Work Text:
1.
Beomgyu sighed internally. They're halfway through another V Live and he thought this time they might actually get through it without Yeonjun and Soobin ending up all over each other. He was wrong. No matter how they start a broadcast, it seems to end with excess amounts of touching. He's spent months marveling and/or despairing at Yeonjun's ability to start sometimes meters apart from Soobin but still end doing some excessive amounts of thigh touching. Honestly, it would be impressive if it didn't lead to Yeonjun and Soobin forgetting that there were other people in the room. And also thousands of people watching. To be fair though, Soobin did have nice thighs.
He knew at this point getting them to stop is a lost cause, and sitting between them is a outright nightmare, so instead he allows himself a quick shake of the head as he angles himself towards Taehyun and Kai who have been diligently reading comments and questions. He's unsure whether they've noticed the unnecessary levels of ear and neck touching that is currently happening, or perhaps they're just much better at pretending two of your friends are not all over each other in the middle of a live broadcast.
With the broadcast finished, the members were making their way to the dance studio for some late night practice before they could head back to the dorms. The younger members were already down the hall, so Beomgyu skipped to catch up with them. He absolutely was not about to let that all go unnoticed by the others. “Please tell me you two noticed this time!”
“Oh, we noticed,” Taehyun replied.
“Yeah, Soobin and Yeonjun try not to touch challenge: failed!” Kai snickered.
“They're cute!”
“No. They are NOT cute. They're getting worse” hissed Beomgyu. “It's not that hard to not rub your friends inner thighs! Look! We're all not doing it right now!”
Taehyun looked at him for a few seconds before saying “Hyung, I'm not sure that Yeonjun is touching him just because they're friends.”
“Well that's even worse. Does Yeonjun just go around touching people he's not even friends with?”
Taehyun looked at him harder.
“Hyung that's- that's not what Taehunnie meant. You know what? Nevermind, they're coming now anyway.”
2.
Taehyun is resting on the couch which is meant to be a set-piece at the shoot they're on, but unsurprisingly still functions as a regular couch. It's also serving as a front-row seat to the very boisterous bickering Soobin and Yeonjun are in the middle of. He's not sure what set them off, but it's ending with them accusing each other of being the Mafia in the never-ending Mafia games they've been playing. It's been months. Every time one ends, Soobin demands a rematch. He always loses, and will seemingly continue playing until the day he wins. It would be exhausting if watching his hyung get so worked up every time wasn't so funny. He wasn't the only one that found Soobin's increasingly aggressive competitiveness delightful, if the absolutely gleeful expression on Yeonjun's face was anything to go by. He could tell Yeonjun didn't even care about the outcome of the game, he was just enjoying messing with Soobin.
Taehyun started to heave himself off the couch to go over and mess with them. They were both way off the mark with who the Mafia was, after all. As he was was standing up he noticed that at some point they had grabbed hands and despite the volume of their arguing, it was also interspersed with happy cackling from both hyungs. He sat back down with a sigh. “Ugh,” he said to himself. “I'm starting to feel Beomgyu levels of done with this.”
He wedged himself into the corner of the couch to try and get some rest, the original reason he came to this set specifically. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Beomgyu approaching the ongoing argument. Taehyun watched in amusement as his hyung's face went from bright to confused to over-it in record time. Unsurprisingly, he swerved away from the table and bee-lined to the couch. With a sigh even heavier than expected, Beomgyu threw himself half on the couch, half on top of Taehyun. “Taeyunniiieeeeee!”
“I know, hyung.”
3.
Huening Kai had nightmares. It was no secret among the members and they all did what they could to help and care for him. While Kai secretly did love being babied, he didn't love being a burden. For the last couple of months whenever he had a nightmare, instead of sneaking into one of his hyungs' beds he's tried his best to deal with it on his own – usually by aggressively hugging as many plushies as he can hold at once. Tonight however, was rough. He felt so unsettled he knew he couldn't be alone. He climbed down from the top bunk as quietly as he could. Yeonjun had the bottom bunk underneath, so he would be able to quickly slide in with him. He was trying to prepare an explanation for him in the morning when he stopped in his tracks. He couldn't climb into bed with Yeonjun because the limited spare room in his bed was already occupied by Soobin. Kai stood there confused for a few seconds. His brain at 2am wasn't firing on all cylinders. He looked back and forth between Soobin's empty bed and Yeonjun's full one a few times. He only ever slept in someone else's bed when he was scared. He didn't do it because it was comfortable. Surely they can't be sleeping well in that small bed together? They can't even lie there without touching. “Oh.” Kai was impressed by his brain making the connection in it's sleep deprived state, but equally as taken aback. What should he do with this information?
After a few more seconds of standing around awkwardly Kai gave up and decided that he didn't need to sleep with anyone after all. He reached up and grabbed an armful of plushies and snuck over to Soobin's empty bed. He could definitely make do with this for tonight.
A few weeks later Kai was groggily pulling himself out of bed in the morning to head to school. Beomgyu and Taehyun had already clambered down and stumbled out of the room like two very cute zombies. Knowing they would be hogging the bathrooms Kai took his time climbing down and collecting his things. It was only after he started to head out that he noticed to Yeonjun's bed was empty. A quick glance at Soobin's bed confirmed his suspicion. They were lying facing towards each other with their hands between them, not quite touching. Kai let out a loud sigh. He's starting to understand why Beomgyu and Taehyun have been sighing so much recently.
4.
The second Kai said he was unable to do the V Live with Soobin, Yeonjun volunteered himself. He felt bad for Kai who wasn't feeling well, but he was also ecstatic. Soobin and Kai were always cute on their broadcasts, but Yeonjun wanted their fans to think him and Soobin were cute too. He couldn't help it. Besides, despite initially being startled by his loud and sudden claim to join the broadcast, Soobin and looked down with a small, pleased smile on his face. Yeonjun was enchanted.
As they began the live, Yeonjun couldn't help but feel a little smug. It was barely a minute into the live and Soobin was already praising him. Before he could preen too much though, Soobin mentioned Huening Kai. Twice. In a moment of panic he interrupted Soobin by yelling the beginning of their ship name. Having already done this previously, Soobin knew what response was required. Luckily for Yeonjun, he didn't look too phased about the weird interruption. Unluckily, it did not deter him from continuing to bring up Kai repeatedly. Yeonjun sighed internally. It was okay though, he would act just even cuter and then surely Soobin would give him his undivided attention.
Their broadcast progressed naturally. They worked diligently on their crafts and bantered in between. Soobin had begun to tell a story which Yeonjun was enjoying so much he managed to smear paint all over his hand. Without missing a beat Soobin got up to grab wipes for him. Yeonjun could not contain his fluttering heart. Soobin always cared for him without hesitation and with his whole heart. He did not want the feeling to end, so as Soobin returned he asked him to wipe it for him. Of course he was going to without question. As he gently cleaned his hand, Yeonjun looked up at Soobin's face. The full force of his feelings welled up in that moment. He liked him. He's never liked anyone the way he liked Soobin. He felt compelled to say something and just as he went to open his mouth he remembered that they were currently broadcasting. He look away and laughed a little, scared that he'd given himself away. He complimented Soobin, played along with his joke and tried to move on with the live.
He struggled a little, he was so off-balance. It wasn't a revelation, not really. Of course he liked Soobin. It had been fine before, he had no problem with being just close friends. Teammates. But all of a sudden it felt like the air was getting sucked out of his lungs every second he wasn't with him. He wasn't the type to hesitate in the past, but every time he's thought about telling Soobin he panics.
They're back at the dorm preparing for bed and Yeonjun exits the bathroom after brushing his teeth to find Soobin had predictably fallen asleep on the couch while waiting. This is the exact reason Yeonjun kept blankets and a pillow out here. With a small smile, Yeonjun set about covering him up. Once he had tucked as many of Soobin's long limbs under the blanket as he could manage, he paused to stare at his face. His sleeping face was... not cute. But that's exactly how Yeonjun knew. In the same way the world was knocked off its axis earlier that night, it has just realigned itself with a snap – Soobin was at its center.
5.
Soobin woke up on the couch. He wished he was surprised, but it happened more often than not. He never woke up sore or cold because at some point a pillow and blanket would always appear before morning. It wasn't his favorite way to sleep, it could be cold and uncomfortable. He'd much rather be in his bed. Or Yeonjun's bed. Or Yeonjun be in his bed. Despite the fact together they didn't really fit in those small beds didn't even cross his mind. He knows he'd rather take a small bed with Yeonjun than a large one for himself. Just like he knows the blankets and pillows he wakes up with are from Yeonjun. That Yeonjun has been quietly, and sometimes very loudly, looking out for him all this time. Soobin has spent a large part of his life not fully expressing himself. He figures, now is as good a time as any to change that.
Later that afternoon Soobin was in their dance studio waiting. Yeonjun had asked him to meet there after his vocal practice. While this wasn't unusual, they hung out almost constantly, Yeonjun had sounded so off when asking that Soobin couldn't help but be a little on edge. There was still an hour before the younger members arrived from school, so surely it couldn't be that bad for him to want to meet now. Before Soobin could start to question it further, the door flew open and hit the wall behind it with a bang. Yeonjun seemed as surprised by this as Soobin did, and they both just stood there like deer in the headlights looking at each other. After a few seconds Yeonjun seemed to recover, and closed the door and sauntered over as if nothing had happened. Once he was standing in front of Soobin however he seemed to lose all his bravado. Once again they just stood there looking at each other. Soobin had no idea what was going on.
“You know what?” Yeonjun started “I think I um left um the laundry stove on and I uh have to turn it off to wash my hair. Um. Okay. Bye” Yeonjun quickly turned around and tried to hurry out of the room.
It was the stupidest thing Soobin had ever heard anyone say. “You're lucky I like you because that was the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say. Also, it's very clearly a lie.”
“What?”
“What do you mean what? You said laundry stove, hyung. That's absolutely not a thing.”
“No. To the other thing.”
“That it's clearly a lie? You washed your hair this morning. You wanted to use my shampoo. Again. I told you off. Again. But you didn't listen. Again. How can you not remember that?”
“No Soobin, none of the bits about washing my hair!” Yeonjun sounded slightly more panicked at this point.
“Oh. The bit about me liking you? Did you seriously not know that?”
“... no...”
“OH. Oh my god, Yeonjun-ah I like you so much.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh”
Once again they found themselves just staring at each other. Slowly, a beautiful smile was spreading across Yeonjun's face.
Bonus
It had been a particularly challenging day at school for all of them. Exams were coming up and they were all feeling the pressure. “Hyung will buy us all snacks after practice, okay?”
“Beomgyu-hyung is best hyung,” Taehyun said.
“Best hyung, best byung, best hyung” Kai started chanting. Beomgyu was eating the attention up. They were about to get to the practice room where they would spend the rest of the night. There wasn't any music coming from the room, so it seemed like no one else had arrived yet.
“The hyungs better get here soon. I'm so tired from school and I just want to get this over with.”
“Agreed.” Said Beomgyu as he was opening the door. “If Soobin is late one one time I swear to godsksjakljsk!” Taehyun and Kai walked into the room to find out what caused Beomgyu to choke on his words only to see Soobin and Yeonjun very quickly stepping away from each other and straightening their clothes and hair in a way that couldn't possibly be anymore suspicious.
“Oh” said Kai.
“OH” said Taehyun.
Beomgyu just sighed.