Wonwoo had been practicing for hours; sweat beading on his forehead, some rolling down the back of his neck, making his shirt stick to his already sweaty skin. His breathing was labored, chest heaving in and out as he gave himself a minute to recuperate. He needed to be perfect, there was so much pressure on all of them when they finally debuted that made him work harder.

Mingyu passed by the practice room, well aware that there shouldn’t be anybody left in, it was already 4am and they had to be up at 8 for a radio show. He thought that he would be the last one there; maybe Jihoon would be in the studio working out some music or Soonyoung working on choreography. He didn’t expect to peek in and see Wonwoo crouched on the floor, panting while shakily holding a water bottle in his hands.

“Hyung?” Mingyu called out

Wonwoo turned, and Mingyu could clearly see the exhaustion painting his hyung’s face, Wonwoo’s eyes were drooping and Mingyu wanted nothing more than to scoop him up and take him back to their dorm, wrap him in blankets and let him sleep. He wanted to kiss his hyung’s forehead and watch as the exhausted face morphed into a relaxed one, and see Wonwoo fall asleep. He wanted to hold the older, make him forget about all the stresses leading him to practice after everyone else had returned to the dorms an hour earlier.

“You’re staring,” Wonwoo stated, a tired smile gracing his features. He looked up at Mingyu and could not help but feel thankful that the younger looked like he was going to kick him out of the practice room. Wonwoo knew that if he was left to himself, he might practice all night and be exhausted for their radio show.

“Hyung, it’s late. Everyone else is back at the dorms, come on.” Mingyu urged.

Wonwoo looked at the ground, sighed, took a sip from his water bottle and looked up at Mingyu. He stretched his arms out towards the younger and made eye contact with him.

“Help me up?” he asked, and Mingyu nodded before pulling the older up to face him.

They did not talk on the way home; the silent streets of Seoul making them feel relaxed, while the crisp evening air kept them awake. Their hands brushed occasionally, and Wonwoo could not help but feel an urge to interlace his fingers with the younger.

Once they got back to the dorms, the only place there was to sleep was a single mattress on the floor, their small dorm already filled with sleeping bodies lightly snoring. Wonwoo sleepily told Mingyu that he would shower and would return shortly, and bid the younger good night.

After bathing Wonwoo emerged in an oversized sweatshirt and sleep shorts, shuffling through the quiet dorm to find where he left Mingyu. He smiled to himself when he saw the younger already asleep, curled into the small blanket as if he wasn’t the tallest member in their group. He got on the mattress, careful not to disturb the younger. He didn’t want to steal the blanket completely from Mingyu, so he carefully reached over him and pulled the blanket towards himself. He felt the warmth that the younger was producing, and decided to also cuddle up to that warmth, feeling particularly cold after his band mates had used all the warm water while showering.

Mingyu was not asleep. He felt his face heat up when Wonwoo’s arm draped over his waist and his slightly cold body pressed against his, but wasn’t against the way the heat spread to his chest and made his heart race. He tried his best to keep his breathing steady out of fear of giving himself away to the older. He didn’t want to give away how much he actually wanted to cuddle with the older, to indulge himself in this childish crush he had on his Hyung. Even though he knew he’d never be able to act on those feelings, to kiss the lips that he couldn’t help but glance at in the mirrors in the practice room, or to hold his hand and make him smile while on some terribly cliché date, he’d settle for the little moments like these that kept him from feeling lonely. The same moments that kept a faint smile on his face throughout the day. He’d settle and for now, that was okay.

But right behind him Wonwoo was thinking the exact same thing, and how he wished he could press his lips to the back of the younger’s neck and whisper sweet nothings into his ear until they both fell asleep.