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“Yah! You’re late!” Jeongin said as soon as Hyunjin opened the door. Despite his tone, it didn’t bother Hyunjin in the slightest. He’d known Jeongin for years and his aggressive words were just a defense to hide behind when he was scared. If he was in his fox form right now his hair would all be standing up on end.
Hyunjin kicked off his dress shoes and stuck his feet into his slippers before crossing to Jeongin and hugging him with one arm, patting down his hair. “Sorry, baby. Work was hectic.”
“How could it be hectic? All you do is stand there and look pretty,” Jeongin groused but he wrapped his arms around Hyunjin’s waist and sighed as he relaxed against him. If he was this tense it meant Seungmin hadn’t come home yet either. Hyunjin would deal with him next but right now there was the boy in front of him.
“Ah, you see, darling, that’s what we want you to think,” he said while walking them backwards to the couch. “My job is to do a million things while making it look like I’m just standing there being pretty.” He dropped down onto the couch and pulled Jeongin on top of him. “It’s called customer service- you wouldn’t understand,” he teased.
Jeongin hit his chest lightly with a fist. “Yah. 3RACHA has great customer service! How dare you slander your own family’s shop.”
“It’s no Hotel Del Luna though, is it?” Hyunjin said. 3RACHA was an entirely different establishment though and the two weren’t comparable. At his work he had to be dressed in the smartest suits and be endlessly polite and smiling as he made sure the guests’ needs were met. Even in the training part of his apprenticeship, out of the public eye, he stayed on his best behaviour. At 3RACHA… well, it was a little more relaxed and chaotic. He loved the shop, no doubt about it, and he fully intended to come back to work there after learning what he could at the hotel, but Jisung had no professional persona whatsoever and walking into 3RACHA was a bit like walking into someone’s living room- you never really knew what to expect.
Jeongin rolled out of his lap. “Go and get changed into comfy clothes. I don’t think Minnie is coming home ‘til late so we can just order dinner.”
Hyunjin rolled onto his feet and stretched. “Did Min call you? What did he say?” He started heading for their bedroom before Jeongin replied, knowing his boyfriend would be more than happy to have a yelled conversation. It was Seungmin that didn’t like that.
“He says he’s not got enough references for his essay! And that we’re distracting!”
“Rude!” Hyunjin interrupted to exclaim as he pulled off his shirt. He’d have to do laundry tonight. Urgh. The shirt wasn’t even dirty but his boss would notice for sure if he tried to get a second day out of it.
“I know!” Jeongin replied. “I could definitely leave him alone to work!”
Hyunjin stuck his head out the bedroom door to grin at Jeongin. “You definitely couldn’t. The little frown he gets when he’s concentrating? And the way he grumbles when he doesn’t agree with the author?”
Jeongin tipped his head back on the backrest and stared at the ceiling. “You’re right. It’s so cute.”
“Unbearable,” Hyunjin agreed. “I just have to squish.” He mimed squeezing Seungmin’s cheeks. Now he’d thought about it, he desperately wanted to do it in real life too.
“Nope nope nope! We have to let him work.” Jeongin said, strengthening his resolve. Hyunjin’s had already melted into a pile of goo. He shooed Hyunjin back into the bedroom. “Finish getting changed and then come tell me about your day. We can’t phone Minnie until… until… half past nine,” he decided.
“Half nine?” Hyunjin asked with a pout. He’d barely said ten words to Seungmin all day and most of that was mumbled nonsense when Seungmin woke him up before he left for class.
“Half nine,” Jeongin repeated. “He’ll be stressed if we distract him earlier.”
“You’re going to have to take my phone,” Hyunjin warned him.
***
“Now?” Hyunjin asked.
“No,” Jeongin replied, flicking him on the leg. Well, the tentacle. Jisung said they were technically arms but they always felt like legs to Hyunjin. Legs he could taste with and move in odd ways. He was currently very much attached to Jeongin by said octopus legs, wrapped around him completely, while they tried and failed to watch a drama as a distraction.
“Come on. It’s nearly half nine,” Hyunjin bargained.
“It’s five past!” Jeongin exclaimed.
“You just picked that time out of nowhere,” Hyunjin protested, squeezing Jeongin’s middle tightly. “What if Minnie is bored?” he said. “Huh? What if he’s feeling sad and lonely and unmotivated and he needs us to cheer him up?” He could see Jeongin’s resolve wavering. “You miss him too.”
“Fine,” Jeongin said and then yelped as he was compressed from all sides. “Hyunjin! My bones!”
“Ach, if it hurt that much you’d shift,” Hyunjin dismissed his complaint but relaxed his tentacles all the same. “Hurry and call him. Hurry!”
“Mmm?” Seungmin answered the call in a subdued tone. Hyunjin could already tell he was too tired to still be working.
“Hey, Minnie,” Hyunjin said gently. “Can you come home yet? I’ll come to the library and meet you?” He’d have to shift back and go put on clothes first but he’d do it for Seungmin.
“Not yet,” Seungmin sighed. “I’ve got references for my first point but when I debate the property-” he cut himself off as he realised he was going beyond their understanding. “I don’t have references for the middle bit yet… or the end,” he added, almost mumbling to himself, his Fae accent bleeding back into his voice. Hyunjin exchanged a glance with Jeongin. They were going to have to drag Seungmin home by force at this rate.
“Have you eaten?” Jeongin asked. “Dinner.”
“Huh? Yeah, I took stew out the fridge.”
“Did you heat it up?” Hyunjin asked, knowing there weren’t microwaves on the floor of the library that Seungmin frequented. The security guards knew Seungmin so well they let Hyunjin and Jeongin into the library without passes to go drag him home sometimes.
“Mmm,” Seungmin answered as if he was still typing at the same time. He probably was.
“Was the stew hotter than forty degrees celsius as you ate it?” Hyunjin rephrased as the original question was too vague to get the truth from Seungmin. Seungmin could still lie with his new question but he’d gotten better at telling the truth of his own volition.
“It was room temperature,” Seungmin answered. “It tasted fine.”
“Seungminnie,” Hyunjin whined. “You deserve warm food.”
“I was in the zone,” Seungmin argued. “If I’d left to heat it up it would have taken me even longer to do this much.”
“I’m sending Jin to come fetch you,” Jeongin said, not allowing Seungmin the option to argue it. That was wise. Seungmin always won arguments. “And I’m ordering tteokbokki to arrive at the same time you get back so be ready for when Jinnie gets there or it will be ruined.”
“But-” Seungmin protested.
“See you soon, Minnie,” Jeongin said.
“I’ll phone you when I get there!” Hyunjin rushed to add as Jeongin hung up on Seungmin.
“Go put clothes on,” Jeongin instructed Hyunjin as he threw his phone to the far end of the couch. “Go on.” Hyunjin ignored the command and leaned forward to kiss him slowly. Jeongin kissed him back for a moment, opening his mouth for Hyunjin’s tongue before pulling away. He pushed weakly at Hyunjin’s chest. “Come on. Detach. You have a puppy to collect.”
“A minute won’t make a difference,” Hyunjin argued. “I can run part way there.”
“Come on,” Jeongin said again. “The sooner you get him the sooner we can all go to bed.”
Hyunjin laughed. “If only your high school self could hear you now- talking about going to bed at nine pm.”
“I think high school me would be more hung up on the fact the bed is shared with you and Minnie, as well as the flat,” Jeongin retorted. “What terrible mistakes I’ve made.”
“You love us,” Hyunjin retorted as he convinced his tentacles to unwind from their joint-favourite person.
“That was my first mistake!” Jeongin replied, moving Hyunjin’s tentacles to the cushion next to him as they let go. If Hyunjin didn’t concentrate they’d just stick back to Jeongin in a different position.
“What was your second mistake?” Hyunjin asked, leaning in for another kiss. Jeongin shifted, into a rat presumably. “Innie!” Hyunjin whined. He’d never find Jeongin in the pile of clothes and blankets and cushions with all his tentacles roaming about too. Since he was no longer holding onto anything he shifted back to his legs and stood up. “In! Where’d you go?” There was no answer. He frowned at the couch but couldn’t see any movement. “Ok,” he said loudly. “But you better have shifted back by the time I have clothes on. Yeah, Innie? You need to give me a kiss before I go.”
Jeongin was shifted back in time for Hyunjin leaving but the bastard shifted right in the middle of the living room and was fully naked for Hyunjin’s goodbye kiss.
“You’re so cruel, baby,” Hyunjin whispered against his lips. He squeezed Jeongin’s butt before letting go and grabbing the door handle. Jeongin hid behind the wall as he opened the door- no need to traumatise the neighbours. “I’ll be back soon,” Hyunjin said. “Remember and order Minnie’s tteokbokki.”
“Mmm,” Jeongin said. “Come straight home.”
***
Hyunjin met Seungmin at the turnstyles for the university library. Seungmin walked out the gate and into his arms. “Missed you, Spaghetti Monster,” he mumbled into Hyunjin’s hoodie.
“Missed you too, Minnie,” Hyunjin said, hugging him tight. He let go and took Seungmin’s heavy bag off his shoulders, slinging it onto his own. It felt like Seungmin had bricks in there but it was probably just brick shaped textbooks. He took Seungmin’s hand in his and started walking, giving a wave to the security guard as he left. The guard waved back and the disabled door swung open in front of them so they could leave without letting go of one another.
“How was work?” Seungmin asked.
“Busy,” Hyunjin said, tucking their joined hands into his pocket so Seungmin wouldn’t get cold. “This morning was all spreadsheets but they were short a waiter at lunch so I covered and had to eat my lunch in the lulls before I was manning the front desk. The day passed pretty quickly after that.”
“I bet,” Seungmin said sympathetically. “Does your manager know you didn’t get a lunch break?”
“You gonna take my contract and fight for my employee rights, Mr Lawyer?” Hyunjin joked.
“Do I need to?” Seungmin replied seriously.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Hyunjin assured him, warmth blooming in his heart that he was lucky enough to have someone like Seungmin in his corner. “I’ll try and get the time back at the end of the day tomorrow so I can have an early finish. You just have an afternoon class tomorrow, right? We could meet up after and go surprise Innie at work?”
“I really need to work on this essay..” Seungmin mumbled.
Hyunjin squeezed his hand. “You’ve still got a couple of weeks until it’s due though, right? Work on it in the morning and then take a break tomorrow afternoon. You can go back to the library after dinner if you really need to. How does that sound?”
“Since when has visiting 3RACHA been a break?” Seungmin said but Hyunjin knew he’d already given in. "Last time I was there Jisung had un-alphabetised the store room. How? It takes more effort to manage that than to just stick to the system. Someone needs to ban him from locator spells. He's becoming a health hazard."
"Becoming?" Hyunjin laughed. "He's been blowing shit up for the last decade. He pushed me down the stairs daily when we met until he eventually put me in a coma. We're well past 'becoming'. My life has been in danger since the moment I met him."
"Stop being dramatic," Seungmin chided him. "It's not that bad."
Dramatic? Hyunjin was just stating cold hard facts. "Two years ago. I was in the kitchen, minding my own business, getting a snack. Boom! The floor just disappears and I fall three metres to land on a burning couch. And then the fridge falls after me! Why did this happen? Why? Because Sung missed me! I nearly died. Last week. I went round for lunch and-"
"Ok, ok," Seungmin laughed. That's what Hyunjin had been hoping for. "He doesn’t mean to hurt you though. It’s just our family being a little bit…”
“Chaotic? Overpowered?” Hyunjin suggested. Chan had gathered a very unique set of children, seemingly by accident. Jisung was the obvious one but Hyunjin himself was the only living member of his species on record and Seungmin next to him was a Fae that could blatantly lie. The others were also outliers when you got to know them well enough.
“We’re not The Avengers,” Seungmin scoffed.
“No, we’re better that The Avengers,” Hyunjin argued. “The Avengers doesn’t have anybody as cute as Innie.”
“He’s not mad, is he?” Seungmin asked quietly. “I keep meaning to finish earlier but there’s always so much-”
Hyunjin squeezed his hand. “He’s not mad,” he assured him. “He’s just a bit worried about you. We never see you anymore, Minnie.”
Seungmin hung his head and Hyunjin let go of his hand to pull him into his side as they waited for the traffic lights to change. “Sorry,” Seungmin mumbled into Hyunjin’s hoodie.
Hyunjin kissed his head. “You’re working hard. We understand.”
“You’re working hard too,” Seungmin argued. “And you’re managing to balance everything.”
The pedestrian light went green and Hyunjin pulled them forward. “Seungminnie, my job is to balance everything. It’s literally what I’m learning. And I get to clock off at the end of the day. You don’t have that privilege and unlike all the other students you can’t just bullshit your way through your answers. Just try to call Innie, ok? He’s too proud to admit he misses you.”
“Can you remind me?” Seungmin asked. “Next week.”
“Of course,” Hyunjin agreed. He had no problem sending Seungmin whiny texts about how much he missed him and if his boyfriends needed a little help to manage the same virtual connection with each other Hyunjin would be more than willing to give them a nudge.
They reached their apartment complex door and Hyunjin fished his keys out his pocket to open the door before pushing Seungmin out of the cold first. They lived on the ground floor so Innie’s shifted footsteps wouldn’t cause suspicion with a downstairs neighbour which meant they didn’t even have to wait for the lift. Seungmin went forward to their front door and slapped him hands against it instead of waiting for Hyunjin with the keys.
“Innie!!! Let me in!”
“Why should I?” Jeongin’s voice came from inside, getting closer. “I live alone now!” But as Hyunjin joined Seungmin the lock clicked and Jeongin opened the door. He sighed when he saw Seungmin, a worried crease appearing between his eyebrows, but took a step back to let them in. Hyunjin made eye contact with him over Seungmin’s head as their boyfriend bent down to untie his shoes and raised an eyebrow. Jeongin shook his head dismissively. Hyunjin would hear about it later no doubt. He handed over Seungmin’s bag and kicked off his own shoes, shutting the door behind him. Seungmin tidied his shoes at the side next to his own and Hyunjin immediately felt guilty.
“Sorry.”
“Hmm? Why?” Seungmin asked, glancing up at him to check if he was the one being apologised to.
“My shoes,” Hyunjin mumbled, gesturing loosely.
Seungmin frowned at him as if Hyunjin was being silly. “It’s fine.” He took Hyunjin’s hand and pulled them into the living room and down to cuddle on the couch. Jeongin had been grabbed on the way past too and it was an awkward tangle of limbs for a moment until Hyunjin pulled a leg up and Seungmin slotted against his chest like he belonged there. Seungmin’s thigh then became a headrest for Jeongin. It was a mundane moment but Hyunjin closed his eyes to treasure it. He never seemed to get enough time with his boys these days.
The sweetness of it quickly passed though because his boyfriends just could not handle being sweet with each other. Hyunjin felt Seungmin shift as he bucked Joengin’s head off of him. “Where’s the tteokbokki I was promised?”
“I ate it all,” Jeongin grumbled, shuffling further up the couch to slot behind Seungmin. Hyunjin’s heart was big enough for both of them but the couch really wasn’t and Hyunjin had to strain to keep Seungmin from falling off. “Nah, you were faster than the delivery guy,” Jeongin admitted. “Should be here soon though. Why? You hungry?”
“No,” Seungmin said quickly.
“Liar,” Hyunjin called.
Seungmin snorted. “Me? Never. That would be impossible.”
“More lies,” Jeongin said. He was so boney, jabbing Hyunjin all over with his sharp body as he tried to get as close to Seungmin as possible, like to forks in a drawer. Forks, not spoons, because forks were more stabby.
“In, stop stabbing me in the heart with your elbow,” he complained. “You know we don’t fit on the couch like this unless you shift down.”
“You shift,” Jeongin shot back.
“Can’t. You put my octopus heart out of commission with your stabby elbow,” Hyunjin said, angling for some sympathy or at least some blood flow to his legs.
“You’ve got two of them,” Jeongin reasoned. “They can’t both be necessary.”
“You’ve got two eyes. They can’t both be necessary,” Seungmin shot back in Hyunjin’s defense, twisting his head around so he could mime poking Jeongin’s eye out. Unfortunately for him, Hyunjin couldn’t keep them all balanced while he did that and Seungmin went on a little tumble to the floor.
“I should have stayed in the library,” Seungmin told the ceiling. Yet another lie.
***
Hyunjin only asked for one mouthful of tteokbokki when it arrived and that was in exchange for looking over the beginnings of Seungmin’s essay. It was easy to forget but Korean wasn’t Seungmin’s first language and sometimes his phrasing or spelling was a tiny bit off. The law side of the essay had Hyunjin completely baffled and he had no idea if it was correct or not but Hyunjin was inclined to believe Seungmin’s argument. Seungmin could convince Hyunjin of most things though so that wasn’t saying much.
“Hey, quick question,” Hyunjin asked, as he saved the comments he’d made on Seungmin’s word document.
“Mmm,” Seungmin answered. It was clear he’d had a long day because he was lying down in Jeongin’s lap and not bothering him.
“Why the fuck were people allowed to throw their babies out of trains?”
“Did you say babies?” Jeongin asked, pausing in petting Seungmin’s hair.
“Yeah,” Hyunjin said, glad it was not just him finding that weird. “Out of trains.”
Seungmin shrugged. “Babies were considered personal property legally and ‘don’t throw your baby out the train’ wasn’t a rule anybody had thought to write down yet. I’m trying to argue that even when the public perception has changed on human rights- say with slavery or child labour- the laws must also be in place to protect vulnerable people from those that wish to abuse their power.”
It sounded like an awfully familiar situation, probably because it was. Seungmin hadn’t hidden that he went into Law for them and he was intending on specialising in Humans Rights Law once he’d progressed further along his career. He was at a non-mystic university so the ‘Human Rights’ was limited strictly to humans but the university was one of the best in the country and Chan had assured him he’d be able to get Seungmin connections into mystic law once he had his degree. The Council had no idea what was coming for them.
“It’s a good argument,” Hyunjin said.
Seungmin smiled. “Thank you. We had a choice of topics but I thought it was best to get more experience in my chosen field.”
“Oh is that why you’re dating us?” Jeongin asked, jabbing Seungmin in the chest. “‘Experience in your chosen field.’”
Seungmin stuck out his tongue. “I’m only dating you so that logic doesn’t stand.”
“You are definitely dating Hyunjin!” Jeongin exclaimed. “You live together and you sleep together. Have done for years!”
“We’re close friends,” Hyunjin corrected Jeongin.
“I hate both of you,” Jeongin announced. “I’m going to bed.” He pushed Seungmin off of him and stalked off to the bathroom.
“You should go to bed too,” Hyunjin told Seungmin, who was sitting up now that his pillow had made a sudden exit. “I could see you dozing off before.”
“I’m not the one with work in the morning and difficulty gaining consciousness,” Seungmin retorted.
“I find it diff-” There was a crash in the bathroom and they both turned to look. “Baby, are you ok?” Hyunjin called loudly. There was a muffled groan in response but Hyunjin was well-trained in Noises Made By Yang Jeongin and could discern that Jeongin was annoyed but unharmed. He turned back to Seungmin. Seungmin was rubbing at his tired eyes, still fighting himself. “Seungminnie, turn your brain off,” Hyunjin said gently. It was something he had to remind Seungmin of countless times. Stop thinking so hard, stop analysing, stop planning days, months, years in advance.
“I just-”
Hyunjin set aside the laptop and manhandled Seungmin into his lap. He pushed Seungmin hair off of his forehead and cupped his face, staring deep into his brown eyes. “Stop. Thinking.”
“Not dating,” Jeongin scoffed as he came out of the bathroom and saw them. He didn’t stop and passed right by to go into the bedroom. “You might as well be screaming ‘I love you’!”
“I love you,” Hyunjin whispered to Seungmin with a secret smile.
“I love you too,” Seungmin replied, leaning forward to briefly capture Hyunjin’s lips with his. “Love Innie three.”
“Love Innie three,” Hyunjin agreed. “Two. One.” They leapt from the couch in unison and ran to their bedroom to pin Jeongin to the bed. It was a harder task than it first would seem because Jeongin could shift into a wide range of animals should he wish to, and very quickly at that.
Hyunjin thought he had him but he had only pyjamas. In hindsight, teaching Jeongin how to hold a baby rat all those years ago was really not one of his best decisions. “Man down.” he reported to Seungmin as he held up an empty t-shirt. His empty t-shirt that Jeongin had stolen to wear to bed.
“Rat up,” Seungmin replied, standing and holding a squirming brown rat up proudly.
“Man back,” Jeongin grumbled as soon as he had shifted back, bouncing harmlessly on the mattress. “Why did you have to jump me like that?”
“Love Innie three,” Seungmin said simply.
"No!" Jeongin interjected as Hyunjin echoed Seungmin. He held his arms up protectively over his face, knowing what was coming as Hyunjin finished the countdown and he was once again attacked with affection. "Why?" he moaned but he'd stayed human so clearly he didn't hate the attention as much as he pretended to.
"Because we love you." Hyunjin whispered the world's worst kept secret in Jeongin's ear.
"I prefer money, or food," Jeongin said snarkily. "Seungmin, will you stop?" He pushed Seungmin's face off of his neck. "I'll get bullied at work tomorrow if I've got a hickey."
Seungmin grumbled and shuffled further up the bed to reach Jeongin's ear. Jeongin batted him off again and Hyunjin decided to interfere before one of them got upset.
"Sweetheart, go get ready for bed," he told Seungmin. "You can come kiss me after we've brushed our teeth if Innie doesn't want to."
"I didn't say I didn't want to kiss him," Jeongin said as Seungmin shuffled out of the room. "I just don't want hours of Jisung-hyung inventing crude and inaccurate scenarios for how I ended up covered in mouth-shaped bruises. Did you know he can tell who it was by the shape of the bruise alone?"
"What kind of scenarios?" Hyunjin asked and Jeongin hit him.
"Don't you dare. I will make you sleep on the floor."
"I've slept worse places," Hyunjin said, just to put Jeongin on edge.
***
Despite the jokes they really were all too tired to do anything but sleep and by the time Hyunjin returned from the bathroom Seungmin was curled up at Jeongin's side with his head resting on Jeongin's shoulder and his eyes shut.
"We're so lame," Hyunjin said as he shut the door and climbed into bed behind Seungmin. "It's not even midnight and we're going to sleep."
"I'm not going to sleep," Jeongin said. "I'm just a pillow."
"And you'll fucking stay where you are," Seungmin threatened sleepily, tightening his grip on Jeongin's waist.
"Did I say I was going anywhere?" Jeongin replied exasperatedly. "I'm going to get a dead arm for you."
Seungmin was always pretty still in his sleep so, given the opportunity, he would continue inhibiting blood flow to Jeongin's arm for the rest of the night. However, both Jeongin and Hyunjin were active sleepers, Hyunjin especially so, and Seungmin didn't stand a chance of keeping that position. He was well used to it by now though.
"Spaghetti," Seungmin said, reaching behind him for Hyunjin. Hyunjin drapped an arm over him and Jeongin but that wasn't really what Seungmin wanted. "Spaghetti."
"Needing to be constricted by tentacles to fall asleep is probably not a good thing," Jeongin noted cheekily.
"Shut up," Hyunjin told him and stretched out to shift before reaching for his boyfriends. "You miss it too when I don't."
“Yeah and it’s probably not a good thing,” Jeongin said but he lifted his knee to let Hyunjin wrap a tentacle around his thigh.
“Shhh,” Seungmin whined.
“Ok, ok,” Hyunjin placated him. “We’re sorry. Sleep well.”
“Have nightmares,” Jeongin countered. Seungmin kicked him, or tried to kick him, but Hyunjin’s tentacles were wound between them and he felt Seungmin’s wrath instead.
“Ow, Minnie,” Hyunjin said, resisting the pain reflex to tighten his grip. His tentacles were too strong to do that without hurting one of them.
“Whoops.”
“Whoops? You wound me, Kim Seungmin. You actually wound me.”
“Innie started it.”
Hyunjin knocked his head against Seungmin’s back and sighed. He loved them, he really did, but they were really terrible at maintaining a calm peaceful mood when all three of them were together.
“Sleep?” Seungmin suggested innocently.
“Race you,” Jeongin said and Hyunjin felt him wriggle around a little as he relaxed.
“Gonna win,” Seungmin muttered. He’d been half asleep since Hyunjin picked him up from the library.
“That’s the plan,” Jeongin whispered lowly, allowing Seungmin to extend his head-start into dreamland.
Hyunjin didn’t dare speak or move again and risk rousing Seungmin until the Fae boy’s breaths got deeper, signalling that he was properly asleep. He concentrated on his tentacles and found one that tasted mostly of Jeongin, giving it a squeeze to get Jeongin’s attention.
“What?” Jeongin whispered.
“Hi,” Hyunjin said cutely. He didn't really have a reason for bothering Jeongin beyond acknowledging that they were both awake. “Got a dead arm yet?”
“Yes,” Jeongin replied. “And a dead leg but that’s your fault.”
“Sorry,” Hyunjin said. “Which one?” His tentacles worked semi-independently so they sometimes did things without his knowledge. He felt Jeongin tickle one of them and focused to unstick it and loosen the grip he had on Jeongin. “Better? I can take Minnie off you too.”
“Leave him,” Jeongin said, a little too quickly. “He needs the rest.”
“He’ll sleep just fine with his head on a pillow,” Hyunjin pointed out. He might even sleep better. Jeongin was very boney.
“Leave him,” Jeongin repeated. “It’s fine.”
“Ok,” Hyunjin said. “Goodnight, Innie. Love you.”
“Love you too,” Jeongin said and Hyunjin could hear the smile in his voice. He couldn’t help but squeeze Jeongin’s leg a little tighter.
“Love Minnie three,” he whispered.
“Love Minnie three,” Jeongin whispered back with a breathy laugh. “Two,” he said, even quieter. “One.”
Hyunjin pressed the gentlest kiss to Seungmin’s shoulder blade. He wasn’t even sure Seungmin would have felt it if he was awake. From Seungmin’s other side he heard Jeongin laugh again.
“Don’t wake him up,” he warned Jeongin. His laughing would end up jostling Seungmin’s head.
“I won’t,” Jeongin promised. “Terra, his face is so dumb.”
“Stop bullying him when he can’t fight back.”
“Why? It’s the best time to bully him. That or when he’s drunk.” Jeongin paused contemplatively. “Can we get shit-faced at the weekend?”
“Baby, go to sleep,” Hyunjin said warningly as Jeongin started getting more animated at the idea of a night out.
“Can we though?”
“Ask Min tomorrow,” Hyunjin said, trying to end the conversation. “I’m game as long as I don’t have work the next morning.”
“Can I ask Lixie-hyung to come?”
“Tomorrow.”
“But, like, if we invite Lixie-hyung then-”
“To. Mor. Row.”
Jeongin gave a little huff of annoyance. “Fine. Goodnight.”
“Night, Innie,” Hyunjin sighed and finally let himself fall asleep with Jeongin tracing hypnotic patterns along one of his tentacles.