Theme music: Antonin Dvorak's Romance for violin and piano, op. 11

 “You can sleep on my bed,” Changmin said to a freshly showered Junsu, who was wearing a set of pyjamas a bit too long for him. Not waiting for Junsu to say anything in response, Changmin turned to walk to his study.

He locked the door after getting inside.

Changmin sat in his chair with a book for his psychology class in his hands. Yet after a while, he realized he had been staring and not really reading anything.

Everything was so quiet. Not even a single sound was heard to suggest another person was in the house. How bizarre. What was Junsu doing? Changmin wondered.

Earlier, after the recital, Junsu had persuaded Changmin to take him to the latter’s apartment. Yoochun was probably waiting for Junsu in his apartment and as of right then Junsu was not prepared to meet that guy.

“Why don’t you just talk to him? I don't have to bear the consequence of whatever quarrell happening between you two. I'm not involved,” Changmin had said. But Junsu, despite the wretched state he was in due to having just been discharged from the hospital, had said with a very calm voice, his head held high, “Are you sure? So I walked all the way from the hospital to campus on my own?”

“I was only doing you a favor!” Changmin had exclaimed, but nevertheless grudgingly taken Junsu back to his place. Which explained the current presence of the said guy in Changmin’s apartment.

Tik tok…tik tok…

Still not a single sound from the outside of his study.

The silence had become unbearable. Changmin hopped off from his swirl chair and strode towards the door. He swung it open.

He heard a gasping voice. Looking down, Changmin saw Junsu’s eyes wide open as the latter was looking at him, startled.

Junsu was standing right outside the door. Please don’t say he followed me here and has been standing here all along? Changmin thought with a frown.

“Why are you here? Didn’t I tell you to go to bed?”

“…Where will you be sleeping?”

Changmin tsk-ed. “I work until very late. I will sleep in the couch in my study. Now go to bed.”

“But the bedroom is yours.”

“Aish, it’s not that I never sleep in my study. I have work to do. Now go.”

With that, Changmin turned his back to his study again, about to walk in. But suddenly he felt Junsu holding him back by the hem of his shirt.

“What now?” Changmin said irritably.

“What did you go out for? Why are you already walking in?”

“This is my apartment, I can bloody walk in or out my rooms whenever I want. Problem?”
“…”

Junsu looked at Changmin eyes with those tear-shaped, dark eyes. Then he opened his mouth again, but contrary to the even voice he had been using, this time Junsu sounded hesitant and soft.

“I… can’t sleep.”

This was new. Changmin raised an eyebrow.

“Sleep with me. I promise I… won’t do anything.”

‘Anything’? Like straddling or trying to make out with Changmin?

“…”

“Please.”

So Junsu was practically pleading now. Changmin tsk-ed, before turning off the light in his study and followed Junsu to the bedroom.

Changmin couldn’t sleep.

He was not used to sleeping with another person. His okaa-san and abeonim had let him sleep alone since after his 1^st birthday, and afterwards there was also barely any occasion he’d have to share his precious king-sized bed with anyone. Sure Yuri sometimes slept with him after they made love, but it was his girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancee. If it was an one-night-stand or any of the “friends with benefit”, sleeping together would never happen. Changmin would never, ever expose his most vulnerable form to them.

Junsu seemed to know that Changmin was reluctant to share the bed with him, so he kept a distance. Junsu stayed on his side, face facing Changmin’s direction, but obediently maintained the 30cm between them. Meanwhile, Changmin laid stiffly on his back, eyes staring at the parts made from dark wood, embellished with small, beautiful light bulbs on the ceiling.

All the while Changmin thought he felt Junsu’s gaze on him, so he didn’t even look once to the side as it would be awkward. But when he sneakily did look, he realized the other guy had since long fallen asleep.

Under the soft bedroom light, Junsu’s long lashes cast shadows on his cheeks. One of those shadows landed cutely on the top of his button nose. Junsu’s pink lips were slightly parted as air came in and out. He was sleeping so soundly, curling up into a ball with one hand under a cheek, looking almost like a small child.

Changmin looked at Junsu intently.

Changmin felt it doubtful now, the idea Junsu was in love with him. Changmin could not fathom how a guy dreaming of rising to the top of the classical music world, so much to the point of destroying himself for it, would still care about something like love.

As the receiving end of Junsu’s possible affection, Changmin had to ask: Why me? Wasn’t it just the other day Junsu had been preaching about the importance of dreams, and implying  also that Changmin was an aimless piece of walking soul? If Changmin’s life was just the contrary to Junsu’s, then why the latter could like ever Changmin?

According to normal psychology, Junsu would most likely scorn people like Changmin: born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and soon to be inheriting an immense amount of wealth without having to work their off to establish anything.

Thinking it like this, Changmin felt a defense system rise up inside him. Junsu had no right to look down on him. It was not like Changmin had chosen to be born to this life, and it was not like he wasn’t under any stress. In fact, the stress Changmin had to bear was much greater than what most people his age had to face. Junsu simply had no right to treat him with contempt, no matter how good he himself was.

This whole thing was so complicated. On the one hand, Changmin admired Junsu’s talent and determination. But it scared Changmin too, how the thin, pale guy worked on the rock-heavy hammered piano everyday just to be better. At the same time Changmin didn’t understand Junsu’s device on him at all. Somehow it didn’t feel right – the idea someone so terrifyingly rational like Junsu falling for someone totally different from himself – someone basically coming from another world, like Changmin. Changmin used to think Junsu was chasing after him, but now it no longer felt right. As ambitious as he was, would Junsu ever love, not to mention loving Changmin?

As smart as he was, Changmin had no idea. He didn’t understand Junsu at all. Perhaps it was best to tread with caution. He would not give in to any temptation, and would not show any of his feelings to Junsu. That was why earlier that day he had had to use cold water to reduce the puffy eyes caused by crying during Junsu’s performance, and had been treating Junsu with coolness.

Changmin’s train of thought was interrupted as a hand landed on his abdomen, clutched the T-shirt he was wearing. “Aish!” Changmin growled. This was precisely why he didn’t want to sleep on the same bed with Junsu. or making out was OK but cuddling - absolutely not.

He turned to the side to give Junsu a reprimanding look, but seeing the unexpected painful look on Junsu’s sleeping face, he had to stop. Junsu was frowning in his sleep, and despite the cool room temperature, some drops of sweat were visible on his smooth forehead.

“Don’t do that… Don’t do that… I didn’t mean to…”  Junsu mumbled something along those lines, as he curled up further into the ball his body was forming. Only his hand extended to clutch Changmin’s shirt.

Junsu looked so in pain and scared in his sleep that it tugged at Changmin’s heartstrings. Changmin debated whether he should wake Junsu up, to rescue the latter from the nighmare he was having. But being woken up suddenly from a bad dream wouldn't yield any nice feeling either. It is best to confort the person right in his sleep, so once Changmin had read.

Changmin sighed in defeat, as he turned to the side and put one arm across Junsu’s small physique. He started to up and down Junsu’s back, felling the curve of Junsu’s back under his hand.

Sensing human warmth, Junsu leaned in closer and closer, until his hot breath could be felt on Changmin’s chest. As Junsu snugged into Changmin's torso, strands of his hair touched Changmin's nose. Junsu's hair smelled like a faint combination of musk and citrus, apparently from the shampoo he just used in Changmin's bathroom. Somehow the fact that Junsu smelled just like him then made Changmin feel such intimacy, like they were becoming one and the same. It was a feeling that Changmin had never experienced before, that made his heart beat fast.

After a while the terror of the nightmare seemed to have subsided, as Junsu stopped squirming, albeit a frown was still on his face. Yet due to Junsu’s tight grip on his shirt, Changmin had no other choice but to remain in the position he was in. He wriggled to find a comfortable way to lie, finally settled with an armful of Junsu’s slender waist.

A person in his arm felt nicer than Changmin had thought. Junsu was skinny but not bony – he actually felt really soft. Like plush toys, perhaps. Now Changmin had never slept with teddy bears or plush toys, because his abeonim had said fluffy stuff would not help produce a strong heir, but Changmin imagined those soft toys would at most feel only as nice as Junsu in his arms.

Changmin yawned. He closed his eyes and dozed off into sleep even before he knew it.

End 19

A/N: Cuddling time! Some pink pink Minsu moment to ease the pain of finals for whoever facing it right now. xD