rays of pinkish orange sunlight peeked through the curtains, shining upon the two cuddling boys in minghao's bed. the blanket had partly rolled off of them throughout the few hours of sleep they had gotten that night, yet they remained in the exact same position as how they had fallen asleep.
junhui's eyes fluttered open from the sudden sensation of minghao's hot breath tickling his neck. the boy had his nose nuzzled in the crook of his neck and an arm draped around junhui's waist. a delightful smile tugged on junhui's lips when he inched back and took the opportunity to study all minghao's perfectly defined facial features from up close.
his hair was rather messy and a trickle of drool leaked from the corner of his mouth. an imperfection that seemed oddly attractive to him. though junhui was convinced that no matter what side of minghao he would get to see in the future, he would most likely adore every single one of them.
the atmosphere was filled with serenity and ease, until minghao's body started twitching, signaling it wouldn't take long for him to wake up eventually. junhui's smile grew wider on his sleepy behavior, yet vanished as soon as it came when minghao jolted awake out of a sudden.
his eyes widened, clouded with panic, as the said boy pushed himself away from the boy who had once held him so dearly. with a harsh thud he bumped with his back against the wall. but even if it hurt, his expression was filled with nothing but pure fear.
"minghao?" junhui whispered, carefully reaching his hand out to get minghao to calm down.
however, it only seemed to worsen minghao's sudden reaction. he let out a high pitched shriek and crawled all the way to the corner, his back pressed up agains the window above his bed until he couldn't move any further. tears threatened to fall and his whole body started trembling as he pulled his legs up to his chest in a protective manner.
"p-please don't hurt me." he cried out, his pleading eyes piercing directly into junhui's.
his words made absolutely no sense to junhui at all, who was just simply dumbfounded and wasn't able to move the slightest inch. it all happened so fast. one moment they had been all safe and peacefully sleeping and the other moment minghao had a sudden reaction. and junhui had no clue what could have possibly caused this.
but from what he could see, minghao's past trauma - or also the main reason why he was brought here in the first place - was playing up. it seemed like a pretty severe panic attack since it looked like minghao couldn't recognize him at all. and though junhui had no experience with anything close to this, he would try everything to calm minghao.
"shhh, shhh, minghao it's just me... i'm here.." junhui tried hushing him, slowly crawling up to the sobbing boy against the window.
"wh-where is.." minghao couldn't finish his sentence as he buried his face in his knees, not wanting to see anything anymore. his sobs went muffled by the fabric of his pajama trousers, his hands crawling in his hair on the back of his head as he started rocking his body from side to side.
"where is who, minghao?" junhui calmly asked, sitting down next to the boy and leaving a small open space in between them. if anything, he absolutely didn't want to invade minghao's personal space right now.
"w..where is j-junhui.. i need jun-h-hui.." panic had really clouded his vision if he failed to recognize the certain person beside him.
"i'm here minghao.. junhui's here." and with the last two words, minghao's head peered up out of a sudden.
through the waterfall of tears, an immense smile appeared on his face once his eyes met junhui's. "y-you're here." he muttered, too captivated by junhui's face to even care about the fact that he was obviously staring.
"i never left. come here you." with the gesture of opening his arms, junhui allowed minghao a safe place against his chest. and without further hesitance, minghao dropped himself against that warm body, allowing himself to be comforted and to have junhui hugging him with all the safety he had to offer.
without any needed guidance, junhui felt minghao's arms draping around his waist, energy seemingly draining as his entire bodyweight leaned up against him. junhui brought his left hand up to minghao's longish black hair and connected his fingertips with his scalp, scratching his head and not leaving a single spot untouched. his other hand had he resting in between his shoulder blades as he rubbed tender circles.
"it's okay, it's okay. i'm here, okay?" junhui whispered the soothing words in minghao's ear. "and i'm not going anywhere."
though his words weren't completely true, seeing junhui's condition, he felt the responsibility to reassure minghao in this way. his uncontrollable sobbing continued for a good while, yet junhui never budged from his side and held him in his arms.
"i.. i'm so sorry.. i just.. i suddenly lost sight and i- i-... i was so scared you were going to hurt me.." minghao choked out, burying his nose deeper in the fabric of junhui's plain white shirt, that was now stained with minghao's tears. which he could never mind of course.
minghao's words made him concerned, scared even. "i would never hurt you and no one else will as long as i'm here." as long as i'm here. there it was again, that lost promise he would never be able to keep as long as his condition continued going downhill. but it wasn't time to tell minghao.
not yet.
not in his current state.
for now all junhui was capable of doing was whispering sweet nothings inside his ear, telling him that everything would be alright and holding him ever so dearly. just as long as he got minghao to calm down and to make him feel as safe as he had done the night before.
