“J-Jinki hyung?” 

 

Jinki blearily blinked sleep out of his half-closed eyes and murmured groggily, “Hmmm?”

 

“Can I sleep in your bed with you tonight?”

 

Surprised, Jinki pushed his way clumsily out from the mound of quilts and blankets he was under, coming face to face in the dark with Taemin, crouching by his bed, his small, thin face pinched and pale and frightened. It was the first time he’d had such a request – being an only child, he’d always weathered all nights alone regardless the nightmare, thunderstorm, or insecurity, and now he wasn’t sure what to do, as he stared back in the gloom at the wisp of a fourteen-year-old whom he’d met only two weeks ago, and only moved in with to the dorms a week ago.

 

“Won’t it be strange…?”

 

“But you aren’t a stranger, hyung,” Taemin’s eyes were wide and luminous and sad, and it was that sadness that tore at Jinki’s heart, and he found himself reaching out and grasping Taemin’s thin wrist and pulling him gently under the covers with him.

 

The boy was trembling and his skin was cold to the touch but as he snuggled closer to Jinki, unexpectedly wrapping slender arms about his waist, Jinki felt warmed and he fell asleep to the gentle puffs of warm air that Taemin’s breathing made on the skin of his neck.