"What do you think about promise rings?"
You took a sip from your straw in thought, "like for idols? Or in general?" the two of you were drinking boba drinks together in one of the empty meeting rooms of the building. It was your own little version of a coffee date, mostly because you couldn't be seen together outside.
"Both?" he squinted a bit with uncertainty.
You paused to think about it and didn't notice Hyunjin gazing at you apprehensively, "I think it's sweet. Not everyone wants to go through marriage, which is totally valid, but still having that 'commitment' is a cute sign." You took another pondering sip and Hyunjin's brow furrowed in thought, "I don't know, I've never really thought about it before. As for idols, I don't think I've seen any with a promise ring?" you gave a shrug, "makes sense, though. It's a lot more serious than dating, and with so many dating bans, that'd be a scandal." You let out a mirthless laugh, "Dispatch would lose their minds." You stopped your rambling to fix your gaze on your black haired best friend, "what's on your mind?"
"Nothing," he replied a bit too quickly, and he smoothed out his thoughtful look into a resting face.
"Jinnie," you couldn't help but deadpan and he at least looked a little sheepish at your tone, "I know when something's up." You stared at him a little more, giving him time to fess up as you took another sip. A thought suddenly struck and you inhaled the liquid in your mouth, causing you to frantically choke.
"Oh my gosh what happened?" Hyunjin sprung into action, giving you a few hard thumps on your back as you took another gulp to try and stop coughing.
"Was that what you gave Jeongin on his birthday?" you asked in disbelief and it was Hyunjin's turn to choke.
"No!" he shrieked out and waved his arms around frantically before dramatically falling onto the chair, "I can't believe you."
"Okay, so then what's the reason?"
"No reason." He replied a little too quickly as he crossed his arms with a pout on his face.
You couldn't help but roll your eyes good naturedly at him, "sure."
"Shut up," he grumbled as he gave you a kick from under the table.
The first time you met Hwang Hyunjin the two of you were still trainees. You wanted to get some extra dance practice and you were shocked to find someone doing the exact same thing as you. You hastily mumbled an apology under your breath and rushed out to find a different room, but a sudden 'wait' from him got you to stop. "You're also a trainee, right? I've seen you around. Are you practicing the latest dance routine?"
That caused you to pause and you stopped running away to fix him with a curious look, "the one to I'm the Best?" he nodded and you felt some of your nervousness dissipate, "yeah. I look like a fish out of water." You confessed with a giggle.
"Do you want help?" he offered hesitantly without looking at you.
"Sure."
And since then, the two of you became inseparable. He'd help you with dances (seriously, he could move his hips better than you), and you'd give him the occasional help with rapping and singing. You were ecstatic when he told you he was going to debut with Stray Kids (albeit a bit nervous considering how his sworn enemy Han Jisung was in the group), and it wasn't long until you were also scheduled to debut. With your busy schedules, the meetings between you two got shorter and less frequent, but you were almost always texting and face-timing. The two of you even got indirectly familiar with your respective bandmates because of how frequently you conversed.
Though, there were peaceful moments like this, when the two of you could be in each others presence, joking around, hugging, and planting kisses on each other's heads and hands. You weren't really sure what this was. Best friends? Something more? You never really discussed it, but maybe it was better this way. There was a mutual understanding, and taking it any farther felt like dangerous territory.
"So I saw you get horribly dizzy," you teased with a bump of your shoulder against his and he raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Chan spun around like 40 times right? And he fell over less than you."
His eyes widened in disbelief as his jaw dropped in shock before he slapped you on the shoulder, "you watch skzcode?"
"Of course!" you laughed and slapped him back in retaliation, "what kind of friend would I be if I didn't watch your videos?"
"No," he whined and covered his face with his hands.
"You're adorable," you grinned and ruffled his hair.
"Hey!" he protested and swatted your hand away, which only caused you to laugh and try even harder to ruffle his perfect black hair. "I'm leaving," he declared as he stood up, causing you to whine and latch onto him to prevent him from going.
"Nooo! Stay with me!" he rolled his eyes at your antics before sitting down again and giving you a loving pat on the head. He could never leave you.
☆☆☆
It's been a few weeks since Hyunjin first mentioned promise rings, and it's honestly slipped from your mind. With your comeback quickly coming up, you found yourself with less and less time to hang out with him, and even your facetime calls were less frequent. Of course he understood, comebacks were hard work, so when you had a free day to yourself, you were excited to use it to hang out with your best friend. "Sup dorks," you greeted with a wave as the door to the SKZ dorm opened.
"For that I might just leave you outside," Minho joked as he threatened to close the door in your face.
You let out a yelp of surprise before slipping under his arm to avoid getting locked outside, "meanie!" you stuck your tongue out at the brown haired member as he laughed.
You saw Hyunjin coming down the hall to meet you and you excitedly gave him a hug, "hi," you simply said as you gave him a silly grin and looked up at him.
"We haven't seen each other for weeks and that's the first thing you say to me?" Hyunjin gasped in mock offense, dramatically putting the back of his hand to his head, "it's good to see you. How are you?"
You let yourself sag in his grasp and he easily held onto your limp form, "I'm so tired." You groaned, and you were reminded of your sore muscles. He dragged the two of you over to the couch so you could sit and you rested your head in his lap, "the dance is pretty bomb," you grinned.
"Wanna spoil some?" he smirked down at you.
You let out a whine and flailed your arms around, "I came here to rest, not dance."
"I know," he smiled and absentmindedly played with your hair, "I'm just teasing."
"You'll see it soon enough," you hummed and let your eyes close. You liked the way that he was playing with your hair, and it was calming. That plus the warmth he exuded made you want to just take a nap right there.
"You asleep?" he whispered after a couple minutes of silence, you cracked open an eye and shook your head, though you were pretty close to it. "What do you want to do?"
You let out a yawn and stretched, "honestly? Nothing."
He laughed, "fair. Felix got a new game if you're up for it."
You opened both of your eyes to stare down Hyunjin's brown eyes, "okay."
So that's how Chan found you, Hyunjin, and Felix screaming at each other and the TV in front of you as you brawled it out in the game. He let out a sigh as he put the bags of take-out on the table, "is this why you wanted me to get you food?" he called over the screams.
"Thanks Chan!" you risked looking away from the TV to give him a grin. There was a tired, but happy look on his face as he watched the three of you play. He sent a quick message to the group chat telling his members that there was food if they wanted any, and took one of the boxes from the bag for himself.
After you got brutally destroyed by Hyunjin and Felix, you pulled away from them to sit at the kitchen table and grab some food, smiling at Chan who was still sitting there and munching at his panini. It wasn't long until Hyunjin and Felix joined you, and Jisung and Jeongin emerged from their room to eat with you. You smiled and laughed with (and at) each other, and it wasn't long until you realized that you needed to head back to your place.
"Already?" Jeongin whined with the look of a kicked puppy settled on his face.
"I promised Hyo-Rin I'd be back by 3:30," you apologized with a sorrowful look on your face as you gave the younger member a pat. Hyo-Rin was generally understanding and would give you sly looks when you said you were going to meet with Hyunjin (okay all of the members of your group would do that), but with the comeback quickly approaching she was more stressed and on-edge than ever, especially as the leader of the group. You wanted to have enough time to help her de-stress a little on your off day, but knowing her, she was probably still hard at work.
"Good luck on your comeback," Chan gave you a close-eyed, dimpled smile, "I'm guessing we won't be seeing you a lot for awhile."
"You guys better be at the YouTube premier," you threatened lightly as you pointed a finger at them.
"We'll try!"
"I'll walk you back," Hyunjin offered as he wiped his face with a napkin.
"It's just a couple floors away," you weakly protested, liking the idea of getting to spend a couple more minutes together, even if it was just across the building. You weren't too concerned about a scandal brewing up, mostly because debuted idols lived in the same area, and there was a mutual respect and care for each other that involved not dragging each other through a scandal. JYP family things.
"I didn't hear a no," Jisung mumbled around his food that he stuffed into his cheeks.
You sent him a half-hearted glare before mumbling under your breath, "thanks Jinnie."
The black-haired man smiled, "let me grab a jacket and we can head out." He disappeared farther into his dorm and you gave the rest of the members quick goodbye hugs before grabbing your stuff and putting on your shoes. Hyunjin met you by the door and after gracefully putting on his shoes, the two of you left the Stray Kids dorm.
The two of you talked mindlessly and slowly dawdled your way over to your dorm with your arms linked, trying to drag out the walk as long as you could. About halfway to your room, Hyunjin suddenly pulled you to the side, down a small hall that was a branch from the main hall. You sent him an inquisitive glance, but you didn't speak as you watched his brow furrow and his lips purse, he looked like he wanted to say something. You watched as he continued to think with his words, the distressed look on his face growing and growing with each second of silence, carefully, you took his hands in your own, and when he looked up at you in shock, you gave him a warm smile.
"Sorry," he mumbled out, embarrassed by the sudden awkward silence.
You gave him a reassuring hum, "it's okay. Was there something you wanted to talk about?" there it was. He nervously played with his lip again and avoided your gaze, "it's okay if you don't." You continued in a soft tone so as to not startle him.
"No, it's just," he took a gulp as he pulled his hands from your grasp and stuck one of them into his jacket. The hand pulled out a small black box and he carefully placed it into your hands that were still being held by his other hand.
Your heart beat in anticipation, just from the box you could tell that there was something luxurious inside it, and you were scared to open it. Scared to find what was inside. With shaking hands, you carefully opened the box, a choked gasp escaping your lips when you saw the ring inside it. It was a simple braided silver band, with a few white stones embedded in the center indentations. "It's my promise to you. I know our dates are always lame get-togethers in the building, and we can hardly be in each others presence, let alone date, but I want you to know that you are the most important person in my life and when all of this has cooled down I want to take you on a date. A real one." He rambled as he carefully watched your shocked reaction and shaking hands.
You tried to laugh, "you didn't need to get a whole ring for that."
"Think of it as a promise ring?" he was looking at you apprehensively, scared by your nervous response, but that quickly disappeared when you threw your arms around him in a tight hug. "Okay good I'm glad you like it." He laughed away his nervousness as you tried to squeeze him tighter.
"I don't even know what to say," you choked out as you continued to clutch onto him like he was your lifeline.
"That you promise the same thing?" he questioned fearfully.
"Of course," you agreed forcefully with a firm nod as you pulled away to look him in the eye, "I promise that we'll go on a real date, we'll be something more." While the two of you looked at each other his eyes flicked down to your lips before quickly darting forward to give you a quick kiss on the lips, "that was a lame first kiss." You muttered before coming forward to give him a real first kiss.
When the two of you split apart, he let out a little giggle and a sigh of relief and you couldn't help but giggle back at him, a blush painting both of your cheeks red. You held the box towards him and you saw a flash of flear cross his face, "put it on me?" he carefully took out the ring and slid it onto your finger, he breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw that it fit. "It's beautiful." You gasped out gently as you moved your hand around, watching the small piece of jewelry reflect the light.
"I'm glad you like it," he mumbled lowly as he pulled you in for another hug. The two of you stayed like that for a while, hugging and basking in each other's warmth, but all too soon you had to break apart. "Let's get you back to your dorm, Hyo-Rin might lose her mind."
You nodded and the two of you resumed your trek back to your dorm, this time with your hands entwined with each other. "I'll see you later," you hummed as the two of you arrived at the front of your door. He hummed in agreeance and the two of you kissed again. After finally pulling apart, you unlocked your door and gave him a wave before disappearing into your room.
Hyunjin was watching with a smile on his face and his heart pounding. He was glad that worked out.
☆☆☆
"Has there been a performance where you haven't had that ring on?" Hyunjin asked as the two of you face-timed, the mentioned ring still on your finger.
"You noticed?" you couldn't help but grin at him. Much to the chagrin of your stylist, for each of you comeback performances you've somehow slipped Hyunjin's ring into your ensemble. Whether it was actually on your hand (sometimes it was more subtle than others if there were multiple other rings as a part of your outfit), on a chain around your neck, or pinned onto your outfit. It was a small gesture, but you were determined to keep it around you at all times. Partially because you wanted to reciprocate the promise to Hyunjin, but also because doing it made you feel like he was right there by your side, cheering you on.
"A little," he admitted with a small smile.
"The answer is no," you told him with a smile, "I'm pretty sure my stylist wants to throw me out the window." Hyunjin snorted at that comment and you laughed along with him.
"Don't let that happen, then I can't take you on another indoor boba date."
AN: Not super pleased with this one tbh, but it's been awhile since I've updated this and it's been even longer since we last had Hyunjin. TwT If you haven't seen it yet, check out their latest Kingdom performance! It's my favorite so far! Marvel references, Changbin going 'yohhhhhh!,' Han's giant hat, Minho center, Felix as deadpool, Chan having the time of his life when he says they're going to blow the place up, it's cheeky, fun, and you should definitely check it out!