Hakyeon laid there silently, tracing the ornate, old-fashioned patterns on the ceiling and gripping tight to the familiar silky gray sheets that covered his body. His head was halfway sunken into a soft pillow of the same color, and as comfortable as he was, there was something eating at him.

He knew whose bed this was. He knew perfectly well.

He'd just woken up minutes earlier to fully realize it with just a simple glance to his left, and as soon as it occurred to him where he was and why he was most likely there, he felt a mixture of confusion and guilt swell up inside him.

When did I pull him into this whole thing? And why? He doesn't have anything to do with it.

He let a quiet sigh of shame leave his lips. In the end, he did know that he was being pretty selfish in this whole situation. To everyone, really. He'd made Sanghyuk uncomfortable and made his boyfriend angry, he'd left Taekwoon and Wonshik wondering if everything was okay between them.

And now this.

Next time something may happen that he doesn't like, he decided, he'd just get through it himself. Even if it .

Finally, he gathered up the courage to roll his head over and look next to him again, to look the sleeping boy beside him in the face.

He looked so peaceful, but Hakyeon was more than sure he'd put him to trouble. This whole situation was a real mess.

Luckily or unluckily, (he wasn't really sure which) that was about the moment when the eyelids of the brunet beside him fluttered open, revealing two pretty almond eyes staring back into his with familiarity, and there was a moment where they just looked at each other without saying anything.

And then, eventually, the younger boy opened his mouth to speak casually, as if they weren't in an unusual or awkward situation in the slightest, almost as if things were like this every day. "Morning, cutie," he murmured, reaching out to give Hakyeon bunny ears for a second, probably to try and make him smile, Hakyeon guessed.

He searched his mind all the while at the words, face concentrated as he tried his hardest to summon the memory of how he'd actually gotten here by looking deep into the calm expression across from him, but try as he might, he just couldn't remember.

The boy next to him smiled sadly, easily able to figure out what was going through his head just from his face. He really did know Hakyeon well. "You forgot what happened, didn't ya?" he asked knowingly, patting the older boy on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Jaehwan," Hakyeon told him sincerely, not really sure what to do, because he really was sorry. He didn't want to trouble him.

"That's okay, cutie. I forgive you," the younger boy assured him lightheartedly, giving him another affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Your faced self called me up last night. You were having a lot of trouble saying 'sleep' for some reason? Anyway, you asked if you could crash at my place, so of course I said yes."

Hakyeon took a glance down, eyeing over his body to find that he was still in his clothes from yesterday. In a word, he felt ty. There just wasn't any better way to say it. Jaehwan shouldn't have to deal with this. "I'm really sorry. I'll get out of your hair," he told him, using his arms to lift himself out of bed.

But apparently, Jaehwan didn't quite see it that way. "No, no, stay for a bit," he protested amicably, gently trying to coax him back using the hand that was still placed on his shoulder. "I like your company. Plus, no one's ever here; I'm starting to feel like a caveman," he remarked, finally letting go of Hakyeon as he sat up in bed and climbed out to the floor with a squeak of the mattress.

"Are you sure?" the older boy asked, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Of course I'm sure," Jaehwan returned, unwavering, and Hakyeon supposed that was pretty much as clear and honest an answer could get.

Jaehwan opened his closet up, sifting through for a moment before pulling out a large black t-shirt that was somehow wrinkled up beyond belief, along with sporting a small tear at the bottom.

He supposed Jaehwan was never the most neat person. But then again, Hakyeon himself had been the one to rip that shirt.

It wasn't possible that he might have been trying to hint at something. Was it?

He shook his head subtly to himself. Snap out of it. You're overthinking things.

He looked away from him, shifting in his position. "Do you want me to leave the room while you, uh..."

There was a tiny pause, but Hakyeon never finished his sentence, so Jaehwan spoke up. "Why would I ask you to do that?" he questioned, seeming rather amused by Hakyeon's reaction. "This isn't anything you haven't seen before."

Hakyeon rolled his eyes, still looking away but now with a pink tint on his cheeks. "Jaehwan," he groaned.

"Just being honest."

Despite his embarrassment, though, Hakyeon couldn't actually bring himself to get up from his comfortable spot on the mattress, so Jaehwan just went about his business for a minute or two, grabbing a brush to run through his hair so it was out of his face and picking up a jacket that was hanging on his bedpost before opening the window to let in the breeze.

Hakyeon sighed contentedly at the cool feeling as it swept through the room. He'd always liked when Jaehwan did that. Whenever he thought to open the windows at his own place, it always got too cold quickly afterwards, but for whatever reason it always felt pleasant on his skin and through his hair in Jaehwan's apartment.

"You hungry?" the younger asked casually, shuffling to the door, which he gestured for Hakyeon to follow him through.

"Hell yeah," he accepted enthusiastically (it was all too true, after all) as he hopped up, trotting over to follow Jaehwan out of the room. "Maybe even enough to eat your cooking," he added sarcastically.

Jaehwan stopped, turning around to arch an eyebrow at him.

"Too far?" Hakyeon questioned apologetically.

"No, I agree," Jaehwan returned, continuing on into the kitchen. "I'm like the Swedish Chef on crack."

"I always thought the Swedish Chef was on crack," Hakyeon snorted in response as they entered, stopping to slide the pads of his fingers over the cold, smooth countertop with familiarity.

Jaehwan gasped in mock offense. "That is discrimination!" he exclaimed dramatically as he made his way over to the fridge, opening up the door and taking a glance over his options. There was a moment of silence.

"You're like, fondling the counters again, aren't you?" the younger asked eventually, not even having to look back at him.

Hakyeon grinned in embarrassment. "They feel nice!" he remarked defensively, pulling his hands away to awkwardly slide them in his pockets.

"A counter feels nice?"

"You'd never understand."

"Actually, if there were anyone to understand a weird habit, it'd be me."

Hakyeon nodded. "You do have a point."

He took his hands back out of his pockets subconsciously, sliding them back onto the counter and drumming his fingers. Although he knew why, he still found it a bit weird just how natural this whole thing felt.

So natural, in fact, that he'd almost forgotten why he was actually here in the first place.

Worrying his lip in between his teeth, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket, opened up his messages and pulled up a conversation that hadn't been opened in a few days.

hakyeon: hey
hakyeon: I'm sorry about what happened last night
hakyeon: I don't even know what I was doing

"Oh yeah. Also," Jaehwan began, interrupting Hakyeon's thought to look over at him, though the fridge door was still open. "Sorry for falling asleep next to you half-. Probably wasn't the most decent thing for an ex-boyfriend to do."

"I mean, I guess not. But you're fine. It's not like it bothers me really," Hakyeon replied nonchalantly, shrugging as he slid his phone back in his pocket.

"Is that so?" Jaehwan joked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yes. Now are you going to take something out of there?" he questioned, pointing to the wide open fridge. "Or do you just enjoy warm milk?"

"I don't enjoy milk," Jaehwan returned pointedly, reaching out to start collecting his materials off of the shelves and placing them in the counter.

Hakyeon rolled his eyes, still smiling. "I know. Unless it's in your cereal," he recited, knowing what would come next if Jaehwan continued.

The younger boy nodded at him as he finished setting down a half-full container of eggs, a package of cheese and another of ham on the counter. "That's right, cutie. Your memory is pretty nifty," he complimented.

For the first time in a year or so, as Jaehwan cooked them both breakfast, already knowing what Hakyeon would want, they both just talked. It was comfortable, more than Hakyeon had felt in a while. He enjoyed it, although every once in a while he'd mentally remind himself of the situation he was really in.

Soon, Jaehwan was finished, and he brought their plates over to the table, setting them down and inviting Hakyeon to sit down next to him.

They ate silently at first, mostly just because Hakyeon really was starving and so was Jaehwan, but it was the younger of them that eventually broke the silence.

"I have to be honest with you," he said.

As odd as that sounded in the totally peaceful, casual atmosphere, Hakyeon wasn't about to tell him no, and so he just nodded his head.

"I guess there was more than one reason I let you stay here," he confessed, playing with the fabric of his sweatpants almost nervously.

Hakyeon stopped chewing, running that sentence through his head again and furrowing his eyebrows.

Something was definitely up.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked guiltily. "If I caused you trouble, I'll seriously leave right now, no questions asked."

"No, no, I don't want you to leave," Jaehwan assured him, and just like before, he sounded pretty positive of that much. "In fact, it's kinda the opposite of that. I, um...I guess I should just be straightforward about this."

Hakyeon waited, outwardly patient, inwardly impatient. He waited for whatever this confession was to be, and the longer Jaehwan paused, the more he didn't understand.

"That's about as close I can get to being straight," the younger remarked after a while, his face unchanging, and Hakyeon couldn't help but grin a little.

"Jaehwan, just say it," he laughed, feeling a weird mixture of amusement and concern as he gently elbowed him in the side.

The younger finally chuckled quietly, seemingly trying to find it in him to form the words. "I..." he began softly, making eye contact with a look that caused Hakyeon to question the atmosphere between them in pretty much all of the time he'd been there up until then.

No, it couldn't be that...

That would never happen. Right?

But I'm the next moment, Jaehwan was leaning forward slowly and wordlessly, taking occasional glances to see if Hakyeon was okay with what he was doing before he finally touched his nose to the older boy's, a tiny smile sneaking up on his face.

Hakyeon's eyes became wide as he felt the familiar warm breath ghost over his parted pink lips, as well as Jaehwan's fingers brushing over the small of his back lightly, easing him in just the tiniest bit closer.

"I want you back."

---

this was bull please forgive me lol

I'm sorry it's so short too, I'm just having a really hard time writing this fic ;-; I hope you enjoyed though. See you soon! c: