Promoting at the same time as monster rookies, Seventeen and Monsta X was bound to become close friends and work colleagues.
                                                   

Whether it was Jooheon and Hoshi’s twins like looks and similar playful personalities, 

Or Kihyun and Woozi’s destined to be same birth dates,


Even the shy Hyungwon, though he didn’t talk much, looked at ease around them.



The twenty boys enjoyed hanging out around as a large group each time they can at different music show backstage.


When they first met, Monsta X used joke about the number of members and teams Seventeen had, and the difficulty to remember all their names and faces.


Yet, there is someone that Minhyuk would never forget since the first sight.

Even with thirteen members, his gaze could only land on that one in particular, Seventeen’s Cheonsa, Yoon Jeonghan.


With his outgoing and extrovert charms, it was a piece of cake for him to befriend the latter.


As planned, the angel didn’t take long to get used to his presence each time he finds a chance to get closer to the one he longed for. 


Minhyuk was looking forward meeting each other in music shows, yet he wanted more.

They were friends, but not close friends. Jeonghan seems to be easily approachable and friendly with everyone yet the friendlier he was, the more distant he seemed. He wanted to be someone special and could have a place anchored in his heart. He wanted to hear his smooth voice at every break, wishing him good mornings and good nights every day.




The occasion came quicker than planned.

Once Seventeen has brought a basketball as dance props for yet another different version of Mansae and they happened to be near a sport court,

the crew of Show Champion thought it could be a good opportunity to film a basketball game between the two groups.

It was when an idea crossed his mind.


“Hey Jeonghan, wanna bet?” Minhyuk turned towards the blond haired boy behind him,


The beautiful being looked amused by the proposition, crooked one brow and asked:


“What do you want to bet?”


"How about if we won, you’ll give me your number, and if you won, I’ll dance Mansae three times in our new variety show?”


"Deal.” Jeonghan slapped his outreached palm as sign of agreement “You better learn our dance moves fast.”


As for the rules of the game, they have decided to let each leader pick three members and compete in a free throw match.


Determined to set the bet in his favor, Minhyuk stood near his leader to help him pick the rival players.
 

His eyes scanned around before landing on a pair round doe eyes and some chubby cheeks, he whispered to their team captain the name of Seungkwan.

Yet, as the old saying never judge books by its cover, the brown curly haired boy is quite an ace as mentioned by s. 


Without warning, before Minhyuk could propose his next suggestion, Shownu then chose Jeonghan, earning him a slap on the stomach from the latter who knew how good at sports the gentle looking idol was.


On the other hand, S.Coups wisely chose Kihyun, Wonho and the other team’s leader who are all first time players.


Once the likelihood of each team winning was made clear, he shouted jokingly at the camera “I am sorry, we are lost” yet internally drowned in disappointment.

During the whole half an hour of the match, Minhyuk was praying that the God of basketball could lend those three players his blessings for just one play.


At the start, none of them managed to score, and Minhyuk secretly bitted his lips to the cute whines Jeonghan let out each time his ball fails to land inside the basket, almost wanting their rivals to win just to see a dazzlingly happy smile.


As if his prayers were finally heard, to everyone’s surprise, Wonho shined among everyone during the game, and even Shownu managed to score one point. 
Minhyuk’s whole face light up at the results and ran after a pouting Jeonghan dribbling to the end of the court by himself.


“So…?” Monsta X’s vocal teasingly shook his phone in front of the latter.

Without a word, the long haired boy grabbed his device and typed a few numbers before handing back pretending to be mad for losing. “You guys totally lied when you said they never played before”


“Oh, come on, don’t be a bad loser.” Minhyuk smirked mischievously “You should be grateful I’m not making you guys dance to Hero.”


“Omo, did you just diss us for not having abs?”Seungkwan approached the duo, an arm around I.M, with his diva offended expression kicking in. The noise made the other members approaching them and it soon turned into a debate and muscle showing event.

Upon this scene, Jeonghan grabbed his wrist and ran off.

Minhyuk didn’t care how pabo his wide grin must have looked that day.




As time progresses and the closer they get, the more Minhyuk despised one member of Seventeen in particular: Choi Seungcheol, also known as S.Coups.


Even his teammates noticed and gossiped about the unusually close relationship between Seventeen’s leader and their angel, it wasn’t hard to guess from the caring gaze Coups always had when staring at the gorgeous male, or the way Jeonghan rested his head on the elder’s back when tired. 

S.Coups’s manliness contrasted Jeonghan’s tenderness, and fans are head over heals in love with this kind of combination, making Minhyuk frustrated when he almost couldn’t find a page about Jeonghan without having them associated.

For the first time ever, a green eyed monster was devouring him from inside out, he now knew the definition of jealousy.
His beauty, his kindness, his laughs and smiles and cries were things he wanted to monopolized. And he will get it no matter how many S.Coups he'll need to fight.

In November, a good news came like an early Christmas present,


Mnet Asia Music Awards has proposed a collaboration stage between Seventeen and Monsta X,


Minhyuk has been missing Jeonghan non-stop since both of their promotions ended, and as soon as they reached Hong Kong, he rushed towards their friends’ practice room using the excuse of 'wanting to perfectionate their performance' to see the one on his mind all those months.


Yet during their rehearsals on the awards’ stage, Jeonghan’s mood clearly darkened.
The long blond haired boy didn’t seem to be in his best state and kept making small mistakes, as the perfectionist he was, Minhyuk knew the latter would blame himself deeply if any misstep happened later that night.


After hours and hours of sweat and muscle pain, they were finally allowed a fiften minutes of water break, but Jeonghan didn’t join his friends towards their rest area, instead, his foot directed towards the empty storage room in the backstage. Minhyuk furrowed his eyebrows and followed quietly behind.

The person of his desire was standing among different props and boxes, practicing the smallest details of the choreography over and over again.


Too absorbed into his private dance session and to catch his breath to notice a cold bottle of water approaching his red cheeks, the icy contact made the latter shiver and let out a small scream.

Jeonghan turned around before lowering his voice afraid to attract the attention of others:


"Minhyuk, what are you doing here?”


“I can say the same about you, what are you doing here?” Minhyuk took a seat on the nearest paper box, he stretched his sored legs and continued: 


“Don’t kill yourself for that. You guys are already doing freaking awesome.”

Jeonghan wiped his sweat with the back of his hand, and differed his opinion:

“There is always room for improvement, and especially today, you have no idea how hard Hoshi worked for tonight, I cannot ruin his and Jihoon's effort"

Minhyuk's gaze traced the panting male and tried to reason with him: 


"But exhausting yourself is not the smartest solution, even if your mind tells you don't need a break, your body does, relax a little, then focus back."


"I hate to say this, but you are probably