Chapter 5: Nest

Eun-ho woke with the sun on his face and a pile of Ha Si-wan's shirts in his arms.

He had no memory of going to get them.

The walk-in closet door stood open across the room, and the drawers were pulled out.

A trail of white and grey cotton led from the closet to the bed.

Eun-ho was sitting in the middle of the king-size mattress, naked, building a wall.

Pillows on the left.

The grey duvet bunched up on the right.

Four dress shirts, a cashmere sweater and one single black sock, tucked into the walls one at a time, with the collars all turned inward.

He couldn't stop.

He would get one shirt in the right place and need the next one, and every shirt smelled like Si-wan.

"Don't look at me," Eun-ho said, hoarse, when the bedroom door opened.

Si-wan stood in it with a tray.

He had showered, and his hair was damp, and he wore an old grey T-shirt that looked soft from a hundred washes.

He looked at the nest.

He looked at Eun-ho.

The corner of his mouth moved.

"I've never been so flattered by a burglary."

"It's not funny. It's a thing my body does."

"I know what it is."

Si-wan set the tray down on the nightstand.

Rice porridge, a glass of water, a boiled egg cut in half.

"I called the office at six," he said. "Your sister is home."

"Ji-yu is home?"

"She said to tell you, and I quote, that she is fine, the police left, and you are an idiot who never once told her the CEO was hot."

Eun-ho put his face into a shirt sleeve and groaned.

"She knows?"

"She has known for years, apparently. She said she would only be mad at me if I hurt you."

"What did you say?"

"I said it was a reasonable policy."

Si-wan sat on the edge of the mattress, outside the wall of shirts, and held out the spoon.

Eun-ho looked at it.

"I can feed myself."

"I'm sure."

Eun-ho ate.

He ate the whole bowl, with Si-wan holding the spoon and watching his mouth in a way that made the heat come back, slow, from low in his belly.

By the time Si-wan put the bowl down, Eun-ho's skin felt too tight.

"You should rest," Si-wan said.

"I don't want to rest."

Eun-ho looked at him through his lashes, and something dark moved in Si-wan's eyes.

"Come inside the nest," Eun-ho said.

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