Kihyun sat himself up. Tried to open his puffy eyes. He can’t sleep these days. He didn’t know why but he thought that it was probably because of their close comeback. No, he wasn’t especially having so much hard time. It wasn’t his first comeback and although it had always been tiring but he was kind of used to it and he loved it.  But maybe, just maybe, the anxiety and worries were always there and will always be there. And maybe, just maybe, as he got older or whatever, his body was always pushed to the limit everytime. So maybe, basically, everyone was ball of anxiety and worries and tiredness. And that was why he didn’t bring this up or make fuss about it. But it was slowly taking toll on him. He didn’t show it, but the more night he went through the lesser sleep he got. Slowly, he realized that he dozed off more and more. It was kind of hard to concentrate. His throat was also getting even more painful everytime he sang. And this was the bad part, no matter how short his sleep was, he will always awake in the morning like automatically.

This morning too, he found Jooheon and Changkyun cuddled up together on Jooheon’s bed and today too, Minhyuk was nowhere to be found on his bed.

“Jooheon-ah, Changkyun-ah, wake up,” he said as he stood up and stared at the babies. “Should go to practice, get up, boys, get up,” he said again and he saw Changkyun shifted in his sleep. “Wake up and go get ready. I’m going to wake everyone up,” he said again before he took the water spray and walked out of the shared room.

Kihyun opened the other bed room’s door and walked to between the bed. This morning, he found Minhyuk on Wonho’s bed, cuddled up together with the muscled dubu under the warm blanket. Well, yesterday, he was found cuddling with Hyunwoo.

“Hyung-nim deul, Minhyuk-ah, Hyungwon-ah, wake up,” Kihyun said as he sat on the edge of Wonho’s bed. “Hyung, Wonho hyung, Minhyuk-ah, wake up,” he said as he shook Wonho’s body under the blanket. He then turned his head back and stared at Hyunwoo and Hyungwon. “Hyunwoo hyung, Hyungwon-ah, get up, get up,” he said again, this time Hyunwoo responded.

Hyunwoo opened one of his eyes, took a peek of him and stared.

“Please wake up, ahjusshi,” Kihyun said as he giggled.

Hyunwoo shoved his blanket away and get out of his bed, revealed his toned tan chest and abs.

“Wonho hyung, Minhyuk-ah,” Kihyun said again as Hyunwoo sat on the edge of his bed with his glasses, tried to gather his consciousness first before he stood up. 

This time, Wonho and Minhyuk woke up. One by one they tried to sit their selves up. Even Minhyuk jogged rather fast to the bathroom first with eyes still closed.

“Hyunwon-ah,” Kihyun said as he stood up. “Hyungwon-ah, wake up,” he said as he sprayed the water from the water spray above Hyungwon’s face. “Chae Hyungwon, get up, get up, now, get up,” Kihyun said and this time, Hyunwon shifted in his sleep. “Chae Hyungwon, get up, right now,” he said as he patted and shook Hyungwon’s arm. Kihyun stepped up to Hyunwoo’s bed. “Chae Hyungwoooon,” he said again as he grabbed the blanket and uncovered the slim long body under it.

This time, Minhyuk was walking out of the bathroom and walked out of the shared room. Hyunwoo took his towel and walked into the bathroom.

“Hyung, hyung, Kihyun hyung,”.

Kihyun turned his head as he heard Changkyun’s call from the door way.

“Will you fry some mandu this morning?” Chankgyun asked.

“Do you want it?” Kihyun asked.

“Jooheon hyung wants it,” Chankyun said.

“I will then,” Kihyun said.

“Hyung, can I please get kimbab instead of mandu?” Changkyu asked again.

“Sure, sure,” Kihyun said as he nodded and smiled in amusement seeing the boys woke up and felt hungry immediately.

“Thank you, hyung,” Changkyun said and then he walked out of the room.

“I want ice cream,”.

Kihyun turend his head to Wonho’s bed as he heard Wonho’s voice.

“Yes, hyung? Suddenly?” Kihyun asked and giggled. “We don’t have ice cream. Hyunwoo hyung and Jooheon finished it like two days ago,” Kihyun said and he could see Wonho’s sulking face. “We’ll get it on the way to the practice room, hyung,” Kihyun said. “Or just ask Changkyun and Jooheon to buy it from the convenience store,”.

“Right,” Wonho said as he got out of the bed. “Changkyun-aaah, Jooheon-aaaah,” Wonho called out the maknae line as he left the shared room.

“Chae Hyungwon, come on,” Kihyun said again as he patted Hyungwon’s chest. “Get up. Please,” he said again. “Hyungwon-ah, Chae Hyungwon,” he said again this time he sprayed the water and stole the pillow from under Hyungwon’s head.

Hyungwon grumbled and shifted in his sleep again.

“Get up, please get up, I beg you, come on,” Kihyun said again as he spray the water into Hyungwon’s ear. This time Hyungwon sat himself up. “Get up, alright?” Kihyun said and Hyungwon nodded. “I’m going out,” Kihyun said, this time Hyunwoo was walking out of the bathroom with wet hair and small towel on his head. “Oh, hyung, you finished?” Kihyun asked and Hyunwoo nodded.

So Kihyun went pass by him. But there was a hand grabbing his thin arm.

“Kihyun-ah,”. “Do we have everything to make the kimbab?” Hyunwoo asked.

“Yea?” Kihyun answered back with question.

“Should I go to convenience store? Do we have everything to make the kimbab?” Hyunwoo asked.

“Ah, you heard it? Yeah, we have everything we need,” Kihyun said and smiled. He then walked out to the kitchen to fry some mandu and make some rolls of kimbab.

It was another day full of practices. Except for conversations this morning, there was no other light or fun conversation on such day, just like yesterday. Everyone was so serious about giving their best for this comeback just like their previous comebacks. Even sometimes, the only conversations they had in the heated up practice studio was arguments. They were all became sensitive and tired and everything.

This dawn too, they arrived at the dorm with tired face and empty eyes. They sprawled around the living room once they arrived there. Changkyun was the only one who was moving to warm the water up, and take a cold mineral water out from the refrigerator.

Jooheon was keeping his eyes on the tired-faced Changkyun. He put his arm around Changkyun’s shoulder as he came back to living room, rolling the cold water bottle to Wonho.

“You ok?” Jooheon aksed softly.

“Yes, hyung,” Changkyun answered, softly, politely like always.

“If some where hurts just tell us, Changkyun-ah, you looked pale these past three days,” Hyungwon said and Minhyuk nodded.

“Yes, hyung,” Changkyun answered, again, politely, softly.

Kihyun was listening to the whole conversation with closed eyes. He felt sensitive and he really wanted to scold and nag at Changkyun if something really bad happened to him or if he overly pushed himself to his limit. But he knew it will solve nothing and it wasn’t like Changkyun was doing this to annoy anyone. He was just trying his best just like everyone else. And also, his throat was killing him, so it was a lot better if he stopped nagging so much.

It was expected. Despite the cold Chankyun had right now, Jooheon called him over to his bed and cuddled him to sleep tonight too. Even Minhyuk wanted to join but the space on the bed made it impossible and it seemed like it will only soothe Jooheon if he was the one who cuddled him.

It was getting even later in the dawn. Kihyun had tried to sleep but really, his bed felt rather cold and spacey. And he felt cold and every sleeping position he tried didn’t make him sleepy at all. The light from the tablet’s monitor hurt him enough so he had putted it down a long time ago. He didn’t listen to music because the only song he listen right now was their comeback song, the other way and he felt anxious that he played that song. And it didn’t put him to sleep, because he felt anxious instead and felt awake even more, trying to evaluate his parts, even having mental breakdown whenever he remembered how hurting his throat was right now.

 Jooheon and Changkyun was already fast asleep, well, with Changkyun’s coughs that were muffled by Jooheon’s chest. Kihyun knew it that it was bad for Jooheon. Because besides the cold he might have caught because of Changkyun. He knew that Jooheon tried to soothe Changkyun everytime he coughed by caressing his back. And that made Jooheon also sleepless. But he really can’t say anything because Jooheon had this soft spot for Changkyun, well probably mixed some heavy guilt from the past. And Changkyun seemed like had become completely obedient to Jooheon. And because he completely aware that they only had each other right now.

Minhyuk was lying on his bed with a tablet, drifting in and out of his sleep before finally he decided to get some sleep. So he put down the tablet and get out of his bunk bed.

“Where are you going?” Kihyun asked.

“Wonho hyung,” Minhyuk said.

“Why? Why are you sleeping there?” Kihyun asked.

“Can’t I?” Minhyuk asked.

“Of course you can. I’m just… curious of your reasons…,” Kihyun said softly.

“Well, besides because he is warm and big like, a giant muscled teddy bear. I can’t sleep this days and it’s comforting to have someone hold you in your sleep you know. It helps me getting some sleep,” Minhyuk said. “You’ve tried a lot of time too, right? Sleeping together with other member,”.

“Yeah… just… I don’t know… right now… I don’t think sleeping with someone else will help you with… this…,” Kihyun said.

“Just try it out,” Minhyuk said.

“Hyungwon or Hyunwoo hyung?” Kihyun asked.

“I suggest Hyunwoo hyung. He is super warm and his muscle are softer than Wonho hyung. But he really stays still except if you ask him to do something,” Minhyuk said. “And that’s why I chose Wonho hyung, he caresses me to sleep,” Minhyuk giggled because it was amusing to him too.

“Hyungwon?” Kihyun asked.

“He’s a log. A log. It’s the same with sleeping alone,” Minhyuk said.

“So… with Hyunwoo hyung?” Kihyun asked as it was rare for him to cuddle with Hyunwoo. Well, basically with anyone. Sure, he was touchy with people. Sometimes, Minhyuk, and Jooheon clung and cuddled him, but to cuddle with Hyunwoo was another level of skinship.

“Well, I’m not giving you my Wonho hyung,” Minhyuk said with this playful cocky face. 

“How about us?” Kihyun asked.

Minhyuk sighed.

“Come here,” Minhyuk said as she grabbed Kihyun’s wrist and dragged him with him to the other shared bedroom. “Wah, you’re so thin, Kihyun-ah,” he mumbled as he stepped into the dark room.

“W, wait.. w—“ Kihyun’s words were cut off because Minhyuk stopped dragging him as they arrived between the bunk beds and were now facing him.

“Good night,” Minhyuk said with his wide smile and a wave from his right hand before he walked into Wonho’s bed, woke Wonho up, but Wonho sleepily welcomed him with a bear hug before he came back to sleep while caressing Minhyuk’s head for a while.

Kihyun sulked and he turned his head to Hyunwoo’s bed. It was dim almost completely dark, but he just remembered the place he used to come to wake Hyungwon up so well.

Hyunwoo hyung must be asleep. He will probably not remember anything by tomorrow and will not talk about things at all.

It wasn’t that Kihyun didn’t want Hyunwoo to remember anything about this, but he just liked the idea that Hyunwoo will not talk about this with him anytime soon.

“Hyung,” Kihyun whispered as he bent his body and patted Hyunwoo’s bare shoulder. “Hyung-nim can I sleep here with you please?” Kihyun asked again.

“Uh… Kihyunie?” Hyunwoo called out his name with his low, sleepy voice.

“Yes, hyung. Can I?” Kihyun asked again.

“Just come here,” Hyunwoo said and he felt Hyunwoo’s hand on his shoulder.

So, Kihyun had his knee on top of the bed and then started to lie down next to Hyunwoo.

“Do you want to sleep next to the wall?” Hyunwoo asked softly.

“Ah, no, hyung, I’m fine,” Kihyun said as he slipped under the blanket and back faced Hyunwoo, rather froze on his spot because the warmth from Hyunwoo’s body next to him wasn’t a joke and his back brushed against Hyunwoo’s arm and his head was filled with Hyunwoo’s scent.

Kihyun was just letting out a relieved sigh at the non-existent conversation possibility before Hyunwoo pulled the blanket up to Kihyun’s cheek and patted his arm.

“There are still space left, come here,” Hyunwoo said and he grabbed Kihyun’s waist and pulled him closer like he weighted nothing at all.

That was surprising to Kihyun but it was even more surprising when Hyunwoo started to caress his head gently and started another conversation with that low, sleepy voice.

“You’re too thin…,” Hyunwoo said, more like a mumble. “The dark circle under your eyes are getting severe…. That’s bad….” he mumbled again. “That’s bad…”.

“Hm…” Kihyun didn’t know what to do and he just nodded but the spot he was on was warm because Hyunwoo was there before. The caresses on his head was really gentle and comforting. The pillow smelled so much like Hyunwoo and Hyunwoo’s low mumbles and all gave him this good amount sense of safety and protection. It was as soothing as when he made eye contact with members on the stage and all of his nervousness was gone.

Kihyun’s body was getting more and more relaxed. His breathe stabilized and his eyes were slowly closing as he could hear the low mumbles from Hyunwoo continued. He didn’t understand what Hyunwoo’s was mumbling but, right before he completely asleep, he could feel something broad and firm on his back and there was this warmth spread on his back.

*

Kihyun opened his eyes with something weighted his waist from behind. He opened his eyes slightly and peekd to the back just to find Hyunwoo’s head that was leaning on his head and his arms loosely on top of his waist.

He was surprised and it took some times for him to trail his memories last night as Hyunwoo’s scent started to slip into his lungs again and he caught the sight of Hyunwoo’s glasses on the nightstand next to the bed. But once he remembered it, he just sighed because it was probably his best sleep after a while. The fact that he woke up in a better state than yesterday shut his mouth up.

It was 9 in the morning and it was the first time he felt like going back to sleep even after he remembered the morning practice that waited for him ahead.

But that arm wrapped around him and squeezed him, probably unconsciously. But it seemed like the squeeze had reminded Hyunwoo that he wasn’t alone on that bed this morning and that woke him up.

“Good morning, Kihyun-ah,”Hyunwoo mumbled with his low voice and it was so typical of Hyunwoo who was doing manner talk whenever it was awkward, especially with his arm on top of the smaller figure and such a close distance. But that one time, for the first time for him that, the polite talk not only amusing for him like always, but also, kind of flattering him out of nowhere. “It’s good to sleep here, right? It’s close to him,” Hyunwoo said as he lifted his hand up and pointed up to Hyungwon’s bunk.

There, the first smile on Kihyun bloomed and he chuckled as he follow the direction of Hyunwoo’s index finger.

“Yah, wake up,” Kihyun said as he kicked the bunk above.

This time, Hyunwoo was the one who chuckled.

“Yah, yah,” Kihyun continued with his kicks.

“Yah, Chae Hyungwon, wake up,” Hyunwoo followed him kicking the bunk above (and probably impersonate him waking Hyungwon up).

Kihyun can’t help but to cover his mouth with his chubby hands and laughed his famous soundless wide laugh.

Hyunwoo stretched his body and Kihyun sat himself up on the side of the bed. Then Hyunwoo got out of his (shared) bed and put his glasses on and looked around. Kihyun laughed again as Hyunwoo now looked like a cave man that was just coming out of his cave with that bed hair and that lookinga round session.

That laugh seemed to take Hyunwoo’s attention and Hyunwoo’s famous gentle smile bloomed. Kihyun’s eyes followed him and Hyunwoo took his towel. And when their eyes met, Hyunwoo put his warm palm on top of Kihyun’s head and ruffled his bed hair like it was nothing and walked to the bathroom.

Kihyun followed the broad back until it disappeared behind the bathroom door. And just the he put his palm on his head and started to tidy it up while looking at his bare toes on the floor.

Maybe he should sleep here tonight too?

Kihyun looked up and found Minhyuk peeked, stared, and smiled at him from behind Wonho’s body with that teasing smile.

“Chae Hyungwon. Wake up. Right now,” he said as he glared at Minhyuk (with some pink tints on his pale cheeks).

***

End