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Out of everyone in the group, Minhyuk finds that he loves Changkyun's hands the most.
And he comes to this realization one night, lying in bed together with Changkyun--as they usually do after a schedule, playing with his pinky finger.
You would think he'd come to this realisation sooner, given how much of a habit playing with Changkyun's hand has become.
(To the point where Minhyuk could wordlessly stalk up to the younger, smile at him meaningfully and the other would simply sigh and offer his hand like he was expecting it.)
Changkyun's hands had basically become Minhyuk's human stress ball.
He tries to think about why he likes Changkyun's hand so much, doing so while he playfully holds Changkyun's hand up in the air, using it to shield the glaring brightness of the bedroom light.
Minhyuk glances over to his left to watch the younger remain unbothered by his fiddling, too occupied with scrolling through his phone. Minhyuk shifts his gaze back up at Changkyun's hand and he tugs at the younger's pinky and thumb finger, as if he was playing with a pair of scissors.
Minhyuk convinces himself that it's through process of elimination more than anything, really.
Like all things that were tiny, small hands were the cutest in Minhyuk's opinion. He especially loves marveling at the difference in size compared to the all too encompassing hands of his own.
Kihyun's hands were small. But his fingers were short, stubby and quite frankly 'ugly' for a lack of a better word-- Even told Kihyun this too and got glared at for it.
(Changkyun's hands were small too which Minhyuk adored. But unlike Kihyun, Changkyun's fingers were long, lean and pretty. Something he had noticed when watching the younger play piano a few times.)
He assumed he'd enjoy holding Jooheon's hands the most, given how much affection and cuddling he loved to shower him with.
But Jooheon's hands were always unkempt--the back of his hands chapped from over washing. And if he held on for too long, Jooheon's hands got clammy.
(Changkyun always took great care of his hands though, due to his habit of moisturising often...something about his mum drilling the habit into him. Minhyuk would honestly pet Changkyun's hands for hours, if he could.)
Hyungwon's hand matched Minhyuk's the closest in terms of size. Heck, his fingers were even longer than his own too.
But Minhyuk found that Hyungwon's hands were much too thin for his liking. Too bony and knobbly to play with comfortably in his hands. There was also the issue with Hyungwon's hands being cold like ice. Which Minhyuk wasn't fond of considering his own hands were often cold too.
(But Changkyun's hands-- they were always warm. Always.)
Despite how large Minhyuk's hands were and how synonymous that was to being 'manly' for some reason, his hands were always too smooth and soft to be considered that. Even when he held girls hands, he often felt no difference from holding theirs to his own. In some situations, his hands had been described as 'prettier'.
From that point on, he developed a preference to holding guys hands more than girls, enjoying the contrast of roughness to his own softer and smoother ones.
Which is why he considered Hyunwoo and Hoseok a good choice at one point. Their hands were full of calluses from years of weight lifting, the epitome of manly.
But whenever he'd interlock hands with them, he found that the thickness of their fingers were far too wide, stretching his fingers apart uncomfortably.
(Changkyun had just the right amount of thickness and roughness that Minhyuk liked, enough to feel like he was holding a man. Yet the leanness of Changkyun's fingers fit perfectly with his own.)
Though he supposes the biggest reason why he enjoys playing with Changkyun's hands so much, was the fact that Changkyun didn't really do much to stop him.
It didn't matter where, when or how long...Changkyun always let him play with his hands as much as he wanted to, which baffled the older.
(During early morning car rides where Minhyuk just needed something warm to hold on to. Backstage in the dressing room when Minhyuk had exhausted all forms of entertainment and found no greater pleasure than fiddling with Changkyun's fingers. Or even like right now, lying in bed together, bored and simply waiting for one of the bathrooms to free up.)
Sure, Changkyun would grumble or complain a little whenever Minhyuk made him surrender his hands over. But for the most part Changkyun would remain unbothered, only ever pulling away when he needed to use his hand for something.
Instead, the younger would often use his phone to fill up the time, indifferent to Minhyuk's touching. Other times Changkyun would watch him silently and thoughtfully, as if he had a million thoughts to ponder. Or even rarer would be the times Changkyun was playful right back, resisting the ways Minhyuk would bend and pull at his fingers, chuckling at him when he would whine at him to stay still.
Minhyuk didn’t really quite understand why that was, but he wasn't complaining either.
Snapping out from his memories, Minhyuk turns to his side now, facing the younger--tired from holding Changkyun's heavy hand up in the air.
He cradles Changkyun's right hand in both of his, closing Changkyun's fingers one by one and then pushing them up again. He strokes the tips of Changkyun's fingers lovingly with the pad of his thumb, making note of how the clear-polish of Changkyun's fingernails were chipping away.
In his peripheral he can see Changkyun lying on his back, face illuminated by the bright screen of his phone, smiling here and there as he scrolled with his left thumb.
He smiles at that and continues to play with Changkyun's hand, massaging the younger's palm now.
It wasn't long before he hears the maknae sigh next to him. He listens carefully as the younger grumbles to himself...something about reaching the end of the twitter feed.
Minhyuk tries not to startle too much when the younger suddenly flips over and stares back at him.
"How many times are you gonna keep playing with my hands until you get bored, hyung." Changkyun mumbles tiredly, looking at him with sleepy eyes.
"When you stop coming to my bed without washing up first" Minhyuk teases, slapping the back of Changkyun's hand playfully and grinning when the younger pouts at him.
"That's only 'cause Kihyun hyung always hogs the bathroom first when we get home" Changkyun whines.
Minhyuk hums faux-thoughtfully before he shrugs, "Well, looks like I'm not gonna let go anytime soon then is it?"
Minhyuk gives him a greasy smile and Changkyun groans at him but doesn't try to hide a smile of his own.
Changkyun continues to watch him then, concentrating on the way he presses his thumb into the flesh of the younger's palm and then all the way up to the tips of his fingers.
"Why do you like my hands so much?" Changkyun questions seriously, breaking the silence.
Minhyuk hand stills, suddenly flooded by all his earlier thoughts.
He takes his time thinking of how to say it, examining Changkyun's hand searching for something.
If Minhyuk could sum it all up simply, he thinks it's like the Goldilocks story...Where he was the nosy blond-headed girl and Changkyun was the little bear that had everything he liked just right.
And with that, he finds what he was looking for-- the cute little mole that adorns the side of Changkyun's ring finger. He examines it and strokes it with his finger lovingly, feeling compelled to kiss it--not even hesitating to do it.
"Because they're perfect." Minhyuk answers him matter of factly, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. And it is, to him at least.
When he stares back at Changkyun, the younger is gawking at him speechlessly. His eyes are doing the cute thing it does whenever Changkyun's flustered--blinking a mile a minute and Minhyuk has to bite back his smile.
The younger eventually adverts his eyes after a long minute of gaping helplessly at the older and coughs.
"Riiiight." He drawls, sending Minhyuk that practised look he uses whenever he says weird and questionable things. Yet, Minhyuk notes how he doesn't pull his hand away still.
Minhyuk grins when the younger breaks eye contact and pulls out his phone again, acting indifferent. The phone blocks Minhyuk from seeing Changkyun's face but he can clearly see the way the tips of the younger's ears warm over in red.
"I thought you had nothing to scroll through anymore?" Minhyuk teases, giving Changkyun's hand a squeeze.
"I-I refreshed the page!" Changkyun shouts back, now pulling his hand away in embarrassment.
Minhyuk laughs as Changkyun stubbornly refuses to return his hand, flailing his arm out of reach all the while refusing to show his face. So in a desperate attempt, Minhyuk kisses the back of Changkyun's other hand instead, which has the younger yelping and snatching his hand away like he's been scalded, scrambling off the bed and trying to escape.
Minhyuk has to basically wrestle the younger back into bed for him to stay, clinging and wrapping his legs around his back like a Koala, all the while Changkyun is wriggling and whining at him to let go.
"Uhhhh-"
They both snap their heads at the voice and see Kihyun standing by the door, freshly showered and blinking at them dumbfoundedly.
Changkyun takes the opportunity to break free and zips past Kihyun in a haste, mumbling 'shower' as an excuse with his face beet red.
"Should I even ask?" Kihyun dead-pans, unamused.
Minhyuk just grins at him sheepishly in answer and laughs when Kihyun rolls his eyes and ignores him.
As he lays there in bed, smiling and breathless with a fluttery feeling in his heart-- Minhyuk comes to his second realisation that night.
That perhaps, there is more to Changkyun than just his hands that he loves.