Rolling over, Austin nuzzled the pillow beneath his head and stretched, trying to remove the ache he felt along his back and side. When adjusting his position again didn't help, he rolled onto his back and slowly blinked his eyes open.
Huh?
It took him a minute to blink away the blurriness of sleep from his eyes to realize that there was something written on the ceiling. 미소. The letters looked like little pieces of foam meant for tacking onto walls, or in this case, it seemed, ceilings.
Licking his dry lips, Austin felt along his jeans until he found his phone. Well, that's why my waist was hurting a bit. Pulling out the device, he looked up each symbol, then copy and pasted them into the Google translator.
Smile.
He did so without even thinking about it, then turned his head to the side, only to see an empty bed beside where he lay on the floor. "Roh-Ahn?"
Austin pushed himself up at the same time his attention was drawn to the bathroom door in front of him as it was pushed open. Shit, don't look! Yeah, he wasn't good at listening, even to himself. The steam from the shower emerged with Roh-Ahn, carrying the scent of his shampoo with it. Austin's mind immediately registered that the guy had a towel barely secured around his waist and was walking with his cane, but when Roh-Ahn stopped in the doorway, clearly surprised to see him awake, Austin lifted his gaze from the towel to land on a small X shaped scar on Roh-Ahn's lower abdomen.
In the silence, his eyes continued to take in each individual mark that turned the right side of Roh-Ahn's body into a latticework of old scars. It was clear to him that someone had done the damage, and it hadn't been from an accident. You didn't get only the right side of your body torn up so badly, and not have more than one or two tiny scratches on the left side in a car crash.
He silently cursed himself for watching all of those late night crime dramas over the years because he began to pick out scars that had to have been caused by things other than knives. Several dots near the middle of his stomach and two just beneath his collar bone denoted cigarette burns. A couple others looked like they were from some sort of small item like a pen or pencil. The last, and most prevalent injuries scattered across his skin were undoubtedly caused by someone's fists.
How could someone hate so much as to do something like that? And to someone as sweet as Roh-Ahn...
He couldn't understand it, but he did now know why Roh-Ahn had so many problems.
If I ever find out who did it, they're dead.
Austin was going through all of the ways he could torture the asshole who'd attacked Roh-Ahn when he noticed that the guy still hadn't moved a muscle. Okay. Don't do anything stupid. If he wanted you to see the scars, he would have just showed you them, but he's clearly freaking out on the inside since he hasn't even moved the entire time you've been staring.
He really wanted to just get up and pull him into a hug, but watching all of those dramas also told him that doing that while someone was so surprised that they weren't even reacting, wasn't a good idea. So, he just gave a quiet sigh and smiled, then pointed up toward the word Roh-Ahn had put on his ceiling.
Slowly, Roh-Ahn's eyes rose to the word, giving Austin the chance he'd needed to quietly get up and grab the shirt he'd noticed at the bottom of the bed. It was a dress shirt and mostly buttoned already, so he bunched up the fabric a bit and as Roh-Ahn began looking away from the ceiling, Austin tugged it gently over his head.
Without a word, he settled the shirt over the scars, then waited until Roh-Ahn slipped his arms through the sleeves. Austin then reached up and buttoned all but one of the buttons before stepping back. "Would you like a ride to work today? I'm off." Austin said as he walked back over to where he'd slept and knelt down to pick up his phone.
"Why didn't you look at me with disgust?"
Frowning, Austin stood up and turned back around to face Roh-Ahn, slipping his phone into his pocket as he did so. "What was that?" He asked.
Shaking his head, Roh-Ahn finally smiled as he replied. "You are strange, Austin."
Is it bad that I don't mind being strange if he says my name again?
"Yes, I completely agree with you." He said, grinning when Roh-Ahn smiled wider, then gestured toward the door.
"If you would not mind, I am not one for free shows." He said, making Austin have to bite his tongue to not ask for a price.
Nodding, Austin showed himself out, then went straight to his room and tossed his clothing. He left his door open since the inside of his bathroom wasn't visible from the hall. His shower was cold, for reasons, so he was quick to wash himself, rinse, then get out.
He swiped a towel over his hair quickly, then wiped off his body and wrapped it around his waist. The slight chill from the air condition blowing into his room as he stepped inside from the bathroom had Austin moving even faster than he had while showering. In less than a minute he had tugged on a pair of checkered boxers and faded blue jeans.
When he turned toward his dresser to take out one of his normal T-shirts, he noticed Roh-Ahn standing in the entrance to his room. Withdrawing his hand that had been reaching for the second to top drawer, he turned to Roh-Ahn and raised an eyebrow.
"Like what you see?" He asked, earning a chuckle from the guy.
Austin noticed that he'd finished getting dressed in his normal suit and dress pants, but today he had the leg brace over his pant leg. He was actually glad that he did it that way. It was slightly hidden if it was underneath, but that limited his mobility.
Roh-Ahn shrugged in response to his question, then tilted his head, his eyes running from the top of Austin's head, all the way down to his bare toes, then back up again. When Roh-Ahn still didn't say anything, Austin pursed his lips, then rolled his eyes before turning back toward the dresser.
He was left alone for a minute as he dug through the drawer, trying to find a shirt he wanted to wear. He was so focused on his task that he hadn't heard Roh-Ahn return, or walk up beside him. He nearly jumped when a damp towel was set upon his head, making him turn toward a slightly blushing Roh-Ahn.
"Your hair is too wet. You will soak your shirt." He said as he hesitantly reached up and began gently rubbing the fabric against Austin's hair.
This towel smells like his soap... like him.
Closing his eyes, Austin let himself get lost in the simple attention. He remained leaning over just enough to give Roh-Ahn easy access to his head until he felt the young man's fingers still against his hair, drawing his eyes open slowly.
That look.
Austin went through a thousand different things the look Roh-Ahn was giving him could mean, but each one was eliminated in a blur until he could only think about needing to kiss him, and him, maybe, wanting it.
Swallowing down the bundle of nerves that had suddenly built up in the back of his throat, Austin took a hesitant step forward, closing the minuscule gap between them. When Roh-Ahn didn't step backward, Austin tilted his head slowly, then leaned forward.
The sound of Wan-Nu's ring tone chimed from the kitchen counter right at that very moment, immediately making Roh-Ahn take a step back and remove his hands from the towel that was slowly slipping to settle around Austin's shoulders.
His heart thundered in his ears as he watched Roh-Ahn quickly turn and start limping from the room to try and get to his phone before it went to voicemail.
Against his better judgement, or any logical judgement that was shouting at him to just let the situation go, Austin hurried forward. His hand snagged Roh-Ahn's left one and spun him around, pulling him forward as soon as he became off-balance.
The moment Roh-Ahn was close enough, Austin wrapped his arms around him. His left one dropped to the small of his back while the other delved its fingers into his soft hair as he leaned down to press their lips together.
it had been a bad idea. He knew that it had been absolutely stupid to do such a thing, but as Roh-Ahn pushed against his chest and Austin released him without a fight, then watched him turn and stumble from the room, and seconds later, he realized that he'd just screwed up royally.