It's 9:12AM.

Pleaseforgetaboutitpleaseforgetaboutitpleaseforgetaboutitpleaseforgetaboutitpleaseforgetaboutit

"You awake?"

"Mmhmmmm," he says, blearily.

(He's not bleary anymore. Hopefully he can pretend well enough.)

"I should be down to zero and I think I was and - do you know if there's anybody around Seoul with a sensory power who might've for some reason covered your house with it -"

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

He does not have the reaction time or the facial control to look completely neutral or surprised by this. He has no idea what his face is doing but it is not an innocent face.

God fucking damnit Kang Jaeha if you've just ruined your chances with this boy over a fucking morning-after stupidity—

"Are you okay?"

...oh no.

Oh no.

Did Haru—did Jaeha have a chance to actually—

Kang Jaeha you fucking idiot.

"I have no reason to believe there is an esper with a sensory power affecting either of us today. Other than myself."

"Oh! I didn't know you had one? I guess I don't tell everybody I can walk through walls, what's your deal?"

...he's being surprisingly chill about this.

"I can—perceive people's emotions. And some other states of mind."

"As... a feedback component of the illusion thing?"

"Yyyyyes but also as a thing I can do on its own."

"And you tried to do this to me... why."

"Because I woke up to the unfamiliar feeling of someone being next to me and—instinctively reached out."

"Are you normally doing this a lot? In - like - civilian contexts - like, I find receptive empathy sketchy and would rather people not do it at me, which, good news, they can't, but based on the state of the entire fantasy genre I think that's mostly a me thing, but separately from that you're in such a backlash hole, even if you don't feel right about taking a long break from dungeoneering the gratuitous power use can't be helping at all -"

"—no. No, not at all. Just—threat instincts? I don't usually tell people about this because—fantasy genre or not, it does spook them, but I don't use it except at work, and I reach for it on reflex when it feels like I'm in a threatening situation. ...which is not to say you're threatening! But—I haven't woken up next to someone in years."

"More things for me to not yell at your ex-partner about, I guess."

His heart is still kind of racing but, but, but it worked. It landed. And he has just come up with the excuse for why his heart would be kinda racing. And actually, "Hug me? I—was trying to play it cool but it did spook me a bit—this is embarrassing."

"Of course." Haru flops back down and rolls over on top of him for snuggles.

Oh this continues to feel so nice. So so so so nice. He closes his eyes and pets Haru—mostly to soothe himself—and waits for his heart to calm down.

All the snuggles he wants. Gotta work on that backlash backlog.

Yeah he does.

"So," he says once he is in fact calm, "how are you feeling about Quasar?"

"I'm pretty positively inclined. If Juno wants to keep you badly enough that they'll singlehandedly eradicate malaria and get started on yellow fever to get it I'll gladly lean more on non-guild connections for my compulsive chat, though."