CREATURE → JIGYU

twelve

"are you going to leave again?"

it's soft the way mingyu always is, hoping, pleading. and yet, the words grab jihoon and shake him by the shoulders. it's not a thinly veiled "will you stay the night?" or an even gentler, "we should get to bed."

is jihoon leaving mingyu? again?

jihoon has slept with mingyu before, the taller man curled around him or holding him to his chest, snoring softly into his hair. jihoon usually wakes up in a sweat from mingyu's body heat, but he hates to admit that the skinship settles something deep in him that seokmin's hugs alone could never satisfy.

he enjoys sleeping with mingyu. loves it, even. perhaps, if it weren't for seokmin, he'd stay forever.

but it is sunday. jihoon has to be presentable at the office early in the morning. he needs to leave.

"yes, mingyu," he settles with. "i have to. i'm sorry."

they're sitting in the garden, collecting vegetables as they grow in mingyu's plots. jihoon's basket is full of squash he has no intention of staying to eat.

the plants' gentle growth halts. mingyu looks at him with an expression that's hard to read. with his hands tucked into his lap, shoulders hunched in, leaning away... he looks betrayed.

"but... you'll return, right?"

jihoon nods. "of course."

"next... what was it?" his brows furrow as he tries to recall the concept of a weekend that jihoon taught him just earlier in the day as an effort to explain why he was gone for so long. "next end of the week? within seven days time?"

"i'll try, darling."

mingyu's eyes round with apprehension. "try? so you're not sure?" again, his eyes glaze with tears like a child denied his favorite candy. "how can i let you go, then? if you are not sure, how can i be?" he sucks in a breath and the trees rustle in turn. mingyu's voice shakes when he finally asks, "what am i to do without you?"

jihoon stands then, taking two steps across the garden to reach mingyu's shaking form. he's normally so big, towering over jihoon and embracing him in his arms, pulling him into his broad chest. but like this, sitting in the soft dirt, legs pulled into himself, he looks delicate. as if a single word from jihoon could shatter him.

but jihoon knows better.

the tree branches tremble overhead, mimicking the boy's heaving breathing, hinting at the tempest of emotion within him. mingyu is upset, that much is clear, but it's more than the periodic sadness that overcomes him. this storm is mistrusting and scared and desperate.

"mingyu. i told you i would come back. i didn't lie to you." jihoon kneels beside him. he reaches out, framing his face in his hands. as soon as he thumbs over his tear-stained cheeks, the wind stills and the trees stop shaking. "mingyu, haven't you spent so long without me here? what's changed?"

his eyes glisten. "you. you're what's changed." mingyu wraps his arms around jihoon's waist, tucking his face shyly into his chest. "i don't want to go back to being alone."

"i promise i'll be back next weekend," jihoon coos, bringing a hand up to comb through his hair to soothe him.

"pinky promise. seal it."

the sight of mingyu determinedly holding up his pinky is almost too much to bear. he's jihoon's adorable puppy deep down, eager and needy with those big, sad eyes of his. jihoon hooks his pinky around his before reaching around to press their thumbs together. sealing a promise so that he can't break it.

it's the only thing that seems to satisfy mingyu. nature, at his influence, settles around them again. the golden sunset shines through the filter of leaves.

jihoon says goodbye at the garden gate. "be good," he says as mingyu's hand slips out of his.

even as the cabin fades from jihoon's view, he doesn't leave the gate.