When they finished eating Myungsoo lightly suggested leaving and taking the books to his apartment. It wasn't so much that he was uncomfortable asking Sungjong to his house, but Sungjong could tell he felt too bold asking. He stopped himself from reminding Myungsoo that they'd be in each other's space for the rest of their lives; Sungjong would have to see his apartment eventually, but that might be too much for his imprint.

They split the books to carry but it turned out the walk wasn't bad to Myungsoo's apartment. It was small and cozy and Myungsoo told him that it wasn't much before they entered, but he didn't seem ashamed and Sungjong wouldn't have been disappointed anyway. The inside suited Myungsoo perfectly: simple and comfortable. The living room and kitchen area weren't messy but didn't look compulsively clean either. He smiled when he saw the shelf of books and movies, quirky titles jumping out at him. A small TV was in the living room but Myungsoo shrugged saying, "I only get basic channels, but I have a DVD player and an old laptop." In his imagination, Sungjong could almost see Myungsoo picking at a meal on his couch nested in blankets, the TV on the shopping network for background noise while he read one of his books and Sungjong yearned to be there too in that moment. His shoes by the door and his school work on the table by Myungsoo's mail and sitting beside Myungsoo with his feet tucked between Myungsoo's legs and, yeah, he'd probably actually be watching the shopping channel.

It was too much to want right now, Sungjong knew; that was too fast. They barely knew each other and Sungjong wanted to be tucked inside Myungsoo's cozy life already. As of now Sungjong was pretty sure Myungsoo did not feel the same.

When they dropped the books in Myungsoo's room, Myungsoo turned to him with a frown. "Do you feel shaky?" he asked uncertainly, a hand fiddling with his jacket buttons. He himself looked sick. Completely sick-- face pale and eyes tired looking. He had for a while, but Sungjong hadn't acknowledged it.

Sungjong did feel off, when he came back to himself from his little fantasy of domestic imprint life. He felt shaky and uncomfortable too, like he might either snap at the next person who looked at him funny or vomit, and it could go either way. He knew immediately what was wrong. "It's been a while since we've had skin contact." he said lightly.

"But we... we had that at the shop, didn't we?" Myungsoo waved his hand away from them, presumably in the direction of his auto shop.

"It wasn't long enough, not since we've been almost fifteen hours without it."

"It wasn't enough?"

Flushing, Sungjong sighed about what he was about to say. Why couldn't his imprint know just a little about Lund's? "It has to do with how long we've been apart-- that determines how long we need skin to skin contact and how much."

"What do you mean how much?"

Sungjong bit his lip and hesitated before stepping forward. Myungsoo looked at him with those intense eyes, but he didn't back away at all. He stayed where he was even when Sungjong stepped closer. As Sungjong got closer, he realized how ty he really felt. He ached everywhere, like he had the flu.

"Usually when two people--" Sungjong stopped himself from saying 'a couple' "imprint, they aren't at risk as quickly. But as time goes on they start to feel the need for skin contact more." Sungjong smiled lightly, "I told you earlier that the max was usually about twelve hours before you start feeling pretty bad. The only reason we've lasted so long is because of what we did at the garage and light touches since then."

Myungsoo's breath came heavy when Sungjong took another step forward but he still didn't move. His eyes just tracked Sungjong carefully.

"Twelve is really the limit, after that you start to get uncomfortable, anxious and jittery. At about just three hours you need maybe twenty minutes of contact."

Sungjong's hand's reached out decisively just as Myungsoo asked "How much skin?" Sungjong just took hold of the edges of Myungsoo's jacket and pulled it open, pushing at the shoulders until it fell to the floor.

"Exact measurements or examples?"

Myungsoo didn't stop the hand's pushing at the layers of his clothes, "What do we need to do?"

"Bare chests." Sungjong said, not paying attention to the way he felt himself flush down to his toes and picked at the hem of Myungsoo's shirt.

"But it's definitely been more than three hours."

"Three to nine hours of separation calls for an hour of contact."

"Of what?" Sungjong's hands still held the hem of his shirt but he did nothing. He didn't look like he'd be stopping them.

"Stripped to underwear." Sungjong  murmured, embarrassed, "But we were probably in the garage longer than we realized, so we don't need to do that." He excused them.

"But we weren't separated for three to nine hours, we were separated for twelve." Myungsoo said steadily. Sungjong thought he was taking this either too well or he was about to murder Sungjong.

Sungjong didn't answer him; instead he decided to be bold and lifted Myungsoo's shirt. Myungsoo didn't stop him then either, he lifted his arms in assistance even, and when Sungjong dropped it to the floor and grabbed his own shirt, Myungsoo's hands reached out to take over.

It was hard for Sungjong to pretend he wasn't embarrassed. He was skinny and probably pink all over and Myungsoo was just beautiful, yet he still felt comfortable, and Myungsoo's eyes weren't judging. Myungsoo didn't say anything at all, only stepped even closer and reached for Sungjong's pants button.

It made Sungjong's breath catch when Myungsoo ped his pants, "I told you, we don't have to--" but then Myungsoo's knuckles grazed against the skin of his hip and he whimpered a little at the zing of contact.

"We'll do this right." Myungsoo's voice was rough around the edges and Sungjong swallowed when he heard it. Myungsoo just carefully pulled his pants down, kneeling until he could pull them off each of Sungjong's legs and then he finally undid his own jeans.

When they were both in their underwear, Sungjong only let himself take a moment to appreciate it, because he knew Myungsoo must be uncomfortable, both with the need for skin contact and the situation.

They almost kind of collided messily at the same time, like a hug but the best hug Sungjong had ever had in his life. He felt instantly better; all the unease that had gathered inside of him melted away and he sighed into Myungsoo's neck. The same feelings of bliss were coming from Myungsoo, who held the small of Sungjong's back with his fingers spread wide, encompassing as much skin as he could. The bed was conveniently close enough for them to fall on, thankfully, and they rolled to the center, still clutching tightly, taking advantage of being horizontal to entwine their legs.

It could have easily been ual, and it almost was, but at the moment Sungjong felt nothing but comfort as he gripped Myungsoo's shoulders and rested his forehead in the curve of his neck. It was only later on that Sungjong told Myungsoo that more than twelve hours required about five hours of skin to skin contact, but by then they'd passed that without even realizing. Time passed easily like that, and there might have even been a nap (which was probably the best sleep Sungjong had ever gotten).

They got up later to relocate to the living room and get something else to eat; by then it was about eleven, but Myungsoo smoothed his hand over the back of Sungjong's head when Sungjong complained and told him to spend the night. He called up his grandfather and said he was staying with a friend for the night. He only had Sunggyu, Hoya, Dongwoo and Sungyeol that he was close to, so his grandfather would be suspicious, but would say nothing.

The ice that had separated Myungsoo and him seemed to have been shattered after their massive nap. Myungsoo made them an easy dinner while Sungjong helped unhelpfully and watched more of Myungsoo's playful side come out. He even saw a real smile from Myungsoo, and had the pleasure of being the reason for it. They watched a few variety shows while they ate sitting in exactly the position Sungjong had thought about, his chilly feet tucked under Myungsoo's bare thighs while they watched TV and talked.

This was so close to what Sungjong wanted had to commend himself for not falling apart when Myungsoo said, offhandedly, "There's a girl I really like. Her name is Soo Yeon. I just... want you to know." He didn't look at Sungjong as he spoke and Sungjong got the feeling that he didn't actually want to talk about it anymore.

Of course there was a girl. Of course there was.

Ooooh intense seen whatcha gonna do.
One of my favorite lines from the fic that started the imprint verse is

"Imagine having someone who's always there for you, no matter what. Who'll never love you any less, even if they find out all the deep dark secrets you think are unforgivable. Who can make everything better with a touch. That will always trust you, want you to be happy, and put you first. Who'll never leave you, and would rather cut off their own arm before they ever hurt you. Someone that’s the best you ever had, so good you think you can't survive it, and instead of that feeling fading over the years, it just gets better and better. Well, you've got that, for the rest of your life. He's in the kitchen."

It applies to aaaalllll the Lund's sufferers and I just love the out of it.