Work Text:
Jeongin – Pairs
-----
For Jeongin, things in life usually came in pairs. Pairs were the natural order. Sun and moon, heaven and earth, apples and pears, cats and dogs, mom and dad… So the fact their group were an even number, easily squaring off into pairs, was nothing strange.
There were a whole bunch of different pairs that sparked different emotions: Chan and Felix made for chaotic sunshine that reminded Jeongin of his own brother and himself on Christmas mornings; Changbin and Seungmin made a stable foundation of hilarity; Hyunjin and Jisung were just plain chaos; Chan and Seungmin were an adorable push-and-pull; Minho and Felix made an adorable mix of rainbows on a summer day when the weather was ambivalent enough to rain during sunshine. Jeongin couldn’t quite put a finger on what emotions his own different pairings showed, but he was unfortunately rather certain that most of them had an aura of childishness – not necessarily from his side.
There were pairs in the group that were more or less natural too.
Agewise, it was simple: Jisung and Felix, the birthday twins; himself and Seungmin, the babies; Chan and Minho, the eldest; Changbin and Hyunjin, the middles. Then there were the gymrats: Chan and Changbin; the food-makers: Minho and Felix; the artisans: Hyunjin and Seungmin; the gamers: himself and Felix; the workaholics: Chan and Jisung.
The strangest pair, in Jeongin’s eyes were himself and Minho. He loved his hyung and he knew the second-oldest was very fond of him, but they didn’t have that many things in common, and their personalities were not the best matches. Maybe like cousins, Jeongin supposed. People that would always have a connection with each other and would always be there for one another, but could equally be pleased with seeing each other a few times a year.
Jisung and himself was also a rare pair. Despite being closer in age, closer in interests, and strangely closer in personality, they did not click in the same way they did with others.
Minho and Jisung, on the other hand, they were as natural a pair as any could be. It was one of those things that Jeongin had learned quickly to take for granted: if you saw one of them, chances were that the other was not far away. If they had different schedules, they still somehow seemed to be there with each other – a text, a funny meme, a video chat, a phone call that seemed to consist of nothing but silence.
During group practices, Jeongin always found it unsettling when Minho and Jisung took their breaks away from each other. Granted, that only seemed to last for five minutes before one wandered over to the other, but those five minutes never failed to made warning bells sound in Jeongin’s head. Then it was equally annoying when they were together: bodies aligned with each other, curving around each other on the floor. Not-silent-enough whispers that lead to too-loud barks of laughter. Eerily similar turns of the head when someone approached their bubble.
Jeongin supposed it was the side effect of being two halves of a whole. As much as he thought that most of their group consisted of people that matched each other unusually well, Minho and Jisung were on a different level. They balanced each other out like no one Jeongin had ever seen outside romance books and films.
It was a standard joke (rule, fact-of-life, whatever you want to call it) in the group that if Jisung was feeling sad or spiralling in his anxiety, Minho would get him out of it in half the time as anyone else. If Minho, heaven forbid, was in a mood, the only safe person to send in was Jisung. Many others had tried, no one had come out unscathed (Felix possibly withstanding, but it was close to impossible to hurt the sun).
As a pair, Minho and Jisung were as natural as anything. They were like the sun and the moon. Jeongin privately thought that Minho was Jisung’s sun, helping him light up the dark, and Jisung was Minho’s moon, calming yet never stagnant. Jeongin supposed they would themselves probably argue the opposite: Jisung was naturally bright in his comfort, and Minho the silent reflection.
Either way, Jeongin was happy that his hyungs had each other. He looked forward to the day he found someone to be a pair with. After all, nature was all about pairs.
-----------
Seungmin – Differentiating Styles
-----
If asked, Seungmin would nine times out of ten have only sarcastic responses to any question regarding his members. He loved them, but he didn’t necessarily want them to always hear it. He respected them incredibly, but he didn’t feel the need to reassure them at every point. Sure, there were members he complimented more often than others, members he showered with love more than others. It didn’t mean he loved any of the others less. It just wasn’t their style.
Like Chan. Their leader was always a very affectionate and open man, choosing to say and show those he loved that he loved them. Including Seungmin. Usually when Seungmin didn’t want it.
Like Jeongin. The baby that refused to stay a baby. Only in his quietest moments did he say something serious about love or respect. Seungmin respected that. Seungmin also thought Jeongin was the most adorable ever when he tried to act like he was fifty times older than everyone else (which was just about daily), so naturally he babied him every time.
Hyunjin and Felix generally didn’t say anything, choosing to hang off of whatever member they wanted to show affection to. It was sweet and cosy until it was too much. Then they became octopi and Seungmin usually had to either submit until they lost interest or fight dirty to get away. It was 50/50.
Changbin chose words before anything else. Serious and deep conversations were not far away when the older was feeling sentimental. Changbin was perhaps the one closest to Seungmin himself in personality, which always made Seungmin feel connected to him in a whole different way than any of the other members.
Jisung switched his style depending on who he was dealing with. Seungmin could never, it was too much effort, but it was as natural to Jisung as breathing: clinging to Felix and Hyunjin, showering Chan and Jeongin with praise, and spending hours doing whatever with himself and Changbin.
Minho was the one Seungmin thought he’d have the most trouble connecting to. He wasn’t. Minho usually answered questions and affectionate words with more sarcasm than Seungmin, avoided physical touch like the plague and tended to flit back and forth between things, never settling too long on any one thing. It hadn’t taken long before Seungmin had realised Minho just did things for others. Complaining the whole time or never giving a clue he actually did the thing. Seungmin respected that most of all, the silent care. It didn’t put any pressure of returning the affection, in fact it was best left alone.
So when Minho began displaying physical affection to Jisung and always sweet-talking him, Seungmin had almost had an aneurysm. Then he realised that Minho was reflecting Jisung’s ways back at him so Jisung would understand the affection. It made sense. If Jisung was used to reflecting other people’s style of affection, he would probably not understand Minho’s unless he was actually, genuinely looking for it. Knowing Jisung, he probably didn’t think to look for it.
After the first month of seeing it, Seungmin became used to it. It was cute, Seungmin could admit as much, but it didn’t make it any less annoying.
Seungmin would never, though. Too much hassle.
-----------
Felix – Happiness
-----
Most people that knew Felix knew that he was a happy soul. He wanted the best for people, no matter what.
When he found Stray Kids he became especially concerned with his members’ happiness. They gave him so much – hope, affection, happiness, a family – that he wanted them to experience only the best things in life in return. While it was hard to give them the world like he wanted, Felix had made it his personal mission to make his members smile as much as possible.
Some of the members were easier to please than others. With Chan and Changbin it was easy: he only had to flash a smile and maybe act a little cute, and immediately he could see them light up and smile back at him. They also tended to be cute back, which was a bonus for Felix. Seungmin and Jeongin acted like they didn’t like it when he bothered them, when he tickled them and hugged them and gave them homemade cookies, but they did. Their shoulders relaxed a little more once Felix had been around them long enough. Hyunjin and Minho required quality time. With Hyunjin, usually a mix of being silly and being creative in any form helped him smile; with Minho it was about the older being useful in some way, either by giving advice or by physically helping Felix with choreography or making food. Jisung, Felix had found, was both the easiest and the most difficult to make happy. When his “twin” had a good day, all it took was a look and a raised eyebrow and they were off. When he had a bad day, Felix usually had to employ everything in his arsenal (cookies, cuddles, cute animals and quality time) to even get a ghost of a genuine smile.
The best method Felix knew to guarantee Jisung’s happiness usually came in the from of Minho. The one who looked the scariest, the coldest, but had one of the biggest, softest hearts Felix knew. Naturally Minho made everything better. (Chan, who probably had an even bigger and softer heart, was the cure for all ills for Felix, but Minho was more Jisung’s style. Thankfully.)
Looking at Jisung and Minho when they were in their zone was like an automatic mood boost for Felix himself. They were soft and silly with each other, and in the beginning Felix had had to literally block his own mouth not to coo out loud when he saw them. With exposure, the urge had lessened (not disappeared, but lessened), and now Felix just felt happy when he saw his bandmembers with each other. Minho and Jisung together reminded Felix of extra fluffy socks on a cold winter night or of brilliant sunshine in summer.
Changbin usually called them annoying out loud, but he had told Felix in private that he enjoyed hearing them laugh because it made him feel peaceful. Seungmin complained the loudest about them but was always the first person to put them in the same space if they were apart. (This usually made Felix want to coo at him and more often than not led to giving Seungmin extra cookies.)
When his team was happy, Felix was happy. There wasn’t much more to it.
-----------
Hyunjin – Inspiration
-----
Hyunjin had always known about himself that he was an incurable romantic. It was in his blood. It was also in his sign: he was a Pisces, the dreamer. Naturally he dreamed. He preferred to see life through rose-tinted glasses, because why not see the positive in things? He did have his moments when the world was too much, when the darkness snuck into his head, leaving him empty and hopeless. Thankfully those moments tended to be few and far between, and he always had someone that he could talk to, someone who would listen, lend a shoulder to cry on, and offer advice if he wanted it.
Growing up an only child had occasionally been lonely. Not because his parents hadn’t loved him or hadn’t done anything to make him feel like that, but it just happened. He saw friends with siblings and as much as they claimed to hate them and sigh longingly, telling him they wished they were an only child like him; Hyunjin saw they didn’t actually mean it. Siblings were, as far as he could tell, people that you pretended to hate but actually loved so much it was hard to contain all the love inside.
When he became part of Stray Kids, it was like suddenly he had a whole band of brothers, people he loved dearly but normally talked trash to and about. Chan and Changbin, though, were more friends and mentors, and the other 00-liners were very close friends, close like brothers. Jeongin was his baby, and Hyunjin still couldn’t decide if it was just because he’d been their youngest or if he was actually like a little brother. Minho was the one he genuinely saw as an older brother. Minho was the classic older brother in Hyunjin’s mind; someone he loved and respected a lot, had complete faith and trust in, would do anything for. Except say how much he meant. Minho treated him just the same.
Hyunjin could see the different bonds the other members had with each other as well. Chan and Felix usually sat close together, talking to each other in English, sharing a whole different culture and history than everyone else. Changbin and Jisung were like two peas in a pod, ideas bouncing off each other and expanding on what the other was thinking. Seungmin and Minho bickering like the divorced couple that they were portrayed as, nagging each other as much as they looked out for one another.
Minho and Jisung’s relationship, however, had always stood out to Hyunjin. At first because he’d been in such a bad headspace where Jisung was concerned, annoyed that Jisung had someone he was so happy with when all Hyunjin wanted to do was bash the other’s head in. Thankfully, they had worked past their differences and Hyunjin could finally see the other’s relationship with Minho for what it was: pure comfort. They were just what the other person needed when they needed it the most, and Hyunjin was glad that they both had found that.
Jisung could get so stuck in his head that he needed the sometimes physical push to get out of the door that only Minho managed to do without being annoying about it. Minho on the other hand needed someone to make him slow down and think about the consequences of his actions. Not that Jisung had the best track record of thinking before acting, but somehow he managed to get Minho to not always blurt out the first thing that popped into his head and take moment to consider the other perspective.
Did Hyunjin believe in soulmates? He hadn’t necessarily before. Did he now? Absolutely. He could off the top of his head give a handful of examples why soulmates existed in Minho and Jisung. It was just beautiful that there could be a connection strong enough to be the other half of someone else’s soul.
If Hyunjin found himself in an art block, wanting to paint or draw but also wanting to bash his head against his canvas because he had nothing he wanted to draw, he only had to look at Minho and Jisung. If he lost himself in the daydream of having a soulmate bond like theirs, he usually could magically be able to produce something. They inspired him. The bond they had spoke to the romantic in Hyunjin, the creativity in his art. Daydreaming of having that connection usually let something free inside him that allowed his hands to start making art without his head saying it’s garbage. Once his hands started, his head just had to follow through.
So Hyunjin rooted for his friends, wanted to preserve their bond so that they could flourish. Both selfishly so he could always find inspiration, but also because he honestly believed his friends (his brothers) deserved that happiness.
-----------
Changbin – Relief
-----
Changbin had always worried about Jisung. Jisung was too small and too kind for the tough and in-your-face industry they operated in. Sure, Jisung could spit more fire than most rappers and trash-talkers in the industry, but it was always just a persona. Han or J.One on stage were different from Jisung in private.
Chan and himself had always tried to protect Jisung in whatever way they could. Physically guarding him from people crowding too close, mentally being the stable rocks Jisung could count on. Both because he was their maknae but also because they had developed tougher skin than Jisung. Changbin admired that Jisung hadn’t become as hardened as the rest, continuing to be soft and sweet and himself in all the ways. Jisung softened them too.
It took a toll on Jisung, Changbin knew, to remain how he was. The anxiety and the doubts left marks. Marks he didn’t always want to show Changbin or Chan. Too often Changbin had found Jisung crying alone, sleeping too little, working too hard, taking critique too personally.
Then Minho came along, folded into the group, and Changbin could gradually see the difference. Tight shoulders loosening, dark circles lightening, smile remaining bright, focus being kept on the right things. He had exchanged more than one relieved look with Chan; happy their conversations didn’t have to be heavy and fraught with tension, revolving around how to ease Jisung’s hurt, but rather bright discussions on how to boost their collective happiness.
Minho was better for Jisung than Changbin could have ever dreamt. They fit each other like two pieces in a puzzle. Minho stepped up and became a shield around Jisung, covering the holes Chan and he himself couldn’t fill. Jisung, in turn, smoothed out whatever edges Minho had that poked their sides.
As Changbin got to know Minho, he was glad that Jisung was there too, pulling away Minho from his perfectionistic tendencies either by literally dragging the older to get food or by making Minho care enough to stop his own training to make sure Jisung rested.
The end result was that Changbin had two brothers he didn’t have to worry about as much anymore, and he was all the more relieved for it.
-----------
Chan – Unburdened
-----
Being the leader of a globally known band both was and wasn’t as hard as one might think. Chan had his fair share of stress and headaches and worry trying to manage eight different personalities and wishes alongside the company’s and fans’ expectations. Then he also had the unfailing support of his seven members who were always there to help him in whatever capacity they could and an extremely loyal fanbase that usually told him to rest more than they demanded new content.
His one constant worry was always his members. Their health and happiness. They were his family, his creation, his everything, and if they didn’t feel well in whatever way… That was on Chan. (Logically he knew that it wasn’t on him, but his heart said that since he had brought them together then he was the one responsible for them.)
Each one of his members worried him in different way and a different amount. Changbin and Seungmin were the ones he probably worried the least about due to their relative levelheadedness and logical minds. He always tried to touch base with them to make sure that their emotional needs were met, that they didn’t lose their playfulness. Jeongin and Hyunjin he worried about due to their fragility, though each in their own way. Jeongin’s age and the fact that the whole group protected him at all costs made him less aware of the negativity that surrounded them (and Chan wanted to keep it that way, he’d hate to see their maknae lose his innocence). Hyunjin was a sensitive soul that took criticism more harshly than he should, and Chan usually had to put him back together with care and lots of affection when it happened. Felix was somewhere between the four where Chan wanted to preserve Felix’s innocent nature but also letting him be his own person that could handle any situation thrown at him.
Then there was Jisung. Chan’s first. STAY’s usually called Jisung Chan’s first stray kid, his forever maknae – and that was generally true. Jisung was the first one Chan really wanted to bond with, wanted to make music with, his longest companion. He wasn’t the group’s maknae, but he was Chan’s. He worried about Jisung like a parent worried about their child. Jisung’s social anxiety made Chan want to protect him from the world, yet his creativity made him so proud that he wanted the whole world to see what his baby could do.
Minho held a different kind of worry for Chan. Minho was like Chan’s co-captain, the mom to his dad, the other end of the balance. Minho was the person that Chan went to for advice. He didn’t necessarily worry about Minho’s mental or physical strength, more that Minho took time off, time to himself. (Hypocritical of him, yes, but still.)
To have Minho come in, and take on that role, left Chan with less to worry about. Because Minho cared about Stray Kids almost as much as Chan. Minho filled so many of the gaps that Chan couldn’t fill. Minho made sure Chan could focus on other things and not have to worry quite so much about the members.
Minho played with Changbin to make him smile, bickered with Seungmin to make him think about other things besides work, praised Felix to boost his confidence, guided Jeongin to make him more independent, snarked at Hyunjin to make him forget his hurt. Most importantly, he took care of Jisung in a way that Chan never could. He could sit for hours and listen to Jisung’s rants, hold Jisung tight when the world became too much, and make Jisung laugh until he cried. Chan had done it for Jisung before Minho, but with Minho it was easier. It didn’t make him jealous, it made him relieved. Jisung was Minho’s place to relax too, so Chan was especially happy that they had each other.
Yes he worried about his members, but he worried less than he might have done before. Because he had his members, he had Minho, to lighten the load.