a/n: This is way, waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than I wanted -___-;;

idk how to feel about it

I just want to introduce Minseok to more people OTL

Minseok didn't like crowds he didn't like a place where there were a lot of people, so it was just natural for him to not really like the idea going to the mall on the weekend. Sure, having Junmyeon with him would make the crowds a little bit more bearable, but the thoughts of touching strangers were still bugging his mind. However, there were days where he would lie himself on top of his half asleep boyfriend and asked whether if he could take him to the mall. There was this specific mall that Minseok liked, the mall has a really large bookstore where he could spend an hour just to choose one book he wanted to read, after then, Junmyeon would take him to a small cafe inside the mall where the waffle and milkshake taste heavenly, and before they go home they would stop by the bakery where Junmyeon would buy about two dozens of colorful macaroons for Minseok, which he strictly told him that the macaroons is for a week supply not a day. It was always the same routine every time they went there. So there he was, crawling on Junmyeon's bed on a Saturday morning before he lie his upper body on top of Junmyeon, chin resting on Junmyeon's chest.

Junmyeon who was only half asleep opened one of his eyes, saving his energy of opening both eyes because he was still feeling kind of tired. He sighed softly at Minseok's round face before his eyes and reached out to Minseok's cheek. "Let's go to the mall!" Minseok beamed. Instead of answering his boyfriend's request, Junmyeon rolled his body and pulled Minseok with him so that he ended up hugging Minseok to his chest, Minseok's nose pressed to the base of his throat, "An hour..." He said with husky voice, "Let me sleep for one more hour," he pleaded.

Minseok wiggled a little, might as well making himself feel comfortable. He smiled to himself, knowing that Junmyeon wouldn't be able to see it. "Okay..." He whispered in respond, before tilted his head up to plant a kiss to Junmyeon's jaw.

==========

They were done with everything they wanted to do, Minseok happily holding a box of macaroons on one hand and holding Junmyeon's hand with his other hand as he glued himself to Junmyeon's side, trying to stay away as far as possible from strangers. On their way to go back to the parking space, when they were walking near a small fountain inside the mall, someone called out Junmyeon's name and making both of them turned their heads towards the voice. "Jinki hyung!" Junmyeon greeted happily.

Jinki was a familiar name to Minseok, Junmyeon had talked about him several times before and Junmyeon described him as 'a brother he never had'. Jinki was about two years older than Junmyeon and they were taking the same classes at grad school. The first impression when he saw him for the first time was Jinki looked so nice, with wide smile and eyes that disappeared into thin line as he smiled, as if his eyes were smiling along. With only few centimeters taller, Jinki wasn't intimidating for Minseok's small frame, but he did look clumsy as he slightly tripped over an invisible rope, but somehow, that made him more likeable.

"What are you doing here?" Jinki asked, still with a smile and such warm voice.

Junmyeon pulled his hand off of Minseok's and moved it to Minseok's waist to pull him closer, "Taking him to a date." He answered.

"Oh!" A realization seemed to hit Jinki as he shifted his gaze to Minseok, "You must be Minseok!" He exclaimed with a hint of familiarity in his voice, "Junmyeon talked about you all the time! I wanted to meet you for a long time, it's so nice that I finally do!" He offered a hand which Minseok accepted after a pat on his back from Junmyeon. "You look a lot cuter than in photos, wait until Kibum see you!"

"You came here with Kibum?" Junmyeon asked and looked around to find the said person.

Kibum was also a familiar name to Minseok, as much as he knew, Junmyeon first met him at middle school and they grew up together. Kibum was Jinki's boyfriend and from what he heard, Kibum was really friendly and borderline loud when he was excited.

"Who else would I come with? Oh, there he is!" Jinki waved to the direction of men's restroom where a boy wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a lot of accessories was walking towards them.

“What a small world,” Kibum said with a fake annoyance in his voice when he was close enough after he saw Junmyeon there, “Wait!” He suddenly pointed his lean finger at Minseok even before Junmyeon get the chance to say anything, “Oh my God! Are you—You are Minseok right?” He squealed and threw himself forward to hug the youngest boy among them, “It’s so nice to meet you!”

Minseok became stiff and he squeezed Junmyeon’s hand in shock because he really didn’t like being touched by a stranger, let alone being hugged, even though the said stranger was Junmyeon’s friend, but that was the first time they met, and he finally understand what Junmyeon meant when he told him that this Kibum person was borderline loud when he was excited.

“I wanted to meet you since forever!” Kibum finally let the shocked Minseok go, fortunately, “But he always wants to keep you for himself. You look a lot cuter than in photos!” Kibum cooed.

Junmyeon just stared at his friend incredulously and heaved a heavy sigh before decided to finally introduce them, which, should be done earlier, before Kibum had a squealing spree, “Minseok, this is Kibum, you’ve heard about him before.” He said, hinting about the ‘loud’ part when he described Kibum to Minseok.

Minseok only gave Kibum a small nod, because, what was the point of handshake at that point? He also somehow managed to force a genuine looking small smile.

“We can’t meet like this!” Kibum clasped his hands on his chest, “I have to treat you something, can I buy him something? A drink?” He turned his head towards Junmyeon, asking for permission.

Junmyeon turned his head towards his confused boyfriend and gave him a comforting smile as a way for him to say ‘he’s not dangerous’, “You said you want to drink bubble tea.” He said and patted Minseok’s back. And the next thing he knew he was sitting on a bench with Jinki beside him, watching as Kibum took Minseok to buy bubble tea.

“I hope he doesn’t scare him,” Jinki chuckled, “You know Kibum can be a little bit too friendly.”

Junmyeon smiled and shook his head, “It’s not his fault, Minseok originally doesn’t really like it when someone touches him, unless it’s his friend or someone he knew well. In his head, when someone touched him, it means they wanted to hurt him. That was what he learned.” He explained, so that Jinki wouldn’t feel bad or anything. He had told Jinki and Kibum about Minseok so that they wouldn’t be surprised or thinking that Minseok was weird or anything when they eventually met, because Kyungsoo, who met him the earliest, legit thought that Minseok hated him at first.

“Is it really that bad?” Jinki carefully asked. Being raised in what you call a normal family and environment, something like what had happened to Minseok was something that he only saw in news and dramas, not to someone as close as his best friend’s boyfriend.

Junmyeon let out a bitter laugh, “It was worse, Kyungsoo thought he hated him when I introduced them. It was barely a month after we started dating.”

“He’s really adorable,” Jinki blurted out, when he saw Kibum and Minseok walking towards a bubble tea shop not far from where they were sitting, “You spoil him, don’t you?” He asked, jokingly accusing Junmyeon.

Junmyeon let out a small laugh, “Can’t help it,” He admitted, “I want him to have everything he needs and all the best things I can afford to give him,” He paused and sighed softly, watching his boyfriend queuing inside the bubble tea store and smiled a little, “I want him to have everything he never had before, and if I could, I want to give him back everything that had been taken away from him.” He wishfully said in lower voice. It felt nice to talk to Jinki, someone who was older than him, also, Jinki was a good listener and mature as a person.

“How is he now?” Jinki asked, knowing well that Junmyeon would understand what he meant.

“He has his bad days and he has his good days too, but he’s better, he’s getting a lot better.” Junmyeon smiled, with a hint of pride lingering in his voice, “He still has nightmares, but not as often as it used to. He’s still really picky about his food but he eats more now, without me telling him to, and gained a bit weight even though he still get sick easily. His grades are getting better and he actually gets less detention now. I’m proud of him.” He couldn’t help himself from bragging about Minseok.

Jinki’s eyes widen, genuinely happy for his friend, “Wow, just hearing all of that makes me feel proud of him too.”

“But there are things I wish I could change, but I can’t.” Junmyeon’s smile turned bitter in comparison to the previous smile he had when he talked about all the positive progress Minseok managed to achieve, “Like, he’s still so afraid of the dark, because his parents used to lock him up in a dark room when he was a little. Things like that makes me so angry and—and helpless.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Jinki rested a comforting hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder, “You can’t heal someone, who had been hurt for so many years in the span of few months, it will take a lot longer than that. You are doing great,” He encouraged, “He will feel bad if he knows you feel like this, he would feel as if he didn’t try enough. He’s still so young Junmyeon, give him more time.” He paused a little and pointed to Minseok who was ordering bubble tea inside the store, “Look at him, I don’t know how he was before, but I can tell that he’s actually happy now. You deserve to feel proud of him and yourself.”

“Thank you.” Junmyeon felt grateful, he needed that, he needed to hear someone telling him that he was doing good, because he kept doubting himself a lot of the times, wondering whether if he was doing things right, whether if he did more damage instead of fixing things.

“Is he clingy?” Jinki asked out of nowhere, at one side he wanted to change the subject into a lighter one, but he was also being random as usual.

“Ehhhh, what do you think?” Junmyeon asked back, making Jinki let out a chuckle, “He loves hug, if we are staying at home on the weekend, out of twenty four hours, I probably hug him for about twenty, not that I’m complaining— What?” He suddenly asked when he saw Jinki’s amazed smile.

Jinki shrugged his shoulder, “Nothing, just amazed at how things are become now. Who would ever guess that you finally, like, in love? Be in a relationship and actually committed to it and feel happy about it.”

Jinki had witnessed Junmyeon’s past relationships before, they all ended in different ways, but the problem were relatively the same, Junmyeon was never really committed to it. Junmyeon was really target oriented, he knew what he wanted to achieve and stick to it, and he didn’t really care about anything else. If you asked him to choose between his relationship and work or school, he didn’t even bother to find a midway and he always stick to one choice. But after he met Minseok, everything changed. To put it in a simple explanation, Jinki once said that it seemed like Junmyeon ‘melted’ and not as ‘hard’ as he used to. Junmyeon became more willing to compromise, not only about work, school and his relationship, but also about anything in general. He looked a lot happier, and, not to say that he wasn’t fun to hang out with, but then, he did became a lot more fun to be with after he had Minseok.

Even Kyungsoo once asked, “Is he always like that? He’s like, shining! And did he talked about TV shows or I was hearing things, he finally uses his TV!” Not long after Junmyeon excused himself to go home after they hung out together, referring to how Junmyeon looked happier and how he changed in a positive way. Sure, Kyungsoo already knew by then about Minseok, but it’s not like it was Junmyeon’s first relationship. At that time, even before he met Minseok, Jinki only smiled and said, “Well, seems like he already find that someone.” That was when Jinki knew, whoever this Minseok kid was, he had brought a good change to his best friend.

Junmyeon smiled to himself, “I just need to find the right person, I guess.” And Jinki couldn’t agree more.  “There they are!” His smile widen as he saw Minseok walked towards them holding a large cup of bubble tea in one hand and a plastic bag with another cup on the other. Waffle, macaroons and bubble tea, it was a lot of sugar, and he usually wouldn’t tolerate that, but well, there was always exception.

Minseok jogged a little when there were only few steps separating him with Junmyeon, “This is mango slush, we—ah, Kibum-hyung bought it for you.” He said and handed the plastic bag in his hand to Junmyeon.

“Really? Thank you!” Junmyeon accepted it with a smile, meanwhile Kibum just waved his hand, telling him that it was not a big deal.

“Kibum, I think we have to go now,” Jinki glanced at his watch.

“Oh right!” Kibum gasped, seemed like he suddenly remember about something important, “We need to pick my mom up at the airport.”

Kibum waved at Minseok when he was about to leave, after he promised to call and visit him later, and Minseok waved back at him with a small smile, still a bit awkward, but he looked somehow happy. Junmyeon smiled along when he turned his head to his side and saw that little smile on Minseok’s face. Maybe I should’ve introduced them sooner. He thought in his head.

==========

“I like Kibum hyung,” Minseok blurted out after dinner, meanwhile Junmyeon was washing the dishes.

“That’s great,” Junmyeon responded short.

“And I like Jinki-hyung too!” Minseok continued.

“That’s nice,” Junmyeon responded again as he put a cup to the drying rack, “Do you remember Jongin? That boy we met at Victoria’s wedding? He’s Taemin’s, Jinki’s little brother’s boyfriend,” he added, which making Minseok creased his brows, because he thought Jongin was with the other boy who was with him that day.

Minseok always felt so amused when someone was being nice to him, he wasn’t really used to it, it’s kind of sad actually. It was great that Minseok liked Kibum and Jinki, that he knew more people and became more open. But there was this bittersweet feeling inside Junmyeon’s chest, maybe he was selfish, but he used to have Minseok all for himself, but then, when Minseok actually said that he liked other people, he felt like he lost a little piece of him.

Junmyeon was still lost in his thought when he felt a pair of arms snaking around his waist from behind, “Minseok, you will get wet like this,” He said softly, he didn’t want Minseok to get wet, because he was still doing the dishes.

“You know that I like you the most, right?” Minseok said, as if he could hear what was going on inside Junmyeon’s head.

He didn’t know why, but Junmyeon felt a lump in his throat and his eyes moistened when he heard that. He felt strangely happy for a reason, and turned around to face his boyfriend after wiping his hands on the front of his pants. His arm circling Minseok’s small frame, and the said boy was looking at him with a wide smile, beaming. There were so many things had changed after he knew Minseok, he learned about a lot of things and the amount of happiness Minseok brought to his life was overwhelming. He learned that things could be compromised and happiness is not only about an achieved target or a balanced equation. Happiness could also in the form of Minseok’s giggles every time he found something amusing, it could also when Minseok finally fell asleep at dawn after a long night of having high fever, sometimes happiness was when he heard Minseok calling his name when he was home after night classes. He learned that happiness exist in simplest thing, and he eventually started to find happiness in things as simple as finding the other half of his socks, well made coffee, or out of his class ten minutes earlier.

Junmyeon spend a few seconds just staring at Minseok’s round face before kissed the tip of his nose, “You better be!” He said.

Minseok giggled, it was one of his good days. He tiptoed to peck Junmyeon’s lips, “I love you!” He said that, without knowing that that was the one thing Junmyeon needed the most at that time.

“I love you too,” Junmyeon replied in a softer voice, “Go drink your milk tea before it gets cold.”

It’s okay, Junmyeon thought, it’s okay if Minseok have more friends, or know more people. Because, it was a good thing, and he knew that eventually, Minseok would only come home to him, and like what Minseok told him, Minseok liked him the most, Minseok loved him.

a/n: I tried so hard for this ;A; I'll proof read again later.. we all know i probably wont

I wish we can see more of JinKibum later x)