Work Text:
“Soon?” Wonwoo called out from the doorway, arms crossed, casually leaning against the wall. He’s been there a while then. Soonyoung glanced at him through the reflection in the mirror.
“Just a few more minutes, I’ll be done with this measure,” Soon gasped out, starting the music again as he got into position, counting himself in.
“No, Soon, you won’t be. You were done two hours ago, and nothing is working now,” Wonwoo stated rather than asked, and Soonyoung felt frustration melting into anger.
“Which is why I just need a few more run throughs, Won. C’mon just, just hang in there,” the choreographer began marking through the choreo, forcing himself to keep the moves precise and smooth despite the exhaustion weighing down his limbs, numbing his body and burning in his lungs.
“Which is why you need to take a break for the night and come back tomorrow, Kwon,” Wonwoo said again, shutting of the music.
“What the fuck?” Soonyoung turned, “I’m in the middle of something, Jeon.”
“Yeah, in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Come on, I’m getting Jihoon too. You both need a shower and sleep and to not be working.”
Soonyoung stewed in anger for a moment, watching Wonwoo, waiting to call his bluff, “You can’t make me leave.”
“Maybe not. But I’ve been working out, and I can definitely carry Jihoon to the car, and if you don’t leave, you are going to miss that,” Wonwoo watched as Soonyoung morphed from anger to glee at the thought.
“I’ll watch, then I’m coming back and finishing,” He said, though he packed up his things like he knew Wonwoo had already won. It had been like this since the beginning. Once every few months, when schedules were getting busier and more and more pressure was put on the producer and choreographer, they would hide away slowly descending into isolation and insanity.
Well not insanity. But days of not eating real food, not sleeping in a real bed, and barely pausing to take a shower wasn’t really the healthiest.
Wonwoo has some magical way of getting them out of these times. Maybe it was left over from those days in the green basement, when they were the oldest under Jun, who really had his own things to worry about. Both would bite the head off of any of the younger members who attempted to get in their way, except for Wonwoo. By the time Cheol, Josh, and Jeonghan joined them, the pattern had already been established.
They trudged up the gray echoing stairwell to get to the recording studio where Jihoon had disappeared into a day or so ago. Wonwoo was pretty sure he had a cot in there now.
“Hey,” He said, voice deep and rough as they opened Jihoons studio. The shortest of them was sitting in his chair, face down on the desk as the clip of music on his computer played over and over again.
“No I’m not going home and you can’t make me Jeon,” Jihoon mumbled as Wonwoo began pack up his bag.
“Of course,” Wonwoo said easily, shoving sweatshirts and chargers and whatever else had slowly accumulated in the studio in Jihoon’s backpack.
“Seriously. You can get Soon, but you can’t get me. I have to finish this, you know I can’t step away I lose focus and then it just sits in the back of the pile and nothing ever gets done with it,” Jihoon bemoaned and Soonyoung had to stifle a laugh.
“Of course,” Wonwoo said again, reaching over the slumped figure to save his files and pause the music.
“Seriously Wonwoo, I’m not fucking around, I will punch you, and I’m not leaving, I live here now,” Jihoon wilted further into the desk as Wonwoo finished shutting off his computer.
“Of course,” Wonwoo said one last time, taking a moment to smile down at the producer, “Now c’mon, lets go.”
He grabbed the back of his neck like a cat grabs their kitten, hoisting him up out of the chair, “I promised Soon he could watch me carry you if you were being stupid and then he could get back to choreo.”
Jihon glanced up, scowling at the rapper, “Oh Soon’s not going home?”
Wonwoo shrugged, “I mean, I certainly can’t make him come home with me.”
Soonyoungs grin disappeared as Jihoon turned to face him, “Oh no, you’ve been physically doing shit. I’ve just been sitting there. Young, you are going to collapse, and you smell gross, c’mon.” Jihoon lunged at Soonyoung, grabbing his arm to escort him down the hall as the dancer wiggled and complained.
Wonwoo watched the two tackle each other down the hall with a grin before turning to finish locking up the studio, hoisting their abandoned bags onto his shoulders and following behind.
With some corralling Wonwoo got them both to the car, bags of extra clothes and accumulated phone chargers and laptops slung over his shoulder. He ended up driving them home despite both parties protests that they were just going home to take a quick shower and would be returning in just a few hours. Absolutely not the case, but it was cute they convinced themselves it was. Wonwoo could tell when they were crashing fast. They got louder and more chaotic in the back of the car, moves heavy and exaggerated as they fought tooth and nail to stay functioning for just a minute longer. Wonwoo himself never got to that point, not really. He started more tired than them anyways, and while his stamina had gotten better over the years, he didn’t have the luxury of ignoring his body and fighting to keep working. When he was out, he was out. Maybe that was for the best- one of them had to pace themselves.
By the time he pulled up to the dorms they had worn themselves out with complaints and meaningless arguments, leaning against each other in silence, basically unconscious. Soonyoung’s mouth hung open as he gently snored and Wonwoo had to take a second to just watch them for a moment, letting thanks and love and appreciation and all of those big complicated warm feelings well in his chest before sighing.
“Home,” he announced, loud enough to wake them up with a huff of laughter. “C’mon, lets go.” He swung out, opening the door for both to scoot out, slowly like they were wading through water, motions slow and weighed down with exhaustion.
“Eat first,” He said sitting them down in chairs and pulling out the delivery food he had ordered before leaving. Pride filled him as they looked bewildered at the sudden appearance of food in front of them before digging in.
After only a few minutes and most of the food gone, Jihoon had gone back to a comatose state of head on table while Soonyoung continued to chew on nothing, staring into the mid distance.
“Alright, shower, both of you,” Wonwoo said, standing. The dishes could be done tomorrow, he thought as he just piled everything on a corner counter. Or like, today but later. Not right now. The late hour was affecting even him, and he was the only one functioning.
“But m’not the gross one,” Jihoon mumbled and Wonwoo sighed as Soonyoung gave him a half-hearted slap.
“No but you have been in the same room for like 72 hours. You are both the gross one,” Wonwoo pulled them up, walking them to the nearest bathroom, turning the water on.
“C’mon, strip, I’ll get pajamas,” He pushed them in, closing the door before shuffling down the hall to Seungcheol's room. He moved quickly and quietly as the leader snored in his bed, sweater and shorts for Jihoon, sweatpants for Soonyoung, and sweatpants and a t-shirt for himself. He ignored the fact that most people his age did not know what their best friends wore to bed with such intimacy as he did. They also probably didn’t go shopping in their friends closets with as much frequency as he did either.
Finally the three of them were showered and in bed. Did they need to share a bed? Not really. But it was traditional at this point. And Wonwoo was pretty sure that if he didn’t physically pin the two of them down they would figure out a way to work in their sleep. Sleep work. Wonwoo smiled at his his joke before glancing down to look at the two men already curled up on either side of him.
Jihoon was swamped in his sweater and Wonwoo indulged in a second to press a kiss to his forehead as affection overwhelmed his frustration and own exhaustion.
“Sorry we do this to you,” Soonyoung mumbled as they cuddled into him, hands joined over his stomach.
“You don’t do anything to me. You both do more than I do. If making sure you don’t burn out is all I do, I’m okay with that,” Wonwoo mumbled, although he knew neither of them were really absorbing anything.
Soonyoung scooted up, planting a wet kiss on his cheek before snuggled back down, “Love you too,” He mumbled and Wonwoo smiled gently.
“Sleep,” he whispered one more time, before finally relaxing back, letting himself do the same.