ot5; fluff

Minho sits at the table, hand running through his hair and other scrolling through his cell, looking for any missed calls or messages. 

Still nothing.

With a heavy sigh, Minho picks tiredly at his messy apron, lidded eyes glancing over the set table where food he prepared, even as exhausted as he is, is cooling and yet he’s still the only one in the kitchen sitting at the table. He’s the only one at the dorm.

He’s alone.

Minho tries sending messages to the other four again, trying to entice them to come for a meal he brags up, because if he tells the truth it’s not as good as he hoped it would turn out, especially with all the time and thought put into it. He tried though, so that should count, it should mean something to someone.

The whole place is much too quiet.

Minho misses everyone just being around and bothering each other with their presence alone - everyone dying to live separate from each other. He miss those times so much.

He misses the four more than he wants to admit.

Minho stares down at his pink apron, eyes closing as he dozes off sitting at the table alone.

----

Taemin peeks around a corner near the entry, whispering “Hyung!” loudly, only to find the space empty. He frowns, turning back to the other three sort of quietly following as they drop bags and shoes at door, signalling Minho isn’t in sight.

Jinki pockets his cell again after glancing over one of the texts the four had sent about sneaking back to the dorm and not tell Minho, just to ruffle some feathers.

The four don’t expect to find Minho sleeping, arms on the table as a pillow and food laid out on the table set for five. They look at each other, all exhausted themselves, but now feeling slightly bad for taking a joke maybe too far on someone who just doesn’t get their sense of humor some days.

They circle the table, eyes dragging over food that looks good to growling stomachs. Jonghyun wraps arms around Minho from behind and Jinki says in a louder voice near the younger’s ear. “Minho-ya~.”

Minho groans, shifting but refusing to lift his head. Jonghyun’s hug squeezes tighter, and Kibum picks at food from the table, absently commenting “It’s cold.”

Taemin’s look is enough for Kibum to choke on his chewing and quickly correct himself. “And delicious. Even better cold.”

Jinki pats Minho’s head and and picks at the frills of the pink apron Minho wears, and always looks cute in for some reason, which Jinki won’t really admit to. Hungry though, he sneaks some food himself with a wide grin, admiring Minho’s hard work for them when they don’t always come off very grateful about it. 

Jonghyun sings in a soft voice, “Wake up, we’re here to eat with you~.”

Taemin takes a seat, helping himself to dishing up a plate with a big smile.

Minho slowly blinks open eyes into his arms as he still pretends to be sleeping, heart beating a little faster as small chatter starts up between the four gathering around the food he prepared. 

Still missing them all so much, Minho smiles with thankfulness for these small moments.