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Mingi's eyes opened to complete darkness in his room. He blinked a few times, then turned his head to look at the clock on his night stand. The glowing red numbers read 2:08 AM. He wondered what on earth made him wake up so early, then heard a slight creak as his door closed. Soft footsteps followed and as Mingi's eyes adjusted to the small amount of light from his clock, he saw a tall silhouette wrapped in a blanket shuffling towards his bed.
"Yunho hyungie? Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, his voice low and raspy from having just woken up; the silhouette was too tall to be anyone else. He saw Yunho's outline shrug, then before he could move to the other side of the bed, his hyung flopped on top of him.
"Can't sleep," the older muttered. Mingi sighed.
"Aish, again?" he said quietly. Yunho just mumbled something and buried his head in Mingi's shoulder.
Yunho had been having trouble getting to sleep lately, and he'd been coming into Mingi's room in the middle of the night a lot in the past few weeks. Whenever the younger asked about it, Yunho would say it wasn't that bad, but his nightly visits had been getting more and more frequent. To say Mingi was worried about him would be an understatement. Multiple times he had tried to convince Yunho to talk to his two hyungs about it, and several times he had said he would, but he clearly hadn't mentioned it to them at all. Mingi was on the verge of just telling them himself, but he knew it would upset Yunho, and he couldn't bring himself to do that to him. Not just yet.
"Do you wanna sleep here tonight again?" Mingi whispered. He felt Yunho nod into the crook of his neck.
"Okay hyung, but can you at least move over? You're kinda squishing me."
Yunho sat up just enough to make eye contact with Mingi, a small sly smile on his face. The younger boy loved that smile; the way Yunho's eyes sparkled and crinkled up slightly, the smile lines that showed on his cheeks, the way his hair was currently concealing most of his face.
"Nope." Yunho said, before burrowing back into Mingi's shoulder and wrapping his arms around his neck.
"You're comfy."
Mingi let out a giggle and wrapped his own arms around Yunho's torso.
"You're lucky you're cute. Now go to sleep hyung." he said, pressing his cheek to Yunho's soft hair.
The older snuggled closer to him, if that was even possible, and it wasn't long before his breathing evened out and he completely relaxed. Yunho was like Wooyoung and San in that he slept better if he was cuddling with someone. Mingi smiled at that thought and closed his own eyes, falling back asleep in a matter of minutes with the slightly awkward but comfortable weight of his hyung on top of him.
He woke up with a little grunt to another sudden weight, knocking the air out of his chest. He opened his bleary eyes to see a another mop of hair on top of Yunho's.
"Wooyoung get the hell off," he grumbled.
"Hey, what if I want Mingi cuddles too?" came the whiny voice of their second youngest.
"Then you're gonna have to get off because right now I can't breathe."
Wooyoung sighed but did so. Mingi noticed that Yunho was still asleep and breathing deeply on his chest, even though he too had just been squished under an overexcited dongsaeng.
"Whatever, just get up you two, we have practice. And I'm hungry."
"Okay, okay, we're getting up. Now go annoy Sannie or something, I've gotta wake up Yunho."
Wooyoung pouted adorably before he left the room and did exactly that, Mingi hearing him go into San's room down the hall.
"Yunnie... hey we've gotta get up now," he said, moving his arms that were still around Yunho's torso to rub his shoulders and neck.
"Don't want to... comfy," Yunho mumbled before he rolled off of Mingi and cuddled up to his side. This worried Mingi a little, because Yunho usually woke up pretty quickly. He must have been really exhausted to be so reluctant to get out of bed.
"Come on, we've gotta have breakfast before we leave."
"Mmmmph...five more minutesssss," Yunho whined.
"No, we have an early dance practice and recording sessions today, remember? You have to get up so you can go be your amazing, talented self."
Yunho finally sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the sleeves of his pajama shirt. Mingi could see him blushing a little bit from the compliment he had just received, which he thought was extremely cute (although he would rather eat Hongjoong's terrible cooking than admit this to his hyung).
He too sat up and ran his fingers through his hair a couple times before standing up and stretching. His back and legs were slightly sore from all of the practice they all had been doing lately. Ateez was preparing to release a new mini album in the next month or so, and they had all been working almost nonstop. The title track was already finished, and they were in the process of learning the choreography. It was very fast and intense, even more so than their other comeback choreos. They were all very tired from the endless practicing and the recording sessions they were still doing for the rest of the tracks. Some of them weren't finished yet, and Hongjoong had been staying late at the studio with their producers for weeks. But they were all excited to release the new album for atiny, and were used to the subsequent constant feeling of exhaustion at this point.
Yunho also got up and stretched a little, then went to leave and head downstairs. Before he could reach the door though, Mingi gently grabbed his hand. Yunho turned around, his cheeks again a little red.
"Yunnie, please promise me you'll tell Hongjoong hyung or Seonghwa hyung about your trouble sleeping, okay?"
"Okay, okay, I will," Yunho said, dropping Mingi's hand and turning towards the door again. Again Mingi stopped him, this time grabbing his shoulder and pulling him into a gentle hug.
"Please actually talk to them this time, hyung. Please? If this keeps happening you'll only get more tired and... then you could get hurt or something. And I can't keep seeing you like this."
"...Okay, I promise," Yunho said. He hadn't realized how much his issue was affecting Mingi, and promised himself and the younger that he'd tell his hyungs after practice that day.
Mingi gave Yunho a small pat on his head as he released him from the hug. The two made their way downstairs to the breakfast table, where the most of the members were already seated. Everyone was chatting, with Seonghwa in the kitchen getting plates out for their breakfast. Jongho was talking with San, who was softly rubbing Hongjoong's shoulder to keep the leader awake. Wooyoung had draped himself over Yeosang, who was taking a drink of his orange juice with a completely straight face as if there wasn't an entire human practically on top of him.
Seonghwa looked up and smiled at the two as they walked in, taking their usual seats next to each other. When he too sat down after handing them all their food, he looked at Hongjoong for the leader to give them the usual rundown of their schedules for the day. However the member in question was practically asleep in his breakfast, so Seonghwa addressed the group instead.
"Alright guys, so you all know we have dance practice in around 15 minutes so that we can finish the comeback choreo, and then we have to be in the studio to record for a couple hours. Eden hyung is going to be the only one there today, so it should be pretty low-key."
"And since Hongjoong hyung has already recorded his lines for everything we've got so far, he can use that time to work on producing so that me and Seonghwa don't wake up again to the sound of him practically passing out on the living room floor," added Yeosang jokingly, although he and the other six were looking at their leader with concern. Mingi noticed Yunho looked especially worried, so he softly put his hand on his arm.
"Aish hyung, you need to rest." San said. "Why did you take on producing so many of the songs for this album? It's too much work for one person."
"It's okay guys, I'm perfectly fine," Hongjoong mumbled, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands.
"No you're not Joong, you're overworked and you're tired," said Seonghwa firmly.
"But it's not like I can stop to rest! This has to get done, and I'm the one who has to do it! I'm fine!" said the leader loudly. He immediately looked horrified of how he'd spoken to them all, but instead of getting upset because of his yelling, Seonghwa's eyes were full of understanding and sympathy. He knew Hongjoong was under a lot of pressure, so he couldn't fault him for losing control a little. The oldest calmly stood up and went to stand behind their leader. He wrapped his arms around Hongjoong's shoulders from behind and leaned his own head on his gently. The younger one had his own head in his hands, obviously feeling guilty for his outburst.
"I know Joong, I know. But this isn't good for you," Seonghwa said softly. Hongjoong nodded into his hands.
"Okay baby, okay; tell you what. Mingi-ah?"
Mingi looked up from where he had been focusing on where Yunho's hand had come to grasp his own.
"Yeah hyung?"
"Why don't you help Hongjoong with finishing the last few songs this week so that we can finish recording and mixing as soon as possible?"
Mingi froze for a second. Of course he wanted to help his hyung, and he could see that Hongjoong needed it, but... he didn't really have that much experience in producing. He'd helped a few times here and there throughout the group's career, but he'd never actually been the one to finish a song. That was always Hongjoong or their producer-hyungs. Mingi himself was much more of a lyricist and a songwriter. He could come up with lyrics like they were nothing, but they never came with the beat underneath; just the melody. He knew how to create basic beats and instrumentals, but he hadn't the slightest idea where to start with actually finishing a song.
"Mingi?" He was snapped out of his train of thought by Yunho's voice. He turned to see the older facing him, then realized the whole group was looking at him, except for Hongjoong who still had his face in his hands and was rubbing his temples.
"Huh? Oh, uh... yeah, sure. Sure I can help," he responded, trying to sound more confident then he felt. Hongjoong looked up at him with a grateful smile, then at Seonghwa's coaxing finally began to eat his breakfast. The rest followed, except for Yunho, who looked at Mingi questioningly.
"You okay Gi?" he said quietly.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking for a second and spaced out. Sorry," Mingi said quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was worry his already extremely tired hyung, but he couldn't deny it; he was really nervous about this.
Dance practice was especially hard that day. Their choreographers seemed very tired, and were being more stern and intense then usual as a result. When the end of practice finally came, all eight of them collapsed against the wall. For a couple moments, the only sounds that filled the room were heavy breathing from the members and the footsteps of the choreographers as they left. Although they were tired, they were satisfied because they had finally finished the dance. Now all that was left was to drill the moves over and over until they were ready for the comeback.
Yunho scooted over so that he could lean his head on Mingi's shoulder, slipping the younger's hand into his for comfort. Mingi knew how tired his hyung was, so he gently wrapped his left arm around Yunho and pulled him closer. The older smiled and squeezed his hand; Mingi couldn't help but think he looked like a little puppy curled up against him. The two sat there peacefully for a couple of minutes as the others started chatting softly and getting ready to head to their next schedule.
After a little while, Mingi gently shook Yunho, who had almost fallen asleep sitting up against his chest, before he stood up and helped his hyung off the floor. He fixed Yunho's hair a little, making Yunho blush yet again, before they grabbed their stuff and made their way downstairs to the recording studio.
Still holding Yunho's hand, Mingi pulled the older back before they entered the studio, making the older one roll his eyes.
"I know, Mingi." he said knowingly.
"Hey, you're the one who told me you would talk to them multiple times and then obviously didn't. I'm just worried about you Yunnie hyung."
Yunho's gaze softened a little bit.
"Mingi-ah, I promised you I would, and I'm going to. As soon as Seonghwa hyung is done recording his lines for today, I'll take him out here and tell him what's going on."
"What about Hongjoong hyung? He deserves to know too."
"I know, but you saw how he was at breakfast today. He's exhausted. I don't wanna make him worry about something that isn't a big deal when he already has so much on his plate."
Before Mingi could protest again, Yunho pulled his hand away and went into the studio. He sighed and followed, seeing Yeosang already in the sound booth. Hongjoong was in his normal spot next to their producers, while the others had piled on top of the couch. Wooyoung and San were cuddling and giggling to themselves quietly, while Yunho had taken the spot next to Seonghwa. Mingi went to sit by Jongho (well, ON Jongho; it wasn't a very big couch). He smiled as the maknae sighed, used to dealing with this from his hyungs.
They all paid attention when Yeosang began singing. Mingi had always loved listening to Yeosang's voice: it was clear but had this rich, raspy tone to it that he had always admired.
When Yeosang finished, it was Yunho's turn. His vocals were Mingi's favorite out of the group, and he could always support them so well, even after hours and hours of difficult dancing. Mingi always made sure to give Yunho a smile or a compliment after he was done recording, just to show how much he loved his voice.
Next it was Seonghwa's turn. The eldest also had an amazing voice, but what Mingi was even more glad to see was how Yunho gently grabbed Seonghwa's hand after the oldest came out of the recording booth. The two went into the hall, where Mingi could hear them softly talking. He was happy that Yunho was finally telling one of his hyungs, just as he had promised. Hopefully Seonghwa would know what to do to help him, and he wouldn't end up crawling into Mingi's bed anymore in the middle of the night just to be able to get any sleep at all. Although, if whatever Seonghwa decided was best to do ALSO involved cuddles, Mingi would have no objection whatsoever.
As the rest of the members quickly finished their recording sessions, Mingi felt his earlier nervousness returning to his body. Soon, he would be faced with the prospect of telling his leader that he couldn't actually help him.
Even though the recording had gone relatively quickly, it was still petty late in the afternoon when Mingi followed Hongjoong to his studio. He'd been in the room before during the few times he had helped previously, but the room was still as intimidating as ever from his perspective. It was fairly small, with barely enough room for the small couch to fit opposite Hongjoong's desk and equipment. The walls were painted a soft tan color, the couch looked comfortable; to anyone who wasn't dreading the hours ahead, it might have looked cozy.
Hongjoong immediately set his bag down and sat down in the faded leather office chair at the desk. He motioned for Mingi to grab the only other chair in the room, so the younger did. Hongjoong began setting up his keyboard and opening a few files on his computer while Mingi sat there watching in somewhat awkward silence. Finally, after what felt like forever, the leader turned to him.
"Okay, so there's four songs that aren't yet finished. Two of them are almost done, and just need final touches before we start recording. The other two need a lot of work. I thought it would take around a week to finish all of them if I stayed up really late working, but now that I've got you helping, it should go much quicker. Also, Hwa will stop breathing down my neck all the time." Hongjoong said. He looked at Mingi with a grateful smile, which made the younger swallow with nervousness.
"I figure the best thing to do is focus on the songs that are almost done, then record our lines for them so that we can work on the other two while the rest are recording," he continued as he turned back towards the computer.
"Um... Hongjoong hyung?"
"Mmh?"
"Well... I don't really have a lot of experience with this, so... I don't really know where to start..." Mingi said hesitantly.
"Hey, that's okay Min. Here, watch me with this one. Then we can set you up on my other laptop, okay?"
Mingi reluctantly agreed, and scooted closer to his hyung so he could better see the screen. He could see the different tracks; bass, drums, keys, special effects, and other ones. But there were tons of unfamiliar controls and settings surrounding them, only a few of which he recognized. He tried to pay attention as Hongjoong took a section of the bass part and duplicated it, then shifted the pitch down a little. Hongjoong then added another bass note underneath using his keyboard, and a few drums. Mingi watched everything closely, but he kept getting distracted by the amount of controls and buttons on the screen. Before he knew it, Hongjoong was finished with whatever he was doing and was talking to him again.
"So that's basically all that needs to be done for the first two songs I mentioned: we just need to clean up and finish the bass parts, then add whatever else is needed to make the song feel finished." Mingi nodded in response, not really able to process what Hongjoong said. The older then reached beneath the desk and pulled out another laptop. He set it up on the other end of the desk, along with a smaller keyboard.
"Okay, so here's the file for the first song," he said, pulling it up on the screen. "You can take this one for now. Oh, and if there's anything you want to add, feel free, you don't have to, like, run it by me or anything." Hongjoong smiled as he returned to his own laptop.
Mingi looked back to the setup in front of him. He popped in a pair of headphones and listened to what Hongjoong had created so far. It was a very slow, almost romantic sounding song; mostly piano and instrumentals, very little percussion underneath. As Mingi listened, he tried to think of what he could add to the song. He couldn't really come up with anything; to him, someone not used to listening to unfinished songs, he wasn't able to tell what was missing. After he listened to it a couple times, he played around with the bass underneath the bridge and the rap parts, trying to make it more pronounced for those parts of the song.
He thought it sounded pretty good, and was kind of proud of himself, until he looked over at Hongjoong's computer. The older had already added multiple tracks, and was busy creating harmonies with his keyboard. The way he worked looked so natural and was so much faster than Mingi's efforts, and the younger couldn't help but feel out of place in comparison. It was like Hongjoong was miles ahead of him, and he could never hope to catch up. Why was he even there? He wasn't actually doing anything.
Mingi knew that he wasn't nearly as good at producing as Hongjoong, but he wasn't expecting to feel so useless. Even though Hongjoong had been smiling at him just a little while ago, Mingi began to feel unwelcome in the studio. Hongjoong was so much better than him, so much more experienced. He didn't need someone like him, who had no idea what he was doing and could only get one thing done in the time it took Hongjoong to almost finish.
The leader was surely laughing at him.
Mingi shook himself at that last thought. His hyung would never do that; he would never think less of him because he was struggling with something. However, that irrational, jealous thought burrowed its way into Mingi's mind. It was then that he made a decision.
The only way he could be of any real help to his hyung was to get better at producing. The only way to avoid letting Seonghwa and Hongjoong down was to become just as good as Hongjoong was. Otherwise, he would just slow him down.
"Mingi-ah?"
He was pulled from his train of thought by Hongjoong's voice.
"You ok? You were zoned out."
"What? Oh, yeah... I guess I'm just really tired. Sorry hyung."
"No problem, I get it. Here, lemme see what you have so far," he said, reaching for Mingi's headphones. Mingi of course couldn't stop Hongjoong from listening to the song he was supposed to have been working on, so he just braced himself for a look of disappointment or a sigh of resignation at his lack of progress.
"Hey, did you boost the bass part here? At the bridge?"
"What?" Hongjoong's next words weren't at all what he had expected them to be. The leader's eyes were focused on the screen, and he was rewinding the song back to the bridge to listen again.
"Uh, yeah... yeah I did. I thought since the bridge is the two of us rapping, that maybe less instrumental and more bass would make it stand out more?" Mingi said. He tried to read Hongjoong's face as he listened to the part of the song again, looking for any sign of disapproval.
"It's cool, I like it." Hongjoong said as the song finished. "You should probably be able to finish this one tomorrow."
"Me?" Mingi said, catching onto Hongjoong's choice of words.
"Yeah, Min, you. This sounds really good so far, and I think you should be the one to finish it."
Mingi was taken aback by this. He thought his hyung would be irritated or frustrated that he hadn't been working enough, but he didn't seem to be. He certainly didn't expect him to give him the song. Or maybe he was just saying that to make Mingi feel better.
Throughout the next couple of hours, the two worked side by side on their different songs. The room was mostly silent the whole time, only occasionally broken by the sounds of keys typing away or a water bottle being unscrewed. Mingi couldn't help but keep noticing how much faster his hyung was working, and how much more complicated his song seemed. His own looked pathetic in comparison. He kept listening to it again and again, but he didn't know what else to add. Nothing felt missing, but it didn't feel complete either.
As he stared at the laptop screen, he began to understand how Hongjoong always lost track of time when he was in here. It really felt like nothing existed but the two of them, their computers, the music, and their thoughts. Mingi's thoughts in particular were racing as he tried to come up with anything to add to the song, as well as ways he could improve himself to better help Hongjoong.
Then the silence, and Mingi's thoughts, were interrupted by the sound of Hongjoong's ringtone. The leader quickly took out his headphones and picked it up, putting it on speaker as he continued to work.
"Hwa? What is it?"
"What is it?!? What it IS, Kim Hongjoong, is almost midnight!" came the eldest's angry voice through the phone.
Both Hongjoong and Mingi turned to look at the clock, seeing that Seonghwa was in fact correct.
"Oh... um... oops."
Seonghwa sighed over the phone.
"Just get back here so I can sleep and not have to worry about whether or not I have to go over there to drag you two home."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry Hwa. We'll be home soon," Hongjoong said, with a somewhat guilty tone.
Seonghwa signed yet again. "I'm not mad at you Joong, you know that. I'm just worried. Oh, how did Mingi do today? He didn't break anything, did he?"
"He did great. By the way, you're on speaker hyung."
There was a moment of silence before a click as Seonghwa promptly hung up.
The two rappers looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Okay, okay, we better get going," Hongjoong finally said. He was still chuckling as he saved everything and closed down his computer. Mingi saved the measly amount of progress he had made, then stood up to grab his bag.
Hongjoong did the same, but stumbled a little and had to catch himself on the edge of the desk. Mingi immediately rushed to his side and held onto his shoulders tightly. Hongjoong's head was down and his eyes were clenched shut. He looked like he was in pain.
"Hyung! Hey, what happened? Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, Min, don't worry. I think I just stood up too fast," he said with his eyes still closed.
"Hyung, you looked like you almost collapsed just now," Mingi said, examining Hongjoong and checking to make sure his leader hadn't hurt himself anywhere.
"I know, but it's nothing," Honjoong slowly raised his head and took Mingi's hands from his shoulders. "I'm just really tired. It's fine. Now come on, we need to go."
"Okay, but you better believe I'm telling Seonghwa hyung about this tomorrow."
"Fine. Now let's get going before he drives over here and we have to deal with his disappointed-mom face."
Mingi chuckled and followed his hyung out of the studio and down to the car. As they were driven home, he thought back to the decision he made earlier. Thinking about how Hongjoong had definitely almost passed out just now made him even more determined to do whatever was necessary. He had to get better at producing so that he could share the workload with his leader and stop him from possibly getting hurt.
The next day was pretty much the same. Hongjoong had managed to finish the first of the two songs the night before, so after another long, exhausting dance practice, him and Mingi recorded their lines first so that they could head to the studio directly after. After he had finished his, Mingi took a seat next to Yunho, who noticed that the younger looked worried about something. He slipped his hand into Mingi's to get his attention.
"Everything okay?" Yunho whispered. He was sure only Mingi could hear him, as the others were mucking around on the other end of the couch, but he still didn't want to worry them. It might be nothing.
"Hmm? Oh, Yunnie, I... uh..." Mingi thought about lying to his hyung and saying everything was fine, but he didn't want Yunho to be concerned for him.
"It's nothing, I'm just worried about Hongjoong. You know how I'm supposed to be helping him? Well, I barely did anything yesterday, and then when we went to leave he almost collapsed. He said he was okay, but I can tell he's exhausted. I have to help him, take some of the work off, but I honestly don't know what I'm doing. If I don't get better and help him more, he might push himself too far again and something could happen," Mingi said in a rush.
"Oh Min, I'm sure you're doing fine. Hongjoong will be okay, and even if he isn't, that's not your fault at all, okay? You're doing a good thing by helping him and you're trying your best." Yunho gave Mingi a gentle hug. The younger melted into it, happy he had gotten everything off his chest. He was still worried, and he couldn't help the other thoughts, the jealous thoughts, that had taken root in his mind, but at that moment he was okay.
They stayed like that until Hongjoong finished recording his lines and the two rappers got ready to go to the studio.
"Thanks Yunnie," Mingi said, sending Yunho a slight smile before he left.
When they got there, they set up quickly before beginning to work on their individual songs. Mingi was still working on the same one, whereas Hongjoong had moved on to one of the songs that needed more work. Even having had some time away from the track, Mingi still couldn't figure out what it was missing. He considered asking Hongjoong, but then thought back to what Yunho had said yesterday about not telling Hongjoong about his sleeping problem because he didn't want him to worry more. Of course he couldn't tell him; the leader already had too much of his own work to do, even with his "help".
He listened to the song over and over, but his attention was once again drawn away by watching Hongjoong. The song he was working on only had a few tracks, but Hongjoong was adding to them quickly. He was glancing back and forth between the screen and his keyboard, clicking around rapidly as he composed the harmony for the song. It was almost mesmerizing how fast he worked. As he watched Hongjoong out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the leader glance at him in return a few times. The small worm of jealousy that had remained in his mind reared its head again.
He's probably judging me. I mean, he's been working so fast this whole time while I've done almost nothing and it's already been an hour, he thought.
No, he wouldn't do that. He's probably just disappointed.
He went back to the song. This time, instead of trying to find something to add, he just changed a bunch of tiny things; a pitch adjustment here and there, boosting or lowering the bass in the chorus, changing the rhythm underneath the outro. He wasn't really paying attention to any of it, just playing around with the tracks and hoping something would click. But no matter how many minuscule changes he made, it still felt like something was missing, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.
Why is this so hard?
Better yet, how does Hongjoong hyung make this look so easy?
Whatever.
"Hyung?" Mingi called out.
"Yeah, Min?" the leader responded without glancing away from his screen.
"I think this one's done. I mean, it still feels kind of...well... empty, I guess? But I can't think of anything else to change."
"Oh, don't worry about that Min. Most songs feel like that for a while before you add the vocals. I'll send it down to Maddox-hyung so he can start with the guide recording. That way maybe the others can record that one today as well. We can do our lines later."
Mingi felt slightly reassured that Hongjoong didn't think anything was wrong, knowing that his leader would tell him if there was.
Hongjoong sent the file with Mingi's song to their producers, then had him start working on the last unfinished track.
"Two down, two to go. Wow, we really got those two done fast. Thanks for this, Mingi-ah. You're doing well."
He smiled at the praise from his hyung, but remembered his promise to himself. Hongjoong might be grateful for the tiny amount of help he was providing, but he needed to do better. Hongjoong needed him to do better.
They continued working in Hongjoong's studio well into the night, Mingi making sure they left at a reasonable time. When they got home, he immediately wanted to check on Yunho, to see if he'd gotten better sleep since he talked to Seonghwa. He hadn't asked Seonghwa about it yet, and had been anxious all day. Most of the members were on the couch finishing a movie when the two rappers walked in, but Yunho was nowhere to be seen. He looked over to the eldest, who seemed to pick up on what he was thinking. Seonghwa extracted himself from between San and Yeosang, then gave Hongjoong a quick hug before walking over to Mingi.
"Don't look so worried, Min, Yunho's already in bed. As soon as he told me he was having trouble sleeping I had our manager get him some sleeping pills, so he should be asleep pretty soon."
Mingi instantly looked relieved. "Thank you hyung. I was getting really worried about him."
Seonghwa seemed surprised. "What do you mean? Mingi-ah, how long was this going on before he told me?"
"A couple weeks, I think. I kept making him promise he'd tell you, but he wouldn't until yesterday."
Seonghwa sighed and gave Mingi a hug. "Well, it's not like he's the only one who's ever hid something about their health from the rest of us."
He let go and sat back down on the couch, San and Yeosang immediately cuddling up to him again. Mingi hesitated for a second.
"Don't just stand there Min." Seonghwa said from between the two 99 liners.
"What?"
"Go check on him. You've got your 'I'm worried about Yunho but I don't want to seem like I'm ignoring everybody' face on."
Mingi blushed and ran up the stairs.
"Aish, what am I gonna do with you kids." he heard Seonghwa say. He smiled at him calling them his "kids" as he made his way down the hall to Yunho and San's room.
The door was slightly open, and when Mingi poked his head through, he saw that Yunho was already sleeping peacefully on his side. He quietly walked in and pulled the blanket over his hyung, then gently brushed his fluffy bangs out of his face. Yunho whined a little in his sleep, and Mingi couldn't help but think how adorable he looked. He blushed again at the thought and quietly left the room, almost running into San on the way out.
"He asleep?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Night Min," San said, patting his head cutely.
"Night Sannie."
Several hours later, Mingi lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about the song he was working on. He had to finish it quickly if he wanted to be any real help to his hyungs. He was afraid he would let them down if he didn't improve soon. His mind was racing as he lay there, and he couldn't seem to get comfortable. Then he got an idea.
He got up and quickly changed his clothes. Grabbing his stuff, he poked his head out of his door. It was almost 2 in the morning, so everyone (including Yunho this time) was almost definitely asleep, but he still didn't want to take any chances so he was extra careful as he went downstairs. In under five minutes, he had pulled on his shoes and left the dorm.
He thought about calling their driver to come get him, but it was the literal middle of the night, so that probably wasn't an option. He settled on just walking to the company. It was only about 10 minutes away after all. The night air was a little chilly, so he pulled the hood of his jacket up over his hat and walked a little faster.
Soon he was walking through the doors of the KQ building. There were only a few staff members still there at this hour. He suddenly remembered that he couldn't get into Hongjoong's studio, as he didn't have the key. Besides, he didn't want Hongjoong knowing he'd snuck out. Then he saw a familiar face among the staff that were still in the building, and walked up to the man. It was one of their cameramen, Bin-seong.
"Mingi-ah? What on earth are you doing here so late?" he asked. He sounded concerned, so Mingi quickly came up with an excuse.
"Ah.... I just had an idea for a song I'm helping Hongjoong with, and I wanted to put some work in on it because I couldn't sleep. Don't worry Binseong-ssi, I'll try to get some sleep here, I just can't get into Hongjoong hyung's studio."
"Oh, I didn't know you were helping produce the new album. Well, there are a few studios on the upper floors that nobody really uses anymore since it's mostly offices up there now. If you want, I could show you one of those. I'm sure no one who works up there would mind." he responded with a warm smile.
"That'd be great. Thanks Binseong-ssi."
"Ah, Mingi-ah, we've known each other for years. Hyung is fine." he said with a smile.
"Okay. Thanks, Binseong-hyung."
The man led Mingi to the elevator, which they took to the upper floors. The hallways were almost completely empty, with plain doors on either side leading to more hallways and identical offices. They passed a conference room that Mingi had only been in once before they came to a door at the end of the hall. Mingi opened it to see the old studio. It was about the same size as Hongjoong's, but not nearly as well-kept. There was some dust on the desk, and only one chair. Instead of a couch, there was a small armchair in the corner. Mingi examined the equipment on the desk. There was a full keyboard, and plenty of places to plug in his laptop or a microphone.
"It's perfect hyung. Thank you so much," he said, turning back to the man with a small.
"No problem Mingi-ah. Good luck on the song. It was great to see you!"
Mingi bid the man goodbye, then got his laptop out of his bag and set it up on the desk. He hadn't used it for producing in a while, so it took a bit to hook it up. When he finally managed to get everything connected, he pulled up the song Hongjoong had sent him earlier and pressed play.
Since this song was a long way from finished, it was easier to tell what was missing, but he couldn't figure out where to start. After staring at the screen in thought for who knows how long, he decided to begin with the bass line, then add the harmonies on top. He plugged in his headphones, then got to work composing a bass part on the keyboard.
He soon got that feeling again, where it was like nothing existed but him and the music. This time, he wasn't worrying about his far more experienced hyung watching or judging him, so he got more comfortable. He finished the first parts of the bass line quickly; they were pretty simple, as they played underneath the chorus, where the focus was mostly on the melody. He then went to work on the verses, where it was a little more complicated. He felt like every time he came up with something good, it didn't fit right with the vibe of the song. It was extremely frustrating.
He sat for hours working on those parts, not realizing how much time had passed. His eyes were heavy, and his head was starting to hurt, but he forced himself to stay awake. This was too important for him to fall asleep in the middle of it. This was his way of helping his hyungs.
Before he knew it, sunlight was filtering in underneath the door. Confused, he saved his progress before standing up. His legs hurt from sitting for so long, but he forced them to carry him out of the room. Through the window next to the door at the end of the hall, he could see the pink sky of sunrise outside. Frantically, he pulled out his phone and checked the time.
6:43 AM
Well, shit. There goes the possibility of getting any sleep at all. Then he remembered their schedule for the day. The group had dance practice at 7; there was no way he could get back to the dorm before anyone else woke up. He decided to just head down to the dance studio, formulating a plan in his mind for later: he would stay in Hongjoong's studio that night to work, then message Seonghwa saying he was staying at the company that night before going up to the old studio to work some more. Surely he could manage without sleep for a little bit: the comeback date was approaching fast, and this was way more important.
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by his phone buzzing in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out: Wooyoung was calling him.
"Woo, what's-"
"Song Mingi, where the hell are you? Yunho went to wake you up and you weren't there and now he's losing his shit."
"Wooyoung, language," he heard Seonghwa scold in the background.
"I'm fine, Woo. I'm at the company."
"What? Why?"
Mingi came up with another quick lie; "I had an idea for the song I'm helping Hongjoong with, so I headed over early."
"But you don't have the key to-"
"I couldn't get in obviously, so I just headed into the dance studio to warm up before you guys got here." he said quickly, not wanting Wooyoung to figure it out and tell their hyungs he'd snuck out.
"Oh, well we'll be there soon." Wooyoung said. "What hyung?" he then shouted out of nowhere, making Mingi wince and hold his phone away from his slightly aching head.
"Hongjoong hyung says to head to the recording studio so you guys can do your lines from the song you finished yesterday. Oh, and Seonghwa hyung says don't break anything," Wooyoung sniggered before hanging up.
Mingi rolled his eyes, then turned down the hallway that would lead him to the recording studio.
Not even 10 minutes later, Mingi heard the telltale sounds of Wooyoung and Yunho shouting down the hall, before Hongjoong walked into the recording booth.
"Hey Mingi; so Eden-hyung should be here soon, and we can get started."
Mingi nodded, and the two sat down on the couch, lyrics in hand.
"Oh, Wooyoung said you headed over early because you had an idea for the song?"
"Yeah: don't worry I wrote it down."
Just then, their producers walked in, and the two rappers began getting ready to record. Mingi felt a little dizzy, so he shook his head to clear some of the fuzzy feeling.
"Yah: you okay Min?" came Hongjoong's voice.
"Huh?"
"You just look a little off. You okay?"
"Yeah hyung, I'm fine," Mingi said quickly. The last thing he wanted was for Hongjoong to figure out what he was planning on doing and be disappointed in him. He just wanted to help, but he wasn't good enough yet; he had to do this. Besides, he'd be fine. It's not like he hadn't gone without sleep for one night before.
~~~~ time skip brought to you by Mingi's nachos ~~~~
Mingi was tired. Exhausted. It had now been a full week since he started helping Hongjoong, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept for more than 4 consecutive hours, or the last time he'd eaten three meals a day. He couldn't even recall the last time he spent a full night at home, instead of sneaking out and eventually crashing in the studio. At this point, he'd been awake for almost three days straight. But he couldn't stop; couldn't slow down. He had to keep working, or else he would be letting his hyungs down.
He knew a few of the members had started to notice how fatigued he was at practice. He tried to play it off as just being tired, which was definitely true, but they were still being more nosy then he liked. He hated having to lie to them, and the more they worried about him, the more lies he had to come up with.
That day, he had felt extremely dizzy at practice, and almost blacked out at least twice. He was pretty sure no one noticed, and he made sure to send strained smiles to the others whenever one of them looked at him worriedly. However, he could tell that Yunho was catching on. He didn't know how, but Yunho always knew when something was going on with him. The older kept checking on him every time they got a break; making sure he was drinking plenty of water, offering to get him snacks, and just generally fussing over him. It was annoying, but also kind of adorable.
When practice was finally over, they went to record the second to last song, which Hongjoong had finished the previous day. This had only fueled Mingi's determination to stay up working again. He was constantly thinking about how far behind he was. He kept telling himself that he should have finished by now.
Instead of listening to the others sing and enjoying their time together while they recorded, he stood near the end of the couch, biting his thumbnail and fidgeting. He didn't want to sit down or take part in the cuddle pile that was going on at the other end of the couch: he was worried that if he sat down and relaxed at all that he'd fall asleep. That couldn't happen; he still had too much work to do.
Later, in his studio, Hongjoong tried to help Mingi with the song, but Mingi refused. He didn't want his hyung to see how far behind he was, as he would surely be disappointed in him. Besides, as he told Hongjoong, his hyung had been working so hard lately, surely he deserved a day off to himself, without having to stay at the company to work.
Hongjoong ended up working on a personal project, while Mingi spent a few hours adding what he told Hongjoong were the "final touches".
At around 9, he packed up his stuff, telling his leader that he was going to head home. Hongjoong was immersed in his work, so all he got in return was a nod. He left the studio, then made his way to the elevator.
As as he walked down the hall to what he had come to call "his" studio, he could feel the fatigue setting into his bones from staying awake so long. He stumbled slightly in the hallway, but blinked the dizziness away and sat down at his desk.
Just a few hours, he told himself. Just a few hours...
He didn't know how long it had been before he was suddenly aware of how hungry he was. He took a gulp from his water bottle, but it did nothing to help. His stomach was aching and growling loudly. Come to think of it, he didn't know if he had eaten since last night; his head had been so fuzzy all day. He remembered that he had a granola bar in his bag, which Yunho had handed him earlier. He stood up from the desk, moving towards his bag, which was on the armchair in the corner.
He only made it a few steps before he was hit with the most powerful wave of dizziness yet and his legs gave way underneath him. He collapsed to the floor, landing hard on his back and shoulder. Breathing heavily, he tried to push himself up with his right arm, tried to blink away the black dots on the corner of his vision, but his fatigue won the battle. Before he could even process what was happening, his arm also gave way, and his eyes closed as his exhaustion finally took over.
~~~~~~~~
Both Seonghwa and Yunho were pacing around the kitchen. Neither Hongjoong nor Mingi were home yet, and it was already almost midnight again. Most of the others had already gone to bed, but the three remaining oldest were standing in the living room, wearing identical worried faces.
Seonghwa and Yeosang were worried because they thought Hongjoong had been getting better at coming home at a reasonable time. For him and Mingi not to be home by now must mean something had happened.
Yunho was worried because... well, it was Mingi.
"Yeosang, call them again." Seonghwa said, running a hand through his hair.
"Hyung, I've tried them both three times already. Hongjoong went straight to voicemail, and Mingi didn't pick up," the younger said.
Yunho went over to his pacing hyung and wrapped his arms around his shoulders.
"They're okay hyung, they've probably just forgotten to take their phones off silent again."
Seonghwa relaxed in his hold. "But what if they're not Yunnie?"
Yunho realized his hyung was shaking slightly, and pulled back to see tears forming in the corners of Seonghwa's eyes.
"Hey, hyung, don't cry.
Tell you what, I'm gonna head over there and drag their sorry asses home; then you can give both of them all the motherly lectures you want, ok?"
He gave Seonghwa another quick hug, then went to put on his shoes. Before heading out the door, he called over his shoulder to Yeosang.
"Sangie, if I'm not back with those two idiots in half an hour, I'll give you a call, okay?"
"Okay, hyung," Yeosang responded from where he was now hugging Seonghwa. Yunho nodded and headed out into the night.
He hadn't bothered to grab a jacket, and it was quite a bit colder than it had been lately, so before long he was shivering. He ended up running the last block or so to the company just so his ears and toes wouldn't freeze. He ran inside, getting puzzled looks from the few staff members that were still there. He just smiled at them and bowed his head before rushing up the stairs and down the hall to Hongjoong's studio.
Panting, he knocked loudly.
In a few moments the door opened, revealing a messy-haired and tired-looking Hongjoong.
"It's almost midnight," Yunho said, before he realized something.
"Hyung?"
"What is it Yunnie?" Hongjoong said as he saved his song and packed up his computer.
"Where's Mingi?"
Hongjoong froze. "...He left a few hours ago. He's not at the dorm?"
"No... I came over here to get both of you."
Yunho could feel the panic rising in his chest. If Mingi wasn't at the dorm OR the studio, where else could he be? Immediately hundreds of terrible possibilities began running through Yunho's head; his Mingi could be hurt somewhere, or someone could have done something to him. He could be alone and scared without anyone to help. He could have-
"Yunho! Hey, hey it's okay. Take a deep breath." The younger hadn't even realized that Hongjoong had brought him into a hug. He did as he was told, trying to calm his racing thoughts. Mingi was going to be okay. They would find him.
"Let's go ask if anyone's seen him, okay? Maybe he spoke to someone before he left, or went to meet someone," Hongjoong said reassuringly.
Yunho nodded. Hongjoong let go and quickly grabbed his bag. The two made their way back into the lobby of the building, seeing four staff members still there. They asked all of them if they'd seen Mingi, and none of them had. With each one that shook their head, the two Ateez members got more and more worried.
Yunho was starting to panic again. If none of the staff in the lobby had seen him, then he most likely hadn't left the building, which meant that something had to have happened.
"Let's check the dance studio and the bathrooms on that floor," Hongjoong suggested. The leader was just as worried, but he had noticed Yunho's breathing pick up again. The last thing he needed was one of his dongsaengs having a panic attack when another might need help.
Yunho nodded in response. He was ready to search the entire building looking for Mingi.
They ran upstairs to the dance studio and threw open the door, but were only greeted with a dark, empty room. There was no sign that Mingi had been there at all. The bathrooms were also empty. Hongjoong thought that maybe Mingi had gotten sick or something. That didn't seem to be the case, but he didn't know where else to look.
Yunho was on the verge of tears at this point.
At Hongjoong's desperate suggestion, they ran out of the bathroom and back to the studio, hoping against hope that Mingi had gone back there and they had missed him. But the studio was just as empty as the lobby, the dance room, and the bathrooms had been.
As they were running down the hall towards the lobby again, both having lost all composure, they almost ran headlong into a staff member.
"Oh, Binseong-hyung, I'm so sorry."
"Yunho? Hongjoong-ah? What are you two boys doing here running around at this hour?"
"Hyung, we... we can't find Mingi. He's not at the dorm, he isn't in Hongjoong' studio or the dance room..." Yunho said, trying desperately not to burst into tears.
"Oh, did you look in his studio?" Binseong said.
"His studio?" Hongjoong questioned.
"Yes, just last week Mingi-ah showed up here late at night saying he had an idea for a song you two were working on. Since he couldn't get into your studio without the key, I showed him to one of the old studios on the top floor that nobody uses anymore."
"What?" Yunho exclaimed. Was this what had been going on with Mingi lately?
"When was this," Hongjoong asked quickly, a concerned look in his eyes.
"Last Tuesday, I believe."
Yunho let out a little gasp, his eyes widening. "Hyung, that's the day he wasn't there when I went to wake him up. Wooyoungie called him and he said he was at the company because he wanted to work on the song. Do you think he snuck out?"
"Which studio was it?" Hongjoong asked hurriedly. If Mingi was still working this late, and this was indeed what was going on, how much time had he spent in that studio? If this was anything like what happened when Hongjoong himself neglected his health for his work, then Mingi was in a dangerous place mentally right now and they had to help him.
"The one all the way at the end of the hall on the top floor; the one Maddox used to use," Binseong said.
"But wait... did you two not know about this?"
"No... no we didn't," Yunho said, his lip quivering slightly.
Hongjoong quickly thanked Binseong, saying they'd let him know what happened, before grabbing Yunho's hand and pulling him towards the stairs again. They were far to anxious to bother waiting for the elevator. Instead, they rushed to the top floor, Yunho taking the stairs two at a time.
He reached the hallway before Hongjoong, his breath coming in short gasps. He raced down the hall and threw the door open, expecting to see Mingi hard at work at the desk, and preparing to give him a right scolding for worrying them so much. The sight that greeted him was much worse, and suddenly all of the horrifying possibilities that flashed through his head earlier became all too real.
Mingi was lying on his right side, his head resting on his arm. His face was completely lax, and if Yunho hadn't known better, he'd say Mingi had just decided to take a nap on the floor.
But he did know better.
He rushed forward, crashing to his knees next to Mingi's head. His eyes scanned Mingi for injuries; he didn't see any, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Gently pulling Mingi into his lap, he cradled his shoulders, shaking him a few times.
"Mingi, Min... jagiya wake up, come on..." he said softly, trying and failing to control his tears.
Mingi didn't move.
"Yunho! Yunho what- ah, shit."
Hongjoong had finally caught up, and quickly made his way to beside Yunho, struggling a little bit in the small space. He noticed he was crying, and placed his hand on the younger's shoulder, rubbing it to comfort him.
"It's okay Yun, he's gonna be okay."
"Hyung, he... he won't wake up."
"I know Yunnie but he's okay. He'll wake up in a little bit," Hongjoong repeated.
The leader then moved his hand to rub Mingi's shoulder, stopping Yunho's shaking him.
"Just be careful Yun, he might have hit his head."
That was definitely not the best thing to say, as Yunho started crying harder. Hongjoong sighed and slipped his other arm around him, pulling him close. Yunho buried his head in his hyung's shoulder, wetting his sweatshirt with his tears.
The two just sat in silence for a while, Hongjoong still softly rubbing Mingi's shoulder, waiting for the younger member to wake up. Yunho's thoughts were still racing; what had happened to Mingi to make him pass out? Did he collapse? What if he hit his head? What if he was hurt, and they just couldn't see it?
Hongjoong on the other hand had a pretty good idea what must have happened. He'd been in this exact situation with Seonghwa more than he'd like to admit over the course of their years together, and knew Mingi had most likely passed out from exhaustion. If that was indeed the case, all they had to do was wait for him to wake up, then get him home, get him a good meal, and figure out why this happened.
Yunho had stopped crying, and was just softly sniffling as he leaned on Hongjoong. Suddenly, he froze again when he felt Mingi shift in his lap.
"Mingi-ah?"
The first thing Mingi was aware of was a hand rubbing his shoulder. He felt like he was underwater; everything sounded far away. There were voices, but he didn't understand what they were saying yet, and his whole body ached. As he woke up more, he was pretty sure he was on the ground in someone's lap. He didn't know who it was or how he got there, but they were warm and comfortable, so he snuggled closer. His eyes were still closed, but he felt soft hands brush his hair out of his face. He sighed a little in response to the touch. It felt nice, familiar.
His eyelids felt heavy as he slowly blinked them open. The light in the room blinded him for a moment, then the faces of two of his hyungs swan into focus above him.
"Hey Min... can you hear us?"
He managed a nod, even though he was still a little disoriented. Yunho then pulled him upwards and engulfed him in a hug, tears again falling down his face. Mingi welcomed the comfort, but Yunho's arms pressed against his shoulder, and he winced as pain shot through it. He then remembered how he landed on it earlier when he collapsed. It must have bruised.
But with that recollection, the rest of the past few days came rushing back. He was in the old studio, and Hongjoong was there. Hongjoong wasn't supposed to be there. Hongjoong wasn't supposed to find out; Mingi was supposed to be helping him, not making him worry more. He was going to be so disappointed in him. All he'd been doing this entire time was slowing him down, and when he tried to help without making Hongjoong worry about him, he failed at that too.
Mingi shook his head pulled away from Yunho. This wasn't supposed to be happening.
"Wait- Min why did you wince? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Yunho said frantically, grabbing Mingi's shoulder to steady him. But his hand pushed into the bruise again, and Mingi let out a small cry of pain.
Hongjoong quickly moved to look under Mingi's shirt to see what was hurting him.
"Aish, Mingi-ah, that's a huge bruise. Does it hurt much?"
"No, no hyung, just when you press on it. I- I must have landed on it, I'm sorr-"
"Yah! Song Mingi, why are you apologizing?" Yunho said loudly. He had tears in his eyes and a shocked look on his face.
"What-"
"We found you passed out on the floor of this old, tiny room and you start apologizing?!?"
"Yunho, it's okay. It's okay.
And Mingi - don't apologize baby, you didn't do anything wrong," Hongjoong said, reaching over to bring Mingi into a hug.
"Just tell us what's going on baby. We all know something's been upsetting you; what is it? Tell hyungs what's happening."
This was the last thing Mingi wanted to happen. But he messed up, and now he had no way to lie his way around this to stop Hongjoong from worrying about him. He couldn't do anything except be honest.
"I...I just wanted to help you hyung. Last week when Seonghwa hyung said I should help you with... with the last few songs, I knew I had to. You... you were so tired, and I would do anything to stop you from getting hurt because of it," he said reluctantly. He felt tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. Wanting comfort, he held his hand out to Yunho, who immediately took it in his own and snuggled up to Mingi's side.
The three of them sat cuddled together on the floor while Mingi continued: "But... I'm not good at producing, hyung. I just can't make music like you do. I watched you; you work so fast, and you have so many ideas, and... I guess I got jealous of that. I didn't want to disappoint you, and I didn't want to end up making more work for hyungs by being so terrible at trying to help. So I told myself I'd get better. And- and if I did improve, it would help take some of the work off your shoulders, and then you wouldn't be so tired all the time. So I..."
"You snuck out," Hongjoong said, remembering the days when he used to do the very same thing.
"...Yeah. And Binseong-hyung showed me this studio. I thought if I put in extra work, I could... could help more."
"But Mingi... this isn't extra work. This is unhealthy," Yunho said from Mingi's other side.
"Now be honest with me jagiya... when was the last time you slept?"
"Three days ago..." Mingi said quietly, avoiding Yunho's eyes. Both hyungs were shocked at his words and hugged him tighter. Mingi's tears finally spilled over, running down his face as he buried it in Hongjoong's shoulder. They held him as he cried for a little while, hearts breaking for their dongsaeng.
When Mingi's sobs lessened a little, Hongjoong spoke again.
"Mingi-ah? Can you look at me?"
The younger raised his head a little, but still didn't meet Hongjoong's eyes.
"I'd never be disappointed in you. I'm so sorry you felt like you had to work so hard to help me. Hyung is so, so sorry baby. I would never EVER want you to feel like you had to push yourself so hard for my sake. You don't have to been an amazing producer to help me, Mingi-ah. You don't even have to actually work on a song. Even just having you there to run ideas by and for company would have been enough."
Mingi finally raised his eyes to meet Hongjoong's dark brown ones.
"Really?" he said softly. Hongjoong nodded.
Mingi sniffed and wrapped both arms around Hongjoong tightly.
"I just... didn't want to let you down, hyung." His voice was slightly muffled by Hongjoong's jacket.
"Baby, you could never let me down. I love you too much. But you can't do this to yourself, okay? Trust me, I know,"
Mingi raised his head again. "You do?" he asked, wiping his eyes.
"Yeah... me and Hwa have had pretty much this exact talk a few times."
"And he's probably going to have it with both of you tomorrow," said Yunho, bringing one of his hands up to run through Mingi's longer hair.
"Can... can I at least apologize for worrying you guys? I made you cry Yunnie..."
"Hey, it's okay. Like Hongjoong hyung said, you did nothing wrong jagiya."
Mingi finally let a small smile appear on his face. His hyungs weren't disappointed; not even after they found out what he had been doing. He was okay. They were going to take care of him. With his eyes finally dry again, he cuddled closer to his two hyungs. Yunho's hand in his hair was incredibly comforting, as was Hongjoong's soft breath on the side of his neck. He felt his eyes slipping closed again, this time out of relaxation and contentment instead of exhaustion. They opened again however when the moment was interrupted by Yunho's phone ringing. He reached over with a sigh and answered it, putting the phone on speaker.
"Yunho! Where are you?" came Yeosang's voice. "You said you would call after half an hour but it's been longer than that and Seonghwa is-"
"JEONG YUNHO it has been 47 fucking minutes you better be on your way home with those two idiots or so help me-"
"Calm down Hwa, we're right here," said Hongjoong, both him and Mingi laughing loudly.
"Oh... Are you okay?" the eldest said, his scolding parental tone gone as his concern took over.
Hongjoong looked at Mingi before answering. "Yeah, we're all okay now."
"Good... well I'm glad to hear you're ok but you better be home soon, got that?"
"We got that hyung," Mingi said, cracking one of his famous eyes smiles for the first time in at least a couple days.
"Okay. See you soon Joong," Seonghwa said, before Yeosang hung up the call.
"Welp, you all heard what mom said, let's get going," Hongjoong said with a smile.
Yunho helped Mingi stand up before saying, "I know you're really tired Min; do you think you can stay awake, or do you want me to carry you?"
Mingi just held his arms out and made grabby hands at the older, who smiled and scooped him into his arms. Mingi wrapped his own around his hyung's neck and leaned his head against his shoulder. Hongjoong grabbed Mingi's stuff, and together they made their way out of the studio and back to the elevator, agreeing that the stairs would be a horrible idea.
As they were going down in the elevator, Hongjoong suddenly spoke up.
"Yunho?"
"Yeah hyung?"
"...How are we gonna get back to the dorm?"
"....I didn't think about that. I mean, Mingi is exhasuted but we could - nope, he's already asleep. Nevermind."
Hongjoong sighed as they stepped out into the lobby. He looked around, hoping to see one of their drivers still there, but there was only one person behind the desk. The leader's eyes lit up when he saw it was Binseong, and he quickly called him over.
"Hongjoong, Yunho - and I see you found Mingi. Is he okay?" said the older man, noticing the tall boy curled up in Yunho's arms.
"Yeah, he just needed to tell us some things, I think. But - could I ask a favor of you hyung?"
"Of course Hongjoong-ah."
"Uh... well Yunho sort of ran here, and I've been here since this morning, so..."
"Would you boys like a ride home?" Binseong said, smiling knowingly at them.
"Yes hyung, thank you so much."
"Okay, right this way then; my car's just out back."
Binseong quickly drove them home, Mingi staying asleep in Yunho's lap the whole time.
When they got to the dorm, Hongjoong made sure to thank him again while Yunho gently shook Mingi awake.
"We're home jagiya... come on, wake up so hyung can get you into bed."
Mingi blinked his eyes open reluctantly and latched onto Yunho as they walked inside. The three were immediately greeted by Seonghwa and Yeosang, who jumped up from the couch as soon as they walked in the door. The eldest member went to hug Hongjoong, and Yeosang helped carry their bags into the living room.
"Is Mingi okay, Joong?" Seonghwa said, looking at the youngest present with eyes full of worry.
Hongjoong sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Yeah, he's okay. He hasn't been sleeping, and he overworked himself just like I used to, but we had a talk, and right now he just needs to go to bed and sleep til the next decade. We can talk to him more later."
"Well, now that you know how it feels, maybe you'll stop doing it too, and I can stop getting grey hairs because of you idiots?" Hongjoong rolled his eyes.
"Well, like father like son I guess. Night hyungs!" said Yeosang, heading upstairs before Hongjoong could whack him.
"He's not wrong Joong," said Seonghwa, laughing quietly. "Alright, let's get you two up to bed."
He then helped Yunho get an almost asleep Mingi up the stairs before taking Hongjoong's hand and heading down the hall to their room.
"Go back to sleep Sannie, it's just Joong and Mingi." they heard him say from down the hall as a black head of hair poked out from Wooyoung's doorway. The head turned and gave Yunho and Mingi a small, sleepy wave before disappearing back inside the room.
Yunho sat his tired dongsaeng down on his bed, then went to grab some pajamas for the two of them. He changed, then helped Mingi do the same, although the younger almost fell asleep standing up multiple times. When they were both finally dressed, Yunho laid down on the far side of Mingi's bed and opened his arms wide.
"What you doin..." Mingi asked through a huge yawn. Yunho smiled at how cute he was being.
"I'M cuddling YOU tonight. Now come here, you big oaf."
Mingi didn't have any energy to argue, so he just flopped down and cuddled up to his hyung. He relaxed with a contented sigh, his back against Yunho's chest, resting his head on the older's arm. Yunho immediately wrapped his other arm around Mingi's waist and leaned forward, pressing a slight kiss to the back of Mingi's neck. And even in Mingi's still extremely tired state, it made his heart flutter.
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