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'Cause you're amazing (Just the way you are)

Summary:

in which Seungmin accidentally lets some of his insecurities slip out on Vlive and the rest of Stray Kids (plus STAY) are determined to prove how much he's loved by them

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

"What did you do today?" Seungmin read the fan's comment out loud.

He arrived early from his schedule and decided to talk to STAYs on Vlive.

"I had a vocal lesson," Seungmin replied smiling at the camera once before looked back down to read comments.

Another comment caught his eye.

"Why do you get vocal lessons, Seungmin-oppa? Your vocals are perfect!" Seungmin laughed out loud as he read out the message.

"No...my vocals are definitely not perfect," Seungmin replied, shaking his head. He thought to himself for a moment before he continued, "I will be honest, STAY...My vocals are really just barely over average. Even so, it's the only think I'm...good at, if you get what I mean? Like the rest of the group specializes in either singing, rapping, or dancing, but they're also really amazing at categories of performance that they don't specialize in. And I'm sure you already know they're all visuals. But for me...Well I'm definitely not very...attractive, haha. So definitely not a visual...I really am only good at singing."

Seungmin rubbed the back of his neck before his phone buzzed.

It was Changbin texting in the groupchat that 3RACHA was picking up Jeongin and Minho from the gym as well as grabbing food for them and that they should have dinner together when they get home.

"Well, this is kind of an awkward way to close of the live, but I'm going to go..." Seungmin watched comments quickly flood in, probably saying goodbye, before he ended it.

If Seungmin had stayed just a little bit longer, he would've seen most of the comments reading:

"Wait...what did Seungminnie just say about himself?"

"Did our beautiful puppy just call himself unattractive?"

"EVERYONE, LOOK ON TWITTER! CHECK TWITTER! WE'RE TRENDING! WE'RE TRENDING!"


"KIM SEUNGMIN!"

The said boy flinched at his name being called as he exited the room where he was doing the Vlive.

Hyunjin was fast walking towards him from where he sat alone at the kitchen table.

"Oh, hi, Hyunj- ow!"

Hyunjin pinched Seungmin in the side before repeating, "Kim Seungmin! I was watching your Vlive and what in the actual hell were you saying?!"

"Wait wha-" Seungmin was cut off by the entrance of a very sleepy looking Felix.

"You guys are so loud..." Felix yawned out, "Why are you screaming, Hyunjin?"

Hyunjin's face lit up at the sight of Felix and Seungmin really didn't know what was going on.

"Felix! You're awake! Thank god. I need you to scold Seungmin with me. Oh my god, Felix, you don't know the absolute bullshit Seungmin was spouting about on his Vlive while you were napping-"

"Language," Seungmin scolded.

Hyunjin pointedly ignored him.

Felix made his way down the hallway and got himself a glass of water as the tall boy ranted on, "He was saying sh-stuff like 'Oh I'm not as talented as the other members', 'I'm only good at singing', 'I'm actually not that great at singing to begin with', and tons of other absolute lies."

Felix raised an eyebrow at Seungmin, a frown present on his face.

"Seungmin? Is this true?"

"Yeah, Seungmin," Hyunjin started, arms crossed, "Is this true?"

Seungmin's face flushed in embarrassment. He believed he was just stating what he thought; why was he being reprimanded all of a sudden?

He took a deep breath.

"Well-"

"HONIES, I'M HOME!" Chan's voice boomed from the doorway.

"Oh!" Seungmin grinned at the sight of 3RACHA plus Minho and Jeongin at the entrance holding bags of food, excited to end the uncomfortable conversation with Hyunjin and Felix who were frowning at the sudden interruption.

Seungmin skipped towards the rest of the group who were taking off their shoes at the entryway and took some of the bags of food from their hands to make himself busy.

"Welcome home~" Seungmin uncharacteristically singsonged.

The rest of the boys seemed to deem it strange as well as Jisung raised an eyebrow while asking, "Seungmin, what's up with you?"

Hyunjin perked up from where he stood, ready to tell the rest of the group about what Seungmin said, "He-"

"I just did a Vlive with STAY," Seungmin interrupted, sending a tight smile to Hyunjin. "I'm just in a good mood I suppose."

Everyone shrugged and Hyunjin and Felix let out exasperated sighs.

Seungmin deemed the ordeal with Hyunjin and Felix was over but he was so, so wrong.

"Ah, right!" Chan exclaimed, suddenly seeming to remember something. Everyone's head snapped up to look at their leader from where they sat at the dining table eating. "Seungmin!"

Everyone then turned to Seungmin.

"Yeah, hyung?" he questioned, nervously.

"I saw you trending on Twitter!" Chan answered. "Not sure what for, but the hashtags were in English and they were like Hashtag-We-Love-Seungmin and Hashtag-Our-Minnie-Minnie-Seungminnie so they're definitely for good reason. I think STAYs were really happy that you did a Vlive so they trended those tags about it! Congrats!"

The group blinked once.

Twice.

"Found it!" Felix exclaimed, his utensils discarded for the phone in his hands. Everyone but Seungmin crowded Felix to get a closer look at why their puppy was trending.

"Seungmin really said he's not attractive when he looks like this," Felix read out loud. He tapped on what Seungmin assumed to be a photo attached to that Tweet and scrolled through them.

"Whoa, Seungmin..." Jisung said, looking up from the phone screen to the said boy, "Since when have you gotten so handsome?"

Seungmin looked away, embarrassed.

"I don't even wanna know what you guys are looking at," he mumbled, staring at his plate of food.

"A compilation of Seungmin being a main rapper cos HE IS NOT ONLY A TALENTED SINGER BUT ALSO A REALLY GOOD RAPPER AS WELL AND WE NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT IT," Felix continued, reading aloud another Tweet, "Now you knowgot to see this."

"Please don't," Seungmin begged, burying his face in his hands.

Felix ignored him, clicking on the video embed to the Tweet.

The boys watched as a plethora of Seungmin's IDOL Radio Freestyles, predebut performances, and fansign part switch fancams began to play.

"Wait, Seungminnie, you're actually so good," Changbin complimented, awed.

"If Channie-hyung, Changbin-hyung, and Jisungie don't give you rapping parts in the next album, I will," Hyunjin promised, winking at Seungmin.

The puppy boy buried his head in his hands, ears singed red. What. Is. Happening.

"Manz really said he couldn't dance with his whole chest l-m-a-oohhh explain this then, sir," Felix giggled out the next tweet, clicking on another video that Seungmin assumed was his fancam.

"Why do you look so cool in your fancams?" Chan complimented in a jealous tone, "Your facial expressions are so on point, Seungminnie."

"Yeah," Minho started, looking at Felix's phone from where he sat. He nodded while serving himself another plate and adding, "Your dancing has also come a long way, Seungmin-ah."

Seungmin looked through his hands at Minho who had fond look on his face—a hint of a smile present on his lips.

He quietly mumbled something along the lines of "Not really," but wasn't heard.

"Wait..." Felix started when the group that crowded around him began to disperse, "What is this?"

"...my vocals are definitely not perfect," came Seungmin's voice through Felix's phone.

"W-Wait!" Seungmin attempted to reach for the phone across the table, but Felix was faster.

The video continued.

"I will be honest, STAY...My vocals are really just barely over average. Even so, it's the only think I'm...good at, if you get what I mean? Like the rest of the group specializes in either singing, rapping, or dancing, but they're also really amazing at categories of performance that they don't specialize in. And I'm sure you already know they're all visuals. But for me...Well I'm definitely not very...attractive, haha. So definitely not a visual...I really am only good at singing."

After the video ended, nobody spoke. They simply stared at Seungmin with an unreadable expression in their eyes.

"Seungminnie..." Chan spoke up. Seungmin looked at him. There was no pity or judgment like Seungmin was afraid of. It almost looked like...regret.

"Seungmin-ah," he repeated. "What you said? What you said about yourself isn't true."

The said boy wet his lips and looked away, nervously.

"You...you don't believe him, Seungmin-hyung?" Jeongin questioned, frowning.

Seungmin opened his mouth but no words came out. For the first time in a long time, he was completely and utterly speechless. He had no idea what to say.

"Let's talk after dinner and washing up, yeah?" Jisung suggested, his voice filling the awkward silence between all of them, "We can have a little meeting check up thing then watch a movie on the couch?"

A chorus of confirmations rang around the dinner table before they began to eat again.

They were obviously keeping an eye on Seungmin, even if they tried not to show it.

He was okay with it, already too distracted by his thoughts to say anything.


"Seungminnie?" came Jisung's voice through the locked door, "Are you still changing?"

Seungmin was about to lie, but thought it may look a bit suspicious as he got out of the shower quite a while ago and was just spending his time alone loitering in his shared bedroom as long as he possibly could as to delay the meeting.

Instead, he opened the door to see Jisung staring up at him with a small smile on his face.

"I'm...I'm done," Seungmin told him.

Jisung looked him up and down fondly bringing a blush onto Seungmin's face. Seungmin was just wearing a plain long sleeve shirt with plaid pajama pants and his glasses with no makeup on his face. His hair was gently combed as well as also fluffy since he dried it; however, still a bit messy as it rested atop his forehead.

Seungmin didn't think he looked like much, but Jisung? Jisung stared at him as if he hung up the moon and stars. Seungmin just couldn't understand why.

Before he could question it, Jisung was already pulling him by the hand to where everyone sat at the couch, waiting.

Seungmin took his spot in the middle of the couch between Chan and Hyunjin with Felix and Jisung sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

Seungmin especially frowned at the latter two as their coffee table wasn't meant to be sat on in fear of their combined weights breaking it; however, instead opted for not saying anything about it as it wasn't an unusual occurrence.

The rest of the boys sat on either sides of the couch.

"Okay, Seungmin, do you wanna start the meeting?" Chan asked, resting his hand on Seungmin's thigh.

"Uh..." Seungmin started, inarticulately. "Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sure. Uhm. I-I really am not sure why we're holding this meeting. I stand...I stand by what I said in my Vlive. And I don't understand why it's such a big deal to you and STAY? I'm honestly...I'm fine. Mentally and physically. Maybe just a bit confused though."

"No, Seungmin," Changbin's voice said, sharply. Seungmin flinched. Changbin never called him "Seungmin" it was always "Puppy" or "Seungminnie" or something endearing along those lines. Seungmin knew the older boy wasn't angry with him per say, but that didn't make him seem any less harsh.

"Changbin..." Chan started.

"No, hyung," Changbin interrupted, determined to get his point across, "A mindset like that isn't 'fine'. And Seungmin has to understand that. I'm not sure how long you've been feeling this way, Seungmin, but we have to resolve it or else you're going to continue to feel like you're not contributing enough or working hard enough or simply feeling like you're not enough. Feeling like that may lead you to unhealthy ways of coping like overworking and stressing which are prime examples of not being mentally and physically 'fine.' I'm not telling you how you're feeling, Seungmin, as you're practically the only one who knows, but please don't classify it as 'fine', because we all know it's not."

"Yes, Seungmin-ah, that's what this meeting is for, although Changbin could've said it nicer..." Chan sighed out.

Changbin huffed, looking away, childishly—but quite proud of himself for getting to say what he wanted to say—while Chan patted him soothingly.

"Oh," was Seungmin's response.

Seungmin knew this, he wasn't dense. He understood what Changbin said completely, but breaking out of his deprecating mindset seemed more difficult than what was let on. And it scared him. No. It absolutely terrified him.

"I'm...I'm not confident," Seungmin admitted, all eyes snapping to him in an instance, "I'm told that...perhaps I am good at other things rather than singing, but...but I can't bring myself to believe them."

"Why?" Felix pried, his adorned eyes filled with empathy, "Why don't you believe them?"

Seungmin stared at his hands that rested on his lap before answering, "I don't...I don't know. I get so much praise and I feel like I don't deserve it. They say I'm perfect but compared to you guys especially I just know that's not true and-"

"Seungmin-ah," Chan said, wrapping his arms around Seungmin in a side embrace, "Seungmin-ah, are you us?"

"Wh-What?"

"Seungminnie, are you Felix? Are you Jisung? Or Changbin? Jeongin or Hyunjin perhaps? Minho?"

Seungmin broke away from the embrace to frown at his leader.

"You're patronizing me," he accused.

Chan rolled his eyes before asking again, "Well, are you?"

"No," Seungmin sighed out, exasperatedly. "No, of course not."

Chan opened his mouth to respond but Minho beat him to it, "Then why are you comparing yourself to us?"

Seungmin whipped his head around to look at his hyung sitting at the end of the couch who was staring back at him with an unreadable expression.

"I-"

"You may not dance like Felix, sing like Jeongin, rap like Jisung, but that's okay. We don't expect you to. You know why? Because you're not them. They have their own styles, yes, but don't forget you have your own, too-" Changbin told him in a tone much softer than how he sounded earlier.

"-Yeah!" Hyunjin added enthusiastically, "You dance like Seungmin! You sing like Seungmin! You rap like Seungmin-!"

"-And we love that about you," Chan finished, smiling at all the members before looking back at Seungmin who was blushing furiously.

"Hyung," Jeongin spoke up from next to Minho. "Those people who told you that you're perfect weren't comparing you to anybody, y'know? Because you are you, Seungmin-hyung, that's why they think you're perfect. And because you are you is why we think you're perfect as well."

Seungmin nodded at Jeongin's words.

He knew what to say next.

"I...I need help," Seungmin admitted.

Hyunjin stroked Seungmin's hair after hearing that, staring at the top of Seungmin's head with a small, satisfied smile on his face.

"Are you thinking of therapy? We can ask Manager-hyungs to get you a fit your sessions into our schedule like they did for me, Felix, Jeongin, and Jisung," Chan suggested, tilting his head ever so slightly.

"No," Seungmin automatically replied. He knew it could help him, but it was already difficult for him to admit his feelings to the group, how difficult would it be for him to tell a complete stranger? There must've been another way.

"Okay...we...we don't have to tell the managers then. We can keep this between us. Some way to help you privately," Chan continued.

"Uhm," Minho cleared his throat bringing all eyes towards him, "I-I have a couple of ideas."

Seungmin sent a questioning look at his hyung who's ears seemed to be tinted in the slightest shade of red.

"Go on..." Chan said, urging Minho to continue. The eldest boy also seemed very curious as to what Minho had come up with as he never really participated in their meetings so actively before.

"Well..." he started. "Maybe we could like shower him with compliments more often? We never say anything even if Seungmin's doing well because he's said he doesn't enjoy it, but I think...I think he's just a tsundere about it, y'know?"

"Like you, hyung?" Jisung teased.

Minho frowned, turning away before muttering back, "Yes, like me."

Seungmin looked at his sweater paws, blush coming back to his face at full force.

"Well, Seungmin-ah?" Chan broke the quiet. "What do you think?"

"I..." Seungmin didn't want to admit it but he really liked the idea. Instead he opted on saying, "If...If Minho-hyung thinks it might help me...I think...I think I'd like that very much."

"Ahh...Seungminnie," Hyunjin sighed out, pecking Seungmin's cheek lightly, "You're so cute..."

Jisung pouted.

"I wanna kiss Seungmin, too!" he exclaimed in a tone that could only resemble one of a jealous child.

"No!" Hyunjin replied, wrapping his arms around Seungmin's thin waist protectively, "He's mine!"

Seungmin swatted them both away, sending a look at Minho to continue what he was saying.

"You know how Seungmin almost always has his AirPods in and is listening to music?" the second oldest continued, "I-I was thinking maybe we should make a playlist for him? That he can listen to when...when..."

Minho trailed off, seemingly struggling to find the right words, but Felix picked it back up for him, "Wait that's such a good idea, hyung! We could fill the playlist with like empowering songs that'll make him feel like such a badass! And he can listen to it whenever he's feeling insecure!"

"That doesn't sound bad..." Changbin nodded, seeming to already have some songs in mind.

"Seungmin-hyung?" Jeongin looked at him in confirmation at which he simply shrugged back.

"I don't mind...if you guys really want to put in the effort to create a playlist, I promise it won't go to waste," Seungmin replied, a weak but also resilient smile on his face.

Felix's face lit up and Minho's did too even though it barely looked like it. But Seungmin knew.

"Do you have anymore ideas, Minho?" Chan asked.

"Ah..." Minho nodded before continuing, "Yeah...Yeah, I have one more."

"Alright," Chan encouraged, "go on."

"I'm thinking every morning we could ask Seungmin to tell us one thing he loves about himself? It's something simple, but I really do think if we consistently do it, it would really help him."

Seungmin really didn't like this idea, but didn't want to turn Minho down.

"What if...What if I can't think of anything?" Seungmin mumbled.

"Then we'll tell you all the things we love about you," Changbin replied, automatically.

"And trust us, Seungminnie," Felix said, cupping the younger boy's face from where he was still sat on top of the coffee table, "We have a lot of things we love about you."

It took everything in Seungmin's power not to lean into Felix's touch and instead opted for burying his face into his sweater paws once more.


"Well, it's been a long night," Chan yawned out after the movie's credit scene rolled.

They ended the meeting a while ago with lots of kisses and compliments resulting in Seungmin being a blushing mess and sputtering out, "Let's just start the movie, you guys!" as everyone giggled.

They all got up from where they sat and slowly drudged to their bedrooms.

Seungmin raised his arms above his head, his elbow making a crunch when he straightened it. Hyunjin reached over from where he still sat on the couch to softly trace his fingertips across Seungmin's stomach sending a shiver down the boy's spine. He put his arms down quickly, a pout on his face as Hyunjin cackled evilly.

Seungmin attempted to speedwalk out of the living room, but not until he was stopped by Felix who wrapped his thin arms around Seungmin's neck.

"Goodnight, cutie," Felix whispered in English, trailing kisses all over Seungmin's face. His Australian accent continued to weave itself into his words, "You’re so incredible I can’t even put it into words, puppy. You're my entire world, baby."

Felix planted kisses on the apples of his cheeks, his forehead, his eyelids, and then the corners of his mouth.

Before he could lean in to kiss Seungmin on the lips, the younger boy covered his face with his hands; embarrassed to no end as Felix complimenting him in English was something his brain simply couldn't handle.

"You-You're so cheesy," Seungmin accused weakly behind his sweater paws.

"Can't help it," Felix admitted, switching back to Korean which made Seungmin curiously bring his hands down ever so slightly to expose his lips.

That was good enough for Felix as he leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss onto them. Seungmin almost downright squealed in surprise.

"Not when it comes to you," was what came out of Felix's mouth right as he pulled back.

Felix made his way into his shared room with Changbin, but Seungmin stayed in his spot, completely stilled.

It's not that Felix had never acted like that towards Seungmin before, but every time he did, Seungmin would always be awestricken, unsure of what to do next.

Luckily, he didn't have to think of what to do next as he felt familiar arms wrap around his torso and a voice in his ear murmuring, "Our pretty Minnie."

"Hi to you too, Hyunjin," Seungmin giggled out, caressing his hand across the taller boy's cheek as he rested his face on Seungmin's shoulder.

"Mmm," came Hyunjin's response, probably too tired to form coherent sentences.

Seungmin was about to ask if he wanted them to sleep together that night, but was interrupted by Hyunjin pressing his lips and breathing slowly against Seungmin's exposed neck.

Seungmin sucked in a breath as he licked the spot he knew Seungmin was sensitive in and began to set up shop there.

Seungmin gasped helplessly as Hyunjin started with soft kisses that quickly turned into rough sucking and biting.

He was lucky Hyunjin had his arms wrapped around his waist as his knees were very close to giving out under him.

"Now, now, now," Seungmin bit his lip to make sure not to make any noise as Jisung appeared in the hallway, his arms crossed and a smirk on his lips, "What's happening here?"

Hyunjin almost seemed to sneer at Jisung's presence, upset at his work being interrupted.

The boy seemed to notice and only giggled as he probably forgot how possessive Hyunjin could get.

"You can have him for the night, Hyunjin," Jisung informed, rolling his eyes as he made his way towards them, "I'm not here to take him. I just wanted to say goodnight 'cos I'm going to bed soon."

Hyunjin didn't say anything, burying his face into Seungmin shoulder once more.

When Jisung reached them, he pressed a kiss onto Seungmin nose with a small, "Goodnight, baby," in English then kissed the top of Hyunjin's head gently at which the tall boy sighed contently at.

After Jisung took his leave, Seungmin was the one to speak.

"Let's get to bed," he suggested.

Seungmin knew right away Hyunjin was not very pleased with what the younger boy said, but tried his best not to show it as he trudged his way into the bathroom—probably to get ready to sleep—leaving Seungmin—who was already ready for bed—to make his way into their bedroom.

As Seungmin walked into his shared room with Hyunjin, Chan, and Minho, he was greeted with a shirtless Chan staring back at him.

"Hey, Seungminnie," the oldest boy welcomed him quietly, Seungmin smiling tiredly and shuffling across the room into Hyunjin's bed.

If Chan was curious as to why, he didn't say anything; instead, he finished changing into his pajamas and began to walk towards where Seungmin laid under Hyunjin's covers.

Chan bent over the younger boy, capturing his lips. Seungmin squeaked in surprise as he forgot how much Chan and Hyunjin differed. Hyunjin adored neck kisses; he would give neck kisses to every single member every single day if he could. However, Chan? Chan absolutely loved kissing all the members on the lips. Both never had a reason as to why, and they never had to.

One never questioned a kiss from any of the members. Never.

Seungmin absolutely adored all of his member's kisses, but there was something about the push-and-pull and ebb-and-flow of Chan's kisses that Seungmin just couldn't get over. One minute Chan would be roughly inviting himself into Seungmin's mouth, not allowing the younger boy to catch his breath and sending him into a dazed state where he could barely get his vision to focus; and the next, Chan would be gently molding his lips onto Seungmin's at which Seungmin couldn't help but make soft whimpering noises that he knew the older boy loved.

"Night, baby," Chan whispered in English—What was it with all of them speaking English that night? Seungmin had no idea—after he pulled back from a very red Seungmin.

"My lips are gonna be all sore and puffy in the morning," Seungmin replied, frowning.

Chan simply threw his head back in a quiet laugh and Seungmin giggled quietly along with him.

They bid each other goodnight again—Chan placing one last kiss on the younger boy's forehead—before Hyunjin walked into the room, shooing Chan to his own bunk claiming that Seungmin was his for the night (at which Seungmin proceeded to not confirm nor deny that statement).

Right before Seungmin fell asleep, Hyunjin whispered in his ear, "Sleep in tomorrow morning, okay? I already turned off your alarms, so if you wake up naturally early, just fall back asleep, alright?"

Seungmin was too sleepy to even think about why Hyunjin was telling him this, but made a noise of acknowledgement instead of asking.

Hyunjin giggled quietly before pulling Seungmin even closer to him so their bodies were completely flushed together.

They fell asleep like this.


Seungmin woke up the next morning completely refreshed from sleeping for almost twelve hours—definitely keeping his promise of sleeping in.

He heard nobody else in the room, but instead heard the clanking of pans, music, and giddy voices coming from the kitchen.

Seungmin got up, went to the bathroom, then slowly made his way towards the kitchen.

What he saw as he emerged from the hallway was truly a sight to behold.

All seven of the boys were there; some seemed to be making breakfast, others were eating, and some—specifically Jisung and Felix—had gotten out Chan's speaker and were dancing around the kitchen together to—Was that Bruno Mars? Seungmin giggled out loud, bringing all attention to him.

"Seungminnie!" Jisung practically yelled as he let go of Felix and ran to give the boy the biggest hug.

"Morning, Jisungie," Seungmin greeted, his voice slightly cracking.

The said boy wrapped his arms around Seungmin's neck, just as Felix had did the night before, and leaned in to kiss him.

Seungmin however, covered his mouth with a muffled, "Did you brush?"

Jisung rolled his eyes at that before leaning in to kiss Seungmin on the cheek instead. He pulled back to see Seungmin sporting a happy blush at he went back to dancing with Felix, believing he had done his job.

Seungmin took a seat across from Jeongin and beside Changbin.

Jeongin blinked at him before stating, "Your neck literally looks like a crime scene."

Seungmin slapped a hand on the bruise that was left by Hyunjin the night before.

"Oh," he replied dumbly. Jeongin rolled his eyes.

"Here," Minho set down a plate of pancakes in front of the two youngest.

"Thanks, hyung!" they both cheered.

"Oh, yeah!" Jisung exclaimed as he sat down from dancing with Felix to eat with them as well, "Seungmin! The exercise? Have you done it yet?"

Seungmin, mouth full of food, shook his head. He thought to himself as he chewed then swallowed, and finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Uhm..." Seungmin cleared his throat, bringing all eyes to him, "I-I think my lips are pretty."

A beat of silence passed.

"You're practically asking us to kiss you, aren't you?"  Jisung raised an eyebrow at him.

The group burst into a fit of giggles before they all proceeded to kiss every spot on Seungmin's face, Minho finally claiming his lips.

When the older boy pulled back, he wore a shit-eating grin as he stared at Seungmin's dazed, but very happy expression.

Seungmin began to sputter, "Uh- no-! Uh...Y'know that's-! That's not what I meant."

"But you enjoyed it, didn't you?" Changbin asked, sporting a smirk as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand, his elbow propping himself up.

Seungmin didn't reply and opted to stuff his face with his pancakes instead.

The rest of the members laughed out loud and for once in Seungmin's life, he felt like he was surrounded by true, genuine love.

Love for his members, love for STAY, and after a long time coming—the slightest twinge of love for himself.

It wasn't much, but he was getting there.

It was a start.

And a start was all Seungmin needed.

Notes:

- the title was inspired by when seungmin sang just the way you are in their unveil tour in houston during the aegyo relay aswell as in this vlive
- minhos idea of seungmin telling the boys one thing he loves about himself in the morning was heavily inspired by some scenes in this webtoon

thank u so much for reading !

i'm taking requests so if u have anything u want me to write pls dont hesitate to tell me in the comments and i'll try my best to make it happen to the best of my ability ( ᵕᴗᵕ )

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