WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER. banginho

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Just about two years passed for them, a bare minimum- if any- texts or calls. No news about Berry. Nothing on Hannah. Zero updates on the progress of guitar or piano lessons.

It hurt for the first few months. It tore apart Minho from the inside out to not have a clue what Chan- what his knight- was up to. Every thought that passed through his head ultimately linked back to Chan in some way, and that alone was a special brand of torture. As much as it pained him, the thought that it was for the best acted as a bandaid to the bullethole left by the absence of a certain someone in his life.

Eventually, Minho got over it. Scarred and battered emotionally, but whole nonetheless. If his entire happiness was dumped on Chan's shoulders to carry, like it had been over the few weeks they were dating, the relationship just couldn't be healthy. Minho had to learn happiness without Chan. Again. It was just a reminder of how he'd failed the first time. But eventually he healed. Just like his mom said he would.

Minho passed the tenth grade with flying colors in most of his classes, and got even closer with Jisung and Hyunjin- Changbin too. After all, it wasn't Changbin's fault he was so whipped for Felix at the time that he'd go as far as to spy on them during lunch. 

It did take all Minho's willpower to not ask for info on his exboyfriend from Changbin, but he lived.
He lived and he thrived in the last few years of highschool. Minho kept his job and Seungmin and Jeongin grew to be his closest friends outside of school. 

Never again did he have a real boyfriend since Chan, but there were flings here and there. He even had the most miniscule of crushes on Hyunjin late Junior year, but that was debunked almost immediately, as he admitted to Jisung and Minho that he was aromantic and asexual in one of their iconic sleepover talks.

Minho had sighed a tremendous exhale of relief and spilled his semi-crush on the spot. Hyunjin never quite let him forget it- even making his yearbook quote something to clown Minho for. 

("Someone tried to date me once but his chances were naro.")

He'd made Minho sign right next to it, and if Minho did it just to see his friend's first happy smile since being sent to live with his aunt, it was all worth it.

The most heartwrenching part of everything had to be graduation.
Saying goodbye to everyone he'd gotten to know so well after so many years together wasn't the least bit easy. That might've been the only other time Minho had cried as hard as he did when he was with Chan.

His parents came around after not too long. Given, it was a few months before they settled into the idea of him never having a girlfriend, but once they did, it was great. His dad tried to set him up with sons of his work friends more times than Minho could count on one hand, and his mom made sure to always like lgbtq+ posts on Facebook. Plus she put a tiny rainbow flag glass sticker on the window by his bed, hidden behind the curtain. She thought he didn't notice, but he did. And he loved her for it.

Flower crown crafting had become a favorite pastime for him over the years. At first, he'd taken it up whenever he started to miss Chan, but then it became a hobby. Spending time outside and researching the types of plants he saw started to feel less and less like work or a coping mechanism, and a lot like something he'd want to do for the rest of his life.

That notion led him to college, or University, a major in ecology and bioscience within his grasp. 

Minho didn't know exactly why he chose to go to college in Newfoundland out of all places, but he did.

Since freshman were required to live on campus for at least a year, Minho had to move in. By himself. His parents were busy with something or other, and so he was left to move into a dormitory at a foreign college campus on his own.
He'd contacted his roommate a few days prior and found out that he was an engineering major named Kevin from Canada. It had a nice ring to it. He wouldn't be arriving for a few more days, so Minho was left to fend for himself for a while.