Work Text:
Minsung walks into the elevator with his eyes directed towards his sleeve. It tore a bit on a nail sticking out of one of his friend’s newest woodworking projects. He’d have to get that fixed at some point.
The doors close behind him when he looks up again. There was someone else in the elevator, he already knew, but he didn't expect it to be him. Not at all.
It’s little brother Minsoo.
He averts his gaze to the elevator buttons and presses ‘4’, the floor one of his friends outside SA1NT lives on. Oh god, he did NOT need this. Not today.
Neither say a word to each other but the atmosphere is tense enough for any outsider to notice if they were to walk in as well.
Suddenly the elevator stutters and fails. The lights flicker off, the A/C falls quiet, and the two brothers are submerged in complete and silent darkness.
Minsung knows what’s coming. His little brother’s been claustrophobic ever since he was young.
Sure enough, Minsoo feels a chill go down his back, and he squeezes his eyes shut. Just pretend you’re at home, he tries to convince himself. His conscience is stronger. The world’s closing in on him and it’s getting so hot, so stuffy.
His hyung peeks at him. Minsung bites his lip. It’s been years, but...he can still remember that day he played a prank on Minsoo, back when he used to act in movies as a kid. Minsoo was lost on the set, and didn’t know that it was lunchtime for the crew as he had taken a nap in a breakroom.
Minsung had been made to wait for him to wake up, so feeling annoyed and grouchy, he got up to go walk around and stretch his legs for a minute. When he came back, he was surprised to find out that Minsoo had awoken, and was searching for him.
He was peeking into a janitor's closet. Minsung, being the typical bully sibling, decided to push his little brother in from behind and shut the door and locked it with the keys that a crew member had lent him.
Minsoo started banging on the door, screaming for whoever was out there to let him out. Minsung had thought it was funny, and decided to go out and keep walking for a bit before it was time to get back to work.
About an hour later, he came back to find his little brother being let out of the closet, his face tear-streaked and his shoulders trembling. Then, his mother came in, and boy, was she furious.
Despite this distant memory coming back to him, he said nothing. Minsoo wasn’t really showing any signs that he was distressed. At least he thought so.
Minsoo, meanwhile, was struggling to keep himself balanced and standing. He stretched out a shaking hand to press the ‘help’ button, and quickly withdrew it, hugging himself tightly as if his life depended on it.
His brother looks back again to look at him. Minsoo’s crossing his arms against his chest. He's quivering.
Minsung makes a bold move. “Minsoo.” he whispers.
Minsoo doesn’t reply. He chokes on a shaky breath, and looks down at his shoes.
He makes another even bolder move. He embraces him.
Minsoo’s trembling violently and doesn’t budge, but doesn’t push his hyung off either. Minsung rubs circles on the younger’s back, and takes in a small breath.
It’s true that they have problems with each other. They do have issues that are yet to be addressed, let alone solved. It’s not going to all go away just because Minsung decided to be a good brother for once, but by God, he’s not going to throw away his love for his brother just because of this stupid tension between them.
He’s better than that.