Note- sorry if I at medical terminology, I tried with my limited knowledge OTL

Minseok dragged his index finger down the page. Eyes scanning the small print, he looked for the exact passage to highlight, the crucial piece of information in the section. His vision blurred with each line of dense text, his lack of sleep catching up with him, his eyelids beginning to droop.

Event reporting system 3310 of which were serious (16.1%) including 71 deaths, 742 permanent disabilities, and 6834 emergency room visits by women….

He was seconds from falling asleep when his phone rang, the shrill standard issue ringtone (he never bothered to change it) wrenching him out of his textbook induced trance. He sprung up from where he was lying on his stomach on his bed (first studying mistake) and staggered towards his desk, wondering who would call him at that ungodly hour.

When he finally located his phone, buried under a stack of returned assignments and resting on a long discarded pizza box, he hesitated. He didn’t recognize the number. Throwing caution to the wind he decided to answer it.

“Hello.”

“Hi. Is this Kim Minseok?” The voice was unfamiliar.

“Yes. Who is this?” Minseok pushed the pile of clean clothes he had thrown on his desk chair to the floor and took a seat.

“Hey, sorry if I woke you up. Baekhyun gave me your number.”

Baekhyun. Of course he would give Minseok’s number out. He was the closest thing Minseok had to a best friend – he was also the one person who knew how to drive Minseok crazy without fail.

“Ok. Is there something wrong?”

“No. No! I mean, not really?” The person on the other end of the line sounded as confused as Minseok felt. “Are you busy?”

“I was studying,” Minseok answered matter-of-factly, leaving out the bit about how he was falling asleep more than actually studying.

“Sorry! I...this will only take a second, I think. Sorry again. Sorry. I just don’t know what else to do and Baekhyun said you are a registered nurse and are in med school and––”

“What is it?” Minseok lost his patience rather quickly but he had a feeling he knew what was coming. It wouldn’t be the first time some acquaintance called him asking for medical advice.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, enough to make Minseok think the person hung up. “Hello??”

“Uh. Yeah, I’m still here.”

Another pause. “I’m going to hang up if you don’t have anything to say,” Minseok warned.

“I do! Have something say, I mean. I...this is so embarrassing.” Minseok could hear the man groan on the other end of the line. “It’s just… I...my swag is on fire and I don’t know what to do. And oh my god I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”

“Your what?” Minseok blinked, rubbing his free hand over his face, willing away his exhaustion.

“M-my swag. You know, my swag.”

Minseok furrowed his brow, thinking. Swag...swag...what in the hell was this guy talking about? “Is this a prank call? I’m hanging up.”

“N-no, no wait! Please don’t hang up!” the man implored. “My...swag. My…you know, my flute...it’s burning and itching,” he said in a whisper. “I’m too embarrassed to go to the doctor. Please, what do I do? Is there something I can um...put on it?”

Minseok finally understood what the man was talking about and the realization made him want to laugh and cry at the same time. Did Baekhyun really give his number out to some random guy who was likely suffering from a STD?

“Listen to me carefully,” Minseok started.

“Ok.”

“You need to go see your doctor.” Minseok hung up and tossed his phone onto his desk, not caring that it knocked a bundle of highlighters to the floor. He staggered to his bed and fell face first onto the worn comforter, hoping to get at least a couple hours sleep.

“What’s shakin’, weirdo?” Baekhyun plopped down in the seat across from Minseok, reaching over and attempting to steal a french fry in the process. Minseok batted his hand away, giving his friend a dirty look.

“I slept two hours last night, so today is great,” Minseok deadpanned.

“Hey, two hours is better than nothing.”

If Minseok wasn’t so tired he would argue with that logic. Med school was draining, the most energy thing he had ever done in his twenty four years of life. If he wasn’t in lectures he was studying. If he wasn’t studying he was at his apprenticeship. If he wasn’t at his apprenticeship he was in POM sessions or working on a PBL case or…it never ended.

But that wasn’t an issue. Sure he had no time to clean anymore, his apartment was such a mess his friends could scarcely believe it (he was a bit of a clean freak up until then). He didn’t have time for a lot of things, but he was doing what he wanted to do, studying to become what he wanted to become. It was a blessing he could pursue his passion, he wasn’t about to complain when he was the one that wanted this future so badly.

However there was a downside in having friends who had either graduated or, if they were in graduate school, were not nearly as exhausted. Like Baekhyun, who was getting his MBA. Sure, he was busy, but he wasn’t Minseok-busy.

“Hey, on the off chance he calls, I gave your number to my fri–”

“He already called,” Minseok interrupted.

“Oh. Well thanks then.” Baekhyun waved at the waitress, hoping to get his order in before the eight o’clock rush began. “What are you doing this Saturday?”

“Stumphying,” Minseok answered, mouth full of fries. He meant studying, but close enough.

“You can take a few hours off. I’m having a party,” Baekhyun announced proudly. “And if my bestfriend isn’t at my party it won’t be a real party, now will it.”

Yet again Minseok felt too tired to argue. He swallowed his mouthful of salty potatoes and grunted. “Yeah, fine. But only a couple hours.”

“Good. Remember, you can’t wear pj pants to a party. And comb your hair, seriously when is the last time you looked in a mirror?”

Minseok considered the question. “Not sure.”

Baekhyun clucked his tongue. “If you weren’t so damn good looking I swear they would have kicked you out of school for bad habits by now.”

Again, Minseok realized, he was too tired to argue.

By the time Saturday rolled around Minseok had forgotten all about strange phone calls and agreeing to go to a party. It wasn’t until ten at night, when Baekhyun called him, asking where he was, that Minseok remembered what he had agreed to do. He periodically groaned while getting ready to go, rolled his eyes a few times while combing his hair. The subway ride to Baekhyun’s apartment was filled with heavy sighs, the trudge to the elevator accompanied by a desire to return to his textbook and the looming exam he had coming on Monday.

Minseok had just stepped onto the elevator when someone came running in behind him, narrowly making it through the closing doors. Minseok stepped aside and turned to look at the man, stiffening when he got a good look.

He was attractive. Really attractive. The man’s face was flushed, probably because he had been running. Bleach blonde hair fell into his eyes, high cheekbones and well defined features adding to his youthful appearance. If he wasn’t dressed in a suit Minseok would have thought he was a high schooler, but something told him that wasn’t the case (and maybe some of that intuition had to do with Minseok living his own life being mistaken for someone much, much younger).

“Can you hit the seventeenth floor,” the man requested, catching his breath.

“Already did.” Minseok gestured towards the keypad and the highlighted button.

The man nodded and smiled. Damn he was good looking, Minseok thought, turning away so he didn't come off as creepy.

They didn't realize they were going to the same exact place on the seventeenth floor until they ended up at Baekhyun’s front door.

“You know Baek too?” the man asked. “He’s quite a––”

“Pain in the ,” Minseok finished for him.

The man laughed, his handsome face contorting into a rather...unique expression. “Yep. Sometimes,” the man quickly agreed.

Minseok found himself smiling at the stranger, rather dumbly when he considered the moment later. Perhaps it was his lack of sleep or perhaps it was the fact he hadn’t dated anyone or so much as held hands with someone in two years –– but he was infatuated in all of two minutes of knowing this person. It was a bad idea. Handsome elevator guy could be insane, he might be married, he might not like guys, he might hate med students. God forbid he might like….easy listening music. Minseok tore his gaze away and knocked loudly on Baekhyun’s door, needing to escape his new favorite hobby of staring into handsome elevator guy’s soul.

“I’m Luhan, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.” So handsome elevator guy had a name. A Chinese name by the sounds of it.

Minseok turned to return the greeting, but was interrupted when the door opened. Baekhyun already looked half drunk, his cheeks flushed and his eyes glassier than usual, stood in the doorway. “If it isn’t my two favorite baby faced weirdos.”

Baekhyun held the door open wide and gestured for the newcomers to enter. Minseok brushed past him, entering the apartment first. It was already packed, a mess of drunk, somewhat drunk, and apparently sober people filling the space. Some of them Minseok recognized, some he did not, which wasn’t a surprise. Baekhyun was a very social person, he made friends easily.

“Drinks are in the kitchen,” Baekhyun called after Minseok, who had already figured as much and was halfway across the living room.

Minseok said hi to some of the people he knew, a nod of the head, a small wave, but nothing more. He was on a mission. He had every intention of making it into the kitchen and grabbing a beer and some food before he did any kind of socializing. If he had stopped studying to go to the party he was definitely going to take advantage of free drinks and snacks.

Elevator guy - no, Luhan - apparently had the same idea. They met at the kitchen island, both honing in on the imported beer and Chex mix.

“So we meet again.” Luhan smiled, not helping Minseok with his burgeoning infatuation.

“Yeah, guess so.” Minseok reached for the bottle opener. He felt a heat in his cheeks that was unfamiliar, and he knew it had to do with the man standing a few feet from him.

“I’ll be honest,” Luhan said quietly, leaning in. Minseok tensed. “I’m not much of a party person.”

“Same,” Minseok admitted. He got lost in staring again. How could someone be so ….so….like that.

“I told Baekhyun no but he guilt tripped me into it.” Luhan sighed. “I suppose it is good if I get out every now and then though, so I can’t really be that upset about it. Plus I met you, so the night is already a win.”

Minseok swallowed. Was Luhan flirting with him?

“What do you do? For a living, I mean.” Minseok sipped on his beer, changing the subject, not sure if he was reading too much into things.

“I work for my parents. Boring stuff, administrative mostly.” Luhan made a vague motion with his hands. “What about you?”

“Student. School. All day, all night, forever and ever.” Minseok couldn’t stop from sighing.

“So you aren’t just a pretty face. Brains and beauty, I like it.” Luhan winked.

Minseok narrowed his eyes. “Are you flirting with me?”

Luhan’s cheeks turned red. “Was it that obvious? I-I’m sorry. I thought–– I’m really bad at reading people. Sorry, I–”

“It’s fine,” Minseok reassured him, feeling just a little bit giddy knowing the attraction was mutual. “You move fast, I like it.” He smiled, knowing that he looked a little too good, a little too innocent, when he assumed that expression.

Minseok hated to admit it most of the time (especially if it was Baekhyun pointing it out) but he knew it was true; he was naturally flirtatious, horribly so if he put his mind to it. In the last two years his mind had been busy with other things but now, at a party with an attractive stranger showing interest in him, he decided it was time to dust off his old skills. Parties were supposed to be fun, after all.

“You’re really good looking,” Luhan said dumbly, following up with a point blank question. “Are you single?”

Minseok nodded, adding, “You aren’t bad yourself.” He scooted closer to Luhan, sliding his back a few inches along the kitchen island. “So tell me, how someone like you is single? I would think you would have a line outside your door.”

“I don’t really date. Haven’t, in a long time. There hasn’t been anyone I liked –– until tonight.” Another cheesy wink.

“We don’t even know each other,” Minseok pointed out, a smile playing on his lips.

“We should fix that,” Luhan said quietly, leaning closer, his arm moving to snake around Minseok’s back. His hand brushed the small of Minseok's back slowly, purposefully.

“And how would we do that?” Minseok whispered, gaze lowering to Luhan’s lips. He had nice lips, the hint of a scar evident. Minseok imagined it, tracing it with his tongue.

“Well, there’s a few things we could do.” Luhan angled his body, moving closer. “You could put your hand on my master handle and ––”

“Not in my kitchen! Oh my god, I should never have introduced you two.” Baekhyun clapped his hands loudly, like he was scaring away naughty cats and not his friends who were two seconds from making out in the middle of his party.

Minseok moved back, the moment ruined. He shot Baekhyun an annoyed look.

“Dude, isn’t your sick or something, you shouldn’t be making out with anyone.” Baekhyun looked at Luhan.

“Wait, what?” Minseok looked at Baekhyun. “What did you say?”

“You know. Didn’t he call you about that?” Baekhyun gestured towards Luhan.

Minseok looked at the man he was about to kiss, realization dawning on him. He was the swag guy. The STD guy. Luhan was the STD guy!!! “You!”

“Wait, you’re Minseok?” Luhan looked equally horrified.

“Yeah, and you have an STD. I can’t believe I almost kissed you,” Minseok groaned.

“STD? No, it isn’t like that. You misunderstood,” Luhan waved his hands in front of him wildly. “Really, it––”

“I’m going home. Thanks for the half a beer.” Minseok set the beer on the counter, ignoring Luhan's protests and Baekhyun’s complaints at his early departure. He figured that was enough partying for one night.  

A half an hour later he was back at his apartment, nose buried in a textbook, the memory of Mr. Swag-STD-Luhan-Elevator-Guy pushed to the back of his mind.

Less than a day later Minseok’s phone lit up with a string of text messages, a picture, and more text messages. He glanced at the screen, saw it was Luhan’s number, and promptly ignored them. A few hours later there was a phone call which he also ignored.

A few days after that the topic of Luhan came up yet again, this time via Baekhyun. Minseok had met his friend for a coffee before they both had to get to class. It was the first time they had met since the party and the first words out of Baekhyun’s mouth were, “Please call Luhan before I kill him. I’m too fragile to go to prison.”

“Why would you kill him?” Minseok asked casually, not overly concerned about Mr. STD-Elevator- Whatever guy.

“Because he is obsessed with talking to you and explaining something and I have no idea, he just won’t stop asking me where you live and how to find you and dude is weird, okay. Almost as weird as you.”

Minseok chose to ignore the ‘weird as you’ comment. “How do you know Luhan?” Minseok wasn’t going to commit to talking to the man, but he might as well find some entertainment in the story of how Baekhyun met him. He was certain it would be bizarre, given the sliver of Luhan’s personality Minseok observed.

Baekhyun gave Minseok a curious look. “How do you think I met him?”

“He tried to pick you up at a bar?” Minseok hazarded a guess. “No, wait, you met him through Chanyeol. He seems like someone Chanyeol would associate with.”

“Minseok,” Baekhyun started slowly. “Where do I have my internship?”

“A company ...ummmm..” Minseok could almost remember the name. L something. L….

“Lu Corporation,” Baekhyun blurted out, stressing the first word.

“That’s the one!” Minseok pointed at him. “Sorry, you know I’m bad with names. So he works with you?”

Baekhyun sighed, slouching in his chair. “You know what, you two are perfect for each other. Just don’t make out in my kitchen again.”

“I don’t plan on seeing him again,” Minseok explained. His phone alarm went off, reminding him he had exactly six minutes and thirty two seconds to make it to class. He grabbed his bag and tossed a goodbye over his shoulder, once again forgetting all about Mr. STD-Elevator- Whatever.

It had been a hell day, lectures in the morning and practice of medicine sessions all afternoon and into the evening. By nightfall Minseok was exhausted and still had at least three hours of studying ahead of him. He trudged back to his apartment, tired and hungry, and just a little bit annoyed at the chaotic day.

He noticed the piece of paper taped to his front door, grabbed it on his way inside. He scanned it while he toed his shoes off, long enough to see that it was signed Luhan. He tossed it into the garbage as he headed for the fridge, not caring what it said, not bothering to read it.

“Minseok!”

Minseok turned to look towards where he heard his name shouted. He spotted Luhan waving wildly from the other side of the street. He was standing near the crosswalk.

Minseok stared at him for a moment, finding it regretful that someone so attractive had to be...well...that way. Sure STDs happened and they didn’t mean a person was bad. Most of them were very treatable. Minseok could overlook it, probably would if he had more time and energy to care. But at the moment he didn't want to think of fooling around with a guy who didn't go to a doctor but called a complete stranger to ask what to do with his burning swag.

He let out a heavy sigh before turning around and hurrying his pace, jogging all the way to the medical school to avoid having to talk to Luhan.

They were called Standardized Patients and for a medical student they were an invaluable asset. Men and women who could describe symptoms and wait to be diagnosed, changing the disease they suffered depending on what they were assigned to act out. It gave the students examination practice, invaluable for the early years.

Minseok and fifteen other students waited in the clinical rooms for their assigned “patients”. He drummed his pen on his clipboard, hoping he got something interesting. The week before he had successfully diagnosed an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a moment of pride for him.

“Kim Minseok, Zhang Yixing, room 3.”

Minseok hurried to the room, his fellow med student trailing after him. When he walked inside he was greeted by their supervising physician, an older man who was a popular professor at the college. He stepped aside, revealing the patient.

Minseok’s eyes widened when he found himself looking at Luhan, sitting in hospital scrubs on the bed.

“The patient is exhibiting symptoms including dermatitis and erythema of the scrotum and testes. Pruritic papules and vesicles are present on the ,” the supervising physician read off, describing what would be seen if they were able to do a physical examination (which of course, they couldn’t considering the disease was an act). “The patient’s all yours, students.”

Minseok tried to recover from the shock of seeing Luhan, but he didn't get over it as quickly as he would like. Yixing asked Luhan about his symptoms first, leaving Minseok to jot them down.

“Can you tell me what you have been experiencing?” Yixing asked, his voice unfailingly calm. He had excellent bedside manner, Minseok could fully admit he was jealous.

Luhan cleared his throat. “My swag is on fire,” he said confidently.

“Your…?” Yixing replied.

“My swag.” Luhan pointed towards his groin. “Burning, itching and red. It started yesterday.”

“Right. Your swag.” Yixing smiled. “Do you feel comfortable answering questions about your ual history?”

“Yes,” Luhan answered without missing a beat.

“Are you ually active?”

“No, but I would like to be.” Minseok wanted to scream, Luhan stared at him while answering the question.

“When is the last ual encounter you had and did you use protection?” Yixing followed up.

“Three years ago and yes,” Luhan answered, eyes never leaving Minseok.

“Did your symptoms start after a certain activity or were they spontaneous?”

“Well…” Luhan paused. Minseok stared at him, pencil hovering over his clipboard, curiosity driving him insane. “I was playing with my flute and um...used new lube.”

Allergic contact dermatitis. Minseok repeated the diagnosis in his head, recalling what he knew of the presentation and diagnosis. It was Yixing who announced the diagnosis out loud, earning the marks for the exam.

“Allergic contact dermatitis. Treat with corticosteroid creams and cold compress. Remove the offending agent from the environment.” Yixing looked at Luhan. “Get rid of that lube, sir. It caused your issue.”

The supervising physician agreed with their diagnosis, leaving the students to move onto their next patient. Minseok looked at Luhan a few seconds before he left, their eyes meeting. It was a brief look, but it said a lot. He could see the worry in Luhan’s eyes. Suddenly he felt bad for ignoring him.

Five hours later Minseok walked out of the medical building to find Luhan waiting for him, dark grey sweatshirt with the hood up keeping him warm in the cool night air. He was leaning against the side of the brick building.

“Minseok!” he called as soon as the med student walked out of the double doors.

Minseok hadn’t had a lot of time to think of Luhan’s...stunt, or whatever it could be called, but he had ascertained a few things. He had figured out that it was Luhan’s way of telling him what had happened way back when, confirming that he didn’t have an STD. He had also figured out that Luhan must have a hell of a persuasive personality to talk his way into being hired as a standardized patient and dictate the disease he was presenting.

Minseok stopped walking and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I can’t believe you call your your swag.”

“What do you call it?” Luhan asked, apparently not offended at the comment.

“I’m a medical student, I call it what it is.”

“Oh.” Luhan looked thoughtful, snapping out of it a minute later. “Hey, I’m sorry to bother you but I want you to know the truth.  It was an allergy, I went to the doctor like you said and they confirmed it. I was just really busy and thought maybe, you know, you could help me and I could save time. I know, it’s weird.” Luhan took a deep breath before continuing. “And I want to ask you out, if you’ll have me.”

He looked so hopeful. Also attractive - which was what ultimately helped Minseok make his decision. “I have school all the time, I barely sleep and it isn’t going to get better the further along in my education I go. I’m crabby a lot and my apartment is a complete mess. I haven’t had in so long I will probably come super early if we get that far. I hate the heat and easy listening music. Do you still want to ask me out?”

“Yes,” Luhan confirmed. “And I get it. I am a Vice President at a conglomerate so I work a bazillion hours a week. I can afford a cleaning lady otherwise my place would be the same. Also if you touch my –”

“Please don’t say flute or swag,” Minseok interrupted, holding up his hand. “Or the answer is no.”

“My master handle I would be done. I hate easy listening and can deal with the cold. You’re the iest thing I’ve seen in forever and I really, really like you.”

Minseok pursed his lips, considering. He didn’t have time for a relationship, but it sounded like Luhan didn’t either. And he was hot. Really hot. “Okay. I’ll go out with you.”

Luhan broke into a wide smile, Minseok couldn't help but mirror his expression, genuinely happy at the thought of dating Luhan.

A few minutes later something occurred to Minseok, and he had to ask. “So you’re Baekhyun’s boss? I wonder why he never told me,” Minseok mentioned as they walked hand in hand to the subway.

“I don’t know. He’s a weird guy,” Luhan replied.

“Yeah, and he calls us weird.” They both laughed, amused at the pot calling the kettle black.

a/n- The second part is sending me on the express elevator to hell. Welcome aboard.