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Minho woke up the next morning alone. He blinked his eyes open and quickly sat up in bed with a panic attack slowly rising in his chest. He never woke up alone anymore. Chan was always next to him. He always had his arms tightly wound around Minho or had his nose pressed against Minho's neck. Chan also never left Minho alone in bed without waking him up first to tell him that he was either getting up for the day or going to work. But right now he was alone.
"Hyung... " Minho called out weakly.
It was irrational to panic. Minho knew that but he couldn't help how his anxiety was increasing as the sound of Chan not replying to him suffocated him. It was stupid. Chan would never just up and leave Minho there had to be a reason behind it. And even if he did this was the Bang home and Chan lived here.
Minho's breathing was getting shallower and his hands started to shake now. But before his chest could tighten even more the door to Chan's room opened and Chan himself walked back inside. Minho was trembling when his eyes locked with his hyung's. Suddenly he could breathe again and gradually his panic attack seemed to calm down.
"Lee Know-yah?" Chan looked at him.
He had something in his hands but quickly he set it down on the bedside table to instead check on his boyfriend. He reached a hand out to Minho but before Chan even had time to blink Minho had hurried forward on the bed and tightly wrapped his arms around Chan's waist. He buried his face in Chan's stomach but all of this only confused Chan.
"Bunny, what's wrong?" Chan softly asked.
He ran a hand up and down Minho's right arm in comfort while his other hand ran his fingers through Minho's hair.
Minho didn't say anything.
"Baby..." Chan said and cupped Minho's face in both his hands.
He forced the younger's face away from his stomach and upward so their eyes were staring into each others. Chan felt his heart hurt. Minho looked scared. He was still trembling slightly and Chan could feel it. He could also see a faint redness in Minho's eyes like he was about to cry. It broke Chan's heart. Shattered into pieces at the very sight.
"Baby, did you have a nightmare?" Chan asked.
Minho shook his head which was still being held in Chan's big hands.
"Then what's wrong? What happened?"
Minho averted his gaze and found the strength to take Chan's hands in his own and pull them away from his face. He released a shaky breath that was slowly getting even again.
"Nothing... I'm fine," Minho lied and shook his head. He mustered a smile. "Hyung, I just woke up badly. I'm fine now."
Chan didn't believe him.
"Lee Know-yah," he murmured and sat down next to Minho on the bed. "Please tell me what's wrong. Why does my cute little bunny look so distressed?" Chan asked softly and gently fixed Minho's bedhead with a hand.
Minho sighed before smiling.
Why was he even panicking? Chan was the kindest, warmest, and best person he'd ever met in his life. There was no way he was just going to disappear from his life like he was never a part of it in the first place.
"Hyung... I just... " Minho paused for a few seconds. "It's really nothing. I woke up alone and I panicked a bit, that's all. But I'm fine, really."
"Why did you panic?" Chan asked with worried eyes.
".... you--because you weren't with me," Minho finally admitted. "You're always with me when I wake up. I've just gotten so used to it, I guess. I got scared... I'm sorry, hyung, it's stupid."
"Hey!" Chan rushed out. "No, it's not. I should've thought of that. I'm the one who should be sorry not you. I won't leave you alone like that again, I promise. Bunny, I'd never leave you ever. I'm so fucking in love with you that it's impossible at this point," Chan confessed.
He leaned forward and rested his forehead against Minho's.
"I promised back in Seoul that I'd keep you safe here, do you remember?" Chan asked.
"Of course," Minho nodded though he tried his best not to move too much.
The closeness Chan was offering him was comforting. He'd never been a big fan of physical affection but if it's his hyung, he loves it. He doesn't want Chan to ever stop touching him. Being close to him. Taking care of him like this and loving him.
"I remember Seungmin and Hyunjin threatening you."
Chan laughed a little at the vague memory which made Minho laugh too.
"Yeah, they were something. But I want to make a new promise to you right now in Australia," Chan stated. "Here at home. A different promise."
"What is it?" Minho whispered curiously.
"That... I promise to always stay by your side. I promise that I'm never ever going to leave you, Lee Minho. You are literally my world now," Chan confessed seriously. "You can't ever leave me either."
"I'd be an idiot to ever think of leaving you," Minho muttered.
"I want to stay with you forever," Chan told him.
"I want to stay with you too."
"Promise me?" Chan asked and held his pinky out to Minho who looked down at it before staring back at Chan incredulously.
Was he really asking Minho for a pinky promise right now?
"Hyung, we're not kids."
"I don't care," Chan pouted at him and waved his hand. "Promise me!"
Minho sighed.
How was he so fucking in love with someone like Bang Chan? No, with Bang Chan himself? A man that could be god damn sexy one minute and the next he was as cute as a puppy. It made no sense but Minho kind of preferred it that way. He never wanted Chan to change. Because his bunny loved him just the way he was.
"I promise, hyung," Minho said and locked his pinky with Chan's before the two stamped the promise with their thumbs.
Chan grinned the biggest smile ever.
"My sweet little bunny!"
And Minho laughed at his ridiculous tone. He then remembered before all of this that when Chan first walked into the room he was carrying something in his hands. Minho glanced over his shoulder at the bedside table.
"What's that?" he curiously asked and looked back at Chan for the answer.
"Oh, that's why I didn't wake you up before I left this morning. I wanted to surprise you with breakfast in bed, but I didn't know you'd.... "
Minho stopped Chan's guilty expression with a soft kiss on his lips.
"Thank you, hyung."
Chan smiled at him.
Minho turned to pick the tray up from the bedside table and set it carefully down beside him and Chan. He noticed a beautiful red rose sitting next to the covered plate. It made Minho smile shyly as he picked up the flower and sniffed it. It smelled lovely and Chan's smile deepened as he watched his boyfriend, his dimples even appearing on either side of his face.
"Let's eat together?" Minho asked and Chan nodded.
"Anything my bunny wants."