It was the kind of summer night that felt like the entire planet was boiling from the inside out; where the air felt thick and sticky and you’d swear you could feel yourself baking and see steam rising from your skin. Sleep was slow to come on a night like this and the boys had scattered themselves in an effort to beat the heat long enough to capture at least a few hours of precious slumber. Hyunseung and Kikwang opted to sweat it out in the living room surfing the web on their respective laptops until the ungodly temperature lost the battle against their heavy lids. Dongwoon had stripped to his boxers and stretched out on the floor in his bedroom in an attempt to get under the stifling air; an attempt that seemed to have worked because he was blissfully passed out in the darkness. Junhyung had decided that if the heat was going to keep him up he might as well use his time wisely and so he’d gone to spend the night at the recording studio.

In the largest bedroom, Yoseob had climbed into bed with Doojoon – something they didn’t do often enough in Yoseob’s opinion - and the two of them spent several minutes struggling to get comfortable. They took turns grumbling about how much nicer it would be if it wasn’t roughly 800 degrees in the room, but eventually they settled into each other and managed to fall asleep. Yoseob nodded off first, his head cradled on Doojoon’s outstretched arm, the older boy lightly running a finger back and forth over his shoulder. Doojoon finally closed his own eyes and soon they were both sleeping peacefully.

But it wasn’t peaceful for long. Shortly after Doojoon fell asleep, Yoseob starting groaning and whimpering. He twisted his body as though he was trying to physically get away from the suffocating heat. His state of perpetual motion woke Doojoon, who cast bleary heavy-lidded eyes at the younger boy and sighed unhappily. He tried to hold Yoseob still and got an unconscious elbow in the ribs for his trouble. Rubbing his injury, Doojoon climbed out of bed, in a deep vaguely irritated breath, and left the room. Yoseob tossed and turned alone for a few minutes, kicking at sheets that had long since been thrown off the bed, and making displeased little noises in his sleep.

When Doojoon returned he carried with him a washcloth that he’d soaked in ice water. He crouched down beside the bed and dabbed at Yoseob’s cheeks with the cool, damp cloth until the younger boy stopped moving and a soft sigh of relief escaped his slightly parted lips. The small sound brought a large smile to Doojoon’s face. He dropped a kiss on Yoseob’s forehead and then quickly covered it with the washcloth before slipping back into bed beside him. Yoseob curled into his arms and slept soundly the rest of the night.