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lean on me

Summary:

Minhyeong gets a text in the middle of the night from a number he'd deleted just a week ago.

or, Minhyeong tries to be as good of a friend as he can when his best friends are two of the biggest pining idiots he knows.

Notes:

come home happy and healthy, choi wooje <3

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Minhyeong groans as his screen flashes black just seconds after the round starts, the consequences of trusting Junsik-hyung to help him carry out their tasks, and picks up his phone from where he left it face-down to the side. There’s a couple of notifications that weren’t there before.

 

[03:07] Unknown Number: hyunmg

 

[03:07] Unknown Number: [Location]

 

 

The deleted number, advised by their staff, does nothing to stop Minhyeong from recognising the sender immediately. He’d never even deleted their chat history, dinner plans from last week just a few chat bubbles up.

 

There is no further explanation in the texts, but when he clicks into the location, it opens to a small street that Minhyeong is all too familiar with. It’s one he’s been to himself countless times, huddled into a shadowy corner of a pocha-cart in the dead of night after their late-night scrim blocks.

 

Involuntary concern takes over his initial anger.

 

[03:23] Lee Minhyeong: Are you drunk?

 

[03:23] Lee Minhyeong: Are you by yourself?

 

There’s no immediate response and the round looks like it’s about to come to a close, so Minhyeong puts his phone back down, face-up this time, and turns back to watch Junsik-hyung go on to win the entire round solo.

 

When he’s placed back in the lobby, Hyeonjun comes up to him with his finger pointed annoyingly.

 

“You. Suck. You. Really suck.” He’s been spending way too much time with Junsik-hyung and Jaewan-hyung and Minhyeong can only reply with a weak laugh, because there’s nothing he can really say to that. “Where did you go anyway? You weren’t talking in game-“

 

Minhyeong is saved from replying when the next round starts as abruptly as ever. The relief lasts for a few short seconds when the game starts and his phone pings with Kakao notifications just as he finds out he’s partnered with Hyeonjun as dissidents this round.

 

He picks up his phone to glance at his notifications.

 

[03:27] Unknown Number: yesd

 

[03:27] Unknown Number: to both

 

[03:28] Unknown Number: i’m sryy hyunmg

 

The sigh escapes him as he reads the messages as they come in one after another.

 

“Minhyeong-kun, why’re you so sad?” Jaewan-hyung’s voice comes through cheekily, “is it because you’re the impostor?”

 

Minhyeong laughs it off, “Hyung, you know I’d be happy if I was the impostor,” he says truthfully. He’s distracted now though, and it shows when he tries to attack Jaewan-hyung ten seconds later with a screwdriver and manages to sacrifice his own life in the process.

 

Jaewan-hyung’s floating orb taunts him jokingly a few times before he floats off to see what everyone else is doing, but Minhyeong is already picking his phone back up to type a reply.

 

[03:30] Lee Minhyeong: Stay there ok

 

[03:30] Lee Minhyeong: I’ll be there in 10 mins

 

He books a taxi that’s scheduled to arrive in five minutes and starts looking for his coat. He sees a spare jacket and picks it up as well, it has been getting cold lately.

 

When the round concludes a couple of minutes later, Hyeonjun’s enraged character model is already storming towards him in the lobby as soon as they load in.

 

“Sorry guys, I have to call it there tonight,” Predictably, sounds of protest start flooding in immediately, but Minhyeong is firm this time, “Goodnight, thanks for the games.” and exits the game quickly.

 

His taxi is pulling around the corner of their block, so he puts on his coat haphazardly and rushes outside.

 

“Lee Minhyeong,” Hyeonjun’s voice drifts out from the streaming room next to his once he opens the door, “You’re not going to wait for me to go home together?” He says it confrontationally in typical Hyeonjun-fashion, but also in typical Hyeonjun-fashion, it’s mostly an act and he couldn’t be pushy if his life was on the line.

 

“Yeah, I forgot I had something to do first, so I gotta go,” Is Minhyeong’s very vague answer that he hopes Hyeonjun won’t question, “I’ll see you later.”

 

Hyeonjun looks like he’s about to say something when Minhyeong is once again saved by the next round of Lockdown starting and distracting Hyeonjun away.

 

The car ride is spent in silence. Minhyeong glances at his phone periodically, but there’s no reply after his last message.

 

When he steps out of the car, the wind is even more biting than he had expected, and he turns around to ask the driver to give him a few minutes before he rushes into the pocha-cart to avoid freezing.

 

Steaming warmth hits his face immediately, and the kind ahjumma just gives him an exasperated smile before nodding slightly towards the man slumped onto the table in the corner of the tent,

 

Minhyeong can’t stop the sigh from escaping him as he heads towards the man and shakes his shoulder roughly.

 

“Wooje,” he stirs slightly, “come on, let’s go.”

 

Minhyeong moves to lift Wooje’s face off the table and is met with a sorry sight. Wooje’s eyes are swollen and red and his normally soft cheeks are even puffier than normal. Minhyeong, who had originally decided to just step in like the mature hyung that he is, feels himself soften at the sight. Even with everything that happened, the confusion and anger he felt as soon as they’d heard the news through their company group chat, Minhyeong guesses Wooje will have this effect on every single one of them until they’re old and grey.

 

He turns around to pay the bill and moves back again to pull Wooje up from where he’s sitting. Wooje is at least able to stand up by himself when Minhyeong pulls his arms and head through the hoodie and lift his arm around his own shoulders so they can stumble clumsily outside and back into the waiting taxi.

 

The driver gives him a look when they enter, wordlessly warning Minhyeong about keeping his companion in check, and asks, “Where to now?”

 

Minhyeong hadn’t thought this one through. He has no idea what Wooje’s new address is, but with Minseok away and the fact that he’s almost certain Wooje’s toothbrush is still kept on their bathroom vanity, he tells the driver to take them back home.

 

Wooje doesn’t say anything in the car, but he’s always been the type to sober quickly, so Minhyeong chalks the silence mostly up to his embarrassment over the whole situation.

 

Minhyeong himself is trying to figure out how to sneak Wooje in without being noticed. It’s not like guests aren’t allowed back in their dorms, but they’d been advised fiercely to avoid anything to do with the situation until the whole thing blew over and the new season had started.

 

“I don’t know who’s home,” he tells Wooje, who is resolutely looking into his own lap, “so just stay quiet until we get into the bathroom.”

 

Wooje nods feebly, still not looking up.

 

A part of Minhyeong wishes Sanghyeok-hyung might catch them. He seemed to be the most unfazed by Wooje’s departure, and if anything would be able to figure out what exactly to do in this situation. Plus, Sanghyeok-hyung wouldn’t hesitate to reprimand Wooje, which, as much as they all have a soft spot for Wooje, getting drunk by himself in the middle of a cold night in Seoul after breaking the LCK community apart is one of the dumbest things he could’ve done.

 

On the other hand, Minhyeong is really hoping to avoid running into Hyeonjun. There’s a reason that the texts came to him and not Hyeonjun and Hyeonjun has been suspiciously and uncharacteristically focused on distracting himself with party games and TFT the entire week.

 

Just as he’s thinking of Hyeonjun, Minhyeong’s phone lights up with a few texts from him.

 

 

[03:50] Mun Hyeonjunnie: going for chicken with junsik-hyung and jaewan-hyung

 

[03:51] Mun Hyeonjunnie: wanna come?

 

[03:51] Mun Hyeonjunnie: or r u still dieting

 

[03:51] Lee Minhyeong: I’m good, you go ahead

 

 

 

At least Hyeonjun won’t be home for awhile. When he relays this to Wooje, he can see the stiffness release from his form as he relaxes just a little bit. Minhyeong elects not to comment on it.

 

When the car pulls up to the back door of their apartment complex, Minhyeong slides the hood of his hoodie over Wooje’s head and ushers him into the backdoor.

 

All the lights are off when he enters the dorm, which is a great sign, and they beeline straight towards the bathroom.

 

It’s not really the first time this has happened, Minhyeong still remembers the night they brought Wooje out drinking for the first time to celebrate entering adulthood. Even Hyeonjun and Minseok, both notoriously weak to alcohol, had wanted to accompany Wooje, going shot for shot with their youngest. That had been a chaotic night for himself and Sanghyeok-hyung, who pretended like he was annoyed at having to take care of them, but Minhyeong thought he looked even more quietly amused than usual taking blackmail photos of the other three passed out in various positions.

 

“Need to throw up?” he asks, though he knows Wooje is a relatively easy drunk. He shakes his head and sits on the closed toilet seat.

 

Minhyeong gently helps Wooje to wash up, fingers combing his hair affectionately to get his bangs out of his face as he does.

 

“Hyung,” Wooje mumbles, speaking out a coherent word for the first time that night, “can I stay with you tonight?”

 

Minhyeong is only slightly taken aback at the request. He’d originally planned for Wooje to take Minseok’s bed, but Wooje almost never explicitly asks for companionship or affection like this.

 

A part of him is bitter that he only gets to see this side of Wooje after he decided to leave them, but he squashes it down.

 

“Sure,” is all he says instead, and hands Wooje a bottle of water.

 

When they get ready for bed, Minhyeong lets Wooje crawl in first to curl against the wall while he turns off the light, and scoots in after him.

 

“Move over a little more,” he jabs at Wooje’s hip, “my ass is hanging off the bed.”

 

“Didn’t you promise to start losing weight after we got back from Europe?” comes to snarky answer, even as he does shuffle closer into the wall. Despite himself, Minhyeong feels a wave of relief that their bratty annoying Wooje is still very much here.

 

He jabs Wooje again, and again. “Are you calling me fat?”

 

Wooje lets out a few laughs and tries to squirm away from Minhyeong’s hands, and it’s nice. Not just being together again, but the knowledge that they didn’t lose everything between them.

 

When they settle down again, half laying on top of one another, Minhyeong says into the dark room, “I’m still mad at you,” because he is and Wooje should know, even if it makes him look a little childish.

 

“I know,” Wooje replies from where his cheek is smushed into Minhyeong’s side, and Minhyeong feels a spike in annoyance again.

 

“You idiot,” he squeezes Wooje’s arm, “this is where you’re supposed to apologise.”

 

Getting Wooje to apologise for anything has always been a fruitless battle, and that much hasn’t changed. He mumbles something that may have been apology into Minhyeong’s side again, but it’s mostly drowned out from the sound of the front door opening and Hyeonjun’s telltale stomping throughout the dorm. He’s home earlier than expected.

 

Minhyeong feels Wooje stiffen next to him as Hyeonjun’s footsteps get louder. There’s no telling what Hyeonjun’s reaction to their situation is going to be.

 

When the door swings open, Hyeonjun lets the light from the hallway flood in and there’s a couple of seconds of processing what’s before him before it clicks.

 

“Wooje?”

 

Minhyeong tries to decipher if Hyeonjun is about to freak out about the situation, but in the next second, Hyeonjun switches on the light and okay, that’s definitely a hurt expression.

 

Minhyeong just doesn’t know which one of them that look is directed to. Maybe its both of them.

 

Wooje shoots up from where he’s laying down then immediately groans and clutches his head, not yet fully free from the effects of soju. Minhyeong awkwardly gets up too, putting a hand on Wooje’s throbbing head as well in what he hopes comes across as a friendly gesture to Hyeonjun, who’s still standing frozen in the doorway.

 

“I… there’s chicken in the living room,” he stammers out, still mostly confused, “you guys can have it. There’s only olive oil though.”

 

It’s such a Hyeonjun thing to do, thoughtful to a fault, even though Minhyeong can see his face has twisted into something unreadable now, like there’s a million things going through his mind. Minhyeong turns to look at Wooje and is met with another complicated expression, because that’s the thing.

 

Hyeonjun always brings home takeaway when he goes out to eat at night, when it’s dessert, it’s oreo bingsu, when he’s at the snack cart, it’s spicy jeyuk-bokkeum kimbap, and when it’s chicken, Hyeonjun brings home snow cheese chicken. Sanghyeok-hyung and Minseok always call out the blatant favouritism, but Wooje’s response was always to snark back that they didn’t have to eat if they didn’t like it. More for him anyway.

 

Olive oil chicken was Minhyeong’s flavour (it makes him feel more healthy, okay).

 

“Hyeonjunnie,” Minhyeong sighs, “can you give us a second and wait for us in the living room?”

 

Minhyeong thinks maybe there’s a more tactful way to go about this than forcing Hyeonjun and Wooje to talk, which he’s been trying to learn from Sanghyeok-hyung, but these are his brothers. He should be able to be as blunt as he wants with them.

 

Hyeonjun looks torn for a second before he nods with a grunt and turns around to leave.

 

As soon as the door shuts behind him, Minhyeong can almost feel Wooje’s internal turmoil.

 

“I don’t know if I can do this,” he says shakily, “I’m not mentally prepared.”

 

Minhyeong doesn’t blame him, after all that happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing is this, Minhyeong always thought Hyeonjun and Wooje were bound to happen in time. They were Hyeonjun and Wooje before Minhyeong had even known either of them as just Hyeonjun or just Wooje.

 

When Wooje had joined the main roster, he’d never admit it if you questioned him, but anyone could see that he clung to an almost equally inexperienced Hyeonjun. Minhyeong found it endearing, especially as he watched both of them grow into adulthood and still find ways to orbit around one another at all times.

 

He’s barely surprised when Minseok, the gossip that he is, comes to his streaming room one night after they’re both done streaming and says with sparkling eyes that Wooje has a crush.

 

It clicks, watching Wooje constantly test the waters with Hyeonjun, seeing how much he can get away with just for his attention, which Hyeonjun always gives into plentifully.

 

As cute as it is to watch, the two of them get ridiculously obnoxious in-game. Not only does it feel like Wooje’s opinions in their game debriefs are now worth two-fold the way Hyeonjun agrees with every thing he says, the way his voice sweetens when he addresses Wooje in their comms make Minhyeong want to gag.

 

“Wooje, play safe okay? Their Wukong might be near top.” Wooje only responds with a distracted hum before he decidedly does not play safe and gets predictably ganked five seconds later. He still manages to trade one-for-one because he is Zeus.

 

Hyeonjun is the first one to shower him with praises too, “Nice, Wooje!”, and when Wooje drifts into unhappy silence, “You played that well, Wooje-ah, focus on the next play.”

 

When Wooje falls apart on a foreign stage in San Francisco and has to be ushered off-stage by Seongwoong-hyung, Minhyeong goes to his room to check up on him after he’s turned off his livestream to no response. He finds Wooje and Minseok with matching swollen faces when he visits Sanghyeok-hyung’s room later and sends a text to Hyeonjun just in case, because it felt like the right thing to do.

 

Hyeonjun is knocking at Sanghyeok-hyung’s door five minutes later and wraps his arms around Wooje the moment he lays eyes on him.

 

So, it’s only a matter of time.

 

It’s a little surprising for everyone involved when Hyeonjun returns to his hometown in the short mid-year break they have after getting back from MSI in Europe and comes back announcing proudly that he’s gotten himself a girlfriend. Even Sanghyeok-hyung shoots a glance quickly at Wooje before his expression is controlled back to its regular neutral state.

 

Wooje, bless him, takes it all in a stride and congratulates Hyeonjun primly with everyone else. Minhyeong is a little proud of him for keeping it together.

 

The year after that is a little weird. Sanghyeok-hyung’s health problems start getting worse shortly after, Seongwoong-hyung leaves the team, they lose and lose and lose and lose again. Then Sanghyeok-hyung comes back and well, the rest is history.

 

They lift the Worlds trophy together for the first time and when they announce Zeus as the FMVP, Hyeonjun lights up so much you’d think it was his own.

 

The day after, Hyeonjun returns home after re-signing his contract to spend time with his girlfriend. Minhyeong briefly feels terrible for the fact that he’d forgotten Hyeonjun even had one, but in his defence, Hyeonjun hasn’t brought her up at all since his initial announcement.

 

Minhyeong and Minseok tactfully invite Wooje out for a victory celebratory dinner and he tells them a little sombrely that he’d been planning to confess after they’d won, a promise he made to himself long ago. When they get back to the dorms, Minhyeong and Minseok sandwich Wooje between them and let him cry his heart out, “So that I can at least look normal when Hyeonjun comes home,” he jokes between hiccups.

 

When Hyeonjun walks in on them playing Overcooked! together in the living room a couple days earlier than promised, Minhyeong catches Minseok’s eyes from across the couch and Minseok just offers a half-shrug.

 

“I broke up with my girlfriend, I don’t think dating is for me right now,” Hyeonjun promptly picks up a controller and connects into the game for the next round and that’s that.

 

Minhyeong doesn’t think too much about it, after all, young gamers getting excited to have their first relationship and realising a few months later that its just unsustainable is a tale as old as time and Hyeonjun is no exception.

 

Wooje is the opposite. He seems subscribed to the thought that Hyeonjun must’ve realised dating girls wasn’t for him, and Minhyeong can’t really blame him.

 

If anything, Hyeonjun starts sticking closer to Wooje than ever, the two of them even more inseparable than ever before. Their comms, impossibly, become even more unbearable.

 

It’s a common sight by now, Zeus in a side-lane committing everything into the enemy solo-laner when two other enemies show up out of nowhere (Minseok had called them fifteen seconds ago) and in true Zeus-fashion, Wooje turns around and starts kiting them perfectly.

“Watch me, watch me,” He calls frantically as the rest of the team rotates towards a free baron, “can you follow up?”

 

“Sorry, I’m sorry, I can’t follow up for you,” Hyeonjun says as they rush down baron and then a few seconds later, “I’m right behind you, Wooje-ah,” as he leaves Minhyeong to finish off the rest so he can help Wooje. Minhyeong can only roll his eyes. Hyeonjun has gotten way too comfortable with having Gumayusi as his second smite.

 

They win again and among the festivities, and for their post-win dinner, T1 has reserved two tables of a restaurant, and even if they hadn’t, it’s late enough into the night that most of the restaurant was considerably empty anyway.

 

Still, Minhyeong follows Sanghyeok-hyung who sits down at one with some of the more important executives who’d joined them in Europe, effectively making it the “adult table”, which is pointed out by Hyeonjun as the others breeze past them to pile onto the other table.

 

Though there may be validity in that, Minhyeong thinks it’s just an excuse for Hyeonjun and Wooje to sit next to each other, though with the way they’re squeezed onto the bench, it looks more like they’re sitting on-top of each other. Hyeonjun has been reduced to just eating with one hand while his other arm is wrapped around Wooje in a convincingly friendly way, though that doesn’t really explain the way Wooje leans into him either.

 

No one mentions the empty chairs available just the next table over.

 

When they get back to the hotel, Wooje naturally follows Hyeonjun into his room and Minhyeong leaves them to it.

 

The next morning when he makes his way around the hotel buffet table during breakfast, he’s joined by a very ruffled looking Wooje.

 

He raises an eyebrow, “Did you have a good night?”

 

Wooje flushes, “Shut up, hyung.”

 

“Whatever, just as long as you guys stay safe. Remember to use cond-mpff” The rest of his sentence is cut off by an efficiently placed breakfast roll.

 

“We know what we’re doing,” Wooje’s face has started to resemble the fresh strawberries on the table, “you don’t have to worry about it.”

 

So he doesn’t.

 

Minhyeong is happy for them. The dancing around was getting kind of painful to watch, and to get together after winning back-to-back World championships has to be one of the best feelings ever.

 

Except.

 

“What the fuck?” Hyeonjun chokes on his orange juice.

 

They’re back in Korea and Minseok and Wooje have both gone home to their families, leaving Minhyeong and Hyeonjun the dorm to themselves while Sanghyeok-hyung goes to fulfil his solo schedules.

 

“What do you mean ‘what the fuck’?” Minhyeong furrows his brows at him, “Even if you don’t tell management, you should at least tell us!”

 

“I- We-“ Hyeojun wipes his mouth and says in a lower voice, “Wooje and I are not dating.”

 

“You’re not?”

 

No,” Hyeonjun looks confused now, and a little panicked,“why would you even think that?”

 

Minhyeong’s not sure if this is some kind of elaborate prank or Hyeonjun is actually just this stupid. He lowers his voice to match Hyeonjun’s, though they’re the only ones home, “Didn’t you… sleep together after Worlds?”

 

“We didn’t sleep together! Well, we did, but not like that!” Minhyeong winces when Hyeonjun starts raising his voice, “We didn’t… f-f- you know!”

 

This would probably be a really great opportunity to make fun of Hyeonjun if Minhyeong wasn’t too confused to take advantage of the situation.

 

He puts a hand on Hyeonjun’s shoulder, “This might sound stupid, but does Wooje know you’re not dating?”

 

Hyeonjun splutters, “Of course he… does?” and loses steam by the last word.

 

“I think maybe you should talk to him, Hyeonjun-ah,” Minhyeong says softly, squeezing his shoulder gently, “Maybe just make it clear that you don’t like him like that.”

 

“Of course I like him.” Hyeonjun retorts matter-of-factly. Minhyeong is kind of glad to have confirmation that his suspicions were right then and he’s about to ask when Hyeonjun does plan on making it official when Hyeonjun continues, “But it’s impossible anyway. We’re coworkers and teammates. Can you imagine the fallout that’ll happen when we break-up?”

 

“Why are you already talking about breaking up?” Minhyeong’s next line up sage advice is interrupted by Wooje storming in from the hallway, making both of them jump in their seats.

 

Hyeonjun looks stricken and stammers out, “How long have you been listening?”

 

“Long enough to hear that you’re too much of a coward to actually date me,” Minhyeong has never seen Wooje this angry before, voice raised and face contorted uglily.

 

A little more composed now, Hyeonjun sighs and clasps his hands together, a sign of his nerves if you were looking for it, “Wooje, you’re acting like a child now.” Even Minhyeong winces as he says it.

 

“So what? Do you think you’re the marker of wisdom in workplace relationships just because you’re a year older than me?” Wooje’s eyes are glistening with frustrated unshed tears now, which is usually the point where Hyeonjun crumbles, but today is full of surprises.

 

Hyeonjun’s hand on the table curls into a tight fist, knuckles white, “You can’t force me to be in a relationship with you! Did you even consider how difficult it is to be in a relationship? For the team? For the company? For your family?”

 

“And when were you planning to tell me all this? Or were you just going to keep leading me on so you never have to take responsibility for it?” Wooje scoffs when Hyeonjun doesn’t retort immediately, “Fine! If you want to keep fucking running away and pretending like I was the only one who wanted it, then I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

 

“Wooje, you can’t talk to your hyung like that,” But Wooje has already turned on his hell and stormed out by the time Minhyeong has finished his sentence.

 

The moment their front door slams closed, Hyeonjun slumps onto the table. Minhyeong slips an arm around him and pulls him into a hug.

 

“Hey,” He tries to say softly, “Hyeonjunnie, what are you so afraid of?”

 

There’s no immediate response from his jungler, but after awhile of burying his face into Minhyeong’s shoulder, he opens his mouth but only a hiccup comes out and oh. Minhyeong is suddenly aware of the warmth on his shoulder, hot tears seeping through the nylon of his t-shirt. He squeezes Hyeonjun a little closer.

 

In terms of crying, Hyeonjun collects himself after a few seconds, but Minhyeong stays wrapped around him for a long, long while after. Hyeonjun shifts his face to the side and rests his cheek on Minhyeong’s shoulder, facing away from him.

 

“I talked to the management hyungs about it. In London, after… you know,” Minhyeong hums and is glad Hyeonjun is facing away so he doesn’t catch the shocked expression flit across his face, “T-They told me it was a bad idea, that I should think of what my family would say.”

 

Minhyeong runs a hand up and down his back as he hiccups a few more times.

 

“Wooje… he has an older brother. I-I’m the only son my parents have,” It’s a tale as old as time and Minhyeong… his heart hurts for Hyeonjun, “I can like girls, I can like someone else. I liked Sohyeon enough.”

 

“Hyeonjun-ah,” Minhyeong tries for a gentle approach, “I can’t tell you what to decide for your own life, but making that decision yourself hurt Wooje a lot.”

 

He regrets it a little when Hyeonjun’s body starts trembling again from a fresh wave of tears, this time he seems inconsolable. Minhyeong hasn’t really had a lot of experience in comforting others before, but he continues, “You’re right, he can’t force you into a relationship, but it’s also unfair for you to make these decisions because you think it’s for his own good. He’s not a child anymore, you know.”

 

It takes a while, but Minhyeong eventually calms him down, “You’ve been together for years, Hyeonjunnie, you can talk it out,” He pulls away to look into his eyes, which are now bloodshot, “But maybe figure out what you want first, okay?” He pats Hyeonjun’s shoulders a few times, earning a weak smile back.

 

Of course, Hyeonjun never gets another chance to talk to Wooje after that. Not for lack of trying on Hyeonjun’s part.

 

It’s a little pitiful, when Minhyeong visits the office everyday and finds Hyeonjun already there, waiting. He’d be sitting unassumingly in their scrim room scrolling his phone and Minhyeong feels somewhat guilty whenever he walks in and Hyeonjun looks up with that hopeful look in his eyes.

 

Minhyeong is sitting on the couch with him when they both get the notification from Woongki-hyung.

 

it’s disbelief at first, and then Minhyeong can’t really recall what happened afterwards. Somehow the two of them wander back to the dorm and split off into their own rooms, lost in their own thoughts. Wooje had mentioned it, of course, in one of the long talks the two of them shared while overseas, that maybe he wanted to challenge himself outside of T1 outside of the ever-present shadow of Faker, but Minhyeong had naively believed that day wasn’t due just yet.

 

They don’t really talk about it, he and Hyeonjun. The off-season has made it easy to ignore and pretend like both Minseok and Wooje are just off at home and all the older T1 hyungs have been trying to occupy their time with a bunch of variety games. It’s really easy to pretend like the silence in their group chat is because they’re both removed from society in the military rather than because they all received a text from management shortly after the news to “control the situation”.

 

He tries not to think about Minseok living unaware and finding out on his own in a few days or the fact that Wooje will be enlisting alone. The latter is why Minhyeong only removes the contact information from his phone, unable to bring himself to block and delete their chat logs.

 

It’s fine really. He hasn’t heard from Wooje in weeks and their group chat is deathly silent now, stuck on the laughing stickers they’d all sent in reply to Minseok’s selfie of his new haircut, but it’s fine.

 

Hyeonjun-hyung arrives to settle into their office and dorms and despite it all, it’s really nice to see him again.

 

There’s a little awkwardness when Minhyeong takes him into the scrim room where the walls are plastered with their photographs, but Hyeonjun-hyung takes it all in a stride, unfazed.

 

Even Sanghyeok-hyung, who Minhyeong suspects knew about the news long before it had even been finalised, looks a little sadder the few times Minhyeong was able to run into him at the office or the dorm, but he takes to Hyeonjun-hyung easily.

 

Hyeonjun… every time Minhyeong sees him now, it feels like he’s filling up his time and energy to distract himself and Minhyeong can’t blame him. He’s still a little awkward with Hyeonjun-hyung, but still makes an effort to reach out, which Hyeonjun-hyung has mentioned that he appreciates. Minhyeong is a little proud of him - they’ve always been close, but the past few weeks have really strengthened the bond between him and Hyeonjun.

 

Still, no matter how much they tried to move on as quickly as possible, it’s probably - no, definitely - too early for Minhyeong to be bringing Wooje home and tucking him into bed like he used to.

 

 

 

Wooje is in front of the mirror trying to look a little more presentable to no avail, he looks a mess. His swollen eyes and the redness of his cheeks are stark against his normally pale skin.

 

Maybe it’s the finality of the situation, the fact that despite having seen this exact scene of Wooje hijacking his mirror countless times, this will probably be the last time, but Minhyeong feels himself getting a little choked up at the sight. It’s probably going to take months to unlearn the habitual affection that rises up in him whenever Wooje looks like this, still so young and uncertain, a reflection of how he was when they’d first met when he was still a child.

 

He’s not a child anymore, Minhyeong knows this. He gets up and collects a trembling Wooje into his arms. “Wooje-ah, I love you.” It’s not something they say to each other, not between the two of them and not between any of the other members either, but he feels like it’s the right thing to say to Wooje right now.

 

He’s right. Wooje hugs back just as tightly and mumbles into his shoulder, “I love you too.” It’s a little awkward and a little strange coming from him, but Minhyeong holds it to his heart anyway.

 

He lets go of Wooje to hold onto his arm, “Let’s go, Hyeonjunnie’s probably waiting outside for us.”

 

Wooje looks uncertain, but follows him out anyway.

 

The promised takeaway chicken is on the table, bright yellow box peeking out through the transparent bag. Hyeonjun is sitting on the couch leaning forward and his leg is shaking a thousand miles a minute. His head snaps up when they enter the living room, but he’s completely focused on Wooje, like he still can’t believe his eyes. Wooje squirms under his stare and tries to shuffle behind Minhyeong, but Minhyeong doesn’t let him hide.

 

Hyeonjun gets up a little warily, “Wooje,” he walks over slowly, like he’s afraid of Wooje disappearing again.

 

When Wooje steps out from behind Minhyeong, Hyeonjun sweeps him into his arms, gripping the back of his shirt tightly. There’s a split second where Wooje stands there stiff as a board, stunned, but all of a sudden, he lets out a wail and throws his arms around Hyeonjun’s shoulders. They’re standing wrapped around each other for a long time and Minhyeong considers making himself sparse, but Hyeonjun’s hand shoots out to grip his arm.

 

“Get the fuck over here, dumbass,” And Minhyeong’s a little too happy to be dragged in, spreading his arms out wide to envelope both of them.

 

There’s a click behind them when Sanghyeok-hyung’s door swings open and he steps out into the hallway blearily. If he’s shocked at what he sees, it definitely doesn’t show, but he walks towards the group and puts his arms around them anyway.

 

“What are you doing here?” He pinches Wooje’s cheeks with a laugh, stretching out his already puffy face, “And why do you look so ugly?”

 

Wooje whines back at him, “Ah, hyung,” but when he opens his eyes and looks directly at Sanghyeok-hyung, it just makes him cry even harder, to Sanghyeok-hyung’s delight.

 

Sanghyeok-hyung squeezes them for another brief second, “I just wanted to see what you guys were making so much noise about, but this can wait until tomorrow can it not?” and he lets go to incline his head towards the window, “I think the sun is about to rise.”

 

There’s a metaphor somewhere there that Minhyeong would flesh out if he wasn’t five minutes from falling asleep on his feet, but for now, he lets Sanghyeok-hyung usher them into their rooms and doesn’t mention the fact that Wooje naturally follows Hyeonjun into his room without a word. He doesn’t have enough energy for anything other than walking to his room and falling face-first onto his bed and letting sleep take over.

 

Sanghyeok-hyung is right, there’s always tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

When he wakes up the next morning, Sanghyeok-hyung is up as per usual, sitting at their dining table with a book in hand, the other two predictably nowhere in sight.

 

He pulls out a chair from across him, “I’m sorry for bringing Wooje back last night without informing you,” he starts warily, and because deep inside Minhyeong thinks Sanghyeok-hyung should know even if he has to be a snitch, he adds, “Wooje got super drunk.”

 

Sanghyeok-hyung sighs, which makes Minhyeong deflate a little.

 

“You did the right thing by bringing him somewhere safe, Minhyeong-ah,” he stares at Minhyeong for a few seconds before he closes his eyes, “I just wish you guys would stop trying to do everything yourselves.” His voice cracks a little at the end of his sentence and he furrows his eyebrows like he’s trying to stop himself from losing his composure, “Wooje was the same too.”

 

It’s unexpectedly vulnerable from Sanghyeok-hyung and Minhyeong’s jaw falls open a little as his early-morning brain tries to process it all.

 

“I know I’m not the best person to go to when it comes to… dealing with emotions,” He smiles and his eyelids flutter open to reveal clear eyes, “But hyung is always in your corner, you know.”

 

Minhyeong really doesn’t want to cry, he’s pretty proud that he’s gone through all this debacle with minimal waterworks, but he can’t help the knot in his throat.

 

“We know, hyung.” His voice comes out a little watery, “Thanks,” he says curtly, to avoid anymore spillage of his emotions. Sanghyeok-hyung smiles in a way that means he understood everything unsaid anyway.

 

“Now go and wake the other two up.”

 

Minhyeong grunts as he gets up, mostly to clear his throat of any lingering knots, and walks over to knock on Hyeonjun’s door.

 

There’s no answer, so he chances opening the door softly to peek inside.

 

Just as he was in Minhyeong’s room, Wooje is curled into the wall, big body compacted into fetal position. Hyeonjun has all of his spindly limbs wrapped around him, caging him in like he’s protecting Wooje from the world. It’s a little strange because Wooje has grown so much since their academy days and Hyeonjun had stopped working out in the lead-up to their Worlds run, quickly losing a lot of his muscle mass. Still, Minhyeong thinks they fit together beautifully.

 

He walks over carefully and considers waking them up gently, but they’ve already overdone the sappiness for a lifetime in the past day, so he elects instead to lob a pillow into Hyeonjun’s face and take advantage of the first few seconds of confusion to flop on top of both of their bodies.

 

He ignores their grunts of protest and moves to prod at them both to get them up.

 

When the three of them stumble back into the kitchen, not without a fair bit of grumbling from all parties, Sanghyeok-hyung looks up again, this time with a stern furrow in his brow.

 

Minhyeong takes the seat next to him this time, sitting across an uncomfortable Hyeonjun and a sheepish Wooje.

 

“Anything you want to say for yourself?” Sanghyeok-hyung’s voice is stoic, nothing like the warm way he’s greeted Wooje last night.

 

“I… Hyung, I shouldn’t have done that,” To his credit, this is probably the most sincere Minhyeong has ever seen Wooje act, “I’m sorry to have troubled you.” he trails off again, apologies foreign on his tongue.

 

Sanghyeok-hyung levels him with a withering look, but it loses its heat when Wooje looks down into his lap to avoid his gaze. “Wooje,” He sighs, “Leaving… wanting to leave… that’s completely up to you, you made your choice, but you can’t have it both ways.You wanted us to respect you as an adult but go about like a teenager getting drunk out in public.” Wooje winces at his words but remains silent.

 

Hyeonjun’s hand wraps around his on the table, thumb rubbing over his knuckles soothingly, “Hyung, no one saw and he called Minhyeongie for help.”

 

“That’s not the point!” Sanghyeok-hyung lashes out, angrier than Minhyeong has ever seen him outside of his heated game discussions with Minseok. “Wooje, you’re on your own now. You wanted to leave, and that’s fine, but you have to be able to bear the consequences of your own actions too. How many more times are you going to call Minhyeong to come pick you up? How many times do you need Hyeonjun to come defend you? There’s a limit to what we can do now.” He plucks his glasses off his face and puts them on the table primly before rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “I… Hyung can’t protect you anymore.” When he pulls his hands away, the back of his knuckles are wet.

 

Hyeonjun turns to Wooje, “He’s right, Wooje, what were you even thinking?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Wooje sounds distraught now, gnawing nervously at his bottom lip, “I wasn’t thinking. I saw… I saw the stream Doran-nim did and got upset.”

 

He looks so small now, curling in on himself.

 

Sanghyeok-hyung softens completely now, getting up from his seat and pulling Wooje into his arms briefly, “If you want to come here next time, come through the front door. And let us know.” He lets go and looks at Wooje’s face again for another second, smoothing down some of the puffy tufts of hair on top of his head before picking his things off the table and going to his first schedule of the day.

 

It’s so typical of Sanghyeok-hyung to say exactly what needs to be said and leave immediately after, the three of them watch him leave without a word.

 

Hyeonjun turns to look at Wooje the moment the door clicks shut and says, “Why were you so upset from Hyeonjun-ssi’s stream?” His eyebrows are raised teasingly, but his tone is still gentle.

 

Wooje gives him a flat stare “I saw you visiting him in his stream room and got jealous, hyung, is that what you wanted to hear?”

 

Hyeonjun looks so pleased at the answer, eyes squinting happily. Minhyeong wants to hit him just to wipe that dopey look off his face, but it’s replaced by a serious look quickly anyway.

 

“Wooje… That day we fought… Minhyeong talked some sense into me and I realised how unfair I’ve been to you, when I was the one that was insecure.” He licks his lips the way he always does when he’s nervous “So I talked to my sister, about this… us,” he lets out a shaky laugh, “And she said she thought we were already dating and I was just too shy to tell her. So yeah, you have nothing to be jealous about, you big baby.”

 

“You were right though,” Wooje sighs, and Minhyeong hates a little bit that they’re looking at each other so warmly, almost certainly forgetting he’s still there. “I was too hasty and immature, and now we can’t even-” he interrupts himself with a groan, “we can’t even be together anymore!”

 

“Who said we couldn’t?” Hyeonjun slings an arm onto the back of Wooje’s chair, leaning into his space. When Wooje’s face essentially bursts into flames in reply, Minhyeong takes it as his cue to leave before he witnesses something really scarring.

 

The two of them jump a little when his chair scraped the floor as he stands up, but they don’t pull away. Minhyeong walks over to give them both a half-hug each and leaves them with a gleeful “Fighting!” and goes back to his room so he doesn’t have to witness anymore of that.

 

 

 

 

It still feels a little empty whenever Minhyeong walks into the T1 Cafe and there are blank spaces where Wooje’s jersey and photos used to be. It’s still awkward too, when they have to do group schedules without Wooje’s brazen comments and Minseok’s bubbly chaos, especially when all the show producers seem to want to ask endless questions about their miracle second run. The off-season is stark and cold compared to the year before.

 

But Minhyeong knows that as soon as they’re done with their schedules, Hyeonjun’s going to order dinner to their apartment to arrive just on time so that Wooje would be able to eat as soon as he gets there. Minhyeong will eat dinner with them, grumbling about suffering through the cheesiness of their PDA, but he’s joking (mostly).

 

Nothing’s really changed between Hyeonjun and Wooje, which is a testament to their painfully obvious “talking stage”, but when they quietly retreat to Hyeonjun’s room after dinner, Minhyeong leaves them be.

 

And even though he originally whined about it, Hyeonjun fills the role of maknae surprisingly well. He’s annoying and bratty, further amplified when Wooje finally enlists. Hyeonjun is a downright menace after that, clinging to Minhyeong and whining unabashedly about how he much he misses Wooje.

 

It’s fine though, Minhyeong can handle three weeks of his best friend being the most annoying person on earth because he gets to see Hyeonjun glued to his phone for the full hour Wooje is able to communicate with them from inside his base, grinning at every message that comes through. He gets to see the way Hyeonjun’s inhibitions fall away both with his relationship and within himself, like loving Wooje the way he was made to has healed him.

 

Minhyeong is glad too, that they’re able to be there for Wooje the way they were for Minseok. The training is brutal and it hurts to think of the alternative of Wooje having nobody to talk to in his one hour of free communication. Instead, Minhyeong gets to see their group chat light up excitedly when Wooje sees the screenshots of Hyeonjun locking in Dino-Gnar in their show match. So yeah, it’s an arrangement that Minhyeong is very fine with.

 

 

 

 

“So when are you going to confess to Minseok?” Hyeonjun asks after he’s done sending sappy messages to Wooje for the week.

 

Minhyeong sputters, “What? We’re not a thing,” he laughs nervously, “You’re not a relationship expert now just because you and Wooje pined until you cried over each other.”

 

Hyeonjun scrunches his face at him, “At least it worked and we got somewhere. You’re still pining and he’s bald now so he could use some self-confidence.”

 

“What has him being bald got to do with it? And he looks fine with short hair!”

 

Hyeonjun fixes him with a pitying look that Minhyeong wants to throw something at, “So you admit you’re pining.” There’s a glint in his eye now, no doubt excited at the thought of new drama in the group now that his chapter is closed.

 

“Shut the fuck up.”

 

Notes:

i feel like hyeonjun being a known crybaby isn't mentioned enough - that boy is soft.

 

idk if anyone would be interested but i made a bluesky awhile ago and i want to be more active on there if anyone wants to follow!
@godthunder.bsky.social

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