mingyu had a hard time keeping his tears inside once he finished talking, leaving everyone who was gathered in the occupied room speechless. they had no idea about the tragedies in mingyu's past, let alone the death of his parents. beside wonwoo, he had wisely kept his lips sealed to everyone as he didn't want them to pity him.
but knowing that it was for his and wonwoo's own sake, he finally gathered enough courage to confess about it.
"i'm so sorry man.." hansol was the first person to interrupt the painful silence, scratching his nape while he thought back to all his previous actions. the way he had treated mingyu had been unnecessary now he heard all this and he regretted not remaining calm and trying to help his buddy out of his situation.
"you shouldn't be sorry hansol." a sad smile tugged on mingyu's lips as tears brimmed in the corners of his eyes. "you couldn't know. and it still doesn't fix the things i've ruined."
"no but for real. you actually had a pretty good reason to.." hansol admitted, staring at the knitted carpet underneath his feet. "i mean, there were other solutions too of course. but hearing your previous situation i kind of really regret the things i have said to you."
"i told you there had to be something else!" chan raised his volume a little, his protective side towards mingyu obviously showing.
"i swear to god, this little man never stopped seeking proof for your innocence." jeonghan chuckled, seeing how chan's head instantly peered up on the (in his opinion) offensive words. "stop calling me little! i'm only like two years younger than you!" "that makes you little!"
and while the two started another heated discussion, as everyone was used of them at this point after basically living together for the past days, wonwoo gently nudged mingyu against his arm to get his attention. "you did so well." the curly head whispered, inaudible for the others to hear.
"thank you." mingyu whispered in return, feeling how some outpointing strands of wonwoo's soft hair tickled his cheek.
"but- babe, chan please calm down for a second- if i'm understanding this correctly, you're back together i assume?" seungcheol asked, cupping a hand over jeonghan's mouth to silence down the argument he was having with chan.
"we decided to take things slow. i don't want to rush wonwoo and i want to give him the time he needs to build up trust and fate in our relationship. so we both came to conclusion that it's best if we just start all over again." mingyu looked at wonwoo for confirmation, who nodded and smiled gratefully at him.
"damn.. such wise words for a shithead like you." junhui giggled. the way he spoke seemed as if nothing had ever changed, making mingyu go along with his behavior right away.
"excuse me? shithead? you literally look like a toe!" mingyu got up from the couch and hurried over to junhui, crashing down on the couch beside him and wrapping an arm around his neck, suffocating him momentarily so he was able to ruffle through his hair and mess it up.
"toes?" soonyoung repeated his words, his excitement bubbling up again. "does that mean we can include him in the toe cult again?"
"are toes literally the only thing you can come up with right now?" jisoo let out a disappointed sigh yet couldn't stop himself from laughing warmheartedly when he spotted the pout on soonyoung's lips. "but i think we can allow him back into our group chat again. what do you say?"
jisoo threw a glance at jeonghan specifically, as they expected him to be the only one with objections against it. which didn't seem the case today, since he nodded without hesitation. "i think it's best if we just bury the hatchet and let everything up to wonwoo and mingyu. it turned out perfect for us too, didn't it?" jeonghan romantically leaned back against his boyfriend as he looked up at his face.
"yeah, and seungcheol literally nearly killed you back then. so i don't think mingyu will be as big of a danger to wonwoo." jisoo snorted, receiving a harsh slap against the back of his head from jeonghan next to him.
"i hope you die alone. you don't even deserve your anime no longer at this point." jeonghan complained, being pulled closer by seungcheol before he had the chance to use more violence against his best friend.
and while the group of friends were all having a good time, both mingyu and wonwoo were just silently sitting in the corner of a couch, thankful for the acceptance of their friends. without using actual words they stole occasional glances of each other and looked away giggling once they made eye contact.
with everyone in the room being busy doing their own things, from playful discussions to peaceful chattering, chan nudged junhui in his side as a sign that he had to pay attention to what was happening on their opposite side. "look at them. we were right after all." chan whispered, secretly high-fiving the chinese boy seated next to him.
"i'm glad everything turned out okay in the end." junhui admitted, not able to restrain the warm smile from spreading across his face on the adorable sight of the two boys being so incredibly in love without any knowledge of what the future would bring them.
chan and junhui however, were convinced of the fact that the chances were big they wouldn't budge each other's side anymore. maybe even for eternity..
