Chapter Text
It was easy being one of the youngest. Every one of Seungmin’s fellow members swooned over him, all because of a few months difference.
But Jeongin. *Jeongin.*
He was truly the makne of the group, and undoubtedly the cutest. That fox-like smile had Hyunjin wrapped around his finger, and it was eating at Seungmin from the inside out. He could see the sly look under Jeongin’s mask of cuteness when he whined to his hyung just to irritate Seungmin.
Seungmin tried to ignore it. Oh, did he try.
The first week, during the recording of another “SKZ code” episode, Jeongin was stuck to Hyunjin’s side. Literally glued to him. Seungmin gritted his teeth together and adverted his attention, before eventually zoning out and not participating the whole episode.
The second time was even worse. Chan had offered everyone breakfast; the bill completely on him. Seungmin tried to get out of it, saying he didn’t feel good, he was too tired, but everyone kept pushing. *Especially* Jeongin. He knew what he was doing.
At the restaurant, Jeongin slipped into the seat between Hyunjin and Seungmin, stuck to the older like a leech.
The others noticed too, but found it adorable. Seungmin had to physically stop himself from gagging or rolling his eyes when someone would comment on how cute of a duo they were.
Now, a dew grueling months later, Seungmin felt numb about it. Jeongin stopped as much, and Seungmin was more reserved now. Stay started pointing it out in interviews, and the three oldest, Chan, Minho, and Changbin wouldn’t leave him alone about it. Minho constantly reminded Seungmin he was free to talk (to which he was usually found with Jisung anyway), Changbin kept saying he hated seeing his poor puppy sad, buying him food and gifts constantly. Chan claimed to miss his “Minnie’s” sweet smile.
This made things so, so much worse.
One night, he broke down into Chan’s arms late at the studio when it was just them two, sobbing against the older’s chest but refusing to offer an explanation. Chan didn’t push, but he was never the kind to anyway.