already snoring on the bed. The window is open but the screen is pulled down so the bugs can't come in. Jongin had nabbed the left side of the bed, leaving the right side open for Sehun. Jongin shifts a little when Sehun settles in but doesn't do much more than groan and wiggle so there's more space.

The silence of the countryside is still eerie to Sehun, even though he used to live here, and he's been to Jongin's house more than he can count. Sehun thinks he's spent more time at Jongin's house than his own.

He lets out a shaky breath, hand coming up and resting over his eyes, careful to not touch Jongin. The bed is a little too small for two college students to be sleeping together, but its all they have. Jongin refuses let Sehun sleep on the floor but he won't do it himself either. They had that banter two summers ago when Sehun came to Jongin's for the summer for the first time. It's been like that ever since.

"Sehun, can you stop breathing so loudly?" Jongin groans. He turns onto his side and shoves his head under his pillow, as if to prove a point. "And sleep, it's like midnight."

Sehun mumbles and apology and turns to his side, away from Jongin. From this view, Sehun can stare out the window. There's not much to see since he's lying down, but Sehun can catch glimpses of the moon and the twinkling stars. When he's sure Jongin had fallen asleep again, he slips out of bed and curls up in a ball by the window. The night air is refreshing, and the smell of the countryside is a great contrast to Seoul's suffocating smog. Sehun props his chin on his knees and hugs them close to his chest.

Being back home is a brutal reminder of those he has lost.

"What the fuck, Sehun!"

Sehun jerks awake and finds Jongin staring at him.

"Why are you sleeping on my desk?"

Sehun rubs his eyes and chooses to ignore Jongin's whining so early in the morning. "God, you're so freaking loud."

"I woke up and you were gone? Like I literally almost rolled off the bed because I thought I was going to roll onto you at some point, but you weren't there!"

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep on the bed, and I didn't want to wake you up because I kept tossing and turning."

Jongin's gaze softens and he shakes his head. "Fine. Wash up first and then come downstairs for breakfast. We can go swimming later if you want. Jaehee-noona's bringing her kids and Jinah is coming too."

Sehun finds himself sitting awkwardly on a rock in a long-sleeve and Jongin's old swim trunks in the middle of ninety-eight degree weather. His fingers keep fiddling with the shirt and skirting around the scar on his side. He feels exposed though he knows that if he were to bare himself to the world, these are the people that would never look at him with judging eyes.

Around him, Jongin, his fourteen-year-old sister, and their two nieces and nephews are splashing water at each other. Little Minho's screams are slightly irritating, but, for some odd reason, Sehun finds himself ignoring that and staring at Jongin's wide grin instead. It fills him up and makes his insides feel funny. He doesn't even realize that he's staring until Jongin catches him and declares a water war on Sehun's rock kingdom.