~~~

1:00 AM

Inserting the key into the lock, Jongin turns it as slowly and soundlessly as he possibly can and swings the door open, making sure not to let it slam against the wall when it swings open all the way. He stands in the doorway for a second and listens for any sounds of his Father or, even worse, Jungah, being up and he exhales in relief when he’s greeted with nothing but silence.

He wordlessly beckons for Sehun to step inside, ignoring the latter’s remark of ‘nice house’ before hurrying to untie and take off his shoes, Sehun following suit. At this point, Jongin is a lot more anxious as to whether or not they’ll end up waking his Father than the fact that Oh Sehun is inside his freaking house, because he knows he will have absolutely no idea how to explain the current situation to his Father if he were to wake up and come downstairs.

Sehun closes the door behind them and Jongin holds his breath while he listens for any sign of activity upstairs, only to hear nothing, and he grabs Sehun’s hand and guides them both through the dark, towards the stairs.

Jongin immensely regrets not informing Sehun about the stairs because as they’re approaching the staircase, Sehun promptly lets out a hiss of pain when he trips on the first step and lands on the third step with a not so silent thud. On the other hand, Jongin is seriously thankful they chose to have their stairs carpeted last year.

If Jongin had been feeling anxious a few seconds ago, it’s nothing compared to the sense of dread that overwhelms him when he hears, and sees, the light to his parent’s room being and he sees his life promptly flashing before his eyes when he hears the rustling of sheets upstairs. He can’t see Sehun’s face in the dark, but if he could, Jongin images it would look equally as terrified as his own and he barely gets any time to process what he’s doing when he (not so gently, but Jongin figures he can’t be blamed) quite literally shoves Sehun into the bathroom, the latter locking the door behind him at lightning speed.

Jongin turns to face the staircase just as his Father comes down the stairs and into view. The light upstairs casts a faint, yellow glow which partially illuminates his sharp features and Jongin can’t help but shudder at the sight.

“What are you doing?”

Scratching the back of his head, Jongin presses his lips together. “Going to bed.”

“You haven’t been on the ice, have you?”

Come to think of it, Jongin hasn’t practiced hockey, much less stepped into a rink, in what feels like ages. “No,” he says and bites his lip when the taller proceeds to roll up his pant legs. “I told you, I haven’t,” he adds, swallowing when the cold air hits his exposed shin.

“Why are you home so late?”

“No reason.”

“You left her alone at home.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Why does it smell like perfume in here? You haven’t been fooling around with my fragrance, have you?”

Swallowing, Jongin shakes his head, although he knows his Father can’t see it in the dark. “No,” he says meekly and he watches as his Father hums something low in his throat before turning around and heading back up the stairs.

When Jongin hears the door upstairs slam closed, he exhales in relief before rushing towards the bathroom door and quietly opening it. He doesn’t dare turn on the light in fear of his Father noticing so he opts to fumble around in the darkness in search of Sehun, finally locating him after a few seconds and grabbing his wrist before closing the door and carefully guiding him towards the stairs.

“Watch your step,” Jongin makes sure to whisper to Sehun, and he helps the latter up every step as they make their way upstairs. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort, and Jongin worries his Father might hear and come out again, and the thought alone is enough to make Jongin whack Sehun on the back as if to say ‘hurry the hell up or we’ll get caught!’.

Ten minutes later, they finally make it up the last step and Jongin holds his breath when he drags Sehun past his parent’s bedroom, keeping a hand extracted in front of him in case he were to bump into anything, despite having walked down the hallway they’re currently in a thousand times before. Jongin figures Sehun is leaving a strong trace of perfume behind him as he walks and he makes a mental note to open a window later and let the smell out.

Jongin relaxes a little when they make it past Jungah’s room, because Jungah is a very, very deep sleeper, and he practically throws Sehun into his own bedroom before he even opens door all the way, the latter stumbling forward and landing face first on Jongin’s bed. The brunet listens one last time for any sign of activity and audibly exhales when he hears nothing, and he closes the door.

Mission accomplished, Jongin thinks after locking the door behind him. His hands rub the wall next to him in search of the lightswitch and he curses under his breath when he doesn’t feel it under his palm.

“Could you please- God damn it,” Sehun says, tripping over God knows what, presumably the same dictionary the brunet had tripped over a couple of hours ago, somewhere inside the room, “turn on some lights before somebody-” His sentence is abruptly cut short when a loud crashing noise fills the air and the brunet flinches a little.

Jongin bites his lip, hand practically scattering across the wall in search of the godforsaken lightswitch, which seems to have grown wings and flown away. “Are you okay?” he asks, cursing when he takes a step forward and nearly slips on what he assumes is a sock. “Shh, be quiet!”

“No, it’s okay, I broke my fall with my face on your goddamn closet door,” Sehun says sarcastically before groaning in pain, rubbing his forehead. “Could you turn on the lights already,” he grumbles, standing up and yelping when he bangs his head on what Jongin assumes is the light hanging from the ceiling.

Listening to Sehun tumbling down to the floor, again, Jongin mutters a ‘’, practically tearing the wall into shreds looking for the switch. “I can’t find the frigging thing,” he groans in exasperation. Where’s the goddamn thing when you really need it?

“Just use your phone, your flashlight,” Sehun grumbles under his breath, rubbing the sore spot on top of his head.

Mentally slapping himself for being such a fool, Jongin scrambles to pull his phone out of his pocket and he hurries to turn the flashlight on. For reasons unknown, he chooses to shine it upwards and he nearly cackles when he sees Sehun, who is sitting in the middle of the floor and cradling his head. It’s so comical Jongin has to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. “.”

“Says the one who can’t even find a goddamn lightswitch in his own room,” Sehun mumbles under his breath, loud enough for Jongin to hear, before covering his face to shield his face from the bright light. “Hurry up before one of us ends up falling out the window!”

It most definitely won’t be me, that’s for sure, Jongin thinks before shining the light on his wall. He blinks in surprise when he doesn’t see the switch anywhere in sight. “Uh.”

“What now?” Sehun hisses as he stands up and proceeds to get on his feet. He takes a step forward to help Jongin out but doesn’t even make it three feet when he suddenly slips on a sock lying on the floor, and he scrambles to grab onto the brunet’s office chair for dear life before he hits the floor a third time. “Turn on the goddamn light already!”

“I’m trying, you nincompoop,” Jongin mumbles. He blinks in astonishment when he doesn’t find the switch in its usual place and he’s halfway through questioning his sanity when reality dawns on him and he mentally slaps himself in the face. He gingerly moves to the wall opposite of the one he’s currently at and, sure enough, he instantly finds the lightswitch and wastes no time in flipping it.

The room is quickly illuminated by a bright white light and both Sehun and Jongin hiss, the latter blinking rapidly to get his eyes to adjust.

When Jongin’s eyes finally adjust to the light, he looks up and is barely able to stifle a laugh when he sees Sehun clinging onto the chair for dear life, the lower half of his body on the floor while he struggles to get a proper grip. “Remember, we have to be quiet,” he says lowly, trudging over and prying Sehun’s hands off of his chair. “,” he mutters, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I hate your room,” Sehun growls in irritation before proceeding to fix his hair, which has been reduced to a mess. “Damn it,” he mutters, rubbing his forehead a little before looking around the room. “On second thought, I kinda like it.”

Jongin blinks. He’s always hated his room since the day they first moved in. “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s roomy and cozy, I like it,” Sehun says with a nod before checking his watch. “Jeez, we should hit the hay,” he adds before cracking his back and taking off his jacket, hanging it on the chair behind him. He’s halfway through sliding his shirt over his head when Jongin emits a loud squawk of surprise and he jumps a little. “What?”

“What are you doing,” Jongin croaks, taking a step back and averting his gaze so he’s not looking at Sehun’s defined, very defined, six pack. He swallows thickly as he tries to calm his racing heart. If it hadn’t been for the fact that his Father (and Jungah) is currently under the same roof as them, he definitely would’ve screamed at the top of his lungs.

Sehun blinks. “I sleep shirtless,” he says in the most casual tone ever, shrugging a little. He scratches the back of his head when Jongin looks like he’s seconds away from passing out. “It’s not like I brought my pyjamas or anything, so,” he says sheepishly, “I mean.”

Fighting the urge to cover his (red, very red) face with his hands, Jongin promptly points to the closet. “Over t-there, help yourself,” he stammers, still screaming on the inside. All he wants it to crawl under his bed and never come out.

“Sure thing,” Sehun says, putting his shirt back on, much to Jongin’s relief, before proceeding to walk over to the closet. “D’you have like, ten billion pyjama shirts to choose from or something?” he chuckles, gripping the knob.

“Wait,” Jongin blurts out, eyes widening, “don’t-”

“Bet you do,” Sehun sniggers before swinging the doors open without another word, and he promptly lets out a loud squawk when a handful of towels come flying towards his face, or to be exact, at his mouth, and he barely manages to catch half of them before sputtering. “What the heck-”

“Now you know why I never use the damn thing,” Jongin chuckles from his position on the bed. “Pyjama shirts are on the second shelf.”

Sehun nods before gently placing the (hopefully clean) towels on the bed and turning to face the closet again. “You should put a warning sticker on this thi- OhmyGodwhattheheck-” His hands instinctively scramble to cover his face when something else, something yellow, nearly hits him right in the face when he opens the doors all the way. He catches it just in time and stares at it in surprise. “Hey, is this-”

Killer reflexes, much? Jongin thinks in both envy and astonishment before nodding. “Yeah.”

“I like it,” Sehun hums as he inspects the hockey stick in his hands. He whistles a little when he notices just how damaged it is, especially at the tip, and he gently puts it back in the closet, in the same corner. His eyes roam around the closet contents for a minute before he finally locates the shelf with the pyjama shirts.

Making sure Sehun’s back is turned, Jongin hurries to grab his pyjama shirt from underneath his pillow and slips it over his head at lightning speed, throwing his regular shirt on the floor. From his position on the bed, his eyes trail over Sehun’s toned back, his broad shoulders and surprisingly slim waist. His brain hasn’t fully grasped the fact that Oh Sehun is inside his house, to be exact, inside his room, and is rummaging through his closet in search of something to sleep in. This time, Jongin actually does pinch himself to assure himself that he isn’t living a dream. He isn’t.

“You should play again,” Sehun says, rummaging through the many shirts in Jongin’s closet. “Jesus, do you just dump everything in here or-” His eyebrows furrow. “Is...is that a pizza slice?”

Rubbing the sore spot on his arm, Jongin plays with a loose thread on his pillow, apparently unfazed by Sehun’s second remark. “What do you mean?”

“Hockey. You should sign up again,” Sehun says, holding up a light pink shirt in front of him, and there’s something about the sincerity in his voice that instantly intrigues Jongin. “No seriously, why’s there a half eaten slice of pizza in your closet?!”

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Jongin grabs one of his pillows and hugs it. “I uh, I don’t know,” he says dumbly. “What makes you think I-”

“You slapshot a freaking bar of chocolate into a trash can with the tiniest opening with nothing but the tip of an umbrella at a distance of like, sixty feet,” Sehun says, still not turning around. When Jongin doesn’t say anything, though, he whirls around and stares at the brunet. “You know, it kinda hurts to see your hockey equipment sitting at the back of your closet collecting dust when you’re obviously still passionate as hell, what you did at the cinema said it all,” he adds, making sure to stare Jongin square in the eye while he speaks.

Jongin shrugs casually, although his heart is racing a thousand miles a minute. “I, uh, I only did that because I felt like it,” he says quietly, hugging the pillow even closer to his chest. Sehun’s disbelieving glare is starting to penetrate his soul and his fingernails subconsciously dig into the fabric. “My uh, my Dad-”

“ him,” Sehun says, making Jongin jump a little. “Look, I know he isn’t too hot about the idea, I know, but, isn’t he only like that because of,” he cuts himself off and lowers his voice by a significant amount. “You and Jungah?”

Clearing his throat, Jongin shrugs. “Yeah. I mean, he’s never been a fan of hockey in general, but-”

“So what?” Sehun exclaims way too loudly, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. “Look, when you stood there, like, a second after you’d done the thing with the umbrella, I saw this spark in your eye, like, you had this look in your eye that told me you miss this, that you miss it,” he says, turning to face the closet again and picking up a shirt. “How about this one?”

“So corny,” Jongin tuts but his eyebrows remain knitted together. He’s much too tired for this discussion at the moment and all he wants it to get some beauty sleep. “It looks, uh, I like it-” His sentence ends in a squawk when Sehun slides his shirt over his head without a warning, and he scrambles to cover his face with the pillow. “GoddamnyouSehun.”

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen another man’s body before,” Sehun chuckles before folding up his regular shirt and walking over to the brunet's desk, placing it on the chair. “Hm, I guess they were right,” he hums in amusement.

Crawling into bed, Jongin stretches. “Right about what?” he asks, closing his eyes.

“Your heart drawing skills need some improvement, but you’ve definitely got the raw talent,” Sehun chuckles and flinches a little when Jongin scrambles out of bed at hyper speed.

“Don’t look at that, Jesus, what are you- ,” Jongin croak-garbles, hands scrambling to slam his notebook shut before carelessly shoving it in his backpack. “God, I hate you,” he mumbles, dragging a hand down his reddening face when Sehun only sniggers.

“And I’m the cheesy one?” Sehun scoffs, placing a hand on his chest for dramatic effect. He shakes his head in amusement before proceeding to pull Jongin closer. “So cute,” he mumbles, kissing Jongin’s cheek, although there’s still a significant amount of amusement in his voice and the brunet nearly slaps the grin off of his face.

“Whatever,” Jongin huffs, trying to conceal his blush. “Uh, when does your first lesson start tomorrow morning?” he asks, in desperate need of changing the subject.

Chuckling a bit, Sehun pats Jongin’s shoulder. “Early, way too early,” is all he says before cocking his head to the side and staring at Jongin in curiosity. “So?”

“Uh, what do you-”

“Do I get the couch or the bed?” Sehun asks, a small smirk on his lips.

It’s not like you’re giving me a choice, Jongin thinks before shrugging. “Dad’ll go into conniptions and blow every single capillary in his body if he walks in on you sound asleep on the couch tomorrow morning, so I guess the bed is the only op-” His sentence ends in a surprised shriek when Sehun, without a warning, suddenly picks him up and throws him down on the bed. “What the-”

“Thanks, this is great,” Sehun says excitedly, crawling onto the bed and lying down next to Jongin. “Hey, aren’t you gonna brush your teeth?” he asks, rolling over so he’s lying on his side and running a hand through Jongin’s hair.

“Don’t feel like it,” Jongin says groggily before rolling over, and he blinks in surprise when he realizes his face is less than an inch from Sehun’s chest. Christ. Despite the fact that Sehun is wearing his shirt, Jongin doesn’t think the taller smells like cleaning detergent at all. In fact, all he smells is Sehun’s perfume and a chill runs down his spine at the thought of his shirt smelling like Sehun for a long time coming.

“At least remove your makeup,” Sehun says, leaning down and kissing Jongin’s temple, only to shake the latter a little bit when his eyes flutter shut. “Hey, you should always remove your makeup before you go to bed, okay? I’ll help you if you want me to.”

Sighing, Jongin rolls over onto his back. “I don’t wanna,” he whines, nuzzling his face in Sehun’s chest. All he smells is the strong scent of Sehun’s perfume and he nearly screams.

“I’ll drag you to the bathroom if you don’t,” Sehun chuckles but quickly takes it back when he sees just how exhausted Jongin looks. “Fine, I’ll spare you, for now,” he mumbles before standing up. “But at least get under the covers.”

In his half dazed state, Jongin mumbles a low, barely coherent ‘okay’ before getting on all fours and crawling over to his pillow, practically collapsing onto it and burying his face in it. Cursing under his breath when he realizes he forgot to take off his jeans, his hands sloppily fumble for the blanket.

“Silly goose,” Sehun chuckles, shaking his head in amusement as he watches Jongin blindly scramble for the covers. He bends down and hands the blanket to the brunet, who gingerly accepts it without a word. A wave of fatigue suddenly hits him and he rubs his eyes before quickly sliding his jeans down his legs and folding them up, but he doesn’t bother placing them on the chair.

Walking over to the door, Sehun hits the lightswitch and blinks when the room is promptly plunged into darkness. Hoping there aren’t any socks lying in his path, he slowly walks forward until his knees hit the edge of the bed and he wastes no time in crawling under the covers, next to the brunet, whom Sehun assumes is already out like a light. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if Jongin fell asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

Sehun pulls the baby blue covers up to his chin and rolls around so he’s facing Jongin, careful to avoid touching the latter and thus waking him up. He listens to Jongin’s heavy, rhythmic breathing and feels himself smile. As much as he doesn’t want to disturb the brunet, Sehun can’t help but reach out and his cheekbone with his thumb; gently, as to not wake him.

Jongin’s skin is soft and supple under his touch and Sehun figures his thumb will be absolutely covered in shimmery dust afterwards but he doesn’t care. His hand moves from Jongin’s face to his hair and Sehun gently brushes away any strands of hair from the brunet’s face (not that he can see them, but still). Jongin hums something under his breath in his sleep and Sehun proceeds to interlock their fingers when the brunet’s hand comes up to rest on the pillow.

Sehun lies there for what feels like ten hours (which is really three minutes), listening to the loud sounds of the wind howling outside the window, which makes him move closer to Jongin, as well as the latter’s rhythmic breathing as he sleeps soundly.

The last thing Sehun registers before he’s plunged into a deep slumber is the feeling of Jongin’s hand in his own when the latter squeezes his hand in his sleep.

And before he knows it, he’s out like a light, too.

~~~