Chapter Text
...
It really shouldn't have taken him so long to realise how much he loves them. But nevertheless it takes him standing in the line, waiting to check out Hoseok's stupid non dairy/non fat ice cream and Kihyun's bag of crisp, while Hyungwon stands next to him softly singing 'Selfie'.
Honestly. The shit he does for these idiots would make the rest of the world head spin.
...
When he and Hyungwon finally get back to the dorm, they are greeted by normalcy.
Jooheon and Minhyuk are arguing about...something. They’re standing in the hallway near the bedrooms; Jooheon’s arms are flaying about in an exaggerated manner, and if Hyunwoo was to guess what this argument was this time, it would probably be something along the lines of Minhyuk “borrowing” the piglet plushie. Or something. In fairness Hyunwoo's not really in the mood to know what the something is, so instead he ignores them and dumps Kihyun's snacks on the coffee table in the living room.
Hyungwon immediately goes to the kitchen clutching Hoseok's stupid non fat ice cream. Hyunwoo doesn't even bother to warn him about the consequences of eating the dessert without Hoseok's permission. The kid will learn soon enough.
(Or maybe not. After the tenth time of Hyungwon taking anything that belonged to Hoseok, the elder has seemed to have given up. ‘What's yours is ours’, seems to be Monsta x's weird little motto within the dorm. )
Hyunwoo doesn't even want to know where Kihyun is. He has a feeling that he will find out later when either himself or one of the others start screaming.
The eldest of the makeshift idol group, walks to the couch before slumping down and sighing; eyes shut tightly in an effort to wade of the impending headache he's receiving. About 0.04 seconds later , the leader feels a set of sharp teeth biting into his exposed bicep. Hyunwoo sighs once more.
"Stop biting me maknae"
Changkyun's response is moving to bite another area of his arm.
Hyunwoo isn't sure if he should dignify that with his own response.
The leader grunts a little before opening his eyes and staring down at the youngest member. Changkyun glances up at him; brown eyes twinkling with amusement and mischief and Hyunwoo feels his resolve crumble ( as it does all the time. He really shouldn't be this weak to a pair of eyes but he is so sue him). He smiles down at Changkyun and the other beams back (well as much as he can with flesh in his mouth) and there's some sort of soft serenity that envelops them and makes Hyunwoo realise how much he loves this little shit. Or maybe how much he loves them all- all six of them having some weird power over him that he's still not quite use to. They seem to use said power to their advantage.
(Hyunwoo suspects the feeling is shared amongst all of them. Partly on the basis that Hoseok seems to let the maknae line and Minhyuk get away with tons of shit and Kihyun with all of his nagging and complaining still cooks for their asses everyday without fail).
Changkyun finally lets go of him (Hyunwoo wincing) and smirks at the leader, eye brows lifted in a challenge.
"Wanna play a game hyung?"
Hyunwoo squints his eyes in suspension"What game Changkyunie?"
"Something on the Wii."
Hyunwoo hesitates.
"Come on hyung I'm bored. And I already got my ass beaten by Minhyuk hyung earlier. Though I'm pretty sure he cheated."
"You lost fair and square Changkyunie" Minhyuk taunts coming into the living room, wiggling a little before sitting on the other side of Hyunwoo, arms going around the elder’s shoulders. "Don't be a sore loser."
"You done with your argument?” Hyunwoo questions, looking at the blond. Minhyuk gives him a puzzled look.
"What argument?"
“The one with Jooheon?”
“We weren’t arguing. We were just talking. Very loudly.”
“Right.” The leader says. He turns to Changkyun, “What game do you have in mind?”
…
The numbers 0-1 flash on the screen for a temporal second and Hyunwoo feels like he’s losing his mind. Changkyun is crackling next to him; his laugh a reminiscent of the black and white bear in the Japanese visual novel that Minhyuk is obsessed with. It gives Hyunwoo the creeps.
“Wow hyung” Minhyuk drawls out, head prompt up with his hands, slumping heavily on the sofa. “You’re really bad at this. Almost as bad as Jooheony”
“Hey!”
“Minhyukie’s right though.” Kihyun states as he twirls a nerf gun in his right hand. He’s sitting cross legged on the floor, Jooheon’s head in his lap; his free hand is in the younger’s hair. “You’re not that good at this. Maybe try something else before maknae here wipes you clean.” He shoots a nerf dart at Changkyun’s ass for emphasis (Or maybe just because he can. Hyunwoo isn’t entirely sure.)
Ignoring Changkyun’s yelp, Hyunwoo turns to Hoseok- the blond perched on top of Hyungwon’s chest, eating his precious ice cream. Hyungwon looks uncomfortable. “Hyunwoo yah.” Hoseok says, mouth filled with white cream. “Ignore those brats. If you think you can do it, then you can. Don’t let them stop you. Show them whose appa here. Hyunwoo fighting!”
Hyunwoo raises a brow, “This would be more comforting if you wasn’t sitting on Hyungwon and possibly taking his air supply.”
Hoseok shrugs, “Brat deservers it.” He looks down at Hyungwon, “Don’t eat my ice cream.”
“Get off of me.” Hyungwon sniffs.
“No.” Hoseok says. He turns back to Hyunwoo, “See this is how they learn.”
“I” Hyunwoo starts. He then shakes his head and un pauses the game.
About 2 minutes later, Changkyun’s character scores again. 0-2 illuminates the screen for a brief second. Hyunwoo growls in frustration. The whole dorm falls into silence.
“Er hyung?” Jooheon says hesitant, wariness seeping into his voice. He clears his throat and tries again. “Appa?”
Either Hyunwoo ignores him or he doesn’t hear him. Instead the leader rolls his shoulders and grunts; concentration emitting in his eyes as he stares hard at the TV screen. Changkyun throws him a cautions glance.
“Er hyung?” Changkyun says, looking at the tall brunet, “Do you want to continue?”
Hyunwoo nods jerkily.
“…You sure hyung?” Hyungwon gasps out from underneath Hoseok, “I mean you and Changkyunie can play something else if you want…”
“Let’s just continue.”
The others are helpless to argue back; they can see the warning signs of their leader getting frustrated, but no one in their right mind will continue to poke an aggravated bear. Instead they remain silent and cast wary looks at each other; silent communications with their faces of ‘What the fuck do we do?’ that is only used in special situations (Or when Changkyun is moody).
“Well?” Hyunwoo says, pointedly looking at Changkyun. The youngest yelps a little, before un-pausing the game and getting into position.
Hyunwoo quickly goes into position too; his fingers tightly grasped around the wii remote, eyes determined. He knows that he might not win; there’s a high chance of Changkyun winning the game overall, but Hyunwoo will be damned if he doesn’t at least get one goal.
The whistle in the game blows, and Hyunwoo starts swishing. He moves the remote from side to side vigorously, forcing his character in the football match to do the same. He doesn’t notice that Changkyun’s player hasn’t moved- not even twitching or giving any indication that he’s being used. Nor does he see the looks his members cast at his back; somewhat worried that Hyunwoo might break the TV.
There’s about 10 seconds left in the game’s clock. Hyunwoo frets internally, but nevertheless does not do anything more than twist the controller in his hand, in order for his character to make a nice clean shoot.
Changkyun’s goalie doesn’t defend the ball, and the whistle blows once more. The numbers 1-2, highlights the screen.
Seeing the score Hyunwoo instantly relaxes. His shoulders loosen up and his facial expression softens into a sweet bubba smile, adorably stretched on his tan face. He didn’t win, but he did score. And that to him, is the greatest accomplishment that he’s managed to achieve tonight.
He turns to look back at his friends, “Guys look! I score-“ He pauses. “Why do you all look like that?”
The scene before him confuses him a little. Minhyuk is now on the floor and he and Jooheon are somewhat cowering behind Kihyun, the latter glancing nervously back at Hyunwoo. Hoseok is off of Hyungwon, and is feebly acting as some type of barrier between Changkyun and himself. Said maknae is averting his eyes. Hyungwon seems to be speechless.
Hyunwoo tilts his head slightly. “What?”
Kihyun gets up from his position as Honeypup’s protector, and stalks towards him- nerf gun forgotten on the ground. The mother of the group smiles slightly at Hyunwoo before slowly and gently twisting the wii remote out of his hands.
“Ki?” Hyunwoo asks puzzled.
“…Maybe you shouldn’t play on the wii anymore hyung.”
“Why?” Hyunwoo questions even more lost.
“…You’re scary as hell when you play hyung” Hyungwon pipes up.
“What?” Hyunwoo pouts slightly, “…sorry.”
Something on his face manages to kill the tension in the room. His teammates lighten up and smile; teasing chuckles emerging around them.
“Aw~ hyung looked like he was gonna break the TV or something.” Minhyuk smiles, leaning heavily on Jooheon.
“Yeah. Appa is really strong.” Jooheon states, “but he’s too nice as well.”
“Shut up.” Hyunwoo says, embarrassment and annoyance creeping on his flushed face.
“Aw~ Hyunwooie. Are you embarrassed?” Hoseok chuckles; walking forward to the elder before pinching his right cheek. Kihyun follows him, pinching Hyunwoo’s other cheek. They both start cooing at the leader, and the red tint on Hyunwoo’s face grows darker and darker.
“Stop annoying hyung.” Hyungwon utters, closing his eyes, his back against the couch. Changkyun sits next to the taller and rests his head on the other’s chest.
“But it’s fun though!” Minhyuk giggles.
“Stop it.” Hyunwoo growls, in hopes of somewhat scaring them all off. However it seems to be unaffected, as it does nothing but elect more teasing.
…And despite the fact that he’s currently not being taken seriously, and the overriding factor that he is walked all over by these idiots, the same ones that have a power over him, Hyunwoo knows that there is no place he’d rather be, right now. In this moment.
He really loves them.
…
(About a month later, during his ‘Rolling paper’ for their anniversary “anonymous” (Though he’s pretty sure it’s either Changkyun or Minhyuk, because who else likes to tease him to no end?) brings up the incident with the Wii game. Hyunwoo blushes slightly and glares at them all as his team laughs and begins recounting the story to their fans via V app.
In spite of the embarrassment, he still continues to love them.
He thinks he’ll never stop.)