Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

At the beginning, they were all cute, all round faces and slightly awkward proportions. Jeongin’s braces and Jisung’s chipmunk cheeks. Of course they were cute – they were kids.

But since then, Jeongin’s almond eyes have just gotten longer, more feline. Changbin’s filled out, bulked up. Minho’s cheekbones have sharpened and Hyunjin’s lean body has stretched to model-like proportions. Jisung still has the chipmunk cheeks, but his broad shoulders and narrow waist give him a masculine, sexy edge.

They’ve all matured, and slid past ‘cute’ into ‘handsome’, ‘striking, ‘sexy.’

Except for Felix.

Sometimes when he looks at Felix, Hyunjin can’t believe it: he’s still just as cute as the day they met six years ago. His round cheeks have melted away, but what’s left behind is a heart-shaped face that makes grandmothers want to squeal and pinch his cheeks. He’s got more muscles now, but his shoulders stayed narrow. He’s little, swamped in clothing that fits Minho or Hyunjin perfectly.

His freckles and his sunny smile and his tiny hands are all just cute. Adorable. Precious.

Sometimes Hyunjin just wants to scream with how cute Felix is.

Which is a problem, because Hyunjin is surrounded 24/7 by guys whose job it is to be sexy, but apparently ‘cute’ is what does it for him.

It’s even more of a problem, because he doesn’t think he’s the only one.

They’re all the same age, Hyunjin, Jisung, Seungmin, Jeongin, and Felix. Jeongin is only the ‘baby’ of the group by four and a half months. But the whole band coddles Felix like he’s the youngest.

Minho will hold the door for him and then let it swing shut in the other’s faces. Changbin makes sure Felix has the comfiest seat in any room, shoving other members out of the way to make room if he needs to. Jisung shares the sweets he jealously guards from everyone else, pressing sugary candy to Felix’s red lips. Seungmin gives him piggy back rides whenever Felix complains that his legs are tired. And of course, Chan blatantly and openly plays favourites. He lets Felix have his way in everything, melting at the slightest indication of a pout on Felix’s lips.

They dote. They indulge. They defer.

And they all touch him constantly.

Like today: Hyunjin, Jisung, Changbin, Chan, Seungmin and Jeongin are in one dorm, draped all over the room, waiting for Felix and Minho, and arguing about whether they should get out the X-Box or put on a movie.

Seungmin and Jeongin had come in without anyone stirring, but when Felix walks into the room, it’s like a ripple runs through the rest of the band. Chan launches out of his chair, reaching for Felix before he’s even fully through the door and pulling him into a hug. Minho trails Felix into the room, and even though they’ve arrived together, he reaches out, ruffling Felix’s blonde hair affectionately as he passes by.

Changbin bounds up out of his seat, too, and tugs Felix out of Chan’s arms and into his own. Felix giggles and allows himself to be passed between them, winding his arms around Changbin’s waist. Jisung reaches out and catches one of Felix’s hands, using it to tug the blonde towards him and down onto the couch between him and Jeongin. Jeongin leans in, drapes an arm over Felix and flicks at his ear, drawing a squeal and a laugh. Felix squirms and Seungmin slides off his chair to position himself at Felix’s feet, wrapping an arm around one of his legs, tipping his head back to laugh at the spectacle of Jeongin and Jisung tickling Felix, Jeongin’s fingers dancing over the sensitive skin of Felix’s neck while Jisung attacks from behind, getting his hands on Felix’s stomach.

Felix squeals and it is adorable.

Hyunjin pouts. The sight of all those hands on Felix makes his stomach twist unpleasantly.

“Help!” Felix squeaks. His face has gone pink and his hair sticks up everywhere. It is so cute.

Hyunjin starts to jump up, but before he can, Minho declares, “I’ll rescue you!” and swoops in, stooping to get an arm behind Felix’s head and another under his knees. Felix’s arms wind around his neck as Minho lifts him in a bridal carry.

“Don’t drop me! Don’t drop me!” he pleads through laughter.

“I won’t!” Minho gives him a little bounce, showing off now. He’s compact but strong, and carries Felix over to the other couch with ease. He drops down next to Hyunjin, Felix sprawled across his lap.

“My hero,” Felix coos, fluttering his lashes up at Minho.

Hyunjin swears Minho blushes.

The others crowd in now, drawn to where Felix is like moths to a flame, fluttering around his brilliant light.

Hyunjin has to practically fight to keep his place next to Felix, evading everyone’s attempts to wiggle in between them to claim the coveted spot. He grips Felix’s ankle and refuses to be shoved.

Eventually everyone settles down into a pile of limbs, and Chan puts a movie on. Felix stays on Minho’s lap for the whole film, and even the bare skin of Felix’s ankle under Hyunjin’s fingertips doesn’t chase the jealousy away.

Felix looks so sweet, curled up on Minho, his cheek pressed to Minho’s shoulder and his arms around his neck, fingers toying with the choker Minho wears, the ends of his hair, his dangling earring. The comedy on the screen brings a smile to his lips, scrunching up his nose adorably.

He is so cute Hyunjin wants to scream, or cry, or set himself on fire. Something to release all the emotions that bubble up inside him whenever he looks at Felix.

He also wants to murder Minho and take his place, to feel the weight of Felix in his lap, the brush of Felix’s fingertips on his skin.

He misses the whole movie because his eyes are glued to Felix and Minho instead.

There’s only so much Felix to go around, and Hyunjin is in constant competition with six other guys.

As the film comes to an end, Felix yawns (also adorable) and stretches (even cuter).

“Tired?” Minho asks softly. When Felix nods, he offers, “You can nap on me.”

Over Hyunjin’s dead body. “You need sugar,” he says, shaking Felix’s ankle to get his attention. “Come on, let’s get a snack.” He stands and holds a hand out to the blonde.

Behind Felix, Minho glares.

“Snacks!” Felix agrees happily and lets Hyunjin pull him up.

“Snacks?” Changbin asks, starting to stand. Hyunjin holds out a hand. “We’ll bring you something.”

He quickly ushers Felix into the kitchen before anyone else can try to join them. Is it so much to ask for just one second of Felix to himself?

Felix laughs as he’s pushed along, Hyunjin placing his hands on Felix’s narrow waist, gulping at the way his thumbs nearly touch in the center of Felix’s back.

He is so tiny.

In the kitchen, Hyunjin keeps Felix in front of him, one arm locked around Felix’s waist to keep him in place, while he reaches over Felix’s shoulder with the other to hunt through the cabinets. It’s inefficient, but Felix goes placidly, letting Hyunjin press the full length of his body against Felix’s back, rests his chin on the top of Felix’s head.

“Mmm.” A little noise of contentment slips past Felix’s lips and Hyunjin has to squeeze his eyes shut to prevent himself from spontaneously combusting.

After a second’s hunting he finds what he’s looking for, pulling a bag of gummies out of the cupboard and dangling them triumphantly in front of Felix’s face. “For you!” He had hidden them on the top shelf on purpose, out of Chan and Changbin’s sightlines.

Felix grabs the bag with delight, seeming more awake already. “Yay!”

Cute, cute, cute.

Felix spins in his arms, giving him a little hug, a quick squeeze with the bag of gummies still dangling from his fingers. “Thank you, Jinnie,” he says. Felix always remembers his manners. He is the quintessential good boy and Hyunjin thinks it might kill him.

Then Felix bounces happily from the room, ready to share the sweets with whoever wants them. No candy is as sweet as Felix is.

Hyunjin takes a steadying breath before following him, stopping short in the doorway when he finds Felix hand feeding Changbin the gummies. Changbin presses a quick, smacking kiss to Felix’s fingertips and grins.

“Binnie!” Felix laughs, but presses another gummy to his lips all the same.

Chan leans over and helps himself to the bag…and also to Felix, draping himself half over Felix’s back, an unfairly muscular arm over his shoulders.

Hyunjin wonders what the odds are that seven men have all fallen in love with the same beautiful blonde.

Given the blonde has the face of an angel and a personality to match, and can bake, he would say the odds were very, very high.

“Does anyone want popcorn?” he asks, hoping to use food to draw attention away from Felix.

Felix’s eyes light up.

“With you making it?” Minho snorts. “No.” He heaves himself out of his chair and heads for the kitchen. At the door he stops and turns back. “Come on Lixie, help me.”

“He’s busy,” Chan grumbles. He’s now got both arms around Felix’s middle, his face tucked into the nape of Felix’s neck.

“Yeah,” Changbin says, because Felix is still feeding him. “He’s busy.”

“I need a sous chef,” Minho presses.

“You had him for the whole movie,” Jisung puts in with a pout. “I want Felix cuddles.” He holds out grabby hands from where he sits on the sofa, bracketed by Jeongin and Seungmin, who both perk up at the idea of Felix joining them.

Hyunjin thinks of the story of King Solomon and the baby and wonders if someone is about to suggest they cut Felix up into seven equal parts, so they can all have a piece. He knows which part he’d want to claim.

Felix’s heart.

The thought is so cheesy he almost groans aloud. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

He loves Felix and he’s starting to accept that he might be in love with Felix too. The problem is, he doesn’t think he’s the only one. He looks at Minho’s raised eyebrows, Jisung’s grabby hands, Chan’s cheek smushed against Felix’s skin.

He is very, very worried that they’re all in love with Felix.

And he doesn’t exactly blame them, because who wouldn’t be? Look at him! Fellix is stroking Chan’s hands where they rest on his stomach, reaching into the bag for another gummy for Changbin, all the while he smiling at the rest of the room as they fight for his attention, cheeks pink. There are hearts in his eyes and sunshine in his smile.

Hyunjin is probably going to vomit. Or die. Or both.

“I’ll help you with the popcorn,” he insists. He grabs Minho and propels him out of the room before he does anything stupid like confess his feelings or cry.

“I don’t want your help,” Minho grumbles, but lets himself be pushed.

In the kitchen, where Hyunjin decidedly does not help because he would only make things worse, he leans up against the counter and watches Minho work. Objectively, Minho is very handsome. He’s got those sharp cheekbones and full lips. He’s quiet and doesn’t smile a lot, but the fans at least seem to think that makes him mysterious and sexy. And when he does smile, even Hyunjin can see that it’s cute. Not cute the way Felix is cute, of course, but still. Cute.

Is that what Felix might want in a boyfriend? Serious, mysterious, cheekbones?

“Are you just going to stand there staring at me?” Minho asks.

“Yes.”

“Oh my god,” Minho huffs, turning to pelt him with an unpopped kernel of corn. “Go back to the living room and leave me alone.”

Hyunjin goes reluctantly. In the few minutes he was gone, the situation resolved itself in the form of Felix lying across the laps of Seungmin, Jisung, and Jeongin. His head is in Jeongin’s lap, and Innie strokes his hair gently as Felix animatedly tells them about something he saw online. Puppies, maybe? Kittens? Something cute. Just like him.

His feet are in Seungmin’s lap. Seungmin is on his phone, only half listening, but his free hand is on Felix, playing with his socked feet.

It’s Jisung who Hyunjin narrows in on, however, because Felix’s butt is in Jisung’s lap, and Jisung has wormed a hand up under Felix’s sweater, to stroke the skin of his flat belly.

Is he the kind of guy Felix might fall for?

Jisung is cute, with his round cheeks and expressive face. He’s got the smallest waist of any of them, a trim little body that Hyunjin can admit is attractive, especially when Jisung flaunts it in a crop top. He’s also loud and fun, the complete opposite of Minho. Felix is loud and silly and fun, too. Does that mean they’d be a good match?

Felix squirms in Jisung’s lap in a way that Hyunjin would pay good money to have happen to him, and grabs Jisung’s questing hand. “Tickles,” Felix giggles, pulling Jisung’s hand free of his sweater and entwining their fingers instead.

His gaze lands on Hyunjin. “Jinnie! How’s the popcorn going?”

“Minho kicked me out of the kitchen.”

Everyone laughs but Felix gestures him over to the couch. Hyunjin goes willingly, dropping down to the floor next to the couch so he can lean his head on Felix’s side. Felix pets his hair gently.

Felix smells so good, a mixture of laundry detergent, sugary sweets, and a light floral scent that might be his deodorant, but might just be his skin, because he should naturally smell like flowers. Like sunshine. Like everything nice in the world.

Hyunjin closes his eyes and nudges closer.

“Tired?” Felix asks, voice low. His hands are so gentle in Hyunjin’s hair.

Hyunjin shakes his head, doesn’t open his eyes. If he stays like this, he can tune out the other boys and pretend that it’s just the two of them.

Softly, pitched for Hyunjin’s ears and no one else’s, Felix starts to sing a lullaby in English. The words don’t mean anything to Hyunjin, but the gesture? The gentleness?

Adorable.

Chapter Text

Felix has acquired a giant, fluffy hoodie.

“It’s an Oodie!” he insists as he prances into the room wearing it. It comes down to his knees and hangs long over his hands. The hood is so big it nearly obscures his smiling face. The fluffy material is printed all over with teddy bears. “It’s so soft.”

He hugs his arms around himself, a blissful smile on his face.

“Cute,” Chan says with a grin.

Hyunjin represses the urge to glare.

Felix turns to Seungmin, the member closest to him. “Seungmin, pet me! I’m so fuzzy!”

Seungmin keeps his hands to himself and quickly climbs up Hyunjin’s list of ‘favourite members.’

Felix dances closer and starts to sing in a high-pitched baby voice, “Seungmin, will you touch me? I feel so soft and fluffy! Seungmin, you should touch me, I feel so soft and fluffy.”

It’s so adorable it should be illegal.

Seungmin laughs and reaches out, stroking over Felix’s proffered arm. In doing so, he plummets back down the ‘favourite member’ list and into Hyunjin’s bad books.

Seungmin lets out a little groan. “That is soft.”

Felix looks delighted. “Told you!”

Then he’s dancing away again, a wriggling little hop skip that he might have picked up off tiktok. “Jinnie!” He comes to a stop in front of Hyunjin. “Isn’t it great? It’s so big we both could fit in it.”

And there’s an idea. “Okay,” Hyunjin says, leaning forward before he thinks better of it. He ducks down, getting his head and hands under the curtain of fabric. It is soft, and stuffy under all the fluff. Felix is only wearing a tank top, which is riding up just enough to show off a sliver of skin above the waistband of his jeans. The light filtering through the fabric of the hoodie tints everything pink.

“Jinnie!” Felix squeals as Hyunjin worms his way up into the hoodie. But he doesn’t push him away.

Hyunjin gets his arms around Felix’s waist – so tiny – and stands. The neck hole offers some resistance, but after a second he manages to wiggle through, and then he’s face to face with Felix’s laughter.

“Hi,” he says. He tucks one hand up under the fabric of Felix’s tank top, feeling the soft skin of his lower back.

Felix blinks up at him, grinning. “Hi.”

“What are you two doing?” Minho asks, strolling into the room.

“Sharing,” Felix says immediately.

“This is our get along shirt,” Hyunjin agrees.

Jisung laughs. “Since when do you two not get along?”

Felix sniffs. “That just means the shirt is working.”

This close, Hyunjin can count every freckle, every eyelash. He smiles at his favourite freckle, the one just under Felix’s left eye. Felix smiles back, soft.

“You two are so weird,” Minho mutters, walking past.

Hyunjin doesn’t care what he says; he looks his fill and Felix doesn’t flinch away.

He never does. Its why most of the members have stopped playing gay chicken with him. When they lean in, making kissy faces, Felix never pulls away, like the rest of them do. Jisung demands kisses, grabbing onto the members’ faces, and they all laugh and scream and squirm away before he even gets close to their skin. It’s what they’re supposed to do. What Jisung wants them to do.

But Felix doesn’t. He just placidly lets lips make contact, with a smile on his face.

They all learned their lesson when Changbin landed a kiss right on Felix’s lips. Felix just accepted it with a small pucker of his own lips, and then smiled as Changbin had a complete breakdown and fled the room. No one has tried to kiss him since, because they know he’ll just let them.

It would be a genius move to end the game of gay chicken once and for all, but Hyunjin suspects Felix genuinely just doesn’t mind, just accepts the kisses the way he accepts arms around his shoulder, hands in his hair, and Hyunin’s fingertips right now, stroking softly over the skin of his lower back, just under his tank top.

The rest of them are joking or pretending they’re joking as a cover, but Felix just…likes the kisses and has no problem admitting that.

It’s adorable.

Right now, Felix scrunches his nose up, laughs under the weight of Hyunjin’s gaze. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” Hyunjin says.

Felix laughs again. “Oh? Anything worth looking at?”

The word everything catches in Hyunjin’s throat as a balled up pair of socks hits him squarely in the side of the head.

“Yo! Stop flirting and come over here. We’re meant to be doing stuff.” Changbin’s voice booms out across the room.

Felix giggles. “I might need my Oodie back.”

Hyunjin relents, heart in his throat and murderous thoughts towards Changbin in his mind, and ducks back down, sliding back out of the hoodie.

It takes some wriggling, and he certainly doesn’t mind that it means he brushes up against Felix again and again. At one point the soft skin of Felix’s exposed belly brushes against his cheek, and Hyunjin’s brain short-circuits. He may never recover.

When he finally straightens, running a hand through his mussed hair, Felix grins at him. “Soft and fluffy?” he asks.

“So soft and fluffy,” Hyunjin agrees, glad no one is there to press whether he’s talking about the hoodie or Felix.

On a whim he leans in, lips puckered, and as usual, Felix doesn’t duck away. The kiss lands on the soft skin of Felix’s cheek, dangerously close to his mouth.

“Ooooh,” a chorus goes up from the rest of the room.

Felix is unbothered. “Hyunjin likes fluffy,” he declares and then wheels round, heading for the nearest member.

It’s Jeongin. “Do you like fluffy, Innie?”

Jeongin likes Felix, so raises his arms to the blonde, tugging him and his soft hoodie down onto his lap.

Hyunjin turns away, hiding his frown.

Chapter Text

Hyunjin doesn’t even like sweets, but he’s moaning his way through his third brownie while Felix watches, chin cupped in his hands and a big smile on his face.

“It’s so good,” he slurs, through gooey mouthfuls.

The first time Felix had offered him a brownie, in their pre-debut days, Hyunjin only took one to be polite. His plan was to nibble at the edge and then pass it off to Changbin when Felix’s back was turned.

But Felix watched him eat the whole thing with a huge, hopeful smile. “You like it?” he had chirped, and Hyunjin didn’t know if he liked it objectively—he was a savoury kind of guy—but he sure did like making Felix look like that. Happy. Content. Adorable.

Now, though? Hyunjin’s hooked. He craves the brownies, in all their sweet gooey goodness. And he craves the way Felix looks when he eats one even more.

Felix loves doing things for the members. Hyunjin didn’t see it at the time, because he was also young and scared, but in their pre-debut days Felix was even younger and even more frightened. His Korean wasn’t great; he probably missed half of what was said around him and another quarter of what was said to him. He was an Aussie fish out of water, and Hyunjin can see now, in hindsight, that Felix was worried he would never fit in.

So the first time he made them brownies meant something. It was his way of offering the members something, of showing that he was worth keeping around.

It was so sweet, even sweeter than the brownies.

Hyunjin wants Felix to know that he’s always worth having around, so he will eat as many brownies as Felix wants him to, even if he has to spend eight extra hours at the dance studio just to burn off all the sugar.

He eyes the plate in front of him, wondering if a fourth brownie will actually kill him. His heart is beating suspiciously fast as it is. Though, that might just be because Felix is looking at him, a soft smile playing over his pink lips.

He’s got glitter on his face for no reason; today is a day off, there weren’t any photoshoots. Hyunjin likes the hint of sparkle all the more because Felix chose to put it there, just because. It means rainbow lights dance over his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, his lower lashes.

He looks like a pixie. A sprite. A fairy.

it makes Hyunjin want to capture him, to lock him up, to put him under a bell jar, even though all the fairy stories tell him not to. He wants a chance just to admire Felix like he really belongs to him.

“Aren’t you going to share those with the others?” Hyunjin asks, dropping his gaze back to the brownies.

Felix shrugs. “When you’re done.”

“Me?” Hyunjin darts his tongue out to swipe at a smear of chocolate on his lower lip. Felix’s eyes follow the motion and Hyunjin’s heart starts beating faster. “Why?”

“I made them for you.” Felix says, as if that statement isn’t enough to rock Hyunjin’s world.

“Just for me?” he checks.

Felix smiles prettily. Glitter catches the light, shimmers. “Yes. You seemed sad. I wanted to make you happy.”

“You do,” Hyunjin said, the words flying out of his mouth. It is so, so important that Felix understands that. His hand shoots out to cover Felix’s where it lays on the table.

Unfortunately, his hand is slight sticky with chocolate and caramel.

Felix wrinkles his nose. Laughs.

“Oh.” Something sour swoops in Hyunjin’s stomach. He withdraws his hand. “Sorry.”

“No!” Felix reaches out again, captures Hyunjin’s hand and tangles their fingers together, ignoring the sticky mess. “I’m glad you’re happy.” He looks down and then back up again, through the sweep of his dark lashes.

Hyunjin is absolutely going to say something stupid like ‘I love you’ or ‘marry me’.

Luckily – or maybe unluckily – the other members chose that moment to pile into the kitchen.

“Brownies!” Jisung cries as soon as he’s through the door.

Hyunjin drops Felix’s hand to wrap his arms defensively around the plate. “No! These are mine! Yongbok said so.”

Six sets of accusing eyes turn on Felix.

He blushes, a rich pink that lights up the glitter on his cheeks. “Hyunjin needed them,” he defends himself.

“And we don’t?” Changbin demands. “As if we aren’t wasting away from all the promo? As if your brownies aren’t the only thing standing between us and death?”

Felix bites his lip, torn. The pressure of his sharp white teeth makes the plush flesh of his lips pinker. Hyunjin hunkers over the brownies and wonders what they’ll write on his death certificate. ‘Death by cute”? “Fatal adorableness wound to the heart”?

“Well…” Felix hedges. He turns big eyes on Hyunjin. “Maybe you could share?”

Hyunjin bites his lip viciously. Maybe Changbin is the kind of guy Felix is after, with muscles, and confidence, and swagger. Changbin is comfortable in every situation, always ready with a joke, and his massive biceps make the rest of the band look like adolescents. Maybe Felix wants to feel even smaller than he is, cradled in Changbin’s oversized arms. Hyunjin eyes his competition warily.

He wants to hunker down further over the brownies and hiss like a cat, but Felix’s eyes are bigger and shinier and more adorable than anyone’s eyes have any right to be. So instead he unwinds his arms and leans back. “I guess,” he says, grudgingly.

The scene in the kitchen briefly shifts into something out of a horror movie as a ravenous pack of wild animals descends on the brownies, slavering and snatching and scoffing, complete with wet, disgusting noises.

It doesn’t matter, though, because Felix stands and makes his way around the table, leaning down to get his arms around Hyunjin.

“You’re so sweet, Jinnie.” His breath tickles at Hyunjin’s ear. “Thank you.”

Hyunjin splutters, knows he should be thanking Felix, but he can’t, because Felix leans in and presses a kiss to Hyunjin’s cheek. It isn’t a game of gay chicken, it isn’t done for show because the members are watching or because cameras are on them.

It’s a little, quick peck—just for Hyunjin.

He doesn’t even mind that all the brownies are gone in a matter of minutes, or that Chan expresses his thanks to Felix with a lingering hug, big arms enfolding Felix’s much smaller frame. Because he can still feel Felix’s breath against his ear, his lips on Hyunjin’s cheeks, and the taste of his sweet brownies on Hyunjin’s tongue.

Chapter Text

The brownies stay on Hyunjin’s mind. Felix is so service-oriented, maybe it doesn’t mean anything besides the fact that the other member noticed he was out of sorts and wanted to help.

But he’s never made a whole plate of brownies just for Hyunjin before, so maybe it means something. Maybe it means more than the way he climbs all over Chan, drops himself in Minho’s lap, or makes kissy faces at Jisung.

Maybe it means more than the cuddly nap with IN that Hyunjin is currently looking at.

He had innocently strolled into the living room of his own dorm, thank you very much, to find IN spread out over the length of the couch and Felix draped over his front like he was a blanket.

Felix’s chin is tucked under Jeongin’s and every breath Jeongin takes ruffles Felix’s fluffy fringe.

It’s adorable and also makes Hyunjin sick.

“Don’t wake them up,” a voice hisses out of the semi-darkness of the room. Hyunjin wheels round to see Chan sitting at the table, on his laptop. He raises a cautionary finger to his lips.

“Don’t wake them up,” he repeats, shooting a fond look at the boys on the sofa. “Aren’t they cute?”

They are. Felix’s freckled face is pressed just below Jeongin’s dimpled cheeks. Felix’s tiny hand clutches at Jeongin’s fuzzy sweater. Both sport fluttering lashes and slightly parted pink lips. It’s some kind of cuteness inception: cuteness inside cuteness inside cuteness.

It’s intolerable.

“How long have they been like that for?” Hyunjin hisses.

Chan looks up at him again, dragging his eyes away from his laptop where he’s undoubtedly producing his one thousandth track for the band. “I dunno?” he says in English, Australian coming strongly through his tiredness. “A while?”

Hyunjin grits his teeth. Moving further into the room he can see that Felix’s hands are tucked just under Jeongin’s body, fingers pressed under his sweater to touch bare flesh.

“They were sleepy, so I told them to take a nap.” Chan shoots another fond look at the sofa. “They’re like kittens. They just…conk out.”

Chan might be the member Hyunjin is most suspicious of. He’s never hidden the fact that he loves Felix, babies Felix, prefers Felix. The fact that he’s been here, watching Felix sleep, is just another strike against him in Hyunjin’s books.

On the other hand, there’s Jeongin. Innie is undoubtedly cute. The cutest member after Felix, with his ridiculous glass skin and dimpled cheeks. His feline eyes and red lips.

Maybe that’s what Felix really wants. Someone as cute as he is. Someone who feels no inhibition rolling around on the ground like a pair of kittens, pawing at each other and grinning their sweet grins in each other’s faces.

Hyunjin can imagine that many a STAY out there has fantasized about seeing IN and Felix tussle on the floor and then snuggle up with each other like baby cats out from under the watchful eye of their mother.

While Hyunjin ponders the injustice of this, Jeongin stirs. He blinks his ridiculous eyes open, all dark lines and thick lashes, and grins at Felix, his dimples deepening.

It is extremely cute and shouldn’t make Hyunjin so mad.

Jeongin doesn’t seem to notice there are other people in the room. “Yongbok,” he purrs, gliding his hand up under Felix’s hoodie. “Yongbokkie.”

Felix shifts, mumbles something, pressing his mouth over Jeongin’s pulse point.

Hyunjin’s eyes narrow as IN’s hands tighten on Felix’s waist.

“Hmmm?” Felix asks, a deep rumble pressed into the sensitive skin of Jeongin’s throat.

“We fell asleep.”

“Yes, more sleep,” Felix agrees, somehow—despite all the laws of physics—burrowing closer.

Hyunjin wants to throw himself between them, batting Jeongin out of the way to take all of Felix’s cuddles for himself.

“I thought we were going to watch Ant Man,” Jeongin says with a smile. His hand is still stroking up and down Felix’s back.

Felix perks up. “Oh yeah!” he disentangles himself, sitting up properly on the couch.

The first thing he notices about his surroundings in Chan, hard at work on his laptop. “Channie,” he wheedles. “Do you mind if Innie and I put on Ant Man?”

He doesn’t actually flutter his lashes, but he may as well have, given how his eyes shine. He looks like a Disney princess.

Chan smiles fondly. “Sure. Don’t stay up too late. We have an early morning tomorrow.”

“We won’t if you won’t,” Felix bargains and Chan blushes. He always stays up too late.

“Okay, okay,” he agrees, picking up his laptop and ruffling Felix’s hair before leaving the room.

Felix’s eyes follow Chan out of the room and finally land on Hyunjin. “Oh! Jinnie! Innie and I are going to watch Ant Man,” he chirps, curling back into Jeongin’s side now that they’re both upright. Jeongin drapes a proprietary arm over Felix’s shoulder.

Hyunjin is trying to decide whether he’s actually capable of joining them, when Felix asks, “Can you get us some snacks?”

Hyunjin’s jaw drops. He’s not invited to their cuddle-fest and he’s supposed to provide refreshments??

Whatever words spring to his tongue—and he’s genuinely not sure—are cut off by Chan calling from the kitchen, “I’ll make you something! You want dinner? Desert? Popcorn? All of the above?”

“Yes, please!” Felix and Jeongin cheer, curled together like children, or cats, or—and Hyunjin’s brain doesn’t want to admit it—lovers. They’re shoulder to shoulder, legs entwined. They’re holding hands.

IN leans over and presses a kiss to Felix’s cheek. Felix doesn’t flinch.

Hyunjin leaves the room.

Chapter Text

The video notification pings up on his phone. Stray Kids have uploaded a video. Hyunjin frowns. He doesn’t know every detail of their content schedule, but he’s not often surprised by a video from his own band.

He clicks and his jaw drops. It’s a short clip, only a minute long, and Felix is in a hot tub. Hyunjin’s mind goes blank. How? Where? When?

It takes a moment of staring at the thumbnail before his brain restarts and he remembers: Felix went to a spa on his trip to Japan. He hadn’t known Felix was filming though.

In the thumbnail, Felix’s hair is wet, slicked back from his forehead except for a few strands of his fringe that are plastered to his forehead. He’s flushed, presumably from the heat of the water around him.

Hyunjin bites his lip. Felix is wet and flushed and frankly he’s not sure he should be watching the video, even though it was publicly posted from the band’s social media account.

That doesn’t actually stop him from pressing play, though. The video starts and Felix rubs a hand over his wet, flushed face. Hyunjin starts; Felix is still wearing the ring Hyunjin gave him, the one that matches his. A smile creeps over his face. Felix really wasn’t lying when he said he never took it off. It’s the only jewellery that Felix is wearing.

Hyunjin’s smile doesn’t last long, though; he digs his teeth into his lip while the Felix on screen natters about how nice it is to have alone time, while he’s submerged in the water in such a way that he looks almost…

Hyunjin gulps and fumbles for the bottle of water on the table next to him.

Almost naked.

Felix’s bare shoulders are exposed, droplets of water rolling off the slope of his scapula. He tosses his head, shaking damp tendrils of hair off his forehead.

It is undeniably sexy, in a way Felix usually reserves for the stage, when he’s in full makeup and dramatic costumes. Seeing him like this, exposed, wet, wearing Hyunjin’s ring, is doing things to Hyunjin.

Luckily for his blood pressure, Felix can’t sit still or stay serious for long. He leans close to the camera, which must be set up on a pocket tripod on the edge of the tub. Now Hyunjin can’t see his bare shoulders, which is probably good for his health, though he can see Felix’s freckles, stark on his bare skin.

Felix is talking about his hair now, and he giggles, reverting back to the cute ball of sunshine that Hyunjin is familiar (obsessed) with. He grabs a strand of hair and tugs it over his face, commanding viewers to look at how long it’s gotten. It reaches to his lips, he declares, and great—now Hyunjin is looking at his lips.

After a second the full red pout of them stretches into a grin, which is no less devastating.

Felix laughs, sinking further down in the water, splashing slightly. Suddenly he looks like a little kid at bathtime. Hyunjin half expects a rubber ducky to float by in the background.

The video has only been going for 20 seconds and it has already caused Hyunjin to have several mini-breakdowns. It is a very confusing juxtaposition of absolutely adorable and sinfully sexy and Hyunjin feels like he’s getting some kind of never-before-diagnosed erotic whiplash.

He’s wondering whether he should spare himself and look away, watching the video in ten second bursts spread out over several hours the way God clearly intended, when Felix’s gaze turns upwards.

“Hey!” he says, eyes wide and inviting, and Hyunjin’s own eyes narrow in suspicion. “The temperature is just right.”

From off camera, Minho laughs and Hyunjin’s grip on his water bottle tightens.

Hadn’t Felix said he was having alone time??

“That’s a risky camera angle you got there,” Minho comments as Felix leans further forward, shoulders, collarbone, and the slight curve of his back visible.

Felix giggles. “You can only see my head!” he chirps, incorrectly. He leans further back in the tub, water droplets rolling down his neck and splashing back into the water, and tips his gaze even further up. The gentle fan of his upper lashes comes into view and his lips slightly part. “You should join as well,” he invites, and it sounds inviting.

The soft plastic of the water bottle starts to crumple in Hyunjin’s hand.

And then Minho is stepping into the frame and into the tub. His bare torso is mere inches from Felix’s bare skin, and sure they all change in close proximity back stage, but this feels different. More intimate. The hot tub is small and hot and private and what kind of spa is letting two friends, two buddies, two work colleagues use a tub that is so clearly meant for a romantic couple??

“It’s hot,” Minho protests, sinking down to his neck in the water.

Felix’s eyes cut away from the camera. “It suddenly got hot in here,” he agrees, cheeks flushing even pinker.

The bottle fully crumples in Hyunjin’s hand.

His phone is nearly a casualty, too, skidding off the table with the force of Hyunjin’s efforts to stop the video.

It’s the end, anyway.

Whoever edited the video is sadistic and hates Hyunjin specifically, Hyunjin decides.

He’s left with the image of Minho and Felix sitting inches apart, hot and wet and alone.

He might cry. How come the company never sends him to spas with Felix?

Not that he’d survive such an experience, of course. But what a way to die.

Hyunjin slumps back in his chair, scowling at the black screen of his phone. The image of Felix’s inviting gaze, Felix’s embarrassed blush, Felix’s lips shaping the word “hot”, in reference to how close Minho was– they’re burned into his retinas, baked into the soft matter of his brain.

He wonders why neither Felix nor Minho – who are both down the hall from him right this very second – never mentioned the spa when they got back from Japan.

He’s worried he knows why. Worried he knows why the video cut off when it did.

Worried he’s already lost Felix to someone else, when he’s only just realised that he wants Felix all to himself. To belong to Hyunjin the way Hyunjin belongs to Felix.

Chapter Text

Felix’s hair is blue and so is his tongue. He sticks it out at Hyunjin, laughing. He’s got a lollipop in his hand, slick streaks of blue sugar smeared across his mouth.

They’re all hanging out at the dorms, a rare day off without the cameras on them. Some STAYs might think that when the cameras turn off they go their separate ways, but in reality they always end up back here: crammed into a single dorm, entertaining each other. They’re the only people who know exactly what it’s like to be them, so they’re naturally drawn to each other’s company.

Felix is bouncing around the room, with what is clearly a metric ton of sugar coursing through his bloodstream.

3racha are playing Jenga with great concentration. Felix dances around their perimeter, sticking his blue tongue out whenever he catches one of their eyes, making silly faces. Jisung falters and the tower of blocks falls.

“Felix!” he hollers, jumping up out of his seat.

“I didn’t do anything!” Felix scream-laughs, running across the room to leap on the sofa.

Jisung follows, diving at him, getting him around the knees and tackling him down onto the soft sofa cushions. Felix squeals.

“My lollipop!” he gasps, flinging his arm out and getting spit, sugar, and germs on several of the cushions.

“Maaaaybe that’s enough sugar for now,” Chan says, using his grown-up voice. He plucks the lollipop from Felix’s dangling arm, but doesn’t intervene to rescue him from Jisung, who is crouched over him, making fierce faces and brandishing non-existent claws.

“Save me! I’m too innocent to die!” Felix wails to the room.

“I was winning,” Jisung insists, shoving his hands up Felix’s top, exposing the lean lines of his stomach, the surprising definition of his muscles.

“I don’t think you were,” Chan says, but from across the room where Jisung can’t get to him.

Felix squirms, a delicious wriggle that suddenly has every eye in the room on him. Jisung stops, apparently paralysed at the sight, except for his hand, which switches from tickling to stroking over the flat planes of Felix’s stomach.

Everyone’s gaze follows the movement, tracking Jisung’s fingertips as they slide over sensitive flesh in what feels like slow motion.

“How about another game?” Hyunjin suggests urgently. “Defend yourself after that humiliating loss.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Jisung whines, but he does what Hyunjin wanted: he gets up off of Felix.

Felix pants a bit on the couch, belatedly remembering to tug his top back down over his exposed flesh.

Hyunjin feels a bit breathless himself.

It takes a second for the room to recover, but eventually everyone turns back to what they were doing.

It isn’t long before Felix is up again, circling and looking to cause trouble. It shouldn’t be as cute as it is, but he looks like a mischievous kitten ready to knock a cup off of the kitchen counter.

“Come here,” Changbin grunts, before Felix can cause any more damage. He yanks Felix into his lap. A pout flickers over Felix’s sugar-stained lips before Changbin adds, “Help me win the game.”

“Ooh!” Felix claps his hands. “Yes! We will be victorious!” He bounces slightly and Hyunjin really wishes Changbin didn’t look like was enjoying it as much as he did. Or, maybe he just wished Felix would come over and bounce on his lap.

Hyunjin crosses his legs discreetly. He hopes. Minho might be giving him a knowing look. It’s hard to tell with Minho. All his looks are knowing.

Felix approaches the game with great concentration. For about ninety seconds. Then he’s squirming on Changbin’s lap, eyes darting around the room, looking for something else to entertain himself with.

“Either stop wriggling, or do it more but in a sexy way,” Changbin says through slightly gritted teeth, his eyes still on the Jenga tower, which is listing dangerously to one side.

“Hey Fe-lix!” Hyunjin calls desperately. He holds up a packet of sweets that had been abandoned near the couch. If Felix starts grinding on Changbin, Hyunjin will throw himself out the window. “Want one?”

Felix is up and off Changbin’s lap before Changbin even realises what’s happening.

“No!” Chan shouts as Felix bounces over to Hyunjin. “No more sugar!”

Felix lands heavily in Hyunjin’s lap. “He can’t stop us,” he hisses conspiratorially, digging a hand into the bag Hyunjin holds out.

Chan probably can, but he won’t, because it’s Felix.

The sweets turn out to be gummy snakes, which is…regrettable, Hyunjin thinks, as he watches Felix slurp one up through pink, pursed lips, sucking the sweet in like…

Hyunjin shakes his head, trying to shake the thoughts away. He doesn’t look directly at Felix’s red, sugar-coated mouth, because that’s like looking directly at the sun—he’ll go blind—but he does wrap both his arms around Felix’s narrow waist, holding him in place.

He closes his eyes and basks in the weight of Felix on his thighs, the press of Felix against his chest, the tickle of Felix’s blue hair on his cheek, and the smell of Felix in his nose.

He smells mostly like sugar, with a slight tinge of masculine sweat and the hint of a cologne Felix might have sprayed that morning, a slightly spicy floral. Hyunjin sucks in a breath, holding it to savour the scent.

“Here, Jinnie,” Felix says, and then sticky sweet fingers are against his lips.

Hyunjin’s eyes fly open, crossing slightly to see the bright green gummy snake Felix is pressing to his mouth. “Mmm,” he tries, taking a tentative bite.

Felix grins, all sunshine. “Good, right? I was worried they were the sour ones, but they’re not!”

Hyunjin eats the snake, bite by bite, feeling a bit like they’re in Lady and the Tramp, but it’s Felix’s fingers his lips brush against with every nibble.

He wonders if he’s imagining it or if Felix shivers slightly at every touch of his lips.

Across the room the Jenga tower falls loudly to the floor and an argument erupts. Hyunjin barely hears it. Blood is pounding in his ears and also…elsewhere. Felix’s skin is against his lips, Felix’s scent surrounds him, and if Felix leans back even a little bit further, he’s going to be very surprised.

“Oof!” Felix complains as Hyunjin unceremoniously dumps him off his lap. “Jinnie!”

“Leg fell asleep,” Hyunjin grunts, averting his eyes. The lie hangs heavy in the air, but Felix is easily distracted when he’s had this much sugar.

“Look at this, Felix!” Jeongin calls. He and Seungmin are lying on their stomach on the carpet, huddled over IN’s phone. “I want your opinion.”

Felix perks up, interested. But instead of getting up from where Hyunjin had deposited him on the floor, he takes the shortest possible route and crawls over to Jeongin on hands and knees.

It should look silly, like a baby, but it doesn’t. Felix slinks like a big cat, his movements fluid and supple as he stalks across the floor.

Silence descends, interrupted only by the sound of Jeongin’s phone. He and Seungmin haven’t noticed, but every other eye in the room is on Felix.

Out of the corner of Hyunjin’s eye, he sees Jisung shift in his seat.

Jisung has been paying far too much attention to Felix today.

“What is it?” Felix asks, sliding out of his feline crawl and on to his belly next to Jeongin.

“Can you teach us this dance?” Jeongin asks, tilting his phone for Felix to see. A Tiktok video plays.

“Of course!”

“We won’t look stupid?”

Felix scoffs. “You two are better dancers than everyone on Tiktok.”

Jeongin grins, but Seungmin shakes his head. “But you’re on Tiktok.”

“You guys are great,” Felix persists, not quite willing to say they’re as good as he is.

Jeongin laughs, turning his head to nuzzle against Felix’s jaw. His fluffy hair tickles over Felix’s cheek and neck, and he squirms, wriggling in a way that is somehow even more distracting now that he’s lying on his front.

“Yeah!” Minho laughs from the nearest sofa as Felix shakes his hips. “Show me your butt!”

And Felix just does, tilting forward onto his elbows and arching his back so his ass is in the air. Hyunjin freezes, but Minho doesn’t. He winds back and smacks the flesh of Felix’s ass, tilting his head to watch as it bounces.

“That. Is. It!” Hyunjin finds himself standing without quite knowing how he got there. He’s shocked to learn the loud objection currently reverberating through the room came from his lips.

But still, he’s hurrying over, grabbing Felix by the forearm and hauling him up off the floor. “No. More. Touching,” he growls. “No butt slaps, no kisses, no stroking disguised as tickling.”

“Jinnie, why?” A pout forms over Felix’s lips and Hyunjin releases his arm, suddenly struck by what he’s doing. The room is deadly silent and every member is looking at him. His face burns.

“Well, I…” he ducks his head. “I’m sorry. If you like it, of course…”

“No, Jinnie,” Felix says. A small hand tips his chin back up. “Hyunjin. Why did you object?”

“Because I…I want…I wish…” he trips over his words.

“Because he loves you!” Jisung shouts from across the room, laughing.

“He’s obsessed with you!” Changbin chimes in.

It should sound like a joke, but it doesn’t. It isn’t.

“Hyunjin,” Felix says, and his voice is so soft, so gentle. His big eyes shine up at Hyunjin. He is so, so cute. “Are they right?”

Hyunjin knows what he should say. Knows what’s best for the band. But suddenly all the members—people he saw as rivals, people he was prepared to stab in the back for a second of Felix’s time—are unexpectedly smiling their encouragement.

And suddenly he wonders…could he be the kind of guy Felix wants? Maybe Felix likes that he’s tall the way Hyunjin likes that Felix is small. Maybe Felix shivers every time they fit their hands together the way Hyunjin does. Maybe their shared love of dance and music and fun means that they could be something. Maybe Felix has noticed how attentive Hyunjin is, how much he cares, the same way Hyunjin notices every little act of service Felix performs.

Maybe it’s not Changbin’s muscles, or Minho’s cheekbones, or Jeongin’s dimples that Felix wants, but just…

Hyunjin.

“Yes,” he finally murmurs, more to the floor than to Felix.

It’s totally inadequate, but a whoop goes up around the room all the same.

“Finally,” Minho sighs, shooting Hyunjin a cheeky grin. “I thought I was going to have to kiss him just to get you to do something.”

“I—you—what??” Hyunjin splutters, automatically reaching out for Felix, to protect him from Minho’s kisses. “I thought you were all in love with him,” he finally gasps out.

A laugh ripples around the room, but stops the second Felix pouts.

“You are very loveable,” Chan says hurriedly.

“Yes, completely,” Minho agrees, a bit too fast for Hyunjin’s liking.

“I mostly just think you’re sexy,” Jisung offers, unrepentant. “If you want anyone to—”

“NOPE.” Hyunjin slaps his hands over Felix’s ears. “Whatever you were thinking about saying,” he hisses. “Felix is too innocent. You little deviant.”

Jisung smirks. “I don’t think he is,” he says, and then offers no context whatsoever.

Hyunjin should retire and become a farmer. He could grow pears. He likes pears. It would certainly be less stressful than hanging around with this lot.

Felix peels Hyunjin’s hands away from his ears. “You thought everyone was in love with me?” An amused smile plays over his pink lips. His freckles seem to sparkle.

Hyunjin is aware that what he’s doing could accurately be described as heart eyes. He doesn’t care. “How could they not be?” he asks helplessly.

“Whooooo boy, it’s worse than I thought,” Chan says, standing up. “Everyone out, give them a moment.” He starts herding members like they’re particularly uncooperative cats.

“But I want to see what happens,” Changbin whines.

“I don’t,” Seungmin says, already half out the door.

It takes a moment, but Chan gets all the members out of the room once Minho starts helping. He’s the last out of the door, tipping a wink at Hyunjin before he goes.

“So…” Felix says, shy.

Hyunjin thinks he might die. If anyone in the history of the world was going to spontaneously combust, it would be him, right now, with Felix looking at him with soft, shy eyes and pink stained cheeks.

“You like me?”

Hyunjin girds himself, tries to muster all his courage. “I like you so much.”

The smile that spreads over Felix’s sugar-slicked lips is the one he normally tries to hide from the cameras. All big and toothy, showing off his pink gums. The one that means he’s really, truly happy.

Before Hyunjin can get self-conscious, before he can ask, Felix is tipping up on his toes to bring their faces close together. “I like you so much too,” he says, cheeks flushing a deeper pink.

The question ‘really?’ stutters on his lips, trapped between Hyunjin’s mouth and Felix’s, where Felix leans up that little bit further and presses their lips tightly together.

“Woo, Felix!” A cheer comes from the doorway.

“Han, no!” Minho’s stern voice echoes through the room and then silence reigns again.

Felix starts to turn to look, but Hyunjin stops him with a hand to his jaw. For once, he’s not going to share Felix with the rest of the band. He presses in again, catching Felix’s lips with his own, parting them.

Felix makes a soft sound in the back of his throat and tilts his head, opening up for Hyunjin. He tastes blue, like the flavour of his lollipop. His tongue is slick and sweet.

Felix’s hands flutter around Hyunjin’s shoulders before settling, stroking from shoulder to elbow over the soft knit of Hyunjin’s sweater. He wishes he could feel Felix’s hands on his skin. He works an arm around Felix’s narrow waist, and tugs him closer, until their bodies are flush.

The noise Felix makes now is deeper, rougher. Hyunjin wants to lick it out of his mouth.

He feels electric with getting his hands on Felix, tracing the curve where his waist nips in, dipping fingers under Felix’s top to stroke the skin of his lower back.

“Jinnie,” Felix all but purrs. He squirms, attempting to press even closer. The movement sends heat rocketing through Hyunjin’s body.

“Felix,” Hyunjin whispers back desperately, pressing the name into Felix’s hot, wet mouth.

“If I don’t hear less moaning in ten seconds, I’m coming back in there!” Chan calls from the hallway.

“Chan!” Jisung complains. “Don’t listen to him – I want to hear more moaning.”

Felix pulls back, laughing. His cheeks are bright pink.

“Chan, you ruin everything,” Jisung mutters, just outside the door.

“Jisung, you’re a pervert,” Hyunjin calls, his eyes never leaving Felix. His arms are still around Felix’s waist, now supporting some of his weight as Felix tips back to look up into his face. They smile helplessly at each other.

“We can do that again, right?” Felix asks, a little shyly. It’s adorably endearing that he can still be shy, given where his tongue had just been.

“Yes!” Jisung calls from the hall.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes before dipping his head back down, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of Felix’s sweet lips. “Yes,” he breathes. “All the time.”

“Not all the time,” Chan objects, and jeez, how close to the door are those guys standing?? “We have a band to run!”

“That’s your job, not mine,” Hyunjin shoots back.

Felix laughs and nuzzles closer, tucking his head against Hyunjin’s shoulders. “I’m really happy,” he murmurs.

Hyunjin wraps him even tighter in his arms. He’s never been shy about touching Felix, but the fact that it means something different now sends happiness fizzing through him, lighting him up.

“You are so cute,” he says, the thought that’s been consuming him for several weeks, and hopes that Felix hears everything he means by it – you are so precious to me, you make me so happy, I want to hold you forever, Will you be mine?

Felix smiles up at him like he’s caught every word. “You’re cute, too,” he says, and Hyunjin hopes he’s right when he hears I’m yours in the words.

Chapter Text

“You seem very interested in watching them kiss,” Minho observes, leaning back against the wall of the corridor.

Jisung is pressed to the door, straining to hear what’s going on in the room behind it. The others had run off when the moaning started.

“They’re our friends. I’m rooting for them.”

“Uh huh.” Minho crosses his arms.

“They’re two very attractive people,” Jisung amends with a smirk. “It’s natural to want to watch them kiss.”

Minho arches an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Jisung leans back against the door, turning the full power of his smirk on Minho. “You were the one who said you were going to kiss Lix.”

“I didn’t say I was going to,” Minho corrects. “I said I thought I would have to for Hyunjin to actually make a move. Those are two very different things.”

Jisung points an accusing finger. “Yeah, and in both of them you think about kissing Felix.”

Minho knows Jisung isn’t actually annoyed, even though he’s pouting at him, his cute little bottom lip stuck out. Minho wants to bite it.

“And you’re the one who said he was sexy,” he counters.

“Felix is sexy. I’d have to be blind not to think so. In fact, even if I was blind I’d think so, because I’d still be able to hear his sexy deep voice and feel his sexy little body.”

“Felix isn’t the one with the sexy little body,” Minho says, pointedly sliding his gaze slowly down the length of Jisung’s body.

“More than one person can have a sexy little body.” Jisung crosses his arms. It emphasizes his tiny waist.

“Maybe,” Minho acknowledges, pushing off from the wall. “But yours is the sexiest.”

Jisung arches an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“Mmm.” Minho steps closer. Licks his lips.

“You’re just trying to distract me from finding out when Hyunjin gets into Lix’s pants,” Jisung accuses.

“You know we can hear you, right?” Hyunjin yells from behind the door. He sounds very frustrated.

“Less talking, more kissing,” Jisung shoots back.

“Don’t worry, Jinnie. I’ve got you covered,” Minho calls.

“And what’s that supposed to me—” Jisung’s question turns into a squeal when Minho stoops and slings him up over his shoulder. “Min!”

“I don’t know what you’re doing out there, but as long as it gets rid of Jisung, I support it!” Hyunjin calls.

“Betrayal!” Jisung gasps, dangling helplessly in Minho’s grasp.

Minho slaps his cute little upturned ass, then gives it a squeeze for good measure.

“Nevermind!” Jisung calls. “It’s all good. Do that again, hyung.”

“Gross!” Hyunjin shouts.

Minho does it again. Jisung moans and suddenly Minho very much needs to be a room with a soft surface.

“Good luck in there!” he calls to Hyunjin and Felix. “Use a condom!”

“Hyung,” they whine in tandem.

Jisung giggles. “Are you gonna use a condom?”

“Absolutely not.” Minho carries Jisung down the corridor towards his room.

“Oh, gross,” Seungmin says, when they pass in front of his door. The other boys are huddled in there like they’re hiding from a monster, rather than the sound of two of their friends kissing.

Chan’s eyes widen at the sight of them. “Not you two too,” he complains.

“Hyung, Jisung and I have been fucking for months,” Minho tells him drily, enjoying the way Chan flinches.

“Did you not know that?” Jeongin asks. “I thought everyone knew that.”

“We know that, because we share a dorm with Minho,” Seungmin says, still looking disgusted.

“Gross,” Changbin says.

“Oh, you have no idea,” Seungmin says.

“Then why is Jisung always pawing at Felix?” Chan demands, looking genuinely confused and a bit put out about it. “Seriously, I really thought you might be competition for Jinnie.”

Jisung frowns at him from where he still dangles over Minho’s shoulder. “He’s sexy! Is a man not allowed to feel up his sexy friend every once in a while without people getting the wrong idea?”

“No,” everyone in the room says in chorus.

Jisung huffs.

“Stop thinking about feeling up Felix,” Minho instructs, smacking him on the ass again.

“Make me,” Jisung challenges. Minho smirks.

“Oh my god, go to your own room,” Seungmin yells, throwing a pillow at them. “At least Hyunjin and Felix have the decency to be behind a closed door.”

“They’re probably fucking on your favourite couch right now,” Minho says, a parting shot.

“Gross!” he hears Seungmin squeal as he carries Jisung off down the hall.

Jisung giggles against his back, one hand straying down to cup Minho’s ass.

Minho walks faster.

Jisung bounces as Minho throws him down on the bed.

“I don’t think they’re really going to have sex,” Jisung notes.

“Who?” Minho has forgotten about everything except the way Jisung looks on his bed, his hair messy, his legs spread.

“Jinnie and Lixie. I think they’re just, like, going to gaze into each other’s eyes all night.”

“Oh, yeah, probably,” Minho agrees, peeling his shirt off, gratified by the way Jisung’s gaze immediately drops to his bare chest. “They’re lame like that.”

Jisung smirks. “But we aren’t, are we?”

“No,” Minho says, crawling over him. “We most certainly are not.”

He thinks back to Hyunjin’s gasped accusation – I thought you were all in love with him – and giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Jisung demands.

“The idea that I would be in love with Lix.” Minho gets to work on the button of Jisung’s jeans.

“Lix is very loveable,” Jisung says loyally.

“Sure,” Minho agrees, dragging the denim down Jisung’s long legs. Felix is loveable. It’s why they all love him. But he can’t imagine being in love with anyone but the snarky, silly, bambi-eyed boy beneath him. He finds it nearly impossible to imagine that anyone could have eyes for anyone else when Jisung is around, but he guesses he’s lucky that they do. He doesn’t want the competition.

“And sexy,” Jisung adds, needling him.

“Mmm,” Minho hums, working his hands up under Jisung’s shirt, revealing his narrow waist.

“So sexy,” Jisung tries again, when he doesn’t get the reaction he wants.

“Yes, yes,” Minho agrees, pulling Jisung’s shirt all the way off, admiring his bare skin. “Felix is so sexy.”

“Why are you two talking about how sexy Felix is?” Hyunjin yelps outside Minho’s door.

“Now who’s listening at doors?” Jisung demands.

“I knew I had a reason to be suspicious of you two!” Hyunjin gasps, scandalized.

“You really didn’t, Jinnie,” Felix says comfortingly. Their voices drift; it sounds like Felix is tugging Hyunjin toward his own bedroom. “Those two are in love with each other.”

“Wait, what?”

Minho giggles.

Jisung blinks up at him. “In love, huh?”

Minho snorts. “What? Is this a surprise to you, too? Doesn’t anyone in this group ever pay attention to what’s going on around them?”

Jisung’s expression softens. “I love you, too, hyung.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Minho says, but he dips down to kiss him. He’s not great with words, not like Jisung is. He prefers to show Jisung that he loves him in other ways.

And speaking of…he sits back to wriggle out of his own trousers.

If he goes a bit slower, a bit more sensually than he usually does, kissing Jisung deeply as he rocks into him, well…he hopes that Jisung knows what it means.