#yuniverse

The speakers blared through the studio while minjae sat in one corner, his head turned to face the computer that lit the dim room and played their debut song, spacing out completely, draining out the noise to muffled sound of the song as his mind thinks of a hundred things, things that made him feel not so great, mad even.

Recalling memories of how excited he was a week back, jumping around like a kangaroo as his members gave him a playful questioning look as they all looked at their first ever concert costumes. Everyone was busy talking about it, the maknaes calling junghoon to brag about how excited they were and showed off a few steps as spoilers for the concert as they huddled together and screamed at junghoon who just wanted to sleep if it weren't for seeun spamming his phone and disrupting his peaceful slumber.

The entire way from KQ to their venue Minjae was the happiest and didn't even try to hide it, he dragged his members around to make tiktoks that he could post later and even dragged yujun around forcing the poor boy, who just wanted to eat in peace,the venue which seemed so pretty to him. But it all dimmed when he saw all the members get compliments while he just got taunted for his height, he loved roadys and sure they were just joking around, but he can't help but feel hurt.

"MINJAE!" He snaps out of trance, jumping on his feet as he hears you scream his name, "you spaced out for a while, you ok?" You asked. Minjae smiled, he knew if anyone only you would understand his struggles, both of you were the leaders of your group and have been training together, transferring from sm to kq and helping each other with debuting. He shook his head and stood up, making his way to you as he put on a forced smile. You on the other hand knew something was going on, your worries only grew when you saw a tear slip from his eye, which he immidiately wiped off, looking away in order to avoid your upcoming lecture. You only hugged him to which he responded back by hugging you, his embrace grew tighter as he did his best to hold back tears but let go as soon as he felt your hand rub circles on his back, his mother would always rub circles on his back whenever he was down or was afraid he wouldn't debut and you stood there watching with a smile, this gesture made him realise he was homesick too but couldn't go back home yet. He couldn't help but cry onto your shoulder to which you could only console him by back rubs. "Sorry" he mumbled as he snuggled and wiped away his tears, backing away from the hug. Confused, you ask why and he says "You're leaving next week for your groups tour and promotions, the last thing you'd want to see is me crying" he says as he looks at you with glistened eyes, you insisted it was fine, he was your friend, someone who you loved even but was too shy to tell him, to see him breakdown shattered you. You held his hand, taking him to the nearest convenience store and bought him ramen, helping him sneak the packets into his dorm before junmin catches him and lectures the two of you how it's bad for your health. It was only after you heard minjae giggle for the first time in that day did you leave him alone, dropping him to his dorm and running back to yours.

You felt happy that you helped him, even happier when you heard his giggles. You wished you could hug him for hours and tell him how much you loved him and how proud you were of him for being so strong when situations weren't siding with him. However all the happiness you had was drained when you saw your members running around the form, packing their stuff, You asked your manager what was going on and your manager said how your group had to leave the first thing tomorrow morning as your schedules got leaked and your company couldn't risk in any of your groupmates or you to be hurt as a similar incident took place earlier when your group first debuted and it resulted to your you get members getting hurt the most and having to skip one or two schedules because of the injuries they had gotten. You nod, following your members to your room as you rush to pack your things. It was when you were done is when you realised you didn't tell minjae. Especially since it would be a month or so till you came back to Korea from tour and individual schedules.

You text him but ofcourse it was way past midnight at the time and with how junmin behaved more motherly to minjae than minjaes own mother, you thought probably he was asleep. Your assumption turning out to be true as you checked your phone in the morning again, before you left you checked one last time only to your dismay as the message left as unread.

It was only after your plane took off and you were allowed to turn on your phone after the plane was in cruising altitude did you see your phone blowing up with messages, you smile at minjaes dramatic messages but also felt slight sadness as you two couldn't say your goodbyes properly.

Minjae, although his texts being way over dramatic, was sad as well. He wanted to be there for you as well. His heart warmed up when you hugged him, the tip of his ears reddening as he remembers the sweet words you said as you rubbed his back. It wasn't the fact that he was homesick or that he was down at roadys remarks about him, he cried the most when he realised he was in your arms. You were his weakness, his everything. He always adored how you would care to everyone's needs, in his eyes you were the perfect leader. His heart melting at how you'd always comfort your members, be it hugging them or calling up their family and making their favourite dishes even if it was your first time just to see your members cherry selves. How you'd always be so soft and considerate with your fans. He saw everything from afar, he saw you grown in his eyes. The first time you came to sm, it was after he had been a trainee for a year. Your eyes shining as you saw your seniors practice, the way you jumped when you got your routines correct, to how you cried and laughed in his arms after your debut. He held every moment he spent with you close to his heart.

So it's safe to say how it would always be like he was missing a part of him whenever you went for tours or just away from him in general. His feelings for you growing more and more day after day, he felt like he was falling in love with you all over again whenever he saw you smile or heard your laughs.

You on the other hand was questioning life, mostly the youngest and the oldest. You caught them eating ice creams peacefully as they watched the other two other maknaes run around, the rest of the members joined in, throwing pillows around the hotel room and causing chaos, at midnight. You slapped your head on your forehead, picking up the fallen pillows, your face defeated at the room being such a mess. You glared at the oldest who was deemed to be the "mother of the group" just standing there trying to stifle her laugh. You threw a pillow at one of your members when they laughed at you, causing another round of pillow fight. All of your hair and clothes being disheveled as laughter echoed throughout the room. It was only when your manager walked in did you guys stop. There was a moment of silence, all knowing they were gonna get their ice cream privileges away again, after all your company was famous for weird bans. You stood up and bowed, your hand swinging around motioning your members to scatter off to their rooms, to which all of them did with giggles. Your manager stood there defeated. Handling ten girls was way worse than babysitting any child. He only sighed, knowing your stylists are gonna be mortified at the condition of your hair being all over the place and trying to fix all ten of you girls.

After what seemed like eternity, you were at the airport back again, waiting for your flight back to Korea. You couldn't help but excitedly text minjae everything that happened, the past month was amazing for both you and your members. Everything seemed too perfect, from how you had fun in stages to late night screaming coming from rooms because you guys wanted to play some games but resulted to cheating and some biting.

It was all too perfect to be too true. You should've seen this come to a stop as you landed back to Korea. Your laughs were interrupted by your manager running to you, telling you guys to hold to each other close as the schedules were leaked again and the entire airport was packed with reporters and fans. You could see your members getting worried. You did as you were told, you trailed behind, holding onto one of the members hand as you tried your best to shield all of them from the mobbing. All your efforts going to vain as stepping outside the airport led to more crowd, your eyes teared up at the sight of your members being pushed down, some having their yanked, you were too scared, trying your best to get out of the situation and keeping your head low, holding onto your members hands tightly. Although you girls managed to get inside the bus, seeing how some cried because of how they were hurt both physically and mentally, some "fans" even cursing at them in the airport. You felt helpless. It was as if the perfect life came to an abrupt stop. You put on a smile for them, trying to cheer them up. Ofcourse your mind was clouded with several things as well. With how people always called you a "cheap copy" of your seniors, your members labelled with even worse names.

You sighed, plopping down on the sofa with your bag, your eyes followed your silent members walk to their rooms and settle down quietly. The silence was too much, especially for a group that always had their staffs running with a baseball bat thinking someone broke in because of how much they screamed. You missed it. They would get better, you knew that, but the fact that you couldn't protect your group made you feel like the worse leader possible. You wanted to let it out, but you couldn't. You felt you were being too dramatic.

But the entire form remained silent, only slight glances were made to your manager who visited to keep track of the girls who were injured. You were scratched too, but you were too caught up to notice. You stand up, telling your manager that you'd be going for a walk, giving a small smile to the girls as a way of saying your ok just that you needed some fresh air to clear your head.

You didn't even notice you weren't speaking to minjae as you two did. You felt guilty for it all. The fear of loosing everyone you loved just because you were 'confused' was too overwhelming. Before you knew it, tears rolled down your cheeks to your chin. You sobbed silently as each step you took seemed heavier than the other. The fact that you thought you were drifting away from minjae made you feel as if your entire world was crumbling down.

Fortunate to you, it started pouring, your tears were disguised as raindrops on your face. "Y/n?" You stopped walking, you could hear your heart beating as you recognised the voice. You couldn't turn around, not when you look like a mess.

Minjae walked up to you, his smile grew wider as he recognised the back of your head, his smile immediately dropped as he saw your glistening eyes, you kept insisting it was the rain but minjae could see right through you. You eventually gave in, you rant out to him, feeling so hopeless, you were supposed to be his comfort and yet here you were having a breakdown yourself. He steps forward to hug you, letting go of the umbrella as he held you so softly, him pushing you lightly towards the streetlight as your back rested against the pole, patting your head as he rests his chin above your head, muttering a bunch of 'its ok' as you first his shirt in your hands and sob into his chest. Only when you calmed down did he break the hug, his hands on your shoulders as he stared at you. His eyes flickering to your lips, his heart racing at how you were pouting, your face best red from all the crying and staying so close to him. He inches his face towards you, his eyes still staring into yours. His hands cup your cheek as he whispers 'may i?' to which you close the gap instead, you feel him smiling against your lips as he kisses you soft and slow, his one hand going to your waist and pulling you closer. Minjae breaks the kiss, smiling as he lays another kiss at the tip of your nose. "You are the best leader I've ever known, don't ever doubt yourself ever again because you are truly one of the best people I've ever met" he says as he kisses the top of your head.

"I wish we were together in all our lives and in all the universes" you say as you held his hand while walking, smiling at how red minjae had gotten hearing your words, he looks at you, kissing the back of your hand that is still intertwined with his, still maintaining eye contact with you

everything seemed so peaceful, y/ns eyes feeling heavy as her grip on the handgrip of the bus loosened, the loud chatter quickly falling off to incoherent mumble, a small smile fell on her face as she slipped into dreamland, all untill the driver stepped on the brake a bit too hard causing the poor girl to be thrown to the side, landing on 'someone'

"Sorry" she mumbles as she tries not to stumble from the bumps, trying her hardest to hold onto a handgrip, "it's ok y/n!!" a cherry voice erupted from her side, she looks up to see who it was, thinking it was someone she must know

and it was indeed someone who she did know, ham jinsik, her classmate and also her long term crush who only her bestfriends hyunwoo and yujun, who happened to also be friends with jinsik

"Ah jinsik, I'm so sorry omg did i step on your foot-" she was cut short by jinsik who put his hand up and shook his head, "no no not at all, you seem a little down tho, is everything alright?" he asks while learning down, his face frowning as he studies her sleepy face, "oh I'm fine!" she cheer up, putting on a fake smile to cover up her tiredness

y/n pov

the walk from your bus stop to her classroom was beyond dreadful, you had to push jinsik to go first saying you had to buy something for class although it was clear the boy did not buy your lame excuse and kept questioning you what it was so he could come, your eyes lighting up when you see yujun as you hurriedly pair him with equally sleepy yujun who had no idea what was going on and just went with whatever you wanted him to do, you sigh as you drag your feet across the halls, hoping that the students running around don't bump into you, fate however was clearly not favouring you

you help as you feel a force from the back of your shoulder, immidiately causing you to trip and fall against the floor, your eyes shut tight as you wince upon impact, sitting up to check your hand which felt a stung, possibly scratched from the Lego or a keychain or one among the mainy things on the floor, your eyes lazily scanned for anyone that felt guilty enough to come forward and acknowledge their wronging but nonetheless, the kids in your class were known to be arrogant

you walk over to your bench, still a small frown on your face to which only your bestfriend seemed to notice

"oh what's wrong? yujun told me you were the one setting them up on a date?" you shoot him a confused look, looking at yujun and jinsik laughing at each other a small smile forms as you take a seat, "i didn't want him to help me carry my bag like last time" you speak as you lay your head ontop of your hands, "he's really kind" he speaks as he joins you, nudging your head with his, that was his way to annoy you ever since you were kids, he knew you would get all sulky and hunt down anyone who disturbs your sleep yet it seems like he loves risking his life too much

"stop it" you groan as you feel yourself drifting to dreamland again, "mm our teachers gonna be here soon" hyunwoo adds as he continues to annoy you, now poking various things he finds near him to your head, your hand takes away all items from him before he's 'weaponless'

"Hyunwoo stop" you lift your head to see him grinning mischievously, stop was not a word in his vocabulary but being a menace surely was, maintaining eye contact as he pokes your forehead, and that was your last straw. You plunge into attacking him as his foxy laugh gets louder each second with how aggressive you tickle him

jinsik pov

"They seem so close" you mutter which didn't go unnoticed by yujun, "y/n and hyunwoo? oh yeah they're friends since elementary school, I just joined their gang with you but I'm a victim to his antics" Yujun jokes as he pops another candy into his mouth, you simply nod, thinking to yourself if you could ever bring y/n to laugh and smile the same way hyunwoo did

3rd person pov

the day passes with jinsik hanging out with yujun, slightly looking up to catch glimpses of y/n and unaware that he was smiling too wide until yujun chimed in to tease him

y/n on the other hand felt pressured, maybe pushing jinsik away wasn't a good idea from how he kept avoiding her eyes and only ever was interested in speaking to yujun, that was all she could think about even while in class

unaware to her that jinsik was simply too shy, his eyes never leaving her when she was away knowing he could admire her for longer

"why don't you just confess" yujun state as he comes up behind jinsik, startling the poor man, "but what if she doesn't like me?" what if she didn't like jinsik indeed, he saw the way she gets so happy with hyunwoo, the way she looks at him with stars in her eyes, the way the two joke around, the way even their families were close, they were inseperable, jinsik kept going with his thoughts unaware that he was actually saying them out loud and yujun was patiently listening to it all with a grin

"confess to her." "yujun please." "No i mean it, do it today" Jinsik looks at yujun as if he's ready to shake him back to reality, the reality that y/n didn't like jinsik, a fake reality created from jinsiks denial

"do it and I'll buy you lunch tomorrow" yujun states, knowing jinsik would take advantage but hey if it meant both of his favourite people ending up to be a couple then so be it.

"fine.." Jinsik sighs, there was no escape to not fulfilling what yujun asks, and so he walks up to his crush, his heartbeat quickening with each step he takes towards her

"hey" jinsik calls out to y/n and sits next to her, his face going from nervous to relief as he sees her, "hi" y/n speaks, the two just sit in silence, at times glancing at each other and holding eye contact, only to break it after five seconds, "so um, you like hyunwoo?" jinsik asks, his face refusing to turn to y/n, y/n however was confused, "hyunwoo? he's a close friend but that's all, yujun too" now it was jinsiks turn to be confused, "you don't like hyunwoo?", "no? why would I?" y/n asks, jinsik pauses , "then who do you like?" "who told you I like someone?" y/n mentally slaps herself, she didn't mean it to sound as if she was interrogating him, "oh I was just.... curious" jinsik states awkwardly, "so who do you like?" y/n hesitates , staring at the concrete below, "you can just point it out or-" jinsik gets cut off with y/n, "you're not good at reading people you know", "hm?" Jinsik asks, caught off guard, "i don't like hyunwoo, i like someone else" y/n says now fully facing him, "who is it then?" Jinsik asks again, y/n's face softens, her feet, as if it has a mind own, her eyes moving between his eyes and his lips, jinsik however feels his heart race once again, seeing her gaze on his lips made him feel nervous yet he gathered yo courage to cup her face and lean in, pausing right when his lips brush against hers, his eyes were on hers, asking for permission, he feels her shyly nod, he wastes no time to connect his lips with hers, his hand traveling from her face to her jaw to her hand and to the small of her back, completely overwhelmed but never wanting to break the kiss, until he felt a tap from her, she breaks the kiss, jinsiks eyes still closed, eyebrows knitted together as he misses the feeling of her lips on his, slowly opening to see her looking at him the same way she looked at hyunwoo, only to him it seemed as if she had more Twinkle on her eyes, gazing at him oh so lovingly which made him feel so fuzzy, he connects his forehead with hers, smiling ear to ear as he shuts his eyes, still shy that he kissed his own crush

Jinsiks face finds its way to the crook of her neck, resting there for sometime before he speaks again ,"I'll walk you home" he mumbles , "I'd love that" she speaks, her head resting softly above his as he hand grazes through his hair