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Minhyuk is wandering aimlessly. At least, that's what he's decided to call it, even though there isn't really a way to wander aimlessly towards the practice room in the middle of the night.
It's not even on the way to anywhere else, it's at the end of a corridor, but, despite this, Minhyuk has decided that he just so happens to be heading in the direction of the practice room and so he might as well quickly check to see if any of the members are still left in the building.
Really, he's tired, and a little hungry, and he has gotten bored of being alone. He kind of hopes that there'll be someone left to talk to, to walk home with.
And by someone, he means Hyunwoo.
But, if anyone asks, this is all very much just an aimless wander before he heads back to the dorm.
--
It's dark in the corridor, and maybe the distant hum of the water cooler behind him would be creepy if this was the first time he was here on his own, but dark corridors after midnight aren't exactly an unusual setting when you've spent the majority of the last few years practically feeling your way down them at four am, after hours, and hours and hours of practise, half delirious on a buzz of energy drinks and nervous energy.
So, it isn't creepy. It's just really weirdly familiar; that low hum behind him accompanied by the sound that his shoes make on the just-polished floor as he heads towards the practise room. When he gets there, the door is ajar, so he knows that someone is still here at least. And, really, he'd be glad of anyone's company right now, it's just--he'd be lying to say he isn't hoping for Hyunwoo's.
He glances in through the window, spots the familiar figure sitting on the bench, hunched shoulders, lowered eyes, pensive expression and Minhyuk feels a smile forming despite himself.
He slips into the room, clears his throat and finds a reason to be there. Asks, "Can you hold down my feet so I can do crunches?"
He doesn't get a response.
"Hey-- hyung? I want to do crunches," Minhyuk repeats. He heels the door behind him shut to try to assert his presence. The wooden floor vibrates beneath his sneakers as the door closes. It's subtle, but it does the trick. "Will you hold down my feet so I can do them properly?"
Hyunwoo finally looks up, blinks in surprise, as he takes his phone out of his pocket and removes his headphones. "Oh-- how long have you been standing there?"
Minhyuk flushes, as though he's been there for hours just staring and not even realised it. He's not sure what time is right now and Hyunwoo does look really good, but he did just step into the room, so Minhyuk isn't sure why he feels so flustered over the question.
"Less than ten seconds. Sorry, I couldn't see you had headphones in from this angle." He pulls a face, decides he needs to know if he has any new fanletters in his drawer. He heads across the room and peers down at the colourful notes, as he pulls his drawer open with as much care as he can manage (he'd opened their shared drawer too enthusiastically once, had snagged a carefully decorated envelope and felt like shit for hours).
"What have you been doing?" Hyunwoo asks, checking the time on his phone.
Minhyuk slides the drawer closed and turns back to face him. "I've been on one of the computers upstairs, reading messages on the fancafe and searching stuff. The usual."
"You should have gone back hours ago." Hyunwoo stretches. "I was listening to one of the new tracks when you came in. One of the new ones that the maknaes have been working on."
"Is it finished?"
"Almost. Wait-- what did you want to do? Crunches?"
"Oh, yes." He isn't sure he can really be bothered doing anything of the sort right now, but it had been the first thing he could think to ask when he'd stepped through the door, and, anyway, he has been trying to do sets twice a day since Hero stages began. You never know when you're going to be put on the spot by a TV host, after all, and he's actually pretty damn pleased with his ability to create an actual six pack in such a short time.
In all honestly, Minhyuk probably doesn't really need anyone to assist him in this, and, really, he thinks Hyunwoo probably knows. His feet don't even threaten to slip out of place when he does them anymore, unless the floor has just been polished and is extra unforgiving to the lack of grip on his new sneakers, but the truth is that he likes the company, likes to talk, even if it is to someone who spends most of their time looking bemused at the crap he knows he rambles on about when he's half concentrating on not pulling a muscle.
He sits down in front of the bench, lies back and winces at the cold touch of the wooden floor as it seeks out tiny patches of bare skin; the thin strip of skin at the bottom of his back where his t-shirt has ridden up a little, the nape of his neck, the back of his arms. "It's cold", he mumbles.
Hyunwoo stands up, kicks at his bent knees gently with the tip of his sneaker, motions for Minhyuk to move back and make more space before kneels down in front. "How many sets do you want to do?"
Minhyuk squirms. "It depends on whether the floor gets any warmer."
Hyunwoo smiles, a mixture of amusement and maybe something like fondness, and Minhyuk takes in the way his eyes crinkle at the sides as he speaks. "One minute on, forty seconds off, repeat. Shall we say, two sets?"
"Just two?" Minhyuk asks, but he's glad really, because it's some ungodly hour of the morning and he's just realised he's wearing completely the wrong clothes to be doing this.
"Minhyuk-ah, it's the middle of the night and you're wearing jeans," Hyunwoo points out, and Minhyuk wonders for a second whether that quiet contemplation thing Hyunwoo has going on is actually because he's busy reading everyone's mind half of the time.
"Okay," Minhyuk agrees, but he doesn't actually make any attempt to start. Thinks, once you get over the cold, and the fact that you're lying on wood that smells faintly of polish and even more faintly of burnt leather and sweat it could almost be relaxing right now. Plus, Minhyuk likes the warmth of Hyunwoo's thumbs where they're curled around his bare ankles to steady his feet.
Maybe that's the main reason that everything is starting to feel more comfortable, why the cold of the floor is suddenly completely bearable.
He lies still for a moment, wonders if he can still hear that damn water cooler in the corridor or whether it's just in his imagination. Decides it's probably just in his over-tired mind. Says, "You know, I think that I liked it better when you and Hoseok-hyung were the only abs people."
Hyunwoo just looks down at him, the slightest of eyebrow raises. Minhyuk knows what he's thinking, so maybe he's the mind reader now.
Continues, "Okay, maybe that's not strictly true. At least I only have to be toned for the next few weeks until promotions end. When we perform it in future, Hyungwon can do that part of the choreo permanently." He nods as if he's just thought of the greatest idea. "The fans'll love that. And I can stop having any motivation to do extra exercise."
"Do you even have any motivation to do any right now? I'm holding your feet down and you haven't moved an inch." He presses his thumb down harder to highlight his point. "I'll let go if--"
"No, don't let go." Minhyuk replies, realises that might have come out a little too quickly. He isn't sure where that has crept up from, the neediness, but he feels the need to back-track. Says "'Cos I'm ready now. You can start counting." He tries to sound nonchalant, but that's never been his speciality. "Thankyou."
He gets to eighteen crunches without speaking, which he thinks might be a record.
At nineteen he says, "Should we go to the corner store on the way back and buy snacks?"
Hyunwoo doesn't reply.
"Should we though? The one two blocks from the dorm that opens 'til late. What time is it again? Do you think it's too late to find pizza?"
Hyunwoo just continues counting seconds under his breath.
Minhyuk gets the hint, keeps going. Grimaces as he feels the burn. Says, "Are you ignoring my question because you've already sneaked off and eaten ramen or something? You have been in here on your own for like two hours." He narrows his eyes as he sits up again.
Hyunwoo only dips his head in response. Minhyuk can't quite tell what this means, except for that he isn't getting to eat anything from the corner store tonight.
"I'm not hungry anyway, just tired. I could go to sleep now, right here," He admits as he finishes his set, lays back against the (now warmer) floor and stretches out his arms. It tickles where Hyunwoo still has a hold of his ankles and he feels awfully zen considering he thinks he might be at that part of the night where neither sleeping nor being awake actually make sense anymore. It's just-- the pressure against his skin is comforting and he likes feeling connected to other people, to his group.
(To Hyunwoo.)
He closes his eyes and concentrates on the warmth, on the feeling of accomplishment, on the sound of the water cooler all the way along the hall (he's sure he can hear it). He really could just give in to the quiet and fall asleep here.
Hell, he has before. In fact, they all have, and on multiple occasions no less: Curled up beside the mirror during all night rehearsal sessions and stretched out on the bench at the end of the room during all day rehearsal sessions. Taking a short break during all-night-all-day-what-is-time-anyway rehearsal sessions. The kind that usually mean it takes an extra long time for anyone to wake Hyungwon up the next morning; Kihyun shaking his wrist and worrying aloud about whether he's actually still breathing, before saying, "Don't tell him I was worried, he'll only use it against me," even though Hyungwon is by now already awake and teasing him through barely open eyes.
Minhyuk is teetering on the edge of sleep, somewhere between listening to noises in the corridor that might not be there and dreaming of his bandmate's bickering, when Hyunwoo lets go of his ankles and says, "Hey, you can't sleep, I haven't done my set."
Minhyuk knows Hyunwoo definitely doesn't need him to be awake for that, has been present plenty of times as he and Hoseok-hyung have worked out in mutually appreciated silence, has wondered how they can stand the quiet. Once had spoken into the silence himself, chatting on and on, even though no one had responded, Until, finally, Changkyun had put down his ipad and had looked up from where he was sat cross-legged at the other side of the room and had said, "You do realise that no one is listening to you, hyung?" in an affectionate kind of way.
Minhyuk had known that. Had quipped, "Well, it's going into your ears, even if you don't want it to," and the others had laughed, had rolled their eyes and continued to bench press stupid amounts of weight as Minhyuk talked happily into the comfortable void between them all.
Still, he is kind of glad that Hyunwoo would prefer company right now, and his company at that.
He opens one eye. "Maybe you could do press-ups instead. I'll lie on your back and sleep, and it will be extra weight so your arms will become incredible. No, more incredible."
Hyunwoo just rolls his eyes, shifts round until he's sitting next to Minhyuk, takes his phone out of his pocket and places it on top of Minhyuk's chest, along with his headphones.
He motions towards it. "You should listen to the new track, they'll want your opinion too," He says, before lying down unnecessarily close to Minhyuk's side and starting his own set of crunches, feet firmly on the floor, counting under his own breath, concentration etched into his features.
Minhyuk wonders why he's not moved away, and then wonders whether maybe he isn't the only one who craves the other's company after all. Or maybe that's just his wishful thinking. Either way, it feels good, so he isn't going to move.
He remembers the weight on his chest, picks up the phone that has just been placed there, puts one earphone in and presses play. And, Hyunwoo is right. The song is good. Really, really good, and he feels a swell of pride as he thinks of how hard their youngest two members have been working and how excited they've been.
Thinks if the whispered conversations in their shared room at night that always grow more and more quiet as the hours slip on, until suddenly Minhyuk realises that Changkyun isn't in his top bunk anymore, is on the floor in the middle of the room between his and Jooheon's beds, a duvet wrapped around his shoulders and a pen in his mouth as he and their other rapper exchange ideas in hushed tones. Sometimes Minhyuk gets out of his own bed and joins them, all three huddled on the floor in the centre of all of their beds talking about everything and anything, until light peeks in through the gap in their curtains and reminds them that, oh shit, they're actually humans and need to maybe, just possibly, shut off their brains for a while and get some rest.
Minhyuk suddenly realises that the song has been finished for goodness knows how long and that Hyunwoo isn't doing crunches, or sit ups, or whatever he's been doing right there any longer. He pulls the headphone out of his ear. "Why are we still lying here if you're done?"
There is a pause before he gets a response. "Uh, I was trying to decide if you'd gone to sleep. Sometimes it's hard to tell with you..." He thinks that Hyunwoo might be half joking, but even if he isn't he does kind of have a point.
Minhyuk winds the earphone cord back around Hyunwoo's phone and sits up. "I was awake, listening to the track. I can't wait to tell them how great it is."
"I told you it was." Hyunwoo smiles. "We should get back."
Minhyuk watches the muscles in his arms as Hyunwoo sits up. Has the urge to reach out and squeeze his bicep. Starts playing with a thread coming away from the hem of his jeans to stop himself from actually reaching out doing it. It's quite a difficult thing to resist. "Is it even worth going to bed? We have to get up in four hours."
Hyunwoo says, "Probably not, but we're going to."
"Why?"
"Because you sleep in the room with the maknae's and it's a shitty example to them if you don't sleep."
"Cute," Minhyuk says, because it is. He doesn't mention the fact that they're probably still awake anyway.
"Plus, we have to be at the studios before eight tomorrow and I find it stressful enough making sure the fans don't get themselves hurt without you wandering around half asleep with your eyes shut, so that I have to keep you practically attached to me to make sure you don't walk into traffic or into a poor group of fans or something." He stands up.
Minhyuk feigns indignation. "Hey -- If I've ever done that before, it's only because it makes you look like a really manly leader in front of the fans!"
"Ah, so that's the only reason, is it? You're helping me boost my image?"
"Exactly." Minhyuk grins, and Hyunwoo laughs in response.
"Liar. Come on, then," Hyunwoo says, eyes still filled with laughter, and Minhyuk gladly takes his hand to help him stand up when Hyunwoo offers it.
--
The water cooler isn't even that loud when they get into the corridor, and Minhyuk wonders whether that was in his imagination all along.
They bid the remaining staff and security goodnight, and thankyou, and goodnight again. Breathe in cold air as they step outside. Minhyuk talks about a funny letter he read on the fancafe. Stops mid-way through as he watches Hyunwoo stifle a yawn. Says, "Sorry."
"What for?"
"Dunno. For making you think I'm going to walk into Monbebes in the mornings. And for disturbing your peace and quiet tonight."
"You didn't disturb me." He shrugs. "I -- I was actually waiting for you to come and find me to go back to the dorm. I knew you were in the building. I do try to keep a track of the members, you know."
"Oh." Minhyuk tilts his head in thought. "But... How did you know I wouldn't just get up and go back alone without looking for you?"
"I just did."
Minhyuk ponders this response and what it could possibly mean. He wobbles slightly, balanced at the edge of the curb as they walk. Hyunwoo pulls him away from the road. "Be careful."
Minhyuk forgets being subtle, slips his fingers through the gap between Hyunwoo's arm and his body as the elder pushes his hands deeper into his jacket pockets. Says, "I'm doing this for body heat, so we don't catch a cold."
Glances up, catches Hyunwoo's eyes crinkle into an amused smile. "Thought the only reason you hold onto me is to benefit my image? It's no wonder you're so good on variety, you spend your whole life bullshitting me."
Minhyuk pouts. "Fine then, It's for body heat and because I want to. You're warm, and I figure if I close my eyes you can just kind of lead us home," He admits. (Doesn't add, and it's instinct to hold onto you sometimes, but it kind of is.) "Stupid, huh?"
"No. It's-- I get it. I mean, it's kind of nice, so..." He clears his throat. "Um. Yeah." Hyunwoo trails off awkwardly, kicks at the sidewalk with the toe of his sneaker.
Minhyuk smiles. Thinks about Hyunwoo knowing he would go look for him, thinks about the fact that he waited. Thinks about what it means that that Hyunwoo doesn't mind, that he get's it, whatever that means. Thinks about the fact that maybe he didn't need an excuse to want his company.
Minhyuk closes his eyes, rests his head against the soft fabric on Hyunwoo's shoulder, and decides he's glad that he just so happened to wander completely aimlessly towards the practise room that night.
(Or, maybe not so aimlessly, but who's asking anyway?)