“Heechul, Heechul stop it please.”

Heechul snickers and pushes Geng’s book in his face again for the fourth time that evening.

“Heechul, stop.”

Make that the fifth. Geng just want to read his book in peace; a feat that is made infinitely more difficult by Heechul who has planted himself next to Geng on the couch and has apparently decided to make his life miserable. Every time Geng is just getting back into the story, like really engrossed, Heechul reaches out and pushes his book into his face.

And there he does it again. Geng winces as the book smacks him in the nose.

“Heechul!”

Heechul just blinks at him innocently.

“Geng.”

“What?”

“I thought we were just practicing each other’s names,” Heechul says, despite clearly not thinking anything of the sort.

Geng just stares at him, before sighing in frustration and going back to his book while Heechul curls into his side next to him.

He has another few minutes of peace, and the plot is just starting to get interesting when a hand lightly taps his book into his face again.

Geng snaps.

“Goddamnit Heechul, stop! I’ve had enough!” He yells, his voice jarringly loud in the otherwise empty room.

He twists around to glare at Heechul who is staring at him in mild shock.

“Did you… did you just yell at me?” Heechul’s voice sounds strangled. Geng adopts his stormiest expression.

“Yes, I did just yell at you. Because apparently you have the mental maturity of a five year old who likes tugging on the hair of that girl he likes because he thinks it’s funny. It’s not funny Heechul. And if you’ve bruised my nose, so help me, you will regret it.”

Heechul’s eyes are wide in his face. His lower lip trembles slightly.

“I see,” Heechul says, and his voice is laced with hurt. “Clearly your book is far more important to you than I am.” Geng winces. How does he always manage to turn things around and make it like it’s Geng’s fault.

“I won’t bother you anymore,” Heechul informs him, sniffling slightly as he pushes off Geng and to his feet. Is Heechul… crying?

“Chullie?” Geng tries hesitantly.

“Oh, so now it’s Chullie?” Oh those are definitely tears. “Now that you’ve made me feel like absolute , you’re going to try with the ‘Chullie’?”

Geng just stares at him stupidly, unsure of how to react, or exactly what he’s done wrong.

“Heechul,” he tries again, “Look, I’m sorry, I was just trying to read my book and you were distracting me every five minutes, I just got a bit angry. It’s nothing on you, I promise.”

“Whatever,” Heechul mutters, turning away from Geng and walking out of the room.

Geng watches him leave incredulously. What? What even just happened?

He closes his book with a sigh, discarding it on the couch beside him before getting to his feet with a sigh. Time to go fix his mistake.

He makes his way to Heechul’s bedroom, running into Donghae in the hallway. Donghae reaches out and grabs his arm as he goes to pass him.

“Geng-hyung, I just saw Heechul-hyung, and he looked really upset, and I’m not really sure what to do.” Donghae is biting his lip worriedly.

Geng sighs and reaches out to run a hand through Donghae’s hair. Donghae practically arches into the contact.

“It’s okay, Donghae. That’s my fault,” he tells the younger man, who looks even more confused at the revelation, “But I’m off to go fix it now, okay?”

The relief that breaks out over Donghae’s face is adorable.

“Oh, I knew you’d fix things,” Donghae beams at him, throwing his arms around Geng’s torso in a quick hug, before wandering back off down the corridor to whatever he was doing before he saw Heechul. Geng shakes his head slightly at the younger man. He has far too many feelings.

He makes it to Heechul’s room with no other interruptions. He hesitates for a second before knocking on the door.

“Heechul,” he calls softly, pitching his voice so that Heechul should be able to hear him even through the door, “Heechul, can I come in.”

Heechul doesn’t reply. Geng frowns.

“Heechul?” he tries again, reaching out to test the doorknob. It’s not locked. Geng hesitates, but steels himself and opens the door, stepping into the dark room. Is Heechul even in here?

But the barely-audible sniffles coming from the direction of the bed alert him to Heechul’s location, and he shuts the door quietly behind himself and makes his way to the bed.

He sits down on the edge of the bed, finally able to make out Heechul curled up under the covers as his eyes adjust to the darkness. He reaches out a hand to rest on what he hopes is Heechul’s shoulder.

“Chullie?” he murmurs, “What’s wrong?”

Heechul refuses to answer, curling up tighter under the covers, the sniffles getting louder. Geng sighs again, and shifts on the bed, pulling back the covers a little to climb in with Heechul. He slides down behind him and suddenly, Heechul is uncurling and latching on to Geng. Geng wraps him up in his arms, tucking his head gently under his chin and cocoons them both in the blankets. Heechul continues to sniffle into Geng’s chest, the tears dripping down his face. He brings one hand up to Heechul’s head to card through his hair softly.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Geng asks him, and Heechul shakes his head, trying to burrow closer to Geng.

“Okay,” Geng soothes, “It’s okay Chullie, shh.”

He continues to pet Heechul while he cries. He starts to sing quietly; a Chinese lullaby his mum used to sing to him when he was a child. Heechul wouldn’t understand the words, but hopefully the sentiment would be enough, Geng thinks.

Eventually, the tears die into quiet hiccups and sniffles, which stop completely, as Heechul clings to Geng. His breathing evens out, and Geng isn’t quite sure if he’s still awake.

“Chullie,” he whispers softly, and Heechul grunts slightly in reply. Still awake then.

“What happened?”

Heechul sighs, bringing a hand up to wipe his face off.

“I had a really ty morning,” Heechul mumbles into Geng’s chest, “And then I just felt like all day, and I wanted to snuggle with you but you were busy reading. And then I made you made, and you yelled at me, and-“ Heechul starts to sniffle again, but Geng shushes him, pulling him closer and kissing the crown of his head.

“I’m not mad anymore, promise. I was just feeling a bit grumpy before. It’s okay now.” He runs a soothing hand up and down Heechul’s back and Heechul hums happily.

“I’m sorry,” Heechul’s apology is muffled by Geng’s chest, but Geng hears it anyway, and drops a kiss on his forehead.

“It’s okay. If you have a bad day again and want to snuggle just tell me next time,” he chuckles, “We can snuggle whenever you need to, okay?”

Heechul head moves in the tiniest of nods. Geng smiles in relief. Crisis averted.

He settles down deeper into the bed and makes himself comfortable. If his Chullie needs snuggles, he is going to get all the snuggles. Geng holds him close, never ceasing his petting until Heechul finally falls asleep.