"Uff, I'm so tired." Beomgyu kicks off his shoes, collapsing onto the couch. We all sigh, stretching and collapsing in our dorm as we finally arrived home after a day full of schedules.

    "Yeah. I think I'm gonna make some dinner for us." Rubbing his hands over his face, Taehyun slumps off into the kitchen. My mind freezes. Oh food. It sounds so good. But I'm so tired.

    "Oh, what you gonna cook good lookin'?" Hyper while the rest of us are exhausted, HueningKai follows Taehyun into the kitchen, running over to him. Taehyun growls at him, mumbling something about "cheesy" and "flirty."

   "Aye, aye, let's watch our language Huening!" Completely enveloped by the soft couch, sinking into it with his legs crossed and placed on the coffee table, Beomgyu warns Kai for flirting. He yells from our living room to the kitchen where the maknaes are visible through the open floor plan.

  "What? Taehyun's the one who said no, no words!" His shrieking voice rings throughout the dorm, ratting out Taehyun for cursing. Apparently, somewhere between his "cheesy" and "flirty," there was also a "fucking."

   I can hear Soobin's gentle laugh as he melts against the living room doorframe.

   "I think I'm going to head to bed guys..." I point over my shoulder to the end of the hallway, pointing out my room. "Night." I keep my voice quiet, quiet enough to where Kai and Taehyun don't notice or hear me speak. I don't want to disturb their fun.

    But Soobin's eyes look up at me, holding my gaze as I stand awkward and tired in the middle of the room. I see his bottom lip quiver as he debates to speak. For some reason, I'm hung up waiting for his words. Maybe I just am curious. Maybe I just think he has some schedule information for tomorrow to share. Or maybe I just want to hear his voice one last time before I sleep.

   "Okay boomer." Beamgyu sasses me, snorting while scrolling through his phone. He doesn't even look up at me. Soobin shoots him some kind of look but I can't tell what his eyes say. Is that anger drawn into his brow? Taut like a pulled bow, aimed and ready to fire. Is that humor in the up turn of the corner of his mouth? I can't see what is eyes are trying to tell me, not like I could in the reflection of the glass and water of the fish tank. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe that look in his eyes, staring back at me in the aquarium, maybe that wasn't there at all. I stare down at my feet.

   Maybe it is all in my head. My eyes wander to my legs and it distracts me. My legs taper, getting thicker as it leads upwards. I shouldn't skip leg day: I need to look perfect, perfect like Soobin. He looks brilliant, with his legs so long and slim. I wonder what he does to look like that. Does he have to work at it? No. No, he hates working out. Soobin was born perfect.

   "Night, Hyung." I tear my focused eyes off my legs. Soobin gently smiles at me. But I see it again: something in his eyes. I can't tell what it is. What is he trying to say? Is there sadness in his iris? What is behind those black eyes?

   "Night."

I couldn't sleep that night: I decided to do some light workouts.

    I made myself sweat.

I tossed and turned with an empty stomach.

Author's note:

I'm so sorry!
This is so short!

I am really unsure where to go next with this story bc I have so, so many ideas and inspirations (the txt boys have sadly been talking a lot abt their bad eating, concerns for other members eating, and dieting recently).

I have two chapters in the works rn and hopefully I'll be able to organize my thoughts enough to get chapters out quicker now ❤︎❤︎

If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you.

I'm sorry this chapter was disappointing.

I put a lot of foreshadowing in the chapter and kinda inclined to a lot of future things <3

Ily