Chapter Text
-:-
"Great! You just killed our daughter!"
"What are you talking about, she's still alive! The fire isn't even that bad."
"But you can't send our teenage daughter to put out a literal fire, that's too dangerous! And what are you doing?! You're just standing there and freaking out!"
"Okay okay, I'll go in and help her, calm down."
"Oh god, why did we decide to have another baby?"
The bedroom door opening has both Seungmin and Jeongin jumping back in their chairs, startled, tearing their eyes away from the computer screen where their Sims are still dealing with the escalating fire, to instead face a bleary-eyed Jisung, who is practically hanging off the door handle. His hair is a mess and he's still in the white dress-shirt he wears for work. There is hair falling across his face, obscuring his eyes from view.
"I didn't know you were home", Seungmin says, shifting on his chair to see Jisung better. He takes in the other boy's tired appearance and the late hour. "What time is it?"
Both he and Jeongin turn to the computer screen at that, but Jisung speaks before they have time to find the answer.
"Two thirty", he mumbles, closing his eyes and leaning his head on the door. "I think I fell asleep on the couch."
"Oh. Sorry for waking you", Jeongin apologizes. He sends Jisung a worried glance. "We'll be more quiet, promise."
Jisung shakes his head and brushes the hair out of his face, eyes closed.
"No, I should move from the couch, anyway." He blinks one eye open the slightest bit, peering at them through the dark, their figures illuminated by nothing other than the computer screen they're sitting by. There's a light somewhere in the hallway behind Jisung, but most of the apartment seems dark. "Aren't you two going to sleep?"
Seungmin and Jeongin exchange glances.
"Soon", Seungmin says, and Jeongin nods in agreement.
"Yes, definitely."
Jisung pouts at them, eyes slightly more awake. He's really great at being cute even when he's not trying to be, and it takes a toll on both his boyfriends' hearts. It's really not easy to refuse him like this, no matter what he asks for.
"But cuddles!"
His whiny tone isn't even intentional. It's more of a habit than anything at this point.
Jeongin is the first one to cave in, spinning his chair around so that it faces Jisung instead of the desk. He pats his thighs in invitation, and that's the only cue Jisung needs to let go of the door and stumble over to his youngest boyfriend, climbing onto his lap as if it's the most natural thing in the world.
Once he's gotten comfortable, Jeongin swivels around again, more careful now that he has Jisung on his lap, turning so that they can both see the game on screen.
"We'll go to bed with you, we just gotta fix this so the game can save", he explains, gesturing toward the screen while placing the other arm around Jisung's waist.
Jisung squints at the bright light.
"Is your daughter okay? Is she putting out a fire by herself?" he wonders.
Seungmin is quick to take control of the game again while Jeongin attempts to answer this question without incriminating them both. Jisung doesn't play as many games as them, but he walks in on them playing often enough to know the most recent drama that's happening in their Sims world. There's always something going on there.
"Uhm, well, you see..."
"Didn't your household have a mom and a dad?" Jisung interrupts, having gotten a better look at the screen now. "Where did the mom go? ...Don't tell me she died."
"We don't talk about that", Seungmin mumbles as he orders their Sims dad to put out the fire. He's much better at avoiding the question than Jeongin, who starts fiddling with Jisung's sleeping shorts nervously.
"We really weren't trying to kill her, I swear!" Jeongin says, pretending like he doesn't notice the judging look Jisung gives him. "Her handiness skill was just too low and the TV really needed to be fixed..."
Jisung, the little shit, laughs at them.
"That's so tragic!"
"Then why are you laughing?!" Jeongin exclaims, hugging Jisung tighter as they watch the fire be put out in front of them. "She was electrocuted, and you're laughing!"
Jisung puts his head down on Jeongin's shoulder, still giggling. He takes a few seconds to collect himself while Seungmin saves the game.
"I didn't see Meongmeong and Foxy when I got home", Jisung then says. "Are they hiding somewhere?"
Meong and Foxy—Jeongin's and Seungmin's familiars, respectively—usually hang out on a specific wall in their living room, behind the couch near one of the windows. There, their humans have set up a little space just for their butterflies: Flower pots hang from the ceiling, small shelves on the walls for them to sit on, and two bonsai trees marking the room's corners.
Meong and Foxy, along with Jisung's own familiar, absolutely love the outdoorsy part of their living room, spending more time there than they do next to their humans. Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin consider this the greatest compliment for their decoration skills. After all, it's normally pretty difficult to separate a familiar from their human.
"I thought they were on the bonsai?" Jeongin comments, looking down at Jisung on his shoulder with a small frown.
Jisung shakes his head.
"No, but no worries. Quokka will find them", Jisung mumbles, voice confident despite the lack of enunciation from having his cheek pressed up against Jeongin's shoulder. "It's not like they ever go far."
Meong, Foxy and Quokka are soulmates just as much as Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin are. Always have been.
The day Jisung started middle school, a small butterfly showed up and landed on his hair. Its wings were yellow with black edges and he absolutely adored it from the first moment. It stayed with him for the rest of the day, alternating between sitting on his hair like a pretty hair clip and hiding inside the blazer of his school uniform.
Of course, he suspected the butterfly might be his familiar, but he didn't know for sure until school ended for the day. The butterfly had suddenly taken off and Jisung followed it throughout the building on a wild chase, before he turned a corner and crashed into someone.
That was how he met Seungmin.
Their two butterflies flew straight to each other and when they touched, their wings shifted colors, as though both of them had been painted with watercolors and they were making it spill onto each other. It was obvious what it meant: Jisung and Seungmin are soulmates.
Jeongin came along not long after. They didn't crash into each other this time, but their butterflies did the same thing again, this time as a trio, and they have been inseparable ever since.
For comedic reasons, they also decided to name their butterflies after other animals, just to make things confusing for others. That's how Jisung came up with Quokka, Seungmin with Meong, and Jeongin with Foxy, despite all three of their familiars being butterflies.
"Are you working late tomorrow, too?" Jeongin asks the sleepy boy on his lap.
Jisung mumbles something unintelligible.
"Huh, sorry? What was that?"
"Probably, yeah."
Jeongin pouts.
"But it's the weekend! I wanted to hang out with you."
"It's a bar. Weekend just means more business", Jisung mumbles, leaning his head on Jeongin's shoulder. "'m sorry. I wanna stay home more, too."
"Quit your job", Jeongin suggests, though he knows it's pointless to even bring up, because changing Jisung's mind is near impossible, and he has already made clear that he will not quit before he has another job secured.
As predicted, Jisung shakes his head.
"Someone's gotta provide for my babies", he jokes while Jeongin grimaces at the pet name, swatting lightly at Jisung's shoulder.
Before they can say anything more, Seungmin faces in their direction, having turned the game off. He glances at Jisung before meeting Jeongin's gaze.
"Come on, let's go to bed, babies."
-:-
Minho sighs and checks the time on his phone.
"Ten!" he shouts, propping the door open with his foot while looking at his phone. "Nine, eight, seven..."
Across the street, Changbin and Hyunjin start bolting, almost getting themselves hit by a car in the process, and Minho shakes his head at their stupidity. He looks down at his phone again.
"Six, five, four..."
Behind Minho's back, someone drops a pan on the floor, and it echoes in the empty coffee shop. He ignores them.
"Three, two, one..."
Changbin and Hyunjin are panting as they rush past Minho into the cafe, collapsing into one of the empty booths. Their two butterflies come fluttering behind, landing on either of their heads as they rest. Minho lets the door fall shut and turns to them, crossing his arms.
"We literally live across the street", he comments. "So, how come you're always late?"
Hyunjin holds a hand up, signaling for Minho to wait while he catches his breath.
"Changbin's fault", he breathes when he finally has enough air to do so.
Changbin lifts his head from the table to glare at Hyunjin.
"How is it my fault?!"
"I was waiting for you, you were late. That's your fault."
"You could have just left without me!"
"But then you would have scolded me when you got here!"
"No, I wouldn’t–"
"Okay!" Minho interrupts, glaring between them. "Either way, you're both late, so go get changed and then help Lix with the baking. You're on cleaning duty tonight."
They groan, but Minho has no sympathy for them, turning on his heels and marching over to the counter, where Chan has apparently dropped a pan full of cookies all over the floor.
"Need help?" he asks, looking down at the mess, but Chan waves him off.
"Nah, I almost got everything. Should I go help Lixie in the kitchen after?"
Minho considers it for a moment before shaking his head.
"No, you can take the register for the morning. I'll join you in a bit, I just gotta place an order for new ingredients first."
He disappears into his office for a bit, checking his emails and placing the order. By the time he returns to the cafe, it's past opening time, but there aren't that many customers yet—as expected, honestly. It's only 10 am on a Saturday.
Chan is puttering around behind the counter, so Minho decides to join him, and their familiars fly straight to each other and meet in the middle of the air. The two butterflies flutter around together before settling next to the cash register.
Precisely ten minutes later, Minho's day starts getting weird.
The entrance opens and two boys step inside. They don't look much younger than Minho himself, but they have that nervous demeanor of a customer who is too busy rehearsing their order in their head to pay attention to their surroundings. Contrary to those customers, though, these two look determined. There's no hesitation in their step as they march up to the counter.
"Are you hiring?" one of them asks, but doesn't get any further.
The two boys had entered with a butterfly on each of their shoulders. Few people carry pets that aren't familiars, so it's no surprise when they leave the boy's shoulders and fly up into the air, fluttering toward each other.
What does come as a surprise is when they continue toward the counter without their humans, and Minho's and Chan's butterflies respond to them.
All four butterflies meet in the air, a flutter of wings and colors, and Minho is breathless as he watches the color seep from wing pair to wing pair. His own little butterfly, normally a silvery blue, gets splashes of light pink and a darker sort of blue.
The soulmate sign.
Next to him, Chan's breath hitches. Minho understands the feeling completely. They're already breaking the mold with their little polycule, five boys with matching familiars, but here are two more.
Just how many soulmates can one person have?
Minho's eyes shift from the butterflies that are settling down together on top of the counter, to instead look at the two boys, expecting to find his own surprise reflected on their faces.
What he finds instead is more like... anxiety. Yeah, that would be a better way of putting it.
The two boys start backing away before Minho has time to process what's happening, grasping for each other's hands and calling their own butterflies back to themselves.
"He's gonna be so mad", one of them mumbles.
Even though he doesn't even know these boys, Minho's protective instincts flare up; is someone hurting them? Are they in danger? Who would be mad at them for something like this?
But he doesn't get to ask, because they turn on their heels and bolt.
Chan and Minho are left blinking after them, wondering how they're going to explain this to the rest of their boyfriends.
-:-
Jisung is so fucking tired.
It's past Saturday night and into Sunday morning, nearing 2 a.m. The bar is only half full, but the few people left are all drunk out of their minds, and they reek of alcohol.
As a matter of fact, so does Jisung. His white dress shirt clings to his back. Someone had spilt their drink over him earlier—more like thrown it, but he's not going to address that just yet—and he still hasn't had a chance to change. It's only him and Lily here right now. He can't leave her alone with these patrons, especially not with the way some of them are eyeing her up and down.
Jisung sighs. Today really isn't going his way, and they're only two hours into the day.
He scrubs down yet another part of the bar counter, having long since lost count of how many drinks have been spilt on it today. The patrons seem to be aiming for some sort of new record. Not that the bar is ever spotless, with so many drunks gathered in one place, but today has been especially bad.
"Hey, Han!" Lily calls out, and he turns to find her stacking glasses on a tray. She nods toward him. "I'll do the closing, you go clean yourself up, okay?"
Jisung pauses. He would like nothing more than to climb down under the covers of his bed and never resurface again, but he wouldn't feel good leaving Lily all on her own.
"Would you be okay?" he retorts, but all she does is grin at him.
"I'll call in security, they can help get the last of these drunkards out. Don't worry about me, I'll just focus on cleaning up and leave the rest to security."
Tension washes off Jisung in waves, and he breathes out a sigh of relief, nodding. That's sensible. He can live with that.
"Alright. I'll do it tomorrow, promise!"
She laughs and waves him off.
"Go home to your boyfriends already, lover boy!"
Heat rushes to Jisung's face, and he retaliates by throwing the wet rag at Lily's face, to which the girl shrieks. She only barely manages to catch it in time, but by the time she turns to glare at Jisung, he is already slipping out from behind the bar, cackling like a maniac at the expression on her face.
There's a locker room for the bar's staff, but Jisung has always preferred to wash up at home, so he simply grabs his stuff before throwing his locker shut and leaving the building.
He's stopped the moment he sets foot outside the door.
"Jisungie!"
Before Jisung has a chance to react, he finds himself with an armful of Jeongin, clinging to his neck and unknowingly getting himself soaked in some of the beer that Jisung still reeks of. Jisung tries his best to reciprocate the hug.
He meets Seungmin's eyes over Jeongin's shoulder, but the younger has the audacity to laugh at his predicament, not being helpful in the slightest.
Jeongin steps back and scrunches his nose up.
"You smell."
Jisung rolls his eyes, then tries to throw an arm around Jeongin's shoulder, but the boy ducks out of the way and leaves him grasping at air.
"Hey! It's not my fault!" Jisung pouts. "Someone threw their drink at me. It's not like I did it to myself."
"Someone threw their drink at you?" Seungmin repeats, and Jisung recognizes the edge to his voice.
As much as Seungmin would definitely bully Jisung and Jeongin to their faces, he absolutely cannot stand the thought that anyone else would treat them badly behind his back. That's a privilege reserved for Seungmin only. He takes any slight against them very seriously.
Jisung tries to deescalate the situation before it gets out of hand.
"He was drunk, probably didn't even mean to do it", he tries to argue, but Seungmin just huffs, unconvinced.
Well, whatever. It's not like Seungmin will be able to track down whoever did this to go yell at them. The best thing now would be a distraction.
"What are you two even doing here?" Jisung asks instead. "Not that I don't want you here! But, just, you usually don't pick me up from work."
What Jisung thought was just casual smalltalk has apparently hit a nerve. Both Seungmin and Jeongin promptly shut their mouths, similar guilty looks on their faces.
Jisung frowns at them.
"I was just curious, but now I'm starting to think something’s up..." he comments.
He also mentally notes how Quokka has remained seated on his shoulder the entire time, not flying out to greet Foxy and Meongmeong as she usually does.
That's weird. Even weirder is the fact that Jeongin and Seungmin still haven't answered the very simple question.
"If you don't explain anything, I'm going to assume that you have murdered my entire family in cold blood", Jisung warns. "So spit it out already."
"It's nothing bad", Seungmin finally opens his mouth to speak. He glances at Jeongin before continuing. "But, earlier today we went to see if the café opposite our apartment was hiring..."
"You know you don't have to, right?"
Seungmin purses his lips, meeting Jisung's gaze.
"I know", he states, "but we want to. I have a lot of respect for how hard you've been working the past few years just so that Innie and I wouldn't have to, but neither of us have a lot of schoolwork this year. I literally have one course I need to finish before I get my degree. There's more than enough time for me to work while doing that."
And Jisung knows this, he knows that it would make a lot more sense if all three of them could contribute financially, but...
"But you shouldn't have to", he argues meekly, averting his gaze. "We said you'd finish university first..."
"And we're doing that", Seungmin interrupts.
When Jisung chances a glance at his face, he finds something there—sympathy or pity, he's not sure, but he chooses to give Seungmin the benefit of the doubt and decides that it's sympathy.
Seungmin knows how much he hates being pitied.
"But we can do both", Seungmin continues, gentle, but the type of voice that will hear no argument. "You did both. You dropped out of high school just to provide for your family."
"But I didn't have a choice back then, and you do!"
"Exactly! So this isn't going to be like it was for you. It's different now."
Jeongin, who has been flittering anxiously between them, finally stops and lets his eyes rest on Jisung, waiting until the older is looking at him before he speaks.
"All of us should protect each other", he says softly. "You don't have to do it alone." Then, he seems to tense up again, straightening his back and averting his eyes. "And, uh, that's not really the only thing we had to tell you about today..."
Jisung narrows his eyes.
"What happened?"
"Nothing terrible", Seungmin says. "But we met some people at the café."
Jisung watches him, suspicious.
"And...?"
Seungmin and Jeongin exchange a look with each other, nervous but determined, before turning back to Jisung.
"Foxy and Meongmeong have more soulmates."
Jisung freezes with an unreadable look on his face.
"Okay", he says slowly. "So… you have other soulmates, that's cool. Do you even know them?"
"We've never seen them before", Jeongin answers, eyes moving between Seungmin and Jisung anxiously. "And we didn't really talk to them today either. We just left."
Jisung breathes out through his nose, trying his very bestest not to sound irritated.
"Alright, okay… can we just go home now? I'm tired and I stink and I just wanna shower. Please?"
Seungmin and Jeongin exchange another glance, one that Jisung is way too exhausted to try and decipher, before agreeing, though it’s clear that they’re not done talking about this yet.
-:-
Sometimes Seungmin wonders if his life would have been easier if he never met Jisung and Jeongin. He always comes to the conclusion that perhaps it would be easier, but it would also be way less enjoyable; his boyfriends bring a happiness to his life that he’s not ready to give up on.
That being said, things have never been easy.
Jeongin’s family didn’t like that his soulmate wasn’t a girl, much less that there were two of them. Ever since he found out, his parents have been trying to get him to pick. Sure, it would still be a gay relationship, but he could at least choose to be monogamous, according to his parents.
Jeongin, obviously, did not agree with them.
Seungmin’s family never had such qualms, but they were very hesitant about letting Seungmin and his soulmates move in together. And sure, Seungmin can see their point, but he always knew it was going to happen at some point, and he figured that moving out when he started university made some sense.
Jisung’s situation is… different.
His parents died in an accident the same year he turned 18. He was left with two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, and the three of them definitely struggled a lot following their parents’ death.
Jisung’s parents had no contact with the rest of their family, on account of every single relative being a raging homophobe. His two moms cut all contact with them way before Jisung was even born.
So, Jisung and his older brother were left to care for their little sister in the middle of their grief. She wasn’t that little, only two years younger than Jisung, but it was still a whole new type of responsibility, and the two brothers were too young and too depressed.
So yeah, life isn’t fair.
And maybe the trauma of losing his parents is something Jisung still carries with him to this day, and it manifests itself as a feeling of responsibility: the responsibility to provide for his family, for his mates, to putting their well-being before his own, to work himself to the bone just to make sure that his loved ones never have to suffer as he did back then.
Seungmin isn’t stupid. He knows that’s not something that can be erased with one short conversation.
But he wants… no, he needs Jisung to know that he and Jeongin are always there for him, and that while his effort never goes unnoticed, he doesn’t need to do everything himself.
It’s not like they’ve been sitting idly by while Jisung slowly kills himself with work, but it’s a fine line to balance. If they suddenly force him to slow down and take over everything Jisung thinks he’s supposed to be doing, that would only make him feel worse about himself.
So, they start small, by cooking him breakfast on Sunday morning.
Jisung is still asleep when they wake up at 10, exhausted from his shift last night, and they sneak out of bed and into the kitchen. Neither of them is the best chef, but Seungmin hopes they can at least convey some of their love and care through the food, mediocre as it may be.
Jisung is only just starting to stir when they sneak back into the bedroom with a tray of food. He’s rubbing his eyes when he catches sight of them and pauses.
“Seungminnie?” he says groggily. “Innie?”
Seungmin turns on the bedside lamp and smiles at him.
“Morning. We made you breakfast.”
Jisung sits up and scoots backwards, until his back can lean against the headboard, and Jeongin carefully sets the tray down on the empty space. He and Seungmin then climb up to join Jisung on the bed.
“Did I forget about some anniversary?” Jisung wonders, staring at the food.
Jeongin scoffs. “Can’t we just be nice to you?”
“You don’t have to”, Jisung says, but he reaches for one of the waffles.
Jeongin scoffs once more and opens his mouth as if to argue, but Seungmin cuts in to make sure he doesn’t say anything that might start an argument.
“Yeah, we know, but you don’t have to do anything for us, either. We just do it because we want to. It’s the same thing, yeah?”
Seungmin and Jeongin also reach for the breakfast to start eating, while Jisung mulls this over. He can’t very well disagree, because then he’d have to admit that he has been overworking himself to provide for them, but Seungmin knows he struggles to accept the same kindness from others.
It’s a bit too early for such a serious conversation, so Jisung merely hums, and they move on.
Seungmin might be a little biased, but breakfast is lovely. It feels nice to have a slow morning like this, especially after the huge news they dropped yesterday.
Speaking of that.
Seungmin is just wondering when it would be a good time to bring that up again, if maybe breakfast is too early for such conversation, but then Jisung surprises him by bringing it up himself.
“So… about what you told me yesterday.”
Both Seungmin and Jeongin immediately snap to attention. Jisung seems almost shy under their gazes, avoiding looking at them and fidgeting with his sleeves. He clears his throat.
“I might have been… a bit rude about it.”
“Seriously?!” Jeongin exclaims. It’s so sudden that Jisung can’t help but turn his eyes up to stare at their youngest.
Seungmin puts a hand on Jeongin’s shoulder, trying to calm him down.
“I don’t think you were rude”, he comments, “but go on.”
Jisung looks away again.
“I… it’s, uh, not really that serious, or anything, but I am happy for you! Seriously. It’s… nice, that you found them. And, I think I’d like to meet them, too?”
Even with the underlying anxiety audible in Jisung’s voice, Seungmin can’t stop a huge smile from breaking out on his face.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
A quick glance to the side confirms that Jeongin is also grinning widely, just as excited about this development as Seungmin.
Still. They’re not willing to let Jisung brush his own feelings under the rug any longer.
“But…” Seungmin prompts, watching Jisung intently. “What are you thinking about? You can be happy for us and anxious at the same time, you know.”
Jisung takes a deep breath, then averts his eyes again.
“Just…” he seems to hesitate. Then he sighs, defeated. “What if they’re not soulmates with me?”
His voice is barely louder than a whisper, but Seungmin and Jeongin hear him clear as day in the silent room. Technically, neither of them is really big on skinship, but they know their boyfriend is, and he needs comfort right now.
While Seungmin lifts the mostly empty tray off the bed to make more space, Jeongin crawls over to Jisung and attaches himself onto him like a koala.
It’s extremely rare for polyamorous soulmates to not be mates with everyone in the polycule, but not unheard of.
Seungmin wiggles over to join Jeongin in crushing Jisung with hugs.
“If the universe doesn’t say you are, I say fuck the universe!” Seungmin tries to make his voice clear even as he’s squishing his face against Jisung’s. “We won’t leave you behind, you know. We’ll just make our own soulmates. The universe can’t know everything.”
-:-
When Jisung said that he wanted to meet their new soulmates, Jeongin had assumed he meant, like, at some point during the next week, once they’ve had a chance to discuss it a bit more.
Not the very same day.
He’s not going to argue, though. If Jisung thinks he’s ready to go there today, they’ll go there today. There’s no reason to put it off, is there?
It’s only once they’re already on their way that Jeongin realizes that cafés probably have multiple baristas, and maybe their soulmates won’t be working today. He doesn’t voice this out loud, but silently prays that they’ll be there.
The coffee shop looks the same as the first time they visited. It had completely escaped Jeongin’s notice last time, but the sign above the door has a butterfly on it, its wings colored a range of different colors, seeping into each other in a beautiful gradient.
Maybe their soulmate is the café owner, and made his familiar the cafés symbol. That would be cool.
Jeongin and Seungmin let Jisung pick the pace and lead them inside, and Jeongin foolishly believes that his boyfriend is going to take it slower, consider his steps carefully, but of course he doesn’t.
He barges into the café so fast that Jeongin and Seungmin don’t even have time to react and heads straight for the counter.
When Seungmin and Jeongin manage to shake themselves out of their stupor, rushing into the café right after Jisung, he has already reached the counter at the other end of the room.
The scene they walk in on is confusing, to say the least.
There’s only one person behind the counter, a short man with a very intense gaze, and his full focus is on Jisung. Meanwhile, Jisung is staring right back at him, not moving a muscle. They can’t see Jisung’s face from here, but the expression on the man behind the counter is heavy with shock and disbelief.
It takes Jeongin a moment before he notices what has the two men standing there in a trance.
In the air right between them, little Quokka is so closely entangled with another butterfly that you can barely tell where one ends and the other begins. Quokka’s soft yellow wings blend with a hot pink, and you’d think that such a contrast wouldn’t blend very well, but it does.
Familiars have become such a natural part of their lives, they don’t always think about whether or not Quokka and Meongmeong and Foxy are there with them; they know they are, because they’re never anywhere else. It’s a given. You wouldn’t question whether your hand was still attached to your arm every time you go out, and it’s the same feeling with familiars.
They’re always there. And their obvious, blatant presence sometimes makes them harder to notice.
As much as Jeongin is happy for Jisung’s sake, he can’t help but frown: this man is not one of those he and Seungmin bonded with before. This dude right here is a stranger, and so is his butterfly, though it does make sense that everyone so far has had a butterfly familiar.
And it means there’s more than just two soulmates for them to meet in this place.
“HolyfuckingshitIthoughtChanandMinhowerelying”, the stranger shrieks, all as one word, making it near impossible to hear what he’s saying.
Jisung seems to have no problem whatsoever deciphering his words.
“Chan and Minho?” he repeats, leaning on the countertop between them. The excitement is clear in his voice. “Are those the people that bonded with Seungmin and Jeongin?”
The stranger mirrors Jisung’s action and leans forward over the counter, looking just as excited as Jisung sounds. Their faces are only inches apart now.
“Seungmin and Jeongin?” he copies. “Are those the people that Chan and Minho met? But wait, if those were different people, who are you?”
He sounds so genuinely confused about this, Jeongin can’t stop a laugh from escaping him, and it snaps the stranger’s attention over to him. His eyes scan over him and Seungmin, then he lets out an understanding “ooh…”
“So you two are Seungmin and Jeongin!” he says, grinning brightly, though it sounds more like confirmation than a question.
Regardless, Seungmin and Jeongin both nod and step forward to join them.
Before they can say anything else, the door behind the counter—probably to the kitchen—slams open and another man comes rushing out.
“Why are you yelling? What happened?”
He looks sort of frantic, eyes scanning the room for the source of whatever his co-worker’s problem is, but comes up empty handed, which seems to calm him down slightly. His eyes then settle on the group in front of the counter.
“Hi?” he says, but he sounds very confused about it. His eyes flicker to Jisung, still leaning over the counter. “Binnie, are you trying to kiss the customer?”
“Lix”, Binnie whines.
It sounds like they’re joking, but then something flutters out from behind Lix’s head—another butterfly, this one white with silvery veins all over its wing. Quokka, Meongmeong, Foxy, and Binnie’s familiar all fly to meet the white butterfly in the air.
It’s like a whirlwind of colors, fluttering around each other too fast for their human eyes to pick up on, but it is very clear that all five of them are bonding.
All five. Plus two more that Seungmin and Jeongin already bonded with but who aren’t here right now.
Just how many soulmates can one person have?
“Ohmygod, holy shit, wait here, I have to get Hyunjin for this!” Lix gets out all in one breath, before turning on his heels to rush back where he came from.
He doesn’t let the door close behind himself this time, merely peeks his head in and yells for Hyunjin to “come quick it’s super duper ultra mega important you’re gonna regret everything if you don’t come here!”
Some shuffling can be heard as Hyunjin scrambles to follow Lix out behind the counter, and once he does, his eyes land on the group of people.
His hair is long and blond, longer than even Lix’s hair, and half of it is put up in a ponytail. It is a top tier hairstyle, if Jeongin may say so himself.
Looks aside, there’s a butterfly sitting on his shoulder when he comes out. It doesn’t stay there very long.
Hyunjin has barely had a chance to react to all the people crowding the counters before his own butterfly takes off to join the swarm of wings fluttering around in the air between them. His eyes go wide as they follow his butterfly.
“Soulmates!” Lix exclaims, as if it wasn’t obvious already. “Come on, someone has to call Chan and Minho, tell them to get down here! It’s urgent!”
Jeongin finally manages to gather his wits about him, and clears his throat.
His two boyfriends and the three strangers all turn to look at him.
“So… everyone who works here are soulmates?” he asks, unable to keep his curiosity contained any longer.
Lix tilts his head and grins at him.
“Yeah! There’s five of us, but Minho is technically the one that owns the café, but we all work here.”
They’re lucky there aren’t any other customers right now. With the ruckus they’re making, people would have thought Jisung was trying to rob them, walking up to the counter like he had, just to be met with screaming and even more chaos.
The six of them—once Seungmin has assured himself and his boyfriend that there really aren’t any more soulmates hiding around somewhere—settle down by one of the larger tables to wait for Chan and Minho.
-:-
When Chan gets the call that their new soulmates are back at the cafe, he’s honestly too shocked to truly comprehend it.
He informs Minho and they hurry over, but he still hasn’t really processed it, not even when they arrive.
With the way they bolted yesterday, he didn’t think they’d be back so soon.
What’s more surprising is that when he and Minho enter the café, everyone is already sitting by one of the tables, but there are more than two new faces there.
“Chan! Minho!” Felix calls, smiling brightly and waving them over. “That was fast, we barely had time to talk about anything.”
The three new boys are sitting next to each other, chairs pulled so close together that they might as well have shared one seat all together. Chan finds his eyes lingering on the boy in the middle, the only one whose face he doesn’t recognize.
He and Minho take the last two seats, next to the three strangers.
“This is Bang Chan”, Changbin introduces, gesturing at them as he talks, “and this is Lee Minho. They’re the oldest.”
The boy right next to Chan turns his head, giving a polite bow of his head even as he’s sitting down.
“When were you born?” he asks.
“97 and 98”, Chan replies, pushing his neck forward to see the two boys on the other side of him. “But, what are your names?”
“I’m Kim Seungmin”, the boy right next to Chan introduces. “This is Jisung, the oldest, and this is Jeongin. He’s the youngest.”
“Oh”, Minho also tries to lean forward over the table to see them better. “How big is your age gap?”
“Five months”, Jeongin pipes up, grinning. “So we’re basically the same age!”
“Oh damn”, Felix comments, raising an eyebrow. “Chan and I are three years apart. I’m the youngest here, by the way.” He turns to Jeongin, curious. “I wonder who’s the youngest of everyone now. What year were you born?”
“2001”, he replies.
Felix gasps. Then his eyes move over to Jisung and Seungmin.
“Wait. Were you also born in 2001? You’re just five months older! Then all of you are younger than all of us!”
“No, no, Jisungie and I were both born September 2000”, Seungmin explains.
Felix’s eyes, if possible, grow even wider. Despite that, he’s not the first one to react.
“Ohmygosh, that’s the same as Lix!” Hyunjin exclaims, and by now it seems like every single one of them is leaning on the table in their excitement to get to know the newcomers.
Felix and Hyunjin both seem really excited to have more same-age friends, but while they’re asking Seungmin about dates and talking about everyone’s ages, Chan finds his eyes drifting over to Jisung, who still hasn’t said anything.
He looks defeated.
Chan’s first instinct is to come up with an excuse to leave the table with him, go talk somewhere more private, because it has to be overwhelming to go from having two soulmates to suddenly being in a group of eight whole people. Honestly, Chan himself is still sort of reeling from the fact, but it must be worse for these three. They’re the minority, so to speak.
Since Seungmin is still talking, Chan figures that he could ask both the other boys to come with him. Jisung probably wouldn’t be comfortable going alone with a stranger, even though they may be soulmates, when they only just met.
“I’m going to get us some juice”, Chan announces once there’s a lull in conversation, standing up from his chair. “Jisungie, Jeonginnie, could you come and help me carry it?”
The two boys nod and follow him, if a little confused by the sudden request, but they don’t complain. Seungmin doesn’t seem bothered about being left at the table, too busy talking with Hyunjin and Felix about… something. Chan hasn’t been keeping up.
He takes Jisung and Jeongin behind the counter and through the door to the kitchen.
“Sorry if that request came out of nowhere”, Chan starts once the door is closed behind them, figuring that he should make it clear that they don’t normally expect guests to serve them like this.
“Well, we are the youngest ones now…” Jeongin starts hesitantly.
Chan hurries to wave him off, trying not to look embarrassed.
“Oh, no, no! We’re not like that, I promise. Not that there’s anything wrong with being like that! I mean, it’s a culture thing, I get it, I can respect that. But we, uh, try not to put all the burden on the youngest, just because they’re, you know, the youngest. I hope you’re okay with that?”
Jisung and Jeongin both look a bit shocked, but they nod.
“Honestly, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t getting overwhelmed out there”, Chan continues, heading over to the fridge to get the juice he promised everyone. “None of us really expected it either, but there’s more people for you to meet than for us. And we can be pretty loud, so it’s totally fine if you need a break, or if maybe you’d like to come back another day, or, I don’t know, start getting to know us one on one instead of everyone at once…”
When Chan turns back around, they’re both staring at him. He wonders if maybe he said something wrong.
“Are you really this nice?” Jisung blurts out.
Chan pauses, watching as a blush creeps up Jisung’s face, and as much as he wants to coo at the cuteness, he doesn’t think Jisung would appreciate that right now.
“Uhh…” he replies dumbly, not quite sure how to answer that. From what Chan can tell, he hasn’t said anything out of the ordinary, has he? Nothing so surprisingly nice that they should have a hard time believing it. “I… guess so?” Then he starts wondering if maybe their surprise has less to do with him, and more to do with themselves, and he asks with a sneaking suspicion, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Jeongin merely shrugs, but Jisung seems to consider the question.
“It’s just…” he hesitates before continuing. “I mean, obviously we don’t know you, and sometimes… sometimes, soulmates can act a bit… entitled, I guess. Especially when you meet a whole group at once. I’m not saying you’re like that, I’m just saying it’s a real risk when it comes to soulmates, that they think you owe them something just because your familiars happen to be bonded.”
Chan is mildly horrified to think about what that “entitlement” might include, but he can’t deny that Jisung has a point.
Which just makes it more important that he and his mates show the three newcomers that they aren’t like that. That they never will be. That Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin are safe here, that they can relax, and that all the time they spend together is by choice. Their own choice.
“Well, at this stage, I think we all just wanna get to know you”, Chan comments, trying to keep his tone light. “So let’s start there, yeah?”
The relief is painfully obvious on both Jisung’s and Jeongin’s face. Chan can’t lie; his heart hurts a little for them.
-:-