Changbin laid outside. Back kissing up against the cold concrete birm he found, playing his hundredth round of Tetris that day to keep him busy as he waited for Hyunjin inside the building.

He had changed back into his day old jeans and driven half way across the city, the full hour and thirty minute drive at some haunted hour in the morning when the sun hadn't yet risen in the sky with Hyunjin in his neat suit passed out in the passenger seat to get as much sleep as he could, to a convention center that looked vaguely Picasso like with waving glass panes. An interesting place to be dropped in the center of the city's financial district, the soft and innocent bubble that the venue was contrasting greatly to the intimidating skyscrapers filled with the headquarters of conglomerates like the other worked endlessly for. If it wasn't for the fact he had arrived there at four or five in the morning, he probably would've enjoyed the place more.

All that matters; They managed to get there on time, and, when Hyunjin stretches after he wakes up, he makes a cute mueh sound that nearly floored Changbin. That was what mattered.

Hyunjin was somewhere inside the center with the current event he was directing around, fully directing. Battery pack earpiece with the microphone and lanyard and everything. Which came as a very interesting surprise to Changbin when he was standing next to Hyunjin and Hyunjin flipped from his 'tired puppy who needs to be cuddled and wrapped up in a blanket' mode to 'scary businessman who is about to slit your throat' mode. And by flipped, he completely changed his demeanor.

Even though he still had the exhausted beneath his eyes, Hyunjin shrugged off every bit of drowsiness. He acted as if he wasn't a glance away from dying. Acted as if he didn't just make a weird but adorable mweuh sound when he stretched in the car and didn't tremble lightly under someone combing his hair strands with their fingers. Acted as if he didn't go to a concert only hours before, didn't frequently request lavender flavored boba tea, didn't get flustered when seeing Changbin shirtless, didn't act like a lost puppy half the time, didn't fall asleep everywhere as if he was a child, didn't do any of those soft or sweet things. Yes, he was nice to his coworkers and Changbin did catch him sneaking water into a no beverage zone for someone who was struggling with a migraine, that wasn't the point.

The man was ruthless. It may have been the combination of no sleep, no breakfast, too many painkillers, too much caffeine, and a hundred other things, but Hyunjin just... Kicked everyone's asses. There wasn't a better way to put it. He commanded and directed the workers as if he was a supervillain naturally giving orders to a fleet of his minions, each one scurrying off with a swift 'Yes, sir!' as he told them to quickly swap out a projector while the presentation was going, a zero bullshit tolerance dominating his every step. It was different. Far different than anything Changbin had seen from him.

It was fucking hot.

Changbin could not contain the butterflies in his stomach or the heat in his face while he watched Hyunjin from the sidelines. He had it bad. He had it so bad for him that he had to physically lean up against a wall at one point to not sink to his knees right then and there. Whenever Hyunjin managed to spare time to smile at him, it just got worse. It got so much worse. Knowing that he had that side of him, knowing that behind the exhausted puppy was a part of him that was assertive and confident, knowing that he was only smiling at Changbin as Changbin shuffled after him lost for the first few hours of the event, it was too much. He knew Hyunjin was only his friend, but at the same time...

Fuck.

It had him feeling things.

And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his thoughts back on track.

So Changbin laid down on the high concrete birm outside to play Tetris while he cooled off, and that's where he had been for the last four hours. Slightly dazed and slightly flushed out in the mid day sun. Barely midday.

Someone tapped his ankle.

Changbin paused his Tetris run, one of the better runs he had done that day, and moved his phone out of his face to see who was tapping him. Though part of him already knew it would be the familiar face of Mr. Hot As Fuck Event Director coming to say hello in one of the few breaks he's been given. That assumption was confirmed first by the dangling blue lanyard that hung off their neck. Next by the set of hands, tucked into the pockets of his slacks. Then by the quirking of an eyebrow as Hyunjin's head tilted to look at Changbin with the same angle he was laying down at. The eyes that were sharp and focused into ripping commands only moments before now that same soft, rounded, clouded, daze of marshmallow fluff that he was used to.

"How's it going?" Changbin nodded to him.

Hyunjin looked up from Changbin. He gazed off to the distance, far far away from where they were as his eyes narrowed out to the fine line of the horizon. He shrugged, a wistful mutter chasing after, "Do you think cocaine is cheap?"

"So," Changbin started with the lilt. Pushing down the slight concern at the question once he realized the other was trying to fight down a smile as he gaped off into the street like a movie protagonist stares into a sunset, coming to the conclusion it was nothing more than a joke and a red flag for how many cups of coffee he'd been drinking while the older couldn't watch. He sat up off the concrete rise and left his phone beside him on the chilly surface, kicking both legs over the side to root firmly on the ground as he faced himself with the business man. With a sheepish simper, Changbin guessed, "It's going good?"

"These people have no idea that I'm on no sleep, an empty stomach, six cans of Monster, and a big handful of painkillers," Hyunjin turned his focus back to Changbin. He removed his hands from his pockets, swiftly folding them over his chest as his smile finally broke out onto his face, "Which means, yeah. It's going well."

"What the fuck, how are you still alive? That sounds like a horrible concoction," Changbin gaged lightly, nose scrunching up as the image of the toxic poison the other created popped into his mind. No wonder he was taking a ton of painkillers, his body was probably in pain and dying from how he was treating the poor thing. Six cans of Monster, mixed with painkillers, on an empty stomach, his kidneys and liver were about to have a war over who gets to shut down first. Changbin shook his head, quickly deflecting the thoughts of all out nuclear altercations happening between his organs as he picked his phone up, "Did you want me to get you something to eat?"

"Could you, please? I'm so hungry."

"Will you have time to eat?"

"In a while."

"What do you want? I'll be your personal delivery boy."

"Pizza?" Hyunjin requested, "And more painkillers, please. My head is killing me."

"Yeah? That's weird. Wonder why," Changbin whispered to himself as he pulled up navigation on his phone to find the nearest pizza place for Hyunjin's poor damn stomach. His health insurance policy better be phenomenal.

With that final quip, Hyunjin was bounding off again to do whatever Hyunjin things he was off to do. Changbin had no clue what he did, he didn't know what the hell event management was and what event directors did, he only knew Hyunjin looked hot doing it on the ourside while on the inside he was slowly frying himself in a poison broth of his own internal juices and organs he turned to goo. Hopefully the pizza would slow the chemical process of him melting his own body in an acid bath, but probably not.

Changbin did get him his cheese pizza from a little hometown place down the street, purely because he had no idea what kind of pizza Hyunjin liked and he didn't want to disturb him by sending him a text asking what he liked when he was most likely busy. The people there at the pizza establishment were friendly to him, very friendly, too friendly, so friendly it was borderline suspicious until he realized one of the napkins had a number written on it, only realized once he already shoved his greasy fingers onto it after he snatched a slice from the pizza for himself. He quickly apologized in his head before devouring the remaining bites of the slice. Now thinking about it, the slice he took was the last thing he ate in a while too.

When he returned to the convention center, he found his spot on the cement birm again and whipped out his phone from his back pocket. Now with a little bit of pizza in his stomach, the heavy aroma of pizza wafting from the box next to him, and a few snacks he bought for himself so he wouldn't eat the entirety of Hyunjin's pizza by himself, he set off to conquer his Tetris run while he waited for the other's return. Hunched over his knees, he focused on sliding block onto block, space unto space, filling in the gaps so he could achieve his highest score on the game. But mainly to pass the time. Who knows how long it would take for Hyunjin to resurface to the outside world while he was working. It could take ten minutes, it could be three days.

Unfortunately, this time his arrival leaned closer to the timeline of three days than ten minutes.

Changbin had eaten all of his snack pile he kept to keep himself from starving to death, ran Tetris rounds so many times that if he would have seen another tetramino he would have thrown a tantrum no matter how many people were watching, watched the sun set in the sky as the midday fell to afternoon and afternoon transitioned to evening, finished off the last of the show he had been meaning to watch that day on the floor of the boba tea shop while Hyunjin was sleeping at the laptop, and more. The seconds went by. The minutes went by. The hours went by. He must have been sitting on that birm for what felt like forever, his phone hurriedly dying out from the usage so badly that he had to sit in the car for a while to charge his phone.

Only after, did Hyunjin emerge from the venue with fast steps, pace growing even faster when he spotted the pizza box sitting next to Changbin. He didn't bother with greetings. As soon as he sunk down next to the older on the seating, he ripped open the pizza box, and began devouring the slices inside.

Changbin blinked at him, watching in amazement as the other wrapped his fourth slice up like a sandwich and already made half of it disappear in less than a second, "Sorry, it's probably cold by now."

"It's perfect," Hyunjin spoke around the pizza and gave him a thumbs up.

The cheese pizza was gone within five minutes. All of it. All of the slices, excluding the one Changbin ate for himself, were decimated by the starving Hyunjin. Every last bite was chewed and licked up. Leaving nothing but the greasy outline of something that used to be alive inside the cardboard box. Leaving nothing but the remnants of survival as Changbin gawked at the empty box. That was his money. Done in an instant. Gone. Vanished to the wind. He didn't even have a chance to ask if Hyunjin liked cheese pizza, it was all gone before he could think twice about if he liked it or not. At least, he was thankful he was able to sneak out a piece before that one too was turned to nothing. Done. Gone. Vanished to the wind.

Changbin cleared his throat, drawing the other's attention from the napkin he was wiping his hands off on as he asked, "How much longer do you need to stay here?"

"What time is it?"

"Nine?"

"Four more."

"Minutes?" Changbin guessed.

Please say yes.

Please say you only need to stay four more minutes.

"Hours," Hyunjin corrected with a slight smile. He put the napkin down, tossing it into the now empty pizza box, before he slumped over. To the side. Towards Changbin. And he slumped. And slumped. And fell down, gradually, slowly, until the soft touch of the back of his head pressing into Changbin's lap made him turn to stone. Hyunjin folded a leg over the other as he laid, fingers tapping on his stomach, gaze flickering up to the older as if laying his head in his lap was the most casual thing to do. He continued to explain, "I need to stay until everything is done at midnight, then a little bit more to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow. Then, we do it all again."

As always, the man looked perfect there. Lifted. Free. Graceful. As if he was laying in a grassy meadow tucked away on a sun bound hillside or floating softly in a pond of lilies, petals kissing against his cheeks in friendly greeting. And not the messy placement that his head on Changbin's lap really was. Not the uneven terrain that the older gave him because he went completely frigid as soon as he was met with the gaze of the other looking up to him. Changbin was ice cream at that moment, melting fast into the other.

It took a second for the reality to click and snap into place.

He is laying in my lap.

HE IS LAYING IN MY LAP! 

Timidly, Changbin plopped a hand on the other's forehead. The bonk earned him a gentle neuf sound and a slight snort of laughter from the other. Cute, but not as cute as the stretching sound he made. Still cute. It was fine, he guessed. Not that he particularly wanted to hear cute sounds from Hyunjin, or that he had any real interest in them. Not at all. It was only a light curiosity because he hadn't heard anything like it before. That's all it was.

Trying to distract himself from Hyunjin by one upping him, Changbin started to brush the hair strands out of Hyunjin's face. Gently pushing them out of his face. Combing them back. Lightly dusting his nails over his scalp and finding their way down to twist the threads of hair that hung off his lap. Coming to feel an absolute ecstasy as he watched the younger's eyelids flutter, struggling hard to not start calling close. To his chagrin, Changbin noticed how much he was fighting to stay awake, and kept combing his fingers through his hair anyway. As he focused on the distraction the hair strands provided him, Changbin hummed, "Do you want me to drive you home tonight?"

"I can ask one of my team to. I don't want you to stay that long for me, if you don't have to" Hyunjin tried to speak up, but with each word his voice grew quieter. Grew more languid. More sluggish, showing off the exhaustion of the day to one who was enjoying himself brushing the younger's hair around. His eyes finally fell tightly shut as he murmured, "There's three more days of this trade show. "

"It's cool. I'll stick around tonight and maybe I can stick around the other days too," He offered.

"Would you? I'd like if you were here with me. Having someone to come to has made things a lot easier," Hyunjin concluded. Before he could continue any more, Hyunjin narrowed his eyes and sat up. Breaking two connections at once. To Changbin's disappointment.

Yeah, he wanted to do nothing but sit and comb through Hyunjin's hair the rest of the night. So what?

Hyunjin stood up with a sigh, hands rubbing at his face as he grumbled, "They need me. I'll be back soon."

The older watched with heavy eyes as Hyunjin strode back to the convention center and slipped through the doors again.

Right. Four hours.

Changbin pulled his phone out.

Back to Tetris.

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