𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧 (Gwi-Nam x Cheong-san)

Sixteen

 As I gained consciousness, I groaned inwardly at the morning light filtering in through the barred windows of the quarantine camp. I shifted, slowly opening my eyes. As I came to terms with the world around me, I rubbed at my eye with the heel of my hand. 

My gaze lands on him. Still breathing softly, his eyes closed. Gwi-nam is really handsome. And seeing his face again takes the ache in my chest away. I buried my nose in his neck.

"Good morning." Gwi-nam is awake, his voice still heavy and deep with sleep.

"Mm." I hummed in response, not quite ready to get up. At some point one of his arms had snaked around my waist.

"Not a morning person, are you, Cheong-san?" He muses.

"Mm-mm. I prefer to sleep at dawn and wake up at dusk." I mumbled into his chest.

Gwi-nam strokes my hair, idly. We don't say much of anything to each other for a while after that, but it's a comfortable silence. If I were a cat, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that I would be purring right now.

Our different bodies fit together well. It was nice.

"Cheong-san." I look up at the tone of his voice. He's looking at me with that unreadable expression of his.

"Do I seem like I don't- I mean, do you think that I really don't like affection? From you, I mean.." He trails off.

"Are you still thinking about that?" I laughed a little. "No. You don't. I just said that because I was bored. Why? Should I start saying that I'm all over you because you love it?" I teased.

"..yes." He mumbles.

I looked at him in shock, then laughed. "Okay, then I will."

While he looked at the ceiling, I was looking at him curiously. He loved affection from me, according to what he just said. My heart rate increased more and more as I thought about it.

It made my mind start to race.

What is this?

What are we doing?

A million questions are rushing through my mind all at once.

I didn't know what to think. Maybe he was just really happy to see me again because we had become good friends. That could just be all it was. He could just be letting me do this because he didn't want to make me upset or something.

But I hoped it wasn't.

I might be just some kid that he saved, but still. This was how I had felt about On-jo.

Then he speaks out of nowhere.

"Do you like me?" He asked.

I froze inside.

"What do you mean?" I heard my voice say, as if from far away and through water.

"Do you like me as..more than your companion?" He says quietly. He's rubbing my back in circles.

They're such calming circles. My tongue almost slips but I catch myself. "I- well.."

"Don't lie to me, please. It's perfectly fine if you don't feel the same way, but..I'd really like to know."

"Yes." I finally said.

His hand freezes mid circle.

"Are you being serious?" He asks, hesitantly.

"Mhm." I put my head over his heart so I can hear his heartbeat. It's pretty fast. And it's there. Whatever he might be now, he still has a heartbeat and that makes him human.

"Since..when?" I smiled at his question, sitting up a little and closing my eyes.

"Since..maybe even as far back as when you first saved me? The snack shop, maybe." I reopened my eyes. I didn't know. It hadn't been long since we first met, actually. About two weeks, today. But I'd fallen fast and hard.

And honestly?

I'm completely okay with that.

"What about you? Do you like me?" I asked, my chin on his chest. I looked up at him.

"Do I- well..I mean- yes. I- I do." He stumbles over his words.

"Since?" I pressed a bit further.

"I feel bad because it's not as long. You know, maybe it was that night we spent together on the rooftop. When- I was bitten, all I could see was your face. I thought "I'm okay with dying as long as he's okay." and I think that maybe that's when I knew."

I laughed.

"That's cute." He smiles a little.

"I guess." I nodded.

"What are we going to do with that information?" We sit in silence for a while as he contemplates the answer to my teasing question. Then he starts to talk.

"We..can we not decide what we are right now?" He looks nervous, like he's afraid that I'm going to be mad at him or something. As if.

"Sounds alright with me. No labels, lots of affection. I like it." I grinned and put my face back down on his stomach.

He's silent but I can feel him smile lighting up the room even when I'm not looking.

We sat in a warm silence for a while. Each of our hearts are full of hope.

He speaks up after a little while. "I can hear footsteps coming this way. It's the guard, I think. Let's go and take some showers. It'll feel really good." I didn't especially like the idea of getting up, especially since he was so warm, but the idea of a shower right now felt like heaven.

"Yeah. Let's go." We followed the guard out.