Burnout ⊗ Jeongchan

⑤③ Labyrinth

Jeongin ran his empty knuckles over the kitchen tile below him as he sat on the counter, other happily gripping a blueberry muffin the older brought back from his grocery run a few hours prior. His feet swung back and forth, heels bumping against the cabinet doors underneath as the quiet thuds filled the silence of the high-rise. Chan was loitering nearby, wordlessly slotting the items he bought into their respective spots. Most items were healthy food. A lot were healthy food. As Jeongin frowned, he had the sneaking suspicion he was going to be forced to eat most of it.

He scanned the older's back; Noting the way he moved around the kitchen with ease, memorizing all the locations where his shirt rode up every time he reached above him, hungrily nibbling on the muffin whenever his stomach started snapping at him for not feeding it, before trailing the visible veins under Chan's skin, and repeating the process too many times to be considered healthy. At least the muffin acted as good cover before he was discovered, multiple times. If the older noticed, which it was exceedingly hard not to be cognisant of the fact eyes were followed him at every turn, then he never made a comment on it. Only, seemed perfectly content stacking away his newly bought groceries.

As Jeongin finished off the last of the muffin, promptly slugging it down with the reheated mug of warm water and honey from last night, he wiggled a bit before settling again. His hands came to rest around the warm cup as he inquired hesitantly, "Did you really not delete any contacts from my phone?"

"Told you what I was guilty of, I don't think that was one of them," Chan said as he opened up one of the shelves, carefully shoving a cereal box to hide between the other items thrown up there without much thought. He closed the door, tossing a glance to the younger but not making eye contact as he explained, "Seems a bit cruel of me to do."

"You're cruel."

"Probably deserve that."

Jeongin pressed his lips into a thin line, "How can you just take everything I say to you?"

"Because I know they're only words. Don't actually mean most of them," Chan nodded along as he backed up from the counter and went back to searching in the shopping bags. He took something up in his hands, fiddling with it for a while before tossing a wrapping to the counter and placing it down. The older reached into his pocket and brought it to his face as the sound of clicking filled the air around them. This smell, one that lingered in the older's car on off days, one that made Jeongin cringe despite the sweet but stinging undertones it carried with it.

As Chan turned to continue his work around the kitchen, messily tossing down an oddly familiar lighter to the counters, the younger trained his eyes on the obvious cigarette placed gently between the older's lips. Almost immediately, Jeongin could feel the small frown overcoming his lips. As Chan passed by, the younger grabbed a tuff of cloth from his shoulder, pulling him back to him as he ran his finger tips over the street racer's lip, taking care not to burn himself on the lit end, "Do you smoke often?"

"No, or I try not to. Haven't really recently, few of the crew members don't like the smell. Nasty habit anyway. It's not attractive, it's disgusting," Chan scowled at the kitchen top as he removed the cigarette from his mouth and held it between his fingers, hands coming to brace himself on either side of the younger's hips as his mind seemed to wander. Then, seeming to miraculously come back from wherever his thoughts briefly escape to, he explained with a quiet tone, "Only reason I keep it is because it calms me when I'm stressed. Not like I'm planning to live forever anyway."

Jeongin snatched the cigarette from his hand, "You should take better care of yourself."

"You're one to talk," Chan took it back from him, a slight snap on the edge of his tongue as he did. He stared at the cigarette for a few beats before tossing it in the sink across from them with a slight sigh and going back to the shopping bags, grabbing more of what he splurged on to put away.