Kingdom of Knuffel

Tae got in the back of the van, not wanting to sit near Haneul or Ju-Kan. He curled into the seat, pulling his legs up. It was what he usually did, falling asleep on the way back. Tonight, however, it was so he could hide his face from his hyungs. Two of whom were still laughing about their current situation. He didn't like it.

It seemed to take forever tonight to get back. When they did, Tae took a quick shower and changed into his pajamas, just sweatpants and an old t-shirt. He went to his and Lain's room without saying goodnight to his hyungs. Something he only did when he was really upset - translation; angry - with them.

He curled up under his covers, pulling them up over most of his face and closed his eyes. He wanted this to go away. He felt bad for Lain too, but he figured if he just went to sleep that it would be easier for both of them.

Lain felt a little jolt when Tae got into the seat next to him, but Tae curled up on the seat and fell asleep without paying him any mind, which was a relief. Haneul and Ju-Kan were still giggling like a pair of schoolgirls of the extremely annoying kind, but they weren't addressing the two in the back, so Lain plugged earphones in and gladly blocked them out.

With the music drumming on his eardrums and the traffic and the city lights blurring by, his headache only worsened. Finally, they arrived at the dorm, and Lain had a hot soak. Even though he couldn't linger in the bath for as long as he wished, his head felt a lot better, and he quickly made himself some skullcap tea.

He had just stepped out of the kitchen, palms wrapped around the mug, when he saw Tae cross the living room and head for their room without saying goodnight to Haneul and Ju-Kan, without noticing Lain. Haneul and Ju-Kan stared down the hallway after him for a moment before Haneul laughed it off.

Not wishing to be left alone with those two longer than he could help, he followed Tae to their room. Tae was already in bed, a lump under the sheets. Lain chuckled softly to himself; it was rather cute. His spirits had raised a good bit after the relaxing bath and the tea. This was even better. He was relieved and actually grateful to Tae for going to sleep without trying to interact with him.

He admired the cuteness of the lump in the bed, sipping his tea with a hint of a smile. He went to the kitchen to wash up, said good night to those two, and came back to the room.

He lay in bed feeling close to peaceful. Maybe they wouldn't have to negotiate any awkwardness. Maybe sleeping on it would be enough, and when they woke the next morning this would be one of those memories that seem unreal and removed from reality.

He fell asleep still in this pleasant state, not following up those thoughts with those that would make obvious his misjudgments: maybe the fans would stop shipping them and those two would stop teasing them and they wouldn't have to pair up for fanservice anymore. As if.

Lain came into the room and Tae had heard him laugh quietly. The room had been silent, so it was easy to hear it. He curled on himself a fraction more. Was Lain laughing at him now too? Tae didn't fall asleep with nearly as many peaceful thoughts as Lain had. His mind refused to shut up until his body just gave in.

With what fans were saying now, what if they wanted more? What if their manager kept making Tae and Lain do more and more things that just got worse? What if Tae couldn't do it and the fans grew upset with them? He started to think that if the fans became unhappy, it would all be his fault.

Finally his body forced him to sleep. He didn't want to wake up in the morning either, pulling the blanket tight around him again. He was sure that Haneul and Ju-Kan would still make fun of them and he didn't want to deal with that. Maybe if he stayed asleep long enough, everyone would forget about the whole thing.

Lain woke up rather early the next morning. He looked at the-lump-that-was-Tae and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth again. Nice way to wake up, seeing the-lump-that-was-Tae first thing in the morning.

He brushed, dressed and traipsed into the kitchen. Those two were already up, but thankfully Haneul wasn't a morning person so he could barely manage glugging milk while looking hungover, to think of saying or doing anything else. And Ju-Kan who only got it when it rubbed off on him from Haneul, sat quietly, looking at the paper. "Morning," said Lain.
"Morning," said Ju-Kan.
Haneul made a moaning noise into his mug in response.

Lain had a shelf devoted to his tea stash. He made himself some Sencha tea and sipped it in silence. He wondered what to say, how to behave when Tae came. He'd just wish him good morning, he decided. And when he was going to make toast for himself he'd ask Tae whether he wanted some. Yeah, that would work. If that wasn't normal he didn't know what was.

He glanced at the clock over the refrigerator. In around forty-five minutes, their manager was due to come give them their schedule for the day. He hoped she'd go easy on them.

Tae heard Lain get up. After a few moments, he grabbed his phone. He didn't have very long to get ready. He got dressed quickly and quietly. He stayed in the room as long as he could. When he knew he couldn't anymore, he opened the door. He could see his hyungs in the kitchen. Thankfully Haneul still seemed half-dead. And Ju-Kan was pretty quiet in the morning.

He walked out, knowing he had to eat. It would be bad if he didn't. "Morning..." He mumbled to his hyungs. He couldn't be too rude, either. He didn't want to make things bad between them.

Tae entered a kitchen and greeted them, murmuring even lower than usual. Lain glanced at him quickly and said, "Morning." Haneul and Ju-Kan mmmm-ed.

Lain refilled his mug of tea, and stood up, going to the counter. He busied himself putting brown bread slices in the toaster, his back to them. "I'm having honey toast, do you want some?"

Tae seemed to relax a bit. Things seemed normal. But that could easily change when Haneul woke up more. He went to the fridge and grabbed the apple juice, pouring himself a glass. He hoped Haneul didn't go back to teasing them, though.

It took Tae a moment to realize that Lain had asked a question. "Yes, please." He wasn't very good at cooking. So he tended to avoid doing much of anything in the kitchen if he could.

Lain put took out the first two pieces of toast, drenched them in honey, and put them in front of Tae before making another two slices for himself. He looked at Haneul, who was staring in front of him with his glass held loosely in his hand like he wanted to drop his head onto the table.

"Drink up quickly," said Lain. "You'll barely have time to eat before the manager gets here."

"Yes, Eomma," drawled Haneul. Ju-Kan made an amused noise in his throat. Lain rolled his eyes before bringing his toast to the table.

Lain gave him the pieces of toast. "Thanks, hyung." He said quietly. He started to eat the toast after a moment. It was good. Sure, he could make toast by himself, but it never seemed as good. Kitchens hated him.

Then Lain told Haneul to hurry up. He smiled a little bit at the reply he got. At least things felt like they were back to normal. Maybe they forgot about what happened. Or at least what the fans had said.

They had almost finished, Lain had a quarter of his toast left when the doorbell rang and the Manager let herself in. She looked satisfied to see the boys up, even if Haneul looked half dead.

"So you'll have plenty of free time today," she said, showing a little bit of that kindly side hidden in her. "Just one variety show to attend. Idol House. It'll be the usual thing. You'll be expected to be funny," here she looked hopefully at Haneul, her smile fading a bit at his non-prepossessing state. "And I expect you to be on form," she said, patting his head.

"You guys will get to promote, of course, talk about the album, the MVs, the concert... and you will have to do random tasks. Like a random dance."

"When they play random bits of our song and we gotta dance the choreo of that bit immediately?" said Ju-Kan.

"Yeah, and they'll have you do a little bit of girl group dances, as well," she said, looking at Lain, who groaned inwardly. He wasn't even that good of a dancer, dammit. Why couldn't he just sing girl group songs? That would be much less embarrassing, too. He knew the others would have to do a little bit of the girl group dances too, but most of it always, inevitably, fell on him.

"And you'll have a couple of fanservice games. Nothing particularly challenging, something like Pepero or passing the paper." Lain sighed. Great, just what they needed, right after the concert last night. Not that he actually thought there'd be any avoiding it, but just ugh!