By the time Jihoon wakes up, sunlight is filtering through the blinds and Mingyu is nowhere to be found. (Probably out having breakfast with his boyfriend. They're weird and like to go out when the rest of the world is asleep.) His laptop is placed back on his desk and he's covered by a blanket he doesn't recall putting on himself, so he figures that the taller boy must have come up sometime while he was asleep.

He's saved from the struggle of having to find his cellphone by himself when it rings from somewhere on the floor. Jihoon tosses the wooly blanket aside and crawls to the edge of his bed, peeking over the side and spotting his phone lying near the desk chair.

He grabs it and checks the caller id-- ing Seungcheol, of course-- before glancing at the time and deciding it's way too early for anything the elder has to say. Seungcheol is a good guy, one of Jihoon's favorite hyungs and a great rapper, but he was never one for tact. He answers the call anyway, grumbling out a stiff "What do you want."

"Hey, Hansol brought donuts into the store today."

...

"Uh, okay. And you're calling to tell me this why?"

"I thought you might like some."

"Dude, thanks for the offer, that's real nice of you. But it's like eight in the morning. On a saturday. You of all people should know I need my ing sleep."

"True, but they're really good. Plus they're Pokemon themed." Seungcheol pauses. "I know you can't resist Pokemon."

He has him there. But Jihoon just needs to know one more thing.

"What generation?" he asks skeptically.

"First, duh. Hansol may be a kid but he's not uncultured."

"Alright," Jihoon says. He makes his way over to his closet and pulls out his pink Pretty Boy sweater. "I'll be there in twenty."

♡ ♡ ♡

After a slightly uncomfortable bus ride in which an ajumma had tried to offer him questionable looking candy, Jihoon finally arrives at Jam Jam, Seungcheol's music store. It's in a busier part of the city, tucked between a cafe and a clothing shop, so the streets surrounding it are bustling with activity even at eight in the morning.

Ignoring the CLOSED sign, Jihoon pushes past the glass doors, looking around for any sign of either Hansol or Seungcheol. When he can't find them on the first floor, he heads up to the second, bopping his head along to the Verbal Jint song playing on the speakers.

"Guys? I'm here for my donuts," he calls out. As he climbs the last few steps, he can hear them arguing from behind a few shelves of indie vinyls.

"I still can't believe you told him I like first gen," Hansol whines. "My favorite region is Sinnoh!"

"You take that back if you want to get paid next week," Seungcheol threatens.

Hansol rolls his eyes. "You can't do that."

"He won't, don't worry," Jihoon cuts in. He walks over to where they're seated around a table, having breakfast like they're not supposed to be setting up the store. (They even have a pitcher of orange juice and bowls of Lucky Charms!) His precious Pokemon donuts sit in a box in the middle, and he makes a grab for one with a Pikachu face on it. "This is adorable."

Seungcheol glances over at him, raising a judgemental brow. "More like your sweater is adorable. What are you wearing? You look like a ."

"I am a ," Jihoon replies blankly, pulling out a chair. He takes a bite out of his donut and mentally approves.

"Hey, I think he looks cu..." Hansol trails off. Jihoon glares at him, daring him to continue. "...riously handsome! Haha. Ha. Please stop looking at me like that."

Jihoon's glare intensifies.

Hansol gulps, pushing away his half-eaten donut. "Hey, I think I hear customers. Seungcheol-hyung, you can finish eating and I'll go see if they need any help."

"Hansol what are you talking about, we're not even open yet--"

"I'LL BE RIGHT THERE." He glances over nervously at Jihoon. "Uh. Bye!"

And he's gone.

Seungcheol sighs.

"What's up with him? It's like he's afraid of you or something."

Jihoon snickers. He's reminded of the first time he met Hansol-- around a month ago or so, when the kid first started working at Jam Jam. Jihoon had come in looking for Seungcheol, and Hansol walked up to him and asked him if he was lost.

"Huh? No, I'm looking for..."

"It's okay, kid. I can help you find your parents. Do you know their phone number?"

Hansol probably thought he was doing a good deed. Jihoon was horribly offended.

"Who the hell are you calling kid, kid? I'm older than you. Listen," he glanced down at the boy's name tag, "Hansol. You're new here, aren't you? Do you like working here?"

Hansol's stared at Jihoon in shock, unsure if he was allowed to respond.

"Answer my question!" Jihoon barked. He was seriously running out of patience.

"Yes I do Seungcheol-hyung is very nice he helps me with my rapping and buys me food and plays good music," Hansol said all in one breath. He looked like he was about to pee his pants.

"If you ever call me a kid again, I can make it so that you'll wanna quit right now, without ever seeing your first paycheck," Jihoon said. "You wouldn't want that, would you, Hansol-ah?"

Before the younger boy could reply, Seungcheol came in from the back and noticed the two standing by the SNSD cds. He grinned and made his way over, totally oblivious to the tense atmosphere surrounding them.

"Oh, Jihoon! I see you met Hansol. Are you guys getting along?"

"Yup, we're best friends now," Jihoon chirped, smirking at the younger boy from behind Seungcheol's back. "Hansol's such a good kid."

Needless to say, Hansol was very careful about what he said in front of Jihoon from then on.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Jihoon shakes his head, looking innocently at his friend. "No idea. Kids these days. So weird."

Seungcheol eyes him curiously. "Yeah, you're right I guess. Anyway, I'm gonna go help him open up. You gonna stick around?"

"Nah, I got what I came for," Jihoon says, standing up. He plucks two donuts out of the box and tucks them discreetly into his backpack. "I'm gonna try and finish up my mixtape."

"This is what, the third one this year? You're crazy," Seungcheol laughs. "But alright, man. Stop by again soon."

With a promise to do just that, Jihoon leaves the store, waving at a terrified Hansol on his way out.

♡ ♡ ♡

Mingyu has a lot of quirks.

Jihoon is used to all of them.

So when he walks in on the younger boy cutting his boyfriend's hair in the living room, he thinks nothing of it.

"Hey Mingyu, Wonwoo," he greets pleasantly.

"Hi Jihoon," they answer in unison. Wonwoo sends a shy smile his way, while Mingyu doesn't even look up from snipping his boyfriend's bangs. How rude.

"Wonwoo are you sure you trust him with your hair? Last time I let him experiment on me I ended up with this," Jihoon says dryly, pointing to the pastel pink mop on his head.

Mingyu snorts. "It makes people less likely to believe that you beat the crap out of me on a weekly basis. Think of it as a way to disguise the devil inside of you."

"Mingyu, that's rude." Wonwoo frowns. "Jihoon's so nice."

"That's right!" Jihoon agrees instantly. He sits on the couch, angling his body so that his head lands on Wonwoo's lap. "I would never hurt a fly."

He honestly doesn't know what he did to make Wonwoo look at him like the sun shines out of his . They've known each other for the six months that Mingyu and Wonwoo have been dating, yet he still sees Jihoon as nothing less than an angel. It’s probably Wonwoo himself-- unlike his boyfriend he never does anything annoying, and he's so mild that he never gets on Jihoon’s nerves, so the shorter boy has no real reason to be an to him.

Then again, maybe it’s because Jihoon looks at Wonwoo like he’s some kind of rap god. He knew he wanted to have the older boy feature in his videos from the first time he heard him rap-- his rhythm, flow, and deep voice were perfect to Jihoon’s picky ears.  Sure, he’s a little bit awkward, but Jihoon can deal with awkward.

Either way, it's nice having someone who doesn't think he's the devil's spawn.

Mingyu tsks. "Whatever, hyung. I know the real you. Anyway where were you? Did you bring food?"

Jihoon stares idly at Wonwoo's jawline. He thinks it’s literally the nicest jawline he's ever seen, all strong and defined. Then he thinks of the Pokemon donuts sitting somewhere inside his backpack. Then he thinks of Mingyu eating the Pokemon donuts sitting somewhere inside his backpack, and nope, that’s not gonna happen.

"Yeah," he says finally. "But you can't have any."

Mingyu looks like he's about to complain, and Wonwoo must have some weird boyfriend sense because he stops the younger boy before he can even start. "Gyu, you already ate. You're going to get a stomachache if you eat any more."

"Yeah, Gyu," Jihoon mocks. "Listen to your hyung. And stop eating so much. You're tall enough as it is." (Let it be known that this last statement is said with a fair bit of salt.)

"Fine," Mingyu mutters sulkily. He combs through Wonwoo's hair one more time before procuring a can of hairspray out of nowhere. Spraying a liberal amount all over his boyfriend’s head, he continues, “Abuse the maknae, I see how it is. Don’t you have songs to write? Collab requests to turn down? Hoshi videos to rewatch for the fiftieth time?”

Jihoon immediately reaches over the back of the couch and whacks him over the head. Wonwoo looks mildly shocked, but smartly decides to stay out of it.

“First of all, shut up. I’ve only watched the same videos twice, at most three times. His dance moves just get to me, you know?” Jihoon sniffs pretentiously.

“No I don’t, hyung. You never had any interest in dance before you found his channel. You still can’t dance,” Mingyu says.

“Hey, yes I can!”

“You dance about as well as I do!”

“Hell no I dance way better than you!

“Oh you wanna go?!”

“I’ll kick your tall in DDR you !”

“Frickin bring it, man, I am the king.”

And that’s how they end up in an arcade, hogging the only two Dance Dance Revolution machines in the room for the next five hours.

(They both end up having terrible scores, and agree to never speak of it again.)

(Before they’re about to make the walk of shame back home, Wonwoo asks if he can try a round. Mingyu and Jihoon exchange looks and go, "Sure, Wonwoo." There's no way they're worse than him.)

(He beats both of their scores combined.)

♡ ♡ ♡

Later that night, Jihoon nurses a wounded ego and sits on his bed, checking his endless forms of social media.

Public Twitter, private Twitter, Soundcloud, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, KakaoTalk and finally… YouTube. Jihoon sighs. YouTube has to be the most exhausting platform to look through, because it’s where most people contact him asking to collaborate. It’s also the place most people go to to advertise their own channels, so he has to be careful about what he keeps and what he marks as spam.

hi im a new singer id love it if you could

I just started my channel and if you could give me a shoutout I’d

DO YOU LIKE MAGIC? DO YOU WANT TO SEE

“Arghhh,” Jihoon groans unnecessarily. “Why are people so annoying...”

“You better not be talking about me,” Mingyu says from below. Jihoon ignores him and continues scrolling.

Hi! If you have time, would you be willing to

hey, i really like your videos!! your voice is

your songs touch my soul, we should

In his effort to get through as many messages as quickly as possible, he almost misses it. In fact he would have scrolled right past it if it weren’t for the familiar profile picture he’d gotten so used to seeing.

As he’s re-reading the message, Jihoon's heart threatens to beat right out of his his chest. He blinks at the screen, wondering if he needs glasses--

Because there, sitting in his inbox, is something he never expected to see.

10hoshi10 1 hour ago

hey, i really like your videos!! your voice is amazing, and your original songs are sick :D i was wondering if you wanted to collab sometime?

...

......

......!!!

“MINGYUUUUUUUUUUU!”

The younger boy is at his side in a matter of seconds, frantic and out of breath.

"WHAT," he shouts. "ARE YOU DYING, DO YOU NEED ME TO DRIVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?"

"You can’t even drive!" Jihoon exclaims, heart still thumping wildly.

"Oh yeah," Mingyu says, surprised. "Anyway, what the hell is wrong with you. I thought you were getting attacked or something!"

Jihoon shoves his laptop into Mingyu's face. "Look at this!"

"Do you like magic, do you want to see my clothes disappear...? Dude, your inbox is always full of weird crap. This is nothing new."

Jihoon groans. "No, , below it."

Mingyu squints at the screen, taking a moment to look for what Jihoon is talking about. Then, like they're in a bad sitcom or something, his jaw falls open comically.

"Holy ."

"I know right." Jihoon tosses his laptop aside and flops miserably onto his bed. "This is crazy. What do I do?"

Mingyu sits down next to him, patting his head soothingly. "Reply, what else? This is like your shoujo fantasy come to life. Next thing you know you guys are gonna be married with like seventeen kids."

Jihoon blushes just thinking about it.

"Dude shut up this is serious! I'm gonna screw this up, I know it. Ugh, he's so hot and funny and he dances so well and I'm just... Just--"

"A grouchy little man who happens to be insanely musically gifted? A kid in university with critics raving over his music? Lee Jihoon, who has a million people who love what he does," Mingyu says softly. "Stop doubting yourself, hyung. You're amazing and I'm sure this guy will think the same. Plus, didn't he already say that in his message?"

"Yeah," Jihoon mumbles into his pillow. He's positioned so that Mingyu can't see his face, and he's glad for that because he doesn't want the other to notice the telltale signs of impending tears. He sniffs, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "I guess I am kind of the ."

Mingyu laughs, punching him in the shoulder. "There's the conceited hyung I know." He ruffles Jihoon's hair one more time before standing up. "I was actually gonna get some food before you screamed bloody murder and scared the crap out of me. You better reply to him by the time I get back, okay?"

Jihoon nods obediently, reaching for his laptop at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, go ahead."

With Mingyu gone, Jihoon almost panics again, because he still can't believe that this is happening; that Hoshi, the guy he's been lowkey obsessed with for almost two years, asked him to collaborate. Jihoon wants to hit himself for not having the guts to do it himself.

Well, he muses. It's good if it at least one of us knows how to take the initiative.

After a few more minutes of staring at the same three sentences, Jihoon starts to type.

woozisings 53 seconds ago

Sure, that'd be awesome. My kakaotalk is jihoondere. We can brainstorm ideas there.

Can't wait to work with you! ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ

The last part is added as an afterthought, a last minute addition to make him seem like less of a stick in the mud. At least that's what he tells himself. So what if he also wants to seem cute and approachable so he doesn't scare his future husband away?

Jihoon presses send before he has time to contemplate the consequences of his actions.

" my life," he grumbles. "And Hoshi for turning me into some k-drama heroine."

♡ ♡ ♡

In a dance studio somewhere, a boy with endearingly slanted eyes pauses mid-step and sneezes.

“ACHOO!”

He wipes at his nose with the back of his sleeve.  

"Must be getting too dusty in here."

♡ ♡ ♡

woohoo lots happening here! still no (actual) hoshi yet… that's the thing with internet relationship fics. the other half takes ten million years to show up haha

and yes, the pretty boy sweater was completely necessary.

also, i’m incredibly touched by the amount of support this story is receiving ;v; it’s actually the first i’ve written since like fourth grade lol so it’s a bit rusty, but i enjoy writing it so i’m happy to see that you guys are too! i write this as i go so if anyone has any ideas, i’d be happy to try and incorporate them into the story :D

lemme know your thoughts! til next time (❁´‿`❁)*✲ﾟ*

(psst be my friend on tumblr)