All of Astro were in excellent physical shape. They had to be- their dances demanded incredible amounts of energy, and learning and performing them as often as the six of them did was enough to kick anyone’s body into high-gear. And that was without the time they all put in at the gym.

Dongmin didn’t mind the shape his body was in. He had always been reasonably fit, between his natural metabolism, his height, and the sports he had played in middle and high school. Being an idol, though, was an entirely different beast- never in his life had Dongmin trained so much, and sometimes, he was still adjusting to it.

This night was one of those nights.

Dongmin stared up at the bottom of the top bunk. He’d been lying in his bed for at least an hour, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. It was proving difficult- his muscles were beyond sore, and almost any shifting he did resulted in sharp seizing of his muscles. 

With a huffed breath, Dongmin quickly rolled over onto his side. He gasped a little as his stomach and back contracted, and held himself rigidly until the pain had faded enough for him to relax a bit. He’d always been a light sleeper- if noises woke him up easily, how could anyone expect him to fall asleep when his entire body protested any movement?

Sighing, Dongmin closed his eyes and tried once more to go to sleep. He didn’t understand how Minhyuk did it- the boy could fall asleep anywhere, in any position. The longer Dongmin lay there, with sleep refusing to come and nothing else to think about, he slowly became more aware of the different ways he was uncomfortable. His legs ached, particularly in his calves and thighs. He was fairly certain he could feel every tendon in his knees, and his was sore. His abdominal muscles probably felt like rocks, tense and unyielding in the most uncomfortable manner. His arms felt a bit like they were about to fall out of his shoulder joints. 

Worst of all, though, was his back. Dongmin had always carried his stress in his shoulders, and now not only were the knotted up from that, but the muscles the knots lived on were now even more sore and tense than usual. On top of that, Dongmin was gradually becoming aware of the pressure in his spine, like his back needed to be cracked.

Groaning, Dongmin opened his eyes again. His and Bin’s shared room was dark, the only light in the room coming from the streetlamp outside that their window shade didn’t fully manage to block. Their room was quiet- Dongmin could hear his own breathing, and the sound of Bin’s from the top bunk.

Biting his lip, Dongmin wondered how long Bin had been asleep. It usually didn’t take long for him to fall asleep- but he’d also taken a long nap in the car on their way back to the dorm. It was possible...

“Binnie?” Dongmin called softly.

Almost immediately, the mattress above him shifted. Bin let out a sleepy moan, but didn’t say anything.

“Binnie-ah,” Dongmin repeated, a little bit louder.

Another groan, more shifting. Then, in a scratchy voice, “What?”

“Will you pop my back?”

A moment of silence. Then, “Okay.”

Dongmin sighed in relief, rolling out of bed and onto the floor as Bin climbed down from the top bunk. 

“I’m opening the window to see,” Bin said, and Dongmin hummed his acknowledgement as he got onto his stomach. Bin’s hair was sticking up in a hundred different angles, his tank top falling off one of his shoulder as he fiddled with the blinds to let the orange streetlight into the room. “Put your arms out to the side,” Bin instructed, shuffling from the window to where Dongmin was laid out on the floor.

Dongmin complied, and Bin moved to stand over him, slowly pushing in circles along his spine. With a tisk, Bin tapped Dongmin’s arms. “Under your chest,” he said, and Dongmin grunted a little as his muscles complained at the movement. “Roll your shoulders forward,” Bin said, placed his hands towards the top of Dongmin’s spine. “Take a deep breath and hold it.” Dongmin filled his lungs as much as he could, and tried not to lose the air when Bin pushed down on his back sharply. 

The sounds of Dongmin’s back cracking were both disgusting and deeply satisfying. “Good lord,” Bin muttered after. He repeated the whole rub-then-crack process once more. Dongmin sighed in relief when he was done, letting his held breath out in one loud woosh. Bin’s hands stayed on his back, though, rubbing at the knots in his shoulders. Dongmin hissed as Bin’s thumbs pressed down on a particularly nasty one, right on the edge of his shoulder blade.

“Hush,” Bin said, rolling the knot over and over. The pain of it was white-hot in Dongmin’s shoulder for another moment, and then there was a noise even grosser than the sound of his spine popping. “Euk,” Bin said, gentling his fingers as he continued to rub where the knot had just broken. There were a couple quieter pops as the smaller knots broke, and then Bin was running his hands up and down the length of Dongmin’s back. “You need to get manager-nim to schedule you a massage,” Bin said as he sat down on Dongmin’s back and started rubbing his back in earnest.

“Why would I do that when I have you?” Dongmin asked, turning his head to rest his cheek on the floor and look up at Bin. It earned him a smack on the upper arm, causing a dull flare of pain in sore muscle. 

Bin kept rubbing Dongmin’s back, breaking three or four more knots before getting tired and moving to lie next to Dongmin on the floor. “Do you want me to rub your back?” Dongmin asked. It came out as more of a mumble- his sleepiness that had alluded him before was quickly creeping up now that his body had found a little bit of relief.

“Nah,” Bin said. They laid on the floor in silence for a moment, then Bin sat up enough to pull Dongmin’s pillow and blanket off of the bottom bunk. Bin shoved the pillow under his head, then man handled Dongmin into being the little spoon and throwing the blanket over the two of them. Falling asleep with Bin’s arms wrapped around his chest wasn’t something they indulged in too often- Bin was like a space heater when he slept, and usually like to sprawl out like an octopus instead of the curling up that cuddling required. But sometimes he wanted to cling, and Dongmin was always more than happy to let him.

His back may have been sore in specific spots that knots had been violently rubbed out the next day, but waking up with Bin plastered to his back (even if they were on the floor) certainly made it a little more worth it to Dongmin.