“Have a drink,” Joonjae sits cross-legged on the floor next to Takuya, handing him a bottle of coffee. Takuya drops the shirt he’s holding into his lap and takes the drink, brushing his hand over Joonjae’s for a moment longer than necessary.

He wonders if Joonjae notices. Joonjae does. Joonjae wonders when his mind started playing tricks on him.

“Thank you,” Takuya beams. Joonjae makes a sound at the floor that he means to resemble a ‘you’re welcome’.

Takuya takes a sip of coffee and sets the bottle next to the suitcase in front of him. He folds the shirt in his lap and tucks it in. “Did you want anything?” he tilts his head questioningly, sensing the odd air about Joonjae.

“No, I just –” Joonjae lowers his voice to just above a mumble. “Do you need help packing?”

Takuya hesitates for a moment. “Yes, I do, thank you.”

----

Joonjae shuffles on his feet. Takuya tightens his grip on the suitcase handle. The air is suffocating and heavy with all the words they’re both aware they should’ve said to each other in the past and definitely aren’t saying right now.

Takuya is the first to open his mouth after eliminating in his head the possibility of a flood spilling out in his words until he and Joonjae were both neck-deep in even more complications than they already had.

“Thank you for letting me stay in your home,” Takuya smiles genuinely, but Joonjae only hears two words echo in his mind. Your home.

Takuya’s right about it being Joonjae’s, in the technical sense, though it doesn’t feel like it to him. But there’s no way, he thinks, that any of this space was a home before Takuya set foot in it. The walls were colder and the sunlight streaming through never glowed soft over everything. Joonjae feels more warmth in his bones than before.

Joonjae struggles to find a suitable reply before finally settling. "It was no problem," he wipes his palms across his thighs in an attempt to comfort himself.

"Goodbye, Joonjae," Takuya stops walking when he’s halfway out the door. He opens his mouth like he's about to say something else but it takes a minute before he actually does.

It all feels too much like a countdown to a letdown and Takuya thinks Joonjae doesn't deserve to never hear the words stuck in his throat, so he tells him. He tells him because there's nothing left to do anymore. No more reasons to justify conversations and touches that went outside the boundaries of friendship.

"Joonjae," he turns to look over his shoulder, leaning the door closed against the frame. “I really like you,” Takuya says solemnly. He tacks on a small smile at the end but it’s more for politeness than anything else.

Joonjae puffs out a breath like Takuya had just made a joke and not knocked the air out of his lungs.

Takuya turns back to the door and Joonjae’s mind clears enough for him to reach out and grab onto his wrist before he can walk out again.

He pulls hard enough to have Takuya facing him, kept still by his hand on the door.

Takuya swallows, wide-eyed, and sinks back into the door. The weight of his shoulders clicks the lock into place. "Are you going to tell me there are more nails here as well?" he doesn't know how serious of a question he means that to be, having learned by now to expect no follow-through from Joonjae.

Joonjae shakes his head apologetically and leans in to press their mouths together for a brief moment, just long enough for him to feel a ghost of a spark. He pulls back to gauge Takuya's reaction and he barely catches a small smile before hands are grabbing at the front of his shirt, tugging bodies even closer and lips back on lips. Joonjae brings his hand down from beside Takuya's head to settle on his shoulder instead, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. The spark erupts into full-blown electricity running through both of them.

"Do you like me too?" Takuya mumbles against his lips. It's a juvenile question he already knows the answer to.

Joonjae looks at him incredulously. "Are you really asking that right now?"

"No, I just want to hear you say it." Takuya murmurs playfully.

Joonjae’s face softens. “Takuya… I like you.” he lowers his head bashfully. “A lot.”

----

Proper explanations are necessary and there are plans to be sorted out but those can wait. For now Takuya is content to stare up at the bedroom ceiling. Silent, except for Joonjae’s steady breathing next to him. Takuya thinks of all the places he travelled to before he settled in Korea, recalls landmarks in his head. He adds Joonjae’s soft sleeping form, illuminated by the moonlight, to the list of beautiful sights.

Takuya feels Joonjae’s pulse in his fingers where they’re tangled loosely with his own and he wonders how fate could be so kind before it’s his turn to be claimed by sleep.