It had started getting darker outside by the time Jaehwan arrived back home to his apartment. It was a small one, of course, seeing that he was only a poor university student without much money. He put the keys on the white drawer by the entrance, poked his shoes off and then turned around to the boy behind.

"You can only stay for like ten minutes or so." Jaehwan mumbled.

Wonshik just grinned in return. Secretly, he thought that if he'd been successful in talking himself all the way here to Jaehwan's apartment, then surely he could be just as successful in staying later than allowed if he wanted to. It wasn't his intention at the moment, but it was still nice to feel like he could do it.

After following Jaehwan's example to take off his shoes, Wonshik took a few steps into the narrow corridor before him. The light plastic floor felt chilly and unfamiliar against the backside of his feet. Cold. Enough so to make him wonder if there was any damn heat at all in this apartment. Wonshik wrapped his suit tighter around him as he took a look around.

The interior all looked pretty old to be honest, not modern like his own. The colors here were warm, random and not necessarily matching in all places. But then again, how could they with the sickeningly ugly yellow wallpaper that seemed to wrap around every single wall, corner and space it possibly could.

Jaehwan suddenly stuck his head out from something that seemed to be the kitchen and gave Wonshik an oddly distrustful look. It was in a way that the younger almost thought that Jaehwan through some kind of unidentified magic had been able to hear his "trash-thinking" about the interior.

However, Jaehwan just thoughtfully pursed his lips, as if hesitating for half a second before asking, "... Would you like some tea?"

Wonshik answered with a brief nod and turned his steps to begin walking towards where the elder was – who by then, already had disappeared into the kitchen again. Wonshik reached closer but got no further than the door opening to the small room. For there, the sight he was met by was not only unexpected but also quite beautiful.

See, the kitchen, compared to all other rooms might have been just as small and run-down, except the walls in here weren't yellow; but a deep red color instead. The main light source, a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling created a faint honey-colored glow that steadily warmed everything within its reach. It looked lovely, but that wasn't even the best part of the room.

The best part was definitely the huge amount of plants scattered out all around the kitchen. Most of them were in a dark moss green color, others were in olive and some of them were a bit lighter than others. The leaves of a plant placed in a big transparent glass jar on the floor caught Wonshik's attention in particular as they seemed to be almost shining, pleasantly reflecting the mood-set lighting. Stunning. And in the midst of all this – stood Jaehwan.

Innocently, timidly and to Wonshik's pleasant guess; even nervously, the elder was fumbling with the lid to a can that looked like it'd contain tea leaves. From there, Wonshik's eyes continued to wander and soon found their way to the nape of Jaehwan's neck where they lingered for a moment longer than necessary. It looked thin, boyish and oddly fragile in a way.

The kettle of water beside Jaehwan on the stove was busily boiling, letting out a visible trail of steam into the air that seemed to be turning hotter. Wonshik suddenly frowned, cracking a weak smile.

Ridiculous.

And soon he stood there. Right behind Jaehwan and wrapping his impatient arms around the elder's seemingly frail body. Like that, he made sure to pull Jaehwan closer, as close as possible to his own longing frame. Wonshik sighed, leaving a small wind of air to brush against the sensitive neck in front. By then, Jaehwan had already frozen in shock but he gasped as the mild huff of air registered in his mind. It gave him goosebumps.

Wonshik was... hugging him right now? That can't be right. The thought itself would never have crossed Jaehwan's mind for a ton of reasons. The most obvious one being – who would hug a person they met just earlier today out of nowhere?

Besides, the only one who had ever given Jaehwan back hugs before was Hakyeon. And it was only playful ones on top of that, the kind that best friends got to share. This one was clearly different from that in so many unknown ways. It confused Jaehwan, to the point where the thought of moving out of Wonshik's grip got delayed. And so, he soon received the consequence – a gentle kiss to the nape of his neck.

Jaehwan gasped.
And received another one.

He made a weak attempt to twist out of Wonshik's grip but once again, just received another sweet kiss from the one behind. The third one. And somehow, it felt a bit different from the ones before, more lingering in a way. Maybe, if Jaehwan had to put another word on it then, more lustful?

Lust. Ah, it was one of those words he was familiar but yet not with. He knew what it meant but rarely used it since he never really had the chance or reason to. It had just rested there, un-disturbingly in the back of his mind as a part of the rest of his dictionary. But now it bloomed, violently – roots shooting up from the ground into the clouded void above as if showing off, making their presence known.

See, Jaehwan knew that the kisses Wonshik placed onto his neck could lead to something more. And after briefly recalling one of Hakyeon's past scoldings, he also knew that it didn't necessarily mean that Wonshik cared deeply for Jaehwan in a romantic way.

But above all this, the elder seemed to know that if he turned around right now. Shifted his body just enough to meet with the sight of Wonshik's dark eyes, guilty lips and just about his everything straight on – he would be more naive than ever before.

So Jaehwan spoke instead.

"W-Weren't we going to talk about your offer?" He unsurely stuttered, questioned, hoping that it'd help him gain some kind of control.

It was in vain.

Because in response, Wonshik just chuckled softly, his husky voice set low, "We'll talk when you're done with the tea."

"Done with it...?"

Those words, Wonshik's sentence was something that seemed to confuse Jaehwan greatly. Because how could he possibly make tea when the younger's arms still clung stubbornly around his stomach? How could he concentrate when small tickling huffs of air occasionally hit the back of his neck? He carefully asked Wonshik that but only got an amused "work it out" back as an answer.

Jaehwan scrunched his nose up but decided to do his best for now. It didn't look like he had a choice. Carefully and with stiff hands, he lirked the lid to the tea jar up. And just as timidly, he proceeded by putting some of the small fragrant leaves in the tea filter he had already prepared beforehand. One spoon, two spoons...

The whole time, the inside of his tummy fluttered nervously and his hands shook lightly which soon enough caused a few leaves to escape from the third spoon of tea. They scattered the best they could out over the kitchen counter beneath and Jaehwan's eyes widened as he felt Wonshik chuckle warmly against his neck. Whispering words followed and they danced gently against the elder's skin, creating shivers all over Jaehwan's body as they spoke;

"Clumsy aren't we?"

Jaehwan bit his lips together and scooped the fallen leaves up in his hand to put them back into the jar again.

Honestly, he didn't know how much longer he'd last of this. Jaehwan felt dizzy from the warmth of Wonshik's body pressed against his back and unfamiliar to the jumpy feeling of electricity that occurred every time the younger's lips seemed to be close to his skin again. Would they kiss or whisper? How would they kiss? What would they whisper?... With these thoughts constantly spinning, Jaehwan reached for the kettle of water on the stove but stopped as his hand was right near it. He hesitated. It was hot, he felt it. But now he also felt something else.

What was it again? That word that had appeared in his mind just earlier? Ah, that's right. Jaehwan now felt the boiling, sticky and clingy to the point that it was almost unbearable –  feeling of lust.

To say that he was unfamiliar with it would be an understatement. Because never had Jaehwan felt his heart beat and burn so intensely it felt like it was going to rip him apart. And never had his body been more sensitive to every touch, every detail of everything down to the inside of his own clothing brushing innocently against his bare skin. The feeling was different from movies, books and even the small amount of he'd actually watched – it was warmer. But that didn't mean that he actually knew what to do with it. What do I do with it?

"Kitten, your phone is vibrating."

Jaehwan blinked as playful words from the younger brought him back to reality, "Wh-What?"

Did he just call me 'kitten'?

He quickly shook it off. And how Wonshik got ahold of his phone was really an unknown matter but didn't matter too much to Jaehwan who now gulped, looking down the lit-up screen that Wonshik held in front of them. The back hug tightened for a second, making the elder gasp. But soon after, Wonshik sighed and backed off, leaving Jaehwan's body feeling oddly cold compared to earlier. He turned around and saw the younger giving him an encouraging look with frowned eyebrows. Like it couldn't be helped.

"Aren't you gonna answer...? This 'Hakyeonnie-hyung~'" Wonshik questioned.

"Sure..." Jaehwan carefully took the phone from the younger's grip, finding his behavior rather odd.

But then again, Wonshik had been that way the moment they had met. Odd. Why? Jaehwan didn't know if he'd ever find out. But for now, the air still felt tense as he pressed the green button and raised the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

An angry voice Jaehwan wasn't prepared for, although he probably should have been – immediately boomed out from the device.

"LEE JAEHWAN. Why the hell didn't you call me earlier? NO, actually, why am I the one who is calling you right now?!"

"H-Hakyeon-hyung, let me explain."

"YOU BETTER."

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A/N: Not the best chapter, I admit. But better to post and move on than to continue hestitating, right? Thank all of you for reading by the way, it means a lot. ><'