Work Text:
Jisung shivers, wrapping his arms around himself tighter. It was autumn already; “You should wear a jacket today, it’s getting colder,” nags an all too familiar voice at the back of his mind. He laughs as he thinks about finally getting home and receiving a half-hearted lecture about taking care of himself, while a cup of mint tea is pushed into his arms.
“What’s so funny?” Someone asks from behind him, a teasing tilt to their voice.
Jolting in surprise, Jisung turns to face the person with a pout. “Minnie,” he whines, hands coming up to clutch at the other’s sweater, tugging on it. “Stop scaring me like that!”
Seungmin laughs, and Jisung has to physically stop himself from melting into a puddle or making a fool of himself — not that Seungmin wasn’t aware that he panicked near pretty boys. That’s how they started dating, after all.
“It’s not my fault you’re a scaredy cat,” Seungmin teases, enveloping his hands with his own, Jisung’s grip loosening. “Come on, now. Let’s get some coffee in you before you freeze your ass off.”
Jisung doesn’t complain, letting the other man lead him to the café, Seungmin’s hand in his. “Ah, Minnie, as courteous as always! What would I do without you?”
He couldn’t see Seungmin’s face from their follow me trend from instagram angle, but he could practically sense him rolling his eyes. “Die a horrible death, probably,” he could hear that he was smiling, but he couldn’t help his mood souring a bit.
As if he wasn’t close enough to just that for twenty years.
Jisung forces a giggle out, and thankfully doesn’t have to say anything as they approach the nearby café.
“That’s actually the café my hyung works at,” Seungmin mentions off-handedly, gently tugging Jisung to come up beside him instead of beside him when they come in. “He always mocks me for my coffee choice, though.”
Seungmin has no business looking this cute when he grumbles about his hyung being an asshole, lips unconsciously pulled into a slight pout. Man, Jisung wants to kiss him, like, right now, but he’s too afraid of the way people would look at them. If someone would recognize him when they look over at his public display of affection — it wasn’t fair to Seungmin, but Jisung sometimes had to put himself and his brothers before the relationship that isn’t even a year old. It’s selfish, he knows it, but he’s just…
“Jisung,” Seungmin shakes him slightly by the hand he’s still holding, a crease of worry settled between his eyebrows. “Are you okay?”
He shakes himself out of his funk, faking a smile that Seungmin hopefully wouldn’t see through easily. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. What were you saying?”
The frown on Seungmin’s face doesn’t go away immediately, but it eases up a bit. Jisung really should be fucking careful. “I said, what do you want? I’ll order for both of us.”
Jisung’s mind blanks out as always when he has to make a quick decision, stammering out “iced americano” even though he isn’t feeling like ingesting caffeine right now or freezing himself further. Seungmin gives him the look — the one that he gives him whenever he’s judging his life choices but is too polite to say anything.
There’s surprisingly a lot of empty seats once he detaches himself from his boyfriend, and he chooses the one in the corner but away from the windows. It gives him a full view of the café and emergency exits planned automatically. He wasn’t as good in planning quick and quiet exits like Chan, but he picked up on it a bit over the years. None of the few people present give him anything but a brief look out of instinct of feeling someone passing by, and he’s a bit more relaxed when he sits down, though he doesn’t take off the hood of his hoodie. He knows he’s maybe, a tad bit paranoid; no one in a town this small would be able to recognize him from the wanted posters circling around in Hunters’ community.
You’ll never know, though.
Jisung glances at the station where the drinks are made, half-walls of glass separating the whole area from the main area. He didn’t get a chance to come out to cafés in a while, either in hiding or being careful — but it’s… got its charm, he admits. One of the baristas is chatting with Seungmin over the area where they give drinks out, leaning against the counter and seeming almost bored by whatever Seungmin is talking about. However, the corners of his lips quirk up ever so slightly when Seungmin chuckles about something. He also seems… familiar. It’s not that he has ever seen him, it’s more of a feeling that he felt him somewhere.
Jisung averts his eyes before the man notices him staring, tugging the hood further down and pretending to check something on his phone — just in case that he or Seungmin look over.
It’s only when Seungmin sits down across from him and places a cup of coffee in front of him that he feels a brief look on the side of his face, shifting somewhere else as soon as it settles. He blinks down at what isn’t an order of iced americano he stuttered out.
“What is this? Are you trying to poison me, Seungminnie?” Jisung teases, looking down at a swirl of whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon on top.
Seungmin rolls his eyes from the seat across, long fingers curled around his own cup of coffee. “Even if I was, I’d have done this way earlier, don’t you think?” There’s this smile on his face that’s not as wide as it is when he laughs, but it still awakes a gooey feeling in his chest. Or he’s randomly disintegrating — that was also possible.
Jisung pouts as he takes a cautious sip of it. It’s coffee for sure, that he can say. A good fucking coffee. “Um, no. You would’ve gained my absolute trust and then made a move, Seungminnie! Have you never seen criminal dramas?” It’s got that sweet hint of caramel he’s totally not obsessed with, and cinnamon with whipped cream only adds to it. He has a hell of a sweet tooth, but can you blame him? He does die every few months and comes back to life.
His boyfriends chuckles and casually intertwines his fingers with Jisung’s own. This man never thinks about the consequences of his actions, does he? And if Jisung has a heart attack from all too casual romantic gestures from Kim Seungmin who is practically a number one hater of public affection? What then? His hoodie is way too warm to be flustered in a building with heating. He can blame his red cheeks on the cold, it’s fine — even if Seungmin probably knows the real reason, judging by his smug look.
Seungmin starts up the conversation back when he mentions one of the lectures he had recently, and they might be different majors, but Jisung can always relate to the struggles of being a student. It’s Jisung’s third university that he has to attend for the sake of their cover, but they’re always the same with annoying teachers or the ones who try to relate to their students too much, and homework piling up however hard you try to keep up with it. He never managed to finish more than two years if the Hunters Association had other stuff to do besides constantly being on their asses, so at some point he stopped even picking the major he particularly liked.
He’s pulled away from Seungmin’s rambling about writing styles when he feels his phone vibrate in a specific pattern on the table. Chan. Jisung unlocks it, shielding the screen so Seungmin can’t see it and still be somewhat inconspicuous about it.
Channie
Jisung, come home as quickly as possible.
Bad news then.
Jisung sets his drink down and pockets his phone. He feels bad about leaving not even thirty minutes into their small date, but Chan only texted whenever a Hunter showed up in the town or this particular Hunter had tracked them down. Neither was better than the other, really.
“Minnie,” he stands up, cringing when the chair scrapes awfully loud in the otherwise quiet cafe. “I’m sorry, but my roommate just texted me…It’s bad bad.”
Seungmin’s confused look dissipates and is replaced with a concerned one instead. “What happened this time?”
The lie comes out easily, “Our toilet exploded like fireworks full of literal shit, man. They called the plumber but they still need help cleaning up.” Seungmin’s nose scrunches up in distaste adorably. “Can we reschedule? I’ll pay next time.”
There probably won’t be a next time. “Sure, Jisungie. See you later.”
The smile Seungmin gives him is worth Jisung’s ridiculous pose when he sends him a flying kiss on his way to the exit and almost slips on the floor. He jogs out of Seungmin’s side and ducks into an empty alley, taking a deep breath in. With a swishing sound, he’s right in the apartment he shares with Chan and Changbin.
Changbin’s sitting down on the ratty leather couch in the living room with his head in hands, shoulders shaking with rapid, anxious breaths, while Chan soothes a hand down his back with his lips drawn in a thin line. It must be really bad if even Changbin is so openly worried about it — he never was the one to show weakness in front of them. Jisung doesn’t say anything, just sits down on the other side of Changbin and leans his head against his shoulder, rubbing his hair on his t-shirt. After a few forced deep breaths, Changbin’s hand comes up to comb his hair with his fingers, and he’s not complaining even if they’re clammy with sweat and sometimes catch on the strands. Chan’s other hand settles on Jisung’s knee, squeezing it in an attempt to comfort Jisung as well, even if he might be just as stressed out.
He doesn’t know for how long they sit like this — huddled together just like before the hunt started by the new recruits of Hunters Association, comfort of the closest people he has in this universe heavy on his body like a weighted blanket. This warmth is nothing like the one he gets reborn in every time, and not the one he dies in, scorching hot and tearing him apart only to put him back together; it’s like sitting by the flames and not in the middle of them, a cup of tea in his hands and a blanket draped over him.
Jisung is on the verge of falling asleep, even if his brain still runs around in his skull and slam-dunking his nervous system with frantic questions of what’s wrong??? what happened??? But Chan draws his hand back before he could, straightening up on the other side of the couch.
Changbin straightens up as well, eyes rimmed pink along with the tip of his nose — he’s been definitely crying. “Jisung-ah, I’m sorry, I haven’t been careful, and…”
“It’s not your fault,” both Jisung and Chan say at the same time. They exchange a small smile before Chan continues. “You couldn’t have known that it would happen.”
Changbin shakes his head, turning back to look at Jisung. “You remember the guy I was seeing, right? Lee Minho.” Of course he does. Changbin turned into a puddle every time he mentioned the guy or sent a selfie from their date to the chat. Now that he thinks about it… Wasn’t that barista Seungmin is friends with the Minho? Changbin’s Minho. “I accidentally saw a webpage he had opened on his laptop when I came over today to pick some of my clothes up at his place…It was the Hunters Association website. He was logged in as one of the Hunters.”
Jisung feels the hair on the back of his neck rise. Did that mean that Seungmin was… He can see Changbin’s eyes welling up with tears, lower lip sucked into his mouth. “Oh, hyung,” he winds his arms around Changbin’s waist, feeling his breathing stutter.
He lets his hyung whimper and lets the tears drop on his shoulder, lets his arms wrap him in a hug as well, his grip strong like Jisung would up and run if he lets it falter.
“We have to pack up again,” Chan murmurs, his voice almost blank if it wasn’t for his voice breaking at the last word. Chan also has something to lose once they move once again, he knows he’s been seeing someone as well as Jisung and Changbin, but he never told them. It’s breaking his heart as much as it breaks theirs. “We can’t let Minho set the word out for the other Hunters… I’m sorry, Changbinnie.”
“Why are you saying sorry, stupid?” Changbin manages to get the words out through hiccups, taking one hand off Jisung. He glances over to see him drawing Chan in a hug as well. “It’s me who should be sorry, hyung. I’m sorry both you and Jisung have to rip yourself away from the people who love you. Who you love.”
At this point, Jisung can feel his own eyes tearing up as well. Him and Seungmin might have not dated for long, but he was still already used to him, seeing him almost every day and teasing him with asking for kisses and being denied nine times out of ten, knowing his schedule and his usual coffee order. It’ll be hard to forget, but the thing with living like this is you have to.
“You’re worth it, hyung,” Jisung mumbles, burrowing his head in between Changbin’s shoulder and neck. Chan hums in agreement.
Changbin lets out a short, wet laugh, “I don’t know about this one, Sungie.” Before either of them can protest, he continues. “You can stay here, I’ll just… face Minho one on one and tell him that I came alone, and—”
“No,” Chan cuts him off, drawing back from the hug, Jisung does as well to stare Changbin in the eye and hope that his bewildered look conveys his thought of how ridiculous his idea sounds. “We’re not leaving you to get dragged to Hunters and probably get killed.”
“Hyung, it’s the only—”
“No,” Chan presses further, firmer. Not with his magic. “We’re staying together, we promised each other to stay together. Not out of convenience, not to leave one of us behind for self-sacrifice. Out of love, Changbin. No one can ever change this — change the fact that we are brothers.”
Well, now Jisung is definitely crying, seeing the line of Changbin’s shoulders relax beneath his t-shirt. “Sorry, hyung— I know, I love you guys too. I just don’t want you to suffer because of a mistake I made.”
Jisung hugs him again, “You couldn’t have known that Minho is a Hunter.” He feels exhaustion seeping into him, sleep settling into his bones when Changbin scratches the back of his head.
Chan agrees, standing up. “We’ll pack up tomorrow. We don’t have that many things anyway, I’ll ask Sana to open up a portal for us to the town further away after we’re done. I’ll pull you and Sungie from the university as well.”
“Okay,” Changbin’s voice is muted, probably tired as well.
Willing himself to unlatch himself from Changbin and stand up, Jisung looks them both in the eye with a blank face and a serious look. It’s amusing to see them tense up briefly before he breaks out in a tiny smile and says, “Now, cuddle time? Please?”Chan sighs with a smile and hauls Jisung over his shoulder, gesturing to Changbin to follow them as he leads them to his room — fair, considering he has the largest bed out of all three. Jisung grumbles about being manhandled by a feral mermaid only for a little bit, falling asleep in the safety of his hyungs’ arms. He can deal with dropping the news (or not) on Seungmin tomorrow.