Midnight isn’t really considered late anymore. They routinely practice till twelve and get up again the next day at five to reach schedules on time. It is late now though, at three in the morning. They are in the middle of preparing for a comeback and they’ve gone past the learning-everything-properly stage to the do-everything-perfectly stage, which involves practicing till their bodies can no longer perform the movements.

Due to this work pattern, Hongbin and Sanghyuk find themselves in a very familiar position. As the two youngest relegated to the back of the shower line, they’re stuck killing time before they can drain away their sweat and plop into bed. Today they decide, in contrary to their familiar situation, to do something out of the ordinary. Sanghyuk with his big eyes and smoosh-able cheeks uses his last energy to cajole Hongbin into going to get food instead of waiting out the time at the dorm.

They wander a bit to discover a place open at this odd hour of the night, and find themselves nestled in the corner of a small bakery. It’s empty and dim, which is perfect because neither of the two has the energy to remain presentable or the patience for bright lights. They place themselves at a table, crowded onto the booth side, leaving the two chairs along the opposite edge empty. Both of them want a view of the counter. A baker, who had, unlike them, gotten up very early, is busy kneading dough and pumping filling into pastries, providing them something to focus on.

In the dim light the two slump against each other, Hongbin’s shoulder providing Sanghyuk a slightly bony pillow. One half eaten pumpkin muffin sits in front of Hongbin and a mostly finished almond croissant remains in front of Sanghyuk.  Their coffees, decaf of course, are cooling to a consumable temperature across the table. They have hope the drinks will be able to warm them up, as their body heart sharing is only going so far, and their practice clothes are not exactly warm. They had both practiced in light t-shirts and athletic shorts as anything else would surely cause overheating. Before they left the practice studio they had put on sweatshirts to try to alleviate the chill they knew their cooling, sticky sweat would end up giving them, but it is currently not proving to be effective.

As they continue to rest against each other, it becomes clear, that really, this out of the ordinary occurrence is not so strange or abnormal. There are many others like it, where they have sat similarly to their current positions, waiting. In less identical situations Hongbin and Sanghyuk have also found themselves lumped together, particularly often, as they compose the single unit maknae line. They truly do all kinds of things together. The best part for them, though, is that they don’t mind. Each of them enjoys the other’s company and in the end they push themselves together, like they have done tonight, far more than they are mandated to be. It is this thought that prompts Hongbin’s words. He puts it very simply, “I like being with you,” while reaching a hand up to smooth Sanghyuk’s hair.

Sanghyuk responds by letting his eyes shut closed and mumbling, “I like it too.”

Hongbin continued his actions, running a thumb along one of Sanghyuk’s eyebrows, around the outside of his eye socket over his cheek bone, to reach and then follow along his jaw. He pushes further saying, “We do stuff like this a lot, just us, hanging out together.”

Sanghyuk can feel he knows where Hongbin is trying to go with this and responds, “Does this make us something?” as he flicks his eyes back open.

Forever the cautious one, Hongbin notes that, “It doesn’t have to.”

 Sanghyuk, reaching into the dangerous place Hongbin is avoiding, questions, “Do you want it to make us something?”

There is a pause where Sanghyuk contemplates adding ‘because I do’ to his thought, but Hongbin responds before that becomes necessary with a simple, “yes,” and Sanghyuk is able to instead say a simple, “good,” before wrapping his arms around Hongbin and shifting his head from Hongbin’s shoulder to against his neck.