Chapter Text
Practice had finished for the day. It is to no surprise to anyone; that Stray Kids often have long days with busy schedules however luckily they do get more breaks then they used to, back when they were fighting to make it, back when they were basically a group of ambitious teenagers with just their dreams and some skinny jeans acting as their only weapon on the battle field, which is the entertainment industry. Nonetheless, another fact that is probably of no surprise to anyone is that, to this day, Stray Kids continue to put their all into everything and still have more time working then they don’t.
Luckily today was one of those rarer days where they got to finish work before it was too late into the night. In fact, if they wanted to, the members probably had time to go home and cook and still make it to bed before midnight, which is great…
Well unless you're Bang Chan who doesn't usually sleep or chooses to keep working until 5am most nights- but that's a separate issue for another time…
Their last group schedule had come to an end for the day and that meant they could take it slow for the rest of the evening. Most of the members left the dance practice room pretty quickly after finishing up and collecting their stuff. Most of them were probably eager to do something with their free time or in Hans case; eager to go to bed early (Maybe even put on Howl's Moving Castle for the 864th time and fall asleep to something comforting). One by one the members left, saying their goodbyes to everyone until it was just; Seungmin, Changbin and Hyunjin aka two housemates and their menace of a third wheel who had decided to lay himself over Changbin who was trapped between the younger and the floor where he had simply sat himself momentarily to rest after dancing for hours straight.
Seungmin had clearly decided that laying over Changbin's lap so he couldn't get up, just wasn't enough as he started blowing air into Changbin's ear. He was laughing with a mix of pure joy and proud satisfaction when his actions caused Changbin to flinch and Changbin of course tried to move his head back to avoid the direct airflow right into his ear.
“YA! Cut it out!” Changbin snapped, nudging Seungmin's side.
Seungmin stopped his attack but only because he started laughing harder, enjoying the reaction he managed to get out of Changbin…as always. Changbin's annoyance was basically a premium entertainment service for Seungmin at this point. An entertainment service Changbin doesn't remember offering but has also never really policed.
“I think I'm going to head out too” Hyunjin announced, reminding the others he was still here. Though don't misunderstand, it probably wasn't his intention to bring attention to himself, he was simply being polite and saying goodbye to the two remaining boys. In fact…Hyunjin was probably only still here because he was being considerate and probably waiting for Changbin to leave with him as the two of them do live together after all. Hyunjin wouldn't say it outright because he never did things like that for the praise or recognition but he was a very considerate individual and it was courteous to wait up for Changbin sometimes so the two of them could head home together.
However in this instance Hyunjin was instead forced into being the third wheel and it wasn't the first time. Which if you think about it, is ironic since wasn't Seungmin technically the third wheel in this scenario? Not in a weird romantic way but just in the sense that Hyunjin and Changbin lived together, it made sense they left together yet here Changbin was trapped and tormented by one of the group's youngest members instead, basically held hostage, only to leave when Seungmin allowed it rather than when his flatmate was heading out.
Seungmin half raised his arm up from his laying position to lazily wave goodbye to Hyunjin, acknowledging the others existence as much as he could without letting Changbin free.
Changbin gave Hyunjin a smile and a small nod “Did great today Jin-ah! See you at hom-YA DO YOU MIND BRAT?” Changbin so rudely interrupted himself as a familiar and invasive flow of air directed its way back into his ear.
Hyunjin left while Changbin's attention had been stolen, eyes looking down as the culprit of the air blowing was laughing once again, this time holding his side as he curled up ever so slightly, laughing a little too much.
Changbin just rolled his eyes “You really are a little shit sometimes…” he commented though he couldn't help but smile. Seungmin had a laugh that had that effect. He had a beautiful and warming laugh, it just made you feel a sense of pure happiness.
“You looked like you were too warm~” Seungmin claimed with a devilish smirk “i was just helping you cool off”
“You’re such a liar Kim Seungmin”
“No, I specifically said warm not hot so that it wouldn't be a lie~” the younger continued to tease, insinuating that he couldn't have called the other hot in case that sounded like he was implying attractiveness, something he was teasing would be a lie to imply.
“Oi” Changbin suddenly lifted his arms up, fully freeing them before he dug them into Seungmin's sides, causing the other to suddenly shoot up. Changbin was a lot stronger than Seungmin so it didn’t take much to break free of the others' trap, it never did. Honestly…yes, that does mean if he really wanted too he could have simply freed himself earlier but it really wasn't a big deal. It didn't mean anything so no need to overthink that.
“Ah!” Seungmin let out as he sprung up. The two were now fully face to face and eye to eye. Seungmin decided it was appropriate to take the higher ground by blowing air directly into Changbin's face this time.
Changbin closed his eyes, freezing for a second as he processed the audacity of the man who was now just seated sideways in his lap. When his eyes finally opened again, he wasted no time pinching the back of Seungmin's neck like he was a misbehaving puppy and pushing him forwards, allowing him better access to then let go and pin the others arms behind his back instead.
“Ah! This isn't fair!” Seungmin claimed in protest like he hadn't just basically spat tiny particles into Changbin's eyes while he had blown aggressively at the others' eyes directly at close proximity. Seungmin tried counteracting Changbin's defense by pinching at Changbin's arms as the other continued to pin his arms back, trying and failing to gain the upperhand…as always.
Changbin was always stronger, Changbin could always win.
See…This was nothing new. Seungmin would often push and push, pestering Changbin until the other would fight back. It was something Seungmin did both on and off camera, awarding them both the title of cat and mouse dynamic within the group. Seungmin seemed to do this often enough that he clearly knew what was coming yet when it came for Changbin to finally give him the reaction he so desperately pushed for, Seungmin would play innocent and start whining like Changbin was clearly the one out of line.
“You should pick on someone your own build! We both know you're stronger than me!” Seungmin cried out, whining and squirming with a cute little pout on his lips. If this was a first maybe Changbin would have let go, fallen for Seungmin's fake innocence as his pout was deceptively adorable however this had been going on for years, this was just how it went. Seungmin would wait to get manhandled then complain about it once it was happening.
"ow ow! Hey! You’re hurting my wrist stupid!" Seungmin complained again, but this time Changbin immediately let go. Changbin would always let go if the other ever sounded like he was actually pained or threw out any pained sounds like ‘Ow’ because the last thing Changbin would ever want to actually do would be to hurt his cute little mouse. If the cat broke the mouse then who would the cat play with? Though it was mainly the fact that he just didn't want to hurt the other that he would stop, not really because he saw the other as a play thing.
He carefully took Seungmin's wrists one by one, giving them a little check to see if there was any visible damage though before he could open his mouth to utter a word, Seungmin once again beat him to it.
“You are like the Hulk or King Kong but stupider” Seungmin whined, still pouting as he turned himself around now that he was free. He stopped turning once he had made himself face to face with Changbin again.
"Hey- I've stopped now so close your mouth for a second. if it really hurts that much you wouldn't still be focused on throwing insults!" Changbin pointed out, frowning slightly at the other and trying to take his wrists carefully into his hands again to inspect them one by one.
"...it really does hurt though" Seungmin informed, his voice much smaller and quieter this time. It was so soft, his words almost an innocent whispered lullaby to the hyung who was checking him over with care.
"Ah...sorry then ‘Min. Do you need some ice?" he offered, raising his eyes from the others wrists to meet Seungmin eye to eye again.
Seungmin shook his head, pout still present "too late for that..." he whispered carefully again though his wording made it a lot more ominous this time.
Changbin couldn't help but blink a few times, thinking to himself; 'dramatic much' but not daring to vocalise it. He tried to think of something actually useful to respond with when Seungmin suddenly lifted his wrist up from Changbin's hand to his face…
"Quick hyung, you have to kiss it better," Seungmin said without hesitation.
"I HAVE TO WHAT?!" he couldn't help but yell out drastically, hearing his words echo through the pretty large practise room as he brought their current whisper level volume to a halt.
"OW MY EARS!" Seungmin yelled back less than a second before punching Changbin's arm with the opposite hand of the injured wrist.
"Sorry! But you- you did that on purpose!" he apologized a little quieter, though his voice was still a little pitchy and definitely closer to an appropriate speaking level than to a whisper.
"No...it really needs kissing better" Seungmin claimed again with once again little hesitance. He sounded dead serious like he was simply just asking for the other to pass him a plaster, like he wasn't saying something completely unhinged and unexpected.
"...you always try to hurt me and I've never seen you offer to kiss anything better" Changbin points out, not falling for whatever Seungmin's new game plan is. This is a new Seungmin move, Changbin is not yet familiar with.
Suspicious…
Seungmin simply pressed his lips to a fine line and let out a little thoughtful hum, processing the information Changbin just gave him for less than a second before he leaned in all of a sudden and pressed a quick yet sweet pec to Changbin's lips.
"There. Does that make up for it?" The younger asked before Changbin even had time to process what just happened.
Changbin fell back slightly from his current seated position, back hitting one of the mirrors of the studio. He instinctively put his hand to his own lip and held it protectively as he sat there completely silent for once. He can't really process what just happened- did...did Kim Seungmin really just kiss him?!
And- on the lips?!
What- that's never happened before! Nor did he expect it too?!
"Was it not enough? Do you want me to kiss it better again?" Seungmin asks, his voice deceptively innocent except it's not...they both know Seungmin is just trying to fluster Changbin more...but would he actually kiss him again? Is this really just some joke? Do people kiss their friends as part of a bit?!
Changbin is completely thrown off now- he doesn't even know what to think! Other than ‘What the fuck, Seungmins lips are so soft he must moisturise them or something-’ but thats not really a helpful thought…nor one to share.
Seungmin looks innocent minus the little twinkle Changbin catches in Seungmin's eye as some kind of internal gleam of success. For someone so quiet and so anti-skinship some of the time, Seungmin sure does have a lot of words and he sure does have a lot of nerve-
Luckily Changbin can see that this is some kind of joke. He doesn't think too much into this kind of thing so he doesn't feel violated or anything by Seungmin's actions, he's just…in shock. Han Jisung has tried to kiss all the members other than Chan at least a trillion times, so it's kind of normal within the group- except its not and that this is completely not the same in any way because Jisung doesn't ever actually try and kiss anyone on the lips he only actually makes contact to someone's cheek if he's committed to going in, so this is nothing like that and Seungmin is, of course, not Jisung anyway.
Plus there's no way Jisung kissing him would be the same anyway because Changbin thinks it might be impossible for someone to have softer lips- which really is not a relevant thought right now- wow where the hell is Changbins mind?!
The two of them ended up leaving the dance studio at some point and going their separate ways without another kissing incident however Changbin thinks about Seungmin's lips a lot more than he’d like to admit for the next two weeks-
They don't talk about the kiss and nothing changes between them almost like it never even happened in the first place, which is helpfully allowing Changbin slowly to stop having his eyes accidentally avert to Seungmin's lips every time he sees him. Which is great because that was a little confusing-
For real though…what kind of lip balm does Seungmin use though? Is that okay for Changbin to wonder? Like…
He must do something to have lips that soft?
Right..?
Right?
Changbin is probably right.