Being followed by a dodgy looking man, who was definitely involved in some illegal , down streets he had no idea existed until now was not on Wonwoo’s bucket list. It never had been and never will be, which was why he was now cursing whichever gods were watching over him at that moment, wondering what on earth he had done to piss them off so much. Had he killed someone in his sleep or something?

The footsteps behind him were beginning to sound closer now and as Wonwoo glanced in one of the nearby car mirrors, his heart almost stops completely. He swears he can see the sunlight catch on the silver glint of a knife held in the man’s hand.

If this was for stealing Soonyoung’s last pack of limited-edition chicken flavoured ramyun the other day, he’d buy him all the food he wants for the next month if only this man stopped following him (or was miraculously hit by a stray car, he wasn’t exactly feeling picky).

Increasing his pace ever so slightly, he turned down yet another unfamiliar, deserted street in hopes of losing the man that has been hot on his heels since, as far as he knew, he’d left the store in a rush upon noticing his strange glances.

He’d only left his house to by some cereal from the local supermarket, a decision he now deeply regrets as it has led to him being followed by some creep, who Wonwoo now firmly believes to be some sort of crazed murderer, into a maze of streets he has never seen. He hadn’t even managed to get the cereal.

Turning another corner, Wonwoo finds himself on another street lined with terraced houses, but this time there was a dead end. Internally screaming with terror, Wonwoo turns his head slightly, pretending to check for oncoming cars, and crosses the street as calmly as possibly, noting that the man does indeed follow this action.

Running up to one of the houses, he hurriedly jogs up the small steps and knocks on the door, praying for whoever’s inside to answer the door quickly. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the man stop and lean against one of the nearby houses, pulling his phone from his pocket and beginning to tap away at it, glancing at Wonwoo every couple of seconds. Wonwoo lets out a shaky breath and lifts his hand to knock again when he hears a click and the door opens.

A man, slightly taller that Wonwoo, with messy hair peers round the door. The stranger looks him up and down, raising an eyebrow as if to ask what he wants.

If Wonwoo hadn’t been in such a state of fear, he definitely would have been speechless in awe of the gorgeous face that greeted him. However, since he was on the verge of having a meltdown, he quickly smiled at the man in front of him (who seemed very confused to see random stranger on his doorstep, sporting a panicked smile and slightly teary, wild eyes) in a way he hoped was friendly.

“Hi, how have you been! It’s been ages since I last saw you!” Wonwoo exclaimed and surged forwards to hug the stranger. Before the man could push him away, he leaned up to whisper in his ear.

“Please help. That man has been following me for ages now and I’m pretty sure he has a knife.” He muttered quietly, his voice shaking slightly. Pulling away, he saw the male’s eyes widen slightly and turned to look at the person who was now acting like he was scrolling through his phone. Nodding his head slightly, he grabbed Wonwoo’s arm and pulled him into the house with a friendly grin, locking the door behind him.

Immediately, Wonwoo’s legs give way and he falls to the floor, shaking slightly, the realisation that  what just happened hadn’t been some sort of crazed nightmare only sinking in now that he’s safe. He could have been seriously injured today. Or even died. That thought does nothing to calm his nerves, only making him let out a muffled whimper into the sleeve of his jumper.

“Hey, are you okay?”

A hand on his shoulder makes him jump, pulling him back to reality and he remembers that he isn’t alone. Practically leaping to his feet, he turns to the stranger who helped him and bow repeatedly.

“I- thank you so much. I’m really sorry to have disturbed you. Thank you.” He mumbles out, continually thanking the person in front of him who stares at him, a bewildered expression on his face.

Once Wonwoo stops himself after about the 20^th thank you, the stranger merely grins before taking slow, almost cautious steps towards him..

“Dude, it’s fine. Seriously. I am still a bit confused though, so how about we go get something to drink and then you can explain the situation to me, yeah?” He says as gently as possibly to the still obviously shaken up Wonwoo who only nods once, allowing himself to be pulled through the house.

 

**********************************************************************************

 

If you asked Mingyu how he thought his Saturday would go, he probably would have told you that he was gonna spend the day lazing around playing video games or binge watching that show he’d been dying to watch for weeks. What he definitely didn’t expect was to be awoken by a frantic knock at the door at the crack of dawn (fine, 9 in the morning, but still that’s way too early for anyone to be up on a Saturday).

He stumbled down the stairs and grabbed his keys from the hook on the wall, still half asleep and in his pyjamas. It was probably just the postman and he’d seen Mingyu looking much worse before.

Unlocking the door, he poked his head round, squinting in the sunlight. A man stood in front of him, shifting from one foot to the other and tugging on his sleeves, looking mildly panicked. Mingyu raised his eyebrow as he gave him the once-over. The man suddenly smiled at him and greeted him as though he’d known him from years which made Mingyu frown in confusion. Did he know this guy?

Before he could question himself any further, he was suddenly engulfed in a hug and before he could even thing about pushing the man off him, he heard a shaky voice mutter something in his ear.

“Please help. That man has been following me for ages now and I’m pretty sure he has a knife.”

Mingyu froze and stared at the stranger with wide eyes who stared back with a fearful expression. Slowly looking to his left, he saw a man leaning against one of the houses a few doors down who appeared to have been watching them, but immediately looked down at his phone and began scrolling through it when Mingyu looked in his direction. Growing suspicious at the man’s odd behaviour, he turned back to face the stranger who was watching him with pleading eyes and nodded slightly, pulling him into the house with a friendly smile.

Once he had locked the door, Mingyu turned to face the stranger he had just invited in only to find him sitting on the floor, shaking slightly. He hesitantly reached out and placed a hand on the man’s trembling shoulder.

“Hey, are you okay?” Mingyu asked as quietly as possible, trying not to startle him. His efforts were of no use as the man jumped in surprise and immediately got up, apologising no stop.

Mingyu just stood there in surprise. When the frantic apologies eventually slowed to a halt, he grinned at the stranger who suddenly seemed incredibly nervous and jumpy. As bewildered as he was as to what was happening right now, he at least understood the guy in front of him was shaken up and probably needed someone to help him recover. He took his arm and began to lead him towards the kitchen, a comforting smile on his face

“Dude, it’s fine. Seriously. I am still a bit confused though, so how about we go get something to drink and then you can explain the situation to me, yeah?” He tried to make his voice as gentle as he could, moving forwards with slow steps and earning a small nod from the stranger.

Over the next hour or so, Mingyu learnt that the man’s name was Wonwoo and that he had been trying to buy breakfast when he’d noticed them man watching him and following him around the store, making him immediately abandon the food and leave only to be followed all the way to where he was now, Mingyu’s house. He had also tried to apologise for being ‘an inconvenience’ to Mingyu multiple times only to be shut down by Mingyu himself who didn’t think he needed to be thanked for being a decent human being. Once Wonwoo had finished explaining what had happened they spent a while chatting aimlessly and getting to know each other (it was mostly an attempt by Mingyu to calm Wonwoo down as he still seemed fidgety and kept glancing towards the window as though he feared someone may come crashing through it at any second screaming bloody murder).

It was around 11:30 when Mingyu glanced up at the clock and almost fell out of his seat in shock at the time. He pointed it out to Wonwoo who cursed and shot to his feet.

“I’m really sorry, but I have to go. I told my roommates that I’d be back about 2 hours ago. , I didn’t even message them. Oh my god, Jihoon’s gonna kick my .” Mingyu laughed at Wonwoo’s ramblings and assured him that it was fine and that he should get home before his roommates call the police.

He followed Wonwoo as he grabbed his phone and made his way to the front door, telling him the directions to get back to the shop he had originally been in. Just as he was about to close the door behind him Mingyu suddenly stuck his arm out and grabbed the handle, preventing it from falling shut.

“Wait. Can I...Um...” He faltered, suddenly nervous that the man in front of him would think of him as weird. Quickly shaking off those thoughts, he looked up at Wonwoo to see him waiting patiently, a small, confused smile on his face.

“Could I get your number?” He lets out quickly and Wonwoo’s smile transforms into something more genuine.

“Yeah, sure.”

 

 

It was two weeks after the first incident that Mingyu heard from Wonwoo again. He was woken up (again, this guy really does like to contact him at the most inconvenient times) by a loud ringtone blaring from his phone at around 1 o’clock in the morning. After reading the name displayed on his phone, once he’d recovered from being temporarily blinded by the bright screen, he accepted the call to be met with Wonwoo’s frantic voice straight away.

“Mingyu? Are you free right now, I’m- it’s kind of- well, it’s happening again.” The rushed words immediately made Mingyu freeze for a second before cursing. He leaped out of bed and hastily grabbed a set of clothes, asking Wonwoo where he was whilst he searched for his house keys. He could have sworn they were on the table when he’d gone to bed.

After successfully managing to find his keys and leave the house, making sure that Wonwoo stayed on the phone with him, he ran to his car and set the call to speakerphone before driving off.

 

**********************************************************************************

 

Wonwoo shivered in the cold night air as he looked behind him to see that the guy from the club was still following him. It was honestly ridiculous. He’d just managed to get to the point where he was willing leave the house after being followed by that creep two weeks ago, and here he was again, in the same situation.

He had been taken to a club that Wonwoo had never step foot in, nor heard of, in his life by Soonyoung and Jihoon who had bribed him to go with them by offering to buy him that new book he had been eyeing recently and promising to stay with him the whole time (there may have also been some rather violent threats made by one of the duo, but he was trying to forget about those).

Wonwoo was never going to trust those two brats again and when he next saw them, they’d find themselves six feet under. Within half an hour of getting there, not only had they ditched Wonwoo, but they also seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. When Wonwoo had tried to call them after this guy had first hit on him, he’d received no response. When he tried to call them again when the guy had tried to get into his pants a second time, again, he’d received no response. When Wonwoo tried a third time, now desperate as this was the point where he had left the club with the guy still following him, they were still M.I.A.

He had been left with no choice but to scroll down to the newest contact in his phone and press dial. Bracing himself for the embarrassment of having to ask a near stranger for help, he lifted the phone to his ear and waited nervously for him to pick up.

“Mingyu? Are you free right now, I’m- it’s kind of- well, it’s happening again.” He let out in a frantic, rushed whisper once he’d picked up, sooner than expected for 1am on a Tuesday morning. A pause and then a muttered curse could be heard from the other line and, for a moment, Wonwoo thought Mingyu would just hang up, but to his surprise (and quite frankly, utter relief) an almost equally frantic voice asked him where he was.

After giving Mingyu his location and promising to stay on the phone with him, Wonwoo began telling him random things about his day whilst hovering by the side of a deserted bus shelter. He noticed that the man slowed down and sat on one of the benches that was positioned nearby, ‘conveniently’ within earshot, and kept glancing in his direction before looking away once making eye contact.

Just as he was considering asking Mingyu to hurry the up, the screech of car wheels echoed down the almost silent street and Wonwoo almost broke his neck with how fast he looked up. A black car was parked a short distance away and he let out a sigh of relief when Mingyu climbed out, slamming the door behind him as he walked towards him with quick strides. He didn’t know why he trusted someone he had only met two weeks ago this much, but he wasn’t about to question is when said someone was about to save his . Wonwoo moved to meet him halfway, not wanting to stay anywhere near the creep behind him for much longer but was stopped by a cold hand gripping his wrist.

“Hey,” Wonwoo froze at the sound of the familiar voice, “where do you think you’re going pretty boy?”

Wonwoo tried to shake him off but doing so seemed to make the man grow annoyed as he tightened his grip and let out a growl of frustration. He looked Wonwoo in the eyes and smirked in a way that he probably thought was attractive but only made Wonwoo want to hurl his guts out onto the pavement. Tugging harder on his wrist, the man began to pull him away from the bus stop and away from Mingyu.

“Excuse me, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Wonwoo whipped his head around at the sound of the familiar voice and almost collapsed with relief when he came to face to face with Mingyu who didn’t look the slightest bit amused. Wonwoo wondered for a second if he was annoyed at him, but quickly disregarded that theory when he saw that his glare wasn’t directed at him but at the man who still had an iron grip on his wrist. The man in question stopped and turned to face Mingyu as well, an irritated frown on his face at having been called out. He pulled Wonwoo behind him, making his stumble slightly and Mingyu’s expression immediately darkened as he stared down at the creep in front of him.

“Who do you think you are?” The question only seemed to make Mingyu’s glare harden and the man gulped slightly. Mingyu was almost a head taller than him, obviously stronger and obviously angry. Wonwoo was sure that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of his glare.

“I’m his boyfriend,” Wonwoo nearly choked on nothing, “So I think I’m the one who should be asking you that question.”

The man’s eyes widened, and he let out a nervous laugh, his grip on Wonwoo’s wrist immediately loosening. Taking this as his opportunity to escape, Wonwoo snatched his arm away and quickly moved to stand behind Mingyu, gripping the edge of his hoodie tightly as though he would disappear if he didn’t.

“Look man, we were just having a quick chat. That’s all.” Wonwoo gripped Mingyu’s hoodie tighter, only relaxing slightly when he felt warm hands encase his, gently moving them so that he was now practically back hugging the taller.

“Of course, you were.” Mingyu looked at the man incredulously, “That explains why you had a death grip on his arm and  were trying to drag him away even though he looked, and still looks, as though he wanted nothing to do with you.”

He spoke calmly, but there was an obvious underlying threat in his tone and the man seemed to realise this.

“Fine, fine. I’ll leave.” He turned around, but still had the audacity to wink in Wonwoo’s direction before sauntering off in the direction they’d come from. Wonwoo let out a breath, relief flooding his body as he watched him leave.

Neither of them made a move to remove his arms from where they were resting loosely around Mingyu’s waist. If anything, the hands holding Wonwoo’s gripped slightly tighter making him smile gently. He wasn’t sure why this felt so right, but he wasn’t complaining.

“Am I like, your Guardian Angel or something?” Wonwoo let out a small laugh at the sudden question but didn’t answer. He didn’t think that he could trust his voice not to shake at the moment.

“Hey.” Mingyu spoke up after a moment of silence, turning in Wonwoo’s arms so that he was facing him. Wonwoo looked up and it warmed his heart to see the genuine concern flickering in his eyes.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah”

There was silence for a few more moments and then-

“Do you wanna go grab a coffee?” Mingyu had a smile on his face and Wonwoo’s eyes widened at the random question.

“Mingyu, it’s one in the morning.” He expected the other to take back his statement, but to his surprise, Mingyu’s smile only widened and he felt his heart do a backflip at the sight.

“And?”

“Nowhere will be open?” It came out as more of a question than anything, but Mingyu just laughed and stepped backwards, grabbing onto Wonwoo’s hands as they fell from around his waist.

Wonwoo let himself be dragged to the nearest open coffee shop, watching as the taller began to tell him about something stupid one of his friends had done earlier that day, and let a smile creep its way onto his face. He still had to kill Jihoon and Soonyoung for abandoning him, but that would have to wait until later. For now, he was content with laughing along to whatever ridiculous anecdote Mingyu had to offer, revelling in the way the younger’s eyes brightened whenever he smiled his way.