Chapter Text
The Prince He Is
Yuta loved physical contact. It wasn’t a secret to anyone. He clung to certain members more than others (mainly Taeil and Winwin, sometimes Jaemin), but every one had their fair share of Yuta-snuggles. He would never hide what he wanted, Yuta was always the first to seek out comfort from another member. Most of the time, the Japanese would carry a blanket around the dorm and plop right into someone’s lap or arms and demand attention. It didn’t matter if you were younger or older, you were whipped for Yuta Nakamoto.
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Sicheng knew Yuta would be in Taeyong and Johnny’s room within the next five minutes. Taeyong had already set up his laptop to stream to the t.v. Sicheng was laying in Taeyong’s arms, soaking up the love provided before he left. This was going to be the last anime night for a while, with all of them at least. The two members were just waiting for Yuta to bring blankets and himself, it was a night to watch the new anime Yuta convinced them to watch.
Yuta knocked on the door and waited for Taeyong to tell him to come in. There was a huge, fluffy blanket in his hands, he unfolded it and draped it across the two boys situated on the bed. Yuta typed in his password into the streaming site and found the desired anime. “Korean or Chinese captions, tonight?” he asked in the general direction of the bed.
“Chinese, Winnie is a little tired and can’t focus on translating today,” Taeyong spoke for the younger member, placing a loving kiss on his forehead. Yuta started the anime and made his way to the bed. He wrapped his long arms around Taeyong and Sicheng, pulling them close to snuggle even deeper.
As the anime marathon continued, the boys fell into different states of sleepiness. Sicheng was barely holding on, having switched his position to have his face buried into Yuta’s chest not paying attention to the anime one bit. The Japanese would routinely check up on him after every episode, always getting a “I’m just resting my eyes, Yuta-hyung.” Taeyong was softly stroking Yuta’s hair, thankful that the anime wasn’t loud or violent like last week’s had been. He was more awake than Sicheng, but would catch himself fluttering his eyes close and quickly opening them wide to stay awake.
By the fifth episode, Sicheng was no longer responding to Yuta’s check ups. Yuta himself was droopy eyed and shifting in his place to stay awake. He leaned his head on Taeyong’s and spoke in a quiet whisper, “Yongie-hyung, want to turn it off now?” He got a small nod in reply and Taeyong searched the bed for the remote.
The room was plunged into darkness, except the light that filtered in from the bottom of the door leading into the hallway. “Johnny must have left the light on again,” Taeyong muttered to himself, making to get up from the bed. Yuta grasped his waist and pulled in into his arms, being careful to not wake Sicheng. “Let it go, just go to bed. Sicheng is gonna be up sooner or later to go to the bathroom. He’ll get it then.”
The two members shifted so Taeyong’s head was rested on Yuta’s shoulder, cautiously repositioning Sicheng so he wasn’t struggling to breathe against Yuta’s stomach. Taeyong placed a small kiss to Yuta’s collarbone before breathing out, “goodnight, prince.”
Yuta closed his eyes, relaxing his grip on his two members. The soft sound of the ceiling fan and steady breathing from the two warm bodies beside him lulled him to sleep.
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It had been a week since Sicheng and the other Chinese members had left for China and WayV preparations. Yuta was lonely, to understate. Johnny and Jungwoo would often commiserate with him, they too had lost their best friends. But it was Taeil who pulled him into the living room one afternoon and sat on the loveseat, motioning for Yuta to sit in his lap.
The elder member wrapped a blanket around them and pulled Yuta close. Taeil pulled out his phone and held it in the hand that was wrapped around Yuta. “You can put the t.v. on, I’m just gonna read on my phone.”
Yuta didn’t want to turn on the t.v. He just curled into Taeil’s lap and rested his head in the elder’s crook of his neck. Taeil must have just showered because he smelled so good. Yuta could hear Taeil’s heartbeat from his position in the elders lap, the slow beating was putting him to sleep.
As much as he fought it, Taeil noticed. “Sleep if you want to, prince.” The elder began to rub circles onto Yuta’s back, furthering his trip to dreamland. Yuta was warm and content, the loneliness that had plagued him the past week was seeping out of him every completed circle Taeil rubbed.
Yuta woke up to a weird feeling, it was like fingers digging into his side. He slowly opened his eyes, “Hyung! He’s awake, our strategy worked!” Oh, that was definitely Donghyuck’s annoying screeching. Yuta was awake enough now to assume Donghyuck and maybe Mark(?) were tickling him, he would have to have a talk about Donghyuck’s tickling skills because it hurt.
He pushed the four hands away from his stomach, “Where did Tsuki-hyung go?” Mark looked at, confused, like he was waiting for Yuta to speak clearly. Donghyuck looked at Mark, then at Yuta, then back to Mark.
“Hyung? What’s tsuki mean?” Mark asked, cocking his head to the side like a little puppy begging for food.
“Moon, where’s Taeil-hyung? Wow, you guys need to work on your Japanese.” Yuta pushed himself off the loveseat, acting offended. He heard Mark yell something about knowing English and Donghyuck laughing at Mark’s English accent.
He got halfway to the kitchen before the maknaes ran up beside him and grabbed his hands. “Hyung, can we go get ice cream before dinner is done? If we sneak out now Taeyong-hyung can’t catch all three of us.” The thought of sweets excited Yuta, but he was going to end up paying for the three cones. He should be saving for souvenirs when they went on tour, but the pouting of Donghyuck and Mark was very convincing.
“Yes, I’ll treat you to ice cream, you brats. Go get shoes and masks on,” he pushed the younger members towards their room. His shoes were at the front door, he poked his head into the kitchen to see if anyone was in. Taeyong was dancing with a knife in his hand, in the middle of chopping up carrots.
Yuta called out to him and let him know that he and the maknaes were going out, obviously he didn’t say what for, Taeyong reminded them to be home in an hour for dinner. He reassured the elder that they wouldn’t be out for that long.
Mark and Donghyuck were waiting for him with hats and masks on, “we’re ready when you are, hyung,” came Mark’s clear voice. Yuta planned to take them to the park, they could sit in the sunshine while they ate their ice cream cones.
They walked to the closest park, on the way passing multiple street vendors. Mark took five minutes to pick between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, all the while Donghyuck critiqued him for being plain and boring. Their bickering grew, Yuta watched from behind them as hands were flung in exaggeration and hips were bumped against each other (harshly in Donghyuck’s case).
They got to a bench and sat down, squeezing all three of them. The three members joked around, all smiles and laughter. Donghyuck commented offhandedly, “Mark-ah, doesn’t Yuta-hyung look like a prince in this lighting?” prompting Mark and Donghyuck to pull out their phones and lay in the grass taking odd angled photos of Yuta and his healing smile.
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Johnny was barely older than Yuta, but he constantly went out of his way to act like a good hyung. Johnny was more observant than people gave him credit for. He could see that the sole Japanese member was struggling.
Johnny was familiar with homesickness, most of the members were, but Yuta always went to Johnny when he was missing home a little more than usual. Yuta was always proud of his hyung for bouncing back and forth between finishing school in the states and training for multiple summers at SM. Only to get very few lines in their songs.
Yuta could relate, moving to Korea at 17 was a huge burden to his mental health. He was shy at first, but Johnny was one of the first people to introduce themselves to him. They immediately hit it off and when Johnny had to leave to go back to school, Yuta felt like his only friend was abandoning him.
Johnny had, luckily, introduced him to Jaehyun, who became his temporary best friend while Johnny was finishing senior year. And with Jaehyun came Dongyoung. For all the sass Dongyoung dishes out, he really is a sweetheart looking for someone to dote on.
That someone was Yuta. Dongyoung went out of his way to cook (or order, if he was lazy) Japanese food for Yuta at least once a week. It was still a tradition the two did, but once a month. They would drag a few members out to eat and split the bill. This month it was Jaehyun and Johnny who got to join.
“Guys, you know I like western food, Japan is east of us!” Johnny whined to the group as they got in the car. Nonetheless, he started the engine and drove the quartet to a place they haven’t been to before.
Jaehyun was complaining, “the place was an hour away? Hyungs! I was already starving when we got in the car” he grumbled to no one in particular. Not like anyone was listening to him any way, the two in the front seat were jamming to Lips and Dongyoung had fallen asleep.
When they parked in front of the tiny shop, Jaehyun practically sprinted to get a table for the group. “Hi, we have four. The others are just behind me.” He was already seated by the time Dongyoung had woken up and the other three members entered the restaurant.
Yuta tried to order and make the food for them, but Dongyoung was persistent that he be the one to do it, ‘I’ve done it for six years, hyung. Let me do it for you.’ Dongyoung prepared the food beautifully - better than Yuta would have done to be honest.
They were back in the car and texting the main group chat to let them know they were headed back. Yuta’s text was met with a bunch of emojis in response, some of the Chinese members replying in Chinese. Yuta would have to look that up later. Or just ask Kun. He didn’t trust Naver for translations anymore.
Johnny looked over from the driver’s seat during a red light, Yuta’s face was illuminated but the pale street lights outside the car. A hint of red from the street sign. His eyes were fluttering close, fighting sleep. Johnny turned the music down and changed it to slower, softer songs that would lull the last awake member to sleep.
His plan must have worked because Yuta woke up in Johnny’s arm while in the elevator. The ding had woken him up, of all things it had to be the DING! Johnny hadn’t noticed that Yuta was awake in his arms yet, but glanced down at him when the Japanese nestled further into the Chicagoan’s neck and chest.
Yuta wanted to go back to sleep, Johnny’s warmth was making him sleepy, so when Johnny set Yuta in his bed and tucked him in it was understandable why Yuta grabbed Johnny’s wrist. “Don’t go, hyung. Cuddle with me please, at least until I fall asleep.”
And who was Johnny to refuse that healing smile? The taller man pulled back the covers on Yuta’s bed and maneuvered himself to lay comfortably on the small bed. Yuta curled into Johnny’s side and situated his head on Johnny’s chest.
Yuta could smell the American’s deodorant and hear his heartbeat steadily thump. “Do you like me, hyung?” The heartbeat picked up. “Am I a burden to you or the others?” Johnny wrapped his arms around the smaller man, mustering strength to have this kind of conversation.
“Prince, no one in the group feels like you’re a burden. All of us love you, Yuta. Why do you think Jaemin is insistent on you being his ‘honourary dad’? You have the most beautiful smile, we named it right when we call it a healing smile. You look like you walked out of an anime or manga with the visuals you serve. I wish I was as good looking as you, prince.”
Yuta was blushing, pressing his face further into Johnny’s solid body providing support. “Don’t even get me started on how smart you are, you pick up on languages so quickly and put in so much effort to retain vocabulary. I wouldn’t be half as good at Korean if it wasn’t for you constantly badgering me to study. And - oh my gosh - you’re such a dedicated person! You want to get everything perfect as soon as you can. You learn dance moves at lightning speed, you’re ad libs are magnificent, and you’re vocals, although hidden, shine through.”
The Japanese was content with Johnny’s answers, the small doubt that had crept into his mind had vanished in a matter of minutes. He was content to lay in the American’s arms and fall asleep. Although he only asked Johnny to stay until he fell asleep, he really hoped the taller man would stay the night, protecting Yuta in his long, warm arms.