[ MINGHAO ]

Xu Minghao was not an envious person.

He wasn’t. He’s never been the envious type, really; never really one to borrow the other kid’s toys and not give it back because he wanted it for himself. He has always been calm and collected, even as a child, and kept it with him until he grew older. He was content with his own things, not the jealous or possessive type either when it came to sharing his things. That was what he believed to be true, but knew that it was probably false.

At least it was suddenly false when it came to Junhui, his fellow Seventeen member, definitely not his in any other way because they weren’t together—yet Minghao found himself positively seething with resentment and hints of jealousy and envy at the sight of Junhui being great friends with Jin Longguo. Not that he’ll ever admit that to anybody. Not even himself. 

Which was why he had agreed to Junhui inviting him out on one of his outings (it wasn’t a date, please) with Longguo, purely because it wasn’t supposed to matter.

It didn’t matter to him at all that he was left out as the two bonded in the stupid pink cat cafe Junhui chose, cooing over kittens and laughing over the cute things the other cats did. It didn’t matter that Minghao was a dog person who would much rather be in the park across the cafe than anywhere near cats; but that would mean leaving Junhui alone with Longguo, and he sure as hell wasn’t allowing that to happen. It was tempting, yes, but just the sight of them bunched together near a couple of cats made him stay put in his seat.

He couldn’t even join in the conversations they had.

“This was what Tolbi did the other day,” Longguo would say excitedly, showing Junhui pictures and videos on his phone. He tried to show Minghao once, but the latter just smiled and said it was cute, before Junhui began gushing over the cat. That was the end of that conversation. Longguo never tried again. “I hope you get a cat soon, too, Junhui.” 

Junhui sighed, “I know, too bad we can’t have pets and all.”

“If you ever want to be around cats for free, you could visit our dorm! You’re more than welcome.”

At that, Minghao promptly nearly choked on his drink. He waved off the concerned looks he got and passed it off as a cough thanks to the cat hair all over him. Junhui eyed him with worry for a few moments before turning to Longguo again.

He beamed, “that would be great. Did you hear that, Haohao? We can visit their dorm and meet Longguo’s cats! Tolbi and Lucy!”

“I heard,” Minghao all but grumbled out, before catching Longguo’s expression and turning his own to a politely smiling one. “I might pass on that, though, but you can feel free to go.”

Admittedly, Minghao had said that hoping Junhui would insist that he come with, because Junhui always asked Minghao to accompany him for things. He was clingy in that way, which was great for the younger boy because that meant he didn’t have to be so obvious about his feelings for Junhui if it was Junhui who did all the planning and talking. Sometimes Junhui would pick another member to head out with, but most of the time it was Minghao, which was enough for him. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with Longguo.

“I don’t mind going alone,” Junhui said after a pause, smiling at Longguo and the cat in his hands. “We can get to know each other more, too!”

“That’ll be great!”

Minghao wanted to roll his eyes and gag. 

[ JUNHUI ]

Wen Junhui wasn’t exactly quiet, by any means. He was somewhat shy and reserved at first, but it  usually didn’t take too long for him to warm up to people and chatter his way about anything after meeting someone new. He loved making new friends in particular. The new friendship with Longguo was great, mainly because they just had so much in common. Longguo was Chinese and his age, not to mention, with a love of cats that he related to greatly. That meant they had a lot of things they could talk about, general topics under the China sun, anything about cats. It was a good kind of friendship, one he was sure to enjoy.

“Thanks for inviting me again, Longguo.”

Longguo grinned at him, “no problem. Have a seat, I’ll let the kids out in a bit.”

After only a few minutes away, he soon came back with