"Someone once told me that none of us are actually afraid of the dark;

we're afraid of what it conceals from us.

We're afraid of having something with the potential to hurt us standing right before our eyes and not registering it was a threat.

Change can be like that too.."

Minseok looked out his window and saw tiny flecks of white drift down from the seemingly endless dark sky. 
"No wonder it was so cold.." He was about to shut his window before a certain memory from last year floated atop of his mind.
---
Minseok laughed and flashed his huge, gummy smile towards Luhan. He twirled in a circle with his arms spread wide and eventually tripped over his own feet, landing in the soft snow. Minseok and Luhans laugh echoed throughout the dark field and Minseok felt his companions pressence land beside him and eventually his hand interwined with Minseoks. There was a moment of silence as the two boys looked up at the sky that was gifting them with snow. After a while Minseok spoke up.
"What's your new years wish?" All Minseok could hear for a while was the soft and rhythmed sound of Luhan's breathing. For a second Minseok thought Luhan hadn't heard him, but he was proven wrong.
"I don't exactly have a wish, but.." Luhan moved his position so his face was in front of Minseoks, with only a inch seperating them. "Doing this again next year doesn't sound so bad." Luhan leaned down and pressed a kiss agaisnt Minseok's mouth. Minseok remembered feeling comfortable despite the cold and their messy attire; Minseok remembered feeling comfortable and safe. He felt safe..
---
Minseok was jolted from his flashback with a sharp knock to his door. The door opened simultaneously with the knock and Minseok was greeted with his band members.
"Hyung we were just gonna make some drinks. Care to join us?" Yixing asked Minseok while Zitao and Jongdae were scrabbling in the back. Minseok took one last look out the window and smiled a bittersweet smile. I guess we'll have to hold that wish for a bit longer. Minseok shut the window and turned back to the three younger men.
"Sure."
It took them an hour to get a simple drink done, but Minseok liked it. Despite his love for quiet places and his tendency to be over neat, the loud and slightly overwhelming atmosphere was oddly comforting. It assured him and he felt safe.

10 years later

Staff were bustling around and the atmosphere was thick with tension and the air stuffy. The Minseok 10 to 13 years ago would have fled upon the sight of the mess backstage but now Minseok had to learned to embrace it. It was comforting in its own way, it had a sense of security.
It was EXO's first concert as 10 after quite a few years. Minseok had went to the mandatory military service along with Jongdae when he was 30 years old and Jongdae only 28, Junmyeon and Chanyeol followed a year later, Minseok was let out at 32. After he came back Kyungsoo and Baekhyun enlisted and when Kyungsoo and Baekhyun came back the youngest of the group enlisted. Minseok was now 36 and EXO was back together as 10. It was their reunion concert.
Suddenly someone patted Minseoks shoulder very strongly and he looked up to glare at said person. It was Jongin.
"Nervous hyung?" Minseok smirked.
"Watch it, you just came back from being isolated from society for 2 years. I've been back for 4, if anyone should be nervous it should be you and-" Minseok pointed at another 32 year old who was walking in circles and had Zitao stuck to him like glue rubbing comforting circles with his hand on his back. "Him." Jongin shrugged and ran his hand through his already messy hair. To anyone else it may not have been anything much but it couldn't fool Minseok.
"I'm not that nervous."
"Your-" Minseok imitated running his hand through his hair as he didn't want to mess his perfectly style hair up. "-usual, oh god I'm so nervous what am I gonna do, action tells me otherwise." Jongin flushed a slight pink.
"Can't fool you can I?" Minseok laughed and was about to say something but was interrupted to a hard (brush?) object to his head.
"Ohmygod.." The usual suspects aka the beagle line was standing in a line and staring at Minseok in horror.
"Did you just throw that at me?" He pointed at himself with the brush he picked up from the floor. They shook their head simultaneously and a lethal vibe was emitting off of Minseok. Jongin shuddered Minseok was spending too much time with Kyungsoo..or was it just old age?

---

The concert ended on a good note and everyone was in high spirits at the end of it. The 10 men decided to go out for a drink, that maybe wasn't the smartest idea. But the slightly saner headed members (aka Minseok, junmyeon, Yixing and Kyungsoo) were also in a good mood and agreed to go without putting up much fight. After a couple hours of meat, broken glasses, lots of bottles of soju and very annoyed passersby (if they did this in their younger years no one in the group would be alive by then) all 10 decided to find refuge in Chanyeols huge apartment complex.
Chanyeol was one of the members that made slightly more money due to the royalties he received