With Liam and Cassie pressed up against his sides, Alex did his best to relax into the couch so his siblings did not ask why he was so tense during a comedic movie. He had been on edge ever since giving his phone number to Minjae almost a week ago.
The idol had not texted yet, except for one message: Hi, it's Minjae :)
And Alex had replied immediately and read over those three words every day since with an obsession that scared him a little bit. He tried to mediate his disappointment that the conversation had not continued by telling himself that Minjae was the leader of a highly successful group and was probably really busy. But nothing helped that dip in his mood every morning when he woke up and checked his notifications.
Liam tugged gently on Alex's sleeve, his blue eyes wide and concerned.
"What?" Alex whispered, looking down at Liam.
"Why are you sad?"
Alex often forgot that Liam was extremely sensitive to pheromonal shifts and was practically a human lie detector. He could not wave it off or claim that it was nothing. "Someone didn't text me back. I was hoping we'd be friends." And maybe a little more. Being friends would have been nice, but he supposed that Minjae had probably gotten over his momentary fascination and realized that he didn't want to try a relationship with a traumatized child.
"Oh," Liam replied, his tone mirroring Alex's disappointment. "Maybe they read it but got busy and forgot to reply. Maybe you could text them again? Just in case?"
Alex bent his head and pressed a kiss to Liam's white-blond hair. "Sure." He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants and tapped out a quick Hey, how are you doing? Then he set it facedown in his lap and tried to resume watching the movie.
It was only a couple minutes later that his phone buzzed against his thigh.
Hopeful beyond reason, Alex carefully turned it over, his heart tripping when his phone recognized his face and let him see that it was a reply from Minjae. Finger trembling, he swiped up and read the message.
Good, but busy with comeback stuff. I just realized I never replied to you earlier. I must've answered in my head and forgotten about it. I'm sorry if I made you panic.
The grin that came to Alex's face was so far from subtle that even Adelynn glanced up at him. He patted her head and turned her attention back to the movie.
Liam, however, was not so easily redirected. A little smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "He texted back, didn't he?"
Alex narrowed his eyes at Liam, but a smile was still fighting to take over his face. "How do you know it's a he?"
Liam raised an eyebrow like he was a mom ferreting out his child's crush. "Because you're giddy. You're never giddy."
Alex shrugged. "Just because I'm an omega doesn't mean I'm gay."
Liam gave him a look that said clear as words: We both know you're full of shit.
Alex sighed in defeat. "Fine. I am gay, and it is a he."
Liam grinned. "I knew it!" he hissed triumphantly.
Adelynn looked up from the movie again to glare at them. "Sh!" she warned them aggressively. "I'm trying to watch!"
They quieted, but Liam kept catching his eye throughout the rest of the movie and grinning.
Alex managed to type out a reply to Minjae without Liam reading it over his arm. No worries. I'm sure it's a lot of work being famous.
Within five minutes, Minjae texted back. So we're still good? Aw, that was actually kind of cute.
Alex could not keep his smile off his face as he typed: Of course we are. Everybody messes up sometimes. That was the right thing to say, right? Was it gracious enough? Or was he overdoing it? He quickly followed that text up with another one. So how's your day going so far? Other than being busy.
The three dots danced for a couple minutes and then Minjae's message came through. Pretty good. Better now that we're texting ;) I had a…friendly debate with a producer about one of the tracks because he didn't want to give us a dance break and Mila was brokenhearted over it. But I won, so everyone's happy again.
The little flirtatious line that Minjae threw in so naturally set Alex's face on fire. He tried to respond like he was not blushing. A happy team is good.
Yeah, angry teams aren't good at all, Minjae replied. Or sad teams. It just makes everyone and everything miserable.
Liam tugged on Alex's arm as the movie's music swelled. "Lemme see," he whispered.
Alex rolled his eyes but tilted his phone enough to let Liam read as he typed out: My younger brother's eavesdropping over my shoulder btw.
Minjae just sent three crying-laughing emojis and then said, Hi, younger brother!
Liam chuckled. "He seems fun. Can I text back?"
Alex handed his phone to Liam and watched as he typed: Hi, I'm Liam.
Hey, Liam. Nice to meet you :)
Alex took his phone back, ignoring Liam's performative pout. Okay, okay, that's enough.
He could practically hear Minjae's laugh as he replied: Don't sulk, beautiful.
Alex felt his face heat again. Beautiful? Was that a compliment? Some sort of…what was it called? A pet name? Before he could really think about it, he was texting back: I'm not sulking.
Liar.
Fine, maybe I'm sulking a little bit.
There was a silence for a couple minutes, then the dots appeared for a moment, giving way to a short, one-word message: Don't.
Suddenly, Adelynn's hands clutched Alex's arm. The movie was over. "Who're you texting?"
His siblings really were nosy, but he loved them for it. His other siblings, the ones he had had before, they had also been nosy, but invasively so. They had always been looking for ways to get him punished by their father, but he knew that Adelynn and Liam were just curious about what he was doing and wanted to get all up in his business because they loved him and wanted to be as close to him as possible.
"A friend," Alex replied.
Liam made a snort-like sound, got up, and headed into the schoolroom, probably to work on another one of his insanely complicated physics problems. He had recently been introduced to the concept of physics by his tutor, and now almost all he did was read the textbook and work through the problems page by page. Sometimes he got stuck and had to wait for his tutor to come and explain it, but more often than not he frowned at it for a bit and then figured it out on his own. The boy was a genius, and it would only be so long before he passed his tutor's limits. Would Kiel and James let him take college classes? Or would they just hire a professor to come in as another tutor? Liam was shy and sensitive, but even he could use some friends outside of his family. There had to be at least one kid out there who would like him.
Alex glanced down at his phone as it buzzed with another message from Minjae, this one a little longer.
Please don't go silent on me. Did I cross a line?
Alex blinked, realizing he had not replied and left Minjae's previous message sitting alone in the white space of their text thread. He hurriedly replied: No, you're okay. Just got distracted by my siblings.
*sigh of relief*
Alex grinned down at his phone, fully aware that Adelynn was trying to decipher the words on the screen. He was not too worried, since she was barely reading simple books. Were you really that worried?
Yeah, of course I was. You told me that you might suddenly pull away if I crossed a line. I wanted to make sure you're okay. Minjae could sweet talk even over text. Impressive and a little annoying.
I'm okay. Thanks for checking. Tentatively, he added a smiley face to the end of the message and sent it.
Minjae sent the same emoji back.
Alex stood and walked to his room, leaving the door slightly cracked as he flopped down on his bed and continued texting with Minjae until a knock came at his door. Gotta go, he typed quickly. Talk tomorrow?
Minjae's reply was immediate. Absolutely!
"Come in," he called, turning off his phone and placing it facedown on his nightstand.
It was James who pushed open the door, still in his suit but with the dark purple tie loosened. "Hey."
"Hey," Alex replied, suddenly remembering that Kiel thought James was proposing soon. He sat up, trying not to look too giddy. "What's up?"
James came a little further in. "Do you mind if I put the door back the way you had it and sit down next to you?"
"Sure."
James pushed the door mostly shut and took a seat on the bed next to Alex. "So, I have a…problem."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "A problem?"
"Not a problem," James hastily amended. "I just want to talk to you about something since you're the kid that's closest to Kiel."
Alex tried to repress his smile. "That's probably just cause I'm the oldest."
James gave a half-smile. "Maybe. Anyways…" He cleared his throat. Oh, he was nervous. "I really love Kiel."
Alex did smile this time. "I know you do, and he loves you a lot too."
A bit of anxiety left James' face. "I know. So, um, I'm going to try to make it permanent." With his golden skin flushing, he clarified, "I'm going to ask him to marry me."
Alex did his best to keep from laughing and revealing that Kiel already knew. "Okay…so what're you talking to me for?"
James pulled his phone out of his suit pants' pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Alex. "I need a second opinion on what ring to get."
"You and Kiel are both adults. Why not ask him?" Alex shrugged, even as he swiped through the options James had marked. "He's probably already guessed that you want to propose soon."
James shook his head quickly. "I'd still like the ring to be a little bit of a surprise."
Alex nodded and went back through the five rings. He swiped back and forth for a few minutes and then stopped on the second one. "This one," he said, handing the phone back to James and acting like he and Kiel had not gone over ring options a few days prior. "I think he'd like this one the best."
James nodded and stared at the screen for a while.
"James?"
He looked up at Alex again. "Yeah?"
Alex rolled the seam of his sweatpants between his thumb and pointer finger. "Do you prefer that I call you James or Jimin? Because the other kids call you Jimin and I'm the only one who calls you James and I feel like I'm being rude."
James held out his hand palm up on the bed and smiled reassuringly when Alex took it. "You're not being rude. I don't mind at all."
That answer did nothing to dispel Alex's rising anxiety. "But don't you like one better than the other? Please, just be honest with me."
James sighed. "I get called James all day by my coworkers. It's kind of nice to come home and have my family call me by my real name."
"Then I'll call you Jimin," Alex decided, speaking before Jimin could say more. "Unless you want me to call you something else?" God, that thought sent him into a spiral. What if he had asked the wrong question to start out with? What if Jimin wanted the respect he was due as the man about to become Alex's stepfather? What if–
"Jimin's fine," Jimin said, squeezing Alex's hand gently. "I don't expect anything else from you, okay?"
Alex swallowed around the lump in his throat and nodded, his panic ebbing slightly. "Okay."
Jimin gave his hand another squeeze. "Thanks for helping me. Love you." He stood up like he had not just dropped the l-word on Alex and left with a smile.
Alex wrapped his arms around himself and laughed quietly, even as tears escaped from his eyes.