It was in a middle of the night, which supposed to be quiet and serene, so why did Minki suddenly awake? He didn’t sure himself. He blinked the drowsiness away from his eyes, adjusting to the dark room. It took him several minutes to realize it’s too cold. He ran his hand to space beside him. It’s empty. Where was Jonghyun? Minki stumbled to take his phone from the table next to the bed and pressed a key. Its way past midnight now, Wasn’t Jonghyun supposed to be home already?

There was also no message. Minki sighed. After they went to Produce 101, they started to gain popularity they only dared to dream before. Suddenly lot of people recognized them and job offer came flooding. Of course Minki was grateful. It’s what they longed for a long time, yet he can’t help from feeling lonely. Jonghyun had too many personal activities. Nation loves him, probably a little too much to Minki’s taste. The leader often went into variety show and didn’t come home for days or came at dawn. Minki glad it went well for him. If a person could be extremely love-able and deserved all the love in the world, it was Jonghyun.  But please, Minki missed the time spent together just them, doing silly things, countless talking. Minki craved for Jonghyun’s undivided attention.

Great, now he felt guilty for being selfish. Minki ruffled his hair as an act of frustration.  A muffled thud sound halted his move. Minki unconsciously leaned in to hear clearly. He wondered if he’s imagining things. There’s the sound again.  Jonghyun? The thought not even fully registered in Minki’s mind, yet his body leapt and he found himself running out of their shared bedroom to find him.

And there he was, barely enter the room. Jonghyun a lamp in the living room. The dim light hugged his feature for Minki’s eyes to feast. Jonghyun lifted his head and their eyes met. Minki watched as those eyes gradually changed, flickered with warm and smile. Soon, corner of his lips lifted and followed.

“I thought you already fell asleep.”

That voice. Minki felt his heart leapt just by listening to that voice. Sudden realization of how much he missed that voice drowned him. Minki need to force himself to speak.

“I was.”

The leader sent him a guilty little smile. “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”

Minki brushed off the apology with impatient hand gesture. “Your hair’s damp. Is it rain outside?”

The leader shook his head, messed his hair even more. “I took a shower.”

The younger raised his eyebrow that enough for the latter to explain further. “After shoot, I feel like dancing, so I practice a bit in studio.”

Listened to his explanation drew Minki’s eyes to roll. “Seriously?” he asked in semi-disbelief tone. “It’s in the middle of the night, Jonghyun. Don’t you even get tired?” The familiar nagging brought a little smile on the leader’s lips which he hid wisely.

“Now that you mention it, I’m exhausted,” Jonghyun replied, put down his bag on the nearby couch.

“Of course you are,” Minki retorted, now crossed his arm under his chest. “Why don’t you take it easy and get some rest now. We can practice together after. Have you eaten?  Did they feed you?”

The leader rested his back to the wall nearby, gave his tired limbs a slack. “I’ve eaten.”

Minki nodded. “Let’s go to bed,” he invited, didn’t expect to get a rejection from the leader. “Why don’t you go to bed first? I still have something to do. I’ll follow right after.”

For the second time that night, Minki raised his brow. “What is it?”

“I need to make sure practice won’t bother our personal schedule.”

The younger sat himself on the couch. “Well then I’ll wait for you here. Or let’s do this together,” he replied to Jonghyun’s questioning eyes.

“You don’t have to do that, I’ll be done in a sec,” he cooed but the youngest stubbornly shook his head.

“I can’t sleep without you there anyway,” Minki blurted unconsciously.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, Jonghyun lifted his head to stare straight at the youngest. Minki could feel heat creep out his cheeks. He averted his eyes, mentally kicking himself for running his mouth loose. “Hmm? And why is that so?” the leader asked with hint of playfulness evident in his voice.

The youngest frantically waved his hand as a desperate act to make the leader shifted his focus. “I don’t know. It just happened. Maybe I’m used to your presence.”

“Maybe,” Jonghyun added, shifted his posture to stand straighter. Minki was more than ready to throw another conversation when Jonghyun back. “Do you miss me?”

“I- What?” Minki stuttered. He always found it’s hard to openly express his own feeling, especially toward their leader. On the other hand, Jonghyun was king of self-expression. He could easily emphasize what he feels toward the youngest. He’d done it ever since few months after their first meet. It needed some coaxing from Jonghyun for Minki to be able to be honest with his feeling, just like right now.

“Do you?” Jonghyun asked again, further encouraged the youngest to elaborate.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Minki avoided.

“Minki.”

Minki bit his lower lip. Damn that attractive voice and how it sounded when Jonghyun pronounced his name. That authoritative tone, how dare Jonghyun use it on him now? It’s an abuse of power. The silence between them was suffocating. Jonghyun refused to back down, left Minki with no option than to surrender. It’s always like this between them. There were plenty of times when Jonghyun just granted everything Minki asked, but there was this one time when Jonghyun would stand firm and rendered Minki to comply.  This time is one of those times.

“I do.”

The soft chuckle earned Minki’s attention. He lifted his blushing face to look at Jonghyun. Big mistake, since the leader got his smirk plastered on as he moved his fingers as gesture for Minki to come to him. Upon seeing his playful smile and inviting eyes, Minki can’t help but ran into his opened arms.

Jonghyun rested his head on Minki’s shoulder. Minki could feel the dampness of his hair on his cheek. “I miss you too,” Jonghyun breathed on his neck. Minki felt another jolt on his heart, as his stomach did somersaults. Jonghyun must be felt it too, the crazy heartbeat of Minki. The leader brought his hand to the younger’s back. Minki tightened his grip on Jonghyun’s slender waist.

 The leader swayed them softly. “Were you lonely without me?” He jokingly asked. Minki understood Jonghyun didn’t mean it to be anything but tease, but here, engulfed in warm embrace and inhaled sweet manly scent of Jonghyun, Minki felt emotional.

“Minki?” Jonghyun questioned when the youngest suddenly buried his head on the crook of the latter’s neck. “Hey Rennie?  It’s alright. I’m here now.”

The youngest giggled. “I’m alright, silly. It’s just- it’s been a long time.”

Jonghyun separated them slightly to be able to look into Minki’s eyes. “Shall we head to bed? It’s still dawn after all.” Minki nodded and they went to their shared room holding hand, both were not ready to separate in the simplest form.

Minki lied on his side, where Jonghyun took another side, but he didn’t fully lie down. He propped his body with his elbow while his other hand combed Minki’s hair from time to time, encouraged Minki to fall back asleep. It almost work, Minki’s eyes fluttered close. But then Minki didn’t ready to end their shared time just yet.

“How’s your day?”  He asked the leader whilst eyes still closed.

The leader smile tenderly, the soft hair, he began to tell the youngest his day which filled with hard work, especially during the variety show where once again he had to drench in the rain.

“You’ve work hard,” Minki commented, lightly patted Jonghyun’s back hand that caressed his face for a while.

“I am. I deserve a reward.”

Upon hearing the remark, Minki opened his heavy-lidded eyes and motioned Jonghyun to come closer. Jonghyun bended down to him and Minki sneaked his arms to Jonghyun’s nape and pulled him to give a peck on his lips. “Good job JR, get some rest now.”

Jonghyun laughed and kissed Minki’s forehead before he lied next to him. “Goodnight, Minki.”

Minki shifted and wrapped his arm on the mid of Jonghyun’s waist and rested his head on the leader’s shoulder. “Goodnight, Jonghyunie.”  

Written By: Honey June

Hi there! It's my first time writing about JR and Ren. I've loved them for a long time now, since their debut. But then they didn't get enough spotlight and somehow I didn't really search for them. I forgot about them eventually. Then produce 101 happened and I shed some tears for the hardship they went into. I felt guilty because I'm not support them hard. I'm glad now it's good for them. I see JR a lot now. I love it to death. I'm a little sad that there's only a few stories about JRen, so I decided to contribute. Please look at me prettily.