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“Hey, sweetheart, have you seen my—,” Mingi stopped his sentence short as he noticed Jongho was not alone in the living room as he’d assumed.
Instead of finding his secret boyfriend curled up on the couch by himself, as he had expected because they were on break and most of the members, including Jongho’s roommates, had gone home for the week. He found Jongho clutching a cup of coffee looking at him with wide eyed fear on one end of the couch and Wooyoung on the other end looking like Christmas had just come a week early. As Wooyoung’s eyes obviously skimmed over Mingi’s body, he became horribly aware of the fact that he was wearing nothing but a pair of low slung grey sweatpants. Nothing was on display that Wooyoung or any of the members hadn’t seen before but the implication of the situation had a shock of embarrassment running through him.
“Hey, Mingi,” Wooyoung drawled with a sly grin. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Mingi sputtered for a moment. “Wooyoung. I thought you were home for another day.”
Wooyoung lounged back against the couch. “I got bored. Decided to come back a day early. Which our lovely maknae would have known if he checked his phone last night but I can see he was— busy.”
“Don’t call me that,” Jongho muttered, as though that was the real issue here and not that Wooyoung definitely could not be trusted to keep this a secret at all.
“Oh but you are. You’re our dear sweet little maknae who, apparently, is being defiled by our big bad main rapper,” Wooyoung cooed in a syrupy sweet voice.
Jongho wrinkled his nose seemingly without thinking at the same time Mingi felt his cheeks grow warm. Mingi hadn’t thought it was possible for Wooyoung to look more pleased with the information he had stumbled upon but somehow the light in his eyes got brighter as he watched their reactions to the implication of his statement.
“Oh ho ho!” Wooyoung brought his hands together in front of his lips. “So it’s the other way around now is it! Good for you, Jongho!” He threw a wink at Mingi. “And you too!”
Jongho groaned, on hand pinching the bridge of his nose. “I assume asking you to be discreet would be useless?”
“You assume correctly.” Wooyoung drummed his finger tips against each other. “This is going in the group chat as soon as I can craft a text with the maximum impact.”
“Wooyoung, please,” Mingi begged. “We’re both adults. There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing.”
“Oh sure, nothing wrong. Fuck whatever concenting adults you want.” Wooyoung waved a hand. “The real gossip here is you both decided to hide this from your best friends and sneak around behind our backs.”
“We weren’t sneaking,” Jongho protested. “It’s just not a big deal.”
“I’d believe you if he hadn’t just called you ‘sweetheart’,” Wooyoung said. “But he did, so this is clearly more than just ‘we needed to let off steam between comebacks’ sort of thing. There are emotions involved.”
“What’s involved is between Mingi and I,” Jongho shot back. “We’re not disrupting the group with our relationship. Isn’t that all that matters? Why does everyone have to know? Why can’t we just have something for ourselves?”
Jongho’s clear distress spurred Mingi to finally leave the spot he’d been rooted to since seeing Wooyoung. He rushed across the living room and sat down on the couch with his back to Wooyoung. Carefully, he pried the coffee from Jongho’s deathgrip and put it on the coffee table before gathering Jongho into his arms. In a testament to how out of sorts this sudden situation had left him, Jongho went willingly, hands balling up against Mingi’s collarbones as he buried his face in his neck.
“I just wanted you for myself,” Jongho whispered in a choked voice.
Mingi’s heart clenched at the words. It was a sentiment they had expressed to each other over the years, it wasn’t new, but hearing it still made Mingi’s heart skip a beat.
“I’m always yours, sweetheart,” Mingi whispered back, tightening his grip on Jongho. “I’m not going anywhere. No one can take me from you.”
“I just wanted you for myself,” Jongho repeated in a desperate whisper against the curve of Mingi’s neck.
“I know, I know,” Mingi mumbled back, one hand running over Jongho’s back. “Doesn’t matter what anyone else says, I’m yours.”
“This isn’t new,” Wooyoung asked hesitantly from behind him, all mischief gone from his voice now. “Is it?”
Jongho just pressed himself impossibly closer to Mingi. There wasn’t anger in Wooyoung’s voice. In fact there wasn’t much emotion at all. It kind of sounded like he was voicing a conclusion he had just come to.
“It’s not, no,” Mingi answered Wooyoung without turning around.
“How long?” Wooyoung asked.
It was a natural question and there was just genuine curiosity in Wooyoung’s voice. Still, Mingi hesitated. They’d spent so long not saying anything, it almost felt wrong to put voice to everything to someone other than Jongho.
“Can I?” Mingi asked Jongho in a low voice.
The answer he got was a shrug. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me if it matters to you,” Mingi whispered back.
“It’s fine. Just tell him.” Jongho mumbled back unenthusiastically.
Mingi sighed and pressed a kiss to Jongho’s hair. This was not how he had ever imagined telling someone about the love he shared with Jongho. This was not how either of them had ever wanted to do this. But it was the situation they found themselves in. There was no changing that.
“Three years in a couple of months,” Mingi said, just loud enough so that Wooyoung knew he was answering his question.
“You can keep something like this quiet for that long?” Wooyoung asked incredulously.
“It was important,” Mingi answered honestly. “At first we weren’t sure how long it would last. So we kept it to ourselves. Ya know, in case things ended quickly. It would have been easier for the group if no one else knew and we could just fade back into being friends. But then it became a habit as time passed.”
“So much of our lives is public knowledge, open for debate, or otherwise picked apart,” Jongho said, just loud enough to be heard outside of the bubble of Mingi’s arms. “We liked that our relationship didn’t have to be a part of that. That we didn’t have to listen to anyone else’s opinion, good or bad.”
There was a beat where no one said anything. Thoughts raced through Mingi’s head so fast he could barely complete one before the next had begun. How would Wooyoung react? How would the group react? Would Jongho be okay with everyone knowing? Would Mingi be okay with it?
“I don’t have to say anything if you really want,” Wooyoung told them sincerely.
Jongho sighed and sat up, pushing Mingi to twist so he was no longer blocking Wooyoung from his line of sight as he went. His eyes were a little wet on the edges but there were no tear tracks. He gave Mingi a wobbly smile before he turned to Wooyoung.
“It’s not fair to ask you to keep our secret.”
“I would though.” Wooyoung looked at both of them with a seriousness he didn’t usually display. “I would keep this secret gladly, if that’s what would make both of you happy.”
Jongho hesitated, eyes flicking between Mingi and Wooyoung. It would be so easy to take Wooyoung’s offer, to trust him. The option was there, it was being held out to them on a silver platter.
Easy but not fair.
“Maybe it’s time, Jongho,” Mingi said softly as he caught a hold of Jongho’s hand. “We’ve talked about telling the members before. Maybe this is our opportunity.”
Jongho squeezed Mingi’s hand with a sigh. “Maybe.”
“We don’t have to, sweetheart, not if you don’t want to,” Mingi told him sincerely. “But we can’t hide forever.”
“Not hiding,” Jongho protested. “I’ve never been hiding you, Mingi.”
Mingi reached out and cupped Jongho’s cheek. “I know, sweetheart, I know. Still, maybe it’s time to let the others know about us. About how proud I am to call you mine.”
“I’m proud to call you mine too.” Jongho leaned into Mingi’s touch a little. “You’re right, it’s time.”
“They won’t judge you,” Wooyoung told them sincerely. “They’re gonna be so stupidly happy when you tell them.”
Mild panic crossed Jongho’s face. Letting the others know was one thing, telling them themselves seemed like a task too big to tackle right now. Mingi squeezed Jongho’s hand reassuringly before he turned back to Wooyoung.
“Actually, would you do the honors for us, Wooyoung?” Mingi asked.
The tension immediately seeped out of Jongho’s posture. He squeezed Mingi’s hand back and gave him a grateful smile.
“Oh!” Wooyoung looked startled but pleased. “Of course! I’d be glad too!”
***
8 Makes One Team, Bitches!!
Wooyoung
Guess who’s been dating for 2+ years?
Seonghwa
Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung?
Wooyoung
I said 2 years, hyung!
They’ve been together for literally forever
Yeosang
I swear to god if you say Lee Minho and Han Jisung I will kick you
That is not news
Wooyoung
Right gen, wrong group
Yunho
Hwang Yeji and Shin Ryujin?”
Wooyoung
Nope!
The answer is right under your nose.
Hongjoong
Just tell us, Wooyoung
Wooyoung
Our very own, Mingi and Jongho
San
[shocked emoji]
Hongjoong
Lying isn’t becoming, Wooyoung
Seongwha
^^^
Wooyoung
Im not!!!
I came back a day early and I caught Mingi, shirtless I may add, leaving Jongho’s bedroom!!
He called Jongho sweetheart!!!!
Sweetheart!!!!!!
Yunho
Evidence is circumstantial
Could just have been working out
Wooyoung
At 9 am!?
In Jongho’s bedroom!?
And you’re purposely ignoring the sweetheart evidence!!
Yeosang
@Mingi, you said you were staying with a friend this week
Mingi
I was
technically
Jongho is a friend
San
He’s got you there, Sang
Wooyoung
Wait! Mingi!
Get back here and tell them I’m not a liar!
Jongho
He’s telling the truth, hyungs
Mingi and I have been dating since March of 2023
A flood of messages filled the chat as the rest of their members started spam sending questions, congratulations, emojis, and gifs all at once. Once he’d determined the general response to be a mix of surprise and congratulations, Mingi tossed his phone to the side.
“Come here, sweetheart,” Mingi coaxed as he slipped Jongho’s phone from his loose grip.
“We should answer them,” Jongho protested weakly as Mingi pulled him to lay on the bed with him.
“Later,” Mingi told him gently. “That’s the beauty of texting. We can reply whenever it’s convenient for us. Right now, though, I just want to hold you.”
“Fine,” Jongho grumbled with an adorable pout as he snuggled closer to Mingi.
Mingi planted a kiss on the top of Jongho’s head. “It’s not going to change anything. I still love you as much today as I did yesterday. There’s nothing they can say or do that will change that.”
“I know. I love you too.” Jongho sighed. “I just don’t want them to fuss. You know how they get. It’s too much sometimes.”
“It’s just how they show they care,” Mingi told him softly.
“It feels like smothering, sometimes,” Jongho mumbled.
“It can be a lot, yeah,” Mingi agreed. “But now we have Wooyoung to tell them to fuck off.”
Jongho giggled. “Somehow, that actually makes me feel better.”
“He’s a good friend,” Mingi said. “His heart is always in the right place.”
“It is,” Jongho agreed. There was a beat, and then in a small voice, Jongho said, “They’re gonna be insufferable tomorrow aren’t they?”
“Probably,” Mingi agreed. “But they’ll get over it quickly and we don’t have to listen to anything they say.”
Jongho clung tighter to Mingi. “Promise?”
“Always, sweetheart,” Mingi promised gently.