When Seunghyun wakes, the light streaming in his curtains is far too bright. He sits up, his eyes only half open, and his head feeling like it weighs a thousand pounds. He tries to piece together what he can from the night before. It was a Friday…

Jiyong!

He glances over on the other side of the bed, though Jiyong’s frame is absent. Seunghyun lets out a sigh. Of course he had no right to expect for Jiyong to stay this late in the morning. He had only come here to take care of a drunken Seunghyun in the first place.

For a moment, he contemplates laying back down, throwing the sheets over his head, and pouting, but a crash and a curse from the kitchen makes him change his mind.

“!”

Jiyong’s long, drawn out swears are the first things that greet Seunghyun’s ears as he shuffles into his kitchen. As he nears, the shattered glass on the floor comes into view and a frustrated looking Jiyong stands in the midst of it, his hands on his hips.

“Good morning,” Seunghyun says, though his tone is more questioning than anything. Seunghyun’s unexpected voice causes Jiyong to jump slightly.

“You weren’t supposed to see this,” he says sheepishly. “I’m really sorry, I’ll clean it all up, I swear!”

Seunghyun lets out a laugh, a tight feeling escaping his chest. He can’t manage to be mad at Jiyong, who looks so perfect standing in his kitchen with his messy hair and wearing Seunghyun’s baggy t-shirt.

“No, stay right there, you’ll cut your feet,” Seunghyun smiles. He grabs a broom from the closet and starts sweeping up the mess around Jiyong. “What were you doing?” he asks, dumping the last fragments of glass into the trash.

“Cooking breakfast,” Jiyong says, though his tone suggests that Seunghyun should have already known the answer. “I promised you last night?”

“Oh,” Seunghyun says, scratching the back of his head. He looks at the ground sheepishly, feeling a blush flooding up to his cheeks at Jiyong’s mention of the fact that they’d spent the night together.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Jiyong says, a small smile spreading across his face. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” He shuffles over to the oven. “When was the last time you went grocery shopping, by the way?” he asks, changing the subject.

“Uh,” Seunghyun tries to think, but nothing is coming to mind. Were he more awake, he might bother to be embarrassed.

“Your milk was bad, but you had a couple eggs,”Jiyong says, still slaving away over the stovetop. “And your sink might stink for a day or so, I had to wash the milk jug out somewhere… sorry.”

Seunghyun smiles and moves to sit down at his kitchen table. He’s not used to company, for one thing, but the whole scene laid out in front of him seems a little domestic. And he doesn’t mind at all. There are certain things—like, buying milk, for example—that he doesn’t bother to nag himself about, and it’s nice to have someone else around that notices. Of course, Seunghyun doesn’t want to start thinking that Jiyong’s presence in his apartment will be a permanent thing. In fact, he’s just incredibly lucky that Jiyong’s here in the first place. But the thought of Jiyong staying around does something to Seunghyun that he can’t quite explain—there’s excitement in his chest, but nothing to really base it on.

“They’re a little burned,” Jiyong says apologetically, setting a plate of eggs in front of Seunghung. “I’m no pro.”

“It looks great,” Seunghyun smiles at him. Jiyong sits across from him, plateless. “You’re not eating?” Seunghyun asks. Jiyong shakes his head.

“I had some just before you woke up,” he says. There’s silence for a few beats, and then, “Do you mind if I borrow some paper?”

Seunghyun slowly shakes his head, a bit of egg still dangling out his mouth. He stuffs it in his mouth as best he can before he directs Jiyong, “There should be a big stack on the coffee table in the living room.” He points behind him, and Jiyong is quickly on his feet headed towards the living room.

When he returns, he’s toting a pen behind his ear, and has a small stack of papers in his hand. He resumes sitting across the table from Seunghyun, but makes no further attempts at conversation—only bows his head and scribbles across the page. Seunghyun tries to make out what he’s writing, but to no avail. Jiyong’s writing is rather small, and slightly messy, so Seunghyun has no hopes of reading it from his current angle. Instead of bothering Jiyong, however, he decides to continue eating in silence, watching the blonde boy write.

Seunghyun quickly picks up on small habits that Jiyong has. The way that he twirls his pen between his fingers when he can’t think of what to write next, the way his tongue slowly finds its way to the corner of his mouth while he’s concentrated, the way his left hand sprawls across the page to hold it in place while he writes, the sudden adaptation of horrible posture and incredible closeness to the page.

At length, as the page is filled, Jiyong sets down the pen and lets out a small sigh.

“What’s all that about?” Seunghyun asks, nodding his chin in the direction of Jiyong’s writing. The blonde boy seems to grow a bit shy, and he pulls the paper closer to him.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he says. “I just figured I should write it down before I forgot or I got writer’s block again.” He smiles. “When I’m around you my writer’s block tends to disappear,” he sighs happily, reaching across the table and collecting Seunghyun’s empty plate and carries it to the sink. “Speaking of which, don’t you have to work on your book today? How’s it coming?”

Seunghyun lets out a small groan. He’d completely forgotten about his book. “It’s been… rough to work on the past few days,” he says, though the truth is he hasn’t even bothered to touch his draft. He feels like his absence from Jioyng has drained him of all creativity. He’s had no new ideas. No character developments. Just nothing. “So, I mean, I could stand to leave it alone for today.”

Jiyong lets out a laugh. “And what would you do instead?” He asks, walking back towards Seunghyun’s room, Seunghyun following closely behind him. The second they’re in the room, Jiyong takes off his shirt—or rather Seunghyun’s shirt that he’s borrowed—and begins to search for his own. Seunghyun is caught between embarrassed and entranced at the same time. As he stares at Jiyong’s perfectly formed body, the answer he was planning to give dies on his lips.

“See? You don’t even have a back-up plan.” Jiyong laughs after successfully locating his shirt and sliding it on over his slender frame. He picks his pants up from off the floor, retreating into Seunghyun’s bathroom for a little more privacy while he changes. Jiyong’s absence helps Seunghyun’s confidence to grow a bit.

“Well, I could just spend time with you,” he suggests, sheepishly. Mentally, he’s kicking himself for sounding so lame and so needy. He’s met Jiyong all of three times and if he’s not careful, he’s going to come off clingy.

“Nice try,” Jiyong grins, walking out of the bathroom, now donning his own pants. He folds Seunghyun’s shirt and sweats and places them on the foot of the bed. “I’ve got to go to work. You know, earn money and all.” He laughs. “I’ll leave so you can do the same.” He steps a little closer to Seunghyun. “But before I go, I just want to say thanks for last night. You being there really meant a lot to me. I mean, no one has ever been so excited to come to a performance before. So, thank you.”

“We should do it again sometime,” Seunghyun suggests, “without all the alcohol, though, I guess.”

“Hm, but you’re a cute drunk, so I don’t know if I’d mind if you had a few drinks,” he smiles, biting his lip.  The two stand in silence for a few moments. Seunghyun is drinking in Jiyong’s appearance, a sinking feeling in his stomach, as though he’s never going to see him again. Though, there’s really no reason for him to feel that way. They’ve already bumped into each other twice, who’s to say it won’t happen again?

He’s about to ask for Jiyong’s number, or for some way to contact him. Something that will guarantee they’ll see each other again, but the thought falls right out of his head as Jiyong leans forward and plants a soft kiss on the very corner of his mouth.

“I’ll see you around, Seunghyun,” he waves, cheerily, and skips out of Seunghyun’s apartment. Seunghyun is left standing there, frozen. A bubble of hope rises from the pit of his stomach. Grinning like an idiot, he meanders towards the living room, determined to be productive for the day. His time with Jiyong has replenished his well of inspiration enough for the time being, and he may as well take advantage of it.

He sits at his desk in the living room, stretching and letting out a sigh, but small, slightly illegible handwriting on the corner of his draft paper catches his eye.

698-342-5501
Thanks, Seunghyun.
XX- Jiyong

___________

(A/N: I'm so so sorry! This update is really late and really short, but in my defense, it was a holiday weekend here in the states! (Also, I got a little distracted by the Coupe D'Etat MV... wowowow 10/10) I will try not to be so late with updates in the future. As always, thank you guys so much for your support and your comments. You're all so sweet!)