They pull up to Minhyuk’s house at 4:55pm. They’ve got five minutes to spare, so Jinki simply puts the car in park but leaves it on. While he’s mostly comfortable with what’s to come, it’s clear that Minho and Kibum are nervous at best. He turns to Minho, who’s sitting shotgun, and takes his hand.

“How am I supposed to kiss you if you chew through your lip, baby?” he teases, trying to ease the tension.

Minho laughs, but continues the motion. Jinki turns to the backseat where Kibum is fixing his bangs for the nteenth time. While Minho’s anxieties were mostly based on being wanted, Kibum’s were more concerned with not fitting in. Social graces came somewhat naturally to Minho and Jinki as they had both grown up in wealthy households; Kibum, however, had grown up with little money at all. Though he was always polite and friendly, there was a definite difference when it came to fancy events. Though Minhyuk has assured them that this dinner is nothing fancy, Kibum’s clearly worried about his manners.

“Are we ready to go in, loves?” Jinki asks. He wants to give them time to prepare for whatever they think is coming but he also realizes that that may only make things worse.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Kibum says with a sigh, giving up on his bangs.

Minho’s silent, simply holding Jinki’s hand. Jinki gives him a minute more, waiting until the clock hits 5.

“It’s 5, my love. We should head in now, okay?”

Minho nods and lets go of Jinki’s hand. They get out and head up the pathway to the door. There’s barking and as they get closer to the door they can see a fluffy gold dog trying to inspect them. Minhyuk opens the door when they’re close enough and the dog follows him out.

“Hey, guys. Glad you could make it. Any problems making it out here?” he says, holding his arms out for a hug from Minho.  They hug, but it’s clear that Minho’s attention is moreso on the dog.

“No, it was fairly easy getting out here. Thanks for the shortcut.” Jinki offers, shaking Minhyuk’s hand.

“Come on it, Hara’s almost got dinner ready. I’ll show you around.”

The three follow Minhyuk inside, removing their shoes as Minhyuk shuts the door. While the house is nowhere near a mansion, it’s still fairly opulent. There’s a set of stairs to the left and a hallway to the right, all with matching dark wood floors. Minhyuk leads them upstairs.

“Hara doesn’t want you guys in the kitchen until dinners ready, so she said to go ahead and show you the house first,” he explains.

When they get to the second floor, Minho takes Kibum’s hand. They’re in what looks like a living room, though it seems a little excessively decorated to be intended for daily use. Most of the furniture is silver gray with blue accent pieces mixed into the decor. It reminds Jinki of one of his grandparents’ homes

“So this is what Hara refers to as our ‘rich people floor’. There’s this living room and a small kitchen as well as three guest rooms up here. All the expensive things we own got put up here, so that it’s all out if we have to host anything. I know it’s a long way off, but we’re hoping to have some of the more congenial members of family over for the holidays. I don’t know what you three have done in the past but we can definitely set space aside for you guys if you’d like to come.”

“We usually visit my parents for any of the family type holidays, but if the time works out, I think it’d be nice to come.” Jinki replies.

“Alright, so that’s enough of the fancy stuff, now back down to the part of the house we can actually live in.”

Minhyuk heads down the stairs first, followed by Minho. Jinki holds Kibum back

“Sweetpea, I know you’re both nervous and so it makes sense for you to hold on to each other, but why don’t you hold onto me for a while. I know you’re worried about it, but he needs to interact with Minhyuk and we both know he’ll avoid it and let me lead all night if he thinks he can get away with it.” Jinki whispers.

Kibum nods and takes Jinki’s hand before they head down the stairs. Minho and Minhyuk are in the garage when Jinki and Kibum rejoin them. Minho looks disappointed that Kibum doesn’t reach for his hand but quickly tries to dismiss the emotion, looking back at the dog once more.

“It looks like Little Brother.” Minho comments. Minhyuk smiles fondly.

“She’s the daughter of one of Little Brother’s littermates,” he explains as Minho crouches down to properly pet her. “She’s named Toasty. She had puppies of her own about a year ago. We kept the oldest because she loves Hara too much and the youngest because he’s too weary of strangers. They’re in the kitchen with the dad.”

“What breed is she? I’m not too familiar with dogs.” Kibum asks.

“They’re all chow chows.”

Kibum nods. There’s a woman’s calling for Minhyuk, so they all head back into the hallway and make their way into the kitchen.

“This is my fiance, Hara. She teaches literature at the school you passed on your way in.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Hara.” Minho says with a smile. She smiles from where she’s ladling out stew. While Jinki wouldn’t consider himself an expert in female beauty, she seems fairly pretty.

“Hara, this is my baby brother Minho and his boyfriends Jinki and Kibum.”

“Dinner’s about ready if you would like to go sit down, I just have to finish portioning it. I made yukgaejang.” Hara says.

Minho’s interest in dinner goes up at least tenfold, judging by his expression. He looks at Minhyuk.

“That was your favorite when you lived with me, right? I tried to think of what you’d said it was but that’s the only thing I could remember you eating.”
“It’s always been my favorite. Misun would always make it for my birthday or if I had done something exciting.”

Minho looks thoroughly touched at the gesture.

“Do you need any help? Jinki’s the best cook out of us but I’ve been a waiter more than once so I’m more than proficient at the serving part.” Kibum asks.

“Oh, that’d be wonderful, thank you.” Hara says with a smile.

Jinki and Minhyuk move towards the dining room as Kibum helps Hara plate everything. When they’re out of earshot, Jinki turns to Minhyuk.

“I take it Little Brother was the family dog?” he asks.

“Yup. He was originally Minseok’s dog. He wanted another little brother so he wouldn’t have to be the youngest. Father got it for him when he was around three. He was alright with us but when Minho came along it was clear where his loyalty was. We had to put him down with Minho was 8 or so.”

Minhyuk goes to continue but is interrupted by Hara.

“Minhyuk, come in here and look at what your brother’s managed to do!” Hara says excitedly.

Jinki fears for the worst with the way she’s worded it but when they come back to the kitchen her expression calms it. They look over to the pen where the other three dogs are. Minho’s sitting on the floor in the middle of it, the smaller of the two puppies in his lap.

“I’ve never seen him be affectionate with anyone.  He’s never been aggressive or anything, just completely uninterested in people,” she explains to Kibum.

“Maybe they just have a runt connection,” Minhyuk says under his breath.

When Minho looks up at him, it’s clear to Jinki that he’s completely in love with the black puppy in his arms.

“If you want him you can have him, bud. Like Hara said, we’ve never seen him look at someone, much less be climbing up in their lap like that. We’re obviously good on the pup front.” Minhyuk says, gesturing at the other three dogs.

“Really?!” Minho asks, looking between the other four for confirmation.

“Yes, really, as long as your boyfriends are fine with it. We’ve got some toys and things we can give you and he’s already house and crate trained so you won’t have to worry about that too much. I know it sounds cruel, but since he won’t pay attention to us we’ve never been able to give him a name so you get to come up with that too.”

“Come on, baby. Let’s eat before the food gets cold.” Kibum says, carting the last few plates to the table.

Minho pouts but puts the dog down and makes his way out of the pen. Jinki points to the faucet, reminding him to wash up. They all sit down, Minho, Kibum and Jinki on one side of the table, Minhyuk and Hara on the other. At first, it’s awkwardly quiet but Hara soon breaks the ice by asking how the three met. Jinki lets Kibum tell the story, keeping an eye on Minho. Though he’d seemed over the moon at the mention of yukgaejang, now that the soup is in front of him he’s eating rather slowly. It’s to be expected with how stressed he is about this dinner but it doesn’t ease Jinki’s mind. Most of the dinner chatter is polite and empty, but it’s probably best not to dive into anything too deep at their first dinner. Jinki’s encouraged when Minho gets a second bowl of soup and the conversation turns  to the fact that Hara is an alum of their university. When everyone’s done eating, Minho, Kibum, and Hara are all deep in discussion about literature that Jinki doesn’t even pretend to recognize.After a while, Minhyuk stands.

“I’m going to go out for a smoke. Jinki, would you care to join me?”

Jinki nods and follows him out. He can feel Minho’s eyes on his back, but doesn’t look.

“I don’t know if Minho mentioned it to you, but Hara and I had discussed how best to invite you guys to the wedding. We came to the conclusion that while we’re okay with your situation, in the interest of preventing any more drama than necessary, we suggested that he only bring one of you. I hope you guys aren’t upset or offended by that.” Minhyuk says, pulling out his cigarette pack and lighter.

“He mentioned it to me after you left. I’m not sure about whether he told Kibum. As of now, the plan is for me to go as his plus one, since I’m already adapted.”

Minhyuk nods.

“Good, I’m glad. We’re doing the seating arrangements now and we’re trying to put you two as far from my parents as we can.” he takes a pause as he lights his cigarette. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like it if you and I can keep in touch. I don’t mean to sneak around behind his back, but since things are a little awkward between Minho and I for now, I’d appreciate it if you can keep me updated on how he’s doing. I know I can’t make up for lost time, but I’d like to do my best to be more supportive now that I’m going to be in a secure position to do so.”

“That’s fine by me. I have another question for you though. How was his appetite when he was a kid?”

Minhyuk offers him a cigarette and Jinki almost takes him up on it but declines in the end.

“He was never a fussy eater, that I can remember. Of course mother and father had to make even eating a foul experience for him.” He pauses to take a drag. “They considered him just the spare and so he got only as much as they saw fit. I’m no doctor but even I know that it wasn’t enough food for him. He would always complain about being hungry and wanting seconds. Father got tired of him and told him that he could have his seconds but only if he ate all that he was given. First they wouldn’t give him enough and then they gave him too much. Father would sit with him at the table until it was all gone; even if Minho threw up, he’d make him continue eating. When he came to live with me, he would barely ever eat. I had a cook of my own then and told them that Minho was to get anything that he wanted, foodwise. I swear there were whole weeks were yukgaejang was all he’d eat. I took him to the doctor when he first came to me and they said that he was only a few degrees from malnourished.”

Jinki nods but doesn’t respond.

“How is he now, with you two? I know you said that he’s putting weight on.”

“Yeah. He’s put on about 8 kilos since we started dating. It was about a month into living together that we confronted him about his eating habits. It was a miracle to get him to eat a full sized meal. He looked so thin, like you’d break him if you squeezed him too hard. When Kibum decided that he’d be the one to work with him on the scrubbing thing, I decided that I’d work on food. I’ve always liked to cook. I have him help me prep food. When he reads books, we make something that was mentioned in there. We let him get his own portions and purposely don’t finish our own so there’s an atmosphere of leftovers are okay. It’s slow going, but we’re getting there. He did better than I thought he would today.”

There’s a tap on the window behind them and they turn to see Kibum waving for them to come inside. Minhyuk tries to finish his cigarette quick as Jinki opens the door and goes inside.

“I think baby’s getting tired. We should head home.” Kibum whispers to Jinki. Minho and Hara are still talking literature but go quiet as the other three approach.

“Well, it’s getting late, we should probably head back. Thank you so much for having us over.” Jinki says. He shakes hands with Minhyuk and gives Hara a hug, Kibum doing the same. He turns to Minho.

“We’re going to go sit in the car while you guys get the stuff for the puppy, okay? Take your time.”

Minho stands, following Hara into a storage room, and Minhyuk walks Jinki and Kibum to the door.

“Thank you guys for supporting him. I know he’s a little...for lack of a better term, a little damaged. But you guys seem to have a good grip on the situation and I’m very thankful. I hope we can all get closer as time goes on.” Minhyuk says as he opens the door for them. Jinki agrees and says goodbye once more, leading Kibum to the car. They get in and turn the engine on.

“Did you smoke while you were out there?” Kibum asks quietly after a minute.

“I thought about it. But no. I made a promise so I didn’t.

Kibum takes his hand.

“I’m proud of you. I know it hasn’t been easy.”

Jinki shrugs. “Nothing is.”

They sit in silence, enjoying the radio. Eventually, Minho and Minhyuk come out, arms full of puppy and puppy paraphernalia. Jinki pops the trunk and once it’s all loaded, Minho and his puppy get in the backseat. Minhyuk stands at the front of the house and waves goodbye as Jinki backs out of the driveway. Once they’re on the road again, Kibum turns around to look at Minho.

“Did you enjoy dinner, baby?” he asks.

“Mhm. I mean, things are still awkward and it’s still a little hard to be around him, but it was good I think. Minhyuk suggested that we do this again, though maybe at the apartment next time.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to name the puppy?” Jinki asks.

Minho laughs. “Yeah. Seeing as he’s dark and shy, I’m thinking Mr. Darcy.”