even with his back to the door and brain still hazy with interrupted sleep, mino knows who is sneaking his way in.

he knows seungyoon means to be quiet, but it’s almost as if the whisper of every breath, the sound of every step he takes, even on bare feet, is amplified in the overwhelming silence of the night. there’s a thud, followed by a muffled curse, and on impulse, today he gives up all pretense of sleep, rolling back under his blankets to face the sheepish intruder.

“i thought you were asleep,” seungyoon whispers, wide-eyed, eyes bright in the 4am dimness.

“i wasn’t,” mino lies, knowing if seungyoon knew he always wakes him he’d never sneak in again. seungyoon purses his lips, bare feet shuffling against the linoleum as he hesitates, and mino can almost hear the gears turning in his head, the internal conflict hanging so thick in the air he thinks he might be able to reach out and touch it, palpable against his skin.

when they’d lived together in the same dorm, it almost felt as if there hadn’t needed to be reasons - that there wasn’t the need to justify just why they’d spent so much time falling into bed together. in the newfound reality of living apart - mino knows where seungyoon’s hesitation stems from. he knows how seeking out each other’s beds would mean admitting to more. something more than just bandmates, more than even the closest of friends.

how else could seungyoon justify crawling out of his warm bed and dorm in the dead of the winter night, entering the neighbouring apartment, and then specifically to mino’s door, to slip under his sheets? in a moment of weakness, mino had done the same, once after they’d just split dorms, but now with thor always curled up at seungyoon’s feet at night, he figures sneaking in would earn him a barking loud enough to probably wake both dorms.

he’s generally a heavy sleeper, and his consistent lack of sleep also means that once asleep he’s usually able to concuss his way through most noise, but somehow the creak of his door and seungyoon’s soft tread of bare feet - his mere presence, almost - always rouses him, without fail. most nights, he pretends to be asleep, holds himself still and pliant when seungyoon tiptoes across the room, lifts his blankets and slides in, pressing himself, body and long limbs soft and warm, up against him.

it’s easier that way, to hold back.  

even when seungyoon’s breathing has evened out, the rise of his chest deep and slow against mino’s skin - the low simmer in his gut that seungyoon’s presence in his bed always sparks means that mino finds it harder to fall asleep, those nights.

the irony, he thinks, when seungyoon seeks him out because he can’t fall asleep.

tonight, he gives in, pushes his blankets back and holds out a hand. seungyoon doesn’t hesitate, not today, taking his hand and mino tugs him into bed. seungyoon’s bare feet are ice cold when they brush against his legs, and mino pulls the blankets over the two of them. seungyoon sighs into the warmth, burrowing against mino into the pillows.

mino shifts a little to make space for him, but suddenly seungyoon’s hand is on his arm - he looks up and they’re sharing the same pillow, seungyoon’s eyes soft and fond in the darkness as he reaches out to push mino’s bangs off his forehead. mino doesn’t know who leans in first, but seungyoon tastes of sleep and toothpaste, mouth soft and wet against his own.

mino has always been careful, to tamper his desire, to not overwhelm seungyoon; but tonight has already started off on a different footing. they’ve only ever kissed a couple times, only when they’re both on the wrong side of exhaustion, drained enough to abandon all reason thought logic -

but today seungyoon doesn’t pull away as quickly as he usually does, and it grows heated, their tongues tangling and small gasps slipping from their lips. seungyoon’s body rolls up against his, warm and languid and heat begins to coil almost painfully in mino’s gut, but it’s only when the moan bubbles, unbidden, from the bottom of mino’s throat that seungyoon pulls back.

in the faint starlight through his bedroom window seungyoon’s lips are bee-stung pretty and thoroughly kissed, shiny and swollen; and minowants, his body tense and pulled tight, grip almost bruising on seungyoon’s hip. a whine is on the tip of his tongue, and he almost closes the few inches’ distance between their mouths again, but seungyoon beats him to it, pressing a small kiss on the tip of his nose and tucking his head under mino’s chin.

closing his eyes, his lashes fluttering, almost ticklish against the skin of mino’s neck, seungyoon trails a hand down mino’s arm, his touch almost fire against mino’s now overheated skin, and he wraps thin fingers about the hand mino has on his hip, bringing their clasped hands between their bodies.

not now.

amazingly, seungyoon is asleep in a matter of minutes, little puffs of hot air with every breath he exhales damp against mino’s collarbone, but mino is burning and he doesn’t fall asleep, can’t fall asleep, not until the pale rays of dawn spill through his half-open blinds.

the hours are long, but the night is short - it feels like he’s been awake for an eternity but then before he knows it he wakes alone, to the alarm blaring from his phone on his bedside table. the bed space beside him is cool under his touch, when he smooths a hand across the sheets.

seungyoon’s skin would feel like fire under his fingertips, he thinks.