Work Text:
To say that Hyunjin was in crisis was an understatement. The world was falling apart, and Minho looked at him as if he was just some random mad man.
“But you don’t understand!”
“I don’t think anyone understands, Jinnie.” Felix answered with an apologetic smile.
Hyunjin let himself fall on the floor again before he continued whining. This was a crisis god level, and his friend didn’t understand.
When he first saw Seugmin, he knew the barista was the love of his life. The boy was just so incredibly cute, and then he attacked him by being handsome, and then he also discovered the guy sang. Every time Hyunjin met him at his job or around the campus he was just about to confess his endless love for him. The perfect guy also happened to be coursing a major in criminology and a minor in literature, and for the dancer boy that was just way too much for his heart. Was there even something left that would make him even more incredibly attractive?
But then he met this other guy. He found him lost in the middle of the campus. The adorable first year was trying to find the building of the art department and Hyunjin was more than happy to show him around. The guy had the prettiest smile he had ever seen, it reminded him of a cute baby fox. The boy said he had just moved to the dorms, and they both agreed on meeting to have lunch that afternoon. But just when the boy had walked away, Hyunjin’s brain started working again and he remembered that he had agreed to spend the day with Seungmin and his friend.
So, it was a crisis.
“You will have to cancel one.”
“But how? I cannot look at Minnie and tell him I’m not going, and I don’t have the cute guy’s number.”
"What a tragedy." Minho might have sounded cool, but he actually cared about the state of his friend. Or at least that's what Hyunjin told himself.
"You can also invite your cute boy to your meeting with Minnie. You are friends, so it shouldn’t be weird."
"Felix, you are a genius."
Just like that, Hyunjin was back to his normal cheering being. He could spend some time with the boy of his dreams and the love of his life in the company of a new friend. It was going to be an extraordinary experience.
But destiny likes to play, and Hyunjin was once again broken-hearted. The cute guy had met him just to tell him that he had forgotten he was meant to meet with one of his friends. Hyunjin had to hold all his sadness and decided that he could complain a little bit with Seungmin and his friend either way. He waved goodbye at the pretty boy while he was walking away.
Maybe the boy of his dreams was going to remain to be just the boy of his dreams. Maybe crushing on more than one person was a habit that Hyunjin would need to give up. And he just got more of that idea after entering the coffee shop to meet a really smiley Seungmin in the company of his cute guy.
"Hey, Jeongin. I want you to meet Hyunjin."
Was there something that could make this even more awkward for Hyunjin?
"Hi" A big smile from the younger boy. "I didn't know you knew my boyfriend."
And now Hyunjin was absolutely devastated.
Hyunjin knew he was exaggerating… maybe. Just maybe. Not really, but maybe. What were the chances that the boy of his dreams and the love of his life knew each other, and, on top of that, that they were dating each other? Seriously talking, he wouldn't mind at all. He was completely down for getting two cute and adorable boyfriends, but they were just… perfect.
Innie would always go to the coffee shop after his classes were finished (somehow, he even included Hyunjin in the routine), and Seungmin was always waiting for his boyfriend at the door of the dorms with some hot coffee and something sweet to accompany it (Hyunjin was also there to see that every morning, don't ask him why). Hyunjin had just gotten to be a witness of how precious they were for each other and even though he was longing for being part of that, he could just not bring himself to actually step in the middle of their relationship. So, he was just resigned to being a pass-by of their beautiful love story.
Soon Hyunjin realized that secondary characters were still part of the story. He found himself being invited to hang out with the two boyfriends and with each of them separately. And with each meeting, he was getting more and more deeply into them.
"I'm so fucked." He cried to his hyungs. It wasn't frequently for the four to meet, but they still liked it a lot. Especially Hyunjin who felt like a baby being cared for and spoiled by the olders.
"Yes, you are." And then there was Minho.
"Could you please not?"
"Why should I refrain myself from my source of entertainment?" Minho couldn't help but laugh at his dongsaeng suffering even after Chan scolded him for that.
"Don't you think you are exaggerating? Maybe a little bit?"
"Hyung, they are the boy of my dreams and the love of my life! How could I be exaggerating?" Hyunjin sounded truly sincere in his suffering, so Chan felt as he had to intervene.
"What Binnie means is" with a look Chan stopped the other to interrupt him "Maybe you should get some time to get to know them. Like not only their interests but what they think about being mates and how… well how would they feel to have you there with them."
Hyunjin was still pouting when analyzing the idea. He knew that in case they said they were just fine with the two of them, it would be Hyunjin the one who would get a broken heart. But the possibility of getting both the boy of his dreams and the love of his life was one in a million.
-
"So, you are telling me that you don't know what color is red?" Hyunjin's reaction was even more scandalous than the one Jisung had when he first heard that from the younger two.
The three of them were now chilling in Hyunjin's house, his parents lived close to the campus, so he didn't have to move or anything. The conversation had started talking about mundane things with Hyunjin testing the waters before he started his true investigation mission. Somehow along the way, he had gotten distracted, and they all ended up in the kitchen trying to get something maybe a little healthy (no promises tho) to eat. The surprise came when, while Hyunjin was getting them some hot chocolate, neither of the boyfriends had been able to pass him the red mug.
The younger boys had lived as monochromes until they met each other on campus when Jeongin was just planning on attending their school. They had decided to give it a try and date. After some months they were still together and with a bunch of colors that neither of them could identify.
"In my defense," Seungmin started. "I was born monochrome."
Hyunjin's mouth fell.
"I lost my colors when I was two or something." Innie shrugged. "So, we never learned the colors. And even after we met, who was supposed to teach us? Ourselves?"
Both of them laughed at the silly comment, and Hyunjin thought he could've been the one falling if it wasn't because he was already sitting. (Smart move, Seungmin.)
"But how is that even possible?"
"Well, Jinnie." Hyunjin loved when Seungmin called him Jinnie. "For us, colors don't really have any importance in our lives. We grew up without being conscious of them, and now that we have them, we just don't care about them."
Jeongin nodded supporting Seungmin's words.
"But how am I supposed to know your favorite color then?"
Jeongin and Seungmin looked at each other before their eyes returned to the older.
"Our what?"
"Your favorite color!" Hyunjin was now standing and walking through the whole kitchen and dining room. "Which color am I going to choose the fluffy hoodies that I'll give you for Christmas? And what about your birthdays? Which color am I going to choose the flowers or the cake?"
"Hyung, you can just choose whichever you prefer. It's okay."
Hyunjin looked at the maknae as if he had said the worst thing in the world.
"Nop, that can't be right. I'll teach you the color and you'll choose a favorite one so I can give you a fluffy hoodie and flowers of your favorite color."
"And what about the cake, hyung?" Jeongin was now clearly teasing him. Still, Hyunjin couldn't find it in himself to be angry at him.
"You get my point, Jeongin."
Seungmin just laughed, but something in his eyes and his smile encouraged Hyunjin to continue with his new plan. Enamoring the boys could wait a little longer, giving them a true color experience was everything Hyunjin had in his mind right now.
-
During the next general meeting, as Jisung called it when they were all the eight boys reunited, Hyunjin presented his plan of finding the younger’s favorite color.
That led to the following weeks being full of meetings to different places to present all the scheme of colors the world had. After some time, Hyunjin discovered, with some help of the auto-declared color expert Han Jisung, that Jeongin liked more the scale of cold colors, while Seungmin was more of an autumn palette guy. Not that anyone besides Jisung understood that.
Hyunjin was just happy to help the two boys to adapt to their new vision and to enjoy the colors that were now part of them. During one of his meetings with Seungmin, Hyunjin decided that maybe he could do something to complement all the color experience, so he decided to surprise the boy. He arrived a couple of minutes later at their meeting spot where Minnie was already waiting for him, he looked just as handsome as ever.
“Hi there, Jinnie.” Seungmin was now just staring at his hair and Hyunjin felt just a little bit really proud.
“Hello, have you decided what we are doing today?” Hyunjin acted as if he hadn't realized the look on Seungmin.
“Yeah, I was thinking about the park. Felix told me that we could find beautiful colors there.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Hyunjin took Seungmin’s hand and enjoyed the time he had with the barista.
A couple of hours later, they were back to Seungmin’s dorm where Jeongin was watching a movie on his hyung’s laptop. Without taking his sight from the screen he greeted the two boys.
“How was your date?” Hyunjin had to hide how much that word affected him. Date sounded just way too intimate.
“Seungmin is being meanie.”
“I just told him that you two cannot stay tonight, I have to study.”
Hyunjin let himself fall on top of the maknae just before he continued with his normal whining.
“You see, Innie, he is being mean and cruel.”
Jeongin started caressing Hyunjin’s hair while being crushed against the bed by the weight of the older.
“Do you have an exam tomorrow?”
“No, I just like to study.”
“Then you are just being a nerd, hyung.” Another whined from Hyunjin. “And a mean person.”
Jeongin could feel the smile on Hyunjin against his neck. The older loved when he teamed up with him against the other boy, Jeongin just enjoyed watching his hyungs fight over ridiculous stuff.
“You should compensate us.”
“Yes, Minnie. What are you going to do to compensate us?” Hyunjin left his position on top of Jeongin to look at Seungmin in an intimidating way. In reality, he just looked like an excited puppy, but no one was going to tell him that, especially not Seungmin.
“What did you do to your hair?”
The shock in Jeongin’s voice could clearly be heard. For a moment he thought that the younger was somehow angry or disappointed with him, but after looking at his eyes, the only thing he could see was complete and absolute adoration.
“After our meeting, I was really in love with the color of the flowers, so I dyed it.” Hyunjin took some of his pink hair to play with it while Jeongin stared at him, he was starting to feel nervous.
“It really suits you, hyung.” The smile on Hyunjin’s face could light up an entire building, Jeongin was sure of that.
“You know what, Innie. We can spend the night together without Seungmin.” Hyunjin continued the previous line of teasing.
Seungmin’s face changed, but the dancer wasn’t sure if it was because he implied that he would be sleeping with his boyfriend or because he didn’t call him Minnie as always; either way, Hyunjin was not ready for the answer.
“Sounds good.” Jeongin was still hypnotized by Hyunjin’s hair, not paying attention to anything that wasn’t his hair.
“Oh, look how late it is.”
Both boys looked at the clock next to Seungmin’s bed. The thing marked 7:13 with bright big numbers.
“Seungmin…”
“It would be very irresponsible of me to let you go home with all the dangers outside.”
Jeongin laughed at the not common sight of silly Seungmin, and Hyunjin couldn’t help but think that he was so in love with all of that. It kinda broke his heart remembering that neither of the boys was his to call his boyfriend. Pushing the thought to a corner in his mind, he decided that he was going to enjoy all the time he had with the boy of his dreams and the love of his life even when they were the dreams and the life of someone else.
The three of them found their way to a somehow comfortable position in Seungmin’s bed. The feeling of the two boys against each of his sides made Hyunjin’s heart hurt a little.
-
Hyunjin was now waiting with his fellow 00 liners. They had agreed to meet at the coffee shop Seungmin worked in and to wait for him to finish his shift. Seungmin was especially excited that day since he and Jeongin had been planning something for the older member of their maknae line.
“Are you free yet?” Hyunjin was needy as always and Seugmin could not find him even more adorable, not that he was going to say it or anything.
“Hyunjin, let your boyfriend work.”
With that phrase, the two boys froze, not really sure how to answer that sentence.
“We are…” Hyunjin started. “We are not boyfriends, Lix. Seungmin is just a good friend.”
If he didn’t know better, Seungmin could’ve sworn that those words actually hurt him. He was about to say something when Hyunjin stood up in the middle of the coffee shop.
“I just remembered I had something to do.” The boy took his belongings and started walking to the door. “Seungmin, tell Jeongin I’m sorry. I’ll be meeting you two later… maybe.”
The door opened and closed before any of the guys could say something about it.
-
From that day, it was more and more difficult for Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jeongin to meet. Even though they still saw each other around school, in Seungmin’s work, and with the squad; the meetings between just the three of them were more and more scarce. Hyunjin would hide from the two younger ones, or he would arrive with more company, limiting their chances to properly talk about what happened at the coffee shop.
“Minnie hyung.” Called Jeongin again from the older’s bed.
They both were staring at the last message from Hyunjin canceling their plans once again to meet that night. Seungmin was starting to feel tired of all the push and pull between Hyunjin and them.
“We need a plan, Innie, and we need it now.”
They looked at each other with serious expressions before they started their own plan. Hyunjin would not have any other option than to talk to them.
-
“Now you are just being ridiculous.” Minho was returning to the living room after closing the door to Jeongin.
“Let me be petty.” Hyunjin cried on one of the couches.
He was surrounded by all the blankets he had found around the apartment. It was his second day avoiding any intent of interaction from the younger boys.
“If I stop seeing them, I won’t like them anymore.” The more Hyunjin repeated those words, the more he sounded like he needed them to convince himself of their veracity.
He was missing the sweet smile of Seungmin and the soft and strong hugs from the younger.
“Sure, tell that to yourself, maybe you could start believing it in the first place.”
“If Innie was here, he would not be so mean to me.”
“But he is not, Hyunjin, and that is the whole point. You just told me to tell the kid that I haven’t seen you.”
Hyunjin wanted to disappear right there and then. He was feeling way too guilty for ghosting them, but at the same time, he could not bring himself to see them and talk to them. It just hurt so much.
“Look, I truly care about you. That’s why I’m letting you stay here as long as you want, but you really have to talk with them.”
Hyunjin didn’t answer, but Minho knew his words had an effect on the guy hidden on his couch.
“I have a date with Jisung, feel free to cry while you are alone.”
Hyunjin watched his friend leave the apartment to later let himself fall face-first against the soft material.
When Hyunjin opened his eyes again, it was because of a weird sound that came from the entrance door. After checking his phone and confirming that it was too early for any of his hyungs to arrive home, he armed himself with the most dangerous weapon he found in the living room: a pillow.
Still covered by the blanket and with the pillow ready to attack any danger that he could face, Hyunjin headed to the source of the sound. Without entering the other room, he confirmed the presence of someone in the kitchen. So Hyunjin prepared his weapon, waiting for the stranger to exit the room. Once the figure crossed the door frame, Hyunjin swung the pillow with all the strength he had in his arms and smashed the face of the other man.
“Hyunjin, what the fuck.”
A minute later, Hyunjin was almost crying while apologizing to Seungmin. They both were now sitting back on the couch while Hyunjin was getting closer and closer to a panic attack.
“I didn’t know it was you.”
“I know, Jinnie. Stop apologizing, I’m fine.”
“I’m a terrible person, I don’t deserve to be alive in this world.”
“Hyunjin.”
“You probably hate me already.”
“Hyunjin.”
“This is the moment I die.”
“If you don’t stop talking, I’ll kiss you.”
The silence fell between them the next second with a very flustered Hyunjin and a smiley Seungmin.
“You know, I’m a little bit offended that worked.”
“I…” The more Hyunjin thought about it the redder his cheeks turned.
“It’s okay. I came here cause I asked Chan hyung to let me in. I need to talk with you.”
Hyunjin was expecting anything but Seungmin getting closer to him. Before he could register anything, he had his lap full of Seunmin and the boy holding his face between his hands so he could not look away.
“I don’t know what’s going on in that little precious head of yours, but you need to talk to us. Whatever you think is happening, we can figure it out if you communicate with the people you like.”
Seungmin was so close right now and so captivating that he could (it would be so incredibly easy) move a little and kiss the boy. Hyunjin was about to actually let himself move, but Seungmin moved one second before to get his mouth to Hyunjin’s ear.
“That would be a really tempting idea, but you made our baby really sad today, Jinnie. You’ll need to compensate him.”
The next thing he registered was Seungmin exiting the apartment, leaving an almost breathless Hyunjin behind him.
-
“It sounds very clear to me if you ask me.” Felix was stretching next to a full crisis mode Hyunjin.
“Felix is right, you should just go there and get your kisses from your boyfriends.” Hyunjin could’ve jumped over Minho if he wasn’t the one being held to stretch.
A little whine escaped from Hyunjin’s lips, no one was sure if it was from the exercise or his actual crisis.
“How does one do that? It’s not like I can just arrive and tell them that they are the boy of my dreams and the love of my life and that I want to date them both.”
“Well, that sounds actually like a good thing to say.” Felix smiles at the conflicted boy.
“Aren’t you getting a deja vu?” Minho smiled at the freckled boy. If Hyunjin wasn’t in crisis, he would maybe ask his friend what they are talking about.
“Look, maybe you don’t even have to say anything. Seungmin did all the talking last time, right? Let’s hope one of them is composed enough to carry the conversation. Let’s see where it gets you.”
-
It led him to Seungmin’s room where neither of them was talking. Hyunjin was starting to regret being in there when Jeongin straightened himself.
“I have a favorite color now.”
“So you don’t need me anymore?” Hyunjin was about to cry, damn feelings.
“What? No, that’s not what I meant. I invited you here so you can know our favorite colors.”
“You too, Seungmin?” Hyunjin actually looked surprised. If it wasn’t a different situation, Seungmin would tease the older.
“Yeah, for a couple of days. Jisung helped me to structure my idea.”
“Oh.”
“Hyunjin, stop” Before anyone could move, Seungmin was holding Hyunjin’s cheeks. “I know that you’ll start overthinking. But this is not what you think. Believe me, have I ever lied to you?”
Hyunjin shook his head and looked again in Jeongin direction. The boy was almost incapable of holding his excitement.
“Are you ready to know?” Hyunjin nodded, why was he feeling like Jeongin was about to tell him that he was pregnant? “My favorite color is pink.”
“That’s cute. It suits you.”
“I know, right? But I think that it looks cuter on you.”
Now, Hyunjin was so confused. Seungmin laughed, revealing that his confusion was rather obvious.
“It’s the color of your hair, Jinnie.”
The answer was Hyunjin’s cheeks reddening.
“Now, it’s my turn.” Seungmin left a little bag in Hyunjin's hands, just when he thought he could not be more confused.
With shaking hands, he opened the bag to reveal a simple velvet choker.
“It’s purple,” Hyunjin said. “I never imagined you’d like this kind of thing.”
“It’s not for me.”
Anticipating Hyunjin’s questions, Seungmin started talking again.
“I like purple cause it's soft, but it can be sensual, casual, gentle, and sometimes dramatic.” For some reason, Hyunjin knew they weren’t exactly talking about the color. “Purple is also the middle point of warm and cold colors, just like you are the bridge between being way too cute and maddeningly sexy.”
Hyunjin was feeling like he could explode, he looked at Jeongin desperately. “Maknae, come and pick your boyfriend, he is making weird things.”
“I don’t think that works if he is also dating you.”
“But we…”
“Well, now we are asking.” Now it was not only Seungmin but also Jeongin in front of him. “Would you date us?”
"I…"
"In case you are about to say no, this is hyung's fault."
"Mine?"
"You promised that your confession wasn't going to be so cheesy!"
"It wasn't cheesy!"
"Jinnie hyung! Tell him something!"
"I love you so much."
Both boys stopped their discussion to look at the older who look like he could start crying any second.
"Awwww, Jinnie. It's okay, we are here with you."
"Can I get my kiss now?"
"I think I'll let Innie have this one first."
"Excellent, cause I've been wanting to kiss Hyunjin's lips since day one."
Hyunjin once again was feeling like he could explode, but somehow, he wasn't opposed to the feeling.
-
"Do you think we were too hard with Hyunjin?" Felix was worried waiting for his friend in front of the studio he worked in with Minho.
"Ne, he'll be fine."
"But…"
"Oi, Felix! Guess who has two boyfriends!"
"Told you." Minho was laughing the whole time, while Hyunjin couldn't help but smile while talking about the boy of his dreams and the love of his life.