cold | junhao

二十五

When Jun awakens the next morning, neck and back stiff from his awkward sleeping position, his eyes find the bag of food left on the sofa across from him. Probably - most definitely - cold by now.

He stumbles to his feet, shoulders dropping when Minghao doesn't even stir. Not long, Jun reminds himself. He'll wake up soon. A groan runs through his entire body, Jun grimaces as he feel his joints popping with every movement he makes. His eyes are still in the process of peeling themselves open, weighed down by his fitful sleep and little rest. 

When his eyes fall on Minghao again, Jun lets out a sigh and walks over to the bed. He sits on the end, making sure not to accidentally sit on Minghao's feet, and pulls his knees up to his chin. As Wonwoo said last night, he doesn't seem to be unconscious - just asleep - as every couple of minutes Minghao shifts, occasionally letting out a hum. And every single time, it gets Jun's hopes up. Every single time, only for them to plummet again.

His hand find Minghao's where it rests above the covers, locking their fingers together gently.

"What are you doing?" 

Jun's head whips up. "Minghao?"

He hums, looking at Jun through one eye. "Why aren't you in China?"

Jun finds himself stumbling over his words. "I, uh- Wonwoo rang me last night, and he... he told me that something happened to you." He meets Minghao's eyes and holds his gaze. "So I flew back."

"Why didn't you just stay there with your girlfriend?" As he mutters the question, Minghao tugs his hand free of Jun's grip and scoffs, shifting to lie further onto his side, facing away from Jun. As for the older, he feels the words stab at his chest and a steady ache blooms as his shoulders drop.

"Hao," he begins. "I swear, that article was a hoax, or even some obsessive fan assuming what they saw without finding out more first. I can explain..."

"So explain."

"First off, the girl in the article is my cousin, Shuhua." Jun lets out a breath. "I hadn't seen her in so long and we randomly ran into each other, I didn't even know she still lived in the area." He collapses back down onto the bed, watching Minghao with desperation in his eyes. "I didn't expect there to be people around who would take photos and assume shit. Even though she's my cousin, I still wouldn't have taken the chance if I had known."

Minghao doesn't move for a second, staring at the wall with a hard gaze. Finally he turns back to face Jun, sighing and giving the older a small smile. "Okay," he says. "I'm sorry."

Returning the smile, Jun's eyes widen and he opens his phone. "I- I can even call her if you want, so you can hear it from her too-"

He feels a pressure against his forearm, and glances down at Minghao's hand, where it's pulling his hands away. "Don't..." Minghao says. "I trust you," he nods. "And it's my bad anyway. I shouldn't've assumed what I read was true and I should've spoken to you first instead of blocking you amidst my fit of insecurity." He sits up in the hospital bed and clutches Jun's hands between his own. 

Face breaking out into a grin, Jun rests the palm of his hand on Minghao's cheek, who leans into his touch with a soft smile. When their lips meet, their eyes flutter shut and Jun's body relaxes, like a heavy weight has been lifted off of him for the first time in years. He pulls away, meeting Minghao's gaze. "I missed you," he mumbles.

Minghao hums, leaning to lay his head on Jun's shoulder and wrap his arms around his waist. "I love you..." he whispers.

With a growing smile and a light fluttering in his chest, Jun lightly brushes his lips against the crown of Minghao's head. 

"I love you more."

"Try me bitch."

---
a/n: thoughts?

I feel like I make it painfully clear across my books that I'm a romantic asexual... like SO obvious lmao... like there's that one scene in fairytale where I imply that they have sex but past that... nada

I'm trying to write a slightly more *that* book at least with like darker/more mature themes and whatever but idk if it'll ever be published at this rate.... maybe one day :) I'd love to publish it but idk how long I'll stay comfortable with it so we'll see I guess.