Being together with Hanbin - Jinhwan soon realises - is simple and easy, like falling into a familiar step, into the rhythm of a familiar song.

The first night Hanbin had stayed over was the first time in a long time that Jinhwan had felt so much affection for anyone other than Yunhyeong: after washing up and lending Hanbin one of his bigger-sized shirts and sweats to change into, Jinhwan had been standing over his desk, phone in hand as he tried to note down his shifts at the cafe on the new roster when he had felt a tug at the bottom of his shirt. Hanbin was sitting cross-legged on his bed, hair strands still slightly damp from his shower as he tugged again at Jinhwan's shirt and told him to come to bed. Jinhwan had felt his heart swell with affection at the sight, dropping his phone onto the desk and climbing onto the bed before pulling the towel from around Hanbin's neck to better dry his hair. Hanbin had grabbed the front of Jinhwan's shirt to pull him down for a kiss before he could move away, smiling against the elder's lips when Jinhwan shuddered in response to Hanbin pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. When Jinhwan had finally crawled into bed, Hanbin's eyes were already closed, and Jinhwan had been absent-mindedly tracing the mark he had onto Hanbin's collarbone earlier when the younger suddenly pressed his lips tenderly against the top of Jinhwan's head, murmuring a drowsy sleep, hyung before drifting off again. 

Jinhwan had taken in the sight of the sleeping boy beside him - his messy hair, the slope of his nose, the curve of his lips - and had felt the gentle press of Hanbin's fingers on his hip and had realised, in the quiet and stillness of the night, that he was going to love Hanbin, and love him well. 

-

About a week later, Jinhwan is back to his old, usual routine: he'd just dropped Yunhyeong off at Jiwon's and Donghyuk's apartment and was now heading into the cafe for work. The bell above the door chimes as Jinhwan pushes it open, smiling in greeting at Junhoe who's currently serving a customer from behind the counter. Junhoe meets his gaze and smiles back briefly before returning his attention to the customer. Jinhwan hurries to the back room to deposit his bag and put on his apron, remembering the first day he had returned to work since being put on probation and immediately getting bombarded by Junhoe's worried questions. Jinhwan had laughed and teased Junhoe for being a sap, enjoying the way the younger boy's brows had furrowed in indignation and the way his face had flushed in embarrassment. But Jinhwan hadn't forgotten to give Junhoe's arms a gentle, reassuring squeeze, telling him not to worry and thanking him for his concern all with one simple gesture. Junhoe had huffed in annoyance, flattening Jinhwan's fringe against his forehead till it covered his eyes and elicited a whine from the elder, and that was that. 

The moment Jinhwan steps into the counter, there are customers to be served. Junhoe's preparing drinks, so Jinhwan takes his spot behind the register and smiles at the customers as he begins to ring up orders. 

"You know Soohyun's coming in later, right?" Junhoe asks Jinhwan once he hands off a steaming mug of tea to a smartly-dressed woman. 

"Yeah, with Jinhyeong and Hongseok," Jinhwan replies, drying his hands after rinsing the blender. "We're doing decorations tonight aren't we?" 

Junhoe groans at the thought of doing up the Christmas decorations for the cafe again this year, remembering how it had taken the four guys more than an hour to set up one small Christmas tree and hang up some lights the previous year, not to mention the number of near-death experiences they had with the ladder and wires. Junhoe hopes that having Soohyun around this year will speed up the process because while the overtime pay is nice, he really doesn't want to get home at two in the morning and then have to wake up again at six for school. 

Jinhwan laughs at Junhoe's response, reaching into the front pocket of his apron for something he had taken with him from the back room. "Here, by the way, I almost forgot," Jinhwan says with poorly-concealed laughter, rising on his tiptoes to fix a reindeer headband onto Junhoe's head. "Staff requirements." 

Confused, Junhoe reaches up to pull the headband off and see what it is. When he does, Jinhwan has to duck while laughing to avoid getting hit by the headband Junhoe throws his way. 

"Koo Junhoe!" Jinhwan whisper-yells in the best imitation of their manager he can muster, mock-affronted as he bends to pick up the headband. "That is completely unacceptable and disrespectful behaviour. I do not pay you to tolerate your attitude!"

Junhoe rolls his eyes and snatches the headband from Jinhwan with an exasperated sigh, fixing it back onto his head if only to see the delighted smile that curls at the edges of Jinhwan's lips. "You can never be scary, hyung," Junhoe says with a shrug just as Soohyun enters the cafe, glaring at her when she raises a brow at his headband before bursting into giggles. "You're tiny." 

For someone so tiny, Junhoe thinks after Jinhwan gives him a good smack across the head, Jinhwan sure hits hard.

Soohyun joins them behind the counter and together, they work through rush hour and all the way to closing. Soohyun brings two more headbands from the back room, another reindeer one for Jinhwan and a red one with santa's hat on it for herself. Soohyun is all bright beams and full of Christmas cheer, and even Jinhwan manages to pull off the supposedly ridiculous headband with his small frame and brilliant smile. At one point, Soohyun gives Junhoe a smack across the arm and tells him to at least put some effort into trying to smile, saying that she's already cutting him some slack because she knows he doesn't actually have a soul. Jinhwan laughs when they start bickering and when Junhoe throws the reindeer headband again. 

Jinhyeong and Hongseok's arrival signals closing time, Junhoe going around to clear tables while Soohyun cleans up the counter. Jinhwan is mopping the ground floor as Jinhyeong and Hongseok bring out the box of Christmas decorations from the storeroom, reused from previous years but with some new additions for lights that have lost their brightness and ornaments that have collected too much dust over time. 

"Where should we put the tree?" Jinhyeong asks as he walks back to the storeroom to fetch the small green tree. 

"In the corner up front?" Jinhwan suggests, leaning on the mop. 

Jinhyeong comes back out carrying the tree while Jinhwan heads to the storeroom to keep the mop and bring out the ladder. Hongseok has already separated all the decorations for the cafe from the ornaments for the tree, handing the box of ornaments over to Soohyun who has just finished cleaning up the counter. Soohyun slaps Jinhyeong's hands away after said boy drops too many ornaments and hangs six blue balls consecutively, which is how Soohyun ends up decorating the tree by herself. 

"It's for the best," Jinhwan says with a laugh when Jinhyeong trudges over to him and Hongseok, who's climbing up the ladder with a worried look on his face when the ladder shakes a little with Jinhwan's laughter. Junhoe joins them in a few minutes, grabbing an armful of decorations and heading straight for the stairs so that he won't get forced into taking over Hongseok's job. Jinhyeong seems to catch the hint, pulling out a few wires of colourful Christmas lights before chasing after Junhoe. 

Soohyun finishes with the tree in record time, looking extremely satisfied with her work even as Junhoe comes over and wrinkles his nose in distaste at the now decorated tree, complete with colourful, blinking lights. For all his grumbling, though, Junhoe made good work of the stairs, and Soohyun smiles as she drags her fingers across the garlands and stockings now dangling from the railing. Hongseok makes full use of his long and lanky body to hang up all the other decorations, thoroughly relieved that they avoided any near-death skirmishes with the ladder this year. 

"Are we done?" Junhoe grumbles from his spot on one of the booth seats, face buried in Jinhwan's neck in exhaustion. Jinhwan smiles, indulgent, patting Junhoe's thigh once in comfort.

"Just one thing left," Soohyun replies, walking over to them with a smile befitting her young age and bright personality. She hands Jinhwan the small, yellow star that's currently missing on the top of the tree. "You should put this on, oppa." 

Jinhwan takes the star with a smile, gently nudging Junhoe's head up from his shoulder before getting to his feet. He pats Soohyun lightly on the head and she beams up at him. Soohyun chances a glance behind her and sees Junhoe glaring at her with a sour expression on his face. Immediately, she grins broadly, poking her tongue out at him before trailing happily after Jinhwan. 

Jinhyeong and Hongseok have already kept all the boxes and the ladder by the time they all gather around the tree again. Jinhyeong looks tired, leaning his head against Hongseok's shoulder with his eyes closed. Hongseok lets him, even keeping extra still so as to not jostle the younger boy, and Jinhwan smiles at the sight because no matter how much Jinhyeong and Hongseok like to push and shove each other around, he knows how good of friends they really are. Junhoe and Soohyun are at it again, bickering over god-knows-what, and Jinhwan takes one good look at the four of them - his friends, his family - and feels so infinitely blessed. 

"Maybe I don't have much, maybe my life is hard," Jinhwan says suddenly, quietly, but the other four look at him regardless. Jinhwan makes sure to smile at each one of them, and he knows his smile is contented because they all grin back. Jinhwan steps forward and fixes the star on top of the tree, thinking of the four friends with him now, thinking of Jiwon and Donghyuk, thinking of Yunhyeong, thinking of Hanbin. "But this life has blessed me with you guys, and that's more than enough for me."

Soohyun beams before shouting out a cheery merry christmas oppas! and flinging her arms around Junhoe and Hongseok, completely uncaring of the fact that it's still about a week more to Christmas. Hongseok and Jinhyeong join in the cheering and before long they're all in one messy group hug, laughter spilling from their lips and eyes sparkling despite it being some ungodly hour of the night. 

Junhoe glances down and sees Jinhwan's eyes crinkled at the edges and curved into crescents as he smiles, and he tries not to pay attention to how his grip tightens around Jinhwan's waist.

-

Jinhwan winces when he presses the doorbell in front of Jiwon and Donghyuk's apartment because it's slightly past one in the morning and any sound just seems far too loud. The door opens relatively quickly and Jinhwan offers Donghyuk an apologetic look, but the younger just smiles at him - warm and bright as always - and lets him in. 

"Yunhyeong's sleeping in our room," Donghyuk tells Jinhwan as the latter toes off his shoes. "Jiwon hyung's taking a shower." 

Donghyuk looks ready for bed, wearing a loose white shirt that somehow still manages to look good on his lean frame, dark brown hair messy and falling into his eyes but still making him look good, anyway. Donghyuk is just so pretty, and he's smart and talented and kind-hearted, too; Jinhwan will never understand how Jiwon managed to land such a great catch. 

"I don't get it," Jinhwan says as much, sliding onto a counter stool and gratefully accepting the cup of tea that Donghyuk places in front of him. "What did Jiwon do to get you to agree to go out with him?" 

Donghyuk laughs at that, even as he folds the sweater Jiwon had messily thrown across the counter and places Jiwon's dirty cup in the sink, turning on the tap to wash it. "I think it had something to do with his persistence, and perhaps the fact that I was just really weak when it came to him and never actually resisted," Donghyuk replies, laughing.

Jinhwan smiles around the cup of tea, remembering the first time he had heard the story of how Jiwon and Donghyuk had met. Jiwon was in his final year at university and was a member of the university's soccer team. They were having their final match of the annual competition season and Donghyuk was there to support one of his childhood best friends, who just so happened to be Jiwon's teammate. Jiwon had been immediately taken by Donghyuk when he first saw him, a tall and extremely good-looking boy with a smile that put so many others to shame, Jinhwan remembers Jiwon saying, looking over fondly at Donghyuk who was busy playing with Yunhyeong. The rest of the story was pretty much what Jinhwan had expected: Jiwon had bravely approached Donghyuk to ask for his name and number and whether they could meet in future, and after a few months of dedicated and genuine persistence on Jiwon's part, they got together. Jinhwan can still so vividly recall Jiwon telling him this story, right on the couch in their living room, and how Donghyuk had leaned down to press a kiss to Jiwon's temple on his way to the kitchen, having silently been listening to Jiwon talk the entire time. 

Before Jinhwan can even offer Donghyuk a response, there's suddenly an arm being flung around his neck and a face being pressed uncomfortably close to his, and Jinhwan instinctively leans away when Jiwon starts to shake him in greeting, way too excited considering the time of night. "Jinan hyung!" 

Jinhwan pales at the nickname as Donghyuk chuckles from where he stands in front of the sink, Jiwon letting go of Jinhwan in favour of walking over to the youngest and dropping a kiss onto his lips. Jinhwan watches with a small smile as Jiwon cards his fingers through Donghyuk's messy hair briefly, telling him something as Donghyuk leans into his touch. 

Jiwon and Donghyuk love each other so simply and earnestly - Jinhwan hopes he and Hanbin will be able to, too. 

"So," Jiwon begins, dropping himself onto the stool opposite Jinhwan and flashing him a brilliant grin. "You are cordially invited to attend my birthday gathering next week." 

Jinhwan can't help but smile at Jiwon's eagerness as Donghyuk comes over to join them, draping both arms around Jiwon's shoulders from behind and giving Jinhwan a hopeful look. "Please come. If not for Jiwon hyung then for me, to keep me company while he turns into an idiot in front of his friends." 

Jinhwan chuckles as Jiwon twists in Donghyuk's grip and starts to protest, Donghyuk looking down at him in great amusement. Jinhwan promises to come and to bring Yunhyeong, too. Just as Jinhwan gets to his feet to fetch Yunhyeong from the master bedroom, Jiwon calls after him again. 

"And don't forget to bring your new boyfriend along!" 

Jinhwan almost trips over the leg of the counter stool, turning to see Jiwon looking at him with a knowing glint in his eye and the cheekiest of grins on his face. Donghyuk has his head half-buried in Jiwon's hair, shoulders shaking a little with his badly-hidden laughter. Jinhwan opens his mouth to say something but ends up sputtering instead, which only causes Jiwon's grin to grow wider. 

"Yunhyeong told us just now," Jiwon tells him as he gets up to lead Jinhwan down the hall, throwing an arm around his shoulders and leaning in mock-conspiratorially. "He said that his appa kissed someone the other day." 

Jinhwan can feel the flush spread across his cheeks as Jiwon coos excitedly, firing questions about Jinan hyung's elusive and mysterious new boyfriend while simultaneously whining about how Jinhwan never told them that he found someone in the first place. 

"I don't even know if we're official," Jinhwan ends up blurting to Jiwon outside the door of the master bedroom, unsure of whether it was meant to placate the younger or whether it was his own uncertainty materialising. 

Jiwon gives him an unimpressed look. "I'm pretty sure that after you kiss someone, you sort of become a thing." 

Jinhwan runs a hand through his hair in his state of confusion and ends up messing it up entirely. Before he can say anything more, Jiwon's expression softens and he lets out a fond chuckle before reaching up to pinch and pull at Jinhwan's cheeks. "Our poor, tiny Jinan hyung. Stop overthinking and just ask him the next time you see him," Jiwon says, messing up Jinhwan's hair a little more such that his fringe covers his eyes. 

Jinhwan sighs and blows his hair out of his eyes like it's second nature to him (and it is, he supposes, considering how Jiwon and Hanbin and Junhoe do this to him on a regular basis) before stepping aside to let Jiwon push open the bedroom door. Jinhwan gently gathers the sleeping Yunhyeong into his arms, smiling lovingly as Yunhyeong shifts closer in his embrace and as Jiwon and Donghyuk take turns to smooth down Yunhyeong's hair and walk them to the door. 

Jinhwan loves Yunhyeong more than anyone and anything else in this world, truly, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to give his son a good piece of his mind early the next morning about running his mouth to the likes of people like Kim Jiwon. 

-

A/N: !!! It's so great to read all your comments again after so long - I never realised how much I truly missed hearing what yall have to say (◡‿◡*)❤ thanks everyone for taking the time to read and I hope yall continue to enjoy the story!! Take care everyone!!

kimsooj: haha I've never written before but I'll keep your comment in mind ;) but yes more kissing definitely!! ;) hehe.

darkdu: ty for your patience and glad that you enjoyed it!!

interior_exterior: ty for sucha lovely comment!! :") and yes I'm so glad you caught on to how this relationship between Jinhwan and Hanbin is really about Jinhwan opening himself up to love and to hurt again. Hope this chapter was an enjoyable read for you!!

paroxysmx: THANK YOU FOR READING!!!

jinhwn: ty ohman your comment really made me happy!! I'm so glad that you like the writing and the fic and that it has touched you in someway :")

BaoZiXiuminnie: thanks for your support and hope you continue to enjoy reading!!

GraceLily: I'm glad it was satisfying; ty :') haha it's neither ikon/bigbang but I love all the yg groups immensely and they are all a solid second in my bias list (like legit I can't decide between them all it's impossible), just after my ultimate first!! ;) 

Vampyreunnie: yea it's really gruelling but writing is like my escapism so I could never give it up. Thanks for reading and for your understanding!!

Inspirit_98: ty for reading!!

lalamelato: thanks for your support and encouragement!!

esthieIgot7: thanks for reading and yes haha I figured enough tip-toeing around each other so ;)

Naralove: haha you're welcome!!

squishylu2: ;) HAHA I'll keep that in mind!! I've actually been tossing and turning the idea around in my head lol.

folkadots: HAHAHA you are great ;)

Jiah07: thanks for your continued support and hope you continue to enjoy reading!!

suvaelfshawolexotic: haha here it is!

azkhrf: HI I remember you!! Thanks for all your support and understanding and I really do hope you keep enjoying the fic :') haha I planned for them to get their together around this time to avoid unnecessary tip-toeing and since it seemed like it was going to happen anyway?? Ty for being so kind and lovely!! :")