cold | junhao

十五

"Happy Birthday."

"Huh?"

In his peripheral vision, Jun sees Minghao turn to face him. Their gazes meet, and Minghao smiles at him, where Jun's face is wiped clean of makeup besides a thin shimmer left behind. "I said happy birthday."

Jun shuffles on top of the bed, where they're lying side by side with their hands clasped together between them. He stills again and looks back to the man beside him. "How did you know?"

"I saw all the texts on your phone," Minghao says. "Why didn't you tell me?"

There's a moment where the question floats between them as Jun contemplates his answer. "I guess I just didn't want you to know," he answers. "My birthday's always made a big deal of every year... Sometimes I like forgetting about it."

Minghao smiles. "Okay," he whispers. "So for the rest of the day, I'll pretend I never found out."

"And what about tomorrow?" Jun raises an eyebrow.

"Deal's off." He chuckles when the older begins to question him, "Because I can't buy you presents whilst pretending I don't know your birthdate."

Jun groans and scoots closer to Minghao, rolling onto his side to fully face him and leaving their faces centimetres apart. "I don't want you to buy me presents," he mumbles. Bringing his hand up, he motions between them. "Because this," he smiles, "Is the best thing you could give me." Their lips meet in a soft kiss, locking perfectly together like two puzzle pieces. 

Minghao hums lowly against Jun's lips, savouring the moment between them long past the point where they break away, turning to staring at the other warmly, until Minghao opens his mouth to speak again.

"Do you have to go back?"

Referring to the limited time the two always have to share, with the end of the day looming over them when they'd have to part again. Before now, neither have really thought much of it. But suddenly, something so ordinary feels like impossible torture. Jun sighs, before nodding slowly.

He brushes his hand through Minghao's hair. "I have to be back for Teddy." 

"Then could I come back to yours?" Minghao's voice comes out as a whisper, a bare breath drifting between them and filled with uncertainty. He bites his lip.

"What about the animals?"

He hums, "I think most of them will be fine for one night," Minghao pauses as Jun sneezes, "Although I'm not too sure about Ai."

"You can bring her," Jun tells him, twitching his nose.

"Really?" Minghao chuckles, softly kissing the tip of Jun's nose so the older barely feels it - the touch is as light as a butterfly. "You're really cute when you do that."

Jun grins, partially to mask the heat rising in his cheeks as he doesn't expect such a small comment to effect him so much. "Am I not cute all the time?"

Slipping his arms around Jun's middle as his smile widens, Minghao holds Jun closer. "Of course you are," he says.

Jun glances out of the window. "We should probably get going," he says. "It'll start to get dark soon and we've got to walk." Jun had been walking to and from Minghao's for the past few days, as his manager had taken the company car away whilst Jun didn't have a schedule to use it for other things, and he'd since returned the bike that Minghao lent him. Plus, walking along the quiet roads early in the morning is pleasant and calming, with nothing but the birds and nature surrounding him.

Minghao nods, "Yeah, we probably should."

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a/n: short but sweet :)