Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
The beginning of #hyuncubed started in Summer, eight months after Minhyun got together with Jonghyun.
The first six months were... peaceful. Calming. Minhyun woke up earlier than Jonghyun did, so he would start the laundry and pack up what was left of a Movie Night (on Thursdays) or a dinner with the other boys over. Often they had guests, especially since Minhyun moved into the master bedroom with Jonghyun and left his old bed in the guest room. Hyunbin stayed over often, enjoying the company. There was once Daniel kicked Seongwoo out of the house for insulting Peter, and the days where Seongwoo had lived with them were a blur of broken cups and general messes.
Jonghyun would wake up, dress quickly, and the both of them would go to the gym. They'll do their own seperate workouts, Minhyun glancing over to admire Jonghyun by the bench press. By nine in the morning, they would have showered and have their morning coffee along with a breakfast of crossaints and eggs at their favourite cafe.
Ten saw the both of them at home, preparing to go to work. At eleven, Jonghyun would be at his dance academy he set up with his friend. Jonghyun was at the academy on alternate days, at his home studio for the rest. He switched between training dancers and playing his computer games. Somehow the advertisements and sponsorships from his Youtube channel helped his dance academy stay afloat with the surrounding competition. And then one day, he was contacted by an entertainment company to choreograph an idol group's, Pristin's, title track. The rest is history.
At eleven, Minhyun would be at the studio, recording for his Youtube channel and album. Their single Daybreak had been a huge hit, and digital sales were encouraging enough for Dongho to write more songs with Minhyun. With Dongho's help, Minhyun had been able to produce more tracks, and more people enjoyed his songs. Often, Jonghyun would drop by to remind the both of them to eat.
The best thing about their work was that they both enjoyed it, and the fact that the dance academy and the studio were right next to each other. Minhyun could stop by the dance academy to find Jonghyun in case of anything, and Jonghyun could do the same. They lived in the same two bedroom apartment, split the rental half-half, and took the same fifteen minute bus ride to their workplaces.
When Pristin's comeback had been well-recieved, the entertainment company signed an exclusive contract with Jonghyun for him to be their personal dance trainer. It went well, but things got better as he introduced the group to Minhyun and Dongho next door. Dongho produced their next title track, and with it Pristin won their first music show trophy.
Dongho had his American friend, Aron, over for a couple of months. He didn't have any space in his house, so he dropped Aron off at Minki's penthouse without a word. The poor man, unable to communicate in Korean, wandered around outside for two hours before Minki tried to break his neck for trespassing. Only the name "Baekho" stopped him.
One frantic phone call later, Aron was in the house and wrapped up in a warm blanket. Turned out that Aron was a designer, for jewellery. He casted Minki as a model, and Minki eventually became his muse. They got together after the three months of staying together, then promptly broke up before Aron's flight back to the US. Within two weeks, Minki packed up everything in his luggage and emigrated to America. Over blurry Skype video calls, he informed his agency of his retirement from the model industry and was in the headlines for three days.
Hyunbin laughed out loud when he heard the news.
Minki and Aron got back together, and Dongho signed with Pristin another contract for another set of songs. Minhyun produced some of the B-side tracks and got a little bit of money from it. Within six months, Pristin had two highly successful comebacks, each one topping the last.
Life was good, until the call.
"Excuse me, is this Hwang Minhyun?" The voice on speaker sounds worried and panicky.
"Yes, who's calling?" Minhyun replies from where he's editing his latest vlog on his laptop.
"I'm calling from Ewha Women Medical Medical Center." Jonghyun drops the apple he's peeling to walk into the living room. "I'm afraid your sister, Hwang Inha, has been in an accident."
Minhyun freezes entirely, and Jonghyun picks up the phone, turning the speaker off to talk to the woman.
"Come on, Min." Jonghyun coaxes, shutting his laptop and tossing him some proper clothes. "We have to go."
"I-" Minhyun stops himself. "I'm fine."
Jonghyun just nods, pausing to observe his face.
"No, you're not." He says softly. "Let's go, I'll drive."
It's not until they are in the car that Minhyun realises he's not holding on to the steering wheel.
"Since when can you drive?" He exclaims.
"It's been three years since I got my licence." Jonghyun corrects wryly, sending him a weak smile.
"Then why the hell have I been driving?" He gapes.
"I like it when you drive me around." Jonghyun mumbles as he does a perfect U-turn. "Besides, this is your car."
Long story short, Inha passed away. Her husband too. Their only daughter, Lee Hyun, survived the car crash. A miracle, the doctors proclaimed. It failed to seem like a miracle in Minhyun's eyes, who sobbed at the loss of his only remaining member of his family. His parents had passed on a long time ago.
Lee Hyun had been two then, a screaming bundle of anger and sorrow. Minhyun would have thought her too young to understand, but she fell silent as Jonghyun took her into his arms, a small hand coming to punch his face.
Jonghyun fell in love immediately.
"We have to take her home." He decides, and Lee Hyun makes a small whimpering sound. Minhyun had been too much of a mess to wrap his head around the fact that they now had a baby, but it was explained that Inha had put Minhyun's name as the child's godfather.
Jonghyun brought both Minhyun and Lee Hyun home, made Minhyun tea with a crushed sleeping pill, and sent him to sleep. While Minhyun slept, his boyfriend managed to get Lee Woojin to bring over his younger brother's old cot. Daniel came along, hauling packets of milk powder and baby bottles in varying shades of blue and pink. Seongwoo came later with a baby bottle sterilizer.
Jonghyun admitted that he hadn't thought this quite through, but the three of them managed to set up the cot in the guest room, put Lee Hyun in it, and made her a bottle of milk. She finished it, and Woojin burped her with the well trained expertise of a brother with two younger sisters. When Daniel and Woojin left, Jonghyun rocked her to sleep and put her back in.
When Minhyun woke up the next day, their family of two had expanded to accommodate Lee Hyun. And then they were three.
This story takes place in Fall five years later, the day after the family gets home from Seonho and Guanlin's wedding. The weekend had been a mess of red paper cups, screaming from the children and the 'young at heart', as well as the emergence of two new couples: Daehwi and Samuel, as well as Jihoon and Jinyoung. Hyuna would have also acquired a kitten (identified as a Russian Blue), to which Minhyun would give in to both his child and best friend's award winning puppy eyes.
Chaos, as usual.
However, a certain Choi Minki would publish a tweet that would later spark off a worldwide trending tag on Twitter for six hours straight. This Choi Minki, very conveniently, would not have told our main characters the contents of said tweet, which he deleted the next morning.
Unfortunately for Choi Minki, what has been on the Internet stays on the Internet.
(Honestly, he should have figured this out by now.)