- Peak Hour for Loneliness -

Minyoon

Getting up with a sigh he picked up his jacket and called for his fluffy companion. It was time to go home. The ever vigilant poodle was already waiting by the door when he turned off the lights and headed out into the hallway. 

There was no one there like he knew it would be. It was the holidays and everyone was enjoying a much needed break. His to do list was too long to allow himself a proper break, but since it was already passed 9 in the evening could he allow himself a couple of hours of free time before going to bed. 

The car dropped him off by the entrance of the apartment building, but he opted for a short walk before heading up there just to enjoy the evening breeze. It was already dark, but not so cold that it was uncomfortable to walk around outside. 

Watching the brown ball of fluff dart from lamp post to shrubbery to the nearest tree he smiled. Life was better now that he got his dog, dogs were like bandaids for loneliness. They dull the ache with their cheerful disposition and unwavering loyalty. 

    "How lucky I am to have you" he said patting his friend while pulling out a couple of leaves from his fur. 

Walking into the apartment he knew would be empty he hung up his jacket and headed to the kitchen. Seunghoon had messaged him that there were leftovers in the fridge from a lunch gathering he had attended. 

To say there was food would be an understatement. He could have set out an entire banquet if he had wanted to, but since he was eating alone had he opted for some noodles and salad. 

Seunghoon and Mino were both out with their group of friends tonight, Mino even slept away with his crowd the night before. Jinwoo was with family and had left the cats in his care. 

He made a mental note to remember to head over to the other apartment to feed them once he was done eating and showering. 

At first he had sat down by the dinner table, but he quickly began feeling odd sitting there in the poorly lit room all by himself. Instead he brought his food with him to the living room. 

Turning on the tv he watched the news which was as depressing as ever, before switching to the weather channel which was just as bad seeing as there was a storm coming. In the end he found a re-run of an old movie he had watched many times before and picked up his phone to do his usual scrolling. 

It felt odd sitting there on his own, knowing everyone else had places to be and people to see. He had people too, but not people he could call the same evening to say he was lonely and needed company. His acquaintances was as busy as he was and it was an eternal battle to squeeze each other into busy schedules. 

Looking at his calendar he saw that his first self initiated social event was two weeks from now and it looked as if he would have to cancel it too. If he was to be completely honest with himself was it all a bit depressing, he knew he needed to make more of an effort, but usually were s enough company in plenty and there was rarely a shortage of people around him. 

    "Today though, today I miss you" he mumbled looking down at his phone at Mino’s name. There had been no shortage of messages between them these few days apart and it was mostly Mino worrying. 

"Did you eat?" "Did you arrive home safely?" "Don’t push yourself too hard" reading all of Mino’s messages from the last couple of days made him smile. 

He only wished that Mino would tell him if he was coming home that night, because then he would happily had stayed up to wait for him so he could welcome him home. He didn’t want to nag and so instead he would go on with his evening as planned.

First he had taken a shower, then cleaned up around the house for a bit, put on some laundry and picked out an outfit for the flight the next afternoon. His suitcase was already partially packed and so he threw a last few bits and bobs in there until he figured only toiletries remained. 

    "Ah the cats" he mumbled to himself just as he was about to sit down on his bed. Jinwoo would not be happy to find out that he had almost forgotten about them. 

Picking up the key in the hallway he made his way over to the apartment at the opposite end of the hall. Almost tripping on his oversized pajamas pants that fans had given him he stumbled in through the door. 

The cats soon came at him from the different rooms of the flat. Even Mino’s princess peeked out from her place in the living room, letting out a low meow probably as a complaint for his lateness. 

    "I know, I know" he mumbled, hunching down to pet them all. "They will be back tomorrow, but until then will you simply just have to put up with me" he continued, picking up the beige hairless cat before making his way to Jinwoo’s room. 

He refilled the automatic feeders with food and water and even fluffed up their pillows as requested. 

    "You are spoiled you know" he told the cat before putting it down onto Jinwoo’s bed. 

Next on his list was Mino’s cat. Although Mino hadn’t asked him to look after her, which was his only indication that Mino would be arriving back home that night.

Picking up the fuzzy ball of orange he took her into the living room and set her down by her bed. 

    "I’ll get your food" he said and made a complete 180 back to Mino’s room. 

He felt at home the second he had put his foot into the bedroom. The familiar smell and the cool air felt calming and welcoming, almost as if Mino was actually in there. 

Standing there taking in the atmosphere for another minute he sighed. Finally he felt somewhat sleepy. 

He brought the food sack back to the living room, filled her bowl and went to put it back into the bedroom. 

Yawning he stretched a little, feeling his neck ache slightly after having lifted the bag of food at an odd angle again. A good night sleep usually did the trick and so he wasn’t particularly worried. 

Mino’s bed looked a lot more tempting than his own and as he stood there hesitating for yet another minute he decided it would be fine. Most likely would it only be him and the cats there that night anyway. 

Throwing one last look around the room he spotted some notes on the desk by Mino’s computer. He had mentioned in one of his messages that he had written some more lyrics that he had wanted him to see. 

Not wanting to snoop around he first decided to leave it until morning, but a small piece of crumpled paper on the top of the pile caught his eye. Just one quick look at that one then. He agreed with himself before stepping over to the desk. 

It was a piece of lined paper with a few paragraphs of words neatly written out in Mino’s handwriting. One side of the paper was bulky and dry to the touch as if it had been wet. Had Mino cried while writing this? He wondered before reading the note from start to finish. 

The lyrics was about treasured friendship and loyalty with a familiar sting to those who had betrayed him in the past. He might just have come up with the lyrics while in the shower again, Seungyoon mused as he read the whole thing over once more. He let out a small laugh imagining Mino sprinting out of the shower to write this down, only to almost ruin the paper in the process. 

He liked what he was reading and looked forward to incorporating it into one of his songs in the near future. 

Having read such lovely words his heart felt a little bit lighter. Since he had already made up his mind that he would sleep in Mino’s bed that night he pulled off his oversized pants and shirt and turned to shut the door behind him.

Surrounded by complete darkness he easily found his way over to Mino’s bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. The familiar smell combined with the soft bed was enough to lull him off to dreamland within the first couple of minutes. 

When he woke up was it clear to him that it was still not morning. He felt warm and as if something was holding him in place. It took him a good while to wake up enough to realize what that meant. 

A firm hand was wrapped around his waist and a low steady snore could be heard behind him. Grinning into the darkness he slowly began turning towards Mino who was fast asleep behind him. 

    "I know you are sleeping but I just wanted to say I’m sorry for stealing your bed" he whispered, before nuzzling closer into Mino’s chest. 

    "Happy to have you" he heard Mino mumble is a dreamlike voice making him chuckle. 

    "Happy to have you too" he replied in a sleepy voice before closing his eyes against the darkness, drifting of back into dreamland. 

He woke up to a thin line of light shining directly into his face from a gap between the curtains. Blinking hard against the harsh light he rubbed his face and sat up. 

    "You really need to get that curtain fixed" he mumbled while nudging Mino lightly to see how deep into sleep he actually was. 

    "Good morning to you too" Mino replied after the third nudge, rolling onto his back so that he too was hit directly in the face by the strong sunlight. "You might just be right about that curtain" he continued, pulling the covers over his head to hide from the light. While completely hidden he mumbled something Seungyoon couldn’t hear. Pulling on the covers he asked: 

    "What?" while leaning closer to make a point of not hearing what Mino had said. 

    "You came in here to sleep again? Why?" Mino asked, he didn’t sound angry about it, only quizzical. 

    "I was lonely" he admitted although it was slightly embarrassing. Now that he was being questioned about it. 

    "Did you miss me?" Mino asked, an amused smile creeping up over his lips. 

    "I missed you" he admitted, there was no use in hiding it. Winner was his family too and there was no one he felt closer to than Mino. 

    "Were you jealous that I went away for so long?" Mino asked sitting up on the bed.

    "I was happy for you, I am happy for you, but I still missed you" he replied truthfully. 

Mino let out a light laugh although with his deep voice wasn’t it all that light. Then he leaned over, put a hand around his shoulders and pulled him down with him onto the bed again. 

    "I’ll bring you along next time, if you want to. How was work, did you manage to cross some stuff of your list?" Mino asked playing with a feather that had escaped from one of the pillows. 

    "Of course" he replied confidently. "I saw that piece of paper with the lyrics. Thought you had cried while writing it at first" he said motioning towards Mino’s desk where the pile of notes were. 

    "Nah, just thought it up in the shower and had to write it down before I forgot. My phone was dead so I had to find some paper. Jinwoo weren’t too pleased with the puddles of water I left behind either" Mino explained with a cute expression on his face as he thought back to the day he had written the lyrics.

    "I really think we can use them, I already got a song in mind. I sent you the instrumentals remember?" he asked, trying to sit up feeling fired up to get back to work already. 

    "That’s good, but let’s not stress about it. We can do some work before leaving for the airport" Mino said, pulling him backwards onto the bed again. 

Pulling on the covers they were soon huddled together well sheltered from the attacking sunlight of the strong morning sun. 

    "I’ll set an alarm" Mino mumbled feeling around for his phone. 

Three hours later and they woke up to the sound of Jinwoo yelling by the door. 

    "I can’t believe you are still sleeping!" he complained walking into the room. He pulled on the curtain making it jolt up filling the room with bright sunlight. 

    "We set an alarm" Mino mumbled holding up his phone from behind the covers. "Ah, it’s dead again" he said as he tried to look at the time. 

Seungyoon sat up, feeling a bit dizzy from all the sleeping. His stomach growled violently and he hoped there was still time to eat before leaving. 

    "I got lots of food over at our place if any of you want" he told everyone while getting to his feet looking around for his pants and t-shirt from the night before. 

    "Sounds good" Jinwoo replied before walking down the hall leaving them to start their day now that he knew they were awake. 

Mino got up too, attempted to flatten his hair but quickly gave up. It was too flat on one side and super fluffy on the other. Unable to hold back his laughter at the distressed Mino he put out a hand in a poor attempt to help him. Mino leaned onto his hand gently and smiled. Feeling the change in the mood Seungyoon said: 

    "Thank you for letting me sleep here again" and stepped closer placing a playful smooch onto Mino’s forehead before ruffling his hair making it even worse than it was. 

They both laughed for a moment before heading in each their direction. One to deal with his hair, the other to get some food. 

Authors note: Welcome to delulu hours, I rarely write stuff that I think myself is 100% believable. I’m not the kind of shipper you will find yelling "it’s real" on every street corner. This story was an attempt at something a bit more realistic though. Do you agree? I hope it was a nice read at least ^^