They were just supposed to sleep. But something between them was wide awake.

The lights are off.

The dorm is quiet now — just the hum of the air conditioner and the occasional creak of the walls settling.

In the dark, Nut shifts under his blanket, the thin fabric brushing his bare arms. Across the room, Hong is already lying down, facing the wall. Still. But not asleep. Nut knows — he can feel it. Like a pull in the air between them.

They’re both awake.

And neither of them says it.

Nut turns onto his side and watches the shape of Hong’s back, lit faintly by the glow from the hallway seeping in under the door. His gray hair looks almost silver in the dark. The collar of his oversized shirt is stretched, slipping just off one shoulder.

They’re not touching.

But it feels like they could.

And Nut doesn’t know when that became the question his body keeps asking — what would happen if I just reached out?

Earlier that day, Hong had touched his wrist by accident. Just that — fingers brushing skin. And Nut had felt it for hours afterward, like his body had memorized the moment and refused to let it fade.

It’s like that every time now.

Every glance too long. Every shoulder bump. Every time Hong laughs and Nut swears he can feel it in his chest.

It’s not friendship anymore. Not quite.

But it’s not a confession either.

It’s just this.

The space between their beds. Between their hearts. Between the words they’re not saying.

And then, finally — quietly — Hong speaks.

“You awake?”

Nut’s voice is soft. “Yeah.”

A pause.

Then: “Can I… come over?”

Nut’s heart stutters.

“Yeah,” he says again, but this time it’s breathless.

The mattress dips. A rustle of blankets. And suddenly, Hong is there, lying beside him. Not touching. Just close. So close that Nut can feel the warmth radiating from his skin.

Neither of them moves.

Neither of them breathes too loud.

Then Hong shifts — just slightly — and his hand finds Nut’s under the blanket.

Their fingers brush.

And then, slowly, gently, they lace together.

Nut doesn’t speak. He doesn’t need to. The pressure of Hong’s fingers, the quiet tremble in the way he exhales — it’s all there.

A silence full of everything they haven’t said.

And then, soft like a secret, Hong whispers:

"Do you ever think about… this?”

Nut turns his head.

“All the time.”

They don’t kiss.

Not tonight.

But Hong turns in closer, rests his forehead to Nut’s shoulder, and breathes out like he’s letting go of a weight he’s carried forever.

And Nut wraps his arm around him — steady, warm, protective — and pulls him in like he never plans to let go.

The space between beds is gone now.

And in its place, something new begins to bloom. Quietly. Fiercely. Unstoppably.

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