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the nighttime feels far more different for some reason. it's quiet, it's dark, it's calm. you could lie and do nothing for hours without consequence. it's a different sort of reality, one in which jonghyun finds that he prefers so much more.
that's not to say that he doesn't also appreciate the daytime, when the sun shines brightly and there's so much to see and do. but the daytime is not free from responsibility, and doesn't give much space to rest. on days where lying in bed for hours is all that one wants to do, they can't. if one wanted to go out at night, though, it's not a problem. it just seems to be that the nighttime provides more freedom.
needless to say, jonghyun isn't looking forward to the daytime right now. he finds himself unable to sleep; not that he truly wants to, anyway. there's a cup of tea sitting on the nightstand beside his bed. steam is no longer rising from the cup, it being hours since the tea was made and left untouched.
he knows better than to check the time. he'd even gotten rid of his alarm clock, though his phone still sits on the nightstand in his peripheral vision. whether it's urging him to check the time or to call someone, he's not sure, but he does neither. if he wanted to call someone, he could just leave his room and go to one of the others.
after another twenty minutes, his mind wanders back to the idea of having someone in his company. he closes his eyes as he tries to think of who to see first. he eventually gets up, deciding that at least one other person had to be awake, even though this was rarely the case.
of course, he heard no movement in the dorms once he exited his room. he stands in the hallway, weighing his different options in his head, wondering whether or not waking one of them up would be the best idea. his gaze stops at one of the doors, lingers for a moment, before he gives himself a determined nod.
he takes quiet steps towards the door with the purpose to let the others sleep. slowly he turns the doorknob to the selected bedroom, peeking his head inside before he tiptoes in. he closes the door behind himself, looking towards the sleeping figure lying in the bed.
the male's light brown hair rests in a fluffy mess on his forehead, his eyes closed as he sleeps. the blanket is pulled over him up to his armpits, his arms resting on top of it. jonghyun catches himself staring for a moment, quickly looking away to the corner of the room once he does.
in the corner a large dog bed is laying on the floor, two small dogs sleeping together on top of it. "puppies!" jonghyun whispers excitedly, bringing up a hand to cover his mouth afterwards. he glances towards the sleeping male again, visibly relaxing when he sees that the other remains undisturbed.
he takes careful steps across the hardwood floor, trying his best to avoid making the floor creak. once he finally makes it to the opposite side of the room he crouches down, tilting his head cutely at the puppies when they lift their heads to you look up at him.
"hello," he mouths as he waves to them, slowly sitting down on the floor. the coffee brown puppy us the first to get up, collar making this movement audible until he plops down on jonghyun's lap. the charcoal puppy watches, resting its head down once again.
jonghyun brings his right hand up to pet the puppy in his lap. as he pets it, he steals glances at the other, who pretends to be uninterested. he raises his left hand up next, petting both puppies at the same time. only then does another small grin appear on his face as he pets them both.
he loses track of time as he plays with the puppies happily, making sure to stay quiet. a light soon flicks on anyway, and by the way it barely lit the now dim room, he assumes that it was a lamp.
"jjong?" a sleepy voice calls questioningly, jonghyun freezes when he hears it. he puts on an innocent smile before turning his head to look at the other male on the bed.
"bummie," he whispers back, still seated on the floor. he waits for a groan of annoyance or something along those lines, but kibum seems too sleepy to care at the moment.
"it's 3am," he grumbles sleepily, but isn't complaining yet. jonghyun glances at the time on the alarm clock beside kibum's bed, nodding in agreement. he then looks back a the puppies, continuing to pet them.
he hears shuffling but doesn't look up to see what the other is doing. soon kibum is seated beside him in a white fluffy robe. his light brown hair is messy and touseled, his eyes puffy with sleepiness. jonghyun's heart melts at the sight, kibum obliviously pulling his knees up to his chest to hug them.
kibum leans against jonghyun, head resting on the older's shoulder as he closes his eyes again. "couldn't sleep?" he asks quietly, to which jonghyun nods at. "didn't want to wake anyone up?" is answered by another nod.
"puppies were awake, though," he whispers, pausing for a moment, "well... at least when i came in."
kibum gives a sleepy chuckle at this, and jonghyun moves his arm to wrap it around kibum's waist. his other hand continues to pet the two, until the younger's eyes open once again.
"okay," he says as he sits up, planting a gentle kiss on jonghyun's cheek, "time to go wake the others." when the older pouts he gives a reassuring smile, running his hand through his hair. "they told me to tonight, since we don't have anything scheduled tomorrow."
when the younger stands up and leaves the room, jonghyun hesitantly watches for a moment. he then looks back at the puppies, staying put with hopes that kibum wasn't actually going to bother the others over him just because he couldn't sleep.
the house falls silent again and jonghyun continues playing with the dogs, stuck in his daydreams and forgetting that kibum should be back by now. unaware of his surroundings, he jumps slightly when he feels a blanket suddenly being thrown around his shoulders. onew grins sleepily at him from where he stands behind him, eyes barely open to show that he isn't really awake yet.
minho offers him a hand, dressed in sweatpants and a black t-shirt. slowly, jonghyun reaches up and takes his hand, allowing the other to help him up to his feet. somebody, he's not sure whom at this point, wraps the blanket tighter around his shoulders. taemin yawns a bit loudly, breaking the silence that had settled like a blanket over their home.
it was cute, though, so jonghyun would never mind. he lets the others lead him out of kibum's room, the two dogs trailing behind. they get to the living room where there are beds already set up on the floor, made from only blankets and pillows. they each lie down, leaving a space for jonghyun in the center.
he watches the others lie down first, to see what order they are in. minho, onew, empty spot, kibum, and taemin. finally lying in the empty space, they all get settled underneath shared blankets and on shared pillows. kibum complains about somebody accidently touching his butt, though in a whisper.
"who said it was an accident?" jonghyun whispers cheekily, to which kibum immediately rolls his eyes at. minho reaches over a half asleep onew to fist bump the male in the center, sharing matching smirks. one is much sleepier than the other, but it doesn't make much of a difference.
somebody puts on a movie, and jonghyun knows it isn't onew only because the other has an arm lazily draped over his waist. he's definitely asleep by now, the sound of his breathing being a lot more calming than it should be. kibum gets comfortable and takes jonghyun's hand, his other arm around taemin, who's also beginning to doze off.
minho lifts his head to look at the others, squinting sleepily when he sees them all cuddling. he begins to nudge onew gently in order to wake him up, simultaneously whispering, "pst, get up, i wanna cuddle jjong."
neither minho or jonghyun or minho are really sure if onew is awake when he pulls his arm away from jonghyun and rolls onto his tummy. minho, too sleepy to question it too much, fills in the empty space between onew and jonghyun.
his left arm wraps around jonghyun and the right around onew. jonghyun is still holding kibum's hand as he turns to rest his head on minho's shoulder, and onew continues to sleep as he drapes an arm over minho this time.
kibum and taemin have also fallen asleep, the movie long forgotten. jonghyun flinches when he hears a roar sound from the television, looking towards it to see shrek playing. he stares for a moment, dumbfounded, before quickly turning it off to avoid shrek-related nightmares.
the remote is tossed behind him onto the couch, and he cuddles into minho again. kibum tightens his grip on his hand in his sleep, and he chuckles sleepily. minho's eyes are open, looking at him yet filled with sleepiness. jonghyun melts at the sight, and looks away before he can be trapped in the chocolatey abyss of minho's dark brown eyes.
"shrek," minho mumbles, shaking his head with a quiet laugh. jonghyun scrunches up his nose, his right hand pulling the blanket up a bit more. "will definitely be teasing him about that tomorrow," the younger says, earning a nod in agreement from jonghyun.
"sleep for now," jonghyun says, still feeling a bit of guilt towards the fact that they all woke up because of him. even so, he has to say, he feels a lot more comfortable like this. he looks up when minho shakes his head, raising an eyebrow at him in a way that asks for a reason.
"i want you to fall asleep first," he mumbles, and if it hadn't been dead silent, jonghyun would've thought that it wasn't meant to be heard. he presses his lips together for a moment but soon decides not to argue, instead closing his eyes in hopes of falling asleep soon.
he doesn't fall asleep right away, of course. but he keeps his eyes closed for a while, sleep seemingly fading in and out of reach. after an amount of time unknown to him, he opens his eyes to look at minho. he lies fast asleep, with a hand over onew's on his waist.
his heart swells with a sudden burst of love and adoration for the other four. being this close to them, he feels much more comfortable than he had earlier on. eventually that night, he does fall asleep. he wakes up to onew, taemin, and kibum scurrying around the kitchen, attempting to make breakfast while staying quiet, despite absolute chaos. minho is still right beside him where he had been when they fell asleep, still close and comforting.