Over the course of the next few months, Minho kept in contact with Hyunjin through their only means of communication, Instagram. He slowly started to see their relationship less as an idol-fan one but more as a friendship. Every time Minho's phone pinged with a notification from Hyunjin, he would stop whatever he had been doing at the moment– anything– to excitedly unlock the device and respond right away.
He didn't care whether Hyunjin could sense his excitement through the screen (he probably could), talking to the younger brought a tingling sensation welling from the bottom of his stomach. A simple message from Hyunjin saying 'hey, how are you?', or 'I saw this at the convenience store today, thought you would like it' with a photo attached brought a smile to his face, filling him with joy. It was a simple gesture that could light up even the dreariest of days, in Minho's case.
Oftentimes, they would end up talking for hours, Minho ignoring how sore his thumbs were, and forget that they had other things to do. It didn't matter to Minho, however, because the feeling of being with the younger was unreplacable, even if it was through a screen.
At some point they started videocalling each other, and Minho felt like he was the luckiest person in the world to be able to see Hyunjin's face so often. He could never hold back his smile when the younger's face popped up on the small, dusty screen of his phone and his voice came through the speakers.
He loved hearing his phone suddenly start ringing with Hyunjin's contact while he was cooking, he loved pressing the pick up button with his elbow and propping the phone up on his counter to see the younger's face appear, smiling as always, to greet him. He loved all the small talks they shared about literally anything: the latest trends, a new udon place, sharks, coffee and tea, Jisung slipping on oil while attempting to cook, how you could hear Changbin recording his rap from a room on the other side of the studio. He loved laughing their heads off over Hyunjin dropping his phone on his face, he loved being able to open up to the younger about everything while they were eating dinner over the phone. He loved it when Hyunjin randomly flashed him a smile and a wink, and he loved the weird but enjoyable feeling in his tummy. He loved... practically everything about Hyunjin.
Wait, no. That sounds wrong.
He loved the joy that their friendship brought him. Yeah, that's better.
For Hyunjin, he was scared that at first Minho saw him and would always see him as just an idol. The way Minho had acted around him, like he was scared he'd cross the line or make Hyunjin uncomfortable made him feel like everyone felt the need to worship him, or something. He didn't want to feel like a god, or a celebrity that everyone looks up to with stars in their eyes. He wanted to live normally, to do things that normal people do without being gawked at by fans. Of course, he was extremely grateful for his idol life and wouldn't want to be anywhere else, but from time to time he realised the not-so-enjoyable effects of being famous. Such as trying to befriend Minho without being idol-zoned (if that's a thing).
Which was why he felt probably the most relieved he'd ever felt in his entire 22-and-a-half years of living when Minho referred to him as a friend. Friend. They were friends. In that moment, Hyunjin felt like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders; he felt free. He was already used to all the attention he got from fans, but this was a newfound feeling, a type of recognition he wouldn't be able to recieve from all the world. Yet a single person could make his heart leap out of joy and his lips curve into a wide smile, giggling to himself.
God, everything was so confusing.
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h.hyun_j1
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h.hyun_j1 bored....
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simp_jini.e i can fix that 😏
hwanghw.ang_ WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO LOOK THIS GOOD 😭😭
skzeeeeee.ei h-hands 🥵🥵
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lk_minho
3:44pm
Minho
jinieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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uh hi-
me coming back to 2k reads be like: :0000
i'm beyond grateful for everyone who reads this story :') <3
so i kinda went into workaholic mode with the 73546378429 assessments going on, so apologies for the unexpected disappearance (for like a month😭)
but yea i'm back! (totally not me writing this as an excuse to procrastinate my eng essay.)
