Kingdom of Knuffel

Lain started to wake up and Tae took a small step back. Although it seemed like it hadn't worked and Lain was still startled anyway. He didn't know what to do with the fact that Lain was speaking to him. It felt weird now. He didn't want it to feel weird though.

"Y-You should head to bed, hyung..." He said quietly. "It's not g-good to sleep on the couch..." He added. He backed up a bit more. He didn't want to go back to the room yet, but Lain should definitely go to sleep. Especially since he was sick.

Tae's words took a few moments to sink in. For a moment Lain thought his sleep-drugged brain had fooled him with a post-illness... hallucination or something. Then he broke into a broad grin. "Really? Thanks a lot..." This was forgiveness faster than he'd hoped... or was it? Did this mean they were on speaking terms again? Tae kept backtracking, putting more distance between them, so... maybe not.

At any rate, he'd tread carefully for a while, Lain decided. "I'll just, um, have a drink of water and..." he skirted past Tae and shuffled into the kitchen, awkward again. He shouldn't have responded so enthusiastically. He should've acted a bit shamefaced, and asked Tae if he was sure... what if Tae really didn't want him back in the room but just felt bad since he'd been sick recently?

He came back out, gulping water to swallow the nervous lump in his throat as he said, "Um, I'll put like, a pillow between us. Not that I would ever... but just so it's not uncomfortable for..." he glugged more water, avoiding Tae's eye. "If you'd rather I didn't come back just yet I don't mind sleeping on the couch, it's not that bad," he added belatedly.

Lain seemed really happy and Tae felt worse. Not that he could figure out why. Maybe because Lain could feel happy right now and he didn't think he could. He moved out of the way when Lain got up to get a drink of water.

Then lain was back and starting to say how he could stay out here. Tae shook his head. "N-No, you should go back to your bed..." He said quietly. He didn't really look at Lain this time. He didn't want his hyung to think he'd forgiven him for what he'd done. Tae wasn't anywhere close to that. He didn't think he was, anyway.

When Tae still said he should sleep back in their room, Lain felt unreasonably happy. He smiled into his glass of water. He knew it didn't mean Tae had forgiven him, because he wasn't looking away out of nervousness... though he stuttered it wasn't a nervous stutter, his voice was low and steady. It must be because he didn't really mean it.

But Lain wouldn't let that faze him. He may not be forgiven, but this was one step closer to that. He'd show Tae that it needn't matter if they were in the same room, because he'd leave him well alone and not bother him, and that might slowly ease Tae around him. Or that's what he hoped would happen. It was probably naive to think it would be that easy, but it's not like he could see any other way to set about it.

"I appreciate it," he said softly, turning his back on Tae to rinse the glass briefly, leaving it on the counter. Then he padded into their room, and put a bolster cushion between their pillows, getting into his side of the bed.

Lain seemed happy. Tae didn't say anything as the other rinsed the cup and went to their room. Tae didn't move just yet. He didn't want to go back there until he was sure that Lain was sleeping. So instead he went about cleaning up everything.

He couldn't cook at all, but he always made sure the dorm was clean. It helped him not think about things too. So he made himself busy. Finally the entire dorm was clean and he knew he needed to sleep.

Tae went to their room and quickly got changed for bed. He saw that Lain had put the pillow between them. He crawled into his side of the bed, but stayed to the edge as much as he could. He slowly fell asleep, although it wasn't very restful.

Tae didn't come back to the room for a while. Lain curled in on himself and stilled, waiting. He'd left the door open, and he could hear Tae moving around, arranging things. Tae would always keep things neat and in their place. This was a weird time to be cleaning up, but maybe it'd bother Tae if things were messy and he wouldn't be able to sleep. Either that or he was delaying coming to the room...

Lain sighed. Of course he couldn't expect things to get normal so easily. This was going to be tedious, and take time.

Finally Tae came to bed. Lain stayed still, keeping his eyes shut and feeling the shift of weight on the bed. Tae seemed tense for a while, then his breathing slowly seemed to relax. Perhaps he'd fallen asleep by now then? Lain opened one eye, then peeked over the bolster. Tae was on the far edge of the bed. He looked like he might fall off.

Lain bit his lip for a moment, wondering what to do. Whisper to him to move in a little or he might fall off? He didn't want to wake him though since he'd had trouble falling asleep. Plus he might not want to since it was Lain...

Lain got off the bed exceedingly slowly, so that the shift of weight was gradual and slight. He tiptoed to the desk, lifted the chair, carried it to Tae's side of the bed and lowered it painfully slowly so that it rested on the ground with the softest sound, aligning the seat with the edge of the bed in line with Tae's torso. He climbed back into bed with slow, careful moments. And then he got to sleep surprisingly quickly.

Taken woke up several times that night. Not when Lain had moved the chair next to him, but after the other had fallen asleep. It was like his body refused to let him feel okay around Lain anymore. He didn't like it. He ended up just watching Lain every time he woke up. He was still the same person that Tae had grown to trust, right? Why was it so hard to get past this?

The morning came and Tae finally woke up for good. Although the others would probably pick up on his lack of sleep. Most of the time he was like an open book, the others - especially Lain - always seemed to know. He sat up and ran his hands through his hair.

He didn't really want to do anything today, but they probably had a busy day.

Lain felt the bed springs creak and push up against him when Tae sat up, and he opened his eyes blearily, pushing himself up to lean against the headboard. He glanced and Tae, and smiled sleepily. Tae's hair was all over the place, a true bed-head. It was cute.

Lain got out of bed to make his way to the washroom, shuffling past Tae in his socks. He paused to give Tae a hesitant 'Good morning.' He was about to continue on, still rubbing the vestiges of sleep out of his eyes, when he noticed Tae looked terrible. Like he hadn't slept much at all.

"Um," Lain croaked, and cleared his throat. "It looks like you can't sleep... with me here. You know, I can sleep fine on the couch. That way both of us gets to be able to sleep..." His shoulders felt weighed down, they had a studio booked today to begin learning and recording the vocals for their upcoming single. He shouldn't have agreed to sleep in their room. He should've known things could never go back to normal after what he did. He should've known Tae was only worried because he'd been sick... not because he thought he'd be comfortable enough to be able to sleep with Lain in the room.

"And we're supposed to start recording the rough beginnings of the song today..." he said half to himself, then looked up at Tae. "You know what? You generally have shorter vocal parts, and sometimes not at all, right... I can tell the manager to let you off for today and have you record your part if you have one, in a subsequent session. We're going to have several sessions anyway." He tried for a reassuring smile. "We can just have the vocals work on the song for today. I'll tell her you're not well... after I freshen up, I'll make us breakfast, and you can go back to sleep." He sighed. "Even if she doesn't agree, you can at least rest until she's here."

Lain easily picked up on the fact that Tae hadn't been able sleep. He started to feel worse. He looked down and pulled his knees to his chest. "N-No...you don't have to..." He mumbled. Then Lain started to go on about their recording session today.

Normally he would have agreed. However, with what Lain had said the other day about him being weak and defenseless, he felt the need to prove him wrong. "I'm fine, hyung." He told him. He stood up. Sure, he was tired as hell, but it wasn't like he'd have very many parts to sing anyway. If anything at all.

He went to his closest to find clothes to wear. He didn't want anyone to see him as less capable than the others, no matter what was going on.

Lain stared for a moment, nonplussed. He wondered whether Tae was only refusing because it was Lain suggesting it, or whether something else was going on. He realized he didn't know how Tae worked at all, really. Maybe he was misunderstanding him, over and over, all this time. And that was why things weren't improving between them.

"...Ok, but.. take it easy," said Lain doubtfully. "If you feel tired at all or want to change your mind don't hesitate to say so."

He brushed, washed and shuffled off to make breakfast for Tae, oatmeal garnished with pumpkin and sesame seeds (his mother swore by this recipe for headache-related stuff). There were just enough of the seeds for the one bowl, from fan gifts. He also made a pot of green tea with ginger by the same logic, so there was enough for both of them to have a mug. He didn't know if Tae would like the tea but he hoped he'd try.

He set Tae's place before going for a shower.