The morning after, Jongin woke up to find Taemin passed out against the wall across from his bed. He had no memory of the previous night, but he felt absolutely awful. His head pounded, his mouth was dry, and the bright light filtering through the blinds of his room hurt his eyes. He closed his eyes, hoping to fall back asleep, but then opened them again with a start, realizing he had work today. More than likely, he was late, and Baekhyun would be pissed, despite the fact that his manager rarely ever showed up on time. Jongin tried to sit up, but his aching body made even that such a struggle that he ended up falling back on his pillow, groaning loudly. 

Taemin stirred across from Jongin, blinking sleepy eyes before shaking his head and meeting Jongin's gaze. 

"You're awake," he said, his tone unreadable. "Don't worry about work, I already called in. Baekhyun would be dumb to think you could go in after last night, anyway." 

Taemin's expression was guarded, and he seemed strangely distant as he spoke, making Jongin nervous. Had he done something? 

"What happened last night, anyway?" Jongin tiredly rubbed his hand across his face. "I remember going to the bar and having a few drinks, but after that I don't remember anything."

"A few drinks? That's more than an understatement. You had more drinks than I could count. Then of course, you just had to go and wander away from us. You completely disappeared, it took me an hour to find you. You're lucky I live here, it's doubtful the others would have helped you." Taemin's expression didn't change, but his voice became cold, and Jongin felt a knot of anxiety begin to form in his stomach. This wasn't like the other boy at all. 

"Are you mad about something?"

Taemin didn't answer for a few moments, looking at Jongin with that same unnerving expression. 

"No." He finally answered, looking down at the carpet beneath him. 

Jongin gingerly sat up, although his entire body ached in protest at the motion. 

"Are you-" he broke off as he suddenly held his face in his hands. His morning-after headache had evolved into a full-blown migraine, and the light that had drifted into his eyes when he sat up did nothing to help him. 

Then, there were hands at his own, pulling them away from his face. Jongin opened his eyes to find Taemin standing before him, blocking the irritating light. Taemin's hands cupped Jongin's cheeks, gently lifting his head to look Taemin in the eye. 

Taemin's expression was soft and warm, completely the opposite of how he had been just moments before. To his dismay, Jongin felt his face heat up under the other boy's fingers, and his heart raced in his chest. 

"You okay, Jongin?" Taemin's voice was quiet and laced with concern. Jongin felt frozen, he didn't know what to do. What was Taemin doing? Why was he doing it? 

"I-I..." He stuttered, feeling a new rush of warmth overtake his already heated face. He could only hope Taemin wouldn't notice. Jongin swallowed, trying to regain his composure. 

"I'm fine, it's just the hangover. The light was making my head hurt." He finally said. 

"Here, I'll close the blinds, that should help, right?" Taemin hands slipped from Jongin's face as he moved away, facing the window before shutting the blinds. Jongin's cheeks still burned where Taemin's hands had been only seconds before, and he squeezed his eyes shut despite the fact that the room was now dark. He shouldn't feel like this. He couldn't. He was unloyal, he was disgusting for harboring these sorts of emotions towards anyone besides his departed Kyungsoo. 

 "Jongin," Taemin's voice called, barely above a whisper. 

Jongin opened his eyes, letting out a breath of relief that he was no longer faced with the bright light from before. Through the semi-darkness, he could make out Taemin's sillouhette standing just a few feet in front of him. 

"Taemin," Jongin sighed. "I feel awful." 

"I know. Why do you think I don't drink? It's really not worth it."

"Worth what?"

"The hangover. It ."

"Agreed. I usually don't drink, actually. I don't know why I did last night. I only came with to make sure you didn't end up completely hammered and alone. Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"You shouldn't have come, then. I know you don't know much about me, but I do fine holding my own in most situations." Taemin's sillouhette moved closer. 

"But..." Jongin thought back to the confrontation with Minho. Taemin didn't seem like he was doing fine then. But, the situations were very different, so perhaps that was why he'd said most.

"But what? I'm not stupid enough to give in to pressure, although I doubt anyone would even bother to do that to me at this point." 

"You just... I don't know, nevermind. You're probably right, anyway, I shouldn't have gone. I don't really want to know what I did when I was drunk."

"I don't either." There was something off about the way Taemin said it, but at this point Jongin was too confused and flustered to care.

The two stayed as they were for a few minutes, each consumed in their own thoughts, not wanting to break the tense silence that quickly fell between them. 

Finally, Taemin broke it. 

". You must be super dehydrated. I'll go get you some water," he rushed out of the room, leaving the door open so that light from the living room flooded in, blinding Jongin. 

He shielded his eyes, wincing at the fresh bursts of pain in his head. 

Luckily for Jongin, Taemin was back in a few seconds, closing the door and submerging the room in darkness once more. 

"Oh my gosh, it's so dark in here. Do you have blackout shades or something?"

"Something like that." Jongin muttered, unhappy that his headache was back. 

"Seriously, I can't see now, what the hell?" 

Jongin could see Taemin's outline perfectly well, but he didn't bother telling him that. He was so tired. All he wanted was to drink some water and then go to sleep. A few moments later, Taemin crossed the room, handing Jongin a glass. Their fingers touched as Jongin took it, making Jongin's heart speed up again. Inwardly, Jongin kicked himself.

"Thanks," he said, taking a sip. 

"You're welcome. I think if you're fine I'll go back into the living room, you don't need anything else, do you?" 

"I don't think so, I just want to sleep." 

"Okay," Taemin's hand brushed Jongin's shoulder. "I'll be right out there if you need me." He left the room, but Jongin was barely even aware of the momentary flash of light as he walked out the door. 

Was that accidental? Jongin wondered. Taemin's eyes had to have adjusted to the dark at this point, how could he have accidentally touched Jongin again?  No, no. It had to be an accident. Even if it wasn't, Jongin wasn't interested in Taemin, not at all. And Taemin wasn't interested in Jongin either, right? There was no way, absolutely none. He knew it, even though deep down, he was thinking something else entirely.

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A/N

Aaaaaaah this is so late, omg. I'm sososo sorry, I've been super busy all week, I finally just sat down and got it done. Hopefully I'll be on time next week, I'm sorry again for being late this week. :(

So, what does everyone think of this chapter? Things are picking up a bit, haha! ;)

Also, this is, again, completely unedited and this week especially I'm writing late at night, so sorry for mistakes, I'll go back and fix them (...at some point). 

On a very happy note, this fic just got it's first upvote! I just want to say thank you all so much for all the support and love this is receiving, and I hope I'll continue to make you enjoy reading this. (Did that make sense? I'm sorry, I'm really tired, haha)

I really should get to sleep now though, yikes. Anyways, thanks again for subscribing, commenting, and now upvoting, I'm so grateful. :D

Thanks for reading! <3

-H