4: Create a rule for how to breath then!

“Do not rise after five in the morning.” Jisung recited the rule and  groaned from under the blankets, refusing to come out of his comfort zone. “It says so in the rule book. It's already past five– I will not rise and break the rule.”

“You are deliberately misunderstanding the rules,” Minho stated, the heartless man.

“Do not make assumptions.” Jisung countered, clenching his blankets tightly when he felt the latter trying to take it away from him. “Ah! Stop grabbing my blankets!”

There was a sound that might’ve been a soft sigh. “Breakfast is being served. Yours will get cold.” He was met with silence. Jisung looked from the blankets and saw Minho nowhere.He pressed his face into the pillow, a moan of agony pushed into the fabric.

He’d gone to bed with the smallest hope of waking up on his own couch but no luck. He wanted to cry, but that was starting to become difficult as well. Jisung wasn’t really one to give up easily considering that his entire life so far had been nothing but getting his ankles broken and continuing walking.

Minho was waiting at the table when Jisung finally dragged himself out of the room, robes a little loose but on all the same. He yawned loudly, stretched, ignored the devastatingly cold look Minho sent his way.

Despite looking that way, wasn’t he just a little bit softhearted for letting a stranger camp out in his personal place? Jisung could’ve been a thief. Or a murderer. Then again, Minho had magic and, uh, those shoulders. And, like, a few inches on him. So he probably wasn’t seriously worried about him being a threat.

“Do not slouch,” Minho corrected immediately after Jisung settled down to eat.

“Damn Minho, I’m putting all of my effort into not falling over. I’m never up this early. I mean, I’ve often been up this late, but this would normally be the time my roommate would force me to sleep.” Jisung eyed the food in front of him. Yesterday it had become evident that these people did not, in fact, know about the existence of spices, or the enjoyment one could get out of food. It seemed his long lecture about Korean pepper had not been received appropriately.

“No talking while eating,” Minho said, and this was one other thing that Jisung had definitely not agreed on.

Still, he’d learned that Minho would not react to anything he said no matter how he tried while they ate. It was honestly impressive. Although, now that Jisung thought about it, Minho didn’t seem to react to anything much at all. He clearly wasn’t a talkative man by nature, and the rules enforced here probably didn’t help with that.

Jisung decided to start the day without giving Minho a reason to kick him out just yet. He didn’t quite manage to be completely silent for the entire duration of the meal, but he did pretty well in his own estimation.

Half an hour later Minho had only reminded him of the rules twice.

“You know, this is the first time in...” Jisung squinted. “My entire life, probably, that I’ve slept and eaten according to health books for more than a day. This is such an achievement Han Jisung!” He exclaimed, patting himself.

Minho didn’t look at him, gathering the empty dishes on a tray.

“Yeji – my girl roommate – keeps nagging me about it. Like, ‘please eat a carrot, Jisung. You won’t live to see your thirties if you don’t stop pulling all-nighters like this, Jisung. Do not eat that rice cake, holy shit, it’s growing mould, are you stupid, Jisung’. You know, doctor stuff.”

This earned him a blank stare with a kind of concerned tilt of an eyebrow.

“Oh, she’s in medical school. Like, to make people not sick. Healing and such,” Jisung said, and immediately got the vibe that Minho was somehow judging him again.

“You share an accommodation with a woman.” Minho spoke with judgement.

“and a man; her brother, my bestie Hyunjin oh but he is away.”

“With a woman whom you are not married to.” he continued with the same tone.

“Yep.” Jisung replied, fully knowing where the judgement was coming from yet decided to start blowing this ancient dude’s repressed mind with some progressive views of the future.

“Are you…” Minho said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “planning to.”

“Oh, wow, no. Definitely not. We’re friends. Also, both of us play for the other team.” Jisung stifled a snort at the look from Minho. “No, I’m not going to explain that one. Anyway, you should know that it’s normal in my world.”

“I see,” Minho said, still sounding judgmental. Less— I see, that sounds reasonable— and more— I see, you are a man of  ill morals and I shall treat you accordingly– Jisung couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped him.

“Minho! You thought that I was sleeping with her?” Minho’s face stayed stiff, but the tips of his ears brightened into redness, and the angle of his eyebrows sharpened slightly.

“Shameless!”

“What, you totally do!”

"It is abundantly clear to me that basic decency is extremely uncommon in your world." Minho hissed, and while he appeared to be about to continue, he snapped his lips shut and turned away.

“Haha, is this about my shorts again?”

Minho did not answer.

“Oh my god, I’m getting slut-shamed.” Jisung stated, kind of wonderingly. Was this how women felt whenever they got comments about wearing a skirt outside?

A piercing glare. “Your vocabulary is obscene.”

“Hey, woah, aren’t you the one who’s implying that? How come you can say I am a complete whore for having bare collarbones and a female roommate, and then when I call you out, it is me again who is acting inappropriately?"

The ears were now completely red, and Minho definitely would not look his way. The guy was gripping his knees with undue force, guessing from the whitened knuckles.

Jisung was starting to feel kind of bad.

“Hey, don’t be mad at me. I know I am pretty shameless by modern standards," he admitted, his tone softening. "Based on your framework, I believe I must appear insane."

“...”

Jisung placed his other hand over his heart in a pledge. "I assure you that nothing inappropriate is happening between me and my roommate. Our feelings for each other are very... familial. In a brother-sister type of way. And I will not apologise for wearing period-appropriate clothing. So you will just have to live with the image of my naked skin in your head for the rest of your life."

After a long moment of silence, Minho nodded with what was not quite yet an appeased look. “Mn.”

“Don’t you have any female friends? It can’t be that uncommon here either,” Jisung asked despite himself. He should have let the conversation die naturally, but there were times when he could not stop pressing.

“The sexes are separated in the Geumgangsan.” Minho replied, still stiff.

Oh. That explained a lot.

“So... do you think... you won’t be able to control yourself once you see a woman?” Jisung asked gleefully.

He wanted Minho to say something stupid in reply, such as  ‘I’ve seen a woman before!’  but no such luck. The man merely glared at him, ever-enduring. “Ridiculous.”

“Sounds like that to me.” Jisung said. “If it’s so hard to believe, I'm sharing an apartment in a completely platonic way with my female roommate. Who, by the way, is absolutely terrifying.”

“You have already stated you do not.” Finally done with the dishes, Minho stood up with the tray smoothly. “Lying is forbidden. If something came up that proved the opposite, punishment would follow."

"How could you possibly prove anything? “Besides, wouldn’t it be kind of insane to punish me for a thing I’m not even currently doing? If I am not currently having affairs, I can not be said to be immoral.” Minho turned around, not once looking back while Jisung continued,

“Do you penalise individuals for past wrongdoings? How long does a crime remain punishable? Hello, Minho! Don’t ignore me, this is a serious question! Minho, you cold moron wait!”