Chapter Text
Min-su slowly walked down the road, following behind Gyeong-su and Se-mi, quietly complaining to himself. “Do we really have to go?” he asked, sounding more like a whine than a question.
“Yes Min-su,” Gyeong-su replied. “You barely ever leave the house, we need to get you out once in a while.” Min-su groaned and kept walking at his slow pace.
Once they reached the casino, Gyeong-su and Se-mi went through easily, though the same couldn’t be said for Min-su. Min-su showed the bouncer his ID, the man looking him up and down before scowling.
“You sure this is real, kid?” he asked sceptically. “You look barely above 15.” Min-su nodded, nervously playing with his sleeves.
“Y-yes. its real,” he said quietly, his nerves causing his hands to shake. The bouncer sighed and used his radio to call over his manager. Min-su looked behind him, never feeling more embarrassed in his life as a queue forms behind him. He nervously chewed his lip until he could taste the metallic tinge of blood as he waited for the manager to come over.
After a few anxiety-filled minutes of Min-su ripping the seams out of his sleeve and destroying the inside of his lip, the manager finally walked over. Looking Min-su up and down and then at his ID for a few moments he finally spoke “What year were you born, kid?” he asked in a loud tone, clearly annoyed at the inconvenience.
Taking a deep breath, Min-su managed to mumble out the words “1997” which the manager didn’t seem to fully believe. “Right. I’ll believe you this time. On you go” He said, letting Min-su through.
Min-su walked over to Gyeong-su and Se-mi with a sour look on his face, wondering if it was even worth being dragged to this place. It was overwhelmingly loud inside and he started shaking even more, continuing to fidget with his hoodie sleeve. All of a sudden he could hear Thanos’ loud bubbly voice from the other side of the room.
Snapping their heads to the side to find Thanos’ bright purple hair glowing under the lights, they started walking towards him. “Glad you made it through, I was starting to get a bit nervous,” Gyeong-su said, looking at Min-su with a smile while patting his back.
“YO GUYS COME HERE.” Thanos yelled from across the room, making Min-su jump. They slowly walked over to where Thanos was standing- at the tables in the corner of the room.
Gyeong-su fist bumped Thanos with a huge smile when they got to where Thanos, Nam-gyu and Mi-na were all using slot machines. “Hi man! good to see you again!” Gyeong-su said, yelling to be heard over the loud music. “Brought Min-su with me, hopefully he’ll join in.”
Min-su, still playing with his sleeve and biting his lip nervously, looked up to Thanos and gave him a shy smile and a slight nod of his head. “My boy Min-su!” Thanos exclaimed loudly, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy.
Looking around in panic as he tried to see where Se-mi was, Min-su tried to free himself from Thanos’ tight grip, not liking the close contact. He spotted Se-mi in the corner talking to Mi-na, not aware of Min-su’s predicament. “P-please let go.” Min-su asked quietly with a shaky voice, scared of Thanos’ reaction. Thanos was clearly high, judging by the glassy sheen to his eyes and exaggeration of his movements, which Min-su wasn’t too much a fan of.
A tear fell from his watering eyes, soaking into Thanos’ shirt. Thanos finally realised Min-su didn’t like the hug and let him go. “Oh Min-su im so sorry.” He said in a lower sweet tone, grabbing Min-su’s hands and carefully rubbing them with his own. “You dont like close contact?”
Min-su shook his head, looking at his feet as he wiped the stray tears with his sleeve, the dark room around him sounding too loud for his liking. He lifted his hands to his ears, covering them. Thanos looked at Min-su with a worried expression on his face.
He grabbed Min-su’s arm gently. “Come with me,” he said, while guiding Min-su to a booth. He flopped onto the seating dramatically, pulling the smaller man in to sit next to him. He carefully pulled Min-su into his side, covering one of his ears with his shoulder and the other with his hand. “I’ll keep you safe, you’re going to be okay here.”
Min-su, feeling embarrassed but too overwhelmed to care, pushed his head into Thanos’ shoulder further in hopes to drown out more of the noise, silently wishing he could go home. “Thank you,” he managed to say, hoping Thanos could hear him.
Time went by, Thanos rubbing his thumb over Min-su’s face delicately, hoping Min-su would eventually calm down. He noticed how he constantly fidgeted with his sleeves and made a mental note to buy Min-su some fidget toys. Thanos thought for a moment, wondering if there was anything he could do to help calm Min-su down. After careful deliberation, he pressed a soft kiss onto the head of the man under him.
Against the fabric of his shirt, he could feel Min-su smile, pressing his head all the more closer into his shoulder. Thanos found himself copying the smile with a wide grin, his heart swelling at the action.
Gyeong-su, standing a good several feet away by a slot machine, noticed the two and turned his attention back to Nam-gyu. “Look at Thanos and Min-su,” he said, sounding shocked. “Wonder what’s going on with them.”
Nam-gyu looked behind him at the pair, jaw dropping slightly. “I’d never expect Min-su out of everyone to be so cuddled up with Thanos. Isn’t he the quiet one?” He asked looking back at Gyeong-su eyes wide.
“He is, I’ll ask him about it later.” Nam-gyu replied before going back to chatting with Se-mi and Mi-na who were playing with some poker chips.
Min-su’s breathing slowed to a steady pace as he slowly drifted off to sleep on Thanos’ shoulder, lightly draping his arm across the taller man’s chest. Thanos pressed another kiss to the top of his head and gently stroked his hair.
Gyeong-su walked over to where Thanos was sitting with Min-su wrapped around him, sitting at the opposite side of the booth as he raised his eyebrow. “What happened here? What happened to the loud Thanos?” He asked curiously, unsure of what was going on and why Thanos was acting so different.
“He was nervous man, needed some time to chill and fell asleep,” he explained, still petting Min-su’s hair. “We should probably get him home; don’t want to leave him here for too long, especially considering he doesn’t like it. Do you know where he lives?”
“Yeah. He doesn’t live far so we walked, you’ve got a car though right?” He asked, knowing Min-su would be too tired to walk home.
Thanos nodded, squeezing his way out of the booth then picking up Min-su, who roused slightly with a tired mumble before closing his eyes again. “Let’s go say bye to the others,” he said to Gyeong-su, walking over to the group with Min-su in his arms.
“Yo guys i’m taking lil Min-su home. I’ll see you all tomorrow,” Thanos said to the group with a big smile on his face. Nam-gyu and Gyeong-su decided to come with so they could also get a ride home, saying goodbye to the others and following behind the pair.
Carefully, Thanos walked to his car, a nice black Ferrari that reflected the moonlight off it’s polished surface. He carefully placed Min-su in the back seat when he got into it, resting his head against the widow and buckling the man’s seat belt.
Getting into the driver's seat, he made sure to check that his loud rap music was off before turning on the engine, so as to not startle Min-su awake. Nam-gyu and Gyeong-su both got in the car quickly but quietly, Gyeong-su in the back with Min-su and Nam-gyu in the passenger seat.
Gyeong-su directed them to Min-su’s apartment, a one bedroom place in a run down complex just five minutes from the casino. Thanos parked his car outside and got out quietly. “Assuming his keys are in his bag, i'll be back as quick as I can,” he said, opening the back door and picking a still sleeping Min-su up, along with his bag.
Checking Min-su’s keys were in fact inside his bag, he picked them carefully to make sure they didn’t rattle, smiling when he saw the fluffy rabbit keyring on them. He walked to Min-su’s door, carefully maneuvering Min-su so he could unlock it, his arms straining from the effort. Turning on the light, he noticed Min-su’s apartment was nicely decorated with shelves of trinkets, fluffy blankets on every acceptable surface, and comfortable looking furniture.
He walked through the house to Min-su’s bedroom, placing him on his bed and taking off his shoes and placing them next to the door. He carefully pulled one of the many blankets draped on the bed over the smaller man. Wishing him a good night, he turned off the lights. When he heard a sleepily mumbled voice thank him and say goodnight back as he left the apartment, he smiled brightly, clicking the door shut.
He locked the door, pushed the keys through the letterbox and walked back to his car where Nam-gyu and Gyeong-su were having a conversation about some random topic between each other.
Getting back into the car and pulling out of the small parking lot and back onto the street in the direction of their house, he thought about what he couldget Min-su to help with his nerves and anxiety.
He could vaguely recall hearing about some fidget toy that you could bite. Thinking back to the glimpse he got of Min-su’s torn lips, he thought that would be a good fit for the man. He also definitely wanted to get him some sort of hand held object that would save the sleeves of his shirt from getting picked apart.
Forming a plan on items to get Min-su filled him with a warm feeling that spread through his chest, putting a smile on his lips. He resigned to looking over websites in the morning, putting on the turn signal and pulling into the driveway of their house.
“Did you have fun?” Nam-gyu asked. “You didn’t really get to hang out with everyone.”
“I had fun,” he replied, thinking back to Min-su’s peaceful face as he slept against his shoulder. “Let’s do this again.”