Mingyu unconsciously buried his face into the elder's warm nape; snuggling in from time to time as he held the other's waist tightly from behind.

 

But Woozi couldn't sleep.

 

He didn't want to waste this moment with sleeping, even if it was with Mingyu. He wanted to stay awake to enjoy as each second passes, shifting here and there as comfort overwhelmed him. 

 

Being in Mingyu's arms felt warm and safe. 

 

Woozi turned his body to face the younger; taking his features in with every move of his eyes. Mingyu had angelic closed double eyelids, a perfectly sharp and pointy nose, slightly tapered cheeks, soft and pink full lips, and a structured jawline.

 

Has he always been this beautiful?

 

"Mingyu?" The voice startled Mingyu, opening his eyes slowly. He was surprised to the sight of the elder sniffing and clutching tightly into his white T-shirt, but nevertheless wrapped his arms around the other's smaller body.

 

"Yes?" 

 

"Can I say something?" Woozi softly spoke, burying his face deeper.

 

Mingyu exhaled a deep sigh as he caressed the blonde's hair lovingly; eyes half-closed. "I'm listening."

 

Still not looking up, Woozi started after a clear of his throat. "Kim Mingyu, I can't promise you a happy ending filled with wedding bells and diamond rings, but all I know is that when you kiss me, everything just seems right in this world."

 

Mingyu widened his eyes at the elder's words, but then chuckled it off with a sniff-kiss on the shorter's soft and fluffy hair.

 

"Then, would you care for another one?" 

 

Woozi snapped his head up to the other and before he could say anything, a pair of plump pink lips attacked his chapped ones with a soft bump.

 

He melted into the kiss, slumping his shoulders down slowly. Mingyu's hand found its way to Woozi's cheek as he pulled the senior closer to deepen the interaction.

 

"I love you." Woozi whispered between the kisses.

 

"I love you more than you love me." The younger whispered back huskily, raking his finger's through the elder's hair.

 

"That can't possibly happen." Woozi chuckled as he flipped their positions, now sitting on the junior's stomach.

 

"Try me." Mingyu teased with a smile playing on his lips, intertwining his fingers with Woozi's as he pulled his lover down to fill the gap between them.

 

Mingyu clutched onto the hem of the elder's red sweater, pulling it up bit by bit as the kiss gradually turned passionate. He ran his palms through the other's as he felt butterfly kisses being planted across his collarbones, moans and grunts filling the room.

 

"Woozi, it's 2AM.." Mingyu remarked as he pulled away a little bit.

 

Even if it was dark, he could still perfectly see Woozi's roll of eyes.

 

"I don't care.." The blonde straightened his position only to sit on Mingyu's broad chest, looking down as if he was the most beautiful creature Woozi had ever encountered.

 

Which was probably one of the truest statements in this world.

 

"But I wanna sleep.." Mingyu pouted in an aegyo attempt, earning a playful chuckle from the other.

 

"Okay, okay. You win." Woozi dropped himself to the side and pulled the blanket to cover both bodies. Mingyu shuddered from the cold, which grabbed the elder's attention.

 

"You cold?" Woozi looked into his junior's eyes with a hint of concern, cupping both his cheeks with warm hands. Mingyu relaxed at the warmth, placing his cold hands on top of Woozi's.

 

"I'm okay. As long as you're here." Mingyu dramatically closed his eyes as he spoke. Which was a good thing, because not only that Woozi's hands were acute, but his cheeks were starting to burn as well.

 

"Well I'm not leaving." Woozi swept aside the strands of hair that were covering the other's eyes as an affectionate smile stretched his lips.

 

A yawn escaped the younger's lips, placing his arm around Woozi's waist after covering his mouth, pulling him closer.

 

But that wasn't enough.

 

Mingyu sneakily pulled the elder's sweater up to his bare chest to snuggle in and closed the clothing behind him, keeping him inside.

 

"Y-Yah! That tickles!" The blonde exclaimed as a loud fit of giggles filled the room, trying to get Mingyu to stop pecking the areas around his bust. But Woozi just wasn't strong enough, unfortunately.

 

Scratch that, fortunately.

 

After a while, Mingyu fell asleep inside the other's sweater; only God knows how. Not that he minded anyway. 

 

The feeling of Mingyu's face against his chest felt cozy.

 

The sound of Mingyu's breathing calmed him.

 

The wrap of Mingyu's arms around his body protected him.

 

And his gulps were clearly heard, making him nervous.

 

But above all that, he didn't want this moment to end.

 

Well, nothing lasts forever.

 

Woozi arrived back home around 4AM, but expected no one to be there. He just wanted to take a short bath and set off to school as soon as possible.

 

But God had other plans.

 

As the creaking of the opening door was heard, a harsh yet calm voice spoke. "Where have you been, son?"

 

His heart stopped just as he closed the door. He bit his bottom lip as he slowly placed his shoes on the shoe rack. He shut his eyes, hoping nothing will go wrong.

 

"A friend's house." Woozi's voice sounded surprisingly calm as he took his socks off.

 

"Why didn't you ask for my permission?" The man continued to ask as Woozi slowly approached him.

 

"Because you weren't here, father. Simple as that." The blonde raised his shoulder playfully yet still calmly as he stood in front of his male parent.

 

It's true, Mr. Lee was barely at home. His parents divorced ever since he was five years old out of forbidden love. Mrs. Lee's parents —his grandparents— did not agree of their marriage in the first place, because somehow they knew Woozi's father was going to be abusive to both Woozi and his mother.

 

But after years of living with his father, Woozi had gotten used to being beat up whenever Mr. Lee was home from his constant moving work for no reason.

 

"Was it a girl's house?" The question had taken Woozi aback from the sudden turn of subject.

 

"No, it was a guy's house." Woozi shook his head, although a little tremble was heard in his voice.

 

"And you slept there?" Woozi took a seat before answering as he took a deep breath.

 

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" 

 

The older man cleared his throat before asking yet another question, but this time, little did both know the response to that question was going to change both worlds.

 

"Son," he started with a deep but piercing voice, "are you possibly.. homoual?"

 

Silence filled the atmosphere. Total silence; only the ticking sound of the clock was heard. And even that was loud enough. 

 

But Woozi felt somewhat fearless.

 

Well, he was going to tell the old man sooner or later one way or another, right? Might as well just get it over with then.

 

"Yes. Indeed I am." Woozi boldly concurred in clear bravery, only to be loudly slapped across the cheek. Woozi tumbled to the table, holding the painful spot as he tasted blood in his mouth.

 

"How dare you? How dare you disgrace this family?" Mr. Lee yelled as if there was no tomorrow from pure anger and disgust. 

 

"As if you didn't disgrace YOUR family, you motherer." Woozi pushed his father away with all the strength he had as he shouted back.

 

"At least I'm not in love with the same , you ungrateful bastard." Mr. Lee rushes forward to his son and attacked him with a tight strangle around his neck and pushed him up to the wall, suffocating him greatly.

 

Woozi held on to his father's strong hands in an attempt to escape the grasp, but his efforts were futile; he hated being weak.

 

Tears started trickling down his cheeks as the grip around his neck tightened, not letting him breathe any air existent in the room.

 

But something else caught the wrinkled man's eyes; a reddish purple spot just above his collarbone.

 

Mr. Lee released his hands off and took a few steps back in disbelief and disgust. "You have been sleeping with a male?"

 

But Woozi was too busy coughing the life out of himself, finally feeling relieved that he didn't die out of suffocation. He held his chest as a gesture to indicate him being in pain from the loud fit of hoops.

 

"You need not to step into this household anymore, Lee Jihoon. I don't want any disgusting blonde homo people on my land. Take your things with you. Go." Mr. Lee shook his head as he left the room, entering the master bedroom. 

 

Woozi felt two things at the moment; deeply hurt and deeply happy.

 

He was deeply hurt that his father didn't want him anymore just because of him being a . A blonde one to be precise.

 

But on the other side, he felt free. He felt that there was no one to stop him from doing anything anymore; that he could stay with Mingyu for as long as he wanted.

 

He swiftly ran upstairs to get his belongings in spite of all the pain burning on different spots of his body. He ran back down with a suitcase filled with everything he could carry; clothes, books, you name it.

 

Woozi thought about saying his last goodbye, but then he thought he's had enough. 

 

It was time to leave. Just like his mother.

 

He closed the door harshly behind him before making his way to his lover's house; he knew it was the only place he could return to.

 

He couldn't help but to keep a grin taped to his face as he gradually ran faster, being impatient as he always is.

 

It was a good thing that Mingyu's house was just around 5-6 houses away from his.

 

Woozi aggressively pressed the bell multiple times, almost too aggressively. He just couldn't keep the excitement in, as it was clearly reflected in his eyes.

 

Somewhere around the living room, Mingyu stumbled over a table leg and fell right on his face as soon s he heard the loud and piercing shriek of the bell. He groaned as he rose, his biggest priority was to open the door right then.

 

The younger turned the knob and pulled the door, revealing a shorter figure with a wide smile plastered to its face.

 

"Woozi? Why did you come back? You left something, or-" Before Mingyu could finish his question, his lips were shut with another pair as small arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him down with a tiptoe.

 

The junior unknowingly smiled into the kiss as he cupped the other's cheek with one hand, and the other on the blonde's waist.

 

But a certain feeling of warmth caused the black-haired to pull away from the intimate interaction. Woozi's cheek was warm, and that worried him, since the other cheek wasn't as hot.

 

"Woozi? Why is this cheek weirdly warm?" Mingyu asked, concern clearly shown in his expression, not letting go of the specific body part.

 

The elder parted his mouth to answer, but his own voice surprised him. It was dangerously hoarse, and it faded in the middle of the sentence, widening both eyes.

 

"Woozi, what happened? Did someone hurt you? Are you okay?" Mingyu's other hand reached its way to the right cheek, cupping the other's face.

 

"I'm okay, it's just.." Woozi's sentence faded yet again, leaving a small tail of prolonging the last hearable word.

 

"Let's go to the doctor." Mingyu took the other's possessions inside to be kept safe before grabbing the key and locking the door behind him as he intertwined his fingers with the shorter's, rushing him to the bus stop.