Homosaurus

12

Jaebum's lids drifted open, his blurry vision only registering a blank grey ceiling. For a few seconds he forgot that he wasn't home, but instead sleeping in a cage with his hybrid friend.

Speaking of that hybrid friend, he suddenly felt something touching his face just above his left eyebrow. He blinked a few times, glancing over towards his left only to be met with golden eyes staring back at him, and Youngjae's hand on his face.

"Good morning?" Jaebum greeted through a voice crack. "What... are you doing?"

"I was wondering what these dots were on your face, I wanted to touch them." Youngjae answered, his voice startlingly deep from waking up not long ago.

"Dots...?" Jaebum touched the spot where Youngjae's fingers had been, gasping softly as he realized what the hybrid was referring to. "Ah, my moles. They're natural, just blemishes on the skin. You have some too."

Youngjae frowned, touching his own face in the same spot as Jaebum's moles were. "I Do?"

Jaebum chuckled, guiding Youngjae's fingers to his left lower eyelid. "Yeah, right there. And I see one on your shoulder too. You have quite a few."

"Oh..." Youngjae began inspecting himself, looking for more of his own moles.

"Don't you look at yourself sometimes?" Jaebum asked; it was a bit weird that the hybrid didn't know of his own blemishes.

Youngjae shrugged while looking down at his torso through the neck-hole of his shirt in search of more moles. "I don't have a mirror so not really."

"Do you know what you even look like?" Jaebum questioned, already shocked by his previous answer.

Youngjae shrugged again, looking back at Jaebum. "Kinda? I've seen myself a few times like, in the shower room's mirrors. but I'm not  really interested."

"You should totally be interested in yourself." Jaebum protested. It was a bit unusual to hear something like that, Jaebum worried that maybe Youngjae didn't pay himself as much attention as he should. Did he think he was that worthless? "You should try to look at yourself more often, I'll buy you a mirror. You're really cute, you should know that and see it for yourself."

"Am I? Cute? Really?" the hybrid's eyes seemed to light up at the compliment.

"Haven't I said it before? You're super cute." Jaebum confirmed, his hand reaching out to ruffle Youngjae's fluffy hair.

Youngjae let out an adorable giggle, the hybrid seeming content with Jaebum's opinion of his appearance. The archaeologist mentally noted that Youngjae enjoyed compliments, just about as much as anyone else did, but it was crucial to compliment him more to give him a sense of confidence in himself. That was most important.

Jaebum stretched his body, feeling Youngjae's eyes still on him which at this point Jaebum just connected to his desire to observe the people and things around him. He ignored the stare and began looking around for his phone, having a habit of checking the time and notifications every morning. "What time is it?"

"The time before Jinyoung usually gets here." Youngjae answered before Jaebum could even spot his phone.

He was impressed by the hybrid's surety, intrigued by his ability to estimate the time so easily. "How can you tell?"

Youngjae sat up, pointing to a window on the nearby wall. "Where the sun is, he always gets here a few minutes after the sun shines through the window."

Jaebum hummed, looking at the positioning of the sun and the reflection of light seeping through the glass. According to Youngjae's prediction, Jinyoung should be arriving any minute now. "That's... a smart way to keep time..."