SOME NIGHTS - YUWIN

4:00 AM

"Yuta...it's 4:00 AM...why are you still awake..."

Yuta, who was shuffling through papers on the floor of him and Sicheng's shared bedroom, looks up with a smile. "Don't worry about it. Go back to bed."

Sicheng sighs from where he's bunched up under the covers. His newly dyed peach-pink, orange-ish hair looks almost black due to the dim light. He closes his eyes though, unconvinced that his lover will return to bed and not feeling too willing to put up with his antics. He can't really tell what Yuta is doing, but he's too sleepy to really care.

At this point, Yuta has the entire side table drawer pulled out. To anyone else, this would be a load of trash. Ramen noodle packets, wine bottles, and to the side of the table, Sicheng's guitar case. Dong Sicheng, it reads, all messy with old marker and torn at the edges. Yuta can't help a little laugh looking back at it. It's cute.

Sicheng snores from behind him.

It was hard at first. Yuta didn't blame Sicheng for the initial awkwardness, but he himself had no problem falling in love again. Luckily, it wasn't too hard for Sicheng either.

Looking back at it, the entire situation was ridiculously cliche. How lucky was Yuta to find someone he thought he'd never find again outside his bar and singing to himself?

He supposes that despise the major loss he once faced, the world was paying him back with a 'I O U' note card taped to the head of Dong Sicheng.

A couple month's time did wonders for them.

Time in itself did wonders for them.

Snapped out of his thoughts suddenly by the feeling of tears running down his face, Yuta smiles something bittersweet.

Setting everything back where he found it, Yuta crawls over Sicheng's sleepy form to lay down next to him. He's half awake and half asleep, mumbling little bits of nonsense that make Yuta laugh.

Yuta hugs him tightly.

"Nnn, what're you doing..." Sicheng mumbles. Yuta chuckles warmly at his boyfriend's sleepy demeanor. Yuta positions himself in a way where he can continuously kiss and prod at Sicheng's face, despite the younger boy's annoyance. He makes a noise of refusal, but it doesn't take long until the Chinese musician is slipping back into sleep. 

Yuta relaxes back into bed and hums to the sound of the digital clock buzzing quietly. 

He never realized until now just how much of an impact time had on him.

Smiling, he vaguely recalls seeing each hour pass by that night. Something on the wall clock, a notification shining the time on Sicheng's phone, his stained watch ticking on his wrist. Like Sicheng, time was always there with him. 

The minute hand ticks quietly, almost at the same time as Sicheng's soft breaths. Minutes count down, each passing with a sharp pang to Yuta's heart. Why does it feel like he's back at the bar?

When he was there, he could only focus on how he didn't want this time to come to an end. When the clock struck, would Sicheng go with it? 

4:56 AM. 

Yuta lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

4:57 AM.

He pulls Sicheng a little closer.

4:58 AM. 

Sicheng shifts so that he's facing Yuta, a murmur of the other boy's name slipping past his lips.

4:59 AM.

If he concentrates hard enough, Yuta swears he can almost hear the rain pattering against the window again. That night, those pent up feelings, the exchanged secrets, the empty ramen noodle flavor packets, the shy kisses. It's like they never left. Preserved in time alongside his love for Sicheng. He hears the minute hand tick towards it's destination somewhere in the background.

With Sicheng's hand pressed up against his beating heart, Yuta closes his eyes. 

The clock strikes five.

- - -

happy late birthday to me 

the end thank you for reading thoughts comments concerns i don't have a proper author's note because this book was bad

-jae