Junsu

            The awkward silence stretched between them.  What on earth had possessed Junsu to do that?  He sat, so close to Robyn they were touching, and felt like he was burning up.  Every time Robyn shifted (she couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes at a time, apparently), heat shot through him.  The places her skin brushed against his felt like they were on fire.  He tried his best to keep his breathing even, but it still came out labored.  He shook his head.  The cold had to be better than this.  He was losing control again, and fast.  It didn’t help that Robyn was awake this time, or that he could tell she was affected their proximity, too.  She did a better job of controlling herself than he did, though.  Junsu groaned and got out of the blanket as fast as he could, sitting down against the back wall.  He couldn’t take it any more.

            “Junsu?  What’s wrong?  Are you okay?”  No, he was not okay.  If he had stayed under that blanket with her any longer he would have done something they would both regret.  Besides, it didn’t feel cold in the cabin any longer, despite the icy drafts from the gaps in the walls.

            “I’m fine.  Stay over there.”  Great.  He hoped Robyn couldn’t hear the tension in his voice. 

            “You don’t sound fine.”  Of course she heard it.  Didn’t she realize what she was doing to him?  Maybe she was more innocent than he had thought.  That thought made him feel even worse about the way he was feeling. 

            “I am.  Just need a little breathing room.”  She turned to look at him, her eyes narrowed.  She knew.  He saw that look in her eyes.  She felt it, too.  But, the look in her eyes was far more controlled than what he felt.  He closed his eyes and wished he was alone.  Or that one of his hyungs was here.  Or Changmin.  Or even Robyn’s friend, Shandi.  Anyone, so that they wouldn’t be alone, together, in this cabin, in the middle of a blizzard, with no help coming until morning, where anything could happen and no one would have to know.  Stop it.  Stop it right now.  Nothing is going to happen.  I won’t let it happen.  I will control myself.  He stayed still, eyes closed, until his breathing slowed and he actually started to feel the cold again.  He looked up.  Robyn had turned back towards the fire.  Didn’t she care if he was out here freezing to death?  He absolutely hated the cold.  With a passion.  Why was there only one blanket?  Why?

            Junsu sat there, his back against the freezing wall for a good thirty minutes.  He was starting to feel really tired.  That wasn’t a good sign.  Wasn’t that a warning for the onset of hypothermia?  Robyn had turned around to check on him every few minutes.  Maybe he was worrying her with his insistence on sitting so far away from the warmth of the fire.  Away from her.  Unfortunately for him, the fire wasn’t the only source of warmth in the cabin.  Robyn sighed, stood up, and walked over to him, still wrapped in the blanket.

            “You’re going to freeze to death if you sit here any longer, Junsu.  Just come back towards the fire.  I promise I won’t bite.”  It wasn’t her he was worried about; it was himself.  She grabbed his hands and pulled him up.  He was too cold to fight her.  In fact, he almost fell into her his legs were so unsteady.  “Come on.  I’m not going to let you die on me.”  He didn’t think he was supposed to hear the mumbled ‘Especially after you stole my first kiss’ that was whispered under her breath in English.  Well, he knew enough English to understand that much.  Great.  He went from idol to savior to the jerk who stole her first kiss all in one night.  Now, all he had to do was keep himself from going any lower on her scale.  Judging by how the night had gone so far, that was going to be nigh impossible.  He let Robyn coax him back into the blanket, thinking that, at this point, he was too cold and tired to try anything. 

            When he woke up, Junsu wondered why it wasn’t dark inside the cabin anymore.  The fire had gone out, but there was still light streaming into the cabin.  It must have been morning.  At least the blizzard had passed.  He sat up and the blanket fell off his chest.  He glanced down at Robyn’s sleeping form next to him.  Thankfully, the blanket still covered the vital parts of her; but the skin that was showing still sent very bad thoughts into his head.  He shook his head to clear it and got up, careful not to disturb the blanket.  It was a little easier to clear his head now that it wasn’t dark.  His clothes had dried, but it looked like his outer coat was covered in some kind dried slime.  He definitely wasn’t going to wear that again.  Junsu dressed quietly, not wanting to wake Robyn.  He was going to let her sleep as long as he possibly could.  It occurred to him that snow might have piled up outside the door to the cabin.  He unbolted the door and pulled it open an inch.  Of course.  Snow was piled a meter high against the door.  Luckily, it was packed so tightly that it didn’t fall into the cabin.  But, they had some work to do if they were going to get out of the cabin any time soon.  He heard some noise behind him and turned around.  Robyn was waking up.  She yawned and stretched, somehow managing to keep the blanket covering everything important. 

            “Is it over?”  Her hair was a mess.  But, it was endearing.  He nodded.

            “We’re going to have to dig our way out of the cabin, though.”

            She glanced at the door, confused.  She couldn’t see that the door was open from her angle.  “Why?  How high is the snow?”

            “About a meter.”

            “A meter?  Hmm.”  She switched to English.  “So, the snow’s a little over three feet high and the door is about six feet tall.”

            “What?”

            “Nothing.  I was just talking to myself, that’s all.  We should just be able to climb out.”  Duh.  Why hadn’t he thought of that? 

            “Oh.  Okay.  Well, get dressed and we’ll head back.  Everyone’s probably worried about us.”  She stared at him for a moment then raised an eyebrow. 

            “You’ll have to turn around.”

            “Oh.”  His face felt hot.  He turned towards the door.  He could hear her getting up and walking to the firewood stack.  She groaned.

            “What?”

            “My clothes.  They’re disgusting.  They’re covered in this slimy stuff that got caked on when they dried.  It’s gross.”

            He closed his eyes and sighed.  This was just getting better and better. 

            “What am I supposed to wear?  The only stuff in decent condition is my underwear.”

            What did she want him to do?  All he had was a shirt, a pair of pants, and an equally ruined coat.  Still, he had to do something.  It was going to look really bad if Robyn showed up back at the lodge with no clothes.  Not to mention the trouble they would run into on the way back.  It was still really cold outside.  He took off his shirt and held it out behind him.

            “Here.  Put this on.  It’s better than nothing.”  She took it out of his hands.

            “Okay.  You can turn around, now.”  He did.  She was standing there, still wrapped in the blanket, with her slime covered shoes on and his shirt collar peeking out around her neck.  How did she manage to look attractive dressed like that?  He sighed again. 

            “Let’s go.”

            “Wait.  You’re going to be really cold, Junsu.”

            “It’s okay.”  He didn’t wait for a reply, but opened the door all the way and climbed out onto the snow.  He looked around for something familiar, blinking in the sunlight.  Everything looked so different with the fresh coating of snow.  And, it was really cold.  He shivered and hugged himself.  His fingers were already going numb.  Just great.  The blanket fell over his shoulders and he felt Robyn’s arms wrapping around his.

            “If we freeze to death on the way back, we’ll have survived the blizzard for nothing.  We’ll just share the blanket, okay?”  He was too cold to argue.  He decided that it was better to make it back alive than worry about what everyone would think about how they showed up.  Please don’t let there be any press there when we get back.