Stranger Connections

Chapter 17

Changbin's thoughts were blunt but not harsh. Felix curled in on himself a bit but they each took a hand and squeezed them gently. h{See yourself as we see you, remember? Just like you were telling Seungmin earlier. Take your own advice.} Felix gave a rueful smile. f{I'm working on it. Thank you.} He did a lot of self reflection during the drive. He focused on the thoughts Changbin and Hyunjin had of him and compared these to what he saw. He knew his self image was flawed. It always had been. When he was a kid he hated his appearance so much he had attempted to scratch off his freckles. In contrast, the two men on either side of him saw the freckles as adorable and seeing them made the men happy. The cheeks he had always thought were too chubby and made him look like a kid were only parts of his smile and happiness to the others. Instead they saw his jawline and how handsome he was. Jacob had filled his head with the fear of being fat and the two men beside him saw him as tiny and precious and someone to be protected and cherished. f{I got so lucky with both of you.} Felix thought and squeezed their hands. c{Right back at you.}  h{What he said.]

They pulled up at the dorms and filed inside. Everyone filed into the family room and took seats on the couches. Felix hesitated in the doorway. Chan looked at him curiously. "I know family meetings are for members only, I just wanted to make sure it was ok..." his voice trailed off. Chan's expression changed from leader to a tender smile.

"You may not be a member, Lix, but you are definitely one of us." He gestured for Felix to sit. With a grin Felix slid over to the open space between his partners and sat. Feeling his nerves, Hyunjin pulled Felix back against him and Changbin pulled his legs over his own, gently rubbing them soothingly.

"Ok." He turned to look at the couple in question. "Is it true? Are you connected?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious." Minho said flatly, though they could all tell his bravado was nervous. He cradled Jisung to him whose legs were jiggling in a sure sign of panic. Minho looked at him for a moment and Jisung met his eyes. They communicated silently for a moment and Jisung settled a bit and snuggled into Minho's neck, sighing with relaxation.

"How have we never noticed that? We have all talked about their bond and the way they seemed to talk without words and even after my own connection to Felix, it never even occurred to me." Hyunjin said softly.

"I knew." Seungmin admitted softly. All eyes shot to him and he shrugged. "There were a few times Jisung told me Minho needed me in the dance studio but I hadn't seen him on his phone or being able to know in any way. And then there was the time Jisung and I had been out all day and his cell was dead. He started feeling sick so we headed home early. When we got there, Minho had just finished the soup for Jisung he makes for us when we are sick. I started to pay attention to how often they responded to each other without speaking and I looked into possible reasons." He shrugged again. "I found articles about connection and the more I read the more it made sense."

Minho cocked his head at Seungmin. "You never said anything."

"I figured you didn't want us to know for some reason."

Jisung finally chimed in. "We were so shocked at first and we didn't want to hurt the chances to debut. We were so afraid that if word got out he and I would be cut for the relationship clause."

Chan nodded thinking. "I can see how that would have possibly hurt things."

"But what about after?" Jeongin asked, his tone reflecting the hurt he felt at not having been trusted.

"It wasn't about you guys." Minho said softly. "We had gotten so used to protecting the group by not revealing it we just kind of quit thinking about you guys not knowing. Everyone has commented on our bond. Hell you all call us MinSung even when it's just us. We share everything with each other. When have any of you not wanted a bit of privacy?"