A Rose-Colored Dream; Soonhoon

04

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"WHAT ARE YOU doing?" It takes a while to reach him, Soonyoung thinks. Like the air between the two of them is thick, slowing down Jihoon's words. Soonyoung looks down, past the metal bars in front of him, where Jihoon stands in the parking lot.

"What are you doing?" he calls back.

"I asked you first."

"I'm just sitting here."

"Why?"

"Couldn't sleep."

Jihoon is quiet for a while after that. He doesn't move, except for the breeze tugging on his sweater, and Soonyoung is content just watching it. His hands feel cool wrapped around the metal fencing on his balcony, his legs swaying where they hang off the edge of it. He lets his head fall forward and rest against the bars.

Finally, Jihoon says, "Me neither. I was gonna go for a drive."

"Where?"

"I dunno. Grocery store, maybe. Buy some cereal for breakfast. Or for now. I'm kind of hungry."

"I have cereal."

He wants to invite Jihoon up to his apartment, but there's a harsh Shh! coming from somewhere above him, and Soonyoung realizes they're probably being loud enough to disturb the other residents. Jihoon chuckles a little.

"308, door's unlocked," is all Soonyoung adds, and he watches Jihoon's body disappear out of sight. A few minutes later, he hears the slight whooshing sound of the balcony door sliding open, and the space beside him grows warm when Jihoon fills it.

"It's not good to keep your door unlocked," he says. "Not safe."

"Maybe I had a hunch you'd be out here tonight."

"Did you?"

"No," Soonyoung admits, laughing a little. "I just forgot to lock it." Jihoon laughs, too.

"Dummy ... Why can't you sleep?"

"Just not tired."

It's true, he isn't. Angels' bodies don't totally adapt when they reach Earth, even after being down for a while, and his internal clock doesn't work the same as a regular human's. Back home, he has enough energy to keep him going for days. Now he just can't seem to fall asleep before 3am.

"Your apartment's really empty."

"Yeah. Haven't gotten around to decorating it." Probably won't ever, either. There's no point if he's just going to have to haul ass as soon as this mission's done. Jeonghan got it set up well enough for him, anyway, with a couch and a bed and a fully stocked fridge. Television, too, though he hardly uses it.

"What about you?" he asks. "Why can't you sleep?"

Jihoon doesn't answer him. He sits with his legs crossed underneath him and his hands tucked in his lap, staring down at the parking lot, and his expression looks a little lost. Soonyoung's noticed that Jihoon has very particular eyes, the type that are wide, soft, curious. Kind, above all else. Sometimes, they make him look as if he's got one foot planted solidly in another part of the universe. Like he's in his own little world.

Soonyoung's voice comes quiet. "Is it Seungcheol?" Jihoon nods.

"I like him so much."

"It's not hopeless."

"Yes it is. You heard him yourself, didn't you? It's never gonna happen."

"But that just doesn't make sense."