Note: Serin is not my OC. This lovely pairing was created by mistressarafax. This is her birthday present. If you enjoyed this, please check out her stories!

Serin awoke in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. She lay there for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts or fall back asleep, when something hit her in the face. More specifically, Hoon’s hand hit her in the face. Startled, she bolted upright, and his hand fell to the mattress.

Hoon lay next to her, snoring softly, eyes still closed. Serin was about to lie down again and try to get some sleep before work when his arm randomly moved again. Serin gently picked up his now inert arm and folded it across his chest. She would ask him about it in the morning.

But when morning came, Serin had forgotten all about Hoon’s midnight arm antics. In fact, the occurrence completely escaped her mind until about a week later, when it happened again.

“Hoonmin,” she mumbled, rolling over to nudge him when she felt his arm moving. “Hoonmin.”

“What?” He asked without opening his eyes, voice groggy. “What is it?”

He had climbed into bed not forty-five minutes ago, having returned from his schedule late. He wasn’t especially pleased about being woken up so soon, but he figured it must be important if Serin had actually gone to the trouble of waking him.

She wasn’t sure how to phrase it. “Your...arm is going crazy. Were you having a bad dream?”

“No,” he said, opening his eyes and staring at her for a second. “Did I...did I hurt you? Are you alright?”

Serin gave him a tired smile. “No, I’m not hurt. I’m sorry to wake you up. Go back to sleep, okay?”

Hoon was asleep instantly, putting an arm around his wife by choice and entering his dreams once more. But Serin lay awake for a while longer, thinking. There had to be something she could do to help Hoon with his nightly arm issues. She wracked her brain, but came up with nothing. Perhaps a visit with Hoonbi would be more helpful. With a plan in mind, Serin closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep in Hoon’s warm embrace.

The next day was Saturday, so while Hoon was at a last-minute schedule, Serin gave Hoonbi a call to let him know she was stopping by.

“Hey, Serin,” Hoonbi said, letting her in and leading her to the living room, “I haven’t seen you for a while. Everything okay?”

She nodded. “Sort of. I’m having a problem with Hoonmin, and I wanted to ask you about it.”

“A problem? Are the two of you in a fight?”

“Oh, no!” Serin shook her head vehemently. “Everything is fine between us. It’s just...Hoon’s been doing something really strange in his sleep lately. His arm keeps moving around in the middle of the night.”

Hoonbi frowned. “Doesn’t everyone’s?”

“No, I mean a lot. He’s hit me in the face twice already. The second time, I woke him up and asked him if he was having a bad dream, but he said he wasn’t. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to sleep apart from him.”

“Ah,” Hoonbi said, “I think I know what you’re talking about now. Hoonmin’s been doing that on and off since he was a kid.”

“Really?” Serin asked, surprised. “I’m sure he hasn’t ever done it before when I’m around.”

“He probably hasn’t. It seems like it’ll go away for a couple of years and then come back. It’s just a habit. Sometimes he’s done it when he’s really stressed. You could probably ask Soohyun if you want to know more.”

Serin thanked Hoonbi and visited for a few more minutes. After she left, she checked the time on her phone. The schedule would be over by now. She could go find Soohyun and ask him, but Hoon would be there, and she didn’t want to embarrass him or make a big deal about it. She only wanted to help him. And if he might be stressed like Hoonbi said, she would certainly discuss it with Hoon. She just wasn’t sure that the right time had come yet.

But luck was on Serin’s side, because when she returned home, she was greeted by Hoon’s and Soohyun’s shoes in the foyer. She found Hoon sitting at the kitchen table, checking his phone. A towel was draped over his head, signifying that he had showered.

Hoon looked up when she came in. “Hello,” he said, smiling. “Soohyun came over, so I convinced him to take a shower. I hope that’s alright.” He knew it would be alright. Soohyun was like family.

“Of course,” Serin nodded. She glanced up to see Soohyun standing there with only a towel wrapped around his waist and quickly averted her eyes.

“Soohyun,” she said, “please wear some clothes.”

Hoon craned his neck to see Soohyun standing in the doorway, and his eyes widened.

“Hyung!” He cried. “Where are your clothes? Serin is here!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Soohyun ducked behind the doorframe, poking only his head out.

“It’s alright,” Serin said. “It would be much appreciated if you would get dressed, though.”

Soohyun nodded. “I would, but I, uh, seem to have left my spare clothes in the trunk of my car...”

Hoon stood up from the table. “It’s okay, hyung, I’ll get them for you. Where are your keys?”

Soohyun directed Hoon to his car keys, and Hoon left for the parking garage to retrieve Soohyun’s clothes. Hoon didn’t mind leaving Soohyun with Serin. They were practically siblings. He just wished Soohyun was wearing more than a towel. But that was why he was going to Soohyun’s car.

When the door closed behind Hoon, Serin turned to Soohyun, who was still hiding himself somewhat.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “There’s something I want to ask you about Hoonmin.”

Soohyun frowned. “About Hoon?”

“Yes, I went to see Hoonbi today, actually. He said you might know.” Serin pushed her hair back behind her ear. “Hoon’s been moving his arm in his sleep lately. A lot. He’s hit me in the face by accident, and he just seems very distressed. But when I woke him up once, he didn’t seem to know he’d been doing it, and he said he wasn’t having a bad dream.”

“Ah,” Soohyun nodded his head slowly. “That thing. It’s strange; he does it some years but not others.”

“Hoonbi said that sometimes he does it when he has a lot of stress.”

“That’s true. But I can’t think of what could be stressing him out. He’s doing really well in interviews, and all our performances are going smoothly.”

Serin sighed. “I’d better talk to him about it. I just...the look on his face when he asked me if he’d hurt me after I woke him up...I’ll talk to him about it when you leave,” she concluded, giving Soohyun a pointed look.

Soohyun laughed. “Okay, I’ll leave soon. Good luck.”

With that, the door to the apartment opened again, and Hoon entered, carrying Soohyun’s clothes. A pair of socks tumbled from the top of the stack, and by chance, Hoon managed to catch it in mid-air before handing the entire pile to Soohyun.

“Thanks,” Soohyun said, leaving for the bathroom.

“No problem,” Hoon said good-naturedly, and joined Serin at the table. “Why did he wish you good luck?”

“I was telling him about something I have to do,” Serin said.

“Oh. Well, good luck.” Hoon tilted his head to look at Serin. “What is it? Is there anything I can do to help?”

At that moment, Soohyun walked back into the kitchen, fully clothed in slacks and a v-neck.

“Well,” Soohyun said, “I should get going.”

“So soon?” Hoon asked.

“Yeah, I promised Kiseop I would help him put his spare tire on.”

“You know how to do that stuff?” Hoon asked reverently. He had gotten a flat tire once. It had taken him all but an hour to figure out how to put the new one on.

Soohyun left soon after that, and Serin and Hoon sat idly at the table.

“You’re free for the rest of the day, right?” Serin asked.

“Yeah, and I have tomorrow off too.” Hoon’s face lit up. “We should do something fun.”

Serin smiled. “That would be nice. But actually, there’s something I wanted to ask you about.”

“Mmm?”

Serin put her hand over Hoon’s. “Is something giving you stress lately? Is everything okay?”

Hoon stared at her briefly before nodding. “Everything’s fine. Thank you.”

Serin drew her eyebrows together. “Is everything really alright?” She sighed. “Your arm...you’ve been moving around so much in your sleep. You seemed worked up about something.”

“Oh,” Hoon raised his eyebrows, “am I doing that again?” He bit his lip. “Right, the other night...You have to tell me if I’m hurting you by accident, okay? I don’t want to be bothersome.”

Serin squinted at Hoon. She knew Yeo Hoonmin pretty well, even more now that they were married, and she could tell when something was on his mind. And something was definitely weighing heavily on his mind. But for some reason, he didn’t want to tell her what it was.

She didn’t want to press him too much, but she was tired of being woken up in the middle of the night. Most importantly, if Hoon was stressed, she wanted him to let her know so that she could help him out.

“Actually,” Hoon began to speak, “there is something.” His ears turned pink.

Serin listened quietly, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Your birthday is coming up,” Hoon said. “In all honesty, I wanted to get you something really romantic, so I started planning something, but I guess it’s been stressing me out. I didn’t know if you would like it, or...” He trailed off.

Serin exhaled, squeezing his hand. “Hoonie, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m sure that whatever you’re planning is lovely. You know you don’t have to do anything big for my birthday.”

“I know. But this is one of the ways I can show you how much I care about you. I just want you to have a nice birthday.”

Serin scooted her chair back from the table and went over to Hoon’s seat, bending over until their eyes were at the same level.

“Hoonmin, you’re the best present I could ever wish for. It’s okay.” She leaned in to kiss him, and he kissed her back, pouring all of his worries into that one kiss.

After Serin had pulled away for air, Hoon smiled at her.

“I’ll just surprise you, then,” he said.

She returned his smile. “That sounds perfect.”