Minghao was cold. He could feel himself shivering violently, as he fell out of step with the others. They were walking back, after spending two days at the campsite. The second day had been rainy, and his and Junhui’s tent had been wet, and Junhui hadn’t been there when he’d woken up. He didn’t think he’d been warm for a while. A wave of dizziness came over him, and he stumbled a little, grabbing onto Junhui to keep himself upright.

Junhui looked over at him. “Are you okay?” he asked. Minghao could only nod, his teeth chattering together too much to reply.

Junhui frowned, and reached for his hand. “Minghao, you’re freezing,” he told him, and Minghao could barely nod. “Guys, Minghao’s freezing, can we put up a tent or something?” The other eleven boys turned around to see what was going on.

Minghao shook his head. “That’s… not necessary,” he barely managed to stammer out. This made everyone start moving to get a tent out. Meanwhile, Soonyoung tossed an orange bag at Junhui and Minghao.

“Get him in there to keep warm,” he ordered Junhui, who nodded.

Minghao got into the bag, but it didn’t help much. He stopped shivering, but felt close to sleep.

“He doesn’t look so good. Here, Junhui, get in with him, I’m going to make some food,” Mingyu said, from next to Minghao. Minghao propped himself up onto his elbows to see Junhui’s reaction. Junhui had been keeping his distance from Minghao for the past day. Minghao knew it was his fault, but, for some reason he didn’t entirely regret the kiss. He regretted how it had happened, but he was glad. Because for once he’d got to kiss Junhui.

Junhui didn’t look so happy about getting into the bag with Minghao, but Minghao looked him in the eye, and he must have looked as hopeful as he felt, so Junhui started walking over. It was a fight to get him into the bag, neither of them wanted to get too close, well at least that’s what Minghao told himself, when really they thought nothing of casual skinship. Usually. That had been before Minghao had ruined it. He wanted Junhui to forgive him, but he didn’t want Junhui to pretend it hadn’t happened, because that’s what Junhui always did. He put things behind him, before getting over it. 

But as Minghao felt Junhui settle behind him, and felt warmth spread from where Junhui wrapped his arms around him, he decided to forget about it briefly, and enjoy the feeling of being close to his Junhui.

Minghao drifted in and out of consciousness while the tent was being put up, with Junhui’s face in his hair, whispering comfortingly, with words Minghao couldn’t quite hear, but somehow calmed him down.

He fell asleep, warmth spreading through his body, inwards from the points of contact with Junhui. And Junhui seemed to tighten his arms around him as he fell, the beating of his heart with Junhui’s the soundtrack of his dreams.

Junhui could feel Minghao’s heart beating, the rhythm different from his own, a clash of drums which somehow complemented each other, filling him up with warmth. He tightened his arms around Minghao, trying to share this warmth with the cold boy. He felt Minghao’s shivering slow, but wasn’t sure whether or not to be relieved or worried, everything he’d ever read had told him that if someone was suffering from hypothermia, their shivering stopping could mean they simply couldn’t shiver any more. It meant they had run out of energy.

Minghao was sleeping, so he must be getting some energy back, Junhui thought. He could still feel their hearts beating strongly, at different times, but still together, to the point where he couldn’t tell the difference. He closed his eyes too, he hadn’t slept well the night before due to the close proximity to Minghao, and the fear of a repeat of what had happened the morning before, but here with the scent of Minghao residing in his nose, lying in dirt, with Minghao curving into him, he found he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

Minghao felt Junhui fall asleep distantly, through the veil of sleep. He smiled to himself as they slept together, Junhui closer than anyone had ever been to him before, in more ways than one.

If Minghao could choose one way to fall asleep for the rest of his life, it would be like this, curled up into Junhui, feeling their hearts beat in a disjointed pattern.

I swear I meant never meant to continue this and I wanted to leave this at the last chapter but pretty much this exact thing happened when I was at DofE so I wanted to write this out. 

Yesterday I got an idea for a possible third chapter so that might happen?? i don't know though, I kind of want to leave it where it is. But I also want to write the idea out so I'll see how it goes.