cold | junhao

四十

Jun wakes up briefly when Minghao leaves. The room is dark, curtains still drawn with minimal light sneaking through, and in his half-dozed stupor he barely utters out a single word to ask him where he's going before sleep takes him away again.

It must be a couple hours later when he next opens his eyes—this time beating hot sunlight hits him directly, making Jun squint and want to pull the duvet further to block his vision. He's stopped when something wet touches his nose, and freezes. Slowly, he peels his eyes open one at a time. The feeling comes again, more prolonged this time and Jun sits up, looking down at his lap where he hears a small yap come from.

"Teddy!" The small dog jumps up at him, determined to carry on his quest to lick every part of Jun's face before he stands up. "How did you get here?" Jun coos, scratching at his dog's tummy and chuckling as he rolls over onto his back, still yapping happily. Hoisting Teddy into his arms, Jun spares one hand to shimmy his legs into a pair of sweatpants before skipping down the stairs, following a delicious smell to the kitchen, where he sets Teddy down on the tiled floor.

"I had an early class so I picked him up on the way back." Minghao, still dressed in his uniform, leans against the counter as some food cooks above the stove. Jun also notices the small pile of Minghao's belongings discarded on the corner of the table: his keys, folder and camera are all dangerously close to the edge. Jun pushes the camera further back onto the table as he passes.

"Why didn't you wake me up before you left?" He says, skipping over to rest his hands on Minghao's waist.

"Because you look so cute when you're sleeping." Poking the tip of Jun's nose, he smiles when he scrunches it cutely. "And you said last night how tired you were." He nods to the pan beside him, "I'm making braised chicken. It'll be ready in half an hour if you want to wait for that."

Jun groans, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "It smells really good," he swallows, already salivating too much just at the thought. "Then we're going to Jeonghan's, right? You're done with classes for the day?" 

Minghao nods. "Getting work done is so much easier now I can actually make it through one class." It's been a while since Minghao went to his classes, but his professor—the one who refused to turn off the air-con, thus making it impossible for him to attend—was fired for misconduct. After talking with his new professor, she'd understood Minghao's situation and ensured he could finally take part, plus she promised to give him extra tutoring, to make sure he could catch up with work he missed.

"Are you doing any projects at the minute?" Jun asks, reaching over his boyfriend's shoulder to stir the chicken around a bit. Minghao shakes his head, smirking as he slinks his arms around Jun's waist, effectively trapping them against each other.

"Not right now, but we're starting one next week. I have to work with other people." Minghao fakes a retch but follows up with a laugh, to which Jun rolls his eyes.

"Devastating."

After that, Jun detaches himself from Minghao's grip and runs upstairs to get dressed properly, throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, but also carrying a jacket downstairs with him and throwing it over a chair. Whilst he then swaps with Minghao and watches the food, the younger goes to shower and rid himself of dirt from being in class and spending time swarmed with other people on the bus.

"Hey," Minghao catches Jun's attention as they're sat side by side at the kitchen counter. "You said something last night at the cafe about your business? What's that about?"

It takes Jun a moment to realise he'd completely forgotten that besides the few details he gave last night, he hasn't actually told Minghao about his plans. "Oh!" he sits up straighter, "Right."

He recounts everything to Minghao, from the moment he met the boy—Seungkwan—and had the idea when getting off the bus, to going to Mingyu's Father's office and talking to him and asking for money to help.

Once he's done, he glances at Minghao, who's stayed silent the whole time, to see him watching Jun with a questionable smile on his face. "What?" he asks. 

"I'm proud of you," Minghao grins. 

"Please come talk to us if you ever need anything, Jun." Releasing himself from their grip, he nods and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Yoon once again, for putting up with him for so long.

"It was nothing, we were happy to help," Mr. Yoon smiles and claps him on the shoulder, before Jun turns around and grabs the last box from Minghao and carries it outside, where Jeonghan is lounging against his sister's car.

Begrudgingly, Hana agreed to let Jeonghan borrow her car, as Mingyu is away with Wonwoo for a couple days and there was no other way for them to get Jun's belongings back to Minghao's. They load the last box into the boot and all clamber in, struggling to fit among the plethora of bags and boxes but eventually Jun manages to curl up on the backseat, side pressed firmly against the door.

He slaps his hand twice against Jeonghan's chair, "Alright, hurry up," he groans. "I'm already getting leg cramps."

He's pretty sure Jeonghan drives extra slowly just to spite him.