In which Jongin goes through a uality crisis and Joonmyun, Jongdae, and all their friends give him some (not so helpful) advice

~

Jongin could safely say he considered Tao to be a good friend of his. Whatever hatred he had for the guy in the past was well and truly gone by now and yet since Tao had asked him that lunch time if he had any sort of feelings for Kyungsoo, Jongin had wanted to punch him.

Before that he saw Kyungsoo as his best friend, the boy he had known for years and- on more than one occasion- almost got into numerous fights with who picked on him to protect him. Before Tao opened his mouth, Jongin had been sure of his uality. There hadn't been any girlfriends up until that point, and there hadn't really ever been a girl that had caught his attention before, but he was pretty sure he was straight and liked girls. Since Tao's comment however that had gone out of the window and had spiraled Jongin's emotions out of control. That would explain why no girl before had managed to catch his attention, why sometimes he found himself staring at boys as he got changed after a sports lesson longer than what was considered normal. That would explain why Jongin felt so jealous over Kyungsoo paying constant attention to Tao instead of him.

It was safe to say he was in the midst of a ual crisis. He wasn't sure if he did like boys like that or whether it was a phase. He was only sixteen, he was still young, his body was still going through changes and that was maybe contributing to his uncertainty. Then again, both his dads had been sure of their ualities when they would around his age, if not younger!

Jongin's emotions were messing with him and all he needed right now was some sound advice and someone to comfort him and tell him that what he was going through was completely normal. Whether Joonmyun and Jongdae were able to give him such advice when he eventually sat down to talk to him would be somethig Jongin would have to find out on the day.

Coming home from dance practice, Jongin finds Joonmyun and Jongdae sat in the living room alongside their friends. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had come over seeking advice on what it was like to be a parent, teetering between whether they wanted to adopt or foster a child, Minseok and Sehun had tagged along for the hell of it. Jongin would have liked to have spoken to his dads in more privacy than this, but if he didn't speak to them now he was never going to muster up the courage to do it another time.

"Jongin get up! You're heavier than you used to be" Joonmyun grunted when Jongin had flung himself on the sofa and over Joonmyun and Jongdae. Instead of listening to his dad and resisting Jongdae's attempts to lift him up, he remained there and buried his head in the gap between Jongdae's leg and the end of the sofa.

"Alright buddy, what's wrong?" Joonmyun asked, full of determination to get out of his son exactly what was wrong with him so he could sort the situation out. Jongin hesitated but, after taking a deep breath in, finally told the room what had been bothering him for quite a while now.

"I think I'm going through a ual crisis"

Simultaneously the room turns silent. Jongin hates it and feels like crying as his dads shoot each other looks of surprise and concern, trying their hardest to get Jongin to sit up and talk to them properly.

"What do you mean by a crisis Jongin?" Jongdae asked

"I don't know if I'm gay, straight, or bi"

Though thrown off by his confession, Joonmyun and Jongdae waste no time in trying to speak to Jongdae and get to the bottom of his problem. With a joint effort, Jongdae is able to push Jongin off of him and Joonmyun is able to push him up so that he was now sat up and they were able to properly talk to him. Of course that didn't stop Jongin from curling himself up and hiding his face in his dad's side.

"Jongin, if you don't speak to us, how do you think we'll be able to help you?" Joonmyun asked and after a moment's hesitation, Jongin finally began talking

"I don't know if I like just guys, just girls or both. I always thought I liked girls but then I look at guys and just"

"You think they look pretty good looking to you as well?" Jongdae finished for him and Jongin nods his head.

"Well if you're unsure you don't have to go labelling yourself anything just yet" Minseok piped up as Jongin lifted his head from where he had hidden it in his dad's side to stare at him.

"Really?" he asked

"Yeah! I wasn't sure what I was but then I met Sehun and I decided I liked men more" Minseok replied and it was nice for Jongin to hear from someone else that they too went through this somewhat crisis as well- both Jongdae and Joonmyun had known they were gay for a long time- so hearing Minseok's advice was a great relief for him.

"See? You don't need to panic. Just go about as you usually are and if you want to label yourself then do it. We'll be here to support you" Jongdae reassured

"And you know you can come talk to us at any time, right? You know we'll be here for you" Joonmyun added and of course Jongin knew that. If he wasn't so sure he would have never gone and confessed to them in the first place... even if it was in front of all of their friends.

"You want to go call your mum? See what she says?" Joonmyun asked and Jongin had thought about calling her, but he chose to leave it until he was more comfortable with how he was feeling. For now he was more content with the advice he had gotten at the moment.

"Think of it this way" Baekhyun began "At least you didn't cry like you're dad did"

Always counting on Baekhyun to pipe up with an inappropriate comment at some point during the conversation, the group- minus Chanyeol- turn to glare at him "What? It's true!"

"You cried?" Jongin asked

"He blubbered like a baby" Chanyeol confirmed and the image of his dad blubbering like a baby was enough to make Jongin laugh

"Uh, if I may!" Joonmyun shouted over them "I only cried- not blubbered- because I thought I was the only gay guy out of all of us and I was scared my parents wouldn't accept me"

Regardless of his explanation, Jongin was still laughing at the image of his dad crying. Giving up on trying to defend himself, Joonmyun left him to it. Whatever made his son happy...

I promised myself I was going to update by ChenChen's birthday and I had to practically power through this to make sure it happened. It's not exactly a happy chapter in the sense that Jongin is in a state right now... but it leads on nicely for what I have planned for the next and final chapter.

I really don't want to let this go, but all good things must come to an end, and I can promise that it will end as funny as I can make it!

Until then!!