Vacation was fun.

Minseok couldn’t say that about a lot of things he was paid to do so this was basically a shining endorsement. It was a little uncomfortable at first, of course. He was never the type to be super outgoing and meeting so many new people in a short amount of time drained him a little bit. In fact, it was the thing that had worried him the most and it had gone pretty well.

He could ignore the fact that there were a handful of awkward moments in which he and his housemates sort of sat around and stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak, because the rest of the time it was entertaining, rather than exhausting being around strangers.

There was something freeing about being surrounded by people who understood the concept of personal space. When he wanted to take a nap and not see anyone for a couple of hours, he was allowed to do that and no one went out of his way to bother him.  

It was such a stark difference in how his homelife usually was that he found himself absurdly comfortable and ended up being the most social one there. It probably also helped that he wasn’t the youngest one in the house. The other Kim Minseok, the Olympic speed skater, became somewhat of a confidant.

When the cameras were off, they were often together snacking on junk food while talking about how weird it was to grow up in the spotlight and under immense pressure while Little Minseok tried to teach him how to play the various games he occupied his time with when he wasn’t winning medals for Korea. Their situations were vastly different but all too similar at the same time, and they ended up spending a lot of time together even when the cameras weren’t rolling.

Their was almost insignificant but when Little Minseok started on his gaming tirade Minseok could barely keep up. Nonetheless he was fascinated and paid close attention; maybe he could learn something new and Baekhyun-hyung would be proud that he was branching out.

Big Minseok, on the other hand, treated him more like he was used to being treated. He was watchful and attentive, looking at him more like a cute kid than a grown man but it was okay because it wasn’t as cloying and close as s. In fact, he happily made Minseok a drink without much protest.

s often felt some kind of misplaced guilt whenever they drank together. He had to admit it must have been pretty weird seeing the child that they grew up with acting like an adult, but they couldn’t hold on to that reason for much longer. He had been of legal drinking age for three years now and he was a much better drinker than most of s - lightweights, all of them.

Big Minseok had given him a hearty slap on the back when Minseok expressed his love for the drink he made and told him he had good taste. He was comfortable and cool and someone that Minseok hoped to be like in his interactions with the younger members in his company.

(Barring the moth incident, which afterwards Big Minseok made him wash his hands, like, five times after killing the bug. And he thought he was a germaphobe.)

Even his short time with Loco and Mino both were amazing and they never treated him like a child or someone they needed to take care of. It was more than freeing, it was borderline cathartic. He forgotten what it was like to interact with humans whose first instinct wasn’t to immediately baby him.

Minseok immediately felt bad for those vindictive thoughts and tried to reason with himself that his hyungs had good reasons to act the way they all did. Like he said before, it must have been such a jarring change to see the child he once was to the person he was now. He would give them a little leeway for now, but once his 23rd birthday hit he was going to sit them all down and give them a piece of his mind.

The plane touched down and Minseok bounced in his seat slightly, already gathering his stuff and putting it back into his bag. His manager seated next to him jolted awake and groaned.

“Jesus Christ,” he said, rubbing at his face. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“Stop that hyung,” Minseok replied, rolling his eyes. “You’re only 43.”

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you, kid,” his manager said drolly. “You’re practically an infant.”

“I’m almost 23!” Minseok protested, buckling his seatbelt with a pout. “When will everyone stop acting like I’m five instead of a grown man?”

“Hmm,” his manager murmured, clearly not paying attention anymore. “You know that thing when a sixteen year old that insists they’re an adult and they sound ridiculous? That’s what you sound like to me.”

“I hate you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Take a quick nap, I’ll let you know when we’re good to leave. I know you didn’t sleep on the way back.”

Minseok grit his teeth but acquiesced because he really hadn’t taken any time to rest. The hour long flight was the perfect time to organize his photos, in his opinion, and he ended up laughing to himself and sent a series of dumb, borderline blackmail worthy pictures to the Kim Minseok (& Mino) group chat the crew made before leaving. He heard a quiet ping coming from his phone and a notification popped up onto his lock screen.

‘DELETE THAT!’

He could hear the indginance in Little Minseok’s text. He cackled to himself as he typed out an admittedly childish reply and saved the photo Mino sent to the group.

Little Minseok looked ridiculous as a wave slapped him on the face, he looked somewhere between half scared and half excited, the tiny fish barely hooked on his line making a leap back to safety. Minseok remembered the scene vividly and set the picture as their group chat background with another obnoxious cackle.

‘Betrayed……..by my own namesake……..that’s the last time I teach you anything.’

‘LOVE YOU!!’ Minseok replied with an obnoxious series of heart emojis.

‘You guys went fishing? Jealous.’ Big Minseok replied.

‘Yeah and now my clothes will never stop smelling of the sea…….I blame you guys.’ Mino quipped, sad faced emojis following his reply.

Minseok snorted to himself, pulling his legs up on the seat to rest his phone on his knees.

“Kid, I said to nap,” his manager said gruffly, unamused as he stretched out his back. “You can talk to your little friends later.”

“But, I’m not tired-!” Minseok started, before stopping himself realizing he sounded like a toddler bargaining with his parent for more play time. “God, fine. But don’t blame me on your back pain when you have to carry me out of this plane because I don’t want to wake up.”

“Sure, yeah, now stop giggling at your phone and go to sleep already.”

He bit back a sarcastic reply, the lessons on being polite to his elders at the forefront of his mind, and took it with grace when his manager shoved his beanie over his eyes, as if trying to make a makeshift eye mask. The last thing he remembered before passing out was his manager’s low rumbling voice asking the flight attendant for two bottles of water.

It was a mistake to listen to his manager. 

After waking up, he just felt bleary and more tired than he was before, he stumbled around drunkenly in the aisle trying to get his carry on out of the overhead compartment.

He gave a full bodied yawn into his hands and managed to finally yank out his bag before the concerned mother of three waiting for him to exit could offer to help. He had his pride, after all. His manager stood a little ahead, clearly mocking him by offering zero help and only wrapped his arm around Minseok once he finally reached him. He thought about being a little and shrugging him off but he was past the age of teenage rebellion and also he was cold and still couldn’t walk straight.

They trudged their way through crowded hallways of confused passengers who had no idea where they were going and reached the arrival gate where too many people sat waiting, cameras at the ready. It was quiet save the low murmurs of sleepy passengers disembarking and the frantic clicks of massive cameras. Minseok barely took this in, still sleepy and wobbly under his manager’s arm.

He closed his eyes for a second too long, feeling like there were bags weighing them down, and his head dipped against his manager’s shoulder. He dozed for a little bit as they waited for their bags to make their way to them.

Minseok was utterly oblivious to the smattering of quiet coos and murmurs that his sleepy face brought and honestly, it was probably for the best.

“C’mon kid,” his manager hummed. “You can sleep in the car.”

“First it’s the plane, now it’s the car,” Minseok whined, drowsy and hazy eyed. “How long do we have to wait for it to get here?”

“Don’t worry you big baby, it’s here already.”

“Don’t call me that! This is your fault anyway.”

His manager rolled his eyes right in his face, only proving to Minseok that he truly had no heart or shame.

“No, it’s yours for not sleeping when you were supposed to. It’s 3am, kid. I wasn’t telling you to sleep on the plane for fun.”

Minseok grumbled his entire way over to the parking lot, using his rolling backpack as a makeshift stand. His eyes were still fighting a lost cause and he was jolted awake by his manager’s insistent leading hand on his back more than once.

It was like sweet salvation to finally see the company car; he could already feel the crick forming in his neck from sleeping upright but it was miles ahead of sleeping in a giant metal tube with the ambient roaring that never got easier to listen to, and breathing in gross recycled air. He rubbed at his eye with a loose fist, still feeling petulant and groggy - his manager swiped an affectionate hand through his hair and took his bag to pop into the trunk.

He slid the van door open maybe an inch before Jongdae’s head popped through the small space to greet him with an abnormally jovial for 3am smile.

“Minseok! Surprise!”

He tacked the ‘surprise’ at the end like an afterthought.

“My prodigal son returns,” Baekhyun’s voice sounded from somewhere behind Jongdae. “Welcome back, kid! How was it?”

“Oh no,” Chanyeol stuck his head out of the driver’s side window, mouth turned down at the corners looking for all the world like an upset puppy. “You look so tired, dude. Do you want to sleep on my lap?”

“Hmmargh,” replied Minseok, sleepy mouth not cooperating with his still shocked brain. “What?”

The back seat window rolled down with a hum, slowly revealing Sehun fully decked out in his sleepwear.

“I would take him up on that offer Minseok,” Sehun said gravely from his place in the very back. “Chanyeol-hyung is very comfortable.”

“Are you calling me fat?” Chanyeol accused, dagger sharp eyes just asking Sehun to say the wrong thing.

“Oh my God, of course not,” Sehun said, rolling his eyes. “I was hyping you up and making you marketable instead of creepy - talk about self sabotage.”

Minseok still stood swaying outside of the van, half convinced that his annoying bandmates were just figments of an ongoing nightmare.

“Will you two stop that? And move out of the way and let him in Dae!”

Baekhyun bounced in his seat and if Minseok wasn’t already about to pass out he would have been tired just looking at him. He managed to gain a bit of lucidity as he clambered into the van falling into his seat next to a gently smiling Kyungsoo.

“Hey Minseok,” Kyungsoo’s voice washed over him like a wave and Minseok was immediately overcome by the notion that he was home. “Sorry, it was just going to be me and Chanyeol but they insisted on coming.”

Chanyeol nodded, self satisfied from his seat in the front. Baekhyun, Jongdae and Sehun looked vaguely affronted but ignored Kyungsoo to try and pepper Minseok with questions about his trip.

“Did you meet anyone new? Were they nice? Did you have fun?”

Usually Minseok would have answered their questions with sarcastic quips and more than a few “no, moms” or “of course, dads” but he genuinely felt too achy and too tired to be catty. Kyungsoo, clearly god’s gift to the world, must have seen just how weary he was and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. Minseok melted into his hyung’s hold, eyes closed and cuddled into his side with a quiet hum.

“Later, sleep now.” Minseok warbled, tucking his legs under Kyungsoo’s to get as much warmth as possible.”

“Oh my god,” Sehun whispered, cognizant of the havoc Kyungsoo would reap if he woke up a lightly dozing Minseok. “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and I’ve held an actual basket of puppies before.”

“No pictures.” Kyungsoo snapped, already aware of everyone’s intentions.

Jongdae lowered his phone with a pout and Baekhyun ignored him in favor of snapping the scene from multiple angles.

“You selfish bastard,” Baekhyun muttered under his breath, completely focused on his task. “You want to keep this all to yourself? Jongin will literally cry on you if he finds out this happened and I didn’t record it for posterity.”

Kyungsoo furrowed his brow, glaring for a bit before rolling his eyes. Sehun and Jongdae joined Baekhyun in his abrupt photoshoot and shoved their phones in his face, trying to sway him with their artistry.

“Look at his widdle hands,” Jongdae cooed. “He’s so tiny.”

“Fine, but keep it in the group chat,” he peered at Sehun’s brandished photo with a discerning eye. “Send me that one. I want to get it framed.”

“You’re so lucky he’s passed out,” was the first thing their manager said when he finally climbed into the passenger’s side. “He almost bit my head off when I told him to sleep earlier.”

“Oh my poor baby,” Jongdae replies sadly, tucking Minseok’s coat a little more firmly around him. “He must’ve been so excited to come home.”

Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Sehun all made a noise that could only be described as a muffled screech of adoration. Their manager looked at them incredulously and decided to be nice for once and not pop their bubble. Because it certainly wasn’t home that Minseok was excited about that he couldn’t sleep. It was… sweet would be strong of a word to describe them but fanatical was always way too intense despite it being very close to describing the band’s behavior with their youngest.

“Sure, yeah. That’s it,” their manager said blandly, settling into his seat. “Let’s go with that.”