Shit.
“Sammy,” Jun said quietly, voice just above a whisper, as he pinched the phone to his ear with his shoulder and shimmied into his jeans. “Hey. What’s up?”
“What’s up?” Sammy sounded pissed, which was not a good sign. “Jun, where the hell are you? It’s five a.m. Our flight leaves in an hour and a half.”
Double shit.
“Is there any way to change the booking? There’s enough room built into the schedule that we could afford to stay in Aurora an extra day, right? Or at least another twelve hours.”
“Absolutely not. We’re scheduled to meet up with the resident sound tech of tomorrow’s venue this afternoon, and he needs you there so he can calibrate his equipment before the show. I need your ass herenow.”
“Okay, okay, I’m on my way. Just… go sabotage the plane or something to buy me some extra time.”
“I swear to god, Jun?—”
“Can’t-talk-now-gotta-run-byeee.”
Jun ended the call and did up his fly. With the help of his phone’s flashlight, he found his shirt and tugged it on, then hopped around in the dark as he pulled on his socks. Miles was deeply asleep and hadn’t moved or mumbled when he’d left the bed, but he didn’t want to risk waking him, so he avoided sitting on the mattress. After what they’d gotten up to last night, he deserved the rest.
Still…
Fully dressed and ready to go, Jun paused at the bedside. Miles’s shape was barely visible beneath all the soft blankets and throws.
If Jun woke him, Miles would tempt him back to bed.
He’d miss his flight, stay in the city, get in shit with Sammy, and probably have to cancel tomorrow’s show… but he’d have another day here, in this tiny studio apartment with the omega he desperately wanted to get to know. They could have breakfast together—maybe go down to that bakery Miles had told him about—and load up on carbs and coffee before coming home to snuggle. A place like that would have to have coffee, right?
It itched at the back of Jun’s mind that he might never know.
Heart heavy, he put those impossible thoughts aside and came back to reality. He wouldn’t be able to go out to breakfast with Miles, but that didn’t mean it had to be the last time they ever spoke. If Miles felt the same pull, surely he would want to reach out and keep things going. Jun could always come back. His tour was almost over, and after that he could set up shop in a hotel somewhere in Aurora, spending his days recording and his nights in Miles’s bed.
All he had to do was make sure Miles had his number. That way they could stay in touch even when Jun deactivated his Grindr account, which he always did before arriving at the next stop in his tour. There was nothing quite as mortifying as being up on stage and having someone in the front row loudly and excitedly expose your horny secrets to the world, and as desperate as he was to stay in touch with Miles, it wasn’t an experience he ever wanted to live through again.
Not seeing any paper and not knowing where he would start to look for it, Jun pulled Miles’s computer out from beneath the bed. There was no lock screen, so he had no issue opening up a Word document and firing off a quick message:
Hey, it’s Jun :)
A work thing came up and I had to go, but I’d love to stay in touch and meet up with you again sometime.
Text me?
He capped the message with his number, then closed the screen and slid the laptop back under Miles’s bed. As he straightened up, his phone buzzed with a text message.
Sammy:you’d better be fast-tracking your ass through security right now
Jun dismissed it without answering and cast one last look at the Miles-shaped mound on the bed. There was still so much he wanted to know about him, and maybe someday he’d get to know it, but for now, he had to run.
As he passed through the living room on the way to the front door, a shuffling by the window caught his eye. Pigeons. Two of them. Delightfully round little things sharing a croissant as the first sliver of morning sunlight peeked over the horizon.
Jun paused.
Watched them.
Smiled.
Then slipped out the door.
He had a flight to catch and fans waiting to meet him.
