TXT Little Space

1

To say Soobins little confrontation hadn't calmed his concerns would be an understatement.
Debut was getting closer - 18 days - and yet Taehyun still hadn't relapsed into his normal cuddly self. 

Normally he would seek out another member after a stressful company meeting, being soothed by the close contact. It was adorable really how such a small gesture could make their maknae so content. 

But, as Soobin had noticed, this contact became less and less frequent. As soon as everyone was safely back in the dorm rooms Taehyun would B-line for the bathroom and shower for god knows how long.
Don't get him wrong - he knows what most teenage boys do in the shower for such periods of time - however it was very uncharacteristic. Taehyun would be in and out so not to delay the other members showers, but suddenly they had grown to extended periods of time and more frequently. If anyone was to make a judgement on what was happening it'd be that the boy was developing germaphobia or something of the sorts. However he hadn't shown any other symptoms of this, not being fussy about what he puts his hands on - to the normal extent I mean.
This is what worried Soobin. If Taehyun wasn't genuinely trying to scrub off germs in the shower for so long then what was he doing? Of course it could be a sudden change of hormones, but even then wouldn't he be able to recognise when his younger brother was struggling with puberty?
"You're frowning again,"
"No I'm not, I don't frown,"
"You do. Your nose scrunches up like this and you pout," Yeonjun demonstrated as such, pulling off a face that was certainly not meant for cameras.
"I'll have you know I look cute when I frown." Soobin dismissed, turning his head outside the car window.
"If you say so - ow!" Soobin had rammed his elbow into their annoying hyung. He may be older but Soobin wasn't scared of him.
"Brat," Yeonjun muttered.

"Soobin-hyung," Beomgyu tapped his shoulder. "Look, they fell asleep again,"
The three turned their heads to the back seats where Heuningkai had inevitably dropped his head to Taehyuns shoulder and promptly passed out, followed by Taehyun.
"I've already taken pictures,"
Nevertheless Yeonjun took his own phone out and snapped a new angles of the boys and cooed down at them.
It wasn't rare for this to happen, any long car journey and the two were bound to end up like this. Which is why they chose to sit together, claiming it be for comfort reasons.
"They better wake up quickly this time, we need to get this shot and then we can go home and call it a day,"
The boys had been whisked out of bed and onto the road at an unreasonable hour for a photo shoot in a famous florist, the next city along. These would be used in their official teasers, which is arguably important.
After thisthey were promised an afternoon to rest before another busy schedule the next day.
"You should get some sleep too, you were up late last night," the eldest ordered.
"And who's fault was that? Hmm? Coming back from the studio at God knows what time in the morning, managing to fall on our poor maknae in the process? I wonder why we couldn't sleep." Soobin nipped.
"I'm still your hyung," Yeonjun pouted.

This is how most riffs ended between the two, with a bossy remark from Soobin and a quiet reminder of age status from Yeonjun.

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, "if you're not going to sleep then at least quieten down the flirting - some of us want to rest peacefully,"

As Soobin expected, as soon as their maknaes woke up Taehyun had put his hands in his pockets and kept himself to himself. 

The shoot went smoothly and the boys got some cute group photos, also managing to snack on small nibbles that their manager kindly provided. 

Hueningkai and Beomgyu had now been lead off by Yeonjun to play some sort of game that involves quick reflexes and a lot of shouting, which will surely get them in trouble with the florist. To be fair - this was their first break of the day and they had already been working for the most part of the morning, I think they deserve some sort of energy burning game.

The calmer members per say had taken to the floor next to the heater. Soobin had the photos from this morning sent to his phone to review, making sure there are no faults in any one of them. 

He had just about narrowed them down to 5 favourite group photos when a slim arm wrapped itself around Soobins own, and a head was placed on his shoulder. 

The leaders immediate reaction was to freeze up. Taehyun hadn't cuddled like this in weeks. Does this mean that something is wrong? Or that he has fallen back into his usual self? 

His follow up reaction was to grin and let Taehyun curl himself around his hyung more. Soobin had missed this. It felt like he was providing the comfort the younger boy needed, even if he had no idea what it was that he was comforting from. 

Soobin locked his phone and put it on the floor next to him, leaning his head on top of Taehyuns. 

"You haven't done this in a while,"

Taehyun hummed and made no move to elaborate.

"Yeonjun and I have been worried," Soobin put a hand on top of the youngers arm that was wrapped around him. "If you're having doubts about debut then I'm sure we can discuss this-"

Taehyun had never raised his head so quickly, "I'm not having doubts about debut." 

"Then what is it? I'm here for you, you know that?"

Taehyun took his arm back and stood up. "It's nothing hyung, seriously I'm okay." And he walked off.