Jonghyun sat smiling to himself, his legs drawn up to his chest, cheek on his knees. His fingers softly traced the lines of Jinki's open palm. He glanced up at Jinki's still peaceful, sleeping face, his smile widening. He tangled their fingers together. Why in the world had he not let this happen from the very first moment they met?

“If you continue looking at me with such intensity, I might kiss you again,” Jinki suddenly murmured and Jonghyun snorted.

“By all means,” he answered, amused, meeting Jinki’s eyes when he opened them a crack to peer down at him.

A grin spread on Jinki's lips and he chuckled, closing his eyes again but raising their linked hands to press a kiss to Jonghyun's knuckles. Then he turned them over and let his lips graze the mark on Jonghyun's wrist before putting their hands on his chest.

“I didn’t think gods slept,” Jonghyun mumbled after a moment of comfortable silence. “I mean, sure you rested at Kibum's place before but… sleep? Do divine beings need to sleep?”

Jinki opened his eyes and smiled softly.

“We do not often sleep, but at times it is necessary. Mainly after we have used an excessive amount of energy while in the human realm. Fighting with my brother, travelling back and forth between our realms to bring you back, warding off imprints and other creatures and worrying about you has tired me out as I have not slept for years. Only rested.”

“Oh…” Jonghyun felt a little guilty to have been the cause of most of those things.

Jinki must have realised what he was thinking because he let go of his hand to reach up and cup his cheek instead, still smiling softly.

“Do not let it worry you. It is fairly common.”

Jonghyun managed to smile back.

There was a loud banging on the door, as if someone was kicking and hitting it at the same time, and both their eyes widened.

“Jonghyun!” Kibum's voice drifted inside, sounding angry and urgent. “Kim Jonghyun! You open this door right now!”

Jonghyun and Jinki continued to look at each other, surprise turning into confusion.

“Do you hear me?!” Kibum shouted.

Jinki sat up with a heavy sigh, giving Jonghyun a quick peck to the lips before standing up and walking over to open the door. Jonghyun followed him and they were faced with a narrow eyed Kibum appraising them distrustfully, his arms crossed over his chest. As his eyes moved over to Jonghyun, he pushed past Jinki and positioned himself in-between them, defensive. He glared at Jinki, who looked as puzzled as Jonghyun felt.

“Kibum?” Jonghyun asked. “What’s th–”

“I know everything,” Kibum hissed at Jinki, whose frown deepened. “Last night, after Minho asked Jonghyun to go to you, he told me your little secret.”

Jinki's face went blank.

“Kibum, what–,” Jonghyun started.

“You’re soulmates,” Kibum spat viciously at Jinki, “and not one single time have you managed to keep Jonghyun alive! Exactly what makes you think it’ll be different this time?! You shouldn’t even be anywhere near Jonghyun and you know it!”

As all the other times, Jonghyun's chest began aching horribly at the thought of Jinki leaving and he gasped. He looked up and saw the same agony written all over Jinki’s face as he stared down at the floor, backing away from Kibum a few steps.

“Kibum,” Jonghyun said warningly, keeping his eyes on Jinki.

But Kibum ignored him again.

“I won’t let you kill Jonghyun!” he nearly shouted and Jinki winced. “I refuse! He deserves better than to become some pained entity that never rests! How selfish can–”

“Kibum, that’s enough,” Jonghyun growled, gripping his arm so tight he flinched. Kibum still didn’t look pacified enough to stop his angry rant.

“No, you don’t understand Jonghyun!” Kibum growled back, still glaring at Jinki, whose expression grew horribly blanker with every word spoken, as if he was turning in on himself.

Jonghyun wanted to shout at Jinki that he shouldn’t listen to whatever crap Kibum was spewing. It wasn’t true. Jinki never hurt him.

“Every single being on this planet is going to seek you out!" Kibum continued, relentless. "They want your soul, your very existence, and there is nothing he can do to stop any of it! Do you even know what a god’s soulmate is worth?! Or how many times he’s tried to save you and failed?! And yet he still doesn’t stay away! I mean, do you even realise–”

“Kibum, I said enough!” Jonghyun yelled. “I am not someone you need to babysit! I know all of that but I sure as hell won't stay away! So if you value our friendship as much as I hope you do, I suggest you stay the out of this or so help me, I will kick your nosey little !”

Kibum turned to Jonghyun, eyes wide and terrified.

“Do you expect me to just stand by and let you die?” he whispered, his eyes watering. “Jonghyun, you’re my best friend, practically my family, and I’m just supposed to stay away? Watch you get attacked over and over again until one day you won’t be saved in time by him?” he said, his voice thick with tears, and pointed at Jinki, who was now leaning against the wall, staring at the floor emptily. “I’ve done my research, Jonghyun. I spent the entire night researching and it won’t end happily. Not now, not ever. So tell me, what do you expect me to do?”

Jonghyun swallowed harshly, watching as Jinki slowly sank to the floor, before turning his eyes back to a teary-eyed Kibum.

“I don’t know,” he whispered hoarsely. “But I won’t leave Jinki. I don't want to.”

Kibum pressed his lips together and tilted his head back, raising his gaze to the ceiling and looking like he was doing his best to not bawl his eyes out. Then he closed his eyes and nodded.

“Okay,” was the only thing he choked out before he his heel and left, slamming the door behind him.

Jonghyun stood staring at it for a moment, swallowing around the lump in his throat. Then he slowly approached Jinki, kneeling down in front of him and reaching out a tentative hand.

“Stop,” Jinki said, his voice cracking, and Jonghyun's hand faltered mid-way. “Jonghyun, please… stop.”

“Jinki,” he murmured. “I don’t–”

“Kibum is correct,” he mumbled, devastated, and pulled his legs up, leaning his elbows on them. He ran his hands through his hair only to stop midway and grip it tight, all the while staring down at the floor emotionlessly. “I cannot save you. I never could.”

“I don’t care,” Jonghyun whispered. “It’s not your fault.”

Jinki didn’t answer and he sighed.

“Jinki, look at me,” he murmured, cupping his face and raising it so their eyes could meet. “None of us had any control over this,” he whispered as he softly rubbed his thumbs over Jinki's cheekbones. “And I won’t die. I have an advantage I didn’t have in my previous lives. I know about us. I know everything, which makes keeping an eye out for potential danger a whole lot easier, don’t you think?”

He gave a small smile as Jinki's lips quirked the slightest and the pain in his eyes dimmed a little. Then he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Jinki's lips, his hands running up into his hair to loosen his tight grip on it and intertwine their fingers instead.

When they pulled apart again Jinki gave him a tender smile, making Jonghyun go warm all over, and pulled him to his chest, burying his face in his hair.

“I love you, Jonghyun,” he whispered. “More than you can imagine.”

Jonghyun smiled and tightened his arms around Jinki's shoulders, gently letting his fingers play with his hair. Jinki's hands were pressed against his back, pulling him closer, and he was drawing in deep breaths as if he was trying to forever imprint Jonghyun's scent in his memory.

“I…” Jonghyun breathed shakily after a moment of silence, feeling uncertain but gathering his courage to speak nonetheless. There was really no way he could deny feeling the same. “I love you too.”

Jinki stopped all movement, which wasn’t much to begin with, his breath hitching. Then he slowly pulled back to stare at Jonghyun, wide eyes filled with wonder.

“What?” Jonghyun whispered, a little embarrassed.

“This–,” Jinki cut off as his voice broke and he swallowed hard. “This is the first time I hear you speak those words.”

Jonghyun frowned.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Jinki breathed and a small smile graced his lips. “I know you felt strongly for me, of course. However, never have you truly expressed it in words.” A shadow passed over his face. “You dying soon after every time we met might be the reason for it.”

Jonghyun swallowed before smiling, leaning in and capturing his lips. Jinki kissed him back hungrily, manoeuvring him so he was straddling his lap instead.

“I love you,” Jonghyun murmured into the kiss.

He gasped when Jinki's warm hands found their way underneath his shirt, gently up his spine.

“Jinki,” he breathed, trembling fingers caressing down Jinki's face and throat, pulling at his shirt.

Jinki pressed him closer again, one hand going up to grab his shoulder while the other rested at the small of his back. Jonghyun felt like he was burning slowly and he needed more of Jinki. Much, much more.

A tremble went through Jinki's body when he popped the first few buttons on his shirt and let his hands slide up over Jinki’s bare skin. Their bodies rolled together, gentle, hesitant.

“Jonghyun,” Jinki mumbled in-between the increasingly desperate presses of their lips when Jonghyun began pushing his shirt off. “Slow down.”

Jonghyun pulled back only as much as was necessary to face Jinki's tousled look, mussed up hair, red lips and dark, eyes filled with desire, most likely matching Jonghyun's own.

“Why?” he whispered, their lips brushing and breaths mingling.

Jinki smiled and pecked his lips.

“We are almost at our destination and I would rather make love to you under better circumstances.”

Jonghyun blushed at his bluntness.

“Oh.”

As if to prove Jinki's point, a voice announced they were half an hour away from reaching land. Jonghyun and Jinki stared at each other for a long moment.

Then Jonghyun sighed and slid off his lap. Jinki chuckled at his small grimace and kissed him one last time before standing up and pulling Jonghyun to his feet. They straightened their clothes and Jonghyun fixed Jinki's hair so it wouldn’t look too much like they actually had had . They exited the room and followed the crowd to the waiting hall where they found Kibum and Minho, both looking annoyed and facing away from each other. Jonghyun bit his lip and Jinki grabbed his hand when his steps faltered, pulling him along with a reassuring squeeze to his hand.

Both Kibum and Minho gave them wary looks, but didn’t mention their linked hands or their tousled appearance. Instead, Minho began filling Jinki in on where he thought Taemin might be.

Jonghyun decided he really didn’t have much to contribute to their discussion and sat down beside Kibum, neither of them looking at each other. It that they were fighting, but he couldn’t let Jinki leave him. Even the thought of it hurt and – call him selfish – he never wanted to put either Jinki or himself through what would most likely be more than double the pain he felt only thinking it, if it became a reality.

Kibum suddenly grabbed his hand and squeezed and Jonghyun's gaze snapped over to him. He still refused to look at him, but there were tears in his eyes. Jonghyun swallowed and squeezed back, a small, sad smile on his lips. He loved Kibum like a brother and he was sorry he was hurting him at the moment, but he couldn’t afford to lose Jinki. And somehow Kibum must have understood it because he continued to hold Jonghyun's hand as they got off the cruise ship, not saying anything but silently giving his support anyway.

And Jonghyun really hoped and prayed, then, that everything would work out for the better.

A/N: This is not proofread or anything and I'm sorry if you don't like it. I'm not really feeling good about this chapter at all. It just feels... I dunno... weird? Maybe it's because I haven't posted in a while... hm...

Anyhoo, I think I'll go sleep now at this ungodly hour -.- I just wanted to finish and post this for you guys.

Love you all! <3

Bye~!