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"I have a boyfriend," Hyunjin says only to frown when the others in the room laugh like there's a joke that he missed somewhere. "I'm dating Minho." There's more laughter and Hyunjin only frowns harder.
"No, you're not," Seungmin's laughter rings through his voice and he shakes his head as he raises his cup to take a drink from it.
Hyunjin looks to Jisung and Felix, both of whom seem to share Seungmin's disbelief. It makes Hyunjin huff out a breath. "Why don't you believe me? What would be so funny about me dating him?"
"He's cute," Jisung says with a shrug of his shoulders, like he isn't entirely sure why Hyunjin seems to care but he's answering anyway. "He just… doesn't date anyone."
"He can be kind of scary," Felix inputs, his voice sounding much smaller than Hyunjin had heard over the course of their friendship.
Hyunjin laughs in disbelief. Minho? Scary? Ridiculous . "You can't honestly think that," he says. His brow furrows as he looks between the other three. There are murmured agreements and Hyunjin isn't sure what to think anymore. He can't imagine anyone being scared of Minho. "Well… that doesn't change anything."
"Jinnie, you can't date him. You're allergic to cats!" Jisung gestures wildly with his hands as he speaks as if that makes the point more solid.
"And?"
"And he has cats. Or that's what Chan says."
"I know." Hyunjin isn't sure how he's supposed to follow Jisung's logic. What does him being allergic to Minho’s cats have to do with them dating?
"How would you ever go see him?"
Hyunjin sighs, but he guesses it's a fair enough question. He reaches over to the backpack resting at his feet and digs around the front pocket. Once he has what he's looking for he sits up straight and shows them the packet of allergy medicine. "I take this, but mostly he comes over to my place."
"You're actually serious, aren't you?" asks Felix. The other two look between him and Hyunjin several times while waiting for some response.
"Yes, I'm serious. We've been dating for six months now."
There's a sound of disbelief from Seungmin before he asks, "How come we've never seen you together then? And why are you just now telling us?"
Jisung, who is mid-sip of his tea, waves a hand to let them know he wants to speak when he finishes, and then says, "Yeah! I thought we told each other everything."
Hyunjin runs a hand through his hair, pushing the strands back from his face only for them to fall right back into place. "I didn't want to tell anyone at first. I didn't want to jinx it, and Minho is very private. So it worked for us. But then you went and tried to set me up with some guy-"
"I really think you'll like him," Jisung interrupts, making Hyunjin frown.
"No I won't. I'm not meeting him. I have a boyfriend."
Hyunjin can tell from the looks on his friends' faces that they don't really believe him. It makes him frown and take a loud, long sip from the straw in his cup.
The following day at the university, Hyunjin looks like he didn't get any sleep. His hair is a mess and tied in a pile on the top of his head with a rubber band that he knows he'll regret later but it was the only thing he had been able to find before rushing out of his apartment. "Are you okay?" asks Jeongin as he walks up to Hyunjin's side. His brow is furrowed and the worried expression is cute - making Hyunjin smile as he reaches up to pinch Jeongin's cheek.
Jeongin whines and tries to brush him off, but Hyunjin just pinches tighter before letting go. Jeongin rubs his cheek as Hyunjin says, "Yeah, I was just up late watching some choreography videos, trying to get an idea for this project. Where's Minho? Did he drive you today?" Hyunjin looks around for the person he most wanted to see that morning, frowning faintly when he doesn't see him.
"No, he's been here since early," Jeongin explains, which only makes Hyunjin's frown deepen. He almost wants to correct Jeongin’s word use but he lets it go mostly because he’s focused on the fact that Minho has been on campus for a while already. "I took the bus today."
Hyunjin says a hurried goodbye to Jeongin, then, and promises to catch up with him later. There's somewhere else he needs to be. He makes a quick stop along the way to get some coffee and something easy to eat from one of the on-campus convenience stores, but reaches his destination easily enough. He is greeted by the sound of echoing music spilling out of the dance studio at the end of the hall. There's light spilling out of it and he can hear the sound of shoes on the floorboards.
It doesn't surprise him to see Minho up and going over some choreography with one of the assistant instructors. Hyunjin had forgotten the instructor was going to be there that day, but Minho always makes sure to set time aside for an extra lesson since the instructor is a dancer that he's always looked up to. "I think you have a guest," Hoseok says with a laugh, once he sees Hyunjin in the mirrors along the wall. He knows fully well that Hyunjin wasn't there to see him. Hyunjin takes extra lessons with Hoseok sometimes, but at an off-campus studio that he regularly taught at after Hyunjin's classes were done for the day.
Minho meets his gaze in the mirror. His face is flushed and his bangs are almost sticking up at the front from sweat where he had run a hand through his hair thoughtlessly. He smiles softly despite being out of breath. He and Hoseok say goodbye and Hyunjin steps inside the room more so that Hoseok can leave without him blocking the way. "Innie says you got here early. I figured you skipped breakfast," Hyunjin says as he holds the coffee and wrapped pastry out toward Minho. "Take a break and eat with me?"
Minho makes a soft sound of agreement and sits down on the floor. Hyunjin immediately goes over to sit next to him while he's turning the music off by disconnecting the phone in his pocket from the speaker. "You didn't eat yet?" Minho asks as Hyunjin shifts around to get as comfortable as he can sitting on the floor of a dance studio.
"I did, but I'll still steal a bite of yours." Hyunjin flashes an innocent smile as Minho rolls his eyes, and he hands Minho the coffee first. He shrugs off the backpack on his shoulder once the coffee is out of his hand.
Minho mumbles a thank you as he takes the coffee from Hyunjin. There's a companionable silence between them as Minho drinks the coffee and Hyunjin unwraps the pastry. There's no need or rush to break the silence, not as Hyunjin picks off a piece for himself before handing the rest of it to Minho. Not as he eats the piece or moves around so that he can lay back and rest his head on Minho’s lap. Not as Minho enjoys the warm drink and lukewarm food that's almost too dry to be enjoyable but it's enough to hold him over until lunch break. When he's done eating, Minho sets the coffee aside and tugs at a longer strand of the black hair that Hyunjin has tied up on the top of his head. "Yah! What was that for?" he asks. He tips his head back to better look up at Minho, despite the odd angle. When Minho just smirks at him, he rolls his eyes and settles back down where he was. "I told my friends about us."
"Oh?" Minho's voice is soft.
If Hyunjin hadn't learned how to listen for the quiet sound whenever it happened, he might have missed it. But by this point in time he doesn't even have to try. "They didn't believe me." It makes Minho giggle. His nose scrunches up and he hides his laugh behind a hand until Hyunjin reaches up to grab his arm and lower it. "Why is that funny?"
"Because you're too good for me, obviously." Hyunjin rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue against his teeth. "But why don't they believe you?"
"Because they've never seen us together, and apparently you don't date."
Minho hums like he understands and nods his head slowly. "I don't. Or… didn't. There wasn't anybody I wanted to make time for."
"Until me."
"Yeah." Minho laughs, and it's the best sound Hyunjin has ever heard, making him smile brightly up at his boyfriend. "Until you."
Hyunjin sits up quickly, his head nearly colliding with Minho’s since Minho had started to lean over. It makes both of them laugh as Hyunjin pulls Minho closer until Minho is practically on his lap. "Come have lunch with me today. I don't like them not believing me."
"I'm supposed to meet Chan-"
"Bring him, too! Felix will be glad to see him."
Minho laughs softly and nods his head. "It's always fun to watch him get all flustered over Felix."
Hyunjin smiles brightly and then pulls Minho into a kiss that is little more than their lips being pressed together (they are in a public space, after all) while Minho's laugh is muffled because of it.
They reluctantly part ways a short while later; Hyunjin to make it across campus to his art class before it starts while Minho uses the showers quickly before his science lecture. Hyunjin shares some of his classes with his friends, while others he has with people he would still call a friend but he's not as close to them as he is to Felix, Seungmin, and Jisung. The four of them had met during first year orientation. He and Felix had shared a room while Jisung and Seungmin were across the hall. They have been friends ever since.
Jisung's boyfriend Changbin brought his friend Chan into their little friend group. Despite Chan's efforts, they never really managed to get Minho to hang out with them. Hyunjin had taken it personally at first, but then a chance run-in at a coffee shop in the fall changed everything between them. Hyunjin can't keep the smile off of his face as he remembers soft smiles and gentle laughs and hesitant hand holding under the stars. It only makes him wish lunch break was that much closer.
Despite feeling like it took too long for Hyunjin, lunch finally arrives and he hurries to the cafeteria that he and his friends always meet at. "Chan and Minho are coming today," he tells them as he settles down with his tray of food. He takes his backpack off of his shoulder and places it on the floor by his feet.
"It will be good to see Chan again," says Felix. He's staring stubbornly at his tray of food as if doing so will somehow stop the pink in his cheeks from being more prominent.
"Minho never eats with us," Seungmin says, doubtful that Minho will actually join them today. "Should we ask him about what you said yesterday?" His tone is teasing, attempting to try to make Hyunjin embarrassed.
Hyunjin just squares his shoulders and says, "Go ahead."
The determination in Hyunjin's voice makes Seungmin pause, and he can see the way that Seungmin is suddenly rethinking everything if Hyunjin is so willing to let him say something directly to Minho. Before either of them can say anything else, a warm and familiar voice interrupts with a, "Hey, guys!" Chan is all dimpled smiles as he sits down at the table. Hyunjin scowls when he realizes that Minho isn't with him. He doesn't get a chance to ask before Chan is explaining. "Minho is on the way. He had to stop and help Jeongin with something."
Hyunjin nods at that, the upset fading from his features. He can't blame Minho for wanting to help Jeongin, after all. He just hopes it doesn't take all break since he has been looking forward to seeing Minho again since they had separated earlier. Hyunjin doesn't really pay much attention to the conversation around the table until he hears Seungmin say, "So, Hyunjin has been telling us that he and Minho are dating."
"Yeah?" replies Chan, his question more of confusion at how Seungmin sounds doubtful of the fact. "Didn't you know? For like… what? Six months now?" Chan looks to Hyunjin for verification at the time frame and repeats Hyunjin's answering nod. "I thought everyone knew."
"They got you in on this joke too?" Jisung questions, looking as though he doesn't know whether to be annoyed or amused. "It's not a very good one. They don't have anything in common."
"How do you know?" Hyunjin all but snaps, making Jising stop mid-laugh and slowly set down his drink. "You don't really know him. So how can you say we have nothing in common?"
"Well I mean," Seungmin starts to explain for Jisung, "you're you . Everyone loves you. And he's… well, like he is."
Hyunjin is scowling again as he looks between Jisung, Seungmin, and Felix. He’s not sure how to take the information he’s being given, that his friends think so lowly of Minho just because he never dropped everything to join in their activities like most everyone else they knew. Not everybody needed to be as quick to be so energetic or playful. Even Hyunjin had days where he felt everyone was being too loud and he just wished they would stop. He didn’t often say as much, but he figured everyone had days like that. "Just because he's quiet and doesn't throw his life around for everyone else to see doesn't make him a bad person. He's reserved and shy, and you're being an ass. No wonder he doesn't want to get to know any of you." Hyunjin gets up from the table and grabs his backpack, ignoring the others trying to get him to sit back down.
He spots Minho heading in their direction, though Minho is more focused on his phone than where he's going. Hyunjin marches over to him and grabs him by the elbow, spinning him back around to walk in the other direction. His confusion is clearly written on his face, but he doesn't ask anything as he follows Hyunjin's lead away from the cafeteria. They don't stop until they're almost off campus and Hyunjin feels Minho’s opposite hand rest on top of his own hand that is wrapped around Minho’s elbow.
Hyunjin lets go of Minho’s arm and huffs out a breath to try to get the strands of hair falling out of the rubber band back out of his eyes. "My friends are jerks," Hyunjin explains as Minho takes a hold of his hand and links their fingers together. Hyunjin squeezes them gently. "They don't even know you. All this time, they've never even tried."
"I haven't exactly given them a chance to," Minho says, which apparently isn't the right thing because Hyunjin narrows his eyes in response.
"You shouldn't have to be someone that goes around chatting to everybody like they're your best friend for them to see you as a good person." Hyunjin is scowling back in the direction of the cafeteria. "Changbin isn't like that, and they still like him. They talk about you like you're mean or something. Like…"
"Like I'm not good enough for you?"
Hyunjin lifts his free hand to point at Minho. "You take that back." Minho just smiles a small, tight lipped smile but doesn't say anything. "I don't like the way they were talking about you. All they know about you is that you don't say much, which apparently to them means it's impossible for us to date. How is it my fault that they never took the chance to try to get to know you? You just don't do well in group settings where you don't know anyone!"
"Neither did you," Minho reminds Hyunjin. It almost makes Hyunjin visibly deflate. "If we hadn't crossed paths that day at the coffee shop, you would think the same thing too."
Minho can clearly remember the day that he met all of them. Chan had been so excited for Minho to meet all of his friends. Minho hadn't really said much of anything. He answered questions when asked directly but didn't ask anything in return to get to know any of the others. It was because, like Hyunjin had said, he didn't do well in group settings - especially when he didn't really know anybody. When he had gotten the opportunity to talk to Hyunjin, just the two of them, he had been much more talkative. Hyunjin had gotten to see him smile and laugh like he hadn't before, and Hyunjin had gotten to realize that Minho wasn't a jerk or standoffish. He was just shy and hesitant to open up to people.
"Maybe, but still!" Hyunjin huffs again. "They could have tried at any time, but they didn't. Felix said he's scared of you."
Minho frowns when he hears that, but he can't say he's exactly surprised after some of the interactions they had. He nods his head slowly. "We had some dance classes together," Minho explains. "You know how I can get when it's not going right."
"Yeah, okay. You get grumpy and say things you don't mean - but you don't mean them! You're just frustrated. Or joking, like you do with Chan. Or Changbin. I’ve seen you be that way with him, too."
Minho smiles softly as Hyunjin keeps talking, but he’s not really paying attention to what Hyunjin is saying. He thinks it’s sweet that Hyunjin feels so strongly about the whole thing (more so than Minho who, ultimately, doesn’t care what other people think so long as they like him dancing) and he decides to derail Hyunjin from being so upset at his friends by interrupting the rant. He gently grabs a hold of Hyunjin’s face and keeps him still enough to lean in and kiss him.
Hyunjin quietens and visibly deflates, simply standing there for several seconds before he wraps his arms around Minho’s waist in order to hug him close. He can feel Minho smile against his lips and suddenly nothing else matters to him. When Minho pulls away, it’s just enough to rest his forehead against Hyunjin’s. Hyunjin still has his eyes closed and he takes a deep breath before actually opening his eyes to look at Minho. “That’s cheating,” Hyunjin mumbles, though there’s no real fight to his words as he leans back enough to look at Minho fully without letting him go.
“Do you like me?”
“Well that’s a dumb question. Of course I do.”
“Then who cares what they think?”
Hyunjin sighs heavily and rests his forehead against Minho’s again before hugging him tightly enough that he nearly lifts Minho off the ground. It makes Minho complain but laugh at the same time so Hyunjin has no regrets. “I don’t want to go to my afternoon class. Skip with me today?”
“Hoseok-”
“Will be back another day,” Hyunjin interrupts. His face is already folding into a pout despite the fact that he can see there’s no fight in Minho’s expression. He’s not going to say ‘no’ and Hyunjin knows it. “Lunch first? I didn’t actually eat anything before coming to find you. You were late.”
“Mn.” Minho nods his head. “Lunch first.”
Hyunjin has lunch with Minho that day, and the day after - they actually go to their afternoon classes on that second day. Hyunjin pouts the rest of the day. Well, for the next thirty minutes before he’s fully distracted by his class. It’s on Friday that he actually joins his friends for lunch again. Felix immediately grabs onto his arm and hugs it and rests his chin on Hyunjin’s shoulder. “Are you done being mad at us?” he asks. “We’re sorry for upsetting you.”
“Yeah,” says Seungmin from across the table. He has a small, hesitant smile on his face. “Chan really let us have it after you left.”
“We didn’t think you were serious! That’s why- I mean we also really don’t know him so we could have been right, but… sorry,” Jisung stumbled over an attempt to try to explain himself and his words. He hadn’t meant any real harm. He had just never imagined that Hyunjin would actually date someone that they know so little about. Chan had scolded them and told them that just because they didn’t know Minho didn’t mean that Hyunjin didn’t. “You really like him?” Jisung leans against Hyunjin’s side that doesn’t have Felix attached to it and he reaches over to steal a french fry off of Hyunjin’s plate. “Tell us about him.”
Hyunjin smiles as he rests his head on top of Jisung’s. “He’s really sweet,” Hyunjin starts to tell them. “He hides it behind that whole grumpy thing that you’ve seen in class Felix; but that’s just him being far too hard on himself and taking it out on you - not that I think he should it’s just… a thing he needs to work on. But, uh, he also does it playfully? If you’ve seen him with Chan and Changbin it’s cute. He truly does care and is the kind to quietly take care of the people that he cares about. We can talk about nothing and everything - and he’s an amazing dancer, have you seen him dance?”
Hyunjin is all soft smiles as he speaks and it’s because of that that Seungmin finally pop in, interrupting Hyunjin telling them about how soft Minho is with his cats, with, “You’re in love with him.”
“Shut up, I am not,” is Hyunjin’s immediate, knee-jerk reaction even though as he says the words he knows that it’s not true. He has known for quite some time that he’s in love with Minho. He just… hasn’t told Minho yet. The suddenness of his answer causes Felix and Jisung to lean away to look at him better and Hyunjin sighs softly. He pushes his tray way so that he can rest his elbow on top of the table and put his chin in his hand. “Yeah, I kind of am; but, I don’t know how to tell him that.”
“Just tell him,” Felix offers, making the other three look at him as he shrugs his shoulders. He picks at the peeling black nail polish on his thumbnail. “Write it down or play a song or something. Saying it is better than not saying it.”
“You’re one to talk,” says Seungmin with a laugh as he reaches over to pinch Felix’s rapidly reddening cheek. “You still haven’t managed to tell Chan that you’re in love with him and it’s been how long?”
“To tell Chan what?” They hear the voice behind Felix, Hyunjin, and Jisung making the three of them quickly turn around to see Chan standing there while Seungmin leans over enough to see him from between Hyunjin and Felix.
Felix’s eyes widen for a split second and then he jumps up from the table with a mumbled excuse before rushing off. Chan looks between where Felix is running off to and the others. Seungmin points in Felix’s direction and says, “Go,” before Chan seems to actually react and take off after him.
"Did you do that on purpose?" Jisung asks Seungmin, narrowing his eyes accusingly.
"No! I didn't even see him there. Your big heads were blocking him," Seungmin insists. He truly hadn't seen Chan there and hadn't intended to out his friend's feelings for their elder friend. Though Seungmin did feel that it was about time that something was said considering Felix had liked Chan since high school. "But we all know it's going to work out perfectly. Chan is just as much in love with Felix as Felix is with him."
They don't see Felix again before they have to go their separate ways for their afternoon classes, but their group chat gets filled with a bunch of smileys and hearts and other emojis that make it very clear that Felix's conversation with Chan went well. It makes Hyunjin smile to himself as he puts his phone into his bag and decides that he's going to tell Minho exactly how he feels about him that night.
He doesn't. There's plenty of opportunity to. He spends the night over at Minho's house, complete with allergy medications so that he's not sniffling and sneezing the whole time because of the cats. They watch movies and then get dinner delivered and end up falling asleep cuddled up on the couch. Hyunjin wants to say it, he can feel the words there on the tip of his tongue but every time he goes to say it they just slip away. He's not sure why. He doesn't think that anything bad will happen if he says it - but still there's something just overwhelming about telling Minho those words that he's never told anyone else beyond family or friends.
The words are said for him, though, a few days later. The two of them are walking to campus. It's early and Hyunjin wants to still be asleep in his bed. He whines and says as much as he leans down enough to rest his head on Minho's shoulder. Minho chuckles softly and gently squeezes his hand while turning his head just enough to press a gentle kiss to Hyunjin's forehead. "I love you," he says, softly enough that Hyunjin almost misses it. The sound of other people talking nearby, of cars passing on the street a short distance away, of their own footsteps on the pavement are all much louder than Minho's voice.
Still, Hyunjin heard it and he's got a small almost disbelieving smile on his face as he lifts his head and stops walking. It makes their hands disconnect because Minho isn't expecting Hyunjin to stop walking. "What did you say?" he asks, though the words are more laughter than voice.
Minho laughs and smiles. "You heard me."
"Mn." Hyunjin nods his head and grabs Minho's wrist to pull him close before wrapping both arms around his waist. Minho squirms a bit but doesn't really try to get out of the hold. "Say it again. Please?"
"You're a brat." Hyunjin whines and pouts, putting on his best puppy dog eyes which makes Minho laugh softly as he reaches up to brush Hyunjin's hair back off of his face. "But I'm kind of in love with you."
Hyunjin's answering smile was bright and reminded Minho of what had drawn him to Hyunjin in the first place. "I love you, too. I tried to tell you the other day - I wanted to be the first one to say it." Hyunjin almost pouts again but he's still smiling too much for it to be effective. It's ridiculous and silly and he knows people are giving them unamused glances as they pass by but he doesn't care because he's got his boyfriend in his arms and he can't wait to see where their future together leads.