Of course Wonwoo did not agree to Mingyu’s offer. Moving in with that guy? A guy that was a) obviously gay, b) obviously interested in him, c) obviously believes Wonwoo is also interested in him. Plus, the thought of seeing that guy every day after being yelled at like in front of him made Wonwoo feel so averse to the very idea.

And so Wonwoo thanked Mingyu for the offer and politely declined.

But it was still something he kept in the back of his head. It would be so nice to not have to worry about paying rent. That meant he could actually have some extra cash if he worked. It meant he didn’t have to work eight hours a day. It meant he could focus more on his studies and enjoy more free time.

His old boss called him and said he was rehired, but Wonwoo, still angry and absolutely unwilling to work under that man ever again, declined by closing in his boss’s face.

The following day, Wonwoo began with his job hunt. He found an okay-paying position in this retail shop in the downtown, and the boss seemed nice. But it required two buses and a ten-minute walk, which was just so inconvenient. He calculated the amount of money he needed to pay to commute and subtracted it from the promised salary and realized that it was not enough. He would need to take out a loan.

He tried looking around for a roommate, but everyone he knew already had a roommate or was content living alone. And Wonwoo was too unsocial to get to know more people who could possibly agree to share an apartment or dorm with him, and so the idea of finding a roommate was out of the picture.

After a week of thinking, considering his options, he came up with a list:

1. Take out a small loan and get a job downtown and remain living alone
2. Take out a big loan be in debt for years
3. Go back to work in the café
4. Accept Mingyu’s offer

The first one required so much physical effort and stress. The second one was too anxiety-inducing. The third one made his stomach churn. The fourth also made his stomach churn, but in a different way. A relatively more pleasant way.

He weighed the advantages and the disadvantages of each, and found that he was leaning towards the last option.

Wonwoo groaned. Why did Mingyu have to be so gay?

He opened the chat with Mingyu and wrote to him: “is that offer still open?”

Mingyu replied almost immediately: “of course!”

“I have very few alternative options, and they all .”

“Great. I’ll clear out some floor space for you then? When will you be moving in?”

“Next week?”

“Perfect.”

“Thank you for the offer,” Wonwoo said, “it’s very nice of you.”

“It’s nothing. Plus, it’s all my fault youre in this position to begin with. I owe it to you.”

“I just want to make it very clear, from now, that I’m not interested in guys and I hope you know that.”

“Got it. I’ll back off. Promise.”

“Thank you.”

Mingyu replied with a smiley face and a thumbs up emoji.

-

Wonwoo didn’t have much to pack. It only required one trip to get to move into Mingyu’s apartment, which Wonwoo was very happy to find quite clean and organized.

“That’s the bathroom, there’s the kitchen. I cleared up closet space if you want it, and here’s the sleeping bag. Feel free to use the fridge and the little stove. I wash my clothes once a week in the laundry place down the street, but if you want we can wash together and split the bill so it’s cheaper. Water and electricity expenses are on me, but please don’t be wasteful. A few things to know: the plug next to the bed is really dangerous, so don’t use it. Be careful in the shower, there’s a small dent in the floor you can trip over if you’re not careful. It gets really cold in the evening, so I always turn on the heater, and the heater becomes dangerously hot, so don’t touch it. I learned that the hard way. Oh, and… as you already know, there’s no wifi,” Mingyu stated matter-of-factly.

Wonwoo took a mental note of everything Mingyu said as he put his luggage to the side and looked at his new surroundings. Mingyu’s flat was very small. Clearly only meant for one person, there was barely any space to maneuver around. There was just enough space for Wonwoo’s sleeping bag to be spread out on the floor, and that’s only if the desk chair was under the table. Other than the desk and the bed, there was a closet, a fridge a small table and sink, a cupboard and a mirror. The bathroom was small, but sufficient.

“Thank you,” Wonwoo bowed in Mingyu’s direction. “Truly.”

“Does this mean you don’t blame me for losing your job anymore?”

“I don’t.”

“I’m glad.”

“Can we just… start over?” Wonwoo asked, “There’s been a lot of misunderstanding, and I want to start on a clean slate. My name is Wonwoo. Junior. Majoring in business management. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Mingyu. Sophomore. Studying computer science. Nice to meet you too,” Mingyu said with a polite smile.

Wonwoo only nodded his head, wishing he had something else to say to him. But he at social situations and can never come up with the words to say, and so he just smiled awkwardly at Mingyu.

Mingyu sensed the awkwardness, and he let out a small laugh and shook his head. (Wonwoo couldn’t help but notice how shiny Mingyu’s eyes were when he smiled.)

“Ah, well… I’m gonna go out with a friend and then find somewhere with wifi,” Mingyu said. “If you leave, make sure to lock up. Later.” Mingyu thus grabbed his Macbook and slipped out.

Wonwoo groaned. He went from being embarrassing by saying stupid to being embarrassing by not having to say. Socializing was hard, and now that Mingyu was his roommate (well, more like his benefactor, but whatever), Wonwoo knew he’d have to get his act together and start being better at it.

-

“How’s being roomies with the handsome wifi theif?” Jeonghan texted Wonwoo a little later as Wonwoo unpacked his things.

“Alright. Except im terribly awkward,” Wonwoo texted back.

“hahaha I know that :P”

“don’t laugh :( ”

“don’t worry wonwon, he likes you a lot more than you like him. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed in front of him.”

“that’s hardly reassuring tbh”

“its like… imagine someone you have a crush on. If that person did embarrassing in front of you, you’d find it endearing, right? That’s probably how its like for mingyu with you.”

“I can’t imagine that. I don’t like anyone.”

“you’re boring. How can you literally not crush on ANYONE?”

“speaking of crushes… how’s the new guy that replaced me?”

“JISOO? SO CUTE UGH”

“glad to know you’re happy im replaced”

“of course no one can replace you wonwon, but seriously, HE’S SO CUTE. I’m looking at him now. He’s making cappuccino and I wanna cappa his ccino if you know what I mean”

“i don’t know what that means but I know its gross and im cringing”

“you’re only two floors above me, come down and see him and tell me what you think!”

“I don’t wanna step foot in there again.”

“PLEASEEEE. Just see him!! I’ll give you free coffee from my paycheck.”

“fine. I’ll come down, but only for the coffee.”

Wonwoo locked the door and went down to the café to where Jeonghan was. Wonwoo really hated that place now, but he endured it to see Jeonghan again. It’s been a couple of days since he’d seen Jeonghan, and although he didn’t like to admit it, he missed his lazy, useless, gay friend more than he would have liked to admit.

Wonwoo entered, and Jeonghan smiled brightly when he saw him. “Welcome to Shining Diamond Café, what can I get for you today my good friend?”

“I’ll have the free coffee you promised me,” Wonwoo jokied, and Jeonghan nodded and raised his eyebrows. He subtly pointed to the other worker with his eyes, and Wonwoo glanced at the new employee.

Yes, he was cute, Wonwoo thought as he looked at him. He had a really bright smile; you look at him, and you just know he’s a nice guy.

As Jeonghan was making Wonwoo’s coffee, Wonwoo looked at the new guy more closely. Before, he didn’t really care that someone replaced him, but after actually seeing his replacement, Wonwoo felt agitated. What agitated him even more was that this guy actually seemed to do the job so much better than Wonwoo had.

Wonwoo hated to smile, but this guy was smiling with such effortless ease, and Wonwoo felt unreasonably bitter and jealous. He had wished that the stupid café would go out of business because he was fired, but what happened instead was that he was replaced by someone better than him. Wonwoo felt glum all of the sudden.

Jeonghan called out for him to get his coffee, but was then unfrotunately preoccupied with other customers and so could not hear what Wonwoo thought. Wonwoo decided to just text him the verdict instead.

“not gonna lie, he is very cute. But honestly I couldnt help but feel replaced when I saw him :( ” Wonwoo texted.

Another customer entered, and so Jeonghan was again too busy to see the message. Wonwoo took his free coffee, left the coffee shop and went back up to continue unpacking.

-

Mingyu barged into the flat a few hours later. He looked quite annoyed with Wonwoo.

“I wish you’d stop giving me mixed signals!” Mingyu told him with a frown on his face as soon as he entered.

“I’m sorry?” Wonwoo asked, uncertain of what Mingyu meant.

“Oh, now you’re going to play dumb?” Mingyu scoffed. “Honestly, I’m so sick of this game you’re playing!” He pushed Wonwoo against the closet and closed the space between, putting their foreheads together. “I’m going to kiss you right now, okay?”

Startled by Mingyu’s sudden behavior, Wonwoo's eyes widened. When Mingyu started to close the distance between their lips, Wonwoo snapped out of the trance and turned his face at an angle and nudged him away.

Mingyu pouted a little at the rejection.

“What was that?” Wonwoo asked when Mingyu took a step back.

“I thought… I don’t get you, Wonwoo,” Mingyu shook his head and sighed.

“Mingyu, I made it clear: I’m not interested in guys,” Wonwoo told him..

“Then why did you send me that text?”

Wonwoo narrowed his eyes. He didn’t send a text to Mingyu at all today. At least, he thought he didn’t. He took his phone out of his pocket and realized his mistake.

“not gonna lie, he is very cute. But honestly I couldn't help but feel replaced when I saw him :( ”

The text meant for Jeonghan, Wonwoo had accidentally sent to Mingyu.

“Ah…” Wonwoo explained awkwardly. “That wasn’t meant for you. Sorry.”

Mingyu scrunched his face in an expression of dubious irritation, a “what the ” kind of look.

“There’s a new guy working in my place at Shining Diamond Café,” Wonwoo said. “Jeonghan wanted to show me how cute he was… and I wanted to send him that text. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“I thought you were talking about Minghao,” Mingyu said, evidently embarrassed.

“Minghao?” The name did not ring a bell.

“Never mind,” Mingyu said, shaking his head. “Sorry about that just now. Jesus, this is so embarrassing,” he muttered, both annoyed and flustered at the same time.

“I swear I’m not playing with you or anything,” Wonwoo added quickly. “Honestly, I just keep making mistakes with you. I never wanted to lead you on.”

“Whatever. From now on, if I ever feel like you’re leading me on, I’ll just think it’s anotherone of your mistakes,” Mingyu said.

“Yeah… you should,” Wonwoo said.

“I’m gonna shower and go to bed,” Mingyu murmured, opening his closet and preparing new clothes.

“I’m sorry,” Wonwoo apologized, truly feeling bad for misleading Mingyu again. For the seventh or eighth time...

“Let’s just forget about it,” Mingyu said, not looking at Wonwoo as he slipped into the bathroom with clothes in his arms.

A/N: The writer's block for this story is way too severe! i think it would really help if anyone wants to volunteer to be my 'writer's block relief buddy' for this fic, i.e. someone who will throw ideas at me until i can write again. any takers? ^^"