They slept for a few hours, Taekwoon watched the wall display count away the time. It wasn’t until maybe between the first and second hour that he’d finally drifted into a light sleep or maybe it just felt like sleeping, that strange twilight area where actual unconsciousness and resting seemed to cross. He just kept slipping in and out what might have been sleep or maybe just an ignorance of time passing.

When his eyes weren’t shut he watched the two others with him gravitate toward each other in sleep. The bed they all shared was already alarmingly small, requiring both himself and Ravi to nestle close to Hongbin in order to even stay on the mattress; it wasn’t made for three people. But in sleep he watched the way Ravi wrapped himself around the worn out photographer, a leg sliding over Hongbin’s and burying his face into the other man’s shoulder. At some point, Hongbin’s hand had turned over and wrapped his fingers over Taekwoon and Ravi’s linked ones. He’d shifted subtly so that his back was pressed against Ravi’s front, the same as he’d seen a week ago.

Though Taekwoon didn’t mind because it gave him a good view of both of their faces. So different from each other that he had to wonder at himself for being so taken with each of them. They both slept like it was a commodity they couldn’t always keep, and it was interesting to see how deep they fell. Ravi had the same look he’d had the night previous, the outside world stopped existing for him; he slept like the dead. Hongbin kept his thoughts closer to the surface, he could watch the way lines would form and smooth out between his brows, or his jaw clench, tiny ticks of movement to to telegraph his dreams.

He saw it when he woke, awareness before his eyes opened. Cautiously, those eyes opened to meet and widened at the sight of him, trailing up till they met Taekwoon’s own. “Taekwoon-ah?” the question was barely a whisper and Hongbin kept blinking those giant doe eyes as if that would be enough to change what he saw. “What are you doing here?” The boy asked before his memory caught up with his thoughts. “How long have I been asleep?” Neither of them made a move to get off the bed though.

Taekwoon took another glance at their wall read out before he lowered himself to rest his head against the pillow Hongbin was using, staring deep into those eyes. “Almost four hours.” There was a soft blush that crept up the other man’s cheeks at the new closeness, and Taekwoon was glad to see that he was looking better from the disaster he’d been that morning. “Still tired? You look a little better.”

Hongbin offered a slow head shake, careful to not displace Ravi too much. There was something he wanted to say, Taekwoon could seem him mulling it over in his head but nearly biting his tongue to keep himself from saying anything. Instead he forces a smile, “Are you alright, Taekwoon-ah? Did you sleep too?”

“You can ask about it.” It was obvious from the way Hongbin’s eyes turned down that he’d hit on what the tongue biting had been for. “You want to know, right?” He lifted his hand lazily to brush the boy’s hair out of his face. The worry line that had plagued his face had returned upon waking, forming a crease between his brows. “Someone was killed.” The boy’s gaze shot back up to stare at him wide eyed, mouth forming into a soft ‘o’ in shock.

It took a minute, Taekwoon could all but see the gears grinding to a halt and then restarting inside Hongbin’s mind. Whatever he’d been thinking, it hadn’t been that. “Who?” he asked, eyes earnest before shaking his head. “No, not in here,” a soft glance back toward his sleeping roommate, he was worried about waking him, more worried about making him think about it. But they were all going to have to think about it eventually. “Out there, we can let Ravi-yah sleep.” Still, Taekwoon nodded, and pulled his hand back from twining with Ravi’s, watched as it curled tighter around Hongbin’s. “I’ll…” Hongbin offered a sheepish smile and avoided eye contact, “I’ll need a second to escape.”

Taekwoon nodded, thinking he understood and left first, the bedroom door swishing behind him. The remnants of breakfast were scattered on their coffee table, half eaten bowls of food and empty cups. It was strange almost, as someone who lived alone, Taekwoon was always the kind to clean up after he’d finished, but this almost gave the small room a home like feeling. They must have spent so many meals together huddled on the floor with their tiny table between them. It was becoming clearer to him, they must have always slept in the same bed, the first time he’d seen it had been a surprise but the way Ravi slid right into the covers near Hongbin confirmed it, along with the way they settled into each other so easily.

What was it like? Having someone who was constantly around, a best friend as Ravi had put it. (Though he was convinced that there were more than just friendly feelings on the blue haired boys side. The way he looked at Hongbin’s face, the guilty look he’d had when he’d asked to borrow Taekwoon’s phone, the clinginess he showed in sleep when he wasn’t aware anyone else could see.) To Taekwoon, it always seemed like it would be such a hassle to have someone always in his business, to never have the opportunity for blessed peace and quiet and space. He could only imagine that became worse with such a cramped space. They’d all but trip over each other if they were both carrying anything bigger than a pack. Just standing at their singular window with its limited view made Taekwoon realize the difference between that and his own spacious look at the city.

“Sorry for making you wait,” Hongbin slid out of their bedroom, ducking his head in a quick apology. A look of annoyance passed over his face, scrunching up his brows and making his lips twist into a sneer as he saw the leftovers from breakfast. “This’ll just take a minute,” already he’d started rounding up bowls and cups and utensils, “did you want something to drink? I could brew a fresh pot of coffee.” Taekwoon only offered a nod. “Ravi-yah never cleans up,” he carried what he could to the sink, speaking over the running water, “I should have taken care of this before I went to sleep.” Another face that spoke of the distaste for letting things sit around. Was this how they were? Hongbin picking up after them both?

“Did you really stay up all night?” Taekwoon settled onto their couch, it had an odd quality of being both too stiff and too soft at the same time. It was a marvel of furniture engineering that he wasn’t sure could be duplicated. “If you did, then you shouldn’t have even worried about breakfast or cleaning up.” A frown worked its way across Taekwoon’s face, maybe he thought he didn’t want someone always in his business, but was it envy he felt that Hongbin would stay up all night worrying over Ravi?

“He would have done the same for me,” it was such an automatic response, and so sure as well. Hongbin tipped his head back from behind the kitchen cabinet and smiled brightly, it nearly lit up the room. “Ravi-yah would make himself go crazy if something like that happened to me.” There was almost something like pride in the way he nodded, knowing that Ravi would have him in mind, but also something softer in his eyes. Was it that Hongbin was the same as his roommate? “I got so mad last night,” Hongbin propped himself against the counter, (bare) arms folded over his chest, “they wouldn’t tell me anything, and then they wouldn’t explain to Wonsikie-- er, Ravi-yah why he needed to go with them.” A wave of horror overtook his face as the coffee machine chimed. “They don’t think he had anything to do with the death, do they?”

“I don’t know.” They hadn’t spoken about why they’d both been at the police station, but he could hazard a guess. “I imagine so, that’s why I was taken there.” Hongbin padded his way over to the table with two mugs in hand. “Anyone backstage was probably questioned, though I didn’t see anyone else at the police station.” Taekwoon accepted one of the cups before tugging the other man down to sit next to him.

Hongbin brought his legs up and tucked his feet under him as Taekwoon draped an arm over his shoulders. “That’s crazy; you wouldn’t do something like that.” It wasn’t quite the same level of vehemence he’d shown on Ravi’s behalf, but the vote of confidence was appreciated. For a moment the brown haired boy could only stare into his coffee mug, before turning those wide eyes on him. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“After the first act ended,” Taekwoon started, piecing together what he’d been able to gather from his interview with the police and his own knowledge of the motions backstage. “Someone killed Kim Woobin-ssi.” Hongbin gasped again and frowned, “Up on the roof. You remember that the only access there is from the stairs back stage.” They were both familiar with it, having spent most of their time after hours at the theatre sitting there. “He was shot, twice, with a pistol that’s the same model as my prop. The gun turned up in my dressing room somehow and the real prop went missing. So I guess anyone who had access backstage is a suspect, and Ravi-yah came to see me during intermission so being in my dressing room didn’t help his case.” The rest was left unsaid.

“But they will find who really did it, won’t they?” Hongbin’s brows were drawn in tight in concentration. “There’s no way that Ravi-yah could have done it and I can’t imagine why anyone would think he could after meeting him. I bet he doesn’t even know who Kim Woobin-ssi is… was.” A moment passed as the things Taekwoon had said began to sink in. “They don’t think you did it, do they?” Taekwoon didn’t meet his eyes, but continued to stare out of the window as he nodded. “But why? Why would anyone kill him?”

He didn’t have an answer for that. “They guessed that I felt threatened by him as my understudy.” But just the other day he’d been speaking with the man in question, had even assured him that he’d do fine should the need arise for him to take the lead role. Of course, Taekwoon didn’t plan on that happening during the show’s run, but it seemed like such an inconsequential thing to try and kill a man over. “I think whoever did it wants it blamed on me.” Why else would they steal the original prop? Or stash the weapon in his room?

“I won’t let them,” but despite how determined Hongbin looked Taekwoon wasn’t sure what he could do to change it. “We just have to prove both of you couldn’t do it right?” Somehow, he felt that wasn’t going to be as simple as that. “If we can prove your positions when it happened then that’ll be that, right?” Neither of them noticed really when Hongbin moved his cheek to rest against Taekwoon’s shoulder. “Someone must’ve seen something.”

Taekwoon hissed out a small laugh before taking another sip from his mug. “You’ve watched too many crime dramas. I told them where I was during the full time frame of the intermission, but I don’t think they believed me.” His free hand began running through Hongbin’s hair, fingers tangling with the fine locks before smoothing out again. “I should call the other cast members, see if they’ve heard anything about it.” Did they think he did it? Jaehwan didn’t, if the stream of texts he’d received from the man was any indicator. Though why on earth would Jaehwan have ‘a great lawyer to recommend’ he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“They’re probably worried about to you too.” But Taekwoon wasn’t so sure.

Silence kept them company for a little while, aside from the sound of Ravi’s snoring in the other room. Eventually he’d turned his head so his cheek rested atop Hongbin’s head, their fingers linked together quietly in his lap. It was comfort that the other boy offered, plain and simple. Here is a place to rest, if you want to. And Taekwoon began to feel like maybe the couch wasn’t so uncomfortable or the room too small.

“Taekwoon-ah,” Hongbin finally broke the silence but didn’t make a motion to move. “I believe you. About whatever you told the police? I believe you.”