Sometimes Joonmyun wondered if Jongin and Kyungsoo were trying to give him grey hair on purpose or if it just came naturally to them. Not that any of s, any of his EXO brothers really, didn't cause enough trouble on a daily basis to cause premature grey hair, but Joonmyun tended to worry the most about them.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were a handful and a half by themselves, but they were generally harmless, and most importantly: they were manageable. They took care of each other, and would calm down if asked. Sooner or later.

Though youngest in the group, Sehun was quiet and didn't disturb the peace more than necessary. His only real flaw was that Jongin tended to wind him up and that he was much too fond of Luhan. On the up-side, the maknae would hold Jongin back from too much collateral damage - or drive his hyungs too insane - and a video conference with their Chinese counterparts would ensure Sehun's happiness.

So it came down to the face and the voice of the group to disturb Joonmyun's desperately sought-after restful sleep.

Kyungsoo by himself was no problem; in fact, alone, Kyungsoo was the opposite of a problem. But set him anywhere near Jongin and he was about as useful as toothless fork. Jongin was relatively the same: he caused simple problems on his own, problems easily solved by giving him attention or food, but leave him with Kyungsoo within a mile radius and he would be like a heat-seeking missile.

Kyungsoo, Joonmyun reasoned, was probably mostly unaware of how utterly incapable he was with Jongin around. He had that innocence about him. Not that Kyungsoo had an innocent mind, but he had a... special outlook on the world, one that didn't necessarily include the realization that people did other things than focus on themselves. Joonmyun was positive that Jongin, on the other hand, was utterly aware of his every move. Ever the awkward turtle when he hadn't donned his Kai-skin for a performance, he was hyper-aware of his every move.

Which lead Joonmyun to believe that part of his insomnia could easily and rightfully be blamed on Jongin.

Now, in everyday life Joonmyun would not care one bit about the pair, other than coo over them because they were adorable, but the fact that they were idols - growing into Hallyu stars, even - made everything they did into a problem. As any boy band in the industry, they were told to play up their intimacy with each other; smile at each other, touch, be overtly friendly. " sells," they'd been told. So at first Joonmyun hadn't thought much more of the natural skinskip between the dancer and the vocalist other than that they were exceptionally good at fanservice. Then, of course, it had come to the point where it had stopped only being in front of an audience, bold touches in the dorm when they thought no one was watching.

Joonmyun, the leader that he'd been appointed as, had simply rolled with it; he was glad two of the people he'd come to love as his own family had found someone they cared about. He didn't see the problem with them being together, as long as it didn't affect the group - which it didn't, in the least. He'd even been in the front line, arguing for their sake in front of managers and important people in the company that wanted to separate them ("Groups split up, it happens, members come and go. You're rookies, no one will care," his ) - he did not want to see them torn apart like some of his seniors (he had been in the background to see an increasingly depressed Yunho wander the hallways) or even s (he could never turn away from the sad, bitter farewells when EXO went separate ways after much too short a time together). They didn't know that, of course, never would if he could help it.

The condition for staying together, staying a band, was that no one should ever find out that any pairing within EXO was anything but fanservice. Which was part of the reason for his ever-growing need for hairdye.

He could do little for Sehun and Luhan - they were separated by an ocean and when they met again, their enthusiasm and constant touching could be, however inefficiently, explained as best friends or brothers missing each other. Even Chanyeol and Baekhyun tended to grow more eager when they were all together, clinging to Kris and Tao respectively. Kyungsoo and Jongin, though, were the ones Joonmyun could never fully explain away. They were attached at the hip, touched each other, looked at each other, and smiled at each other like they had just reunited even if they spent basically all hours of the day together.

Joonmyun wished he could point to either of them and say "You're the main problem, stop this!", but he couldn't. Kyungsoo's face was an open book whenever he looked at Jongin - all smiles and adoration as if Jongin hung the moon. He even giggled like a schoolgirl around Jongin! Jongin's problem was that he was a physical person; as a dancer he had been taught since young to express himself through action, which lead to Jongin rubbing his hands down Kyungsoo's arms while waiting in line at the airport, reaching out with lingering hands to smooth down the lapels of Kyungsoo's jacket, or wrapping a possessive arm around Kyungsoo's shoulders at any given time.

Joonmyun's saving grace was Jongin's pokerface. The younger rarely showed any expression beyond boredom or embarrassment (and the latter he only showed when he himself was embarrassed, normally during interviews). And Kyungsoo smiled at lot at everyone; not quite as starstruck as when he looked at Jongin, but close enough.

So Joonmyun tried his best to squeeze himself in between the two as often as he could get away with, or place any other member between them - as long as Baekhyun and Chaneyol didn't end up next to each other either, because that was another can of worms Joonmyun didn't want to open.

Still, it seemed as though Kyungsoo and Jongin did everything they could to destroy any of Joonmyun's plots to keep them separated for as long as they were in the public eye. He would, more often than he liked, walk away from an event and think he'd done a decent job at keeping the two safe for viewing, only to come home and scroll through fansites and find pictures and videos of Jongin basically hold Kyungsoo's hand under the pretext of handing the microphone, or Kyungsoo stare a little too long at Jongin taking a sip of water.

Naturally he had the responsibility as the leader, as their guardian, as Suho, to correct them. But whenever he would try, Jongin would stare blankly at him, arm wrapped around Kyungsoo's shoulders as they snuggled together on the couch in the living room, and Kyungsoo would look at him with big, earnest eyes, hand absently toying with a loose thread in Jongin's ripped jeans, and Joonmyun would lose all willpower to say anything negative about the pair (he could never get past "Hey guys, could you-" to formulate an actual sentence that didn't end with "-make dinner tonight?" or "-remember that we have an early practice tomorrow morning so don't stay up too late!").

He knew that not letting them in on the compromise he'd made with the decision-makers of the company only lead to his own stress, but he couldn't help it. Then again, sometimes Joonmyun thought that Jongin surely knew; sometimes Joonmyun could see Jongin begin to reach out for Kyungsoo only to settle his hand on Baekhyun's shoulder or tug Sehun into a hug.

In the end, Joonmyun didn't care if he ended up with a full head of grey hair at thirty (he would surely be called "Grandpa" even more then) if he could come to the dorm to find his friends and brothers happy. Naturally, that didn't only include Kyungsoo and Jongin, though they were the ones most open with their affection, it extended to the M-members as well. Still, that didn't mean Joonmyun wouldn't appreciate more discretion from his group. It was a dream, Joonmyun knew, that would never come true as Jongin lined up with Kyungsoo and slipped his hands into Kyungsoo's jacket pockets while Kyungsoo waved happily to fans through two walls of glass, and counted his blessings the fans couldn't hear them. 

End.