It was Wednesday morning, and the first thing Jinki thought of when he woke was to make sure Minho had come home in one piece. Dragging himself out of bed seemed to be an almost impossible task, however, as his body was still sore and aching all over. He felt like a zombie as he finally crossed the room and opened the door, a deep scowl lighting his face as his back cracked lightly with each step he took.

“Hyung?” Taemin asked, and Jinki immediately stopped scowling to look up at the younger male, eating a bowl of cereal on his way to the living room from the kitchen. Taemin’s eye bags were almost as bad as his own- in fact, they all had deep eye bags, and Jinki felt bad for being so selfish when he indeed wasn’t the only one that was tired.

“Good morning.” He laughed and waved at the younger, then skipping towards the bathroom and doing his business, seeing Minho seated on the seat across from the television in the living room as Jinki went to the kitchen, seemingly absorbed into the soccer match that was playing. Jonghyun was sitting next to the taller male, and although he wasn’t very interested in sports, Jonghyun still enjoyed spending as much time with the younger as he could.

Before he could walk into the kitchen, however, a hand placed itself on his shoulder, and Jinki turned back with a wide grin, looking into Kibum’s amused eyes, “Jinki hyung, manager hyung called to say your schedules have been canceled, so you have a day off.”

“What?” The younger must have been waiting for Jinki to cheer and run back to his room. However, Jinki was still far from the amount of money he needed to help his parents, so how could he be happy knowing there was nothing he could do for them on that day?

“Are you alright, hyung?” Jonghyun raised an eyebrow, turning his attention away from the television, as well as Minho and Taemin.

“I’m fine.” Jinki nodded absentmindedly and let out a soft sigh, letting himself drop on the sofa between Minho and Jonghyun, the latter grinning and ruffling Jinki’s hair. Jinki laughed and shook his hair back into place before turning his head slightly and meeting Minho’s eyes.

His eyes didn’t believe Jinki’s words.

Jinki opened his mouth to assure the male he was okay, but a bowl had been in his arms, and Jinki turned back to see Taemin had put a bowl of cereal similar to his own in Jinki’s arms.

“Eat up, hyung.” Taemin smiled and took a seat next to Kibum on the loveseat, “You’ve lost more weight.”

“Have I really?” Jinki laughed dumbly, eating a spoonful of his cereal, “I don’t know, I still don’t fit in the tee shirt I wore during Replay.”

The others just stared at him for a moment before turning away and shaking their heads, “Whatever he does, it’s Onew Condition.”

“Yah, I’m not that awkward!” Jinki’s laughter roared inside of the room, and though the others didn’t see what was so funny, they liked seeing their leader so happy.

“You’re as awkward as you are clumsy.” Minho grinned, and shared a high five with Jonghyun, their leader pouting between them.

“Yeah? Well-” Jinki had stood up and tried to take a step away from the sofa, but ended up tripping over his feet and almost dropped his cereal all over himself, if it weren’t for Minho’s arms, catching him just in time.

“My point exactly.” Minho said with a warm grin, sending Jinki’s heart in a panic as he returned his attention to the television.

Jonghyun took Jinki’s bowl of cereal and started eating it himself, seeing that the elder was too distracted bickering with Minho to notice.

However, Jinki did notice that he was no longer eating and turned to Jonghyun, who jumped up and ran to the love seat, squishing himself between Taemin and Kibum.

“Yah, Kim Jonghyun.” Kibum rolled his eyes playfully, “You already eat more than any of us do, why would you take his food too?”

“Because Minho hyung will probably feed Jinki hyung later.” Taemin snickered, and blinking several times, Jinki glanced between s.

“He treats Jinki like his wife, sometimes.” Jonghyun agreed, shaking his head. Jinki could feel himself becoming slightly uncomfortable, because they were teasing Minho right in front of him, and maybe Minho wasn’t actually considering Jinki as anything more than an older brother.

“It’s alright.” Jinki shook his head frantically, “I’m supposed to be on a diet, anyway.”

Minho simply stood up and turned the television off in the middle of the game, walking towards his room and slamming the door shut.

“Kim Jonghyun!” Kibum slapped Jonghyun’s arm and glared at him to keep quiet, but it was already too late and Jonghyun seemed to realize how angry he had made Minho.

“Taemin, go apologize to him.” Jonghyun hissed, turning to Taemin with wide eyes.

“Me? Go in there while he’s angry?” Taemin raised his eyebrows and scoffed, “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“I’ll go talk to him.” Jinki sighed and shook his head as he stood up and walked to the younger’s room. As leader, it was his job to mediate when the youngers fought, but seeing as he was the reason they fought, he wasn’t so sure if Minho would want to speak to him.

He knocked on the door to Taemin and Minho’s bedroom, but no answer came, only the sound of feet shuffling, so Jinki took that as an invitation to enter, and so he did, with Minho’s back to him as he tore through his wardrobe.

“Minho-ah?” Jinki asked quietly, and Minho tensed for a moment before he returned to what he was doing, and Jinki cleared his throat, “I’m sorry they teased you about me. I know you take care of me very well, and I thank you for that, since you treat me like a brother.”

The younger scoffed and turned around with his wallet in hand, and Jinki felt himself shrink back against the door as Minho got closer, in fear of what the younger would say. The younger had walked up to Jinki and in the gentlest of touches, lifted Jinki’s chin up with a small smile, “They can say whatever they want, because I know they’re wrong. You’re not a wife to me, nor are you a brother.”

Jinki was blown into confusion because of the words that Minho was saying, but he said nothing of it, furrowing his eyebrows. Minho pressed a finger against Jinki’s furrowed eyebrows and Jinki felt himself relax, and blush slightly at the touch.

“Come on, hyung.” Minho pulled Jinki off of the door and opened it, leaving with the elder trailing after him to the front door and to the watchful eyes of the other members, “We’re going out for breakfast. Don’t wait for us.”