I wanted to write a fluffy junhwan fic but then it got really weird and I’m pretty sure I’m incapable of writing anything cute anymore. the kevin reference is from team b's performance of just another boy.

Jinhwan’s pretty sure that when Hanbin decided to put the line “this Christmas, I’ll spend it with Kevin” in their song, he didn’t mean it literally.

And yet here he lies, in hour five of his American Christmas movie marathon, watching a bunch of idiots fall down a flight of stairs and wondering why on earth fully grown men would actually get tricked by a kid (and, for that matter, how stupid could the kid’s parents be to leave him at home alone? Are all Americans like this? Is this why Bobby’s so weird?)

Certainly, there are far better things he could be spending his Christmas doing (like twelve hours of dance practice!), but right now, he doesn’t feel like doing anything besides watching Bobby’s weird movie collection on his tablet and eating Hanbin’s secret snack stash.

Of course, this makes him feel worse, because Hanbin really did put a lot of effort into cultivating his stash, and he shouldn’t be eating snacks, anyways, but he’ll restock it.

Someday.

That day is not today.

The credits of the movie begin to roll, and Jinhwan sits up, groaning, as he dusts some chip crumbs off his shirt and stacks the bags into a pile so he can remember which ones to buy later.

“Next is…” he mumbles to himself, swiping through Bobby’s formidable collection. He wavers between another movie with happy blonde kids on the cover and one with a young couple bumping noses – on one hand, he’s not sure if he can stomach another inane comedy, but on the other hand, he’s not sure if he can stomach romance, either.

The Vow seems like an innocuous enough title, though, probably one of those cheesy happy movies. Maybe that’ll fill the void that Jinhwan’s been feeling in his heart lately.

He presses on that one, the little buffering circle in the middle spinning a few times before beginning to play.

How bad could it be, really?

*

A little over half an hour later, Jinhwan finds out exactly how bad it is.

The stack of tissues growing next to him is growing by the minute, trying to keep the volume of his sobs down. There aren’t any Korean subtitles, but he finds that he doesn’t really need them – he’s pretty sure that hospital stays and angry crying scenes are universally bad things.

Admittedly, yes, it is somewhat over the top, and if Jinhwan were in any other state of mind he probably wouldn’t be bawling his eyes out, but it’s Christmas and he’s lonely and the movie is just sad, so screw it.

He’s so absorbed in the movie (and the lack of a neck that the male lead seems to have, wow) that he doesn’t notice the door opening.

“Is someone in here—Jinhwan-hyung?”

Jinhwan lets out an involuntary yelp, yanking the earbuds out of his ears and shoving the tablet under the pillow.

“Junhoe?”

“Were you crying?” Junhoe asks, voice incredulous and bordering on mocking. “Hyung, why are you holed up in here crying at movies?”

“I am not,” Jinhwan protests weakly, sniffling loudly, “I have allergies.”

“To Bobby’s bed, maybe,” Junhoe replies, straddling one of the office chairs in the room, “but that’s mine. And I’ll have you know I changed the sheets yesterday.”

“Good job, June-yah,” Jinhwan says absently. It’s become habit for him to give Junhoe praise, even for the most mundane of things, because he’s noticed that the younger thrives best on it.

Junhoe, as typical for him, scoffs. “You don’t need to praise me for making my bed, hyung. I’m a big boy.”

That much is true – Junhoe is one of their taller members (if not the tallest; he and Chanwoo are still fighting over that).

“What’s more important, though, is why are you in my bed, and why are you crying?”

That detail decides to stick itself more firmly in Jinhwan’s mind this time, and he realizes that yes indeed, this is not Bobby’s bedspread, and there is no mangled Pooh in the corner.

“Thought it was Bobby’s,” Jinhwan said meekly, studiously avoiding the other half of the question.

Junhoe simply sits there, one eyebrow raised. “You do realize I can sit here all day until you tell me?”

Jinhwan swallows. “I was watching a movie.”

Junhoe leans in closer, obviously unsatisfied.

“Hey, which one of us is the hyung, now,” Jinhwan stammers, leaning back.

“Me, obviously,” Junhoe says, completely and utterly shameless. “You are having issues, and I am attempting to help you solve those issues. Also, I’m like fifteen centimeters taller than you, so.” He shrugs, as if that settles the matter.

(It doesn’t, but Jinhwan appreciates the effort.)

Junhoe decides to go for action, reaching under the pillow and pulling out the tablet. The movie’s still playing, and Junhoe watches in silence as the male lead has a breakdown.

“This is why you’re crying?” Junhoe asks, and Jinhwan huffs.

“It’s a very touching movie! She lost her memory in an accident and he’s trying to keep her in love with him!”

“Why are you even watching this?” Junhoe asks, setting the tablet back down on the bed. “Aren’t those movies basically trash?”

“It was either this or another Christmas movie,” Jinhwan mutters, and Junhoe gets off the chair to sit down next to him on the bed, wrapping an arm around Jinhwan’s shoulders. Immediately, he feels a little better, and he retains a hint of smugness in knowing that he’s essentially the only person Junhoe’s willing to touch so casually like this.

Then again, he also wishes it wasn’t so casual.

“Those movies are awful,” Junhoe says, “but so’s this stuff. Why don’t you hang out in the living room with the rest of us? Hanbin’s doing something stupid again. Well, he does stupid things just by existing, but y’know.” He shrugs. “Same difference.”

Jinhwan leans deeper into Junhoe’s body. “I wanted to be alone.”

Junhoe’s hand moves up, almost on instinct, to brush Jinhwan’s bangs to the side. “Being alone doesn’t mean you have to be lonely.”

And of course, that’s what does it.

“Oh,” Junhoe says, immediately startled once Jinhwan’s tears start leaking through his t-shirt. “Oh. Um. Here, tissues.”

He pats Jinhwan on the back as he cries, and Jinhwan starts laughing, because Junhoe’s both incredibly useful and incredibly useless.

“Are you laughing at me?” Junhoe asks. “I’m gonna leave if you keep that up.”

“No, stay,” Jinhwan grumbles, wrapping his arms around Junhoe’s waist and pulling him closer. “Just… stay here.”

Junhoe, miraculously, decides to leave it be, rubbing circles into Jinhwan’s arm with his thumb.

The silence eats at Jinhwan, though – he doesn’t feel right using Junhoe as a crutch without telling the younger why. As immature as he can be, it’s frightening how often Jinhwan manages to forget that he’s actually the second-youngest (and even when he was the youngest, he never acted like it.)

He just doesn’t know what to say. This seems like a terrible time for spectacular confessions of love, especially considering that Jinhwan himself doesn’t even know what he wants. At the same time, though, Junhoe’s more perceptive than he lets on, and he knows that Junhoe can be even more stubborn than Hanbin when he really wants to be.

“I’m glad it’s you, June-yah,” he says at last, and Junhoe nods.

“I get it, hyung. You’re my favorite, too.”

“Hey, I never said you were my favorite!” Jinhwan protests weakly, but Junhoe just laughs, squeezing Jinhwan a little tighter.

Seems like he won’t need to spend Christmas with Kevin anymore.