Saturday Junmyeon goes to work alone, because it’s farther away than his other two jobs and everyone else is busy. Yixing texts him and says he can meet him there to take him home later, (I really don’t like you riding that bus alone at night, Junmyeon, remember that one time…) but Junmyeon turns him down. He’s moving really slow again today, his ribs and back are really, really sore, and he’d rather his friends not be around because, as a waiter, Junmyeon’s going to be walking around all day and there’s no way he’s going to be able to hide it.

Which is why, four hours into his shift, Junmyeon nearly has a panic attack when Luhan and Minseok walk in and choose a seat right there in Junmyeon’s section. Luhan looks surprised to see him, Junmyeon hadn’t told the new group of friends much about his other job, but Minseok smiles at him pleasantly. “When is your lunch break, Jun? Do you want to eat with us? It’s my treat today, since Luhan paid for the pizza last week.”

Junmyeon is just about to tell them no thank you, I already took my break when one of his coworkers walks by and invites herself into the conversation. “Junmyeon skipped his lunch break today. Worked right through it.” And then to Junmyeon, “Jinki and I can cover your tables for awhile, Junmyeon. You should take a break.”

“Thanks, Jinri.” He smiles, because how can he be mad when this girl is genuinely so sweet? Even if he will have to sit through lunch with probably the two most perceptive out of all of his friends and pretend like every bone in his body is not screaming at him to lie down.

He grabs their drinks on his way from dropping his apron off in the rec room, and finds Luhan and Minseok laughing over something. And as weird as that is, because Junmyeon didn’t realize they were close, he’s glad that Minseok, Tao, and Yixing have integrated into this new group as well as he did. Yixing is becoming fast friends with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and when Tao isn’t with Jongin and Sehun he’s with Yifan.

Lunch turns out to be a really trying ordeal. Junmyeon’s sleeves keep slipping up, and he hadn’t been able to cover the bruises on his arms because he ran out of concealer, so he spends the entire hour tugging at his sleeves and peaking up at his friends to see if they noticed anything. Minseok catches his gaze once and looks at him sadly, and Junmyeon thinks that is a very bad sign, but it’s Luhan who causes the most concern. “Junnie, are you okay? You keep squirming around.”

Junmyeon tries to laugh it off, throwing out excuses for everything. He reaches up to scratch at the back of his head, though, which is a mistake. His sleeve pulls down, showing his bruises, and when he realizes it he jerks his arm back down, jarring his ribs and setting his nerve endings on fire.

Luhan doesn’t comment on it, though. He doesn’t pretend he didn’t see it, either, or act like it wasn’t a big deal. He just stares at Junmyeon for the rest of the meal, and hugs him really carefully when it’s time for he and Minseok to go, and something about how careful he was about it all makes Junmyeon really uncomfortable.

Minseok is wary of the bruises when he leaves, and the whole interaction leaves behind a heavy feeling of dread.

But then Minseok stops and turns back around. “Jun, do you want to come hang out at my house sometime?”

---

Minseok’s house is not as big as Baekhyun’s, but it’s nicer than Junmyeon’s, with an obviously well cared for garden in the front and a child-painted birdhouse hanging from the lowest branch of a tree framing the side of the house. Junmyeon can barely make out the sight of Minseok’s mother laughing through the kitchen window.

Junmyeon looks at Minseok’s house, which by appearances alone quite similar to Junmyeon’s own. The color is the same, the structure is similar. They both have shutters around the windows and pretty curtains hanging just inside. But Minseok’s house is just like that. He lives there happily with his family so his house looks happy and lived in. Junmyeon’s house looks like that so nobody will get suspicious.

Not for the first time, Junmyeon feels incredibly fake.

Minseok’s mother catches sight of them through the window, and her cheeks puff out when she smiles just like Minseok’s. When she pulls the front door open, her eyes crinkle as she laughs and throws her arms out.

“Luhannie!” She calls, throwing her arms around him when they get close enough. Junmyeon releases his hand so as not to get dragged along with him. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in years! You’re always dragging Minseok out instead of coming to visit.” She’s pouting at him, and Junmyeon isn’t sure but he doesn’t think this is an appropriate way to interact with someone’s mother. But Luhan just laughs and calls Minseok’s mother mama as he apologizes, and Junmyeon doesn’t really understand what’s going on.

Minseok’s mother’s gaze finally lands on him, and he reaches out and grabs Luhan’s hand again. “Well hello! I think I recognize you.”

Minseok throws an arm around Junmyeon’s shoulders and ruffles his hair. “This is Junmyeon, mom. You’ve seen him in pictures.”

“Oh!” Mrs. Kim claps, moving aside to let them in. “Right! Yixing and Taozi talk about you all the time. I’m surprised you’ve never come over before.”

Minseok laughs. “Even though we’re been friends for so long, Jun is only just starting to hang out with the rest of us. It only took eight more people to finally convince him to work fewer hours.”

Mrs. Kim’s eyebrows pull together as she frowns. “The other two came over all the time. You were always working?”

Minseok pulls Junmyeon down on the couch between Luhan and himself. Cuddled between them, it’s easy for Junmyeon to settle down, sinking into Minseok’s side as he nods.

“He doesn’t work quite as much anymore.” Minseok says for him. “We know it makes him nervous to not always be productive, so we’re really proud of him for taking care of himself even if it makes him uncomfortable.”

Junmyeon’s face flushes, but he doesn’t know if it’s from embarrassment or shame. He squirms to bury his face into Minseok’s chest and tries not to cry as he apologizes in his head. Mrs. Kim coos at him, obviously thinking he’s shy because he’s being bragged on, and she pets his hair before she leaves. He hears her tell the other two that she’s going to work and then feels her lips press against the top of his head. Surprised, Junmyeon tilts his head slightly to peek out with one eye, and just barely catches her waving at him before she closes the door.

“Your mom just kissed me goodbye.” He squeaks.

Luhan laughs. “Of course she did. That’s what mom’s do.”

Minseok tenses up, but Junmyeon knows that Luhan doesn’t know any better. “Nobody’s ever done that before.”

Luhan pauses to look at Minseok, brows drawn together like he doesn’t understand, and his eyes widen when he finally understands. “Oh. I’m sorry, Jun. I didn’t know.” His face screws up in guilt, and Junmyeon rushes to shift his body weight and lean into Luhan instead.

Luhan folds him into his arms immediately, hugging him close and apologizing again. Junmyeon shushes him. “I never got to know my mother anyway, hyung. She died when I was still a baby. I’m not upset about it.”

Junmyeon feels the heat on his back and Minseok lays over him, squishing Junmyeon between them. “So you’ve never had anyone to kiss you goodbye? What about your dad?”

Junmyeon wrinkles his nose up, shoves down the shiver that tries to tear through his spine. “My dad doesn’t really do that stuff. We both work a lot, so we don’t interact much.”

Luhan’s frown tells Junmyeon exactly what he thinks of that, but Junmyeon just shrugs at him. It would be a lot worse for him if he did interact more with his father. Of course, it’s not like Luhan knows that.

“So what do you guys want to do?” Junmyeon asks.

“What’s wrong with what we’re doing right now?” Minseok teases, squishing his face into Junmyeon’s shoulder blades.

“Well I figured you invited me over because you had something planned.”

Junmyeon shivers when Minseok huffs a warm breath over his back. “I invited you over because you were hurt and stressed and I wanted you to relax. And also because everyone else was getting Junmyeon time and I was jealous.” 

Junmyeon snorts into Luhan’s shoulder.

“I’m serious!” Minseok laughs. You went and played with Jonginnie’s dogs and you tutor Sehun all the time, and Taozi hangs off you like a koala. You’re hyungs want cuddle time, too, you brat. How dare you neglect us!”

Junmyeon laughs, squirming in between them when Minseok gently digs his fingers into Junmyeon’s sides and tickles him. He can feel Luhan’s chest shaking as he laughs, but he doesn’t really have much concentration to think about it.

“Stop!” He laughs. “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I can’t breathe, hyung, stop!”

Minseok has mercy on him and withdraws his fingers, wrapping his arms around Junmyeon’s waist instead. They lay there for a little longer, before Luhan starts squirming and they have to get up to let him off the couch.

He grins. “I know what to do. Junnie’s working all the time, he probably hasn’t seen a whole bunch of movies. We should have a marathon. Then he can relax and we still get our cuddles.”

Junmyeon nods. “I’ve always wanted to see the Harry Potter movies. Do you have those?”

Luhan beams and ignores Minseok’s outburst of you’ve never seen the Harry Potter movies??? “Those’ll work. But first,” he grins, eyes glinting, “we’ve gotta load up on fatty stuff.”

Luhan takes off towards the kitchen, and Minseok shoots Junmyeon a panicked look before he scurried after him. “Luhan, you foodie, stay out of my pantry!”

“Dibs on the Oreo’s!”     

---

That night, Junmyeon gets home before his father, and he’s so happy he feels like he’s floating. He breezes through making dinner for his father and doing laundry and cleaning up the mess of beer cans in the living room. He can still feel the warmth of his hyungs on either side of him, can still sense the rare feeling of being just a little past comfortably full, and he wonders I this is what it’s like to be happy.

When his father comes home, it’s with drunken slurs and angry pounding on the stairs, and Junmyeon clings to the memory of his hyungs keeping him safe when he drags his blankets with him into the closet to hide.