The Sunchaser - Chapter Five 

 By Eiryia

Sitting there in the candle light eating his perfectly cooked chicken Seungyoon smiled to himself. Even if he was about to go out to brave the storm to get home could he allow himself to enjoy the moment up until then. 

The way the candle light bounced of the wooden walls made the room glow and at least one of the candles Mino had lit must have been a scented one because the room was filled with this citrusy smell he really liked. 

Mino must have noticed too and apologized for the smell, but he explained that he liked it and Mino had admitted that he did too. Their quiet conversation had been interrupted by a violent rattling sound from down stairs. Both of them had been startled by the sound and were now listening attentively for more sounds. 

    "Probably just the trashcans" Mino murmured and got up to do the dishes. 

He got up too and brought his plate to the sink. 

    "I guess I should get going" he said throwing another glance out the window, but all he could see was an endless flow of raindrops with the backdrop of complete darkness. 

Mino looked up from the dishes towards the window and then to him. 

    "That’s ridiculous. You risk getting smacked over the head by trashcans and street signs if you go out there now" Mino said eyes widening more and more the longer he spoke. 

    "Can I stay here then?" he asked before his courage to ask failed him, he had been about to suggest he could get a taxi, but truthfully would he rather stay. It was practical too since he got work there again the next morning. 

    "Of course" Mino said pointing the washing brush at him so suddenly soap flew everywhere. 

Dodging it last second he bowed low but some of it must have landed on his head and so Mino told him he was sorry and to stand still. Putting down the brush and drying of one of his hands he walked up to him so close he could feel his breath on his cheek only to watch Mino scoop up the soapy fluff from his head. 

    "I think your toothbrush is still under the sink from last time" Mino said casually, but he had a feeling Mino was a little pleased he was staying too. 

Deciding to check he wandered over to the bathroom and found his toothbrush and extra deodorant from when he had crashed there after running away from the awful hotel. 

When he returned to the living room was Mino putting on his jacket to go outside to smoke. 

    "Talking about bad ideas" he teased remembering how Mino had just told him off for wanting to go out just minutes ago. 

Mino just shook his head at him and walked out after quite some effort to open the door. 

Once left on his own he listened to the wind, how it tore at the building and the hollow wailing it made as it pressed itself in through every gap it could find. There seemed to be no fireplace in this building, only an electrical oven stowed away by the tv. Deciding it would be best to sleep fully dressed he curled up on the couch under the usual blankets. 

He’d just begun drifting of to sleep when he heard Mino’s voice in the distance. 

    "Are you cold I asked" he repeated softly. 

    "Maybe a little" he admitted once he forced himself to check. 

    "Your teeth were clattering in your sleep" Mino said putting away his smokes and lighter on a small table by the couch. 

Mino then disappeared into the bathroom, came back, went into his bedroom, came back and handed him a large woolen sweater. He put on one himself as well and then went back into his bedroom yet again. The next time he returned with his bed covers and his pillows. 

    "Let’s just both sleep here, with the two of us it will be warmer" he said and sat down on the other side of the couch. It weren’t the first time they had slept like this although he wondered if Mino could remember it. He had kinda half passed out on his end after wounding his hand after all. 

He’d put on his sweater and curled up on his end again and Mino was right, it was definitely warmer now with the extra clothes and blankets.. and Mino’s body heat sharing the same small space under the blankets. Their feet were kinda smoothly intertwined under there and after a while had he started to feel quite comfortable again. 

Expecting to fall asleep pretty quickly he was surprised at how aware he had suddenly become of how they were touching. Both of Mino’s legs were rested against his under the blankets and he felt oddly pleased about it although also a bit self-conscious.

The thing was that he actually wanted to be closer, however ridiculous that might sound. Picking up his trail of thought from the shop earlier that day he knew what his conclusion was; he liked Mino, he couldn’t deny that and not just as his boss or his friend. Like as in attracted to, and this was one hell of a situation to be in with someone one was attracted to. 

He was shocked at how violently his own mind was screaming at him in that moment. As if to tell him this is your chance, make a move, but what would he do? He actually kinda wanted to, but his mind was blank as to what he could actually say or do in this situation. It wasn’t as if he was going to confess his very freshly realized feelings into the darkness when he was stuck there with nowhere to run should Mino reject him. 

Nah, it was best to think about it some more. There would be other opportunities surely. 

As if he would ever pick up the courage to confess to someone like Mino. Not a chance in the world, that was the truth. A sad truth maybe, but all the same. 

His depressing train of thought was interrupted by Mino swearing. 

    "Hell it’s cold! And so loud! The draft in this place is insane.." 

Mino was right, the howling sounds were the most extreme he’d ever heard and the place he lived in was pretty old too. 

    "You live here, you should be used to it" he mused into the darkness. 

    "Well I don’t usually sleep in here" Mino replied grumpily. 

    "Go to bed then, you shouldn’t get sleep deprived because of me" he encouraged although he didn’t really wish to be left behind. 

Mino got up then and he couldn’t help but to feel a bit disappointed despite the fact that he was the one who had told him to go. Curling his feet back up almost to his chin to keep the heat he watched Mino wobble unsteadily over to his bedroom. 

He was about to tell him good night, when he stopped by the door and turned towards him. 

    "You coming or not, I’m not going to leave you in the howling ruckus alone" 

Blinking into the darkness his mind was taking its sweet time to realize what Mino had just suggested. 

He hesitated for a moment and then he got up. He was already feeling cold and where they slept didn’t really matter. At least that was what he told himself. 

Mino’s bed was pretty big so it wasn’t as if they were laying cramped together and Mino was right, it was a lot quieter back there as the room was sheltered against the storm by the surrounding buildings. 

He lay awake for a while, wondering if maybe Mino wanted to talk too, but as the silence dragged on was he soon whisked away to dreamland. 

When he woke up was it in an entirely different position than when he’d gone to sleep. Last night they had both been curled up to each their side of the bed, but now he found himself with his cheek resting on Mino’s shoulder, one arm over his chest in a loose embrace. 

Mino was still snoring away and so he let himself enjoy this moment of closeness for a bit longer before carefully retracting his arm. He then rolled back onto his side of the bed and let the beating of the rain on the roof accompanied by the low wailing of the wind which still kept its show going through the main part of the building whisk him of to dreamland. 

That morning they both woke up to the sound of the rain, the wind had died down during the early morning hours and so the calmness of the place appeared to have returned. 

Seungyoon looked over at Mino wondering if he was still sleeping. Only long strands of his hair was poking up over the blankets and he could only imagine what the whole look was like once Mino decided to emerge. 

    "You awake?" he whispered half expecting a snore in return but Mino responded with a low whisper of a yes. 

    "Want coffee?" he murmured hoping the power was back now. 

    "That’d be nice" Mino said, peeking over the edge of the blanket at him with sleepy confused eyes. Maybe he was wondering in that moment if what he remembered was true, that someone else had slept in his bed with him that night. 

Making his way to the kitchen, still wearing Mino’s oversized woolen sweater he was relived to find that the power was back. He made them some coffee and some plain ham and cheese sandwiches and put them on a tray before wobbling back to the bedroom. 

Mino had sat up and flattened his hair now, scrolling through the news on his phone. 

    "Did you check the news yet?" Mino asked while accepting his coffee and sandwich. 

    "No, are the damages bad?" he replied getting back into bed nervously as he didn’t wish to spill his coffee into Mino’s bed linen. 

    "Yeah, not just that though.. Look" he held up his phone for him to see and there it was the same picture of his apartment building from the fire, but with a very different headline. 

    "The roof caved in?" he asked still not grasping the situation. 

    "More like flew off" Mino said scrollin