"Do you regret this?”

Minseok turns around, laptop fitted snuggly between his thighs. His legs were clad with thick grey sweats, torso wrapped in a thin wife beater. Jongdae sat on the other side of the bed, mattress dipping inward with his weight and the blankets pooling around him. The dorm was silent, with the Chinese members out to buy take out. The two left didn’t know enough Chinese to wonder by themselves, and they didn’t want to weigh down the other members from adventuring the Chinese night life. He and Minseok stayed in Jongdae’s shared room with the leader, the latter being gone.

“No,” Minseok answers carefully, pressing the space bar to pause the video he was watching. Removing his headphones, Minseok looks at him curiously, “Why?”

“Yesterday…” Jongdae trails of awkwardly. Minseok nods solemnly, eyes casted downward.

“Do you mean about the show? Or…this?” He gestures to the room, arms spread wide. Though things left unsaid, Jongdae knows what the other is trying to say. Minseok’s breathing is slow and rhythmic, matching the cool feeling of the room. It’s nice to have some sort of noise in the room, even if it’s the light sounds of breathing or the angry whirr of the laptop. Despite the relaxing feel, both of them have dark circles under their eyes that rival Tao’s, pasty pale skin that’d seen too many layers of foundation, and itchy throats from the endless vocal practices and performances.

Jongdae puts away his Chinese text book; stuffing it with the other workbooks the company had given the two. The books are full of brightly colored post-it notes, each scrawled with messy hangul. Sometimes, he thinks the company was crazy for making them learn such a difficult language, but it's required. At least, thats what Kim Young-min had said. He crawls to the other side of the bed and sits beside the elder, scooting close until their shoulders brushed and bony knees knocked together. Minseok shuts in laptop and slides it under the bed.

“Everything. The incident yesterday only made me think about this more and more.” He confesses quietly. The low hum inside the walls tells them the heater had .

Minseok nods, memory of the dreadful day surfacing.

Yesterday, they’d been invited to a popular Chinese variety show. Having woken up at four in the morning to do hair and makeup, adding on the time to drive to the filming spot and redo makeup and hair, all of them had already used a lot of energy. Just as filming were about to begin, the producer had run up to one of the managers, face flushed and breathing ragged.

“The translator is sick and she couldn’t make it. We have no replacements.”

With five minutes left until the cameras had to get rolling, the other Chinese members promised to translate everything.

Minseok and Jongdae looked to each other, eyes doubting. They had nodded hesitantly, instantly feeling more vulnerable with no one else speaking their common tongue.

And their worries had been correct. Right off the bat they all had been casted into teams of three. It wouldn’t have been too bad if Minseok or Jongdae got put into the same team with Luhan, Yifan, or Yixing, but the hosts joined too. To both the Korean member’s luck, they’d both been paired with one of the hosts. A stocky female with a sour face that looked repulsed by everyone other than Luhan and Tao.

Further into the recording, Minseok looked into the live audience and saw all but on lit up sign with his symbol on it. An hour ago, he saw several, but it seems his persistent silence had made his fans grow weary. Jongdae patted him on the arm, murmuring something low and comforting in his ear.

Needless to say, Minseok and Jongdae were both sure once the episode aired, they’d get about three minutes of screen time combined.

“Luhan did try his best to inform us when he could…” Minseok mumbles, shoulders sagging. They slumped against each other, both too tired to support themselves. They knew the other didn’t mind, as the weight was welcomed with familiarity.

“Yifan-hyung also put up a big fight when he didn’t want us to be off alone with that woman.”

“Yixing and Tao also looked really worried.” They both say at the same time. With a tired laugh, they collapse back onto the bed, tangling in the sheets and each other’s limbs. In the pleasant silence of the room, the laid there until the heard the faint creaking of footsteps on the porch.

“How long,” Jongdae starts off, but coughs went something catches in his throat. He clears his voice, also shifting his body so he could fully face the other, “How long do you think we can last? I mean, think realistically.”

Minseok’s answer is quiet, barely above a whisper and Jongdae can barely distinguish it from the heater, “A couple years maybe. I think we’ll be the first to leave; like JYJ-sunbaes.”

There’s a shifting of cloth and the two Korean’s find themselves burrowing under the sheets, clinging on to each other like siblings reunited.

“Whatever happens…”

“Together until the end.”

Childishly, they both stick their pinkies out, hooking them together as a pact. As a final act of consciousness, Jongdae pulls Minseok for a long hug, arms wrapped around the elder’s waist tightly as if he were about to get up and leave. They stay like that until both of them lose their minds to the realm if sub-consciousness.
 

:::::::

The Chinese members will find them together in each other’s arms. Yifan will smile and close the door gently, and go to the manager and tell him he would be rooming with Luhan. The manager will say yes, and when everyone’s asleep, the two Korean’s will wake at early dawn and talk about the parting that will come in years to come.

This was like a character study for Xiumin and Chen ^^