Mingyu woke up from his sleep from the buzzing noise made by his phone. He looked at it to see 9 unread messages… all from Chan. He wasn’t sure how to explain himself and why he suddenly ditched their plans. He opened the messages, skimming the short contents of each one. They were mostly texts asking if he was okay. Chan must have gotten the wrong message. Then again, I guess it was my fault. He texted Chan to tell him he was fine.

Sorry I didn’t respond yesterday. My phone died… but don’t worry, nothing serious happened :)

He lied about his phone dying as an excuse. But Chan didn't need to know that.

Oh thank goodness!! I was really worried.. really.. But now that I know you’re ok, when do you want to reschedule our date? :D

Uh… date? Mingyu didn’t recall that their outing would be a date. It could just be that Chan was using the term loosely. Mingyu hoped so, at least.

We can talk about it Monday in class. Remind me about it then.

His phone lit up seconds after Mingyu sent that last text.

Ok!! I won’t forget!! ;)

Mingyu wasn’t sure how he felt about the winky face he saw at the end, but disregarded it. Chan probably just made a typo.

On the other hand, he was planning on having a real date today. With Wonwoo. They were going to meet in town, since Wonwoo had an earlier appointment. Otherwise, they would have gone together. The plan was to go to an aquarium, a typical date place. It would be the first time Mingyu had ever gone to the aquarium. He wondered if Wonwoo ever went before.

The two met at a cafe late in the afternoon. After getting drinks, they headed for the aquarium, hand in hand. They walked through the entrance, and Mingyu couldn’t hide his amazement. It was incredibly huge, and beautifully blue everywhere. He couldn’t even count how many types of sea-life he spotted, including sharks, sea turtles, octopi, and more. Wonwoo calmly followed Mingyu’s exploration of the building, which consisted of visiting every corner and back. If it weren’t for Wonwoo keeping track of time, they would have missed both the penguin show AND the sea lion show. They stayed until closing time, and Mingyu was more than happy with how the day turned out.

Since the two lived next door to each other, Wonwoo drove them both home. Even though they came separately, there was no reason to go back in the same manner. Mingyu couldn’t stop talking about the day the entire ride back, which wasn’t very long. But there was never a moment of silence.

When they reached the complex, they walked side by side, with Mingyu still going on about how great the day was. When they reached the door, it was time to part. Mingyu didn’t want to stop talking, but knew it was best to. He had school early the next day, and he didn’t want to keep Wonwoo too late. He abruptly stopped talking, but then indicated that they should go their own ways.

“So, I guess this is a good place to stop talking. I’ll see you later?”

“I had fun today.”

“Yeah, me too. Obviously.”

“But it could have been better.”

Mingyu felt his happiness wear down instantly. It probably showed on his face. But then Wonwoo stepped closer... much closer, and raised himself on his toes before kissing Mingyu. It happened so suddenly that Mingyu couldn’t react, but as soon as he was going to kiss him back, Wonwoo backed off.

“There. And that makes this one of the greatest days I’ve had. I’ll see you later.”

He smiled with an added wink, then walked into his apartment and shut the door behind him. Though he went inside quickly after his bold move, he didn’t miss the pink rising to Mingyu’s cheeks. What he didn’t get to witness though, was just how long Mingyu stayed there frozen. Like a statue. An incredibly red statue. His happiness most certainly returned, ten-fold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mingyu saw Chan waving at him as he entered the classroom for his biology class. He sat down and greeted the boy, apologizing for having left him standing on Saturday.

“Oh no, that’s okay. It couldn’t be helped. But speaking of which, are you free this weekend to go?”

Mingyu contemplated for a while. He wanted to see Wonwoo again this weekend. He wanted to see him every day, really. But he did promise Chan that they would watch a movie…

Chan noticed the hesitation, and was beginning to look a bit disappointed. He didn’t cry, but it looked like he was about to.

“Nevermind… you don’t have to go with me. I mean, it’s just a stupid movie about dinosaurs…”

“No.. I’ll go. We agreed to go together, didn’t we?”

The comment made Chan bright-eyed and ecstatic. His smile was so wide that Mingyu was afraid he might hurt himself. Nevertheless, the two made plans to meet the coming Saturday.

For the weekdays until then, Mingyu somehow found his way to Wonwoo. After his classes were over, he would rush over and knock on Wonwoo’s door. Mingyu felt like he was gaining a dependency for him. Wonwoo was becoming his source of energy. His battery. He needed to see him often, or it was no good. Every minute he was at school, he would anxiously look at the ticking clock to count down to the seconds for when classes were over. When Chan asked him what was wrong, he would just say it was nothing, but then bolt out the door when class was dismissed.

For the majority of the time they were together, Wonwoo typed away on his laptop while Mingyu did his class readings and homework. Both on the dining table, since the living room lacked much furniture. They didn't have to do anything special, because just feeling each other's existence was enough. Occasionally they would hold hands for a few minutes before each returning to their respective tasks. These simple actions comforted Mingyu in a way nothing else could.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind spending forever with you.”

Wonwoo smiled affectionately.

“Me neither.”