Wonwoo frowns as his stomach growls, pulling him out of his thoughts. Maybe some Kimchi Fried Rice would be a good distraction. He freezes when he hears the door unlock. The sound of footsteps follows after. He scrunches his eyes shut, inwardly praying it’s not the whole bunch of them. He jumps a little at the sound of his phone vibrating next to him. Wonwoo just blankly stares at the screen once he reads the text notification:

hey, wonwoo! it's mingyu. you probably heard me and soonyoung come in. i hope you’re okay! we're here for you, so if you need anything, text me back okay?

Without realising it, he’s typed something and has sent it:

can i have kimchi fried rice?

His stomach grumbles again. The groan that escapes his lips echoes the loud rumbling. He groans again when he hears Soonyoung shout, “He’s alive!” from outside the door. He receives a reply not a moment later.

chef gyu at your service ;)

Wonwoo is mildly surprised that Mingyu cooks. He honestly thought the latter would order food, or take some to-go. He also nearly chokes when he sees the winky face. He lightly chuckles when he receives another text from "Chef Gyu":

did you just choke?? are you okay!!!

Another follows after: 

oh, i hear you laughing. it’s pretty :) you should laugh more!

He blushes at the comment, wiping his face (mainly tears) on his blanket with a small smile. His phone vibrates shortly after, this time from idiot.

are y’all gonna continue flirting when we eat the fried rice?? 
bcos i don’t want y’all to flirt in front of my salad :jk, is it alright
”) if

i leave you guys alone? i want to go through this cool new routine with chan!!

Wonwoo bites his lips as he silently laughs, nose scrunching. He smiles fondly as he types:

okay. just answer your phone if i call, please?

Soonyoung replies immediately after with a warm message:

btw, if
of course, you can call jihoon or jun too y’know? we’ll always be there for you. i don’t reply, please call hansol! remember, the dance studio’s receptionist dude?

The slightly younger male simply texts back a sincere thank you, laughing at Seungkwan’s boyfriend’s “receptionist dude” title. Soonyoung must have forgotten that the pair recently started dating. Wonwoo smiles sadly- what did he do in his past life to have received such caring friends? He doesn’t think his sorry deserves them. Then again, he is reminded of the chaos that happened earlier in the cafe. Soonyoung replies back after a few minutes:

i’m going now. come out and watch mingyu cook. the fried rice ain’t the only thing that’s hot ;)

Wonwoo just shakes his head at Soonyoung’s text, though the amused smile on his face remains.  “Bye Wonwoo!” he hears the door open after Soonyoung shouts.

“Wait, where are you going?” he hears Mingyu ask in a slightly alarmed tone. Wonwoo laughs in amusement. Trust Soonyoung to be discreet when he doesn’t need to be.

“Bye Mingyu!” is the bright reply the taller gets before the door clicks shut. Suddenly, there's loud noises of metal banging onto each other. There's also a very audible yelp from Mingyu before Wonwoo rushes out of the room to check on him. He stares in disbelief at the taller, who has several pots and pans by his feet.

Both of them just stare at each other, not knowing what to say. Mingyu starts speaking first, apologising profusely as he picks up the mess he created in a hurry. Wonwoo snaps out of his frozen state, bending down to help Mingyu pick up the rest of the mess (as calmly as possible. Inside, he is dying because this entire thing seems set up for some cliche love story. Better yet, a sappy fanfiction written by a teenage girl. ) 

As much as Wonwoo hates cliches, his fingers touch the back of Mingyu's hands as they reach for the last pot on the floor. The contact causes goosebumps to spread across his skin, leaving him shuddering slightly. He immediately proceeds on by shaking his hand off in embarrassment, flushing slightly. (Maybe, Wonwoo thinks, cliches aren't that bad.)

Mingyu pouts at the cold action. Inwardly, the shorter dies because the sight of Mingyu pouting is absolutely adorable. Absorbed in his thoughts, Wonwoo doesn’t notice the tip of the taller’s ears are a little red. He also misses the smile Mingyu sends his way, complete with his cute canines and all as his eyes are trained towards the floor. Mingyu stands up, huffing as he looks at the rice cooker. Wonwoo still doesn't lift his head, too embarrassed about their third embarrassing encounter. 

“You know,” Mingyu begins, “I almost didn’t have enough rice to even fill the pot. You guys really should stock up on your groceries. Also, Soonyoung told me you forget to eat sometimes,” Mingyu continues nagging, poking Wonwoo’s side as the shorter finally stands up. Mingyu pokes Wonwoo’s stomach, pout making its way back onto his lips. He exasperatedly concludes his nagging with, “This is why you’re so skinny!”

“Hey!” Wonwoo defensively yells, hugging himself to prevent Mingyu from poking him any further. “It’s not like I don’t remember- there are too many things to do at once and,” Wonwoo’s shoulders sag as he takes a deep breath, suddenly recalling the number of things he has to do."

Thankfully, Mingyu notices the shift in his mood. “Hey,” Mingyu gently says, “You deserve a break.” There’s so much sincerity behind his words that makes Wonwoo want to believe it.

“But-” Wonwoo tries to argue but Mingyu shoots him a pointed look. The former sighs in defeat, before asking, “Do I really deserve it?”

Mingyu aggressively nods, patting Wonwoo on the back. He then picks up a frying pan, waving it at the shorter. Wonwoo blinks, taking a step back to avoid getting hit (no thanks to the sudden enthusiasm from the order.) “If you’re really hell-bent on studying, study after eating, okay?” Mingyu makes him promise, sticking out his pinky once he sets the pan down onto the stove. Wonwoo shakes his head in amusement but stamps his finger anyway.

“Wait-” Wonwoo pauses, looking into the fridge. “Are we making vegetarian fried rice?” he hesitantly asks, trying to cover up his crestfallen expression.

“What?” Mingyu shoots back loudly in surprise, “But Soonyoung told me you guys had plenty of meat- oh.” The taller blushes furiously once he realises it's an innuendo.  Wonwoo catches on too, letting out a string of expletives while shaking his fist.

He huffs, “I'm going to kill Soonyoung!"

“I cooked the rice already though,” Mingyu dejectedly remarks, pointing towards the rice cooker. He lets out a cry of disappointment when the rice cooker’s light turns from “cook” to “warm.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Wonwoo says, patting Mingyu awkwardly on his back. “We can ask Junhui or someone to bring up some … proper … ediblemeat.” He avoids Mingyu’s gaze as he says it, awkwardly staring at the rice cooker. He hopes he isn't the only one ... still affected by the innuendo.

“Maybe not the best choice,” Mingyu laughs, before clearing his throat. “Uh, why don’t we go to the grocery store and grab some … y’know real quick?” Wonwoo just stares at Mingyu, glad he isn't the only one unable to get over the stupid innuendo that Soonyoung made in the first place. “It can be part of your healing process! Supermarkets can be fun y’know? … Or you can just stare here and rest-” Mingyu adds hurriedly once he notices Wonwoo isn’t saying anything.

“It’s fine!” Wonwoo interrupts his ranting, “Let’s just order some food or something. Soonyoung can eat the plain rice once he comes back.”

“You’re mean,” Mingyu laughs before agreeing to order some food. He pulls out his phone in a flash, entering his favourite delivery application. “Two bowls of Kimchi Fried Rice coming up!”

“Are you sure you want Kimchi Fried Rice too?” Wonwoo asks, furrowing his brows because there were other varieties of food listed below his favourite dish. He didn’t pin the taller as the type to like fried rice- out of all things. (Mingyu surprises him for the nth time that night.)

“I haven’t eaten Kimchi Fried Rice in a long time,” Mingyu reassuringly tells him, proceeding with a question, “What drink would you like?”

Wonwoo shrugs, “You pick the drink.” Please pick Cola. Coincidentally, Mingyu does pick the drink causing  Wonwoo to inwardly cheer while the taller raises a brow.

“You were hoping I’d pick that didn’t you?” he teases. Wonwoo just chuckles, waving his hands at Mingyu as he shakes his head in disagreement. Mingyu accuses him of lying, “Ayyyy, no way you didn’t!”

Wonwoo only smiles in amusement, heading towards the couch to sit down. He is pleasantly surprised at how comfortable he is with the taller. It took him nearly an entire month to warm up to Jihoon and Jun. He sighs in contentment. If only he made friends with others as fast as he did with Mingyu. He pauses, wondering if he and Mingyu were actually friends. So he quietly asks, “Hey, Mingyu? Are we friends?”

Mingyu screeches in excitement at the comment, “Yes, of course!”
 

“What?” Soonyoung screeches in disbelief. Jihoon hurriedly uses both his hands to cover Soonyoung’s mouth, effectively slapping him as he does so. The taller groans, while the other 8 of them cackle silently at his misfortune.

“Shut up Soonyoung,” Jihoon hisses, glaring at him intensely. Soonyoung pouts, nodding his head in defeat before the younger finally releases his hand.

“But I didn’t set them up to become friends,” Soonyoung whines in an uncharacteristically quiet manner.

“Well, technically, they set up themselves,” Seungkwan remarks, rolling his eyes as Soonyoung flails around in frustration.

Their neighbour, a doe-eyed male just his head as he passes by them in the hallway. (The sight of 10 males sitting by the door whispering is absolutely normal, he tries to reassure himself. So is Jihoon smiling.) He pauses, curious enough to know why they are being ... weird. So he heads back towards them. He innocently directs a question towards Jihoon, “You’re smiling, did something good happen?”

Jihoon flushes at the comment while the rest of them break out into laughter. He quietly argues, “Can’t I just smile because I feel like it, huh Joshua?”

Junhui decides to expose Jihoon’s shortly after, pitying their clueless neighbour, “So, we just found out the guy we," he gets interrupted by Chan, who butts in with, "It was actually just Soonyoung- mainly."

The older glares at Chan for interrupting him before clearing his throat and continuing, "Again, so Soonyoung tried to set Wonwoo up with some guy and that guy just got friend-zoned by Wonwoo. Jihoon’s just happy he got to slap Soonyoung when Soonyoung decided to let Wonwoo know we’re eavesdropping.”

Joshua just nods, letting out a long, “Ahhh” in understanding. (He decides he needs to find normal neighbours.)

The door opens, causing all of them to freeze, like a bunch of deers caught in headlights. “Hey!” both Mingyu and Wonwoo shout, having heard the ruckus from inside. “What do you think you guys are doing?”
 

Two years down the road, Joshua still hasn't found normal neighbours. In fact, he’s currently living with Jeonghan and Seungcheol in a quaint apartment near the school dorm. His neighbours remain the same- the four same-aged friends had settled in a year after the "95-line squad )or so they were called)" moved in. Because the "96-line, as Seungcheol calls the group of four, had the biggest apartment, all 13 of them crash there on a weekly basis. Ergo, they were all subjected to watching Soonyoung's Plan Q, R and S to get Mingyu and Wonwoo together fail. 

It was an amusing friendship, to say the least. 

Wonwoo and Mingyu only grew closer throughout the two years. Some would have thought Mingyu was his boyfriend, with the amount of affection the younger showered Wonwoo with. Mingyu often sends him reminders to take care of himself- he even delivered him food in school. 

Even now, he delivers Wonwoo food to his workplace. Wonwoo grins fondly as he reads the text again from the younger:

hey won, i cooked too much kimchi fried rice ;(
i'm heading to your workplace now!! 

"Wonwoo!" he hears the younger shout from outside his door not a moment after he finishes reading the text. Mingyu pouts as he opens the door, "Why are you so smiley? Are you texting someone?" 

"Yeah, I am," Wonwoo replies, trying to keep his face straight because Mingyu looks absolutely cute when he's jealous. 

"Who is it? Is it that new intern you were telling me about the other day?" the younger probes, turning around to look outside the door. 

"What if it is the new intern?" Wonwoo nonchalantly answers, closing his laptop. Mingyu lets out a whine of displeasure, turning around quickly to find the said intern. He doesn't notice that he's walking right into the door. 

There's a loud sound when Mingyu's face connects with the door. Wonwoo rushes out of his seat, wanting to check on Mingyu who only lets out a series of pained moans. The older chuckles when he notices his nose is bleeding. He reaches into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a packet of tissues with Soonyoung's name on it. 

"Hey, nosebleed?" Wonwoo hesitantly asks, "Go out with me?"

sdjaksdjkasdjksdjkasjkds

A/N: 

and that marks the end of the story. HAHAHh hope you enjoyed it!! i'm sorry if it's too short ,,, i left the ending open bcos why not leleelelle but it's kinda obv what mingyu's reply is, yes? HAHHAH

wOOohoo i ended it on mingoo's birthday < 3 i hope he has an awesome day!

ok bye see y'all around someday