Archive of Our Own ^beta

"So, are you nervous for your first interview as an actor ?" Seungmin asks as he combs through a few knots in Hyunjin’s hair with his brush. "Or is it not that different from interviews as an idol?" 

Hyunjin chuckles at his hairstylist and shrugs. "I mean, it'll probably be different since I have to talk about different things, so I'm a little nervous, but I think I'll manage." 

"I'm sure you will," Seungmin agrees and grabs a ribbon to tie Hyunjin's long locks up into a half up half down style. 

Hyunjin is an idol with already five years of experience, and he just made his debut as an actor too, in, as expected, a romantic drama. Seungmin knows all too well that Hyunjin loves dramas, and especially romantic ones, as it often is the topic of conversation while Seungmin styles Hyunjin's hair. 

Seungmin has been Hyunjin's hairstylist for basically five years too, first as a stagiaire of Hyunjin’s former hairstylist, and later as his main hairstylist. While it's common for the staff to be friendly and relatively well acquainted with the idol they work for, Seungmin would consider himself to be a genuine friend of Hyunjin, maybe even daring to say good friend. 

It all began when Seungmin's job as a stagiaire was to make sure that Hyunjin knew when he had to be present for hairstyling and make sure he was in time for that too, and he couldn't find Hyunjin. He searched the building in panic until he found Hyunjin hiding in a closet somewhere. Seungmin felt bad for him, but he knew that he couldn't do much as the stagiaire of his hairstylist. 

When the freshly debuted idol resisted coming with Seungmin after Seungmin told him that he had to get his hair styled, Seungmin couldn't help but ask what was wrong. He didn’t necessarily expect Hyunjin to immediately open up to him, they had only exchanged a few greetings back then, but Hyunjin did tell him that he was very nervous about debuting and how the public would receive him and all that. Seungmin didn’t know what to say to that, so he just listened to Hyunjin and told him that he didn’t really know what it was like, but that he understood Hyunjin’s worries. It was really simple, but Hyunjin seemed to be grateful and he went with Seungmin to get his hair styled after, so apparently it was enough.

Seungmin watched Hyunjin’s debut performance, and he was immediately blown away. Seungmin had seen that Hyunjin was handsome, everyone saw that, but when the boy started performing, it looked like magic happened. He was so expressive, charismatic, and passionate, that Seungmin, who normally wasn’t that moved by a dance performance, couldn’t help but be swept away. He congratulated Hyunjin on a great debut performance, and the smile he got in return was so radiant, that Seungmin wouldn’t be surprised if his crush on Hyunjin started from that moment.

It happened two more times that Hyunjin was hiding when Seungmin had to get him for hairstyling, and each time, Hyunjin opened up more while Seungmin offered more advice or what he thought. One time, they were way too late because they were swept up in an almost philosophical conversation, so Seungmin quickly did Hyunjin’s hair himself and Hyunjin came up with the excuse that he got lost in the building and Seungmin saved him and did his hair while they walked back. Seungmin thinks that that was the crucial point that officially started their friendship, because from then on, Hyunjin deliberately came to him to talk, telling him that he found it nice to talk to Seungmin. Eventually, Hyunjin even asked for his number so that they could communicate more often, and Seungmin also suspects that sometimes Hyunjin came to the salon with excuses about his hair just to see Seungmin, especially after he grew his hair out. 

In conclusion, they’re good friends, and in addition, Seungmin is head over heels for Hyunjin. He doesn’t know what Hyunjin thinks of him in that regard, but it doesn’t really matter, because he doesn’t want to burden Hyunjin with his feelings when he already has all the worries that come with being an idol and now also with being an actor. 

“Hyunjin?” Hyunjin’s manager pulls Seungmin out of his trip down memory lane and Hyunjin turns a little to face his manager as Seungmin sprays Hyunjin’s hair in place. “Just checking that you are still aware of the latest changes. We’ve notified Bang Chan’s team and discussed it with them, and they agreed, so you know what to do, yeah?”

Hyunjin sighs softly and nods. “Okay. Yeah, I know what to do.”

“Great.” With that, Hyunjin’s manager is out of sight again and Seungmin curiously looks at Hyunjin, who looks a little defeated, through the mirror.

“What’s up?” he asks, massaging Hyunjin’s scalp a little. 

“Just… You know how the drama kind of blew up?” Hyunjin begins, and Seungmin nods in confirmation. 

“Yeah, as it deserves,” Seungmin chuckles. He doesn’t know if it’s because of Hyunjin being one of the main actors, but Seungmin really liked the drama, 'Made for each other', even if it wasn’t his usual taste in dramas. 

Hyunjin gives a lopsided smile before it falls again. “Anyway, because it has gotten so popular, the company had the idea to push an idea of a relationship outside of the drama too.” 

Seungmin’s heart drops and he swallows away a lump that is forming in his throat before he asks, “They want you to date Bang Chan?” Seungmin guesses that it isn’t unheard of that two actors from a romantic movie or drama date, and he also isn’t surprised that it sometimes even is fabricated, but still, Seungmin is surprised that Hyunjin, as a beginning actor, has to do it. 

“No, not date— I had that much of a say in it, thank goodness— just do some fanservice and stuff,” Hyunjin explains, obviously not looking forward to it. "Chan is super sweet and I really like him, and people already interpret my friendly gestures as romantic, but…" 

"But you hate lying and pretending to be different than you are," Seungmin finishes, and Hyunjin nods. 

"Yup. And Chan probably doesn't have any romantic interest in me either—" Hyunjin cuts himself off with a gasp. "But what if he did ? That would be worse—" 

Before Hyunjin can continue blabbering about possible scenarios, his manager announces that they will be filming some behind-the-scenes footage for the interview, so Hyunjin should be ready to be a little lovey-dovey with Chan. 

Seungmin is already done doing Hyunjin’s hair, and he doesn’t really want Hyunjin and Chan doing their fanservice right in front of him, so he sends Hyunjin off to get his makeup done. He gets out of the way when he sees the camera-people follow Chan inside the room, but he still watches how Chan greets Hyunjin and places a hand on his shoulder from behind the cameras. 

“Hey, Jinnie~” Chan calls and massages Hyunjin’s shoulder. Even though Seungmin knows that it’s exaggerated, his stomach churns in jealousy. “How’s it going?”

“Better now that you’re here.” Hyunjin winks and snickers a little at himself.

It’s a reference to what their characters say in the drama and it’s an awfully cliche thing to say in general, but Seungmin knows that the fans will absolutely eat this up. Maybe they can later develop feelings for each other, Seungmin thinks, maybe that would be good. Although it’s a very bittersweet thought for Seungmin, if Chan and Hyunjin develop feelings for each other and actually want to date, both they and their companies and the fans would be happy if they got into a relationship. That doesn’t mean that Seungmin’s heart won’t be broken, but maybe Seungmin can manage to get over his feelings before that. (Who is he kidding, though, he has been trying to get over his feelings for four years already, without success).

Seungmin unconsciously clenches his fists around the hem of his sweater as he watches Hyunjin and Chan laugh at each other’s flirty jokes, and how Chan’s hand seems to be permanently glued to Hyunjin’s back as they head out to do the interview together. He can’t help but imagine what it would be like if that was him instead of Chan, even though it only makes him yearn more for Hyunjin, for something that he can’t ask for.

He takes a break when the interview starts, both because he’s hungry and because he needs a little break to get his mind off Hyunjin. That only works for a bit, though, because he has to fix Hyunjin’s hair when the first half of the interview, the duo part, is over. There’s nothing to fix about Hyunjin’s hair, but Seungmin knows how perfectionist the industry is, so he redundantly rearranges some locks and tightens the ribbon in his hair. He likes touching Hyunjin’s long hair anyway, and he likes the way Hyunjin hums contently when Seungmin’s fingers massage his scalp.

“How was the first part?” he asks, having moved on to mindlessly kneading the skin on the junction between Hyunjin’s head and neck. 

“It was fine, uhm… quite filled with fanservice as the questions also kind of asked for it, so yeah, I wonder what the reaction will be.” Hyunjin shrugs and sighs as Seungmin continues pressing his fingers to Hyunjin’s hairline. “I hope I can be myself more for the individual interview.”

“I hope so too,” Seungmin answers, and maybe there’s a hint of selfishness hidden in that hope. 

---

“Did you see the news?” Changbin asks. 

It’s a day off for Seungmin since Hyunjin doesn’t have any schedule today that involves his hair needing styling and Seungmin doesn’t have to be at the salon, so Seungmin took the opportunity to hang out with his friends, Changbin and Minho. 

“What news?” Seungmin retorts, sipping his coffee. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“That either means that you didn’t see it yet, or that you’re dodging the question because you don’t like it,” Changbin muses, and Minho raises an eyebrow at him.

“Oh? Do tell.” Of course, Minho is intrigued now, but Seungmin would be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued either. He is mostly nervous, though, because he suspects that it’s about Hyunjin. 

“Social media and gossip magazines are full of rumors and speculations about Hyunjin and Chan’s relationship,” Changbin tells them, and while Seungmin should have expected this, his stomach drops. 

Seungmin swallows away some nerves before he shrugs, avoiding eye contact with his friends. “That was to be expected.”

“Oh please, you don’t have to hide your disappointment from us,” Minho waves off. 

“Yeah! Whether it’s expected or not, it sucks,” Changbin agrees and pats a hand on Seungmin’s shoulder. “But Hyunjin doesn’t have feelings for Chan, right? So you have that going for you.”

“True, but I don’t know, it doesn’t make me feel better,” Seungmin mutters and leans his chin on his hand. “I can’t have him anyway, but now Hyunjin isn’t even happy either.”

“It could always be worse,” Minho provides. “What if Hyunjin did have feelings for Chan, but Chan didn’t return them.”

Imagining that makes Seungmin feel even worse than he already did. He can live with the fact that his own love is practically impossible, but imagining Hyunjin dealing with an unrequited love makes Seungmin want to actually cry. 

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Seungmin whines and hides his face in his hands.

“It didn’t?!” Minho sounds surprised. “Bin, what did I do wrong this time.”

“I think you made him imagine the worse scenario,” Changbin laughs and swings an arm around Seungmin, rubbing his shoulder gently. “It’ll be okay, Seungmin. We’re here for you, and the rumors will go away once the hype around the drama has died down. You’ll survive.”

Seungmin sighs and nods. “You guys are right. This, too, will pass. There’s no use in dwelling over it when I can’t do anything about it.”

“Glad to help,” Minho winks with a grin filled with sarcasm and teasing, it makes Seungmin laugh. 

"You didn't do anything!" 

"You're laughing, aren't you?" 

" After you took credit for helping me!" Seungmin laughs even harder. 

" While. " 

"You're both right," Changbin tries, even though Seungmin is laughing and Minho is definitely enjoying himself.

"Okay fine, but then you're wrong." Minho sips his coffee as if he made sense. 

"What?!" 

Seungmin keeps on laughing as they all tease each other and joke around, and it does a good job of taking his mind off Hyunjin for a while. 

That is, until Seungmin is lying in bed that night, tossing and turning as he tries to keep Hyunjin out of his thoughts, and his phone rings. Huh? Who would call this late? he wonders as he blindly grabs for his phone. There are only two people who could call him this late, either Changbin who is completely unaware of the time while working on producing music and wants to let Seungmin hear, but Seungmin knows that that isn't the case right now since Changbin let him and Minho hear his new track this afternoon. That means that it's the other option: Hyunjin. 

Indeed, once Seungmin locates his phone, he sees that Hyunjin is calling him. He nervously picks up and tries his best to sound nonchalant as he greets Hyunjin. 

"Hey, Min. Uhm, did I wake you up?" Hyunjin asks softly, a hint of insecurity lacing his voice. 

"I was already in bed, but I wasn't asleep yet," Seungmin answers honestly. "I can talk." 

"Sure? I don't want to keep you awake." Hyunjin is ever so considerate as always, but it also sounds like he feels a little guilty. 

"You know that I would tell you if I wanted to sleep instead, right?" And that I wouldn't mind talking to you until morning if you wanted that, Seungmin thinks, but he doesn't say it. 

"Right, you always say that you voice your boundaries immediately if someone crosses them," Hyunjin chuckles softly. "Yet you've never told me anything of that. That's not because I'm famous or anything, right? Or do you think I can't handle it?" 

"Not at all!—" 

"To be fair, there is a chance that I might cry because I made you feel uncomfortable," Hyunjin continues with a little laugh. "But I will cry even more if it turns out that you didn't tell me multiple times." 

Seungmin gulps and wills away the feeling that rises up in him as Hyunjin tells him that. 

"Anyway, I cut you off, sorry. What did you want to say?" Hyunjin asks when it's silent for another beat. 

"Ah— just that you never crossed my boundaries, that's why I never told you anything like that," Seungmin confesses softly, hoping that Hyunjin won't think too much of it, that Hyunjin won't notice that Seungmin lets him do things that he doesn't allow others to do. 

"Oh," is the only thing that Hyunjin says for a few beats before he whispers, "That— that's good. I'm glad." 

Seungmin lets out a little breath in relief at Hyunjin’s reaction and smiles to himself before he realizes that Hyunjin probably called him to talk about something.

“So what did you call me for?” 

“Right,” Hyunjin sighs. “Uhm, I just wanted to rant a little, if that’s okay.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Seungmin answers. It’s usually what Hyunjin calls him for late at night, to rant about the idol industry, his insecurities, whatever he’s nervous for, and other things like that. Seungmin is always ready to listen to Hyunjin, even if he can’t always give advice. Sometimes Hyunjin just needs to let it out, and other times he just needs some reassurance that he’s doing well, but who would be better to give that reassurance to him than Seungmin, who thinks the world of Hyunjin. 

“Thank you, Minnie,” Hyunjin breathes, a smile in his voice. “It’s just that… my manager told me about the fact that there are rumors spreading about Chan and me, and it’s all positive and stuff, but just… It doesn’t sit with me well. I am gaining popularity as an actor by… not acting, and not even by being myself. I’m basically lying to people — although, I guess that would count as acting, but people don’t even know it.”

Seungmin understands Hyunjin’s frustrations. Hyunjin has dealt with the frustration of not being recognized for his hard work ever since he debuted. People thought he was just a pretty face, and yes , he was scouted by his company for his pretty face, but Hyunjin worked his ass off to build up his singing, dancing, rapping, and later even his songwriting skills. Seungmin didn’t know Hyunjin before he debuted, but Hyunjin told him that he couldn’t dance, sing, or rap at all when he got scouted, so Seungmin knows that he has made major progress in his trainee years. 

“It’s just — I worked hard on my acting, and I guess people do like it considering that the drama did well even before we did any fanservice, but still… it’s not the focus, you know? Am I making sense?” 

Seungmin chuckles light-heartedly, before he answers seriously, “Yeah, it makes sense. It’s only understandable that you want to be recognized for what you worked for. It’s frustrating.”

“It is,” Hyunjin mutters defeatedly, and Seungmin imagines that he’s pouting. 

“If it makes you feel any better, I have seen how much you’ve improved on your acting in the last year. I have seen how hard you’ve worked and how much that paid off,” he tells his friend. “If I can see it, I’m sure others will too, but even if they don’t, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t there, and you can still be proud of yourself. You’re such a hard worker.”

“That’s really sweet of you to say, Minnie. Thank you, I’ll try to be proud of myself.” Hyunjin sounds grateful. “Chan also told me that he was impressed with my acting, and he’s an established actor, so I guess I have that too…”

At the mention of Chan, Seungmin can’t help but feel jealousy bubbling up in his stomach, even though he feels like there’s a ‘but’ coming from Hyunjin. “But..?”

Hyunjin sighs from the other end of the line and hums. “But… gosh, I’m really complaining a lot, aren’t I?”

“Not really, but even if you were, it’s okay to vent, I am not judging,” Seungmin assures. He wishes he could be there with Hyunjin right now to hug him. 

“Ah… Thank you again, Minnie. Feel free to tell me to shut up so that you can go to sleep whenever,” Hyunjin chuckles at himself, but there’s a slightly bitter tone to it. “I just… I mean, I knew that becoming an idol would mean that my love life would get… complicated, but I guess I didn’t expect that I’d have to basically pretend to be in love with someone I’m not.”

Seungmin hums to show that he’s listening, but it’s hard to do when his throat feels like it’s closing up and his hands are getting clammy. 

“I just want to love whoever I want.” 

Seungmin sucks in a breath at that, thoughts racing through his mind, almost making him dizzy. Is there someone that Hyunjin loves..? Seungmin wonders. He’s incredibly curious, but the question gets stuck in his throat.

“I don’t want to fake flirt with someone, I don’t want to deceive people,” Hyunjin continues when Seungmin stays silent. “Especially not when…” He cuts himself off with a sigh and Seungmin holds his breath in anticipation. “Nevermind. Maybe I’m asking for too much.”

“You’re not.” That much Seungmin can say. “You deserve to have a normal love life.”

Hyunjin is silent for a moment and Seungmin wants to crawl through the phone and see what his expression is, what he’s thinking. Then Hyunjin sighs. 

“You always know what to say, Min, thank you,” he eventually says, and Seungmin wonders even more what he thought about. “I wish I could give you a hug right now.” 

That thought makes a warm feeling bloom in Seungmin’s chest. 

“Me too,” Seungmin whispers before he even notices it himself. There’s nothing more he wants right now than hold Hyunjin in his arms and tell him that everything will be alright, but unfortunately, he can’t single-handedly convince both Hyunjin’s company and the fans to let Hyunjin love freely and make sure that when Hyunjin has someone that he loves, they love Hyunjin back, however much he wishes he could. 

“Anyway, it’s late and we both have a schedule tomorrow, so maybe we should hang up.” Hyunjin breaks their comfortable silence after a moment, his voice warm and comforting as usual. “Thank you as always, Seungmin. I think I’ll be able to sleep better now.”

“I’m glad.” Seungmin smiles. He knows that Hyunjin often has trouble sleeping because he thinks too much, that’s why he sometimes calls Seungmin, and Seungmin is all too happy to help him. “Sleep well, Hyunjin.” 

“Sleep well, Minnie.” 

They both hesitate before hanging up, as if there’s still something to be said, but Seungmin doesn’t know why he feels that way, so he pulls himself together and finally hangs up. He lies down again with a sigh and closes his eyes, noticing that his heart is beating faster than usual. It’s always the question whether Seungmin can immediately fall asleep after calling Hyunjin, either he’ll stay awake thinking about him or Hyunjin will have calmed him and made him feel warm enough that he quickly eases into sleep. Fortunately today it’s the latter scenario, and Seungmin soon drifts off into a sleep filled with dreams about Hyunjin. 

---

Seungmin is a little tired as he braids Hyunjin’s hair for his meet and greet the next day. Hyunjin doesn’t look any better, almost falling asleep in his chair as Seungmin works on his hair. He probably had to get up a while earlier than Seungmin, and Seungmin knows how much Hyunjin likes his sleep, so he feels for his friend. 

“Are you excited for the meet and greet?” he asks, hoping he can lift up Hyunjin’s spirits. “You have all kinds of fun things planned, right? And it’s always nice to see the fans.”

“It is,” Hyunjin agrees, giving a small smile. “I’m just a little tired, and…” he trails off, eyeing to the side quickly where Chan is getting his makeup done before he shakes his head. “Yeah, but I’ll get over the tiredness. I love the hair, by the way. Did you come up with it again?”

Seungmin sputters surprisedly and blushes. “Yeah, I did.”

“It’s great. I love the ribbon and decorative pin. And of course the braid.” Hyunjin smiles wider now. “With this I can definitely go and meet the fans confidently.”

“As if you couldn’t otherwise,” Seungmin huffs and waves Hyunjin off. “It’s you that makes the hair look great—”

Seungmin is startled by Hyunjin’s manager telling Hyunjin that they’ll be filming behind the scenes again, and Seungmin feels his cheeks burn, realizing that he forgot to check for cameras before saying such a thing in the first place. He presses his lips together and silently finishes styling Hyunjin’s hair as Hyunjin answers some questions they ask him while filming. 

Seungmin feels like he needs to splash his face with some cold water after that, and when he returns, he already sees Hyunjin and Chan ready to get on stage and greet the fans. When they get the cue to go, Seungmin sees Chan’s hand finding its way to the small of Hyunjin’s back again, and that combined with the sound of hundreds of people screaming, cheering, and yelling almost makes Seungmin feel sick. Yet he can’t tear his eyes away from the stage where the main actors of 'Made for each other' greet their fans and Chan steadily keeps his hand on Hyunjin’s shoulder as if saying he’s mine. At least, that’s how it feels to Seungmin. 

They start off with a brief question and answer, and, of course, a few fans ask about the details of romantic scenes between Hyunjin and Chan, and someone even asks if they’re in a relationship, but luckily the staff tells the fans to keep the questions related to the drama and acting. 

“While filming, did you think that Hyunjin was a good kisser?” a fan asks Chan, and Seungmin’s heart almost stops. When watching the drama, Seungmin could kind of imagine himself instead of Chan, but now he is painfully reminded that Chan has kissed Hyunjin and knows how it feels like, and Seungmin doesn't. 

"Oh he definitely is, have you seen his lips?" Chan winks easily, making the fans scream and Seungmin dig his nails into his palms as he clenches his fists, hoping that that will keep him from getting too jealous. 

Hyunjin huffs and playfully pushes Chan's shoulder, his ears turning red. "Chan is the better kisser, though. Don't let yourself be fooled." 

Hyunjin says it with such confidence that, even though Seungmin knows that Hyunjin doesn't have feelings for Chan, his words still pierce through Seungmin's heart like knives. 

Chan laughs and says that that's subjective, and the emcee comments that that means we know Hyunjin's opinion on Chan as a kisser now, and it's all just too much for Seungmin. 

He turns around and is about to walk away when he hears the next question. 

"Would you want a romance like in the drama in real life too?" 

Seungmin doesn't know why he stops in his tracks, but he is somehow curious about the answer. 

"Well, I am personally a real romantic. I love watching these kinds of dramas with a passionate love," Hyunjin answers, and Seungmin almost automatically turns around to see Hyunjin's eyes sparkle. "And in dramas, you always have moments where the lovers fight or they're on the verge of breaking up or something like that, but if I am honest…" he pauses a beat before he continues, "In real life, it would be nice to have a more… calm relationship. A relationship with someone who I trust and who gets me, someone who accepts me without a fight, and someone who is willing to listen to me and just be there for me." 

Seungmin's eyes widen and his mind starts racing simultaneously with his heart. Someone who is willing to listen to me, his mind repeats. Me?— He stops the thought as soon as it enters his mind. Don't be delusional, maybe he means someone like me, or he doesn't even know that he could be referring to me. 

Still, there's a small voice asking him, what if he does mean you? But Seungmin isn't ready for that yet, he wouldn't know what to do with it. He needs to know for sure that Hyunjin wants him as much as Seungmin wants Hyunjin before he even dares to talk to Hyunjin about it, afraid that Hyunjin will risk a scandal for a relationship that he isn't even sure about. 

"I agree with Hyunjin. While it's fun to act out a relationship with lots of ups and downs and tumult, and it's also interesting to watch, I would also like a calmer relationship in real life." Chan's voice sounds. 

"Ah, so you two have similar wants for a relationship," the emcee exclaims loudly, and Seungmin flinches. "No wonder your chemistry is off the charts both in the drama and outside of it! Shall I call it: 'Made for each other' ?" 

The fans yell again and that is the final drop for Seungmin. He can't listen to this anymore, he can't watch this anymore. He turns around and makes a beeline to the bathroom, locking himself in one of the stalls, feeling sick in the stomach. 

Pull yourself together, Seungmin! he reprimands himself. He knows that there are no feelings between Hyunjin and Chan, so why does them pretending to be in love hurt so much? Why does his stomach churn and anger bubble up whenever he sees that the fans all seem to be convinced that the two are dating? Why does he feel even more powerless than usual, which makes him want to cry?

He doesn't cry, though, he just sits with his head in his hands, trying to calm himself down with rational thoughts. Once he's calm, he heads to the staff break room to eat something. After that, he feels like he can check backstage again, he knows that the actors have a break soon anyway, so he probably needs to be there to fix Hyunjin's hair then. 

"And we have some good news before we take a little break." Seungmin hears the emcee say. "'Made for each other' has been nominated for the drama of the year award!" 

Both the crowd, the actors, and the staff backstage erupt into cheers, and Seungmin sees Hyunjin jump into Chan’s arms, Chan spinning the younger around in happiness. The sight reminds Seungmin of a scene in the drama and it puts a damper on his happiness, even though he really tries his best to be happy for his friend right now. He is happy that the drama is nominated for an award, absolutely, but right now his jealousy is in the way of feeling that happiness. 

Once the actors return from the stage, Seungmin wants to run up to Hyunjin to hug him, but he stops when he sees the cameras following them, so instead he just claps along with the rest of the staff and smiles when Hyunjin finds his gaze to beam at him. 

“First drama and immediately nominated for an award? Talk about a great actor debut.” Chan rubs a hand over Hyunjin’s shoulder, looking all too proud. Seungmin has no idea if it’s genuine, but somehow he feels like it is. It doesn’t help Seungmin’s jealousy that Chan is a genuinely kind guy. “Totally deserved.”

Hyunjin blushes and waves Chan off. “I don’t think it was due to my efforts. I had a lot of great help, though.”

“Ever so humble. Give yourself some credit, okay?” Chan smiles, and for once Seungmin softens and is thankful for Chan, because Chan is right. 

Hyunjin smiles a little embarrassedly as he nods and mumbles a thank you. When they’re done talking to each other, Seungmin stealthily shuffles over to fix Hyunjin’s hair a little. 

“Congratulations,” he whispers as there are still cameras around. “I’m so happy for you. As Chan said, totally deserved.”

Hyunjin smiles and softly thanks Seungmin. They can't really talk much, but Seungmin also doesn't really have anything to say, and he’s okay with just peacefully fixing Hyunjin’s hair. 

The second part of Hyunjin’s meet and greet is more filled with games and events, so it’s luckily less filled with fanservice that Seungmin’s mind can’t dismiss as what it is: fanservice. 

After the event is over, he hears Hyunjin and Chan and their managers talk about celebrating the nomination soon, and Seungmin wishes that he could do that too, but Hyunjin is probably way too busy already. Even if Hyunjin does have his rare free time, it’s not guaranteed that he would want to spend it with Seungmin anyway. 

When the cameras are off and all the staff and actors have thanked each other for their hard work, Seungmin runs up to catch up with Hyunjin before he leaves together with his manager. 

“Hyun!” he calls and places a hand on his shoulder. 

Hyunjin and his manager turn around with a curious and an unamused look, making Seungmin feel a bit embarrassed and doubt his decision to go talk to Hyunjin without any cameras. He can’t really go back now, though, so he goes through with what he wanted to do, which is hug Hyunjin.

“I just wanted to say congratulations again,” he mutters as Hyunjin tightly hugs him back, laying his head on Seungmin’s shoulder for a moment.

“Thank you, Minnie,” Hyunjin sighs contently. “I appreciate it.”

Seungmin would love to hug Hyunjin for longer, but his manager tells Hyunjin that they should go, so they can’t. It’s okay, though, because Hyunjin happily waves Seungmin goodbye before he leaves, and it looks like the hug did Hyunjin good. 

--- 

Seungmin is in the salon where he works when he isn’t with Hyunjin at any schedule, just finishing up styling someone’s hair before he has a break. He wishes that Hyunjin would stop by with some half-assed excuse just to keep him company, but he knows that Hyunjin is too busy at the moment. 

He scrolls through some news sites as he eats his lunch, smiling when he sees some comments praising Hyunjin for his acting under the article that announces the drama’s nomination for drama of the year. Hyunjin probably will never see it, but Seungmin leaves a little comment of his own under the article, praising his hard work and passion. 

As if that summoned him, Seungmin hears the door to the salon open and Hyunjin’s voice asking where he can find Seungmin. Not much later, the door to the break room opens and Hyunjin’s head peeks around the corner, showing his pretty smile. 

“Hi, Minnie,” he greets him.

“Hey,” Seungmin greets back after swallowing the last bits of food. “What are you doing here? Uhm, you have that celebratory dinner tonight, right?”

Hyunjin nods and fully enters the room, sitting across from Seungmin. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here.”

Seungmin stares at him, his brain not being able to process what Hyunjin means by what he says. Hyunjin fondly chuckles and continues,

“So that you can style my hair prettily for the dinner! If you have time, of course, otherwise I’ll figure out something myself.”

“Ah, of course!” Seungmin laughs when his brain catches up to things, and he imagines Hyunjin trying to convince his manager to take him to the hair salon to get his hair done even though there won’t be any cameras. “What kind of style did you have in mind?”

“Well, it’s just a kind of fancy dinner, so do whatever you feel like would fit that. I brought a few of my hairpins for you to go wild with,” Hyunjin chuckles as he twirls a lock of hair around his finger. “I trust you enough to leave it all up to you.” 

Seungmin feels a bit of heat creep up his neck as he nods before he stands up and ushers Hyunjin with him to the main part of the salon so that they can get started. 

“You know, I happened to see an article about the drama’s nomination, and a lot of comments were positive about your acting!” Seungmin tells him happily as he brushes the other’s hair. 

“Really?” Hyunjin’s whole face lights up and it’s adorable. “I haven’t had the time to check any articles or comments, but that’s amazing! Thanks for telling me, now I can go to the dinner in a good mood.”

Seungmin smiles through the mirror before he raises an eyebrow. “You weren’t in a good mood already? Or do you mean better mood?”

Hyunjin’s bright smile falls a little, but not to the extent that it worries Seungmin.

“Oh yeah, no, I’m excited to go to the dinner. It’ll be nice to hang out with everyone without cameras,” Hyunjin assures, and Seungmin feels the ‘but’ coming. “But my manager told me that because the drama is doing so well, I will probably have to keep up my, uhm, teasing with Chan.” The smile that was on Hyunjin’s lips keeps on getting more forced as he speaks, and now it does worry Seungmin, also because thinking about Hyunjin and Chan together makes his stomach churn uncomfortably.

“And he said they’re even thinking about making us date for real, but then, like, fake,” Hyunjin mutters, looking down with a scowl. Now that truly makes Seungmin’s heart drop and a lump form in his throat. 

“But—” Seungmin’s voice cracks and he clears his throat. “But you said that you had a say in it, right? Did you change your mind?” 

Seungmin hates how you can hear the slight panic in his voice, but it doesn’t seem like Hyunjin notices, he is still looking down at his hands that are folded on his lap. 

“I did have a say in it— I still kind of do, but they’re saying that if people get too demanding for a statement on our relationship, the fans might get mad if we’re not really dating,” Hyunjin explains, his expression conflicted. “Nothing is set in stone yet, and I said that I would still rather not do it, but you never know, right? I don’t know what Chan would say, and if our opinions will even matter if it comes down to it.”

Seungmin gulps and is glad that Hyunjin isn’t looking at him right now, otherwise he would definitely notice that Seungmin looks paler than usual. 

“That— I… I’m sorry, Hyunjin, that sucks.” Seungmin has no idea what to say, but he is already happy that he gets something out of his dry throat. “I wish I could do something.”

“It’s okay, I understand that there’s nothing that you can really do.” Hyunjin shakes his head as much as he can with Seungmin styling his hair (not that Seungmin was paying much attention to that at the moment). “I already appreciate that you just listen to me, but you can also tell me if you ever get sick of me venting to you.”

“You don’t vent that often,” Seungmin waves off, glad that his brain gets a distraction from the previous topic. “Lately you just have had to deal with a lot of new things and things that you don’t really want to do, so it’s okay. I appreciate that you trust me enough to tell me what is bothering you.”

“I do.” Hyunjin nods and looks at Seungmin with a curious and slightly insecure look through the mirror. “Do… you trust me like that too?”

Seungmin’s eyes widen a little, not having expected that question, but he knows the answer all too well. 

“Of course I do,” he answers resolutely, and Hyunjin’s eyes sparkle in response. “It’s just that often you’re busy and I know that you have plenty to deal with already, so I don’t want to burden you with my own insignificant worries.”

Hyunjin opens his mouth to protest, but Seungmin quickly adds, “I don’t have that many worries anyway, so it’s fine.”

Hyunjin huffs, pouting. “But still your worries aren’t insignificant.”

Seungmin smiles, his heart swelling a little at Hyunjin’s words. “I know, and I have my friends to talk to whenever you’re busy, so it’s all fine.”

“That’s good.” Hyunjin nods in understanding, but he still seems a little disappointed. He opens his mouth and closes it again a few times, so Seungmin patiently waits until he finds the right words. “I just… If you want, you can— If I’m not busy, and you aren’t either, we can maybe call more often, and just, like, talk? Instead of only whenever I have something to whine about.”

Seungmin takes a deep breath to calm himself down and refrain from any thoughts that he shouldn’t have, but he is really moved by the fact that Hyunjin wants to talk more despite his busy schedule, and that he seems to want to be a source of comfort for Seungmin whenever he has worries too. Little does Hyunjin know that he already is a great source of comfort for Seungmin, even if Seungmin doesn’t really share his worries with Hyunjin often. 

“I would like that, yes,” Seungmin says while trying to hold back a big smile. “Anyway, I did a little braid and pinned your hair back with your favorite golden hairpin. Do you like it?”

Hyunjin moves his head around to see all the details in his hair as Seungmin holds a mirror behind his head too. 

“I love it!” He beams at Seungmin before standing up to give him a hug. “Thank you.”

Seungmin chuckles at Hyunjin’s sudden show of affection and rubs over his back. “No problem.” He sighs softly in contentment when Hyunjin only hugs him tighter. “I wish I could celebrate your accomplishments with you too,” he admits before he even notices what he’s saying. 

Hyunjin nods on his shoulder. “I wish I could bring you along to the dinner, but my manager said that the reservations were already made and that this dinner is for the people more closely involved in the production of the drama.”

Seungmin pulls out of the hug and looks at Hyunjin incredulously. “You asked if you could bring me along?”

Hyunjin blushes and shrugs. “I just asked if I could bring others along to celebrate, and I had you in mind.”

A blush mirroring Hyunjin’s creeps up on Seungmin’s neck at the thought of Hyunjin wanting to bring Seungmin along to celebrate even though he didn’t even know whether Seungmin wanted that yet. 

“Well, I’ll be there in spirit, so have fun, okay?” Seungmin grins widely and Hyunjin mirrors it. 

“Will do! I’ll text or call you about it later, yeah?” His eyes sparkle again as his smile turns a little bashful. “Maybe, if I can find the time somehow, we can still celebrate it together later.”

Seungmin’s heart skips a beat, and the word ‘date’ pops up into his head. “Yeah— hopefully.”

With that, Hyunjin says goodbye to Seungmin, leaving him behind with a racing mind and heart. He shakes his head to get back to reality. It’s not a date until Hyunjin explicitly states it, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I don’t even know if it’ll happen, he thinks, but, gosh, he hopes that it can happen. 

---

Seungmin is relaxing in bed, reading a book, when his phone rings. Hmm? He isn’t expecting anyone to call, Hyunjin is probably still out celebrating, and his friends and family usually text before calling. 

He grabs his phone and sees that it is Hyunjin who’s calling. Immediately his heartbeat speeds up and his hands get a little clammy with nerves, wondering why Hyunjin is calling him right now, so he quickly accepts the call. 

“Hey, Hyunjin?” His greeting comes out more as a question than he intended. 

“Minnie!” Hyunjin exclaims through the phone, startling Seungmin. “You picked up!”

“Uhm, yes, of course. What’s up?” Seungmin is a little confused. 

“I just called you to — to tell you how much I appreciate you,” Hyunjin slurs dramatically, hiccuping. He sounds drunk. “And to finally tell you that I’m in love with you.” 

Seungmin’s heart stops and he drops his phone from his hands, almost throwing it across the room in surprise. He quickly scrambles to pick it up again, hearing Hyunjin calling his name through the phone. 

“I— what?” Seungmin chokes out once he has his phone against his ear again. His heart is trying to pound out of his chest. “Hyunjin— are you drunk?”

“I might be,” Hyunjin chuckles and hiccups again. He is definitely drunk. “But I said that I love you, Minnie. I don’t want to fake date Chan and he doesn’t want that either, I want to be with you — ”

“Stop, Hyunjin.” Seungmin stops the other before he actually causes Seungmin’s heart to jump out of his chest with his words. “You’re drunk, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

"I do know what I'm saying," Hyunjin protests stubbornly with a pout in his voice. "I'm in love with you, I have been for a while—" 

"Hyunjin— please, don't." Seungmin's voice cracks. 

"Why not?" Hyunjin sounds so fragile now, it makes Seungmin feel like an asshole. "Because you don't love me back?" 

"No, I do— but I'm not doing this over the phone while you're drunk," Seungmin tells him seriously, using all his strength to keep his voice steady and suppress his own emotions, but his mind is still racing. "Where are you right now? Who is with you?" 

"At the bar of the restaurant with Channie and the rest. Uhm, my manager is somewhere, I think. Or did he already go home?— I didn't listen." Hyunjin laughs at himself, already distracted from the previous topic. "Channie and the rest encouraged me to call you to confess." 

"Are they as drunk as you are?" Seungmin asks. He needs to know to who Hyunjin is spilling this all, he doesn't want him to ruin his career because of a drunk mood. 

"Yes— well, except for Channie." 

That's somewhat of a relief, most of them will probably not remember anything that Hyunjin said. "Can I talk to him?" 

Hyunjin easily hands over his phone to Chan and Chan greets him. 

"Hi, mister Bang. Uhm, can I talk to you for a minute?" 

Chan chuckles from the other side of the line. "Yeah, sure. And please, call me Chan, it's fine." 

Seungmin breathes out in relief that Chan seems to be chill. 

"Okay, uhm, Chan, may I ask what happened? Why Hyunjin is suddenly drunkenly calling me to confess his feelings?" Seungmin can't stop his voice from trembling. 

"Ah, yeah, that. Do you know about Hyunjin and my, uhm, professional arrangement?" Chan asks and Seungmin confirms. "We were talking about that, and then about our love lives, so Hyunjin brought up that he has someone that he loves, but that he is afraid to tell him, so everyone encouraged him to talk to you. I didn't really mean that he had to call you right now, but I guess he did interpret it that way, and the rest encouraged him further, so that's how it happened."

It seems like Hyunjin didn't reveal too much about them, which is a small relief, but it also seems like Chan wouldn't use it against them. 

"Okay," Seungmin breathes, still not really sure what to think about Hyunjin's confession. "Uhm…" 

Chan is silent too as Seungmin tries to use his scrambled brain to think about what he should ask or say to Chan. When it takes too long, Chan speaks up. 

"Look. I know that this all is none of my business, but Hyunjin really seems to care about you," he begins, and it's a lot to hear from someone like Chan. "And I know that it's not nothing to have a celebrity as a friend, much less to have him have feelings for you, but please at least talk to him? Whether you return his feelings or not." 

“I— I will.” Seungmin already was planning to do this, but Chan doesn’t know that. He thinks it’s sweet of Chan to defend Hyunjin like that, though. “It’s— he might just be thinking that he likes me because he’s drunk, though.”

“That’s possible, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to talk about, right?” Chan says, and, again, Seungmin agrees with him. “He’s drunk, not hypnotized or high or something, so it has to come from somewhere.” 

"I guess you're right," Seungmin sighs softly, his cheeks feeling warm. "But, uhm, you don't mind? I mean— nothing might happen between us, but still, you do have that arrangement with Hyunjin." 

Chan chuckles friendly. "Don't worry about that. I won't be in your way. In fact, I'll try to help if I can. After all, I encouraged Hyunjin to talk to you too." 

"Ah, thank you so much, Chan. Really." For the first time since he accepted his crush on Hyunjin, Seungmin feels like Hyunjin is actually within his reach, romantically speaking, but still it’s about ten steps too early to think about that right now. He really appreciates Chan offering to help, though. “How is Hyunjin doing right now? Did you guys have fun celebrating?”

“Oh definitely! We all had a lot of fun,” Chan tells him happily before he hums. “ Uhm… Oh, Hyunjin’s passed out.” Seungmin can hear the awkwardness in Chan’s voice. 

Seungmin sighs, but he guesses that that means that whatever they were talking about before Hyunjin got this drunk was really bothering him. 

“Okay, I can come to pick him up. Or is his manager still around?” 

Chan hums as he probably looks around. “I’m not sure, but he might have drunk a glass or two too.”

“I’ll come to pick him up, then, and I’ll text his manager.” Seungmin decides. He knows that Hyunjin doesn’t have any schedules tomorrow anyway. 

“I’ll make sure he wakes up by then and hopefully also a little more sober,” Chan chuckles. 

“Thank you again, Chan. I’ll be there in a few.”

“Good luck. Bye.”

Seungmin hangs up and lets out a breath in relief. Chan is, as Hyunjin already said, really sweet, also to people who are not his coworkers. As Seungmin gets inside his car, though, a heavy feeling settles in his stomach, because he remembers what Hyunjin told him. Does he really..? Seungmin shakes the thought away. Right now is not the time. Not yet. First, Hyunjin needs to get sober and get home safely. 

When he arrives at the restaurant, he sees Hyunjin (awake, luckily) leaning on Chan. Both Hyunjin and Chan’s eyes widen when they see Seungmin. Chan probably because he recognizes Seungmin as Hyunjin’s hairstylist, and Seungmin doesn’t know the reason for Hyunjin. 

“Minnie!” Hyunjin exclaims and runs up to him to hug him. “You came for me.”

“I did—”

“Does that mean that you love me back?” Hyunjin pulls back and looks at Seungmin with big watery eyes. 

Seungmin’s resolve is a hair’s width away from breaking, but he pulls through. “I— I said that we’re going to talk about that when you’re sober, okay? Let’s go home.”

Hyunjin pouts but relents, draping himself over Seungmin’s shoulder so that his hairstylist can drag him outside and to his car after Hyunjin says goodbye to Chan. Seungmin then asks for Hyunjin’s phone so that he can text his manager to let him know that Seungmin is taking Hyunjin home. 

“Are we going to my home or your home?” Hyunjin asks as Seungmin starts driving. 

Seungmin hesitates for a moment. His first plan was to drop Hyunjin off at Hyunjin’s own place, but he doesn’t actually know if that’s the best idea, so he decides to ask for Hyunjin’s opinion.

“Uhm, what do you want? Do you want to be dropped off at your place? Do you want me to stay with you?—”

“I want you to stay with me,” Hyunjin answers immediately. “It doesn’t matter where we go, I just want to be with you.”

Seungmin takes a deep breath in order to prevent himself from having a breakdown while driving. “O-okay. We’ll go to my place, then. It’s closer.” And less chance that there will be people who know Hyunjin that can see us together. 

It’s silent for a while after that, and Seungmin spots Hyunjin staring forward with a thoughtful frown when they stop at a traffic light for a moment. Seungmin wonders what he’s thinking about, and if he’s already sobering up a little, but before he can ask, Hyunjin already speaks up. 

“Are you mad at me, Minnie?” he asks softly, and Seungmin’s heart breaks a little. 

“Not at all,” Seungmin answers in an equally hushed voice. “I could never be mad at you.”

Hyunjin whimpers and Seungmin’s heart drops when he hears his friend sniffling. Fortunately, they are just arriving at Seungmin’s place, so Seungmin quickly parks before he yanks his seatbelt off and turns to Hyunjin, gently cupping his jaw.

“Hey, why are you crying?”

“I just— you’re the best friend I could ever wish for, and I— I would do anything for you— and you are so sweet to me always,” Hyunjin tells him with hitched breaths, and it makes Seungmin's ears feel like they are on fire. 

“I— I try my best, thank you, Hyunjin,” Seungmin whispers before swallowing away a lump in his throat. “Even though you might be exaggerating because you’re drunk, it means a lot to me that you say that, because... you are the same to me.” Hyunjin might not remember that Seungmin tells him this, but that doesn’t mean that drunk Hyunjin shouldn’t hear it.

Hyunjin pulls Seungmin into a hug again, and it's a bit uncomfortable for Seungmin to lean over the console, but Hyunjin's head finding its way to the crook of Seungmin's neck partly makes up for it. Hyunjin mumbles something unintelligible through his sobs, so Seungmin cards a hand through his long hair to try to calm him down. 

"Let's go inside, okay?" he suggests when Hyunjin seems to be calm again, and Hyunjin nods before placing a sneaky kiss on Seungmin’s shoulder. Seungmin jolts and flushes, but he lets it slide and instead ushers Hyunjin to his apartment.

Once they get into Seungmin's small apartment, Hyunjin looks around in awe. It's the first time that Hyunjin is at Seungmin's place, because the rare occasions where they would hang out would either be at the salon, Hyunjin's place, or somewhere else. 

"You live here?" Hyunjin asks, and Seungmin nods. Then Hyunjin grabs Seungmin's shoulders and looks at him sternly. "I'll give you money so that you can live more comfortably, as you deserve." 

Seungmin laughs and shakes his head. Hyunjin will obviously need to sleep off his drunkenness for a whole night, and maybe Seungmin needs to give him some extra water and food too. 

"I'm serious!" Hyunjin tells him with a small pout and rosy cheeks. "Just like that I will try to be the best boyfriend— or friend— that you could ever wish for, depending on what you want." 

Seungmin presses his lips together and looks down at that, trying to keep himself together, but it's hard when Hyunjin cups his jaw and makes him look up into Hyunjin's sparkling eyes again. Hyunjin slowly moves closer until his warmth radiates onto Seungmin, and his breath hits Seungmin’s lips.

“I love you, Seungmin,” he whispers and wants to close the gap between them, but Seungmin squeezes his eyes shut and pushes Hyunjin away in surprise. 

His whole head feels like it’s on fire, his heart is pounding harshly, and it feels like he can’t breathe.

“You— can’t just say that, Hyunjin.” 

Hyunjin looks hurt and it makes Seungmin feel even worse. “Why not?”

“Because—” Seungmin’s voice breaks as he holds back a sob. “Damnit— because how can I know that you’re serious when you’re drunk?” He frustratedly wipes at his eyes, hating that he’s crying. “And— and even if you’re serious, we— we can’t just decide to date! You need to think about the fans, your reputation, your arrangement with Chan— what if it turns out that you don't want it after all?—” 

Hyunjin frowns and steps closer to cup Seungmin’s cheeks and wipe his tears away with his thumbs, startling the younger a little. “But I told you that I’d do anything for you, right? That includes doing everything that I can to make sure that we can be together if you want that too—”

Seungmin shakes his head and steps back, making Hyunjin remove his hands from his cheeks. 

“I said— that we’ll talk about it when you’re sober,” Seungmin says with as much of a final tone as he can manage with his hitched breaths. “Then— then you can think clearly about what you’re saying and what consequences are tied to that.”

"I'm sorry, Minnie." Hyunjin presses his lips together sadly, and Seungmin has to look away, or else he'll break again. 

"It's okay— I'm not mad," Seungmin mutters shakily before he fully turns away and heads to the kitchen. "Anyway, I'll get you some food and water. Is ramen okay?" 

"Yeah," Hyunjin answers softly. 

"Okay, I'll be right back. Make yourself at home." 

Seungmin blinks away his tears, tries to steady his breaths, and tries to clear his mind as he prepares some ramen and a glass of water for Hyunjin. He hopes that he can make Hyunjin happy again without himself getting a breakdown from talking about his feelings. 

Once he comes back, he sees Hyunjin sitting with his head in his hands at Seungmin's small dining table. He looks up when Seungmin sets down the bowl of ramen and glass of water, and his eyes, nose, and cheeks look red. Seungmin knows that Hyunjin gets emotional when he's drunk, but still it pains him, since it's because of him. But logically Seungmin knows that it's best to have this conversation tomorrow, and not right now. 

"Thanks, Min," Hyunjin breathes with a fragile voice. 

"No problem." Seungmin shuffles closer to Hyunjin with his chair and rubs a comforting hand over his back as he eats his ramen, as a sort of promise that he's not mad and that they'll talk it all out together. 

It's silent as Hyunjin slurps up his food, and Seungmin finally notices how tired he is. Hyunjin seems to be the same, judging by his hooded eyes and yawns in between bites, so Seungmin thinks it’s time to head to sleep soon. 

He just hums a song that is stuck in his head as he waits for Hyunjin to finish up, and Hyunjin sways his head along. After that, he helps Hyunjin wash up, unbraiding his hair as Hyunjin hums in contentment, and handing him some of Seungmin's clothes to wear as pajamas. Hyunjin looks cute when he's sleepy, and Seungmin blushes when seeing him in his clothes, but he shakes the feeling away. 

"You can sleep in my bed, I'll sleep on the couch," he says, but Hyunjin grabs his arm and shakes his head. 

“Stay with me? There’s enough room in your bed,” Hyunjin pleads even though Seungmin’s bed is barely big enough for the two of them to lie side to side. “I don’t mind lying under you.”

“Won’t you get hot, though?” Seungmin counters, ignoring his own warm cheeks. He knows that Hyunjin both quickly gets hot and cold, so he doesn’t want him to be uncomfortable when sleeping. 

“Maybe, but I want to sleep with you,” Hyunjin pouts and Seungmin flushes even more. “Oh! I can just sleep in my underwear, and then you’ll kind of be my pajama.”

Seungmin almost chokes on air as Hyunjin almost throws off the clothes that Seungmin gave him again, and Seungmin almost can’t feel hotter. 

“O-okay, uhm, I’ll be washing up and I’ll be back in a sec,” he says and quickly slips out of the room.

He washes his face with the cool water and takes a second to calm down. Drunk Hyunjin is a lot to deal with, especially when he thinks that he’s in love with Seungmin. Seungmin had dealt with tipsy Hyunjin before and had seen that he got even more emotional than usual, but drunk Hyunjin is a whole other force. Seungmin gladly deals with any type of Hyunjin, though, because it’s Hyunjin, and Seungmin is still completely head over heels for him. 

He returns to a sleepy Hyunjin spreading his arms and waiting for Seungmin to climb on top of him. Seungmin does so and yelps when Hyunjin all but yanks him on top of himself, enveloping him in his warm arms and humming happily.

“Are you comfy too, Minnie?” he asks, eyes already closed. “I am.”

Seungmin shuffles down and lays his head on Hyunjin's chest before nodding. “I am too. If you get too hot, don’t be afraid to tell me to go sleep on the couch, okay?”

Hyunjin hums sleepily, but Seungmin isn’t sure if he actually processed what Seungmin said. It doesn’t really matter, because Hyunjin will hopefully sleep like a log for the whole night. Seungmin is a tad nervous to wake up tomorrow, but he is honestly too tired to overthink things right now, and Hyunjin is too warm and comfortable, so he falls asleep within a few minutes. 

---

Seungmin slowly wakes up, feeling warm and snug, so he wiggles a little and nuzzles his face onto his pillow— which is not a pillow, but Hyunjin’s bare chest. Seungmin shoots up and flushes as he recalls what happened yesterday. Hyunjin still seems to be soundly asleep, mouth slightly opened and some of his long hair obscuring his pretty face as his chest peacefully rises and falls. 

Seungmin fondly smiles and brushes the strands out of Hyunjin’s face, caressing his dumpling-like cheek after. It just feels way too domestic, and Seungmin realizes that maybe he shouldn’t take advantage of this. He wants to get off his friend, but Hyunjin pulls him back in his sleep, and Seungmin is surprised that Hyunjin can show this kind of strength in his sleep. He guesses that’s what you get if you’re basically a professional dancer. 

Seungmin manages to get out eventually by subtly shuffling down and replacing himself with the blankets in Hyunjin’s arms. He takes his time washing up and preparing some breakfast for both himself and Hyunjin, scouring his medicine cabinet for some painkillers in case Hyunjin has a hangover (which he probably will). He wonders how much Hyunjin will remember from last night, because Seungmin will definitely feel embarrassed to confront Hyunjin with what he said. 

Just as he finishes up preparing breakfast, he hears groaning come from his bedroom, and his stomach drops with nerves. Nevertheless, he rushes to the bedroom so that Hyunjin doesn’t think that he has been kidnapped or something, since he’s never been in Seungmin’s apartment before. He knocks on the door to let Hyunjin know that he’s coming in, and he hears Hyunjin yelp before he opens the door. 

“Seungmin?!” Hyunjin yells and winces at his own volume. He is covering his body with the blanket as he stares at Seungmin with wide eyes and reddening cheeks. “Oh my gosh, what happened yesterday?— Why am I—” He stops himself and quickly looks under the covers before continuing, “Okay, at least I’m wearing underwear— but why am I almost naked and in your bed? Is this your bed?” 

Seungmin blushes and shakes the thoughts about what Hyunjin is implying away. “It— yes that’s my bed, uhm, but nothing like that happened.”

Hyunjin relaxes his body a little from where he sits on Seungmin’s bed, chuckling awkwardly as his cheeks redden even more. “O-okay, uhm, what happened, then?”

Seungmin presses his lips together and stares at the floor as he thinks about how to tell Hyunjin. His ears are coming to match Hyunjin’s cheeks in color and he hears his friend sigh. 

“Oh my gosh, I totally embarrassed myself, huh?” Seungmin looks up to see Hyunjin with his head in his hands. “I don’t really remember what happened, but I’m sorry. I know that I can be a lot to deal with when drunk.”

“It’s— Chan told me that everyone encouraged you to call me, so I get it…” Seungmin shrugs. “It was my own choice to head over there and pick you up too, and you weren’t even that difficult, so it’s… it’s fine.”

Hyunjin looks up with an unconvinced frown. “That doesn’t sound very convincing. What… what did I do? What did I call you for?”

Seungmin doesn’t really want to drop this on Hyunjin who just woke up and is probably hungover, but it would also not really be fair to keep it to himself. 

“You called me to… to tell me that you’re in love with me,” Seungmin whispers, looking down as he feels his cheeks burn. “Because apparently you told everyone there that you love someone and they encouraged you to call me to confess.”

Hyunjin groans and Seungmin flicks his eyes up to see Hyunjin hiding his face in his hands again. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Minnie,” he whines. “This was not how I planned to tell you at all . I wasn’t supposed to just dump that information onto you without preparation, and especially not while drunk .”

Seungmin’s heart starts speeding up as he realizes that Hyunjin is basically admitting to being in love with him, but he’s also glad that he acknowledges that it’s not nothing to just dump that onto someone. 

“It was quite a bit to process, yeah— it still is,” Seungmin admits before shaking his head. “Anyway, I imagine that you’re pretty hungover so I have some painkillers and water for you— just a sec.”

Seungmin gets the glass and painkillers and hands them to Hyunjin, who smiles gratefully as he accepts them. 

“You can also shower if you want, lend some of my clothes, make yourself at home in my humble apartment,” Seungmin chuckles at himself. “Or... do you want to go home already?”

Hyunjin quickly shakes his head and winces at himself. “No, that would be an asshole move—”

Hyunjin is cut off by his phone vibrating, making both of them jump in surprise. Hyunjin squints and mutters the name of his manager before excusing himself and picking up. Right, I didn't specify that I brought Hyunjin to my place. 

“Yeah?— Woah, don’t worry! I’m at Seungmin’s place,” Hyunjin says. “And— yeah, I’m fine! Everything is fine, I just have to talk some things out with Seungmin. Yeah, we’re fine— well, you know how I can be when I’m drunk, but I’ll tell you about it later, okay? Yeah, I’ll be fine. Bye.”

Hyunjin hangs up and apologizes again. "Sorry. Anyway, if you don't want me out of your house because you never want to see me ever again, I'd like to take a shower and eat something before we, uhm, talk. I can pay for breakfast if needed—" 

"I already made breakfast for us," Seungmin says and Hyunjin’s eyes widen. 

"Oh— gosh, Minnie, you're really too sweet for a man that brings you so many troubles," Hyunjin sighs and fondly shakes his head. 

Because the positive feelings that you bring me greatly compensate for the troubles, Seungmin thinks, but he can’t get himself to say it yet. Instead, he waves Hyunjin off, shows him the bathroom, and gets him some clothes. 

When Hyunjin returns, drying his wet hair with a towel, wearing Seungmin’s clothes, it just all feels too domestic again, and Seungmin feels some sort of fear that he’ll never get to see this sight again because it’s not something that Seungmin or even Hyunjin has in his full control. That fleeting thought disappears again when Hyunjin thanks him for the food as he sits down, and they eat in silence for a bit until Hyunjin speaks up. 

“So, uhm, I vaguely remember what happened yesterday, but can you fill me in on the details?” he asks. “I remember that I talked to Chan and the rest about my agreement with Chan and that we both wouldn’t want to fake date, and then we started talking about our love lives, and I guess that’s when I mentioned you, but after that it starts to get fuzzy…” 

Seungmin wonders if Hyunjin started drinking more when they started talking about their love lives. It wouldn’t surprise him, since Hyunjin has complained about his restricted love life as an idol before, but it feels different now that Seungmin knows that it’s partly about him . 

Either way, Seungmin tells Hyunjin what Chan told him that happened, and that he talked to Chan on the phone before coming to pick Hyunjin up. 

“Ah right! I can remember Chan being supportive when I mentioned my… uhm, love interest to him too,” Hyunjin tells him with a smile. “Chan is really nice, huh? It makes me feel way more relaxed that he is on our side, at least so that we probably don’t have to fake date, but maybe even with… us?”

Hyunjin bites on his lip and looks at Seungmin with so much hope shining in his eyes that it makes a mess of butterflies erupt in his stomach. He wants to be the one to give Hyunjin what he deserves so much , but it’s not entirely in his hands and it frustrates the heck out of Seungmin. 

“Chan is really nice, yeah,” Seungmin agrees. “Anyway, you wanted to stay with me so I brought you to my place, let you eat some ramen, and then we both slept in my bed because you didn’t want me to sleep on the couch. I asked you if you wouldn’t be hot that way, but you just took off the pajamas that I gave you and said that it would be fine that way.”

Hyunjin blushes and twiddles his thumbs innocently, even though Seungmin skipped the part where Hyunjin told him that he loves him and wanted to kiss him.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “I imagine that you didn’t tell me all the parts where I was difficult and emotional, because I can’t imagine that I wasn’t difficult and emotional, but thank you for dealing with me.” He gives Seungmin a grateful look. “You didn’t have to indulge me in my requests for you to stay with me, though. Even if drunk Hyunjin will complain, he can handle that.”

Seungmin chuckles at Hyunjin talking in third person and he shrugs. “It was fine. I wanted to stay with you too.”

Hyunjin’s eyes grow bigger and start to sparkle. “You did? Even though I was difficult?”

“Yes.” Seungmin can’t help but smile at Hyunjin’s cute surprise, but then he realizes that he never gave sober Hyunjin a clear answer about his feelings, so he thinks it might be nice to clarify them, since Hyunjin already made his feelings clear. “Because I… I feel the same about you, Hyunjin.”

Seungmin didn’t know if it was possible, but Hyunjin’s eyes grow even bigger and his mouth falls open in shock. 

“You do?!” Hyunjin yells and flinches at himself, making Seungmin laugh. 

“I do—” Seungmin is cut off by Hyunjin standing up and almost jumping onto Seungmin for a warm hug. 

“Gosh what a relief,” Hyunjin breathes. 

“It is.” Seungmin smiles as he hugs Hyunjin back, but not everything is settled yet. “I would have told you earlier, but I didn’t want to push that burden upon you.”

Hyunjin pulls out of the hug with a frown. “Burden? You’re not a burden though— oh. Right, the idol life…” He sighs and sits back down. “I have a plan. Sort of. I don’t know if it’ll work, of course, but I’ll do my best to make it— us— work. That is, if you want that too. I understand if it’s too much for you, or if you’d rather have someone that has more time for you.”

Seungmin softens and holds Hyunjin’s hand over the table. “I do want to try if you want that too, even if I have to find another job, but first you have to actually be allowed to try to… to have a relationship with me. I mean, I know that technically you are free to date, but I imagine that they will throw a fit if you don’t discuss anything with them.”

Hyunjin squeezes his hand and rubs his thumb over the back of it. “I’ll do everything within my power to try to make it work. I’ll talk to my manager, I’ll talk to Chan and his manager again, I’ll talk to anyone that needs convincing, and if you need to find another job or a job somewhere else, I’ll support you financially. Really, anything that you might need or want, I’ll try to give it to you as well, okay?”

Seungmin swallows away a lump forming in his throat as he nods, feeling a blush creep up on his neck. “Thank you, Hyunjin. I’ll do the same for you.”

Hyunjin smiles sweetly and brings Seungmin’s hand up to place a kiss on it, as if to promise what he’s about to say, “We’ll make it work together.”

They gaze into each other’s eyes for a few moments more, and Seungmin wishes that they could just stay in this bubble for the rest of eternity, not worrying about anything else, but it also eases Seungmin that they will both do everything they can to get to where they want to be. If he’s with Hyunjin, he feels like they can come very far. 

“Can I kiss you, Seungmin?” Hyunjin then whispers, making Seungmin’s heart skip a beat. “Or do you want to wait?”

Seungmin shakes his head, however logical his brain is, right now his emotions take over by far. He needs Hyunjin to kiss him. 

“No, please— please kiss me,” Seungmin breathes without even thinking about it.

They both stand up, hands still linked, and Hyunjin pulls him flush against his chest. Seungmin stumbles a little and supports himself with a hand on Hyunjin’s chest, looking up at him as if they’re in some sort of romantic drama. Hyunjin cups his jaw as Seungmin surges forward to close the gap between them and to finally kiss Hyunjin. 

There are many times where Seungmin imagined what kissing Hyunjin would be like, but the real deal is so much better than Seungmin’s imagination, and, gosh , Chan was right in that Hyunjin is a great kisser. He tilts his head to capture even more of Hyunjin’s intoxicating lips, and warmth explodes in his chest when Hyunjin deepens the kiss. 

They barely have time to pull back for air before Seungmin threads his fingers in Hyunjin’s long hair and dives in for another kiss. And they kiss and kiss, releasing their pent-up feelings and months of pining into the movement of their lips over each other, into Seungmin’s fingers lightly tugging on Hyunjin’s strands, and Hyunjin’s hands finding Seungmin’s waist to squeeze it. 

“Can I confess something, Minnie?” Hyunjin pants against Seungmin’s lips when they slow down to catch their breath. 

Seungmin hums in confirmation as his eyes flutter open and he sees Hyunjin’s lidded ones look back at him. 

“I think I acted so well in the drama because I imagined you in every romantic scene,” Hyunjin whispers almost alluringly, a small amused smile on his red and swollen lips. 

Seungmin mirrors Hyunjin’s smile as he blushes. “Wasn’t that difficult? I mean, I’m not really like Chan’s character in the drama, and I’m not really like Chan either.”

Hyunjin chuckles and pecks next to Seungmin’s lips. “True, it was difficult, but I did my best.”

Seungmin’s smile widens as he mindlessly cards his fingers through Hyunjin’s locks. “Well, it’s not like I didn’t do my best either to imagine myself as Chan in the drama.”

“Next time I’ll ask them to scout you as my love interest.” Hyunjin grins and Seungmin barks out a laugh. “I bet then they’ll easily accept it if I tell them that I want to date you.”

Seungmin huffs amusedly but his smile falters as he can’t help but feel a little insecure. He rests his head on his arm that lies on Hyunjin’s shoulder and breathes in Hyunjin’s scent.

“I really want this to work, Hyunjin,” he confesses softly. 

“Me too.” Hyunjin lays his head on Seungmin’s shoulder too and noses the skin on his neck. “I promise that I’ll do everything that I can to make this work.”

They bask in the warmth of each other’s arms for a while more before Hyunjin reluctantly calls his manager to come to pick him up. Hyunjin kisses Seungmin goodbye with another promise to do his best, and it comforts Seungmin. 

Hyunjin ends up texting or calling Seungmin every night to update him on his progress. He talked to his manager, who needed a lot of further convincing and proof that Hyunjin is sure about what he wants and that he knows the possible consequences, but Hyunjin is nothing if not steadfast and determined to get what he wants. A few days later they met with Chan and his manager to talk about things and they decided to slowly build off the fanservice that Hyunjin and Chan do and deny any questions about a relationship between them. Like that, Hyunjin slowly gets more people on their side who are willing to help. And Seungmin’s friends are there to support him emotionally too.

Seungmin does end up needing to quit his job to keep him out of the spotlight, but the company, Chan, and Hyunjin are all willing to help financially and help look for a new job. The fact that they're already thinking about what Seungmin needs to do in order for them to work, gives Seungmin hope that they're getting close, which eases the stress of potentially having to find a new job greatly. But finding a new job with the help of celebrities turns out to be easy anyway, because Chan knows a high-end salon where he often comes and he manages to recommend Seungmin there. 

Seungmin has just finished up running a trial day at that salon, and it went really well. Seungmin likes it even more than his previous salon if he's honest, so he might even start working there regardless of whether he can date Hyunjin, but he'll see that then. He walks outside when he is suddenly pulled by the arm into an alley and someone covers his eyes. Seungmin yelps and rams his elbow back to escape the stranger's grip and— 

"Ouch! Frick!—" is that Hyunjin's voice?! 

Seungmin turns around to see Hyunjin, who is wearing a mask and sunglasses, doubled over, wheezing in pain. 

"Shit— sorry!" Seungmin apologizes and supports his friend. 

"I— I was just trying to be romantic, and you elbow my stomach?" Hyunjin groans as he takes off his mask and sunglasses and Seungmin laughs. 

"What part of pulling me into an alley and covering my eyes is romantic?" 

"I wanted to make you guess who." Hyunjin pouts and Seungmin chuckles fondly. "Anyway, I have a surprise— sort of, don’t expect too much.”

Seungmin raises his eyebrows and squints at Hyunjin, not knowing what to expect. 

“Okay, maybe that’s misleading,” Hyunjin chuckles and apologizes. “I’ll just be straight up with you. The higher-ups want to talk to you— to us, sort of, but mostly to you to discuss some terms with you, if you were to want to have a relationship with me.”

Seungmin’s eyes widen and he gapes at Hyunjin for a second. “Really? They want to officially talk to me?”

Hyunjin beams at him and nods as he grabs Seungmin’s hands. “Yes! We finally got them to actually consider it! The most difficult thing was finding a solution for my situation with Chan, and while I am technically free to date, they just like deciding everything for me and everyone else.”

Seungmin chuckles and briefly hugs Hyunjin as he tries to remind himself that they aren't there yet, but damn it feels inside of Seungmin's reach. 

Hyunjin puts on his sunglasses and mask again before he pulls Seungmin along to his manager's car and they hold hands during the ride to Hyunjin's agency. It gives Seungmin some strength, because he is nervous. 

They bring Seungmin to a big office where a man with a nice suit and an emotionless expression greets them. The man looks intimidating, but Seungmin is determined to walk out of this room with permission to date Hyunjin. 

“So, you want to date one of our idols?” The man asks as they all sit down. It kind of feels like an interrogation. 

“Yes, I do. I want to date Hyunjin,” Seungmin confirms as confidently as he can manage, and he feels Hyunjin hold his hand again. 

“Technically there’s no one stopping you or Hyunjin from just doing whatever you want, but as you might know, there are many ifs and buts attached to dating a celebrity,” the man continues. “I was informed that you are his hairstylist, and we can’t have that if you two want to date. That, and we would like you two to be as discreet as possible, at least until the situation with the other actor is handled smoothly. And, of course, as you know from working with him, you can't share any details of his schedules, company business, or anything that might defame him."

Seungmin gulps and nods at the man's strict tone. "Yes—" 

"If you do, we will sue you." The tone is final, and while Seungmin knows that he would never do something like leak information or defame Hyunjin, it scares him a tad. "So don't think you can date him to get a scandal or inside information out of it." 

Now that makes Seungmin a little angry. He gets why the man says this, he needs to protect his artists, but the thought of being seen as some kind of fan of Hyunjin that wants to take advantage of Hyunjin’s naivety just makes Seungmin offended. 

"I don't want to date him to get information or some scandal," Seungmin states seriously, squeezing Hyunjin's hand tight and mustering up the courage to put his feelings into words. "I don't care that he's famous— hell, everything would be easier if he wasn't! I want to date him because he's him . I love Hyunjin because he is Hyunjin." 

Hyunjin whimpers and hides his face on Seungmin's shoulder as Seungmin continues. 

"I care about his happiness, and I know that being an idol and a performer makes him happy, so I want him to keep on doing that." 

"You make me happy too." Hyunjin's whine sounds muffled on Seungmin's shoulder as he hugs him tightly. 

Seungmin blushes and looks down, wondering how Hyunjin can just say that in front of this high and mighty guy. Although, Seungmin guesses he confessed to loving Hyunjin just now too. 

"Okay." The man softens the tiniest bit, and Seungmin is glad to see some emotion. "Well, if you just keep to our agreement, you two are free to date without us interfering." 

Seungmin can't hold back a whoop in excitement as he hugs Hyunjin back, awkwardly leaning over the armrests of the chairs. Hyunjin pulls out of the hug and all but yanks Seungmin into a sweet kiss, passionately moving his lips over Seungmin’s as if he is putting all of his relief into it. Seungmin’s brain short circuits and he unconsciously chases Hyunjin when he pulls back before realizing that they’re not alone in the room. They both turn beet red and apologize, but Hyunjin’s manager just laughs and the man waves them off and tells them that they can leave and celebrate together. 

Hyunjin kisses him again once they get in the car and his manager has to tell them to put on their seatbelts and tell him where they want to go. 

“Right—” Hyunjin breathes against Seungmin’s lips before he pulls back to fasten his seatbelt. “I want to take you on a date right now. I took the evening off in case this would happen, so tell me, Minnie, what do you want to do? Where do you want to go?”

Seungmin smiles fondly and shrugs. “Well, we still have to be discreet, right? So I don’t mind just going to one of our places and just hanging out there.”

“Okay, we’re going to my place, then, and I’m going to try to cook you the yummiest dinner and you can choose something to watch and it’ll be so romantic,” Hyunjin excitedly rambles and Seungmin laughs amusedly. “I’ve been trying to get better at cooking, so I hope it’ll be good.”

“I’ll be your test subject?” Seungmin jokes and Hyunjin laughs wholeheartedly. “We can also cook together if you want— not that I mind being your test subject, but I just think it would be nice? If anything, I should cook for you as a late celebration for your nomination.”

“Cooking together sounds fun, that’s already enough of a celebration.” Hyunjin gives him a bright smile and hugs him tightly all the way until they arrive at his place. 

They don't often have the opportunity to spend an evening together, so it’s already nice, but today is even more special, and Seungmin can feel it in the air as they prepare their dinner. Hyunjin swings his arms around Seungmin in a back hug and rests his chin on Seungmin’s shoulder as they wait for their dinner to cook. Seungmin leans back, his arms around Hyunjin’s, and he hums in comfort as Hyunjin slowly sways them back and forth. He flushes a little when Hyunjin kisses the exposed skin on his shoulder because a part of him still can’t believe that this is real, that they finally can be together, but it’s a nice reminder that it is true. 

Hyunjin gets some scented candles and lights them as Seungmin plates their food, and while Seungmin doesn’t really care about romantic stuff in particular, he knows that Hyunjin does, and seeing him all happy about creating a romantic atmosphere makes Seungmin just as happy. 

“This is nice,” Hyunjin whispers as they eat their dinner, surrounded by candlelight and with soft music playing in the background. 

“It is,” Seungmin agrees and pauses as he thinks of what to say next. “It’s as nice as you look this fine evening.”

Hyunjin almost chokes on his food and flushes at what Seungmin says. “Nice reference,” he coughs and Seungmin reaches over to pat Hyunjin on his back. “I mean— I haven’t done anything special, though.”

After his coughing fit, Hyunjin looks at Seungmin expectantly, waiting for Seungmin to see if he’ll answer what Chan’s character tells Hyunjin’s character in the drama, but Seungmin suddenly gets shy, because it kind of hits close to home. 

His cheeks come to match Hyunjin’s in redness as he opens his mouth to whisper, “You… you just always look stunning.” In the drama, Chan definitely said it more confidently, but Seungmin isn’t like Chan’s character. 

“Do you mean that, Minnie?” Hyunjin’s eyes sparkle as he looks at Seungmin, and while it’s still in line with the scene they’re sort of reenacting, it feels like Hyunjin is really asking him. 

“Yeah, I do,” Seungmin admits honestly, looking down as he feels a little self-conscious. In the drama, it was Hyunjin’s character that got shy, but Seungmin just gets embarrassed whenever he voices his feelings out loud like this. 

In the drama, they then get interrupted, so Seungmin wonders what Hyunjin will do now. He feels Hyunjin grab his hand, so he looks up and sees Hyunjin place a kiss on his knuckles. 

“Thank you. If you really mean it, I’m really touched, otherwise, you’re a good actor.” Hyunjin chuckles softly, his cheeks still red as he brushes his thumb over the back of Seungmin’s hand. 

“I’m not a good actor,” Seungmin dismisses softly, shaking his head, instead of admitting that he really meant it, but Hyunjin seems to get the implication if the way he squeezes Seungmin’s hand and blushes even more is anything to go by. 

Hyunjin brings Seungmin’s hand up to cup his jaw and he leans into the touch. “Well, you touched me a thousand times more than any of the takes I did with Chan of that scene.”

Heat spreads through Seungmin’s chest and the part of him that was previously jealous of Hyunjin and Chan cheers in victory. He can’t help but chuckle at himself, and Hyunjin looks at him with a curious look. 

“Sorry, it’s just— I…” Seungmin feels embarrassed admitting his jealousy, he feels silly for it, but he knows that Hyunjin wouldn’t laugh at him for it. He shakes his head and sighs, “I used to be jealous of you and Chan…”

Hyunjin’s eyes widen in realization and he lets Seungmin’s hand go in surprise. 

“Oh—” he slaps a hand in front of his mouth. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think about that— but you knew that I didn’t have feelings for him, right?— Well, okay, I guess that that doesn’t really matter…”

Seungmin shrugs and bashfully rubs his neck. “Yeah, I tried to tell myself that, but I guess that I was just jealous that Chan could easily have you if he wanted, and I… well, I thought that I didn’t have a chance.”

“Oh, Minnie…” Hyunjin sighs compassionately and reaches out to hold Seungmin’s hand again. “I’m sorry that it was so difficult for you— that I made it so difficult for you, and that I didn’t realize it.”

Seungmin shakes his head, squeezing Hyunjin’s hand. “It wasn’t your fault at all, and I imagine that it wasn’t the easiest for you either, being an idol with a reputation and all, and with your arrangement with Chan, and since I didn’t dare to make any moves…”

“It was hard, but I was planning on confessing to you someday anyway,” Hyunjin chuckles and stands up, pulling Seungmin with him. “But it’s good then that I got drunk and confessed to you sooner than later, right?”

Seungmin laughs and leans his forehead against Hyunjin’s with a sigh. “I guess it is. Thank you again for going through so much trouble to make this work, Hyunjin.” 

Hyunjin smiles sweetly and moves forward to kiss Seungmin slowly. 

“It’s already worth it,” he whispers against Seungmin’s lips as if it’s nothing, as if he would go through all that trouble again in a heartbeat just for Seungmin. Hyunjin moves up one hand to cup his cheek and kisses up his other cheek, stopping next to Seungmin’s ear, his breath hitting his earlobe. “And I’ll do my best to keep it like that, to be the best boyfriend that you could ever wish for, just like you deserve.”

Seungmin closes his eyes and breathes out as his whole face heats up. It never fails to amaze him how Hyunjin can just voice his emotions out loud like that. Usually, Seungmin is good with words too, but with Hyunjin he just never knows how to put his almost overwhelming emotions into words. Instead of trying what he knows will probably not work anyway, Seungmin moves his head to kiss Hyunjin again, hoping to convey his feelings that way, and he smiles when he remembers what Hyunjin told him when he was drunk.

“You know, that is exactly what you said when you were drunk,” Seungmin breathes amusedly, keeping close to Hyunjin, their noses brushing. 

Hyunjin smiles too, Seungmin feels it against his lips as Hyunjin pecks him again. 

“Drunk Hyunjin beat me to it,” he chuckles softly, his thumb brushing over Seungmin’s cheek. “I guess I just blurt out my feelings without a filter when I’m drunk. Were there more things that I said?”

Seungmin feels like he’s overheating remembering what Hyunjin said to him while drunk, especially now that Hyunjin is implying that he didn’t exaggerate and that he would say it again, and Seungmin guesses that drunk Hyunjin was right in that he would do anything to make it work between them too. 

“Well, you said that you’d give me money to buy a better apartment,” Seungmin starts off lightheartedly, making them both snicker, Hyunjin’s eyes scrunching up cutely. Seungmin gets lost in those eyes for a moment now that he can admire them from up close like this, but a small hum from Hyunjin brings him back to reality. 

Seungmin lets out a breath and looks down as he whispers, “And you insisted that you love me.”

Hyunjin’s thumb that was still mindlessly brushing over Seungmin’s cheek freezes and Hyunjin is quiet. Seungmin looks back, but Hyunjin’s gaze is on the floor as well. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” Seungmin assures with a kiss, he doesn’t want to put Hyunjin on the spot. Whether Hyunjin love loves him or just loves him, doesn’t matter. What does it all mean, anyway? It doesn’t matter how Hyunjin wants to call it, because whatever Hyunjin does and says is already so much more than Seungmin could ever ask for. It already makes him feel so loved.

Hyunjin meets Seungmin’s eyes with his own slightly watery ones and he gives Seungmin a smile filled with so much love that Seungmin thinks he doesn’t need any words anymore, so Seungmin kisses him again. Hyunjin sighs a little and he brings his other hand up to cup Seungmin’s cheeks as he moves his plump lips over Seungmin’s lovingly. Their almost-finished dinner is forgotten as they take this moment to be together and indulge in each other’s warmth, Seungmin slinging his arms around Hyunjin’s back and pulling him as close as he can. In this moment, Hyunjin isn’t an idol or a beginning actor and Seungmin isn’t his ex-hairstylist, Hyunjin doesn’t have a tightly packed schedule and fans to worry about and Seungmin doesn’t have to be discreet about anything. In this moment, they are just Hyunjin and Seungmin, in love and without a worry in the world. 

They’ll talk about things, Seungmin is sure that they will, because they’ll both do their best to make this relationship work, they’ll do their best for each other, but tonight is just for them to be with each other. Their kisses are silent promises that they’ll figure it all out together, the whispers of sweet words are promises that they love each other, and their lingering touches are promises to support each other no matter what. Without having to say anything, they know that what they feel for each other is returned, and Seungmin feels confident that they will make this work, together. 

The end.