√ 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 // 𝐻𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑦𝑢𝑛𝑗𝑖𝑛

thirty.

Nari's p.o.v.

     There's a certain feeling one gets after having cried for hours on end. Maybe not comfort or solace, but a particular kind of numbness, the overflowing sorrow having washed out every other emotion with it.

     As she woke up, that feeling swept through her, filling her veins like lukewarm honey. Nari inhaled deeply, bringing her fingers up to rub the remnants of sadness from her eyes.

     The hair near her temple stirred, and she jerked back out of reflex to get away from whatever had moved it. Relaxing, Nari smirked at Hyunjin's sleeping face, his breaths puffing out of his pouting lips as he lay inches from her.

     He was so peaceful in that moment, so calm and undisturbed. Nari lifted her hand slowly and brushed his bed hair back, subconsciously grinning as she watched the boy slumber.

     If only she could keep him like this. If she could banish any and all that wanted to harm him, that wanted to take him away. Hyunjin deserved the world - all of Stray Kids did. And it wasn't fair that they kept getting pummeled endlessly, never getting a good rest or break from the struggles that life brought to them.

     The stroking of her hand began to rouse Hyunjin, and he rolled onto his back, groggily opening his eyes. He caught sight of Nari and sent her a bleary eye smile. "Hey. What time is it?" he asked raspily, reaching up to cover a yawn.

     Having been distracted by his voice and utter adorableness, Nari blinked a few times, realizing that she'd missed what he said. "Huh?"

     Of course, once he became more aware, Hyunjin smirked at the effect he was having on the girl. He sleepily threw an arm over her waist and dragged her to his chest, lazily twisting their legs together.

     "I asked," he repeated as Nari had a mini freak out in his arms, "what time it was."

     Cheeks rosy, she tried to form a sentence, even just a single word, but all that came out were broken stutters. Since she couldn't speak, Nari pointed at the clock resting on her beside table, desperate to get his attention off of her flustered state.

     Hyunjin followed her finger and squinted at the clock, lips slightly parted. "Ugh, it's only 5:00," he groaned, releasing Nari to grab a pillow and smother his face with it.

     She sat up to escape his reach and placed her hands on her cheeks, willing the blush to go away. Glaring at the boy for attacking her with his embrace, Nari grinned mischievously, an idea popping into her head.

     Carefully, she went to hover over him, raising her hands to smack the pillow pulled over his face in an attempt to scare the living daylights out of him.

     As she brought her hands down, Hyunjin pulled the pillow off to reveal his grumpy expression. His eyes went wide as he watched Nari's vengeful palms streaking down towards him.

     Nari squealed in surprise at the appearance of his face and changed her hands' direction at the last second, plunking them on either side of Hyunjin's head with powerful thumps.

     "I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry," she apologized as she inspected his face to make sure she hadn't grazed him. Oblivious to this, Hyunjin gazed up at Nari, her hair framing her face and lips puckering as she worried over him.

     "I wasn't meaning to hit you, really! I was going to smack the pillow and scare you but - "

     Nari gasped with surprise as Hyunjin's arms encircled her and drew her down on top of him, her body rising with his steady breaths.