At the edge of consciousness she heard a loud and insistent... ringing. Sun Ae fussed in her sleep and shut her eyes tighter, her body refusing to let her wake up at this point. It was late, that much she registered and there was something that was trying to steal this wonderful sleep from her. Once again, the noise echoed around her and she turned in her bed, angrily grabbing a pillow from besides her and burying her head underneath it. For a second, the entire thing seemed familiar as she groggily opened her eyes.

Everything was completely quiet as she sat up and looked around her in confusion. Had she simply been dreaming? A loud clamoring of bells echoed around her and she made a face. Of course not. She kicked her bed sheets off angrily and glanced at the clock.

1:45 a.m.

She paused in her tracks and wondered who on earth it would be at this time. Something told her though that she already knew. As she shuffled over to the video intercom that was no longer there she laughed at herself, reminding herself that something like that was a thing of her last apartment. With a shake of her head she approached her door and stood on her tip toes. She had a swear ready on the tip of her tongue as she expected to see Taemin standing there, disheveled hair and probably something new to complain about.

But it wasn't him who was standing on the other side of the door she realized with a mix of disappointment and happiness at the same time. Without hesitation she pulled the chain off her door and unlocked it.

"What are you doing here so late?" She asked Jong In as she pulled the door open.

He looked exhausted. His hair was damp from a quick shower she assumed as he dragged himself in with heavy lids that looked ready to close any second. The duffle bag he took to training fell with a thud as he sighed tiredly. Sun Ae noticed, only mildly amused, that he looked ready to pass out and the look was completed with the pair of loose gray sweat he worse and the plain what t-shirt that shouldn't have looked so good on any normal person.

"I wanted to see you and apologize again... for leaving you today. I'm sorry" He said lamely as he looked at her and then glanced down once again. "I probably shouldn't have this late. You were sleeping right?" He said noticing the long t-shirt she wore, the edge of some loose shorts peeking out from under the hemline.

"Well... I guess waking me up is kind of your trade mark at this point so it's ok" She joked as she closed the door and locked it firmly. This late at night, especially where she lived, she'd rather not have her door open for any time longer than necessary.

He yawned and she instinctively followed his lead.

"I was a lot more heroic in my mind" Jong In confessed with a smile, "I was also a lot less tired so I'm sorry for messing up my apology too"

"Oh, I like your apology. It's very you"

"...Well, I should go now I think we both need some..." He trailed off, closing his eyes for a second and yawning once again, "uh.. sleep"

"Did you drive here?" She asked him wearily.

"Yeah"

"Well... I mean, why don't you stay tonight. I don't want you to drive back this tired. Were you training all day?" She asked.

"I was, but you don't have to do that. I'm fine—" He began nervously, suddenly a lot more aware of what was going on, "I'm... making an idiot of myself aren't I?" He asked suddenly mortified and regretting the decision to come here. His perfect and manly apology was quickly heading downhill.

"I think you're being adorable, but you're entitled your own opinion" She said with a smile as she stepped up to him and placed a small peck on his lips, "Just stay"

"But where am I going to sleep?" He asked, turning to look at the obviously unusable couch.

"Um... well we're adults, we can share a bed without doing anything weird... right?"

"R-right?" He stuttered and followed her to her room.

It dawned on him that this was the first time he had been in there and he wished he weren't so tired so that he could pay more attention to it. It was plain at first glance, but there was little things all around that gave the decorations around it much more meaning. He wanted to question her about it, but sleep was quickly winning the war as she awkwardly climbed into the right side of the bed. She stayed sitting as he just kind of stared her.

"Was this a really bad idea?" Sun Ae asked, feeling incredibly self conscious.

Jong In shook his head and climbed in next to her, instead of sitting though he laid on his side, pulled the blanket that smelled so very much like her over his body and faced her with a slight smile on his face. She looked at him, fighting to stay awake and she quietly turned off the light. She laid down and also her side so she faced him. They weren't too close, but they weren't far apart either. Sometimes, she could feel his breath tickling the tip of her nose.

"...What does the photograph on the wall mean? The one of the night sky?" He asked with a slight yawn as their eyes grew accustomed to the darkness.

"It was the first photograph I took on my own. It was on my first camping trip without my parents" She explained with small laugh, liking the way his face caught the faint night light coming in through the window.

If they hadn't been so tired she would have loved to take a photograph of him.

"Were you... on a class trip or something?" Jong In asked, his voice slowing down as his body began to feel heavier.

"No I was with... a friend" She said quietly, suddenly hoping he had fallen asleep.

"Taemin?" He asked, his voice was clearer, her words pulling him from the edge of sleep.

"Yeah"

"He's really there for everything isn't he? I'm jealous" He blurted out, the words slipping out with no regards as exhaustion seemed to slow his common sense.

"Don't be. Being friends is a huge difference from being in a relationship"

"Even one with a deadline?"

"Just because it has a deadline... it doesn't change its importance" She whispered closing her eyes.

She held her breath as she felt his hand softly touch her cheek. Butterflies fluttered inside of her as he her skin softly before letting his hand fall to the mattress.

"You're important to me too... Really important" He murmured as sleep took over and she felt like her insides did a summersault.

She opened her eyes carefully and relaxed when he didn't move. He was completely asleep she realized as she allowed the grin she had been holding in to finally freely show itself. She ran her eyes over his perfect features and suddenly ached to touch his face. She frowned, bewildered by her own rush of emotions as she pulled her hands back and placed them under her head.

"If it's worth anything..." She began knowing he couldn't hear her, "I think this was the best apology I've ever gotten from someone"

Quietly, she slipped out of the bed and went to the large print of the photograph she had taken so long ago. She smiled, remembering the night very clearly. It had taken them an entire month to convince her parents to let them go camping on their own and even then, they had both known that they were being followed. Regardless, they built their own tent and explored the small woods all the while talking about all the stupid things that happened in school. It was their second year of middle school and they had a lot to talk about. She remembered the camera Taemin had placed in her hands and all the photograph she had taken that day, instantly taking a liking to the hobby.

There were literally dozens of photographs from that day all in an album somewhere in her parent's house, but the reason she had printed this one out and framed it years later? Well, not only was it actually quite beautiful, but it was what the sky had looked like about a 5 minutes before her first kiss.

She sighed and reached up and pulled the photograph off the wall. She had actually forgotten the meaning behind the photograph as time had passed on, but even so she didn't want it up anymore. So she rested it against the wall, the image facing away from them and she went back to bed. Why was it that whenever she thought she had completely purged her room of Taemin related crap something always seemed to keep popping up? She looked over at Jong In and pictured the shy smile he liked to give her sometimes. She decided that was her favorite smile.

With his words replaying in her mind she fell into an easy sleep.

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Hey... so honestly, I get stumped very easily on this fic. The past week and a half after my finals were over I've focused on updating my other ongoing fic a lot so I'm really sorry. The good thing is that it's summer vacation for me and I've also gotten to the point in my other fic where I don't have constantly think about its plot and I can focus more on this one. I wrote out a plan for this fic. Just kind of main points or whatever so hopefully that keeps me on track from now on! It's probably a bit too ambitious, but if things go well (which I think they will because it was actually quite a bit easier to write this chapter) I'll be able to finish this fic by the end of summer ^^

Thanks for reading and I really hope I haven't completely made you guys hate this fic from my lack of updates ;_____;