It’s Friday and Mingyu has plans to do something different since it’s the weekend and he doesn’t have work. Minghao does though. He’s booked all day, from 10:30 until 5:30 with classes ranging from beginning adults to advanced children that would outshine Mingyu on the dancefloor without even trying. Most of his classes are high school and college-aged people which is why he tries to keep up appearances. Wonwoo mentioned something about Soonyoung dressing up for work as well and Mingyu easily understands how efficient it is to get people to listen to you when you’re easy on the eyes. On weekends, he also teaches a class in the afternoon for students 5 and under. Even though he’s sure that those kids aren’t really learning anything and the parents are just using the dance studio as a substitute daycare, Minghao apparently enjoys playing with them and running amuck. It’s adorable and Mingyu may or may not want to adopt an orphan just to show up to the class itself.

          The phone rings twice before Minghao picks up, “Mingyu?”

          “Morning.” He’s sitting up at the stools by his kitchen island. Before, he’d go and sit by the window or outside in the communal garden with his sunrise lemon-ginger tea, but since Minghao started coming over, they’d spent their dinners at the island. He might as well use the stools since he bought them.

          “Morning.” Minghao echoes, “No, I’ll be there in a minute. Can you start stretches?” He must be in between classes, “What’s up?”

          “When you get off work, let’s go to the park. You can bring Cacahuate.” Mingyu prides himself on remembering the name of the Golden Retriever-Spitz mix. He’d been brought up several times in conversation over text the last few days, “I think you can afford one day to walk him.”

          “Really?” Minghao’s voice is bright, “Yeah, okay.” He says something else that’s eaten by the static of the phone, probably to his students, “I might be a little late. My roommate and his friend are working on my car and it should be done by the time I’m out, but I won’t know until then.”

          “That’s fine. Do you want me to pick you up?”

          “Nah,” Mingyu is the slightest bit crestfallen, “Cacahuate sheds so much it’ll ruin your car.” When the line falls silent, Minghao speaks up again, “So which park am I bringing dinner to?”

          “Waterfront Park. I’ll meet you and Caca at the fountain.”

          “Okay. I’ll see you then.” Mingyu thinks he’ll hang up, “Also, please don’t call him Caca.” And then he hangs up.

          He doesn’t know why the last point is so important. Cacahuate was an appropriate amount of syllables to shorten into a nickname. Hell, Soonyoung has two syllables and everyone calls him Soon half the time. Speaking of nicknames, Mingyu wonders if he’ll ever be daring enough to call Minghao Hao or if he even likes that nickname. He would try out his stage name from high school, but something hardwired into Mingyu’s mouth vehemently refuses to add numbers into a name. That’s just ridiculous.

          The work day flies by when he has something to look forward to. It’s a surprise, still, that he’s grown to look forward to seeing Minghao in under such a short time. Call it puppy-love if you want, but Mingyu really wants to meet Cacahuate (aka the cutest dog in the tri-state area). Not only the dog, okay, he’s come to realize that Minghao’s friendliness from ten years ago hasn’t faded in the slightest, he’s just an adult now with adult stress and adult problems, just like Mingyu has. Everything feels like it’s moving quickly, not just work today, but from the time he worried about meeting Minghao after such a long time to how ready he is to see him now measures just a handful of weeks, a backpack full of hours.

          “You’re kind of spacey today.” Jeonghan remarks in the breakroom. Wonwoo looks up from his third cup of coffee and Mingyu physically shakes himself out of his thoughts, earning a laugh, “What’s on your mind?” The older picked to work his Friday this week if only to spend more time at the clinic getting to know Jeonghan since they were still awkwardly skirting around each other. Mingyu thinks his efforts to get comfortable are cute.

          He still goes out to lunch with Wonwoo as often as he can and sometimes they invite Seokmin if he hasn’t already eaten lunch on campus. The sunny student is peppy and loud and on the days that he joins, Wonwoo usually stays quiet much like he does when they eat with Soonyoung; quiet, but not left out. Speaking of, Soonyoung hasn’t had time to hang out and get lunch which is a little disappointing since Mingyu also enjoyed his company. Wonwoo assures him that Soonyoung is a hundred percent over the scuffle last week, but Mingyu won’t believe him until he sees it with his own eyes. Soonyoung seems like the type to hold grudges. But Mingyu really doesn’t know him that well. He was sure their fight would have been a little longer lasting, but Soonyoung (and Jun) had been helping to demo for Minghao’s classes while he was out of commission. It was only a few minutes of their time—time that they could afford to spare between classes especially since Minghao and Jun co-taught a class or two—, but Minghao had texted him worried about how he could repay them for their efforts. Mingyu just told him that the best payment would be to get better.

          He likes texts like that. Texts that feel a lot less professional and a lot more friendly. Sharing worries, sharing troubles, and opening up to each other was something that Mingyu had yearned for, especially from this person in particular. Because when he listens to Minghao and when Minghao responds to his texts, he feels better about himself. It’s inexplicable, but that’s the easiest way to put it. It’s not like Minghao has forgiven him or that they’ve even had time to talk about The Situation, but just talking to him about random stuff like dogs and clothes makes him feel better about whatever transpired in the past- he’s spacing out again.

          Jeonghan’s patience is running thin waiting for an answer, “Nothing, really.”

          “Nothing, really.” Is Wonwoo teasing him? Jeonghan passes Wonwoo a glance and a smile. Wonwoo apparently doesn’t act weird unless it’s around Mingyu. If you ask Mingyu, it’s just because they’re friends and he prides himself in the fact that Wonwoo feels comfortable around him; enough to be snarky, “You say that a lot these days. Are you sure you’re not thinking about something or someone?”

          “Yeah, it’s nothing.” Mingyu looks between them, looks at the clock to see how many minutes he has until the next appointment, and looks at Jeonghan again, “I just haven’t gotten much sleep these days.”

          Which is a total and complete lie.

          After Minghao leaves his house, he showers, brushes his teeth, and promptly falls asleep with a full stomach because the dancer always leaves his leftovers and Mingyu can’t help but fill up before hitting the sack. Don’t do that, it’s really bad for your digestion and your body in general. Most of the food Minghao brings over is comfort food that guarantees food comas and because Mingyu’s been eating out so much and not watching his calories or diet, he’s gained a couple pounds. He doesn’t really care, with all his height, he can spare a few pounds, but he could probably go for a run or something.

          “Someone keeping you up at night?” Jeonghan gawks at Wonwoo’s suggestive statement and Cheshire grin, not expecting something like that to come from a man who usually comes off as composed and professional. Mingyu’s mouth runs dry and all his words and retaliations are caught up in his throat.

          All that comes out is a rapid stream of, “N-nonononono,” he could have probably thought of something smoother than that and his frantic state piques at Jeonghan’s attention.

          “Do tell, Mingyu, do tell. For the last few months, you haven’t shown interest in a single person. I was starting to think that your dry spell was just your nature an-”

          The door to the breakroom swings open, “Jeonghan, Mr. Haltwish has been sitting in the lobby for ten minutes-”

          “He can wait, he’s got a few more years before he kicks it, what’s a few minutes.” Jeonghan doesn’t even turn to look at Joshua, “Who is this mysterious perso-”

          “Back to work, Jeonghan.” Joshua sounds tired as he drags the grown man out of the breakroom by the sleeves of his dress shirt.

          And for a minute, Mingyu’s naïve enough to believe that the torment is over once Jeonghan has left. He forgets about a pair of sharp eyes pinning him down from behind. Going to lunch was an awful idea today.

          “He talks about you, you know.” That’s the first thing Wonwoo says after they sit down with their food. Up until that time, he was quiet. Not many words were exchanged during their walk to the food plaza and the only sound between them was hums of agreement about where to eat when the other pointed to a storefront.

          “Who?” Mingyu must look dumb feigning stupidity.

          Wonwoo chooses to ignore his less-than-bright attempt at a clueless façade, “Never about high school or anything like that, just about the antics of your apartment and your texts. Too many emojis, he said.”

          “I think I use a perfectly decent amount of emojis.” Mingyu sets his tray down, careful not to spill any of the soup. The chained-emojis thing was a habit he picked up from texting Wonwoo so much. The older likes to call it ‘non-verbal texting’, “And since when were you two so chummy?”

          “We’re not. He talks to Soonyoung and Soonyoung talks to me.” He scrolls through his phone before locking it and setting it beside his soda, “So, a date at the park? That’s a little forward, even for you.”

          “It’snotadate!” Mingyu wants to throw a tantrum. These coworkers are more stressful than Minghao is, “It’s not a date.” He repeats after regaining his cool and breaking his chopsticks apart, “His dog needs a walk and-”

          “Seungcheol’s been walking his dog since he came back. That guy loves dogs. He babies it and everything.” Wonwoo isn’t eating yet, he’s studying Mingyu’s expressions; how his gaze falters for just a second when the facts are stated, “Mostly because Jun keeps asking for IOU’s in return and Minghao got worried about how many were piling up. Cheol does it without being asked. He likes running in the mornings anyway.” Now Wonwoo’s just prodding at him. Mingyu can tell by the fat grin on his stupid face. When the latter realizes that he’s been caught, he just smiles and starts eating.

          Mingyu gets halfway through his pho before he even wants to think about speaking again, “Getting outside is probably good for him. He’s inside all the time anyway.”

          Wonwoo wipes his mouth and hisses, regretting the amount of sriracha he’d squirted in at the start, “Soon says Minghao’s worried about the date today.” Mingyu’s sits at attention, “Okay, maybe worried wasn’t the right word and maybe it’s more that Soonyoung’s worried about the date.”

          “It’s not a date.”

          “Whatever.” Wonwoo laughs. Seeing Mingyu frustrated is apparently very cute to him, “Soon’s just worried because Minghao gets sick easily when the seasons change.” And right now it’s moving from Fall into Winter. That makes sense, Minghao had been dressed warmly even on days when it hadn’t been that cold, “An injured Minghao is already bad, a sick and injured Minghao is just sad.”

          “Do you think I should cancel?” he’s not really thinking about his word choice.

          Wonwoo just shrugs, “It’s up to you. Minghao’s an adult that knows how to not get sick, y’know. It’s not like he’s going around doorknobs and refusing to wash his hands. He’s a pretty clean guy. Soon just worries a lot and look at that, I got you all worried now too.”

          “I just don’t want to be the reason he gets sick.”

          “If he was really concerned about it, he would have told you and asked to change plans since he’s a whole grown man.” Wonwoo reasons. Maybe he’s the only real adult at this table, with real logic and common sense, “But I’ll cut the jokes,” Mingyu looks up from his food again, “you’re feeling something towards him, aren’t you.”

          It comes off less as a question than it does a statement.

          Mingyu has to think about it. He doesn’t really mind telling Wonwoo his true thoughts about the matter, but he still has yet to sort himself out, “I don’t know? Maybe?”

          “For the record, Soonyoung’s been asking Minghao the same thing, like, every time they cross paths at work.” He perks up, “He’s seriously annoying the out of Minghao. You’ll probably hear about it tonight.”

          They finish eating, Mingyu desperately trying to drop Minghao as a topic and Wonwoo giddily trying to keep it on their lips. He’s done with work after the next patient and then it’s off to run errands. He’d like to say he’s excited about the park expedition today, but after being bombarded with Minghao all lunch, he’s almost ready to call it quits himself. Wonwoo finally catches on to the sincerity in his frustration and drops the topic. He at least appreciates that about the older PT; he’s observant enough to not overstep.