Seunghoon and Jinwoo spent the entire afternoon just catching up with each other. There was so much of each other’s lives they’d missed out on due to not talking.

Jinwoo got to hear the story of how Yoon and Hoony met and how they started to date, from Seungyoon’s perspective. Hearing all of it did leave Jinwoo with quite a bit of guilt gripping at his heart, even though Hoony reassured him.

They touched upon Jinwoo’s own relationships. Hoony was horrified to hear that Jinwoo’s college boyfriend wasn’t the only one who’d mistreated him; he was horrified to hear that Jinwoo’s experience with abuse had repeated a few times until he’d finally taken some time to himself.

Even though Hoony had expressed concern, Jinwoo shied away from revealing to him the true extent of the abuse he’d experienced. In fact, it was exactly that concern why Jinwoo didn’t want to tell him right away, he didn’t want to worry Seunghoon even more.

Instead Jinwoo talked about his new boyfriend and all the wonderful things he’d brought into his life. Hoony was happy to listen to this as well.

At some point they left the café, having decided to surprise Seungyoon by visiting, telling him that they’d made up.

Seungyoon was overjoyed. He hugged them both, telling them over and over how happy he was that they had reunited; he even teared up, which Jinwoo and Hoony found funny considering neither of them had cried during their reconciliation.

And Jinwoo, well, he found himself amidst a storm of nostalgia. Only a few years ago he was all alone, freshly broken up, hadn’t talked to his best friend for a while then, with his family having turned their backs on him, jumping from one unstable job to another.

Now, everything was different. He didn’t believe that love or a relationship, or that one person can fix one’s entire life—not ever since he’d learned his lesson about it at least—but somehow it did seem that Mino had been the catalyst for all the recent, good changes in his life.

It was after he met Mino that Jinwoo met Seungyoon, was introduced to Mino’s friends and started going out more. It was thanks to them that he learned so much about himself, about love. He wouldn’t have dared face himself and consequentially grown so much if it wasn’t for Mino.

Of course, a lot of those positive changes couldn’t be credited to Mino or his presence in Jinwoo’s life, but Jinwoo liked to believe that the Universe had wanted it that way.

One thing that didn’t exactly change from his time before Mino was the instability of Jinwoo’s job.

His profession was just like that; at times there was no work, other times there was so much work Jinwoo didn’t have the time to breathe.

He’d learned to function this way, to keep finding translating or teaching jobs here and there, none permanent, but enough for him, who lived alone and had only himself to take care of. And frankly, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

However, some weeks after his and Hoony’s making up, Jinwoo’s writing became a little bit more than a hobby.

He didn’t think much of it, he knew he wouldn’t make a fortune off his short stories, but ever since Mino had, after so much begging and pleading, gotten to read a story or two, Jinwoo had been thinking about trying to have them published.

It was Mino’s reaction that encouraged him; it was seeing how genuinely amazed he was, and him asking to show them to his friends. They’d reacted in a similar fashion, and them reading his stories even sparked a long conversation between him, Dongwook and Seunghyun, that stretched out far into the night.

Lastly Jinwoo showed some of his works to Seungyoon and Seunghoon, Hoony being the one who had a similar amount of education on the matter as him. Hoony’s critique was surprisingly gentle, while still helpful.

It was after all of this that Jinwoo decided he wanted to put his stories out there, to share them with whoever would read, even if it doesn’t end up a big number of people.

Him and Hoony then started working on finding a publisher.

And here he was, with his first ever published book. It was a cause for celebration.

Jinwoo wanted to keep it lowkey, so he threw a small party at his place—he couldn’t remember the last time he’d invited that many people to his apartment, probably never, considering he’d never had that many friends.

He was in front of the mirror when the doorbell rang, throwing one last glance at his outfit and makeup; it was nothing glamorous since he did say he wanted the celebration to be lowkey, but he still wanted to dress up a little, so he wore his nicest jeans and his favourite pink sweater and a white choker with a small rose. To match his sweater, he’d put on a pink highlighter, the one Mino liked.

It was still too early to expect anyone else, and Jinwoo knew this was Mino at the door.

He skipped over to the door, heart beating with expectation of whether Mino would like his look for the night—which was silly of him considering Mino never failed to compliment him, even when they were sitting on the couch in their pyjamas, with zero effort having been put into their looks.

Jinwoo noticed something was off the moment he opened the door.

 Mino’s leather jacket was zipped all the way up and let’s just say he looked like he was unskilfully trying to smuggle snacks into a movie theatre. Furthermore, he didn’t even approach Jinwoo to give him a kiss, which was something he never missed out on, especially when Jinwoo was all dressed up.

“Hey babe,” Mino chirped, walking in. “I came early, cause, well, I brought you a gift.”

Jinwoo shook his head, crossing his arms after he’d closed the door. “You’re making a much bigger deal out of this than I’d wanted it to be!”

Mino only smiled sheepishly. “I know, I know, but in my defense this is something I would’ve gotten you either way—it’s just that now I have a reason for it.”

“Oh yeah? And what did you want to get for me?” Jinwoo questioned. He fully expected Mino to pull out a bag of cheetos and for that to be it.

But then his jacket meowed.

Hold on a second.

Meowed?

There it was again, the unmistakable sound.

Mino pressed his lips together in a restrained smile. “Well...”

He ped his jacket only to reveal two Sphynx cats in each of his inner pockets.

Jinwoo didn’t know what to do. He only grinned like a fool, unable to move or even say anything. Except that then he realized what a silly scene this was; Mino, a grown man had two cats in the pockets of his badass biker jacket.

It made Jinwoo burst out laughing. “You are insane!”

Mino only shrugged again, now smiling victoriously.

“I just—remembered how you loved Johnny when you first met her and mentioned that you want a cat of your own, so...”

It was true. Jinwoo had met Johnny when he first went to Mino’s place. It had been kind of unplanned. He’d been feeling down, it had been one of those moods where he was simply too trapped in his own head, having been away from any human interaction for too long, drowning in all his troubles.

He’d decided to, instead of hiding himself away, spend some time with people who would understand that his mood wasn’t the best, and would be willing to keep him some company for him to feel better.

His mind had first darted to Mino, Yoon and/or Hoony, of course. But seeing as at that point he hadn’t seen Mino in a while and had been missing him dearly, while he’d seen Yoon and Hoony just the day before, he’d called Mino.

However, it happened that Mino at the time had been spending time with Pyo, because them too had been too busy to hang out, despite living together.

Jinwoo hadn’t wasted time feeling bad; unlike in the past, he now had friends he could rely on other than his boyfriend. But then Pyo had stepped out, saying that he didn’t mind sharing his Mino time with Jinwoo.

It had been a very sweet gesture, and Jinwoo in turn had said that he wouldn’t mind doing whatever the two had had planned.

This was Jinwoo’s first time visiting Mino’s home and meeting Johnny the cat. It was also the time he truly got to know Mino’s qpp, whom he didn’t usually talk much with when it was the whole gang hanging out.

Needless to say, Jinwoo had felt a lot better after visiting.

He couldn’t believe this event inspired Mino so much.

“So, based on my one comment, you got me two cats?”

“Well, I was going to get only one—but babe, you should have seen them! See, when I went to adopt, I knew I’d have to get you a hairless cat cus you’re allergic. But they were the only Sphynx cats they had and—they were all cuddled up, keeping each other warm.. I didn’t have the heart to separate them, so I had to adopt both.”

Jinwoo listened to the tale with his arms crossed, but by the end he was smiling even more than he already was.

“You did well, Mino-yah. I wouldn’t have wanted you to separate the kitties,” he said and walked over, to finally get his long awaited kiss, though he had to be careful of the cats still in Mino’s pockets.

It was at moments like this that Jinwoo wondered how he could have ever considered Mino intimidating or in any way scary. Mino was nothing but a sweetheart who loved cats and giving kisses to his boyfriend.

They didn’t take the two cats out of Mino’s jacket before they were in the living room, where they sat on the carpet and Jinwoo helped put them on the ground. Mino went to hang his jacket but very soon he was back, looking at the kittens who were a bit disoriented in the new surroundings.

Rei and Bei – which were the names Jinwoo chose for the kittens – ended up being the stars of his party that night. All the guests completely ignored the existence of chairs and were sat on the floor, watching and cooing, and of course, eating all the food in Jinwoo’s house.

Jinwoo’s friends were decent enough not to pester the kitties, not to overwhelm them with the attention when they were still getting used to their new home.

 Needless to say, it was more than a successful celebration.

* * *

One of Jinwoo’s favourite things was when his and Mino’s friends all got together to hang out. Often in those situations he caught a quiet moment to himself, just watching everyone having fun and interacting. In those moments he got lost in everyone’s buzzing and chattering, a soothing opposite to the silence that had been surrounding him for years of his life.

It was one of those moments. Him and Mino, Mino’s gang and Hoony and Yoon all got together to go to a carnival. The weather was getting warmer, though the breeze was still chilly in the evening.

Jinwoo shuddered, pulling Mino’s jacket tighter around himself. He looked around at the colourful lights that hurt his eyes, the freefall rides towering over him.

He then lowered his gaze to find his friends who were scattered around. On one side Jiho and Dongwook were trying to force Hyoseob onto a rollercoaster. On the other, Dean and Seunghyun were looking at the display of candy, finally deciding to get themselves two cotton candy each. And not far from Jinwoo, Pyo, Mino and Seungyoon were standing in a triangle, discussing fiercely. Seunghoon was there, standing to the side, mostly looking bored.

He caught Jinwoo looking at them and pressed his lips together into a smile that displayed exaggerated suffering. Jinwoo smiled back, beginning to walk over. Seunghoon met him halfway, and easily looped his arm with Jinwoo’s.

“We ought to get away from there,” he said.

“Why?” Jinwoo asked, looking back at the three, who were beginning to walk, although quite aimlessly. They moved about a meter before they just stood again, continued talking.

“What are they even talking about?” Jinwoo added.

“Photography,” Seunghoon unveiled. “Guess they’re having fun, but I wasn’t, so I figured we’d go do something else.”

Hoony and Jinwoo contemplated joining Dean and Seunghyun in eating ungodly amounts of candy, but as it turned out the two had joined Dongwook, Jiho and a terrified Hyoseob on the rollercoaster after having eaten their cotton candy.

Hoony and Jinwoo deduced that at least three people in that group would be throwing up as soon as the ride ended, and that they didn’t want to be there to see that. So, they moved along.

They walked around the large space, trying to find something to do. At a large carnival, you’d think it’d be easy for two fools to find some fun, but you’d be wrong. Jinwoo and Seunghoon were men of refined tastes and needed something exquisite to entertain them.

They eyed the bumper cars. Perhaps later.

And then Seunghoon spotted it. The claw machine filled with the cutest stuffed animals both of them had ever seen.

They ran over and like a couple of kindergarteners pressed their palms and noses to the glass, trying to pick out the largest, cutest plushies for themselves; and for their boyfriends.

After Seunghoon picked out a penguin for himself and a seal for Yoon, Jinwoo was still struggling to find the perfect thing for himself. He’d already picked a cheetah for Mino, but for himself... he wasn’t sure.

“I want the purple panda,” Jinwoo decided in the end.

Seunghoon squinted. “I don’t see a panda.”

Jinwoo pointed at hints of a purple ear and a white head, with an eye with more purple around it, poking out in one of the corner with many toys already on top of it.

Hoony whistled. “How do you plan on getting it out? It’s pretty buried.”

“Many tries, I guess,” Jinwoo said, already reaching for his pockets to get the money.

It took him only two tries to get the tiger. Then Jinwoo set out for his panda, but kept failing. After all, he did have to get a few toys out of the way first. Seunghoon then complained how his toys would get buried by Jinwoo’s attempts and insisted he got them out before Jinwoo continued his quest.

It took Seunghoon a few times but soon he stood by Jinwoo with two large plushies in his arms, watching Jinwoo struggle.

By the time he got his panda out, he was nearly out of money, but Jinwoo had his giant panda, he was hugging it and he was happy.

He transferred the cheetah from one hand into the other in order to check how much money he had left. “Yeesh. This was quite the trip,” he trailed off, zipping the pocket back up. “I hope Yoon and Mino like the toys, or it won’t have been worth my money.”

Seunghoon paused as they walked, staring at Jinwoo’s back. “Uh. Hyung?”

Jinwoo stopped as well and turned around to look at the other. “Hm?”

“It wasn’t you money.”

“What?”

“You’re wearing Mino’s jacket.”

Jinwoo felt his heart drop down to his stomach, eyes wide. He looked down, realized that he indeed was wearing the black leather jacket. He remembered how Mino had given it to him when he’d whined that he was cold.

“Well... Hopefully they really, really like these little monsters.”

While Hoony and Jinwoo were at the claw machine getting plush toys, they ended up losing their friends and now they were searching all over the wide space. They checked the rollercoaster, the candy stands, and the clear area where they’d last seen Mino, Pyo and Yoon talking about photography.

But they were nowhere to be seen, so Seunghoon decided to give up and call one of them, even though he knew they might not hear their phones due to the noise all around. While Seunghoon was busy with the task, Jinwoo was standing next to him and holding all of their plushies.

And then out of nowhere, he heard someone call out, “MINO!!”

At the sound of his boyfriend’s name, Jinwoo spun around and immediately tried to find the person who said it. But before he could, there was already an arm around his shoulders.

Jinwoo froze up, completely stiff with the sudden, unwanted physical contact.

Seunghoon quickly dropped the call in favour of inserting himself between Jinwoo and the person, pushing them away politely.

“Hey, hey, back it up buddy,” Hoony said, frowning at the stranger.

The man was confused. He looked between Jinwoo and Hoony, scratching his head. “Well, ,” he said in the end.

Jinwoo didn’t like how the guy’s gaze lingered.

“I thought—I thought you were someone else,” he explained.

Jinwoo didn’t speak. His heart was still racing, he was trying not to freak out.

“A mistake,” Seunghoon said, giving a tiny sympathetic smile, though still standing in front of Jinwoo protectively.

“Right.” The guy continued to eye Jinwoo. “I thought I’d recognize that jacket anywhere, but... Maybe my memory’s a little rusty. Sorry about that.”

Just as he turned to leave, Jinwoo managed to find his voice. “You—know Mino.”

The guy turned and continued to look at Jinwoo for a while, before he smiled faintly. “Yeah. We used to date some years back.”

Hearing this, Seunghoon got even more defensive. He would’ve helped Jinwoo with the plushies, however he needed his hands free if he needed to act quickly for any reason. He just had a bad feeling about this situation.

“So, uh,” the guy proceeded. “It is his jacket?”

Jinwoo gave a tiny nod, subconsciously hugging the toys closer.

“So you must be the new boyfriend.”

Jinwoo nodded again, more hesitantly this time.

“How long have you been together?”

To Seunghoon, at least, it was obvious that this questioning was leading to nothing good, so he intervened.

“A while now. Well, we do have to go find him and our other friends. It was nice meeting you though.” He took Jinwoo by the arm and started to lead him away, but the guy stubbornly called after them,

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Seunghoon and Jinwoo exchanged looks. Hoony gave Jinwoo’s arm a gentle squeeze of reassurance, as to promise that he wouldn’t leave him or let this unpleasantness stretch out for too long.

“Maybe you misunderstood,” Mino’s ex kept talking. “I didn’t mean anything bad, Mino and I are on pretty good terms actually. I was just—well, I guess I was trying to look out for you.”

Seunghoon having his back allowed Jinwoo to collect himself after the encounter, so by now he was properly pissed and could speak for himself again.

“I don’t need you looking out for me, thank you very much.”

The annoying thing was that this dude looked really nice. He had those tiny, kind dimples and his eyes were crescents when he smiled. He had the softest brown hair and wore the comfiest of hoodies.

Jinwoo knew what he was: a boy disguised as a really gentle, sweet person. Jinwoo could smell his insincerity from kilometres away, because, you see, Jinwoo was a gentle and sweet person himself and he wasn’t a fake, therefore he could recognize those who were.

“Feisty. That’d be a first for Mino,” the guy said. “He usually dates irresolute people, you know, so he could feel superior.”

Both Seunghoon and Jinwoo were at the edge of their nerves at this point. Jinwoo would have dropped the plushies and punched this dude then and there, if they weren’t so cute. Those toys were adorable and didn’t do anything to him, so Jinwoo didn’t want to hurt them.

Seunghoon knew he should have been working towards ending this conversation, but he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to be snarky,

“You do realize you just called yourself irresolute and inferior?”

The guy put his hands on his hips and shook his head with that humble, defeated smile of his. “Well. It’s because I wasn’t that our relationship was so short.” He looked up at Jinwoo and tilted his head cutely. “Or was it because Mino is unable to settle down and just around all the time?”

They stared each other down for a little while, before Jinwoo dumped the plush toys into Seunghoon’s arms and started to step forward. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do, and clearly the ex also sensed this and wasn’t feeling threatened at all. He just stood there, striking a pose and smiling mockingly as if he’d already won.

But then Jinwoo spotted Dongwook and Jiho behind the guy, and they soon noticed him as well. They waved, but quickly realized that something was wrong, if only by the way Jinwoo stomped towards them.

Perhaps the ex was too intrigued to walk away.

Dongwook and Jiho were drinking slushies. Jinwoo snatched the one Jiho was holding and started to return to where Hoony and the unwanted acquaintance were.

The ex realized what was happening a little too late. By the time he even tried to step away, Jinwoo had dumped the entire thing on his head.

Seunghoon burst out laughing. Him and Jinwoo abandoned the dude who was trying to get the ice mixed with syrup out of his hair and off his clothes, cursing them both, and joined Dongwook and Jiho who were staring in awe, confusion and terror.

“Holy . Was that Jungho?” Jiho asked, trying to get a better look at the slushied dude.

“Yup,” Dongwook confirmed, very happily sipping on his slushie that was still in its container. “He’s the one who was super bitter about breaking up with Mino.”

“That explains so much,” Seunghoon exclaimed, still chuckling. Every time he so much as glanced back at Jungho – who was now looking around as if expecting anyone to give a damn about what had just occurred, even though everyone around them had been too busy having fun and minding their own business to notice – he would start laughing all over again.

Jinwoo gave Jiho an apologetic look. “Come on, we need to find the others. And I’ll get you another slushie.”