It was the sounds he heard first. The hum of light early morning traffic outside, the previous night’s playlist still playing softly over the speakers, and the incessant ringing of his phone. Raising his eyebrows to try to pry his eyelids open, he reached over to the bedside table to grab his spectacles to put them on as he stumbled out of bed. Eyes finally semi-open, he pulled back the sheets to figure out where he had stuffed his mobile. Three overturned pillows later, he found it just as it stopped ringing.

“Aish-” he flopped back down on the bed and dialled, grumbling at the ceiling when the call went unanswered. “What is this, some sort of revenge?”

He sat up again and swiped at the phone to type off a text when it vibrated.

“Are you up?”

“Yes hyung.”

“Cool. Open the door for me? This is a little too heavy.”

“What?”

“The door, Ji. I’ve been standing outside for the past twenty minutes.”

Jiyong cursed under his breath and fumbled out of his bed, barely managing to keep his feet from tangling in the sheets. Almost sliding to the door in his hurry, he opened it to the sight of Seunghyun standing on the other side with a large rectangular package covered in brown paper.

“Finally.” The older man shoved the package into Jiyong’s hands and more or less shoved him back into the flat. Jiyong stumbled a little but caught his footing and lightly rested it against the floor. “You know you could have kept it down?” he shook his head at the sight of Seunghyun crashing onto the sofa.

“What is it anyway? Hyung, did you buy me a painting?” That earned a scoff. “As if. You have no appreciation for real art anyway.”

Jiyong glared in response, “Us having different tastes doesn’t mean that mine is bad. Also, it’s 6 am. I just woke up, you’ve probably not slept, and I haven’t had any sugar yet.” He sat on the floor, sliding the package to lay it down carefully. He tugged at the twine around it, and pulled it apart, to gently uncover whatever Seunghyun had decided to grace him with.

Properly unpacked, he stared at the reason for being woken up. And stared some more.

“What do you think?” Seunghyun had shifted from the sofa to crouch behind him.

“It’s blank.”

“Yes!”

“And you hailed a cab to here to give me a blank canvas, why?” Jiyong closed his eyes and tilted his head back in frustration.

Seunghyun’s grin fell. “I thought that it might make you paint again.”

Jiyong rubbed his face tiredly. “It’s been ages. I don’t even know if I can anymore. And why did it have to be so early?”

“…I’m sorry. Like you said, I hadn’t slept and it seemed like a good idea…” He moved to wrap it back but the younger man stilled his hand with a light touch.

“Stop.” He sighed. “Let it be. I’ll see what I’ll do with it.” And the grin came back. “Yay!”

“No promises, hyung. You know I haven’t created anything in a long while.”

Seunghyun brushed it off, “Yeah that’s okay.”

Stifling a yawn, Jiyong stood and pulled the other man up too. “Now go fix us breakfast, in exchange for ruining my sleep.”

“Yeah yeah. Go brush your teeth.”

Shoving the elder in the direction of the kitchen, Jiyong went freshen up, switching into higher gear when memories of the other man’s cooking assaulted him. He definitely did not want to have burnt toast with a too-hard-boiled egg.

Finishing up quickly, he rushed back to the sight of Seunghyun sitting at the island with two steaming mugs in front of him. He looked up when he heard footsteps, and smiled. “Coffee? Thought I shouldn’t try to poison you after disturbing your sleep.”

Jiyong grinned and turned to the refrigerator to figure out their breakfast.

A panicked search for oil and another few minutes later, a plate of omurice sat between them. It was quiet then, except for the still playing music, and the clink of their cutlery. After a minor fight for the last bite, they cleaned up and then went back to the living room.

Jiyong settled comfortably on the rug while Seunghyun sat on the couch behind him. He couldn’t quite remember when he had last had breakfast this early, or had spent more than ten minutes with Seunghyun in the last year. He leaned back to rest against the furniture, and closed his eyes when he felt fingers lightly run through his hair. “I like the shade.” The older man murmured. “It suits you.”

“Thanks, hyung. The hairdresser was a little sceptical about violet, but I managed to convince her.”

“Hmm… It looks good.”

Jiyong pushed lightly against the hand that now rested on his head. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Ji.” It was barely more than a whisper.

The playlist finally coming to an end, silence permeated the flat. A comforting blanket that lay over the two friends as they lay and sat together. Seunghyun’s left hand playing with Jiyong’s hair, while his right arm crossed his chest to lightly clasp the other’s over the younger man’s shoulder. Simultaneous sighs broke the stillness as they both looked at the blank canvas that was staring back at them from the floor.