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A week later, at nine in the morning, Jisung is stood at a wooden door he hopes is the right one. He's once again shaking, so much so that he's pretty sure he'll drill a hole into the ground if he doesn't do something soon. He lifts his fist to the door, the pointed edge of the gift bag in his other hand hitting and digging into his leg with every tremor.
"Come on, Jisung," he whispers to himself, fist falling back to his side. He should knock. He's been standing at this door for minutes now, trying and failing to get this interaction over with. He should knock. It's just two minutes, two sentences and then Jisung can run home and squeal to Chan about how much of an absolute mess he is. Okay, Jisung needs to knock. People must be watching him through their peepholes, wondering why he's been standing in front of their neighbour's door for so long, panicking and whispering to himself.
Tap, tap, tap.
Jisung's soul leaves his body.
Tap, tap, tap.
Footsteps. Jisung hears footsteps coming from the direction of the elevator. Oh, God. Oh no. Okay, fuck it. Taking the deepest breath he can muster, he raps his fist against the door, only exhaling when an elderly man has silently passed him and unlocked his door, nodding in greeting.
Seconds later, Minho answers with Soonie cradled in his arms and his head turned away. He looks cute, wearing a large t-shirt Jisung recognizes as Hyunjin's and pajama pants that have little cartoon cats on it, locks of black hair sticking every which way. "No, I didn't fuck your boyfriend. I mixed up our laundry and I don't care," Minho says without looking forward, lazily wiggling his fingers in Soonie’s face so they bat at the digits.
"Is that Innie or Minnie?" Hyunjin shouts from somewhere in the house.
Jisung shifts awkwardly on his feet, gripping the gift bag's handles with both hands. "Uh…" He flinches when Minho’s head whips in his direction at the sound of his voice.
"Jisung, I– oh my god," Minho squeaks, Soonie staring up at him curiously, head resting against the older boy’s chest. It all makes Jisung stupidly fond, wanting badly to pat down Minho's bedhead and scratch Soonie's chin.
He shakes his head at that, using the motion to his advantage when he says, "I steal Hyunjin and Chan's clothes all the time, don't worry."
"Oh," Minho says, body practically melting from relief, his face relaxing into an easy smile. "They're so comfy! How can you not?" He gushes, his excitement quickly absorbed by Jisung.
"Right! They've got the best hoodies!"
"And t-shirts!"
"Sweats, too!"
"One of them is right here!"
And they still ignore him, Minho eagerly asking, “Wanna come in?"
"Sure!" Jisung says without thinking, moving to take a step forward before his nerves come rushing back. "Are you sure?" He checks even though Minho has already moved to the side to allow him in. Yet he continues, "I only came to drop off the sweater I borrowed and you look like you just woke up. I don't want to intrude or anythi–" Minho snorts, loud and ugly, confusing Jisung when he puts Soonie on the ground, shaking his head. They both watch the cat wander away, disappearing into the kitchen Jisung first met the creature in. "Wha–AH!" Minho yanks him over the threshold, laughing that stupidly nice laugh as he locks the door behind him
Jisung is so confused.
“Don’t you remember the conversation we had last night, Jiji?” Minho asks teasingly while dragging Jisung in a direction he barely logs while he searches his brain for the mentioned talk. It didn’t take much to remember it. It was just a curt interaction that went something like this:
Cat Hog : hey i still have your hoodie
Cat Hog : want me to drop it off??
Criminal : The green one?
Cat Hog : yeah
Criminal : Felix and his scheming smh
Cat Hog : ????
Criminal : Ntn
Criminal : You can drop by anytime you want tmrrw
Criminal : Hyunjin and I are staying in the whole day
Cat Hog : ok
“Jiji?” He asks absentmindedly, tone slow and cautious like he’s taste-testing the nickname.
It makes Minho pause his insistent dragging to face him, still holding onto his wrist as he asks, “Is that okay? I know it might be a little fast–”
"It's okay," Jisung says hurriedly, voice cracking at the end at which Hyunjin immediately snickers at from the couch. "It's cute," he adds, smiling at the way Minho nods and rushes to the kitchen right after.
Now alone, Jisung drops the gift bag on the dining table and walks the rest of the way to the couch, taking the liberty to smack Hyunjin upside the head before greeting him. "Hello to you too, Han," Hyunjin grumbles, one hand rubbing at his head while the other tries its best to keep up with the game playing out on the TV.
Partially content, Jisung flops onto the opposite end of the couch, slumping back against the armrest moodily and crossing his arms. Hyunjin was in a similar state to Minho, looking as though he’d just rolled out of bed. His long chocolate brown hair was pulled into a messy half-up half-down style and he was wearing a matching silk pajama set crinkled from sleep. "Did you finish that Art History paper that was due, by the way?" Jisung asks, fingers tapping an idle rhythm on his arms as he stares at the two muscular men currently battling it out onscreen. When Hyunjin's character takes consecutive, blockable hits, though, Jisung turns back to him.
Hyunjin is frozen, controller suspended in his hands. "When was it due?"
"I'll take that as a no." Jisung chuckles at the glare Hyunjin fixes on him. "Yesterday. And if you haven't started it I think you should now. She's only giving a day's grace period before marks start being subtracted."
"Fuck," Hyunjin hisses, shooting up and throwing the controller at Jisung, the latter scrambling to catch it. "Don't beat Minho too bad! I need to be the one to do it!"
"You can't play for shit, Jinnie!" Minho shouts from the kitchen as Hyunjin runs towards a corridor that leads to what Jisung presumes is his room.
"Shut up!" He yells back, yanking his door open. "I've been practicing!" Then he's gone, door slammed shut behind him. Jisung glances between the controller in his hands and the paused game. Well, there goes my buffer. Great.
"What was all that about?" Minho's suddenly nearing voice asks, pulling Jisung out of the spiral that had been forming in his head.
"You didn't hear?"
"Not much."
"Forgot an assignment."
"Worth a lot?"
"Kinda." Jisung shrugs, relaxing back into the couch once again and righting the controller in his hand. "The teacher's just strict with late submissions." Thinking little of it now, he nods to the TV. "Wanna play?"
It earns him a small laugh, Minho shaking his head as he grabs the second controller resting on the coffee table and falls back onto the couch. "You know how?"
"Of course I know how."
“You sure?”
“I've ranted to you about Overwatch, Halo and Zelda multiple times this week, Min.”
“Just wanted to check."
"I can – and will – beat you, Lee Minho. Don't be mistaken.”
A smirk makes its way onto Minho’s stupid, nice, pink lips. "Right."
"Oh, you are so on."
• • •
"You know what? I'm only talking to Soonie, Doongie and Dori for the rest of the day," Jisung concludes, scooping up Doongie, who had been dozing off in his lap, seemingly desensitized to the chaos and shouting around them. "I hope you two know you've disrespected all four of us." Absolutely confused, Doongie looks around the room before wriggling out of the blue-haired boy's arms, giving him a judgmental look before scurrying away.
It had been hours since he’d arrived and they'd gone through a few games. The one they'd started with had lasted a few rounds before they'd given up, ending in what seemed to be a draw, so they'd tried FIFA , then Smash Bros and now Mario Cart . Jisung was losing pretty bad at Mario Cart.
"They're my cats, Jisung." Minho crosses his arms at the other end of the couch, tone serious even though the younger’s legs are strewn across his lap and he's wearing the lightest of smiles.
"They like me more!"
"Bold of you to assume!"
"Bold of you not to assume!"
"You know what, Han Jisung? I challenge you to a Just Dance duel," Minho says as Hyunjin returns from the kitchen with a handful of napkins and a plate of glazed donuts, passing it all over to Minho. "Since you think you can come into my house, steal my cats right in front of me and eat my food." He stops, still leaning forward after placing the plate and napkins on the coffee table. Glancing between the donuts and Jisung, he picks one up with a napkin, waving it a bit as he sits back up. "Do you want one, gorgeous?" He asks, ears turning a nice shade of pink at how Jisung and Hyunjin stare at him like he’s refuted his own point. He looks away. “Both of you shut up.”
"First of all, I do want one, thanks," Jisung responds, laughing when Minho hastily gives him the donut in his hand before pasting on a blank expression. "Second, hyung, I simply give Soonie, Doongie and Dori the love and attention they deserve."
"Well, I feed and nurture them on a daily basis.”
"Co-parents then?" Jisung offers and Minho finally breaks, a smile stretching across his face.
"So, found family?"
"Tooth-rotting fluff?"
"A bit of platonic cuddling?"
"A splash of strangers to friends to lovers?"
"I like your words, magic man!"
"Innie, come put me out of my misery, please," Hyunjin whines into his phone, laying across the armchair on Jisung's side of the couch. Ignoring the glares sent his way, the brunette pauses before laughing at something Jeongin says. "'Kay, bye, love you, mwah!" He ends the call, mirroring the glares from Jisung and Minho. "Innie is coming over."
"So both of your boyfriends will be here in ten," Minho deadpans.
Hyunjin giggles. "Probably yeah."
"How'd the essay go?"
"Was nothing. Only had a couple hundred words left to write."
"So why'd it take you so long to come out?" Jisung asks, Switch controller in one hand while the other works at petting Dori who'd hopped into his lap as quickly as Doongie had left.
Hyunjin shrugs, twirling a lock of hair with a smirk, "I dunno, internalized homophobia probably. Innie and Minnie helped though." Cackling, he narrowly dodges the pillow thrown at his head. "I finished it in, like, two hours so I worked on a piece I started recently," he concedes.
"What's it for?"
"Innie's birthday."
"Isn't that in, like, three months?"
"Doesn't hurt to start early. Plus it's special." Jisung doesn't get the chance to ask why before Hyunjin grabs a donut and practically inhales it, turning to Minho. "Ready to lose, Lee?" Hyunjin challenges, grabbing the controller he’d left on his chair’s armrest while he'd gone to warm up the donuts.
Minho huffs, taking the controller Jisung offers him. "You talk big for someone who's yet to beat me."
"I've been practicing."
“We’ll see how useful it was, then.”
Shaking his head, Jisung picks up another donut as Minho and Hyunjin trash talk, laying across the couch with his legs in Minho's lap, Dori purring on his chest while Soonie is curled up against Minho's side and Jisung's legs. Another round of Mario Cart starts up and he sinks further into the couch, smiling at the focus and determination on his friend’s faces.
• • •
"WINNER!"
"Yes!" Jisung and Hyunjin yelp, both hopping up to envelop the other in a tight hug. They bounce around, cheering and laughing while Minho scowls at them from his spot on the couch.
"In your face, Lee Minho!" Hyunjin exclaims after taking a very loud lap around their living room with Jisung on his back.
"Yeah!" Jisung tags on, chin hooked over Hyunjin's shoulder as he smiles.
"What are you guys, twelve?" Minho rolls his eyes even though he's fighting back the adoration bubbling up at the sight of Jisung's toothy grin. "In your face, Lee Minho," he still mocks in an obnoxiously high voice.
"Well, when you say it like that I sound like a loser," Hyunjin grumbles, pouting.
"'Cause you are."
"Speak for yourself, Mr 'I got kicked out of my dorm and had to move in with Hyunjin because I was hiding, not one, but two cats'."
"It was a courageous act."
"It was the second time!"
"They should've learnt from the first to change their rules about it!"
"You going to the Dean to try and persuade him with the first cat wasn't a good plan and you know it!"
"It didn't hurt to try."
"He damn near banned you entirely before Chan stepped in!"
"At least I tried!"
"He's deathly allergic to cats!'"
"How was I supposed to know?"
"He told you–"
"Bad hearing."
"–Over email."
"I literally wear glasses."
Hyunjin sighs, Jisung snickering as he climbs off his back. "You're unbelievable," Hyunjin says, falling back into his armchair.
Minho is just about to say another snarky retort when there's a knock at the front door that steals everyone’s attention. Excited, Hyunjin gets up to answer it but he doesn’t get far before the door clicks open, Seungmin and Jeongin strolling in. Minho blinks at the both of them, stunned for some reason. Do they not have a spare key? Jisung wonders as Minho asks, "How?"
Guess not.
"Magic," Seungmin replies, doing jazz hands with his one free hand, the other balancing two greasy pizza boxes.
"Seungmin," Jeongin, a plastic bag in hand, deadpans beside said boy, earning him a glare.
"Took you guys long enough," Hyunjin mutters, now leaned against the back of the couch, completely skirting over the fact that his boyfriends just got in without a known spare key. Minho seems to recover quite quickly too, turning to Jisung to get another round of video game fighting started up, the two of them bickering over their characters while Hyunjin steps closer to his boyfriends and Jeongin pushes Seungmin in his direction, a sickeningly sweet smile on his face as he steals the pizza boxes out of Seungmin's hands and walks to the kitchen. "So?" Hyunjin presses, arms winding loosely around Seungmin's waist. Seungmin gives him the lightest of kisses, giggling at how Hyunjin chases him after.
"Go see." Is all he says.
"One more kiss?"
Laughing, Seungmin indulges him, Jisung scoffing at them as he jogs past and into the kitchen, character finally picked and arguing with Minho done for now.
His socks slide against the tiled floor, stopping only a few feet from Jeongin although he manages to bump into him when going to wrap his arms around his middle. He hooks his chin over his shoulder to observe the open pizza boxes, stack of napkins and bag of snacks all laid out. "I could kiss you!" He proclaims, Jeongin's already profuse wiggling and complaining growing stronger at the declaration. The pizza closest to Jisung had his and Jeongin's favourite toppings on it.
"We're kissing Innie?" Minho asks loudly, way too excited about the prospect.
"No, we aren't!"
Blatantly ignoring Jeongin's reply, Minho runs into the kitchen and looks over the shoulder Jisung isn't occupying. He stares down at the other pizza that has his, Seungmin and Hyunjin's favourite toppings, offering a short hum.
"Shut up," Jeongin says tersely.
"Didn't say a word."
"You hummed."
"Could mean anything."
"Right." Chuckling, Minho separates from Jeongin, shuffling to a nearby cabinet and pulling out a bright orange plate. "There's napkins…"
"Seungmin," Minho simply says, resting the plate next to said napkins before moving to the fridge. "Jisungie, come help me,” he adds and Jisung is at his side with embarrassing speed, taking the two bottles of juice that are passed to him. Minho gets cups and they're walking out the kitchen right before Hyunjin and Seungmin walk in.
"What's all this for?" Hyunjin asks, giving Jeongin a side hug.
"Can I not get my boyfriend surprise pizza?"
Seungmin snorts, grabbing his favourite orange plate from the counter. "Minho told him you were stressing about a paper earlier today."
"No I didn't!"
"Sure, hyung!"
"Thank you so much, baby," Hyunjin whispers, pressing a kiss to Jeongin's cheek.
"It's whatever," the younger grumbles, even though he doesn't fight the urge to kiss the smile slowly growing on Hyunjin's face, heart warming at the little giggle it pulls out of his boyfriend.
"Gross," Seungmin teases, shimmying between the pair to get to the pizza, not forgetting to press quick kisses to Jeongin and Hyunjin's nearest cheek. The two other boys are just about to return the favour when Minho pops his head into the kitchen.
"We're marathoning as much One Piece as we can fit in a day," he announces, disappearing back into the living room right after.
The three of them are left silent for a moment before it finally clicks. "Minho is not a One Piece watcher," Hyunjin points out, Seungmin and Jeongin nodding and cringing as the same memory comes to mind: Minho and Hyunjin having a thirty-minute argument and debate on why Minho adamantly refused to watch the show in question.
"Jisung," They all say, shaking their heads solemnly.
"I bet twenty they'll be married by the end of the school year," Seungmin says, pulling out two slices for himself.
"I bet thirty it's end of second term," Jeongin says, him and Seungmin turning to Hyunjin, who pauses trying to stuff a whole slice of pizza down his throat to answer.
"I'm with Innie, but I want to separately put fifty on them having a house, four kids and a car by the end of third year."
"Deal."
"Deal."
Shaking on it, they settle on bringing the two pizza boxes to the living room, joining Jisung and Minho as the first episode loads.
• • •
Once again, Jisung is cozied up on Minho's couch at only-god-knows-o'clock. Dori is curled up to his chest, Minho sat by his head with Soonie in his lap, Doongie lost on the loveseat amongst Jeongin, Seungmin and Hyunjin. It's nice. So great, in fact, that if you'd have told him this is what this Saturday would've culminated into, he'd have laughed in your face, paused and then whispered an embarrassingly hopeful, "Wait really?" Yet he was here. Comfortable, a little tired from the day's chaos and zoning out a bit.
Then he feels something run through his hair and he squeaks, flinching hard enough that it startles Dori awake. Whispering an apology, he cranes his neck to find Minho's hand hovering and hesitation painted across his features. "Sorry," he whispers quickly. "Can I?"
Jisung nods, turning his head back towards the TV so Minho can't figure out that his heart is in his throat just at the request. When fingers card through his hair properly, though, he forgets about any worries he'd been having just seconds before. He slips back into that comfort, that tiredness, burrows deeper into the wool blanket Hyunjin brought out from his room along with his own duvet for him and his boyfriends.
"You're welcome to come over whenever you want, by the way," Minho says, voice softer than Jisung is used to. The younger grunts, eyes shooting open a second later when he realizes he'd shut them.
Minho laughs, tucking a piece of hair behind Jisung's right ear. "Tired?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, it is almost ten."
"What?" Jisung surges up, Dori flat-out glaring up at him this time. "Sorry," he whispers to Dori and everyone else in the room, who are staring at him as he reaches for his face-down phone resting on the coffee table.
5 unread texts. 3 missed calls.
All from Chan and all from an hour ago. He feels terrible . He hadn't told Chan where he was going this morning or when he'd be back, too preoccupied with forcing himself to just go. Dummy. Jisung couldn't have forecasted spending the whole day at Minho's but he could've at least shot Chan a text when he'd remembered to… if he'd remembered to. Next time I will, Jisung promises flippantly as though next time is a definite. Isn't it?
"I should go," he says loud enough for only Minho to hear, everyone else focused on the show again.
Minho doesn't say anything, watching blankly as Jisung stuffs his phone in his jeans pocket and tries to maneuver away from Dori without disturbing them. "Take your time," he finally says, Jisung stopping in his tracks. "Chan texted me and I told him you were with us."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
Minho snorts, patting his now empty lap after Jisung had done a poor job at glancing at Minho, his lap, the One Piece episode and then Minho again. Blushing but happy, Jisung lowers himself to rest his head on the older’s lap, fixing his blanket and sighing as fingers return to his hair at a better angle this time. Minutes pass before Minho speaks again, "I meant what I said before: you're welcome to come here whenever you want. Haven, too. I don't mind."
"Are you sure?" Jisung chuckles awkwardly. "I can be quite annoying."
"I have to share air with Seungmin, Jeongin and Hyunjin constantly, three of the biggest nuisances in my life. I think I can handle one Jisung."
"Don't say I didn't warn you, Min."
The hand stops. "You called me 'Min' earlier, too."
"S-Sorry, it slipped out. Do you want me to stop?"
"No, no. Go ahead."
"Okay." Jisung tries his luck even more. "Wanna walk to lunch together on Monday, Min?"
"What time?"
"Our group normally meets in the canteen at two o'clock. I could pick you up from Haven if you're on shift."
Minho hums. "My shift ends at two, so you may have to wait a bit."
"I don't mind," Jisung says. Then he jokingly squeezes in, "I'll just need an Americano as reparations."
"I'm not giving you a free drink, Han Jisung," Minho responds instantly in a tone so stone-cold Jisung could make the quickest rolled ice cream known to man on it. He shook his head, both at the stupid metaphor and Minho's misinterpretation.
"I wasn't asking for one."
"Oh."
"Just making up for the one I didn't get to order when we met."
Minho snickers at the memory. "Okay, Princess."
"Minho!" Jisung exclaims, both of them laughing and apologizing at the dirty looks they get from the other people in the room.
"So Monday, 2 o'clock?"
"It's a deal."
"And a free coffee?"
Minho boops him on the nose, a mischievous grin stretching across his face. For a moment, Jisung fears and wonders about just what he's gotten himself into. "I'll think about it, Jiji."