#wihu

he fiddles with his earlobe, clicking on the skype icon and chewing on the inside of his lip as he watches it load. he breathes a small sigh of relief when he sees the little green circle next to jonghyun's name, smiling at the elder's reliably fucked up sleep schedule. he clicks the call button and gets comfy against the pillows, setting the laptop across his legs.

"hey," jonghyun answers quickly. his voice sounds a bit tinny through the laptop speakers, but it sends a warm feeling across kibum's chest nonetheless. a few seconds later jonghyun's camera blinks to life and kibum can just make out his face: his room dark as ever except for the dim light from his laptop, making his features look somewhat ghostly.

"hi," kibum grins, warmth spreading out from his chest at the familiar face, making his stomach flutter.

"how are you?" jonghyun asks, wiggling a little closer. "how's paris? tell me everything."

"paris is fucking amazing, jjong," kibum smiles at jonghyun's enthusiasm. "the city is so beautiful, and everyone is being so kind to me. they gave me a complementary bottle of like, $600 champagne."

"holy shit," jonghyun's face lights up. "how's the weather?"

"raining," kibum snorts. "isn't it always?"

"the rain even followed you to europe," jonghyun giggles. "incredible."

"yeah," kibum nods, face falling a little.

"hey, what's up?" jonghyun asks, sensing the change in mood.

"I just," kibum sighs. "being here is like a dream come true, but it still feels like there's something missing."

"what do you mean?" jonghyun cocks his head to the side.

"I don't know," kibum runs his fingers back and forth across his short undercut. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," jonghyun nods.

"I feel really empty by myself here, and then I feel guilty for thinking about that when I should be having a great time," kibum lets his head flop sideways onto the pillow.

"you're bound to feel lonely, bum," jonghyun reassures him. "you're out there by yourself, hours from all of us, you shouldn't beat yourself up about that."

"I guess so," kibum nods. "everything's just really overwhelming."

"I can imagine," jonghyun purses his lips in sympathy. they sit in silence for a while, kibum letting the sound of jonghyun's slow, heavy breathing soothe him.

"so, tell me more," jonghyun says cautiously after a while. "what have you been doing?"

kibum smiles, shaking away his negative feelings and launching into a detailed description of his trip, hands gesturing excitedly as he talks about the fashion shows he's attended and the people he's met. he describes the outfits he was given to wear to each show and how strange yet amazing it felt to pose for photos in the middle of the parisian streets. once he starts talking, he finds it hard to stop: feeling some of the tension lifting from him as the words flow from his mouth.

"it sounds amazing," jonghyun grins sleepily when kibum runs out of breath, his head propped up on one arm. "I'm so proud of you.'

"thanks," kibum smiles shyly. "I'm proud of me too."

"so you spoke english the whole time?" jonghyun asks, raising his eyebrows.

"yeah," kibum bites his lip.

"that's brilliant," jonghyun says earnestly, looking into the camera so he's making eye contact with kibum. the younger blushes, hiding his face and squeaking shyly at the compliment.

"oh, roo wants to say hi," jonghyun picks up the laptop and rolls over, curling up next to his pup.

"hey, roo," kibum coos, laughing when she lifts her head, looking around in confusion for the source of kibum's voice.

"she misses you too," jonghyun smiles, scratching between her ears.

"I'll be home soon," kibum says softly. it's dark now, lights from the street lamps pouring through the open curtains. he muffles a yawn, pulling the duvet tighter around his shoulders.

"it's late, isn't it?" jonghyun murmurs. "you should get to sleep, babe."

"says you," kibum yawns again. "you're 7 hours ahead of me and you're telling me it's late."

"I know," jonghyun laughs. "let's both sleep, okay?"