000:00:00

 

 

 

 

Minseok sat up straight. “Junmyeon.” his voice echoed around the empty dorm, bottle of soju safe on the table as he abandoned it to go and stand out on the balcony, by the air-conditioning unit. “Junmyeon.” He couldn’t tell if he’d said it or if it was the shadow of his own voice, pinging back to him in the silence.

 

 

“Junmyeon.” There was the second or third time, Minseok still wasn’t sure, though this time it was he who’d said it, without the worry of a whispered echo.

 

 

This was probably best — being alone, to cry.

 

 

—

 

 

Junmyeon still had 17 days left on his timer when Minseok asked him after he came back from his night out with Sehun, “A special treat since he saved my and cleaned the dorm before a visit I’d forgotten about.” 

 

 

He shouldn’t have allowed himself to feel the worry he did when he replied with a clipped, “I remember. You were in Sokcho.” The pangs in his chest were hard enough to ignore as they were but they intensified with Junmyeon’s blushed laughter.

 

 

A hand lands on his shoulder, “Mm, I was, but you should get to sleep Minseok.”

 

 

—

 

 

“It’s when you fall in love right?”

 

 

Jongdae elbows Chanyeol and shoots him a look, “No, it’s when you realise you love the person who’s your soulmate.”

 

 

Minseok blinks down at the soju shot he’d tipped into his tall glass of beer. “Did your guys’ timers stop at the same time?” His voice had started off strong but faded out with a weak smile on the upturn of the question.

 

 

His best friend gives his fiancé a look before shrugging. “I don’t know, mine stopped after I went back to my room after our first kiss. Chanyeol?”

“Same here.” Helpful.

 

 

—

 

 

Sometimes, when Junmyeon isn’t looking, he’ll look at his timer, hoping the days will have magically whittled down — without Minseok even having noticed. That works with frustrating infrequency.

 

 

“Hyung?” Despite everyone in the group having to call him by the honourific, Minseok would have known who it was before he’d even said anything. He could recognise his soulmate by the pattern of his breathing after coming up the steep stairs that lead up to their dorms.

 

 

Turning away from the Chinese take-out he’d picked up after Yixing said he felt homesick felt heavier than it was. “What’s up, Junmyeon?”

 

 

—

 

 

Lying in the silence was usually a pleasant affair, especially considering the lack of time they usually had to themselves, not today, at least not for Minseok.

 

 

Junmyeon’s laughter soaked itself into the walls, crawling up the storeys like climbing ivy, “YAH! CHANYEOL-AH! COME BACK HERE!” There’s the beat of feet against pavement and Chanyeol’s guffaws sink into the concrete alongside Jongdae’s chiding.

 

 

His sheets tangled themselves welcomingly around his legs, enough of a tie to his bed that Minseok didn’t come out even when he heard them come through the front door.

 

 

Even when he heard Junmyeon calling his name.

 

 

—

 

 

“HYUNG~!”

 

 

Baekhyun’s voice comes smooth and sing-song through the dorm, a nice change from the strained overtones his own had taken on in the week since his timer had count down.

 

 

Flopping his head back in the chair he was reclining in, Minseok’s eyes widened with he and Junmyeon’s harmonised holler of “Yeah?”

 

 

A smirk is pressed into their friend’s face as he looked between the two, “I meant, Minseok. Sorry Junmyeon.” There’s a slight disappointment that blooms in Minseok’s chest that he knows doesn’t belong to him as he watches their leader retreat into his bedroom.

 

 

—

 

 

Junmyeon’s head is heavy on Minseok’s shoulder, a welcome weight, even with his desperate desire to catch his own forty winks on the plane. He waited a moment, eyes staring straight ahead, mapping the strands of Chanyeol’s hair flickering under the blast of the onboard air-conditioning.

 

 

“He’s asleep.” Jongin’s friendly smile is all that manages to stop Minseok from jumping as he turned to see who the words had come from. They were a matching pair, Jongin instead with a Baekhyun lolling into sleep on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

 

 

The smile he flashed the man wasn’t entirely forced. “Thanks.” Really.

 

 

—

 

 

They’re sitting in the back of the van, Kyungsoo and Minseok, when his backseat partner taps Junmyeon on the shoulder. “Your make-up smudged during the concert.”

 

 

A brief chuckle from the middle row of seats before, “So?”

“Not your face make-up.”

 

 

Silence drops over the car as they contemplate his implication. Yixing’s voice is focussed as he intones a gentle, “Ge-ge, it’s in three days isn’t it?”

 

 

Minseok and Junmyeon’s bodies tense almost in time. He’d been hoping the steady beat of routine and flights would overshadow the weight of time. Junmyeon? Minseok wasn’t sure about him.

 

 

—

 

 

Tomorrow. The word echoes around his head in the variations upon which he knows it in all his different languages. Somehow it doesn’t help with the pressure easing down on Minseok’s chest.

 

 

Lifting his hand above his head, covering the shining light. “You really shouldn’t look straight into the light, it’ll hurt your eyes.” Sehun’s says from behind his head, exiting his shared room.

 

 

Minseok bites back laughter as he turns to watch the younger man make his way into the kitchen, “Tell that to your roommate, he’s the one with bad eyes.”

Sehun’s smile quirks, “You worry about him.”

 

 

—

 

 

Minseok watched Junmyeon twist the bandages around his two fingers, his timer whittled down to mere minutes. “I worry about you.” he whispers, fingers reaching out to the bandage tape before drawing back to a balled fist.

 

 

Moments that could’ve been minutes and minutes that could’ve been hours stretched out between them before he dared look up to meet the eyes he felt watching the top of his head.

 

 

“I worry about you too.” 

 

 

000:00:00

 

 

There’s no tears in Junmyeon’s eyes like there had been in Minseok’s when he’d realised. Only comfort and reassurance (and a little love).

 

AN//

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