Taemin sighed.

The ceiling was all he stared at, unable to fall asleep when he should have a long time ago. He had to attend an exhibition in the next town and it was going to be a long drive, so he had to wake up super early. Usually, it wasn’t so difficult to fall asleep—and this was his usual bedtime. But as a precaution, he had foregone his evening coffee, had a calming tea instead, and had limited his screen time as well by just hitting the bed early. Minho followed suit soon because Taemin said he wanted to talk until they fell asleep, which they had done, but only Minho had fallen asleep at the end of their long random conversation about everything and nothing, not Taemin.

The pillow was comfortable—the latest memory foam model. The night was perfectly chilly and his blanket was just the right amount of cozy and warm. Though Minho had turned the other side in his sleep, he had been sleeping all huddled up close to him earlier—which was always the KO when it came to Taemin falling asleep…but somehow, it hadn’t worked today. It wasn’t like he was stressed or excited about the exhibition. It was just one of his usual job responsibilities and he was only going to help this time, not host it.

He sighed again. With the way his thoughts flowed so quickly and coherently, there was no denying that sleep was far from him.

His sigh might have been too loud because Minho shifted, turning back towards him. He blinked; his brows furrowed as he spotted Taemin awake, as well as the little strain of anxiousness in his expression. “Can’t sleep?”

“Yeah…” Taemin sighed again, turning to face him. “I need to fall asleep. Like ASAP.” He glanced at the clock on the wall, “I won’t be able to function if I sleep less than four hours.”

Minho turned to glance at the clock and turned back, a little more awake now. “That means you have about half an hour if you need to get that four-hour sleep.”

“What do you do when you can’t sleep?”

“I don’t usually have trouble falling asleep but hmm, I just close my eyes, think about stuff and I’m usually out in a few minutes.” Looking at Taemin’s hopeful expression become a little glum, Minho added, “So that didn’t work for you.”

“Nope.”

“Okay.” Minho sat up, “I’ll try to make you fall asleep.”

Taemin chuckled seeing him instantly get fired up like that, but also because he had his hair standing up in all directions from rolling in bed earlier. “Sure. Have a go at it.”

Minho thought for a bit. “Wanna have ? That’s bound to get you tired enough to sleep.”

Taemin bit his lip. It was tempting but, “Do you think half an hour will be enough?”

Minho closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, no.” He hummed, “I would have suggested a drink but we have work so…the calming tea? Warm milk?”

“Already had those.”

“Hmm. That means you aren’t tired yet.”

“Yeah, probably.”

Minho extended his hand to Taemin and Taemin took it, albeit confusedly, and let Minho pull him up.

“Let’s have a pillow fight.”

Taemin burst into a chuckle. “What? A pillow fight?”

“Yes. Unless…you wanna exercise. Let’s go do that chest and arms workout I saved to my playlist today!”

“Oh my God, no.” Minho was dead serious about his suggestion but there was no way, no way Taemin was letting Minho drag him into a workout session the second time that day. They had gone to the gym and for a jog as well earlier that day. So he grabbed his pillow. “Okay,” A mischievous smile grew on his face as he got on his knees and slammed the pillow on Minho, sending him on his back, and straddling him, “Let’s do the pillow fight!” He was going to do it a second time, but Minho shot up immediately, stopping Taemin from trying again. “Ow,” He let out a strained whisper, “That pillow hurts like a rock, Taemin.”

Taemin dropped the pillow and instead checked the spot he had hit—Minho’s shoulder—and the