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One thing they'd learned over the past few months since their debut was to find little hideaways to rest in, while they waited for when it was time to go home. At first, they'd just hang out in the waiting room, watching the staff clean up and the last of them finish removing their makeup. It was awkward, especially since everyone around them seemed to be working nonstop, while they sat there, doing nothing but wondering how many hours of sleep they'd get that night between practice.
Normally, the five of them never managed to sneak away together, especially considering that once the last one finished getting ready, everyone left, but the combinations depended on the order in which their makeup was removed.
There was a perfect combination for Yeonwoo —though he'd never admit it out loud. Jinhyuk and Siyun had just enough energy to keep him from falling asleep while waiting, but not enough to exhaust him. Not that any other combination bothered him, but Yoon was a ball of explosive energy, while Hyeonbin was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he often struggled to start a conversation. And he was supposedly the introvert.
“I can't wait to go home, finally a weekend of doing nothing.”
They were lying on the floor, on a blanket Yeonwoo always carried when he knew the day would be long. Siyun was sitting, leaning against a wall, Jinhyuk was lying with his head in his lap, while Yeonwoo wrapped his arms and legs around him, living up to his koala nickname. Every now and then, unconsciously, Siyun would lower one of his hands to pet the hair of the first person he spotted with his fingertips.
It was a fairly normal sight. The comfort they felt sharing their space with each other had grown over the years. Even for Yeonwoo, who sometimes found it hard to even share the air with too many people, had grown so accustomed to it that it was a necessity in his daily life. The only one who still had reservations was Hyeonbin, but nothing a little aegyo from Yoon couldn't fix.
Yeonwoo was squinting, enjoying the calm conversation the maknaes were having about what they were planning to do that weekend —plans that could be summed up as sleeping, playing with Kiwi, and annoying his hyungs, basically— when they heard a door open. Jinhyuk and Siyun fell silent, pressing their lips together as if they were about to burst out laughing at any moment. Technically, they shouldn't be in that room. Technically, it was reserved for staff members only. Technically, their manager hadn't given them the keys so they could relax while waiting. Technically.
"I still think it's weird." Luckily, some boxes were blocking them, so the people who had just entered shouldn't have seen them. If not, they might at least need going a little further into the room to see them.
"And I'm telling you, it's fanservice." The other person spoke after placing something on the floor that sounded incredibly heavy.
"Fanservice is for the fans, the word itself says it, not when there isn't even a camera recording. It's... a little gay, don't you think?"
The rest of the conversation trailed off as the staff members left the room, closing the door behind them. The three stood still for a while, staring at each other without saying anything. There were more groups in the building, they could literally be talking about anyone, but something inside forced them to slowly separate, reclaiming the personal space they hadn't even realized they'd lost.
"I think we should go back. They're probably finishing up." Yeonwoo whispered, standing up to head for the door without waiting for the other two, just walking quickly, as if he were running away from something.
The ride home was... silent. It wasn't unusual, especially after a long day like that, for everyone to put on their headphones and lose themselves in the music. What not everyone in the car knew was that there were three people mulling over a context-free conversation, one they didn't even know was about them or no.
When they arrived, everyone went to their rooms. It was late, they were tired, and deserved to rest. The opinions of people they couldn't even put faces to didn't matter, no, or at least that's what Jinhyuk and Siyun wanted to believe as they glanced at each other, each in their own beds in the room they shared. Surely they would forget it when went to sleep, at least the two of them would, but Yeonwoo was made differently, and as they tried to close their eyes to rest, a little voice inside them tried to remind them that their hyung had the terrible habit of thinking, and thinking, and more thinking, until he was exhausted.
"Let's go check on him," Siyun whispered from his bed, starting to sit up without waiting for a response. He knew Jinhyuk, he knew exactly what was going through his head.
And they were about to get up when the door to their room burst open, without warning or permission, closing again when a very energetic Yeonwoo stormed in, glasses on and messy hair, as if he'd been tossing and turning since the moment they'd arrived. He hadn't even changed his clothes.
"It's not weird," was the first thing he said, without providing any context, staring at his phone screen, the light giving his face a ghostly look. "We're not weird, it's perfectly normal." And with that, he collapsed onto Jinhyuk's bed, as if he'd just solved the greatest mystery in history and could finally rest.
Jinhyuk and Siyun stared at him for a few seconds, exchanging glances afterward. Maybe their relationship wasn't weird, but their hyung definitely was.
"I don't know, hyung, considering you're an alien, and that's not very normal on Earth..." Siyun opted to joke around to lighten the mood a bit, getting up from his bed and heading over to Jinhyuk's, where he sat on the edge. Unfortunately for him, their beds were quite small, which always bothered him when he wanted to cuddle with more than one member at the same time.
"I mean, our way of being together isn't weird." Yeonwoo protested a little before moving automatically, leaving a space for Siyun to lie down next to him. “I’ve been doing research since we got in the car, and I think it’s simply a queerplatonic relationship, and it has nothing to do with our gender or what we’re attracted to.”
Yeonwoo loved research, learning how his body worked, how animals’ bodies worked, how the world and society worked. The internet gave him access to so much information that he sometimes doubted his head had enough capacity to handle it all. So when there was something he didn’t understand, or that made him uncomfortable, he tried hard to give it a name and an explanation that would make him feel better.
“It’s like a friendship, but much stronger, and it can be confused with a romantic relationship, but it’s not the same either. Besides, you can have several at the same time without it being weird, it’s just… us.” He gestured with his hands, as if forming a circle. “Each one can be different from the other, although they are equally intense.” He wasn't just referring to the three of them; he also included Yoon and Hyeonbin, because for him the physical aspect wasn't as strong, but he knew that being with them was just as important.
Siyun and Jinhyuk listened attentively, nodding a couple of times at his explanation. Siyun picked up his phone, ready to skim through the information the older had gathered. For his part, Jinhyuk only had to listen to Yeonwoo to understand him instantly, his empathic side working at high speed.
“It says here that seeking physical affection, kissing, and hugging are normal in this type of relationship.” Siyun skimmed, studying paragraph after paragraph, focusing only on the words that caught his attention. “What did aroace mean?” He wrinkled his nose, trying to search his memory to see if it was something he already knew.
“Oh, I read that. It means you don't feel physical or romantic attraction.” Yeonwoo retrieved his phone, looking up the term directly in case he was mistaken. “Apparently, it’s quite typical for aroace people to have queerplatonic relationships.”
Jinhyuk shifted slightly, half-sitting up to look at them strangely. “But we do feel physical and romantic attraction, right?” He was silent for a few seconds, analyzing his own words. “I mean, in general, not between us, or maybe we do? It’s weird.” With that, he slumped back onto the bed, between the wall and Yeonwoo’s body, who couldn’t help but pout after hearing that word again.
“No, it’s not weird. We’ve been together for so long that it’s normal for it to be confusing, especially considering we don’t have any social life other than the one we have with each other.” Maybe he wasn't the best at Nowz when it came to dealing with human feelings, but he was pretty good at interpreting and learning the facts he read about.
They both nodded, knowing what he meant. They might have a clear idea of what they wanted and what attracted them, they were, after all, mature adults, but at the same time, their teenage years had been very different from the rest, and knowing if they had missed out on anything because of it was impossible.
"And why don't they say the same thing about girl groups?" The question slipped out of his lips without him realizing it, remembering how even in middle school or high school, seeing two girls holding hands was the most natural thing, but at the moment he felt the need to hold a friend's hand or simply linked arms, everyone backed away in surprise. After all, Jinhyuk loved touching and squeezing, he needed that constant contact like he needed to breathe.
"Ah, I guess it's because guys are forced to have that masculine, strong look. They told me the same thing because I like cute things." His eyes automatically moved to the Cinnamon Roll keychain dangling from his phone, softly tingling.
The three of them fell silent. Yeonwoo finally put his phone down, noticing how all the adrenaline from hunting for information was beginning to wear off, causing the tiredness after a long day of work to return. His body was starting to feel heavy, even his eyelids were hard to maintain open, but he still didn't want to sleep.
"The thing is, it's normal, and if it were weird, I wouldn't mind either. Weird is trendy." He whispered after a yawn, taking the opportunity to hug Siyun, pulling him as close as he could to his body to make sure he didn't fall off the bed.
Jinhyuk smiled, turning his body to hug Yeonwoo from behind, wrapping his arms around Siyun as well to keep him from falling, his back completely pressed against the wall. "If the five of us are weird, then we'd be normal with each other, right?"
"Wow, that's some crushing logic." The three of them laughed softly at the noticeable sarcasm in his words, although he wasn't entirely wrong.
Who defined normality? Who could know the type of relationship between people better than themselves? They had a public image to maintain, they were well aware of that, as well as many doubts and questions for which they still had no answers. All they knew was that being together was pleasant, that Yoon's small kisses were his way of spreading love, that the awkward silences broken by lame jokes were Hyeonbin's way of telling them how much he appreciated them, that Jinhyuk's obsession with squeezing anyone's arm was his way of calming himself, that Siyun acting like a clingy puppy was his way of showing he cared, and that his sarcastic nature, accompanied by a strange need for constant physical contact, was Yeonwoo's tsundere way of expressing his love.
They each had their own way, and the way they had managed to fit together was the sum of years of patience, affection, and, why not say it, a touch of luck.
yunyeos Mon 18 Aug 2025 04:18AM UTC
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roadtothemoon Mon 18 Aug 2025 07:29PM UTC
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