It turned out setting up Lu Han with his infatuatio—his crush, wasn’t so easy to do.

As it so happened, getting in contact with Yixing to start it all off was damn near impossible. Minseok had never met the man personally, so he didn’t really have any way of contacting him. Meanwhile, Lu Han and Jongdae were lucky if they’d be able to go to the bathroom in peace when they had cameras and journalists and family members on them practically all the time. The news of their engagement had spread like wildfire, and if what Minseok was hearing was right, the families were doing everything in their power to keep any scandals from breaking. Of course, that meant controlling and containing Lu Han and Jongdae as much as possible.

            Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it, it seemed they only suspected Lu Han for now. That meant that 1., Jongdae’s bodyguards hadn’t ratted them out and 2., they still had a viable way to contact Yixing. Of course, getting that to work out was far from easy. For starters, when Lu Han had called Yixing from Minseok’s phone (the only untracked one of the trio), the man had hung up immediately as soon as he realized who it was speaking.

            “Seems he saw the news,” Jongdae had remarked while Minseok offered his best friend a consoling pat on the shoulder. All of Lu Han’s attempts to contact Yixing after that failed just as badly, to the point where he ended up blocking Minseok’s number entirely. A necessary casualty of war, Lu Han had called it. Minseok just thought he watched too many army movies.

            They continued trying, however, and eventually they had come up with a feasible plan. Yixing and Jongdae were best friends, weren’t they? So, it would be understandable if he flew in for a little bit to help the Omega plan for his wedding, wouldn’t it? Jongdae’s parents seemed to think so, since they didn’t say anything when Jongdae was suddenly calling up the man and inviting him to stay with him in Seoul for a little while. Apparently, his mother was even ecstatic at the news, laying out new everything—new rugs, new china, new furniture.

            “She won’t stop,” Jongdae had whined about it before. “She even made me get a new bed just in case he slept in my room like when we were kids instead of the guest room.”

            Minseok focused his attention on consoling his whiny boyfriend to distract him from the coils of jealousy rolling through him at the thought of Jongdae sharing a bed with anyone else but him. He was hardly convincing though, and Lu Han just rolled his eyes and elbowed him, not forgetting to remind him that he hasn’t even shared a bed with Jongdae yet.

            He had the worst best friend ever, it was a fact.

            Sighing to himself, Minseok put away his laundry and thought back to their plan. Today was finally the day they’d be executing it, but he had his doubts on whether it would all work out. Jongdae and his older brother would be picking up Yixing from the airport today, and from there things got hazy. From there, they were supposed to break away from Jongdae’s brother at some point to go hang out on their own, and meet up with Minseok, who Yixing knew about and was apparently eager to meet.

            Not every day you find out your sheltered childhood friend is dating, I guess.

            Minseok wasn’t too sure how Jongdae planned on going off alone, though. From what he heard, his brother was a pretty chill guy and wouldn’t find it odd if he wanted to hang out with Yixing alone, and he also didn’t know anything about them or this whole plan. He was supposedly incredibly supportive of his engagement with Lu Han, though, granted, Jongdae said he’d probably be supportive of their relationship if they told him, but he was “too much of a blabbermouth to be trusted,” apparently.

            Even so, it was hard to tell if, even if he did let Jongdae go on without him, he would let him go alone. The Kims clearly didn’t mind sending bodyguards or glorified babysitters after Jongdae, to his knowledge or not. They had plenty of times where they’d have to skirt around imposing men in suits while out on a date or another. When he’d mentioned this problem to Jongdae, however, his boyfriend simply shrugged him off with a simple “I’ll handle it,” because that always worked so flawlessly.

            From there, the plan was simple: bring Yixing to Minseok’s home, where Lu Han would be waiting pristine and perfect with a bouquet and chocolates and a new guitar and all the apologies and explanations he could muster. He’d up to Yixing as much as physically possible and, if all went well, he’d leave with a plan to break up the engagement and a continued courtship, rather than more bruises. Yixing was supposedly a really sweet person in actuality, so Jongdae was sure that everything would go fine. At least, since Jongdae knew nothing about the little courtship-but-not-really thing going on between his childhood friend and Lu Han, Yixing wouldn’t suspect anything. Had he thought about it for longer, Minseok probably would’ve howled in laughter at how convenient this all was: two sets of best friends, two couples, one scheme.

            God, he really hoped his worked out.

            Shaking his head, his put away the last of his laundry and looked around the room. He had a bit of a habit of cleaning and tidying up whenever he was stressed. He supposed it came in handy now when he was having a guest over, even if it was that very guest who was the source of his stress. Now, however, he had essentially run out of things to clean, something that he noticed quite quickly as he did a mental checklist. Laundry was done and folded, floors were vacuumed, appliances were scrubbed down. Oh, maybe he could—

            “Will you calm down?” Lu Han snapped from his place on the couch. He was surrounded by a mountain of gifts and whatnot that he intended to give to Yixing, and the disorganization of it all only slightly irritated Minseok. “You’re making me stressed.”

            “You’re the one who had a panic attack like an hour ago,” he shot back, but he forced himself to relax for his best friend’s sake, taking a seat in the arm chair nearby.

            “Yeah, but I’m the one who’s royally screwed here, so that was justified.” Minseok rolled his eyes and leaned back.

            “If you’ll remember, my relationship also kinda depends on this. If you can’t bag your boo, Jongdae loses some serious leverage.”

            “Okay first,” Lu Han even raised his pointer finger up to signal it. “Never, ever say ‘bag your boo’ again or I will personally throw you over a cliff. Second…” He paused there, and Minseok wasn’t sure what to say as his expression softened. “No matter what happens right now with Yixing and me, I’m still gonna do whatever’s physically possible to stop this engagement. You know that, right?”

            The question caught Minseok off-guard, but he eased into a smile quickly and nodded. The past few days had been awkward since their… altercation, with them apologizing to each other constantly but still feeling wary around each other. Minseok especially found himself tensing around the other often, as he feared his own lack of control and his mind remained flooded with guilt even as the bruises faded and Lu Han’s ankle healed. But they were trying, and that was good enough for him now.

            “Yeah, of course,” he replied finally, his smile turning up at one corner into a sly smirk. “Don’t you worry, though—I’m gonna get you laid if it’s the last thing I do.”

            “Ugh, stop!” Minseok gave a greasy grin, only to receive a pillow to the face in response. “You’re awfu—”

            Lu Han cut himself off at the sound of knocking. The front door.

            As it turned out, Jongdae had somehow managed to find the spare key Minseok had for his front door laying around the house, and had taken it for himself to stock up on his own snacks in his boyfriend’s pantry. He rarely used keys now, ever since he had the keypad installed up front, but he still had a key lock as a secondary precaution. His door opened to both the physical and digital keys, so Jongdae slipped in easily without having to know his keycode. Minseok didn’t really mind that much, and he almost found it heart-warming how comfortable his boyfriend was with going in and out of his apartment. But for this time, he’d requested that Jongdae refrain from using it. Not only did they not know who was watching, but having him barge in with Yixing wouldn’t be so good for Lu Han’s mental health, they figured.

            “You ready?” Minseok questioned as he got up from his seat. The other nodded, but he looked like he was shaking. He wanted to console and calm his friend, but another knock was coming from the door, so he could give a quick thumbs-up and encouraging smile to the other before he was walking over to the door.

            Taking a deep breath, he steadied his hand on the doorknob. It was now or never.

            “Hello!” he greeted amicably, only to be met with hands shoving him away and bodies rushing inside.

            “Quick, close the door!” a voice he recognized to be Jongdae’s hissed, and he automatically did as he was told, being sure not to slam the door too loudly to upset the neighbors or arouse suspicion. His past few months with Jongdae had made him so used to the intricacies of hiding and sneaking around, it seemed. “Phew, that was a close one.”

            “What was that about?” Minseok asked with an amused grin as he turned to properly face his visitors.

            “Sehun and Jongin were trailing us,” Jongdae explained with a pout as he kicked off his shoes, Yixing doing the same. Minseok made a small noise of sympathy as his boyfriend stepped forward for a hug, and rubbed circles into the boy’s lower back as he noticed how tense he was. “Nosy little ers.”

            “Don’t say that, they’re just doing their job,” Yixing chastised, and Minseok stepped back to get a full look at him for the first time. The other noticed this too, and met eyes with him, smiling. “Nice to finally meet you—I’m Zhang Yixing.”

            “The pleasure’s all mine; Kim Minseok.” He reached out and shook hands with Yixing, almost laughing at how formal it seemed. “I’ve heard about you before, so it’s nice to finally see the man himself.”

            “Should’ve known Chennie would gossip about me,” he remarked, ignoring Jongdae’s whines of protest. “He does the same for you too, y’know. All good things, of course.”

            “I’m glad to hear it,” Minseok replied easily, pulling his boyfriend closer in by the hips and only slightly blushing when the man tilted his head to rest it on his shoulders. “Though, believe it or not, Jongdae wasn’t actually the first person I heard about you from.”

            “Oh really?” That got Yixing’s attention. “I wasn’t aware my name was circling the grapevine of high society.”

            “Nothing like that, I promise.” Though he did hear about an incredibly talented prodigy composer from Changsha, that came only after Lu Han started his love-struck ramblings. “I, uh, happen to be friends with someone you know.” Yixing raised an eyebrow in confusion, turning to look at Jongdae and groaning when he saw the sheepish look on it.

            “Oh god, I knew it,” he bemoaned, and Jongdae’s grin grew cheeky. “You’re plotting something, aren’t you? God damn it, I thought you finally getting a boyfriend meant you’d leave the schemes for him.”

            “To be fair, I did involve him in the plan,” Jongdae pitched in, looking way too easygoing as Minseok’s nerves only grew.

            “You’re impossible.”

            “It’s for your own good, Lay hyung.”

            “You sound like you’re about to send me in for addiction therapy.”

            “Oh don’t worry, you’re not high enough… this time,” Jongdae exclaimed, chipper as ever, and Yixing even chuckled at that despite his apparent anger. Minseok wondered in the midst of his anxious haze whether there was some inside joke he was missing. He’d ask his boyfriend about it later. “There’s just someone I think you should see.”

            “And who, pray tell, is that?”

            “It’s me.”

            If you had asked Minseok before if he thought a pleasant, calm atmosphere could go cold so quickly, he would have said no. But the second Lu Han’s voice rung through the room, it was though an icy breeze had covered everything, so much that Yixing even seemed to be frozen. He didn’t move his arms, legs, anything. His facial expression was stuck in one of high-alert shock and anger simultaneously. He didn’t even seem to be breathing. In fact, Minseok was seconds away from poking the boy to make sure he was okay, when finally, finally, he moved.

            With a frustrated sigh, Yixing threw a glare to Minseok and Jongdae before finally turning to face Lu Han.

            Minseok’s apartment was laid out such that from the front door, there was a notably long corridor before the living room. Closet space and shoe space stretched out across the walls before it finally stopped to reveal an open-style dining room, living room, and kitchen floor plan. The corridor was useful for keeping Lu Han hidden from Yixing’s eye when he first stepped in, but now, as he and Lu Han stood at opposite ends of it, its length only seemed to distance them more. They looked like they were ready to stand-off for a duel, and Minseok wasn’t so sure that wasn’t the case.

            “Lu Han,” Yixing started, his voice surprisingly calm.

            “Xingxing,” Lu Han said, looking like he was both about to cry and cheer at the same time.

            Immediately upon hearing the petname, Yixing was snapping something in Mandarin that Minseok couldn’t understand, and he stiffened at that. He suddenly became so aware of how external, how outside of this situation he was, and he found himself twiddling his fingers immediately to distract himself as he tried to think of what to do. They were having a full-blown conversation now, Lu Han’s voice growing more pleading with each word he spoke, much to Minseok’s worry and concern.

            He didn’t get to fidget for long, however, because the second Yixing’s voice was raising above even a slightly normal pitch, Jongdae was tugging on his arm harshly. Looking over, he saw his boyfriend nod his head towards the door, and he immediately got the message. As hastily as they could without arousing either of the Chinese couple’s attention, he slipped on their shoes and made their way to the door. It was only when they had fully opened the door did Yixing take notice, but it was too late. Seconds later, they were slamming the front door shut and running off, leaving Lu Han and Yixing to either talk it out or kill each other in Minseok’s apartment.

            Minseok was just glad he had his keys in his jacket before Lu Han showed up, seeing as this wasn’t technically part of their plan.

            They didn’t slow down until they were completely out of the apartment complex and walking down the block. They had to be careful to look out for any of Jongdae’s ‘keepers,’ too, but luck seemed to be on their side today, as they found no one around no matter where they checked. They relaxed a bit at that, though Minseok couldn’t help but feel a little bad. He knew he had thrown his friend into the deep-end by running away, but it was necessary. Lu Han had been so terrified to face Yixing alone, he’d refused to go along with the plan until he and Jongdae agreed to stick around during the talk. But if he really wanted to win back Yixing’s heart, he had to do it alone. Jongdae was already supposed to explain how neither of them wanted the engagement, so now it was up to Lu Han to show him that, and to apologize for never saying anything.

            Minseok only hoped that Lu Han didn’t get cold feet when he was alone.

            “So, what now?” he asked his boyfriend, who seemed way too happy given the situation.

            “Hm…” Jongdae hummed, even bring one hand up to his chin in mock-deep thought. “There’s movie theater nearby, right?”

            “No way,” Minseok deadpanned, grinning as the other pouted at the rejection. “We have to have our phones ready for when they’re done. You know that.” He and Jongdae had planned ahead of time to ditch as early as possible, but between work, family, media, and whatnot, they didn’t really have the chance to think up date plans for afterwards.

            “Fine,” Jongdae relented with a huff. “Cybercafé?”

            “That’s good with me—”

            “Ooh, ooh, there’s a new ice cream place near there too, right? Let’s go, let’s goooo!”

            Minseok only watched on and nodded as his overexcited boyfriend rambled on about Starcraft DLCs and overpowered CPU and weird ice cream flavors and something called ‘ice cream rolls.’ Really, Jongdae could ramble on about anything, and he’d probably find it just as endearing. As he thought of this, another, smaller thought wriggled through his mind, a remind of before.

            Was he too close to Jongdae, too infatuated with him? The growls of ‘mate’ had failed to leave him since his fight with Lu Han, and he had to worryingly accept that they were only growing louder by the day. It scared him, a reminder of the horrible things he could be driven to do by his instincts, but it also excited him. He’d never been one for believing in imprinting or anything like that, since his parents only went through mating rituals after bonding. He’d never met anyone in his life who had bonded with someone they imprinted on, so the idea of it all just seemed so far away and unrealistic. Yet, a small, whimsical part of his mind had always found the idea to be romantic and sweet. Could this be him imprinting? Before, he didn’t even consider it as an option, but the longer he thought about it, the more plausible it became.

            “What’s wrong?” The concern in Jongdae’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked up to see his boyfriend looking at him with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. He gave a small smile and shook his head, linking their hands together in assurance.

            “Nothing,” he replied softly, humming when Jongdae sidestepped to be closer to him, their arms now touching. “Just thinking.”

            “Okay…” Jongdae hardly seemed convinced, and Minseok gave his hand a small squeeze, which the boy reciprocated quickly. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right? Whatever you want.”

            The concern in Jongdae’s eyes was one thing, but the sheer emotion that came from his words was poignant, the care and sweetness in the air around them practically palpable. God, mate or not, imprinting or not, Minseok didn’t give two s. All he cared about right now was the beautiful, sweet boy in front of him, and if wanting to give him everything in the world meant they’ve imprinted or whatever, then let it be so. All Minseok cared about was that Jongdae was here, with him right now, and would continue to be with him for as long as they lived.

            Because if he was going to let anything break them apart now.

            “Of course.”

minseok is so gay for jongdae but honestly arent we all
anyway hiiiiiiii sorry for disappearing health issues + school make it hard to write lol
funny story this was actually supposed to go up yesterday as part of a four-fic update ("Between the Sun and the Moon," "Stay to Train, Train to Stay," "Dearest," and this fic), but i only got one done by yesterday 'cos i overestimated my writing speed lol rip
all updates are done and up now though so if you read any of my other fics have fun w that
and ofc i hope you enjoyed this update :)