Jongin has always hated this.

He's always hated the loud music, flailing hands, mindless shouting and old men thinking he's interested in a quick hookup.

Yet the local joint down the block from the office has been his holy grail for as long as he can remember. Unfortunately, he's had the displeasure of being crammed together with nearly every single Californian citizen each time. And despite knowing how much he hates it, Jongin miraculously manages to find a way to coop himself up in his usual spot by the bar counter. Because here, he can enjoy himself without his godforsaken work phone ringing every three seconds. He can hear himself think for once. He can be a nobody without the pretending.

Jongin recalls Jongdae telling Luhan that office men with children usually have a 'taken' aura to them that makes them unapproachable to just about anybody. But Jongin figures that there must be something wrong with his aura, because he's never been able to enjoy a drink in peace without being mistaken him for a college kid by , old men. All Jongin knows is that he's glad that Jungah won't ever see him like this as long as he lives.

The music grows deafening as Jongin's mind floods with Jungah's bright face, Baekhyun's stupid grin, Chanyeol's ring, Sehun's talkative self and that goddamn ing wedding. 

Jongin has always hated himself for caring so much, because he knows that he should be happy. He knows that Chanyeol and Baekhyun deserve this and that he never had any business in it to begin with, but all it does is make Jongin want to sink further into the empty void that is his head. Chanyeol has never said it out loud, but Jongin knows that Chanyeol is just waiting for the right moment to massacre him for his lack of self control. And it's not like Jongin blames him, either.

Because he should have known.

His usual glass of whisky and lemon juice must have been mixed differently today, because it almost sets his throat on fire going down.

He should have known better.

He should have known better than to fall for his colleague. He should have known better than to fall for a man whom he knew was happily taken. He should have known better than to drag himself to that goddamn bar mere hours after getting his heart stomped on. He should have known better.

The bartender with the bunny smile, Junmyeon, slides yet another glass across the counter after Jongin grabs his attention. Initially, Junmyeon would treat him like any other unimportant customer, but as months turned to years, and every now and than turned to every night, Jongin noticed Junmyeon preparing his drinks faster than usual. Jongin is just relieved that none of them ever get the chance to strike up a conversation due to the steady customer flow. But, on the other hand, Jongin would be lying if he said that seeing Junmyeon every night for the past few years didn't make him feel slightly better.

To this day, Jongin isn't sure how much Chanyeol thinks about it, or if he even thinks about it at all. But it's not like Jongin is going to ask. His cell phone chimes, signaling his successful payment for his parking ticket. The sweetness on his taste buds only has Jongin wondering if there are any grocery stores open at this hour so that he can pick up Jungah's mochis like he promised.  

Jongin automatically pulls out his phone and stares at the photo his mother sent him. Even though he's sort of hated the spark of warmth that rushes to his head whenever the whisky kicks in, he's also thankful for it. Not just because it makes every thought in his brain melt into nothingness, but because it always does a terrific job at making him realize how much Jungah resembles Chanyeol. In fact, a part of Jongin already had a nagging feeling that Jungah would end up inheriting Chanyeol's elf ears and large, doe eyes before the first ultrasound even arrived. Jongin has to steady himself against the counter when he takes a swig so forceful that he nearly falls off his stool. 

Jongin figures, no, knows, that he had no reason to be surprised. He knew that he had no reason to be surprised when he took Chanyeol aside and broke the news. He knew that he had no reason to be surprised when Chanyeol's eyes only hardened, seconds before he uttered four simple words, which would end up being the last words ever spoken between them for almost nine years to come.

'Are you ing serious?'

Jongin still doesn't know what scares him more about the thought of Chanyeol simply needing time to warm up to the idea; the fact that he ever thought was an option or the fact that he believed it. On the other hand, Jongin figures that the joke is on him, especially after Chanyeol made it clear that he had absolutely no intention of upholding their friendship or contact, both within and outside the office. 

As if on cue, Jungah's question pops up in his head. To this day, Jongin has never been able to summon the courage to tell her why he's been so hesitant towards bringing her to the office whenever 'bring-your-child-to-work' day rolls around. Initially, Jongin assumed that she would forget about it, but she only became more adamant about meeting his colleagues as she got older and more curious. While Jongin knows that his colleagues, especially Minseok, would adore having somebody like Jungah parading around the office, he's always shied away from the question in worry of how Chanyeol might react to seeing her in the flesh. However, it wasn't until Baekhyun announced their engagement that Jongin permanently put the brakes on bringing Jungah to the office.

The hammering behind his eyes makes Jongin oblivious to the salty tears tingling his lower lip. Since he knows that he's just a visual representation of what everybody around him is feeling, he doesn't bother hiding his face from view. His lungs are aching for a smoke, but his legs refuse to budge. All he can think about is the thought of Jungah curled up in a warm blanket while watching one of her favorite Barbie movies with her grandmother. Jongin figures that if he does muster the courage to tell Jungah everything once she's older, he can only pray that she'll have it in her to forgive him for being the most useless goddamn father anybody could ever have.

I'm a useless ing father. 

The words all seem to have found their spot at the back of his head by now, and he can almost taste them whenever he takes a sip. It's a bitterness that he's learned to live with somehow.

Jongin eyes the stains all over his dress shirt, which he's done a poor attempt at concealing with his coat. He can feel another headache coming up, which reminds him that he's forgotten to bring a pack of Advil with him. How ing pathetic.

"Is this seat taken?"

Jongin nearly falls off his stool in surprise. He's glad that he doesn't end up spilling his drink all over himself as he looks up, fully expecting to see another middle aged man waving him towards the restrooms.

However, Jongin almost wishes that it was when he sees none other than Sehun smiling down at him instead. Jongin desperately wants to ask Sehun what on Earth he's doing here, because somebody as put together as him hardly belongs in a dump like this.

It's not until a sudden head rush nearly sends Jongin tumbling to the floor that he hears himself mutter a low 'I don't think so'. However, he quickly realizes that he wouldn't have needed to say anything, since Sehun is already halfway through sliding his coat off before he's even finished talking. 

Sehun orders himself a glass after sliding into the vacant seat, causing a whiff of his perfume to fill the small space between them. It smells like typical men's cologne with a hint of spearmint, and Jongin would be lying if he said that he didn't like it.

Jongin is glad that the pounding music gives him an excuse to avoid conversation, since he doesn't have the energy to tell Sehun that he isn't in the mood for a friendly chat among coworkers right now. Thankfully, the familiar warmth coursing through his head is making Jongin's urge to flee to a more convenient spot fade by the second. Not to mention the entire bar is chocked full at this point, and there's no way he's sitting in some old man's lap just to get away from his annoying colleague.

Sehun seems to be living up to his way-too-good-for-you image with his choice of alcohol and perfect posture, which only makes Jongin aware of his own slumped shoulders and ocean of empty glasses in front of him. But Jongin can't be bothered to worry about that right now, so he simply drains whatever is left in his glass before waving Junmyeon over again.

If Sehun has learned a thing or two, it's that typical, run-off-the-mill joints usually never hit home with their wine, so he shoves his glass aside before crossing his legs under the counter. Next to him, Jongin grumbles something to the young bartender, who only nods in response. Come to think of it, Sehun wouldn't be surprised if he looks like a creep waiting to strike instead of a regular colleague, especially when Jongin nearly falls off his chair while attempting to scooch away from him.   

At first, Sehun decided against walking in the door after noticing what he was certain was Jongin's black car crookedly parked outside the entrance. Sehun wasn't too worried about mistaking it for somebody else's vehicle, since he'd seen Jongin pull up to the office parking lot on a handful of occasions. And he figures that he made the right decision, because he can already smell the alcohol on Jongin's breath, which he wouldn't even have paid a speck of attention to if it wasn't for the fact that they're not even sitting that close. 

Sehun leans back in his seat. It almost seems like yesterday that Jongin's eighteen year-old, baby faced self stopped by his desk and nervously asked him if he could review some of his reports. Since he'd heard Minseok mention something about a rookie in the production department, Sehun knew that Jongin was in his first few weeks, which is why he ended up staying back three hours just to edit Jongin's reports to perfection. Despite doing their business on separate floors, and Jongin's severe introversion, Sehun could tell that Jongin was maturing in his work with each passing day. As much as Sehun wants to tell Jongin about it, he restrains himself at the last second. Because, given Jongin's expression in the smoke room this morning, it was apparent that he didn't remember that they weren't total strangers. 

Over by the dance floor, somebody vomits all over their own shoes. Sehun watches as Jongin wraps his lips around his straw, and he has no idea why a part of him expects Jongin to blow bubbles in it like a small child. Despite being one of the hardest and most experienced workers around the office, Sehun quickly picked up on a certain vulnerability hovering above Jongin - one that he couldn't put his finger on. It reminded him of a pot of water on the brink of boiling over, but he never really believed himself up until now. On the other hand, Sehun figures that he might just be another victim of Jongin's deceptive features. If he hadn't seen it for himself, Sehun would never have taken Jongin for the type to drown his evenings in alcohol and or slip away on smoke breaks every two hours.

It's not until Jongin hiccups mid sip, causing him to choke on his drink, that Sehun contemplates taking his glass away. "Sorry about that, by the way," he says, gesturing at the stains all over Jongin's dress shirt.

Jongin looks up like a deer caught in headlights. His tousled hair falls in his face when he shrugs. "It's fine," he sing-songs, nearly missing the straw as he takes another long sip.

Sehun watches as a hoard of women aggressively flail their wrinkled dollar bills in the bartender's face. He's always thought that midnight brings out the absolute worst in people. "Rough day, I take it?"

Jongin chuckles at nothing in particular, which only accentuates his flushed cheeks. "Overtime's a ," he drawls.

"Roger that," Sehun hums before Jongin flails to grab the bartender's attention. It's not until he reminisces the black car parked outside that he places a hand on Jongin's forearm. "Hey, you're not planning on driving after this, are you?"

Jongin rustles Sehun off. "The hell's it to you?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Sehun whisper-hisses, only to blink when Jongin suddenly bursts into tears next to him. What the . "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"This is all bull, it's all such bull," Jongin sobs, seemingly unaware of the alcohol staining his palms when he buries his face in his hands. "She hates me, she hates me now, it's all my fault, I just wanted to dance, I just wanted to dance--" 

Sehun blinks. He can barely make out what Jongin is trying to say, but all he knows is that he would rather be trampled by a dancing female in six inch stilettos than let Jongin anywhere near a car. A second later, Jongin slams his fist on the countertop so forcefully that even the young bartender briefly stops what he's doing to send them a look. So, despite Jongin's garbled protests, Sehun finds himself yanking Jongin off his stool before dragging him through the crowd. 

12:12 A.M

The air is ice cold, which Jongin doesn't seem to mind as he stumbles around with his coat entirely ed. All Sehun knows is that he's overjoyed that his curiosity got the best of him earlier, because he knows for a fact that Jongin wouldn't have made it past a single traffic light in his gangly state. It's so dark that Sehun can barely see where he (or rather, Jongin) is putting his feet, but he easily locates Jongin's car in the dim glow of the streetlights. Jongin, being the spaced out, sobbing mess he is, ends up walking in the wrong direction, and Sehun has to drag him away before he can yank on the door handle to a red Porsche and trigger the alarm.

After reaching into Jongin's pocket in search of his car keys, Sehun unlocks the car before getting behind the wheel. By some miracle, Jongin manages to open the passenger side door without falling on his face, after which Sehun has to pull him into the passenger seat before assisting him with his seatbelt. 

Jongin essentially turns into a liquid as soon as his seatbelt clicks into place, and Sehun figures that he's either too out of it or too exhausted to acknowledge the fact that he isn't behind the wheel himself. "Last time I checked, this was my ride," he slurs while attempting to cross his legs.

"And you're out of your goddamn mind if you think I'm gonna let you man it," Sehun says before backing out of the parking space. He doesn't need to ask to know that Jongin will end up being a useless human GPS, so he opts to wing it as they head for the main road.   

1:01 A.M

Sehun ends up pulling up to the front of (what he hopes is) Jongin's driveway nearly an hour later. After taking a look around, he realizes that it would have only taken about five minutes if it wasn't for him needing to wake Jongin at least a hundred times during their trip, which in turn resulted in them driving in circles at least six times. 

Next to him, Jongin is curled up in his seat while fast asleep. Sehun almost doesn't want to bother him, but he ends up doing rustling him, just to be certain that they aren't parked in front of somebody else's gate.

Jongin emits the most adorable noise Sehun has ever heard in his life when he finally stirs awake. "Are we there yet," he drawls.

Looking back at the cozy, white building, Sehun exhales. "Let's hope so," he mutters before opening the door and stepping outside. The fresh air makes him realize just how much the car reeks of whisky, and he hurriedly flies over to the passenger side before Jongin can spill out onto the asphalt below.

___

To Sehun's surprise, Jongin's apartment isn't at all what he expected.

If Sehun is going to be frank, he sort of figured that the inside of Jongin's place would look a lot like his desk - messy and unorganized with random junk scattered everywhere. But instead, he's greeted with the tidiest interior he's ever seen in his whole life. In fact, Sehun would go as far as to say that it looks like nobody has inhabited the apartment in ages. Perhaps visited for a short while before hastily leaving at most. But even so, Sehun has to convince himself that they haven't broken into a neighbor's house, even after Jongin stumbles past the threshold.

Unsure if he should do something or not, Sehun can only watch as Jongin crawls towards the kitchen counter. It's not until Jongin stumbles and misses hitting his head on the table by an inch that Sehun is glad that Jongin isn't anything like Minseok, Luhan and pretty much every married man in the office. Because Sehun honestly doesn't know what to think if Jongin were to stumble in the door with a handful of small children and a wife waiting for him back at home. And, by the looks of it, Sehun truly hopes that Jongin isn't planning on having children anytime soon. 

Jongin seemingly doesn't mind nearly cracking his skull open like a watermelon. Instead, he only curses before opening a nearby drawer with a loud slam. He retrieves what Sehun notices is a pack of Advil, which is so rumpled and torn that it almost doesn't belong with the rest of the apartment.

Jongin curses again when he notices Sehun staring at him. "Quit looking at me with that face on your face," he slurs after popping a pill and swallowing it without water. His brown hair is sticking up everywhere, and it's not until he looks up that Sehun notices the dry tear streaks all over his face.

Sehun blinks. Upon closer inspection, he notices that Jongin is down to his very last tablet, which has him assuming that Jongin is either an avid headache sufferer, or drinking himself half to death in the evenings is a part of his everyday schedule. Sehun isn't sure which one saddens him the most.

"I can handle myself, it's fine," Jongin huffs, wiping his eyes and tossing his phone on the table. The fact that his dress shirt is filthy and wrinkled only adds to his disheveled appearance, but he doesn't seem to mind. "I'm on my own goddamn grounds, right? I can handle myself."

Sehun is halfway through toeing his shoes off before Jongin is even finished talking. It's times like this that he wishes that Jongin wasn't on the introverted side, ergo the type to never utter a peep about his personal life, because Sehun is in desperate need of knowing if he's at risk of being kicked out by Jongin's girlfriend when he cautiously approaches the kitchen table.

Jongin's upper body is practically hanging off one of the chairs as he rests his head on the tabletop. Eyes roaming around the room, Sehun notices a handful of children's drawings on the fridge and two tiny animal sculptures on the windowsill. Now, although Luhan surprised the whole office by revealing that he was married with children despite being the type to toss paper planes at colleagues and cackle at jokes, Sehun knows that certain people just don't fit into that category, and that Jongin is definitely one of them. Not to mention the whole house is dead silent, given just how noisy toddlers (and women, at least some of them, Sehun thinks) can be.

"It's all just bull, bull, I tell you," Jongin grumbles to himself as he tugs on a lock of his hair. 

"Don't tell me you were planning on driving just now, ," Sehun says. "And where's your-"

"It's all my goddamn fault," Jongin exclaims before slamming his fist down on the table. "It was a mistake, it was just a goddamn mistake, and now--" His sentence ends in a loud hiccup. "--and now I have this ing...thing, all of it." 

Sehun bites his lip. "What are you talking about?" he asks, hating how intrigued he sounds as he sinks into one of the chairs.

"It was just supposed to be...God, I never asked for this, I never asked for any of this, I just wanted to-- I just wanted to dance, damn it--" Jongin nearly chokes on his own saliva when he hiccups again. He's halfway through falling out of his seat at this point, cheeks flushed and gaze wild as he continues to tug on his hair. 

Sehun blinks again. "I'm-"

"Why him?" Jongin wails, voice cracking at the last word. "I just don't-- , why Baekhyun, anyway, that stupid, stupid, kindhearted ." He wipes his eyes, which are already bloodshot. "God, I hate this, I hate myself, it's all bull."

This time, Jongin actually does fall off his chair while trying to shift into a more comfortable position. Thankfully, Sehun manages to save him a concussion after he flies over in the nick of time. Jongin's breath and hair both reek of alcohol and he's unable to stand upright without stumbling, which only makes Sehun that much more sure that he won't be leaving until Jongin is safely tucked away in bed. After making sure that the upper floor is void of human life, Sehun carefully guides Jongin towards the staircase while Jongin continues to grumble incoherencies.

As he keeps a supportive hand on Jongin's back, Sehun eyes the handful of photographs lining the walls. A few of them catch his eyes, especially the ones with sequins and glitter glue stuck to the frames. Majority of them consist of a young girl who appears in almost every picture. Sehun isn't sure which one he adores most; the one in which she's collecting sea shells at the beach, or reading to her Barbie dolls, or the one that seems to be taken a few years back, in which she looks to be slightly younger while sitting in Jongin's lap next to a lit Christmas tree. Sehun can't help but think that she sort of resembles Luhan, Jongin, Chanyeol and Jongdae all at once, with Luhan's bubbliness, Jongin's adorable-without-even-trying aura, Chanyeol's ears and Jongdae's feline grin. 

"You must be close with your sister," Sehun says even though he knows that Jongin is too far out to listen. Sehun knows is that if he had any siblings of his own, he would without a doubt aim for a bond like that, but shoves the thought away when they reach the top of the stairs.

For a second, Sehun wonders if he should call somebody, since it becomes clear that Jongin is beyond processing what he's doing when he staggers into the bathroom. Sehun finds himself ogling an ajar door to his right, and thanks to the hallway light, he can just barely make out a child's bedroom. It must belong to a girl, a little girl, judging by the alarming amount of pink and Rilakkuma plushies everywhere. Despite the room being chocked full of objects, it, just like the rest of the apartment, looks eerily vacant. In fact, the bedsheets look so crisp that it's almost like the bed hasn't been slept on in months, but Sehun doesn't comment on it.

Jongin ignores his scuffed up reflection as he rummages through the glass cabinet above the sink. Surprisingly, he manages to put the toothpaste on his toothbrush in a straight line before tossing it aside. Sehun sort of contemplates giving Jongin a bath just to make him feel less miserable than he looks, but he isn't sure if carrying Jongin home grants him the right to tamper with Jongin's personal belongings. So he opts to stand off to the side while watching Jongin, who seems to have forgotten all about brushing his teeth as he fumbles with another packet of Advil.

"She probably hates me," Jongin drawls with an expression so sorrowful that it doesn't match his soft features at all. "I know she hates me now --" He swallows three pills at once without water before he sobs again. " it, this, it all--"

For a moment, all Sehun hears is the pipes creaking as his brain tries to come to terms with what he's hearing. Even though he has no idea what to do, Sehun is surprised at how okay he is with Jongin blindly sobbing over his ex girlfriend like this. In fact, Sehun would be lying if he said that he wasn't feeling an urge to give Jongin some handy advice just to ease the self deprecative atmosphere. But he knows that it would just fall on deaf ears, especially when Jongin goes on to collide with the wall on his way out.

It's not until Jongin trips over the threshold that Sehun opens his mouth to speak. "Wait, where're you off to?"

Jongin gestures down the stairs with an unfocused gaze. "Need a smoke," he mutters, only to stumble on the first step with a loud curse.

Sehun thanks his lucky stars that he manages to fly over and grab Jongin's tie at the last possible second, effectively saving him from breaking his neck. "You should probably lie down if you're feeling dizzy," he says and low-key worries that Jongin might deck him in the jaw when he grimaces in distaste.

However, Jongin must be too exhausted to even lift his arms, because he only nods before trudging towards a closed door across the hallway. Sehun considers bringing his self invited visit to an end when the door swings open, but he ends up rushing forward when Jongin moves to unbuckle his pants.

Unsurprisingly, Jongin does end up stumbling when he half-assedly tries to yank his pants off both legs at a time. "I don't need your help," he grumbles, but he doesn't bother protesting when Sehun helps him shrug his dress shirt off. "She probably thinks I'm the worst, you probably think I'm the worst-"

"I don't think you're the worst," Sehun interjects. He gives up on asking where the laundry basket is when Jongin drags himself towards the bed in a fit of groans, so Sehun carefully folds the garment into a neat square before placing it on the foot of the bed.

After collapsing onto the mattress, Jongin kicks the blanket off when Sehun tries to tuck him in. "It's too hot in here," he whines. All the whining must have the energy right out of him, because his voice is so quiet that Sehun barely hears him.

"Suit yourself," Sehun hums, unable to stop the fluttering in his chest when he sees that Jongin's hair is splayed out across the pillow like a fan. Sehun has to remind himself that he's simply helping out a colleague when Jongin emits a long, drawn out whine that totally doesn't make him want to open the window and breathe some fresh air.

Sehun forgets all about it when his eyes land on a small photo on Jongin's bedside table. He immediately recognizes the young girl in the picture, and his urge to ask Jongin where his little sister is only grows when he recalls the pink bedroom he just saw. Sehun figures that she might be with her parents or sleeping over at a friend's house, but he restrains himself from asking as he stares at Jongin. While Luhan might have turned out to be husband material after all, the idea of Jongin being a parent is still so uncanny that Sehun wants to laugh at himself for even thinking the thought. Especially when Jongin curls himself up into a ball underneath the covers.

It doesn't take Jongin long to notice what Sehun is staring at, and Sehun almost regrets looking at it in the first place when Jongin suddenly bursts into a fit of ugly sobs. While Sehun knows that this is probably his cue to leave, he can't bring himself to move a muscle. Even so, Sehun has to divert his thoughts to the cracks on the wall, because there's something about seeing Jongin tug at his hair while sobbing his eyes out that fills him with a sorrow that makes his throat close up.

With his lower lip quivering, Jongin wipes his eyes with the back of his hands. Even though Sehun can pick up on the whisky on Jongin's breath from where he's standing, Jongin's gaze is exceptionally focused as he stares at the scratched photograph. Jongin goes on to mumble something Sehun can't make sense of before sitting up and opening the drawer to his bedside table. Jongin retrieves a brand new packet of pills, and Sehun fights the urge to yank it out of his hand after he dumps four onto his palm at once.

"I think you've had enough," Sehun says. For a second, he figured that Jongin wouldn't be able to do much without a glass of water, but he ends up regretting it when Jongin downs all four pills with alarming ease.

Jongin tosses the half empty packet on the floor. His bangs are sticking to his forehead and he should be freezing to death with his bare chest exposed, but he doesn't seem to mind any of it as he flops back onto the mattress. "Useless, I'm useless, I'm a useless ing fa--" His sentence ends in a sob that echoes in the room. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

A car alarm goes off outside and nearly scares Sehun half to death. It only reminds him of the fact that he's probably looking like a creepy stalker hovering above Jongin's bed like this, so he takes a step back when Jongin finally closes his eyes. All the minutes he's spent under Jongin's roof is only making Sehun aware of how exhausted he is himself, and he almost can't wait to get back to his flat and dive into bed.

"Listen, I don't know what your deal is, but I hope you--" Sehun doesn't bother finishing his sentence when he gets no response, so he turns on his heel. However, he barely makes it three steps before he hears a rustling sound behind him.

Jongin rubs his swollen eyes as he sits up. Sehun isn't sure if the smell of whisky is messing with him, but he can't help but think that Jongin looks drop dead adorable with his bed head and a gloomy, almost childish pout on his face. The fact that the king sized bed emphasizes his tininess only makes him look that much more fragile, and it takes Sehun every fiber of his being not to run over and envelope him in a giant bear hug.

"Can you stay here?" Jongin drawls while poking the empty space next to him with a stubborn frown. "Please? Please???"

Sehun blinks. "I don't think it's my place," he blurts out, only to regret it when Jongin looks absolutely crestfallen. The thought of Jongin's (alleged) ex seeing him first thing tomorrow is enough to make his skin crawl, yet he can't bring himself to head for the stairs no matter how hard he tries.

"I don't want to sleep alone again," Jongin sobs, mostly to himself. "It's scary and lonely and I can't, dammit--"

Sehun blames it on the fact that neither of them have to get up at six o'clock tomorrow morning (and that he might actually collapse if he doesn't lie down soon), but he finds himself inching towards the bed before he can process what he's doing. The next thing Sehun knows, he's carefully climbing on top of the ice cold covers next to Jongin. Thankfully, Jongin has pretty much passed out already, which makes Sehun feel less awkward about finagling himself into a comfortable position, which is nearly impossible to do with his suit on. 

A crow flies into the window, and the sudden noise makes Jongin groan in his sleep. Sehun's eyes trail around the pitch black room. Despite having Jongin next to him, there's something about the wind howling that fills the apartment with an eerie solitude that makes Sehun want to sink into the mattress and disappear. 

The wounded animal squawks from its spot in the yard, but Sehun barely hears it as he carefully pulls the blanket up to Jongin's chin.