‘Jongdae?’ Minseok opened the door to his best friend’s room quietly. The room was pitch black. Minseok stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He resisted the urge to clean the mess that covered the floor and made his way over to the bed. The tiny frame of his best friend in foetal position under the covers broke his heart. Jongdae was one of the happiest people he knew. Always kind, always cheerful and always laughing. It hurt a lot to see him like this. He carefully sat himself at the foot of the bed. The only sound in the room were the soft sniffling sounds his friend made under the covers and his own steady breathing.

Minseok put his hand on his best friend’s thigh. An indication of his presence but hopefully also a reassurance for him that he wasn’t going anywhere. After a while a soft mumble could be heard from under the covers. ‘They want me dead Min, they told me I should kill myself’ Minseok smiled softly. It was reassuring to know Jongdae recognised his presence, and not any of the other 7 boys, without seeing his face. He hummed. Not to approve the contents of the message but to indicate he heard him. His hand still on his best friends’ thigh drawing lazy circles on the covers with his thumb to calm his friend. They sat like that, in the dark, for minutes. A comfortable silence between them. Minseok knew that when Jongdae was ready to talk he would. He was just making sure that his friend knew he was there for him, whenever, where ever.

The body under the covers started to stir and Jongdae pushes his upper body off the matrass. The covers fell from his face and now that his eyes had fully grown used to the dark Minseok could see his best friend’s face. His eyes were puffy, and his cheeks a little bloated. He couldn’t see their colour in the darkness, but he knew they would be bright red from wiping the tears. After their fansign he had gone straight up to his room without saying a word. It wasn’t until Minseok found the fan letter that he realised why his usually bubbly best friend was acting so distant and cold.

He knew Jongdae wanted to be alone for a while. Away from the prying and judging eyes of the other members asking him what was wrong. So, he made sure to give each and every one of them a death glare as they tried to go into his room while Minseok was doing the dishes. It wasn’t until he had washed and dried all the dishes, making sure everything was back in order that he made his way to the door down the hall. Baekhyun was walking in front of him towards the door and hadn’t realised his presence. He jumped when Minseok spoke. ‘Don’t you dare go in there Baekhyun, I’ll break both your legs’ he said casually. Baekhyun squealed knowing his Hyung was capable of doing exactly that if he wanted to. ‘I just... want to see if he’s okay’ he tried but Minseok stared at him until he moved away from the door. ‘I’ll make sure of that’ he mumbled just loud enough for Baekhyun to hear before opening the door.

Minseok motioned his best friend over and put his friend’s head in his own lap both looking into the darkness of the room. He started softly his friend’s ruby coloured hair. Jongdae sighed loudly as if all his worries were away with every pet of Minseok’s hands. ‘What do I do now Min?’ Minseok stared into the dark room for a while thinking what the best way forward might be. ‘First, I think you need to clean your room. It’s such a mess in here’ he scrunched his nose in slight disgust. Minseok would never let his room get messy. Sure, he was too lazy or too tired to clean sometimes too but he would never leave mess longer than 24 hours. Jongdae softly smacked his friend’s thigh in retaliation. ‘I’m serious Hyung’ and Minseok hummed again. He knew his friend was serious, but he wanted to take the edge off a bit. Make the room just a little lighter.

‘I think you need to stop blaming yourself and toughen up’ Minseok finally acknowledged. ‘Yes, they were right to call you out on saying what you said during that Livestream and how it might hurt people. They were, however, wrong in sending you death treats’ Minseok had stopped and Jongdae softly wiggled his head indicating for him to continue , so he did. ‘I think you need to man up and take control of the situation. Explain that you were ignorant before and promise to educate yourself more in the future to prevent this. You’re not a bad person Dae, you just made a mistake’ a soft whine could be heard from his lap.

‘It’s just so scary Min, what if someone really plans to kill me?’ Minseok took a deep breath. He has had the same fears as well, years back, at the start of their career. When the fans kept telling him he was too ugly to be in EXO and didn’t belong in such a talented group. As a result, Minseok turned inward, keeping more and more to himself and away from the public eye. Privacy and secrets became an obsession and he regretted it now, seeing as he didn’t have as strong of a connection with his fans as all the other members. He didn’t want Jongdae to turn inwards as well. ‘Yes, some of them sound scary, but they rarely come into action Dae. It’s so much easier to spew hatred from the privacy and anonymity of your computer than it is to face someone in real life. Everyone who’s had the pleasure of meeting you, knows how pure of heart you are, and those who still can’t see it honestly don’t deserve your presence in their lives’ Minseok went on.

He didn’t mean to get all sappy about it, but he knew that’s what he had needed to hear when he was going through it. ‘Since when are you the romantic?’ Jongdae pointed out and Minseok softly tapped the top of his head in retaliation. ‘Yah! I’m trying to help you out here’ he put up a stern voice but they both knew he wasn’t actually mad. ‘It’s the truth though’ Minseok continued ‘we all know what you said wasn’t with malicious intent, but that doesn’t make it less problematic. They were right to call you out on that, no matter how it might hurt your pride’ he poked his friends sides in enunciation.

‘Yet the only thing you can do is own up to it and learn from it. People who matter will stay’ he finished placing a firm hand on his best friend’s shoulder, indicating that he was one of those here to stay. This time it was Jongdae who sighed deeply. ‘You’re right hyung’ he said ‘I always am’ Minseok shot back proudly grinning into the darkness. This earned him another slap on his thigh ‘Yah! Don’t let it get to your head’ his friend warned and they both laughed into the darkness. Jongdae sat himself upright again and stretched loudly.

‘Hmm, I’ll miss the quietness, maybe I should’ve stayed away’ Minseok chuckled softly and Jongdae whined loudly ‘Why are you like this, Hyung?’ Minseok laughed at his friend’s expression ‘Because I’m an evil fairy out to make your life miserable’ he joked tickling his friend’s side. Jongdae didn’t budge and Minseok’s eyebrows shot up ‘Since when are you immune to tickling?’ he asked and gasped dramatically. ‘Well, you told me to man up, didn’t you, so I did’ he joked back and grabbed his friend in a headlock. Jongdae pushed his knuckles into Minseok’s skull and started rubbing them through his hair roughly.

‘Say you love me and that I’m the best member’ he demanded playfully. ‘You must be crazy Jongdae, I’m not saying that… AH!’ Minseok roared when Jongdae added pressure to his knuckles. ‘Fine. Fine. I love you and you’re the best member’ he quickly rubbed the top of his head to sooth the skin once Jongdae had released his grip. ‘I love you too’ he beamed and pressed a quick peck on Minseok’s cheek. Minseok’s face flushed bright red instantly as he looked at his grinning friend. ‘Now get out, I need to clean my room’ Minseok playfully hit Jongdae’s behind and made his way to the door.

‘I wish it was this easy to make you help with the rest of the household chores’ he complained before leaving the room. When he closed the door behind him he was greeted with the other seven members standing in the hallway. ‘So’ Chanyeol spoke, towering over Minseok threateningly ‘he’s the best member, huh?’ and Minseok swallowed thickly before trying to duck under his arm towards the kitchen. It was Baekhyun who caught him by the waist before he had the chance to escape and pressed him against the nearest wall. He was now locked between the wall and surrounded by the seven other boys

‘Eh, I can explain?’ he tried but the members weren’t having it and started tickling him relentlessly. After a good ten minutes of Minseok trying to fight between breaking free and catching his breath from laughing the members stop their advances. ‘Now’ said Yixing finally ‘Now you need to be our slave for the rest of the week, without complaint, or we’ll tell Jongdae about your little crush on him’. Minseok’s eyes shot to the Chinese boy ‘How did you…’ he started and Kyungsoo laughed maliciously. ‘It’s quite obvious, hyung’ he used the word mockingly making Minseok snarl at him. ‘Fine. Just don’t tell him’ Minseok gritted his teeth in frustrated defeat. At least he had made Jongdae smile again, which would make all of this worth it.