A shrill sound cuts through the white noise inside Jaehwan’s ears, jolting him out of his state of lingering between sleep and consciousness. He hears grumbling from behind his back, the mattress creaking under someone’s weight, and then a nasal, hoarse voice says, “Yes? No, I was asleep. Yeah. Yeah, I’m just gonna… ugh. Give me twenty minutes.”

Jaehwan cracks his eyes open, the morning sunlight filtering through his blackout curtains warming up his skin, the blanket thrown over his waist becoming completely unnecessary.

The weight behind him shifts again and Jaehwan turns around slowly, rubbing at his eyes with a fist. There is a boy—Taekwoon, if his memory hasn’t failed him—sitting on the edge of his mattress with his head bowed between broad shoulders, the sight of the pink scratches covering the pale skin of his back making Jaehwan blush. Taekwoon stands up lazily, wide hips making a circular motion as he stretches, and his body is perfect. Perfectly intact, too, as it seems, contrary to how sore Jaehwan feels all over, the smallest movement of his legs making him moan softly.

When Taekwoon turns around, he’s already dressed, tapping at his pockets to see if he’s got all his stuff and then he blinks up at Jaehwan almost shyly, scratching the back of his head, messing up his hair even more.

“I’ve got to go,” he murmurs, averting his eyes for a second.

There’s a beat, a pause, and Jaehwan tries to think of something to say, but feels like ‘okay’ would sound awkward. Taekwoon takes action instead of him, placing a hand on the mattress to support himself as he leans to Jaehwan, pecking his cheek fleetingly before he pulls away.

“Talk to you later,” he says, and then he’s standing in front of the front door, unlocking it and stepping out onto the corridor.

Jaehwan rolls on his stomach, feeling his pulse all over his body, trying to decide if his headache is worse than the pain in his hips. He decides then that it doesn’t matter, because Taekwoon was handsome and he kissed Jaehwan’s cheek, and he almost feels sorry they aren’t going to talk ever again.

Almost.