Minhyun isn’t the type of guy who hates skinship.

He has been everyone’s pillar of support for the past few years both mentally and physically, meaning that he would give moral boost and also lend a shoulder to whoever in need. He has been everyone’s favorite human doll that would never reject their skinship advances and gives one of the best hugs anyone can get. This doesn’t help that Seonho clings to him the most in their circle of friend and sometimes Minki can come along and latch to him all day long, resulting in everyone to follow suit. He never rejects their approach, he somehow likes it.

Really, Minhyun doesn’t mind.

Well of course, he is crowned the dad of the group and each of his friends is now his sons, he has no rights to object their display of affection hence accepting it with open arms.

But here’s the thing. He doesn’t initiate any of it, the touching and squishing, in any means. He does not, in any way, try to cuddle or hug anyone out of the blue. At least, not as the person who initiates it first. He would return hugs, ruffle the younger kids’ hair, cuddle during cold season and what nots but he will certainly never try to do it first to another person. He’s just not the type to do it. Some people deem that he’s too shy to make the first move but actually, Minhyun’s just really lazy and think it’s quite unnecessary to give body heat to another being.

If Daehwi comes running to him with full force, arms flailing in the air and shrieking Minhyun to readily catch him, he will. They’ll hug and that’s it. And that’s only because Daehwi initiated it. And Minhyun’s only returning the favor. He will certainly not ask for a hug.

And then, there’s this problem.

The Clingy Minhyun problem.

After all the fiasco that happened this morning in the cafeteria, the boys had ushered Minhyun out of the campus and dropped him back to the apartment he shares with Seongwoo and Daniel. It would really be a funny view to see a bunch of boys screaming and fussing around the school yard from others’ point of view.

Guanlin and Seongwoon skipped their afternoon classes just to see what’s going on because, seriously, the only few who always causes problem are Seonho and Hyunbin. But now that the person involved is the least expected among them, it is currently the main and most important issue. Minhyun never causes trouble.

“So now what?” Seongwoo asks with hands crossed below his chest, eyes boring holes to the male sitting at the edge of the bed.

The rest of them copies Seongwoo as they make a circle surrounding the object of discussion, squinting their eyes and ransacking their brains for an answer. Yeah, what should they do now?

Daniel shrugs. “He looks quite normal for now. At least he’s not doing anything weird. He even managed to let go of Dongho hyung’s hand.” The male recalls the moment it took more than seven grown males to pry Minhyun’s grip on their friend’s limbs outside the campus gates.

Just seconds after the words slip off the boy’s lips, Minhyun suddenly stands right on his feet, eyes darting across his pristine white room as if he’s looking for something and begins his journey towards the study desk. Everyone makes way and finally huddle at a corner to inspect from afar.

“Don’t you think he has a screw loose? Why does it seem like he doesn’t know and realize we’re here?” Woojin points a finger to his own head and twirls it around as he observes Minhyun from the back.

Minhyun heaves a deep sigh and the crowd of boys holds their breaths.

“Hot… Too hot.”

If it wasn’t for the eerie silence, the whisper wouldn’t even be heard. Everyone’s eyes widen.

“Get the remote control!” Jisung screams on top of his lungs and the squad runs around the room to find the air conditioner remote. If the heat is bothering Minhyun, it shall be gone this instant.

It turns out to be quite a problem because Minhyun’s usually tidy and neat bedroom somehow transforms into a shipwreck in a span of less than a week with towels thrown haphazardly and clothes scattered in every nook not to mention sheets of paper placed literally everywhere. This worries the others even more because Minhyun is known to be the neat freak. This is more serious than they think.

“Found it!” Jinyoung screamed as he pushes the dirty socks away from his face and emerges from under the bed with a familiar white rectangular object in his hand. It turns into a relay as they pass it on to Jisung who hurriedly blasts the air-con to maximum setting.   

Minhyun looks a bit calmer when gush of wind hits his face. But then his relaxed expression turns into a frown as he scans his desk full of project papers and highlighters and books and sticky notes and-

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” the boy whines, shoulder slumping in defeat.

There was a loud ‘click’ at the background and everyone turns around to find Guanlin raising his phone and taking a picture of the distressed male.

“What?”

“Were you really trying to take a picture of Minhyun just now? In this kind of emergency? What the hell?” Daniel whacked the younger’s head from the back with annoyance. Everyone seems to be glaring at him with equal irritation.

“Oh come on, he was pouting!” The boy defends himself. “It only happens once in a blue moon, you guys can’t blame me. It’s cute!”

There is silence enveloping the space, and soon everyone nods their heads in unison. That somehow makes sense because Hwang Minhyun only has two expressions on his face, a smile for everyday situation and a creepier smile whenever he’s pissed off. Getting a different mien is like collecting limited edition pokemon characters. Everyone could understand.

“Back to Minhyun, guys!” Jaehwan claps his hands and now everyone is back to figuring what to do with the current situation. What does the guy actually wants?

Jisung begins searching for answers on the internet to ‘why does people only stare at one single thing without moving and what do they want’ while the younger kids start asking their own mom on the phone to ask if they knew how to solve the problem. Dongho did say that this mayhem is caused by stress, right?

“Where is Dongho hyung anyway?” Suddenly the kids turn around to face Seonho as his question lingers in the air. Yeah, where’s the guy now?

“I thought he came with us…” Seongwoo remarks, head turning in every direction to spot the said male.

“He did,” another voice adds in.  Jonghyun finally enters the room with Minki on tow after spending the entire time hanging out in the living room watching drama and movies. “But he’s currently out for groceries since he needs his daily dose of strawberry yoghurt.”

“Why are you guys so calm and relaxed? Aren’t you worried that this,” Jaehwan gestures wildly at the only male that is separated from the rest of the group, “might worsen?” The boy also spread his arms wide to show the once spotless room that has somehow turned into nothing less than a chaotic bedroom. Minhyun turns around after sensing everyone’s gaze and offers a pathetic smile, waving a hand while he’s at it.

At this Jonghyun and Minki share a look at each other.  “We are, but what can we do? We never had to face this before. I mean it happened before but the next day Minhyun would be fine again.”

Minki’s reply increases the already high tension. “Okay now who do you think can fix this poor human being?” Seonho approaches Minhyun and gave the older male a backhug. Surprisingly Minhyun turns around and hugs Seonho even tighter. Everyone gapes.

“Aron won’t be much of a help. Useless,” Jonghyun mutters under his breath in thought. “You can only rely on Dongho then. He was Minhyun’s roommate during high school. He would probably know what to do in this kind of situation. That means we gotta wait for that guy to come back or something.” Jonghyun waves his hand nonchalantly to dismiss the issue.

“I ain’t waiting,” Jisung sassily flips his phone open- yes, he still uses flip phone- and pressed speed dial number 5.

The room turns completely silent as the speaker mode is , sending everyone over the edge. It rings once, twice, thrice-

“Hello, Kang Dongho speaking.”

“Where the hell are you?”

“Hello to you too,” the other line chuckles heartily. “Makes me wonder, where actually am I?”

  “This is not funny, dude. Your best friend is somehow stuck in a not-so-midlife crisis and you’re away for an errand? Remind me why you guys are even friends. Just get your back here quickly and- wait, did I hear Jihoon’s voice? Is Jihoon with you?”

“Hi, hyung!” a rather cheerful high-pitched voice, obviously wasn’t Dongho’s, screamed to the call. It sure is Park Jihoon. “Yes, I’m with Jihoon. We’re actually just five minutes away.”

Jisung grumbles, “can’t you guys just use those good-for-nothing limbs and sprint because Hwang Minhyun is getting creepier by the minute. He’s only looking at his mess of a table for the last few minutes and that is creeping everyone out. He even hugged Seonho for goodness sake!”

The other line was terribly silent. “You need to quickly find his phone. If he’s been silent like that for god knows how long, it means he’s trying to remember where he last put his phone and if he can’t find it-“

Jinyoung doesn’t even let Dongho finish the sentence as he scrambles on his feet with Daehwi and Woojin following suit to ransack the place. Just the thought of something worse happening is already depressing. “Just make sure you’re here in five. No less.” Jisung threatens and ends the call with Jihoon and Dongho’s laughter in the background.

Guanlin does find Minhyun’s phone. It was inside the fridge, sandwiched between the expired milk carton and mayonnaise bottle. The boy seems happier now that he found the love of his life and gave the young kid a big bear hug that lasted for almost 2 minutes.

“You should eat more, your shoulder is not very comfortable.” Minhyun’s tired and forced smile scared Guanlin for life.

“We’re back!” someone hollers and the group dashes out to the front door and quickly pulls Dongho into the living room, completely forgetting the fact that clueless Jihoon doesn’t know anything about the situation. Jinyoung immediately volunteers to explain while ushering the newcomer to the kitchen.

“Good, now that you’re here, do your magic and make him less stressed. Ask him to sleep or anything because he won’t listen to any of us. You-“

“Woah, calm down. Who says I’m going to help?” Dongho takes off his black cap and throws it across the room to land somewhere else aside from his head.

Seongwoo stares incredulously at the male and hangs his jaw.

Dongho laughs out loud and immediately hugs the poor traumatized guy tightly, “I was kidding! Don’t look so shocked.”

“I was really ready to choke you, hyung,” Daniel offers a sheepish grin as he scratches the back of his head. Seriously, everyone was also ‘this’ close to attacking the guy, strangle his neck, break a few bones and knock some sense into his head. The problem was already depressing the others to the point where they’ll go crazy if not solved now. Dongho should have known that a depressed Minhyun will get everyone to have similar symptoms.

Dongho releases Seongwoo who still has a JPEG shocked expression on his face from the hug. "I got a plan so relax. But first let me put away the groceries.” He waves the plastic bag in his hand.

Everyone groans in unison.

 Seonho and Woojin immediately run back to Minhyun’s room in case anything happens while the rest remains in the relatively spacious area. They all had their focuses on Dongho’s figure as he picks up a strawberry yoghurt bottle and a chocolate bar from the bag. His smile is nice and comforting but somehow they know the guy has something up on his sleeves. He approaches Daehwi, who was already sitting by the couch, with a gigantic grin and plops himself beside the younger.

“Daehwi-ya, my favorite little cutie pie,” Dongho singsongs as he places the items on the younger’s hands. “Hyung brought your favorite snacks!”

“I’m not your favorite, Guanlin is.”

Dongho shuts up for a moment at the accusation before continuing. “Well he is my favorite little but you are my favorite little fairy. No one can compare to you.”

“What do you want?” Daehwi sighs.

“Can you do me a favor?”

“What favor?”

Dongho slings an around the younger’s shoulder. “Talking to Minhyun in Japanese kind of favour.”

Daehwi gasps almost comically, jaw hanging, eyes widening, nostrils flaring and even managed to place a hand on top of his heart in a scandalized manner. He scoots to the other end of the couch and breaths in and out harshly. “Excuse me?!” he sassed in full English. “You expect me, a clueless cute fluffy and innocent little baby, to talk to that psycho right there? Oh no, I would rather die in the arms of my loved one thank you very much.”

“Just talk some nonsense and you’ll be free. Just for 20 minutes, that’s all I’m asking for.” Dongho looks like he’s pleading but he was actually smiling the whole time and that really was a weird scene to behold.

“Oh no, I can’t do that. Why don’t you ask Jonghyun hyung or Minki hyung?”

The two mentioned chumps seem to realize that they can also speak Japanese and wonder why Dongho won’t ask for their help.

“Those two idiots might worsen things up because they tend to get carried away and start adding more unnecessary pressure. And also, Minhyun has a soft spot for the younger kids especially the ones who can aegyo their way to his heart. He may give off amnesiac vibes and looks dead from the outside but he’s still the same old him.”

Jonghyun and Minki somehow agreed to the statement because this had happened before in high school. Minhyun was a nervous wreck before the finals and in effort to encourage their friend, Minki and Jonghyun decided to give a long lecture of how he should do the exam well or he’ll fail in life. This resulted in Minhyun locking himself in the toilet cubicle for more than 2 hours and Dongho’s desperate attempt on calming his best friend from breaking down and getting Minhyun out of the smelly place. In Dongho’s dictionary, the two of them are not actually the best combo.

The younger glares viciously, “No! I’m not gonna do anything. That’s final!”

“Get him to converse with you for 20 minutes and I’ll pay for your lunches for the next month.”

Everyone stares at Daehwi and Dongho, back and forth, back and forth. Dongho has just pulled out the ‘free food’ card and if Daehwi’s rejecting this, he’s rejecting a chance to spend the elder’s money on expensive food that he certainly won’t be able to afford even after all the part time jobs he’s thinking of applying.

“I wish I could speak Japanese.”

“Shut up, Ong.”

“No you shut up, Niel.”

“Both of you cut it out.” Jisung shushes the two quarreling duo.

Dongho leans back in his seat and crosses both arms, offering a smirk to the young kid who seems to be pondering this matter as hard as how he considered the possibilities of majors that he should to take before entering college. He groans in agony and ruffles his own head in annoyance, wincing when he pulled out a few strands of hair.
Everyone knows how generous Dongho can get if it has to do with food and Guanlin can attest to that with a billion prove and testimony because he has gone out with the elder numerous times and received nothing but the best out of the golden treatment which comes in the form of limitless amount of food.

“I’m offering you a deal you can’t reject but if you think it’s still not enough, I can add another preposition. Let’s exchange free lunch passes for the whole month, Sunmi noona’s phone number and a free ticket to Lotte world for 25 minutes of your time. How does that sound?”

Without a word, Daehwi jumps from his position, leaving his snack, and shuffles to Minhyun’s room, disappearing behind the wall all too quickly. But he pokes his head out from the doorway to glare at Dongho for a while.

“I’ll just spurt out any I know-“

“Language, my son!” Jisung hollers.

Daehwi rolls his eyes. “I’ll do my job, speak some nonsensical anime stuff, and that’s it. 25 minutes. You should know that I can hold a knife and not afraid to use it if somehow you go against your promise, hyung.”

The guys in the living room chuckle at Daehwi’s weak attempt of threatening the resident’s king kong. Let’s be honest here, even if there’s a guy stupid enough to use a knife and tried to rob and stab Kang Dongho, the end result would be a half-dead idiot and a pissed off Dongho who would bend and break the weapon into pieces.

  “I’m a man of my words,” Dongho waves the wallet in his hand and off Daehwi goes.

“So…” Seongwoo says from his position on the floor. “What are you going to do for in that 25 minutes?”

“Yeah hyung, are you gonna make some soup to make Minhyun hyung feel better or conjure a masterplan?” asks Daniel who has been lying on Seongwoo’s lap the whole time.

Dongho takes off his jacket, grabs the nearest cushion to hug and closes his eyes. “I’m gonna take a power nap. Do not, in any way, try to wake me up. Understand?”

They all nod silently, wondering how in the world Dongho would save their friend from depression with a single nap.

“How does this help?” Sungwoon finally dares to speak up after staying silent the whole time and watch the fiasco happen from the sides.

Minki offers a smile, “you’ll see.”

“Good, now what should we do in the mean time?”