Soobin's POV:

Yeonjun and I were sitting next to each other on the couch, quietly eating our ice cream. It was almost ten o'clock, just waiting it out now before he's allowed to sleep. We had both showered before we ate, in much comfier clothes now since we were in our uniforms for more than twelve hours. I had turned most of the lights off to lessen his headache, sitting in a comfortable silence for the same reason.

It wasn't super awkward, just hearing the sound of Yeonjun cutely licking the ice cream off his lips every once in a while. I kept glancing over at him, turning my head away when he caught me looking. My heart was beating faster every time I did that, and it was driving me crazy.

He sat up when he was done, placing the empty cup on the coffee table. He put his elbows on his knees, dropping his head into his hands and rubbing his eyes. He sighed to himself, and I felt terrible. I took the last bite of my ice cream, sitting up and placing mine on the table next to his. I pursed my lips, placing my hand on his back and rubbing in circles, "Are you feeling ok?" I whispered.

He was quick to shake his head, taking one of his hands away. He turned his head slightly to me, still resting in his other hand, "I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight."

I pouted a bit, "Hurts that bad? Even after the pain meds?"

He nodded, and I felt even worse. I quickly looked at my phone, smiling to try and cheer him up. I said as I turned back to him, "Hey, it's midnight. You can finally go to bed."

He laughed lightly, reaching out to grab the empty ice cream containers, "I'll just clean up a little." He said, standing up and walking over to the kitchen before I could stop him.

I shoved my phone into my pocket, standing up and watching as he was throwing away all the empty containers from the take-out we had gotten. I went over and helped him, both of us looking at each other just to exchange a smile.

We both awkwardly looked at each other when we were done, and I broke the silence, "I umm... I can get an extra blanket and pillow. They're in this closet, right?" I asked, pointing to the linen closet near the front door. I was trying to remember from the last time I was here.

"Soob, I don't want you to sleep on the couch. It's uncomfortable..." He replied, and my heart rate was increasing, "My bed is big enough for both of us. It won't be weird or anything; we'll just sleep next to each other."

I'm so glad there wasn't much light because I could feel my face heating up. I cleared my throat, trying to come off nonchalant, "Yeah, that's fine."

He smiled softly, walking towards his bedroom, "Come on. I know you're exhausted too." He quietly said, and I stuttered in my step to follow him.

It was a bit awkward once we were both ready for bed, watching as he slid under the covers. I placed my phone down on the nightstand, and then hesitantly stood on the other side of the bed. I pursed my lips together, watching how he placed two pillows under his head to prop himself up a bit. He turned to me when he finally settled in his spot, raising an eyebrow as he asked, "You ok?"

I cleared my throat, needing to look away from him, "Yeah, yeah, sorry." I replied, pushing the covers back and climbing into the bed next to him. I turned off the lamp so that it was completely dark, not needing him to see the blush on my face any longer. I faced him, laying on my side.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, but it didn't help much, "Soobin?..." He called out and I hummed in response, "Thank you for everything."

I smiled softly, taking another deep breath before I said, "No worries..." I slid a hand under the pillow to be more comfortable, "I'll come check up on you after work tomorrow."

He chuckled lightly, and then reached his hand out. My breath hitched lightly when he grabbed my hand, holding it gently, "Sleep well."

I looked down at his hand, gulping before I started rubbing my thumb over his knuckles. I knew what it was doing to my heart, but I didn't care, "You too."

~ ~ ~

I couldn't help but smile all day, thinking about last night and this morning. Yeonjun was still sleeping when I woke up, and I didn't want to bother him since he seemed so peaceful. I let him sleep and left him a little note before I went to work. I kept thinking about how he held my hand without hesitation, like it was natural. Our fingers were still interlocked when I woke up, and I had to gather the strength within myself to let go.

Thank goodness I'm seeing Dr. Hwang today because I could barely contain myself. I basically said everything that happened in one long breath, my heart racing just recalling the events. I felt giddy, almost like a little kid again as I told her.

She was smiling and nodding the whole time, letting me vent as she quietly listened. I don't know how long I was talking, but I had to take a few breaths when I finally stopped. She waited a few seconds to make sure I was done, and then asked, "Soobin, can I tell you something as your friend, not as your therapist?"

I gulped; the way she said it made me feel weird. It's like the giddiness went away for a second until she added, "Oh my god, he totally likes to you too..." She laughed, and so did I. She leaned forward, wanting to be a part of the drama, "He held your hand the whole night?!"

I giggled, leaning forward as well. Gosh, it's like we're at the high school lunch table, "Yes! Oh, he's so adorable!..." I didn't know what to do with my hands, sliding one through my hair while the other was resting on my thigh. My leg was bouncing uncontrollably as well, "I-I don't know what to do now."

She gave me a look, tilting her head to the side, "Why don't you ask him out on a date?"

I took a deep breath, sighing a bit, "Well, what if he says no? That's so humiliating! I-I saw this video once where this guy asked his girlfriend to marry him but said 'no' and then slapped him across the face with their families watching!"

Yeji chuckled, "Soobin, he's not going to slap you."

I pursed my lips, "I-I know—But still!"

"Just give it a try. It won't be that bad, right?" She shrugged.

I widened my eyes, "Dr. Hwang!..." I whined dramatically, "I have literally asked one person out on a date; like ever in my life..." I rested my elbows on my knees, dropping my head into my hands. I had a hand on each of my cheeks to hold myself there, "I stuttered a lot and sounded so stupid."

She gave me another look, "How long ago was that?"

I pursed my lips, knowing at least one dimple showed up, "Freshman year of college."

"You've changed a lot since then! I know you'll be fine." She replied quickly.

"What should I do?..." I asked, realizing I had already said that, "I-I mean, what do I say?"

She chuckled, "How about you bring him some flowers when he's feeling better and just ask him if he wants to go have dinner some time? That's not so bad, right?"

I shrugged, "It's easy when you say it..." I perked up suddenly, remembering, "W-What about the rule? Isn't this bad?"

She sighed, "Umm... Maybe just feel things out for now..." She said, and then softly smiled at me, "But sometimes you can't help who you fall for. Rules or no rules."

I nodded, quietly replying, "Ok."

~ ~ ~

I was sitting on Yeonjun's couch, giggling from a story I was telling him. I just had come to check up on him since it's been a week of him being out of work. I still felt terrible about everything, knowing that I probably could've prevented all of this from happening if I was only a second or two faster. He was feeling a bit better, able to speak at a normal volume and have a conversation without his head hurting, but we still kept a few of the lights off. That seems to hurt his head more, so we only had a lamp on in the corner. I had brought us ice cream as well, thinking I would only be here for an hour, but I've been here for nearly three hours and our ice cream containers have been sitting on the coffee table for a while.

We were facing each other, both of us crisscrossing our legs like we were teenagers at a sleepover talking about all the hot gossip around school. We just started talking, and then we couldn't stop talking to each other, and now it's been three hours and there's no end in sight. Not that I want it to end at all, it's the opposite actually.

"You've only dated two people?" He asked, in shock of the information I had just told him.

I shrugged, "I was on deployment for four years, I couldn't date anyone. And everyone else I never dated long enough to qualify it as an actual relationship."

He giggled, shaking his head, "Fair – I've dated five girls, but none of them ever lasted for a super long time because..." He gestured to himself, "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a walking rainbow flag."

I laughed at what he said, "I literally never would've guessed until you told me."

"Really? I think it's so obvious sometimes. I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out..." He paused for a moment, and then remembered, "Oh my god, I had to tell my ex like four times before she went crazy on me." Yeonjun said, rolling his eyes at the memory.

I'm guessing this is his most recent girlfriend, "Four times?" I asked again, in a bit of disbelief.

He leaned closer to me, "Soobin, I said to her face four times that I'm gay and that I wanted to break up with her and she denied it every time! Oh god, she was so toxic..." He kept going as I listened intently, "Every time I thought we broke up only for her to come over to my apartment and take me out on a date or something; she was delusional. And I didn't know what to do so I just went along with it. I was terrified of her."

He brought a hand up running his fingers through his hair for a moment, "She eventually started taking my phone from me and she'd need to know my every move, or she'd just yell and scream at me. Geez, and every time I would even talk to another guy with her near me, she'd get all defensive and pull me away..." He took a second to rub his eyes, not having looked at me since he started talking about her, "I eventually just ghosted her after she hit me, but then she started stalking me—"

"Wait..." I stopped him, my heart dropping, "She hit you?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows, "And then stalked you?"

He slouched a bit, "It was only one time. She just slapped me across the face – It wasn't that bad."

"Yes, it's bad." I retorted, and he still didn't pick his head up.

He shrugged, "I don't think she meant to. She was yelling at me, and I think it was just in the heat of the moment, you know?"

"That still doesn't make it ok..." I scoffed, "That's actually really not fucking ok at all."

He stared at his nails, like he was checking them for some reason, "It's whatever. It's in the past..." He replied, "It was just scary when she started stalking me and I had to file a restraining order. She wouldn't stop trying to message me and she started sending my family threats. That's kind of why I moved here."

I pursed my lips for a moment, "That sounds terrifying; I'm so sorry that happened to you. Nobody deserves that."

He was quiet for a moment, and he was still picking at his nails. I was worried that he was thinking he crossed a line, like he was being too vulnerable in this moment. It was dead silent for at least thirty seconds, and then I said, "Dan, I—"

"I'm just going to clean up a little." He cut me off, hurrying to stand up and take the ice cream containers off the coffee table. He swiftly walked away from me and towards the kitchen, and I felt terrible.

I sighed, standing up as he threw away the containers and flipped on the faucet to wash the spoons. I slowly walked over towards him, watching as Yeonjun scrubbed the spoon in his hand really fast. It's like he was trying to get every little, tiny bacteria off of it, and it was worrying me, "Dan?" I called out to him, trying to get his attention.

He didn't turn to me at all, his focus purely on this spoon that he was scrubbing in the same spot over and over again, "Yeonjun? It's ok..." I reached out and turned the faucet off, my other hand going over his to stop the scrubbing, "It's clean, I promise."

He reluctantly stopped, squeezing the spoon in his hand for a moment. He placed the sponge on it's little holder on the counter, rinsing the spoon and his hand off before he placed it on the drying rack. He grabbed the edge of the counter right after, taking a deep breath before he asked, "Sorry, I-I get really stressed about it sometimes."

I pursed my lips, quietly asking, "Why? You already moved your whole life away from her."

"What if she finds me?" He replied, "I'm even going by my middle name. What if that's not enough?"

"She's not going to—"

"But what if she does?..." He cut me off, finally looking at me for the first time in five minutes. He shook his head, "I don't want to keep moving just to get away from her. O-Or what if she finally hurts my family?"

I pressed my lips together in a thin line, trying to speak softly as I replied, "Then you'll tell me about it, we'll go to Chan, and we'll do something about it together – I don't want you to be dealing with that alone. We can have her arrested if she ever tries anything. I want you to be safe, always."

Yeonjun stared at me for a second, not really knowing what to say in response. It was only quiet for a little while before he stepped towards me and engulfed me in a hug. It took me by surprise, needing to regain my balance and hug him back quickly to stay standing. He held me tight, whispering, "Thank you."

I smiled softly, closing my eyes as I felt him rest his head on my shoulder, "Of course..." I leaned my head on his for a moment, "I'm sorry that happened to you, but you don't need to stress because I'll be here to keep you safe, ok?"

He nodded against my shoulder, whispering again, "You're the best."