“Are you.. alright?”

Mina heard a tender whisper from beside her-- Minseok’s mellow and soft mumble. She turned sideways to give him a smile, a smile which felt a whole lot more genuine than how she felt about it. Nevertheless, Minseok accepted it, and shot her back another one in return.

“Yup, I’m fine,” She mumbled back, cradling both of her arms together and rubbing them in a kind of nervousness that mocked her, for Mina rarely ever felt nervous for juvenile reasons like a party or a gathering. “Believe it or not, gatherings with a lot of people make me nervous.”

After Minseok’s escapade of exposing her in the car, it made her nervous around him. Not the kind of nervous which made her put walls around her or the kind that tended to make her push people away, though. It was more like the kind of nervousness that made her self-aware of how much Minseok — and the boys — really knew, or know, her. Or how else would he so easily explain to her her own shriveled emotions? Her feelings which she herself didn’t know the stem of. He told her as if he was her, and that he was the one going through this misery with Suho. Such clear insight about her situation made her, well... nervous.

How much more did Minseok know? How well did he truly know her? How well did the boys know her? 

She remembered when she asked Kai once if he could hear her heartbeats and told her no, but he wouldn’t need to anyway since she was pretty easy to read either way. Did all of her boys share the same sentiment? Was she really easy to read or were they superior beings (wolves) that made them more perceptive than others? She truly didn’t want to believe that she’s easy to read, despite how nice it felt sometimes to be understood by them.

“Really?” Minseok raised an atrocious brow up, a smirk curling up his face even though there was nothing malignant about it. “Never would have guessed it, you’re not exactly the shyest gal in the shed.”

Oh God, Mina thought, actually giggling, before taking a hold of herself and pursing her lips seriously, shaking her head. “No, Minseok, just no. Don’t say Gal ever again.”

“What? I made you laugh.”

She laughed again at the realization that he did that only because he wanted her to laugh, and sneakily, she felt his hand snivel around her own where he curled their fingers together. She froze at the warm touch of his pads intertwined with hers, the type of freezing where her legs actually felt heavy enough to make her pause, staring at the darkness of the restaurant they were getting closer to. Why the heck was she so reactive to these sorts of mushy things? They’ve held hands plenty of times before and she didn’t freeze like an absolute idiot with a speech disability before. Was it because the meaning behind the gesture was a whole lot different now? Was it because she knew they hadn’t meant before but meant something now? It was the only explanation, and she truly understood where she was coming from.

But damn it, she was not a flushy, blushy kind of gal!

Noticing her actually zoning out, Minseok paused as well and turned to her curiously, wonderment in his eyes at her actions. However, he misinterpreted her intentions pretty clearly.

“Don’t worry. I’m nervous around big crowds as well." Mina’s subconscious mind told her that he really wasn’t, he was just saying that to comfort her. Her fingers began to unfreeze, and she twitched them against his hold. In response, he tightened his grip. “We can sit together and have our own secret conversations together. No one will interfere with the captain and his girl, plus you’ll be far away from that scum bag Kim.”

She weaved a large, throaty exhale out of her chest, her body relaxing — or being forced to relax because God damn it, she didn’t want to always overthink things! — and squeezed his hand as well. It was just a hand anyway. “Thanks,” she raised their intertwined hands to their eye-level and threatened in a playful way, eyes twinkling. “And don’t you dare let go of this hand, you hear, Minseok?”

“Yes, Noona, I won’t,” he mocked, twisting his lips around in a fake, cute pout and then adding in a high pitched voice, "anything else?”

“I’m not your damn Noona,” Mina rolled her eyes at his ludicrous actions, but she was smiling nevertheless, her previous anxiety flushing away like a nonexistent dream. Wow, he was really good at this . “You’re like billion years older.”

“I’m not your Oppa either, apparently, so we are both playing roles we don’t own.” Minseok retaliated, lowering their hands down to their sides and then actually swinging them around, a cute, chipmunk-like smile that rounded his cheeks and exposed his pretty white teeth adorning his face, making him look a billion years younger, not older. How the heck did he do that--  remain so young when he was moving forwards in life, not backwards?

“Nice one, babe.” Mina unconsciously said, laughing meticulously at his kiddie-like gestures with swinging their arms and looking a lot less than his age, not realizing the small stumble she just blurted out of . Minseok, however, wasn’t an easy guy to either manipulate or deceive. He also wasn’t one to let go of such cute errors, so he easily brought her closer to his side through their intertwined hands, ignoring her blink of the eyes and shooting her a tiny, devious smirk.

“Oh, so I’m babe now, huh?”

Instantly, she began to blush. Not the cute blush which would light up your cute little cheeks and make any person look adorable or younger than they look; no, it was that massive, ugly redness that crawled over every part of her cheeks until it looked like it was spreading across her entire face and forehead so she resembled a baboon’s , or something. She was sure she was ugly. She felt ugly by the mishap, and yet, she wasn’t going to let Minseok bully her. She was the bully, not the other way around.

“Uh, um,” damn, why did she have to freaking stutter? Minseok’s smirk only widened. “It’s a misspelling from my part! Don’t think too much about it!”

“Misspellings in speech? That’s new.” He mused, his smirk shifting into a full, blown smile which lightened up his face. Despite not looking like it or actually acting like it, Mina was quite adorable. Whether she tried to do it on purpose or not, her tantrums were something he always looked forward to, as weird and odd as that sounded.

“Shut up! Don’t make me flustered!” 

She broke their hands apart and rushed away from him with dark, dark cheeks — baboon’s people — and he, laughing, walked right after her so she wouldn’t run into far places she couldn’t get out from or snarky people who needed to constantly be punched, like Kim.

She allowed him to guide her through the long and crowded road to the nearest restaurant with a yellow sign, a gentle palm up her mid back and a hand she felt ghost through her clothes, seeping warmly through the fabric and then attacking her skin, sending a zap of delicious, glamorous electricity down that spot he touched. It was so weird. How long has it been since she wasn’t feeling so jumpy around him? So responsive? Only a few days ago, but now, now she was highly sensitive to every one of his moves, his signals, his damn suave gestures.

Damn him for being so attractive too, and damn her for noticing that. 

He swerved her toward the door of the restaurant and quickly pushed her ahead of him so she wouldn’t freeze up again, taking the hand he had up her back to wrap it almost in a casual way around her shoulder, bringing her closer to his side protectively. Actually, it was quite casual of the boys in general to wrap her in their arms to protect her or to ward off idiotic erts. Kai once told her having a werewolf’s scent on her, better yet, an Alpha, helped immensely with telling other supernatural creatures who was going to kick their if she’s disturbed in any way. It was cute the first few times they did it, becoming borderline adorable too (especially when Kai would do it with a flush to his cheeks) but the excessiveness of their touches became a bit annoying with time.

This time, however, didn’t feel at all similar to the times Minseok had ‘scented’ her before. It didn’t make her feel annoyed or irritated for being treated like a fragile glass unable to protect herself (which she apparently was in the world of supernaturals) this time, having Minseok’s secure arm tightened around her shoulders made her feel valued, which was a silly feeling to have because was she not valued before? Of course she was. 

Just, things were getting.. different, and everything conveyed a different message now, right?

“Minseok Hyung,” 

Mina and Minseok both looked forward at the nasty, familiar voice calling and Mina’s face contorted into an ugly scowl when she recognized Kim’s evil and twinkling pair of eyes. Minseok merely sighed. 

“You brought your girlfriend again?” Kim continued despite receiving no answer from the two, and Minseok pulled Mina closer to the horrible elf because unfortunately, everyone was gathered around the table he was occupying and two more — they had to join three tables together to fit the entire team with the coach and his girlfriend — there was something malevolent in Kim’s eyes, something whisked yet restrained, nervous, like he wanted to be the misogynistic he truly was but couldn't help being scared of Minseok at the same time. Mina didn’t like that he wasn’t scared of her, because she was a girl and she didn’t have any decent time to show her monstrous claws, but that he was afraid of Minseok, the captain who was ten inches shorter than him. The curl of a scowl in deepened and she imagined a fake growl escaping .

“Yes I did, Kim,” Minseok said with voice tinted with boredom. Kim’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance. “I don’t understand the question.”

Kim waited for Minseok and Mina to greet everyone, taking their seats together in a position across from him, staring at their already ordered food, to answer. 

“Oh nothing,” Kim innocently said, and Mina pulled her heart eyes from her food to shoot a glare. He didn’t blink at her for a second. “I’m just wondering if she’s going to be everywhere with you. You know clingy girlfriends are totally not attractive.”

“Let me at him please.” Mina didn’t even mind that she was around so many people who knew her and the coach who she respected despite being an sometimes too, or his nice girlfriend for instance, to actually stand up and bare her teeth at Kim, who flinched, not because he was scared of her, but because Minseok was staring back at him with boredom still. The people closest to Mina and the ruckus she was causing ceased to speak, some of them were Kim’s friends, but even they were smart enough not to yank a reaction out of her again when Minseok publicly humiliated Kim once.

Minseok calmly wrapped an arm around her waist before things became extreme and pulled her down to plop on his lap, something which quickly broke her out of her bubble of anger and made her blink. Actually, everyone who was seeing them blinked their eyes, surprised at such bold gesture and the fact that Mina truly did seem like she was his girlfriend, not his friend like how they always introduced themselves to everyone.

Mina’s head began to whirl. Okay, what the ? Why did he sit her down on his lap in front of so many people? She wasn’t much annoyed with PDA or anything, but she wasn’t into this whole douse-Mina’s-anger-by-making-her-blush movement that seemed to be the center of the boys’ thoughts at the moment.

Maybe because it was working, freaking hell!

“Calm down, Mina." Mina’s neck hair — all of her damn body hair to be honest — stood up at sensing the warm, breathy air cascading down her neck, Minseok’s voice attacking her ears in a soft dwindle of sound like a ringing bell. She shivered. “He’s a scum bag, remember? Scum bags are always, never worth it.”

“Hmff!” She harrumphed childishly, jutting her lips forward and then looking away from Kim snappishly. This whole theatrical scene was half because Mina’s a natural and she’s normally a brat, and halfway because she didn’t want to alert Minseok of how effective his action was. She felt the cold press of his lips on her neck curling sideways, which only meant he was smirking, and yet again, she went absolutely rigid. Then, as if feeling her stiffened shoulders and her stiffened body pressing against his, he dared to lean forward and smack a quick kiss on her neck.

Wut.

Her rigidity flew out of her body, then. 

“Baby, don’t pout.” 

She heard Minseok’s sweet drawl, and she was aware that the two of them were now absolutely drowned in one another, giving no attention or respect to the people around who were surely watching, especially Kim whose eyes were one-hundred percent wide and popping. Minseok was too dutiful in making her shiver because of him, tasting her delicious squirms and her wonderful twists of the neck as if trying to get away from him, but also not trying hard enough to care. Minseok’s already large smile became bigger, if it were possible.

“I’m not pouting,” she murmured unsurely, and when she realized how thick with desire, and something quite as deep, her voice was, she cleared , straightening in his lap and then glaring right across. Kim, who thought she was getting back to fight with him, glared back, but she wasn’t even conscious of him. “I’m glaring. I’m imagining elf Kim drowning in his own beer and then choking, only to die.” Slowly, the thought of watching elf Kim suffering distracted her of Minseok’s existence and she started to smirk evilly. “The thought is making me happy.”

He kissed her neck again, this one a lot gentler and softer than the fast smack of his lips on her skin, and so, she froze, forgetting all about Kim again.

ing Minseok! Her brain screamed.

“Do you want me to ruin him for you, baby?” She heard another tantalizing whisper like the tasering strength of a gun or the massive electronics spreading across her afloat body. What was he doing and why the heck was he doing it so well? She blinked, forcing her moronic back to business and mentally chiding herself for easily blacking out. C’mon Mina, she encouraged, you’re way too strong for such a cheesy heart manipulation! She gave herself a mental fist pump. If Minseok wanted to be a damn flirt, he’d have to meet an expert first.

Like her, for instance. 

“I’m not going to fall for that, Seokie,” she crooned, leaning against his chest with a deep sigh and faking a large, twinkling smile. It was Minseok’s turn to blink, but either way, he still wrapped a protective arm around her waist so she could be stabilized on him. “I will punch him myself this time.” She smiled at his cuteness, this one genuine despite the shaky breaths exiting her lips because of his gestures. 

“Did I ever tell you how magnificently evil you are?” He leaned over to whisper in her closer ear, smirking and tightening his arm around her. Mina huffed, but she was still smiling genuinely.

“Is that a compliment or the opposite?”

“Definitely a compliment, my sweet chocolate cake,” here came Minseok’s cheesy nicknames. “Can I have a kiss?”

Wut.

Calm down Mina, she chided again, fist-pumping in her head again, and giving herself the pep talk that she was the master, she, not him. She forced a grin on her lips and spoke sweetly between her teeth and yet managing to sound dangerous. 

“In front of so many people? You wish.”

“Can I have it in private then?” Minseok crooned back, and she sighed in defeat. it, who was she kidding? Minseok was a master too. 

“I’m not answering that.”

“Shyness doesn’t suit you, cupcake.”

“Flirting doesn’t suit you either, MinMin.”

He leaned over her neck, in spite of being in damn public, and kissed her again. Mina didn’t protest, or push him away, knowing that secretly, she liked this side of him a lot.

---

The dinner — after their more than provocative display of affection which no one thankfully said anything about — went on quite well. Kim didn’t bother her after his first try and she was really glad. Minseok’s glares in spite of his childish face weren’t ones to take lightly, and she was thankful the elf was pretty well-informed about that (and experienced too).

She talked with Minseok a lot, shared some more teasing touches — under the table this time, thank God — and sharing a lot more of their days and sentiments. Mina also was introduced to the coach’s girlfriend personally, who was a plump and super beautiful older woman with a smile of gold and a heart of honey. She treated the team as if every single one of the boys was her own son and Mina especially liked how flustered and shy Minseok turned out whenever she cooed at him and patted his hair. 

The boys sent her a lot of expressive texts through the group chat too after Minseok so greasily sent them a picture of them together with him pulling out a peace sign. Thankfully, he wasn’t kissing her and she wasn’t sitting on his lap anymore, but it didn’t mean the idiots she left behind cared about that and bombarded the group chat with disapproving emojis and exclaims. 

-Baekhyun:

-Jongdae:

-Kai:

-Sehun:

-Yixing:

-Kyungsoo:

-Chanyeol:

Mina heard Minseok’s groan but she was busy giggling at her cute boys and couldn’t help but send a thumbs up emoji to summarize her response. That made Baekhyun more furious while the food-asking-beggars sent exclamation marks to express their happiness because apparently thumbs up icon meant their request have been approved. Mina could practically  imagine their screech of delight and so she couldn’t have the heart to decline their request. Minseok, on the other hand, didn’t mind telling them a big fat NO, which Mina shot down by a single message.

-Mina:

Minseok groaned when seeing the message, knowing that all of those pet names was to annoy him. He didn’t say anything.

When the dinner was over and everyone was standing up to leave, Mina and Minseok took a the first initiation to leave, leaving the rest to squabble by themselves with the coach. Minseok might be the captain but he was out of his limits for the day, and he just wanted to be alone for a second with Mina. 

“Do you have to go home?” He pouted, holding her hand and pulling her closer so she’d walk super close to him, their shoulders touching. Knowing he was pouting without actually seeing him, she rolled her eyes. 

“I have an apartment to stay in at night, Minseok, I don’t understand the question.”

“Why don’t you come with me to my house?” He whined loudly, for a minute resembling Baekhyun or Sehun’s childishness when they want something they don’t know how to get so they star to whine. Mina’s lips curled. Okay, they were all cute. “I can make you some cookies and I’ll order Ice cream too.”

“Are you pouting, Kim Minseok?” She teased, jumping around him in circles and crooning soothingly like she was talking to a child, pouting herself to mimic him even though her lips were threatening to smile. “Because no, na-uh, it doesn’t suit you at at all.”

“Mina, stay with me.”

Mina paused with jumping around and turned around to check if his face was as serious as how that sentence came out of his mouth. True to herself, he truly did look serious with asking that, or pleading that, meaning something entirely different than what the words themselves were insinuating. He wasn’t whining anymore and he surely wasn’t pouting anymore too. He looked at her like he wanted her to stay, with him, not just for the night but for eternity if possible. He wasn’t telling her to stay just as simply as that, he was telling her to accept his feelings, his genuine emotions that shredded him into parts getting smaller the longest he kept them inside without a response. Although he told her before that he wasn’t telling her for a response, and that he was going to wait, he didn’t look so patient right now. He looked desperate, face as seriously impaling as his sharp eyes were, and so Mina decided to be as serious, dropping all pretense.

“Minseok, how much do you love me?” She asked, eyes strong and made of steel, and question truthfully waiting for a truthful  response. Minseok was more surprised with the origin of the question that her intimidating demand. 

“What?”

“You told me that you had feelings for me and that you like me,” she murmured, softly, eyeing him like he was important and that her question didn’t hold any intentions of hurting him. “But I don’t know how deep they are. Do you like me, or love me? And how deep are your feelings?”

“Mina..” Minseok let out, speechless of how intense she became to be in response of him. He realized in that moment that she truly was taking him seriously, and wasn’t planning on ever underestimating his feelings, or him, something he thought would happen in spite of knowing what kind of a person she was because of his stupid, irrational feelings for her. It seemed that she realized that too, because now, now she was taking responsibility to them when she didn’t even need to.

“I won’t force you to answer right away. I know that you have the right over your personal feelings and however you interpret them. But I’m really curious and flattered, also feeling quite responsible, so may I know their depth, Please?”

In a spur of the moment, a slight courageousness seeped under his skin, taking over his body and his soul, and so he leaned over and kissed her, right on the mouth. Mina’s body zapped with quick like electrical currents that resembled a strong punch to , or her knees because she suddenly couldn’t hold herself up. Minseok’s kisses were a whole lot different than Baekhyun’s, or Jongdae’s for that matter. He was soft. He was gentle. He was a whole lot mature in deli