2,695 words

hey hav u watched that new show yet? the blacklist?

Lu Han chews on his lower lip, fingers wavering over the send button of his cell phone. His leg twitches, whole body jittery. He deliberates for another five seconds and then hits send. He knows Minseok is home early tonight, and that he’s tired and probably won’t want to go out for drinks with their other friends.

no? have you? It’s on Netflix right?

Lu Han smiles to himself. Other people have said Minseok takes forever to respond to their text messages, but so far he’s never made Lu Han wait longer than a couple minutes. Minseok likes him… everyone says so. Everyone except Minseok. Oh, Lu Han knows it’s true because his friend-more-than-a-friend is a teasing flirt who likes to mess with Lu Han’s head, but they’ve never gone beyond anything more than some suggestive dancing when drunk. Mostly they just hang out together, but Lu Han is anxious for more.

want to come over and watch it w me? i heard it’s good.

He waits another minute before sending it. Message delivered.

just us? i’m kind of tired. don’t really want to hang out with a lot of people.

nah. just us. we can stay in and chill.

Offer sent. Lu Han can’t help feeling even more nervous, but he can’t go back on his word now. Minseok’s reply is slower in coming, but it’s definitely been read. He leans back on the sofa and contemplates burying his head in the cushions. Finally though, he hears the small ding on his phone. Hesitantly he sits up, and with his eyelids half closed he peeks at the text.

Sure. give me me half an hour. i’ll bring the popcorn.

Minseok dawdles carelessly up to Lu Han’s apartment, faux-fur hoody warming his ears, backpack high and heavy on his shoulders. It’s Friday night and he’ll likely be too exhausted to go home tonight so he packed some extra clothes and his laptop. On top of all that there’s a half open box of microwaveable popcorn bags. He wonders idly if Lu Han has eaten the frozen pizza he saw in the freezer a couple weeks ago.

The first thing Lu Han says when he opens the door is, “You’re wearing shorts? In this weather? Hurry up, come inside!”

Minseok smirks and rolls his eyes. Lu Han moves to the side looking more timid than Minseok has seen him recently, although in general, he’s always been like this.

“Sheesh, don’t you believe in light?” He has to squint to see around the room. Lu Han’s apartment is a little bare in the furniture department. There’s a floor lamp in the corner but it’s not on. The only light comes from the box TV set in the middle of the room. Another beam filters out from the kitchen.

Minseok dumps his backpack on the edge of the couch and sinks down next to it. Lu Han remains by the doorway, wringing his fingers together.

“So?” Minseok turns his head and stares at him. “Netflix?”

Instantly, Lu Han moves into action. “Y-yeah yeah. Uhmm… what do you want to… do?”

“How about we start with popcorn?” Minseok s his bag and tosses the box towards Lu Han who catches it for a second. Then it falls through his fingers and drops onto the floor with a muted thud.

“P-popcorn. Okay. I’ll… be just a sec.”

While Lu Han walks off, Minseok fiddles around on the couch. Lu Han is notorious for losing the TV remote in between the cushions. Sure enough, he wrestles two out from beneath his bum.

Lu Han calls from the kitchen. “Should I use the popcorn setting or…?”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.”

A few beeps on the microwave later and Minseok sighs happily when he hears the machine turn on.

“Hey, what do you want to watch? The Blacklist?”

It takes a few seconds for Lu Han to reply. “Sure? If you want to start with that, it’s fine.”

“Alright. Sounds good. Hey, come and help me work your machine. I can never figure this out.”

Technology is such a bore. The only thing Minseok feels confident in is the power button on his laptop which is the kill all fix all for every known problem. Beyond that, Minseok waves his hands at everything and Lu Han’s TV is one such device. He resists taking a nap, but the couch is just so comfy and the lighting appalling. Lu Han has everything set up like it’s bedtime, which Minseok understands. He likes to watch Netflix in the dark too most nights. It’s just that today was really long…

Lu Han pokes him awake a few minutes later.

“Hey.”

“Huhh… what?” Minseok lifts his head to the soft sound of Lu Han chuckling. “Sorry, I can stay awake… I’m awake.”

“You sure? Here, want some of the popcorn?”

They share the bag while Lu Han starts the show. Minseok’s heard great things about it. Very dark, very intense. Hardly the thing the sit around and chill while watching, but hey- far be it Minseok’s concern what Lu Han likes to watch on a Friday night.

Netflix and chill, right? That’s what he said? Minseok’s cool with that.

“Hey…” he starts off hesitantly.

Lu Han nearly jumps in his seat, startling Minseok. “Yeah?”

“You still have that pizza in the freezer? I’m starving.”

“Y-you’re hungry?” Lu Han asks.

Minseok nods his head. They’re halfway through the popcorn already and on a good night Minseok could eat two of these things all by himself.

“I think it’s there. Unless someone else snuck in and cooked pizza in my absence.” Lu Han laughs like he told a great joke, to which Minseok grunts.

“Want me to start the oven? No, no it’s alright. I can find it.”

He drags himself off the couch, asks Lu Han to pause the show which is barely in its twentieth minute. Maybe moving around will wake him up a bit, since the walk over from the bus station in the cold apparently wasn’t enough.

The edges of the pizza show a hint of frostburn but not enough that Minseok is concerned. He sets the oven to preheat and briefly checks that Lu Han hasn’t stored anything extra in the oven itself. Sure enough, he finds a stray frying pan and drags it out before the handle gets too hot. Lu Han is always so careless with his things.

Minseok yawns and hangs his head, absentmindedly pushing little frozen sausage balls around the pizza for better, evenly balanced slices.

“Need any help in there?” Lu Han calls from the other room.

“I’m good!”

The oven beeps, the temperature ready to cook. He slides the pizza into the oven and sets the timer.

“25 minutes. That alright?” he asks Lu Han, sitting down.

“Sure. Sure. Yeah, that’s enough time.”

Minseok raises an eyebrow. “For what?”

He doesn’t look at Lu Han, but with the show back on he’s easily distracted. It’s gripping, and pretty likely to keep him awake for hours, or at least until the pizza is done. Food puts some people to sleep, but it gives Minseok energy. Makes him hyper. Makes him-

A leg swings over Minseok’s lap. A hand on Minseok’s shoulder, and before he knows what’s happening, there are lips upon his, dry and chapped and as nervous as the rest of Lu Han’s whole body. Minseok freezes, feeling vaguely squashed and also literally... sat-upon. What the hell is going on, and where did this come from?!

“Lu Han?” He panics.

He barely gets to breathe out his name before Lu Han kisses him again. He’s so confused… He came over to watch Netflix, and nowhere in their communication did he think this was going to happen…

He kisses back though, as if body can’t help it. Lu Han has always been desirable to him. It’s why he likes hanging out with him, why he likes flirting with him, casually, but usually in other situations. Situations not like tonight… Nowhere in the contract of friendship have they ever discussed spontaneous kissing!

“Lu Han?” he tries to interrupt him again, but instead all he gets is a moan out of Lu Han’s lips, and more hands on his body than Minseok knows what to do with.

Lu Han is sitting fully on top of him, knees on either side of Minseok’s hips and he grounds his crotch down hard, eagerly, too eagerly, and it’s all going so fast. He’s like an octopus, crawling all over him, or maybe a squirming puppy that someone dumped in his lap. Somewhere in the matter of seconds, Minseok’s best friend turned from staid-back gentleman to voracious monster, and unfortunately, Minseok is feeling none of it. He’s hungry, yes, but not for , and Lu Han apparently doesn’t have a clue.

He wrenches his face away, angling to the side to halt the assault on his lips. “Lu Han, stop! Wait a sec. Wait, wait…”

“Minseok?” Lu Han stares down at him confused. His hands grip Minseok’s shoulders, fingers playing with the collar of his jacket, itchy, twitching, as if he’s seconds from tearing it off Minseok’s body. He’s also more than a little hard, which Minseok can feel. The problem is, Minseok is not. He’s tired and already spent, and Lu Han may be y but this isn’t how he imagined advancing their relationship.

“Minseok?” Lu Han’s voice warbles the longer Minseok stays silent. He uses the opportunity to place his hands on Lu Han’s hands and pry them away from his neck.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Uhm…”  It’s clear what Lu Han wants to be doing, but Minseok wants to know why. “M-making out?”

“I get that, but uhm… why now?”

Lu Han tilts his head and bites his lower lip. It’s distracting and very, very provocative in an unintentional way. Unfortunately, that’s not the point Minseok should be focusing on.

“The pizza… Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. I know you said you’re hungry, but you said we had 25 minutes so… isn’t that long enough to make out before it’s ready?”

Minseok gapes at him. “It’s also the same amount of time left on this episode… Lu Han, why are we making out? I thought you invited me over to watch Netflix?”

“I did! I did! Netflix and chill, you know…” Suddenly Lu Han stills, stiff like a zombie. The Blacklist is still playing in the background, and it’s not exactly a great mood-producing atmosphere for making out, or whatever else Lu Han had in mind. Unless he didn’t have that in mind.

“Oh my god,” says Lu Han. “You… you didn’t understand me. I thought-”

In less than a second he slides off Minseok’s lap and stands up, backing away awkwardly with his hands dangling down by his side. Minseok stares at him, frigid where he sits because he can’t believe this is happening.

“You’re right… I don’t understand. Uhm… Lu Han?” His eyes drop down to the bulge in Lu Han’s pants, creases along the seams and zipper and Minseok wonders how long those have been there. Was it a sudden thing? Or has Lu Han been holding back all this time?

A few seconds later, the other is covering it up with his hands, clearly embarrassed and so red in the face Minseok can see it even in the poor lighting.

“I… . I thought, you knew what that meant so…”

“What what meant?” He sits up straighter on the couch, trying to gain some leverage in the most confusing situation he’s ever been in before.

“Netflix and chill. You know what, forget it. Just… urban dictionary-it. I’m going… to the bathroom. Sorry if I made this really weird. If you want you can… let yourself out. S-sorry… goodnight.”

Lu Han’s in the doorway before Minseok can get off the couch, and he’s fast, but Minseok is faster. He intercepts him halfway down the hall, reaching out to grab Lu Han’s arm and holding him back.

“Wait! Lu Han, wait! Look, don’t run away. This is my fault. I didn’t… I didn’t know you liked me like that.”

“Huh?” Lu Han swings around, halfway panicked that his getaway has been foiled, but he acts like he’s still drawn to Minseok just by the sound of his voice. Like he can’t help but turn around, and it’s so damned endearing. Minseok steadies himself, worried about explaining this right and hopefully getting this situation under control. Anything to make Lu Han not freak out, or ruin their relationship for good.

“I mean…” Minseok sighs, “Okay, I knew. I just, didn’t think anything would happen tonight and…” Perhaps he’s not so good at this as he thought.

Lu Han backs down the hallway, as if trying to create space between them, but he’s slower now and less sure of his footsteps. He backs into the wall and Minseok closes the gap, eyes gazing up and down the other’s flushed face and neck.

Lu Han sighs deeply. “Minseok, what are saying? This is my fault. So, please just let me get ahold of myself and we can forget it ever happened.”

Minseok lets out a wrenching groan. “That’s not what I want though! I just, not tonight. I’m really tired and you’re really hot but-” his stomach growls as if to prove another earlier point. And despite that, he still really wants to kiss Lu Han. So he does.

Lu Han’s lips are warmer this time around. His whole body is, and it melts so easily against Minseok’s as they lean up against the wall. He touches the other’s waist delicately, purposefully. He’s not entirely sure Lu Han won’t still try to run away.

Who knew they would cross this boundary like this? That it could be so easy, or else such a world of confusion?

“Lu Han…” Reluctantly he steps back. He wants to go on kissing him. He wants to do that and more. He’s also aware that he must have missed a vitally important detail in Lu Han’s textual communication, but that’s not surprising since Minseok is frequently out of touch with the modern world.

“Yeah?” Lu Han’s voice is halfway to wrecked, soft and breathy.

“Lu Han, I really really like you. And I want to do this, with you.”

“And?” Lu Han senses the hesitation in his voice.

“And… well, can we wait for the pizza and talk about this first? I don’t want to start this the wrong way. Just bear with me because I’m old-fashioned. Did I mention I like you? Well, I do. I really do, but dammit, Lu Han, you kind of sprung this all on me by crawling in my lap so…”

He pecks the other’s lips and lingers there. Lu Han lets out a soft exhale and wraps his arms low around Minseok’s back.

Then Minseok’s stomach rumbles again. Lu Han giggles. He looks relieved, though still a little stressed. It shows even as his chest beats out in waves of soft laughter.

“Pizza. Okay, let’s wait for pizza.”

They never get around to finishing Netflix. Nor do they chill. Nor do they do anything that night except empty Lu Han’s fridge and talk. They do a lot of talking. Late in the night, Minseok crashes on Lu Han’s bed and wakes up in the morning and then they talk some more, do a little kissing, and Minseok goes home before noon.

hey wanna come over tonight?

This time Lu Han’s twice as nervous hitting the send button.

what for?

Minseok is quick to answer. It’s Saturday night, a week after their last debacle.

Popcorn and pizza?

again?? but we had that last week?

Netflix and pasta?

borrringggg

pasta and ?

okay now you have my attention.

do you wanna discuss what counts as first? bc I don’t want to scare you if I accidentally touch your first

feed me first, and you can touch anything you want. ^_-

So… Lu Han thinks eagerly, “I guess that’s a go.”

Sometimes it pays to be a little more direct.