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“So, uh, Minho?”
Fully immersed in the tteokbokki Minho is preparing for an apartment he doesn’t even live in, he only hums in response when Chan enters the kitchen and calls for him.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time here, don’t you think?” Chan asks, suspiciously neutral. Minho turns slowly to glare at him.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well…,” Chan draws it out, smirks a little, and sniffs at the pot while annoyingly prolonging whichever conversation he seems intent on having. “I just noticed that you didn’t say anything when the topic of our move came up while we were filming earlier. You know, about where we spend our time and what we do?”
Never one to beat around the bush, Minho promptly puts himself between Chan and the stove while fixing his hyung with a pointed look. What is that supposed to mean?
“I can take my tteokbokki and leave right now, hyung, don’t tempt me. You know Jeonginnie will eat it all if I say he can.”
Chan’s eyes grow comically wide at that, as he backs up a step while even putting his hands up in surrender. It’s kind of funny, actually.
“Sorry,” he gives in, and leans on the fridge instead while crossing his arms. “What I really mean is that you’ve been spending a lot of time with Hyunjinnie recently. Any particular reason?”
Minho bites the insides of his cheeks in a desperate attempt at keeping his face neutral. He did not see that coming, and he’ll be damned if he says even one word on this matter. Especially to Chan, the god-awful optimist and entire support group he can substitute for. Not happening.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Minho deflects instead, quickly turning back to stir a little bit harsher than necessary. Screw the thing about the bush, he’ll die before admitting to this.
“Are you sure?”
“Mhm.”
“So you’re not experiencing what some people might call a certain level of separation anxiety?”
Minho clicks his tongue. “Absolutely not.”
“You’ve never found yourself missing the presence of the boy you shared a room with for years?” Chan pushes on, doubt apparent in his voice by now in spite of how certain Minho was that he had been seen through and through by now.
“Nope,” he lies through his teeth instead. “I’ve got Kim Seungmin to harass me all day, remember? Got my hands full with the maknae house either way.”
“Maybe that’s why you miss him?”
Stunned into surprise, Minho can’t help but turn around and search Chan’s face for whatever it is he’s hinting at.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he repeats, honestly a little dumb-founded.
Smiling his stupid happy-go-lucky, everything-will-be-fine, love-is-the-greatest-thing-of-all, bla-bla smile, Chan dares a step to closer and puts his hand on Minho’s shoulder briefly.
“Nothing,” he grins, “just that it might be nice to have one person who doesn’t make you feel like a parent 24/7. You know, who makes you feel more like… a man?”
“Hah, nope, I’m leaving!” Minho calls as he's literally fleeing, throwing his apron over a chair and switching his slippers for the sneakers he came in. “Have fun finishing that by yourself, I’m officially refusing every request to cook for this dorm ever again. Goodbye!”
His exit would be much more satisfying, Minho thinks, if he could have just thrown the door closed behind him with a bang. But he can’t, because as soon as he opens it Minho comes face to face with the very reason he’s leaving in the first place.
“Oh, hyung!” Hyunjin exclaims in surprise while a devastating smile takes over his entire face. “I didn’t know you were coming by today! Are you staying for dinner? I’m starving! Wait, are you making dinner? For real? It smells like--”
“Tteokbokki,” Minho finishes for him, breath in his throat, as he stares transfixed at the messy strands of blonde hair that have escaped Hyunjin’s bun and the pearls of sweat that still linger on his neck. Oh, god. “I made tteokbokki, it’s all heated and ready to be eaten. There’s a lot since I figured… the lot of you would be practicing or working out or whatever. Eat it well. I was just heading out.”
Hyunjin’s smile turns into a perfect little ‘o’ as it disappears, and his eyebrows furrow in disapproval as he processes Minho’s words.
But Minho doesn’t have time for this. He can barely handle conversations alone with Hyunjin without zoning out staring at him, and he definitely can’t do it with Bang fucking Chan staring at the back of his head with an annoying smirk on his face.
“See you tomorrow!”, Minho quips before sneaking past Hyunjin - his entire left side brushes against Hyunjin’s right but he refuses to feel a single thing about that - and does his best to ignore any and all sounds around him in case Hyunjin tries to convince him to stay.
Because Minho would stay, damn it; he wouldn’t be able to say ‘no’ to him. And then Chan would tease Minho for the rest of his life and Hyunjin would catch on and then Chan wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut and then--
God, Minho halts his internal frustrated rambling, I need a fucking break.
Another late-night workout it is.
***
The atrocious truth that Minho is dancing around as well as he can, is that his hyung is correct. Minho would rather cook himself in his oven than admit it to Chan’s face, but he’s right.
He fucking misses Hyunjin. So what?
It’s not like it’s anything new. Which is, coincidentally, the reason that Minho denies it on the spot when asked about the topic, but finds it harder and harder to suppress the feelings he has been bothered by more or less constantly for the past months. And there has been a lot of months since Minho faced these feelings for the first time.
(He doesn’t actually like thinking about how hollowed out and wrong he felt living in that room for weeks and weeks and weeks while continuously faced with the harsh reality that Hyunjin wasn’t there. His bed was unnaturally made and well-kept and cold for so many nights that Minho genuinely wants to forget, and the litter of brushes and pencils and canvas was significantly reduced. Not to mention how the only things left were the things Hyunjin had barely touched, and therefore clearly weren’t important enough to bring for staying away for long periods of time. They really just dug the knife in deeper every time Minho spotted them on the desk, and although he and Seungmin has never spoken about it, they both know that Minho finally couldn’t take it anymore after yet another schedule with one of them missing while they couldn’t even mention his name and Minho was just supposed to pretend that Hyunjin never fucking existed and that he eventually lashed out while Seungmin was in the shower and shoved all of Hyunjin’s things beneath his covers and twisted said covers and sheets until the bed was messy enough to pass for Hyunjin’s actual bed. Seungmin had looked at him for a long moment at the obvious change before Minho pulled his curtains tightly shut, and then never mentioned it afterwards. He doesn’t even think the others know, and certainly not Hyunjin himself.)
Either way, Minho was confident that he got past that. Yeah, he missed Hyunjin during the entire awful spring, but so did everyone else, right? And he came back, even if it was a long time coming. He came back just in time for summer and brought his warmth and his light and his pleasant presence and out-shined summer itself like it was nothing. But that’s what Hyunjin does, isn’t it? He’s always seemed like the center of the universe, and Minho doesn’t think that’s a bad thing. He certainly doesn’t want to be perceived as it, but if one single person and his charisma can bring that to their group, then what’s not to appreciate? Minho knows how badly Hyunjin has wanted and fought to make sure his talents shine at least as brightly as his visuals, and Minho is immensely proud of him for succeeding. The fact that Hyunjin has come to terms with his looks and embraced them to use to his - their - advantage for the past two years or so certainly doesn’t lessen that sense of pride, either.
Ultimately, Minho genuinely thought that once Hyunjin was back for good, Minho’s inner turmoil at not having all members of his group - or bedroom - present would finally fade. So imagine his surprise when they didn’t, and his eyes continued to search for Hyunjin even after album promotions when they got some downtime again, and he kept throwing glances at Hyunjin’s bed to make sure that it didn’t look the exact same as the last time Minho saw it, and he’d feel his gaze linger on Hyunjin’s actual person sometimes in persistent disbelief that the younger was actually there.
But that was fine, probably. He was working on that. Minho supposes that his system had gone through a complete adjustment and needed time to change back into the way he used to function before. It was fine. He just needed to get used to their old ways and habits and forget the whole spring ever took place.
Until the next slap in the face came long before Minho was prepared to take another life-altering hit.
He knew there had been talks of moving out and what possible constellations that might consist of and there had been some requests taken from the members on what kind of place they would like and how many bedrooms and where in the city and on and on and on. But that kind of thing has always been done sporadically and not with any kind of actual change happening, which is the excuse Minho uses to justify his immediate horror when he heard that they would be moving out. Into two different dorms.
Sure, that might be his comfort talking to a large extent. Minho is a creature of habit; he likes knowing where his and everyone else’s things are, which routines they have in the dorm, which spot is whose favourite, who he’s most likely to meet in the kitchen at different hours, the way Hyunjin sounds when he’s falling asleep--
Anyway.
Minho kept his mouth shut, sure, but he stubbornly refused to see the positives by breaking the group into two different households. Who would go where? On which grounds? Who would cook for them all? Who would do all the laundry? Who would make sure Hyunjin got out of bed in the morning, they all know how difficult--
Anyway.
Throwing 3RACHA into one dorm had been a display of normal common sense. On any schedule-free instance ever, they were usually holed up in the studio and when they weren’t there, they were at the gym. If there were any group within the group, so to speak, it’d be those three. But that left the issue of just who would be living with them - since they were splitting in half - and Minho still refuses to touch on the subject on why it felt like his heart dropped down to the bottom of his stomach when it was decided that Hyunjin would be the one to go.
Whatever the reason, Minho vividly remembers the faint feeling of nausea when Jisung and Changbin cheered to get their little pretty boy artist to live with them, not to mention when Hyunjin huffed at the impending work of having to sort his own stuff out of his - their - room to bring into his new place. Minho’s and Seungmin’s stuff weren’t as particular; they would still be living in the same dorm. Which Hyunjin would not be residing it, due to some stupid trick of the universe that clearly won’t let Minho catch a fucking break.
And the result? Well, simply put, Minho misses Hyunjin more than ever now.
He feels a little silly even thinking it to himself, honestly, and also decidedly more clingy than he’d like to admit. Minho is a grown ass man - despite how people seem to perceive him a lot of the time - and he sees Hyunjin practically every single day. As he has for multiple years. And yeah, there was an extended period of time where that wasn’t true anymore but that time has passed by far, so Minho really should get over that. Not to mention the biggest sign of them all; there’s not one single cell in Minho’s body that misses any of the other members like this. Yeah, Chan’s nagging is useful and Jisung’s antics are pretty funny and Changbin can be a calm presence in their otherwise fairly chaotic existence. But Minho’s entire body does not long to see them as soon as he wakes up in the morning.
No way.
What Minho absolutely cannot wrap his head around, however, is how Hyunjin just magically seems to know.
He has zero clue how he can lie in bed, scrolling through bubble replies and old videos, bored out of his damn mind when Hyunjin just texts him out of nowhere asking if he wants to hang out.
He has no idea how he can be ending a vlive in the car back from MCing and Hyunjin calls him up not even one minute later, asking if he wants to go for food.
And Minho cannot positively fathom how every single thing he does somehow ends up including Hyunjin, after a certain amount of time, when Minho doesn’t even actively seek the younger out.
They end up watching the snow together, where Minho instantly finds himself more sentimental than he hardly even knew he could be.
They end up having breakfast at hotels and dinners at dorms that aren’t theirs and late-night snacks in a bed that feeds Minho’s desire to keep Hyunjin close to him, and what better way to do that than get the younger’s cologne all over Minho’s sheets?
They even end up falling asleep and waking up in that very same bed - together - and when Minho wakes - fully sated from a good night’s sleep - to the sight of Hyunjin’s peaceful face two inches away from his own - in Minho’s shirt - well… Minho just knows that he’s on his last, final straw.
He genuinely doesn’t know if he has succeeded even one bit in keeping his neediness away from Hyunjin. It certainly seems like he hasn’t where the other members are concerned, but paradoxically, Minho himself isn’t overly concerned with them on this matter. Instead, there comes a point where Minho isn’t sure whether he should bring this up to Hyunjin or make one final attempt at burying these confusing feelings deep down and maybe take a break from the younger, just to do something.
(Whenever Minho’s mind sketches that particular scenario out, however, his insides hurt at just the prospect of having to turn Hyunjin down and face his disappointed voice or puppy dog-eyes or twiddling fingers. There’s no way he could actually live with turning Hyunjin away; not a chance.)
So, really, Minho is just prolonging the inevitable. Probably.
***
“Hey, hyung?” Hyunjin calls with his mouth fully stuffed with a burger so expensive that Minho really shouldn’t be giving them away for free.
He hums noncommittally and tries to look disgusted instead of hypnotized by the way Hyunjin’s alluring lips look all glossed in saliva. Since he physically can’t look away, he figures this is the next best thing.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with me lately,” Hyunjin says, completely uncalled for, “what’s up with that?”
“Nothing,” Minho shuts him down without a second thought, and is horribly reminded of his conversation with Chan a few weeks back about the very same thing. “I hang out with Jisung all the time.”
Hyunjin hums this time, seemingly deep in thought as he considers this while chewing up the last bites of his burger. Minho pretends like his hands aren’t getting sweatier by the second.
“Yeah, but you know… I was just thinking, we live in separate dorms now, but it kinda feels like we’ve gotten closer now than when we shared a room. Don’t you think so?”
Minho swallows and feels stupidly constipated. Maybe more emotionally than anything, but definitely wound too tight for his liking.
Why is this so hard?
“I haven’t really thought about it,” he dodges the question, like a coward. When did Minho become such a coward? “I guess it’s more noticeable now when we hang out, since we live separately. Are you saying I should spend my time with someone else, instead?”
“No!” Hyunjin laughs and slaps the older’s arm lightly, while Minho feels shamefully relieved. “Of course not, hyung, I like spending time with you.”
Minho only smiles in return, before feeding Hyunjin another fry. That boy should eat more, anyway.
“Well?”
“What do you mean ‘well’?” Minho teases, even though he knows exactly what Hyunjin is after. When the younger opens his mouth, Minho is quick to stuff another three fries in there.
“Well,” Hyunjin repeats, scowling and chewing and putting his stupidly elegant hand on Minho’s knee, “aren’t you gonna say you like spend timing with me, too?”
“Clearly I was not going to say that.”
Easily overpowering the younger when he lunges at him (and laughing the entire time), Minho refrains from telling another lie but also the god-awful truth. That Minho has feelings for Hyunjin. Which he clearly cannot confront even to admit to Hyunjin that he enjoys his company.
(Hyunjin must know, though, since he easily submits to Minho’s antics - as he always does - and allows him to stay right there in Hyunjin’s bed for a movie; for the fourth time in two weeks.)
***
“So when are you gonna tell Hyunjinnie that you have a major crush on him?”
Literally choking on the ramyeon he’s gulping down, Minho coughs and sputters while Jisung only laughs at his struggles. He was probably waiting for just the right moment to make the biggest fool out of his hyung as well, if Minho knows him correctly. He can practically feel his ears burning beneath his hood.
“Shut up, Jisung.”
“Aw,” the other pouts, “you little liar, you.”
“Oh, my god, shut your mouth.”
In front of him, Jisung only continues to laugh at him while typing away on his phone with no apparent regard for the member actually taking him out for food. Minho scoffs while still wiping at his mouth with a napkin.
“Who is it?”
“Lix is wondering if I’ve gotten through to you yet, so I’m just updating on your tragic lack of progress on the matter. He’s gonna be crushed.”
Minho blanks. “Wait. What?”
Jisung looks up at him through his bangs with a slight look of surprise on his face, and tilts his head in a way that somehow makes his cheeks look even bigger. Minho didn’t know that was physically possible.
“Yeah, he says he’s tired of watching you mope around the dorm all the time and that he really had more faith in you, hyung. Also, he’s about to lose like 100,000 won to Seungminnie, but you’re not supposed to know that. Wait.”
“Excuse me?” Minho half-shouts, completely forgetting that they’re in a perfectly public space (even though the only other person currently inside the convenience store is the cashier ahjumma). “He says what? And he’s about to-- You’ve been betting on this?! Like actual money? On my stupid feelings?”
“First of all, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that,” Jisung says, undoubtedly more sober-looking and serious than a few minutes ago. “And secondly… Your feelings aren’t stupid, hyung.”
His huge eyes are still meeting Minho’s at least - which the older is pretty sure are bulging out of his head at this point - while also chewing his lip in probable doubt of what he should say or not. Minho’s fingers are all but digging themselves through his jeans in agitation.
“No, first of all,” Minho bursts, “that’s a lot of money and while it doesn’t surprise me that Kim Seungmin the idiot capitalist would try to benefit on my behalf, why is Yongbok enabling him? Is everyone in on this? Jeonginnie? Chan, when he cornered me that one time? Wait, does Hyunjin know ?!”
“No!” Jisung exclaims immediately, large eyes growing even wider as he splutters to explain himself. “No, hyung, of course not! He’s almost as oblivious as you, don’t worry. He’s open to talking about his ‘stupid feelings’ which is way better than whatever you are doing, but other than that… You know what, I need to shut up. I have to go.”
“You’re not taking one fucking step,” Minho hisses while reaching out to grab Jisung’s arm and sit his ass back down from where he was literally trying to run away. “Not until you tell me what this fucking bet consists of, and whose fucking idea it was to gamble on our actual feelings. Stupid or not, I--”
Minho cuts himself short when Jisung’s lip wobbles slightly.
Fuck.
“I’m sorry,” he says quickly, dropping his hand from the younger. “I’m sorry, Hannie, I didn’t mean to curse. I’m just really wound up about this whole thing and I didn’t realize… didn’t realize that everyone has been watching this entire time like I… like I’m some kind of joke.”
Minho bites his own lip this time, and shakes his head before he can say another thing he’s gonna regret later, whether it’s justified or not. Instead, he stands up and motions for Jisung to do the same because he’d rather not leave him here by himself, no matter how… well, betrayed he feels. By all of them.
“Hyung, that’s not--” Jisung tries carefully, but Minho waves him off immediately.
He really needs to get a grip and figure himself out first before he can talk to anyone else. At all. Minho wants to go home, but he also really doesn’t want to see any one of his members. Not even Hyunjin who seems to be out of the loop too; not when Minho is upset like this.
“I’m gonna walk back,” he settles for, and shoos Jisung away towards the subway station they came from. “I need to clear my head. I’m not angry with you, specifically, but definitely at this whole… situation. I just need some space.”
“But you’re coming home?” Jisung asks quietly, as if he didn’t also live in another dorm now and wouldn’t even notice if Minho returned or not.
Minho nods either way.
***
It truly hits Minho a couple of nights later, when Hyunjin texts him and asks if he’d like to get some food. It’s a regular occurrence, by now, and Minho would lie if he claimed that his heart didn’t jump a little regardless. But he also feels more guilty than he’d like to admit, after purposely keeping to himself since that incident with Jisung.
They’d cleared things up between them, naturally, and all the babies in Minho’s immediate vicinity had apologized tearfully the second he walked through the door the very same day. To say he was still upset would definitely be an exaggeration.
(Chan and Changbin hadn’t cried, per se, but pulled him aside during their next schedule to apologize as well and insisted that nothing had been ill-intentioned towards either of them and that they had learned their lesson.)
But Hyunjin, well…
Minho doesn’t know how to approach him, and he has no idea what anyone might have told him about the whole thing, and Minho has no goddamn clue what he is supposed to say to Hyunjin the next time they speak because everything on his mind lately has been a mess. Once that mess finally started to clear, Minho felt compelled to admit to himself that his feelings most likely weren’t going to disappear anytime soon.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help him decide on what the hell he is supposed to do now.
Now in this very instance, actually, staring down at Hyunjin’s message. Minho wonders if the younger has felt that his presence has been avoided at all costs by Minho, and that literally everyone has been acting weird lately, or if he’s perhaps planning on confronting Minho about all of that. He doesn’t know what Hyunjin is thinking, and Minho also doesn’t know how he should be acting around the younger now. He’s been so uncertain for such a long time, and knowing that he’s been scrutinized for a lot of that time actually made him more upset than he thought it could.
On one small, bright side, Minho supposes he at least doesn’t have to worry about whether the others would be supportive or not.
Shaking his head, he types before he can change his mind.
coming
The walk over to the other dorm is quick enough, and even faster when Minho pointedly ignores every member he comes across. He’s exhausted after putting on his work face for countless days on end, with today being no exception. He supposes none of them actually want to cross him again, so soon after the recent blow-up, but there’s really only one person in the world that Minho actively wants to see tonight, despite the settling strain on both his body and his mind. Only one person who makes Minho forget such things.
Except that that person is nowhere to be found when Minho knocks once before entering his room, and all traces of Hwang Hyunjin are definitely there but the individual himself seems to have vanished. Minho could ask Jisung, of course, who was draped all over the living room couch, but 1) Minho suspects he was actually sleeping, and 2) Minho feels fairly certain he knows where Hyunjin is, either way.
The balcony is chilly, both at this time of day and year, but Hyunjin doesn’t seem to take any notice of that judging by the focused look on his face as he moves his brush in gentle strokes over the canvas set up in front of him. He also doesn’t seem to notice the fact that he has company, and Minho isn’t about to tell him just yet.
Not when he can stand here, in peace, and just watch.
Just watch how Hyunjin practically disappears in that massive hoodie he wears more often than not these days, and how his hair is struggling - again - to stay within the confines of his half-do, and his lips are parted and eyes blazing and brows furrowed in concentration as he works on whatever his latest piece might be.
It’s not the first time Minho sees him like this. Probably not the last.
But something about the vision of Hyunjin at his most natural still manages to push every single thought out of Minho’s head.
All except one.
“I think I’m in love with you.”
***
Hyunjin’s head turns towards him immediately, round eyes and a frozen breath meeting Minho within seconds. It’s nerve-wracking, all the way until Hyunjin’s face breaks into a blinding smile and he giggles in that precious way he does and practically falls over himself to beckon Minho over with eager - dirtied - hands.
“You think?!” he shrieks, smacking repeatedly at his own thigh in what Minho supposed is a gesture for ‘hurry up, loser’. “What do you mean ‘you think’?!”
“Sorry,” Minho replies, making his way towards Hyunjin while avoiding all the equipment in his way, still mulling his words over and too damn nervous to even crack a smile. What is he doing? “I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“Am I that distracting?” Hyunjin teases, still wearing that stunning smile that crinkles his eyes away into practically nothing. “Hyung doesn’t know what he’s saying around me?”
“Yes, actually.”
Hyunjin seemingly sobers a little at the unexpected truth that slips out of Minho’s mouth next, and his eyebrows rise just high enough for Minho to nervously meet the younger’s eyes.
“Really?”
Minho sits down next to Hyunjin before replying, and decides that if he’s gotten this far he may as well reach for Hyunjin’s hands, too. Which turn out to be practically freezing, so Minho tuts at him briefly before enclosing Hyunjin’s hands in his own and bringing them to his mouth to blow some hot air and a feather-light kiss onto them.
“Really,” he confides, still looking at their joint hands. “I saw you and forgot what I was gonna say. I didn’t plan on saying ‘I think’, believe it or not. That’s something I might have said before, but… But now I know.”
Minho takes a deep, shaky breath to muster up his courage before meeting Hyunjin’s eyes. Honestly, he almost forgets the tiny speech he made on the way here - again - when he finds the softest smile he’s ever seen sitting on Hyunjin’s pretty face, as he patiently waits for Minho. Another thought strikes Minho for the first time at the sight;
How long must he have been waiting already?
“I’m in love with you,” Minho confesses, and strangely enough, feels less nervous speaking these words at this moment than he has been feeling while imagining countless similar scenarios previously. “I think I was in love with you a year ago. Maybe even before that, I’m not sure. At first I thought it was just the fact that you suddenly weren’t here anymore, that I just missed you. Seungmin can probably tell you that. But then you were and those feelings of… longing, I guess, remained even though we were supposedly back to normal. And yet, nothing has felt normal since you packed your bags and I was faced with your empty bed at least twice a day. And especially not now.”
Minho takes a breath. He didn’t mean to make this so long and still, he has so many things left he needs to say. But Hyunjin only looks at him with that same expression, and even nods when Minho figures his uncertainty shows on his face.
“What really settled it was having you leave; again,” Minho scoffs, because he’s really not over that fact yet. “Believe me when I tell you that I’ve never found myself missing those other three losers - and Jisung is over every other day anyways - but somehow it felt like I was back in February and the universe was playing some sick kind of trick by ripping you away when it felt like I’d just gotten you back. I’m sorry, is this too much? I feel like this is too much.”
“I might start crying, but that doesn’t mean it’s too much.”
Minho briefly laughs in surprise, but Hyunjin’s answering laughter definitely sounds a little wet. His lips still form the words ‘keep going’, so Minho does after another press of lips to Hyunjin’s slightly warmer hands.
“What I’m trying to say, anyway,” the older continues, “is that I’ve always known you mean a lot to me, Hyunjin-ah, but I didn’t realize just how much or in which way until very recently. Maybe not until this past week, actually, hence why I’ve been so distant from everyone. I’ve just been trying to get my head together and figure out if I should say anything or not. It’s been a whole mess, truthfully, and I didn’t want to bring anything up until I felt like I knew what I wanted.”
“Which is?” Hyunjin asks through another teary laugh. “What is it that you want?”
Honestly, Minho can’t help but chuckle a little in return. He feels a little bit like a giddy child, opening the largest present beneath the tree. What more can a person ask for than the lovely creature sitting in front of him?
“I think you know that, Hwang Hyunjin,” he smiles.
“I wanna hear you say it,” Hyunjin insists in return.
Still smiling, Minho yields.
“I want a chance at making you even happier than I suspect you already are, Hyunjin-ah. I want a chance to be the reason that beautiful smile covers your face every single day, and to be the first person on your mind when you wake up and the last one before you fall asleep, and to be the one you come to when any burden becomes too heavy to bear. I want to love you as I already have for such a long time, but I want to do it properly. If you’ll let me.”
“If I let you?” Hyunjin sniffles, still laughing breathlessly while quiet tears fall steadily as he looks at Minho. “Hyung, you’ve been sneaking your way to all of those things for months now. I think we’re past me letting you do anything. I couldn’t stop loving you now if I tried.”
It’s a strange thing, Minho thinks, to watch someone become so overwhelmed with emotion by your words that they laugh and cry simultaneously and the proceed to say that they literally can’t stop loving you. It isn’t something he could have imagined in his wildest dreams. It brings him a feeling he can’t even name, but the weight and importance and responsibility of it settles over his shoulders either way. This is real, now, between them.
“Yeah?” Minho asks carefully, fiddling with the rings on Hyunjin’s fingers while unable to keep his eyes away from the younger.
“Yeah,” Hyunjin confirms, leaning forward to wipe his face on his sleeve before sitting back up. “I’m so in love with you, Minho hyung, you have no idea. It’s a damn good thing I know you so well so I could muster up the patience to wait for you to come to me. With anyone else I would’ve gone mad and just blurted everything out by now, but with you… I knew you’d come to me, in your own time. You always do.”
Minho laughs. Again. Really, what else can he do?
He can’t help himself; instead he just leans his forehead on their clasped hands and laughs as his body shakes. Of course Hyunjin knows him better than he even knows himself. What did Minho even think was going to happen? Hyunjin is far more observant and emotionally intelligent and also mature than he lets on a lot of the time, and Minho knows this. If literally every other member could read him that easily, how could he genuinely think that Hyunjin himself wouldn’t?
“You’re so obvious, hyung,” Hyunjin laughs along with him - or maybe at him. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice how soft you’ve gotten? Well, you’ve always been softer than you’d like to think, but… It’s the little things, you know?”
“I actually don’t know,” Minho responds. “Please, enlighten me.”
“You’ve allowed me to feed you, for one,” the younger immediately counts, “and multiple times, too. You’ve completely stopped giving me tasks since this summer and whenever I ask how I should help you just tell me to sit down and keep you company. Everyone’s jealous of me but no one dares to call you out on it, it’s great. Thirdly, you’ve really gone overboard with the food thing; always bringing me stuff when you eat out or come over with unannounced snacks or literally come to my dorm to cook me food. Also, you--”
“You know what?” Minho interrupts, leaning forward to put his hand over Hyunjin’s mouth before he dies of embarrassment. “I believe you, so if you’d kindly shut up before I jump from this balcony, that’d be great. I’m an obvious fool in obvious love. Glad that’s been established.”
Hyunjin smiles beneath the hand covering his mouth, and Minho doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry over the fact that he can tell even without seeing the younger’s mouth. He really is whipped and should just come to terms with that, shouldn’t he?
“Just because I was nice enough to indulge you doesn’t mean you can stop doing those things now,” Hyunjin hurries to tell him after he lifts the hand away (and intertwines their fingers, but Minho will not think about that). “If you wanna be my boyfriend, hyung, you need to at least maintain your game, if you’re not planning on stepping it up. But stepping it down is where I draw the damn line.”
“Aw,” Minho can’t help but tease, “I always knew you were a spoiled little princess deep down.”
A hasty, prominent flush rises on Hyunjin’s cheeks before either of them knows what’s happening, and Minho’s heart skips a beat inside his chest at the realization that Hyunjin’s body is responding to the nickname. Maybe ‘prince’ just doesn’t do it for him anymore?
“Shut up,” Hyunjin tells him before Minho gets another word out from his smiling mouth. “Don’t even say anything.”
“Aigoo,” Minho murmurs anyway, grinning but leaning in closer to press a kiss to each of Hyunjin’s knuckles while maintaining their eye-contact to hide it somewhat. But he can’t let this one slip. “Don’t worry, princess, I’ll make sure to save it for special occasions. Can’t keep my baby spoiled all the time, now, where’s the fun in that?”
“Oh, my god,” Hyunjin hisses while squeezing his eyes together, “you’re really gonna make me regret this, aren’t you?”
“Only a little.”
“Does that mean I can skip the ‘hyung’ now? Minho? Minnie? Minho-yah?”
“In your fucking dreams, princess.”