Next thing Joonmyun knows, he's looking at the menu screen, and he frowns in confusion. He doesn't remember how the movie ended nor does he remember the movie actually ending at all. He also doesn't recall his living room being tilted about forty-five degrees. It is then that he realizes that he's resting his head on something. That would explain the change in angle, he supposes. Whatever's under Joonmyun is nice and warm, and Joonmyun has half a mind to stay just like this for the rest of the night. He's really comfortable.

That doesn't stop him from panicking once he notices that the something is breathing too and it hits him that he's currently leaning on Yixing's shoulder. Yixing is completely still, and Joonmyun can feel calm exhales rustling his hair and thinks to himself that maybe Yixing is asleep too. He kind of hopes that's the case. That would make everything a lot less mortifying. But then Yixing takes a deep breath and shakes Joonmyun carefully. “Joonmyun?” he whispers. “Are you awake?”

Slowly and without looking Yixing in the eye, Joonmyun sits upright. He can feel his face trying to morph into a cherry. “I'm sorry,” he says. “I'm... really sorry... about that.”

“It's okay,” Yixing assures him. There's laughter in his voice, and Joonmyun chances a glance at him. Even in the unflattering light of the TV screen, Yixing's smile is pretty. “No harm done.”

“Speak for yourself.” Groaning, Joonmyun hides his face with his hands. “Oh God, this is really embarrassing. How long did I...?”

“Well, the movie ended about twenty minutes ago,” Yixing says in a casual tone. He chuckles when Joonmyun groans again. “Don't worry, everything's fine. You didn't even drool on me or anything, and you looked kind of cute.” Joonmyun isn't sure how to respond to that. His words seem to be failing him, anyway, just like they so often do when he's around Yixing. Joonmyun's bashful grin falters when Yixing motions to stand up. “I should go.”

“Why?” Joonmyun's voice comes out embarrassingly disappointed. “We-we haven't even finished all the snacks, you can't leave yet.”

“It's getting late, we can just save them for next time,” Yixing suggests with a shrug, and all of Joonmyun protests die right away at the words 'next time'. He likes the sound of that.

Joonmyun still feels groggy as he leads Yixing to the door, but more than anything he feels ashamed of himself. “I really am sorry,” he says, wringing his hands while he watches Yixing putting on his shoes. “I didn't invite you over here just so I could fall asleep on you.”

Yixing shakes his head, smiling. “It's okay.”

“You probably had more interesting things you could've done too. You could've spent time with your friends. I'm sorry I made you come over.”

“Hey,” Yixing cuts him off. “No. Stop. I had a good time. Really. I like being with you.”

Joonmyun's face does that annoying flushing thing again. “Good. That's... good.”

Yixing stands up. He looks at Joonmyun as if he's contemplating something, biting his lower lip as he thinks. “Do you think it would be alright if... if I gave you a hug?”

“Yes,” Joonmyun says before his mind can even catch up with the question.

And then there is a pair of arms carefully wrapping around him. Despite him agreeing to this, it takes Joonmyun a moment to register that this is actually happening, but when he does, he hugs back, arms twining around Yixing. Joonmyun's face is pressed into Yixing's shoulder so when he inhales, he takes in a lungful of Yixing's scent, and all he can think about after that is how nice Yixing smells and how warm his embrace makes Joonmyun feel.

What seems like far too soon, Yixing pulls away, and Joonmyun lets go as well, albeit reluctantly. “I'll call you,” Yixing says, but immediately frowns. “No wait, I'll probably forget.”

“I'll call,” Joonmyun promises instead. Yixing leaves with a smile on his face.

Joonmyun has a hard time falling asleep that night. It's weird. He feels tired enough to sleep for a long time and he certainly didn't have any problem with sleeping on Yixing's shoulder, yet now that he's actually in bed he can't seem to find rest. He keeps tossing and turning, constantly rearranging his pillow and his covers. Nothing seems to work.

Idly, he wonders what it would be like to have Yixing sleeping next to him. Joonmyun turns to look at the extra pillow and he wonders what it would be like if Yixing was taking up that unused half of the bed, filling it with the warmth of a living body rather than emptiness. Joonmyun had felt so great sleeping with his head resting on Yixing's shoulder earlier, it would probably feel just as amazing to actually share a bed with him. Maybe Yixing would even fit his body against Joonmyun's back, wrap an arm around his waist and–

Joonmyun rolls over to face away from the unoccupied side of the bed, and he squeezes his eyes shut as tightly as he can. He doesn't know why he would even think about sharing a bed with Yixing, he's not supposed to think like that about his friends. It's terrifying. He chases away the unwelcome thoughts to the best of his ability and forces himself to go to sleep.

Monday is fuzzy around the edges and Joonmyun needs more caffeine than usual to get him through the day. Work is terrible when you're running on next to no sleep, he comes to learn. By the time he finally managed to fall asleep last night it was nearing four am and with his alarm going off at seven, he didn't manage to get the regular amount of hours he's used to. He's feeling the effects of that now.

Fortunately, the day consists of working on a project with Jongdae, who is, thankfully, sympathetic. “Rough night?” he asks after taking a single glance at Joonmyun's tired face.

“Had trouble falling asleep,” Joonmyun murmurs as he stirs a third packet of sugar into his black coffee. “Lots of things on my mind, I guess.” Jongdae just hums in response, but he doesn't ask any more questions, and Joonmyun is thankful for that as well. He doesn't really want to talk about what happened when he hasn't even come to terms with it himself.

“Maybe you should take the day off,” Jongdae suggests. “Work out whatever it is that's plaguing you and then get some sleep.”

Joonmyun shakes his head. “I'm fine,” he says. “Or I'll be fine, after I've ingested this thing.” He takes a sip of his coffee, grimacing. It's disgustingly sweet.

“If you say so. I just don't want you to get hurt or something.”

“I won't,” Joonmyun promises. “Thanks for the concern, though.”

Joonmyun doesn't take the day off. He does go home early, but that's only after Jongdae halfway forces him to by practically refusing to work with him until he gets his mind straight. Jongdae says it with a grin, though, and Joonmyun knows that Jongdae only wants what's best for him, so he ends up doing as Jongdae tells him and leaves the office an hour before time.

As Joonmyun makes his way towards the subway to ride it home, his phone vibrates in his pocket. He doesn't think twice about taking it out to check the new message, but once he sees the name of the sender, he pauses in his tracks. He stays frozen on the spot long enough for an elderly man to send him dirty looks, muttering something about 'kids and their lack of manners', before he realizes that he has stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and that he should probably get out of the way.

Staring down at the screen of his phone, Joonmyun starts walking again. What r u doing? says the message from Yixing. Short and simple. For a moment Joonmyun wonders who taught him text speak, but quickly lets the thought go, figuring there are more important things to worry about.

He decides to call Yixing rather than write a message back. He knows that text conversations has less than a fifty percent success rate when it comes to Yixing, so calling is definitely better. The phone is picked up after only a few rings. “Hi,” Yixing says on the other end and without letting Joonmyun respond, he continues: “I wanted to call you, but I figured you probably didn't have time to talk.”

“You didn't forget,” Joonmyun says, somewhat surprised.

“When it comes to you, I'll never forget.”

“That is the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me,” Joonmyun says with a grimace.

Yixing just laughs. “Come on, you totally like it,” he says, and Joonmyun knows he's probably right. His face is heating up and his cheeks hurt from smiling so widely. “So... what are you doing? Are you busy with work?"

“I just left, actually.”

“Then you should come hang out with me. Uh, if you want to, I mean.” Once more Joonmyun finds himself agreeing without giving his mind time to process the question. He thinks it may be better this way. There's a good chance he'd end up talking himself out of it if he thinks about it too much. “Sweet. I'm at our park, I'll wait for you here. Bye.” Joonmyun is still hung up on the way Yixing referred to it as 'our park' so he doesn't get to say goodbye before Yixing ends the call.

The park is only one stop away so it doesn't take long for Joonmyun to get there. Yixing is in his usual place, standing by the bench with his hands buried in the pockets of his black pants, and Joonmyun has to stop for a second to catch his breath. It's weird how he tends to forget how amazing Yixing looks. “Hey,” Joonmyun says when he gets closer, and he has the air knocked right out of him again when Yixing looks at him and smiles.

“That was fast,” Yixing says teasingly. “Are you that eager to see me?”

Joonmyun flushes. “Well, I-I was already in the area so...” Embarrassed, he drops his gaze and ends up frowning. Because there's something on Yixing's forearm, some kind of dark mark peeking out from the rolled up sleeve of his denim jacket. Joonmyun can't tell what it is and he feels impolite for staring, so after a while he averts his eyes. It doesn't make his curiosity go away, but he doesn't know how to ask about it without seeming rude. In the end, he opts to just let it go.

The weather is nice and the park is peaceful and mostly empty at this time of the day, so they decide to go for a walk. “I'm off work,” Yixing tells Joonmyun. He's tugging down his sleeves, though it seems more like he's doing it out of reflex than because he caught Joonmyun staring. “I have a couple of hours to kill before I have to go meet up with the band. We're practicing for this gig we're playing on Friday.”

Joonmyun's mind is still distracted by what he saw on Yixing's arm, but he manages to respond with: “That sounds exciting.”

Yixing nods. “Yeah, it's loads of fun. If you have the time I'd like for you to come see us play.”

“I'd like that too,” Joonmyun says with a smile. As far as he remembers he doesn't have anything planned for that day, and even if he did, going to see Yixing play seems so much more inviting than anything. Joonmyun has always appreciated music.

“Remind me to text you the address later,” Yixing says, and Joonmyun promises that he will. Even if it's several days away, he's already looking forward to it.

~*~

A/N: slightly more interesting, I said. OTL this chapter actually has physical contact between them, which is most likely the closest joonmyun has gotten to getting laid in about a year, let's be honest... and then joonmyun felt all weird and confused about having fluttery butterfly feelings for his ~friend~ and wanting to sleep in the same bed as his ~friend~ and wanting to be the little spoon for his ~friend~. joonmyun is kind of dense, you guys.

the next chapter is going to be much more interesting, because joonmyun is going to go see yixing's band perform and I am going to introduce several new characters (these are some of my favorite characters, too 8D), so, like joonmyun, you can all look forward to that if you choose to stick around for another week or so.

once again, thank you all for reading, and thank you all for your kind words. it means a lot to me that you would take time out of your day to read and possibly even leave a comment.