Sehun wakes from his nap in Jongin's arms. The latter is playing with his hair, and grins when Sehun's eyes open a crack only to close again when the light is too bright.
"Good morning, sunshine."
Sehun groans at the pet name and turns so his back is facing Jongin. "Too early."
"What do you mean? It's five p.m. and I'm getting hungry." Jongin's fingers skitter over Sehun's side and rub circles into the skin exposed from Sehun's shirt riding up. "What do you want to eat today?"
"My feelings."
"What the heck does that even mean," Jongin deadpans.
"I don't know, I just needed a snarky remark." Sehun smiles with his entire face, nose scrunching, eyes curving. "I'm okay with anything."
Jongin comes up with a mental list of five possible places they can go to before naming them out loud. "Do you want to call for takeout or go out?"
"I don't care."
"Okay...sushi?"
"Don't want a stomachache."
"McDonald's?"
"You have the food taste of a five-year-old."
"Fine. We can call for jjajangmyun."
"I wanna go out."
"What about Subway?"
"We can make our own sandwiches at home."
"Udon?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of samgyupsal."
Jongin pinches Sehun side until he starts squirming. "You couldn't tell me that from the beginning?"
Sehun smiles cheekily. "Can you do the grilling?"
"Yes, you'd probably hurt yourself grilling, are you kidding me?"
Sehun turns around so that he's facing Jongin and cups his hand on Jongin's cheek. "You know I really appreciate everything about you right?"
"Are you going to get sentimental and cry on me right now? Right before dinner?"
"Hey, you know I'm sensitive!" Sehun punches Jongin's chest lightly and buries his face into it. "I just never thought you'd like me back, Jongin," he adds. His voice is so muffled Jongin asks him to repeat. "I don't know when I started liking you. I didn't even think I liked guys. I just liked you."
"That's so freaking cheesy." Jongin shifts his body so that he has his hands on either side of Sehun's head and his entire body is draped on the younger. "I guess you could say you're Jong-sexual."
"Oh my god, shut up!" Sehun bats his fists against Jongin's chest and fake gags. "You're disgusting. I don't have an appetite anymore. I'm not eating!"
Jongin can only smile before darting down to press a soft kiss on Sehun's chin. "Let's get dinner. You're paying?"
"You're the one with the job?"
"You're the one with the craving?"
"I said I don't want to eat anymore!" Sehun sticks out his tongue and tries to roll off the sofa, but he forgets that he's literally caged in Jongin's arms. "Hello, please let me go so I can pee."
"Fine, I'll pay," Jongin assents, like he wasn't going to all along. "You owe me," he says as he lifts his entire body off the couch so Sehun can leave. "Back rub?"
"I give you study sheets for classes you fall asleep in. I'm basically the only reason you haven't dropped out and become a bum at home," Sehun hisses. He darts into the bathroom before Jongin can even protest.
Sehun walks really close to Jongin on the streets but doesn't do much more than that. Jongin understands. People give them weird looks if they hold hands or anything other than walk really close to each other. It's pretty easy to walk close today though, because there must be something going on that makes the sidewalk all crowded. Jongin takes the chance to slip his hand into Sehun's pocket and lace their fingers together inside of it.
They're only a block away from the samgyupsal restaurant Sehun loves when Jongin feels Sehun go ramrod straight and his fingernails dig into the meat of Jongin's palm. He stops and glances over to find Sehun literally frozen in fear and staring off into the distance, where everyone else is looking. Following Sehun's gaze, Jongin sets his eyes on the car accident that left the entire front bumper of a white car hanging off the rest of its body and another blue car T-boned.
Jongin reacts before he thinks and spins Sehun around. "Hey, let's go another way." He takes his hand out of Sehun's pocket to wrap around his shoulders and his other hand rests firmly on Sehun's hip to guide them out of the crowd. Sehun is trembling in his hold, eyes blinking furiously, and breath coming out in sharp pants that has Jongin scrambling.
Sehun makes a choked noise when the ambulance zips past them and nearly loses his balance. Jongin steadies him before he can fall.
"Hey, hey, hey. Breathe," Jongin soothes. His feet keep moving, though his hands stay in a steady grip on Sehun's body. "Don't look at it. Don't think about it. Keep moving forward, Sehunah. We're almost there." He isn't sure if he should be taking Sehun home or if Sehun still wants to eat, but he keeps pushing until the wails of the sirens are gone and there aren't much people crowding around on the sidewalk.
"Jongin, stop," Sehun whispers. And Jongin does. He leans Sehun on a wall and watches worriedly as Sehun clenches his eyes shut. His breathing is shaky, and he hunches over, hands on his knees to hold himself up. "I want to go home," he mumbles. "My head feels funny. I can't-"
Sehun can't breathe. His vision is turning fuzzy. His body feels like lead. He keeps seeing glass shatter and the world spinning. He can't even decipher between reality and memory anymore.
"Sehunah, stay with me. Look at me."
Jongin's voice sounds weird, like he's hearing him with cotton stuffed in his ears.
"Sehun, don't-"
Sehun's vision goes black.
"I'm hungry," are the first words Sehun says when he wakes.
"Well, I would assume so. It's midnight. You basically took another nap." Jongin places a mug of honey ginger tea into his hands when Sehun pushes himself into a sitting position. "I ate dinner without you because I was starving, but I will gladly eat again."
Sehun takes a sip of the beverage and feels his inside warm up instantaneously. "Did you carry me home?"
"We were three blocks from home, but complete strangers started freaking out when you fainted, so I was offered a ride to the hospital but declined. The nice lady drove us home instead."
Sehun chokes on his tea. "You put me in a car?" he asks incredulously.
"Well, you were out cold, and I really didn't want to carry you three blocks."
He doesn't even have anything to argue, but the idea of him being in a car freaks Sehun out.
"You didn't die! You're okay!" Jongin continues. "You're drinking tea I made, which means I did something right."
Leaning forward, Sehun presses his forehead against Jongin's shoulder. He inhales deeply and breathes out. "Thank you, Jongin."
"Don't worry about it." Jongin's arms wrap around Sehun's shoulders, careful of the mug of hot tea between their bodies. "Taking care of you is second nature to me now."
Sehun wants to add more to his thank you message, but the next three words die on his tongue. He's not sure if he's ready for it yet.
YOU ARE READING
Safe and Sound
FanfictionSehun struggles with the memories of his past while his best friend Jongin only moves forward. Sometimes, Sehun thinks Jongin's going to go so far that they'll no longer be friends. Story inspired by "Lights Out" by EXO