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“I can’t- I can’t believe that just happened!” Minho gasps for air between his loud, prominent laughter all while pointing at Hyunjin who was stumbling in front of him. Starting his morning by accidentally tripping Hyunjin up wasn’t how he planned it to go but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Hyunjin shoots a glare back at Minho but he can’t deny that it was just about the funniest thing that had happened all week, well, aside from Jisung making a total fool of himself after an incident involving a banana peel and a dark alleyway.
They’d only left for a few minutes for a bathroom break which resulted in one wet shirt and Hyunjin’s hair being suspiciously wet. Nobody needs to know about their mini water fight and if anyone were to question their appearances, it was simply a matter of minding their own business.
Chan calls them kittens, Minho claims not to like it but he can see right through his hard stare and scowl. Although they fight like cats practically 7 days a week, there were times when another side of their friendship shone through into the light.
Chan saw the moments when Minho would switch into something lighter, perhaps softer but it only happened once in a blue moon. Though now he thinks about it, something similar did happen last week…
From the top of his memory, he recalls Hyunjin tripping over the edge of the rug and the next thing he knows, Minho was there. Only moments before that was Minho and Hyunjin squabbling over what flavour of ice cream deserved to burn in the pits of hell. To say the least, Chan found the whole situation rather humorous.
“Let’s take it from the top!”
Dance practice had been quite fun today, Minho thought. While there was a fair amount of work (as expected), there was also an equal amount of laughter to join the table. While Minho enjoyed moving his feet to the beat and getting lost in the music, he also had a certain liking towards days like these. Days when nothing was dead serious, days when everyone could just laugh it off as if nothing happened.
Days when he could have water fights with Hyunjin always made the top of his list.
Hyunjin seemed different today, Minho thought as they entered the van after finishing up with their practice. A good difference. Yesterday, Minho remembered seeing the younger curled up in a ball fast asleep. A sight he’d come to learn meant Hyunjin was just a little too tired. Or, as Minho had named it, slightly pushed over the edge.
He’s glad to know Hyunjin was back to his usual self.
Everyone was tired before practice, it was a part of preparing for a comeback; it was basically in the job description. Despite his eyelids begging to close, Minho blinked his eyes open, keeping them trained on the scenery flying by and not so subtly watching the other member’s reflection in the window.
Jisung was fast asleep, resting his head against the cool window, somehow sleeping through every speed bump the van went over. Hyunjin wasn’t far off the land of dreams either, evident by the way his head was lulling in all different directions.
Minho shakes his head, letting out a quiet huff before he gently moves Hyunjin’s head until he’s comfortably leaning on his own shoulder. Nobody seemed to notice, nor would they care. After all, it wasn’t unusual for someone to offer a shoulder to cry on or, in this case, to sleep on.
Minho would bet all the money in the world that in the other van Felix has his head on someone’s shoulder; his second bet would be that it belongs to a certain Seo Changbin who seemed to be weak for him. Then again, it’s Felix, wasn’t everyone already weak for him?
Everyone was pretty accustomed to the way Minho treats the younger boys.
However, as time went on, Minho started to notice something. Whether he’d secretly already picked up on these changes or not, he was starting to pay even more attention to Hyunjin.
While spectating this newfound behaviour of Hyunjin, Minho had grown a lot closer to him, in more ways than just one. Literally closer.
Hyunjin never seemed to leave his side when he got into these moods. Minho knows moods most certainly isn’t the right word for it, moods usually connote someone’s moody attitude but Hyunjin was far from moody when he got like this. He was more soft and clingy.
Minho didn’t mind it, per se, but he decided it wasn’t worth fixating on. If Hyunjin wanted to cling to his side all day and not utter a word, then so be it. Minho wasn’t going to judge even if it did get a little frustrating at times.
At first, Minho had believed Hyunjin was upset and therefore wouldn’t talk but, a few weeks later, when he still didn’t say anything in these clingy moods, Minho realised that this simply was just how it was.
Another thing he’d come to notice was just how shy he got or vice versa, sometimes he would be rather outgoing in his silent state. Minho found it beyond adorable, he hadn’t quite let that be known yet. Or at least he thinks nobody has noticed.
It was three weeks after that when Minho put the pieces together with the help of Felix.
Minho had claimed today was ‘sit down, stay down’ day. In other words, his bed was his haven and he didn’t have any plans whatsoever on leaving any time soon. Having a day off was always a bonus and he’d be damned if he didn’t spend it in his bed watching all of the anime he was yet to catch up on.
“Hyung!”
Any other time, Minho would have been mad that his alone sit-down, stay-down day was interrupted but this was Felix and currently, Felix didn’t look like the bright ray of sunshine everyone knew him to be.
Taking out his earphones, the first thing his ears pick up is the distant sound of crying and the second is Felix’s frantic voice trying to explain one hundred things all at once.
“Calm down, what’s going on?” Minho asks, itching to go to the source of the crying but he restrains himself, waiting for Felix to put some words together or at least some sort of explanation.
“Hyunjin, he needs you,” Despite his wording being slightly ominous and lacking any sort of context, Minho was up within a second. Grabbing the first pair of shorts he saw on the floor, he stumbled after Felix while tugging up his grey workout shorts that had failed to make it into the wash after last night’s workout session.
He remembers the day before when he and Hyunjin had been aimlessly arguing over what show to watch on tv, unlike their usual back-and-forth bickering, Hyunjin had given up rather quickly. At the time, it hadn’t phased Minho all that much, he’d just been happy he was able to claim ownership over the remote but now that he thinks about it…Why did Hyunjin give up so easily?
Bickering between them wasn’t uncommon at all, Hyunjin started it ninety per cent of the time and Minho wasn’t about to back down and so henceforth, they were constantly trying to prove their own points.
No matter how silly it really was at the end of the day.
He can already feel the draft from the open window in the living room before he even steps in there, not helped by the fact that he forgot to grab a shirt in the frenzy of getting to Hyunjin. What can he say? When he heard crying, he wasn’t about to take his sweet time picking out an outfit.
Minho wastes no time in sitting on the floor where Hyunjin had curled himself up in a tight ball, refusing to lift his head for anything.
“What’s wrong, hm?” Minho frowns, running his fingers through Hyunjin’s hair, “Did something happen?”
Hyunjin doesn’t answer, he never does when he feels like this. Instead, he wordlessly climbs into Minho’s lap, burying his head in the crook of Minho’s neck. Minho stills, furrowing his eyebrows when he feels just how warm Hyunjin is…Unnaturally warm.
“He’s sick,” Minho mumbles as he feels the warmth further radiating off of his heated skin and onto Minho’s bare chest, “Could you get me a bottle out of the fridge?”
Felix nods, scurrying off to fetch one of the water bottles Changbin tended to keep in the fridge, he guesses he wouldn’t mind if one went missing. It’s not like he had over fifty in there or anything…
While Felix grabbed the bottle, he stood there wondering one thing. Why was Hyunjin crying over something so small? To his knowledge, Hyunjin had never cried over feeling a little sick, heck, he’d even powered through an entire concert while on the verge of passing out and hadn’t batted an eye.
“Hyung,” Felix whispers, handing him the chilled bottle, “Have you noticed him acting a little different these past few weeks?”
Minho lifts his head from the arm of the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him, “You’ve noticed it too?” He asks, eyes glistening under the light from above, “I thought I was the only one,”
Felix lets out a long sigh of relief, thankful he wasn’t going insane, “I’ve done some thinking,” Minho gives him a concentrated nod, waiting for him to continue, “And I’ve come to the conclusion that Hyunjin Hyung has a different age.”
Despite the fact that he had said it with such confidence, Minho didn’t seem all that convinced. A different age, is that even possible?
However, the more he thinks about it, the more it makes perfect sense. He starts to let his mind wander over every little thing Hyunjin does when he gets into these moods from the way he goes all shy to the way he would fall silent for hours on end.
No more was said that day, only the fact that they now had a name for Hyunjin’s behaviour changes.
Age Dropping.
Minho’s sure it’s not a proper definition but Felix seemed pretty content with his own, he wasn’t about to bring down his ego.
From that day forward, Minho vowed to be with Hyunjin every time he age dropped.
Something Minho was yet to learn is why it was always him. Every time Hyunjin fell into his headspace, he would inevitably come looking for Minho. He didn’t mind it one bit, of course, he didn’t, in fact, he grew excited when Hyunjin stared up at him with those bright, innocent eyes.
As the days went by, everyone caught onto Hyunjin’s headspace and Hyunjin was glad he didn’t have to hide it…Not that he ever did before. A few days ago, Jisung had informed Minho that the correct term was little space and not age dropping but Felix argued that his term was better.
~
“Hyunjin stole my phone!”
“Jisung hit me!”
“Hyunjin lost my favourite hoodie!”
“Jisung keeps leaving dirty dishes in the bathroom!”
“Hyunjin is lying!”
From his bedroom, Minho can clearly hear the bickering through the walls. It took him a lengthy two seconds to decide that he didn’t want to intervene in their petty arguments, it happened every week anyway.
Why were they in his dorm anyway? Since their dorms split into two, it seemed nobody wanted to stick to their own premises. Minho didn’t mind, he liked the company of the others now that he didn’t get to spend every night with them.
He hears a quiet groan from the other side of his door, no doubt that it belongs to Seungmin who was probably just trying to mind his own business before the loud voices broke his peaceful bubble.
In the front room, Jeongin sits, unamused at the sight in front of him. Just like Seungmin had been peacefully trying to write in his journal, Jeongin had been quietly flicking through his new book but was rudely interrupted by his two Hyungs arguing about hoodies and dirty dishes…?
“Hey, Hyunjin, you know I was joking, right?”
Jeongin raises his head at Jisung’s quieter, worried tone to see Hyunjin standing there like a deer in the headlights, a deafening silence falling between the pair.
It wasn’t unusual that the duo would get into these silly arguments, Changbin had once theorised that they actually did it for fun. Jeongin believes that to be true too.
Hyunjin takes a step back, suddenly painfully aware of everyone in the room watching him. Everyone but the one person he truly wanted.
By now, everyone was pretty accustomed to knowing when Hyunjin had slipped and Jisung was no stranger to the way Hyunjin was searching for comfort. Immediately, he steps forwards into the little’s space and comfortingly wraps his arms around him, pulling him in close and swaying them side to side.
Hyunjin gets lost in the hug, feeling his previous anxiety melt into thin air. Hugs make everything better, that’s what Minho had told him once.
Talking about Minho…
Back in his bedroom, Minho sat still, carefully listening but hearing nothing. The silence was unnerving, especially after one of Hyunjin’s and Jisung’s bickerings. They usually ended in a handful of laughter, not void of any sound at all. Even a pin drop could be heard with how quiet it was.
It should be nice but to Minho, it was anything but.
He stands up, grimacing at just how loud the sound of his feet padding against the floorboards was.
When he approaches the front room, he sees Hyunjin hugging Jisung, pouting at Minho’s own absence.
“Hey, what’s going on bub?” Minho frowns, joining Hyunjin in his low mood.
At the sound of his voice, Hyunjin pulls back from Jisung, instantly attaching himself to Minho’s side where he was quick to hoist the younger up into his arms.
He eyes Jisung up who was now awkwardly grinning and hiding behind an unimpressed Jeongin who was yet again putting up with his Hyung’s immaturity.
Jisung shoots Minho a finger heart, “Love you Minho Hyung,” He gives him a toothy grin to go with it, Minho just rolls his eyes letting Jisung get away with whatever the hell just happened and if someone notices his smile? Then screw them.
“He’s whipped for Hyunjin,” Jisung whispers into Jeongin’s ear, quiet enough that Minho wouldn’t be able to hear. Jisung dreads to know what could possibly happen to him if his words were to be even a tiny bit too loud.
Jeongin nodded, smirking as Minho carried Hyunjin off to his own room, “Absolutely whipped,”
~
There were many more occurrences after that, countless even.
“Minho, what’re you doing with your day off?” Chan asks, leaning against one of the pillars in the cafe that Chan had somehow convinced him to go to.
Minho thinks about it, he hasn’t really put a plan together. In truth, he could do with a whole day of sleeping. It felt like a lifetime since he’d last got to sleep in.
“Sleep,” Minho simply states, happily sighing at the prospect of getting to get some much-needed rest, “If anyone wakes me, I will bury them alive,”
The cold expression didn’t phase Chan in the slightest, “I don’t doubt it,” He laughs, “I think Seungmin said he was joining Jeongin and Felix, sounds like you’ve got the dorm to yourself,”
Even better.
Just like he had spoken about with Chan, when their day off did roll around, he didn’t get out of bed. It felt strange waking up at 6 and being able to fall back asleep and not worrying about missing practice or a scheduled recording.
To make his day off even better, he’d told everyone to leave him alone, no unexpected visits, no knocking, no phone calls and no barging in. Within reason, of course.
Everything was going to plan until around ten in the morning. Aside from the persistent knocking at his door, it was quiet.
He figures if he shuts his eyes and tunes out the knocking, it will simply disappear and it won’t be a him problem.
Unfortunately, the sound only grew louder as the person on the other side of the door grew more desperate to get Minho’s attention.
With a loud groan that was closer to a growl, Minho sits up in his bed, angrily glaring at his closed bedroom door.
“What is it?” Minho calls out, frustration as clear as day, “I said, what is it?”
The door creaks open, Hyunjin stands on the other side, blinking at Minho who was burning holes into the walls with just how much he glared at the offending plasticine.
Seeing Hyunjin cowering in his doorway, fiddling with his fingers and lost for words, Minho freezes, quickly standing up and stumbling over to the younger boy.
“Hey buttercup, come here,” He softly mumbles, wrapping his warm arms around Hyunjin and slowly leading them back to the warmth of his bed.
Hyunjin was happy with the transition from a cold doorway to Minho’s bed, perfectly warmed up from his body being in it for 12 hours straight. When Minho proceeded to let Hyunjin steal the majority of the blankets, his day got even better.
“You’re lucky I love you, you little monster,” Minho softly smiles, stroking his thumb across Hyunjin’s puffed-out cheeks.
If Hyunjin spoke in his headspace, Minho wonders what he’d say, if he’d even have anything to say.
He’d started the day under the impression that he would very much be alone in his bed but somehow, this was better. This was way better.
Hyunjin had taken his heart, stolen it and he wasn’t ever going to get it back and that was okay with Minho.
Hyunjin was just too cute, too cuddly and soft for his poor heart to take.
He’d heard Jisung call him whipped and, in all honesty, where was the lie?
Lying here, letting Hyunjin take all his blankets in his arms so Minho himself was left to freeze, he realised that he would do anything for the little to be happy and content. Even if that meant freezing in the early November air.
If it were anyone other than Hyunjin, they would’ve been fried alive, he supposes Hyunjin has an unlimited supply of get-out-of-jail-free cards.
And, unsurprisingly, Minho wouldn’t have it any other way.