“If I hear you talk about Jeongin one more time, I’m leaving this room.”

Changbin was joking for sure, nothing Hyunjin hasn’t heard before, but he dutifully pretended to zip his mouth up and stopped speaking, regardless. It’s not like he didn’t know that the older member had a point, too. He was perfectly aware of how much he’s been gushing about Stray Kids’ resident youngest and vocal, Yang Jeongin, a lot more lately. That in itself was saying something, since he was also pretty sure he’s been going on about Jeongin for quite some time now.

It only took a few seconds before Hyunjin opened his mouth again, “you were there, too. You saw how cute he was. Don’t deny it.”

Even just bringing it up made him remember the situation all over again. They were practicing all together before Chan suggested that they take a break for a while, which meant their usual  downtime shenanigans could begin. For Hyunjin, it consisted mainly of resting on the floor with Jeongin in between his arms, both still sweaty, but too used to the position to really care. It was comfortable, after all.

It didn’t take long before Jeongin was dragged up by Seungmin to sing, which was easily supported by the rest of the members; even Hyunjin, although he missed the touch immediately. Let the younger ones play and entertain the rest, why not, right? Jeongin would inevitably start singing trot songs, one way or another—there was no stopping him when it came to his passion, which was exactly what he did.

Complete with cute little actions and facial expressions that were supposed to be funny, but Hyunjin found it cute all the same.

“Jeongin’s always cute,” Changbin agreed as if reading Hyunjin’s thoughts, before rolling his eyes at the pleased expression that was on the younger boy’s face because he did so. “I just don’t talk about it for—how long has it been?—fifteen minutes straight though.”

At that, Hyunjin sheepishly took a look at the time on his phone to confirm what was already said. Who knew time could fly so fast? They’ve been alone in their dorm room for a while now, being the only members of the room to get back from practice since the rest still had vocal training to do. He knew that he’s been talking Changbin’s ear off the entire way back home and also during the entirety of the time they’ve spent so far. Still, a part of him felt like fifteen minutes wasn’t even enough to express his thoughts about the youngest.

“I can’t help it,” Hyunjin said, close to whining. “Jeongin’s literally the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.”

“I know. We all know. I’m pretty sure half the JYP building knows, even those who don’t even know who you two are. You like Jeo—” Changbin began to say, getting interrupted only by Hyunjin throwing a pillow at his face. He was about to retaliate and throw it back, the continuation of his statement halfway out his mouth, before realizing that the door was opening to reveal the room’s last two members, Jisung and Jeongin himself.

Hyunjin was safe, for now.

“I’m so tired,” Jeongin immediately complained, dragging out the syllables as he made his way to where Hyunjin was lying down, flopping down next to the older boy. “I just want to sleep forever.”

“You say that every day,” Hyunjin replied with an amused tone, arms already enveloping the younger boy as he did so, heart fluttering when the youngest didn’t push him away. Jeongin never did, really, but that also came with how most of the members did the same so it was a small victory. Instead, the younger boy adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, back touching the other’s chest.

Jeongin yawned, “I mean it every day.”

From across the room, Hyunjin was aware of the looks the other two members were giving them—him, specifically—but chose to ignore it in favour of leaning his head against Jeongin’s hair. It was during moments like these where he was most tempted to do something, anything, to further show his affection towards the other boy. There was only so much he could do without outright divulging his feelings, though.

He knew it was obvious. Painfully obvious, even, that even the most oblivious of people picked up on it. Every other member of Stray Kids knew. It was safe to say his crush on Jeongin started even before the group was even formed; hearing him sing for the very first time just struck a chord in his heart that never stopped. He has always been interested in the younger boy, took his time getting to know Jeongin, and overall just fell a little deeper each day.

It was beginning to reach a point where there was no way Jeongin didn’t know, as well.

If he did know, the younger boy hasn’t said anything. Hyunjin wasn’t exactly expecting a rejection—he had his self esteem to thank for that—but he did have his doubts. Jeongin was everybody’s favourite, being the team youngest and all, and everybody had their own special way of showing it. He was definitely used to the attention and love he got from everybody else, which made Hyunjin think that his own actions rarely ever stood out, even when he wanted them to stand out.

Jeongin catching on to his feelings himself would save Hyunjin the trouble of actually confessing, which was still something that made his heart pound just thinking about it.

So overall, Hyunjin accepted things the way they were.

That meant trying his best to spend time with the younger boy in any way possible, but also doing his best not to make his feelings too apparent. He was overall torn between wanting Jeongin to know and not wanting Jeongin to know; sometimes wishing the youngest would make the first move instead, but what did that say about him? It was a weird mix, something Hyunjin didn’t dwell about too often. He knew one thing was for sure, which was that he liked Jeongin, and left it at that.

The day things started becoming just a bit different had to do with one Felix Lee.

Just like how everybody knew about Hyunjin’s crush on Jeongin, they also knew that the older boy was overall clingy to everybody. Clingier with Jeongin, that was for sure, but still clingy to a certain extent that made it clear he enjoyed randomly leaning on people or hugging them. That was exactly why he was seated in the living room with an arm wrapped around Felix, who had his own arm wrapped around Hyunjin’s torso.

It was also the exact scene Jeongin chanced upon seeing the moment he walked out of the room.

“Jeongin!” Hyunjin called out immediately. His left arm still wrapped around the boy next to him, so he used his free hand to gesture towards the couch. “Come sit with us! We’re about to watch this movie called—“

His statement was interrupted by Jeongin practically making a beeline for the empty space next to him, sitting down immediately. Before Hyunjin could continue his statement, he ended up further surprised by the way Jeongin wrapped his arms tightly around his torso as well, just a little bit above where Felix’s arm fell. The action made his heart beat a little too quickly for a while as he willed it to slow down.

With Jeongin so near, the younger boy was bound to hear it.

“What’s the movie about?” Jeongin asked, unfazed by everything as he leaned his head on Hyunjin’s chest, eyes glued on the screen, blissfully unaware of the blushing mess he caused Hyunjin to be. He accepted being touched just fine, but for him to actually initiate close—very close—contact? Maybe it was the older boy’s lucky day.

Finally snapping out of it, Hyunjin eased his free arm around Jeongin’s thin frame.

“Well, the name’s Zootopia, so I’m guessing you can tell there’s animals involved, as you can also see on the screen,” he tried to joke, but knew most of it came out in a flurry of nervous words. Hyunjin was only ever nervous when he was faced with JYP himself, so just what was Jeongin doing to his poor heart now? The younger boy hummed in reply, and didn’t say anything else.

Until Felix laughed loudly at a funny scene, head unconsciously leaning to rest on Hyunjin’s shoulder.

There was no way Hyunjin imagined the things that happened afterwards. He was hyperaware of everything ever since Jeongin sat down, which meant he was clear on things being real, at least. He didn’t miss the way Jeongin’s arms tensed around him the moment Felix’s head hit his shoulder, or the way Jeongin moved just a tiny bit closer to him o