Work Text:
Minghao couldn't focus.
The boys of Seventeen were in the practice room. Minghao, as well as Soonyoung and the rest of the performance team, were meant to be teaching new choreography to the group, but the Chinese boy just couldn't get it right.
He'd say it wasn't his fault. That he was only repeatedly messing up because the beat sounded like ringing in his ears and the lyrics seemed to make no sense. His movements were sloppy and uninspired, but he couldn't do shit about it.
To his left Soonyoung let out a frustrated sigh.
"Ok everyone, 5-minute break. Minghao!" He looked at the younger boy pointedly. "Sort it out."
Minghao quickly walked to one of the floors to ceiling mirrors and collapsed, back pressed against the mirror. He buried his head in his knees trying to even out his rapid breaths, Soonyoung was right he needed to sort it out. Just because he could feel his heart beat in his neck and he wanted to claw his own god damn ears off didn't mean the rest of the group had to suffer.
He was tugging at the skin on the back of his hand, pinching hard enough to draw small amounts of blood. The constant chatter and buzz of the room really weren't helping. He wished he could just yell at them all; "either speak Chinese or shut up, because Korean is really doing my head in right now!" He brought his hand to his mouth now and used to other to cover one ear, trying to drown out the noise.
Across the room, Jun was worriedly eyeing his boyfriends shaking figure. The other Chinese boy had been acting off for nearly a week now but Jun never seemed to have the time to talk to him, but seeing him get this bad he knew he should probably do something.
"Hey hyung," He leaned into Seungcheol who was currently having a conversation with Jeonghan. "Could you get everyone out of the room? I think Minghao and I need a moment."
The leader nodded understandingly and slowly rounded everyone up to lead out of the room.
"You have 10 minutes, we're going to the corner store." He whispered before closing the door to the room.
Jun made his way over to Minghao, who hadn't seemed to notice the atmosphere change in the room. Sliding down next to him he saw the younger was picking at his hand, something he did when he was anxious or stressed.
"Hey, Hao Hao." He said softly, as not to startle the smaller boy. He was speaking in mandarin because he knew it made the other relax a little.
When Minghao finally looked up Jun took hold of his abused hand quickly replacing it with his own, letting his boyfriend scratch his palm and play with his long fingers. It was much better than having him injure himself.
"Wanna tell me what's on your mind?" Jun's tone resembled one he'd use on a 5-year-old who just fell off their bike, but he thought it was appropriate as the boy in front of him looked so small and fragile in this moment.
Minghao took a few deep breaths, probably collecting his thoughts.
"I-I It's just-" He started. "It's just- I fucking hate Korea!" Minghao's sentence was muffled by a massive sob wracking through his body. He curled back in on himself, still clutching Jun's hand close to his chest.
So that's what it is, Jun thought finally.
Homesickness.
Seventeen had only had to deal with member's missing home a hand full of times. Sometimes they could hear Seungkwan crying to his mum over the phone, or there was the one time Joshua made them watch Mean Girls 3 times in a row because it reminded him of America.
But Minghao, Minghao rarely got homesick. Rarely talked about his life in China at all actually.
Jun couldn't understand where the sudden outburst came from, Minghao seemed quite content with his life in Korea. He could hold full conversations in Korean and read all his books in Hangul. Every member absolutely adored him, and Jun couldn't even think that he'd fallen out with anyone recently.
And of course, Minghao could suddenly read his mind because the next moment he heard his low, broken voice;
"M-my mum called the other week, she t-told me that our family dog died."
"Oh." Jun managed. That's it?
"It-It um, it made me realize how much I'm missing out on over there! I didn't get to say goodbye to that dog! I-I didn't get to experience it's last few years of life! They're all moving on without me Jun!" The confession brought a whole new wave of tears to the boy's eye, but this time Jun pulled him into a hug, letting the tears wet his shoulder.
"Hey shh shh, it's gonna be ok Hao Hao." He rubbed comforting circles in the boys back as he sniffled. "Sure, you may be missing a couple things in China but you're having fun over here, aren't you? You're making your family proud, I know that."
The voice that came out sounded frustrated and slightly muffled by Jun's cotton t-shirt;
"I guess but- it's not like I'm getting anywhere with my Korean! Sometimes I feel like I'm just floating around in a conversation because half of it goes right over my head! You're so good Junhui! You picked up Korean so fast, but the other day I hung up on the delivery woman because I forgot the Korean word for two! You must be so sick of translating slang to me because I'm too dumb to pick it up!" Minghao punctured his sentence with a hic-up and buried his face impossibly deeper into Jun's skin.
Jun was sure if you could feel hearts break, he just felt his. Why had he never thought to ask if Minghao had trouble with the language adjust? He'd just assumed he'd taken it like himself. He didn't like the thought that just holding up a conversation with the other members was hurting his sweet boyfriend.
"Minghao, you are not dumb and I am nowhere near sick of you. I think you're really good at Korean and a very fast learner! Just the other week you made everyone laugh by learning how to call Mingyu incompetent!" He joked lightly, managing to entice a small laugh out of the curly haired boy, and Jun smiled proudly.
"But listen, you never have to speak Korean if you don't want to. If you ever feel lost or drained just tell me and you'll have your very own Chinese to Korean translator on hand, ok?"
The grip on Jun's hand had loosened significantly by now and his partner's shaking had stopped completely. Only Minghao's shallow breaths filled the room, and the older boy was much more content with that then the sound of crying.
Slowly Minghao removed himself from Jun, looking into his boyfriend's eyes.
"T-Thank you Junhui." He really was thankful. Jun didn't need to sit with him, didn't need to listen to him cry, didn't even need to love him. But he did, and he somehow knew how to make everything feel in control again.
Thank you Junhui.
"That's ok, anything for my Hao Hao. Now," Minghao felt his boyfriend's hands grasp his and pull him to his feet. "We're going back to the dorm early where we are going to order dumplings, my treat"
-
They bumped into the other members outside the studio, asking permission from Seungcheol to go home early. He swiftly granted it to them, despite Soonyoung's protests about losing two of his choreographers.
For the short walk home they held hands, Jun caressing Minghao's slightly abused flesh and making him feel grounded. While Minghao sang Jun an old C-pop song he used to dance to.
When they unlocked the dorm Minghao sat on the couch, insisting he'd put on a movie while Jun ordered the dumplings.
"They speak Mandarin at this place, do you wanna order it?" Jun offered, which made Minghao smile and take the phone, already dialing the number.
"...Yes, that's TWO orders of dumplings. Thank you."
-
The two boys were cuddled on the couch, Jun laying against the back with his smaller boyfriend pressed tightly against him. Two orders of dumplings finished on the table and the credits to a low-budget Kung Fu movie playing on the tv.
"Maybe missing things back in China isn't so bad." Minghao murmured sleepily into his boyfriend's chest. "It means I don't have a to miss a thing about you."
Jun pet the others curly hair warmly.
"Wǒ ài nǐ Minghao"
And to Minghao that felt so much better then salanghae.