Chapter Text
Seungmin understood the others’ apprehension and oblivion to his and Jeongin’s relationship.
He understood it as he used to see his and Jeongin’s dynamic from the same perspective: simple and seemingly platonic.
Comfortable and easy.
The type of easiness that would just continue to chug consistently throughout his life like a steam train, rolling along continuously.
It’s only when the rhythmic chugging of it grinds to a halt or something interferes with the flow that you notice and miss the consistency from before.
As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Or in Seungmin’s case, absence knocks some sense into you about your unacknowledged infatuation with your younger band member you watch all your dramas with.
Absence was a well-needed ice bucket of water to wake Seungmin up.
—
In a group of eight rambunctious guys, teasing each other is second nature to all of them.
Outfits, relationships, poor hairstyle choices from your childhood etc. all were topics that were a free-for-all to torment others on with in particular relationships and the awkwardness of eight guys trying to date and start relationships a lot later then their non-k-pop idol peers.
However as Hyunjin and Changbin were in a relationship with each other it made it so Hyunjin smugly felt he could tease the others as he was sitting in a sturdy house throwing stones.
(And Seungmin had to admit that Minho and Jisung deserved teasing about their painful obliviousness to each other’s reciprocated feelings.)
It was Hyunjin’s teasing lilt and laugh that echoed through Seungmin’s ears as Seungmin walked into their shared kitchen to make his morning coffee with Hyunjin’s laugh piercing his ears - too much energy and too loud this early in the morning.
Hyunjin’s current unfortunate victim was a red-faced Jeongin sat across from Hyunjin at their dining room table with Jeongin trying to shovel his cereal into his mouth as quickly as he possibly could to get away from Hyunjin.
Hyunjin was unbearable when he got in these moods, teasing and provoking mercilessly.
Seungmin, still half-asleep, was trying to tune them out - as well as the world around him - as he started to make his coffee with the coordination and effort not dissimilar to a zombie.
“Ooh- our maknae has a crush.” Hyunjin teased, punctuating the ending with another irritating giggle.
Seungmin perked up at Hyunjin’s words after a few seconds of processing the teasing words in his still sleep-dazed brain.
A crush? Jeongin didn’t have a crush as far as Seungmin was aware.
Seungmin was thinking about how it was only the other day that he and Jeongin were discussing relationships and their lack of love lives with Seungmin saying that he couldn’t be bothered with love especially not with being an idol and Jeongin nodding in agreement.
Maybe Jeongin’s lack of verbal answer meant he had disagreed? Maybe Jeongin actually was interested in someone or even talking to someone but didn’t want to talk to Seungmin about them.
If this was the case, then it was odd as Jeongin and him are very close, or he liked to think they are and, as the two youngest, have a special kind of bond.
Seungmin would even go as far to say that he was closest to Jeongin out of the seven others (with Hyunjin as a close second but don’t tell him he’s not first).
Seungmin could feel a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Jeongin not feeling he could discuss with Seungmin whatever Hyunjin’s currently teasing him about.
However now intrigued, he wanted to listen in on the conversation and decided to take his coffee over to the table to sit with them to try and subtly eavesdrop.
“-should have told me earlier, I could have helped you pick a nicer restaurant and saved all the hassle. He wouldn’t have been scared off if you’d taken him to La Fromage - he would have been too distracted by the insane food.” Hyunjin continued on, with every word only deepening Jeongin’s reddening and evident embarrassment.
Seungmin walked over and pulled out a chair as Jeongin spluttered, “I was worried you were going to be irritating like you are being now-“
Jeongin connected eyes with Seungmin.
Jeongin paused.
“Morning. How long have you been in here?” Jeongin asked, now with a terrified look upon his face which beside him Hyunjin tsked at with Hyunjin muttering under his breath what sounded like “You’re hopeless.”
“Long enough to want to tape Hyunjin’s mouth shut so I don’t have to hear any more of those horrific squeals.” Seungmin replied.
“Brat.” Hyunjin retorted.
Seungmin rolled his eyes. “Good morning to you too Junnie.”
“Seungmin, have you heard about Jeongin’s disastrous date-“ Hyunjin’s words were interrupted by Jeongin’s hand over Hyunjin’s mouth.
Hyunjin must have licked the offensive hand as Jeongin pulled his hand away almost immediately in disgust and wiped it on Hyunjin’s trouser leg with a glare at Hyunjin.
Hyunjin just shrugged.
“Anyway, apparently our baby has been dating and he hasn’t told anyone.” Hyunjin cooed.
“That’s because I knew you’d act like this.” Jeongin said, voice tense with frustration - dropping his head into his hands.
Hyunjin mockingly patted his shoulder.
Seungmin was sat in quiet shock trying to process the events unfolding in-front of him.
“You went on a date? With who?” Seungmin eventually collected himself enough to say.
Jeongin sighed.
“You know that trainee, Lee Heeseung?” Jeongin replied quietly.
Seungmin had to compose his face so his face didn’t drop.
Hyunjin whistled, “You didn’t tell me it was him, well done Jeongin - he’s a handsome guy … well… not well done for your execution but you must have initially done something right.”
“Not really.” Jeongin sighed. “I think he was just using me to make another trainee jealous.”
Seungmin suddenly felt furious at this guy. How dare that guy play with Jeongin’s feelings just to use him as a pawn in his game. If Seungmin wasn’t an idol he would go find him and-
“Well at least you both had similar motives so it’s ok. I mean it’s not really ok from him because at least you didn’t do it purposefully but it’s still a bit of a dick move.” Hyunjin said, relenting his teasing as he could see Jeongin was now getting actually upset.
Seungmin was now even more confused.
Jeongin was apparently trying to get over someone?
Jeongin sighed. “I guess so. And he was nice at least even if the restaurant was awful and I called him by the wrong name three times. I think the thing that properly ruined it for me was that he was pressuring me to take a photo with him to I guess subtly try and make his actual crush jealous.”
Hyunjin and Seungmin both looked infuriated at that. So much so Seungmin could smell Hyunjin’s anger building which indicated Hyunjin’s heightened emotions as it’s rare to smell a beta in that way.
Seungmin was certain his own scent matched Hyunjin’s potency - if not more by the way Jeongin crinkled his nose.
“Guys, I appreciate the concern but I think both of us went into it with our hearts not fully in it.” Jeongin tried to reason and calm the two angry betas. “And actually Jaeyun seems like a nice guy from what I’ve seen of him so I’m sure him and Heeseung suit each other much better. They are an alpha and omega pairing after all as well.”
Seungmin gritted his teeth.
He wasn’t sure what he was more irritated with.
That this Heeseung had wasted Jeongin’s time, that Jeongin hadn’t told him about the date in advance, or that Jeongin was belittling himself.
Seungmin stood up abruptly.
He could feel the rage and emotions feeling and his own woody scent swirling around him.
“I need a few minutes. Come talk to me though if you need anything Jeonginnie.” Seungmin said monotonously, trying to hide his ugly emotions. And with his standing, Seungmin headed back to his bedroom.
Leaving his coffee, cold and untouched, on the table and a confused Jeongin but a knowing Hyunjin.
Hyunjin was still angry as well but much more contained and perhaps not angry in the same way as Seungmin.
Hyunjin had an idea as well at Jeongin’s words.
“Whose name did you call Heeseung, Jeongin?” Hyunjin asked, this time leaving out the teasing saccharine tone as he wanted a chance of Jeongin actually answering.
Jeongin mumbled something.
“Hmm? You’re going to have to say that a bit louder.”
“Seungmin… I called him Seungmin.” Jeongin whispered, blushing redder than he was earlier somehow - the tips of his ears turning pink.
Hyunjin hummed in acknowledgment and with a pitiful shake of his head, “Jeongin, really?” And Hyunjin laughed.
But not a teasing laugh, a disbelieving laugh.
“I know. I know.” Jeongin said. “I’m mortified. In a sad way I was actually glad he seemed so hung upon this Jaeyun guy otherwise I would have felt even worse.”
Jeongin buried his head in hands again, and Hyunjin patted his shoulder again but this time sympathetically.
—
Seungmin was sat in his room seething. He had never felt such rage before, or at least in his more mature years and not from when he was a hormonal pre-pubescent teenager.
Although, Seungmin had always been more placid even as a child - not because of his beta nature as Hyunjin was evidence that any archaic stereotypes of placidness were incorrect - but because he couldn’t be bothered with the hassle.
Seungmin normally scoffed at displays of ‘defending someone’s honour’ in media that stemmed from ridiculous societal expectations but the temptation currently to find this Lee Heeseung and spin his jaw currently was very strong.
Seungmin knew deep-down Jeongin was an adult (just about) and could make his own decisions and protect himself just fine but something about this wasn’t sitting right with him.
—
Seungmin eventually calmed down after a whole day in his room watching dramas and - by the time he left his room and went out to sit down to eat dinner with a few others - he had almost forgotten about the whole ordeal.
Almost.
Seungmin walked over to the table which was busy with chatter apart from Minho and Changbin as they were probably at the gym.
Someone (Seungmin suspected their generous leader) had ordered loads of food and it was a mad fight for anything on the table. So deciding he wasn’t in the mood to be in the midst of the battle, he sat on the end chair next to Felix - with Hyunjin at the other end.
Seungmin grabbed the few dishes he could reach and put some of each on his plate and then ate silently - observing the chaos unfolding in front of him.
Felix seemed to be arguing with Jisung - who was sat diagonal from Felix - about what dish was best on the table with an exhausted Chan on Felix’s other side ready to step in if the argument escalated. Jisung was leaning across to Felix, hair tantalisingly close to his seaweed soup.
Seungmin was hoping he slipped and fell just to make things more interesting.
Hyunjin, opposite Seungmin, was animatedly talking to Jeongin and showing him something on his phone which by the look on Jeongin’s face he was not enjoying. Seungmin couldn’t quite tell if Jeongin looked bored or slightly embarrassed but he couldn’t hear their conversation over Felix and Jisung’s escalating argument.
“Seaweed soup is just superior-“
“Rubbish. The classic seafood is obviously better-“
“They’re both quite similar as both have the salty, slightly fishy-“ Chan piped up quietly.
Both Felix and Jisung turned to Chan to glare at him.
“Wouldn’t you say seaweed is better though?” Felix asked, almost appearing like he was batting his eyelashes at Chan and Seungmin could swear he could smell a slightly sweet omega scent.
“Hey- you can’t flirt with him to sway his opinion.” Jisung cried out.
Felix swung round to face Jisung.
“Oh please, if Minho was here you would have done the same. You might have even bared your ne-“
“That’s enough Felix. Sit down.” Chan cut him off authoritatively - leader-tone prominent.
Jisung was blushing and had sat back in his chair properly, rendered silent.
Felix was also a bit shocked at the tone and was silent for the first time for the whole dinner but seemed more so upset that he had taken the argument too far.
Even Hyunjin looked up from his phone just to see what had happened with Jeongin looking relieved for the minor break.
“Sorry Sungie. That was mean.” Felix pouted with a look of sincerity.
“‘s ok.” Jisung mumbled.
“No it’s not. I took it too far. I shouldn’t have brought personal things into it. Love lives are on the table for teasing only when it’s funny and not for just making fun of someone’s insecurities.” Felix said, now looking more despondent.
The whole table was now silent and somber.
Jeongin piped up, trying to ease the tension, “Don’t worry Jisung, your love life isn’t as sad as mine is.”
Five pairs of eyes shot up to stare surprised at Jeongin.
Felix aggressively gritted out, “Who has hurt my baby?”
Hyunjin beside him was looking a bit grimmer again with a knowing look of what was coming that Seungmin was sure he himself was mirroring.
“Did anyone hurt you? Have you been forced to do something you don’t want? Have-“ Chan started rabbiting on at Jeongin, going into concerned leader mode.
“No, no - nothing like that.” Jeongin said cutting off Chan’s spiralling.
“I just had a date yesterday that was an utter disaster, we both were mentally unavailable and it was just poor timing…” Jeongin trailed off, now looking embarrassed that he was openly discussing such private matters with his hyungs.
“Don’t sugarcoat it Innie, the guy was an arsehole - whereas you made a mistake, he genuinely wasn’t interested and was just using you to make someone else jealous.” Hyunjin cut in.
Seungmin decided to speak for the first time since he had sat down.
“Yeah, Hyunjin’s right. So what you called the guy the wrong name? It happens to everyone… but he had the audacity to waste your time and then ask for a couples photo of the two of you afterwards to use as evidence to make his actual crush jealous.” Seungmin spat out the last sentence, that buried anger starting to re-surface.
The others were turning their heads back and forth between the two conversations, shock evident on their faces.
Smells of anger started to waft around the table.
They all started talking at once.
“A picture? The nerve-“
“Just for a friend, what is this guy’s name - I might need to go … talk to him?”
“He doesn’t sound like he was worth a second of your time-“
Jeongin looked on the verge of tears in the corner.
Realising this, Seungmin intervened, “QUIET! This is not helping Jeongin.” Seungmin gesticulated towards the distraught looking beta.
Seungmin was just as touchy about this subject as the others, if not more, but he could see it wasn’t helping Jeongin.
The room returned to silence.
Chan spoke first.
“Sorry Jeongin, you know how we all get and by the way we all reacted it’s not a surprise you hadn’t told us.”
“For once, I was actually calm and collected.” Hyunjin started, prideful and puffing his chest.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you teased him for ages until he was uncomfortable this morning-“ Seungmin retorted.
“And you’ve just spent the last half an hour giving me options for other people to date to get back at him.” Jeongin said, raising an eyebrow at Hyunjin.
“Really Hyunjin?” Felix rolled his eyes.
“I mean, I didn’t say to get back at him.. I just said to help you move on and get over.. someone.” Hyunjin tried to defend himself.
Seungmin perked up at the allusive mentioning again of this person again Jeongin was trying to get over.
And by the flushing of Jeongin’s face and neck, it seemed Hyunjin was telling the truth - there was someone Jeongin was trying to get over.
Seungmin looked round to gauge everyone else’s reactions.
Felix and Chan were looking at each other, communicating with their eyes and small nods in their way that they do and Jisung was just merrily eating not at all bothered about what Hyunjin had just said.
Did no-one else care about that Jeongin had someone he was trying to get over?
Or worse, did they know who it was and it was just Seungmin left in the dark?
“Ok, well if you need any advice Jeongin, my door is always open.” Chan said with an understanding look - he must know exactly the person Hyunjin was referencing and knew who had caused Jeongin’s blushing.
They all started to get up to tidy away the bomb site that was their table as they were unable to leave it as they all had an early schedules tomorrow. Presumably, it was also to give Jeongin a break from being hounded by everyone and stared at.
Seungmin collected his bowl but he could see Felix and Jisung whispering with Jeongin at the end of the table - clearly discussing something private.
Seungmin could feel his scent souring.
Why did everyone seem to know what was going on apart from him?
Seungmin quickly left the kitchen after doing his cleaning up but he could only feel his mood getting worse: a feeling surging up inside him - uglier than anger.
Jealousy.
Jealousy at what he’s not quite certain.
But it still stung, feeling left out.
—
Seungmin was in a pathetic blanket cocoon on his bed anticipating Jeongin’s eventual return.
But it was nearly midnight now and he knew Jeongin still needed a shower and they all had to be up and ready for seven tomorrow so he decided to go check on him.
He walked out to find Jeongin sat on the sofa by himself, watching a drama that was a shared favourite of him and Jeongin.
They always watched it together so the sight of it and the soft noises blaring out of the soundbar only saddened Seungmin more.
Jeongin turned around with a look of concern as embarrassingly he appeared to be able to smell Seungmin’s distress.
Jeongin took in the blanket cocoon Seungmin still had around him and the obvious sleepiness.
Jeongin’s eyes softened.
“Are you coming to bed?” Seungmin eventually asked, a flush crawling up his neck at the overwhelming stare from Jeongin - glad the flushing was luckily hidden by his blanket.
Jeongin waited a moment before responding.
“Y-Yeah. I’ve already had a shower so I’ll just be a minute finishing this episode.”
Seungmin nodded in acknowledgment and Jeongin thought he had headed back towards the bedroom so Jeongin turned back around and pressed play.
Seungmin actually had decided to check Jeongin stayed true to his word and waddled around the front of the sofa to sit next to Jeongin.
As he sat down and leaned back into Jeongin’s chest, Jeongin made a slight noise of surprise but said nothing.
They both sat in silence for the final minutes of the episode with Seungmin feeling his eyelids drooping.
The screen eventually went black as the episode finished and the TV was turned off.
“You still awake?” Jeongin whispered.
“Yeah.” Seungmin said.
“Good, let’s go to bed then.” Jeongin said, pulling Seungmin up by his waist as he got up as well.
The solid, warmth encircling Seungmin’s waist registered in Seungmin’s brain and that he would have to come back to the comfort it was providing him it another time when he was more awake.
Jeongin kept his arm around Seungmin’s waist and guided him towards their bedroom.
Seungmin fell asleep almost as soon as his face hit the pillow but not before unraveling his blanket cocoon.
And as he was drifting out of consciousness, he vaguely registered Jeongin’s arm still around him and the warmth of Jeongin enclosing him from behind.
—
“You’re so cute.” Seungmin could have sworn he heard as slumber took him.
It could have been his imagination though - mixing up lines from the episode they had just watched with reality.
But Seungmin was right about one thing, he had fallen asleep in Jeongin’s arms.
This wasn’t an odd occurrence but it hadn’t occurred for a while. Seungmin hadn’t realised how much he appreciated it and craved the warming contact.
He could feel Jeongin breathing warmly against his neck, still asleep, and Jeongin’s arm still slung around his waist but with a more relaxed hold.
Seungmin could feel his beta wagging its tail in delight.
He had another twenty minutes before they had to get up and Seungmin was going to savour every moment he could.
—
Half-way through the day, Seungmin was starting to come to a realisation.
After Jeongin woke up, he had adorably tightened his grip around Seungmin - forgetting where he was and that he wasn’t holding his usual pillow - and in a daze lent forwards to sniff at Seungmin’s neck.
“Oh.” Jeongin had softly said, realising the scent he could smell. “You’re not my pillow.”
Seungmin giggled. “No. No I’m not.”
Jeongin buried his face in Seungmin’s back.
Jeongin mumbled something into Seungmin’s t-shirt that Seungmin didn’t quite catch due to it being muffled - the vibrations sending goosebumps along Seungmin’s neck.
Jeongin retracted his arm from his waist and rolled out of bed towards to head to their shower.
Seungmin had to hold back a whine at the loss of warmth.
The almost-whine surprised Seungmin and he thought it about it for a long time after it had happened well into the morning schedule. He was trying to dissect why he was acting like this and what it meant.
It was only when they were in the van, with Changbin and Felix in front of him and Jeongin lying across his lap, that he started to piece together his odd feelings.
Threading his fingers through a resting Jeongin’s hair, he was coming to a realisation.
It would explain why he was feeling clingy around Jeongin.
Why he was so upset over being left in the dark over Jeongin’s crush.
Why he was getting overly jealous and angry towards Jeongin’s waste-of-space of a date.
It would explain his almost-whine this morning.
His heat must be arriving early.