Kibum tossed and Kibum turned. Fabric clung to his body like the damp hair to his forehead. His eyes were clamped shut, keeping the sight of foreign décor out of his mind. If he didn’t see the difference, there was none, right? He tried to delude himself, but the flapping of curtains that his own room didn’t have, had other ideas.

This wasn’t what he was used too—nothing like it, in fact. This room was too hot, too dark, too small. The sheets were heavier than he would have liked; the rough fabric grated against his skin and forced his clothes into awkward positions when he tried to move and make himself more comfortable. There were little noises he wasn’t accustomed to hearing and the thought that the house was in the woods made them seem a little more menacing than they probably were. The air didn’t smell like anything he was familiar with, nor did the bedding—minus the pillows he’d brought here himself, of course.

No, this wasn’t what he was used to at all. So Kibum continued tossing and turning, eyes still clamped, and sweated with the effort.

Thoughts of the people in the rooms around him stressed him out. This was his first time at Jinki’s house, so he didn’t know anyone beside the other boy. All of them, all of those new people in this unknown house were sound asleep. This was their norm; this is how they liked things…

Kibum knew that when Jinki’s mother offered him the guest room—all squinty eyes and warm smiles—it was with the best intentions. She just figured that with Jinki’s bed being a single, Kibum would be more comfortable in a different one, naturally.

It made sense, really. The logic was sound… at least from their point of view.

If only they could see me now, he thought as he wiped the moisture from his forehead. How was he going to make it another six hours like this?

Maybe this is what Jinki’s family liked, but all Kibum would have liked would be to climb into bed with the older boy.

He had thought about it, but decided against it when he realized he couldn’t remember where Jinki’s room was, exactly. He didn’t want to be wandering around their house in the middle of the night.

What if he got lost and ended up having to collapse where he stood, for fear of getting even more lost? What if Jinki’s parents caught him stumbling around their house and thought he was being shady? Kibum wasn’t shady! Kibum was just hot and uncomfortable and needed to cling to his friend at the moment…

Kibum needed to calm down, is what he needed.

Nonetheless, he didn’t figure he could risk his pride, health, or reputation, so there he laid, still rolling, clamping, sweating it out.

Ugh, why did he even agree to this? Kibum knew he was no good at these things. He had his friends stay at his house for a reason, after all. Maybe it was selfish to continuously inflict this very pain on his friends time and time again, but he didn’t really care. As long as he was comfortable and they survived the night, right? And if they stayed over often enough, it’d start to feel like a second home, anyway. He decided that for them.

Jinki had stayed over plenty of times, so why was Kibum at Jinki’s house? Ugh, why did he agree to this?

There was a sudden creak, louder than the ones Kibum had heard coming from where he assumed was down the hall, and definitely closer. The door to the guest room made a noise and he was too afraid to unclamp his eyes to see what was going on. He did just the opposite of that, in fact, and tensed every muscle in his little body in some sort of ineffective defense against whatever obscure thing was happening this time.

Were Jinki’s parents checking up on him? He really wasn’t a shady character, he promised. There was no need to check on him. He might have seemed a little weird at dinner, but he couldn’t help that he was so different from what they were used to. Jinki was pretty quiet and not everybody can be that way, he hoped they realized. Didn’t they know that just because he talked and moved his arms around like he had ADHD didn’t mean that he was some sort of wild child, bent on destroying their home? He wasn’t going to do anythi—

“Kibum? Hey, are you awake?”

After another creak and the hushed click of the door shutting behind him, Jinki’s voice carried through the thick air Kibum supplied the room with.

“Kibum?”

“Oh, thank god, Jinki. I can’t sleep in here. Nothing is right. I thought you were your parents. I’m not weird, Jinki. I’m not.”

Kibum didn’t appreciate the way the older boy laughed at him and he certainly didn’t appreciate the way he couldn’t see his stupid face as he did it. The room was just too dark.

The sound continued the length of Jinki’s journey to the edge of the bed and Kibum huffed in annoyance, sitting up with a roll of the eyes.

“What is so funny, you idiot? Nothing about that was funny. I’m not weird, so why don’t you shut up before your parents actually do check on me. I don’t need them thinking I laugh while I’m all alone in a room. You’re the weird one.”

As Jinki crawled into the bed, body heavy from a mixture of a longing for sleep and a fit of laughter, the sound got louder. It was especially obnoxious in the quiet of the night and should have continued to grate on Kibum’s nerves, but it didn’t, for some reason.

Jinki lifted the unfamiliar blankets that were too heavy and expertly shifted his body on the unfamiliar sheets that irritated Kibum’s skin, and settled down there, making himself comfortable on one of Kibum’s pillows.

The younger boy laid back down, quick to attach himself to Jinki’s side, head on his chest and hand on his jiggling tummy.

Even as Jinki’s body shook Kibum’s brain around, he wasn’t too mad. Sleep was something Kibum held dear at this point in his life, and to be awake this late was also bizarre.

Whatever. Things were looking up.

A deep inhale found that the air didn’t smell so different anymore, not with Jinki’s scent and the smell of his own pillows replacing all the other ones, and the older boy’s voice was becoming sort of soothing in the same sense, drowning out the sound of flapping curtains. He was quite content with becoming a stationary fixture at Jinki’s side, and after throwing the top layer of blankets off, it wasn’t really that hot, either. The size of the room was altogether irrelevant and with his best friend being so close, the darkness didn’t stop him from seeing the stupid face he had wanted to. Everything was falling into place now that Jinki was there, it seemed.

A few minutes passed and Jinki’s laughter finally settled down.

“You’re silly. I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time, though. If you want to, we can sleep at your house next time, okay?”

Kibum could practically hear the smile in his voice, practically hear the way Jinki’s small eyes got even smaller in the process, and that… that was it. That was why Kibum had agreed to this. The real question was why he had to be so difficult all the time.

“Would that make you happy, Kibummie?”

“Shut up, idiot. Just so you know, I’m staying at your house next weekend, too.”

“But I thought you were miserable. Why stay here again?”

“I’ll get used to it if I stay here enough… It’ll be like my second home.”

Author’s note: I always feel like I say their names too many times throughout the fic… I don’t know what else to call them ;w; I guess I’m not good with pronouns. As usual, this might not even have been worth your time, so I apologize. These were 3 AM scribbles at my friend’s house a few months ago xD Oh, the dumb things that come to me… OTL At least I have something to upload, right? Right? Also, my computer is being real slow these days, so no picture this time because I have no patience. And that saddens me deeply.