His little attempt at distraction was a failure—Jin-a even called him out on it in his mumbled response. The sound of his bedmate rustling the covers as he sat up signaled to Ahn-Bo that the embarrassing moment had ended. Or was winding down at least. He would wait here until Jin was shuffling about. By then, enough time would have passed that it would be safe to leave the bed too.

Except no further shuffling happened, and he could still feel the vampire next to him. Ahn-Bo turned toward his back just enough so he could see what he was doing. At first, Jin’s focus flit around the cave. When it landed on the letters, he stiffened. Ahn-Bo bit his bottom lip. He hadn’t feel guilty over his choice to ignore them until this moment. It was more difficult to be selfish when the person you had hurt was right next to you.

When his vampire had turned back toward him, he had fully expected a question about it. But nothing was said at all. Instead, there was merely a playful, knowing grin. Ahn-Bo huffed in amusement. It seemed neither of them had thought about what waking up together might look like—not in this way, at least. He’d definitely thought of waking up together before… and that thought was the opposite of helpful.

Jin’s shoulders were hunched forward from the cold air. Ahn-Bo took advantage of his reluctance to leave, reaching for his arm to tug him back down beside him with a small grin of his own, “Come back.” If Jin wasn’t going to move further away, then he needed to be as close as possible. Now.