“Are you sure you boys don’t need anything?”

Wonwoo grinned back at her. “No grandma. We’ll be okay.”

She nodded at the door with her warm smile. “Just let me know, okay? Rest up you two. You’ve both had a long night.”

“Thank you!” they both called out as she shut the door.

Wonwoo, sitting on his sleeping bag, turned to his friend. “Chan, I don’t think this really counts as a sleepover.”

As he was spreading out his own, Chan said back, “Of course it does. Why would you say that?”

Wonwoo chuckled and checked his phone. “It’s 11 in the afternoon.”

“Just because it’s not nighttime doesn’t mean it’s not a sleepover,” Chan argued. Getting comfortable, he crawled in and laid flat on his back. “Your argument’s invalid. We have sleeping bags. We’re on your floor. It counts.”

Rolling his eyes, Wonwoo appreciated his friend’s efforts. It had been a while since they truly hung out, so this was a great idea, even if Wonwoo mocked him for it. “Whatever you say.”

Chan smiled and leaned his head on his hand. “No, it’s whatever you say. We’re here to talk about you, hyung.”

“I’ve already told you everything,” Wonwoo didn’t hesitate to reply. He knew what his friend was talking about. He told their little Jumper squad about what happened with Mingyu and how he was ultimately turned down, but he refused to elaborate.

But Chan knew there had to be more, and as the only one of them who was even in the same time zone as Wonwoo, he took the responsibility of making sure their friend was alright. “Don’t lie, Wonwoo. I can read you better than you can read any BIGBANG article. I know you’re still hurting from Mingyu.”

“He didn’t hurt me.”

“You guys are still friends,” Chan acknowledged, “but you’re hurting. Hyung, you seriously can’t hide from me.”

With a weak smile, Wonwoo let the weight of his heart lower him to his pillow. Placing his hand under his head, he stared up at his bedroom ceiling. Chan cautiously watched his every move, as if taking his eyes away would harm Wonwoo somehow. “Fine, I’m hurting,” Wonwoo finally admitted, giving Chan some relief. But he was still grinning. “But it’s okay. Mingyu and I are growing together, that’s all.”

Still concerned, Chan raised an eyebrow at him. “Really? Are you sure that’s what’s happening.”

“Definitely,” Wonwoo affirmed. “He didn’t leave me. I just...need to wait until his feelings catch up with mine.” As each word left his mouth, Wonwoo felt a slight sting in his chest. He couldn’t help it, so he hid it with a smile that only appeared when he thought of Mingyu. “He’s getting there.”

Seeing it, Chan chuckled and shook his head. Hearing Wonwoo say these things just reminded him of what he talked to Joshua about the other day. “Wow, everyone’s love life is progressing.”

Twisting over, Wonwoo asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Catching himself, Chan blew it off. “Never mind.” He fell back and joined Wonwoo in staring at nothing above them. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? Rejection isn’t easy.”

“He didn’t reject me,” he corrected.

Chan rolled his eyes. “Hyung, he didn’t say yes. He basically rejected you.”

Wonwoo blew some air out of his nose. “I mean, yeah I wish Mingyu would just love me, and be with me, and accept me.” Closing his eyes, Wonwoo could see the boy he loved so easily in his head. “But he needs time. It was a risk, and it didn’t pay off. That doesn’t mean it never will.”

It was weird to Chan how Wonwoo could be so optimistic yet so depressed at the same time. The guy was a walking contradiction. Still, Chan liked to believe that the more positive side held Wonwoo’s true emotions. “You’re so hopeful.”

Wonwoo smiled. “This is something that could stop me from jumping. Yeah, I’m hopeful.”

That definitely threw Chan for a loop. He immediately looked over at Wonwoo with total confusion. “What did you just say?”

“I said I’m hopeful.”

“No, before that.” Chan replayed it in his head to make sure he heard him right. “Did you just say that this could stop you from jumping?”

Wonwoo opened his eyes and looked at his friend, not so sure why he was acting weird all of a sudden. “Well, yeah. It could. If the universe sees that Mingyu and I love each—”

“Hyung,” Chan interrupted, his eyebrows furrowed and a clear frown on his lips. “Are you forcing this...to stop?”

Wonwoo shot up and realized his mistake, again. “No!” he defended himself. “No, that’s not it at all! It’s just…” he slowly started to add. “It would be nice…”

But Chan didn’t give him the chance to finish. “Oh my god, Wonwoo!” He sat up himself and stared in disbelief and near disappointment. “You can’t do it like that!”

“I’m not!” Wonwoo argued. He was hurt by this same accusation. “I really love Mingyu!”

“Yeah, but you can’t be thinking like that!” Chan obviously was disturbed by what Wonwoo could possibly be planning from his interactions with Mingyu. It was the same feeling Mingyu got when he thought about it. But for Chan it was about integrity and respecting the laws of the universe. Chan knew that Wonwoo hated jumping, but he didn’t think it was this bad. “You can’t be thinking about what you could gain! It’s like you’re using him!”

“You know I’m not!”

“The universe may think you are!”

Wonwoo let out a huge puff of air. Just hearing about the thing that pissed him off the most was enough to...well, piss him off. “Oh, the universe.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Chan told him, even though he knew that way too clearly. “Hyung, promise me that you’re not trying to use your love for Mingyu to stop. Promise me that that isn’t your end goal with this.”

Wonwoo bit his bottom lip and knew the right thing to say to his friend. He just didn’t know if it was the honest thing, and that bothered even him. But now was not the time to contemplate his deeper rooted problems. Giving Chan a weak grin, he nodded. “I promise. I love Mingyu more than the universe could ever expect. Whatever it decides for us has nothing to do with...anything.”

Taking in Wonwoo’s gaze, Chan took a second before he was satisfied. Finally, he nodded back. “Good,” he replied. “You and Mingyu deserve better than that.”

“Thanks Chan.”

With a smile, Chan chuckled. Putting his hand under his pillow, he said, “I know you hate jumping, but it could be worse.”

Now it was Wonwoo’s turn to be thrown off. “What?”

“I’m saying jumping isn’t that bad.”

Wonwoo’s jaw nearly dropped. “How—what—are you crazy?” he stammered.

“It’s not that bad,” Chan said again. He laughed before turning to Wonwoo. “Actually, I’m kind of in love with it.”

Wonwoo was beyond shocked. He didn’t know what to say, so thankfully Chan continued. “I know I never told you this, but I never wanna stop jumping.”

Wonwoo was silent. This was the strangest thing he had ever heard come out of his friend’s mouth, and Chan had said some weird things in the past. But this was so foreign to him: the idea that someone actually enjoyed the thing that he was trying to stop since he could remember. His brain was exploding, trying to see what it was that Chan could possibly be talking about, but nothing popped up. “Chan…,” he managed to choke out softly. “What…”

Chan could understand the confusion. He smiled and explained. “I love it, Wonwoo. I love jumping to a new place every night and trying to figure out where I am. I love the rush of being somewhere completely different from home. Doing that every night...is insane. It’s amazing,” he described. He spoke with such fervor that Wonwoo was almost uncertain if he and Chan experienced the same thing when they jumped. Clearly, both of them were feeling things completely different.

“It’s always a new adventure,” Chan went on, his eyes sparkling with his words. “Every single night is a new story, one that I can tell my family when I come home in the morning. Life is never boring and it never stops. You get to see life from so many different places. Wonwoo, just think of all the places we’ve gone! I know I’ve been doing this for many years less than you, but we’ve both probably hit up all the cities by now, right? Do you even know how many countries that is?” he asked excitedly. “How many lives we’ve passed through? How many people we’ve seen who we’ll never see again? It’s beyond insane and beyond amazing!”

Wonwoo kept listening to the joy that was just oozing out of Chan. “All these new people we randomly meet every night bring us new everything! New words, new languages, new ideas. I could never imagine so much of what I’ve been taught through these jumps if I just stayed in Korea. We get to see and be in a world that we never would’ve even touched if we didn’t have this special ability.” Chan glowed just thinking about it. “We’re special. And it matters. It makes me appreciate my home and miss it when I’m gone, but know that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

He glanced over at Wonwoo again and saw that his friend was concentrating on him, his face softening as he listened. “Wonwoo, I love being a Jumper, probably as much as you love Mingyu.” He chuckled. “I know you don’t feel the same way, but the least you could do is love without trying to force this beautiful thing to stop.” Wonwoo held his breath. He’d never thought of it that way before. “Unless, the universe thinks what you and Mingyu have is even more beautiful. In that case, you’ll stop and hopefully be as happy as I am.”

Wonwoo took in everything his young friend told him. He’d never, ever thought in this way before. He never saw jumping as a virtue that the universe gave to them. It was never a gift that kept giving. It was a pain, a burden, a cancer. But now…

Is Chan right about all this? Is jumping actually...beautiful? It took Wonwoo a while to process, but he knew that one afternoon “sleepover” wasn’t enough time for him to fully grasp this new way of thinking. So, he paused for a second and just looked into Chan’s eyes. Then he grinned. “Since when were you so insightful?” he teased.

The young boy flashed him a toothy smile. “What can I say? As a world traveler, I picked up some things.”

Wonwoo laughed. Something about hearing how mature his friend was made him proud. “The universe did a good job with you, Chan.”

“It’s doing a beautiful job with the both of us.”

— — —

“You guys do this every morning?” Jeonghan asked in amazement.

Pouring more waffle mix into the presser, Vernon replied, “Usually we don’t have anything this fancy, but we do eat breakfast together every morning.”

Jeonghan chuckled and sprayed some whipped cream on the stack Vernon prepared for him. It was 6:20am and he was so impressed with how the two cousins functioned. He’d been there a couple of days, but had missed breakfast every time. The time difference was really affecting him. He’d been sleeping randomly in the evenings and waking up at different hours of the night. Thankfully, swim practice hadn’t started yet. But now that his jet lag was going away, he could be awake with them. It really was a treat. “So I shouldn’t expect waffles daily?” he joked.

Joshua chuckled as Jeonghan joined him on the floor at the coffee table. “No, but you can expect cereal and cold pizza pretty often.”

“Is it bad that I’m really excited for that?” he laughed.

Joshua grinned and watched the boy pour syrup all over his waffles. He noticed the adorable way Jeonghan’s tongue peaked out when he was focusing. Cute, he thought, but he caught himself and looked away. “Join us every morning and it’ll be worth it.”

Jeonghan smiled and took his first bite. Immediately, his eyes grew wide. “Oh my god!” he exclaimed with his mouth full. “Hansol, these are so good!”

From the kitchen, Vernon stepped to the counter and looked out at them. “Thanks. I have a special recipe. If you prove to be trustworthy, I’ll share it with you before you leave.”

Pointing his fork at the boy, he answered, “I will do everything in my power to gain your trust. I must have this.”

They all laughed as Vernon came to join them. “So when do you start practice again, Jeonghan?”

Swallowing and taking another bite, he replied, “Tomorrow. I always have practice at 6, so I’ll be gone most of the night.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Joshua assured him.

“But I don’t have anything tonight, if you guys want to do anything,” Jeonghan said.

Vernon and Joshua quickly exchanged glances before Joshua cleared his throat. “Actually,” he replied, “I can’t do anything tonight.”

“Mm.” Jeonghan covered his mouth as he chewed. He turned to Joshua and asked, “Why not?”

Vernon watched cautiously even though he’d heard Joshua tell so many people this. Joshua wiped the corners of his mouth and explained, “Umm, I have to see my dad tonight.”

Jeonghan tilted his head. “Where’s your dad?”

“He’s in the hospital,” Joshua said with a weak smile. Jeonghan’s breath got caught in his throat. It was obvious that he wasn’t expecting that. “I’m actually busy every night because I go to the hospital to be with him.”

Jeonghan was completely shocked. He felt bad for not knowing, but Wonwoo never mentioned anything like that. “Jisoo, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“No, don’t be sorry,” he chuckled, but still with that somber look.

Jeonghan felt his heart get heavy. “Is he getting better there?”

Joshua shook his head. “No, he’s been in a coma.”

“Oh my god,” Jeonghan said under his breath.

“Yeah, he was in a car accident years ago. It was actually the crash that killed my mom,” he told him outright.

That hit Jeonghan even harder. His jaw dropped. “Jisoo, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, it’s been less than great.” Joshua had always done a good job at selling this story. He actually felt pretty bad selling it to Jeonghan though. The boy was just so caring. “But yeah, I go see my dad every night so I won’t be home from around 6 until now basically.”

“I understand,” Jeonghan said, sympathy just oozing through his voice. “It must be really hard.”

“It is. But I’ve gotten used to it.”

Jeonghan smiled. “Well, your dad raised a good son. He’ll be happy to know that when he comes to.”

That hit Joshua straight in the chest. He grinned back at him. “I hope so.”

Joshua’s story wasn’t true, but it wasn’t completely inaccurate. In Joshua’s family, his mom was the Jumper and his dad was normal. Growing up in LA, his mom did a great job of making sure he was always happy. She told him stories about her jumps and bought him his first guitar so he could play with her. With the voice of an angel, she would always sing to him. She was his hero since he could remember. His dad on the other hand was more or less the opposite. As warm as she was, he was cold and reserved. He was constantly working, so there was no time for him to even hear Joshua play or eventually sing. But that never really bothered him. His mother gave him enough love for the both of them.

It wasn’t until one night when he was sixteen did things change. On a random highway in the middle of nowhere on their way home from some city he can’t even remember anymore, Joshua sat in the back seat as his dad drove. He and his mom were talking about a song they wanted to learn together, Hold My Hand by Michael Jackson. They were laughing and singing when they were hit by a massive semi-truck. None of them ever saw it coming.

The next thing Joshua knew, he was in the hospital, opening his eyes to a few doctors who were trying to get him to say something. He glanced down and saw that he had a lot of scrapes and bruises, but nothing was missing or broken. His head was pounding and he could feel his face hurting. When he finally spoke, he weakly asked, “Where’s my mom?”

He’ll never forget the look on their faces. They told him they should wait for his dad. That gave Joshua a good half an hour to think of every possible scenario. But in the midst of his worries, he glanced over at the clock. It was 1 in the morning. Tears welled up and he cried like a baby. Something was terribly wrong.

The only time Joshua ever stopped jumping was for a month after his mom died. He stopped for that long because that wasn’t the only horrible thing to happen in that time frame. When Joshua’s dad finally came to see him, he didn’t say a word. He didn’t check to see if his son was okay or even bother to be there for him. He was there because a doctor told him to be.

Joshua can’t remember the last time he spoke to his father, but the last time he saw him was the day of the funeral. After that, he completely disappeared and Joshua was furious. He did everything he could to try and track him down, but it was useless. He never found him again.

So having lost two parents, Joshua was broken and alone. Thankfully, he had Vernon. Vernon’s dad was Joshua’s mom’s brother, so he knew all about jumping and his nephew’s special circumstance. For weeks, Vernon begged his parents to let him move out to California to help his favorite cousin, to be there for one of his best friends. Vernon knew that there was nobody else there for Joshua anymore, so he needed to be that person. After a lot of convincing and reasoning, his parents let him go. So Vernon moved from New York to LA and the rest is history.

“Yeah, I won’t be able to go out,” Joshua said again, but trying to lighten the mood. “But Vernon can take you around. There’s a ton of stuff to do here.”

“Yeah,” Vernon said with a grin. “We can get some food or go to the beach or anything really. It’ll be a lot of fun, for your first official night in LA.”

With a smile, Jeonghan looked at both of them. He really appreciated everything they were doing for him, but he was a little sad that Joshua wouldn’t be joining them. “That sounds awesome. We can do whatever you think is best.”

“I’ll drive us around,” Vernon said.

Jeonghan nodded and looked to Joshua. “What do you like to do around here?”

Still eating, Joshua thought about it. “Mmm, well it depends. Do you want to do something more touristy or a little bit laid back?”

“I guess either one works.”

“Then you should let Vernon take you to LACMA. It’s one of my favorite places around here,” Joshua said with a grin.

“Ooh! Yes!” Vernon exclaimed. “You’ll love LACMA.”

“What’s that?” Jeonghan asked curiously.

“It’s the LA County Museum of Art,” Joshua explained. “It’s really cool. There’s all sorts of really nice art pieces. You’ve probably seen pictures of it before. It’s the place with all those lamp posts that people take pictures of a lot.”

“It’s really nice,” Vernon added on. “You don’t even have to like art to know that it’s freakin awesome.”

Jeonghan laughed and ate some more. “That sounds great. Let’s go there.”

“You guys’ll have a great time,” Joshua told them, wishing he could come too.

Jeonghan smiled from the corner of his mouth. “Hopefully you can join us next time.”

Joshua felt his heart flutter. He cracked a smile and tried not to show how much he was freaking out. “Definitely.”

Satisfied, Jeonghan took another bite of his waffles. Getting some whipped cream on his top lip, Jeonghan felt like his tongue cheer with happiness. “Mmm, Vernon, these are seriously amazing!”

Laughing at how cute the boy looked, Joshua pointed to his mouth. “You’ve got a little something.”

“Hmm?” Jeonghan used his napkin and tried to wipe it off, but missed. “Good?”

“No, it’s still there. Here.” Joshua took his napkin and gently wiped off the boy’s lips. For a second, he couldn’t help himself from staring. Even though there was a napkin between them, he could feel that his lips were incredibly soft. “There.”

Jeonghan watched the boy and waited until their gazes met. He smiled. “Thanks.”

For a moment, they were both entranced. Neither of them said anything and it felt like everything stopped. Luckily, Vernon was there to see it and shake them back to reality. He could definitely sense what was happening in front of him. With a smug smile, he coughed. “Eh hem.”

They both jolted and turned to face him. Jeonghan was blushing all over and Joshua nearly knocked over his juice. Staring down at his food, Jeonghan tried to keep eating normally while Joshua was forced to stare at his cousin, who was not going to give him an easy time with this. Joshua gestured his head forward, indicating for the boy to shut it. But Vernon just chuckled and decided to be nice. “We’ll go later tonight, Jeonghan. For now, we can do some other stuff with Joshua.”

Now his normal color again, Jeonghan looked back up and couldn’t hold back how happy he was to hear that. “That would be nice.”

— — —

Jun
So you leave in a few days?

Hoshi
Yep 2 days from now we’ll finally meet up!

Jun
YESSS!!
Its about time!

Hoshi
LOL IK!
Weve been talking for like three years
Wish i could stay longer tho :(

Jun
Its ok next time
You and Jihoon are gonna be here for that article right?

Hoshi
Yeah
New panda at the zoo
So they send us
OTL

Jun
Lol hey its small but look
You get a chance to travel!!
Not a lot of internships get that

Hoshi
I know i know that parts awesome
Its just such a small thing
And they still havent given us anything really
Newsworthy

Jun
I getchu
Maybe youll find something big over here

Hoshi
Hopefully :D

Jun
Haha and even if you dont
I promise youll have a good time
Ill take you guys around show you shanghai

Hoshi
Agh its gonna be great!
I get to meet your friend right?

Jun
Yeah Minghao :D
He’ll probably be with us a lot
Youll like him

Hoshi
Oh I know all about Minghao ;)

Jun
Oh my god shut up

Hoshi
LOL im sure we’ll hit it off
Just not as well as you two ;)))

Jun
I swear I will make sure you never get into this country

Hoshi
So savage

Jun
SOONYOUNG!

Hoshi
LOL DONT WORRY XD
I’ll behave

Jun
Good
Howre things with you and your forbidden love?

Hoshi
Oh my god ok now you stop

Jun
Come on this is hardly the same

Hoshi
Agh there is no love
And its not forbidden
Its just…
Complicated

Jun
Youre gonna need to clarify for me later
U said hes a friend of a friend
Of the guy youve been tracking

Hoshi
Correct

Jun
Sounds pretty simple to me

Hoshi
Right just as simple as you and Minghao

Jun
…
Fine
I’ll shut up

Hoshi
Thank you XD

— — —

“I officially vote that as the worst movie I’ve ever seen,” Wonwoo said as they stepped out of the theater.

Mingyu chuckled as they headed for the sidewalk. They had planned to have dinner after. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Are you kidding me?” Wonwoo scoffed. “My life has a better plot than that thing did.”

Rolling his eyes, Mingyu had to admit that he was right. “Okay, fine, but that’s not really fair cause your life’s exceptionally different.”

“It’s not my fault I’m so exciting.”

“Of course,” Mingyu replied, tugging at his jacket as they strolled along. “But I don’t think you can call that the worst.”

Wonwoo turned to look at the side of Mingyu’s face. He just radiated warmth. With a soft smile, Wonwoo couldn’t help but feel all fluttery. “I guess you’re right. It wasn’t that bad...because you were with me.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Mingyu replied without batting an eye.

“It was basically a date,” Wonwoo teased, locking his arm with Mingyu’s. Even though he did it playfully and as a joke, his heart was racing.

Mingyu didn’t even bother to pull away. He knew it was no use. That, and it felt kind of nice. “It was not a date.”

“Just go out with me already.”

“No.”

Wonwoo laughed and let go. “You’ll come around eventually.”

Mingyu rolled his eyes again and weakly chuckled. “You’re so strange.”

This had been going on ever since Wonwoo confessed, which was a few days ago. So things were still fresh, but for the most part, they had moved on and kept their ends of the deal. Mingyu was still not for a relationship and Wonwoo was not giving up. Every so often, his feelings would resurface and he’d ask out Mingyu. The answer was always the same, but that didn’t deter him. It was kind of fun for Wonwoo. It was much better than what he was doing before, just bottling up his emotions and trying not to show his love. At least this way, Mingyu knew more about him. He wasn’t hiding anything, and he loved it when Mingyu knew more about him. Of course it was hard for Wonwoo to face continuous rejection, but he was just waiting for the day that would change. Reminding Mingyu that he loved him wasn’t a bad thing, right?

As for Mingyu, he was still himself. He refused to give in just because. Nothing told him going out with Wonwoo was what he needed, but he wanted the boy around. He wanted their friendship to continue to grow, so he put up with him. Every time Wonwoo asked him out or acted cute or tried to be flirty, Mingyu would cringe, but he knew the boy meant no harm. He couldn’t help it. And honestly, it was pretty entertaining. Mingyu was just thrilled that Wonwoo wasn’t keeping their friendship hostage and that life was pretty much normal between them. It was all...interesting to Mingyu. It was weird to him how Wonwoo could have so much confidence to repeatedly get rejected or how the boy never failed to throw in a teasing remark about being together every so often or how he was able to get Mingyu to not vomit over the thought anymore. Mingyu just liked Wonwoo, so he was fine with everything. He even kind of liked it.

To anyone on the outside, this might’ve seemed strange or dysfunctional, but for them it was meant to be. They were themselves and they were happy. That’s all that mattered.

As the two of them walked up to the restaurant, Mingyu went straight for the alley. “I wonder if he’s here today.”

Wonwoo smiled and quickly followed behind. “He was yesterday. I bet he’ll just smell you and know to come out.”

Mingyu laughed and crouched in front of the dark area. “I hope it works that way. He loves us.”

“He loves you,” Wonwoo corrected. He squatted down and waited with him. “I’m just another person to him.”

“No, he loves us,” Mingyu insisted. Shoving Wonwoo playfully, he nearly toppled him over. “He basically only sees me when I’m with you. I don’t think he’d recognize me if you weren’t here.”

Wonwoo’s heart picked up. “Sure, sure. Then he should be here today.”

Mingyu opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a small figure emerged from the shadows. The boy’s face lit up and he extended his hand. “Donut!”

As if he were smiling back, Donut scampered over to the two of them, scraping his head against Mingyu’s palm. Wonwoo watched as the two interacted, reminded of the first time he met this feline. Mingyu was just as cute as he was back then. He might be even cuter, if that’s possible, Wonwoo thought.

Mingyu Donut’s back and could feel his spine press against him. He frowned. “Has he gotten skinnier?”

Wonwoo reached over. Furrowing his eyebrows, he had to agree. “Yeah, I think so.”

Mingyu felt his heart ache, but he kept it in as to not worry Donut. After hanging out with their friend for a little bit, they headed inside.

“MANSAE!”

The two of them smiled as the hostess led them to their table. Taking a seat just across from each other, right by the front window as usual, Mingyu asked Wonwoo, “Do you think he likes living out there?”

Wonwoo flinched and looked up from his menu. He found Mingyu staring at him with concern. He smiled from the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think anything really likes being outside.”

Mingyu nodded. “So do you think it’d be a bad idea if I took Donut home?”

“Why would that be a bad idea?”

“What if he’s just so used to outside that being indoors makes him uncomfortable?” Mingyu asked. It was clear to Wonwoo that Mingyu had been thinking pretty hard about this. “I want to help him and make sure he’s well fed, but what if taking him home makes him worse somehow?”

Wonwoo smiled. “I don’t think that’s possible.” Mingyu was curious to hear why. “Mingyu, you love those cats more than anything. I don’t think anything you did for them could end up harming them. It’s just impossible.”

“Really?” he asked, still unsure.

But Wonwoo gave him a reassuring nod. “Definitely. He’s living out there and he’s survived, but I bet he would love having food and a place to be. It’ll be a little different, but in the end it’ll be better for him.”

Mingyu thought it over and imagined what it would be like to have Donut with the other cats. The idea made him smile all over. “I’ll have to talk to Seungcheol,” he concluded.

Wonwoo laughed and went back to the menu. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”

“He’s happy with them these days, but I wonder what’ll happen if I bring home a bunch more.”

“You’re gonna have to get started on your cat house,” Wonwoo teased.

Mingyu chuckled. “I’ll need your help with that then.”

Wonwoo paused. Sometimes Mingyu just made his heart stop, and it wasn’t even on purpose. Shaking himself, Wonwoo replied, “I’ll help you on one condition.”

Immediately, Mingyu slumped his shoulders and glared across the table at his friend. “Don’t you dare say it.”

But Wonwoo was already there. With a smirk and a raised eyebrow, Wonwoo leaned in and said, “Go out with me.”

Mingyu groaned and fell back into the booth cushion. “I hate you so much.”

“And yet here you are.”

Mingyu looked over at him and wanted to wipe that smug expression right off his face. But Wonwoo was right. He was still there. Sitting back up, Mingyu just shook his head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

Wonwoo shrugged. “I’m in love, what can I say?”

Mingyu rolled his eyes. “See, I’m still not too convinced of that.”

“What?!” he uttered through a laugh in disbelief. “What do you mean you’re not convinced?! I’ve told you like a million times!”

“Yeah, you don’t need to remind me,” Mingyu responded. “I’ve heard the ‘I love you’ a lot.” Wonwoo waited for the boy to elaborate on what wasn’t convincing, but Mingyu had been trying to figure that out for a while. Something was bothering him. Not the normal something, but something else. He sighed and said, “I guess…” He looked up at Wonwoo. “I guess you’ve never told me...why you…” He didn’t want to say it, but Wonwoo knew exactly what he meant.

“You want to know why I love you?”

A little embarrassed at how that sounded, Mingyu looked away. “I guess.”

Wonwoo chuckled and tried to get in the boy’s line of sight. “I’ve already told you, haven’t I? You’re special, Mingyu. You’re different.”

That wasn’t sitting right with Mingyu. He scrunched his nose and scratched the back of his neck. “But, like...that’s it?” he questioned, gently glancing up at Wonwoo. “That’s how you know you love me?”

Wonwoo smiled and reached over to hold Mingyu’s hand in his. He always got a little happier when he didn’t pull away. “Of course there’s more, dork. I love everything about you. I just didn’t think you wanted to hear it.”

“I’m just curious,” Mingyu admitted. Normally, Wonwoo was right. He wouldn’t want to hear anything of this, but he wanted to know what was going on in Wonwoo’s head.

Trying to figure out where to even start, Wonwoo just went with whatever popped to mind first. A big ol’ smile on his face, he said, “You’re honestly amazing, Mingyu. I don’t know if anyone’s really told you that—”

“Other than you,” the boy interjected.

Rolling his eyes, Wonwoo went on. “—other than me. You really are something amazing. Just something about you...grabbed me, even though I literally grabbed you.” Mingyu couldn’t help but crack a smile. “There’s so much about you that I love. I mean, I love how much you adore cats. I love watching you with them and I love the way you talk about them. How you want to bring home Donut and help him and make him feel better…” Wonwoo let out a breath. “...it’s amazing.”

Mingyu listened closely, trying to wrap his head around everything Wonwoo was saying. “I love how true you are to yourself. I mean, I know I’m being annoying with all this lovey dovey stuff and I really would just love it if you went out with me,” Wonwoo joked through a chuckle. “But I seriously do love how you don’t waver with who you are just because I’m asking you to. You know what you believe and you know how you feel and you don’t let anything force you to change. Something about that quality you have is really attractive to me, and...I don’t know. It makes me think that if you do ever change your mind about us, it will be because you truly feel the way I do.”

Wonwoo’s heart was pounding in his ears as he spoke, but he was beaming right at Mingyu. Mingyu was also feeling his pulse pick up. “And it’s not just those big things about who you are that I love,” Wonwoo continued with a bright smile. “It’s all the little things too. I love how funny you are when you don’t even try. I love how you smile when you’re around your friends. I love how you’re willing to learn about Kpop. I love your laugh, your eyes, your...everything, Mingyu.”

Taking in another deep breath, Wonwoo said, “And I really love how accepting you’ve been of my special situation.” That last one caught Mingyu off guard. Somehow, during this talk, he forgot all about Wonwoo being a Jumper. “I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to be able to trust someone the way that I trust you, Mingyu,” he explained, unable to contain his joy. “I’ve always hated what happens to me, but you make it easier because I know you’re the person I’m coming back to. You’re also the person I never want to leave. I just...love you, for everything you are and everything you’ve given to me.”

“Mingyu, you’re my best friend,” Wonwoo said for the first time. “You really, really are. I want to tell you everything and it seems like I have. You just make me so happy and I don’t know. I love you for that.” Finishing off, Wonwoo stared into Mingyu’s eyes. He was hopelessly nervous after letting all of his emotions out there again, but this time felt even better. It felt right. All he could do was smile.

Mingyu was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to say. Mingyu was listening the whole time, but Wonwoo had never mentioned being his best friend before. That really struck him as something special. And it made him smile right back.

“You’re my best friend too,” Mingyu concluded, never having thought about it before. Wonwoo’s brain was exploding and he just wanted to hear what else Mingyu was going to say. “I guess I didn’t really realize that. That you’re the person...I’m completely honest with.” He chuckled and tried to contain his amusement. “So thank you...for loving me.”

And for whatever reason, that made Wonwoo laugh. “Thank you for accepting my love,” he replied, overjoyed that Mingyu never let go of his hands. “And thank you for not running away.”

Mingyu was surprised with himself for that very fact, but he didn’t mind. He wasn’t bothered anymore. He understood. He felt this warmth wash over himself. “Of course not. You’re my best friend.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Wonwoo never wanted to let this boy go. “And you’re mine.”

— — —

“I am so not ready for this final,” Wonwoo complained, slamming his head into his textbook.

Mingyu glanced over his laptop and laughed. Tapping his head with a pencil, he told him, “Get ready. Keep studying. We’ve only been here for an hour.”

“Ugh,” Wonwoo complained as he sat back up. “I hate libraries.”

“They hate you too.”

Sitting beside Wonwoo, Seungcheol chuckled as he watched the two interact. It was always so nice for him to see Mingyu beam a certain way when he was around Wonwoo. It was like when he was with the cats. He looked so happy, even if he didn’t try to show it. Seungcheol was about to go back to reading when something caught his eye.

Frozen and suddenly filled with annoyance, Seungcheol tried to stay calm. Slowly, he stood up. Smiling down at the two younger boys, he said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Take me with you,” Wonwoo groaned, glaring at his work.

“Leave him here to suffer, hyung,” Mingyu teasingly added.

Seungcheol pushed in his chair and headed towards the bookcases decently far away from where they were sitting. Stepping into the aisle, he approached someone who was failing to look nonchalant. “I really don’t like you,” Seungcheol declared before anything else.

Jihoon looked up from the book he was pretending to read. Seungcheol was standing right beside him, so he had to tilt his head back to look the taller boy in the eyes. “Funny. I’m not so crazy about you either,” he said sarcastically.

Breathing through his nose, Seungcheol glared down at him. He was ready to yell, but unfortunately they were in a library. He was forced to keep it down. “I know exactly what you’re doing here, Jihoon.”

Shutting his book and putting it back on the shelf, Jihoon wasn’t intimidated. He was annoyed, however, that Seungcheol was now actually making his life harder. “How did you even know I was here?”

“Pink is a pretty noticeable color,” Seungcheol replied, mocking the boy’s hair.

“Wow, we’re getting personal now.” Jihoon fired back.

“It got personal the second you spoke to Mingyu.”

Rolling his eyes, Jihoon wasn’t going to let this kid push him around. “Look Seungcheol. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. I don’t want to know you. So please, just get the hell out of my way.”

Seungcheol wasn’t having it. “I’m not going anywhere until you leave my friends alone.”

“This is none of your business,” he said back, not letting his height represent his level of assertiveness. “I’m just doing my job.”

“And I’m doing mine.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything. They just glared at each other with any amount of pent up rage. Finally, Seungcheol broke and turned away. “You are unbelievable.”

“You’ve clearly never met a reporter,” Jihoon chuckled, pleased that he’d won that stare down. “We’re persistent.”

Seungcheol spun back around and stormed back, pointing at Jihoon’s face. “No, you’re a pain in the , that’s what you are!”

“SHHHH!” someone random person on the other side of the bookshelf immediately hushed.

Annoyed, Seungcheol wiped off his forehead and fell into a whisper. “You have to stop bothering them.”

Jihoon scoffed. “I haven’t said a single word to them.” He craned his neck to view through the bookcases at them at their table, still studying. “They don’t look bothered at all.”

But Seungcheol wasn’t having it. “Don’t look at them!” he commanded. Another “SHHH!” came as he grabbed Jihoon by the shoulders and pushed him up against the books so he couldn’t look at them any longer. Breathing angrily, Seungcheol said, “You need to cut it out.”

Jihoon was unphased by Seungcheol’s physical contact. He expected as much from someone as aggressive as he seemed. Jihoon stared into his eyes and replied in his unwavering voice, “You don’t scare me, Seungcheol. I need this. Nothing you say or do will ever stop me from getting to the bottom of Wonwoo’s story.”

Seungcheol wanted to punch the boy in front of him so hard, but he’d never actually resort to violence. He was just so incredibly bothered by the idea of anyone causing trouble to one of the people he always tried to keep safe. But Jihoon sounded so confident. Still, Seungcheol wouldn’t allow it. Releasing his grip and dropping his hands, Seungcheol sighed and shook his head. “Fine,” he finally said. “But you’ll find out how wrong you are.”

“I know I’m right about Wonwoo.”

“No,” Seungcheol corrected him. “You’re wrong to think that I can’t stop you.”

Jihoon scoffed again and honestly couldn’t take how ridiculous this was. “There’s nothing you could do.”

“I can report you to the police for stalking,” Seungcheol said off the top of his head.

But that just made Jihoon snort. “You don’t think that Wonwoo would’ve done that by now?” he asked, now turning the mockery the other way. “He clearly doesn’t want police involved. He’s hiding something.”

Seungcheol felt a pang in his chest because that must’ve been true. Then all of a sudden, a better idea hit him. An idea that he knew could work. He stared down at Jihoon with a smug smile. “Then I’ll follow you.”

Jihoon squinted at him. “What does that even mean?”

Too pleased with himself, Seungcheol chuckled. “I’m gonna stalk you the way you stalk Wonwoo,” he explained. “Everywhere you go, every move you make, I’ll be there to make sure you can’t do ‘your job.’ You won’t be able to turn a corner without worrying I’m there to bother the living daylights out of you.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes and stepped away from Seungcheol, heading out the way Mingyu and Wonwoo wouldn’t see him. Just imagining what that would be like was awful. He was done with this crap. He’d find Wonwoo again later. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Trust me,” Seungcheol said, that smugness still there. He spread out his arms and smiled. “I’ve got the time.”

Shaking his head, Jihoon didn’t even bother to look at Seungcheol before he left. “I really don’t like you,” he muttered.

Seungcheol laughed and leaned out the aisle Jihoon was exiting down. In a whisper, he called out, “Funny! I’m not crazy about you either!”

and here we are! hope you guys liked that XD yes so much goes on in these chapters now LOL hope you guys dont mind jumping through all these story lines all the time but things are starting to unfoil! i dont know if you guys can guess whats gonna be happening soon but a lot is planned out XD so again hope you guys liked this here and thank you again for reading and subscribing and commenting and upvoting it all REALLY means a lot to me wow <3 next post in 2 weeks! (im gonna TRYYYY to finish earlier but no promises :( ) talk to you guys again august 13th!! SEEMS SO FAR :'(

oh and side note: funny story...im going to kcon LA tomorrow what even XD my cousin ended up having a ticket and my friend convinced me so here we are again XD it hasnt really hit me yet cause this is all SUPPERRRR last minute but yeah! i get to see eric nam and bts again AHHHHH! if anyone wants to meet up let me know :D also, because this is such short notice i feel bad that i dont know much about astro twice or monsta x :( if any of you guys would like to give me a crash course on any of these groups in the comments thatd be awesome XD ALRIGHT NOW IM GONE AHHHH THANKS AGAIN!