[A/N] Trigger Warning on this chapter! Slight mentions of suicide, but blink and you’ll miss it (this is one of the reasons why I was hesitant to post this because of what happened but it has to go up sometime)

 

{A Nondescript Parking Lot}

October 15

“I don’t understand why you’re always having us meet in parking lots at five am.”

“And I don’t understand why you just can’t be a good sport and go along with it.” Jisoo huffed, his cheeks puffing out adorably. Normally he would have more patience, but he was a bit on edge due to recent events.

“Seriously though, one of these days we’re going to get robbed and then we’ll see who was right about everything.” Seungcheol’s eyes nervously darted around the lot, as if waiting for someone to jump out at him. In his defense, he had been nearly mugged as a twelve-year old, but that was a story for another day.

“Ughhh. I’ll buy you guys lunch later, just please wait a little bit longer.”

“Sweet!” Soonyoung grinned. “I was going to just grab take-away before heading to the Studio, but if you’re paying...”

“Why do I even hang out with any of you?”

“Because you love us and need our help bringing furniture you ordered from sketchy foreign catalogues into your apartment at obscenely early in the morning?” Seungcheol provided somewhat unhelpfully, causing Jisoo to groan again.

“I wasn’t about to give them my address, what if they were serial killers?”

“So instead you asked them to deliver it to you in a sketchy gas station parking lot at 5 am? How does that feel safer to you? It’s like begging for them to murder you!”

“I’d like to refrain from taking sides here, but Soonyoung’s got a point.” Jun raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, taking a sip of his cappuccino, which Jisoo had bought for him. The American boy might be in a bad mood, but he was still nicer than at least 50% of their friend group.

“It was meant to be a surprise for Hannie, he’s always complaining about our couch, but it came late.” Jisoo pouted again, shivering as he shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his oversized hoodie. The temperature was finally starting to drop, a sure sign that fall was really beginning. “Also I had no idea that it would  arrive at such a ridiculous time until I got the email two days ago. Why would I expect it to arrive at five am? What kind of company delivers packages at five am?”

“Sketchy foreign ones?”

“Ugh why did I ask you guys again? I should have gotten Seokmin or someone.”

“Seokmin’s out of town.”

“That and we’re the most muscle-y of your friends!” Soonyoung struck a pose, pretending to flex his self-proclaimed ‘impressive guns’.

“Lies! Mingyu is stronger than you!” Jisoo’s snappy response elicited a frown from Soonyoung and a snicker from Seungcheol, the undisputed physical champion of their friend group (they had held a wrestling match once, something which went just about as well as one would expect it to when the only participants were 10-odd late teen, early twenties boys who were entirely hyped up on sugar, testosterone, and a fair amount of alcohol)

“I miss nice Jisoo.” Soonyoung looked like a dejected Hamster and, despite himself, Jisoo found himself melting a little.

“I’m sorry, I’m just a little tired. Hannie’s been acting strange lately and I have absolutely no idea why. Whenever I ask, he says he’s fine, but I really don’t believe him.”

“Hyung, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Soonyoung’s pout instantly disappeared, affection-tinted concern taking its place. “I’ve never seen a couple as in-love as you two, you’re so sweet that it’s actually sickening.”
“Besides Jeonghan might be my best friend, but if he ever does anything to hurt you, don’t hesitate to tell me and I’ll beat his .”

“Thanks guys,” Jisoo smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I really appreciate your support. I just want him to be comfortable enough around me to talk about his problems, you know?”
“Jisoo, I’ve never seen him as absolutely ridiculously happy as he is when he’s with you. He loves you and trusts you, and he’s probably only hiding it because he doesn’t think it’s worth your time.”

“Sometimes there are things that you just can’t tell the person that you care about, no matter how important they might be, you just want to protect them and sometimes hiding the truth is the only way to do that.” Soonyoung spoke with a gravity to his words, his meaning not lost on the older boy. He smiled slightly when their eyes met, it was a little weak with a tinge of longing but reassuring all the same. Just give them time, Jisoo thought, and they’ll work it out eventually.

“Now, correct me if i’m mistaken, but I think we have a sketchy European couch to pick up. And I think, the creepy white van transporting it just pulled into the parking lot.”

*******

“That actually went a lot smoother than I expected.” Soonyoung plopped down on the freshly situated couch. It was slightly larger than the old one, something which much to Seungcheol and Soonyoung’s dismay had taken a little more shuffling and furniture reorganization than anticipated. But it all worked out okay in the end. The driver of the sketchy van had also turned out to be quite the hoot, making fantastically terrible furniture puns and telling them some of the other stories he had about dropping packages off at strange locations.

“He’s going to love this!” Jisoo smiled happily, looking at the sleek white couch. It fit in perfectly with the rest of the furniture and even looked comfortable as well.

“Yeah. I’m sure it will be getting a lot of use.” Soonyoung grinned, wiggling his eyebrows while the other boys snickered.

“Guys stop it or I won’t buy you lunch.”
“But you promised us!”

How could you do that to us after everything we’ve been through, slaving away all day in order to drag a couch up three flights of stairs!”

“Hey, you said it yourself, it went a ‘lot smoother than expected”

“Yeah, compared to the scenario that I had in mind, which definitely involved us getting murdered. It’s pretty hard for things to go worse than that.” Jisoo huffed and Soonyoung smirked.

“Hey, Minsung turned out to be quite the cool guy, I even got his Kakaotalk id.”

“What?” Suddenly the focus was on Seungcheol who just grinned and shrugged.

“He’s a cool dude.”

“But still, you asked the delivery man for his phone number and he actually gave it to you?

“Yeah, I don’t get why you guys think this is so weird. I mean, how could anyone resist all this-”

“Arrogance?” Jun cut in and Soonyoung quickly followed.

“Fat?”

“I hate you all! I was going to say charm.” Seungcheol let out an exasperated sigh, turning away from his friends, crossing his arms and pouting slightly.

“It’s okay Seungcheol. I think that you’re quite charming.” Jisoo patted his back comfortingly.

“But not as charming as Jeonghan, am I right?”

“YES!” Soonyoung hopped up off his spot on the new couch, high fiving Jun enthusiastically. Seungcheol just rolled his eyes at the whole exchange.

“Guys can we stop making jokes about Jeonghan charming the pants off of Jisoo?”
“LITERALLY!” They burst into laughter leaving Jisoo flushed a bright red.

“Do you want lunch or not?”

“Yes please!”

“We’ll behave.”

“Are you sure?”

“We promise!”

“Good.” Jisoo had ascended to his peak mom-form. “Now put on your coats, it’s a little bit chilly out.”

*******

{Ah Yeah Coffee}

Later

Things were weird. Really weird. Like elephant-wearing-a-tutu-and-tap-dancing-weird. Weird enough that when Wonwoo arrived at work at around noon and saw Mingyu manning the register he wanted to turn around and run out of the shop. But of course he couldn’t since he was just a poor broke college student who needed food (and books). He hadn’t been avoiding Mingu, per say, he had just entirely rearranged his schedule so that they came into contact with each other less. And he had been acting like he lost his phone in order to have a legitimate excuse to ignore the piles of messages that the younger boy had left, despite the fact that it was located securely in his back pocket.

At the dinging of the bell hung above the door, Mingyu looked up, his annoyingly-perfect 100 watt smile already in place. Upon meeting Wonwoo’s eyes, however, it froze, growing a little stiff around the corners, eyes a little tighter than normal. Wonwoo hated that he hated the way it drooped. Five seconds in and it was already uncomfortable.

“Hey.” His throat was so dry, it hardly seemed like his voice, coming out at a barely audible, embarrassingly high squeak. Uggghhhh, Wonwoo seriously needed to get a grip. Maybe he should just drop out of college and become a goat farmer in the bahamas, that way he’d never have to deal with human interaction again. He was too busy staring at his shoes, trying to hide the faint blush on his cheeks, that he missed the way Mingyu’s expression softened.

“I-I have to go change!” He continued cringing as he practically sprinted past Mingyu to the back room. Mingyu just chuckled as he ran by, who knew Wonwoo could act like this? Wonwoo certainly didn’t, that’s for sure, as he clutched at his chest, leaning against the back of the door to prevent Mingyu from entering if he tried to follow (he didn’t). Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn’t he have been born eloquent and charismatic like another employee who shall remain nameless? Why did he have to be the awkward one?

After waiting long enough to convince himself that Mingyu was not going to randomly burst in, he had a register to manage after all, Wonwoo managed to peel himself off of the door and move to his locker. Of the five, it was the least decorated, it’s simple beige surface completely unadorned with photos or stickers. In spite of himself, he felt his eyes straying to Mingyu’s, directly to the left of his. The entirety of the his locker was covered with stickers, ranging from Pledis University’s crest to a strange white and pink character with a diamond head (Mingyu had designed it himself apparently, naming the weird creature BongBong for reasons which Mingyu couldn’t entirely understand). Minghao’s locker, to Wonwoo’s right, was also more like Wonwoo’s, a single chinese sticker adorning it. Wonwoo had no clue what it said, but Jun had given it to him, so it was probably something disgusting. As for the rest, Jin’s locker was painted a soft pink (the owner was waayyyyyy too into the color for his own good) and had a single photo of Jin and Namjoon together on the outside. The fifth and finally locker looked somewhat similar to Mingyu’s, if not quite as bad. It belonged to their mysterious other coworker Jaebum who Wonwoo had yet to meet. At this point he was starting to wonder if he even existed.

But that was important at the moment. Wonwoo had far more pressing things to worry about such as changing as slowly as humanly possible in order to avoid extra time spent with Mingyu. It wasn’t that he was upset with the other boy, things were just, well, awkward. Wonwoo had no idea how to act around the younger boy anymore, not after what happened at the party, almost two weeks ago.

 

{Smile Flower}

Jeonghan’s Party: Two weeks ago

“Oh my god.” To put things simply, it was beautiful, as Wonwoo opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. They were on the rooftop of the building, but instead of it being open to the air, it was covered by a large glass dome, making it into a greenhouse. Around them were more plants than Wonwoo had ever seen in his life, all bursting and blooming, almost like a real life jungle. Rather than being neatly arranged into rows like the flowers downstairs inside the shop, everything was random, growing and sprouting from every available surface. Adding to the effect, the moon shone brightly down through the glass, illuminating everything in its silvery glow. The only other light present was that from white christmas lights, strung carefully around the glass ceiling.

“Do you like it?” Mingyu asked, rather nervously, the least confident that Wonwoo had ever seen him. Wonwoo could say nothing, as he turned to face him in awe. He could not believe such a beautiful place existed.

“I- I don’t know what to say.” He finally regained his voice, which was hard when Mingyu was staring at him so softly, so gently.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

“You’re welcome.” Mingyu smiled at him, something different than his usual grin, something that left Wonwoo feeling fuzzy inside. “I used to come here all the time as a kid, you know.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. This was my mother’s paradise, her dream, and because of it she poured her whole self into it. My father, on the other hand, was never really around much. He was a lawyer and often times his cases would require him to work ridiculous hours. There were times that I could tell he hated his job though, moments where he’d come home exhausted and he’d fall into my mother’s arms and just stay there while she ran her fingers through his hair. They never knew I was watching them on those nights.”

“It was because of them that I used to come up here really, whenever I was feeling lonely or upset or sad. I just didn’t want to burden them anymore than necessary, not when they were already working hard in order to give me the best life possible.”

“I don’t think they would have minded.”

“What?” Mingyu turned to look at him then, just a slight motion as not to disturb the other boy. Somehow they had ended up sitting side by side, Wonwoo’s head resting against his shoulder.

“If you’d gone to them with your pain. My older brother passed away when I was thirteen and when it happened my mother told me never to hide what I was going through, no matter how much it hurt.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. It was a long time ago now, I’ve accepted the fact that he’s gone, even if I can never really understand his reasons why.” Wonwoo took a deep breath. He didn’t know why he had suddenly felt the need to share about his brother, something which only his very closest friends were aware of. “But just know that you are never as alone as you think you are. I don’t know your family, but from what you said, it seems like they care for you a lot. You also have some of the craziest, most amazing friends I’ve ever seen and I’m sure you can always find comfort with them.”

“What about you?” Mingyu, had pulled back staring intently at the older boy, who flushed a little, but met his gaze nonetheless.

“I’ll be here for you as well, as long as you need me.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Wonwoo could feel the atmosphere change. It grew tense, charged with something that he couldn’t quite understand. And then before he could really question it, Mingyu’s lips were on his own, a little hesitant at first, but growing bolder as responded, relaxing into the contact, all but melting into Mingyu’s arms.

 

{Ah Yeah Coffee}

Present time

Wonwoo blushed as he thought of the encounter. From there, things had only gone downhill. Mingyu had held his hand and walked him home, rambling on about this and that, while Wonwoo found himself incapable of giving anything more than a one or two word response. Intimacy and the vulnerability associated with it really freaked him out.

He hadn’t told any of his friends about what had happened, but some of them (most of them) had put two and two together, realizing that something had happened between him and Mingyu. To be fair, he hadn’t exactly been subtle about it, begging Minghao to cover several shifts for him. Heck, Jin had even figured out something was up, eventually proclaiming that, “No, he could not keep changing the schedule” and that Wonwoo would “have to face lover boy eventually”. Needless to say he was distressed.

 

Today 12:18 PM

Me

> Minghao r u sure u can’t cover for me

 

The Biggest Hao

> Yes.

> Deal w/it

> U can’t keep running away from ur problems 5ever

 

Me

> 5ever?

> rlly Hao?

 

The Biggest Hao

> It’s representative of how done I am w/u rn

> It’s been TWO WEEKS

> U have to talk to him

 

Me

> I know.

 

The Biggest Hao

> I don’t see what the big deal is

> It’s not like you had or smth

 

Me

> MINGHAO
> STOP PLS

 

The Biggest Hao

> No.

> not until u face him or tell me exactly wht happened

 

Me

> ...

> .......

> fine.

> U win

 

The Biggest Hao

> YES

> (I always knew I was the best)

 

Me

> NOT THE TIME

> Anyways

> Obviously it was at Jeonghan’s party

> I wasnt feelin’ the club, u kno how I am

 

The Biggest Hao

> Yes

> Wonu + Crowds + Loud = :( Wonu

 

Me

> exactly

> anyways anyways

> so he took me somewhere

 

The Biggest Hao

> Not his place right? ;)))

 

Me

> No for god’s sake

> YA NEED JISOOS

 

The Biggest Hao

> Srry I was just checking

 

Me

> So he took me to this flower shop his mom runs

> And we went to the roof

> It was all romantic n stuff

> WE TALKED ABOUT EMOTIONAL THINGS

> U know how I am abt vulnerability

 

The Biggest Hao

> yeh

> Wonu + Vulnerability = :( Wonu

 

Me

> Yeah :(

> So I told him abt my brother

> then we talked some more

> and then he kissed me

 

The Biggest Hao

> I KNEW IT

> JUN CAN IT
> HE OWES ME FIVE BUCKS
> Srry, it needed to be said

> Then what happened?

 

Me

> Nothing I guess

> He just talked at me and I was so (brace urself)

> SHOOK (i died a little inside as i typed that)

> Tht I couldn’t say anything back

> So it was just rlly awkward

> And I’ve just avoided him since then

 

The Biggest Hao

> I cant believe u just said shook

 

Me

> I KNO

> THATS HOW DESPERATE I AM

> HELP ME
 

The Biggest Hao

> Srry

> I’m w/Jun

> We’re in Busan

 

Me

> Why r u in..

> Nvm.

> I don’t think I want to know

> BUT WHY DID I JUST TELL U EVERYTHING IF U CAN’T HELP ME
 

The Biggest Hao

> Idk

> I’m not u

> But honestly it’ll be fine Wonu

> Nothing’s ever as bad as it seems in ur head

> #throwbacktothetimeIwasdrunkandthoughtJunwascheatingwithhiscousin

 

Me

> lol

> but it’s been 2 weeks

> and and and

> idk

 

The Biggest Hao

> it’s fine.

> Gyu knows how you are by now anyways

> Plus I don’t think he could be awkward around any1 ever

 

“Wonwoo?” Mingyu’s voice sounded from the other side of the door. “Um, are you okay? It’s been like-” he paused to check his watch “twenty minutes since you got here. Do you need help?” . Of course Mingyu noticed. Wonwoo had been too preoccupied massively overthinking things to realize the passage of time.

“Uh, yeah…” He coughed awkwardly, cursing the blush that spread across his cheeks. How was he supposed to face Mingyu if just his voice had him blushing. “I just… Just couldn’t find my… car keys.” He cringed hard as he said it. Why did he have to say car keys?

“I hate to break it to you, but you don’t have a car.”
“Hahaha! Of course not! I meant the keys to my… apartment.” Yes Wonwoo way to save it!

“You mean your dorm room?” Why did the universe hate him?
“Yeah. Hao’s in Busan so I panicked. I didn’t want to have to wait for him and Jun to comeback to be able to go home. If they even come home.” Surprisingly, Mingyu laughed.

“They’re so gross sometimes. Minghao acts like he doesn’t like it, but we all know that he secretly loves Jun’s antics.” There was a slight pause, as if Mingyu was hesitating. “You know you could always come to my dorm room if you need to.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks.” Wonwoo felt bad. Minghao was right, Mingyu wasn’t being awkward at all, just his regular, overly-sweet self. Taking a deep breath, and mentally bracing himself, he pushed open the door, revealing a surprised Mingyu. “I’m, uh, sorry for avoiding you for two weeks.”

“It’s alright.” Mingyu grinned and Wonwoo’s heart instantly felt lighter. “Afterall, it was totally worth it.”

“Mingyu!” He flushed again. Dammit, this much blushing couldn’t be healthy.

“What?” The other boy shrugged. “I’m just being honest.”

“I hate you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Yes I do. I actually hate you Kim Mingyu.”

“Liessss! We both know that you likeeeee me!”

“Yeah, and Panda college was a good idea.”

“Stop bringing that up! I never should have shared my genius with you!”

“I don’t think that you have enough genius to share with anyone.” He rolled his eyes, pushing past Mingyu and into the main room of the cafe. This was something that he could handle, an atmosphere with which he was familiar, this form of light-hearted bickering. Behind him Mingyu smiled slightly, following Wonwoo.

*******

“Wonwoo!” He looked up from wiping the counter to see his friends walking through the door. Jisoo was smiling happily and he was soon followed by Soonyoung, Seungcheol, and Jun. Wonwoo narrowed his eyes, the Chinese boy was most decidedly not in Busan. Minghao you little .

“Hey guys, how’d it go?” He to had been asked to join the furniture-retrieval squad, but fortunately he had work, a legitimate excuse not to attend. Like most people he was not a fan of waking up at strange times and meeting people in sketchy parking lots.

“Really well actually!” Soonyoung eyed one of the many pastries in the glass display case. “Plus Jisoo promised to buy us all lunch.”

“We would have gone with something a bit more formal, but Hannie gets off in about half an hour and I want to be home for him.”

“Young love, how sweet.”

“Cheol, you’re only four months older than me and two months older than Hannie. You can hardly call us young”

“Well I’ve never moved across an ocean to be with someone, so I’d say your love is at least pretty sweet.”

“Yeah it is.” Jisoo said dreamily, a soft look in his eyes. Seungcheol mimed throwing up.

“I want this one!” Soonyoung loudly cut in, pointing at a cinnamon bun through glass.

“Okay, what about you, Jun?”
“Just an iced americano for me. I’ve got a hot date in ten.”

“If you’re involved, I doubt a date could ever be hot.” Soonyoung laughed, successfully evading Jun’s attempt to put him in a headlock.

“I’m very hot, I’ll have you know. I was ranked second in my high school for looks.”

“How many kids were in your high school? Three?”

“Excuse me camel boy there were over four hundred kids in just my grade alone. Every Valentine’s day my locker would be full of love letters. Hardly a day went by when a girl didn’t confess to me.”

“If only they’d known.” Jun laughed.

“Seriously, they wasted so much time on me not knowing I wasn’t even playing for their team. I thought the whole thing was hilarious to be honest.”

“I hardcore relate to that.” Mingyu shot a glance at Wonwoo, who was trying his best to act uninterested in what he was saying. “High school was a disaster, I had to reject so many girls.”

“Or you could just do what Wonwoo did.” Soonyoung leaned against the counter, eyes fixed on Mingyu, who could not hide his interest.

“He was popular?”

“Of course! With a face like his, the girls were practically throwing themselves at him.”

“Stop it.” Wonwoo frowned at him. “Soonyoung always exaggerates, you shouldn’t listen to him.”

“Okay, fine. I admit that I’m exaggerating a little, but the truth remains. He had quite a few admirers.”

“And?”

“He completely broke their hearts.”

“In my defense, I didn’t know that they were confessing! I would have been nicer if I’d known.”

“A girl in our calculus class asked if you were free after school and you told her that you wouldn’t help her study for the test and that maybe she should have paid attention in the first place.”

“What was I supposed to think? Our midterm was the next day. Why would she ask me if I was free if she didn’t want me to teach her how to integrate? Plus she was always trying to take my extra sweater rather than focusing like she should be.”

“It was because she liked you!”

“Well maybe she should have done something about it other than annoying me.”

“She literally asked you out.”

“Well maybe she should have done it in a clearer way. Like written me a letter or something.”

“But last time someone wrote you a confession letter you through it away.”

“Yeah because I thought it was a notice from the Library to return a book that I’d had out for over three months.”

“Why would she spray perfume on an overdue slip?”

“To lull me into a false sense of security? I don’t know, the only time I ever saw her was in the Library. She was there so much I thought she worked there.”

“She was there because she was waiting to see you, not because she worked there.”

“Well maybe she should have been clearer about her intentions.”

“I think giving you a confession letter was clear enough.” Wonwoo just huffed, refusing to continue the bickering any longer.

“Fortunately after his first boyfriend, he got a little less dense.” If Wonwoo had been drinking anything it would have sprayed his childhood friend directly in the face. Mingyu perked at the mention of a boyfriend, eyes sliding from Soonyoung to Wonwoo’s flustered state and back again.

“Wonwoo had a boyfriend?”

“Yeah, his name was Jungsoo and he was one HOT TAMALE.”

“SOONYOUNG!” Wonwoo all but yelled, diving across the counter and shoving a cinnamon bun into the other boy’s mouth. “Don’t you know that it’s impolite to talk with your mouth full?” Unfortunately, that was when Jun cut in.

“Jungsoo was apparently the school’s golden child, good grades, great face, captain of all the sports teams- you know the drill.”

“Really?” Mingyu raised an eyebrow, while Wonwoo grew increasingly redder. He wouldn’t have struck Wonwoo as the kind of person who would go for such a popular boy.

“Yeah, we were all surprised when Jungsoo asked him out. Wonwoo might have had the looks, but he was of nerdy as well. It was even more surprising when Wonu agreed.” Soonyoung had managed to swallow the obscene amount of cinnamon bun that had been in his mouth. Wonwoo would have tackled him again, but at this point there was nothing left that he could really do (he didn’t want to hit his elbow on the counter like he had the first time). He would just have to bide his time and wait for the perfect opportunity to take his revenge.

“Shut up. As if you wouldn’t have gone out with him if he asked you.”

“Damn straight I would have. But you were you, so we were still surprised.” Soonyoung sent him a knowing look. “Anyways, they dated for a good five months senior year before Wonwoo surprised everyone once again and dumped him.”

“Really?” At this point it was all Mingyu was capable of interjecting. Wonwoo just shrugged.

“I knew the relationship wasn’t going anywhere, we were graduating in a month, and he ‘didn’t like books’. How could he say that to a budding literature major? I spent half my time in the library, he should have known that wasn’t a good move. Plus he kept trying to get into my pants.”

“And you didn’t let him?” Of course that was where Mingyu apparently regained his ability to ask different kinds of questions.

“No. He never told me he loved me, plus he used to date Kim Minji who was like my sworn enemy. And I was so not letting him stick it in me when he’d already stuck it in her, you know?” Soonyoung cackled, finishing his pastry.

“Minji was such a drama queen.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I don’t even like thinking about that hag.”

“Well this chat has been nice and all, but I’ve got a class to teach.” Soonyoung held up his hand, giving a slight wave. “See you guys later. Thanks for the cinnamon bun Jisoo!” Jisoo nodded his acknowledgement as the younger boy bustled out of the shop.

“I’ve got to run as well.” Jun declared, standing up from the small table he’d sat at somewhere in the middle of the whole affair. “Haohao’s waiting for me.”

“We should probably get going as well.” Seungcheol and Jisoo also stood.

“I’ll stop by tomorrow if I have time before class.” And with that they were gone, leaving just Mingyu and Wonwoo together once more.

“That was certainly interesting.”

“I’m so going to kill him.”

“Who? Soonyoung?”

“Yeah, both him and Minghao for lying about being in Busan.”

“I don’t see what you’re so upset about. It wasn’t like you got your heartbroken or something.”

“I just don’t like talking about my stupid decisions in the past.”

“So you regret it then? Going out with Jungwoo?” Wonwoo looked thoughtful for a moment. Did he regret it?

“I don’t think so, I learned a lot because of our relationship, but I just wasn’t invested the same way that he was. Being around him was never all that fun though and I probably should have ended things sooner. What about you?” He turned to the taller boy questioningly.

“Me?”

“Yeah, what’s your dating history like?” This time it was Mingyu who would have spit out his drink, his face flushing considerably.

“Jeez Wonu, way to ask the easy questions.”

“Hey, you got to hear about my past relationship, it’s only fair if I hear about yours.”

“Fine,” Mingyu let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve never really had a long term relationship before. I’ve dated people for a few months before, but nothing’s ever really stuck.” He shook his head slightly. “I guess I’ve also had the obligatory one night stands here and there, but I kind of hate them if I’m being completely honest. I’ve just never been so interested in someone before.”

“Before?” Wonwoo felt his heart accelerate, hardly daring to hope.

“Yeah,” Mingyu smiled, glancing around the empty coffee shop (seriously where were people today?), before bridging the distance between them, causing Wonwoo to back into the counter. “Before you.”

“Oh.” Wonwoo’s ears were burning as he stared at his shoes, suddenly unable to meet Mingyu’s eyes.

“You’re so cute like this Wonwoo, oh my god, acting shy when just five minutes ago you were ready to kill your friends all fiery and cool.”

“Sh-shut up.” If he hadn’t been red before, he most certainly was now. Was there some kind of limit to the amount someone could blush before they permanently messed up their blood flow? If so, Wonwoo must be seriously approaching that limit.

“Okay.” Mingyu smirked, and Wonwoo could not understand. Mingyu called him multifaceted and yet, apparently Mingyu could go from being an overgrown puppy to a y beast in 0.007235 seconds flat. But he hardly had time to voice his thoughts or even collect them for that matter, because suddenly Mingyu’s body was pressing against his, nothing but hunger and affection in his eyes as he claimed Wonwoo’s lips, his hands coming to rest on Wonwoo’s waist. For a second, Wonwoo was stiff, jolting slightly at the electricity that seemingly zinged through the touch, but then he got a hold of himself, kissing back just as hungrily, his body relaxing. It was sweet and it was hot and he could feel himself growing light headed as he brought his fingers up to Mingyu’s hair, tangling them in the other boy’s neatly styled locks, pulling ever so slightly. Mingyu let out a small, satisfied noise at the contact, and Wonwoo took that at his cue to pull the boy somehow closer. He could feel his body growing hot, feel his thoughts melting away until all that he could think about, all that he could focus on was Mingyu, Mingyu, Mingyu. But it was all over too soon, as Mingyu broke away, both boys gasping for air.

“That was…”

“That was wow.” Mingyu grinned at him, the special kind that Wonwoo had the pleasure of seeing rather often now. “My offer still stands, you know.”

“Offer?” Wonwoo couldn’t remember the younger boy making him any kind of offer. But then again, he was hardly thinking clearly at the moment.

“Yeah, you could still come to my dorm with me after work, even though Minghao is obviously not in Busan and for some reason I doubt that you lost your keys in the first place.”

“Rude. I totally lost my keys, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Wonwoo was rewarded with the sound of Mingyu’s laughter, causing him to smile as well. “But sure, I guess”

“Wait, you’ll come with me after work?!” There he was again, excited puppy Mingyu. Wonwoo just nodded in response, allowing his smile to grow.

“YES!” Mingyu pumped his fist. “It’s going to be great! We can eat snacks and cuddle and watch movies and it will be perfect!” This time it was Wonwoo who laughed, completely unfamiliar with the swelling in his chest.

 

[A/N]

MERRY CHRISTMAS! (((*°▽°*)八(*°▽°*)))

I wasn’t going to post for a while but it’s Christmas so I guess I will. Also I decided to consolidate three chapters into one and this is definitely not Soonhoon finally working out their relationship like I promised last time, lol. What can I say, Meanie was calling

Also I copied and pasted all the chapters (minus A/Ns) into one document on Google docs and it's 113 PAGES. This is the worst thing I've ever written and it's 113 pages... I have no words to describe the emotions that I am currently feeling