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Every day, Minhyun would be up before the sun.
Like clockwork, his eyes opened in the dark, ahead of dawn. He lay quietly in bed for several minutes, making a mental list of the schedule that day—a quick morning rehearsal and recording, then a fansign in the afternoon before a final rehearsal in the evening to prepare for the upcoming comeback. More lists of things around the dorm that needed tidying, things in the fridge that were running low, things to remind himself of again later, to remember for tomorrow when he did this all over again.
Minhyun let the comfort of making lists wash over him before he swung his legs over the side of the bed and began the day.
Jisung was already in the kitchen, cracking multiple eggs into one pan with all the expertise of someone tasked with looking after ten groupmates. As he did every morning, Minhyun jumped in immediately, wordlessly, checking the refrigerator for leftovers to use for banchan. They worked silently in tandem, preparing breakfast with only the kitchen light and the hum of appliances to guide them.
Minhyun had just brought out a mug for his morning tea when Sungwoon walked in with a yawn, hair damp.
“G’morning, mine are up already and Daehwi went into the shower after me. Need anything?”
“Yes, actually—could you check on mine?” Jisung began transferring the eggs onto a plate. “Niel got in late from a photoshoot but stayed up gaming instead of going to sleep like I told him to…”
Minhyun didn’t have to turn around from steeping his tea to know that Sungwoon had rolled his eyes, too.
“Please, you know you can’t just tell him to go to sleep and expect him to listen.” Sungwoon swiped a mushroom from one of the bowls Minhyun had put out before he could reach over and stop him. “I heard him come in at 3 in the morning, it’s not like the two hours of sleep would make any difference for him when Battlegrounds or whatever is waiting.”
“Two hours is still better than zero,” Jisung grumbled, slamming the last egg down with a little more force than necessary, enough that Minhyun could see ripples in his mug from the next counter. “Just—check on them, please? We’re running a little late and you know how heavy a sleeper Seongwoo is.”
Another mushroom before Sungwoon turned to leave, waving lazily. “Yeah, yeah, you got it.”
Minhyun waited until Sungwoon was out of earshot, then fished the tea bag out of his mug and muttered, “Let’s just thank our lucky stars Daniel and Jihoon didn’t end up in the same room.”
“Oh, I thank mine every day, believe me.” Jisung snorted as he moved the eggs to the table. “You should go check on yours.”
“You’re okay for the rest of it, hyung?”
“Minhyun, honey, you already know you’re too much of a help to me in the mornings.” Jisung motioned to the assortment of leftovers Minhyun had sorted, re-plated, and arranged neatly on the table with enough space in the middle for Jisung’s everyday morning plateful of suns. “I’ll watch your tea. Now go make sure your gaming addict’s eyes haven’t fallen out of their sockets yet!”
“Oof—oh, good morning, Minhyun-hyung.”
Minhyun nearly ran into Woojin, who had opened the door from inside just as Minhyun had reached for the doorknob.
“Careful, there.” Minhyun patted Woojin on the shoulder before shuffling past him and into the room. “Daehwi’s probably out of the shower by now, but check for Jinyoung first before you go.”
Woojin smiled, just a hint of snaggletooth peeking through. Minhyun could tell he was still sleepy, but Woojin was the only other one in their room (besides himself, of course) that could wake up on their own without being asked.
“Thanks, hyung.”
Minhyun left the door ajar as he walked back in, seeing that Woojin had already made his bed. Sloppily, but it was made. At least he’s responsible enough to make his own bed without me in the room.
Guanlin stirred, and Minhyun wondered for a second if he had somehow vocalized last thought out loud instead of keeping it in his brain. He walked over to Guanlin’s bed and gave him a gentle shake.
“Rise and shine, Lin-Lin.”
Minhyun didn’t wait for a reaction before he strode over to Jaehwan on the bunk above Woojin’s, blanket a tangled mess between his knees. “Rise and shine, princess,” much louder this time. Guanlin was slow to rise, but rarely needed to be told a second time. Jaehwan? Well, Minhyun could count on one hand the number of times a single wake-up call did the trick. And it was still never without trouble on his part.
“If you get up now and I don’t have to ask you again, I’ll make your bed for you.”
Jaehwan's right eye flickered open.
“And we made breakfast already.”
That was enough. Jaehwan shot up, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling, then scrambled down the ladder and nearly tripped on his way out the door.
Minhyun let a small sigh escape his lips before reaching up to fix Jaehwan’s blanket, half leaning over the bunk and threatening to fall to the floor. Behind him, Guanlin’s bed creaked as the youngest got up to make his own.
“You’re not waking up Jihoon-hyung? I thought we were all leaving today.”
Minhyun tucked in the last corner of Jaehwan’s bed and turned to Jihoon, still sleeping soundly on the bunk above his own, tousled hair peeking out from underneath his blanket. Though the one window in their room was covered, Minhyun could tell it was still only barely light out. “No, just a little more.”
“Okay,” Guanlin shrugged. “See you outside, hyung.”
“Yeah.”
Not that he had to, but Minhyun reached down and remade Woojin’s bed in an effort to kill time, and because the sight of Jaehwan’s perfectly made bunk atop Woojin’s attempt irked him enough. The door opened behind him again as he replaced the pillow.
“Just getting my towel—oh come on, I know I can’t make a bed for my life but do you really have to remake it all the time?” Woojin hissed.
“Sorry,” although Minhyun wasn’t. “Killing time, you know.”
Woojin let out a breath as he pulled a towel from the open suitcase underneath his bunk. “I know. He was up again last night on Battlegrounds.”
Minhyun only smiled.
“Jihoon-ah.”
Nothing. There was never anything on that first Jihoon-ah, but Minhyun always whispered it. He had to try, always.
“Jihoon-ah.” Stronger this time. He reached up and peeled off a corner of the blanket. Even in the dark, he could see that Jihoon’s eyes were a little more sunken than normal, hair an even fluffier mess than his usual bedhead.
Still nothing. Minhyun placed his hand on Jihoon’s shoulder and shook him gently.
Jihoon’s eyes fluttered open for only a second, so brief Minhyun thought he might have imagined the soft twinkling looking directly at him. A low groan, then Jihoon turned away from Minhyun and toward the wall instead. “Five… minutes…”
And like every morning, Minhyun couldn’t help but smile again to himself, the corners of his lips twitching upwards despite his best efforts. Somehow, someway, this boy who slept in the bunk above him had wormed his way into Minhyun’s heart, all common sense and living situations be damned. Several months later, and Minhyun was still none the wiser.
Yet here he was, always letting Jihoon sleep in far later than he’d let anyone else. Jisung had gone from quietly berating both of them to simply giving Minhyun pointed looks as Jihoon ran to the bathroom, a single bite of breakfast often hanging from his mouth. Minhyun spoke to one, but Jisung was always too good at reading people.
“Okay, five more minutes.”
Minhyun replaced the blanket on top of Jihoon’s shoulder and gave it a pat. Then he made his way back to the hallway, closing the door behind him to leave Jihoon alone with his dreams until the sun arrived.